HIMACHAL PRADESH

Himachal wants to revisit ‘plastic roads’ project

With the government announcing to buy back plastic at Rs 75 per kg, the disposal, once again, is posing a huge problem to this tourist state, which always faced a losing battle when it came to waste disposal. One of the suggestions by the experts involves revisiting its failed project that used plastic waste to lay roads.
Incidentally, Himachal Pradesh was the first state to use plastic waste to construct roads. Nearly 1,381 quintals of plastic waste was used to lay a 138km stretch in Kangra’s Nupur in 2010 – this solved a huge problem for the administration, which was struggling to deal with plastic waste choking its drains and river bodies. This had also replaced 10% to 15% of bitumen saving approximately Rs 30, 000 to Rs 40, 000 per km at that time.

The project was started during the stint of former chief minister P K Dhumal in 2010. Initially, it was proposed that metal could be used for more than 250km-long roads in six zones of the state.

INTERNATIONAL

· Sri Lanka unveils South Asias tallest tower, funded by China

SriLanka unveiled South Asia’s tallest tower, costing over $100 million, 80% of which has been funded by China under the controversial Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
The 350-metre-tall 17-storey Lotus Tower, located in the heart of Colombo city, comprises a television tower, a hotel, a telecommunications museum, restaurants, auditorium, an observation deck, a shopping mall and a conference centre.
The tower, spread over an area of 30,600 sq. metres constructed at a cost of over $100 million, 80% of which was funded by China, Sri Lankan.

At 17.5 million, Indian diaspora largest in the world: UN report

India is the leading country of origin of international migrants in 2019 with a 17.5 million-strong diaspora.

The International Migrant Stock 2019, a dataset released by the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs provides the latest estimates of the number of international migrants by age, sex and origin for all countries and areas of the world.

The report says that India hosted 5.1 million international migrants in 2019, less than 5.2 million in 2015.

Migrants from Mexico constituted the second-largest diaspora with 11.8 million people followed by China with 10.7 million people.

NATIONAL

· Union Government launches steel import monitoring system

ð The union government launched a steel import monitoring system (SIMS) to provide advance information about steel imports to various stakeholders including producers and importers to have effective policy interventions.

ð The Importers of specified steel products will register in advance on the web portal of SIMS providing the necessary information. The registration will be online and automatic with no human intervention.

ð The importer can apply for registration not earlier than 60th day and not later than 15th day before the expected date of arrival of import consignment. The automatic registration number granted will remain valid for 75 days.
The information about the steel imports provided by importers on the SIMS will be monitored by the Steel Ministry.

· Rajnath Singh becomes first Defence Minister to fly in Tejas fighter aircraft

Union minister Rajnath Singh became the first defence ministerto fly in the indigenously-built light combat aircraft Tejas from the HAL airport in Bengaluru.

The minister flew a sortie in the twin-seater version of Tejas. Rajnath Singh was wearing a G-suite, a white helmet and an oxygen mask.

The Indian Aircraft Flying on Tejas an Indigenous Light Combat Aircraft from Bengaluru HAL Airport was an amazing and exhilarating experience.

Tejas successfully carried out an arrested landing a key performance, demonstrating its ability to land on board an aircraft carrier, making it a major milestone in the development of the naval variant of the fighter jet.

Vinesh Phogat becomes first Indian wrestler to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics

India’s star wrestler Vinesh Phogat qualified for the 2020 Olympics after beating fancied American Sarah Hildebrandt in the World Championships in Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan.

She scored an impressive 8-2 win over the world championship silver medalist to secure her place at the Tokyo Games.

Vinesh will wrestle in the bronze-medal bout against Maria Prevolaraki of Germany later.

· Cabinet approves ordinance to ban e cigarettes

Cabinet has approved the Ordinance to Promulgate the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes (production, manufacture, import, export, transport, sale, distribution, storage, and advertisement), 2019

The Ordinance aims to protect the population, especially the youth and children, from the risk of addiction through E-cigarettes. It is also expected that tobacco use will be reduced as well as disease-related to it.

The ordinance recognizes any manufacturing, production, import/export, transport, sale including an online sale, distribution or advertisement including the online advertisement of e-cigarettes as a cognizable offence.

♦ First offence:
Imprisonment of up to 1 year or fine up to Rs.1 lakh or both.

♦ Subsequent offence:
Imprisonment of up to 3 years and a fine up to Rs.5 lakh.

♦ Storing the electronic-cigarettes will lead to a penalty of imprisonment up to 6 months or fine up to Rs 50,000 or both.

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