Hornbill Festival begins in Nagaland
- The Hornbill Festival began in the Naga Heritage village of Kisama.
- The festival coincides with the Statehood Day of Nagaland which is observed on December 1.
- It is tourism promotional extravaganza to revive, protect and preserve the richness and uniqueness of the Naga heritage. It is also called as the ‘Festival of Festivals‘.
- Hornbill Festival is celebrated in Nagaland every year in the first week of December.
- It is one of the biggest indigenous festivals of the country.
- The festival is a tribute to Hornbill, the most admired and revered bird for the Nagas for its qualities of alertness and grandeur.
- The majestic bird is closely identified with the social and cultural life of the Nagas as reflected in tribal folklore, dances and songs.
- It is organized by the State Tourism and Art & Culture Departments.
- It is also supported by the Union Government.
- The Hornbill Festival provides a colourful mixture of dances, performances, crafts, parades, games, sports, food fairs and religious ceremonies.
- It exposes both the culture and tradition of tribal peoples, and reinforces Nagaland’s identity as a unique state in India’s federal union.
- It was established on 1st December 1963 and was inaugurated by the then President Dr. S Radhakrishnan.
- Over the years festival has become a unique platform for tourists to witness cultural diversity not only of the Nagas and other seven sister states of the northeastern region.
Rakesh Asthana takes additional charge as Director of CBI
- The Union Government has given senior IPS officer Rakesh Asthana additional charge of the post of Director, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
- He took charge following retirement of Anil Sinha.
- He was given this charge after government failed to find any full-time Director for CBI.
- This is the first time in last 10 years and only the second time in the CBI’s history that no new Director has been named to succeed an incumbent.
- Rakesh Asthana Rakesh Asthana is 1984 batch IPS officer of Gujarat Cadre.
- Prior to this appointment he was serving as additional director in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
- He had held several important assignments in Gujarat.
- He has also served as the commissioner of police, Vadodara and Surat.
- He had headed the special investigation team (SIT), which probed the Godhra train arson of February 2002.
- About Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) CBI is the foremost investigative police agency in India.
- It derives power to investigate from the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946 It was established in 1941 as the Special Police Establishment.
- It was renamed to present nomenclature in 1963.
- Headquarters: New Delhi. Motto: Industry, Impartiality, Integrity.
- It is headed by Director, an IPS officer of DGP rank.
- He is selected as per the provisions of Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) Act, 2003 The CBI Director is selected by a collegium comprising Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India and Leader of Opposition or leader of the largest party in opposition in Lok Sabha.
Akhilesh Yadav flags off Lucknow metro
- Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday flagged off the Lucknow metro train, whose trial run will take place on 8.5km stretch.
- According to an official, they completed the metro work in 26 months, which is a record for any metro rail project in India.
- Further, the metro train service will be made available for the people after March 2017.
Delhi girl becomes India’s first female pro poker player
- Muskan Sethi, a 27-year-old from Delhi, is India’s first female professional poker player.
- She has been playing professionally since 2012 and participated in World series of Poker, World Poker Tour and European Poker Tour as the first Indian female professional.
- Muskan won an all-expenses-paid trip to Barcelona in 2014 after finishing fourth among 700,000 players at the PokerStars Championship.