RAJASTHAN

The state will be one of the centres for the multi-centric cross-sectional study to be conducted in the country to estimate the sero-prevalence of dengue virus infection in India. The study will be conducted by the Centre with the main objective to establish age specific sero-prevalence of dengue virus infection in different geographic regions/states.

The study will enable the government to take a policy decision on introduction of dengue vaccine into the country.

The study will be conducted in five different geographical regions (three States will be selected from each region by simple random sampling) of the country in three different age groups: 5-8 years, 9-17 years & 18-45 years.

In geographic region 1, there is Maharashtra’s National Institute of Virology, Pune, Madhya Pradesh’s National Institute for Research in Tribal Health, Jabalpur and Rajasthan’s Desert Medical Research Centre, Jodhpur.

INTERNATIONAL

· World Health Organisation Certifies Gabon as Polio Free

The World Health Organisation declared Gabon a “polio-free country”, given the lack of new reported or suspected cases in the central African country.
According to a WHO statement obtained, the UN health agency nonetheless recommended taking the necessary steps to continue monitoring for possible signs of the disease.
The Cases of polio have decreased by 99 per cent since 1988, when polio was endemic in 125 countries and 350,000 cases were recorded worldwide.

Gk bit – Gabon

Gabon is a sovereign state on the west coast of Central Africa. It has an area of nearly 270,000 square kilometres (100,000 sq mi) and its population is estimated at 2 million people. Its capital and largest city is Libreville. Since independence from France in 1960, Gabon has had just three presidents. Late President Omar Bongo ruled for more than four decades until his death in 2009.

Gabon is a major oil producer but a third of its population live in poverty, according to the World Bank.

The first ever International Wheelchair Cricket Tournament was organised in Nepal’s Kathmandu.

The tournament has participation of teams from Nepal, India and Bangladesh which is supported by the Sushil Koirala Memorial Foundation and technical assistance from the Kathmandu Cricket Training Center.

India and the Maldives have begun Exercise Ekuverin, their eighth annual joint military training event, in Belagavi.
The exercise will be an opportunity for the two armies to activate the Joint Operations Centre at Belagavi.

NATIONAL

· India reaches 2nd position on horticultural crops, fruits production list leaving others behind

Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh research and development projects in horticulture crops have yielded encouraging results, as a result, the production of horticulture crops have been more than food grains irrespective of adverse climatic conditions.
After China, India is the second largest producer of horticultural crops and fruits.
The Agriculture Minister said more than 9 crore metric ton of fruits on 63 lakhs hectare land were produced during 2015-16. According to an estimate, a production of 30 crore metric ton horticulture crops on 2.5 crore hectare land is expected during 2016-17 in which contribution of fruit is significant. The record achievement includes 42 million ton of fruit production on 65 lakh hectare land. In terms of area in India, the citrus fruits hold second position (10.37 lakh hectare) and third (12 million tonnes) in production.

India’s first Tesla was registered at the Tardeo Regional Transport Office (RTO).
The Model X car, is owned by the business conglomerate Essar’s CEO Prashant Ruia and is reportedly exempted from RTO taxes as it is an electric vehicle.
The SUV (sports utility vehicle) is also the 16th electric vehicle registered in Mumbai during the current financial year.

The Union Cabinet approved new Central Sector Scheme of North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme”(NESIDS) from 2017-18.
The scheme will broadly cover the creation of infrastructure under following sectors (i) Physical infrastructure relating to water supply, power, connectivity and especially the projects promoting tourism.
The Infrastructure of social sectors of education and health.
The Union Cabinet also approved the continuation of existing Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) scheme till March 2020 with funding pattern.

The Union Cabinet gave its approval for continuation of centrally sponsored scheme of National AYUSH Mission (NAM)from April 2017 to March 2020.
The NAM was launched in September 2014. It is being implemented by Ministry of AYUSH with the objective of providing cost-effective universal access to AYUSH Services.
The main aims to address gaps in health services through supporting efforts of State/UTs for providing AYUSH health services and education in country.

The GST Goods and Service Council decided to implement the e-way bill mechanism throughout the country by June 1st after reviewing the readiness of the IT network. Under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, the waybill is replaced by an e-way bill.
It aims at mitigating the problems caused by waybill compliance. E-way bill is an electronic way bill for movement of goods which can be generated on the GSTN portal. The decision was taken in 24th meeting of the GST Council via Video-Conferencing.