BRIEFS | NEWSCAN
India places second in ABB’s “Drive Electric” campaign ASEA Brown Boveri (ABB), along with Green TV, launched an online campaign on the occasion of World Electric Vehicle (EV) Day. It encouraged drivers across the world to realise the importance of electric vehicles for sustainable mobility and pledge that the next car they drive will be electric. Results show that India placed second with 13 per cent people pledging to switch to an EV. The United Kingdom (UK) topped the list with around 29 per cent people willing to switch to EVs, while the United States of America came third with a total of 11 per cent people signing up for the campaign.
Survey finds government school toilets lack basic convenience
PM Narendra Modi inaugurates and lays foundation stone of 7 infra projects NEW DELHI: Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, on Tuesday, September 15, inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of 7 urban infrastructure projects worth Rs 541 crore in the state of Bihar. Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister, Bihar; Phagu Chauhan, Governor, Bihar; Sushil Kumar Modi, Deputy Chief Minister, Bihar; Suresh Kumar Sharma, Minister of Urban Development & Housing Department, Bihar; and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Minister of Jal Shakti, Government of India, also attended the ceremony through video conferencing. Of these 7 projects, four are related to water supply, two to sewage treatment and one to riverfront development, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said. The Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation (BUIDCO) has undertaken the implementation of these projects under the State Department of Urban Development and Housing.
The PMO reported that the sewage treatment plants have been installed at Beur and Karmalichak, in Patna Municipal Corporation under the NamamiGange Mission. In Siwan Municipal Council and Chhapra Municipal Corporation, water supply projects built under the Atal Mission for Rejuvination and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) will help local residents get pure drinking water 24 hours a day. Under AMRUT, PM Modi also laid the foundational framework for Munger water supply scheme which will help the residents of Munger Municipal Corporation to get pure water through pipelines. For Jamalpur Municipality, the foundation stone of Jamalpur water supply scheme under AMRUT was also laid, the PMO said. PM Modi also laid the foundation stone of Muzaffarpur Riverfront Development Scheme, being built under NamamiGange.
Kerala titled “Top Performer” in Start-up Rankings A survey of government schools conducted by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has found half the school toilets do not even have a handwashing facility. These toilets were built by 53 Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) under a scheme launched by the Education ministry and had constructed 1,40,997 toilets. CAG examined the construction of toilets by seven CSPEs across 2048 schools in 15 states. Out of the constructed toilets surveyed, 30 percent were found not in use because of lack of running water, cleaning arrangements, damages or the toilets being used for other purposes. 11 per cent of the total toilets surveyed were nonexistent or partially constructed.
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October 2020 | www.urbanupdate.in
NEW DELHI: Government of India released the Start-up Rankings in the presence of PiyushGoel, Minister of Railways and Commerce; Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs; and Som Prakash, Minister of State for Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Kerala, along with Karnataka, was recognised as the “Top Performer” for having a sound and strong start-up environment. The state won the title second time in a row and is recognised as the leader in all the fields of innovation. Gujarat, in the ‘states’ category, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, in the ‘Union Territories’ category, were the given the award for the “Best Performers”. The State’s Start-up Ranking Framework, developed by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, recognised the Electronics and Information Technology Department of the Government of Kerala as the institutional guide, regulatory change champion, procurement leader, incubation hub and scaling innovation leader. The Ranking Framework assesses the states across seven fields viz., Institutional Support, Easing Compliances, relaxation in Public Procurement Norms, Incubation Support, Seed Funding Support, Venture Funding Support, and Awareness and Outreach. Dr Saji Gopinath, CEO, Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) and Ashok Kurian Panjikaran, Head, Business Development of KSUM, are recognised as “Start-up Champions of the State.” Kerala has designed extra-ordinary initiatives for the encouragement of women led start-ups such as seed funding, institutional grants, subsidies, etc. The rating framework aims to analyse the innovation ecosystem and start-up culture across various states in a balanced and transparent manner. The scoring is done on the basis of the feedback received by the stake holders. The key objective is to help states in capacity building and to improve the environment of entrepreneurship in the Indian start-up ecosystem.
