• 13 May 2023

MoU between Shobhit University and AARDO

Why in News?

According to information received from the media on 11 May 2023, an MoU was signed between Shobhit Institute of Engineering & Technology, (Deemed-to-be University) of Meerut (Uttar Pradesh) and African-Asian Rural Development Organization (AARDO) for mutual cooperation .

Key Points:

• The main objective of this MoU is to cooperate with each other for agriculture and rural development by solving challenges through technological intervention and capacity building.
• The MoU was signed by Dr. Manoj Nardev Singh, General Secretary, AARDO and Kunwar Shekhar Vijender, Chancellor of Shobhit University.
• This MoU will not only pave the way for human resource development, capacity building and exchange programmes, but it will also help in impacting the lives of the people of 31 countries in Africa and Asia, especially the youth population of these countries.
• Also, this agreement will pave the way for the beginning of scientific exchange of students.
• It is known that recently AARDO signed a MoU with IIT Kharagpur and IIT Delhi.
• It is worth mentioning that Shobhit Institute of Engineering & Technology (Deemed-to-be-University), located in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, is a NAAC 'A' grade accredited university.
• The African-Asian Rural Development Organization (AARDO) was formed in 1962 as an autonomous inter-governmental organization.
• AARDO consists of 33 member countries including 17 African member countries, 14 Asian countries, 1 corporation and 1 bank as associates.
• Its headquarter in India is in New Delhi.
• Its objective is to develop understanding among the member countries to promote welfare among the people and to reduce thirst, hunger, illiteracy & poverty.

RBI Organises Quiz Competition in Government Schools of All Districts of the State

Why in News?

According to the information provided by the Public Relations & Information Department of Rajasthan on 11 May 2023, a quiz competition is being organized by the Reserve Bank of India in government schools of all the districts of Rajasthan to encourage financial literacy among the school students of the state.

Key Points:

• In order to encourage financial literacy among school students, a block level quiz competition was organized at Rural Development & Self Employment Training Institute and Government Higher Secondary School, Manchwa Jhotwara in Jaipur district of the state.
• Students of classes VIII to X of government schools of all blocks of the districts participated in this quiz.
• The team securing first position in block level quiz will participate in district level quiz competition. The first three winners of this quiz competition have been awarded.

PM lays Foundation Stone and Dedicates Various Infrastructure Projects at Nathdwara

Why in News?

On 10 May 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone, inaugurated and released various projects worth more than Rs 5500 crore in Nathdwara, Rajasthan.

Key Points:

• It is worth mentioning that these development projects focus on strengthening the infrastructure and connectivity in the Nathdwara area. The railway and road projects will facilitate the movement of goods & services, give a boost to trade & commerce, improve the socio-economic condition of the people of the region by enhancing the connectivity of Rajasthan.
• The Prime Minister laid the foundation stone for two-laning road construction projects in Rajsamand and Udaipur. Along with this, the Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone for the redevelopment of Udaipur Railway Station to provide better facilities to the people.
• He also laid the foundation stone for the gauge conversion project and construction of a new line from Nathdwara to Nathdwara town in Rajsamand.
• In addition, the Prime Minister inaugurated three National Highway projects, which include - 114 km long six-laning project from Udaipur to Shamlaji under NH-48; widening & strengthening project of 110 km long road to 4 lane with widening of road for two wheelers etc. (paved shoulder) in Bar-Bilara-Jodhpur section of NH-25 and two-laning project of 47 km long road with paved shoulder section in NH 58E.
• Udaipur, Dungarpur and Banswara will benefit from the six-laning project of the Udaipur to Shamlaji section of the National Highway, while the Bilara-Jodhpur section of NH-25 will provide easy access from Jodhpur to the border areas. The travel time between Jaipur-Jodhpur will be reduced by three hours and the access to world heritage sites like Kumbhalgarh & Haldighati will be easier.
• The new railway line from Shri Nathdwara will connect Mewar and Marwar, helping sectors like marble, granite & mining industries.

Bhoomi Poojan of pressurized Mega Irrigation Project in Village Jawanpura

Why in News?

On 11 May 2023, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan unveiled the foundation stone plaque after performing Bhoomi-Pujan of the Kayampur-Sitamau Pressurized Major Irrigation Project to be constructed at a cost of Rs 2374 crore in Jawanpura village of Mandsaur district.

Key Points:

• On this occasion, the Chief Minister also inaugurated the construction work of the irrigation project to be built on the Chambal river, Gandhi Sagar Reservoir by digging with a pickaxe .
• 1 lakh 12 thousand hectare land of 252 villages of the district will be irrigated with this irrigation project of Jawanpura village of Sitamau tehsil, 70 km away from Mandsaur district headquarters.
• This will benefit 1 lakh 49 thousand 300 farmer beneficiaries of the area.

Interest Subvention Scheme

Why in News?

In the sequence of the decision taken by the Madhya Pradesh State Council of Ministers on 11 May 2023, the Cooperative Department has issued instructions to waive off the interest of the defaulter farmers under the Interest Waiver Scheme on the outstanding overdue crop loans.

Key Points:

• According to the instructions issued, the interest reimbursement of such farmers of Primary Credit Cooperative Societies (PACS) affiliated to District Cooperative Central Banks of the state, whose total liabilities (original interest) as on 31 March is up to Rs 2 lakh and are defaulters, will be reimbursed by the government.
• Short term and medium term converted debt will be included in the calculation of total liabilities.
• According to the available information, as on 31 March 2023, there are 11 lakh 19 thousand defaulter farmers in the state, on whom the waivable interest amount is about Rs 2 thousand 123 crore.
• For transparency in the implementation of this scheme, the name of the farmer along with the unique number (simple number) in the list of defaulter farmers, the principal outstanding and the interest amount to be waived off, will be made public through the utility portal at the bank level.
• The amount of share capital given by the state government will be used by all the concerned institutions first to waive off the interest of the farmers. The paid-up share capital shall not be refundable. The last date of the scheme for the farmers has been kept as 30 November, 2023.
• Farmers benefited from the scheme will be given the special facility to provide fertilizers for agricultural work, that the farmers will be able to get fertilizers from the committee in the form of loan up to the amount deposited in cash in their loan account.
• A committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary to take decision to amend/change the number of defaulter farmers and the amount of interest etc. in the scheme as per the requirement.
• Additional Chief Secretary Finance, Additional Chief Secretary Farmers-Welfare and Agriculture Development, Secretary Cooperative, Commissioner Cooperative and Registrar Cooperative Societies are members of the committee and Managing Director State Cooperative Bank is the convenor member.
• Significantly, in the year 2019, the Congress government had implemented the loan waiver off scheme for farmers up to Rs 2 lakh. Due to this farmers stopped loan repayment. The scheme was discontinued after the fall of the Congress government in March 2020, at the very beginning of the second phase of loan waiver up to Rs 1 lakh.
• In order to give farmers the benefit of loan waiver again, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had announced interest waiver in a new form. The state government has made a provision of Rs 350 crore for this in the budget of the year 2023-24.

Inauguration of 46 Health Institutions in 17 Districts Including Mukand Lal District Civil Hospital in Yamunanagar

Why in News?

On 11 May 2023 Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal inaugurated 46 health institutions in 17 districts including the 275-bed Mukand Lal District Civil Hospital in Yamunanagar district of the state, which cost about Rs 232 crore.

Key Points

• The Mukand Lal District Civil Hospital inaugurated in Yamuna Nagar has cost about Rs 100 crore. This step is definitely important in the direction of increasing the infrastructure for health facilities in the state.
• Apart from this, 46 health institutions have been inaugurated at Bhiwani, Karnal, Fatehabad, Rohtak, Kaithal, Faridabad, Palwal, Sirsa, Panchkula, Nuh, Charkhi Dadri, Jind, Yamunanagar, Hisar, Gurugram, Narnaul and Kurukshetra. These include 1 District Civil Hospital, 2 Sub Divisional Civil Hospitals, 3 Community Health Centers, 1 Urban Health Center, 1 Mother & Child Hospital, 8 Primary Health Centers, 15 Health & Welfare Centers and 15 Sub Health Centers.
• On this occasion, the Chief Minister also announced the setting up of a new Medical College and an Ayurvedic College in Panchkula.
• On this occasion, the Chief Minister made a big announcement that the patients suffering from 55 rare diseases like Pompe Disease, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) and Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) would be provided financial assistance by the government. These patients will be given a pension of Rs 2750 per month.
• It is known that till now pension is provided by the government to the patients of Thalassemia, Haemophilia, Stage-3 and Stage-4 Cancer. Now 55 rare diseases have also been added to this list and the government has made a budget provision of Rs 25 crore for this financial assistance.
• It is known that there are 3 thousand patients suffering from Thalassemia & Haemophilia disease, 4 thousand patients of stage-3 & stage-4 cancer and about 1 thousand patients of 55 rare diseases, who will be given financial help in the form of pension by the government.

Paryatan Vihar' (VIP guest house) Inaugurated in the Patratu

Why in News?

On 11 May 2023, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and Tourism Minister Hafizul Hasan inaugurated the newly constructed G+3 'Paryatan Vihar' (VIP guest house) at Patratu Lake resort complex in Ramgarh district.

Key Points

• On this occasion, the Chief Minister announced the construction of a 6.5 km long ropeway for tourists at Patratu soon.
• Apart from this, it was also announced to start bus service for Patratu and Netarhat. At the same time, he also announced to organize water activities and water sports regularly at Patratu Dam.
• On this occasion, the Chief Minister inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of 6 schemes at a cost of about Rs 12 crore 92 lakh. This includes inauguration of 2 schemes worth Rs 7 crore 10 lakh and foundation stone laying of 4 schemes worth Rs 5 crore 82 lakh. Apart from this, the winners of the photography and videography competition organized by the Directorate of Tourism were awarded at the function.
• It is worth mentioning that Patratu is an attractive valley tourist place located in Ramgarh district of Jharkhand.
• The site is very popular among the local people because of its dam, which was built under the supervision of Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya to meet the water needs of the surrounding towns and villages.
• Patratu Valley is situated at an altitude of more than 1300 feet, it is considered to be the perfect weekend spot to enjoy the natural beauty. There is also the famous Patratu Thermal Power Station.

First Rural Industrial Park of the State Equipped with Wi-Fi Facility

Why in News?

On May 11, 2023, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel inaugurated Mahatma Gandhi Rural Industrial Park 'RIPA' in village Beltukri during a meeting program in Masturi Vidhansabha.

Key Points

• With the introduction of Wi-Fi facility, Beltukri Rural Industrial Park has become the first RIPA in the state to be equipped with this facility. People working in this will now get a free internet facility.
• It is worth mentioning that during the review of the activities of RIPA on 5 May the Chief Minister had announced plans to equip it with a WiFi facility.
• It is worth mentioning that the state government is providing all necessary basic facilities like water, electricity, land in Ripa for small scale industries, in this sequence, the Chief Minister inaugurated the Wi-Fi facility in Beltukri.
• On this occasion, the Chief Minister also released the catalog of various items produced in Beltukari Ripa.
• It is worth mentioning that through RIPA, essential commodities are being made available nearby to the people of the village, due to which they no longer have to go to distant cities. Due to the good quality of the products of Bakery Unit, Sack Stitching Unit, Cloth Stitching Unit, Dona-Pattal Unit operated in Beltukari Ripa, supply orders have started coming from nearby cities and villages.
• It is known that on 2 October 2022, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel launched the Chhattisgarh government's ambitious 'Mahatma Gandhi Rural Industrial Park Yojana' on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti & performed Bhumi Pujan and laid the foundation stone of 300 Rural Industrial Parks in different districts of the state.
• Village Gothans are being developed as Rural Industrial Parks to provide employment and means of income to rural poor families. For this, various livelihood oriented activities are being conducted here.

Smart School Smart Block' Program

Why in News?

On 11 May 2023, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami inaugurated the 'Smart School Smart Block' program at the auditorium located at Goralchod in Champawat district of the state.

Key Points

• New dimensions will be achieved in the field of education through the 'Smart School Smart Block' program in the state. This step taken in the direction of making Champawat an ideal district is also a good initiative for ideal Uttarakhand.
• This work of providing modern education to the person standing at the last end of the society is being done with the help of Sampark Foundation and the government.
• This partnership of the State Government and Sampark Foundation is an effort for the betterment of education to present an innovative and first of its kind study program in government schools of the state.
• The 'Smart Schools Smart Blocks' program aims to improve the learning outcomes of 5484 children by training 274 teachers from 137 schools in Champawat block of Champawat district in the state.
• After successful implementation for 100 days in Champawat block, the program will be extended to Khirsu block of Pauri district in a time bound manner.
• Sampark Foundation brings together its entire range of innovative learning resources under the 'Smart Schools Smart Blocks' programme. These resources are in line with the state syllabus & SCERT which will completely transform the process of studying in the classroom and will help in making it convenient.
• The resources provided by ‘Sampark’ for this program include TV sets for each school, Sampark TV devices, Sampark Smart Shala application, Maths and English kit with Sampark Didi audio box, 500 lesson plans, 1100 lesson videos, 450 Activities with TLM, Class and subject wise 2000 worksheets, 3000 questions for evaluation in the format of KBC Sampark Didi's questions, videos of songs & experiments on science topics for classes 6 to 8 and a resource book for teachers.
• Sampark FLN TV is an affordable plug & play device for classes 1 to 5, which consists of an Android set top box and a remote. It is very easy to handle & operate where it transforms a normal television into an interactive and engaging learning platform, making the classroom a smart classroom.
• The Sampark team will also train educational functionaries at the district, block, & cluster levels to monitor the use of TLMs and resources in schools & classrooms.

The Chief Minister Approved Several Proposals to Help Journalists

Why in News?

According to the information given by the Information & Public Relations Department of Uttarakhand on 11 May 2023, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has organized a committee for 'Journalist Welfare Fund' and 'Chief Minister Journalist Samman Pension Yojana' for financial assistance to the state's journalists & their dependents.

Key Points

• It is worth mentioning that in the meeting of the committee on 29 April 2023, on the applications received from the Journalist Welfare Fund for the distressed journalists of Uttarakhand & their dependents, a total financial assistance of Rs 45 lakh was given by the committee to the dependents of 09 deceased journalists, in which a proposal was made to provide financial assistance of Rs 55 lakh to each dependent family, which has now been approved by the Chief Minister.
• For the medical treatment of journalists suffering from serious and incurable diseases, a proposal was made to provide a total financial assistance of Rs 20 lakh to 05 journalists and to provide financial assistance of Rs 72293 to one case from Chief Minister's Relief Fund, on which the approval has now been given by the Chief Minister.
• Under the 'Chief Minister Journalist Samman Pension Yojana', the committee agreed on the proposal to allow pension on 03 cases fulfilling the prescribed qualification/eligibility, which has also been approved by the Chief Minister.
• The committee found 06 cases incomplete under the provisions mentioned in the rules, in respect of which it was suggested to be given an opportunity to present the records once again.