www.talensprint.com February 2015 Current Affairs 1st February, 2015 Gold award for the Income Tax Department under National Award on E- Governance 2014-15. It gets the recognition under category 'Cat-I-Excellence in Government Process Re- engineering' for launching the project 'TDS Reconciliation Analysis & Correction Enabling System (TRACES)'. Krishna Chaudhary is appointed as the Director General (DG) of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP). He is currently serving as the Director General of the Railway Protection Force. DRDO gets approval for setting up a missile launch testing facility near Krishna Delta Complex (Andhra Pradesh). The ecologically sensitive zone is home to endangered species 'Olive Ridley turtles'. The construction, however, is subject to a final green clearance from Supreme Court. Government for its part has put few precautionary measures in place to minimize the harm to the ecology, like: No activities in night, and during the turtles’ nesting season. Regeneration of mangroves is also planned. Agni-5, intercontinental ballistic missile with a strike range of over 5000 kms, successfully test-fired from Wheeler's Island off Odisha coast. It was the 3rd developmentalwww.talentsprint.com test of this surface-to-surface nuclear capable missile that can carry a nuclear warhead of over one tonne. Few more trials are required before it becomes usable for our armed forces. Agni Series: the previous 4 version of this series has already been inducted. Agni-1 : 700 km range Agni-2 : 2000 km Agni-3 and Agni-4 : ranging from 2500 km to 3500 km Government rakes in Rs 22557 crore from disinvestment in Coal India Ltd - the largest ever disinvestment among Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs). The process involves disinvestment of 5% of the paid-up equity of Government of TALENTSPRINT | © Copyright 2015 1 www.talensprint.com India (with an option to retain additional 5% in case of oversubscription) in CIL. What is Magna Carta? ‘Magna Carta’ is Latin and means “Great Charter”. The Magna Carta was one of the most important documents of Medieval England. Magna Carta is considered one of the first steps towards parliamentary democracy and includes the principle that no one is above the law, including the king. It was signed on 15 June 1215 at Runnymede. It was drafted to make peace between the unpopular King and rebel barons, it promised the protection of church rights, protection for the barons from illegal imprisonment, access to swift justice, and limitations on feudal payments to the Crown, to be implemented through a council of 25 barons. Commons to vote on mitochondrial therapy A radical new approach developed in the United Kingdom for the treatment of a potentially wide spectrum of inherited — and hitherto incurable — diseases has run into controversial waters. The technique known as ‘mitochondrial replacement therapy’ or MRT will be decided by a parliamentary vote. Vote in the House of Commons will decide whether the United Kingdom’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority can grant licences to allow the replacement therapy to be conducted in U.K. clinics. Raahgiri Day A first of its kind event “Raahgiri day for the persons with disabilities” was organized as a unique initiative by the Department of Empowerment of persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India recently. The concept is www.talentsprint.cominspired by “Ciclovia” held weekly in Bagota, Columbia and now popular all over the world known by different names viz. Open Streets, Summer Streets, etc. ||<><><>|| 2nd February, 2015 One-rank one-pension scheme soon The Defence Ministry has fast-tracked work on ‘one-rank one-pension’ scheme. The defence minister has also assured that the scheme will soon be put in place. TALENTSPRINT | © Copyright 2015 2 www.talensprint.com One-rank one-pension scheme This is a scheme which will ensure that soldiers of the same rank and the same length of service receive the same pension, irrespective of their retirement date. In simple words, it demands equal pensions for those who have retired in one particular year, as those who retire in another year at the same position, and for the same duration of services rendered. PaHaL Scheme for Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG Subsidy The Prime Minister recently reviewed, in a high level meeting, PaHaL (Pratyaksha Hastaantarit Laabh), the Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme for LPG Subsidy. PaHaL, which covers more than 9.75 crore LPG consumers, is perhaps the world’s largest cash transfer program as compared to similar programs in other countries, such as China, Mexico and Brazil. PaHaL scheme: PaHaL aims to reduce diversion and eliminate duplicate or bogus LPG connections. Under PaHaL, LPG cylinders are sold at market rates and entitled consumers get the subsidy directly into their bank accounts. This is done either through an Aadhaar linkage or a bank account linkage. The scheme has witnessed massive enrolment in a short span of time. The scheme will cover over 15.3 crore consumers across 676 districts of the country. Currently over 6.5 crore consumers i.e. 43% have already joined the scheme and will receive subsidy in their bank account. ||<><><>|| 3rd February, 2015 Russia, China back India’s inclusion in expanded APEC The foreign ministerswww.talentsprint.com of the Russia-India-China (RIC) grouping, during deliberations in Beijing, issued a comprehensive joint communiqué that called for an ambitious reform of an international system that was respectful of the diversity of home-grown political systems. Russia and China have also endorsed India’s efforts to formalise rejection of international terrorism. The communiqué recommended India’s inclusion in an expanded Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), a 21-nation grouping of Pacific Rim countries. APEC: . The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a regional economic forum TALENTSPRINT | © Copyright 2015 3 www.talensprint.com established in 1989 to leverage the growing interdependence of the Asia-Pacific. APEC has 21 members. Aim: to create greater prosperity for the people of the region by promoting balanced, inclusive, sustainable, innovative and secure growth and by accelerating regional economic integration. Government celebrates MGNREGA Divas The Ministry of Rural Development has decided to focus intensely on convergence of MGNREGA with other Schemes to create durable and useful assets. It has introduced a new module to capture planning and implementation of convergence initiatives. 21 States have prepared their Convergence Plans already. Convergence has been closely linked to measuring outcomes of works and their impact on the rural economy. MGNREGA: The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005, also known as the “Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act” is an Indian labour law and social security measure. Aims: To guarantee the ‘right to work’ and ensure livelihood security in rural areas. To create durable assets that would augment the basic resources available to the poor. To follow the Directive Principles of State Policy enunciated in Part IV of the Constitution of India and conforms to the Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that defines the right to work as a basic human right. Kudankulam power cheaper than U.S. proposals: Russia Russian officials recently said that the power generated under the Indo US agreements will www.talentsprint.combe much more expensive than the negotiated deals with Russia for the “Kudankulam series.” Details: It is being said that the rates for electricity from units 1&2 of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, being constructed with Russian technical assistance (in Tamil Nadu), were almost half the price that power from proposed American designs would cost. Some reports say that U.S. company Westinghouse has proposed Rs.6 per kWh in initial discussions with India, while French company Areva had spoken of Rs.6.50 per kWh, both of which would be far higher than the estimated price of power at TALENTSPRINT | © Copyright 2015 4 www.talensprint.com Kudankulam 1&2 at Rs.3.50 per kWh. The proposed Rs.1,500 crore Insurance Pool which will be funded equally by state- owned insurance companies and the government is further expected to raise the cost/kWh. SC stands up for man’s oldest friend The Supreme Court has decided to stand up for man’s oldest companion by questioning the authority of municipal bodies to pick dogs off the streets and kill them merely because they are a “nuisance” to the public. The SC also noted that “a faithful dog is a faithful friend.” The SC was hearing a petition filed by People for Elimination of Stray Animals, which had sought killing of stray dogs. Conflicting laws: The SC Bench has said that at the crux of the problem was the contradiction in animal welfare laws on what constitutes “nuisance.” On the contrary, the Animal Birth Control Rules formulated under the Central law — Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 — does not allow this. The law only permits extermination of rabid, terminally ill or mortally wounded dogs, not “nuisance-causing dogs.” The case is yet to be decided by the Supreme Court. ||<><><>|| 4th February, 2015 RBI cuts SLR by 50 basis points to provide liquidity The RBI has reduced the statutory liquid ratio by 50 basis points to 21.50% from 22%. This will provide more liquidity to the banking system. It will also pumpwww.talentsprint.com up Rs.45, 000 crore to the system and hence banks may go for a cut in lending rates. The other tools are kept unchanged: Repo rate at 7.75% and CRR at 4%. RBI raises forex limit The central bank has doubled the amount of foreign exchange that an individual can remit in a year under a scheme that allows asset purchase outside India. Now, a person can remit up to $250,000 a year under the Liberalized Remittance Scheme, which was started in 2004 with a view to simplify foreign exchange avenues available to Indians.