RAJASTHAN

Rajasthan Diwas is celebrated in the honour of the day on which the vibrant state of Rajasthan came into existence as it was known as Rajputana earlier.

It may be recalled that Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, the then home minister of India, had played a key role in the merger of the princely states in India. It was on the 30th March 1949 these states merged into India.

Although some princely states merged later with India but the date 30th March is observed as the official date for the formation of the Indian state of Rajasthan.

Over the years, Rajasthan Diwas has started serving as the international platform for the Rajasthani folk artists. By linking the festival to tourism, the celebrations become the occasion for showcasing royal glorious history of the state, beautiful architecture and folk culture of the state to the rest of India and the world.

It is to be noted, that the live web casting of the event was displayed in all district headquarters of Rajasthan on LEDs and the Tourism Department website.

INTERNATIONAL

India has ranked 10th on a new Commonwealth Innovation Index, topped by the UK, Singapore and Canada.

The index was launched as part of a new Commonwealth Innovation Hub on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London.

It has been created in partnership with the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and its annual Global Innovation Index (GII).

NATIONAL

The first regional conference of eastern states on Water Resources was held in Kolkata on April 16 to address the outstanding water issues of these states.

The conference deliberated on finding a solution to mitigate intra and intra-basin issues relating to water resources in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal.

The issue of interlinking of rivers also come-up for discussion at the conference.

East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh is all set to become the country’s first ‘LED street light district’.

The rural LED street lighting programme in the district entailing the installation of around 3.1 lakh LED street lights has been completed.

AP is already ranked the best State in implementation of energy efficiency and conservation programmes by the World Bank.

The Union Government has stated that the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojanaor PMGSY is well on its way to achieving the target by March 2019.
The scheme, since its inception in 2000, has been able to provide connectivity to more than One lakh 50 thousand habitations.
Sensing the importance and urgency of rural roads for national development, the target date for completion of PMGSY-I has been preponed from 2022 to 2019.

· Electric vehicles charging stations need no licence, clarifies Power Ministry

The Power Ministry has categorised charging batteries of electric vehicles as a service, a move which will help such stations operate without licence and encourage the use of e-vehicles.
Transmission, distribution and trading of electricity need licences under the Electricity Act. Therefore, all utilities have to seek licences for sale of power to consumers.
The Ministry said in a clarification that during the charing of e-vehicles, a station does not perform any activity related to the transmission, distribution or trading of electricity.
Hence charging of batteries of electric vehicles through charging station does not any require licence under the provision of the Electricity Act 2003.
In the present scenario, the EVs make economic sense as their per km running cost is less than a rupee, whereas the same cost for petrol and diesel works out to an average of ₹6.50.
The government’s National Electric Mobility Mission Plan launched in 2013 aims at ensuring 6-7 million electric and hybrid vehicles in India by 2020.

The vision enunciated two years ago is for India to have 100% EVs by 2030.

17.04.18 (RPSC) Rajasthan Current Affairs