Karnataka government mandates RT-PCR negative certificate for travelers from Brazil, UK, and Africa
• The Government of Karnataka has issued a new protocol for the passengers arriving from UK, Brazil, and Africa. The measures have been taken after one case of Brazilian variant and four cases of South African variant were found in India.
• The state government has mandated for the passengers to produce RT-PCR negative certificates at the airport arriving from Brazil, South Africa, and the UK and also to undergo home quarantine for 14 days.
• The travelers will again need to take the RT-PCR test after 7 days. Those who will be found positive will be taken to the institutional quarantine facilities and their samples will be sent for genome sequencing.
• Similarly, the state government has issued directions and has made it compulsory for the passengers coming from Kerala to show RT-PCR negative test results not older than 72 hours.
Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla reaches Russia for a two-day visit
• The Foreign Secretary of India, Harsh Vardhan Shringla reached Moscow on February 17, 2021, for an official visit of two-days.
• During his visit, Shringla will hold the next round of India-Russia Foreign Office Consultation with the Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, Morgulov. The two sides will be reviewing the bilateral relations between India and Russia which will also include the upcoming high-level exchanges.
• He will also meet Sergey Ryabkov, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister for an exchange of views on the topical of international and regional importance.
• The first visit of 2021 by the Foreign Secretary of India to Moscow indicates the significance that India attaches to its friendly and close relations with the Russian Federation.
Ease of doing business reforms successfully completed by 15 states
• Total 15 states have successfully completed the ease of doing business reforms. The Finance Ministry informed that three more states- Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat have completed the reforms.
• On receiving the recommendation from DPIIT- Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, the Expenditure Department granted permission to these 3 states for raising additional financial resources of Rs. 9,905 crores through Open market Borrowings.
• Earlier, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu had reported the completion of this reform.
• The Ease of Doing Business- EDB is a significant indicator of the business climate which is investor-friendly in the country. Improvements done in EDB will assure and enable faster future growth of the state economy.
Pay hiked for the mid-meal workers of Jharkhand
• The officials informed on February 17, 2021, that the Jharkhand government has decided to increase the pay for the mid-day meal kitchen assistants at the state government schools by Rs. 500.
• After the hike, 79,551 kitchen assistants will get Rs. 2000 per head each month for the work. According to government officials, the hike will come into effect from April 1, 2021.
• The spending of Rs. 39.79 crores for the pay hike was approved by the Chief Minister of Jharkhand Hemant Soren. Kitchen Assistants, under the central scheme, get Rs. 1000 per month for 10 months every year, out of which 60% is given by the Centre and 40% is by the state government.
• Earlier also, the state government had hiked the pay by Rs. 500, which took the total to Rs. 1,500 per head per month.
Tap water connections provided to 3 crores 53 lakh rural households
• The Central government’s Jal Jeevan Mission reached a new milestone by providing tap water connections to 3 crores 53 lakh rural households. PM Modi had announced the mission in 2019 with an aim of providing a tap water connection by 2024.
• The Jal Shakti Ministry informed that as of August 15, 2019, out of 18.93 crore rural households, only around 17% had tap connections. But with the efforts of States and UTs, Jal Jeevan Mission has reached its milestone.
• Every family living in 77 thousand villages and 52 districts have been getting water tap supply in their homes. The ministry further added that more than 35% of rural households have been getting portable water through taps.
• In India, Goa became the first state to provide 100% tap water connection. It was then followed by Telangana.
Comments
All Comments (0)
Join the conversation