1. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch Catch the Rain, the rainwater harvesting campaign
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch Catch the Rain, a rainwater harvesting campaign , through video conference on 22 March on the occasion of World Water Day . Ken-Betwa Liaison Project between the Minister of Water Power and Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh in the presence of the Prime MinisterA Memorandum of Understanding to be executed will also be signed. This will be the first project under the National Plan to connect rivers. Under this project, through the construction of Daudhan Dam and a canal connecting the rivers Ken and Betwa, the water of the river Ken will be diverted to the Betwa River. This will generate 103 MW of hydropower in addition to irrigation of one million 62 thousand hectares of agricultural land and supply of drinking water to about 62 lakh people every year. The project will supply water to Bundelkhand’s water-deficient areas — especially Panna, Tikamgarh, Chhatarpur, Sagar, Damoh, Datia, Vidisha, Shivpuri, Raisen, Banda, Mahoba, Jhansi and Lalitpur. This will also pave the way for other rivers linking projects to overcome the scarcity of water hindering the development of the country. The rainwater harvesting campaign will be carried out in rural and urban areas across the country and its slogan will be – ‘Wherever it falls and whenever it falls, Collect rainwater. ‘ This campaign will be implemented from March 21 to 30 November, during pre-monsoon and monsoon.
- Rajasthan announced the Chief Minister Chiranjeevi Scheme
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot announced on March 18, 2021 that the much-awaited Universal Health Scheme, called ” Mukhyamantri Chiranjeevi Yojana ” , would be launched on May 1, 2021 . The Chief Minister also announced that those who are National Food Security Act (NFSA) or Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC)Registration for those not included in the beneficiary list will start from April 1, 2021. He further announced to increase MLA Local Area Development (MLA LAD) from the current Rs 2.25 crore to Rs 5 crore. This universal health coverage plan was announced on February 24, 2021 in a state budget speech. The government announced the scheme with a budget outlay of Rs 3,500 crore. The Chief Minister has also announced the establishment of nursing colleges at 25 district headquarters. He also informed that public health colleges will also be established in all the seven divisional headquarters.
- Haryana passed a bill to recover damages from protesters
The Haryana Legislative Assembly passed the ” Haryana Recovery of Damages to Property during Disturbance to Public Bill, 2021 ” on March 18, 2021 , under which the protesters recover compensation if they damage property.Will. The bill was passed by voice vote. The bill provides for the recovery of property damage. The bill also includes a provision to constitute a Claims Tribunal to determine liability, assess damages and compensate for damages. The bill is not meant to oppose the democratic right of the people, but is for those who harm public and private property. Uttar Pradesh was the first state to pass a bill for recovery from people who damaged public property during agitations and protests.
- IIT Bombay’s Energy Swaraj Yatra Bus
Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ ‘ Energy Swaraj Yatra’Ride in the bus, which is made by Dr. Chetan Solanki, Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. The “Energy Swaraj Yatra” bus runs on solar energy. It also includes a work-cum-residential unit. Professors have been traveling in this bus since the year 2020 to raise awareness about the use of solar energy. This journey will continue till 2030. While taking the ride, the Education Minister highlighted that, this project is in line with “National Education”. The minister also said that this bus has been designed with the objective of creating a public movement to adopt 100 percent solar energy. This bus allows the occupant to do all the daily activities like bathing, cooking, sleeping, working, meeting and training. This bus is equipped with a 3.2 kW solar panel. It has a capacity of 6 kWh battery storage.
- IRDAI issues guidelines on Arogya Sanjeevani Products
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India – IRDAI) by March 19, 2020 the general and health insurance companies to the standard health insurance product under the range of Rs 10 lakh from Rs 50,000 of the sum insured as mandatory Have asked to offer. Announcement of this step ‘ Arogya Sanjeevani'(Arogya Sanjeevani) was done to increase the coverage available under the product. IRDAI had ordered all general and health insurers to offer a standard individual health insurance product with a maximum insurance amount of up to Rs 5 lakh and a minimum of Rs 1 lakh. This was done to reduce confusion and encourage more people to buy health insurance. Insurers have offered an insurance amount of Rs 50,000 under the ‘Arogya Sanjivani’ product as it has no upper limit due to Kovid-19 cases and rising health care costs. Most insurers were not offering the Arogya Sanjeevani policy above the maximum original limit of Rs 5 lakh. But after this amendment, the insurers will have to offer an amount up to Rs 10 lakh. This amendment will come into effect from May 1, 2021.
- European Union joins India’s CDRI
The European Union consists of 27 members , who are India’s Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.'(CDRI). The EU joined the initiative following the CDRI’s endorsement of the Charter. CDRI is an international coalition of countries, UN agencies, private sectors, multilateral development banks and educational institutions. The initiative aims to promote disaster-resilient infrastructure. The initiative was launched with the objective of promoting research and knowledge sharing in the areas of infrastructure risk management, financing and recovery mechanisms. It also supports sustainable development. The CDRI initiative was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the year 2019. The initiative was launched at the United Nations Climate Change Summit. This initiative focuses on developing disaster-resilience in ecological, social and economic infrastructure. It seeks to achieve substantial changes in policy frameworks of member states.
- UNESCO joins USO India for water conservation program
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for the students water conservation awareness program in USO India and Toonz Media Group has joined in. For the water conservation program, students have created animation videos which will be unveiled on 22 March 2021 on the occasion of World Water Day . It was unveiled by ” H2Ooooh! – Waterwise Program”As part of the program. The event is organized in partnership with National Mission for Clean Ganga, Water Digest magazine, United Schools Organization India (USO India) and Toonz Media Group. H2Ooooh! – Waterwise Program Water conservation program was launched by UNESCO New Delhi in September 2020. This program was started for school children in India. The program encourages school children in the age group of 6-14 years to present story ideas and cartoons in relation to the growing water crisis in India.
- Mobile Seva Appstore – India’s first indigenously developed app store
In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that India has launched its first indigenously developed app store “ Mobile Seva App Store(Mobile Seva Appstore). This app store hosts some 965 live AppCo’s across multiple domains and categories of public services. This Indian App Store will be available for free in the initial stages. The minister further said that, while the government is encouraging private players to host apps, it is also showing interest in developing and strengthening its own mobile app store. This answer was given by the Minister on the question of whether India’s absence of its own digital store and its dependence on external app stores of Google and Apple is creating problems for India’s digital ecosystem or whether the ministry can set up its own digital store Is considering keeping.
- India and Japan agree to cooperate in patent verification
India and Japan have agreed to recognize each other’s offices to collaborate as ” Competent International Search and International Preliminary Examination Authorities (ISA / IPEA) ” for international patent applications . The agreement was signed during the fourth review meeting of the Department of Industry and Internal Trade Promotion (DPIIT) and the Japan Patent Office (JPO) under a memorandum of cooperation on industrial property. The first phase of the meeting was chaired by Guruprasad Mahapatra, who is the secretary of DPIIT, and was represented on behalf of Japan by Toshihide Kasutani, who is the commissioner of the JPO. During this meeting, the first year of the pilot Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) program was reviewed.
- Inauguration of various development projects in Haryana costing Rs 1,411 crore
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal inaugurated various developmental projects worth Rs. One thousand four hundred 11 crore through video conference from Chandigarh . The Chief Minister inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for about one hundred 63 projects related to education, health, sports, roads, water, electricity etc. in 22 districts in the state level virtual program . In these, the foundation stone of 83 projects costing nine hundred and 35 crores was laid and 80 projects worth four hundred and 75 crores were inaugurated.
