Daily GK 6th June

6th June 2017

National:

Government to implement India’s first Rural LED Street Lighting Project in Andhra Pradesh

·         Government of India, through the Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) under the Ministry of Power, would be retrofitting 10 lakh conventional street lights with LED lights in Gram Panchayats of 7 districts in Andhra Pradesh.

·         This is the first project for rural LED street lighting in the country under the Government of India’s Street Lighting National Project (SLNP). In the first phase, the replacement will be undertaken in gram panchayats of the districts of Guntur, Prakasham, Nellore, Kurnool, Kadapa, Ananthapur and Chittoor.

·         This replacement drive in rural areas will help the gram panchayats to cumulatively save approximately 147 million units of electricity annually and lead to reduction of 12 crore tonnes of CO2. The entire upfront capital cost of this project is being funded by French Development Agency Agence Française de Développement (AFD). As part of the project, EESL would be carrying out the entire annual maintenance and warranty replacement in these gram panchayats for a period of 10 years.

·         Andhra Pradesh was the first state to seek assistance from EESL to replace conventional street lighting with LED lighting in Visakhapatnam, after the cyclone Hudhud caused extensive damage to the then existing street lighting infrastructure. Ever since then, EESL has installed over 5, 90,000 LED street lights in the State. These installations have led to an annual savings of over 7.8 crore kWh, translating into an annual reduction of over 65,000 tonnes of CO2.

Development Programme” Dr Jitendra Singh announces “Hill Area for Northeast

·         The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh announced the launch of, “Hill Area Development Programme” (HADP) for Northeast in Imphal (Manipur).

·         Elaborating on the new scheme, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the hilly areas of Manipur, Tripura and Assam have a distinct geo-physical entity and are lagging in socio-economic development. As a result of peculiar topography, he said, there is a wide gap between the hill and valley districts in terms of infrastructure, quality of roads, health and education etc. The Hill Development Programme, he said, is inspired with a serious research and deliberation of all these factors.

·         As far as State of Manipur is concerned, Dr Jitendra Singh observed that hill areas are less developed compared to the plain areas. Not only this, he cited figures to state that out of 80 districts of Northeast, 3 districts of hilly areas, which ranked lowest in the composite district infrastructure index, belonged to Manipur and these were namely, Tamenglong, Chandel and Churachandpur.

·         The Hill Area Development Programme, Dr Jitendra Singh said, is aimed at giving a focused attention to the lesser developed hilly areas and will be initiated on a pilot basis in the hilly districts of Manipur.

Handbook, Module & Guidelines on Safe Childhood Programme for Gram Panchayats Released

·         A Handbook along with Module & Guidelines on protection of Child Rights at Gram Panchayat level was released jointly by National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), Ministry of Panchayati Raj and UNICEF at New Delhi .

·       The Handbook, Module & Guidelines will be useful for the functionaries of the Panchayati Raj Institutions in protecting the rights of children at the village level.

·       Releasing the Handbook, Secretary of Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Shri Jitendra Shankar Mathur called it as a landmark occasion. He said, “Unless and until communities are involved, making a difference in the lives of children at the village level is an uphill task.” Shri. Mathur also said that the beneficial legislations which are available in the country should be implemented in reality to empower the children of the country. He suggested that the initiative by NCPCR and UNICEF should be “pursued vigorously” for quick outcomes.

NMCG Approves Projects Worth Rupee 1900 cr Hundred Percent Sewage Treatment

·         Giving another major push to Namai Gange programme National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has approved projects worth Rs 1,900 crore for the creation of sewage treatment infrastructure in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and UT of Delhi.

·         With approval of these projects hundred percent sewage treatment facilities will be made available for Haridwar, Rishikesh, Vrindavan, Varanasi, Allahabad and NCT of Delhi. These projects were approved in the third meeting of the Executive Committee of NMCG held in New Delhi last month.

Aadhaar must for kerosene subsidy, Atal Pension Yojana

·         Aadhaar has now been made mandatory to get subsidy on kerosene and benefits of the Atal Pension Yojana.

·         Those getting kerosene subsidy or subscribing to the pension scheme will be required to furnish proof of possession of the unique ID or undergo the enrolment process to get the benefits, officials said.

·         The last date to get Aadhaar or enrol for getting it is September 30 in the case of the kerosene subsidy. For the pension scheme, the deadline is June 15, they said.

·         However, till Aadhaar is obtained, ration card, driving licence, voter identity card, Kisan passbook with photo, job card issued under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme or a certificate issued by a gazetted officer or a tehsildar will be considered as proof of identity for the benefits.

·         It has been also decided to link Aadhaar with the ration card issued to beneficiary households or with the bank account for cash transfer.

·         The Ministry of Oil and Natural Gas has introduced direct benefit transfer through which subsidy is transferred directly to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries, who purchase the PDS kerosene at non-subsidised rate.

·         The decision to make Aadhaar mandatory for these two schemes is expected to prevent leakages.

·         The Centre allocates subsidised kerosene to the States and Union Territories as affordable cooking fuel for domestic use, mainly to those living below the poverty line.

·         Under the pension scheme, a subscriber gets a minimum pension of Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 a month, depending on contributions made, from the age of 60.

NSG without wings for 2 years

·         The only two helicopters available with the National Security Guard (NSG), India’s counter-terror force, have been grounded. It requires air mobility to cover short distances in case of a terror attack, but the force has been without a helicopter for two years.

·         Home Minister Rajnath Singh reviewed the functioning of the NSG. At the hour-long meeting, he was briefed by NSG Director-General Sudhir Pratap Singh and other officials.

• The NSG was set up in 1984 as a federal contingency deployment force to tackle terrorism. After the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, the government opened regional hubs of the NSG in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata to reduce reaction time.

International

Nepal, China ink mega hydropower agreement

·         Nepal has signed an agreement with a Chinese company to build the largest hydroelectric plant in the impoverished landlocked country, which suffers from a chronic energy shortage.

·         Nepal’s Energy Minister Janardan Sharma signed the agreement for the China Gezhouba Group Corporation to build the long-mooted 1,200 megawatt Budhi-Gandaki hydroelectric project.

·         Estimates put the project cost at $2.5 billion. A financing agreement will be signed later, Ministry spokesman Dinesh Kumar Ghimire said.

·         Water-rich Nepal has a mountain river system that could make it an energy-producing powerhouse, but instead it imports much of its electricity from neighbouring India.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and UAE cut diplomatic ties with Qatar as Gulf rift deepens

·         Four Arab nations cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, further deepening a rift between these nations and that country for its support to Islamist groups.

·         Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates all announced that they would withdraw their diplomatic staff from Qatar, a gas-rich nation that will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Saudi Arabia said Qatari troops would be pulled from its ongoing war in Yemen.

·          “Qatar's practices of dealing with the (Houthi) coup militias and supporting extremist groups became clear,” the government said in a statement.

Contemporary Economic Developments

India Signs Loan Agreement with the World Bank for USD 39.2 Million for the project “Assam Citizen Centric Service Delivery”

• An agreement for IBRD Credit of USD 39.2 Million from World Bank for the project “Assam Citizen Centric Service Delivery” was signed. Loan agreement was signed by Shri Raj Kumar, Joint Secretary (MI), Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance on behalf of the Government of India and Mr. Hisham Abdo, Manager, Operations (India) on behalf of the World Bank.
• The Implementing Entity Agreement was signed by the Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Assam, on behalf of Government of Assam, and the Country Director (India) on behalf of the World Bank.
• The programme size is USD 49 million, of which USD 39.2 million will be financed by the Bank, and the remaining amount will be funded-out of State Budget. The programme duration is 5 years.
• The objective of the project is to improve access in the delivery of selected public services in Assam. The Project seeks to enable citizens to access services under the RTPS Act in a timely, efficient, and accountable manner. The Project adopts an integrated approach to improve access and accountability.

World Bank projects 7.2 pc growth rate for India in 2017

·         Noting that India is recovering from the temporary adverse effects of demonetisation, the World Bank has projected a strong 7.2 % growth rate for India this year against 6.8 % growth in 2016.

·         Even as the World Bank has revised India’s growth figures by 0.4 percentage points as compared to its January forecast, India remains the fastest growing major economy in the world, the World Bank officials said.

·         The growth projections for China remain unchanged at 6.5 % for 2017 and then 6.3 % for the next two years 2018 and 2019.

·         The World Bank in its latest Global Economic Prospects, projects India’s growth to 7.5 % in 2018 and 7.7 % in 2019.

·         In both the years, the forecast has been downgraded by 0.3 % and 0.1 percentage points as compared to that of the January 2017 forecast.

·         “A downgrade to India’s fast pace of expansion,” the World Bank said, is “mainly reflecting a softer-than-expected recovery in private investment.”

·         In 2016, in India, activity was underpinned by favourable monsoon rains that supported agriculture and rural consumption, an increase in infrastructure spending, and robust government consumption, the report said.

·         “In India, recent data indicate a rebound this year, with the easing of cash shortages and rising exports. An increase in government spending in India, including on capital formation, has partially offset soft private investment,” it said.

·         Observing that India’s growth is forecast to increase to 7.2 % in FY2017 and accelerate to 7.7 % by 2019, is slightly below previous projections, the Bank said this outlook mainly reflects a more protracted recovery in private investment than previously envisaged.

·         “Nonetheless, domestic demand is expected to remain strong, supported by ongoing policy reforms, especially the introduction of the nationwide Goods and Services Tax (GST),” it said.

Modi reviews GST preparedness ahead of July 1 rollout

·         Prime Minister Narendra Modi  reviewed the preparedness for the new indirect tax regime —— Goods and Services Tax (GST) which will be rolled out from next month.

·         The meeting was attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia and senior officers from the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC).

·         This was the first review by the PM after the GST Council finalised the rates, and the second since May 2.

·         The GST Council, chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and comprising his state counterparts, has already finalised tax rates on almost all goods and services. It will meet again on June 11 to review some of the rates and discuss other pending issues.

·         All goods and services have been put in slabs of 5, 12, 18 and 28%, with the exception of gold and precious metals, which will attract 3% GST, and rough diamond at 0.25 % GST.

·         Items like salt, milk, jaggery, egg, curd, unpacked foodgrain and paneer, fresh vegetables, unbranded atta, maida, besan, honey, besides education and health services, have all been exempted from GST.

·         Tea, sugar, coffee beans, edible oil, packed paneer, milk powder, brooms, domestic LPG and kerosene have been put in the 5% bracket.

·         According to the fitment of rates in various tax brackets, 81% of the items will fall in/below 18% slab. Only 19 % of the goods will attract GST above 18 %.

·         Hair oil, soaps, jams, soups, ice cream, capital goods and computers will attract a 18% levy.

·         Those placed in the 28 % slab are custard powder, shampoo, perfume, make up items, chewing gum, motorcycle, cement and consumer durables.

·         The single-biggest taxation reform since independence, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will subsume 16 different taxes, including excise, service tax and VAT, and make India a single market for seamless movement of goods and services.

·         GST is estimated to boost GDP by 1 to 2 % and bring down inflation by 2 % over the long term.

NSE opens bourse at GIFT City

·         The National Stock Exchange (NSE) unveiled its exchange at Gift City.

·         The exchange will see trading on derivative products based on stocks, indices, precious metals and currencies.

·         The exchange, NSE IFSC, will have two trading sessions initially. The market timings will be gradually extended based on demand. The first session will be between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Session two will start at 5:30 p.m. and end at 11:30 p.m.

·         The trading hours will overlap with the timings in London and Dubai markets. This will allow investors to react to news developments over a longer period of time, said a release from the exchange.

·         Incidentally, a large section of market players has been demanding longer trading hours in the equity market in India especially since the commodity markets are open for longer hours.

·         According to the statement, trading will begin with stock derivatives on 10 stocks, index derivatives on Nifty, Nifty Bank and Nifty IT indices along with derivatives on gold, silver and currency pairs such as euro-dollar and pound-dollar.

·         The stocks on which derivative contracts will be available initially are Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Infosys, Larsen and Toubro, Maruti, Reliance Industries, SBI, Tata Motors and TCS.

·         The NSE IFSC Ltd and NSE IFSC Clearing Corporation Ltd have been formed as 100% subsidiary companies of NSE and National Securities Clearing Corporation Limited respectively.

Science & Technology

First Developmental Flight of India's GSLV Mk III Successfully launches GSAT-19 Satellite

·         The first developmental flight (GSLV MkIII-D1) of India's heavy lift launch vehicle GSLV Mk-III was successfully conducted from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota with the launch of GSAT-19 satellite.

·         This was the first orbital mission of GSLV MkIII which was mainly intended to evaluate the vehicle performance including that of its fully indigenous cryogenic upper stage during the flight. Weighing 3136 kg at lift-off, GSAT-19 is the heaviest satellite launched from the Indian soil.

·         The upper stage of GSLV MkIII vehicle is a new cryogenic stage (C25) indigenously configured, designed and realised by ISRO. The cryogenic stage used liquid Hydrogen and liquid Oxygen as propellants with a total loading of 28 tons.

·        The stage is powered by a 20 ton thrust cryogenic engine (CE20) operating on ‘gas generator cycle’. The performance of the engine and stage during the mission was as predicted. About sixteen minutes after lift-off, GSAT-19 satellite was successfully placed in orbit.

World Environment Day 2017

• World Environment Day on 05 Jun 2017 marks three years of the launch of Green Initiatives Drive of Indian Navy.
• The past three years have seen a unified approach by rank and file in Indian Navy towards pursuance of green goals. The energy optimisation measures in IN cover its entire spectrum – operations, infrastructure and maintenance. Concerted efforts are being undertaken to reduce energy use (both electricity and fuel) through self-driven conservation measures.
• The initiatives taken in line with the Prime Minister’s ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan’ across various Naval establishments have also started yielding tangible results. 5600 kgs of manure, 450 kgs biogas (Methane), which is being used in lieu of LPG, is being generated every month from bio-degradable waste and Biogas plants using Organic Waste Converters. Considering the positive impact of afforestation, over 14000 saplings have been planted over the course of the preceding year. These are being nurtured by Naval personnel and mitigate an estimated 284 tonnes of CO2.
• The World Environment Day 2017, with the theme of ‘Connecting People to Nature’ further gives an opportunity to all echelons to join hands and consolidate our efforts in pursuit of care for the environment.

Sports

FIFA ‘in contact’ with Qatar over 2022 football World Cup

·         Football's governing body FIFA said that it was in “regular contact” with the organising committee of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, though it did not comment directly on the diplomatic situation involving the Gulf State.

·         Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and others severed ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism and opening up the worst rift in years among some of the most powerful states in the Arab world.

·         FIFA said in an emailed statement that it was “in regular contact with the Qatar 2022 Local Organising Committee and the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy handling matters relating to the 2022 FIFA World Cup.”

• Qatar's national team is still involved in the qualifying competition for the 2018 World Cup in Russia and are bottom of their group with four points from seven games, with matches against South Korea, Syria, and China still to play.

Sai Praneeth: A badminton champion's rise from Hyderabad to Thailand Open

• Sai Praneeth B won the Men’s Singles in the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, becoming the second Indian to have ever won the coveted trophy.
• Coached at the Gopichand Badminton Academy under former-badminton-champion-turned-coach, Pullela Gopichand, Sai Praneeth beat Indonasia’s Jonatan Christie 17-21, 21-18, 21-19 to win the title.  

Source:cl