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Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has recently announced to launch “Jiban Sampark” project in partnership with UNICEF India to generate awareness about the development and welfare initiatives of state government among the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) of the state. The announcement was made at the annual tribal fair popularly known as “Adivasi Mela” on 70th Republic Day 2019. The focus areas of the Project will include skill development, empowering communities, cooperation and innovation among the groups. Of 75 tribal communities in the country, 13 PVTGs reside in remote and far-off areas of 12 districts in Odisha.

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As per latest report of the World Steel Association (WSA), China is the largest producer of crude steel accounting for more than 51% of production. While, India has replaced Japan as world’s second largest steel producing country. The crude steel production of India in 2018 was at 106.5 MT. It went up by 4.9% from 101.5 MT in 2017. Japan produced 104.3 MT in 2018, down 0.3% compared to 2017. Global crude steel production reached 1,808.6 MT for the year 2018 from 1,729.8 MT in 2017, a rise of 4.6%. The WSA is the international trade body for the iron and steel industry. Its members represent around 85% of the world’s steel production, including over 160 steel producers with 9 of the 10 largest steel companies, national and regional steel industry associations, and steel research institutes.

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The International Holocaust Remembrance Day is observed every year on 27th of January to commemorate the tragedy of the Holocaust that occurred during the Second World War. It commemorates the genocide that resulted in the death of an estimated 6 million Jews and others by the Nazi regime.

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On 29th January, the 8-member Lokpal search panel hold its first meeting to select members of anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal. The committee, headed by former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, is understood to have discussed modalities related to the appointments of the chief and members of Lokpal. The meeting comes days after the Supreme Court set up a February-end deadline for the search committee to send a panel of names who could be considered for the appointment as chairman and members of Lokpal by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led selection committee. The Lokpal Act, which envisages establishment of the anti-graft body Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in states to look into cases of corruption against certain categories of public servants, was passed in 2013.

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The 3rd International Stock Taking Conference on Tiger Conservation was held in New Delhi on January 28, 2019. The 2-day conference was hosted by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in close collaboration with the Global Tiger Forum (GTA) which is an International, Intergovernmental Organization for conserving tigers in the world. In it, the 13 tiger range countries discussed on the status of the Global Tiger Recovery Program (GTRP) besides deliberations on combating wildlife trafficking. This is the second stock taking conference held in India after 2012. The major outcome of the Conference is expected to be course correction in strategies envisaged in Global and National Tiger Recovery Programs (GTRP/NTRP) which shall take tiger conservation forward to the intended goal as outlined in St. Petersburg, Russia.