GOA
- IWAI: For funds, furnish scientific data on waterways
- The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) has asked the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to prepare a viability study for passenger and commercial transport on behalf of the state government, in order to seek funds from the Centre to develop the state’s waterways.
- The Centre has notified six rivers – Mandovi (44 kms), Zuari (50 kms), Cumbarjua (17 kms), Chapora (33 kms), Mapusa (27 kms) and Sal (14 kms) –as national waterways for the purpose of shipping and navigation. Lobo also said that the Goa Maritime Board, which has been in the pipeline for years, will be revived.
INTERNATIONAL
- WHO study on physical activity-India ranks 8th
- The World Health Organization published its study about physical activity of adolescents aged between 11 and 17 years.
- The assessment included physical education, active play, recreation and sports, walking, planned exercises and cycling.
- India was ranked eighth reporting lowest level of physical activity. In India the overall insufficient physical activity in 2001 was 76.6% and has now decreased to 73.9% in 2016.
- The lowest level of insufficient physical activity among girls was seen in India.
- Bangladesh topped the list and Philippines was the least performing among boys.
NATIONAL
- NSO survey on drinking water, hygiene, sanitation and housing condition
- The NSO under Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation conducted survey on drinking water, hygiene, sanitation and housing condition between the period July 2018 and December 2018.
- According to the survey one fourth of the households had no access to toilets.
- The survey says that around 42.9% of the households in rural areas and around 40.9% households in urban areas are still using hand pumps.
- About 80.7% in urban area and 58.2% in rural areas had drinking water facilities within the household premises.
- The survey reports that around 94.5% in rural and 97.4% in urban used improved water resources. Improved water resources include piped water, hand pump, tube well, protected spring, private tanker truck, rain water collection and bottled water.
- CBDT inaugurates Web Portal for exchange of information on Income Tax
- Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has inaugurated the Web Portal for Exchange of Information on Income Tax which will consolidate all relevant Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) related information at one place.
- This portal will help in convenient access by public, financial institutions as well as departmental officers at large.
- The Web Portal would be a repository of policy and technical circulars, guidance, notifications issued by the CBDT.
- It would provide links to relevant circulars, guidance issued by regulatory authorities in India and other international bodies.
- Indian Railways: North East State capitals linking, Act East policy and Electrification
- Government of India has planned to link the capitals of North Eastern States with rail connectivity. This plan, however, does not include Sikkim.
- The capitals of Assam, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh are already connected through Broad Gauge rail network.
- The Ministry of Railways has created a new action plan to electrify 37,237 km of broad-gauge routes. This is 57.91% of total railway network in India.
- The Government of India has set target of 100% electrification of the railways in 10 years. It was announced in August 2019.
- Currently, there are two rail connectivity projects connecting Indian cities Jogbani and Jayanagar with Nepal cities Biratnagar and Bardibas respectively. In Bangladesh there are two ongoing projects that connects Agartala with Akhuara and Hadibari with Chilhati.
- There are no ongoing railway projects with Myanmar and Bhutan.
- National Policy to speed up Gas Infrastructure
- A “high-level committee” has been set up by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory board (PNGRB) to frame national policy on city gas distribution.
- The intention of the policy is to speed up development of infrastructure of piped natural gas.
- The committee formed will perform a detailed review of the issues in the development of piped gas network.
- The policy will also address issues like delay in getting approvals at state level.
- It will also identify Geographical Areas that are facing difficulties in witnessing significant progress as compared to the other regions.
- The number of Geographical Areas with good City Gas Distribution has increased from 78 in the end of 2017 to 229 in 2019 according to the Ministry of Petroleum.
- India’s first largest biotechnology conference Global Bio-India Summit
- India’s first largest biotechnology stakeholders conglomerate, – the Global Bio-India (GBI) Summit, 2019 concluded in New Delhi.
- The three-day event was organized by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science & Technology, along with its Public Sector Undertaking, Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC).
- The associated partners for this event were Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE) and Invest India.
- Biotechnology is recognized as the sunrise sector- a key driver for contributing to India’s USD 5 Trillion economy target by 2025.