CHHATTISGARH

Chhattisgarh is among four states where the Central Water Commission (CWC) has found water storage in reservoirs during current year to be less than the storage of last year and is also less than

The Central region includes States of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. There are 12 reservoirs under CWC monitoring having total live storage capacity of 42.30 BCM. The total live storage available in these reservoirs is 26.49 BCM which is 63% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 90% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 71% of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is less than the storage of last year and is also less than the average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period.

As on June 2016, Chhattisgarh was among 15 states in the country with lesser storage in its reservoirs than 2015-16, as per the information available with the Union Ministry of Water Resources.

The other states with lesser storage in their reservoirs were — Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh & Telangana with two combined projects in both states, Punjab, Jharkhand, Odisha, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka.

States having better storage than 2015 for corresponding period last year are Rajasthan West Bengal, Tripura, Andhra Pradesh, the Ministry had informed.

The Chhattisgarh government has reserved Rs 15,000 crore for development of water resources projects during the 12th five year plan, officials informed.

Notably, the Chhattisgarh Government has also made all preparations to strengthen Central Government’s Water Conservation and Management policy of ‘’Jal Kranti Abhiyaan’’ (Water Revolution Mission).

INTERNATIONAL

· India Makes it to Top 100 in ‘ease of doing business World Bank

India broke into the top 100 in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings, notching up the biggest improvement among all countries on the back of big gains on a number of measures.
The rise to the 100th position from 130 last year made India one of the top 10 best-improved countries and rounded off a day of good news on the economic front for the government.
The World Bank’s ‘Doing Business 2018is Reforming to Create Jobs’ report ranks 190 countries on the basis of a combined score on 10 parameters.
India is the only large country this year to have achieved such a significant shift.

India topped the list of seven countries, accounting for 64 per cent of the 10.4 million new tuberculosis (TB) cases worldwide in 2016, according to a new report by the World Health Organisation.
India was followed by Indonesia, China, Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria and South Africa, according to a Global TB Report 2017 released by the WHO.
An estimated 1.7 million people died from TB in 2016, including nearly 400,000 people who were co-infected with HIV, recording a drop by 4 per cent as compared to 2015, the report said.

NATIONAL

· Bhutan King to Arrive in India for Four-Day Visit

King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck has arrived in New Delhi on a four-day visit to India.
He was accompanied by his wife, Queen Gyaltsuen Jetsun Pema Wangchuck.
During the visit, the King will meet with President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A 45 member contingent of the Indian Air Force left for Israel today to participate in exercise ‘Blue Flag-17’.
Blue Flag is a bi-annual multilateral exercise which aims to strengthen military cooperation amongst participating nations.
Indian Air Force is participating with the C-130J special operations aircraft along with Garud commandos.
The exercise is being conducted at Uvda Air Force Base in Israel from 02-16 Nov 17.

The state government of Haryana has announced lifetime monthly pension of Rs 10,000 for ‘Hindi Satyagrahis’ and those from the state who were jailed during the Emergency.
The state government also announced that it would be providing enhanced financial assistance to World War-II veterans and their widows.
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu was the Chief Guest for the occasion.

Railway officer Vikram Singhwas appointed Private Secretary to President Ram Nath Kovind. Singh is a 1997 batch officer of the Indian Railway Traffic Service.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved his appointment to the post for a period of two years.
IAS officer P C Meena was appointed Private Secretary to Minister of State for Commerce and Industry C R Chaudhary.