5-6 November eng
5 november
Jitu Rai won silver in 13th Asian Shooting Championship
Ace shooter Jitu Rai on 4 November 2015 won India's first senior medal at the 13th Asian Shooting Championship in Kuwait City. He bagged the silver in the finals of the men's 50 metre pistol event.
Korea’s Park Daehun, who won the gold medal of the event, shot finals world and Asian record score of 199.2, while Jitu finished with a finals score of 189.5.
In the process, Jitu defeated his long-time rivals Jin Jongoh of Korea and Vladimir Issachenko of Kazakhstan.
Apart from this, India also won four silver and two bronze medals in the junior events of the championships. In the women's 25 metre pistol event, Heena Sidhu, Gauri Sheoran and Annu Raj Singh could not qualify for the finals.
Results of some other shooting events
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10m air rifle junior men's event |
Junior Women's 50m Rifle Prone Event |
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• Gold: Xuechao Qian of China |
• Gold: Fatemeh Karamzadeh of Iran |
Flipkart appointed Surojit Chatterjee as Head of Consumer Experience and Growth
India’s e-commerce giant Flipkart on 4 November 2015 appointed former Google product management director Surojit Chatterjee as the Senior Vice-President and Head of Consumer Experience and Growth.
Chatterjee will be responsible for consumer experience across desktop and mobile. He will report to Chief Product Officer Punit Soni.
Before his appointment at Flipkart, Chatterjee headed the mobile search advertising and AdSense for Search (AFS) at Google’s Mountain View office. He was also a founding member of Google's mobile search ads. He played a vital role in making mobile search ads a growth engine for Google, and eventually developed it into a multi-billion dollar business.
Prior to Google, he also worked as a senior product manager at Symantec Corporation and senior engineer at Oracle and IBM.
Chatterjee obtained his bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from IIT Kharagpur. He completed his MS in Computer Science from SUNY Buffalo. Later, he obtained an MBA degree from MIT Sloan School of Management.
Forbes list of World's Most Powerful People 2015 released
The Forbes list of the World's Most Powerful People 2015 was released on 4 November 2015. This was Forbes’ seventh annual ranking of World’s Most Powerful People. The list provided the annual ranking of the World’s 73 Most Powerful People.
The list was topped by Russian President Vladimir Putin for the third year in a row. Putin is followed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel (rank 2) who moved up 3 spots from 2014, and President Barack Obama (rank 3) dropped 1 spot, making it the first year a sitting US President has not made it into the top 2 spots.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was ranked as the world’s ninth most powerful person. In 2014, Modi was placed at 14th position.
Top 10 in the list are
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Ranking |
Name |
Country/Organisation |
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1 |
Vladimir Putin |
Russia |
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2 |
Angela Merkel |
Germany |
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3 |
Barack Obama |
United States |
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4 |
Pope Francis |
Roman Catholic Church |
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5 |
Xi Jinping |
China |
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6 |
Bill Gates |
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation |
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7 |
Janet Yellen |
Washington, United States |
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8 |
David Cameron |
United Kingdom |
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9 |
Narendra Modi |
India |
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10 |
Larry Page |
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Margaret Chan of World Health Organization was ranked at the 73rd (last) position in the list of most powerful people of world.
The list have name of 8 new entrants and they are
• Saudi Arabia King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (rank 14), he replaced the former king, who was ranked in 2014
• US Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (rank 58), a returnee who was ranked 16 in 2011
• Bill Clinton the founder of Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation (rank 64)
• Dell CEO Michael Dell (rank 59)
• Blackstone Group Chairman and CEO Stephen Schwarzman (rank 62)
• Dalian Wanda Group Chairman Wang Jianlin (rank 68), he is China’s richest
• Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (rank 69)
• Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn (rank 70)
• Entrepreneur and US Presidential candidate Donald Trump (rank 72)
The men and women who are featured on Forbes’ annual ranking of the World’s Most Powerful People constitute 0.00000001% of the global elite whose actions move the planet. These heads of state, financiers, philanthropists and entrepreneurs truly run the world.
India's former Ambassador to Nepal Bimal Prasad dead
India's former Ambassador to Nepal Bimal Prasad on 4 November 2015 passed away in New Delhi. He was 92.
Prasad, who was also a close aide of Jayaprakash Narayan, worked as professor of history at University of Patna. He also taught South Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Later, he served as the dean of School of International Studies.
After retirement, Prasad was appointed ambassador to Nepal by Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar.
The former ambassador had also authored a number of books on Jayaprakash Narayan’s philosophy and life including Socialism, Sarvodaya and Democracy, Gandhi, Nehru and JP, Studies in Leadershipand A Revolutionary's Quest.
Prasad completed his graduation from Patna University. He attended Columbia University as a Fulbright Scholar and completed his PhD on the Origins of India's Foreign Policy. He was Senior Fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and Visiting Professor at the University of Leeds.
Navtej Singh Sarna appointed as Indian High Commissioner to United Kingdom
Navtej Singh Sarna was on 31 October 2015 appointed as Indian High Commissioner to United Kingdom (UK). Sarna is a 1980 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer.
Prior to this appointment, Sarna was working as Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs where he was responsible for looking after country’s diplomatic affairs with the UK and other European nations.
Earlier, he had served in Indian missions in Moscow, Warsaw, Thimphu, Geneva, Tehran and Washington DC. He has also served as Indian Ambassador to Israel.
He also held the distinction of being the longest-serving spokesperson of the External Affairs Ministry.
Sarna has also authored many books including The Exile- a novel based on the life of Maharaja Duleep Singh, We Weren’t Lovers Like That- a novel and a non-fiction The Book of Nanak.
President Pranab Mukherjee launched research project Imprint India
President Pranab Mukherjee on 5 November 2015 launched Imprint India, a Pan-IIT and IISc joint initiative.
The project encourages the Indian technical institutions to develop a blueprint for research to crack major engineering and technology challenges relevant to the nation.
Imprint India is a 1000 crore rupees project, which aspires to:
•Identify areas of immediate relevance to society requiring innovation
•Direct scientific research into identified areas
•Ensure higher funding support for research into these areas
•Measure outcomes of the research effort with reference to impact on the standard of living in the rural/urban areas
The Imprint India will focus on 10 themes and each will be coordinated by one IIT/IISc. The themes are:
1.Health Care - IIT Kharagpur
2.Computer Science and ICT – IIT Kharagpur
3.Advance Materials – IIT Kanpur
4.Water Resources and River systems – IIT Kanpur
5.Sustainable Urban Design – IIT Roorkee
6.Defence – IIT Madras
7.Manufacturing – IIT Madras
8.Nano-technology Hardware- IIT Bombay
9.Environmental Science and Climate Change – IISc, Bangalore
10. Energy Security – IIT Bombay
On the occasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the IMPRINT India brochure and hand over the first copy to the President Mukherjee.
Besides, an Inter Ministerial Group (IMG)is being set up as the single window mechanism. The group will shortlist research projects by leading research and technology institutes. It will also approve funds for the same.
IMG will comprise of members from multiple ministries, such as Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD), Ministry of Defence, Department of Science & Technology, Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Rural Development and so on.
Maldives declared State of Emergency for 30 days
Citing threat to national security, Maldives government on 4 November 2015 declared a state of emergency for a period of 30 days.
The declaration was made under Article 253 of Maldivian constitution that gives powers to the President to declare emergency and suspend certain laws and citizen rights.
The measure was taken after arms and explosives were seized by the police in a lorry parked at an island resort in Male. The arms and explosives were found during the investigation into the September 2015 blast on the speedboat on which President Abdulla Yameen was traveling.
Under the emergency provisions, police can arrest protestors and political leaders without warrant. Political experts are also viewing the declaration in context of the planned anti-government public rally by opposition Maldivian Democratic Party on 7 November 2015.
The action comes few days after Vice President Ahmed Adeeb was arrested in connection with the explosion aboard the president’s boat, which was termed as an assassination attempt by the authorities. He was arrested on 25 October 2015. The authorities have also arrested a senior Maldivian diplomat as well as four other Maldivians.
Financial Secrecy Index 2015 released; India moderately secretive
Tax Justice Network on 2 November 2015 released the Financial Secrecy Index 2015 that ranked jurisdictions according to their secrecy and the scale of their offshore financial activities.
While Switzerland is the most secretive jurisdiction in the world, India, with 42 ranking, is identified as the moderately secretive among 92 countries/jurisdictions surveyed.
Key findings of the report
• Though global financial transparency improving few countries like the USA threatening progress.
• While Switzerland (1), Hong Kong (2), the USA (3), Singapore (4) and Cayman (5) are identified asthe top secretive jurisdictions in the world, Slovenia (88), Dominica (89), Finland (90), Cook Islands (91) and Montserrat (92) are the most transparentamong the surveyed countries.
• An estimated 21 to 32 trillion US dollars of private financial wealth is located, untaxed or lightly taxed, in secrecy jurisdictions around the world.
• Illicit cross-border financial flows have been estimated at 1-1.6 trillion US dollars per year.
• Since the 1970s African countries alone have lost over 1 trillion US dollars in capital flight, while combined external debts are less than 200 billion dollars.
• Financial secrecy hurts citizens of rich and poor countries alike. European countries such as Greece, Italy and Portugal have been brought to their partly knees by decades of tax evasion and state looting via offshore secrecy.
• Competition between jurisdictions to provide secrecy facilities have, particularly since the era of financial globalisation really took off in the 1980s, become a central feature of global financial markets.
• The secrecy world creates a criminogenic hothouse for multiple evils including fraud, tax cheating, escape from financial regulations, embezzlement, insider dealing, bribery, money laundering, and plenty more.
• As a result of parking funds abroad secretly, many poorer countries are losing tax receipts. This is resulting in their reliance on foreign aid handouts.
Report with respect to India
• India is identified as moderately secretive jurisdiction as the index placed the jurisdiction between top 31 and 40 countries/jurisdictions surveyed.
• With a secrecy score of 39.19, India ranked 45 among 92 jurisdictions surveyed.
• India accounts for slightly less than 1.5 per cent of the global market for offshore financial services, making it a large player compared with other secrecy jurisdictions.
• In the Transparency of Beneficial Ownershipsegment-it was identified that-banking secrecy is partly curtailed, partly discloses or prevents trusts and private foundations and company ownership details are not maintained in official records.
• In the Corporate Transparency Regulation segment-it was identified that- India does not require that company ownership details are publicly available online, company accounts be available on public record and financial reporting by companies to public on country-by-country basis.
• In the Efficiency of Tax and Financial Regulation segment-India requires resident paying agents to tell the domestic tax authorities about payments to non-residents, uses appropriate tools for efficiently analysing tax related information and avoids promoting tax evasion via a tax credit system and partly allows harmful legal vehicles.
• In theInternational Standards and Cooperationsegment-India partly complies with international anti-money laundering standards and participates fully in Automatic Information Exchange.
• India had at least 53 bilateral tax information sharing agreements complying with basic OECD requirement, ratified the five most relevant international treaties relating to financial transparency and partly cooperates with other states on money laundering and other criminal issues.
About the Index
• It is the biggest ever survey of global financial secrecy that combines a secrecy score with a weighting to create a ranking of the secrecy jurisdictions and countries that most actively promote secrecy in global finance.
• It is a tool for understanding global financial secrecy, tax havens or secrecy jurisdictions, and illicit financial flows or capital flight.
• The term Secrecy jurisdictionwas used as an alternative to the more widely used term tax havens that use secrecy to attract illicit and illegitimate or abusive financial flows.
Indian-born Harjit Sajjan sworn-in as Defence Minister of Canada
Indo-Canadian Sikh Harjit Sajjan was on 4 November 2015 sworn-in as Defence Minister of Canada. Sajjan succeeded Conservative Defence Minister Jason Kenney.
He is one of the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s 30-member Cabinet that was sworn-in at a public ceremony held at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, Canada. Trudeau was sworn-in as the 23rd Prime Minister of Canada.
Sajjan is a decorated Lt Colonel in the Canadian Armed Forces who was elected as a MP for Vancouver South. He has served in Bosnia and had three deployments to Kandahar, Afghanistan. He has received numerous military honours, including the Meritorious Service Medal in 2013.
As the new Defence Minister, Sajjan will work with Trudeau on reshaping Canada's combat mission fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
Sajjan was born in India and later moved to Canada with his family when he was five-years-old.
Other Indian-born Cabinet Ministers in the Canadian Cabinet
• Amarjeet Sohi was sworn in as Minister for Infrastructure. He began his career as a bus driver.
• Sikh woman Bardish Jhagger was sworn in as Minister for Small Business and Tourism.
• Navdeep Bains was awarded with the important cabinet berth
Dr T K Viswanathan Committee on Bankruptacy Law Reforms submitted its report
The Bankruptcy Law Reforms Committee (BLRC) headed by Dr T K Viswanathan on 4 November 2015 submitted its report to the Union Ministry of Finance.
The Report of the BLRC isin two parts-
• Rationale and Design/Recommendations
• A comprehensive draft Insolvency and Bankruptcy Bill covering all entities
Key recommendations of the report
• Insolvency Regulator: The Bill proposes to establish an Insolvency Regulator to exercise regulatory oversight over insolvency professionals, insolvency professional agencies and informational utilities.
• Insolvency Adjudicating Authority:The Adjudicating Authority will have the jurisdiction to hear and dispose of cases by or against the debtor.
• The Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) andthe National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT)shall be adjudicating authorities over individuals and unlimited liability partnership firms and companies and limited liability entities respectively.
• NCLAT shall be the appellate authority to hear appeals arising out of the orders passed by the Regulator in respect of insolvency professionals or information utilities.
• Insolvency Professionals: The draft Bill proposes to regulate insolvency professionals and insolvency professional agencies. Under Regulator’s oversight, these agencies will develop professional standards, codes of ethics and exercise a disciplinary role over errant members leading to the development of a competitive industry for insolvency professionals.
• Insolvency Information Utilities: The draft Bill proposes for information utilities which would collect, collate, authenticate and disseminate financial information from listed companies and financial and operational creditors of companies.
Significance Draft Insolvency and Bankruptcy bill
• The draft Bill has consolidated the existing laws relating to insolvency of companies, limited liability entities, unlimited liability partnerships and individuals which are presently scattered in a number of legislations, into a single legislation.
• The proposed Bill will provide greater clarity in the law and facilitate the application of consistent and coherent provisions to different stakeholders affected by business failure or inability to pay debt.
• The bill further seeks to improve the handling of conflicts between creditors and debtors, avoid destruction of value, distinguish malfeasance vis-a-vis business failure and clearly allocate losses in macroeconomic downturns.
About Dr T K Viswanathan Committee
• The committee was appointed on 20 October 2014 by the Union Government to provide Bankruptcy Code for firms with focus on small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
• It was headed by former Lok Sabha secretary-general and former law secretary T K Vishwanathan.
• The formation of the committee is in tune with government’s commitment to introduce an entrepreneur-friendly legal bankruptcy framework and improve ease of doing business.
Indian Railways signed MoU with Odisha for implementation of railway projects
The Odisha Government and Indian Railways on 4 November 2015 inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to form a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for implementation of railway projects in the state.
The MoU aims at forming a Joint Venture Company to develop railway infrastructure in Odisha.
Key highlights of the MoU
•It will work towards providing railway connectivity to Boudh, Kandhamal, Nayagarh, Nabrangpur, Kendrapada, Malkangiri and Deogarh districts.
•Maoist-affected districts will be in the high priority list.
•At least six-seven rail projects will be constructed in the state.
•A 40-km link connecting the Nabarangpur district headquarters to the nearest station at Jeypore in neighbouring Koraput district will also be built.
•The Odisha Government will have 51 percent stake in the project, while the Railways Ministry will have 49 percent stake.
•Initially, 200 crore rupees has been allocated to be spent on the project.
AP signed MoU with WEF to support state in assessing its competitiveness
Government of Andhra Pradesh on 4 November 2015 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the World Economic Forum (WEF) to support the state in assessing its economic competitiveness.
The MoU was signed in the presence of the State Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and WEF Managing Board member Philipp Rosler in New Delhi.
As per the MoU, the WEF will assist the state in assessing its economic competitiveness-both strengths and weaknesses.
The assessment is aimed at leveraging the key role played by the data driven and evidence based policy making and will employ the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI).
Accordingly, the WEF will provide technical support and training the government staff on GCI methodology, data collection and interpretation of results.
The GCI based assessment is comprehensive as it takes into account 12 parameters-Institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic stability, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial sector development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication and innovation.
Child born out of rape has right over assaulter’s property: Allahabad High Court
Allahabad High Court on 3 November 2015 ruled that a child born out of rape will have inheritance rights over the property of the assaulter, the biological father. It said that the child will be treated as an illegitimate child of the rape accused.
The ruling was given by a Lucknow division bench of the High Court comprising Justice Shabihul Hasnain and Justice DK Upadhayaya. The right is subjected to the personal law to which the child belongs.
The court also asked the government to pay 10 lakh rupees to her as maintenance. It also asked the government to conceal her identity and ensure that the girl gets a job once she turns adult.
Key Highlights of the Ruling
• The newly born girl could be given in adoption, but if she is adopted than will not have any right of inheritance in the property of her biological father.
• If the child is not taken in adoption by any one, no directions of the court would be required and she would inherit the property of her biological father by operation of the personal law by which she is governed.
• The court also defined a second category of victim, that is, first is the girl who was raped and the second is the child born from rape.
Second Category of Victim
It termed that the newly born child is a victim in the sense that he/she is forced to lead a life of shame and stigma without his/her fault. As he/she is brought to this world to suffer as the father refuses to give his name to the child, the mother abandons him/her for social reasons.
In this case the child is victim of circumstances and thus it termed injury to reputation as a violation of right to live with dignity.
The child definitely suffers injury of being left in this world to fend for him/her without any support. She/he requires rehabilitation; therefore, the court termed the child born as a second victim.
What was the Case?
The court passed its observation while hearing a rape case of a 14-year-old survivor. The gild got pregnant after being raped and recently delivered a baby girl. The family of the girl moved to high court seeking permission to terminate the pregnancy.
But, a panel of doctors appointed by the court said that abortion at this stage would be dangerous for the survivor's life, as the family of girl came to know about the pregnancy after expiration of the legal deadline of 21 weeks for safe abortion.
Justice T S Thakur set to be the Chief Justice of India
Chief Justice H L Dattu on 4 November 2015 recommended Justice Teerth Singh Thakur to be the next Chief Justice of India.
Justice Thakur will take over as the 43rd chief justice of India. He will be appointed as the highest-ranking judge in the Supreme Court of India on 2 December 2015. He will retire on 4 January 2017.
The law ministry will forward the file of Justice Thakur’s appointment to the Prime Minister’s Office. His warrant of appointment will be issued once the President approves it.
Born on 4 January 1952, Thakur was a former acting Chief Justice of Delhi High Court who later took over as Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court. On 17 November 2009, he was elevated to the Supreme Court of India.
RBI notified Operational Guidelines of Sovereign Gold Bonds 2015-16
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 4 November 2015 notified the Operational Guidelines of the Sovereign Gold Bonds 2015-16. These bonds will be issued by the RBI from 5 November – 20 November 2015.
Main Operational Guidelines
• Joint holding and nomination: Multiple joint holders and nominees (of first holder) are permitted. Necessary details may be obtained from the applicants as per practice.
• Interest on application money: Applicants will be paid interest at prevailing savings bank rate from the date of realization of payment to the settlement date that is the period for which they are out of funds.
• Lien marking: As the bonds are government securities, lien marking will be as per the extant legal provisions of Government Securities Act, 2006 and rules framed there under.
• Agency arrangement: Scheduled commercial banks may engage NBFCs, NSC agents and others to collect application forms on their behalf. Banks may enter into arrangements or tie-ups with such entities.
• Processing through RBI’s e-kuber system: Sovereign Gold Bonds will be available for subscription at the branches of scheduled commercial banks and designated post offices through RBI’s e-kuber system.
• Servicing and follow up: Receiving offices like branches of the scheduled commercial banks and designated post offices will own the customer and provide necessary services with regards to this bond. Receiving offices will be required to preserve applications till the bonds are matured and are repaid.
Earlier on 30 October 2015, RBI decided to issue Sovereign Gold Bonds, 2015 with effect from 5 November 2015 to 20 November 2015.
Romania's Prime Minister Victor Ponta resigned
Romania's Prime Minister Victor Ponta on 4 November 2015 resigned from his position following a deadly nightclub blaze which left 32 dead and nearly 200 injured. His resignation came after more than 20000 people rallied in Bucharest to demand he step down.
Since September 2015, he has been facing weeks of intense pressure to quit after going on trial in facing charges of fraud, tax evasion and money laundering. Ponta is mired in a corruption scandal.
Ponta had been Romania's Prime Minister since 2012.
The fire at Colectiv Club broke out as some 400 people gathered for a free rock concert by the band Goodbye to Gravity. The fireworks set off inside the club ignited foam decor.
The club's single exit was overwhelmed in the panic that followed. More than 180 people were injured.
Union Government constituted Empowered Committee to approve schemes under Nirbhaya Fund
The Union Government on 4 November 2015 constituted an Empowered Committee to approve schemes proposed under the Nirbhaya Fund.
The Committee comprises officials from various ministries, including Women and Child Development, Home Affairs, Road Transport and Railways.
The Secretary of the Women and Child Development Ministry will be the chairperson of the committee.
The Members of the Empowered Committee may nominate an officer not below the rank of Joint Secretary as representative to the Empowered Committee of Officers.
The Empowered Committee of Officers will take decision on the sanction of schemes/projects from Nirbhaya Fund within 15 days of the date of receipt of the proposal by the Ministry of Women & Child Development.
Earlier in April 2015, the Union Government made the Women and Child Development (WCD) Ministry as the nodal agency for the Nirbhaya Fund in place of Union Home Ministry.
The Nirbhaya Fund has a total of 3000 crore rupees fund as 1000 crore each was allocated to it in 2014-15 and 2015-16 on top of 1000 crore rupees initial corpus.
UNHCR released study titled I am Here, I belong on Need to End Childhood Statelessness
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on 4 November 2015 released a study titled I am Here, I belong: the Urgent Need to End Childhood Statelessness.
The report draws on interviews with more than 250 stateless children and youngsters, their parents and guardians in seven countries around the world.
Highlights of the report
• Every ten minutes a stateless child is born largely because of discriminatory citizenship laws and violent conflicts taking place across the globe.
• The problem is most visible in the Syrian refugee crisis due to which around 140000 children born stateless in neighboring countries of Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey.
• Statelessness is a condition that affects at least 10 million people around the world.
• The gravity of suffering is more serious than expected as 3 million of them are children and their present and future is always at stake.
• In more than 30 countries, children who lack documentation of their citizenship cannot receive treatment at a health facility.
• In at least 20 countries, stateless children cannot receive vaccines. In others, including Cote d’Ivoire and Georgia, stateless children are not eligible for primary school or must pay a fee to attend school.
• To correct the situation, the UNHCR urged all states to take steps, including allowing children to gain the nationality of the country in which they are born.
• It also seeks to ensure universal birth registration to prevent statelessness, and the elimination of laws and practices that deny children nationality because of their ethnicity, race or religion.
The study marks one year since the launch of UNHCR's #IBelong Campaign to End Statelessness by 2024.
To achieve this goal, UNHCR urges all States to take the following stepsin line with the Global Action Plan to End Statelessness:
• Allow children to gain the nationality of the country in which they are born if they would otherwise be stateless.
• Reform laws that prevent mothers from passing their nationality to their children on an equal basis as fathers.
• Eliminate laws and practices that deny children nationality because of their ethnicity, race or religion.
• Ensure universal birth registration to prevent statelessness
Phase-I of T-Hub inaugurated in IIIT-Hyderabad
Governor of AP and Telangana ESL Narasimhan and Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata on 5 November 2015 inaugurated the first phase of Technology Hub (T-Hub).
T-Hub is a technology incubation centre and is located at the International Institute for Information Technology (IIIT-Hyderabad) in Gachibowli on the outskirts of Hyderabad.
It is the country’s largest such facility for start-ups and entrepreneurship.
Key Features of T-Hub
• Its purpose is to provide one central location form members of the local start-up community and investors to network, learn, communicate, share and make deals.
• It envisions building conducive environment and a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem within the State for the next wave of technology companies for the full cycle of growth from seed stage to maturity.
• It is a Public Private Partnership between the Government of Telangana, IIIT-H, Indian School Business, National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR) and key private sector leaders.
• It has 70000 sq -up area and offers physical and virtual infrastructure at a fee.
• Initially, about 140 start-ups would be housed at the Catalyst building, with each start-up getting a time of six months to stay after which they move out of the facility to let a fresh set of start-ups to move in.
• While in the first phase it acts as an incubator, in the second phase it will be an incubator of incubators that will be built at a cost of 150 crore rupees with a built up area of 3 lakh sq ft.
PM Narendra Modi launched three gold related schemes
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 5 November 2015 launched three gold related schemes. The schemes are – Gold Monetization Scheme, Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme and Indian Gold Coins.
The three schemes were announced by the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his 2015-16 budget speech in February 2015.
The primary purpose of the schemes is to reduce dependence on imported gold, recycle the unutilized gold in the country and most importantly, streamline the gold business in the country. At present, India is the largest consumer of gold in the world.
Gold Monetization Scheme (GMS)
Its objective is to mobilize unutilized gold from individuals, households and institutions and make them available to gold-base industries including jewellers.
Read more aboutGold Monetization Scheme
Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme
The purpose of the scheme is to reduce the demand for physical gold and to shift part of the estimated 300 tons of physical bars and coins purchased every year for investment into Demat (Dematerialised) gold bonds.
Read more aboutSovereign Gold Bond Scheme
Indian Gold Coins
• Its purpose is to revive investment and reduce dependence on imports of gold coins. At present, India has been importing about 60 tonnes of gold coins annually that are sold at a premium of 8-10 per cent.
• Under the scheme, gold coins bearing the Ashok Chakra and Mahatma Gandhi will be minted by the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India.
• Initially, the coins will be available in denominations of 5 gm and 10 gm.
• They will be sold through banks, post offices and state-run MMTC Ltd. (Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation of India) which will sell them through the World Gold Council (WGC).
French intellectual Rene Girard passed away
French intellectual Rene Girard passed away on 4 November 2015 following a prolonged illness in the United States. He was 91. He is also known as the new Darwin.
In 2005, his election to L'academie francaise (French Academy) made him earn the name as new Darwin of the human sciencesby Michael Serres. Girard was an emeritus professor at Stanford University's French and Italian department, where he taught for more than 30 years.
Girard authored around 30 books including Deceit, Desire and the Novel (1961), Violence and the Sacred (1972) and Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World (1978). His last major work was Achever Clausewitz (2007).
Girard was especially interested in the causes of conflict and violence and the role of imitation in human behaviour.
Girard was born in France in 1923 but later he moved to the United States in 1947.
Veteran actor Vikram Gokhale honoured with Vishnudas Bhave Award
Renowned film, television and stage actor Vikram Gokhale on 5 November 2015 was conferred with the prestigious Vishnudas Bhave Award.
Gokhale was honoured with the award at a ceremony held in Sangli, Maharashtra on the eve of Marathi Rangbhumi Din. Prominent actress-singer Faiyaz Shaikh presented the award to him.
The actor was felicitated with the award for his outstanding contribution to Marathi theatre.
In 2011, Gokhale was awarded with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Awardfor his Acting in Theatre. In 2013, he was facilitated with theNational Film Award for Best Actorcategory for his Marathi filmAnumati.
About Vishnudas Bhave Award
The Vishnudas Bhave Award is an annual award which was instituted by Sangli-based Akhil Maharashtra Natya Vidya Mandir. The award was instituted in the memory of famous Marathi dramatist Vishnudas Bhave.
FIFA World Rankings 2015: Belgium topped for first time
Belgium on 5 November 2015 moved to the top of the FIFA world ranking list in football for the first time. The team rose from third to first after overtaking Argentina and world champions Germany. This follows their victories in October’s European qualifiers.
The former No. 1 ranked side, Argentina, dropped to third, while Copa America champions Chile rose four places to fifth, their highest ranking. Austria improved one place to a best ever tenth place. Iran continued to top the rankings among AFC countries followed by Korea and Japan.
Top 10 ranked teams are
|
Rank |
Team |
Points |
|
1 |
Belgium |
1440 |
|
2 |
Germany |
1388 |
|
3 |
Argentina |
1383 |
|
4 |
Portugal |
1364 |
|
5 |
Chile |
1288 |
|
6 |
Spain |
1287 |
|
7 |
Colombia |
1233 |
|
8 |
Brazil |
1208 |
|
9 |
England |
1179 |
|
10 |
Austria |
1130 |
India slipped five places to 172nd in the latest chart. India lost six ranking points after their defeat at the hands of Turkmenistan and Oman in their 2018 World Cup qualifiers in October 2015 and they now have 122 points.
Tanzania’s first female Vice President Samia Suluhu sworn in
Tanzania's first female Vice President Samia Hassan Suluhu on 5 November 2015 was sworn into office. She was sworn in along with the new President John Pombe Magufuli at the swearing-in ceremony held in the country’s economic capital Dar es Salaam.
Magufuli, the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party's candidate, emerged victorious on 29 October 2015 in the presidential elections of Tanzania. The National Electoral Commission (NEC) declared that Magufuli won the election with 58.46 percent of votes.
Born on 27 January 1960, Suluhu started her career by working as a clerk in the Ministry of Planning and Development.
A graduate from the Institute of Development Management (now known as Mzumbe University) with an advanced diploma in public administration, she was employed on a project funded by the World Food Programme.
In 2000, Suluhu was elected as a special seat member to the Zanzibar House of Representatives. President Amani Karume had appointed her as the Minister of Labour, Gender Development and Children.
In 2010, she sought election to the National Assembly and won by more than 80 percent. She was appointed as the Minister of State for Union Affairs.
In 2014, she was chosen as the Vice Chairperson of the Constituent Assembly tasked with drafting Tanzania’s new constitution.
MP Government proposed 1656 crore rupees AMRUT Action Plan
The Madhya Pradesh (MP) Government on 5 November 2015 proposed to improve basic infrastructure relating to water supply, sewerage network services, storm water drainage, urban transport and parks and green services.
The plans were proposed for 32 cities and towns under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT)during 2015-16 at a cost of 1656 crore rupees.
The State Annual Action Plan (SAAP)was submitted by the State Government to the Union Ministry of Urban Development. SAAP was formulated based on Service Level Improvement Plansfor each of the 32 mission cities.
Key proposals under Action Plan
•Out of the proposed investment of 1656 crore rupees, the Union Government will invest 672 crore rupees while the state government will contribute 756 crore rupees. The remaining 228 crore rupees will be met from the resources of respective urban local bodies.
•Cost of water supply projects will be 582 crore rupees.
•Sewerage projects will ask for the investment of 926 crore rupees.
•36 crore rupees will be spent on storm water drains.
•Urban transport will seek a funding of 70 crore rupees.
•Cost for provision of parks and green spaces will be 41 crore rupees.
•During the five year mission period of AMRUT, the state government will take up a total of 101 projects with a total investment of 8279 crore rupees.
•Under the Mission, the central government will bear 50 percent of project costs in cities with a population of up to ten lakhs each and one third of project costs in mission cities with population of above ten lakhs each.
•The urban local bodies with a population of over ten lakhs will bear 16.67 percent of project costs. Those with a population of less than ten lakhs will bear 10 percent of project cost. The rest will be borne by the state government.
Rebooting India authored by Nandan Nilekani & Viral Shah released
Rebooting India: Realizing a Billion Aspirations: Nandan Nilekani and Viral Shah
The book titled Rebooting India: Realizing a Billion Aspirations authored by Nandan Nilekani and Viral Shah was released on 4 November 2015.
The book talks about the demographic dividend of India, which is expected to be the world’s youngest country by 2020 with 64 percent (roughly 800 million) of its population of working age.
It also suggests that India may fail to become a global powerhouse, if it fails to resolve the contradictions and bridge gaps that distort our society.
Through the book, the authors Nilekani and Shah say that challenge before us is to enable every one of India’s 1.2 billion citizens to realize their aspirations. According to them, it can be achieved only by using technology to radically reimagine government itself.
Rebooting India identifies a dozen initiatives where a series of citizen-friendly, high-tech public institutions can deliver low-cost solutions to India’s grand challenges.
Based on their learning from building Aadhaar, the world’s largest social identity programme, the initiatives Nilekani and Shah propose would save the government a minimum of 100000 crore rupees annually, about 1 percent of India’s GDP – enough to fund 200 Mangalyaan missions a year.
It doesn’t take 10000 people or even a thousand, say Nilekani and Shah. All it would take is a small focused team of highly skilled, enterprising individuals, and a supportive prime minister.
Nandan Nilekani, co-founder and former CEO of Infosys Technologies, was founding chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (Aadhaar). He was twice listed as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by TIME. In 2014, he was awarded The Economist’s Innovation Award in the category Economic and Social Innovation. He is chairman of EkStep, a non-profit literacy and numeracy platform.
Viral Shah worked at the intersection of policy and technology at the Unique Identification Authority of India, where he led the design of the government's payments and subsidy platforms using Aadhaar. He is a co-inventor of the Julia programming language, and co-founder of FourthLion Technologies. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
CCEA hiked Minimum Support Prices for Rabi Crops of 2015-16 season
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 5 November 2015 hiked the Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) for Rabi Crops of 2015-16 season to be marketed in 2016-17.
The decision was based on recommendations of Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) for the price policy for rabi crops for the marketing season 2016-17.
The Cabinet also decided to give a bonus of 75 rupees per quintal for rabi pulses over and above the recommendations of the CACP.
|
Commodity |
MSP for 2014-15 season (Rupees per quintal) |
MSP for 2015-16 season (Rupees per quintal) |
Increase in MSP (Rupees) |
|
Wheat |
1450 |
1525 |
75 |
|
Barley |
1150 |
1225 |
75 |
|
Gram |
3175 |
3425 |
250 |
|
Masur (Lentil) |
3075 |
3325 |
250 |
|
Mustard |
3100 |
3350 |
250 |
|
Safflower |
3050 |
3300 |
250 |
The prices would be effective from the Rabi marketing season 2016-17. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) will be the Central Nodal Agency for procurement of pulses and oilseeds.
To supplement the efforts of FCI, the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited (NAFED), National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation (NCCF), Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) and Small Farmers Agri–Business Consortium (SFAC) may also undertake procurement of oilseeds and pulses as per their capacity.
About Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP)
The Commission came into existence in January 1965 with the mandate to recommend MSPs to incentivize the cultivators to adopt modern technology and raise productivity in line with the emerging demand patterns in the country.
CACP recommends MSPs of 23 commodities including 7 cereals (paddy, wheat, maize, sorghum, pearl millet, barley and ragi), 5 pulses (gram, tur, moong, urad, lentil), 7 oilseeds (groundnut, rapeseed-mustard, soyabean, seasmum, sunflower, safflower, nigerseed) and 4 commercial crops (copra, sugarcane, cotton and raw jute).
It comprises a Chairman, Member Secretary, one Member (Official) and two Members (Non-Official).
Maldives Parliament voted to Impeach Vice President Ahmed Adeeb
Maldives Parliament on 5 November 2015 overwhelmingly voted to impeach the country’s Vice President Ahmed Adeeb. He is accused of plotting to kill the President Yameen Abdul Gayoom.
All 61 parliamentarians present voted in favour of the impeachment and none opposed in the 85-member house. The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party stayed away from voting.
The decision of impeachment came a day after the President declared a state of emergency saying that recent explosion and subsequent discovery of arms posed a threat to national security.
A clause of the emergency regulation reduces the number of days given to a president or vice president to respond to an impeachment motion from 14 days down to seven days.
Ahmed Adeeb is the second vice president to be impeached in three months. Earlier in October 2015, he was arrested for allegedly planning to kill President Yameen Abdul Gayoom in an explosion on his speedboat on 28 September 2015.
If impeachment motion is approved by the president, then he will be charged under the recent terrorism law passed by Maldives in last week of October 2015. The law aimed to deal with Maldivians sympathizing with the Islamic State group and if found guilty, Adeeb could face up to 25 years in jail.
V Sivaramakrishnan appointed as Managing Director of Oxford University Press India
V Sivaramakrishnan (Siva) was on 5 November 2015 appointed as the Managing Director of the Oxford University Press India (OUPI) with regional responsibilities including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. He will also join the Asia Education Divisional Board of OUP.
He succeeds Ranjan Kaul, who will retire in November 2015 end after working with OUP for 14 years.
Prior to this appointment, Sivaramakrishnan was working in Manipal Global Education Services where he has overseen seven years of strong business development, improved quality assurance, and the effective delivery of supporting technology platforms.
Earlier, he has also led a team that built and ran a successful online news, shopping, and gaming portal. He spent nearly ten years with the Ford Motor Company and held various consumer branding roles within Proctor and Gamble.
Bosnian and Serbian Governments held first joint session post-Bosnian War in Saravejo
Bosnian and Serbian governments on 4 November 2015 held their joint session in Saravejo. The joint session was the first since the end of the Bosnian War in 1995.
The aim of the session was to improve their relations and contribute to the stabilization of the Western Balkans.
During the joint session, the two governments signed cooperation agreements on finding missing persons, telecommunications, protection of cultural heritage and sustainable development.
After the session, Bosnia's Prime Minister Denis Zvizdic said there will be more sessions like this. This is a good pattern.
Background
Both the countries fought Bosnian war from 1992 to 1995 after the dissolution of Yugoslavia in 1991. In the war about one lakh people were killed and it continues to cast a shadow over the relations between both the countries.
During the conflict, Serbia supported the Bosnian Serbs in their quest to secede from Bosnia and join Serbia.
After the war, Bosnia was established as a federal state consisting of two largely autonomous entities, the Muslim-Croat Federation and the largely ethnic Serbian Republika Srpska.
Union Cabinet approved UDAY for financial turnaround and revival of DISCOMS
The Union Cabinet on 5 November 2015 gave its nod to Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojna (UDAY), a new scheme proposed by the Ministry of Power.
The scheme aims at alleviating the financial crunch faced by Power Distribution companies (DISCOMs)that has impaired their ability to buy electricity. The scheme targets the revival of DISCOMs. It will also ensure a sustainable permanent solution to the problem.
The debt on DISCOMs
•As on March 2015, the country’s DISCOMs have accumulated losses of approximately 3.8 lakh crore rupees and outstanding debt of approximately 4.3 lakh crore rupees.
•Outstanding debt of DISCOMs increased from about 2.4 lakh crore rupees in 2011-12 to about 4.3 lakh crore rupees in 2014-15, with interest rates of upto 14-15 percent.
•Due to the financial hassles, DISCOMs are not able to supply adequate power at affordable rates, which turned out to be one of the hurdles in the overall economic growth and development.
How UDAY will revive the DISCOMS?
UDAY will empower DISCOMs with the opportunity to break even in the next 2-3 years through four initiatives:
•Improving operational efficiencies of DISCOMs.
•Reduction of cost of power.
•Reduction in interest cost of DISCOMs.
•Enforcing financial discipline on DISCOMs through alignment with state finances.
Key features of UDAY
•States will take over 75 percent of DISCOM debt as on 30 September 2015 over two years.
•Union Government will not include the debt taken over by the states n the calculation of fiscal deficit of respective states in the financial years 2015-16 and 2016-17.
•States will issue non-SLR including SDL bonds in the market or directly to the respective financial institutions holding the DISCOM debt to the appropriate extent.
•States will take over the future losses of DISCOMs in a graded manner.
•States accepting UDAY and performing as per operational milestones will be given additional/priority funding through schemes of Ministry of Power and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
•States not meeting operational milestones will be liable to forfeit their claim on IPDS and DDUGJY grants.
RBI issued Uniform Guidelines on Internet Banking for Cooperative Banks
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 5 November 2015 issued revised and uniform guidelines on Internet Banking for all licensed cooperative banks including Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs), Cooperative Banks (StCBs) and Districts Co-operative Banks (DCBs).
These guidelines relate to Internet Banking (View Only) facility and Internet Banking with Transaction facility.
Revised guidelines for Internet Banking (View Only) facility
• All licensed StCBs, DCCBs and UCBs which have implemented Core Banking Solution (CBS) and migrated to Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) may offer Internet Banking (View only) facility to their customers, without prior approval of RBI.
• In case, any service offered under ‘view only’ facility requires two-factor authentication or One Time Password (OTP), banks may adopt the security features related to internet banking as prescribed by RBI, as appropriate to such services.
• The cooperative banks offering this facility to their customers should ensure that the facility is strictly for non-transactional services such as balance enquiry and balance viewing among others.
• The cooperative banks have to report commencement of the service to the concerned Regional Office of RBI (and also NABARD in case of StCBs/DCCBs) within one month of operationalisation of this facility.
Earlier in 2014, only Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs) were permitted to offer this facility to their customers.
Revised guidelines for Internet Banking with Transaction facility
Only those licensed StCBs, DCCBs and UCBs, which have implemented CBS and have also migrated to IPv6 can offer this facility to their customers with prior approval of RBI if they fulfill the following criteria:
• Credit to Risk Adequacy Ratio (CRAR) of not less than 10 per cent
• Net worth is 50 crore rupees or more as on 31 March of the immediate preceding financial year
• Gross Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) less than 7 % and Net NPAs not more than 3%
• The bank should have made a net profit in the immediate preceding financial year and overall, should have made net profit at least in three out of the preceding four financial years.
• It should not have defaulted in maintenance of Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR)/Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) during the immediate preceding financial year.
• It has sound internal control system with at least two professional directors on the Board.
• The bank has a track record of regulatory compliance and no monetary penalty has been imposed on the bank for violation of RBI directives/guidelines during the two financial years, preceding the year in which the application is made.
21st INCOFYRA to be organised in Bengaluru in 2016
The 21st International Conference on Frontiers in Yoga Research and its Applications (INCOFYRA) will be held from 3 to 7 January 2016 at Prashanti Kutiram, Bengaluru.
The summit will be organized by the Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Sansthana. The 21st INCOFYRA will bring together the traditional and modern medical systems.
The theme of the conference is Yoga in Integrated Healthcare Systems.
The conference targets to promulgate the research findings in the field of integrative medicine and give directions to future research on Dialectology, Oncology, Cardiology, Mental Health, and so on.
The Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi will inaugurate the conference.
The 21st INCOFYRA will offer a platform for national and international experts and practitioners in traditional systems of medicine to show findings of evidence–based research regarding impact of Yoga on non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
'India in Shanghai’ Cultural Week inaugurated at Shanghai
An Indian culture week called ‘India in Shanghai’ was on 5 November 2015 inaugurated at China Shanghai International Arts Festival (SIAF) at the Shanghai Grand Theatre. The SIAF annual festival began on 16 October 2015 and will continue till 16 November 2015.
The culture week was inaugurated by Indian Ambassador Ashok K Kantha along with Zhong Yanqun, Vice Chair of The Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress.
This is the first time in the 17-year history of the China Shanghai International Arts Festival that India was designated as the guest country during the festival.
Theevents at the India Culture Week will showcase the best of contemporary Indian arts and comprise the following:
• Musical- Bollywood Extravaganza
• Dance Performance Sari by Daksha Sheth Dance Company
• Tribal Music by Rajasthan Josh
• Exhibition- Forms of Devotion
Each of the above performances would be staged at multiple venues across Shanghai from 5 November 2015 to 11 November 2015. The exhibition titled Forms of Devotion would remain open for public viewing at China Art Museum till 21 February 2016.
Purpose of India Culture Week
• The India Culture Week aims to provide Chinese friends a glimpse of the multi-faceted cultural traditions of India as well as enable a better understanding of India among Chinese people.
• The cultural performances are also expected to lead to a greater collaboration between Indian & Chinese performing Arts and corresponding institutions.
• As 2015 is named as ‘Visit India Year in China’, it is expected that this Festival will encourage more Chinese tourists to travel to India and see for themselves the rich and diverse cultural heritage of India.
About China Shanghai International Arts Festival (SIAF)
SIAF is the only state-level International Arts Festival hosted by the Ministry of Culture of China and is organized by Shanghai Municipal People's Government. In past years, the festival has seen participation from renowned personalities in the field of Art.
Rajasthan government launched the Agro-Processing and Agri-Marketing Promotion Policy 2015
Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on 5 November 2015 launched the Rajasthan Agro-Processing and Agri-Marketing Promotion Policy 2015. The policy seeks to promote agro-processing and to reduce post harvest losses at the farm gate.
The Agriculture Department of Rajasthan Government will be the nodal department for the policy and Rajasthan State Agricultural marketing Board will act as nodal agency for the policy.
The policy aims to promote agro-processing and to reduce post harvest losses at the farm gate thus ensuring maximum prices of farmer’s agri produce. The state government also signed 112 MoUs with private companies in different sectors during the launch of policy.
Provisions of Agro-Processing and Agri-Marketing Promotion Policy 2015
• Rajasthan Agro-Processing and Agri-Marketing has been included as the thrust sector under Rajasthan Investment Promotion Scheme, 2014 to provide higher incentives than normal provisions.
• In addition, additional incentives provisions of subsidy for product patent, product registration, quality certification, sending samples abroad, project report preparation, transport of on fruits and vegetables and spices abroad also have been made.
• Investors in agro-processing sectors making investment above 25 lakh rupees shall be granted 60 percent capital subsidy, 10 percent employment generation subsidy of VAT and CST deposited for 7 years.
• These investors shall be granted 50 percent exemption in land tax, electricity duty and mandi cess for 7 years and 50 percent exemption in stamp duty, conversion charges and entry tax on plant & machinery in the state.
• 5 percent interest subsidy on term loan shall be granted to cattle feed and poultry feed manufacturing units for 5 years or till loan is finally deposited whichever is before.
• Customized Package will be granted to the enterprises making an investment of 100 crore rupees and more or employment generation of 250 persons in the unit.
• 50 percent exemption in stamp duty shall be granted on first transfer of plot in Food Park.