Kerala Affairs
Kochi sees rise in number of foreign tourists
December 2022 turned out to be a happy month for hotels and resorts in Kochi as they saw an increase in number of foreign tourists, a first since the outbreak of Covid-19. Tourists from France, UK, Germany and US are now visiting the city.
The central government on Monday made it mandatory even for passengers, who take transit flights to India from high-risk countries, to have a RT-PCR negative certificate, but hoteliers here are confident that it is unlikely to have an adverse impact on the local tourism immediately.
According to hoteliers, bookings by foreigners has risen 20-30% since Covid. Foreigners prefer to visit Kerala during October-March while domestic tourists visit all round the year. Before Covid, of the total number of tourists coming to the state, 10% constituted foreign and 90% domestic. Now it is 6% foreign and 94% domestic tourists. The number of foreign tourists increased only in December last year.
National and International Affairs
Digital India Awards 2022, e-NAM wins Platinum Award
e-NAM,a flagship initiative of the Ministry of <a href="https://exam.pscnotes.com/Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, has won thePlatinum Awardin theDigital Empowerment of Citizens Category in Digital India Awards 2022held in New Delhi. The President of India, Smt. Droupadi Murmu, as Chief Guest of the event, has conferred the Digital India Awards, 2022.
e-NAM is a digital platform integrating 1260 APMC mandis across 22 States and 3 UTs to facilitate online trading of 203 agriculture and commodities to enable farmers to realize better remunerative prices for their produce. e-NAM is catalysing the digital transformation of mandi operations and e- trading of agricultural commodities. As on 31.12.2022, more than 1.74 Crore farmers & 2.39 Lakh traders have been registered on e-NAM portal. A total trade consisting of 69 million metric tonnes of worth Rs. 2.42 lakh crore has been recorded on e-NAM platform.
Indias second longest cable-stayed eight-lane Zuari Bridge opens in Goa
Union Minister of Roads Transport and HighwaysNitin Gadkarihas inaugurated the countrys second longest cable-stayed eight-laneZuari BridgeinGoa.Right-hand side (4-lane corridor) across the Zuari River and approaches from Bambolim to Verna were thrown open for vehicular traffic. Gadkari also launched the PWD Goa App for integrated operations management. Through the Insurance scheme of the Government of Goa, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has given Rs 2 lakh each to the families of the workers who died during the construction of the bridge.
The Zuari Bridge is a bridge between North Goa and South Goa, India. It carries the NH 66 over the tidal part of the Zuari River, between the villages of Agaaim and Cortalim. It is a few metres downstream of the Konkan RAILWAY Bridge. The 640-metre-long bridge and the 13.20 km roads on both sides have been built in 3 phases. The Zuari Bridge work began in June 2016.
India Deploys Its Largest Single Unit of UN Women Peacekeepers
India will deploy a platoon of Women peacekeepers toUNMission in Sudan. This will be Indiaslargest single unit of women Peacekeepersin a UN Mission since it deployed thefirst-ever all-women contingent in Liberia in 2007. The Indian contingent, comprising two officers and 25 Other Ranks, will form part of an Engagement platoon and specialize in Community outreach, though they will be performing extensive security-related tasks as well. The deployment inAbyeiwill also heraldIndias intent of increasing significantly the number of Indian women in Peacekeeping contingents. The operation has been tasked with monitoring the flashpoint border between north and south and facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid and is authorized to use force in protecting civilians and humanitarian workers inAbyei.