ODISHA

Odisha government declared drought in 9 districts in the State

The Odisha government declared drought in 9 of the 30 districtsin the State. The State has also authorised the Collectors of the districts to undertake relief measures in the affected areas.
The State government said that a total of 2,33,173.8 hectares of cropland in Bargarh, Balangir, Deogarh, Jharsuguda, Kalahandi, Nabarangpur, Nuapada, Sambalpur and Sundargarh have suffered crop loss of 33% and above.

INTERNATIONAL

· India most outward migrants in 2017 according to ADB report

The number of international migrants was topped by India, followed by China and Bangladesh.
One-third of international migrants were from Asia in 2017.
India had the most outward migrants in 2017 (17 million), followed by China (10 million) and Bangladesh (7.5 million).
The global stock of international migrants from Asia rose 3.9 percent from 83.6 million in 2015 to 86.9 million in 2017.

· United Nations decided to launch project on creating Indias intangible heritage inventory

This project dubbed- A snapshot inventory of intangible cultural heritage, will be launched to protect the disappearing intangible cultural heritage of India.
This will include art forms, craftsmanship and other intangible cultural heritage of the country.
The “Wiki-styled project” would be executed through “crowd-sourcing”.

NATIONAL

· WHO reported that Delhi topped national charts in bad air quality

World Health Organization’s (WHO) report onmost polluted cities 2018 said 14 out of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in India. WHO reported that Delhi topped the charts of bad air quality nationally.
Also, the WHO children’s health report released on 29th October said that 93% of the world’s childrenunder 15 years breathe polluted air. Indian environmentalists analysed the same issue in 14 cities using the Central Pollution Control Board of India(CPCB) data and concluded the same.
Most cities, unlike Delhi, do not have an emergency response plan to tackle air pollution. Some of the cities like Patna and Varanasi have recently formulated action plans. There is no special governing body in place to issue advisories or mitigate the pollution at the source level instantly as in the case of the Graded Response Action Plan(GRAP).

· NSE got SEBI nod to launch copper large futures contract

National Stock Exchange of India (NSE)got regulatory approval from SEBI to launch copper large futures contract.
The copper large futures contract will have a trading unit of 25 tonnes at par with international commodity markets.
It is one of the highest traded contracts and is considered as the global benchmark.

· ICGS Varuna: Reliance Naval launched training ship for Indian Coast Guard

Anil Ambani-led shipbuilder Reliance Naval and Engineering (RNEL) launched a 3,000-tonne training ship for the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) named ‘ICGS Varuna’.
The ship is a 105-meter long training vessel and is the largest ship ever built for the ICG and has a capacity to accommodate 242 personnel.
It was built at a cost of Rs 220 crore and was launched at the shipyard of RNEL at the Pipavav Port in Amreli district of Gujarat.

· New child protection policy for shelters across country

The Women and Child Development (WCD) ministry had come up with the guidelines drafted by the NGO Childline in 2013 before the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. The ministry has demanded more teeth to these guidelines for better implementation. As the guidelines merely defined the rights of the children as individuals and made the ministry the nodal authority to follow the norms and not fix responsibilities.
The ministry is all set to submit the revised protection scheme.

Framing a policy for child protection might take time but a shorter and immediate action was necessary to help the victims of abuse.

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