MADHYA PRADESH

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that a campaign for preservation of ponds will be launched in the State from May 1 to June 15. During the campaign, works including renovation, deepening and construction of new ponds will be undertaken.

He told that a water parliament is being organized for discussion on efforts for water conservation in state. Experts related to river and pond conservation will take part in the event.

The Chief Minister said that revival and deepening work of rivers besides ponds will be undertaken in state. Chouhan was addressing citizens at the inauguration of the Bhopal pond deepening campaign.

Chouhan called upon the citizens to offer shramdan in the work of deepening with the spirit of dedication to preserve the pond. Shramdan symbolizes emotional connection with the pond in the work of deepening. Protection of ponds and water, protection of its boundaries is the responsibility of the people besides the administration. He believed that the conscientious and lively residents of Bhopal would not allow the pond to remain inanimate.

INTERNATIONAL

India has ranked 10th on a new Commonwealth Innovation Index, topped by the UK, Singapore and Canada.

The index was launched as part of a new Commonwealth Innovation Hub on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London.

It has been created in partnership with the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and its annual Global Innovation Index (GII).

NATIONAL

The first regional conference of eastern states on Water Resources was held in Kolkata on April 16 to address the outstanding water issues of these states.

The conference deliberated on finding a solution to mitigate intra and intra-basin issues relating to water resources in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal.

The issue of interlinking of rivers also come-up for discussion at the conference.

East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh is all set to become the country’s first ‘LED street light district’.

The rural LED street lighting programme in the district entailing the installation of around 3.1 lakh LED street lights has been completed.

AP is already ranked the best State in implementation of energy efficiency and conservation programmes by the World Bank.

The Union Government has stated that the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojanaor PMGSY is well on its way to achieving the target by March 2019.
The scheme, since its inception in 2000, has been able to provide connectivity to more than One lakh 50 thousand habitations.
Sensing the importance and urgency of rural roads for national development, the target date for completion of PMGSY-I has been preponed from 2022 to 2019.

· Electric vehicles charging stations need no licence, clarifies Power Ministry

The Power Ministry has categorised charging batteries of electric vehicles as a service, a move which will help such stations operate without licence and encourage the use of e-vehicles.
Transmission, distribution and trading of electricity need licences under the Electricity Act. Therefore, all utilities have to seek licences for sale of power to consumers.
The Ministry said in a clarification that during the charing of e-vehicles, a station does not perform any activity related to the transmission, distribution or trading of electricity.
Hence charging of batteries of electric vehicles through charging station does not any require licence under the provision of the Electricity Act 2003.
In the present scenario, the EVs make economic sense as their per km running cost is less than a rupee, whereas the same cost for petrol and diesel works out to an average of ₹6.50.
The government’s National Electric Mobility Mission Plan launched in 2013 aims at ensuring 6-7 million electric and hybrid vehicles in India by 2020.

The vision enunciated two years ago is for India to have 100% EVs by 2030.