News and Updates - February 23, 2015

Nitish Kumar sworn in as CM of Bihar for 4th time

Nitish Kumar has sworn in as the Chief Minister (CM) of Bihar for the 4th time. Governor of Bihar Keshri Nath Tripathi administered the oath of office and secrecy to him at the oath taking ceremony held at Raj Bhawan in Patna. Along with Nitish Kumar, 22 Janta Dal United (JDU) Party legislators, including three women were also sworn in as Cabinet Ministers. Earlier on 20 February 2015, Jitan Ram Manjhi had resigned as CM ending a month long political turmoil in Bihar.

Purnendu Dasgupta wins American Chemical Society award 2015

Purnendu Dasgupta, an Indian-American has won 2015 American Chemical Society (ACSs) Division of Analytical Chemistry J. Calvin Giddings Award. He was awarded this award for his special contribution in the field of analytical chemistry. He will receive this award in August 2015 at ACS national conference in Boston.

Environmental loss in Sundarbans worth Rs. 1290 Crore: World Bank Report

As per World Bank’s recently released report Building Resilience for Sustainable Development of the Sundarbans, environmental damage in the climate change-hit islands of Sundarbans is costing India Rs. 1,290 crore each year. This report was jointly prepared by World Bank in collaboration with the West Bengal government. Sundarbans is an archipelago of 54 islands and is home to about 44 lakh people. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site. In recent times it is hit hard by an increase in floods, storms, salinity and erosion caused by rising sea-levels and global warming.

RBI eases some restrictions on shadow bank lending

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has eased lending regulations governing the country’s shadow banking industry, removing investor limits and the need for collateral guarantees on standard debt transactions. The RBI said shadow banks would henceforth be able to conduct non-convertible transactions valued at Rs. 1 crore ($160,000) or more unsecured, and such issuance would no longer be limited to 200 investors. Restrictions would remain on debt of less than that value that is not convertible into equity, and on all convertible debt, the RBI said. India’s shadow banks, known as non-banking financial firms (NBFCs), are widespread and include housing finance companies and consumer finance firms that lend small sums to individuals. The central bank also said NBFCs would not be permitted to transfer the proceeds of non-convertible debt issues to affiliates.

Takahiro Hachigo appointed as new President and CEO of Honda

Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co has appointed Takahiro Hachigo as its new President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). He will assume charge in June 2015 and replace Takanobu Ito, who had stepped down from the top most post in an unexpected move on 23 February 2015. Prior to this appointment, Hachigo was Managing Officer of Honda Motor Co. and was appointed to this post in April 2014.

Government Launches Portal 'Madad' to Redress Consular Grievances

Indian citizens living abroad will now be able to file consular grievances online as the government has launched an e-portal to address such complaints promptly with a high degree of "accountability". The portal 'Madad'(Help) was launched at the Ministry of External Affairs or MEA headquarters in Delhi by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who said the grievance monitoring facility would enhance "accessibility" for people and fix greater "accountability and responsibility" on officials. "The portal seeks to significantly reform the linear process adopted to post grievances from the originator of the grievance to the concerned Embassy or Consulate of India abroad and cut down the time required for grievances to be sent from Delhi to our Missions abroad and to get them to take necessary action," Ms Swaraj said. The speedy handling of complaints, improve tracking and redressal and escalation of unresolved cases are among the chief characteristics of 'Madad'. "After registering, the complainant can log in and file his or her complaints, and the entire history of that grievance would be maintained online. The authorities would be assigned the responsibility through a colour-coded dashboard that would change the colour if the response in not given in a stipulated time," a senior official of the MEA said.

India Signs Loan Agreement with ADB for $50 Million Loan To Boost Power Generation Capacity in Assam

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India signed a $50 million loan agreement for the second Assam Power Sector Investment Program which aims to build up the capacity of power generation and distribution systems to meet the growing energy demand in the state of Assam. The first tranche loan of the $300 million multi-tranche financing facility will fund generation capacity enhancement and distribution efficiency improvement subprojects in the state. Shri Tarun Bajaj, Joint Secretary (Multilateral Institutions), Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, who signed the agreement on behalf of Government of India said that more than a third of households in the State face daily electricity cuts of 5 to 6 hours, many important businesses, such as the tea gardens, still aren't connected to the grid, and in peak periods Assam has to buy up to 15% of its power from independent producers at very high cost, said He added that the project will finance investments to augment and improve generation capacity through the replacement of an inefficient generating plant and construction of new hydropower plant.

First coal block e-auction earns Rs. 1 lakh crore for states

The first round of coal block e-auction saw some of the key names in the industry bagging 18 mines with a combined extractable reserve of 90 million tonnes, along with attached end-use infrastructure. According to the auction amount and royalty payable, six mineral-rich states are likely to earn a little more than Rs 1 lakh crore over the next 30 years. That's not all. Non-mineral-rich states will benefit from tariff concessions, or reduction in power rates arising out of stiff bidding for coal. By the coal ministry's rough estimates, for every decline of Rs 100 a tonne in a bid, the power rate gets reduced by 6 paise a unit. The auction saw companies making even Rs 0 bids; that implies the bidding company concerned is ready to take the fuel cost on its account books and pass on the rate reduction to power consumers.

PM launches soil health card scheme to spruce up farm productivity

In an attempt to check deteriorating soil quality and spruce up farm productivity, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the soil health card scheme in Suratgarh, Rajasthan. The scheme will provide all 145 million farm owners in the country with a soil health card in the next three years. The ambitious scheme was announced in the first budget presented by finance minister Arun Jaitley in July last year. The budget allotted Rs.100 crore for issuing cards and an additional Rs.56 crore to set up 100 mobile soil testing laboratories across the country. The soil health card details existing nutrient status of the soil and crop-wise recommendations of nutrients and fertilizers required, making it easier for farmers to improve productivity by using appropriate inputs.

Scientist Tapan Misra appointed as Director of ISRO’s Space Application Centre

Eminent scientist Tapan Misra has been appointed the Chief of ISRO’s Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad Gujarat. He will succeed A S Kiran Kumar, who was appointed as the Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in January 2015.He was awarded Hari Om Ashram Prerit Vikram Sarabhai research Award (2004), ISRO Merit award (2008), Sir JC Bose National Talent Search (JBNSTS) Scholarship (1981). He has been 2 granted patents, 6 pending patents, 5 copyrights and many research papers to his credit.

Rs. 50000 crore naval project gets Cabinet nod

The Cabinet Committee on Security sanctioned the country's biggest naval project, the construction of seven stealth frigates for Rs 45,381 crore. Mazagon Dock Ltd (MDL), Mumbai , will build four of these, while Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers, Kolkata (GRSE), simultaneously builds the other three. This project, dubbed Project 17A, follows on from the earlier Project 17, in which MDL built three 5,600-tonne frigates: INS Shivalik, Satpura and Sahyadri. The first of these, the Shivalik, entered service in 2009. The timeline for Project 17A allows each shipyard a preparatory period of two years, in which they will prepare for construction and place orders for long-lead items like engines and transmission. Then they will actually build the warship over five years. The first two frigates would be delivered by MDL and GRSE in 2022, with the rest coming in pairs at one-year intervals. The Project 17A frigates, while superficially similar to those build under Project 17, will pack significantly more punch with more advanced weaponry. The new vessels will be fitted with BrahMos cruise missile for land attack, and the new Indo-Israeli Long Range Surface-to-Air Missile (LR-SAM) that can shoot down incoming anti-ship missiles.

Simona Halep lifted WTA championship title

Simona Halep lifted WTA championship title after defeating Karolina Pliskova in the final in Dubai. She defeated Pliskova in a straight sets 6-4, 7-6 to win the 10th trophy of her career.

AAP govt ropes in Sushil Kumar to promote sports in Delhi

The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government has roped in two-time Olympic medal winning wrestler Sushil Kumar to promote sports in Delhi. As part of the plan, Sushil would also promote special sports degree programmes. "The Delhi Government has come up with good ideas for development of sports in Delhi. I have also given some proposals," he said.

Apollo Hospitals inks pact with Republic of Macedonia

Apollo Hospitals Group ties up with the Republic of Macedonia, to expand healthcare services in the Southeastern European nation. It also establishes efforts to provide telemedicine, educational opportunities and training over the next five years for Macedonia, it added.

Veteran CPI leader Govind Pansare passed away

Veteran leader of Communist Party of India (CPI), Govind Pansare was shot along with his wife Uma by unidentified persons near his house in Kolhapur. He passed away at Breach Candy hospital in Mumbai. He was 82. He was leading a campaign against the collection of toll in Maharashtra.

State Bank of India to finance small tea growers in NE

State Bank of India(SBI) will provide finance Rs 100 crore benefiting 3,000 small tea growers in the North East soon, a senior official of the public sector bank said today. ii. Finance will be provided to tea growers who have proper basic documents of their existing garden as per Tea Board of India norms. "The benefit is not only for Assam, but also for new tea garden growing states such as Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Meghalaya which will also be covered under a similar scheme.