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CONTENTS

Governance .................................................................................... 5

All cities and towns in five more States declared Open Defecation Free .................... 5

President Appoints Commission to Examine Sub Categorization of other Backward

Classes under Article 340 of the Constitution ................................................................... 5

PM hails India’s historic jump in 'Ease of Doing Business' rankings .......................... 7

Health policy ................................................................................. 8

One million children saved, says a new study published in the Lancet ...................... 8

PM Modi launches ‘Intensified Mission Indradhanush’ ................................................ 9

Launch of Mobile Health App `MedWatch' By the Indian Air Force ......................... 10

Development and Employment............................................. 11

CWC sign MoU with IIT Roorkee and MNNIT Allahabad to support capacity

building in dam safety areas under dam rehabilitation and improvement project . 12

Ministry of Road Transport & Highways to implement Value Engineering

Programme .............................................................................................................................. 13

Cabinet approves SANKALP & STRIVE Schemes to boost Skill India Mission .... 13

ACI-ASQ Survey ................................................................................................................... 14

PM inaugurates Phase 1 of RO-RO Ferry Service between Ghogha and Dahej....... 15

India’s first Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra for skilling in Smart Cities

inaugurated ............................................................................................................................. 16

Ministries of Power & Textiles join hands under new initiative SAATHI ............... 18

Ministry of HUA ropes in private online service aggregator to promote jobs for

urban poor............................................................................................................................... 19

Environment & Ecology ........................................................... 19

Turtle Sanctuary to be set up in Allahabad ..................................................................... 19

India Energy Forum by CERAWEEK ................................................................................ 20

Namami Gange Programme ................................................................................................ 21

PIB compilation Vol:- 10 October 2017

www.currentaffairsonly.com EG Classes (Mukherjee Nagar)

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CONTENTS

India Water Week .................................................................................................................. 22

New Guiness Record at IISF Chennai 2017...................................................................... 23

Comments sought on draft guidelines for groundwater extraction ............................ 24

Tourism......................................................................................... 24

Tourism Minister Briefs on ‘Paryatan Parv’ to be Organized Nationwide from 5th to

25th October, 2017 ................................................................................................................... 25

Economic Policy ......................................................................... 27

“Pradhanmantri Mudra Yojna” promotion camp ........................................................... 27

Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India ..................................................................... 27

Framing of rules in respect of Country-by-Country reporting and furnishing of

master file ............................................................................................................................... 28

PFRDA rolls-out Aadhar Powered Digital on Boarding into APY through eNPS

platform for wider reach ...................................................................................................... 30

Bureau of Indian standards (BIS) Act 2016 brought into force .................................... 30

CIPAM-DIPP Launches Logo and Tagline Contest for Geographical Indications of

India ......................................................................................................................................... 31

Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme ............................................................................................ 32

Commerce and Industry Minister launches CIPAM’s Website ................................... 33

Minister for Commerce and Industry reviews Government’s initiatives on IPR .... 34

Science and Technology .......................................................... 35

Embryo Transfer Technology, a promising revolution in Bovine breeding ............. 35

India’s Space mission to Moon ‘Chandrayaan- II’ in 2018 ............................................ 36

Art & Culture ............................................................................... 37

“Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav (RSM) .............................................................................. 37

Deep Dharohar....................................................................................................................... 37

Women’s Empowerment & Social issue ............................. 38



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CONTENTS

First ever conference of Partner NGOs to be inaugurated-Schemes and Programmes

for Women and Children ..................................................................................................... 38

Ministry of Women and Child Development to celebrate the BBBP Week .............. 39

Government keen to ensure a decent living Habitat for the poor, says HUA

Minister ................................................................................................................................... 40

First ever Conference of Partner NGOs of WCD Ministry held in New Delhi today

................................................................................................................................................... 41

Ministry WCD launches campaign on ‘women for women’: #IamThatWoman ...... 42

Navika Sagar Parikrama – Tarini Enters Fremantle ....................................................... 43

Disaster Management .............................................................. 44

Union Home Minister to inaugurate First BIMSTEC Disaster Management Exercise

................................................................................................................................................... 44

Public Policy ................................................................................ 47

India’s first Sewage Treatment Plant under Hybrid Annuity Mode to come up in

Haridwar and Varanasi ........................................................................................................ 47

Sampoorna Bima Gram (SBG) Yojana .............................................................................. 48

Gram Samridhi Evam Swacchata Pakhwada ................................................................... 50

CVC to develop Integrity Index of 25 Organizations – Ministry of Personnel, Public

Grievances & Pensions ......................................................................................................... 51

International Relations ........................................................... 52

Cabinet approves the Extradition Treaty between India and Lithuania .................... 52

Cabinet apprised of the MoU between India and Switzerland on Technical

Cooperation in Rail Sector................................................................................................... 52

India’s trade and investment relationship with Ethiopia is very strong, says

President; symbolic of India’s commitment to African Continent.............................. 53

India – EU Joint Statement during 14th India-EU Summit ........................................... 54

Indian Navy Foils Piracy Attempt in Gulf OF Aden ..................................................... 55



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CONTENTS

Annual Dilli Seminar – ‘India and South East Asia Maritime Trade, Expedition and

Civilisation Linkages’........................................................................................................... 56

Cabinet approves MoC between India and Japan .......................................................... 57

Cabinet approves MoU between India and Belarus for Cooperation in the field of

Vocational Education and Training ................................................................................... 58

Mitra Shakti 2017 ................................................................................................................... 59

Exercise INDRA - 2017: Indo-Russia Joint Exercise ....................................................... 60

INS Sukanya at Indonesia for Coordinated Patrol of IMBL ........................................ 61

International Conference on Consumer Protection for East, South and South-East

Asian Countries with the theme of “Empowering Consumers in New Markets” ... 62

India and France to Strengthen Bilateral Defence Cooperation as a Key Pillar of

Their Strategic Partnership.................................................................................................. 64

India and US Hold 11th Trade Policy Forum Meeting in Washington D.C. ............. 65

List of MoUs/Agreements signed during the visit of Prime Minister of Italy to

India (October 30, 2017) ........................................................................................................ 65

Digitalization ............................................................................... 66

MSME Payment Portal – MSME Samadhaan launched ................................................ 66

Internal Security ........................................................................ 67

Cabinet approves change of status for marine body IALA ........................................... 67

INS kiltan ................................................................................................................................ 68

Education Policy ......................................................................... 68

New Education policy by December ................................................................................. 68

Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan Scheme...................................... 69

Agricultural sector .................................................................... 70

Olive Research and Development in India ...................................................................... 70

India and Olive production ................................................................................................. 70

Practice Questions for UPSC Prelims Exam based on PIB 71



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Governance

The Union government declared 5 more states– Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana , Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh as ‘Open Defecation Free’ on 2 October 2017, the same day when Swacch Bharat Mission completed three years. This was declared by the Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs on the occasion of the third anniversary of the mission. The Minister said that all the five states have reached the milestone of making all its cities and towns open defecation free.

The target was to build about 66 lakh individual household toilets in urban areas,

against that 38 lakh toilets have already been built and building of another 14 lakh toilets is in progress.

Over 2-lakh community and public toilet seats have been constructed as against the mission target of 5-lakh toilet seats.

For Solid Waste Management, efforts are on to produce over 500 MW of electricity and over 50 lakh tons of compost from municipal solid waste to allow dispensation of the entire solid waste being generated in urban areas.

Swachh Bharat Mission was launched on 2nd October 2014, all over length and breadth of the country as a national movement. The campaign objective is to realize the vision of a ‘Clean India’ by 2nd October 2019.



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• Decision will ensure more Backwards among OBC Communities to Avail benefits of Reservation

• The President, in exercise of the powers conferred by article 340 of the Constitution

appointed a Commission to examine the sub-categorisation of Other Backward Classes.

• This decision, taken on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, reinforces, in the spirit of his teachings, the Government’s efforts to achieve greater social justice and inclusion for all, and specifically members of the Other Backward Classes.

• Sub categorization of the OBCs will ensure that the more backward among the OBC communities can also access the benefits of reservation for educational institutions and government jobs.

Chairperson -Justice (Retd.) G. Rohini, Member -Dr. J.K. Bajaj Member(Ex-officio)-Director, Anthropological Survey of India, Member (Ex-officio)-Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India Secretary of the Commission-Joint Secretary, Department of SJ&E, Ministry of Social

Justice and Empowerment

(i) To examine the extent of inequitable distribution of benefits of reservation among the castes or communities included in the broad category of Other Backward Classes with reference to such classes included in the Central List;

(ii) To work out the mechanism, criteria, norms and parameters in a scientific approach for sub-categorisation within such Other Backward Classes; and

(iii) To take up the exercise of identifying the respective castes or communities or sub-castes or synonyms in the Central List of Other Backward Classes and classifying them into their respective sub-categories.

The Commission is required to present their Report to the President within a period of twelve weeks of assumption of charge by the Chairperson of the Commission.

On receipt of the Report of the Commission, the Central Government will consider ways and means for equitable distribution of the benefits of the reservation in Central.



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Government jobs and admission in Central Government Institutions amongst all strata of the Other Backward Classes.

India has jumped 30 places to rank 100th in the World Bank’s ‘ease of doing business’

ranking, helped by a slew of reforms in taxation, licensing, investor protection and bankruptcy resolution.

India is the only large country this year to have achieved such a significant shift. On the “distance to frontier metric,” one of the key indicators in the survey, India’s score went from 56.05 in Doing Business 2017 to 60.76 in Doing Business 2018

In its annual report ‘Doing Business 2018: Reforming to Create Jobs’, the World Bank said that India’s ranking reflects nearly half of the 37 reforms, adopted since 2003, implemented in the last four years.

Starting a business, enforcing contracts and dealing with construction permits.

It takes 30 days now to register a new business, down from 127 days 15 years ago, but “the number of procedures is still cumbersome for local entrepreneurs who still need to go through 12 procedures

New Zealand is the easiest place on the planet to do business, followed by Singapore,

Denmark, South Korea and Hong Kong. The US and the UK are ranked 6th and 7th on the list.

Among BRICS countries, Russia tops the list with 35th position, followed by China which has retained its ranking at the 78th place for the second consecutive year.

The ease of doing business index is an index created by the World Bank Group. Higher rankings (a low numerical value) indicate better, usually simpler, regulations for businesses and stronger protections of property rights. Empirical research funded by the



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World Bank to justify their work show that the economic growth impact of improving these regulations is strong.

Health policy

India has avoided about 1 million (10 lakh) deaths of children under age five since 2005, owing to the significant reductions in mortality from pneumonia, diarrhoea, neonatal infections and birth asphyxia/trauma, measles and tetanus, according to study published in the latest issue of The Lancet.

The ‘India’s Million Death Study’, implemented by the Registrar General of India, is the first study to directly quantify changes in cause-specific child deaths in India, nationally and sub-nationally, from 2000-15 among randomly selected homes.

The study further illustrates that the conditions prioritized under the National Health Mission had the greatest declines.

Pneumonia and diarrhea mortality fell by over 60% (most of the decline due to effective

treatment), mortality from birth-related breathing and trauma during delivery fell by 66% (most of the decline due to more births occurring in hospital), and measles and tetanus mortality fell by 90% (mostly due to special immunization campaigns against each).

The study states that mortality rate (per 1000 live births) fell in neonates from 45 in 2000 to 27 in 2015 (3.3% annual decline) and 1-59 month mortality rate fell from 45.2 in 2000 to 19.6 in 2015 (5.4% annual decline).

Further, amongst 1-59 months, pneumonia fell by 63%, diarrhoea fell by 66% and measles fell by more than 90%.

These declines were greater in girls, indicating that India has, remarkably, equal numbers of girls and boys dying, a significant improvement from just a few years ago.



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Pneumonia and diarrhoea mortality rates for 1-59 months declined substantially between 2010 and 2015 at an average of 8-10 % annual decline nationally and more so in the rural areas and poorer states.

The Million Death Study builds on the SRS by directly monitoring the causes of death in over 1.3 million (13 lakh) homes.

Since 2001, about 900 staff interviewed about 100,000 (1 lakh) living members in all homes who had a child die (about 53,000 deaths in the first month of life and 42,000 at 1-59 months) every six months and completed a simple two-page form with a local language half-page narrative describing the deceased’s symptoms and treatments.

The records have been digitized and each one uniformly coded for cause of death independently by two of about 400 trained physicians, using World Health Organization approved procedures. This is a direct study based on face-to-face interviews with families, and is not based on modeling or projections from small samples.

Aim:- Let no child suffer from any vaccine-preventable disease

Through the ‘Intensified Mission Indradhanush’ or IMI, the government aims to reach every child below the age of two years and pregnant women still uncovered under the routine immunisation programme.

The special drive will focus on improving immunization coverage in select districts and cities to ensure full immunization to more than 90% by December 2018.

The achievement of full immunisation under Mission Indradhanush to at least 90% coverage was to be achieved by 2020 earlier. With the launch of IMI, achievement of the target has now been advanced.

The programme in order to make all efforts to reduce maternal and child mortality.

Intensified Mission Indradhanush will have inter-ministerial and inter-departmental coordination, action-based review mechanism and intensified monitoring and accountability framework for effective implementation of targeted rapid interventions to improve the routine immunization coverage.



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IMI is supported by 11 other ministries and departments, such as Ministry of Women and Child Development, Panchayati Raj, Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Youth Affairs among others.

The convergence of ground level workers of various departments like ASHA, ANMs, Anganwadi workers, Zila preraks under National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM), self-help groups will be ensured for better coordination and effective implementation of the programme.

Intensified Mission Indradhanush would be closely monitored at the district, state and central level at regular intervals. Further, it would be reviewed by the Cabinet Secretary at the National level and will continue to be monitored at the highest level under a special initiative ‘Proactive Governance and Timely Implementation (PRAGATI)’.

These plans are reviewed from state to central level with an aim to reach 90% coverage by December 2018.

Further, it would be reviewed by the Cabinet Secretary at the National level and will continue to be monitored at the highest level under a special initiative ‘Proactive Governance and Timely Implementation (PRAGATI)’.

On the occasion of its 85th anniversary, the Indian Air Force has launched an innovative mobile health App named `MedWatch' in keeping with the Prime Minister's vision of ‘Digital India'.

‘MedWatch’, available on the IAF's AFCEL network, comprises a host of features that will provide authentic health information to all IAF personnel.

A Reminder Tool to enable timely immunization for the children of all Air Warriors is an important component of the App. This will directly enable 'Mission Indradhanush' of the Govt of India.

‘MedWatch’, the first mobile health app in the three Armed Services, was launched by Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa PVSM AVSM YSM VM ADC, Chief of the Air Staff, during the Air Force Commanders' Conference at New Delhi on 11 Oct 17. .



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The Government has been examining the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013 (DPCO) with a

view to enhancing the accessibility and affordability of essential medicines at reasonable

prices to the poor and needy while providing sufficient opportunity for innovation and

competition to support the growth of the Pharmaceutical Industry.

Under the provisions of DPCO, the prices of only those medicines are fixed which are

in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), numbering about 850 against more

than 6,000 medicines available in the market of various strengths and dosages. This

constitutes approximately 17% of the total pharmaceuticals market, in value terms.

Treating the drugs which have become non-scheduled as non-scheduled drugs without

any freezing of their prices for a further year;

Revision of the list of scheduled medicines on the basis of revision of NLEM by

incorporating only additions and deletions to the list so that the prices of only ‘’new

medicines” which are added to the NLEM will be fixed by NPPA;

Limiting the determination of overcharged amount of a medicine found to be sold at

higher than the ceiling price to the stock available with the defaulter;

In case of negative WPI, mandating the NPPA to change the ceiling price of scheduled

drugs and not require the individual drugs to also reduce their MRPs if they are already

lower than such revised ceiling price; etc

Development and Employment



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Central Water Commission (CWC) has signed MoUs with IIT Roorkee and MNNIT Allahabad to support dam rehabilitation efforts of various implementing agencies and CWC.

The scope includes strengthening the testing laboratories, enhancing analytical capabilities, exposure visits to best global institutions and on ground exposure to dam safety concerns to the faculty of these institutions.

CWC has already signed MoUs with IIT Madras, IISc Bangaluru, NIT Calicut and NIT Raurkela for supporting these institutes for the procurement of specified equipment and software for enhancing their testing and modeling capabilities.

Establishment of seismic instruments, certification of these installations, generation of post seismic event report having an intensity greater than 4.0 on Richter Scale and sharing of these reports with State and Central Agencies, data collection, processing, monitoring, analysis, interpretation, integration of the State Dam Seismological Network (SDSN) with Indian Dam Seismological Network (IDSN) being maintained by National Agencies to exchange the information and help to strengthen the existing seismological network for a strong national perspective plan, and conducting training programmes for the dam owning personnel.

DRIP is assisting rehabilitation of 225 dams in seven States which are experiencing different levels of distress.

Owners of these dams require technical support for the investigation of dam conditions and supporting rehabilitation efforts.

The Government of India has decided to enhance the capability of selected premier academic institutes in dam safety areas so that they, in turn, carry out field investigations and material testing, and provide training and consulting services to the dam owners in their dam rehabilitation efforts.

In addition to rehabilitation of dams, Project also has component of institutional strengthening wherein capacity building of all partners agencies as well as few selected premier academic institutions of country are being strengthened in dam safety areas by imparting trainings to operational efficiencies of these owner agencies, exposure visits to best global institutions



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and on ground exposure to the dam safety concerns to the faculty of these institutions.

It is a holistic effort of the Government of India to equip our national institutions to develop capability and expertise at par with global institutions in the coming times to ensure self-reliance.

The objective of the programme is to use innovative technology, materials and equipment to reduce the cost of projects and make them more environment friendly, while simultaneously ensuring that the roads or bridges and other assets get constructed much faster, are structurally stronger and more durable.

The Value Engineering Programme is expected to

Increase speed of construction, Reduce construction cost, Increase asset durability and Improve aesthetics and safety.

The Ministry had constituted a National Panel of Experts (NPE) last year, for approving proposals pertaining to deployment of

new/innovative/alternative materials, new/innovative/alternative technologies and new/innovative/alternative equipment in the highway sector.



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The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved two new World Bank supported schemes of Rs. 6,655 crore – Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion (SANKALP) and Skill Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement (STRIVE).

Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion (SANKALP) aimed at providing market relevant training to youths across the country. Skill Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement (STRIVE) aimed at improving the quality and the market relevance of vocational training provided in ITIs.

The project will also strengthen the apprenticeship programme through industry-

cluster approach. Both Schemes are under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship

and supported by World Bank loan assistance. The two schemes will help in setting up national body for vocational education –

Vocational Education and Training (VET). VET shall regulate accreditation and certification in both long and short term

thereby bringing about uniformity in vocational training. SANKALP is a centrally sponsored scheme and STRIVE is a central sector scheme.

The Jaipur and Srinagar Airport are ranked First and Second respectively in the category of 2-5 million passengers in ACI-ASQ Survey.

This is for the second consecutive time that Jaipur Airport has been rated the Best Airport in the World in the traffic volume of 2 to 5 million passengers per year. Jaipur was ranked as the Best Airport in the World catering to a traffic volume of 2 to 5 million passengers per year in 2016 also.

The Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Awards are the aviation industry’s most prestigious accolades.



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The awards recognize the airports which have achieved the highest passenger satisfaction ratings in the ASQ Survey – the world’s benchmark measure of airport excellence.

It is the only worldwide programme to survey passengers at the airports on their day of travel.

Every year, the programme delivers some 600,000 individual surveys in 41 languages in 84 countries. It measures passengers’ views on 34 key performance indicators, including airport access, check-in, security screening, restrooms, stores and restaurants.

Each airport uses the exact same survey, creating an industry database that allows airports to compare themselves to other airports around the world.

The ASQ programme also has a feature that facilitates sharing of best practices among airport operators.

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first phase of India’s first Ro-Ro (roll-on, roll-off) ferry service between Ghogha in Bhavnagar district and Dahej in Bharuch in the Gulf of Cambay.

• The Prime Minister inaugurated Phase 1, which is passenger movement and will also enable the movement of vehicles once it will be fully operationalized. • The ferry service reduced the distance between Ghogha in Saurashtra and Dahej is South Gujrat from 310 kilometres by road to 30 kilometres. • The seven to eight hours of travel time to link Saurashtra with South Gujarat got reduced to one hour. • It is the South Asia's first world class Ro-Ro ferry service.

• The Ro-Ro ferry services are vessels made to carry wheeled cargo that are driven on and off the ferry on their own wheels or using a platform vehicle.



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• The ferry (the first of its kind in India) will be able to carry up to 100 vehicles and 250 passengers between the two ports. • The wheeled cargo includes, cars, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, trailers, and railroad cars. (Transporters and travellers could reach Ghogha port, drive their vehicles inside a Ro-Ro ferry and reach Dahej.) • This is in opposite to the lift-on and lift-off (lo-lo) vessels, which use a crane to load and unload cargo. • Ro-Ro ferry is a small part of Sagarmala project of Central Government. (The Sagarmala programme aims to promote port-led development in the country by harnessing India's 7,500-km long coastline, 14,500-km of potentially navigable waterways and strategic location on key international maritime trade routes.)

• The ferry service will save travel time and fuel and clear congested roads. • It will promote regional trade and business and will prove to be a game-changer for transportation of goods and passengers. • It will provide at least one crore jobs in the next 4-5 years. • It will give a boost to the economy.

• The Ro-Ro service will be extended to other locations across the Gulf of Khambat and Gulf of Kutch. • There are also ambitious plans to connect the state to Mumbai and other southern states by this link. • The prime minister also inaugurated the Sarvottam Cattle Feed Plant of Shree Bhavnagar District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Ltd in Dahej. • In Vadodara, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hand over the residences to beneficiaries under the Pradhan MantriAwasYojana (urban, as well as rural). • He will also lay the foundation stones of several infrastructure and development projects, including capacity expansion of: 1. Mundra-Delhi petroleum product pipeline. 2. Greenfield marketing terminal project of the HPCL.



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India's first Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra (PMKK) for Skilling in Smart Cities, in collaboration with New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has been launched

The main aim behind the move is to bring momentum in skilling through collaborative efforts.

The Centre is emphasizing on the commitment of the Union Government to support skilling in smart cities.

To extend cooperation for setting up of PMKK Centres for Smart Cities To provide skill training for unemployed youth through its short-term training (STT)

module Contribute to the capacity building of municipal employees through Recognition of

Prior Learning (RPL) program.

BASICS

The newly inaugurated Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra leverages NDMC

infrastructure for skilling initiatives

Catering to healthcare and solar energy sectors, the centre will be managed by

one of NSDCs affiliated training partners — Orion Edutech, which has an impeccable

record of training nearly 3 lakh candidates through its network of over 275 skill

development centres across the country.

NSDC is committed to bridging the skill gap by partnering with institutes of repute in order to give youth a solid foundation for success.

The National Skill Development Corporation ( NSDC ) is a one-of-its-kind, Public Private Partnership ( PPP) model in India, under the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship ( MSDE ).

It aims to promote skill development by catalyzing creation of large, quality and for-profit vocational institutions. A not-for-profit company set up by the Ministry of Finance, under Section 25 of the Companies Act, it has an equity base of Rs.10 crore,



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of which the Government of India holds for 49%, while the private sector has the balance 51%.

Ministries of Power and Textiles have joined hands under a new initiative SAATHI (Sustainable and Accelerated Adoption of efficient Textile technologies to Help small Industries).

Under this initiative, Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a public sector entity under the administrative control of Ministry of Power, would procure energy efficient Powerlooms, motors and Rapier kits in bulk and provide them to the small and medium Powerloom units at no upfront cost.

The initiative will be jointly implemented by EESL and the office of the Textile Commissioner.

The use of these efficient equipment would result in energy savings and cost savings to the unit owner and he would repay in installments to EESL over a 4 to 5 year period.

NITI will work in close collaboration with the State machinery by building three

future ‘role-model’ States for health systems NITI Aayog invited all States and Union Territories for the three-stage selection

process out of which 16 responded. Five States were shortlisted post project presentation by 14 States. Subsequently, three States will be selected through further assessments.



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SATH programme will be implemented by NITI Aayog along with global consultancy McKinsey & Company and IPE Global consortium in the three selected States after the signing of MoUs.

Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs today roped in a private online service aggregator, UrbanClap, to ensure employment opportunities with minimum assured monthly wages for urban poor skilled under Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM).

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard was today signed between the Ministry and UrbanClap in the presence of Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs

Under the MoU signed, UrbanClap will bring together demand for domestic services and the urban poor skilled under DAY-NULM in 16 cities viz., Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Noida, Greater Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Secunderabad, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad.

UrbanClap assures a minimum monthly earning of Rs.15,000 for plumbers, electricians and carpenters and Rs.25,000 for appliance repair technicians, beauty therapists and Spa therapists.

Environment & Ecology

In order to protect the rich aquatic biodiversity of river Ganga from escalating anthropogenic pressures, development of a Turtle sanctuary in Allahabad along with a



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River Biodiversity Park at Sangam have been approved under Namami Gange programme. The project includes development of River Biodiversity Park at Sangam (confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and mythical Sarasvati), establishment of a Turtle Rearing Centre (Permanent nursery at Triveni Pushp and makeshift annual hatcheries) and awareness about the importance of river Ganga and imperativeness of its conservation has been approved.

This project will provide much needed platform to make the visitors aware of their place in the ecosystem, their roles and responsibilities, improve their understanding of the complexity of co-existence with the environment and help generate awareness for reducing the impact of human activities on critical natural resources. The task of dissipating knowledge about river Ganga will be taken up ardently in this project, which is 100% centrally funded.

The sustenance of more than 2000 aquatic species including threatened gharials, dolphins and turtles in river Ganga exemplifies the rich biodiversity of this lifeline to over 40 per cent of the country’s population. Rivers Ganga and Yamuna at Allahabad are home to some of the most endangered fauna like turtles (Batagur kachuga, Batagur dhongoka, Nilssonia gangetica, Chitra indica, Hardella thurjii etc.), the National Aquatic Animal – Gangetic dolphin (Platanista gangetica), the Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) and numerous migratory and resident birds.

For the first time three day International conference being organized by CERAWEEK outside Houston in a regional format. The event is being hosted in collaboration with the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

The Forum serves as a catalyst for the development of a sustainable and competitive energy sector in India. India’s energy requirements are enormous and the demand is growing but our resources are limited both in physical and financial terms.



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It is a long term imperative that these resources are exploited optimally. India is attracting significant attention from major overseas project developers, equipment suppliers and financiers.

The India Energy Forum by CERAWEEK is being led by Dr Daniel Yergin, one of the leading thinkers on oil and gas, and has brought together representatives of global and Indian oil and gas industry.

It is not only recognition of the potential of Indian oil and gas sector but also has two way benefits of closer engagement between the members of global hydrocarbon business community.

National Mission for Clean Ganga has approved eight projects worth Rs. 700 crore, out of which four pertain to sewage management in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, three are related to treatment of drains through bio-remediation and one of inventorization and surveillance of river Ganga.

It was launched as a mission to achieve the target of cleaning river Ganga in an effective manner with the unceasing involvement of all stakeholders, especially five major Ganga basin States – Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal.

The programme envisages: River Surface Cleaning, Sewerage Treatment Infrastructure, River Front Development, Bio-Diversity, Afforestation and Public Awareness.

The program would be implemented by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), and its state counterpart organizations i.e., State Program Management Groups (SPMGs).

In order to improve implementation, a three-tier mechanism has been proposed for project monitoring comprising of

a) High level task force chaired by Cabinet Secretary assisted by NMCG at national level,



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b) State level committee chaired by Chief Secretary assisted by SPMG at state level and c) District level committee chaired by the District Magistrate.

The program emphasizes on improved coordination mechanisms between various Ministries/Agencies of Central and State governments

The issue of water is becoming still more critical in view of climate change and related

environmental concerns. Better and more efficient use of water is a challenge for Indian

agriculture and industry alike. It requires us to set new benchmarks in both our villages

and in the cities we build.

The government has involved all stakeholders including decision makers, politicians, researchers and entrepreneurs of water resources from India as well as abroad to discuss strategies for managing the demands and supplies in the right manner.

✓ The first event was organised in New Delhi in 2012 and the theme was ‘Water, Energy and Food Security: Call for Solutions’.

✓ Fourth India Water week 2016: Water for All: Striving Together ✓ The India Water Week 2017: Water and Energy for Inclusive Growth

There will also be an exhibition running in parallel supporting the theme and showcasing the technologies, latest developments and solutions available for the areas in, water and energy.

• Business firms will have the opportunity of direct interactions with thousands

of potential clients, highly qualified visitors including decision makers, enormous



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PR and promotional opportunities, joint ventures, expanding their business in the rapidly growing Indian water market and to increase brand visibility/image.

• The exhibition will provide a unique networking opportunity to the exhibitors for displaying their products and services to the practising water resource professionals from participating countries.

80 per cent of water in India is used by agriculture and only 15 per cent by industry. In India, 40 billion litres of waste water is produced every day.

Day two of the India International Science Festival (IISF) in Anna University campus at Chennai saw the making of a new Guinness World Record for the Largest Biology Lesson.

World Record attempts have been a key part of India International Science Festival since 2015, which leads to encouragement and popularizing of Science through public participation.

The 1st IISF was held at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) New Delhi in December, 2015. The mega S&T expo attracted more than 3 Lakh people.

VIBHA has become the Guinness Book World Record Holder for the successful conduct of the 'Largest Practical Science Lesson' by 2000 students from prestigious schools of Delhi.

The 2nd IISF was held at CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi in December, 2016 with a view to improve their scientific understanding, temperament and appreciation for various feats in science & technology by showcasing Indian achievements.

The 3rd series of IISF was held on 13-16 October 2017, Chennai, Tamil Nadu.



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The Central Groundwater Authority (CGWA) has sent Draft guidelines for “issuance of NOC” for ground water withdrawal and draft “Public Notice” to the Chief Secretaries of all the State and Administrators of Union Territories for their comments within 60 days.

Due to the increasing number of litigations in the National Green Tribunal, various branches of Tribunal are directing CGWA to ensure that the groundwater withdrawal in the country should be in accordance with law.

These guidelines will ensure a uniform regulatory framework across the country so that the discriminatory practices in regulation are either mitigated or minimized.

Pan India coverage, Decentralization of the No Objection Certificate (NOC) issuing authorities,

dispensing with the provisions relating to submission of artificial recharge proposals and construction of artificial recharge structures by project proponents

Introduction of a water conservation fee in lieu of recharge mechanism; Funds raised through the water conservation fee to be used by States for effective

groundwater management.

The CGWA constituted by Government of India under Section 3(3) of the Environment (Protection) Act of 1986 has been regulating groundwater development and management in the country. The authority has been granting NOC for withdrawal of ground water by industries/infrastructure/mining projects.

Tourism



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‘Paryatan Parv’ of the Ministry of Tourism has begun across the country. The Parv is being inaugurated at the Humayun’s Tomb, New Delhi by Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (I/C) for Culture.

The Ministry of Tourism, in collaboration with other Central Ministries, State Governments and Stakeholders is organizing a “Paryatan Parv” across the country from the 5th to 25th October 2017. The programme is being organized with the objective of drawing focus on the benefits of tourism, showcasing the cultural diversity of the country and reinforcing the principle of “Tourism for All”.

Ministry of Tourism has launched the ParyatanParv ” celebrations

The programme is being organised by the Ministry of Tourism, in collaboration with

other Central Ministries, State Governments and stakeholders

The feastival will also have cultural performances, crafts bazaar, food court

showcasing folk and classical dance and music, handicrafts and handlooms and

cuisine from all the states.

Ministry of External Affairs through Indian Missions Abroad has formulated a well-

structured plan to promote Indian tourism to Persons of Indian Origin residing

abroad.

Dekho Apna Desh



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This program is designed to encourage Indians to explore their own country. It will include

blog competitions, video, photograph and painting competitions. The prime focus is on

promoting travel to North Eastern State and Jammu & Kashmir.

Tourism For All

This component is designed to promote tourism events at sites in all the states, nation-

wide. The event is designed to encourage people’s participation. Exhibitions showcasing

handlooms, handicrafts, cuisine and culture; cultural programmes such as including

theatre, dance and music will be organized at all the sites.

Tourism and Governance

Interactive workshops and sessions will be organized with the stakeholders on various

themes like “Innovation in tourism”, “Inducting ex-servicemen as service providers for Taxi

Operations, “Developing Rural Tourism in locations near established destinations”, “Skill

development in tourism sector” etc.

Outreach Programmes

Union Ministry of External Affairs would be organizing outreach programmes in the

overseas markets through the Indian Missions with the aim of encouraging people to visit

India. It will primarily lay its focus on Persons of Indian Origin who have never visited

India.

In the overseas markets, the Ministry of External Affairs through the Indian Missions

overseas, is conducting outreach programmes to encourage people to visit India,

with special focus on PIOs who have never visited the country.

The “Adopt a Heritage” project launched by the Ministry of Tourism will be

implemented at key sites during this period. Wayside Amenities for tourists will also

be launched at important sites in identified circuits.

In addition, the mega event will see active participation by Cultural Associations and

Organisations, Travel & Hospitality Industry, Institutes of Hotel Management, Indian

Institutes of Tourism & Travel Management, Service Providers, Students and Youth

and the Local Population.

Paryatan Parv is being supported by extensive media activities and programmes in

all media, including Social Media. Doordarshan will telecast special programmes

during the event including:

Quiz Programmes – “The Wonder that is India”.

Smile India Smile Campaign – A still photography competition.

Do You Know? – A Campaign to propagate interesting facts about India.



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Economic Policy

The government has launched promotion campaigns for its flagship scheme

Mudra Yojana. 50 promotion campaign will be organised in different parts of the country where the union ministers will be participating among others.

The promotion campaigns will be launched by the department of financial services and state level banking committee (SLBC) of different states will actively participate and coordinate all these campaigns.

The PMMY Scheme was launched in April, 2015. The scheme’s objective is to

refinance collateral-free loans given by the lenders to small borrowers. The scheme, which has a corpus of Rs 20,000 crore, can lend between Rs

50,000 and Rs 10 lakh to small entrepreneurs. Banks and MFIs can draw refinance under the MUDRA Scheme after becoming

member-lending institutions of MUDRA.

It will greatly increase the confidence of young, educated or skilled workers who

would now be able to aspire to become first generation entrepreneurs. Existing small businesses, too, will be able to expand their activities. Under the scheme, by floating MUDRA bank, the Centre has ensured credit flow to

SMEs sector and has also identified NBFCs as a good fit to reach out to them. People will now be able to get refinance at subsidised rate and it would be passed on

to the SMEs. Moreover, it would enable SMEs to expand their activities.

Shishu (up to Rs.50,000).

Kishore (from Rs.50,001 to Rs.5 lakh).

Tarun (from Rs.500,001 to Rs.10,00,000).



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• The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has amended the Insolvency and

Bankruptcy Board of India (Insolvency Resolution Process for Corporate Persons) Regulations, 2016 and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Fast Track Insolvency Resolution Process for Corporate Persons) Regulations, 2017 .

• According to theAmended Regulations, a Resolution Plan shall include a statement as to how it has dealt with the interests of all stakeholders, including financial creditors and operational creditors, of the Corporate Debtor.

Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India was set up on 1st October 2016 under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (Code).

It is a unique regulator: regulates a profession as well as transactions. It has regulatory oversight over the Insolvency Professionals, Insolvency Professional Agencies and Information Utilities. It writes and enforces rules for transactions, namely, corporate insolvency resolution, corporate liquidation, individual insolvency resolution and individual bankruptcy under the Code.

It is a key pillar of the ecosystem responsible for implementation of the Code that consolidates and amends the laws relating to reorganization and insolvency resolution of corporate persons, partnership firms and individuals in a time bound manner for maximization of the value of assets of such persons, to promote entrepreneurship, availability of credit and balance the interests of all the stakeholders.

In keeping with India’s commitment to implement the recommendations of 2015 Final Report on Action 13, titled “Transfer Pricing Documentation and Country-by-Country Reporting”, identified under the OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project, Section 286 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (‘the Act’) was inserted vide Finance Act, 2016, providing for furnishing of a Country-by-Country report in respect of an international group by its constituent or parent entity.

This report contains revised standards for transfer pricing documentation

incorporating a master file, local file, and a template for country-by-country



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reporting of revenues, profits, taxes paid and certain measures of economic activity.

The revised standardised approach will require taxpayers to articulate consistent transfer pricing positions and will provide tax administrations with useful information to assess transfer pricing and other BEPS risks, make determinations about where audit resources can most effectively be deployed, and, in the event audits are called for, provide information to commence and target audit enquiries.

Country-by-country reports will be disseminated through an automatic government-to-government exchange mechanism.

The implementation package included in this report sets out guidance to ensure that the reports are provided in a timely manner, that confidentiality is preserved and that the information is used appropriately, by incorporating model legislation and model Competent Authority Agreements forming the basis for government-to-government exchanges of the reports.

Section 92D of the Act was also amended vide Finance Act, 2016 to provide for keeping and maintaining of Master File by every constituent entity of an international group, which was to be furnished as per rules prescribed in this regard.

Accordingly, subsequent to the aforesaid amendments to the Act, it is proposed to insert rules 10DA, 10DB and form nos. 3CEBA to 3CEBE in the Income-tax Rules, 1962 (‘the Rules’), laying down the guidelines for maintaining and furnishing of transfer pricing documentation in the Master File and Country-by-Country report.

Developed in the context of the OECD/G20 BEPS Project, 5 actions are set out equip governments with domestic and international instruments to address tax avoidance, ensuring that profits are taxed where economic activities generating the profits are performed and where value is created.

Base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) refers to tax avoidance strategies that exploit gaps and mismatches in tax rules to artificially shift profits to low or no-tax locations.

Under the inclusive framework, over 100 countries and jurisdictions are collaborating to implement the BEPS measures and tackle BEPS.

The inclusive framework brings together over 100 countries and jurisdictions to collaborate on the implementation of the OECD/ G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Package.

Monitoring implementation and the impact of the different BEPS measures is a key element of the work ahead. The OECD has established an inclusive framework on BEPS, which allows interested countries and jurisdictions to work with OECD and G20 members on developing standards on BEPS related issues and reviewing and monitoring the implementation of the whole BEPS Package.



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The inclusive framework will also support the development of the toolkits for low-capacity developing countries. The G20 Development Working Group (G20 DWG) has requested the IMF, the OECD, the UN and the WBG to work together on the development of toolkits and guidance to support low-capacity developing countries to address BEPS issues.

Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has embarked upon several digital friendly steps for extension of the benefits of APY to the citizens of India.

Under this channel a complete end to end digital environment for subscription is enabled without submission of physical form at the convenience of the customer without visiting bank or post office.

So far APY is available for subscription through Banks, BCs and through internet banking. Now, APY is available on eNPS platform and any eligible Indian citizen can enroll through the APY@eNPS channel by visiting www.enps.nsdl.com. The customers of the Bank can visit eNPS portal and submit Aadhaar/ Bank Name and Savings Bank Account Number to join the scheme. The benefits of APY@eNPS are:

Paperless registration

No need for visiting Bank Branch.

Online enrollment can be made 24*7 at the customer's convenience.

No Need for having internet banking Id.



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A new Bureau of Indian standards (BIS) Act 2016 which was notified on 22nd March, 2016, has been brought into force with effect from 12th October, 2017.

National standards body: The Act establishes the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)

as the National Standards Body of India.

Compulsory certification: The Act has enabling provisions for the Government to

bring under compulsory certification regime any goods or article of any scheduled

industry, process, system or service which it considers necessary in the public

interest or for the protection of human, animal or plant health, safety of the

environment, or prevention of unfair trade practices, or national security.

Hallmarking: Enabling provisions have also been made for making hallmarking of

the precious metal articles mandatory.

Simplified conformity: The new Act also allows multiple type of simplified

conformity assessment schemes including self-declaration of conformity against a

standard which will give simplified options to manufacturers to adhere to the

standards and get certificate of conformity.

Authority for verification: The Act enables the Central Government to appoint any

authority/agency, in addition to the BIS, to verify the conformity of products and

services to a standard and issue certificate of conformity.

Repair or recall: There is also a provision for repair or recall, including product

liability of the products bearing Standard Mark but not conforming to the relevant

Indian Standard.

The new Act will further help in ease of doing business in the country, give fillip to Make In India campaign and ensure availability of quality products and services to the consumers.



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The Cell for IPR Promotions & Management (CIPAM) under the aegis of the Department

of Industrial Policy Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has launched a

logo and tagline/slogan contest for Geographical Indications (GIs) of India

on MyGov.in website.

It is primarily an agricultural, natural or a manufactured product (handicrafts and

industrial goods) originating from a definite geographical territory.

Typically, such a name conveys an assurance of quality and distinctiveness, which is

essentially attributable to the place of its origin.

Some of the examples of registered Indian GIs are Darjeeling

Tea, Tirupathi Laddu, KangraPaintings, Nagpur Orange, Kashmir Pashmina etc.

GIs are not only part of our rich culture and collective intellectual heritage, but they also

supplement the incomes of our rural farmers, weavers, artisans and craftsmen across

the country.

Legal protection to the products

Prevents unauthorised use of a GI tag products by others

Helps consumers to get to get quality products of desired traits

Promotes economic prosperity of producers of GI tag goods by enhancing

their demand in national and international .

The scheme will help in reducing the demand for physical gold by shifting a part

of the estimated 300 tons of physical bars and coins purchased every year for

Investment into gold bonds.



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Since most of the demand for gold in India is met through imports, this scheme will,

ultimately help in maintaining the country's Current Account Deficit within sustainable

limits.

The issuance of the Sovereign Gold Bonds will be within the government's market

borrowing programme for 2015-16 and onwards.

The actual amount of issuance will be determined by RBI, in consultation with the

Ministry of Finance.

The risk of gold price changes will be borne by the Gold Reserve Fund that is being

created. The benefit to the Government is in terms of reduction in the cost of borrowing,

which will be transferred to the Gold Reserve Fund.

Sovereign Gold Bonds will be issued on payment of rupees and denominated in

grams of gold.

Bonds will be issued on behalf of the Government of India by the RBI. Thus, the

Bonds will have a sovereign guarantee.

The issuing agency will need to pay distribution costs and a sales commission to the

intermediate channels, to be reimbursed by Government.

The bond would be restricted for sale to resident Indian entities. The cap on bonds

that may be bought by an entity would be at a suitable level, not more than 500

grams per person per year etc.

The Minister for Commerce and Industry, launched the official website for the Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM) of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).



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The website is interactive providing regular updates on all upcoming events including awareness and sensitization programs being conducted, as also information on all Intellectual Property Rights.

It would make available resource material on IPRs specially curated for various levels: schools, universities, and industry and enforcement agencies.

Simplifying and streamlining of IP processes by formulating and implementing a focused strategy for each policy objective

Training and sensitization porgrammes for enforcement agencies and Judiciary; coordination for effective enforcement of IPR rights.

Study and facilitate implementation of best practices for promotion and commercialization of IP within the country

CIPAM assists in simplifying and streamlining of IP processes, apart from undertaking steps for furthering IPR awareness, commercialization and enforcement.

The Minister for Commerce and Industry, Shri Suresh Prabhu took a review of the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) related initiatives taken by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, for strengthening the IPR regime in the country.

The Government of India has been working relentlessly to streamline IP processes and modernization of IP offices through steps such as comprehensive e-filing facilities made available for patents and trademarks, auto-allotment of patent applications to ensure uniformity and utilization of the specialized expertise of all examiners and controllers and by auto generation of trademark certificates.

To reduce the pendency, 458 Patent and 59 Trademark examiners have been appointed in addition to the existing manpower. Pendency in Patent examination is targeted to be brought down from the present 7 years to 18 months by 2019.



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Formulated after intensive stakeholder consultation with nearly 300 organisations and individuals by an IPR Think Tank, as also 31 departments of the Government of India

Approved on 12 th May 2016 by the Government of India A vision document that encompasses and brings to a single platform all IPRs, taking

into account all inter-linkages within the Indian IP ecosystem, aimed at creating and exploiting synergies between all forms of intellectual property (IP), concerned statutes and agencies

Sets in place an institutional mechanism for implementation, monitoring and review and aims to incorporate and adapt global best practices to the Indian scenario

Reiterates India’s commitment to the Doha Development Agenda and the TRIPS agreement

Recognizes that India has a well-established TRIPS-compliant legislative, administrative and judicial framework to safeguard IPRs

To create awareness about IPRs as a marketable financial asset and economic tool; ensure monetization of India’s ‘frugal engineering’ strength

Positions India as an economy conducive to innovation and enables channelizing of the strengths of various stakeholders for the same

To place before the world a vibrant and predictable IP regime with a stable, transparent and service-oriented IPR administration to stimulate creativity and innovation

IPR Policy to be reviewed every five years; Committee under Secretary, DIPP for regular appraisal

Science and Technology

Embryo transfer technology (ETT) has revolutionized the breeding strategies in

Bovines as a tool to optimize the genetic improvement in cattle. Department of Animal husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries in co-operation with 12

States has undertaken a Mass Embryo Transfer programme in Indigenous Breeds under the scheme, National Mission on Bovine Productivity.



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The programme is implemented with the objective of conservation and development of indigenous breeds under Rashtriya Gokul Mission.

The technology now being taken up to the doorstep of the farmers will result in rapid propogation of high genetic merit indigenous cattle.

Farmer can get a 5-6 fold increase in number of offsprings , The calves so born will be of high genetic merit and The off springs born will be free from diseases.

The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, has said that India’s Space Mission to Moon, “Chandrayaan-II”, will take place in 2018, most likely in the first quarter of the year.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning to deploy a rover on the lunar surface in the Chandrayaan-2 mission.

The Chandrayaan-2, India’s second mission to the Moon, is a totally indigenous mission comprising of an Orbiter, Lander and Rover.

After reaching the 100 km lunar orbit, the Lander housing the Rover will separate from the Orbiter. After a controlled descent, the Lander will soft land on the lunar surface at a specified site and deploy a Rover.

The instruments on the rover will observe the lunar surface and send back data, which will be useful for analysis of the lunar soil. Collection of soil and rock sediments is not planned in this mission.

ISRO is working towards the launch of Chandrayaan-2 during the first quarter of 2018.

Chandrayaan 1 which the spacecraft was orbiting around the Moon at a height of 100 km from the lunar surface for chemical, mineralogical and photo-geologic mapping of the Moon.



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Art & Culture

The “Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav (RSM)-2017” will be held from 7th to 9th October,

2017 in India’s 1st World Heritage City i.e Ahmadabad, Gujarat. Ms. Sujata Prasad, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Culture addressing the media persons Ahmadabad, Gujarat

The Mahotsav will cover a profusion of art forms from classical and folk music and dance, theatre to literature and the visual arts and would offer the chance to experience the best in established and emerging virtuosity.

The inscription of the historic walled city of Ahmadabad on UNESCO’s world heritage list will also be celebrated. A handloom and handicrafts-utsav is part of the proposed event. The gastronomic culture of Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and several other partnering states will be showcased through a food festival.

Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (Independent charge) for Culture inaugurated “Deep

Dharohar” organized by the Ministry of Culture here today.

The festival was inaugurated by the lighting of 1000 diyas by the participating artists and

artisans and children from organisations like the CCRT, SAPNA Prayas and Kailash

Satyarthi’s foundation, to the beat of pakhawajs, nagadas, dhols etc.

With an aim to revive the lost classical and folk traditions of the festival Diwali and promote and conserve India’s diverse heritage, the Ministry of Culture on Friday organised here an event “Deep Dharohar”.

During the event, the minister also released a book titled “Living Traditions, Tribal and Folk Paintings of India”, published under the matrix of “Ek Bharat



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Shreshtha Bharat” by the Cultural Mapping team of the Ministry of Culture and CCRT.

With around 50 stalls, the festival is showcasing the rich repository of red, grey and black ware potters, reed (sikki) artisans, rural sculptors, Madhubani, Gond, Phad and Pattachitra art, lacquer workers, bell-metal and bamboo artisans.

A group of 100 artisans chosen by the Zonal Cultural Centres and knowledge partners from seven regions of the country are interfacing with organisations like the Asian Heritage Foundation, INTACH’s Intangible Cultural Heritage team, Dastkaari Haat Samiti, Centre for New Perspectives, TRIFED etc. for creative collaboration in creating sustainable livelihood hubs/clusters

Women’s Empowerment & Social issue

The first ever Conference of Partners NGOs is being organized by the Ministry of Women and Child Development on 9th October, 2017 in New Delhi.

The subject of the conference is “Implementation of Policies, Schemes and Programmes for Women and Children: Challenges and Way Forward”.

The aim of the daylong conference is to sensitize partner NGOs across the country for the implementation of various WCD schemes and to give them an opportunity to share their experiences and insights. The challenges confronted at the grassroots level for the welfare of women and children will also be deliberated upon.

Ensuring prevention and wellbeing of women and children is not only a constitutional commitment but is also absolutely necessary for natural growth and development.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development has made various intervention and created legislative and supportive institutional mechanisms for preventing crime against women and facilitating access to justice.

Similarly, measures have also been taken by the Ministry for the safety and protection of children.



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Violence Against Women: Prevention and Facilitating Access to Justice

National Policy for Women: Policy Interventions for Gender Parity

Trafficking of Women and Children: Role of State Institutions

Cyber Crime and Children: Prevention and Harm Reduction

Implementation of JJ Act: Structural Challenges and Mainstreaming of Children

National wide activities and awareness generation campaigns to mark the celebration of BBBP Week

The Ministry of Women and Child Development will be celebrating the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Week from 09th to 14th October, 2017.

The week is being celebrated in view of the International Girl Child Day on 11th October, 2017. The theme of the program will be “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Week- The Daughters of New India”

The week-long celebration will witness various awareness generation activities and community engagement programmes such as Oath ceremonies, prabhat pherries, rallies, nukkad natraks, street plays, joint door to door campaigns by AWWs and ASHAs, etc.

At the National level, the occasion will also be marked by a Panel Discussion coinciding with the theme for this year’s International Day of the Girl –“Girls Progress=Goals Progress: What Counts for Girls” to engage key sport influencers and women and girls role models from the field, to generate support through their voice and reach.

Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) Scheme was launched in January, 2015 at Panipat in

Haryana. The scheme is aimed at promoting gender equality and the significance of educating

girls.



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The Scheme is targeted at improving the Child Sex Ratio through multi sectoral interventions including prevention of gender biased sex selection and promoting girls’ education and her holistic empowerment.

It is a tri-ministerial effort of Ministries of Women and Child Development, Health & Family Welfare and Human Resource Development.

The collective and coordinated efforts undertaken at national, state and

districts level has been successful in establishing a substantial improvement in the number of girls being born in the target districts.

As per the HIMS data for the 161 districts of BBBP, an increasing trend in Sex Ratio at Birth is visible in 104 BBBP Districts during 2016-17 as compared to the period 2015-16. Similarly, 119 districts have reported progress in registration of pregnancies in the first trimester during 2016-17 as compared to 2015-16.

During the same period, Institutional deliveries against the total reported deliveries have improved in 146 districts in comparison to the previous year.

The Government is committed to ensure a decent living habitat to all in urban areas

and in particular, for the poor The flagship new urban missions launched during the last three years constitute an

integrated urban habitat model.

On the occasion of ‘World Habitat Day’ the theme ‘Housing Policies : Affordable

Homes’ was popularized in New Delhi. The new urban mission launched by the Government like the Pradhan Mantri Awas

Yojana (Urban) is at the core of ensuring affordable homes to the poor and the needy while other missions like the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) aim at enabling the much needed basic infrastructure for a decent habitat.

Several initiatives to give a boost to housing sector and in particular to affordable housing to meet the housing needs of the people.



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Sustainable Development Goals to be achieved by 2030 noted that India’s performance would be the key to achieve these goals at global scale.

The conference aimed at sensitizing them about the various schemes of WCD Ministry and to give them an opportunity to share their experiences and insights.

NGOs play a very vital role since a large numbers of schemes, programmes and policies of the government, which are being implemented at the ground level with the help of NGOs.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development has taken up several new initiatives like One Stop Centres, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Women Helpline, National Policy for Women, Bill against Trafficking, National Alliance against Child Abuseamongst many such others, the Minister explained.

Beti Bachao Beti Padhao has shown a tremendous success since 104 out of 161 BBBP districts have shown an increasing trend in Sex Ratio at Birth.

The Minister also assured that an online facility will soon be created for the NGOs in the field of women and children to enable them to lodge their complaints or highlight their issues.

NGOs have been playing an important role in rehabilitation of trafficked women.

Violence Against Women:Prevention and Facilitating Access to Justice

National Policy for Women:Policy Interventions for Gender Parity

Trafficking of Women and Children:Role of State Institutions

Cyber Crime and Children: Prevention and Harm Reduction

Implementation of JJ Act:Structural Challenges and Mainstreaming of Children



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To ascertain the existing problems and drawbacks in the present set up of

delivery system at the grassroots level;

To develop ways for constructive policy formulation and programme

implementation by assessing the lessons discussed during the conference;

To increase engagement of these organizations for advocacy on women

empowerment and child safety and security.

In news

In an attempt to end Gender bias in women against women, the Ministry of Women and Child Development is undertaking an online campaign #IamThatWoman.

Highlights

Through the campaign, the Ministry seeks to highlight the various aspects of women standing ‘by’ and ‘for’ women.

Ministry of WCD has urged people to shun stereotypes associated with women harming other women.

Twitter and Facebook users have been encouraged to tag and share stories of women helping women with a photograph and post online with the hashtag #IamThatWoman.

When a woman has the support of her womanhood, she can be unstoppable. Through this campaign, the government aims to shed light on the enormous contributions made by women for women.



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INSV Tarini entered Fremantle (Australia) port during it’s maiden voyage to circumnavigate the globe.

This is the first-ever Indian circumnavigation of the globe by an all-women crew.

The indigenously-built INSV Tarini is a 56-foot sailing vessel, which was inducted in

the Indian Navy earlier this year, and showcases the ‘Make in India’ initiative on the

International forum.

The expedition titled ‘Navika Sagar Parikrama’, is in consonance with the National

policy to empower women to attain their full potential.

It also aims to showcase ‘Nari Shakti’ on the world platform and help revolutionise

societal attitudes and mindset towards women in India by raising visibility of their

participation in challenging environs.

The expedition has been aptly titled ‘Navika Sagar Parikrama’, aimed

at promoting women empowerment in the country and ocean sailing by the

Indian Navy.

The expedition would inspire the youth of our nation to develop an understanding

of the sea and instill a spirit of adventure and camaraderie.

Nari Shakti– In consonance with the National policy to empower women to attain their full potential, the expedition aims to showcase ‘Nari Shakti’ on the worldplatform. This would also help to discard the societal attitudes and mindset towards women in India by raising visibility of participation by women in challenging environment.

Environment and Climate Change – Sailing encourages the use of environment friendly non-conventional renewable energy resources which affects the life of women. The expedition thereby aims at harnessing the energy to optimise the livelihood of the women onboard.

Make in India – The voyage also aims to show case the ‘Make in India’ initiative by sailing onboard the indigenously built INSV Tarini.



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Meteorological/ Ocean/ Wave Data Observation – The crew would also collate and update Meteorological/ Ocean/ Wave data on a daily basis for subsequent analysis by research and development organisations.

Marine Pollution – The crew would monitor and report marine pollution on the high seas.

Interaction with Local PIOs – Since the expedition aims to promote Ocean Sailing and the spirit of adventure, the crew would interact extensively with the local PIOs at the various port halts.

Disaster Management

The First ‘BIMSTEC Disaster Management Exercise- 2017’ (BIMSTEC DMEx-2017) will be conducted by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) as the lead agency next week from October 10-13, 2017 in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR).

At the 17th BIMSTEC Senior Officials Meeting held in Kathmandu, Nepal on February 7, 2017, it was decided that India would organize the first annual Disaster Management Exercise for the region. This Exercise will be a platform for sharing Best Practices on all aspects of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), strengthening regional response and coordination for Disaster Management among the BIMSTEC member countries.

The main focus of the BIMSTEC DMEx-2017 will be on testing the region’s preparedness and resilience towards effective activation of inter-Governmental interaction/dialogue/agreements for immediate deployment of regional resources for disaster response



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It will help create synergy and synchronize efforts to institutionalize regional

cooperation among the member countries.

The exercise will help strengthen the effective utilization of the Search & Rescue Teams for Disaster Relief & Emergency Response, including Emergency Rapid Assessment Teams and Management of mass casualties especially in situations involving breakdown of infrastructure and communication.

The BIMSTEC region is home to around 1.5 billion people, constituting around 22% of the global population with a combined GDP of US $2.7 trillion economy. Majority of the BIMSTEC countries are situated in the South Asian Region (SAR), prone to natural disasters such as floods, cyclones, earthquakes, avalanches and drought.

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a regional organization comprising seven Member States lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal constituting a contiguous regional unity. This sub-regional organization came into being on 6 June 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration.

It constitutes seven Member States: five deriving from South Asia, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and two from Southeast Asia, including Myanmar and Thailand.

As stated in the Declaration of BIMSTEC, its objectives are

To create an enabling environment for rapid economic development through identification and implementation of specific cooperation projects in the sectors of trade, investment and industry, technology, human recourse development, tourism, agriculture, energy, and infrastructure and transportation.

To accelerate the economic growth and social progress in the sub-region through joint endeavors in a spirit of equality and partnership.

To promote active collaboration and mutual assistance on matters of common interest in the economic, social, technical and scientific fields.

To provide assistance to each other in the form of training and research facilities in the educational, professional and technical spheres.

To cooperate more effectively in joint efforts that are supportive of and complementary to national development plans of Member States which result in



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tangible benefits to the people in raising their living standards, including generating employment and improving transportation and communication infrastructure.

To maintain close and beneficial cooperation with existing international and regional organizations with similar aims and purposes.

To cooperate in projects that can be dealt with most productively on a sub-regional basis and make best use of available synergies among BIMSTEC member countries.

Majority of the BIMSTEC countries are exposed to a variety of hazards due to the

geo-climatic characteristics of the region.

These hazards range from avalanches and earthquakes to glacial lake outburst

floods (GLOF) in the Himalayas in the North, droughts and floods in the Plains, and

cyclones that originate in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.

Importantly, many countries in the region share common geological formations and

river basins, and natural hazards frequently transcend national boundaries.

According to a UN ESCAP report, in the year 2015, Asia-Pacific continued to be the

world’s most disaster prone region.

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) is the regional development arm of the United Nations for the Asia-Pacific region

Established in 1947 with its headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand. ESCAP provides a forum for its member States to promote regional cooperation and

collective action in pursuit of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals, assisting countries to achieve shared economic growth and social equity.

The region’s greatest challenges by providing results oriented projects, technical assistance and capacity building to member States in the following areas:

Macroeconomic Policy, Poverty Reduction and Financing for Development

Trade, Investment and Innovation

Transport

Environment and Development

Information and Communications Technology and Disaster Risk Reduction

Social Development

Statistics



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Subregional activities for development

Energy

ESCAP is committed to a resilient Asia and the Pacific founded on shared prosperity, social equity and sustainability

Public Policy

HAM’s a hybrid — a mix of the EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) and BOT

(build, operate, transfer) models. Under the EPC model, NHAI pays private players to lay

roads.

The Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) Annuity Model

Under BOT annuity, a developer builds the highway, operates it for a specified duration and transfers it back to the government. The government starts payment to the developer after the launch of commercial operation of the project. Payment will be made on a six month basis.

BOT Toll Model

In this toll based BOT model, a road developer constructs the road and he is allowed to recover his investment through toll collection. This toll collection will be over a period of nearly 30 years in most cases. There is no government payment to the developer as he earns his money invested from tolls.

Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Model



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Under this model, the cost is completely borne by the government. Government invites bids for engineering knowledge from the private players. Procurement of raw material and construction costs are met by the government. The private sector’s participation is minimum and is limited to the provision of engineering expertise. A difficulty of the model is that financial is the high financial burden for the government

HAM arose out of a need to have a better financial mechanism for road

development. Also, if the compensation structure didn’t involve a fixed compensation (such as

annuity), developers had to take on the entire risk of low passenger traffic HAM is a good trade-off, spreading the risk between developers and the

Government. Here, the government pitches in to finance 40 per cent of the project cost — a

sort of viability-gap funding. This helps cut the overall debt and improves project returns. The annuity

payment structure means that the developers aren’t taking ‘traffic risk’. From the Government’s perspective, it gets an opportunity to flag off road

projects by investing a portion of the project cost.

While it does take the traffic risk, it also earns better social returns by way of access and

convenience to daily commuters

The Minister for Communications Shri Manoj Sinha today launched the Sampoorna Bima

Gram (SBG) Yojana and an initiative for expansion of clientele base of Postal Life

Insurance.

In a bid to provide affordable life insurance services to people, particularly those living in rural areas of the country, the government launched SBG and expanded the coverage of Postal Life Insurance (PLI).

Under SBG at least one village (having a minimum of 100 households) will be identified in each of the revenue districts of the country, wherein endeavour will be made to cover all households of that identified village with a minimum of one RPLI (Rural Postal Life Insurance) policy each.



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Coverage of all households in the identified Sampoorna Bima Gram village is the primary objective of this scheme.

The benefits of PLI will no more be confined to government and semi-government employees only, but will also be available to professionals such as doctors, engineers, management consultants, chartered accountants, architects, lawyers, bankers etc. and to the employees of listed companies of NSE (National Stock Exchange) and BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange).

The decision has been taken to enlarge the cover of social security and bring the maximum number of people under the protection of Postal Life Insurance (PLI).

PLI, introduced in 1884, is one of the oldest life insurance schemes for benefit of

government and semi-government employees. In the beginning, the upper limit of life insurance was only Rs 4000, which has now

increased to Rs 50 lakh. It covers employees of Central and state governments, Central and state public

sector undertakings, universities, government-aided educational institutions, nationalized banks, local bodies, autonomous bodies, joint ventures having a minimum of 10% Govt./PSU stake, credit co-operative societies etc.

PLI also extends the facility of insurance to the officers and staff of the Defence services and para-military

Apart from single insurance policies, Postal Life Insurance also manages a group insurance scheme for the extra departmental employees (Gramin Dak Sevaks) of the Department of Posts.

Whole Life Assurance (SURAKSHA) Convertible Whole Life Assurance (SUVIDHA) Endowment Assurance (SANTOSH) Anticipated Endowment Assurance (SUMANGAL) Joint Life Assurance (YUGAL SURAKSHA) Children Policy (BAL JEEVAN BIMA)

On the other hand, Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI), introduced on March 24,

1995 on the recommendations of the Malhotra Committee, provides insurance cover to people residing in rural areas, especially weaker sections and women living in rural areas.

Low premium and high bonus is the unique feature of PLI and RPLI schemes. As on March 31, 2017, there were 46.8 lakh PLI and 146.8 lakh RPLI policies across

the country.



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In partnership with State Governments and other Departments, Department of Rural Development organized Gram Samridhi Evam Swachhata Pakhwada from 1st October to 15th October, 2017.

An initiative of the Ministry of Rural Development, GoI along with with Ministries of Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water and Sanitation, in partnership with the State and Local Governments

It is an effort to prepare the Gram Panchayat Development Plan through extensive community participation especially of women and youth.

The recommendations of this plan will be given top most priority in finalization of Annual Action Plan across schemes and programmes of various Ministries and Departments.

Gram Samvaad Mobile app allows a citizen to access information on and implementation of Rural Development schemes at Panchayat level

General activities- in all Gram Panchayats

• Sanitation drive • Gram Sabhas

1. MGNREGA Action Plan 2. Krishi Sabhas

• GPDP review and planning • General Awareness of Government Programs • Enrollment for universal entitlements

Specific Activities

• To be taken up in Gram Panchayats identified for Mission Antyodaya



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Central Vigilance Commission has set to develop integrity index for public sector undertakings, public sector banks and financial institutions, Ministries and its departments.

CVC will calculate scores by linking the essential drivers of vigilance with long term

efficiency, profitability and sustainability of public organizations. It will help in creating an internal and external ecosystem that promotes working

with Integrity in public organizations. Initially 25 organizations have been selected for development of the index.

Define what constitutes Integrity of Public Organizations

Identify the different factors of Integrity and their inter-linkages

Create an objective and reliable tool that can measure the performance of

organizations along these above factors

Validate the findings over a period of time to improve upon the robustness of the tool

that measures Integrity

Create an internal and external ecosystem that promotes working with Integrity

where public organizations lead the way.

CVC is apex body of Union Government formed to address governmental corruption. It was established in February 1964 on the recommendations of the K. Santhanam Committee on Prevention of Corruption. It has status of statutory autonomous body and free of control from any executive authority as per provisions of Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) Act, 2003. The CVC is headed by a Central Vigilance Commissioner and has two Vigilance Commissioners.



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International Relations

The Union Cabinet has given its approval for the signing and ratification of the

Extradition Treaty between India and Lithuania. The Treaty would provide a legal framework for seeking extradition of terrorists,

economic offenders and other criminals from and to Lithuania. The Treaty would help in extradition of fugitive criminals including terrorists for

criminal prosecutions from Lithuania who may have committed crimes against India. It will bring the criminals to justice, with a view to ensure peace and tranquility to

public at large.

The Memorandum of Understanding between Ministry of Railways, Government of India and the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications of Swiss Confederation on Technical Cooperation in Rail Sector.

The MoU will enable technical cooperation in the following areas

1. Traction Rolling stock

2. EMU and train sets

3. Traction Propulsion Equipments

4. Freight and Passenger Cars

5. Tilting Trains

6. Railway Electrification Equipments

7. Train scheduling and operation improvement



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8. Railway Station modernization

9. Multimodal transport

10. Tunneling technology

Ministry of Railways have signed MoUs for technical cooperation in the Rail sector

with various foreign Governments and National Railways. The identified areas of cooperation include high-speed corridors, speed raising of

existing routes, development of world-class stations, heavy haul operations and modernization of rail infrastructure, etc.

The cooperation is achieved through exchange of information on developments in areas of railways technology & operations, knowledge sharing, technical visits, training & seminars and workshops in areas of mutual interest.

The MoUs provide a platform for Indian Railways to interact and share the latest developments and knowledge in the railway sector.

The MoUs facilitate exchange of technical experts, reports and technical documents, training and seminars/workshops focusing on specific technology areas and other interactions for knowledge sharing.

Ethiopia and India have been trading with each other for centuries. Trade relations between Ethiopia and India flourished during the ancient Axumite

Empire from the 1st century AD. Today the economic relationship covers trade, private investment, concessional

loans for infrastructure projects and development assistance, largely for capacity building.

India is now among the top three foreign investors in Ethiopia. Indian investment has made a mark in textiles and garments, engineering, plastics, water management, consultancy and ICT, education, pharmaceuticals and healthcare. Indian investments in Ethiopia have had a significant presence in manufacturing and value addition to local resources.



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At the Third India Africa Forum Summit in New Delhi in 2015, India had announced the offer of concessional credit of US$ 10 billion over the next five years to Africa. This was in addition to the on-going credit programme.

We have also committed to a grant assistance of US$ 600 million that will include an India-Africa Development Fund of US$ 100 million and an India-Africa Health Fund of US$ 10 million.

India’s willingness to positively consider support for power transmission projects in Ethiopia, as well as announced specific assistance in the areas of healthcare, education and agriculture was expressed.

The two Presidents witnessed the signing of two bilateral agreements – the first on Trade Facilitation and the second related to the Information Communication and Media sector.

The leaders reviewed the wide-ranging cooperation under the India-EU Strategic Partnership. Recognising that India and the EU are natural partners, the leaders reaffirmed their commitment to further deepen and strengthen the India-EU Strategic Partnership based on shared principles and values of democracy, freedom, rule of law and respect for human rights and territorial integrity of States.

• The leaders expressed satisfaction at the progress made towards implementing the India-EU Agenda for Action 2020 – the roadmap for bilateral cooperation endorsed during the 13th India-EU Summit.

• The leaders committed to work in a result-oriented and mutually beneficial manner to further strengthen the India-EU Strategic Partnership by deepening their trade cooperation, enhancing investment flows in both directions and broadening dialogue and engagement on global and regional issues, including climate change, as well as migration and the refugee crisis, and resolved to further strengthen their bilateral and multilateral cooperation in these areas.

• They agreed that India and the EU, as the world’s largest democracies, share a desire to work closely together and with all relevant players to support a rules-based international order that upholds agreed international norms, global peace and stability, and encourages inclusive growth and sustainable development in all parts of the inter-connected and multipolar world. They welcomed the growing convergence on contemporary global issues and agreed to enhance India-EU cooperation in all multilateral fora. They also recognised their common responsibility towards ensuring international peace and security, and an open and inclusive international order.



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• The leaders confirmed their commitment towards conflict prevention and sustaining peace as fundamental aspects of promoting security and prosperity, fostering non-proliferation and disarmament, and agreed on the need for the global community to unite to address the menace of terrorism and safeguard the security of the global commons – sea lanes, cyber space and outer space.

• They welcomed the 5th India-EU Foreign Policy and Security Consultations • India and the EU reaffirmed their commitment to enhance maritime security

cooperation in the Indian Ocean and beyond. Both sides noted the recent joint manoeuvres (PASSEX) between the EU Naval Force and the Indian Navy off the coast of Somalia, as a successful example of naval cooperation. The EU looks forward to India’s possible participation in escorting World Food Program vessels in the near future.

INS Trishul thwarts pirate attack on Indian ship in Gulf of Aden.

The Indian Navy has been deploying a warship in the waters in and around the Gulf Of Aden since 2008 and has safely escorted hundreds of merchant vessels through these treacherous waters.

Indian ships are mandated to prevent piracy and are not mandated for regional law enforcement.

The actions taken by the ship are the rationale for the continued deployment of Indian ships for anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden.

• The Gulf of Aden is a gulf located in the Arabian Sea between Yemen, on the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and Somalia in the Horn of Africa.

• Deepwater basin that forms a natural sea link between the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea. Named for the seaport of Aden, in southern Yemen, the gulf is situated between the coasts of Arabia and the Horn of Africa.

• It shares its name with the port city of Aden in Yemen, which forms the northern shore of the gulf.



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• Historically, the Gulf of Aden was known as “The Gulf of Berbera”, named after the ancient Somali port city of Berbera on the south side of the gulf. However, as the city of Aden grew during the colonial era, the name of “Gulf of Aden” was popularised.

• The waterway is part of the important Suez Canal shipping route between the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Sea in the Indian Ocean with 21,000 ships crossing the gulf annually.

Indian Naval Academy (INA), Ezhimala is all set to conduct the fourth edition of the prestigious annual Dilli seminar on 12th and 13th of October 2017. Theme for this year’s seminar is ‘India and Southeast Asia – Maritime Trade, Expedition and Civilisation Linkages’.

It is aimed to explore and elucidate the impact of historic maritime trade that existed between India and Southeast Asian countries on their society, religion, spirituality, art, architecture, language, literature, administration and other areas of civilization.



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INA conducts the annual Dilli seminar on elements and issues of maritime history and heritage of the nation to help the young officers and cadets keep an eye on future developments in the maritime domain with a strong foundation of the past

The papers presented in the seminar would deliberate and analyse the impact of the historical maritime connections on the present, to extrapolate the future.

The Dilliseries of seminar has always been an intellectually stimulating experience for all participants especially the young cadets and the 2017 edition promises to be equally informative, especially considering the growing significance of Southeast Asian countries in the present socio-economic, geographical and political situation.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the

signing of "Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC)" between India and Japan on the

"Technical Intern Training Program (TITP)".

• This MoC is expected to be signed during the forthcoming visit of Hon'ble

Minister for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship during October, 16-18, 2017

at Tokyo.

• The Technical Intern Training Program (TITP) is an ambitious program to

send Indian technical interns to Japan for on the job training for a period of

three to five years.

• It is expected that the MoC will pave the way for bilateral cooperation

between the two countries in the area of skill development.

(MoC) between India and Japan on establishing a liquid, flexible and global LNG

Market.

The MoC will promote bilateral relationship between India and Japan in the energy sector.



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It will contribute to the diversification of gas supplies for India. This will strengthen our

energy security and lead to more competitive prices for consumers.

India and Japan are major consumers of energy in the world.

In the LNG sector, Japan is the world's largest importer and India is the 4th largest

importer.

Under the Japan-India Energy Partnership Initiative signed in January 2016, the two sides

had agreed to work together in promoting well-functioning energy markets and affirmed to

promote a transparent and diversified Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) market through the

relaxation of Destination Restriction Clause.

This is for the first time MoU for cooperation in area of vocational education, training and

skill development has been signed with Eurasian country.

Belarus has a large concentration of industries, mainly into manufacturing and heavy

industries, which draw their strength from available skilled manpower and a highly

developed skill training system.

The transfer of knowledge of their skilling methodology will immensely help in our

initiatives like "Make in India" and "Skill India".



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The Belarusian side shall provide comprehensive transfer of know-how of emerging technologies, training and evaluation methodologies, content development for regular / distance learning / e-learning/training of master trainers, competency building of the assessors in area of their competency and network building & industry linkage;

Vocational education services for Indian citizens for skill development in the field of construction, electric-power production and distribution, manufacturing industry, trade, auto service and household goods repair and maintenance, transport, communication, hotels and restaurants as well as other fields being in high demand in India;

Retraining, up-skilling, internship for Vocational Education and Training managers, teachers and trainers of India by the Belarusian Side;

Advisory services in order to enhance planning, management and delivery of Vocational Education and Training and Skill Development.

The MoU would bring in Belarus experience and expertise for overall improvement in skill eco system of the country.

Implementation of proposal includes innovation and improvement in the existing vocational education and skill development through Research and Development in the field.

The fifth India-Sri Lanka Joint Training Exercise MITRA SHAKTI 2017 started with a grand Opening Ceremony conducted at Aundh Military Station, Pune and will last on October 25, 2017.

The Mitra Shakti series of exercises has been one of key defence cooperation

initiatvies between the two countries since 2013. The exercise is taking place at a time when the region faces evolving security

dynamics. The 4th edition had taken place in Sri Lanka last year.



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The training module will include weapons training, basic military tactics and complex battle strategies.

The exercise is based on Counter Terrorist Operations and an Infantry company from both the countries is participating in the same.

The training exercise is considered an important effort in India’s response to China’s growing influence in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region.

The India – Sri Lanka joint training exercise MITRA SHAKTI 2017 in its fifth edition will send a strong signal to the world that both India and Sri Lanka understand the emerging threat of terrorism and stand shoulder to shoulder in countering this menace.

‘Indra-2017’, the first The Indo-Russian tri-service military exercise concluded in Russia’s Vladivostok, on Sunday after 11 days of joint training in counter-terrorism operations.

Exercise INDRA-2017, the first ever Tri Services Joint Exercise between Indian

and Russian Armed Forces will be conducted in the Eastern Military District of

Russia from 19 to 29 Oct 2017.

Exercise INDRA in its previous nine avatars has been conducted as a single service

exercise alternately between the two countries.

The year 2017 marks a major milestone as this Exercise has been upgraded to

involve all the three Services of the Armed Forces (Army, Navy & Air Force), which

further accentuates the importance of Joint Services in the present world

environment.



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Exercise which will provide an opportunity to the armed forces of both countries to train in counter terrorism operations in a multinational scenario in a joint tri service environment.

The scope of the Exercise includes professional interactions, establishment of joint command and control structures between the Indian & Russian forces and elimination of terrorist threat in a multinational environment under the UN mandate.

Exercise INDRA-2017 will strengthen mutual confidence, inter-operability and enable sharing of best practices between both the armed forces. It will be a landmark event in the history of Indo-Russian defence cooperation.

In the series of bilateral exercises under this banner, the exercise this year focused on conduct of counter insurgency operations under United Nations mandate in a joint service environment,” the statement said.

“The exercise also provided an opportunity to both the armies for greater cultural understanding, sharing experiences and strengthening mutual trust and co-operation,” it added.

Participants from both the armed forces expressed “immense satisfaction” at the conclusion of the training, “in terms of the standards achieved in the validation phase of the training”, the release said.

In pursuance with India’s ‘Act East Policy’, Indian Naval Ship Sukanya under the command of Commander SA Deodhar, NM arrived at Belawan Indonesia this morning to participate in the 30th edition of CORPAT (Coordinated Patrol) and 3rd Bilateral exercise between the Indian Navy and the Indonesian Navy.



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The exercise is aimed to foster closer maritime ties with countries located on the rim of the Indian Ocean.

The upcoming bi-lateral exercise CORPAT scheduled from 24 Oct – 05 Nov 17 is a demonstration of India’s commitment to its ties with Indonesia and to the maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region.

The two navies have been carrying out Coordinated Patrols (CORPAT) on respective sides of the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) twice a year since 2002.

The aim of the CORPAT is to enhance mutual understanding and inter-operability between the navies, prosecute vessels involved in unlawful activities, conduct SAR and take measures against Sea Pollution.

Defence relations between India and Indonesia have been growing steadily with regular joint activities and interactions between the armed forces of the two countries. These interactions would also provide opportunities for extensive operational and training engagements and contribute substantively to the maintenance of good order at sea.

The exercise seeks to strengthen the existing bonds of friendship between India and Indonesia, and underscore India’s partnership and solidarity with friendly countries of the region.

As part of the Indian Government’s vision of SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region), the Indian Navy has also been involved in assisting countries in the Indian Ocean Region with EEZ surveillance, Search and Rescue and other capability enhancement activities.

International conference on Consumer Protection

Theme: “Empowering Consumers in New Markets”



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The United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection (UNGCP) were adopted by United Nations General Assembly on 16 April 1985 and revised in December 22nd 2015.

The new guidelines call for greater International cooperation. Against this backdrop, the Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India

and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) are organizing an International Conference on Consumer Protection for South, South East and East Asian Nations on the theme “Empowering Consumers in New Markets”.

This is the first time an international conference on consumer protection is being organised by India for countries of the region which account for a majority of the global consumers and share common challenges and experiences. 22 countries from East, South and South-East Asia are participating in the international conference.

The Conference will have six working sessions on the subjects of the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection and Implementation, Stakeholder Participation in Consumer Protection, Protection of Online Consumers, Stakeholders participation, Fostering Consumer Inclusion in Financial Services, Protection of vulnerable Groups of Consumers and Consumer empowerment through education.

The Conference will provide a platform to discuss and deliberate upon different aspects of consumer protection in the backdrop of revised UNGCP, aimed at shared learning and will explore a way forward for enhanced regional cooperation on the subject.

The United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection (UNGCP) are “a valuable set of principles for setting out the main characteristics of effective consumer protection legislation, enforcement institutions and redress systems and for assisting interested Member States in formulating and enforcing domestic and regional laws, rules and regulations that are suitable to their own economic and social and environmental circumstances, as well as promoting international enforcement cooperation among Member States and encouraging the sharing of experiences in consumer protection

The UNGCP were adopted by consensus in 1985. This followed a long campaign by consumer associations in many countries, with Consumers International (then known as the International Organisation of Consumer Unions since its establishment in 1960 and granted general consultative status by the Economic & Social Committee in 1977) acting as interlocutor with the United Nations, having called upon the United Nations to prepare a 'Model Code for consumer protection' at its World congress in Sydney in 1975.



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To assist countries in achieving or maintaining adequate protection for their population as consumers;

To facilitate production and distribution patterns responsive to the needs and desires of consumers;

To encourage high levels of ethical conduct for those engaged in the production and distribution of goods and services to consumers;

To assist countries in curbing abusive business practices by all enterprises at the national and international levels which adversely affect consumers;

To facilitate the development of independent consumer groups; To further international cooperation in the field of consumer protection; To encourage the development of market conditions which provide consumers with

greater choice at lower prices; To promote sustainable consumption

Raksha Mantri Smt Nirmala Sitharaman received the French Minister for the Armed Forces, Ms Florence Parly, in South Block today.

The Ministers reviewed ongoing initiatives to further strengthen bilateral defence cooperation as a key pillar of the strategic partnership between India and France. They also discussed regional and international developments of mutual interest.

There is strong intention to further expand bilateral cooperation on counter- terrorism. Recognising the growing significance of maritime security in the Indo-Pacific and the need for greater maritime domain awareness

The Indian and French Navies have been conducting bilateral maritime exercises since May 1993. Since 2001, the exercises are called ‘VARUNA’. The last edition of the exercise was conducted off Toulon, France in 2012.



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The 11th Trade Policy Forum (TPF) Meeting was held in Washington D.C. on 26th October 2017. The Minister for Commerce and Industry, Shri Suresh Prabhu had productive discussions with the United States Trade Representative, Ambassador Robert Lighthizer and his team in a cordial, friendly and positive manner.

The Minister for Commerce and Industry noted that the TPF serves as a robust platform that contributes towards promoting bilateral trade and investment between India and the US.

Bilateral trade between the two countries, Areas of mutual cooperation, market access in agriculture, Non-agricultural goods and Services and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).

Indian skilled workers and students make important contributions to the US economy.

The Minister for Commerce and Industry strongly took up the Indian concern with regard to problems faced by Indian services companies in obtaining H-1B and L-1 visas. He requested the US to ease the movement of skilled professionals, which has over the years contributed towards making US companies more competitive.

Joint Declaration of Intent of Cooperation for Safety in the Railway sector between India and Italy



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MoU on 70 years of diplomatic relations between Indian Council of Cultural Relations and Ministry of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation, Government of the Republic of Italy

MoU on cooperation In the field of Energy between India and Italy

Executive Protocol on Cultural Cooperation between India and Italy

MoU between the Training Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Government of the Republic of Italy and the Foreign Service Institute of the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of the Republic of India

MoU for promoting mutual investments between Italian Trade Agency and Invest India

Digitalization

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Shri Giriraj Singh launched MSME Delayed Payment Portal – MSME Samadhaan (http://msefc.msme.gov.in)

Empowering micro and small entrepreneurs across the country to directly register their cases relating to delayed payments by Central Ministries/Departments/CPSEs/State Governments. Shri Arun Kumar Panda, Secretary, Ministry of MSME along with other dignitaries and senior officials from the Ministry were also present.

The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development (MSMED) Act, 2006 contains provisions to deal with cases of delayed payment to Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs).

As per the provisions, the buyer is liable to pay compound interest with monthly rests to the supplier on the amount at three times of the bank rate notified by Reserve Bank in case he does not make payment to the supplier for the supplies of goods or services within 45 days of the day of acceptance of the goods/service or the deemed day of acceptance.



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The Portal will give information about the pending payment of MSEs with individual CPSEs /Central Ministries, State Governments, etc.

The CEO of PSEs and the Secretary of the Ministries concerned will also be able to monitor the cases of delayed payment under their jurisdiction and issue necessary instructions to resolve the issues.

The portal will greatly facilitate the monitoring of the delayed payment in a more effective manner. The information on the portal will be available in public domain, thus exerting moral pressure on the defaulting organisations. The MSEs will also be empowered to access the portal and monitor their cases.

Internal Security

Union Cabinet has given its approval for International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) to change its status from Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) to Inter-Governmental Organization (IGO).

The move will facilitate “to foster the safe, economic and efficient movement of vessels”. It will bring IALA at par with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO).

The IALA, having headquarters at St. Germainen Laye (France) was established in 1957 under French law. It is governed by a General Assembly having 83 National members, with its Council as the executive body.

The IALA council consists of 24 National Members and India is one of the council members represented through the Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships (DGLL), Ministry of Shipping.

DGLL establishes and maintains Aids to Navigation in general waters along coast of India including A&N and Lakshadweep group of islands, as per Lighthouse Act 1927.



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The Indian Navy is slated to commission the stealthiest diesel-electric attack submarine, the INS Kalvari, this month, currently undergoing the final stages of sea trials.

INS Kiltan (P30), third Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) stealth corvettes built under Project 28 (Kamorta Class) was recently commissioned into the Indian Navy.

The ship gets her name from old INS Kiltan (P79), a Petya class ASW ship that served the nation for 18 years before being decommissioned in June 1987.

It is named after the coral island belonging to the Lakshadweep group of islands.

Regarded as a very prestigious acquisition, INS Kiltan is one of the most potent warships to have been constructed in India.

More than 80 % of the ship is indigenous with state of the art equipment & systems to fight in Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) warfare conditions.

INS Kiltan is the first major warship with superstructure entirely of composite material.

Education Policy

Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shri Satya Pal Singh has said that

the new education policy is in final stages and it would be announced in December.

It will be the first education policy that was discussed layer by layer and threadbare.



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Improving the quality of education from the primary level, making higher education

affordable to people and accessing higher education to more are some of the major issues

faced by the education system.

To prevent the exodus of students to foreign countries seeking education, Dr. Singh said the

higher education institutions should be developed to the standard of Centres of

International Excellence.

The Act provides right to compulsory primary education. But what is the remedy if parents

do not send their children to school.

Education and public health are possibly the two most important development vectors

in a democracy. The reality over the past decades is that these have not received a

fraction of the importance and focus they deserve.

Even as infrastructure facilities in the school system have significantly improved, there

has been little corresponding effect on the quality of instruction or learning.

On the contrary, repeated studies have indicated a worrisome decline in school learning

outcomes.

The failure of government schools to provide education of minimal quality has triggered

large-scale entry of private or 'aided' schools, even in rural areas, but even these have

not produced significantly better outcomes.

Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan’ (PMGDISHA) to make 6 crore rural households digitally literate

PMGDISHA is expected to be one of the largest digital literacy programmes in the world. Under the scheme, 25 lakh candidates will be trained in the FY 2016-17; 275 lakh in the FY 2017-18; and 300 lakh in the FY 2018-19.



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Digitally literate persons would be able to operate computers/digital access devices (like tablets, smart phones, etc.), send and receive emails, browse internet, access Government Services, search for information, undertaking cashless transactions, etc. and hence use IT to actively participate in the process of nation building.

The implementation of the Scheme would be carried out under the overall supervision of Ministry of Electronics and IT in active collaboration with States/UTs through their designated State Implementing Agencies, District e-Governance Society (DeGS), etc.

As per the 71st NSSO Survey on Education 2014, only 6% of rural households have a computer. This highlights that more than 15 crore rural households (@ 94% of 16.85 crore households) do not have computers and a significant number of these households are likely to be digitally illiterate.

As the thrust of the Government is on cashless transactions through mobile phones, the course content would also have emphasis on Digital Wallets, Mobile Banking, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) and Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS), etc.

Agricultural sector

Two days olive workshop on “Olive Research and Development in India” organized by Oilseeds Division, Department of Agriculture and Corporation & Farmers Welfare and ICAR-Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture Srinagar from October 24-25, 2017, in Srinagar

Olive is a small tree of the oleaceae family and is native to the coastal areas of

eastern Mediterranean (Italy and Spain), northern Iraq and northern Iran south of the Caspian Sea. Its fruit adorns salads, but is used primarily to extract olive oil, one of the most expensive cooking oils.



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India had little to do with olive cultivation. All the olive oil India needed to use on salads, or to fry, bake and grill, was imported.

In 2007, however, the Mediterranean plant finally travelled to Rajasthan. Major Production states of olives in India include Rajasthan, UP, Himachal

Pradesh and J&k

Practice Questions for UPSC Prelims Exam based on PIB

Q.1-Recently the Gulf of Aden remained in news after Indian Navy Foiled Piracy Attempt in Gulf OF Aden, which of the following statement is/are correct about the Gulf of Aden?

i) This Gulf is located in the Arabian Sea between Yemen and Somalia.

ii) Historically, the Gulf of Aden was known as “The Gulf of Berbera”,

iii) Recently in October 2017 INS Trishul thwarts pirate attack on Indian ship in Gulf of Aden.

Select the correct answer using the codes given below:

a) i, ii b) i only c) ii, iii d) i, ii, iii

Q.2- Which of the following statement is correct about the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan Scheme (PMGDISHA)?

a) PMGDISHA to make 6 crore rural households digitally literate.

b) PMGDISHA is expected to be one of the largest digital literacy programmes in the world.

c) Its target will be achieved in three phases.

d) As per the 71st NSSO Survey on Education 2017, only 6% of rural households have a computer.

Q.3- What is CERAWEEK?

a) A International conference. b) Global hydrocarbon business

community. c) The India Energy Forum. d) A thinkers on oil and gas.

Q.4-Recently Prime Minister of India launched ‘Intensified Mission Indradhanush’, which of the following statement is/are correct about it?

i) Its Aim is “Let no child suffer from any vaccine-preventable disease”.

ii) the government aims to reach every child below the age of five years.

iii) the government aims to reach every pregnant women.



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a) ii,iii b) i only c) i,iii d) i,ii,iii

Q.5-Recently the fourth edition of the prestigious Annual Dilli Seminar – ‘India and South-East Asia Maritime Trade, Expedition and Civilisation Linkages’ conducted by Indian Naval Academy (INA) in a) Port Blair b) Vishakhapatnam c) Chennai d) Ezhimala

Q.6-Recently First ever Conference of Partner NGOs of WCD Ministry held in a) New Delhi b) Pune c) Nagpur d) Kolkata

Q.7-Which of the following is/are correct about BIMSTEC Disaster Management Exercise- 2017’ (BIMSTEC DMEx-2017)? i) It is its third edition. ii) It was conducted by the National

Disaster Response Force (NDRF) in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR).

iii) Majority of the BIMSTEC countries are situated in the South Asian Region (SAR), prone to natural disasters such

as floods, cyclones, earthquakes, avalanches and drought.


a) i,ii b) i only c) ii,iii d) i,ii,iii

Q.8-Recenlty The Ministry of Tourism

has launched the Paryatan Parv ”

celebrations, which of the following

is/are the component of this celebration

across the nation?

i) Dekho Apna Desh

ii) Tourism For All

iii) Tourism and Governance

Select the correct answer using the codes given below

a) i, ii b) i only c) ii, iii d) i, ii, iii

Q.9- Recently The Union Cabinet chaired

by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi

has approved the signing of

"Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC)"

between India and Japan on the

"Technical Intern Training Program

(TITP)", which of the following

statement is/are incorrect about it?



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i) The Technical Intern Training

Program (TITP) is an ambitious

program to send Indian technical

interns to Japan for on the job training

for a period of three to five years.

ii) It is expected that the MoC will pave

the way for bilateral cooperation

between the two countries in the area

of skill development.


a) i only b) ii only c) i and ii only d) Neither i nor ii

Q.10- Recently union cabinet signed the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) between India and Japan on establishing a liquid, flexible and global LNG Market, which of the statement is/are correct about it?

i) India and Japan are major

consumers of energy in the

world.

ii) In the LNG sector, Japan is the

world's largest importer and

India is the 2th largest

importer. iii) The Japan-India Energy

Partnership Initiative signed in January 2016.


a) i, iii b) i only c) ii, iii d) i, ii, iii

Q.11- Recently The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved two new World Bank supported schemes of Rs. 6,655 crore – Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion (SANKALP) and Skill Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement (STRIVE).

i) SANKALP aimed at providing market relevant training to youths across the country.

ii) STRIV aimed at improving the quality

and the market relevance of vocational training provided in ITIs.



Q.12- India’s first Sewage Treatment

Plant under Hybrid Annuity Mode to

come up in

a) Haridwar and Varanasi

b) Haridwar and kanpur



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c) Varanasi and Kanpur

d) None of these

Q.13- On the occasion of its 85th anniversary, the Indian Air Force has launched an innovative mobile health App named _________________in keeping with the Prime Minister's vision of ‘Digital India'.

a) MedWatch

b) MeghSEVA

c) VayuSEVA

d) AirSEVA

Q.14-Which of the folloing statement is

INCORRECT about the Joint Training

Exercise MITRA SHAKTI 2017 ?

a) It was its 5th edition.

b) It was India – Sri Lanka

joint training exercise.

c) It was conducted at

Aundh Military Station,

Pune.

d) MITRA SAKTI, India –

Sri Lanka joint

training exercise started

in 2007.

Q.15- A new Bureau of Indian standards

(BIS) Act 2016 which was notified on 22nd March,

2016, has been brought into force with effect

from 12th October, 2017.

which of the following statements are correct?

i) The Act establishes the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) as the National Standards Body of India.

ii) It made hallmarking of the precious metal articles mandatory.

iii) it will help in ease of doing business in the country,

iv) it makes compulsory certification regime any goods or article of any scheduled industry.


a) i,ii,iii b) iii,iv c) ii, iv d) i,ii,iii,iv

Q.16- Which of the following statement

is incorrect about Exercise INDRA –

2017: Indo-Russia Joint Exercise

a) Exercise INDRA-2017, the first ever

Tri Services Joint Exercise between Indian and Russian Armed Forces

b) This was conducted in the Eastern Military District of Russia from 19 to 29 Oct 2017.

c) Exercise INDRA in its previous ten avatars has been conducted as a single service exercise alternately between the two countries.

d) This exercise was 11 days of joint training in counter-terrorism operations.



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Q.17-INS Kiltan (P30) recently commissioned into the Indian Navy, which of the following statements are correct about it?

i) It is third Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) stealth corvettes built under Project 28 (Kamorta Class)

ii) It is named after the coral island belonging to the Nicobar group of islands.

iii) INS Kiltan is one of the most potent warships to have been constructed in India

iv) INS Kiltan is the first major warship with superstructure entirely of composite material.


a) i,iii,iv b) iii,iv c) ii, iv d) i,ii,iii,iv

Q.18- Which of the following Indian Airport has been rated the Best Airport in the World in the traffic volume of 2 to 5 million passengers in the second consecutive time in 2017 after 2016 year.

a) New Delhi b) Jaipur c) Mumbai d) Hyderabad

Q.19- Recently the Prime Minister, inaugurated Phase 1 of the RO RO (Roll on, Roll off) ferry service, which of the

following statements are correct about it?

i) This ferry service is between Ghogha in Saurashtra, and Dahej in South Gujarat.

ii) This ferry service will reduce the travel time from five hours to over an half hour.



Q.20- India has jumped 30 places to rank 100th in the ‘ease of doing business index’, which of the following statement is correct about it?

i) The World Bank gives the ease of doing business ranking.

ii) The “distance to frontier metric,” one of the key indicators in the survey, India’s score went from 56.05 in Doing Business 2017 to 60.76 in Doing Business 2018.

iii) India is the only large country this year to have achieved such a significant shift.

iv) India helped by a slew of reforms in taxation, licensing, investor protection and bankruptcy resolution.


a) i, iii, iv b) iii, iv c) ii, iv d) i, ii, iii, iv



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Q.21- International Conference on Consumer Protection for East, South and South-East Asian Countries with the theme of “Empowering Consumers in New Markets”, was recently organized by

a) Bangladesh b) India c) Nepal d) Sri Lanka

Q.22- which of the following statement

is CORRECT about the SATH

(Sustainable Action for Transforming

Human capital) programme

i) NITI Aayog is working in close

collaboration with the State machinery by building three future ‘role-model’ States for health systems.

ii) SATH programme will be implemented by NITI Aayog along with global consultancy McKinsey & Company and IPE Global consortium.



Q.23- Which of the following pair of

state’s all cities and towns is declared

as ‘Open Defecation Free’ on 2 October

2017

a) Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh,

Gujarat

b) Haryana, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh

c) Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh,

Rajasthan

d) Haryana, Jharkhand and Gujarat

Q.24-Recently President Appoints Commission to Examine Sub Categorization of other Backward Classes?

i) President have this power under

Article 340 of the Constitution.

ii) The Objective Decision is to ensure more Backwards among OBC Communities to Avail benefits of Reservation

iii) It is a 11 member Commission with Justice (Retd.) G. Rohini as its Chairperson.

iv) The Commission is required to present their Report to the President within a period of twelve weeks of assumption of charge by the Chairperson of the Commission.

Select the correct answer using code

given below:

a) i, iii

b) ii, iii, iv

c) i, ii, iv

d) i, ii, iii



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is INCORRECT about The ‘India’s Million

Death Study’, implemented by the

Registrar General of India?

i) it is the first study to directly quantify changes in cause-specific child deaths in India, nationally and sub-nationally, from 2000-15 among randomly selected homes.

ii) India has avoided about 1 million (10

lakh) deaths of children under age five

since 2005

iii) The study illustrates that the conditions prioritized under the National Health Mission had the greatest declines.

iv) These declines were greater in girls, indicating that India has, remarkably, equal numbers of girls and boys dying, a significant improvement from just a few years ago.


given below:

a) i, iii

b) ii, iii, iv

c) i, ii, iv

d) i, ii, iii, iv

Q.26- Recently government under

Namami Gange programme have

approved development of a Turtle

sanctuary in which city with a River

Biodiversity Park.

a) Kanpur

b) Allahabad

c) Patna

d) Balliya


is correct about the “Rashtriya

Sanskriti Mahotsav (RSM)-2017”?

i) It was held from 7th to 9th October,

2017.

ii) It was held in India’s 1st World

Heritage City i.e. Ahmadabad, Gujarat.


given below:

a) only i

b) only ii

c) both i and ii

d) neither i nor ii

Q.28- Recently The first ever Conference of Partners NGOs is being organized by the Ministry of Women and Child Development?

i) it was held on 9th October, 2017 in Pune, Maharashtra.

ii) The subject of the conference is “Implementation of Policies, Schemes and Programmes for Women and Children: Challenges and Way Forward”.


given below:

a) only i

b) only ii

b) both i and ii

c) neither i nor ii



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Q.29- Paryatan Parv’ of the Ministry of Tourism has begun across the country, The Parv is being inaugurated at which historical site by Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (I/C) for Culture.

a) Taj Mahal, Agra

b) Gateway of India, Mumbai

c) Humayun’s Tomb, New Delhi

d) Char Minar, Hydrabad

Q.30- Recently the Ministry of Women and Child Development celebrated the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Week from 09th to 14th October, 2017, which of the following statement is correct about it?

(i) The week is being celebrated in view of the International Girl Child Day on 11th October, 2017

(ii) The theme of the program will be

“Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Week- The

Daughters of New India

(iii) Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) Scheme is aimed at promoting gender equality and the significance of educating girls.

(iv) Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) Scheme is a tri-ministerial effort of Ministries of Women and Child Development, Health & Family Welfare and Human Resource Development


given below:

a) i, iii

b) ii, iii, iv

c) i, ii, iv

d) i, ii, iii, iv

Q.31- Recently which annual Summit between India and the European Union (EU) was held in New Delhi on 6 October 2017?

a) 13th

b) 11th

c) 12th

d) 14th

Q.32- Recently the Union Cabinet has

given its approval for the signing and

ratification of the Extradition Treaty

between India and Lithuania, which of

the following statement is INCORRECT

about it?

a) The Union Cabinet has given its approval for only the signing now and not for its ratification of the Extradition Treaty between India and Lithuania.

b) The Treaty would provide a legal framework for seeking extradition of terrorists, economic offenders and other criminals from and to Lithuania.

c) The Treaty would help in extradition of fugitive criminals including terrorists for criminal prosecutions from Lithuania who may have committed crimes against India.



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d) It will bring the criminals to justice, with a view to ensure peace and

tranquility to public at large.

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{CAO PIB mcq october 2017}.

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