17th April 2016

A.Indian Army conducts Shatrujeet battle exercise in Rajasthan

1.The Indian Army conducted major battle exercise named as ‘Shatrujeet’ in the Thar Desert of Rajasthan near to the border with Pakistan. 

2.The sole purpose of the exercise was to evaluate the capability of the Indian Army and fine tune its proactive war strategy to respond swiftly to any threat to nation’s security. 

Key facts 
1.The 2016 Shatrujeet battle exercise was steered by the Mathura based 1 Corps, one of the three principle strike corps of the Indian Army. 

2.It aimed to evaluate the capability of the Indian Army to strike deep into enemy territory in an integrated air-land battle environment. 

3.It was an operation-oriented exercise that focused on validating integrated battle theatre fighting concept. 

4.It also incorporated the new-age technologies, weapon platforms and systems as well as long range precision targeting vectors. 

5.It was post preparatory training exercise manoeuvres at subordinate units and formation levels by conducting integrated operational manoeuvres.

B.Delhi Government launches Phase 2 of odd-even scheme

1.Delhi Government has launched the second phase of odd-even car rationing scheme to check pollution in the national capital. 

2.The second phase will be from 15 April 2016 till 30 April 2016. The scheme aims at curbing vehicular pollution and reducing traffic congestion on the roads of NCR Delhi. 

Key facts 
1.Under it, four wheelers with licence plates ending in an odd number will ply on odd dates and those ending with an even number can run on even dates. 

2.It will be between 8am and 8pm and on Sunday no restrictions are applied. 

3.The penalty in case of a violation is Rs. 2,000. During this implementation, public transport including buses and the Metro will be run at high frequency. 

4.Residents are being urged to carpool in order to reduce pressure on public transport. 

Exemptions: President, Vice President, Prime Minister, Union Ministers and other VIPs have been exempted. Besides emergency vehicles, vehicles driven by women, CNG vehicles and cars carrying school children in uniforms will be also exempted.

C.Jharkhand Government launches Bhimrao Ambedkar Awas Yojana for widows

1.Jharkhand Government has launched Bhimrao Ambedkar Awas Yojana for widows to create equality and harmony in society, ensuring all round development enshrined in the Constitution. 

2.It was launched by Chief Minister Raghubar Das on the occasion of 125th birth anniversary of Dr. B R Ambedkar. 

Key facts 
1.The scheme (Yojana) aims at building 11000 units (houses) for widows in 2016-17 financial year with the budgetary allocation of 80 crore rupees. 

2.Under it, beneficiaries would get an amount of 75000 rupees to build a house in hilly terrains districts and 70000 rupees in plains area. 

3.The amount would be distributed among the beneficiaries in three installments directly in their bank accounts. Under it widows will also get pension.