ASSAM

• India Signs Loan agreement with World Bank for usd 48 million for Meghalaya

• A Loan Agreement for IBRD loan of USD 48 million for the “Meghalaya Community – Led Landscapes Management Project (MCLLMP)” was signed with the World Bank.

• The Objective of the Project is to strengthen community-led landscapes management in selected landscapes in the State of Meghalaya.

• The Project consists of three components: Strengthening Knowledge and Capacity for Natural Resource Management; Community-led landscape planning and implementation and Project Management and Governance. 

  INTERNATIONAL

   

  • India ranks 10th on new Commonwealth innovation index

   

  • India has ranked 10th on a new Commonwealth Innovation Index, topped by the UK, Singapore and Canada.

   

  • The index was launched as part of a new Commonwealth Innovation Hub on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London.

   

  • It has been created in partnership with the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and its annual Global Innovation Index (GII).

   

   

  NATIONAL

   

  • First regional conference of eastern states on Water Resources

   

  • The first regional conference of eastern states on Water Resources was held in Kolkata on April 16 to address the outstanding water issues of these states.

   

  • The conference deliberated on finding a solution to mitigate intra and intra-basin issues relating to water resources in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal.

   

  • The issue of interlinking of rivers also come-up for discussion at the conference.

   

   

  • East Godavari, first district with complete LED street lighting

   

  • East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh is all set to become the country’s first ‘LED street light district’.

   

  • The rural LED street lighting programme in the district entailing the installation of around 3.1 lakh LED street lights has been completed.

   

  • The exercise is expected to save around 34 Million Units (MU) annually.

   

  • AP is already ranked the best State in implementation of energy efficiency and conservation programmes by the World Bank.

   

   

  • Union Government Revises Target To Complete PMGSY From Year 2022 To 2019

   

  • The Union Government has stated that the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojanaor PMGSY is well on its way to achieving the target by March 2019.
  • The scheme, since its inception in 2000, has been able to provide connectivity to more than One lakh 50 thousand habitations.
  • Sensing the importance and urgency of rural roads for national development, the target date for completion of PMGSY-I has been preponed from 2022 to 2019.

  ·        Electric vehicles charging stations need no licence, clarifies Power Ministry

   

  • The Power Ministry has categorised charging batteries of electric vehicles as a service, a move which will help such stations operate without licence and encourage the use of e-vehicles.
  • Transmission, distribution and trading of electricity need licences under the Electricity Act. Therefore, all utilities have to seek licences for sale of power to consumers.
  • The Ministry said in a clarification that during the charing of e-vehicles, a station does not perform any activity related to the transmission, distribution or trading of electricity.
  • Hence charging of batteries of electric vehicles through charging station does not any require licence under the provision of the Electricity Act 2003.
  • In the present scenario, the EVs make economic sense as their per km running cost is less than a rupee, whereas the same cost for petrol and diesel works out to an average of ₹6.50.
  • The government’s National Electric Mobility Mission Plan launched in 2013 aims at ensuring 6-7 million electric and hybrid vehicles in India by 2020.

  The vision enunciated two years ago is for India to have 100% EVs by 2030.

   

  • Pulitzer Prizes 2018 announced

   

  • The Pulitzer Prizes for 2018has been announced. Following are the winners of the Pulitzer Prize 2018.

    Fiction- Andrew Sean Greer’s “Less” has won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Greer’s novel tells the comic story of a middle-aged novelist.

    2. Drama- Cost of Living, by Martyna Majok.

    3. History- The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea, by Jack E. Davis (Liveright/W.W. Norton).

    4. Biography- Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder, by Caroline Fraser (Metropolitan Books).

    5. Poetry- Half-light: Collected Poems 1965-2016, by Frank Bidart (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux).