By: D.K Chaudhary
1. NITI Aayog Releases Nation-Wide Healthy State Report
i. NITI Aayog has released the ‘Healthy States, Progressive India Report’. Kerala, Punjab and Tamil Nadu have ranked top among the larger states in terms of overall performance. The report was released by NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant.
ii. Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh are at the top in the terms of annual incremental performance. States and Union territories have been ranked in three categories namely larger states, smaller states and Union territories.
iii. Among smaller states, Mizoram ranked first followed by Manipur and Goa in terms of annual incremental performance. Among Union territories, Lakshadweep showed best, overall performance as well as highest annual incremental performance.
- The National Institution for Transforming India, also called NITI Aayog, was formed via a resolution of the Union Cabinet on January 1, 2015.
- Dr Rajiv Kumar is the present Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog.
2. National Meet on Grassroot Informatics- VIVID 2018
i. National Informatics Centre (NIC) has organized a three-day National Meet on Grassroot Informatics- VIVID 2018 at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. The Theme for VIVID 2018 is “Cyber Security and Innovation”.
ii. The three-day event was inaugurated by Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister of Electronics & Information Technology and Law & Justice.
- National Informatics Centre (NIC) was established in 1976.
- Neeta Verma is the Director General of NIC.
3. PM Modi 3 Nation Visit- Modi Conferred ‘Grand Collar of the State of Palestine’
i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred the ‘Grand Collar of the State of Palestine’ by President of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas, recognising his key contribution to promote relations between India and Palestine.
ii. President Abbas conferred the honour after the conclusion of the bilateral meeting between the two leaders. Modi is the first Indian Prime Minister to make an official visit to Palestine.
Palestine Capital- East Jerusalem, Currency- Israeli new shekel (one of its 3).
- ‘Grand Collar of the State of Palestine’ has in the past been awarded to King Salman of Saudi Arabia, King Hamad of Bahrain, and President Xi Jinping of China.
4. India Retains Top Spot as Source Market for Dubai in 2017
i. Dubai witnessed 15% growth in tourist arrivals from India in 2017, hosting 2.1 million visitors, retaining top spot as the source market.
ii. It also became the first country to cross the 2 million mark in a single year, according to the latest data published by Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism).
- Dubai is the financial city and Emirate of the United Arab Emirates.
- UAE Capital- Abu Dhabi, Currency- United Arab Emirates dirham.
Appointments
5. NPCI Appoints Biswamohan Mahapatra as Non-Executive Chairman
i. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) appointed Biswamohan Mahapatra as non-executive chairman for two years with immediate effect.
ii. He succeeds B Sambamurthy who was the interim chairman.
- NPCI is an umbrella organisation for retail payment systems in India.
- NPCI’s Registered Office is in Mumbai.
- NPCI had recently appointed Dilip Asbe as its Managing Director and CEO.
