CHHATTISGARH
- Sky scheme to empower women in state: govt
- Chhattisgarh Government is empowering women of the State via the SKY Scheme – the first of its kind which is the world’s largest such programme.
- One of the primary goals of the SKY Scheme is to empower women and help close gender disparities by providing women access to information and services through smartphones.
- Providing smart phones to women in every rural family and every urban poor household is going to make a dramatic difference to bridging the gender divide. This is the first programme of this kind anywhere in the world.
- India is the second largest market in the world for mobile phones and is one of the primary drivers for mobile subscriptions growth worldwide . However, the numbers are heavily skewed in favour of men.
- Smartphones can help in providing women a level playing field in terms of getting access to the livelihood and job opportunities available. There are many platforms and mobile apps that provide this information. NRLM’s Bihan app in Chhattisgarh, provides a platform for small women entrepreneurs to upload the pictures of handicraft poducts and artwork that they have created, after which NRLM helps them market these products.
- There are apps like Chhattisgarh Rojgar Samachar that provide information about open government jobs in the state. There are other privately owned job platforms where users can view job openings matched by skills of the user for e.g. a carpenter can search for jobs specific to carpentry.
- Women can also use the smartphone to access information and gain awareness on health issues and best practices. Thus smartphones can enable women to take better care of their own health as well as the health of their families.
- Thus smartphones also help in improving financial literacy and inclusion. M-PESA [2] is a mobile phone-based money transfer service launched in 2007 in Kenya. Access to the Kenyan mobile money system M-PESA increased per capita consumption levels and lifted 194,000 households, or 2% of Kenyan households, out of poverty, officials informed.
- Moreover, the impacts, which are more pronounced for female-headed households, appear to be driven by changes in financial behaviour—increased financial resilience and saving—and labour market outcomes, such as occupational choice, especially for women, who moved out of agriculture and into business. Mobile money has therefore increased the efficiency of the allocation of consumption over time while allowing a more efficient allocation of labour, resulting in a meaningful reduction of poverty in Kenya. If more women had access to smartphones in India, perhaps we could see such a revolution here too.
- The Chhattisgarh 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, officials informed.
- As per the above categorization, the Government plans to initiate the Smartphone distribution by April 2018 and complete 100% Smartphone distribution by the end of March 2019.
- 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.
- College Students in the state of Chhattisgarh 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. The distribution will need to be done through an event/ distribution camp being organized by the State Government at each Distribution Centre (GP/ Ward/ College).
- The Government has taken a leap forward to design the Sanchar Kranti Yojna (CG-SKY) for providing a solution to improve the telecom connectivity in the state of Chhattisgarh by incentivizing the telecom operators to install Cell-Sites.
- The primary objective is to ensure the mobile network connectivity is extended to all villages in state of Chhattisgarh with a population of 1000 or above as per the 2011 census and to further strengthen network coverage in all towns and villages, which already have coverage by either erecting new telecom towers or upgradation of existing towers.
INTERNATIONAL
- G7 summit 2018 held in Canada
- The 44th G7 summit was held on June 8–9, 2018, in La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada.This was the sixth time since 1981 that Canada has hosted the meetings.
- The summit received significant attention due to a significant decline of relations of members with the United States.
- Due to this, the summit was dubbed the “G6+1” by France and some members of the media.
· India and Belgium gears up to celebrate International Yoga Day
- India, Belgium, and the European Union are jointly organizing events in the Belgian capital and across the country to celebrate the 4th International Day of Yoga.
- In this regard, the Embassy of India, Brussels, on 21 June 2018 in partnership with the European Parliament and the Art of Living Foundation, and on 24 June 2018 in collaboration with the Ministry of Housing, Environment, and Energy of the Brussels Capital Region Government, the City of Brussels and Vidonne Asbl will organize events on yoga, wellness and harmony of body and mind.
- At the European Parliament, a special yoga session will be held on 21 June 2018 from 1200-1330 hrs at the Yehudi Menuhin Space.
- The event will be graced by Antonio Tajani, President of the European Parliament, and Sushma Swaraj, External Affairs Minister of India.
- The yoga and meditation session will be led by renowned Indian spiritual leader and Yoga Guru, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Members of European Parliament, officials from the
- European Commission and European External Action Service and other dignitaries are expected to participate in the event.
- The Embassy of India in Brussels, in association with local authorities and yoga foundations, is organizing “Brussels Yoga Day” events at the city’s Bois de la Cambre Park on June 24.
NATIONAL
· Highway Tunnel Dedicates To Nation In North Sikkim
- Minister of State for Defence, Dr, Subhash Bhamre dedicated a highway tunnel at Theng near Chungthang in north Sikkim to the nation.
- The tunnel will benefit the tourism and rapidly propel the growth of the state.
- The double-lane tunnel stretching about 600 meters has been constructed by the Border Roads Organisation at cost of over 42 crore rupees.
· Reserve Bank of India Amends Gold Monetisation Scheme To Make It More Attractive
- Reserve Bank of India (RBI) made changes in the Gold Monetisation Scheme (GMS) to make it more attractive.
- The revamping of the scheme is aimed at enabling people to open a hassle-free gold deposit account.
- The short-term deposits should be treated as bank’s on-balance sheet liability. These deposits will be made with the designated banks for a short period of 1-3 years (with a facility of rollover). Deposits can also be allowed for broken periods (e.g. 1 year 3 months; 2 years 4 months 5 days; etc.).
- Union Government launches 5000 Wi-Fi Choupals in villages and delivery of rail tickets through Common Service Centres
- Union Government launched 5,000 Wi-Fi Choupalsin villages and delivery of rail tickets through Common Service Centres (CSCs).
- It was inaugurated by Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in New Delhi yesterday. The move is aimed at transforming rural Internet connectivity through BharatNet.
- The WiFi Choupals will enable people in rural areas with an effective Internet access for their various digital processes.
- Ravi Shankar Prasad with the concept of the power of information, CSCs are running a mass movement of digitalization which, in turn, empower the common man.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi appreciated CSCs efforts in Singapore which is a great recognition for all the Common Services Centres- Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs).
- Mr Prasad announced that the Prime Minister will address CSC- VLEs on 15th of this month.
· V K Singh Flags Off 1st Batch Of Kailash Mansarovar Yatra
- Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh flagged off the 1st batch of three-month-long Kailash Mansarovar Yatra-2018in New Delhi.
- The Yatra will continue till the 8th of September 2018.
- There are two routes for the Yatra, one through Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand which involves some trekking also.
- The other route is through Nathu La Pass in Sikkim, which is motorable and suitable for senior citizens who unable to undertake arduous trekking.
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