CHHATTISGARH
- Chhattisgarh launches ‘skyhack 2018′ to invite innovative ideas
- The Chhattisgarh Government has launched ‘SKYHack 2018’ in an effort to invite innovative minds to become a part of the collective effort in creating an app ecosystem to make a positive difference to more than 50 lakh lives
- The State is providing youth a chance to explore and become a part of the thriving Start-up culture in the state, through its partner resources – incubators, accelerators and mentorship programs of 36Inc, officials informed.
- Notably, the Chhattisgarh Sanchar Kranti Yojana (CG SKY) project is an initiative by the Government of Chhattisgarh to improve telecom penetration across the state and improve digital access among the people of state.
- This is being done through telecom network augmentation and distribution of 50 lakh smartphones to identified beneficiaries in the state.
- The state government envisions an equitable world where everyone in the state would have access to a stable mobile network and the means to connect to that network by the medium of a smartphone.
- The state Government’s preliminary assessment, indicates that urban areas, approximately 14,000 villages will come under network connectivity and approximately 50.8 lakh Smartphones will be distributed under its CG-SKY scheme.
- The scheme would cover all villages and towns in the State of Chhattisgarh, except those villages having less than 1,000 population and not having connectivity. It may be noted that villages with less than 1,000 population, but having connectivity shall be considered for the CG-SKY
- All Urban poor households in the state as identified by the concerned department are to be covered under the scheme. College Students as identified by concerned departments to the tune of approx. 5 lakh are to be covered under the scheme.
- Under this scheme, one Smartphone is to be distributed to each beneficiary household and eligible College Student.
INTERNATIONAL
- IAF participation in Exercise Pitch Black 2018
- The Indian Air Force for the first time is participating with fighter aircraft in Exercise Pitch Black 2018 (PB-18), which is scheduled from 24 Jul 18 to 18 Aug 18 in Australia.
- Pitch Black is a biennial multi-national large force employment warfare exercise hosted by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).
- The IAF contingent consists of 145 air-warriors including Garud team, 04 X Su-30 MKI, 01 X C-130 and 01 X C-17.
- Google hit with €4.3bn Android fine from EU
- Google has been fined a record €4.34bn (nearly 34 Crore) over Android.
- The European Commission said the firm had used the mobile operating system to illegally “cement its dominant position” in search.
- The firm’s parent Alphabet has been given 90 days to change its business practices or face further penalties of up to 5% of its average global daily turnover.
NATIONAL
- Centre Forms Panel To Tackle Industrial Pollution Near Taj Mahal
- The government has formed a committee comprising officials of the environment ministry, experts from NEERI, IITs and various other forums to look into the issue of industrial pollution around the iconic Taj Mahal.
- The committee will be headed by C K Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
- A high-level inter ministerial meeting was held in Delhi to deliberate on the issues and action to be taken to conserve the iconic Mughal monument.
· India’s first government sponsored ‘Transgender Poets’ meet held in Kolkata
- This Meet was chaired by India’s first transgender college principal Manabi Bandopadhyay, who read out several of her own poems at the two-and-a-half-hour event organised by the Sahitya Akademi.
- Some of the transgender poets who participated in the meet include Rani Majumdar, Aruna Nath, Anjali Mandal, Debdutta Biswas and Debojyoti Bhattacharya.
- In addition to the six poets, two guest transgender poets named Anurag Maitreyee, and Tista Das took turns to recite poems.
· Finance Ministry approves Infusion Of Rs 11,336 Crore in five Public Sector Bank
- The first ever capital infusion in the current fiscal and the remaining amount of amount of Rs 53,664 crorewould be disbursed during the course of the year.
- The following banks will receive the capital amount from ministry:
Punjab National Bank: Rs 2,816 crore (Highest Amount),
2. Allahabad Bank: Rs 1,790 crore,
3. Andhra Bank: Rs 2,019 crore,
4. Indian Overseas Bank: Rs 2,157 crore,
5. Corporation Bank: Rs 2,555 crore.
· First All Women Branch of Jammu and Kashmir Bank inaugurated
- First Lady of J&K, Usha Vohrae-inaugurated the first All-Women Branch of Jammu and Kashmir Bank and also launched special services and products designed exclusively for women clients of the bank, which included
- Pink Gold Saving Scheme, Pink Platinum Saving Scheme,Special Loan Facility for Women Entrepreneurs etc.
· Tenth Edition Of Delhi Dialogue Begins In New Delhi
- External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will deliver the keynote address of the two-day event.
- The theme of which is, ‘Strengthening India-ASEAN Maritime Cooperation’.
- The Delhi Dialogue is a premier annual event to discuss politico-security, the economic and socio-cultural engagement between India and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations).
- The event has been held annually since 2009 many political leaders, policy makers, senior officials, diplomats, think tanks and academicians from various countries participate in the discussions pertaining to ASEAN-India relations.
· 52,000 villages don’t have mobile connectivity
- Over 52,000 villages across India are without mobile network coverage
- Of them, about 10,000 are in Odisha, making it the State with most number of such villages. The State with the highest proportion of such villages is Arunachal Pradesh (51%).
- In the below chart, bigger the circle, more the number of unconnected villages. Darker the circle, more the proportion of unconnected villages
· The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2017
- In the year that the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill was first introduced, India saw 1.5 lakh deaths from road accidents, according to the ‘Road Accidents in India, 2016’ report by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. In 2017, when it was reintroduced, there had been a marginal decline in that number, but the loss of lives from road accidents remains high in the country.
- The new Bill takes into account taxi aggregators, third party insurance, computerisation of licensing authorities, and so on. It also provides for a National Road Safety Board.
- However, State governments oversee RTOs right now. The government has not yet created clear guidelines on how States will have to adopt this new Bill.
- The new Bill provides for the recall of vehicles if the defective vehicle is a danger to the environment, the driver or other road users.
The manufacturer will then have to reimburse all buyers with the full cost of the vehicle, replace the defective vehicle, and if necessary pay a fine as specified by the government.
The old Act provided ₹12,000 for grievous injury and ₹25,000 for death, while the amendment Bill provides ₹50,000 for grievous injury and ₹2 lakh or more for death.
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