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No pat of thi magezne canbe printed in whole orn par without he publisher The eters ad pubis cf his magazine other best ely the fran Allisputessubect toMeerit UP juedtion Prag hetp/bit ry errno2016 26 December Mithun Chakraborty, Member of Rajya Sabha by Trinamool Congress (TMC), resigned from the Upper House citing because of il heath + The Centre has released 2 1982 crore to Andhva Pradesh towards the Polavaram iigation project through NABARD. 27 December Prime Minister Narendea Modi lad tne foundation stone for the Char Dam. Mahamarg Vikas Pariyojna in Dehradun (Uttarakhand). * Bollywood star Akshay Kumar signed in as Brand Ambassador of Tala Motors fo its Commercial Vehicle (CV) business unit. 28 December Department of Telecommunications has launched an Integrated Voice Response System (QVRS) system in Deli Mumbai, Punjab, Uttar Pradesg, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and Goa, * Former Machya Pradesh Chief Minister, Sunderlal Patwa passed away al the age of 92. He was appointed Chief Minister in the year 1980 and again from 1990 to 1992. A competition 29 December Siaterun Bank of Baroda (B08) and Heritage Foods Limited (HEL) signed a Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) to provide dairy loans to farmers to benelit them in increasing their productivity and earnings under allied activites * The virtual reality company of Facebook, Oculus has acquired eye-tracking software company The Eye Tribe 30 December sikkim became Inia’ fra ly organic State besides being adjudged the cleanest State, overall bet in education and tourist destination 31 December Patistan's First Test Team member, Imtiaz Ahmed, cies at the age of 88. He featured in Pakistan's fst Test played in Delhi against Inca in October, 1952 V i N * State-run Bank of Baroda (B08) has launched an agricultural investment Credit forthe farmers of Rajasthan, i FOCUS * March 2017 2017 J January An extra second was added tothe Indian clock 25:20:59 hours atthe National Physical Laboratory as the atomic clock was struck at 23:59:59 the previous night. The leap second’ was added to the Indian clock to synchvonise the Indian Standard Time (ST) with the Earth's Rotational Clock 2 January The President has appointed Prot, David R Syiemiieh, Member, Union Pubic Sewice Commission, to perform the duties of the post of Chairman, Union Pubic Senice Comission with effect rom dlanuary 4, 2017, + Air Marshal $B Deo took over as Viee-Chie ofthe Air Sat (VCAS) at Air HO, He was commssioned as a lighter pilot inthe AF on June 15, 1979, 3 January Former Australian Cricketer Arthur Morris was inducted into the international Cricket Council's Hall of Fame. Technology Giant Google dedicated its doodle to renowned social reformer Savitibai Phule's 186th birth anniversary. 4 January Election Commission announced the schedule of upcoming “Assembly elections in 6 Stats. They are Goa, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. DECEMBER 26, 2016 TO JANUARY 22, 2017 = Assam and Telangana signed a pact with the Power Minister, Piyush Goyal to join the UDAY scheme ina bid to improve the performance of State-run power istripution companies, 5 January the Union government has approved an assistance of 1782.44 ‘ore for rought-afected Karnataka. The assistance has beon approved fom the NORF * North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NOMC) has cated a stretch of road in Now Dali to Guru Govind Singh between Block A and Block B at Sector 15 in Rohini to ‘commemorate his 350! birth aniversary 6 January Telangana ‘announced a monthiy £ 1000 pension scheme to the helpless, single women residing in the Siate, The scheme wil come into effect from the ‘coming financial year. + Delhi government approved by the Deli Metro's Phase-d that features six coridors measuring over a 100 km and wil take the network to the outer areas of the national capital and make the airport more accessible7 January Olympic and werd 800 rm champion, David Rudisha (Kenya) is named as the intemational event ambassador for the ‘th Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2017 * Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor has signed as the Brand Ambassador for Asian Paints premium exterior paint offering Utina Protek 8 January 47 day International Kite Festivals inaugurated by Gujarat Governor, OP Kohli and Chiet Minister Vijay Rupani al the Sabarmatirverront, ‘Anmedabad. * Bollywood Actor Amitabh Bachchan was honoured by the US Embassy for hs immense contribution to the India US partnership on tuberculosis (TB) s: Ly 9 January New Zealand Caplcin Kane Witiamson has became the second batsman after nian skipper Vrat Kohl to feature inthe top-five of the ICC rankings forall tree formats by cing to fourth inthe latest Tweny20 lst issued in Dubai + Mobile handset brand Gionee has roped in nian test captain Vat Kohl as the Brand Ambassador 10 January Lutthansa has became the fist carrier to launch commercial operations with Airbus ABO to india after it announced thatthe fst fight to Dei from Munich * Defence Minister Manchar Parnikar inaugurated the ainedtion of the International Conference & Exribition on Reinforced Plastic atthe BCEC in Mumbai eet ee 11 January The national carer Airinla (A) has launched a Fly For Sure scheme, Under the scheme, the customer wil have to pay entra 2000 whe booking the ticket anc gett board any Air India fight on the same day and same sectrin case of missing or canealed fight * Digial Sonices firm Atos and NASSCOM Foundation has collaborated to launch National Digital Literacy Mission (NOLM) conters at Vadodara, Gujarat to conduct sil development programmes inthe area of Information Technology. 12 January The Urion Wiis of State for Personne, Public Grevanoes and Pensions, Senca Singh informed thatthe minmum persion for canal government employees has been ineteaded to € 8000 per pomonand exrgatia fount nas been increased trom 10-15 lal to € 25-25 kh, 13 January Dathi nas been declared free from HEN@ avian influenza commaniy known as Bic Fuuby the Animal Husbandry Department of the Deh government + Hope Island became graveyard for Ove Fileys {utes afore wilt wing ofthe Forest department have spotted 54 carcasses on the shores of Hope Isiand in just one month (14 January The thvee-day fourth Detht lnterational Kite Festival was inaugurated by Delhi Tourim Minister Kapil Misha at Dwerka's DDA Ground in New Dat * Former Chief Minister of Punjab, Sut Singh Bamala passed avay at the age of 91. He served as tho Chief Minster of Punjab trom 1985 to 1967. eo ers 15 January The annual ‘camel festival was held in Bikaner (ejasthan). The wo-day festival was ‘organised by the Rajasthan Tourism Department and the Bikaner district administration * Border Security Force (BSF) has launched its 14-day ‘operation Sard Hawa atthe \westem international border (of Rajasthan to check the instances of ifiteration due to the dense fog inthe area 16 January Future Group's fashion and ifestyle departmental store Cental Joined with SBI Care and launched a second co-branded credit card to cfer benefits to consumers in the premium ifesiyle and fashion space * The government-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has commissioned new 500 MW Thermal Unit in West Bence 17 January Chennai ‘Smashers won the Premior Badminton League Season 2 tite by deleating Mumbai Rockets in the final match held at Sin Fort Complex in New Deki = The Tamil Nadu government declared former Chief Minister land AIADMIK founder MG Ramachandran’s birth ‘centenary on January 17 as a public holiday for the State and applicable to all State ‘government offices, corporations, local and ‘cooperative bodies. 18 January The say ition of India Intemational Garment Fair (IGF) was inaugurated by the Union Teadies Minister Smt Zubin kann New Delhi + The government signed an ‘agreement with the National Yuva Cooperative Society to set-up 1000 ‘lanaushadhi Kendras' across the county and targets to open such mecical stores in every black {and gram panchayat to provide quality medicines at an affordable price 19 January The Jammu & Kashmir Assembly unanimously passed a resolution fr the tum of Kashmir Pandit and other migrants tothe Valley + The 10th eaition of the Jaipur Literature Festival (ULE was inaugurated al the histotic Digg) Palace, Jajur, Rajasthan. The theme ofthe 10th edition of LF is The Freedom to Dream: India at 70. LF is considered as the Greatest Literary Show on Earth 20 January Wors Economic Forum (WEF) announced a partnership with tho UCSB's Marine Scionce Institute to improve heath of word's oceans and mantime resources 21 January The State {Qovommoni of Bihar led by Nitsh Kumar launched a Nasha Mukt State Campaign with the formation of world's largest hhuman chain across the State. ae, ieee eo +The under-1@ Inca number ‘wo Dhray Sunish on TF Jost atthe Dakshin ialkata Sansad clay cours 22 January The Union {Qovernmeni has consituted 2 Commitee to trame uniform ules forthe States to.avoid delay in proper implementation of the Fights of Persons with Disabilities (RD) Act which will be headed by Secretary from Deparment of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEP 10), + Hong Kong has withdrawn the visa-on arival facility fr Indians traveling to the county COMPETITION in FOCUS * March 2017 eagerZA DATE & DAY Army Day (India) ‘The day is celebrated every year on January 15 to respect the Lieutenant General of India, KM Cariappa (Kodandera Madappa Cariappa) who was the first Indian Army's Commander in-Chief. This year the Indian Army celebrated its 6ath Army Day. Jon 42) National Youth Day National lebrated on Jon ) Youth Day is January 12 every year with the sreat joy and enthusiasm in India since 1985. Itis celebrated to commemorate the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, the maker of the modern India, World BrailleDay World Braille Day is celebrated on January 4 every year on the birthday of Braille inventor, Louis Braille. The day recognises the contributions of Louis Braille in helping blind and visually impaired people to read and write Good Governance Day This day is observed every year on oy December 25 across India. December 25 is the birth anniversary of the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and it was declared in 2014 by the BJP government to be celebrated every year all through the India asa Goed Governance Day. Jon 24) National Consumer Day This day is observed every year on Dee December 24. On this day, the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 had received the assent of the President, The Day isan annual occasion for celebration and solidarity within the national consumer movement and is ‘opportunity to promote the basic rights ofall consumers Latest General KNOWLEDGE 7A APPOINTMENT Alok Kumar Verma Delhi Police commissioner Alok Kumar Verma has been appointed as the director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on January 19, 2017. Rakesh Asthana was interim CBI Director following Anil Sinha’s retirement ‘on December 2, 2016. Though, originally slated to retire on July 31, 2017, Verma will get a fixed tenure of two years as the CBI Chief, He has no prior experience of working in the CBI His appointment as the CBI director is his 24th posting in his 36-year career as a police officer. He has been the Delhi Police Chief for the last 11 months. He is a 1979-batch Indian Police Service officer of the Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre. Verma was earlier the Director General of Tihar prisons and the police Chief of Mizoram. He has also served as the joint and special Commissioner of the Delhi Police crime branch between August, 2007 and December, 2008 Daniel Ortega President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua was elected to a third consecutive term on January 8, 2017. His wife, Rosario Murillo, was elected as Vice-President, With two-thirds of the votes counted, Ortega led with 72% of the vote. The nearest. ‘competitor was at 14.2%, Ortega took the oath in Managua in the presence of the Presidents of Venezuela, Bolivia and Taiwan. Former Sandinista querrilla fighter, Ortega has been President of Nicaragua since 2007. Ortega and Murillo were elected in November, 2016. Their party won 71 of the 92 seats in Parliament ‘Ortega has a storied career in Nicaraguan politics. He is the leader of ‘Sandinista National Liberation Front, which served as one side in the brutal Nicaraguan civil war of the late 1970s and 1980s, Ortega first served as Nicaragua's President from 1985-90, and President Ronald Reagan's clandestine support for the Sandinistas’ enemy, the Contras, embroiled the administration in the Iran-Contra affair during that period. Karan Bajwa Karan Bajwa has been appointed as the Manager Director of IBM’s India operations on January 4, 2017. Bajwa joined IBM in 2016 as Executive for Strategy and Transformation in the Asia-Pacific region. Prior to this, he was Microsoft India's Managing Director. He was associated with IBM's networking business and was based in Singapore in 2001-05, He took over from Vanitha Narayana, who has been promoted as Chairman of IBM India, He will lead the team to win new business, shape market opportunities by building alliances and partnerships and solidify the company’s position in the marketplace. He will also lead IBM’s partnership ‘with clients for cloud- and cognitive-led digital transformation of its businesses. By constantly reinventing itself and investing in innovation, IBM today is in a sweet spot to help businesses and governments with their digital transformation journey. IBM will "rely on her leadership to engage and further strengthen goverment and regulatory affairs initiatives’ HEEB competition w Focus » March 2017ADMISSION OPEN ROR CRC Ce ORR India’s No.1 MAJOR KALSHI ciasses pv nw ‘www.majorkalshiclasses. in Away to get Conialesioied NDAe CDS¢ CPF AF e NAVY « ACC « AFCAT GDe CLERKe BSF e CRPF SSB INTERVIEW __Special Batch for retrace aston tcarnac fg Alt Force (X) & (Y) Group Batches Start NDA AF NAVY CDS on 6th, 13th, Pri clag 20th & 27th CPF ACC AFCAT Gi) February Retro oie ee el ee ee Me UEC 1000+Officers | GTO Ground Pr eng we 12016 Result] °*°*eers!c70 s Study Material See eur) Cece tae TVs from Otani (erie) Final Selections 5 - Cr Pa Pi PE Non-Comissioned Selections - 2015-16 COTE Le Le) 297 hr 102 Et) = a Petetonee eter me ig UM CMC Cc mere EW Cm en UCL (a) Be ee TSE REALSurekha Marandi ‘The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has appointed ‘Surekha Marandi as its Executive Director (ED). She took charge on January 2, 2017. Prior to being promoted as ED, Marandi was Principal Chief General Manager and Chief Vigilance Officer in the RBI Surekha Marandi replaced US Paliwal. Over a span of three decades, she served in regulatory and Supervisory, financial inclusion and development and human resource management areas in the RBI. Marandii holds a Master's Degree from Jadhavpur University. She has also served on the Boards of United Bank and Bank of Baroda. She will look after the Consumer Education and Protection Department, Financial Inclusion and Development Department and Secretary's Department, Sheikh Rafik Mohammed Indian origin businessman Sheikh Rafik Mohammed has been appointed a Major General by Kyrgyzstan Defence Minister Ali Mirza during an official ceremony hold in Kyrgyzstan on December 31, 2016 in view of his earlier contributions to the country. It is a rare military position occupied by an oversé ‘Mohammed, who belongs to a village near Kozhikode in Kerala, studied only up to Class-VII and went on to establish a multi-million dollar firm, in Saudi Arabia in his twenties. Mohammed played a role in attracting foreign investment to Kyrgyestan by suggesting easy tax regimes. He was later invited by Saudi Arabia to develop some projects on the free zone model of Dubai He heads the Gammon Group, which has been chosen to develop Jazan industrial city in Saudi Arabia. Gammon Group has a presence in emerging markets in Asia, Middle-East, Europe and North Africa. The group has interests in infrastructure and petrochemicals. According to its website, it employs, 200000 people in 28 countries. Justice Saqib Nisar Justice Mian Saqib Nisar took over as the 25th Chief Justice of Pakistan after taking the oath on December 31, 2016, President Mamnoon Hussain administered oath of office to Justice Nisar. He replaced Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, who retived after serving as chief justice for 15 months. Justice Nisar was the acting Chief Justice of Pakistan in the absence of Chief Justice Jamali who had gone to Turkey on a seven-day offical visit in April, 2016, He has been a senior Justice of the ‘Supreme Court of Pakistan since September 10, 2015. He has served as the judge of Lahore High Court before becoming justice in the apex court, Justice Nisar was an advocate of Supreme Court Bar Association and Lahore High Court Bar Association before he became the judge of Lahore High Court. HEEGMEN competition w Focus » March 2017 Anil Baijal wpe Former Home Secretary Anil Baijal was appointed as the new Lieutenant Governor of Delhi by President Pranab Mukherjee on December 29, 2016, a week after Delhi's former Lt, Governor Najeeb Jung suddenly resigned on December 23, 2016. Baijal is a 1969-batch Indian Administrative Sorvico (IAS) officer of Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory cadre. He has served in Delhi as a former Vice-Chairman of the Delhi Development Authority (DA). Baijal was appointed the Home Secretary in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, He was handpicked by Home Minister LK Advani and superseded several officers. During his 37-year career in the bureaucracy, Baijal also had stints as the Chairman and Managing Director of Indian Airlines, Chief Executive Officer of Prasar Bharati Corporation, Development Commissioner of Goa and Counselor incharge of Indias aid programme in Nepal. He has also served as the Non-Executive Chairman and Independent Director of IDFC Limited Viral Acharya Viral Actaiga,o profess fois New York Uoiversty, fa on appointed as the Deputy Governor of the monetary policy department, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on December 28, 2016 “The post fell vacant with the elevation of Usjt Patel as the RB governor in early September, 2078, As para notification iSsued by the Department of Personnel end Training, Acharya well have a three-year term Acharya is a CV Starr Professor of Economics in the Department of Finance at the Now York Univorsity (NYU) Stem Schoo! of Business: Hayne algoan alum of cho proctigions Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. He has co-authored a Fev rasbareh paps with fore RET governor Raghuram Rajan ‘The Appointment Committee ofthe Cabinet has approved the appulutredt. Actarye was chower from over 100 pandidatn, a2 ths poreruinsti, forte ars inio, adver ioe for Glog the post of a Deputy Governor of the central bank. The RBI has four Deputy Governor posts, of which two are filled by promotions trom withie dhe Yanks of the central bank Aso tha thee tra ons'pcet isto bo filed by a coenmercial banker, while the other goas to an economist2 CHANAKYA me IAS ACADEMY Wergewteeet ae CNN nr nin rama aiet Trai ee Lice) Po ace a naa LCL OR ec er PRELIMS 2017 Batch: 10th February, 2017 IAS 2018 UPGRADED FOUNDATION COURSE” A Complete Solution for Prelims, Mains & Interview Batches: 20th January & 25th February, 2017 POSTAL GUIDANCE PROGRAMME ALSO AVAILABLE WEEKEND BATCHES AVAILABLE For Details. Call: 011-65428647, 09971989980/81, 09811671844/45 Log on: www.chanakyaiasacademy.com | E-mail: enquiry @chanakyaiasacademy.com SATU CP REO CM LCM A ULC KAU (34g Ay ETA ETE Sa SUP SY STU Seem ES Ce TMM Mea CC OL CRANES TTT MALL Aa a ea OL Pe : Ahmedabad: 27437067, 7574824916-18 | Allahabad: 2401333, 09721352333 Chandigarh: 4640005, 8288005466 | Gurgaon: 4111571, 8527509992 Guwahati: 8811092481, 09650299662 | Hazaribagh: 263793, 9771869233, 9934540147 Jaipur: 2709960, 9680423137 | Jammu: 08715823063/64 | Patna: 9905190260 Pune: 26050271, 9011063577 | Ranchi: 9204950999, 9771463546 | Rohtak: 8930018880/81ZA PERSON DIED Om Puri Veteran actor Om Puri has passed away on January 6, 2017 at the age of 86. The recipient of two National awards and two Filmfare Awards including a Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Padma Shri award, Om Puri had an illustrious film career , spanning over four decades, (Om Puri was born on October 18, 1950 at Ambala in Haryana, He studied at the Film and Television Institute of India and at the National School of Drama, where Naseeruddin Shah was his classmate. He made his film, debut in 1976 with the Marathi film ‘Ghashiram Kotwal’ A critically acclaimed actor, Puri featured in films like Ardh Satya, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, Aakrosh, Mirch Masala ‘and many others, More recently, he was seen in the movies, Dabangg, Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Ghayal Once Again, He delivered some stellar performances in mainstream commercial Pakistani, Indian and British cinema apart from making a dent in Hollywood with his, roles in East is East, City of Joy, Gandhi and The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Ratnasiri Wickremanayake Veteran Sri Lankan politician Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, passed away on December 27, 2016 at the age of 83. He served twice as the Island nation’s, Premier, first from 2000 to 2001 and then from 2005 to 2010. Wickremanayake has also held many key ministerial positions since 1970. Wickremanayake entered politics in 1960, winning the Horana seat in the March General Election as a member of tho Mahajana Eksath Poramuna. In 1970, he was appointed Deputy Minister, Justice, and went on to be the General Secretary of the SLFP in 1977, In the 1994 general election, he won the Kalutara District seat and wes appointed the Minister of Public Administration, Home Affairs and Plantation Industries land the Leader of the House in President Chandrika Kumaranatunge’s Cabinet It was Wickremanayake who paved the way for Rajapaksa to emerge as the next leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). He resigned from his position as the leader of the main opposition in 2002 to make way for Rajapaksa to become the leader of the opposition HEI competition w Focus * March 2017 ee oe ZA NEWSMAKER Manish Tewari Congress leader and former Union Minister Manish Tewari on January 11, 2017 has been appointed as senior fellow of US-based think tank Atlantic Council, headquartered in Washington DC, Because of his new role, Tewari will focus on programming aimed at strengthening US-India relations, Manish Tewari is an Indian politician, who was Union Minister of State, Minister of Information and Broadcasting and a Member of Parliament from Ludhiana, He has served ‘as a Member of Parliament from Ludhiana, Punjab and is currently the national spokesperson of the Congress party. The Atlantic Council is a think tank in the field of international affairs. The council was founded in 1961 and it provides a forum for international political, business, and intellectual leaders, Parag Havaldar Pari Hota, a:cTF-Xbareor Maik ha Were prestigious Technical Achievement Award ihe Scentfc Technical Awards prize), popularly called Ure “Techical Oscar on January 8, 2017, The award is conferred by the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences, He graduated from IIT-Kharagpur in 1991 with a degree in ‘computer science and engineering, A software supervisor at Sony Pictures Imageworks, Havaldar leads the team in the area of performance capture. The technology developed by him and his team has been used to create stylised character animations. ‘This pionooring system has enabled large-scale use of animation rig-based facial performance-capture for motion pictures, combining solutions for tracking, stabilisation, solving and animator controllable curve editing. Havaldar’s popular works include ‘Watchmen’, ‘Green Lantern’, "The Amazing Spider-Man’, ‘Beowulf’ and Hancock’. He will be awarded a certificate from the Academy at Beverly Hills, He is also a part-time teacher of multimedia at the University of Southern California, from ‘where he pursued his PhD in computer vision and graphics. Jeanette Epps ‘As on January 5, 2017, Jeanette Epps, a physics and science whiz who used to work for the CIA as a technical intelligence officer sent to the International Space Station for the first time by National Aeronauties and Space Administration (NASA) Jeanette Epps is an African-American astronaut. She will head to the ISS as a flight engineer in 2018. Her commander will be Andrew Feustel, a veteran astronaut. A dozen or so African-American astronauts have travelled on US space shuttle missions but Epps willbe the first Aftican American on the space station. ‘She was selected in July, 2009 as one of 14 members of the 20th Nasa astronaut class. Her training included Russian language, so as to be able to talk to cosmonauts on the ISS. Epps holds a PhD in aerospace engineering from the University of Maryland amsPema Khandu Pema Khandu, Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh was temporarily suspended on December 29, 2016 from Peoples’ Party of Arunachal along with Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein and 5 other MLAs for alloged anti-party activities with immediate effect pending initiation of disciplinary proceedings. Khandu now ceases to be the leader of the PPA Logislature Party. Khandu had replaced Nabam Tuki as the Congress Chief Minister, following a dissident campaign in July, 2016. Later in October, 2016, 43 Congress MLAs, including the Chief Minister hhas defected to join PPA. It had played a crucial role in ousting the Congress government in the State earlier in 2016. ‘The five other MLAs are Zingnu Namchom (Namsai), Passang Dorjee Sona (Mechuka), Chow Tewa Moin (Chowkham), Jambey Tashi (Lumla) and Kamlung Mossang (Miao). The PPA is a member of the North-East Democratic Alliance, a political coalition formed by the Bharatiya Janata Party along with other regional parties, Shah Rukh Khan Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan received the honorary doctorate at the 6th convocation of Maulana Azad National Urdu University in Hyderabad on December 26, 2016 by President Pranab Mukherjee for his extraordinary contribution in the promotion of Urdu language and culture. Shahrukh Khan was awarded the ‘honorius causa’ (doctor of letters) at the 6th Convocation of the University by the Chancellor, Zalar Sareshwala, Earlier, actor Aamir Khan has also heen conferred with a similar honour by the University back in 2013. Sanjiv Saraf founder of Rekhta Foundation was also conferred the honorary doctorate for the contribution in the promotion of Urdu language and culture, Maulana Azad National Urdu University which was established in 1998 in Hyderabad named after India’s first Minister of Education, Maulana Abul Kalam ‘Azad, who was a freedom fighter in India’s freedom struggle and a scholar of Islam and Urdu literature. 7A AWARD/PRIZE 62nd Filmfare Award 2017 ‘The 62nd Filmfare ‘Awards ceremony was observed at the NSCI Dome in Worli, Mumbai % (Maharashtra) on January 14, 2017. The \. show was co-hosted by Kapil Sharma, Karan 4 Johar and ‘Shahrukh Khan. ‘Aamir Khan bagged the Best Actor Award for his performance in Dangal. Alia Bhatt was honoured with the Best Actress Award for her gritty portrayal of a Bihari migrant in Udea Punjab. Dangal, the wrestling drama was awarded as the Best Film and Nitesh Tiwari bagged the Best Director Award, Shatrughan Sinha received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award presented by his daughter and actress Sonakshi Sinha. ‘Sonam Kapoor won the Critics Award for Best Actor (Female) for her portrayal of 'Neerja Bhanot’ in the biopic Neerja. Actors Shahid Kapoor and ‘Manoj Bajpayee got the Best Actor (Male) nod for their performances in Udta Punjab and Aligarh respectively. ZA PLACE IN NEWS ISKCON’s Govardhan Eco Village (Maharashtra) ISKCON's Govardhan eco village at nearby Wada taluka in Thane district has been conferred the United Nations award for taking innovative measures of ‘sustainable tourism’ in country. The award was presented at the annual United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Awards for Excellence and Innovation in Tourism at Madrid in Spain on January 19, 2017. Govardhan Eco Village won the UNWTO Award for Innovation in the category of non-governmental organisations, the highest honour given to an NGO for shaping global tourism through sustainable innovative initiatives. This is for the first time India has won such recognition from the UN in the NGO sector. ‘The project has successfully linked tourism initiatives at the Govardhan Eco village with providing a sustainable life to the local tribal communities in villages, thereby creating a model for empowerment and development of the Jocal people. The Govardhan eco village initiative had earlier also won several national and international awards, Dharamsala (Himachal Pradesh) Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh announced on January 19, 2017 that Dharamsala as the second capital of the tiny hill State with a population of about 70 lakh. He announced it ahead of assembly polls, Dharamsala nestling in the lap of majestic snow-clad Dhauladhar ranges and has a significance and history of its own, The announcement is significant as 25 out of 68 assembly seats fall in Kangra, Una and Hamirpur districts, and Dharamsala was important for lower areas of Himachal Pradesh including Kangra, Chamba, Hamirpur and Una districts ‘The people of these areas would now benefit from the decision and that they ‘would not be required to travel long distances to come to Shimla for their works. Dharamsala already figured prominently in national and international ‘map due to its significance owing to many reasons including religious, natural and adventurous tourism and also being abode of Tibetan Spiritual head Dalai Lama, COMPETITION in FOCUS * March 2017Kangra (Himachal Pradesh) Kangra has became the first district in India to geo-tag 100% of the assets generated under the MGNREGA. In this regard, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh felicitated all the rural development officers for the achievement, at the cabinet Hall in the Mini Secretariat at Dharmashala on January 17, 2017, ‘The geo-tagging of assets under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is being done as to ensure online recording of the assets generated under the welfare programme. This step would help in integrated development of all sectors like agriculture, irrigation, education, health etc. It allows the workers to click photo of the asset and upload it to a ISRO-run web portal thus digitally recording its time and location. It allows the ease in tracking the assets. Kangra is the largest district of the state Himachal Pradesh Sitalpati (Kolkata) According to statement issued by West Bengal government on January 16, 2017 revealed that Sialpet or cool mat from Cooch Behar district of West bengal has heen recognised as an “intangible cultural heritage’ by tho Unitod Nations Educational Sciontific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) These mats are used for sitting or to hang on doors or Mindove uring eutomers"The mats me ie Up, of weaved green cane slips of murta plants which are iadigotcus ta the region, The gradual dating of Silber! waving ys arrested hy the proaciee efforts of Chie! Bfnister Mamata Banetjeo who helped this traditional product gein Global recognition Now, sitalpati has found a place inthe UNESCO- sponsored Rural Creft Hub project. Under this project Training and marketing canes, and museums have boon set-up in 10 locations across tine dstrict‘of the State to help promote and market crafts indigenous to those regions, to national and imernadional wurst, Jaipur (Rajasthan) Projecting Rajostian as an equipped Stats"v0 embrace the digital economy, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje said on January 8, 2016 thatthe Stite capital Jaipuri emergiag us the next destination for startups, for which the government is Poulin wip poniiy Savicnnoad ‘The incubation centre which supports startups is now in the policy of the government of Rajasthan. Jaipur has also become the fist city inthe country, and in South Asia, to monitor and operate smart city infrastructure using a ingle network. ‘The newly-developed Network Operating Centre (NOG) at the Jaipur Development Authorty GDA) sell Eopratsrigial jftectracture such ag incaligons iiosks, wireless broadband, sensor-based dust bins, smart streetlights, parking and app, among others, COMPETITION ww FOCUS * March 2017 ROUND UP + The bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra won her 2nd People's (Choice Award for Favourite Dramatic TV actress a the Microsoft “Theater in Los Angeles, Calfomia for her role as CIA agent Alex Parish in the ABC tiller TV series Quantico. + Former IFS officer Birender Singh Yadav was appointed as the High Comirissioner of india to the Republic ol Siera Leone, with residence in Accra (Ghana). Currently, Yadav is working asthe High Commissioner of india to Republic of Ghana ‘ Eugene A. Geman, the last astronaut to leave his footprints on the surface of the moon, has died. The retired United States Navy ‘capiain leave this world atthe age of 82. Ceman fied to space three times and to moon twice. He was one of 14 astronauts selected by NASA in October, 1963. He piloted the Gemini 9 mmission with Commander Thomas P. Stator ‘+ KM Philip, former wnolesime director onthe board of MRF passed away atthe age of 104. He has served on the Rubber Board of India for more than 15 years. He was a noted Philanthropist. He was awarded with Padma Sh + Iran's ex President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a dominant figure ints poles since the 1980s, has died atthe age of 82. Rafsanjani remained from President trom 1989 to 1997. He played ‘2 pivotal oe in the 1979 revolution but later in fe became a ‘counterpoint to hardline conservatives. + Sanjiv Ranjan, an IFS oticer of 1993-batch, presently “Ambassador of india to Argentina has been concurerity ‘accredited as the Ambassador o incia to the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, with residence in Buenos Aires (Argentina), He is ‘expected to take-up his assignment shorty + John Berger, the Booker prize-winning novelist and pioneering at cfc, has passed away a the age of 90. The Manis intellectual, whose BEC series, Ways of Seeing, brought apolitical view to art citicism. Berger won the Booker Prize in 1972 for his novel G, anc pledged to give half the prize money tothe radical ‘Aican-American movement, the Black Panthers, * Jean Vuamet, a Frenchman who won the gold medal in downhill skiing atthe 1960 Winter Olympics using an innovative approach to ‘aerodynamics Gied at the age of 83. He was also credited with ‘developing the ‘egg! position racers adopt fora better ‘aerodynamic profile + Pakistan's Chiof of Army Statt General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Chairman Joint iets of Staf Committee General Zubair Mahmood Hayat was awarded with Nishar-e-rtiaz (military) by President Mammnoon Hussain ata ceremony in Islamabad. The Nishan-e-Iniaz fs one othe State organised civ decorations of Sate of Pakistan, The award is not limited to ctizens of Pakistan ‘and, while itis a cian award, it can also be awarded to miltary personnel and worn on the uniform. + Former Union Minister and Congress leader Eknathrao alias "Balasaneb’ Vikhe Patil passed away ai he age of 84. Balasahneb was elected to Lok Sabha on Shiv Sena ticket in 1998 and became Minister of State for Finance in the NDA government. He was subsequently elevated as Minister for Heavy industries. + Senior ncian Police Services (PS) officer SP Vaid appointed as 1new Director General of Potoe (DGP) of Jammu and Kashmir by CChief Minister Mehbooba Mufti. He will place K. Rajendra. In 1991, he has served as Superintendent of Police, Jammu and then he was posted as Deputy Inspector General of Pole inthe Baramulle-Kupwara range near Sopore in 1909.Leer rere res ren ere UPSC / MPPSC Mains IASIPS = 2017 4 ag wore & are UPSC - Result RLZbe? SaZe2 Tai aan antes, liana ie Ss Orta MPPSC - 2014 Result - 2016 caste Pogo IAS/IPS Vy t-Ye3 eM PPSC eC Ue ad ld fo aate aiegl 9 ce Sere Rar ey Aan Ha dare str ite wee ee BS ee der cg segue ya Set Bee A Aare (eB ‘Par © caf. zara em, oom aren A seer! see fare eres Faw Fee TT Tree Ge eee (oir coun Square Ph:0731-4255821, INDORE: Shi Vio Palace, Raivade Chowk, INDORE :Prass Con, AB. 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The people in this colony, which also faces threats from Maoists are all set for digital transactions, The district collector Amit Meena has officially declared on December 27, 2016 that Nedumkayam tribal colony as the first digital and. cashless colony. ‘The declaration was made after a week-long training for the entire tribal people of the colony in cashless transaction and digital literacy. The training was completed with the support of National Service ‘Scheme (NSS) volunteers of EMEA Arts and Science College Kondotty and Jan Sikshan Sansthan (SS), Malappuram, As part of formal launch of the project, every member of the colony sent ® 5 to the account of district collector using smart phones and the collector returned ® 25 to each of them through online transaction, JA BOOK & AUTHOR Cyber Pathshala (Tarun Vijay) The Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar released a book on cyber vocabulary named ‘Cyber Pathshala’ authored by BJP leader and writer Tarun Vijay at World Book Fair at Pragati Maidan in Now Delhi Other internationally known cyber experts who contributed towards the book includes Sameer Chandra, Virginia, USA, Dr. Vidya MS, Bangalore, Chinnu Senthil Kumar, Chennai and Rajesh Kalra, Editor in Chief, Times of India, Internet etc. The book presents an innovative way of learning the alphabets by relating them to popular Cyber Pathshalaterms related to demonetisation for instance, A for ATM, B for BHIM (Bharat Intorfaco for Money), C for cashless, D for Demonotisation otc ‘The People’s President : Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam (SM Khan) ‘Abook on ur previous President Di. APY Abdul Kato titled "The People’s President: Dr API AbdOl ie release by Vice-President Hamid ‘Ansar on danuary 4, 2017 ‘The book authored by SM hag reloaded ata farion in New Del. Through out book the author. SM Khan KALAM hone —_—_—_ People’s President’. SM Khan was press secretary to the late API Abdul Kalam and shared a unique relationship with the unusual President ENT COMPETITION im FOCUS * March 2017 ROUND UP ‘= Former Attorney General Soli J, Sorabjee was re-elected as President ofthe prestigious cultural institution India International Centre (IC) for five years from January 1, 2017. Sorabjee has been working for IC for two decades and is known to have given up ‘cases in the Supreme Court and Delhi High Court to be able to devote time for IIC aars, * According to the 2016 Forbes India Celebrity 100 list, Salman Khan has bagged the No.1 position in the coveted list. This time ‘Shah Rukh Khan stood at 2nd piace, whereas cricketer Virat Kohli ‘was placed 3rd on the basis of estimates of entertainment related ‘earnings and estimates of fame. The period under consideration was October 1, 2015 to Septomber 30, 2016 Essay Writing for School Students and for Different Competitive Exams MODERN ESSAYS Saeed MODERN PEt 2165 Current Affairs | Society & Social Issues Economy Infrastructure | Education Great Personalities Famous Proverbs & Sayings MiscellaneouswiewgKk KD Campus ore ates SCO SCART LaR: i CCRC urd arent aadt, aa aera FH am KD Campus Under the leadership of 'Neetu Singh' Coaching Available for For all Competitive & Entrance exams. 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Science and Technology for National Development was the focal theme of the Indian Seience Congress, Six Nobel Prize winners from different countries such as the USA, Japan, Israel, France and Bangladesh took part in the event besides about 14000 scientists and scholars from across the country. The Prime Minister also felicitated Nobel laureates at the conclave, He also inaugurated Pride of India’ exhibition as a part of the Congress, ‘Topics in the plenary include making Science and Technology relevant to the society by setting national priority areas, steps for ushering in economic development, with due focus on higher ‘education and collabor ‘The 104th Indian Science Congress witnessed Children Science Congress that aimed at highlighting the need to create awareness about science among children and elders. It is the second time that Tirupati is hosting the Indian Science Congress, the first being in 1983 when the 70th Science Congress was held. The prestigious event is known to track the science and technology progress made in the past and act as a guiding light for the years to come, Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) is premier scientific organisation of India with headquarters at Kolkata, West Bengal. The association started in the year 1914 in Kolkata and it ‘meets annually in the first weok of January. It has a membership of more than 30,000 scientists The Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) owes its origin to the foresight and initiative of two British chemists, namely, Professor J. L. Simonsen and Professor P. S. MacMahon. It occurred to ‘them that scientific research in India might be stimulated ifan annual meeting of research workers somewhat on the lines of the British Association for the Advancement of Science could be arranged. Ministry of Railways Signed JVA with Jharkhand A Joint Venture Agreement (IVA) was signed between Ministry of Railways and government of ‘Tharkhand on January 20, 2017 for developing railway infrastructure in the State, This JVA for ‘evelopment of Railway Infrastructure will provide active representation to States in the Planning and Implementation of Railway Infrastructure Projects, speed-up the Development of Railway Projects on State's priority ‘This agreement generate more financial resources through participation of State & other stakeholders in the project specific subsidiaries. The government of Jharkhand has intially identified 3 projects viz, Namkum-Kandra, Giridih-Parasnath-Madhuban, Tori-Chatra Rail Line covering a length of 222 km at a cost of € 2150 crore for taking up through the proposed JV Company after establishing their viability, bankabilty and financial closure. ‘The prosont railway network density in Jharkhand is 17.64 km per 100 sq km, which isthe bost in India and way above the national average of 2.01 km per 100 sq km. Signing of these joint vvontures will go a long way in doveloping infrastructure in tho Stato of Jharkhand. COMPETITION iw FOCUS * March 2017Divorce Granted by Church Court can’t Override Law Supreme Court The Supreme Court soid on January 19, 2017 that a divorce granted by ecclesiastical tibunal under (Gain pocyonal Kies ot ald sf cae overrides la, In this regard, Bench comprising Chief Justice 18 Khehar and Justice DY Chandrachua dismissed a plea filed by Clarence Pals a former president of a Karnataka Catholic association, Pais, in his PI fled in 2013, had said the divorce ranted by a Chureh, set-up under ts personal Lvs, Should be considered valid under the Indian Commun he as wes toe ithe cage of Musing with regard to tiple tala” Apex Court said thatthe issue has been settled by the Court in its 1998 verdict delivered in the case of Molly Joseph versus Georye Sebestian, Canon Taw (personal law of Christians) can have theological or ooclesiastical implications o the partes Second Raisina Dialogue Held in Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi on January 17, 2017. With a theme of New Normal : Multi-lateralisn with Multi-Polarity, the meet. was focused on deliberate Con strategic issues including new challenges and cyber security. The three-day-long Raisina Dialogue, India’s flagship geo-political conference has been organised by the Ministry of External Affairs and Delhi-based prestigious think-tank Observer Research Foundation. More than 250 representatives of 65 nations were participated in the second Raisina Dialogue. Prime Minister Modi said India's strategic intent is shaped by its civilisational ethos of Realism, Co-existence, Cooperation and Partnership, Supreme Court Allowed 24-week Pregnant Woman to Abort The Supreme Court on January 16, 2017 granted permission to a 24-week pregnant woman to terminate her pregnancy if she is facing danger to her life due to abnormality in foetus. In this regard, a bench of Justices SA Bobde and I. Nageswara Rao allowed a plea of a Mumbai-based 22-year-old woman to terminate her pregnancy after taking into account her medical report which of a team of seven doctors of King Edward Memorial hospital (Mumbai). ‘The report says that the there was very little chance of survival of the foetus and the lady's life ‘would be engendered if it was not aborted. The apex court had appointed the board of seven senior doctors to conduct medical examination of the lady and directed it to fle report about her “condition and advisability of permitting a medical termination of pregnancy” Adoption Regulations, 2017 became Operational Adoption Regulations, 2017 framed by Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) as mandated under Section-68 (c) of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 has been notified on January 4, 2017 by the government Press and the Regulations camo into offect on January 16, 2017. The ‘Adoption Regulations, 2017 replace the Adoption Guidelines, 2016. Salient Features + Procedures related to adoption by relatives both within the country and abroad have been defined in the Regulations. + Validity of Home Study Report has been increased from two to three years. ‘+ ‘The time period available to the domestic PAPs for matching and acceptance, after reserving the child referred, has been increased to twenty days from the existing fifteen days. «+ District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) shall maintain a panel of professionally qualified or trained social workers, + ‘There are 32 schedules annexed to the Regulations including ‘model adoption applications to be filed in the Court and this ‘would considerably address delays prevalent in obtaining the Court order. + ‘The CARA shal be facilitating all adoptions under the JJ Act, 2015 through Child Adoption Resource Information & Guidance System (CARINGS). Delhi Airport First in World to Adopt Digital Platform Arc Dell Airport claimed on January 10, 2017 that t has become $8.86: patter in th word to opt nique performance and benchmarking digital platform, Are, which helps in tracking Hed mentoring buldy peroetenes, ‘This dynamic platform at T3 would be used by airport operator to measure, manage and improve performance of airport on resource consumption, carbon emissions and quality of passenger space. Its developed by Green Business Certification ine GBCH and US Green Building Council {USGBC), the global certifying body forall Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) projects Ie will allow the airport authorities to measure improvements and benchmark performance against other green balding projects around the worl. 1t would also help in International benchmarking of the airport's bulding performance against the best performing buildings of similar type. Delhi Airport's ‘Terminal 3 had already earned LEED Gold certification in 2011 Ua wow ae ron Satay COMPETITION iw FOCUS * March 2017Initiatives Launched to Increase Non-Fare Revenue ‘The Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu inaugurated some Policy Initiatives i.e., Increasing Non Fare Revenue like Out of Home Advertisement, Content on demand, Branding of Trains, Non-fare Revenue Policy, ATM Policy and Initiatives promoting ease of ticketing through digital transactions (for reserved as well as unreserved passengers) at New Delhi on January 10, 2017, He also released a documentary film on Jammu Kashmir Railway Network. These new innovative ideas are brainstormed for increasing the non fare revenues of Indian Railways and many policy initiatives in Non Fare Revenue have now been taken. Non Fare Revenue efforts of Indian Railways will bring in enough revenue. The cashless transaction initiatives will bring in more efficiency. The railway expects that the policy ‘would boost the railway non-fare revenues within a year by nearly six times from % 300 crore to nearly % 18000 crore, Prime Minister Modi Inaugurated the Nobel Prize Series Exhibition Asa part of the 8th edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global ‘Summit (VGGS), Prime Minister Modi inaugurated the Nobel Prize exhibition christened as ‘Ideas Changing the World’ at Nobel Prize exhibition Science City in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on January 9, 2017. Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone for the redevelopment of the Gandhinagar railway station and inaugurated the International Stock Exchange at GIFT City. During the five-week long exhibition set-up by this Nobel Foundation, the Nobel laureates will interact with students, scientists, industry leaders and policy makers through, conference and meeting events, such as lectures, round tables and other activities. ‘The Noble Prize Series 2017 is being conducted by Nobel Media for the first time in India and is coordinated by the Department of Biotechnology in Delhi. The Nobel Prize is the world’s recognition at the highest level for creative ideas, thought and work on fundamental science. IPR Enforcement Toolkit and IPR Awareness Campaign Launched ‘The Minister of Commerce & Industry Nirmala Sitharaman, launched an IPR Enforcement Took for Police on January 4, 2017, The toolkit has been jointly prepared by Cel for TR Promotion and Management (CIPAM) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI. This toolkit will be provided to all State police departments ‘This toolkie wil ho ready rockoner for police officals acrose the county i aling with IP eins, abe il iis hoe i deeting with the cases relating to Trademarks and Copyrights infringements. In addition to details of offences under various las, provides for checklists for registering a complaint and \ansctiog eeuch one ectoures, Ipslen loys down ganaral jullie (or vouch dad soba ia cao of IP ‘The CIPAM i collaborating with tho International Trademark ‘Association (IVTA) to launch an TPR Awareness campaign for schoolchildren, which would spread the message on IPRs in @ COMPETITION in FOCUS * March 2017 16th Meeting of Financial Stability and Development Council ‘The Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley chaired the ‘16th meeting of the FSDC on January 5, 2016 with a view of strengthening and institutionalising the mechanism for maintaining financial stability, ‘enhancing inter-regulatory coordination and promoting financial sector development. He chaired the meeting, along with RBI Governor Urjit Patel, Economic Affair Secretary Shaktikanta Das in New Delhi Salient Functions * The committee calls the heights of all the financial ‘regulators therefore an attempt is made to enhance the coordination among different regulators. * The emphasis is also given to strengthen and maintain financial stability and development of financial sector. ‘+ The micro areas such as financial limitations and financial literacy are also given due attention. ‘The Financial Stability and Development Council. (FSDC) emerged in December, 2000 and it was the erstwhile RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan who ‘mooted the idea to create the FSDC. The Finance ‘Minister was appointed as its Chairman. Supreme Court Bars Politicians from Seeking Votes over Religion & Caste, Ruling Hailed ‘The Supreme Court on January 2, 2017 outlawed seeking votes in the name of religion, caste, race community of language. Heading a seven-judge bench, CJI TS Thakur said the secular ethos of the constitution had to be maintained by keeping elections a secular exercise, The verdict widens the scope of the election law that does not clarify as to whose religion, caste, race, community or language one cannot cite during an election speech, ‘The relationship between man and God and the means which humans adopt to connect with the almighty are matters of individual preferences and choices. Itis considered a potentially far-reaching verdict ahead of assembly elections in five states ‘where faith and caste have traditionally driven voting It said elections can’t be fought by making a pitch to candidates, opponents or voters’ religion, caste, race, ‘community of language. State is obliged to allow practicing and professing of religious faith a citizen follows, but can forbid interference of religions and religious beliefs with secular activity such selections.National Children’s Science Congress Inaugurated ‘The Union Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan inaugurated the 24th National Children’s Science Congress (NCSC) at Vidyapratisthan's Institute of information Technology in Boramati December 27, 2016, Ie was joint organised by Vidya Pratishthan and Environmental Forum of India ‘The five-day Science Congress will bring over 700 child sctentists under one umbreia that wil give them an opportunity to showcase ther talents, The top 25 projec wil Ho shorticied and respective stdenta willbe provided with teining support. ‘The NCSC is a Nagship programme of department of Scionce & Technology, Minttry of Scionco and ‘Technology. I is organised every year. The focal tome for 2015 NCSC is “Science, Technology and Tanovation foe Sustainable Development, with special emphasis on Accessibility for Persons with Disability” Sagarmala Development Company’s Office Inaugurated The Minister of Shipping and Road Transport & Highways Nitn Godtan inaugurated the Sagarmala Development Company in New Delhi on December 26, 2016. The Sagarmala Development Company (SDC) bas been ineorporated under the Companies Act, 2013. The company hasan initial Authorised Sharo Capital of € 1000 crore and a uecrbod whierw capa of 90 cro ‘The main objective of the company is to identity ported development projects under the Sagarmala Programme and provide equity support forthe project ‘Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) set-up by the Ports/State/Central Ministries and funding window andior implement only those residual projects which teannot Ge funded by aay otter medi mode, The Cabinet had approved the formation of the SDC under te adiminisuative coral of the Ministry of Shipping in July, 2016 ‘The pomipany would belp in structuring acivtin, bidding out projets for private sector participation, ‘Benatfry sutsbia at Gamagertant nwadares fr sratagic race arose miulapls Stauvs/ Regions and Sbiaining requisite approvals and clearances Special Stamp on Freedom Fighters Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications on December 26, 2018 has brought outa special cover on freadom fighter ‘Gaya Prasad Kativar and a set of ght commemorative postage stars on Personalities Series: Bihar’ € a stamp on “Hardayal Municipal Heritage Pubic Library” ‘The department has commemorated great deeds and achiovements of following eight personalities of Bihar by releasing stamps on them, They are Dr Sechchidannda Sinha, Karpoott Thakur, Dashrath Manjhi, Vidyapat, Kallashpat Mishra, Kunwar Singh, Phanishwat Nath Renu and Si Krishne Sinha Hardayal Municipal Public Library This library is situated in the heart of Chandni Chowk and is one of the very few oldest buildings that have been able to withstand the fonslaught of modern times. The library was set-up in 1862. It has ‘unique collection of more than 170000 books in Hindi, English, Urdu, Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit. This isone ofthe few libraries in the world with a collection of at least 8000 rare books. Gaya Prasad Katiyar Born at Jagadistipur (Utar Pradesh), he was one of the most dedicated participant of ludia’s freedom struggle. He joined Hindustan Socialist Republican Association in 1925 and got connected with Chandra Shekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh, Later, he participated on Lahore Conspiracy Caso and was arrested from Saharanpur in 1929. He joined the hunger strike at Lahore Jai with hisco prisoners. Later he was transported to Cellular jail in ‘Andaman and again he participated on hunger strike there. He ‘was repatriated in 1937 but again arrested and transported to cellular jal from where he was released in 1946. Ordinance on Enemy Property Promulgated for the 5th Time The President expressed his displeasure before giving his assent to an ordinance on December 23, 2016 to amend a nearly 50-year-old law to guard against claims of suocession or transfer of properties left by people who migrated to Pakistan and China after wars, which has been re-promulgated, because it was being promulgated for the Sth time and a bill to replace it could not be passed by Parliament. ‘The ordinance issued for the first time on January 7, the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Fifth Ordinance, 2016 had earlier been promulgated four times. ‘The Union Cabinet had approved re-issuing the ordinance on December 21, 2016. The ordinance was re-issued as a bill to amend the law could not be passed in Parliament due to repeated adjournments over the demonetisation issue. President had advised the government in January, 2016 that ordinances should be brought only under extraordinary circumstances. New Rules Announced to Apply for Passport ‘The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on December 23, 2016 that one can use his/her Aadhar and E-aadhar card as proof of date of birth while applying for passports. The passport application form now requires the applicant to provide the name of father or mother or legal guardian, that is, only one parent and not both. The MEA also introduced certain policy changes which would be welcome to single parents and divorced applicants. “The form no longer require the applicant to provide the name of her/his spouse in case of separated or divorced persons, Such applicants for passports would not be required to provide avon the Divorce Decree. Married applicants do not need to provide any marriage certificate. The passport acquisition has been made smoother for children, who are orphaned or adopted. In case of orphaned children who do not have any proof of date of birth such as Birth Certificate or the Matriculation Certificate, they can now submit a declaration given by the Head of the Orphanage/Child Care Home on their official letter head of the organisation confirming the same. COMPETITION iw FOCUS * March 2017eae ee meets Defence Ministry Approved Defence Projects over = 7000 Crore ‘The Defence Ministry approved acquisition projects worth approximately € 7000 crore on December 23, 2016. These include purchasing six modern surveillance aircraft for the Indian Coast Guard to keep an eye on the 7500 km long coastline. ‘The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar cleared the acceptance of necessity for six multi-role spy planes for the Coast Guard that would initiate the procurement process for the © 5500 crore project. ‘The DAG also gave its go-ahead to purchase one more C-17 Globemaster Mk-lII aircraft from the through a government-to-government route, ‘Two other projects approved by the Defence Ministry are: a 1256 crore scheme to have 1500 nuclear. biological, chemical warfare protection shields for the army’s infantry combat vehicles and 55 low level light weight radars for the army and Indian Air Force at a cost of & 419 crore. ZA CABINETS APPROVAL Approval for Exclusion of States from the Investments of NSSF ‘The Union Cabinet chaited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval on January 18, 2017 to exclude State governments States/UITs (with Legislature) except Arunachal Pradesh, Delhi, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh from National Small Savings Fund (NSSF) investments from April 1, 2016. Iv also approved providing a one-time loan of £45000 crore from NSSF to Food Corporation of India (FCI) to meet its food subsidy requirements, The details are as under + Exclusion of States/UTs (with Legislature) excepting ‘Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi from NSSF Investments, + Arunachal Pradesh shall be given loans to the tune of 100% of NSSF collections within its territory, whereas Delhi, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh shall be provided 50% of collections. + Servicing of interest and principal of debt extended to FCI through the budget line of Department of Food and Publi Distribution, + The repayment obligation ofthe FCI in respect of NSSF Loans would be treated as the first charge on the food subsidy released tothe FCI. + In addition, the FCI shall reduce the amount ofits current Cash Credit Limit with the banking consortium to the extent of the NSSF loan amount. + The NSSF in the future shall, with the approval of Finance Minister, invest on items the expenditure of ‘hich is ultimately borne by government of India and the repayment of principal and interest thereto would be borne from the Union budget. SA HERE competition w Focus * March 2017 a eae JZ PROGRAMME/MISSION Railways’ Mission 41k Unveiled ‘The Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu unveiled Mission 41k on January 17, 2017 during the roundtable discussion with External Stakeholders on Energy Initiatives of Indian Railways. Indian Railways gonoratos massive amounts of data and has a huge captive audience. Ability to optimally utilise these will generate additional revenue for the Indian Railways. The Ministry of Railways has come up with Mission 41k to save £41000 crore in the next decade in Railways’ energy costs. To implement this comprehensive strategy with the participation of various stakeholders, Railways shall take advantage of regulatory frameworks, look at new technologies. All electrification works done in the last decade would be doubled and this would change the energy mix of Indian Railways. Indian Railways has set a target of 1000 MW of solar power and 200 MW of wind energy. The Ministry of Railways has launched Mission Raftaar to increase the average speed of movement by 5 km/h every year. Another important Mission for Indian Railways is the establishment of High hp Locomotive manufacturing plants at Madhepura and Marhaura. Swachh Swasth Sarvatra “Swachh Swasth Sarvatra December 29, 2016. It is an inter-ministerial joint initiative between the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Another joint initiative, ‘Swasth Bacche Swasth Bharat’, between Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of Human Resource Development was also launched on the occasion ‘The objective of the ‘Swachh Swasth Sarvatra' initiative is to build on and leverage achievements of two complementary programmes — Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) and Kayakalp of the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation and Ministry of Health and FamilyWeltare, respectively. Under this initiative ‘+ Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation has declared over 700 blocks as Open Defecation Free (ODF). + Community Health Centres (CHCs) in ODF blocks of the country will be allocated 10 lakh under National Health, Mission (NHM) to focus on sanitation and hygiene. ‘+ Under Kayakalp, one Primary Health Centre (PHC) in each district is awarded for meeting quality standards including sanitation and hygiene. + Under SBM, the Gram Panchayat in which the PHC which gets awarded under Kayakalp for that district will be noted, and special focus wil be given to make it ODF at the earliest. was launched in Delhi onZA PORTAL/APP/WEBSITE ShaGun A Web-portal for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Launched ‘The Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar launched a dedicated web portal ‘ShaGun’ for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan at New Delhi on January 18, 2017, ‘ShaGun’ aims to capture and showcase innovations nd progress in Elementary Education sector of India by continuous monitoring of the flagship scheme—Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), ‘ShaGun has been coined from the words ‘Shala’ meaning schools and ‘Gunvatta’ meaning quality ‘The Union HRD Minister also unveiled the "Toolkit for Master Trainers in Preparing Teachers for Inclusive Education for Children with Special Needs", which has been prepared by World Bank in collaboration with the Ministry of Human Resource Development. ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) isa centrally ‘sponsored scheme providing universal access 10 ‘education tochildren in the age group of 610 14 yoars of age. ‘SEZ India’ App Launched ‘A mobile app named "SEZ India’ has been launched on January 6, 2017 by the Commerce Secretary. The App would help the SEZ Units and Developers to find information easily and track their transactions on SEZ Online System, Now, the SEZ Developers € Units can file all their transactions digitally through SEZ Online system and track the status on the go through the SEZ India mobile app, ‘The app is available on Android Platform for use by SEZ Developers, Units, officials and others. The app has four sections i.e., SEZ Information, SEZ Online ‘Transaction, Trade Information, and Contact details. ‘SEZ Division, Department of Commerce under its broader e-Governance initiative i.e, SEZ Online System, has developed mobile app for Special Economic Zones (SEZS) Salient features of the four sections are as under + This isa compendium of the SEZ Act, 2003, SEZ Rules, 2006, MOCI Circulars, details of SEZs and Units etc. ‘+ This provision gives access to important information/tools such as Foreign Trade Policy, Hand Book of procedure , Duty Calculator , Customs & Excise Notification and MEIS Rates. * One can see that the contact details of all Development Commissioners Office, DGFT, DG System, DGCI& S and SEZ online. ‘+ A dynamic submenu that tracks the Bill of Entry/Shipping Bill processing status and also does verification. The app also helps the Importers/Exporters to track the status of ‘Bill of Entry/Shipping Bill’ integration and processing in the EDI system of the ICEGATE, ‘UDAY’ Web Portal and Mobile App Launched ‘The Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal launched the Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) Web Portal & Mobile App on January 4, 2017. The app will ensure wansporency, tsllanos srcoumabilty of varius stakeholders and facto View of near realtime progress, enabling consumers to demand better services for themnsalves, {An important part of the "Digital india Initiative, it would track and monitor te progress of DISCOMS on operational and financial parameters under the UDAY scheme. It would provide detalls of latest progress made by various DISCOMs. The portaapp is a logical follow-up to tho MoUs signed by the Statos unor UDAY for making future schemosplans for improving DISCOMs performance, This willbe the fst time ‘shen the performance metres of various DISCOMS will be Frallabla n'a Single platform, which shall promoto hoalthy competition amongst the DISCOMsStates UPI-based Mobile Payment App ‘BHIM’ Launched Prime Minister Narendra Modi ‘on December 30, 2016 launched a mobile app named BHIM (Bharat Interface for Mobile) for the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) in order to make digital payments a ‘habit’ and to make the country a cashless economy, ‘The BHIM app will empower the poorest of the poor. It is for the small merchant, farmers in far-flung areas and tribals, ‘That's why its name has been borrowed from the man who sacrificed his life for the downtrodden. The application will be common across all banks and financial institutions. ‘The BHIM app doesn’t even require an Internet connection since it can also work on simple feature phones, ‘Aadhaar-based payments system would be added to the app in the next two weeks. Currently, it is being security checked. After itis launched, BHIM will not need a mobile phone, internet or even a feature phone. It will only need thumb impression) Mobile App ‘Smart Consumer’ & OCMC Launched Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan launched a host of online initiatives on December 24, 2016 including a mobile App ‘Smart Consumer’ and an ‘Online Consumer Mediation Centre (OCMC) at a function in New Delhi on the occasion of National Consumer Day to provide speedy redrassal of consumer grievances A helpline 14404 was also launched for consumer related grievances. The mobile app of the Consumer Helpline and the ‘Smart Consumer App for accessing product information and online communities will benefit the consumers in the igital world. Besides, another initiative Microsite based on the theme Digitally Safe Consumer Campaign was also launched to help consumers for being vigilant and not falling prey to cyber frauds, COMPETITION in FOCUS * March 2017Ludhiana District Administration Developed Mobile App for ECI Ason January 2, 2017, the district administration of Ludhiana has developed ‘a mobile application named ECI360 for the benefit of voters, candidates, election staff ‘as well as the Election Commission of India (ECD, ‘The app ECI360 was developed by Harpreet Singh Chandoke from a company named ‘01 Synergy’ on behalf of the district administration, The app is a brainchild of Deputy Commissioner Ravi Bhagat. ECI360" has been divided into different sections such as voter, candidate, SVI admin, besides others. The ECI360 will help in bringing wansparency and accountability regarding the elections and voting. It is available bot on ios and android operating systems. Besides, a web-based application to be used by ECL, CEO, DEO and RO named RoNET’ has been developed that would specifically to enable them to know what exactly they are required to do and when; without burdening them with an additional reporting forum, 7, COMMITTEE/PANEL Committee to Suggest Improvement in Sports Code Sports Ministor Vijay Gool constituted a ‘Committee on January 2, 2017 to suggest improvements in the National Sports Code in the wake of IOA episode. The Committee headed by Injeti Srinivas, Secretary of Sports. The Committee will Give its report within one month, ‘The Sports Ministry had to suspend the Indian Olympic Association (10A) till the timo it reverses its decision to appoint Kalmadi and Chautala Life Presicons Kalmadi has already backed out owing to public outrage but Chautala has refused to budge as of now. Tn the recent past the Ministry has already held meetings with the various stakeholders such as the national sports federations, sports ministers and ecretaries from different States, Olympians, Arjun Awardees, Dronacharya Awardees, NGOs, field officers of the ports Authority of India ete. on issues of {good governance and transparency. ROUND UP * A Special Task Force (STF) for women salety has been reconstituted under the Chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Anil Bail to review the decisions taken by the Delhi Police and other departments regarding women's safely, The {1-member STF wil have Delhi Chief Secretary, Delhi Police Commissioner, DCW Chief, and Principal Secretary, Home Department (Dati) ‘among others as its members. The force will conduct a meeting every 15 days, ‘Union Minister of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MISME), Kalraj ‘Mishra inaugurated a Workshop on MSME Cooperation amongst Incian (Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Member countries in New Delhi. The Ministy of MSME finalised the MoU on MSME Cooperation with IORA member countries, ‘+ The Supreme Court directed the Election Commision of india to introduce ‘paper trial in EVMs phase-wise in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The bench ‘asked the Election Commission to introduce WPAT in EVMs in gradual stages ‘or geographical-wise in the 2014 general elections. * Indian Standard on gold hallmarking has been revised by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and came into effect from January 1, 2017. Now, the hallmarked gold jewely will be avaliable in three grades ie,, 14 carat, 18 carat ‘and 22 carat. For 22 carat jewellery 22K will be marked in action to 916 (22K916), for 18 carat jewellery 18K will be marked in addition to 750 (18K750) and for 14 carat jewellery, 14K will be marked in addition to 685 (14K585) ‘= The Centre has made obtaining an Aadhaar number mandatory for 2.5 crore members of the Employees’ Pension Scheme of 1995, one of the benefits available to Employees’ Provident Fund subscribers. In this regard, the Labour Ministry said that those without an Aadhaar number will have to make ‘an application to get enrolled by January 31, 2017, * To encourage people to help accident victims, the Delhi government has ‘approved Good Samaritan Policy under which monetary incentive of € 2000 and appreciation certificate will be given to people who help road accident victims in the national capital. In 2018, 8085 accidents had taken place in the capital + The Centre has approved new projects at an indicative cost of over € 370 crore for its ongoing Ganga rejuvenation programme in Haridwar and Varanasi and decided to include 6 mote cities under surface cleaning exercise Of the river using trash skimmers, Urban local bodies willbe the nodal agency. ‘+ Ina bid to encourage competition to improve sanitation standards, the ‘government kick started a survey, Swachh Survekshan to rank 500 cities ‘across the county on cleanliness. The survey conducted by Quality Council of India. It wil judge cities on the basis of data provided by Municipal bodies, data collected through direct observations and independent assessment and citizen feed backs, * The Union government has achieved its target of providing 1.5 crore free LPG connections under the Prachan MantiiUjjwala Yojana (PMUY) to the BPL households in less than 8 months. In this regard, the government had made a [provision of @ 2000 crore in the Budget. It has led to an increase in the national LPG coverage trom 61% to 70%, + The Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh chaired the 27th meeting of the ‘Southem Zonal Council at Thiruvananthapuram. Zonal Councils provide a ‘common meeting around for the States to promote and facilitate coordinated efforts for fostering economic and social development, Meetings of five Zonal Councils and their Standing Committees were held in 2015 after a ong gap. Earlier, all the five Zonal Council meetings were held in one year only inthe years of 1972 and 2006. + Union Human Resource Development Ministry has granted a prestigious ‘educational institute in the form of a Regional Institute of Education (RIE), The new RIE will be located at Nellore, The Nellore regional institute would ‘sen the States of Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry besides the home state of Andhra Pradesh, COMPETITION iw FOCUS * March 2017A CHINA Longest Bullet Train Launched China launched its longest bullet train ‘Shangri-la of the World’ from Kunming, capital of South-West China's Yunnan Province to Beijing on January 5, 2016. With the launch of the Shanghai-Kunming line, China's high-speed rail grid has taken shape, connecting almost all, provinces on the Chinese mainland. The train left Kunming on a 2760 km trip to Beijing, which takes about 13 hours ‘The train’s name highlights the world famous resort in Shangri-la of Yunnan, a name first appearing in British novelist James Hilton's Lost Horizon, ‘The line is also the longest East-West high-speed railway in China. With this China is expanding its high speed train network to about 20000 km connecting almost all provinces. A longer rail line stretching north to south is the 2298 km Beljing-Guangzhou line, put into operation in 2012. China has built more than 20000 km of high-speed rail lines. The mileage will increase to 45000 km by 2030. China is also aggressively marketing its bullet train technology in different countries including India effectively competing with Japan. First Freight Train Launched from Yiwu to London China has launched its first freight train to London on January 1, 2017. It departed from Yiwu West Railway Station in eastern Zhejiang province. The train traveled for about 18 days and more than 12000 km before reaching its destination in Britain, It will pass through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, Belgium and France before arriving in London. The service will improve China-Britain trade ties, strengthen connectivity ‘with western Europe, while better serving China’s Belt and Road Initiative, an infrastructure and trade network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along ancient trade routes. Yiwu is known for producing small commodities, and the train mainly carried such goods, including household items, garments, cloth, bags and suitcases. London is the 15th city in Europe added to China-Europe freight train services. World’s Highest Bridge Opened “Ti Wipanjiang Bridge soars 665 m (1854 f) shove a tiverand connects hw meumounusinous provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces of China opened on December 30, 2016. It became the world’ highest bridge “The bride cut travel ines tweed Kaaivel i Yanan ta Shain i CuI Ko ine than four hours to around one, The 1241 m span cost over 1 bilion yuan (8144 milion to bull itovertook the Si Du River Bridge in the conral province of Hubei ro become the world's highest bridge Several ofthe world's highest bridges are in China, although the world’s tallest bridge, measured in torms of the height of ts own structure, rather than the distance tothe ground rernains France's Milau viaduct at 343 m, COMPETITION in FOCUS * March 2017ZZ COLOMBIA Colombian Lawmakers Passed FARC Rebel Amnesty Law Colombia's Congress has passed a law on December 28, 2016 that grants amnesty to Marxist FARC rebels as part of the country's, peace deal. The government hailed this development as ‘historic’, The measure grants special legal treatment, amnesty and pardons to ‘members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (ARC) accused of political and related crimes, ‘The Senate passed the bill 69-0, after the House of Representatives approved it 121-0. The amnesty bill is part of a November 24 pact aimed at ending the conflict. After voters rejected an earlier peace deal by a narrow margin, the government and the FARC renegotiated it, deciding to have it ratified in Congress rather than risk a second referendum, Launched in 1964, FARC is about to begin handing over its weapons under a UN-monitored demobilisation process. Now 5700 guerrillas descended from the mountain and surrendered their weapons. The five-decade conflict has killed more than 260000 people, loft 45000 missing and forced nearly seven million to flee their homes. ZA FINLAND Became First Country to Pay Basic Income to citizens on National Level Finland has became the first country in Europe on January 3, 2016 to pay its unemployed citizens an unconditional monthly sum. Under the two-year, nationwide pilot scheme, which began on January 1, 2000 unemployed Finns aged 25 to 58 will receive a guaranteed sum of € 560 (€ 475), ‘The income will replace their existing social benefits and will be paid even if they find work The tral aimed to cut red tape, poverty and above all unemployment, which stands in the Nordic Country at 8.1%. The present system can discourage jobless people from working since even low earings trigger a big cut in benefits ‘The goveenment-backed scheme, which will expand in 2018, isthe first national trial of an idea that has been circulating among economists and politicians over since proposed as a basic capital grant for individuals in 1797 A survey in 2016 by Dalia Research found that 668% of people across all 28 EU member states would ‘definitely or probably’ vote in favour of some form of universal basic income, also known as a citizens’ wage, granted to everyone with no means test or requirement to work ZA GAMBIA Adama Barrow Sworn-in as President ‘Adama Barrow was sworn-in as Srd official President of Gambian ‘at the Gambian Embassy in Dakar, capital of Senegal on January 19, 2017. He replaced Yahya Jammeh, For this, Senegalese troops have entered neighboring Gambia ‘amid a growing crisis as the West African nation’s longtime ruler ‘Yahya Jammoh refuses to step down. United Nations Security Council backed an effort by West African states ta romave Jammeh JJatimeh, who took power in a 1994 military coup, suffered a surprise election defeat in December, 2016 to Adama Barrow, ‘who won 45% of the vote. Jammeh originally conceded the Presidency, but then announced his total rejection of the election results ‘Troops from sovaral West African countries had been poised to intervene if Jemmeh insisted on staying in the post beyond a midnight deadline. Senegal, Ghana, Togo and Mali are among the countries which contributed to the military effort, while the Nigerian Air Force said 200 of its troops would join forces from the Economie Community of West African States (ECOWAS). A HAITI Jovenel Moise Won Presidential Election Jovenel Moise, the provisional winner of Haiti's Presidential ‘lection with 55% of the vote in the first round, has claimed victory as the electoral tribunal officially declared him, the winner on January 3, 2017. Moise will take over from the interim President Jocelerme Privert. Jovenel Moise has won 55,6% of the total votes casted. Jude Celestin remained at the 2nd spot in the race of Presidential election with only 19.5% votes. Moise was a banana farmer and entrepreneur came to known as ‘the banana man‘. Former President Michel Martelly chose him to represent his party “Bald Heads Party’ Caribbean nation Haiti has been suffering from political instability since decade and is vulnerable to natural disasters for ‘example, Hurricane Matthew killed up to 1000 people in October, 2016. More than 5000 Haitians are currently in immigration detention ‘centers in California, while several thousand others have traveled first to Brazil or Chile, where entry visas are easier to obtain. COMPETITION iw FOCUS * March 2017Rens ed Se a A JAPAN A PAKISTAN Pledged ¥ 1 Trillion Aid Restoration of Ancient Hindu Package to Philippines Temple Inaugurated Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Pakistan Prime Minister Muhammad Nava? Sharif inaugurated ‘Tanuary 12, 2017 pledged a ¥ 1 villion aid refurbishment, renovation and a water filtration plant at the Katas Raj package to the Philippines, including Hindu Temple in Chakwal district in the Punjab Province of Pakistan on government aid and private investments, January 11, 2017 as a part of the policy to establish Pakistan’s identity over the next five years to help its asa minority-friendly country infrastructure development and strengthen ‘The work includes installation of a water filtration plant in the Amat strategic ties with the key Jal area, The Katas Raj Temple is admired by Hindus across the globe Asia-Pacific nation. as very sacred as itis believed that the foundation of the sacred site Abe, who met Duterte for the third time, is was laid by Lord Shiva the first foreign head of government to visit The history of Katas Raj Temple was over 5000 years old and was a the Philippines since Duterte took power in focal point of four civilizations, including Hinduism, Sikhism, Budhism June, 2016. Abe and Duterte both agreed to and Christianity. He mentioned that Persian scholar and polymath Al enhance maritime and security cooperation —_Beruni at the same place had computed Earth’s circumference. in their talks at the Malacanang Palace. Abe showed concern on China’s military Chinese-assisted Nuclear Power buildup in disputed waters ofthe South China Sea that influences regional peace -—-»«-Plamt Inaugurated and stability, and isa global eoncern, [A China-backod 340 MW nuclear powor plant in tho Punjab province of Pakistan was inauguratod by Prime Minister Naviaz Sharif on December 28, 2016. Its an "important milestone’ in Pakistan government’ efforts to end the menace of load shedding os Pokistan i power-starved. The two countries also agreed to establish a joint committee on economic collaboration to help with Manila’s infrastructure development. ‘The 4th nuclear plant Chashma-3 is located about 250 km South-West of eaptal Islamabad at Chashmna in Mlanwalldisria where enether A NEPAL plant Chashma-1V is also being bullt and would also become Eperational before its doadling of mid 2017. Referring to the Supreme Court gave Nod for generation targot of 8800 MW of nuclear energy by 2030, Sharif urged Constitution Amendment Bill "sts Atomic Eorgy Commision PAE to ssnp te ‘Sallonge of pod uclig mova thon ha petgt and play ee Rll old in the Responding ia weit petiion spainactbe: —greinenchat error Constitution Amendment Bil in Pariamont Nepal's Supreme Cour said on January 2 2017 that the Constitution amendment bill rogisjored in tho Legislative should move Ie ore todos thie daria The Hindu Marriage Bill Approved grievances of Madhes-based political parties, the Nepal government registered _‘The Pakistan Senate Functional the Constitution Amendment Bill in pecans on ae Parliament on November 29, 2016, unanimously approved the Hindu von eon Marriage Bill on January 2, 2017. Earlier in September, 2016, the Pakistan has been grappling with power shortage and the unusually long hours of power outages has been haunting its people for about a decade, Chashma 2 and 3 power plants are the most efficient plants in Pakistan, which provides more than 600 MW of electricity to the national grid, Pakistan's first nuclear plant was supplied by Canada in 1972. Issues lke change in demarcation of protncs, lzenshp, anguoge and making Patan Nana Assembly had the Constitution mee nlsie are Eee incorporated in the proposed amendment Basing aut ma ta the that the Madhes-based partes have TEU eee ueeee cauousty welamed. Aerie bilwes tue tami ew for cejtered in Leitatvefaranent Se Cancuineig access The bill will enable the Hindu community to get their marriages Sa eeaenaes registered and to appeal in courts of law in cases of separation. Also, there are penalties for violating the provisions of the bil, which allows ‘The petitioners had argued that the revision Hrraue tortinally have « proof of matrisuo docurnen of provincial boundaries can happen only indus to finally have @ proof of marriag co with the consent of the concerned provincial assembly, and cannot be done by the present Parliament alone. The bill also allows separated Hindu persons to remarry. As per the Clause 17 of the bill, a Hindu widow shall have the right to re-marry of her own will and consent after the death of her husband provided a period of six months has lapsed after the husband's death, COMPETITION iw FOCUS * March 2017 (PE)7, ROMANIA Romanian President Designated Grindeanu New Prime Minister Romania President Klaus Tohannis has designated veteran leftist Sorin Grindeanu as the new Romanian head of government on December 30, 2016, Sorin Grindeanu would have 10 days to unveil his Cabinet and seek the Parliament's vote of confidence, Grindeany is a mathematician who has served as Deputy Mayor of the western city of Timisoara. The process is expected to go smoothly for the former telecommunications Minister after the triumph of his moderate left PSD party in the Parliamentary election earlier this month, ‘The PSD won 45% of the seats and now holds a firm majority with their junior partners, the ALDE. Earlier, lohannis withheld his support for the PSD's first choice, Sevil Shhaideh, part of Romania's Turkish minority. Shhaideh would have been the first woman and the first ‘Muslim to lead the government in the eastern European country, which is also a member of the European Union, ZA SAUDI ARABIA India’s Annual Haj Quota Increased to 1.70 Lakh Saudi Arabia has increased India's annual Ha quota from 1.56 lath to 170 lakh eis the biggest such expansion in last 29 years. ‘at apreem this Riga nd lel by Minster of Stae fr minority affairs Uindependent charge) Maqui with Saud ‘Arabia's Haj ond Umrah Minster Dr: Mohammed Sole bin Taher Benten at Sedoh on January 1, 2017 ‘Te expansion is effective from the curent year. The Saudi authorities had five oars go slashed quotas for foreion plains taming from each country by 20% in viow of satiey of th davotoes ea thoy undortook epeiiion 9 Grape May aro, ‘Accordingly, India's quota wes brought down {01.36 loth rom neatly 1.70 lakh in 2012 {dia and Saudl Araia share ideals of global boace, progress and prooperty The regular ata by the loodars end senior~oveleficals ofthe two nations hava further strengthened dha telsderhig Doswaer tha ten non ‘The visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Saual Arabia during Apri, 2016 added new dimensions t this bran relationship A SPAIN First Underwater Museum Opened in Europe under the Atlantic Ocean Europe's frst underwater contemporary art museum, Museo Atlantico, is now open for public. It is situated just off the coast of Lanzarote, in the Bahia de Las Coloradas, Canary Island in Spain, People have to dive 12 m underwater to experience the amazing world ‘The project consists of 12 art installations and more than 300 life-size human figures, created by renowned British sculptor Jason deCaires ‘Taylor, Though, the museum offically opened on January 10, 2017 the pictures and buzz about the extraordinary project has been doing rounds on social media for about a year. The fist phase of this unique museum was deployed by Taylor in February, 2016 Spread over 2500 sq m area, itis accessible to snorkellers and divers. Visitors who do not wish to get in water can observe the installations through glass bottom boats. Priced at € 1200 for diving and € 800 for snorkelling, it will be a tourist and cultural attraction, ZA UNITED NATIONS UN Security Council Passed Vote to End to Israeli Settlements ‘The Obama administration allowed the UN Security Council on December 23, 2016 to adopt a resolution which demands an end to Israeli settlements. In this regard, US President-elect Donald Trump as well as Israel and several US senators who urged Washington. pressurised to use its veto. The resolution was put forward at the 15-member council for a vote by New Zealand, Malaysia, Venezuela and Senogal Egypt already withdrew it under pressure from Israel and Trump, Israel and Trump had called on the US to veto the measure. It was adopted with 14 votes in favour, toa round of applause. I is the First, resolution the Security Council has adopted on Israel and the Palestinians in nearly eight years, The US decision to abstain was seen asa relatively rare step by Washington, which usually shields Israel from such action ZA USA 20-year Old Economic Embargo on Sudan Lifted by USA ‘The USA has announced the end of a 20-year economic embargo on Sudan on January 13, 2017, lifting trade and financial sanctions in an effort to foster ties with the Sudanese government, With this, for the first time in two decades, Sudan will be able to receive imported goods and services from the USA, as authorised by the USA Department of the Treasury. ‘The announcement made by outgoing President Barack Obama's administration comes after an executive order to permanently repeal a range of sanctions as a result of Sudan's efforts to improve security in the region, ‘The lift will also release frozen Sudanese property and assets held in the USA, and permits the trade with the oll and gas industry in Sudan. However, some US sanctions tied to Sudan's ‘State sponsor of, tertorism’ title remain in place, including a ban on weapons sales and restrictions on Darfur-related sanctions remain in effect. COMPETITION iw FOCUS * March 2017Obama Selected Four Indian- Americans for Presidential Awards ‘The US President Barack Obama chose four Indian-American scientists on January 10, 2016 for the highest honour given by the US government to science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers. The honour is recognition for keeping the US on the cutting edge with their innovations. ‘They are part of the list of 102 scientists and researchers who are recipients of the Presidential, Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), ‘They are Pankaj Lal from Montclair State University, Kaushik Chowdhury from North-eastern University, Manish Arora from Icahn Schoo! of ‘Medicine at Mount Sinai and Aradhna Tripati from University of California, Los Angeles. Established by President Bill Clinton in 1996, the Presidential Early Career Awards highlight the key role that the Administration places in encouraging and accelerating American innovation to grow its economy and tackle their greatest challenges. Five Indian-Americans took Oath as members of Congress Fivo Indian-Americans took oath as members ofthe {US Congress. With this record oath-taking, oy scripted history forthe rainoeity etic Gomamanity that comprises just 1% of America's population They are + Kamala Harris, whose mother was from India and father foo fanaa, was sworn-in on January 3, 2017 asthe Seator from California by outgoing US Vice-President Joe Biden. She is the first Indian- American to have ever served in the Senate, Harri, who before the swearing. in eld the position of California Attorney General, replaced Senator Barbara Boxer, wh decided against secking selection. She isone of the seven new Senators o Inge talon office in the new Congres: + Congressman Ami Bera, who has been re-elected for the third consecutive fer. Inthe proci, Dera equaled the record of Dalip Singh Saundh, who became the frst indian-American tobe elected as member of the US Congress. + Joning Bera was young and darn Ro Khanna (40) ‘epreenting the Silicon Valley He was eworn-in on bieentennial edition ofthe Constitution on foan from the rare books division ofthe Library of Congress. + Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi won the election from lino took the oath on Gita, He sony the second US lawmaker after Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii) to take the oath ona Gita, Gabbard, the ist ever Hind tobe elected to the US Congress took the oath for third consecutive term, + Praia Jayapal isthe frst Indin-American woman inthe US House of Representatives. US First Lady Selected Indian-American Girl for Education Campaign US First Lady Michelle Obama has selected a 16-year-old Indian-American girl on January 6, 2017 named Swetha Prabakaran to serve in the inaugural Student Advisory Board of ‘a education campaign thst seats w provide edocational Sparta dua for eunayers er Aunertes aa was chewarb recojnition of her efforts to educate yout in the Hold of pamputer scancee ‘Swetha is born in Indiangpolis, Her parents immigrated from Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli in 1998, She is among seventeon students solocted by the White House to serve on ‘Better Make Room’ Student Advisory Board. The inaugural Board has 12 high sehool students and five college students. She isthe only iadinArnorican iy te a Swetha,a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology In Virgina, isthe founder and CEO of rverybody Coue Now’ a non-profit body working to empower iho usal goneration of ouin to bocorua-engu.oore aiemnncs and entrepreneurs, ZA AGREEMENT/SUMMIT/MEETING 2017 World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting Held ‘The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2017 was held in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland from January 17 to 20, 2017. It aimed to rededicate leaders from all walks of life to achieve ‘common goals and drive new initiatives Responsive and Responsible Leadership is the theme driving the design of the programme, initiatives and projects of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2017, ‘The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Inriovations (CEP!) ‘was launched at World Economic Forum (WEF) Davos with $460 milion funding to develop vaccines against 3 emerging highly-contagious and fatal diseases namely Middle-East respiratory syndrome (MERS)-coronavirus, Lassa fever, and Nipah virus, ‘The Annual Meeting in Davos remains a global platform ‘unmatched in engaging leaders from across business, government, international organisations, academia and civil society in peer-to-peer working sessions, The programme's, depth and breadth make it a true summit of summits, WORLD NOMIC aa COMPETITION iw FOCUS * March 2017A \NDIA-BANGLADESH Petronet Signed Pact to Set-up $ 950 Million LNG Project ‘India’s largest Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) importer Petronet has signed an agreement ‘on December 30, 2016 to set up a $ 950 million liquefied natural gas import project in Bangladesh which was a 7.6 million tonnes a year project to receive and regasify LNG on Kutubdia Island in Cox’s Bazar and lay a 26 km pipline to connect it to the consumption markets. ‘The project envisions future expansion and can be used to supply LNG through small barges and LNG trucks to users which are not connected by gas grid. In this regard, a formal pact will be signed once a joint venture is agreed between Petronet and Petrobangla Petrobangla becomes part of the joint venture (building the LNG) project and are willing to offer them up to 26% stake. But, they are not keen to invest due to fund constraints, Bangladesh has a Jot of unmet demand. Gas demand is projected to more than double to 45 million tonnes from current 20 million tonnes in next 20 years India Eased Visa Process for Bangladeshis AAs part of ongoing efforts to streamline, liberalise and ease the process of securing Indian visas, the Indian High Commission announced in a press release on December 28, 2016 that it will allow all Bangladesh travellers with confirmed air, train or bus tickets to submit their tourist visa, applications without e-token or prior appointment dates from January 1, 2017. Ina bid to ease the procurement of Indian tourist visas for Bangladeshis, India will now allow those with confirmed travel tickets to submit their visa applications directly without prior appointments. Those who already have appointment dates can continue to submit their tourist visa applications in centres at Gulshan, Uttara, Motijheel, Mymensingh, Barisal, Khulna, Jessore, Rangpur, Rajshahi, Chittagong and Sylhet The date of journey should be after 7 days but within one month of submission of the visa application form. The Indian Visa Application Centre in Mirpur will receive walk-in tourist visa applications from confirmed travellers and senior citizens from January 1, 2017. The Mirpur visa application centre will start taking those walk-in applications from January 1 instead of the centre in Uttara, ZA \NDIA-BHUTAN India and Bhutan Signed MoU for Green Construction India has signed an agreement with Bhutan on December 26, 2016 for assistance in green and sustainable construction of infrastructure in the Himalayan kingdom, The MoU was signed by Abhay Sinha, Director General of CPWD in the presence of Zhabtog Lyonpo DorjiChoden, Minister fof Works and Human Settlements of Bhuta In this respect, an MoU was signed between Central Public Works Department (CPWD), under India’s Ministry of Urban Development and the Department of Engineering Services, under Bhutan’s Ministry of Works and Human Settlements for the purpose in Thimpu. Under the MoU for bilateral technical cooperation in infrastructure engineering, CPWD will assist in promoting sustainability in the built environment, capacity building through training of Bhutanese manpower, bench-marking in building and road sectors besides deputing engineering experts to Bhutan,ZA \NDIA-FRANCE ISRO & CNES Inked Pact for Satellite Launch Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and French Space agency (CNES) signed a partnership agreement in satellite launch technology on January 10, 2016, The agreement was signed between ISRO Chairman Kiran Kumar and CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall in the presence of visiting French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Marc Ayrault Strengthening the CNES-ISRO partnership will enable France to benefit from the Indian model of Streamlining the costs of space programmes. Space cooperation between France and India spans over 50 years and is one of the cornerstones of the Indo-French strategic partnership. ISTRAC (ISRO Tolomotry Tracking and Command ‘Notwork) monitors Indian space missions, including the two Indo-French satellites currently in orbit for collecting data to track climate change. ISRO is the second partner of CNES, in terms of volume, after NASA. OF comparable size and sharing similar objectives, the space programmes of both countries are complementary. ZA \NDIA-KAZAKHSTAN Bilateral Protocol Signed Protocol to Amend the DTAC. India and Kazakhstan signed a Protocol on January 6, 2017 to. amend the existing Double Taxation Avoidance Convention (DTAC) between the two countries. The convention was earlier signed on December 9, 1996 for the avoidance of double taxation and for the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income. Salient Features + Internationally accepted standards for effective exchange of information on tax matters. ‘+ ‘The information received from Kazakhstan for tax purposes can be shared with other law enforcement agencies with authorisation of the competent authority of Kazakhstan and vice-versa, + A Limitation of Benefits Article that provides a main purpose test to prevent misuse of the DTAC and to allow application of domestic law and measures against tax avoidance or evasion inserted. * Specific provisions inserted to facilitate relieving of economic double taxation in transfer pricing cases. + Service PE provisions inserted with a threshold and also provides that the profits to be attributed to PE will be determined on the basis of apportionment of total profits of the enterprise. + ‘The protocol replaces existing Article on Assistance in Collection of Taxes with a new Article to align it with international standards. ZA \NDIA-KENYA President of Kenya Paid 3-Days Visit to India Unuru Kenyatta, the President of Kenya made a State visit 0 India from January 10 to 12, 2017 on an invitation from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, This is the first State visit in 36 years from Kenya to India, The President Kenyatta attended the Gujarat Summit 2017 on January 10 while held officials talks with Prime Minister Modi on January 11, 2017 in New Delhi. He also had meetings with the President and Vice-President. The two countries signed 2 MoU/Agreements in the area including Agreements in the Cooperation in the agriculture and allied sector and agreements in the Line of Credit for $ 100 million for agricultural mechanisation ‘Apart from the agreements, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta also issued a joint statement + This includes to enhance cooperation inthe different sectors like of maritime surveillance, maritime security, sharing of white shipping information and joint hydrographic surveys. + India and Kenya also agreed to go on sharing information in counter terrorism, cyber security, combating drugs and human trafficking, + India and Kenya also decided to buidup ther security and defence cooperation. India invited Kenya to participate in defence exhibitions like ‘Aero India and DEFEXPO. India also invited Kenya to join the framework agreement of the International Solar Alliance (ISA). Italso offered to help Kenya inthe area of LED smart street, lighting and LED bulbs for domestic use. + Both nations agreed to build a bilateral legal framework with carly conclusion of Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, an “Agreement on Transfer of Sentenced Persons anda ‘Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) on Controlling Narcotics. ZA \NDIA-MAURITIUS MoU Signed for Cooperation in the Field of Cooperatives The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Radha Mohan Singh and Minister of Business, Enterprise and Cooperatives, government of Mauritius, Soomilduth Bholah Signed an MoU for Cooperation in the field of Cooperatives 6 felated areas at New Delhi January 16, 2017 ‘The MoU wil enable the two countries to collaborate in this vital sector and can significantly benefit thousands of Mauritans. india offered to exchange its expertise and tachilogy wish Maus in agro industry, fisheries abd Boy seten The historic; imo:tasted rolatiorsip Betwean Indiana Mauritius is anchored in linkages of culture and ancostry has row fron etree bean Ser Use ou'and regaceh high level visits have added significant momentura to the bilateral relationship between the two countries, COMPETITION in FOCUS * March 2017ernie Pete A \NDIA-PAKISTAN Both Countries Exchanged List of Nuclear Facilities India and Pakistan exchanged the list oftheir nuclear installations under a bilateral agreement on December 29, 2016 that bars them from attacking each other's atomic facilities. This is the 24th consecutive exchange of such list between the two countries. ‘The bilateral agreement prohibits the two countries to carry out any surprise attack and pledged not to assist foreign powers to attack each other. The agreement, which was signed on December 31, 1988 and entered into force on January 27, 1991 As per the agreement, the two countries inform each other of nuclear installations and facilities to be covered under the agreement on January I every year. The two countries also ‘exchanged the lists of prisoners under the Consular Access Agreement between the two nations Registration Fee for Pakistani Hindus as Indian Citizens Reduced from = 15000 to 2 100 In a gazette notification on December 24, 2016, the Home Ministry said that the registration fees for Hindus and other minority community people from three neighboring countries, including Pakistan, as Indian citizens have been reduced to as, low as @ 100 from ¢ 15000. The changes have been made after amending various provisions of the Citizenship Rules 2009 The new rules will be applicable to minority communities (Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians) from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and living in India on long term visa, However, for minority community people from countries other than the three, the fees will be € 10000 for registration in India and ® 15000 if registered elsewhere, ‘The new rules also allow the minority members from the neighbouring countries to take oath of allegiance as an Indian citizen in front of Sub-Divisional Magistrate, in case of absence of Collector, Deputy Commissioner or District Magistrate A \NDIA-PORTUGAL Portugal Prime Minister Visited India Portugal Prime Minister Antonio Costa, who traces his roots to Goa, arrived on a seven-day long official visit to India i.e, from January 7 to 13, 2017. Costa had official talks with President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice-President Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital He attended the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas as the chief guest in Bengaluru on January 8 and participated in few business events. He also attended the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit on January 10 at Gandhinagar. In the last leg of his visit to India, he ‘was in Goa on January 11 to 12 and spent some time at his ancestral place, With his visit, India and Portugal signed 7 MoUs on January 7, 2017 in New Delhi, MoUs signed included cooperation in areas of Defence, information technology and electronics, agricultural trade including market access for agricultural products, deeper engagement in renewable energy and marine research, COMPETITION iw FOCUS * March 2017 ee ea rd ZA \NDIA-RUSSIA. Russia Amended Laws for Long Term Contracts on Spares Russia has amended its laws on January 11, 2017 veh allows ong efi oncracs far snacéa and support for mlltaty equipment supplied to India, THs wil address long-standing concorns on th serviceability of the Imported equipment In thid repo, dia fs as discussing tha possiblity of Russian Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) allowing Tasanc-actactra OF pura WEY 6 Ta ee er cstabert tune process as lst cannot deel rectly with the OEMs but with designated intermediaries Tike Hesoboranenpor. Tea charg in in doe ave fics The Ministry is now drawing-up a list of the OEMs, which are related tothe platforms. Once the Ministry votfies which OEMs supplying hardware ta Inala ave on thelist, the two aides would enter into @ Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) They will then give a price catalogue based on aah Wo. il Hogodion Tal grant ZA \NDIA-SINGAPORE Third Protocol Signed for Amending the DTAA India and Singapore have amended the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) for the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income, by signing a Third Protocol on December 30, 2016: The India-Singapore DTA at present provides for residence-based taxation of capital gains of shares in a company. The Protocol for amendment of the India-Mauritius Convention signed on May 10, 2016, provides for source-based taxation of Capital gains arising from alienation of shares acquired from April 1, 2017 in a company resident in India, Simultaneously, investments made before April 1 2017 have been grandfathered and will not be subject to capital gains taxation in India.ZA \NDIA-SRI LANKA. A \NDIA-USA Revisited Palk Strait Fishing Barack Obama Signed $ 618 Billion Defence Dispute in Ministerial Talks Bill with India India and Sri Lanka held Ministerial-level talks ‘The US President Barack Obama has signed into law the $ 618 on their long-standing dispute over fishermen billion defence budget for 2017 on December 23, 2016. In this, In the Palk Strait on January 2, 2017. In this _respect, he signed the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) regard, Indian Minister of Agriculture and 2017, which asked Defence Secretary and Secretary of State to take Farmers Welfare Radha Mohan Singh met with steps necessary to recognise India as America’s major Sri Lanka's Minister for Fisheries and Aquatic defence partner. Resources Development According to the summary of the bill released by Chairman of the Mahinda Amaraweera Senate Armed Services Committee Senator John McCain ‘The talks covered possible mechanisms to help + NDAA-2017 will enhances security cooperation between the USA find a permanent solution to the fishermen and India, issues. Both the countries also agreed to release fishermen in the other's custody as ‘wall which is a regular practice meant to establish goodwill, encouraging progress on + [twill enhance security cooperation with India and conditions nearly half of the funding to Pakistan on a certification that itis taking demonstrable steps against the Haqqani Network. the long-standing disput. + Italso asks the administration to designate an individual within the Sri Lanka has long expressed concerns about executive branch who has experience in defence acquisition and illegal fishing by Indian fishermen within ts __eehnology to reinforce and ensure, through inter-agency policy territorial waters across the Palk Strait. The coordination, the success of the Framework for the US-India Defence Country regularly arests Indian fishermen for Relationship: and to help resolve remaining issues impeding US-India ‘cross the International Maritime Boundary defence trade, security cooperation, and co-production and Line (IMBL) that demarcates Indian and Sri co-development opportunities. Lankan waters. India also detains Sxi Lankan The NDAA, which among other things creates a $1.2 billion Counter ISI Fund, imposes four conditions on Pakistan wo be eligible for $400 milion ofthe $900 milion of tho Coalition Support JZ \NDIA-UAE Fund (CSP) Early this year, US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter refised to give a similar cortifcaton to Pakistan due fo which lc was not given $300 milion under coalition support fund. fishermen, First Strategic Dialogue Held India and the UAE held their first strategic Gialoguo on January 20, 2017 during which ~—-Z INDIA-WORLD BANK they finalised the Strategic Cooperation Agreement that = at expanding bilateral ~~ India Signed Financing Agreement with Science and secant meweinaene' World Bank for $ 48 Million Both the sides agreed on a number of new irene initiatives to furthor strengthen tho bilateral for IDA credit of $ 48 cooperation and on signing of fresh million (equivalent) for instruments of cooperation. Project was signed by ‘The meeting provided a timely opportunity tothe government of India prepare for the forthcoming State visit of the {he geverzmen of Indl Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi as the Chief Guest th ihe Worl at the Republic Day celebrations, 2017. January 16, 2017. A 7 This is the second visit of the Crown Prince to. Project Agreement was S India who travelled in February, 2016. He will also signed there, bbe accompanied by a high-level delegation, Tye objectives of the I including ministers, senior officials and project are to improve captains of industry health services and increase their utilisation by communities in ‘The two countries have been among each targeted locations in Nagaland. Communities in targeted locations other's top trading partners with a ‘will benefit from project activities at the community and health well-balanced bilateral trade of about $ 50 facility levels while the population of the State as a whole will billion in 2015-16, UAE is among the top benefit from improvements in higher-level facilitios as woll as investors in India in terms of Foreign Direct. system-wide investments. Investments (FDN. It contributes significantly to India’s energy security and is the fifth largest supplier of crude oil to India ‘The project will directly benefit about 600000 people. It will support and complement existing systems and mechanisms involving ‘communities under the National Health Mission. The closing date of iad 1or 16. Nagaland health Project is March 31, 2023. COMPETITION iw FOCUS * March 2017\ Economy, | Business & Banking Tax Evasion Upto % 2 Crore is a Bailable Offence ‘The Centre and States have decided to water down the penal provisions to ensure a y trader gets immodiate bail ifthe alleged tax evasion is up to € 2 crore. With this step the _— GST regime made less onerous. GST meeting has also decided that the provision of arrest will be restricted to forgery and non-deposit of collected taxes with the exchequer within the stipulated time frame, Under the IPC 1860, forgery and cheating are non-bailable offence, which means that bail can only be granted by a Court, Most other offences like availing of wrong input tax credit or refund and failure to furnish documents, which were earlier listed in the revised draft GST law for prosecution, will not lead to arrest but may attract only financial penalty. While in the case of service tax, there is a provision of arrest for non-deposit of the tax beyond 2 50 lakh with the government, the excise law gives the commissioner discretion to invoke arrest provision in the case of default No TDS or Advance Tax Credit for Disclosure under PMGKY ‘The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on January 18, 2017 clarified that no credit will be allowed against advance tax paid or the Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) or Tax Collected at Source (TCS) in respect of the income declared under PMGKY. This is in contrast to the earlier Income Declaration Scheme (IDS) under which these eredits were allowed, PMGKY is meant to give an ‘opportunity to those who deposited tax-evaded money in bank-demonetised currencies during the window that was available till December 30 to come clean. It was opened on December 17, 2016 and will remain open till March 31, 2017 Under the scheme, a person declaring undisclosed income would need to pay a tax of 30%, in addition to a penalty of 10% and a Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan cess of 33% on the tax. This adds Up to 49.9% of the undisclosed income, Additionally, the person making the declaration would require to deposit 25% of the undisclosed income in the zero-interest scheme for four years. Anti-dumping Duty Imposed on Jute from Bangladesh and Nepal ‘The Union government imposed anti-dumping duty on January 5, 2016 ranging from $ 6.30 to $351.72 per tonne on imports of jute and its products from Bangladesh and Nepal to protect domestic industry for five years. The import restrictive levy has been imposed on jute yarnytwine, Hessian fabric and jute sacking bags in all forms and specifications. Based on complaint of local players, the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD had initiated a probe into imports of the products in 2015 In its final order, issued in October, 2016, the DGAD had come to the conclusion that there is dumping of goods and the imports were undercutting and suppressing the prices of the domestic industry. Performance of domestic industry has deteriorated in the terms of profitability return on investments and cash flow (and) injury to domestic industry has been caused by dumped imports. West Bengal is the major player in the jute industry, with 3.5-4 lakh people being employed in the sector COMPETITION in FOCUS * March 2017NPCI Declared & 54.90 Crore Prize Money for NITI Aayog’s Lucky Draw Schemes National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) declared on January 14, 2017 that €54,90 crore prize roney to over 3.42 lakh winners for NII Aayog's Tucky drew schemes for consumers and merchatts, ‘There are 15000 daily winners qualifying for total pris money of 1.5 crore. In additonal to this, hare taro over 14000 woekky winners qualifying for total Fras yo Ge COS oe ry ven “The two schemes are named Lucky Grahak Yojana {UGY) and Digh-Dhan Vyapar Yojana (OV¥). They were launched on December 25, 2016 and shal remain open til April 14, 2017, These schemes are ed at mbgntivieng Dat Cotter and eran {promo cgital paren Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka emerged as the top five States ‘wh (ase Homan UE wis, Major of Ud winners were in the age group of 21 to 30 years There were also a good number of winners who are above 50 years Customers and merchants using RuPay Card, Bharat Inter nea for MengpUnifed Payhants cera (BHA and Aadhaar-enabled Payment Service {AePS) are eligible for wining daily and weekly lucky draw prizes. 5 Discount for Online Payment of LPG Cylinder According to an official statement said at New Dethi con January 3, 2017 that liquefied petroleum gas consumers will get a discount of €5 per cylinder when they buy and pay for cooking gas (LPG) online. In this rogard, State-owned fuel retailers, Indian Oil Corporation (10C), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Hindustan Potroloum Corporation. Limited (HPCL) will offer an uptront discount of ? 5 on every LPG refill to all LPG customers who will book and pay for it online Customers can make payment through existing online ‘modes i.e., net banking, credit and debit cards at the time of web-booking their refills. On doing so, customers will got the discounted amount displayed cn their screens. ‘This net amount payable will be retail selling price minus incentive amount of 8 per cylinder. The net discounted amount will also be shown on the cash ‘memo accompanying the homedelivery of the LPG ovlinder. To provide cashless transactions, the government had already asked oil companies to pay consumers 0,75% discount on cashless fuelling of petrol and diesel at petrol pumps. The oil firms offer a 0.75% discount on the price of petrol and diesel to consumers paying by cards or mobile wallets to push people towards digital payments in the face of a severe cash crunch brought in by the demonetisation of € 500 and € 1000 notes. Primary Drafts of CGST and SGST Law Approved by GST Council “The Finance Minister Arun Jitley-headed Goods and Services Tax (GST) Counel finalised the drafts ofthe two main supplementary loyjsiation i. the Central GST Bill and the State GST Bill ints meeting on December 23, 2016. But, the issue of dual control to divide assessing powers between the Cancre and the star continuad vo rematn nnrecaived. The logaly outed copy of the dafis wl ba Circulated to all the States Under GST, the States and the Centre wil collect identical rate of taxes on goods and service. For inganca iF 18%i¢ the GST rate ona good, the States and the Centre will et 9% each called the CCST and SGST rates. The Centre will also levy and collect the Integrated Goods and Services Tax {1GST) on all inter-State supply of goods and services ‘The IGST mechanism has been designed to ensure seamless flow of input tax credic for one State to anarher, States alo want control over administering the IGST mochanism. The Union Law Ministry, however, is ofthe view that only the Centre should have administrstive authority over IGST, The original deadline to roll-out GST from April 1, 2017 appears increasingly unital ZA BANKING PNB Launched Contactless Credit Card In another digitalisation initiative, Usha Ananthasubramanian, Managing Director 6 Chief Executive Officer, Punjab National Bank (PNB) has launched a Contactless Credit Card named PNB Wave N Pay-Contactless Card at New Delhi on January 21, 2017. ‘This card could be used by just waving it across the terminal and the transaction will be through. There is no need to enter any PIN for transactions up to € 2000. ‘The cardholder has full charge back rights on the misuse that ‘means in case of any fraud or misuse, the customer is entitled to get full refund, Cooperative Banks now can’t Accept Deposits under PMGKY The Union government has barred cooperative banks from accepting deposits under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) as there have been irregularities discovered in cooperative banks during the demonetisation process that the income tax department is investigating {As per a Finance Ministry statement on January 20, 2017, it is clarified that cooperative banks are not authorised banks to accept deposits under PMGKDS, 2016. Application for the deposit in the form of Bonds Ledger ‘Account shall be received by any banking company, other than Cooperative Banks, to which the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, applies. “The deposit scheme is part of the Taxation and Investment Regime for Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, 2016 under which a declarant has to deposit 25% of the declared Undisclosed income in an authorised bank as notified by the government. They have to also pay 50% of the amount declared in tax and penalty. COMPETITION iw FOCUS * March 2017Yes Bank Launched Customisable Savings Account Mid-cigad private eocor ender Yas tank clalmod on January 17, 2017 that It has launched the industry's first customisable seine account ich wall pretoct tastochers oa wanted change ltsed i currant fern “Ti caatomiaesbe sev ecco Wl Sc tha Ono rosie an gorau that guice Hia or br ifesyte are banking roferoioes. Conitiars oan Gosces froin opicns bu deta Ca) Dorn ves co minimnum bait requlrerant ind baliking benefits such as ATM usage, digital banking product, branch Tanking end family grouping ‘The bank has also launched “Yos Fintach’, a business accolorator ogra in callaboratiot with T- Hus a Eat incteaie Seb ip Fy tha Telangana government anc Anti tpood sealing platform for early growth stage startups Reserve Bank Increased ATM Cash Withdrawal Limit to = 10000 a Day ‘The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) increased ATM cash withdrawal limit to € 10000 per day from an ATM on January 16, 2017, ‘though a weekly limit of 24000 per bank account remains unchanged. The RBI has increased the daily limit for ATM withdrawals from % 4500 which has been in place for a few weeks now. From current accounts, the amount that can be collected each ‘week has been doubled to a lakh. Limits of access to cash were doclared on November 8, 2016 when Prime Minister Narendra ‘Modi made the shock announcement that & 500 and ® 1000 notes ‘would be illegal to check tax evasion, corruption and counterfeiting, After the new year, the scarcity of notes has eased up, but the ‘opposition had said the government has defaulted on its promise because cash restrictions remain in place and, according to most estimates, virtually all the banned notes have heen deposited in banks, meaning that black money has not been destroyed or forced out World Bank cut India’s Growth Rate to 7% for 2016-17 ‘The World Bank decelerated India’s growth for 2016-17 fiscal on January 11, 2017 to a ‘still robust” 7% from its previous estimate of 7.6 due to demonetisation with continued tailwinds from low oil prices and solid agricultural output partly offset by challenges associated with the withdrawal of a large volume of currency in circulation and subsequent replacement with new notes. At the same time, the bank asserted that the country would regain momentum in the following years with 7.6% and 7.8% growth. India is expected to regain its momentum, with growth rising to 7.6% in Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 and strengthening to 7.8% in FY 2019-20. ‘The World bank also said that “The ‘Make in India’ campaign may support India’s manufacturing sector, backed by domestic demand and further regulatory reforms. Moderate inflation and a civil service pay hike should support real incomes and consumption, assisted by bumper harvests after favourable monsoon rains, Notably, India maintains the distinction of being the fastest growing emerging market economies of the world, bypassing China COMPETITION iw FOCUS * March 2017 HDFC Bank Launched Humanoid Robot IRA Private lender HDFC Bank launched its first ‘humanoid’ in the domestic banking space on January 9, 2016. The bank showcased human-sized robot Ira, developed in association with Kochi-based Asimoy Robotics, and said it will be deployed at a city branch within a fortnight. It ‘will not replace jobs done by humans. ‘The robot will perform a limited role and act largely as a receptionist, though the humanoid can also move around in the branch. City Union Bank last year introduced robot ‘Lakshmi’, which Uses artificial intelligence to handle 125 topics, HDFC Bank also launched the 2nd edition of a summit which offers a platform for startups to showcase their innovations aimed at helping the bank, It also said that itis looking to partner with startups having technological solutions for rural operations, as a large part of its customer base is, there. The bank is also looking at deploying artificial intelligence tools for serving the rural areas. SIDBI Tied-up with LIC for Capital Support to Enterprises Or ie Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI has tied-up with LIC on January 5, 2017 for augmenting capital support to enterprises in the country. The idea behind tying up with the State-run insurance behemoth is to give a boost to the venture capital ecosystem for MSMES. In April, 2016, SIDBI and LIC had signed a MoU to supplement funds under India Aspiration Fund, Under the MoU, the insurance major had ‘earmarked an amount of € 200 crore for investment As part of first phase, LIC and SIDBI signed Contribution Agreements on January 3, 2017 in New Delhi with 7 Venture Capital Funds (VCFs) ‘with an aggregate commitment of € 99.50 crore from LIC, This is over and above commitment of € 162.75 crore already given to these funds by SIDBI. ‘Under fund of funds operations, SIDBI handles various schemes, namely India Aspiration Fund (corpus of 8 2000 crore, ASPIRE Fund (¢ 60 crore) ‘and Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS) (© 10000 crore)RBI Allowed NRIs to Exchange Old 2 500, 1000 Banknotes up to June, 2017 ‘The Reserve Bank of India (RBI said on December 31, 2016 that Resident Indian citizens who were abroad during November 9, 2016 to December 30, 2016 can avail this facility up to March 31, 2017 and Non-Resident Indian citizens who were abroad during November 8, 2016 to December 30, 2016 can avail this facility upto June 30, 2017. However, Indian citizens in Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan and Bangladesh ‘cannot avail this facility. According to the RBI, while there is no monetary limit for exchange for the eligible Resident Indians, the limit for NRIs will be as per the relevant FEMA Regulations. The existing regulations allow NRIs to carry € 25000 overseas, ‘They can avail this facility in their individual capacity once during the period on submission of ID documents, such as, Aadhaar number, Permanent Account Number (PAN) etc., and on submission of documentary evidence showing they were abroad during the period and, that they have not availed the exchange facility earlier. No third party tender will be accepted under the facility AU Financiers got Final Licence from RBI to Start Small Finance Bank AU Financiers (India) Limited announced on December 27, 2016 that, it has received the final licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to start a small finance bank. With the license, it became the seventh entity to do so. AU Financiers was the only Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC) ‘among the 10 entities to receive in-principle approvals to start ‘small finance banks in September, 2015. AU Financiers has finalised four investment bankers to manage its proposed share sale slated for early next year. Central bank guidelines require ‘small finance banks to maintain foreign shareholding below 49%. AU Financiers recently cut its foreign holding to 49%, the ‘maximum allowed for a small finance bank, after Kedaara Capital, ChyrsCapital Investment Advisors India Private Limited, International Finance Corp. and Warburg Pincus LLC sold some of their stakes in the company. So far, only Capital Small Finance Bank and Equitas Small Finance Bank have started operations Bank of Maharashtra Adopted a Village in Sangli for Digital Transactions Post the announoement of withdrawal of ® 500 and ¢ 1000 currency nctes and the push towards a cashless society, Bank of Maharashtra, adopted the vilage of Malangaon, in Sang district Maharashtra, to make i a completely cashless village, Though, financial inclusion became the nged of the hour, the bank oficials vith tha hop ofthe District collector and several government officials adopted the village on December 27, 2016 ‘The village of Malangaon is located 3.5 km away from Shirdoh branch of the bank. The business correspondents did door-to-door campaigns across the village to enroll the people through aadhaar-tinked bank aocounts to enable them to make payments Gigally instead of cach Adcharind bank pexunns make ivaasy oreveryonaiin the tillage to perform banking transactions by the simple use oftheir fingerprine. The Pung-basbd public sector londor hor alsa concieted various educational initiatives in the village to ensure people got more aware ofthe various channels of digital payments ZA CORPORATE Google Introduced Tools for Small Businesses in India Google india CEO Sunder Pichi announced key intatives named ‘My Business and Di Untockea" for the small and medium businesses in ndla on January 4 2017, Google My Business would help smal businesses set-up wwebsite from thelr mobile devices, All hey need Dear pics Wii's or iinciea The ore bal tat Would halp ahem treaty an caling Tmemvngs, poeldos:s gal Salning jeparamane, ‘The ech giant also launched Digital Unlocked, an education programme in association with industry body FICCI and Indian School of This Tho peogeamnmna wil inpar olia tnd online courses to help small aesinemses, Businosses with a digital presence soe profits {row twice as fast. Adetionally 8236 of digital cites compared to 20% of ofine open. TH rind oe ool dy Business’ baa bee Ineroduoe in Tala ad ind wt 0 cher counties gradually SBI and Coca-Cola Inked Pact for Digital Solutions and Literacy Initiative Coca-Cola india (CCD, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Private Limited (HCCBPL) and State Bank of India (SB) announced a strategic partnership on January 3, 2017 to enable 2.6 milion retailer and 000 distributors to conduct business transactions digitally As por the MoU, retailers can open a current account in any SBI with Corporate Net banking (CIND) fact. Then, the retailers would be trained by SBI’s authorised trainers along with Coca-Cola, on new and evolving digital business transaction solutions apd initiated tte SBI's tigital payment options like Buddy P2P. Buddy Merchant App and SBI Pay In this regard, taining sessions will be arranged as part of tis partnership, o help Sinai retailers enfiance their digital skils and tmnderstand the benefits of adopting cashless transactions “This digital paymont soltions in business trancsctiona wl fel further stent 030 cola’ retail chain ecosystem covering over 2.6 milion retailers and 5000 distributors ‘einiieaes al COMPETITION in FOCUS * March 2017Twitter Partnered with ICICI Bank to Smoothen Customer Experience ‘Twitter and ICICI Bank announced a partnership on December 28, 2016 that integrates a slew of digital customer care support features for the bank. It will benefit millions ofits customers with direct online response to their queries and feedback in real-time. With this, ICICI Bank is the first bank in India to implement the new features to its Twitter account @ICICI jank_Care for customer care. ‘The bank has activated the support indicator, introduced the message button and embedded deep links for moving a conversation from public to private thereby allowing customers to provide feedback on a service interaction, The features are available to businesses globally Customer feedback can be implemented through the ecosystem partners. Support indicators and the Message button can be activated on a new Customer support settings page on the Twitter Dashboard ‘website, This initiative is in line with the philosophy of "Khayaal Aapka’ of ICICI MobiKwik Decided to Enable Utility Bill Payments Across India Mobikwik, a mobile wallet company ¥ will now be integrated in Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS), bill pment system by Search Resus National Payments Corporation of India (NPC), offering interoporablo and accessible bill payment service to Customers through a network of agents In this regard, the company ¥ ¥ announced on December 28, 2016 d ths it bod got an be peciplo approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBD to set-up Bharat Bll Payments Operating Unit (BBPOU). It will facilitate a less cash’ society through migration of bill payments oureagh toelecranic anni BBPS is a tiered structure for operating the bill payment system under a single brand which will offer interoperable bill payment service to customers online as well as through a network of agents on the ground. ‘The system will provide multiple payment modes and instant confirmation of payment, NPC! will function as the authorised Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit (BBPCU). Google India Collaborated with MCA to Improve Online Consumer Protection Google India in collaboration with Ministry of Consumer Affairs announced a nationwide "Digitally Safe Consumer campaign, on December 24, 2016 as part of a larger effort to help better protect consumer interest online, As part ofthis collaboration, both will undertake a yearlong campaign focused on building capacities of consumer organisations, personnel of consumer affairs department and counselors of National Consumer Helpline on Internet safety and related issues. In order to provide training and information on online safety tools Google with the help of partner agencies will work towards advocating digital security and privacy needs through "Digital Literacy, Safety & Security’ workshops through a ‘Train the Trainer’ model for approximately 500 people including 250 consumer organisations across the country COMPETITION iw FOCUS * March 2017 ae eee ROUND UP + The Competition Commission of india (CC) approved the proposed merger of onine travel fm MakeMy Trip's Indian travel business with rival bio Group. The closing othe transaction is expected to be around January 31,2017. Under the dea, Make Tip wll vn the business of labo Group incuaing aibibo,redBus, Rye and Fighistay. The to companies together processed 34.1 milion transactions dung the fnancial yea 2016 + The Entrepreneurship Development ‘Scheme (EDS) was launched under the New Economic Development Policy (NEDP) by Lalmalsawma, Mizoram Chief Secretary (Mizoram). The State government has, allocated ® 2 crore for New Economic, Development Policy (NEDP). * London's insurance giant Lloyd has received the final approval from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) to set-up is frst branch in India before April, 2017 and willbe located at Mumbai. will work in partnership with local insurance businesses to develop innovative solutions that meet the unique needs of the {growing economy, * The World Bank has sanctioned ® 1376 crore for complete upgradation and improvement of the power system network in Tripura. The total project cost sanctioned by World Bank is ® 1376 crore and the project is.

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