Indian Railways Constructing World’s Tallest Pier Bridge across River Ijai in Manipur

NATIONAL NEWS

Tribal Affairs Minister launches e-portal on tribal health & nutrition

• Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda has inaugurated 'Swasthya' an e-portal on tribal health and nutrition.
• The launch of the portal is aimed at providing all the health, nutrition related information of the tribal community, and the portal will look after innovative and best practices in meeting with the health of the tribes.
• The portal is a first step towards the much bigger goal of serving the tribal population of the nation.
• The Initiatives of the Ministry are in partnership with Facebook through the Going Online as Leaders (GOAL) Programme.
• Under this programme, the Ministry aims to mentor five thousand tribal youth across India and enable them to become village-level digital young leaders for their communities.

Indian Railways Constructing World’s Tallest Pier Bridge across River Ijai in Manipur

• Indian Railways’ North East Frontier Railway zone is constructing the world’s tallest pier bridge, having height of 141 metres, across river Ijai in Manipur.
• This construction is a part of the 111 kilometre-long Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal line project and the total cost of the bridge is of about Rs 280 Crore.
• The project will be completed by March 2022 after which, the line will help provide railway connectivity from Manipur to the rest of the country.
• The project will have a total of 45 tunnels and tunnel number 12 will have a total length of 10.280 kilometres, making it the longest tunnel in the North East.

Fact: Union Minister of Railways – Piyush Goyal

          Governor of Manipur – Najma Akbar Ali Heptulla

          Chief Minister of Manipur – N. Biren Singh

Ministry of Social Justice& Empowerment Launched ‘Nasha-Mukt Bharat’ Campaign

• The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (SJE) has launched an Anti-drug Campaign called ‘Nasha-Mukt Bharat’ or “Drug-Free India”.
• This 7-month long anti-drug campaign has launched by the State Governments and the 272 District Collectors.
• The financial allocation of Rs. 43 crore in 2017 has been enhanced to Rs. 260 crore in 2020 to curb drug abuse and illicit trafficking.
• The campaign will include awareness generation, focus on schools and colleges, community outreach, focus on treatment facilities at hospitals and capacity-building for service providers.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

UK Launched £3 million Innovation Challenge Fund for India

• United Kingdom (UK) launched a £3 million “Innovation Challenge Fund 2020” in India to support them in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.
• The aim of the Innovation Challenge Fund is also to support the development of the Maharashtra Future Mobility Tech Cluster
• The Fund of £3 million to India is provided to Maharashtra (£1.5 million) & Karnataka (£1.5 million).
• These grants are part of a wider initiative under the tech partnership known as ‘Tech Clusters’.

Fact: Prime Minister of UK – Alexander Boris

Google Partners with CWC of India for Flood Forecasting Initiatives

• Goggle has collaborated with the Central Water Commission (CWC) for the Flood Forecasting Initiatives.
• CWC is the first Governmental organisation that Google is pairing with, to measure water levels on an hourly basis using around 1000 stream gauges across India.
• This initiative will help the Android smartphone users with location services to get alerts on the real time water level measurements.
• Under the flood forecasting initiatives, google has sent out numerous public alerts to people in flood-impacted regions of India.

Fact: Headquarters of CWC – Sewa Bhawan, New Delhi

SPORTS NEWS

AIFF and SAI Jointly Launched “E-pathshala” a Web portal to Promote Football

• All India Football Federation (AIFF) and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) has jointly launched the E-Pathshala, a web platform to recognise creativity of the children and to develop their interest in football.
• E-Pathshala is designed to engage the footballers across the nation and connect them with SAI and AIFF.
• The Platform is an Athlete Coaching Program for footballers at the grassroots and intermediate levels.
• The platform develops the children’s interest through understandable approaches like painting, skills, building blocks and others.

APPOINTMENTS

Rakesh Asthana appointed DG of Border Security Force

• Rakesh Asthana has been appointed as the Director General of Border Security Force, BSF.
• He is an Indian Police Service Officer belonging to 1984 batch of Gujarat cadre.
• Mr Asthana is currently serving as the Director General of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, BCAS.
• He will continue to hold the additional charge of DG, Narcotics Control Bureau.

OBITUARY

Legendary Indian classical vocalist Pandit Jasraj passes away

• Veteran Indian classical vocalist Pandit Jasraj passed away at the age of 90 in his home in New Jersey, USA.
• He belonged to the Mewati gharana, a school of music known for its traditional performances of khayals.
• Pandit Jasraj has also lent vocals to Oscar winning movie 'Life of Pi'.
• He was honoured with Padma Shri in 1975, Padma Bhushan in 1990 and Padma Vibhushan in 2000.
• He was given the Sangeet Natak Academy award in 1987