Central Railway Station has reached the target of 100 per cent solar power generation
- The Railway Administration is taking steps to increase solar power generation at railway stations across the country.
- As a key feature of this initiative, Chennai Central Railway Station, one of the most important railway stations in the country, has become self-sufficient in solar power generation.
- With the installation of solar panels on the roofs of the Chennai Central and Moommocket premises, 1.5 MW of electricity is being generated. Thus, during the day all the electricity needs of the station are met by solar power.
- Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has been appointed chairman of the newly formed GST Council's reform committee. Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chaudhary, Assam Finance Minister Ajit Nyong and Chhattisgarh Commerce Minister DS Singh have been added as members.
- Also, Orissa Finance Minister Niranjan Poojary and Tamil Nadu Finance Minister PDR Palanivel Thiagarajan have been appointed as members.
- The number of road accidents and fatalities in India is increasing every year. In 2019 alone, 1.51 lakh deaths were reported in 4.49 lakh road accidents across the country.
- Eighty-five percent of all deaths were reported in 14 states, including Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
- In this context, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has announced that it will come up with a new plan exclusively for road safety with the vision of 'Accident Free Indian Roads'.
- The project is to be implemented for 14 years in 14 accident prone states, including Tamil Nadu. The Union government has decided to allocate Rs 7,270 crore for this.
- Under the plan, the U.S. government will provide subsidies to state governments to prevent road accidents and deaths, find solutions to grassroots problems and improve safety.
- For this purpose, 11 features will be divided and the state governments which implement them will be given subsidy according to the process. To this end, road safety works will be audited every year.
- The number of road deaths in 2020 was 1.32 lakh. This number is lower than the previous year due to the full corona of the corona. The target is to reduce the number of road accidents by 30 per cent by March 2027.
- The government will provide Rs 3,635 crore for the project, with a loan of Rs 1,818 crore each from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
- A grant of Rs 6,725 crore will be provided based on the performance of the states and the remaining Rs 545 crore will be utilized for capacity building activities.
- The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has released the 3rd State Food Safety Index 2021.
- The major states are: - Gujarat (first place), Kerala (2nd place), Tamil Nadu (3rd place). In the list of smaller states: - Goa (first place), Meghalaya (2nd place), Manipur (3rd place).
- Union Territory: - Jammu and Kashmir (first place), Andaman and Nicobar (2nd place), New Delhi (3rd place).
- Former ISRO chief K Kasturirangan has been appointed chairman of the Committee on National Curriculum Frameworks (NFFs).
- The group consists of 12 people. The federal government's new education policy was introduced in 2020. It was introduced as an alternative to the education policy formulated in 1986.
- The committee will develop curricula for early childhood education, schooling, higher education and teacher education. These new curricula will be developed taking into account the recommendations of the National Education Policy 2020.
