1) Mobile app to aid Clean Ganga Mission.
- Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti has launched the `Bhuvan Ganga Mobile Application` to enable the public to collect and report information on various pollution sources that affect the water quality of the river.
- The app will allow people to upload pictures of pollution sources of river Ganga for further action by the concerned authorities.
- The application and web portal was launched after a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the National Mission for Clean Ganga and the National Remote Sensing Centre (ISRO).
- The application would help in planning and monitoring the Centre`s flagship Clean Ganga Mission.
2) Maharashtra government decided to amend MPDA Act, 1981.
- Maharashtra’s state cabinet approved the proposal to amend the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities (MPDA) Act, 1981.
- The amendment will be done to include criminal activities related to sand mafia and black marketing under its bracket.
- This inclusion will help the state to act against those who are involved in black marketing of essential commodities as well as sand mafia.
- Other approvals of the Cabinet include:
- Approval to setting up of Government Agriculture College at Muktainagar in Jalgaon district.
- Nod to provide 1000 crore rupees for the 2505 crore rupees Wardha-Yavatmal-Nanded new Railway line.
3) Kerala declares June 22 as `Snake Bird Day`.
- Kerala government declared June 22 as the `snake bird day` as part of a campaign to protect the endangered species.
- State minister for forest Thiruvanchur Radhakrishnan formally made the announcement at a function organised by the Snake Bird Foundation, a city-based outfit of journalists.
- As per a recent survey, there are over 1500 snake birds in the country in which majority are in Kerala.
About Snake Bird:
- Snake Bird Known as darter-Anhinga melanogaster in scientific parlance.
- Snake bird is a large slender long-necked water bird and is mostly black with silver wing markings.
- The species, which usually nests atop tall trees near wetlands, is largely found in Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, Wayanad and Thiruvananthapuram districts.
4) Cabinet approves Jayaprakash Narayan memorial in Bihar.
- The Union Cabinet approved the setting up of a National Memorial at the birth place of Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan in Bihar.
- The memorial will contribute in furthering the vision of Lok Nayak who was an exemplary leader of Indian independence movement, a freedom fighter and a social reformer.
- The memorial will house a virtual museum and an institute to undertake study and research on democracy, enhancing the role of panchayats in nation building and Gandhian thoughts.
About Jayaprakash Narayan:
- Born: 11 October 1902, Bihar.
- Died: 8 October 1979.
- Other Names: JP, lok Nayak.
- Jayaprakash Narayan called for a Sampoorna Kranti (Total Revolution) for upholding and defending civil liberties during emergency and ushered a new democratic movement for India and contributed to strengthen the roots of democracy.
- He was posthumously awarded Bharat Ratna, India`s highest civilian award, in 1999.
- His biography, Jayaprakash, was written Ramavriksha Benipuri.
5) Establishment of six new Indian Institutes of Management.
- Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, gave its approval for setting up of six new Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) in the country.
- These new IIMs will be located at Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Bodh Gaya (Bihar), Sirmaur (Himachal Pradesh), Nagpur (Maharashtra), Sambalpur (Odisha) and Amritsar (Punjab).
- These IIMs are intended to commence their first academic session from 2015-16. Each Institute will start with an intake of 140 students in the Post Graduate Programme (PGP) courses.
6) Union Cabinet gives nod to rename SECI as Renewable Energy Corporation of India.
- The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, gave its approval to the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to apply to the Registrar of Companies for
- Converting it into a Section 3 company under the Companies Act, 2013 (No.18 of 2013).
- Renaming it as the Renewable Energy Corporation of India (RECI).
The major impact of the decision will be:
- SECI will become a self-sustaining and self-generating organization.
- SECI will engage itself in owning solar power plants generating and selling power and in other segments of solar sector activities, including manufacturing of solar products and materials.
- SECI will become RECI after change of its name and then will take up development of all segments of renewable energy namely, geo-thermal, off-shore wind, tidal etc. apart from solar energy.
About Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI):
- SECI is a not-for-profit company under Section-25 of the Companies Act 1956.
- Established: 2011 as a facilitation and implementation institution dedicated to Solar Energy sector.
- Operates under: the aegis of Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
- Objective: To develop Solar Technologies and ensuring inclusive solar power development throughout India.
- Functions: Facilitate implementation of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) and achieve the targets set therein.
7) Union Minister Maneka Gandhi Launches First Modernised Anganwadi Centre In Sonepat.
- Government launched the first modernised Anganwadi centre of India at Hasanpur village of Sonepat in Haryana.
- Anganwadi centre has been set up under `Nand Ghar Yojana` of the central government under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.
- The anganwadi centre at Hasanpur has been inbuilt partnership with confidential mining agency Vedanta at a price of 12 lakh rupees, whereas the land was offered by the Gram Panchayat.
- Further, the centre with singular design has been constructed by state-run National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited (NBCC).
- The centre involving an area of 780 square feet can accommodate around 50 children in daytime every day and are equipped with latest facilities.
8) Delhi Budget 2015-16: Highlights.
- Aam Aadmi Party government presents its first full budget in the Delhi Assembly.
- Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia presents his first budget.
- The budget has been termed as first Swaraj Budget and is the first participatory budget of India.
Highlights of the Budget:
- The 41129 crore rupees budget comprises of 19000 crore rupees Plan Budget and 22129 crore rupees as Non-Plan Buget.
- A Swaraj Fund of 253 crore rupees is proposed to be created with an aim to prioritize implementation of the programmes selected by the citizens for the development of their area.
- Proposes to set up a new agency Delhi Urban Development Agency (DUDA) in each revenue district to execute the works recommended by the citizens under the Swaraj Fund and Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Fund.
- Proposes to provide a total financial support of 5908 crore rupees to local bodies in 2015-16 which is 14.4 percent of the total budget.
- Proposes to launch a Higher Education and Skill Development Guarantee Scheme wherein students can get loan up to 10 lakh rupees without any collateral or margin money.
- Proposes to open three new ITIs in Rahola, Chhatarpur and Bakkarwala, five new polytechnics one each in North, North East, Central, New Delhi and West Districts of Delhi.
- Proposes to set up 500 Mohalla Clinics in all parts of Delhi in 2015-16.
- Proposes to set up an Advance Trauma Care Centre in LN Hospital for sports injury rehabilitation with 100 trauma beds including ICU and OT facilities.
- Proposes to launch a mobile app for Self Meter Reading and Bill Generation to provide water and sewer services to citizens in efficient and friendly manner.
- Proposes to create an Energy Conservation Fund in 2015-16 to finance energy efficient projects and street lighting, etc.
- A new scheme Jan Jal Prabandhan Yojana will be launched to involve the community in management of water and sewerage services in a decentralized manner.
9) Assam entrepreneurs signed pact on waste management.
- Two local entrepreneurs, namely Satyaki Saikia and Pulak Roy signed agreements with several civic bodies in Assam to do away with the plastic hazards under a solid-waste management project.
- Basic objective of the project is to save society from hazards and pollution created by the huge amount of increasing municipality solid waste.
10) Introduce milk in mid day meal scheme.
- Union Government requested the Chief Ministers of Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan to encourage supply of free milk in the Mid Day Meal to school children.
- Milk Products will be provided with an aim to increase the nutritional level in the Mid Day Meal for school children.
- At present, two states Karnataka (under project Ksheerabhagya started in 2012-13) and Madhya Pradesh provides free milk products to school children under the Mid Day Meal scheme.
11) SMS based alert service for cancelled Trains.
- Ministry of Railways has started passenger friendly measure on pilot basis, under which SMS messages would be sent to passengers informing about train cancellation in case the train in which they have booked their tickets for is cancelled due to unavoidable circumstances.
- Under this pilot project, the SMS messages are being sent to those passengers who are boarding at originating station.
- The SMS will be sent to their respective mobile numbers entered by them in reservation slips while buying tickets from PRS counters or while purchasing online e-tickets.
- The software for this service has been developed by Center for Railway information systems (CRIS), the information technological (IT) wing of the Indian Railways.
12) Aviation ministry clears proposal for new airport in NCR.
- The Union Ministry of Civil Aviation approved a proposal for setting up a second international airport at Jewar in the National Capital Region (NCR). The proposal would soon be sent to the Union Cabinet for approval.
- The proposed airport would cater to both domestic and international traffic.
- Under RoFR norms, GMR Group has the Right of First Refusal (RoFR) for any airport that is built within a 150-km radius of the existing airport in Delhi. According to the rules, GMR’s bid will be accepted only if it is equal to or less than 10 percent of the bid offered by the lowest bidder.
- The airport in Jewar was proposed by the erstwhile Mayawati-led Government in Uttar Pradesh and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had formed a Group of Ministers (GoM) to decide on the issue.
13) Govt exempts educational institutes from prior green nod.
- The government has exempted builders from obtaining prior green nod for construction of universities, school and college and hostel facilities.
- Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has issued a circular to exempt green nod for educational institutions provided they should follow sustainable environment practises of construction.
- These educational institutions are exempted from prior green nod under the provisions of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006 subject to sustainable environmental management.
- MoEFCC had clarified that prior environment clearance is mandatorily required for construction of Medical Universities and institutes having hospital facilities.
14) Doordarshan partners with IB to produce serial on police martyrs.
- Doordarshan has entered into an alliance with the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to produce a 13-part serial on police martyrs.
- The collaboration between the public service broadcaster and an intelligence agency will be a first in the country.
- The agency sent a note to the Director-General, Doordarshan listing five incidents chosen for the 13 episodes they are:
- The Mumbai siege in 2008.
- The Parliament House attack on December 13, 2001.
- The attack on the Akshardham Temple in Gujarat.
- The attack on the Raghunath temple in Jammu in 2002.
- The killing of 10 CRPF personnel by the Chinese Army in Ladakh on October 21, 1956.
15) PM Modi to launch Integrated Power Development Scheme in Varanasi.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the Integrated Power Development Scheme aimed at ensuring 24x7 Power for all during his visit in Varanasi.
- Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS), a flagship project of his government which aims at strengthening sub transmission and distribution network in the city along with 100 per cent metering facility.
- The Scheme is being launched from Varanasi for which Rs. 574 crore has been allocated. The sector’s key financer Power Finance Corporation would prepare the detailed project report (DPR).
16) Tribal women have right to inherit property of father or husband as per Hindu Succession Act, 1956.
- Himachal Pradesh High Court has ruled that the daughters in tribal areas in the state shall inherit the property in accordance with Hindu Succession Act, 1956.
- This landmark judgment will help to bring a new resolution in the tribal society’s in order to grant equal rights to the girls and bring down gender disparity.
- The ruling was given by Justice Rajiv Sharma by upholding the earlier order passed by District Judge of Chamba in 2002 to grant legal rights to women in family property.
17) GFH Financial Group signed pact with Adani Group for developing Mumbai Economic Zone.
- Bahrain-based GFH Financial Group signed an agreement with Indian conglomerate Adani Group for developing a Mumbai Economic Development Zone (MEDZ).
- Under the agreement, the financial group`s unit Energy City Navi Mumbai (ECNM) and Adani Group will work together in creating the master plan for the lands of Phases II and III of the project, which will offer world class business infrastructure for local and international services, IT and energy companies.
- The financial group`s two units ECNM and Mumbai IT and Telecom City (MITTC) are two core components of the Mumbai Economic Development Zone (MEDZ).
18) Bajaj Allianz launches weather-based crop insurance.
- Private insurer Bajaj Allianz has launched a weather-based crop insurance scheme for orange crops in Nagpur, Hingoli and Washim districts of Maharashtra.
- The index-based insurance policy will cover losses incurred by orange fruit-growing farmers due to deviation in weather conditions and has been approved by Central and the State government
- Farmers who have taken loan through the Kisaan Credit Card (KCC) will automatically get insured under this scheme by their banks, while those who don’t have KCC but savings accounts need to visit the bank branches and authorize the banks to enroll them in the scheme.
19) Tamil Nadu CM J. Jayalalithaa launched first phase of Chennai Metro Rail Service.
- First phase of Chennai Metro service was inaugurated by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa after she flagged off inaugural train.
- The first phase of Metro service covers the 10 km overhead (elevated) stretch. It connects Alandur in south Chennai to Koyabedu in the north.
- The whole project is implemented by Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL). The project was approved by then Congress-led UPA government in 2009.
- The metro service will bear capacity of 1276 passengers with four coaches. It will cover seven stations in the stretch. They are Koyambedu, Arumbakkam, Vadapalani, Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus, Ashok Nagar, Ekkattuthangal.
- With launching of this Metro service, Chennai became seventh city in India to have metro service including Delhi, Mumbai, Gurgaon, Bangalore, Kolkata and Jaipur.
20) Centre approves Rs. 643 crore water supply scheme for Shimla.
- Union Government approved 643 crore rupees drinking water and sewerage project for Shimla town for World Bank funding.
- Under the project, World Bank will provide a loan of 514 crore rupees and remaining 129 crore rupees will be provided by the state government as counterpart funding over a project period of three years.
The project approved by the Union Finance Ministry during a meet in New Delhi would have three components and they are:
- Augmentation of water supply of Shimla town by lifting water from Kol Dam reservoir.
- Rehabilitation of water supply distribution system.
- Rejuvenation of sewerage network.
21) National Level Sikh museum to be constructed in Lakhnaur Sahib Village of Punjab.
- A national level museum of Sikh heritage will be setup in Lakhnaur Sahib village close to Ambala City, Punjab.
- Lakhnaur Sahib is a historical village as the mother of tenth Sikh guru Guru Gobind Singh, Mata Gujari belonged to the place. Guru Gobind Singh had also spent a few years of his childhood in the village.
- Announcement was made by Ratan Lal Kataria, MP from Ambala.
22) Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu Inaugurates Integrated Security System in Mumbai.
- Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu inaugurated the Integrated Security System (ISS) installed with a total cost Rs. 21.72 crore at four railway stations in the metropolis comprising CST, Dadar, Kurla and LTT.
- The ISS is aimed at improving security on Railway premises, ensuring safety of the people and averting terror attacks
- The system will monitor passenger activities through a network of CCTV cameras at six railway stations comprising CST, Dadar, Kurla, LTT, Kalyan and Thane. It has a total of 118 CCTV cameras that will beam the live images of railway stations under its coverage on six monitors.
23) Union Government hiked national floor-level minimum wage to 160 rupees per day.
- The Union Government increased the national floor-level minimum wage (NFLMW) to 160 rupees per day from 137 rupees per day. The new rate will be effective from 1 July 2015.
- If states revise their minimum wages as per the new NFLMW, the decision is expected to benefit millions of workers in the scheduled employments in the respective state jurisdictions.
About national floor-level minimum wage (NFLMW):
- It was implemented for the first time in 1996 on the basis of the recommendations of the National Commission on Rural Labour (NCRL) under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948.
- Its purpose is to have a uniform wage structure and to reduce the disparity in minimum wages across the country.
- It was fixed at 35 rupees per day in 1996 and has since been revised almost regularly every two years taking into account the increase in the CPI (IW).
24) Census data on disabled population released.
- The Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India has released data on disabled population by type of disability, type of households and sex – 2011.
- The disabled persons living in different type of households are further cross-classified into eight different disabilities i.e. seeing, hearing, speech, movement, mental retardation, mental illness, any other and multiple disability for India/ States/ UTs.
About Census data on disabled population:
- The data released shows 207.8 lakh households having disabled persons in the country constituting 8.3 percent of the total households.
- Out of the total households having disabled persons, about 99 percent households are normal households, 0.4 percent are institutional and 0.2 percent are houseless households.