CHHATTISGARH

The State Government will soon start construction of roads under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) batch-I year 2018-19 , officials informed.

The State of Chhattisgarh has reported to have constructed 81 roads measuring length 410.42 Km under New Connectivity and 2 roads measuring length 8.25 Km roads under upgradation till December, 2017, the Central Government has informed.

As per PMGSY guidelines, maintenance of roads constructed under the programme is the responsibility of the State Governments and all road works are covered by initial five year maintenance contracts to be entered into along with the construction contract, with the same contractor, as per the Standard Bidding Document. Maintenance funds to service the contract are required to be budgeted by the State Governments and placed at the disposal of the State Rural Roads Development Agency (SRRDA) in a separate maintenance account.

On expiry of this five year post construction maintenance, PMGSY roads are required to be placed under Zonal maintenance contracts consisting of 5 year maintenance including renewal as per cycle, from time to time. In the current financial year, the State credited Rs 24 crore for routine maintenance of PMGSY roads constructed earlier, out of which an expenditure of Rs 7.00 crore has been incurred till December, 2017.

The State of Chhattisgarh has provided Rs 225.967 crore as State Share for the financial year 2017-18 .

In Chhattisgarh as well as , LWE areas of Jharkhand, there is challenge for Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) implementation on account of Left Wing Extremism (LWE). The states of Bihar and West Bengal which also have large connectivity to achieve and therefore, require speedy implementation, the Central Government has informed.

The Chhattisgarh government has informed that new roads measuring 1320 kms have been completed in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) infested districts of the State under Centre’s RRP-I scheme.

INTERNATIONAL

The world’s largest retailer Walmart will acquire a 77 percent holding in Flipkart Group for $16 billion, the companies said in a statement.

Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal and other shareholders will hold the remainder.

Japan’s Softbank to exit Flipkart by selling entire 20 per cent stake to Walmart.

Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal to exit company by selling his 5.5 pc stake to Walmart.

· Nisha Bhalla Conferred With ‘WEF 2018’ Award

Nisha Bhalla, a 46-year-old holistic coach and consultant from Mumbai was felicitated at the recently concluded Annual Women Economic Forum (WEF) 2018 Awards.
WEF is the largest global gathering of women entrepreneurs and leaders worldwide.
This annual event recognizes the most successful women across all fields, with guests like Nobel laureate Ouided Bouchamaoui.
The event was held in Delhi.
Nisha was presented the ‘Excellent Woman of Excellence’ award for her spiritual service at the event.

NATIONAL

· Fifteenth Finance Commission Constituted Advisory Council

The 15th Finance Commissionconstituted an advisory council to advise and assist the commission.
six-member council will be headed by the President of Forum for Strategic Initiatives, Arvind Virmani.
The role and functions of the council will be to advise the commission on any issue or subject related to the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the Commission.
Besides, the council will also assist the commission in the preparation of any paper or research study which will enhance the Commission’s understanding on the issues containing in its ToR.

Bhopal Smart city Development Corporation Limited (BSCDCL) launched India’s first cloud-based common Integrated Data Centre, Disaster Recovery Center and integrated control and command center.
It is powered by Hewlett Packard (HP) Enterprise’s universal Internet of Things.
ICCC will enable Madhya Pradesh State Administration to monitor and administer multiple cities civic utilities and citizen services across seven smart cities include Bhopal, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Indore, Ujjain, Satna, and Sagar.
It will also enable statewide monitoring of these cities from central command view and result in significant cost savings as compared to deploying full-fledged data and discovery data along with the control centers in each center in every seven cities.

The Union government has approved the roll-out of the WHO-recommended new triple-drug therapy (TDT) in four select districts, including one in Maharashtra, to eliminate lymphatic filariasis (LF) from the country.
TDT, which uses Ivermectin, Diethylcarbamazine Citrate (DEC) and Albendazole, will also be rolled out in one district each in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand.

The studies carried out in other countries have shown that TDT is more effective than the existing two-drug therapy in permanently eliminating the micro-filariae infection. Thus, it becomes all the more important for a country like India, which bears approximately 40% of the global LF burden. In India, 650 million are people at the risk of contracting the disease across 256 districts in 21 states and Union Territories.

The home ministry, in a bid to crack down on funding of Left-wing extremists and ensure confiscation of their ill-gotten properties, has set up a multi-disciplinary group comprising officers of intelligence and investigative agencies of the Centre and affected state governments.
The Central agencies represented in the group include Intelligence Bureau, CBI, Enforcement Directorate, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, NIA, CBDT and CBI, while the state agencies are the police, state intelligence and CID. The agencies have been coordinating their actions and holding regular meetings. A home ministry officer on Monday said the actionable intelligence gathered through their “painstaking work” has achieved substantial success in tracking and choking the financial supply lines of Maoists, particularly in Bihar and Jharkhand.
In another measure, the home ministry has initiated the process for creation of a separate vertical in NIA for probing important cases relating to Left-wing extremism.