25.03.23

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) across the country received foreign contributions worth Rs 55,647 crore between 2019-20 and 2021-22 but utilised over Rs 79,000 crore over the same period, the Home ministry informedRajya Sabhaon Wednesday. This, incidentally, is the period that witnessed a crackdown on NGOs allegedly violating provisions of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, with the Act itself being made more stringent.

Junior home ministerNityanand Raitold Rajya Sabha that foreign funding of NGOs across the country has steadily risen from Rs 16,359 crore in 2019-20 to Rs 17,166 crore in 2020-21 and Rs 22,122 crore in 2021-22, notwithstanding the cancellation of registration of 1,828 NGOs under the Foreign Contributions (Regulation) Act since 2020.

The Ministry of DEFENCE (MoD) has signed 10 contracts totalling Rs 5,498 crore with state-owned aerospace and defence electronics companyBharat ElectronicsLimited (Bel) for Indian armed forces, the Psu said in a regulatory filing to the .

For Indian Air Force, a contract was signed to supply 90 units of Electronic Warfare (EW) Suite Equipment for Medium Lift Helicopter.

For the Indian Army, contracts for Automated Air Defence Control and Reporting System (Project Akashteer) and Instant Fire Detection and Supressing System IFDSS for T 72 were signed.

Further, forIndian Navy, contracts for Software Defined Radio (1,265 units), HDVLF HF Receiver(1,178 units), and Sarang (12 units), were signed.

Drawing flak from the southern states, the issued a revised notification to say that food business operators may use the term “curd”along with any other prevalentcommonname in a regional language, such as “thayir”, “mosaru”, “zaamut daud” or “dahi”, in brackets on the labels of curd packets sold in those states.

The revision follows astrong backlash from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Keralato a notification issued on January 11 on Fssai‘s conditions regarding the labelling of curd in Hindi. It had asked state agencies, including Aavin of Tamil Nadu and Nandini of Karnataka, to use “dahi” instead of “thayir” or “mosaru” on curd packets.

Learning from theCovidpandemic, when the WHO had claimed that the fatality figure was much higher than that reported by the government, thehealth ministryhas said that it has decided to follow its own system to record TB cases.

“WHO estimates are based on modelling studies whereas our TB reporting is based on actual numbers recorded on theNikshayportal, and therefore more reliable,” said a ministry official.
She added the WHO estimated that 29.5 lakh were diagnosed with TB in India in 2021 and 4.9 lakh died due to the disease.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurated the Vedic Heritage portal in New Delhi. The primary aim of the portal is to communicate the messages enshrined in the and make it more accessible to the common people

The portal will act as a one-stop solution for anyone who wants to search for information about the Vedic heritage, making it easier for them to understand the messages and teachings of the Vedas

The Saudi Arabian government has taken a significant step towards joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a regional alliance dominated by China and Russia. During a cabinet meeting presided over by King Salman bin Abdulaziz, a memorandum was approved to initiate dialogue with the SCO.

The decision to pursue membership was reportedly raised during a visit to Saudi Arabia by Chinese President Xi Jinping in December of last year.