national - mentor study point · 2019. 12. 19. · bill, 2016 to amend the child labour...

MENTOR SEPTEMBER 2016

(For previous issues visit www.mentorstudypoint.in )

NATIONAL

Union Government launched National

Green Highways Mission

Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways

and Shipping Nitin Gadkari on 1 July 2016

launched the National Green Highways Mission

(NGHM) in New Delhi. Under this initiative,

plantation drive on 1500 km of National Highways

was launched at a cost of about 300 crore rupees.

It was launched under the Green Highways Policy

that was unveiled in September 2015 to actualize

the vision of developing eco-friendly and green

National Highways. The greening project has a

huge potential to generate jobs and can prove to be

a game-changer for agriculture and rural economy.

Greening of one km of highway provides

employment to ten people. The initial launch on

the 1500 km stretch will employ 15000 people.

The government has made it mandatory to set

aside 1 per cent of the total project cost of any NH

contract to a Green Fund corpus that will be used

for plantation purposes. The afforestation is

expected to help in sequestering approximately 12

lakh metric ton carbon annually. In future, the

mission will be linked with the Mahatma Gandhi

National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme.

Other initiatives

• Vision Document: It comprises strategy, mission

and action plan for 2016-2026, focuses on core

issues, future roadmaps and success indicators for

effective implementation of the project.

• Knowledge Report: It was jointly prepared by the

NGHM and Yes Bank. It puts transplantation at

the centre of discussion in the mission of greening

our highways.

• The report presents a compelling case for taking

up transplantation as the preferred technique for

plantation along the highways.

• Adopt a Green Highway Programme: It seeks to

engage corporates, public sector units,

Government organizations and other institutions

for developing green corridor along National

Highways through plantation and allied activity on

avenue, median and other available nearby land

patches.

• Kisan Harit Rajmarg Yojana: It is aimed at

extending green belt beyond the existing ‘Right of

Way’ of highways by engaging farmers and

providing alternative livelihood option to the

nearby communities.

• National Green Highways Mission Mobile App:

It will enable the management to monitor all the

projects with real time data from the fields. The

technology will assist in identifying the

bottlenecks quickly and ensure speedy and

successful implementations of the projects.

Union Cabinet approves incorporation of

Sagarmala Development Company

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister

Narendra Modi on 20 July 2016 approved the

incorporation of Sagarmala Development

Company (SDC) under the Companies Act, 2013.

It will be under the administrative control of the

Ministry of Shipping. SDC will be developed with

an initial Authorized Share Capital of 1000 Crore

rupees and a Subscribed Share Capital of 90 Crore

rupees. It will provide equity support to the project

Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) and funding

support to the residual projects under the

Sagarmala Programme.

Implementation of the identified projects will be

done mainly through private or PPP mode. It will

provide equity support for the project Special

Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) set up by the

Ports/State/Central Ministries window. It will

implement only those residual which cannot be



funded by any other means / mode. SDC will

Identify port-led development projects and put in

place suitable risk management measures for

strategic projects cutting across multiple

States/Regions. Since the Identified projects will

be undertaken by multiple agencies, SDC will also

work as the nodal agency for coordination and

monitoring of all the identified projects as well as

other projects. SDC will undertake the preparation

of the detailed master plans for the Coastal

Economic Zones (CEZs) identified as part of the

National Perspective Plan (NPP). It will also

provide a framework for ensuring the integrated

development of Indian maritime sector.

The Sagarmala Project was launched with the

approval of the Union Cabinet on 25 March 2015.

It was approved with a view to achieve the broad

objective of promoting port-led economic

development in India. The programme was

approved in order to harness India’s 7500 km long

coastline, 14500 km of potentially navigable

waterways, and strategic location on key

international maritime trade routes. As part of the

programme, a NPP for the comprehensive

development of the coastline and maritime sector

has been prepared. The NPP has identified more

than 150 projects across the areas of Port

Modernization & New Port Development, Port

Connectivity Enhancement, Port-led

Industrialization and Coastal Community

Development.

Union Cabinet approves signing of Air

Services Agreement between India and

Mozambique

The Union Cabinet on 20 July 2016 approved

signing of the Air Services Agreement between

India and Mozambique. Till now, there was no Air

Services Agreement between India and

Mozambique. In order to promote the air

connectivity between the two countries, the two

sides initiated the process of consultation in 2011

to finalize the text of Air Services Agreement.

Highlights of the Air Services Agreement

• Multiple designation of Airlines by each party.

• The designated Airline of each party can enter

into cooperative marketing arrangements with the

designated carriers of same party, other party and

that of a Third party.

• It allows designated airlines of either countries to

establish offices in the territory of other country

for the promotion and sale of air services.

• The designated airlines of the two countries shall

have fair and equal opportunity to operate the

agreed services on specified routes.

• It also has the provisions relating to Suspension

of Operating Authorization, Principles governing

operations of agreed services, commercial

opportunities, safety and security related clause.

Lok Sabha passes Bill to establish new

NIT in Andhra Pradesh

The Lok Sabha on 21 July 2016 passed the

National Institute of Technology, Science,

Education and Research (Amendment) (NITSER)

Bill, 2016. The bill seeks to establish a new

National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Andhra

Pradesh as an institute of national importance

under the NITSER Act, 2007 with an effect from

August 2015. The Bill is in keeping with the

Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, which

provides for a NIT for the state after its bifurcation

as the existing NIT went to Telangana. It amends

the NITSER Act 2007 so as to establish an

additional NIT in Andhra Pradesh. 40 crore rupees

have been allocated for the establishment of the

new NIT in the current financial year. An outlay of

226 crore rupees has been made for the institute

over the next three years.

Lok Sabha passes Institutes of

Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2016

The Lok Sabha on July 25, 2016 passed the

Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2016.

The Bill seeks to amend the Institutes of

Technology Act, 1961, which declares certain



Institutes of Technology as institutions of national

importance.

The Bill seeks to add six new Indian Institutes of

Technology (IITs) in Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh,

Palakkad in Kerala, Goa, Dharwar in Karnataka,

Bhilai in Chhattisgarh, and Jammu. It also seeks to

bring the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad within

the ambit of the Act. All these institutions will be

declared as institutions of national importance.

The Bill provides for the incorporation of IIT

(Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad. It states that

until the statutes in relation to IIT (Indian School

of Mines), Dhanbad are made under the Act, the

statutes applicable to IIT Roorkee will apply to it.

Union Government plans to redraw Red

Corridor

Union Government has decided to reduce the

number of Maoist-affected districts by about a

fifth. As per reports, about 20 out of 106 districts

described as being Maoist-affected and part of the

Red Corridor may soon no longer be part of the

list. Dropping of these districts from the list will

result in drying of the financial aid given to the

districts. The aid was being provided to the tune of

30 crore rupees annually for various

developmental work.

The red corridor expands in 106 districts of 10

states of the country. The ten states are Bihar,

Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha,

Telangana, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar

Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. These districts are

described as those affected by Left Wing

Extremism (LWE) and constitute the Red

Corridor. 44 districts of these 106 are said to be

the worst affected districts. In total India

constitutes of 683 districts.

Second phase of the Feed the Future-

India Triangular Training Programme

launched

Second phase of the Feed the Future-India

Triangular Training Programme was launched on

25 July 2016. The programme was launched in

New Delhi by the Ministry of Agriculture and

Farmers Welfare and the U.S Agency for

International Development (USAID). The

programme will provide specialized agriculture

training to 1500 agricultural professional across

Africa and Asia. Objectives of Training is to

address human and institutional capacity gaps in

food & nutritional security in select African and

Asian countries.

Key Highlights of the Second Phase

• Under this 32 Training programme of 15 day-

duration will be conducted in India and 12

Training programs of 10 days duration will be

conducted in selected African and Asian Countries

during 2016-20.

• The entire expenditure will be met by USAID

and National Institute of Agricultural Extension

Management (MANAGE), Hyderabad.

• The training areas will be identified based on

demand analysis conducted in participating

countries.

• The programme covers 17 countries and they are

a) In Asia: Afghanistan, Cambodia, Lao PDR,

Myanmar, Mongolia, and Vietnam

b) In Africa: Kenya, Malawi, Liberia, Ghana,

Uganda, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo,

Mozambique, Tanzania, Sudan, Botswana and

Ethiopia

Earlier, a team of faculty of MANAGE visited

Cambodia and Vietnam in Asia and Tanzania and

Mozambique in Africa as part of Demand analysis.

The programme will help in harnessing the

expertise and innovation of the two countries, i.e.

India and the US, which in return will unlock new

opportunities to address global development

challenges. It will also help in bringing closure of

the shared objective of eliminating global poverty

and hunger. A new Agriculture Partnership



between US and India to achieve Ever Green

Revolution to address Global Food Security was

announced during the State visit of US President

Barak Obama to India in November 2010. The

effort included Triangular Cooperation adapting

technological advances and innovative solutions to

address Food Security Challenges in Africa. This

pilot stage focused on three African Countries i.e.,

Kenya, Liberia and Malawi with potential to

expand throughout the African Continent in future.

Lok Sabha passes Child Labour

(Prohibition and Regulation)

Amendment Bill, 2016

Lok Sabha on 26 July 2016 passed the Child

Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment

Bill, 2016 to amend the Child Labour (Prohibition

& Regulation) (CLPR) Act, 1986. The amendment

bill allows children below the age of 14 years to

work in select non-hazardous family enterprises.

With this, both the houses of parliament passed the

bill. Rajya Sabha passed the bill on 19 July 2016.

Now, the bill will be sent to the President for his

assent.

Provisions of Bill

• It prohibits employment of children below 14

years in all occupation or processes except where

the child helps his family after school, with the

provision for imprisonment up to two years for any

violation. It was made in light to the Right of

Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act,

2009.

• It also adds a new category of persons called

adolescent meaning children between 14 to 18

years of age and prohibits employment of

adolescents in hazardous occupations as specified

(mines, inflammable substance and hazardous

processes).

• It gives right to the Union Government to add or

omit any hazardous occupation from the list

included in the Bill.

• It also enhances the punishment for employing

any child in an occupation. It also includes penalty

for employing an adolescent in a hazardous

occupation.

• The penalty for employing a child was increase

to imprisonment between 6 months and two years

or a fine of 20000 rupees to 50000 rupees or both.

Earlier, the imprisonment term and penalty were

from three months to one year and from 1000

rupees to 20000 rupees or both.

• The penalty for employing an adolescent in

hazardous occupation is imprisonment between 6

months and two years or a fine of 20000 rupees to

50000 rupees or both.

• The government may confer powers on a District

Magistrate to ensure that the provisions of the law

are properly carried out.

• The Bill empowers the government to make

periodic inspection of places at which employment

of children and adolescents are prohibited.

Why the need for amending CLPR Act, 1986?

Firstly, the official amendments along with

Amendment Bill, 2012 seeks to strike a balance

between the need for education for a child and the

reality of the socio-economic condition and social

fabric in the country.

Secondly, the socio-economic milieu of India is

such that, on the one hand, children help their

parent especially in occupations like agriculture,

artisanship etc. and on the other, they learn basics

of occupation while helping the parents.

Thirdly, the Child Labour (Prohibition &

Regulation) Act (CLPR Act) 1986 was not in

harmony with the Right of Children to Free and

Compulsory Education Act, 2009 that enjoins the

State to ensure free and compulsory education to

all children in the age group of 6 to 14 years. A

corollary to this would be that if a child is in the

work place, he would miss school.

Lastly, CLPR Act was not in conformity with the

International Labour Organisation (ILO)

Conventions 138 and 182, which provide for

minimum age of entry into employment and

prohibition of employment of persons below 18



years, in work which is likely to harm health,

safety and morals.

Lok Sabha passes Benami Transactions

(Prohibition) Amendment Bill, 2015

Lok Sabha on 27 July 2016 passed the Benami

Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Bill, 2015.

The Bill seeks to amend the Benami Transactions

Act, 1988. The bill prohibits benami transactions

and provides for confiscating benami properties.

Objective

• Amend the definition of benami transactions

• Establish adjudicating authorities and an

Appellate Tribunal to deal with benami

transactions

• Specify the penalty for entering into benami

transactions.

Definition

It expands the definition of benami transaction by

including following

• Transaction is made in a fictitious name

• Owner is not aware of and denies knowledge of

the ownership of the property

• Person providing the consideration for the

property is not traceable

Earlier, it defined benami transaction as a

transaction where a property is held by or

transferred to a person, but has been provided for

or paid by another person.

Exemptions

In specific cases will be exempt from the

definition of a benami transaction. These include

cases when a property is held by

• A member of a Hindu undivided family, and is

being held for his or another family member’s

benefit, and has been provided for or paid off from

sources of income of that family

• A person in a fiduciary capacity

• A person in the name of his spouse or child, and

the property has been paid for from the person’s

income

• Section 58 empowers government to exempt the

genuine properties of religious organisation like a

church or a mosque or a gurdwara or a temple

from the action. But the exemption to such entities

cannot be a pretext for tax evasion.

Definition of Benamidar

• It defines benamidar as the person in whose

name the benami property is held or transferred,

and a beneficial owner as the person for whose

benefit the property is being held by the

benamidar.

• Under the Act, an Authority to acquire benami

properties was to be established by the Rules.

Four Authorities for conducting Inquiry

The bill seeks to establish four authorities to

conduct inquiries or investigations regarding

benami transactions and they are Initiating Officer,

Approving Authority, Administrator and

Adjudicating Authority.

Penalty: Rrigorous imprisonment of one year up

to seven years, and a fine which may extend to

25% of the fair market value of the benami

property. The previous penalty under the Act for

entering into benami transactions was

imprisonment up to three years, or a fine, or both.

It specifies the penalty for providing false

information to be rigorous imprisonment of six

months up to five years, and a fine which may

extend to 10% of the fair market value of the

benami property. Certain session courts would be

designated as Special Courts for trying any

offences which are punishable under the Bill.

Union Cabinet approves setting up of

AIIMS in Bhatinda

The Union Cabinet on 27 July 2016 approved the

establishment of a All India Institute Of Medical

Science (AIIMS) at Bhatinda in Punjab under the

Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana

(PMSSY). It will provide super specialty health

care to the population while creating a large pool

of doctors and other health workers in this region

that can be available for primary and secondary

level institutions/facilities being created under

National Health Mission (NHM).

The Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana

(PMSSY) was first announced in August 2003

with the primary objective of correcting the

regional imbalances in availability of affordable

tertiary level healthcare in the country in general.

Under this scheme, AIIMS have been established

in Bhubaneshwar, Jodhpur, Raipur, Rishikesh,

Bhopal and Patna while work of AIIMS Rae Bareli



is in progress. Also, three AIIMS in Nagpur

(Maharashtra), Kalyani (West Bengal) and

Mangalagiri in Guntur (AP) were sanctioned in

2015.

Lok Sabha passes Lokpal and Lokayukta

(Amendment) Bill, 2016

The Lok Sabha on 27 July 2016 passed the Lokpal

and Lokayukta (Amendment) Bill, 2016. The bill

with amendments was passed without any

discussion. The bill seeks to amend the existing

Lokpal and Lokayukta Act, 2013 that provides

Lokpal (at Centre) and Lokayukta (at States)

statutory backing to inquire into allegations of

corruption against certain public functionaries and

for related matters.

Amendments to Lokayukta Act, 2013

• The bill amends section 44 of the 2013 Act and

says that every public servant shall make a

declaration of his assets and liabilities in such form

and manner as may be prescribed.

• It substitute clause of sub-section (2) of section

59 to empower the Central Government to make

rules with retrospective effect for the purpose of

prescribing the form and manner in which

declaration of assets and liabilities is to be

made by public servant under section 44.

Section 44 of the Lokayukta Act, 2013 provides

for declaration of assets by the public servants. It

says that every public servant shall, within a

period of thirty days from the date on which he

makes and subscribes an oath or affirmation to

enter upon his office, furnish to the competent

authority the information relating to—(angel)

the assets of which he, his spouse and his

dependent children are, jointly or severally,

owners or beneficiaries; (beer) his liabilities and

that of his spouse and his dependent children.

Rajya Sabha passes Compensatory and

Afforestation Fund Bill, 2016

The Rajya Sabha on 28 July 2016 unanimously

passed the Compensatory and Afforestation Fund

(CAF) Bill, 2016 that allows States to access

nearly 42000 crore rupees and channel into

afforestation projects. The Bill was already passed

by Lok Sabha on 3 May 2016.

Provisions of the Bill

• The Bill establishes the National Compensatory

Afforestation Fund under the Public Account of

India, and a State Compensatory Afforestation

Fund under the Public Account of each state.

• These Funds will receive payments for: (a)

compensatory afforestation, (b) net present value

of forest (NPV), and (c) other project specific

payments.

• The National Fund will receive 10 percent of

these funds, and the State Funds will receive the

remaining 90 percent.

• These Funds will be primarily spent on

afforestation to compensate for loss of forest

cover, regeneration of forest ecosystem, wildlife

protection and infrastructure development.

Key Issues pertaining to the Bill

The Bill establishes the Funds for compensatory

afforestation and forest conservation. However,

there are several factors which affect

compensatory afforestation and forest

conservation. These factors are:

• Lack of planning and implementation: The state

forest departments lack the planning and

implementation capacity to carry out

compensatory afforestation and forest

conservation.

• Difficulty in procuring land: Procuring land for

compensatory afforestation is difficult as land is a

limited resource, and is required for multiple

purposes, such as agriculture, industry, etc. This is

compounded by unclear land titles.

• Decline in quality of forest cover: A High Level

Committee on Environment Laws observed that

quality of forest cover has declined between 1951

and 2014, with poor quality of compensatory

afforestation plantations being one of the reasons

behind the decline.

India's first e-court opened at Hyderabad

High Court

India’s first e-court was opened at High Court of

Judicature at Hyderabad on 17 July 2016. It was

inaugurated by Supreme Court judge Justice

Madan B Lokur who heads the e-Committee of the

Supreme Court. Hyderabad High Court is the



common high court for the states of Andhra

Pradesh and Telangana.

The purpose of e-court is to ensure speedy justice

for the litigants. The e-Courts will ensure easy and

better access to justice for public. It will also

provide solution for large number of pending cases

in the country. It will also make the work of

judges, advocates and all those related with

judiciary a lot more effective.

Besides the launch of e-court, SC judge Justice

Madan B Lokur also announced that India’s first

Integrated Criminal Justice System (ICJS) will be

launched in High Court of Judicature at

Hyderabad. The system will integrate the courts,

police stations, prosecution, forensic science

laboratories and jails.

TRI-NETRA System developed for enhancing

the vision of Locomotive Pilots in inclement

weather

The Ministry of Railways on 17 July 2016

developed the TRI-NETRA system on

locomotives for enhancing the vision of

Locomotive Pilots in inclement weather. TRI-

NETRA stands for Terrain imaging for diesel

drivers INfra-red, Enhanced optical &Radar

Assisted system. TRI-NETRA system is be made

up of high-resolution optical video camera, high

sensitivity infra-red video camera and additionally

a radar-based terrain mapping system. These three

components of the system act as three eyes (Tri-

Netra) of the Locomotive Pilot.

• TRI-NETRA is designed to see the terrain ahead

of the running locomotive during inclement

weather by combining the images captured by the

three sub-systems. It will create a composite video

image which shall be displayed in front of the

Loco Pilot on a computer monitor. It will give the

locomotive pilot a clear view of the track ahead in

bad visibility conditions so that he can apply

brakes well in time. It will also map the terrain

ahead so that the driver knows when he is

approaching a station or a signal.

The concept of TRI-NETRA was developed by

Development Cell under the guidance of Member

Mechanical, Railway Board while brainstorming

on how to use the technology employed by fighter

aircrafts to see through clouds and operate in pitch

darkness.

Union Government launches

Transforming India Website

The Union Minister of Electronics and Information

Technology and Law & Justice Ravi Shankar

Prasad on 15 July 2016 launched Transforming

India website www.transformingindia.mygov.in.

Transforming India website is a repository for

sharing the impact of various governance

initiatives with citizens in real-time. It provides

information in a user-friendly format enabling

citizens to view the content in the form of

Infographics, e-books, performance dashboard,

videos, daily news corner, etc. It facilitates two-

way communication between the government and

citizens. It is also a social platform on which users

can share their opinions about various initiatives of

the government. It acts as a repository of major

policies and decisions and provides a central

platform to citizens for sharing of transformational

changes that they see around themselves.

Three Indian sites listed among

UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and

Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on 17 July 2016

listed Franco-Swiss architect Le Corbusier’s works

among its World Heritage Sites. The listed works

include Chandigarh’s Complexe du Capitole,

Khangchendzonga National Park and Nalanda



Mahavihara. It is the first time that any country got

three sites inscribed in the Word Heritage List at a

single session of the committee meeting.

Complexe du Capitole, Chandigarh: The site

comprises three buildings, i.e., Legislative

Assembly, Secretariat and High Court. Following

the independence of India, the divided Punjab

required a new capital as Lahore was now in

Pakistan. Therefore, Le Corbusier was

commissioned by first Prime Minister of India,

Jawaharlal Nehru to build a new city of

Chandigarh as the capital of Punjab.

Khangchendzonga National Park and Mount

Khangchendzonga: The park is located at the

heart of the Himalayan range in Sikkim. It

includes a unique diversity of plains, valleys,

lakes, glaciers and snow-capped mountains

covered with ancient forests, including the world’s

third highest peak, Mount Khangchendzonga.

Nalanda Mahavihara: This World Heritage Site is

located at a distance of about 98 km from Patna,

the capital city of Bihar. The site stands for the

most ancient university of the Indian subcontinent

that transmitted knowledge over a period of some

800 years or more. Its historical development

shades lights on development of Buddhism into a

religion as well as growth of the educational

traditions. Nalanda Mahavihara was founded by

Kumargupta I of the Gupta dynasty in 5th century

CE. It was patronized by various rulers including

King Harshavardhana of Kannauj (7th century CE)

and the Pala rulers (8th – 12th century CE) as well

as various scholars. Records say that the Nalanda

University was destroyed three times by the

invaders but was rebuilt twice. The third

destruction was caused by the Muslim army led by

the Turkish leader Bakhtiyar Khilji in 1193 AD.

About six centuries after Nalanda’s decline, the

site was first discovered and reported by Sir

Francis Buchanan. The site was systematically

excavated and consolidated by Archaeological

Survey of India from 1915 to 1937 and again from

1974 to 1982.

Besides these, Antigua Naval Dockyard and

Related Archaeological Sites (Antigua and

Barbuda) and Pampulha Modern Ensemble

(Brazil) were also included in the list.

What is World Heritage Site: A World Heritage

Site is a place (such as a building, city, complex,

desert, etc.) that is listed by UNESCO as being of

special cultural or physical significance. The list is

maintained by the international World Heritage

Programme administered by the UNESCO World

Heritage Committee. The committee is composed

of 21 UNESCO member states which are elected

by the General Assembly. In India, there are 35(27

cultural and 7 natural sites and 1 mixed) World

Heritage Sites.

Benefit: Listing into UNESCO’s heritage site list

will help in conserving and protecting the site in a

better way with increased funds and many more

way.

Supreme Court ordered restoration of

Nabam Tuki government in Arunachal

Pradesh

The five-judge Constitutional bench of the

Supreme Court (SC) on 13 July 2016 unanimously

restored Congress Government led by Nabam Tuki

in Arunachal Pradesh. For this purpose, it also

quashed the Kalikho Pul government that came

into power on 19 February 2016 after Governor J

P Rajkhowa ordered dismissal of Nabam Tuki led

government of the state. The constitutional bench

headed by Justice JS Khehar termed removal of

former chief minister Nabam Tuki as

unconstitutional.

Highlights of the decision

• It directed the immediate imposition of status quo

ante as on 15 December 2015 and paved a way for

the return of Congress-led Nabam Tuki

government to power.

• It said that Governor who is not an elected

representative is only an executive nominee whose

powers flow from the aid and advice of the State

Cabinet. Use of his discretionary powers under

Article 163 of the Constitution to summon or

dissolve assembly sessions without the aid and

advice of the Chief Minister and his cabinet is

unconstitutional.

• Not being an ombudsman for the legislature,

governor can’t advice a speaker to discharge his

functions in the manner he considers

constitutionally appropriate.



• Governor carries no power to take a decision on

issues that happens within the four walls of the

political party. However, Governor Rajkhowa used

his constitutional authority to ostensibly favour an

“invalid breakaway group” of MLAs disqualified

under the Tenth Schedule, which amounts to

constitutional impropriety.

It is the first time that the Supreme Court used its

power of judicial review to restore a government

when its successor government is in place. Earlier,

the nine-judge bench in the SR Bommai vs Union

Of India of 1994 judgement condemned the

arbitrary use of Article 356 that involves the

President’s rule, but none went to the extent of

restore a government that was ousted earlier.

Union Cabinet approves Pradhan Mantri

Kaushal Vikas Yojana


Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY)

with an outlay of 12000 crore rupees to impart

skilling to one crore people over the next four

years (2016-2020). PMKVY will impart fresh

training to 60 lakh youths and certify skills of 40

lakh persons acquired non-formally under the

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). The target

allocation between fresh trainings and RPL will be

flexible and interchangeable depending on

functional and operational requirements.

Highlights of the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas

Yojana (PMKVY)

• It will move to a grant based model where the

training and assessment cost would be directly

reimbursed to training providers and assessment

bodies in accordance with the Common Norms.

• Financial support to trainees will be given in the

form of travel allowance, boarding and lodging

costs.

• Post placement support would be given directly

to the beneficiaries through Direct Benefit

Transfer (DBT).

• Disbursement of training cost to training partners

will be linked to Aadhaar and biometrics for better

transparency and targeting.

• Skill training would be done based on industry

led standards aligned to the National Skill

Qualification Framework (NSQF).

• Mobilisation, monitoring and post training

placement of trainees will be done through Rozgar

Melas (placement camps) and Kaushal Shivirs

(mobilization camps).

• There will be special focus on placement of

trainees with incentives/disincentives linked to

placement as envisaged in the Common Norms.

• It will also cater to domestic skill needs, also

focus on skill training aligned to international

standards for overseas employment in Gulf

countries, Europe and other overseas destinations.

• There will be scholarship for student undergoing

training in high end job roles under the Scheme.

Union Government notifies Aadhaar

(Targeted Delivery of Financial and

Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services)

Act, 2016

The Union Government on 12 July 2016 notified

the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and

Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016.

The government also operationalised some of

provisions of the Act, giving a legal shape to

UIDAI. The bill seeks to provide for targeted

delivery of subsidies and services to individuals

residing in India by assigning them unique identity

numbers, called Aadhaar numbers. Besides, the

Union Government has also separately notified the

UIDAI (Terms and Conditions of Service of

Chairperson and Members) Rules, 2016. The Act

will pave the way for appointment of its

chairperson and members.

Features of the Aadhaar Bill, 2016

• Eligibility: Every resident shall be entitled to

obtain an Aadhaar number. A resident is a person

who has resided in India for 182 days, in the one

year preceding the date of application for

enrolment for Aadhaar.



• Information to be submitted: To obtain an

Aadhaar number, an individual has to submit his

(a) biometric (photograph, finger print, iris scan)

and (b) demographic (name, date of birth, address)

information. The Unique Identification Authority

(UID) may specify other biometric and

demographic information to be collected by

regulations.

• Enrolment: At the time of enrolment, the

individual will be informed of the manner in which

the information will be used, the nature of

recipients with whom the information will be

shared and the right to access this information.

After verification of information provided by a

person, an Aadhaar number will be issued to him.

• Usage of Aadhaar number: To verify the identity

of a person receiving a subsidy or a service, the

government may require them to have an Aadhaar

number. If a person does not have an Aadhaar

number, government will require them to apply for

it, and in the meanwhile, provide an alternative

means of identification.

Any public or private entity can accept the

Aadhaar number as a proof of identity of the

Aadhaar number holder, for any purpose.

However, Aadhaar number cannot be a proof of

citizenship or domicile.

Functions and composition of authority: The

following are the key functions of the UID

authority -

1) Specifying demographic and biometric

information to be collected during enrolment

2) Assigning Aadhaar numbers to individuals

3) Authenticating Aadhaar numbers

4) Specifying the usage of Aadhaar numbers for

delivery of subsidies and services.

• UID Authority composition: The UID authority

will consist of a chairperson, two part-time

members and a CEO. The chairperson and

members are required to have experience of at

least 10 years in matters such as technology,

governance, etc.

• Authentication: The UID authority will

authenticate the Aadhar number of an individual, if

an entity makes such a request. A requesting

entity (an agency or person that wants to

authenticate information of a person) has to obtain

the consent of an individual before collecting his

information. The agency can use the disclosed

information only for purposes for which the

individual has given consent.

• Response to authentication query: The UID

authority shall respond to an authentication query

with a positive, negative or other appropriate

response. However, it is not permitted to share an

individual’s finger print, iris scan and other

biological attributes.

• Maintenance of Authentication records: The UID

authority shall record the entity requesting

verification of a person’s identity, the time of

request and the response received by the entity.

The purpose for which an individual's identity

needs to be verified will not be maintained.

Union Cabinet approves Interest

Subvention Scheme for farmers


Interest Subvention Scheme for farmers for the

year 2016-17. The Government has assigned a sum

of 18276 crore rupees for the purpose. This

scheme will help farmers getting short-term crop

loan payable within one year up to 3 lakhs rupees

at only 4% per annum.

The Union Government will provide interest

subvention of 5% per annum to all farmers for

short term crop loan payable within one year.

Therefore, farmers will have to effectively pay

only 4% as interest. In case farmers do not repay

the short term crop loan in time, then they will be

eligible for interest subvention of 2% as against

5% available. The government will give

approximately 18276 crores rupees as interest

subvention for 2016-17.

The Union Government has approved an interest

subvention of 2% i.e an effective interest rate of

7% for loans up to 6 months to give relief to small

and marginal farmers who would have to borrow



at 9% for the post harvest storage of their produce.

The interest subvention of 2% will be provided to

banks for the first year on the restructured amount

to provide relief to the farmers affected by natural

calamities.

Union Cabinet approves National

Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme


National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme to

train 50 lakh apprentices by 2019-20. The Scheme

involving an outlay of 10000 crore rupees will

catalyze the entire apprenticeship ecosystem in the

country. The Scheme would be implemented by

Director General of Training (DGT) under

Ministry of Skill Development and

Entrepreneurship (MSDE).

It provides for incentivizing employers to engage

apprentices. 25% of the total stipend payable to an

apprentice would be shared with employers

directly by Union Government. It also supports

basic training, which is an essential component of

apprenticeship training. 50% of the total

expenditure incurred on providing basic training

would be supported by Union Government.

It is for the first time a scheme has been designed

to offer financial incentives to employers to

engage apprentices. Apprenticeship Training is

considered to be one of the most efficient ways to

develop skilled manpower for the country. It

provides for an industry led, practice oriented,

effective and efficient mode of formal training.

The National Policy of Skill Development and

Entrepreneurship, 2015 launched by the Prime

Minister focuses on apprenticeship as one of the

key components for creating skilled manpower in

India. The present scheme also aims to achieve the

objective as stated in the National Policy, 2015.

The policy proposes to work pro-actively with the

industry including MSME to facilitate tenfold

increase opportunities in the country by 2020-20.

Union Cabinet approves setting up of

Major port at Enayam in Tamil Nadu

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister

Narendra Modi on 5 July 2016 gave in-principle

approval for setting up a Major port at Enayam

near Colachel in Tamil Nadu. In this regard, a

Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) will be formed for

development of Port with initial equity investment

from three Major Ports in Tamil Nadu- VO

Chidambaranar Port Trust, Chennai Port Trust and

Kamarajar Port Limited. The Enayam project will

cost around 27000 crore rupees and will be

undertaken in three phases. The SPV will develop

the port infrastructure including dredging and

reclamation, construction of breakwater, ensuring

connectivity links, etc. Establishing this Major

port at Enayam will not only act as a major

gateway container port for Indian cargo but it will

also become a trans-shipment hub for the global

East-West trade route. It will also reduce the

logistics cost for exporters and importers in South

India who currently depend on trans-shipment in

Colombo or other ports thus incurring additional

port handling charges. Currently, all of India's

trans-shipment traffic gets handled in Colombo,

Singapore and other international ports. Indian

port industry loses out up to 1500 Crore rupees of

revenues each year.

National Mineral Exploration Policy

unveiled by Narendra singh Tomar

Union minister of steel and mines Narendra singh

Tomar unveiled the National Mineral Exploration

Policy (NMEP) on 4 July 2016. It was unveiled to

adopt comprehensive exploration of non fuel and

non coal mineral resources. The policy was



released at National conclave on mines and

minerals at Raipur in Chhattisgarh.

Highlights

• The policy aims to bring together best of

knowledge and experience, modern technology,

trained manpower and financial resources on a

collaborative platform.

• The objective of the policy is to set in motion a

massive process for mineral exploration of the

country that would give a major boost to the

economy.

• Space technology would be used to check illegal

mining by developing a mining surveillance

system.

• It prescribes for incentivising the participation of

private companies in exploration.

• It calls for engaging the private agencies to carry

out exploration with the right to a certain share in

the revenue from the successful bidder of mineral

block after e-auction, which will be discovered by

that private explorer. The revenue will be shared

by way of royalty/premium to be accruing to the

state government.

• The revenue sharing could be either in the form

of a lump sum or an annuity, to be paid throughout

the period of mining lease, with transferable rights.

• Government will also work out normative cost of

exploration works for different kinds of minerals

so that the exploration agencies could be

compensated, in case they could not discover any

mineable reserves in their respective areas.

• This will be an added incentive for exploration

agencies to mitigate their risk of exploration.

Process of selection of the private explorer via

process of competitive bidding includes

• Acquisition, processing and interpretation of pre-

competitive baseline geo-science data play a

pivotal role in successful exploration process. In

this regard, the NMEP proposes the following:

a) The pre-competitive baseline geo-scientific data

will be created as a public good and will be fully

available for open dissemination free of charge.

b) A National Aero-geophysical Mapping program

will be launched to map the entire country. It will

help to delineate the deep-seated and concealed

mineral deposits.

• National Geoscience Data Repository (NGDR)

will be set up. GSI will collate all baseline and

mineral exploration information generated by

various central and state government agencies and

also mineral concession holders and maintain these

on a geospatial database.

• Government will coordinate and collaborate with

scientific and research bodies, universities and

industry for the scientific and technological

research to address the mineral exploration

challenges in the country. For this, a not-for-profit

autonomous body/company to be known as the

National Centre for Mineral Targeting (NCMT)

will be established.

• State Governments have a key role in building up

a steady stream of auctionable prospects. They will

have to take up mineral exploration and complete

to G3 or G2 level for auctioning. The States need

to build up the exploration capabilities, technical

expertise and infrastructure facility. The Central

Government will provide support to States for

capacity building from National Mineral

Exploration Trust (NMET).

• On the lines of UNCOVER project of Australia,

a special initiative will be launched to probe deep-

seated/concealed mineral deposits in the country.

The pilot project will be in collaboration with

National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI)

and the proposed National Centre for Mineral

Targeting (NCMT)) and Geoscience Australia.

• SBI Capital Markets Ltd (SBICAP) has been

selected as consultant by the Ministry of Mines for

development of detailed modalities of contractual

framework for mineral exploration. The Ministry

will provide handholding support to the State

Governments in this process of engaging the

private agencies.

Railways Ministry launches NIVARAN

portal for employees' grievances

redressal

The Railways Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu

on 30 June 2016 launched NIVARAN portal, an

online system for redressal of service related

grievance of serving current and former railway

employees. The Portal is developed by CRIS, the

IT arm of Indian Railways, on the basis of process



designed by Establishment directorate of Railway

Board which deals with staff matters. This new

initiative is a portal for the internal Grievance

Redressal of Railway Employees & Former

Railway Employees. It facilitates the employees to

lodge their grievances and also monitor their

progress. The system would also provide facility

for lodging appeal to the higher authority in case

the decision is not found satisfactory. Highest

controlling authorities shall also be able to monitor

the progress of grievance redressal by field offices.

Union HRD Ministry launches teacher

education portal Prashikshak

The Union Minister for Human Resource

Development Smriti Zubin Irani on 30 June 2016

launched the Prashikshak, a teacher education

portal, with a vision to strengthen District

Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs) and

bring quality teachers into the Indian school

education system. For now, Prashiskshak Portal

works only for DIETs, however it will cover block

level institutes in the future and identify gaps at

the bottom of the pyramid.

Prashikshak is a unique IT initiative, a first of its

kind in the country, which will contain a

comprehensive database of all DIETs in the

country with all relevant performance indicators.

It will help benchmark DIETs to enable aspiring

teachers to make informed choices about their

future. It will give the opportunity to Union and

State Governments to do real time monitoring of

the institutions. The major users of Prashikshak

will be Pre-service teacher educators, DIET

principals and faculty, Policy makers at District,

State Government and National Level and the

General public. It was established through joint

collaboration between Union Ministry of Human

Resource Development and Central Square

Foundation.

Now, private citizens can seek sanction to

prosecute IAS officers

In a major move, the Centre has agreed to permit

private persons seek sanction for prosecution of

State and central IAS officers under the Prevention

of Corruption Act, 1988. Under the existing rules,

requests for sanction for prosecution of All India

Services Officers (IAS/IPS/IFS etc) can be

initiated by the investigative agencies only. A

decision to grant or deny the permission can be

made only by a “competent authority” designated

by the Centre.

The government will now entertain

proposals/requests from private persons for

sanction of public servants in compliance of a

Supreme Court verdict of 2012. In this regard, the

centre has intimated all states the procedures to be

followed.

The Supreme Court in its judgment in Dr.

Subramanian Swamy versus Dr. Manmohan Singh

case had observed that “there is no provision either

in the(Prevention of Corruption Act),1988 Act or

the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Cr.PC)

which bars a citizen from filing a complaint for

prosecution of a public servant who is alleged to

have committed an offence.”

The apex court had further observed that if the

Competent Authority is satisfied that the material

placed before it is sufficient for prosecution of the

public servant, then it is required to grant sanction

or refuse sanction if the evidence is not sufficient.

In either case, the decision taken on the complaint

made by a citizen is required to be communicated

to him and if he feels aggrieved by such decision,

then he can avail legal remedy.

SC rues barriers for disabled in govt.

service

Quashing the central government’s earlier orders

on restricting reservation for the differently-abled

in promotion to Group A and Group B posts, the

Supreme Court has ruled that 3% reservation shall

be provided to them in all posts and services under

the Government of India. The government had

confined such reservation to Group C and Group D

posts. In its memoranda issued in 1997 and 2005,

the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT)

had also created a distinction between posts to be

filled through direct recruitment and those through

promotion, while stating that no reservation shall

be provided in posts to be filled through promotion

in Group A and Group B categories.



The Court has declared the DoPT memoranda as

“illegal and inconsistent” with the Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of

Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995. The apex

court has said that the government must scrutinise

the barriers to their entry by rigorous standards

within the legal framework of the 1995 Act. The

court has also directed the government to extend

3% reservation to PWD (persons with disability)

in all identified posts in Group A and Group B,

irrespective of the mode of filling up such posts.

This is the first authoritative judgment that has

explicitly directed the government to do away with

the distinction and give benefits of reservation to

the differently-abled, without any classification.

SC ends impunity for armed forces in

disturbed areas

Supreme Court has ruled that armed personnel

cannot just shoot to kill militants who create

internal disturbances under the presumption that

they are enemies, and would face criminal

prosecution if found using excessive force even in

areas where the Armed Forces Special Powers Act

(Afspa) is in force. The verdict is likely to have far

reaching consequences in places where security

forces have been insulated by Afspa to carry out

counter-insurgency operations.

Indefinite deployment of armed forces in the name

of restoring normalcy under AFSPA “would mock

at our democratic process”, apart from

symbolising a failure of the civil administration

and the armed forces. It does not matter whether

the victim was a common person or a militant or a

terrorist, nor does it matter whether the aggressor

was a common person or the state. The law is the

same for both and is equally applicable to both.

There is no concept of absolute immunity from

trial by a criminal court if an Army man has

committed an offence. The judgment came on a

plea by hundreds of families in the north-eastern

State of Manipur for a probe by a Special

Investigation Team into 1,528 cases of alleged

fake encounters involving the Army and the

police.

The verdict tears down the cloak of secrecy about

unaccounted deaths involving security forces in

disturbed areas and serves as a judicial precedent

to uphold civilian and human rights in sensitive

areas under military control. Henceforth, a

thorough enquiry will be conducted into

“encounter” killings in disturbed areas. Also,

errant armed personnel would face criminal

charges notwithstanding the immunity conferred

under Afpsa for anything done in “lawful

exercise” of “official duties.”

What is Afspa? Afspa, which was enacted in 1958

amid the nascent Naga insurgency, gives powers to

the army and state and central police forces to

shoot to kill, search houses and destroy any

property that is “likely” to be used by insurgents in

areas declared as “disturbed” by the home

ministry.

Security forces can “arrest without warrant” a

person, who has committed or even “about to

commit a cognizable offence” even on “reasonable

suspicion”. It also protects them from legal

processes for actions taken under the act.

It is in force in Assam, Jammu and Kashmir,

Nagaland, Manipur (except the Imphal municipal

area). In Arunachal Pradesh, only the Tirap,

Changlang and Longding districts plus a 20-km

belt bordering Assam come under its purview. And

in Meghalaya Afspa is confined to a 20-km area

bordering Assam.

SC seeks review of law on advocates

The Supreme Court has asked the Law

Commission to review “all relevant aspects”

relating to the law governing the legal profession,

including issues like professional misconduct by

lawyers, in consultation with all stakeholders.

Therefore, Advocates Act, under which lawyers

are governed, will be reviewed.

The court has also asked the government to take

appropriate steps in the light of report of the Law

Commission within six months. The Central



Government may file an appropriate affidavit in

this regard within one month after expiry of one

year. The direction came in a verdict by which the

apex court upheld the conviction of a Uttar

Pradesh-based advocate for criminal contempt for

intimidating and threatening a civil judge in Etah.

Law Commission of India is an executive body

established by an order of the Government of

India. Its major function is to work for legal

reform. Its membership primarily comprises legal

experts, who are entrusted a mandate by the

Government. The Commission is established for a

fixed tenure and works as an advisory body to the

Ministry of Law and Justice.

Farmer can’t be evicted even after lease

expires: SC

The Supreme Court has held that a farmer, who is

in possession of leased land even after expiry of

the lease period, cannot be evicted if the owner

either acknowledges the tenancy or is accepting

the rent. These observations were made by the

court during the review of the verdict of the

Punjab and Haryana High Court. Referring to a

provision of the Transfer of Property Act, the court

has set aside the verdict of the Punjab and Haryana

High Court, which ordered the eviction of a farmer

after expiry of the lease period of the land.

What has the Supreme Court said?

The operation of Section 116 of the Transfer of

Property Act would confer legitimacy to the

possession of the tenant even after the termination

or expiration of the deemed period of the lease so

as to confer on him a status akin to that of a

statutory tenant and hence protection from eviction

as envisaged by the provisions of the Act (Punjab

Security of Land Tenure Act) of 1953. Also, there

was no legal provision to evict the farmer as the

eviction conditions laid down in the Punjab

Security of Land Tenure Act 1953 and the Punjab

Tenancy Act 1887 did not include a tenant whose

lease had expired.

Census 2011 records rise in literacy

among disabled

New numbers released from Census 2011 show

that literacy among disabled has increased in the

country. Highlights:

More than half of the total disabled population in

India are now literate. The literacy rate among the

disabled has increased from 49.3% in 2001 to

54.5% in 2011. However, this is significantly

lower than the overall literacy level of India which

stands at 74%. Both rural and urban areas saw an

increase of around four percentage points in

literacy rate of the disabled.

Among the urban disabled, 68% are literate while

the number stands at 49% for disabled in the rural

areas.

The difference between literacy rate of males and

females is wider in rural areas — 72% of disabled

males and 61% of disabled females in urban areas

are literate, a difference of nine percentage points.

But in rural areas, the difference stands at 20

percentage points, as 58% of disabled males and

only 38% of disabled females are literate.

Ministry seeks law panel’s opinion on

uniform civil code

The Union Law Ministry has asked the Law

Commission to examine in detail all issues

pertaining to the Uniform Civil Code and submit a

report to the government. The government has

clarified that a decision on the future course of

action would be taken on the basis of the Law

Commission report. If it is required in the larger

interest of the country, the government has

clarified that it will hold consultations with various

stakeholders on the issue.

Article 44 of the Constitution says that there

should be a Uniform Civil Code. According to this

article, “The State shall endeavour to secure for the

citizens a uniform civil code throughout the

territory of India”. Since, the Directive Principles

are only guidelines, it is not mandatory to use



them. Uniform civil Code is a proposal to have a

generic set of governing laws for every citizen

without taking into consideration the religion.

Currently, there are personal laws based on the

scriptures and customs of each major religious

community.

Union Government forms 'Disha' for

timely implementation of Central

Schemes

Union Government on 28 July 2016 announced the

formation of District Development Coordination

and Monitoring Committee (DDCMC) that will be

known as ‘Disha’. First meeting of Disha will be

held on 13 August 2016. Disha was created for

effective development and coordination of Central

Government's programme, whether it is for

infrastructure development or Social and human

resource development. It will monitor the

implementation of 28 schemes and programmes of

Ministry of Rural Development and other

Ministries to promote synergy and convergence for

greater impact.

The terms of references of the committee includes

• To ensure that all programmes are implemented

in accordance with the Guidelines.

• It will look into complaints/alleged irregularities

received in respect of the implementation of the

programmes. It will have the authority to summon

and inspect any record for this purpose.

• The Committee may refer any matter for enquiry

to the District Collector/CEO of the Zilla

Panchayat/Project Director of DRDA (or Poverty

Alleviation Unit). It can also suggest suitable

action to be taken in accordance with the rules

which should be acted upon by him within 30

days.

• It will closely review the flow of funds including

the funds allocated, funds released by both Centre

and the State, utilization and unspent balances

under each Scheme.

The main purpose of the committee is to

coordinate with Central and State and local

Panchayat Governments. Efforts will be made to

ensure the participation of people’s representative

at all levels and successful implementation of

flagship programme of central government.

The meetings of the committee should be held

once in every Quarter (third Saturdays of April,

July, October and February) and this has been

made mandatory.

DDCMC will supersede the District Vigilance &

Monitoring Committee currently mandated by

Ministry of Rural Development.

Formation of District Development Coordination

and Monitoring Committee (DDCMC)

• Chairperson: He/she will be the senior most

Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) elected from

the district, nominated by the Ministry of Rural

Development.

• Co-Chairperson will include

a) Members of Parliament (Lok Sabha)

representing the district

b) One MP (Rajya Sabha) representing the State

and exercising option to be associated with the

district level Committee of that district (on first

come basis)

• Other members of the committee will include

a) Members of the State Legislative Assembly

elected from the district

b) All Mayors/the Chairpersons of Municipalities

c) Chairperson of the Zilla Panchayat

d) Five elected heads of Gram Panchayat including

two women

e) One representative each of SC, ST

f) Women to be nominated by the Chairperson

The Member Secretary of Disha should be the

District Collector/District Magistrate/Deputy

Commissioner except in cases where specific

exemption has been given by the Union

Government.

ECONOMY

RBI sets up Sudarshan Sen-headed Inter-

regulatory Working Group on Fin Tech

and Digital Banking

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 14 July 2016

constituted an inter regulatory Working Group

(WG) to study the entire gamut of regulatory

issues relating to Fin Tech (financial technology)

and Digital Banking in India. It will view the

growing significance of Fin Tech innovations and



their interactions with the financial sector as well

as the financial sector entities. The 13-member

working group will be headed by Sudarshan Sen,

the executive director of RBI. It has been asked to

submit its report within six months from the date

of its first meeting.

Union Cabinet approves disinvestment of

15% in NBCC

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs

(CCEA) on 13 July 2016 approved the

disinvestment of 15% paid up equity of National

Buildings Construction Corporation Limited

(NBCC). At present, Union Government holds 90

percent shareholding of the corporation (i.e. 54

crore share). This disinvestment would help the

government to earn about 1706 crore rupees.

However, the actual realization amount will

depend upon the market conditions and the

investor interest prevailing at the time of actual

disinvestment.

Besides, in order to inculcate a sense of

belongingness amongst the employees of NBCC, it

has also been decided to allot additional shares to

the eligible and willing employees at a discount of

5% to the Issue/discovered (lowest cut-off) price

of the OFS.

NBCC, a Navratna company, was incorporated on

5 November 1960 as a wholly owned Government

of India (GoI) enterprise under the administrative

control of the Ministry of Urban Development. It

was established with the objective of becoming a

leading company in the field of construction,

engineering and project management consultancy

services.

CBDT notifies Rules for calculating Fair

market value of Assets

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on 30

June 2016 notified rules for calculating Fair

Market Value (FMV) of assets located in India

with regard to indirect transfer provisions as

prescribed in Section 9(1) of the Income-tax Act,

1961.

Under section 9 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, any

income arising from transfer of any share of or

interest in a foreign company or entity that derives

its value substantially from the assets located in

India, is deemed to accrue or arise in India.

Purpose behind drafting the Rules for calculating

Fair market value of Assets

• Manner of computation of FMV of Indian and

global assets of the foreign company or entity

• Determination of income attributable to assets

situated in India, and

• Information required to be maintained and

furnished by the Indian concern under section 285

of Income-tax Act, 1961

Highlights of the Rules

• The Fair Market Value of listed companies will

be computed on the basis of a formula taking into

account its market capitalisation, book value of

liabilities and total number of shares.

• In case of an unlisted company, the FMV would

be determined by a merchant banker or accountant

as per internationally accepted valuation

methodology.

• In case the shares are listed on more than one

recognised stock exchange, the price will be

computed with reference to recognised stock

exchange which records the highest volume of

trading in share.

• The share or interest is said to derive it value

substantially from assets located in India, if FMV

of assets located in India comprise at least 50

percent of FMV of total assets of the company or

entity.

• A share or interest is to be deemed to derive

value substantially from assets located in India, if

the FMV of the Indian asset is more than 10 crore

rupees.

These above rules will be applicable from the date

of publication in the Official Gazette of the CBDT.

Logistics performance index

India has improved its ranking in the World Bank

Group’s bi-annual “Logistics Performance Index

2016“, jumping from 54th in 2014 to 35th in 2016.

This was announced by the World Bank Group in

its recent launch of the report. In the latest ranking

India has gone past countries like New Zealand,

Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Iceland, Latvia and

Indonesia who were ahead of it in the index.



India has improved significantly in the following

sub-indices:

The efficiency of customs and border management

clearance, improving from 65 to 38.

The ability to track and trace consignments,

improving from 57 to 33.

The quality of trade and transport infrastructure,


The competence and quality of logistics services,


On the remaining two sub-indices – the ease of

arranging competitively priced shipments and the

frequency with which shipments reach consignees

within scheduled or expected delivery times – by 5

and 9 places respectively.

The World Bank Group’s bi-annual report

‘Connecting to Compete 2016: Trade Logistics in

the Global Economy’, launched recently, captures

critical information about the complexity of

international trade. The Logistics Performance

Index (LPI) within the report scores 160 countries

on key criteria of logistics performance.

The scores are based on two sources of

information: a worldwide survey of logistics

professionals operating on the ground (such as

global freight forwarders and express carriers),

who provide feedback on the countries in which

they operate and with whom they trade; and

quantitative data on the performance of key

components of the supply chain, such as the time,

cost and required procedures to import and export

goods. The World Bank studies the policy

regulation as well as supply chain performance

outcomes across six sub-indices of the Logistics

Performance Index and ranks countries based on

their performance in all the indices.

RBI’s steps on FCNR get FSDC nod

The Financial Stability and Development Council

(FSDC) recently said that the Reserve Bank of

India has taken the right steps to address the issue

of concessional swaps against Foreign Currency

Non-Resident (FCNR) deposits.

Banks had raised about $34 billion through FCNR

(B) deposits in 2013, most of which are due this

year. In 2013 the rupee was at an all-time low of

68.85 against the dollar and the central bank had

asked commercial banks to raise the foreign

currency deposits to shore up reserves. Banks,

then, had swapped those dollars with the RBI. The

central bank thereafter readied itself by buying

forwards dollar. Now, the RBI estimates that the

immediate effect of the maturity of these deposits

would be an outflow of about $20 billion.

FCNR (B) deposits mature mostly in three years.

RBI had said that the swaps and the forwards will

take care of the dollar requirement and should be

neutral for the reserves. However, banks should

witness deposit base depletion and some rupee

liquidity will be strained. RBI had also said that it

would take “all necessary measures to even out the

resultant rupee liquidity gaps through use of

appropriate instruments”. Assuring the market that

the swaps are adequately covered by RBI’s

forward purchases, the central bank, however, had

also cautioned that the foreign exchange reserve

could see some dip in the interim as the swaps and

forwards are not timed perfectly.

FCNR: An FCNR account is a term deposit

account that can be maintained by NRIs and PIOs

in foreign currency. Thus, FCNRs are not savings

accounts but fixed deposit accounts. The account

can be opened in the name of NRI individuals

(single/ joint) or with resident Indians on ‘former

or survivor’ basis. Prior to 2011, FCNR deposits

were allowed to be maintained in six currencies:

US dollar, Pound Sterling (GBP), Euro, Japanese

Yen, Australian dollar and Canadian dollar.

However, in October 2011, the RBI decided that

authorised dealer banks in India may be permitted

to accept FCNR deposits in any permitted

currency. ‘Permitted currency’ for this purpose

would mean a foreign currency which is freely

convertible and popularly include Danish Krone,

Swiss Frank and Swedish Krona among others. It

should also be noted here that interest income from

FCNR (B) accounts is exempt from Income Tax.

And deposit held under FCNR (B) a/cs is not

taxable under Wealth Tax.

Network Readiness Index

India has slipped two places to the 91st position on

a global list of countries in terms of their readiness

for transition to a digitised economy and society.



The annual Networked Readiness Index was

released by the Geneva-based World Economic

Forum (WEF). The index, forming part of the

WEF’s Global Information Technology Report,

measures countries’ success in creating the

conditions necessary for a transition to a digitised

economy and society.

Among the major emerging markets, India is

ranked the lowest with Russia retaining the top

place at 41st rank, followed by China at 59th (up

three places), South Africa up 10 places at the 65th

spot and Brazil moving up to the 72nd position.

India’s position on the list has come down for the

fourth year in a row, from 89th in 2015, 83rd in

2014 and 68th in 2013. While India has scored

better in terms of political and regulatory

environment (78th position), it fares worse in

terms of business and innovation environment

(110th). In terms of infrastructure it is even worse

at 114th place, while it is ranked very high at 8th

place in terms of affordability. India also fares

poorly on sub-indices for skills and individual

usage. According to the report, lack of

infrastructure (114th) and low levels of skills

among the population (101st) remain the key

bottlenecks to widespread ICT adoption, especially

in terms of individual usage (120th). The report

further noted that a third of the Indian population

is still illiterate and a similar share of youth is not

enrolled in secondary education. India’s

performance in terms of providing online services

and allowing e-participation has so far been in line

with that of peer countries, but far from the global

best (57th and 40th, respectively).

BSE unveils online system for Sovereign

gold bond

BSE has unveiled an online bidding platform for

sovereign gold bonds and begun conducting mock

bidding sessions on the system. BSE has received

Reserve Bank’s approval to start an online bidding

platform for sovereign gold bond (SGB) scheme.

So far, three tranches of the bonds have been

issued amounting to about Rs.1,322 crore.

About Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme: Under the

scheme, gold bonds are issued in denominations of

5 grams, 10 grams, 50 grams and 100 grams for a

term of 5-7 years with a rate of interest to be

calculated on the value of the metal at the time of

investment. The scheme has an annual cap of 500

grams per person. The bonds will be sold through

banks, Stock Holding Corporation of India

Limited and designated post offices. As per the

scheme, the gold bonds will be sold only to

resident Indian entities including individuals,

Hindu undivided families, trusts, universities, and

charitable institutions. The bond tenure will be

eight years with exit option beginning the fifth

year onwards. They will also be tradable in the

bourses. Bonds can also be used as collateral for

loans.

Sebi notifies stricter transfer norms for

Participatory Notes

To allay concerns over misuse of controversy-

ridden P-Notes, regulator Sebi has notified new

norms restricting transfer of these offshore

instruments only to entities authorised for their use

and that too after prior consent from the issuer

foreign investor. As per the new notification, a

foreign portfolio investor will have to ensure that

any transfer of offshore derivative instruments

issued by or on behalf of it, is made subject to two

specific conditions — such ODIs are transferred to

persons fulfilling Sebi norms for subscription and

a prior consent of the FPI is obtained for such

transfer, except when the persons to whom the

ODIs are to be transferred to are pre-approved by

the FPI.

As per the Sebi regulations, no FPI can issue,

subscribe to or otherwise deal in ODIs, directly or

indirectly, unless they satisfy certain strict

conditions. As per these conditions, the ODIs can

be issued only to persons who are regulated by an

appropriate foreign regulatory authority and they

can be issued only after compliance to the

prescribed ‘know your client’ norms. Also, only



the top-two categories of FPIs, including sovereign

funds, central banks and multi-lateral institutions,

and certain broad-based funds including insurers

and pension notes, can issue or deal in ODIs. The

Category III FPIs, which mostly include hedge

funds and individual investors, cannot issue,

subscribe to or otherwise deal in ODIs, directly or

indirectly. All these conditions would now also

apply for transfer of the ODIs.

Participatory Notes or Offshore Derivative Units

are issued by Sebi-registered foreign portfolio

investors to other overseas entities looking for an

exposure to the Indian markets without getting

registered directly to save on costs and procedures.

Many don’t have power in ‘power-

surplus India’

The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has

released the Load Generation and Balance Report

(LGBR) 2016-17.

Highlights of the report:

In India, 300 million people don’t have access to

electricity, power cuts are rampant and per capita

power consumption is significantly lower than the

world average.

The deficit has reduced from 11% in 2008-09 to

2.9% in 2015-16 and for the first time, there will

be a surplus in 2016-17. India is likely to

experience the energy surplus of 1.1% in 2016-17.

However, state discoms are unable to buy

electricity due to poor financial health.

Transmission and distribution constraints are also

responsible for power cuts. To solve this problem,

the government launched the Ujjawal Discom

Assurance Yojana (UDAY) in November 2015.

By operational and financial turnaround of

discoms, UDAY is expected to facilitate reliable,

adequate and sufficient power supply to

consumers, among other things.

On an average, in 2015-16, the per capita

consumption in India was 1,070 kWh, less than the

world average of 3,026 kWh. It is also the lowest

among BRICS nations.

The low per capita consumption is mainly due to a

large population, a low per capita income and a

huge population not having access to electricity.

Note that six States — Madhya Pradesh, Kerala,

Odisha, Sikkim, Mizoram, Tripura — will be

power-surplus in 2016-17 but the per capita

availability in the States is lower than the national

average. Overall, 17 States will have power-

surplus in 2016-17.

Power demand for India grew by 6.6% in 2014-15

and 4.2% in 2015-16. In the last two years, Bihar

— which has the lowest per capita power

availability, witnessed the highest percentage

growth, with demand increasing by around 25% in

both years. This is indicative of more people

getting connected to the grid.

India slips on business optimism index:

survey

Business Optimism Index, part of Grant Thornton

International Business Report (IBR) for April-June

2016, was recently released. The survey took note

of 2,500 businesses across 36 economies.

Highlights:

India slipped to the third position, during April-

June, after remaining on top globally for the two

preceding quarters.

Companies in India were mainly concerned about

the delays in key reforms like the goods and

services tax, non-resolution of tax disputes and the

banking sector’s performance.

India continues to top the chart on expectations of

revenue increases.

Growth in employment expectations dropped to

the second position during this period from top

rank in the previous quarter.

The rank on optimism further slipped to fourth in

terms of profitability expectations.

While the business confidence in India has

weakened, there is a rise in optimism on the export

front. However, red tape continued to hamper

growth and ranked India as number two on the

issue.

Research and development continue to be an area

of concern.

On the global front, there is a rise in the proportion

of businesses worldwide expecting increased

revenue over the coming 12 months. However,

growth in global export expectations continues to



be slow, indicating that revenue is dependent on

domestic consumer spending power.

Consumer spending is now under threat from

increased political instability, recovering oil prices

and reduced plans to offer pay increases.

Centre releases 100 cr for Atal Pension

Yojana

The Centre has released nearly 100 crore as its

share of contribution for members of the Atal

Pension Yojana. The fund has been released

through the Pension Fund Regulatory and

Development Authority. The scheme has over 30

lakh subscribers and the Finance Ministry

estimates that about 5,000 new subscribers are

added every day.

Atal Pension Yojna (APY): Under the APY,

subscribers would receive a fixed minimum

pension of Rs. 1000 per month, Rs. 2000 per

month, Rs. 3000 per month, Rs. 4000 per month,

Rs. 5000 per month, at the age of 60 years,

depending on their contributions, which itself

would vary on the age of joining the APY.

The Central Government would also co-contribute

50% of the total contribution or Rs. 1000 per

annum, whichever is lower, to each eligible

subscriber account, for a period of 5 years, that is,

from 2015-16 to 2019-20, to those who join the

NPS before 31st December, 2015 and who are not

members of any statutory social security scheme

and who are not Income Tax payers.

The minimum age of joining APY is 18 years and

maximum age is 40 years. The benefit of fixed

minimum pension would be guaranteed by the

Government.

Rural areas pose hurdle for small finance

banks

With merely 8 months remaining to start

operations, small finance banks are facing

headwinds to open 25% of their total branches in

unbanked areas as it will impact their profitability.

Hence, in a recent meeting with the banking

regulator, the small finance bank representatives

have requested the regulator to give them three

years to comply with the norms. According to

them, the cost of opening or converting the present

microfinance institutions branches into full-

fledged bank branches is higher. Therefore, one

year will be very challenging from the profitability

point of view for these institutions.

The other issue that is posing a hurdle is that

compliance with the Basel norms. According to

the guidelines for small finance banks, RBI had

said as small finance banks are not expected to

deal with sophisticated products, the capital

adequacy ratio will be computed under Basel

Committee’s standardised approaches.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has mandated

that the small finance banks have to open at least

25% of their branches in unbanked rural areas

within one year of their operations. Unbanked

rural areas are the centres having a population less

than 9,999 as per latest census.

In September 2015, RBI granted in-principle

licences to 10 entities to start small finance banks.

These entities will have to start operations within

18 months, else the licences will lapse. Out of the

10, nine entities were predominantly involved in

microlending. Only one entity, out of 10 that

received licences, has commenced operations –

Jalandhar headquartered Capital Small Finance

Bank, which was a local area bank earlier.

What are small finance banks: The small finance

bank will primarily undertake basic banking

activities of acceptance of deposits and lending to

unserved and underserved sections including small

business units, small and marginal farmers, micro

and small industries and unorganised sector

entities.

What they can do: Take small deposits and

disburse loans. Distribute mutual funds, insurance

products and other simple third-party financial

products. Lend 75% of their total adjusted net

bank credit to priority sector. Maximum loan size

would be 10% of capital funds to single borrower,



15% to a group. Minimum 50% of loans should be

up to 25 lakhs.

What they cannot do: Lend to big corporates and

groups. Cannot open branches with prior RBI

approval for first five years. Other financial

activities of the promoter must not mingle with the

bank. It cannot set up subsidiaries to undertake

non-banking financial services activities. Cannot

be a business correspondent of any bank.

The guidelines they need to follow: Promoter must

contribute minimum 40% equity capital and

should be brought down to 30% in 10 years.

Minimum paid-up capital would be Rs 100 cr.

Capital adequacy ratio should be 15% of risk

weighted assets, Tier-I should be 7.5%. Foreign

shareholding capped at 74% of paid capital, FPIs

cannot hold more than 24%. Priority sector lending

requirement of 75% of total adjusted net bank

credit. 50% of loans must be up to Rs 25 lakh.

Centre injects Rs.22,915 cr into 13 public

sector banks

In a bid to boost credit growth in the economy, the

Centre has announced a sum of Rs.22,915 crore

for recapitalisation of 13 public sector banks. State

Bank of India (SBI) will receive the largest

allocation of Rs.7,575 crore. Indian Overseas Bank

and Punjab National Bank are to get Rs.3,191

crore and Rs.2,816 crore respectively. The

infusions required in the current year were

assessed from the CAGR of credit growth for the

last five years and the banks’ projections of credit

growth. The potential for growth of each these

banks was also factored in.

In the Union Budget, the Centre had allocated a

total of Rs.25,000 crore for the capitalisation of

public sector banks in the current financial year

2016-17, in line with the infusion plans announced

under the umbrella scheme “Indradhanush”

introduced last year. The plan proposes infusions

adding up to Rs.25,000 crore in 2015-16 as well as

in 2016-17, followed by Rs.10,000 crore each in

2017-18 and 2018-19.

Mission Indradhanush aimed to revamp the

functioning of public sector banks so that PSBs

can compete with the Private Sector Banks. The

mission is a brainchild of PJ Nayak committee. It

is launched by Ministry of Finance under the

Department of Financial Services. The mission is

regarded as one of the big steps after the

nationalisation of banks in 1970s. The mission

includes the seven key reforms of appointments,

board of bureau, capitalisation, de-stressing,

empowerment, framework of accountability and

governance reforms.

Panama to sign tax treaty

Panama has agreed to sign a multilateral tax treaty,

which the Indian agencies believe will help them

expedite investigations into the “Panama papers”

recently made public by the International

Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Signing

and ratifying the Convention will be a very

significant step forward in implementing its

commitment to tax transparency and effective

exchange of information.

Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative

Assistance in Tax Matters was developed jointly

by the OECD and the Council of Europe in 1988.

It was amended in 2010, in response to the call by

the G20 to align it to the international standard on

exchange of information and to open it to all

countries, “thus ensuring that developing countries

could benefit from the new transparent

environment.” The Convention represents a wide

range of countries, including all G20, BRIICS and

OECD countries, financial centres and several

developing countries. India is among the 98

countries and jurisdictions that have already joined

the Convention.

INTERNATIONAL

Narendra Modi and Sheikh Hasina

inaugurate Petrapole Integrated Check

Post

Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and the

Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina on

21 July 2016 jointly inaugurated the Petrapole

Integrated Check Post (ICP). PM Modi and PM

Hasina inaugurated the check post through video-

conferencing. The Petrapole checkpost will help in

promoting bilateral trade and will also boost



economic growth of both countries. Petrapole-

Benapole is an important land border crossing for

India-Bangladesh trade as more than 50% of the

India-Bangladesh trade passes through Petrapole.

It is the largest land customs station in Asia.

Sustainable Development Goal Index

released; India ranked 110th

Sustainable Development Solutions Network

(SDSN) of the United Nations and the

Bertelsmann Stiftung on 20 July 2016 launched a

new Sustainable Development Goal Index (SDG

Index) to provide a report card for tracking SDG

progress and ensuring accountability. SDG Index

is the world’s first comparative study of the

Sustainable Development Goals for 149 countries.

The SDG Index assess where each country stands

in 2016 with regard to achieving the SDGs. The

SDG Index ranks countries based on their

performance across 17 goals. The index has been

topped by Sweden and India is ranked 110th in the

index and is followed by Lesotho on 113th

position, Pakistan (115), Myanmar (117),

Bangladesh (118) and Afghanistan (139).

Turkey declares three-month state of

emergency after a failed military coup

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on 20

July 2016 declared a three-month state of

emergency in the country. The emergency was

declared in response to the failed coup that

happened on 15 July 2016. The decision was made

following a meeting with cabinet ministers and top

security advisers in Ankara. While declaring the

imposition of the emergency Erdogan said that the

measure was being taken to counter threats to

Turkish democracy.

A coup was attempted by a faction within the

Turkish Armed Forces against the incumbent

Justice and Development Party in Turkey, which

ultimately failed. The faction organized the coup

under a council calling itself the Peace at Home

Council. The council attempted to seize control of

several key places in Ankara, Istanbul, and

elsewhere.

Malcolm Turnbull sworn in as

Australia’s PM for another term

Malcolm Turnbull on 19 July 2016 was sworn in

as the Prime Minister of Australia for another

term. Turnbull was sworn in after a narrow

election victory with budget repair and a public

vote on same sex marriage among his top

priorities.

Quarter of a million children severely

malnourished in Borno state, Nigeria:

UNICEF

UNICEF in its release of 19 July 2016 said that

almost a quarter of a million children in parts of

Borno state, North-East Nigeria, are suffering from

severe malnutrition and risk death. The

humanitarian crisis is caused due to Boko Haram

that is controlling the state since 2013. In its

report, UNICEF warned that tens of thousands will

die if treatment does not reach them soon. In areas

where Boko Haram militants had been in control,

it found people without water, food or sanitation.

Out of the 244000 children suffering from severe

acute malnutrition in Borno in 2016, an estimated

49000 children – almost one in five – will die if

they are not reached with treatment. Some 134

children on average will die every day from causes

linked to acute malnutrition if the response is not

scaled up quickly.

UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of

every child, in everything we do. Together with

their partners, they work in 190 countries and

territories to translate that commitment into

practical action, focusing special effort on reaching

the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the

benefit of all children, everywhere.



11th Asia–Europe Meeting Summit issues

Ulaanbaatar Declaration

The eleventh edition of the Asia-Europe Meeting

(ASEM) Summit on 16 July 2016 issued

Ulaanbaatar Declaration. The Ulaanbaatar

Declaration focuses on fight against terrorism and

greater connectivity among the Asia and Europe. It

has reaffirmed ASEM’s commitment for greater

partnership through informal political dialogue and

initiatives in economic and socio-cultural fields.

Key highlights of the Ulaanbaatar Declaration

• It commits to foster greater understanding

between Asia and Europe.

• It commits to broaden political dialogue, enhance

economic cooperation and increase socio-cultural

exchanges.

• It commits to deepen Asia-Europe inter-

connectedness, shape and forge links and mutually

beneficial, multi-layered cooperation for peace and

development.

• It commits to create opportunities for broader

people-to-people connections, including through

the Asia-Europe Foundation.

• It commits to promote effective multilateralism

and strengthen other multilateral processes.

About Asia-Europe Meeting Summit 2016

The 11th Asia-Europe Meeting Summit

commenced on 15 July 2016 in Ulaanbaatar,

Mongolia. The Summit brought together high-

level delegation from 51 ASEM partners and two

intergovernmental organizations. The theme for

the summit was 20 Years of ASEM: Partnership

for the Future through Connectivity. The 11th

ASEM Summit also marked the 20th Anniversary

since the Asia-Europe Meeting dialogue process

was inaugurated on 1-2 March 1996 in Bangkok,

Thailand.

India, ADB sign 100 Million US dollar

loan agreement for Cauvery Delta

project in Tamil Nadu

The Union Government and the Asian

Development Bank (ADB) on 14 July 2016 signed

a 100 million US dollars loan agreement to

strengthen key irrigation and drainage system and

improve water management in the Vennar sub-

basin of the Cauvery delta in Tamil Nadu. The

financing will be used to strengthen embankments

of six major irrigation water channels in the

Vennar system and rehabilitate 13 irrigation

pumping schemes.

The project aims to improve existing

infrastructure and will provide flood protection

and renewed access to irrigation. Flood forecasting

and warning systems will be installed and a flood

risks map drawn up to help communities respond

more effectively to extreme events. The loan from

ADB’s ordinary capital resources has a 25-year

term. The project is expected to be completed by

December 2020.

WHO declares India as Maternal and

Neonatal Tetanus free

The World Health Organization (WHO) on 14 July

2016 declared India as Maternal and Neonatal

Tetanus free. Previously in May 2016, WHO

certified India yaws-free after a team of experts

verified interruption of disease transmission in the

country. India is the first country under the 2012

WHO neglected tropical diseases (NTD) roadmap

to eliminate yaws. Yaws is a chronic bacterial

infection that affects the skin, bones and cartilages.

The Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus Elimination

(MNTE) has been the result of India's focused

approach on making maternal and newborn care

accessible to all. Reducing maternal and neonatal

tetanus to less than one case per 1 000 live births

in all 675 districts has helped improve access to

immunization, antenatal care services and skilled

birth attendance in the most vulnerable

populations. Both yaws and maternal and neonatal

tetanus eliminations were achieved using the

existing health system and health workforce.



Theresa May appointed Prime Minister

of United Kingdom

Queen Elizabeth-II appointed Theresa May as the

76th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK)

on 13 June 2016. She was appointed as prime

minister following her election as the leader of

Britain's ruling Conservative Party. With this

appointment, she became the second women to

assume the office of Prime Minister of the UK.

The first women prime minister was Margaret

Thatcher who was in the office of PM from 1979

to 1990. She succeeded David Cameron who

resigned from the post on the same day following

Brexit vote. Cameron tendered his resignation to

the Queen. Britons on 22 June 2016 voted to exit

the European Union.

India and Bangladesh sign deal for

construction of coal fired power plant

India and Bangladesh on 12 July 2016 signed a

landmark deal for the construction of Rampal

Power Station, a 1320 megawatt coal fired power

plant. The Rampal Power Station is the biggest

project under bilateral cooperation. The

Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company

Limited (BIFPCL), the joint venture enterprise,

signed the deal with Bharat Heavy Electricals

Limited (BHEL). The Rampal Power Station is a

proposed 1320 megawatt coal-fired power station

at Rampal Upazila of Bagerhat District in Khulna,

Bangladesh. It is a joint partnership between

India's state owned National Thermal Power

Corporation and Bangladesh Power Development

Board. The project is also known as Maitree Super

Thermal Power Project. The project will be

Bangladesh’s largest power plant.

India, Kenya signed seven agreements to

deepen cooperation

India and Kenya on 11 July 2016 inked seven

agreements to enhance cooperation and bilateral

relations between the two countries. The

agreements were inked during Prime Minister

Narendra Modi’s visit to Kenya from 10 July to 11

July 2016. He visited the country on an invitation

of President Uhuru Kenyatta. This was the first at

the level of Prime Minister in 35 years. Modi was

on a four nation visit to Africa namely Kenya,

Tanzania, South Africa and Mozambique from 7

July to 11 July 2016.

Agreements signed includes

• Revised Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement

(DTAA).

• Bilateral agreement on exemption of Visa for

holders of Diplomatic passports.

• MoU on Defence Cooperation.

• MoU on Cooperation in the field of

standardisation, expertise sharing and mutual trade

between Bureau of Indian Standards and Bureau of

Kenya Standards.

• MoU on Cooperation in the field of National

Housing Policy Development and Management.

• Line of Credit Agreement for US $15 million

(first tranche of US $30 million) to IDB Capital

Limited, Kenya, for development of various small

and medium enterprises [SMEs] in Kenya.

• Line of Credit Agreement for US $29.95 million

to the Government of Kenya for upgrade of Rift

Valley Textiles Factory [RIVATEX East Africa

Limited], Kenya.

Besides, the two nations also agreed on the

importance of bolstering cooperation in the Health



and Pharmaceutical sector. During the discussion

session held between Modi and Kenyatta, Modi

also announced the gifting of

• A telecobalt cancer therapy machine – the

Bhabhatron II

• A donation of essential/ARV medicines and

medical equipment and capacity building/training

programmes in the health sector.

He also assured that positive consideration will be

given to extend a LoC for the establishment of 100

beds Cancer Hospital in Kenya. On Development

Assistance, India proposed to extend Lines of

Credit (LoC) for Geothermal Projects and for

agricultural mechanisation.

Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in

favor of the Philippines on South China

Sea

The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration

(PCA) on 12 July 2016 ruled in favor of the

Philippines in a maritime dispute on South China

Sea. The tribunal concluded that China do not

have legal basis to claim historic rights to the bulk

of the Sea.

The tribunal gave a ruling that China does not has

the right to resources within its nine-dash line

which extends hundreds of miles to the south and

east of its island province of Hainan and covers

some 90 percent of the disputed waters. The

tribunal also found that none of the sea features

claimed by China were capable of generating

what's called an exclusive economic zone which

gives country maritime rights to resources such as

fish and oil and gas within 200 nautical miles of

that land mass. It found that they were rocks or

low-tide elevations such as reefs, rather than

islands. The tribunal found that some of China’s

activities in the region were in breach of the

Philippines' sovereign rights. Tribunal in its ruling

also stated that China had violated those rights by

interfering in fishing and oil exploration,

constructing artificial islands and failing to stop

Chinese fisherman from fishing the zone. It found

that China had caused severe harm to coral around

the site of its artificial islands. It had also violated

its obligation to preserve and protect fragile

ecosystems. Chinese fisherman had also killed

endangered sea turtles and giant clams on a

substantial scale that too with the knowledge of

China. The tribunal said it "lacked the jurisdiction

to consider the implications of a stand-off"

between the Chinese and Philippines military,

specifically at Second Thomas Shoal, and said any

resolution of the dispute was "excluded from

compulsory settlement." The tribunal did not order

China to take any particular steps to remedy the

situation, dismantle construction on the islands or

provide reparations to the Philippines.

Effects of the Ruling: The ruling doesn't just affect

China and the Philippines, but other countries that

have competing claims with the nation over large

areas of the sea. Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia

have also taken exception to China's growing

presence in the region and could now be

emboldened to take further action. While the

ruling in The Hague is regarded as legally binding,

there is no mechanism to enforce it.

Sushila Karki confirmed as Nepal's first

woman Chief Justice

Nepal’s Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee

(PHSC) on 10 July 2016 unanimously endorsed

Sushila Karki as the Chief Justice of the Supreme

Court. With this, Karki has become the first

woman to lead Nepal’s judiciary. She will be

appointed to the post by President Bidhya Devi

Bhandari.

Shinzo Abe's party attains majority in

Upper House of National Diet

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling

Liberal Democratic Party and its allies on 11 July

2016 claimed victory in an election for the upper

house of parliament National Diet. He said the

result is a vote of confidence in his economic

policies known as Abenomics. Voting took place

on 10 July 2016 for 121 seats of upper house.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition

already enjoys a two-thirds majority in the lower

house and they needed a super majority in the

House of Councilors to start a parliamentary

motion for changing the constitution. This win in

the upper house will allow Abe to revise Japan’s

pacifist constitution that bars its military from



participating in joint military endeavors abroad.

Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan outlaws war

as a means to settle international disputes

involving the state.

India, Tanzania signed five agreements

India and Tanzania on 10 July 2016 inked five

agreements to enhance the bilateral cooperation

between the two nations. These agreements were

signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi to

Tanzania from 9 July to 10 July 2016.

List of MOUs/Agreements

• MoU on Cooperation in the field of water

resource management and development between

the two countries.

• MoU on Visa waiver agreement for

Diplomatic/Official passport holders between the

two countries.

• Agreement on Joint Action Plan (JAP) between

National Small Industries Corporation of India

(NSIC) and Small Industries Development

Organization Tanzania (SIDO).

• MoU for Establishment of Vocational Training

Centre at Zanzibar.

• LOC of 92 million US dollar for rehabilitation

and improvement of water supply system in

Zanzibar.

During the visit to Tanzania, Modi met Tanzania’s

President John Pombe Joseph Magufuli. During

the meet, the two leaders agreed to work closely,

bilaterally, regionally and globally to combat the

twin threats of terrorism and climate change.

India, South Africa signed four

agreements

India and South Africa on 8 July 2016 signed four

agreements to give new impetus to bilateral co-

operation between the two nations. The

agreements were inked during the official tour of

Prime Minister Narendra Modi to South Africa. He

visited South Africa from 7 July to 9 July 2016 on

an invitation of President of South Africa Jacob

Zuma.

Agreements signed during the visit of Prime

Minister to South Africa

• MoU on ICT

• Programme of Cooperation in Arts and Culture

• MoU on Tourism

• MoU on Grass Root Innovation (S&T)

During this visit to South Africa, Modi met

President Zuma and held discussions in the spirit

of the strong friendship and historical links

between the two countries. He also met with

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.

2nd Anti-Drug Working Group meeting

of Heads of Drug Control Agencies of

BRICS concluded

The day-long meeting was organised by the

Narcotics Control Bureau of the Ministry of Home

Affairs. Besides the Indian delegation, it was

attended by officials and policy makers from the

other BRICS nations – Brazil, Russia, China and

South Africa. During the meeting, the participants

discussed the following issues –

• Drug trafficking situation including the illicit

cultivation and production of Opium and Heroin in

South West Asia and South East Asia

• Illicit cultivation of Coca bush in South America

• Illicit cultivation of Cannabis plant used for

production of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic

Substances, Diversion and trafficking of precursor

chemicals

• Illicit financial flows from drug proceeds and

financing of terrorism in certain cases

• Maritime drug trafficking

• Challenges and emergence of new psycho-active

substances that have posed serious threat to health,

safety and well being of society across globe,

especially of the youth

At the end of deliberations, the delegates resolved

to develop and enhance cooperation and

collaboration among the Member States to monitor

current trends and drug trafficking routes.

They also agreed to exchange of information

among the drug law enforcement agencies, share

and exchange experiences, and best practices and



enhance capacity building in order to prevent and

counter illicit drug trafficking and related crimes.

Background

• The meeting was the second such meeting of the

Heads of Drug Control Agencies. The first such

meeting was held in Moscow, Russia in 2015 in

keeping with the spirit of the eThekwani

Declaration. The eThekwini Declaration and

Action Plan that was adopted by the 5th BRICS

Summit in Durban, South Africa calls for

enhanced engagement among member nations.

The present meeting also assumes significance as

India shall be hosting the 8th BRICS summit in

October 2016 in Goa.

India, Mozambique sign MoUs on drug

trafficking, pulse trading and sports

India and Mozambique on 7 July 2016 signed

three Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) in

areas of drug trafficking, pulse trading and sports.

These MoUs were signed between two countries at

Maputo, Mozambique during the visit of Prime

Minister Narendra Modi to Mozambique.

MoU on long term agreement for purchase of

pulses

• It will promote the production of Tur (Pigeon

Peas) and other pulses in Mozambique to

encourage trading of pulses.

• It will also play an important role in augmenting

domestic availability of pulses in India.

• The contract will be valid for five financial years

2020-21 and pulses under it will be imported by

India either through G2G or private channels

nominated by two countries.

Other MoUs signed

• MoU on cooperation in the field of youth affairs

and sports.

• MoU on reduction of drug trafficking and

psychotropic substances and related materials.

Russian leader Putin signs ‘Big Brother’

law

Russian President Vladimir Putin in July 2016

signed the “anti-terrorist” legislation adopted by

the lower and upper houses of parliament in June

2016. This anti-terror amendment is dubbed as Big

Brother by US intelligence contractor turned

privacy activist Edward Snowden. Critics say that

the measures may cost billions to the internet and

telecom companies.

Highlights of the legislation

• Law enforcement agencies will be granted access

to any user’s messages without any judicial

oversight.

• It boosts the surveillance powers for the security

services by requiring communication providers to

store users’ calls, messages, photographs and

videos for six months, and the Metadata for up to

three years.

• They will have to provide Federal Security

Service (FSB) with access to this data and any

necessary encryption mechanisms necessary to use

it.

• The law also criminalises several offences and

lowers the age of criminal responsibility to 14

from certain crimes.

• It extends prison sentences for online crimes like

abetting terrorism.

India to seek help for services pact at UN

During the forthcoming Nairobi meet of the UN

Conference on Trade and Development

(UNCTAD), India is planning to press for

endorsement by more nations for its proposal on a

global pact to expedite the services trade flow.

About the pact: It will officially be known as the

‘Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) for Services’

at the World Trade Organisation (WTO)-level. The

proposed pact, among other things, is aimed at

making it easier for services professionals and

skilled workers to move across borders for ‘short-

term’ projects.

Its objectives include streamlining procedures for

global services trade, besides ensuring recognition

at the WTO-level for services as a tradable item by

establishing a framework — for clarity on

definitions and for settlement of disputes. The idea

of a ‘TFA for Services’ – similar to the WTO’s

‘TFA for Goods’ — was mooted by India soon

after the WTO’s tenth Ministerial Conference in

Nairobi in December 2015. India had on April 22

ratified the ‘TFA for Goods’, which is aimed at

easing customs norms and boosting global

merchandise trade. India had reiterated the



proposal for a TFA in Services during the informal

meeting of trade ministers from 25 WTO member

countries on the sidelines of the Organisation for

Economic Co-operation and Development

(OECD) ministerial council meeting in Paris.

Trade facilitation: The Trade Facilitation

Agreement forms part of the Bali Package agreed

by members at the Ninth Ministerial Conference in

Bali. The agreement contains provisions for faster

and more efficient customs procedures through

effective cooperation between customs and other

appropriate authorities on trade facilitation and

customs compliance issues. It also contains

provisions for technical assistance and capacity

building in this area. It is being believed,

especially by the proponents of the agreement that

deal could add $1 trillion to global GDP and also

can generate 21 million jobs by slashing red tape

and streamlining customs.

UNCTAD has 194 member States and is the UN

subsidiary looking at measures to boost trade and

investment in developing countries. Upcoming

Nairobi (Kenya) meet will be the UN Conference

on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) 14th

quadrennial ‘Ministerial Conference’. The

‘Ministerial Conference’ is the Geneva-

headquartered UNCTAD’s highest decision-

making body, and is held every four years ever

since UNCTAD was set up in 1964.

Sri Lanka urged to ratify cluster

convention

Peace activist in Sri Lanka have pitched strongly

for an early ratification of the Convention on

Cluster Munitions (CCM). Experts say, this move

will not only provide solace to those who were

traumatised by the decades-long war in Sri Lanka

but also reassure people of the country that such a

heinous practice will not be resorted to in future.

Convention on Cluster Munitions:

The Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) is an

international treaty that addresses the humanitarian

consequences and unacceptable harm to civilians

caused by cluster munitions, through a categorical

prohibition and a framework for action. The

Convention prohibits all use, production, transfer

and stockpiling of cluster munitions. In addition, it

establishes a framework for cooperation and

assistance to ensure adequate care and

rehabilitation to survivors and their communities,

clearance of contaminated areas, risk reduction

education and destruction of stockpiles. Adopted

in May 2008 in Dublin, Ireland, the Convention on

Cluster Munitions entered into force on 01 August

2010. As of 16 June 2016, a total of 119 states

have joined the Convention, as 100 States parties

and 19 Signatories. Countries that ratify the

convention will be obliged “never under any

circumstances to”: Use cluster munitions.

Develop, produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile,

retain or transfer to anyone, directly or indirectly,

cluster munitions. Assist, encourage or induce

anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a

State Party under this Convention.

International Solar Alliance Cell and

World Bank sign Declaration for

promoting Solar Energy

The Interim Administrative Cell of the

International Solar Alliance (ISA Cell) and the

World Bank on 30 June 2016 signed declaration to

promote solar energy globally. The declaration

was signed during the visit of the World Bank

President Jim Yong Kim to India in June 2016.

Major areas identified in the Declaration for

working jointly

• Developing a roadmap to mobilize financing

• Developing financing instruments including

credit enhancement, reduce hedging costs/currency

risk, bond raising in locally denominated

currencies etc. which support solar energy

development

• Supporting ISA’s plans for solar energy through

technical assistance and knowledge transfer

• Working on mobilization of concessional

financing through existing or new trust funds

Benefits arising out of this Declaration

• The Joint Declaration will help in accelerating

mobilization of finance for solar energy.



• The World Bank will have a major role in

mobilizing more than 1000 billion US dollars in

investments that will be needed by 2030 for the

massive deployment of affordable solar energy.

ENVIRONMENT

India's first green rail corridor launched

between Rameswaram and

Manamadurai stretch

The 114-km long Rameswaram-Manamadurai

stretch of Southern Railway in Tamil Nadu on 24

July 2016 became India’s first Green Rail

Corridor. This green corridor was inaugurated by

of Southern Railway via videoconferencing from

Chennai Central Station.

This corridor ensure zero toilet discharge on rail

tracks. Trains in the section are equipped with bio-

toilets to ensure zero discharge of human waste on

the rail tracks.

During 2016-17, the railway ministry has a target

of providing 30000 new bio-toilets and this

initiative will also bring down maintenance cost

significantly. He also said that till March 2017, the

Jammu-Katra section will also be human waste

free.

Besides, Railway Minister Prabhu also inaugurated

high speed upgraded Wi-Fi facility, set up in

association with Google, at Chennai Central

Railway Station and a similar facility at

Tiruchirappalli through video conferencing. He

also launched a traditional medicine centre under

Ayush at Perambur Railway Hospital.

Rare Marbled Map butterfly sighted in

Eastern Ghats

Rare Marbled Map butterfly was sighted in

Eastern Ghats near PM Kota village of

Maredumilli mandal in East Godavari district of

Andhra Pradesh. This is the first time that the

Marbled Map butterfly species, usually found in

the north-east, was sighted in South India.

A book by Issac Kehimkar titled ‘The Book of

Indian Butterflies’ says that the Marbled Map

(Cyrestis cocles) is listed as a rare butterfly

species. Its availability is confined to forested hills

in the region between Sikkim and Arunachal

Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bhutan and Myanmar.

Kendrapara sheep gets registered breed

status

The National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources

(NBAGR) in the first week of July 2016 formally

accorded registered breed status on Kendrapara

sheep. As per the research of the Fisheries and

Animal Resources Development (FARD)

Department and researchers of Odisha Livestock

Resources Development Society and College of

Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry of

OUAT, the Kendrapara sheep carries a rare gene

mutation during a year-long research.The

genetically rare status will help to boost

conservation effort to protect the sheep. Earlier,

Odisha’s two buffalo and four cattle breeds were

also registered at national level by NBAGR.

Kendrapara sheep is an indigenous variety mainly

found in Kendrapara, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur,

Bhadrak and Jajpur districts of Odisha. The

Kendrapara breed was identified as the second in

India and sixth in the world to carry FecB

mutation gene responsible for multiple births such

as twins and triplets. The research had recorded

more than 80 per cent multiple births, 71 per cent

twinning, nine per cent triplet and one per cent

quadruplets in a period of 12 months. It is the 42nd

sheep breed to have been registered in India.

IUCN declares Bornean Orangutan as

critically endangered



The International Union for Conservation of

Nature (IUCN) in the first week of July 2016

declared Bornean orangutan as a Critically

Endangered animal. As per the IUCN’s findings,

the combined impacts of habitat loss, habitat

degradation and illegal hunting equate to an 86%

population reduction between 1973 and 2025. This

finding qualifies the species for listing as Critically

Endangered. In addition to loss of habitat, the

survey also disclosed that 2000 to 3000 orangutans

have been killed by hunters or villagers each year

over the past four decades. In addition, the IUCN

also put the whale shark, the largest fish in the

world, on the Endangered list.

Ozone layer in Antarctic is healing:

Study

Researchers in their study claimed that the hole in

the Earth’s ozone layer over Antarctica has begun

to heal. They said that in September 2015 the hole

was around 4 million square kilometers smaller

than it was in the year 2000, an area roughly the

size of India. The gains in the protective layer can

be credited to the long term phasing out of ozone-

destroying chemicals which was adopted in the

1989 Montreal Protocol.

Findings of the Study

• Industrial chlorofluorocarbons that cause ozone

depletion have been phased out under the Montreal

Protocol.

• A chemically-driven increase in polar ozone (or

“healing”) is expected in response to this historic

agreement.

• Fingerprints of September healing since 2000

was identified through

a) Increases in ozone column amounts

b) Changes in the vertical profile of ozone

concentration

c) Decreases in the areal extent of the ozone hole

• Along with chemistry, dynamical and

temperature changes contribute to the healing, but

could represent feedbacks to chemistry.

• Volcanic eruptions episodically interfere with

healing, particularly during 2015 (when a record

October ozone hole occurred following the

Calbuco eruption).

This is the first clear evidence of healing after the

thinning of the layer was first reported in 1980s.

The then report suggested a hole in the ozone layer

above Antarctica every that was of an average of

about 18 million square kilometers in September

1987 and widened to nearly 25 million square

kilometers in September 2000.

The study was published on 30 June 2016 in the

journal Science. Susan Solomon, the lead author of

the study along with his team carried out detailed

measurements of the amount of ozone in the

stratosphere between 2000 and 2015.

Indo-U.S. expedition discovers natural

gas in Indian Ocean

A large natural gas discovery has been made in the

Indian Ocean following a joint expedition by India

and the U.S., opening up a new resource to meet

energy needs. India’s Oil Ministry and the U.S.

Geological Survey made the discovery of large,

highly enriched accumulations of natural gas

hydrate — an icy form of the fuel — in the Bay of

Bengal. This is the first discovery of its kind in the

Indian Ocean that has the potential to be

producible.

Natural gas hydrates are a naturally occurring, ice-

like combination of natural gas and water found in

oceans and polar regions. Gas hydrates are

considered as vast resources of natural gas and are

known to occur in marine sediments on continental

shelf margins. By nature this gas is mostly

methane. Methane gas hydrate is stable at the

seafloor at water depths beneath about 500 meters.

The amount of gas within the world’s gas hydrate

accumulations is estimated to greatly exceed the

volume of all known conventional gas resources.

Gas hydrate resources in India are estimated at

1,894 trillion cubic meters and these deposits

occur in Western, Eastern and Andaman offshore

areas. According to the National Oceanic and



Atmospheric Administration gas hydrate deposits

along ocean margins are estimated to exceed

known petroleum reserves by about a factor of

three.

‘Almost 30 percent of our land

undergoing degradation’

According to a study, nearly 30% of the country’s

total geographical area is undergoing degradation.

The ongoing study, initiated by the Ministry of

Environment, Forests & Climate Change, was led

by the Indian Space Research Organisation and

involved 19 institutes. The study analysed satellite

imageries of the country over an eight-year period.

The report was recently released by ISRO’s Space

Applications Centre in the form of a

‘Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas’,

combining GIS and remote sensing data.

Highlights of the report:

The degrading area has increased over 0.5% to

29.3 million hectares during the period 2003-05

and 2011-13. Desertification increased by 1.16

million hectares (m ha) and stood at 82.64 m ha

during 2011-13.

There was high desertification and degradation in

Delhi, Tripura, Nagaland, Himachal Pradesh and

Mizoram, while Odisha, Telangana, Rajasthan and

Uttar Pradesh showed some improvement.

Just nine States together account for nearly 24% of

desertification; the other States have less than one

per cent of this land. The culprit States in that

order are Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Jammu

& Kashmir, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Odisha,

Madhya Pradesh and Telangana.

Southern State Kerala figures among northern and

northeastern States where less than 10% land is

degraded. With it are relatively greener States of

Assam, Mizoram, Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh,

Punjab and Arunachal Pradesh.

The main culprit for degradation is water erosion

(26%) followed by degrading vegetation (rising

slightly nearly 9%) and land or soil erosion due to

wind.

India has committed itself to the U.N. Convention

on Combating Desertification that it would fully

stop land degradation by 2030. The atlas, adding

68 vulnerable districts, would form part of the

country’s action plan to arrest the phenomenon

and also be a status report to the U.N. body.

NDRF trains one lakh people in one

month for better reach

To ensure resilience and better preparedness

against disasters, the National Disaster Response

Force (NDRF) has trained over a lakh people

across the country in one month on the do’s and

don’ts during man-made or natural emergencies.

This was achieved between June 1 and 30 as part

of a special initiative when instructors and trainers

of the NDRF reached 482 villages, towns and

cities to sensitise people about disasters that occur

specifically in those areas and also in general.

Under this Community Awareness Programme, a

total of 1,07,112 people in 22 States were trained

in basic understanding of disaster management and

combat by the NDRF in 482 sessions. The force

also trained school students.

The aim of this first-of-its kind exercise was to

sensitise the vulnerable sections to disasters and

bring about a sense of community capacity

building. It is believed that if a community was

well prepared to combat issues like floods and

earthquakes, the loss of life and property could be

brought down significantly.

SCIENCE

Genes of 6000-year-old barley grains

sequenced for first time

Scientists for the first time succeeded in

sequencing the genes in 6000-year-old barley

seeds. With this, the ancient barley has become the

oldest plant genome to be reconstructed to date.

Before this, only prehistoric corn was genetically

reconstructed. The findings were published in the

journal Nature Genetics on 18 July 2016.

The 6000-year-old Chalcolithic barley grains were

retrieved from Yoram Cave in Israel, close to the

Dead Sea. Genetically, the prehistoric barley is

very similar to present-day barley grown in the

Southern Levant. It supports the existing

hypothesis of barley domestication having

occurred in the Upper Jordan Valley.



Facebook's Aquila Internet drone

completes first test flight

Facebook Inc on 22 July 2016 announced the

successful completion of test flight of a solar-

powered drone named Aquila. The social media

giant believes that Aquila will help to extend

Internet connectivity to every corner of the planet.

The company ultimately hopes to have a fleet of

Aquilas that can fly for at least three months at a

time at 60000 feet and communicate with each

other to deliver internet access. Aquila is a

lightweight, high-altitude aircraft. It flew at a few

thousand feet for 96 minutes in Yuma, Arizona.

Scientists decide to launch field trials of

oil-degrading bacteria in Kochi

The Malabar Botanical Garden and Institute of

Plant Sciences, Kozhikode, and Bharat Petroleum

Corporation Limited (BPCL) in July 2016 joined

hands to launch field trials of oil-degrading

bacteria in Kochi. The scientists will undertake the

trail to establish the oil-degrading properties of

three new strains of bacteria. The oil-degrading

properties of these bacteria will pave the way for

the development of bioremediation agents to clean

up petroleum pollutants from the environment.

The three new strains including two species of

Burkholderia and one species of Pseudomonas

have been sequenced and submitted to the

Genbank database on organisms. Scientists at the

Malabar Botanical Garden and Institute of Plant

Sciences have completed the sequencing of a new

species of oil-degrading soil fungi belonging to the

Paecilomyces genus. They have also isolated 110

dye-yielding and anti-microbial compounds from

two species of bryophytes (lower group of plants

like mosses and hornworts). Besides, 30 anti-

bacterial compounds have also been isolated from

two species of lichens.

Bioremediation is the use of either naturally

occurring or deliberately introduced

microorganisms to consume and break down

environmental pollutants. It is done to clean a

polluted site. It may occur on its own or may only

effectively occur through the addition of fertilizers,

oxygen, and more. The addition of oxygen,

fertilizers etc. help in enhancing the growth of the

pollution-eating microbes within the medium,

which is known as biostimulation. However, not

all contaminants are easily treated by

bioremediation using microorganisms. For

example, cadmium, lead etc. There are a number

of cost advantages to bioremediation, which can be

employed in areas that are inaccessible without

excavation. For example, introducing

bioremediation at hydrocarbon spills or certain

chlorinated solvents, which may contaminate

groundwater, may significantly reduce

contaminant concentrations.

CSIR-CMERI develops Solar Power Tree

for generation of electricity

The Solar Power Tree has been developed by the

CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research

Institute (CSIR-CMERI), a constituent laboratory

of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research

(CSIR). The product harnesses solar energy for

producing electricity with an innovative vertical

arrangement of solar cells. Therefore, it reduces

the requirement of land as compared to

conventional Solar Photovoltaic layout. As a

future prospect, the Solar Power Tree will be

developed in a rotatable module, which will have a

motorized mechanism to align itself with the

movement of the Sun during the day.

It takes only 4 square feet of land for a 5 KW Solar

Power tree. On the other hand, a conventional

layout requires 400 square feet of land.By holding

the photovoltaic panels at a higher height, it gets



more sunrays for one hour in a day on an average.

As a result, it is possible to harness 10-15% more

power in comparison to a conventional layout on

ground. It is facilitated with water sprinkler at the

top for self-cleaning of panels, which increases the

efficiency of the solar panels. The estimated cost

of the device is around 5 Lakh rupees for a 5 KW

specification.

Brazilian scientists discover another type

of Zika-transmitting mosquito

Brazilian researchers on 21 July 2016 announced

that they have found another species of mosquito,

which is able to transmit the Zika virus to humans.

The scientists found the presence of the Culex

quinquefasciatus mosquito infected by the Zika

virus in three out of 80 groups of mosquitoes

analysed up until now. The 80 groups were from

the metropolitan area of Recife, Brazil. Until now,

transmission of the virus was only known through

the Aedes aegypti mosquitos, which are also

responsible for the spread of dengue and

chikungunya.

Govt. intervention sought for Hepatitis C

treatment

In absence of a policy intervention for Hepatitis C,

civil society and legal aid organisations have put

together a policy brief, calling upon the

government to take concerted action to address the

right to health of people living with HCV

(PLHCV).

HCV is a significantly bigger epidemic than HIV

and yet, there has been considerably less

awareness about it. While HIV testing and

treatment are free of cost through the government

programme, HCV is not supported in any way.

Despite the estimated disease burden of 8.7 million

Hepatitis C patients, India does not have data and,

therefore, does not have appropriate budgets to

address the concerns of the patients.

Also, the price of treatment of HCV has become a

global concern with the Indian government

granting patent for the drug Sofosbuvir to

American pharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences.

While Gilead’s Sofosbuvir is priced at almost

$84,000 for an entire course in the U.S., generic

Indian companies are selling their versions for less

than $200 for a full course.

What is hepatitis? “Hepatitis” means inflammation

of the liver. Toxins, certain drugs, some diseases,

heavy alcohol use, and bacterial and viral

infections can all cause hepatitis. Hepatitis is also

the name of a family of viral infections that affect

the liver; the most common types are Hepatitis A,

Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C.

What is the difference between Hepatitis A,

Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C?

Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C are

diseases caused by three different viruses.

Although each can cause similar symptoms, they

have different modes of transmission and can

affect the liver differently. Hepatitis A appears

only as an acute or newly occurring infection and

does not become chronic. People with Hepatitis A

usually improve without treatment. Hepatitis B

and Hepatitis C can also begin as acute infections,

but in some people, the virus remains in the body,

resulting in chronic disease and long-term liver

problems. There are vaccines to prevent Hepatitis

A and B; however, there is not one for Hepatitis C.

If a person has had one type of viral hepatitis in

the past, it is still possible to get the other types.

What is Hepatitis C?

This is a transmissible disease — it spreads the

same way as HIV — and if not treated can lead to

chronic conditions of the liver such as liver

cirrhosis, cancer or failure. With an estimated

disease burden of 8.7 million patients, HCV kills

nearly six times as many people as HIV. The

hepatitis C virus is a bloodborne virus and the

most common modes of infection are through

unsafe injection practices, inadequate sterilization

of medical equipment, and the transfusion of

unscreened blood and blood products.

Zebrafish provide insights into a rare

human disease

Scientists from the Delhi-based CSIR-Institute of

Genomics and Integrative Biology are a step closer

to bringing hope to children born with a rare

disorder — CHARGE syndrome — if the results

seen in zebrafish are reproducible in humans.

Scientists have studied the fertilised egg of a



zebrafish to better understand the CHARGE

syndrome.

Following fertilization, zebrafish embryos are

transparent. This allows scientists to observe the

inside of the embryo and watch in real time how

various organs develop. Since most organs begin

forming in the first 24-36 hours and are fully

formed within five days, it allows researchers to

study the development of an organism from egg to

maturity. An RNA injected into a one-cell embryo

interferes with the making of the CHD7 protein,

thus producing a zebrafish embryo with very

similar problems as the human babies with

CHARGE syndrome.

About 1 in 20,000 people in the world, and an

estimated 50,000 in India alone, are born with

CHARGE syndrome — multiple life-threatening

problems such as deafness and blindness, heart

defects, genital problems and growth retardation

and facial bone and nerve defects that cause

breathing and swallowing difficulties. There is a

high death rate in the very first year in children

born with CHARGE. A mutation in the CHD7

gene is responsible for 60-70% of all CHARGE

defects. The expression of the gene peaks in the

early stages of embryo development, starting from

2-4 cells.

CHARGE syndrome is a disorder that affects

many areas of the body. CHARGE stands for

coloboma, heart defect, atresia choanae (also

known as choanal atresia), retarded growth and

development, genital abnormality, and ear

abnormality. The pattern of malformations varies

among individuals with this disorder, and infants

often have multiple life-threatening medical

conditions. About two third of cases are due to a

CHD7 mutation.

The major characteristics of CHARGE syndrome

are more specific to this disorder than are the

minor characteristics. Many individuals with

CHARGE syndrome have a hole in one of the

structures of the eye (coloboma), which forms

during early development. Some people also have

small eyes (microphthalmia). One or both nasal

passages may be narrowed or completely blocked.

Individuals with CHARGE syndrome frequently

have cranial nerve abnormalities. The cranial

nerves emerge directly from the brain and extend

to various areas of the head and neck, controlling

muscle movement and transmitting sensory

information.

Abnormal function of certain cranial nerves can

cause swallowing problems, facial paralysis, a

sense of smell that is diminished (hyposmia) or

completely absent (anosmia), and mild to profound

hearing loss. People with CHARGE syndrome also

typically have middle and inner ear abnormalities

and unusually shaped ears.

The diagnosis of CHARGE syndrome is often

difficult, because it is rare. The syndrome spans

many disciplines, and as such, can be diagnosed by

a pediatrician, oral and maxillofacial surgeon,

ENT specialist, ophthalmologist, audiologist,

endocrinologist, cardiologist, urologist,

developmental specialist, radiologist, geneticist,

physiotherapist, occupational therapist, speech

therapist, or orthopedic specialist.

Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant

attains criticality

The second reactor of Kudankulam Nuclear Power

Project (KKNPP) attained criticality at 8.56 PM on

10 July 2016. On commencing the First Approach

to Criticality (FAC) on 8 July 2016 by

withdrawing the control rods from the reactor,

boron dilution started a few hours later to allow

neutron concentration to go up, which eventually

led to the criticality of the reactor. The KKNPP

had submitted its reports to the Atomic Energy

Regulatory Board (AERB) and received the nod

for criticality after the Ministry of Environment,

Forest and Climate Change experts inspected the

second unit. They submitted their report to the

Supreme Court. At present, India operates 21

reactors that can generate 5780 MW of electricity

besides giving the country its atomic weapons.



Once the reactor starts generating 400 MWe of

power, it is likely to be connected to the grid

possibly within 45 days from the date of criticality.

Generation of power will be raised to 500 MWe,

750 MWe, 900 MWe and 1000 MWe in stages. At

every stage, various tests will be conducted and

the technical parameters verified as mandated by

the AERB. The atomic reactor will provide

electricity to Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala and

Karnataka. Tamil Nadu is expected to get a

minimum of 462.50 MWe from the second unit.

What is criticality? Criticality is a nuclear term

that refers to the balance of neutrons in the system.

When the neutron population remains constant,

this means there is a perfect balance between

production rate and loss rate. Therefore, the

nuclear system is said to be critical. The criticality

of a system can be calculated by comparing the

rate at which neutrons are produced to the rate at

which they are lost through absorption and leakage

out of the reactor core. A nuclear reactor is a

system that controls this criticality or balance of

neutrons.

Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear

power station in Koodankulam in the Tirunelveli

district of Tamil Nadu. The first unit of the plant

had attained criticality on 13 July 2013. Unit 1 of

the plant was synchronised with the southern

power grid on 22 October 2013.

NASA's Juno Spacecraft successfully

enters Jupiter’s orbit

Juno spacecraft of the National Aeronautics and

Space Administration (NASA) on 4 July 2016

successfully entered Jupiter’s orbit. Confirmation

of a successful orbit insertion was received from

Juno tracking data monitored at the navigation

facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

(JPL). Juno's main aim is to understand the origin

and evolution of Jupiter. The spacecraft will also

investigate the existence of a solid planetary core,

map Jupiter's intense magnetic field, measure the

amount of water and ammonia in the deep

atmosphere and observe the planet's auroras.

Juno is a NASA New Frontiers mission launched

from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on 5

August 2011. It is in a polar orbit to study Jupiter's

composition, gravity field, magnetic field and

polar magnetosphere. It will determine how much

water is in Jupiter's atmosphere. It will look deep

into Jupiter's atmosphere to measure composition,

temperature, cloud motions and other properties. It

will map Jupiter's magnetic and gravity fields,

revealing the planet's deep structure. Juno will

dispose off in the form of a controlled deorbit into

Jupiter in February 2018.

NASA extends New Horizons mission to

Kuiper Belt

The National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA) in the first week of July

2016 gave its approval to the New Horizons

mission to investigate a mysterious object deep in

the Kuiper Belt. The mission will explore the

mysterious object known as 2014 MU69. It is

expected that the New Horizons will reach 2014

MU69 on 31 December 2018 or 1 January 2019.

2014 MU69 is an ancient object considered one of

the early building blocks of the solar system. It

was selected as New Horizons' target in August

2015. It was discovered on 26 June 2014 using the

Hubble Space Telescope during a preliminary

survey to find a suitable Kuiper belt object for the

New Horizons probe to flyby. 2014 MU69 is the

first object to be targeted for a flyby that was

discovered after the spacecraft was launched.

New Horizons is an interplanetary space probe that

was launched as a part of NASA's New Frontiers

program. It is engineered by the Johns Hopkins

University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and

the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), with a

team led by S. Alan Stern. It was launched with

the primary mission to perform a flyby study of

the Pluto system. Its secondary mission is to fly by

and study one or more other Kuiper belt objects

(KBOs).



Great Red Spot storm heating Jupiter's

atmosphere: Study

Astronomers in a new study claimed that Jupiter’s

Great Red Spot, a storm three times bigger than

Earth, is hundreds of degrees hotter than anywhere

else on the planet. The study was published in

Nature on 27 July 2016. GRS, the largest storm in

the solar system, was detected using an infrared

telescope at Hawaii’s Mauna Kea Observatory.

The storm is based in Jupiter’s lower atmosphere

and spans 13670 miles by 7456 miles (22000 km

by 12000 km). The top of its clouds reach altitudes

of about 31 miles (50 km). The storms on Jupiter

fail in making a landfall and dissipate, due to

unavailability of land on the planet that is made

almost entirely of hydrogen and helium. Unlike

hurricane on Earth, the storm on Jupiter is calm

but farther out winds reaches 270 mph to 425 mph

(430 kmph to 680 kmph).

It is like a wheel that is wedged between two

conveyor belts running in opposite directions. This

helps them to add momentum at the top and

bottom. They also feed the vortex to them and help

in keeping them alive. Based on the process of

elimination, the study concluded that the newly

found hot spot must be heated from below.

However, the team concluded that the finding may

fail to explain the real cause behind transfer of heat

but provides a strong link between Jupiter's upper

and lower atmosphere.

Change in Colour: Based on previous reports, the

team of scientists concluded that over the time it

has been changing its colour, as in a 1900 report in

the Seattle Post-Intelligencer it was described the

oval storm as salmon pink. Recent images from

the Hubble Space Telescope show it has become

orange tinged and more circular.

IMD to use supercomputer to forecast

monsoon with Dynamical Model

The Union Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) in

the last week of July 2016 announced that India

Meteorological Department (IMD) will use

supercomputer to forecast India’s annual summer

monsoon.

The forecast made by a supercomputer will be

based on a dynamical monsoon model. It will be

operational from 2017.

What is Dynamical Monsoon Model?

• The dynamical model is also known as the

Coupled Forecast System.

• It collates data on local as well as global weather

patterns to simulate a forecast for a specific

duration.

• The Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology

(IITM), Pune, has been using this model on an

experimental basis for around 10 years to assist

IMD’s annual monsoon forecasts.

• To operationalise the alternate model, IMD is

investing in supercomputers that can function at a

speed of 10 petaflops-per second system.

• The dynamical model has achieved a 60%

accuracy at present and IMD aims to take it up to

77%.

• The dynamical model provides a wider scope to

upgrade forecasts for specific regions, in sync with

the changing weather patterns and variations of a

progressing monsoon.

• The dynamical model and faster computing will

also improve short range forecasts as the IMD will

be able to access sharper resolution images.

Current Model to Predict Monsoon

• IMD has been using the ensemble statistical

model to predict monsoon since 2007.

• A basic statistical model was in use first since

1920.

• In 2007, it switched to the ensemble statistical

forecasting due to the inaccuracy of the annual

summer forecasts.

• The existing model relies on arriving at a

prediction based on historical monsoon data

coupled with data on sea-surface temperatures and

winds.

SPORTS

Virat Kohli becomes first Indian captain

to score double century outside India

India test team captain Virat Kohli on 22 July

2016 became the first Indian captain to score a

double century outside India. Kohli scored 200



runs against West Indies on day two of the first

Test at the Sir Vivian Richards stadium in North

Sound. With his double century, Kohli entered the

list of visiting captains with highest scores in West

Indies. The list includes name like Sir Leonard

Hutton, Steve Waugh, Andrew Strauss and Ricky

Ponting.

Neeraj Chopra becomes first Indian to

win gold in World Athletics

championships

Neeraj Chopra, the javelin thrower from India, on

23 July 2016 won gold in the IAAF World Under-

20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland. With

this, Neeraj, 18, managed to set a new world

record (U-20) of 86.48m. His 86.48m effort also

helped India in bringing its first world record as

well as the country’s first-ever gold in any World

athletics championships.

SC accepts Lodha panel

recommendations on structural reforms

in BCCI

The Supreme Court on 18 July 2016 accepted

major recommendations of the Lodha Committee

on reforms in BCCI including a bar on ministers

and civil servants and those above 70 years of age

from becoming its members. However, the apex

court left it to the Parliament to decide whether it

should come under RTI and if betting on the game

should be legalised. The apex court also accepted

the recommendations of the Committee headed by

retired Chief Justice of India Justice R M Lodha to

have a CAG nominee in BCCI.

On the other hand, the bench of Chief Justice TS

Thakur and Justice FMI Kalifulla rejected BCCI’s

objection against recommendations for one-state-

one-vote. While rejecting BCCI’s concern it said

that states like Maharashtra and Gujarat having

more than one cricket associations will have

voting rights on rotational basis.

It accepted the panel's recommendation that there

should be a player's association in the BCCI. The

bench also accepted the recommendation that one

person should hold one post in cricket

administration to avoid any conflict of interest and

scrapping of all other administrative committees in

the BCCI after CAG nominee comes in.

The court also left it to the Board to decide

whether there is need for any changes in the

existing agreement relating to broadcasting rights

and whether a franchise member should be in the

Board to avoid any conflict of interest.

The apex court-appointed Lodha Committee had

on 4 January 2016 recommended sweeping

reforms and an administrative shake-up at the

troubled BCCI.

Vijender Singh defeats Kerry Hope to

clinch WBO Asia Pacific Super

Middleweight title

Vijender Singh, the boxing star from India, on 16

July 2016 clinched the WBO Asia Pacific Super

Middleweight title at the Thyagraj Stadium, New

Delhi. To win the title, the six-footer from

Haryana defeated former WBC European

champion Kerry Hope.

With this, Singh also became the country’s first-

ever professional boxing title holder. The win also

helped him to climb to 15th in the world in his

category.

Harika Dronavalli wins Fide Women’s

Grand Prix trophy in China



India's Grand Master Harika Dronavalli on 14 July

2016 won the Fide Women’s Grand Prix trophy in

Chendu, China. This was the first Grand Prix

Chess title for the Grand Master from Guntur.

Harika defeated Russia’s Olga Girya to win the

title.

2016 Wimbledon concluded

Wimbledon, the third Grand Slam of the 2016

tennis season concluded on 10 July 2016. It was

held for two weeks beginning on 27 July 2016 at

the All England Club in Wimbledon, London.

Winners of Wimbledon

Category Winner Runner-up

Men’s

Singles

Andy Murray

(Great Britain)

Milos Raonic

(Canada)

Women's

Singles

Serena Williams

(United States)

Angelique

Kerber

(Germany)

Men's

Doubles

Pierre-Hugues

Herbert and

Nicolas Mahut

(France)

Julien

Benneteauan

d Édouard

Roger-

Vasselin

(France)

Women's

Doubles

Serena Williams

and Venus

Williams

Timea Babos

(Hungary)

and

Yaroslava

Shvedova

(Russia)

Mixed

doubles

Heather Watson

(Britain) and Henri

Kontinen (Finland)

Anna-Lena

Groenefeld

(Germany)

and Roberto

Farah

(Colombia)

Portugal wins Euro 2016 football

championship; defeated France 1-0

Portugal on 10 July 2016 lifted the Euro 2016

football championship. In the final clash played at

Saint-Denis in Paris, Portugal defeated France 1-0.

Substitute Eder scored in extra-time to give

Portugal a win at their first major international title

despite losing captain and talisman Cristiano

Ronaldo to injury.

Lewis Hamilton wins 2016 British Grand

Prix

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton on 10 July 2016

claimed the 2016 British Grand Prix title of

Formula One at the Silverstone Circuit in

Silverstone, United Kingdom. It is Hamilton’s

overall fourth British Grand Prix title after

winning it in 2008, 2014 and 2015. He also

became the first driver to win the British Grand

Prix three times in a row.

Para swimmer Niranjan Mukundan wins

eight medals in IWAS World Games

Para swimmer Niranjan Mukundan won eight

medals, including three gold medals, at the

International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports



(IWAS) U-23 World Games. The games

concluded on 3 July 2016 in Prague, Czech

Republic.

Mukundan bagged gold medals in 200m freestyle,

50m butterfly and 50m breaststroke, silver in

100m fly and 50m freestyle, and bronze in 100m

freestyle, 100m breaststroke and 100m backstroke

events.

B Sai Praneeth wins 2016 Canada Open

Grand Prix Badminton Men’s Singles

title

Indian shuttler B Sai Praneeth on 3 July 2016

clinched the Canada Open Grand Prix Badminton

Men’s Singles title at Calgary. Praneeth defeated

Lee Hyun II of Korea 21-12, 21-10.

On the other hand, men's doubles pair of Manu

Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy also grabbed Men’s

doubles title at the tournament. Top seed doubles

pair Attri and Reddy defeated Adrian Liu and

Toby Ng 21-8 21-14 in a lop-sided final. The pair

of Attri and Reddy is the first Indian men's doubles

pair to qualify for the Rio Olympics.

Lewis Hamilton wins 2016 Austrian

Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton on 3 July 2016 won the 2016

Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring in

Spielberg, Austria. Hamilton started the race from

pole and went on to win the race after colliding

with Nico Rosberg on the final lap. As a result,

Rosberg finished fourth behind Red Bull Racing-

TAG Heuer’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Kimi

Raikkonen.

MISCELLANEOUS

‘Ramayana month’ begins in Kerala

Kerala on 16 July 2016 started observing

Ramayana month in the temples. In Malayalam it

is termed as the Ramayana Masam. The Ramayana

Month starts with the commencement of

Malayalam month ‘Karkidakam’. During this

month the temples and homes of the state recites

Adhyatma Ramayanam Kilippattu written by

medieval devotional poet Thunjath Ezhuthachan

for the 30 days. Ezhuthachan is regarded as the

father of Malayalam literature.

The reading of epic Ramayana begins on the first

day of the month and is completed on the last day

of the month Karkkidakom. The Ramayana is

recited by the elder members’ everyday in the

evenings after lighting traditional lamp

Nilavilakku.

Karkkidakam (July - August) is the last month of

Malayalam calendar and is considered as month of

rain and scarcity (Panjamaasom). As per belief, the

month brings good luck and prosperity to the

families as well as spiritual strength to go through

different difficulties that comes during monsson.

Karkkidakam month comes ahead of Chingam that

brings colourful festival of Onam for the

Malayalis.

Jagannath Rath Yatra begins in Puri,

Odisha

The 139th Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath

commenced on 6 July 2016 in Puri, Odisha. The

nine-day-long Rath Yatra will see congregation of

more than 10 lakh devotees from India and abroad.

The annual festival is celebrated on Ashadha

Shukla Paksha Dwitiya (second day in bright

fortnight of Ashadha month). During the Rath

Yatra, Lord Jagannath his brother Balbhadra and

sister Subhadra will be brought out of the temple

to be taken to Gundicha temple, the place of their

aunt's house.

During the journey, the chariots on which the

deities are carried will be pulled by thousands of

devotees. The three deities will stay in the



Gundicha temple for a week and then return. The

return journey of Puri Jagannath Ratha Jatra is

known as Bahuda Jatra.

Lord Jagannatha's chariot is called Nandighosa. It

is forty-five feet high and forty-five feet square at

the wheel level. It has sixteen wheels, each of

seven-foot diameter. It is decorated with a cover

made of red and yellow cloth. The chariot of Lord

Balarama is called as the Taladhwaja. It has

fourteen wheels. It is covered with red and blue

cloth. The chariot of Subhadra is known as

Dwarpadalana. It has twelve wheels. It is covered

with red and black cloth.

So what if jallikattu is an age-old

tradition

While asserting that it disapproves arguments that

the ‘Jallikattu’ should be allowed because it’s

centuries old, the Supreme Court has set August

30 as the final hearing date to decide on the

constitutionality of Jallikattu. The court’s strong

response was after Tamil Nadu argued that

Jallikattu – the mostly southern bull-racing sport –

should be permitted as it showcases a cultural

tradition that has been part of the custom and

culture of people of the state for 5,000 years.

The Supreme Court already banned Jallikattu

once, in May 2014. At the time it said bulls could

not be used as performing animals, either for

Jallikattu or for bullock-cart races. However, in

January, the Centre allowed the ‘sport’ in Tamil

Nadu and Maharashtra. It was seen as a pre-state

election manoeuvre; state elections were held in

Tamil Nadu in May.

Days after the Centre allowed it, in January, the

Supreme Court put Jallikattu on hold. It issued

notices to the Centre and other states asking them

to file their responses in four weeks, to petitions

challenging the central government’s notification

allowing Jallikattu and bullock-cart races.

Jallikattu: Jallikattu is a bull taming sport played in

Tamil Nadu as a part of Pongal celebrations on

Mattu Pongal day. It is a Tamil tradition called

‘Yeru thazhuvuthal’ in Sangam literature(meaning,

to embrace bulls), popular amongst warriors

during the Tamil classical period. Jallikattu is

based on the concept of “flight or fight”. All castes

participate in the event. The majority of jallikattu

bulls belong to the pulikulam breed of cattle.

A Kanyakumari becomes first woman

violinist to receive Sangita Kalanidhi

Award

The Madras Music Academy on 24 July 2016

announced that it has chosen versatile violinist A.

Kanyakumari for its coveted Sangita Kalanidhi

Award for the year 2016. Kanyakumari was

unanimously named for the award by the

Executive Committee of the Academy. The

violinist is the first woman violinist to get the

award in the history of the Music Academy. She

will preside over the 90th annual conference of the

Academy to be held between 15 December 2016

and 1 January 2017.

Sangita Kalanidhi is the title awarded yearly to an

expert Carnatic Musician by the Madras Music

Academy. This honour is considered one of the

highest awards in Carnatic music. In 2015, vocalist

Sanjay Subrahmanyan was awarded with the title.

Bezwada Wilson, Thodur Madabusi

Krishna win Ramon Magsaysay Award

2016

Two Indians including social activist Bezwada

Wilson and musician Thodur Madabusi (TM)

Krishna on 26 July 2016 won the prestigious

Ramon Magsaysay Award 2016. Bezwada Wilson

was recognized for asserting the inalienable right

to a life of human dignity. He is the National

Convener of the Safai Karmachari Andolan



(SKA). While, TM Krishna was recognized for

ensuring social inclusiveness in culture. He is a

Carnatic music vocalist. They are among the total

six awardees selected for the 2016 Ramon

Magsaysay Award. The other four awardees are:

• Conchita Carpio Morales (Philippines): She has

been recognized for restoring faith in the rule of

law.

• Dompet Dhuafa (Indonesia): She has been

recognized for expanding the transformative

impact of zakat.

• Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (Japan):

The organisation has been recognized for building

a world of genuine solidarity.

• Vientiane Rescue (Laos): The organisation has

been recognized for volunteering to save lives at

risk.

Ramon Magsaysay Award: The Award was

established in 1957 and is widely regarded as

Asia’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize. • It was

established in 1957 in the memory of Philippines’

3rd President Ramon Magsaysay who had died in

air disaster in March 1957. The awardees receive a

certificate, a medallion bearing the likeness of the

late President Ramon Magsaysay, and a cash prize.

The Award honours those individuals whose lives

are characterized by selfless service which impacts

the lives of the greater many.

Rohit Khandelwal becomes first Indian

to win Mister World title

India's contestant Rohit Khandelwal won the

coveted Mister World 2016 title on 19 July 2016.

The grand finale of Mr World 2016 was held at the

Southport Theatre & Convention Centre in

Southport, U.K. With this, Khandelwal has

become the first Indian and Asian to win the Mr

World title at the competition. Mr World 2014

Nicklas Pedersen passed on the title to

Khandelwal. He also won a cash prize of 50000

US dollar. Puerto Rico’s Fernando Alberto

Alvarez Soto was named the first runner-up and

Aldo Esparza Ramirez of Mexico was named the

second runner-up.

President confers 51st Jnanpith Award

on Dr. Raghuveer Chaudhari

President Pranab Mukherjee on 11 July 2016

conferred the 51st Jnanpith Award on renowned

Gujarati writer Dr. Raghuveer Chaudhari at

Parliament Library Building, New Delhi. He was

awarded with the India's highest literary honour

for the year 2015. He was given a cash prize, a

citation plaque and a bronze replica of Goddess

Saraswati. With this, he also became the fourth

Gujarati literary artist to receive the prestigious

award. The other Gujarati recipients of the award

are poet Umashankar Joshi (1967), novelist

Pannalal Patel (1985) and poet Rajendra Shah

(2001). His most noted works include novels

Amruta, Venu Vatsala and Uparvas. He had also

received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1977, for

his novel trilogy Uparvas.

Jnanpith Award is one of the prestigious literary

awards in India. The name of award is taken from

Sanskrit words Jnana and Pitha which means

knowledge-seat. It was instituted in 1961 and is

presented by Bharatiya Jnanpith, a trust founded

by the Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain family.

The award is given to any Indian citizen who

writes in any 22 official languages of India

mentioned in VIII Schedule of Constitution of

India. Prior to 1982, the award was only given for

a single work by a writer. But since 1982, the

award is given for lifetime contribution to Indian

literature. The award includes cash prize of 11 lakh

rupees, a citation plaque and a bronze replica of

Saraswati. The 50th Jnanpith award was given to

Marathi writer Bhalchandra Vanaji Nemade,

renowned for his books Hindu and Kosala.



Radhika Menon becomes first woman to

bag IMO Award for Exceptional Bravery

at Sea

Captain Radhika Menon on 7 July 2016 was

selected for the 2016 International Maritime

Organization (IMO) Award for Exceptional

Bravery at Sea. Menon has been selected for the

prestigious award for her role in the rescue of

seven fishermen from a sinking fishing boat in the

Bay of Bengal in June 2015. Captain Menon will

also be the first female to receive the IMO Award

for Exceptional Bravery at Sea.

World Hepatitis Day 2016 observed with

theme Elimination

World Hepatitis Day 2016 was observed across the

world on 28 July 2016 with the theme Elimination.

The day acts as a significant global platform for

raising awareness about hepatitis and influence

real change in disease prevention, testing and

treatment. The theme for the 2016 focuses on

elimination of hepatitis as a public health threat by

2030. The theme can be easily adapted for local

use to achieve elimination, greater awareness,

increased diagnosis and key interventions

including universal vaccination, blood and

injection safety etc.

Viral hepatitis is caused by 5 distinct hepatitis

viruses A, B, C, D and E which together are

responsible for 1.45 million deaths each year.

Hepatitis B and C are responsible for 80 percent of

infections whereas Hepatitis A and E are only

responsible for 1 percent of infections. 81 percent

of world’s infants are vaccinated and protected

from hepatitis B infection and 2 million hepatitis B

and hepatitis C infections occur yearly through

unsafe injections. These viruses are transmitted

through contaminated water and food, as well as

by contact with blood or bodily fluids, through

unsafe injections or transfusions. Infection also

occurs from a mother to a child, or through sexual

contact.

Nelson Mandela International Day 2016

observed

Nelson Mandela International Day was observed

across the world on 18 July 2016 to honour the

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nelson Mandela (1918-

2013). The day is aimed at inspiring individuals to

take action to help change the world for the better.

The Day was celebrated for the first time on 18

July 2010 as per a UN General Assembly

resolution of November 2009.

World Youth Skills Day 2016 observed

globally

The World Youth Skills Day (WYSD) was on 15

July 2016 observed globally with the theme Skills

Development to Improve Youth Employment. On

the occasion, United Nations organised the event

facilitated by the UN Envoy on Youth Ahmad

Alhendawi. The event was co-organized with the

Permanent Missions of Portugal and Sri Lanka to

the United Nations, UNESCO and the

International Labour Organization (ILO).

The day is observed to create more awareness and

a discussion on training and the development of

skills for the youth of today, in hopes of creating a

better opportunity for them when it comes to

employment.



World Population Day 2016 observed

with theme Investing in teenage girls

World Population Day was observed on 11 July

2016 with theme Investing in teenage girls. The

theme focuses on the empowerment of teenage

girls. The day seeks to raise awareness of global

population issues. • The event was established by

the Governing Council of the United Nations

Development Programme in 1989. The day aims at

increasing people's awareness on various

population issues such as the importance of family

planning, gender equality, poverty, maternal health

and human rights.

Madhya Pradesh becomes first state to

have ‘Happiness Department’

Madhya Pradesh has become the first state in the

country to set up ‘Happiness Department’. The

department will work to ensure “happiness in the

lives of common people” on the lines of Bhutan.

A panel of experts will be formed in the newly-

constituted department which will give

suggestions to ensure happiness in the lives of the

people.

The department will identify and define

parameters that make people happy, coordinate

among various departments, recommend policy

changes and formulate an action plan to “increase

the level of happiness and satisfaction” among the

state’s more than 7.25 crore population — all on a

Rs 3.60 crore budget.

The department will have a president, a chief

officer, a director (research), a director

(coordination) and four research assistant among

others. Experts working in the field could be

nominated to the department.

The department will take feedback from people on

the happiness parameters at regular intervals,

publish survey reports and carry out research to

improve the existing parameters.

Bhutan, the first country to come up with the

concept of gross national happiness, has fixed

standards of living, health, education, good

governance and psychological happiness among

the various parameters that make its citizens

happy.

Some of the US states that follow Gross National

Wellness have included emotional and

psychological ability, physical health, work,

income, economic progress and holidays among

other parameters.

The parameters used by the United Nations

include per capita GDP, health, community

cooperation during bad times, and trust-inducing

measures like corruption-free government and

business, freedom to take decisions, and

philanthropy.

The World Happiness Report 2016 by the UN

ranks India at 118th among 156 countries, behind

Somalia (76), China (83), Pakistan (92), Iran

(105), Palestinian Territories (108) and

Bangladesh (110). Madhya Pradesh, which has

made remarkable progress in agriculture in recent

times, does not figure among the country’s

developed states, and fares badly when it comes to

social indices like maternal and infant mortality. It

also has a very high rate of crimes against women.

national - mentor study point · 2019. 12. 19. · bill, 2016 to amend the child labour...

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