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National News
Enemy Property Bill Amendment Introduced
- Allow the custodians to continue to hold sway over enemy properties
- Central government had designated some properties belonging to nationals of Pakistan and China as “enemy properties” during the 1962, 1965 and 1971 conflicts
Gujarat has most investment potential
- A survey was conducted National Council of Applied Economic Research (NACER).
- 21 states were surveyed
- Gujarat, Delhi, and Tamil Nadu are the top 3
Mukhyamantri Santwana Harish Yojana launched
- Will give free treatment to accident victims for the first 48 hours in any nearest hospital. (government or private)
Policy to promote wind energy projects
- Incentives including an interest discount of 0.25 % for increasing capacity of Wind mills of up to 1MW.
- Promote optimum utilization of wind energy resources.
Women Pilots In Fighter Plane by June
- India’s air force will induct its first female fighter pilots in June.
- Women currently comprise just 5% of the armed forces.
- Working mostly in non-combat roles
- Women were inducted as pilots in 1991, but on only helicopter and transport planes
- Three female pilots will complete their training and be inducted into the fighter plane force on 18 June
- The three women are Bhawna Kanth, Avani Chaturvedi and Mohana Singh.
Indian Railways forms SPV to execute Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project
- Aimed on time to avoid additional expenses of the project
- Joint Committee has been formed under the Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog with the secretaries of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Departments of Economic Affairs and Foreign Ministry with the Chairman of Railway Board.
- It will take about seven years to be completed
- 81% of the funding for the project would come from the loan from Japan
India, Saudi Arabia hold talks on regional and global issues.
- External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj held talks with her Saudi Arabian counterpart Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir in New Delhi.
- One fifth of the country’s crude oil import comes from Saudi Arabia.
- They also discussed ways to boost trading ties, exploring new areas of cooperation
Opposition has moved amendment to the “Motion of Thanks”
- Against the minimum educational qualification fixed for aspirants in local and panchayat elections in Haryana and Rajasthan polls
- Amendment has been moved for the 5th time in Parliamentary history and 2nd time in the tenure of this government.
India agreed to not issue ‘compulsory’ drug licenses
- S.-India Business Council (USIBC) revealed that India has given private assurances to the US.
- Will not grant licenses allowing local firms to override patents and make cheap copies of drugs by big Western drug makers.
Kodaikanal mercury poisoning: Hindustan Unilever Limited, ex-staff sign settlement
- Will provide “undisclosed” ex-gratia amount to the victims consisting of future health care benefits.
- Company was facing a ‘class action litigation’ moved by the former workers of its thermometer factory.
- Workers were allegedly exposed to toxic mercury vapor during their employment
- First ever class action litigation moved by industrial workers against occupational health exposure.
International
Women’s wages remain unchanged in 20 years
- A new International Labor Organization (ILO) report, Women at Work: Trends 2016 was released.
- Women are over represented in clerical service and sales work.
- They are the lowest paying jobs.
Drop in aid to SAARC nations
- India’s development assistance to all SAARC neighbors has been slashed.
- Maldives, Bangladesh and Nepal are worst hit by cuts.
- Has fallen by about Rs.500 crore
Business and Economy
YES Bank starts All Women Branch in Bangalore
- Launched an all-women operated bank branch ‘Yes Grace’ to offer customized banking solutions to women
RBI to share FDI details with IB & RAW
- To prevent the entry of Black money into the country.
- A measure to prevent the economic crimes in the country
Government removes proposed tax on EPF withdrawals
- Union government has rolled back controversial EPF Tax withdrawal
- 60% of savers corpus withdrawn from the EPF tax-free if invested in annuity
- 60% of corpus withdrawal from EPF fund will not be included for tax only if invested in National Pension Scheme
- Remaining 40% to be tax free.
RBI signs information exchange pact with Bank of Israel
- For Information Exchange and Banking supervision.
- To promote greater co-operation and share supervisory information.
- RBI has signed 32 such MoUs, one Letter for Supervisory Co-operation and one Statement of Co-operation.
Indian Railways Signs Agreement with Bajaj Power
- For Lalitpur- Udaipura rail section electrification project.
- Project would cost nearly 47 crore to be completed in one year time by PPP (Public Private Partnership) model.
- It would facilitate uninterrupted coal supply to 1, 980 MW thermal Power Plant in Lalitpur district Uttar Pradesh.
- The third unit of 660 Mw is likely to get operational by this month.
- Power plant wholly owned by Bajaj Power generation Company
Tata Motors partners US Firm for 50K Crore project
- Tri Partite Partnership with Bharat Forge and US based General Dynamics Land Systems
- Future infantry combat Vehicle project.
- India’s Defense Force needs partners with long-term commitments to develop products and solutions through multiple generations of evolution.
- Will start development of the first completely indigenized combat vehicle
Science and Technology
Iran conducts several ballistic missiles tests
- Medium and long range precision guided missiles were test fired from various sites
- Display the country’s hostility to confront any threats.
Five health care ATMs in four states
- Dispense Medicines based on a prescription unless they refer the patient to a doctor.
- In Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
- It is expected to handle the massive deficiency of doctors in the country.
New mini fuel cell powers drones for over an hour
- Miniaturized fuel cell that can power drones.
- May lead to smartphone batteries that require charge only once a week.
- Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), developed by researchers in South Korea,
- May replace lithium-ion batteries in smartphones, laptops, drones, and other small electronic devices.
Environment and Ecology
Climate change could kill 500,000 adults by 2050
- Latest computer modeling study reveals that climate change would badly affect China and India
- Study released by The Lancet predicts 36 lakh death in India and 48 lakh death in China
Government signs MoU on conservation of birds of prey
- Raptor MoU for conservation of birds of prey
- India has become the 56th signatory State to sign the ‘Raptor MoU’
- Was concluded on October 22, 2008 and came into effect on November 1, 2008.
- The Raptor MOU is an agreement under the Convention on Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) and is not legally binding.
People in News
S Rao will take over as new public interest director and chairman of BSES
- He served as Public Interest Director of Bangalore Stock Exchange.
- New Appointment is subjected to SEBI’s approval.
Gamlin appointed new CS of Arunachal
- Shakuntala Doley Gamlin has been appointed as Chief Secretary of Arunachal Pradesh
- first woman IAS officer from Mishing tribe of Assam
- Served as Principal Secretary (Power) in New Delhi.
Dr. Mahesh Sharma releases the book “The Culture Heritage of Trans Himalayas-Kinnaur”
- The book, published by IGNCA under Ministry of Culture.
- Study of the cultural heritage of the trans-Himalayan area of Himachal Pradesh
- Very useful for research scholar and students concerned with the Cultural heritage of India.
Awards
President Pranab Mukherjee presented 2015 Nari Shakti awards
- Pranab Mukherjee presented Stree Shakti Puraskars and Nari Shakti Puraskars for the year 2015
- On the occasion of Women’s Day.