Onam Festival Celebrated in Kerala
• Onam, the national festival of the ‘Gods Own Country’ celebrated during the Malayalam month of ‘Chingam’, which falls in the period of August-September, 2016.
• Legend has it that the mythological King Mahabali—a great ruler, whose reign witnessed the golden era of Kerala, visits his subjects from the nether world on the day of Onam.
• Onam was celebrated with much pomp and gaiety with colorful floral carpets (pookkalam) and the traditional ‘sadya’—a Lucullar vegetarian banquet served on banana leaf. Onam is also a celebration that reaches across the boundaries of religion celebrated by Hindus, Moslems, Christians and minority communities in the state with equal vigour.
Chhattisgarh Government Launched Startup Scheme
• Chief Minister Raman Singh launched Startup scheme to promote a startup culture offering several incentives for startup entrepreneurs on September 13, 2016.
• Chief Minister and State industries Minister also launched a dedicated website www.startupcg.com. Startup logo and poster for ‘Startup Chhattisgarh’ for handholding and support to startups in the State.
• The boot camps would be used as a platform for startups to present ideas and the best out of them would be selected for incubation. The owners of startups would be provided , support in developing their business plan, building a prototype, market testing of the product, service and funding.
Uttar Pradesh Government Formed Committee to look into Suggestions of 7th Pay Commission
• The Uttar Pradesh government constituted a committee to look into the Seventh Central Pay Commission’s recommendations on September 13, 2016.
• The committee will study the recommendations with regard to salaries, pensions, allowances and other benefits of State government employees and submit its suggestions.
• Aprat from Chairman, Finance Secretary and representatives nominated by principal secretaries of planning and personnel departments will be its members.
Uttar Pradesh became First State to Launch Twitter Seva
• Uttar Pradesh became the first State in the country to roll out the ambitious ‘Twitter Seva’ project, when in one go 122 Twitter handles were unveiled in the State capital on September 10, 2016.
• Aim of the service was to provide the Uttar Pradesh police, among other thin’gs, strengthening of its primary relationship with the citizens by providing fast, efficient and real time response to complaints and SoS’s raised by the 220 plus million population in the State.
• With the launch of the Twitter Seva, citizens can simply tweet their query, complaint to the police account (@uppolice) and the request will be tackled real time by the concerned district or other officials as per the issue raised.
Odisha Government Launched Pension Scheme for Construction Workers
• The State government today launched pension scheme for construction workers which Will benefit 25.lakh beneficiaries in phases on September 11, 2016.
• All registered construction workers above 60 years of age will get pension of Rs 300 per month while workers above 80 years of age will get pension of Rs 500 per month. Rules requiring a construction worker to be registered for a minimum of five years to benefit from the pension scheme have also been waived.
• Besides, widows of construction workers and physically challenged labourers will also come under the purview of the scheme. The State government has also taken several welfare schemes for the construction workers. The maternity benefit has been increased from Rs 8000 to Rs 1000 while seriously ill workers are provided Rs 3 lakh.
