By: D.K Choudhary
Arunachal CM Pema Khandu inaugurates Composite Regional Centre in Itanagar
i. Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu in the presence of Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju inaugurated the Composite Regional Centre at Itanagar Banquet Hall, Arunachal Pradesh on February 21, 2017
ii. Aim: To create resources and infrastructure required for developing services for persons with disabilities
Outlay : Rs.20 Crore
iii. The Composite Regional Centre at Itanagar along with a creation of 17 contractual posts for it.
iv. The centre is established under the National Institute for Locomotor Disabilities (NILD), Kolkata of Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Govt. of India
v. Pema Khandu announced that the amount in Chief Minister’s Disability Pension Scheme of Rs 1000 per month being currently paid to the disabled person will be increased.
Arunachal Pradesh :
Dibang Dam, Ranganadi Dam and Subansiri Lower Dam
Ravi Shankar Prasad launches Cyber Swachhta Kendra in New Delhi
i. Union Minister of Electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad launched Cyber Swachhta Kendra in New Delhi on February 21, 2017 for Botnet cleaning and Malware analysis as a psrt of digital India initiativeCyber Swachhta Kendra
ii. He also launched two mobile apps
1.Mkavach to protect smart phones and tablets from hackers
2.Samvid to protect Desktops from suspicious applications from running
Cyber Swachhta Kendra :
Aim : To create a secure cyber space by detecting botnet infections.
♦ Cyber Swachhta Kendra will operate in close coordination and collaboration with Internet Service Providers and Antivirus companies.
♦ The centre is being operated by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team.
♦ The planning of this centre was announced in 2015 with an outlay of Rs 100 crore.
Tamil Nadu govt announce Rs 2247 cr for drought affected farmers
i. Tamil Nadu government lead by Edappadi K Palaniswami has sanctioned Rs 2,247 crore to drought-hit farmers in Tamil Nadu after the report submitted to the government by senior officials.
ii. The report suggested that Rs 2,247 crore for 50,34,237 acres in which crops were cultivated during samba season.
iii. The relief amount will be redited to the bank accounts of the farmers.
iv. Farmers whose rain-fed lands will get Rs 3,000 per acre and Rs 5,465 per acre to farmers who have lands which are dependent on irrigating
Tamil Nadu :
♦ Governor: C. Vidyasagar Rao
♦ Chief Minister: Edappadi K. Palaniswami
Ministry of Road Transport’s New Format for Reporting Accidents
i. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) lead by Nitin Gadkari introduced the new format for recording accidents to find the cause of road accident.
ii. MoRTH has framed a uniform format for comprehensive data collection to assess the root-cause behind road fatalities based on the 17-point format designed by a high-level committee set up by the transport research wing of the ministry comprising senior officials and experts from IITs and World Health Organization (WHO).
iii. The new format will drawn on the lines of developed countries. It will require the police, transport department and other agencies concerned to certain environmental factors
Focus of the report :
i. The accident Recording Form has five sections
Section A contains accident identification details like location, vehicle type etc.
Section B captures road conditions and features like culvert, gradient, pothole etc.
Section C would capture details about vehicle – both motorized and non motorized, overloading etc.
Section D would capture traffic violations by drivers and
Section E would capture details about persons other than drivers involved in the accident.
ii. The committee has also developed a set of corresponding annual road accident data Reporting Format consisting of 17 forms in which the states/ UTs would be required to furnish the annual road accident data to TRW of the Ministry within one month of the completion of a calendar year.
Jammu & Kashmir to observe 2017 as Year of Apple
i. J & K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has declared 2017 as ‘Year of Apple’ to promote the famed Kashmiri apples in domestic and foreign markets.
ii. She also launched the High Density Apple Plantation Scheme in Srinagar to provide 50% subsidy
Jammu & Kashmir to observe 2017 as Year of Appleiii. The high density plants have a yield of 50-70 metric tonnes per hectare against 10-12 tonnes in case of conventional plants.
iv. The government is setting up mega mandies and high-tech cold storage at Jablipora in Anantnag and Aglar in Pulwama to promote apple industry.
Keys :
♦ Around 20 Lakh tonnes of Apple is produced in India every year. The top apple producing states of India are Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand & Arunachal Pradesh
♦ The apple tree is a deciduous tree in the rose family best known for its sweet, pomaceous fruit, the apple.
♦ Malus domestica is scientific name of Apple
Gujarat Assembly passes Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2017
i. The Gujarat Assembly passed Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2017 to empower the state government to use Aadhaar number as the sole identifier for the delivery of various subsidies and benefits in an effective and targeted manner.
ii. This bill will help the government create a credible system to authenticate the identity of actual beneficiaries.
iii. The assembly aslo passes two other bills which includes the Gujarat Panchayats (Amendment) Bill and the Gujarat Town Planning and Urban Development (Amendment) Bill.
Aadhaar :
♦ Aadhaar is a 12 digit unique-identity number issued to an Indian resident based on their biometric and demographic data.
♦ The data is collected by “Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)”.
Gujarat :
♦ Governor: Om Prakash Kohli
♦ Chief Minister: Vijay Rupani
