Sudin Dhavalikar, Vijay Sardesai was appointed as the Deputy CM of which Indian state?

India has signed a loan agreement with the World Bank for 96 Million US dollars for additional financing of Uttarakhand Disaster Recovery Project. Finance Ministry in a release stated the World Bank has been supporting the State Government since 2014 to restore housing and rural connectivity and to build the resilience of communities.

For the first time in Lok Sabha elections, VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audi Trail) machines are to be used all over the country. In Maharashtra, 96000 VVPAT machines will be used in 48 Lok Sabha constituencies and process for training 6 lakh employees to handle these machines has begun. They will be provided with training at three levels. VVPAT system is complimentary for electronic voting machines (EVMs) and receipt of voting will be given to the voters through these machines. Information regarding vote cast to a particular candidate by the voter can be available after pressing a button on VVPAT machine. A receipt will be given in seven seconds after voting to the voter.

For the first time in Meghalaya, braille-enabled ballot papers will be made available at all polling booths. The ballot paper pasted on the EVMs will have the names and symbol of candidates in braille alphabets. The move will facilitate more than 800 visually impaired electorates to vote by a secret ballot.

A new species of venomous reddish-brown pit viper was discovered in the West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh by a team of herpetologists led by Ashok Captain.

The Madhya Pradesh government issued an ordinance increasing reservation quota for the Other Backward Classes (OBC) to 27% from the current 14%. The announcement was made by the state's Law and Legal Affairs Minister PC Sharma. The ordinance was issued and notified after it received the assent from the state's Governor Anandiben Patel.

The government of Karnataka is planning for cloud seeding project due to drought and to influence the upcoming monsoon and capture as much water as possible from the rain clouds. The State government has called the tenders for cloud seeding operations to enhance rainfall during the monsoons of 2019 and 2020. The cost is expected to be Rs.50 crore per year. Earlier Efforts of Karnataka Karnataka had undertaken a similar exercise through Project Varshadhare in 2017. Cloud Seeding is a process of intervening chemically to induce precipitation rain or snow from clouds. Cloud seeding aims to facilitate and accelerate the process by making available chemical nuclei for condensation to take place. The agents used as nuclei are iodides of silver or potassium, dry ice (solid carbon dioxide), or liquid propane.

Tashigang, a Himachal Pradesh village at an altitude of 15,256 feet has now become the highest polling station in the world. Situated about 29 km from the India-China border, the polling station covers two villages, Tashigang and Gate.

The Meteorological Department issued a yellow weather warning for rain in Himachal Pradesh by forecasting thunderstorm with hail in isolated places over the state.Meteorological Department has issued colour-coded warnings to alert people ahead of severe or hazardous weather.Code color yellow is the least dangerous weather warning which indicates the possibility of severe weather over the next few days that could affect people.

Bamboo rice has shown up in Odisha nearly after four decades. The state of Odisha had last witnessed Bamboo rice in 1979. The Forest Authorities of Chandaka-Dampara Wildlife Sanctuary in Cuttack district have opened up the gates for the forest dwellers to collect the Bamboo rice. Whenever the bamboo rice shows up, it would be accompanied by the increase in the rat population which starts running over the bamboo rice. Hence to avoid the menace the forest authorities have allowed forest dwellers to harvest Bamboo rice. Further, the authorities are also planning to purchase bamboo rice from the forest dwellers to germinate bamboo trees in other areas of the state.

"Mukhyamantri Parivar Samman Nidhi" scheme was launched by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar inChandigarh. It is primarily meant for farmers of the state who cultivate on land with areas upto five acres and the families with an income of less than Rs. 15,000 per month. The scheme would provide a sum of Rs. 6,000 yearly and each family has to nominate a member who will be provided with this amount. The scheme involves two categories of beneficiaries-in the age group of 18 to 40 years and the in the age group of 40 to 60 years. The scheme provides insurance facilities of- Rs. 2 lakh on natural death, Rs. 2 lakh for accidental death, Rs. 2 lakh for permanent disability and Rs. 1 lakh for partial disability. Those who are registered under the Pradhanmantri Shram-Yogi Maandhan, then they could receive a pension of Rs. 3,000 per month after they turn 60, whose premiums will be funded by the government.