1. 3-Day Annual Sindhu Darshan Festival Begins In Ladakh Region
Sindhu Darshan Festival is an annual festival celebrated on the full moon night of Guru Poornima in the month of June. The festival is dedicated to the Sindhu(Indus) river and also celebrates the gallantry and valor of the soldiers who fight for the nation and protect our lives. It also promotes communal harmony and unity in the country and is celebrated with great enthusiasm. This 3-day long festival is organized on the banks of River Sindhu in the Leh region with a lot of cultural and traditional activities. The festival not only just commemorates the importance of Holy river Sindhu, but is also a great tourist season for the place as visitors from various corners of the world come to experience the picturesque beauty of Leh.
Started in 2000, the festival is now very much popular among the tourists and witnesses a large number of participants from various corners of the country. Sindhu Darshan Festival starts with a reception ceremony for participants who bring water from their states in earthen pots and pour the water in the Sindhu river. People from all communities get involved in the ceremony and a prayer is organized at the banks of the river. A lot of cultural activities are conducted thereafter. The charm of this festival is impeccable and is loved by all the visitors. This year, the Sindhu Darshan Festival will be held from 12-14th June 2017 and can be visited by booking a bus/flight/train to Leh.
2. Gujarat Launches `Suryashakti Kisan Yojana` For Farmers.
Gujarat is poised to become the first state in the country to roll out a scheme where farmers can generate electricity using solar energy and sell the surplus to the electric grid.
Chief minister Vijay Rupani on Saturday announced Suryashakti Kishan Yojana or SKY as it’s called as per which farmers, besides producing electricity for farm and irrigation purposes, can also sell surplus power to the state owned power companies at Rs7 per unit for a period of seven years under this scheme.
The state government today launched a pilot project for the scheme which aims to cover 33 districts by setting up 137 feeders, covering 12,400 farmers. The cost of the pilot project is estimated to be about Rs870 crore, according to a state government statement. To produce 1,42,000 horse power of energy for irrigation through water pumps will require 177 megawatts of solar power generation in the pilot stage.
“SKY would be an able element in fulfilling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pledge to double the income of farmers by year-2022,” Gujarat energy minister Saurabh Patel said at a press conference in Gandhinagar that was attended by chief minister Rupani, deputy chief minister Nitin Patel and other senior Gujarat government officials.
As per the new scheme, a farmer signing up for it will have to spend only 5 % amount of the total expenditure for installing the solar project (including solar panels and inverters).
The central and state governments would pay 60 % amount as a subsidy. While remaining 35% amount would be a loan to farmer, interest on which would be paid by the state government. The duration for repayment of the loan amount has been fixed for seven years.
3. Saudi ARAMCO, ADNOC Signed MoU For Refinery Project Of Maharashtra.
Saudi Aramco and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly develop and build an integrated refinery and petrochemicals complex at Ratnagiri in Maharashtra.
Speaking to reporters after the MoU was signed, Aramco CEO, Amin H Nasser said, “Saudi Aramco and ADNOC will together hold 50 per cent stake. The terms are being discussed.”
In a tweet later, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan said, “State owned refiners IOCL, HPCL & BPCL will have 50 per cent stake in the Ratnagiri Refinery. Aramco & ADNOC will have 25 per cent stake each.
It is unclear if there will be a financial investment by either Saudi Aramco or ADNOC in the project. Industry watchers are expecting a crude supply assurance from both Aramco and ADNOC to meet the requirements of the 1.2 million per day (60 million metric tonnes per annum).
This refinery will also provide feedstock for the integrated petrochemicals complex, which will have the capacity of producing approx. 18 million tonnes per annum of petrochemical products.
When asked, Pradhan said, “The total investment for the project is $ 44 billion. This is a joint venture by three Indian Companies - IndianOil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum, and another joint venture between Aramco and ADNOC. Both are partners in the Ratnagiri refinery.”
4. Ministry Of Women And Child Development Organises POSHAN Abhiyaan TECH-THON.
With an aim to integrate information technology for better rolll out of its major social sector schemes, Ministry of Woman and Child Development organized a day-long Seminar on Technology Partnerships for Steering POSHAN Abhiyaan called `TECH-THON`.
Poshan is an overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment launched by PM Modi. CEO of niti Ayog underlined the importance of IT in the mission.
Convergence and and innovative use of technology are the two hallmarks of POSHAN Abhiyaan. ICDS- Common Application Software has been specially designed to strengthen the Service Delivery System as well as the mechanism for Real Time Monitoring for nutritional outcomes.
POSHAN Abhiyaan was launched by the Prime Minister on 8thMarch, 2018 in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan. Now, Effective monitoring and Timely interventions along with use of Specially designed software will surely help achieve the target of Poshan Abhiyan.
5. Suresh Prabhu Launches Mobile App `ReUnite`.
Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu today launched a mobile application, ReUnite, to trace missing and abandoned children in India.
"This effort to reunite parents whose children have gone missing is a wonderful use of technology to address real life social challenges," Prabhu said.
The app is multi user where parents and citizens can upload pictures of children, and provide detailed description like name, birth mark, address, report to the police station, search and identify missing kids. The photographs will not be saved in the mobile phone`s physical memory.
Amazon Rekognition, web facial recognition service, is being used to identify missing kids, according to a statement by the commerce ministry. The app is available for both Android and iOS. Non-government organisation Bachpan Bachao Andolan and Capgemini have developed this app.
6. Indian, Indonesian Navies Participate In Passage Exercise: PASSEX 2018.
New Delhi, Jun 27 (PTI) The navies of India and Indonesia participated in Passage Exercise (PASSEX), the Navy said today.
Indian Naval ships INS Shakti and INS Kamorta under the command of Rear Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet, undertook Passage Exercise (PASSEX) with Indonesian Naval Ship KRI Madidihang (855) a Stingrays Class Fast Patrol Craft on leaving the Port of Makassar, Indonesia on June 26. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s visit to Indonesia last month, the two countries decided to enhance their maritime cooperation. PTI PR DIP DIP.
7. India Pledges $5 Million For UN Palestinian Aid Agency.
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India has pledged USD 5 million in assistance to the UN agency working for the welfare of Palestinian refugees to help bolster its "severe funding crisis" following US` cut in its annual aid to UNRWA. A total of 20 countries, including India, announced contributions to the 2018 budget of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine Refugees in the Near East during a meeting, as officials called for stable financing for the agency amid devastating conflicts and violence in the Middle East.
In March, India announced it will increase its annual contribution to the UNRWA from USD 1.5 million to USD 5 million from 2018-19 for a period of three years.
While India pledged USD 5 million, Sweden will contribute USD 250 million over four years, the UK USD 51 million and the UAE USD 50 million among other donors, said a UN statement yesterday.
Pierre Krahenbuhl, Commissioner-General of UNRWA, said that in January, the agency`s financial situation became catastrophic due to the sudden loss of USD 300 million in voluntary contributions.
"Facing the most severe funding crisis in our history, we had no time for pessimism or indecision," he said.
8. National Statistics Day: 29 June.
In recognition of the notable contributions made by Late Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis in the fields of statistics, statistical system and economic planning, Government of India in 2007, has designated 29thJune as the “Statistics Day” in the category of Special Days to be celebrated every year at the National level.
29th June, 2017 marked the beginning of the 125th year of birth of Prof. P.C. Mahalanobis. ISI has held year-round celebrations which will be culminated on 29th June, 2018.
The objective of celebration of this Day is to create public awareness about the importance of statistics in socio-economic planning and policy formulation, to acknowledge the contribution of Prof. Mahalanobis, and to pay homage to him. Every year, one particular theme of current national importance is selected for focused discussions and effortsthroughout the year aimed at bringing about improvements in the selected area. The theme selected for the Statistics Day this year is ‘‘Quality Assurance in Official Statistics’. The theme has been chosen to underscore the importance of compliance with essential parameters of quality in statistical systems and products. The Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) at Kolkata, set up by Prof. Mahalanobis in 1931, and was declared an autonomous “Institute of National Importance” through an act of Parliament in 1959, celebrates 29th June as the “Worker Day”.
Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation and ISI are having a joint event on 29th June, 2018 at Kolkata to celebrate the Statistics Day and the closing ceremony of the 125th birth of Prof. P. C. Mahalanobis.
9. UAE Consulate To Come Up In Hyderabad.
Decks were today cleared for setting up a consulate of United Arab Emirates here with Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao giving his nod for it after discussions with UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
A proposal in this regard was discussed when Abdullah met Rao here, a release from the CM`s office said tonight. Rao gave his nod to the proposal and asked the state chief secretary to allocate land for construction of the consulate building.
"The Chief Minister felt happy for the proposal of the Sheikh Abdullah for establishing UAE consulate office in Hyderabad," the release said. The establishment of the consulate would improve cordial relations between the state government and the UAE, it said. Rao recalled the cultural ties between Telangana and the UAE and expressed gratitude to the UAE minister for visiting Hyderabad, it said.
The visiting minister appreciated the progress achieved by Telangana in various spheres, the release added. The UAE foreign minister arrived in New Delhi on June 24 on a week-long tour during which he would also visit Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Bengaluru, besides Hyderabad.
10. NITI Aayog Releases 1st Delta Ranking.
Gujarat`s Dahod district topped the first Delta ranking released today by NITI Aayog that captures incremental improvements of aspirational districts on health, education and other development parameters.
Other districts that have shown marked improvement on five developmental parameters in the months of April and May 2018 are West Sikkim (Sikkim), Ramanathapuram (Tamil Nadu), Vizianagaram (Andhra Pradesh), YSR Kadapa district (Andhra Pradesh).
While among the worst performer districts are Kupwara (Jammu and Kashmir), Begusarai (Bihar), Ranchi (Jharkhand), Simdega (Jharkhand), Khagadia (Bihar), NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said today while releasing the first Delta ranking (incremental progress) for the aspirational districts.
Transformation of Aspirational District`s programme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi this year and it is aimed at quickly and effectively transforming some of the most underdeveloped districts of the country.
Mr Kant said that out of 115 aspirational districts, only 108 participated in the first Delta ranking. While 3 districts of West Bengal did not participate in the ranking, Odisha and Kerala sent their entries late and hence they could not be included in the ranking exercise.
NITI Aayog`s first Delta ranking (incremental progress) for the Aspirational Districts was based on self-reported data of districts between March 31, 2018 to May 31, 2018, across five developmental areas of health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water resources, financial inclusion and skill development and basic infrastructure.
Asifabad district of Telangana, which was ranked 100 in baseline ranking released in March this year, made significant improvements in past two months and stood at 15 in Delta ranking. After several rounds of consultations with various stakeholders, 49 key performance indicators have been chosen to measure progress of the districts.
Districts are prodded and encouraged to first catch up with the best district within their state, and subsequently aspire to become one of the best in the country, by competing with, and learning from others in the spirit of competitive and cooperative federalism.
11. Government Notifies Electoral Bond Scheme 2018.
Government on Friday notified the Electoral Bond Scheme 2018 via Gazette Notification. As per provisions of the Scheme, Electoral Bonds may be purchased by a person, who is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India. A person being an individual can buy Electoral Bonds, either singly or jointly with other individuals.
Only the Political Parties registered under Section 29A of Representation of People Act, 1951 & which secured not less than 1% of the votes polled in last General Election or the Legislative Assembly of the State, shall be eligible to receive Electoral Bonds.
Electoral Bonds shall be encashed by an eligible Political Party only through a Bank account with the Authorized Bank. Electoral Bonds shall be valid for fifteen calendar days from the date of issue and no payment shall be made to any payee Political Party if the Electoral Bond is deposited after expiry of the validity period.
The Electoral Bond deposited by an eligible Political Party in its account shall be credited on the same day.
12. NITI Aayog Partners With GNFC Ltd.
NITI Aayog and Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals Limited (GNFC) have signed a Statement of Intent (SOI) to work together towards implementing a Proof-of-Concept (PoC) application using Blockchain Technology for fertiliser subsidy management.
They will jointly develop the use case, under take research, interact with multiple stakeholders, develop Blockchain solutions, exchange learnings, organise forums, and disseminate learnings across their networks. Learnings, insights and outcomes of the PoC will enable NITI Aayog to suggest policy recommendations and actions in strengthening the subsidy mechanism, making it more transparent and immune to leakages.
Fertilizer units manufacture approximately 31 Million MT of fertilizers across country, where total approximately Rs. 70,000 Cr. of subsidy is disbursed to the manufacturing units. The subsidy disbursal takes two to three months` time.
There are multiple entities involved in verification process, and the transaction process is very cumbersome which has the potential to be automated to give significant efficiency gains.
With implementation of Blockchain Technology, it is expected that the distribution will become effective and efficient, and subsidy transfer could be automated and made real time.
Blockchain platform have inherent characteristics of distributed computing and ledger keeping of transactions i.e. confidentiality, authenticity, non-repudiation, data integrity, and data availability.
Overall implementation ensures that there is no dependence on intermediary agencies to prove the validity of transactions and resulting subsidy claims. The blockchain based process will also use Smart Contracts which will enable quick and accurate reconciliation of transactions between multiple parties with minimal human intervention. Implementation platform is such that process transparency is evident, transactions cannot be altered and audit trails of transactions are available.
13. Mumbai`s Victorian And Art Deco Ensembles Inscribed As UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Mumbai`s Victorian and Art Deco Ensembles has been inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This was announced at the Unesco world heritage committee meeting in Bahrain on Saturday.
The Heritage enclave is situated in South Mumbai’s historic core and comprises an urban ensemble straddling two heritage precincts of the Fort Precinct and Marine Drive Precinct.
The Property consists of a 19th century collection of Victorian structures and 20th century Art Deco buildings. It includes the row of public buildings of the High Court, Mumbai University, Old Secretariat, NGMA, Elphinstone College, David Sassoon Library, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Western Railways Headquarters, Maharashtra Police Headquarters to the east of Oval Maidan and the Art Deco buildings consisting of the first row of Backbay Reclamation scheme, buildings such as the Cricket Club of India and Ram Mahal along Dinshaw Wacha Road, iconic cinema halls of Eros and Regal and the first row of buildings along Marine Drive.