TAMILNADU
- Tamil Nadu: Make exports compulsory for sugar mills, plead industry association
- The sugar mills in Tamil Nadu, whose production has been exceeding domestic demands since the last two seasons, want the government to make exports compulsory for each sugar mill.
- As per the estimates of the Indian Sugar Mills’ Association sugar production during the 2018-2019 (October to September) season to be 35 million tons. During 2017-2018, it was about 32 million tons. The carryover stock is 10.3 million tons. The domestic demand is about 26 million tons and about five lakh tons sugar were exported in 2017-2018.
- The industry is keen on improving the performance in the next sugar season starting this month. And as the Indian sugar sector steps into a new season, it anticipates more exports, price stability in the domestic market, and clearance of cane arrears to farmers.
- In Tamil Nadu, with poor rainfall hitting sugarcane production for the last six years, capacity utilisation dropped to 27% and production in 2017-2018 was just 0.7 million tons. It is expected to be 0.85 million tons in 2018-2019 and capacity utilisation at about 32 %. With lower capacity utilisation, the cost of production of sugar for TN mills will be higher by Rs 10 a kg compared to mills in other States.
- The Centre recently announced a Rs 5,500-crore package. It includes Rs 1,375 crore towards internal transport, freight handling, and other charges for exports and Rs. 4,163 crore directly to farmers as part of fair and remunerative price (FRP) for 2018-19, if they fulfil the stipulations of the Department of Food and Public Distribution.
INTERNATIONAL
· First Global Guidelines on Sanitation and Health launched by World Health organisation
- World Health Organization (WHO) launched its first Global Guidelines on Sanitation and Health.
- According to estimation, for every US$ 1 invested in sanitation a nearly six-fold return can be expected.
- The new guidelines are based on four principal recommendations. They are:
- Accessible toilets, for entire communities, that safely contain excreta, through Sanitation interventions.
- Local health risk assessments to protect individuals and communities from exposure to excreta.
- Integration of sanitation into regular local government-led planning and service provision
- The health sector should invest more and play a coordinating role in sanitation planning to protect public health.
· India ranked 28th among 73 countries in govt e-payment adoption: 2018 Visa Survey
- The Government E-Payments Adoption Ranking (GEAR), compiled by The Economist Intelligence Unit commissioned by payments company Visa ranked India as 28th country to progress in the digital transformation journey.
- India moved up to 28th in 2018, from 36th in 2011.
- It holds the top ranking on B2G and G2B and comes third on C2G jointly with Argentina.
India leads the B2G category, along with other countries like Australia, Singapore and South Korea.
NATIONAL
- Pakistan asks India to share data of J&K’s Kishanganga dam
- Pakistan has asked India to immediately share the data showing inflow and discharge of water at the Kishanganga hydropower project in Jammu and Kashmir.
- It has also sought dates for inspection of the 330MW hydroelectric project that India had agreed to during a two-day meeting held in August in Lahore between Indus water commissioners of the two countries.
- Indian International Science Festival to begin in Lucknow
- A four-day Indian International Science Festival 2018 will start in Lucknow on 5 October.
- President Ramnath Kovind will formally inaugurate the festival on 6 October.
- Union Science and Technology Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said about ten thousand scientists and experts, including science teachers and students will participate in the event.
- Theme of this year’s festival is “Science for transformation”.
· Digi Yatra: Flyers can use facial recognition biometrics to enter airports soon
- Taking the digitisation drive to another level, the Centre has announced the introduction of facial recognition biometric facilities at Indian airports. Soon, passengers would be able to enter airports with the use of facial recognition biometric technology.
- The Digi Yatra initiative, which will be operational by February 2019, seeks to promote paperless and hassle-free air travel. The biometrics-based digital processing system for passenger entry and related requirements at the airport was first proposed by the aviation ministry in July this year.
· Experts says mutated virus might have killed Gujarat lions
- Wildlife experts say that the death of 21 lions in the last month maybe because of a mutation in a virus. In 1994, the Canine Distemper Virus (CDV) was responsible for an epidemic in the Serengeti region of Africa, where 1,000 lions died in 3 weeks. While the virus abounds in local tiger populations in Gujarat and is linked to deaths every year.
- An expert on lions at the Wildlife Institute of India said that this is the first time in years, that so many deaths have been attributed to the virus. However, every year 80-90 lions died due to various causes. The 2015 lion censusrecorded 523 lions. There was a 3% growth and now the number of lions are around 600.
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