 On December 23, 2019, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) organized an annual meeting of state nodal agencies implementing the Ecoclub programme for the first time. The event was organized in collaboration with GEER foundation, Gujarat. |
| Highlights Senior officers of the Ecoclub programme from 22 states and union territories participated in the programme. Around 200 students from the state of Gujarat also participated in the programme. Ecoclub awards were awarded to school students at national level. Two books were released at the event namely “Glimpses of Ecoclubs” and a handbook on International Environment Conventions and Programmes. |
| National Green Corps The programme was launched by the MoEFCC covering 1,20,000 schools in India. The programme mainly covered the School Eco clubs in different states. They are titled NGC students similar to NCC. These students participate in activities related to energy conservation, water conservation, biodiversity conservation, waste management, resource management and land use planning. |
| Significance The NGC is the largest programme in the world. The programme targets that the children participating in the programme will grow up and take care of the environment. The NGC cadets are given pride places at celebrations of national days when they participate in their NGC uniform. Also, when NGC cadets take up environmental activities they attract huge public attention. |
 The Govt. of India has constructed Girls’ Hostel for Nepal Armed Police Force School, Kirtipur, Nepal. Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of India, Dr Ajay Kumar inaugurated hostel building. Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) School is an academic institution created under the APF Welfare Service Centre of Nepal Armed Police Force. The school was established in 2005 and it has over 21 per cent of girls students. The new infrastructure constructed with the Government of India’s grant assistance of 40.42 million Nepali Rupees is a two-storied girls’ hostel. It comprises 32 rooms including a dormitory, warden room, bathroom, sanitation facilities for girls on each floor and furniture. |
| Source: The News on AIR |
 The Indian Pharmacopoeia (IP) has been recognised formally by the National Department of Regulation of Medicines and Health Products of the Ministry of Public Health of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. With this Afghanistan has become the 1st country to recognize IP pursuant to the efforts of Department of Commerce and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. IP is an officially recognized book of standards as per the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Rules 1945 thereunder. It specifies the standards of drugs manufactured and marketed in India in terms of their identity, purity and strength. To ensure the quality of medicinal products, the legal and scientific standards are provided by Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) in the form of Indian Pharmacopoeia (IP). |
| Source: The Press Information Bureau |
 Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa announced the setting up of a Gandhi Citizenship Education Prize. Portugal will be launching a Gandhi Citizenship Education Prize, each year inspired by his different thoughts and quotes. The first edition of this prize will be dedicated to animal welfare as Mahatma Gandhi said that the greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated. |
| Source: The Hindu |
 Chennai Corporation, Tamil Nadu launched India’s first waste exchange platform namely “Madras Waste Exchange” (www.madraswasteexchange.com) to buy and sell municipal solid waste online. It will run on a pilot basis for the first three months. Based on the response from public and waste recyclers, more features will be added to the website. The Madras Waste Exchange, which is both a web portal and an application, has been conceptualised by the Smart City Mission, with support from the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. |
| Source: The Hindu |
 Indian Railways has decided to grant 50% concession for the youth participating in the “Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat” programme. The concession will be given in basic fares of Second and Sleeper Class to youths with emoluments of not more than 5000 rupees per month for travelling from one State to another State to take part in the programme. The concession has been granted as a special case and it is admissible only in the normal train services and not for booking of Special Trains or Coaches. This concession will be provided on production of requisite certificate in the prescribed railway format from the Secretary of concerned Department of Human Resource Development of various States. |
| Source: The News on AIR |
 The Goods and Services Tax or GST Council has fixed a uniform tax rate of 28% on both state-run and private lottery. It also decided to rationalise the GST rate on woven and non-woven bags to 18%. It was for the first time that the GST Council resorted to voting to decide on an issue as it fixed a uniform tax rate on both state and private lotteries. The GST Council also decided to exempt upfront amount payable for long term lease of industrial and financial infrastructure plots by an entity having 20% or more ownership of Central or State Government. |
| Source: The News on AIR |
 India and the US have signed an agreement to facilitate the transfer of defence technology. During a 2+2 dialogue held at Washington DC, the top foreign affairs and defence leaders on growing strategic relations between the world`s largest and most powerful democracies. India and the US have a common vision of a free, seamless and peaceful Indo-Pacific region. India has bought weapons worth more than $15 billion from the United States over the past decade as it seeks to replace its Russian-origin military and is in talks for helicopters, armed drones and a bigger Indian plan for local production of combat planes together worth billions of dollars. |
| Source: The Livemint |
 The Union government has launched National Broadband Mission to provide Broadband access to all villages by 2022. The mission aims to connect 600,000 villages across India with an investment of Rs 7 lakh crore in the next 4 years from both government and private sector. The mission is a part of the National Digital Communications Policy, 2018. The mission will secure universal broadband access for implementation of broadband initiatives and aims to offer Internet speed upto 50 Mbps in a phased manner. According to the government, 10% of the funds will come from Universal Service Obligation (USO) Fund and the remaining will come from industry in the form of towers and other assets. |
| Source: The Live Mint |
 A National Tribal Dance Festival will be held in Chhattisgarh’s capital Raipur from December 27 to 29. In the event, international folk artists from 23 states and six other countries are expected to take part and portray their respective tribal folk culture. Nearly 1,400 artists belonging to 151 art troupes from 23 states and guest artists from six countries including Sri Lanka, Belarus, Uganda and Bangladesh will participate in the three-day programme. |
| Source: The Business Standard |
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