The Union Government has extended support to certain new products and the rate of incentives for certain other specified products under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS). 
•    The total government support extended under the scheme has been enhanced to Rs. 23,500 crore per annum from the present Rs. 22,000 crore. 
•    Besides, products that will get incentives include engineering goods, garments, fabrics, chemicals, glass products, ceramics, leather goods, periodicals, newspapers, silk items, wool products, made ups, tubes and pipes. 
•    MEIS was launched under Foreign Trade Policy of India (FTP) 2015-20. 
•    It is one of the two schemes introduced in FP 2015-20, as a part of Exports from India Scheme. 
•    The other scheme is Service Exports from India Scheme (SEIS). 
•    It seeks to enhance India’s export competitiveness of these goods and products having high export intensity, employment potential.
 

India's High Commissioner to Britain Navtej Sarna was today appointed as the next Ambassador to the US as that country prepares for a presidential transition.
•    He takes charge after Arun Kumar Singh retired at the end of last month. 
•    Both Mr Sarna and Mr Singh are former Indian ambassadors to Israel, underlying the importance of a posting in Tel Aviv which is one of Washington's closest allies.
•    Before moving to London, Mr Sarna was Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs where he oversaw the successful hosting of the India-Africa Forum Summit last October. 
•    The summit was attended by a record number of 53 African countries. 
•    Mr Sarna was among the longest-serving spokespersons of the ministry between 2002 and 2008. 
•    He has also had postings in Moscow, Warsaw, Tehran, Geneva and Thimphu.
•    Mr Sarna is also a prolific author of many fiction and non-fiction books, the most recent being 'Second Thoughts: On Books, Authors and the Writerly Life' that was released last year. 

Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu on 20 September 2016 released the third list of Smart Cities that will get funding for initiating urban reforms. The list includes names of 27 new cities.
With this, the number of cities selected under Smart City Mission for financing implementation of smart city plans has gone up to 60.
The 27 smart cities announced are from 12 States including 5 from Maharashtra, 4 each from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, 3 from Uttar Pradesh and 2 each from Punjab and Rajasthan. Nagaland and Sikkim have made it to the smart city list for the first time. List of the 27 cities
States    Cities
Punjab    Amritsar, Jalandhar
Maharashtra    Kalyan-Dombivili, Nagpur, Thane, Nashik, Aurangabad
Madhya Pradesh    Ujjain, Gwalior
Andhra Pradesh    Tirupati
Karnataka    Managaluru, Tumakuru, Shivamogga, Hubbali-Dharwad,
Uttar Pradesh    Agra, Kanpur, Varanasi
Odisha    Rourkela
Tamil Nadu    Vellore, Madurai, Thanjavur, Salem,
Rajasthan    Kota, Ajmer
Gujarat    Vadodara
Nagaland    Kohima
Sikkim    Namchi
 

Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar on 19 September 2016 inaugurated the super computer PARAM ISHAN at IIT Guwahati campus.
•    Students and faculty members of IIT Guwahati are expected to derive huge benefit from the facility.
•    It is the fastest and most powerful computer in North East, Eastern and Southern region.
•    It has been jointly developed by IIT Guwahati and Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, C -DAC.
•    PARAM ISHAN has the power of 250 Teraflops and 300 terabyte capacity and can be used in the application areas like computational chemistry, computational fluid dynamics, computational electromagnetic, civil engineering structures, nana-block self assemble, optimization and others.
•    It can also be used for weather, climate modeling and seismic data processing.

The standing committee of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) cleared Phase-I of Ken-Betwa river link project in its first meeting with new Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave as chairman.
•    The minutes of the meeting, held on August 23, was approved Monday.
•    The Rs 10,000-crore project requires diversion of 5,258 hectares of forest land, including 4,141 hectares of Panna Tiger Reserve.
•    The project was given in-principle approval in the 38th meeting of the NBWL standing committee on May 10. 
•    At the 39th meeting on August 23, the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) director “indicated that the (expert) group was convinced that reducing dam height by 10 metres will result in non-availability of water for linking”.
•    The dam reservoir area will be retained as core tiger reserve with minimum activities.
•    No fishing will be allowed at the dam site.
•    No new mining leases will be allowed on tiger dispersal routes.
 

The Supreme Court has moved away from death penalty (capital punishment) after it commuted the death sentence of a youth for raping and killing a seven-year-old girl with the Special Category of Punishment. 
•    The apex court in its judicial innovation awarded the convict 25 year jail term considering it appropriate punishment between death sentence and life imprisonment in heinous crimes. 
•    Special Category of Punishment is judicial innovation that will be veering away from capital punishment. 
•    It will be limited to a “very few cases”. In this case capital punishment will be shifted to life imprisonment without the benefit of release on remission for prolonged periods ranging from 25 to 30 years, if not more. 
•    It was formalised by a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in the Rajiv Gandhi killers’ case in December 2015. 
•    It helps “get rid of death penalty” and addresses the genuine concerns of the society to see justice done. 

Amidst increasing scrutiny from investors because of falling revenue growth, micro-blogging platform Twitter has shut its Bengaluru development centre.
•    While the company has termed this a “normal business review”, the move translates into laying off of a majority of the 100-120 employees based out of Bengaluru, according to industry sources.
•    The move comes after Twitter missed revenue estimates for the quarter ended June because of lesser than expected advertiser demand, while revenue growth fell for the eighth straight quarter.
•    It has also issued a weak revenue forecast for the third quarter. 
•    Globally, the company is facing stiff competition from larger competitors like Facebook.
•    The decision is similar to that of Yahoo! India’s, which laid off about 600 employees from its research and development centre in Bengaluru, in 2014.
•    For most big firms such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, SAP and Oracle, the core development happens in Silicon valley.
 

President Pranab Mukherjee on 17 September 2016 appointed Alka Sirohi, a member of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) as its Chairman.
•    Sirohi's appointment will be effective from 21 September 2016.
•    Sirohi was sworn in as Member of UPSC in January 2012, after a long and successful career in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS).
•    Sirohi will succeed Deepak Gupta, who will be attaining 65 years of age on 20 September 2016.
•    In November 2014, Gupta was appointed as the UPSC chief, breaking away from the tradition of appointing the chief from the serving members of the commission.
•    The Union Public Service Commission is India's central agency authorised to conduct the Civil Services Examination, Indian Forest Service examination, Engineering Services Examination, among others.
•    The agency's charter is granted by the Constitution of India. 
•    The examination is one of the toughest examinations in India with success rate of 0.1%–0.3%

The latest Lancet series on maternal health reveals that nearly one quarter of babies worldwide are still delivered in the absence of a skilled birth attendant. 
•    Further, one-third of the total maternal deaths in 2015 happened in India, where 45,000 mothers died during pregnancy or childbirth while Nigeria shouldered the maximum burden of 58,000 maternal deaths.
•    Each year, about 210 million women become pregnant and about 140 million newborn babies are delivered. 
•    Ahead of the U.N. General Assembly, The Lancet has published a new series of papers on maternal health which reveal that while progress has been made in reducing maternal mortality globally, differences remain at international and national levels. 
•    For instance, 40.5% of all births are now by caesarean section in Latin America and the Caribbean,” stated one paper.
•    The authors of the series identify five key priorities that require immediate attention in order to achieve the global target of a maternal mortality ratio of less than 70 per 1,00,000 live births.

The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare today here signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ministry of Water Resources, Water Development and Ganga Rejuvenation to promote organic farming on the banks of river Ganga. According to this agreement, villagers situated on the banks of river Ganga will be encouraged for organic farming.
•    As per agreement, under the Namami Gange project 1657 gram panchayats situated along the course of river Ganga starting from Uttarakhand to West Bengal, organic farming will be developed in 1657 clusters under the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY). 
•    Under this project, Ministry of Agriculture along with cluster formation, will provide training on Integrated Nutrient Management and micro-irrigation techniques.
•    To promote organic farming on the banks of river Ganga, clusters of gram panchayats will be formed, awareness campaigns will be launched and self help groups will be formed by the Ministry. 
•    Apart from this, related information will be provided through mobile applications and awareness will be created among the masses about the side-effects of using chemicals, fertilizers and insecticides in farming will be created. Initiatives will be taken to promote the improved ways of irrigation for water rejuvenation in Ganga valley. 
•    Also, organic farming and livestock based livelihood will be promoted on the banks of Ganga river. Ministry of Agriculture is promoting organic farming under the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana throughout the country especially in north-eastern states.
•    Memorandum of Understanding programme was chaired by Sushri Uma Bharti, Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. Shri Radha Mohan Singh, Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare was the guest of honour in the programme.