RAJASTHAN
- Rajasthan population set for high growth rate on fertility levels
- Sixty to seventy percent of population in the state will come from Rajasthan’s past high fertility levels till 2026. The rest of 30-40% will grow due to the still higher Total Fertility Rate (TFR) in the state which stands at 2.4 as against the national TFR of 2.2.
- Rajasthan is facing dual challenges – reducing existing high TFR (average number of children expected to be born per woman during her reproductive years) and coping with the ‘population momentum’. The state is emphasising on control-focused policies and programmes, but it is high time to lay equal focus on momentum-focused policies and programmes as 60 to 70% of population in the state is growing due to momentum achieved from high fertility levels in the past.
- At the beginning of the past decade, a family had 3.2 children on an average, but now it has 2.4 in the state. The state is quite close to achieving replacement fertility, which is 2.1 children per woman.
- Rajasthan becomes First State to fix minimum education qualification for cooperative body poll.
- Rajasthan has become the first State in the country to lay down the minimum educational qualifications for contesting elections to village cooperative societies and various other cooperative bodies. In this regard, state government has amended State Cooperative Societies Rules, 2003. The new rules would benefit about 10,000 cooperative and agricultural credit societies.
- The minimum educational qualification will be compulsory for the members of the Directorate of Board of the cooperatives to ensure the management is assigned to skilled hands. The required educational qualifications will range from Class V to Class VIII for election as members of governing boards of various cooperative societies.
The minimum qualifications for the primary committee members will be class VIII, for district-level committees, it will be class X and graduation for the state level committee.
INTERNATIONAL
- NASA Jupiter Probe to Fly Over Great Red Spot.
- NASA’s Juno spacecraft is about to get the best-ever look at Jupiter’s famous Great Red Spot. Jupiter’s mysterious Great Red Spot is probably the best-known feature of Jupiter.
- It became first space probe to complete flyby of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot.
- The Great Red Spot on Jupiter is a massive storm (cyclone) measuring about 16,000 km in diameter. It is largest known storm in the solar system.
Gk byte – Juno Space craft
- NASA had launched unmanned spacecraft Juno on August 5, 2011 from Cape Canaveral, Florida as part of its New Frontiers program. It has been orbiting Jupiter, solar system’s largest planet from July 2016. The spacecraft has been named from Greco-Roman mythology. It is orbiting Jupiter from pole to pole, 5,000 kilometers above planet’s cloud tops. It has mission life istill February 2018.
NATIONAL
- Tax department launches ‘Aaykar Setu’ for taxpayers
- The Income Tax Department has introduced a mobile app, named ‘Aaykar Setu’ which aims to facilitate taxpayers with solutions to a range of tax-related issues. The app which was formally launched by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, will also let people link their PAN with the 12-digit unique identification number, Aadhaar.
- The app is currently available on the Android platform but the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) plans to make it available as a desktop service as well.
- It provides ease of use of all the services related to tax payment including tax payment, tax calculation. Also if a taxpayer has a problem, this app will help in lodging his grievance in the e-Nivaran module of the CBDT.
- The app will also have a section as ‘tax gyaan’ which will be a multiple choice question web-based game to provide knowledge to the youth accessible from mobile as well as desktop.
- National Green Tribunal bans use of nylon and synthetic manja.
- NGT imposed a ban on nylon and synthetic ‘manja’ the string used to fly kites as it poses a threat to the lives of birds, animals and humans.
- State governments have been directed to prohibit the “manufacture, sale, storage, purchase and use” of synthetic ‘manja’ or nylon threads and all other synthetic threads used for flying kites.
- The NGT passed the order after People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) moved it for a nationwide ban on all forms of sharp kite-flying strings called
- Ravi Shastri appointed new head coach and Zaheer Khan bowling coach
- Ravi Shastri to become Indian cricket team’s new head coach where the appointment was confirmed by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
- He was chosen by the BCCI’s Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) that includes former captains Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and veteran batting star VVS Laxman.
- Zaheer Khan is appointed as the Bowling coach of Indian Cricket Team and Rahul Dravid is appointed as Batting Coach (Overseas).
- Odisha to set up International Standard Sports City
- Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced to set up an International Standard Sports City
- Kalinga International Sports City will be set up in Bhubaneswar and will be eligible to bid for most international competitions including Commonwealth and Asian games.
- The state government also signed an expression of interest with the International Association of Athletics Federation(IAAF) and the Athletics Federation of India for setting up of a high-performance academy inside the Kalinga Stadium.