Headlines At a Glance – 22nd Jan 2020

PM of India and Nepal jointly inaugurate 2nd integrated border check post at Jogbani-Biratnagar

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Nepali counterpart KP Sharma Oli will on Tuesday jointly inaugurate the second Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Jogbani-Biratnagar, built with Indian assistance to facilitate trade and people’s movement. The check post has been built with India’s assistance in a bid to facilitate trade and people’s movement between two countries, PMO India had said in a tweet. This is the second ICP on the Nepal border. The first was built at the Raxaul-Birgunj border in 2018. Both Prime Ministers will also witness the remarkable progress in Indian government-assisted post-earthquake housing reconstruction projects in Nepal.

SOURCE: India Today

Greenpeace India report on air pollution released

The coal-belching town of Jharia in Jharkhand continues to be the most polluted city in India, while Delhi has made marginal improvement in reducing its air pollution level, according to a Greenpeace India report released on January 21. Delhi is the 10th-most polluted city in India, according to the report. The city was at the eighth spot a year ago, according to the report for that year. Average annual levels of PM10, particulate matter less than 10 micrometers in diameter that can enter the lungs and even the bloodstream, in Jharia was 322 micrograms per cubic metre in 2018, more than six times the safe limits of 0-60, according to the report.

SOURCE: www.greenpeace.org

Uttarakhand becomes first state to implement agricultural land leasing policy

Uttarakhand has become the first state in the country where the government has made a policy to lease agricultural land. In lieu of giving land on a 30-year lease, the concerned farmer will get the rent for the land. In the hilly areas of the state, the obstacles of leasing land for farming, agriculture, horticulture, herbs, off-season vegetables, milk production, tea plantation, fruit hybridization and solar energy has been removed with this step. After getting approval from the Raj Bhavan, the state government has issued its notification. Now any institution, company, firm or NGO can take farm land on lease in villages, leasing a maximum of 30 acres of land on lease for 30 years.

SOURCE: Business Standard

Upgraded ‘Sharang’ artillery guns to be inducted into Army

The first batch of 18 indigenously upgraded ‘Sharang’ artillery guns will be inducted into the Army by March 31 this year, Programme Coordinator (Sharang) Brigadier Jayant Kar said on Tuesday. He said the gun, upgraded from 130mm to 155mm with a striking range of 39 kilometres, had successfully gone through integrated firing check on different parameters ranging from 0 degree to 45 degrees on Tuesday at the Long Proof Range of Ordnance Factory Khamaria, 16 kilometers from Jabalpur district headquarters. “The indigenously-designed Sharang will be inducted in the Army by this fiscal-end. The barrel of the gun has been upgraded from 130 mm to 155 mm and this has increased its hitting range by 12 km kilometres, to 39 kilometres,” said Brigadier Kar.

SOURCE: The Hindu

World Employment and Social Outlook report of ILO released

After nine years of relatively stable global unemployment, the World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2020 puts the rising jobless numbers down to a stagnating global economy. The number of people unemployed around the world stands at some 188 million. In addition, 165 million people don’t have enough paid work, and 120 million have either given up actively searching for work or otherwise lack access to the labour market. Earlier in January, a UN report on the economy showed that developed countries are experiencing slow growth, and some African countries are stagnating. The consequence is that not enough new jobs are being created to absorb the growing labour force as it enters the market. In addition, many African countries are experiencing a drop in real incomes and a rise in poverty.

SOURCE: The New Indian Express, news.un.org

Guyana takes over chairmanship of the Group of 77 for 2020

India has expressed confidence that Guyana will work towards strengthening ?the principles of unity and cooperation of the Group of 77 member countries as it welcomed the South American nation for taking over the bloc’s chairmanship for 2020. India’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador K. Nagaraj Naidu congratulated Guyana on taking over the chairmanship of the Group of 77 for 2020, the year when the 75th anniversary of the United Nations will be commemorated. India has full confidence in the leadership of Guyana under Ambassador Rudolph Ten-Pow and believe that the delegation will work towards strengthening the principles of unity, complementarity, cooperation and solidarity of the G77 countries and their determination to strive for economic and social development, individually and collectively, Naidu said at the handing over ceremony of the chairmanship of the Group of 77 last week. Guyana assumes the chairmanship of the Group from the State of Palestine.

SOURCE: Economic Times