KERALA

Kerala Tourism begins promotion of destination

Buoyed by the 18.57% growth achieved in domestic tourist arrivals to the State in the first quarter of 2018, Kerala Tourism has commenced the Phase I of the road shows and partnership meets for 2018-19 to market the destination by participating in the three-day Travel and Tourism Fair (TTF)-Kolkata in West Bengal.

The State is fine-tuning the list of the international trade fairs and road shows to be attended during 2018-19 for the promotion of the destination and the tourism products.

By overcoming several hurdles, the State had received around 14.22 lakh domestic tourists in January, 12.26 lakh in February and 12.28 lakh in March — with a total 38.76 lakh visitors compared to the 32.70 lakh in the the same period in 2017.

The increase in tourist arrivals in the State in the first quarter of 2018 is due to the marketing initiatives in the small cities.

INTERNATIONAL

World Population Day: 11 July

World Population day is an annual event, observed on July 11 every year, which seeks to raise awareness of global population issues.

The event was established by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme in 1989.

World Population Day 2018 observes the theme, “Family planning is a human right.”

· World Cities Summit 2018 held in Singapore

The 6th edition of biennial ‘World Cities Summit’was held in Singapore from July 8 to 12, 2018, with the theme of “Liveable & Sustainable Cities: Embracing the Future through Innovation and Collaboration”.
The summit will be held together with the Singapore International Water Week and the CleanEnviro Summit Singapore.

· To monitor India, China launched 2 Spy Satellites for Pakistan

The two Spy Satellites were launched on Chinese rocket Long March-2Cfrom the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.
♦ One of them – the PRSS-1 – is a remote sensing satellite built by China.
♦ The other – PakTES-1A – is Pakistan’s indigenously developed scientific experiment satellite.
♦ India is way ahead of Pakistan in space technology, with 43 operational satellites in space.

NATIONAL

· Western ghats is marked as the fourth best tourist spot by Lonely Planet

The Western Ghats, one of India’s Hottest Biodiversity Hotspots and UNESCO World Heritage site, has been marked fourth in the Lonely Planet’s top five ‘2018 Best in Asia’ list.
Older than the Himalayas and well known for its rich and unique flora and fauna, the Western Ghats supports the life of 7,402 species of flowering plants, 1814 species of non-flowering plants, 139 mammal species, 508 bird species, 179 amphibian species, 6000 insects species and 290 freshwater fish species.
One of the flowering plant species, Neelakurinji(Strobilanthes kunthiana) which blooms once every 12 years and has started to bloom in the famed hill station of Munnar, has been mentioned in the report.

Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu becomes first Chairman of Rajya Sabha to sign an MOU

Rajya Sabha has, for the first time in 76 years since it came into being, entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a foreign counterpart for promoting inter-parliamentary dialogue.

Shri Venkaiah Naidu, has, in the process, become the first Chairman of Rajya Sabha to sign such an agreement when he inked an MOU with the visiting President of the Senate of the Republic of Rwanda, Mr. Bernard Makuza.

The MOU with 6 articles of cooperation seeks to promote Inter-Parliamentary dialogue, Capacity building of parliamentary staff, Organisation of conferences, forums, seminars, staff attachment programmes, workshops and exchanges, Collaboration in mutual interest in regional and international multilateral parliamentary bodies in furtherance of bilateral relations and friendship between the two countries.

Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Haryana Top Rankers in Ease of Doing Business

Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, released the final rankings of States in Ease of Doing Business in New Delhi.

The top rankers are Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Haryana. Jharkhand and Gujarat stood fourth and fifth respectively.

DIPP, Ministry of Commerce and Industry in collaboration with the World Bank conducted an annual reform exercise for all States and UTs under the Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP).

The aim of this exercise is to improve delivery of various Central Government regulatory functions and services in an efficient, effective and transparent manner.

Rajasthan has slipped by one spot in the ease of doing business rankings to 9th position.

· Government plans to upgrade Guidelines to protect government data

The Home Ministry has decided to upgrade and update the National Information Security Policy and Guidelines (NISPG) for the government sector.
According to ASSOCHAM, there has been a surge of about 350% in cybercrime cases from 2011 to 2014.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has been designated as the lead agency for the protection of the “information” in cyberspace.

· For the first time, Indian Naval aircraft deployed for RIMPAC exercise

Indian Navy’s P8Ilong-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft from Indian Naval Ship (INS) Rajali has inducted at Hawaii for participating in the Rim of Pacific Multinational Naval exercise (RIMPAC-18).
RIMPAC is the world’s largest international maritime exercise.
26 countries will take part in the drill this year and will undertake tactical exercises, including anti-submarine warfare and maritime reconnaissance missions.

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