HIMACHAL PRADESH

Himachal Pradesh first in South East Asia to launch electronic health card.

Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh along with health minister Kaul Singh Thakur launched six new health schemes including electronic health card scheme and a scheme for providing free insulin to diabetic patients below 18 years of age under universal immunisation programme in Shimla. State government claimed that Himachal has become first in South East Asia region to launch the same.
They also launched HP Universal Health Protection Scheme, a health bulletin brochure, a scheme for free treatment of Hemophilic patients and introduction to ‘Measles Rubella’ (MR) campaign. The health card could be downloaded from google app by the name ‘Health Card HP’.

Himachal promoting organic farming in a big way

A Rs 321 crore project is under implementation in Himachal for diversification of agricultural activities under which the farmers are being motivated to adopt organic farming and grow cash crops.

The project, being implemented in five districts of the State, has yielded good results and a large number of farmers have come forward to switch over to organic farming and go for off season cash crops cultivation as the state emerges as a front runner in organic farming.

Nearly 22,000 hectare has been brought under organic farming and 40,000 farmers have got themselves registered under the scheme.

A target of bringing 2,000 hectare of additional land under organic farming has been set while 200 bio villages have already been set up in the state.

The state government has announced first, second and third prizes of Rs 3 lakh, Rs 2 lakh and Rs one lakh respectively for the progressive farmers adopting organic farming.

INTERNATIONAL

· China opens its first overseas Military base in Djibouti

ð China formally launched its first overseas naval facility in Djibouti, an East African nation.

ð Five Chinese formations and Djibouti’s Three Services HonorGuard took part in the launch ceremony on 1 of August 2017.

ð The event marked the 90th anniversary of the Chinese military Services.

ð Djibouti is a tiny East African nation of around 887,000 people, is between Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia.

ð Dijbouti is known as horn of Africa.

· Peter O’Neill re-elected as Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea.

Peter O’Neill has been reappointed as Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea.
The election has been widely criticized because thousands of voters were excluded and there were blazing abuses of the electoral process.
He is the leader of the People’s National Congress and represents the constituency of Ialibu-Pangia.

· World breastfeeding week is observed from August 1st to August 7^th.

World breastfeeding weekis being celebrated from 1st to 7th August every year.
The theme for the year 2017 is “Sustaining Breastfeeding Together”.
It was first celebrated in 1992 by World Alliance for Breastfeeding World Breastfeeding WeekAction (WABA)and is now observed in over 120 countries by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organization (WHO)and their partners including individuals, organizations, and governments.

National

e-RaKAM portal has been launched by Government.

The government launched a portal, e-Rashtriya Kisan Agri Mandi(e-RaKAM), to provide a platform to sell agricultural produce. The portal is a joint initiative by state-run-auctioneer MSTC and Central Warehousing Corporation arm CRWC.

E-RaKAM is a first-of-its-kind initiative that leverages technology to connect farmers of the smallest villages to the biggest markets of the world through internet and e-RaKAM centres.

Under this initiative, e-RaKAM centres are being developed in a phased manner throughout the country to facilitate farmers for online sale of their produce.

Farmers would be paid through e-Payment directly into their bank accounts.

Reliance Jio launches world’s longest 100Gbps submarine-cable-system.

Reliance Jio Infocomm has launched the Asia-Africa-Europe (AAE-1) submarine cable system. It is claimed to be world’s longest 100Gbps technology-based.

Third Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy declared.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced Third Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy Statement for current fiscal.2017-18 on August 2, 2017. This time, RBI has cut the policy repo rate by 25 basis points (bps) to 6 percent.

Repo Rate – 6.00%

Reverse Repo Rate – 5.75%

Marginal Standing Facility Rate – 6.25%

Bank Rate – 6.25%

Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) – 4.00%

Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) – 20.00%

· Union Parliament passes Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Amendment Bill.

The Union Parliament passed the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education(Amendment) Bill, 2017 with Rajya Sabha approving it Lok Sabha
The Bill amends the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE), 2009 by extending the deadline for teachers to acquire the prescribed minimum qualifications for appointment.

· SBI and Samsung collaborate to advance Digital India initiative.

The State Bank of India (SBI)and Samsung India announced the availability of Samsung Pay for higher variants of SBI debit card to advance Digital India.
It is currently available on Samsung smartphones. It enables consumers to make offline payments without the need for a physical Card.
It works on 2.5 million Point of Sale (POS) Card machines across the country through its Magnetic SecureTransmission (MST) technology.

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