MENTOR mag.pdfCommunity Interaction Scheme 225000 rupees per month for Apex Scale Besides, he also...

MENTOR

MENTOR, SCO 40-41, FIRST FLOOR, LEELA BHAWAN, PATIALA PH. 9780505391

NATIONAL

Union Government approved 3120

crore rupees investment for infra

boost in 102 AMRUT cities

The Ministry of Urban Development on 26

November 2015 approved an investment of 3120

crore rupees investment plans for basic urban

infrastructure boost for 102 cities approved under

Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban

Transformation (AMRUT).

The plans will enhance water supply, sewerage

network services, storm water drains, non-

motorised transport and availability of public

spaces in 102 cities, under AMRUT.

Besides, an inter-ministerial Apex Committee

approved State level Annual Action Plans for

2015-16 with an investment of 438 crore rupees

for Haryana (18 AMRUT cities), 573 crore rupees

for Chattisgarh (9 AMRUT cities), 416 crore

rupees for Telangana (12 AMRUT cities), 588

crore rupees for Kerala (9 AMRUT cities) and

1105 crore rupees for West Bengal (54 AMRUT

cities).

Key highlights of investment plans

• The Apex Committee approved investments in

different basic urban infrastructure areas as

proposed by respective state governments.

• Ministry of Urban Development will provide an

assistance 1540 crore rupees which is about 50

perecnt of total approved project expenditure.

• Total investment in water supply projects in 58

mission states will be 2386 crore rupees.

• Sewerage projects will demand an investment of

495 crore rupees in 17 cities.

• A total of 106 crore rupees will be invested on

storm water drains in 9 cities.

• Urban transport will seek an investment of 61

crore rupees in 9 cities.

• Around 72 crore rupees will be invested on

development of parks and green spaces in all the

102 cities.

Union Government announced 10

New/Revised Schemes for Disabled

Persons under the National Trust

Union Minister for Social Justice and

Empowerment Thaawar Chand Gehlot on 24

November 2015 announced the launching of 10

new/revised schemes for the disabled persons in

New Delhi.

These schemes were launched under the National

Trust for the welfare of persons with Autism,

Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple

Disabilities.

List of Schemes

• DISHA: Early Intervention and School

Readiness Scheme

• VIKAAS: Day Care Scheme

• SAMARTH: Respite Care Scheme

• GHARAUNDA: Group Home for Adults

Scheme

• NIRAMAYA: Health Insurance Scheme

• SAHYOGI: Caregiver training scheme

• GYAN PRABHA: Educational support

Scheme

• PRERNA: Marketing Assistance Scheme

• SAMBHAV: Aids and Assisted Devices

Scheme

MENTOR


• BADHTE KADAM: Awareness and

Community Interaction Scheme

Besides, he also announced to increase the number

of categories of disability from 7 to 19, so that

more number of disabled could be brought into the

ambit of Government’s new initiatives.

Further, a new website

http://thenationaltrust.gov.in/content/ for the

National Trust was launched. This new website is

made disabled friendly, more interactive.

Registration of NGOs and paying donations can be

done in the website itself.

7th Central Pay Commission

submitted its report; recommended

23.55% hike

The 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC) headed by

Justice AK Mathur submitted its report on 19

November 2015 to the Union Finance Minister

Arun Jaitley. The commission recommended

23.55 percent hike in pay and allowances of

government employees.

The recommended pay revision will come into

effect from 1 January 2016.

Recommendations of 7th Central Pay

Commission

The minimum pay for government

employees is recommended to be set at

18000 rupees per month.

The maximum pay is recommended to be

225000 rupees per month for Apex Scale

and 250000 per month for Cabinet

Secretary and others presently at the same

pay level.

The increase in pay will be 16 percent,

increase in allowances will be 63 percent

and increase in pension will be 24 percent.

The present system of pay bands and

grade pay has been dispensed and a new

pay matrix has been designed. Grade Pay

has been subsumed in the pay matrix. The

status of the employee, determined by

grade pay, will now be determined by the

level in the pay matrix.

The rate of annual increment for

employees will be 3 percent.

Abolition of 52 allowances and

introduction of a Health Insurance

Scheme.

One Rank One Pension proposed for

civilian government employees on line of

OROP for armed forces.

Increase in Military Service Pay and

revised pension formula for civil

employees including Central Armed

Police Forces (CAPF) and Defence

Personnel retiring before 1 January 2016.

Military Service Pay (MSP), which is a

compensation for the various aspects of

military service, will be admissible to the

defence forces personnel only.

Ceiling of gratuity enhanced from 10 lakh

rupees to 20 lakh rupees and ceiling on

gratuity will be raised by 25 percent

whenever DA rises by 50 percent.

MENTOR


Short service commissioned officers will

be allowed to exit the armed forces at any

point in time between 7 to 10 years of

service.

A fitment factor of 2.57 which will be

applied uniformly to all employees.

Systemic change in the process of Cadre

Review for Group A officers

recommended.

Allowances relating to Risk and Hardship

will be governed by the newly proposed

nine-cell Risk and Hardship Matrix.

It recommends that House Rent

Allowance (HRA) be paid at the rate of 24

percent, 16 percent and 8 percent of the

new Basic Pay for Class X, Y and Z cities

respectively. The rate of HRA will be

revised to 27 percent, 18 percent and 9

percent respectively when DA crosses 50

percent.

It recommended abolition of all non-

interest bearing advances and increased

the limit for interest-bearing advances for

buying home from 7.5 lakh rupees to 25

lakh rupees.

Introduction of a Health Insurance Scheme

for Central Government employees and

pensioners has been recommended.

It recommends that in case of death in the

line of duty, the force personnel of CAPFs

should be accorded martyr status, at par

with the defence forces personnel.

A consolidated pay package of 450000

rupees and 400000 rupees per month for

Chairpersons and Members respectively of

select Regulatory bodies.

Introduction of the Performance Related

Pay (PRP) for all categories of Central

Government employees, based on quality

Results Framework Documents and

Annual Performance Appraisal Reports.

All India Service officers and Central

Services Group A officers who have

completed 17 years of service should be

eligible for empanelment under the

Central Staffing Scheme and there should

not be two year edge.

The age of superannuation for all CAPF

personnel should be 60 years uniformly.

Implications of the Recommendations

The pay revision will impact 47 lakh serving

employee and 52 lakh pensioners of the Central

Government including in the Defence and

Railways.

Financial impact of implementing

recommendations will be 1.02 lakh crore rupees,

out of which 73650 crore rupees will be borne by

Central Budget and 28450 crore rupees by

Railway Budget.

Total impact of the recommendations will amount

to 0.65 percent of GDP.

Background

The 7th Central Pay Commission headed by

Justice A K Mathur was set up on 28 February

2014 by then Union Government to revise

remuneration of employees and pensioners of

central government including Defence and

Railways.

The other members of the Commission were:

Vivek Rae (full time Member), Dr. Ratin Roy

(part time member) and Meena Agarwal

(Secretary).

MENTOR


The government constitutes the Pay Commission

almost every 10 years to revise the pay scale of its

employees and often these are adopted by states

after some modifications. The 6th Central Pay

commission was constituted under the

Chairmanship of BN Srikrishna in October 2006.

Union Cabinet approved signing of

Tripartite Agreement on IBSA Fund

for Poverty Alleviation

The Union Cabinet on 18 November 2015

approved the signing of the Tripartite Agreement

among India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA) on

the IBSA Fund for the Alleviation of Poverty and

Hunger.

The decision will help in strengthening the IBSA

Fund which is a unique vehicle in the context of

South-South cooperation.

IBSA Fund

• The IBSA countries contribute 1 million US

dollars each annually to the Fund, which till

January 2015 has accumulated to 28.2 million US

dollars, with total implemented/approved projects

commitment of 26.2 million US dollars.

• Remaining 2.09 million US dollars is available

for programming.

• India on its part has contributed 9.1 million US

dollars so far to the Fund.

• The IBSA Fund undertakes development projects

in third countries. The first project to be financed

by the IBSA Fund was in support of agriculture

and livestock development.

• It was conferred with the South-South

Partnership Award at the 2006 UN Day event held

in New York in December 2006.

Background:

The IBSA Fund for the Alleviation of Poverty and

Hunger was set up in 2004 as one of the three

pillars of cooperation under the IBSA Dialogue

Forum. The other two pillars are consultation and

coordination on global political issues and

trilateral collaboration in concrete areas and

projects.

The IBSA Dialogue Forum was launched in June

2003 as a forum for cooperation among three

vibrant democracies of the South that is India,

Brazil and South Africa. All three are developing

nations with pluralistic, multi-cultural, multi-

ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-religious societies.

Union Government declared NSCN-

K as terrorist organization under

UAPA, 1967 The Union Government on 6 November 2015

declared militant outfit National Socialist Council

of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K) and all its

formation as a terrorist organisation. It was

declared so under the Unlawful Activities

Prevention Act (UAPA), 1967.

The NSCN-K was declared a terrorist organisation

after the outfit killed innocent civilians and

security forces and engaged in other violent

activities including the 4 June 2015 attack on the

Army convoy in Chandel district of Manipur.

Earlier on 15 September 2015, NSCN-K was

banned for five years under the same Unlawful

Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

According to a Gazette notification, the NSCN-K

is a militant outfit which came into existence in

1988 and is active along the Indo-Myanmar

border.

About National Socialist Council of Nagaland

• The NSCN was established in 1980 with an aim

of establishing a sovereign state of Nagalim by

unifying all the areas inhabited by the Naga people

in Northeast India and Myanmar.

MENTOR


• It was founded by Isak Chishi Swu, Thuingaleng

Muivah and SS Khaplang opposing the Shillong

Accord of 1975 signed by the then Naga National

Council (NNC) with Union Government.

• In 1988, Naga nationalist Military group had split

into two factions- NSCN-K led by SS Khaplang (a

Myanmarese Naga) and the NSCN-IM jointly led

by Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah.

• In 2001, both factions had settled a ceasefire

agreement with the Union government.

• NSCN-K has its headquarters in Taga in

Myanmar and is estimated to have around 700-800

cadres and the same number of sophisticated

weapons including rocket launchers.

First AMRIT outlet opened at AIIMS

Delhi for selling affordable drugs

Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on

15 November 2015 launched the Affordable

Medicines and Reliable Implants for Treatment

(AMRIT) pharmacy outlet at the All India Institute

of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi.

The purpose of the first of its kind outlet is to

reduce the expenditure incurred by patients on

treatment of cancer and heart diseases by 50 to 60

percent and has the following features

• It is a retail pharmacy outlet that sells drugs and

implants for the two ailments-cancer and heart

diseases-at highly discounted rates.

• It would be selling 202 cancer and 186 cardio-

vascular drugs and 148 types of cardiac implants

at very affordable prices.

• It has been floated in a tie-up with government-

owned HLL Lifecare Ltd (HLL).

Based on the outcome of the AIIMS outlet, this

initiative will be taken to other central government

hospitals and Regional Cancer Centres in

partnership with the HLL.

Significance of AMRIT

The AMRIT initiative has been launched amid

statistics that peg Indians diagnosed with cancer at

7 lakh every year. About 2.8 million people have

cancer at any point of time and 5 lakh die of the

disease each year.

Further, the annual figure of women being

diagnosed with breast cancer in India is 145000, as

per the WHO. Further, a significant number of

patients (nearly over 50 per cent) stop visiting

hospitals after two or three cycles of

chemotherapy due to unaffordable costs.

Ministry of Railways issued Letter of

Award to GE Global Sourcing India

Pvt Limited

Ministry of Railways on 9 November 2015 issued

a Letter of Award (LoA) to USA-based GE Global

Sourcing India Pvt Limited for setting up of Diesel

Locomotive Factory (DLF) at Marhowra, Saran

district, Bihar and for procurement and

maintenance of mainline Diesel Electric

Locomotives.

With this, a Joint Venture Company between

Union Ministry of Railways and GE Global

Sourcing India Pvt Limited will be formed soon to

construct and run the factory. The factory will

manufacture modern diesel electric locomotives of

4500 HP and 6000 HP to Indian railways.

The Railways Ministry will hold 26 percent equity

in the JV Company subject to a maximum of 100

crore rupees. The factory is expected to be

established within a period of three years at a cost

of about 1000 crore rupees.

Union Government signed Loan

Agreement with Asian Development

Bank

MENTOR


The Union Government on 9 November 2015

signed 273 million US dollar loan agreement with

Asian Development Bank (ADB) to continue

improving rural roads in the States of Assam,

Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and West

Bengal.

The loan agreement was signed by S Selvakumar,

Joint Secretary (Bilateral Cooperation),

Department of Economic Affairs and Teresa Kho,

Country Director of ADB.

The loan represents the third tranche, which is also

the last tranche of the 800 million US dollars

financing facility under the Rural Connectivity

Investment Program. The loan will help in

constructing over 6000 kilometers of all-weather

rural roads and will benefit over 4200 rural

habitations.

The Union Ministry of Rural Development

(MORD) is the executing agency of the project at

the central level, while the State Governments of

Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha,

and West Bengal will be handling the overall

implementation at the respective State level.

The third tranche is expected to be completed by

December 2017. The implementing agencies at the

State level will be the respective State Rural Roads

Development Agencies.

This loan will also be used to make further

investments as well as supporting improved road

design, road safety and asset management

measures and training with women actively

involved in all aspects.

Union Government launched E-

Pathshala, Saransh, Shaala Siddhi

Portals

The Union Human Resource Development

Minister Smriti Irani on 7 November 2015

launched the e-Pathshala, Saaransh and National

Programme on School Standards and Evaluation

Framework (Shala Siddhi) web portals/ mobile

apps.

These portals were launched during the edNEXT,

the National Conference on ICT in School

Education that was held at New Delhi. During the

Conference, Shala Darpan, MDM-IVRS and Ekta

project from Alwar, Rajasthan were also show-

cased.

E-Pathshala web portal

• E-Pathshala is a web portal which hosts

educational resources for Students, Teachers,

Parents, researchers and educators.

• It contains textbooks and other e-books as E-Pub

3.0 and Flipbooks in English, Hindi and Urdu.

• It is available through especially developed

mobile app interface on Android, IOS and

windows platforms for wider access.

Shaala Siddhi web portal

• Shaala Siddhi web portal is a comprehensive

instrument for school evaluation which enables the

schools to evaluate their performance in more

focused and strategic manner.

• The web-portal will help all schools to assess

themselves and the results can be seen by all

enabling them to provide feedback.

• The initiative has already been successfully

piloted in four districts of Tamil Nadu.

Saransh platform

MENTOR


• Saransh is a tool which allows the schools to

identify areas of improvement in students, teachers

and curriculum to facilitate and implement change.

• The platform is presently available for classes

9th to 12th and provides a comprehensive

overview of standard 10th performance since 2007

and standard 12th performance since 2009 till the

current academic session.

• Presently, results of CBSE are available on this

portal/app.

The event also showcased other ICT initiatives

including the IVR (Interactive Voice Response)

system to monitor the daily implementation of

Mid Day Meal scheme and Shaala Darpan, an

integrated platform to address all academic and

administrative requirements of schools, teachers,

parents and students.

Union Government issued

notification for implementation of

OROP

Union Government on 7 November 2015 issued

the notification regarding implementation of One

Rank One Pension (OROP) in respect of Defence

Forces personnel.

The notification is in tune with the modalities for

implementation announced on 5 September 2015.

Features of OROP scheme

• Pension will be re-fixed for all pensioners

retiring in the same rank and with the same length

of service as the average of minimum and

maximum pension in 2013.

• The benefit will be given with effect from 1 July

2014 to the ex-service men of all the three forces.

• Those drawing pensions above the average will

be protected.

• In future, the pension would be re-fixed every 5

years.

• Arrears will be paid in four half-yearly

instalments.

• All widows, including war widows, will be paid

arrears in one instalment.

• Personnel who voluntarily retire will not be

covered under the scheme.

• The estimated cost to the exchequer would be

8000 to 10000 crore at present, and will increase

further in future.

What is OROP?

In simple terms, OROP implies that uniform

pension be paid to the armed forces personnel

retiring in the same rank with the same length of

service, regardless of their date of retirement.

At present, ex-servicemen receive differential

pensions as it is calculated on the basis of their

salary at the time of their retirement.

Differential payments occur as the salaries of

personnel are frequently revised on the basis of

pay commission’s recommendations.

For example, personnel who retired in 1990

receive fewer pensions compared to their juniors

who retired in 2006 though they retired at the

same rank with same length of service.

MENTOR


Union Government constituted

Empowered Committee to approve

schemes under Nirbhaya Fund

The Union Government on 4 November 2015

constituted an Empowered Committee to approve

schemes proposed under the Nirbhaya Fund.

The Committee comprises officials from various

ministries, including Women and Child

Development, Home Affairs, Road Transport and

Railways.

The Secretary of the Women and Child

Development Ministry will be the chairperson of

the committee.

The Members of the Empowered Committee may

nominate an officer not below the rank of Joint

Secretary as representative to the Empowered

Committee of Officers.

The Empowered Committee of Officers will take

decision on the sanction of schemes/projects from

Nirbhaya Fund within 15 days of the date of

receipt of the proposal by the Ministry of Women

& Child Development.

Earlier in April 2015, the Union Government

made the Women and Child Development (WCD)

Ministry as the nodal agency for the Nirbhaya

Fund in place of Union Home Ministry.

The Nirbhaya Fund has a total of 3000 crore

rupees fund as 1000 crore each was allocated to it

in 2014-15 and 2015-16 on top of 1000 crore

rupees initial corpus.

President Pranab Mukherjee

launched research project Imprint

India

President Pranab Mukherjee on 5 November 2015

launched Imprint India, a Pan-IIT and IISc joint

initiative.

The project encourages the Indian technical

institutions to develop a blueprint for research to

crack major engineering and technology

challenges relevant to the nation.

Imprint India is a 1000 crore rupees project, which

aspires to:

• Identify areas of immediate relevance to society

requiring innovation

• Direct scientific research into identified areas

• Ensure higher funding support for research into

these areas

• Measure outcomes of the research effort with

reference to impact on the standard of living in the

rural/urban areas

The Imprint India will focus on 10 themes and

each will be coordinated by one IIT/IISc. The

themes are:

1. Health Care - IIT Kharagpur

2. Computer Science and ICT – IIT Kharagpur

3. Advance Materials – IIT Kanpur

4. Water Resources and River systems – IIT

Kanpur

5. Sustainable Urban Design – IIT Roorkee

6. Defence – IIT Madras

7. Manufacturing – IIT Madras

8. Nano-technology Hardware- IIT Bombay

9. Environmental Science and Climate Change –

IISc, Bangalore

10. Energy Security – IIT Bombay

On the occasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi

released the IMPRINT India brochure and hand

over the first copy to the President Mukherjee.

MENTOR


Besides, an Inter Ministerial Group (IMG) is being

set up as the single window mechanism. The

group will shortlist research projects by leading

research and technology institutes. It will also

approve funds for the same.

IMG will comprise of members from multiple

ministries, such as Ministry of Human Resource

Development (HRD), Ministry of Defence,

Department of Science & Technology, Department

of Biotechnology, Ministry of Rural Development

and so on.

Justice MB Shah-headed SIT on

Black Money submitted its third

report

Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Black Money

on 3 November 2015 submitted its third report to

the Union Ministry of Finance. The SIT is headed

by Justice MB Shah and the report dealt with shell

companies and beneficial ownership.

The SIT found that over 2600 persons are directors

on more than 20 companies and at least 20

companies are operating from the same address at

345 places which indicate the violation of

Companies Act, 2013.

To correct the situation, the SIT recommended for

has suggested proactive detection of creation of

shell companies and deterrent penal action against

persons involved in such activities.

The Team has also requested the Ministry of

Corporate affairs to take necessary action with

respect to violation of the Companies Act.

About SIT on Black Money

The SIT was constituted by the Union Cabinet in

May 2014 on the directions of the Supreme Court

to go deeper into the cases of black money where

Indians have stashed their assets abroad and also

suggest policy measures to combat the illegal

activity.

While 11-member committee is headed by Justice

MB Shah, Justice Arijit Pasayat is its Vice

Chairman.

Vikalp Scheme launched for

confirmed accommodation to

waitlisted passengers in alternate

trains

Indian Railways on 1 November 2015 launched

Alternate Train Accommodation Scheme (ATAS)

called as Vikalp to provide confirmed

accommodation to waitlisted passengers in

alternate trains.

The scheme was launched on pilot basis for the

tickets booked through internet on Delhi-Lucknow

and Delhi-Jammu sectors of Northern Railway. It

will be operational for six months.

The purpose of the scheme is to provide confirmed

accommodation to waitlisted passengers and also

to ensure optimal utilisation of available

accommodation.

Under this scheme, wait listed passengers of a

train can opt for confirmed accommodation in

alternate trains.

However, ATAS opted passengers who remain

fully waitlisted after charting will only be

considered for allotment in the alternate train.

ECONOMY

MENTOR


Union Government decided to

impose 0.5% Swachh Bharat Cess on

all services

Union Ministry of Finance on 6 November 2015

decided to impose 0.5 percent Swachh Bharat Cess

(SBC) on all taxable services. It will be levied in

addition to the 14 percent service tax that is in

force now.

The SBC will come into force on 15 November

2015. Its proceeds will be exclusively used to

support Swachh Bharat initiative.

The decision to impose SBC is in tune with the

announcement made by the Union Finance

Minister Arun Jaitley in his budget 2015-16

budget speech advocating for 2 percent additional

cess to fund Swachh Bharat.

As per an estimate, the SBC is expected to fetch

additional 4000 crore rupees per annum in tax

revenues to the government.

The Union Government under the Swachh Bharat

Mission (SBM) is planning to spend around

134000 crore rupees by 2019 to construct 11 crore

11 lakh toilets in the country.

Union Cabinet approved UDAY for

financial turnaround and revival of

DISCOMS

The Union Cabinet on 5 November 2015 gave its

nod to Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojna

(UDAY), a new scheme proposed by the Ministry

of Power.

The scheme aims at alleviating the financial

crunch faced by Power Distribution companies

(DISCOMs) that has impaired their ability to buy

electricity. The scheme targets the revival of

DISCOMs. It will also ensure a sustainable

permanent solution to the problem.

The debt on DISCOMs

• As on March 2015, the country’s DISCOMs have

accumulated losses of approximately 3.8 lakh

crore rupees and outstanding debt of

approximately 4.3 lakh crore rupees.

• Outstanding debt of DISCOMs increased from

about 2.4 lakh crore rupees in 2011-12 to about

4.3 lakh crore rupees in 2014-15, with interest

rates of upto 14-15 percent.

• Due to the financial hassles, DISCOMs are not

able to supply adequate power at affordable rates,

which turned out to be one of the hurdles in the

overall economic growth and development.

How UDAY will revive the DISCOMS?

UDAY will empower DISCOMs with the

opportunity to break even in the next 2-3 years

through four initiatives:

• Improving operational efficiencies of DISCOMs.

• Reduction of cost of power.

• Reduction in interest cost of DISCOMs.

• Enforcing financial discipline on DISCOMs

through alignment with state finances.

Key features of UDAY

• States will take over 75 percent of DISCOM debt

as on 30 September 2015 over two years.

• Union Government will not include the debt

taken over by the states n the calculation of fiscal

deficit of respective states in the financial years

2015-16 and 2016-17.

• States will issue non-SLR including SDL bonds

in the market or directly to the respective financial

institutions holding the DISCOM debt to the

appropriate extent.

• States will take over the future losses of

DISCOMs in a graded manner.

MENTOR


• States accepting UDAY and performing as per

operational milestones will be given

additional/priority funding through schemes of

Ministry of Power and Ministry of New and

Renewable Energy.

• States not meeting operational milestones will be

liable to forfeit their claim on IPDS and DDUGJY

grants.

CCEA hiked Minimum Support

Prices for Rabi Crops of 2015-16

season

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs

(CCEA) on 5 November 2015 hiked the Minimum

Support Prices (MSPs) for Rabi Crops of 2015-16

season to be marketed in 2016-17.

The decision was based on recommendations

of Commission for Agricultural Costs and

Prices (CACP) for the price policy for rabi crops

for the marketing season 2016-17.

The Cabinet also decided to give a bonus of 75

rupees per quintal for rabi pulses over and above

the recommendations of the CACP.

Commodity MSP for

2014-15

season

(Rupees per

quintal)

MSP for

2015-16

season

(Rupees per

quintal)

Increase in

MSP

(Rupees)

Wheat 1450 1525 75

Barley 1150 1225 75

Gram 3175 3425 250

Masur

(Lentil)

3075 3325 250

Mustard 3100 3350 250

Safflower 3050 3300 250

The prices would be effective from the Rabi

marketing season 2016-17. The Food Corporation

of India (FCI) will be the Central Nodal Agency

for procurement of pulses and oilseeds.

To supplement the efforts of FCI, the National

Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of

India Limited (NAFED), National Cooperative

Consumers’ Federation (NCCF), Central

Warehousing Corporation (CWC) and Small

Farmers Agri–Business Consortium (SFAC) may

also undertake procurement of oilseeds and pulses

as per their capacity.

About Commission for Agricultural Costs and

Prices (CACP)

The Commission came into existence in January

1965 with the mandate to recommend MSPs to

incentivize the cultivators to adopt modern

technology and raise productivity in line with the

emerging demand patterns in the country.

CACP recommends MSPs of 23 commodities

including 7 cereals (paddy, wheat, maize,

sorghum, pearl millet, barley and ragi), 5 pulses

(gram, tur, moong, urad, lentil), 7 oilseeds

(groundnut, rapeseed-mustard, soyabean,

seasmum, sunflower, safflower, nigerseed) and 4

commercial crops (copra, sugarcane, cotton and

raw jute).

It comprises a Chairman, Member Secretary, one

MENTOR


Member (Official) and two Members (Non-

Official).

PM Narendra Modi launched three

gold related schemes

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 5 November

2015 launched three gold related schemes. The

schemes are – Gold Monetization Scheme,

Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme and Indian Gold

Coins.

The three schemes were announced by the Union

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his 2015-16

budget speech in February 2015.

The primary purpose of the schemes is to reduce

dependence on imported gold, recycle the

unutilized gold in the country and most

importantly, streamline the gold business in the

country. At present, India is the largest consumer

of gold in the world.

Gold Monetization Scheme (GMS)

Its objective is to mobilize unutilized gold from

individuals, households and institutions and make

them available to gold-base industries including

jewellers.

Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme

The purpose of the scheme is to reduce the

demand for physical gold and to shift part of the

estimated 300 tons of physical bars and coins

purchased every year for investment into Demat

(Dematerialised) gold bonds.

Indian Gold Coins

• Its purpose is to revive investment and reduce

dependence on imports of gold coins. At present,

India has been importing about 60 tonnes of gold

coins annually that are sold at a premium of 8-10

per cent.

• Under the scheme, gold coins bearing the Ashok

Chakra and Mahatma Gandhi will be minted by

the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of

India.

• Initially, the coins will be available in

denominations of 5 gm and 10 gm.

• They will be sold through banks, post offices and

state-run MMTC Ltd. (Metals and Minerals

Trading Corporation of India) which will sell them

through the World Gold Council (WGC).

RBI notified Operational Guidelines

of Sovereign Gold Bonds 2015-16

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 4 November

2015 notified the Operational Guidelines of the

Sovereign Gold Bonds 2015-16. These bonds will

be issued by the RBI from 5 November – 20

November 2015.

Main Operational Guidelines

• Joint holding and nomination: Multiple joint

holders and nominees (of first holder) are

permitted. Necessary details may be obtained from

the applicants as per practice.

• Interest on application money: Applicants will be

paid interest at prevailing savings bank rate from

the date of realization of payment to the settlement

date that is the period for which they are out of

funds.

• Lien marking: As the bonds are government

securities, lien marking will be as per the extant

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legal provisions of Government Securities Act,

2006 and rules framed there under.

• Agency arrangement: Scheduled commercial

banks may engage NBFCs, NSC agents and others

to collect application forms on their behalf. Banks

may enter into arrangements or tie-ups with such

entities.

• Processing through RBI’s e-kuber system:

Sovereign Gold Bonds will be available for

subscription at the branches of scheduled

commercial banks and designated post offices

through RBI’s e-kuber system.

• Servicing and follow up: Receiving offices like

branches of the scheduled commercial banks and

designated post offices will own the customer and

provide necessary services with regards to this

bond. Receiving offices will be required to

preserve applications till the bonds are matured

and are repaid.

Earlier on 30 October 2015, RBI decided to issue

Sovereign Gold Bonds, 2015 with effect from 5

November 2015 to 20 November 2015.

Dr T K Viswanathan Committee on

Bankruptacy Law Reforms

submitted its report

The Bankruptcy Law Reforms Committee (BLRC)

headed by Dr T K Viswanathan on 4 November

2015 submitted its report to the Union Ministry of

Finance.

The Report of the BLRC is in two parts-

• Rationale and Design/Recommendations

• A comprehensive draft Insolvency and

Bankruptcy Bill covering all entities

Key recommendations of the report

• Insolvency Regulator: The Bill proposes to

establish an Insolvency Regulator to exercise

regulatory oversight over insolvency

professionals, insolvency professional agencies

and informational utilities.

• Insolvency Adjudicating Authority: The

Adjudicating Authority will have the jurisdiction

to hear and dispose of cases by or against the

debtor.

• The Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) and the

National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) shall be

adjudicating authorities over individuals and

unlimited liability partnership firms and

companies and limited liability entities

respectively.

• NCLAT shall be the appellate authority to hear

appeals arising out of the orders passed by the

Regulator in respect of insolvency professionals or

information utilities.

• Insolvency Professionals: The draft Bill proposes

to regulate insolvency professionals and

insolvency professional agencies. Under

Regulator’s oversight, these agencies will develop

professional standards, codes of ethics and

exercise a disciplinary role over errant members

leading to the development of a competitive

industry for insolvency professionals.

• Insolvency Information Utilities: The draft Bill

proposes for information utilities which would

collect, collate, authenticate and disseminate

financial information from listed companies and

financial and operational creditors of companies.

Significance Draft Insolvency and Bankruptcy

bill

• The draft Bill has consolidated the existing laws

relating to insolvency of companies, limited

liability entities, unlimited liability partnerships

and individuals which are presently scattered in a

number of legislations, into a single legislation.

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• The proposed Bill will provide greater clarity in

the law and facilitate the application of consistent

and coherent provisions to different stakeholders

affected by business failure or inability to pay

debt.

• The bill further seeks to improve the handling of

conflicts between creditors and debtors, avoid

destruction of value, distinguish malfeasance vis-

a-vis business failure and clearly allocate losses in

macroeconomic downturns.

RBI granted in-principle approval to

three applicants for setting up

TReDS

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 24 November

2015 granted in-principle approval to three

applicants to set up and operate Trade Receivables

Discounting System (TReDS).

The three organisations have been asked to set and

operate TReDS in accordance to the Guidelines

issued on 3 December 2014 under the Payment

and Settlement System (PSS) Act 2007.

Organisations to which in-principle approval was

granted are

• NSE Strategic Investment Corporation Limited

(NSICL) and Small Industries Development Bank

of India (SIDBI), Mumbai

• Axis Bank Limited, Mumbai

• Mynd Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Gurgaon, Haryana

The in-principle approval granted will be valid for

a period of 6 months, during which time the

applicants have to comply with the requirements

under the Guidelines and fulfill the other

conditions as may be stipulated by the Reserve

Bank.

On being satisfied that the applicants have

complied with the requisite conditions laid down

by it as part of in-principle approval, the RBI

would consider granting to them a Certificate of

Authorisation for commencement of the business

of TReDS.

Technology Acquisition &

Development Fund under National

Manufacturing Policy launched

Union Government on 18 November 2015

launched the Technology Acquisition and

Development Fund (TADF) under the National

Manufacturing Policy, 2011. The TADF was

launched by Minister of State for Commerce &

Industry Nirmala Sitharaman.

The fund will facilitate acquisition of clean, green

and energy efficient technologies. It will also

catalyse the manufacturing growth in Micro, Small

& Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector with an

aim to contribute to ‘Make in India’ initiative.

The scheme will be implemented through Global

Innovation and Technology Alliance (GITA), a

joint venture company. GITA was launched in

2007-08 by CII and Department of Science &

Technology to stimulate private sector's

investment in R&D.

How the TADF Scheme will support MSME?

Direct Support for Technology Acquisition:

Proposals from Indian industry will be invited for

reimbursement of 50 percent of technology

transfer fee or 20 lakh rupees, whichever is lower.

In-direct Support for Technology Acquisition

through Patent Pool: Financial support will be

provided in acquiring of patent from across the

globe based on applications received from

MSMEs. Technology/Patent will be licensed to

selected companies and the selected companies

will get a subsidy of 50 percent of the mutually

agreed value or 20 lakh rupees.

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Technology/Equipment Manufacturing Subsidies:

The fund will support manufacturing of equipment

for controlling pollution, reducing energy

consumption and water conservation. The

manufacturing units will be provided with a

subsidy of up to 10 percent of capital expenditure

& machinery subject to a maximum of 50 lakh

rupees.

Green Manufacturing–Incentive Scheme: The

scheme will facilitate resource conservation

activities in industries located in National

Investment and Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ). It

will be done through the introduction of

incentive/subsidy schemes for energy or water

audits, construction of green buildings, and

implementation of waste treatment facilities

through financial support under the TADF.

About National Manufacturing Policy 2011

The National Manufacturing Policy was notified

by the Department of Industrial Policy and

Promotion (DIPP) on 4 November 2011. The main

objectives of the Policy are:

• To enhance the share of manufacturing in Gross

Dosmestic Product to 25% by 2022.

• Increase manufacturing sector to growth to 12-

14% in medium term to make it an engine of

growth.

• Increase the rate of job creation in manufacturing

to create 100 million additional jobs by 2022

IAMAI released Internet in India

2015 report

Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI)

on 17 November 2015 released a report entitled

Internet in India 2015 report.

The report surveyed usage of internet on different

devices (mobile, desktop, etc), in different areas

(village and urban) and among different

demographic segments.

The key finding of the report is India’s internet

user base will touch 402 million by December

2015 making it the second-largest in the world

after China.

Highlights of Internet in India 2015

• The number of Internet users in India is expected

to reach 402 million by December 2015

registering a growth of 49 percent over last year.

With this, India will surpass the USA and will

have second largest user base next only to China.

• Currently, while internet users in India are

pegged at 375 million, China leads in the world

with more than 600 million internet users.

• While Internet in India took more than a decade

to move from 10 million to 100 million and 3

years from 100 to 200 million, it took only a year

to move from 300 to 400 million users.

• Overall, 71 percent male and 29 percent female

are Internet users in India. The Internet usage

among males has been growing at a rate of 50

percent while it is growing at 46 percent for

female users. And, among the female Internet

users, the highest growth has been among the

Non-Working women.

In urban areas

• In Urban India, the ratio between male to female

Internet users is 62:38. Significantly, Internet users

among females are growing at a rate of 39 percent

compared to 28 percent among males.

• Significantly, there has been a huge spurt in the

number of people accessing internet on a daily

basis in Urban India. As on October 2015, 69

percent of users are using Internet on a daily basis.

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This daily user base has gone up by 60 percent

from last year.

• In Urban India, mobile Internet user base has

grown at a rate of 65 percent over last year to

reach 197 million in October 2015. The Mobile

Internet Users have surged to 80 million by

October 2015 growing at 99 percent over last year.

• Interestingly, the report also reveals that out of

all the Internet non-users surveyed in the 35 cities

as part of this study, 11.4 million Non-Users are

willing to access the Internet in the next one year

and over 2/3rd of them intend to do so through

mobile phones.

In Rural areas

• Among the Rural Internet users, 88 percent are

males. The Internet users among females are

growing at 61 percent and 79 percent among

males. And, 75 percent of the rural internet users

belong to the age group of 18-30 years.

• The user base of mobile internet users in Rural

India is expected to reach 87 million by December

2015 and 109 million by June 2016.

Governing Council of NIIF

constituted under the chairmanship

of Finance Minister

Union Ministry of Finance on 13 November 2015

constituted the Governing Council (GC) of the

National Investment and Infrastructure Fund

(NIIF).

The GC will be chaired by the Union Finance

Minister and has following five members

• Secretary, DEA

• Secretary, Financial Services

• Arundhati Bhattacharya

• Hemendra Kothari

• T V Mohandas Pai

And, the GC was mandated to consider approval

of guidelines for Investment of Trust

property/Corpus of NIIF and parameters for

appointment and performance of investment

managers/ advisors among others.

About National Investment and Infrastructure

Fund

• Its objective is to back new and stressed projects

and help restart the investment cycle.

• It was proposed by the Union Finance Minister

Arun Jaitley in his Budget 2015-16.

• It was approved by the Union Cabinet on 23 July

2015 with an initial corpus of 20000 crore rupees.

• It was set up as a fund under the provisions of the

Indian Trusts Act, 1882.

International

India, France launched International

Solar Alliance

India and France on 30 November 2015 launched

the International Solar Alliance in Paris. The

alliance was launched jointly by PM Narendra

Modi and French President Francois Hollande

during the United Nations climate change

conference (COP21).

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The alliance also invited all countries located fully

or partly between the tropics of Cancer and

Capricorn to join the group. It will function from

the National Institute of Solar Energy in India,

Gurgaon.

Highlights of the alliance

• It aims to bring 121 tropical countries together to

tap solar energy.

• The Alliance will enable solar-rich developing

countries to make the best use of an abundant, free

natural resource.

• It seeks to share collective ambitions to reduce

the cost of finance and technology that is needed

to deploy solar power widely.

• It would adapt the generation and storage

technologies to the individual countries’ needs.

• Among the tasks that the Alliance would pursue

are, cooperation in training, building institutions,

regulatory issues, common standards, and

investment including joint ventures.

UN chief launched Anticipate,

Absorb, Reshape Initiative to build

climate resilience

The United Nations (UN) Chief Ban Ki-moon

along with the agencies of the UN system on 30

November 2015 launched initiative titled

Anticipate, Absorb, Reshape to build climate

resilience in the world’s most vulnerable

countries.

The initiative was launched during the United

Nations climate change conference (COP21) in

Paris. The initiative was launched in the wake of

economic losses that have increased by more than

half over the past decade. Ecosystems, and food

and water supplies are under increasing pressure.

Highlights of the initiative

• It will strengthen the ability of countries to

anticipate hazards, absorb shocks, and reshape

development to reduce climate risks.

• It is expected to address the needs of the nearly

634 million people, or a tenth of the global

population who live in at-risk coastal areas just a

few meters above existing sea levels.

• It will also help those living in areas at risk of

droughts and floods.

• It will mobilize financing and knowledge; create

and operationalize partnerships at scale, help

coordinate activities to help reach tangible results,

catalyze research, and develop new tools over the

next five years.

IMF approved China's Yuan as Elite

Reserve Currency

International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 30

November 2015 included China's Yuan into its

elite reserve currency basket. Yuan's entry into the

basket takes effect from 1 October 2016.

Yuan also known as the Chinese Renminbi (RMB)

was included in the basket after it met the existing

criteria for its inclusion. The action was taken after

the executive board at IMF completed the regular

five-yearly review of the basket of currencies that

make up the Special Drawing Right (SDR).

What does the Inclusion mean?

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• Yuan will be a freely usable currency and will be

included in the SDR basket as a fifth currency,

along with the US Dollar, Euro, Japanese Yen and

British Pound.

• Launching the new SDR basket on 1 October

2016 will provide sufficient lead time for the

Fund, its members and other SDR users to adjust

to these changes.

• The inclusion of the RMB will enhance the

attractiveness of the SDR by diversifying the

basket and making it more representative of the

world’s major currencies.

• Inclusion of Yuan in the SDR is considered as a

big political victory for China as Yuan’s

desirability as a reserve currency for investors will

increase and undermine the hegemony of the

dollar as a global reserve currency.

• The decision an important milestone in the

integration of the Chinese economy into the global

financial system.

• It also recognises the progress that the Chinese

authorities have made in the past years in

reforming China's monetary and financial systems.

What is a SDR?

The special drawing rights (SDR) system was

created by the IMF in 1969 to support the Bretton

Woods fixed exchange rate system.

The SDR is instead an international reserve asset

which the IMF uses to supplement its member

countries’ reserves. The SDR’s value is based on

the basket of the four international currencies and

SDRs can be exchanged for “freely usable”

currencies.

SDRs are allocated to IMF members from time to

time. From October 2016, once the Yuan is added,

the basket will have five currencies.

Further, SDR is not a claim on the IMF; rather it is

a potential claim on the freely usable currencies of

IMF members.

What are the Criteria to get added to SDR?

The SDR basket, upon which the SDR’s value is

based, is typically reviewed every five years by

the IMF’s executive board. It is reviewed to ensure

that it reflects the relative importance of currencies

in the global trading and financial systems.

The last time that happened was in 1999 when the

newly created euro single currency was added,

although technically it replaced the outgoing

German deutschmark and French franc.

The main criterions to become eligible to be

included in SDR are as follows:

Export Criterion: To become a part of the basket,

exports of a particular country shall have the

largest value over a five-year period. In other

words, the concerned currency that is to be

included in the basket are those issued by IMF

members or currency unions that play a central

role in the global economy.

Freely Usable Criterion: To join the basket, a

currency must also be judged by the IMF’s

executive board to be “a freely usable currency”.

In other words, it must be a currency that is widely

used to make payments for international

transactions and widely traded in the main

exchange markets.

Renminbi is the official name of the currency

introduced by the Communist People's Republic of

China at the time of its foundation in 1949. It

means the people's currency.

On the other hand, word Yuan goes back further

than Renminbi. It is the Chinese word for dollar -

the silver coin, mostly minted in the Spanish

empire, used by foreign merchants in China for

some four centuries.

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This is the piece of eight (real de a ocho) beloved

of pirates and their parrots - worth eight reales and

known as a peso in Spanish and a dollar in

English.

27th ASEAN Summit held at Kuala

Lumpur

The 27th Association of Southeast Asian Nations

(ASEAN) Summit was held on 21 November 2015

at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The theme for the

2015 summit was Our People, Our Community,

Our Vision.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak was

the Chairperson of the summit that was held from

18 November 2015 to 22 November 2015.

The Summit was attended by the leaders of the 10-

member Association of Southeast Asian Nations

(ASEAN) that are Indonesia, Malaysia,

Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei

Darussalam, Viet Nam, Lao PDR, Myanmar and

Cambodia.

Highlights of the Summit

• One of the anticipated highlights of the summit

was the declaration by ASEAN Leaders on the

establishment of the ASEAN Community by 31

December 2015.

• Along with the launch of the ASEAN

Community, the ASEAN Leaders also issued the

Kuala Lumpur Declaration on ASEAN 2015:

Forging Ahead Together.

• The ASEAN post-2015 vision was also launched

to chart the path of the ASEAN Community in the

next ten years.

• The leaders also engaged with the Heads of

Government of China, Japan, the Republic of

Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand, Russia and

the United States.

India's participation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi represented India

at the 27th ASEAN summit and drew attention of

world leaders to India and invited them to invest in

India.

About ASEAN Chair, Summits and Themes

ASEAN was established in 1967 by the five

founding members namely Indonesia, Malaysia,

Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Brunei

Darussalam, Viet Nam, Lao PDR, Myanmar and

Cambodia joined later. The Summit is ASEAN's

highest policy-making body.

The chair of the ASEAN Summit rotates annually

in alphabetical order of the English names of

Member States.

By virtue of holding the chair of the ASEAN for a

particular year, the concerned member state also

chairs the ASEAN Summit and related summits.

Further, ASEAN Summits are held bi-annually but

with a common theme.

The 26th ASEAN Summit was held at Kuala

Lumpur & Langkawi, Malaysia between 26 and 28

April 2015 with the same theme Our People, Our

Community, Our Vision.

In 2014, the chair was with Myanmar, hence the

24th and 25th ASEAN Summit was held in Nay

Pyi Taw, Myanmar in May and November. The

theme was Moving forward in Unity to a Peaceful

and Prosperous Community.

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13th ASEAN-India Summit held in

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The Thirteenth ASEAN-India Summit was held

successfully on 21 November 2015 in Kuala

Lumpur, Malaysia. Theme of the summit was Our

People, Our Community, Our Vision.

The meeting was chaired by the Prime Minister of

Malaysia Najib Razak as Malaysia holds the chair

for the year 2015.

The summit was participated by the Heads of

ASEAN Member States and Prime Minister of

India Narendra Modi. The Secretary General of

ASEAN was also a participant of the summit.

Major Highlights of the13th ASEAN-India

summit

• The ASEAN Leaders welcomed India’s

initiatives, namely the Act East Policy and Make

in India

• ASEAN Leaders encouraged India to work with

ASEAN to realise the vision and goals outlined in

the ASEAN 2025: Forging Ahead Together.

• They looked forward to further enhancing

ASEAN-India relations through the new Plan of

Action 2016-2020 adopted at the ASEAN-India

Ministerial Meeting in Kuala Lumpur in August

2015. This includes cooperation in areas like

science and technology, renewable energy, food

security, tourism, climate change and connectivity.

• ASEAN leaders welcomed India’s announcement

of a 1 billion US dollar Line of Credit for ASEAN

Member States to undertake connectivity related

projects under the ASEAN-India Strategic

partnership.

• They also expressed their interest in availing the

Line of Credit to, inter-alia, realise the Master Plan

of ASEAN Connectivity.

• They looked forward for signing of the

Memorandum of Understanding on the

Establishment of the ASEAN-India Centre (AIC)

and its early operationalisation.

• It called on all partied to work towards for early

conclusion of a balanced Regional Comprehensive

Economic Partnerships Agreement, which is

beneficial to all and is comprehensive in nature.

• It also called for convening of the 1st Meeting of

the ASEAN-India Working Group on Regional

Air Services Arrangements for the further

negotiations of an ASEAN-India Air Transport

Agreement based on ‘open skies’ principles

covering both air freight and passenger services.

• The leaders also called further discussion on the

ASEAN-India Maritime Transport Agreement to

strengthen maritime connectivity.

The 14th ASEAN-India Summit to be held Lao

PDR in 2016. 12th ASEAN-India Summit was

held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar on 12 November

2014.

Comment/Analysis

India’s partnership with ASEAN has successfully

moved from a Sectoral Dialogue Partnership in

1992 to a Summit Partnership in 2002 and to a

Strategic Partnership in 2012.

The ASEAN-India Strategic Partnership acquired

further momentum after the enunciation of the

Act-East Policy by the Prime Minister Narendra

Modi at the 12th ASEAN-India Summit in

Myanmar in November 2014.

As of now India and ASEAN have 30 dialogue

mechanisms including a Summit, which have been

taking place since 2002.

India has been actively participating and making

positive contribution to numerous ASEAN-led

mechanisms. These include among others ASEAN

Regional Forum (ARF), ASEAN Defence

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Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM Plus) and East

Asia Summit (EAS).

On the economic front, ASEAN is India’s fourth

largest trading partner. India is, in turn, the sixth

largest trade partner for ASEAN. Trade between

India and ASEAN stood at 76.52 billion dollars in

2014-15 as against the aim set in 2012 to achieve

100 billion US dollars mark.

To give a fillip to India-ASEAN bilateral trade, a

Free Trade Agreement in Goods was signed in

2009 and in Services and Investment in 2014.

Besides, India is also part of negotiations on the

Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership

Agreement (RCEP), which includes ASEAN and

its six FTA partners.

The growth pole of Asia is shifting. A stronger

ASEAN–India partnership would enhance our

participation in global economic governance and

work towards building a common position, voice

and visibility in addressing global governance

issues.

India-Singapore signed 10

agreements on mutual co-operation

India and Singapore on 24 November 2015 signed

10 agreements on mutual co-operation. These

include Defence, Civil Aviation, National

Planning and cyber Security.

The agreements were signed in presence of Prime

Minster of Narendra Modi and Singapore Prime

Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Narendra Modi was on

a two-day visit to Singapore (23 November to 24

November 2015).

List of Joint Declaration/Agreements/MoU’s

signed

Joint Declaration on a Strategic Partnership: Seeks

to elevate bilateral relations to a strategic

partnership to deepen and broaden engagement in

existing areas of cooperation. The Strategic

Partnership is also a framework to contribute to

greater regional stability and growth.

Agreement concerning Defence Cooperation: It

provides for

a) Defence Ministers’ Dialogue

b) Joint exercises between armed forces

c) Cooperation between defence industries to

identify areas of co-production and co-

development

Agreement on the Extension of Loan of Artifacts

to the Asian Civilisations Museum of Singapore

Executive Programme on Cooperation in the

Fields of the Arts, Heritage, Archives and Library

for the Years 2015-2018: Programme envisages

detailed plan of action and cooperation in the field

of Arts, Museums, Archives, Monuments, Library

and Exchange of Technical Experts & Students for

the period 2015-2018.

Operationalisation of the Technical Agreement on

Sharing White Shipping Information: Was signed

between the Indian Navy and the Singapore Navy

signed on 21 July 2015.

MoU on Cooperation in the area of Cyber

Security: The agreement was inked between

Indian Computer Emergency Response Team

(CERT-In), Department of Information

Technology of India and Singapore Computer

Emergency Response Team (SingCERT), Cyber

Security Agency of Singapore.

The MoU promotes closer cooperation and

exchange of information pertaining to cyber

security between the CERTs of the two nations by

establishment of a broader framework for future

dialogue; exchange of information on cyber-

attacks; research collaboration in smart

technologies; exchange of information on

prevalent cyber security policies and best practices

as well as professional exchanges.

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MoU in Civil Aviation: It was inked between

Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Singapore

Cooperation Enterprise (SCE). The MoU

facilitates mutual cooperation in a number of

mutually agreed areas of civil aviation services

and airport management beginning with Jaipur and

Ahmedabad airports.

MoU on Cooperation in the Field of Planning: It

was inked between National Institution for

Transforming India (NITI Aayog) and Singapore

Cooperation Enterprise (SCE). The MoU promotes

knowledge and information exchange in areas

such as

a) Urban planning

b) Waste water management

c) Solid waste management

d) Public-private partnerships between the two

organisations

MoU on Cooperation to Combat Illicit Trafficking

in Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substance and

their Precursors: It was inked between the

Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) of India and the

Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) Singapore.

The MoU facilitates and enhances cooperation by

exchange of Information on trends in the illicit

manufacture and those arrested on drug trafficking

charges and establish direct contact points between

the two Bureaus. Capacity building, skill

upgrading and knowledge development are also

identified as areas of cooperation.

MoU in Capacity Building in the Field of Urban

Planning and Governance: It was inked between

the Town and Country Planning Organisation of

the Government of India and the Singapore

Cooperation Enterprise.

The MoU provides for participation of government

officials from India in capacity-building

programmes in areas such as urban planning and

management.

Besides, the Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and

Lee Hsein Loong also released commemorative

stamps depicting Rashtrapati Bhawan and Istana-

Official residence of Singapore President-as a

mark of 50 years of bilateral relation.

Mahatma Gandhi International

Centre inaugurated in Matale by Sri

Lankan President

The President of Sri Lanka Maithripala Sirisena on

22 November 2015 inaugurated the Mahatma

Gandhi International Centre (MGIC) inaugurated

in Matale. The Indian High Commissioner YK

Sinha was also present at the inauguration

ceremony.

The center was inaugurated as a tribute to the

contribution of Mahatma Gandhi to humanity and

the continuing relevance of his principles and

philosophy to mankind.

Main highlights of the MGIC

• The centre was built at a cost of over 4 crore

rupees

• The Centre consists of an auditorium, library,

meditation centre and a conference hall.

• It was funded under the Indian government's

Development Cooperation Partnership with Sri

Lanka.

• The Urban Development Authority of Sri Lankan

government was the consultant for the project.

• It will provide a platform to reinforce the

teachings of Mahatma Gandhi and promote

harmony among different communities

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• It will enrich the lives of people through

meditation and yoga and can also be used as a

resource centre for cultural activities

• It will also help the youth to enhance their

knowledge in various fields through seminars,

workshops and conferences.

Background

The MGIC was built at the request of the Mahatma

Gandhi Sabha at Matale which was opened by a

local group of citizens following Mahatma

Gandhi’s visit to Matale in 1927. In 1947 Sri

Lankan government gave the society land and a

small building was constructed in 1952. The

society functions on the principles and teachings

of Mahatma Gandhi.

Union Cabinet approved German as

additional foreign language in

Kendriya Vidyalayas

Union Cabinet on 18 November 2015 gave its ex-

post approval to the Joint Declaration of Intent

(JDI) between the Ministry of Human Resource

Development and Federal Foreign Office of

Germany.

The JDI seeks to promote German as an additional

Foreign Language in Kendriya Vidyalayas (KV)

schools.

With this approval, German language will now be

taught as an additional foreign language in KVs in

conformity with the National Education Policy,

1986.

The approval also gives green signal to promotion

of teaching of Modern Indian Languages in

Germany.

Background

German was taught as a foreign language in KVs

since September 2011 when a MoU was signed

between Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS)

and Goethe-Institute, Max Mueller. The validity of

the MoU expired in September 2014.

Due to some inconsistencies in the MoU vis-à-vis

National Education Policy and the National

Curriculum Framework relating to the “three

language formula”, it was not renewed further.

The issue was later reviewed and was included in

the Joint Statement issued on 14 April 2015 by the

Prime Minister and German Chancellor. It was

agreed to support the respective programmes and

efforts in India and Germany to broaden

knowledge of each other’s languages in

accordance with the National Policy of each

country.

India ratified Articles of Agreement

of the Asian Infrastructure

Investment Bank

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister

Narendra Modi on 18 November 2015 gave its

approval for the ratification and submitting of the

Articles of Agreement (AoA) of the Asian

Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

India will be the second-biggest shareholder with

8.4 percent, followed by Russia, which will have a

6.5 percent stake.

How the ratification of AoA of AIIB will help

India?

• Establishment of the AIIB will help India and

other signatory countries to raise and avail

resources for their infrastructure and sustainable

development projects.

• It will enable India to play a prominent role in

the governance of a multilateral institution.

About Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

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• The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)

is a proposed international financial institution

which is focused on supporting infrastructure

construction in the Asia-Pacific region.

• The bank was proposed by China and supported

by 37 regional and 20 non-regional Prospective

Founding Members, 53 of which have signed the

AoA that form the legal basis for the proposed

bank.

• The bank will start operation after the agreement

enters into force, which requires ratifications from

10 member states holding a total number of 50%

of the initial subscriptions of the Authorized

Capital Stock.

• The Bank will be headquartered in Beijing.

• The authorised capital of AIIB is 100 billion US

Dollar and the initial subscribed capital is

expected to be around 50 billion US Dollar. The

paid-in ratio will be 20 percent.

2015 Valletta Summit on Migration

concluded

The 2015 Valletta Summit on Migration was

concluded on 12 November 2015. It was held for

two days at the Mediterranean Conference Centre

in Valletta, Malta.

It was attended by around 65 heads of

governments/high level policy makers from

Europe and Africa, besides officials from the UN

and various organizations of the European Union.

The summit, in addition to approving a political

declaration reaffirming commitment to solve the

ongoing Mediterranean Migration Crisis; came up

with an Action Plan to deal with migration from

Africa to Europe in a comprehensive manner.

The Action Plan is built around five priority

domains, namely,

1. Development benefits of migration and

addressing root causes of irregular migration and

forced displacement

2. Legal migration and mobility

3. Protection and asylum

4. Prevention of and fight against irregular

migration, migrant smuggling and trafficking in

human beings

5. Return, readmission and reintegration

Other Key outcomes of Valletta Summit

• EU Emergency Trust Fund, of 1.8 billion euros,

was established to address root causes of irregular

migration and displaced persons in Africa by

promoting economic and equal opportunities,

strengthening resilience of vulnerable people,

security and development.

• Within the 5 priority domains, 16 initiatives will

be launched before the end of 2016 to implement

the Action Plan.

• The existing mechanisms of the Rabat Process,

the Khartoum Process and of the Joint EU-Africa

Strategy will be used to monitor implementation.

• The European Investment Bank will provide

financing to support the reestablishment of the

conditions for self-sustaining economic growth

and the development of human capital in Africa.

Terrorist attack in Paris; Hundreds

Killed

Terrorists on 13 November 2015 attacked six

locations around Paris killing around 130 civilians

and injuring another 200 people and security

personnel.

While majority of the deaths occurred in the

Bataclan concert venue, around 80000 football

fans in the Stade de France (National Stadium of

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France) came under the deadliest attacks who were

watching a friendly match between France and

Germany.

To deal with impending attacks, France President

Francois Hollande, who was at the venue during

the attack, immediately convened an emergency

cabinet meeting outside the stadium and

announced a state of emergency.

The decree enables the authorities to close public

places and impose curfews and restrictions on the

movement of traffic and people.

France saw its most recent emergency in

November 2005 while the suburbs of Paris came

under a series of attacks by rioting mob.

The present attack in Paris is the deadliest violence

to strike France since World War II and the second

major terror incident in 2015 after the Charlie

Hebdo Shooting.

In the January 2015 incident, terrorists belonging

to the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)

killed 11 people when they stormed into the

offices of the French satirical weekly newspaper in

Paris.

India, UK announced commercial

deals worth 9 billion pounds

India and the UK on 12 November 2015

announced commercial deals worth 9 billion

pounds in London.

The deals took place between the companies

operating from both the countries and were agreed

upon during the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s

visit to the UK.

Details of Commercial Deals

Creative and retail

• Merlin Entertainments: It will open the first

Madame Tussauds in the sub-continent. It will be

set up in New Delhi in 2017. Further, it will invest

up to 50 million pounds over 10 years to open

more of company’s iconic brands that include

Discovery Centre and Sea Life Aquarium.

• Apollo Hospitals: It partnered with Holland &

Barrett International to open 1000 Holland &

Barrett outlets in India over the next 5 years. The

first store will open in New Delhi in January 2016

with 115 outlets open at the end of the year.

• Genus ABS will invest 1 million pounds in India

providing the latest dairy genetics and constructing

a state-of-the-art facility near Pune in

Maharashtra.

Logistics

TVS is opening a 20 million pounds advanced

logistics facility in Barnsley (the UK) generating

100 new jobs, growing to 500 across the TVS

Group over 5 years. As part of Team Leidos, the

company is integral to delivering 500 million

pounds worth of procurement savings to the UK

Ministry of Defence over 13 years.

Finance and professional services

• HDFC, India’s largest housing finance company,

has announced the proposal to issue rupee

denominated bonds overseas of up to 490 million

pounds.

• Bharti Airtel Ltd announced that it intends to

issue its maiden sterling bond of up to 500 million

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pounds to be listed on the London Stock

Exchange.

• Major UK-based insurance companies like

Standard Life, Bupa and Aviva have committed to

invest a combined total of approximately 238

million pounds worth of FDI in their Indian joint

ventures.

• London Stock Exchange Group and Yes Bank

will sign a MoU to foster the development around

bond and equity issuance, with a strong focus on

green infrastructure finance. As part of this MoU,

the bank is expected to list a green bond of up to

330 million pounds through Medium Term Notes

by December 2016.

• State Bank of India (SBI) and London Stock

Exchange Group have announced a collaboration

to create the FTSE-SBI India Bonds Indices to be

used initially by a new investment fund run by

SBI. These indices, to be launched in the first half

of 2016, will facilitate investment into India’s

bond markets and support market liquidity and

pricing.

• Zyfin and Sun Global announced that they would

be listing the world’s first India fixed income

exchange traded fund (ETF) on the London Stock

Exchange. This ETF will give international

investors access to the Indian fixed income

market, which is worth 1.3 trillion dollars and is a

vital source of finance for the infrastructure sector.

• A new MoU on technical co-operation in the rail

sector was agreed which will boost potential

business opportunities for the rail industry.

Further, India announced its intention to launch

the first government-backed rupee bond (Railway

Rupee Bond) in London to fund railway

infrastructure development.

Energy

• Lightsource Renewable Energy Holdings has

announced a 2 billion pounds investment in India.

They will design, install and manage around 3

gigawatts of solar power infrastructure in India

over the next 5 years.

• UK technology company Intelligent Energy is

now facilitating an initial order of over 10000

hydrogen fuel cells, worth over 128 million

pounds.

• UK-listed OPG Power Ventures plc will invest

2.9 billion pounds in India to create 4200 MW of

new power capacity in India, of which 1000 MW

will be solar power and 3200 MW will be thermal

and renewable power in Tamil Nadu.

IT and cyber

• Kloudpad Mobility Research will invest 100

million pounds produce the next generation of

smart watches, wearables and tablets in South

India.

• Vodafone has announced investments in India

totaling 1.3 billion pounds of which 100 million

pounds will be used to create a payment bank

focused on serving the unbanked and under

banked and to accelerate India’s journey towards a

cashless economy.

• E-commerce cloud platform provider, CloudBuy,

will sign a contract with the Confederation of

Indian industry (CII) for an online business to

business marketplace. Over the next 5 years the

platform is projected to facilitate transactions

worth 3.5 billion pounds.

Healthcare

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

and Indo UK Healthcare Pvt Ltd will open King’s

College Hospital in Chandigarh. This is the first of

a proposed 11 new Indo-UK institutes for health

that will be developed across India, which, when

fully implemented, would amount to a 1 billion

pound investment into India’s healthcare system.

Education

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• A partnership between the British Council and

TCS will see the global IT services firm provide

opportunities for 1000 graduate interns from

British universities to train and work in India

between 2016 and 2020.

• HSBC announced the launch of its Skills for Life

initiative in India, a programme to skill 75,000

disadvantaged young people and women over 5

years.

• Indian integrated learning solutions provider

Dexler will set up Dexler Education UK, its

European headquarters, with an investment of

around 10 million pounds to augment corporate

training, higher education and individual learning.

India inked MoUs with six countries

in the International Civil Aviation

Negotiations

The Government of India announced on 12

November 2015 that it signed Memorandum of

Understanding (MoU) with six countries. These

countries are: Finland, Kazakhstan, Kenya,

Sweden, Norway and Denmark, and Oman and

Ethiopia.

In addition, Agreed Minutes were signed with

Serbia, Greece, and European Commission. The

Record of Discussions was signed with Brunei

Darussalam and Qatar.

The MoUs were signed during International Civil

Aviation Negotiations (ICAN) 2015, which was

held in Antalya, Turkey from 19 to 23 October

2015.

Mou with Oman

• As per the agreement signed between Indian and

Oman, additional 5131 seats were granted taking

the total capacity entitlements from 16018 seats

per week to 21149 seats per week for both sides.

Mou with Kazakhstan

• Both the countries agreed to review the initialled

Air Services Agreement (ASA) as per the latest

Article 11 given by the Indian side.

• Both the parties also agreed to third country

airlines code share and domestic code share

operations to four points.

Mou with Kenya

• As per the signed MoU, the capacity entitlements

have been increased from 14 frequencies for each

side to 21 additional frequencies.

• Hyderabad was allowed as an additional point of

call for the designated carriers of Kenya.

• Domestic code share was agreed to from any 4

points by both sides.

• Kenya agreed to grant one additional point,

intermediate and beyond point with full 5th

freedom rights in Africa to India.

Mou with Ethiopia

• Capacity entitlements were increased from the

existing 21 frequencies per week to 28 frequencies

per week for both sides.

• Ethiopia was allowed to exchange Bangalore in

place of Kolkata as a point of call.

• Three additional domestic code share points

exclusively to code share with Air India were

granted namely Jaipur, Kolkata and Pune.

Mou with Finland

• The provisions namely code share, intermodal

services, routing flexibility and open sky on cargo,

which are mandatory requirement of Horizontal

Agreement coming into force were agreed to by

Finland.

• Further domestic code share was agreed to on 5

points in the territory of both parties.

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• The domestic code share points for the

designated airline of Finland are Bengaluru,

Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and Kolkata.

Mou with Sweden, Norway and Denmark

• Four provisions namely, code shares, intermodal,

routing flexibility and open sky on cargo, which

are the mandatory requirements of Horizontal

Agreement coming into force was agreed to by the

three Scandinavian countries.

• India accepted Norway’s request to bring

Norway-India bilateral in line with Horizontal

Agreement on receiving a letter to this effect from

European Council.

• Sweden allowed India another new point namely

Gothenburg for code share operations.

India re-elected to UN Commission

on International Trade Law

India on 9 November 2015 was re-elected by the

General Assembly to a six year term on the United

Nations Commission on International Trade Law

(UNCITRAL).

Apart from India, 22 other countries including the

United States and Pakistan were also re-elected to

the UNCITRAL.

The Monday election was the fifth election that

India has won in 2015. The country also won the

re-election to the UN Human Rights Council held

in 2014.

In April 2015, the UN Economic and Social

Committee (ECOSOC) elected India to the

executive councils of UNICEF and the World

Food Programme, the governing council of the

United Nations Human Settlements Programme

(UN-Habitat) and the Commission on Crime

Prevention and Criminal Justice.

About UNCITRAL

The United Nations General Assembly by its

Resolution 2205 (XXI) of 17 December 1966

established the United Nations Commission on

International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) to promote

the progressive harmonization and unification of

international trade law.

The Commission is a legal body with universal

membership specializing in commercial law

reform worldwide for over 40 years. It carries out

its work at annual sessions held alternately in New

York City and Vienna.

The Commission comprises of six working groups

to perform the substantive preparatory work on

topics within the Commission's programme of

work. The six working groups and their current

topics are:

• Working Group I - Micro, Small and Medium-

sized Enterprises

• Working Group II - Arbitration and Conciliation

• Working Group III - Online Dispute Resolution

• Working Group IV - Electronic Commerce

• Working Group V - Insolvency Law

• Working Group VI - Security Interests

WHO officially declared Sierra

Leone Ebola-free

World Health Organization (WHO) on 7

November 2015 announced that Sierra Leone is

free of the Ebola virus. West African nation's

epidemic was declared over at a ceremony

attended by President Ernest Bai Koroma and

WHO representative Anders Nordstrom.

Sierra Leone was declared free of the Ebola virus

after no new cases were reported in the West

Africa country in 42 days (two Ebola virus

incubation cycles), where the virus began in May

2014.

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Sierra Leone recorded the first Ebola case in May

2014, a total number of 8704 people were infected

and 3589 have died of which 221 were healthcare

workers.

'India in Shanghai’ Cultural Week

inaugurated at Shanghai

An Indian culture week called ‘India in Shanghai’

was on 5 November 2015 inaugurated at China

Shanghai International Arts Festival (SIAF) at the

Shanghai Grand Theatre. The SIAF annual festival

began on 16 October 2015 and will continue till 16

November 2015.

The culture week was inaugurated by Indian

Ambassador Ashok K Kantha along with Zhong

Yanqun, Vice Chair of The Standing Committee

of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress.

This is the first time in the 17-year history of the

China Shanghai International Arts Festival that

India was designated as the guest country during

the festival.

The events at the India Culture Week will

showcase the best of contemporary Indian arts and

comprise the following:

• Musical- Bollywood Extravaganza

• Dance Performance Sari by Daksha Sheth Dance

Company

• Tribal Music by Rajasthan Josh

• Exhibition- Forms of Devotion

Each of the above performances would be staged

at multiple venues across Shanghai from 5

November 2015 to 11 November 2015. The

exhibition titled Forms of Devotion would remain

open for public viewing at China Art Museum till

21 February 2016.

Purpose of India Culture Week

• The India Culture Week aims to provide Chinese

friends a glimpse of the multi-faceted cultural

traditions of India as well as enable a better

understanding of India among Chinese people.

• The cultural performances are also expected to

lead to a greater collaboration between Indian &

Chinese performing Arts and corresponding

institutions.

• As 2015 is named as ‘Visit India Year in China’,

it is expected that this Festival will encourage

more Chinese tourists to travel to India and see for

themselves the rich and diverse cultural heritage of

India.

About China Shanghai International Arts

Festival (SIAF)

SIAF is the only state-level International Arts

Festival hosted by the Ministry of Culture of

China and is organized by Shanghai Municipal

People's Government. In past years, the festival

has seen participation from renowned personalities

in the field of Art.

India, Indonesia signed MoUs on

Energy, Culture Exchange

India on 2 November 2015 signed two

Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with

Indonesia to strengthen it ties in energy and

culture exchange area. These MoUs were signed in

the presence of Vice President Hamid Ansari and

his counterpart Jusuf Kala in Jakarta.

The MoU on New and Renewable Energy sector

was signed between Indonesian Water Resources

and Mineral Minister and Indian ambassador to

Indonesia Gurjit Singh. The MoU will help both

nations to take steps in reducing carbon emissions

by 2030 by 35 percent in India and 29 percent in

Indonesia respectively.

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Both the sides also signed a MoU for Cooperation

in Cultural field. Indonesia also organised Sahabat

India- The Festival of India on its land in 2015.

India and Indonesia already enjoy a long standing

shared historical affinity and close cultural ties.

Indonesia is an important partner of India among

the ASEAN countries.

Roch Marc Christian Kabore elected

president of Burkina Faso

Roch Marc Christian Kabore on 30 November

2015 was elected as the President of the West

African country Burkina Faso.

Kabore won the vote in the first round with 53.49

percent of ballots, which was enough to secure a

first round victory.

Zephirin Diabre came in the second place with

29.6 percent of the vote, and Tahirou Barry stood

third with just three percent of the votes.

Mauricio Macri won the Presidential

election of Argentina

Conservative opposition candidate Mauricio Macri

won the presidential election of Argentina with

over 51.5 percent of vote in the fourth week of

November 2015.

As per the results declared by the National

Electoral Chamber of Argentina, Macri, the leader

of the centre-right Cambiemos [Let's Change]

coalition, secured 51.5 percent of votes, while

Centre-left Peronist candidate Daniel Scioli

conceded defeat with 48.5 percent votes.

With this win of Macri, Argentina will see the

centre-right leading the government after 12-years

of leftist government. In December 2015, he will

replace Christina Fernández de Kircher in the Casa

Rosada presidential palace

Environment

2015 likely to be the warmest year on

record: WMO

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

on 25 November 2015 released Provisional

Statement on the Status of Global Climate in

2011-2015. According to it, the global average

surface temperature in 2015 is likely to be the

warmest on record.

The average surface temperature in 2015 can reach

the symbolic and significant milestone of 1°

Celsius above the pre-industrial era.

The reason behind such surface temperature is

combination of a strong El Nino and human-

induced global warming.

Highlights of the analysis

The years 2011-2015 have been the warmest five-

year period on record at about 0.57°C (1.01°F)

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above the average for the standard 1961-90

reference period.

Levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere

reached new highs in the year 2015.

In the Northern hemisphere spring 2015, the three-

month global average concentration of CO2

crossed the 400 parts per million barrier for the

first time.

A powerful El Nino event is being witnessed in

2015, which is still gaining in strength. This is

influencing weather patterns in many parts of the

world and fuelled an exceptionally warm October.

The overall warming impact of this El Nino is

expected to continue into 2016.

A preliminary estimate based on data from January

to October 2015 shows that the global average

surface temperature for 2015 so far was around

0.73 °C above the 1961-1990 average of 14.0°C

and approximately 1°C above the pre-industrial

1880-1899 period.

South America is having its hottest year on record,

as is Asia (similar to 2007) and Africa and Europe

their second hottest.

Highlights of 2015

El Nino: The El Nino began in the North Pacific

region in the summer of 2014 and spread to the

South Pacific and Indian Ocean in 2015.

Consistent with typical El Nino impacts, large

areas of Central America and the Caribbean

recorded below average rainfall.

Ocean heat and sea level rise: The oceans have

been absorbing more than 90 percent of the energy

that has accumulated in the climate system from

human emissions of greenhouse gases. In the first

nine months of 2015, global ocean heat content

reached record high levels.

Regional temperatures: Significant warmer than

average temperatures were recorded over the

majority of observed land areas, especially

western North America, large areas of South

America, Africa and southern and eastern Eurasia.

Heatwaves: A major heatwave affected India in

May and June 2015, with average maximum

temperatures exceeded 42°C widely and 45°C in

some areas. Heatwaves affected Europe, northern

Africa and the Middle East through the late spring

and summer.

Rainfall and drought: Areas of high rainfall

included: southern areas of the USA, Mexico,

Bolivia, southern Brazil, southeast Europe, areas

of Pakistan and Afghanistan. 2015 saw

exceptional seasonal rainfall totals in several parts

of Burkina Faso and Mali.

There were many instances in 2015 of 24-hour

total rainfall patterns exceeding the normal

monthly mean of rain. While, dry areas included

Central America and the Caribbean, northeast

South America, parts of central Europe and

Russia, Southeast Asia, Indonesia and southern

Africa.

Tropical Cyclones: Globally, a total of 84 tropical

storms formed between January 2015 and 10

November 2015. Hurricane Patricia which made

landfall in Mexico on 24 October was the

strongest hurricane on record. In the Northwest

Pacific basin, 25 named storms were recorded. Six

typhoons made landfall over China. Four named

storms formed in the Northern Indian Ocean.

Arctic and Antarctic: In 2015, the daily maximum

sea ice extent, which occurred on 25 February

2015, was the lowest on record at 14.54 million

km. The minimum sea ice extent was on 11

September 2015 when the extent was 4.41 million

km2, the fourth lowest in the satellite record.

Climate Change Attribution: Out of 79 studies

published by Bulletin of the American

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Meteorological Society between 2011 and 2014,

more than half found that anthropogenic climate

change contributed to extreme events. The most

consistent influence has been on extreme heat.

New species of tree frog Ghatixalus

magnus discovered in Idukki district

of Kerala

During the field work in southern part of Western

Ghats, a team of researchers discovered a new

species of tree frog named Ghatixalus magnus. It

was discovered from Kadalar in the high ranges of

Idukki district in the Western Ghats of Kerala.

The frog belongs to Rhacophorid tree frog of the

genus Ghatixalus. It was named as Ghatixalus

magnus due to its large size making it the biggest

known tree frog from the Western Ghats.

The discovery was published in November 2015

issue of International Taxonomic Journal Zootaxa.

Its discovery was a joint effort by a team

comprising of Robin Abraham, a researcher from

the University of Kansas, USA; Anil Zachariah, a

batrachologist from Wayanad and Vivek Philip

Cyriac, a researcher, of the Indian Institute of

Science Education and Research,

Thiruvananthapuram.

Beside Ghatixalus magnus, the team also

rediscovered a species of bush frog, named

Raorchestes flaviventris from the High Ranges of

Idukki district in Kerala. The rediscovered species

that belongs to species of Rhacophorid bush frog

had been evading for past 132 years.

Raorchestes flaviventris that described from the

Western Ghats by George Albert Boulenger in

1882 was never been reported from the region

since its description.

UNISDR released the report titled

The Human Cost of Weather Related

Disasters

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk

Reduction (UNISDR) on 23 November 2015

released the report titled The Human Cost of

Weather Related Disasters. The report was

compiled by UNISDR and the Belgian-based

Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of

Disasters (CRED).

The report depicts that over the last 20 years, 90

percent of major disasters have been caused by

6457 recorded floods, storms, heatwaves, droughts

and other weather-related events.

Highlights of the report

It finds that the five countries hit by the highest

number of disasters are the United States, China,

India, Philippines and Indonesia.

It demonstrates that since the first UN climate

change conference (COP1) in 1995, 606000 lives

have been lost and 4.1 billion people have been

injured and left homeless as a result of weather-

related disasters.

It also highlights data gaps noting that economic

losses from weather-related disasters are much

higher than the recorded figure of 1.891 trillion

US dollars, which accounts for 71 percent of all

losses attributed to natural hazards over the

twenty-year period.

Only 35 per cent of records include information

about economic losses.

It estimates that the true figure on disaster losses

including earthquakes and tsunamis is between

250 billion US dollars and 300 billion US dollars

annually.

Asia accounts for the lion’s share of disaster

impacts including 332000 deaths and 3.7 billion

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people affected. The death toll in Asia included

138000 deaths caused by Cyclone Nargis which

struck Myanmar in 2008.

In total, an average of 335 weather-related

disasters were recorded per year between 2005 and

2014.

The extent of the toll taken by disasters on society

shows that 87 million homes were damaged or

destroyed over the period of the survey.

It highlights that floods accounted for 47 percent

of all weather-related disasters from 1995-2015,

affecting 2.3 billion people and killing 157000.

Storms were the deadliest type of weather-related

disaster, accounting for 242000 deaths or 40

percent of the global weather-related deaths, with

89 percent of these deaths occurring in lower-

income countries.

Overall, heatwaves accounted for 148000 out of

the 164000 lives lost due to extreme temperatures,

with 92 percent of deaths occurring in high-

income countries.

Drought reportedly affects Africa more than any

other continent, with 136 disasters occurring there

between 1995 and 2015 including 77 droughts in

East Africa alone.

2nd World Congress on Disaster

Management concluded;

Visakhapatnam Declaration adopted

Second World Congress on Disaster Management

(WCDM) concluded on 22 November 2015 at

Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

The four-day WCDM that started on 19 November

2015 was attended by over 1000 delegates from 40

countries and 20 states.

It was organized in collaboration with Disaster

Management Infrastructure and Control Society

(DMICS), with Andhra Pradesh government and

various local, national, regional and international

organisations.

The Congress ended with the adoption of

'Visakhapatnam Declaration’.

Visakhapatnam Declaration

• The Declaration calls for a comprehensive action

plan for a disaster-resilient society.

• It recommended effective funding by creating

national disaster mitigation fund for resource

implementation of local plans

• It also recommended for building a platform of

knowledge management/good

practices/innovations at local level.

• It calls for global linkages to undertake

cooperative studies among communities and local

governance on evidencing climate change

understanding and local commitments

• It calls for promoting private sector participation

to strengthen humanitarian commitments.

• It moots for setting-up of an independent experts

group with statutory powers like a state Disaster

Management Authority for formulating policies on

disaster management.

• The declaration listed out priorities and strategies

for disaster management and preventive measures,

which were learnt from previous experiences of

Cyclones Phailin and Hudhud that struck Andhra

Pradesh and Odisha in a span of one year.

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The second World Congress on Disaster

Management (WCMD) was organized six years

after the first WCMD was held in Hyderabad in

the year 2008.

IEA released World Energy Outlook

2015

International Energy Agency (IEA) on 10

November 2015 released the World Energy

Outlook 2015 (WEO-2015). The report, in light of

low energy prices, calls for no complacency on

energy security front and sees clear signs that the

energy transition is underway, that is, from fossils

to renewable.

The WEO-2015 presents updated projections for

the evolution of the global energy system to 2040

as well as detailed insights on the prospects for

fossil fuels, renewables, the power sector and

energy efficiency. It also presents an analysis on

trends in CO2 emissions and fossil-fuel and

renewable energy subsidies.

India, which will move to the centre stage of

global energy, is the subject of an in-depth focus

in WEO-2015.

Main highlights of the WEO-2015

An extended period of lower oil prices would

benefit consumers but would trigger energy-

security concerns by heightening reliance on a

small number of low-cost producers, or risk a

sharp rebound in price if investment falls short.

The plunge in oil prices will set in motion the

forces that lead the market to rebalance, via higher

demand and lower growth in supply.

In the central scenario of WEO-2015, a tightening

oil balance will lead to a price around 80 dollars

per barrel by 2020.

World energy demand will grow by nearly one-

third between 2013 and 2040 in the central

scenario of WEO-2015, with the net growth driven

entirely by developing countries.

By 2040, China's net oil imports will be nearly

five times those of the United States, while India's

import will easily exceed those of the European

Union.

Developing Asia will be the leading demand

centre for every major element of the world's

energy mix in 2040 – oil, gas, coal, renewables

and nuclear.

India in the developing Asia region will take over

China as the largest source of consumption

growth.

The single largest energy demand growth story of

recent decades, that is, China's coal use will reach

its plateau as its economy rebalances and overall

energy demand growth slows, before declining.

With India moving to the centre stage in global

energy, the energy demand will increase to two-

and-a-half-times current levels. The main causes

will be India’s high level of economic growth,

large (and growing) population and low (but

increasing) levels of energy use per capita.

The links between global economic growth,

energy demand and energy-related emissions will

weaken. This is because some markets (such as

China) will undergo structural change in their

economies and others reach a saturation point in

demand for energy services.

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A prolonged period of lower oil prices could

undercut the adoption of energy efficient

technologies. Diminished incentives and longer

payback periods mean that 15% of the energy

savings will be lost in a low oil price scenario.

Lower prices alone would not have a large impact

on the deployment of renewables, but only if

policymakers remain steadfast in providing the

necessary market rules, policies and subsidies.

Renewables: The leading source of energy in

2040

There are clear signs that an energy transition is

underway, that is, renewables contributed almost

half of the world's new power generation capacity

in 2014 and have already become the second-

largest source of electricity (after coal).

The coverage of mandatory energy efficiency

regulation has expanded to more than one-quarter

of global energy consumption.

Renewables are set to become the leading source

of new energy supply from now to 2040.

Their deployment grows worldwide, with a strong

concentration in the power sector where

renewables overtake coal as the largest source of

electricity generation by the early-2030s.

Renewables-based generation reaches 50% in the

EU by 2040, around 30% in China and Japan, and

above 25% in the United States and India.

The net result of the changes seen in the WEO-

2015 central scenario is that the growth in energy-

related emissions slows dramatically, but the

emissions trajectory implies a long-term

temperature increase of 2.7 °C by 2100. A major

course correction is still required to achieve the

world's agreed climate goal.

Cyclone Megh struck Yemeni Island

of Socotra

Cyclone Megh struck the eastern shores of the

Yemini island of Socotra on 8 November 2015.

The cyclone made landfall with the force of a

Category 3 hurricane carrying heavy rains and

destructive winds with a speed of 200km/h.

The cyclone had killed at least one person and

injured several.

The cyclone also caused massive damage in

Socotra Island which lies about 360 kilometres off

the Yemeni coast. It is expected that the cyclone

would trigger flooding and landslides in the

country.

This is the second most tropical storms within a

week after Cyclone Chapala (Category 4) to strike

the region.

Megh is the 28th storm in the northern hemisphere

to become a Category 3 or stronger in 2015.

Dracula ant discovered in Western

Ghats region of Kerala

A new species of the Dracula ant, likely to be of

Stigmatomma group of predaceous ants, was

discovered by a group of citizen scientists in the

Western Ghats region of Kerala.

The ants’ first photographic record was obtained

by Manoj Vembayam, Kalesh Sadasivan and

Vinay Krishnan, members of the TNHS Ant

Research Group, a wing of the Travancore Natural

History Society.

Why the species is termed as Dracula?

Stigmatomma species are known to live a

hypogaeic lifestyle as predators of chilopods. The

species are known as dracula ants because they

feed on their own larvae. At the times of scarcity,

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the species punctures the body of their larvae to

drink hemolymph.

Earlier, three Dracula ant species had been

discovered in the past in Kolkata, Himachal

Pradesh, and Karnataka. These subterranean ants

are nearly 1 cm long and have poor vision. They

feed on centipedes.

The team now will work on deducing the name of

the species using taxonomic keys. They will also

submit the details regarding the ant’s characteristic

features and other details to a peer-reviewed

academic journal to establish the discovery, if

further study reveals that the ant comes under no

existing species.

SPORTS

Czech Republic defeated Russia to

retain Fed Cup

The Czech Republic on 15 November 2015

successfully defended its Fed Cup crown after

beating Russia in final day's play in Prague.

Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova emerged as

the team’s hero as she not only won her singles

rubber to tie the match at 2-2 but also returned to

court after a break to secure another comeback

victory in the finals of the deciding doubles.

• The victory marked a fourth Fed Cup success for

the Czech Republic in five years.

• The country has won the Fed Cup nine times

overall, including Czechoslovakia's five before its

split in 1993.

About Fed Cup

• Fed Cup is the premier international team

competition in women's tennis.

• It was launched in 1963 to celebrate the 50th

Anniversary of the International Tennis Federation

(ITF).

• The competition was known as the Federation

Cup until 1995.

Siril Verma clinched silver at World

Junior Badminton Championships

Young shuttler Siril Verma on 15 November 2015

grabbed a silver medal at the BWF World Junior

Championships held in Lima, Peru.

China’s Chia Hung Lu clinched the gold medal at

the Boys' singles event.

With this, Verma joined the ranks of Saina

Nehwal, P.V. Sindhu, R.M.V. Gurusaidutt, H.S.

Prannoy and Sameer Verma, who have won

medals for India in the World junior

championships.

Verma came into limelight when he clinched the

Junior U15 Asian Championships title in 2013. He

also became the first Indian player to win the

Badminton Asia Youth Championships in 2013.

The 15-year-old shuttler trains at the Pullela

Gopichand Academy.

Verma was born on 25 December 1999 in Andhra

Pradesh (now Telangana).

About BWF World Junior Championships

The BWF World Junior Championships is also

known as the World Junior Badminton

Championships.

It is a tournament organized by the Badminton

World Federation (BWF) to crown the best junior

badminton players (under-19) in the world.

IAAF provisionally suspended Russia

from World Track and Field Events

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Russia on 13 November 2015 was provisionally

suspended from track and field events by

International Association of Athletics Federations

(IAAF) due to doping allegations against the

country’s athletes, coaches, trainers, doctors and

officials.

The IAAF’s council members voted 22-1 in favour

of Russia being banned from the events.

The ban will keep Russian athletes out of all

sanctioned international track and field events

worldwide. It could also affect the country’s

preparations of 2016 Summer Olympics to be held

in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

After the suspension, Russia will also not be able

to host world race walking team championships to

be held in 2016 in Cheboksary and the world

junior championships in Kazan.

The strict action was taken by IAAF after the

Independent Commission (IC) on Doping in

Sports on 9 November 2015 submitted its report to

the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Earlier in June 2015, the Anti-Doping Rule

Violations (ADRV) Report for 2013 published by

WADA revealed that Russia has maximum

number of dope offenders.

Nico Rosberg beat Lewis Hamilton to

win Brazilian Grand Prix

German Formula One motor racer Nico Rosberg

on 15 November 2015 defeated Lewis Hamilton to

grab the Brazilian Grand Prix trophy.

Sebastian Vettel grabbed the third position in the

race.

With the win, Rosberg reserved his place as

runner-up in 2015 Formula One world

championship.

The Brazilian Grand Prix was German F1 Driver's

second consecutive win following the 2015

Mexican Grand Prix. Besides, it was his fifth win

of 2015 and the 13th of his career.

Born on 27 June 1985, Rosberg has also briefly

competed for Finland very early in his career.

Rosberg entered Formula One in 2006 with

Williams Grand Prix Engineering. He joined the

re-branded Mercedes team for the 2010 Formula

One season.

About 2015 Brazilian Grand Prix

The 2015 Brazilian Grand Prix is a Formula One

motor race that was held at the Autódromo José

Carlos Pace, in São Paulo, Brazil.

The race was the 18th round of the 2015 season. It

also marked the 44th running of the Brazilian

Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World

Championship since its inception in 1950.

Xuerui Li defeated Saina Nehwal to

clinch Women's Singles title at China

Open Superseries

Chinese shuttler Xuerui Li on 15 November 2015

won the 700000 US dollar Women's Singles final

of China Open Superseries Premier Badminton

tournament. In the final played at Fuzhou, Li

defeated India’s ace shuttler Saina Nehwal 21-12,

21-15.

The top seed and defending champion Saina and

Li, the reigning Olympic champion, have met 12

times against each other. Saina has won just 2 of

those games. This was Saina's fifth final of the

year 2015.

It was Li’s 2nd championship title of the year after

she won the Denmark Open Superseries Premier

in October 2015, beating India’s PV Sindhu to the

title.

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Srinivasan removed as ICC

Chairman; Shashank Manohar to

take his place

Narayanaswami Srinivasan was on 9 November

2015 removed as the chairman of the International

Cricket Council (ICC). He was removed after

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)

decided to recall him and nominate its current

president Shashank Manohar as the chief of the

world body.

The decision to drop him was taken at the BCCI’s

86th Annual General Meeting in Mumbai. Now,

BCCI will recommend this change to ICC.

Srinivasan was elected the first chairman of the

International Cricket Council for a two-year term

(from June 2014 to June 2016). His tenure will be

completed by Shashank Manohar as it is India's

turn to hold the top position.

As per protocol, respective Boards name a

representative on the Ex-Co. The BCCI will

propose former ICC President Sharad Pawar's

name as an alternative director in the executive

committee.

Other decisions taken at the 86th Annual General

Meeting of BCCI includes

• Ravi Shastri has also been removed from the IPL

governing council.

• Rajeev Shukla has been retained as IPL

Chairman.

• Roger Binny was removed from the Team India

selection committee. He will be replaced by MSK

Prasad from the South zone.

• Gagan Khoda is the other new member of the

selection committee, chosen to replace Rajinder

Singh Hans.

• Former India captain and current Cricket

Association of Bengal (CAB) president Sourav

Ganguly will replace Anil Kumble as the chairman

of BCCI’s technical committee.

• The BCCI also named Visakhapatnam, Ranchi,

Indore, Pune and Rajkot as the five new venues for

hosting Test cricket.

Besides, the BCCI accepted in principle the

proposed rules on conflict of interest and other

amendments to its constitution. It also appointed

retired Justice A.P Shah as the ombudsman, who

will look into all conflict of interest disputes.

Nigeria won 2015 FIFA U-17 World

Cup

Nigeria on 8 November 2015 won the 2015 FIFA

U-17 World Cup. It was held across 8 cities in

Chile since 17 October 2015.

To win its third championship Nigeria defeated

Mali 2-0. Oshimhen and Bamgboye scored the

goals for Nigeria at the 56th and 59th minute

respectively.

India will host the bi-annual championship in

2017.

Heena Sindhu won gold in 13th Asian

Shooting Championship

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India’s Heena Sindhu on 6 November 2015 won

the gold medal in the 10m air pistol women’s

event at the 13th Asian Shooting Championship.

The championship was started on 1 November

2015 and will be held for 12 days in Kuwait City.

Incidentally, Heena was also the winner of the

gold medal in the 10m air pistol event in 8th Asian

Air Gun Championship. It was held in New Delhi

in September 2015.

Other Indian medal winners in 13th Asian


• Nivetha won gold in the 10m air pistol junior

women’s event

• In the 25m pistol men’s junior event, Shivam

Shukla won gold.

• Angad Bajwa secured the individual gold in the

junior skeet men’s competition

Team events

• Shreya Gawande, Nivetha and Oshin Tawani

won gold in the women’s team event.

• Nayani Bharadwaj, Harshada Nithave and

Malaika Goel won the gold in the team event of

the 10m air pistol.

• Shivam, Arjun Das and Achal Pratap Grewal also

won the silver medal in the team event.

• Angad Bajwa, Anant Naruka and Arjun Mann

together won the gold in the junior skeet men’s

team event.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin

became fastest Indian to reach 150

test wickets

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on 6 November

2015 became the fastest Indian to reach 150

wickets mark in the Indian test cricket history.

He achieved this feat when he took Imran Tahir’s

wicket in the first innings of the first test against

South Africa in Mohali, Punjab.

In this match, Ashwin also became the first bowler

in over 100 years to take 50 wickets after opening

the bowling. He achieved this feat in 12 matches

off 1888 balls.

The previous record was held by Colin Blythe of

England who took 74 wickets between 1902 and

1910 in 13 tests.

The test is a part of four-match test series played

to win Freedom Trophy, which is in turn is a part

of the larger Mahatma Gandhi-Nelson Mandela

Series that includes ODIs and T20s as well.

FIFA World Rankings 2015: Belgium

topped for first time

Belgium on 5 November 2015 moved to the top of

the FIFA world ranking list in football for the first

time. The team rose from third to first after

overtaking Argentina and world champions

Germany. This follows their victories in October’s

European qualifiers.

The former No. 1 ranked side, Argentina, dropped

to third, while Copa America champions Chile

rose four places to fifth, their highest ranking.

Austria improved one place to a best ever tenth

place. Iran continued to top the rankings among

AFC countries followed by Korea and Japan.

Jitu Rai won silver in 13th Asian


Ace shooter Jitu Rai on 4 November 2015 won

India's first senior medal at the 13th Asian

Shooting Championship in Kuwait City. He

bagged the silver in the finals of the men's 50

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metre pistol event.

Korea’s Park Daehun, who won the gold medal of

the event, shot finals world and Asian record score

of 199.2, while Jitu finished with a finals score of

189.5.

In the process, Jitu defeated his long-time rivals

Jin Jongoh of Korea and Vladimir Issachenko of

Kazakhstan.

Apart from this, India also won four silver and two

bronze medals in the junior events of the

championships. In the women's 25 metre pistol

event, Heena Sidhu, Gauri Sheoran and Annu Raj

Singh could not qualify for the finals.

Results of some other shooting events

10m air rifle junior men's

event

Junior Women's 50m

Rifle Prone Event

• Gold: Xuechao Qian of

China

• Silver: Akhil Sheoran of

India

• Bronze: Prashant of India

• Team silver: Akhil,

Prashant and Pratik Borse of

India

• Team bronze: Satyajeet

Kandhol, Gajendra Rai and

Babu Mithiliesh of India

• Gold: Fatemeh

Karamzadeh of Iran

• Silver: N Gayathri of

India

• Bronze: Najmeh

Khidmati of Iran

• Team Silver: Gayathri,

Srinithi Venkatesh and

Sonika

Shiva Thapa ranked World No 2 in

boxing

Shiva Thapa was on 3 November 2015 ranked

number 2 in the latest international rankings in the

56 kilogram category. He moved up by 5 places

compared to previous rankings.

While Shiva got 1550 points overall, the top spot

was occupied by Michael Conlan of Ireland with

2150 points.

In the World Amateur Boxing Championships

held in Doha in October 2015, they won the gold

and bronze medal respectively.

Vikas Krishan Yadav, who lost in the quarterfinals

of the Doha event, was the next best-placed Indian

at sixth in the 75kg middleweight division.

Satish Kumar, who was also a quarterfinalist in

Doha, took the seventh spot in the rankings for

super heavyweight (plus 91kilogram) boxers.

Nico Rosberg of Germany won 2015

Mexican Grand Prix Formula 1

championship

Mercedes racing driver Nico Rosberg of Germany

on 1 November 2015 won the 2015 Mexican

Grand Prix Formula 1 championship.

In the final race held at the Autódromo Hermanos

Rodríguez in Mexico City, he defeated his team

mate Lewis Hamilton of Britain with a seven point

lead.

While Felipe Massa of Brazil representing

Williams was at the sixth position, Force India

drivers-Nico Hulkenberg (Germany) and Sergio

Perez (Mexico) were at the seventh and eight

positions respectively.

For Rosberg, it was the fourth title in the 2015

season. Prior to the present championship, he won

the titles in Spain, Monaco and Australia. Overall,

it was the 12th title in his career.

MENTOR


Roger Federer won 2015 Swiss

Indoors men’s singles title by

defeating Rafael Nadal

Roger Federer of Switzerland on 1 November

2015 won the Swiss Indoors men’s singles tennis

title. He defeated Rafael Nadal of Spain 6-3 5-7 6-

3 at the final match held at the St. Jakobshalle in

Basel, Switzerland.

For the 17-time Grand Slam winner, it was seventh

Swiss Indoors title and 88th of his career. In 2015,

it was his sixth title.

However, Nadal still has the upper hand as he has

an impressive 23-11 head-to-head record against

Federer.

AWARDS

Kiren Rijiju conferred with Disaster

Risk Reduction Asia Champion

honour by UN

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren

Rijiju, was on 17 November 2015 designated as

the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Champion for

the Asia Region by the United Nations Office for

Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). Rijiju also

became the first Indian to be conferred with this

honour.

The honour was conferred Margarete Wahlstrom,

Special Representative of the United Nations

Secretary General for Disaster Risk Reduction,

during the inaugural session of the Asia Leaders’

Meeting towards Implementation of the Sendai

Framework for DRR in Asia.

Rijiju is the first regional champion for DRR after

the Sendai Agreement, giving an impetus to Union

Government efforts to facilitate regional support

towards enabling community resilience in the

Asia-Pacific region.

Disaster Risk Reduction Champions

• UNISDR recognizes individuals as Disaster Risk

Reduction Champions for using their political

influence to lobby for disaster risk reduction in

their country, region and beyond.

• This is a non-remunerated honorary position.

• Only the UN Secretary-General's Special

Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction and

head of UNISDR may designate a Disaster Risk

Reduction Champion by issuing a letter of

designation.

• It advocates and promotes the goals and priorities

of the Hyogo Framework for Action and the new

Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Abraham M Keita from Liberia won

the 2015 International Children's

Peace Prize

Liberian teenager Abraham M Keita was on 10

November 2015 awarded with the prestigious

International Children’s Peace Prize 2015. He was

awarded for his extraordinary and peaceful fight

for justice for child victims of physical or sexual

violence, and for successfully campaigning for the

Liberian parliament to adopt the Children’s Law.

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Seventeen-year-old Keita received the prize from

Nobel Peace Laureate and his countrywoman

Leymah Gbowee in The Hague. Gbowee in 2011

became the first Liberian to receive the Nobel

Peace Prize for her nonviolent struggle for the

safety of women and for women's rights to full

participation in Liberia’s peace-building process.

About International Children’s Peace Prize

International Children’s Peace Prize is awarded

annually to child from across the world for his or

her dedication to children’s rights. The prize is an

initiative of Marc Dullaert, Chairman and Founder

of the Dutch KidsRights Foundation.

The prize was launched by KidsRights during the

2005 Nobel Peace Laureates’ Summit chaired by

Mikhail Gorbachev. Since then, the prize has been

presented every year by a Nobel Peace Laureate.

Neha Gupta, an 18-year-old Indian American from

Philadelphia, was awarded with the 2014

International Children’s Peace Prize for her work

to help orphans in India and other vulnerable

children. Neha was the first ever American to be

awarded with the prize.

Santoor maestro Pt. Shiv Kumar

Sharma honoured with Kala Shikhar

award

Santoor maestro Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma on 7

November 2015 was honoured with the Aditya

Vikram Birla Kala Shikhar Award for lifetime

achievement.

The governor of Maharashtra C Vidyasagar Rao

presented the award to the 77-year old Santoor

player in Mumbai.

On the other hand, Murad Ali Khan (Sarangi) and

Satyajit Talwalkar (Tabla) were awarded with the

Kala Kiran Awards. Special Jury Award was given

to Shehnai players Sanjeev and Ashwani Shankar.

After starting his career as a vocalist, Pandit

Sharma emerged out as the master instrumentalist

of the Santoor. He is credited with making Santoor

a popular Classical Instrument.

The Santoor maestro is also the recipient of the

Padma Shri and the Padma Vibhushan.

About Aditya Vikram Birla Kala Shikhar

Puraskaar

The Aditya Vikram Birla Kala Shikhar Puraskaar

was instituted by the Sangit Kala Kendra in the

memory of Aditya Vikram Birla.

The award is conferred on a distinguished artist for

his/her lifetime achievement in the chosen field of

the performing and visual arts.

The award comprises a cash award of 2 lakh

rupees, a memento and a scroll of honour.

UNHCR chosen for Indira Gandhi

Prize for Peace, Disarmament and

Development for 2015

The United Nations High Commissioner for

Refugees (UNHCR) was on 19 November 2015

chosen for the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace,

Disarmament and Development for 2015.

A decision in this regard was taken by the

international jury of the prize, headed by Vice

President of India Mohammad Hamid Ansari on

the occasion of birth annniversary of Indira

Gandhi.

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The UNHCR was chosen for the award in

recognition of its immense contributions in

assisting millions of refugees in their rehabilitation

and resettlement.

Contributions of UNHCR

• It was established on 14 December 1950 by the

UN General Assembly with a mandate to lead and

co-ordinate international action to protect refugees

and resolve refugee problems worldwide.

• Its headquarters is in Geneva, Switzerland and

operates in 123 countries across the world.

• Since its inception, it has helped tens of millions

of refugees, returnees, internally displaced persons

(IDPs) and stateless people.

• Its ongoing work in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and

the Mediterranean region to deal with the

European Migration Crisis has been appreciated

worldwide.

• In India, it has been working closely for decades

with the government in identifying refugees and

their rehabilitation and resettlement.

• In the absence of a national legal framework for

refugees, UNHCR conducts refugee status

determination under its mandate for asylum

seekers who approach the Office.

• Based on this documentation, refugees can apply

for long term visas (LTVs), work permits, access

to education facilities, etc with the Government of

India.

• For its humanitarian work worldwide, so far it

has won two Nobel Peace Prizes, once in 1954 and

again in 1981.

• At present, Antonio Guterres is the UN High

Commissioner for Refugees.

Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament

and Development

• It is the prestigious annual award accorded

annually by Indira Gandhi Trust since 1986.

• It is presented to individuals or organizations in

recognition of creative efforts towards promoting

international peace, development and a new

international economic order.

• It also ensures that the scientific discoveries are

used for the larger good of humanity, and

enlarging the scope of freedom.

• It is presented by the President of India and

carries a cash award of 25 lakh rupees and a

citation.

• Notable recipients of the award- Mikhail

Gorbachev (1987), UNICEF (1989), Rajiv Gandhi

(1991), M S Swaminathan (1999), Kofi Annan

(2003), Ela Bhatt (2011) and Angel Merkel

(2013).

• For 2014, Indian Space Research Organization

(ISRO) received the award.

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