23) Government Sanctions Rs. 164 crore for Rajasthan, Rs. 156 crore for Telangana for Compensatory Afforestation.
- The Centre sanctioned Rs. 164 crore for Rajasthan and Rs. 156 crore for Telangana, following a meeting on Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) with the two States.
- Shri Javadekar expressed the hope that the Compensatory Afforestation Bill will be passed in the Monsoon session, making available more money for afforestation and related activities.
24) Ministry of Railways Signs JV Agreement with Government of Odisha.
- Ministry of Railways signed a Joint Venture Agreement with Govt. of Odisha. This is a very important step for formation of Joint Venture Company for development of Railway Infrastructure in the State.
- The company shall identify projects to be developed and find avenues for financing of the same. Ministry of Railways and Govt. of Odisha shall be essentially funding part of such identified projects. Project specific SPVs shall be formed after financial closure of the project.
25) Gujarat Government to launch mobile app for delivery of common services.
- The Gujarat government has decided to launch the mobile app ‘Digital Gujarat’. This app is to put most of the services on the fingertips of citizens, so that they don’t have to visit government offices.
- Initially, it would offer 30 services for which the citizens hitherto had to visit government offices or access the online portal digitalgujarat.gov.in.
- Using this app, people can apply for various services, such as ration card. Initially, the services available through the app would include procurement of ration card, senior citizen certificate, caste certificate, domicile certificate, income certificate, widow certificate, SC/ST certificate, non creamy-layer certificate and religious minority certificate.
26) Cabinet appraisal of MoU between ISRO and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) on cooperation in the field of outer space.
- The Union Cabinet under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has been apprised of the Memorandum of Understanding between Department of Space/ Indian Space Research Organization (DOS/ ISRO) and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) on cooperation in the field of outer space.
- The MoU would lead to establishment of joint team, drawing members from ISRO and CSA, which will further work out the plan of action including examination and defining cooperative projects and the time-frame. This will also provide opportunities for diverse research in the field of peaceful uses of space technologies.
27) Cabinet approves Memorandum of Understanding with Taiwan for cooperation in the field of Agriculture and Allied Sector.
- The Union Cabinet under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its ex-post facto approval to the Memorandum of Understanding between Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre in India and India Taipei Association in Taipei, Taiwan for cooperation in the field of Agriculture and Allied Sector.
- The MoU provides for cooperation in the fields of Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, Aquaculture and Food Processing, Genetic Resources as well as Environmental Sustainability.
- Both sides will encourage the private sector in both countries to enter into cooperation in these areas. The cooperation between the two sides involves exchange of visits, information, technology and training and also expansion of agricultural trade while reducing trade barriers.
28) Cabinet approves signing of Air Services Agreement between India and Taiwan.
- The Union Cabinet under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the signing of Air Services Agreement between India-Taipei Association in Taipei (India’s representative office in Taiwan) and Taipei Economic and Cultural Center in India (Taiwan’s representative office in India).
- The Air Services are governed by a MoU exchanged between Air India Charters Limited (AIRL) and Taipei Airlines Associations (TAA).
- The Air Services Agreement signifies an important landmark in the civil aviation relations between India and Taiwan, and has the potential to spur greater trade, investment, tourism and cultural exchanges between the two parties.
29) Cabinet approves India’s Membership of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program.
- The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for Indian membership of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) consortium by signing a MoU with the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ German Research Centre for geosciences. This is a government-funded, Public Law Foundation of the State of Brandenburg, Germany.
- By signing the MoU on the membership for a period of five years with ICDP, India would enable engaging internationally renowned experts with profound expertise in different aspects of scientific drilling in order to accomplish deep drilling and associated investigations in Koyna region.
- As a member of ICDP, scientists/ engineers from India would have right to submit proposals, to participate in all ICDP co-funded workshops and drilling projects and have access to all data results from ICDP projects. This will shed new light on the genesis of seismicity and better understanding of earthquake processes.
30) Cabinet approves signing of contract for Exploration of Poly metallic Sulphides between India and International Seabed Authority.
- The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for signing of 15 years contract by the Ministry of Earth Sciences with the International Seabed Authority (ISA) for undertaking exploration and other developmental activities related to Polymetallic Sulphides in the allotted area of 10,000 sq km. It will be done in parts of Central and South - West Indian Ridges (SWIR), located in the Indian Ocean.
- It will enhance India`s presence in the Indian Ocean where other players like China, Korea and Germany are active. The program will be implemented by the Ministry of Earth Sciences with the participation from various national institutes and research laboratories/ organizations.
31) Cabinet approves enhancement of age of superannuation of Non-Teaching, Public Health Specialists and General Duty Medical Officers sub-cadre of Central Health Service to 65 years.
- The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for enhancement of the age of superannuation of
- Non-Teaching and Public Health Specialists of Central Health Service from 62 years to 65 years.
- Doctors of General Duty Medical Officers (GDMOs) sub-cadre of Central Health Service (CHS) to 65 years.
- The target group would be officers of Non-Teaching, Public Health and GDMO sub-cadres of CHS. The decision would help in better patient care, proper academic activities in Medical colleges as also in effective implementation of National Health Programmes for delivery of health care services.
32) Cabinet approves disinvestment of 10% paid up equity of Housing and Urban Development Corporation Ltd. (HUDCO).
- The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for disinvestment of 10% paid up equity of Housing and Urban Development Corporation Ltd. (HUDCO) out of Government of India’s shareholding of 100% through Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the domestic market as per the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Rules and Regulation.
- The paid up equity capital of HUDCO is Rs. 2001.90 crore and Government of India owns 100% 0f the equity at present. Net worth of the Company is approximately Rs. 7,800 crore.
33) Cabinet approves of 4/6 laning of Kharar-Ludhiana Section of NH-95 (New NH-05) in Punjab.
- The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the development of 4/6 laning of Kharar-Ludhiana Section of NH-95 (New NH-05) in Punjab.
- The cost is estimated to be Rs.2069.70 crore including cost of land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation and other pre-construction activities. The total length of the road to be developed is approximately 76 kms.
- This work will be done under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) Phase-V in Hybrid Annuity Mode.
- The improvement of infrastructure in Punjab and in reducing the time and cost of travel for traffic, particularly heavy traffic, plying between Kharar and Ludhiana section.
- The development of this stretch will also help in uplifting the socio-economic condition of this region in the State. It would also increase employment potential for local labourers for project activities.
34) Freight rates for the direct road movement of fertilizers upto 500 Km from plant/ port to block level approved.
- To ensure timely and adequate availability of fertilizers to farmers at affordable prices, Department of Fertilizers has approved the freight rates for the direct road movement of fertilizers upto 500 km from plant/ port to block level, as recommended by the Tariff Commission.
- A decision has been taken to reimburse the freight cost in respect of secondary movement of fertilizers from rake point to district/ block headquarter on monthly basis at the lower of the normative Per Tonne Per Kilometer (PTPK) rate or actual expenditure incurred by the company.
35) Drinking Water Ministry organizes national-level Water Conservation workshop.
- The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, recently met the Chief Ministers of 11 drought-affected states and highlighted the importance of water conservation and optimum water utilization and measures should be taken in the short term, medium term and long term to conserve our limited water resources.
- This idea forward and intensify efforts, the Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation organized a ‘National Workshop on Pre-Monsoon Water Conservation Measures’ in the capital. The workshop was organized with the intent to engage officials from various State Governments, NGOs, domain experts and industry personnel and share best practices on Water Conservation and Rainwater Harvesting.
36) Government Launches Scheme for setting up 1000 MW CTU - connected Wind Power Project.
- Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has launched Scheme for setting up of 1000 MW Wind Power Project connected to transmission network of Central Transmission Utility (CTU) with an objective to facilitate supply of wind power to the non-windy states at a price discovered through transparent bidding process. Ministry has designated Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) as nodal agency for implementation of the scheme.
- The Scheme will encourage competitiveness through scaling up of project sizes and introduction of efficient and transparent e-bidding and e-auctioning processes. It will also facilitate fulfillment of Non-Solar Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) requirement of non-windy states.
- MNRE has also issued Draft guidelines for implementation of scheme for setting up of 1000 MW CTU connected wind power projects issued by MNRE for stakeholders’ consultation.
37) Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu Launches and Dedicates Various Services to the Nation.
- Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu in a programme held at Rail Bhawan, launched and dedicated following services to the nation as a part of fulfillment of Budget Announcements 2016-17.
- Flagging off of inaugural run of first time-tabled container train service from Domestic Container Terminal, Okhla (Delhi) and Whitefield (Bengaluru), by remote from Rail Bhawan.
- Launch of liberalized comprehensive parcel leasing policy
- Launch of liberalized policy for parcel cargo express trains.
- Integrated (Facebook & Twitter) Social Media Platforms for grievance redressal.
- Announcement of implementation of policy allowing differently abled persons to avail concession while travelling without escort.
38) NITI Aayog holds detailed interaction with Education Departments of States/ UTs on Atal Tinkering Laboratories.
- NITI Aayog held detailed interaction with Principal Secretaries/ Secretaries of School Education Departments from all States and UTs through video conferencing to disseminate information and ensure successful implementation of Atal Tinkering Laboratories.
- Atal Tinkering Laboratories is one of the three major initiatives under the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM). As part of the Mission, NITI Aayog will fund the establishment of 500 Atal Tinkering Laboratories in schools across India. AIM will also support the setting up of 100 Atal Incubation Centers and provide scale-up support to 10 established incubation centers.
- Atal Tinkering Lab will ensure that young minds give shape to their ideas through hands on do-it-yourself mode and learn innovation skills. This is the first time India is investing substantially in cultivating the spirit of innovation right from children in schools.
39) BHEL commissions 195 MW units at Muzaffarpur.
- State-run power equipment maker BHEL has commissioned another 195 MW unit at Muzaffarpur thermal power station in Bihar.
- This is the second 195 MW units to be commissioned by BHEL at the 2x195 MW Muzaffarpur Thermal Power Station Stage-II of Kanti Bijlee Utpadan Nigam Limited (KBUNL), a joint venture of NTPC and BSPGCL.
- BHEL is the leading supplier of coal-based main plant equipment to NTPC and its joint ventures, with an over 80% share in their installed capacity.
- BHEL`s scope of work in the Muzaffarpur project envisaged design, engineering, manufacture, supply, erection and commissioning of steam turbines, generators and boilers, along with associated auxiliaries and electrical.