Important Current Affairs 26th June

NATIONAL:

Government of Jharkhand to get $147 Million Loan from World Bank.

• Government of Jharkhand and the World Bank, signed a $147 Million Loan Agreement

They provide basic urban services to the people of Jharkhand and planned to help improve the management capacity of the urban local bodies (ULBs) in the State.

The Jharkhand Municipal Development Project mainly focus on improving the municipal sector’s capacity.

It will invest in urban services such as water supply, sewerage, drainage, and urban roads; and strengthen the capacity of the Jharkhand Urban Infrastructure Development Company (JUIDCO)

The ULBs planned to carry out reforms in the areas of urban finance and governance.

The main need is to establish 31 million people reside in urban areas

The population of urban population growth at nine of 24 districts in Jharkhand is above India’s overall urbanization pace of 2.7 percent.

The Loan Agreement was signed by Mr. Sameer Kumar Khare, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance on behalf of the Government of India and Mr. Shanker Lal, Acting Country Director (India),    the World Bank, on behalf of the World Bank.

Most of these components will open to all 43 ULBs in the state to participate within an agreed framework under the project.

Over 350,000 urban residents of the participating ULBs are expected to benefit

Interventions such as piped water supply, stormwater drains, climate-friendly road construction and energy efficient street lighting will help improve urban services but also make it environmentally sustainable. 

The Work on two sub-projects namely Khunti water supply subproject and the Dhanbad roads subproject to commence shortly.

Kerala topped NITI Aayog's health index 2019 ranking

• Kerala has topped ranking state in terms of overall health performance as per the report submitted by NITI Aayog on health index. This is the second edition of its type. It measured the annual and incremental performances of states and UTs.

Larger States:

Overall performance:

Next to Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra have emerged as the second and third best performers, respectively, on health parameters. Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were ranked the two worst performers, respectively.

Kerala secured an overall score of 74.01, while Uttar Pradesh was the least performing state with an overall score of 28.61. The report highlighted the outbreak of encephalitis in Bihar that killed over 150 children till 24 June.

Incremental performance:

In terms of incremental performances, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Jharkhand made the maximum improvement in terms of health among larger states.

Smaller states:

Among the smaller states, Mizoram ranked first in overall performance, while Tripura and Manipur were top two states in terms of incremental performance.

Union Territories:

• Among the Union Territories, Chandigarh ranked first in overall performance, while Dadra and Nagar Haveli made the most improvement.

Report prepared by:

The report was prepared NITI Aayog in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare with technical assistance from the World Bank.

Healthy States Progressive India:

NITI Aayog's report, titled 'Healthy States Progressive India', ranked states and Union Territories (UTs) based on the Health Index. The evaluation was based on 23 indicators that covers the key aspects of health sector performance.

The first edition of the report of this kind was released in 2018. It measured the annual and incremental performances of states and UTs for period 2014-15 (as base year) to 2015-16 (as reference year).

In the 2018 report, Kerala, Punjab, and Tamil Nadu had ranked on top in terms of overall performance among bigger states. Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, and Uttar Pradesh topped in terms of annual incremental performance.

NITI Aayog:

Formed on: 1 January 2015

Headquarters: Delhi   

Chairman: Narendra Modi

Vice Chairman: Rajiv Kumar

CEO: Amitabh Kant

It replaced the Planning Commission.

The government think tank aims to achieve Sustainable Development Goals  (SDG). It also plans to enhance cooperative federalism by fostering the involvement of State Governments of India in the economic policy-making process.

APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS:

Amazon India head Amit Agarwal takes over as IAMAI Chairman.

• The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has named Amit Agarwal, the SVP and Country Manager of Amazon India, as the new Chairman of the association. Agarwal takes over the position from former Google India and South East Asia VP Rajan Anandan. Yatra CEO Dhruv Shringi was named Vice Chairman, while Times Internet Vice-Chairman Satyan Gajwani was named Treasurer.

Warner Bros gets first female CEO in studio history.

• WarnerMedia has named Ann Sarnoff as the CEO of Warner Bros. Sarnoff, currently President of BBC Studios Americas, will be the first woman to head the studio behind 'Wonder Woman' and 'Friends'. The 57-year-old will be replacing Kevin Tsujihara.

DAYS:

International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking is observed on 26 June.

• The International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking is observed on 26 June every year. It is a United Nations International Day against drug abuse and the illegal drug trade. It is observed since 1989. The day was instituted by General Assembly Resolution 42/112 of 7 December 1987.

2019 Theme:

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has set the theme for 2019 as 'Health for Justice. Justice for Health'. The theme highlights that justice and health are two sides of the same coin when it comes to addressing drug problems.

Effective responses to the world drug problem require inclusive and accountable institutions of criminal justice, health and social services to work hand in hand to provide integrated solutions, in line with the international drug control conventions, human rights obligations and the Sustainable Development Goals.