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- Delhi government’s additional director of health S.K. Arora has been awarded with the prestigious WHO World No Tobacco Day 2017 Award for his extraordinary contribution towards tobacco control.
- He was presented the award by Henk Bekedam, WHO India country head, at a gathering on August 16. Dr Arora said that the tobacco prevalence in Delhi has come down by 6.5 per cent in the past six years, which is more than the rest of India average figures.
- The National Health Policy 2017 of the government of India has set targets of relative reduction in tobacco prevalence by 15 per cent by 2020 and 30 per cent by 2025. “Delhi has already achieved these targets before 2017,” Dr Arora added.
- According to Global Adult Toba-cco Survey-2 (GATS 2, 2016-17), the prevalence of tobacco use has reduced by 27 per cent in Delhi as compared to 17 per cent for the rest of India average. Similarly, current tobacco smokers in Delhi have reduced by 35 per cent as compared to 23 per cent for the rest of India average.
- The current gutkha users have also significantly reduced by 63 per cent as compared to the rest of India average figures of just 17 per cent. For cessation modalities also, Delhi has performed much better than the rest of India average figures.
- The Delhi government’s health department has been fighting against direct advertisement of brand promotion of tobacco and surrogate advertisement of tobaccos in the name of pan masala and other edibles such as tea, ilaichi (cardamom) for the past four years.“I have written to CBSE and NCERT for last few years to create a chapter in schools curriculum to tackle the menace of tobacco in the country,” Dr Arora said.
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- Congratulating the Indian team involved in the research, Science and Technology Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan that this proves that our scientists are capable of matching the best in the world in any discipline.
- In a major scientific breakthrough, a team of international researchers have decoded the wheat genome. The international team includes 18 scientists from India. Decoding the wheat genome had been considered insurmountable so far.
- The information generated will help in identifying genes controlling complex agronomic traits such as yield, grain quality, resistance to diseases and pests, as well as tolerance to drought, heat, water logging and salinity.
- Congratulating the Indian team involved in the research, Science and Technology Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan that this proves that our scientists are capable of matching the best in the world in any discipline. He also hailed the breakthrough adding that "cracking of the bread wheat genome will go a long way in developing climate-resilient wheat and help tide over possible impact of climate change on farm output."
- In an article published in 'Science', the authors said, the DNA sequence has been ordered and it represents the highest quality genome sequence generated to date for the bread wheat. The reference genome covers 94 per cent (14.5 Gb) of the entire wheat genome. The bread wheat has a complex hexaploid genome which is 40 times larger than that of the rice genome and 5 times larger than the human genome.
- The research article is authored by more than 200 scientists from 73 research institutions in 20 countries.
- A team of 18 Indian scientists co-authoring this paper, led by Dr Kuldeep Singh at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) Ludhiana, Professor JP Khurana at the University of Delhi South Campus, and Professor Nagendra Singh at ICAR-National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology, Delhi, contributed to the decoding of Chromosome 2A of the wheat genome. This project was financially supported by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India.
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- The Union Home Ministry has agreed to relax conditions laid down in the ‘four-corner agreement’ signed with Bru migrants for their repatriation from Tripura to Mizoram.
- Leaders of the Members of Bru Displacement Forum (MBDPF), who signed the agreement in July this year, were forced to pull out of the deal within two weeks of signing it due to strong protests by the Bru community in Tripura against certain terms of the deal.
- In 1997, a bout of ethnic violence had forced thousands of people from the Bru tribe to leave their homes in Mizoram and settle down in Tripura. Twenty years later, on July 3 this year, the Centre announced the signing of a “historical agreement” with the Governments of Mizoram and Tripura, the Union Home Ministry and the MBDPF.
- As part of the agreement, 32876 persons from 5,407 families, presently staying in temporary camps in Tripura, would be repatriated to Mizoram before September 30. The deal also specified a financial assistance of Rs 435 crore over a period of two years.
- Each of the 5,407 Bru families who moved from Tripura to Mizoram was to be given a one-time financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh to be kept as fixed deposit in the name of the head of the family. However, according to the initial agreement, the cash assistance was to be provided only after three years of uninterrupted stay in Mizoram.
- Home Ministry sources said Bru communities in Tripura have also been assured that on relocation, at least 50 refugees will be settled in each village. The MBDPF had demanded cluster housing for all those being repatriated, a proposal that was rejected by the Mizoram government.
- Besides financial assistance, the four-corner agreement also provides for free ration for two years and a monthly assistance of Rs 5,000 for each family.
- Identity documents such as ration cards and Aadhaar would be issued by the Tripura government. Some of the other measures being planned for the resettlement of these families in Mizoram include Eklavya residential schools, land for Jhum cultivation, permanent residential and ST certificates, and a special development project.
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- The United States government has awarded the Legion of Merit (Degree of Commander) to General Dalbar singh Suhag (Retired), of the Indian army , for exceptionally meritorious service as chief of the Army staff, Indian Army.
- The award was presented to General Suhag on August 17, 2018, at Pentagon, Washington DC, in the presence of his family members and the Indian Military Attache to the United States of America
- The Legion of Merit to General Dalbir Singh was announced by the US Government in March 2016 when he was in chair as the Chief of Army Staff, with the intention of conferring the award to him during his official visit to the United States in April 2016
- However, procedural delays in obtaining necessary government sanction for the award presentation resulted in this not being presented during the official visit. General Dalbir Singh subsequently retired on December 31, 2016.
- The citation of the award stated that in the period August 2014 to April 2016 as Chief of Army Staff, Indian Army, Gen Dalbir Singh rendered exceptionally meritorious service.
- It commended his leadership for the Indian Army's counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations and its humanitarian assistance and disaster relief during the Nepal earthquake in 2015.
- Gen Dalbir Singh was also lauded for sustaining Indian Army contributions to global peacekeeping as one of the World's largest provider of forces to the UN. Notably, the expansion in India-US Army to Army bilateral engagements, improved interoperability and close functional cooperation during Gen Dalbir Singh's tenure as the chief of the Indian Army, came for special mention and high appreciation
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- Government of Telangana launched for the first time Disaster Response Force (DRF) vehicles in the Hyderabad city on 18 August.
- The vehicles will be parked at 24 locations with Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) DRF staff and they will reach the emergency spots in no time.
- Director of Vigilance, Enforcement and Disaster Management, GHMC, Viswajeet Kampati said, "The main aim to start this DRF is that a state should have its own Disaster force. Basically they have been trained in tackling of flooding, tree falls, structural collapses and any other site of normal emergencies.
- DRF has been first brought on to the ground with 120 personal with 8 specialised vehicles and other equipment's which are required. Soon we are going to increase the number of vehicles, equipments and all the other special apparatuses that are required.
- They can continuously work in flooding. The Force also after starting has carried out rescue operations and saved couple of lives.
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