GK and Current Affairs Updates

The Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) 2016 began here today. Inaugurated by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, the Conference will set the road towards resilience by setting the direction for the implementation of the Sendai Framework in the Asian region.
●    The Sendai Framework (2015-2030) was adopted by at the Third World Conference on DRR in Sendai, Japan in March, 2015. The SFDRR identifies targets and priority action areas towards reducing disaster risk – ‘reducing the damage caused by natural hazards like earthquakes, floods, droughts and cyclones, through an ethic of prevention’.
●    Over the next three days, ministers, heads of delegations, disaster management experts and other stakeholders will deliberate upon specific issues related to DRR.
●    Dr. P.K. Mishra, Additional Secretary to the Prime Minister, chaired the featured event ‘Disaster Risk Resilient Infrastructure for Sustainable Development’. It was aimed at minimising creation of future risks and achieving sustainable development in the Asian region.
●    Four technical sessions based on the four priorities of the Sendai Framework -Understanding Disaster Risk, Disaster Risk Governance, Investing in Disaster Risk Reduction for resilience and Disaster Preparedness for effective response and ‘to build back better’ – were held today.

In a significant initiative, the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation has enabled online submission of applications by the urban poor for affordable houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana(Urban) from tomorrow.
●    A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard was signed today by the Ministry of HUPA and Common Services Centre e-Governance Services India Limited of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, in the presence of respective ministers Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu and Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad.
●    Out of the over two lakh Common Services Centre across the country, about 60,000 located in urban areas will enable online submission of applications from November 3,2016 at a nominal cost of Rs.25/- per application. As per the MoU, CSCs will also facilitate printing of the acknowledgement receipt with beneficiary photograph which helps applicants in tracking application status. Beneficiaries have to visit the nearest CSC for seeking assistance for seeking benefits of PMAY(Urban) online. In case the beneficiary does not have Aadhar Card, CSCs will enable beneficiaries acquiring them. This process of applying online is e-KYC (Know Your Client) enabled which means applications are submitted after due verification.
●    Minister of HUPA Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu said on the occasion that Digital India Mission is transforming the country and collaboration with CSC SPV will help in bringing more urban poor under the ambit of PMAY(Urban) by addressing the difficulties associated in physical submission of applications to Urban Local Bodies, for want of adequate help and guidance. He said that while 13.70 lakh urban poor were sanctioned affordable houses during 2005-14, about 11 lakh houses have been already sanctioned for urban poor during the last one year and this will pick up further momentum through online applications.
●    Minister of Electronics and IT Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad said that CSCs are the front end soldiers of Digital India Mission and are engaged in empowering different sections of the society through skilling and online delivery of services.
●    The MoU was signed by Shri Amrit Abhijat, Joint Secretary, Ministry of HUPA and Shri Dinesh Tyagi, CEO, CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd.
●    Through a similar MoU with the Ministry of Urban Development, CSCs have so enabled 15 lakh transactions helping beneficiaries apply on line for construction of toilets under Swachh Bharat Mission in urban areas.

Ministry of Railways has appointed Padma Bhushan Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak founder of Sulabh International as a Brand Ambassador for “Swachh Rail Mission” of Indian Railway. In a programme held today i.e. on 02.11.2016 at Railway Bhawan Minister of Railways, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu felicitated Padma Bhushan Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak founder of Sulabh International (an India-based social service organization) as a Brand Ambassador for “Swachh Rail Mission” of Indian Railways. Minister of State for Railways Shri Rajen Gohain was especially present to grace the occasion. Chairman, Railway Board, Shri A K Mital, Member Rolling Stock Shri Hemant Kumar and other Board Members, and other senior officials were also present on the occasion. 
●    Speaking on the occasion, Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu said that it is a matter of great pleasure for Indian Railways to felicitate Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak as he has strengthened the cleanliness campaign of Indian Railways by accepting this invitation of working with Railways on cleanliness initatives. He said that efforts of the Sulabh International are well known in the field of improving sanitation and upgradation of environment. He said that Railways can do wonders if people become aware of cleanliness and sanitation matters. He hoped that Railways in collaboration with Sulabh International will improve sanitation facilities in Indian Railways. Minister of Railways also presented a Roll of Honour to Shri Pathak. 
●    Speaking on the Occasion Minister of State for Railways Shri Rajen Gohain said that the work done by Dr. Pathak in the field of sanitation and cleanliness is the real essence of improving environment and sanitary facilities. He said that the 40 years long efforts of Dr. Pathak had awakened the people of the country on cleanliness issues as Sulabh International was established in 1970. He said that Railways will be benefitted a lot through the association of Sulabh International as it has lot of volunteers. He thanked Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak for accepting to become the Brand Ambassador of Indian Railways for its Mega Swacch Rail Mission. 
●    Speaking on the occasion, Padma Bhushan Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, first of all, thanked Minister of Railways to felicitate him as Brand Ambassador for its Swacch Rail Mission. He further said that Sulabh International is keen to contribute towards sanitation and cleanliness facilities in Indian Railways. He said that under the motivation from the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narender Modiji these days everyone is talking about cleanliness. He said that Sulabh Internation will work with full force to improve the sanitation facilities in railway premises. 

In a significant measure to further improve functioning at railway stations Ministry of Railways, has decided to post Station Directors at all A-1 Category railway stations numbering 75.  The deployment of Station Director will be done in phases to begin with Station Directors have been posted at 12 such stations namely (1) Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) Mumbai (2) Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) Mumbai (3) Mumbai Central (4) Delhi (5) New Delhi (6) Secunderabad (7) Chennai Central (8) Bengaluru City (9) Howrah (10) Sealdah (11) Ahmedabad and (12) Jaipur. The remaining 63 AI Category railway station will be manned with Station Directors by the end of this year.
●    Station Directors will ensure that the stations function as excellence centers for the customers with the additional objective to ensure vigilant and sensitive customer service and also superior commercial sense. 
●    The Station Directors shall be supported by cross functional team in suitable manner to undertake these functions effectively. Station Directors shall also be associated in the decision making process related to proposals and execution of ‘traffic facility’ and passenger amenities’ works at that particular stations. 
●    They will also be actively involved in the process of raising revenue from ‘non fare box’ like commercial advertisement, etc. at that station. For all this, the Station Directors will seek the assistance of officers/superiors of the respective Departments, as the case may be.
●    The post of Station Directors will be manned by officers belonging to the Traffic (both Commercial & Operations) Department. 

As part of its Coastal Community Development Programme under Sagarmala, the Ministry of Shipping has sanctioned Rupees 10 Crore as part of the first instalment to the Gujarat Maritime Board for capacity building and safety training of 20,000 workers involved in the ship recycling activities at Alanag- Sosiya recycling yard in Bhavnagar district in Gujarat. 
●    The total project cost is estimated to be Rupees 30 Crore over a period of 3 years. 
●    The initiative has been identified in the National Perspective Plan (NPP) of Sagarmala for the upliftment of the coastal community and aims to provide health and safety training to the skilled and semi-skilled workers which is required while performing their work at ship recycling yards. 
●    Due to the accident prone nature of the ship breaking activity, Gujarat Maritime Board has been running an indigenous Safety Training and Labour Welfare Institute at Alang and has trained about 1.10 lakh labors over the last 12 years. 
●    With the increased volume of ship recycling over last decade and to bring the training standards at par with the international regulations like UN Body -International Maritime Organization, it is imperative to enhance the capacity build-up and upgrade the existing training standards. 

The State of Kerala today became the third State overall and the largest State so far to be declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) under the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) (Gramin). The declaration was formally made by the Chief Minister of Kerala, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan, in a magnificent ceremony at the Central Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram. Shri Vijayan also distributed awards to and felicitated district collectors and other government officials who had been instrumental in bringing about this landmark achievement for the State. 
●    With this, all 14 districts, 152 blocks, 940 Gram Panchayats and 2117 villages of the State have been declared free from open defecation. Freedom from open defecation has been proven to lead to significant health benefits in terms of incidences of water-borne diseases, especially in children, and provide safety and dignity for all, especially women and senior citizens. Kerala, with a rural population of approximately 3.5 crores, is also the largest State so far to have achieved the ODF Status, after Sikkim (~6 lakhs) and Himachal Pradesh (~70 lakhs). 
●    The Secretary, Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Shri Parameswaran Iyer, in his address, lauded the State government’s focused efforts on sanitation and congratulated the State on this landmark achievement. He assured that the Centre will continue supporting the State’s efforts towards creating a Swachh Bharat and Swachh Kerala in the next phase as well, as they continue their efforts to sustain ODF and focus on solid and liquid waste management. 
●    The State Leader of Opposition, Shri Ramesh Chennithala, Minister for Revenue, Shri E Chandrasekharan, Minister for Water Resources, Shri Mathew T Thomas, Member of Parliament, Shri Shashi Tharoor, and other dignitaries were also present on the occasion. 

 
Shri Sushil Chandra, IRS (1980 Batch), today took over as the Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).
●    He succeeds Ms Rani A Nair who superannuated yesterday. 
●    Shri Chandra has been Member (Investigation) in CBDT since December, 2015. 
●    During his long and illustrious career in the Income Tax Department, he has handled many prestigious assignments like the Principal Chief Commissioner & Director General of Income Tax at Ahmedabad, Commissioner of Income Tax (Central) & Director of Income Tax (Investigation) at Mumbai among others. 
●    His dynamism and forward looking vision is expected to further energise the Income Tax Department in its taxpayer friendly measures and new initiatives in the area of e-governance. 

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has issued Letter of Award (LOA) for development of national highway section in the state of Punjab under phase IV of National Highways Development Projects (NHDP).
●    The 81 km long Phagwara - Rupnagar section passes through Banga Town and proposed Nawashahir bypass and terminates at Rupnagar. 
●    This will be the shortest route for movement between Amritsar and ‘The City Beautiful’, Chandigarh, two most important cities of Punjab and also tourist hub for Sikh pilgrimage. 
●    The project will help in expediting the improvement of infrastructure in Punjab and in reducing the time and cost of travel.
●    The project will have 4 structures (Grade separator/flyover), 1 major bridge, 22 minor bridges, one Vehicular Underpass and one Pedestrian Underpass. 
●    The project would be executed on Hybrid Annuity mode and scheduled time of completion of project is 30 months from the date of commencement.

Vigilance Awareness Week was observed across India beginning from 31 October 2016 to promote probity in public life and achieve a corruption free society.
●    The theme of the Vigilance Awareness Week 2016 was Public participation in promoting integrity and eradicating Corruption.
●    The observance of week commenced with pledge taking by public servants in the Ministries, Departments, PSUs, Banks and all other Organisations. 
●    Several functions were organised to create awareness among the people about the corrupt practices as it adversely affects the development of the country.
●    In addition to these activities, the concept of Integrity Pledge was envisaged for enlisting support and commitment of the citizens and corporate and firms to prevent and combat corruption.
●    The Week is organized every year by the Central Vigilance Commission as part of its efforts to promote probity in public life and to achieve a corruption free society.
●    The Central Vigilance Commission, under Para 3(v) of Government of India Resolution no 371/20/99/AVD-III dated 4 April 1999, declared that the week beginning from 31 October every year should be observed as the Vigilance Awareness Week. 

The significance of 31 October is that it is the birthday of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel. He integrated the country and also was a shining example of probity in public life.

It is a five-day programme beginning from 31 October to 4 November.

Real estate developers will have to furnish additional information regarding the ongoing projects for the benefit of the buyers besides depositing 70% of the unused funds in a separate bank account to ensure their completion. This has been stipulated in the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) (General) Rules, 2016 notified today by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Population and applicable to the five Union Territories without Legislature viz., Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu, Lakshadweep and Chandigarh. These Rules were required to be  notified on  October 31, as stipulated in the Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Act, 2016 that was partly brought into effect on May 1stthis year.
●    Some changes have been made in the Draft Rules placed in public domain three months back,  by incorporating some suggestions received from consumer associations and real estate bodies. 
●    In respect of the ongoing projects that have not received completion certificate in specified time,  developers will have to make public the original sanctioned plans with specifications and changes made later, total amount collected from allottees, money used, original timeline for completion and the time period within which the developer undertakes to complete the project, duly certified by an Engineer/Architect/practicing Chartered Accountant. Promoter shall also declare size of the apartment based on carpet area even if it was earlier sold on any other basis. 
●    The developer, within three months of applying for registration of a project with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority shall deposit in a separate bank account , 70% of the amount collected and unused for ensuring completion of ongoing projects. 
●    For registration of projects with the authorities, developers will be required to submit authenticated copy of PAN Card, annual report comprising audited profit and loss account, balance sheet, cash flow statement and auditors report of the promoter for the immediate three preceding years, authenticated copy of legal title deed, copy of collaboration agreement if the promoter is not the owner of the plot. Promoter also has to declare information regarding the number of open and closed parking areas in the project.
●    Promoter shall upload on the webpage of the project, within 15 days of expiry of each quarter information regarding number and type of apartments or plots, garages booked, status of the project with photographs floor-wise, status of construction of internal infrastructure and common areas with photos, status of approvals received and expected date of receipt, modifications in sanctioned plans and specifications approved by the competent authority. 
●    The requirement of disclosing Income Tax returns proposed earlier has been withdrawn in the final  Rules keeping in view the confidentiality attached with them and as pointed out by legal experts and promoters.