UP Government approves ‘bicycle highway’ between Taj and lion safari

Uttar Pradesh Cabinet has given its approval to develop over 197 km long ‘bicycle highway’ from Agra up to the lion safari in Etawah to encourage eco-tourism in vicinity of Taj Mahal.

•  Decision in this regard was taken by State Cabinet meeting presided by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. 
• The bicycle highway will not run along the Agra-Etawah main road but will cover various historical and tourism centres.
•  It will start from eastern gate of the Taj Mahal and will cover other historical areas such as Bateshwarnath Temple, Raja Bhoj ki Haveli, Mela Kothi Jarar, and Naugava ka Quila and other rural areas to reach lion safari in Etawah.

Taj Mahal :

• The Taj Mahal  is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the south bank of the Yamuna river in the Indian city of Agra.
•  It was commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan (reigned 1628–1658), to house the tomb of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal.
•  The tomb is the centrepiece of a 42-acre complex, which includes a mosque and a guest house, and is set in formal gardens bounded on three sides by a crenellated wall.

MP Tourism wins Lonely Planet’s Best Indian Destination for Wildlife Award

The Madhya Pradesh Tourism (MPT) won the Lonely Planet Group’s Best Indian Destination for Wildlife Award. 

• The award was handed over to MPT at a function in Mumbai by actress Amy Jackson. 
• Madhya Pradesh located in Central India has 25 wild life sanctuaries including 9 National Parks. 
• Among them Bandhavgarh, Kanha and Pench are ideal habitat for tigers. 

IDBI Bank opens IFSC Banking Unit at GIFT City

Public sector lender, IDBI Bank announced opening of its IFSC Banking Unit (IBU) at India’s first and only International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) at Gujarat International Finance Tec – City (GIFT) near Gandhinagar.

• The bank informed that it became the first Public Sector bank to start functions in GIFT-IFSC. 
• The IFSC Banking Unit (IBU) allows IDBI Bank to deliver a complete range of products to its clients with foreign currency funding requirements.

Kotak Mahindra Bank opens IFSC banking unit at GIFT City

Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd became the fourth bank to open its IFSC Banking Unit (IBU) at India’s first and only International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) City.

• The private sector banking and financial major offers a range of financial services, including transaction banking.
•  At IBU, the bank expects a balance sheet of $one billion in the next three years.

Andhra Pradesh Harita-Priya Agriculture Project wins 2016 WSIS Prize

Andhra Pradesh Agriculture Project  has won the prestigious World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) 2016 prize in the e-Agriculture category. 

• Harita-Priya (Harmonized Information of Agriculture, Revenue and Irrigation for a Transformation Agenda – Precision Technology for Agriculture) Project is meant to collect very specific climate data from farms and give farmers personalised information through SMS. 

About  Harita-Priya Agriculture Project :

• The Harita-Priya Project uses wireless sensor networks to collect micro-climatic information from farms. 
• The data is used to create advisories and alerts on irrigation schedules and pests and plant diseases.
•  Based on this state agriculture officers disseminate personalised crop advisories in Telugu language to farmers by way of SMS. 
• The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) in Hyderabad has developed the project and is having a pilot run in Anantpur district.
•  Andhra Pradesh government, Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) station and Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University also have partnered for the project.

Gujarat conferred with 'Most Film Friendly State' award

Gujarat has emerged as the "Most Film Friendly State" in the country at 63rd National Film Awards in New Delhi.

• Gujarat tourism was conferred with the national award for "Most Film Friendly State".
• Notably, Gujarat has become the first state ever to have received such an award, which is specially conceived to promote film tourism in States.
• The award was received by Jayesh Radadia, Minister of State for Tourism, Government of Gujarat, from the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee.
• Gujarat tourism is playing the role of a nodal agency to develop film tourism in the state of Gujarat. 

Gujarat :

Capital -Gandhinagar

Districts- 33

Government

 • Governor- Om Prakash Kohli

 • Chief Minister- Anandiben Patel

 • Legislature- Unicameral (182 seats)

 • Parliamentary constituency- 26

1,020 families hit by 1984 riots to be given Rs 2 lakh

As many as 1,020 families, who were hit by the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and migrated to Punjab from different parts of the country, will be given Rs 2 lakh as part of a centrally-sponsored rehabilitation scheme.

• Home Minister Rajnath Singh has approved reopening of the scheme for providing rehabilitation grant of Rs 2 lakh each to 1,020 families who had migrated to Punjab from Delhi and other parts of the country following 1984 riots.

About 1984 anti-Sikh riots :

• The 1984 anti-Sikh riots or the 1984 Sikh Massacre or the 1984 genocide of Sikhs was a series of pogroms directed against Sikhs in India, by anti-Sikh mobs, most notably by members of the Congress party, in response to the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards.
•  Official Indian government reports admit to about 2800 deaths across India, including 2100 in Delhi.
• Other independent sources estimate the number of deaths to be around 8,000.

N Chandrababu Naidu launches Chandranna Bima Yojana

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu launched Chandranna Bima Yojana.

• It is an insurance scheme by the State government for the working class people on the occasion of May Day in Vijayawada.
• Almost 1.5 crore workers in the state would be covered under the scheme by which Rs 5 lakh would be paid if the insured worker met with an accidental death, Rs 5 lakh in case of permanent disability and 3 lakh rupees for partial disability.
• The government officials will conduct enumeration and enroll all the eligible workers under the scheme.
• The government would earmark Rs 132 crore for its implementation.

Andhra Pradesh :

Capital city- Hyderabad (De jure – 02 June 2024), Amaravati (proposed)

Districts -  13

Government

 • Governor- E. S. L. Narasimhan

Former J&K Minister Romesh Sharma passes away

Former Jammu and Kashmir Minister and senior Congress leader Romesh Sharma passed away after a prolonged illness in New Delhi.

•  By profession Mr. Sharma was an Ayurvedic doctor. He was 65.
• He had joined politics in 2000 and won the state Assembly elections in 2002 from Nowshera Constituency.
•  He had served as MoS (Minister of State) Commerce and Industries in late Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed’s led PDP-Congress government in 2002.
•  Later he had served as MoS PHE and Flood Irrigation Control in CM Ghulam Nabi Azad led government till 2008

Maharashtra has launched Adi Praman app for caste validity certificate

Maharashtra Government has launched Adi Praman, a web-based application for state’s tribal population to get the caste validity certificates online.

• It was launched along with portal named etribalvalidity.mahaonline@gov.in by Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao. 
• The application is first of its kind for any state in India. 

About Adi Praman  :

• The tribal people from the state can obtain caste validity certificates online using this application.
•  The validity certificate will be bar-coded with a unique identification number and enable authorities to directly verify the status of validity certificate using the unique barcode number.
•  The web portal will show the real-time status of the applications through email and text messages. 
• The applicants will also be informed on the status of their application through SMS alert and Email. 
• The app will make the entire process of securing caste validity certificate easy, fast and transparent and would effectively curb the menace of bogus certificates.
•  It will also help the state government to achieve the goal of inclusion as envisioned under the Digital India programme.

J&K Govt approves 5% interest subsidy for flood-hit traders

 Jammu and Kashmir government on 27 April 2016 approved five percent interest subvention to flood-hit traders with effect from 1 April 2016.

•  The decision will bring a major relief to September 2014 flood hit traders and business units. 
• The interest subsidy will have a cap of five lakh rupees per unit for a period of four years, that is, up to 31 December 2020. 
• The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in Jammu.

Jammu and Kashmir :

Capital -Jammu (October–March) ,Srinagar (March–October)

Districts-  22

Government-

 • Governor- Narinder Nath Vohra

 • Chief Minister-  Mehbooba Mufti (PDP)

 • Deputy Chief Minister -  Nirmal Kumar Singh (BJP)

 • Legislature -  Bicameral (87 + 36 seats)

 • Parliamentary constituency- Rajya Sabha 4,  Lok Sabha 6

Area rank-  5th

Population  Rank -  19th

EC launches mobile app e-voter for Kerala assembly polls

 The Election Commission of India (ECI) has launched an innovative mobile application titled e-voter with comprehensive details about the forthcoming 2016 Assembly polls in Kerala. 

• The app is envisaged for voters’ facilitation for search in electoral roll, information regarding candidates, location of polling station, affidavit filed by them, filing of complaint and so on.

About e- voter app :

•  The e-voter app was developed by the state IT Mission.
•  It aims at ensuring great transparency and conduct of free and fair elections.
•  The app has ‘know your candidate’ option that would provide constituency wise details of candidates. 
• It has ‘constituency list’ option that would give segment wise details of voters (total number of voters, number of male voters and female voters) and total polling stations. 
• The app will also provide information about previous elections results and names of Chief Ministers.
•  The e-voter app can be downloaded from the Google Play store and can be installed on any android phone

Gujarat announces 10% quota for economically backward in general category

The Gujarat government announced on Friday 10% reservation for the economically backward among upper castes, a move apparently aimed at placating the influential Patidars who launched a violent agitation last year seeking quota benefits.

•  The decision, taken at a meeting of the BJP core committee headed by party president Amit Shah in Gandhinagar, will benefit all upper caste families with annual income less than Rs six lakh.
• A special ordinance will be promulgated earmarking 10% reservation in jobs and education on May 1st.

Gujarat :

• Capital- Gandhinagar

 • Governor- Om Prakash Kohli

 • Chief Minister -Anandiben Patel

 • Legislature -Unicameral (182 seats)

Area rank- 6th

Population Rank-  9th

Operation Sulaimani to eradicate Poverty in Kozhikode District

The “Operation Sulaimani” has been launched by the Kozhikode district Collector with the slogan “Food for the Hungry” to eradicate poverty from the Kozhikode district of Kerala.

•  Its’ an initiative by the district administration in collaboration with the state Hotel and Restaurants Association and numerous non-governmental organisations, to eliminate hunger by providing food free of cost to the needy.

About Operation Sulaimani  :

• Operation Sulaimani is a food programme introduced in the city of Kozhikode, India by the District administration and Kerala Hotel and Restaurants Association and is to enable those who cannot afford a meal to have food with dignity and to avoid food wastage in the city.
• Food coupons will be distributed at local village and taluk offices and at select hostels at railway station bus stand.
•  Then these coupons can be redeemed to have food at hotels who are members of the project Operation Sulaimani was introduced by Prasanth Nair IAS, the District collector of Kozhikode.

National Food Security Act implemented in Manipur

Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh declared that the National Food Security Act has been implemented in the State.

•  Mr. Singh made the announcement at a function organised by the Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution department at Sangaiprou Godown.
• The Act would lay stress on those possessing Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) cards.
•  As per the Act, 11,796 metric tonnes of rice for April was released and one kg of rice would be made available at Rs.3 per kg to the beneficiaries. 
• AAY card holders can avail 35 kg of rice per a month.

National Food Security Act :

• The National Food Security Act, 2013  is an Act of the Parliament of India which aims to provide subsidized food grains to approximately two thirds of India's 1.2 billion people.
•  It was signed into law on 12 September 2013, retroactive to 5 July 2013.
• The National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA 2013) converts into legal entitlements for existing food security programmes of the Government of India.