With Tata Power Solar Systems Limited, the Union Bank of India tied up under its solar scheme ‘Union Solar’.

Russia and Belarus are the two countries that have been suspended by the International Paralympic Committee.

Heritage and Climate is the theme for World Heritage Day 2022.

Koo is the second most used microblogging homegrown app to be launched in the United States.

At the opening ceremony of the 53rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi was honoured with the Indian Film Personality of the Year 2022 award. Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting Anurag Thakur announced that the Indian Film Personality of the Year award will be conferred upon megastar Chiranjeevi. In a career spanning nearly four decades, Chiranjeevi has acted in more than 150 films, primarily in the Telugu film industry.

Natasa Pirc Musar has been elected as the first female President of Slovenia after she defeated her Conservative rival in the second round of elections on November 13, 2022. Natasa Pirc Musar is a journalist and a lawyer who ran as an Independent with the backing of Slovenia’s centre-left Government.

At Kurukshetra, Haryana, the International Gita Mahotsav is being organized.

Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award 2022 will be awarded to the Table Tennis player Achanta Sharath Kamal. He is an Indian professional Table Tennis player who is also the first ever to become 10 times Senior National Champion. In 2019, Achanta was awarded Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest Civilian award.

The Government of Madhya Pradesh has implemented the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act in the state. The act aims to preserve the tribal population from exploitation with the active involvement of the Gram Sabhas. It also gives special powers to the Gram Sabhas in Scheduled Areas, especially for the management of natural resources.

Dr CV Ananda Bose has been appointed as the Governor of West Bengal.

Lance Naik Manju became the Indian Army’s first woman skydiver after she jumped from a height of 10,000 ft from the Advanced Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv Lance Naik Manju is from the Corps of Military Police. She was trained by the skydiving training team of the Indian Army’s Adventure Wing for this heroic jump.

Facebook-parent Meta has appointed Sandhya Devanathan as its new top executive for the country two weeks after the departure of former India head Ajit Mohan. Devanathan will transition to her new role on 1 January 2023. Devanathan currently serves as vice president of gaming for Meta’s Asia-Pacific (APAC) division. In her new role, Sandhya Devanathan will report to Dan Neary, vice president of Meta’s overall APAC  business. Devanathan served as the country managing director for Singapore and business head for Vietnam. Devanathan’s appointment follows high-profile exits from the company’s India ventures. On 3rd November 2022, Meta announced the departure of erstwhile country head, Ajit Mohan, with immediate effect.

Saudi Arabia announced the exemption of Indian Nationals from submitting a Police Clearance Certificate to obtain a visa for travelling to the country. The decision has been taken owing to string ties and a strategic partnership with India. India and Saudi Arabia relations have further strengthened over the past few years including in the political, security, trade, energy, investment, food, health security, cultural, and defence fields. Notably, the top leadership of both countries remained in close touch even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

National Commission for Women (NCW) launched the fourth phase of the Digital Shakti Campaign, to make women aware to stand against any illegal or inappropriate online activity. It is a pan-India project on digitally empowering and skilling women in cyberspace. The Digital Shakti campaign was launched in 2018, in collaboration with CyberPeace Foundation and Meta. The third phase of the programme started in March 2021.

The government has appointed senior economist Dr Arvind Virmani as a full-time member of the NITI Aayog. He was the founder-chairman of the non-profit public policy organisation ‘Foundation for Economic Growth and Welfare’. He also served as the Chief Economic Advisor in the Ministry of Finance from 2007-09. At present, NITI Aayog has three members- Dr V K Saraswat, Professor Ramesh Chand and Dr V K Paul.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the silver jubilee edition of the Bengaluru Tech Summit (BTS 22). To mark the silver jubilee celebration Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraja Bommai released a plaque. The inauguration ceremony was attended by French President Emmanuel Macron and ministers from UAE, Australia and Finland. The event was organised by the state Department of IT, Biotechnology and Science & Technology in association with Software Technology Parks of India (STPI).

American space agency NASA has launched its most powerful rocket ‘Artemis’ to the Moon. The 100m-tall Artemis vehicle has an objective to send an astronaut capsule in the direction of the Moon. The spacecraft comprises the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion capsule.

The Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) 2023 was released and published by three environmental non­governmental organizations viz. Germanwatch, NewClimate Institute and the Climate Action Network (CAN) International. India rose two spots to rank eighth out of 63 countries in the Climate Change Performance Index 2023 (CCPI). In the Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Energy Use categories, the country was rated “high”. In the Climate Policy and Renewable Energy categories, it earned a “medium” rating. In the overall standings, no country ranked first, second or third on the index. Denmark, with a score of 79.61, ranked fourth, followed by Sweden with 73.28 points. India scored 67.35 points. India’s ranking in categories: In GHGs, it ranked 9, Renewable Energy (24 ), Energy Use (9 ), and Climate Policy (8 ). It should be noted that India ranked at the top in the grouping of top 10 emitters. It is followed by Germany and Japan at 2 and 3 positions in this grouping. The worst performers in the overall ranking are Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan. They are particularly weak in renewables and heavily reliant on oil. Saudi Arabia is the country with the highest per capita GHG emissions among the G20 nations.

A Vostro account is the name of the account that a bank holds on behalf of another, often a foreign bank. The Union government has approved nine banks to open special Vostro accounts, three months after the Reserve Bank of India allowed trade settlement in Indian rupees. Out of the nine, three have opened accounts- Gazprombank with UCO Bank (Kolkata), VTB and Sberbank with their own branch offices. The move will facilitate India’s exports to Russia.

The 19th Conference of the Parties to CITES is being held in Panama, a Central American country. CITES is an agreement regulating the movement across international borders of certain wild animal and plant species. India has proposed to protect a species of freshwater reptile called the red-crowned roofed turtle under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The turtle, native to India and Bangladesh, is at a high risk of extinction.

As per the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI), the current frontrunner in climate mitigation continues to be Denmark. Denmark is the only country with a ‘high’ national and even ‘very high’ rated international climate policy.  No country is ranked first to third while Denmark is ranked fourth followed by Sweden. India is ranked eighth.

India and Sweden hosted the LeadIT Summit, on the sidelines of COP27 at Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt. The Leadership for Industry Transition- LeadIT initiative focuses on the low carbon transition of the hard-to-abate industrial sector. Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav emphasised that co-development is the only option to meet the targets that the world has taken for itself and without it, low carbon transition could be delayed by decades. He said the low carbon transition of the industrial sector will not only contribute towards the reduction in required greenhouse gas emissions.

India’s national grid operator ‘Power System Operation Corporation Ltd (POSOCO)’ has announced that it has changed its name to ‘Grid Controller of India Ltd’. The name has been changed to reflect the critical role of grid operators in ensuring integrity, reliability, economy, resilience and sustainable operation of the Indian electricity grid. The change in name to ‘Grid Controller of India Ltd’ is a welcome step as it has a unique position at the heart of India’s energy system connecting people to the energy they use.

In India, National Newborn Week is celebrated every year from 15 to 21 November. This week aims to reinforce the importance of neonatal health as a priority area of the health sector and reduce infant mortality by improving healthcare conditions for infants in the neonatal period. The main purpose of celebrating this week is to raise awareness about the care of newborn babies. The theme of this week is ‘Safety, Quality and Nurturing Care – Every Newborn’s Birth Right. This year’s theme for NNW has been chosen to ensure reaching every newborn with quality and developmentally supportive healthcare services rendering safety and dignity at all service delivery platforms – Health Facilities, Community Outreach Sessions, Homes etc.

As per the ‘World Population Prospects 2022’ report, the world’s population will reach 8 billion on November 15, 2022. The U.N. also said global population growth fell below 1 per cent in 2020 for the first time since 1950. The world’s population could grow to around 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050 and a peak of around 10.4 billion during the 2080s. India, with a current population of 1.412 billion, will surpass China, with a current population of 1.426 billion, next year.

Greg Barclay has been re-elected as the Chairman of the ICC.

Bhopal railway station has been awarded a 4-star rating ‘Eat Right Station’ certification.

Pakistan, Ghana and Bangladesh will be among the first recipients of funding from a G7 ‘Global Shield’ initiative to provide funding to countries suffering climate disasters, the programme announced at the COP27 summit in Egypt. The Global Shield(GS), coordinated by G7 president Germany, aims to provide rapid access for climate-vulnerable countries to insurance and disaster protection funding after floods or drought. It is being developed in collaboration with the ‘V20’ group of 58 climate-vulnerable economies. Germany has contributed $175.17 million in funding to Global Shield while other countries including Denmark and Ireland have contributed a little over $41 million.

Senior IAS officer, Gaurav Dwivedi was appointed the Chief Executive Officer of public broadcaster Prasar Bharati. A 1995-batch officer of the Chhattisgarh cadre, Mr Dwivedi will have a five-year tenure from the date he assumes charge. Earlier, Mr Dwivedi was the Chief Executive Officer of MyGovIndia, the citizen engagement platform of the government. He has been awarded the Prime Minister’s Award for his excellent work in administration. He replaces Shashi Shekhar Vempati. Shashi Shekhar Vempati was the CEO of Prasar Bharati from 2017 to 2022. After Mr Vempati completed his five-year tenure, Director General of Doordarshan Mayank Agrawal was given the additional charge of CEO Prasar Bharati in June this year.

The ‘53rd edition of the International Film Festival of India’ will be hosted in the state of Goa in November 2022.
Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement award is to be given to Spanish film director Carlos Saura. France is the ‘Spotlight’ country of the event. The second edition of ‘75 Creative Minds of Tomorrow, an initiative by the Ministry of Broadcasting and Information will also be organised.