By: D.K Choudhary
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palaniswami Wins Trust Vote In Assembly
i. The newly appointed Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Edappadi Palaniswami won the trust vote in the Assembly on February 18, 2017 where 122 MLAs voted for him, while 11 voted for O Panneerselvam.
ii .To win, a majority of 68 votes were needed. With this Palaniswami will continue to remain at the position of CM.
iii .It was the first such floor test which Tamil Nadu witnessed in about 30 years.
iv .Earlier, on February 16, 2017, he was administered the oath of office as the Chief Minister by Governor C Vidyasagar Rao after he submitted a letter on February 14 claiming he was elected as the Leader of the AIADMK Legislature party in a meeting of its MLAs that day.
Maharashtra Approves Rs. 250 crore Cloud Seeding Programme
i. The state government of Maharashtra has approved a Rs. 250 crore Cloud Seeding Programme to experiment whether cloud seeding produces sufficient rain.
ii. Seeding is a technique which involves spraying chemicals into clouds.
iii. Under the programme, the weather scientists will fly airplanes loaded with silver iodide Maharashtra Approves Rs. 250 crore Cloud Seeding Programmeover clouds above Solapur, Maharashtra during the monsoon 2017 beginning with a three year initial investigation.
iv. The programme is coordinated by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology and will deal to address the frequent drought in Vidarbha.
v. Scientists will fly two aircraft and spray dry ice and silver iodide on 100 clouds and compare them with 100 unseeded clouds. Ground radar will track the clouds and verify which ones contributed rain.
vi. The move is part of a larger experiment of the Earth Sciences Ministry to understand how clouds and aerosols interact and influence climate.
How Cloud Seeding Works
♦ Silver iodide is released into the atmosphere by a propane flame through jet, rocket or ground propellers.
♦ The iodide particles rise into the cloud and causes the moisture to freeze.
♦ The particle act as a base for the water vapour to settle on.
♦ The water vapour crystallizes and comes down as rain or ice.
Mil Banche Programme held in all Government Schools of Madhya Pradesh
i. An initiative by the government of Madhya Pradesh, “Mil Banche MP” (Let MP read together) programme was held in all the primary and middle government schools of the Madhya Pradesh on February 18, 2017 to increase knowledge and the understanding about language among students..
ii. Under the programme, all the district administrators, government officials, public representatives, college students, retired officials, businessmen, media persons, doctors, engineers, sports persons and including common man will teach and interact with students of all government schools of the state.
iii .As a part of the programme, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan also visited the Sanjay Gandhi Middle School in Bhopal where he had studied during his childhood.
iv .He took classes to motivate the children to do best in their life. He also announced that he would teach in schools twice every month.
v. The programme has been launched by the Tribal Development Department and State School Education under the direction of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
vi. More than two lakh people of every walk of life taught in 1,12,073 primary and middle schools of the state under this statewide programme.
Wildlife Sanctuaries in Madhya Pradesh
♦ Karera Wildlife Sanctuary, Ralamanda Wildlife Sanctuary, Son Ghariya Wildlife Sanctuary, Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary, Panchmari Wildlife Sanctuary, Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary, Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary, Kheoni Wildlife Sanctuary.
ICAI’s Accounting Research Foundation signs pact with Railways
i. The CA Institute’s Accounting Research Foundation (ARF) has signed an agreement with Indian Railways for the national rollout of accrual accounting in Railways on February 19, 2017. The agreement will be valid for 18 months.
ii. The agreement was signed by V. Sagar, Director, ICAI ARF and Secretary, ICAI and Sanjeev Sharma, Deputy Chief Project Manager (Accounting Reforms), Northern Railway in the presence of Shahzad Shah, Financial Commissioner, Indian Railways and Nilesh Shivji Vikamsey, Chairman, ICAI ARF and President, ICAI.
iii. According to the agreement accrual accounting will be introduced at 17 Railway zones and 8 production units across the country.
iv. The pilot project also for introduction of the Accrual based Financial Statement as an additional set of Accounts at North Western Railway at Jaipur and Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala by ICAI ARF.
v. It is the part of accounting reforms, accrual based financial statements will be rolled out in Railways by March 2019.
Advantages :
♦ Accrual based financial statement will support Indian Railways in better utilisation of available resources, estimation of future liabilities and prioritisation of spending.
♦ It will also pave way for best financial management practices to be introduced in Indian Railways.
