CA

Ganesh Vilas Lengare awarded Star 2020 Certificate by World Book of Records, London

Focus: GS1.

Topic: Social empowerment.

Context

• Solapur based social activist Ganesh Vilas Lengare has been awarded the Star 2020 Certificate by the World Book of Records, London.
• The organisation, found in 2017, honours personalities for their outstanding contribution towards humanity and universal peace.

Background

• Recognizing his efforts to help the needy during the coronavirus induced lockdown, Ganesh Lengare has been awarded the Star 2020 e-citation certificate.
• Out of the 21 schemes that were launched by him to assist the people, the most important was the COVID patient contact tracing, that was implemented with the help of Solapur district authorities.

About the record

• Understanding the need for spreading awareness regarding maintaining hand hygiene, wearing masks and following social distancing, Mr. Lengare organised various online contests and produced educational videos.
• Besides providing masks and water bottles to migrant labourers, who were using Solapur-Pune highway to reach their home town in neighbouring states, Mr. Lengare also arranged free distribution of grocery and vegetables for the poor.
• The social activist thus spread a spirit of hope and positivity during the testing times of COVID-19 pandemic, as is correctly stated in his citation.

Source: AIR News.

Mali's President announces resignation after soldiers mutiny

Focus: GS2.

Topic: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India's interests, Indian diaspora.

Context

• Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita announced his resignation on state television, hours after mutinous soldiers fired shots into the air outside his home before detaining him and the prime minister.
• The dramatic development comes after several months of regular demonstrations calling for Keita to step down from power three years before his final term was due to end.
• BackgroundSpeaking on national broadcaster ORTM just before midnight, a distressed Keita wearing a mask amid the COVID-19 pandemic said his resignation was effective immediately.
• A banner across the bottom of the television screen referred to him as the “outgoing president."
• About the Outgoing PresidentKeita, who was democratically elected in 2013 and re-elected five years later, was left with few choices after the mutinous soldiers earlier in the day seized weapons from the armory in the garrison town of Kati and then advanced on the capital of Bamako.
• There was no immediate comment from the troops, who hailed from the same military barracks in Kati where an earlier coup originated more than eight years ago.
• The political upheaval unfolded months after disputed legislative elections, but Keita's support also had tumbled amid criticism of his government's handling of an Islamic insurgency that has engulfed the country once praised as a model of democracy in the region.
• The military has taken a beating over the past year from Islamic State and al-Qaida-linked groups.
• A wave of particularly deadly attacks in the north in 2019 prompted the government to close its most vulnerable outposts as part of a reorganization aimed at stemming the losses.

Source: LiveMint.