National :

Cabinet approves promulgation of Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre) Ordinance, 2019

• Union Cabinet approved the proposal for promulgation of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre) Ordinance, 2019. 

• The Ordinance will ensure that the Constitutional provisions of reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and the socially and educationally backward classes in the faculty recruitment will be protected.

• This will ensure that the process of recruitment of faculty is resumed and the vacancies are filled up.

• The decision will allow filling up of more than five thousand vacancies by direct recruitment in Teachers cadre. 

CCEA approves construction of a 3rd railway line between Narayangarh in West Bengal

• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the construction of a 3rd railway line between Narayangarh in West Bengal and Bhadrak in Odisha of 155 kilometres length. 

• The total estimated cost of this project is over Rs 1866 crore and will be completed by 2023-24. 

• This will also help in generating direct employment for about 37 lakh man-days.

Poorest of poor and uneducated women left behind in Integrated Child Development Scheme: Report

• As per a paper published in WHO bulletin recently, the poorest of the poor and uneducated women are not being covered under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS).

• The Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) provides a package of services at anganwadi or child-care centres to young children and pregnant women and lactating mothers.

• These services include supplementary nutrition, referral services, immunisation, health check-up, pre-school non-formal education and health and nutrition education.

• The study also said that mothers without any schooling were the lowest beneficiaries.

PM-STIAC: Nine Science and Technology Missions and other Projects

• The Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government, Prof. K. Vijay Raghvan shared details of the nine national missions guided by the Prime Minister Science, Technology & Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC).

• The PM-STIAC aims to facilitate the process of collaboration and focus needed to solve complex problems in a reasonable time-frame.

• The Union Government is catalysing collaborations across scientific ministries, research institutions and industry partners, through the PM-STIAC, to leverage cutting edge scientific research for societal benefit.

• 4 meetings of the PM-STIAC have been held since October 2018 and key national missions emerged from the discussions. Each mission is being led by a lead Ministry and will engage international and national institutional partners, young scientists and industry.

Prime Minister launches key development projects at Kalaburagi and Kancheepuram

• The Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched key development projects at Kalaburagi in Karnataka and Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu.

• At Kalaburagi in Karnataka, the Prime Minister dedicated the ESIC Hospital and Medical College, Bengaluru to the nation.

• He also inaugurated the Super Specialty Block of KIMS in Hubali, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal building in Bangalore and the Women’s Hostel for Students from North Eastern Region at Bangalore University.

• At Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu, the Prime Minister launched various National Highway projects, including the foundation stone for the four laning of NH-45C from Vikravandi to Thanjavur and the six laning of Karaipettai – Walajapet section of NH-4.

• He dedicated the 5 MMTPA capacity Ennore LNG Terminal to the nation.

• The Prime Minister also unveiled the statue of Dr MG Ramachandran at Dr. MGR Janaki College of Arts & Science for Women, Chennai.

Uttar Pradesh gets highways projects worth over Rs 1 Lakh Crore

• Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated National Highways projects worth Rs 1, 10, 154 crore in Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh.

• He inaugurated foundation stone for several works under Namami Gange programme worth over Rs 1969.57 crore.

• The National Highways include four-laning of Lucknow-Sultanpur section on NH-56, four-laning of Kursi Road–Ayodhya Road section of Lucknow ring road, four-laning of Ghaghra Bridge to Budhanpur section on NH-233, widening of Sonoli-Gorakhpur section on NH-29E, widening of Barabanki-Jarwal Road Junction on NH-28C, etc.

• The foundation stone for construction of Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway was also laid.

• Several projects under Namami Gange programme were launched including laying of sewerage network of 214.88 km in Prayagraj at a cost of Rs 260.86 crore, laying of sewerage network of 69 km including 2 STPs of 9MLD capacity in Garh Mukteshwar, etc.

Shri Vishwakarma Skill University, National Institute of Technical Teacher’s Training and Research sign MoU

• A Memorandum of Understating (MoU) between Shri Vishwakarma Skill University (SVSU) and National Institute of Technical Teacher’s Training and Research (NITTTR) was signed.

• The MoU will be in force for a period of three years. 

• The collaboration targets to ensure purposeful engagement of Faculty, Experts and Industry Partners for various academic activities.

• The collaboration seeks to support Vision and Mission of both Institutions related to Technical and Vocational Education, Training and Research.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister lays foundation stone for Doon-Mussoorie ropeway project

• Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat laid the foundation stone for the Dehradun-Mussoorie ropeway project.

• The 300-crore rupees ropeway project is expected to be completed in three years.

• It will be one of the world's longest ropeways, and will shorten the one-hour zigzag drive to just 15 minutes from Purkul village the base camp at Dehradun to Mussoorie.

• Poma, a French company which manufactures cable-driven projects, will provide the technical support to the ropeway which will be built on the PPP mode

Madhya Pradesh: Ancient tribal language Gondi to be taught in tribal districts

• In Madhya Pradesh, ancient tribal language Gondi will be taught in tribal districts.

• Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath decided to include Gondi in the primary education curriculum of the state's tribal-dominated districts.

• The rapid decline in the number of people who speak that tongue is a matter of concern. Hence, the Chief Minister stressed on the need to save it.

Justice SA Bobde nominated as Executive Chairman of NALSA

• President Ram Nath Kovind nominated Justice SA Bobde of the Supreme Court as Executive Chairman of National Legal Services Authority (NALSA).

• The post is currently headed by Justice AK Sikri who retired on March 6, 2019.

• The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) is a statutory body constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 to provide free Legal Services to the weaker sections of the society.

• NALSA fulfils the provisions under the Article 39A of the constitution which provides for free legal aid to the poor and weaker sections of the society.

International:

ISRO, French space agency CNES sign agreement on maritime security

• National space agency ISRO and its French counterpart CNES signed an agreement to set up a joint maritime surveillance system in the country.

• The two nations will explore putting up a constellation of low-Earth orbiting satellites that will identify and track movement of ships globally and in the Indian Ocean region where France has its Reunion Islands.

• They will initially share data from their present space systems and develop new algorithms to analyse them.

• The agreement comes a year after the two governments initiated broad collaboration plan during French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit in March 2018.

• The two agencies have put up two climate and ocean weather monitoring satellites Megha-Tropiques (of 2011) and SARAL-AltiKa (2013) that are considered as models.

Malaysia joins the International Criminal Court

• Malaysia ratified the Rome Statute making it the 124th State party to join the International Criminal Court (ICC).

• Even though Malaysia had helped to negotiate the Rome Statute, it has been long been reluctant to ratify it.

• The downing of flight MH17 and the Rohingya crisis have focused Malaysia’s attention on the ICC.

• After the election of Mahathir Mohamad as Prime Minister in May 2018, there has been a significant shift in the relationship between the Malaysian government and monarchy.

• The ratification has also stemmed from ambition to see Malaysia playing a more active role in ASEAN and the United Nations.

The international financial institution, World Bank has cancelled a $100 million loan to Pakistan that was meant to be for a natural gas efficiency project.
●    The loan was cancelled, as the gas distribution company that was responsible for the project, failed to make any progress in achieving its developmental objectives and showed very less interest in the project overall.
●    According to a report by the World Bank, failure of the project resulted in its closure. With it, the levels of unaccounted-for gas increased in the country. 
●    UFG mostly arises from broken or leaking pipelines and gas theft, which happens through tampered metres and illegal connections.
●    Apart from this, the international institution also stated that the company should have been more cautious and the country should not have initiated such a project in the first place when the company-in-charge itself showed such less interest.
 

The Union Cabinet on 21 September 2016 approved merger of Rail budget with Union Budget. 
•    It also decided to advance the date of presentation of the annual budget from the last day of February to start of February.
•    It also decided to merge the Plan and the Non-Plan classification in the Budget and Accounts. 
•    All these changes will be put into effect simultaneously from the Budget 2017-18.
•    The Railways will continue to maintain its distinct entity -as a departmentally run commercial undertaking as at present
•    Railways will retain their functional autonomy and delegation of financial powers etc. as per the existing guidelines
•    The existing financial arrangements will continue wherein Railways will meet all their revenue expenditure, including ordinary working expenses, pay and allowances and pensions etc. from their revenue receipts;
•    The Capital at charge of the Railways estimated at 2.27 lakh crore rupees on which annual dividend is paid by the Railways will be wiped off. 

President Pranab Mukherjee on 8 September 2016 gave his assent to the Constitution 122nd Amendment) (GST) Bill, 2014 as per Article 111 of Constitution of India. 
•    With this assent, the bill becomes law and allows rolling out a new indirect tax regime.
•    After the Presidential assent, the bill will be notified to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council that will decide the tax rate, cess and surcharges. 
•    The council to be headed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will comprise of state Finance Ministers.
•    The GST is a single indirect tax, which will subsume most of the Central and State taxes such as the Value Added Tax (VAT), excise duty, service tax, central sales tax, additional customs duty and special additional duty of customs.
•    The bill passed by both houses of Parliament in August 2016 and ratified by 19 states was sent to the President’s secretariat. 
•    The states that ratified the bill include Assam (first to ratify), Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Nagaland, Maharashtra, Haryana, Sikkim, Mizoram, Telangana, Goa, Odisha, Rajasthan, Arunachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
 

Coal India Limited (CIL) and Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) today signed an MoU for effectively monitoring of environment related issues in the coal mining projects. 
•    The MoU will also help in improving the rehabilitation and reclamation of the mined out areas. 
•    This arrangement would help CIL in proper compliance and monitoring of the conditions that are laid down by the MoEF & CC while according environment and forest clearances. 
•    The MoU covers assessment and monitoring of plantation and eco restoration activities, preparation of wild life management plans, preparation of environmental impact assessment and environmental management plans, capacity building for the executives of CIL on environment and forestry issues etc.
 

The Union Finance Ministry has constituted an 11 members high-level committee to suggest steps to promote card payments with an aim to discourage cash transactions. 
•    The 11-member committee will be headed by former Finance Secretary Ratan P Watal. 
•    They will recommend various measures to incentivise transactions through cards and digital means, e.g., through tax incentives/rebates, introduction of cash back/lottery. 
•    Review the payments system in the country and recommend measures for encouraging digital payments. 
•    Study feasibility of creating a payments history of all card and digital payments and ensure that merchants and consumers can leverage the data to access. 
•    Study and recommend ways for leveraging Unique Identification Number (UID) or any other proof of identity for authentication of card and digital transactions. 
•    Study introduction of single window system of payment gateway to accept all types of cards and digital payments of government receipts.
•    Look into the scope of integration of all government systems like Public Finance Management System, Bharatkosh, PayGov and eKuber. 
 

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 25 August 2016 asked all commercial and Co-operative banks to provide loans to women self-
help groups (SHGs) in rural areas at 7 percent per annum.
•    The loans will be provided for the financial year 2016-17 under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural
Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) in 250 districts.
•    All women self-help groups (SHGs) will be eligible for interest subvention on credit up to three lakh rupees at 7
percent per annum.
•    SHGs availing capital subsidy under the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) in their existing credit
outstanding will not be eligible for benefit under this scheme.
•    All banks will be subvented to the extent of difference between the weighted average interest charged and 7%,
subject to the maximum limit of 5.5% for 2016-17.
•    NRLM (Aajeevika) was launched by the Union Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) in June 2011. 
•    In 2015, the mission was replaced by the Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana.
 

National Career Service (NCS) signed a Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with strategic partners for enhancing quality and reach of employment services through the NCS network. 
•    These MoUs were signed with job portals companies Indeed, First Job, Freshersworld, Merajob and HT Shine etc. to enhance quality and reach of its employment generation services. 
•    Earlier, the NSC had partnered with leading organisations like Uber, Monster.com, Saral Rozgar, Quikrjobs, Indian Staffing Federation etc for  the same purpose. 
•    NCS project is being implemented by the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment. 
•    It was launched in 2015. 
•    It is an ICT based portal developed to provide a wide variety of employment related services to job seekers and youth through technology. 
•    NCS portal facilitates registration of job seekers, job providers, skill providers, career counsellors, etc. free of cost. 
•    Since its launch, the NCS has grown significantly with over 3.6 crore job seekers, 9 lakh employers. It had mobilised over 1 lakh jobs in the last few months.
 

India’s premier container port, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) in Navi Mumbai has signed 400 Million US Dollar agreement with State Bank of India (SBI) and Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) for External Commercial Borrowing (ECB). 
•    The agreement was signed by JNPT officials in the presence of the Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
•    With this ECB Agreement, JNPT becomes the first major port in the country to take loans in dollars to improve the infrastructure. 
•    The ECB of 400 Million dollars will be primarily utilised for expansion of JNPT’s existing road network connecting to its port project. 
•    It will help JNPT to double its existing capacity. JNPT was able to take loans in dollars as it has US dollar denominated foreign currency earnings which can be leveraged for a low cost foreign currency borrowing. 
 

The India Post Payments Bank Limited (IPPB) on 17 August 2016 was incorporated. In this regard, it has received the Certificate of Incorporation (CI) from the Registrar of Companies, Ministry of Corporate Affairs under the Companies Act, 2013.
•    With this incorporation, the bank has become the first Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) under the Department of Posts (DoP).
•    The incorporation also paves the way for the constitution of the Board of the India Post Payments Bank Limited.
•    It will allow all citizens of India, especially the 40 percent of the country's population that is outside the ambit of formal banking in the country will benefit from this project.
•    It will generate new employment opportunities for skilled banking professionals and will generate opportunities for propagating financial literacy across the country.
•    It will create the largest bank in the world in terms of accessibility and in time, will encourage the move towards a less cash economy.