CHHATTISGARH
- C’GARH AMONG SIX STATES ADJUDGED ‘BEST PERFORMING STATE’
- Chhattigarh is one of the six States which had been adjudged among ‘Best Performing State in the country for Phase-I implementation of BHARAT NET project, the Central Government announced.
- Under the award categories, UP(East), Maharashtra, MP, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand were adjudged as the Best performing States which implemented BharatNet Phase-I project, it informed.
- Kerala, Karnataka and Haryana were the States which covered all the Gram Panchayats (GPs) under the Project.
- Karnataka bagged the award for Best Utilisation of BharatNet. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd received the awards for the Best performing implementation partners.
- The Central Government has achieved a significant milestone under the BharatNet by completing Phase-I of the project by connecting over one lakh Gram Panchayats (GP) across the country with high speed optical fibre network as per the declared deadline of December 31, 2017.
- Bharat Net network built under Phase-I envisages delivery of high-speed broadband services in over 2.5 lakh villages benefitting more than 200 million rural Indians.
- Notably, the Chhattisgarh Government on December 30 last year had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Centre for the implementation of second phase of Bharat Net project in Naya Raipur.
- Chief Minister Raman Singh on the occasion said that Chhattisgarh is entering a new era of ‘Digital Revolution’.
- Bharat Net Project will bridge the ‘Digital Divide’ between the rural and urban regions as 85 development blocks and 5987 gram panchayats will be connected with optical fiber network. Total investment will be about Rs 1624 crore.
- At present work is in progress to link about 4K gram panchayats with optical fiber network.
INTERNATIONAL
- India Cancels $500 Million Deal For Israeli Anti-Tank Missiles
- India has cancelled a $ 500 million deal to buy 1,600 Spike anti-tank guided missiles from Israel, the state-owned defence contractor Rafael Advanced Defence Systems announced.
- Spike is a man-portable “fire and forget’ missile that can hit moving targets such as a tank.
- India had opted for the Israel’s Spike over the Javelin missiles offered by Washington in 2014.
NATIONAL
- 5 Day National Youth Festival to begin from 12 January, 2018
- Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will inaugurate the events of the National Youth Festival(NYF) on 12 January 2018 through Video conferencing and will also address the gathering.
- The Festival will commence on the occasion of birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, the youth icon of India.
- The inaugural function will be co-presided by Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Shri Yogi Adityanath, and Union Minister for State (Independent Charge) of Youth Affairs and Sports Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore.
- The Festival is organised by Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Govt. of India in collaboration with State Govt. of Uttar Pradesh at Gautam Buddha University, Gautam Budh nagar, Greater Noida from 12th to 16th January, 2018.
- This is the first time that the National Youth Festival is being organized in NCR.
- The objective of organizing NYF is to provide a platform to bring the youth of the country together in an attempt to provide them opportunity to showcase their talents in various activities.
- National Youth Festival (NYF) is the biggest Youth Festival of its kind in the Country.
- This is the 22nd National Youth Festival. The 1st National Youth Festival was held in 1995 in Bhopal.
· Paytm Launches Investment Arm, to Invest $10 million
- Paytm set up a new entity called Paytm Money Ltd that will offer investment and wealth management products and will invest close to $10 million upfront in the new entity.
- Paytm Money is the fourth product from One97’s stable after Paytm Mall, Paytm Payments Bank and Paytm wallet.
- It will be available as a separate mobile application to users.
· UIDAI Introduces Virtual ID to Strengthen Privacy and Security of Aadhaar Data
- The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)introduced a concept of ‘Virtual ID’ to further strengthen privacy and security of Aadhaar number holders.
- The Aadhaar number holder can use ‘Virtual ID’ in place of an Aadhaar number whenever authentication or KYC services are performed.
- Aadhaar card holder can generate the Virtual ID from UIDAI website and give for various purposes, including SIM card verification, instead of sharing the actual 12-digit biometric ID.
- The Virtual ID will be a temporary and revocable 16 digit random number mapped to a person’s Aadhaar number.
· Union Cabinet Approves Amendments in FDI Policy, Policies Further Liberalized
- In the financial year 2016-17, total FDI of US $ 60.08 billion received, which is an all-time high.
- The Cabinet chaired by PM Narendra Modi has approved amendments in FDI Policy and further liberalized few of the policies of FDI.
- As per the extant policy, foreign airlines are allowed to invest under Government approval route in the capital of Indian companies operating scheduled and non-scheduled air transport services, up to the limit of 49% of their paid-up capital.
- However, this provision was presently not applicable to Air India, thereby implying that foreign airlines could not invest in Air India. It has now been decided to do away with this restriction and allow foreign airlines to invest up to 49% under approval route in Air India.
- The Townships, Housing, Built-up Infrastructure and Real Estate Broking Services
- It has been decided to clarify that real-estate broking service does not amount to real estate business and is, therefore, eligible for 100% FDI under automatic route.
· President Ram Nath Kovind Inaugurated 4th International Dharma Dhamma Conference
- President Ram Nath Kovindinaugurated a three-day International Dharma-Dhamma conferenceat Rajgir in Bihar.
- The conference has been jointly organized by India Foundation, Nalanda University, Ministry of External Affairs, Asean-India and Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha.
- The inaugural session was chaired by our President.
- The conference was attended by Sri Lanka’s foreign Minister Tilak Marapana.
· Dr Sivan K appointed as New ISRO Chairman
- Noted rocket scientist Sivan K was appointed as the 9th chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
- He has replaced A.S. Kiran Kumar.
- The appointment has been made for the tenure of three years.
- He was the Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Kerala. Sivan joined the ISRO in 1982 in Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) project.
· Aditya Mehta Wins Kolkata Open 2018 International Invitation Snooker Championship
- Professional player Aditya Mehtawon the Kolkata Open 2018 International Invitation Snooker Championship in the capital city of West Bengal Kolkata.
- This is his third Kolkata Open title since it’s inception. In the thrilling final he defeated Englishman Professional Player Alfie Burden.
