By: D.K choudhary
8th Edition of Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit 2017 Concluded in Gandhinagar
i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on a two day visit to Gujarat from January 9-10, 2017 to inaugurate the eighth edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit 2017 at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, Gujarat on January 10, 2017.
ii. The theme of the three day Summit is “Vibrant Gujarat: Connecting India to the World”
iii. Narendra Modi inaugurated India’s first international exchange –India INX — at the International Financial Service Centre (IFSC) of GIFT City in Gandhinagar.
iv. Prime Minister inaugurated the Nobel Prize Series exhibition at Gujarat Science city near Ahmedabad on January 9, 2017 . This exhibition featured works of nine Nobel laureates from across the world who were invited by the Gujarat government to be a part of the Vibrant Summit.
v. As a part of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, the Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani addressed the ‘Make in Gujarat’ theme seminar on Trends and Innovation impacting the Textile Value Chain on January 12, 2017
The Gujarat government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) worth Rs 67,000 crore with the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL)
NITI Aayog calls for review of Right to Education Act
i. The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog has called for a review of the provisions of the Right To Education (RTE) Act that specifies that children who don’t perform well cannot be held back up to class VIII regardless of his performance.
ii. This means that a child is entitled to an eighth grade diploma even if he cannot recognise a single letter or a number if he has spent eight years in school.
iii. The move is aimed to minimise the drop-out rate. However, the negative impact of the decision will lower the learning process as it would take away the pressure to learn and to compete.
iv .The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2014 report, the proportion of children aged 6-14 years enrolled in school in rural areas has been above 96% for the past six years however more than 50% of the 5th graders cannot read second standard level text.
Fourth International Kite Festival begins in New Delhi
i. The three day International Kite Festival was inaugurated by Delhi Tourim Minister Kapil Mishra at Dwarka’s DDA Ground in New Delhi on January 14, 2017. The festival was organised by Delhi Tourism department
ii. Professional kite flying experts from Germany, Korea, the US, China, Thailand, Ukraine, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Netherlands and Malaysia participated and demonstrated their talent during the fourth Delhi International Kite Festival.
iii. Expert kite flyers from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Jaipur, Chennai, Kerala, Punjab and Delhi also displayed their skills in the kite festival.
India signs MoU with US to Aid Third World Countries
i. The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) of US and Development Partnership Administration (DPA) of the Ministry of External Affairs of India on January 13, 2017 
have signed an MoU for collaboration in the fields of developmental activities and assist the third world countries.
ii .Under the MoU the two countries would collaborate on exchange of information and experience in issues pertaining to project development or implementation in partner countries.
iii. The agreement also includes providing advisory or technical assistance to third countries regarding sector policy reform, project and sector management, project implementation, and economic growth promotion strategies in relevant sectors.
iv. MCC is a US agency providing eligible countries with grants to fund country-led solutions for reducing poverty through sustainable economic growth.
v. DPA looks after implementation of India’s development cooperation programmes with partner countries.
Ken-Betwa River Linking Project Receives Green Signal from Panel
i. The Ken-Betwa River Linking Project received clearance from the green panel and Tribal Affairs Ministry on January 13, 2017.
ii. The ambitious Rs. 9,393 crore project aims to transfer surplus water from the Ken River to the Betwa basin through concrete canals to irrigate India’s worst drought-prone Bundelkhand region.
iii. The project will benefit Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh in terms of meeting irrigation, drinking water and electricity needs of people across 6 districts in the two states.
iv. Under the project a dam will be constructed across river Ken in Chhatarpur district in Madhya Pradesh to irrigate 6.35 lakh hectares of land, serve drinking water purposes in Bundelkhand region and generate 78MW hydropower.
v. Of the 6.35 hectare land 3.69 lakh hectares of land falls in Madhya Pradesh to benefit districts Chattarpur, Tikamgarh and Panna while the remaining 2.65 lakh hectares of area falls Uttar Pradesh for districts Mahoba, Banda and Jhansi.
vi. The two powerhouses of would be 2×30 MW and 3×6 MW each, two tunnels of 1.9 km long upper level, 1.1 km long tunnel lower level and a 221 km long Ken-Betwa link canal, proposed on the left bank of the river.
