CHHATTISGARH

The Central Government has released Rs 448.30 crore to Chhattisgarh under Special Central Assistance (SCA) to Tribal Sub Scheme (TSS) during the last four years between 2014-15 to 2017-18, officials informed.

Notably, NITI Aayog has also given ‘in principle’ approval to various proposals related to roads, telecommunication, education, Ujjwala yojana and expansion of bank branches for overall development of Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region in January this year.

The Chief Secretary informed that ‘in principle’ approval has been given for construction of additional 600 km of roads in Bastar under Rashtriya Road project – 2 and Special Secretary (Home Ministry) has assured that implementation of this proposal will be done on priority.

The approval was also granted for sanctioning Rs 65 crore for expansion of telecom services and increasing connectivity in remote areas. The amount will be utilized for expansion of districts to development blocks connectivity in Bastar and expedite execution of 402 towers in the first phase and 1028 telecom towers in the second phase.

In a bid to strengthen education system, in principle approval was given for declaration of 10 LWE affected blocks as educationally backward blocks. During the meeting, approval was given for sanction of additional hostels for girls and upgrade ‘Kasturba Gandhi girls’ schools to high schools. The approval was also given for providing assistance to ‘Vidya Mitan Yojana’ under National Mission for Secondary Education.

INTERNATIONAL

India has been ranked at 78th, lower than its emerging market peers like Brazil and China, among 114 countries on the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) energy transition index.

The report titled Fostering Effective Energy Transition, ranks countries on how well they are able to balance energy security and access with environmental sustainability and affordability.

The overall list was topped by Sweden, followed by Norway at the 2nd position and Switzerland at the 3rd rank.

· Oklahoma To Become first US State To Use Nitrogen Gas For Executions

Oklahoma plans to start using nitrogen gas for executions, in what would be the first such method of capital punishment in the United States.
The state is turning to nitrogen after it and other states became unable to acquire drugs required for lethal injections because of opposition from manufacturers to their products being used for capital punishment.
Nitrogen is an odorless and tasteless gas that makes up about 78% of the air humans breathe but causes death when inhaled without any oxygen.
Oklahoma has not carried out an execution since 2015.

NATIONAL

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has recently announced the launch of program ‘LaQshya’, aimed at improving quality of care in labour room and maternity Operation Theatre (OT).
The Program will improve quality of care for pregnant women in labour room, maternity Operation Theatre and Obstetrics Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and High Dependency Units (HDUs).

The LaQshya program is being implemented at all Medical College Hospitals, District Hospitals and First Referral Unit (FRU), and Community Health Center (CHCs) and will benefit every pregnant woman and new-born delivering in public health institutions.

‘LaQshya’ will reduce maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality, improve quality of care during delivery and immediate post-partum period and enhance satisfaction of beneficiaries and provide Respectful Maternity Care (RMC) to all pregnant women attending public health facilities.

The Government of India is in the process of formulating a Scheme ‘Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (KUSUM)’ which, inter alia, provides for Installation of grid-connected solar power plants each of capacity up to 2 MW in the rural areas.

Installation of standalone off-grid solar water pumps to fulfill irrigation needs of farmers not connected to grid.

Solarization of existing grid-connected agriculture pumps to make farmers independent of grid supply and also enable them to sell surplus solar power generated to DISCOM and get extra income; and

The Government has proposed Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABHY) aimed at sustainable ground water management with community participation in select over-exploited and ground water stressed areas in seven States (Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh).

ABHY is designed as a Central Sector Scheme with a total outlay of Rs. 6,000 Crore and is proposed to be implemented with World Bank assistance.

The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Dr Jitendra Singh, presented a Certificate of Appreciation to Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation for implementation of e-office software.

The award was received by Shri SatyabrataSahu, Joint Secretary and Mrs Seemantinee Sengupta, Senior Technical Director, HOD, NIC-MDWS, on behalf of the Ministry at a function heldat the Ministry of Personnel, Grievances and Pension.

The e-Office solution enables core operations of the Government at all levels to be performed in a ‘paper-less’ environment, including the E-leave,E-tour,Knowledge Management, Notice Board, Download Forms, Inventory Control etc.

The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation has the distinction of making 100 percent use of e-Office.

· NCRB Launches Citizen Services Mobile App

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) launched a mobile app called ‘Citizen Services’ on the occasion of its 33rd Inception Day.
The application has been developed in-house by the NCRB. It will offer various essential police related services to the citizens.
The application comprises a bouquet of 9 police related services for the citizen.