Irani inaugurates 1,000th ‘Nand Ghar’ in Amethi
Amethi: Smriti Irani, Minister for Women and Child Development and Textiles, on Wednesday, inaugurated the 1,000th Nand Ghar at Gauriganj in her parliamentary constituency Amethi. ‘Amethi elected a BJP MP to ensure development and today I can say it’s on the road to development,’ Irani said. She also thanked the Yogi Adityanath government for its contribution towards Amethi’s development. The Nand Ghar scheme is Vedanta Ltd’s flagship CSR programme, which aims to build and refurbish Anganwadis in various states. Vedanta has prepared a Rs 800 crore plan to set up 4,000 Nand Ghars, touching lives of around 4 million people. It will directly impact around 2,00,000 children and 1,80,000 women. Nand Ghars, equipped with televisions for e-learning, solar panels for reliable power, safe drinking water and clean toilets, have emerged as an ideal model for replication across the country. (IANS)
Code of conduct for MLAs
New Delhi: Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla on Wednesday announced that a committee of speakers of state assemblies will be formed to frame “code of conduct” for members of legislative assemblies and councils to make them more efficient and reduce adjournments. Birla chaired a meeting of the presiding officers of legislatures attended by more than 30 speakers of state assemblies and chairpersons of legislative councils. Addressing the media about the meeting, Birla said it was very fruitful and all presiding officers agreed that there is need to frame rules for improving the efficiency of state legislatures. The participants unanimously decided that for the smooth conduct of proceedings and fruitful session with less adjournments, a code of conduct for the legislators was needed. “A committee of state assembly speakers will be formed which will held deliberations with speakers all state legislative assemblies and chairpersons of state legislative councils. It will give its report in November and a final decision will be taken thereafter,” Birla said. (PTI)
India-Kazakh joint military exercise from Aug 31
New Delhi: A 14-day joint military exercise between India and Kazakhstan with emphasis on counter-terrorism operations in the mountainous terrain will begin on August 31. The exercise, named KAZIND 2019, will be held in Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand. Nearly 100 soldiers each from India and Kazakhstan will participate in the event. The exercise will allow both the armies an opportunity to share experiences gained during counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations. The exercise is expected to boost defence co-operation and foster bilateral ties. According to the army, the exercise will include company-level joint training in counter-terrorism operations and the participants will get an opportunity to engage on emerging trends in global terrorism and hybrid warfare. KAZIND 2019, the fourth edition of the annual event, is held alternatively in India and Kazakhstan. (IANS)
Shagun to have information on 15 lakh schools
New Delhi: Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ here on Wednesday launched Shagun, a web portal, which will carry information on the standard of education, schools and much more. The portal links over 15 lakh schools and provides information on them. The schools linked by the portal are also geo-tagged. “The information regarding all the schools in the country has been integrated through the portal,” the minister said. Apart from connecting 25 crore students and 90 lakh teachers, over 2.3 lakh educational websites can also be integrated to the Shagun portal, he said. Officials said information provided by schools could be verified through third party. An app has also been developed through which students, teachers and other stakeholders would be able to send their complaints directly. (IANS)
Man arrested with fake notes
Panaji An Uttar Pradesh resident was apprehended on Wednesday while trying to buy casino chips with counterfeit notes worth Rs 55,000 in North Goa, police said. “The accused Mohammad Shadab tried to buy chips at a casino worth Rs 55,000 with fake notes of Rs 500 denomination. He has been arrested,” a Goa Police spokesperson told IANS. Shadab has been booked under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code. The casino management confirmed the fake currency after examination. (IANS)