HIMACHAL PRADESH

World Bank has approved a development policy loan (DPL)-I of Rs292 crore ($40 million) for the Shimla Water Supply and Sewerage Project.

The loan was sanctioned at a meeting held under the chairmanship of the Director, Economic Affairs, Government of India.

The total amount of the DAP loan to be released for the project is Rs 986 crore ($135 million) which would be released in three phases.

Under the project, Rs 366 crore would be provided for 75 MLD water, besides the rehabilitation of the Gumma and Giri water schemes. An amount of Rs 270 crore had been set aside for the 24×7 water supply scheme with water quality compliance.

An amount of Rs 246 crore would be released for the extension of the sewerage network while Rs 104 crore would be utilised for the rehabilitation and capacity addition of sewerage treatment plants (STPs).

INTERNATIONAL

· India to Top U.S. As 2nd-Largest Carbon Spewer From Power: IEA Report

The International Energy Agencyin its latest report ‘World Energy Outlook’ stated that India will overtake the U.S. to become the world’s second-biggest emitter of carbon dioxide from the power sector before 2030.
Carbon dioxide emissions from India’s power sector are expected to rise to nearly 80% by 2040 as power use almost triples, driven in part by air conditioning.

Even with the Jump in power demand and emissions, India’s per-captia electricity consumption will remain one of the world’s lowest, according to report.

India and southeast Asia combined are the growth centers for coal-fired power, with demand more than doubling over the period to 2040.

Gk bit : IEA (International Energy Agency)

The International Energy Agency (IEA)is a Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental organization established in the framework of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1974 in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis. It includes 30 Member countries and 8 Association countries accounts for almost 75% of global energy consumption and more than half of global energy production.

The IEA acts as a policy adviser to its member states, but also works with non-member countries, especially China, India, and Russia. The Agency’s mandate has broadened to focus on the “3Es” of effectual energy policy: energy security, economic development, and environmental protection.

On the other side, the similar name as above-The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. The IAEA was established as an autonomous organisation on 29 July 1957.

NATIONAL

The National Press Day (NPD) is celebrated every year on November 16 as symbolic of free and responsible press in India.

Recommending the establishment of Press Council in 1956 the Ist Press Commission had concluded that the best way of maintaining professional ethics in journalism would be to bring into existence a body with statutory authority, of people principally connected with industry whose duty it would be to arbitrate.

The PCI was first constituted on 4 July 1966 as an ‘autonomous, statutory, quasi-judicial’ body, and it started functioning from16 November, 1966 with Justice JR Mudholkar, then a Supreme Court Judge, as its chairman.

The 49th International Film Festival of India 2018 will be held in Goa from 20th to 28th November, 2018.

49th edition of the festival will showcase 212 films from over 68 countries which reflects diversity of taste.

International Competition section has 15 films out of which 3 are Indian. Competition section itself represents films produced and co-produced by 22 countries.

NITI Aayog has constituted the ‘Himalayan State Regional Council’ to ensure sustainable development of the Indian Himalayan region.

The Himalayan States Regional Council will be the nodal agency for the Sustainable development in the Himalayan Region which consists of the twelve States namely Jammu &Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, two districts of Assam namely Dima Hasao and KarbiAnglong and Darjeeling and Kalimpong in West Bengal.

Uttar Pradesh Government has approved renaming of Faizabad and Allahabad as Ayodhya and Prayagraj respectively.

Allahabad’s ancient name was ‘Prayag’, but was changed after 16th-century Mughal emperor Akbar built fort near ‘Sangam’, the holy confluence of three rivers viz. Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati. Akbar named the fort and its neighbourhood ‘Ilahabad’. Later, Akbar’s grandson Shah Jahan renamed the entire city as ‘Allahabad’. But the area near the ‘Sangam’, the site of the Kumbh Mela, continues to be known as ‘Prayag’.

Ayodhya has been associated with Lord Ram and is known as his birth place. Ayodhya has been the capital of various dynasties, including the Ikshvaku dynasty of which Lord Ram is a descendent.

· JICA to fund West Bengal power project

The Japan International Cooperation Agency(JICA) is to extend a 5,000-croreloan to a 1,000 MW pumped-storage project in West Bengal. For this plant, the State Cabinet has approved a Rs.6,922-crore cost for the power project.
The project (250MW x4) is coming up in the Ayodhya Hills in the State’s Purulia district. The pumped storage power plant works as a large storage battery which generates power during peak periods and pumps water from a lower dam to an upper dam during low-demand off-peak periods.

The Women and Child Development Ministry announced the government will give employers the salaries forseven of the 26 weeks of maternity leave for women earning more than ₹15,000 a month.
The government will utilise the funds lying in the labour welfare cess to pay the employers.
Maternity leave was extended from 12 to 26 weeks last year.

The WB state Assembly had passed a resolution in July 2018 to change the state’s name to ‘Bangla’ in Bengali, English, and Hindi.
The West Bengal government’s proposal to change the State’s name had been sent to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) for consultation, as the proposed name resembles that of Bangladesh.