Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani today inaugurated National Programme on Anganwadi-cum-Crèches in New Delhi. In her address, she said, Government has planned to open 17 thousand creches all around the country and urged states and districts officials to identify groups of women construction workers and women farm labourers who can take advantage of the initiative. Ms Irani said, childcare is a big economic opportunity for women who work in self-help groups and form cooperatives. She said, her Ministry will provide a framework for such engagement where the safety of the child, nutrition and health needs of the child are ascertained whoever seeks to serve in the segment in a private capacity. The Minister said, women who right now run self-help groups and cooperatives can also look at running creches as an economic activity. She said, Government has closed the unregulated, unaccounted, unregistered institutes which were running in the country where children were violated. She also stressed police verification of institutes and individuals involved in it. 

To provide important information about MSP and agronomy to jute farmers, the Ministry of Textiles launched “Paat-Mitro” - a mobile application, developed by The Jute Corporation of India Limited (JCI) during ‘Jute Symposium’ here today. Smt. Rachna Shah, Secretary, Ministry of Textiles launched the application which is available in 6 languages.

The application can be freely downloaded from Google Play Store and all the functionalities are made available to the users free of cost. In addition to, the latest agronomic practices and Minimum Support Prices (MSP); Jute Gradation Parameters, Farmer-centric schemes like ‘Jute-ICARE’, weather forecasts, JCI’s Purchase Centers’ locations, Procurement Policies are also made available in the app. Farmers will also be able to track status of their payments for the raw jute sold to JCI under MSP Operation. Latest technology feature like Chatbot is included for their queries through this mobile application “Paat-Mitro”.

The ‘Jute Symposium’ was organised to create awareness and popularize Jute based technical textiles with special emphasize on Jute Geotextiles. The event was attended by representatives from different ministries, research institutes.

For more details, you are requested to visit www.jutecorp.in.

Sanjay Singh on Thursday became the new president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) with his panel comfortably winning most of the posts in the delayed polls as outgoing chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh gained indirect control over the sports body.

The much-delayed elections to the Wrestling Federation of India were finally held on Thursday with little surprise and the results and responses on expected lines as the supporters of former president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh swept into power with a thumping majority.

Sanjay Kumar Singh from Uttar Pradesh was elected president with 40 votes against seven for former Commonwealth Games gold medalist Anita Sheoran as 13 of the 15 posts to which elections were held were won by the loyalists of former president Brij Bhushan. The results meant Brij Bhushan continues to hold sway over the sport – the newly-elected president barely spoke and made Brij Bhushan’s residence his first port of call after his victory, where the former president held fort.

Uttar Pradesh cabinet on Tuesday approved the proposal for the establishment of the state's first Advanced Pediatric Center.

The approval was given at the cabinet meeting held on Tuesday.

The centre, to be the first of its kind in the state, will be established at PGI.

Advanced Pediatric Center will have various pediatric experts to treat all diseases related to children. This facility is not currently available in any institute or medical college in the state.

The project is estimated to cost Rs 199 crore 10 lakh 52 thousand.

Director of Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences Dr RK Dhiman said that currently, 40 percent of the population in the state comprises children and adolescents aged 0-18 years.

Senior IPS officer and Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Maheshwar Dayal took charge as Director General of Prisons and Correctional Services on Monday.

He had served as Superintendent of Police (SP) in Virudhunagar, The Nilgiris and Nagapattinam districts and Deputy Commissioner of Police in Tirunelveli, Tiruchi and Gurgaon, Haryana. He was also Commandant of Tamil Nadu Special Police, Tihar Battalion, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Central Industrial Security Force and Bureau of Civil Aviation.

Before becoming ADGP, he also served as Inspector General of Police (IG) Economic Offences of Tamil Nadu Police, IG, Anti-Naxal Commando force, Government of India, IG Anti-Naxal Operations, CRPF, Ranchi.

Kerala, Odisha in Group C while Madhya Pradesh, Telangana in Group D registered wins on Monday in the ongoing sixth edition of Nagesh Trophy - Men's National T20 Cricket Tournament for the Blind 2023-24.

The Kochi and Chandigarh leg started simultaneously on Monday with Odisha, Jharkhand, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in Group C and Gujarat, Chandigarh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana in Group D respectively.

In Group C's opening match held in Kochi, Kerala emerged victorious, defeating Bihar by 35 runs. Kerala set a target of 126/6 in 13 overs, and Bihar could only manage 91/4 in response. The standout performer, Md Farhan, who scored 51 runs in 34 balls, earned the well-deserved title of Player of the Match.

The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet on Tuesday approved the setting up of cyber crime police stations in 57 districts of the state, including Ghaziabad, Raebareli, Sitapur, Hardoi, Kanpur Dehat, Etawah, Baghpat, Barabanki, Mainpuri and Rampur.

So far, such police stations have been set up at the division level and there are 18 of them, under the Inspector General of Police.

The district-level cyber crime police stations would be under the Superintendent of Police.

Paradip Port achieved yet another 100 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) of cargo handling, in shortest time, in its history, showcasing the Port's unwavering commitment to excellence and efficiency in cargo handling. It has once again repeated the feat by crossing the 100 MMT mark, 7th year, in succession and achieved cargo throughput of 100.28 MMT on 18th December in the current fiscal. Notably, in FY 2022-23 the coveted mark of 100 MMT was achieved on January 9th 2023. Thus by, the record was achieved in 22 days in advance i.e. in 262 days in current fiscal against 284 days in last financial year, by exhibiting 9.64 % growth in total cargo throughput. Thus, this century is the fastest by PPA, in its history.

Wicketkeeper-batter Ashiqur Rahman Shibli continued his splendid run with a second century in five matches as Bangladesh crushed UAE by 195 runs to win the Under-19 Asia Cup in Dubai on December 17.

Opening the batting, Ashiqur smashed 12 fours and one six in his knock of 129 (149 balls) as Bangladesh posted 282/8 after hosts UAE opted to field.

In reply, UAE surrendered meekly to fold up for 87 in 24.5 overs as Bangladesh clinched the eight-nation tournament with five wins from as many games.

Glimpses of Bangladesh-U19 vs UAE-U19

As a party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Paris Agreement, India submitted its first Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) in the year 2015 comprising, inter-alia, of following two quantifiable targets:

To reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 percent by 2030 from 2005 level; and
To achieve about 40 percent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030.
These two targets have been achieved well ahead of the time. As on 31st October, 2023; the cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources is 186.46 MW, which is the 43.81% of the total cumulative electric power installed capacity. As per the third national communication submitted by India to the UNFCCC in December 2023, the emission intensity of its GDP has been reduced by 33 percent between 2005 and 2019.

In August 2022, India updated its NDC according to which target to reduce emissions intensity of its GDP has been enhanced to 45 percent by 2030 from 2005 level, and the target on cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources has been enhanced to 50% by 2030.

This information was given by Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.