Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti on 7 July 2016 inaugurated 231 projects under the Namami Gange Programme.
•    The projects were inaugurated from Haridwar, Uttarakhand in various locations in different states namely Uttrakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Haryana and Delhi.
•    These projects involve modernization and redevelopment of Ghats and crematoriums, development of sewage infrastructure and treatment, afforestation, tree plantation, pilot drain project, interceptor drain project, trash skimmers and conservation of biodiversity.
•    47 such projects were inaugurated at various locations in Dehradun, Garhwal, Tehri Garhwal, Rudraprayag, Haridwar and Chamoli districts of Uttrakhand.
•    20 projects will be inaugurated at various locations in North 24 pargana, Nadia, South 24 pargana and Howrah districts of West Bengal.
•    26 projects were inaugurated at various locations in Buxar, Vaishali, Saran, Patna and Bhagalpur districts of Bihar.
•    112 projects under Namami Gange programme were inaugurated at various locations in Amroha, Bijnor, Hapur, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Mathura, Allahabad, Varanasi, Farukhabad and Kanpur districts.
•    It is an Integrated Ganga Conservation Mission which integrates the efforts to clean and protect the Ganga River in a comprehensive manner.
•    It will result in socio-economic benefits in terms of job creation, improved livelihoods and health benefits to the vast population that is dependent on the river.
•    Its focus is on pollution abatement interventions namely Interception, diversion and treatment of wastewater through bio-remediation or appropriate in-situ treatment or use of innovative technologies such as sewage treatment plants (STPs) or effluent treatment plant (ETPs).
•    It has a budget outlay of 20000 crore rupees for 2015-20. 
•    This is a significant four-fold increase over the expenditure in the past 30 years as the Union Government incurred an overall expenditure of approximately 4000 crore rupees on this task since 1985.

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated a smart model village pilot project today (July 2, 2016) at Rashtrapati Bhavan. 

•    Speaking on the occasion, the President said that in the last nearly four years of his Presidency this was the first time that he was having the privilege of interacting with Sarpanchs and village level functionaries in Rashtrapati Bhavan. 
•    Since assuming office, he had been emphasizing on the opening of the Rashtrapati Bhavan to the people. 
•    The President said that this is a landmark initiative for us as we seek to replicate the experience in transforming the President’s Estate into a smart model township, in five selected villages in Haryana. 
•    The five villages which will be developed into the smart villages under this pilot project are Dhaula, Alipur, Harichandpur and Taj Nagar from Gurgaon district and Rojka Meo from Mewat district of Haryana. 
•    Among the dignitaries present on the occasion were Chief Minister of Haryana, Shri Manohar Lal, Union Minister for Rural Development, Shri Chaudhary Birender Singh, Minster of Development and Panchayat, Government of Haryana, Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Chief Secretary of Haryana, other senior officers of Government of Haryana and Union Government, MLAs of Haryana, community and panchayat leaders and other peoples representatives/stakeholders.

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi today attended the first anniversary celebration of the Smart Cities Mission and AMRUT, in Pune.
•    Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said that a fresh trend is now noticed where cities are moving forward to compete on the path of development. 
•    He said there is a positive atmosphere of competing on development works through the spirit of Jan Bhaagidaari. He emphasized that people in the cities must decide about the development of their urban spaces, adding that these decisions cannot be taken in Delhi. 
•    He said that the spirit of participative governance is vital.
•    The Prime Minister said that the days when urbanization was seen as a problem are now over; it is now seen as an opportunity.
•    Shri Narendra Modi said that cities are growth centres which have the capacity to mitigate the problems faced by the people.
•    The Prime Minister also stressed on the need for cities to focus on solid waste management.
•    Earlier, the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan, joined the event through live video conferencing from Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar and Jaipur respectively.
•    They shared their views with the gathering. The Prime Minister also inaugurated the Smart Net Portal, and Smart City Projects of Pune. He launched the “Make Your City SMART” Contest.

The Assam Government has launched a unique initiative ‘Maitree Ek Gyan Yatra’ to link primary schools to high schools to colleges. 
•    The purpose of the programme is to change the mindset of the teachers, as in some places in states teachers of a school considered it below their dignity to teach the lower level students.
•    Under the initiative, college teachers will take classes in high schools and high schools teachers will teach in primary schools voluntarily. 
•    The basic idea of implementing the initiative is to improve quality of school students and create better synergy in education sector.
•    Assam state Education department has launched a unique programme ‘Maitree Ek Gyan Yatra’ in Sivsagar district to link primary schools to high schools to colleges.

•    Under the initiative, college teachers are taking classes in high schools and high schools teachers are teaching in primary schools voluntarily.

Railways minister Suresh Prabhu on Wednesday launched three passenger service initiatives—a Janani Sewa for mothers, optional catering in Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains on a pilot basis and a children’s menu on trains.
•    Under Janani Sewa, hot milk, hot water and baby food—to begin with—will be available at 25 railway stations including New Delhi, Mumbai, Howrah, Chennai, Surat and Lucknow. 
•    Originally, the service was meant to have been introduced on trains.
•    The decision to introduce this facility was taken after a mother last year tweeted to the minister that due to a delayed train service she was facing a lot of problems feeding her child as she was unable to find milk on the train.
•    The Indian Railways also launched an optional catering services project. 
•    To begin with the project will be taken up on a pilot basis for 45 days and will be available only on the Secunderabad-Pune Shatabdi Express and Mumbai Central-Hazrat Nizammudin Rajdhani Express.
•    The catering charges of Rs.340 for 1 AC and Rs.295 on 2AC/3AC would be deducted from the cost of the Rajdhani ticket if a passenger opts out of the catering service. 
•    Similarly a Shatabdi ticket would be cheaper by Rs.260 and Rs.220 for executive and chair car categories, respectively.
•    To make train travel a happier experience for children, the railways has launched items like French fries, noodles, burgers and meal combos through IRCTC. 
•    These items can be ordered by the passengers through the e-catering website of IRCTC, a specified phone number, SMS, mobile app or a four digit all-India toll free number—1323.