Uttarakhand

While campaigns asking for exemption of the 12% GST on sanitary napkins is gaining momentum across the country, the Uttarakhand department of woman and child development (WCD) has decided to install vending machines across 20,000 anganwadi centres in the state for dispensing sanitary napkins.

To initiate the process, a sanitary napkin production machine has been given to the district administration of Tehri and soon vending machines will be installed in different locations across the state. In addition, women will also be educated about menstrual hygiene, a subject which is often swept under the rug in Indian societies. Officials informed that napkins will be made available for as low as Rs 2 per pad.

Several other cities such as Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have similar projects run by self-help groups (SHGs).

The health department also runs another programme, under the Centre’s Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health (ARSH) initiative, under which school going girls are provided sanitary napkins by ASHA workers at a nominal price of Rs 6 for 10 napkins. According to reports, the health department has earned a revenue of around Rs 46 lakh in 2017-18 through the ARSH initiative.

INTERNATIONAL

· India ranks 116 out of 157 nations on Sustainable Development Goal

India ranked low 116 out of 157 nations on the 2017 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Index and Dashboard report released by Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and Bertelsmann Stiftung.
The Top Countries in the Index are 2017 SDG Index were Sweden(1st), Denmark(2nd), Finland (3rd), Norway (4th), Czech Republic (5th).
The SDGs are the set of 17 non-binding goals featuring 169 targets to be implemented from 2015 to 2030. They were adopted by member countries of United Nations at the 2015 UN Sustainable Development Summit held in New York.

India contributes additional $1 million to India-UN Development Partnership Fund.

India has contributed an additional $1 million to India-UN Development Partnership Fund launched to support sustainable development projects across the developing world.

Earlier, India had made an initial contribution of $1 million when the fund was created. The amount was allocated for the implementation of a project benefiting seven Small Island Developing States in South Pacific Ocean.

National

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) signed an Institutional agreement with the Punjab State Council of Science and Technology in New Delhi to establish India’s first Technology and Innovation Support Center (TISC) at Patent Information Centre, Punjab, under the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) TISC program.
The objective of the TISC is to stimulate a dynamic, vibrant and balanced Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) system in India to foster creativity and innovation, thereby promoting entrepreneurship and enhancing social, economic and cultural development by establishing a network of TISCs in India.
The Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM) is designated as the National Focal Point for the TISC national network.

Former Indian batsman Sandeep Patil was named as the brand ambassador of the Indian Indoor Cricket Team.
Patil, a member of the 1983 World Cup-winning squad, will be the face of the team in the lead-up to the 10th edition of the World Indoor Cricket Federation (WICF) World Cup, to be held from September 16-23 at the Insportz Club in Dubai.

Indian scientists discover supercluster of galaxies – Saraswati
A team of Indian astronomers have identified previously unknown, extremely large supercluster of galaxies located in the direction of constellation Pisces. It has been named “Saraswati”.

A supercluster is a chain of galaxies and galaxy clusters. It bound by gravity consisting of tens of thousands of galaxies. It often stretches several hundred times the size of clusters of galaxies. So, galaxies are made of billions of stars and planets and grouped into clusters. These clusters of galaxies, in turn, are grouped together to form superclusters.