KERALA

The Kerala Police have bagged three SKOCH awards for its various initiatives in tackling crime and enhancing crowd control.

The feted initiatives included the Virtual Q facility for Sabarimala devotees to enable them to book their darshan timings in advance. The facility has brought down crowding at the pilgrim centre, helping the police to streamline the pilgrim flow effectively.

The e-VIP passport verification system, introduced by the Kerala Police, to expedite police verification of passport applicants was also selected for the award. Piloted in the Thrissur Rural police district, the e-VIP Version 1.0 project was extended to 19 police districts.

Because of the initiative, Malappuram could distribute the most number of passports in the country. The Version 2.0 of the project, which is in the pipeline, is expected to bring down the waiting time for police clearance down from 72 hours to a day.

INTERNATIONAL

The US and 10 ASEAN navies begin first joint military exercises in Southeast Asia

The first ASEAN-US Maritime Exercise (AUMX) between the regional bloc and Washington will last for five days, starting September 2 at the Sattahip Naval Base in Thailand and ending in Singapore.

The drills come at a time of stepped-up U.S. engagement in the region and tensions between Beijing and Southeast Asian nations over the South China Sea.

· Qatar unveils 2022 FIFA World Cup logo round the globe

Qatar unveiled the logo for the 2022 World Cup. It will hosted by the Gulf emirate displaying it in public spaces in Doha and cities around the world.
The design is a stylised Arabic white unisex shawl with maroon patterning. It

displayed in a figure-of-eight symbolising infinity while creating a heart shape above the words FIFA WORLD CUP Qatar 2022

The logo is very elegant and showing local culture with the burgundy colour of the Qatari flag, Algerian hospitality worker Mourad Bencheikh.

· Asia VR based Advanced Driver Training Simulator Centre launched

Asia’s 5th Generation Virtual Reality based Advanced Driver Training Simulator Centrelaunched by Rtn G Chandramohan, Rotary Governor, Rotary International District 3232, at the Automobile Association of Southern India Centre (AASI)AASI train 200 Ambulance drivers free of cost, under Safe Drivers Campaign.

The patented simulator designed and developed by Chennai based Red Chariots Technologies Pvt Ltd . They develop the hardware and software, emulating the Indian driving standards and road conditions.Existing drivers make use of this simulator to learn the advanced techniques of driving and implement it in their day to day driving style.

Japan womanbecomes the first person in the world to receive a corneal transplantmade from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS). The treatment was successfully carried out by a team of researchers led by ophthalmologist Kohji Nishida at Osaka University.

iPS cells:

Generally, the damaged or diseased corneas are treated using tissue from donors who have died. But in this case, the researchers created sheets of corneal cellsfrom induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. These IPS cells were made by reprogramming adult skin cells from a donor into an embryonic-like state from which they can transform into other cell types, such as corneal cells. After the transplant, the woman’s cornea remained clear and her vision had improved.

NATIONAL

Vaishno Devi Shrinein Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir won the Best Swachh Iconic Placein the country.
President Ram Nath Kovind will confer the award during the Swachh Mahotsav to be organised by the ministry.
The union ministry of Jal Shakti, department of drinking water and sanitation, released its rankings of Swachh Iconic Places.
The Shrine which is visited by thousands of devotees been adjudged on the basis of the overall improvement in sanitation brought about by the board due to several initiatives taken in the last few years to ensure cleanliness.
The initiatives like installing water kiosks, equid dung management centre, kill waste machines, collection, transportation and disposal of waste along with regular mopping up of waste though a workforce of 1300 sanitation workers among others have enabled the shrine to achieve the top rank.
The shrine competed with a dozen other iconic places in the country including Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus(Maharashtra), Taj Mahal (Uttar Pradesh), Tirupati Temple (Andhra Pradesh), Golden Temple (Punjab), Ajmer Sharif Dargah (Rajasthan), Kamakhya Temple (Assam), Jagannath Puri(Odisha), Church and Convent of St Francis of Assisi (Goa) among others. The shrine received a special award from the union ministry of drinking water and sanitation for bagging the second spot behind the Golden Temple.

Cabinet Committeeon Economic Affairs gave its approval for the following, including fixing higher ethanol price derived from different raw materials under the EBP Programme. It is done for the forthcoming sugar season 2019-20 during ethanol supply year from 1st December 2019 to 30th November 2020
The price of ethanol from C heavy molasses route be increased from Rs.43.46 per lit to Rs.43.75 per litre. The price of ethanol from B heavy molasses route be increased from 52.43 per lit to Rs.54.27 per litre.

The price of ethanol from sugarcane juice/sugar/sugar syrup route be fixed at Rs.59.48 per litre. Additionally, GST and transportation charge payable. OMCs have been advised to fix realistic transportation charges so that long-distance transportation of ethanol is no a disincentive.OMCs are advised to continue according to the priority of ethanol from sugarcane juice/sugar/sugar syrup, B heavy molasses C heavy molasses and Damaged Food grains/other sources, in that order.

The main aim of the scheme and a large number of them are expected to supply ethanol for the EBP programme. Their aim is to suppliers will help in the reduction of cane farmer’s arrears in the process contributing to minimizing the difficulty of sugarcane farmers.