Gujarat Tops NITI Aayog's State Energy and Climate Index Round 1
Gujarat topped NITI Aayog State Energy and Cli¬m¬ate Index-(SECI) Ro¬und 1 among larger states. This in¬dex aims to rank states and union territories on six para¬meters — discoms performance, access affordability and reliability of energy, clean energy initiatives, ene¬rgy effi¬cie¬ncy, environmental sustai¬nability and new initiatives.
Gujarat was followed by Kerala and Punjab, according to the government think tank's report. States like Chh¬attisgarh, Madhya Prad¬esh and Jharkhand were placed at the bottom.
According to the rep¬ort, the performance of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Odisha has greater scope for improvement in terms of clean ene¬rgy initiatives, energy efficiency, environmental su¬st¬ain¬ability and new initiatives. Among the smaller states, Goa topped the index, follow¬ed by Tripura and Manipur.
Ministry of Jal Shakti Sets up National Dam Safety Authority
The Dam Safety Act 2021 passed by the Parliament in December 2021 provides for surveillance, inspection, operation, and maintenance of certain specified dams across the country with a provision of imprisonment up to two years, or a fine, or both, for an offence under it.
More than three months after the Dam Safety Bill was passed by the Parliament, the Ministry of Jal Shakti finally set up the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA).
As per the Ministry data, India has 5,745 large dams (includes dams under construction). Of these, 5,675 large dams are operated by the states, 40 by central public sector undertakings, and five by private agencies.
Apr 11, 2022
MOU Signed Between UIDAI and ISRO for Technical Collaboration
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Unique Identification Authority Of India (UIDAI), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), New Delhi and National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), ISRO, Hyderabad, for technical collaboration here today.
NRSC would develope Bhuvan-Aadhar portal providing information and locations of the aadhaar centres across India. The portal also provides a facility to search the relevant Aadhaar centres by location based on residents requirements.
Bhuvan would facilitate complete geographic information storage, retrieval, analysis and reporting for Aadhaar centres, with a high resolution backdrop of natural color satellite images. UIDAI and NRSC are closely working out the modalities of design, integration and roll out on priority.
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is a statutory authority established under the provisions of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 ("Aadhaar Act 2016") on 12 July 2016 by the Government of India, under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). UIDAI has so far issued Aadhaar number to more than 132 crore residents and facilitates over 60 crore residents who have updated their Aadhaar.
European GI Tag for Kangra Tea Likely
Kangra tea is likely to be awarded the Geographical Indication Tag (GI tag) for the European Union. The subject of Tea Cultivation and Development was transferred from the Industries Department to the Agriculture Department in April, 1999. Since then, various steps have been taken to improve tea cultivation in the state, particularly in Kangra. In 2005 the Kangra tea had received the Indian GI tag.
More than one lakh plants were provided to tea growers in 2021-22 and an area of 5.6 hectares was brought under fresh plantation.
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Establishes the AVGC Promotion Task Force
The Information and Broadcasting Ministry constituted an Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) promotion task force. Headed by the I&B Secretary, the task force would submit its first action plan within 90 days. It has representation from the industry, academia and State governments.
The body would frame a national AVGC policy; recommend national curriculum framework for graduation, post-graduation and doctoral courses in AVGC-related sectors; and facilitate skilling initiatives in collaboration with academic institutions, vocational training centres and industry.
It would boost employment opportunities; help in the promotion and market development activities to extend global reach of Indian industry; enhance exports and recommend incentives to attract foreign direct investment in the sector.
Meghalaya Govt. to Power its Remote Health Centres using Solar Technology
The Meghalaya government successfully installed solar-powered devices in 100 health centres in remote villages.
The state government said it plans to cover all rural health centres under the solar power scheme to improve the functioning of these centres and ensure that last mile delivery in the health sector is achieved using solar technologies.
Irrespective of the difficult terrain, remoteness, vulnerability to climate risks and natural disasters of rural habitations, the intervention will greatly benefit from solar energy that can power critical healthcare services including immunization, maternal care, deliveries, diagnostics and contribute to increasing monitoring including vaccination of COVID 19 among others.
Ministry of Sports Releases USD 72,124 to UNESCO Fund for Elimination of Doping
The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India, contributed an amount of USD 72,124 towards the UNESCO Fund for Elimination of Doping in Sport 2022. This is double the amount of the minimum agreed value. As per the resolution of 7COP held at Paris between 29-31 September 2019, the state parties had agreed for contributing 1% of the regular budget of their respective nations to UNESCO towards the Fund for the Elimination of Doping in Sport.
In 2021, India contributed USD 28172 towards the UNESCO Fund. The contributed fund will be used to support the implementation of the Fund's Operational Strategy 2020-2025.
Apr 10, 2022
India-US 2+2 Talks
India said that its 2+2 dialogue with the US next week will provide an opportunity to exchange views on important regional and global developments and how both sides can work together to address common interests and concerns.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will hold the talks with US Defence Secretary Llyod Austin and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on April 11 in Washington.
The unfolding situation in Ukraine is expected to be discussed.
The dialogue would enable both sides to undertake a comprehensive review of cross-cutting issues in the India-US bilateral agenda related to foreign policy, defence and security.
Chhattisgarh Tops States with Lowest Unemployment rate in Country
The state government set up the 'Chhattisgarh Employment Mission' intending to create around 15 lakh new employment opportunities in the next five years.
Chhattisgarh ranks first in the country with the lowest unemployment rate while the country's unemployment rate stood at 7.6 per cent in the same month (March)
According to the latest data released by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), Chhattisgarh has registered an unemployment rate of 0.6 per cent this March, which is the lowest so far.
The state government took several steps and formulated new policies for generating employment opportunities especially for the youth, resulting in a constant decline in the unemployment rate.
As per the data, Haryana has the highest unemployment rate at 26.7 per cent, followed by Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir at 25 per cent each and Jharkhand at 14.5 per cent.
Apr 09, 2022
Andhra Pradesh Cabinet Dissolved, All 24 Ministers Submit Resignations to CM Jagan Mohan Reddy
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy dissolved the state cabinet ahead of a major reshuffle. All 24 members have tendered their resignations.
This comes after the Chief Minister met Governor Biswabhusan Harichandran at the Raj Bhawan on Wednesday. The chief minister will submit the list of new ministers to Governor.
The new council of ministers will be inducted on April 11.
Reacting to the cabinet reshuffle, Perni Venkataramaiah, former information and public relations minister said the decision was taken with a focus on the 2024 state elections.
When Jagan Reddy took over as Chief Minister on May 30, 2019, he announced that he would undertake a complete overhaul of his cabinet after two and a half years and take in a new team. The cabinet revamp was scheduled for December 2021, but was postponed due to Covid.
Yogi Adityanath's Govt. to Build Rainwater Harvesting Pits in Villages
The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has decided to form water committees and ensure conservation of water leaking from pipelines by construction of rainwater harvesting pits on a war footing. The purpose is to conserve rainwater and reuse the same.
The responsibility for this has been entrusted to Namami Gange and Rural Water Supply Department.
It has been decided that programmes will be expedited to complete village to village water conservation schemes on a war footing.
LS Speaker: 'One Nation, One Legislative Platform' by 2023
The proceedings of all legislatures, both Houses of Parliament and state assemblies and legislative councils, will be available on one platform by 2023, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said.
Birla said that the government is working on bringing proceedings of all state legislatures on one platform. I think we will be able to do it by 2023.
He said that the platform would provide lot of information to public. Besides, the endeavour is to provide all the documents through metadata so that people can access the proceedings of the House.
The idea of such a platform was mooted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address at the inaugural session of 82nd All India Presiding Officers' Conference on November 17, 2021.
Govt Mandates Vehicles' Fitness Testing via Automated Stations from 2023
The government made fitness testing of vehicles through Automated Testing Stations (ATS) mandatory in a phased manner starting April 2022. An Automated Testing Station (ATS) uses mechanical equipment to automate the various tests required to check the fitness of a vehicle. Fitness testing for personal vehicles (non-transport) is done at the time of renewal of registration (after 15 years).
According to the notification, renewal of certificate of fitness will be for two years for commercial vehicles (transport) that are up to eight years old and one year for commercial vehicles (transport) that are older than eight years.
Apr 08, 2022
India Plans to Issue E-passports to its Citizens Starting this Year:
E-passport will be a combined paper and electronic passport, with an embedded Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip and antenna embedded as an inlay in the back cover. Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan on Thursday said that the government is planning to issue e-passports to its citizens, starting in 2022-23.
The passport's critical information will be printed on its data page as well as stored in the chip. The characteristics of the document and the chip are specified in International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) document 9303
The e-passports will be produced by the India Security Press, Nashik, which has issued letters of intent for the procurement of 4.5 crore ICAO-compliant electronic chips along with its operating system
Delhi Govt. Offers Subsidy of Rs. 5,500 for First 10,000 Buyers of e-cycles
Delhi government announced to provide Rs. 5,500 in subsidy to each of the first 10,000 buyers of e-cycles as a part of its big push to electric vehicles in the city.
In addition to this, first 1,000 buyers of passenger e-cycles would also be eligible for an additional subsidy of Rs. 2,000 under the Delhi Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy, said Kailash Gahlot, Minister of Transport, Delhi. He also claimed that Delhi became the first state in the country to provide subsidy in e-cycle segment.
The residents of Delhi will be eligible for the subsidy scheme that will be linked with Aadhaar, Gahlot said, adding that all the members of a family having an Aadhaar card will be able to get the subsidy.
Maharashtra Govt. Starts Using Blockchain for Caste Certificate Validation
The Maharashtra government started using a system based on the blockchain technology for caste certificate validation.
Caste certificate validation currently involves a lot of manual intervention and is prone to frauds and forgery. Fraudulent caste certificates can deprive eligible persons of job or education opportunities.
The state government will now record all the necessary details related to a caste certificate and it will be issued to the applicant. Once issued, the data will be saved in the form of a QR code, using the blockchain technology. Any government department can then scan the QR code of a candidate and cross-check his or her caste certificate
The Etapalli sub-division of Gadchiroli district was selected for the first project. The technology was developed by LegitDoc, a start-up which won the Maharashtra government's 'hackathon' event in 2019.
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