SIPVS Knowledge is Power
- Delhi, Seoul governments to ink pact for cooperation in urban regeneration
The Delhi Government and the Seoul Metropolitan Government are slated to sign an agreement this week for cooperation in urban regeneration.
- The agreement will be signed during Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s ongoing trip to Seoul.
- Kejriwal, along with Urban Development Minister Satyendar Jain visited the Cheonggyecheon stream in downtown Seoul to see its transformation.
- Sonowal inaugurates Indo-Bhutan Border Centre
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has inaugurated the Indo-Bhutan Border Centre at Darranga in Assam’s Baksa district to strengthen bilateral trade with the neighbouring country.
- The Centre has decided to construct 264 km of border roads touching four BTAD districts of the state.
- Cabinet approves “Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay SanraksHan Abhiyan”
Giving a major boost to the pro-farmer initiatives of the Government and in keeping with its commitment and dedication for the Annadata, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved a new Umbrella Scheme “Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay SanraksHan Abhiyan’ (PM-AASHA).
- The Scheme is aimed at ensuring remunerative prices to the farmers for their produce as announced in the Union Budget for 2018.
- This is an unprecedented step taken by Govt. of India to protect the farmers’ income which is expected to go a long way towards the welfare of farmers.
- Government has already increased the MSP of kharif crops by following the principle of 1.5 times the cost of production.
- It is expected that the increase in MSP will be translated to farmer’s income by way of robust procurement mechanism in coordination with the State Governments.
- Cabinet approves amendment to National Institute of Design (NID) Act, 2014
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for introduction of Bill in Parliament for amendment of NID Act, 2014 to include the four new National Institutes of Design (NID) viz. National Institute of Design, Amaravati/Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh; National Institute of Design, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh; National Institute of Design, Jorhat, Assam and National Institute of Design, Kurukshetra, Haryana within the ambit of the National Institute of Design Act, 2014 and to declare them as Institutions of National Importance (INIs) at par with the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad.
- Some minor amendments to the Act including consequential amendments considered necessary namely, to re-name NID Vijayawada as NID Amaravati and nomenclature of Principal Designer as equivalent to Professor are also proposed in the Bill.
- Establishing new NIDs as Institutions of National Importance in different geographical regions of the country will help produce highly skilled manpower in design which, in turn, will create job opportunities, both direct and indirect, by providing sustainable design interventions for crafts, handloom, rural technology, small, medium and large scale enterprises; and outreach programmes for capacity, capability and institution building.
- Cabinet approves continuation of Capacity Development Scheme
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved continuation of the Capacity Development Scheme for the period 2017-18 to 2019-20 with an outlay of Rs 2,250 crore.
- The Capacity Development Scheme is an Ongoing Central Sector Scheme of MoSPI.
- The overall objective of the scheme is to augment infrastructural, technical as well as manpower resources for making available credible and timely Official Statistics for policy makers and public at large.
- Cabinet approves MoU on blockchain technology by Exim Bank
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its ex-post facto approval for the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Collaborative Research on Distributed Ledger and Block chain Technology in the context of Development of digital economy by Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank).
- Participating member banks.under the BRICS Interbank Cooperation Mechanism are namely Banco Nacional de DesenvolvimentoEconomico e Social (BNDES, of Brazil), China Development Bank (CDB), State Corporation Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank, of Russia) and Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA).
- Distributed Ledger/Block chain technology holds potential for solutions to various challenges being faced in the financial sector space of the BRICS nations.
- The MoU intends to enhance understanding of Distributed Ledger/Block Chain technology, through the joint research efforts to identify areas within respective business operations where it may have the potential for applications aimed at enhancing the operational efficiencies.
- Manoj Jhalani, AS & MD (NHM) selected for UNIATF Award
Shri Manoj Jhalani, Additional Secretary & Mission Director (NHM), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has been conferred with the prestigious UN Interagency Task Force (UNIATF) Award for his outstanding contribution towards prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and related Sustainable Development Goals.
- It is in recognition of Government of India’s efforts made in the field of prevention and control of Non-Communicable Diseases.
- National Programme to control NCDs has been scaled up by more than eight times in the past four years and covers all the 36 States/Union Territories now.
- Sardar Singh announces retirement from international hockey
Former India Hockey captain Sardar Singh has announced his retirement from international hockey after an illustrious career spanning 12 years.
- The 32-year-old made over 350 international appearances for India and captained the national team for eight long years from 2008 to 2016.
He received the Arjuna award in 2012 and Padma Shri in 2015.
