UTTARAKHAND
Hotel business among the worst-affected sectors by the pandemic
With hotel business among the worst-affected sectors by the pandemic, Uttarakhand — which estimates suggest accounts for up to 50% of the industry workforce — is seeing an influx of unemployed chefs and cooks return to the hill state.
In the past two months, as many as 1 lakh people who were manning kitchens in hotels and restaurants in metro cities have returned.
International
Construction work at Hindu temple site in Pakistan halted
- The Islamabad Hindu Panchayat announced on Saturday that it would discontinue the construction of a boundary wall of Shri Krishna Mandir in the capital city after a part of the wall was allegedly demolished by a mob of fundamentalist forces
- Pakistan’s government had given in to pressure from religious circles and stopped the construction work.
The EU Innovation Fund
- Clean technology projects are readying bids for a billion-euro support package from the European Union under a flagship scheme for funding breakthrough low-carbon technologies.
- The EU Innovation Fund will support projects such as floating wind farms, carbon capture mechanisms and energy storage, all of which could help clean up sectors such as cement and steelmaking.
National
Atmanirbhar Bharat app challenge
- The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has launched Aatmanirbhar Bharat Innovation Challenge, to identify the best Indian Apps that are already being used by citizens and have the potential to scale and become world class Apps in their respective categories.
- Meity-NITI launches Digital India AatmaNirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge to realise PM’s vision of Digital India – AatmaNirbhar Bharat
- Existing apps are to be promoted in Track 1 of App Innovation Challenge
- The Track 2 of the challenge focuses on Development of New Apps
- The outcome of this challenge will be to give better visibility and clarity to existing apps to achieve their goals, and to create tech products to find solutions to tech conundrums with the help of mentorship, tech support and guidance during the entire life-cycle
- The AatmaNirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge Track 1 is being launched in the following 8 broad categories:
- Office Productivity & Work from Home
- Social Networking
- E-Learning
- Entertainment
- Health & Wellness
- Business including Agritech and Fin-tech
- News
Chambal Expressway
- Rs 8200 crore Project passing through MP, UP and Rajasthan envisages connecting Bhind to Kota
- It will provides an alternative route from Kanpur to Kota through Madhya Pradesh, and then joins the Delhi-Mumbai corridor.
- Provides cross connectivity with Golden Quadrilateral’s Delhi-Kolkata corridor, North-South Corridor, East-West Corridor and Delhi-Mumbai -Expressway
- The Expressway will be 309 km long in the state and connect the boundaries of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh via Sheopur, Morena and Bhind.
- The project is expected to be completed in about two years after land acquisition.
- The states will share the Rs 650 crore land acquisition cost.
Space policy, Space Activities Bill in final stages
- The government Last month announced a major reform in India’s space arena by allowing the private sector to carry out space activities like building rockets, satellites and providing launch services.
- The ISRO chairman said very soon a system will be put in place for approval that will enable these activities to happen without any hindrance.
- The space policy and the Space Activities Bill will help address legal issues in this strategic sector.
Mars orbiter still active, captures image of Red planet’s biggest moon
- The Mars colour camera onboard the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) of Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has captured the image of Phobos, the closest and biggest moon of the red planet.
- Isro had successfully placed the Rs 450-crore MOM in the Red planet’s orbit on September 24, 2014, making India the first Asian country to reach the Martian orbit and the first nation in the world to do so on its maiden attempt.
Severe Cyclonic Storm “NISARGA”
- The severe cyclonic storm, Nisarga originated from a Low Pressure Area which formed over southeast & adjoining eastcentral Arabian Sea and Lakshadweep area
- Severe Cyclonic Storm Nisarga is the strongest tropical cyclone to strike the Indian state Maharashtra in the month of June since 1891. It was also the first cyclone impact to Mumbai since Cyclone Phyan of 2009.
Functional household tap connections under Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan
- Garib Kalyan RojgarAbhiyaan (GKRA) has been launched, on 20.06.2020, to start extensive public works to provide livelihood opportunities and create local employment to returnee migrants and similarly affected rural citizens.
- This time-bound campaign spanning over 125 days, will involve intensive and focused implementation in 116 districts including 27 aspirational districts, spread in 6 States viz Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
- States have been requested to start works in villages of these districts so that it will not only help to ensure adequate quantity of water at household level but will also help in providing employment to migrant returnees.
- States have been advised to prioritize taking up works of ‘low hanging fruits’ i.e. by augmenting or retrofitting existing piped water supply schemes so that these villages become ‘Har Ghar Jal Gaon’ i.e. 100% Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) villages.
- There is a huge potential to provide household connections to remaining households in villages belonging to poor and marginalized people by retro-fitting of existing piped water supply systems.
10000 Farmers’ Producer Organizations
- Rural sector will be transformed by constitution of 10000 Farmers’ Producer Organizations;
- FPOs will not only help in agricultural progress, but also create new avenues of development
- “One district – One Product” approach to increase value addition, marketing and exports; FPOs will benefit small, marginal and landless farmers by giving access to technological inputs, finances, and better markets and prices for their crops.