ASSAM

Govt initiative to fight superstition

In view of incidents triggered by ignorance and superstitions in the State during last few months, the government plans to introduce a programme titled ‘Sanskar’ in all the development blocks and gaon panchayats very soon.A decision to start the programme was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal here yesterday evening.

Taking the Assam Science Technology and Environment Council (ASTEC) as the nodal agency, the programme will encompass all deputy commissioners, superintendents of police and all government departments concerned in the districts.

Moreover, all local bodies, mahila samitis, voluntary organizations, media persons, leading citizens, academicians, MPs and MLAs from ruling and opposition parties will also be the stakeholders of the programme.

Social activists like Birubala Rabha, who have been fighting tirelessly against witch-hunting, will be involved in the programme.

The programme will be replicated throughout the State on mission mode so that it can create a deterrent against superstitions and all its manifestations.

INTERNATIONAL

· Raksha Mantri Inaugurates 1st BEL Representative Office in Vietnam

Raksha Mantri, Nirmala Sitharamaninaugurated the first Representative Office of Navratna Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Smt Sitharaman handed over the symbolic key of the Representative Office of BEL at Vietnam (VIRO) to Chairman & Managing Director, BEL Mr Gowtama MV during the Vietnam-India Defence Industry Business Meeting.
The Representative Office will aim to promote BEL’s exports in areas such as Weapon Systems, Radar Systems, Naval Systems, Military Communication Systems, Electronic Warfare Systems, Combat Management System and Coastal Surveillance System.

· Global Environment Performance Index 2018: India Ranks 177 Switzerland Tops

India stands 177th at the bottom of the Global Environment Performance Index (EPI) rankings.
In 2016, the country had ranked 141 out of 180 countries.
In 2018, according to the State of India’s Environment (SoE) 2018 in Figures, it has slipped to the 177th position. India scored 5.75 out of 100 in air quality.
The Top 3 countries on the list are:
Switzerland,

2. France, and

3. Denmark.

· India to Host 1st BIMSTEC Military Exercise

India will host first military exercise of the BIMSTEC Countries in September 2018 in Pune, Maharashtra.
The theme of the exercise includes counter-terrorism in semi-urban terrain and cordon and search.
The main aim of this military exercise is to promote strategic alignment among the member-states and to share best practices in the area of counter-terrorism.
Each participating member country will bring in some 30 soldiers.
BIMSTEC countries had held disaster management exercise in 2017 in New Delhi, but this will be the first military exercise of the grouping.

NATIONAL

· President Ram Nath Kovind to launch Solar Charkha Mission on 27th June

President Ram Nath Kovind will launch Solar Charkha Missionon 27th of this month which will entail a subsidy of 550 crore rupees in the initial two years for 50 clusters.
Briefing media in New Delhi on achievements of his ministry in the last four years, Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Giriraj Singh said the scheme is aimed at linking five crore women and self help groups to the initiative.
MSME is playing a big role in empowerment of people and created a large number of employment in the country.
The ministry has provided training to over 15 lakh people over the past four years through its various initiatives.
The 15 new technology centres will be set up and out of these, ten will be made operational this year.
These centres will provide technological support to small industries.

Cabinet approves ‘Three Year Action Plan of Agricultural Education Division & ICAR Institutes

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the continuation of the Three Year Action Plan (2017-2020) of the scheme for Agricultural Education Division and ICAR Institutes with an outlay of Rs.2225.46
crore[Rs. 2197.51 crore + Rs. 27.95 crore (State share) as salary component for AICRP-HS]for strengthening and developing higher agricultural education in India.

It comprises of:

“Strengthening and Development of Higher Agricultural Education in India – Rs. Rs.2050.00 crore;

ICAR-National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM) – Rs. 24.25 crore and

ICAR – Central Institute of Women in Agriculture (CIWA) including All India Coordinated Research Project on Home Science (AICRP-HS) – Rs.151.21 crore.

Cashless Ticketing through ‘Utsonmobile’ app developed by CRIS

Continuing towards digitalization and moving towards becoming a cashless economy, the initiative of faster and more techno-advanced transactions in Indian Railways is being taken up, the Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS) has developed a mobile based application ‘utsonmobile’.

The ‘utsonmobile’ application enables booking and cancellation of unreserved tickets, issue and renewal of season and platform tickets, check and load R-wallet balance and helps maintain user profile management and booking history.

NITI Aayog to launch Composite Water Management Index

The objective of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas can be fully achieved once the benefits of the interventions reach the last mile.

As a step beyond measurement of outcomes, NITI Aayog has come out with various indices that not only fulfills its mandate of cooperative and competitive federalism but also challenges States and Union Territories (UTs) them to meet the aspirations of the new India.

Furthering this mandate, NITI Aayog has come up with the Composite Water Management Index as a useful tool to assess and improve the performance in efficient management of water resources.

This index is an attempt to inspire States and UTs towards efficient and optimal utilization of water, and recycling thereof with a sense of urgency.