UTTARAKHAND
Transport department to issue green cards after Cabinet’s decision
The Uttarakhand Transport Department is preparing to commence the online application process to issue green cards to the commercial drivers for Char Dham Yatra. The department has already prepared new software to provide this online service and even successfully completed the trial run about two months ago.
Though the State Government has allowed Char Dham Yatra for locals of three districts which are Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag and Chamoli from July 1 and for others in the State from July 11, the transport department has not commenced the application process for green cards. Responding to this, Transport secretary Ranjit Kumar Sinha said that the department is preparing to start the online application system for green cards but its starting date is not fixed.
INTERNATIONAL
India Positioned in 51st Place in Annual Bank Statistics
According to ‘Annual Bank Statistics of 2020’ launched through Swiss National Bank (SNB), the Central Bank of Switzerland. India with Swiss Francs (CHF) 2.55 billion (INR 20,706 Crore) has been positioned at 51st place in the list of overseas clients’ cash in Swiss Banks during 2020.
The United Kingdom (UK) topped the listing with CHF 377 billion, accompanied by means of the US (152 billion). India was once ahead of countries like New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, Mauritius, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in phrases of foreign clients’ money in Swiss banks.
Sixth Edition of SDR 2021 Has Been Released
According to the 6th Edition of ‘Sustainable Development Report 2021 (SDR 2021)’ released by Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN).
India with a score of 60.1 has been placed at a hundred and twentieth rank out of a hundred sixty-five countries. Finland topped the Index accompanied by way of Sweden & Denmark.
For the 1st time seeing that 2015, all countries have shown a reversal in progress in accomplishing Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
SDR 2021 has been written by way of a crew of authors led via Professor Jeffrey Sachs, President of the SDSN and has been published by Cambridge University Press.
NATIONAL
NISHTHA The Capacity Building Programme
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs and NCERT collaborated to organise a NISHTHA Capacity Building Programme for teachers and principals of Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS).
120 EMRS teachers and principals completed the 40-day NISHTHA-National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement Program.
The capacity building programme aims to improve the quality of school education through integrated teacher training and to build competencies among teachers and school principals. The teachers came from three different states: Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh.
More EMRS teachers from across the country will participate in the programme.
Biotech-KISAN Programme – DBT
DBT has issued a Special Call under the Biotech KISAN Programme to improve agricultural productivity in the North East region.
It is a farmer-centric scheme for farmers developed by and with farmers under the Ministry of Science and Technology’s Department of Biotechnology.
It is a pan-India programme that promotes entrepreneurship and innovation in farmers while also empowering women farmers.
It identifies and promotes local farm leaders of both male and female. In addition to facilitating knowledge transfer, this type of leadership also helps to develop science-based agriculture.
The goal is to understand the farmers’ water, soil, seed, and market problems and provide simple solutions to them.
The programme connects available science and technology to the farm by first understanding the local farmer’s problems and then providing scientific solutions to those problems.
The Biotech-KISAN hubs are expected to provide the technology needed to generate agriculture and bio-resource-related jobs and better livelihoods for small and marginal farmers by ensuring biotechnological benefits.
Integrated Power Development Scheme – IPDS
As part of the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav,’ a 50 KWP solar roof top was inaugurated in Solan under the IPDS scheme.
About the Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS):
The scheme was established in 2014 with the following goals:
Strengthen transmission and distribution networks in urban areas.
Measure distribution transformers/feeders/consumers in urban areas.
IT support for the distribution sector and strengthening of the distribution network.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and IT-enabled balance urban towns schemes
The scheme is administered by the Ministry of Power, Government of India, and it focuses on urban power distribution.
Under the scheme, all discoms will be eligible for financial assistance
Under the overall supervision of the Power Ministry, Power Finance Corporation Limited (PFC) has been designated as the Nodal Agency for the scheme’s operationalization and implementation.