G O V E R N M E N T Simultaneous flag hoisting at most forts On the occasion of the 371st anniversary of Hindavi Swarajya Oath by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in 1645, around 1,350 volunteers from Maharashtra-based Sahyadri Pratishthan carried out conservation activities including cleaning and restoration at 300 forts in the state on March 30, 2016. They also hoisted the Bhagwa jhanda (a saffron flag that served as the flag of the Marathas) simultaneously on all the 300 forts at 4.00 pm on the same day, making it the largest such event. Largest hoisted National Flag To celebrate the second anniversary of Telangana State formation, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao hoisted the largest National Flag on a tall flag pole at Sanjeevaiah Park on the banks of the Hussain Sagar Lake in Hyderabad on June 2, 2016. The flag measured 108 × 72 ft (32.92 × 21.95 m) and weighed 65 kg while the 291 ft (88.7 m) high flag pole weighed 40 tonnes. The flag was designed by Mumbai Flag Tallest flag pole with the National Flag Shop and Philvex Hobby Society. To pay tribute to national heroes, Pahari Mandir Vikas Samiti in Ranchi, The project was undertaken by Jharkhand erected the tallest flag pole on which a 99 × 66 ft (30.17 × the Roads and Buildings 20.12 m) National Tricolour was hoisted by Union Defence Minister Department, Govt of Telangana. Manohar Parrikar on Jan 23, 2016, the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. The 293 ft (89.3 m) flag pole stands on Pahari Mandir hill and the flag flutters at 493 ft (150 m) above the ground level. The project was executed by a team led by Deepak Varthuar of Urmila RCP Project Private Ltd. LIMCA BOOK OF RECORDS 2017 1 4 2 govt 2017.pmd 142 29-03-2017, 11:38 G O V E R N M E N T WR: Largest diaspora With over 1.6 crore of its population living outside the country, the Indian Diaspora remained the largest in the world, according to a 2015 survey by the United Nations. Mexico came second with a 1.2 crore migrants. International migrations in the world stood at 24.4 crore people in 2015 marking a 41% increase compared to 2000. Two-thirds of these migrants live in 20 countries, with the USA hosting 19% of all migrants at 46.6 million, followed by Germany, Russia, Saudi Arabia, UK and UAE. According the govt estimates, the size of Indian Diaspora including both Non-resident Indians (NRIs) and Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) has crossed the 2 crore mark. Largest India Africa Summit The third edition of India Africa Forum Summit (IAFS-III) held in New Delhi from Oct 26-30, 2015 was the biggest such diplomatic outreach by India with a participation of 54 African nations, including leaders of 41 African nations for the first time. The five- day summit, aimed at deepening India-Africa ties, started with official level consultations, followed by a heads-of-states level meet and ended with bilateral meetings between the Prime Minister of India and visiting African leaders. WR: Fastest growing large economy With the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growing at 7.4%, India retained the world’s fastest growing large economy status in 2015-16, bettering the previous year’s figure of 7.2%. In September 2015, India also overtook China and the USA to become the world’s top foreign direct investment destination. Most travelled Most unsuccessful parliamentarian candidate (living) Dr Mahendra Prasad, The never-say-die ‘election Rajya Sabha MP from king’ Dr K Padmarajan Bihar has visited 210 (b May 15, 1959) of Mettur, countries/ Salem, Tamil Nadu has independent contested and lost 176 territories as of June elections since 1988! Presidents, vice presidents, 30, 2016. His travel prime ministers, chief ministers, central ministers, list includes all UN state ministers, film stars… thus goes the list of member countries except VVIPs he has contested in the past. He says he has one and 19 other territories, lost about Rs 20 lakh in deposit money but that the latest being South Sudan. however does not stop him from entering the fray. LIMCA BOOK OF RECORDS 2017 1 4 3 govt 2017.pmd 143 29-03-2017, 11:38 G O V E R N M E N T First state assembly to invite questions online The Maharashtra State Legislature launched the country’s first online facility that enables Members of Legislative Assembly and Council (MLAs and MLCs) to send their questions and move different motions in the House through its website http://mls.org.in on Dec 7, 2015. The legislators started using it with the winter session of the State Legislature held in Nagpur. It was designed by the Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Ltd as a part of the state government’s Digital MLAs initiative with the aim to bring the paper work to minimum. First digital state President Pranab Mukherjee declared Kerala a digital state on Feb 27, 2016. High internet penetration, nearly 100% mobile phone density (over 3.1 crore out of 3.3 crore population), high e-literacy level (75%), highest digital banking rate, setting up of two state-of-the art government data centres and a state-wide area network (KSWAN) connecting over 3,000 government offices contributed to the making of Kerala as the first complete digital state. Kerala emerged as the first e-literate state largely through its Akshaya and IT@School projects, both launched in 2002. More than 33 lakh people benefited from Akshaya project while around 39 lakh students from 12,600 schools were trained under the IT@School project. First state to complete the National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN) project, started in 2011, Kerala is equipped to provide high-speed internet via optic fibre in all grampanchayats. The state also holds the distinction of having issued over one crore e-certificates and over 3.29 crore Aadhaar enrolments. LIMCA BOOK OF RECORDS 2017 1 4 4 govt 2017.pmd 144 29-03-2017, 11:38 G O V E R N M E N T First smokeless village Vyachakurahalli village in Karnataka was declared the first smokeless village in the country by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Govt of India on Dec 8, 2015. Following the Mission Smokeless Village project, undertaken by Indian Oil Corporation with the objective of helping rural women regain their health and to make cooking easier, all 274 households in the village had shifted to LPG stoves. First fully organic state Sikkim was formally declared the country’s first fully organic state on Jan 18, 2016. By the end of December 2015, the state succeeded in converting around 75,000 hectares of its agricultural land to certified organic land by implementing organic practices and principles as per guidelines of the National Programme for Organic Production. Sikkim had actually started RTI activist rewarded by government the process with a declaration in the legislative On Oct 16, 2015, Right-to-Information (RTI) assembly in 2003. activist Prashant Ashok Burge (39) of Galatga in Belagavi, Karnataka was rewarded by National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) under Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for exposing the toll fee overcharge scam at Hattargi Plaza on National Highway-4 along the Karnataka - Maharashtra border. Using the citizen’s right to know, provided under the RTI Act Largest survey on LPG 2005, he had brought The Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) under Ministry to the notice of the authorities in the ministry that of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Govt of India conducted the the toll fee collecting agency was actually largest exclusive survey on usage of Liquefied Petroleum Gas overcharging the users during the five months (LPG) and energy access in the country, which covered 120 from November 2012 to March 2013. Acting on districts in 13 states – Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, his complaint, the authority imposed a penalty of Jharkhand, MP, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tripura, Rs 1,82,73,000 in addition to the extra collected UP and West Bengal – and collected primary data from 1.03 lakh amount of Rs 15,95,825 with interest to be unconnected LPG households in over 53 days from September – recovered to the government. NHAI also issued a December 2015. In addition to households, the exercise also demand draft worth Rs 10,000 to Prashant as a interviewed or surveyed 1,418 grampanchayats in the 120 reward for exposing the corruption, even in the districts to seek their views on drivers and barriers for the use of face of tempting offers and life threats from vested LPG as a clean cooking fuel. interests. LIMCA BOOK OF RECORDS 2017 1 4 5 govt 2017.pmd 145 29-03-2017, 11:38 G O V E R N M E N T First state to provide social welfare benefits Most obsolete laws repealed to transgender community Thanks to the initiatives taken by the Union Ministry of Law & On May 29, 2016, the State Govt of Odisha decided Justice during the first two years of the present government, the to extend its social welfare benefits such as free or Govt of India repealed a total of 1,175 obsolete and redundant heavily subsidized foodgrains, pension, health, acts which had lost their significance. Four Acts were enacted education and housing to the transgender community to effect this: (i) The Repealing and Amending Act, 2015 by including them in the Below Poverty Line (BPL) resulted in repealing 35 such Acts; (ii) The Repealing and category.