Current Affairs in Short: 11 November 2021

52^nd edition of International Film Festival of India to be held in Goa from November 20

•The 52^nd edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will be held in Goa from November 20 to 28, 2021. The event will be conducted in a hybrid mode which will include online and in-person participation.

•The IFFI is conducted jointly by the Directorate of Film Festivals and Goa’s State Government in collaboration with the Indian Film Industry. The IFFI is one of Asia’s oldest and India’s biggest international film festivals.

•Founded in 1952, IFFI aims at offering a common platform for the cinemas of the world to project the excellence of film art. The 1^st IFFI was held in Mumbai in 1952 which was non-competitive. It became competitive from the 3^rd edition in January 1965 which was chaired by Filmmaker Satyajit Ray.

•The festival in India got graded A category by the Paris-based Federation International de Producers de Films and came at par with Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Karlovy, Vary, Moscow International film festivals.

•At the 5^th IFFI in 1975, India adopted a permanent insignia comprising a peacock that is India’s national bird and a permanent motto ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ (The whole world is a family). IFFI became globally competitive and moved its permanent venue to Goa since the 35^th edition in 2004.

Union Cabinet approves price support to Cotton Corporation of India

•The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on November 10, 2021, approved the committed price support of over Rs 17,408 crore to the Cotton Corporation of India. The CCEA approved incurring expenditure for reimbursing losses under MSP operations for cotton during cotton seasons from October 2014-15 to September 2020-21.

•The CCEA also approved reservation norms for Jute Packaging Material for 2021-22. It said that 100 per cent of food grains and 20 per cent of sugar will be packed in jute bags. This will benefit 3 lakh 70 thousand workers in jute packaging and around 4 million farm families.

Odisha govt launches road safety initiative ‘Rakshak’ to train first responders

•Odisha government on November 10, 2021, launched a first-of-its-kind road safety initiative called Rakshak. Under the state-level program, 300 master trainers will train and empower the local people across all the 30 districts to provide help to the road accidents victims.

•Under Rakshak, 30,000 volunteers near accident-prone spots will be trained as First Responders to road accidents. The 30,000 first responders will be equipped to administer first aid and pre-hospital trauma care to accident victims.

•As per sources, India reports around 1.5 lakh people every year dying in road accidents. Odisha reports more than 5,000 road accidents victims.

Lt Gen Anindya Sengupta to be next ‘Fire and Fury’ Corps Commander of Indian Army in Ladakh

•Lt General Anindya Sengupta will be the new Commander of the Leh-based Fire and Fury Corps by the end of November 2021. Sengupta will succeed Lt Gen PGK Menon. Sengupta will now head the talks from the Indian side amid the military standoff with China.

•Lt General Anindya Sengupta is currently posted in the Army Headquarters. He is from the Punjab Regiment. He has commanded a counter-terrorist force in the Kashmir valley before coming to Army Headquarters.

•Owing to the sensitive nature of the Corps which is looking after both the Pakistan and China borders, the new Fire and Fury Corps Commander will get around 15 days with his predecessor to understand every facet of the area and issues relating to it.

•The Fire and Fury Corps is also in charge of the Siachen area which has been the world’s highest and coldest battlefield for more than three decades now.

Union Cabinet approves higher ethanol prices under Ethanol Blended Petrol Programme

•The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on November 10, 2021, cleared higher ethanol prices derived from different sugarcane-based raw materials for sugar season 2020-21 under Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme to facilitate setting up advanced biofuel refineries in India.

•The price of Ethanol from C heavy molasses increased to Rs 46.66 per litre from Rs 45.69 per litre. The price of Ethanol from B heavy molasses increased to Rs 59.8 per litre from Rs 57.61 per litre. The price of Ethanol from sugar or sugar syrup, sugarcane juice increased to Rs 63.45 per litre from Rs 62.65 per litre.

•The decision on pricing of ethanol will aid in price stability and remunerative prices for ethanol suppliers, reducing the pending arrears of cane farmers, facilitating the setting up of advanced biofuel refineries in India, helping in savings in foreign exchange, and reducing dependency on crude oil imports.

•The CCEA also announced that the Oil PSEs should be allowed to decide on the pricing of second-generation ethanol as this would benefit in setting up advanced biofuel refineries in India. Currently, Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) decide ethanol prices.