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1. Vice President Releases India State-level Disease Burden Report and Technical Paper

The Vice President said that the report by the India State-level Disease Burden Initiative released today provides these comprehensive estimates for each state from 1990 to 2016 for the first time in India.

The Vice President said that achieving good health for all of India’s population is an important goal of the government of India as a foundation for further social and economic development. He further said that the gap between the highest life expectancy in an Indian state and the lowest life expectancy currently is 11 years, and the difference between the state with the highest infant mortality rate and lowest rate is 4 fold.

The Vice President said that many health indicators in India continue to be poorer than some other countries at a similar level of development. He further said that this implies that while significant health improvements have happened in India, we could do better.

2. 300 Cyber security experts to attend first ever Asia Pacific Computer Emergency Response Team (Apcert) Conference

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) under the aegis of Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology organizing the Asia Pacific Computer Emergency Response Team (APCERT) Conference from November 12-15, 2017 in New Delhi. This is the 15th Conference of APCERT and first ever conference in India and South Asia and is expected to be attended by 21 economies.

The conference theme is "Building Trust in the Digital Economy". November 12-14 are closed for AGM and other APCERT meetings. The open session including industry, academia, civil society and Government stakeholders will be held on November 15, 2017 at Hotel The Ashok, New Delhi.

This conference would cover contemporary topics around strategies of CERTs, Technology and Instruments for building trust in digitally evolving economies and best practices for handling cyber security in mobile and social media.

3. Hunar Haat - Development with Dignity, Samman Ke Saath Sashaktikaran, Empowerment without Appeasement

Hunar Haats are organised by Ministry of Minority Affairs under USTTAD (Upgrading the Skills & Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development) scheme. The USTTAD scheme aims at preserving & promoting the rich heritage of the traditional arts & crafts of the Minority communities. This is one of the flagship programmes of the Ministry.

The Minister informed that this is the fourth Hunar Haat, the first two were held in Delhi and the third in Puducherry. More than 40 lakh people visited these three Hunar Haats. It is proposed to hold 10-12 Hunar Haats across the country in one calender year, starting with Mumbai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Bhopal and other places. Besides this, the Ministry is also working to establish “Hunar Hub” in all states where artisans will be provided training and other facilities.

The Minister informed that this Hunar Haat exhibition is unique from earlier exhibitions as for the first time products made by inmates of Delhi’s Tihar Jail are also being showcased and sold which gives them a sense of self-dependency and appreciation. These products include furniture, handlooms, handicrafts, bakery items, hand-prepared oil, organic spices and grain.

4. National Power Portal(NPP) – a Centralized Platform for Collation and Dissemination of Indian Power Sector Information

NPP is integrated with associated systems of Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Power Finance Corporation(PFC), Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) and other major utilities and would serve as single authentic source of power sector information to apex bodies, utilities for the purpose of analysis, planning, monitoring as well as for public users. The system is available 24x7 and ensures effective and timely collection of data. It standardized data parameters and formats for seamless exchange of data between NPP and respective systems at utilities.

The stakeholders of NPP are Ministry of Power (MoP), CEA, PFC for Integrated Power Development Scheme(IPDS), REC for Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), other power sector utilities in government as well as private sector, Apex Bodies, other government organizations and public users. The Nodal Agency for implementation of NPP and its operational control is CEA. The systemhas been conceptualized, designed and developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC).

5. Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot Chaires 5thmeeting of Central Monitoring Committeeto Review Implementation of‘Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers’

Shri ThaawarchandGehlot, Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment chaired the 5th Meeting of the Central Monitoring Committee to review the implementation of the "Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013" (MS Act, 2013) here today.

This important Central Act was enacted by the Parliament in September, 2013 and has come into force in December, 2014.

It aims at complete elimination of the manual scavenging in its various manifestations and comprehensive rehabilitation of the identified manual scavengers.Government is keen to eradicate the manual scavenging on a time bound basis for which the State Governments have been urged to implement the provisions of the MS Act, 2013 in letter and spirit.

6. AADI MAHOTSAV from 16th to 30th November 2017

Ministry of Tribal Affairs along with Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation Ltd (TRIFED), is organizing “AADI MAHOTSAV” a celebration of the spirit of Tribal Culture, Cuisine and Commerce.

Over 480 tribal artisans from over 25 States will be participating in the festival. A special feature of the festival is Tribal India cuisine, recreated and presented in delectable forms to suit urban tastes by special tribal chefs.

7. MSP for MFP Scheme for providing a fair and equitable deal to the tribals.

Minor Forest Produce (MFP) is a major source of livelihood for tribals who belong to the poorest of the poor section of society. The importance of MFPs for this section of the society can be gauged from the fact that around 100 million forest dwellers depend on MFPs for food, shelter, medicines and income. It provides them critical subsistence during the lean seasons, particularly for primitive tribal groups such as hunter gatherers, and the landless. Tribals derive 20-40% of their annual income from MFP .This activity has strong linkage to women’s financial empowerment as most of the MFPs are collected and used /sold by women. MFP sector has the potential to create about 10 million workdays annually in the country.

Government of India has taken a number of initiatives for socio economic development of tribals like introduction Forest Rights Act, 2006 (Section- 3), PESA Act, 1996 (Section -4), and has been implementing schemes for development of MFP by providing financial support to State TDCCs and TRIFED for market development of MFPs. Recognizing the critical importance which MFPs hold for tribals and the potential to generate large scale employment opportunities empowering the tribals, Government of India introduced an ambitious scheme of providing fair price for the MFP collected by tribals through Minimum Support Price (MSP).