• 06 Aug 2022

Rupal Chaudhary Won Bronze Medal in World Athletics U-20

Why In News?

• Rupal Choudhary of Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh won the bronze medal in women's 400 meters race with a time of 51.85 seconds at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships held in Colombia on August 4, 2022.

Key Points

• With this, 17-year-old Rupal Chaudhary has become the first Indian to win two medals at the World Athletics U-20 Championships.
• Earlier on August 2, Rupal had won a silver medal in the 4x400m relay. The Indian team set an Asian junior record with a time of three minutes 17.76 seconds. The Indian team was second only to the UNITED STATES.
• In the Women's 400m race at the World Athletics U-20 Championships, Great Britain's Yami Mary won the gold medal with 51.50 seconds, while Kenya's Damaris Mutunga won the silver medal with 51.71 seconds.
• Rupal Chaudhary gave his best performance twice in the championship. For the first time in the semi-finals, he clocked 52.27 seconds and then improved this time in the final to win the bronze medal with 51.85 seconds.
• Earlier this year, Rupal had won a gold medal in the women's 400m race, overtaking Karnataka's Priya Mohan, a strong contender for the title at the National Under-20 Federation Cup Athletics Championships .

Municipal bodies will become Tourist Places and Pilgrimage Sites of Bihar

Why In News?

• On August 5, 2022, the cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar approved the proposal to develop Bihar's tourist places, pilgrimage sites, hill areas and Mandi cities as municipal bodies.

Key Points

• The proposal to develop pilgrimage sites, tourist places, hill areas and Mandi towns located in Bihar as municipal bodies (Municipal Corporation, Nagar Parishad and Nagar Panchayat) was brought by the Department of Urban Development and Housing.
• After the approval of the Cabinet, the Department of Urban Affairs and Housing will now be able to notify the hilly area, pilgrimage site, tourist spot or Mandi town as a municipality.
• Under this proposal, pilgrimage places and tourist places with a population of more than 1.5 lakh will be made municipal corporation. At the same time, these places with a population of 30 thousand to 1.5 lakh will be made city council and those with a population of 9000 to 30 thousand will be made as Nagar Panchayat.

Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar

Why In News?

• On August 5, 2022, 26 schools of the state selected at the national level were honored at the national level in the 'Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar 2021-22' competition of the Government of India in the award ceremony held at Hotel Clark Amer.

Key Points

• As many as 46,633 government and private schools of the state participated in the 'Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar' competition held for the session 2021-22.
• The competition was held in two categories, with the first category being based on total marks, while the second category was based on 06 sub-categories (water, toilets, hand washing with soap, operation and maintenance, behaviour change and capacity building and prevention from COVID-19).
• The entire process was done through online mode. A total of 406 schools were identified from the district level by evaluating the registered schools by a committee constituted by the district collector.
• A total of 26 best schools were selected by the State level constituted team in collaboration with the district by conducting a final assessment of 406 schools, out of which 20 schools were selected in the entire marks based category and 6 schools were selected from the sub-category.
• The 26 schools selected will be represented on behalf of the State in this competition based on standards of sanitation with selected schools from other States at the national level. An amount of Rs.25,000/- per school was given to the selected schools as a mark of respect.

Rajasthan Second in the whole Country in Linking Aadhaar Number with voter ID

Why In News?

• On August 5, 2022, Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta informed that Rajasthan is at the second position in the entire country by linking more than 12 lakh voter ID cards with aadhaar number in the ongoing campaign to link aadhaar number with voter ID card in the state.

Key Points

• Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta informed that a special campaign is being run from CEO to BLO to link Aadhaar number with voter ID card in the state. In this campaign that started from August 1, so far more than 12 lakh voter ID cards have been linked with Aadhaar number.
• Praveen Gupta informed that in an innovative initiative by the Election Department, under this campaign, all the District Election Officers, ERO, Booth Level Officers (BLOs) of the state have been appointed by government, non-government, private offices, institutions, colleges, In schools, hands-on information is being provided to link voter ID cards with Aadhaar number on its own through voter helpline app.
• It is noteworthy that under this campaign, which started on the instructions of the Election Commission of India from August 1, now every voter can link his Aadhaar number with his voter ID card to establish his identity. For this a new Form 6B can be filled. Aadhaar number linking can be done through National Voter Service Portal (NVSP), Voter Helpline App, Garuda App or even through BLO of the area.

Medical Colleges Based on PPP Model

Why In News?

• On August 5, 2022, Madhya Pradesh Medical Education Minister Vishwas Kailash Sarang in a review meeting held to start medical colleges based on PPP model in the state decided to set up medical colleges in 5 districts of the state in the first phase.

Key Points

• In the first phase, it was decided to start medical colleges at Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Balaghat and Katni on PPP model.
• Minister Sarang directed that the medical college will be set up by a PPP partner on the DBFOT (Design, Built, Finance, Operate and Transfer) model. This will include the private investor bearing the expenses of medical colleges, hostels, residential complexes, equipment's, books and journals etc.
• Land will be provided by the state government on lease of 99 years (60 years + 39 years) to a private investor for the establishment of a medical college. Apart from this, a 300-bed hospital building will also be provided by the state government to private investors.
• In the meeting, it was decided that the medical college would be constructed at his own expense by the private investor on the land provided and it would be operated and maintained by him.
• In PPP model based hospitals, Ayushman patients as well as economically weaker patients will be able to get free treatment. At the same time, non-Ayushman patients will be able to get treatment at market rate.
• It may be mentioned that as per the policy of the Government of India to set up a medical college on PPP model, a PPP based medical college will be set up for admission of 100 MBBS seats by converting the existing medical college of the state government into a training hospital.

Pooja Ojha Won Silver Medal at World Para Canoe Championships

Why In News?

• On August 5, 2022, Madhya Pradesh's para athlete Pooja Ojha won silver medal in the VL1 women's 200m race at the Para Kayaking and Canoeing Sprint World Championships held in Halifax, Canada.

Key Points

• Pooja, who hails from Bhind, has won the silver medal in the VL1 women's 200m race with a timing of 1:34:18. Hamburg player Lillemore Koper won the gold medal with a time of 1:29.79.
• Two players from India had qualified for this competition. One is Pooja Ojha and the other Surendra Kumar. Surendra Kumar finished fifth in the VL1 men's 200m series. Surendra completed his race in 1:22.97 time.

• It is worth mentioning that Pooja has won 6 gold medals in National Championships and is the first Indian woman Para athlete to qualify for the World Championships. He is currently ranked ninth among the top para canoe players in the world.

Haryana Wrestlers Won Medals in Commonwealth Games

Why In News?

• On August 5, 2022, in the ongoing 22nd Commonwealth Games (CWG-2022) Games in Birmingham, England, 5 wrestlers from Haryana won the country 3 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medal in wrestling.

Key Points

• First wrestler Bajrang Punia of Haryana won the gold medal by defeating Lachlan McNeil of Canada in the final of men's freestyle 65kg event.
• This is Bajrang Punia's second consecutive gold medal and third consecutive medal at the Commonwealth Games. Poonia, who won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games-2014, had won her first gold medal at the Commonwealth Games-2018.
• India's second gold medal in wrestling was clinched by women's wrestler Sakshi Malik defeating Canada's Ana Godinez in the final of the women's freestyle 62 kg event.
• This is Sakshi Malik's first gold medal and third medal at the Commonwealth Games. Earlier, she had won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games-2014 and a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games-2018.
• Wrestler Deepak Poonia gave India the third gold medal in wrestling. He won the gold medal by defeating Mohammad Inam of Pakistan in the final of men's freestyle 86 kg event. This is Deepak Poonia's first gold medal in Commonwealth Games.
• 21-year-old female wrestler Anshu Malik lost to Nigeria's Odunayo Folasade Adekuoroe in the women's 57kg final and had to settle for a silver medal, although Anshu Malik had opened the account for India's medals in wrestling.
• Anshu Malik has won Gold Medal in Asian Sub Junior Championship in 2016, Bronze Medal in World Cadet Championship in 2016, Gold Medal in World Sports School Championship in 2017, Bronze Medal in Asia Cadet Wrestling Championship in 2017, World Cadet in Athens in 2017 Won Gold Medal in Championships, Gold Medal in Asian Sub Junior Championships in 2018, Bronze Medal in World Junior Championships, Bronze Medal in World Sub Junior Championships and Gold Medal in Asian Sub Junior Championships in 2019.
• Haryana wrestler Mohit Grewal won India's fifth medal in wrestling. Mohit won the bronze medal in the 125 kg freestyle by defeating Aaron Johnson of Jamaica in the bronze medal match.

First-time Export of Mangoes, Honey, Rajma from Uttarakhand

Why In News?

• On August 5, 2022, the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Pushkar Singh Dhami flagged off vehicles loaded with local mango, honey and rajma being sent for the first time for export to the international market through APEDA from the Chief Minister's Camp Office.

Key Points

• A consignment of 1.5 tonnes of mango, 28 tonnes of kidney beans and 80 tonnes of honey produced in the state through Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) was sent for the international market.
• For the first time from the state, high quality fruits of chaunsa and lame varieties of mango produced by the cultivators of the state are being exported to Dubai.
• High quality honey produced by farmer producer organizations is being exported to the United States of America. Promoting the export of kidney beans, high quality kidney beans produced by the farmers of the state are also being exported to the United States.
• Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister expressed hope that in the coming times there would be a qualitative increase in the international market of local products of Uttarakhand. He said that special attention is being paid to branding, packaging and marketing of the products to provide good market to the producers.
• Dhami said that in order to increase the livelihood of the farmers in the state and to make all the arrangements more effective, an agricultural calendar has also been prepared. Kisan Protsahan Yojana will soon be brought in the state.