ASSAM
WHO features Assam’s Covid-19 frontline workers
World Health Organization in appreciation of effective Covid-19 management in Assam has featured the state’s frontline workers in its news section with the headline “ASSAM: Frontline workers with muddy feet and hearts of gold.”
The feature story published on Wednesday has paid tributes to the state’s frontline workers saying, “In a state where 39.6 % of the area is prone to floods, according to Rastriya Barh Ayog in the Department of Water Resources, Government of Assam, large tracts of land are unreachable for many months during the year, which makes providing health care services a huge challenge.”
The feature also highlighted the state’s surveillance plan 2.0 or ‘Nischayata’ (Assurance) under which aggressive testing was carried out in potential hotspots such as transport hubs, markets, interstate truck and bus terminals and parking lots.
NORTH-EASTERN STATES
North eastern states falling behind in vaccinating 18-plus group
The northeastern states are lagging behind in the 18-44 age group vaccination, which crossed the one crore-mark in India under Phase-3 of the drive.
Even as Assam administered over four lakh doses in the category, none of the other six NE states could cross even the one lakh figure since May 1.
Among the NE states, the highest 4,33,615 doses for 18+ beneficiaries have been administered in Assam. The numbers however, may depict a wrong picture, as there is an estimated population of 1.8 crore in the state between 18-44 years.
Except for Tripura, which managed to cross the 50,000 mark (53,957 doses), the rest of the states are far behind in inoculating the young people. Arunachal Pradesh has vaccinated the 18-44 population with 17,777 doses. While Manipur could administer only 9,110 doses for the 18-44 group, Meghalaya is marginally ahead with 23,142 inoculations. The corresponding figures for Mizoram and Nagaland are 10,676 and 7,376 respectively.
INTERNATIONAL
China-Russia to Begin the Biggest Nuclear Power Project
China and Russia started their largest Nuclear Power Projects. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the ceremony to start the construction of the project on May 19, 2021.
In 2018, Russia and China signed a Nuclear Energy Cooperation Project Agreement.
The countries agreed to build Units 3 and 4 of the Xudapu Nuclear Power Plant, as well as Units 7 and 8 of the Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant, as part of the agreement.
The construction of the above four units is a significant result of the countries’ collaboration in science and technology innovation and high-end equipment manufacturing.
The project’s contract value is twenty billion dollars.
The project’s nuclear reactors will be third-generation VVER-1200 reactors.
The reactors will produce 37.6 billion kilowatt hours of electricity once they are finished.
They will also reduce the use of fossil fuels and reduce CO2 emissions by 30.68 million tonnes.
Microsoft to Retire Iconic Internet Explorer
Technology giant Microsoft with more than 25 years of experience has decided to suspend its iconic Internet Explorer (IE) browser, which will take effect on June 15, 2022. The Internet Explorer (IE) browser was launched in 1995.
Highlights:
Microsoft recommends that its users switch to Microsoft Edge (2015) before June 15, 2022 for a faster, safer and more modern browsing experience.
Microsoft Edge has a built-in Internet Explorer mode (IE mode), so users can directly access old Internet Explorer-based websites and applications from Microsoft Edge.
Internet Explorer used to be the most widely used Web browser, with 95% of its usage share in 2003.
NATIONAL
States look to meet ‘Har Ghar Jal’ target ahead of national goal
As the Centre’s flagship programme to provide tap water connections to all rural households in the country has entered its third year of implementation, states and Union Territories (UTs) have started rolling out their annual planning exercise with objective to meet their respective targets ahead of the national goal of 2024.
Funds will be released by the ‘Jal Shakti’ ministry to the states/UTs as per their approved plans under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) that aims to provide tap connections to all rural households in the country by 2024.
In addition to Rs 50,000 crore budgetary allocation for the JJM, there is also assured fund of Rs 26,940 crore available under the 15th Finance Commission grant for water and sanitation.
Nine states, UTs yet to adopt gender budgeting
Even though the government adopted gender budgeting in 2005-06 as a strategy to advance gender mainstreaming, nine states and Union Territories — Goa, Telangana, Haryana, Chandigarh, Meghalaya, Ladakh, Mizoram, Puducherry and Sikkim — are yet to adopt it. So far, 27 states UTs and 37 central ministries and departments have adopted gender budgeting.
The Gender Budget Statement (GBS) is a reporting mechanism to assess budgets which are being allocated for women and girls by different ministries and departments. Data shared by women and child development minister Smriti Irani in a written response to a question in Lok Sabha showed that for 2021-22, Rs 1,53,326 crore has been allocated for women and girls by 43 ministries, departments and UTs.
Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay National Welfare Fund For Sportspersons
The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has approved a grant of Rs 200,000 for V Tejaswini Bai of Karnataka, who won the Arjuna Award in 2011 and was a member of the women’s Kabaddi team, that won gold medal games at the Asian Olympic Games in 2014 and 2014 respectively. The Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay National Welfare Fund for Sportspersons (PDUNWFS) has approved financial assistance.