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UP Govt presents Budget 2020

UP CM Yogi Adityanath with state Finance Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna while presenting the budget.

Noida (NVI): The Uttar Pradesh government today tabled its fourth budget for the upcoming financial year 2020-21.

UP Finance Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna presented the Rs 5,12,860.72 crore budget in the state assembly that focussed on infrastructure boost to Ayodhya, emphasis on metro networks and airports.

In the budget, the Yogi Adityanath-led government earmarked Rs 500 crore for Ayodhya Airport. An estimated Rs 92.5 crore has also been allocated for airports under the Regional Connectivity Scheme.

The budget, which is Rs 33,159 crore more than the last year’s budget, has provisions worth Rs 10,967.87 crore for new schemes.

Under the budgetary goals, the state finance minister has also fixed a target to build four lakh houses for weaker sections by March 2021.

Matribhasha Diwas to be celebrated on Feb 21

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New Delhi (NVI): The 20th International Mother Language Day will be observed on February 21, 2020 as the UNESCO-recognised event seeks to celebrate the linguistic diversity in the world.

The Indian government will also be celebrating ‘Matribhasha Diwas’ across the country. Vice President Venkaiah Naidu will be the chief guest at the main event to be organised in Delhi by the Human Resource and Development Ministry (MHRD). The theme of the event is ‘Celebrating our Multilingual Heritage’ reflecting the spirit of Ek Bharat Shreshth Bharat.

Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal will be the Guest of Honour on the occasion. MoS, Ministry of Culture and Tourism Prahlad Singh Patel and MoS, HRD Sanjay Dhotre will also grace the occasion.

MHRD along with educational institutions and language institutions is celebrating the Matribhasha Diwas for the past three years.

This year also the educational institutions will organize various activities like elocution, debating, singing and essay writing competitions etc as well as events exploring the cognitive, economic, social and cultural activities of multilingual society. Exhibitions depicting linguistic and diverse wealth of India in at least two languages will also be organised.

‘International Mother Language Day’ was conceptualised and approved in 1999, the event was a result of an initiative by Bangladesh to celebrate the many languages and cultures found around the world.

Yet, due to globalisation processes, they are increasingly under threat, or disappearing altogether. UNESCO believes that when languages fade, so does the world’s rich tapestry of cultural diversity.

Piyush Goyal shares video, warns people against doing stunts on trains

Screen grabs from the TikTok video.

New Delhi (NVI): Railway Minister Piyush Goyal today shared a train stunt video gone horribly wrong and warned people against indulging in such dangerous behaviour.

In an undated TikTok video shared by the Railway minister, a man is seen holding to the handrails of a coach while dangling outside. In a matter of seconds, he loses balance and falls off the train. However, he doesn’t come under the wheels of the train as it speeds past him.

Sharing the video on Twitter, Goyal criticised the stunt as a foolish act. Performing stunts on a moving train isn’t a sign of bravery, but stupidity, he said.

Twitterati also reacted to the post by the Rail Minister, criticising the man for the irresponsible act.

Coronavirus: Pharma industry assures govt of enough drugs, medicines

New Delhi (NVI): Amid rising concerns over shortages of medication in India due to coronavirus outbreak in China, the pharma industry has assured the government that they have enough drugs and medicines to deal with any contingency arising out of the impact of the virus.

In the fifth Task Force meeting on API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients) held here yesterday, several important issues were discussed regarding policy relaxations to small, medium, and large API units, and also simplification of the process for environment clearance for production and availability of medicines.

The Government of India has constituted a Task Force on Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) under the chairmanship of, MoS Mansukh Mandaviya to formulate a road map for the enhanced production of APIs in the country, the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers said in a statement yesterday.

The 5th meeting of the Task Force was called by the Ministry where Mansukh Mandaviya took stock of the situation of availability of drugs and medicines.

The Industry representatives explained thoroughly to Mansukh Mandaviya that they have enough drugs and medicines to deal with any contingency arising out of impact of CoronaVirus. They ensured that there will be no shortage of any Drugs, APIs and Medicines in the coming days in India.

In the meeting, the challenges faced by the Pharmaceutical Industry in obtaining Environment Clearance were also discussed. The delegate of Ministry of Environment and Forest, Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has expressed that steps are being taken to expedite Environment Clearances and furthermore referenced that recently MoEF&CC has modified the guidelines so that there is no need to obtain separate Environment Clearance if the production of the Pharma unit is expanded by half.

Delhi CM calls meeting tomorrow

New Delhi (NVI): Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has called a meeting with top official tomorrow to discuss the implementation of “ten guarantees”, his party had promised before the recently held Assembly polls.

These include uninterrupted power supply, garbage-free Delhi, basic facilities for unauthorised colonies, potable piped water supply, education for every child, free bus ride scheme for different sections of society, healthcare facilities, safety of women and cleaning of Yamuna.

This will be the first meeting of Kejriwal with top officers of various department after taking his oath for a third time as Delhi Chief Minister, on Sunday.

Yesterday, Delhi cabinet ministers after taking the charge of their respective offices, said they would work to fulfil promises made in the “guarantee card” which includes reduction in pollution and expansion of metro network.

In the recently held assembly polls, the party recorded a massive victory winning 62 of the 70 seats while BJP bagged the remaining eight seats. The Congress was not able to win a single seat for a second consecutive time.

IDSA renamed after Manohar Parrikar

New Delhi (NVI): Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), the country’s defence think tank, will be renamed as ‘Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses’.

The government has taken the decision to honour late Manohar Parrikar, the former defence minister was also awarded Padma Bhushan.

“An epitome of integrity and dedication in public life, throughout his career, late Manohar Parrikar showed a tremendous fighting spirit, taking on the odds with fearlessness,” the Ministry of Defence said in a statement today.

He served as defence minister from November 9, 2014 to March 14, 2017 and steered the ministry through the tough challenges of attacks like Pathankot and Uri and responded to these with exemplary boldness.

Currently, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh chairs the executive committee of the institute’s society.

The Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) is a non-partisan, autonomous body dedicated to objective research and policy-relevant studies on all aspects of defence and security. Its mission is to promote national and international security through the generation and dissemination of knowledge on defence and security-related issues.

IDSA was established as a registered society in New Delhi in 1965. The think tank offers advanced research in international relations, especially strategic and security issues, and providing training to civilian and military officers of the Indian government.

Indian Delegation to promote Ease of Filming in India at Berlinale 2020

New Delhi (NVI): The 70th Berlin International Film Festival, to be held from February 20 to March 1 in Berlin, Germany, will see an Indian Pavilion this time, which will provide a platform to popularise Indian cinema in the overseas market and facilitate new business opportunities.

External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar will inaugurate the Indian Pavilion at Berlinale 2020. The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India, is also participating at the film festival, in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

This year in Berlin, three Indian feature films, as well as one short documentary film, have been selected, namely Pushpendra Singh’s Laipla Aur Satt Geet, Prateek Vats’ Eeb Allay Ooo!, Akhsay Indikar’s “Sthalpuran” and Ekta Mittal’s short documentary “Gumnaam Din”.

An official statement by the I&B Ministry today said: “India seeks to promote its films across linguistic, cultural and regional diversity and establish multiple international collaborations in the space of distribution, production, filming in India, and script development technology through its participation at Berlinale 2020.”

The Indian delegation, through various interactions, seeks to promote the ease of shooting films in India through Film Facilitation Office, that facilitates Single Window Clearance for filmmakers and provides the platform for ‘Cinematic Tourism’ in India. The delegation will exhibit India as a post-production hub and promote collaborations for films with international production houses, the statement added.

The government delegation to Berlinale will facilitate international participation for the 51st edition of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2020, Goa. IFFI aims at providing a common platform to the cinemas across the world to project the excellence of the art of film making.

The delegation has meetings scheduled with officials from various countries across the globe. The delegation will meet with officials from Locarno Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, Raindance Film Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival, Annecy International Animation Festival, among others.

India enjoys comparative advantage in several aspects of the filmmaking process, the ministry statement read. It has a strong domestic film industry across the country and is home to world-class technicians to shoot any type of film, it added.

India’s vibrant media and entertainment (M&E) industry provide attractive growth opportunities for global corporations. With over 1,800 feature films produced in the country, more than 900 television channels, 500 million internet users, 500 million smartphone users, the ministry said.

India modifies travel advisory for Iraq

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New Delhi (NVI): India today modified its last month’s advisory for its citizens to travel to Iraq, saying they can now consider going to the country, except for five provinces where “unsafe security situation” prevails.

The advisory issued by the Ministry of External Affairs said Indian nationals can now travel to Iraq, except five Provinces, namely Nineveh(Capital Mosul); Salahuddin (Capital Tikrit); Diyala (Capital Baquba); Anbar (Capital Ramadi) and Kirkuk, due to the prevailing unsafe security situation

The Indians wishing to travel for employment and already having work permits and appropriate visas may return to their jobs in the safe areas in Iraq other than those listed as unsafe areas, and inform the Embassy in Baghdad or Consulate General of India in Erbil prior to travelling to Iraq, it said.

Those Indian nationals wishing to travel for religious purposes, and having appropriate visa and return air-ticket, may also travel for pilgrimage to the holy places of Najaf and Karbala, the advisory said.

It advised the Indian nationals not to extend their religious pilgrimage to the neighbouring Syria and not travel by road from Iraq to Syria or vice-versa.

Earlier, in the wake of rising military tensions between Iran and the US and the missile attacks by Iran at US bases in Iraq, the Indian government had issued an advisory on January 8, cautioning Indian nationals to avoid all non-essential travel to and within Iraq, until further notification.

Efforts to increase milk productivity through genetic improvement

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New Delhi (NVI): The Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying is working towards increasing milk productivity through genetic improvement and reduction of input cost.

In this direction, a programme has been launched recently for improvement of milk quality by providing required testing facilities at the village and dairy plant level for safe human consumption.

The Animal Husbandry department, which is continuously working towards this direction, has proposed to further intensify the Quality Milk Programme for both cooperative and private sector with fund sharing basis.

Milk production in India has gone up by 6.4 per cent in the past 5 years. It increased from  146.3 million MT in 2014-15 to 187.7 million MT in 2018-19, the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying said in a statement today.

About 54% of milk produced is marketable surplus and remaining 46% is retained in villages for local consumption. Out of the marketable surplus available with farmers only 36% is handled by organised sectors evenly shared by cooperative and private sector. The ministry has said that is a need to bring the remaining 64% surplus milk under the organized fold through various interventions.

During last 2 years milk procurement is also growing by about 9% in Cooperative sector, the ministry said.

With a thrust on better productivity, reduced input cost and better quality milk and milk product, the competitiveness and profitability in the dairy sector will get enhanced leading to increased demand of dairy products in domestic and international market.

This would also bring private investments in the sector to boost growth in rural income and also employment, the ministry added.

To achieve the target, public investment to further incentivise private investments would be facilitated for increasing processing facilities through convergence and leveraging the schemes of various departments and ministries.

Kala Kumbh exhibitions to promote GI crafts

New Delhi (NVI): In a bid to promote Geographical Indication (GI) crafts and heritage of India, the Ministry of Textiles is organising Kala Kumbh Handicrafts Thematic Exhibition in various parts of the country.

The exhibitions started on February 14 and will continue till Feb 23 at Bengaluru and Mumbai. They will also be organized in Kolkata and Chennai in March.

The exhibitions have been organised by the ministry through the Office of Development Commissioner (Handicrafts) and sponsored by the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH).

The GI tag is used on handicrafts which correspond to a specific geographical location or origin (e.g., a town, region, or country). As on August 2019, 178 GI handicraft products were registered from all over India.

The artisans are the backbone of Indian handicraft sector and possess inherent skill, technical and traditional craftsmanship.

During the 10 day exhibitions, the visitors will be able to see a wide variety of handicrafts with their friends and family and by buying these handicrafts they can directly contribute in the improvement of the livelihood of these artisans and also create awareness of the rich heritage of the country, the Ministry of Textiles said in a statement today.

In Bengaluru exhibition, GI crafts like Mysore rosewood inlay, Channapatna lacquerware, Dharwad kasuti embroidery, Kolhapur chappal, Bidriware, Molakalmur handblock printing, Ananthapur leather puppet, Thrissur screwpine, Vishakapatna lacquerware, Sandur lambani embroidery, Jodhpur terracota, Jaipur handprinted textile, bronze casting, Medinipur mat weaving, Birbhum artistic leather and Khurdah palm leaf engraving are being displayed.

In Mumbai exhibition GI crafts like Chittoor kalamkari painting, Thrissur screwpine crafts, Pokharan terracotta crafts, Kutch embroidery & crochet crafts, Pingla patachitra, Birbhum kantha embroidery, Jajpur photachitra painting, Madhubani Mithila painting, Kolhapur chappal, Palghar Worli painting, Kondagaon wrought iron craft, Agate stone crafts and Krishna handblock printing are being displayed.

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