15-16 MAY 2016
Prakash Singh panel submits report on Jat quota Agitation
Prakash Singh committee constituted to inquire into the omission and commission on part of all officers and officials of police and civil administration during Jat Quota agitation submitted its report to Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. The report was submitted on 13 May 2016.
The panel submitted its report in two volumes which run into about 450 pages, of which the Main Report is in about 200 pages and another 200 pages is of Annexures. While the, second volume of only about 40 pages, deals with the role of Intelligence in the context of the riots.
After receiving the report, Chief Minister said that government would examine the report and would take appropriate action accordingly.
Findings of the committee
• There is a mention of about 90 officers who have been found guilty.
• Officers who were derelict in performing the duty or showed soft corner for the agitators have been identified and their names have been mentioned in the report.
• The report carried the names of officers who acted responsibly during the Jat quota agitation.
To finalsie the report, the committee visited 8 affected districts of the state and inspected the crime scene, gave patient hearing to the aggrieved and listened those who wanted to appear before the committee. It also collected video footage of the incident of arson from people.
Background
• Haryana government on 25 February 2016 constituted a Committee headed by Prakash Singh, former Director General of Police (DGP) UP and Assam and Director General Border Security Force.
• The committee was supposed to inquire into the acts of omission and commission on part of all officers and officials of both police and civil administration during the period 7 to 2 February 2016 when the Jat reservation agitation resulted in blockades of roads including National Highways.
Other members of the committee were
• IPS officer KP Singh, presently posted as DGP (Haryana)
• IAS officer Vijai Vardhan, Additional Chief Secretary, Higher Education, Archives and Cultural Affairs Department
Supreme Court upholds validity of Criminal Defamation Law
The Supreme Court on 13 May 2016 upheld constitutional validity of penal laws on defamation. The two-judge bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Justice Prafulla C Pant said the right to life under Article 21 includes the right to reputation.
The apex court was hearing the matter based on 24 petitions alleging that the provisions of criminal sanction act as a censoring device, violates the freedom of speech guaranteed by the Constitution. They argued that criminal defamation travels beyond the Constitution's article 19(2) that imposes reasonable restrictions on the freedom of speech and expression.
The petitions were filed by a number of politicians and public figures like BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, and media associations, among others.
Highlights of the Judgement
• It said that the current criminal defamation law is constitutionally valid.
• It held that criminalisation of defamation to protect individual dignity of life and reputation is a reasonable restriction on the fundamental right of free speech and expression.
• The court said that Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code make defamation a criminal offence. A person's right to freedom of speech has to be balanced with the other person's right to reputation and therefore the two Sections are necessary.
• The bench said that the freedom of right to speech and expression does not confer any right to a person to trample the reputation of others.
• It said that defaming a person amounts to offence against society and the government is entitled to lodge a case against a person under criminal defamation law.
• The bench in its 268-page verdict dismissed apprehensions and said that criminal defamation may have a chilling effect on the freedom to circulate one’s independent view.
• It held that deliberate injury to the reputation of an individual is not a mere private wrong, but it is a crime committed against society at large and the State has a duty to redress the hurt caused to its citizen’s dignity.
The court also directed magistrates across the country to observe extreme caution while issuing summons in private defamation complaints.The Supreme Court said interim protection will continue and criminal proceedings will remain stayed before trial court.
Quoting Sections 499 and 500 of Lord Macaulay’s Indian Penal Code (IPC) of 1860 said though free speech is a highly valued and cherished right, imprisonment is a proportionate punishment for defamatory remarks. Macaulay’s IPC prescribes two years’ imprisonment for a person found guilty of defamation won the court’s approbation.
Besides, the petitioners who are facing criminal defamation trial were given eight weeks time to approach the High Court’s concerned under Article 226 and Section 482 of the Cr.PC to quash the proceedings against them. For this purpose, the apex court has stayed the criminal proceedings against them for eight weeks.
Modi, Maithripala Sirisena released 'Simhastha Declaration' in Ujjain
The Prime Minister along with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on 14 May 2016 released 'Simhastha Declaration' at Ninora village in Ujjain.
Both leaders addressed the concluding session of the 3 day International Vichar Mahakumbh for the month-long Simhastha Mela. Sri Lankan President Sirisena was on a two day visit to India from 13 May to 15 May 2016.
51 sacred points have been included in this declaration for betterment of mankind and these elixir points will start new discourse for India and the world.
Highlights of the Declaration
• The declaration is a prescription on how a duty-centered system that had been the origin of Indian philosophy of life is relevant in today’s India.
• Saints and seers, scholars and subject experts from the country and abroad discussed on various issues in the sessions of 'Vichar Mahakumbh'.
• Sessions on sanitation, sustainable development and climate change, values of life, peace, agriculture and cottage industry were organised.
Apart from this, PM Modi also appealed saints to hold Vichar Kumbh every year with devotees and discuss issues like the need to plant trees or educate the girl child. Calling the Kumbh as the biggest example of excellent management, he advised academic institutions to adopt Kumbh as a case study.
India successfully test fires indigenous Advanced Air Defence interceptor missile, Ashwin
India on 15 May 2016 successfully test fired an indigenously developed Advanced Air Defence interceptor missile, Ashwin. It was launched from the complex of Abdul Kalam Island (formerly known as Wheeler Island) off Odisha coast.
The advanced version of low altitude supersonic ballistic interceptor missile was fired at a ballistic missile, a modified version of Prithvi weapon system. It was test fired to validate various parameters of the interceptor in flight mode.
About Advanced Air Defence interceptor missile, Ashwin
• Ashwin is capable of destroying any incoming hostile ballistic missile.
• Indigenously developed by DRDO, the ADD interceptor missile is a 7.5-meter long single-stage solid rocket propelled guided missile equipped with a navigation system, a hi-tech computer and an electro-mechanical activator.
• It weighs around 1.2 tonnes and has a diameter of less than 0.5 meter.
With this, India became the fourth country to have successfully developed this anti-ballistic missile system. The other three are United States, Russia and Israel. This development now strengthens India's position in the very exclusive Ballistic Missile Defence club of the three countries.
The success is likely to pave the way for the supersonic interceptor missile’s induction in the armed forces. The test was the twelfth test of interceptor missiles fired from a warship in the Bay of Bengal near Paradip. Of the 11 tests held earlier, nine have been successful.
Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis clinch 2016 Italian Open title
World No. 1 women's doubles team of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis on 15 May 2016 captured the Italian Open title. The pair defeated Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova 6-1, 6(5)-7, 10-3 in the final to clinch the title.
The Italian Open women’s doubles title was the fifth title for the Indo-Swiss pair after Sydney, Brisbane, Australian Open and St Petersburg.
With the win, Mirza and Hingis also captured their 14th women's doubles title together.
About Sania Mirza
•Sania Mirza is currently ranked No. 1 in the women's doubles rankings.
•From 2003 until her retirement from singles in 2013, she was ranked by the Women's Tennis Association as India's No. 1 player, both in singles and doubles.
•Throughout her career, she has established herself as the most successful female Indian tennis player ever.
About Martina Hingis
•Martina Hingis is a Swiss professional tennis player who is currently ranked world No. 1 in doubles by the WTA.
•She spent a total of 209 weeks as the singles world No. 1.
•She has won five Grand Slam singles titles (three at the Australian Open, one at Wimbledon, and one at the US Open), twelve Grand Slam women's doubles titles and four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles.
About Italian Open
•The Italian Open is an annual tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy.
•It is one of the most prestigious red clay tennis tournaments in the world after the French Open.
•The tournament is played on clay courts, currently during the second week of May.
•The event is also known as the Rome Mastersand the Italian Championships.
•Rafael Nadal has won the title a record seven times.
•The 2015 Italian Open women’s doubles title was won by Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic.
•Serene Williams is the winner of 2016 Italian Open women’s singles title.
•Andy Murray is the winner of 2016 Italian Open men’s singles title.
Andy Murray beats Novak Djokovic to win first Italian Open title
Andy Murray on 15 May 2016 won his first Italian Open Men's Singles Tennis title. In the final played in Rome, third-ranked Murray defeated the top-ranked Djokovic 6-3, 6-3.
It is Murray's first title in Rome and it comes exactly a week before the French Open begins on 22 May 2016.
The only other British man to win the tournament was George Patrick Hughes in 1931. He is also the first British singles champion in Italy since Virginia Wade won the title in 1971.
On the other hand, Serena Williams ended a nine-month title drought with a 7-6, 6-3 win over Madison Keys in an all American women's Singles final.
Besides, Sania Mirza and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis won the Women's Doubles Title. In the final, the World Number One pair defeated the 7th seeded Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 6-1, 6-7, 10-3.
Indian short film ‘Beti’ to be screened at Seattle International Film Festival
Beti, a four minute documentary film on girl child education from India, has been invited for special screening at the 42nd Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), Washington DC.
Beti is the only short film from India to be featured amongst 421 films representing 85 countries and will be screened on 30 May 2016, which is Seattle Memorial Day at the SIFF.
About Beti
• The film was made by young student filmmakers of Chandigarh.
• The movie is directed by Shivain Arora.
• Other crew members of the film include Pihu Gupta, Keshav Garg and Shubham Garg.
• The short film promotes girl child by narrating the real life story of three girls from a government school and their dream for the future.
• Purple People Labs produced the film with a local school as a joint Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative for kids from the Young Filmmakers Academy.
Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF)
• SIFF is held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976.
• It is among the top film festivals in North America.
• Its mission is to create experiences that bring people together to discover extraordinary films from around the world.
2016 Red Flag Aerial combat exercises conclude in Alaska
The Air Forces of India and the U.S. on 13 May 2016 concluded the 2016 Red Flag aerial combat exercises at Alaska in the U.S.
A successor to the Cope Thunderexercise series, the main phase of the Red Flag exercises had commenced on 28 April 2016 with a mix of combat and support elements from the Indian Air Force (IAF), US Air Force (USAF) and US Navy (USN).
The four-week long aerial combat exercises were held at the Eielson Air Force Basein Alaska, United States of America. This was the second time India had participated in such an exercise after 2008.
Key highlights of 2016 Red Flag aerial combat exercises
•A team of over 170 Indian Air Force personnel was part of the exercises.
•The Indian Air Force flew 10 aircraft: four Su-30MKIs, four Jaguars and two IL-78 aerial refuelling tankers.
•The objective of this inter-continental deployment was to showcase the IAF’s capability in undertaking integrated air ops and to imbibe operational lessons from the exercise engagements.
•During the exercise, IAF also flew as a part of the Red Force (simulated as the Defensive force component fighting to protect own airspace and assets) alongside the Aggressors which was a first of its kind.
•The IAF Jaguars DARIN II undertook integrated strike missions dropping practice bombs over the world renowned JPARC Air to Ground Range.
•The temperatures were sub-zero during a large part of the exercise.
About Exercise Red Flag
•Exercise Red Flag is an advanced aerial combat training exercise hosted at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.
• Red Flag – Alaskais held at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. It is a successor to the previous COPE THUNDER exercise series in the Western Pacific and Alaska.
•The purpose of the exercises is to train pilots and other flight crew members from the U.S., NATO and other allied countries for real air combat situations. This includes the use of enemy hardware and live ammunition for bombing exercises within the adjacent Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR).
FIFA appoints Justice Mukul Mudgal as Deputy Chairman of its Governance Committee
World governing body for football, FIFA (International Federation of Association Football) on 14 May 2016 appointed Justice (retd) Mukul Mudgal as deputy chairman of its Governance Committee.
Portuguese Luis Miguel Maduro, Advocate General of European Court of Justice (ECJ), was appointed as the Chairman of the Governance Committee.
Justice Mudgal was also appointed as the head of the FIFA’s first Independent Review Committee along with Luis Miguel Maduro.
Mudgal is the former Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana and headed the IPL spot-fixing probe. He was also involved in overseeing the conduct of international cricket matches and IPL games at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi. The inclusion of justice Mudgal to FIFA’s is being seen as a major development for Indian football and judiciary.
The decision to appoint Jutice Mukul Mudgal was taken at the 66th FIFA Congress which was held at the Mexico City.
About FIFA’s Independent Review Committee
The Committee has been set up to protect the organisation against any conflict of interest in the approval of any appointments to the key committees and bodies.
As a result it will be responsible for checking eligibility of the members who will be appointed to the FIFA’s Audit & Compliance Committee, whose chairman Domenico Scala’s resigned on 14 May 2016.
NITI Aayog to prepare 15-year vision documents by replacing 5-year plans
The Union Government in the second week of May 2016 decided to replace 5-year plans with 15-year vision documents.
The long-term perspective plans will be prepared by the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog beginning from 2017-18 financial year.
Features of 15-year vision document
• Unlike the earlier 5-year plans, the new document will also cover subjects like internal security and defence.
• The previous twelve 5-year plan documents, for the period between 1951 and 2017, focused on social and economic infrastructure like health, connectivity and education.
• The decision to bring internal security and defence in the ambit of the vision document is in tune with the government’s announcement to done away with plan and non-plan expenditure from 2017-18.
• The initial vision document will be co-terminus with the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda (2016-2030) to which India is a signatory.
• To convert the long term vision into an implementable policy, a 7-year strategy will be prepared by the NITI Aayog as part of the National Developmental Agenda.
• The strategy will be for 2017-18 to 2023-24. There will also be a mid-term review of the strategy in the year ending March 2020.
• Besides, a 3-year action Plan for 2017-18 to 2019-20 will be prepared to align the National Development Agenda with the 14th Finance Commission award period (2015-20).
Indian women win silver medal at 18th Asian Team squash Championships 2016
Indian women’s squash team on 15 May 2016 won the silver medal at the 18th Asian Team squash championships. In the final played at Taipei in Chinese Taipei, Indian team lost to the Malaysian team by 0-2 margin.
This was the ninth women’s Asian Team Squash Championships title for the Malaysian team.
In the first match, India’s Sachika Ingale lost in straight games 7-11, 6-11, 10-12 to Malaysian Sivasangari Subramaniam. Later, Delia Arnold of Malaysia defeated India's top player Joshna Chinappa 9-11, 13-11, 11-8, 11-9.
Dipika Pallikal was not required to play the third match which could have been decisive had Joshna won her encounter.
On the other hand, the Indian boys’ team faced a defeat in the semi-final by arch-rivals Pakistan, 2-1. With this win, Pakistan managed to enter the final for a clash with Hong Kong. Pakistan Men's Team won the title by defeating Hong Kong.
Rahul Dravid and Mahela Jayawardena appointed to ICC Cricket Committee
Former India captain Rahul Dravid and ex-Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena were on 13 May 2016 appointed to the ICC Cricket Committee for a 3-year term.
While Rahul Dravid was chosen by current test captains to represent the interests of the current players, Mahela Jayawardena will represent the interests of past players.
Along with Dravid, Tim May, former Australia off-spinner, was also elected to the committee to represent the interests of the current players.
While Dravid and Jayawardena replaced Kumar Sangakkara and Laxman Sivaramakrishnan respectively, Mahela Jayawardena will take over from former Australia captain Mark Taylor.
Meanwhile, the ICC re-elected Anil Kumble as the chairman of the committee for another 3-year term until 2018. The former India captain was appointed as the Chair in 2012.
About ICC Cricket Committee
• The ICC Cricket Committee is representative of all stakeholders in the game, including players, umpires and the media.
• It is empowered to make recommendations on cricket playing issues to the Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC).
• If the matter is a policy matter, the committee will send its recommendation to the ICC Board for the final approval.
India, WHO signed agreement for Global promotion of Traditional Systems of Medicine
The Union Ministry of AYUSH and the World Health Organization (WHO) on 13 May 2016 signed the Project Collaboration Agreement (PCA) for cooperation on Global promotion of Traditional Systems of Medicine
The agreement was signed by Ajit M Sharan, Secretary of Union Ministry of AYUSH and, Dr Marie Kieny, Assistant Director General of Health Systems and Innovations at WHO in Geneva.
Highlights of the Agreement
• The PCA is titled as Co-operation on promoting the quality, safety and effectiveness of service provision in traditional and complementary medicine between WHO and AYUSH, India, 2016-2020.
• It aims at promoting the quality, safety and effectiveness of service provision in traditional and complementary medicine.
• It aims to support WHO in the development and implementation of the WHO Traditional and Complementary Medicine Strategy: 2014-2023.
• It will deliver, for the first time, WHO benchmark document for training in Yoga, and WHO benchmarks for practice in Ayurveda, Unani and Panchakarma.
Comment
This Project Collaboration Agreement (PCA) with WHO is a further recognition of India’s rich experience in the development and governance of traditional medicine.
It will pave the way for India’s long-term collaboration with the WHO in fostering the global promotion and integration of AYUSH systems of medicine including through the inclusion of Ayurveda and Unani in the International Classification of diseases and the International Classification of Health interventions.
Dutchman Max Verstappen became youngest winner of F1 at Spanish Grand Prix
Dutch teenager, Max Verstappen, on 15 May 2016 became Formula One's youngest race winner after winning the Spanish Grand Prix. Red Bull's Verstappen defeated Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen by 0.616 seconds.
His teammate Sebastian Vettel stood at the third position.
Verstappen drove to triumph after, Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg crashed out in the first lap of the race.
At 18 years and 228 days, Max Verstappen is the youngest race winner in F1 history. The Dutchman was two years and 210 days younger than the previous youngest winner, Sebastian Vettel.
Few days back, Verstappen was promoted from feeder team Toro Rosso in a driver switch with Daniil Kvyat. It was only his second day racing for Red Bull after the surprise switch to the team.
Max Verstappen
• He is the son of former F1 driver Jos Verstappen who never finished better than third in his career.
• He became the first Dutchman to win a Formula One race and just the second to stand on an F1 podium. The other is his father, Jos, who scored two podium finishes in 1994 with Benetton.
• He made debut aged 17 at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix for Toro Rosso, this made him the youngest driver to compete in the history of the sport.
• Verstappen is also the sport’s youngest race leader and youngest podium finisher.
• He is also the youngest F1 point scorer and the youngest driver to start a Grand Prix, both achieved 2015 season.
• Verstappen is the first driver to win in his first race with a new team since Fernando Alonso won on his Ferrari debut in 2010.
• Verstappen’s victory is the first time Red Bull has ever won a Grand Prix when Sebastian Vettel has not been in the team.
Justice Navin Sinha sworn in as Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court
Justice Navin Sinha on 14 May 2016 was sworn-in as the new Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court.
Governor Kalyan Singh administered the oath to the new Chief Justice of the state High Court.
Sinha was appointed by President Pranab Mukherjee as per provisions Article 222 of Constitution after following recommendation of the Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) T.S. Thakur.
Who is Justice Navin Sinha?
•Prior to the transfer to the Rajasthan High Court, Justice Navin Sinha served as the Chief Justice of the Chhattisgarh High Court.
•He obtained an LL.B. degree after completing a bachelor's degree in arts.
•He joined bar on 26 July 1979.
•He practised for 23 years primarily at Patna High Court and specialised in civil, constitutional, labour, service, commercial, company, criminal laws.
•He was made a permanent judge of Patna High Court on 4 February 2004.
•He was transferred to Chhattisgarh High Court on 9 July 2014.
Income Declaration Scheme for domestic black money to start from June 1
Income Declaration Scheme of the Union Finance Ministry will start from 1 June 2016 and will remain in force till 30 September 2016. The scheme is also called four month window for declaring black money.
Under the Scheme declared income would be taxed at the rate of 30 percent plus 'Krishi Kalyan' cess of 25 percent on taxes payable and a penalty at the rate of 25 per cent of the taxes payable.
In other words, a total of 45% of the income declared under the scheme will be taxed.
Other Key Highlights
• Declarations can be filed online or with the Principal Commissioners of Income-tax.
• Surcharge and penalty must be made latest by 30 November 2016.
• Assets specified in the declaration will be exempted from Wealth tax
• The scheme shall apply to undisclosed income whether in the form of investment in assets or otherwise, pertaining to Financial Year 2015-16 or earlier.
• Foreign assets or income to which the Black Money Act 2015 applies are not eligible for declaration under this scheme.
• Non-payment of total taxes, surcharge and penalty in time or declaration by misrepresentation or suppression of facts shall render the declaration void.
• Immunity from prosecution under the Income-tax Act, 1961 and Wealth Tax Act, 1957 is also provided along with immunity from the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 subject to transfer of asset to actual owner within the period specified in the Rules.
The scheme is incorporated as Chapter IX of the Finance Act, 2016. It seeks to provide an opportunity to all persons who have not declared their income correctly in previous years to come forward and declare their undisclosed incomes.
2016 International Day of Families observed with theme Families, healthy lives and sustainable future
The 2016 International Day of Families was observed across the world on 15 May 2016. The theme for the year was Families, healthy lives and sustainable future.
The International Day of Families provides an opportunity to promote awareness of issues relating to families.
The theme of 2016 International Day of Families focuses on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goal 3, which is to Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
About the International Day of Families
•The Day was proclaimed by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in 1993 with resolution A/RES/47/237.
•It reflects the importance the international community attaches to families.
•The theme for the 2015 International Day of Families was Men in charge? Gender equality and children's rights in contemporary families.
UR Rao becomes first Indian to be given IAF Hall of Fame Award
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced on 14 May 2016 that noted space scientist Udupi Ramachandra Rao, popularly known as U. R. Rao, will be honoured with the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) Hall of Fame Award for 2016.
Rao will be honoured in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the progress of astronautics within the framework of the IAF's activities.
The scientist will be presented with the certificate at the 67th International Astronautical Congress, which will be held in Guadalajara in Mexico on 30 September 2016.
Who is Udupi Ramachandra Rao?
•U. R. Rao is the former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation.
•At present, he is the Chairman of the Governing Council of the Physical Research Laboratory at Ahmedabad.
•He is also the chancellor of Indian Institute for Space Science and Technology (IIST) at Thiruvananthapuram.
•He was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 1976.
•He was inducted into the Satellite Hall of Fame, Washington on 19 March 19 2013 at a ceremony organised by the Society of Satellite Professionals International. With this, he became the first Indian to be inducted.
About International Astronautical Federation
•The International Astronautical Federation is an international space advocacy organisation based in Paris.
•It was founded in 1951 as a non-governmental organization to establish a dialogue between scientists around the world.
•It has over 300 members from 66 countries across the world.
•It is linked with the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) and the International Institute of Space Law (IISL) with whom the IAF organises the annual International Astronautical Congress.
•The IAF Hall of Fame consists of a permanent gallery of honoured personalities, a citation, biographical information and a picture on the IAF website.
Renewable energy country attractiveness index 2016 released: India Placed at 3rd Position
Global organization EY on 10 May 2016 released the Renewable energy country attractiveness index 2016. The report reveals 40 countries on the attractiveness of their renewable energy investment and deployment opportunities based on a number of indicators.
This year, the European markets slipped down in the EY’s Renewable energy country attractiveness index (RECAI) rankings while less mature markets across Latin America, Africa and Asia continued to rise.
Highlights of the report
• The emerging markets now represent half of the countries in the 40-strong index, including four African markets featuring in the top 30.
• Index was topped by the United States (US) and was followed by China at 2nd position and India at 3rd position.
• Countries like Chile at 4th position, Brazil at 6th position and Mexico at 7th position climbed higher in the index top 10.
• While Germany and France fell in the ranking to 5th and 8th position respectively.
• Argentina was the highest-scoring new entrant in the index. The transformation of the country’s economy brought it into the index in 18th position.
RECAI 2016 scores and rankings
|
Rank |
Country |
RECAI Score |
|
1 |
US |
77.0 |
|
2 |
China |
76.9 |
|
3 |
India |
71.6 |
|
4 |
Chile |
70.4 |
|
5 |
Germany |
69.0 |
|
6 |
Brazil |
67.5 |
|
7 |
Mexico |
67.0 |
|
8 |
France |
66.7 |
|
9 |
Canada |
64.6 |
|
10 |
Australia |
63.8 |
About the RECAI report
• The Renewable energy country attractiveness index (RECAI) ranks 40 markets on the attractiveness of their renewable energy investment and deployment opportunities.
• The ranking is given based on a number of macro, energy market and technology-specific indicators.
US launched Phase 2 of EPAA missile defence system in Romania
The USA on 11 May 2016 launched the Phase 2 of the European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA) missile defence system in Romania.
As part of this, a new ground-based missile defense system will be set up at the US naval support facility in Deveselu, Romania.
Details related to the system
• It was set up as part of the USA-Romanian Ballistic Missile Defense Agreement that was signed in 2011.
• It is equipped to counter threats from short and medium-range missiles with the use of SM-3 missile interceptors.
• It will be built and maintained by the USA. It will be jointly operated by the USA and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).
• It is the first land-based defensive missile launcher in Europe and will join other elements of the NATO defensive shield located in Germany, Turkey and Spain.
About European Phased Adaptive Approach
• It was announced by the President of the USA Barack Obama in 2009.
• Its purpose is to protect the United States, US deployed forces, European allies and partners against the threat of ballistic missiles.
• It is intended to replace the George Bush administration's planned bilateral deployment of a different system to Poland and the Czech Republic.
• Unlike the USA-centric plan of Bush, the EPAA pursues a NATO-centric approach using alternate technology.
• It has the following four phases –
Phase 1:A land-based early warning radar system was set up in Turkey to address short- and medium-range ballistic missile threats.
Phase 2:Land based ballistic missile defense system in Romania.
Phase 3:It seeks to improve coverage against medium- and intermediate-range missile threats with an additional land-based SM-3 site in Poland. It will be completed by 2018.
Phase 4: It seeks to counter medium- and intermediate-range missiles and potential future inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) threats from the Middle East. It will be completed by 2020.
Union Government launches ePACE, INFRACON and up-Scaled INAM PRO for Road Transport Sector
Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari on 16 May 2016 launched three initiatives for best practices in road transport sector. These three innovative IT initiatives are: INFRACON, ePACE and up-Scaled INAM PRO.
These initiatives are aimed at making the road building procedure faster, more transparent and more efficient.
These innovative IT initiatives are developed in house by National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL).
Key points of these initiatives
ePACE: It stands for Projects Appraisal & Continuing Enhancements and it is an online integrated Management Information System.
• It brings projects from all wings of the Ministry under a common platform, ensuring their effective and real time tracking.
• More than 2000 projects being executed by multiple agencies are currently listed on the portal.
• The portal can be freely accessed by anybody, and information regarding projects in any particular state can be found at the click of a button.
• The portal also allows for validation checks to prevent wrongful entries, making it difficult to fudge figures.
• It has provision to obtain reports in multiple formats with graphical interface for round the clock monitoring.
• It has also been provided with GIS interface to enable easy geo-tracking of the projects.
• The architecture of the application is scalable and customizable.
• ePACE as a platform is amenable to be used for monitoring projects pertaining to any ministry in the country and can improve governance of such projects.
INFRACON:It is the National Portal for Infrastructure Consultancy Firms and Key Personnel.
• It acts as a kind of bridge between consultancy firms working in the road engineering and construction sector and domain experts and key personnel
• It has linkages to Aadhar and Digi-locker for data validation and purity.
• 474 consultancy firms and 2387 key personnel under various categories are already registered with the portal.
• It will lead to a significant reduction of paper work during bid submissions and also brings in a lot of transparency and speed since the evaluation of technical bids can be done at the click of a button.
INAM PRO: It has been developed as a web-based application (www.inampro.nic.in) for Infrastructure and Material Providers.
• It is a kind of a web based market place that brings together the material providers and the prospective buyers on a common platform.
• It was launched in March 2015 to facilitate contractors and cement buyers engaged in executing projects in road transport sector to place cement orders online with the registered cement companies.
• With the help of INAM Pro, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is able to track and monitor the activities of buyers and suppliers, and remove impediments of both the parties
• Given the success of INAM-PRO, other materials like steel and steel slag have also been brought on this platform so as to make this as a comprehensive e-market place for infrastructure providers.
Besides, these Nitin Gadkari also released the IT Task Force Report, which has suggested many innovative ways in which IT can be used to make the working of the transport sector more efficient and transparent.