Bombay HC allowed Nestle India to export Maggi noodles

High Court (HC) of Bombay on 30 June 2015 granted permission to Nestle India to export its 2-minute Maggie noodles. It said that the ban on sale of the noodles within the country will continue.

The direction was given while hearing petition filed by Nestle India against food safety regulator FSSAI's country-wide ban of Maggi noodles. In its plea, Nestle demanded revoking of the ban of the sale of Maggie in the country.

Earlier on 25 June 2015, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had justified its 5 June 2015 ban on Nestle India's 2-minute Maggi noodles in questioning the company's safety claims.

It said that 30 out of 72 samples tested positive for dangerously high levels of lead and even MSG (Monosodium Glutamate), despite the packets’ ‘no added MSG’ claim. Further, it said that the present situation has arisen because the petitioner had failed to adhere to its own declared policy and principles.

The HC posted the next hearing of Nestle's challenge to 14 July 2015.

 

Military transport plane of Indonesia, Hercules C-130, crashed in Medan city

Indonesian city of Medan: military transport plane Hercules C-130 crashed

In Indonesia, a military transport plane Hercules C130 on 30 June 2015 crashed in a residential city of Medan, on the northern island of Sumatra. The plane hit two houses and a hotel before bursting into flames.

It is believed that all 113 people on board were killed. Many of the passengers are thought to have been relatives of servicemen and women.

The accident occurred when the Hercules transport plane was on its way from an air force base in Medan to Tanjung Pinang in Sumatra. 

Medan, with about 3.4 million people, is the third most populous city in Indonesia after the capital Jakarta and Surabaya.

First-ever possible treatments for MERS Virus identified with discovery of two antibodies

The team of researchers from University of Maryland School of Medicine scientists (UMSOM) identified two promising treatments to prevent and treat deadly epidemic Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). The findings were published in journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on 29 June 2015.

The University of Maryland School of Medicine scientists and New York-based Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc have discovered and validated two therapeutics that show early promise in preventing and treating the disease, which can cause severe respiratory symptoms. 

Findings of the study
• The two antibodies, REGN3051andREGN3048, showed an ability to neutralize the virus. Both antibodies exhibit tight binding to the recombinant Spike (S) protein, suggesting that they have a high affinity for binding to MERS-CoV S protein.
• REGN3051 and REGN3048 potently block entry of MERS-CoV into susceptible cell lines and neutralize infectivity.
• Moreover, these antibodies neutralize a broader range of MERS-CoV isolates with improved potency compared with several antibodies isolated solely based on in vitro biochemical properties.

How it happened?
• This research used several proprietary technologies to search for and validate effective antibodies targeting the virus.
• This work relied on Regeneron’s VelociGene technology to create partially humanized mice that can be infected with MERS. 
• Mice were intraperitoneally injected with either REGN3051, REGN3048, or hIgG1 isotype control antibody 24 hours before intranasal infection of MERS-CoV.
• REGN3051 and REGN3048 were able to significantly decrease MERS-CoV specific RNA levels in the lungs by over 2 logs compared with the isotype control antibody. REGN3051 was more effective at reducing MERS-CoV RNA levels compared with REGN3048 at the same dose.
• The development a novel strain of mice will help scientists understand the disease and look for treatments. Mice are typically not susceptible to MERS.

About Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)
MERS was first discovered in 2012 in Saudi Arabia. It appears that the disease spread to humans from camels, who may themselves been infected by bats. Research has shown that it is similar to Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS); both are caused by Coronaviruses, both cause respiratory problems, and both are often fatal.

The South Korean outbreak of MERS began in May 2015 when a traveler returned from Saudi Arabia, and infected many people before officials realized he had the disease. So far, around 180 people have been infected in South Korea, and nearly 30 have died.

This South Korean epidemic has killed more than 400 people since it was discovered.

Literacy rate 71 percent in rural areas, 86 percent in urban areas: NSSO survey

National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) on 30 June 2015 released the 71st Round of its survey on Social Consumption: Education. The survey was conducted for the period of January to June 2014 and portrays the salient features relating to prime indicators on education as on 31 March 2014.

The survey covered entire country with samples taken from 36479 households in rural areas and 29447 in urban areas from 4577 villages and 3720 urban blocks. It was conducted on the basis of having any student aged between 5 and 29 years receiving technical/professional or general education.

Major findings of the Survey
• Adult literacy (age 15 years and above) rate in India was around 70.5 percent in 2014
• Among the age group 7 years and above, the male literacy rate was registered at 83.2 percent vis-a-vis the female literacy rate of 67.1 percent.
• Literacy rate (age 5 and above) in the rural areas was pegged at 71.4 percent in 2014, compared to 86.1 percent in the urban areas.
• The rural population in India for the age-group 5-29 years was estimated to be a little over 36 crores (47 percent) and the same for urban was approximately 14.5 crores (44 percent).
• For the country as a whole, 84 percent male and 83 percent female children in the age-group 6-10, the official age-group for Classes I-V, were reported to be attending primary classes. This symbolized no major rural-urban or male-female disparity in the country. 
• Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Kerala, Goa, Delhi, Chandigarh and Lakshadweep had more than 90 percent of literates in 7+ age groups. 
• Rural female literacy rates (for 7+ age) in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh were still low in comparison to all-India average.
• In terms of physical access to primary schooling within less than 1 km, more than 12 percent of rural households in India did not have any secondary schools within 5 kilometers whereas in urban areas such cases are insignificant (less than 1 percent).
• No major differences were observed between male and female persons in urban areas up to the level of higher secondary but such differences are noticeable in rural areas. The rural-urban and male-female disparities accentuate at higher education levels of graduation and above.
• In the rural areas nearly 4.5 percent of males and 2.2 percent of females completed education level of graduation and above, while in urban areas 17 percent of males and 13 percent of females completed this level of education.
• The adult literate females of the country was about 61 percent compared to 80 percent males and about 25 percent of adult females among the female literates had completed at least higher secondary (excluding diploma). For males it was about 27 percent.
• There was no noticeable rural-urban disparity observed among the persons currently attending educational institutions, but gender disparity can be observed in rural areas with 58.7 percent of males and 53 percent of females in the 5-29 age- group reported to be attending education.

National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) functions under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

 

Jagmohan Yadav appointed as DGP of Uttar Pradesh

1983 batch Indian Police Service officer Jagmohan Yadav was on 30 June 2015 appointed as the Director General of Police (DGP) of Uttar Pradesh. He is the 8th police chief of Uttar Pradesh in the last three-and-a-half years of the Samajwadi Party (SP) rule.

He succeeded AK Jain who retired as DGP on 30 June 2015. Jain, in reality, retired on 31 March 2015 but was given three months extension by the state government.

The 1983 batch IPS officer will have tenure of six months before his retirement. Yadav was earlier posted as Director General, Criminal Investigation Department (CBCID). 

He was made Additional Director General (ADG), Law and order in 2012.

30 June 2015 clocked one second longer with a leap second added to clocks worldwide

30 June2015 clocked one second longer asan extra second or a leap secondwas added to clocks world- wide after 23:59:59.

With the addition of 61st second to the 59th minute of the 23rd hour, clocks across the world registered 23:59:60 before turning on to 00:00:00 on 1 July 2015.

In India, the leap second was added by scientists at the Time and Frequency Standards Laboratory (TFSL) to atomic clocks after 05:29:59 as the Indian Standard Time (IST) is ahead of the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) by 5 and half hours. UTC is the advanced version of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

TFSL is the nation’s official time keeper and located at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in New Delhi.

The decision to add a leap second was taken by the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS), the global official time keeper, in December 2014 in order to synchronise the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) with the Universal Time (UT).

Difference between UTC and UT

Though the two systems are meant to measure time to the accurate level possible, there is a primary difference between them with respect to their respective reference points.

While the UTC,the basis for civil time across the world,relies on atomic clocks for its sustenance as overseen by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the UT is based on time taken by the Earth to complete rotations around itself with respect to the Sun as observed by worldwide network of stations by employing Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) technique.

Why the difference?

Usually, any lag between the two time systems occurs due to regular fluctuations in the earth’s rotation speeds as atomic clocks are foolproof and can only go wrong once in 30 million years that too for nano seconds.

The Earth is a floating object in the space and its pace is disturbed bygeological events such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes and interplay of gravitational forces among the Sun, the Earth and the Moon.

All these internal and external forceshave an impact on the mass of the Earth and ultimately the time taken by it to complete the rotation. For example, glacial rebound shortens the solar day by 0.6 ms/century and the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake is thought to have shortened it by 2.68 microseconds.

Usually, a positive leap second (PLS) is added to clocks when the earth takes more than 86400 seconds to complete one rotation and a negative leap second (NLS)is added when it moves faster in the space.

The practice of adding a PLS

So far, only PLS was put into practice and the Leap Second 2015 is the 26thin the series since the system of leap second was introduced in 1972. The previous leap secondwas added on 30 June 2012.

The concept of leap second is similar to leap year and Daylight Saving Time (DST) mechanisms that are in practice to ensure our clocks show the right time and free us from a future hypothetical situation where in, we go to bed while our wrist watch is showing 9 am.

Usually, a leap second is added on 30 June or 31 December to give effect to the notifications issued by the IERS prior to six months of its inclusion.

In accordance with the IERS’s notification, atomic clocks are tinkered with by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) that are maintained worldwide.

Though the concept of leap second has been appreciated for its utility in showing the time right, it has attracted severe criticism in recent times from business quarters and 
military personnel.

Firms contend that frequent ad-hoc changes to international time systems will result in harm to time-sensitive systems like computer programmes and trading platforms that are at the core of the modern economy. The disturbance to the businesses was evident from crashing of IT and airline services when a leap second was introduced in 2012.

Though disturbances to businesses were not reported during the leap second 2015; In view of the lingering opposition to the continuation of the sytem from its member countries, the ITU will be holding the World Radiocommunication Conferencein Switzerland in November 2015to decide its fate.

India is officially is in favour of redefining the leap second systemalong with the USA, Japan and France.

How India handles its clocks?

India observes a unified timing system call as Indian Standard Time (IST) with a time offset of UTC+05:30.

It is calculatedon the basis of 82.5° E longitude, in Shankargarh Fort, Mirzapur (25.15°N 82.58°E) in Allahabad district in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

In recent times, there have been proposals from different quarters to divide the country into different time zones as the country's east–west distance is nearly 2933 kms.

The distance covers over 28 degrees of longitude or 112 minutesresulting in the sun rising and setting almost two hours earlier on India's eastern border than in the Rann of Kutch in the far west as a result of which inhabitants of the northeastern states have to advance their clocks with the early sunrise and avoid the extra consumption of energy after daylight hours

A four member committee under the Ministry of Science and Technology to examine the need for multiple time zones and daylight saving submitted its report in 2004 to the Parliament.

The committee did not recommend changes to the unified time system in the country as the prime meridian was chosen with reference to a central station and that the expanse of the Indian State was not large.

AMRUT, Smart Cities Mission and Housing for All to rejuvenate urban infrastructure

Urban rejuvenation or renewal calls for re-organizing the urban clusters where the infrastructure has far outlived its extent and is almost bursting at seams. The concept of urban rejuvenation has been used in many of the leading cities of world like Hong Kong, Singapore etc.

Urban rejuvenation or re-development or renewal, requires formation of authorities to carry out the 'large-scale redevelopment of urban areas, rather than piecemeal rebuilding of individual buildings or the provision of specific facilities'. In other words the buildings which were older than certain age were pulled down and new infrastructure was created which catered to the needs of the changed time.

Politically sensitive and requiring extreme transparency along with faith of the community in the system implementing it, it was repackaged in our context in India 10 years back with the launch of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) in December 2005 by the then United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

However, JNNURM has not lived up to the outcome of ‘urban renewal’ in any locality in India. The only visible outcome of JNNURM has been its low-floor AC or Non-AC buses plying in the city.

The High Powered Expert Committee for Investment in Urban Infrastructure found in a 2011 report that the JNNURM had not delivered either the required investment or service improvements. In 2012, the Comptroller Auditor General declared it a ‘failure’, detailing under-used, unspent funding (particularly for the poorest wards), unmet reforms (even on paper) and projects rarely completed (8.9 per cent overall).

It is to stem the loopholes in JNNURM, the BJP-led NDA government announced in 2014 to replace JNNURM with a new mission with a focus on GIS-based planning and waste management. As a result, these three schemes were envisaged and launched.

Conceptually these schemes sound effective but these three different urban renewal schemes need to be closely integrated in order to work well. Any city aspiring for the fundamental aspects of urban infrastructure and living has to leverage all these schemes in some way or the other. Besides, budgetary outlays are not adequate and state governments need to contribute generously.

Greece crisis and its Impact on India

Default by Greece on loans repayment to the IMF, would be first case by an advanced economy which will have impact on both the world economy and Indian economy.

Though India’s economy is not Greece-centric, Greece’s default on its payments and expected weakening of the euro will have indirect effect on the country’s economy.

Europe is India's largest trading partner with 129 billion US dollars of merchandise trade registered in 2014-15. Of this the European Union accounted for 97 billion US dollars with the UK, Germany, France and Italy being the leading partners.

India will earn less on its exports especially engineering goods for which is the Europe is the largest destination.

Further, Europe is the second biggest outsourcing market for the Indian IT firms after the US and any crisis in Europe will also have implications for the Indian exports economy.

The biggest fear on account of Greece crisis would be on capital inflows as it may trigger capital outflows from the India with interest rates set to rise in order to face the volatile situation in the capital market.

More than 20 killed in Darjeeling as heavy rain triggered landslides

Heavy rain on 30 June 2015 triggered twenty-five landslides in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong sub-divisions of Darjeeling district of West Bengal. The landslides resulted in death of at least 23 people and several are missing.

The landslides in three sub-divisions also caused extensive damage to National Highway 10 (old NH 55A) and NH 55 hampering the telecommunication link to Darjeeling and Sikkim. NH 10 connected Darjeeling to Sikkim, Kalimpong, Lava, Lolegaon and Garubathan and NH 55 connected Darjeeling to Siliguri, Matigara with Darjeeling.

Two battalions of the Shashatra Seema Bal (SSB) have been sent to carry on the rescue operation in the landslide-hit areas.

Prime Minister launched Digital India Week to spread awareness about Digital India Programme

Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on 1 July 2015 launched the Digital India Week in New Delhi.

The newly created week is aimed at encouraging people’s involvement and creating awareness among them about various initiatives launched under the Digital India Programme launched in August 2014.

The Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY) is the nodal agency for implementing the Digital India Programme in close cooperation with other departments and ministries.

Digital India has been envisioned as an ambitious umbrella programme to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.

In order achieve the above objectives, several projects/productswere already launched by the Union Government and Public Sector Enterprises or ready to be launched as indicated below:

• Digital Locker System aims to minimize the usage of physical documents and enable sharing of e-documents across agencies. The sharing of the e-documents will be done through registered repositories thereby ensuring the authenticity of the documents online, says the government.
• MyGov.in has been implemented as a platform for citizen engagement in governance, through a "Discuss", "Do" and "Disseminate" approach.The mobile app for MyGov would bring these features to users on a mobile phone.
• Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) Mobile appwould be used by people and Government organizations for achieving the goals of Swachh Bharat Mission.
• eSign frameworkwould allow citizens to digitally sign a document online using Aadhaar authentication.
• The Online Registration System (ORS)under the eHospital application has been introduced. This application provides important services such as online registration, payment of fees and appointment, online diagnostic reports, enquiring availability of blood online etc, the government claims.
• National Scholarships Portal is said to be a one stop solution for end to end scholarship process right from submission of student application, verification, sanction and disbursal to end beneficiary for all the scholarships provided by the Government of India.
• Digitize India Platform (DIP) for large scale digitization of records in the country that would facilitate efficient delivery of services to the citizens.

• Bharat Net, a high speed digital highway to connect all 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats of country. This would be the world's largest rural broadband connectivity project using optical fibre.
• Policy initiatives have also been undertaken by in the e-Governance domain like e-Kranti Framework, Policy on Adoption of Open Source Software for Government of India, Framework for Adoption of Open Source Software in e-Governance Systems, Policy on Open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)for Government of India, E-mail Policy of Government of India, Policy on Use of IT Resources of Government of India, Policy on Collaborative Application Development by Opening the Source Code of Government Applications, Application Development & Re-Engineering Guidelines for Cloud Ready Applications
• BSNL has introduced Next Generation Network (NGN), to replace 30 year old exchanges, which is an IP based technology to manage all types of services like voice, data, multimedia/ video and other types of packet switched communication services.
• BSNL has undertaken large scale deployment of Wi-Fi hotspots throughout the country. The user can latch on the BSNL Wi-Fi network through their mobile devices.
• BPO Policy has been approved to create BPO centres in different North Eastern states and also in smaller / mofussil towns of other states.
• Electronics Development Fund (EDF) Policy aims to promote Innovation, R&D, and Product Development and to create a resource pool of IP within the country to create a self-sustaining eco-system of Venture Funds.
• National Centre for Flexible Electronics (NCFlexE) is an initiative of Government of India to promote research and innovation in the emerging area of Flexible Electronics.
• Centre of Excellence on Internet on Things (IoT)is a joint initiative of Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY), ERNET and NASSCOM.

Matti Makkonen, pioneer of SMS technology, died

Matti Makkonen, the man responsible for conceiving the idea of short messaging service (SMS) technology, died on 30 June 2015 following a brief illness. He was 63.

This Finnish tech pioneer pitched the idea of SMS messaging to two colleagues in a pizzeria while at a telecommunications conference in 1984. However, it was on 3 December 1992 that the first text message was sent from a computer to a mobile device via the Vodafone network.

Unfortunately, Makkonen was not able to patent the invention of SMS messaging as it was only a conceived idea back in 1984. Though, he won The Economist's Innovation Award in 2008 in the computing and telecommunications category for his work on SMS.

In 2000, Makkonen joined Nokia Networks Professional Services as the units director, and was the CEO of Finnet Oy from 2003 through 2005. Earlier, he was the President of the mobile communication unit Telecom Finland in 1989. 

Born in Suomussalmi, Makkonen graduated as an electrical engineer from the Oulu technical college in 1976.

Greece became first developed nation to default on IMF debt

Greece on 30 June 2015 became the first developed nation to default on International Monetary Fund (IMF) debt. It became a defaulter after it missed the deadline for payment of 1.7 billion dollar (1.5 billion euro) to IMF. 

The Eurozone Finance Ministers refused to extend its bailout to Greece after it rejected the proposal given by the troika viz., International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Commission (EC) and European Central Bank (ECB). The proposal said that Greece needs to raise its primary surplus within two years in order to avail the 15.5 billion Euros of funding, which in turn required pension and tax reforms for which the Syriza government is reluctant to.

However, the ministers said that they will discuss a last-minute request from Greece for a new two-year bailout on 1 July 2015. The last country to do so was Zimbabwe in 2001.

Besides, IMF also announced that it had received a request from the Greek authorities for an extension of their obligation and that it would go to the Executive Board in due course.

Comment:
Greece, which is now in arrears, is at a risk of leaving Euro and shifting back to its old currency Drachma. Euro replaced Drachma as a currency of Greece in 2001 (at the rate of 340.750 drachma to the euro). This may have a major implication for Greece economy and its exports.

The use of Drachma by Greece, which will be of lower value than Euro, will lead to increase in the cost of imports raising the specter of inflation in the already battling economy.

Registrar General of India released Census data on disabled population

The Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India on 30 June 2015 released the data on disabled population by type of disability, type of households and sex – 2011. 

The data gives the number of households having disabled persons by type of households including normal, institutional and houseless households.

The disabled persons living in different type of households are further cross-classified into eight different disabilities i.e. seeing, hearing, speech, movement, mental retardation, mental illness, any other and multiple disability for India/States/UTs.

Main Highlights
• There are 207.8 lakh households having disabled persons in the country constituting 8.3 percent of the total households. 
• Out of the total households having disabled persons, about 99 percent households are normal households, 0.4 percent are institutional and 0.2 percent are houseless households.
• Total households having disabled persons show an increase of 20.5 lakhs, from 187.3 lakhs in 2001 to 207.8 lakhs in 2011 (6.2 lakhs in rural and 14.3 lakhs in urban). 
• Normal households increased by 2024495 institutional households by 8370 and houseless households by 13560 during the decade 2001-11.
• Disabled persons in normal households increased by 4819382 institutional households by 65895 and houseless households by 22948 during the said decade.
• The State/Union Territory with maximum disabled population is Uttar Pradesh and is followed by Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. 
• The State/Union Territory with minimum disabled population is Lakshadweep and is preceded by Daman and Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.

China's Standing Committee of the NPC passed National Security Law

China's Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) on 1 July 2015 passed the new National Security Law highlighting cyber security and demanding the establishment of a coordinated, efficient crisis management system.

Out of the 155 lawmakers present at a bimonthly session of the Standing Committee, 154 voted for the legislation. This new law vows to protect people's fundamental interests.

Provisions of the National Security Law

• The new law defined national security as the country's state power, sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity; its people's wellbeing; its sustainable economic and social development; and other major interests are comparatively in a state of being in no danger and free of any threat from both within and without, and that the aforementioned state can be constantly guaranteed.
• The law covers a wide spectrum of areas including defense, finance, science and technology, culture and religion.
• Outer space activities and assets, as well as those at ocean depths and in polar regions, were also brought under the national security umbrella.
• A national security review and regulatory system and relevant mechanisms would be set up to censor items that may have an impact on national security including foreign investment, projects involving national security.
• There is a clause on cyberspace sovereignty added in the law. China will make Internet and information technology, infrastructure, information systems and data in key sectors secure and controllable.
• The Internet and information security system would be established to ensure cyberspace security, enhance innovation, speed up development of strategic technology and beef up intellectual property protection and application.
• A coordinated, efficient crisis management system under a centralized leadership will also be set up.

Security is a crucial issue in China. In 2013, a National Security Commission headed by Xi Jinping was established. An overall national security outlook put forward by Xi was also incorporated in this new law.

Background
The first National Security Law was adopted in the year 1993. It regulated the work of the country's national security agencies, whose major duty is counterespionage.

However, in November 2014, China's legislature adoptedCounterespionage Law, a new security law that replaced the above 1993 legislation. 

This new law granted national security agencies authority to seize property related to espionage activities. Security agencies were entitled to seal and seize any device, money, venue, supplies and other properties that are related to espionage activities.

Union Government notified dates for Compliance Window under Black Money Act

Union Government on 1 July 2015 notified dates for compliance window under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 (‘Black Money Act’).

It gave three months time (till 30 September 2015) for people to declare their undisclosed foreign income and assets to escape prosecution under the new Black Money Law.

The notice says that those making the disclosure during this period will have further three-month time till 31 December 2015 to pay the taxes and the penalty on their foreign income and assets.

As per the notice, people availing the one-time compliance window would be required to pay a tax of 30 percent and a penalty of a similar amount.

Under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Asset) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, which will come into force from April 2015, the penalty would be much higher at 90 percent, in addition to the 30 percent tax on undisclosed foreign assets.

The new law was passed by Parliament in May 2015 and was notified on 26 May 2015. The Act provides for separate taxation of undisclosed foreign income and assets. Stringent penalties and prosecution, including rigorous imprisonment up to 10 years and penalty equal to three times of the tax have been prescribed for violation

Maharashtra government signed MoU with Blackstone and Panchshil SPV for three projects

The Maharashtra government on 30 June 2015 signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Blackstone and Panchshil SPV for three projects worth 4500 crore and generation of some 50000 jobs.

Blackstone will invest 750 crore rupees in developing EON Free Zone SEZ; 1200 crore rupees in developing Hinjewadi Phase-3; 1500 crore rupees in IT Park in Central Mumbai and 1050 crore rupees in other IT parks in Mumbai.

Blackstone is a premier global investment and advisory firm that strives to provide solutions that create lasting value. Their portfolio companies employ more than 600000 people across the globe, making it a major factor in economies around the world.

Panchshil SPV is a well known reality firm known for implementing the best construction practices in the industry and have transformed themselves into one of Pune’s leading property developers. The company offers finest of the Luxury Residences, Integrated Workspaces, Special Economic Zones, Built-To-Suit Campuses, Hospitality or Retail.

Panchshil Realty is a portfolio company under Blackstone.

India banned trade with ISIS, other terror groups

India on 30 June 2015 announced a ban on trade with the Islamic State for Iraq and Syria (ISIS)-linked entities, the al-Nusra Front and other groups and individuals associated with the Al-Qaeda.

The move comes in compliance with the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution of February 2015 to act against militants active in oil-rich countries such as Iraq, Syria and Libya. With this, India joined the worldwide efforts to squeeze terror finances.

The Union Commerce Ministry in its notification has prohibited the trade of oil and refined oil products (hydrocarbons) and items of scientific, cultural (including antiquities)and religious importance with the IS and related terrorist organizations.

Mhara Gaon- Jagmag Gaon Scheme launched in Haryana

The Haryana Government on 1 July 2015 launched the Mhara Gaon- Jagmag Gaon scheme, aimed at providing 24 hour uninterrupted power supply to rural domestic consumers in a phased manner with their active participation.

With this, Haryana became the first state in the country to launch such an innovative voluntary scheme. The state will bear an additional expenditure of 15 to 20 lakh rupees per village for implementation of this scheme.

Highlights of the Mhara Gaon- Jagmag Gaon Scheme
• The scheme is aimed at strengthening the distribution network system for the convenience of the people. 
• In the first phase of the scheme, 83 feeders have been identified covering 310 villages having minimum line losses and which have made payment of their electricity bills. Power supply would be ensured for 15 hours in these villages instead of 12 hour power supply they were getting at present.
• The consumers in these 310 villages falling under these 83 feeders would now be urged to install their meters outside their houses and get their old electricity wires replaced with insulated wires. 
• If this happens, power supply in these villages would then be increased by three more hours and these would be supplied power for 18 hours. In the next step, the power supply would be further increased to 21 hours on those feeders where the payment of bills would cross the mark of 90 percent. 
• The feeders where the outstanding amount of electricity bills has been paid in five equal installments, their penalty and interest would be waived off and power supply for 24 hours would be ensured on those feeders. 
• Bijli Panchayat would also be organized in all villages falling under such feeders. The officers of electricity department would also be present in these panchayats who would resolve the complaints of consumers on the spot. 
• Complaints like replacement of meters, electricity wire, installment of new poles and enhancement of load will be resolved within a week. 
• Apart from this, a Nodal Officer of the level of a Junior Engineer will also be appointed on every feeder, who will coordinate various activities at village level to ensure the effective implementation of the scheme.
• Under the scheme, the electricity bills will depict the information like line losses on the particular feeder and pending amount of electricity bill so as to ensure transparency.

Sanjeev Galande selected for G D Birla Award for Scientific Research for 2014

Sanjeev Galande was on 1 July 2015 selected for G D Birla Award for Scientific Research for 2014. The name was announced by the K K Birla Foundation and he is the 24th recipient of the award.

Prof. Galande is a professor of Biology and Team Leader at the Centre of Excellence in Epigenetics, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune.

He joined IISER in 2010 and his focus area is epigenetics and studies regulation of gene expression, and nuclear organization and function.Epigeneticsis an area of study about changes that influence gene function.

As a post doctoral fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (1996-2001) he studied the role of MAR-binding proteins in tumour genesis.

He was born on 20 September 1967 and is a Ph.D in Biochemistry from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in 1996.

Earlier in 2010, he also received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize.

In 2014, the award was given to noted physicists and string theorist Rajesh Gopakumar for the year 2013. Other noted former recipients include Prof. Goverdhan Mehta, Prof. R A Mashelkar, Prof P Balaram and Prof Ashoke Sen among others.

About the Award

The G D Birla Award for Scientific Research was instituted in 1991 by the K K Birla Foundation with the objective of according recognition to high caliber scientific research undertaken by Indian Scientists, below the age of 50 living and working in India. It carries a cash prize of 1.5 lakh rupees and a citation.

Like all other awards instituted by the Foundation the G D Birla Award is also given every year and is available in any branch of science including medical science, basic as well as applied. The emphasis is particularly on the work done by the scientist during the last five years.

UK Food Standards Agency gave clean chit to India-made Maggi

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) of United Kingdom (UK) on 1 July 2015 released test results of Nestle’s 2-minute Maggi noodles manufactured in India. FSA in its release said that levels of lead in the product are well within European Union permissible levels and would not be a concern to consumers. 

In total 900 samples were taken from Nestle, local authorities and port authorities for being tested.

United Kingdom Food Standards Agency (UK FSA) decided to test a selection of Maggi Noodles as a precaution after the product was banned in India on 5 June 2015. It was banned in India by food safety regulator Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for containing high levels (beyond permissible limits) of lead and taste enhancer Monosodium Glutamate (MSG). 

Earlier, the food regulators of other countries have said that Maggi noodles imported from India are completely safe to eat. The food regulators that have permitted sale and consumption of the product include the Vietnam Food Administration (VFA), National Measurement Institute in Australia and Singapore’s Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA).

At present, Nestle India exports Maggi noodles to Canada, UK, Singapore and Kenya and to third parties in the US, Australia and New Zealand.

Anisa Rasouli nominated as first female judge of Afghanistan Supreme Court

Anisa Rasouli, the head of the Afghan Women Judges Association and a former juvenile court judge, was on 30 June 2015 nominated as the first ever female Supreme Court judge of Afghanistan. 

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani nominated her name as the female judge of the nine-member bench Supreme Court and now, Rasouli’s nomination will require an approval from the Parliament. 

Under the Afghan Constitution, Supreme Court judges have a fixed tenure of ten-years.

The move of Ghani, former academic and World Bank economist, who has appointed female in different capacities in recent past including Rasouli’s nomination as judge in the country’s Supreme Court may shed Afghanistan’s image as a country that denies rights to women. 

Earlier in April 2015, lawmakers approved Ghani's nominees for a number of cabinet positions, including four women. He had also appointed two female governors for the provinces of Ghor and Daikundi. 

Afghan women’s were banned from leaving their houses without a male chaperone and were denied basic right like education, under the fundamentalist Taliban regime between 1996 and 2001.

 

U P Singh appointed as Interim CMD of Oil India Limited

U P Singh was on 1 July 2015 appointed as the Interim Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of state-run Oil India Limited. He succeeded S K Srivastava, who superannuated on 1 July 2015.

U P Singh is a Joint Secretary (Exploration) under Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

Normally, in cases where the appointment of a regular chairman is delayed, interim charge is handed over to the senior-most director on the company’s board. In case of Oil India Ltd, Borah, who is the wife of former OIL Chairman and Managing Director B C Borah, is the senior-most director. 

Singh was made acting chairman after questions were raised over selection of Rupshikha Saikia Borah, Director (Finance), OIL by government headhunters Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB).

 

Digital Guddi-Gudda Board of Jalgaon district adopted as Best Practice under BBBP scheme

The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development on 1 July 2015 adopted the ‘Digital Guddi-Gudda Board’ as a Best Practice under Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme. It was named as the best practice on the occasion of Digital India Week that is being observed from 1 July to 7 July 2015.

The Digital Guddi-Gudda Board is an innovation of District Jalgaon in Maharashtra. It was initiated by its Collector, Rubal Aggarwal with the support of Raksha Khadse, Member of Parliament from Raver and AT Nana Patil, Member of Parliament from Jalgaon.

Features of the digital board
• It works as a platform for dissemination of Information, Education and Communication (IEC) Material on BBBP.
• It is also used to update monthly birth statistics.
• It displays audio video material as well as still frames for disseminating information.

 

Rahul Yadav sacked as CEO of Housing.com

The board of Housing.com on 1 July 2015 sacked the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and co-founder Rahul Yadav with immediate effect. The decision was taken during the regular board meeting held in New Delhi.

The board unanimously agreed to sack Yadav saying that his behaviour towards investors and media was not befitting of a CEO and is detrimental to the company.

The board further said that Yadav will not be an employee or part of the SoftBank backed portal in any manner, the company said.

Since last few months Yadav has hogged the limelight, first for putting in his papers questioning the intellectual capability of his company’s board and later in May 2015 for giving away all his holding in the company worth 2000 crore rupees to the employees.

Housing.com, an online portal in real estate, expanded from its original rent and resale proposition to include PGs and hostels, serviced apartments, land, plot projects, and new projects.

It was founded by a group of IIT-ian including Rahul Yadav in 2012 and at present it has more than 2551 employees in over 100 cities across India.

In December 2014, Housing.Com raised 90 million US dollars through private equity infusion from SoftBank Group along with Falcon Edge and other existing investors. SoftBank with 32 percent stake is the majority shareholder in the company.

 

Darshan Jain, an Indian-American teacher named for US Presidential Award

Darshan Jain, an Indian-American teacher from Illinois, US in July 2015 was named for prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching by President Barack Obama. 

Along with Jain, President named 108 Mathematics and Science teachers as recipients of the Award.

Jain has taught mathematics at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois for eight years. Right now, he is serving the school as the director of mathematics. He is a BA in mechanical engineering and a MS in secondary mathematics education from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching
The award is given annually to outstanding K-12 Science and Mathematics teachers from across the country and carries a cash prize of 10000 US dollars from the National Science Foundation.

 

Chandrasekaran Ramakrishnan appointed as CFO of Tata Motors' Group

Chandrasekaran Ramakrishnan was on 1 July 2015 appointed as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of India's biggest auto maker Tata Motors' Group with immediate effect. With this, he will continue as Chief Financial Officer and Key Managerial Personnel for Tata Motors Limited.

Now, CFOs of all Tata Motors subsidiaries like Jaguar Land Rover, Daewoo will report to Ramakrishnan. Chandrasekaran has been the CFO of Tata Motors since 2007 and was one of the senior executives to bring Jaguar Land Rover under the company's fold in 2008. 

Tata Motors is the leader in commercial vehicles in each segment, and among the top in passenger vehicles in the compact, midsize car and utility vehicle segment.

 

Union Cabinet approved setting up of Online National Agriculture Market

The Union Cabinet on 1 July 2015 approved the setting up of an Online National Agriculture Market that will provide more options to farmers for selling their produce.

Currently, farmers are restricted to selling their produce at mandis or market committees that charge various taxes on producers. But, now an online platform would be set up wherein farmers will be able to sell and buy fruits, vegetables and other produce from across the country.

An agency will also be set up to oversee online trading and to ensure that transactions take place smoothly. It will also focus on creating go-downs and facilitating transportation of the farm produce after the online trade.

With this, farmers can sell their produce both in physical mandis and on online platform. This will likely boost their incomes and improve availability, moderating price rise.

 

CCEA approved Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yoiana (PMKSY)

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 2 July 2015 gave its approval for a new scheme called Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY).

The Yojana was approved with an outlay of 50000 crore rupees over a period of five years, that is, from 2015-16 to 2019-20 and the allocation for the financial year 2015-16 has been kept at 5300 crore rupees.

Aim of PMKSY

Bringing concerned Ministries/Departments/Agencies/Research and Financial Institutions engaged in creation/use/recycling/potential recycling of water under a common platform so that a comprehensive and holistic view of the entire water cycle is taken into account and proper water budgeting is done for all sectors namely, household, agriculture and industries.

Objectives of PMKSY

• To provide convergence to existing schemes of water management, thus bringing efficiency to the use of water
• Expand cultivable area under assured irrigation (Har Khet ko pani)
• Improve on-farm water use efficiency to reduce wastage of water
• Enhance the adoption of precision-irrigation and other water saving technologies (More crop per drop)
• Enhance recharge of aquifers and introduce sustainable water conservation practices by exploring the feasibility of reusing treated municipal based water for peri-urban agriculture
• Attract greater private investment in precision irrigation system

Architecture of PMKSY

PMKSY envisages a decentralized State level planning and execution structure. As part of it States will be allowed to draw up a District Irrigation Plan (DIP) and a State Irrigation Plan (SIP).

DIP will have holistic developmental perspective of the district outlining medium to long term developmental plans integrating three components namely, water sources, distribution network and water use application of the district to be prepared at two levels -  the block and the district.

All structures created under the schemes will be geo-tagged.

Monitoring and Implementation of PMKSY

National level: The programme will be supervised and monitored by an Inter-Ministerial National Steering Committee (NSC) under the Chairmanship of the Prime Minister with Union Ministers of all concerned Ministries.

The implementation of the yojana will be through a National Executive Committee (NEC) to be constituted under the Chairmanship of the Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog.

Besides, NEC will also oversee allocation of resources, inter ministerial coordination, monitoring and performance assessment, addressing administrative issues etc.

State Level: A State Level Sanctioning Committee (SLSC) to be chaired by the Chief Secretary of respective state will be administering the programme at state level. The committee will have all authority to sanction the project and also monitor the progress of the scheme.

District Level: At the district level their shall be a district level implementation committee for ensuring last mile coordination at the field level.

The Yojana is in addition to existing farmer friendly initiatives taken by the NDA government in the last one year. These include issuing of Soil Health Card to farmers, setting up soil and fertilizer laboratories for Soil Health Management, launch of Pramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana to promote organic farming, and starting of dedicated Kisan Channel by Doordarshan.

 

Industrial Policy 2015 for Chandigarh city launched

The Governor of Punjab, Haryana and Administrator of UT Chandigarh Kaptan Singh Solanki on 1 July 2015 released the Industrial Policy 2015 for the Chandigarh city. The policy is aimed at boosting employment and motivates medium and small industries in the city.

The policy was formulated by the Department of Industries after inviting suggestions from Industries Association of Chandigarh, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chandigarh. 

The Industrial Policy will be reviewed at periodic intervals by the Administration. 

Highlights of the Industrial Policy 2015
• The objectives of the policy are to promote non-polluting industry in Chandigarh and to maximize production, achieve higher productivity through modern and efficient work techniques and optimum utilization of available resources. 
• The services like water connection, sewer connection, acknowledgement under Micro, Small And Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006 (MSMED, Act 2006) and power connection, CST/TIN number, and license services under Factories Act, 1948 will be provided in a time bound manner.
• If the department does not provide these services within the prescribed time limit, the services will then be deemed to have been approved. 
• The administration would start self certification under various Acts of the Labour Law and exemption would also be given from inspection there under. VAT forms will now be issued online. 
• Under the policy, the administration will set up a Centre of Excellence for fasteners/nut screws/tractor parts and bath fitting enterprises. 
• Certain additional activities such as IT/Electronics Hardware/Software/ITES units are allowed in Industrial areas. 
• Industrial plots vacant in Industrial Area will be allotted as per the policy of the Administration 
• The policy mandated creation of online single window system by 2 October 2015. This would save the new and existing entrepreneurs from the hassle of going from one office to another for various applications.