BIHAR

The growth journey of Bihar’s economy continued even in 2017-18 fiscal when it clocked 11.3% gross state domestic product (GSDP) growth rate, the highest in the country.
According to report, The last five financial years saw state’s GSDP growing at a healthy rate. The tertiary (service) sector also recorded growth rate in double digits during this period.

Per capita income of the state was Rs 31,316 at constant price while its GSDP stood at Rs 3.61 lakh crore at the constant price.

The primary sector (agriculture and allied activities like forestry, fishery and animal husbandry resources) recorded growth rate of 1.4%, secondary sector (mining, quarrying, manufacturing and construction) 2.5% and the tertiary sector 14.6% during 2017-18. The tertiary sector includes trade, hotels, restaurants, railways, road, water and air transports, storage, communication and broadcasting, financial services and public administration.

The revenue surplus increased to Rs 14,823 crore in 2017-18 from the low of Rs 6,441 crore in 2013-14. The state’s total revenue increased from Rs 68,919 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 1.7 lakh crore in 2017-18. Similarly, the gross fiscal deficit was brought down from Rs 16,480 crore in 2016-17 to Rs 14,305 crore in 2017-18, keeping it at 2.9% that is less than the mandated 3% of the GSDP. Further, development revenue expenditure (money spent on doctors, teachers) was 72% compared to 28% of non-development expenditure.

The growth in agro-based industries in the state at 19.2% was five times the all-India growth rate of 3.6%, while the growth in the non-agro based industries has been 6.9% compared to the national average of 4.4%.

Public investment in the road sector registered annual growth rate of 16.3% during the last seven years and public investment in rural roads also increased by 30% annually.

The expenditure on education rose from Rs 10,214 crore in 2011-12 to Rs 26,394 crore in 2017-18, an increase of 14.4% which is higher than the national average of 12.5%. Also, the present life expectancy in Bihar was 68.7 years compared to 65.8 years in 2006-10, which implied that both standard of living of people and healthcare facilities had improved.

INTERNATIONAL

Abu Dhabi courts added Hindi as 3rd official language of the citys courts

The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department has added Hindi as the third official languageof the city’s courts. Arabic and English are the first and second languages. The move is aimed at helping foreigners to learn about litigation procedures, their rights, and duties without a language barrier. It also aims to facilitate registration procedures via unified forms.
Abu Dhabi is the capital and the second most populous city of the United Arab Emirates.

NATIONAL

· 12.5K Ayush wellness hubs across India soon

(PMO) has directed the Ministry of Ayush (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) to run 10% of the 1.5 lakh health and wellness centres proposed as part of the flagship Ayushman Bharat scheme in the 2018-19 budget.

These centres will be called Ayush Health and Wellness Centres (AHWCS) and exclusively use alternative systems of medicine.

As part of Ayushman Bharat, 1.5 lakh health and wellness centres were proposed to be set up in a phased manner to provide comprehensive primary healthcare. The funding will be shared by the state and the central governments, with the Centre providing 60% of the funds.

The centres will have an examination room, yoga hall, diagnostics and medicine dispensation room, telehealth facilities, labour room, herbal garden among others.

· India pushes to complete infra projects on China border by 2022

India has sharpened its focus on scaling up infrastructure along the China border and set a target of three years to complete all strategic road projects along its northern frontiers.

Apart from the 61 roads being built by BRO, the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) is currently engaged in the construction of 12 strategic roads along the Chinese border. The 73 roads measure a total of 4,643km.

The government is also set to clear the construction of 44 more “strategically important roads” along the India-china Border in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, according to the CPWD’S annual report for 2018-19. Building these roads is expected to cost around ₹21,040 crore.

The first batch of four Chinook military helicopters manufactured by the American aerospace major Boeing has arrived at the Mundra port in Gujarat. This first batch consignment will be ferried to Chandigarh, where they will be formally inducted into the Indian Air Force in 2019.

Chinook is a multi-role, vertical-lift platform, which is used for transporting troops, artillery, equipment and fuel. Chinook would be deployed for humanitarian and disaster relief operations and in missions such as transportation of relief supplies and mass evacuation of refugees.

Indigenously developed missile SFDR system successfully flight tested in Odisha

The second indigenously developed ‘Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet’ (SFDR),propulsion-based missile system was successfully flight tested from ITR, Chandipur, Odisha, by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
Unlike conventional rockets that carry propellant and oxidizer, Ramjet uses the air as an oxidizer just like a jet engine, and hence, the weight of the fuel required is eliminated.
SFDR propulsion is designed in such a way that it allows for an up and down throttling which further lets the missile to amplify its speed until it reached the terminal phase of flight.

The first flight of SFDR, developed under a joint Indo-Russian R&D project, was tested in 2018.

The Union government has asked the chief secretaries of all States and Union Territories to complete identification and enumeration of the eligible beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) for facilitating quick distribution of the assured ₹ 6,000 a year to eligible farmers.

Accordingly, small and marginal farmer family has been defined as “a family comprising of husband, wife and minor children (up to 18 years of age) who collectively own cultivable land upto two hectares as per the land records of the concerned State/Union Territory. The existing land-ownership system in the concerned States/UTs will be used for identification of beneficiaries and those whose names appear in land records as on February 1 this year will be eligible for the benefit.

After Union Minister Piyush Goyal made announcement on the PM-KISAN scheme in the interim budget presented in Parliament, the Union Government has sent a detailed communication to Chief Secretaries of all the States to complete identification of beneficiaries for facilitating quick distribution.

The benefit would be transferred to the bank account of beneficiaries through State Notional Account in the pattern similar to the MNREGS.