Daily News Analysis for IAS / UPSC (27th May, 2016)

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Railway launches week-long drive

“RAIL HAMSAFAR SAPTAAH”– a Week Long Celebration to showcase Railway Achievements during 2014 – 2016.
Held during 26th May to 1st June, 2016
To highlight the Initiatives and Significant achievements by Indian Railways in the areas of responsiveness, accessibility and improvement of passenger amenities.

first ever Passenger Satisfaction Survey at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport

CBEC engaged a reputed Management School, L. N. Welingkar Institute of Management, Mumbai (WE School)
To conduct a survey of Passenger Satisfaction levels of customs clearance process
Focusing on three aspects– Information, Behaviour and Process.

Railway projects worth Rs 11,000 crore cleared

approval for Railway projects worth Rs 11,000 crore for improving infrastructurein various states.
group of projects include Bina-Katni 3rd line project at an estimated cost of nearly 2,500
Vizianagaram and Titlagarh 3rd line project, will be constructed at an estimated cost of 2,335 crore.
completion of these projects will be between three to five years.

Six new IITs, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad upgraded to IIT

S.No	Location	State
1	Tirupati	Andhra Pradesh
2	Palakkad	Kerala
3	Dharwar	Karnataka
4	Bhilai	Chhattisgarh
5	Jammu	Jammu and Kashmir
6	Goa	Goa
Conversion	Indian School of Mines- Dhanbad to an IIT

ex-post facto approval to Amendments in Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950

move is to modify the list of Scheduled Tribes in respect of five States and identification of new communities in the Puducherryfor the first time.

State / UT	Included Community in ST
Assam	i) Boro, Boro Kachari, Bodo, Bodo Kachari ii) Karbi (Mikir)
Chhattisgarh	iii) Bhuinya, Bhuiyan, Bhuyan iv) Dhanuhar / Dhanuwar v) Kisan vi) Saunra, Saonra vii) Dhangad
Jharkhand	viii) Bhogta, Deshwari, Ganjhu, Dautalbandi (Dwalbandi), Patbandi, Raut, Maajhia, Khairi (Kheri) ix) Puran
Tamil Nadu	x) Malayali Gounder xi) Narikoravan, Kurivikkaran
Tripura	xii) Darlong
Puducherry	xiii) Irular (including Villi and Vettaikaran)

Nirbhaya buses with safety measures for women

bus security measures include Vehicle Tracking System (VTS), CCTV and panic buttonson every seat.
proposed 20 Mahila Gaurav Express buses in a pilot basis that would run between Delhi and Rajasthan.

Dial 139 for wait-listed ticket cancellation

Earlier only confirmed ticket holders could cancel their tickets through 139 service and IRCTC website.
move will pave the way for the wait-listed and RAC allocated train ticket holders can cancel their tickets by dialling 139.
online cancellation by 139will be allowed only 4 hours before the scheduled departure of the train in case of confirmed tickets
half an hour before the scheduled departure of the train in case of RAC and wait-listed cases.

Government waives off loan worth Rs 9079 cr

Waived off loans worth over Rs 9,079 crorein a bid to restructure the PSU that owed by Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation Ltd (HFCL).
Cabinet also approved transfer of 56 acres of ashdyke land of Barauni (Bihar) State-Power Generation Company Ltd to settle dues of HFCL
Restructured unit will create 400 direct and 1,200 indirect employment opportunities in the circle

Bharatavani Portal, India’s largest online repository of dictionaries launched

multilingual knowledge portal namedbharatavaniwhich has over 130 dictionaries, glossaries and terminology books in text and PDF formats launched
Mysuru based Central Institute of Indian Languagesis implementing this ambitious project of MHRD.
aims to foster national integration by highlighting on multilingual and cross-lingual learning tools and technologies.
portal has been launched in 22 scheduled languages, which eventually will be extended to 100 more languages.

NITI Aayog Launches 500 Tinkering Labs for Schools

It will provide one time establishment grant-in-aid of Rs. 10 lakhfor establishing and Rs. 10.0 lakh would also be provided for over a period of 5 years for operational expenses
Atal Incubation Centres will provide pre-incubation facilities, common infrastructure and services such as technology development assistance, networking and mentoring, funding access, training and development, business support services.

GAIL reconfigures Rs 12,000 crore Jagdishpur-Haldia gas pipeline

Actions on Air Quality Report released

Air Pollution range increased by8% and affect the Air Quality, Report on Air Quality released by United Nations Environment Program

India becomes 5th largest producer of e-waste in world

India emerged as the Second largest mobile market with 03 billion subscribers
About 100 crore mobile phones in circulation, nearly 25 per cent end up in e-waste annually.

Islamic Development Bank to open its first branch at Ahmedabad

Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank is all set to open its India operations at Ahmedabad in Gujarat
objective is to foster the economic development and social progress of member countries as well as the Muslim community.
move is part of MoU signed between India’s EXIM Bank and IDB
a 100 million dollarline-of-credit was to be given to facilitate exports to IDB’s member countries.
IDB will provide 350 fully-equipped medicalvans mobile clinics) to India, 30 of which will be received by Gujarat in the maiden phase.

EPFO doubles insurance for subscribers to Rs 6 lakh

EPFO to closely double the maximum sum assured under its insurance scheme to Rs 6 lakhfrom Rs 3.6 lakh for its 4 crore subscribers.

Union Bank of India launches e-SBTR to facilitate stamp duty and registration

a facility for a single window payment facility of both stamp duty and registration feefor home purchase in Maharashtra.
eSBTR allows payment without any ceiling and is available on 24x7x365through internet banking.
system improves ease of process and convenience for citizens by providing single window payment facility

Coverfox ties up with Oriental Insurance Company

to facilitate the PSU’s comprehensive motor insurance product for both four and two wheelersin online mode.
online portal Coverfox becomesthe first to offer such scheme.

Aditya Birla Fashion signs MoU with Forever 21

California-based fashion retailer Forever 21 to acquire its India business from its current franchise Diana Retails
deal comes with an unspecified amount that includes the online and offline rights of Forever 21 for the Indian market and its store network in the India.

FSSAI bans potassium bromate, cancer-causing chemical

to ban potassium bromate as a food additive in bread products on behalf the recommendations from a scientific panel
84 per cent of 38 commonlyavailable brands of packaged breads tested positive for potassium bromate and potassium iodate.
It is a powerful oxidizing agent used for flour treatmentin bread and other bakery products because it makes the bread fluffy, soft and also gives it a good finish.

Maharashtra Mantralaya’s 150 Computers Attacked By Locky Virus

Maharashtra’s e-governance platform Mantralaya’s 150 computershave been attacked by a malicious software
irus blocks access to computers by encrypting important files from the Public Works Department and the Revenue department.
damaged over two lakh systemsin Germany and the United States in the last two years.
the information technology department isolated all the systems that went under the attack.