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The World Population Day (WPD) is observed every year on July 11 to bring attention on the urgency and importance of population issues. One must know that Earth has limited resources & for humanity to prosper, we must use them optimally. The 2018 theme is “Family planning is a human right”. Let’s take a conscious call while planning our families, so our children can coexist with the environment without any dearth of resources.

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The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has launched ‘The Eat Right Movement’ to empower the citizens by improving their health and well-being. It is a platform to provide credible information to help make informed and healthful eating choices. It is built on two broad pillars – “Eat Healthy and “Eat Safe”. “Eat Healthy” is about making healthy food choices. “Eat Safe” is about ensuring food safety from procurement to consumption and disposal of food. Led by the FSSAI, it is a collective effort, to nudge the citizens towards making right food and dietary choices. The aim of the programme is to cut down salt/sugar and oil consumption by 30% in three years.

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The Western Ghats (India) bagged the 4th best tourist spot in Lonely Planet’s top five “2018 Best in Asia” list, a collection of 10 of the best destinations to visit in the continent for the year. The Western Ghats is older than the Himalayas and well known for its rich and unique flora and fauna. It is one of the Hottest Biodiversity Hotspots and UNESCO World Heritage site. It 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. Lonely Planet is considered a Bible by travellers worldwide. The list is topped by Busan in South Korea, followed by Uzbekistan and Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam).

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India has been ranked 57th most innovative nation among 130 countries in the 11th edition of Global Innovation Index (GII-2018), which is developed jointly by Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). GII is a leading bench-marking tool for business executives, policymakers and others seeking insight into the state of innovation around the world. The ranking is constantly being used to evaluate progress on a continual basis. The GII ranks 126 economies based on 80 indicators. It is now in its 11th edition and has become a major input for policymakers on innovation around the world. On the global front, Switzerland maintained its number one position in the Global Innovation Index rankings. Other countries that fell in the top 10 list were Netherlands, Sweden, the UK, the US, Finland, Denmark, and Germany.

Notes:
State-run telecom firm BSNL has become the India’s first Mobile operator to launch Internet Telephony Services. The facility will allow users to dial any telephone number in India through its mobile app. Now, BSNL Customers will be able to make calls using BSNL’s mobile app “Wings” to any phone number in the country and even from abroad. The app can be activated using internet anywhere in the world and calls can be made. The fee of Rs 1,099 includes unlimited calling within India. Before this, phone calls on mobile apps were possible within users of a particular app and not on telephone numbers. Using this service, BSNL customers will be able to make calls on any network in the country even by using BSNL wi-fi or any other service provider. The services will be activated from July 25 onwards.

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Dr. Sandeep Sancheti, who is the Vice Chancellor of SRM Institute of Science and Technology (SRMIST), has assumed charge as the 97th President of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU). The AIU was founded in 1925, and initially it was known as the Inter-University Board of India. The AIU currently has more than 720 members, represented by Vice Chancellors. It facilitates coordination and mutual consultation among Universities and acts as a liaison with the Central and State governments. Besides promoting academic excellence nationally and internationally, the AIU is also a body that is very much involved in cultural and sporting activities in higher education domain.

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The 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. With this, M. Venkaiah Naidu became the first Chairman of the Rajya Sabha to sign such an agreement. He signed an MOU with the visiting President of the Senate of the Republic of Rwanda, Bernard Makuza, on 10th July 2018. 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 nations.

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The Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has granted “Institutions of Eminence” (IoEs) status to IIT-Delhi, IIT-Bombay and the Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in the public sector, and Manipal Academy of Higher Education, BITS Pilani and Jio Institute by Reliance Foundation in the private sector. The Jio Institute has been selected under the Greenfield Category. The aim of this move is to improve the level of educational institutes in the country, so that they can compete with foreign institutions. The goal is to bring them into the top 500 institutions in the world within the next 10 years, and eventually in top 100. The Government will grant Rs 1,000 crore funds to the three public institutions in the next five years though; the private institutes will not be eligible for government funding.

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On July 10, the Indian naval ship INS Sumitra became the first-ever warship to enter port of Sabang in Indonesia. It was received by traditional dancers and Indonesian traditional band. The ship was welcomed by Indian Ambassador to Indonesia PK Rawat, Indonesian foreign affairs officials, members from Indian embassy, Indian businessmen and Indonesian naval and air force officers onboard. The warship was deployed in Malacca Straits. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Jakarta in May 2018, in a meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, it was decided that New Delhi will develop the strategically important Indonesian port Sabang in the Indian Ocean, close to the Andamans.

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Ramesh Abhishek, secretary in Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), has released State Business Reform Assessment 2018 at an event in New Delhi on July 10. In it, Andhra Pradesh has topped the ease of doing business rankings, while Telangana is in 2nd and Haryana is in 3rd position. DIPP in collaboration with the World Bank conducts an annual reform exercise for all States/UTs under the Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP). In it, 17 states have achieved a reform evidence score of more than 90% and 15 have achieved a combined score of 90% and more. While Chhattisgarh has topped in terms of property registration, Rajasthan has topped in terms of construction permit. West Bengal has topped in terms of labour regulation and Karnataka topped in terms of environmental registration. Uttarakhand has topped in terms of land availability and Odisha has topped in terms of paying taxes. Uttar Pradesh tops in terms of obtaining utility permit.