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Draft National Policy for Women 2016 unveiled
Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi on 17 May 2016 unveiled 2016 Draft National Policy for Women for comments and consultation. It will replace National Policy for Empowerment of Women, 2001. It will also guide Government action on Women’s issues over the next 15-20 years. The drafted policy shifts the focus from entitlements to rights and from empowerment to creating an enabling environment.

India’s Single Emergency Number ‘112’ To Be Active From January 1
The single emergency number ‘112‘ will be operational throughout India from January 1, 2017 to help people reach immediate services of police, ambulance and fire department. Telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has approved the provision of a single number for various emergency services that would be similar to the ‘911’ all-in-one emergency service in the US. The 211 emergency services will also be accessible even through those SIMs and landlines whose outgoing call facility has been stopped or temporarily suspended. A person in distress will need to call only 112, which will direct the call to concerned departments immediately for help. All existing emergency numbers will be phased out within a year of rolling out 112, depending upon the awareness about this new facility.

Indian Railways Launches Bharat Darshan Tourist Train For Pilgrims
Indian Railways has launched the Bharat Darshan Tourist train for pilgrims to visit Shirdi, Tirupati, Jagannath Puri, Gangasagar, Baidyanath Dham and Jyotirlingams among others. The tourist train comprises 10 coaches and bookings are being done by IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation). The service offers budget-friendly package for pilgrims. The package includes train journey, road transportation, accommodation, sightseeing at tourist locations and onboard and off-board meals. Bharat Darshan will cover pilgrimages destinations like Jagannath Puri, Gangasagar, Baidyanath Dham, Gaya, Banaras and Ayodhya. It will also cover 7 Jyotirlinga package and also offers “Dakshin Darshan with Shirdi” tour package that will cover Shirdi, Tirupati, Kanchipuram, Rameshwaram, Madurai, Kanyakumari, Mysore and Bangalore.

Prime Minister Launched Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 1 May launched the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) at Ballia, Uttar Pradesh. It will benefit the poor, especially the women. The scheme aims to provide cooking gas connections to five crore below-poverty-line beneficiaries over the next three years. Under PMUY, each of the beneficiaries will receive monetary support of about 1,600 rupees to get a connection of cooking gas. It includes administrative cost, pressure regulator booklet and safety hose The scheme seeks to empower women and protect their health by shifting them from traditional cooking based on unclean cooking fuels or on fossil fuels to clean cooking gas. It is being e implemented by Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. It is for the first time this ministry is implementing a welfare scheme. The identification of eligible BPL families will be made in consultation with the State Governments and the Union Territories.

SC Approves Holding of MBBS, BDS Entrance Through NEET
Supreme Court has approved holding a single common entrance test National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to MBBS and BDS courses for the academic year 2016-17. The SC bench comprising Justices A R Dave, Shiva Kirti Singh and A K Goel gave nod to the NEET proposal put before it by the Union Government, CBSE and the Medical Medical Council of India (MCI). The proposal had requested for treating All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) fixed for May 1, 2016 as NEET-1. The SC order would imply that all government medical colleges, deemed universities and private medical colleges will be covered under the NEET. Those examinations which have already taken place or slated to be conducted separately stands scrapped.

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