NITI Aayog organizing Sustainable Development Goals Conclave 2020:
•NITI Aayog is organizing Sustainable Development Goals Conclave 2020: Partnerships, Cooperation and Development of North Eastern states- in Guwahati, Assam
•The inaugural session will be in presence all Chief Ministers of North Eastern states among others.
•The three-day event will see representations from the North Eastern states, Central Ministries, academia, civil society and international development organizations.
•The technical sessions would include SDG localization in the North East, economic prosperity and sustainable livelihoods, climate adaptive agriculture, health and nutrition among others.
•NITI Aayog has the mandate of overseeing the adoption and monitoring of SDGs at the national and sub-national level. Progress in the northeast region is crucial in this decade of action for the country to achieve the SDGs by 2030.
Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi completes one year today (24 Feb):
•The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme completes one year today i.e., 24 February, 2020. Prime Minister NarendraModi had launched the scheme on 24th February 2019 at Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh.
•Under the Scheme, an amount of 6000 rupees per year is transferred in three equal installments of 2000 rupees in every four months directly into the bank accounts of the farmers.
•The scheme will help farmers in meeting their agricultural and domestic needs. Over 8.46 crore farmers have been given the benefits of the scheme till 20th February, 2020.
Vice President Venkaiah Naidu asks governments to link employment with languages:
•Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu has asked the governments to link employment with languages.
•Emphasizing the need for promoting the use of Indian languages in the administration, he said, it will not only bring the administration closer to the people but also help in preservation of country’s rich linguistic heritage.
•The need for imparting morals, ethics, and values to students through education and said a teacher can play key role in shaping the life of a student.
•The youth to develop 4Cs - Character, Capacity, Conduct and Caliber and asked them to be hardworking and disciplined to achieve success in life. He also advised them to shun sedentary lifestyle and keep physically fit.
###GSI denies discovery of 3000-tonne gold deposits in UP`s Sonbhadra:
•Geological Survey of India (GSI) has said there has been no discovery of gold deposits estimated to be around 3,000 tonnes in Uttar Pradesh`s Sonbhadra district, as published by various media.
•The GSI clarified that it has not estimated such kind of vast resource of gold deposit in Sonbhadra district. It informed that GSI, Northern region has carried out several exploration works for gold but the results were not encouraging.
•It added that this exploration was carried out in 1998-99 and 1999-2000 and in the report, GSI has estimated a probable category resource of 52806.25 tonnes of Ore with 3.03 grams per tonne for a strike length of 170 meters in Sonaphari area of Sonbhadra district.
•It clarified that the total gold which can be extracted from the total resource of 52806.25 tonnes of ore is approximately 160 kg and not 3350 tonnes as mentioned in media.
Ministry of MSME launched National Level Awareness Programme (NLAP) 2020:
•The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) has launched a National Level Awareness Programme (NLAP) 2020 from 17th to 28th February, 2020.
•Objective: The main objective of NLAP is to spread awareness about the schemes & activities undertaken by the Ministry and its attached organizations such as Office of Development Commissioner (MSME), Khadi & Village Industries Commission, Coir Board, National Small Industries Corporation Limited, National Institute of MSME, MSME Technology Centres, and Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Rural Industrialization.
Government plans to construct 1,000 more urbanized clusters in rural areas:
•After evaluating the success rate of urban Clusters scheme, government is intending to move ahead to construct 1,000 more urbanized clusters in rural areas.
•Sense of mutual cooperation between people, who want urbanization in their rural space and concerned ministry officials, will be instrumental in ensuring the success of the scheme.
•A mobile app to be used for Geo-tagging for the assets in the rurban clusters.
•This flagship scheme of Centre, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 21st February in 2016, aims at transforming these Rurban clusters by stimulating local economic development, enhancing basic services, and creating well planned Rurban clusters.
Government approves constitution of 22nd Law Commission:
•Government has formally announced the constitution of the 22nd Law Commission. The law panel advises the government on complex legal issues and has a term of three years. With the president giving his nod for the creation of the Law Commission, government will now appoint a chairperson to head the panel and other members.
•The chairperson usually is a retired Supreme Court judge or a retired chief justice of a high court. The term of the previous commission had ended on August 31, 2018. Union Cabinet had last week given its nod to reconstitute the panel.
###Kuchipudi to host national classical dance festival from March 5:
•The Akhila Bharata Kuchipudi Natya Kala Mandali (ABKNKM) and Chennai-based Kuchipudi Art Academy (KAA) will conduct one-week Siddhendra Yogi national dance festival at Kuchipudi village in Krishna district from March 5.
•Krishna University (KRU) Vice-Chancellor K.B. Chandrasekhar is the chief guest. The festival will begin with the Kuchipudi dance performance by the KRU students and another troupe from Visakhapatnam.
•Saantanu Roy from Kolkata will perform Bharatanatyam. The performers trained by Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar award recipient Chinta Ravi Balakrishna will perform Kuchipudi.
The classical dancers from the Kuchipudi Art Academy, Chennai:
• D. Yamini Narasambika from Odisha and Himanchi Chowdary from Warangal will perform Kuchipudi during the festival, according to ABKNKM founder-secretary Pasumarthy Kesava Prasad.
GoI successfully installed 10 lakh smart meters under SMNP:
•Government has successfully installed 10 lakh smart meters across India under the Government of India`s Smart Meter National Programme (SMNP).
•The announcement was made by the Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, New & Renewable Energy R.K. Singh.
•The Minister inaugurated commissioning of 100 MW decentralized solar power plants connected to agriculture feeders in Maharashtra.
NITI Aayog reported 28 percent payments for maternity benefit scheme credited to wrong account:
•A progress report on Poshan Abhiyaan (Nutrition Mission) released by the NITI Aayog stated that one in three Aadhaar-based payments for the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), the Centre`s maternity benefit scheme, was credited to a wrong bank account.
•This is the second report released by GoI on the implementation of Poshan Abhiyaan.