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- Election Commissioner Sunil Arora has been appointed as the next Chief Election Commissioner. He will take charge as the next CEC on December 2.
- A former bureaucrat, Sunil Arora was appointed as Election Commissioner in September last year.
- 62 year old Sunil Arora had been the Union Information and Broadcasting Secretary and Secretary in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
- A 1980 batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, Sunil Arora has worked in ministries and departments such as Finance, Textiles and Planning Commission.
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- The increasing number of extreme events is causing die-back of Arctic plants or 'browning' across Arctic regions, a study has found.
- Scientists from the University of Sheffield in the UK studying the Arctic which is warming twice as fast as the global average found that plant dieback following these events could significantly reduce the ability of Arctic ecosystems to help combat climate change.
- Previously, scientists had found that increasing summer warmth in the Arctic was encouraging vegetation to grow, turning areas green.
- "Despite the scale of Arctic browning, until now we knew very little about its impacts on ecosystem carbon balance; the balance between carbon uptake by vegetation and its release from vegetation and soils," said Rachael Treharne, a PhD student at the University of Sheffield.
- "This information is critical to understanding the role of Arctic ecosystems in regulating global climate, both now and in the future," Treharne said.
- The study, published in the journal Global Change Biology, assessed the impacts of Arctic browning driven by extreme climatic events.
- Researchers looking at heathland in the Lofoten archipelago of Arctic Norway found the area had been affected by two extreme climatic events.
- One of the events caused death of the dominant evergreen vegetation, and the second caused an extensive 'stress response', visible as high levels of protective anthocyanin (red) pigments in shoots and leaves.
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- Pakistani traffic authorities have for the first time in the country’s history, issued a driving licence to a transgender woman, a media report said on 27Nov.
- The Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) on 26 Nov. issued Laila Ali her license on the special directives of Islamabad’s police chief who said that she had been driving without a licence for a decade, reports Dawn news.
- Ali told Dawn that she spoke to the police chief and informed him of the issues and problems faced by the transgender community in Islamabad, including victimisation by the police.
- She said that during discussions, the police chief assured her that problems faced by the transgender community will be addressed and offered to issue her a driving licence from ITP.
- An estimated 500,000 transgenders are presently in Pakistan.
- In May, Pakistan Parliament passed the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act which established broad protections for transgender people.
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- India’s most highprofile startup founder, Sachin Bansal, is plotting his comeback to the world of entrepreneurship, this time with a focus on two emerging sectors that are drawing a lot of attention agri-tech and fintech.
- The Flipkart cofounder will establish a holding company through which he will run his new businesses and make investments, said two people familiar with his plans.
- Bansal, 37, has brought in Ankit Agarwal, whom he has known from his IIT-Delhi days, as a partner and founding employee of this platform, they said.
- Bansal, who exited Flipkart in May following Walmart’s acquisition of a majority stake in it, will directly operate his new businesses as well as invest for large minority and majority stakes in the agri-tech and fintech segments, these people said.
- Bansal did not reply to calls and messages from ET seeking comment. Agarwal could not be immediately contacted.
- Agarwal was until recently a director at Bank of America, where he worked on interest rate trading. Prior to that, he was employed with Deutsche Bank.
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- Nepal government has launched a Social Security Scheme for formal sector workers.
- Unveiling the scheme in Kathmandu 27 Nov, Prime Minister K.P.Sharma Oli said a new era of social security has begun in Nepal.
- He said it was very necessary to strengthen the system in which government is accountable to its people.
- Oli further said that people of all ages and categories would be included in the scheme.
- The new social security scheme is contribution based and it will cover health and medical facilities, safe motherhood, accident and physical incapacity security, security to dependent family members and security at old age.
- The scheme will be compulsorily applicable to formal sector workers.
- The scheme will soon be extended to informal sector workers as well.
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- Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has given a statement in the Maharashtra Assembly regarding reservations to the Maratha community.
- He said that without changing the 52% reservation for the OBCs, the state government will provide reservations to the Maratha community.
- Earlier BJP govt had indicated that the government will introduce a bill on 29 Nov. to provide reservation to Marathas under the Socially and Educationally Backward Class (SEBC) category before the end of the Legislature's winter session.
- The state Legislature's winter session concludes on 30 Nov.
- A Cabinet sub-committee was formed last week to study the State Backward Class Commission's report on reservation for Marathas and take a decision on it.
- The commission's recommendations were approved by the Cabinet and it was decided to form a sub-committee for further process.
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