Q1. The government of which state has recently decided to upgrade Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary into a national park?
Assam
Odisha
Tripura
Sikkim
A. Assam
Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary was declared a sanctuary on 13 June 2004. It is located in the Dibrugarh and Tinsukia Districts of Assam.
Q2. Recently which state government has passed the draft ordinance to reserve 75% of private sector jobs to local people?
Manipur
Haryana
Goa
Mizoram
B. Haryana
The ordinance aims at reserving 75% of new jobs with salaries less than Rs. 50,000 per month in private firms, societies, trusts, limited liability partnership firms etc.
Q3. Which state had become the first in the country to have 100% LPG gas coverage?
Madhya Pradesh
Odisha
Andhra Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh
D. Himachal Pradesh
Q4. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate Asia’s largest 750-megawatt (MW) Rewa ultra-mega solar power project in which state?
Tamil Nadu
Maharashtra
Madhya Pradesh
Karnataka
C. Madhya Pradesh
Q5. What is the rank of India in INFORM Risk Index 2020 for Humanitarian crises & Disasters?
23rd
46th
31st
18th
C. 31st
Q6. Which IIT recently develops virtual classroom system ‘Mobile Masterjee’?
IIT Guwahati
IIT Madras
IIT Kolkata
IIT Kanpur
D. IIT Kanpur
Mobile Masterjee’ can capture the videos in horizontal and vertical positions. It is lightweight and has adjustments to fit sheets and book on it for delivering instructions to the kids. It is targeted at helping the rural schools overcome the teaching and learning challenges posed by the pandemic.
Q7. The All India Radio (AIR) will broadcast its first- ever ‘News Magazine’ programme in which of the following language?
Hindi
English
Bengali
Sanskrit
D. Sanskrit
All India Radio (AIR) FM news channel will be broadcasting its first-ever news programme in Sanksrit language for 20 minutes duration. It has named the news programme ‘Sanskrit Saptahiki’, which will be broadcasted every Saturday.
Q8. Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) partnered with which company to launch a curriculum on Digital Safety and Augmented Reality for students and educators?
Microsoft
Google
Facebook
Apple
C. Facebook
Q9. Which organisation will establish a research cell at IIT-Hyderabad to meet the future defence technological requirements of the country?
Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)
National Defence Cell (NDC)
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)
B. Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)
Q10. Recently which state/UT has launched a plantation drive called ‘Paudhe Lagao, Paryavaran Bachao’?
Q1. Recently, two new species of butterfly named- ‘Striped Hairstreak and Elusive Prince’ has been discovered in which state?
Goa
Arunachal Pradesh
Bihar
Punjab
B. Arunachal Pradesh
Striped Hairstreak found in Vijaynagar village of Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh. Elusive Prince is found in Miao subdivision situated on the periphery of the Namdapha National Park.
Q2. Government of India has declared entire area of which state as “Disturbed Area” for six more months?
Assam
Nagaland
Arunachal Pradesh
Mizoram
B. Nagaland
Q3. Which IIT has recently launches world’s first online B.Sc Degree in Programming and Data science?
IIT Bangalore
IIT Madras
IIT Bombay
IIT Delhi
B. IIT Madras
Q4. Who among the following has been recently appointed as the Solicitor General of India?
Tushar Mehta
Ramesh Bais
Rakesh Tewari
Pramod Kumar Misra
A. Tushar Mehta
Q5. Asia’s first Continuous Galvanized Rebar Production Facility was inaugurated in which state recently?
Maharashtra
Jharkhand
Punjab
Uttar Pradesh
C. Punjab
Union Minister of Steel Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurated Continuous Galvanized Rebar Production Facility at Mandi Gobindgarh in Punjab. It was launched by Madhav KRD Group in partnership with International Zinc Association (IZA) in the support of Hindustan Zinc Limited.
Q6. Who has been appointed as India’s next Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other international organisations in Geneva?
Indra Mani Pandey
Shrikant Madhav Vaidya
Shashank Manohar
Manu Sawhney
A. Indra Mani Pandey
Q7. The World Bank and the Government of India signed a loan agreement of what amount to enhance support for the Namami Gange programme that seeks to rejuvenate the Ganga?
$500 million
$400 million
$800 million
$300 million
B. $400 million
Q8. Recently, state has launched ‘Balaram’ to provide agricultural credit to landless farmers?
Telangana
Uttarakhand
Odisha
West Bengal
C. Odisha
The Scheme is designed in collaboration with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).
Q9. Who launched the 1st edition of “Matsya Sampada” – newsletter fisheries and aquaculture recently?
Ravi Shankar Prasad
Narendra Singh Tomar
Giriraj Singh
Pralhad Joshi
C. Giriraj Singh
Giriraj Singh, Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, launched the 1st edition of “Matsya Sampada” – newsletter fisheries and aquaculture published by the Department of Fisheries and the operational guidelines of Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY)
Q10. Who laid foundation stone for “Sanskritik Sadbhav Mandap” in Uttar Pradesh?
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
Shripad Yasso Naik
Narendra Singh Tomar
Hardeep Singh Puri
A. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
Union Minister of Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi laid the foundation stone for “Sanskritik Sadbhav Mandap” at Numaish Ground in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh. It aims for a “Self-reliant India” which is the guarantee of “Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat”.
Q1. The Council of Ministers’ (CoM) of which state has decided to pass the MSME (Micro Small and Medium Entrepreneurs) Ordinance recently?
Nagaland
Manipur
Arunachal Pradesh
Assam
D. Assam
The Ordinance is set to put an end to the process of taking multiple permissions for setting up MSMEs in the state for next three years.
Q2. Recently, the government of which state has announced “Mukhyamantri Matru Pushti Uphaar” scheme to provide nutrition kits to pregnant and lactating women?
Assam
Tripura
Odisha
West Bengal
B. Tripura
Q3. Who has been conferred with the first Prof. P C Mahalanobis Award in Official Statistics 2020?
Chakravarthi Rangarajan
Bimal Kumar Roy
Raghuram Rajan
Gita Gopinath
A. Chakravarthi Rangarajan
Chakravarthi Rangarajan received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution in providing solutions in the issues related to the estimation of national income
Q4. Which among the following state bagged the e-Panchayat Puraskar 2020?
Rajasthan
Andhra Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh
Tripura
C. Himachal Pradesh
Q5. Which organisation recently launched a behaviour change campaign named ‘Navigating the New Normal’?
Ministry of Ayush
DRDO
Ministry of Civil Aviation
NITI Aayog
D. NITI Aayog
NITI Aayog launched behaviour change campaign ‘Navigating the New Normal’ and its website to help people follow norms to contain the spread of Covid-19.
Q6. Who among the following has been appointed as Attorney General for India?
Sunil Arora
K. Venugopal
Harivansh Narayan Singh
Rajiv Kumar
B. K. Venugopal
The Attorney General for India is the Chief legal advisor, and is primary lawyer in the Supreme Court of India. The President of India appoints the Attorney General of India on advice of Union Cabinet under Article 76(1) of the Constitution and holds office during the pleasure of the President.
Q7. Which state of has develops country’s first Lichen Park recently?
Meghalaya
Uttarakhand
Kerala
Manipur
B. Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand forest department has developed the country’s first lichen park in Munsyari, Pithoragarh district.
Q8. Which country chaired the 36th ASEAN Summit?
India
Vietnam
Myanmar
Bhutan
B. Vietnam
The Summit was held via video conference. The theme for the Summit was “Cohesive and Responsive ASEAN”. The summit was chaired by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc as Vietnam is ASEAN’s chair in 2020.
Q9. Recently, which state has launched ‘Project Platina’- world’s largest convalescent plasma therapy trial cum treatment of severe COVID 19 patients?
Maharashtra
Gujarat
Tamil Nadu
Madhya Pradesh
A. Maharashtra
Q10. Which countries are going to host FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023?
Tocklai Tea Research Institute made breakthrough in micro-propagation of Tea plants
The Jorhat-based Tocklai Tea Research Institute (TTRI) has achieved a major breakthrough in micro-propagation of tea plants by applying the tissue culture technology. So far, this technology could not be utilised for mass propagation of tea plants. This achievement of the TTRI is hailed as a remarkable one and will have far-reaching benefits for the country’s tea industry in matters of quality.
So far, most of the tea tissue culture work was successful in the laboratory only, and that too using the germinating seeds as the starting material, he said.
Pranita Hazarika, a young lady scientist of the TTRI, has solved the problems faced so far in transferring the tissue cultured tea plants from ‘flask to field.’ The plants developed by her have completed one year of luxuriant growth and received the first prune on January 20 last.
The work demonstrated that the tissue culture technology can in fact be made applicable for commercial micro-propagation of tea plantlets at a reasonable price and much faster pace than the conventional methods. It throws up the possibility of complete transformation of the entire supply chain management of tea planting material in the near future and is thus going to have a far-reaching impact on the tea industry. The tissue culture has the potential to generate a large number of plantlets within a short time from a single cell or tissue or explants, that is plant parts.
The conventional tea plant multiplication methods either through germinating seed or vegetative nodal cuttings are unable to meet the mounting demand from tea gardens for good planting material and calls for a rapid low cost alternative technology. Thus, making available climate resilient and superior cultivars as well as innovative technology for adoption by the tea gardens are crucial components for ensuring sustainability of the tea industry.
The procedure is quite reproducible and requires less time by concurrently inducing rooting and hardening of micro-shoots. In-vitro regeneration of tea plantlet from shoot explants collected from the field has also been successfully carried out.
Efforts at utilising the tissue culture technology were hitherto accosted by several problems. Further, there were reports that the few hardened tea plants developed in laboratories did not grow well in the outdoor field conditions.
FACTFILE – Tocklai Tea Research Institute
The Tocklai Tea Research Institute was established in 1911, at a site near the River Tocklai in Jorhat, Assam, India. The initial construction of a laboratory and two bungalows was funded by the tea industry, subsidised by the national government of India, and the Indian states of Assam and Bengal.
The beginning of a new era of tea research in India was marked by the establishment of the Scientific Department of Indian Tea Association (ITA) in the year 1900. This was consolidated with the creation of the Tocklai Experimental Station in 1911.
The formation of the Tea Research Association (TRA) in 1964 with Tocklai at the centre of all activities further expanded the horizon of tea research to cover the entire Northeast India.
Research on all aspects of tea cultivation and processing is carried out at the Tocklai Tea Research Institute, Jorhat, the oldest and the largest research station of its kind in the world.
Apart from research on various aspects of tea cultivation and processing, the research on tissue culture of modern tea and its medicinal benefits are also being carried out here.
Transfer of technology to its member estates is carried out through its advisory network covering 1,076 tea estates occupying 341,049 hectares (1,317 sq mi) of land spread over The South Bank, North Bank, Upper Assam, Cachar, Tripura, Dooars, Darjeeling and Terai.
Tocklai has its regional R & D Centre at Nagrakata, West Bengal.
Chairman – PK Bezboruah.
India, Sri Lanka to cooperate on fight against terrorism
India and Sri Lanka agreed to furthering cooperation with each other in combating terrorism in South Asia.
During a visit of the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa to New Delhi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said,Terrorism is a major danger in our region. Both countries have fought this problem firmly.
Prime Minister Modi also revealed that Sri Lankan police officers have started participating in anti-terrorism courses in India”s training institutes
IIT Madras and AIIMS Mangalagiri partner for tech solutions
Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) announced collaboration with AIIMS Mangalagiri on affordable technology solutions.
IITM said the partnership between the two institutions will also feature academic and research collaborations.
Officials of the two institutions discussed on the areas of collaborations like healthcare robotics, predictive models using artificial intelligence and remote presence point-of-care solutions to improve hospital and community health out-comes.
FEBRUARY 09, 2020
Bangladesh win maiden ICC U-19 World Cup, defeated India in final
Bangladesh cricket team clinched its maiden ICC Under-19 World Cup title after beating favourites India cricket by three wickets in the summit clash at JB Marks Oval, Potchefstroom.
Set a revised target of 170 under D/L method, after a brief rain interruption, Bangladesh won the match with 23 balls to spare. Sent in to bat, India’s batting wilted under pressure as a superb Bangladesh bowling attack shot the defending champions out for a paltry 177 in 47.2 overs.
Yasashvi Jaiswal (88 off 121 balls) was once again a standout performer but not for once did he look like dominating the Bangladesh bowling unit whose new ball bowlers Shoriful Islam (2/31 in 10 overs) and Tanzim Hasan Shakib (2/28 in 8.2 overs) literally stifled the Indians for runs.
The third seamer Avishek Das (3/40 in 9 overs) was the most successful bowler in terms of figures but it was Shoriful’s first spell with channelised aggression that put the Indians on the back-foot from the onset.
After a short rain break towards the end, the target was revised to 170 from 46 runs but Bangladesh reached 170 for 7 in 42.1 overs to win the match.
Opener Parvez Hossain Emon top-scored for Bangladesh with a 79-ball 47 while captain and wicketkeeper Akbar Ali was not out on 43 from 77 deliveries.
For the India U-19 side, Ravi Bishnoi was the most successful bowler with figures of 4/30 while Sushant Mishra had 2/25.
India thus missed out on a record fifth title in their seventh final appearance.
FACTFILE – ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup
The ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup is an international cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) contested by national under-19 teams.
First contested in 1988, as the Youth World Cup, it was not staged again until 1998. Since then, the World Cup has been held as a biennial event, organised by the ICC.
he first edition of the tournament had only eight participants, but every subsequent edition has included sixteen teams.
India have won the World Cup on a record four occasions, while Australia have won three times, Pakistan twice, and Bangladesh, England, South Africa and the West Indies once each. Two other teams New Zealand and Sri Lanka have made it to tournament finals.
UP CM Yogi Adityanath announces Rs 2,500 stipend for students
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced that government would soon introduce an internship scheme under which students of classes 10, 12 and undergraduates would be linked to various technical institutes and given Rs 2,500 per month as stipend.
The Chief Minister said that the internship period would be six months or one year after which the government would help in their placement.
He said that of the Rs 2,500, the state government would give Rs 1,000 while the Centre would contribute Rs 1,500.
The Chief Minister further announced that an ITI and a skill development centre would be opened at every tehsil so that the youth could hone their skills.
Wipro recognized 18 Indian educational under it’s earthian awards
Global software major Wipro recognized 18 Indian educational institutions for embedding sustainability in the learning process as part of earthian awards.
Wipro earthian is a flagship program that tries to bring together the themes of sustainability and education in meaningful ways.
The programme helps stimulate curiosity and interest in young minds in critical areas of sustainability.
Some of the winning institutes are Government Senior Secondary School Bojoghari, East Sikkim, Rajkiya Uccha Madhyamik Vidyalay, Sirohi, Rajasthan, St. Joseph”s Educational Institute, Chandor, Goa and BMS College of Engineering, Bengaluru among others.
In its ninth edition, earthian, a sustainable education program for schools and colleges, received 1,300 project entries out, of which 10 schools and eight colleges emerged winners for the year 2019.
As part of the programme, teams of students from the educational institutes demonstrated understanding on biodiversity, water and waste along with other activities such as writing essays on those topics.
Justice T Vaiphei takes over as Chief of Meghalaya Human Rights Commission (MHRC)
Retired Chief Justice of the Tripura High Court, Justice T Vaiphei has taken over charge as the chairperson of the Meghalaya Human Rights Commission (MHRC).
The MHRC was functioning under acting chairperson Peter JP Hanaman after Justice Aftab H Saikia retired last year. As per rules, only Chief Justices of High Courts can be appointed as chairperson of the commission.
Justice Vaiphei took charge on February 7 in the presence of Hanaman, member Baffyndalyne Giri and other officials and staff of the Commission. Justice Vaiphei was earlier the chairperson of the Assam Human Rights Commission.
BIOGRAPHY – Justice T Vaiphei
Justice Vaiphei graduated in 1976 and passed his LLB in 1979 from the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi.
He enrolled in the Bar Council of Assam in 1980 and was appointed as the Additional Advocate General of Mizoram in 1999.
He was elevated as Additional Judge of the Gauhati High Court in 2003. Justice Vaiphei was appointed as the Chief Justice of the Tripura High Court on September 21, 2016.
After his retirement in 2018, he was appointed as the chairperson of the Assam Human Rights Commission.
92nd Academy Awards – Joaquin Phoenix for ‘Joker’ and list of other winners
The 92nd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, honored the best films of 2019 and took place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards (Oscars) in 24 categories.
This event marked the first time in Oscar history that more than three films had received ten or more nominations.
The South Korean film Parasite led the ceremony with four awards and became the first film not in the English language to win Best Picture, as well as the first South Korean submission to be nominated for (and win) Best International Feature Film.
The war film 1917 won three awards, while Ford v Ferrari, Joker, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood won two awards each. American Factory, Bombshell, Hair Love, Jojo Rabbit, Judy, Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl), Little Women, Marriage Story, The Neighbors’ Window, Rocketman, and Toy Story 4 won one award each.
Hollywood star Joaquin Phoenix finally ended his dry run at the Oscars as he picked up the best actor trophy for his performance in and as “Joker” at the 92nd Academy Awards. Phoenix had emerged as an undisputed frontrunner against the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”), Adam Driver (“Marriage Story”), “Antonio Banderas (“Pain & Glory”) and Jonathan Pryce (“The Two Popes”).
Phoenix’s career most praised performances include “Signs “, “We Own the Night”, “Two Lovers”, “The Immigrant”, “Her”, “You Were Never Really Here” and “Inherent Vice”.
Winners of the Oscar 2020 Award
Best Picture
Parasite – Kwak Sin-ae and Bong Joon-hodouble-dagger
Best Director
Bong Joon-ho – Parasitedouble-dagger
Best Actor
Joaquin Phoenix – Joker as Arthur Fleck / Jokerdouble-dagger
Best Actress
Renée Zellweger – Judy as Judy Garlanddouble-dagger
Best Supporting Actor
Brad Pitt – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood as Cliff Boothdouble-dagger
Best Supporting Actress
Laura Dern – Marriage Story as Nora Fanshawdouble-dagger
Best International Feature Film
Parasite (South Korea) in Korean – directed by Bong Joon-hodouble-dagger
IIIT-Delhi partners with edu-venture Extramarks to promote research in AI
The Indraprastha Institute of Education Technology, Delhi (IIIT-D) signed an MoU with the global education technology company, Extramarks, to promote and encourage research in Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Extramarks, in partnership with IIIT-D will set up a research laboratory in the computer science department, which will be dedicated to the task of creating new breakthroughs in the area of ”AI in Education”.
This partnership opens the doors of constructive research for our students, who will benefit greatly from the practical experience they will gain from engaging with Extramarks.
The benefit will accrue to all students, teachers and schools who adopt such futuristic technologies in classrooms as well as home-learning segment.
Skill development centre for women opened in Jammu
Union Minister Rattan Lal Kataria inaugurated a skill development centre at the Kashmiri Pandit Migrant Colony in the Jagti.
Opened under the Athroot initiative, a project by Sewa Bharti Jammu, a non-government organisation, for uplift of women Kashmiri migrants residing in different migrant camps in and around Jammu.
The initiative is aimed to impart training and create self-help groups to empower women and girls to earn a livelihood and shape a better future.
The women are provided vocational training in various skills, like embroidery, stitching, spice grinding, pickle making, soap making, classical music and computer courses.
It also has a Bal Sanskar Kendra to impart social and moral education to kids.
The project is being run under the supervision of Anjali Radhu, a resident of Jagti.
FEBRUARY 11, 2020
Smart Idea Innovation Award 2020
State Minister for Fisheries, Excise, Environment and Forest Parimal Suklabaidya gave away the prizes to winners of the 6th Dinanath Pandey Smart Idea Innovation Award.
Ha Tade from Arunachal Pradesh won the Dinanath Pandey Smart Idea Innovation Award 2020 for his innovation SOFT.SPY, a device which helps in recording the minute details of a vehicle’s movement – both two-wheelers and four-wheelers.
The award has been instituted by the family of Dinanath Pandey who was a master innovator and tried to change the way of life with his innovations.
The ‘Innovation Festival’ which is organised by the Indian Council for Science Museum in collaboration with the National Innovation Foundation (NFI), provides a common platform to people of all the states in the north-eastern region working in different fields like innovators, artists, performers, craftsmen and science-demonstrators among others to showcase their creativity.
More than 34 innovators from the north-eastern states and West Bengal participated in the two-day exhibition ‘Innovation Festival’.
16 villages in Hailakandi district solar electrified under Souro Shakti project
Altogether 16 villages which did not have access to conventional electricity have been covered following installation of 349 solar street lights in Hailakandi district under project Souro Shakti.
Remote and interior villages such as Ramnathpur, Gutguti, Baruncherra, Nunai FV, Kukicherra, Kanchiwala, Ahyalapur and Sahebmarra, to name just a few, have been brought under solar street lights. Another eight villages which have been groping in dark since independence have been recently installed with 80 solar street lights.
Assam Power Distribution Company Limited (APDCL) has helped connect off grid interior villages such as Raifalmara, Bhai Bonti, Bangla Basha, Gendacherra, Gutguti and Bandukmara Grant with rooftop solar panels covering about 1,551 individual households.
The remotest corners of the district still lack electricity connectivity due to lack of terrain and off grid issues. In a bid to ensure that these remote villages are also mainstreamed, solar as an alternative source of energy was proposed to be tapped into, as it is eco-friendly, renewable and self serving option. ONGC was asked to sponsor the project through its CSR initiative.
Renewable energy-based solar power will boost small businesses, create local jobs and build economies. This will improve living standards in villages. That in turn will ensure women’s empowerment, better health and education.
Almost all the sub centres and health institutions including the SK Roy Civil Hospital have been covered under Project Souro Shakti and have all been lit by solar lights irrespective of availability of electricity. 255 solar lights have been installed in the health sector alone.
Ayurveda Institute Bill introduced in Lok Sabha
The Government introduced the Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda Bill, 2020 in the Lok Sabha which seeks to confer the status of institution of national importance to a cluster of ayurveda institutions in Gujarat Ayurveda University campus in Jamnagar.
The three institutes which would be clubbed are Institute of Post Graduate Teaching and Research in Ayurveda, Gulab Kunverba Ayurveda Mahavidyalaya and Institute of Ayurveda Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Introducing the Bill, Minister of State for Ayush Shripad Yesso Naik said he would consider the suggestions made by the members of the house regarding the draft law.
Andhra Pradesh ink MoUs with 11 institutes for developing agriculture sector
The Andhra Pradesh government signed 11 MoUs with leading organisations from across the country to develop agriculture sector in the state.
The state’s Agriculture Department signed the MoUs with the officials of various institutes in the presence of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and his cabinet collages Kurasala Kannababu, Mopidevi Venkataramana and Kodali Venkateswara Rao.
Arun Kumar, Special Commissioner, Agriculture, signed the MoUs with the officials of the institutes.
As part of these MoUs, farmers will be trained in organic and natural farming techniques. They will also be offered training in various agriculture domains.
The institutes with which the state signed the agreements include the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Chennai, the National Institute of Plant Health Management (NIPHM), Hyderabad, the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, the Central Fertiliser Quality and Training Institute (CFQTI), Faridabad, the National Seed Research and Training Institute (NSRTI), Varanasi, the Central Institute of Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), Hyderabad, the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Karnal, the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Bareilly, the Institute of Animal Health and Veterinary Biologicals (IAHVB), Bengaluru, and the ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (ICAR-CIFA), Bhubaneswar.
Launching two scholarship schemes for students, Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the State government is working to make higher education completely free, including taking care of the “hidden costs”.
Sarma was speaking at a function organised to launch the Gyan Deepika Scholarship announced in the State Budget 2019-20. Under the scheme, the State government would provide subsidy of Rs 700 per month for 10 months through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) on dues to 13,414 hostel students of government colleges and State universities.
The Government of Assam also launched the HPC Scholarship Scheme to provide financial assistance of up to Rs 1 lakh to students whose parents are currently employed in Hindustan Paper Corporation’s units at Panchgram and Jagiroad.
The two schemes by Government of Assam are of significant importance in providing financial relief to families with children who aspire to pursue higher education.
The government has taken measures which will ensure that higher education too is completely free and there are no hidden costs for students. Parents should not spend a single penny for education of their students, including their pocket money.
Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said the State government is putting efforts to develop the personality of students who are academically brilliant, socially conscious and professionally successful.
WHO launches global research forum against coronavirus
A two-day global research and innovation forum led by the World Health Organization (WHO) was launched to mobilise international action in response to the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Co-hosted by the WHO and the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness and funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The forum gathers roughly 400 participants, both live and online, including leading scientists from virus-related disciplines around the world, representatives of countries with confirmed novel coronavirus cases and those of public health agencies, ethics experts with related expertise, and representatives of major research donors.
Chinese representatives from the National Health Commission and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention will brief the forum on China”s research on the outbreak, listen to views of all parties and participate in discussions.
The forum is to identify the uncharted waters of the virus, prioritize research options and coordinate global efforts to avoid duplication of research, and speed up vaccine and medicine development.
Sanjay Vatsayan takes over as Eastern fleet commander
Rear Admiral Sanjay Vatsayan took command of the eastern fleet deployed across the indo-pacific region to safeguard the nation”s maritime interest. He took charge at Visakhapatnam.
The Eastern Fleet comprising of frontline warships of the Indian Navy are deployed across the indo-pacific region to safeguard the nation”s maritime interest.
Rear Admiral Sanjay Vatsayan is an alumnus of the prestigious National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla, Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, Naval War College, Mumbai and the National Defence College, New Delhi.
The Admiral, who is a Gunnery and Missile systems specialist, has vast experience at sea and ashore.
He has commanded missile vessels Vibhuti and Nashak, the guided-missile corvette Kuthar and has also been the commissioning Commanding Officer of the indigenously constructed state-of-the-art stealth frigate Sahyadri.
Rear Admiral Vatsayan has also held vital appointments dealing with personnel policy and naval plans at the integrated Headquarters, Ministry of Defence (Navy).
Prior to assuming Command of the Eastern Fleet, he was serving as the Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Policy and Plans) at New Delhi.
Odisha govt signs MoU with HDFC Bank to boost startups
The Odisha government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the HDFC Bank Limited to provide smart banking solutions to Startups in the state.
The Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Department signed the MoU with the HDFC Bank in the presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
The bank would provide smart banking solutions to the Startups recognised by the Startup Odisha along with opportunity to pitch their solutions to requisite stakeholders and will work towards providing them an opportunity to showcase their solutions.
In addition, the bank will extend incubation and acceleration support to all Startups banking with them.
HDFC Bank is having third party alliances to provide discounts for startups across key business support functions like shared work spaces, digital marketing, content writing, tax and legal advisory, financial management, compliance among others.
FEBRUARY 13, 2020
Assam Cabinet nod for scholarships, grants to tea community
The State Cabinet approved the Swahid Dayal Das Panika Swaniyojan Achoni under which financial assistance of Rs 25,000 would be given to youths of the community to “encourage entrepreneurship.”
The one time grant will benefit some 15,000 youths of the tea tribe community.
To further “empower” students of the tea tribe community, the Cabinet approved the Simon Sing Horo Special Scholarship scheme of Rs 10,000 each to HSLC and HS passed candidates belonging to the community.
The Cabinet also approved provisions for construction of pucca houses for workers of the Assam Tea Corporation Limited gardens at the cost of Rs 1.3 lakh per house.
The Cabinet further resolved to increase allotment of agricultural land from 3 bighas to 7 bighas under the Land Policy 2019.
The Cabinet approved an amount of Rs 20,000 each to install solar kits in those PMAY houses which do not have electricity connection.
‘120% rise in Budget allocation for NE rly projects a big boost’
The General Budget 2020-21 has proposed an increase in the allocation for railway projects in Assam and the Northeast and it will help in upgradation of facilities and expansion of network in the region.
Subhanan Chanda, Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), said that the Union Budget has proposed an allocation of Rs 4,669 crore for railway projects in Assam and the Northeastern states taken together. This is 120 per cent more than the average annual outlay of Rs 2,122 crore for the same region during 2009-2014.
The proposed outlay includes a number of projects for doubling of railway lines in the region, including the newly proposed doubling of the 381 km-long Lumding-Tinsukia-Dibrugarh section at an estimated cost of Rs 3,810 crore.
He said that the Budget has also allocated additional funds for other ongoing doubling works including Rs 200 crore for the New Bongaigaon-Rangiya-Kamakhya section (142.97 km), Rs 450 crore for New Bongaigaon-Goalpara-Guwahati (Kamakhya) section (176 km) and Rs 400 crore for the Digaru-Hojai section (102 km).
J&K and Ladakh to host 1st edition of Khelo India Winter Games
The Sports Ministry is set to organise the first-ever Khelo India Winter Games in the Union Territory of Ladakh in the third week of February and in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir in the first week of March.
Seven different sporting disciplines have been chosen with an effort to popularise winter games among the youth of the country.
The Games will have Open Ice Hockey Championship, Figure Skating and Speed Skating and the competition will be conducted at Block, district and Union Territory levels with an expected participation of about 1,700 athletes.
The competitions of the Khelo India J&K Winter Games will be held at Kongdori in Kashmir’s hill resort of Gulmarg in four age categories for both boys and girls. Athletes in the age categories of 19-21 years, 17-18 years, 15-16 years and 13-14 years can compete in Alpine Skiing, Cross Country Skiing, Snow Boarding and Snow Shoeing.
Odisha government approved Rs 803.65 cr action plan for more green cover
The Odisha government approved its annual action plan entailing an expenditure of Rs 803.65 crore under CAMPA for the 2020-21 fiscal to increase the green cover in the coastal state.
The action plan was approved by the state-level steering committee on Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy.
The government decided to undertake various activities under the action plan, including block plantation, assisted natural regeneration, bald-hill plantation, maintenance of previous year”s plantation, fodder and fruit-bearing plantation, bamboo culture and wildlife management.
A target has been set to take up plantation in 1,500 hectares, with 1,600 saplings per hectare during 2020-21 and to grow 5,71,48,000 seedlings during the period.
Rs 41.13 crore was approved for maintenance of the fire protection line, operation of 216 fire protection squads and support to the Vana Surakhya Samiti (VSS) for fire protection work.
Strengthening of case for Classical language status to Assamese
With new breakthroughs emerging on the antiquity of the Assamese script, and research shows that Assamese script to be far older than previously thought, some sections have called for according it the status of Indian Classical Language.
Generally the Indian Classical Language status is given to languages which have a rich heritage and are of independent nature. The status is awarded by the Government of India and so far this honour has been bestowed on six languages of India – Tamil in 2004, Sanskrit in 2005, Telugu in 2008, Kannada in 2008, and Malayalam in 2013, with Odia being the latest addition to the list in 2014.
Languages declared as classical get three primary benefits.
First, two major international awards for those who contribute significantly to Indian Classical Languages are presented every year.
Secondly, the government has to set up a Centre of Excellence for the study of Classical Languages.
Thirdly, Central universities can give grants for Professional Chairs for Classical Languages.
According to eminent scholar Dr Nagen Saikia, the Assamese language deserves the status of classical language. The Assamese language has a long glorious history dating back to the prehistorical times.
According to Ashok Sarma, who is doing extensive research in Kamrupi civilisation, script, and language, the Assamese language has much more antiquity than ever thought.“We can trace the written form to the 4th century BC, i.e., the language found in the Mahasthangarh stone inscription (now in Bangladesh). It should be noted that today’s Bangladesh was within the territory of ancient Kamrup in the manner the ancient Indian civilisation of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro are now in Pakistan. The language of the Mahasthangarh inscription was in Prakrit language and it did not belong to Ashoka’s empire. The language of this inscription cannot be Magadhi Prakrit either because the contemporary language of the Ashokan edicts was not found anywhere after his reign. If the language was to be the language of Magadh, then it could not be extinct,” he said.
The criteria evolved by the Government of India to judge the eligibility of a language to be declared as classical language include
(a) high antiquity of its early texts/recorded history over a period of 1,500-2,000 years,
(b) a body of ancient literature/text which is considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers,
(c) the literary tradition be original and not borrowed from another speech community, and
(d) the classical language and literature being distinct from modern, there may also be a discontinuity between the classical language and its later forms or its offshoots.
Sri Lanka engages Indian Navy to carry out shore-based survey
Enhancing bilateral relationship, Sri Lanka has engaged India to carry out hydrographic and several shore-based survey activities off its south-west coast.
The Indian government has assigned the task to the Indian Navy.
Indian Navy’s Sandhayak class hydrographic survey ship, INS Jamuna, has been deployed to Sri Lanka based on a mutual agreement to carry out Joint Hydrographic Survey off the South West Coast of Sri Lanka.
The ship is commanded by Captain H.A. Hardas.
Over the two-month deployment period, the ship will carry out detailed hydrographic surveys and several shore-based survey activities.
Sri Lanka Navy personnel will embark the ship during the conduct of the joint survey and additionally the personnel will also be provided ”hands on” survey training during every operational turnaround in port.
INS Jamuna also hosted a meeting between Rear Admiral Sisira Jayakody, Chief Hydrographer of Sri Lankan Navy, officers of Sri Lankan hydrographic department and Indian officers of the ship.
20th edition of ”Hunar Haat” begins in Delhi
The 20th edition of the ”Hunar Haat” was inaugurated at the India Gate lawns, the 10-day event is based on the theme of “Kaushal Ka Kam”.
Master artisans, craftsmen as well as culinary experts from across the country will be participating in the event.
The event was inaugurated in the presence of Railways and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Minorities Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.
Hunar Haats have been organised at various places in the country such as Delhi, Mumbai, Prayagraj, Lucknow, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Punducherry and Indore.
In the coming days ”Hunar Haats” will be organised in Gurugram, Bangaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Dehradun, Patna, Bhopal, Nagpur, Raipur, Puducherry, Amritsar, Jammu, Shimla, Goa, Kochi, Guwahati, Bhubneshwar, Ajmer and other places.
At the India Gate lawns, more than 250 stalls have been set up where master artisans, craftsmen and culinary experts from across the country are participating.
They are here displaying exquisitely handmade indigenous products.
Economic Survey 2019-20 presented in the Parliament
The Economic Survey of India is the flagship annual document of the Ministry of Finance, Govt of India. It is prepared under the guidance of the Chief Economic Adviser of India. This document is presented to both Houses of Parliament during the Budget Session. The first Economic Survey of India was presented in 1950-51 as part of the Union Budget. After 1964 it was separated from the Budget and presented each year during the Budget Session before the presentation of the budget. The document is non-binding.
The Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Economic Survey 2019-20 in the Parliament on January 31, 2020. Krishnamurthy V. Subramanian is the Chief Economic Adviser of Ministry of Finance, Government of India.
Highlights of the Economic Survey 2019-20
GDP growth pegged at 6-6.5% in fiscal year starting April 1, 2020, up from 5% in the current fiscal.
Uptick in growth projected in second half of current fiscal based on 10 factors including higher FDI flows, build up of demand pressure, positive GST revenue growth.
Share of formal employment increased from 17.9% in 2011 -12 to 22.8% in 2017-18 reflecting formalisation in Indian economy.
To achieve GDP of $5 trillion by 2024-25, India needs to spend about $1.4 trillion over these years on infrastructure.
Around 2.6 crore new jobs created in rural, urban areas between 2011-12 and 2017-18 among regular wage/salaried employees.
Declining inflation from 3.2% in April 2019 to 2.6% in December 2019, reflecting weakening demand pressure in the economy.
GST collections grew by 4.1% for the centre during April-November 2019.
Government should deliver expeditiously on reforms to revive growth. The Survey suggests government to systematically examine areas where it needlessly intervenes and undermines markets.
Excessive government intervention in markets, especially when the market can do the job of enhancing citizens welfare perfectly well, stifles economic freedom.
Economic Survey calls for improving governance in public sector banks, more disclosures to build trust and for measures to make it easier to start new business, register property, pay taxes, enforce contracts.
The Survey also calls for easing of crude prices lowers current account deficit; imports contract more sharply than exports in first half of current fiscal.
Government to restructure Ministry of External Affairs
The government has decided to restructure the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the MEA will get decentralised by setting up several verticals, specialisation-wise.
This will enable separation of consular services and other routine administrative affairs from the diplomacy involved in areas like economics, trade, development, technology, cultural exchange etc.
Each vertical is to be headed by a ”political director” at Additional Secretary level.
Until now, like all other ministries, the MEA has been a pyramid like structure, with lot of work pressure on Joint Secretaries and the four Secretaries.
The restructuring began with handing over all the four development partnership divisions responsible for foreign aid and development projects in South Asia and Africa to Akhilesh Mishra, who was heading the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR).
The council, which is the cultural arm of MEA, will be under Dinesh Patnaik.
The economic section will be handled by P. Harish and three divisions of Africa will be under Nagma Mallik.
All multilateral meetings and summits will now be handled by VikramDoraiswami.
The ministry also plans to expand and hire experts from the private sector and non-profit bodies as well.
European Investment Bank to invest 600 million euros in Pune Metro
The European Investment Bank (EIB) will invest 600 million euros (Rs 4,800 crore) in the upcoming Pune Metro Rail (PMR) project, the Maharashtra government announced.
A Memorandum of Understanding for the first tranche of 200 million euros (Rs 1,600 crore) was signed in the presence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
The state government said, This will enable easier and affordable access to jobs, healthcare, education, reduce pollution, generate employment and slash commuting time for over 600,000 daily commuters among Pune’s three million population.
The fundings received will be utilised for the underground sections, a metro depot and other purposes.
The PMR will be 32.50 km long, costing around Rs 11,420 crore, running both on the surface and underground with 30 stations.
The PMR will help India achieve several United Nations” sustainable development goals like SDG 13 (climate action), SDG 11 (sustainable cities) and SDG 5 (gender equality).
FEBRUARY 02, 2020
Union Budget 2020-21 presented in the Parliament
The Union Budget of India for 2020–2021 was presented by the Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman on 1 February 2020. The central ideas of the Budget are – “Aspirational India, Economic development, A Caring Society.”
Highlights & Important Point
~ Income Tax & other Personal Taxes ~
A simplified and new Income Tax Regime has been proposed as an option to the old regime.
Income between Rs 5 lakh to Rs 7.5 lakh: Reduced to 10% from the current 20%
Between Rs 7.5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh: Reduced to 15% from the current 20%
Between Rs 10 lakh to Rs 12.5 lakh: Reduced to 20% from the current 30%
Between Rs 12.5 lakh to Rs 15 lakh: Reduced to 25% from the current 30%
Above ₹15 lakh: Continue at 30%, but without exemptions
However, those who wish to continue to pay old rates may do so.
~ Business Sector ~
Concessional corporate tax rate of 15 per cent to new domestic companies in manufacturing and power sector.
Corporate tax for existing companies slashed to 22 per cent.
Govt proposes 100 per cent tax concession to sovereign wealth funds on investment in infra projects.
Concessional tax rate of 15 per cent extended to power generation companies.
Tax concession for sovereign wealth fund of foreign governments and other foreign investments.
Tax benefits to Start-ups by way of deduction of 100 per cent of their profits are enhanced by increasing turnover limit and period of eligibility period of eligibility.
Concessional tax rate for cooperatives proposed.
Turnover threshold for audit of MSMEs increased.
Extension of time limits pertaining to the tax benefits for affordable housing.
Issuance of Unique Registration Number to all charity institutions for easy tax compliance.
Health cess to be imposed on imports of medical equipment.
Dividend Distribution Tax removed and classical system of dividend taxation adopted
Simplified GST return shall be implemented from 1st April 2020. Refund process to be fully automated.
National Textile Mission to be launched with a proposed Rs 1,480 crore allocation. National Technical Textiles Mission for a period of 4 years
Allocation of Rs 27,300 crore for development of industry and commerce.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country has increased to $284 billion during 2014-19 from $190 billion in previous five years.
Scheme to encourage manufacturing of mobile phones, electronic equipment and semiconductor packaging
NIRVIK Scheme for higher export credit disbursement launched
Setting up of an Investment Clearance Cell to provide end to end facilitation
Extension of invoice financing to MSMEs through TReDs
A scheme to provide subordinated debt for entrepreneurs of MSMEs
Scheme anchored by EXIM Bank and SIDBI to handhold MSMEs in exports markets
~ Health Sector ~
Rs 69,000 crores allocated for the healthcare sector.
More than 20,000 empanelled hospitals under PM Jan Arogya Yojana.
FIT India movement launched to fight NCDs
Expansion of Jan Aushadhi Kendra Scheme to all districts by 2024
~ Infrastructure Sector ~
9,000 km of economic corridor will be set up.
Chennai-Bengaluru expressway will also be started.
Delhi-Mumbai expressway to be completed by 2023.
100 more airports to be developed by 2025
Transport infrastructure: Rs 1.7 lakh crore
National Infrastructure Pipeline: Rs 22,000 crore
National Logistics Policy to be launched soon National Logistics Policy to be launched soon
Accelerated development of Highways
Railways will set up Kisan Rail through PPP model so that perishable goods can be transported quickly.
150 trains will run under the public private partnership (PPP) mode, also four stations will be redeveloped with the help of the private sector.
More Tejas type trains for tourist destinations
Coporatizing at least one major port
An International Bullion Exchange to be set up at GIFT City.
Power sector: Efforts to replace conventional energy meters by prepaid smart meters.
Gas Grid: Expand National Gas Grid to 27,000 km
~ Education & Training ~
Rs 99,300 crore allocated for education in FY21.
Govt will start Ind-Sat Exam to promote under Study in India programme and a degree-level online education programme for the deprived.
A total of Rs 3,000 crore will be given for skill development.
About 150 higher educational institutions will start apprenticeship embedded courses.
Internship opportunities to fresh engineers by urban local bodies.
Special bridge courses to improve skill sets of those seeking employment abroad.
Degree level online education programmes for students of deprived sections of the society.
~ Social Welfare Sector ~
Allocation for Swachh Bharat Mission for 2020-21 stands at Rs 12,300 crore.
In further push to PM Modi’s ‘Nal se jaal’ scheme, govt proposes Rs 3.6 lakh crore towards piped water supply to households.
Rs 35,600 crore allocated for nutritional related programme in FY21.
Rs 85,000 crore has been budgeted for the welfare of Scheduled Castes and other backward classes.
Rs 53,700 crore for Scheduled Tribes
Allocation for senior citizens and ‘Divyang’ enhanced to Rs 9500 crore.
Rs 4,400 crore to tackle Delhi’s air pollution problem.
Extends additional Rs 1.5 lakh tax benefit on interest paid on affordable housing loans to March 2021.
Tax holiday to affordable housing developers.
~ Women and Child Development ~
A task force to be appointed to recommend regarding lowering MMR and improving nutrition levels
Rs 28,600 crore will be allocated in FY21 for women-linked programmes.
~ Banking and Financial Sector ~
DICGC has been permitted to increase Deposit Insurance Coverage for a depositor from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh per depositor.
Amendments in Banking regulation Act to strengthen Cooperative Banks.
Proposal to sell balance holding of the government of India IDBI Bank to private investors.
Recovery eligibility limit for NBFCs reduced to asset size of 100 crore or loan size of 50 lakh.
Separation of NPS Trust for government employees from PFRDAI
Specified categories of government securities would be opened for non-resident investors
FPI Limit for corporate bonds to be increased to 15 per cent.
New debt ETF proposed mainly for government securities
~ Technology Sector ~
550 WiFi facilities have been commissioned at railway stations.1 lakh gram panchayats to get optical fibre link
An allocation of Rs 6,000 crore will be provided for BharatNet scheme. Rs 20,000 crore for renewable energy sector in a bid to tackle pollution and climate change.
A new scheme of smart meters will be launched.
An allocation of Rs 8,000 crore will be made for National Mission on Quantum Computing and Technology.
Knowledge Translation Clusters for emerging technology sectors
Scaling up of Technology Clusters harbouring test beds and small scale manufacturing facilities.
~ Disinvestment ~
Govt proposed an ambitious disinvestment target of PSU stake sales to the tune of Rs 2.1 lakh crore in the next financial year 2020-21.
Government to sell part holding in LIC.
Govt to also sell stake in IDBI Bank to private investors.
~ Agriculture & Allied Sectors ~
Budget allocation of Rs 2.83 lakh crore for agriculture and allied activities.
Doubling farmers incomes by 2020.
Krishi Udaan under Ministry of Civil Avaition on international and national routes to benefit farmers. Krishi Udaan scheme to transport agri products to national as well international destinations to be launched.
Self Help Groups will be allowed to set up village agri storage facilities.
NABARD will map and geo-tab 162 mn tonne capacity agri warehouses across country. FCI and Warehousing Corporation of India to build warehousing facility on their land. Government to incentivise farmers to go solar.
Over 6 crore farmers under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna have been insured.
Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha and Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM KUSUM) to be expanded, providing 20 lakh farmers in setting up standalone solar pumps.
Railways will set up Kisan Rail through PPP model so that perishable goods can be transported quickly.
Agri-credit target for the year 2020-21 has been set at Rs 15 lakh crore.
One horticulture crop in one district on cluster basis will be promoted. Viability gap funding for creation of efficient warehouses on PPP mode.
SHGs run Village storage scheme to be launched.
Integartion of e-NWR with e-NAM.
Elimination of FMD and brucellosis in cattle and PPR in sheep and goat by 2025.
Increasing coverage of artificial insemination to 70 per cent.
Doubling of milk processing capacity by 2025.
Fishery extention through 3477 Sagar Mitras and 500 fish FPOs.
Raise fishery exports to `1 lakh crore by 2024-25
Fish Production target of 200 lakh tonnes by 2022-23.
~ Culture & Tourism ~
Five archaeological sites would be developed as iconic sites with on-site museums would be developed at Rakhigarhi in Haryana, Hastinapur in Uttar Pradesh, Sivasagar in Assam, Dholavira in Gujarat and Adichanallur in Tamil Nadu.
Indian Institute of Heritage and Conservation
Museum of Numismatics and trade
Tribal museum in Ranchi
Maritime Museum in Lothal
Tourism promotion gets Rs 2500 crore.
Ministry of Culture to get Rs 3,150 crore.
~ Fiscal Scenario ~
Fiscal deficit target pegged at 3.8% of GDP for FY 2019-20. FY21 fiscal deficit target pegged at 3.5% of GDP.
~ Miscellaneous ~
G20 Presidency in 2022 – Allocation of Rs 100 crore
Allocation of Rs 30,757 crore for Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir
Allocation of Rs 5,958 crore for Union Territory of Ladakh
State of Indian Economy §
Between 2006-2016, 271 million are out of poverty and we should be proud of it.
Total of 60 lakh new taxpayers and 105 crore e-way bills generated under GST
Central government debt reduced to 48.7 per cent of GDP in 2019 from 52.2 per cent.
India is now 5th largest economy in world.
Gross enrollment of girls is 94.32 per cent in elementary levels, 81.32 per cent in secondary level and 59.7 per cent in higher secondary level.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country has increased to $284 billion during 2014-19 from $190 billion in previous five years.
Nominal growth of GDP for 2020-21 has been estimated at 10 per cent
Receipts for 2020-21 estimated at 22.46 lakh crore rupees, and expenditure at 30.42 lakh crore rupees
‘Vivad se Vishwas’ scheme for direct tax payers whose appeals are pending at various forum. 4.83 lakh direct cases pending in various appellate forums. Under the scheme, taxpayer to pay only amount of disputed tax. They will get complete waiver on interest and penalty if scheme is availed by March 31, 2020.
15th Finance Commission has cut state share of central taxes by one percentage point to 41 per cent.
Rs 12.7 lakh crore to be transferred to states and union territories in 2020-21.
Government has insured 6.11 crore farmers under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna.
Centre to soon release National Logistics Policy
To create a single window e-logistics market, the Centre plans to release a ”National Logistics Policy”.
It will create a single window e-logistics market and focus on generation of employment, skills and making MSMEs competitive.
At present, India”s logistics sector is highly fragmented and the policy aims to reduce the logistics cost from 14 per cent of GDP to less than 10 per cent by 2022.
The sector provides livelihood to more than 22 million people and improving the sector will facilitate 10 per cent decrease in indirect logistics costs, leading to the growth of 5 to 8 per cent in exports.
The policy which has been formulated by the Commerce and Industry Ministry will improve India”s trade competitiveness, create more jobs, improve India”s performance in global rankings and pave the way for India to become a logistics hub.
Gopal Baglay appointed as High Commissioner to Sri Lanka
The government appointed Gopal Baglay as the next High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka.
Baglay, who is currently in the Prime Minister”s Office in New Delhi, will take over from Taranjit Singh Sandhu who was recently appointed as Ambassador to the US.
An 1992 batch IFS officer, Baglay has served in Moscow, London, Kathmandu and Islamabad besides holding key positions in the Ministry of External Affairs.
Government to launch new schemes to support export sector
To support and promote exports, the Centre proposed to launch new schemes in FY 2020-21.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, said that the Centre plans to launch the Nirvik and ”Reversion of duties and taxes on exported products” scheme.
To achieve higher export credit disbursement, a new scheme, Nirvik is being launched, which provides for higher insurance coverage, reduction in premium for small exporters and simplified procedure for claim settlements.
It is proposed to digitally refund to exporters, duties and taxes levied at the Central, State and local levels, such as electricity duties and VAT on fuel used for transportation, which are not getting exempted or refunded under any other existing mechanism.
The development assumes significance as these schemes are expected to facilitate higher exports.
National Recruitment Agency for all computer based exams
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that a National Recruitment Agency (NRA) will be set up for all computer-based examinations for recruitment to non-gazetted government and public sector banks posts.
The move has the potential to give a breath of fresh air for the youth of the country, who have been stuck in the vicious cycle of recruitment exams and an indefinite wait for jobs.
The Minister said that at present, candidates have to appear for multiple examinations conducted by multiple agencies at different points of time for similar posts.
To mitigate the hardship faced, it is proposed to set up a NRA as an independent, professional, specialist organisation for conduct of a computer-based online Common Eligibility Test for recruitment to non-gazetted posts
Non-gazetted jobs are the government jobs or posts which do not give the person the authority to issue an official stamp on the behalf of the government.
In terms of types of jobs, this includes Group B, Group C and Group D government jobs.
Nikam Kimi, the Karbi New Year was celebrated with pomp and gaiety throughout the district by different celebration committees.
As per the Karbi calendar, February 1 is considered as New Year by the community.
Nikam Kimi was celebrated throughout the day by holding various Karbi traditional events and games where male, female and youth participated.
It may be mentioned here that Ningkam Kimi was welcomed by symbolically releasing pigeons in the sky by the dignitaries.
The Karbi Ningkan Kimi (Karbi New Year) was celebrated with splendour and exuberance across the twin hill district of Karbi Anglong on February 1.
The Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) declared February 1 as official holiday.
US, India celebrate 70th Fulbright exchange program
The United States and India celebrated the 70th anniversary of the prestigious Fulbright exchange program which has awarded scholarships to over 11,000 Indians and Americans so far.
US Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Marie Royce from Washington to attend the gala event in New Delhi.
The Fulbright program, created by Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946, was designed to increase mutual understanding among the people of the United States and the people of other countries. It has now grown into the premier US international educational exchange program in the world.
The binational United States-India Educational Foundation (USIEF) was among the earliest of the Fulbright Commissions or foundations.
On February 2, 1950, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and US Ambassador to India Loy Henderson signed a bilateral agreement to implement and administer a country Fulbright Program on behalf of the partner governments.
Since its inception, USIEF has awarded approximately 11,128 Fulbright Fellowships to Indians and Americans.
On July 4, 2008, the United States and India signed a historic new Fulbright agreement that made India a full partner in the governance and funding of the Fulbright Program.
Sakhi centre, one-stop centre to provide support to women of sexual violence, inaugurated in Tezpur
Sakhi, a one-stop centre to provide integrated support and assistance under one roof for women affected by sexual and physical violence, was inaugurated at VidyaMandir building at Dhanua Nagar, Morabharalipaar.
The one-stop centre has been set up by the Sonitpur district administration and the Social Welfare Department to provide integrated services of medical and legal aid, guidance on the procedure of registering police complaints, along with psycho-social counselling and temporary shelter to women who have been victims of sexual or physical violence.
A toll-free number 181 has also been made available for women in distress.
The scheme is Centrally sponsored by the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development under the National Mission for Empowerment of Women.
FEBRUARY 04, 2020
Madhya Pradesh’s Kalidas Awards for Assam dance guru, Kathak danseuse
Veteran classical dance guru from Assam, Jatin Goswami, and renowned Kathak danseuse Guru Uma Sharma will be conferred Madhya Pradesh”s prestigious cultural award, National Kalidas Samman, for 2017 and 2018 respectively during the Khajuraho Dance festival.
The award amount comprises Rs 2 lakh and a plaque.
Goswami, 87, is a legendary choreographer of the Sattriya dance form which originated in eastern Assam.
It is a dance-drama form with origins in the Krishna-centric Vaishnavist monasteries of Assam and attributed to the 15th century Bhakti movement scholar and saint Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardev.
Sharma has a reputation as a senior guru, choreographer and dancer in the field of Kathak dance.
Born in Delhi in 1942, she received dance education from Guru Hiralal and GirivarDayal.
Following the Kathak tradition of the Jaipur Gharana, she also received guidance from ShambhuMaharaj and BirjuMaharaj. Her dedication to Kathak is acknowledged the world over. She has also received the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan.
India to have 10 more Defence Attaches
To strengthen India’s defence diplomacy, the Ministry of Defence announced creation of 10 new posts of Defence Attaches (DAs).
The government has introduced a new scheme to promote defence exports through Defence Attaches to their respective countries.
Under this scheme, funds have been allocated for export promotion to 34 countries.
The Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) have also opened offices for their liaison officers in countries like Vietnam, Singapore, Myanmar, Oman and others.
India has also offered several defence Line of Credits (LOC) to friendly countries to allow Indian defence exports and increase their presence in the global market.
IIT-Madras builds AI technology to convert brain signals into language
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-Madras) have developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to convert brain signals of speech impaired humans into language.
The researchers can potentially interpret nature’s signals such as the plant photosynthesis process or their response to external forces.
Electrical signals, brain signals, or any signal in general, are waveforms which are decoded to meaningful information using physical law or mathematical transforms such as Fourier Transform or Laplace Transform.
The output result is the ionic current, which represents the flow of ions which are charged particles.
These electrically driven ionic current signals are worked on to be interpreted as human language meaning speech. This would tell us what the ions are trying to communicate with us.
They tested this concept by getting experimental electrical signals through experiments in the laboratory to get signals from nanofluidic transport inside nanopores.
The nanopores were filled with saline solution and mediated using an electric field.
Highest priority accorded to North Eastern Regionin Union Budget 2020-21
Union Minister of Development of North Eastern Region is Jitendra Singh (Minister of state, Independent Charge) said the hallmark of the Union Budget 2020-21 is that it accords the highest priority to the overall development of the Northeastern region.
The budgetary allocation for the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) saw a hike of over 14 per cent from Rs 2,670 crore last year to Rs 3,049 crore in 2020-21.
The budget for the North Eastern Council (NEC) has been doubled from Rs 700 crore to Rs 1,474 crore in the last five years.
The budget has accorded the highest priority to the overall development of the Northeastern region keeping in tune with the vision and declaration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he came to power in 2014.
He said there is a constant and progressive rise in funds for the development of the Northeastern region since 2014.
In case of the Ministry of DoNER, the budgetary allocation for 2020-21 is Rs 3,049 crore as against Rs 2,670 crore in the Revised Estimate (RE) 2019-20. Of the total Rs 3,049 crore, the provision for development of infrastructure is around Rs 2,900 crore compared to Advance Estimate (AE) 2014-15 of Rs 1,719 crore.
The budget allocation of the Ministry of DoNER in 2020-21 is higher by 77.26 per cent, he said.
In case of schemes being implemented by the North Eastern Council (NEC), the current year’s budgetary allocation is Rs 1,474 crore, an increase of 19.23 per cent over RE 2019-20 allocation of Rs 1,237 crore.
The government is ensuring smooth access to financial assistance from multilateral and bilateral funding agencies to help introduce innovative and global best practices. The Central government has effectively used an online portal to reduce gestation period. This has improved the flow of funds to the Northeast region.
The inland waterways received a boost in the last five years. The Jal Vikas Marg on National Waterway-1 will be completed. Further, the 890-km Dhubri-Sadiya waterway will be completed by 2022.
Plans are afoot to energise eco-heritage sites. Government proposes to establish an Indian Institute of Heritage and Conservation under the Ministry of Culture; it shall have the status of a deemed university to start with.
Five archaeological sites – Rakhigarhi (Haryana), Hastinapur (Uttar Pradesh), Sivasagar (Assam), Dholavira (Gujarat) and Adichanallur (Tamil Nadu) – would be developed as iconic sites with on-site museums.
Union Cabinet approves amendment Bill for IIITs
The Union Cabinet has approved the Indian Institutes of Information Technology Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
The Bill grants statutory status to five Indian Institutes of Information Technology in Public-Private Partnership mode at Surat, Bhopal, Bhagalpur, Agartala and Raichur and declare them as Institutions of National Importance along with the existing 15 Indian Institutes of Information Technology under the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (Public-Private Partnership) Act, 2017.
The Bill, once it gets parliamentary approval, will amend the principal Acts of 2014 and 2017 to enable these IIITs to use the nomenclature of Bachelor”s in Technology (B.Tech) or Master”s in Technology (M.Tech) or Ph.D degree as issued by a university or Institution of National Importance.
It will enable the institutes to attract enough students required to develop a strong research base in the country in the field of information technology.
The five IIITs at Surat, Bhopal, Bhagalpur, Agartala and Raichur are already functioning as societies registered under the Societies Registration Act of 1860.
After changes in the existing laws, these institutions will be covered under the IIIT (PPP) Act, 2017, similar to 15 others established under the scheme in the PPP mode.
UP to procure Dornier aircraft to ferry passengers
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that his government will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with HAL for two 19 seater Dornier aircraft for non-military purpose.
The aircraft can be used to ferry passenger from one destination to another.
The Chief Minister said that flight services could be started from Lucknow to Varanasi or Lucknow to Agra.
He also said that his government is making a military manufacturing policy so that Uttar Pradesh can become a hub of defence production.
The Chief Minister also said that the corridor is being developed with an objective of promoting indigenisation and supporting the ”Make in India” initiative towards fulfilling equipment requirements worth over $250 billion by 2025.
The Chief Minister announced that his government has planned to develop the Ganga Expressway from Uttar Pradesh to Bihar.
FEBRUARY 06, 2020
Chief Minister Conrad Sangmainaugurated Meghalaya Police Academy
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma inaugurating the Meghalaya Police Academy in Ri-Bhoi district. With this, Meghalaya got its own police academy which, in due course of time, is expected to be developed as a research centre to study the social pattern related to crimes and the health of the State’s population.
The Meghalaya Police Academy is located at Umran, Niangbyrnai, close to the North Eastern Police Academy (NEPA) in Ri-Bhoi district. The academy will initially take in 40 trainees.
This centre should also function as a research centre by bringing together the society, not necessarily in policing, but in maintaining law and order with simple standard operating procedures right from the village level.
Maintaining law and order has become more complicated, and requires specialised training and skill sets under the changing scenario. Issues like cyber crimes have made a huge impact on the society and stressed the need of analysing situations with new skills and technologies.
The first phase of the academy has been built with a total fund of Rs 50 crore provided by the 13th Finance Commission from 2013. Work for the second phase of the academy will start soon with an additional fund of Rs 92 crore from the 15th Finance Commission.
The NEPA, which was established in 1978, is mandated to provide training to recruits in the police forces from all the North Eastern State. Some State Police personnel undergo training at the NEPA, while the majority are trained at the Police Training School (PTS).
HAL signs MoU with Israeli firm to make & sell drones
Indian state-owned aerospace and defence company Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bengaluru based Dynamatic Technologies Limited (DTL) and Israel Aerospace Industries Limited (IAI) at DefExpo 2020.
In India drones are playing significant role in wars and other tactical missions such as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR).
HAL has the best capability and infrastructure available in India to manufacture world class and battle-proven drones.
HAL as a long-time partner of IAI is involved in the depot level maintenance of all ranges of drones supplied by IAI to the Indian forces since 2004.
The partnership would be the first in the country to manufacture IAI designed UAVs in India such as short range tactical class having long endurance.
This collaboration will enhance technology sharing and business partnership between India and Israel.
Union Cabinet decision for Cooperative Banks to come under RBI regulations
The Union Cabinet has taken a major step to reform the cooperative banks of the country. Now the banking operations of as many as 1540 cooperative banks of the country have come under the regulation of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
At present, commercial, scheduled and nationalised banks regulate under RBI.
But now under the Banking Regulation Amendment Act 2019, the norms of commercial banks will be applicable on cooperative banks as well.
The administrative system of the cooperative banks will continue as per the rules of the Co-operative Registrar as usual.
RBI norms will apply only to the banking system of cooperative banks.
Now candidates will have to qualify and fulfil certain conditions to become a cooperative bank officer.
Rules will also have to be followed for loan waiver. If the situation worsens, RBI will also have the rights to supersede and take control of the bank.
South Salmara Mankachar district bagged national award for Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana
The South SalmaraMankachar district has bagged a national award for proper execution of Pradhan Mantri MatruVandanaYojana (PMMVY) scheme.
Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Zubin Irani, presented the award at a function held at New Delhi recently.
Indore of Madhya Pradesh and Kurnool of Andhra Pradesh shared first and the second prize respectively, while South SalmaraMankachar district bagged the third prize.
The Assam team was represented by JishnuBaruah, Additional Chief Secretary of Assam; Hemen Das, Secretary to the Government of Assam, Social Welfare Department; Niva Das, Joint Director, Social Welfare Department and KishoriBaruah, District Social Welfare Officer of South SalmaraMankachar district.
Govt proposes jail term for ads promoting magic remedies
The Health and Family Welfare Ministry has proposed the draft amendment to the Drugs and magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements Act, 1954), with a stringent punishment of a jail term of up to five years and a fine of up to Rs 50 lakh.
For advertisements for magic remedies and drugs for fair skin, enhancing sexual performance, stammering, infertility in women, premature ageing and greying, increasing brain capacity among others.
The draft amendment has made several additions to the list of diseases, disorders, conditions covered in the Act.
The Act says that medicines, “magic remedies” and products to cure any of these 78 diseases, disorders, conditions named should not be advertised.
Under the Act, the first conviction is punishable with imprisonment of up to six months or fine or both; and a subsequent conviction can result in imprisonment of up to a year or fine, or both.
The amendment proposes to increase the penalties. For the first conviction, the proposed punishment is imprisonment of up to two years and fine up to Rs 10 lakh. For subsequent conviction, the imprisonment may extend to five years with a fine of up to Rs 50 lakh.
The draft bill also proposes an expansion of definition of an advertisement.
It says, “any audio or visual publicity, representation, endorsement or pronouncement made by means of light, sound, smoke, gas, print, electronic media, internet or website and includes any notice, circular, label, wrapper, invoice, banner, poster or such other documents.
Tripura CM seeks Israeli help in security, water management
Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb held a meeting with Israeli Ambassador to India Ron Malka in New Delhi and discussed mutual cooperation in a variety of fields including security and surveillance systems.
Deb discussed diverse potential areas of cooperation with the Israel Ambassador.
The Chief Minister discussed about the joint cooperation on the areas of security and surveillance system, water management, agriculture, food processing, packaging, cold storage, technology transfer, tourism and culture.
The Israeli Ambassador expressed willingness to visit Tripura along with his team soon.
J&K Administrative Council approved the implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission
The Jammu & Kashmir Administrative Council approved the implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) and the roadmap to achieve 100 per cent coverage of piped water supply by December 2021 across the region aligning it to the National Mission of Jal Jeevan.
The objective of the mission is to provide Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTC) to every rural household with priority to desert, drought prone,border areas, schools, anganwadi and health centres.
Under the mission, sustainability of the water supply system will be ensured besides empowerment and development of human resource in the sector so as to meet the demands of construction, plumbing and water quality management.
Under the National Jal Jeevan Mission, every rural household of the country will be connected with piped water supply by 2024 with an aim ”HarGharNal Se Jal”.
At present, 30.5% of J&K’s rural households have piped water connections compared to the national average of 18%.
To achieve 100 per cent coverage under JJM in a phased manner by December 2021, the PHE Department has carried out a detailed exercise to prepare a District Water Security Plan through the District Water and Sanitation Mission headed by the concerned Deputy Commissioners.
In the initial phase, seven districts viz. Poonch, Reasi, Samba, Srinagar, Ganderbal, Shopian and Pulwama will be covered for 100% piped water supply by June 2020.
In the second phase, seven more districts will be covered by June 2021 and the remaining six districts shall be covered in the third phase ending December 2021.
Indian, Russian companies ink 14 defence MoUs
As many as 14 MoUs were signed between Russian original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and Indian companies at Defexpo currently on in Lucknow.
The MoUs were signed during the fifth round of India-Russia military industrial conference which was co-chaired by Ajay Kumar, Defence Secretary, and Oleg Ryazantsev, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of Russian Federation.
The first ”Request for Proposal” for manufacturing of parts in India under the provision of inter-governmental agreement was also handed over by the Indian Navy to the identified Indian industry.
Representatives from both the countries acknowledged that the MoUs would pave the way for more contracts for joint manufacturing of spares parts.
The IGA provides framework for partnership of Russian OEMs with Indian industry for manufacturing of spare parts of Russian origin equipment in use by the Indian defence forces.
The Indian side has taken steps to expedite the collaboration between the Indian and Russian companies as the country looks forward to expeditious commencement of manufacturing in India.
The 380th tithi mahotsav of Bhattadev and the 71st biennial session of Kamrup Damodar Sangha was held with a two-day programme from December 27.
the biennial subject committee meeting was held with Jatindra Nath Sarma, president, Kamrup Damodar Sangha in the chair.
In the open meeting, a new committee was selected with Jatindra Nath Sarma as president, Kumud Chakrabartty as the working president and Bipin Chandra Das as the general secretary. In a resolution, the meeting demanded the State government to reconstruct the present temple to accommodate a large gathering along with proper sanitation facilities.
FACTFILE – Bhattadeva (1558–1638)
Baikunthanatha Bhagavata Bhattacharya is acknowledged as the father of Assamese prose.
Though Bhaktiratnakar-katha, the Assamese translation of Sankardev’s Sanskrit composition Bhaktiratnakar by Gopala Charana Dwija preceded the works of Bhattadeva, Bhattadeva’s prose had an influence in the development of a high and dignified style.
Bhattadeva’s and Gopala Charana Dvija’s 16th century works are considered to be the earliest examples of prose in Indian languages.
Bhattadeva’s erudition in Sanskrit grammar and literature, and his command over the Bhagavata earned him the title of Bhagavata Bhattacharya
Nagaland way behind SDG targets: NITI Report
Nagaland, along with Mizoram and Goa, are the three worst performers under industry, innovation and infrastructure category with a zero score in implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets, according to SDG India Index Baseline Report, 2018 released by NITI Aayog.
Majority of the States and Union Territories (UTs) have fallen behind on this goal with 26 States and UTs in the “Aspirant” category with index score less than 50.
In SDG index score for the goal of industry, innovation and infrastructure, Nagaland is also among the last three worst performers with a score of 40. Manipur ranked the lowest with a score of 33.
Under the SDG index score for the goal of good health and well-being, the State again has one of the lowest score (34) under the ‘Aspirant’ category.
However, under the SDG index score for the goal of peace, justice and strong, Nagaland is one of the “frontrunners” with a score of 87. Under the goal of zero hunger, the State was accorded 69 points which also falls under the same category. In the goal of clean water and sanitation, it stood at 58.
The SDG index score for the goal of reduced inequalities for Nagaland stood at 80 which falls under the “front runner” category while Meghalaya, Mizoram and Telangana were the only three States which were deemed as “achievers”.
In general, from among the States, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu have come out as the front runners in implementing the 2030 SDG targets.
Along with the three States, the UTs of Chandigarh and Puducherry were also among the front runners on the SDG India Index with a score between 65 to 99 on a scale of 0 to 100, where 100 signifies that it has achieved the 2030 national targets.
FACTFILE – SDG India Index
The NITI Aayog developed the country’s first SDG India Index to document the progress made by the States and UTs towards meeting SDG targets and released a baseline report for 2018.
The SDG India Index was constructed spanning across 13 out of 17 SDGs. The index tracks the progress of all the States and UTs on a set of 62 priority indicators, measuring their progress on the outcomes of the interventions and schemes of the Government of India. The SDG India Index is intended to provide a holistic view on the social, economic and environmental status of the country and its States and UTs.
Each of the 17 SDGs are mapped with a set of 169 targets to be achieved by 2030. These were used as the foundation for building the SDG India Index.
Cabinet Approves National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCIM) Bill, 2018
The cabinet has approved the setting up of the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCIM) Bill, 2018 that provides for conducting overall education of traditional medicine system of Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Sowa-Rigpa- commonly known as Tibetan system of medicine.
The cabinet has also approved the National Commission for Homoeopathy (NCH) Bill, 2018, that proposes setting up a new panel entrusted with conducting overall education of Homoeopathy.
The NCIM Bill, seeks to replace the existing regulator Central Council for Indian Medicine (CCIM) with a new body to ensure transparency.
The draft Bill provides for the constitution of a National Commission with four autonomous boards entrusted with conducting overall education of Ayurveda, under Board of Ayurveda and Unani, Siddha and Sowa-Rigpa under Board of Unani, Siddha and Sowa-Rigpa.
Union Cabinet approved listing of seven CPSE through IPO and FPO
The seven PSUs are Telecommunication Consultants (India) Ltd, RailTel Corporation India Ltd, National Seed Corporation India Ltd, Tehri Hydro Development Corporation Ltd, Water and Power Consultancy Services (India) Ltd, FCI Aravali Gypsum and Minerals (India) Ltd, and Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd (KIOCL) are to be listed on stock exchange through initial public offering (IPO) and one Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) to issue follow-on public offer (FPO).
Listing in the Stock Market – Initial Public Offering (IPO) and (FPO) Follow-on Public Offering (FPO).
IPO
FPO
Initial Public Offering (IPO) refers to an offer of securities made to the public for subscription, by the company.
Follow-on Public Offering (FPO) means an offer of securities for subscription to public, by an publicly traded enterprise.
First public issue
Second or third public issue
Issued by Unlisted Company
Issues by already listed Company
Objective of raising capital through public investment.
Objective of Subsequent public investment.
India commits Rs 4,500 crore to Bhutan’s 12th Five-Year Plan
India announced that it will contribute Rs 4,500 crore to Bhutan’s 12th Five-Year Plan, following delegation-level talks headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bhutanese counterpart Lotay Tshering.
India will provide a transitional trade support facility of Rs 400 crore over a period of five years to strengthen bilateral trade and economic linkages.
There are a number of institutional mechanisms between India and Bhutan in areas like security, border management, trade, economy, hydroelectricity, development cooperation and water resources.
India has already set up three hydro-power projects in Bhutan with a total capacity of 1,416MW, which are operational. About three-fourths of the power generated is exported to India and the rest is used for domestic consumption.
Both leaders reiterated their commitment to jointly develop 10,000MW of hydro-power generating capacity in Bhutan and in this regard discussed the 2,560 Sunkosh hydro-power project.
December 30
Assam CM lays foundation of NDRF’s new campus
Chief Minister SarbanandaSonowal laid the foundation stone of the new campus of the National Disaster Response Force’s (NDRF) 1st Battalion at Amsing.
The Chief Minister said NDRF has always been playing a stellar role during natural calamity in the spheres of disaster management and people of the country depend on their services during such critical times.
NDRF and SDRF are both providing services during critical situations which have been instrumental in saving both life and property.
FACTFILE – The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF)
It is a specialised force constituted “for the purpose of specialist response to a threatening disaster situation or disaster” under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
The responsibility for disaster management in India’s federal system is that of the State Government. The ‘nodal Ministry’ in the central government for management of natural disasters is the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
When ‘calamities of severe nature’ occur, the Central Government is responsible for providing aid and assistance to the affected state, including deploying, at the State’s request, of Armed Forces, Central Paramilitary Forces, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and such communication, air and other assets, as are available and needed.
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is under the National Disaster Management Authority, the “Apex Body for Disaster Management” in India.
The Prime Minister is the ex-officio chairperson of the NDMA.
Third Annual ‘Dwijing Festival’ in Chirang district
The ongoing third annual ‘Dwijing Festival’ on bank of the Aie river in Chirang district coveys a strong message that we (all communities) were and will live and work together in the State, said Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who participated in the festival.
He also said that the nation or the State which has rich water resources can make rapid progress and to make it understand and to present the importance of the rivers ‘Namami Brahmaputra’ and ‘Namami Barak’ river festivals were celebrated in the State.
BTC Chief Hagrama Mahilary termed the Dwijing Festival as the reflection of development, amity, unity and solidarity among the communities living in BTC which, according to him, saw better development after the BJP assumed power in the State and at the Centre.
Mahilary expressed his desire to upgrade this ‘Dwijing (Dwi-water/river, jing-bank) festival’ to a scale similar to the ‘Hornbill Festival’ of Nagaland next year.
FACTFILE – DWIJING FEST 2018-19
The Dwijing Festival is an annual river festival to be celebrated in the BTAD region with various colorful events viz. ethnic trade and food festival, exhibition, games & sports, river campaign & adventure and various culture programs to make it a centre of attraction for the visitors as a New Year Festival.
Being a medium/platform of earning for the local and others of the region, the festival put its focus especially to the buisness activities for the better economy generation through rural tourism. However the festival is meant to provide help to the flood victim families through charity generation and distribution.
FACTFILE – River Aie (Mother) River
River Aie originates from the Himalayan Mountains of Bhutan and flows through the Chirang and Bongaigaon districts of Assam before joining the river Brahmaputra.
The River creates a massive attraction for many tourists (locals/visiting) for picnic and weekend activities during the winter season and in summer the river creates massive damages to both the sideways due to heavy rainfall resulting in loss of properties and lives of many families.
India submits sixth national report to Convention of Biological Diversity
India on 29th December submitted its sixth national report (NR6) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) highlighting the progress it has made in achieving the 12 National Biodiversity Targets (NBT) set under the convention process.
The report highlights that while India had already exceeded two targets, it was on track to achieve another eight soon. The remaining two would be met by the stipulated time of 2020.
As per the NR6 report, India had been investing a huge amount on biodiversity directly or indirectly through several development schemes of the Central and state governments — to the tune of Rs 70,000 crore per annum as against the estimated annual requirement of nearly Rs 1,09,000 crore.
India has nearly two-thirds of the population of wild tigers in the world. The population of lion has risen from 177 in 1968 to over 520 in 2015, and elephants from 12,000 in 1970s to 30,000 in 2015.
One-horned Indian Rhino which was on the brink of extinction during the early 20th century, now number 2,400.
Further, while globally over 0.3 per cent of total recorded species are critically endangered, in India only 0.08 per cent of the species recorded are in this category.
India is committed to protecting its rich heritage of biodiversity which are so vital to our economic and social development.
Global Conference on Cyberspace organized in India.
Theme – Cyber4All: A Secure and Inclusive Cyberspace for Sustainable Development.
Brahmos missile successful air launch
The Indian Air Force conducted the first-ever successful air launch of the BrahMos cruise missile from a Sukhoi Su-30 MKI multirole aircraft.
It is the world’s fastest supersonic cruise missile
Glide Bomb – Smart Anti Airfield Weapon
DRDO successfully test fired the Glide Bomb – a Smart Anti Airfield Weapon (SAAW).
India successfully test fires Indigenous Subsonic Cruise Missile Nirbhay
Chandipur test range along the Odisha coast.
It is India’s first indigenously designed and developed Long Range Sub-Sonic Cruise Missile.
NASA Launches Next-Generation Weather Satellite Joint Polar Satellite System-1 (JPSS-1)
to monitor weather around the world and help improve forecasts.
is a joint venture between the US space agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Moscow Declaration on TB &HIV
Representatives from 120 countries adopted the Moscow Declaration to eliminate additional deaths from HIV co-infection by 2020 and achieving synergy in coordinated action against TB and non-communicable diseases.
ISRO’s Sun Mission to take off in 2019
India will send ISRO’s solar mission Aditya-L1 to a vantage point in space, known as the L1 Lagrange point, to do imaging and study of the sun.
Facebook Rolls out Disaster Maps in India
In a bid to help communities recover and rebuild faster in the aftermath of natural disasters in India, Facebook introduced new measures, including its Disaster Maps feature in the country.
First Power Plant under PM Ladakh Scheme commissioned in Drass
The 1.5-mw small hydropower plant in Biaras Drass of Kargil has become the first project to be commissioned under the Prime Minister’s Ladakh Renewable Energy Initiative.
to minimize dependence on diesel in the Ladakh region and meet power requirement through local renewable sources.
International Solar Alliance and India
the first treaty-based international government organisation to be based in India, with 19 countries ratifying its framework agreement.
countries located between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.
The ISA is headquartered in Gurgaon
International Training Centre for Operational Oceanography
The Union Cabinet approved the agreement with UNESCO on establishment of International Training Centre for Operational Oceanography, as a Category-2 Centre (C2C) of UNESCO, in Hyderabad.
AAROGYAM – 2017
The 1st International Exhibition & Conference on AYUSH & Wellness.
Ajeya Warrior Military Exercises
This is a biennial joint military exercise between India and army of United Kingdom
Ekuverin
The joint military exercise between Indian Army and Maldives National Defence Force
Sentinel-5p Satellite
a European satellite being commissioned by the European Union and the European Space Agency, tracking the levels air pollutants around the world
designed to make daily global maps of the gases and particles that pollute the air.
New Graphene-Based Battery Charges Five Times Faster
Scientists has developed a new graphene-based battery material with charging speed five times faster than today’s lithium-ion batteries.
Graphene is a sheet of carbon atoms bound together in a honeycomb lattice pattern, is hugely recognized as a “wonder material” due to the myriad of astonishing attributes it holds.
Monkey Fever
Kyasanur forest disease (KFD) is a tick borne viral haemorrhagic fever endemic in Karnataka.
The virus causing the disease: KFD virus (KFDV) is a member of the genus Flavivirus and family Flaviviridae.
What Is CYBORG
The term Cyborg was first coined by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. kline to describe man-machine system in which the control mechanism of the human portion are modified externally by drugs or regulatory devices so that the being can live in an environment different from the normal one
an organism with organic and biomechatronic body parts that is partly human and partly machine .
Agni 5
India successfully conducted the “first pre-induction trial” of its over 5,000-km range Agni-V intercontinental ballistic missile
Agni -5 is the fifth in the line of the Agni Missiles
NASA to launch Parker Solar Probe to explore Sun’s outer atmosphere
Bharat Bio Typhoid Shot
Bharat Biotech has received a pre-qualification from the World Health Organisation (WHO) for Typbar Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine.
Typbar TCV is the first typhoid vaccine clinically proven to be administered to children from 6 months of age to adults, and confers long-term protection against typhoid fever.
GOLD and ICON Mission to explore the Ionosphere
NASA has announced that it would launch two missions to explore the little-understood area of 96 km above Earth’s surface.
The Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) mission will be launched in January 2018, and the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) will be launched later in 2018.
India’s Fastest Supercomputer
Pratyush, India’s fastest supercomputer yet, was unveiled at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) in Pune.
Pratyush is a collection of several computers that can deliver a peak power of 6.8 petaflops, facilitating the weather forecasting and climate monitoring in the country.
Pratyush is fourth fastest supercomputer in world dedicated for weather and climate research
India Misses Kala Azar Elimination Deadline
India has missed the 2017 deadline for elimination of Kala Azar (black fever).
Elimination is defined as reducing the annual incidence of Kala Azar (KA) to less than 1 case per 10,000 people at the sub-district level.
Kala Azar is a slow progressing indigenous disease caused by a single-celled parasite of the Leishmania family.
In India Leishmania donovani is the only parasite causing the disease. The parasite is found in abundance in the bone marrow, spleen and liver.
Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer
In SCNT the nucleus, which contains the organism’s DNA, of a somatic cell (a body cell other than a sperm or egg cell) is removed and the rest of the cell discarded.
Rotavac is the First Indian designed vaccine to pass the WHO Test
Rotavac became first indigenously developed vaccine from India to be pre-qualified by World Health Organisation (WHO). It means that vaccine can be sold internationally to several countries in South America and Africa.
The Rotavac vaccine, developed by the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech Limited, was included in India’s national immunization programme.
Venezuela becomes first country to launch its own Digital Currency
Venezuela became the first country to launch its own cryptocurrency.
The official cryptocurrency has been named Petro
World Congress on Information Technology
The Government of Telangana has hosted the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) in 2018, at Hyderabad.
World Sustainable Development Summit 2018 held in India
organized by the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).
International Conference on Sustainable Biofuels 2018 organized in New Delhi
jointly organized by Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India on behalf of Mission Innovation and Biofuture Platform
Biofuels – fuels produced directly or indirectly from organic material – biomass – including plant materials and animal waste.
India Energy Congress 2018 was held in New Delhi
organised by World Energy Council India (WEC India) and inaugurated by Union Power and New and Renewable Energy Minister.
Milan 2018 multinational mega event at Andaman & Nicobar
With the underlying theme of ‘Friendship Across the Seas’
Rustom 2
India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation successfully completed the test flight of its Rustom 2 drone at the Aeronautical Test Range.
It is part of the Rustom line of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) that includes Rustom-I, Rustom-H and Rustom-C.
Three-parent Babies
Mitochondrial replacement therapy, which creates “three-parent babies”, involves a portion of the child’s DNA coming from their mother, father and a third person – an egg donor.
Britain’s fertility regulator Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has allowed doctors to create country’s first ‘three-parent’ babies through mitochondrial donation therapy.
aimed at preventing passage of incurable genetic diseases from mothers to offsprings
India Successfully Test-Fires Nuclear Capable Ballistic Agni II Missile
An indigenously developed intermediate-range nuclear capable ballistic Agni II was successfully test-fired from Launch Complex-4 of Integrated Test Range (ITR) from the Abdul Kalam Island off the Odisha coast.
India Successfully Test-Fires Nuclear Capable Prithvi-II
India successfully test-fired it’s indigenously developed nuclear capable Prithvi-II missile as part of a user trial by the Army from a test range in Odisha.
Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP)
was conceived by renowned scientist Dr A P J Abdul Kalam to enable India attain self-sufficiency in the field of missile technology.
IGMDP was sanctioned to develop Prithvi, Trishul, Akash, Nag and a Technology Demonstrator Agni Missile.
Japanese Encephalitis
Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is a flavivirus related to dengue, yellow fever and West Nile viruses, and is spread by mosquitoes.
Nearly 100 New Exoplanets Have Been Found in Kepler Space Telescope (K2 mission) Mission Data of NASA
Exoplanets – are all the planets in the universe beyond own solar system.
Rocky planets: Rocky planets are mainly composed of heavier elements
Super-Earths: Super-Earths are planets of between 1 and about 10 Earth masses
Ocean planets and desert planets: planets with enough water to completely cover the entire surface of the planet with oceans.
Gas Giants: All planets with masses exceeding 10 Earth masses
Hot Jupiter: a gas giant that orbits its host star in a very close orbit
Rogue planets: planets without a central star; they are free-floating throughout our galaxy
India To Launch Mission To Explore Moon’s South Pole
India’s second lunar mission – Chandrayaan-II – is scheduled for an April 2018 launch.
It is under Chandrayaan-1 mission that the ISRO spotted water on the moon.
Chandrayaan-2 is a further extension of the project and it is as good as landing a man on the moon.
Chandrayaan-2 Mission
India’s second mission to the Moon is a totally indigenous mission comprising of an Obiter, Lander and Rover.
Marshall Islands to Issue World’s First Legal Tender cryptocurrency
It will be world’s first sovereign cryptocurrency that can be used as legal tender.
This cryptocurrency will be called Sovereign (SOV), has been developed in partnership with Israeli startup Neema.
Unlike Venezuela’s Petro cryptocurrency, the SOV will be recognized in law as legal tender, holding equal status as the US dollar, which is the Pacific island nation’s current currency.
Arctic Seed Vault celebrated the 10th anniversary
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway in the Arctic Circle got a delivery of more than 76,000 seed batches from gene banks in 22 countries.
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is meant as a natural deep freeze to back up the world’s gene banks in case of disasters ranging from nuclear war to global warming. It has about 900,000 seed samples.
Exercise Samvedna
a Multilateral Air Force exercise, aimed to ensure better understanding and sharing of response procedures between a number of friendly neighbouring nations.
It was the first Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) exercise of the Indian Air Force (IAF) in association with South Asian Region nations.
involved representatives from air forces of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and the UAE.
MILES-18: first ever multi-nation naval exercise at sea held in Andaman
As part of the tenth edition of MILAN 2018.
Australia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand were the participating countries.
MILAN:
Milan’ was first held in 1995 with the participation of just five navies.
The aim of the initiative was to have an effective forum to discuss common concerns in the Indian Ocean Region and forge deeper cooperation among friendly navies.
Saposhi – a new malware
It is capable of taking over electronic devices and turning them into ‘bots’, which can be then used for any purpose, including a Distributed Denial Of Service attack which, with enough firepower, can cripple entire industries.
DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack is an illegal large-scale cyber campaign where a big number of devices are used to create traffic to a certain server.
Lamitye 2018
Joint military exercise ‘Lamitye’ was held between India and Seychelles. It is conducted biennially between the two countries.
Varuna-18
The navies of India and France conducted a joint bilateral exercise, “Varuna-18”, in the Arabian Sea off the Goa coast
The project in Theni district has been cleared by the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC).
aims to study atmospheric neutrinos in a 1,300-m deep cavern in the Bodi West Hills in Theni district, Tamil Nadu.
If completed, the INO would house the largest magnet in the world, four times more massive than the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN’s Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector’s magnet.
India Successfully Tests 3rd-Gen Anti-Tank Missile NAG In Desert Conditions
Anti Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM) Nag is one of five missile systems developed indigenously by DRDO under integrated guided missile development programme (IGMDP). The other four missiles are Agni, Akash, Trishul and Prithvi.
India’s First Cloned Assamese Buffalo Born
The Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes (CIRB) claimed that a cloned Assamese buffalo male calf was born for the first time in India.
New State Of Matter Rydberg polarons Created
created “giant atom” and filled it with ordinary atoms, creating a new state of matter termed Rydberg polarons. These atoms are held together by a weak bond and are created at very cold temperatures.
It uses ideas from two different fields: Bose Einstein Condensation and Rydberg atoms.
BEC (Bose Einstein Condensate) is a liquid-like state of matter that occurs at very low temperatures. A BEC can be perturbed to create excitations which are akin to ripples on a lake.
A ‘Rydberg atom’ is an atom in which an electron has been kicked out to a very large orbit.
TESS: NASA, SpaceX Collaborate To Search For Exoplanets
NASA’s little spacecraft, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, will ascend on a Falcon 9 rocket of the SpaceX to go up in the space.
The primary mission objective of TESS is to survey brightest stars near Earth for transiting exoplanets over two-year period.
ISRO–BHEL Tie up for the Production of Space Grade Lithium-Ion Cells
ISRO has entered into a Technology Transfer Agreement (TTA) with Bharat Heavy Electricals
Limited (BHEL), to transfer the technology for the manufacture of space grade Li-Ion cells
Li-Ion Battery
type of rechargeable battery that contains several cells. Each cell consists of cathode, anode and electrolyte, a separator between electrodes and current collectors.
It is light weighted and is one-third the weight of lead acid batteries. It is nearly 100% efficient in both charging and discharging as compared to lead battery which has 70% efficiency. It completely discharges i.e. 100% as compared to 80% for lead acid.
Scientists discovered a new human organ ‘interstitium’
It will be the 80th organ in the human body. It might be also the biggest organ in human body.
The discovery of interstitium will help to explain how cancer spreads in body and pave way for new ways to detect and treat the disease.
Defence Planning Committee under National Security Advisor Ajit Doval
The committee will drive the country’s military and security strategy, draft capability development plans, guide and accelerate defence equipment acquisitions.
AFSPA lifted in Meghalaya
However, it has been partially revoked in Arunachal Pradesh.
The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act
enacted in 1958 to bring under control what the government of India considered ‘disturbed’ areas.
States under AFSPA (before April 1, 2018) included: Assam, Nagaland, Manipur (except the Imphal municipal area), Arunachal Pradesh (only the Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts plus a 20-km belt bordering Assam), Meghalaya (confined to a 20-km belt bordering Assam) and J&K.
Cybersecurity Tech Accord singed by 34 global technology and security companies
It represents a watershed agreement among the largest-ever group of companies agreeing to defend all customerseverywhere from malicious attacks by cybercriminal enterprises and nation-states.
The 34 companies include ABB, Arm, Cisco, Facebook, HP, HPE, Microsoft, Nokia, Oracle, and Trend Micro, and together represent operators of technologies that power the world’s internet communication and information infrastructure.
Internet Security Threat Report 2017 – India emerged as 3rd most cyber-threat vulnerable
released by security solutions provider Symantec, summarizes the state of cyber threats across the world.
ISRO loses contact with GSAT-6A Satellite
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has lost contact with GSAT-6A, a satellite launched aiming to provide mobile communication facilities.
Chinese Space Station Tiangong 1 Falls to Earth
China’s prototype space station, whose name translates as “Heavenly Palace 1,” breaking apart and burning up in the skies over the southern Pacific Ocean.
Tiangong-1 was China’s first prototype space station or space laboratory. It was placed in orbit in September 2011.
The spacecraft cemetery / Point Nemo
considered the most remote place on Earth (at about 2400 km from any spot of land).
used to crash-land defunct satellites.
Harimau Shakti 2018
joint training exercise between Indo-Malaysian defence is being conducted in the dense forests of Sengai Perdik, Hulu Langat, Malaysia.
SAHYOG-HYEOBLYEOG 2018
The Indo-Korean joint anti-piracy exercise
Govt. bans imports of hormone Oxytocin
to stop its misuse in the livestock industry because it causes hormonal imbalances and shortens the lives of milch animals.
Often called the ‘love hormone’
Oxytocin is a neurotransmitter and a hormone that is produced in the hypothalamus. From there, it is transported to and secreted by the pituitary gland, at the base of the brain.
It plays a role in the female reproductive functions, from sexual activity to childbirth and breast feeding.
Odilorhabdins (ODLs) – new class of Antibiotics to combat Drug Resistance
which has a distinct way of killing bacteria, has been discovered which may help combat drug-resistant or hard-to-treat bacterial infections.
The bacteria help to kill the insect and importantly secrete the antibiotic to keep competing bacteria away. The antibiotic kills bacteria by binding to ribosome.
IIT-Delhi Installs India’s First 5G Lab
It will be the first of its kind 5G lab in the country and has been setup at Bharti School of Telecommunication Technology and Management.
from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota.
IRNSS-1I is expected to replace IRNSS-1A, the first of the seven navigation satellites that was rendered ineffective after its three rubidium atomic clocks failed.
The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS)
is an independent satellite based regional system developed indigenously by India
The NAVIC system is constellation of seven satellites, (namely IRNSS-1I, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F and 1G) of which three are geostationary and four are nongeostationary.
NASA launches planet-hunter Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)
It will discover thousands of exoplanets in orbit around the brightest stars in the sky.
Brahmos Supersonic Cruise Missile extended life of 15 years
The BrahMos supersonic cruise missile with an extended life of 15 years was for the first time
successfully test fired from the Integrated Test Range in Balasore in Odisha.
BrahMos has become the first Indian missile whose life has been extended from 10 to 15 years.
The missile had also reached the maximum speed of 3 Mach, i.e. three times faster than the speed of sound.
BrahMos is supersonic cruise missile developed by joint-venture between Russia’s Mashinostroyenia and India’s Defence Research and Development Organization
It has been named after two rivers Brahmaputra and Moskva (river in western Russia).
Punjab government organised First census to estimate Indus Dolphin
Indus Dolphins, one of the world’s rarest mammals
Punjab government along with WWF-India are conducting a first organised census.
Found only in India and Pakistan, the Indus Dolphins are confined to only 185 km stretch between Talwara and Harike Barrage in India’s Beas river in Punjab.
Technology to tackle Space Junk
A spacecraft that will demonstrate a range of innovative technologies to clean up space debris has been deployed from the International Space Station (ISS)
RemoveDEBRIS – will attempt to address the build-up of dangerous space debris orbiting Earth.
RemoveDebris will deploy a large sail that will drag it into the Earth’s atmosphere, where it will be destroyed.
Net Generation SFDR Surface-to-Air Missile
successfully carried out the first test of a new surface-to-air missile with nozzle less booster making its mark as a military superpower in South East Asia region.
Indigenously designed and developed by DRDO, the missile flew in its intended trajectory at a
speed of Mach 3 (thrice the speed of sound).
The missile, powered by Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet (SFDR), was test-fired at Integrated Test Range (ITR) off Odisha coast.
Russia Launches Soyuz-2.1B
Russia has successfully launched Glonass-M positioning satellite on board of Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket
GLONASS is Russian acronym for Global Navigation Satellite System, which provides real-time
positioning data for surface, sea and airborne objects around globe, at accuracy reportedly at par with US Global Positioning System (GPS).
now total 26 Glonass satellites in orbit.
Glonass is considered as counterpart to GPS of US, Galileo of European Union (EU) and Beidou of China.
Genome Valley 2.0
The Telangana Government has signed a MoU with Singapore-based Surbana Jurong for preparing a roadmap for Genome Valley 2.0, an upgraded version of life sciences and biotechnology.
The Genome Valley cluster has emerged as the largest life sciences destination in Asia, being home to over 200 companies employing 10,000 people.
Meghalayan – Newest phase in Earth’s History
named it The stalagmite from a cave in Meghalaya helped define climatic events 4,200 years ago, marking the beginning of the phase that continues till today.
The Meghalayan Age began with a mega global drought that devastated ancient agricultural civilizations from Egypt to China.
It is part of a longer period known as the Holocene Epoch, which reflects everything that has happened over the past 11,700 years.
This discovery done by the International Commission on Stratigraphy of the International
Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS)
Biodiesel in India
India’s domestic crude oil output stagnating and the demand for oil continuing to rise at an everincreasing pace, India has an opportunity to use substitutes of fossil fuels for both, economic and environmental benefits.
Ethanol is one such substitute that can be produced from sugarcane and used for transport by blending it with petrol/gasoline.
Another option is biodiesel, which can be produced from the oil-bearing seeds of certain plants and blended with diesel.
India’s first-ever environment friendly biofuel powered flight between Dehradun and Delhi was propelled by blend of oil from jatropha seeds and aviation turbine fuel.
Bio-jet fuel is greenhouse gas (GHG) neutral, carbon neutral, reduces air pollution.
Jatropha
Jatropha is drought-resistant perennial plant that can grow in marginal or poor soil.
The Problem of Jatropha is availability of it’s seeds.
Delhi Police gets india’s first All-Women SWAT Team
Delhi Police is the first police force in the country to have an all-women Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) team.
SCO Peace Mission 2018
Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Peace Mission 2018 exercise was started on 24 August 2018 at Chebarkul, Russia.
All eight members of SCO (China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan) participitated
Roadmap for ‘Gaganyaan’ manned flight to space
ISRO unveiled details of its first indigenous human space mission to be launched in 2022.
This will be the first human space mission to be indigenously developed by ISRO. If successful,
India will become fourth nation in the world to send astronaut into space after US, Russia and China.
Indian Air Force (IAF) Rakesh Sharma was first Indian to travel to space.
World’s First Wind-Sensing Satellite ‘Aeolus’
European Space Agency (ESA) successfully launched wind-sensing satellite named ‘Aeolus’ into orbit on board of Vega rocket from French Guyana.
satellite dedicated to map Earth’s wind on global scale in particular tropical winds which are very poorly mapped.
IIT Madras developed first microprocessors under Project Shakti
The first of family of six industry-standard microprocessors under Project Shakti.
Project Shakti was started in 2014 as IIT-M initiative and part of it is funded by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
The International Nitrogen Initiative
Indian scientist and academician Nandula Raghuram was elected as the Chair of the International Nitrogen Initiative (INI), a global policy making initiative.
Government bans Fixed Dose Combination (FDC) Drugs
Central government has banned 328 combination drugs in the background of growing antibiotic resistance due to the misuse of medicines.
Fixed Dose Combination (FDC) drugs includes two or more active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) combined in a single dosage form, which is manufactured and distributed in fixed doses.
Zika Virus cause of microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome
Transmission: Zika virus is primarily transmitted to people through the bite of an infected mosquito from the Aedes genus, mainly Aedes aegypti in tropical regions. Sexual transmission of Zika virus is also possible.
Zika virus is a cause of microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome.
Microcephaly – It is a condition where a baby is born with a small head or the head stops growing after birth.
Guillain-Barre syndrome – the body’s immune system attacks part of the peripheral nervous
system muscle weakness and loss of sensation in the legs and/or arms.
National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) released the report HIV Estimations 2017.
The HIV Estimations 2017 is the 14th round in the series of HIV Estimations under National AIDS Control Programme (NACP).
India had around 21 lakh people living with HIV (PLHIV) with adult prevalence of 0.22%.
Around 87000 new HIV infections and 69000 AIDS related deaths happened in 2017.
The impact of the NACP has been significant with more than 80% decline in estimated new infection from peak of epidemic in 1995. Similarly, estimated AIDS related death declined by 71% since its peak in 2005.
goal of attaining the ‘End of AIDS’ by 2030.
World’s first human case of Rat Hepatitis E has been detected in Hong Kong.
Hepatitis E is a liver disease caused by the hepatitis E virus (HEV): a small virus, with a positive-sense, single-stranded ribonucleic acid (RNA) genome.
India-US 2+2 Dialogue
India hosted inaugural 2+2 Dialogue with United States in New Delhi.
US defence secretary Jim Mattis and secretary of state Mike held talk with Indian Foreign minister and defence minister.
G-4 Summit
India hosted summit meeting of the G-4 nations (Brazil, Germany, India and Japan) at India’s Permanent Mission to the UN.
The summit aimed at pushing for early UN Security Council reforms.
They restated their support for Africa’s appropriate representation in a reformed and expanded
Council, which bears primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.
Saudi Arabia to join CPEC Project
Saudi Arabia is set to join the multibillion-dollar project China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as a third major economic partner.
CPEC
The $46-billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project focuses on road building and
energy infrastructure to end chronic power shortages in Pakistan and to link China’s landlocked
north-west with the deep-water port Gwadar on the Arabian Sea.
The ambitious project is a part of China’s “One Belt and One Road” or new Silk Road project. It is being built from the restive Xinjiang province in China to Gwadar in southwestern Pakistan.
India’s four more nuclear facilities under IAEA Safeguards
The four reactors included under IAEA are – two Russian-designed Pressurised Light Water Reactors and two Pressurised Heavy Reactors being built with Indian technology.
India’s Nuclear Programme
India plans to build 21 reactors by 2030 for power generation as well as to promote Cancer research.
In power generation, a notable achievement was one of the longest run of reactor Unit-1 of Kaiga plant.It has become the third longest running plant in the world.
IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency)
It is the world’s central intergovernmental forum for scientific and technical co-operation in the nuclear field.
Headquarters: Vienna, Austria
Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on 7 October 2005.
4th International Ayurveda Congress in The Netherlands.
The congress was organized jointly by The International Maharishi AyurVeda Foundation, The Netherlands; the All India Ayurvedic Congress, New Delhi; and the International Academy of Ayurveda, Pune.
Germany has rolled out World’s First Hydrogen Train
Nicknamed Hydrail, these trains are called Coradia iLint trains and have been manufactured by Alstom, one of Europe’s largest railway manufacturers.
The train has batteries made of lithium-ion that is used in mobile phones and home appliances.
the train is equipped with fuel cells that produce electricity through a combination of hydrogen and oxygen, a process that leaves steam and water as the only emissions. Excess energy is stored in lithium ion batteries on board the train.
International Center for Transformative Artificial Intelligence
NITI Aayog, Intel and the TIFR have come together to setup a model International Center for Transformative Artificial Intelligence (ICTAI) towards developing and deploying AI-led application-based research projects.
It will be located in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
Dickinsonia – ancient fossil of the earliest animal
Scientists have discovered an ancient fossil of the earliest animal on geological record -Dickinsonia – that lived on Earth 558 million years ago.
Apsara U Reactor, India’s first and oldest atomic reactor
The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has set in motiona higher capacity version Apsara-upgraded (U).
Radioisotopes generated via power generation in nuclear reactors, research reactors, accelerators and spent fuel are used in agriculture, healthcare, industry and even municipal waste management.
Apsara reached criticality in August 1956, was also the first in Asia.
Oneer – innovative technology for Drinking Water Disinfection System
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (CSIRIITR), Lucknow has developed an innovative technology for Drinking Water Disinfection System with trade name Oneer.
Train 18 – India’s First Engine-less train
A 16-coach prototype known as Train 18 or T18, Indian Railways’ first engine-less train, made its inaugural trial run recently.
Capable of running at a speed of up to 160 kmph, it is being referred to as a successor to the Shatabdi Express.
The fully air-conditioned semi-high speed train has been manufactured by the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai.
2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine
jointly awarded to James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo.
for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation.
2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Frances H. Arnold “for the directed evolution of enzymes” half of the prize and other half of the prize to George P. Smith and Sir Gregory P. Winter ”for the phage display of peptides and antibodies.”
2018 Nobel Prize in Physics
one half to Arthur Ashkin “for groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics” and other half jointly to Gérard Mourou “for the optical tweezers and their application to biological systems”
Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize is awarded annually from a fund bequeathed by the Swedish inventor and industrialist Alfred Nobel.
The prize is widely regarded as the most prestigious award given for intellectual achievement in the world.
The prize is awarded for Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace.
The first distribution of the prize took place in 1901. An additional award in Economic Sciences was established in 1968 and was first awarded in 1969.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences confers the prizes for physics, chemistry, and economics.
The Karolinska Institute confers the prize for physiology or medicine and the Swedish Academy confers the prize for literature.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee based in Oslo confers the prize for peace.
Gaganyaan
A MoU was signed between ISRO and the Federal Space Agency of Russia ROSCOSMOS on joint activities in the field of the human spaceflight programme Gaganyaan.
If successful, India would be the fourth nation to send a human in space after the US, Russia and China.
Gaganyaan is India’s maiden human spaceflight programme scheduled for completion by 2022.
GSLV Mk-III launch vehicle, which has the necessary payload capability for this mission, will be used to launch Gaganyaan.
China’s Artificial Moon
China has planned to launch an artificial moon over the city of Chengdu, in Sichuan province, by 2020 to provide an alternative means of street lighting and save on electricity.
As per preliminary reports the artificial moon would be a mirror orbiting Chengdu at a height of 500 km. It would reflect the sun’s light at night, and supplement street lighting in Chengdu, which has a population of 1.6 million.
China is not the first country to try beaming sunlight back to Earth. In the 1990s, Russian scientists reportedly used giant mirrors to reflect light from space in an experimental project called Znamya or Banner.
Andhra, West Bengal withdraws CBI power to investigate
Section 5 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act (DSPEA) gives powers to the CBI over all areas in the country, but Section 6 states that without the consent of the state concerned, it cannot enter that state’s jurisdiction.
Apart from Mizoram, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, the agency has consent in one form or the other for carrying out investigations across the country.
Kilogram re-defined
At the 26th CGPM, General Conference on Weights and Measures, in Versailles, Paris more than 60 nations came together to vote unanimously for a new system that redefines the kilogram.
kilogram, the ampere (electrical current), the kelvin (thermodynamic temperature) and the mole (amount of a substance) were redefined at the conference.
The kilogram has been defined since 1889 by a shiny piece of platinum-iridium kept in a special glass case, the International Prototype of the Kilogram (IPK), also known as Le Grand K (The Big K). It is housed at the headquarters of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), just outside Paris.
Now the kilogram will be defined by the Planck Constant, denoted as h, is a physical constant that is the quantum of action, which relates the energy carried by a photon with the frequency of its electromagnetic wave.
designed and built to work in the same way a human brain does, has been fitted with its landmark one-millionth processor core and has been switched on for the first time.
The SpiNNaker is capable of completing more than 200 million actions per second, with each of its chips having 100 million transistors.
Biological neurons are basic brain cells present in the nervous system that communicate primarily by emitting spikes of pure electro-chemical energy.
Neuromorphic computing uses large scale computer systems containing electronic circuits to mimic these spikes in a machine.
One billion neurons is one per cent of the scale of the human brain, which consists of just under 100 billion brain cells, or neurons, which are all highly interconnected via approximately one quadrillion synapses.
European Human Brain Project
The HBP Flagship was launched by the European Commission’s Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) scheme in October 2013
HysIS (Hyper Spectral Imaging Satellite)
ISRO has successfully launched the PSLV-C43 mission that carried HysIS (Hyper Spectral Imaging Satellite) as part of its payload.
GSAT 29 launched
ISRO’s GSAT-29 communication satellite recently launched successfully by the second developmental flight of Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk III-D2) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.
GSAT 29 – weighing 3,423 kg at lift-off, GSAT-29 is the heaviest satellite to be launched from India.
GSLV Mk III – three-stage heavy lift launch vehicle developed by ISRO. The vehicle has two solid strap-ons, a core liquid booster and a cryogenic upper stage.
Earth BioGenome Project
with an ambitious objective was recently announced to map the entire genome of every known animal, plant, fungus and protozoan on earth.
A decade-long experiment to map the genomes of roughly 1.5 million species — all the complex life forms known to man
China unveils heavenly palace space station ‘Tiangong’
a replica of its first permanently crewed space station, which would replace the international community’s orbiting laboratory and symbolises the country’s major ambitions beyond Earth.
The International Space Station – a collaboration between the US, Russia, Canada, Europe and Japan, has been in operation since 1998 but is due to be retired in 2024.
INS Arihant
INS Arihant, India’s first nuclear ballistic missile submarine, has completed its first deterrence patrol.
With the induction of INS Arihant, India is ready with its nuclear triad – the capability of firing nuclear weapons from land, air and sea.
India has now become part of an elite club of countries – Russia, the US, China, France and the UK that possess nuclear ballistic missile submarines – the only non-Permanent member of UNSC having a sea-based nuclear deterrent.
India’s Nuclear Doctrine
made in 2003.
The basic principle of India’s nuclear doctrine is “No First Use”.
Nuclear weapons will only be used in retaliation against a nuclear attack on Indian Territory or on Indian forces anywhere.
10th Indian Ocean Naval Symposium
26 of the 32 countries that constitute the membership of the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) are participating in the 10th edition of the event that commenced in Kochi
CCRAS Developed AYUSH Drug QOL-2C for Cancer Patients
India ranked 108th in the WEF’s Global Gender Gap Index 2017
India slipped 21 places on the index to 108, ranked behind neighbours China (100th ) and Bangladesh (47th), mainly due to less participation of women in economy and low wages.
Top 10 of the Global Gender Gap Index
Iceland
Norway
Finland
Rwanda
Sweden
Nicaragua
Slovenia
Ireland
New Zealand
Philippines
India Youth Development Index and Report 2017
developed by Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development (RGNIYD), Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu
Global Youth Development Index – India has been ranked 133rd out of 183 countries in the 2016 Global Youth Development Index (YDI)
‘Safe City’ Plan for Women
In eight metropolitan cities – Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Lucknow and Hyderabad.
Key Initiatives Taken For Women Safety
‘Himmat’ app, all women patrol van, ‘shishtachar’ programme of the Delhi police;
‘Hawkeye’ mobile app and ‘Bharosa’ programme of the Hyderabad police;
‘Suraksha’ app of the Bengaluru police
Power Angels of Uttar Pradesh police.
The India Hypertension Management Initiative (IHMI) Launched
Union health ministry has launched The India Hypertension Management Initiative (IHMI) to reduce disability and death related to high blood pressure.
It is a joint collaboration by ICMR, Health Ministry, State governments and WHO.
Manipur Sangai Festival 2017
Named after Manipur’s state animal, the brow-antlered Sangai deer
It started in the year 2010. showcases the tourism potential of the state
Keibul Lamjao, a unique ‘floating’ reserve situated in Manipur in India’s Northeast, which is home to the brow-antlered deer, will also play host to the festival.
The Keibul Lamjao National Park
an integral part of Loktak Lake, in the Bishnupur district of the state of Manipur in India
the only floating park in the world
YONO App
State Bank of India, has launched a unified integrated app called YONO (You Need Only One) that would offer all kinds of financial and lifestyle products.
is an integrated digital banking platform to enable users to access a variety of financial and other services such as taxi bookings, online shopping, or medical bill payments.
India rank 100th in World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business 2018
biggest improvement among all countries
Top 5 countries – NZ, Singapore, Denmark, South Korea, Hong Kong
Tax Accounting Standard ‘Income Computation and Disclosure Standards (ICDS)’
improved the country’s ranking (by the World Bank) over 50 notches in ease of paying taxes are an accounting standard for the purpose of income tax.
Google Tax
An entity which makes a payment exceeding Rs 1 lakh in a financial year to a non resident
technology company for some Business-to-Business Services (B2B) needs to withhold 6% tax on the gross amount being paid as an equalization levy.
This tax is applicable to B2B services and goods only and NOT on Business to Consumer goods (B2C) and services. And the tax is applicable to only those companies, which have no permanent establishment in India.
National Anti-profiteering Authority (NAA) to push Companies to pass on GST Benefits to consumers
The Union Cabinet approved setting up of the proposed National Anti-profiteering Authority (NAA) under the goods and services tax (GST) to ensure consumers get the benefit of lower taxes under the new indirect tax regime.
sharp reduction in the GST rates of a large number of items of mass consumption.
NAA will have five members and will act as the final adjudicating authority.
Decks cleared for first Mega CEZ
The government has given the go (CEZ) at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Maharashtra.
The Union Cabinet in 2016 had approved setting up of 14 mega CEZs under the National Perspective Plan of the Sagarmala Programme.
Moody’s upgrade India’s rating after 14 years
Moody’s upgraded India’s government debt Baa2 with a stable outlook.
The last upgrade in 2004 when Moody’s had upgraded the rating of India’sgovernment debt from speculative grade to Baa3.
Sovereign ratings give investors insight into the level of risk associated with investing in a particular country including political
Logistics Sector given Infra Status
The logistic sector covers cold chain, warehousing facilities and multimodal parks comprising Inland Container Depot (ICD) subject to certain conditions.
The cost of logistics in India is very high (about 13% of GDP) compared to developed countries
Cabinet Okays setting up of 15th Finance Commission
chairmanship of former expenditure and revenue secretary NK Singh
to recommend principles of devolution of central tax revenues and grants states and local bodies.
Members: former economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das and Anoop Singh, adjunct professor, Georgetown University. Two part time members are former chief economic adviser Ashok Lahiri and NitiAayog member Ramesh Chand.
International Day of Persons with Disabilities is observed on December 3
The theme for 2017 International Day of People with Disability is “Transformation towards sustainable and resilient society for all”.
Disabled Population In India
The World Bank estimates that 15% of the world’s population is affected by one disability or another.
According to Census 2011, India is home to 26.8 million people with disabilities and that is a huge Underestimation
India signed the UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disability in 2007.
Term “divyang” is being considered in place of “viklang” to change mindset. The term would help in raising self-confidence and subsequent empowerment.
India is a signatory to Marrakesh Treaty to facilitate Access to Published works by Visually Impaired Persons and Persons with Print Disabilities.
The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016
The Act replaces the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995.
It fulfills the obligations to the United National Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), to which India is a signatory. The Act came into force during December 2016.
World AIDS Day observed on 1st December
It provides an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, show their support for people living with HIV, and to commemorate people who have died.
India has the third-highest population of HIV-positive people
Among the States/UTs, Manipur has shown the highest estimated adult HIV prevalence of 1.15%, followed by Mizoram (0.80%), Nagaland (0.78%).
The Human Immunodeficiency Virus And Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (Prevention And Control) Act, 2017 – The Parliament passed the bill in April 2017
UNAIDS
It leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths.
UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.
UNESCO Recognises Kumbh Mela as “Intangible Cultural Heritage”
Kumbh Mela, considered the world’s largest congregation of religious pilgrims
The Kumbh Mela, held in Allahabad, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik.
This inscription is the third in two years following the inscriptions of ‘Yoga’ and ‘Norouz’ on 1st December 2016.
Previous ones includes the Chhaudance( Inscribed in 2010), the Buddhist chanting of Ladakh (inscribed in 2012), Sankirtana–the ritual singing, drumming, and dancing of
Manipur( inscribed in 2013), the traditional brass and copper craft of utensil making among the Thatheras of Jandiala Guru, Punjab(inscribed in 2014) and Ramlila– the traditional performance of the Ramayana ( inscribed in 2008).
National Trachoma Survey Report
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has declared that India is now free from ‘infective trachoma’, a contagious bacterial infection of the eye.
India met the goal of trachoma elimination as specified by the WHO under its GET2020 program.
Trachoma is a chronic infective disease of the eye and is the leading cause of infective blindness globally.
Apex Court to Re-Examine Adultery Laws: Section 497 Under Scanner
The Supreme Court admitted the petition to drop adultery as a criminal offence from the statute book. For this, the apex court is examining Section 497 of IPC, which deals with adultery.
Hornbill Festival of Nagaland
To encourage inter-tribal interaction and to promote cultural heritage of Nagaland, the Government of Nagaland organizes the Hornbill Festival every year in the first week of December.
The first festival was held in the year 2000. It is also called as the ‘Festival of Festivals’.
It coincides with the celebration of Nagaland Statehood Day on 1st December.
GST Council clears E-way Bill Mechanism
The GST Council has decided to go for early implementation of e-way bill for interstate movement of goods from February 1 and uniform mandatory roll out from 1st June 2018.
An e-way bill is required for movement of goods worth over Rs. 50000.
Quota for Acid Attack Victims in Central Government Jobs
Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has released an order in which victims of acid attacks have been included under Right of Person with Disability Act, 2016.
the Acid attack victims will also be entitled to 1 % reservation.
Stree Swabhiman Initiative
The Information Technology and Electronics Ministry has announced to launch the new scheme initiative under StreeSwabhiman Drive.
The new initiative has been introduced by the Ministry and the Common Service Centres (CSCs) to ensure and maintain perfect health for women and at the same time to maintain health hygiene.
NHFDC Conference 2018
The State Channelizing Agencies (SCAs), Public Sector Banks (PSBs), and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) of the National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation (NHFDC) participated at a National Conference aimed to have better coordination with the NHFDC and the SCAs to achieve smooth and efficient implementation of the NHFDC schemes.
About NHFDC
The National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation (NHFDC) has been set up by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India in 1997.
NHFDC functions as an Apex institution for channelising the funds to persons with disabilities through the State Channelising Agencies (SCAs) nominated by the State Government(s).
India ranks 62nd in WEF’s Inclusive Development Index 2018
The World Economic Forum (WEF) has released Inclusive Development Index(IDI) 2018.
Lithuania again tops among the list of emerging economies. The top-five most inclusive emerging economies are Lithuania, Hungary, Azerbaijan, Latvia and Poland.
BRICS economies – the Russian Federation ranking 19th, followed by China (26), Brazil (37), India (62) and South Africa (69).
neighbouring countries ranked above India – Sri Lanka (40), Bangladesh (34) and Nepal (22).
Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA)
The PMSMA has reached one crore mark in antenatal check-ups.
The scheme has been launched, in June 2016, with the objective of boosting the health care facilities for the pregnant women, especially the poor.
Pregnant ladies will be given free health check-up and required treatment for free on 9th of every month to ensure that every pregnant woman receives at least one checkup in the 2nd/3rd trimester of pregnancy.
Steel, Cement lead Core Sector growth to a 13-Month High
Activity in the eight core sectors of the economy accelerated to a 13-month high of 6.7% in November, with growth being propelled by the steel and cement sectors.
The eight infrastructure sectors included in the index are coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizers, steel, cement and electricity.
National Logistics Index: Gujarat, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh best performing states
The new Logistics Ease Across Different States (LEADS) index developed by the Commerce and Industry Ministry and Deloitte ranked states in terms of the logistical support they provided to promote goods trade.
Best performing states: Gujarat, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh are the best performing states in terms of mobility of goods and efficiency of logistics chain
Other states: Karnataka, Maharashtra, Haryana, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Chhattisgarh made up the remaining top 10.
Assam, Bihar and Jammu & Kashmir featured on the bottom of the list owing to the lack of good transport facilities, scarcity of logistics services and bad track record in timeliness.
India ranks 30th on WEF Global Manufacturing Index
India on the 30th position five places below China, which is continuously striving to develop better avenues of manufacturing by boosting infrastructure.
Japan topped the rankings on the back of developing the best structure of production in the Geneva based WEF’s first ‘Readiness for the future of production report’ and is followed by South Korea, Germany, Switzerland, China, Czech Republic, USA, Sweden, Austria and Ireland in the top 10.
India had a total manufacturing value of over $420 billion in 2016
India’s manufacturing sector has grown by over 7 per cent per year on average in the past three decades and accounts for 16-20 per cent of India’s GD
India needs $4.5 Trillion for Infrastructure
India will require investments of about $4.5 trillion by 2040 to develop infrastructure to improve economic growth and community well-being according to the Economic Survey 2017-18.
The current trend shows that India can meet around $3.9 trillion infrastructure investment out of $4.5 trillion.
Centre mulls shifting Agriculture Marketing to Concurrent List
to bring marketing of farm goods under the Constitution’s Concurrent List so that it has greater say on the relevant regulations and taxation.
An amendment to the Constitution requires stipulated majorities in both Houses of Parliament and state Assemblies.
Many state governments have opposed the move as they feel the amendment will be against the concept of cooperative federalism.
Ayushman Bharat For A New India -2022
As part of Ayushman Bharat programme, the Government has announced two major initiatives in health sector.
To strengthen primary health care and to offer financial protection from catastrophic expenditure, often encountered once a family member is sick and needs long-term health care.
Two major initiatives under this scheme are:
Health and Wellness Centre – The National Health Policy, 2017 has envisioned Health and Wellness Centres as the foundation of India’s health system. 1.5 lakh centres will bring health care system closer to the homes of people. These centres will also provide free essential drugs and diagnostic services.
National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) – will cover over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries) providing coverage up to 5 lakh rupees per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization.
This will be the world’s largest government funded health care programme.
Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Education (RISE)
The govt proposed a new initiative called Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Education (RISE), to be launched in the country with a total investment of Rs 1 lakh crore in the next four years.
Under it, all centrally-funded institutes (CFIs), including central universities, IITs, IIMs, NITs and IISERs can borrow from a Rs 1,00,000 crore corpus over next 4 years to expand and build new infrastructure.
It will be financed through suitably structured Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA).
Higher Education Financing Agency – The Union cabinet, in 2016, cleared a proposal to set up a higher education financing agency (HEFA) that will raise Rs20,000 crore from loans and bond sales to fund infrastructure development at central educational institutions.
Education Impact Bond for India
Britain’s Prince Charles has launched a new 10-million-dollar Development Impact Bond (DIB) to help improve education for over 200,000 children in India.
The DIB, the largest bond of its type in South Asia, is the latest fundraising initiative by the British Asian Trust (BAT), set up by the royal 10 years ago to fight poverty in South Asia.
Govt to create National Urban Housing Fund
The Union Cabinet has given approval for creation of National Urban Housing Fund (NUHF) for Rs.60,000 crores.
NUHF will finance the government’s Housing for All programme, which aims to build 12 million affordable housing units in urban areas by 2022.
Fiscal Glide Path Pushed Back To 2021
The government has missed the fiscal deficit target of 3.2% for 2017-18.
The fiscal deficit target for next financial year would be 3.3% and 3.1% for the year after and then 3% for 2020-21.
The budget also proposed to accept key recommendations of the Fiscal Reform and Budget Management Committee relating to adoption of the Debt Rule and to bring down Central Government’s Debt to GDP ratio to 40%.
Long Term Capital Gains tax makes a comeback
Union Budget re-introduced LTCG tax on stocks and now Investors will have to pay 10% tax on profit exceeding 1 lakh made from the sale of shares or equity mutual fund schemes held for over one year.
Commercial Coal Mining opened for Private Sector
The cabinet committee on economic affairs approved the methodology for auctioning coal blocks for commercial mining by the private sector.
Private sector will soon be able to mine coal and sell it to power plants, steel mills and other users ending the decades-old monopoly of state-run Coal India Ltd (CIL) and its affiliates.
The coal sector was nationalized in 1973 and the non-state coal mining had thus far been allowed only for captive use.
The key reform will virtually upend the Coal Mines (Nationalization) Act, 1973, which has kept the sector largely a preserve of public-sector monolith Coal India (CIL).
Draft Bill On Human Trafficking
The Union Cabinet has approved the draft Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018.
Trafficking in human beings is the 3rd largest organized crime violating human rights in the country.
India is a destination for human trafficking. In the year 2016 alone, 8132 human trafficking caseshave been reported in India.
The states where the cases reported high are West Bengal, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra andTamil Nadu.
The main purposes for human trafficking given in the NCRB report are Sexual exploitation, ForcedMarriage, Forced Labour and Domestic servitude.
Article 23 (1) of the Constitution prohibits trafficking in Human Beings or Persons
The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 (ITPA) is the premier legislation for prevention of trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation.
Protection of Children from Sexual offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 is a special law to protect childrenfrom sexual abuse and exploitation.
Pan-India Expansion of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Programme (BBBPP)
BBBPP was scaled up to cover all 640 districts country-wide following the success of its 1st phase in improving child sex ratio from 914 to 919 (according to NFHS-4) which covered 161 districts.
Drop in Sex-Ratio at Birth: NITI Aayog in its report stated that sex-ratio at birth nationwide had dropped from 906 in 2012-2014 to 900 in 2013-2015.
The Delhi End TB Summit : TB-free India
In a landmark event ‘The Delhi End TB Summit’, India has launched TB Free India Campaign.
India has committed to eliminate Tuberculosis by 2025 which is ahead of the world target set under Sustainable Development Goal Framework which is 2030.
SC Upholds passive Euthanasia
Supreme Court has upheld the phenomenon of passive euthanasia together with allowing the right of every individual to draft a ‘Living will’ that gives her/him the right of self-determination with regards to medical treatment in case of terminal illness or permanent vegetative state.
Passive Euthanasia – the act of withdrawing or withholding medical support to a dying patient with a terminal illness with no hope for revival or cure. Active euthanasia, on the other hand is defined as the intentional act of causing the death of a patient.
World Happiness Report 2018 – India ranks 133rd
India ranked behind majority of SAARC nations, except the war-ravaged Afghanistan, which stood at 145. Bhutan has been placed at 97th rank. While Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are at 115 and 116 positions, respectively, China stands at 86. Myanmar is placed at 130th position.
The World Happiness Report published by Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the United Nations.
Top 10 countries
Finland
Norway
Denmark
Iceland
Switzerland
Netherlands
Canada
New Zealand
Sweden
Australia
Karnataka Govt approves Minority Religion tag for Lingayats
The Karnataka government approved the recommendation to accord separate religious minority status for the dominant Lingayat community.
In August 2017, through a massive rally in Bidar, Karnataka the Lingayats demanded a minority status for their community similar toSikkhism or Buddhism as they believe they are distinct from Hindu religion.
Lingayats – the followers of Basavanna, a 12th century socio-religious reformer who rejected discrimination based on Caste and Gender.
Union Cabinet Clears The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2016
The Union cabinet has cleared the deck for Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2016 that seeks to regulate altruistic surrogacy in India and putting blanket ban on commercial surrogacy.
Surrogacy is the process of carrying and delivering of the child of another. Surrogacy is of two types:
Gestational surrogacy -the genetic mother provides the egg, which is fertilized, and another woman (the surrogate mother) carries the foetus and gives birth to the child.
Traditional surrogacy – the woman provides her own egg, which is fertilized by artificial insemination, and carries the foetus and gives birth to a child for another person
Ministry for Tribal Affairs launched E-Tribes: Tribes India portal
‘e-Tribes: Tribes India’, e-commerce portal, and M-commerce, android app ‘Tribes India’, a window for national and international market for tribal artisans.
Nearly 55,000 tribal people are connected with TRIFED. With this digital platform, they can associate not only with local people but also can get access to international markets.
Atal Innovation Mission Ties Up With SAP To Foster Innovation
SAP India has tied up with NITI Aayog’sAtal Innovation Mission (AIM) to set up 100 Atal Tinkering Laboratories to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education among secondary school children across India.
Foreign Banks with 20 Branches also to follow Priority Sector Lending norm
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has brought foreign banks with at least 20 branches in India under the ambit of compulsory targeted lending to small farmers and micro-enterprises.
Priority Sector Lending – Categories under Priority Sector
Agriculture
Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
Export Credit
Education
Housing
Social Infrastructure
Renewable Energy
Others
Targets and Sub-targets for banks under priority sector
40 percent of Adjusted Net Bank Credit or Credit Equivalent Amount of Off-Balance Sheet Exposure, whichever is higher, for Domestic Scheduled Commercial Banks
Agriculture 18 percent of ANBC or Credit Equivalent Amount of Off-Balance Sheet Exposure, whichever is higher.
Micro Enterprises 5 percent of ANBC or Credit Equivalent Amount of Off-Balance Sheet Exposure.
Advances to Weaker Sections – 10 percent of ANBC or Credit Equivalent Amount of Off-Balance Sheet Exposure, whichever is higher.
Draft Policy Seeks Stable Regime for Agriculture Exports
The commerce ministry has drafted National Agriculture Trade Policy to help India realise the government’s goal of doubling farmer’s income by 2022.
India’s total agri-exports $30 billion annually, which is around 2.2% of global agri-markets.
The aims of India’s agri export policy
to become one of the top ten exporters of agricultural produce
to strive to double India’s share in the global exports of agri produce from the present figure of over $30 billion to over $60 billion by 2022.
SEBI Oks Kotak Panel Proposals to Boost Corporate Governance
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) approved sweeping changes proposed by the Uday Kotak panel on improving corporate governance standards such as splitting the post of chairman and managing director, tighter rules for independent directors and mandatory secretarial audits for listed entities.
Cabinet approves the Protection of Human Rights (Amendments) Bill, 2018
The Union Cabinet has given its approval to the Protection of Human Rights (Amendments) Bill, 2018 to make NHRC and SHRCs more compliant with the Paris Principles.
In 2018, the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) had accorded ‘A’ status to NHRC indicating its compliance with Paris Principles.
Paris Principles Adopted in 1993 by the United Nations General Assembly, require Human rights institutions of various countries to meet certain minimum criteria to protect and promote human rights.
Van Dhan Scheme launched to help Increase Tribal Income through Value Addition
First model Van DhanVikas Kendra was launched under the Van Dhan Scheme of Ministry of Tribal Affairs and TRIFED at Bijapur, Chattisgarh.
aims at economic development of tribals involved in collection of Minor Food Produces (MFPs) by helping them in optimum utilization of natural resources and provide them sustainable livelihood.
The Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) came into existence in 1987
a national-level apex organization functioning under the administrative control of Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Govt. of India
institutionalizing the trade of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) and Surplus Agriculture Produce (SAP) collected/cultivated by tribals as tribals are heavily dependent on these natural products for their livelihood.
India to soon have its first Gas Trading Exchange
to prepare for a surge in supply from India’s east coast and a slew of liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals.
The first gas trading exchange will work on the lines of online platforms that trade in power
India produces close to 90 mscmd of gas and imports another 70 mscmd as LNG according to government figures for 2016-17.
India has laid out a plan to increase the share of gas in India’s energy mix to 15 percent by 2030 from below 6.5 percent now
Angel tax
angel tax under Section 56(2)(viib) of the Income Tax Act, 1961
to tax any capital raised by a closely held company, which is above its fair market value as income from other sources.
India World’s Second Largest Unbanked Population, 19 Crore People Without Accounts
At least 19 crore Indian adults do not have bank accounts making the country the second largest in terms of unbanked population according to a report by World Bank.
Jan dhanYojana: a national mission to ensure financial access in an affordable manner for the poorer sections of the society
The country’s adult population with bank accounts increased more than two-fold to 80 per cent since 2011.
China has an unbanked population of 225 million adults followed by India, Pakistan and Indonesia.
India remain Top Remittance Destination of Migrants
Remittances to India from abroad touched $69 billion in 2017 and outflows of remittances from India rise reaching $5.7 billion, according to World Bank’s report ‘Migration and Remittance Outlook’.
World’s largest diaspora population: Indians constitute the world’s largest diaspora population, making it the largest source of labour for the world market.
In 2017 there were 4 million Indians living abroad.
Of the 131 countries from where India received remittances UAE contributed the highest i.e. $13.8 billion or about 20% of India’s total receipts, followed by the US, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UK.
TCS now in $100 Billion Market Capitalization Club
Tata Consultancy Services became only the second Indian company to cross the $100 billion mark in market capitalization
TCS follows Reliance Industries Ltd., which touched the milestone in 2007.
Global $100 Billion club: Though much larger than TCS, the global $100 billion club includes Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., Alphabet Inc., Amazon, Facebook, ExxonMobil, Walmart Inc. and Samsung.
Constitutional Protection may be extended to denotified Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes
In line with the recommendation of National Commission for Denotified Nomadic (DN) and SemiNomadic Tribes (SNT) under BhikuRamjiI, the Union government is considering a move to grant Constitutional protection to Denotified Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes, thus creating a third category separate from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
These communities, also called as Vimuktajatis, are all those communities notified under the Criminal Tribes Acts enforced during British Rule
The entire communities were branded as criminals by birth under the colonial rule through enforcement of the Criminal Tribes Act, 1871. In 1952, the Act was repealed and the communities were de-notified.
India rank 145 in Healthcare Access and Quality Index 2016
The index is created by the Global Burden of Disease study, based on 32 causes of death considered preventable with effective medical care.
India has improved its ranking on a global healthcare access and quality (HAQ) index from 153 in 1990 to 145 in 2016, yet ranks lower than neighbouring Bangladesh and even sub-Saharan Sudan and Equatorial Guinea.
India lags way behind its BRICS peers Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa on the HAQ index, but matches China in the disparity in healthcare access and quality between states.
Within India, the best performers, Goa and Kerala, scored more than 60 points on the HAQ index in 2016, whereas the worst performers, Assam and Uttar Pradesh, scored below 40.
World Health Statistics 2018
The World Health Statistics series is WHO’s annual snapshot of the state of the world’s health.
It also links to the three SDG-aligned strategic priorities of the WHO’s 13th General Programme of Work: achieving universal health coverage, addressing health emergencies and promoting healthier populations.
India saw an estimated 211 cases of tuberculosis per 1,00,000 people in 2016, India has pledged to eradicate tuberculosis by 2025, five years ahead of the global target set by WHO.
Maternal mortality ratio (MMR) in India was 174 per 1,00,000 births in 2015. The Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 is to lower MMR for all countries to less than 70 per 1,00,000 births.
Per capita health expenditure in India was around USD 63 in 2015, way lower than China (USD 426), while in Pakistan it was $38.
GSTN to be made a Government Company
The Goods and Services Tax Council approved a new comprehensive return-generation system and full government ownership of GST Network (GSTN) the IT backbone for GST.
Ownership of GSTN: The council also approved a proposal for the Centre and states to jointly (and equally) acquire the entire 51% of equity held by the non-governmental institutions in GSTN amounting to Rs 5.1 crore.
Currently the Centre and states jointly own 49% in GSTN (24.5% each), while the rest is held by five other entities, including LIC Housing Finance, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank.
Indian Rupee declined signifinactly
The Indian currency sunk to a closing low of 68.07 against the U.S. dollar i.e. its lowest level in 16 months. The rupee already one of the worst performing Asian currencies has now weakened 6.2% in 2018.
Reason behind Rupee Depreciation
Rise in crude oil prices:
High CAD
Tightening of USA monetary policy
Impact Of Fall Of Rupee
Impact importers: Importers will be hit as the cost of getting goods or equipment into India will increase.
Impact on oil sector:
Impact on exporters: Exporters especially software exporters stand to benefit as they get more rupees while converting dollar export earnings into Indian currency.
Increase inflationary pressure: Crude prices are expected to rise further this year and imports are expected to grow by at least 14%.
Increase in remittances:
India’s ranking fell three places to 11th in FDI Confidence Index 2018
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index 2018 released by global consultancy firm A T Kearney. It was created in 1998.
Last year, India was ranked eighth. Its position was pushed out of the top 10 for the first time since 2015.
Top 10 Countries in the Index – United States (1st), Canada (2nd), Germany (3rd), United Kingdom (4th), China (5th), Japan (6th), France (7th), Australia (8th), Switzerland (9th) and Italy (10th)
Walmart to buy control of Flipkart
US based retail giant Walmart said it will invest $16 billion to acquire a 77 per cent stake in Indian e-commerce major Flipkart a deal that is the biggest M&A (merger and acquisition) in India so far higher than the $12.9 billion acquisition of Essar Oil by a consortium led by Russia’s Rosneft in 2016.
First Crude Oil Cargo from Abu Dhabi for India’s Strategic Crude Oil Reserve
The historic first cargo of crude oil from the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), destined for the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) has been loaded and is en-route to India.
ISPRL is mandated to store crude oil for strategic needs, to locate 5.86 million barrels of ADNOC crude oil at the Karnataka facility in the Indian city of Mangalore.
Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve
is an emergency fuel store of total 5 MMT (million metric tons) of strategic crude oil enough to provide 10 days of consumption.
The reserves are maintained by the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited.•
India’s strategic crude oil storages are located at Vizag (1.33 million tonnes), Mangalore (1.5 million tonnes) and Padur (2.5 million tonnes)
The 2017-18 budget, announced that two more such caverns will be set up Chandikhole in Jajpur district of Odisha and Bikaner in Rajasthan as part of the second phase.
All Indian villages now have access to power supply
Manipur’s Leisang village became the last non-electrified inhabited village to join India’s mainline supply network an important milestone in the country’s journey towards universal electricity access.
All 597464 inhabited villages in the country now have access to power.
The seeds of 100 per cent village electrification were sowed with the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJUY).
Pasighat airport – The first commercial flight of Arunachal Pradesh under UDAN scheme landed at Pasighat airport.
World’s first floating nuclear plant – Russia unveiled world’s first floating nuclear power station at port city of Murmansk.
Zojila tunnel – PM Modi inaugurated construction of Rs 6,809 crore Zojila tunnel project in Jammu and Kashmir’s Leh. It will be India’s and Asia’s longest and strategic bi-directional road tunnel.
BSE became first Indian exchange to be designated as Designated Offshore Securities Market (DOSM) by United States Securities and Exchange Commission (US-SEC).
HDFC Bank became the first bank in the country to introduce a humanoid for customer service.
HDFC Bank launched IRA 2.0, its interactive humanoid. IRA will interact with customers, answer bank-related queries, frequently asked questions, and guide them inside the branch with voice-based navigation
India no longer a nation with world’s largest poor population
Think tank Brookings ‘The Start Of A New Poverty Narrative’ report highlighted that with persistent decline in poverty, India is no longer a nation having largest number of poor people in world.
The study defines poverty as living on less than $1.9 a day.
Nigeria has largest number of extreme poor in early 2018, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo could soon take over the number 2 spot.
extreme poverty in Nigeria is growing by six people every minute, while poverty in India continues to fall.
about 725 million people were in extreme poverty at the beginning of 2016
India’s first Advanced Forensic Lab dedicated to women related cases
Ministry of Women and Child Development laid the foundation of Sakhi Suraksha Advanced DNA Forensic Laboratory in Central Forensic Science Lab (CFSL), Chandigarh.
It will be funded from the Nirbhaya Fund.
India among 90 countries without Paid Paternity Leaves
India and Nigeria, which have high infant populations, are among 92 countries that do not have national policies in place that ensure new fathers get adequate paid time off with their newborn babies.
Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 has increased the duration of paid maternity leave available for women employees from the existing 12 weeks to 26 weeks.
Suvidha Bio-Degradable low-cost sanitary napkins
In a move to improve menstrual hygiene practices in India, the government will offer fully biodegradable low-cost sanitary napkins called Suvidha at all of its Pradhan Mantri Janaushadi Pariyojana stores.
It was released by the Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India (BPPI), in association with the department of pharmaceuticals, on the occasion of World Environment Day.
It is a campaign launched by the Department of Pharmaceuticals to provide quality medicines at affordable prices to the masses. PMBJP stores have been set up to provide generic drugs, which are not only affordable but are equivalent in quality and efficacy as expensive branded drugs.
Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India (BPPI) is the implementation agency for PMBJP
Ban on growth drug Oxytocin
Major curbs on the production and sale of growth hormone oxytocin will come into effect from July 1 with the government determined to end its misuse.
All private manufacturing of oxytocin will end from July 1 and its production for domestic use will be restricted to only one public sector company, Karnataka Antibiotics and Pharmaceuticals Limited (KAPL).
rural health workers in some areas used oxytocin injections to induce child birth among women during home deliveries.
Excessive use of oxytocin in cattle by farmers to improve milk production leading to reduction in the animal’s lifespan was also documented.
Humans consuming oxytocin-infested milk can suffer hormonal imbalances.
Oxytocin
is a neurotransmitter and a hormone produced in the hypothalamus, it is transported to and secreted by the pituitary gland at the base of the brain.
It plays a role in the female reproductive functions from sexual activity to childbirth and breast feeding.
India launches first National Healthcare Facility Registry
It will be the first ever registry in the country which will facilitate registry of authentic, standardised and updated geo-spatial data of all public and private healthcare.
ISRO is the project technology partner for providing data security
Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) to replace UGC
The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has released the draft Higher Education Commission of India (Repeal of University Grants Commission Act) Bill 2018.
HECI will be the new, apex regulator for university and higher education in India.
UN has released Sustainable Development Goals Report 2018
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provides a global blueprint for dignity, peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and in the future.
A fast-changing climate, conflict, inequality, persistent pockets of poverty and hunger and rapid urbanization are challenging countries’ efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
of hungry people in the world, rising from 777 million in 2015 to 815 million in 2016
RBI to set up Public Credit Registry (PCR) on All Borrowers
The PCR will be the single point of mandatory reporting for all material events for each loan notwithstanding any threshold in the loan amount or type of borrower.
It will serve as a registry of all credit contracts duly verified by reporting institutions for all lending in India and any lending by an Indian institution to a company incorporated in India.
The RBI considered the recommendations of YM Deosthalee headed High Level Task Force and decided to set up a PCR.
GST Council meet may take up inclusion of Natural Gas
Next item for consideration of inclusion in the GST regime could be aviation turbine fuel (ATF), which is among the five petroleum products proposed to be brought in under the GST ambit.
Petroleum is a considerably larger source for revenues not only for Centre but States also and on natural gas front there is some consensus for bringing it into GST ambit and therefore, it could be first petroleum product that could come in well within GST network.
Five petroleum products i.e. crude oil, diesel, petrol, natural gas, aviation turbine fuel (ATF) are still out of the GST ambit.
NBFCs to meet RBI on IndAS Implementation
RBI has deferred the implementation of Indian Accounting Standards (IndAS) for banks by a year, while it is applicable for NBFCs from April 1, 2018.
According to the initial plan, Ministry Of Corporate Affairs was to implement IndAS for banks, insurance companies, and NBFCs from 1 April 2018 onwards.
Also IndAS implementation date has been deferred for insurance companies by two years.
IndAS is a global accounting practice that NBFCs are mandated to adopt, which may lead to initial credit losses. The practice is at par with the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS).
FSDC Reconstituted to include more members
The government has reconstituted the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC), the apex body of financial sector regulators and made it more broad-based.
The FSDC was set up to create an institutional structure and mechanism for financial stability, financial sector development and inter-regulatory coordination.
It is charged with financial literacy, financial inclusion and macro prudential supervision of the economy including the functioning of large financial conglomerates.
India started importing LNG from Russia
India has begun importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia at Dahej import terminal as part of its strategy to diversify its supply sources and cater to the rapidly rising local energy needs.
Russia is the latest country to begin supplying long-term LNG to India after US, Australia, and Qatar.
Russian rate is $1.5 per one million British Thermal Units (mmBTU) less than the price at which Qatar, India’s oldest supplier, delivered liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Importance of LNG Import
India is the 3rd largest energy consumer and 4th largest LNG importer in the world. Russia is the largest crude oil and second-largest gas producer in the world.
India imports 45% of the total amount of natural gas it consumes.
Indian govt plan to raise the share of natural gas in the country’s energy mix to 15% by 2030 from about 6.5% now, import of LNG is expected to rise.
Canada legalises Marijuana
Canada has legalised recreational marijuana across the country this week, making it the first G7 country to do so.
Under guidelines from Canada’s public health agency, marijuana products will be sold in plain packaging with limited branding.
Uruguay became the first country to legalise the sale of cannabis for recreational use in December 2013, Canada became the second country.
11th World Hindi Conference in Mauritius
Aim of this conference will be to increase the popularity of Hindi globally.
The Ministry of External Affairs also aims to promote Hindi at the United Nations and in this regard, a lot of work is being done and the disclosures would be made at the World Hindi Conference.
The World Hindi Secretariat (WHS) supported by India, is located in Mauritius.
SAARC Fund to Launch Social Enterprise Programme in India
Thimpu-based SAARC Development Fund (SDF) will soon be launching a social enterprise development programme (SEDP) to fund 80 entities annually across the 8- member states including India.
SDF was established in April 2010, succeeding South Asian Development Fund (SADF), which was launched in 1996 by merging SAARC Fund for Regional Projects (SFRP) and SAARC Regional Fund.
SDF has already committed USD 73.74 million for social window projects
International Conference on ICT at Kathmandu
Federation of Computer Association Nepal (CAN Federation) has organized the 18th edition of International ICT Conference 2018, from June 17 to 18 at Kathmandu, Nepal. The Theme of the conference was “Sustainable Development Goals for Smart Society”.
Assam Bill Against Witch-Hunt got President’s Nod
Indian President Ram Nath Kovind gave assent to the Assam Witch Hunting (Prohibition, Prevention and Protection) Bill, 2015
President’s assent is required when an act passed by a state Assembly contravenes central law.
It makes every offence under the Act “cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable.” The Act prescribes a prison term of up to 7 seven years and up to ₹5 lakh in fine for calling a person a witch.
Branding people, mostly women, as witch and killing them is a very old problem across Assam. Such phenomenon affected states like Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand also.
Project Prahari The earliest concerted move to fight the practice launched by police officer Kuladhar Saikia, the current DGP of Assam. Back in 2001, launched as a model of community development that brought together various sections of the rural society to combat witch-hunting by focusing on alternative livelihood skills.
Mission Birubala forefront of Assam’s anti-witch-hunt campaign since 2011.
Birubala Rabha, a tribal villager from Goalpara, who in 2005 singlehandedly started raising her voice against the practice after being branded a witch herself.
World Population Day observed on July 11
July 11 was established as World Population Day in 1989 by the United Nations, to spread information of population-related issues across the globe.
Theme for 2018: “Family Planning is a Human right”
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) began operations in 1969 as the United Nations Fund for Population Activities under the United Nations Development Fund.
Debate on Section 377 Of IPC
Supreme court Constitutional bench is hearing petitions challenging the constitutionality of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.
Section 377 refers to ‘unnatural offences’ and says whoever voluntarily has carnal inter course against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal shall be punished with imprisonment for life or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 10 years and shall also be liable to pay a fine.
Bru Community of Mizoram
Less than a fortnight after Union Home Minister announced the signing of an agreement that would repatriate displaced Bru families living in Tripura since 1997 to Mizoram before September 30, the Mizoram Bru Displaced People’s Forum (MBDPF) withdrew from the deal, saying the terms agreed upon between the governments of Mizoram, Tripura and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) were not acceptable to the Bru community.
The Bru community, once spread across Mamit and Kolasib districts of Mizoram, were forced to flee their native land in 1997 after animosity between the Bru and the Mizos turned violent.
All India Survey on Higher Education Report (AISHE) 2017-18
The top 8 States in terms of highest number of colleges in India are Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
College density i.e. the number of colleges per lakh eligible population (population in the agegroup 18-23 years) varies from 7 in Bihar to 51 in Karnataka and Telangana as compared to All India average of 28.
48% colleges are located in rural area and 11.04% colleges are exclusively for women.
Total enrolment in higher education has been estimated to be 36.6 million with 19.2 million boys and 17.4 million girls. Girls constitute 47.6% of the total enrolment.
Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in Higher education in India is 25.8%, which is calculated for 18-23 years of age group. GER for male population is 26.3% and for females, it is 25.4%.
The authorized share capital of Higher Education Financing Agency increased to Rs. 10,000 crore
CCEA has approved increasing the authorized share capital from the current sum of Rs. 2000 crore and approved infusing additional government equity of Rs. 5,000 crore (in addition to Rs.10,000 crore already provided) in HEFA.
HEFA has been set up on May 31, 2017 as a Non Profit, Non Banking Financing Company (NBFC) for mobilising extra-budgetary resources for building crucial infrastructure in the higher educational institutions under Central Govt.
It will also push institutions to become financially self-sustaining and not depend on the government for all their growth requirements.
LIC Buys IDBI Bank
The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has obtained the approval of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) to buy upto 51 % in debt-ridden IDBI Bank from the current 10.82%.
Andhra Pradesh and Telangana topped the Ease of Doing Business Ranking
The DIPP and World Bank has released the Ease of doing Business ranking in which Andhra Pradesh has topped the list, followed by Telangana and Haryana.
Others in the top-10 states are Jharkhand (4), Gujarat (5), Chhattisgarh (6), Madhya Pradesh (7), Karnataka (8), Rajasthan (9) and West Bengal (10).
DIPP, in collaboration with the World Bank conducts this annual reform exercise for all states and Union territories under the Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP).
India becomes World’s Sixth Largest Economy
World Bank figures for 2017 say India has become the world’s sixth-biggest economy, pushing France behind.
India’s GDP amounted to $2.597 trillion at the end of last year, against $2.582 trillion for France.
India is poised to become the world’s most populous nation by 2030. India’s per capita GDP continues to amount to just a fraction of that of France which is still roughly 20 times higher.
World’s top economy – The US, China, Japan and Germany
India slips to 11th in FDI ranking
India has fallen out of top 10 destinations for Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in terms of its attractiveness according to 2018 Kearney FDI Confidence Index
India was at 8th in 2017 and 9th in 2016.
India joins European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
As it’s 69th shareholder.
India’s GM Crops area fifth largest in world, USA has the highest area under GM crops.
Samsung inaugurated world’s largest mobile phone factory in Noida.
HDFC Group has crossed the Rs. 10 lakh crore market capitalization milestone
only the country’s second corporate entity to do so after the Tata Group.
HDFC Bank is the country’s third most valued firm after Tata Consultancy Services and Reliance Industries
Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act
mandatory for companies to disclose whether they have constituted an Internal Complaints committee (ICC) to probe allegations of sexual harassment at workplace.
the Annual Reports of Private companies will have to contain a statement about status of Internal Complaints Committee (ICC).
mandatory for any organisation with 10 or more employees to constitute an ICC.
Begging Decriminalized in Delhi
The Delhi High Court has decriminalized begging in the national capital on the ground that the penal provisions in the law were unconstitutional.
Bombay Prevention of Begging Act, 1959 was extended to Delhi by a Central government amendment in 1960.
Currently, there is no central law on begging and destitution and most states have adopted the Bombay Prevention of Begging Act 1959, or have modelled their laws on it.
World Breastfeeding Week from August 1 to 7
World Breastfeeding Week is a worldwide celebration held annually from August 1st to 7th and is dedicated to nursing mothers & to raise awareness about significance of breast milk in infant’s life.
Three Northeastern States Emerge As New HIV Hotspots
Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura have emerged as the new hotspots for HIV. However, there has been a steady decline in the number of HIV cases in India.
The reason for the rise in the three northeastern States to the high-risk behaviour of Injecting Drug Users (IDUs), and unsafe sexual practices.
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
a life-threatening disease caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
It makes difficult for the body to fight infections
NITI Aayog has identified 117 districts as Aspirational Districts, selected on the basis of composite index includes published data of deprivation enumerated under Socio-Economic Caste Census, health & nutrition, education and basic infrastructure.
central assistance is provided for opening of new Model Degree Colleges (MDCs) in Aspirational Districts and in unserved & underserved districts in North Eastern and Himalayan States.
Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) aim is to improve access, equity and quality in higher education through planned development of higher education at the state level.
Creating new academic institutions, expanding and upgrading the existing ones, developing institutions that are self-reliant in terms of quality education, professionally managed and characterised by greater inclination towards research and provide students with relevant education.
IMPRINT 2
MoHRD has approved 122 new research projects at a cost of Rs.112 crore under IMPRINT-2.
IMPRINT-2 has been approved with a revised strategy under which the initiative will be jointly funded and steered by MoHRD and Department of Science and Technology (DST).
For the second phase, the govt has sanctioned a fund of Rs. 1000 crore for research in Science and Technology over the course of next two years.
India rank 57th in Global Innovation Index (GII) 2018
GII is published by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property Organisation, in partnership with other organisations and institutions.
Switzerland continued its long run of being at the top. It has been at the top of the list since 2011.
Other countries in the top 5 are Netherlands, Sweden, UK and Singapore.
China, at 17, broke into the world’s top 20 most-innovative economies for the first time.
India’s rank on the GII has improved from 60th in 2017 to 57th in 2018.
Delhi Police gets India’s first All-Women SWAT Team
Delhi Police is the first police force in the country to have an all-women Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) team.
Pune topped the Ease of Living Index
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has released the Ease of Living Index, to assess cities’ ‘liveability’ with regards to global and national benchmarks and encourage in urban planning and management.
The index covers 111 cities that are smart city contenders, capital cities, and cities with population of 1 million plus. It is a government initiative
The list was led by Pune, Navi Mumbai, and Greater Mumbai while the cities of Patna and Rampur were at the bottom.
Vienna is the best city to live, as per Global Liveability Index 2018
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), of the magazine ‘The Economist’, has released the Global Liveability Index
It assigns scores on five broad parameters — stability, healthcare, culture/environment, education, and infrastructure using 30 indicators.
Top 10 liveable cities are – 1. Vienna (Austria) 2. Melbourne (Australia) 3. Osaka (Japan) 4. Calgary (Canada) 5. Sydney (Australia) 6. Vancouver (Canada) 7. Tokyo (Japan) 8. Toronto (Canada) 9. Copenhagen (Denmark) 10. Adelaide (Australia)
South Asian countries including India have fared poorly in the ranking of the world’s most liveable cities. From India, only New Delhi (112) and Mumbai (117) could make it to the list.
Top 10 least liveable cities in the world are – Senegal’s Dakar at 131, Algeria’s Algiers at 132, Cameroon’s Douala at 133, Libya’s Tripoli at 134, Zimbabwe’s Harare at 135, Papua New Guinea’s Port Moresby at 136, Karachi at 137, Nigeria’s Lagos at 138, Dhaka at 139, Damascus at 140.
Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) to be created
The GST Council has approved creation of the tribunal with a national bench in Delhi and three regional benches in Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai
The new body replaces the Central Excise and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal.
Need for review of Deposit Insurance Cover
In India, deposit insurance covers all commercial banks, local area banks, regional rural banks and co-operative banks.
The Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) insures amount to the depositor, limited is restricted to just Rs. 1 lakh per depositor per bank.
Due to Poor health of banks, the maximum deposited amount insured must be increased.
Less than a third of bank deposits in value terms are insured by the DICGC, which is too low compared to the International standards, Most of the countries cover 60-70 per cent of total deposits.
Indonesia has a deposit-insurance cover of $1,47,000, Brazil $76,700, and Malaysia $55,700. Mexico too has insurance coverage of over $100,000. Canada, Switzerland and France provide cover upwards of $70,000 per depositor. In the US, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation offers an insurance coverage of $250,000. While, in India, the deposit insurance is just $1,543.
NABARD’s All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey 2016-17 survey
Average monthly rural income after deducting expenses incurred in the course of economic activity was Rs. 8059.
New Industrial Policy to be formulated
new industrial policy that aims to speed up regulatory reforms to make businesses more competitive and create more jobs.
The comprehensive industrial policy is envisaged as a follow up to initiatives such as Make in India and Startup India, aimed at boosting domestic manufacturing and entrepreneurship.
India’s industrial sector has a 29% share in GDP at current prices, well below 44% for China.
MSME Development (Amendment) Bill, 2018
Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) will soon be defined based on their annual turnover, if a new Bill is cleared.
Amendment Bill- Any business with a turnover of up to Rs. 5 crore will be considered a micro enterprise. The other slabs are Rs. 5-75 crore for small enterprise and Rs. 75-250 crore for medium enterprise.
At present, it is decided based on the investment made in plant and machinery/equipment. There are two sets of definitions, depending on whether the units produce goods or services. Under the goods category, the slabs are up to Rs. 25 lakh for micro, Rs. 25 lakh to Rs. 5 crore for small and Rs. 5-10 crore for medium. In the case of services, the slabs are: up to Rs.10 lakh, Rs. 10 lakh to RS. 2 crore and Rs. 2-5 crore.
World Bank launches Bond-I, world’s first blockchain bond.
Sikkim’s first airport at Pakyong inaugurated
Indo-Bangla Friendship Pipeline
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina jointly inaugurated the construction of a friendship pipeline project
The 130-kilometre India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline Project will connect Siliguri in West Bengal in India and Parbatipur in Dinajpur district of Bangladesh.
The project will help fulfil energy needs of Bangladesh at cheaper rates.
Indian ranked 130th in 2018 Human Development Report
UNDP indicated a glaring inequality in the country though “millions have been lifted out of poverty”.
Top countries – Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Ireland and Germany
Niger, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Chad and Burundi have the lowest scores.
out of the 189 countries for which the HDI is calculated, 59 countries are today in the very high human development group and only 38 countries fall in the low HDI group.
South Asia experienced the fastest HDI growth among developing regions with a 45.3 % increase since 1990.
South Asia has the widest gap between men and women in HDI at 16.3%.
India’s HDI value is 0.640, which put the country in the medium human development category.
Human Development Index (HDI)
composite measure of every country’s attainment in three basic dimensions:
(1) standard of living measured by the gross national income (GNI) per capita,
(2) health measured by the life expectancy at birth, and
(3) education levels calculated by mean years of education among the adult population and the expected years of schooling for children.
India ranked 158th in Human Capital Rankings
study published in the Lancet journal, measures Human Capital of 195 countries during the 1990-2016 period.
Parameters: Human capital is computed using four key parameters: (1) Life Expectancy, (2) Functional Health, (3) Years of Schooling and (4) Learning.
Finland is ranked first with 28 years of expected human capital, followed by Iceland, Denmark, Netherlands
Niger, South Sudan and chad were ranked lowest with 2 years of expected human capital.
MOVE: India’s First Global Mobility Summit 2018 organised by Niti Aayog in New Delhi
Section 377 Struck Down
The Supreme Court, in Navtej Johar vs Union of India, has decriminalised same sex relations between consenting adults in private under Section 377.
However, the “unnatural” sexual acts like bestiality and sexual act without consent continues to be a crime under Section 377.
Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA)
The HRD Ministry to rank education institutions on innovation related indicators.
It is an annual ranking of higher educational institutions based on how they fare in terms of innovation.
ARIIA and NIRF: ARIIA, which focuses on innovation, will work parallel to the ranking of institutions captured by the annual National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) which focuses on research.
Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)
Union HRD Ministry has decided to participate in PISA– an international assessment of student ability – in 2021 after a gap of 10 years.
Coordinated by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), India has participated only once in PISA in 2009.
Mauritius Tops India’s FDI Chart
Mauritius remained the top source of foreign direct investment (FDI) into India in 2017-18 followed by Singapore, whereas total FDI stood at $37.36 billion
Country wise FDI:
FDI from Mauritius totalled $13.41 billion
Singapore $9.27 billion
Netherlands $2.67 billion
China has opened the world’s longest sea bridge to general traffic.
The bridge spans 42.4km (26.3 miles) to connect the eastern coastal city of Qingdao to the suburb of Huangdao,
India ranked 103rd in the Global Hunger Index 2018
publication released annually by Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide
The 2018 scores reflect data from 2013-2017.
India has GHI of 31.1 making the country fall in the ‘serious’ category.
The best-performing countries have a GHI score as low as 5 (Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia etc).
Wage Compensation Scheme for pregnant women in Assam
Assam has recently launched a wage compensation scheme for pregnant women in tea gardens of the state.
each woman will get Rs 12,000 so that she can look after herself and her unborn baby without affecting the livelihood of her family.
The tea-producing belt of upper Assam, comprising Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Sivasagar and Tinsukia, has one of the country’s worst maternal mortality rates (MMR) due to anaemia and other diseases
The Annual Health Survey of 2012-13 puts MMR at 404 in the tea gardens, whereas the state’s average is 301. India’s average during 2014-16 was 130.
WHO’s First Global Conference On Air Pollution And Health at Geneva.
The first Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health was recently held at in Geneva.
14 out of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in India
IIT Bombay Tops in QS India University Rankings
The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay has emerged on top in the first-ever standalone QS rankings for Indian institutions of higher education.
The India University Rankings is the second country-specific rankings done by QS, after it released one for China.
Seven out of the top ten positions were occupied by IITs in these rankings as IIT Madras, IIT Delhi and IIT Kharagpur bagged the third, fourth and fifth slots respectively. IISc bagged the second spot on the list.
Global Rankings
The QS world rank list released has ranked 1011 institutes in 85 countries.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is the world’s best university, IIT Bombay has been placed 162 rank followed by the foremost research institute of India IISc at 170.
IMPRESS and SPARC
The Union HRD Minister launched web portals of two schemes IMPRESS and SPARC, with an aim to build a research ecosystem in educational institutions.
Impactful Policy Research in Social Sciences (IMPRESS) is to identify and fund research proposals in social sciences with maximum impact on the governance and society.
The Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC) aims at building the research ecosystem of India’s higher educational institutions by facilitating academic and research collaborations between Indian and foreign institutions.
MoU Towards Sittwe Port Operationalisation
India and Myanmar have signed MoU towards operationalisation of Sittwe port.
appointment of a private Port Operator for the Operation and Maintenance of Sittwe Port, Paletwa Inland Water Terminal and associated facilities included in the Kaladan Multi Model Transit Transport Project.
Kaladan Multi Modal Transit Transport
is a project that will connect the eastern Indian seaport of Kolkata with Sittwe seaport in Rakhine State, Myanmar by sea.
In Myanmar, it will then link Sittwe seaport to Paletwa, Chin State via the Kaladan river boat route, and then from Paletwa by road to Mizoram state in Northeast India
Trade Deal USMCA to Replace NAFTA
The US and Canada have reached a new trade deal, along with Mexico, to replace the current North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
The new deal has been named as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)
IORA Countries Adopt The Delhi Declaration
21 countries in the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) have adopted the Delhi Declaration on Renewable Energy in the Indian Ocean Region.
Adoption of the declaration took place at 2nd IORA Renewable Energy Ministerial Meeting held at the 2nd Global Re-Invest India-ISA Partnership Renewable Energy Investor’s Meet & Expo in Greater Noida.
India ranked 58th in the WEF’s Competitiveness Index for 2018
India has improved its ranking by five places the largest gain among all G20 countries, with an overall score of 62.
Top 10 countries – USA (1st), Singapore (2nd), Germany (3rd), Switzerland (4th), Japan (5th), Netherlands (6th), Hong Kong (7th), United Kingdom (8th), Sweden (9th) and Denmark (10th)
BRICS Ranking – Brazil (72), Russia (43), India (58), China (28), South Africa (67)
Direct Tax Base widens sharply over 4 Years
growth of more than 80% in the number of returns filed in the last four financial years from 3.79 crore in financial year (FY) 2013-14 to 6.85 crore in FY 2017-18.
the Direct Tax-to-GDP ratio rose to 5.98% in FY 2017-18, the highest it has been in the last 10 years.
Kalyani Panel Suggests Delinking SEZs From Exports
A committee on special economic zones (SEZs) led by Baba Kalyani has suggested delinking the enclaves from exports and allowing payments to be made in rupee when they deal with areas outside the zone.
India’s export-linked incentive schemes including SEZs being disputed by the US in the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Exports from SEZs grew 15% to 5.52 lakh crore in 2017-18.
National Digital Communications Policy 2018
The Union Cabinet approved the new The National Digital Communications Policy 2018
aims to create four million jobs, draw $100 billion of investments into the telecom industry by 2022, boost sectoral contribution to 8% of GDP from 6% in 2017, besides backing the principles of net neutrality.
Axis Bank-e first to introduce iris authentication for Aadhaar-based transactions.
WEF launches Centre for Fourth Industrial Revolution in India.
BSE – first stock exchange to launch commodity derivative contracts.
Mahila Mall, the first mall in the country with an all-women crew will come up in Kozhikode in the month of November.
Appointment/Awards
Sudha Balakrishnan appointed the first Chief Financial Officer of RBI
National Statistics Day: June 29 15.
International Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day: June 27
Vishwas Patel appointed as Chairman of Payments Council of India.
Justice Manjula Chellur taken oath as Chairperson of Appellate Tribunal for Electricity
R S Sharma re-appointed TRAI chairperson till 2020.
Ashish Kumar Bhutani appointed CEO of PM Fasal Bima Yojana.
Bhanu Pratap Sharma as new Banks Board Bureau Chairman
Sunil Mehta elected as new Chairman of Indian Bank’s Association for 2018-19.
Government sets up Injeti Srinivas High Level Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility.
2018 Nobel Peace in Economics – William Nordhaus & Paul Romer
2018 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to campaigners against rape in warfare – Nadia Murad and Denis Mukwege. Nadia Murad is the first Iraqi to win the award and was also named the UN’s first goodwill ambassador for survivors of human trafficking.
IIT-G scientists publish breakthrough research work on metastatic cancer
A research conducted by Gautam Biswas, IIT-G Director, alongwith his colleagues Siddhartha Sankar Ghosh of biosciences & bioengineering and Amaresh Dalal from mechanical engineering departments, have demonstrated the movement of metastatic cancer cells, a breakthrough in cancer research.
The research showed how cancer cells can deform, survive and pass through micro capillaries in the human body. Multi-cellular aggregates of cancer cells are the initiators of distant organ metastasis and cause spread of cancer in the body.
The findings been endorsed in the prestigious Scientific Journal, that publishes scientifically valid primary research from all areas of the natural and clinical sciences. Earlier it was assumed that cancer cells are too large to pass through narrow vessels such as pulmonary capillaries to reach other organs.
The research work is expected to be helpful for oncologists in devising new methods of cancer treatment.
FACTFILE – Cancer cells
Cancer cells are cells that divide relentlessly, forming solid tumors or flooding the blood with abnormal cells.
Healthy cells stop dividing when there is no longer a need for more daughter cells, but cancer cells continue to produce copies.
They are also able to spread from one part of the body to another in a process known as metastasis.
The enzyme telomerase is used to extend the cancer cell’s life span. While the telomeres of most cells shorten after each division, eventually causing the cell to die, telomerase extends the cell’s telomeres. This is a major reason that cancer cells can accumulate over time, creating tumors.
Nagaland launches Supply Chain Management for timely delivery of foodgrains
To ensure timely delivery of goods and services to the people of Nagaland, Supply Chain Management (SCM) was launched by DK Gupta, Director of Public Distribution, Ministry of Public distribution and Consumer Affairs.
SCM is a powerful monitoring tool for tracking stock inventory starting from the godown to the fair price shops. The application would make the beneficiaries aware about the availability of food grains.
Under the National Food Security Act, Nagaland has completed all the activities required for beneficiaries except FPS Automation. As per a Supreme Court order, all beneficiaries availing subsidized food grains in Nagaland and across the country have to seed their ration cards with Aadhaar on or before March 31, 2019.
The SCM will help in accquring accurate information on all storage facilities in the state and would help the department in making effective decision making.
Nagaland Govt. restricts use of plastics
The Nagaland government notified its policy for restricting the use of plastics in the state to eradicate the serious environmental and ecological challenges posed by rampant use of plastics with immediate effect.
As per the notification, all single-use plastics less than 50 microns especially plastic bags and plastic cutlery including styrofoam and thermocol disposable plates will be banned from December 1, 2018.
It said the government offices will stop using packaged drinking water bottles, below 20 litres capacity, by April 1, 2019. Alternatives like filtered water dispensers and reverse osmosis plants will be introduced while the government servants will be encouraged to carry reusable drinking water bottles.
Alternatives to plastic bags such as cloth, jute, paper bags, bamboo and leaf plates and cutlery will be promoted and popularized.
State Gvto will set up a taskforce in each district that will include government officials, NGOs and church leaders to devise local strategies and build awareness for plastic-free environment.
The village councils and municipal bodies will be sensitised to take proactive action for discouraging use of plastics in their jurisdiction and they can decide on the issue of levying penalties for continued use of single-use plastics in their jurisdiction.
The government will provide incentives to entrepreneurs investing in production of paper bags and cloth bag making units, disposable biodegradable cutlery from areca nut leaves, setting up of water ATMs in public places, plastic shredding units for recycling of plastics among others.
India’s PSLV rocket successfully puts HysIS satellite into orbit
India put into orbit its own Hyper Spectral Imaging Satellite (HysIS) an earth observation satellite.
The Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle Core Alone (PSLV CA) rocket variant lifted off with 31 satellites, the HysIS and 30 foreign satellites (including 23 satellites are from the US, the rest are from Australia, Canada, Columbia, Finland, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Spain).
The notable aspect of the rocket mission is the placing of the satellites in two different orbits of different altitude.
While the HysIS has been placed in its intended orbit, the remaining 30 foreign satellites will be later ejected at a lower orbit, all the foreign satellites were placed in a 504 km orbit.
HySIS is an Earth observation satellite which will provide hyperspectral imaging services to India for a range of applications in agriculture, forestry, defence and in the assessment of geography such as coastal zones and inland waterways.
Payloads
HySIS carries two payloads, the first in the Visible Near Infrared (VNIR) spectral range of 0.4 to 0.95 micrometers with 60 contiguous spectral bands and the second in the Shortwave Infrared Range (SWIR) spectral range of 0.85 to 2.4 micrometres with a 10 nanometre bandwidth and 256 contiguous spectral bands.
Indo-Russian joint military drill INDRA concludes
The 10th edition of Indo-Russian joint military exercise INDRA culminated at Babina Military Station here on Wednesday after a joint tactical exercise and a grand closing ceremony.
The 11-day long joint training that commenced on November 18 included developing “common understanding of transnational terrorism, interoperability and conduct of joint tactical operations” controlled by a Joint Command Post working under the aegis of United Nations.
Classes were organised on cordon and search operations, raid on terrorist hideout, intelligence gathering and sharing, perception management, humanitarian laws and hostage rescue.
The participating contingents also carried out specialised joint training on hostage rescue by slithering from MI-17 helicopters.
Major General P.S. Minhas, General Officer Commanding of White Tiger Division of the Indian Army and Major General Tsekov Oleg Moosovich, Commander, Fifth Army of the Russian Army witnessed the validation exercise conducted at the field firing ranges.
November 30
Silapathar Science Collegecreates rice bank to preserve indigenous varieties
The Silapathar Science College, located in Dhemaji district of Assam has not only set up a rice bank to preserve seeds of indigenous varieties that are losing out to new high-yielding varieties but also encouraging farmers to grow them so that they do not become extinct.
The College has so far documented and preserved 251 indigenous varieties through its rice bank.
Set up in 1996, the college started to work closely with farmers in the district since 2015 and organised a “Rice Mela” to showcase the indigenous varieties grown in the district.
Assam produced over 70 lakh tonnes of rice in 2017, compared to 52 lakh tonnes the previous year.
Besides the normal rice, Assam also produces different varieties of aromatic rice, locally known as “Joha”; some varieties of soft rice, locally known as “Komal Saul” that needs no cooking; and a huge variety of sticky rice, commonly known as “Bora”.
New health project ‘PLUS’ launched in five Arunachal districts
A health project named ‘Precious Lives under Safety (PLUS)’ is recently launched by Arunachal Government.
The project is initially launched in five district of Papumpare, Lower Subansiri, West Siang, East Siang and Lohit.
It was a modified form of Prime Minister Surakshit Matritwa Yojana, which ensures zero mortality of pregnant mother and neo natal babies besides 100 percent coverage of child birth in government run hospitals.
He said that about 50 percent registered pregnant women in the state gives birth out of government hospital under various reason, but the new project would facilitate them to come to government hospitals for at least four times ante-natal check up and hospital delivery.
Nagaland signed MoU with Estonia for setting up e-governance academy
The Nagaland government signed an MoU with Estonian to setup as academy in Kohima to enlighten the state people on the e-governance models prevailing in the world.
The main objective of the five-year agreement with the e-Governance Academy of Estonia is to work together to develop and expand scientific collaboration on setting up e-Governance Academy in Nagaland.
The agreement was signed during the e-Naga Summit, held with a vision to embark on a process to instill the spirit of innovation and use of technology for impacting positive change in the society.
Manipur emerges overall champion in National School Games
Host Manipur emerged overall team champion at the end of 5-day 64th National School Games, 2018 in Taekwondo for U-14 Boys & Girls held at the Taekwondo Training Hall of Khuman Lampak Sports Complex in Imphal.
Manipur won a total of five gold, three silver and one bronze medals and tops the medal tally while Haryana took three gold, four silver and one bronze medals to clinch the overall runner’s up title. The third position in the tally was bagged by Maharashtra with two gold, five silver and two bronze medals.
With two gold medals and one bronze medal, Nagaland ranked 7th the in medal tally after Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Delhi.
The Youth Affairs and Sports Department organised the games under the aegis of School Games Federation of India.
India-UK joint naval exercise Konkan-2018 begins at Goa
India-UK joint naval exercise “Konkan-2018” has started at Goa and would go on till December 6, The Royal Navy of UK will be represented by HMS Dragon, a Type 45 Class Destroyer equipped with an integral Wildcat helicopter.
The Indian Navy will field INS Kolkata, the first ship of latest Kolkata class destroyers, equipped with integral Seaking and an IN submarine.
In addition, Indian Navy’s maritime patrol aircraft Dornier will also participate in the exercise.
The thrust of the exercise this year would be on anti-submarine warfare, visit board search and seizure (VBSS), anti-air warfare, anti-surface warfare and seamanship evolutions.
The bilateral Konkan exercise provides a platform for the two navies to periodically exercise at sea and in harbour, so as to build interoperability and share best practices.
Assam honoured with India Today’s most improved large State award
In recognition to the State Government’s initiatives to ensure development and quality of life for its citizens, Assam has been awarded the most improved large state in the categories of Overall performance, Economy and Health by India Today at the ‘State of the States Conclave’ held in New Delhi.
Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal received the award from Vice President of India M Venkaiah Naidu.
He also said that corruption-free Assam has been Govt’s top most agenda and govt has cracked down against corrupt practices in the state.
In the tenure of this govt, the state government has detected and cancelled four lakh bogus job cards under MGNREGA, over 36,000 bogus ration cards and over 70 thousand bogus beneficiaries registered under National Old age pension scheme apart from officials held for APSC ‘cash for job scam’.
The North East region is fast emerging as a centre of growth. PM Narendra Modi has called the North East as ‘New Engine of New India’ and ‘Ashtalakshmi’. And has laid special emphasis on improving connectivity within the region and with the rest of India, via railways, waterways, roads, air or telecommunication.
By plugging leakages, revenue collection of the State increased from Rs. 7011 crore in 2015-16 to 8457 crore in 2017-18, an increase of 21%.
Capital expenditurehas increased from Rs. 4919 crore in 2015-16 to 12,817 crore in 2017-18, showing our commitment to improve quality of expenditure.
Government’s sustained efforts to focus on boosting rural economy through leveraging growth of agriculture and other allied sectors, as a result of which annual production of rice has increased by 2.27 lakh tons, horticulture production has increased by 6.19 lakh tons and fish production by 33 thousand tons in 2017-18 as compared to 2015-16.
For the first time direct export of fruits and vegetables from Guwahati to Dubai and other international destinations has started..
State Government organized North East India’s first ever Global Investors’ Summit to realise agri-business potential being thrown open by the ‘Act East Policy’. The state has recorded Rs 12,000 crore worth of investments and this has generated direct employment of around 40 thousand and even more indirect employment.
Recently many initiatives being implemented in the health sector including schemes like Atal Amrit Yojana, CM’s Free Diagnostic Scheme, wage compensation scheme for tea garden pregnant women and cancer care grid, etc.
Chief Minister Sonowal thanked the Prime Minister and the Union Government for their un-stinted support and the cooperation of the government employees and people of the state in scripting a new growth narrative in the state, while highlighting the achievements of the State Government and various innovative measures adopted in economy, health, education and different other sectors.
7th International Tourism Mart started in Agartala
The seventh edition of The International Tourism Mart is organized by the Union Ministry of Tourism in association with the Department of Tourism of Tripura and other north-eastern states in Agartala.
The event facilitate interaction between buyers, sellers, media, government agencies and other stakeholders.
Engagement of business-to-business meetings with sellers from the north-eastern region which will enable the tourism product suppliers from the region to reach out to international and domestic buyers.
A total of 41 foreign delegates from 18 countries and 23 tour operators and travel agents along with 18 media representatives, journalists, travel writers and bloggers are participating in the event.
FACTFILE – International Tourism Mart
The International Tourism Mart, an annual event organized in the north-eastern region with the objective of highlighting the tourism potential of the region in the domestic and international markets.
It provides platform to tourism business fraternity and entrepreneurs from eight North Eastern States.
It organized annually in North Eastern States on rotation basis.
The earlier editions of this event were held in Guwahati, Tawang, Shillong, Gangtok and Imphal.
Sela Pass tunnel construction started in Arunachal Pradesh
Director General Border Roads (DGBR) Lt Gen Harpal Singh informed that the bhoomi puja for starting the construction work of a tunnel through the Sela Pass in Arunachal Pradesh would be held in January next year.
The tunnel located on the vicinity of the border between the Tawang and West Kameng districts at an elevation of 13,700 ft will ensure faster movement of troops in the strategically located parts of the state bordering China.
Significant achievement has been made on improving the 317-km-long Balipara-Charduar-Tawang (BCT) road to two-lane road, which is the lifeline of West Kameng and Tawang districts.
The DGBR informed that stretch from 0-50 km road has been completed and stretch from 70-88 km is being carried out on EPC mode.
FACTFILE – The Sela Pass
The Sela Pass (Se La) is a high-altitude mountain pass located on the border between the Tawang and West Kameng Districts of Arunachal Pradesh state in India.
It has an elevation of 4170 m (13,700 ft) and connects the Tibetan Buddhist town of Tawang to Dirang and Guwahati.
The pass carries the main road connecting Tawang with the rest of India.
The pass supports scarce amounts of vegetation and is usually snow-covered to some extent throughout the year.
Sela Lake, near the summit of the pass, is one of approximately 101 lakes in the area that are sacred in Tibetan Buddhism.
While Sela Pass does get heavy snowfall in winters, it is usually open throughout the year.
Union HRD Minister launched Innovation Cell for research
Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar launched the Institution’s Innovation Cell (IIC) at the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) to foster an attitude of research among students.
So far, more than 1,000 higher education institutes have already established IICs on their campuses to “promote innovation”.
After Independence we established research centres separately from the universities. This was a historical mismatch. In all developed countries universities act as research centres. And it can happen only there, he said.
CCEA approved continuation of “Atmosphere & Climate Research-Modelling Observing Systems & Services (ACROSS)” scheme
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the continuation of its scheme “Atmosphere & Climate Research-Modelling Observing Systems & Services (ACROSS)” which will provide improved weather, climate and ocean forecasts and services.
The Cabinet has approved the continuation of the nine sub-schemes of the umbrella scheme ‘ACROSS’ during 2017-2020 at an estimated cost of Rs 1,450 crore.
It will be implemented by the Ministry of Earth Sciences through its institutes namely India Meteorological Department (IMD), Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), and Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Service (INCOIS).
November 23
Assam singer Nahid Afrin appointed UNICEF ‘Youth Advocate’
Assam singer Nahid Afrin was appointed the first ever ‘Youth Advocate’ of UNICEF, which
aims to inspire and gather the support of India’s 253 million adolescents towards the cause of children and young people.
UNICEF’s association with Nahid Afrin is part of an initiative to advocate child rights in the northeast. As a youth advocate, she would act as a role model to inspire children and young people to act in making the world a better place and ensuring that their rights are respected.
Youth advocates support initiatives of positive change that include access to quality education, basic healthcare, ending violence against children, and addressing the issues of equity and inclusion.
BIOGRAPHY – Nahid Afrin
Nahid made her playback debut in the 2016 Bollywood film Akira.
She won the best female singer award in 2017 for the song Dhuniya Joon.
She also won an award in 2018 at the Assam State Film Awards.
Awards for Nagaland, Tripura at India Today State of State’s Survey
Nagaland awarded ‘Best Performing Small State’ in ‘Law & Order’ by the India Today State of State’s Survey 2018. Nagaland Minister for Forest, Environment, Climate Change and Parliamentary Affairs, C M Chang received the award from Vice President of India, M Venkaiah Naidu.
Tripura bagged three prizes in inclusive development, infrastructure and overall most improved small state. Somya Gupta, Special Resident Commissioner of Tripura Bhavan at New Delhi, received the award.
Meghalaya gets India Today award for ‘most improved small State’ in agriculture
Meghalaya has been adjudged the ‘most improved small State’ in the category of agriculture in the India Today ‘The State of the States’ 2018 Survey.
The Chief Advisor to the Chief Minister Thomas A. Sangma received the India Today ‘The State of the States’ award on behalf of the State Government.
Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma said, the govt have laid adequate thrust on improving agriculture in Meghalaya and such award will further motivate our officials and the farmers to take a quantum leap to ensure innovative and sustainable farming practices.
India and Laos review bilateral ties
India and Laos reviewed the entire gamut of their bilateral ties during the Ninth Joint Commission meeting co-chaired by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Lao counterpart Saleumxay Kommasith.
The meeting reviewed the India-Lao PDR relations comprehensively and took note of all that has been achieved and current state of the various cooperation programmes.
The meeting also laid out the road map for future cooperation and enhancement in bilateral relations.
Laos is member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) regional bloc with which New Delhi has been actively engaging under its Act East Policy.
FACTFILE – Laos
Laos, officially the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, is a socialist state and the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia at the heart of the Indochinese peninsula, bordered by Myanmar (Burma) and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southwest, and Thailand to the west and southwest.
Laos is a member of the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), East Asia Summit and La Francophonie.
The capital and largest city is Vientiane.
Laos has been referred to as one of East Asia and Pacific’s Fastest Growing Economies by the World Bank, with annual GDP growth averaging 7.8% for the past decade.
India and China to hold border talks
India and China will discuss their vexed boundary dispute and try to sort out major issues at the 21st round of two-day border in the Chinese city of Chengdu.
The two countries, which fought a war in 1962 and have had several skirmishes since then along their largely undefined 3,488-km border, were locked in a 73-day military stand-off at Doklam, a contested region between China and Bhutan close to India’s arterial highway where the Chinese were building a road.
The two Asian giants are in a recovery mode and have seemingly made progress in their relationship, especially after the informal summit between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in April this year.
India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval will hold the talks with China’s top diplomat and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Beijing’s new Special Representative on the boundary dispute.
FACTFILE – Sino-Indian border dispute
The Line of Actual Control (LAC) is the effective border between India and the People’s Republic of China.
It traverses 4,057 km along the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
The McMahon Line was part of the 1914 Simla Convention between British India and Tibet, an agreement rejected by China.
Areas of Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh are disputedly claimed by China also.
The 1962 Sino-Indian War was fought in both of these areas. An agreement to resolve the dispute was concluded in 1996, including “confidence-building measures” and a mutually agreed Line of Actual Control.
The 2017 China India border standoff or Doklam standoff refers to the military border standoff between the Indian Armed Forces and the People’s Liberation Army of China over Chinese construction of a road in Doklam near a trijunction border area, known as Donglang.
On 16 June 2017 Chinese troops with construction vehicles and road-building equipment began extending an existing road southward in Doklam, a territory which is claimed by both China as well as India’s ally Bhutan. On 18 June 2017, around 270 Indian troops, with weapons and two bulldozers, entered Doklam to stop the Chinese troops from constructing the road. On 28 August, both India and China announced that they had withdrawn all their troops from the face-off site in Doklam.