Uttar Pradesh
· Rajive Kumar is UP’s new chief secretary.
- Kumar has been brought from New Delhi to take charge of the top post of state bureaucracy. He was secretary in union shipping ministry and the centre had last week repatriated him to the state cadre, to which he belongs.
- Kumar replaces Rahul Bhatnagar, who has been posted as chairman, Greater Noida and investment commissioner, based in New Delhi.
· Govt to launch green drive in city next month
- To increase green cover in the city and surrounding districts, the Yogi government will launch a massive plantation drive during the monsoon season from July.
- Speaking about the drive, government officials said it aimed at bringing down pollution level.
- In all 13,97,400 saplings would be planted across the district including urban and rural pockets.
- The total number of saplings were enough to turn 908.46 hectares of barren land into green.
· Smart health facilities in villages on the anvil
- Low quality, understaffed and underequipped medical services in villages are poised to undergo a sea change.
- Soon, village health and wellness centres (VHWC) will revamp health facilities in rural pockets of the country, especially for women and the elderly.
- The union ministry’s VHWC scheme, which is on the anvil, aims to turn 2% of all the health sub-centres in rural areas into smart health facilities. Nurses here will be given six months’ training to perform some of the work that doctors do, like examining a patient and initiating early treatment.
INTERNATIONAL
- UN: India to become more populous than China by 2024.
- According to the World population Prospectus: The Revision released by the United Nations, India with 1.3 billion inhabitants would surpass China’s population of 1.4 billion by 2024, to become the World’s populous country.
- As per the report, the concentration of global population growth in the poorest countries is presenting a challenge. The population growth is expected to come from the 47 least developed countries where the fertility rate is around 4.3 births per woman.
- International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking: 26 June
- By resolution 42/112 of 7 December 1987, the UN General Assembly decided to observe 26 June as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.
- It aims to achieve the goal of an international society free of drug abuse.
- The theme for 2017 is: “Listen First – Listening to children and youth is the first step to help them grow healthy and safe.”
- According to the report, Nigeria which is currently at the seventh place is expected to become the third most populous country by 2050 replacing the US.
NATIONAL
- Priyanka Chopra to endorse Skill India campaign
- Actress Priyanka Chopra will soon be seen endorsing government’s flagship Skill India campaign, with the National Skill Development Corporation roping in the Bollywood celebrity as an ambassador for the initiative.
- Priyanka will use her celebrity status to motivate youngsters to hone their abilities through a media campaign.
- Earlier, Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli, batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, Bollywood actors Sidharth Malhotra and Shabana Azmi and singer Mohit Chauhan had also become goodwill envoys for Skill India.
- Government launches VAJRA Scheme
- Department of Science and Technology has launched VAJRA (Visiting Advanced Joint Research) Faculty scheme that enables NRIs and overseas scientific community to participate and contribute to research and development in India.
- The scheme would promote broad areas of research like energy, health, advance material among others. Public funded academic institutions and national laboratories will be eligible for hosting the VAJRA Faculty. The VAJRA faculty can reside in India for a minimum of 1 month and a maximum of 3 months a year.
- Haryana girl Manushi Chhillar is Femina Miss India World 2017.
- The 54th Femina Miss India World 2017 winner is Manushi Chhillar from Haryana, while the first runner-up is Sana Dua from Jammu and Kashmir and the second runner-up is Priyanka Kumari from Bihar.
- The event was held at Yash Raj Studios in Mumbai.
- Besides, Vinali Bhatnagar won the Miss Active crown whereas Vamika Nidhi won the special award of ‘Body Beautiful’.
- India’s Largest Municipal Bond Programme Launched
- The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) became the first municipal corporation in the country to tap money through municipal bonds in 14 years.
- The AA+ rated PMC’s municipal bonds raised Rs 200 crore at 7.59 per cent rate at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). This is the first-ever mobilisation of debt capital by a municipal corporation on the BSE BOND platform.
- This will also be the first issuance since the publication of ‘Issue and Listing of Debt Securities by Municipalities Regulations, 2015’ by Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). The 10-year bonds will be used by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for a Rs 2,300-crore water project. The scheme is aimed at providing water 24×7 for all residents of Pune.
- Uttarakhand and Haryana Declared Open Defecation Free States
- Under the Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin (SBM-G), rural Uttarakhand and rural Haryana have been declared as the 4th and 5th Open Defecation Free (ODF) States of India. Already, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala, have been declared ODF.
- As per the government sources, nationally the sanitation coverage has increased from 42% to over 64% since the launch of SBM. Uttarakhand has 13 districts, 95 blocks, 7256 gram panchayats and 15751 villages while Haryana has 21 districts, 124 blocks, and 6083 gram panchayats. All these have been declared as ODF. With this, the total number of ODF states in the country have increased to 5 covering more than 2 lakh villages and 147 districts across the country.
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