UTTARAKHAND

• 5 cr saplings to be planted this year

• About 1.5 crore tree saplings will be planted across the State during the monsoon season this year. Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat directed all the District Magistrates to ensure that tree plantation is carried out extensively during the rains in addition to execution of measures for water conservation.

• Officials of the forest department informed that a total of 1.50 crore saplings are slated to be planted on 17,560 hectare land area during the monsoon season this year across the State. About 10.55 lakh saplings will be planted on 1135 hectare area in Uttarkashi, 11.19 lakh saplings will be planted on 1400 hectare in Chamoli, 19.22 lakh saplings will be planted on 1860 hectare in Tehri, 10.26 lakh saplings will be planted on 1260 hectare in Dehradun, 20.16 lakh saplings will be planted on 2600 hectare in Pauri, 9.81 lakh saplings will be planted on 835 hectare in Rudraprayag and 5.46 lakh saplings will be planted on 596 hectare in Haridwar. In the Kumaon region, 11.68 lakh saplings will be planted on 1627 hectare in Nainital, 9.64 saplings will be planted on 1375 hectare in Udham Singh Nagar, 11.15 lakh saplings will be planted on 1496 hectare in Almora, 7.78 lakh saplings will be planted on 896 hectare in Bageshwar, 16.47 lakh saplings will be planted on 1634 hectare in Pithoragarh and 5.62 lakh saplings will be planted on 715 hectare in Champawat district. 

  INTERNATIONAL

   

  • International ICT conference to be held in Nepal

   

  • The Computer Association Nepal (CAN) is organizing an international-level ‘Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Conference-2018’ in Kathmandu on June 17-18.

   

  • The objective of the conference is to exchange information on the improved practices of information technology.

   

  • Various international experts will attend and present their working papers on the occasion.

   

  • Experts from China, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and UNDP are participating in the two-day conference.

   

   

  • World Day Against Child Labour: 12 June

   

  • The World Day Against Child Labour, which is held every year on June 12, is intended to foster the worldwide movement against child labour in any of its forms.

   

  • The International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations body that regulates the world of work, launched the World Day Against Child Labour in 2002 in order to bring attention and join efforts to fight against child labour.

   

  Previous Paper (PP) – UPSC IAS 2018

   

  • International Labour Organization’s Conventions 138 and 182 are related to :

   

  • Child labour
  • Adaptation of agricultural practices to global climate change
  • Regulation of food prices and food security

  (d) Gender parity at the workplace

   

  Answer – (A)

   

  NATIONAL

   

  • 3,000 Additional Atal Tinkering Labs Announced

   

  • NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) has selected 3,000 additional schools for the establishment of Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs), bringing the total number of ATL schools to 5,441.

   

  • The selected schools shall receive a grant of Rs 20 lakh spread over the next five years to establish Atal Tinkering Labs for nurturing innovation and entrepreneurial spirit among secondary school children across India.

   

  • ATLs will soon be established in every district of India, seeking to enable an innovation ecosystem, which will facilitate transformational change in technological innovation and pedagogy.

   

   

  • India to host first BIMSTEC Military Exercise in September

   

  • India will host the first military exercise of the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) group focussing on counter-terrorism in September.

   

  • As part of this, a conclave of the Army chiefs of all seven member-states is being planned.

   

  • The exercise is scheduled to be held in Pune in the second week of September.

   

  • BIMSTEC was set up in 1997 and includes India, Bangladesh, Bhutan Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

   

   

  ·        New Telecom Policy is expected to be cleared by Union Cabinet by end of next month: Communications Minister

   

  • The government has recently issued the National Digital Communications Policy which aims at creating 40 lakh new jobs by 2022, attract investment of around 6.5 lakh crore rupees in the sector and ensuring broadband coverage at 50 mbps for every citizen.
  • Briefing reporters in New Delhi on the achievements of his Ministry in the last four years,
  • The telecom sector was in turmoil when the NDA government came to power and there was trust deficit among stakeholders.
  • The last four year his Ministry has brought in transparency and good governance.

   

   

  ·        Union Government approves revision of carpet area of houses eligible for interest subsidy under PMAY (Urban)

   

   

  • The Union Government approved a 33percentt increasein carpet area of houses eligible for interest subsidy under its affordable housing scheme Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) to attract more beneficiaries.
  • The carpet area of a house has been enhanced to 160 square metres from 120 square metres for Middle Income Group-1, while it has been increased to 200 square metres from 150 square metres in case of Middle Income Group-2.
  • AIR correspondent reports, the new rules will be effective from 1st of January, 2017, the date on which the scheme became operational.
  • The enhancements will now enable more Middle Income Group customers to qualify for a subsidy and avail the benefits provided under the flagship mission of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban.
  • Apart from increasing the number of beneficiaries, the enhancement in carpet area will increase the construction activity and will give a push to the housing sector.
  • Under the Credit-Linked Subsidy Scheme, each beneficiary can avail subsidy up to two lakh 35 thousand on the purchase of a house under the scheme.