1. Union Minister Ramdas Athawale launches Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana in Mumbai.
Union Minister for state for social justice and empowerment, Ramdas Athawale today launched the Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana in Mumbai.
The Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana has been launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with an objective of making quality medicines available at affordable prices to all, particularly to the poor and underprivileged, through exclusive outlets.
Jan Aushadhi Medical store is set up with an aim to reduce out of pocket expenses in healthcare.
Speaking at the function, Mr Athawale said, Generic drugs for one and all is the need of the hour and they are glad to launch the same in their state. He said, this will be a revolutionary step in healthcare and they will also urge doctors to prescribe for generic medicines. This will help people save money and bring relief to the public.
2. ERO-Net launched in Rajasthan.
Rajasthan`s Chief Electoral Officer Ashwini Bhagat today launched the Election Commission`s web- based project, ERO-Net, using which voters can register their names on electoral rolls.
Till date, the Electoral Roll Management System (ERMS) software was being used to make voter lists but it could not identify multiple entries of a voter, Bhagat told reporters here.
It was being replaced with ERO-Net which was a transparent mechanism to identify whether the voter was listed anywhere in the country, he said.
Using ERO-Net, people can register their names on electoral rolls, rectify the details of their voter identity card, and transfer their names to another constituency online.
Bhagat said the virtual platform would be available for all the 200 Assembly constituencies in the state.
Voters can see their registration details on the official website of the state chief electoral officer (http://ceorajasthan.nic.in) or through an SMS.
Those who have completed 18 years of age as on January 1, 2018, and/or do not have their names in voters` list can get their registration done online by November 30 and also through the conventional system, Bhagat added.
There were 4,67,36,837 registered voters in the state, including 2,44,32,609 men and 2,23,04,228 women as on October 30.
3. Suresh Chukkapalli Appointed as Consul General of Korea.
Suresh Chukkapalli, Chairman of Phoenix Group of Hyderabad, has been appointed as Honorary Consul General in Hyderabad by the Republic of Korea, with consular jurisdiction over the state of Telangana.
The Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, notified the same recently.
Suresh Chukkapalli will be given charge/invested formally on November 1 at a ceremony in New Delhi.
Now Chairman of Phoenix group, Suresh Chukkapalli, who comes from a distinguished family of entrepreneurs, was former Director and founder Promoter of Lanco Group and former Member of Central Board of Film Certification.
Suresh Chukkapalli in a statement said, “My responsibility would be to foster the bond between both the nations and work towards strengthening the bilateral business and trade relations with emphasis on Telangana.”
The Honorary Consulate General office in Hyderabad will open soon to extend support to developing trade relations with Korea, Suresh Chukkapalli informed.
South Korea is the fourth largest economy in Asia and the 11th largest in the world known for its global corporations.
4. Maharashtra Government Adds 18m to Shivaji statue, to be World’s Tallest at 210m.
The 210-metre-high statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, which the Maharashtra government plans to build in the sea off the Mumbai coast, has received environmental clearance, making it the world’s tallest statue, once built. The Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) on Monday approved the government’s application to increase the height from the earlier proposed 192 metres.
Currently, the Spring Temple Buddha statue, which stands at 208 metres in China, is the world’s tallest statue.
MCZMA officials said since other approvals are in place, the environmental clearance, too, was issued. “Our major concern was whether the state had received height clearance from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which they had,” said Satish Gavai, chairman, MCZMA and additional chief secretary, state environment department. “After they submitted all permissions to us and presented a comparison of different statues in the world, we were told that the tip of Shivaji Maharaj’s sword will be at 210 metres.”
Gavai said a verbal clearance had been issued and within a few days, the state will be given a formal response too.
Last year, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis directed the Ministry of Finance to make budgetary allocation of Rs3,600 crore for the project. However, members of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Smarak Samiti (CSMSS), the group appointed by the state government to implement the project, said that after the height increase, the project would now cost Rs4,000 crore.
The equestrian statue of the warrior king has been planned on a rocky outcrop of 15.96 hectares, roughly 1.5km from Raj Bhavan, at the southern tip of Mumbai. The memorial will have a temple, hospital, entrance modelled on the Raigad fort and a museum showcasing highlights of Shivaji’s life – all of which will be built in the first phase of the project, at an estimated cost of Rs2,500 crore.
CSMSS members told HT the construction work will commence from January 2018 and is expected to be completed by 2021.
“MCZMA officials sanctioned the project based on technical and legal aspects of the project. We are expecting the formal response. We now have all clearances to go ahead with construction of the tallest statue,” said Vinayak Mete, head, CSMSS. “As opposed to the Statue of Liberty in New York or Christ the Redeemer in Rio, which are just statues, the Maratha King’s statue will have his life history on display and the coming generations will be inspired by his stories. The idea is to relay Shivaji Maharaj’s teachings to the world.”
5. Royal Opera House at Mumbai gets UNESCO heritage award.
Almost a year after it reopened, Charni Road’s Royal Opera House has been awarded the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Award for Cultural Heritage Conservation.
The building was closed to the public in 1993, and sat crumbling for years, before a restoration project was undertaken eight years ago to replicate the heritage structure. It was originally inaugurated by Britain’s King George V in 1911 and completed in 1916.
Honorary director of the heritage site, Ashish Doshi, said they had taken up a challenge when they decided to restore the place, but pictures taken by an Australian journalist in 1914 helped them replicate the structure in toto.
“The award will help us strengthen the vision we have for Mumbai and achieve our goals faster. We want to make the Royal Opera House the city’s cultural hub,” Doshi said.
6. According to a Gender Vulnerability Index report, Goa named safest for women in India, Bihar most unsafe.
Goa has been ranked at the top spot by Plan India when it comes to safety of women. The reason for Goa being ranked as safest for women is its top spot in the Gender Vulnerability Index (GVI) in which it has scored 0.656. The national average, on the other hand, is 0.5314. The tourist destination has also been ranked first in the protection of its people, fifth in the education sector, sixth in health, and eighth in poverty.
In the top bracket, states such as Kerala, Mizoram, Sikkim, and Manipur have cemented themselves. The report released on Wednesday by Ministry of Women and Child Development labelled Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Delhi most vulnerable for girls. As per the report, such an index scans the challenges faced by women keeping sectors such as education, health, poverty and protection against violence in mind.
Kerala’s GVI is 0.634 and the report clearly mentioned that the state has achieved heights in the area of health, reported Times of India.
The low ranked states:
Marked on a scale of zero to one, the performance of a particular state has been considered better if GVI is closer to one. Taking the safety of girls in the picture and health conditions, Bihar’s GVI is 0.410, poorest among all the states. Besides this, the Nitish Kumar-ruled state has also been ranked lowest in the education sector.
Another factor for ranking considered by Plan India was child marriage. More than 39 per cent of girls got married before the age of 21 years, whereas around 12 per cent of girls became mothers before the age of 19, found the survey by Plan India.
The GVI of national capital is 0.436. The index of Delhi was hammered down due to track record in education and protection. With a GVI of 0.450, Jharkhand ranks above Delhi and UP is ranked below the national capital with a GVI of 0.434.
7. Worlds highest motorable road constructed in Ladakh at a height of over 19,300 feet.
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has constructed the world’s highest motorable road in the cold desert of Ladakh, which has boosted the troop movement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the eastern sector.
China had objected to the road construction up to Demchok, a village located at Zero Line, in 2016. This had led to a standoff between the Indian and Chinese armies in the sector. However, the motorable road has been constructed and its black-topping has already begun.
“Despite China’s objection, we went ahead with the road construction,” an official said. “In view of China’s repeated incursions in the area, the motorable road was most needed.”
In 2014, the Chinese army had come deep inside the Demchok area to protest against the construction of an irrigation project.The 54-km road was constructed by the BRO’s ‘Project Himank’ in six years. The road is one of the three key links that were to be built by the BRO to meet the strategic requirements. The road passes through the Umlingla top at a height of over 19,300 feet. Being close to Hanle, the road connects Chisumle and Demchok villages, 230 km from Leh.
8. Mumbai received its first batch of four battery operated eco friendly BEST buses.
Mumbai’s long wait for zero-emission eco-friendly public transport buses is now over. The city received its first batch of four battery operated buses this week. If you live in the island city, you will be able to ride in one of these by the end of the month.
Of the budget allotted to it by the civic body, the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) bought these buses for Rs10 crore.After being charged once, the buses can cover about 300 km. Their lithium ion batteries will, however, take three hours to get fully charged.The buses are currently parked at the BEST’s Backbay depot as they are yet to be registered at the regional transport office in Tardeo, said sources.“We have created a special charging facility for the buses at the Backbay depot,” said a BEST official. He added that the buses will ply only in the island city at first.
The BEST currently has fleet of around 3,400 buses, of which only non-AC buses, including 2,200 compressed natural gas buses, are operational. The BEST will get six battery operated buses, of which four are modelled on the China-made BYD K-7 bus, while the other two are of the Indian-made VE Skyline Pro model. In March last year, the BEST panel had approved the purchase of these buses, each costing around Rs1.65 crore, much higher than the cost of fossil fuel non-AC and AC buses at Rs50 lakh.
The red-and-silver buses can seat 35 and are fitted with bucket seats. Their low floors make them passenger friendly.