DAILY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS – 23.02.2016 TO 26.02.2016 DAILY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS National Yielding to pressure from agitating Jats, while Jat leaders appealed to the agitators the Union Govt. set up a five-member to lift the blockades. committee to examine the quota demand Investigating agencies claimed to have for the community in government jobs. enough evidence against arrested JNU M.Venkaiah Naidu was made head of this students union president Kanhaiya Kumar committee. The agitation started a few on sedition charges. days ago by Jat community seeking Other Budget session of Indian Parliament Backward Caste (OBC) status for the started with address by President Pranab community turned violent with death of at Mukherjee. least 10 persons in Haryana. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu To find out the exact location of the introduced the new Railway Budget for Aquifer rocks a new mapping technique is 2016-17 in the Parliament with the to be introduced in Haryana by May following new features making it as the first state to have such Railway budget mapping. Aquifer rock is an underground Theme of the Budget layer of water bearing rock which has . Overcoming challenges – Reorganize, groundwater stored in it. With the climate Restructure Rejuvenate Indian changes in the recent years, the Railways: ‘Chalo, Milkar Kuch Naya groundwater sources have gone down to a Karen’ critical level. Three pillars of the strategy i.e. Nav “Swachh Parayatan” is the name of the Arjan – New revenues, Nav Manak – mobile app that was launched under the New norms, Nav Sanrachna – New ‘Clean India – Clean Monuments’ Structures. initiative of the Tourism Ministry. Visitors Four new categories of trains announced can use the app to post photos of unclean Four new categories of trains have been tourist areas near 25 monuments. announced in the budget— one for Kasaragod district of Kerala has been unreserved passengers and three for declared as the second zero landless reserved passengers. district, after Kannur. The four new categories of trains are- National Urban Livelihood Mission Humsafar, Tejas, Antyodaya Express and (NULM) which is now renamed as “Deen Uday. Dayal Antyodaya Yojana-NULM” and in 1. Humsafar would be fully air- Hindi as “Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana- conditioned third AC service with an Rashtriya Shahri Aajeevika Mission” has optional service for meals. been enlarged to the 4,041 statutory urban 2. Tejas on the other hand will showcase local bodies by government. Tamil the future of train travel in India. Nadu is having the highest number of Operating at speeds of 130 kmph or towns (681) to be covered under DAY- more, it will have on-board services NULM. such as entertainment, local cuisine, Bihar is the sixth state to join this UDAY Wi-Fi etc. scheme. It is the second Non-UPA state 3. Utkrisht Double-Decker Air- after Uttar Pradesh to join this scheme. conditioned Yatri (UDAY) Express Due to the Jat agitation for reservation in will be introduced on the busiest Haryana the state govt. agreed to bring a routes, which has the potential to bill on reservation in the assembly session Leading Institute for Banking, Railway & SSC B – 61 A & B, Saheed Nagar & 1441, Opp. IOCL Petrol Pump, CRPF Square, Bhubaneswar 1 Ph. : (0674) 6556677, 8093556677. Web : www.vanik.org, E-mail : [email protected] DAILY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS – 23.02.2016 TO 26.02.2016 increase carrying capacity by almost Each of the missions would be headed by 40%. a director reporting directly to the Railway 4. Antyodaya Express is a long-distance, Board Chairman. fully unreserved, super-fast train Three freight corridors to be built on service, for the common man to be priority operated on dense routes. The country will get three new dedicated The railway minister has also announced freight corridors, according to the Railway that two to four Deen Dayalu coaches Budget 2016, in addition to the Delhi- would be added in some long distance Mumbai and Delhi-Kolkata freight trains for unreserved travel. These coaches corridors that are due to be commissioned will also have facility for potable drinking in 2019. water and a higher number of mobile . The new projects are a North-South charging points. corridor, from Delhi to Chennai, an Seven missions to improve functioning East-West corridor from Karaghpur to To make the functioning of railways more Mumbai and an East Coast corridor, efficient, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu from Karaghpur to Vijayawada. has announced seven missions, including . These projects will be financed activities to increase the average speed of through a PPP (public private superfast mail trains by 25 kilometres per partnership) mechanism and rolled out hour in the next five years. on a high priority basis. The seven missions are ’25 Tonne’, ‘Zero Polling for 2019 General Elections will be Accident’, PACE (Procurement and conducted through paper trail-based Consumption Efficiency), ‘Raftaar’, electronic voting machines to enhance ‘Hundred’, ‘beyond book-keeping’ and transparency. This announcement was ‘capacity utilisation’. made by CEC Nasim Zaidi . Under Mission Raftaar, the railways The Union Cabinet as given its approval would target doubling average speeds for establishment of Atal Innovation of freight trains and increasing the Mission (AIM) and Self Employment and average speed of superfast Talent Utilisation (SETU) in NITI Aayog. mail/express trains by 25 kmph in the The Union Government has extended e- next 5 years. Tourist Visa Scheme to 37 more countries. On Mission 25 Tonne, railways will With this, the total count of countries augment the carrying capacity to under the scheme will become 150. Union realise the goal of revenue Government had launched e-Tourist Visa enhancement. A critical step in that Scheme (as Tourist Visa on Arrival direction is making our infrastructure scheme) in November 2014. The e-Tourist suitable to carry 25-tonne axle load. It Visa Scheme facilitates pre-authorization is proposed to introduce 10-20% of Visa i.e. electronic travel authorisation freight loading through 25-tonne axle- given to foreigners prior to travel. Under load wagons in 2016-17 and target this scheme, an applicant registers for visa movement of 70% of freight traffic on online and receives an email authorising high axle load wagons by FY 19-20. him/her to travel to India after it is . Among others, Mission Hundred approved. would focus on sidings and freight The Union Cabinet has approved 150 terminals. million dollars credit for Development of . Under ‘Beyond Book-keeping’, Indian the strategically important Chabahar Port Railways will establish an accounting in Iran. In this regard, the Union Ministry system where the outcomes can be of Shipping had forwarded the proposal tracked to inputs. Leading Institute for Banking, Railway & SSC B – 61 A & B, Saheed Nagar & 1441, Opp. IOCL Petrol Pump, CRPF Square, Bhubaneswar 2 Ph. : (0674) 6556677, 8093556677. Web : www.vanik.org, E-mail : [email protected] DAILY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS – 23.02.2016 TO 26.02.2016 for provision and operationalization of content requirement on solar power credit from EXIM Bank. The MoU was developers discriminated against signed between India and Tehran American and other imported solar last May to develop Chabahar port on technology. South-eastern coast. It will facilitate a The Union Cabinet has given its approval trade route to nearby nations especially for signing of an Agreement between India Afghanistan. It will help India compete and Maldives for the avoidance of double with China which has invested heavily taxation of income from international air in Gwadar port in Pakistan transport. Ministry of Urban Development approved The Department of bio-technology of the plan for 13 cities in 6 states under Ministry of Science & Technology AMRUT(Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and UK’s top research institute signed a and Urban Transformation) scheme for MoU for collaboration for research 2015-16. A committee chaired on Crop Sciences. by Madhusudhan Prasad, Secretary of Urban Development has cleared approval International worth 495 crores for 13 cities. The six Syria which has been continuously under states which have got clearance coverage because of its internal warfare include Assam, Jammu& Kashmir, and outraged terrorist activities is again in Meghalaya, Tripura, Goa and Pondicherry. flashlight following an agreement Former CJI H.L. Dattu to be the next by US and Russia to ceasefire in Syria. Chairman of NHRC of India. This New deal came as a joint statement Bihar become the 6th state to join UDAY from US and Russia. However this scheme. ceasefire excludes Islamic state, al-Nusra Supreme Court has expressed opinion that Front and the other deemed terrorist who destroy public property during violent groups. protest should not be left free rather should India continues to remain the world’s pay for it. largest arms importer, accounting for 14% 18 countries will participate in the biggest of the global arms imports in the 2011- war game in Pune from March 2-8. All 18 2015 timeframe. It was revealed by report ASIAN plus nations. on international arms transfers released by Indian govt. will soon launch its new IPR a global think-tank, Stockholm policy. International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Top arms importers are: India Bilateral (14%), China (4.7%), Australia (3.6%), “IBSAMAR” is a joint naval exercise Pakistan (3.3%), Vietnam (2.9%) and between India, Brazil and South Africa, South Korea (2.6%). this will be the fifth edition of the Harbor David Cameron led United Kingdom has Phase of the Exercise to commence from been granted “Special Status” in the 28 Goa Coast. This is done in two phases Nation union. The UK Leader pledged to namely Harbor phase and Sea Phase. campaign heart and soul to stay in EU.