Table of Contents
Maharashtra declared itself an open defecation free (ODF) state
• having provided access to toilets to all its residents. In October 2017, the state declared its urban
areas as ODF and now, rural Maharashtra has followed suit
• The ODF programme is part of the Swachh Bharat mission which has a 2 October 2019 deadline
•
• Between October 2014 and 31 March 2018, the Maharashtra government built nearly 5.5 million
toilets, including 280,000 public toilets. Under the Swachh Bharat and Swachh Maharashtra mission,
the centre and the Maharashtra governments have so far spent Rs 4,500 crore on the ‘Access to
Toilet’ phase.
• “Work has already started on the second phase which is getting the beneficiaries of phase one to actually use the toilets.
• Innovative campaigns like ‘Darwaja bandh’ (close the door) in which Amitabh Bachchan is
participating to forming good morning squads of students who blow the whistle if they spot
someone defecating in public when toilets are there Asmita Scheme
ü Launched on occasion of International women’s day 8th March in the presence
of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and actor Akshay Kumar, who recently
starred in Padman.
ü The ‘Asmita’ scheme won’t subsidise or distribute napkins for free – it’ll sell
them at nominal prices, and plans to provide them to all women in the state.
ü While the cost price of a basic sanitary napkin packet with eight pads will be Rs
19.20, the retail price for sale by self-help groups will be Rs 24.
ü The government will cap the distribution of the subsidised Rs 5 8-Pad packets
for school students to 13 packets a year, to ensure the scheme is not misused.
Majhi Kanya Bhagyashree Yojana
• The ‘Majhi Kanya Bhagyashree’ scheme was launched by the Maharashtra government on 1 April
2016 in place of ‘Sukanya’ scheme.
• It is aimed at improving skewed girl child ratio, preventing sex determination and female foeticide and supporting female education.
• According to the earlier provisions, the scheme catered to girls from Below Poverty Line (BPL)
families and those whose annual income is up to Rs 7.5 lakh.
• if the mother or the father undergoes a family planning operation after the birth of their first girl child, a sum of Rs 50,000 shall be deposited in a bank in the name of the girl child.
• Further, if any of the parents undergo a family planning operation after bearing the second girl child, a sum of Rs 25,000 shall be deposited in the name of both children.
• The girl child will be able to withdraw the interest money twice, first when she reaches 6 years of age and next when she turns 12.
• The girl will be able to withdraw the total amount along with interest at the time when she turns 18, provided she has completed her education up to 10 Standard and is unmarried.
115 Aspiration districts scheme Nandurbar Washim Osmanabad Gadchiroli Chandel
Maximum – Jharkhand 19, Bihar – 13, Chhattisgarh – 10, 99 smart cities
Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Nagpur, Pune, Aurangabad, Kalyan Dombivali
Nashik, Thane Greater Mumbai Amravati.
Mumbai’s Matunga Railway Station creates Limca record for hiring
all-women staff 41 women staff an initiative by the Central Railways General Manager DK Sharma.
Mamta Kulkarni, – who was in 1992, the first ever woman assistant station manager to serve the Central Railway’s Mumbai Division – will now be at the helm as Station Manager.
The Dhirubhai Ambani Aerospace Park (DAAP) coming up with a capital
investment of Rs 6,500 crore in partnership with Dassault Aviation will be
the biggest FDI in the Indian defence sector till now a 51:49 joint venture between Reliance Aerostructure and Dassault Aviation
The DAAP project will be developed in two phases — the first over an area of 104 acres to be operational in 2018, and later the second over 185 acres of land at the Multi-modal International Hub Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN).
Maharashtra governmentt approves new wildlife sanctuary at Ghodazari
Ghodazari in Chandrapur district.
The sanctuary, in the North East of Tadoba, will include 159 sq km of Brahmapuri forest.
This will not only save the forest, but will also improve tourism in nearly 40 villages in the area
Commonwealth Games 2018 : Maharashtra
Sports Minister – Vinod Tawde, 22 medals (9 gold, 6 silver and 7 bronze), Haryana
was head and shoulders above the rest Maharashtra second best with 8 medals (5 gold, 2
silver and 1 bronze) Tamil Nadu third with 11 medals (4 gold, 5 silver and 2 bronze).
Commonwealth Games 2018 : Maharashtra
Chirag C Shetty of Vile Parle bagged gold medal in badminton Madhurika Patkar, Pooja Sahasrabuddhe, both from Thane have bagged golds in table tennis.
Sanil Shetty – Mumbai, Gold medal Table Tennis Heena Sidhu, who lives in the Mumbai suburb of Goregaon, has won a gold and silver medal in two categories of pistol shooting
Commonwealth Games 2018 : Maharashtra Rahul Aware: from Beed
wrestling gold Tejaswini Sawant – Kolhapur Gold Medal – Shooting
Each gold medal winner will be rewarded with a cash prize of Rs 50 lakh, silver medallists will be given Rs 30 lakh and bronze winners will be awarded Rs 20 lakh each.
Besides, their coaches shall be honored with Rs 12.5 lakh, Rs 7.5 lakh and Rs 5 lakh respectively for each gold, silver and bronze medal won by players from the state.
Mumbai Metro launches India’s first mobile ticketing system.
India’s first Mobile Ticketing System ‘OnGo’ which will help commuters pass the AFC gates using their mobile phone Through the Mumbai Metro App, commuters will be able to buy
their token or pass and generate a QR Code which will be used to gain access through the automated fare collection (AFC) gates.
The ‘OnGo’ will be particularly convenient for those commuters wanting to book their journey through tokens or passes at their own convenience even from outside the Metro stations and avoid queues before ticketing windows.
Indian NGO bags UN climate award for clean energy project
An Indian NGO, Swayam Shikshan Prayog based in PUE has bagged the UN Equator prize which is a climate award. The NGO, which trains women to become clean energy entrepreneurs
across Maharashtra and Bihar, was one of the 13 projects to be recognized at the UN climate summit in Marrakesh Earlier, SSP won UNFCCC’s Momentum for Change Lighthouse Activity Award for this initiative.
10 airports – Maharashtra government – Regional connectivity scheme — Udey Desh ka Aam Nagarik.
Shirdi, Amravati, Gondia, Nashik, Jalgaon, Nanded, Solapur, Kolhapur, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg airports in the first phase, Shirdi and Nanded are state government-owned.
Currently, Nashik, Nanded, Kolhapur and Jalgaon airports are functional.
However, the Ratnagiri, Gondia, Sindhudurg and Amaravati airports are yet to come up.
Though the infrastructure work of Solapur airport has been completed, operations have not begun “Sindhudurg is a new airport, unless it is constructed it cannot be eligible under UDAN.
Sindhudurg will become operational in September and it will be 14th airport in Maharashtra
Ratnagiri is a coastguard airport and the government expects it to be available for UDAN only in 2019.
Maharashtra government has forwarded the final proposal for modernization of the state’s smaller airports to the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
The plan for extension of runways and construction of infrastructure in partnership with the Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) Limited has been submitted for five
airports — Akola, Aurangabad, Jalna, Kolhapur and Pune. These are being taken up under the centrally-funded Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN)- Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) which promises to augment infrastructure at 44 airports across the country.
Maharashtra 1st state in India to enact anti-Social Boycott law
The Maharashtra Prohibition of People from Social Boycott (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2016, received Presidential assent, paving the way for its implementation. The new law disallows social boycott in the name of caste, community, religion, rituals or customs
If any individual or group tries to prevent or obstruct another member or group from observing any social or religions custom or usage or ceremony, or from taking part in a social, religious or community function, assembly, congregation, meeting or procession, the act amounts to social boycott. So is challenging the freedom of individuals in the name of jati panchayats,
religion, customs, or denying them the right to practise a profession of their
choice.
Maharashtra 1st state in India to enact anti-Social Boycott law
Freedom in this case includes the freedom to marry outside one’s caste, visit places of worship, wear clothes of one’s choice and use any specific language.
Discrimination on the basis of morality, political inclination or sexuality also qualifies as social boycott. As does stopping children from playing in a particular space, or disallowing access to crematoria, burial grounds, community halls or educational institutions with mala fide intentions.
Conviction of the offence of social boycott will attract a prison term of up to three years or a fine up to Rs 1 lakh, or both. Abetment by an individual or group will invite the same punishment.
National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF)-2018, released by the Union ministry of human resource development (HRD).
Here’s the list of institutes/deemed, private universities from Maharashtra which has got a place in the list of top 100:
Institute Of Chemical Technology: 19
Homi Baba National Institute: 26
Tata Institute of Social Science: 32
Symboysis International, Pune: 44
Dr DY Patil Vidyapeeth, Pune: 52
Narsee Munjee Management Studies, Mumbai: 55
Bharati Vidyapith, Pune: 66
DY Patil Education Society, Kolhapur: 97
Only 1 college in top 20 Ferguson college – PUNE at 19th place Only 1 college in top 10
5TH – IIT BOMBAY Only 1 college in top 20 D Y Patil– PUNE at 18th place Sex ratio at birth dips in 17 of 21 large States.
The sex ratio at birth (SRB) saw a decline in 17 out of 21 large States of the country,
with Gujarat recording an alarming dip of 53 points, a report released by the Niti Aayog
stated and stressed on the need to check sex-selective abortion.
According to the report, improvement in SRB was witnessed in Punjab, which
registered a rise of 19 points, followed by Uttar Pradesh (10 points) and Bihar (9
points).
According to the report, among the 17 States which recorded substantial drop of 10
points or more, in Gujarat the SRB fell to 854 females from 907 females per 1,000
males born registering a drop of 53 points from 2012-14 (base year) to 2013-15
(reference year) in this indicator.
Gujarat is followed by Haryana, which registered a drop of 35 points, Rajasthan (32 points), Uttarakhand (27 points), Maharashtra (18 points), Himachal Pradesh (14 points),
Chhattisgarh (drop of 12 points), and Karnataka (11 points), the ‘Healthy States, Progressive India’ report states. Sex ratio at birth is an important indicator and reflects the
extent to which there is reduction in number of girl children born by sex-selective abortions
In a first, Maharashtra to grade performance of its 7.5 lakh govt employees
While the new reviewing system does not disincentivise the average or the poor performers,
it has proposed public recognition and rewards for ‘Sukarmis’ or the good performers across
ranks a new 100-point performance marking system.
On the basis of the marking system, various state departments will be asked to identify 5 per cent employees across cadres as the top performers at district, department and state levels.
Out of the 100 marks for an employee’s performance, 60 marks have been assigned to objective parameters, including speed of file disposal, punctuality, attentiveness at work, etc, while the remaining 40 marks are for subjective parameters such as quality of file noting, articulation of thought, contribution in policy making or implementation of a scheme, and quality of presentations etc.