1) CIL& ICFRE Signs MoU for Environment Related Issues in Coal Mining Projects.
- Coal India Limited (CIL) and Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) signed a MoU for effectively monitoring of environment related issues in the coal mining projects.
- The MoU covers assessment and monitoring of plantation and eco restoration activities, preparation of wild life management plans, preparation of environmental impact assessment and environmental management plans, capacity building for the executives of CIL on environment and forestry issues etc.
2) Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu launched various services from Rail Bhawan.
- Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu inaugurated/ launched following facilities/ services from Rail Bhawan.
- Launch of rationalized siding policy-a major freight segment reform easing the setting up additional private terminals.
- Expanded commodity basket for container traffic – 43 additional commodities in FAK.
- Hourly Booking of Retiring Rooms-enhancing stay capacity by use of IT for convenience of passengers.
- Single person accountability for all facilities on trains-along with single nodal officer for monitoring.
- Launching of travel insurance for passengers.
- Launch of new service providing direct connectivity from Jhansi to Indore and Jhansi to Etawah.
- The services launched ranging from freight to passenger services will have positive impact on all classes of society.
3) Ministry of Railways Signs Joint Venture Agreement with the Govt. of Kerala.
- Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu a Joint Venture Agreement was signed between Ministry of Railways and Government of Kerala for developing railway infrastructure in the State.
- This JV Agreement will certainly fulfill the rail transport needs of the people of Kerala. Railways want to extend railway network all over particularly in the States where demand is more and rail density is less.
- Railways have very limited resources and thus working in collaboration with the State Governments through JV Agreement can bring fruitful results for the people of the country.
4) Gujarat signs MoU with aviation ministry.
The Gujarat government signed a MoU with the Ministry of Civil Aviation under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS).
The MoU between us will provide a much needed thrust to the regional air connectivity, which is directly linked with economic development.
5) Railway Launches Travel Insurance Scheme.
- THE MINISTRY of Railways has rolled out its insurance scheme for passengers, under which they can buy a premium of 92 paise while booking a ticket to get an insurance cover of up to Rs. 10 lakh.
- The new facility will be available to all passengers, excluding those travelling by suburban trains, while booking online irrespective of the class. For the time being only those booking e-tickets will be able to avail of it.
- The cover will not be applicable for children upto 5 years of age and foreign citizens. It will be for passengers holding tickets such as confirmed, RAC and wait-listed.
6) Sidhu launches Awaaz-e-Punjab.
- Cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu and Akali Dal MLA Pargat Singh, along with some other leaders announced the launch of a political front, Awaaz-e-Punjab.
- The Awaaz -e-Punjab front as a pack of ``disgruntled and opportunist political leaders`` without any ideological commitment.
7) PM announces Rs. 200 crore for sports in J&K.
- Youth of Jammu & Kashmir in constructive sporting activities, a special package of Rs. 200 crore has been announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
- The package provides for construction of indoor sporting halls in all districts of the State with a view to provide playing facilities to youth during long winter in the state.
- For immediate engagement of youth in the state in sporting activities, a special programme `Sports for AII` is being implemented through J&K State Sports Council which provides for village level competitions and development of popular sports, such as, football etc.
8) TMC gets national party status.
- West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee added yet another feather to her cap with her Trinamool Congress being extended the `national party` status by the Election Commission.
- It is a recognized state party in West Bengal, Manipur, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh.
- Now, India has seven recognized national parties - Congress, BJP, BSP, CPI, CPI-M, NCP and All India Trinamool Congress.
9) Postage stamp to mark Mother Teresa`s sainthood.
- The canonisation of Mother Teresa in the Vatican will be marked by India with the release of a commemorative postage stamp.
- India Post will on the day issue a souvenir sheet on Mother Teresa, acclaimed the world over for her work among the poor. The stamp will be available for sale on the e-post office portal.
- India Post released, in Kolkata a special postal and numismatic cover on the Roman Catholic nun.
10) Odisha government launches Biju Kanya Ratna Yojana.
- The Odisha government launched the Biju Kanya Ratna Yojana (BKRY) for the development of girls in three districts of the state.
- The objective of the scheme is to improve Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) and Child Sex Ratio (CSR) in the three districts.
- It will ensure enrolment of girls in elementary education, tracking dropout girls from schools and creating a better environment for them.
11) 16 states partner with Railways for infra development.
- 16 states in the country have agreed to form a joint venture with the Railways for creating more infrastructure facilities.
12) Ankasamudra to become a conservation reserve.
- The Ankasamudra tank was gaining popularity as a natural bird sanctuary when about 140 species of birds, both local and migratory.
- This is the first bird conservation reserve declared in the entire Hyderabad-Karnataka region.
- The State Wildlife Board has approved the proposal of declaring the Ankasamudra tank as a conservation reserve after a relentless movement undertaken by the bird watchers.
- The State government should initiate steps not only to issue a notification but also ensure that proper arrangements are in place to develop the area.
13) Rajasthan launches e-stamping facility.
- Rajasthan launched the e-stamping facility in the state.
- Chief Justice of Rajasthan high Court Navin Sinha inaugurated the e-Court Fees Centre in Jaipur.
- The facility is already available in Delhi, Chhattisgarhand Himachal Pradesh.
- In Rajasthan high court, present Court Fee Stamp System will continue for the time being along with e-stamping facility.
14) Pondicherry Lt Governor launches Shramdaan movement in remote village.
- Lt Governor Kiran Bedi launched `Shramdaan movement` as part of Swachh Bharat and Swachh Puducherry initiative at a remote village.
- Shramdaan is a habit and a movement, and every one irrespective of status should be involved in the drive against garbage.
15) 1st Nomad Film Festival being held in Delhi.
- Aiming to raise awareness and change perceptions regarding the Denotified Tribes, the `1th Nomad Film Festival` is being held at the India Islamic Cultural Centre in Delhi.
- It will showcase short films as well as documentaries on the lives of the tribes. The tribes were listed as `Criminal Tribes` under the 1871 Criminal Tribes Act during British rule.
16) Mobile access scheme for remote areas soon.
- The government will soon unveil a new scheme to provide mobile phone access to over 55,000 villages, particularly those in Border States and in the Himalayan region, to push forward its flagship Digital India programme.
- The scheme will be funded by the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF).
- The USOF, which is maintained by the government, was formed to help fund projects to boost connectivity in rural areas. The money for this fund comes through a `Universal Access Levy`, charged from the telecom operators as a percentage of various licenses fees being paid by them.
17) CAG Readies to Meet Big Data Challenges Shri Shashi Kant Sharma Inaugurates Centre for Data Analytics.
- The CAG’s Centre for Data Management and Analytics (CDMA) is going to play a catalytic role to synthesise and integrate relevant data into auditing process. This was stated by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India while inaugurating the Centre.
- The CDMA will help to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of evidence in the audit process and will be a game changer in the field of public audit.
- The Indian Audit and Accounts Department in Big Data Analytics to exploit the data rich environment in the Union and State Governments.
18) Health Ministry launches the biggest Leprosy Case Detection Campaign in the country.
- Shri J.P. Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare reviewed the National Leprosy Eradication Programme and pursuant to that, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has launched the biggest Leprosy Case Detection Campaign (LCDC) in the country across 149 districts of 19 states/UTs.
- This fortnight-long campaign will cover 1656 blocks/ urban areas of these districts and screen a total of 32 crore people for leprosy.
- The Leprosy Case Detection Campaign is a unique initiative of its kind in the world where each and every member of the targeted population will be examined by the search team constituted of one male and one female volunteer at household level.
19) First Phase of ESICS Pilot Project of Telemedicine Services Inaugurated.
- Shri Bandaru Dattatreya, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment inaugurated the first phase of Tele-medicine services of ESIC for providing specialist medical services at a distance to insured workers.
- ESIC has launched an ambitious Pilot Project of Tele-Medicine Services at 11 ESI locations in coordination with C-DAC, Mohali under the aegis of ``Digital Inclusive and Smart Community (DISC)`` which is a part of Digital India Programmed of Government of India.
20) Dharmendra Pradhan launches #Gas4India campaign to promote Natural gas in the country.
- The Union Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum and Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan launched #Gas4India campaign, aimed at promoting the use of gas in the country.
- #Gas4India is a unified cross-country, multimedia, multi-event campaign to communicate the national, social, economic and ecological benefits of using natural gas as the fuel of choice to every citizen who uses, or will use in the near future, gas in any way- cook, travel, light their homes, and power their business.
21) MoA signed with NABARD for providing central assistance to 99 prioritized irrigation projects under PMKSY.
- Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Sushri Uma Bharti has raised fund Rs. 77000 crore during the next four year from the market for speedy implementation of 99 prioritized projects under Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP) throughout the country.
- Memorandum of Agreement between Ministry of Water Resources and NABARD for providing central assistance to 99 prioritized irrigation projects under PMKSY.
22) Bihar 1st state to link Aadhaar with examination forms.
- The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) is set to become the country`s first state board to link student examination forms with their Aadhaar numbers to avoid duplication and facilitate easy access to documents.
- The initiative will be implemented from the BSEB`s compartmental exams, which are scheduled for November.
23) Inauguration of revamped website of Inter-State Council Secretariat by Shri Rajnath Sing.
- The Union Home Minister of India Shri Rajnath Singh inaugurated the revamped website of the Inter-State Council Secretariat. This site which is Standardised Testing Quality Control (STQC) compliant has been audited for site security and is designed to be disabled friendly.
- The website which is video enabled and as a screen reader feature also has a responsive design so that it supports all type of devices like mobile, tablet, laptop, etc. It also serves internet users in the Hindi language.
24) Helpline No. 14401 for info on power cuts launched.
- Consumers can now get an update from power distribution companies about outages in their area through `Urja Mitra Helpline` by dialling 14401.
- Department of Telecom (DoT) has created the helpline to facilitate power distribution companies to provide information about outages to customers.
- The helpline is for pan-India usage to send information through voice calls and SMSes to apprise customers about power situation in their area so that they can plan accordingly.
- Government is aiming to leverage Information Technology driven power distribution in the next three years that will allow users to get a supply status at 4,041 urban towns on a real-time basis.
25) UP to issue special ID card to protect witnesses.
- The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to issue yellow identity cards to the witnesses of prosecution in criminal cases, in a bid to shield them from threats to their lives.
- This was issued by the state government under the Sakshi Suraksha scheme. The state prosecution department has decided to issue Sakshi Suraksha cards (yellow security cards) to provide police protection to the prosecution witnesses when they come for hearings of criminal cases in courts.
- The district authorities would ensure security of the card holders when they come to record their statements during court trials.
- The decision to this effect comes after it was learnt that the complainants and witnesses in criminal cases were facing threats and were under pressure of the accused to turn hostile.