[CA/Econ] Cumulative FDI inflow of Indian States

[CA] Headlines Today [May 20, 2018]

Around INDIA

# North East Frontier Railway flagged off its first Parcel Cargo Express Train (PCET) that will be connecting the northeast to the west coast.

·       It is an initiative taken by North East Frontier Railway to provide connectivity to the north east region and encourage local industries of the region

·       The route of the PCET is New Guwahati in Assam to Kalyan in Maharashtra with stoppages at New Jalpaiguri, Kalumna Goods Shed

·       This would enable the farmers to market their products like tea, jute, betal nuts, pineapple, horticulture products etc in the Mumbai and Pune markets

STATES SCAN

# Andhra Pradesh: Panchayat Raj and IT Minister, Mr. Nara Lokesh received the “Digital Leader of the year” award at the Business World Digital India Summit Award 2018 held in New Delhi

# Jammu & Kashmir: Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi visited the State

·       Attended the closing ceremony of the birth anniversary of 19th Kushok Bakula Rinpoche in Leh

·       Marked the commencement of the all weather connectivity tunnel between Srinagar, Kargil and Leh called Zojila Tunnel

·       Dedicated the 330 MW Kishanganga Hydropower station to the nation

·       Laid the foundation stone of the Pakul Dul Power Project

# Karnataka: political thriller came to an end with the Chief Minister, Mr. B. S. Yeddyurappa resigned before taking the floor test to prove majority; with this he became 56 – hour chief Minister of the State

BILATERAL ISSUES

# India discussed about the maritime sector cooperation with Indonesia

# 4th BIRCS Environment Ministerial Meeting was held in Durban

·       “Green Good Deeds”, the societal movement initiated by the Indian Environment Ministry to safeguard environment and promote good living received acceptance from the global community; BRICS Ministerial on Environment agreed to include “Green Good Deeds” in its official agenda in the next ministerial meet inBrazil and another meeting in Russia

# Workshop on challenges and opportunities of arbitration in SAARC region was held in New Delhi

WORLD

# Russia: unveiled the world’s first floating nuclear power station in the port city of Murmansk

ECONOMICS

# NITI Aayog organized a three day venture capital symposium in New Delhi; it aims to enhance economic relationships between France and India and to support the Start-Up India programme

SPORTS

 # Rajinder Singh was named as the President of Hockey India (HI), following the resignation of Mariamma Koshy

MISC

# Google is reportedly working on a standalone Augmented Reality (AR) headset, codenamed as “Google A65”

[CA] Headlines Today [May 17, 2018]

 Around INDIA

# Supreme Court on Cauvery

·       Rejected Karnataka’s plea to postpone the hearing on the draft Cauvery management scheme till the first week of July

·       Centre could not have the final say in the event of any dispute among the States over the water-sharing as it proposed; Supreme Court said the Central government’s authority is not final.

# Swachh Surveskshan 2018

·       Indore emerged as the cleanest city in India followed by Bhopal and Chandigarh

·       Jharkhand was adjudges the best performing State followed by Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh

# Former Calcutta High Court Judge, C. S. Karnan, who was jailed by the Supreme Court for contempt of court, launched the Anti Corruption Dynamic Party (ACDP) in Kolkata and said his party will contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections

# Finance Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, West Bengal, Puducherry, Punjab and Delhi to meet President, Mr. Ram Nath Kovind to submit a memorandum against the “unfair” Terms of reference (TOR) of the 15th Finance Commission

# Union Cabinet approved an Ordinance which will replace the existing Central Council of Homoeopathy (CCH) with a board of Governor

·       The members of the board of Governor will replace the existing functionaries of the CCH and will comprise seven persons who will be eminent homeopathy practitioners and administrators. They will be appointed by the government

# Union Cabinet approved a national policy on biofuels that seeks to not only help farmers dispose of their surplus stock in an economic manner but also reduce India’s oil-import dependence

·       The policy expands the scope of raw material for ethanol production by allowing use of sugarcane juice, sugar containing materials like sugar beet, sweet sorghum, starch containing materials like corn, cassava, damaged food grains like wheat, broken rice, rotten potatoes [that are] unfit for human consumption for ethanol production

·       The policy allows use of surplus food grains for production of ethanol for blending with petrol with the approval of National Biofuel Coordination Committee

# Union Cabinet approved the establishment of NIMHR (National Institute of Mental Health rehabilitation) at Bhopal

# Union Cabinet approved the establishment of a Central University by the name of “Central University of Andhra Pradesh” in Janthaluru Village of Ananthapur Dt in Andhra Pradesh

# Union Cabinet approved a mechanism to strengthen commercial dispute resolution between central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) through an institutionalized framework

# Union Cabinet approved the MoU between India and Morocco in the legal field

# Union Cabinet approved the MoU between India and Suriname for cooperation in the field of electoral management and administration

# Union Cabinet approved the MoU between India and Colombia in the field of traditional systems of medicine

# Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, has given its approval to the proposal of the DIPP regarding development of Trunk Infrastructure Components for Integrated Multi Modal Logistics Hub known as “Freight Village” at Nangal Chaudhary, Haryana

TAMIL NADU

 # +2 results out; pass percentage dips; Virudhunagar Dt comes first and Villupuram Dt comes last

STATES SCAN

# Assam: Guwahati becomes India’s first railway station run by solar power

# Uttarakhand: For the first time, Chief Minister, Mr. Trivendra Singh Rawat held a cabinet meeting in a floating restaurant on the Tehri Lake

WORLD

# Guatemala: Inaugurated its Israeli embassy in Jerusalem, becoming the first country to follow in the footsteps of the U. S.

# North Korea: threatens to call off summit with USA, if US insists North Korea unilaterally gives up nuclear weapons; North Korea also cancelled the talks with South Korea in protest against the US – South Korea joint military exercise “Max Thunder”

# Palestine: The Palestinian Authority has recalled its envoys to Romania, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Austria after their Ambassadors attended an Israeli reception marking the U. S. Embassy’s move to Jerusalem

# World Health Organisation launched a campaign called “REPLACE” to eliminate trans fat in foods by 2023

ECONOMICS

# BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange), Asia’s oldest stock exchange become the first Indian exchange to be recognized as a designated offshore securities market (DOSM) by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

·       The DOSM status allows sale of securities to U. S. investors through the trading venue of BSE without registration of such securities with the U. S. SEC and thus eases the trades by U.S. investors in India

# Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM) organized a conference on successful completion of two years of the National Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy adopted by the Government of India in New Delhi

# The first ever International Rail Coach Expo (IRCE) focusing on Rail Coaches and Train sets was held in Chennai

MISC

# Book “Who Owns that Song? The Battle for Subramania Bharati’s Copyright” by A. R. Venkatachalapathy

[Quests] 25 One Liners - May 2018 [Part 1]

(01) Which State Government will start distribute free smartphones to over 50 lakh people across the State under the Sanchar Kranti Yojana (SKY) from May 2018?

(02) The first Indian film director to get a wax statue at Madame Tussauds, London is

(03) World Book Capital for 2018 is

(04) _____ became the first city in India to function on 100% renewable energy during daytime.

(05) In India, the sexual offender database will be maintained by

(06) The country to host the World’s female foreign ministers for talks ahead of this year’s UN General Assembly is

(07) The three Indians who have featured in Fortune magazine’s 2018 ranking of the 50 greatest leaders are

(08) Researchers from ____ have discovered a small molecule named “Pep-I” that exhibits good antiviral activity against chikungunya virus

(09) Two Indian companies in $100 billion market capitalization club are

(10) Author of the book “Eleven Gods and A Billion Indians”

(11) India’s Velavan Senthilkumar is associated with the sport of

(12) ___ became the first court in South India and eighth in India to introduce e-court fee payment facility

(13) Which former Indian Footballer launched his political party named “Hamro Sikkim Party”?

(14) An exhibition titled “To the End of Land” held in New Delhi marked the 25 years of diplomatic relations between India and

(15) NDMA conducted its first-ever mock exercise on Bio – Disasters at

(16) Which country to host the World Environment Day for 2018?

(17) Winner of 2017 Saraswati Samman

(18) World Immunization Week was celebrated from

(19) Author of the book “My Journey from Marxism – Leminism to Nehruvian Socialism”

(20) India’s Prajnesh Gunneswaran is associated with the sport of

(21) ___ is the only State in Northeast which comes 100% under AFSPA

(22) How many thematic circuits are in Swadesh Darshan Scheme?

(23) The three railways stations in India to be developed as a world-class facility under Railway Ministry’s station redevelopment programme is

(24) Second edition of World Hindu Congress 2018 to be held in

(25) International Buddhist Conference 2018 was held in

[CA] BBBP scheme extended to 10 more districts in Tamil Nadu

Central Government’s Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP), a scheme aimed at arresting and reversing the decline in child Sex Ratio (CSR), has been extended to 10 more districts in the State

·        Launched in Jan 2015, the scheme at present covers only Cuddalore Dt in the State

·        The newly included 10 districts are: Ariyalur, Dharmapuri, Namakkal, Salem, Perambalur, Viluppuram, Thiruvannamalai, Tiruvallur, Tiruchi and Chennai

·        State’s CSR is at 943; Six districts in the State has CSR below the national average (918): Cuddalore, Airyalur, Dharmapuri, Namakkal, Salem and Peramblur

[CA] Headlines Today [May 16, 2018]

 Around INDIA

# President, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the 4th Global Exhibition on Services in Mumbai

# Ministry of New and Renewable Energy issued National Wind – Solar Hybrid Policy

·        The objective of the policy is to offer a framework for promotion of large grid connected wind-solar PV hybrid system for efficient usage of transmission infrastructure and land

·        It also aims to reduce the variability in renewable power generation and to achieve better grid stability

# First Post Office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSK) that is run by an all – woman team began operated in Phagwara, Punjab

# India has emerged as the third largest solar market in the world in 2017 behind China and the US: Mercom Communications; India’s total soalr installed capacity reached 19.6 GW as of Dec 2017

# Former Attorney – General Mukul Rohatgi has been appointed “eminent jurist” in the high – profile Lokpal selection committee led by the Prime Minister, which will shortlist the candidates for appointments as the anti – corruption ombudsman j

TAMIL NADU

 # Acclaimed writer Balakumaran, whose works were a link between serious and populist writing in Tamil passed away

STATES SCAN

# Karnataka: Assembly Elections 2018

·        No party got the absolute majority

·        BJP is the single largest party followed by INC and JD (S)

·        Both BJP and JD (S) [with the support of INC] called on Governor to form the government

Karnataka Assembly Elections – 2018 (Total Seats: 224)
	2018	2013
BJP	104	40
INC	78	122
JD (S)	38	40
Other	2	22
Total	222*	224
Chief Minister		Mr. Siddaramaiah (INC)

# Uttar Pradesh: 18 dead when a flyover under construction near Varanasi railway station collapsed

# West Bengal: violence in Panchayat poll; 20 people dead

ECONOMICS

# U. S. - India Business Council (USIBC) named Ambika Sharma as its head for India

SPORTS

 # Neymar was named as France’s Player of the Year

# Shashank Manohar has been re – elected Chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) for another two years

MISC

# British Journalist and former BBC India correspondent Sir William Mark Tully has been selected for this year’s RedInk award for Lifetime achievement in journalism (given by Mumbai Press Club)

# Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, the founder of Sulabh International has been chosen for the Nikkei Asia Prize in Japan for his contribution to the development of Asia

[CA] Centre's Cauvery Water draft management scheme

Centre submitted the Cauvery Water draft management scheme before the Supreme Court

·        Centre was open to any nomenclature – Board, Authority or Committee

·        Centre wants the Cauvery authority to be headquartered in Bengaluru

·        Cauvery Authority to have 10 members, of which 6 will be from the centre

·        Authority to be assisted by Cauvery Water regulation Committee

·        Regulation Committee to meet once in 10 days in June and October and at least once a fortnight after the advent of the monsoon

·        Reservoirs to be operated by States concerned in an integrated manner under the authority’s overall guidance

·        Distress to be shared by States after the authority determines the conditions

·        Decisions will be based on a majority of the members

·        When the riparian states not satisfied with the decision taken by the authority, the authority would turn the Centre for help

·        The decision of the Centre in the matter will be final and binding on all parties concerned

·        But the draft scheme does not mention if an aggrieved state can approach the Supreme Court in appeal against the Centre’s decision itself