Government Initiatives and Schemes in Oct 2017

1 The Union Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways and Water Resource, River Interlinking and Ganga Rejuvenation Shri Nitin Gadkari, performed Bhoomi Pooja ceremony of Wardha dry Port at Sindi (Maharastra)

Wardha Dry Port to be constructed over area of 350 acres with estimated investment of 500 crore

Wardha Dry port, estimated to generate traffic of 7,000-9,000 TEUs(Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit) in next 5-7 years.

2 The Vice President, Shri Venkaiah Naidu laid foundation stone for the development of Muktyala to Vijayawada stretch of Krishna River (National Waterways 4) in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh.

National Waterway No.4 was declared in November, 2008 of total length 1078 km and extended to 2890 km by NW Act-2016

3 The President, Ram Nath Kovind appointed a Commission to examine the sub-categorisation of Other Backward Classes under Article 340

Members:

1 Justice (Retd.) G. Rohini – ( Chiarperson)

2 Dr. J.K. Bajaj (member)

3 Member(Ex-officio)-Director, Anthropological Survey of India

4 Member (Ex-officio)-Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India

5 Secretary of the Commission-Joint Secretary, Department of SJ&E, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment

4 Deepak Kumar, Chairman of National Highways Authority of India launched new multilingual website of the organization- NHAI

Its multilingual website

PMIS Mobile App launched, Project Monitoring Information System

5 The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, laid foundation stone for AIIMS(All India Institute of Medical Sciences) at Bilaspur.

It will be 750 bed hospital at a cost of app. Rs. 1350 crore

Other AIIMS institutes are located in New Delhi, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur, Rishikesh.

6 The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind welcomed President of the Republic of Djibouti, Mr Ismail Omar Guelleh and made an agreement between two countries

1 An Agreement to establish political consultations between India and Djibouti

2 Ram Nath Kovind was the first President to visit Ethiopia in 45 yrs. ( In past , V.V. Giri in 1972 and S Radhakrishnan in 1965)

7 Cabinet approved Extradition Treaty between India and Lithuania

To provide a legal framework for seeking extradition of terrorists, economic offenders and other criminals.

8 Cabinet apprised Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between India and Swiss on Technical cooperation in Rail sector

MOU in the areas of

Traction Rolling stock

EMU and train sets

Traction Propulsion Equipments

Freight and Passenger Cars

Tilting Trains

Railway Electrification Equipment’s

Train scheduling and operation improvement

Railway Station modernization

Multimodal transport

Tunneling technology

8 Cabinet approved MOU between India and Mynamar on updrartion of women police training center at Yamethin and also approved renaming of Kandla port as Deendayal Port.

9 Turtle Sanctuary to be setup in Allahabad

Sanctuary to setup with estimated cost of Rs 1.34 crore

10 Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Culture and MoS Environment, Forest & Climate, Dr. Mahesh Sharma and Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Tourism, K.J Alphons inaugurated Paryatan Prav at Humayun tomb.

11 Agreements signed during 14th India-EU Summit in New Delhi

Agreements

Implementing Arrangement between the European Commission and the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) for Indian Researchers hosted by the European Research Council grantees in Europe

Finance Contract of Bangalore Metro Rail Project Phase-2-Line R6 for Euro 300 million out of total loan of Euro 500 million

Joint Declaration between the Interim Secretariat of the International Solar Alliance and the European Investment Bank

12 Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav (RSM)-2017 held on Ahmadabad, Gujarat in 7th to 9th October, 2017

Ahmadabad, Gujarat in India’s 1^st World Heritage City

13 The First Meeting of India-Australia Joint Steering Committee was held, follow- up of MOU Cooperation in Combating International Terrorism and Transnational Organized Crimes and agreed to the agenda for cooperation in specific areas with meetings of operational Joint Working Groups involving concerned agencies.

14 Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Labour & Employment, Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar inaugurated the disabled friendly building of National Career Service Centre for Differently Abled in Guwahati

It has Constructed at a cost Rs 10.40 cr

15 MoU signed between VVGNLI and TISS in Guwahati

V.V. Giri National Labour Institute (VVGNLI) and Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) signed by Dr. H. Srinivas , Director General of VVGNLI and Dr. D.K. Srivastava, Deputy Director of TISS, Guwahati.

16 Shri Narendra Modi laid foundation stone for 4 National Highways projects worth Rs 5825 Crore at Dwarka in Gujarat.

17 Completion of 20 yrs cooperation between India And South Africa on Science & Technology

18 Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh and Minister for Shipping, Road Transport & Highways and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Shri Nitin Gadkari inaugurated an alternate sea route to Baratang Island and laid the foundation stone for extension of dry dock in Port Blair.

19 President Shri Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated India Water Week – 2017 on October 10, 2017, New Delhi

8^th World Water Forum to be held in Brazil in March, 2018.

20 The first ever Conference of Partners NGOs held in New Delhi, inagurated by Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi.

Implementation of Policies, Schemes and Programmes for Women and Children: Challenges and Way Forward”.

21 The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, laid the Foundation Stone for a greenfield airport for Rajkot

22 India conducted the First ‘BIMSTEC Disaster Management Exercise- 2017

23 The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, laid Foundation Stone of Bhadbhut Barrage over the River Narmada.

Narmada flows through the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat

24 International Conference on Dialogue of Civilizations – IV held in New Delhi

The first conference was inaugurated in Guatemala in 2013, Turkey in 2014 , China in 2015

25 Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, today inaugurated Saudi Aramco India Office.

26 Shri Ram Nath Kovind, presented the Vayoshreshtha Samman, scheme of National Awards for senior citizens

Population of senior citizens in India app.10.5 crore, which was about 8.5% of total population.

27 National Mission for Clean Ganga has approved eight projects under Namami Gange Programme

Projects worth of Rs. 700 crore

28 Indian Railways and German Railways sign Joint Declaration

Increasing the speed of passenger trains to 200 kmph on 50.50 percent cost sharing basis

Signed in the presence of Shri Ashwani Lohani, Chairman, Railway Board

29 Union Cabinet approved the signing of “Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC)” between India and Japan on the Technical Intern Training Program (TITP)

30 Cabinet approves MoU between India and Belarus

Cooperation in the field of Vocational Education and Training

31 Union Cabinet approved Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) with Capital Markets Authority (CMA), Kuwait for mutual co-operation and technical assistance.

32 Union Cabinet approved for signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Morocco on cooperation in the field of water resources.

33 Union Cabinet approved Memorandum of Cooperation between India and Japan on establishing a Liquid, Flexible and Global LNG Market

34 Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan launched prepaid IGL smart card for CNG consumers

35 MedWatch Mobile app launch by Indian Air Force

It provides authentic health information to all IAF personnel.

36 Shri Mahesh Kumar Gupta, has been appointed as new Member (Engineering) Railway Board and ex officio Secretary to the Government of India

He is from IRSE of 1979 batch

He worked as Chief Administrative Officer (Constructions), Central Railway

37 D.K.Gayen, has been appointed as new Member (Staff) Railway Board and ex officio Secretary to the Government of India

He is from IRSME of 1981 batch

He worked as Chief Mechanical Engineer, South Eastern Railway

38 Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (Independent charge) for Culture inaugurated Deep Dharohar

39 Narendra Modi laid foundation stone for 4 sewerage projects and 4 National Highways

Sewerage projects estimated cost of Rs. 738.04 crore and National Highways projects of 195 km, worth Rs. 3031 crore

40 The First ever All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) dedicated to the Nation by Narendra Modi on Ayurveda Day on 17^th October, 2017 at New Delhi

41 Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY) can be permanent solution from drought as said by Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Shri Radha Mohan Singh

Govt investing Rs 50,000 crore for a period of five years to develop complete irrigation supply chain, water resources, distribution network and farm-level application solutions to achieve the target of providing water for every farm

42 A new Bureau of Indian standards (BIS) Act 2016, notified on 22/03/2016, has been brought into force with effect from 12/08/2017.

43 Guinness record at IISF Chennai for the largest Biology lesson in the world

Highlights

1049 students participated in this event of Biology lesson

44 Exercise INDRA 2017, 1st ever Tri services joint exercise between India and Russia

45 Defence minister smt Nirmala Sitharaman commission INS Kiltan(P30), 3rd Anti submarine warfare (ASW) stealth Corvettes into Indian Navy

46 India International Science Film awards given by Dr. Harshvardhan

Category A : Professional

1st prize – Satyendra Nath Bose directed by Sheela Dutta

2nd Prize – The Loss of Western ghats – Directed by Biju Pankaj

Category B : Students

1st Prize – Where have sparrows gone -= Directed by Rishikesh Daud