BHUBANESWAR: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday launched 'Nirman Kusuma' programme for providing financial assistance to the children of the construction workers for their technical education in the state.
Launching the programme, Mr Patnaik said 'Nirman Kusuma' would help fulfil dreams of construction workers' children. He said the children of construction workers would get financial assistance for their education in Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and polytechnics.

While an ITI student will be entitled to get financial assistance of Rs. 23,600, a diploma student to get Rs. 26,300 per annum. A total of 1,878 students will get benefit from the programme.

Mr Patnaik said the government had already deposited Rs. 1.09 crore in the bank account of beneficiaries of the 'Nirmal Kusuma'. The chief minister said the government had decided to increase the financial assistance by 20 per cent for girl students. Female students from standard sixth to post graduation level are being provided financial assistance.

The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has won the ‘ISSA Good Practice Award’ for Administrative Solution for Coverage Extension at the “Regional Social Security Forum for Asia and the Pacific” held at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia recently.

The award recognizes the measures taken by ESIC for extension of coverage-SPREE (Scheme for Promoting Registration of Employers and Employees), reduced rate of contribution rates for 24 months in newly implemented areas and raising the wage limit for coverage under the ESI Act, etc.

Shri Raj Kumar, IAS, Director General, ESIC represented Employees’ State Insurance Corporation and received the Certificate of Merit on behalf of ESIC.

The Regional Social Security Forum for Asia and the Pacific is a triennial Forum, which is the most important social security event in the Region. For the triennial Regional Forum, ISSA invites submissions for the ISSA Good Practices Award for Asia and the Pacific Regions. The Forum provides unique opportunities to CEOs and Managers of ISSA Member Institutions to discuss key social security challenges and share their experiences.

Monday saw President Ramnath Kovind receiving a formal reception on day-2 of his maiden Central Asia visit in Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe.

The occasion saw the President being accorded a guard of honour. National Anthems of both the countries were also played. This was followed by bilateral level talks between President Kovind and his Tajikistan counterpart Emomali Rahmon.

Addressing the media after the talks, President Kovind said India and Tajikistan share historical relations and both nations will be strengthening them further based on tremendous underlying potential.

Indian grant of 20 million US dollars was announced for Tajikistan to finance development projects. Several other key bilateral pacts were also signed.

The two leaders agreed to strengthen political relations, strategic research, agriculture, renewable energy, traditional medicine, space technology, youth affairs, culture and disaster management relations between India and Tajikistan.

President appreciated Tajikistan's role in getting India membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation which will boost strategic ties between the two countries.

The President added that both India and Tajikistan remain committed to end terrorism and radicalisation.

President Kovind also went to Tajikistan's National University the same evening where he spoke on the challenge being faced by modern society in combating radicalisation and interacted with the university's faculty.

The President commended Tajikistan's commitment to combating terrorism on the occasion.

President Kovind interacted with the Indian community in Tajikistan on day-1 of his visit to the Central Asian nation. He said India and Tajikistan have been friends for long and every Indian in that country is its ambassador.

Thangjam Tababi Devi became India’s first judo medallist at the Olympic level, claiming a silver at the ongoing Youth Games after losing to Venezuela’s Maria Giminez in the finals of the women’s 44kg category.

Tababi Devi, an Asian cadet champion hailing from Manipur, lost 0-11, also conceding a penalty point in the process, in the summit showdown that lasted a little over two minutes on Sunday night. India have never won an Olympic medal in judo either at the senior or the youth level.

The 16-year-old defeated Ana Viktorija Puljiz of Crotia 10-0 in the semifinals. Prior to that, she defeated Bhutan’s Yangchen Wangmo 10-0 in the round of 16 before getting the better of Erza Muminoviq of Kosovo in the quarterfinals. Her silver was India’s second medal at the ongoing Games after shooter Tushar Mane also clinched the second position in the men’s 10m air rifle competition.

A Memorandum of Cooperation was signed between the Ministry of Railways of the Republic of India and the Joint Stock Company ‘Russian Railways’ on the sidelines of India-Russia Summit on 5th October, 2018. The MoC intends to carry forward the activities taken up under the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two countries on 24th December, 2015. The Memorandum of cooperation includes:

Implementation of speed up gradation project of Nagpur-Secunderabad section ;
Setting up of single traffic control centre for managing mixed traffic at local level;
Best practices in freight cargo operation ;
Development of multi modal terminals ; and
Exchange of best technologies being practiced by the two countries.
Training and advanced qualification improvement of Indian railway employees with the involvement of Russian railway-related higher education establishments.
The cooperation agreement was signed by Chairman, Railway Board, Shri Ashwani Lohani from Indian side and Mr. Oleg Belozerov, CEO & Chairman of Russian Railways.

The Karnataka Department of Social Welfare has launched Unnati, a scheme to foster entrepreneurs working on rural and social impact technologies. As part of the scheme, the department will invest up to Rs 20 crore to create end-to-end support infrastructure for start-ups and entrepreneurs from a marginalised background.

The first stream of Unnati is technology innovation. Many people across the State are doing it, but entrepreneurs from SC/ST background are denied a chance. This scheme will identify and promote these entrepreneurs. The second stream of Unnati is social impact. Unnati will identify companies that are working on products and solutions for problems that are plaguing both the Government and society at large.

“This has been done with the renewed focus on entrepreneurship and with an aim to deliver sustainable development and social welfare which will identify, mentor, and promote young entrepreneurs from the SC/ST communities,” said Priyank Kharge, Karnataka Minister for Social Welfare.

He added: “The department will provide up to Rs 50 lakhs to winning entrepreneurs to develop tech-based solutions that are innovative, novel and have meaningful social impact.”

Lauding the scheme, Dr G Parameshwara, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister, said, “Often, technological innovations reach the SC/ST communities and other vulnerable sections quite late. Historically oppressed and marginalised, hardworking and brilliant young entrepreneurs from these communities suffe

Keerthana won the girls' title by outclassing Belarussian rival Albina Leschuk 3-1 in the final.
After qualifying for knockout stage as seed 4, Keerthana knocked out her compatriot Manasvini Sekar and Russian girl Alina Khairulina in straight frames 3-0 before meeting the defending champion and countrymate Anupama Ramachandran in the semis.

The Centre has assured Karnataka government that nearly 450 crore rupees will be reimbursed to it in connection with the expenditure incurred for procuring cereals and coarse cereals.

This assurance came during a meeting between Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy and Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister Ram Vilas Paswan in New Delhi yesterday.

An official release said, Mr Kumaraswamy discussed the state government's pending claims with Mr Paswan amounting to nearly 1127 crore rupees from the period 2006-07 to 2015-16.

Officials of the Food Department assured that Karnataka will be reimbursed about 450 crore rupees of expenditure within a week of receiving the revised demand letter for the claims related to the year 2015-16.

They also assured that remaining pending claims will also be resolved on war footing.

Goyal said that the construction of a new railway line connecting Katghora-Mungeli-Kawardha-Dongargarh would accelerate the growth of the mineral rich region and bring prosperity.

He was speaking at the function held in Kawardha to lay the foundation of the 295 kilometre project, which will be built at a cost of Rs 6,000 crore.

On the occasion, the union minister also flagged off Korba-Raipur-Korba Hasdeo Express through video conferencing.

Later, in a programme in Dhamtari district, Goyal and Singh laid the foundation stone of a railway gauge conversion project connecting Kendri (Raipur) to Dhamtari and Abhanpur to Rajim, cumulatively a 67 km long project.

At present, there is narrow gauge track between Kendri -Dhamtari and Abhanpur-Rajim sections which will be converted to broad gauge at cost of around Rs 544 crore, the railways said in a statement.

The country's biggest skill competition, India Skills 2018 has concluded in New Delhi.

The 164 winners were awarded yesterday by Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Anant Kumar Hegde.

Addressing the award winners, Mr Hegde said, they should not rest on this achievement, as the world outside has cut-throat competition.

He called upon the participants going for the world stage competitions in Russia and China to perform well and bring laurels to the nation.

AIR correspondent reports that IndiaSkills 2018 was the second edition of the nationwide competition organized by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship to identify, recognize, promote and reward the best talents in various skills.

Some of the winners of the competition will be given additional training, before they represent India at the 45th WorldSkills Competition at Kazan, Russia in 2019.