Person in News

Nasim Zaidi

Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi was appointed as the next Chief Election
Commissioner. President Pranab Mukherjee has cleared his appointment, a Law
Ministry statement said.

Zaidi will have a tenure up to July, 2017 when he attains the age of 65.

An EC or a CEC has a tenure of six years in office or 65 years of age, whichever is earlier.

A 1976 batch IAS officer, Zaidi has worked in the Civil Aviation Ministryfor a long time.

Hrushikesh Moolgaonkar

Former Air Chief Marshal Hrushikesh Moolgaonkar, who had the honour of leading the
fly-past on Independence-day in 1947, passed away here after a prolonged illness.

His competence as an ace pilot manifested as he flew 67 types of aircraft during his
long span in the IAF.

Moolgaonkar had led the fly-past on August 15, 1947, and also on January 26,
1951, the Republic Day, when he was a Squadron Leader, a Defence release said.

Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin

Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, head of the Bohra community in India, was elected as
the Aligarh Muslim Universitys new Chancellor.

Syedna was elected to the post, which was vacant for over five years.

Malala Yousafzai

The youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner and girls education campaigner Malala
Yousafzai now has an asteroid named after her.

Amy Mainzer, astronomer at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California,

named Asteroid 316201 after Malala.

Mainzer discovered the asteroid in the Main Belt between Mars and Jupiter which
gives her the right to name it. It orbits the Sun every 5.5 years.

Mohan Kumar

Senior diplomat Mohan Kumar, currently Indias top envoy to Bahrain, has been appointed
the next Ambassador to France to succeed Arun Kumar.

A 1981-batch IFS officer, Mohan Kumar is expected to take up his assignment shortly,
External Affairs Ministry said today.

Arun Kumarhas been appointed the countrys Ambassador to the US, replacing S
Jaishankar.

Vivek Priyadarshi

The Supreme Court appointed CBI sleuth Vivek Priyadarshi to head a new investigating
team to further probe the IPL-6 spot-fixing and betting scandal.

Priyadarshi, currently a superintendent of police in the anti-corruption cell of the

agency, will replace 1983-batch Assam-Meghalaya cadre IPS officer B B Mishra as the
head of the probe team following his retirement.

Sitaram Yechury

The Communist Party of India-Marxist unanimously elected Sitaram Yechury as the

new General secretary of the party.

Bhalchandra Nemade

The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi emphasized the combination of wisdom
(Saraswati) and prosperity (Lakshmi) as the key to Indias progress.

Speaking after the presentation of the 50th Jnanpeeth Award to

Prof. Bhalchandra Nemade, the Prime Minister said creative writing has the capacity to
touch lives of several generations.

Mukesh Ambani

Industrialist Mukesh Ambaniregained his position as the worlds richest Indian with a
networth of USD 19.6 billion, as pharma tycoon Dilip Shanghvi slipped to the second place
after remaining on the top for about seven weeks.

Raja Rajeswari

Raja Rajeswari has been sworn-in as a criminal court judgehere by Mayor Bill de Blasio,
becoming the first India-born woman to be appointed a judge in the New York City.

National Affairs

The much-hyped Aahar cheap meal scheme was launched by Odisha government for
providing subsidised food to urban poor.

The populist programme aimed at providing meal at Rs fiveto the urban poor was
launched by Chief minister Naveen Patnaik at the Capital Hospital here amid criticism by
opposition parties which slammed the state government for asking corporate houses to fund
the scheme.

Apart from Bhubaneswar, the scheme is also being launched simultaneously in Rourkela,
Cuttack, Berhampur and Sambalpur in the first phase on the occasion ofUtkala Dibasa, the
foundation day of the state.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi coined a new slogan give it up to exhort the better
off sections of society to forego their LPG subsidy that can be utilised in providing
subsidised LPG connections to the poor.

Kalvari, the first of the Indian Navys six Scorpene class stealth submarines, was
undocked here, paving the way for sea trials and its eventual commissioning in September,
2016.

The six Scorpenes are being built by Mazagon Docks Ltd in collaboration with
French firm DCNS.

P75(I) is the next project of the Navy under which six submarines will be built in
India.

The first Scorpene submarine has been named after its predecessor, an erstwhile
Russian Foxtrot class submarine, Kalvari. It was the first submarine operated by India.

As for Project 75, the remaining five boats would be delivered by the yard by 2020.

In a move that will benefit over one crore Central government employees and pensioners,
the Union Cabinet hiked Dearness Allowance (DA) by 6 per cent to 113 per cent of
their basic pay with effect from January.

The decision will benefit 48 lakh government employees and 55 lakh

pensionerswould involve an outlay of Rs 7,889.34 crore in the current fiscal.

India successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable Dhanush Ballistic Missile with a strike
range of 350 km from a naval ship off the Odisha coast.

The surface-to-surface Dhanush, a naval variant of Indias indigenouslydevelopedPrithvi missile, was test fired from a ship in the Bay of Bengal off Odisha coast
by the Strategic Force Command (SFC) of the defence force.

The single-stage, liquid-propelled Dhanush having 350 km range has already been
inducted into the armed forces and is one of the five missiles developed by Defence
Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) under the Integrated Guided
Missile Development Programme (IGMDP), defence sources said.

Capable of carrying of 500 to 1000 kilogram conventional as well as nuclear payload.

Indias first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) at GIFT

City nearAhmedabad became operational . Finance Minister Arun Jaitley unveiled rules
and regulations for this global financial hub.

Canada agreed to supply 3,000 metric tonnes of uranium to energy-hungry India from
this year under a USD 254 million five-year deal to power Indian reactors as the two
countries decided to set in motion a new strategic partnership.

The agreement for uranium supply, which came two years after protracted
negotiations following the 2013 civil nuclear deal between India and Canada, was
signed after comprehensive talks Prime Minister Narendra Modi had with his Canadian
counterpart Stephen Harper.

More than 2 decades after the thenJanata Dal disintegrated, 6 of its constituents merged to
form a new party which will be headed by SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav.

While the SP leader will head the committee, its members will be H.D. Deve Gowda
(Janata Dal-S), Sharad Yadav (Janata Dal-United), Om Prakash Chautala (Indian National
Lok Dal) , Kamal Morarka (Samajwadi Janata Party) and Ram Gopal Yadav (SP).

A 900-yr-old piece of sculpture from Khajuraho temple, which had somehow

reachedCanada, was returned by PM Stephen Harperwhen his Indian
counterpart Modi met him.

Indian Navysnew stealth destroyer, Visakhapatnam, designed indigenously and fitted

with advanced features, was launched in Mumbai, boosting the maritime forces firepower
capability.

It will be fitted with supersonic surface-to-surface missile system.

The vessel is expected to be commissioned in the Navy in 2018.

The vessel is follow-on of P15-A Kolkata-classdestroyers with enhanced features.

The first of P15-B stealth destroyersVisakhapatnam have been designed by the

forces in-house unit Directorate of Naval Design.

It is the largest destroyer commissioned in India.

With an aim of monitoring implementation of various ongoing projects including Rail

Budget proposals, railways launched E-Samiksha, an online monitoring mechanism.

Designed by NIC, the software is currently being used by Cabinet Secretariat, PMO
and other Ministries for monitoring progress implementation of various programmes and
follow-up of meetings.

Apart from budget-related projects, the E-Samiksha can also be used for monitoring
the infrastructure target and board meeting follow-up.

Moving ahead in line with digital India, Railways launched mobile application forpaperless
unreserved tickets.

Developed by Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) utsonmobile

the paperless unreserved ticketing feature in mobile application aims to eliminate the need
for printing of unreserved tickets.

On a pilot basis, the paperless ticketing system in unreserved segment will cover 15
stations in the suburban section of Southern Railway, officials said.

Payment for the ticket is done through the railway wallet feature in the App. After
booking the ticket, the passenger will get ticket confirmation screen, which will contain
limited information about the ticket.

The passenger has to use the ticket within an hour of booking the ticket as per the
policy of suburban sections. Also the ticket will have distinct colour scheme everyday and it
cannot be forwarded to another mobile.

In a major decision the Union Cabinet approved lowering of age

of juveniles from eighteen to sixteen years.

The proposal will empower Juvenile Justice Board to decide on whether a juvenile
above 16 years involved in heinous crimes such as rape is to be sent to a observation home
or tried in a regular court.

However, according to the bill, in no case the juvenile involved in a heinous crime will
be sentenced to death or life imprisonment either when tried under the provisions of JJ Act
or under the provisions of IPC.

The Union Cabinet has approved the introduction of Amendment to the Juvenile
Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill 2014, which has special provisions to
tackle heinous offences like murder and rape committed by juveniles in the age group
of 16-18 years. One of the accused in the Nirbhaya rape case was 17 but was given a light
sentence.

The US has expressed concern over Indias crackdown on the Ford

Foundation andGreenpeace, and said it is seeking clarification on the action.

The ministry of home affairs has, in recent weeks,

cancelled Greenpeacesregistration and frozen its accounts, accusing it of working
against the economic interest of the country.

The ministry put Ford Foundation on a list of non-governmental organisations that

must seek prior permission from the government for funding organisations and individuals
in India.

The Army conducted a major exercise, Akraman-II, in Rajasthan to test a new generation
of weaponry and platforms employed in the desert region, with providing real time battle and
situational awareness to its commanders.

The exercise was conducted by the Bhatinda-based Chetak Corps, a part of South
Western Command.

More than 300 Combat Vehicles, Main Battle Tanks, Long Range Arty Guns and
about 10,000 troops are participating in the exercise, an official release said here.

Akraman-II envisages orchestration of an integrated battle field scenario in

network centric environment with integration of reconnaissance, surveillance and
electronic warfare and communication assets to provide real time battle and situational
awareness to commanders, the release said.

Govt decided to continue its Rs 1,000 per minimum monthly pension scheme in
perpetuity, a move which would benefit over 20 lakh pensioners.

The Union Cabinet today gave its approval for continuation of the minimum pension
of Rs 1000 per month to the pensioners of Employees Pension Scheme, 1995 (EPS) beyond
the financial year 2014-15 on perpetual basis, an official statement said.

An Indian-American Harvard Professor has been named as one of the Top 25 Women in
Healthcare in the US by Modern Healthcare magazine.

Tejal K Gandhi, president and chief executive officer of the National Patient
Safety Foundation (NPSF) has been named as one of the countrys Top 25 Women in
Healthcare in the sixth biennial list of women leaders compiled by the magazine.

India stands at the 13th place world-wide in generating electricity from nuclear source and
expects to increase the installed nuclear power capacity from 5,780 MW to 10,080 MW by
2019, government said.
There are thirty one countries including India in the world which generate electricity

from nuclear source. According to the data published in 2014, by Power Reactor
Information System (PRIS) of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), India
ranked at 13th position in terms of generation.
International

Pakistan and Sri Lanka signed six agreements including one on nuclear cooperation, two
months after Sri Lanka inked an atomic deal with India,as the two countries agreed to deepen
ties in various fields.

The two sides also decided to increase the current trade of USD 438 million to USD 1
billion within the next few years.

Bangladesh Cabinet has approved a revised trade deal with India under which the two
nations would be able to use each others land and water routes for sending goods to a third
country, removing a long standing barrier in regional trade.

With this Bangladesh will be able to use Indian railways, roads and waterways in
transshipment of goods to Bhutan and Nepal. While, India will be able to send goods
to Myanmar through Bangladesh.

A Pakistani court set free Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind and
LeT operations commander, suspending the Punjab govt detention order against him.

France announced an investment of 2 billion euros (about USD 1 billion) in India as Prime
Minister Narendra Modi invited French companies to pump in money in technology in the
fastest growing economy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked France and wrapped up his first visit here that
saw the two nations elevate their strategic ties to a new level as they agreed on a deal for 36
Rafale fighter jets and decided to move ahead with the log-jammedJaitapur Nuclear
Project.

In a major boost to Chinese military, Russia has agreed to sell its sophisticated surface to
air missile system to China in an over USD 3 billion deal which could strengthen the worlds
largest armys air defence specially in high-altitude areas like Tibet.

The S-400 is a new generation, anti-aircraft weapon system capable of engaging any
aerial target as well as cruise and tactical ballistic missiles, with a maximum speed of 8 km
per second, according to Russian media reports.

The sophisticated air defence system is capable of firing three types of missiles,
creating a layered defence, and can simultaneously engage 36 targets.

The system is able to shoot down aircraft and missiles ballistic and cruise within
a range of 400 km, a report in the Diplomat magazine said.

Pakistan and Russia have agreed to hold first-ever joint military exercises as part of their
enhanced defence cooperation, in a sign of increasing bonhomie between the Cold War-era
adversaries.

Pakistan and Russia last year signed a military cooperation agreement to deepen their
defence ties and vowed to translate their relationship in tangible terms during the firstever visit of a Russian defence minister in 45 years.

Russia will invest a whopping USD 2 billion in Pakistan to build a 1,100-kilometre

pipeline from southern port city of Karachi to Lahore to transport liquefied natural gas.

Germanys Parliament is set to use the term genocide in a resolution marking the slaughter
of Armenians by Ottoman Turks 100 years ago, and the government said Monday that it
stands behind the motion drawn up by the ruling parties.

Finlands opposition Centre Party won general election, ousting Prime Minister Alexander
Stubbs left-right coalition after a campaign dominated by the countrys economic woes.

Centre Party leader Juha Sipila, a 53-year-old IT millionaire and newcomer to

politics, is set to become Finlands next prime minister.

Pakistan conferred its top civilian award Nishan-e-Pakistan on Chinese President Xi

Jinping for his outstanding contribution in promotion of relationship between the two
countries.

The Nishan-e-Pakistan is Pakistans highest civil award given by the government

for the highest degree of service to the country. The award was established in March 1957.

Unlike other honours, it is a highly restricted and most prestigious award and is only
conferred for meritorious and distinguished services to Pakistan, the international
community and foreign relations. Nelson Mandela, Queen Elizabeth II, Morarji Desai and
Dwight Eisenhower are among the recepients of the award.

Thirty-seven-year-old Indian-American Vivek Murthy was sworn-in as the U.S SurgeonGeneral by Vice-President Joe Biden at a ceremony here, becoming the youngest-ever incharge of the countrys public health.

Murthy, who took the oath on the Gita, is now the highest ranking IndianAmerican in the Obama administration.

Murthy is the countrys 19th Surgeon General.

As the US Surgeon General, Murthy carries the rank of Vice Admiral.

S. surgeon general does not set any government policy but is an advocate for the
peoples health. US President nominates him and confirmed by a majority vote of the
Senate and has term of four-years.

The Calbuco volcano in southern Chile has erupted twice in the space of a few hours
having lain dormant for decades.

The authorities have declared a red alert and evacuated more than 4,000
peoplewithin a 20km (12 mile) radius.

The Calbuco volcano is one of the most active in Chile, but its eruption took
officials in the area by surprise.

With Nepal being hit by a massive earthquake, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised
all possible help to it in this tough time as he spoke to its President Ram Baran Yadav and
Prime Minister Sushil Koirala.

As many as four aircraft including a C-130 plane carrying three tonnes of relief
supplies and a 40-member rescue team were today pressed into service to
assistNepal after it suffered a devastating earthquake in which hundreds of people have
been killed.

Pakistan will acquire 110 latest JF-17 Thunder fighter jets from China as the two
countries forge closer economic and defence cooperation following President Xi
Jinpings visit here earlier this week, a media report said.

Scaling up relief and rescue efforts in quake-hit Nepal that was named Operation
Maitri, India deployed two dozen military aircraft and choppers and was also undertaking
a big evacuation through the road route.

Sudans President Omar al-Bashir won re-election with 94 percent of the vote,
according to official results announced Monday, extending his 25-year rule despite
international war crimes charges and multiple insurgencies.

Saudi Arabias king has removed his half-brother as crown prince, replacing him with his
nephew, and elevated his son to the position of deputy crown prince, in the most significant

repositioning of power among the royal family since King Salman assumed the throne in
January.

As crown prince, Mohammed bin Nayef, 55, is the most likely successor to the
king. The prince, who is also the interior minister, is known internationally as Saudi
Arabias counter-terrorism tsar and was previously also deputy crown prince.

A 19-year-long process for Seychelles to become a member of the World Trade

Organisation (WTO) came to an end when the island nations Minister for Finance Trade
and Investment Pierre Laporte signed the accession protocol.

This means the Indian Ocean archipelago of 115 islands, with a population of around
90,000 people, will officially become the 161st member of the WTO, 30 days after the
ratification by the National Assembly of its accession protocol.

Economy

RuPay card holders of all public sector banks are now eCommerce enabled. Card-holders
can now conveniently purchase rail, road and air tickets by logging into the websites of travel
companies or buy goods and services from online stores.

The RuPay cards, launched by the RBI-promoted NPCI, are alternative to foreign cards
like Visa and MasterCard, which earn high revenue for facilitating transactions. There are 140
million RuPay cardsin use at present.

Snapdeal has acquired online mobile recharge platform FreeCharge in the largest buyout
so far in the Indian consumer Internet sector.

According to Snapdeal, the acquisition, carried out through a combination of stock

and cash, has made the Delhi-based company the largest mobile-commerce (m-commerce)
company in the country, with 40 million users.

M-commerce refers to commercial transactions conducted electronically, through

mobile phones. Such transactions include purchasing goods or services, making payments
and banking.

Freecharge allows users to recharge their mobile phones or internet connections

and get coupons as reward for using its services. Founded in 2010 by Kunal
Shahand Sandeep Tandon.

Earlier, Snapdeal had strengthened its presence in the m-commerce space by

acquiring luxury fashion e-tailer Exclusively and digital financial products
platformRupeePower. Founded in 2007 by Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, an alumnus of
IIT Delhi.

In the biggest oil and gas deal in a decade, Royal Dutch Shell announced acquisition of
smaller British rival BG Group Plc for about $ 70 billion to create the worlds largest
independent producer of LNG.

The deal, the first major acquisition since oil prices began to slump last July, would be
among the largest oil-and-gas deals of past two decades and the biggest in last 10 years.

In buying BG, Shell is concentrating on the fast-growing business of producing and

selling liquefied natural gas.

Credit rating agency Moodys revised upwards the outlook to positive, from stable, for 12
state-owned banks and financial institutions including SBI, PNB, Canara Bank, REC and PFC.

Moodysalso revised to positive the outlook on the long- term ratings of private sector
lenders ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank.

Earlier in the day, Moodys raised Indiascredit rating outlook to positive and said an
upgrade in its sovereign rating is also possible in the next 12-18 months.

Indias Sovereign Ratingcurrently stands at Baa3, the lowest investment grade just a
notch above junk status.

Restaurant search application Zomato has acquired cloud-based point of sale (POS) product
for restaurants MaplePOS, a company statement said here on Tuesday.

Zomato has already renamed the MaplePOS product Zomato Base, and
information on the product is now available.

Zomato offers restaurants features such as menu and inventory management, and
has a built-in payment solution to accept debit and credit card payments.

The online food services market is valued at over $14 billion (about Rs 86,600
crore) in India and $371 billion globally and increasingly technology is becoming an
integral part of servicing the palette.

Finland-basedNokia and French telecom gear maker Alcatel Lucent announced their
merger in a 15.6 billion euro deal.

Together, Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia intend to lead in next-generation network

technology and services, with the scope to create seamless connectivity for people and
things wherever they are.

Government has allowed retirement fund body EPFO to invest atleast 5 per cent of its
corpus in exchange traded funds which will result into an inflow of around 5,000 croreinto
the stock markets during this fiscal.

Worldwide, pension funds have 52% of their investment in equity with US at 57%,
followed by Australia (54%), UK (50%), Canada (48%) and Japan (40%), as per the study
by Towers Watson.

The EPFO has more than five crore subscribers across the country and has a
corpus of over Rs 6 lakh crore.

The Paris-headquartered Capgemini has announced the acquisition of New JerseybasedIGATE, which has operations in India, for $4 billion in cash. The markets gave a
thumbs up to the acquisition: While the Capgemini stock was up 7.6 per cent, the IGATE stock
opened 3.45 per cent higher.

In India, Capgeminis headcount will rise to 90,000, following the addition of

IGATEs 30,000 employees. The company crossed the 100,000-employee mark at its
global delivery centres this year.

Online marketplace Flipkart has announced the acquisition of Appiterate, a mobile

engagement and marketing automation company based out of Delhi. Appiterate helps
ecommerce companies target consumers better and increase sales by using push notifications
and inapp messages. The deal size was not disclosed.

Appiterates mobile marketing automation platform will be integrated

intoFlipkarts mobile app for better targeting.

Appiterate, which started out as a testing platform for mobile apps had raised more
than $500,000 from SAIF Partners & angel investors.

Banking & Finance

Seeking to check fraud in banks, Reserve Bank prescribed a uniform provisioning norm for
all cases of fraud.

RBIhas finalised a structure of Central Fraud Registry and will soon come up with guidelines
to enable quick sharing of information about unscrupulous borrowers and help banks fight
bad loans.

Presently, banks are advertising the list of willful defaulters on their website and newspapers
individually.

With setting up of this registry, list of all unscrupulous borrowers will be available on a single
platform.

Banks can take advantage of the registry at the time of sanctioning loan by checking the
credentials of a borrower from the registry.

Insurance sector regulator IRDAI has made passing an examination based on its syllabus a
must for becoming an insurance agent.

The guidelines of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of

India(IRDAI) have come into force from April 1, 2015.

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan kept the benchmark repo rate or the rate at which the
central bank lends money to banks, unchanged at 7.5 per cent, in the first bimonthly
monetary policy review of 2015-16.

Highlights of RBIs first bi-monthly monetary policy statement, 2015-16:

Short-term lending rate (Repo) unchanged at 7.5%.

Cash Reserve Ratio unchanged at 4%.

Retains Statutory Liquidity Ratio at 21.5%.

Estimates GDP growth at 7.8% in FY16, up from 7.5% in FY15.

Forecasts CPI inflation at 5.8 pc by March 2016.

Hailstorms in March affected 17% of the rabi crop sown area.

In a bid to boost infrastructure investment, the Reserve Bank allowed banks to invest in
long-term infrastructure bonds issued by other banks.

In July 2014, RBI had allowed banks to issue Long-term bonds (LTBs) for lending
to long-term projects in infrastructure sub-sectors, and affordable housing.

However, cross-holding of such bonds amongst banks was not permitted. Banks
investment, it said, in these bonds will not be treated as assets with the banking system in
India for the purpose of calculation of total deposits (NDTL).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Micro Units Development Refinance
Agency (MUDRA) Bank which will provide credit of up to Rs 10 lakh to small entrepreneurs
and act as a regulator for Micro-Finance Institutions (MFIs).

The scheme, which has a corpus of Rs 20,000 crore, can lend between Rs 50,000andRs
10 lakh to small entrepreneurs.

The roles envisaged for MUDRAinclude laying down policy guidelines for micro-enterprise
financing business and registration of MFI entities, as well as their accreditation and rating.

The Bank will nurture small businesses through different stages of growth and development of
businesses termed as Shishu, Kishorand Tarun.

Shishu: This is the first step when the business is starting up. The loan cover in this stage will
be upto Rs 50,000.

Kishor:In this stage, the entreprenuer will be eligible for a loan ranging from Rs 50,000 to
Rs 5 lakh.

Tarun: This last and final category will provide loans for upto Rs 10 lakh.

The roles envisaged for MUDRA include:

Formulating and running a Credit Guarantee scheme for providing guarantees to the
loans/portfolios which are being extended to micro enterprises

Support development & promotional activities in the sector

Creating a good architecture of Last Mile Credit Deliveryto micro businesses under the
scheme of Pradhan Mantri MUDRA.

India and many influential western nations are among the 57 founding members of theUSD
50 billionAsian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), while
the US and Japan stayed away from the China-backed multilateral lender, according to the
final list of members released today.

Backing the Chineseinitiative, India was one of the first countries to have signed up
for the bank expected to offer stiff competition to other financial institutions such as
the World Bank, the IMF and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Countries that have been accepted as founding members of the AIIBinclude China,
India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Maldives, Britain, Australia, Austria,
Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Spain.

Reserve Bank of Indiahas allowed banks to offer higher rates of interest to those who agree
not to prematurely withdraw their high-value fixed deposits.

Banks can offer such rates to depositors who can keep a minimum of Rs 15 lakhfor
the tenure of the deposit. At present, depositors are entitled to withdraw their deposits
prematurely without giving any reason to the banker.

Retail customers typically prefer to keep their money in deposits offering the highest
rate. However, since depositors have the option of breaking their term deposits without
any notice, banks are always concerned about the possibility of mismatches between assets
and liability.

Banks that offer such term deposits should give customers the option to choose
between lock-in and premature withdrawal of the money, RBI

Largest private sector lender ICICI Bankin collaboration with Tech Mahindra launched a
payment service Tap-n-Pay based on the near-field communications
(NFC)technology, enabling customers make over-the-counter payments without using cash.

It can be used for merchant payments by merely tapping a NFC-enabled mobile

phone or a tag on the counter.

The service is a close-end one, only for a close group of customers.

The Reserve Banksimplified procedure for lenders to open Currency Chests by doing
away with multiple layers of approvals.

For locations at or close to the international borders or insurgency affected areas, it

said, banks may approach Regional Offices(ROs) of the RBI for obtaining security
clearance.

For all other locations, it said banks may construct new chests at any place after
informing the regional office concerned.

The RBIsaid approvals for opening of vaults by public sector banks and private banks
will continue to be given by its regional offices.

The approvals will normally be accorded within 30 days provided the construction
conforms to the specifications.

In a move aimed at helping Transgender personsto open bank accounts and avail related
services, the Reserve Bank directed banks to include a separate column third gender in
all their forms and applications.

It has been brought to our notice that transgender persons face difficulties in opening
accounts as there is no provision for them in the account opening and other forms, the RBI

As per a judgment on April 14, 2014, the Supreme Courthad upheld transgender
persons right to decide their self- identified gender and directed the centre and state
governments to grant legal recognition of their gender identity such as male, female or as
third gender.

A rise in banking frauds has forced the Reserve Bank of Indiato ask banks to send
employees working in treasury business, risk management and currency chests among others
on mandatory 10 days leave.

RBI said in a statement that The bank should identify such highly sensitive positions
where the bank will, without any prior intimation, advise the employee to be away from his
desk for a specified number of working days each year,.

Banks in consultation with the board would have to put in place an exhaustive list of
sensitive positions or areas of operations to be covered under mandatory leaveand
under away from desk

The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) today revised priority sector lending (PSL) norms,
adding new segments such as micro, small and medium enterprise (M SME ), social
infrastructure and renewable energy under the ambit of priority sectors.

The RBIrevised the Priority sector lending (PSL) norms which mandate banks
to lend at least 40% of the total loans to farmers, small businessmen, students, exporters
and small ticket home loan buyers.

Further, the Reserve Bank outlined targets of 8 percent and 7.5 percent (of a banks
total loan book) for small and marginal farmers and micro enterprises, respectively, which
shall be achieved in a phased manner by March 2017. The RBI also maintained the PSL
target for the weaker section at 10 percent.

The revised norms says that foreign bankswith over 20 branches will have to
meet priority sector target by 2018 while those with less than 20 branches will have to meet
the target by 2020 in a phased manner.

Priority sectorrefers to those sectors of the economy which may not get timely and
adequate credit in the absence of this special dispensation. Typically, these are small value
loans to farmers for agriculture and allied activities, micro and small enterprises, poor

people for housing, students for education and other low income groups and weaker
sections.

Governmentdetected a whopping over Rs 7,800 crore of illegal monies within the country
and abroad during 2013-14 as the elite Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) found all-time
high cases of suspicious transactions in the countrys economic channels.

STR(suspicious transactions report) is defined as a transaction which gives rise

to a reasonable suspicion that it may involve proceeds of a crime or appears to be made in
circumstances of unjustified complexity or gives reasonable grounds to suspect that it may
be linked to terrorist activities.

The agency also received a total of 87,79,082 Cash Transaction Reports(CTRs),

3,01,804 Counterfeit Currency Reports (CCRs) and 80,616 Non-Profit
Organisation Transaction Reports (NTRs), the latest updated report also submitted
to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money, said.

CTRis fund movement of the value of more than Rs. 10 lakh in one tranche or a series
of transactions internally connected to each other in either Indian currency or foreign in
the countrys banking or any other channel.

A CCRis amply clear from its name as it pertains to an instance of usage of fake
currency in any bank by an entity.

while NTRs pertain to filing of dossiers by Non-Governmentaland non-profit

organisations with regard to their economic operations.

All banking, financial intermediaries, insurance companies, payment system

operators and capital market operatives are stipulated to submit the said reports to
the FIU statutorily under money laundering laws.

A bill to amend the Regional Rural BanksAct was passed by Parliament, with government
saying it was necessary to empower such financial institutions which are the jewel in the
crown of the countrys financial system.

The Regional Rural Banks (Amendment) Bill, 2014, which got the assent of
the Rajya Sabha by voice vote, seeks to help Regional Rural Banks(RRBs) raise their
authorised capital and will enable them to mop up funds from capital market to help
strengthen them.

Lok Sabha had earlier passed the Bill in December last. Moving the bill for passage,
Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinhasaid 57 RRBs have been playing an important
role in financial inclusion of villages, covering every district and having nearly 80,000
employees.

He said under the present system, the Centrehas a 50 per cent share, the
sponsorBank 35 per cent and state government 15 per cent shareholding in the The
proposed amendments will provide flexibility in this structure.

Opening its first branch in India, Qatar-based Doha Bank said it is open to acquisitions to
scale up its operations and it will soon follow the wholly- owned subsidiary model to do
business in the country, as prescribed by the Reserve Bank.

The RBI, in November 2013, had released a framework for large foreign banks with
over 20 branches to convert into wholly-owned subsidiaries.

The foreign banks which move to a wholly-owned subsidiary route will be given nearnational treatment apart from capital gains tax and stamp duty benefits

The Reserve Bank of Indiahas imposed a Rs 1.5 crore penalty each on Bank of
Maharashtra, Dena Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce for violation of know your
customer and anti money laundering norms, it said in a statement.

The central bank cautioned and directed eight other banks Central Bank of India,
Bank of India, Punjab and Sind Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of Bikaner &
Jaipur, UCO Bank, Union Bank of India and Vijaya Bank to put in place appropriate KYC
practices.

Sports
Winners of 2015 Miami Open Titles

Mens Singles Title

Novak Djokovic extended his winning streak against Britains Andy Murray to
seven matches with victory in a grueling Miami Open

The world number one prevailed 7-6 (7-3) 4-6 6-0 in hot and humid conditions to win
his fifth Miami title.

Womens singles Title

World number one Serena Williams thrashed Spains Carla Suarez Navarro to
win her eighth Miami Open

The 33-year-old raced to a 6-2 6-0 victory in 56 minutes to secure her third straight
title at Crandon Park.

Mens doubles Title

American Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan pair has won the 2015 Miami Open Mens
doubles Title. In the final match they defeated Vasek Pospisil (Canada) and Jack
Sock (US) pair by 63, 16, 108 score.

Womens doubles Title

Sania Mirza achieved yet another career milestone by capturing her 25th
WTAdoubles title as the Indian continued her dream start with Martina Hingis to win
theMiami Open

The top-seeded Indo-Swiss pair overcame a sluggish start to take the title with a 7-5,
6-1 scoreline against second-seeded Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Elena
Vesnina.

They had beaten the same Russian duo at Indian Wells to win their first title together.

Womens chess championship

Indian Grandmaster Dronavalli Harika won the Bronze medal along with Swedish
Grandmaster Pia Cramling by virtue of making it to the semifinals of World Womens
chess championship in Sochi, Russia.

Harika lost to the eventual winner Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine in the semifinals.

World Womens chess championships winners is Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine) who

has Won Gold medal along with US $ 60,000 by 2.5 points.

Sultan Azlan Shah Cup

The tournament is named after 9th king of Malaysia and Father of Malaysian
Hockey Sultan Azlan Shah.

New Zealand mens hockey is celebrating a major international success with a

penalty shoot-out win over Australia to claim the 2015 Sultan Azlan Shah
Cup in Malaysia.

India defeated South Korea 4-1 (6-3) on penalties to win the Bronze medal in the
24thSultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament.

Indias Y Pranjala clinched the Asian Junior Tennis championship title after a comefrom-behind victory over top seed Chinese Zheng Wushuang here today.

womens world team chess championship

D Harika and Koneru Humpy came up with fine individual performances to win
asilver and a bronze, respectively, even as the Indian eves finished fourth in thewomens
world team chess championship here in china.

China was beaten in the final round by Georgia, who finished the event with an
impressive 17 points to clinch the gold medal.

Russia claimed the silver medal with 15 points after defeating United States in the
final round.

Awards

U.S.A President Barack Obama plans to honour Microsofts Indian-origin CEO Satya
Nadella with the Champions of Change Award for bringing about a change within his
company to support working families.

The award is given to those who support working families and have helped to bring
about a change within their companies, communities or organisations by advocating for
paid sick and paid leave policies and equal pay.

Florence Nightingale International Foundation

An Indian-origin nurse here will receive an international achievement award for her work in
the healthcare sector of women and refugees, becoming the first Singaporean to get the
prestigious biennial prize.

Dr Subadhra Devi Rai, a nurse and a senior lecturer at the School of Health Sciences at
Nanyang Polytechnic in Singapore, will be bestowed by this years International Achievement
Award by the Florence Nightingale International Foundation.

FNIF is the International Council of Nursespremier foundation. Its purpose is to support

the advancement of nursing education, research and services.

The award recognizes Rais work in the health of women and refugees, and is the first time a
Singaporean will be awarded the biennial award since its introduction in1999.

Richard Hadlee Medal 2014-15

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum has been named the winner of the Sir Richard
Hadlee Medal for 2014-15, while Kane Williamson swooped up the awards
forTwenty20 international player of the year, ODI player of the year, Test player of the
year, as well as the Redpath Cup for First Class batting at the New Zealand Cricket Awards in
Auckland.

Laureus World Sports Academy

Sachin Tendulkar became the latest member of the prestigious Laureus World Sports
Academy as he was inducted alongside Chinese basketball player Yao Ming, Kenyan longdistance runner Tegla Loroupe, Chinese gymnast Li Xiaopeng and former Chinese short
track speed skater Yang Yang in a ceremony held at Shanghais Grand Theatre on the night
of April 15.

Here are the major winners from this years World Sports Awards:

Sportsman of the year: Novak Djokovic, Tennis

Sportswoman of the year: Genzebe Dibaba, Athletics

Sportsperson of the year with a Disability: Tatyana McFadden, Paralympian

World Team of the year: German National Football Team

World Breakthrough of the year: Daniel Ricciardo, F1

Sports For Good Award: Skateistan, NGO in Afghanistan, South Africa & Cambodia

Spirit of Sport Award: Yao Ming, Former Basketball player

Hevesy Medal Award 2015

Professor Susanta Lahiri, Chemical Sciences Division, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics,
Kolkata, received the Hevesy Medal Award 2015, on April 12.

At the Tenth International Conference on Methods and Applications of Radioanalytical Chemistry, Susanta Lahiri awarded for his outstanding contributions
toHeavy ion induced radioisotope production, tracer packet technique, converter
targets, and green chemistry.

This premier international award named after George de HEVESY, the 1943- Chemistry
Nobel Laureate, for his work on the use of isotopes as tracers in the study of chemical
processes.

It is given to an individual in recognition of excellence through outstanding, sustained career

achievements in the fields of pure as well as applied nuclear and radiochemistry, in particular
applications to nuclear analytical chemistry.

2015 Pulitzer Prize Winners

The Pulitzer Prize is an award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism,
literature, and musical composition in the United States.

It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of American (Hungarian-born) publisher

Joseph Pulitzer, and is administered by Columbia University in New York City. Prizes are
awarded yearly in twenty-one categories.

The winner in the public service category of the journalism competition is awarded a gold
medal.

Winners -2015 Pulitzer Prize

Letters, Drama, and Music

Fiction-All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (Scribner)

(All the Light We Cannot See, a novel based on Second World War)

Drama-Between Riverside and Crazy by Stephen Adly Guirgis

History-Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People by Elizabeth
A. Fenn (Hill and Wang)

Biography or Autobiography-The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the
Rise of Fascism in Europe by David I. Kertzer (Random House)

Poetry-Digest by Gregory Pardlo (Four Way Books)

General Nonfiction-The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert (Henry

Holt)

Music-Anthracite Fields by Julia Wolfe (Red Poppy Music/G. Schirmer, Inc.)

Journalism

Public Service-The Post and Courier, Charleston, SC

Breaking News Reporting-The Seattle Times Staff

Investigative Reporting-Eric Lipton of The New York Times,The Wall Street Journal Staff

Explanatory Reporting-Zachary R. Mider of Bloomberg News

Local Reporting-Rob Kuznia, Rebecca Kimitch and Frank Suraci of the Daily Breeze,
Torrance, CA

National Reporting-Carol D. Leonnig of The Washington Post

International Reporting-The New York Times Staff

Feature Writing-Diana Marcum of the Los Angeles Times

Commentary-Lisa Falkenberg of the Houston Chronicle

Criticism-Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times

Editorial Writing-Kathleen Kingsbury of The Boston Globe

Editorial Cartooning-Adam Zyglis of The Buffalo News

Breaking News Photography-St. Louis Post-Dispatch Photography Staff

Feature Photography-Daniel Berehulak, freelance photographer, The New York Times

Outstanding Service Award

Indian-origin diplomat Gopinath Pillai has been bestowed with Outstanding Service
Award for his services to the city-state by the National University of Singapore (NUS).

78-year-old Gopinath Pillai,who is currently the ambassador-at-Large of Singapore and

special envoy to Andhra Pradesh recieved the award on Friday.

Pillai has contributed significantly to Singapore through his distinguished service as a

diplomat for more than 25 years. Additionally, his past and current involvement in a number
of agencies, ranging from NTUC FairPrice Co-operative Limited and Ang Mo Kio-Thye
Hua Kwan Hospital to Hindu Advisory Board, has had substantial impact on the social fabric
of Singapore.

Officier de la Lgion dHonneur

The French Government has appointed former Finance Minister and BJP leaderYashwant
Sinha, Officier de la Lgion dHonneur (Officer of the Legion of Honour), the highest
French civilian distinction, in recognition of his international action as Union Minister of
Finance (1998-2002), then External Affairs (2002-2004), and his invaluable contribution to
thought on international issues.

Created in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, the Legion of Honour is the highest civilian
award given by the French Republic for outstanding service to France, regardless of the
nationality of the recipients.

French Ambassador to India Franois Richier said as Minister of External Affairs, and
Chair of the Indo-French Parliamentary Friendship Group since its very inception (20092014), Sinha contributed to the deepening of the Indo-French strategic partnership,
launched during the visit of Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Paris (September 1998) and the
development of ties between France and India.

Asian Banker Achievement Award 2015

Bharatiya Mahila Bank Ltd has won The Asian Banker Achievement Award
2015 for Technology Implementation in the category of Best Outsourcing Project (New
Bank).

The award was received by Smt. Usha Ananthasubramanian, Chairman and Managing
Director, Bharatiya Mahila Bank at a function held recently in Hongkong as a part of
The Asian Banker Summit 2015.

2015 Heinz Award

Sangeeta Bhatia, an Indian-origin scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of

Technology has been named the recipient of the 2015 Heinz Award for Technology, the
Economy, and Employment.

Bhatia who has developed artificial human microlivers for drug testing, won a
prestigious $2,50,000 Heinz award for her work in tissue engineering and disease
detection.

The Heinz Awards annually recognise individuals for their extraordinary contributions to
arts and humanities; environment; human condition; public policy; and technology, the
economy, and employment.

Fellowship of the Royal Institute of Navigation

Senior DRDO scientist G Satheesh Reddy, who played a critical role in the Agni 5
programme, has been conferred the prestigious Fellowship of the Royal Institute of
Navigation, a first for an Indian.

Reddy, Director, Research Centre Imarat of DRDO, has been recognised for his work in
the field of inertial and satellite-based navigation and avionics technologies.

He is the first Indian to get the fellowship.

Established in 1947, Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN) is one of the worlds leading
professional bodies dedicated to advancement of navigation around the world.

The Institute has elected nearly 450 highly distinguished navigation professionals as Fellows
from all over the world and as on date Reddy becomes the first and the only one to be elected
from India.

Whitley Awards

Two Indians have been awarded with the prestigious Whitley Awards for their contribution
to wildlife conservation.

Dr Ananda Kumar, a conservationist from India, was awarded the prize, in honour of his
work using innovative communication systems to enable human-elephantcoexistence in
southern India.

Another winner of the Whitley Award, dubbed Green Oscar is Dr Pramod Patil. He has
been awarded for his work to protect the iconic great Indian bustard in the Thar Desert.

The Whitley Awards is an annual award given by the Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN).
The award recognises and celebrates effective national and regional conservation leaders
across the globe.

Reports

Top 10 Most Dangerous Countries

The IntelCentersTop 10 Most Dangerous Countries list as of March 2015 is topped by

the Middle East, with Iraq and Syria ranked No 1 and 2 respectively.

Pakistanhas emerged as the worlds eighth most dangerous country in a latest analysis of the
top 10 danger zones based on terrorist and rebel activity.

Intel Centeris a Washington-based company established in 1989. It works globally for

intelligence agencies a by providing them counterterrorism intelligence services.

IntelCenters Country Threat Index(CTI) examines the volume of terrorist and rebel
alerts, messaging traffic, videos, photos, incidents and the number killed and injured in a
country and runs it through an algorithm to assign the country its CTI.

FM Global Resilience Index 2015

The 2015 FM Global Resilience Index offers powerful insights to help business executives
target their investments towards more reliable returns and to protect their customers from
unforeseen disruption.

India has been ranked a low 119 out of 130 countries on an index that measures business
resilience of nations based on economic, risk quality and supply chain factors, dropping seven
ranks from 2014.

On the economic parameter, which takes into account gross domestic product, political risk
and oil intensity, the country is ranked 115, the same as in 2014.

In the risk quality factor, India is ranked 109 for its quality of natural hazard and fire risk
management, a slight improvement from its 113th rank in 2014.

In the third category of supply chain, which looks at corruption control, infrastructure and
local supplier quality, the country is ranked 89th, falling 11 notches from the previous year.

Venezuela is ranked last on the 2015 FM Global Resilience Index and the list has been
topped by Norway for being the best country for companies seeking to avoid disruptions in
their global supply chain operations.

Among the top 10 countries that are most resilient, Norway is followed by Switzerland (2),
Netherlands (3), Ireland (4), Luxembourg (5), Germany (6), Qatar (7), Canada (8), Finland
(9) and the US (10).

Time -100 Readers Poll

Russian President Vladimir Putin emerged the winner of this years Time 100 readers
poll. He edged out rapper-singer 24-year-old rapper Lee Chae-rin CL (of the South
Korean girl-group 2NE1) to claim the number one spot with 95 per cent of the votes in
the final tally.

Pop stars Lady Gaga (2.6 per cent), Rihanna (1.9 per cent) and Taylor Swift (1.8 per
cent) rounded out the top five.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal have been
voted among the 100 most influential people in the world in an online poll by readers
of Time magazine.

The only non-celebrities to appear in the top 10 were the Dalai Lama (1.7 percent), Pakistani
female activist Malala Yousafzai (1.6 percent) and Pope Francis (1.5 percent).

The TIME 100 is an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, spanning
politics, entertainment, business, technology, science, religion and other fields. Chosen by the
editors of TIME, this years list will be unveiled April 16. Voting for the readers poll closed
April 10.

Global E-Waste Monitor 2014

India is the fifth biggest producer of e-waste in the world, discarding 1.7 million
tonnes(Mt) of electronic and electrical equipment in 2014, a UN report has said warning
that the volume of global e-waste is likely to rise sharply by 21 per cent in next three years.

The Global E-Waste Monitor 2014, compiled by UNs think tank United Nations
University (UNU), said at 32 per cent, the US and China produced the most e-waste
overall in 2014.

India came in fifth, behind the US, China, Japan and Germany, the report said.

Most e-waste in the world in 2014 was generated in Asia at 16 Mt or 3.7 kg per inhabitant.
The top three Asian nations with the highest e-waste generation in absolute quantities
are China (6.0 Mt), Japan (2.2 Mt) and India (1.7 Mt).

2015 World Happiness Report

India comes in at the 117th spot out of 158 countries in the 2015 World Happiness
Report, published by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN),
which is a global initiative for the United Nations

The report takes into account GDP per capita, life expectancy, social support and freedom to
make life choices as indicators of happiness.

Indians are less happy than their counterparts in Pakistan and Bangladesh, according to the
report.

Indias rank dropped six notches from the 2013 report, when it was on the 111th spot.

Pakistan is ranked 81 and Bangladesh, 109. Places like Ukraine (111), Palestine (108) and Iraq
(112) too come up higher than India on the index.

Switzerland has been named the happiest country in the world. The other countries in the
top five are Iceland, Denmark, Norway and Canada.

The US is ranked 15, followed by UK (21), Singapore (24), Saudi Arabia (35), Japan (46) and
China (84).

Policy
Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20

The much awaited Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 was unveiled by Minister of Commerce &
Industry Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman.

The new five year Foreign Trade Policy, 2015-20 provides a framework for increasing
exports of goods and services as well as generation of employment and increasing value
addition in the country, in keeping with the Make in India vision of Prime Minister. The
focus of the new policy is to support both the manufacturing and services sectors, with a
special emphasis on improving the ease of doing business.

Key features of the new Foreign Trade Policy:

Introduces two new schemes, namely Merchandise Exports from India Scheme
(MEIS) for export of specified goods to specified markets and Services Exports from
India Scheme (SEIS) for increasing exports of notified services.

These schemes (MEIS and SEIS) replace multiple schemes earlier in place, each with different
conditions for eligibility and usage. Incentives (MEIS & SEIS) to be available for SEZs also. eCommerce of handicrafts, handlooms, books etc., eligible for benefits of MEIS.

Measures have been adopted to nudge procurement of capital goods from indigenous
manufacturers under the EPCG scheme by reducing specific export obligation to 75% of the
normal export obligation. This will promote the domestic capital goods manufacturing
industry.

Measures have been taken to give a boost to exports of defense and hi-tech items. At the same
time e-Commerce exports of handloom products, books/periodicals, leather footwear, toys

and customized fashion garments through courier or foreign post office would also be able to
get benefit of MEIS (for values upto 25,000 INR).

Trade facilitation and enhancing the ease of doing business are the other major focus areas in
this new FTP. One of the major objective of new FTP is to move towards paperless working in
247 environment.

Attention has also been paid to simplify various Aayat Niryat Forms, bringing in clarity in
different provisions, removing ambiguities and enhancing electronic governance.

Considering the strategic significance of small and medium scale enterprise in the
manufacturing sector and in employment generation, MSME clusters 108 have been
identified for focused interventions to boost exports.

Accordingly, Niryat Bandhu Schemehas been galvanized and repositioned to achieve the
objectives of Skill India.

Real Estate (Regulation and Development Bill)

The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved the Real Estate (Regulation and Development
Bill) which will address a long-standing demand to bring in a regulator for the real estate sector.

The Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Bill seeks to protect the interests of
consumers and establish regulatory bodies at the Centre and States for ethical and
transparent business practices in the real estate sector.

The Bill provides for mandatory registration of all projects and real estate agents who intend
to sell any plot, apartment or building with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority.

It makes mandatory the disclosure of all information for registered projects like details of
promoters, layout plan, land status, schedule of execution and status of various approvals.

The Bill also seeks to enforce the contract between the developer and buyer and a fast track
mechanism to settle disputes.

The government said the Bill is expected ensure greater accountability towards consumers,
and to significantly reduce frauds and delays.