MADHYA PRADESH

Mukhyamantri Krishak Samraddhi Yojana has been launched to enhance the productivity of main agriculture crops like wheat, red lentil, mustard and paddy and to encourage the fair average quality production in the State.

Under the scheme, an incentive amount of Rs 200 per quintal will be deposited in the bank accounts of the farmers for paddy procured during Rabi 2016 and for wheat procured on minimum support price through primary credit cooperative societies during Rabi 2016-17.

Along with this, an incentive amount at the rate of Rs 265 per quintal will be deposited in the bank accounts of the farmers against the wheat procured on minimum support price under the Rabi 2017-18. This amount will be deposited in the bank accounts of the farmers against sale from March 15 to May 26 this year. In addition to this, an incentive amount at the rate of Rs 100 per quintal against procurement of gram, red lentil and mustard on minimum support price will be deposited in farmers’ bank account under the Rabi season.

It has been clearly stated by the Farmers Welfare and Agriculture Development department that benefit of Mukhyamantri Krishak Samraddhi Yojana will be given to the registered farmers in both the cases, whether agriculture produce is sold in mandi at the rate below the minimum support price or above the minimum support price. After verification and certification of e-procurement of all the farmer wise database of wheat under the Rabi 2016-17 and paddy under the Kharif 2017 on minimum support price, information will be provided to the Director Farmers Welfare and Agriculture Development. An incentive amount at the rate of Rs 200 per quintal will be provided to the districts on the basis of verified database.

INTERNATIONAL

· Russia Started Building Turkey’s First Nuclear Power Plant

The Turkish Atomic Energy Authority (TAEK) was awarded a construction license for Akkuyu NPP, Turkey’s first nuclear power plant, which is being built in Mersin province, in southern Turkey. JSC Akkuyu Nuclear is the Russian-owned company which is responsible for the project.
The USD20 billion project to build the four-unit, 4800 MWe plant is part of Erdogan’s ‘2023 Vision’ marking 100 years since the founding of modern Turkey and is intended to reduce the country’s dependence on energy imports. The plant is expected to meet about 10% of Turkey’s electricity needs.

· Sahyog- Hyeoblyeog 2018: Indian, Korean Coast Guards Hold Joint Exercise

Indo-Korean joint anti-piracy, search and rescue exercise ‘Sahyog- Hyeoblyeog 2018’was conducted off the Chennai coast, in Tamil Nadu.
The Korean Coast Guard ship ‘Bodaro’ took part in the exercise.
Indian Coast Guard deployed a Dornier aircraft to carry out a sea-air coordinated search along with ICG Shaurya, Rani Abbakka, C-423, C-431 in the exercise.
The mission of the joint exercise is to develop working level co-operation and enhance interoperability in the fields of maritime search and rescue, anti-piracy operations.

In a major achievement, India has overtaken Japan to become the world’s second largest producer of crude steel in February, according to the Steel Users Federation of India (SUFI).

At present, China is the largest producer of crude steel in the world, accounting for more than 50% of the production.

India overtook the U.S. in 2015 to become the third largest producer of crude steel.

NATIONAL

The National Maritime Day of India is observed on 5 April every year across the country.

On this day in 1919 navigation history was created when SS Loyalty, the first ship of The Scindia Steam Navigation Company Ltd., journeyed to the United Kingdom.

The theme of the National Maritime Day in 2018 is ‘Indian Shipping – An Ocean of opportunity

The Union Minister for Railways and Coal Shri Piyush Goyal launched UTTAM App for Coal Quality Monitoring. UTTAM stands for – Unlocking Transparency by Third Party Assessment of Mined Coal (uttam.coalindia.in).

The Ministry of Coal and Coal India Limited (CIL) developed UTTAM,aims to provide an App for all citizens and coal consumers to monitor the process of Third Party Sampling of coal across CIL subsidiaries.

UTTAM App ensures accountability, transparency, effectiveness and efficiency in coal ecosystem.

UTTAM is an example of leveraging technology to facilitate a bidirectional channel between Coal India Limited and a common citizen.

India will host the 16th International Energy Forum (IEF) Ministerial Meeting from 10-12th April 2018 in New Delhi.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will formally inaugurate the Meeting on 11th April 2018.

The biennial IEF Ministerial Meetings are the world’s largest gathering of Energy Ministers who engage in a dialogue on global energy issues.

The IEF Ministerial meetings are informal dialogues, at both the political and technical levels, aimed to improve policy and investment decisions, and through increased knowledge and experience sharing.

World champion weightlifter Mirabai Chanu (48kg) secured India’s first gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Earlier, Weightlifter Gururaja bagged India’s first medal (silver) in the 2018 Commonwealth Games with a total lift of 249 kg in the men’s 56 kg event

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B)constituted a 10-member committee to regulate online portals, including news websites, entertainment.
The committee will include secretaries of departments of Home, Electronics and Information and Technology, Legal Affairs and Industrial Policy.
The committee will look to bring online information dissemination under regulation. It will propose a policy for foreign direct investment (FDI).