Union Government released the Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011 for Rural India
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Union Minister of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Chaudhary Birendra Singh on 3 July 2015 released the provisional data from the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 for Rural India.
The survey was completed in all the 640 districts. It provides very useful data on households regarding various aspects of their socio-economic status– housing, land-holding, educational status, status of women, the differently able, occupation, possession of assets, SC/ST households, incomes, etc.
58 percent school kids in Maharashtra suffer from orthopaedic ailment due to heavy bags: Report
Maharashtra-government-appointed committee submitted its 12-page report to the Bombay High Court on 3 July 2015. The report says that over 58 percent of students below 10 years of age who carries heavy school bags are suffering from orthopaedic ailments in Maharashtra.
The division bench of Justice VM Kanade and Justice Colabawala was informed that the report has been accepted by the Maharashtra Government.After perusing the report, the court observed that children will have to carry trolley bags soon as the backpacks they carry at present are not enough.
The court asked government to inform that by when it is likely to implement the suggestions made by the committee in its report. The state government has been asked to file its reply by 23 July 2015.It also suggested the government to consider directing schools to set up lockers where children can keep their textbooks instead of carrying it daily.
Former Chief Justice of India Y K Sabharwal passed away
Born on 14 January 1942, Justice Sabharwal mainly practised in civil and constitutional cases. He was elevated as an additional judge of the Delhi High Court in 1986 and became its permanent judge in April 1987.He later went on to become the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court in 1999, from where he was elevated as a judge of the apex court in 2000.He was appointed as the CJI in 2005 and retired after a term of 14 months.
Microsoft agreed to set up Digital Village in Maharashtra
Software major Microsoft in first week of July 2015 agreed to develop Smart MIDC (industrial colony) and support Digital Village in Maharashtra. The information was given by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis after his meet with India-born Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in Miscrosoft’s office in Seattle. Fadnavis is on a week-long visit to the US.
Mahindra Defence tied-up with Airbus Helicopters to form a Joint Venture
Mahindra Group subsidiary Mahindra Defence on 3 July 2015 tied-up with European aerospace giant Airbus Helicopters to form a Joint Venture to manufacture defence choppers jointly under the Make in India initiative.
This Joint Venture will act as the prime contractor for India’s military helicopter tenders including the Reconnaissance and Surveillance Helicopter, the Naval Utility Helicopter and the Naval Multirole Helicopter procurement programmes. It will supply the Indian Armed Forces with Made-in-India, state-of-the-art helicopters of high reliability, quality and safety standard based on combat-proven platforms.
This project comes with a condition that the Airbus will transfer related technology only if it is allowed a 51 percent stake, leading to full ownership and control of the joint venture.
Rajasthan to replicate Maharashtra's Jalyukta Shivar Abhiyan
Maharashtra Government’s programme Jalyukta Shivar Abhiyan that was launched with an aim to make Maharashtra a drought-free state by 2019 was in news in first week of July 2015. The Abhiyan came in news as Rajasthan government is planning to replicate the programme in the state.
To learn more about the programme, Rajasthan government has sent a delegation comprised of a minister and senior bureaucrats to Maharashtra. During the visit, the delegation will visit few sites where the project is underway, like villages in Latur and Osmanabad.
Jalyukta Abhiyan is an ambitious program of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis that was launched in March 2015. It aims to make 5000 villages free of water scarcity every year and make Maharashtra a drought-free state by 2019. It involves active participation of the peoples from the villages.
Army launched Operation Shiva to secure Amarnath Yatra
To provide security to those devotees taking part in the 59-day-long annual Amarnath Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir, Indian Army in first week of July 2015 launched Operation Shiva. The Yatra started on 2 July 2015.
The operation was launched on the basis of intelligence report suggesting that a group of 15 terrorists are likely to attempt a strike. The operation will include Rashtriya Rifles unit, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for surveillance of Yatra route and cave shrine, combing of forests located along the Yatra track, Infantry Unit of Army, companies of Paramilitary Forces, CRPF and BSF.
Progress on Sanitation and Drinking Water: 2015 Update and MDG Assessment released
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) on 30 June 2015 released the report titled Progress on Sanitation and Drinking Water: 2015 Update and MDG Assessment. The report has been prepared by WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP).
The report presents the update and assessment of the Goal 7 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) since 1990. The Goal 7 targeted to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. As per the report, 147 countries have met the MDG drinking water target, 77 countries have met both the drinking water and the sanitation target and 95 countries have met the MDG sanitation target.
Although, India has met the MDG target in drinking water but in sanitation it has only made a moderate progress.
Four Indian-Americans honoured with 2015 Great Immigrants: The Pride of America award
Four Indian Americans were on 4 July 2015 honoured with the 2015 Great Immigrants: The Pride of America award by Carnegie Corporation of New York. These Indian-Americans are among 38 individuals that were honoured for having enlightened the society, culture, and economy.
This year marks the 10th annual immigrant recognition that was established by Andrew Carnegie, the man who came to this country as the son of impoverished immigrants and grew up to one of the greatest contributors to American industry and philanthropy.
Indian-American Winners
- Preet Bharara, United States Attorney, Southern District of New York
- Rakesh Khurana, Professor, Dean, Harvard College
- Madhulika Sikka, Vice President, Executive Editor, Mic
- Abraham Verghese, Physician and Writer
Indian-American Professor R. Paul Singh named for GCHERA World Agriculture Prize 2015
Indian American Professor Emeritus R. Paul Singh was named for the GCHERA World Agriculture Prize 2015. GCHERA stands for Global Confederation for Higher Education Associations for Agriculture and Life Sciences.
The award was announced at the annual GCHERA conference, held on 24 June 2015 at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, Jounieh, Lebanon. The award will be officially presented on 20 September 2015 during the GCHERA World Agricultural Prize Award Ceremony that will take place at Nanjing Agricultural University, China.
The award will be given in recognition of Singh’s lifetime contributions to food engineering research, education, development, consulting, and technology transfer.
Commodore C D Balaji (Retd) on 3 July 2015 took charge as the Director of the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and Programme Director of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA). He succeeded P S Subramanyam, Distinguished Scientist, who superannuated on 30 June 2015.
Prior to this appointment, Balaji, an outsatnding scientists, was Project Director of the LCA’s naval version. He was commissioned into the Indian Navy's engineering branch in September 1978 and since then, he has specialised in the Naval Aviation Arm.
World Food Prize 2015 to be conferred on Sir Fazle Hasan Abed of Bangladesh
The World Food Prize Foundation on 1 July 2015 announced to confer the 2015 World Food Prize on Sir Fazle Hasan Abed of Bangladesh. He will be awarded the prize in October 2015 during the Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium at Des Moines in Iowa, the USA.
He was selected for the coveted award by the Selection Committee for the World Food Prize headed by eminent Indian agricultural scientist Prof MS Swaminathan.
Sir Abed has been recognized for his decades of service to human development and through building Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) that operates in 10 countries around the world.
UP Government gave in-principle approval to give ownership rights to lease holder farmers
The Uttar Pradesh Government on 4 July 2015 agreed to give in-principle approval to give ownership rights to aasami pattedar or lease holders of agriculture lands. The decision is expected to benefit lakhs of landless small farmers.
The decision was taken on the basis of recommendations of the Revenue committee that was set up by the government in 2012. However, the decision will benefit only those aasami pattedars who were given the lease before 2000. Further, the ownership rights will remain non-transferable for the next 10 years.
Asaami pattedars are those farmers who were given lease of agriculture land by the zamindars before the Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1951. They also include those farmers to whom some of the gram panchayats gave the land on lease basis for agricultural purposes without entailing any ownership rights.
Union Cabinet approved National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015
The Union Cabinet on 2 July 2015 approved the India’s first integrated National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015. The Policy acknowledges the need for an effective roadmap for promotion of entrepreneurship as the key to a successful skills strategy.
Vision of the National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015
SBI launched Project Tatkal
The country’s largest public sector lender State Bank of India (SBI) on 3 July 2015 launched Project Tatkal, an initiative to provide doorstep services and expedite Home Loan Application (HLA) process. The project will help home loan applicants to get the loan within 10 days after receipt of application form and relevant supporting documents.
The project will be rolled out across all the Home Loan marketing and processing outfits in the Bank in a phased manner. The implementation will be done at large centres with sizeable Home Loan business. Earlier on 28 May 2015, the bank introduced an online customer acquisition solution (OCAS) for instant e-approval of home loan applications.
C D Balaji took charge as Director of the Aeronautical Development Agency
Prior to this appointment, Balaji, an outsatnding scientists, was Project Director of the LCA’s naval version. He was commissioned into the Indian Navy's engineering branch in September 1978 and since then, he has specialised in the Naval Aviation Arm.
World Food Prize 2015 to be conferred on Sir Fazle Hasan Abed of Bangladesh
He was selected for the coveted award by the Selection Committee for the World Food Prize headed by eminent Indian agricultural scientist Prof MS Swaminathan.
Sir Abed has been recognized for his decades of service to human development and through building Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) that operates in 10 countries around the world.
UP Government gave in-principle approval to give ownership rights to lease holder farmers
The Uttar Pradesh Government on 4 July 2015 agreed to give in-principle approval to give ownership rights to aasami pattedar or lease holders of agriculture lands. The decision is expected to benefit lakhs of landless small farmers.
The decision was taken on the basis of recommendations of the Revenue committee that was set up by the government in 2012. However, the decision will benefit only those aasami pattedars who were given the lease before 2000. Further, the ownership rights will remain non-transferable for the next 10 years.
Asaami pattedars are those farmers who were given lease of agriculture land by the zamindars before the Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1951. They also include those farmers to whom some of the gram panchayats gave the land on lease basis for agricultural purposes without entailing any ownership rights.
Union Cabinet approved National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015
The Union Cabinet on 2 July 2015 approved the India’s first integrated National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015. The Policy acknowledges the need for an effective roadmap for promotion of entrepreneurship as the key to a successful skills strategy.
Vision of the National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015
- The Vision of the Policy is to create an ecosystem of empowerment by Skilling on a large Scale at Speed with high Standards.
- It aims to promote a culture of innovation based entrepreneurship which can generate wealth and employment so as to ensure Sustainable livelihoods for all citizens in the country.
- It addresses key obstacles to skilling, including low aspirational value, lack of integration with formal education, lack of focus on outcomes, low quality of training infrastructure and trainers, etc.
- The Policy seeks to align supply and demand for skills by bridging existing skill gaps, promoting industry engagement, operationalising a quality assurance framework, leverage technology and promoting greater opportunities for apprenticeship training.
- Equity is also a focus of the Policy, which targets skilling opportunities for socially/geographically marginalised and disadvantaged groups.
- Skill development and entrepreneurship programmes for women are a specific focus of the Policy.
- In the entrepreneurship domain, the Policy seeks to educate and equip potential entrepreneurs, both within and outside the formal education system.
- It also seeks to connect entrepreneurs to mentors, incubators and credit markets, foster innovation and entrepreneurial culture, improve ease of doing business and promote a focus on social entrepreneurship.
SBI launched Project Tatkal
The country’s largest public sector lender State Bank of India (SBI) on 3 July 2015 launched Project Tatkal, an initiative to provide doorstep services and expedite Home Loan Application (HLA) process. The project will help home loan applicants to get the loan within 10 days after receipt of application form and relevant supporting documents.
The project will be rolled out across all the Home Loan marketing and processing outfits in the Bank in a phased manner. The implementation will be done at large centres with sizeable Home Loan business. Earlier on 28 May 2015, the bank introduced an online customer acquisition solution (OCAS) for instant e-approval of home loan applications.