News Roundup - 6 July 2016

• Prakash Javadekar elevated as Human Resource Department Minister.
• Juno enters Jupiter: After a five year long journey from Earth, NASA's solar-powered spacecraft Juno entered Jupiter's orbit. 
• Post introduction of 8% tax on food items with energy density of over 275Kcal/100g in Mexico, household purchases of nonessential energy-dense foods (salty snacks, chips, pastries and frozen desserts) has decreased. 
• Mobile mosque in Jakarta.
• Supreme Court sets a deadline of 10 days for Internet search companies Google, Yahoo and Microsoft to block sex selection ads. SC had asked it in Jan, 2015 and expressed dismay that nothing has been done till that.
• Hungary offers to incentivize Indian Companies that might leave UK in the wake of Brexit.
• Supreme Court holds Railways reliable for deaths on train roof.
• Maldives Foreign Minister, Dunya Maumoon, resigns over difference in opinion on implementation of death penalty. The new policy came when questions were being raised over delivery of justice in the country.
• Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail acquired Indian business of "Forever 21" from Diana Retail P Ltd for over 175 crore ($26million).
• Panel set up under Chief Economic Adviser Shankar Acharya to explore options for January to December Financial Year instead of current April to March.
• Lionel Messi and his father sentenced to 21 months jail for tax fraud.
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Source: Google, The Hindu, Mint

News Roundup - 5 July 2016

• A sensitive electronic nose with metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to detect pesticides and nerve gas even in very low concentrations has been built by researchers from University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium.
• Nigel Farage, leading Brexit campaigner, has stepped down as leader of UK Independent Party saying that his political ambition has achieved with "yes" vote on Brexit.
• Ling Jihua, an ex-aide of former Chinese president Hu Jintao, has been jailed for corruption, illegal procurement of state secrets and abuse of power.
• OPPO Electronics Ltd, Chinese mobile manufacturer, has become the first company to file an application for opening wholesale and single-brand retail stores.
• Telecom companies are likely to shell about Rs.1 trillion in upcoming spectrum auction - Crisil.
• Hero Motocorp signs 3 year wage agreement with Gurgaon workers.
• Narendra Modi reshuffles cabinet. The big change is Smriti Irani is no longer HRD minister.
• BookMyShow raises over 550 crores INR in its fourth round of funding. Investors are US based Stripes Group, Network 18, Accel Partners, and SAIF Partners.

Source: Google, Livemint.com, The Hindu

News Roundup - 01 July 2016

• Maruti Suzuki India Ltd's domestic sales in June fell 10.2% over last year, to 92,133 units.
• The Nikkei/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Manager's Index rose to 51.7 in June 2016, highest in three months. This is the sixth month the index is above 50 - the mark which separates growth from contraction.
• Indian Air Force inducts indigeneous Light combat aircraft (LCA) "Tejas" into its 45 squadron "Flying Daggers". Tejas, the first advanced fly-by-wire, was developed by Aeronautics Development Agency and manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
• Only transgenders would be considered third gender - Supreme Court. It was in reply to a clarification sought from the court on whether lesbians, gay and bisexuals qualify as transgenders.
• US ends ban on transgender troops. 
• Google announced the name of next version of its Android mobile operating system as Android Nougat.
•  Died: Alvin Toffler - Author of Future Shock and The Third Wave

Source: Google.com, Livemint.com, Hinduonnet.com

News Roundup - 30 June 2016

• Bus most preferred source of travel in India - NSSO.
• University Grants Commission (UGC) displays the list of 22 fake universities on its website.
• RBI eased the External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) norms to submit for approval plans to issue ECB only when they are above a threshold limit fixed from time to time.
• Union Cabinet approved Seventh pay commission allowing hike from 14% to 23.5% for 4.7 million employees and 5.3 million pensioners. This puts an additional burden of Rs.1.02 trillion on exchequer.
• AirAsia rebrands its aircraft with "Kabali" livery.
• India' fiscal deficit in April-May 2016 was Rs.2.28 trillion or 42.9% of budget estimates for 2016-17. Last year it was Rs.49,690 crore or 4.7% of budget estimate.
• Ahmedabad based Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd to buy Hyderabad based Glochem Industries Ltd for a undisclosed sum.
• Cisco has launched its start-up initiative "Launchpad". Initial focus will be on manufacturing, retail, transportation, education and healthcare sectors. Cisco has already invested $240 million among 25 start-ups in India.
• World Bank to lend India more than $1 billion for its solar energy program.

Source: Google.com, Livemint.com

News Roundup - 26 June 2016

• PM asks people to disclose the undisclosed assets by September 30 in his "Mann ki Baat" program. 

• India-Nepal to install Global Navigate Satellite System on approx. 8,000 pillars to effectively manage the 1,700 kms long porous border.

• China's steel major "Ansteel Engineering Technology Corporation Ltd." to invest Rs.3k crore plant in Andhra Pradesh as per reports.

Source: Google.com, Livemint.com

News Roundup - 25 June 2016

• Defence Ministry approved purchase of 145 Ultra Light Howitzers (worth approx. $750 million) from US and bulk production of 18 Dhanush artillery guns. Navy also got permission to build six new generation missile vesssels under "Buy Indian" category (Rs.13,600 crore)
• Wipro Ventures, the $100 million corporate ventures arm of Wipro Ltd, invested in Israel based venture capital firm TLV Partners. Infosys made similar investment in Pao Alto based Vertex Ventures last year to access start-ups focused on disruptive technologies. 
• China asks Baidu Inc and other search engines to report banned content apart from verifying advertisers' qualification from August 1.
• Sesa Iron Ore, a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources Inc, expects to make all 21 mines operational in Goa post monsoon.
• Government clarifies that foreign entities claiming to bring state of art and cutting edge technologies through FDI route will only get a waiver from local sourcing norms for three years and a relaxed sourcing regime for further five years.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi launches smart city projects in Pune. Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Orissa got Rs.2,900 crore worth projects (sewage project - Rs.1,275 crore & water supply project - Rs.817 crore) under AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation). 
• Dutee Chand: First Indian female athlete to qualify for 100m dash in Olympics in 36 years. The Odisha athlete is going to participate in Rio Games at the 26th Kosanov Memorial Meet in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Source: Google.com, Livemint.com

News Roundup - 24 June 2016

• Britain votes for "Brexit" i.e. to leave Eurozone.
• Britain Prime Minister David Cameron to step down.
• Delhi Government wants referendum on full statehood for the national capital.
• China insists on India signing NPT (Non Proliferation Treaty) before entry into the exclusive NSG (National Security Group).
• London Court of Arbitration asks Tata Sons to pay $1.17 billion in damages to NTT DoCoMo for "breach of agreement".
• The first online pan-India tea auction "Sale 25" hit a technical snag. Auction was to be held on six centres - Kolkata, Guwahati, Siliguri, Kochi, Conoor, and Coimbatore.
• Vision 2018 - RBI's vision document to increase use of electronic payments by all sections of society. In April, share of electronic payments was 27%, up from 8% in March 2012. Unified Payment Interface and Payment System Advisory Council are also in the works.
• Centre pilots a program to reduce pollution with 10 CNG retro-fitted two-wheelers. The pilot starts in Delhi. Two-wheelers cause 32% of pollution from the trasportation sector. Delhi has around 5 lakh CNG-run private cars and 3-lakh CNG run commercial vehicle.
• Indian Internet and e-commerce received funding of $8.5 billion from private investors in 2015 as per Venture Intelligence. Amazon India, in the same period, reported operating cash flow of $11.9 billion and free cash flow of $7.3 billion.
• Kazuhiro Tsuga - President, Panasonic Corp - $66billion Japanese conglomerate.
• Anil Kumble, former Indian Captain, appointed India's head coach by BCCI for one year. BCCI = Board of Control for Cricket in India.

Source: Google.com, Livemint.com

News Roundup - 23 June 2016

• South Korea launches a campaign to tackle the problem of smartphone-related collisions between pedestrians and vehicles. It has more than doubled in five years to around 1,000 reported incidents in 2014. 300 warning signals in five locations across Seoul (Capital) have been installed.
• RBI to put in circulation Rs.10 coins bearing portrait of Swami Chinmayananda to commemorate his birth centenary. 
• Facebook tie-ups with nearly 140 media companies and celebrities to create videos to popularise Facebook Live among its 1.65 billion users. Buzzfeed, CNN, the New York Times, Vox Media, Mashable, Huffington Post, and celebrities like Deepak Chopra, actor-comedian Kevin Hart and top chef Gordon Ramsay, are few of them.
• Centre amnounced Rs.6,000 crore special package for textile and apparel sector to enable domestic firms globally. Expectations are an increase in exports by $30 billion and help attract investments worth Rs.74,000 crore in three years. India was leader in apparel exports between 1995 and 2000. Bangaldesh's apparel exports exceeded that of India in 2003, while Vietnam surpassed India in 2011.
• Sun Pharma Nitrofurantoin being recalled in US.
• Cabinet extends UDAY (Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojana) deadline by a year to March 31, 2017. 
• Cabinet approved setting up of a Rs.10,000 crore fund to support start-ups in becoming full-fledged business entities.
• Tech Mahindra, country's fifth largest software exporter, has acquired UK based BIO agency which specialises in digital transformation across sectors such as retail, financial and travel, in an all-cash deal for an enterprise value of up to 45 million pounds.
• Appointed: Anupam Pahuja - MD & Country Manager - India Operations - PayPal
• Dead: Sanjay Valvani, Indian-origin hedge fund manager committed suicide. He faced securities fraud charges that he used confidential information to trade in securities of two pharma companies.
• Dead: Amjad Sabri - one of Pakistan's best known Sufi musicians was shot dead by unidentified assailants.
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Credits: Google.com, Hindu, Livemint.com

News Roundup - 22 June 2016

• LIC Chairman S K Roy resigns.
• Telecom Spectrum: Govt cleared India's largest spectrum auction valued at Rs.5.66 trillion (valued at Base Price). This auction will for the first time include 700 MHz frequency. On sale are 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, & 2500 MHz. 
• Housing for all by 2022: The Union Government's mission to provide housing started last year with special focus on affordable housing to economically weaker sections in urban areas. According to 2011 census, there are 24.67 crore households in India. Of these, 68% are rural and 32% urban households. 
• Ken Miyauchi, Head of SoftBank's Japanese telecommunications operations, named as President of SoftBank

Source: Google, Livemint.com

News Roundup - 21 June 2016

• Nikesh Arora resigns from SoftBank: Steps down from the position as representative, President and COO and assume advisory role effective July 1. He will also step down from the position of Chairman at Yahoo! Japan and Director at Sprint.
• ISRO to lauch 20 satellites in one day on 22nd June: The mission called 20-in-1 will see launch of 20 satellites from PSLV C-34 at Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.
• Vijay Mallaya quits as Chairman and Director from Bayer CropScience Ltd.
• Greece will receive Euro 7.5 billion in promised loans from International Creditors on Tuesday. Out of this, Euro 5.7 billion would go into debt service payments and remaining Euro 1.8 billion will pay Greek State arrears. 
• Sunway TaihuLight - the Chinese computer developed by National Research Centre of Parallel Computer Engineering and Technology has claimed top spot on the list of world's most powerful computers.
• International Yoga Day celebrated today across country.

Source: The Hindu, Google, Livemint.com

News Roundup - 6 December 2015

1. Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari announced relaxation of cabotage law under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 for transhipment of export-import containers at the Vizhinjam International Deepwater Multipurpose seaport. Compared to the 150 million TEUs container transhipment business handled by China, the country handled only 10 million TEUs. Cabotage law protects domestic shipping lines by reserving coastal cargo for Indian ships.
2. President Barack Obama said the law forbidding people on government's no-fly list from being able to buy a gun. He said "If you’re too dangerous to board a plane, you’re too dangerous, by definition, to buy a gun".
3. India’s total installed capacity of solar power has crossed the 5-GW-mark. During last fiscal, a total capacity of 1,112 MW of grid connected solar power projects and 44.5 MW of rooftop projects were installed. For the current fiscal, 827 MW of solar capacity has been added so far. Central government has laid down the ambitious target of 100 GW by 2022.
4. The Council of Leather Exports (CLE) along with other agencies has devised a plan to more than double sales revenue in next five years to $27 billion. Last year, leather sector reported total sales of nearly $13 billion, of which exports accounted for $6.5 billion. By 2020, the export target is $15 billion. Plans to hold road shows, business-to-business meetings and conferences in different countries to attract foreign direct investment, introduce new technologies, designs and concepts and showcase India’s potential to the outside world.
5. Essar Oil Ltd., India’s second biggest non-state oil refiner, has issued a public notice to delist the company from local bourses by buying out the non-promoter shareholding of 28.54 per cent at Rs.146.05 per share.
6. Tata Sons, the promoter of major operating companies of the Tata group, will acquire an additional 0.22 per cent stake in Titan Company at an estimated price of over Rs.66 crore, taking its total holding to 19.80 per cent.
7. Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple, popularly known as the Tirupati Temple may become the biggest contributor to the Gold Monetisation Scheme with more than 5.5 tonnes of gold. India is the world’s second-biggest consumer of gold after China & imports of the precious metal accounted for 28 percent of India’s trade deficit in the year ending March 2013.
8. The final draft of the Paris Climate agreement was released by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The overall goal of the Paris agreement, to keep global temperature rise to a specified quantum compared to pre-industrial levels, is pegged at either “below 1.5 degrees C”, or, as “well below 2 degrees C.”
9. HelpMeSee, a New York-based non-profit organisation leading the global campaign to end cataract blindness, presented its breakthrough eye care technologies at the first-ever World Conference on Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgery (MSICS). It includes a focus on simulation-based learning to train tens of thousands of specialists needed to carry out cataract surgery in the developing world. Earlier last month, the organisation launched a mobile health, or mHealth, smartphone application.
10. Antrix Corporation,  ISRO’s marketing arm, has signed deal with U.S.  commercial weather satellite company PlanetiQ for supply of two PSLV rockets. Antrix has bagged nine such U.S. launch orders for 2015-16. In September, US operator Spire Global became the PSLV’s first US customer by getting four 4-kg-each Lemur satellites from Sriharikota.
11. A map compiled by French explorer Samuel de Champlain in 1612 and believed to be among dozens stolen more than a decade ago from the Boston Public Library has been recovered.
12. The Indian government recently hiked foreign investment in insurance from 26 per cent to 49 per cent, and U.S. companies are unlikely to invest more in the sector till the Indian government removes the rider in the insurance law that mandates Indian ownership and control in the sector. U.S. firms are planning to invest $41-billion in infrastructure, defence, pharmaceutical, healthcare, e-commerce and renewable energy as per U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC).

Source: Google, The Hindu

News Roundup - 5 December 2015

1. Mr. Gates launched a multi-billion dollar 20-nation ‘Breakthrough Energy Coalition. world’s biggest charitable foundation at Paris COP21 summit. He said technological innovation was the only way to fight climate change.
2. Delhi to allow odd and even numbered vehicles on alternate days from  Jan 1, 2016. Cominga after Delhi High Court observation that Delhi is a gas chamber, the guidelines are aimed at dealing with vehicular population (currently above 87 lakh). Other measures include permitting commercial vehicles to enter the city only after 10 pm from current 9 pm. Emergency vehicles such as ambulances will be out of the purview of the scheme. The scheme is in operation at several capitals across the globe including Beijing and Sao Paulo. 
3. Oprah Winfrey signed a deal with Flatiron Books (an imprint of Macmillan) for her memoir The Life You Want and her own imprint at Macmillian - an untitled line on non-fiction.
4. The average agricultural household in India earns just Rs 6400 a month from all sources and owns less than 1 hectare of land - NSSO Data from 2013 sample survey of 35,200 households in 4,529 villages across the country. India had over 90 million agricultural households — households which owned, leased or operated land and made at least Rs 3,000 per year from agricultural activities — with over 460 million persons in all, the survey found, making up 58 per cent of all rural households. Uttar Pradesh alone had a fifth of India’s agricultural households, while the southern states had the smallest shares. The survey found that OBCs constitute over 45 per cent of all agricultural households. About 70 per cent of agricultural households owned less than one hectare of land, and just 13 per cent owned more than two hectares. Most Scheduled Caste households had very small land holdings. Farmers in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and Kerala were most likely to have very small land holdings, with around 90 per cent of households in these States owning less than one hectare.
5. Researchers in Sweden have developed power paper — a new material consisting of nano-cellulose and a conductive polymer with an outstanding ability to store energy. Power paper is made from renewable cellulose and an easily available polymer.
6. Japanese firm KDDI, has developed the world’s first smartphone ‘Digno rafre’ phone that can be washed with soap and water.
7. Germany to take on a direct role in the battle against the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, answering France’s appeal for help after the deadly Paris attacks. 
8. Chinese authorities jailed Fu Zhibin, the author of a history book , A History of Brainwashing, critical of the ruling Communist Party for nearly two years. The verdict came on China’s second annual “Constitution Day”, which sees officials vow to govern in accordance with the document and other laws.
9. China is set to expand investments in Africa that would help absorb its excess manufacturing capacity China announced a $ 60-billion-dollar package that will benefit Africa in 10 major areas: industry, agriculture, infrastructure, financial services, green development, trade and investment facilitation, poverty reduction and public welfare, public health, people-to-people exchanges, and peace and security.
10. China's direct investment in the region scaled $30 billion last year. Trade had also zoomed to $220 billion — Africa’s highest with any single country. China wants to harmonise Africa’s Agenda 2063 — a 50 year developmental framework drawn by the African Union — with China’s Belt and Road blueprint of connecting Eurasia with roads, railways, cyber-optic highways, industrial parks and smart cities.
11. Anil Ambani led Reliance Communications (RCom) agreed  to sell its telecom tower assets and related infrastructure to Tillman Global Holdings, LLC and TPG Asia Inc. (TPG). If successful, it will be the largest acquisition in the telecom sector in India. RCom has 45,000 phone towers valued at about Rs. 22,000 crore and optic fibre assets worth another Rs. 8,000 crore, taking the total deal size to Rs. 30,000 crore. With outstanding borrowings of about Rs. 40,000 crore RCom intends to utilise the proceeds of the proposed transaction to pare its debt. After the deal, RCom’s debt will decline to Rs. 10,000 crore, making it one of the least leveraged companies in the country’s telecom industry. RCom’s interest costs will fall by a significant 85 per cent to Rs. 600 crore a year. The proposed transaction is subject to final due diligence, definitive documentation, applicable regulatory and other approvals and certain other terms and conditions The telecom tower business in India is seeing an increase in demand as telecommunications firms expand high-speed 3G and 4G internet services across the world's second-biggest telecom market by number of users.
12. China’s Apus Group, one of the world’s biggest Android application development companies has floated a fund in India with an initial corpus of Rs 300 crore. It will invest in startups that are working on mobile internet innovation projects in the country. Other investors include Northern Light Venture Capital, Redpoint Ventures, Chengwei Ventures, SIG Global and Qiming Venture Partners.
13. In September, Apus formed a partnership with Indian mobile advertising network InMobi. Apus said it has 30 million users in India and 80 percent of them are aged 18-34. The firm said the fund will also provide support for young Indian ventures to enter the Chinese market through their Apus Global Mobile Internet Incubator in Beijing. Apus would provide services such as registration, office, accommodation, human resources and legal support.
14. What startups need? NASSCOM say Enactment of bankruptcy law, E-filing facility and Change in taxation rule
15. Government looking at establishing 12 more petrochemical complexes in order to have one complex in each of 16 refineries. Currently 4 PCPIR (Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region) are at Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Tamil Nadu. As per the PCPIR policy, the Centre has to ensure the availability of external physical infrastructure linkages to these regions including rail, road connectivity to national highways, ports, and telecom connectivity.

Source: Google, The Hindu

News Roundup - 22 November 2015

1. In the wake of recent Paris attacks, UN Security Council passed the resolution to authorise countries around the world to “take all necessary measures” to fight the Islamic State.
2. The 10th International Children’s Film Festival: First time outside Banglore, the festival will see 16 cinemas at Mangaluru screening Children’s films from November 23 to 26.
3. PM Modi said comprehensive Intellectual property rights policy would be in place by year-end.
4. Republic Day Chief Guest: French President Francois Hollande. France is going to host the COP21, Paris Climate Conference from November 30.
5. Third Jaipur Art Summit: A controversy erupted on plastic cow exhibition by Siddhartha Kararwal at Jawahar Kala Kendra. While the artist sough to display the ill effects of plastic on animals some people took it as a sign of violence against cow.
6. Three day meet of International Pepper Community (IPC): IPC is an inter-governmental body of major pepper producing countries established under UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). The three day program will host 40th Peppertech meeting on the second day and Pepperexim Meeting on the third day of the convention. The main agenda of meet is to discuss and promote safe use of chemicals for controlling pests and diseases in pepper.
7. Omnicom Group, world’s second largest advertising company,  bought Brazil’s Grupo ABC for 1 billion Reais (USD 270 million).
8. Airbnb raised over USD 100 million in a new round of funding. World’s largest accommodation booking site holds no properties.

Credits: The Google, Hindu

News Roundup - 25 December 2014

1. Three years after a Supreme Court judgment legalised passive euthanasia under “exceptional circumstances,” the government has fully endorsed the apex court’s guidelines giving High Courts the power to decide on applications seeking permission to withdraw life support in the best interest of the patient.
2. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 102nd Indian Science Congress at Mumbai on January 3.
3. CIL and GAIL, along with Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers (RCF) and Fertilizer Corp of India Ltd (FCIL), will set up an integrated coal gasification-cum-fertilizer and ammonium nitrate complex at Talcher in Odisha by 2019.
4. Senior IAS officer S. Bhattacharya has been appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director of Coal India Ltd. (CIL).

Credits: The Hindu, Google.

News Roundup - 23 December 2014

1. The 13th edition of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas will be held in Gujarat from January 7 to 9. Gujarat has been chosen as the partner State as 2015 happens to be the 100th year of Mahatma Gandhi’s return to India from South Africa.
2. Over two decades after it was first published, the first revised English edition of “Why I Assassinated Gandhi” – which includes Nathuram Godse’s statement before the court at the Red Fort trial in its “unabridged form,” the judgment and his will – is back in circulation. The revised edition has been compiled and edited by Virender Mehra. Farsight Publishers and Distributors — which brought out the revised edition six months ago in arrangement with Surya Bharti Prakashan, the original publishers of the book in 1993 — maintained that they took up the task because “both sides” of the assassination should come out. The ban on Nathuram Godse’s statement to the special court was lifted by the Bombay High Court in 1968.
3. Princess Cristina, the sister of Spain’s King Felipe VI, will be the first member of the royal family ever to appear in the dock after a judge on Monday ordered her to be tried for tax fraud. The historic decision comes after four years of investigations that plunged the royal family into crisis and contributed to the abdication of King Juan Carlos in June. She is accused of taking part in tax evasion by her husband, the former Olympic handball player Inaki Urdangarin. He is accused of embezzling and laundering millions of euros in public funds. Princess Cristina Federica of Bourbon and Greece is the youngest daughter of Juan Carlos and sixth in line to the Spanish throne. She married Urdangarin in 1997 in a glittering ceremony in Barcelona. The case is a big headache for King Felipe who took the throne on June 19 promising an “honest and transparent monarchy”.
4. The son of kung fu star Jackie Chan, Jaycee Chan, has been charged with providing a venue for others to use drugs.
5. Opening up of the coal sector and upgradation of state-run Coal India and its subsidiaries are vital for scaling up domestic production of the dry fuel, as per the final report of the Advisory Group for Integrated Development of Power, Coal, and Renewable Energy.
6. Jet Airways (India) concluded a $150-million (about Rs.945 crore) five-year syndicated loan facility, which was fully subscribed by banks spread across the Middle East region. 

Credits : The Hindu, Google.

News Roundup - 22 December 2014

1. India may end support to Palestine at UN. It is in stark contrast with the policy till now. Starting with 1974 when India voted against partition of Palestine. In 1974, it became the first non-Arab State to recognise Palestine Liberation Organisation as the sole, legitimate representative of Palestinians. In 1988, it became one of the first countries to recognise the state of Palestine. In 1996, it opened representative office in Gaza.In 1999, it co-sponsored the draft resolution on right of Palestinians to self-determination. In 2003, it voted against building of separation wall by Israel.In 2011, India voted to admit Palestine as full member of the UNESCO. In 2012, it voted to grant Palestine non-observer State status at UN. In 2014, it supported UNHRC resolution to launch probe into Israel's offensive in Gaza.
2. Only 21.62 crore people (17% of total population) were covered by health insurance at the end of March 2014, as per estimate by IRDA. However, as per World Bank Report released in Oct 2012, "Government-Sponsored Health Insurance in India: Are you Covered?", over 30 crore people (>25%  of total population).

Credit: The Hindu, Google.

News Roundup - 20 December 2014

1. China is setting the stage for linking southeast Asia with its New Silk Road initiative, through a railway corridor that would connect the country’s Yunan province with Thailand and Laos.
2. Pakistan became an associate member of CERN, the world’s top particle physics lab for nuclear research, allowing the nuclear-armed country to have more access to the Swiss-based facility’s research.
3. Australian Engineering Group Downer EDI has won a $2-billion contract from Adani group’s Carmichael Coal Mine project in Queensland in one of the largest deals of its type signed in the country in recent years.
4. Online restaurant search firm Zomato acquired Italy’s restaurant search service Cibando. Cibando has 82,000 restaurants listed across various cities in Italy and has now a 10-member team. Zomato said it would invest $6 million in Italy over the next two years to grow the team and the business in the country. This is Zomato’s fifth acquisition. Zomato acquired MenuMania in New Zealand, Lunchtime in Czech Republic, Obedovat in Slovakia, and Gastronauci in Poland recently.
5. Apart from subsuming various Central indirect taxes and levies and State taxes, the Constitution (122^nd Amendment) Bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha, confers simultaneous power to Union and State legislations to legislate on Goods and Service Tax (GST). All goods and services, except alcoholic liquor for human consumption, will be brought under the purview of GST. Petroleum and petroleum products have also been constitutionally brought under GST. However, it has also been provided that petroleum products shall not be subject to the levy of GST till notified at a future date on the recommendation of the GST Council. The present taxes levied by the States and the Centre on petroleum and petroleum products, i.e., Sales Tax/VAT, CST and Excise duty only, will continue to be levied in the interim period.

Credits: The Hindu, Google.

News Roundup - 19 December 2014

1. Pakistani authorities detain Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, a key planner of the 2008 Mumbai attack, for three more months. He was granted bail by a court that caused an outrage in India.
2. Government has decided to pay 8.75% interest on provident fund for 2014-15.

Credits: Google.

News Roundup - 18 December 2014

1. The International Boxing Association (AIBA) has suspended former world champion and multiple Asian winner L. Sarita Devi from all levels of boxing activities for one year, starting from October 1 2014 (the date of the Asian Games medal ceremony). She will however be able to participate in the qualifying events for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
2. Tashi Malik and Nungshi Malik from Dehradun scaled Mount Vinson, Antarctica’s highest mountain at 4,892 metres and’ have become the world’s first twins and siblings to climb the highest peaks on the seven continents. The 23-year-old twins accomplished their “Mission 2 for 7” on Tuesday night (IST) when they conquered the mountain. The mission, which they have dedicated to the cause of the Indian girl child, started by conquering Mt. Kilimanjaro in February 2012. The mission progressed as they conquered Mt. Everest in May 2013; Mt. Elbrus in August 2013; Mt. Aconcagua in January 2014; Mt. Carstensz Pyramid in March 2014; and Mt. McKinley in June 2014.
3. United States announced a “historic” thaw in relations with Cuba, saying it would work to re-establish diplomatic ties with Havana and ease long-standing trade and travel sanctions. The United States imposed a trade embargo against Cuba — the Cold War foe closest to its shores — in 1960 and the two countries have not had diplomatic relations since 1961. It hurt the Caribbean island state’s economy, but it failed to unseat the Havana governments led first by revolutionary leader Fidel Castro and latterly by his brother Raul.
4. USAID head Rajiv Shah announced that he is going to step down.
5. U.K. on Wednesday announced its first woman Bishop, Reverend Libby Lane (Bishop of Stockport), exactly a month after historic change was made to the law to end centuries of male domination of the Church of England.
6. Microsoft is looking at starting a pilot project of its ‘White-Fi’ technology that uses the unused spectrum in frequencies used for broadcasting of television signals, and is likely to offer solution to tackle the problem of last mile broadband connectivity in the country. The pilot, once started, is expected to last for about three months. Other countries where Microsoft has helped implement the technology are Kenya, Singapore, the U.S. and London. The 200-600 MHz frequency is used for TV channels to carry data. In India, 93 per cent of this spectrum is not utilised.
7. India is on track to achieve projected 5.5 per cent economic growth rate in 2014-15 - Asian Development Bank.

 Credits: The Hindu, Google.

News Roundup - 16 December 2014

1. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan honoured with a special award at the glittering Miss World 2014 ceremony in London for her charity work since being crowned Miss World in 1994. South African beauty Rolene Strauss crowned Miss World 2014. Miss Hungary, Edina Kulcsar, was the runner-up and Miss United States, Elizabeth Safrit, came in third.
2. The creator of the Rock Garden, Nek Chand, attended the function to celebrate his 90th birthday in Chandigarh.
3. Google is one of the major U.S. corporations researching the power of colour in the working world. 
4. Denmark will lay claim to energy-rich, but contested territory around the North Pole by submitting data to the U.N. which it says demonstrates the area is an extension of its continental shelf. The Danish government said it would tell the U.N. Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf that data collected since 2002 supports its claim to ownership over an area of about 895,000 sq. km beyond the current nautical borders of Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory. Norway already lays claim to an area overlapping the one outlined in the Danish submission to the U.N., and there is “potential overlap with Canada, the Russian Federation and the U.S.
5. Vienna school officials have ordered the closure of a Saudi Arabian school accused of teaching anti-Semitism, after it refused to comply with a request to identify the institution’s director and teachers.
6. Declining for the fifth straight month, wholesale inflation dropped to a six-year low of 0 per cent in November. The data, however, shows a larger drop than the actual decline in prices owing to favourable statistical illusion of a high base: wholesale inflation growth was 7.5 per cent in November, 2013. Wholesale food inflation was down to 0.6 per cent against 19.7 per cent in November, 2013, with prices of cereals, rice, wheat, vegetables and onions falling. However, potatoes and milk continued to show high inflation. While potato prices grew at the rate of 34 per cent, the rate of rise in milk prices was 10 per cent. Rice and pulses too rose but at slower pace of 5.6 per cent and 4.4 per cent. With global crude prices down nearly 40 per cent since June, wholesale inflation in fuels came in at minus 4.9 per cent against 11.08 per cent in November, 2013. The dip in producer prices comes days after consumer price inflation abated to an 8-year low of 4.4 per cent.
7. Vistara received its air operator permit (AOP) from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Vistara is a 51:49 joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines Ltd. The company, which will be headquartered at New Delhi, will begin operations with its fleet of brand new Airbus A 320-200s. It will soon make an announcement on the start of sales, routes and schedules.
8. Mastek said its 100 per cent subsidiary Majesco, which is into core insurance systems and services, entered into a definitive merger agreement with the U.S.-based Cover-All Technologies Inc. in a 100 per cent stock-for-stock transaction. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter 2015 and both companies will continue to operate as separate entities until then.

 Credits: The Hindu, Google.