UTTARAKHAND

While the State Government continues to claim credit for its efforts aimed at a convenient and safe pilgrimage and tourism experience in Uttarakhand, the alarming problem of food adulteration appears to have remained unaddressed.

According to a survey by the Society of Pollution and Environment Conservation Scientists (SPECS), 84.5 per cent of food items available on the Char Dham Yatra routes were found to be adulterated. Even the ghee offered at Kedarnath shrine was found to be adulterated. The total numbers of samples collected were 1186 from 47 places out of which 1003 samples were found to be adulterated. The society members informed that such adulteration in a wide range of food items can cause various health issues and even serious diseases.

Earlier, the SPECS report in 2017 had highlighted that there was 85 per cent adulteration in food materials sold on the routes to Kedarnath and Badrinath. Food items on the Gangotri and Yamunotri routes were found to be 83 per cent adulterated which is almost the same in 2018 report too.

INTERNATIONAL

· United Kingdom announces new organ donation plan to address Indian-origin shortages

The proposed new system of consent for organ and tissue donation is expected to come into effect in England in 2020.
This announcement comes as a recent report called on the National Health Service (NHS) to take more proactive action to address the high death rate among Indian-origin people in Britain due to low levels of organ donation within the community.

· Netherlands crowned as world champions for the eighth time at Women’s Hockey Tournament

Kitty van Male,top scorer at the Women’s Hockey Tournament.
Spain won the third-place match by beating Australia 3-1 to claim their first ever World Cup medal.
India finished the tournament at the 8th spot.

NATIONAL

Delhi has toppled Gujarat from the top spot in a list of 21 states and union territories with the most investment potential, according to a report by economic think-tank NCAER.

The national capital is followed by Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Haryana, Maharashtra, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and West Bengal.

The ranking of 20 states and one Union Territory of Delhi was based on six pillars — land, labour, infrastructure, economic climate, governance and political stability and business perceptions.

Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu launched a logo and tagline for Geographical Indications (GI)to increase awareness about intellectual property rights (IPRs) in the country.
The slogan for the GI tag is- ‘Invaluable Treasures of Incredible India’.
A GI product is primarily an agricultural, natural or a manufactured product (handicraft and industrial goods) originating from a definite geographical territory.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (M/o RT&H) has developed the Bidder Information Management System (BIMS) to streamline the process of pre-qualification of bidders for EPC Mode of contracts for all National Highway works with enhanced transparency and objectivity.

BIMS would work as a data base comprising bidder wise information covering basic details, civil works experience, cash accruals and network, annual turnover etc.

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari will inaugurate the system.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 21 will launch long-awaited India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) that will have at least one branch in every district and focus on financial services in rural areas.

IPPB will leverage reach of 1.55 lakh post office branches to provide banking and financial service to people in rural area.

Last week, IPPB CEO Suresh Sethi said that IPPB will go live with 650 branches in addition to 3,250 access points co-located at post offices and around 11,000 postmen both in rural and urban area will provide doorstep banking services.

After the central government cleared the elevation of Madras High Court Chief Justice Indira Banerjee.
Other two judges are R Banumathiand Indu Malhotra.
Overall There are 22 male judgesincluding two new male appointees in Supreme court.

Loksabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has handed over 5 croreth LPG connection under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) in the Parliament House.

The Government launched Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) on 1st May, 2016 and it is implemented by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas through its Oil Marketing Companies i.e., IOC, BPCL and HPCL through their network of distributors across the country.

Through PMUY, initially, 5 crore BPL households were targeted for providing deposit free LPG connections to BPL households by 31st March,2019.

Around 122new research projects of 112 crore rupees under its Impacting Research Innovation and Technology ‘IMPRINT-2’ scheme are approved.
IMPRINT – 2 is a government initiative to address the major science and engineering challenges that India must address and champion to enable, empower and embolden the nation for inclusive growth and self-reliance.