MAHARASHTRA
- Safety and Health inaugurated in Mumbai, Maharashtra
International Vision Zero Conference’ was inaugurated in Mumbai, Maharashtra to promote occupational safety and health.
The Conference was organized by Directorate General Factory Advice and Labour Institutes (DGFASLI), Ministry of Labour and Employment, German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV), Germany along with Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and International Social Security Association – Manufacturing, Construction and Mining. It was inaugurated by Shri Heeralal Samariya, Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment.
Vision Zero’ is based on four principles:
INTERNATIONAL
- Month-long ‘Festival of India’ begins in Kathmandu
- In Nepal, a month-long ‘Festival of India’ began in Kathmandu to familiarise the new generation of the country about the similarities between the two countries.
- It is being held in Kathmandu and other major cities of Nepal from February 19th to March 21st.
- The festival, organised by the Indian Embassy and Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre.
· Aussie rodent becomes world’s 1st mammal to go extinct due to climate change
- Australia officially
declared a Great Barrier Reef rodent extinct, making it
the first mammal believed to have been killed off by human-induced climate
change.
- The small brown rat has not been seen since 2009.
- It was found only on a small sand island near the coast of Papua
New Guinea.
- According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Australia has the third highest extinction rate of all nations, surpassed by only French Polynesia and the Republic of Mauritius.
NATIONAL
- Home Ministry orders pan-India survey to assess impact of police services
- Ministry of Home Affairs has commissioned the Bureau of Police Research and Development to conduct a pan-India survey called, All India Citizens Survey of Police Services.
- The survey will be conducted through the National Council of Applied Economic Research, New Delhi.
- The aim is to understand public perceptions about Police, gauge the level of non-reporting of crimes or incidents to Police, timeliness and quality of police response and action.
- The survey commencing next month will cover a representative sample of 1.2 lakh households spread over 173 districts across the country.
· MHA granted power to arrest anyone to Assam Rifles in the Northeast
- Assam Rifles, deployed along the Myanmar border, has been empowered by the Ministry of
Home Affairs (MHA) to arrest anyone and search a place
without a warrant in the border districts of Assam,
Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, and Mizoram.
- The Assam Rifles has been given these powers under the Code
of Criminal Procedure.
- Earlier, Assam Rifles was making arrests only in areas where the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act was in effect. Since, they were finding it difficult to make seizures and arrest in Mizoram, which doesn’t have AFSPA. The MHA had lifted AFSPA from some areas of Arunachal Pradesh in 2018.
· NARI decided to drop focus on AIDS and undergo change name
- The National Aids Research Institute (NARI) decided
to drop its focus on research into the Acquired Immuno-deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
and to undergo a name change in the coming months.
- It will no longer serve as a single disease centre, after
observing a major drop in a number of
- It will address other areas of public health too and apply the same knowledge and expertise to other fields of public health as well.
- PM Modi approves KUSUM scheme
- The government approved the launch of the Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (KUSUM) with a central aid of Rs 34,000 crore.
- The scheme will provide financial and water security to farmers through harnessing solar energy capacities of 25.75 gigawatts (GW) by 2022.
- The scheme will have a substantial environmental impact in terms of savings of CO2 emissions.
- The proposed scheme consists of three components :
- 10,000 megawatts (MW) of decentralised ground mounted grid-connected renewable power plants (Component-A)
- Installation of 17.50 lakh standalone solar powered agriculture pumps (Component-B).
- Solarisation of 10 lakh grid-connected solar powered agriculture pumps (Component-C).
· Supreme Court exempted Saridon from list of Banned Drugs
- Piramal Enterprises Ltd’s (PEL) pain relief tablet
brand Saridon has
been exempted from the list of banned fixed dose combinations (FDCs)
by the Supreme Court.
- In September 2018, the government had banned 328 FDCs, which were termed ‘irrational’ on the basis of safety issues and lack of therapeutic justification.
Life is non-negotiable.
Humans are fallible.
Limits of tolerance defined by physical resistance of humans.
People are entitled to safe transport and safe workplaces.
GOA
- Archives & archaeology depts to part ways
- The twin departments
of archives — the oldest archives in the country at 423 years — and
archaeology have now become separate entities, with bifurcation of their
mandate of conservation of records and monuments in final stages of completion.
The Goa cabinet had approved a decision to carve out two departments in July 2017. Both have a chequered history of neglect and decay, as heritage lovers have often bemoaned the indifference of ministers and chief ministers, who held the portfolio in the past.
- Department of archaeology, as it will called now, will continue its mandate of conservation, maintenance, restoration, documentation and grading of protected monuments and sites, among other tasks. Its twin, department of archives has been tasked with “acquisition of records of historical importance, scrutinising public records and documents of historical significance and enduring value for acquisition.
- This (bifurcation) is a good development and now it should seriously consider getting more manpower and focus on all aspects of conservation and updating the list.
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