JHARKHAND

Chief Minister Raman Singh called for further pushing organic farming practices in the State.
Singh expressed happiness of organic farming acreage going up from 100 acres to 14,000 acres in the State while addressing a two-day national workshop on industrial development using forest produce here.

He said that more and more youth are taking interest in farming and as a result, the State Government had provisioned in the budget to open six new agricultural colleges in the State.

The Chief Minister said that our ancestors had been practicing organic farming and time has come to shun chemical fertilizers and return to organic farming practices.

He also said that farmers’ income can be doubled by promoting cultivation of medicinal plants for which the participation of forest dwellers would be needed.

Singh said that global trade on medicinal plants had been growing at the rate of 20 per cent and Chhattisagrh could be a great partner in the growth of international trade.

Notably, on August 31, 2016, Chief Minister Raman Singh had directed officials to draw an action plan for operating a State-level ‘Food Processing Mission’ in the State.

He said that the State government has made a provision of Rs 12 crore for launching the State-level ‘Food Processing Mission’.

Singh said that the launching of Mission would help farmers get better prices for their farm produce and also open new job avenues for youth in the Food Processing sector.

Officials attending the meeting had stated that Food Processing Sector in Chhattisgarh is being seen as a ‘focus sector’ to ensure industrial diversity.

The Chhattisgarh government will also now promote use of solar photo voltaic power plants in cold storages in a bid to conserve huge quantum of energy consumed by such facilities in the State, officials had stated.

The project is to be implemented by Chhattisgarh Renewable Energy Development Agency (CREDA), officials stated.

The solar power plant having 50 Kw minimum capacity would be installed in a cold storage in the State meant for storing fruits, vegetables and flowers.

The cold storage would also be connected to a ‘remote monitoring’ mechanism and the data would be viewable in a desktop or even smart phones.

INTERNATIONAL

· European Development Bank Approves Indias Membership

India is all set to become the 69th member of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)after shareholders of the international financial institution gave their nod to the country’s candidature.
The formal membership process will now get underway, which includes the purchase of shares by India at an estimated cost of around 1 million euros.
The EBRD’s Board of Governors, which represents all the existing shareholders of the UK-based bank, voted in favor of India’s membership application.

· Forbes Billionaires List 2018: Amazon’s Bezos Richest, Mukesh Ambani Ranked 19

With a fortune worth $110 billion, Amazon founder Jeff Bezosis the world’s richest man and tops a 2018 Forbes Magazine list of billionaires. According to the Forbes, Bezos is the first person to top $100 billion as number one on the Forbes list of the World’s Billionaires.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates is second ($90 billion), investment guru Warren Buffet third ($84 billion), Bernard Arnault and family fourth ($72 billion), and Facebook founder-CEO Mark Zuckerberg fifth ($71 billion). Indian industry titan Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries Limited, is 19th on the list. He’s valued at $40.1 billion.

Out of 133 countries, India is ranked fourth on a global index for its military strength, only the United States, Russia and China are ranked above India on the list, according to the latest report of the Global Firepower index 2017.
Neighbouring Pakistan is ranked 13th. India maintained its position above France in the top five military powers in the world.
The Indian Army is equipped with 4,426 combat tanks, 6,704 armored fighting vehicles, and 7,414 towed artillery guns, as per the list.
The Top 5 countries in the list are-
The USA,

2. Russia,

3. China,

4. India,

5. France.

Iraq overtook Saudi Arabia to become India’s top crude oil supplier by supplying 38.9 million tonnes (MT) crude oil in the current financial year.
It was fifth of India’s oil needs. India is 80% dependent on imports to meet its oil needs. India had imported 184.4 MT of crude oil during April.
Saudi Arabia traditionally has been India’s top oil source but Iraq dethroned it. Saudi Arabia supplied 30.9 MT of crude oil in first 10 months.

NATIONAL

Nagaland Governor PB Acharya appointed Neiphiu Rioas the new Chief Minister of the state.
Rio will replace TR Zeliang. The Governor has received letters of support in favor of Rio from MLAs of BJP, JD (U) and an Independent besides NDPP legislators.
Rio will take the oath of his duties shortly.
The Governor also requested Mr. Rio to prove his majority on the floor of the House on or before 16th of March.

The Government shifted headquarters of Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI)to Ballabhgarh in Faridabad District of Haryana from Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
It was shifted after consultation with AWBI for better coordination between the Environment Ministry and AWBI for carrying out the animal welfare act.
The Rule 3 of the Animal Welfare Board (Administrative) Rules, 1962 mentions that the headquarter of AWBI shall be at New Delhi or at such other places.
AWBI is a statutory advisory body established in 1962 under Section 4 of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.
It frames a range of rules on how animals ought to be humanely treated everywhere. It has also frequently litigated to have stricter laws.

India’s first helicopter taxi service was launched in Bengaluru to fly passengers from Kempegowda International Airport to Electronic City.
The service is expected to reduce the time taken to cover the distance from 2 hours to 15 minutes.
The helicopter will seat up to six people apart from the pilot and the service will cost Rs3,500 plus GST.

A total amount of 5638.87 crorewas sanctioned with the release of Rs. 2148.17 crore since 2014-15 till date under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme of Ministry of Tourism.
Under the Swadesh Darshan scheme, thirteen thematic circuits have been identified for development.
Meanwhile, under the PRASHAD scheme, 23 projects have been sanctioned to 15 States for a total amount of Rs.687.92 crore with the release of Rs.241.28 crore since 2015-16 till date.
The main objective of the ‘National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD)is of holistic development of identified pilgrimage and heritage destination.