RAJASTHAN

The state government has reserved 15% MBBS seats in five new medical colleges for NRIs. The decision has been taken to strengthen financial condition of the five new medical colleges, which will be run by Rajasthan Medical Education Society (RMES).

These five new medical colleges will become operational from the upcoming academic session 2018-19. They have got the approval by the Medical Council of India and ministry of health and family welfare recently. The new medical colleges are situated in Pali, Dungarpur, Bharatpur, Churu and Bhilwara.

Each new college will have 100 MBBS seats. Fifteen percent of total seats will be reserved under NRI quota, 15% will be reserved for All India quota, 70% will be state quota (50% of state quota seats will be given on the basis of merit with normal fees, while 50% have been declared as payment seats).

The RMES has also declared that seats remaining vacant in government societies colleges (Jhalawar, RajMES)/ RUHS Medical College after exhausting the NRI students, would be converted into payment seats. And if then payment seats remain vacant, those vacant payment seats would be converted into normal fee seats.

Medical education department officials said that since these colleges are run by societies, they will have to take care of their financial needs and also to generate their own revenue, which is why, 15% of the total seats will remain reserved for NRI quota.

INTERNATIONAL

· US withdraws from United Nations Human Rights Council

The United Stateswithdrew from the United Nations Human Rights Council, accusing it of a “chronic bias against Israel,” a move that activists warned would make advancing human rights globally even more difficult.
The United Nations Human Rights Council consists of 47 member states,with a specific number of seats given to each region of the world.
Members are elected by the U.N. General Assembly for three-yearterms and cannot serve more than two terms in a row.

· India, Russia to hold military exercise Indra 2018 during the second half this year

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezoshas become the richest man in the world with a net wealth of USD 141.9 billion, as per the Forbes World’s Billionaires list.
Bill Gates, the principal founder of Microsoft Corporation, is the second-richest man in the world with USD 92.9 billion.
Warren Buffet ranked third place with a total of wealth of USD 82.2 billion.

4th International Yoga Day is celebrated across the world.
On December 11, the United Nations General Assembly declared June 21as International Day Yoga.
800 differently-abled persons from across the country attempted Guinness World Record in Ahmedabad for ‘Largest Silent Yoga Class’ on International Yoga Day 2018.
The theme for Yoga Day 2018 is “Yoga for Peace.”

NATIONAL

The government is unlikely to sign in near future an international treaty that makes inter-country abduction of children by parents a punishable offence.

Signing the Hague convention on civil aspects of international child abduction would be against the interest of women who flee bad marriages.

There has been a steady rise in parental abductions as more and more Indians go abroad to work or study. Children bear the brunt of parents’ marital disputes and are often forced to return to India by one of the quarrelling parents. In most cases, it is the mother who returns with the child.

The ministry is setting up a panel headed by the chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR). Its members will include a representative of the embassy of the country from where the parent has fled with the child.

Shillong, the capital city of Meghalaya has been selected as 100^thSmart City after evaluating the proposal submitted by it.

Till now, 99 smart cities had been selected in four rounds of competition and with today’s announcement, selection of 100 cities has been completed under the Smart Cities Mission.

Previously, 20 cities were selected in January 2016, 13 cities in May 2016, 27 cities in September 2016, 30 cities in June 2017 and 9 cities in January 2018.

With the selection of Shillong, the total proposed investment in the finally selected 100 cities under the Smart Cities Mission would be Rs.2,05,018 crores.