HIMACHAL PRADESH

Himachal Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said that the Union Ministry of Finance has approved a tourism infrastructure development project of about Rs 1,900 crores to be funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for development of tourism infrastructure in the urban and rural areas of the state.

The Chief Minister said that with the help of this ADB funded project, the state would be able to develop tourism in rural, unexplored areas and improve the infrastructure of the towns and also, generate employment for the local youths and showcase Himachal as the best natural tourist destination state.

The project will focus on diversification of tourism to new and rural areas by developing tourism infrastructure, create livelihood and employment opportunities (in themes like rural, adventure and ecotourism) and application of innovative models like incentive based mechanisms for community based tourism activities, augmentation of services like water supply, sewerage, solid waste, skill development related to tourism sector, advertising and marketing etc.

The project has been designed based on the detailed baseline data, study conducted of 324 sites in 12 districts of the state and suggestions obtained from about 90,000 tourists and designed in line with sustainable tourism guideline for Himalayan states

INTERNATIONAL

· NASA’s unmanned aircraft ‘Ikhana’ will make search and rescue operations efficient

NASA for the first time successfully flown its large remote-piloted Ikhana aircraft in the public airspace without a safety chase aeroplanes, the US space agency.
It is a modified General Atomics Aeronautical Systems’ Predator B unmanned aircraft system being used by NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA, for a variety of environmental science and aeronautical research roles

· India refuses to endorse BRI

India was the only country not to endorse a high-profile Chinese project in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) — the only discordant note in the 17-page joint document released at the end of the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Qingdao.

All remaining seven members of the SCO bloc supported the project that is a part of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India supports connectivity projects that are inclusive, transparent and respect territorial sovereignty. India has long maintained that the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) — a key part of the BRI initiative that passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir — violates its territorial integrity.

The prime minister also floated an overarching concept of security that the SCO could follow, calling it SECURE: S for security for citizens, E for economic development, C for connectivity in the region, U for unity, R for respect of sovereignty, E for environment protection.

NATIONAL

Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhanmet the Ambassadors from OPEC countries and expressed concern about rising crude oil prices and its negative impact on consumers across the world, particularly in India.
At a meeting in New Delhi, Mr Padhan emphasized that global crude prices have gone beyond the threshold which can be sustained by the world. He highlighted that market fundamentals do not support such high prices.
He urged the OPEC Ambassadors to convey the message to their Governments regarding the need to move to responsible pricing. He also urged them to move to transparent and flexible markets for both oil and gas.
India has a strong engagement with the OPEC countries and top 8 suppliers of crude oil to India are OPEC Member countries.
The block accounted for about 83 per cent of country’s total crude oil imports, during the last financial year. Mr Pradhan is scheduled to visit Vienna next week to participate in the 7th OPEC International Seminar to further discuss these key issues.

Inflation based on wholesale prices shot up to a 14-month high of 4.43% in May on increasing prices of petrol and diesel as well as vegetables.
The Wholesale Price Index (WPI)based inflation stood at 3.18%in April and 2.26% in May 2017.
According to government data released, inflation in food articles was at 1.60% in May 2018, as against 0.87% in the preceding month. Inflation in vegetables climbed to 2.51% in May, while in the previous month it was (-)0.89%.
Inflation in ‘fuel and power’ basket rose sharply to 11.22% in May from 7.85% in April as prices of domestic fuel increased in line with rising global crude oil rates.

Union Minister for Water Resources Nitin Gadkari released Niti Aayog’s composite water management indexreport in New Delhi.

Gujarat topped the list while Jharkhand was adjudged as the worst performer. Gujarat is followed by Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

In the northeastern and Himalayan states, Tripura has been adjudged as the top state in 2016-17 followed by Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Assam.

Niti Aayog has ranked the states through first of its kind index on the composite water management, comprising 9 broad sectors with 28 different indicators covering various aspects.

The report predicted that by 2030, the country’s water demand is projected to be twice the available supply, implying severe water scarcity for hundreds of millions of people.

Mr J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare exchanged the MoU with the State Health Ministers of 20 States marking their commitment towards the launch of the Ayushman Bharat – National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM).
Anupriya Patel, Ministers of State for Health and Family Welfare and Amitabh Kant, CEO NITI Aayog were also present at the function.
A web portal for initiating the empanelment of hospitals under the mission was also launched.