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February 2015 Current Affairs
1st February, 2015
Gold award for the Income Tax Department under National Award on E-
Governance 2014-15.
It gets the recognition under category 'Cat-I-Excellence in Government Process Re-
engineering' for launching the project 'TDS Reconciliation Analysis & Correction
Enabling System (TRACES)'.
Krishna Chaudhary is appointed as the Director General (DG) of the Indo-Tibetan
Border Police (ITBP).
He is currently serving as the Director General of the Railway Protection Force.
DRDO gets approval for setting up a missile launch testing facility near Krishna
Delta Complex (Andhra Pradesh).
The ecologically sensitive zone is home to endangered species 'Olive Ridley turtles'.
The construction, however, is subject to a final green clearance from Supreme Court.
Government for its part has put few precautionary measures in place to minimize the
harm to the ecology, like: No activities in night, and during the turtles’ nesting
season.
Regeneration of mangroves is also planned.
Agni-5, intercontinental ballistic missile with a strike range of over 5000 kms,
successfully test-fired from Wheeler's Island off Odisha coast.
It was the 3rd developmental test of this surface-to-surface nuclear capable missile
that can carry a nuclear warhead of over one tonne.
Few more trials are required before it becomes usable for our armed forces.
Agni Series: the previous 4 version of this series has already been inducted.
Agni-1 : 700 km range
Agni-2 : 2000 km
Agni-3 and Agni-4 : ranging from 2500 km to 3500 km
Government rakes in Rs 22557 crore from disinvestment in Coal India Ltd - the
largest ever disinvestment among Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs).
The process involves disinvestment of 5% of the paid-up equity of Government of
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India (with an option to retain additional 5% in case of oversubscription) in CIL.
What is Magna Carta?
‘Magna Carta’ is Latin and means “Great Charter”. The Magna Carta was one of the
most important documents of Medieval England.
Magna Carta is considered one of the first steps towards parliamentary democracy
and includes the principle that no one is above the law, including the king.
It was signed on 15 June 1215 at Runnymede.
It was drafted to make peace between the unpopular King and rebel barons, it
promised the protection of church rights, protection for the barons from illegal
imprisonment, access to swift justice, and limitations on feudal payments to the
Crown, to be implemented through a council of 25 barons.
Commons to vote on mitochondrial therapy
A radical new approach developed in the United Kingdom for the treatment of a
potentially wide spectrum of inherited — and hitherto incurable — diseases has run
into controversial waters. The technique known as ‘mitochondrial replacement
therapy’ or MRT will be decided by a parliamentary vote.
Vote in the House of Commons will decide whether the United Kingdom’s Human
Fertilisation and Embryology Authority can grant licences to allow the replacement
therapy to be conducted in U.K. clinics.
Raahgiri Day
A first of its kind event “Raahgiri day for the persons with disabilities” was organized
as a unique initiative by the Department of Empowerment of persons with
Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India
recently.
The concept is inspired by “Ciclovia” held weekly in Bagota, Columbia and now
popular all over the world known by different names viz. Open Streets, Summer
Streets, etc.
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2nd February, 2015
One-rank one-pension scheme soon
The Defence Ministry has fast-tracked work on ‘one-rank one-pension’ scheme. The
defence minister has also assured that the scheme will soon be put in place.
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One-rank one-pension scheme
This is a scheme which will ensure that soldiers of the same rank and the same
length of service receive the same pension, irrespective of their retirement date. In
simple words, it demands equal pensions for those who have retired in one particular
year, as those who retire in another year at the same position, and for the same
duration of services rendered.
PaHaL Scheme for Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG Subsidy
The Prime Minister recently reviewed, in a high level meeting, PaHaL (Pratyaksha
Hastaantarit Laabh), the Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme for LPG Subsidy.
PaHaL, which covers more than 9.75 crore LPG consumers, is perhaps the world’s
largest cash transfer program as compared to similar programs in other countries,
such as China, Mexico and Brazil.
PaHaL scheme:
PaHaL aims to reduce diversion and eliminate duplicate or bogus LPG connections.
Under PaHaL, LPG cylinders are sold at market rates and entitled consumers get the
subsidy directly into their bank accounts. This is done either through an Aadhaar
linkage or a bank account linkage.
The scheme has witnessed massive enrolment in a short span of time.
The scheme will cover over 15.3 crore consumers across 676 districts of the country.
Currently over 6.5 crore consumers i.e. 43% have already joined the scheme and
will receive subsidy in their bank account.
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3rd February, 2015
Russia, China back India’s inclusion in expanded APEC
The foreign ministers of the Russia-India-China (RIC) grouping, during deliberations
in Beijing, issued a comprehensive joint communiqué that called for an ambitious
reform of an international system that was respectful of the diversity of home-grown
political systems.
Russia and China have also endorsed India’s efforts to formalise rejection of
international terrorism.
The communiqué recommended India’s inclusion in an expanded Asia Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC), a 21-nation grouping of Pacific Rim countries.
APEC:
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a regional economic forum
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established in 1989 to leverage the growing interdependence of the Asia-Pacific.
APEC has 21 members.
Aim: to create greater prosperity for the people of the region by promoting balanced,
inclusive, sustainable, innovative and secure growth and by accelerating regional
economic integration.
Government celebrates MGNREGA Divas
The Ministry of Rural Development has decided to focus intensely on convergence of
MGNREGA with other Schemes to create durable and useful assets. It has introduced
a new module to capture planning and implementation of convergence initiatives. 21
States have prepared their Convergence Plans already. Convergence has been
closely linked to measuring outcomes of works and their impact on the rural
economy.
MGNREGA:
The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005, also known as the “Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act” is an Indian labour law and social
security measure.
Aims:
To guarantee the ‘right to work’ and ensure livelihood security in rural areas.
To create durable assets that would augment the basic resources available to the
poor.
To follow the Directive Principles of State Policy enunciated in Part IV of the
Constitution of India and conforms to the Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights that defines the right to work as a basic human right.
Kudankulam power cheaper than U.S. proposals: Russia
Russian officials recently said that the power generated under the Indo US
agreements will be much more expensive than the negotiated deals with Russia for
the “Kudankulam series.”
Details:
It is being said that the rates for electricity from units 1&2 of the Kudankulam
Nuclear Power Plant, being constructed with Russian technical assistance (in Tamil
Nadu), were almost half the price that power from proposed American designs would
cost.
Some reports say that U.S. company Westinghouse has proposed Rs.6 per kWh in
initial discussions with India, while French company Areva had spoken of Rs.6.50 per
kWh, both of which would be far higher than the estimated price of power at
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Kudankulam 1&2 at Rs.3.50 per kWh.
The proposed Rs.1,500 crore Insurance Pool which will be funded equally by state-
owned insurance companies and the government is further expected to raise the
cost/kWh.
SC stands up for man’s oldest friend
The Supreme Court has decided to stand up for man’s oldest companion by
questioning the authority of municipal bodies to pick dogs off the streets and kill
them merely because they are a “nuisance” to the public. The SC also noted that “a
faithful dog is a faithful friend.”
The SC was hearing a petition filed by People for Elimination of Stray Animals, which
had sought killing of stray dogs.
Conflicting laws:
The SC Bench has said that at the crux of the problem was the contradiction in
animal welfare laws on what constitutes “nuisance.”
On the contrary, the Animal Birth Control Rules formulated under the Central law —
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 — does not allow this. The law only
permits extermination of rabid, terminally ill or mortally wounded dogs, not
“nuisance-causing dogs.”
The case is yet to be decided by the Supreme Court.
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4th February, 2015
RBI cuts SLR by 50 basis points to provide liquidity
The RBI has reduced the statutory liquid ratio by 50 basis points to 21.50% from
22%. This will provide more liquidity to the banking system.
It will also pump up Rs.45, 000 crore to the system and hence banks may go for a
cut in lending rates.
The other tools are kept unchanged: Repo rate at 7.75% and CRR at 4%.
RBI raises forex limit
The central bank has doubled the amount of foreign exchange that an individual can
remit in a year under a scheme that allows asset purchase outside India.
Now, a person can remit up to $250,000 a year under the Liberalized Remittance
Scheme, which was started in 2004 with a view to simplify foreign exchange avenues
available to Indians.
This is the second time the limit has been raised.
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Earlier in August 2013, the RBI had gone for a drastic 62.5 per cent cut in the limit
to $75,000, when the RBI was fighting hard to stem the free fall in rupee against the
dollar.
Since, the rupee has strengthened against the dollar in 2015 the RBI has raised the
limit.
Swine flu deaths preventable: Centre
In the wake of a H1N1 (swine flu) outbreak, which has claimed 191 lives this year,
the Centre recently said mortality on account of the flu can be contained with
immediate medical intervention.
Present Scenario:
There have been 2,038 cases of H1N1 reported across the country in 2015,
with Telangana reporting the highest number of cases at 629 and 34 deaths,
followed by Delhi with 488 cases and 5 deaths, Gujarat with 309 cases and 38
deaths and Rajasthan with 205 cases and 49 deaths.
Delhi’s low mortality is attributable to the high awareness about the flu, followed by
early detection and timely treatment.
Swine Flu/H1N1:
Swine flu is contagious, and it spreads in the same way as the seasonal flu.
When people who have it cough or sneeze, they spray tiny drops of the virus into the
air. If a person comes in contact with these drops or touch a surface that an infected
person has recently touched, the person can catch H1N1 swine flu.
Pregnant women who contract the H1N1 infection are at a greater risk of developing
complications because of hormonal changes, physical changes and changes to their
immune system to accommodate the growing foetus.
Symptoms:
Most symptoms are the same as seasonal flu. They can include:
Cough, fever, sore throat, stuffy or runny nose, body aches, headache, chills,
fatigue.
If not controlled it can lead to more serious complications like pneumonia and
respiratory failure.
The antiviral drugs are sometimes prescribed to reduce the severity of symptoms.
Cyber laws not meant to curb free speech: Centre
The government recently clarified before the Supreme Court that its laws were
meant to fight cybercrime and not curb free expression.
Background:
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A bunch of petitioners had filed petitions challenging the constitutionality of certain
legal provisions in the Information Technology Act, especially Section 66 A. This
Section prescribes a punishment of up to three years in jail if found guilty of causing
“annoyance or inconvenience” on the Internet, including social media.
What the government says?
The government has been saying that it has no intention to curb the freedom of
speech and expression. It says that Section 66 A pertains to only certain Cyber
Crimes and not freedom of speech.
The government also says nobody can file a complaint saying something caused me
annoyance or inconvenience. The provisions of the Act require a serious obstruction.
But who decides the seriousness of the obstruction is the issue.
Cyber Attacks posed a clear and present danger to the security apparatus. The court
is yet to decide on the matter.
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5th February, 2015
Finance panel report not unanimous
With the finance commission member submitting a dissent note, it is now evident
that the report of the 14th finance commission is not unanimous. The commission
was headed by Y.V. Reddy.
The report was submitted in December 2014.
The commission has recommended a 42 per cent share of Central tax revenues for
States for the period from April 1, 2015, to March 31, 2020. The dissent note has
recommended that the States share could be 38 per cent.
The recommendations of the previous panels were only for statutory transfers, but
the present commission’s recommendation of 42 per cent is for total transfers of
funds from the Centre to the States under all heads. Besides statutory transfers, it
includes non-Plan funds and Plan allocations that the erstwhile Planning Commission
made.
Previous experience:
The Third Finance Commission too had a dissent note, and the then Union
government accepted it, rejecting one of the recommendations of the panel.
Finance Commission: It is a constitutional body constituted under article 280 of the
Indian Constitution by the President of India after every five years.
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It is a quasi-judicial body consisting of a Chairman and four members appointed by
the President and hold office during his pleasure.
It was formed to define the financial relations between the Centre and states.
They submit their recommendations to the president which are advisory in nature.
Functions of the Finance Commission:
Distribution of net proceeds of taxes between Centre and the States, to be divided as
per their respective contributions to the taxes.
Determine factors governing Grants-in Aid to the states and the magnitude of the
same.
To make recommendations to president as to take the measures needed to augment
the Consolidated Fund of a State to supplement the resources of the panchayats and
municipalities in the state on the basis of the recommendations made by the Finance
Commission of the state.
Beneficial algal species discovered
Two new bloom-forming algal species were discovered recently off the west coast of
India. These two species have excellent carbon capture properties — ability to absorb
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and reduce global warming — and are also
promising candidates for use as bio fuels.
The two species are:
1. Ulva paschima Bast.
2. Cladophora goensis Bast.
Some facts:
Both of the newly discovered species are endemic and bloom-forming.
As they are endemic, their cultivation is not going to cause any environmental harm.
i.e., they are not bio invasive species.
Bloom forming indicates spontaneous growth. There is no need for
fertilizers/pesticides or any expensive cultivation systems such as photo bioreactors
for their cultivation.
These can grow sporadically at shorelines and can sequester CO2.
These newly discovered algae have profound sequence differences from previously
discovered algae.
Indian firms need to do more to avoid climate change risks
According to a new report by CDP, an international NGO formerly called Carbon
Disclosure Project lack of preparation leaves supply chains in Brazil, China, India and
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the U.S. more vulnerable to climate change risks than those in Europe and Japan.
What the report says?
Suppliers in India and Canada are not doing enough to manage climate change risks.
Indian companies, in particular, demonstrate a low propensity to reporting on
emissions.
Neither Croatia nor Serbia committed genocide during violent break-up of
Yugoslavia: International Court of Justice
Both the nations were absolved of the genocidal charges - alleged against each other
- as the tribunal could not establish 'Intent for genocide'.
Though forces of both countries had committed crimes during the 1990s conflict, but
there was no proof to establish that it was done with aim to 'destroy a community in
whole or in part' - a mandatory precondition to prove genocide.
Centre forms a high level panel to suggest a framework to monitor CSR
activities done by companies.
It will be headed by former Home Secretary Anil Baijal.
As per the new company act 2013, certain class of profitable companies has to spend
at least 2% of their three-year average annual net profit towards Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) activities.
LC Goyal is appointed as the new Home Secretary for a 2-year stint.
Incumbent Anil Goswami was fired for using his position to stall the arrest of
Saradha scam accused Matang Sinh - a former Congress minister at the Centre.
Noted sculptor and artist Mrinalini Mukherjee passes away at 65.
Her artistic works are known for the use of knotted hemp fibre, ceramics and cast
bronze.
The exhibitions of her work have been held abroad in the countries like UK and
Europe.
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6th February, 2015
The Roongta committee, set up to suggest reforms in Central Public Sector
Enterprises (CPSEs), submits report.
Some of the suggestions recommended by the committee includes better corporate
governance, more autonomy to Boards of PSUs, better utilization of resources and
transparency and fixing tenures of CMDs of PSU companies.
Ministry of Mines assign more powers to States; to notify 31 major minerals
as minor minerals
As opposed to major minerals, the regulatory and administrative jurisdiction of minor
minerals falls under the purview of State governments.
The decision empowers States to customize regulatory framework to suit local
conditions.
These include the powers to frame rules, prescribe rates of royalty, contribution to
District Mineral Foundation, the procedure for grant of mineral concessions etc.
These 31 minerals account for over 55% of the total number of leases and nearly
60% of total leased area.
After agriculture, mining is the second largest employer in the country.
Kolkata becomes the 1st metro city in India to be covered by free Wi-Fi (4G)
service.
The service, launched from Park Street area, will soon engulf the other parts of the
megacity (and beyond) in a phased manner.
The whole city is expected to come under the Wi-Fi coverage by mid-April in 2015.
Reliance Jio is the service provider for this project.
MO Garg assumes charge as the Director General of the Council of Scientific &
Industrial Research (CSIR).
Earlier, He was the Director of CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum (CSIR-IIP),
Dehradun.
Justice Madan Mohan Das is appointed to probe the multi-crore chit fund
scam in Odisha.
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The post was vacant after the demise of the incumbent Justice Radha Krushna Patra.
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) bags Rs 1090 Crore contract for supplying
14 Do-228 aircraft to Indian Air Force.
The deal also includes six reserve engines, one flight simulator and associated
equipments.
Advantages of 'DO-228'
The Aircraft enjoys several in-built features such as highest fuel carrying capacity in
its class (2850 litres) due to integral fuel tanks in wings.
Short take-off and landing capability- the aircraft can take off from around 700 m
and land within 575 m- essentially required for operations from short and semi-
prepared airfields
Low structural weight ensured through use of advanced composite materials.
High wing design for unobstructed view and radar coverage.
Wide wheel base for better stability.
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
HAL is a government-owned aerospace and defence company based in Bangalore.
Its primary job is to manufacture Aircraft, Navigation and related Communication
equipments and manage airports operation.
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7th February, 2015
Bhalchandra Nemade wins Jnanpith
Bhalchandra Nemade has been selected for the 50th Jnanpith Award for 2014.
Nemade is the fourth Marathi writer to win the honour.
About the Award:
The Jnanpith Award is one of the two most prestigious literary honours in the
country. The award was instituted in 1961.
Eligibility:
Any Indian citizen who writes in any of the official languages of India is eligible for
the honour.
Prior to 1982, the awards were given for a single work by a writer; since then, the
award has been given for a lifetime contribution to Indian literature.
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Seven women writers have won the award so far.
India Votes
The first copy of Election Commission’s prestigious publication ‘INDIA VOTES’ was
presented to the President of India recently.
About the Book:
The book ‘INDIA VOTES’ attempts to encapsulate the most critical and outstanding
features of the Indian elections for a concise yet comprehensive, fact-filled and
inside-eye view of the Indian elections, with special emphasis on the 2014 Lok Sabha
Election, which became famous as the largest democratic exercise on earth so far.
The book traces the details of the process of the elections right from the training of
the electoral teams at ECI Headquarter to the grassroots levels, through the process
of the precise and thorough planning for the process.
Collegium system to continue until NJAC is in place
The union law minister recently said that the old collegium system for appointing
judges to the Supreme Court and High Courts would continue until the National
Judicial Commission is put in place.
The issue has come to the fore due to some media reports which claimed that there
was a tug-of-war between the government and the highest judiciary.
There are also petitions pending in the Supreme Court challenging the validity of the
NJAC Act, 2014.
The NJAC restores the political class’s role in the appointment of judges to the
Supreme Court and the High Courts.
Both the Constitution Amendment Bill and the NJAC Bill were passed by Parliament in
August 2014 and have also received President’s assent after ratification by 16 State
legislatures.
NJAC:
NJAC is a proposed body responsible for the appointment and transfer of judges to
the higher judiciary in India. It seeks to replace the collegium system of appointing
the judges of Supreme Court and 24 High Courts with judicial appointments
commission wherein the executive will have a say in appointing the judges.
Details:
A new article, Article 124A, (which provides for the composition of the NJAC) will be
inserted into the Constitution.
It provides for the procedure to be followed by the NJAC for recommending persons
for appointment as Chief Justice of India and other Judges of the Supreme Court
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(SC), and Chief Justice and other Judges of High Courts (HC).
It also seeks changes in articles 124,217,222 and 231.
The commission will consist of the following members:
Chief Justice of India (Chairperson, ex officio)
Two other senior judges of the Supreme Court next to the Chief Justice of Indi, ex
officio
The Union Minister of Law and Justice, ex-officio
Two eminent persons (to be nominated by a committee consisting of the Chief
Justice of India, Prime Minister of India and the Leader of opposition in the Lok
Sabha or where there is no such Leader of Opposition, then, the Leader of single
largest Opposition Party in Lok Sabha), provided that of the two eminent persons,
one person would be from the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes or OBC or
minority communities or a woman. The eminent persons shall be nominated for a
period of three years and shall not be eligible for re-nomination.
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8th February, 2015
Prithvi-II missile successfully test fired
Prithvi-II missile was successfully test fired recently.
Quick facts:
The missile is indigenously developed nuclear capable surface-to-surface missile with
a strike range of 350 km.
The missile is thrusted by liquid propulsion twine engines.
It uses advanced inertial guidance system with maneuvering trajectory.
It is the first missile to be developed by DRDO under India’s prestigious IGMDP
(Integrated Guided Missile Development Program).
GARUDASHAKTI-III
What is it?
It is the 3rd exercise in the ongoing series of joint exercises between armies of India
and Indonesia.
Aim of the exercise:
The exercise is aimed at building and promoting positive military to military relations
between the armies of the two nations.
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HADR Exercise
HARD exercise was recently conducted in the Lakshadweep islands.
What is it?
It is a large scale Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) exercise
involving more than 20 ships from the Western and Eastern Fleet and various aircraft
of the Indian Navy.
The Exercise involves setting up medical camps, provision of food, shelter from the
elements, restoration of basic facilities and limited restoration work till the situation
stabilised. This Exercise will further underscore the nation’s capabilities in being the
‘first responder’ in the region during times of humanitarian crises.
Sailab Se Salamati Tak
It is a Cycle Expedition from Srinagar to Delhi conducted by the Indian Army
recently.
Aim: It is aimed at creating awareness amongst the masses about the damage
caused by floods in the State of J&K in September2014; highlight the challenges
faced by the locals during the floods and wellbeing of the affected persons after the
combined rescue efforts by various Govt & Non Govt agencies.
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9th February, 2015
India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal come together to finalize a Motor Vehicles
Agreement (MVA) for a seamless transit of passenger and cargo vehicles among
them.
The agreement will enable passenger, personal and cargo vehicles to transit without
the need for costly and time-consuming trans-shipment (loading and unloading) of
goods and passengers at the border crossings.
It is expected to be signed at a meeting of Transport Ministers of the four countries
to be held soon this year.
The economic corridor would also boost people to people contact apart from
enhancing trade benefits.
Centre to create 3 sub-groups of Chief Ministers within NITI Aayog on following
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themes.
Sub-group to study the 66 Centrally Sponsored Schemes and recommend which to
continue, which to transfer to states, and which to cut down.
Sub-group to recommend how NITI Aayog can promote skill development and
creation of skilled manpower within states.
Sub-group to decide on institutional mechanisms to be evolved, and technological
inputs, for ensuring that commitment to Swachh Bharat becomes a part of our life.
Each state has also been asked to form task forces under the Aayog.
One task force would focus on poverty alleviation.
While the other would focus on future development of agriculture in the state, and
how the Centre can assist the state in this regard.
Centre to infuse Rs 6990 crores in 9 Public Sector Banks (PSBs) in the Current
Year on basis of new criteria based on Efficiency Parameters.
As per the new criteria, the banks which are more efficient would be rewarded with
extra capital for their equity so that they can further strengthen their position.
National Awards for Excellence in Hospitality Education 2012-13 conferred.
The annual awards were given in four categories including those to individual
students for excellence in academic performance, Best Teachers Awards, Best
Institute Award, and Special Awards.
It aims to recognize academic excellence in hospitality education.
Election Commission experimented with several 'Model Polling Booths' in the
recently concluded Delhi assembly election.
Let’s see what it is all about.
A Model Polling Booth is expected to have the following additional features which
separate it from the regular ones.
A display board conveying the name of location, polling station number, Assembly
Constituency, District, ECI symbol, National Emblem and Logo of the state.
Emergency light for power back up, Stickers with Logos of ECI on three sides of the
Voting Compartment.
Furniture for polling personnel as well as in the waiting lounge.
Drinking water, Queue manager in steel with nylon separator.
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First aid facility, Volunteers for assisting disabled persons and senior citizens
Decoration of Polling Station.
Comment
The experiment evoked a mixed reaction as many of them lacked the very same
facilities which they promised to provide to the voters.
But all is not lost as a fraction of them did live upto the expectation offering
impressive experience to the people using them.
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10th February, 2015
Government launched the National Deworming initiative to protect more than 24
crore children in the ages of 1-19 years from intestinal worms, on the eve of the
National Deworming Day (Feb 10), at Jaipur.
Albendazole tablets will be given to all targeted children; half tablet to 1-2 years
children and one full tablet for 2-19 years.
In the first phase about 14 crore children across eleven States/UT of Assam, Bihar,
Chhattisgarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya
Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Tripura will be covered.
While nearly 10 crore will be targeted in the second phase.
Japan to have a high-tech hotel, 'Henn-na Hotel', with humanoid
robots as staffs in Nagasaki.
The multilingual robots - fluent in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and English - will
check in guests, carry bags, make coffee, clean rooms, and deliver laundry.
However, these robots for the time being would be supplemented with a human
staff.
The hotel plan to have more than 90 percent of hotel services operated by robots in
near future.
Rajasthan to have the nation's largest solar plant with 10,000 MW capacity,
thanks to Adani Enterprises.
The joint project will come up over the next 10 years at an estimated investment of
about Rs 40,000 crore.
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Haryana government to launch 'Digital Saksharta Abhiyaan' to make the
people digitally literate.
Training would be imparted in 2 levels to at least one person from every household.
The first level would enable the trainee to operate a computer or digital access
devices, send and receive emails, and surf the internet for information.
The advance level-2, would empower people avail themselves of various
government-to-citizen and business-to-citizen services besides basic level IT literacy.
Central Silk Board opens high capacity 'Silkworm Egg Cold Storage Plant'
at Mysore.
Cold Storage Plants are indispensable in silkworm egg production system, principally
to enable uninterrupted and continuous supply of basic and commercial silkworm
seed.
The silkworm eggs are preserved in these cold storage plants for short term or long
term (up to 10 months) to regulate seed supply, matching the demand.
The plants also oversee systematic incubation of silkworm eggs prior to its dispatch
to farmers.
National Silkworm Seed Organization (NSSO), the mulberry silkworm seed
production and management arm of Central Silk Board, operates the cold storage
plants set up at Mysore, Hosur and Dehradun to manage its seed production and
distribution across the country.
National Security Guard (NSG) to conduct 15th International Seminar on Counter
IED Strategy (Feb 10-11, 2015) at NSG Training Centre, Manesar, Gurgaon.
The theme for the seminar is 'Addressing Vulnerabilities in CI-IED Strategy'.
Apart from leading security agencies of the country, the Seminar also features global
experts for exchange of expertise, ideas and experiences.
Vodafone India appoints Naveen Chopra as Chief Operating Officer, succeeding
Sunil Sood from April 1, 2015.
Sunil Sood is going to take over as Managing Director and Chief Executive
Officer from the same date.
New Web Based System inaugurated to make Payment process for National
Highways' works more transparent efficient, time bound and result oriented.
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11th February, 2015
Facebook to give free internet to users in India through 'Internet.org' in a
partnership withReliance Communications.
The service is accessible only to Reliance subscribers who can now access few chosen
(33 at present) websites and services for free.
What are Free:
News websites such as BBC News, IBNLive, Times of India; Educational services such
as Wikipedia, Translator, wikiHow; sports websites; Health and welfare services such
as BabyCentre, iLearn, Socialblood and so on.
How to avail:
Log on to www.internet.org or call toll free number 1800 300 25353 to register. Its
also available as an app on play store.
Where?
At present, the facility is only limited to the telecom circle of Mumbai, Maharashtra,
Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Chennai, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Internet.org is a Mark Zuckerberg's initiative to provide free internet in a limited way
to mobile users in developing countries.
Centre amends the Kerosene order, 1993 (Restriction on Use and Fixation of
Ceiling Price) to ease the sale and availability of white Kerosene (market priced
Kerosene).
All the activities of storage, transportation and sale of non-PDS Kerosene have now
been freed of regulatory control.
The move is expected to reduce demand for diverted PDS Kerosene by improving
availability of non-PDS Kerosene in the open market and thus meet the demand of
Kerosene for various legitimate end uses for the industry and for individual
consumption by those who can afford it at market price.
ICICI Bank launches 'Pockets' - India's first digital banking service - enabling
users to instantly send money to any e-mail id, mobile number, friends on
Facebook and bank account.
Anyone, including those who are not customers of ICICI Bank, can easily download
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the e-wallet from Google Playstore, fund it from any bank account in the country and
start transacting immediately.
Customers can also request for a physical card to use it at any retail outlet.
Indian Navy conducts HADR (Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster
Relief) exercise at Lakshadweep.
The large scale Disaster Relief drill involved setting up medical camps, provision of
food, shelter from the elements, restoration of basic facilities and limited restoration
work in the wake of major cyclone and related loss.
Mining Indaba 2015: a global event on mining, kicks off at Cape Town, South
Africa.
India has also sent team to market its mining sector to attract global investment,
technology and expertise.
Eighteen mining Ministers from countries like South Africa, Namibia, Ghana, Angola,
Sudan, Nigeria, Gabon, Eritrea, Kenya, Mali and others are participating into this
event which is held every year in South Africa.
Amartya Sen, Nobel laureate Indian economist, is honoured with the inaugural
Charleston-EFG John Maynard Keynes Prize for his contribution to society.
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12th February, 2015
Sports Ministry has revised the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar Scheme to
boost corporate money into promotion of Sports in the country.
The program was introduced in 2009 to encourage and promote involvement of
corporates, sports promotion boards etc, in the promotion and development of sports
in the country.
In the revised scheme, Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar will be given in following four
categories:
Identification and nurturing of budding/young talent
Encouragement of sports through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Employment of sportspersons and sports welfare measures
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Sports for Development
Notable Changes
Companies can now dedicate their mandatory 2% funds under CSR to promotion of
Sports in the country under the newly added category 'Encouragement of sports
through Corporate Social Responsibility'.
For the same, 'Training to promote rural sports, nationally recognized sports,
Paralympic sports and Olympic sports' have been included in the Schedule VII of the
Companies Act 2013.
As for NGOs, a separate category 'Sports for Development' is included in the revised
scheme to recognize the contributions of NGOs working in Sports field.
Global Environment Facility (GEF) agrees to take up pilot projects in four Indian
cities for promoting 'green urban practices'.
The four cities for the implementation are soon to be identified through consultations
between GEF and Ministry of Urban Development.
GEF is a financial mechanism to support countries in efforts to achieve the goals of
United Nations Conventions covering climate change, biodiversity, Ozone layer
depletion, land degradation etc.
GEF is also working on an Integrated Program on Sustainable Cities to develop
conceptual models on integrated urban design, planning and management for
resilient and sustainable development.
US and other Western nations shut their embassies in Yemen amidst growing security concerns.
The country, in a civil war since long, has finally succumbed to the Houthi rebels who
now enjoy the control over the state.
Tribal Affairs Ministry is going to hold the first National Tribal Festival "VANAJ"
from February 13-18, 2015.
The festival is meant to conserve and promote the distinctive tribal cultures.
Such exhibitions alsp promotes diversity and national integration.
There will also be exhibition and sale of tribal products, medicines, paintings, art and
handicrafts etc at the festival.
The Ambedkar National Merit Award 2014 given to 84 Students.
The prizes are given to three SC/ST students scoring highest marks in the
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Secondary/Sr. Secondary examinations conducted by all the State Education Boards
and Councils etc.
In case none of the first three eligible students are girls, the girl students scoring the
highest marks are given special award.
Eminent journalist Vinod Mehta bags Yash Bhati Samman 2015.
The Award, given by Uttar Pradesh government, was introduced by Mulayam Singh
Yadav in 1994 to honour people for their excellence in literature, fine arts, folk and
classical music and sports.
He is credited with launching a number of successful publications such as the Sunday
Observer, Indian Post, The Independent, The Pioneer (Delhi edition) and Outlook.
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13th February, 2015
Danish photographer Mads Nissen wins World Press Photo of the year 2014 for
his image depicting gay couple during an intimate moment in St Petersburg,
Russia.
The annual prize, into its 58th edition, carries a cash prize of 10,000 euros.
The photo also won first prize in the Contemporary Issues category.
Conservative Russia treats the LGBT people (lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender)
unfairly and this Sexual minority often has to suffer legal and social discrimination,
harassment, and even violent hate-crime attacks from religious and nationalistic
groups.
West toils hard with Russia to reach another ceasefire in Ukraine; ensues fragile
peace beginning February 15.
The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France reached the ceasefire after a
marathon negotiation in Belarus.
The major takeaway of the peace deal includes weapon withdrawals and prisoner
exchanges, but a lot of key issues remain unsettled.
Ukraine gets to regain the control of breakaway eastern regions and its border with
Russia, While Russia reclaims the power to keep Ukraine from ever becoming part of
NATO.
Sagging Russian economy due to Western sanctions has played a key role in getting
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Russia to agree to the peace agreement.
However, There's many a slip between cup and the lip here, as any untoward
incident from either side can sabotage the breakthrough.
Thousands of people have died in almost a year of fighting in the region.
The peace accord is very similar to the ceasefire agreed last September, which came
apart within few days.
National Legal Services Authority (Nalsa) to organize Lok Adalats throughout the
country Once in every Month to help clear the judiciary bottleneck.
The series, to handle different subjects every month, will kickstart with clearing
cheque bounce and other bank recovery matters on February 14.
The aim is to reduce pendency as well as prevent additional litigation flooding the
courts, where settlements are possible.
These Lok Adalats will be held across the country in the Supreme Court, the High
Courts, District Courts and the Taluk level Courts.
Once so disposed of by settlement, there will be no further appeal in these cases.
Microsoft acquires popular calendar apps maker 'Sunrise' for $100 million.
Gurpreet Singh, Indian American researcher at Kansas State University (KSU),
bags $500,000 National Science Foundation CAREER award for his research
on nanosheets.
He, assistant professor of mechanical and nuclear engineering there, received the
award for his project, "Scalable liquid exfoliation processing of ultrathin two-
dimensional metal dichalcogenides nanosheets for energy storage devices".
What this means?
He is looking to develop ultrathin metal sheets, to help produce better rechargeable
batteries and super capacitors.
The project may also yield catalysts for photo electrochemical hydrogen production.
The prize money will also help him fund educational activities and workshops for high
school students and teachers.
About the Prize
The National Science Foundation's 'Faculty Early Career Development Program' is
one of the foundation's most prestigious awards for supporting early career faculty.
Centre has decided to scrap 125 Toll Plazas in the country to ensure smooth and
hassle free ride for the public.
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Points to Remember
It’s notable that the country loses about 2-3 per cent of its GDP due to unproductive
traffic jams.
The selected 125 plazas are those where either the cost has been recovered or
where the collection is no longer viable.
Passenger and non-commercial vehicles account for only 14-15 per cent of total
revenue collected from tolls.
Government also plans to roll out e-tolling facility across the major Toll Plazas to
reduce traffic jams.
The plan is also afoot to make all public-private partnership projects with under Rs
100 crore of investment toll-free.
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14th February, 2015
India to get $8 million fund from World Bank for Sustainable Livelihoods and
Adaptation to Climate Change (SLACC) Project.
The project aims to improve adaptive capacity of the rural poor engaged in farm-
based livelihoods to cope with climate variability and change in Bihar and Madhya
Pradesh.
It will also inculcate the best practices and lessons into the central National Rural
Livelihoods Mission.
Climatic hazards affect the availability of natural resources, adversely affect the
livelihoods of the poor by impacting production, affecting incomes and preventing
building up of assets.
National Rural Livelihoods Mission is the implementing agency.
The villages adopted under the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) will now get
rural roads under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) on priority basis.
To accomodate this, the Union government has approved amendments in the PMGSY
guidelines.
These roads will be maintained by the respective State governments up to prescribed
standards and even beyond the built in period of first five years.
As per the amended Guidelines, States will give priority to all roads leading to the
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Gram Panchayats identified under SAGY irrespective of Comprehensive New
Connectivity Priority List (CNCPL) to include all eligible unconnected habitations in
the selected Gram Panchayats.
In case of upgradation of roads, priority shall be given to the roads which have
Pavement Condition Index (PCI) Value-I & II in the Gram Panchayats identified
under SAGY.
Railway set up 8-member Committee, headed Mohd Jamshed, to review Traffic
Growth in passenger and freight.
It will identify factors and issues affecting growth of traffic (Freight & Passenger) and
suggest a plan of action on Traffic Optimization and removing bottlenecks both in
short term (during 2015 -16) and long term (during 2018-19).
The Committee will submit its report within a period of six weeks from the date of its
constitution.
Inaugural renewable energy global investors meet & expo, Re-invest 2015 to kick
off on February 15, at vigyan bhawan, New Delhi.
Over 2500 delegates and exhibitors from 45 countries will participate in this event
with intent to invest in the country in the renewable energy sector.
It also aims to evolve innovative financial models for funding and to ensure the
partnership of states and the centre in harnessing renewable energy.
Centre brings in new reforms in Ship repair sector; registration of Ship Repair
Units (SRUs) with Directoraate General (Shipping) no longer required.
The Ministry of Shipping intends to promote ease of doing business in this sector
with cutting unnecessary and outdated red tapes.
The concessions and facilities extended to Ship Repair Units include provision of bond
facilities, duty free import of components, raw materials, consumables and capital
goods; and exemption of Central Excise duty on locally available components and
raw materials by the Department of Revenue.
Earlier, to avail these concessions, SRUs were required to be registered with DG
(Shipping).
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15th February, 2015
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MoEF seeks enhanced budget for National Adaptation Fund
The Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has demanded
enhanced budgetary allocation for the National Adaptation Fund.
In 2014, the government allocated Rs. 100 crore to set up the Fund but this is way
short of what is needed for adaptation programmes.
The Ministry is keen that some allocation be made in all Ministries so that climate
change is integrated into planning.
The government had doubled the coal cess to finance clean energy research but
there is no new proposal from the ministry to increase the cess further.
National Adaption Fund:
It was set up in July, 2014 with an initial allocation of Rs.100 cr.
This fund will assist national and state level activities to meet the cost of adaptation
measures in areas that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate
change.
India’s forest cover up by 5,871 sq. km
The report of Forest Survey of India, released recently, points out that West Bengal’s
forest cover has increased by 3,810 sq km, which is followed by Odisha where
increase in forest cover has been 1,444 km and Kerala where the increase has been
about 622 sq km.
Important observations made:
The report says that of the 5,871 sq km increase in the forest cover of India, West
Bengal accounts for nearly 64 per cent of this rise. West Bengal, a state with high
population density, has only 18.93% forest cover.
The report says that States from northeast like Nagaland, Arunanchal Pradesh,
Tripura and Manipur, whose forest cover comprises over 75 percent of the State’s
area, have shown a decrease in forest cover. The main reason for this is attributed to
the biotic pressure and shifting cultivation in the region.
In Andhra Pradesh, a State with 16.77 percent of its area covered by forest, there
has been a decrease of 273 km of forest area.
The forest cover has decreased by 176 sq km in Madhya Pradesh and 53 km in
Chhattishgarh and it has increased by 496 sq km in Jharkhand and 446 sq km in
Bihar.
Samudra Ratnakar in quest for energy security
Geological Survey of India (GSI)’s state-of-the-art research ship Samudra
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Ratnakar recently set sail to locate gas hydrates below the sea-bed off the east coast
and off Kanyakumari.
The ship uses multi-channel seismic survey technique. Under this the ship will be
capable to send high-energy sound waves deep into the sea-bed and record the
waves that echo back through hundreds of hydro phones laid on the surface of the
sea.
Mridaparikshak
Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) recently presented to the nation
‘Mridaparikshak’, a MINILAB that can determine soil health.
What is it?
Mridaparikshak is a digital mobile quantitative minilab/soil test kit to provide soil
testing service at farmers’ doorsteps.
Important features:
Mridaparikshak determines all the important soil parameters i.e. soil pH, EC, organic
carbon, available nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulphur and micronutrients like
zinc, boron and iron.
It also provides crop and soil specific fertilizer recommendations directly to farmer’s
mobile through SMS.
It is highly compatible with soil health card.
Mridaparikshak comes with soil sampling tools, GPS, balance, shaker, hot plate, and
a Smart Soil Pro, an instrument for determining the soil parameters and displaying of
fertilizer nutrient recommendations.
It can be operated by young educated farmers/rural youths with short training.
Meeting of the National Council for Promotion of Sindhi Language
The first meeting of the newly reconstituted Governing Council of National Council for
Promotion of Sindhi Language (NCPSL) was held recently in New Delhi under the
Chairpersonship of Human Resource Development Minister.
Several key decisions like increasing the award money etc. were taken at the
meeting.
It was also decided in the Meeting to provide Rs.1.00 crore for the establishment of
Sindhi Chair in Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati University, Ajmer.
About National Council for Promotion of Sindhi Language (NCPSL):
NCPSL is an Autonomous body, fully funded and established by the Government of
India, Ministry of H.R.D. Department of Education to Promote, develop and
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propagate Sindhi Language. It was established in 1994.
Objectives of the Council:
To promote, develop and propagate Sindhi Language.
To take action for making available in Sindhi Language, the knowledge of Scientific
and Technical Terminological development as well as the knowledge.
To advise the Government of India on issues connected with Sindhi Language and
advising on education as may be referred to it.
To undertake any other activity for the promotion of Sindhi Language as may be
deemed fit by the Council.
The constitution of India has enjoined upon the government of India to ensure the
development of all languages included in the eighth schedule of the Indian
Constitution.
Eleven government services launched on eBiz Portal
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce &
Industry recently announced the launch of 11 Central Government Services on eBiz
portal. These services are required for starting a business in the country.
How is it helpful?
With the integration of the 11 services on eBiz portal, a business user can avail all
these 11 services 24*7 online end-to-end i.e., online submission of forms,
attachments, payments, tracking of status and also obtain the license/permit from
eBiz portal.
The eBiz platform enables a transformational shift in the Governments’ service
delivery approach from being department-centric to customer-centric as a single
window portal.
eBiz is one of the integrated services projects and part of the 27 Mission Mode
Projects (MMPs) under the National E-Governance Plan (NEGP) of the Government of
India.
eBiz is being implemented by Infosys Technologies Limited (Infosys) under the
guidance and aegis of Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry
of Commerce & Industry, Government of India.
The focus of eBiz is to improve the business environment in the country by enabling
fast and efficient access to Government-to-Business (G2B) services through an
online portal. This will help in reducing unnecessary delays in various regulatory
processes required to start and run businesses.
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Aim of the Project:
This project aims at creating an investor-friendly business environment in India by
making all regulatory information – starting from the establishment of a business,
through its ongoing operations, and even its possible closure – easily available to the
various stakeholders concerned. In effect, it aims to develop a transparent, efficient
and convenient interface, through which the government and businesses can interact
in a timely and cost effective manner, in the future.
‘Soil Health Card’ scheme
The Soil Health Card scheme was recently launched by the Prime Minister. Under this
scheme the Centre plans to target over 14 crore farmers in the next three years to
check the excess use of fertilisers.
About the Scheme:
It is a scheme to provide every farmer a Soil Health Card in a Mission mode. It is a
scheme under which the Central Government provides assistance to State
Governments for setting up Soil Testing Laboratories for issuing Soil Health Cards to
farmers.
The scheme will be implemented in all states to promote soil testing services, issue
of soil health cards and development of nutrient management practices.
State Governments have adopted innovative practices like involvement of
agricultural students, NGOs and private sector in soil testing, determining average
soil health of villages, etc., to issue Soil Health Cards.
The state governments will prepare yearly action plan on the issue and the cost will
be shared in the ratio of 75:25 between the Centre and states.
The scheme assumes importance as the imbalanced application of fertilisers have
caused deficiency of primary nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium),
secondary nutrients (such as sulphur), and micro-nutrients (boron, zinc, copper etc.)
in most parts of country.
Though a few states like Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh
have made progress in soil testing but no uniform norms are followed in the country
for soil analysis and distribution of soil health cards. The central scheme aims to
address this issue.
Soil Health Cards:
A Soil Health Card is used to assess the current status of soil health and, when used
over time, to determine changes in soil health that are affected by land
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management.
A Soil Health Card displays soil health indicators and associated descriptive terms.
The indicators are typically based on farmers’ practical experience and knowledge of
local natural resources.
The card lists soil health indicators that can be assessed without the aid of technical
or laboratory equipment.
The card, which will carry crop-wise recommendation of fertilisers required for farm
lands, will help farmers identify health of soil and judiciously use soil nutrients.
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16th February, 2015
Nagesh Kukunoor's 'Dhanak' - meaning rainbow - wins laurels at the
65th BerlinInternational Film Festival.
It received two prizes - a Grand Prix (prize) for the being the Best Feature-length
film and the Special Mention for the Best Feature Film by The Children's Jury for
Generation Kplus.
Ashton Carter gets Senate nod as the new Defense Secretary of the US.
He will succeed Chuck Hagel as the 25th chief of Pentagon.
The post is pretty much similar to the Defense Ministers around much of the world
and gives the office-bearer power to control the mighty US Military.
Indian football captain 'Sunil Chhetri' wins Player of the Year award 2014 from All
India Football Federation.
It’s his 4th award here after winning the same in 2007, 2011 and 2013.
He thus creates the national record for winning this honour the most number of
times (4 times) leaving behind IM Vijayan who had 3.
In women's category, the prize went to striker Bala Devi.
Sandesh Jhingan bagged the Emerging Player of the Year 2014 award and Santosh
Kumar won the Best Referee 2014 award.
China picks all-weather friend Pakistan to have its largest overseas embassy in
the world.
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The communist giant, being as secretive as it is, has kept the details of the newly
opened embassy in Islamabad behind the wraps.
China maintains large diplomatic missions abroad including Washington, New York
and New Delhi. Its mission in New Delhi has over 300 personnel.
UN Security Council adopts a unanimous resolution on Yemen crisis; urge
shiite Houthi rebels to cede power and release President Mansour Hadi and his
Cabinet from captivity.
The resolution - drafted by Britain and Jordan - call for a UN-brokered peaceful
settlement of the power struggle in the poorest republic of the Arab peninsula.
The resolution, however, is not expected to make much impact on the rebels who are
sitting pretty with control over the capital and much of the state.
Videocon-BPCL consortium discovers large crude oil reserve in Sergipe
basin off Brazil's Northeast coast.
The result obtained in this well confirms the extension of the light oil reservoirs
previously discovered by the 'Farfan' discovery well.
The large scale and volume and light oil discovery will enable one of the lowest cost
producing giant oil fields in the world.
The 3rd partner of the group is Brazilian state-owned company Petrobras which holds
60 per cent stake in the venture; thrice of what Videocon and BPCL (20% each)
owns individually.
About the Oil reserve
The well 3-SES-186 was drilled 103 km from the city of Aracaju, Brazil, and 10 km
from the discovery well in 2,467 meter of water.
The well will be drilled to 6,060 meters.
This accumulation is part of the exploratory project in the deepwater Sergipe-
Alagoas basin.
In addition, the well found presence of a new light oil accumulation with a total
thickness of 68 metres in shallower reservoirs.
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17th February, 2015
India gifts Sri Lanka a civil nuclear deal as a note of thanks to the visiting
President Maithripala Sirisena for his pro-India stance.
This is the first such deal for Sri Lanka with any country in the world.
The two countries have also signed three other pacts, on cooperation in agriculture,
culture, and Sri Lanka's participation in the Nalanda University Project.
India and Indonesia jointly nominate 'Archives of Bandung Conference (1955)' for
listing in UNESCO's "Memory of the World Register".
India-born Punit Renjen is appointed as the new CEO of US-based accounting
firm Deloitte.
This will make him the first ever Indian-origin person to head one of the Big-Four
audit firms in the world.
The other 3 of the Big-Four are PwC, KPMG and EY.
Deloitte provides audit, tax, consulting, enterprise risk and financial advisory
services with more than 200,000 professionals in over 150 countries.
Professor Srikanth Jagabathula wins $500,000 National Science Foundation
(NSF) CAREER award for developing data-driven modelling and learning
techniques to improve the accuracy of operational decision making.
The prize money will help him further his research over the next five years.
He, an IIT Bombay alumnus, teaches at the New York University Stern School of
Business.
The announcement has come just few days after another Indian researcher Gurpreet
Singh received the same award for his research on nanosheets.
The National Science Foundation's 'Faculty Early Career Development Program' is
one of the foundation's most prestigious awards for supporting early career faculty.
Balasubramaniam Venkataramani is appointed as the MD & CEO of Multi
Commodity Exchange (MCX) Limited.
The post was managed by the interim head PK Singhal since the resignation of last
MD & CEO Manoj Vaish in May 2014.
10th biennial "Aero India Show" to take place at Air Force Station,
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Yelahanka, Bengaluru from 18 to 22 Feb 2015.
The premier aerospace exhibition serves as a platform for India to bolster business
opportunities in International aviation sector.
The theme of this year's show will be "Make in India".
34 countries, including US and France, will be represented by their defense
manufacturing firms at the event.
RR Patil, former Maharashtra Home Minister and NCP leader, dies at 57.
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18th February, 2015
Government has imposed an anti-dumping duty on imports of cheap graphite
electrodes to protect the domestic manufacturers.
These below-cost 'Graphite electrodes' - used in melting of steel - are killing the
competition by selling them at a price much lower than even the cost of production.
The duty - ranging between $278.19 and $922.03 per ton - will be in effect for 5
years.
Background
The move is in tune with the recommendations of the Directorate General of Anti-
Dumping Duty (DGAD) who had earlier conducted investigation regarding the same
(dumping charges) on the complaints of domestic manufacturers - HEG and Graphite
India.
What is Anti-Dumping Duty?
It is the duty imposed by the government on imported products with prices less than
their domestic counterparts.
This increases the cost of the imported items to a level competitive to the domestic
industry.
The tool is employed by countries to give level-playing field to their domestic
industry which would otherwise be priced out of the market.
Anti-Dumping Duty is imposed under the multilateral WTO regime and vary from
product to product and from country to country.
The authority to impose Anti-dumping duty in India rest with Union Finance Ministry;
who does it on the recommendation of Union Ministry of Commerce.
The 5th India-Myanmar Joint Trade Committee (JTC) meeting concludes in Nay
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Pyi Taw.
Both neighbours decided to strengthen the trade relations especially in the field of
promoting two-ways investment, infrastructure development particularly to promote
border trade, connectivity, agriculture, energy, skill and entrepreneurial
development, pharmaceutical and people-to-people contacts.
India offered assistance to develop infrastructure at the border trade points, upgrade
trade training institutes in Yangon, and also provide training to Myanmar officials on
WTO and international trade related issues besides supporting subsidized direct
shipping links between India and Myanmar to promote bilateral trade.
A land custom station will be jointly set up the at the Zawkhatar in Mizoram. The
next Joint Trade and Investment Forum in Chennai.
Infosys to acquire automation startup 'Panaya Technology' in a deal worth
Rs 1200 crore.
Panaya would help Infosys reduce risks, costs and time by inducing automation to
several service lines through cloud computing.
Panaya's strength is in utilizing hard core math to solve problems such as upgrades,
extensions, testing, etc.
Infosys - Indian software giant - is looking to renew and differentiate its offerings
from being service based to software focused.
RE-INVEST 2015 concludes with staggering commitments worth 2,66,000
MW of Green Energy.
The promise came from 14 banks and financial institutions, 8 PSUs and private
manufacturers, and 15 private sector companies.
Re-invest 2015 was global investors meet & expo aimed to attract foreign
investment in the country in the renewable energy sector.
2800 delegates from 42 countries participated in the three day RE-INVEST 2015.
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19th February, 2015
Scientists have developed a digital Soil Testing Kit "Mridaparikshak" to help
farmers figure out a way to improve crop productivity.
The portable, affordable and scientifically reliable device is quite easy to use for the
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farmers.
Key Points
It can determines all important soil parameters like soil pH, organic carbon, available
nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulphur and micronutrients like zinc, boron and
iron.
Based on the above findings, it will provide vital information to farmers and suggest
them right type of inputs to improve productivity and avoid losses.
The provided recommendations - like on crop and soil specific fertilizers - will directly
reach the farmer's mobile through SMS.
The kit or the so called 'Mini-Lab' is also compatible with Soil Health Card.
It comes with soil sampling tools, GPS, balance, shaker, hot plate, and an instrument
for determining the soil parameters and displaying of fertilizer nutrient
recommendations.
The Brain Behind It
The development is an outcome of the initiative of ICAR and the concerted efforts by
a team of scientists of ICAR-IISS, Bhopal in collaboration with M/s Nagarjuna
Agrochemicals Pvt Ltd, and Hyderabad.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle to be used to verify insurance claims on ruined crops
in Gujarat.
The UAV will survey the fields mapping the crop diseases to assist insurance
companies in settling claims.
Weather forecaster 'Skymet', along with the AIC and Gujarat government; have
already conducted a pilot operation last year on groundnut crop where it used
satellite remote sensing technologies and drones across 10 villages in Morbi district
of Gujarat.
The service may also be extended to the neighbouring state of Rajasthan.
100 people - including 3 Indians - are shortlisted for one-way trip to Mars under
Mars One Project.
The lucky ones are Ritika Singh, Shradha Prasad and Taranjeet Singh Bhatia.
Fifty men and fifty women have been selected from over 2 lakhs candidates globally
to take this trip to Mars in 2024.
The Project aims to set up a permanent human colony on Mars. Crews of four - after
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extensive survival training - will depart every two years, starting in 2024. The
mission, however, will launch an unmanned mission much earlier in 2018.
Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport has been chosen as the best
airport among the world's most performing airports in the 25-40 million
passengers per annum category by the Airport Council International (ACI).
The Delhi Airport bags the annual Airport Service Quality (ASQ) award, which
recognises and rewards the best airports in the world based on Geneva-based ACI's
ASQ passenger satisfaction survey.
Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International (CSI) airports also find its place in the top
5 list.
Veteran Telugu filmmaker Daggubati Ramanaidu dies at 78.
He holds the Guinness World Record for producing the highest number of films - over
150 films across several languages.
He also tried his hands in Hindi with films like 'Prem Qaidi' and 'Hum Aapke Dil Mein
Rehte Hain'.
Padma Bhushan and the Dadasaheb Phalke awards are few of the notable prizes won
by him for his significant contribution to the industry.
He is the father of actor Venkatesh while Rana Daggubati is his grandson.
Haryana state government decides to set up Gram Sachivalayas (village
secretariats) to increase efficacy in delivery of public services.
Gram Sachivalayas will bring Gram Panchayat and village-level functionaries of all
departments under one roof for better functioning and coordination.
It will also ensure efficiency, transparency and accountability in the working of Gram
Panchayat and other agencies engaged in the process of rural development.
All village secretariats will be set up within three years.
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20th February, 2015
PM to inaugurate first train from Arunachal Pradesh to Delhi today on its 29th
'statehood day' anniversary.
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The train will be a weekly AC Express train (22411/22412) connecting Naharlagun
with national capital.
The 21.75-km new rail line - connecting Itanagar with Harmuti in northern Assam -
will also be dedicated to nation.
Indian swim team creates the World Record for the longest open water swim in
the world.
The six-man relay team, led by Wing Commander Paramvir Singh, swam from Goa to
Mumbai covering a total distance of 433.11 kms in 156 hours.
The previous record belonged to an Israeli team which had clocked a total distance of
380 kms in 123.2 hrs.
Indian Railways to videograph passengers at the time of boarding on select
sensitive routes to enhance security measures.
Railways will also set up a commando training centre to provide specialised training
to RPF personnel to be deployed in trains passing through Maoist-affected areas.
Railway will also provide trained security escorts on Maoist-infested regions.
To train the RPF manpower for this new role, the Public transporter is soon going to
set up a commando training centre.
As for women, a separate Mahila Vahini will be created soon out of the women RPF
personnel.
Government sets up the 'Hindi Salahkar Samiti' to advise Ministry of Corporate
Affairs on 'progressive use' of Hindi language.
The panel will also give recommendations in regard to the implementation of the
provisions relating to Hindi contained in the Constitution (Official Languages Act and
Rules) and Policy decisions of the 'Kendriya Hindi Samiti' and instructions issued by
the Home Ministry relating to Hindi.
The tenure of the members of the Samiti shall ordinarily be three years from the
date of its constitution.
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and National Aeronautical Laboratory (NAL)
will jointly take up design, development and manufacture of 70 to100-seater
regional civil aircraft through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV).
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A 'green-field facility' for manufacture of Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) and Naval
Multi-role Helicopter (NMRH) in Timkur District, Karnataka is also in the pipeline.
These are some of the measures taken by DPSU to Boost HAL capability.
Printing of Union Budget 2015-16 documents commenced with Halwa Ceremony;
over 100 officials involved in the making of Union Budget to be Locked In till it
gets presented in Lok Sabha by the Finance Minister on 28th February, 2015.
The lock-in is done to maintain the secrecy of the Budget preparation process as
leakage of such sensitive information may be exploited by stakeholders.
Mathews Plamoottil - a zoology professor at Kollam's Baby John memorial
government college - has discovered 4 new species of fish in Kerala.
The new new species have been named Puntius nelsoni, Puntius nigronotus,
Systomus chryseus and Systomus rufus.
The Four Species:
Puntius Nelsoni
The body and fins of this species are yellowish in colour.
The head is deeper, the snout is shorter and the mouth wider.
This species was discovered at Kallumkal in Thiruvalla, at the place where Pamba
and Manimala rivers merge.
Puntius Nigronotus
It was discovered at Mananthavady in the hilly Wayanad district.
Its dorsal fin is black in colour, the lateral line scales are greater than its closest
relatives and its dorsal fin has more rays.
Systomus Chryseus
It was discovered from Keezhvaipur near Thiruvalla.
It is golden in coloured and its pectoral fin is greatly elongated.
Systomus Rufus
It was discovered from Venpala, also near Thiruvalla.
Its fins are red in colour.
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21st February, 2015
'Anil Kumble' to become the 4th Indian cricketer to be inducted into the ICC
Cricket Hall of Fame.
Bishen Singh Bedi, Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar are the other three to feature in
this coveted list that includes cricketing greats of all time.
He will be felicitated and inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame during the World
Cup match between India and South Africa in Melbourne on 22nd February.
India to get $50 million loan from Asian Development Bank (ADB) to boost Power
Generation Capacity in Assam.
The signed 'loan agreement' aims to build up the capacity of power generation and
distribution systems to meet the growing energy demand in the state of Assam.
Over a third of households in the State face daily electricity cuts of 5 to 6 hours
crippling normal life and businesses alike.
In peak periods, Assam has to buy up to 15% of its power from independent
producers at very high cost.
The project will finance investments to augment and improve generation capacity
through the replacement of an inefficient generating plant and construction of new
hydropower plant.
'Airtel' inks partnership pact with UNICEF to provide health, education and youth-
focused content to its customers in 17 African countries.
The collaboration aims to improve people's access to health and education-related
information from various innovative projects supported by UNICEF.
The partnership extends across 17 countries in Africa including: Kenya, Malawi,
Madagascar, Rwanda, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Chad,
DRC, Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
New railway line from Hazaribag to Koderma (Jharkhand) inaugurated by PM
Narendra Modi.
Hazaribag, with the inauguration of its first ever railway station, has now come on
the Railway map of India.
The project, which started 16 years ago, is the first stage of the Hazaribagh-
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Koderma- Barkakana-Ranchi railway line of the East-Central Railway.
Government is celebrating Matribhasha Divas today (Feb 21) across the nation.
It’s to preserve and promote some 3000 mother tongues across the country.
All schools, colleges, universities and language-related institutions under both central
and state governments would celebrate the occasion by holding seminars, workshops
and special lectures on the importance of mother tongue.
Tapan Misra assumes charge as the Director of the ISRO's Space Applications
Centre (SAC).
The eminent scientist was earlier serving as the deputy Director of Microwave
Remote Sensing Area of SAC, Ahmedabad.
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23rd February, 2015
Ranchi ruled the roost once again at the Hockey India League by winning it
second time in its 3 years short history.
The outfit - now known as 'Ranchi Rays' - defeated 'Punjab Warriors' in the final by a
3-2 scoreline in the penalty shootout after the regular time yielded a 2-2 tie.
The city franchise - earlier called 'Ranchi Rhinos' - had also grabbed the inaugural
title in 2013.
Despite the overhaul in stakeholders, the team has almost maintained the same
squad as earlier.
India cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni co-owner the franchise with Sahara
Group being the complementary partner.
Moreover
Defending champions Delhi Waveriders finished third after beating Uttar Pradesh
Wizards 2-1 in the third-fourth place play-off match.
The annual competition is in the line of 'Indian Premier League' and is organised by
the top governing body of the game 'Hockey India'.
So far, the championship feature only six teams namely: Ranchi Rays, Punjab
Warriors, Uttar Pradesh Wizards, Delhi Waveriders, Kalinga Lancers and Dabang
Mumbai.
Awards
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Winning skipper 'Ashley Jackson' (England) is honoured with "Player of the
Tournament" title while drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh (Dabang Mumbai) became
'The Most Promising Player'.
Uttar Pradesh Wizards grabbed the 'Fair Play' title.
PR Sreejesh (UP Wizards) won the 'Dhruv Batra Motivator of the Tournament Award'.
DRI makes the biggest seizure of Mephedrone, a stimulant drug of the
amphetamine class, in Indian history.
The drug, captured by 'Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI)' is worth almost Rs
30 crore in the world market.
This is also one of the biggest seizures of a psychotropic substance in recent times.
The drug goes around in the market with its street name 'Meow Meow' - taken from
its chemical name 4-methylmethcathinone, or M-CAT.
Dilip Shanghvi overtakes Mukesh Ambani as the richest Indian in terms of market
value.
The Sun Pharma's founder and MD, is worth about Rs 1.46 lakh crore thanks to his
63 per cent stake in three group companies - Sun Pharma, Sun Pharma Advanced
Research and Ranbaxy Laboratories.
Mukesh Ambani, on the other hand, holds a total of 45 per cent stake in RIL and
Reliance Industrial Infrastructure, accounting for a wealth of Rs 1.32 lakh crore as
per BSE.
The turnaround is majorly due to the rising stock value of Sun Pharma companies in
the market.
Death toll rises to 385 in Saudi Arabia due to MERS (Middle East Respiratory
Syndrome) Virus.
The Virus belongs to a family of viruses known as coronaviruses which include both
the common cold and SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome.
Exercise GARUDA SHAKTI-III, the 3rd edition of joint exercises between armies
of India andIndonesia, concludes at Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare
School in Vairengte, Mizoram.
The scope included sharing experience in counter terrorism and conduct of joint
counter insurgency training at platoon level aimed at neutralizing of terrorist threat.
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The exercise aim to bolster bilateral military relations between the armies of the two
nations.
Somdev Devvarman clinches $100,000 ATP Challenger Delhi Open title beating
Yuki Bhambri in the final.
The doubles crown went to the pair of Egor Gerasimov and Alexander Kudryavtsev
who beat Riccardo Ghedin and Toshihide Matsui in the final.
Centre rolls out Web-Portal to deliver e-certificates to the pass-outs from
various NCVTcourses including ITI pass-outs.
The system is designed as a self-service digital platform to deliver various services to
current and prospective trainees of the vocational training system, apprenticeship
trainees, employers/establishments, ITIs and other institutions, as well as
States/UTs.
The portal “www.ncvtmis.gov.in” is part of the Digital India Initiative and seeks to
improve the governance of vocational training across the field institutions of DGE&T
by providing high degree of transparency, better analytics for decision making, and
improved access to citizen services.
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24th February, 2015
Himachal Pradesh to present the first ever 'paperless state budget' in the country
on March 11.
All documents related to budget estimates would be made available online and only
around 10 budget copies would be printed for record.
Being the country's first green assembly the state save Rs 15 crore and 6000-odd
trees every year due to paperless day-to-day functioning.
The 8th India-Nepal battalion level combined Military Exercise "Surya Kiran" kicks
off at Integrated Army Training Centre, Saljhandi, Nepal.
The focus of the drill is to practice Counter Insurgency and Counter Terrorist
Operations in mountainous and jungle terrain.
The training also includes facets of Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief
measures to be taken during Pandemic, Epidemic and various other calamities.
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Aviation aspects and environmental conservation are also included in the scope of
this exercise.
Mohamed Nasheed, the first democratically elected President of Maldives, has
been arrested under anti-terrorism laws amid suspicions that he would try to flee
the island nation to escape punishment.
He had to step down in 2012 in a coup after mass protests broke out over his order
to arrest a prominent judge Abdulla Mohamed.
Ram Niwas Goel gets unanimously elected as the Speaker of the Delhi Assembly;
Bandana Kumari to be the Deputy Speaker
Both MLAs belong to the ruling party AAP who swept to power in Delhi winning
overwhelming 67 out of 70 seats.
National Pension System (NPS) has launched a new website to provide proper and
effective information dissemination to the stakeholders.
The National Pension System Trust has been set-up and constituted by Pension Fund
Regulatory Development Authority (PFRDA) for taking care of the assets and funds
under the National Pension System (NPS) in the interest of the beneficiaries
(subscribers).
Purnendu Dasgupta - a chemistry professor at the University of Texas - has
bagged the coveted J Calvin Giddings Award 2015 for his contribution in the field
of analytical chemistry.
He will receive a plaque and cash prize as the reward.
The Award
The annual national award is given by the American Chemical Society (ACS) Division
of Analytical Chemistry.
It honors a scientist who has enhanced the personal and professional development of
analytical chemistry students by publishing influential textbooks, designing new
approaches to analytical chemistry, mentoring students, developing and publishing
innovative experiments, or designing improved equipment.
The Awardee
He - author of over 400 scientific papers - holds 25 research patents in US that earns
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him over $18 million in research grants.
His notable work includes methods for environment-friendly analysis of arsenic in
drinking water, rapid analysis of trace heavy metals in the atmosphere, and the
development of a NASA-funded ion chromatograph for testing extraterrestrial soil -
such as on Mars.
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25th February, 2015
Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Amendment Bill,
2014 cleared by both houses of Parliament.
It makes it quick and easier to evict unauthorized occupants from public properties
like those under Metro Rail Corporations, Public Transport Companies, Municipalities'
assets etc.
The Amendment Bill will empower those entities with Centre and States owning more
than 51 % of their Paid Up capital under the definition of public premises.
The move will enable quick execution of infrastructure projects by imposing stricter
time frames for completing eviction proceedings.
Eviction of unauthorized occupants of government bungalows will also be
streamlined.
At present, Lengthy legal procedure allow unauthorized occupants to continue to use
the government accommodation by paying paltry amount either by way of rent or
penalty.
Calls to get cheaper as TRAI brings down 'Interconnection Usage Charges' from
20 to 14 paiseper minute for mobiles.
The charges have entirely been eliminated for landlines.
If customer of a service provider 'A' makes a call to someone using the services of
another provider 'B'; 'A' is required to pay interconnection usage charge to 'B'.
These charges seem to benefit a provider with greater network base whereas those
with small subscriber volume often end up paying money to the former.
14th Finance Commission recommends 42% share for states from central tax
revenue.
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Centre has accepted the proposal submitted by the panel - headed by former RBI
Governor YV Reddy - for the 5 year period from 2015-16 to 2019-20.
At present, states get 32 percent of the central tax revenue.
Delhi Government develops a mobile application "mLiquorSaleCheck" to provide
real time product information on liquors to end-users.
The mobile app will scan the unique barcode present on every liquor bottle to prove
its authenticity to the consumer, apart from revealing other information like the
brand name and size.
It will help the authorities to better control the sale of illicit liquor in the city.
RK Pachauri, Chairman of IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change) resigns from his post, after being embroiled in a sexual harassment
case.
He has been accused of the same by a 29-year-old female researcher of TERI.
Foundation stone laid for Apparel and Garment Making Centre at
Dimapur, Nagaland.
It’s been established under the NERTPS (North East Region Textile Promotion
Scheme) which is an umbrella scheme for the development of various segments of
textiles like silk, handlooms, handicrafts and apparels & garments.
For local entrepreneurs with requisite background, required facilities to start a unit
will be provided in ‘plug and play’ mode here.
Once such entrepreneurs get established, they can set up their own units, allowing
the facility to be provided to new entrepreneurs.
Each state will get one such centre with three units.
The program aims to boost the textile industry in the North East region.
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26th February, 2015
There are 6 new IIMs being established by the government in the states of Bihar,
Odisha, Maharashtra, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
IIM Bihar will come up near Bodh Gaya under the mentorship of IIM Indore.
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IIM Odisha will come up near Bhubaneswar under the mentorship of IIM Calcutta.
IIM Maharashtra will come up near Nagpur under the mentorship of IIM Ahmedabad.
IIM Punjab will come up near Amritsar under the mentorship of IIM Kozhikode.
IIM Himachal Pradesh will come up near Sirmaur under the mentorship of IIM
Lucknow.
IIM Andhra Pradesh will come up near Visakhapatnam under the mentorship of IIM
Bangalore
Centre considering proposal for simplifying the permit system for Green Lake
Trekking in Sikkim.
It notable that the entire areas of the States of Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland have
been excluded from the Protected Area Permit (PAP) regime till Dec 31, 2015 for
foreign tourists subject to certain conditions.
The PAP Act requires foreigners to obtain a Protected Area Permit (PAP) to visit
certain security-sensitive areas in India.
Even Indian citizens - not residents of those areas - require an Inner Line Permit
(ILP) to enter these places.
However that is relatively easier to get as compared to PAP. Certain relaxations have
also been allowed in PAP regime in Arunachal Pradesh.
Each block of India to have a sports complex; both for indoor and outdoor games.
Centre will construct them under the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan scheme.
Each complex will come up over a 6-7 acres area with an approx cost of Rs 1.6 crore
(80 lakh each for indoor and outdoor).
There is also provision of providing Sports Equipments worth Rs 15 lakh by the union
Sports Ministry.
Selection of the blocks is to be done by the respective State Government.
Union Cabinet clears the implementation of the scheme for setting up of 15000
MW of Grid- connected Solar PV Power projects under the National Solar Mission.
It will be done through NTPC/ NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited (NVVN) in three
tranches as following...
3000 MW under Tranche-l under mechanism of Bundling with Unallocated Coal based
Thermal Power and fixed levellised tariffs.
5000 MW under Tranche-ll with some support from government to be decided after
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getting some experience while implementing Tranche-l.
7000 MW under Tranche-Ill without any financial support from the centre.
There are 37,935 second appeals/complaints pending with the Central
Information Commission at present.
As per Right to Information Act, 2005, the RTI applications and first appeals are
required to be mandatorily disposed off within 30 days of their receipt.
However, no time limit has been prescribed for disposal of 2nd appeal/complaint by
the Central Information Commission.
Year 2015 is going to be celebrated as the 'Year of Active Pharmaceutical
Ingredients' in a reformative step to make India self-sufficient in Bulk Drugs.
What is API or Bulk-Drug?
A 'Bulk-Drug' or API is the chemical element of a medicine which lend the product
power to heal ailments.
Since the ingredient is biologically active, any anomalies in its quality may also have
negative side-effects on the user; thats why it come under tight regulations.
Poorly manufactured and contaminated API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients) may
also lead to death in extreme cases.
Key Points
India is overly dependent on import from a single source for basic chemicals,
intermediates and APIs for many commonly used medicines.
To avoid the price and supply risks and ensure sustained availability of APIs, we
need to be self- sufficient in the manufacturing of this vital component.
This also is in tune with our ambitious 'Make in India' project.
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27th February, 2015
Centre instructs NHAI to set up call centres for help to road accident victims on
the National Highways.
To ensure better emergency care of the accident victims, three pilot projects has
been launched one each on Gurgaon-Jaipur section of NH-8, Vadodara-Mumbai
stretch of NH-8, and Ranchi-Mahulia of NH-33 for providing cashless treatment to
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road accident victims for 48 hours at expenditure up to a limit of Rs. 30000.
GPS enabled ambulances connected with a central control room through a toll-free
number 1033, are stationed at intervals of 20 km to transport the injured to the
hospitals for treatment within an hour.
As per Rule 10 of Rules Regulations, 1989 under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, every
driver shall, on the approach of a fire service vehicle or of an ambulance allow it free
passage by drawing to the side of the road.
Implementations of provisions of Motor Vehicles Act and Central Motor Vehicles Rules
come under State Government.
Women will be accorded priority under the Swachh Bharat Mission while
constructing community and public toilets.
One community toilet seat per 25 women and one public community toilet seat per
50 women will be built under the Mission as against one seat per 35 and 100 men
respectively.
There are 44 lakh Public Toilets in the Country as per 2011 Census.
Maharashtra tops the list with 22 lakh public toilets followed by Tamil Nadu with 7
lakhs, and Karnataka with 2.26 lakhs.
Swachh Bharat Mission aims to build 1.04 crore household toilets and five lakh
community and public toilet seats by 2019.
Centre decides to set up two new major ports, one each at Sagar in West
Bengal and the other at Dugarajapatnam in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh.
List of countries India has signed agreement for peaceful uses of space
technology.
Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, France, Germany,
Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,
Mexico, Mongolia, Myanmar, Peru, Republic of Korea, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Syria,
Thailand, The Netherlands, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America and
Venezuela.
These pacts cover Research and Development (R&D) in space science, technology
and applications.
AFMC Pune gets the Raksha Mantri's Trophy - 2014 for being the Best Hospital of
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the Armed forces.
AFMC Lucknow becomes the 2nd Best Service Hospital.
The Raksha Mantri's Trophy was instituted in 1989 to create a healthy competition
among the Command Hospitals of the Army and its equivalent Hospitals in the Navy
and Air Force.
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28th February, 2015
The Economic Survey 2014-15: GDP at market prices for 2015-16 is expected to
be 8.1-to 8.5per cent.
It states that Indian economy appears to have now gone past the economic
slowdown, persistent inflation, elevated fiscal deficit, slackening domestic demand,
external account imbalances and oscillating value of the rupee.
India ranks as the 4th largest start-up hub in the world with over 3100 start-
ups in the country.
As per the Economic Survey 2014-15 report, IT and IT-enabled Services makes up
the single largest contributor to India's Services exports directly employing nearly 35
lakh people.
A special Juvenile Police Unit is to be created in every district and city under
Section 63(3) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000.
The purpose of setting up these units is to coordinate and to upgrade police
treatment of the juveniles and the children.
National Food Security Act has so far been implemented in 11 States.
These are: Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh,
Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Rajasthan.
The Act covers up to 75% of the rural population and up to 50% of the urban
population of the country for receiving food grains at subsidized prices under
Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS).
This Coverage has been delinked from poverty estimates and is large enough to
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include all the needy households.
Mission Indradhanush to provide immunization against 7 Life-Threatening
Diseases namely diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis,
measles and hepatitis B.
In addition, vaccination against Japanese Encephalitis and Haemophilus influenza
type B will be provided in selected districts/states of the country.
Vaccination against tetanus will be provided to the pregnant women.
Four special vaccination campaigns will be conducted between March and June 2015
and this will cover all children under two years of age and pregnant women for
tetanus toxoid vaccine.
The nationwide scheme was launched in December 2014, with an aim to cover all
those children who are partially vaccinated or unvaccinated
Country observes 'National Science Day' today (Feb 28) with the theme 'Science
for Nation Building'.
National Science Day (NSD) is celebrated every year on 28th February to mark the
discovery of the ‘Raman Effect’, for which a Nobel Prize winning research paper
submitted by CV Raman was accepted on that day.
National awards for the year 2014 for Science & Technology popularization will also
be bestowed on the occasion.
Indian Navy concludes its month-long annual war drill TROPEX (Theatre Level
Readiness and Operational Exercise).
The exercise involved large scale naval manoeuvres in all three dimensions viz.
surface, air and underwater, across the Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea and the Indian
Ocean.
The month long exercise was aimed to assess the operational readiness of naval
units, validate the Navy's war fighting doctrine and integrate newly included
capabilities in its 'Concept of Operations'.
The exercise also provided the Indian Navy with an opportunity to validate its
network centric warfare capabilities, with effective utilisation of the recently launched
Indian Navy's Satellite, GSAT 7.
Jagmohan Dalmiya unanimously elected as the new President of the BCCI for a 3-
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year stint.
BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) - the governing body of cricket in India -
is the richest Cricket body in the world.
Other appointments
Anurag Thakur: Secretary, Amitabh Choudhary: Joint Secretary and Anirudh
Chaudhry: Treasurer
Arun Singh is appointed as the new Indian Ambassador to US.
The post was lying vacant since the incumbent S Jaishankar was promoted as the
Foreign Secretary of India by the centre.
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Highlights of the Union Budget 2015
Fiscal deficit
Fiscal deficit seen at 3.9 per cent of GDP in 2015/16
Will meet the challenging fiscal target of 4.1 per cent of GDP
Remain committed to meeting medium term fiscal deficit target of 3 per cent of GDP
Current account deficit below 1.3 per cent of GDP
Jaitley says have to keep fiscal discipline in mind despite need for higher investment
Growth
GDP growth seen at between 8 per cent and 8.5 per cent y/y
Aiming double digit growth rate, achievable soon
Inflation
Expects consumer inflation to remain close to 5 per cent by March, opening room for
more monetary policy easing
Monetary policy framework agreement with the RBI clearly states objective of
keeping inflation below 6 per cent
"One of the achievements of my government has been to conquer inflation. This
decline in my view represents a structural shift."
Revenues
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Revenue deficit seen at 2.8 per cent of GDP
Non tax revenue seen at Rs 2.21 trillion
Agricultural incomes are under stress
Disinvestment
Government targets Rs 410 billion from stake sales in companies
Total stake sale in 2015/16 seen at Rs 695 billion
Market reforms
Propose to merge commodities regulator with SEBI
To bring a new bankruptcy code
Jaitley says will move to amend the RBI act this year, and provide for a monetary
policy
Committee
To set up public debt management agency
Proposes to introduce a public contract resolution of disputes bill
To establish an autonomous bank board bureau to improve management of public
sector banks
Policy reforms
To enact a comprehensive new law on black money
Propose to create a universal social security system for all Indians
To launch a national skills mission soon to enhance employability of rural youth
To raise visa-on-arrival facility to 150 countries from 43
Allocates Rs 346.99 billion for rural employment guarantee scheme
Borrowing
Gross market borrowing seen at Rs 6 trillion
Net market borrowing seen at Rs 4.56 trillion
General anti-avoidance rules (GAAR)
Government defers rollout of anti-tax avoidance rules GAAR by two years
GAAR to apply prospectively from April 1, 2017
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Retrospective tax provisions will be avoided
Taxation
To abolish wealth tax
Replaces wealth tax with additional 2 per cent surcharge on super rich
Proposes to cut to 25 per cent corporate tax over next four years
Corporate tax of 30 per cent is uncompetitive
Net gain from tax proposals seen at Rs 150.68 billion
Jaitley proposes modification of permanent establishment norms so that the mere
presence of a fund manager in India would not constitute a permanent establishment
of the offshore fund, resulting in adverse tax consequences.
Proposes to rationalise capital gains tax regime for real estate investment trusts
Expects to implement goods and services tax by April 2016
To reduce custom duty on 22 items
Basic custom duty on commercial vehicle doubled to 20 per cent
Proposes to increase service tax rate and education cess to 14 per cent from 12.36
per cent
Plans to introduce direct tax regime that is internationally competitive on rates
without exemptions
Exemptions for individual tax payers to continue
To enact tough penalties for tax evasion in new bill
Tax department to clarify indirect transfer of assets and dividend paid by foreign
firms
Infrastructure
Investment in infrastructure will go up by Rs 700 billion in 2015/16 over last year
Plans to set up national investment infrastructure fund
Proposes tax-free infrastructure bonds for projects in roads, rail and irrigation
projects
Proposes 5 "ultra mega" power projects for 4,000MW each
Second unit of Kudankulam nuclear power station to be commissioned
Will need to build additional 100,000km of road
Ports in public sector will be encouraged to corporatise under Companies Act
Expenditure
Plan expenditure estimated at about Rs 4.65 trillion
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Non-plan expenditure seen at about Rs 13.12 trillion
Allocates Rs 2.46 trillion for defence spending
Allocates Rs 331.5 billion for health sector
If revenue improves, hope to raise budgeted allocations for rural job scheme by Rs
50 billion
Investment
Propose to do away with different types of foreign investment caps and replace them
with composite caps
To allow foreign investment in alternative investment funds
Public investment needed to catalyse investment
Gold
To develop a sovereign gold bond
To introduce gold monetisation scheme to allow depositors to earn interest
To introduce Indian-made gold coin to reduce demand for foreign gold coins
Subsidies
Food subsidy seen at Rs 1.24 trillion
Fertiliser subsidy seen at Rs 729.69 billion
Fuel subsidy seen at Rs 300 billion
We are committed to subsidy rationalisation based on cutting leakages
Highlights of Railway Budget 2015-16
Rs 8.56 lakh crore investment plan for the period 2015-2019
To increase daily passenger carrying capacity from 21 million to 30 million in 5 years
Increase track length by 20% to 1, 38,000 kms over next 5 years
To increase freight carrying capacity from 1 billion to 1.5 billion tones in 5 years
Plant proposed to convert waste to energy
17,000 toilets in coaches to be replaced by bio-toilets
All-India 24/7 helpline number 138 to be launched\
Toll free number 182 to be launched for women and safety issues
“Operation 5 minutes” and hot button for purchase of universal tickets
Online booking of retiring rooms and wheelchairs on select stations
Rs 120 crore to equip major stations with lifts and escalators
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Allotment for passenger amenities raised by 67%
Open bids for station development
84% rise in capital allotment to develop 1200 kms at Rs 8686 crore
Evaluation studies undertaken for bullet trains
Innovation council called Kayakalp to promote technology development and
manufacturing
Railway research centres to be set up in select universities
Introduction of bar coded/RFID for tracking of parcels and freight wagons
Upgradation of equipment for examination of tracks
To tap insurance and pension funds and also multi-lateral and bi-lateral funds
Development of unmanned audio and visual warning system at unmanned crossings
with ISRO
Special training in soft skills for frontline staff
To set up full-fledged university in 2015-16
Setting up environment directorate for focus on environment management
25.1,000 MW solar plant with the help of MNRE
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