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National News
Uttarkhand Government to buy short-term power through e-auction
- To buy 100-200 Megawatt short term power for the months July, August and September
- Term of the power procurement is ranging from a day to a year
- Bidders including power generators, traders and distribution companies after the launch of the e-auction portal
Shyam Benegal panel submits report on censor board
- Committee suggested that the Central Board of Film Certification can decline certification if a film having anything that contravenes the provisions of Section 5B (1) of the Cinematograph Act, 1952.
- CBFC head will only plays the role of a guiding mechanism for the body, and not be involved in the day-to-day activities
Heart of Asia Conference for the year 2016
- India hosted Heart of Asia Conference on 26th April 2016 in Delhi.
- Aims in Bringing peace and Stability to Afghanistan and enhancing up its reconstruction
- Focusing on investment growth and connectivity to the country
Rs 1 lakh crore Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh
- Fund will help to accomplish railway’s zero-accident mission by strengthening the safety measures on the rail network in a comprehensive way.
- Fund will be non-lapsable in nature
- Rashtriya rail fund will be also used for replacement and upgrading of signaling system, improvement and up gradation of rolling stock, replacement of electrical assets and human resource development.
Scheme to encourage water harvesting in MSMEs
- Government of Haryana has notified Water Audit Scheme for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to fillip water harvesting and conservation in industrial units.
- Involves measuring the actual water consumption of various gadgets used in the premises of the enterprise, comparing it with an estimate of the minimum water required for the same.
- Envisages to optimize the water consumption principal to water saving and cutting down water consumption bills.
- 75% reimbursement of cost of water audit limited to a maximum of Rs 1 lakh and subsidy up to 50% or maximum of Rs 20 lakh
Naval detachment set up at Lakshadweep
- Lakshadweep and Minicoy Islands occupy a strategic location in the Arabian Sea
- Naval Detachment at Androth Island will improve the Navy’s reach and surveillance, and contribute significantly to strengthen maritime security and stability.
Fine or jail for celebs in misleading ads
- Parliamentary Standing Committee has been formed to tackle misleading advertising as well as to fix liability on endorsers/celebrities.
- Department of Consumer Affairs should be empowered to make laws to regulate growing sectors of e-commerce, direct selling and multi-level marketing where consumer complaints are on the rise.
- Panel suggests that for first time offence the violator may be penalized with either a fine of Rs 10 lakh or imprisonment up to two years or both. For second time offence a fine of Rs 50 lakh and imprisonment of five years.
‘Make in India’ not at cost of IPR: U.S.
- US Trade Representative’s annual Special 301 report has placed India on the Priority Watch List, the same as last year.
- Identifies trade barriers to U.S. companies and products due to a foreign government’s intellectual property regime
- Report ranks countries depending on the inadequacy of IP protection and enforcement into two categories — priority foreign country (PFC) and priority watch list (PWL).
- India stays on the highest priority watch list due to lack of measurable improvements to its intellectual property legal framework, despite stepped up enforcement efforts.
Joint parliament standing committee clears bankruptcy law
- The Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha in December 2015.
- Proposed Bill aims for a complete renovation of the current insolvency and bankruptcy system in India, which will help streamline the procedure of revival of companies facing financial distress.
- Aims to improve the ease of doing business and attract more investment in the country.
- Code will help Indian firms to exit an ailing business while banks stand to gain as they can recover their dues in time.
- Bill proposes adherence to strict deadlines to decide whether to liquidate a sick company or not, wherein the decision to liquidate a company will have to be reached within 180 days.
Govt. to set up sex offenders’ registry
- Government is planning to set up a sex offender’s registry in the country, on the lines of those maintained in western countries including the U.S. and the U.K.
- an online database of charge-sheeted sexual offenders in the entire country, which people can access through a Citizen Portal in the upcoming Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) project.
International
Saudi Arabia unveiled Vision 2030 cutting reliance on oil
- The Blue Print charts out the roadmap to broaden the country’s economy in next 14 years and to ensure reduction in oil dependency and to live without oil by 2030.
- Saudi Arabia possesses about 16% of the oil reserves
- World’s largest exporter of petroleum liquids and the industry relies on almost half of its GDP.
- Envisions forming Investment fund from the Public, offering affordable housing and providing expats long-term residence among others.
Bangladesh brings in law to impeach Supreme Court judges
- Empower the Parliament to impeach the Supreme Court judges for misbehavior and incapacity as well as physical and mental incapability.
- Proposed law allows any citizen with evidence can submit allegations of misconduct or incapacity against a Supreme Court judge to the Speaker of Parliament.
- Speaker will then form a 10-member parliamentary body will investigate the allegations with former a Supreme Court judge, a former Attorney-General and noted jurists
Business and Economy
NABARD lent 1000 crore rupees to HSWC for wheat procurement
- National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has sanctioned a loan of 1000 crore rupees to Haryana State Warehousing Corporation (HSWC)
- Loan aimed for the purchase of wheat during the ongoing Rabi marketing season.
- NABARD had disbursed an amount of 500 crore rupees to the corporation for paddy procurement
IT department to pay interest on TDS refund
- Income Tax Department planned to add interest to delayed refunds made against excess TDS deductions
- Will also not litigate with the deductor on this issue in the future.
New fraud solution for banking and insurance
- Information services company Experian has launched Hunter Fraud Score a new scoring mechanism
- Measures the probability of fraud in a credit application across the banking and insurance industries.
- Has 6 life insurance companies going live this month.
Government to sell 11.36% stake in NHPC
- to sell 36% of stakes through offer for sale mode in Faridabad based Hydropower generation company NHPC to raise approximately Rs 2,700 crore
- Stake sale in NHPC comprising 1.25 billion shares is the first disinvestment for the financial year.
- To raise approximately Rs 2,700 crore which will pave the way for Rs 56,500-crore disinvestment Programme this fiscal.
People in News
Sangey re-elected PM of Tibetan ‘govt-in-exile’
- Received about 58% of the 58,740 votes
China human rights campaigner Harry Wu dies
- Chinese human rights campaigner Harry Wu has died at 79.
- The cause of death wasn’t known.
Science and Technology
X-plane program for green aviation
- NASA has unveiled the launch of the New Aviation Horizons initiative in NASA’s 2017 budget,
- Aims to a new generation of X-planes that are fueled by greener energy uses half of the fuel,
- Half as loud as commercial aircraft and generate 75% less pollution than current planes.
- First design contract, to develop a supersonic jet with a quiet boom, was awarded to Lockheed Martin in February.
- 17-month $20 million project is required to complete a preliminary design for Quiet Supersonic Technology.
APEPDCL becomes India’s first e-office
- Objective of the e-office is to clear the files devoid of any delay, and to ensure transparency, and accountability.
- There are 62,291 files generated in e-office in the Andhra Pradesh of which 50,036 are of the APEPDCL’s accounting closely 32 % of the total files.
- Gives to significantly large number of trees which otherwise would have been cut for producing 5 lakh of A4 size sheets estimated.
Environment & Ecology
Mumbai Noisiest city: Central Pollution Control Board
- Mumbai is reported the maximum violation of safe noise levels for consistently longer periods during 2011-14
- Rank 1: Mumbai
- Rank 2: Lucknow
- Rank 3: Hyderabad
- Rank 4: Delhi
Awards
Jagendra Singh gets press club award for bravery in Journalism
- Jagendra Singh honored posthumously with “RedInk Veer Patrakar Puraskar”
- Was killed allegedly for expressing his thoughts on illegal sand mining and other misbehavior activities
Pak radio journalist Misha Euceph selected for prestigious WHCA scholarship
- Misha from Rawalpindi is the beneficiary of a USD 5,000 grant
- To help finance a post-graduate degree for a student.
- Scholarship would be presented by US President and the First Lady Michelle Obama.
Sports
Riyad Mahrez becomes first African footballer to win PFA Player of the Year
- Riyad Mahrez of Algeria was adjudged as the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) Player of the Year
- Award chosen by players in the English Premier League is one of the most prestigious honors an individual can receive in British soccer.
- He is the only player in the Premier League to have reached double figures in goals and assists this season.
- Second non-European after Luis Suarez of Uruguay to win this prestigious award.
- He is the first African to receive the award.
New emblem of Tokyo 2020 Olympics unveiled
- New Olympic emblem represents significant elements of the Tokyo 2020 Games vision and the fundamental concepts of achieving personal best unity.
- Design are the words Tokyo 2020 and under them the five interlocking Olympic rings.
- Logo was selected from a shortlist of more than 14,599 entries were publicly accepted.