PIB Summary- 16th April, 2023 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly - UPSC PDF Download

National Panchayat Awards Week

Context
The Ministry of Panchayati Raj will celebrate ‘National Panchayat Awards Week’ to commemorate Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav (AKAM) 2.0 from 17th – 21st April, 2023.

Details

• The President of India Smt. Droupadi Murmu will inaugurate the National Panchayat Awards Week and confer the National Panchayat Awards at ‘National Conference on Incentivization of Panchayats-cum-Award Ceremony’ on 17th April 2023.
• The five day National Panchayat Awards Week will begin with the ‘National Conference on Incentivization of Panchayars-cum-Award Ceremony on 17th April, 2023 and more than 1500 delegates are expected to witness the participation across the country. Following this, four days of deliberations on the achievements made so far  and way forward on the Localisation of Sustainable Development Goals (LSDGs) will take place through National Conferences in New Delhi.
• The theme of the National Panchayat Awards Week is ‘Panchayaton ke Sankalpon ki Sidhi ka Utsav.’ The representatives of high performing Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) will receive their coveted awards and will deliberate and discuss their achievements in the presence of other stakeholders, for them to follow.
• The various categories of National Panchayat Awards, 2023 are –
  •  Deen Dayal Upadhyay Panchayat Satat Vikas Puraskar (DDUPSVP) for the performance under individual LSDG themes, 
  • Nanaji Deshmukh Sarvottam Panchayat Satat Vikas Puraskar (NDSPSVP) for the aggregate performance under all 9 LSDG themes and 
  • Green initiative related to Special Categories of Gram Urja Swaraj Vishesh Panchayat Puraskar and Carbon Neutral Vishesh Panchayat Puraskar.
• Shri Giriraj Singh, the Union Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj will launch GS NIRNAY app. to further strengthen Gram Sabha for ensuring participatory democracy , making empowered people and accountable panchayats. GS NIRNAY (Gram Sabha – National Initiative for Rural India to Navigate, Innovate, and Resolve Panchayat decisions has been developed to record and upload Gram Sabha proceedings  open for public view.
• Ministry of Panchayati Raj has been at the forefront in Localisation of Sustainable Development Goals (LSDGs) through Panchayati Raj Institutions in rural areas, and the Ministry of Panchayati Raj is continuously playing an important role in bringing together multiple stakeholders, setting clear strategic targets and in catalysing the technical assistance of United Nations organisations to localise the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in rural areas.

Bharat Gaurav Train

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Bharat Gaurav Tourist train tour on Ambedkar Circuit.

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• A special tourist train-Ambedkar Yatra special tour train by Bharat Gaurav Tourist Train taking passengers to cities associated with social reformer B R Ambedkar across the country was flagged off from Delhi, marking his 132nd birth anniversary.
•  The Bharat Gaurav tourist train tour on Ambedkar Circuit was flagged off by Union Minister of Tourism G Kishan Reddy and Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Virendra Kumar from the Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station, Delhi.
• IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) in association with the Ministry of Tourism is operating its first tour on the Ambedkar circuit on an 8 days special tour from Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station starting April 14, 2023.
• Bharat Gaurav Tourist Train launch is in line with the Government of India initiative “Dekho Apna Desh” to promote special interest circuits in domestic tourism.