Compiled By :- Er.

Sumit Machra Telegram:-@rasrpsc

Rajasthan Current Affairs February 2018

CSI ‘e-Ratna of India’ Award Handed Over to CM

ð The ‘e-Ratna of India’ award conferred upon Chief Minister Smt. Vasundhara Raje by
Computer Society of India during the 52nd Annual Convention was handed over to Smt. Raje by
Principal Secretary, IT & Communication Shri Akhil Arora here at Chief Minister’s residence.

ð While taking the award, CM Raje said providing service delivery to our citizens in a quick and
transparent manner was on the top priority of our government. The innovations made in the IT
sector in Rajasthan during the last four years have set an example in the country and Rajasthan
has emerged as the model state in IT sector, she said.

ð Also, Rajasthan emerged as the Best e-Governance State for its excellence, bagging the award
at CSI Annual Convention, adding another feather to the cap. Along with this, five initiatives,
from Dept. of IT & Communication won e-governance initiative of the year award.

ð ‘Bhamashah Swasthya Bima Yojana’ (BSBY) bagged best initiative in the field of healthcare,
‘Raj Mahila Suraksha’ in women safety and security, ‘Raj e-Gyan’ in education; ‘Fraud
Detection Framework’ for process innovation and Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s ambitious
project ‘Mukhyamantri Jal Swavlamban Abhiyan’ (MJSA) received excellent initiative of the
year award.

 Solar pumps may help cut subsidized power in Rajasthan

 The Budget proposals provided a fillip to the vibrant solar sector in Rajasthan. As per the
proposals, the import of solar tempered glass for manufacture of solar cells will be
exempted from customs duty. The decision will reduce the cost of manufacturing and
eventually the cost of solar modules and power systems. Earlier, the duty was 5%.

 Power for agricultural sector was adding stress to the Discoms as they were subsidized.
If solar pumps can be encouraged, then the burden on the Discoms would reduce.

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Compiled By :- Er. Sumit Machra Telegram:-@rasrpsc

The idea is good but it needs infrastructure to connect the solar systems in the fields to
the distribution network

 Gender balance programme planned at schools in 9 Rajasthan districts

 The state education department is undertaking a special training programme, ‘Gender

Balance’, for teachers in nine districts where the gender gap in literacy level is above
20%.
The State Institute of Education Research and Training (SIERT), Udaipur, has integrated
the gender balance component in their training modules by either replacing boys with
girls or giving equal space in training material—content, graphics and illustrations. The
SIERT designs training modules for teachers in the state.

 The programme is meant for primary and upper primary class teachers. As per the
module, teachers will further sensitize students and parents. The module has visual and
animated content on how girls face discrimination in families and classrooms.

 The training module designed with the help of UNICEF is to sensitize teachers about the
cause and effect of girls missing from classrooms. The programme, which will be carried
out in three phases in various periods of the year, aims to minimize dropouts, increase
enrolment of girls and improve learning outcomes. Ajmer, Barmer, Bhilwara, Jaisalmer,
Jalore, Pali, Sawai Madhopur, Sirohi and Tonk districts have a literacy divide of 20% and
above.

 Rajasthan budget to focus on farmers, tribal welfare

 Chief minister Vasundhara Raje has hinted at focusing the election year budget on
farmers and tribal welfare during a pre-budget meeting.

 Following Central government’s budget, Raje asserted that the state budget will also aim
to double the farmers’ income by 2022. The Union government in the budget 2018 has
announced to double the farmers income by 2022.

Compiled By :- Er. Sumit Machra Telegram:-@rasrpsc

Compiled By :- Er. Sumit Machra Telegram:-@rasrpsc

 Other than the technical intervention, Raje has plans to bring more land under the
irrigation. She said that Eastern Rajasthan Canal project will bring a much greater relief
to the 13 district frequent to droughts. Under this project the river water which goes waste
will be used for irrigation.

 Most of the departments urge to increase the budgetary allocation along with the
submitted a list of election year sops to included in the budget. The date of budget is 12
February 2018

 AICTE lauds Rajasthan’s ranking system for engineering colleges

 Rajasthan Technical University’s (RTU) system of ranking its engineering colleges on a

scale of 1000 points has won praise from the All India Council for Technical
Education(AICTE), the body governing all technical institutes in the country.
AICTE has sought details of the system after which it will direct other technical
universities to emulate it.
 The first-of-its-kind ranking system based on 29 parameters – from parking space to size
of the stairs – has been uploaded on RTU’s website to help students choose colleges.

 The ranking was done by RTU after procuring information online on parameters like:
student-teacher ratio, number of courses, total enrolment of students and teachers,
number of smart classes, hostel and mess, insurance, playground, number of students
scoring first division marks, number of conferences, seminars and journals published by
the university in an academic session.

 Rajasthan: Cradle project manages to save 100 abandoned babies

 Cradles set up in various government hospitals for abandoned children have proved to be
a success and managed to save several children who may otherwise have been left on the
streets or bushes.
The idea was mooted to encourage safe abandoning of children. Over the past two years
(from January 2016 till December 2017), 117 such children were abandoned in cradles of
various government hospitals. Of these, 17 died from ailments.

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Compiled By :- Er. Sumit Machra Telegram:-@rasrpsc

 The state government’s network of 68 cradles is spread across the state. They have been
placed in district hospitals, women’s hospitals, satellite hospitals and sub-district
hospitals. The location to set up cradles was chosen strategically.

 As per data, 23 infants were abandoned safely in cradles in Jaipur division, 16 in Jodhpur
division, 18 in Ajmer, 7 in Bharatpur, 6 in Bikaner, 11 in Kota and 36 in Udaipur.

 Officials said that there were various reasons for abandoning infants—some were
unwanted, some discarded as they were girls, others as families could not afford to raise
them.

 14-yr-old swimmer Gauravi Singhvi does Rajasthan proud in Mumbai

 Ninth-grader Gauravi Singhvi, 14, from the City of Lakes set another record by covering
a distance of 48 kilometers in 9 hours 22 minutes in Mumbai on Tuesday. She is the
youngest swimmer in the state to do so.
 She began her mission from Khardanda in Juhu beach early morning at 3.30 am and
accomplished it by reaching at the Gateway of India around 1 pm. Gauravi also has a
record of being the youngest one to have covered 36 kilometres in the Arabian Sea

 Rajasthan gears up to fight child mortality with new vaccine

 The state is getting ready for a new vaccine for preventing mortalities among under-5
children. Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) has been included in Universal
Immunization Programme(UIP) in the state. About 4.6 lakh children will be benefited in
a year in selected nine districts, which have highest under-5 mortality rate.
The vaccine will be launched in April to be administered in three different phases. The
first dose will be given to each eligible beneficiary at six weeks, 14 weeks and a booster
dose at completion of nine months. The vaccine will be available at all health facilities
free-of-cost.

 Officials said that nine districts have been selected for launching the PCV with high
under-5 mortality in the first phase.

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Compiled By :- Er. Sumit Machra Telegram:-@rasrpsc

 The districts are Barmer, Banswara, Dungarpur, Jalore, Pali, Pratapgarh, Rajsamand,
Sirohi and Udaipur.

 Pneumonia is number one killer among the leading infectious diseases in under-5 age
group of India.

 The introduction of PCV will help the state government in reducing the burden of
pneumonia and other illnesses caused by pneumococcal bacteria.

 Officials said that PCV is an expensive and safe vaccine which has been used in almost
141 countries without safety concerns. In India, it has been launched in Himachal
Pradesh and some districts of UP and Bihar.

 Smart transmission management system launched in Rajasthan

 Pushpendra Singh, minister of state for energy, launched the smart transmission operation
management system through web in the state.

 Through this system, functions of scheduling of generation and demand, deviation

settlement, energy accounting and billing, approval of open access, etc., are automated
through web-based services.

 As per the regulations issued by Rajasthan Electricity RegulatoryCommission (RERC),

deviation charges based on deviation of generation/demand of every block (15 min) and
grid frequency for power generators, discoms, railways, etc., connected to transmission
system is finalized.

 After implementation of this system, all the power generators/users who are covered
under the above regulation will be able to make their scheduling online. Their bills for
deviation charges will also be issued online

Compiled By :- Er. Sumit Machra Telegram:-@rasrpsc

Compiled By :- Er. Sumit Machra Telegram:-@rasrpsc

 Rajasthan govt puts Public Private Partnership policy for school education in cold
storage

 The state government has put the policy for Public Private Partnership (PPP) in School
Education-2017 on a cold storage after series of protests by the teachers’ associations,
opposition party and even their own members of legislative assembly.

 Under the policy, 300 schools have been put under the PPP mode across the state with 7-
10 schools in every district in the first phase. The private players have to shell out Rs 75
lakhs per school for operations and development, apart from providing teachers and other
staff for the classes 1 to XII at these schools

 State can leverage land bank to attract industries

 With the implementation of GST, the scope for using tax as an incentive has gone out of
window for the government. Chief minister Vasundhara Raje has to look for other
avenues to drive the state’s industrialization and job generation thereof.
The one nation, one tax (GST) regime has created a level playing field for all states and
they are now looking for areas where they can outwit others in attracting industry.
For Rajasthan, the new dynamics offers some opportunities which the state can use to its
advantage.
 The desert state is one of the few to be sitting on a huge land bank of about 9,000
hactares. This can be used to incentivize industries, said an expert. Secondly, the state has
rolled out investor-friendly policies across sectors after it came to power in December
2013. But the implementation has not matched up with the intent of those policies
created. Ease of doing business would be a key catalyst for achieving the goals.

 Other areas that the budget is expected to focus is on skill development that has been a
running theme of this government. Availability of skilled labour is one of the main
factors that influence the decision of a company in setting up industries in any location

 State touches rock bottom in NITI Aayog health index

 The state has secured an appalling last rank among 21 bigger states in the ‘performance
in health outcomes’ category when NITI Aayog released the health index of the country.

Compiled By :- Er. Sumit Machra Telegram:-@rasrpsc

Compiled By :- Er. Sumit Machra Telegram:-@rasrpsc

 It has done slightly better and come 20th in the overall ranking for 2015-16 in
the NITI Aayog and World Bank survey, ‘Healthy States Progressive India Report’.

 The ‘performance in health outcomes’ index covers state’s neo-natal mortality rate, total
fertility rate, under-five mortality rate, sex ratio at birth, proportion of low birth weight
among newborns, percentage of full immunization coverage, proportion of institutional
deliveries, proportion of people living with HIV taking antiretroviral therapy, treatment
success rate of new microbiologically confirmed TB cases.

 In all these health indicators, collectively, the state’s performance is the worst among 21
bigger states.

 However, the overall reference year (2015-16) performance ranking of the state remained
unchanged in the second last position. The overall ranking was decided on three broad
categories—health outcomes (indicator), governance and processes.

 While Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh are the top three ranking states in
terms of annual incremental performance, Rajasthan’s incremental performance was just
moderate and not enough to improve its ranking. In comparison to base year (2014-15),
Rajasthan’s overall performance index score increased by 2 points from 35 to 37.

 The state’s incremental rank is 8th in the country. Since all the other states except UP
already have much better scores than Rajasthan, the moderate incremental change (2
points) did not help the state in improving its ranking.

 With an addition of 17 more points, Rajasthan achieved the highest incremental change in
this category. In key inputs/process domain, it has secured 10th rank among 21 bigger
states.

 Rajasthan falls to sixth rank in ease of doing business

Compiled By :- Er. Sumit Machra Telegram:-@rasrpsc

Compiled By :- Er. Sumit Machra Telegram:-@rasrpsc

 Rajasthan’s ranking in ‘ease of doing business’ has slipped from top five positions as
local bodies and urban improvement trusts (UITs) lag in implementing business reforms.
The state’s real-time ranking was third till January 2018, but now it has slipped to sixth
position.

 The yearly state-wise ranking will be based on assessment of implementation of the

‘Business Reforms Action Plan’ (BRAP) in 2017.

 According to the data available on department of industrial policy and promotion

(DIPP’s) website — http://eodb.dipp.gov.in — which provides real-time ranking and
tracking of the states and UTs based on the implementation of the recommendations,
Rajasthan stood at 6th place as on February 1 with an implementation score of 89.97%.
However, the ranking is dynamic and till they are frozen, these positions could change
due to intense competition between states.

 According to sources, the position of Rajasthan is expected to fall further as it failed to

fulfil recent recommendations provided by the Centre.

 The state government in October 2017 had forwarded the BRAP including a total of 372
recommendations framed by department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP),
ministry of commerce and industry, in association with the World Bank.

 The assessment in 2017 include paper-less courts, online single window system, online
tax payment, contract enforcement, land availability and allotment, obtaining electricity
and water connection, enablers for transparency, tax, labour regulation, construction
permits, environmental registration as well as commercial dispute resolution and online
systems for property registration.

 Rajasthan gets Rs 784 cr for smart city projects

 The Centre has released Rs 784 crore for Rajasthan’s four cities – Jaipur,
Udaipur, Kota and Ajmer – which were selected under the smart city projects.
The housing and urban affairs ministry has announced 99 cities for central assistance

Compiled By :- Er. Sumit Machra Telegram:-@rasrpsc

Compiled By :- Er. Sumit Machra Telegram:-@rasrpsc

under the BJP government’s flagship programme. The state has received funds under this
scheme.

 While Jaipur and Udaipur were selected in the first round of competition. Ajmer and
Kota made the cut in the second and third lists respectively. Under the smart mission, the
cities need to take up various projects like smart roads, rejuvenation of water bodies,
cycle tracks, walking paths, smart classrooms, skill development centres, upgradation of
health facilities and pan city projects like integrated command and control centres

 Union Government Inks $100 Million Loan Agreement With NDB For Rajasthan
Water Project

 The union government has signed second Loan Agreement with New Development
Bank (NDB)for the financing of Rajasthan Water Sector Restructuring Project for the
Desert Areas.
 This is the first tranche loan of $100 million was approved by the NDB under Multi-
Tranche Financing Facility of $345 million for this project. The objective of the project is
to rehabilitate 678 km long Indira Gandhi Nahar Project (IGNP) built during 1958-63 to
prevent seepage.

 Jaipur’s Gandhinagar Railway Station Becomes Fully Women Operated Station

 The Gandhi Nagar railway station in Jaipur, Rajasthan became railway station to be
fully-managed by women.
 Gandhi Nagar is an important railway station in Jaipur situated on the Jaipur-Delhi rail
route.
 The station has a footfall of more than 7,000 passengers every day.

 There are 40 women staff at the station beside women personnel of the railway protection
force have been deployed at the station

 Alumni associations at govt schools soon in Rajasthan

 State education department will ask the district education officers to form alumni
associations in each government secondary and senior secondary schools from the
coming academic session.

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Compiled By :- Er. Sumit Machra Telegram:-@rasrpsc

 It aims to bring confidence among students and seek assistance from the alumni in
developing infrastructure. The formal announcement of the programme will be made on
February 26. The teaching staffs of each school have to trace the notable alumni,
including bureaucrats, army personals, judges and politicians who will lead these
associations.

 State has 11900 secondary and senior schools. The department has started identifying
several serving officers in Rajasthan and outside who have studied from the government
schools. These officers will be approached to lead the associations and help in developing
these schools.

 Rajasthan CSR Summit-2018

 The Rajasthan CSR Summit and 2nd Rajasthan CSR Awards are an initiative of
Government of Rajasthan to encourage companies, CSR foundations and implementing
partners to deliver quality impact through CSR projects and adopt multi-stakeholder
approach leading to excellence in project outcomes.

 This initiative focuses on identifying and felicitating footprints of successful CSR

projects in Rajasthan. The Awards seek to appreciate project specific impacts made by
the organizations in identified thematic areas, to set benchmark in project planning,
identification of partners and delivery of results.

 The Office of Commissioner Industries & Secretary Corporate Social

Responsibility(CSR) with Co-partnership with NGOBOX Reanalysis Consultant jointly
hosted “Rajasthan CSR Summit-2018” on February 6, 2018 at The Hotel The lalit,
Jaipur. Summit was attended by over 650 delegates from Government agencies,
businesses, CSR foundations, the UN agencies, Non-Government Organizations and
social enterprises.

 While in a tremendous show of strength and solidarity, INR 351.40 crores was spent in
the last financial year 2016-17 (by 165 Companies) in Rajasthan and the initiatives
spanned across social sectors such as education, health, rural development, water

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Compiled By :- Er. Sumit Machra Telegram:-@rasrpsc

conservation, etc., there are some challenges as well in implementing these initiatives
effectively and efficiently.

 The main focus of the Summit was on the recognition of CSR Programs running by
Corporates, implementing agencies in Rajasthan; Implementation of CSR initiatives in
Rajasthan; CSR intervention in the field of Education, Women Empowerment through
CSR, Measuring Impacts of CSR, Healthcare, Water conservation, creating Livelihood
opportunities has been looked as the top priorities in Rajasthan. The main premise of the
summit was to build on new avenues for CSR to work towards maximum utilization of
resources such as technology and business know-how in order to build a better CSR
ecosystem in the state.

 Rajasthan gets its fourth liquor-free village

 Through a referendum, the villagers voted to shut a decade-old liquor shop in Foga. With
over 97% votes going against the shop, the verdict was crystal clear. The polling was
organised by the excise department. Only 46 votes were polled in favour of the liquor
shop, and 30 votes were cancelled.

 With this, Foga joins the league of three other villages—Kachhbali, Rojda and
Mandawar—which have already been declared liquorfree villages over the past two
years.

 PM to launch nutrition mission from jhunjhunu

 PRIME Minister Narendra Modi will launch the National Nutrition Mission on the
occasion of International Women’s Day on March 8 from Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu.

 The Centre in December approved the mission to tackle under-nutrition, low birth weight
and stunting, and sanctioned ₹ 9,046 crore for a period of three years.

 In the first phase in 2017-18, the mission will be launched in315 districts, including 24 in
Rajasthan.

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Compiled By :- Er. Sumit Machra Telegram:-@rasrpsc

 At present, thebeti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign covers 14 districts of the state. Modi
launched the scheme from Panipat in Haryana on January 22,2015 . Ten districts of
Rajasthan were covered during the launch. In February 2016, four more districts were
added to the programme.

 The scheme was launched to address the declining sex ratio and to empower women

 Centre stops job scheme funds for cleanliness drive

 The Centre has asked the Rajasthan government to stop using national rural job scheme
funds for a village cleanliness drive in the state, said officials familiar with the
development.

 In 2016, chief minister Vasundhara Raje announced Mukhyamantri Swachh Gram Yojna
(MSGY) to ensure cleanliness in villages and boost the Prime Minister’s dream project
Swachh Bharat Mission, which set a target to make the country open defecation-free by
October 2, 2019.

 The state government linked the village cleanliness scheme with the Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) for partial fund support.

 The Centre has now directed the state government to arrange funds for the cleanliness
scheme through other means.

 State panchayati raj minister Rajendra Rathore confirmed that the Centre had stopped
diversion of MGNREGA funds for the cleanliness scheme. The union rural development
ministry issued the directive in this regard on February 9.

Compiled By :- Er. Sumit Machra Telegram:-@rasrpsc

Compiled By :- Er. Sumit Machra Telegram:-@rasrpsc

 The CM’S scheme aimed at making villages clean and creating awareness about
cleanliness among the rural people besides encouraging them to recycle biodegradable
waste.

 The scheme was launched only in panchayats which were open defecation-free. As part
of the scheme, the state government directed MGNREGA authorities in the districts to
appoint two sweepers in each cluster — covering 150 households.

 The government also directed that dustbins be installed for every 10 to 15 families and e-
rickshaws collect the garbage from the dustbins and transport it to the treatment plant for
disposal.

 Out of 489 panchayats in Barmer district, the scheme could be launched only in 75
panchayats. Even after two years, no dustbins or e-rickshaw have been purchased,
officials said.

 Rajasthan proposes exclusion of buffalo from Bovine Act

 The state cabinet in a major decision proposed to exclude buffaloes and its progenies
from the definition of Rajasthan Bovine Animal(Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation
of Temporary Migration or Export) Act, 1995.

 State parliamentary affairs minister Rajendra Rathore said, the relaxation was made in
tune with the central law which also makes a distinction between cow and buffaloes and
excludes it from the list of bovine. This would give a big relief to meat traders from the
terror of cow vigilantes, as previously there was no distinction between cow and buffalo
in the state Act.

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Compiled By :- Er. Sumit Machra Telegram:-@rasrpsc

 Another two amendments proposed in the Bovine Act give powers to the competent
authority to seize the vehicles used for the illegal export of cows, its progenies and also
arrest the people engaged in this illegal activity.

 “The state cabinet has decided to make some significant amendments

in Rajasthan Bovine Animals (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary
Migration or Export) Act 1995, providing rights to seize vehicles used in the illegal
transportation of cow and arrest those responsible. Though the Act makes no mention of
word buffalo in its definition bovine, the word ‘bovine’ by itself includes buffaloes in its
meaning. So in order to remove the confusion and to bring clarity, the government
decided to amend the Act.

 Government launches 2nd Swajal Yojana

project in Rajasthan
 The Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation has launched second project of Swajal
Yojana at village Bhikampura, Karauli, Rajasthan. It was launched by Union Minister of
Drinking Water and Sanitation Uma Bharti.
 Under this project, four reservoirs will be constructed in village and common tap
connection will be given to almost 300 households.
 Swajal Yojana
 Swajal is community owned drinking water programme for sustained drinking water
supply. The scheme aims at ensuring availability of clean drinking water to every
household round year and also generate employment. Under it, 90% of the project cost is
borne by Government and remaining 10% cost is contributed by the community. The
Operations and management of the project will be taken care by the local villagers.
Project undertaken under it will ease lives of people and ensure that potable water is
available for every individual round the year.

 Government inks $100 million loan

agreement with NDB for Rajasthan
Water Project
 Government has signed second Loan Agreement with New Development Bank (NDB)
for financing of Rajasthan Water Sector Restructuring Project for the Desert Areas. This
is the first tranche loan of $100 million was approved by the NDB under Multi Tranche
Financing Facility of $345 million for this project.
 Rajasthan Water Sector Restructuring Project
 The objective of the project is to rehabilitate 678 km long Indira Gandhi Nahar Project
(IGNP) built during 1958-63 to prevent seepage, conserve water, and enhance water use
efficiency as mandated by both national and state level policies on water use. The project

Compiled By :- Er. Sumit Machra Telegram:-@rasrpsc

Compiled By :- Er. Sumit Machra Telegram:-@rasrpsc

will enable arresting the seepage by rehabilitating the deteriorating canal lining of IGNP
system which needs urgent attention. Its implementation period is of 6 years.
 The project is aimed at arresting seepage by refurbishing canal, modernisation of
irrigation management practices by involving water users’ associations, strengthening of
drinking water supply and irrigation facilities and rehabilitation of waterlogged areas.
 New Development Bank
 NDB is multilateral development bank promoted by BRICS nations viz. Brazil, Russia,
India, China and South Africa. It is outcome of 6th BRICS Summit being held in
Fortaleza, Brazil. It is headquartered in Shanghai, China. It will have a regional office in
Johannesburg, South Africa.
 NDB began its operations in July 2015 with an initial capital of 100 billion dollars. The
goal of the bank is to fund infrastructure projects in emerging economies for sustainable
development. In the NDB, each participant country has been assigned one vote, and none
of the countries have veto power.

Compiled By :- Er. Sumit Machra Telegram:-@rasrpsc