Junior Digest

BHOPAL/ NEW DELHI,Jan 28,2023: At least one pilot has been feared dead and two others were injured after two fighter jets of the Indian Air Force (IAF) – Sukhoi Su-30 MKI and Mirage-2000 – crashed in the jungles of Madhya Pradesh’s Morena district on Saturday.
The IAF said the jets were on a routine operational flying training mission at the time of the accident.
Officials said the two pilots of the Sukhoi-30MKI aircraft ejected safely while the pilot of the Mirage-2000 lost his life. An IAF helicopter was flown to the crash site to rush the injured pilots for medical treatment.
The Mirage-2000 aircraft had plunged into the rocky jungles of Pahargarh (80 kilometres from Morena). The debris of the Sukhoi aircraft was scattered along the jungles in the neighbouring state of Rajasthan.
Both the fighter jets had taken off from the Gwalior Airbase and were possibly on their way back when the tragic accident happened.
Meanwhile, the IAF has ordered an inquiry to determine the cause of the accident.

Defence Ministry sources told , “Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has been briefed by the Chief of Air Staff on the crash of the two IAF aircraft. The defence minister has enquired about the well-being of the IAF pilots and is monitoring the developments closely.”

Jan 03,2022: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the Siyom bridge in Arunachal Pradesh. The 100-metre long, steel arch bridge is built over the river Siyom. The bridge on the Along-Yingkiong Road is constructed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) under the project Brahmank. The bridge gives Indian military strategic advantage in deploying troops to the far-flung areas of the Line of Actual control faster. It provides connectivity to nearby villages which helps improving their access to markets and amenities.
Siyom Bridge, a 100-metre-long bridge with a ‘Class 70’ steel arch superstructure constructed along the Along-Yinkiong Road. The bridge also has military significance given it will enable faster movement of the troops as well as heavy machinery including weapons such as howitzers and mechanized vehicles, thus facilitating movement to forward areas of the Upper Siang district, Tuting and Yingkiong regions, along the Line of Actual Control with China.

The minister also kicked off 27 more projects of the BRO, virtually. Along with this, he also released the BRO Vision and New Tech Handbook. Not only this, but he also interacted with the locals of the state.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday inaugurated the Siyom Bridge in Arunachal Pradesh, along with 27 other infrastructure projects completed by the Border Roads Organization.

The projects built at a cost of Rs. 724 crore will hugely augment India’s border infrastructure, mostly along the Chinese border from Ladakh to Arunachal.
Inaugurating the projects, the minister said that India’s forces at the border are ever vigilant and prepared to tackle any adverse development.
Singh inaugurated 21 other bridges, three roads and three additional infrastructure projects in Arunachal Pradesh, J&K, Ladakh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Punjab and Rajasthan virtually from the Siyom bridge site.
His visit to the state comes less than a month after Indian forces thwarted an attempt by Chinese soldiers to set up an observataion post, some distance inside Indian territory close to the LAC near Tawang.
It is due to this very border dispute between India and China that the infrastructural boost is taking place in the region. The dispute has been worsening over the past few years, the latest one being the Tawang clash in December where multiple soldiers suffered serious injuries.

Jan 13,2023:Former Union Minister and JDU leader Sharad Yadav has passed away at the age of 75. He passed away while being treated for an illness at a hospital. Mr Yadav was a seven time MP and four time Union Minister.
He started his political career with the JP movement, joined VP Singh’s crusade against the Congress and joined the BJP’s Atal Bihari Vajpayee government from 1999-2004.
A strong votary of social justice and secular democracy, Yadav was a voice of sanity in Parliament and outside. His views were respected by both sides of the well in Parliament, both in the Lok Sabha as well as the Rajya Sabha. He was honoured as an outstanding parliamentarian.
Yadav rose to prominence as a student leader while studying engineering at Jabalpur. When the JP movement started in 1974, Sharad Yadav was one of the leading youth leaders in MP, while his contemporaries in Bihar were Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar.

Riding the JP wave, he entered Lok Sabha at the age of 27 from Jabalpur. He was elected to the LS seven times and to the RS three times. He was part of the leaders who formed the Janata Dal in 1987. The JD, under the leadership of VP Singh, allied with the BJP in the 1989 elections and wrested power from Congress.
He became the working president of the JD in 1995 and two years later he was named its president. The JD, however, got divided into two in 1999 when he decided to join the Vajpayee government. The JD under Yadav was rechristened JD(U). In 2003 George Fernandes’ Samata Party merged into JD(U).
In the Modi years, Yadav remained mostly our of the power circuit. In 2018, he formed the Loktantrik Janata Dal, which later merged with Lalu’s RJD. At the time of the merger he had said that this was a new beginning. But his health failed him.
He is survived by his wife, a daughter and a son.

New Delhi, January 1,2023: The Centre launched a new integrated food security scheme on Sunday. The scheme will provide free foodgrains to 81.35 crore beneficiaries under NFSA for the year 2023 and aims to ensure effective and uniform implementation of the National Food Security Act (NFSA).
The Cabinet decided to launch a new central sector scheme to fulfil the vision of One Nation-One Price-One Ration under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This is a commitment of the government to the most vulnerable 67 per cent of the population which is 81.35 crore persons covered under NFSA, according to the ministry’s statement.
Under the scheme, the government will provide free foodgrains to all NFSA beneficiaries namely Antyodaya Ann Yojana (AAY) households and Priority Household (PHH) persons for one year through the wide network of 5.33 lakh fair price shops across the country, according to the statement of the ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution. The decision will strengthen the provisions of NFSA, 2013, in terms of accessibility, affordability and availability of foodgrains for the poor.
The new integrated scheme will subsume two current food subsidy schemes of the department of food and public distribution (DFPD) namely food subsidy to Food Corporation of India (FCI) for NFSA, and sops for decentralised procurement states, which deal with procurement, allocation and delivery of free foodgrains under NFSA.
Free foodgrains will concurrently ensure uniform implementation of portability under One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) across the country and will further strengthen this choice-based platform. This means the ration card could be used anywhere in the country. The Centre will bear the food subsidy of more than Rs 2 lakh crore for 2023. The new scheme is aimed at bringing uniformity and clarity on food security under NFSA at beneficiary level, the ministry statement said.
For implementing this scheme, the ministry had said that the secretary of DFPD had taken a meeting with all state food secretaries on December 29, 2022. The issues related to distribution of free foodgrains were discussed including technical resolutions. All states and Union Territories assured to implement the free foodgrain scheme from January 1, 2023, according to the statement.
The government had issued an order to all general managers of FCI to visit three ration shops every day in different areas of their jurisdiction mandatorily from January 1 till 7 and submit a report to the DFPD nodal officer on a daily basis, in the given format for review and taking corrective action.
In view of free foodgrains, an advisory is issued to the states/UTs on the mechanism to provide dealer’s margin for distributing foodgrains to the beneficiaries, the ministry said.

New Delhi,Jan05,2022:The Supreme Court has put on hold the demolition of more than 4,000 homes that were allegedly encroaching on land belonging to the railways in Haldwani town in Uttarakhand.
“There cannot be uprooting of 50,000 people overnight. There has to be segregation of people who have no right on the land and the need to rehabilitation while recognising the need of the railways,” the top court said in its order on Thursday.
On December 20, an order passed by the high court of the northern state declared 4,365 houses adjacent to the railway line in Haldwani’s Banbhulpura colony “illegal” and therefore to be demolished.

The Supreme Court has sought replies from the Indian Railways and the Uttarakhand government and will next hear the matter on February 7.
Braving the biting cold, hundreds of women had been holding a sit-in against the eviction drive for more than a week. They held candlelight vigils every evening, demanding a withdrawal of the lower court’s order.
The top court’s ruling comes as a relief to about 50,000 people in the Himalayan town, situated about 300km (186 miles) from New Delhi.

New Delhi,Dec 28,2022: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday said that people are troubled due to rising inflation, and unemployment but the Centre does not care about them. He added that Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra has made party’s political rivals nervous.

Addressing party leaders and workers at the AICC headquarters in Delhi on the occasion of the 138th Foundation Day of the party, he said, “The basic principles of India are under constant attack. A pit of hatred is being dug all over the country. People are in trouble due to inflation, unemployment but the government does not care.”
“To make Congress inclusive, we have to include youth, women, intellectuals and it has already begun through Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra. This has made our rivals nervous. We appeal to people to join this Yatra,” he added.

Nov 30,2022:Mumbai’s Dharavi is set for a makeover as Adani Group has won the bid for the redevelopment of one of the largest slum clusters in Asia. Financial bids for the global tender floated on October 1 for the Dharavi redevelopment project were opened.
Three companies– Adani Realty, DLF and Naman Group– had submitted bids for the redevelopment of Dharavi and rehabilitation of slum dwellers. Several attempts were made in the last 15 years for the redevelopment of Dharavi but the project will take off now.

The Maharashtra government hopes to finish the project in the next 17 years and complete rehabilitation in the next seven years. Overall, more than 10 million square feet is expected to come up as part of the Dharavi redevelopment project.

Besides Indian firms, companies from the UAE and South Korea had also shown interest in the project during the pre-bid meeting on October 11.

The state government has made at least four attempts by floating bids for the Dharavi redevelopment in the last 15 years. However, the bids never materialised.

Dharavi is located in Central Mumbai in close proximity to the commercial hub, Bandra Kurla Complex, and south Mumbai. Spread across 300 acres, Dharavi is one of the most densely populated slums in the world. The area is hub for several small-scale, unorganised industries that manufacture medicines, leather, footwear, and clothes.

Patna , January 7,2022: The first phase of the caste-based survey in Bihar has started.
The caste-based headcount will be conducted across all 38 districts in two stages.
In the first phase, which will be over by January 21, the number of all households in the state will be counted.
The second phase of the survey, which is likely to be held from April 1 to April 30, will collect data pertaining to people of all castes, sub-castes, socio-economic conditions, etc.
The decision of a caste census was taken by the Bihar cabinet on June 2 last year, months after the Centre ruled out such an exercise in the Census.
The survey would cover an estimated population of 12.70 crores in an estimated 2.58 crore households in 38 districts, which have 534 blocks and 261 urban local bodies.
The survey would be completed by May 31, 2023.
Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav said that the enumeration exercise will give enable the government to scientifically carry out development work in the state for the benefit of the poor.
Yadav also hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party for its “anti-poor” policies and said the opposition party did not want the survey to be conducted.
Earlier on Friday, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar said that the government has trained officials to carry out the caste-based census taking into consideration the sub-castes in the state and the financial status of the citizens.
He also stated that the census will be beneficial for the development of the state and the country.
“We have trained our officers to conduct a detailed caste census. This will benefit the development of the state and also the country,” Kumar told ANI during his ‘Samadhan Yatra’ in Sheohar district.

New Delhi, December 23,2022: In a New Year gift for the country’s poor, the Union Cabinet on Friday decided that more than 80 crore people will now get free foodgrains under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).
Briefing reporters after a meeting of union cabinet here, Food and Consumers Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal said the beneficiaries will not be required to pay a single rupee to get the foodgrains till December 2023.
He said the central government will spend around Rs 2 lakh crore per year on this scheme.
The cabinet meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The government had said last week that India has sufficient food grain stocks under the central pool to meet the requirement under the National Food Security Act and its other welfare schemes as well as for additional allocation of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY).
In a statement, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said that about 159 LMT of wheat will be available on January 1 2023, which is well above the buffer norm requirement of 138 LMT. Around 182 LMT of wheat is available in the central pool as on December 12.
It said that the government is well aware of the price scenario of wheat and is constantly monitoring it regularly on a weekly basis along with other commodities and taking corrective measures, as and when required.

Kohima,Dec 02,2022: Displaying traditional diverse culture and vibrant life, the 10-day-long 23rd edition of Hornbill Festival began at the Naga Heritage Village Kisama on Thursday.
In another development, demanding a separate state, the Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation (ENPO) despite the state government’s appeal has asked the tribes of the area not to participate in the annual Hornbill Festival.
The Hornbill Festival, named after a colourful forest bird, coincides with the 60th Nagaland statehood day celebrations.
Organised by the Nagaland government’s Tourism and Art and Culture department, the Hornbill Festival showcases Nagaland’s deep-rooted traditions and its rich cultural heritage in all its ethnicity, diversity, and grandeur. The festival is also a tribute to the great Hornbill, which is an admired and revered bird by the Naga people, for its qualities of alertness and grandeur.
The Hornbill Festival of Nagaland is a cultural extravaganza to revive, protect and preserve the richness and uniqueness of the Naga heritage. For the tourists and guests, it is an opportunity to get a comprehensive understanding of the Naga people, their land, and their rich culture.

Gandhinagar,Dec 30,2022: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mother Heeraben breathed her last earlier today. PM Modi arrived at Ahmedabad to give adieu to his mother Heeraben Modi, who passed away at the age of 100. He was received by Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel at the airport. PM Modi`s brother Somabhai Modi and other family members also arrived at the residence of Heeraben Modi.
The Prime Minister informed the nation about her demise early Friday morning. Informing about her demise, the Prime Minister posted a heartfelt tweet early Friday morning, “A glorious century rests at the feet of God… In Maa, I have always felt that the trinity, which contains the journey of an ascetic, is the symbol of a selfless Karmayogi and a life committed to values. “PM Modi recalled his visit to his mother on her 100th birthday this year.