JHARKHAND

• Bankers to focus on ‘aspirational’ dists

 

• Majority of districts of Jharkhand figuring in the list of 115 aspirational districts identified all over the country have put the onus on banking fraternity directing their resources towards their development. As many as five schemes have been marked to be taken on priority basis.

 

• The exercise having taken up some time back that included mostly leftwing extremist affected districts besides poorly developed areas, have included 19 from Jharkhand out of 24.

 

• Notably, the State Government has held a series of meetings in recent times with concerned DCs coming from backward districts at the behest of Niti Ayog while Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Jharkhand visit is also likely to take stock of the situation there along with outcomes of the premier developmental schemes.

 

• As per the figures for 2017-18, total advances to the farm sector have been only 48.9% or Rs 3757 crore against the target of Rs 7682.37 crore set. Nevertheless the banks of the State have been able to not only touch the national level bench mark set for credit-deposit ratio, i.e. 60% but for the first time even managed to cross it by 0.31% for the quarter ended on March 31 this year.

 

• SLBC, at the same time, expressed concern on the front of accumulating non-performing assets (NPA). Gross NPA has gone up to Rs 5223.27 crore or 6.10% of total advances against 5.58% one year back on March 31, 2017. Net NPA nonetheless has seen a decline in percentage terms from 3.36% to 2.84% during the same period and has been recorded at Rs 2432.73 crore at present.

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.