Capsule DEC 2014

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mySINCE 1993 India’s Premier Banking / SSC Institute

Economy In the case of payments banks, entities ranging from

telecom companies and prepaid payment instrumentissuers (PPIs) to supermarket chains and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) can apply.

A promoter can also choose to have a joint venturewith an existing scheduled commercial bank to setup a payments bank.

Promoter/promoter groups should be ‘fit and proper’with a sound track record of professional experienceor of running their businesses for at least a periodof five years in order to be eligible to promotepayment banks.

The minimum paid-up equity capital for these bankswill be `100 cr.

The promoter contribution has been set at aminimum of 40 per cent at the start.

Promoters are no longer needed to bring down theirshareholding from 40 per cent to 24 per cent over 12years, as was suggested in the draft norms.

Foreign shareholding limit will be at par with privatebanks, currently set at 74 per cent.

Payments bank will initially be restricted to holdinga maximum balance of `1,00,000 per individualcustomer.

They can offer payments and remittance servicesand issue ATM/debit cards, but not credit cards.

It can contract outside liabilities (deposits) but notexceeding 33.33 times (against 20 times in the draftguidelines) its net worth.

As per final guidelines, apart from amountsmaintained as cash with the central bank (definedby the cash reserve ratio, or CRR), payments banks

Automobiles The govt has constituted a panel for introducing certain

safety features in new vehicles, and is taking stepstowards harmonising safety norms for cars followedglobally. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highwayshas formed a dedicated panel for introducing safetyfeatures in new vehicles under ‘Bharat New VehicleSafety Assessment Programme’ which will be voluntaryfrom Oct 2017 and mandatory by Oct 2020.

Aviation Vistara, the Tata-Singapore Airlines joint venture full-

service carrier that received its air operators permit(AOP) on 15 Dec, is expected to begin operations inIndia in the second week of Jan.

Banking The Reserve Bank of India on 27 Nov issued final

guidelines for payments and small banks that aim to takebanking services to more people and small businesses.Earlier, the draft guidelines for both were released on 17Jul.

Payments banks The central bank defines a payments bank as one

that will be allowed to take deposits, issue debitcards, offer remittances up to a small limit (`1 lakhcurrently) and distribute financial products suchas insurance and mutual funds to its customers butcannot lend money.

SINCE 1993 India’s Premier Banking / SSC Institute

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will be required to invest at least 75 per cent of theirdemand deposits in statutory liquidity ratio (SLR)-eligible govt securities or treasury bills with maturityup to one year.

The remaining 25 per cent of their fixed deposits canbe parked with other scheduled commercial banksfor operational purposes and liquidity management.

Payments banks can accept deposits – current andsavings bank – from individuals, small businessesand other entities. However, they cannot accept non-resident Indian deposits.

Small Banks A small finance bank will operate in a similar fashion

to a normal bank (by taking deposits, offeringwithdrawals as well as offering loans) but with afocus on small, un-served and under-served areasof the country.

The small banks are intended to provide savingsproducts and credit to small businesses, and smalland marginal farmers.

Small banks will be required to maintain a minimumcapital adequacy ratio of 15 per cent of the loans ona continuous basis.

Unlike in the draft norms, there will be nogeographical restriction on the area of operationfor such banks.

However, as a way to ensure that only those seriousabout the business set up such banks, RBI has saidthat 75 per cent of loans must be to the so-calledpriority sector which includes agriculture and smallbusinesses.

Half the loan portfolio of the banks should be “loansand advances of up to `25 lakh” in an attempt toensure that the borrowers are small businesses.

Individuals with 10 years of experience in bankingand finance and companies and societies controlledby Indian residents together with NBFCs, micro-finance institutions and local area banks (LABs)can opt for conversion into small banks.

The minimum paid-up equity capital for small banksis also `100 cr, lower than the ̀ 500 cr for new full-fledged private banks.

These banks will have to maintain the mandatory 4per cent of their deposits as CRR and hold 22 percent of their deposits in govt securities.

Promoters of small banks must own 40 per centequity in the new venture initially, but will need tobring this down to 26 per cent within 12 years fromthe date of commencement of business.

Foreign shareholding in these banks has beencapped at 74 per cent just like in existing privatebanks.

If the small finance bank aspires to transit into auniversal bank, such transition will not be automatic,but would be subject to fulfilling minimum paid-upcapital/net worth requirement as applicable touniversal banks, its satisfactory track record ofperformance as a small finance bank and the outcomeof the Reserve Bank’s due diligence exercise.

Application process Applications for these new kind of banks will be

accepted till 16 Jan 2015. Applications will be screened by an external advisory

committee comprising bankers, charteredaccountants and finance professionals.

The validity of the in-principle approval issued bythe Reserve Bank will be eighteen months.

The banking regulator RBI has allowed the players toexpand area of operations by allowing the usage ofinternational credit, debit and prepaid cards. The WhiteLevel ATM (WLA) operators and private banks havebeen asking for a hike in interchange fees, which currentlyis `15 per transaction.

The first three transactions at other ATMs are freeand after this, the bank can choose to pass on the costto the consumer. But as per the RBI order, banks cannotcharge consumers more than ̀ 20.

While allowing prepaid and international cards mayexpand the number of transactions, restricting the ATMusage further at non-home bank ATMs from Nov 1 willend up reducing the number of transactions, makingbreakeven tougher for WLA operators. RBI has allowedbanks to limit the number of free transactions at non-home bank ATMs to three from five in the metros. Playersbelieve that they need about 120-140 transactions on adaily basis for an ATM to break even.

WLAs were introduced to increase the network ofthese machines in semi-urban and rural areas. Companiesin this segment are mandated to open 67 per cent of theirATMs in rural locations (tier III-VI) and 33 per cent inurban ones (tier I and II cities).

ICICI Bank, one of the largest private lenders in thecountry, is calibrating its global ambitions, selling itssubsidiary in Russia, repatriating capital from its UK andCanada arms, and shrinking its international balancesheet. ICICI Bank said it had decided to sell its


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shareholding in ICICI Bank Eurasia (its Russiansubsidiary) to Sovcombank.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a monetarypenalty on ICICI Bank (`50 lakh) and Bank of Baroda(`25 lakh) for violation of its instructions on Know YourCustomer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML)norms. It also cautioned State Bank of India, Axis Bankand State Bank of Patiala for these violations.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has charged StandardChartered Bank (SCB) and Tamilnad Mercantile Bank(TMB) and its officials with violating the ForeignExchange Management Act (FEMA) while transferringTMB shares to a group of non-resident Indians in 2007.

To promote electronic payments, the Reserve Bank ofIndia has increased the Real Time Gross Settlement(RTGS) business hours to 12 hours from 8 am to 8 pm onweekdays which will came into effect from 29 Dec.

The World Bank has committed over USD 1-bn loan toBangladesh which would benefit over 36 mn people byimproving quality of primary education, building coastalcommunities’ resilience to natural disasters, andincreasing the nutritive and cognitive development ofchildren from the poorest households.

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) on 18 Dec said it wouldimpose negative interest rates on cash held by otherbanks at the central bank, seeking to discourage safe-haven buying by investors anxious about the crisis inRussia and oil’s slide.

PSL target for banks in India At present, Indian banks are required to achieve

PSL target of 40 per cent of aggregate advances,with 18 per cent sub-limit for the farm sector.

The same applies to wholly owned subsidiaries(WOS) of foreign banks.

Foreign lenders with 20 or more branches in Indiaare being brought on par with local banks in PSLtargets, in a phased manner over five years startingApr 2013.

For foreign banks with less than 20 branches, theoverall target is fixed at 32 per cent.

As a step to ease the pressure on stressed assets, theReserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed lenders torestructure certain loans to infrastructure and coreindustries’ projects.

Highlights The RBI has allowed lenders to restructure existing

loans above `500 cr to infrastructure and coreindustries’ projects.

According to Union finance ministry data, thestressed loan books of commercial banks were 12.57per cent of the total of loans as of end-Sep.

Non-performing assets (NPAs) had a share of 5.32per cent and restructured assets were 7.25 per cent.

While giving the flexibility, the banking regulatorhas attached some riders, to ensure the exercisehappens within a framework of prudential norms.

Banks can fix a fresh loan repayment (amortisation)schedule for existing project loans once during theirlifetime.

This could be done only after the date ofcommencement of commercial operations, based onthe reassessment of project cash flows.

The exercise will not be treated as a ‘restructuring’,provided it is a standard loan as on the date ofchange of the repayment schedule. The Net PresentValue of the loan should remain the same before andafter the change in repayment schedule.

Refinancing can be done by existing lenders, a newset of lenders or a combination of both or by issuingcorporate bonds. Such refinancing can be repeatedtill the end of the repayment schedule.

Banks have started appointing environmental specialistsand social experts to appraise loan proposals beforesanctioning big-ticket advances. The move is aimed toreduce the scope of delinquencies arising from lack ofenvironmental clearances or employee unrest.

The amount recovered from cases decided in 2013-14under DRTs was ̀ 30,950 cr, while the outstanding valueof debt sought to be recovered was `236,600 cr.

In other words, recovery was only 13 per cent of theamount at stake.There are only five Debt RecoveryAppellate Tribunals in the country.

As India continues its pursuit of suspected black moneystashed abroad, an international think tank has rankedthe country third globally with an estimated $94.76 bn(nearly `6 lakh cr) illicit wealth outflows in 2012.

As a result, the cumulative illicit money moving outof the country over a ten-year period from 2003 to 2012has risen to $439.59 bn (`28 lakh cr), as per the latestestimates released by the Global Financial Integrity(GFI). Russia is on the top with $122.86 bn, followed by

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China at the second position ($249.57 bn) in terms of thequantum of black money moving out of a country for2012.

Russia’s central bank raised its key interest rate to 17per cent from 10.5 per cent on 16 Dec in an emergencymove to halt a collapse in the rouble as oil prices declineand the country’s sanctions-hit economy slides towardsrecession.

Messages on bank transactions and slips in ATMmachines may soon come up in Hindi if a proposal of theHome Ministry is accepted by the PSU banks, as part ofthe efforts to popularise the language in official business.

The central bank in Jan 2014 had advised that after Mar31, 2014, it will completely withdraw from circulation allbanknotes issued prior to 2005. Later, the Reserve Bankof India (RBI) extended the date for exchanging thosebanknotes to Jan 1, 2015. After the deadline is over, thepublic will be required to approach banks for exchangingthese notes. Currency notes issued before 2005 do nothave the year of printing on the reverse side. In notesissued after 2005, the year of printing is visible at thebottom on the reverse. The Finance Ministry recentlysaid the withdrawal exercise was in conformity with thestandard international practice of not having multipleseries of notes in circulation at the same time. The bankshave already been asked by the RBI not to issue pre-2005 series notes over the counter or through ATMs.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that it isworking on a system that would allow small-valueelectronic transactions without a second level ofverification that is now required for most credit cardstransactions.

China has eased rules which will provide market accessfor foreign banks, in a move to further open up thedomestic banking sector. Previously, a foreign bankwould have to unconditionally allocate at least 100 mnyuan (around $16.4 mn) or the same value in other freely-convertible currencies.

The RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan on 2 Dec kept interestrate unchanged but hinted that a cut may come earlynext year if inflation continues to ease and govt acts onthe fiscal side.

Highlights Short-term lending (Repo) rate unchanged at 8 per

cent

Cash reserve ratio (CRR) unchanged at 4 per cent Statutory Liquidity Ratio retained at 22 per cent to

unlock banking funds GDP growth for current fiscal estimated at 5.5 per

cent Projects retail inflation at 6 per cent by Mar 2015-

end Projects retail inflation to lower in Nov, rise again in

Dec Weak revenue realisation a threat to fiscal deficit

target Next bi-monthly policy statement on Feb 3

The State Bank of India (SBI) has launched two indices,namely the SBI Monthly Composite Index and the SBIYearly Composite Index, that will primarily trackmanufacturing activity and offer a forward-lookingeconomic trends.

Currently, Markers at present depend on HSBC IndiaPurchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) and HSBC IndiaServices Business Activity Index to get clues abouteconomic trends.

Capital Market For the first time since its inception 20 years ago, the

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on 18 Decordered the imprisonment of a defaulter Vinod Hingorani,non-executive chairman of Kolar Biotech and AdamComsof for failing to pay a penalty for making misleadingdisclosures.

The e-commerce major Flipkart on 20 Dec filed with ACRASingapore for conversion to a Public Company.

Commission The 14th Finance Commission, headed by former Reserve

Bank of India (RBI) governor YV Reddy, on 15 Decsubmitted its report to the President’s office.

Highlights

As mandated by the Article 280 of the Constitution,the Govt had constituted the Fourteenth FinanceCommission consisting of Dr YV Reddy, formerGovernor Reserve Bank of India, as the Chairmanand four other members, namely Abhijit Sen,Sushma Nath, M Govinda Rao and Sudipto Mundle.

Ajay Narayan Jha was the Secretary to theCommission.


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The Commission’s report covers a period of fiveyears commencing 1 Apr 2015.

The Commission shall make recommendationsregarding the sharing of Union taxes, principlesgoverning grants-in-aid to States and transfer ofresources to local bodies.

The panel was appointed on Jan 2, 2013 to give itsreport by Oct 31 this year but was later extended bytwo months till Dec 31. The panel had sought moretime to examine financial projections and carry outconsultations with the Andhra Pradesh andTelangana govts.

The panel was also asked to look into the Goodsand Services Tax (GST). The commission’s terms ofreference also included the pricing of public utilitiessuch as electricity and water in an independentmanner and the sale of non-priority public-sectorunits.

Committee To steer restructuring of the Railway Board, Indian

Railways has set up a committee under Bibek Debroy,economist and professor, Centre for Policy Research.The committee will recommend steps to mobiliseresources for major projects and help set up a Rail TariffAuthority.

Railway Ministry set up a committee under thechairmanship of DK Mittal, former secretary, financialservices, to examine the existing revenue structure andsuggest ways and means for raising earnings of IndianRailways. The first one was Debroy Committee,announced to suggest restructuring in the Railway Boardand the second one the Sreedharan Committee torecommend ‘proper system and procedure to ensureproper accountability and transparency’ at GeneralManager (GM) level and at the level of other functionariesfor taking all commercial decisions.

Disinvestment Kicking off its disinvestment drive on a positive note,

the govt’s share sale offer in steel major SAIL got over-subscribed on 5 Dec. The govt is selling 5 per cent stakein SAIL through this one-day offer, which received bidsfor more than 30 cr shares.

The govt has an uphill task ahead of it of achieving thetarget of raising `43,000 cr in 2014-15 through sale of

stake in PSUs. It has so far managed to raise only ̀ 1,700cr, by divesting a 5 per cent stake in Steel Authority ofIndia (SAIL).

Energy The govt has made it clear that Aadhaar number was not

mandatory for transfer of subsidy amount of LPGcylinder. Under the Direct Benefit Transfer of LPG(DBTL).

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has wonan offshore oil and gas exploration block in New Zealand,the first by an Indian firm in that country.

The state-run Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is thecountry’s largest company in terms of revenue, followedby Reliance Industries and Bharat Petroleum in thesecond and third place respectively, according to theFortune 500 list of Indian companies for 2014.

Insurance Inmates of Delhi’s high-security Tihar jail will soon get

life and accidental insurance cover as the prisonadministration, in collaboration with Indian Bank, hasdecided to get their accounts opened under the Jan DhanYojna.

Investment Japanese technology major SoftBank has become the

largest investor in the Indian e-commerce segment. Withits latest investment of $90 mn in Housing.com,SoftBank’s overall investment in Indian e-commercestands at about $1 bn.

The HDFC Bank and Ratnakar Bank (now known as RBLBank) on 19 Dec got clearance from the ForeignInvestment Promotion Board (FIPB) for their respectiveforeign direct investment (FDI) proposals. Banks canhave up to 49 per cent foreign investment withoutregulatory approval but require approval from RBI andthe FIPB if they want to increase the foreign investmentlimit to 74 per cent.

Power State-run power equipment maker BHEL has announced

to have commissioned a hydro power project in Africancountry Rwanda.

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The govt on 20 Nov approved `43,033-cr ruralelectrification scheme Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram JyotiYojana. The scheme will replace the existing Rajiv GandhiGrameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY).

Telecom In what could be one of the largest launches in the

telecom services space, Reliance Jio Infocomm is set toroll out its 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) services in800 Indian cities between Apr and Jun next year.

The Delhi High Court has permitted Chinese mobilephone maker Xiaomi to sell and import Qualcomm chipset-based handsets till Jan 8, as a temporary measure.

Yu, the new brand from domestic handset makerMicromax, on 18 Dec launched its first device namedYureka.

Trade An over-six-fold jump in gold imports in Nov has pushed

country’s trade deficit to one-and-a-half year high ofUSD 16.86 bn in the month, causing fresh concerns foreconomic policy makers. Although exports went by 7.2per cent, the highest in the last four months, gold importssoared by 571 per cent to USD 5.61 bn (over ̀ 35,000 cr)in Nov to widen the trade gap.

A new model agreement was needed by the govt as therehad been a substantial increase in the amount of disputesunder bilateral investment protection agreement (BIPA).

Highlights

It will provide protection only to companies andnatural persons with substantial business activityin their home country.

It would only entertain the claims of investors withat least 50 per cent stake or the right to appoint amajority of the directors or senior managementpersonnel.

It has also made it clear that tax measures will beexcluded from the BIT. In simple terms, this meansno tax measure introduced by the host country willbe subject to any dispute settlement under the BIT.

The new model clearly defines govt for the first timeto include only the central and state govts and notactivities of any local govt.

It also establishes a mechanism under which a hostcountry can pursue counter claims against foreigninvestors for their illegal conduct.

The new model broadens the scope to includeprotection of the environment, conservation ofnatural resources, stability and integrity of thefinancial system, public health and safety, andimproving working conditions, amongst others.

The proposed model would also balance investorrights with their obligations under the domestic law.So, it does not provide any protection to investorswho violate core obligations under the law.

Taxation Goods and Services Tax:

Highlights

As the name suggests, the Goods and Services Tax(GST) will be levied both on goods (manufacturing)and services.

It will convert the country into unified market,replacing most indirect taxes with one tax.

It would have a dual structure – a Central componentlevied and collected by the Centre and a statecomponent administered by states.

At the Central level, it will subsume Central exciseduty, service tax and additional customs duties.

At the state level, it will include value-added tax,entertainment tax, luxury tax, lottery taxes andelectricity duty.

The Central Sales Tax (CST) will be completelyphased out.

Entry tax or octroi would be subsumed from thestart. But state taxes on petroleum products willcontinue for a few years after GST is introduced.

State taxes on alcohol and tobacco would remain. As with VAT, the tax will be charged on each stage

of value addition. At each stage, a supplier can offsetthe levy through a tax credit mechanism. This means,the consumer pays GST added on by only the lastdealer in the supply chain.

The rate for GST is as yet undecided, but it wouldbe in a range that would make exports competitive.

A sub-committee of the Empowered Committee ofstate finance ministers had proposed revenue-neutral rates (RNR) for the Central and Statecomponents at 12.77 per cent and 13.91 per cent,respectively, taking the effective GST rate to 26.88per cent.

This is much stiffer than the 14-16 per cent in mostcountries as well as the recommendation of ataskforce of the Thirteenth Finance Commission of


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12 per cent (7 per cent for State GST and 5 per centfor Central GST).

Others The Union Women and Child Development Ministry on

3 Dec set a target to cover at least 10 lakh women underRashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK), a national credit fund forwomen, over the next three years.

India has not fared well in Forbes’ list of the bestcountries for business this year, ranking 93rd out of 146nations, behind countries like Mexico, Kazakhstan andSri Lanka as it cited challenges like poverty andcorruption that the country needs to address. Denmarktopped Forbes’ 9th annual ranking of the Best Countriesfor Business, followed by Hong Kong, New Zealand,Ireland and Sweden.

Nationphilanthropic contributions and Corporate SocialResponsibility (CSR) funds” towards this cause.

States In order to streamline the system of auction and bring

transparency, the Maharashtra govt has made e-auctionmandatory from Jan 1 this year.

PM Narendra Modi had given a call on IndependenceDay this year for turning the country into ‘digital India’where governance would not be opaque to people. Inless than two years, Gujarat on 26 Nov set a standard forother states when it crossed 100 cr e-transactions forpublic services, a first for the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 10-daylong annual Hornbill festival in Nagaland on 1 Dec,becoming the first Prime Minister to inaugurate a tribalexposition in Nagaland where most of the people areChristians.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on 15 Deckicked off the distribution of the ‘Bhamashah’ cardsamong women belonging to BPL category in Ajmer toensure that they get monetary benefits of various govtschemes.

Union Minister for Food Processing IndustriesHarsimrat Kaur Badal inaugurated the first-of-its-kind`136 cr Mega International Food Park at Dabwala Kalan.

The Andhra Pradesh govt unveiled a Land Pooling Policyon 8 Dec, to secure about 30,000 acres of land in order toconstruct a greenfield, riverfront capital city for the stateon the southern side of the Krishna river, close toVijayawada in the Guntur district.

Centre Indian tea sector gets a welcome boost as the Centre has

approved the proposal for implementation of the ‘TeaDevelopment and Promotion Scheme’ with an outlay of`1,425 cr during the the 12th Plan period (2012-17). Thescheme is aimed at supporting development of improvedvarieties and technologies for increasing production,productivity and quality of tea. It also aims at promotingIndian tea in the overseas and domestic markets.

The govt has decided to decriminalise “attempt tosuicide” by deleting Section 309 of the Indian PenalCode (IPC) from the statute book.

People seeking information under RTI Act may now beable to use postal stamps as application fee if arecommendation of the Central Information Commissionis accepted by the Centre. RTI users now have to pay afee of ̀ 10 either in cash, bank demand draft or IndianPostal Order to get information.

Eighteen new ayurveda colleges have received theCentre’s nod this year, against permission for only onesuch institution in the last three years as govt seeks topromote traditional forms of treatment and integrate theminto the existing health care system.

In line with BJP-led govt’s stand not to demolish ‘RamSethu’, the govt is in the process of exploring analternative route for the launch of Sethusamudram ShipCanal Project (SSCP) through Pamban Pass withoutaffecting Ram Sethu/Adam’s Bridge.

The govt on 25 Nov formally launched the SwachhBharat Kosh (fund) “to facilitate channelisation of

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Powerful roar of white tigers will soon reverberate inMadhya Pradesh’s Vindhya region as the world’s firstWhite Tiger Safari would begin at Mukundpur in Rewa,which was once home to this rare breed of the big cats.

The Andhra Pradesh Govt on 20 Dec introduced theState Capital Region Development Authority Bill, 2014in the State Assembly. The state govt has decided toestablish the AP Capital Region Development Authoritywith the state Chief Minister as the Chairman while theMunicipal Administration and Urban DevelopmentMinister as the vice-chairman.

In Sikkim, the retirement age of govt school teachers hasbeen reduced from 60 to 58.

Bills The Lok Sabha on 18 Dec passed the Motor Vehicles

Amendment Bill, 2014 by voice vote. The bill intendsto regularise e-rickshaws and provide driving licencesfor battery-operated vehicles to ply in the national capitaland other places of the country.

The Lok Sabha on 15 Dec passed a bill seeking toexpeditiously evict persons occupying unauthorisedpublic premises. Piloting the Public Premises (Evictionof Unauthorised Occupants) Amendment Bill, 2014,Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu said thathe would soon call a meeting of mayors to effectivelydeal with the problem of unauthorised occupation ofpublic property.

Highlights The Bill redefines public premises to include

companies in which at least 51 per cent of the paid-up share capital is held by the Central and Stategovts, and which carries on the business of metrorailway.

Under the new provisions, the MPs would have tovacate their official house within 60 days, includingthe period of notice.

Such a law was needed to ensure development ofrapid transport and metro facilities and serve thegrowing need for public transport in and around thenational capital.

In case states want to expeditiously get rid ofunauthorised occupation of public places, theywould have to pass such laws as land is a statesubject.

The Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2014 was introduced

in the Lok Sabha by the Power Minister Piyush Goyal on19 Dec. The Bill seeks to improve the distribution systemby giving choice to the consumer, promotion ofrenewable energy, maintenance of grid security,rationalisation of tariff determination and strengtheningof Regulatory Commissions.

Defence The Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on 15 Dec

flagged off first made-in-India nuclear-poweredsubmarine INS Arihant from Vizag for sea trials. Indiawill become one of only six countries in the world withthe knowledge of designing, engineering and operatinga nuclear submarine.

India is on course to acquire a second nuclear-poweredsubmarine on lease from Russia to bolster its depletedunderwater combat arm as well as train its sailors in thecomplex art of operating such vessels. India had inductedthe first Akula-II submarine, christened INS Chakra,on a 10-year lease from Russia in Apr 2012. INS Arihant,during its long-drawn sea trials, will also have to test-fireits nuclear-tipped K-15 ballistic missiles before it canbecome fully-operational. INS Chakra also serves as atraining platform for INS Arihant and its two follow-onsister SSBNs (nuclear-powered submarines armed withballistic missiles) being built at the shipbuilding centreat Vizag. The next SSBN, INS Aridhaman, is also nowready for “launch” into water, while the third, called S-4,is at an advanced fabrication stage in the building blocks.

Thirty-two years after the light combat aircraft (LCA)project was sanctioned, IAF will finally get its first home-grown Tejas fighter in Mar 2015.

India will now export two warships to Sri Lanka afterdelivering CGS Barracuda warship to Mauritius for thefirst time.

India has tested a 1,000-kg indigenously-developed glidebomb, which successfully hit a target 100 km away, in theBay of Bengal off the Odisha coast, making the countryself-reliant in guided precision bombs.

Judiciary Over 1.25 cr cases across the country were on 6 Dec

disposed of by the second National Lok Adalat, whichalso saw disbursal of ̀ 3,000 cr as compensation towardsmotor accidents claims.


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The Supreme Court on 3 Dec set up a special ‘SocialJustice Bench’ to exclusively hear cases concerningsocial issues, particularly those related to women,children and underprivileged.

A Delhi court on 18 Dec awarded life imprisonment tofour convicts in the Former Railway Minister LNMishra murder case. Lalit Narayan Mishra was killed ina bomb blast at a function at the Samastipur railwaystation in Bihar in 1975.

The Supreme Court has said that the money likely to bearranged by Sahara Group from overseas to raise ̀ 10,000cr for the release of its jailed chief Subrata Roy will comeinto the country only after necessary clearances by RBI.

The court agreed that the transfer of money fromescrow account of foreign bank agent requires specialpermission by competent authority under the ForeignExchange Management Act (FEMA).

A special court hearing the coal block case involvingindustrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and others, on 16Dec, asked CBI to record the statement of former PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh, who was then holding thecoal ministry portfolio.

Others For the first time in the history of India’s dairy sector, all

the dairy majors joined hands to celebrate Nov 26 asNational Milk Day in the memory of Dr Verghese Kurien,Father of India’s White Revolution. Globally, since 2001,Jun 1 is annually celebrated as World Milk Day afterthe day was designated by the United Nations Food andAgriculture Organization (UN FAO).

The work on the integrated cryogenic enginemanufacturing (ICEM) facility, which will be a joint effortby Defence PSU HAL and Indian Space ResearchOrganisation (ISRO), is soon to begin.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)’s firstsub-orbital flight and India’s latest-generation launchvehicle – Geo-Synchronous Satellite Launch VehicleMark-III – was successfully launched from the Sriharikotaspace station near Chennai on 18 Dec.

Highlights The vehicle also carried the Crew Module

Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment (CARE). Thecrew module can carry up to two to three astronauts

and withstood a heat of around 1,600 degreesCelsius while it travelled towards the surface of theEarth attracted by gravity.

During the test, the module separated from the rocketat an altitude of 126 km and re-entered Earth’satmosphere (about 80 km from sea level).

The LVM3-X flight was powered by active S200 andL110 propulsion stages and a passive C25 stagewith dummy engine. The 630-tonne three-stagerocket carried active solid boosters, liquid core stageand a passive cryogenic engine stage.

This rocket is capable of doubling the capacity ofpayloads India can carry into space and it candeposit up to four-tonne class of communicationsatellites into space.

The cost of this experimental mission is ̀ 155 cr. The heavy-duty cryogenic engine necessary for this

rocket is still under development by ISRO and a full-fledged launch of the rocket can be expected in afew years. Cryogenic engines use fuels like oxygenand hydrogen in liquid form stored at extremely lowtemperatures to produce enormous amounts ofthrust per unit mass.

ISRO plans to send two astronauts into space atsome point as part of its human space flightprogramme.

The GSLV now needs just one more test flight tobecome commercially operational and enter the nichemarket for four-tonne satellites, currently theexclusive preserve of American space boosters andthe European Space Agency’s Ariane rockets.

An operational Mk III will even give ISRO thecapability to build an orbiting space station.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken direct controlof a project-monitoring body to fast-track investmentsworth almost `18 lakh cr ($300 bn) and revivemanufacturing in the country. By taking over the ProjectMonitoring Group (PMG), which was previously in theCabinet Secretariat, the PM could help firms planningcoal, power, steel and infrastructure projects cut througha maze of up to 180 clearances.

India on 16 Dec declared a ban on Islamic State, daysafter having detained Mehdi Masoor Biswas fromBengaluru for running a popular Twitter account extollingthe militant group’s military campaign. India has theworld’s third-largest population of Muslims, but theyhave largely shunned Islamist causes.

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Worldcent, compared to global average growth of 2 per cent in2013.

The US space agency’s Orion capsule blasted off on 5Dec on its first journey. It was a key test flight for avehicle that could carry people to deep space destinationslike Mars in the coming years.

The electronic voting system (e-Voting) was used during21 Nov’s general elections at Namibia. With this, it hasbecome the first African nation to adopt the use of e-voting.

In a historic decision, the US President Barack Obamaon 18 Dec announced a series of steps aimed atnormalising relations with communist-ruled Cuba, withwhich the US had severed diplomatic ties decades ago,imposing a series of sanctions on its island neighbour.

The European Parliament overwhelmingly backed therecognition of a Palestinian state in principle on 17 Dec.

Nepal’s Supreme Court (SC) has started e-judiciaryservices aiming to provide better court services and toensure easy access to justice.

In an initiative to build a new silk road linking Asia andEurope though Central Asia, China launched a cargotrain service connecting its world’s largest commoditymarket in Yiwu with the Spanish capital Madrid, 13,000km away.

The UN General Assembly has passed a resolutionasking Israel to pay Lebanon around USD 850 mn as acompensation for the oil spill damages in 2006.

Pakistani authorities on 19 Dec executed two menconvicted for attacks on the Army headquarters and onformer military ruler Pervez Musharraf, days after Pakistanlifted its moratorium on the death penalty.

The US President Barack Obama has signed a massiveannual defence policy bill which grants USD 1 bn toPakistan for the expenses made by its army in supportof the US military operations in war-torn Afghanistan.

Bangladesh and Bhutan on 6 Dec inked a deal on tradethat would allow the two countries duty-free access to90 of each other’s products.

The trial run of the bus service between Guwahati andDhaka in Bangladesh was flagged off 10 Dec by AssamPWD Minister Ajanta Neog.

The US and NATO ceremonially ended their combatmission in Afghanistan on 8 Dec. The coalition willmaintain a force of 13,000 troops in Afghanistan, downfrom a peak around 140,000 in 2011.

Less than three months after Prime Minister NarendraModi proposed the idea, the UN General Assembly on11 Dec adopted an India-led resolution declaring 21 Junas “International Day of Yoga”, recognising that “yogaprovides a holistic approach to health and well-being.”

Denmark has presented a claim to the UN, arguing thatthe area surrounding the North Pole is connected to thecontinental shelf of Greenland, a Danish autonomousterritory. Canada and Russia have already asserted theirown sovereignty over the energy-rich Arctic territory.

India and Japan have decided to cooperate in the fieldsof cyber security and Green ICT (Information &Communication Technology).

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on 3Dec launched the Hayabusa2 probe from theTanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture,beginning a six-year mission that will see the lander travelto an asteroid 300 mn km from Earth in search of rocksamples.

The probe is expected to arrive at the asteroid inmid-2018 and return with samples in 2020, the year Tokyohosts the Olympic Games. The mission should helpJapan’s space programme put a troubled past well behindit.

According to an International Labour Organisation(ILO) report, average annual incomes in Asia rose 6 per


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Appointed Dineshwar Sharma: The special director in the

Intelligence Bureau has been appointed as theIntelligence Bureau (IB)’s new chief, succeeding SyedAsif Ibrahim.

Shriti Vadera: The Indian-origin former minister in theUK’s finance ministry will join the board of SantanderUK Bank as joint deputy chairman.

Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya: The Governor ofNagaland to take additional charge as the Governor ofAssam until regular arrangements for the office are made.

Arun Majumdar: The Indian-American scientist alongwith three others Peter Hotez, Jane Lubchenco and GeriRichmond would serve as US envoys beginning Jan nextyear.

Vivek Hallegere Murthy: The US Senate has confirmedthirtyseven-year-old Indian-American physician as the19th Surgeon General of the US.

He is the youngest person and first person of Indianorigin to hold the post.

Amit Priyavadan Mehta: The Indian-American has beenconfirmed by the US Senate as a federal judge in theDistrict of Columbia, becoming the first Asian-PacificAmerican to occupy this important position.

Anil Kumar Sinha: He has taken charge on 3 Dec as theDirector of the country’s premier investigating agency,Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Prakash Mishra: He has been appointed as the newchief of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

Rajinder Khanna: He has been appointed as the chiefof Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW).

Banned L Sarita Devi: The International Boxing Association

(AIBA) has suspended former world champion andmultiple Asian winner from all levels of boxing activitiesfor one year.

Died Nedunuri Krishnamurthy: The veteran carnatic vocalist

passed away.

S Narayanan: The chairman of India Motor Parts &Accessories Ltd (IMPAL) passed away.

Murli Deora: The veteran Congress leader fromMaharashtra and former Petroleum Minister, has diedafter prolonged illness.

Deven Verma: The veteran comedian of hindi cinemadied on 2 Dec.

AR Antulay: The former CM of Maharashtra and formerUnion Minister passed away in a Mumbai.

Elected Anerood Jugnauth: Mauritius’ president on 14 Dec named

the veteran politician as Prime Minister after the 84-year-old won a landslide victory taking nearly three-quartersof seats in parliament.

Tabare Vazquez: He has won Uruguay’s presidentialelection on 30 Nov.

Visited Abdul Hamid: The Bangladeshi President paid a visit to

New Delhi on a six-day official visit.

Tulsi Gabbard: The lone Hindu lawmaker in the US whorepresents Hawaii’s second congressional district, cameon her first visit to India on a spiritual and political journeyon the invitation of PM Narendra Modi.

Others Sunny Leone: For a third year, the Hindi film actor of

Indo-Canadian and American origin, remained the mostsearched personality in India during 2014.

Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi: The Mumbai terror attackaccused has been granted bail by an Anti Terrorism Courtin Pakistan.

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Narendra Modi: The Indian Prime Minister was placedNo. 2, behind Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a list of30 top-performing world leaders by a Japanese marketresearch firm.

Obama (6.6) received middling marks, just ahead of BritishPrime Minister David Cameron (6.5).

Irom Sharmila: Amidst a move by the Central Govt todecriminalise attempt to suicide, international human

rights appealed to the Govt of India to release Manipur’s‘Iron Lady’ Irom Sharmila immediately andunconditionally and also said that the Indian govt’sdecision to decriminalise suicide is in line with anincreasing global trend.

Devyani Khobragade: Taking a serious view of herunauthorised statements in the media, the MEA has takenadministrative steps against Indian diplomat.

Places in Newsborn cleric took some 30 people hostage and made severaldemands, sending shockwaves across the country.

Maldives: The Indian Ocean archipelago, famous for itspristine beaches and scuba diving, declared a state ofcrisis after a fire at the capital’s sole water sewagetreatment plant led to a shortage of drinking water.

Gurdaspur (Punjab): At least 60 persons lost theireyesight after an operation at an eye camp organised byan NGO in district.

Mendipathar (Meghalaya): Meghalaya on 27 Dec cameon the country’s rail map more than six decades afterIndependence, with Prime Minister Narendra Modiflagging off the first train named Mendipathar-Guwahatipassenger to the northeastern state. Mendipatharbecame the first railway station of Meghalaya.

Philippines: A giant storm left the Philippines on 9 Decafter killing at least 27 people and devastating remotecoastal towns, but the govt won praise for unprecedentedpreparations that were credited for saving lives.

Lima: The United Nations Climate Change Conference,COP20 or CMP10, was held in the capital city of Peru,from Dec 1 to 12, 2014. This was the 20th yearly sessionof the Conference of the Parties (COP 20) to the 1992United Nations Framework Convention on ClimateChange (UNFCCC) and the 10th session of the Meetingof the Parties (CMP 10) to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

Geneva: The World Trade Organisation on 27 Nov 2014adopted the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) duringthe General Council meeting of 160-member WTO in thiscity of Switzerland.

Kathmandu: The 18th summit of the South AsianAssociation for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) washeld in Kathmandu, Nepal on Dec 26-27.

Peshawar: As many as 145 people, mostly children, werekilled when heavily armed terrorists launched a brazenattack on an army-run school in this Pakistan’s city.

Sydney: A 16-hour hostage crisis – the first terror attackin Australia – ended on 16 Dec after police stormed LindtChocolate Cafe in the heart of the city where an Iran-


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Badminton Macau Open:

Winner: PV Sindhu (India) Runner up: Kim Hyo Min (South Korea)

India’s ace shuttler Saina Nehwal lost out to Tai TzuYing of Chinese Taipei in the Semifinal of $1mn WorldBadminton Super Series in Dubai.

Boxing Indian pugilists S Sarjubala (48kg) and Saweety (81kg)

faltered at the final hurdle to settle for silver medals,rounding off a decent campaign for the country in the8th World Women’s Boxing Championships in Jeju,South Korea on 24 Dec.

Chess Magnus Carlsen asserted his supremacy over

Viswanathan Anand for the second year in running asthe Norwegian retained his World Championship titleafter defeating the Indian Challenger in the 11th game, inSochi, Russia on 23 Nov.

Five-time chess world champion Viswanathan Anandwon his maiden London Classic title after defeatingBritish Grandmaster Michael Adams in the fifth and finalround in London on 15 Dec.

Seven-year-old Dev Shah of Mumbai has become theyoungest rated chess player from India. He has becomethe world champion in the under-7 category in the WorldSchools Chess Championships that concluded recentlyat Juiz de Fora in Brazil.

Cricket Mitchell Johnson’s dramatic opening-hour spell and a

gusty half-century by opener Chris Rogers spurredAustralia to a four-wicket victory over India in the secondCommonwealth Bank Test at Gabba on 20 Dec. The wingave Australia an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the four-TestBorder-Gavaskar Trophy series.

East Zone won the Deodhar Trophy 2014-15 by beatingWest Zone by 24 runs on Dec 4. The final match was

held at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. It is namedafter Prof DB Deodhar, who is known as the Grand OldMan of Indian cricket.

Jammu and Kashmir upset domestic cricket giantsMumbai with a historic four-wicket win by chasing down237 runs at the Wankhede Stadium. It was J&K’s firstwin over the 40-time champions in Ranji Trophy 79-yearhistory.

Football Atletico de Kolkata defeated Kerala Blasters FC 1-0 in

the final to lift the Indian Super League (ISL) footballtrophy at the DY Patil stadium, Mumbai on 20 Dec.Chennaiyin FC’s Elano Blumer and FC Goa’s goalkeeperJan Seda topped the list for Golden Boot and GoldenGlove awards respectively.

India has clinched the third South Asian FootballFederation (SAFF) Women’s Championship in Islamabad.

Golf Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri has finished joint second

behind Thailand’s Thaworn Wiratchant in the King’sCup golf tournament at Khon Kaen in Thailand.

Hockey Olympic Champions Germany have lifted the Champions

Trophy hockey title. In the final at Bhubaneswar on 14Dec, they defeated Pakistan by 2-0 margin.

Indian Oil has lifted the 119th Beighton Cup Hockeytournament this year. In the final match played in Kolkataon 4 Dec, Indian Oil defeated the Punjab National Bankin a tie-breaker by 5-4.

Motorsports Lewis Hamilton won the final race of the season to earn

his second world title as Nico Rosberg, who started onpole, suffered mechanical problems and finished 14th.

Snooker China’s 14-year-old Yan Bingtao on 28 Nov scripted a

sensational upset when he sent Pankaj Advani packing

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with a 6-4 victory in the quarter-finals before winninghis semi-final game at the Seaways IBSF World SnookerChampionship. Then he defeated Pakistan’s MohammedSajjad in the summit clash to become the youngest-everplayer to win the IBSF World Championship. Doing so,he surpassed his compatriot Zhou Yuelong, who becamethe world champion at the age of 15 last year.

Table Tennis Petroleum Sports Promotion Board’s PSPB Abhishek

Yadav has won the boys’ singles title in the 76th JuniorNational and Youth Table Tennis Championships. In thefinal of the event at Alappuzha, Kerala, he beat histeammate Sudhanshu Grover.

Tennis Roger Federer added to his legacy on 23 Nov by helping

Switzerland clinch its first Davis Cup trophy, one of thefew tennis jewels to have eluded him, against nine-timeformer champion France.

Awards The Nobel prizes are handed out on 10 Dec, the

anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896. Physics: Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji

Nakamura (all the three from Japan) “for theinvention of efficient blue light-emitting diodeswhich has enabled bright and energy-saving whitelight sources”.

Chemistry: Eric Betzig (US), William E Moerner(US) and Stefan Hell (Germany) “for thedevelopment of super-resolved fluorescencemicroscopy”.

Physiology or Medicine: John O’Keefe (British-American), Edvard I Moser (Norway) and May-BrittMoser (Norway) “for their discoveries of cells thatconstitute a positioning system in the brain”.

Literature: Patrick Modiano (France) “for the artof memory with which he has evoked the mostungraspable human destinies and uncovered thelife-world of the occupation”.

Peace: Kailash Satyarthi (India) and MalalaYousafzai (Pakistan) “for their struggle against thesuppression of children and young people and forthe right of all children to education”.

Economic Sciences: Jean Tirole (France) “for hisanalysis of market power and regulation”

Chinese pro-democracy activist Xu Youyu, who wasamong key signatories of a 2008 manifesto seekingsweeping political reforms in China, was awardedSweden’s Olof Palme human rights prize on 16 Dec.

Miss South Africa, Rolene Strauss, was crowned MissWorld 2014 at the 64th annual competition in London on

14 Dec. Miss Hungary, Edina Kulcsar, was judged therunner-up and Miss United States, Elizabeth Safrit, camethird in the competition, contested by women from 121countries.

Jayprakash Panwar has won a mountain developmentaward in Kathmandu for promoting innovations and goodpractices for environmental conservation in the HinduKush Himalayan region. Jayprakash Panwar won theaward along with Avinash Jha and Sibjan Chaulagain ofNepal, Suleman Mazhar of Pakistan and HELVETAS SwissInter-cooperation.

The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee, presentedthe National Awards for the Empowerment of Personswith Disabilities on the occasion of the InternationalDay of Disabled Persons in New Delhi (Dec 3, 2014).Since 1992, the International Day of Persons withDisabilities is promoted by the United Nations on 3rdDec. The theme for the International Day of Personswith Disabilities 2014 was Break Barriers, Open Doors:for an inclusive society and development for all.

The Hyundai i20 Elite was announced the winner of theIndian Car of the Year (ICOTY) 2015.

Indian film director Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox hasbeen named best first feature at the 18th annual TorontoFilm Critics Association (TFCA) awards in Toronto.

Sahitya Akademi has announced the names of 22 poetsand authors who will be conferred the prestigious SahityaAkademi Awards 2014.


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Awardees Poets: Utpal Kumar Basu (Bengali), Urkhao Gwra

Brahma (Bodo), Adil Jussawalla (English), ShadRamzan (Kashmiri), Gopalkrushna Rath (Odia),Jaswinder (Punjabi), Gope Kamal (Sindhi) andMunawwar Rana (Urdu).

Novelists: Shailender Singh (Dogri), RameshChandra Shah (Hindi), Subhash Chandran(Malayalam), Asha Mishra (Maithili) and Poomani(Tamil).

Late Ashvin Mehta (Gujarati), GH Nayak (Kannada) andMadhavi Sardesai (Konkani) have got the Award for theirbooks of essays. Arupa Patangia Kalita (Assamese),Nanda Hankhim (Nepali) and Rampal Singh Rajpurohit(Rajasthani) have got the Award for their books of shortstories. Jayant Vishnu Naralikar (Marathi) for hisautobiography, Jamadar Kisku (Santhali) for his play andRachapalem Chandrashekara Reddy (Telugu) for hisliterary criticism have been honoured.

MiscellanyEuropean Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA), HempFoods (Australia) and Hemp Age. Hemp is the commonname for plants of the entire cannabis.

The Transparency International (TI) has ranked Indiaat 85th place in its Corruption Perception Index 2014(CPI), which enlisted 178 countries. The top threecountries on the list are Denmark (92), New Zealand (91)and Finland (89) while the bottom four countries areAfghanistan (12), Sudan (11), North Korea (8) andSomalia (8). Among India’s neighbours, Bhutan wasplaced at 30th place, Sri Lanka at 85th rank along withIndia, China at 100th, Pakistan and Nepal at 126th,Bangladesh at 145th and Afghanistan was placed at172nd rank. From 2012, the CPI methodology has beenupdated to provide for year-over-year comparisons.

Russian film Leviathan has bagged the Golden Peacockat the closing ceremony of the 45th International FilmFestival of India (IFFI). Marathi movie Ek HaazarachiNote has bagged the centenary trophy for best film, ieSilver Peacock. The Lifetime Achievement award waspresented to Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai,known for his films like. In the Mood for Love, Ashes ofTime and Chungking Express. The Best Actor awardwas shared by Russian actor Alexel Serebriakov andIndian actor Dulal Sarkar. The Best Actress award wasshared by two international stars – Cuban actress ArinaRodriguez and Israeli actress Sarit Larry.

War veterans and serving officers of the Indian andBangladeshi Armed Forces came together on theoccasion of the 43rd Vijay Diwas on 16 Dec to

International India Medical Tourism Congress was heldin Delhi starting 14 Dec. It aimed to promote country’smedical tourism by creating awareness about it and createinternational network opportunities.

The first Arabic translation of Indian Constitution hasbeen launched in Cairo, Egypt amid great appreciationsfor its drafting and sustaining institutions of democracy.

India generates around four tonnes of nuclear waste pergigawatt (GW) annually, which is similar to the amountof waste generated internationally by other countries,the govt has revealed.

The current installed nuclear power capacity isaround 4,780 MW and is expected to reach 10,080 MWby 2019.

The Indian Railways has extended the e-ticketing facilityto differently abled persons in its bid to accord moreconvenience to the passengers.

Several scientists from SAARC countries assembled inAndaman and Nicobar Islands capital Port Blair for afive-day workshop that aimed to throw light on the impactof climate change on coral reefs and protection of theenvironment. Scientists from India, Bangladesh, theMaldives and Sri Lanka participated in the event, whichconcluded on 19th of Dec.

India’s first annual hemp conference was held in NewDelhi on Nov 30 at Indian Habitat Centre (IHC). Theconference was organised by Indian Industrial HempAssociation (IIHA) in association with WASME (WorldAssociation for Small and Medium Enterprises),

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commemorate the sacrifices of Indian soldiers in the 1971Bangladesh Liberation War.

‘Clean India, Green India’ is the theme of the new Govtof India calendar 2015, which focuses on Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s initiative, the Swachh Bharat Mission.

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG)has exposed major irregularities, compromise andviolations of rules in Indian Railways’ management ofits freight business.

Capsule DEC 2014

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Transcript of Capsule DEC 2014