UTTAR PRADESH

Survey shows use of LPG has gone up to 59 pc

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, the flagship scheme of National Democratic Alliance government for subsidised LPG connection, coupled with Saubhagya Scheme providing free domestic power connections in rural areas to the poor have unleashed a silent revolution across Uttar Pradesh, leading to a sharp rise in power consumption and LPG as medium of cooking food. The Ujjwala Yojana was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Ballia (eastern UP) on May 1, 2016.

An estimated 59 per cent of rural households in the state relied on grid power as the primary source of lighting in 2018. This was a near three-fold increase since 2015. This was found during a study by Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW).

The reasons for refusing free connections can be inability to afford power consumption, unwillingness to pay high-value in irregular lumpsum bills, prevailing illegal connections or unreliable power supply.

Further, 64 per cent of rural households in the state used LPG for cooking in 2018, up from 33 per cent in 2015. Rural households relying on LPG as primary fuel increased from 17 per cent in 2015 to 37 per cent in 2018.

In Uttar Pradesh, more than 3,000 households in over 250 villages from 18 districts were surveyed. Due to UP’s vast area and diversity, significant variations in energy access was noticed. Only 20 per cent of rural households in Banda district reported reliance on grid power as primary source of lighting as compared to 95 per cent in Muzaffarnagar district.

Further, only 28 per cent of electrified rural households were equipped with meters in Aligarh district as compared to 66 per cent in Varanasi.

INTERNATIONAL

Bilateral Exercise Between Indian & Republic of Singapore Navies – SIMBEX 18 – MARKS Silver Jubilee this year

The 25^theditorial of SIMBEX, an acronym for “Singapore – India Maritime Bilateral Exercise” is scheduled from 10^th to 21^st November 2018 off Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal.

Bilateral cooperation between Singapore and India was first formalized when RSN ships began training with the Indian Navy in 1994.

Complementing India’s Act-East’ Policy. There have been a number of agreements and high level visits in the recent past between the two countries. Indo – Singapore bilateral relations have been on an upswing in the recent past.

· Mahila-E-Haat online portal to promote women farmers and entrepreneurs launched by WCD

The main aim is to unique organic products of the women farmers and entrepreneurs from across the country.
It will serve as an e-platform to bring them together and promote the achievements of women farmers.
It was launched during the 5th “Women of India National Organic Festival, 2018”.

· Ozone layer recovering at 1 to 3 per cent per decade: United Nations

The ozone layerthat shields life from cancer-causing solar rays is recovering at a rate of one to three percent per decade, reversing years of dangerous depletion caused by the release of harmful chemicals.
The Antarctic ozone hole is recovering while continuing to occur every year.

· Saudi bans Israeli Muslims from Hajj pilgrimage

New Saudi passport rules have barred Israeli Muslims from visiting Mecca for Hajj pilgrimage.
Since Israel and Saudi don’t have diplomatic ties, Israeli Muslims visited Mecca by going to Jordan where they got temporary Jordanian passports that allowed them to travel to the kingdom.
Saudi will no longer accept temporary Jordanian passport.

· New York’s Empire State Building lit up for Diwali for 1st time

New York’s iconic Empire State Buildingwas lit in orange for the first time to celebrate Diwali.
It was organised by the Federation of Indian Associations in cooperation with the Empire State Realty Trust.
Miss America 2014 Nina Davuluriand singer Jay Sean flipped the switch to turn on the lights on top of the building.

33rd ASEAN summit begins in Singapore

The 33rd edition of the ASEAN Summit began in Singapore.

Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong is the Chairman of the Summit, which will continue till 15th November along with other related summits like East Asia Summit (EAS), Regional Comprehensive Economic Summit, (RCEP) and ASEAN plus summits.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to attend the East Asia Summit and Associated meetings of ASEAN on 14th and 15th November in Singapore.

National Education Day observed on 11 November

The day is observed on 11th November every year to commemorate the birth anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
He was a freedom fighter, scholar and the first Education Minister of independent India, who served from 15 August 1947 until 2 February 1958.

In a tweet, President Ram Nath Kovind paid tributes to Maulana Azad.

NATIONAL

· Odisha Government launched the ‘Bhubaneswar Me Wi-Fi’ project in Bhubaneswar

The project is implemented by Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited(BSCL), which is a Special Purpose Vehicle incorporated by Odisha Government.
It will initially have 100 hotspots enabled locations with 275 access points.
One wi-fi hotspot would be able to handle 150 users at a given point of time.
With this move, the Capital will stamp its entry as aglobal Smart City with 500 hotspots spanning the entire city.

· Govt enhances financial powers of Armed Forces’ vice-chiefs by 5 times

The Defence Ministry has enhanced the financial powers of the three vice chiefs of the armed forces by five times, giving a fillip to procurement of arms and ammunition and upgrade of defence preparedness.

A number of initiatives have been taken by the Defence Ministry in the recent past to simplify and streamline the procedures and decentralise the decision-making through delegation of powers.

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10-11.11.18 Uttar Pradesh (UPPCS) Current Affair