PUNJAB

Centre agrees to release pending payment of rs 950 cr to punjab on priority

Distressed over financial losses to the state because of non-reimbursement of expenditure incurred over transportation and purchase of gunny bags, Punjab Food and Civil Supplies Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu met the Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan and sought his immediate intervention to expedite the matter.
Conceding to Punjab’s long pending demand, the Centre agreed to release the pending payment of Rs 950 crore out of which 50 percent would be released immediately and the remaining would also be released on priority.

He added that Punjab has been included as a member in the Committee, formed to look into transportation cost related issues.

During the Central pool procurement operations, the State Government and its agencies have to suffer loss of approximately Rs 1,100 crore for paddy and Rs 300 crore for wheat every year. Being a member of the said Committee will definitely give an edge to the State to resolve the transportation cost related issues.

INTERNATIONAL

India to attend the SCO Culture Ministers’ meet for the first time

The Minister of State for Culture (I/c) and Minister of state for Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Dr. Mahesh Sharma will be attending Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Cultural Ministers Meeting at Sanya in China on 17^thof May, 2018.

It is the first time that India would be attending the SCO Culture Ministers’ Meeting.

The meeting will showcase India’s initiatives to actively pursue cultural cooperation with other countries including SCO countries.

It will also help to promote cultural relations and people to people contacts with the individual members of this organization through cultural exchange programmes.

India became full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on 9^thJune, 2017 during the SCO Heads of State Summit in Astana, Kazakhstan.

India 3rd largest solar market in world: Mercom

India emerged as the third largest solar market in the world in 2017 behind China and the US, Mercom Communications India said in a report.

As per the report, India set a new record with 9.6 GW of solar installations in 2017, which was more than double the 4.3 GW installed in 2016.

The robust growth boosted the country’s total solar installed capacity to 19.6 GW as of December 2017, it added.

Delhi projected to become world’s most populous city around 2028: UN report

Delhi is projected to become the most populous city in the world around 2028, according to new United Nations estimates, which said India is expected to add the largest number of urban dwellers by 2050.

The 2018 Revision of World Urbanisation Prospects produced by the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) said that 68 per cent of the world population is projected to live in urban areas by 2050.

Currently, 55 per cent of the world’s population lives in urban areas.

NATIONAL

Indore is the cleanest city: cleanliness survey

The Swachh Survekshan 2018 assessed 4203 Urban Local Bodies and was organized by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), under the aegis of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban).

The exercise undertaken between 4^thJanuary 2018 to 10^th March, 2018 enhanced the scope to cover a record number of Urban Local Bodies impacting around 40 crore urban citizens across length and breadth of the country by 2700 assessors.

As compared to 2017 where Swachh Survekshan was conducted in 434 cities, this year the scope was enhanced manifold.

At the national level, the Top 3 cleanest cities are:

Indore

Bhopal

Chandigarh

Jharkhand is the best performing State.

The awardees under various categories (Population above 10 lakh) are:

India’s Cleanest City – Indore (Madhya Pradesh)

India’s ‘Cleanest Big City’: Vijaywada (Andhra Pradesh)

India’s ‘Fastest Mover’ big city: Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh)

India’s Best City in ‘Citizens Feedback’: Kota (Rajasthan)

India’s Best City in ‘Innovation & Best Practices’: Nagpur (Maharashtra)

India’s Best City in ‘Solid Waste Management: Navi Mumbai (Maharashtra)

The awardees under various categories (Population of 3-10 lakh) are:

India’s Cleanest Medium City: Mysuru (Karnataka)

India’s ‘Fastest Mover’ Medium City: Bhivandi (Maharashtra)

India’s Best City in ‘Citizens Feedback’: Parbhani (Maharashtra)

India’s Best City in ‘Innovation & Best Practices’: Aligarh (Uttar Pradesh)

India’s Best City in ‘Solid Waste Management: Mangalore (Karnataka)

India’s Cleanest Small City: Delhi Municipal Council

The awardees under various categories (Population of 1-3 lakh) are:

India’s ‘Fastest Mover’ Small City: Bhusawal (Maharashtra)

India’s Best City in ‘Citizens Feedback’: Giridih (Jharkhand)

India’s Best City in ‘Innovation & Best Practices’: Ambikapur (Jharkhand)

India’s Best City in ‘Solid Waste Management: Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh)

Cleanest State Capital / UT Capital Cities / Uts: Greater Mumbai (Maharashtra)

Fastest Mover State Capital / UT: Jaipur (Rajasthan)

· Centre now aims to harness big data, AI in agricultural sector

The government and private companies alike are taking the first steps to deploy big data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IOT) to gain insights into and offer solutions to problems in India’s agriculture sector.

While many of these privatesector solutions are aimed at agribusinesses and enterprises, the public-sector driven NITI Aayog’s pilot project will aim at improving yields of small landholders.

The project will come up with “climate-aware cognitive farming techniques” and systems of crop monitoring, including early warning on pest attacks and disease outbreaks by harnessing AI, an official said. It also includes deployment of weather advisory, rich satellite and enhanced weather-forecast information along with IT & mobile applications with a focus on improving crop yields and cost savings.

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