International Organisations
SCO council of heads of government meeting

Relevance IN - Prelims ( all about SCO + BRI initiative) + Mains ( GS II Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests

What's the NEWS

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi didn't participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's (SCO) council of heads of government summit.
• The virtual summit was chaired by Vice president M Venkaiah Naidu.
• Apart from the SCO member states, the four observer states of the SCO -- Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia also participated in the summit.
• India assumed the chair of the SCO Council of Heads of Government on November 2 last year as per rotation from the previous chair - Uzbekistan - and will complete its year-long tenure on November 30 by hosting the summit.
• The council of heads of government is SCO's second highest body and is responsible for handling the trade and economic agenda.
• This was the first time India hosted a meeting of the body since it was admitted into the eight-member grouping in 2017.

Council of heads of government meeting takeaways

• India didn't join other members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in backing China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which New Delhi has consistently opposed as a key part of it passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
• BRI or the "One Belt, One Road" initiative, President Xi Jinping's flagship programme for trade and connectivity, was backed by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in a joint communiqué issued at the end of the SCO council of heads of government meeting hosted by India.
• India has repeatedly said it will not join BRI because it does not offer a level playing ground to the country's businesses.
• It has also opposed BRI because a key component - the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) - passes through PoK.
• India proposed the creation of a special working group on innovation and start-ups and an expert working group on traditional medicine.

Know! all about the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)

• It is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation, the creation of which was announced on 15 June 2001 in Shanghai (China) by the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, and the Republic of Uzbekistan. It was preceded by the Shanghai Five mechanism.
• The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Charter was signed during the St.Petersburg SCO Heads of State meeting in June 2002, and entered into force on 19 September 2003.
• The historical meeting of the Heads of State Council of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation was held on 8-9 June 2017 in Astana.
• On the meeting the status of a full member of the Organization was granted to the Republic of India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
• The Heads of State Council (HSC) is the supreme decision-making body in the SCO.
• It meets once a year and adopts decisions and guidelines on all important matters of the organisation.
• The SCO Heads of Government Council (HGC) meets once a year to discuss the organisation's multilateral cooperation strategy and priority areas, to resolve current important economic and other cooperation issues, and also to approve the organisation's annual budget.
• The SCO's official languages are Russian and Chinese.
• The organisation has two permanent bodies - the SCO Secretariat based in Beijing and the Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) based in Tashkent.
• The SCO Secretary-General and the Director of the Executive Committee of the SCO RATS are appointed by the Council of Heads of State for a term of three years.
• Currently SCO comprises eight member states, namely the Republic of India, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, and the Republic of Uzbekistan;
• The SCO counts four observer states, namely the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Republic of Belarus, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Mongolia;
• The SCO has six dialogue partners, namely the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Armenia, the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, the Republic of Turkey, and the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)

• It is one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects ever conceived. Launched in 2013 by President Xi Jinping, the vast collection of development and investment initiatives would stretch from East Asia to Europe, significantly expanding China's economic and political influence.
• The plan was two-pronged: the overland Silk Road Economic Belt and the Maritime Silk Road. The two were collectively referred to first as the One Belt, One Road initiative but eventually became the Belt and Road Initiative.
• China wants to build infrastructure such as ports, bridges and rail lines in over 150 countries spanning Asia, Africa and Europe.
• While China claims it is solely an economic initiative, not many countries, including India, are willing to buy that argument. The countries opposing the project fear this could a China-centered sphere of influence and lead to "debt traps".

Prelims Factoids
The first ever SCO Online International Exhibition on Shared Buddhist Heritage
Relevance IN - Prelims ( all about SCO online International exhibition)
What's the NEWS

• Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, Vice President of India & Chair of the SCO Council of Heads of Government in 2020, launched the first ever SCO Online Exhibition on Shared Buddhist Heritage, during the 19th Meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of Government (SCO CHG), held today in New Delhi, in videoconference format.

SCO online International exhibition

• This SCO online International exhibition, first ever of its kind, is developed and curated by National Museum, New Delhi, in active collaboration with SCO member countries.
• The exhibition deploys state of the art technologies like 3D scanning, webGL platform, virtual space utilization, innovative curation and narration methodology etc.
• The exhibition can be accessed at https://nmvirtual.in/ for worldwide viewing.
• Buddhist philosophy and art of Central Asia connects Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) countries to each other.
• This online international exhibition presents an excellent opportunity for visitors to access, appreciate and compare Buddhist art antiquities from SCO countries on a single platform and from the comfort of their home.
• The international exhibition gives a glimpse of the artistic wealth displayed in various museums across Asia, and represents the artistic excellence embedded within an eclectic historical timeline spanning across the development of different Schools of Buddhism.
• The participating institutions are National Museum (New Delhi), Indian Museum (Kolkata), National Museum of Kazakhstan, Dun Huang Academy (China), National Historical Museum of the Kyrgyz Republic, Museums of Pakistan, State Museum of Oriental Art, Moscow (Russia), National Museum and National Museum of Antiquities, Tajikistan and renowned archaeological sites of Uzbekistan.

Prelims Factoids
Hornbill Festival

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Hornbill Festival)
What's the NEWS

• Nagaland will be taking its 21st edition of the Hornbill Festival to a virtual platform from December 1 to 5, on three national and regional audio visual news channels.

Know! about the festival

• It is a 10-day annual cultural and tourism extravaganza that elaborately showcases the rich and diverse Naga ethnicity through folk dances, traditional music, local cuisine, handicrafts, art, craft workshops highlighting indigenous textiles and designs, among various other Naga experiences.
• To encourage inter-tribal interaction and to promote cultural heritage of Nagaland, the Government of Nagaland organizes the Hornbill Festival every year in the first week of December.
• Organized by the State Tourism and Art & Culture Departments, Hornbill Festival showcases a mélange of cultural displays under one roof. This festival usually takes place between the 1st and the 7th of December every year in Kohima.
• Hornbill Festival is held at Naga Heritage Village, Kisama which is about 12 km from Kohima. All the tribes of Nagaland take part in this festival.
• The Festival is named after the Indian Hornbill, the large and colourful forest bird which is displayed in folklore in most of the state's tribes.
• Hornbill bird is common in tropical and subtropical Asia, Africa and Melanesia.

Know! about Naga Morungs

• Naga Morungs exhibition is also organised during the festival.
• Naga Morungs or Nagas are the ethnic groups native to North Western Myanmar and North Eastern India.
• These groups have similar culture and form the majority of population in Nagaland and Naga self-administered zone.
• Nagas are various ethnic groups native to the northeastern India and northwestern Myanmar. The groups have similar cultures and traditions, and form the majority of population in the Indian state of Nagaland and Naga Self- Administered Zone
• The Naga self-administered zone is located in the Naga Hills of Sagaing region of Myanmar.

State Specific
Duare Sarkar
Relevance IN - Prelims (about Duare Sarkar outreach programme)
What's the NEWS

• Mamata Banerjee rolls out 'Duare Sarkar' outreach programme for doorstep delivery of govt schemes
• The Mamata Banerjee government in Bengal has launched a massive outreach programme named "Duare Sarkar" or Government at your doorstep.

Know! more about it

• Benefits of at least 11 state government-run schemes will be made available to eligible people at camps to be set up for the 'Duare Sarkar' (government at doorsteps) programme
• The flagship schemes include the globally acclaimed 'Kanyashree' (a cash transfer scheme aimed at retaining girls in schools and preventing their early marriage), besides 'Khadya Sathi'( for ensuring that almost 90 per cent of the population comes under food security), 'Sikshashree' (one time grant given to SC and ST students from class 5 to class 8 to go to schools).
• Other government schemes like 'Rupashree (one-time financial grant of Rs 25,000 for economically stressed families at the time of their daughter's marriage), 'Jai Johar' (for the betterment of ST people), 'Taposili Bondhu' (pension scheme for SC people), 'Akhyashree' (a scheme that provides scholarships to students of minority communities in the state) and MGNREGS will also be included

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