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National News
RUSA Scheme to improve Equity, Quality of Higher Education
- Was first started in
- RUSA – Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan
- Will provide strategic funding to eligible state higher educational institutions
Constitution Order Amendment Bill 2016 passed
- The bill seeks to amend the Constitution Scheduled Castes Order 1950.
- bill was passed on proposals of five states, namely Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Kerala, Odisha and West Bengal, to modify the list of Scheduled Castes in their states
AAHAR 2016 Inaugurated
- Largest fair on Food & Hospitality Sector in India
- 31st edition in this series.
- Organized by India Trade Promotion Organization (ITPO), supported by the respective ministries
Over Rs 1 lakh crore disbursed under MUDRA Yojana
- Loans between 50, 000 and Rs.10 lakh are provided to small entrepreneurs.
- Loans worth over Rs.09 lakh crore were given to over 2.96 crore beneficiaries.
Rs 609 crore for upgrading prisons in eight States
- Kerala – 154 crore
- Chhattisgarh – 150 crore
- Odisha – 100 crore
- Andhra Pradesh – 90 crore
- Maharashtra – 60 crore
- Tripura – 15 crore
- Mizoram – 30 crore
- Arunachal Pradesh – 10 crore
- 4 lakh 18 thousand prisoners in jails across the country
- Overall capacity is only 3 lakh 57 thousand.
Mega Food Park in Khammam
- Modern infrastructure for food processing along the value chain from the farm to the market.
- First Mega Food Park in Telangana
- Project cost of 108.95 crore in an area of 78 acres.
- Part of the ‘Make In India’ initiative.
Union Government and Jammu & Kashmir Government sign MoU on UDAY Scheme
- Overall net benefit of approximately 9800 crore to J&K by opting to participate in UDAY.
- Jammu and Kashmir reforms and issue power bonds worth about Rs 7000 crores
- Will pave the way for reduced levels of transmission and AT&C losses which implies lesser cost per unit of electricity to consumers
- State would gain around 785 crore due to these coal reforms.
Voluntary certification process for domestically-produced medical devices.
- Attempt by the center to create confidence among doctors and consumers about availability of locally produced medical devices.
- Pharma produces were also asked to adopt WHO standards to reassure the world that Indian drugs are not only cost-effective but are also of good quality.
Increase in research ties with Saudi Arabia
- India has seen a 10-fold increase in its research collaboration with Saudi Arabia.
- Study conducted by Thomson Reuters
- In the period 2005-2008, Saudi Arabia was only the 20th most prolific contributor of India, with 123 jointly-authored papers
- This has increased to 1,303 in 2013-2014
Constitution Bench to decide on National Court of Appeal
- Apex court would judicially pronounce on if there is a need to bifurcate the higher judiciary
- The Supreme Court will exclusively hear constitutional and public law cases.
- Apex court seems to introspect on its own role as the single, final court situated in the national capital dealing with an increasing variety of cases.
International
14 Indians in top 100 Global Venture Capitalists
- Of the top 100 Global Venture Capitalists, 14 Indians have made it to the list.
Mauritania ratified 2014 Protocol to the Forced Labour Convention
- Emphasizes the global movement against forced labor in all its forms, including human trafficking.
- Mauritania, Niger, Norway and the United Kingdom (Europe) have ratified the protocol.
- Slavery was eradicated in Mauritania in 1980 and criminalized in 2007
Nepal To Have Its First Woman Chief Justice
- Sushila Karki, the senior most of the judges in the Nepal’s Supreme Court has been nominated for the top post
- Nepal’s first woman President Bindya Bhandari endorses her nomination
Bangladesh’s bank governor resigns on $81 million cyber theft
- Cyber hackers cracked the computer systems of Bangladesh Bank
- They transferred the money from its account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to casinos in the Philippines.
UN suspends Maria Sharapova as goodwill ambassador after doping allegations
- Sharapova tested positive for meldonium at the Australian Open and has been provisionally suspended from tennis
- She had started the role with the UN Development Program in 2007 with a special focus on helping with the recovery efforts after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
ICANN submits Internet transition plan to US government
- Result of an inclusive, global discussion among representatives from government, large and small business, technical experts, civil society, researchers, academics and end users.
- Provides a comprehensive package to transition the US Government’s stewardship of the internet’s key technical functions,
- Proposes ways to enhance ICANN’s accountability as a fully independent organization.
- Aims to maintain Internet governance under a “multi-stakeholder” model which avoids control of the online ecosystem by any single governmental body.
Business and Economy
RBI to pay 57000 crores as dividend to the Government
- The amount paid is slightly lesser than the previous fiscal year but much higher than the previous years
- Last year, the government received 73,905 crores as dividends
- In the 2016-17 fiscal year it has estimated to receive 69,897 crores
SBI disburses Rs 1,465 crore OROP arrears
- 75 lakh defense beneficiaries
- The scheme is expected to cost the government Rs 7,500 crore per year
- Family pensioners’ and ‘gallantry award’ pensioners will be eligible to get full amount of arrears paid on 14th March.
- Under One Rank One Pension the pensioners will get their first instalment (1/4th of total arrears amount upto February 2016).
Interest on savings accounts every quarter: RBI to banks
- Reserve bank of India asked banks to credit interest on savings accounts every quarter or shorter than that of the fiscal.
- Revised interest rate credit payment may put a burden of 500 crore on banks
- Will benefit crores of savings account holders.
ICICI Bank launches contactless mobile pay solution ‘iTap’
- New system enables its credit and debit users to make in-store contactless payments by using an NFC-enabled mobile phone.
- ICICI has become the first bank to use Host card Emulation Technology for its payment system.
Survey lists Reliance, Tata Industries under Sustainable Business Practices
- Survey involves checking the environment, social and governance dimensions of business
- Measures the progress of Indian companies in adopting sustainable business practices
Anti-dumping duty on Plastic-Processing imports
- Duty will be levied on imports of all kinds of plastic-processing or injection-molding machines.
- Anti-dumping duty of up to 44.7 percent on import of plastic-processing machines from Chinese, Taipei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam for five years.
Science and Technology
Malawi, UNICEF tested first UAV flights for early diagnosis of HIV in infants
- Joint initiative took place at Area 25 Health Centre in Lilongwe
- Drone airborne on its test flight to Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) covering a distance of 10 km at 400ft above sea level.
- This is the first of its kind UAVs on the continent for improvement of HIV services.
People in News
Gandhi: An Illustrated Biography authored by Pramod Kapoor
- He is the founder and publisher of Roli Books
- Has conceived and produced award-winning books that include then and now series, Made for Maharajas, New Delhi: The Making of a Capital.
- It is a biography of Mahatma Gandhi who played a key role in Indian independence movement.
Awards
India-based software engineer wins First Prize in UN #LinksSDGs Data Visualization Challenge
- Abdulqadir Rashik won the Challenge’s top prize for his submission Links to Sustainable Cities
- Interactive visualization that identifies and maps the links between Sustainable Development Goal 11, Sustainable Cities and Communities, and the other 16 Goals.
Mother Teresa to Be Canonized On September 4
- Mother Teresa is set to attain sainthood on September 4, as confirmed by Pope Francis.
- Was confirmed in December 2015.