UTTARAKHAND

CM: State to have 5,000 homestays by 2020

With the aim to create livelihood opportunities through tourism, Uttarakhand will have as many as 5,000 operational home stays in the state. Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat made this announcement while meeting a delegation of Uttarakhand Hotel Association here on Thursday. During his interaction with hoteliers, Rawat reiterated his government’s commitment for promoting tourism in the state.

Trivendra Rawat said tourism could be a major source of employment, particularly in the hills that face the challenge of migration. He said his government was working hard to put to best use the human resources available and to make youth self-dependent through skill development. He said his government planned to make at least 5,000 homestays operational in the state latest by 2020. He said this would generate employment for the youth in a big way.

Referring to potential of tourism in the state, the Chief Minister said the sector had a bright future and was all set to get a big boost due to the ongoing all-weather roads project, the Rishikesh-Karanprayag rail line and other development projects.

He apprised that a Sanskrit Gram was being set up in the state apart from the proposed new destination schemes. He said the tourism sector was also being linked with cultural heritage of the state and ‘Tehri Mahotsava’ was an effort in the same direction.

INTERNATIONAL

· Russia Started Building Turkey’s First Nuclear Power Plant

The Turkish Atomic Energy Authority (TAEK) was awarded a construction license for Akkuyu NPP, Turkey’s first nuclear power plant, which is being built in Mersin province, in southern Turkey. JSC Akkuyu Nuclear is the Russian-owned company which is responsible for the project.
The USD20 billion project to build the four-unit, 4800 MWe plant is part of Erdogan’s ‘2023 Vision’ marking 100 years since the founding of modern Turkey and is intended to reduce the country’s dependence on energy imports. The plant is expected to meet about 10% of Turkey’s electricity needs.

· Sahyog- Hyeoblyeog 2018: Indian, Korean Coast Guards Hold Joint Exercise

Indo-Korean joint anti-piracy, search and rescue exercise ‘Sahyog- Hyeoblyeog 2018’was conducted off the Chennai coast, in Tamil Nadu.
The Korean Coast Guard ship ‘Bodaro’ took part in the exercise.
Indian Coast Guard deployed a Dornier aircraft to carry out a sea-air coordinated search along with ICG Shaurya, Rani Abbakka, C-423, C-431 in the exercise.
The mission of the joint exercise is to develop working level co-operation and enhance interoperability in the fields of maritime search and rescue, anti-piracy operations.

India pips Japan to become second largest crude steel manufacturer

In a major achievement, India has overtaken Japan to become the world’s second largest producer of crude steel in February, according to the Steel Users Federation of India (SUFI).

At present, China is the largest producer of crude steel in the world, accounting for more than 50% of the production.

India overtook the U.S. in 2015 to become the third largest producer of crude steel.

NATIONAL

Indian maritime day: 5 April

The National Maritime Day of India is observed on 5 April every year across the country.

On this day in 1919 navigation history was created when SS Loyalty, the first ship of The Scindia Steam Navigation Company Ltd., journeyed to the United Kingdom.

The theme of the National Maritime Day in 2018 is ‘Indian Shipping – An Ocean of opportunity

Piyush Goyal Launches UTTAM APP for Coal Quality Monitoring

The Union Minister for Railways and Coal Shri Piyush Goyal launched UTTAM App for Coal Quality Monitoring. UTTAM stands for – Unlocking Transparency by Third Party Assessment of Mined Coal (uttam.coalindia.in).

The Ministry of Coal and Coal India Limited (CIL) developed UTTAM,aims to provide an App for all citizens and coal consumers to monitor the process of Third Party Sampling of coal across CIL subsidiaries.

UTTAM App ensures accountability, transparency, effectiveness and efficiency in coal ecosystem.

UTTAM is an example of leveraging technology to facilitate a bidirectional channel between Coal India Limited and a common citizen.

Prime Minister to inaugurate International Energy Forum in New Delhi

India will host the 16th International Energy Forum (IEF) Ministerial Meeting from 10-12th April 2018 in New Delhi.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will formally inaugurate the Meeting on 11th April 2018.

Petroleum Ministers from 42 countries would attend the Meeting.

The biennial IEF Ministerial Meetings are the world’s largest gathering of Energy Ministers who engage in a dialogue on global energy issues.

The IEF Ministerial meetings are informal dialogues, at both the political and technical levels, aimed to improve policy and investment decisions, and through increased knowledge and experience sharing.

Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu Wins India’s First Gold at CWG 2018

World champion weightlifter Mirabai Chanu (48kg) secured India’s first gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

The Indian ended with a score of 196kg (86kg+110kg).

Earlier, Weightlifter Gururaja bagged India’s first medal (silver) in the 2018 Commonwealth Games with a total lift of 249 kg in the men’s 56 kg event

· Union Government constitutes committee to regulate news portals

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B)constituted a 10-member committee to regulate online portals, including news websites, entertainment.
The committee will include secretaries of departments of Home, Electronics and Information and Technology, Legal Affairs and Industrial Policy.
The committee will look to bring online information dissemination under regulation. It will propose a policy for foreign direct investment (FDI).

UKPCS Notes brings Prelims and Mains programs for UKPCS Prelims and UKPCS Mains Exam preparation. Various Programs initiated by UKPCS Notes are as follows:-

For any doubt, Just leave us a Chat or Fill us a querry––