The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) is the bankruptcy law of India which seeks to consolidate the existing framework by creating a single law for insolvency and bankruptcy. The Code was passed by parliament in May 2016 and became effective in December 2016. It aimed to repeal the Presidency Towns Act, 1909 and Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Repeal Act, 2003, among others.
The Kamov – 226T helicopters are meant to replace the ageing and obsolete Cheetah and Chetak fleets of the Indian armed forces. The number is expected to go beyond 200 given the large requirement from the services.
The Indian Ocean Rim Association (IRORA), a platform of 21 countries bordering the Indian Ocean, is to set up a Centre of Excellence in Kochi.
e-location – A Digital Address
The eLok (e-location) pilot project has been approved for two postal pin codes in Delhi and one in Noida, following which the plan is to identify national expansion plans.
Defence of A&N Islands Exercise (DANX) is a major military exercise conducted by the Andaman & Nicobar Command (ANC).
Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) or NaVIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation) is a regional navigation system developed by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
It consists of a constellation of 7 satellites of which 3 are placed in geostationary orbits.
The system works akin to Global Positioning System (GPS) of US, GLONASS of Russia, etc.
It currently covers the whole of India and an area extended to 1500km away from India.
NaVIC offers two services. One, a standard positioning service for civilian use and second, a restricted service for Indian armed forces.
Positioning service include providing accurate position.
Current Context
The Central Government has launched the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (or Suabhgya). The scheme seeks to ensure universal household electrification (in both rural and urban areas) by providing last mile connectivity. The scheme is expected to cover three crore households.
The new scheme, Saubhagya, seeks to ensure universal household electrification, that is, in both rural and urbon areas.
Under Saubhagya, beneficiaries will be identified using the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 data.
The identified poor households will get free electricity connection. Other households not covered under the SECC, will be provided electricity connections at cost of Rs. 500. This amount will be collected by the electricity distribution companies in 10 installments.
The government has kicked off phase – II of the BharatNet project with an outlay of Rs. 31,
Crores and a mandate to provide high-speed broadband to all 2.5 lakh panchayats by March 2016. Bharat Net broadband, which is a base for Digital India – saw a rush from telecom service providers seeking to use BharatNet broadband services to provide last-mile connectivity to villages.
Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi recently launched online complaint portal 'SHe-box' (Sexual Harassment e-box) which can now the accessed by all women who are part of the workforce in organized sector across the country. This is in response to global #Metoo campaign.
Rabari
Rabaris are nomadic herders who live scattered throughout Gujarat and Rajasthan. Originally only camels were their source of livelihood. However, now, they keep goat, sheep, cow of buffalo. Rabaris are highly adaptive and hence there appears to be some differences among the community, living in different locations.
The High-Level Committee on Making India Hub of Arbitration (Chair: Justice B.N. Srikrishna) submitted its report.
India's First Bullet Train
India's first bullet train between Ahmedabad and Mumbai will run at a maximum speed of 350 km per hour, covering the 508-km stretch in under three hours.
The ambitious project, which was launched on September 14, 2017 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, would cost around Rs. 1.10 lakh crore. Japan is giving a loan of Rs 88,000 crore for the project at a minimum interest of 0.1%.
About the Project
The government wants to start the services of the proposed Ahmedubad-Mumbai High Speed Rail Network, commonly known as the bullet train on August 15, 2022 to mark India's 75th year of Independence.
The bullet train would run at an average speed of 320 km per hour and at a maximum speed of 350 km per hour.
It will stop at 12 railway stations on the route but only for 160 seconds each.
A21-km-long tunnel will be dug between Boisar and BKC in Mumbai, of which seven km will be under water.
The railways will only require around will be elevated, six per cent project as 92% of the route will be elevated, six per cent would go through tunnels and only the remaining two per cent would be on the ground.
The railways would run about around 35 bullet trains when it starts operation with about 70 trips per day. The number of trains would be increased to 105 trains in 2050.
India's 1st Freight Village
Varanasi will get the country's first freight village' spread over around 100 acres.
700 MWe Reactor Units
The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) will set up the projects deploying the proposed 700 MWe reactor units, which mark a big leap for the state-owned NPCIL that has so far been building smaller-sized 220 MWe and 540 MWe reactor units as part of the country's indigenous nuclear power programme.
Where the Reactors will be Installed
The ten reactors will be installed in Kaiga in Karnataka (Unit 5 and 6), Chutka in Madhya Pradesh (Unit 1 and 2), Gorakhpur in Haryana (Unit 3 and 4) and Mahi Banswara in Rajasthan (Unit 1, 2, 3 and 4).
GARV-II App Launched
Union Ministry of Power on December 20, 2017 launched the 'GARV-II' App, as the next step in Government of India's aim to provide access to electricity to all households in the country.
Global Competitiveness Index 2017
India has been ranked as the 40th most competitive economy – slipping one place from last year's ranking – on the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Index, released in September, 2017.
The Ranking
The index is topped by Switzerland.
On the list of 137 economies, Switzerland is followed by the US and Singapore in second and third places, respectively.
Other countries in the top 10 are the Netherlands (4th rank), Germany (5), Hong Kong SAR (6), Sweden (7), United Kingdom (8), Japan (9) and Finland (10).
e-RaKAM Portal
The government in August, 2017 launched a portal, e-RaKAM, to provide a platform to sell agricultural produce.
Creamy Layer Cap Raised
The Cabinet also increased the "creamy layer" ceiling for the Other Backward Classes to Rs 8 lakh per annum from the existing Rs 6 lakh for Central government jobs.
The Constitution (123rd Amendment) Bill, 2017 was passed by Lok Sabha on April 10, 2017, and Rajya Sabha by July 31, 2017.
It seeks to grant the National Commission on Backward Classes (NCBC) constitutional status, at par with the National Commission for scheduled Castes (NCSC) and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.
Role of NCSC: Currently, under the Constitution the NCSC has the power to look into complaints and welfare measures with regard to Scheduled Castes, backward classes and Anglo-Indians. The Bill seeks to remove the power of the NCSC to examine matters related to backward classes.
PENCIL Portal
Union Home Ministry in September, 2017 launched the Platform for Effective Enforcement for No Child Labour (PENCIL) Portal.
The PENCIL is an electronic platform that aims at involving Centre, State, District, Governments, civil society and the general public in achieving the target of child labour free society.
The Maternity Benefits Act, 1961 provides maternity leave up to 12 weeks for all women. The Bill extends this period to 26 weeks, however, a woman with two or more children will be entitled to 12 weeks of maternity leave.
India will not Ink Hague Treaty
After much deliberation, the Union government has decided that India will not ratify the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (1980).
Why India will not Sign Hague Treaty
Singing the multilateral treaty would have meant that the government will have to send back women, who have escaped had marriages abroad and brought their child along with them to India, back to the country of the father's residence.
It has been found that there are more cases of Indian women who return to the safely of their homes in India after escaping a bad marriage.
Cases of women who are foreign citizens, married to Indian men, going away with their children are far fewer.
Hence singing the Hague Convention would be to the disadvantage of Indian women.
Also, a majority of such cases pertain to women instead of men running away.
Global Hunger Index
The 2017 Global Hunger Index, released in October 2017, ranked India 100 among 119 countries, marking a 55- point fall over the past three years and prompting nutrition analysts to highlight concerns that economic growth does not automatically guarantee food security.
About the Index
Published by the International Food Policy Research Institute, Concern Worldwide, an Irish aid agency, and Welthungerhilfe, a German private aid organization, the Global Hunger Index tracks hunger worldwide.
Pradhan Mantri LPG Panchayat
Union Ministry of Peroleum and Oil on September 23, 2017 launched the 'Pradhan Mantri LPG Panchayat' from Motalshapur village in Gandhinagar and handed over free LPG connection to a beneficiary of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana.
Human Development Report 2016
The 2016 Human Development Report is the latest in the series of global Human Development Reports published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) since 1990 as independent, analytically and empirically grounded discussions of major development issues, trends and policies.
HDR Index: Top 10: 0. Canada (0.949), 2. Switezerland (0.939), 2 Australia (0.939).
India ranks 131 out of 188 countries on the Human Development Index (FDI).
'JIGYASA'
In order to inculcate the culture of inquisitiveness and scientific temper amongst the school students and their teachers, Jigyasa – student-scientist connect programme – has been collectively launched by the Ministry of Science & Technology, Earth Sciences, Environment, Forests and Climate Change and the Ministry of Human Resource Development.
Salient Features
This programme was inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a new India and 'Scientific Social Responsibility (SSR)' of scientific community and institutions.
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was singed by Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) and Kendriya Vidhyala Sangathan (KVS) to implement this programme.
Globa Human Capital Index
India has been placed at a low 103 rank, the lowest among BRICS economies, on the WEF's Global Human Capital Index, which has been topped by Norway. The index was released in September, 2017.
The list takes into account "the knowledge and skills people possess that enable them to create value in the global economic system" to measure the 'human capital' rank of a country.
The Ranking
The overall list topped by Norway, followed by Finland and Switzerland in the second and third place respectively.
Other countries in the top 10 include, the United States (4th), Denmark (5th), Germany (6th), New Zealand (7th), Sweden (8th), Slovenia (9th) and Austria (10th).
Report on India
India ranks among the lowest in the world when it comes to the employment gender gap, but has fared well when it comes to development of skills needed for the future with a rank of 65 out of total 130 countries surveyed.
International Vaccine Institute (IVI) is based in Seoul, South Korea.
Re-promulgation of Ordinances Unconstitutional
A seven-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in Krishna Kumar Singh vs. State of Bihar in January 2017 held that re-promulgation of ordinances is a fraud on the Constitution and a subversion of democratic legislative processes. The court also held that the satisfaction of the President under Article 123 and of the Governor under Article 213 while issuing ordinances is not immune from judicial review.
What was the Issue?
A seven-judge bench of the Court was examining whether seven successive re-promulgations of the Bihar Non-Government Sanskrit Schools (Taking Over of Management and Control) Ordinance, 1989 were unconstitutional.
The Ordinance permitted the government of Bihar to take over 429 non-government Sanskrit schools.
The Bihar Sanskrit School Ordinances, first promulgated in 1989, to seventh, promulgated in 1992, were all unconstitutional. This was supported by the fact that the Ordinances were never placed before the Bihar Assembly.
The Bihar Ordinances do not confer the status of government employees on the Sanskrit school teachers. However, the salaries paid when the Ordinances were in force will not be recovered from them.
SC Declares Use of Religion in Elections of Corrupt Practice
Delivering a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court on January 2, 2017, held that seeking votes in the name of religion, caste or community amounted to corrupt practice and election of a candidate who indulged in it can be set aside.
What was the Issue?
The Court was hearing two separate appeals in relation to the scope of the term 'corrupt practice' in section 123 (3) of the ROP Act.
The section prohibits to any appeal by a candidate, his agent or any other person with consent of a candidate to vote or refrain from voting for any person on the ground of 'his' religion, race, caste, community, language, or national symbols.
The question before the Court was whether the appeal in the name of religion of the candidate or that of the elector, or both, was illegal.
The bench refrained from revisiting its 1995 judgement on whether the words "Hindutva" and "Hinduism" connote the "way of life" of the Indian people and not just Hindu religious practices.
The judgement was delivered in the case of Manohar Joshi versus NB Patil which was authored by Justice JS Verma who found that statement by Joshi that "First Hindu State will be established in Maharashtra did not amount to appeal on ground of religion".
The SC in 1995 ruled that "no precise meaning can be ascribed to the terms 'Hindu', 'Hindutva' and 'Hinduism'; and no meaning in the abstract can confine it to the narrow limits of religion alone, excluding the content of Indian culture and heritage".
What is Curative Jurisdiction?
The SC had devised the curative jurisdiction in 2002 in its order in the Rupa Ashok Hurra case whereby a litigant could, as the last recourse, seek reconsideration of a judgement even after a review petition had been dismissed, on grounds of alleged violation principle of natural justice and bias.
The Supreme Court in the said case held that in order to prevent abuse of its process and to cure gross miscarriage of justice, it may reconsider its judgements in exercise of its inherent powers.
A curative petition is considered in chamber by a bench that includes the three senior-most judges of the SC and the judges who had delivered the judgement in question.
SC Convicts Justice Karnam for Contempt
In May 2017, the Supreme Court convicted Justice Karnam guilty of contempt and punished him for six-month imprisonment, maximum under 1971 Act.
What was the Issue?
One February 8, the Supreme Court found him in contempt. He was asked for an explanation but he repeatedly ignored the of the court.
On march 10, 2017, the court issued a bail-able warrant and took away judicial work from him.
He rejected the warrant and accused his colleagues and seniors of caste bias, saying he was being singled out for being a Dalit.
This was followed by a string of tit-for-tat orders by the top court and Karnam, who remained defiant and continued to address the press and issue diktats from his Kolkata home.
SC's Power to Punish for Contempt
While Article 129 of the Constitution gives the Supreme Court the power of punish for contempt of itself, the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, aims to define and limit that power.
That is why the court could not have been harsher on Justice Karnam, even if it wanted to, because the Act limited the maximum punishment to simple imprisonment for six months.
CJI, Governors should be Covered by RTI
The Supreme Court for the first time on July 7, 2017 favoured bringing the office of the chief justice and Governor within the domain of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
SC to Hear Petition on Article 35A
A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court will hear a petition filed by women of J&K origin who have challenged Article 35A of the Constitution, maintaining that it is discriminatory to women. This law accords special rights and privileges to the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir.
What is Article 35A?
Article 35A of the Constitution empowers J&K legislature to demine state's 'permanent residents' and their special rights and privileges.
It was added to the Constitution through a presidential order of 1954 and the J&K government's concurrence.
Bail
It defined 'bail' as the judicial interim release of an accused person held in custody, upon a guarantee that the person will appear to answer the charge against him or her at a later date.
Anticipatory bail
The CrPC allows a person who has reason to believe he may be arrested in the future, to apply to a court for anticipatory bail.
Citizenship to Chakmas and Hajongs
The Centre has decided to grant citizenship to all Chamka and Hanjog refugees living in the Northeast.
They were originally inhabitants of the Chittagong Hill Tracts of erstwhile East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) who were systematically forced out of that country.
First, they were displaced from their original homesteads because of the Kaptai hydroelectric dam on the Karnaphuli river in the early 1960s, and there was no rehabilitation and compensation.
Latter, they become victims of religious persecution in East Pakistan, and fled to India. While the Chakmas are Buddhists, the Hajongs are Hindus.
World Wildlife Day 2017
On December 20, 2013, at its 68 session, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) decided to proclaim March 3, the day of the adoption of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), as World Wildlife Day.
This Year's Theme
This year's theme for World Wildlife Day was "Listen to the Young Voices".
Snow Leopard Upgraded to 'Vulnerable' Status
The elusive snow leopard long considered an "endangered" species was upgraded to "vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in September, 2017.
With the update to the widely cited 'Red List', the list now includes 87,967 species of which 25,062 are threatened with extinction.
The cheerfully named Christmas Island Pipistrelle, a bat species that is found only in Australia's Christmas Island is now officially extinct.
Only one individual of the species remained in 2009 and it was never found again. One of the reasons for its disappearance was the introduction of an invasive species, the Yellow Crazy Ant into the bat' habitat
In 2009, India launched Project Snow Leopard.
Ganges River dolphin or Sasu
The Ganges River dolphin or Susu, lives in one of the most densely populated regions of the world. One of the main threats to the species is loss of habitat due in large part to the creation of dams and irrigation projects.
The Great Barrier Reef is a site of remarkable variely and beauty on the north-east of Australia.
It contains the world's largest collection of coral reefs, with 400 types of coral, 1,500 species of fish and 4,000 types of mollusc.
It also holds great scientific interest as the habitat of species such as the dugong ('sea cow') and the large green turtle, which are threatened with extinction.
As the world's most extensive coral reef ecosystem, the Great Barrier Reef is a globally outstanding and significant entity.
Practically the entire ecosystem was inscribed as World Heritage in 1981, covering an area of 348,000 square kilometers and extending across a contiguous latitudinal range of 14o (10oS to 24oS).
First Tiger Reserve to Get Official Mascot
Kanha has become the first tiger reserve in India to officially introduce a mascot – Bhoorshing the Barashingha – to present the hard ground swamp deer as the spirit of the reserve and spread awareness to save it from possible extinction.
Pilot Project on Clean Fuel
Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh has been chosen to test project involving 50 three-wheelers to be run on hydrogen as a clean fuel by an institute-industry and government collaboration.
An expert committee led by K Kasturirangan (former Chairman, ISRO) had recommended eight mission mode projects. One of these is the use of hydrogen fuel and the Varanasi project will be part of it.
First 2G Ethanol Bio-refinery in India
The Foundation Stone laying ceremony for setting up the first Second Generation (2G) Ethanol Bio-refinery in India was held on 25th December, 2016 at village Tarkhanwala, Bathinda (Punjab).
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), a Central Government Public Sector Undertaking, is setting up the project.
Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme for achieving 10% Ethanol Blending in Petrol.
Bio-refineries in Dahej (Gujarat), Panipat (Hariyana), Bina (M.P.), Bargarh (Odisha) and Bhatinda (Punjab).
For the 1st time in the Country, an LNG fuelled bus was launched in November, 2016 by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas at Thiruvananthapuram.
It as been a joint effort of Petronet LNG Limited (PLL), Indian Oil Corporation Ltd and Tata Motors Ltd to introduce LNG as a fuel in commercial vehicles in the state capital.
'GSAT-19'
ISRO, on 5 June 2017, launched its latest communication satellite GSAT-19 with its brand new and heaviest rocket GSLV-Mk III from the Second Launch Pad at SDSC SHA, Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
Man Booker Prize 2017: US author George Saunders became only the second American writer to win Britain's renowned Man Booker Prize, which was awarded for his first full-length novel Lincoln in the Bardo.
Man Booker International Prize: Insraeli author David Grossman has won the Man Booker International Prize for his novel A Horse Walks Into a Bar.
Indira Gandhi National Integration Award: Carnatic vocalist T.M. Krishna will be conferred with the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration for 2015-16.
2017 Von Hippel Award: Bharat Ratna Prof C.N.R. Rao has won the Von Hippel Award, the highest international prize in materials research. He is the first Asian to be chosen for the honour by Materials Research Society (MRS), an organization with members spanning over 90 countries.
Newton: India's Official Entry to Oscars 2018: Newton' will be India's official Entry to the Best Foreign Film category at the Oscars next year.
Green Oscar for Conservation: A woman from Assam has received the coveted Whitley Award, also known as the Green Oscar, for her efforts towards protecting the greater adjutant stork (leptoptilos dubius) and the wetlands it inhabits. Barman, a member of Assam-based NGO Aaranyak, had faced several challenges when she launched her campaign at three villages near Guwahati in 2008.
2016 Jananpith Award: Veteran Bengali poet ShankhaGhosh has been selected for this year's Jnanpith Award-India' highest literary award.
Kaushik Basu: Kaushik Basu has taken over as president of the International Economic Association (IEA).
Palbinder Kaur Shergill: Palbinder Kaur Shargill has become the first turbaned Sikh woman to be appointed as Canada's Supreme Court judge.
Indra Nooyi: Indian-American PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi has joined Donald Trump's Stategic and Policy Forum that aims to assist the president-elect in implementing his economic agenda.
Soli Sorabjee: Former attorney general Soli J Sorabjee was re-elected president of the prestigious cultural institution India International Centre (IIC) on December 26 for five years from January 1, 2017.
Antonio Costa: Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa was the Chief Guest at the 14th Pravashi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) Convention to be held from January 7 to 9, 2017 in Bengaluru.
Bindeshwar Pathak: With an aim to promote cleanliness at rail premises, Railways has appointed Sulabh International founder Bindeshwar Pathak as a brand ambassador for Swachh Rail Mission.
Sunil Mittal: Bharti Enterprises Founder and Chairman Sunil Mittal has been elected as GSMA Chairman for a two-year period from January 2017 through December 2018.
Priyanka Chopra: Priyanka Chopra was appointed as UNICEF global Goodwill Ambassador at UNICEFF's 70th Anniversary celebration at the United Nations headquarters in New York, on December 11, 2016. The actress has served with the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in India, where she has been a longtime girl's rights advocate.
Cho Ramaswamy: Cho Ramaswamy, Political satirist and founder-editor of Thuglak magazine, Srinivasa Iyer Ramaswamy popularly known as Cho Ramaswamy, 82, passed away on December 7, 2016.
US Open 2017: The men's singles tournament concluded with Rafael Nadal defeating Kevin Anderson in the final, while the women's singles tournament concluded with Sloane Stephens defeating Madison Keys in the final.
Wimbledon 2017: Roger Federer won the Men's Singles title, thus becoming the only male player to have won the Wimbledon singles title eight times.
Muguruza become the second Spanish woman to win Wimbledon after Conchita Martinez in 1994.
French Open 2017
Men's Single:
Rafel Nadal won his 10th French Open title and 15th Grand Slam singles title, defeating Stan Wawrinka in the final, 6-2, 6-3, 6-1.
Women's Single:
Jelena Ostapenko won the title, defeating Simona Halep in the final, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. This was Ostapenko's first WTA Tour-level singles title.
2017 Australian Open: Rogen Federer won his eighteenth men's Grand Slam title by defeating Rafael Nadal after a five-set final. Sarena Williams overcame her sister Venus Williams in the women's singles final, surpassing Steffi Graf to become the player with the most Major wins in the women's game in the Open Era.
FIFA Expands the World Cup to 48 Teams
FIFA approved a 48-team 2026 World Cup with "one hundred per cent unanimity.
The expansion has been the brainchild to FIFA President Gianni Infantino who had initially proposed a 40-team tournament but later added eight more to the number.
Sultan Azlan Shah Cup: Great Britain on May, 6, 2017 beat reigning champions Australia 4-. In Malaysia to win the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup – the first British winners since England in 1984.
PV Sindhu Wins China Open Badminton: Olympic silver medalist PV Sindhu clinched her maiden Super Series Premier title edging out Sun Yu of China in the final of the $700,000 China Open badminton tournament on November 20, 2016.
World Press Freedom Index
The 2017 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders ranks India at 136 out of 180 countries.
India has, in fact, gone down from the previous year's 133rd position.
According to the report, Norway is the most pres tolerating country while North Korea has the dubious distinction of being the worst for journalists.
Virgin Hyperloop One signed an MoU with the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) to identify potential routes and analyze the high-level economic impact and technical viability of hyperloop transportation solutions in India.
The hyperloop mode uses technology in which a vehicle in a special tunnel floats above the track, using magnetic levitation, at top speed of over 1,000 km per hour.
Dalveer Bhandari
India's Dalveer Bhandari has been re-elected to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), winning the last of five seats for which elections were held, after Britain pulled out its candidate Christopher Greenwood.
Zimbabwe's former Vice President Emmerson Managagwa has been sworn in as the President of the country.
The ruling ZANU-PF party has nominated him to fill the vacancy left by Mr Robert Mugabe, who stepped down after 37 years ruling the country. Mugabe's rule, which was defined by violent suppression, economic collapse and international isolation.
B S Ravi
Eminent charted accountant Sethuratham Ravi has been appointed as the Chairman of the Bombay Stock Exchange. He replaced Dhirendra Swarup.
Fifteenth Finance Commission Constituted
The Government of India has constituted Fifteenth Finance Commission.
The Commission will make recommendations for the five years commencing on April 1, 2020.
Composition
Chairman: N K Singh
Members: Shaktikanta Das, Dr. Anoop Singh
Part time members: Dr. Ashok Lahiri, Dr. Ramesh Chand
Secretary: Arvind Mehta
The Fourteenth Finance Commission (2015-2020) was headed by Dr. Y.V Reddy.
Why the Commission is constituted?
The Commission is constituted to make recommendations to the president about the distribution of the net proceeds of taxes between the Union and States and also the allocation of the same amongst the States themselves. It is also under the ambit the financial relations between the Union and the States. They also deal with devolution of non-plan revenue resources.
Shaktikanta Das
Former economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das has been appointed as India's G20 Sherpa till December 31, 2018 for the Development Track of the grouping.
Urjit Patel
RBI Governor Urjit Patel has been appointed to the Financial Stability Institute Advisory Board or the Bank of International Settlement (BIS).
Shubhangi Swaroop: Indian Navy's First Woman Piot
Shubhangi Swaroop of Uttar Pradesh has become the first woman pilot in the Indian Navy
FASTAG
FASTag is an electronic toll collection system in India, operation by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).
Urdu: Telangana's Second Official Language
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao in the state assembly recently declared Urdu as the State's second official language Telugu is its first official language.
The Insolvency Law Committee, chaired by Corporate Affairs Secretary Injeti by Corporate Affairs Secrecary Injeti Srinivas, would take stock of the implementation of the Code.
GATT vs WTO
WATT had no permanent structure or framework, whereas WTO has a permanent structure with a permanent framework.
GATT included Trade in goods where as WTO involves trade in goods; trade in services and trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights.
GATT had a permanent appellate body to review findings and settle disputs, whereas in WTO, disputes are resolved faster as settlement system has a select time frame.
The Union Cabinet has approved creation of National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA) under GST, to ensure benefits of reduction in indirect tax rates are passed on to consumers.
India's first mega coastal economic zone (CEZ) will be set up at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Maharashtra.
The tricyclazole, a fungicide used by rice-growing countries to protect the crop from a disease called 'blast'.
ROBOT MITRA
Why is News
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Adviser to US President Donald Trump Ivanka Trump recently inaugurated the three-day Global Entrepreneur Summit in Hyderabad by pressing a button on an indigenously developed robot called Mitra.
Features of Mitra
Mitra has been completely designed and developed in India by a Bangalore-based startup invento Robotics.
12th East Asia Summit
The 12th East Asia Summit, a premier forum of the Asean member states and eight other countries was held in Pasay, Philippines.
Leaders of the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) states – Brunei Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vetman and of Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand Russia, South Korea and the US hold this annual summit.
The forum provides an opportunity for the leaders to exchange views and assess international issues of concern, including traditional and non-traditional security threats, primarily terrorism, maritime cooperation and security and non-proliferation.
The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi participated the event. He visited the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Los Banos, Philippines and inaugurated 'Shri Laboratory. He also presented two Indian rice seed varieties to the IRRI two Indian rice seed varieties to the IRRI gene bank.
Singapore will host the 13th East Asia Summit.
31st ASEAN Summit
The 31st ASEAN summit was held at Manila, Philippines.
The year 2017 marked the 50th anniversary of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The ten members of ASEAN, Loans, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Philippines, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore will assume the chairmanship of ASEAN in 2018.
10th South Asia Economic Summit
The 10th South Asia Economic Summit (SAES) was held in Kathmandu, Nepal.
The theme of 3-day summit was "Deepening Economic Integration for Inclusive and Sustainable Development in South Asia".
APEC Summit 2017
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' meeting was held in Da Nang, Vietnam.
The APEC summit for 2018 will be held in Papua New Guinea.
India's 1st Tribal Entrepreneurship Summit
With the motive to inspire, nurture and promote the spirit of entrepreneurship in tribal youth, the NITI Aayog in partnership with the US government has organized India's first Tribal Entrepreneurship Summit at Dantewala in the Bastar region of Chhattishgarh.
The event is a part of 8th Global Entrepreneurship Summit being held in India.
GES 2017
The 8th edition of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit was geld in Hyderabad.
This year's Summit highlighted the theme Woman First, Prosperity for All, and focused on supporting women entrepreneurs and fostering economic growth globally.
Manipur Sangai Festival 2017
Sangai festival is an annual cultural festival organized by Manipur Tourism Department.
It has been named after Manipur's state animal, the brow-antlered Sangai deer.
For the first time, Keibul Lamjao, the world's only floating national park situated in Manipur in India's Northeast, which is home to the brow-antlered deer, was also played host to the festival.
COP 23 and COP 24
the latest annual round of United Nations climate talks – COP 23, the second "conference of the parties" since the Paris Agreement in 2015, was held at Bonn, Germany.
Small Island nation Fiji presided over COP23 in Bonn, Germany.
The next round of climate talks – COP 24 will take place in December 2018 in Katowice, Poland.
It is China's next-generation multinuclear warhead intercontinental ballistic missile, may be induced into the PLA early next year.
Indira Gandhi Prize
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will receive Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for the year 2017. A jury headed by former President Pranab Mukherjee made the decisions.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees received this award for the year 2015.
Sir Lankan author AnukArudpragasam's "The Story of a Brief Marriage" – a touching tale of a young man trapped on the frontlines between the Sri Lankan army and the Tamil Tigers – has bagged the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2017.
The announcement was made at the Bangla Academy during the closing ceremony of the three-day-long Dhaka Literature Festival.
In 2016, Anuradha Roy won this award for her book "Sleeping on Jupiter."
Miss South Africa Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters has been crowned Miss Universe 2017.
Nel-Peters beat out first runner-up Miss Colombia Laura Gonzaiez and second runner-up-Miss Jamaica Davina Bennett for the crown in Las Vegas.
Shraddha Shashidhar, from Chennai who represented India, couldn't make it to the top 16.
Sushmita Sen (1994) and Lara Dutta Bhupathi (2000) were the former winners from India.
Miss World
An MBBS student from Haryana, Manushi Chhillar was crowned as the Miss World 2017 at the contest held in the Sanya City Arena, China.
Chhillar is the sixth Indian to win the coveted crown.
Stephanie Del Valle of Ruerto Rico was the Miss World 2016.
Mexico's Andrea Meza was the first runner-up in the contest while England's Stephanie Hill was the second runner-up.
Manushi had previously won Femina Miss India World 2017 in Mumbai on 25 June 2017.
The first Indian to win the Miss World crown was Reita Faria, who won the title in 1966. Aishwarya Rai, Priyanka Chopra and Diana Haydon were other Indians who have won this prestigious title.
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