Union Minister of State (IC) for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan and Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines, Shri Piyush Goyal presided over the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between NTPC Limited and National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO), here today. The MoU will facilitate the setting up of a Joint Venture (JV) Company to establish a 2400 MW coal based power project at Gajmara, Dhenkanal, Odisha.
●    Shri Goyal informed that the generated power will be taken by the NALCO as a JV partner for the Brownfield expansion of its 5 lakh tonne Aluminium smelter at Angul and the Greenfield project of a 6 lakh tonne smelter at Kamakhya Nagar, Odisha. The estimated investment in all these projects will be approximately Rs. 36,000 crores.
●    Congratulating the Ministry of Power for executing the long pending project, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan said that after the establishment of this power plant, this less developed region of Odisha would experience the fruits of its own mineral wealth being used for the all-round development of its own people, which was not the case so far. The 2400 MW power plant at Dhenkanal and the increased Aluminium production at Angul and Kamakhya Nagar would fuel industrial growth, in a sustainable manner, that would transform the face of the region in near future, he added.
●    Other dignitaries present at the MoU signing ceremony were Shri Tathagata Satpathy, MP Lok Sabha from Dhenkanal constituency of Odisha, Shri Prafulla Kumar Malik, Minister for Labour & Employees State Insurance, Steel and Mines, Government of Odisha, Shri Gurdeep Singh, CMD, NTPC, Dr. T. K. Chand, CMD, NALCO and other senior officials of the Ministries of Power and Mines.

The launch of last ship of LCU MK IV project, an amphibious ship, today, at Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd, Kolkata, marks yet another significant milestone in the annals of the Indigenous Warship design and construction programme of India.
●    The chief guest for the occasion was Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Hon’ble Union Minister of State Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (Independent Charge), Government of India. Rear Admiral AK Verma (Retired), Chairman and Managing Director GRSE and various other dignitaries were also present on the occasion.
●    The Chairman and Managing Director, GRSE Ltd, commenced the proceedings with a formal welcome, which was followed by an address by the Chief Guest.
●    In accordance with traditions, invocation from the Atharva Veda was rendered and the ship was named ‘LCU-L58’. 
●    LCU-L58 is the last vessel in the series of eight Landing Craft Utility Ships being designed and built by M/s GRSE for the Indian Navy. 

The Centre will not extend the deadline of December 15 to use old 500 rupee notes for certain activities such as paying utility and hospital bills and purchasing cooking gas cylinders.
●    "Exemptions for use of old Rs 500 notes will end on 15 Dec midnight," economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das tweeted. 
●    The Centre had withdrawn the facility to use old Rs 500 notes at petrol pumps from the midnight of December 2.
●    The decision was taken after an assessment that the exemption was being grossly misused to launder black money and that scrapping it will not affect movement of goods. 
●    It had also stopped the use of old Rs 1,000 notes.
●    The Centre had allowed use of old Rs 500 notes for a string of activities up to December 15 midnight. 
●    This included for making payments in government hospitals for treatment and pharmacies there for buying medicines with doctor's prescription.

The Rajya Sabha on 14 December 2016 passed the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2014 by voice vote. 
●    The proposed legislation will replace the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995 after its passage by the Lok Sabha and approval of the President.
●    It fulfills the government’s responsibilities under the UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities to which India is a signatory. 
●    It will benefit around 2.8 crore disabled population in the country.
●    The bill deals with a range of issues – rights, social protection, reservations, welfare schemes – for the all round development of disabled.
●    The bill identifies 19 conditions as disabilities against the seven disabilities identified by the existing Act.
●    Under the bill, persons with at least 40% of a disability will be entitled to reservations in education and employment and preference in government schemes.
●    It authorises the district courts to provide for two types of guardianship – limited guardianship and plenary guardianship. 
●    In order to ensure its stricter compliance, it specifies punishments for the violators. The guilty will be punished with imprisonment up to six months, and/or fine of Rs 10000.

International Civil Aviation Negotiations (ICAN) - 2016 were held recently in Nassau from 5th to 9thDecember, 2016.  In an informal conversation with media persons Shri R.N. Choubey, Secretary, Civil Aviation said that  the Conference was attended by 106 countries out of ICAO membership of 191 countries. India held negotiations with 17 countries and “Memorandum of Understanding” was signed with 12 countries.   The major issues resolved at these negotiations as per the directions in National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP 2016) are:
●    Increase in traffic rights:- India renegotiated traffic rights with Oman increasing the entitlements with 6,258 seats effective from Summer 2017 as the existing entitlements were nearly exhausted. The points of call remained unchanged.
●    India agreed with Saudi Arabia to increase the capacity by 8000 seats per week from IATA season when Indian carrier’s utilization reaches 80%. This was in response to the needs of increasing traffic between the two countries where Indian carriers have been utilising open sky in Damman to mount more flights than the Saudi Arabian side. 
●    Indian also agreed with Ghana to increase the present allocation of 2 frequencies to 7 frequencies per week to encourage connectivity between the two countries.
●    Open Skies agreement as per NCAP 2016 :- allows unlimited number of flights to six metro airports namely Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Chennai, was signed with six countries namely Jamaica, Guyana, Czech Republic,   Finland, Spain and Sri Lanka. The new arrangement will encourage connectivity and passenger travel between India and these countries.
●    New Air Service Agreements were signed with Jamaica and Guyana.
●    Resolution of other issues relating to Air Services Agreement was also completed with Ghana, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Portugal, Hong Kong, Ethiopia and Bangladesh.

The Mahila Police Volunteer initiative was launched in Haryana today. By launching the initiative in Karnal and Mahendragarh districts, Haryana became the first state to adopt this scheme. Originally conceived by the Union Ministry of Women & Child Development, Mahila Police Volunteer is a joint initiative with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. Haryana today inducted the first batch of 1000 Mahila Police Volunteers. These volunteers have already been trained by the state State Police Authorities on their role and responsibility.
●    The Minister of Women & Child Development, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi in her message for the launch event has said, “The Ministry of Women and Child Development has undertaken a large number of initiatives for creating a safe and enabling environment for women in India. 
●    The Mahila Police Volunteers scheme is one such initiative. It envisages creation of a link between the police authorities and the local communities in villages through police volunteers who will be women specially trained for this purpose. We expect to have at least one such volunteer in every village whose primary job will be to keep an eye on situations where women in the village are harassed or their rights and entitlements are denied or their development is prevented.
●    Launching the initiative, the Chief Minister of Haryana, Shri Manohar Lal Khattar said that the age-old concept of women empowerment is finally taking shape as words are being put into action. Doubts were raised over the implementation of women empowerment in Haryana but the state took it up as a challenge, the Chief Minister explained. 

The continuous efforts of Ministry of Railways and Zonal Railways to embrace various energy efficient technologies and energy conservation measures had resulted in bagging 27 National Energy Conservation Awards (NECA) this year, highest ever by Railways. These awards are given annually by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) which is under aegis of Ministry of Power, Government of India to aware people about the importance of energy as well as conserving the energy by using energy efficient equipments & systems and for encouraging energy conservations in various energy intensive sectors. This year a total of 156 awardees were selected out of 921 applications in various categories.
●    These awards were given in 22 major category (like Railways, hospitals, office buildings, industry, power, plant etc.) covering 53 different subsectors of large and medium scale industries mainly on the basis of improvement in specific energy and energy conservation initiatives based on recommendations of an Award Evaluation Committee under Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE). 
●    Electrical Energy Management Directorate of Ministry of Railways has enunciated a number of policies for implementation by Zonal Railways for reducing the energy intensity and electricity consumption. These includes
●    Installation of 100% LED lights at all Railway buildings & installations.
●    Using of 3 phase energy efficient locomotives.
●    Net zero energy building concept for new Railway stations
●    Use of BEE Star rated equipments  in Railway applications
●    Energy audits of large load centres, to assess demand profile and actual end use to map energy consumption pattern
●    Implementation of energy efficiency related works with Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) over Railways

The Punjab Government on 12 December 2016 launched country’s first amphibious bus project at the Harike wetland near Amritsar. The project was launched nearly two years after it was announced.
●    The water bus, Punjab Harike Water Cruise, will enter the Harike Pattan wetland after transversing on-road and off-road terrains. The project has cost the state government over Rs 11 crore.
●    This amphibious bus project was launched by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal. After launching the project, Badal took the inaugural ride of the bus with officials and media on Satluj-Beas confluence. He informed that this amphibious bus can travel on land as well as water.
●    These amphibious busses will be run by the Punjab Tourism department.
●    IT has a seating capacity of 34 people and is equipped with life jackets for everyone.
●    At present, the route of the bus includes a 13-kilometer ride from Amritsar to the Harike wetlands, which the bus is expected to traverse over 45 minutes. It will then traverse 4km on water.

With assembly elections right around the corner, the Uttar Pradesh cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav approved the recommendations of the seventh pay commission on 13 December 2016.
●    The decision is expected to benefit around 24 lakh government employees and pensioners, who will see a 15-20% hike in their income. 
●    The hike will be effective starting January 2017.
●    Yadav in his announcement stated that though the decision will put a heavy burden on the state exchequer, it was taken to benefit lakhs of government employees and these people will then help him form the government again with a complete majority so that they continue to get the benefits. 
●    He also added that the upcoming UP Assembly election will be historic.
●    A report recommending the same decision was submitted to the Uttar Pradesh CM earlier by a committee constituted by the state government. 
●    The committee was headed by retired IAS officer GB Patnaik.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in December 2016 signed an agreement with a consortium of six companies to deliver India's first industry-built satellite by late 2017.
●    The agreement was signed between M Annadurai, Director of ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC) and the consortium lead Alpha Design Technologies P Ltd. 
●    ISAC assembles India's satellites for communication, remote sensing and navigation. It is for the first time that ISRO outsourced the construction of entire satellite.
●    It includes assembly, integration and testing (AIT) of two spare navigation satellites in a row in around 18 months.
●    The consortium is led by Alpha Design Technologies P Ltd, a defence manufacturing contractor.
●    The others in the consortium are Newtech Solutions, Aidin Technologies and DCX Cables of Bengaluru, Vinyas Technologies of Mysuru and Avantel Systems of Hyderabad.
●    The development work will start around January 2017 and the first satellite will be out in around nine months.