7-8 march 2015
appointed state president of KSU and Youth Congress.
G Karthikeyan
• Karthikeyan was elected to Kerala state assembly for 6 times, once in 1982 from Trivandrum North constituency and then in 1991, 1996 2001, 2006 from Aryanadand constituency and in 2011 from Aruvikkara constituency.
• In 1995, he had served as Power Minister of state in the AK Antony led Congress government. In 2001, he also had served as Minister for Food and Civil Supplies in the Congress government.
• He was also the vice-president of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee.
• Karthikeyan was born on 20 January 1949 in Varkala, a coastal town in Thiruvananthapuram district of Keria.
RBI eased the norms for Housing LoansThe Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 5 March 2015 eased the norms for Housing Loans. In its notification on Housing Loans, RBI brought changes in two instruction related to Housing loans. These pertain to
• Housing Loans by Commercial Banks - Loan to Value (LTV) Ratio; and
• Housing Sector: Innovative Housing Loan Products – Upfront disbursal of housing loansHousing Loans by Commercial Banks - Loan to Value (LTV) Ratio
With respect to Housing loans by Commercial Banks, the norms have been eased for home loans up to 10 lakh rupees by allowing banks to include stamp duty and registration and other documentation charges to the cost of a unit for the purpose of calculating LTV ratio. This has been done as these amounts constituted around 15 percent of the cost of the house and placed a burden on the borrowers from economically weaker sections (EWS) and low income groups (LIG). This will encourage availability of affordable housing to such borrowers.
Earlier, lenders did not included stamp duty, registration and other documentation charges in the cost of housing property as it could have diluted the effectiveness of LTV ratio.
Housing Sector: Innovative Housing Loan Products – Upfront disbursal of housing loans
With respect to this, construction-linked disbursal of housing loan, RBI said that in cases of projects sponsored by Government or Statutory authorities, banks may disburse the loans as per the payment stages prescribed by such authorities, even where payments sought from house buyers are not linked to the stages of construction.
This change was effected after some banks made representations that they are not able to extend home loans to the allottees in the projects developed by government bodies as the payment schedule prescribed by such authorities is not linked to the stages of construction.
Earlier, banks were advised to disburse housing loans closely linked to the stages of construction of the housing project/houses and upfront disbursal was not allowed in cases of incomplete/under-construction/green field housing projects.
India and Spain signed an agreement on Mutual Protection of Classified Information
India and Spain on 5 March 2015 signed an agreement on Mutual Protection of Classified Information to provide the framework for enhanced bilateral cooperation in areas of defence research, development and technology cooperation. The agreement was signed by the Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Defence Minister of Spain Pedro Morenes Eulate. It was signed during the official visit of Defence Minister of Pedro Moremes to India.
The agreement was signed to provide the framework for an enhanced cooperation in the defence sector. This is the primary pact that India agreed before embarking on deeper talks on Defence cooperation.
Artificial glacier in the form of Ice stupa to store water inaugurated in Phyang village of Ladakh
Phyang village of Ladakh: An artificial glacier in the form of Ice stupa inaugurated
Artificial glacier in the form of Ice stupa was inaugurated at Phyang village in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir on 6 March 2015. Phyang village is a desert region of Ladakh.
The purpose of building such stupa is to store water to green the entire desert of Phyang which has an area of 1500 acres. The Ice stupa with a height of 50 feet will store roughly two million liters of water while another 6 million liters of water absorbed in the ground will add moisture to the earth for tree plantation.
The Ice stupa with a height of 50 feet will store roughly two million liters of water while another 6 million liters of water absorbed in the ground will add moisture to the earth for tree plantation.
The Ice Stupa concept was inspired from the work of Drikung Skyabgon Chetsang and Padmashree C Norphel.
This stupa is a pilot project and is a part of plan to build 80 to 90 stupas holding 10 million liters of water.
The project was financed through crowd-funding with donations coming from individuals and institutions from around the world raising 125000 US dollars.
Sri Lanka temporarily suspended Colombo Port City Project of China
Sri Lankan Government on 5 March 2015 temporarily suspended construction work of China’s port city project in Colombo with immediate effect. The decision was taken in Cabinet meeting chaired by Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe based upon the Interim Report submitted by a cabinet sub-committee. The committee was appointed by the Sri Lankan Government to review the project.
The Interim Report had alleged that this mega real estate deal with China was signed without following the proper procedures and was implemented without relevant approvals from the concerned institutions.
About Colombo Port City project
• Colombo Port City project is the single-largest foreign direct investment in Sri Lanka worth 1.5 billion US dollar. The project was inaugurated in September 2014 by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
• The project was signed by the then Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to reclaim 233 hectares of land from the sea to build a port city on a 99-year lease.
• As part of the project, Chinese company was to develop commercial and entertainment hub which include shopping malls, water sports, golf, hotels, apartments and marinas.
UST Global launched Women’s Safety App iSafe for Thiruvananthapuram City Police
UST Global on 6 March 2015 has launched women safety App iSafe. It is a mobile-based app for women’s safety. The app was launched ahead of the International Women’s Day on 8 March.
The App was launched for the Thiruvananthapuram City Police in the presence of high ranking police and other government officials at the Government College for Women, Thiruvananthapuram.
Through the app, women will be able to send instant alerts to the police control room by using the panic button or just by the long press of volume rocker (down) key of their mobile phones. The police control room receives the alert along with information of the location, the subscriber ID and the IMEI number of the mobile. The police then immediately dispatches help via the police CRV (Control Room Vehicle) that is nearest to the distress location.
Once iSafe sends an alert to the control room, its position can be tracked until the situation is resolved. The position is visible to the police at the control room and also on App.
The App iSafe is an integral part of the earlier app that UST Global had developed for Thiruvananthapuram City Police a few months ago. The app is currently available for Android and will soon be available on other platforms. UST Global will be providing the solution to other state police forces as well.
NASA's Dawn Spacecraft completed its Orbit around Dwarf Planet Ceres
NASA's Dawn spacecraft on 6 March 2015 completed its Orbit around Dwarf Planet Ceres. By doing so, it became the first spacecraft to orbit around a dwarf planet. The spacecraft was approximately 38000 miles (61000 kilometers) away from planet Ceres when it was captured by the dwarf planet’s gravity.
In addition to being the first spacecraft to visit a dwarf planet, Dawn also has the distinction of being the first mission to orbit two extraterrestrial targets. From 2011 to 2012, the spacecraft explored the giant asteroid Vesta, delivering new insights and thousands of images from that distant world.
Since its discovery in 1801, Ceres was known as a planet, then an asteroid and later a dwarf planet.
The most recent images received from the spacecraft, taken on 1 March 2015 show Ceres as a crescent, mostly in shadow because the spacecraft's trajectory put it on a side of Ceres that faces away from the sun until mid-April.
About Dawn's Mission
• Dawn's mission is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
• Dawn is a project of the directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is responsible for overall Dawn mission science.
• The German Aerospace Center, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Italian Space Agency and Italian National Astrophysical Institute are international partners on the mission team.
Islamic State Group bulldozed ancient city of Nimrud in Iraq
Ancient city Nimrud, Iraq: Bulldozed by IS Group
Ancient city of Nimrud in Iraq was in news on 6 March 2015 as Islamic State (IS) militant group bulldozed the ancient city.
Nimrud overlooking the Tigris River was founded in the 13th century BC and was considered the jewel of the Assyrian era. Its stunning reliefs and colossal statues of winged bulls with human heads guarding palace gates filled the world’s museums in the 19th century.
A collection of 613 pieces of gold jewellery, ornaments and precious stones discovered in a royal tomb in 1988 has been described as one of the greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century.
This latest attack on Iraqi cultural treasure has been described by United Nations (UN) as a war crime. Irina Bokova, the head of the UN’s cultural body UNESCO, condemned the destruction of Nimrud with the strongest force.
Nimrud is the latest victim of what appears to be a systematic campaign by the Jihadists to obliterate Iraq’s rich heritage.