current affairs : 17-apr-15

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CURRENT AFFAIRS : 17-APR-15


DONER MINISTRY WINS WEB RATNA AWARD 2014 • The Union Ministry for Development of North East Region (DoNER) headed

by its Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh, has received the Union Ministry of Information Technology (IT) Award for outstanding Website content.

• The Award titled “Web Ratna Award 2014” under the category of outstanding content was conferred here in recognition of the exemplary efforts made by the DoNER Ministry for promoting e-governance initiatives

• The website http://doner.gov.in created by the Ministry of DoNER is meant to serve as a portal on Northeast, providing information about every sector pertaining to the region as well as the current status of various projects related to tourism, flora fauna, educational institutions, universities, media and communications.

• In addition, it also provides information regarding demographic profile of the various States of Northeast, the socio-economic parameters and the projects undertaken directly by the DoNER Ministry or through North East Council (NEC).

http://doner.gov.in/


ONLINE SUBMISSION AND MONITORING OF WILDLIFE CLEARANCE OPERATIONALISED • A web-based portal named “Online Submission & Monitoring of Environmental, Forests

and Wildlife Clearance” (OSMEFWC) has been made operational. The portal is accessible at URL – http://efclearance.nic.in.

• The portal is a single window interface provided to the user agencies for the submission of proposals for Environment, Forest and Wildlife Clearances and facilitates management in effective monitoring.

• It automates the entire tracking of proposals, including online submission of a new proposal, editing/updating the details of proposals and displays the status of the proposals at each stage of the workflow.

• The main objectives of the system include enhancing efficiency, transparency and accountability, besides education in turnaround time for activity and enhancing ease and convenience of the citizens.

• The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change had initiated an online system for submission and monitoring of Environmental and Forest Clearances under the provisions of Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. This had helped in bringing more transparency and accountability.

http://efclearance.nic.in/


INDIA & CANADA COLLABORATE TO FUND HEALTH INNOVATIONS • The Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology,

Government of India along with Grand Challenges Canada, funded by the Government of Canada, will partner an investment of $ 2.5 million in health innovations in India.

• The innovations will be focusing on maternal, new born and child health and Visceral Leishmaniasis elimination.

• While maternal, newborn and child health is a major challenge for the Government of India and Canada’s flagship development priority, India is one of the six countries that bear 90% of the global burden of Visceral Leishmaniasis.

• This was stated in the Joint statement issued by the two sides on the occasion of meetings of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi with the Canadian Prime Minister Shri Stephan Harper


KOCHI METRO, AXIS BANK INK DEAL FOR AUTOMATIC FARE COLLECTION SYSTEM• Kochi Metro Rail Limited, KMRL will introduce special debit card along with

the Automated Fare Collection, AFC System of the proposed Kochi Metro.

• According to KMRL, the major deal for introducing world class AFC along with Kochi Metro was concluded and an amount of Rs. 209 crores will be earned by KMRL as royalty from Axis Bank for introducing this system.

• As per the deal, the bank will be responsible for commissioning and maintaining AFC system in all metro stations. KMRL authorities pointed out that this system is expected to change the global funding methods of AFCs for Metros.

• An electronic card will be introduced for fare collection in the Metro. This card will function as the entry ticket for Metro and at the same time, it could be used as a debit card for shopping and online purchases. As this card may be linked with any bank, the users are free to use it without opening any new bank account. The KMRL will also get 20 per cent of the revenue from the use of this debit card on shops.


TERI INKS PACT WITH GLOBAL RESEARCH BODIES ON CLIMATE CHANGE

• Environment research body TERI today said it has signed an agreement with two global research institutes – FNI and NTASAVE-CARIBSAVE Group – for exchange of knowledge and cooperation on issues related to climate change.

• The three institutes will work together to promote research and development, including policy analysis in the areas of green growth, climate change, sustainable energy, natural resource management, capacity building and knowledge exchange, it said.

current affairs : 17-apr-15

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