"Aryaman and Atulya"

Indian Coast Guard Ships (ICGS)"Aryaman and Atulya" designed and built by Cochin Shipyard Limited, were commissioned on Oct 21 at Kochi. Aryaman literally means ‘Possessor of Greatness’ and Atulya meaning is ‘Unrivalled’. These ships are the eighteenth and nineteenth in the series of twenty Fast Patrol Vessels (FPVs) designed and built by Cochin Shipyard Limited.Both FPVs are 50m long and have displace of 317 tonnes of water. They can achieve a maximum speed of 33 knots with range of 1500 nautical miles.And are ideal platform for undertaking multifarious close-coast missions such as surveillance, interdiction and search and rescue.

Aryaman will be based at Kochi under the administrative control of the Commander, Coast Guard Region (West). Atulya will be based at Visakhapatnam under the administrative control of the Commander, Coast Guard Region (East).

UDAN

Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju in New Delhi has launched the regional air connectivity scheme UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) which seeks to get more people to fly in the smaller towns.It rolled out on January, 2017 and will be in operation for a period of 10 years.UDAN is an innovative scheme to develop the regional aviation market. It is a market-based mechanism in which airlines bid for seat subsidies. This first-of-its-kind scheme globally will create affordable yet economically viable and profitable flights on regional routes so that flying becomes affordable to the common man even in small towns.

United Nations Day

Charter of the United Nations(the founding document of UNO)entered into force on 24 October 1945,anniversary of this day is observed as ''United Nations Day''.This day devoted to making known to people of the world the aims and achievements of the United Nations Organization. United Nations Day is part of United Nations Week, which runs from 20 to 26 October.

This year’s UN Day will be used to highlight concrete actions people can take to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Besides, UN Day Concert is also organised in the United Nations General Assembly Hall with the theme “Freedom First”.

Kabaddi World Cup

India defeated Iran in Kabaddi World Cup to win third consecutive Kabaddi World Cup in the Standard Style version of Kabaddi. Earlier India had won in 2004 and 2007.The competition has been previously contested in 2004, 2007 and 2016. All the three tournaments have been won by India by defeating Iran in the finals.

NWDA gets funding

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) sanctioned Rs 19,702 crore loan to National Water Development Agency (NWDA) for 50 irrigation projects from 11 states which was announced during the Budget 2016-17 under Long Term Irrigation Fund (LTIF).

The loan funds for these irrigation projects will help to create additional irrigation potential of 39.14 lakh hectares in 11 States. Thus, it will support government’s vision to double the farmers’ income by 2022 as providing assured irrigation to farmers is one of the important prerequisites to achieve that target.

This loan will be part of the Central share of assistance to State Governments.

It will ensure front loading of resources so that the identified incomplete irrigation projects under Pradhan Mandtri Krishi Sinchai Yojna (PMKSY) are executed in time.

Loan released by NABARD to NWDA would be disbursed to the respective State Governments as Central Share in the projects sanctioned.

Urja Ganga

"Urja Ganga", the highly ambitious gas pipeline project in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh has been launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Urja Ganga’, the gas pipeline project which promises to provide piped cooking gas to residents of Varanasi within two years and CNG gas for the vehicles.

Under this project work on 2540-km long Jagdishpur-Haldia and Bokaro-Dhamra Natural Gas pipeline project will begin and will be completed between 2018 and 2020. Seven East India cities Varanasi, Jamshedpur, Patna, Ranchi, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack – will be the major beneficiary of this network development.