1) Meghalaya CM Mukul Sangma launches LIFE program at Songsak
•Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma has recently launched an ambitious flagship program titled “Livelihood Intervention and Facilitation of Entrepreneurship” (LIFE) at Songsak.
•LIFE will focus on capacity building, Under the program, every 10 SHGs (Self-Help Groups) will be motivated to act like a bank and help each other. LIFE aims to bring all the poor and vulnerable women into the SHGs movement.
2) Gujarat to get India's first high-speed rail training centre
•The country is set to get its first high-speed rail training center at Gandhinagar. The center will provide for advanced training modules on cutting edge technologies.
•While India’s first bullet train is proposed to hit the track in 2023, the training center is supposed to start operating by 2020.
3) Rajasthan becomes first State to fix minimum education qualification for cooperative body poll
•Rajasthan becomes the first state in the country to fix minimum educational qualification for contesting cooperative body polls. To this effect, the Rajasthan Government amended the State Cooperative State Cooperative Societies Rules, 2003.
•The new rules will benefit around 10,000 cooperative and agricultural credit societies. For contesting election as members of governing boards of dairy societies, farming societies, consumer societies, weavers' societies, urban banks, housing construction societies, primary land development banks, credit societies and cooperative unions, the minimum educational qualifications will range from class 5 to class 8.
•The primary committee members need to have passed at least class 8. For district level members the minimum qualification required is class 10, while those interested in being a member of State level committee will need to be a graduate.
4) Delhi Police to be equipped with 'super cop belt'
•National capital police will be the first state police in India who will get ‘super cop belt', a specially designed belt, widely used by Police in UK, USA, Russia and para-military forces like CRPF, CISF, NSG etc.
•This belt will help cops to keep things like Gun, Mobile Pouch, Security Batten, Wireless Set Pouch & ammunition pouch.
5) Model United Nations Regional Conference begins in Kathmandu
•A Model United Nations (MUN) Regional Conference is being held at Kathmandu. The event is organised by the US Embassy in partnership with the Youth Thinker’s Society. Youths from 12 South and Central Asian countries including India are participating in 5-day conference.
•The basic aim of the MUN is to provide a platform to young minds to channelize energy and resources for a more prosperous and peaceful world. The conference simulate four UN committees-United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Economic and Financial Committee (ECOFIN), United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
6) India to host 8th edition of Theatre Olympics in 2018
•India will host 8th edition of Theatre Olympics in 2018, the biggest theatre celebration of the world. The greatest carnival will start from February 17-April 08, 2018. India is hosting this event for the first time.
•Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma stated in New Delhi that the Theatre Olympics will put India firmly among the top nations in the world theatre map. The Theatre Olympics will take place simultaneously in various cities across the country. There will be five hundred plays and seven hundred ambiance performances from across the world.
