9-10 july 2015

9 july

Telangana government, ICRISAT signed MoU to improve profitability of farmers

Telangana government and International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) on 7 July 2015 signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to improve profitability of farmers.

The MoU was signed by C Parthasarathi, Secretary and Agri-Production Commissioner; Jayesh Ranjan, Secretary, IT, Electronics & Communications; and ICRISAT Director General David Bergvinson.

Highlights of the MoU
Under this MoU, the organisation will provide Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-based knowledge sharing platforms and other agricultural innovation initiatives to farmers in order to improve their productivity.

The partnership will explore areas of collaboration in the field of digital agriculture along agriculture value chain and also explore the possibilities of ICRISAT playing an active role in the T Hub (an incubator launched by the Telangana government).

The partnership will help launch innovative digital platforms that aim to revitalise information dissemination in rural areas, provide expert systems for providing real time advisories and ensure better access to market information by small-holder farmers in the state.

It will also enable state government to create new economic opportunities through digital agriculture and enable to create direct linkages between consumers and farmers.

Sriram Kalyanaraman appointed as MD and CEO of National Housing Bank

Sriram Kalyanaraman was on 8 July 2015 appointed as Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of National Housing Bank (NHB) for a period of Five Years. With this, Kalyanaraman became the first person form the Private Sector to head a Public Sector Financial Institution.

Presently, Kalyanaraman is Director-Business Development of Equifax Credit Information Services. Prior to joining Equifax, Sriram was Director of Business Clients and Asset Products at Deutsche Bank India.

About National Housing Bank (NHB)
National Housing Bank (NHB) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Reserve Bank of India (RBI). It was set up on 9 July 1988 under the National Housing Bank Act, 1987.

It was established with an objective to operate as a principal agency to promote housing finance institutions both at local and regional levels and to provide financial to such institutions.

Rahul Bhatnagar appointed as MD and CFO of Bharti Enterprises

Rahul Bhatnagar was on 8 July 2015 appointed as the Managing Director (MD) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Bharti Enterprises. He will report to Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman of Bharti Enterprises.

Bhatnagar succeeded Manoj Kohli, who has assumed the role of Executive Chairman of SBG Cleantech, a Joint Venture between SoftBank, Bharti and Foxconn for renewable energy.

As a MD and CFO of the company, Rahul will build strategic business value proposition for Bharti’s non-telecom businesses. He will be responsible for further strengthening the financial management processes and governance of these businesses and will lead new business development for the group.

Bhatnagar's last assignment was with PepsiCo, where he worked for over 19 years in various senior-level positions across the world.

Climate Change to be the theme of Science Express in 2015

Climate Change was announced as the theme of 2015 Science Express. This was announced during the first meeting of Science Express Climate Change Special (SECCS) chaired by Union Minister of Science and Technology Dr Harsh Vardhan on 8 July 2015 in New Delhi.

The meeting was held to decide the overall contours of the theme and elicit suggestions from volunteers and experts involved in the running of the Express.

About Science Express

• It is a unique science exhibition mounted on a 16-coach AC train.
• Its focus is on spreading awareness about science and technology among students from schools and colleges and general public at large.
• It has been travelling across India successfully since 2007.
• It is a joint initiative of three Ministries and Departments – Ministry of Railways, the Department of Science & Technology and Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
• From 2007 to 2011, the train was running as Science Express displaying the world of micro and macro cosmos, spreading the awareness about strengths of science in meeting global challenges, including latest discoveries and innovations in the field of modern science.
• In the year 2012, Science Express was redesigned on the theme Biodiversity and since then it has been running as Science Express Biodiversity Special (SEBS).

Indian Army dedicated Prerna Sthal at Hussainiwala to the nation

Indian Army on 8 July 2015 dedicated the monument named Prerna Sthal at Hussainiwala to the nation. The commemorative monument was built to honour the sacrifice of soldiers of India.

The newly constructed Prerna Sthal is located at the gateway of the memorial to Shaheed Bhagat Singh at Hussainiwala, a village in Firozpur district of Punjab, India, where Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were cremated on 23 March 1931.

The monument was dedicated to the nation amidst the musical notes played by the buglers of the Last Post from the roof of the historical Hussainiwala railway station. General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command, Lt Gen KJ Singh laid the inaugural wreath and observed a two minute silence as a mark of respect to the martyrs.

About the Prerna Sthal
Prerna Sthal encompasses seven pillars made of sand stone with copper finish metallic inscription plaques. The central pillar that is large in size carries a portrait of Bhagat Singh. The first of the six smaller ancillary pillars has been scripted with motivational verses and remaining five pillars narrate briefs of various battles fought in this specific place as well as the names of martyrs and details of gallantry awards.

Electronic Nose for environmental monitoring jointly developed by CSIR-NEERI & C-DAC

An Electronic Nose (E-Nose) was jointly developed by Nagpur-based National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) of CSIR and Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC). The development was announced by CSIR-NEERI and C-DAC on 8 July 2015.

E-Nose technology will help monitor the surrounding environment to sniff out dangerous gases.

Key Features of E-Nose

• It is a portable device and measures odour concentration as well as odour intensity.
• It uses an array of sensors that function on the principle similar to that of human olfaction (sense of smell). The sensor array generates a pattern based on the type of aroma.
• It is possible to train the software by feeding information based on observation of experts.
• It is the first of its kind of technology to be developed in India that makes use of intelligent software to identify odorous molecules.

Utility of E-nose

• It can help sniff out a variety of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and odorants at a pulp and paper mill industry with a prime objective to protect the health of thousands of workers working in this industry.
• The pulp and paper industry emits a variety of gases, namely, hydrogen sulphide, methyl mercaptan, dimethyl sulphide, and dimethyl disulphide all of which beyond a certain concentrations may adversely affect the environment and human health.
• It helps in continuous monitoring of these gases, overcoming all limitations of the available analytical instruments that are not only expensive and time-consuming.
• It also establishes a correlation between sensory and analytical measurements for the sulphurous odorants generated from pulp and paper industries, tanneries and distilleries.
• It can be easily operated at a pulp and paper mill industry and is currently functioning successfully at the Mysore Paper Mills Limited at Bhadravathi in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu Paper Mill.
• The researchers are currently working on the application of Electronic Nose to monitor gas emissions from any source, be it an industry or leakage of petroleum pipes going through fields or farms.

WHO released Global Tobacco Epidemic 2015 Report

World Health organisation (WHO) on 7 July 2015 released the Global Tobacco Epidemic Report 2015. The focus of the report is on R ofMPOWERmeasure which stands for Raise taxes on tobacco.

According to the report, there has been notable progress in global tobacco control since the publication of Global Tobacco Epidemic Report 2013.

The global population covered by at least one MPOWER measure at the highest level has increased from 2.3 billion to 2.8 billion, which is an increase of half a billion people that constitutes 7% of the world’s population.

Key findings

• More than half of the world’s countries, with 40% of the world’s population have implemented at least one MPOWER measure at the highest level of achievement.
• The number of countries implementing at least one MPOWER measure at the highest level increase from 92 in 2012 to 103 in 2014.
• A total of 49 countries with nearly 20% of the world’s population are covered by two or more MPOWER measures at the highest level, tripling the number of people protected by at least two fully implemented tobacco control measures to 1.4 billion people since 2007.
• countries, five of which are low- and middle-income, have implemented four or more MPOWER measures at the highest level.
• Six countries (four of which are low and middle-income countries with more than 4% of the world’s population, viz., 300 million + people), are only one step away from having all MPOWER measures in place at the highest level.
• 5 countries with a combined population of 187 million people, (Chile, Jamaica, Madagascar, Russian Federation and Suriname) implemented a comprehensive smoke-free law covering all indoor public places and workplaces.
• 7 countries (Kiribati, Nepal, Russian Federation, Suriname, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay and Yemen) introduced a complete ban on all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship (TAPS) activities, thus protecting an additional 209 million people from exposure to TAPS.
• 6 countries implemented appropriate cessation services. The net gain for offering assistance to quit was five countries and 173 million people.
• Twelve countries with a combined population of 370 million people (Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Fiji, Jamaica, Namibia, Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkmenistan, Vanuatu and Viet Nam) implemented large graphic pack warnings.
• Seven countries (Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kiribati, New Zealand, Romania and Seychelles) raised taxes on cigarettes to more than 75% of the retail price. However, the net gain was only two countries and 154 million people as four countries did not maintain sufficiently high taxes after 2012, and one country did not provide data.

Report on R measure of MPOWER

• Raising tobacco taxes to more than 75% of the retail price is among the most effective and cost-effective tobacco control interventions.
• Calling for urgent need to give attention to R measure of MPOWER, the report has deplored the fact that only a few countries have increased tobacco taxes to best practice level.
• In 2014, only one in 10 of the world’s people living in 33 countries with tobacco taxes of more than 75% of the cigarette retail price have implemented it at the highest level
• More than 80% of countries have no tobacco taxation in place at the highest level of achievement.
• Further, the report deplores the fact that R measure has seen the least improvement since WHO started assessing these data through MPOWER measure in 2007.
Report on India
• In India the tobacco consumption has increased with increase in purchasing power. This is despite the fact that India has raised taxes on tobacco products thus, showing ineffectiveness of tax increase on tobacco consumption.
• Cigarettes became less affordable between 2008 and 2014 in several countries. But in case of India, the cigarettes between this period became more affordable on account of rise in real income offsetting the increase in taxes
• India is among the highest achieving countries in 2014 wherein mass-media campaigns against tobacco have been effective.
• The complex tax structure in India has made the implementation of MPOWER measure less effective.

What is MPOWER measure?

MPOWER measure is an acronym of measures that was introduced in 2008 by the WHO to assist Parties in meeting some of their WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) obligations that came into force on 27 February 2005.
M: Monitor tobacco use and prevention policies
P: Protect people from tobacco smoke
O: Offer help to quit tobacco use
W: Warn about the dangers of tobacco
E: Enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship
R: Raise taxes on tobacco

SN Sahai appointed as Home Secretary of Delhi

Senior IAS officer Sanjeev Nandan (SN)Sahai was on 8 July 2015 appointed as the Home Secretary of Delhi. Sahai is a 1986 batch Union Territory cadre officer.

Sahai succeeded senior IAS officer Dharam Pal, who was removed as Home Secretary in June 2015 by the AAP government.

SahaI is the Finance Secretary of Delhi and had played crucial role in preparing budget for Delhi government.

Background
Dharam Pal was removed by the AAP government after he signed a notification appointing Joint Commissioner of Delhi Police M K Meena as new chief of Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) following LG Najeeb Jung's order.

Jung on 8 June appointed Meena superseding Kejriwal's hand-picked chief S S Yadav. Consequently, the AAP government challenged the appointment in Delhi High Court.

Union Sports Ministry constituted Ashwini Nachappa committee to study status of SAI training centers

The Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports on 8 July 2015 constituted an eight member committee to study status of Sports Authority of India (SAI) training centers across the country.

The committee will be headed by former athlete Ashwini Nachappa and includes Pullela Gopi Chand as a member among others.

The committee was formed against the backdrop of suicide attempt by four girl inmates at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) SAG Water Sports centre at Alappuzha, Kerala in May 2015 that resulted in death of one girl trainee.

The committee was mandated to recommend measures to ensure that such incidents do not occur in future.

Before finalising on its recommendations, the committee will study the issues related to management of athletes stress levels, quality of food served, timely availability of dietary supplements among others.

The committee is mandated to submit its report within 3 months.

About SAI Centres

SAI Training Centre (STC) Scheme was launched in 1995 in order to groom junior level sports persons between 12 and 18 years.

AT present, there are 56 STC Centres spread across the country having a total strength of 5394 trainees.

World Bank released State of Safety Nets 2015 report

The World Bank on 7 July 2015 released the State of Safety Nets 2015 report. It aggregated spending on social safety net programs and beneficiaries in 157 countries, economies and territories and presented a comparative analysis of those programmes.

As per the report, only 1/3rd of the world's poor are covered by safety nets program with largest gaps in Sub-saharan Africa and South Asia.

Key findings

• More than 1.9 billion people in 136 low- and middle-income countries benefit from social safety net programs.
• The combined spending on social safety nets amounted to about 329 US billion dollars between 2010 and 2014.
• Some 718 million people are enrolled in cash transfer programs, including public works, and constitute 36 percent of social safety net globally.
• Cash transfers constitute the highest share of spending in all regions except in Sub-Saharan Africa, where food and other in-kind transfers dominate.
• On average, developing countries spend 1.6 percent of their GDP on social safety nets. This is low compared to other public policy measures such as fuel subsidies.
• The world’s five largest social safety net programs are all in middle-income countries and reach over 526 million.

• In low-income and lower-middle-income countries, social safety nets cover only 25 percent of the poor, compared to 64 percent in upper-middle-income countries.
• In Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where most of the global poor live, social safety nets cover one-tenth and one-fifth of the poorest 20 percent, respectively.
• The coverage of the poor living in urban areas is lower than in rural settings. The difference amounts to about 8.5 percentage points in low-income countries.
• Safety net programs on average help reduce the poverty headcount rate by 8 percent.
• Safety nets reduce the poverty gap (how far the poor are from the poverty line) by 15 percent on average of the poverty gap without safety nets.
• Cash transfer programs have positive spillover effects on the local economy, with total income multiplier ranging from 1.08 US dollars to 2.52 US dollars for each dollar transferred.

Report on India

• Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) is the largest in Conditional Cash Transfers (CCT) category with 78 million beneficiaries.
•Mid Day Meal programme is the largest in the School feeding category with 105 million beneficiaries.
• Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGs) is the largest in the Public Works Programme (PWP) category with 182 million beneficiaries.
• Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS) is the second largest in the Unconditional Cash Transfers (UCT) category with 21 million beneficiaries.
• Spending on public distribution system (PDS) accounts for 0.6 percent of GDP.
• Total spending on social safety nets is 0.72 of GDP with 0.09 percent of GDP in Unconditional Cash Transfer schemes, 0.11 percent in school feeding, 0.29 in public works and 0.23 percent in fee waivers.

About the report

Social safety net programs include cash and in-kind transfers targeted to poor and vulnerable households with the goal of protecting families from the impact of economic shocks, natural disasters, and other crises.

It also includes spending on children to ensure they grow up healthy, well-fed, and can stay in school and learn, empowering women and girls and creating jobs.

In order to assess the impact of social safety nets, the report relied on Household Surveys in 105 Countries, Economies, and Territories. In case of India the results of National Sample Survey 2009–10 (66th round) was taken into consideration.

Lord Kamlesh Patel became first British-Asian appointee to ECB Management Board

Professor Lord Kamlesh Patel of Bradford OBE was on 8 July 2015 appointed as an independent member on the 14-member board of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

With this, he became the first British Asian to join the ECB Management Board which is chaired by Colin Graves and the President of the Board is Giles Clarke CBE.

Lord Patel, who currently sits in the House of Lords as a Labour Peer will replace Lord Morris of Handsworth who is stepping down from the Board after serving for eleven years as an ECB Director.

Earlier, he has worked for the Yorkshire Cricket Academy as a part-time coach. In 2014 he served on the judging panel of the inaugural Asian Cricket Awards supported by ECB.

He has been one of the country’s most influential and authoritative spokesmen on issues relating to health, social care and equality and human rights.

Lord Patel has a long association with the game of cricket who first started playing cricket in the back-street of Bradford and went on to play alongside famous cricketing names in the Bradford League like Phil Sharpe and Geoff Cope.

He retired as an all rounder in 1998 after taking all the ten wickets in a league game to resume the playing cricket once again in 2008. At present, he plays regularly for Northowram Fields CC in the Central Yorkshire league.

Union Home Ministry extended the ‘disturbed area’ status of Nagaland for one more year

Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in first week of July 2015 extended the‘disturbed area’status of Nagaland for one more year. The ‘disturbed status’area became effective from 30 June 2015 and will be in effect until 30 June 2016.

The Home Ministry in its notification said that the government is of the opinion that the entire state is in such a "disturbed" and "dangerous" condition that the use of armed forces in aid of civil power is necessary.

Complete Nagaland was declared as a disturbed area for a period of one year in exercise of the powers conferred to Union Government bySection 3 of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958.

The decision came almost a month after NSCN-(Khaplang), the dominant Naga rebel group, attacked an army convoy in Manipur’s Chandel district and killed 18 soldiers.

Since 2005, the Nagaland government by citing the falling levels of insurgency-related incidents or deaths has been seeking removal of the 'disturbed' area tag from the state.

BRICS central banks signed Agreement to operationalise Contingent Reserve Arrangement

The central banks of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) on 7 July 2015 signed Mutual Assistance Agreement (MAA) aimed at operationalising the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) of 100 billion US dollars.

The document was signed after a meeting of BRICS finance ministers and central bank governors in the Russian capital Moscow.

MAA is an operating agreement on mutual support specifying the procedures to be followed by the central banks of BRICS countries as part of the CRA and defines their rights and obligations.

Features of BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement

• Its purpose is to provide mutual support (monetary funds in US dollars) in the event that national financial systems encounter dollar liquidity problems.
• The CRA along with the New Development Bank are part of the BRICS framework that is aimed at maintaining financial stability in the BRICS countries.
• Total committed resources of the CRA are 100 billion US dollars, with individual commitments- China (41 billion), Brazil (18 billion), Russia (18 billion), India (18 billion) and South Africa (5 billion).
• It will come into force on 30 July 2015.

Operation Smile led to tracing of 44 missing children in Uttarakhand

Operation Smile: A programme for search and restoration of missing children
Operation Smile, a unique initiative of Ghaziabad Police to track missing children, was in news in second week of July 2015. It came in news after Uttarakhand police under the operation was able to trace at least 44 missing children from various parts of the state within a week.

In another development, the police and the district administration of Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu has constituted five special teams to spearhead ‘Operation Smile.’

The Operation Smile was launched by the Ghaziabad Police in 2014 with an aim to search and restoration of missing children with their families. Under the operation, the police was able to recover 227 missing children within 30 days of launch.

As part of Operation Smile, Ghaziabad police first sensitized and trained 100 police officers of various ranks about issues related to missing children, POSCO Act, Juvenile Justice Act and Protection of Child Rights Acts and then sent them to various parts of the country including Delhi, Jaipur, Haridwar, Gurgaon, Mumbai and Kolkata to recover missing children in relation to FIRs lodged in Ghaziabad.

Later, after seeing the success of the operation launched by Ghaziabad Police, the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in a letter written to all States on 12 December 2014 asked all states to emulate the campaign.

Russian Investment Fund to set up joint mechanism for financing infrastructure in BRICS countries

Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) on 8 July 2015 signed framework agreements for equity investments in infrastructure projects in BRICS countries. The agreement was signed at the BRICS summit in Ufa.

The partners in the BRICS member-states include
• India’s IDFC (Infrastructure Development Finance Company) group
• Brazil’s BTG Pactual
• China’s Silk Road Fund
• The Development Bank of Southern Africa

Under this joint mechanism, the parties will work together to identify and finance infrastructure projects that will improve trade, economic and investment cooperation between BRICS countries.

This initiative, which was first announced by RDIF at the 2014 BRICS summit in Fortaleza (Brazil), was also supported by the BRICS Business Council.

Inderjeet Singh became first Indian to win a Gold Medal at World University Games in Gwangju

Indian shot-putter Inderjit Singh on 8 July 2015 came up with a best throw of 20.27 meter in the final attempt to win the Gold medal of men's shot put event at the World University Games in Gwangju, South Korea.

With this, he created history to become the first Indian to win a gold medal at the World University Games. In the last edition of the games in 2013 in Russia he had won silver medal in the shot put event.

The silver medal of the event was won by Andrei Marius Gag of Romania with a throw of 19.92m while Alexander Bulanov of Russia took the bronze with a throw of 19.84m.

In the year 2015, the 27-year old shot putter from Haryana has won gold medals in all the international events he has participated thus far.

Earlier on 23 June 2015, he won gold at the first leg of the Asian Athletics Grand Prix in Bangkok, Thailand, while on 3 June 2015 he won gold at Asian Championships in Wuhan, China.

Inderjeet Singh is currently coached by Pritam Singh, younger brother of another Indian shot putter Shakti Singh and is being supported by Anglian Medal Hunt Company.

Besides, in the men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol team event, the Indian team of Achal Pratap Singh Grewal, Amrender Pal Singh Chauhan and Akshay Jain won the bronze medal. The gold and silver medal was won by the Russian and Korean shooters respectively.

Guidelines for Border Area Development Programme released

The Department of Border Management of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on 8 July 2015 issued modified Border Area Development Programme (BDAP) guidelines.

The guidelines were issued in consultation with all Stakeholders viz. concerned Ministries/Departments of Government of India, State Governments implementing the BADP, Border Guarding Forces and NITI Aayog.

The modified guidelines include important modifications in the BADP guidelines as follows:
• Coverage of BADP has been extended to cover all the villages which are located within the 0-10 Km of the International Border, irrespective of the border block of 17 States which constitute the International Land Borders.
• Representatives of some more Union Ministries viz. Ministry of Rural Development; Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs; Ministry of Health & Family Welfare; and Ministry of Human Resources, have been made Members of the Empowered Committee (EC) on BADP under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Department of Border Management, MHA, to ensure convergence with the schemes of these Ministries with BADP schemes.
• The list of schemes permissible under BADP has been expanded to include schemes/ activities relating to
a) Swatchhta Aabhiyan
b) Skill Development programmes
c) Promotion of sports activities in border areas
d) Promotion of Rural Tourism/ Border Tourism
e) Protection of heritage sites
f) Construction of helipads in remote and inaccessible hilly areas, which do not have road connectivity
g) Skill development training to farmers for the use of modern/ scientific technique in farming, Organic farming, and others
• Provision for Third Party Inspection and Quality Control Mechanism under MHA for random inspections of the BADP schemes by independent Monitors (Individual/ Agency) to be designated as National Quality Monitors has been made.
• It has been provided that the State Governments shall have the monitoring of the BADP schemes by the existing District Level Monitoring/vigilance Committee where local Members of Parliament and MLAs are represented.
• Special/Specific area schemes such as composite development of at least one village of sizeable population surrounded by five-six or more villages close to the border as Model Village, E-chaupals, agrishops, mobile media vans etc. have been made

Background
The Border Area Development Programme (BADP) is implemented through 17 States which constitute the International Land Borders. The 17 states are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.

It is implemented in 367 Border Blocks of 104 Border Districts in these 17 States.

The main objective of the BADP is to meet the special developmental needs and well being of the people living in remote and inaccessible areas situated near the international border and to saturate the border areas with the entire essential infrastructure through convergence of Central/State/BADP/Local schemes and participatory approach.

The funds under BADP are provided to the States as a 100% non-lapsable Special Central Assistance. The programme is supplemental in nature and the budget allocation for the financial year 2015-16 is 990 crore rupees.

The BADP was started in the year 1986-87 for balanced development of border areas of States bordering Pakistan, namely, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Gujarat and Rajasthan and subsequently it was extended to all the land borders.

10 july

India, US signed Inter Governmental Agreement to implement FATCA

India and United States (US) on 9 July 2015 signed Inter Governmental Agreement (IGA) to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The agreement will promote transparency on tax matters between the two countries.

The agreement inked by Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das and US Ambassador to India Richard Verma in New Delhi underscores growing international co-operation to end tax evasion everywhere.

As per the IGA, FFIs in India will be required to report tax information about US account holders directly to the Indian Government which will, in turn, relay that information to the IRS. The IRS will provide similar information about Indian account holders in the United States. This automatic exchange of information is scheduled to begin on 30 September 2015.

Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA)
Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act is a United States federal law that was enacted in 2010 to obtain information on accounts held by US taxpayers in other countries. The law was enacted It requires U.S. financial institutions to withhold a portion of payments made to foreign financial institutions (FFIs) who do not agree to identify and report information on US account holders.

Dus Kadam: 10 Steps for the Future proposed by PM Narendra Modi for BRICS countries

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 9 July 2015 proposed a 10 point initiative named as ‘Dus Kadam: 10 Steps for the Future’ to boost cooperation within the members of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).

He proposed the initiative while addressing the 7th BRICS summit in Ufa, Russia.

The 10 steps of the proposed Dus Kadam are:
• BRICS Trade Fair (to be held during India's chairmanship in 2016)
• BRICS Railway Research Centre
• Cooperation among Supreme Audit Institutions
• BRICS Digital Initiative
• BRICS Agricultural Research Centre
• BRICS state/Local Government’s Forum
• Cooperation among cities in field of Urbanisation
• BRICS Sports Council and Annual BRICS Sports Meet
• First Major Project of NDB to be in field of Clean Energy
• BRICS Film Festival

India will be hosting the Eighth BRICS Summit in 2016.

Typhoon Chan-hom lashed Okinawa island chain in Japan

Chan-hom typhoon on 10 July 2015 moved north-west between the islands of Okinawa and Miyako of Japan with recorded gusts of 234 kilometres per hour. It was categorised as a super or severe typhoon by some regional weather bureaus including China and Taiwan.

The typhoon is expected to keep moving northward, bringing rainstorms and waves as high as 12 metres at sea.

Before arriving on the Japanese coast, the typhoon hit Phillipines on 7 July 2015 that left five dead due to heavy rains associated with it.

After Japan, the storm is due to pass northern Taiwan before making landfall on the east coast of mainland China on 11 July 2015.

After China, the typhoon is expected to change course and head north-east toward Shanghai and the Korean peninsula.

Kolkata-based Bandhan Bank appointed its Chairman, Boards of Directors

Bandhan Bank Ltd on 9 July 2015 appointed its Chairman and Board of Directors. The bank will commence its operations in India from 23 August 2015. It will be the first bank to be established in Eastern India post Independence.

Ashok Kumar Lahiri, former Chief Economic Adviser to the Union Government, was appointed as the Chairman of the bank. While, Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, Founder of Bandhan Financial Services Ltd, was appointed as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the bank. They both will be in the board of directors as well.

Appointment of Directors
• B. Sambamurthy, former Chairman and Managing Director of Corporation Bank
• C M Dixit, Senior Partner at GD Apte & Co
• Prof Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Associate Professor of Finance at Indian School of Business
• Snehomoy Bhattacharya, Former Executive Director (Corporate Affairs) of Axis Bank
• Pradip Kumar Saha, former Chief General Manager at Small Industries Development Bank of India
• Sisir Kumar Chakrabarti, former Dy. Managing Director of Axis Bank
• Bhaskar Sen, former Chairman and Managing Director of United Bank of India
• TS Raji Gain, Chief General Manager of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development

All these appointments are subjected to the approval of the Reserve Bank of India

Logo of Bandhan Bank Ltd
Apart from appointing the directors, the bank unveiled its logo as well, an image of the traditional Indian ‘Diya’. The extensive use of the colour red in the logo is associated with all that's auspicious. The flame or the Diya symbolizes a ray of hope, a new morning.

Between the red colour and the flame, the Bandhan Bank logo holds the promise of good things to look forward to.

About Bandhan Bank Ltd
• Micro-lender Bandhan Financial Services in June 2015 received approval from the Reserve Bank of India to set up a universal bank.
• Bandhan Bank will have 630 branches across 27 States. Nearly 247 of these new branches are expected to be in West Bengal.
• The bank will have two distinct wings. One will cater to the micro-banking segment, targeting the rural and un-banked areas. The other will look at general banking.

India, USA signed MoU on cooperation to establish PACESetter Fund

India and the USA on 30 June 2015 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation to establish the PACESetter Fund in New Delhi.

The agreement was signed by Upendra Tripathy, Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and Richard Verma, United States Ambassador to India.

The PACESetter Fund is meant to support the Promoting Energy Access Through Clean Energy (PEACE) track of the USA-India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy (PACE).

It was established with a corpus of about 50 crore rupees with both the countries contributing equally.

To oversee the fund, a steering Committee comprising the Secretary of the MNRE and the United States Ambassador to India, and three representatives from each side has been constituted.

Features of USA-India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy (PACE)

• It is a flagship initiative on clean energy that combines the resources of several U.S. agencies and GOI Ministries.
• It is aimed accelerating the commercialization of off-grid clean energy through early-stage grant funding grants to develop and test innovative products, systems and business models.

7th BRICS Summit held in Ufa, Russia

The seventh BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit was held from 8 to 9 July 2015 in the Russian city of Ufa in Bashkortostan. It was held under the theme BRICS Partnership – a Powerful Factor of Global Development.

The summit was attended by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Dilma Rousseff, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Jacob Zuma president of Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa respectively.

At the end of the summit, Ufa Declarationwas released by the leaders that called for enhanced coordinated efforts in responding to emerging challenges, ensuring peace and security, promoting development in a sustainable way among the member countries.

Besides the BRICS summit level meeting, the leaders held a summit with the members of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).

In a five-year summit cycle, the summit is hosted by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa in the order.

While the 6th BRICS summit was held at Fortaleza in Brazil in 2014, New Delhi will be hosting the 8th summit in 2016.

India’s 1st Earthquake Warning System successfully installed in Uttarakhand

An Earthquake Warning System (EWS) was successfully installed in Uttarakhand, Dehradun in the first week of July 2015. With this, Uttarakhand became first Indian state to install a system that can detect earthquakes and disseminate warnings.

The system was designed and manufactured by Italian firm Space Dynamics which already installed this system in Japan, Italy and US. The system will issue warnings 1-40 seconds before the occurrence of earthquakes of magnitude 5 or more.

According to the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), Uttarakhand falls under Seismic Zone –V, which is a zone of high seismic activity with magnitude of 6.9 or greater on Richter scale. Apart from it, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Rann of Kutch (Gujarat), Northern Bihar and Andaman & Nicobar Islands also fall under this seismic zone.

Another system like this will soon be established at Pithoragarh in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand.

Highlights of the Earthquake Warning System
• This technology was brought by the state Disaster Management and Mitigation Centre (DMMC) and is operational at the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC).
• The system is incorporated with sensors that can detect P (Primary) and S (Secondary) waves generated during an earthquake.
• It is capable to detect the harmless P wave, which travels faster than the S wave for advance warning.
• It generates a variety of alarms like programmable built-in audio alert, connected to external alarms like sirens and public announcement systems.
• It also triggers visual alerts and sends them via cellphones and the internet. The system can also eliminate false triggers from environmental vibrations and filters smaller non-damaging quakes.

Ufa Declaration released at 7th BRICS Summit in Ufa

Head of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) nations on 9 July 2015 released the Ufa Declaration. The declaration was released after the 7th BRICS summit held in the Russian city of Ufa in Bashkortostan from 8 to 9 July 2015.

7th BRICS Summit was held under the theme ‘BRICS Partnership – a Powerful Factor of Global Development’.

The Ufa declaration saw the support for India to host the Eighth BRICS Summit in 2016.

Main highlights
• Ufa declaration saw the resolve of the BRICS nations to step coordinated efforts in responding to emerging challenges, ensuring peace and security, promoting development in a sustainable way.
• Highlighting the need to reform UN Security Council (UNSC), China and Russia supported Brazil, India and South Africa aspiration to play a greater role in the UN
• Expressing the disappointment over United States failure to ratify IMF 2010 reform package, the BRICS nations called the US to ratify it by mid-September 2015. The IMF 2010 reform package called for increase in the institution’s quota resources and the revision of quotas and voting power in favour of developing countries and emerging markets.
• Welcoming Kenya’s hosting of the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC10) in Nairobi on 15-18 December 2015, the member nations for working together to strengthen an open, transparent, non-discriminatory, and rules-based multilateral trading system as embodied in the WTO.
• In the economic sphere, BRICS nations expressed support for the development of action-oriented economic cooperation and systematic strengthening of economic partnership for the recovery of global economy and resisting protectionism.
• BRICS financial institutions, viz., Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA), New Development Bank (NDB) that was established during 6th BRICS Summit at Fortaleza was ratified
• BRICS Inter-Central Bank Agreement that sets technical parameters of operations within the BRICS CRA was signed
• Adoption of Strategy for the BRICS Economic Partnershipto foster trade, economic and investment cooperation between BRICS nations. In this regard, the ministers/sherpas were asked to develop a roadmap for the period until 2020.
• Looking forward to the sixth session of the Conference of State Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) to be held in St. Petersburg in November 2015, the BRICS members decided to create a BRICS Working Group on Anti-Corruption Cooperation.
• MoU on the Creation of the Joint BRICS Website among our Foreign Ministries was signed
• Recognising the urgent need to further strengthen cooperation in the areas of Information, Communication and Technology (ICTs), BRICS nations decided to constitute a BRICS working group on ICT cooperation.
• First meeting of the BRICS Ministers of Labour and Employment will be held in February 2016, which will focus on the creation of decent jobs and information sharing on labour and employment issues.

Infosys signed Multi-Million Euro Deal with Deutsche Bank

India’s second largest IT services firm Infosys on 8 July 2015 signed a multi-million euro deal with Deutsche Bank. As per this agreement, Infosys will provide services like application maintenance, package implementation and testing services across the Deutsche Bank Group.

Moreover, Infosys will also be a strategic partner under Deutsche Bank’s Supplier Partnership Programme, which was launched in June 2014 to concentrate on the most strategic vendors based on business impact across all categories of the bank.

About Deutsche Bank
• Deutsche Bank is a German global banking and financial services company with its headquarters in the Deutsche Bank Twin Towers in Frankfurt.
• It has more than 100000 employees in over 70 countries, and has a large presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia-Pacific and the emerging markets.
• In 2009, Deutsche Bank was the largest foreign exchange dealer in the world with a market share of 21 percent.

RBI released Final Guidelines on PPI for Mass Transit System (PPI-MTS)

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 9 July 2015 released the final guidelines on Prepaid Payment Instruments for Mass Transit System (PPI-MTS). The issued guidelines enable the issuance of a separate category of semi-closed prepaid payment instruments for mass transit systems.

The PPI-MTS will enhance commuter convenience and will also facilitate the migration to electronic payments in line with the country’s vision of moving to a less-cash society.

The PPI-MTS can be used within the mass transit systems and will have a minimum validity of six months from date of issue. Such PPIs will be reloadable instruments subject to an outstanding limit of 2000 rupees at any point of time.

Apart from the mass transit system, such PPI-MTS can be used at other merchants whose activities are allied to or are carried on within the premises of the transit system.

Main features of Prepaid Payment Instruments

Indian Boxing Council to promote professional boxing launched

Former Indian Amateur Boxing Federation Secretary General Brig. PK Muralidharan Raja on 8 July 2015 launched the Indian Boxing Council (IBC).

IBC is India’s first national governing body and was launched with an aim to promote professional boxing and tap the unexplored potential of professional boxing in India.

This newly formed professional body of boxing was conceptualized byGeneral Brig. PK Muralidharan. He was named as IBC’s first president with Infinity Optimal Solutions (IOS) being its first marketing arm.

IOS came in news after it helped Olympic bronze-medalist Vijender Singh to switch in the professional circuit by fetching a deal with the UK-based Queensberry Promotions.

About Indian Boxing Council (IBC)
The IBC is a non-profit organisation and is operating with its commercial partner Infinity Optimal Solutions (IOS) and it will
• Sanction professional matches and award national and subordinate championship titles
• It will provide lucrative financial deals for pugilists wanting to take the plunge after exhausting their amateur options
• It will identify boxers from different zones in order to prepare a pool of prospective fighters.

Renowned Urdu poet Bashar Navaaz passed away

Noted Urdu poet and critic Bashar Navaaz passed away on 9 July 2015 following a brief illness in Aurangabad, Maharashtra. He was 80. He was known as an Indo Pak shayar as his poetry is popular in India as well as in Pakistan.

Born on 18 August 1935 at Aurangabad, Maharashtra, Navaaz was famous for his writings that were regularly published in various Urdu literary journals magazines in India and abroad. His books Rayagan, Ajanabee samandar were very popular among gazal lovers.

As a lyricist, he wrote number of gazals for hindi movies, some of them are Bazaar, Jaane vafaa, Loree, Tere Shahar me, etc. He had also been a municipal councillor in Aurangabad in the 1950s.

Navaaz was also awarded with various prestigious awards for his contribution to Urdu Literature including Galib award of Galib Academy New Delhi, Maharashtra State Urdu Academy award, Iftekhaar E Adab award and the Pulotsav Samman.

Renowned Urdu poet Bashar Navaaz passed away

MPEDA launched mobile-based applications to help farmers capture data through mobile

The Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) on 9 July 2015 launched two mobile based applications to help farmers get prices on shrimp and capture data on aquaculture through mobile. Moreover, MPEDA also revamped its website and launched an online registration portal for exporters.

MPEDA is a nodal agency for promotion of marine exports from India under Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

These two mobile-based applications are:

Shrimp price Information over SMS by a missed call
With this application, MPEDA will provide price related market information of Vannamei shrimp and BT shrimp to farmers over SMS on a missed call to a predetermined number. On receipt of the missed call, information on price of Vannamei shrimp and BT shrimp for different grades in major markets like Japan, USA and EU will be provided by SMS.

Farmers can dial +918590100800 for getting price information on Vannamei shrimp and can call +918590200800 for getting price information on BT shrimp. The prices are obtained from published data of INFOFISH (an Inter governmental organization of FAO).

This price information to farmers will provide them the current market trends enabling them to make an informed decision on harvest of their produce. The service will be provided free of cost to farmers.

mKRISHI- Mobile App for Aquaculture Operations
The authority also launched a mobile applications named mKRISHI that will provide an easy tool for book keeping, advisory services and weather informations. It is an Android mobile application which has been developed by MPEDA and TCS Innovation Lab, Mumbai (as part of its CSR initiative).

For using this app, farmers will require an android mobile handset (post 2013 models) with a data/GPRS connection (2G, 3G or WiFi). The Farmer needs to enter the basic information regarding his farming activities and in return he will get expert guidance for all operations.

The reports can be seen in the graphical format. An option to view the trends or reports in the computer is also provided to give seamless data entry and visualization. The App will also help in resolving farmer’s issues quickly on a more personalized approach.

Currently, mKrishi is under pilot project in Gujarat and will be extended all over India in the next three months.

Online MPEDA Registration portal for Exporters
The registration of an exporter with MPEDA is a mandatory requirement under MPEDA Act, 1972. With this MPEDA registration portal by NIC, exporters will be expected to fill in their application form online with their Login ID and can also pay the fee online for which a payment gateway has been developed.

The mandatory documents are to be scanned and uploaded online by the applicant which will be verified by the registering authority. After due process, the Certificate of registration will be generated. The objective of the new system is to facilitate ease of doing business.