TELANGANA
- Sex ratio in Telangana declines by 17%
- Telangana recorded a 17 percent decline in sex ratio at birth from 2015-2016 to 2017-2018, the latest report released by the NITI Aayog said even as the state showed overall improvement in the health parameters.
- While the sex ratio at birth was 918 during the previous year, it has come down to 901, the Healthy States Progressive India Report said.
- Sex ratio at birth indicates the number of females born per 1000 males and a skewed sex ratio could have long standing effect for over a period of two to three decades. This is an area of performance, which has been dwindling report after report, said alarmed officials.
- Yet another worrisome factor pointed out in the report was a consistent decline in fertility rates. As per the report, the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) in the state has gone down from 1.8 to 1.7 during the period mentioned.
- Telangana already had a TFR below the average replacement rate of 2.1 in 2015-2016 and is continuing a downward spiral. Replacement fertility level is the level at which a generation replaces itself.
- Antenal registration in the first trimester of pregnancy is another area that Telangana has recorded a fall in numbers. The percentage of antenatal registration has gone down from 55.9 to 47.2 percent.
INTERNATIONAL
- India to host COP-14 of UNCCD
- India will be hosting the14th session of the Conference of Parties (COP-14) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)for the first time. COP-14 will be held between September 2 and 14 in Delhi.
- Participants:It is expected that atleast 5,000 delegates from nearly 197 countries will be participating.
- The Centre launched a flagship project, part of a larger international initiative called theBonn Challenge ahead of the COP-14. The flagship project aims to enhance India’s capacity for forest landscape restoration (FLR).
- The Bonn Challenge is a global effort to bring 150 million hectares of the world’s deforested and degraded land under restoration by 2020, and 350 million hectares by 2030.
- The 13th session of the Conference of Parties (COP-13) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) was held in Ordos, China. Around 113 countries had agreed to specify concrete targets with clear indicators, to rehabilitate more land and reverse degradation, which currently affects over a third of the world’s land resources.
- Facebook unveiled its cryptocurrency, Libra
- Facebookfinally unveiled the details of Libra, its cryptocurrency. Using Libra people can buy things or send money to people with nearly zero fees. It will be rolled out for use in 2020 and allow the platform’s billions of users across the globe to make financial transactions online. The currency will be serviced by a collective of companies called the Libra Association.
- Libra is a global currency and financial infrastructure. In other words, it is a digital asset built by Facebook and powered by a new Facebook-created version of blockchain, the encrypted technology used by bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
- Facebook aims to reach the 1.7 billion people around the world who do not have access to a bank account. This new technology threatens to change the landscape of banking.
NATIONAL
- Om Birla has been elected as the 17th Lok Sabha Speaker
- Om Birla has been unanimously elected as the17th Lok Sabha Speaker with the opposition Congress coming out in support of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)’s Birla will replace Sumitra Mahajan.
- Birla was nominated byPrime Minister Narendra Modi, defence minister Rajnath Singh, home minister Amit Shah and minister for transport and highways and shipping Nitin Gadkari.
- NITI Aayog proposed that only electric vehicles should be sold after 2030
- The government’s think tank, has proposed that onlyelectric vehicles should be sold after 2030. The move is to expand the scope of the clean fuel technology beyond two- and three-wheelers.
- It also seeks to fix responsibility for different ministries. It had asked theMinistry of road transport and highways to prepare a framework to phase out the sale of diesel and petrol vehicles by 2030.
- It has also suggested that the ministry to roll out an e-highways programme, with an overhead electricity network, to enable plying of trucks and buses on select National Highways.
- It directed the Ministry of Heavy Industries to go for complete replacement of all diesel/ petrol vehicles with EVs of all central ministries, agencies and public sector by 2030.
- The proposals are part of the plan to manufacture 50 Gigawatt hour (GWh) batteries by 2030.
- Punjab Government set to launch a universal health insurance scheme
- Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu State Government to launch its flagship universal health insurance scheme named “Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojana(SSBY).
The Health scheme will be the first of its kind in the state and provide annual health cove of Rs. 5 lakh per family to 43.18 lakh families of Punjab. - Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu administered government hospitals, 364 private hospitals in Punjab where the beneficiaries would get the secondary and tertiary care treatment.
- Around 14.86 lakh families will be covered under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM JAY) .
- The cost of the premium for the families covered under the PM JAY by the Centre .
- Unemployed Graduates To Get Up To Rs 3,500 in Rajasthan
- Unemployed youth who completed their graduation or equivalent degree will be given unemployment allowance by the Rajasthan government.
Male applicants will get Rs 3,000/month - While the women and differently-abled will get Rs 3,500/month under Chief Minister Yuva Sambal Yojana.
- The applicants must be natives of Rajasthan