13 Feb 2018: UPSC Exam PIB Summary & Analysis

LPG Panchayat

• The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, hosted an ‘LPG Panchayat at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
• The LPG Panchayat was organised by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
• Its aim is to provide a platform for LPG consumers to interact with each other, promote mutual learning and share experiences.
• Each LPG Panchayat has about 100 LPG customers coming together, near their living areas,to discuss safe and sustainable usage of LPG, its benefits and the link between clean fuel for cooking and women’s empowerment. 
• The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas intends to conduct 1 lakh such Panchayats across India before March 31, 2019.

World Radio Day

• World Radio Day is an observance day held annually on 13 February.
• World Radio Day is about celebrating radio, why we love it and why we need it today more than ever.
• It was proclaimed on 3 November 2011 by UNESCO’s 36th General Conference after originally being proposed by the Kingdom of Spain.

India-Russia Agriculture Business Summit

• India-Russia Agriculture Business Summit will be held in New Delhi.
• Celebration of 70 years of Agricultural Relationship to be held in Suratgarh, Rajasthan on 14th February 2018.
• The Russian and Indian delegations will visit Central State Farm (CSF) in Suratgarh, Rajasthan on 14.2.2018, which was set up in 1956 with assistance from erstwhile USSR.

India Pharma & India Medical Device 2018

• The Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP), Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, along with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), is organizing the event in Bengaluru.
• The theme of the event is – ‘Driving NextGen Pharmaceuticals’.
• More than 20 international drug and device regulatorswill participate in a meet with Indian regulators. Ministerial delegations from CIS and BIMSTEC countries will also attend the event.
• A key highlight of India Pharma & India Medical Device 2018 is a workshop by World Health Organization on ‘Regulatory System Strengthening and Prequalification’.

Adarsh Smarak Schme for Conservation of Monuments 

• In the budget Union Finance minister announced to provide tourist amenities at 100 Adarsh monuments of the Archaeological Survey of India.

The salient features of the scheme are as under:

• To make monument visitor friendly.
• To upgrade/provide wash rooms, drinking water, signages, cafeteria and wi-fi facility
• To provide Interpretation and audio-video  centres
• To streamline waste water and garbage disposal and rain water harvesting system
• To make monument accessible to differently abled
• To implement Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

Indian Power Stations 2018

• Union Minister of State (IC) for Power and New and Renewable Energy, Shri R.K. Singh inaugurated the ‘Indian Power Stations 2018’ – three-day International Conference on Operations and Maintenance.
• The Minister exhorted the NTPC to become India’s power sector multinational by setting up power plants in other Nations and become world’s largest power producer. 
• The Minister said that neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Nepal and Bangladesh are viable markets for export of power, where per unit cost of electricity is very high. He added that Ministry of Power would explore the idea of sending teams to these countries to assess the demand for export of power.

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