NATIONAL MAY 2016
- Sushma Swaraj inaugurates six language versions of PMO India website
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on 29th May inaugurated six language versions of PMO India website. The languages are Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu.
She said, these versions in regional languages are a great opportunity to further discussion on Government’s agenda of development and good governance. - NGT raps states on pollution, warns of action against chief secretaries
The National Green Tribunal, NGT on 30th May took state governments to task for not taking a clear stand on pollution and vehicle density in major cities in their jurisdiction. NGT directed them to submit information by tomorrow failing which bailable warrants will be issued against chief secretaries.
The green panel directed Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, West Bengal to apprise it about cities which have worst ambient air quality.
The tribunal also slammed Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for submitting half-baked data on the population and vehicle density in major cities across the country.
The tribunal also directed Delhi RTO to appear before it and inform it about the total number of vehicles in the national capital along with their break-up. - Maneka Gandhi releases Draft Trafficking of Persons Bill
Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi on 30thMay released the Draft Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill 2016 in New Delhi.
The new bill aims to check human trafficking by unifying several existing laws, meting out tougher punishment for repeat offenders and ensuring the protection and rehabilitation of victims.
Besides creating a comprehensive law against trafficking, the draft bill calls for the creation of a special court and investigation agency to tackle such cases and joint working groups with neighboring countries to undertake preventive measures. - India becomes co-chair of Working Group on MSA on piracy off Coast of Somalia
India has become co-chair of Working Group on maritime situational awareness under Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, CGPCS. India was chosen to co-chair the important Working Group on improving Maritime Situational Awareness in the region through consensus during a four day session which was held in Mahe in Seychelles from 31st May. It was chaired by the Foreign Minister of the Seychelles and more than 60 countries and organisations participated. - Global conference on economic empowerment of women
A six-day global conference themed on economic empowerment of women to foster leadership and entrepreneurship among them concluded in Delhi on 21st May. The Women Economic Forum was hosted by All Ladies League with a theme 'Women: Uplifting and Uniting The World'. HRD Minister Smriti Irani was present as the Chief Guest at the event. - Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat asked to appear before CBI on May 24
The CBI on 22nd May asked Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat to appear before the agency on May 24 in connection with a probe into the sting operation involving him. The agency had said the notification was rejected after taking legal opinion, which said there was no ground for its withdrawal and it was “not legally tenable”.
The CBI will continue its preliminary inquiry into the episode that allegedly involved horse trading attempts to save the Rawat government.
CBI had registered a Preliminary Enquiry (PE) on April 29 to probe the “sting operation” purportedly showing Rawat offering bribes to rebel Congress lawmakers to support him during a floor test in the Uttarakhand Assembly.
The agency had summoned Rawat for examination for May 9 but he had sought more time after which he won the floor test and returned to power. Rawat has denied the allegation and called the video fake after it was released by the rebel Congress legislators but later admitted that he was on camera in the sting operation.
After Rawat’s victory in the floor test, the state cabinet met on May 15 and withdrew the notification recommending a CBI probe into a sting operation involving him. Instead, the state cabinet decided to constitute a Special Investigating Team to probe the case as it was a state subject. The case was handed over to the CBI when President’s Rule was imposed in the state.
The notification was withdrawn immediately after Rawat proved his majority in the Assembly and his government was restored. The Chief Minister had failed to get a reprieve from Uttarakhand High Court also which had refused to quash the ongoing CBI probe into the sting operation. On May 20, Justice Sarvesh Kumar Gupta of the Uttarakhand High Court had said quashing the CBI probe into the sting CD at this stage was not possible. - Indian Navy commissions fast attack craft INS Tarmugli
The Indian Navy commissioned the highly manoeuvrable fast attack craft INS Tarmugli at the Eastern Naval Command on 23rd May. Tarmugli would be based in Visakhapatnam under the Naval Officer-in-Charge (Andhra Pradesh) and would be deployed for coastal patrol and surveillance operations along the Eastern Coast.
The ship is an improved version of WJFAC,conceived, designed and built indigenously. The commissioning of this ship completes the addition of another chapter to the nation’s ‘Make in India’ initiative and indigenisation efforts in the field of warship design and construction.
Named after an island in the Andaman group, the 320-tonne INS Tarmugli, measuring 48 meters can achieve speeds in excess of 30 knots. Built for extended coastal and offshore surveillance and patrol the warship is fitted with advanced MTU engines, water jet propulsion and the latest communication equipment. - HC stays reservation for Jats, five other communities
Punjab and Haryana High Court on 26th May granted interim stay on reservation given to Jats and five other castes in Haryana. The reservation was challenged in the court by a petitioner on the grounds that it is in violation of Supreme Court orders.The court has fixed July 21 next date of hearing, the government will file its reply on this date.
The government of Haryana had earlier approved the Haryana Backward Classes (Reservation in Services and Admission in Educational Institutions) Bill. The bill enlists the Jats, Bishnois, Tyagis, and Rors in the recently sculpted Backward Classes (C) category, making them eligible for 10 per cent reservation in class 3 and 4 posts, and 6 per cent reservation in class 1 and 2 jobs. - President signs ordinance keeping state boards out of NEET this year
Indian President Pranab Mukherjee on 24th May signed the ordinance to keep state boards out of the common entrance test (NEET) for MBBS and dental courses for this year.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi was at the President's Secretariat along with top Health Ministry officials to respond to clarifications sought by the President on the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).
The ordinance on NEET is aimed at partially overturning a Supreme Court order that had taken into account the multiple medical entrance tests by states and private colleges as well as allegations of corruption. - Lucknow, Warangal among 13 new smart cities
As many as 13 more cities have bagged the ‘smart city’ tag under the government’s flagship mission, the Ministry of Urban Development announced on 24th May.
Lucknow led the pack among the winners of the fast track competition under the mission, followed by Warangal, Dharamashala, Chandigarh, Raipur, New Town Kolkata, Bhagalpur, Panaji, Port Blair, Imphal, Ranchi, Agartala, and Faridabad.
In January this year, the top 20 winning cities under the first round were announced which covered only 12 States and Union Territories. The government had then decided to conduct a ‘fast track competition’ to offer an opportunity to the highest ranked city in each of the unrepresented 23 States and UTs.
Now, the government has also decided to give an opportunity to 7 State capitals which could not make it to the shortlist of 100 participants to compete in the smart city race. These State capitals are Patna, Shimla, Naya Raipur, Itanagar, Amaravati, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram.
The Minister also informed reporters that the tie between Meerut and Rai Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh and between Jammu and Srinagar in J&K in the participants shortlist will be resolved by allowing them to participate in the smart city competition and one city from each of these two States will be selected based on the quality of smart city plans. With this, the total participants in the smart city race are now 109, against 100 proposed earlier.
Revised plans by June
For the regular second round of the competition the remaining cities have to submit revised smart city plans by June end this year.
Those among the 23 cities which could not win the fast track competition — Namchi in Sikkim, Aizawl, Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh, Dehradun, Kohima, Oulgaret in Puducherry, Silvassa, Kavaratti in Lakshdweep, Diu and Shillong — can also join this second round of competition.
Operated as a centrally sponsored scheme, the Centre has proposed to financial support of Rs. 48,000 crore over five years, that is on an average Rs. 100 crore per city per year. States have to match this amount. The project intends to promote adoption of smart solutions to enhance the quality of urban life and provide a clean and sustainable environment. - Centre to provide Unique Identity Cards to specially abled persons
Centre will soon provide Unique Identity Cards to the specially abled persons which can be used anywhere in the country. This information was given by Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thaawar Chand Gehlot in a Awareness workshop on Accessible India Campaign at Jaipur on 24th May. He said that his ministry is also planning to extend the categories of specially abled people from 7 to 19. After this every person even with minor disability will be covered. He added his ministry has decided to establish five national sports centers for specially abled persons in India at different places. Apart from this district level centers will also be opened throughout the country. - FSSAI suggests ban on potassium bromate use as food additive
Government is set to ban use of potassium bromate as food additive in next 15 days, following a Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) study that claimed presence of cancer-causing chemicals in bread.
Potassium bromate is one of 11,000 food additives that are allowed in food business. After careful consideration, the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has decided to remove potassium bromate from the list of permissible additives.
The regulator has recommended removal of potassium bromate from the list of permissible food additives to the Health Ministry.
The CSE said that nearly 84 per cent of 38 commonly available brands of pre-packaged breads, including pav and buns, tested positive for potassium bromate and potassium iodate, banned in many countries as they are listed as “hazardous” for public health. - HRD ministry launches portal Bharatvani containing info in 22 Indian languages
Union human resource development minister Smriti Irani launched Bharatvani web portal and App at Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University at Lucknow on 25th May.
The ambitious program envisages to make available the literature and all the knowledge so far been created or being created in India to everyone through digital medium.
This portal and App has been developed by Central Institute of Linguistics Mysore. Speaking on this occasion, Smriti Irani said that the use of technology in the preservation and development of languages is a great boon.
She said that as of now Bharatvani is made available in twenty two Indian languages. But till the end of this year Bharatvani will be made available in 250 more Indian languages and dialects, she added. Union minister said that the initiatives like this one will augment the PM's Digital India program in a great way. - New education policy: panel submits report to HRD Ministry
The Committee for Evolution of the New Education Policy has submitted a report containing its recommendations to the Ministry of Human Resource Development. In October last year, the Ministry had set up a five-member panel, headed by former Cabinet Secretary TSR Subramanian, to draft the new policy.
Other members on the panel are former Chief Secretary NCT of Delhi Shailaja Chandra; former Home Secretary, NCT of Delhi Sevaram Sharma; former Chief Secretary Gujarat Sudhir Mankad, and former Director of NCERT JS Rajput.
The Ministry had undertaken a consultation process for this which included online, grassroots and national level thematic deliberations on 33 themes. Online consultations were held from January 26, 2015 to October 31, 2015 and over 29,000 suggestions were received.
The process was also spread across gram panchayats, blocks, urban local bodies and districts of all States/Union Territories. - NITI Aayog unveils incubation centres
To foster creativity and scientific temper in students and provide financial support to institutions, the NITI Aayog has launched 500 Atal tinkering labs and 100 incubation centres.
The Atal tinkering labs will provide one-time establishment grant-in-aid of Rs. 10 lakh to schools (grade VI–XII) across India. Further, Rs. 10 lakh would be provided for each lab over five years for operational expenses. The Atal Incubation Centres will provide multiple facilities to innovators and start-up entrepreneurs for developing solutions under which a grant-in-aid of Rs. 10 crore will be given to set up a new centre over five years. - EC recommends to TN Governor cancellation of polls to 2 seats
The Election Commission on 28th May decided to rescind the notification and conduct polls afresh "in due course of time" to two Tamil Nadu Assembly seats following evidence of use of money to influence voters. Earlier, EC had on two occasions postponed polls to Aravkurichi and Tanjavur Assembly constituencies following reports of large scale distribution of money and gifts to voters by the candidates and political parties. Initially, the polls were postponed from May 16 to May 23. On May 21, EC had decided to once again postpone the polls to June 13. - Nagaland cabinet approves proposal to constitute a Child Rights Commission in the state
Nagaland Minister for Social Welfare and Parliamentary Affairs, Kiyanilie Peseyie has informed that the state cabinet has approved the proposal to constitute a Child Rights Commission in Nagaland.
Saying that the most challenging concern in the country is rampant crime against children and women in any form of physical and sexual abuse, the Minister appealed to NGOs, agencies and individuals to work towards protecting women and children with the support of UNICEF. - DreamWorks to partner with Telangana govt
On the fifth day of the official business trip to the US, Telangana Minister for IT and Industries K Taraka Rama Rao met Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks at their office. DreamWorks is looking for expanding their production facilities in India and sought partnership with Telangana State government for their long-term plans.
DreamWorks is also looking at creating high end theater ecosystem to promote their movies. In this regard, DreamWorks has asked Telangana government to create conducive environment. DreamWorks has plans to cater to Indian market and believe that Hyderabad is ideal location, given its talent pool and vibrant film industry.
DreamWorks and Telangana Government also agreed to collaborate to create Dreamplay, a small scale theme center, which can become a tourist attraction for Hyderabad city.
KTR also visited La Kretz Innovation Campus in Los Angeles on 28th May to understand the functioning of Los Angeles Clean Tech Incubator (LACI).
On arrival, he was taken on a tour of the incubator and understood the practices that made it a successful incubator. Many of the innovations being incubated are relevant to Hyderabad and Telangana.
For example, water harvesting, converting sewer water into clean water and so on. It is a 60,000 sft incubator focused on clean-tech innovation and commercialization activities. The LACI leadership gave a high-level overview of various clean-tech technologies and solutions developed by various. - Supreme Court gets four new judges, strength goes up to 29
Justices AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and L Nageshwar Rao were on 13th May sworn in as Supreme Court judges, taking the apex court's strength to 29, including Chief Justice TS Thakur.
They were administered the oath of office by CJI Thakur. Justices Khanwilkar, Chandrachud and Bhushan were the Chief Justices of Madhya Pradesh High Court, Allahabad High Court and Kerala High Court, respectively.
The elevation of the four judges were the first set of recommendations made by the Supreme Court Collegium after the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act which sought to scrap the collegium system was struck down by an SC bench in October last year.
The apex court will also see five judges retiring this year, including Justice AR Dave who will retire on November 18, Justice FMI Kalifulla on July 22, Justice V Gopala Gowda on October 5, Justice Shiva Kirti Singh on November 12 and Justice C Nagappan on October 3. The Chief Justice of India will retire on January 3, 2017. - J P Nadda lays foundation stones for three medical colleges
In Jammua and Kashmir, Union Health Minister J P Nadda on 15th May laid foundation stones for three medical colleges in the state. The hospitals will be built at a cost of 189 crore rupees each. Of the three medical colleges two are in Kashmir vallley's Anantnag and Baramulla districts and one in Rajouri district of Jammu. The medical college in Rajouri will have 100 MBBS seats and a hospital with the capacity of 300 beds. - Coastal flooding will hit world’s biggest polluters hardest
Three of the world’s heaviest polluters will likely face the greatest human and financial costs caused by coastal flooding, one of the effects of climate change.
According to a report released 16th May by Christian Aid, an anti-poverty organization, people living in the U.S., China and India — three of the world’s very worst offenders in terms of greenhouse gas emission — face the greatest risks posed by coastal flooding.
By 2060, more than a billion people worldwide will likely confront coastal flooding due to sea level rise, storm surges and extreme weather, with the majority of those people living in major cities throughout Asia.
Calcutta, India, tops the list, where around 1.3 million people are currently exposed to coastal flooding. By 2070, that number is expected to balloon to 14 million, according to the report.
Mumbai ranks second, where an estimated 11.4 million people could face disruption due to flooding by 2070. Dhaka, Bangladesh, is third with a projected 11.1 million vulnerable people.
The poorest residents in these areas are likely to be hit hardest, as they would be ill-suited to respond to extreme climate events and would have the most difficult time rebuilding their lives afterward.
In addition to the human toll, the report predicts that flooding will exact a large financial cost on coastal cities as well.
In financial terms, Miami is the city that stands to lose the most as oceans rise — not just in the U.S. but in the world. The Florida city is projected to have some $3.5 trillion in assets exposed to coastal flooding by 2070.
According to the report, the second most at-risk city in 2070 will be Guangzhou, China, with $3.4 trillion liable; the New York City/Newark, New Jersey area comes in third on the list with a projected $2.1 trillion.
To combat these massive human and financial costs, Doig and her co-authors argue strongly in favor of taking action now to lessen pain in the future. - Govt unveils draft national policy for women
Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi on 17th May unveiled a Draft National Policy for Women to create a society in which women attain their full potential and participate as equal partners in all spheres of life.
According to the Minister the draft policy focuses on safety and security aspect of women, their economic upliftment and nutrition.
To provide immediate assistance to women in case they fall victim to any kind of crime, she talked about installing a panic button in mobile phones.
Ms Gandhi said, her Ministry is also considering putting in place a mobile application with panic button for the help of women in case of emergency.
The policy stresses on the need for making cyber space safer for women, review Constitutional provisions to enable equitable and uniform entitlements for women and comprehensive social protection to address vulnerabilities of single women and protection of surrogate mothers. - India projected to add 300 million new urban residents by 2050: UN report
India is projected to add 300 million new urban residents by 2050 and it will need to build climate-friendly cities to address the challenge of accommodating the needs of the growing population, a UN report has said.
The first 'World Cities Report 2016 - Urbanisation and Development: Emerging Futures' report by UN Habitat said in India, urban areas already contribute more than 60 per cent of the GDP, and the new urban residents' projection has lead to a call by the Indian government to build 100 new cities over the period.
The report said that central to this challenge are the twin bottlenecks of municipal finance and infrastructure finance for transport, electricity, communications, water supply and sanitation in support of production. Large South-Asian countries like Bangladesh, India and Pakistan feature massive, expanding urban populations in mega-cities such as Dhaka, Mumbai, Delhi, Karachi and Lahore as well as in growing number of secondary cities, it said. - World’s largest single rooftop Solar Power Plant inaugurated in Amritsar
In Punjab, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal inaugurated on 17th May the World’s largest Single Rooftop Solar Power Plant with capacity of 11.5 MegaWatt (MW) at Dera Baba Jaimal Singh at Beas, in Amritsar district.
This is the largest Solar Power Plant spread over 82 acres of rooftop in single campus on multiple roofs with installed capacity of 19.5 MW.
The plant has been set up with the cost of 139 crore rupees .Speaking on this occasion Chief Minister appreciated the rare achievement of Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) to usher in a solar power revolution in the state. - BJP in Asom, TMC power in WB, AIADMK in TN, LDF wins in Kerala
BJP and its alliance partners have won an absolute majority in Assam state assembly election. BJP has won 60 seats on its own in the 126 member house. Its ally AGP has won 14 seats while another ally BPF has bagged 12 seats. The party has thus made history by winning an assembly election in a north-eastern state. Congress has bagged 26 seats, AIUDF 13 and one seat has gone to an independent.
BJP Chief Ministerial candidate Sarbananda Sonowal has won from Majuli seat, defeating his nearest rival by more than 18000 votes.
In West Bengal, the TMC has crossed the two-third mark by winning 203 seats in the 294 member assembly. Congress- Left combine has taken 73 seats while BJP has bagged three seats. Independents and others have won five seats.
West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC Supremo, Mamta Banerjee has won from Bhabanipur Assembly Constituency. She defeated her nearest Congress rival Deepa Dasmunshi by over 25 thousand votes.
In Tamil Nadu, AIADMK Chief J. Jayalalitha has made history by becoming the first Chief Minister in 32 years to be voted back to power. Her party bagged 125 seats out of 232 seats that went to polls. The opposition DMK has won 87 seats while Congress has bagged 9 segments and IUML one.
Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has won Dr. RK Nagar constituency in Chennai. DMK Patriarch M. Karunanidhi has won for a record 13th time from his home turf of Tiruvarur .
In Kerala, the LDF has pushed the ruling UDF out of power by bagging 85 of the 140-seats. The UDF could bag only 46 seats. BJP has opened its account in the state by winning one seat. Eight results have gone in favour of others.
Apple opens Development Office in Hyderabad
Apple on 19th May announced the opening of a new office in Hyderabad that will focus on development of Maps for Apple products, including iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch. This investment will accelerate Maps development and create up to 4,000 jobs.
Apple has been continually updating and adding new features to Maps, including 3D views, the Flyover feature and tools to help customers find convenient places to shop, eat and explore nearby areas. With iOS 9 Apple added Transit, offering a combination of trains, subways, buses and walking, which is already available for more than 300 cities around the world.
The new facility, located on the Waverock campus, will provide a world-class, LEED-certified home for the expanding Maps team.
Across India, Apple supports over 640,000 iOS app developer jobs and other positions related to the iOS ecosystem.
Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. At present, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV. Apple’s four software platforms — iOS, OS X, watchOS and tvOS — provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay and iCloud. - J P Nadda launches centre to assess environmental impact on health
Union Health Minister JP Nadda on 19th May launched the Centre for Environmental Health in New Delhi. The centre will assess the impact of environment-related problems like air pollution, climate change, pesticide use and sanitation.
According to Nadda, evidence based research is very important as it gives strength to sensitise people in that direction. He said, the ministry is proactive on environmental issues and it's focus is on preventive and promotive health. - 14 additional cities to get smart city tag soon
The Ministry of Urban Development will announce as many as 14 winners of the ‘fast track competition’ under the smart cities mission soon.
The top 20 winning cities in the first round were announced in January this year and covered only 12 states and union territories. The government had then decided to conduct a ‘fast track competition’ to offer an opportunity to the highest ranked city in each of the unrepresented 23 States and UTs.
These 23 cities submitted revised proposals last month and those meeting the benchmark set by the winning cities in the first round of the competition will get central assistance.
These cities are Warangal, Chandigarh, Lucknow, New Town Kolkata, Goa, Pasighat (Arunachal Pradesh), Dharamshala, Faridabad, Raipur, Bhagalpur (Bihar), Shillong (Meghalaya), Namchi (Sikkim), Port Blair, Diu, Oulgaret (Puducherry), Silvassa (Dadra & Nagar Haveli), Imphal (Manipal), Ranchi, Agartala, Kohima, Kavaratti (Lakshadweep) and Dehradun.
Meanwhile, for the regular second round of the competition, the remaining 97 cities have to submit revised smart city plans by June-end. Those of the 23 cities which were included in the fast track competition and had failed to get selected can also join the second round of competition.
Operated as a centrally sponsored scheme, the Centre has proposed financial support of ?48,000 crore over five years, i.e. on an average ?100 crore per city per year. States have to match this amount. The project intends to promote adoption of smart solutions to enhance the quality of urban life and provide a clean and sustainable environment. - Census 2011 data: 81.3% Hindu households in country
The census has found that 81.3 per cent of the total 248.8 million households of the country are Hindus and 12.5 per cent are Muslims. According to Registrar General of India's 2011 Census data on households which was released on 20th May, 2.5 per cent households are Christians,1.7 per cent Sikhs,0.7 per cent Buddhists and 0.4 per cent Jain.
As per data, the highest percentage of female headed households has been found in Christian community followed by Buddhists.
The lowest percentage of female headed households is Jain community. It was observed that the average household size is higher in male headed households compared to female headed household in all religious community. Sex wise variation is highest among Hindu community and the lowest variation is seen among Sikhs. - Cabinet clears ordinance to put on hold Supreme Court order on NEET for a year
The Union Cabinet on 20th May cleared an ordinance to keep state boards out of the ambit of common medical entrance exams for one year. Through the ordinance, the order of the Supreme Court on National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, NEET will be put on hold for a year.
On 9th of May, the Supreme Court had refused to modify its April 28th order making NEET mandatory for admission to undergraduate medical courses across the country for the academic year 2016-2017.
The court order had implied that all government colleges, deemed universities and private medical colleges would be covered under NEET and those examinations which had already taken place or were slated to be conducted separately stand scrapped. Major political parties and States had favoured deferring implementation of the apex court verdict.
Several State governments also wanted their exams to be the basis for admission for their 85 per cent quota for this year too. Union Health Minister J P Nadda had discussed the issue with State Health Ministers. So far 6.5 lakh students have already sat for the first phase of NEET held on 1st of this month. - Water level in 91 reservoirs dips to 18%
The water level in 91 major reservoirs across the country has dipped to 18 per cent of their total capacity. According to Ministry of Water Resources, the reservoirs whose total storage capacity is over 157 Billion Cubic Metre (BCM), are now having only about 28 BCM of water.
The levels are 41 per cent short of the stock available during corresponding period last year and 20 per cent less than the 10-year average storage levels.
States including Punjab, Odisha, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have reported lower levels of water in major reservoirs compared to last year. Andhra Pradesh and Tripura have reported better water storage as compared to last year. - NPT not required for Nuclear Suppliers Group membership: India
India on 19th May rejected China’s contention that it must sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to get membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), saying France was included in the elite group without signing the NPT.
According to external affairs spokes person Vikas Swarup, NSG members have to respect safeguards and export controls, nuclear supplies have to be in accordance with the NSG Guidelines. The NSG is an ad hoc export control regime and France, which was not an NPT member for some time, was a member of the NSG since it respected NSG’s objectives
China has opposed India’s bid to get NSG membership on the ground that it was yet to sign the NPT. Its Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang had said all the multilateral non-proliferation export control regime including the NSG have regarded NPT as an important standard for the expansion of the NSG. - Global conference on economic empowerment of women
A six-day global conference themed on economic empowerment of women to foster leadership and entrepreneurship among them concluded in Delhi on 21st May. The Women Economic Forum was hosted by All Ladies League with a theme 'Women: Uplifting and Uniting The World'. HRD Minister Smriti Irani was present as the Chief Guest at the event. - Single emergency number ‘112’ to be operational throughout India from Jan 1
The single emergency number ‘112’ will be operational throughout India from January 1 to help people reach immediate services of police, ambulance and fire department.
Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has approved the provision of a single number for various emergency services that would be similar to the '911' all-in-one emergency service in the United States. The service will also be accessible even through those SIMs and landlines whose outgoing call facility has been stopped or temporarily suspended.
A person in distress will need to call only 112, which will direct the call to concerned departments immediately for help. All existing emergency numbers will be phased out within a year of rolling out 112, depending upon the awareness about this new facility. - 55,669 villages to have mobile connectivity by 2019
Government plans to provide mobile connectivity in 55,669 villages by March 2019 in a phased manner. It will also commission a project to connect 8,621 villages in the north-eastern region by installing 321 mobile tower sites by September 2017, a note prepared by Department of Telecom (DoT) about the progress made during the last two years of the NDA government said.
A comprehensive telecom development plan for the north-eastern region at an estimated cost of Rs 5,336.18 crore has already been approved.
Regarding connectivity in areas affected by left wing extremism (LWE), a total of 1517 towers out of 2199 identified by Ministry of Home Affairs have started functioning till date, the DoT said.
On connecting rural India through high-speed broadband, the department said it has completed laying of optic fibre in 48,199 gram panchayats as on April 25, 2016.
For deeper digital penetration in rural areas, the government has taken up the BharatNet project in mission mode to connect all 2.50 lakh gram panchayats, which have over 600 million people.
BharatNet will support e-governance services, e-commerce, tele-medicine, tele-education, financial services, among others. - Gujarat govt accords minority status to Jain community
Gujarat Government has accorded minority status to the Jain community. Transport Minister Vijay Rupani said in Ahmedabad that a Government Resolution to this effect was issued on 7th May.
He said that the decision has nothing to do with reservations and the new status will benefit the poor among the Jain community as they can avail of various scholarships, government welfare schemes. Jain institutions will get special status like the one given to Christian and Muslim institutions, the Minister said. The previous UPA Government at the Centre had conferred the minority status on the community at the national level in January 2014. - Mahesh Babu adopts village in Andhra Pradesh, launches development works worth Rs 2.14 crore
Telugu Film actor Mahesh Babu adopted a village in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur district and launched several development works worth about Rs 2.14 crore on 8th May.
Mahesh adopted Burripalem, his ancestral village near Tenali, under the 'Smart Village - Smart Ward' programme launched by the Andhra Pradesh government.
Mahesh's recent blockbuster "Srimanthudu" propagated the theme 'giving back to the society' and it's in this spirit that he chose to adopt Burripalem He also adopted a village in Mahbubnagar district of Telangana.
Accompanied by his brother-in-law and Guntur MP Galla Jaydev and Tenali MLA Alapati Rajendra Prasad, Mahesh arrived in Burripalem this afternoon and spent some time in his ancestral house before launching the development works.
Mahesh will spend over Rs 2.14 crore for the construction of an Anganwadi building, a community hall, additional classrooms in the local school, laying of water pipelines, development of roads and drains in the village, according to the MP. Burripalem would be developed into a model village, as envisioned in the SAGY, and a smart village under the Smart Andhra Pradesh programme of the state government. - Anti-Hijacking bill passed in Parliament
Parliament has passed the Anti-Hijacking Bill, 2016 with Lok Sabha approving it on 9th May. The Rajya Sabha had passed it earlier. The Bill provides for the death penalty even if ground handling staff and airport personnel are killed during such acts.
In the previous Bill, hijackers could be tried for the death penalty only in the event of death of hostages, such as flight crew, passengers and security personnel. The Bill defines hijacking as seizing control of an aircraft in service, unlawfully and intentionally, by technological means or by exercising force, coercion, or any other form of intimidation.
The Bill covers several acts within the definition of hijacking which includes attempt and abetment of hijacking, making a credible threat to commit hijacking and organizing or directing others to commit hijacking. It says, Hijacking and the related offences shall be extraditable.
Extraditable offences are those offences for which one country many transfer the accused to another country’s legal jurisdiction. No request for extradition shall be refused on the ground that hijacking is a political offence or is connected to a political offence.
The bill was moved by Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju in the House. Speaking on the bill, the Minister said, the legislation has been framed in line with the International convention. - Environment Ministry rapped for not using funds fully
The Centre and more specifically the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change is not putting money where its mouth is — literally.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests, has criticised the Ministry for falling far short of targets. The report noted that by December 31, 2015, the Ministry utilised a meagre 11 per cent ( Rs. 14.53 crore) of the total Rs. 136.79 crore allocated to the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), one of the most crucial programmes of the Ministry.
The Committee had in its 254th Report also highlighted the gross under-utilisation of funds under this scheme during the years 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15. The performance of the Ministry in 2015-16 has been no better. The Committee is at a loss to understand as to how a Ministry which is not even able to make use of a fraction of the funds made available for Climate Change Action Programme, would undertake additional interventions in the requisite areas of the programme,” the report said.
The Ministry, overall, has been an underperformer in the 2015-16 fiscal. At a time when pollution in the country is an international concern, up until December 31, 2015, the Ministry utilised only about 35 per cent of the allocation for its scheme of Assistance for Abatement of Pollution. It failed to achieve its targets of setting up ambient air quality monitoring stations and noise monitoring stations.
Even the allocations under the already under funded research and development scheme were not fully utilised.
The committee noted its “disappointment” and “displeasure” on almost every sector under the Ministry, including Forest and Zoological surveys of India, which both missed their targets, biosphere reserves (where only 50 per cent of the funds were utilised), National River Conservation Plan and wildlife management. It said, “The performance of the department in terms of utilization of funds leaves much to be desired.” - Drought has affected 1.5 lakh villages across the country: govt.
According to the government information on 10th May to the Lok Sabha, the drought had affected nearly 1.5 lakh villages across the country and around a quarter of its population had been impacted. Rural Development Minister Birender Singh said 313 districts, 1,58,205 villages and 4,44,280 dwellings had been hit by drought and the government was taking efforts to deal with the situation.
He was replying to the discussion on drought, water scarcity and inter-linking of rivers, with members voicing concern over the worsening situation and demanding waiver of loans of farmers. - Uttarakhand floor test: Supreme Court to declare result on 10th May
Supreme Court will declare on 11th May the result of floor test held in Uttarakhand Assembly on 10th May. Harish Rawat-led Congress government sought a vote of confidence in the assembly on 10th May following an apex court order. Soon after the floor test in Dehradun, Mr Rawat claimed that his government has won the vote of confidence.
Congress sources claimed Mr Rawat has won the trust vote with the support of 33 lawmakers. With nine Congress rebels barred from voting, the strength of the 71-member assembly was 62. Sources said, 28 MLAs voted for the BJP. President's Rule was lifted in the state for a few hours for the trust vote. Only MLAs eligible to vote and observers appointed by the Supreme Court were allowed in the assembly.
Centre had imposed President's rule in the state on March 27, arguing that Harish Rawat government lost majority when nine rebel Congress MLAs voted against the state government's annual budget.
Supreme Court, on 9th May, confirmed the Uttarakhand High Court order barring nine rebel Congress MLAs from voting in the trust vote. They were disqualified by the Speaker a day before the Centre imposed President's Rule in Uttarakhand on March 27. - Cong wins Uttarakhand floor test; Harish Rawat welcomes revocation of President rule
Congress has won the floor test in Uttarakhand Assembly. The Supreme Court on 11th May declared that Mr Harish Rawat got 33 votes out of 61 in the Assembly. The apex court said Mr Rawat will assume office as Chief Minister after President's rule is revoked.
The court said no irregularities were found in the voting. The result of the trust vote was handed over to the Supreme Court in a sealed cover early today along with video recording of the proceedings in the State Assembly.
President's Rule has been revoked in Uttarakhand. The Union Cabinet took the decision after Supreme Court declared that Congress has won the floor test in Uttarakhand Assembly. - Disaster mitigation fund should be created by Centre to tackle drought: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court on 11th May asked the Centre to create a disaster mitigation fund to tackle drought- like situation. A bench headed by Justice M B Lokur directed the Centre to also implement the provisions of Disaster Management Act and fix a time limit for declaration of drought on scientific grounds. It also asked the Centre to revise the drought management manual to provide effective relief to calamity-hit farmers and prepare a national plan to tackle the crisis.
The court directed Agriculture Ministry to hold a meeting within a week with Chief Secretaries of Bihar, Gujarat and Haryana to assess drought situation. The court also directed that the National Disaster Response Force should be trained and equipped to tackle the drought-like situation.
Earlier, the apex court had asked the Centre whether it was not its responsibility to warn the states about the drought like situation likely to prevail in the near future. The court had expressed its concern over low compensation paid to calamity-hit farmers and observed that it was leading some of them to commit suicide. The petitioner NGO, Swaraj Abhiyan, had sought a direction to Centre to abide by the provisions of MNREGA Act and use it for employment generation in drought-affected areas. - Air Pollution could cause over 5 lakh premature deaths in India
Air pollution could lead to 570,000 premature deaths in India, according to a new report. For the new study, researchers at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology and the US National Center for Atmospheric Research created computer simulations using 2011 data and found that air pollution could kill more than 570,000 people prematurely.
Furthermore, the researchers say, the problem would likely cost the Indian economy hundreds of billions of dollars annually.
Air pollution has been a public health concern in India for years. In February, a report by Greenpeace said it surpassed China in the quantity of fine particulate matter in the air. It found there were 128 micrograms of fine particulate matter in New Delhi’s air. By comparison, Washington, DC, had 12. The World Health Organization recommends no more than 10 micrograms. The report said the Indo-Gangetic region, the north of the country, had the most pollution.
Meanwhile, newly released figures by WHO are suggesting increasing pollution is claiming 7 million lives every year around the world. WHO Public Health Director Maria Neira says most of the deaths are being caused by simply breathing the air in polluted cities. Neira says based on their survey of some three thousand cities around the globe, the most polluted cities are still found in China and India. - BHU completes its 100 years of glorious existence
Banaras Hindu University, a name of excellence, scientific researches and technological innovations, was founded in 1916 to help promote the sustainable development, growth and eradication of poverty, this glorious institution of excellence has completed 100 years of its eventful journey.
This globally reputed temple of learning was established by Mahamana Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya in 1916. BHU was able to establish its identify brick by brick and its reputation spread throughout the country and across the continents. BHU was built and nourished by Mahamanna out of contributions from beggars to kings.
Perhaps this was the reason why, among many titles bestowed upon him, Mahamanna was also called a "Prince of Beggars". The University has two campuses. University's main campus spread over 1,300 acres in Varanasi. Main campus is organised into 5 institutes and 14 faculties and more than 124 departments.
While the second campus South campus, spread over 2,700 acres, hosts the Krishi Vigyan Kendra and is located in Barkachha in Mirzapur district, about 60 km from Banaras.
The University started functioning from 1st October, 1917 with the Central Hindu College as its first constituent College. The Engineering College was the first to start functioning in the University campus.
Following that, the building of the Arts College, the Physical Laboratory, the Power House, and several workshops of the Engineering College and some residential quarters were ready by 1921.
The Department of Industrial Chemistry was started in July, 1921.
The College which was made to run at Kamachha was shifted in 1921 to a new building known as "Faculty of Arts" inside the University.
The formal opening ceremony of the new buildings was performed on the 13th December, 1921, by Prince of Wales. BHU is one of the largest residential universities in Asia. - Supreme Court upholds constitutional validity of penal laws on defamation
The Supreme Court has upheld constitutional validity of penal laws on defamation. The two-judge bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Justice Prafulla C Pant said the right to life under Article 21 includes the right to reputation.
The apex court was hearing the matter based on 24 petitions that allege that the provisions of criminal sanction act as a censoring device, thus violating the freedom of speech guaranteed by the Constitution. The petitions have been filed by a number of politicians and public figures.
The petitions have been opposed by the central and some state governments with the argument that acceding to them would lead to anarchy in society, since people could malign others’ reputations with impunity.
The court directed magistrates across the country to observe extreme caution while issuing summons in private defamation complaints. The Supreme Court said interim protection will continue and criminal proceedings will remain stayed before trial court. - Govt unveils new Intellectual Property Rights Policy
The Union Cabinet has approved National Intellectual Property Rights Policy (IPR). According to the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley the IPR policy will foster creativity and innovation, promote entrepreneurship and enhance socio-economic and cultural development. He said, its objective is to create awareness about economic, social and cultural benefits of IPRs among all sections of society.
The Minister said, the IPR policy will also focus on enhancing access to healthcare, food security and environmental protection. The Minister said Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion will be the nodal department to coordinate, guide and oversee implementation and future development of IPRs in India.
The policy is aimed at creating and exploiting synergies between all forms of intellectual property (IP), concerned statutes and agencies.
The Finance Minister said, IPR will lay future roadmap for intellectual property and it recognises abundance of creative and innovative energies that flow in India.
Each person must sell his or her product under his/her own name and identity under IPR. The Minister said, there is need for capacity building to implement IPR policy effectively. National IPR policy endeavors for a Creative India and Innovative India. - Delhi no longer the world's most polluted city: WHO
World Health Organization has said that India is home to four of the five cities in the world with the worst air pollution. The dirtiest air was recorded at Zabol in Iran, which suffers from months of dust storms in the summer.
The next four are all Indian cities - Gwalior, Allahabad, Patna and Raipur. From the No. 1 position in 2014, India's capital New Delhi is the ninth worst city, measured by the amount of particulate matter under 2.5 micrograms found in every cubic metre of air. - World’s largest plane lands in Hyderabad
World’s largest cargo aircraft, Antonov An-225 Mriya, landed for the first time in the country at the GMR Shamshabad airport on 12th May. The typical notion of a normal plane is shattered when one sees the imposing structure of Mriya, which means ‘dream’ in Ukranian, with a maximum takeoff weight of 640 tonnes. There are 30 wheels, of which 20 are steerable, while only the nose gear of a normal aircraft is generally steerable.
Its wingspan spreads the width of nearly two foot ball grounds. The massive steel bird is propelled by six turbofan engines to effortlessly carry a payload of 250 tonnes at 850 km per hour at a maximum altitude of 36,000 feet.
In February, Reliance Defence signed a strategic partnership pact with Antonov for assembly, manufacture and MRO of Antonov platforms in India both for commercial and military market. It is now in the process of land acquisition and other modalities for the project at the Dhirubhai Ambani Aerospace Park in Mihan, Nagpur, according to M Matheswaran, President, aerospace business of Reliance Defence.
Interestingly, the technology is not new. The aircraft was made during 1984-88, in the peak of the Cold War era, and it took nearly 30 years for India to see it. - Govt unveils IT-based solution for transport sector
The IT taskforce under the Union Ministry of Road, Transport, Highways and Shipping on 14th May unveiled an on vehicle smart module (OVSM) solution to effectively curb road accidents, traffic congestion, and theft and unauthorized use of vehicles.
This apart, OVSM is expected to drastically reduce long queues at the toll plaza and it can be used in automated parking management especially in case of open road parking vehicles.
At the ITForParivartan summit, the union railway minister Suresh Prabhu, who released the OVSM solution, said the implementation of effective technological solutions can unlock the true potential of India's transport and logistics sector.
He informed that his ministry has started a special fund of Rs 50 crore to support IT companies coming up with innovative solutions for Railways. - PM Modi launches scheme to provide 5 crore free LPG connections
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched an 8,000 crore rupees scheme to provide 5 crore free LPG connections to poor families across the country.
Modi said under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, free LPG connections will be provided in the name of women members of BPL households. In the first year, one crore and fifty lakhs such connections will be given and the target of 5 crore will be completed in three years.
Mr Modi said, poverty can be eradicated only if poor are empowered, given resources and opportunities as well as education, jobs, houses, electricity and drinking water. The Prime Minister also expressed his commitment for cleaning of river Ganga. - India should send marine to Italy, UN court rules
UN arbitration tribunal has ruled in favour of an Italian marine, held in India on murder charges, by allowing him to return home pending the arbitration proceedings at the Hague.
Two Italian marines — Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone are facing charges of murdering two fishermen in 2012 off the Kerala coast. Latorre is back in Italy after a stroke in 2014 while Girone is staying in Italian embassy here. The two countries have agreed to arbitration by the UN court.
The UN tribunal court has ruled that pending arbitration proceedings, Girone may be permitted to return home. Italy in March had asked the PCA judges to order India to release its detained marine Girone, saying otherwise he risks four more years in India without any charges being made which would amount to "grave violation of his human rights". The PCA is hearing oral arguments by the two sides.
The arbitration "could last at least three or four years" which means that Girone risks "being held in (New) Delhi, without any charges being made, for a total of seven-eight years", Italy's representative had told the court.
Girone is one of two Italian marines - on board ship 'Enrica Lexie' - accused by India of killing two of its fishermen. He has not been able to leave India, aside from a few brief permits, since the incident. - Supreme Court panel to monitor MCI
Endorsing a Parliamentary Standing Committee report of March 2016 that medical education and profession in the country is at its “lowest ebb” and suffering from “total system failure” due to corruption and decay, the Supreme Court on 2nd May used its rare and extraordinary powers under the Constitution to set up a three-member committee, headed by former Chief Justice of India R.M. Lodha, to oversee the functioning of the Medical Council of India (MCI) for at least a year.
A Constitution Bench, led by Justice Anil R. Dave, in a 165-page judgment, said that the apex court was constrained to exercise its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution as the government had not acted on the report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare. Its report on ‘The functioning of the Medical Council of India’ was tabled in Parliament on March 8, 2016.
The judgment referred to the parliamentary panel report, which described the MCI as an “ossified and opaque body” unable to cope with the “humongous” task of managing medical education in over 400 colleges across the country.
“Quality of medical education is at its lowest ebb, the right type of health professionals were not able to meet the basic health needs of the country. Products coming out of medical colleges are ill-prepared to serve in poor resource settings like Primary Health Centres. Graduates lacked competence in performing basic health care tasks. Unethical practices continued to grow. The MCI was not able to spearhead any serious reforms in medical education,” the judgment said, citing the panel report. - Telangana CM lays stone for Kaleshwaram project
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on 2nd May performed the ‘bhoomi puja’ for the Kaleshwaram irrigation project aimed at harnessing the Godavari water through several barrages, reservoirs and lift irrigation schemes.
Rao said the new State would be able to use water from both the Krishna and the Godavari rivers as per the allocations made. The State proposes to tap about 160 tmc feet of water using lift irrigation facilities from the Pranahitha and the Godavari at Medigadda in Karimnagar.
Growth potential
The Chief Minister said his dream was to ensure that water from the Godavari flows across the fields of Telangana, irrigating parched agriculture tracts in the State.
The Chief Minister said once the project is completed, Yellampalli, Mid-Manair, Medak and Hyderabad would benefit from the project. By harnessing the water at Karimnagar, it will be possible to cultivate two crops
Because of the existence of several barrages in Maharashtra upstream, water flow into the Godavari has come down. The Chief Minister said that he would soon ink a pact with his Maharashtra counterpart, which would enable the State to get adequate water.
The project is expected to create irrigation facility for 18 lakh acres and stabilising about 12 lakh acres. It is proposed to develop three barrages on the river course at Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla and reservoirs at several locations with barrages storing about 30 tmc feet and 150 tmc feet in reservoirs.
As per estimates, the project will require about 4,500 MW of power to lift water through pump sets. It will also help partly meet the drinking water needs of Hyderabad.
The government planned the Dr BR Ambedkar Pranahitha-Chevella Sujala Sravanthi project to divert 160 tmc feet of water to irrigate seven drought-prone districts of Telangana.
Due to concerns of submergence raised by Maharashtra, the project has been reengineered to two projects – Dr BR Ambedkar Pranahitha project for Adilabad district and the Kaleshwaram project. - Railways Ministry launches app for proper monitoring of projects
Railways Ministry has launched an application, namely, Project Management and Information System (PMIS) for proper Monitoring of all the Railway projects throughout the country. Railways have over 600 major projects of network expansion and modernization costing around 4.5 lakh crores rupees.
Launching the application in New Delhi, Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu said, the Indian Railways has numerous big projects throughout the country which are of crores of rupees and have many complexities. He said that proper monitoring and management of these big projects is the demand of the Railways.
Mr Prabhu said, this new PMIS system will contain all the information about the ongoing projects which will help in reducing the completion time of the project. The Minister said that this new application will also help in fixing the responsibility for delay in projects. He said, this application will be able to have a watch over the life cycle of any project of the railways. - Supreme Court dismisses plea to stay implementation of new cigarette packaging rules
The Supreme Court on 3rd May dismissed the tobacco companies' plea to stay the implementation of new cigarette packaging rules in the country. The apex court directed the companies to follow the rules till the Karnataka High Court pronounced its final order on the issue.
The top court transferred all related petitions from High Courts of Delhi, Bombay and Gujarat to the Karnataka High Court. It also directed that the matter be decided in eight weeks time. Union Health Ministry notification, effective from 1st April this year, requires increasing the size of health warning to 85 per cent up from the previous 20 per cent of the display area on the cigarette packets. - 2,508 cities selected under PM's scheme for affordable housing
As many as 2,508 cities in 26 states have been selected under 'Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana' for providing affordable houses to the urban poor, the Lok Sabha was informed on 4th May
As on April 25, 2016, a total of 2,508 cities of 26 states have been identified as selected for Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Housing for all (Urban) Mission.
According to Urban Minister Venkaia Naidu, as per the scheme guidelines, the houses under the PMAY (U) mission should be designed and constructed to meet the requirement of structural safety against earthquakes, flood, cyclone, landslide etc conforming to the National Building Code and other relevant Bureau of Indian Standards Codes.
The mission also includes a technology sub-mission to facilitate state technologies for adoption of layout designs and building plans suitable for various geo-climatic zones and to deploy disaster resistant and environment friendly technologies.
The scheme comes with an aim of constructing more than two crore houses across the nation within a span of seven years. The scheme, which was started in 2015, would conclude in 2022.
The target beneficiaries of the scheme would be poor and people living under EWS and LIG categories in urban establishments of the country.
In order to complement and supplement the efforts of the state and UTs, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation is implementing a scheme namely 'Shelter for Urban Homeless' as a component of Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Urban Livelihoods Mission for providing permanent shelters with basic facilities to urban homeless.
As per the information received from the states and UTs, a total of 770 shelters have been sanctioned by states and UTs with a capacity of about 38,770 inmates. Out of this, 270 shelters with a total capacity of about 11,900 inmates are operational. - Gangavati in Koppal district to get Asia’s first Rice Technology Park
The Karnataka State government has decided to go ahead with the establishment of Asia’s first Rice Technology Park at Gangavati in Koppal district and a Maize Technology Park at Ranebennur in Haveri district on the public-private participation model as a one-stop solution to all problems of rice and maize growers.
These parks would pave the way for opening new avenues for rice and maize growers to add value to their produce and get better returns and also enhance quality of the produce. While the rice park is being established at Navali-Karatagi villages on the outskirts of Gangavati, the maize park is to be come up in the APMC market yard at Ranebennur.
The establishment of the Rice Technology Park will convert Gangavati into a major agri business centre in the State and help rice growers in the region to end their dependence on mills in neighbouring States for processing paddy.
Although the production of paddy has more than doubled in the recent years, the processing facility has not grown to match it. According to an estimate, more than 50 per cent of the paddy produced in the region is sent elsewhere for processing.
The establishment of the Rice Technology Park will help paddy cultivators in the Tungabhadra Command Area in Ballari, Raichur and Koppal districts and also in the command areas of the Upper Krishna Project in Shahpur and Surpur taluks in Yadgir district and Vijayapura and Bagalkot districts.
In the Tungabhadra Project region, the area under irrigation is 9 lakh acres and 95 per cent of it is under paddy cultivation. The farmers in the command area grow two crops of paddy in a year.
The area under paddy is likely to increase with additional allotment of water in the Krishna by the Krishna River Water Disputes Tribunal. The area under irrigation in the Krishna Basin is likely to go up by another 4.61 lakh hectares.
As a value addition, the technology park would have facilities for rice flour, rice rava, rice bran oil, noodles, rice-based alcohol, animal and poultry feed and paddy husk used for power generation and brick-making.
With maize being the second major crop cultivated in the State with an annual production of around 4 million tonnes, there was an urgent need to strengthen maize processing units to add value to the produce and get more returns to farmers. Maize is predominantly grown in Haveri, Davangere, Ballari, Dharwad, Belagavi, Bagalkot and Chikkaballapur districts. The proposed park will at Ranebennur will have a storage capacity of 32,000 tonnes.
The proposed maize technology park being established at a cost of Rs. 111 crore would have mills for production of maize flour, maize flakes, poultry feed, dry maize, maize chips and popcorn to add value to the produce and enable farmers get better returns. The proposed Rice Technology Park is being established at a cost of Rs. 122 crore in an area of 300 acres. - CBI summons Rawat in Uttarakhand sting case
The deposed Uttarakhand Chief Minister, Harish Rawat, has been summoned by the Central Bureau of Investigation for questioning in connection with an alleged sting operation showing him offering a deal to dissident Congress MLAs through middlemen. According to the agency, the video tapes in question have been proven to be authentic.
Based on a reference from the State government and further orders from the Centre, on April 25, the CBI initiated a preliminary inquiry to determine the authenticity of the “sting operation” by Umesh Kumar, the chief executive officer and editor-in-chief of the Noida-based TV channel Samachar Plus.
The journalist, who submitted the raw video tapes of the operation was questioned by CBI. They have been found to be authentic,” accoding to the CBI official
The rebel Congress MLAs had earlier accused the Chief Minister of offering bribes in a bid to win them back and released the sting operation on March 26. Mr. Rawat refuted the allegations terming the operation fake and demanded a probe into the antecedents of those behind it. A day later, hours before he was to face the vote of confidence in the Assembly, President’s Rule was imposed in Uttarakhand dislodging the State government led by him. - Supreme Court orders floor test in Uttarakhand on May 10, nine disqualified MLAs can't vote
Centre on 6th May agreed to Supreme Court's suggestion for floor test in Uttarakhand Assembly. The apex court deliberated on the modalities of holding floor test in Uttarakhand.
It has said that former Chief Minister Harish Rawat should be allowed to seek vote of confidence on the floor of the Assembly on 10th of this month. Nine disqualified Congress MLAs can't vote in the vote of confidence motion. President's rule will be temporarily lifted for 2 hours in Uttarakhand when the vote of confidence will take place.
The apex court said that nothing else shall be discussed in the Assembly and proceedings there shall be absolutely peaceful and without any disturbance.
All officials of assembly will follow in letter and spirit the procedure and there shall not be any kind of deviation. The court directed the Chief Secretary and state DGP to see that all qualified members participate in the proceedings in the assembly, without any hindrance caused to anyone by anybody.
During the trust vote, those in favour of motion will sit on one side of the House and those against on other side. It said that the Principal Secretary, Legislative Assembly, shall see that the voting is peaceful and recorded and members voting in favour of motion shall singularly vote and raise hand one by one and that will be counted by Principal Secretary of the Assembly.
SC said that the entire proceeding shall be videographed so that it can be perused by the court if required. The result of the voting shall be placed before it in a sealed cover on Wednesday, May 11, the Supreme Court said. The apex Court had on 2nd May asked centre to explore the feasibility of holding a floor test in Uttarakhand Assembly under its supervision. Previously, the Apex Court had on 27th of last month, directed to continue the President's rule for the while.
The two- judge division bench had also asked several questions to the Centre asking it to justify imposition of President's rule in Uttarakhand. Uttarakhand is under President's Rule since 27th March, a day before Chief Minister Harish Rawat was to have a trust vote in the assembly.
The AG informed the court that the modalities to conduct the floor test in the uttarakhand assembly would be worked out in a couple of days. 9 disqualified MLAs will not be able to vote in the confidence motion during the floor test. - PM reviews drought situation, meets CMs of three states
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the drought situation and water crisis with the Chief Ministers of drought-hit Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka in New Delhi on 7th March. He held separate meetings with them in which ministers and officials of concerned Ministries were present.
During the discussion Prime Minister said, that the Centre and the States will have to work together to mitigate the problems faced by the people due to the drought. He also called for focusing on medium and long term solutions for drought-proofing.
Mr Modi stressed on the use of technologies like remote sensing and satellite imaging for planning of water conservation and recharge structures. He also said that there is a need to change cropping patterns based on scientific advice, use of drip and sprinkler irrigation, and fertigation for increasing water use efficiency, community participation, especially women, for better water management.
During the meeting with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Mr Modi also discussed how best the period before the upcoming monsoon can be utilized for water conservation and recharge efforts. This includes efforts at desilting, recharging of rivers, check dams and other water storage mechanisms.
In the meeting with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the Prime Minister also stressed the need to adopt a judicious mix of traditional and modern water conservation and storage mechanisms. He also called for modern solid and liquid waste management practices in urban areas, which could yield enhanced water and organic fertilizer availability in adjoining rural areas.
During the meeting with Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, the Prime Minister discussed various measures for desilting, water conservation and recharging of ground water. Mr Modi asked the State Government to give maximum attention to desilting, farm tanks and check dams over the next 30 to 40 days before the onset of the monsoon. - Parliamentary panel appreciates Ujjawala Scheme
Appreciating the Ujjawala Scheme which aims at prevention of trafficking of Women and Children, a Parliamentary panel observed that funds allotted for this scheme should be utilized properly so as to empower victims of trafficking. It should help them to become financially independent.
The Panel on Human Resource Development headed by Dr Satyanarayan Jatiya tabled its report recently in Parliament on demands for grants 2016-17 of the Ministry of Women and Child Development. The report said this scheme is a valuable step in the direction of protecting women and children from exploitation.
Saying that the two are vulnerable sections of the society, the Committee said that the Ministry should put in place a monitoring mechanism to see that the concerned NGOs are implementing the scheme effectively so that the objectives of the scheme are realised.
The Ministry has sanctioned 27 new projects including 13 rehabilitation home under the scheme during 2015-16. At present there are 276 operational projects of which 162 are rehabilitation homes and remaining projects for prevention. The capacity of the rehabilitation homes ranges from 25 to 50 and nearly 5000 victims are receiving rehabilitation services. - AP launches loan waiver scheme for horticulturists
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on 7th May launched the “runa upasamanam” programme in Kadapa, under which loan waiver of Rs. 10,000 per acre would be extended to horticulturists in the State.
Horticultural crops are more remunerative and fetch about 12 times the revenue compared with agricultural crops, Mr. Naidu said after launching the programme at the Kadapa municipal stadium. Loans of horticulturists to the tune of Rs. 380 crore would be waived in the State. - Gujarat govt to provide 10 % reservation to economically backward of higher castes
Gujarat Government will issue an ordinance on 1st May to provide 10 per cent reservation to economically backwards of higher caste. The new reservation will not affect the present reservation available to SC, ST and OBC.
The 10 percent reservation for economically backwards will be available to all non-reserved class, whose total family income is less than 6 lakh annually. This 10 percent reservation for economically backwards of higher caste will apply in government jobs as well as admission to the educational institutions from next academic year after issuance of ordinance.
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