RAJASTHAN
- Jaipur, Jodhpur cleanest railway stations in NWR
- Jaipur and Jodhpur railway stations have made both the state and the NWR division proud. Jaipur railway station achieved second position in the Cleanliness Survey Report 2018, which was recently released. The NWR has stood first in all the zones in this cleanliness report.
- While Jaipur has achieved the second position, first position has been bagged by Jodhpur station in this all India report. These two stations are in the list of A1 category.
- This is not all, there are six stations of NWR in the top 10 list in A category. Marwar station has bagged the first position while Phulera is on second spot. Udaipur, Jaisalmer, Barmer and Bhilwara have also attained 4th, 5th, 7th and 10th rank in this list depicting impressive cleanliness among the railway stations across the country.
- Jaipur was ranked 8th in the last ranking while Jodhpur was ranked 17th in the same ranking.
INTERNATIONAL
- UAE top source of inward remittances in 2016-17: RBI
- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has emerged as the top source of inward remittances, while Kerala has received the maximum funds sent from abroad, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s survey of inward remittances for 2016-17.
- UAE’s share in total remittances was 26.9%, followed by the United States (22.9%), Saudi Arabia (11.6%), Qatar (6.5%) and Kuwait (5.5%).
- According to the survey, 82% of the total remittances received by India originated from eight countries — UAE, the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, the United Kingdom and Malaysia.
- Among destinations, Kerala has the highest share with 19%, followed by Maharashtra (16.7%), Karnataka (15%), Tamil Nadu (8%) and Delhi (5.9%).
· India ranked 177 on the Environmental Performance Index 2018
- According to the World Economic Forum(WEF) ranking, India has been placed 177th rank out of 180 countries on the Environmental Performance Index 2018. The Union Environment Ministry has rejected the score by considering it as arbitrary and unscientific. India slipped 36 points from 141 in the 2016 report, prepared by Yale and Columbia Universities along with the WEF.
- WEF said that India’s remark was linked to the poor performance in the environmental health policy and deaths due to air pollution categories. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change said that the reason for India’s decline is because of the change in parameters between two editions of the report.
- Nasa launches mission to ‘touch the Sun’
- US space agency Nasa has launched its mission to send a satellite closer to the Sun than any before.
- The Parker Solar Probe rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
- The probe is set to become the fastest-moving manmade object in history. Its data promises to crack longstanding mysteries about the Sun’s behaviour.
- It is the first space craft to be named after a living person – astrophysicist Eugene Parker, 91, who first described solar wind in 1958.
NATIONAL