General Awareness Magazine Vol 29 November 2016

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National
Supreme Court cancels Shahabuddins bail
Finely balancing societal interest with concerns about individual liberty, the Supreme
Court ordered former RJD MP Mohd Shahabud-din to be sent back to prison 20 days
after he came out on bail.
The Supreme Court however ordered the Bihar government and the trial court to
complete the trial as early as possible. In a judicious decision taken after pouring
through evidence, a Bench of Justice P.C. Ghose and Amitava Roy said Shahabuddin
should be forthwith taken back into custody.
The Supreme Court observed that the High Court erred in granting Shahabuddin
bail as a matter of course without taking into consideration the overall facts.
It noted that several cases against him are pending in various stages of trial and
appeal in various courts of Bihar and in the Patna High Court.
The Bench made it clear that it has taken serious notice of Shahabuddin's repeated
contention that there was a conscious delay in the conduct of his trial by directing
that all steps as contemplated in law to dispose of the case, as early as possible.
The order quashing the High Court decision to free Shahabuddin came despite the
Bench flaying the lacklustre performance of the Bihar government on the prosecution
side.
The Bench had castigated the State for its 17-month delay in conducting the trial and
the almost zero interest it showed to pre-vent Shahabuddin's bail.
Bihars liquor law amendments are ultra virus says HC

The Patna High Court set aside the amended Bihar Prohibition and Excise Bill, 2016,
which had banned the sale and consumption of liquor in the State.
A division bench of the court, comprising Chief Justice Iqbal Ahmed Ansari and
Justice Navaniti Prasad Singh, quashed the April 5 notification of the government.
It said, Section 19(4) of the Bihar Excise Act 1915 as amended with effect from
01.04.2016, (passed by the legislature on 31.03.2016) is ultra vires the Constitution
and unenforceable.
The Bench, in its 142-page order, went on to say, The impugned notification, issued
by the State under Section 19(4) of the said amended Act is also ultravires the
Constitution, and, consequently unenforceable.
High alert sounded at many places across the country

Security has been strengthened at vital installations across Punjab and a high alert
has been sounded at all airbases across the State, even as evacuation of people residing
in villages along the Inter-national Border continued.
High alert has been sounded on all airbases of the region, including at Chandigarh,
Ambala, Bathinda, Adampur and Halwara near Ludhiana.
Border Security Force (BSF) has put the Inter-national Border on further alert after
the surgical strikes.
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Security has also been strengthened in and around other vital installations, including
oil refinery and important power plants in Punjab.Punjab shares 553-km border with
Pakistan.
It has six districts which lie close to the International Border. Meanwhile, evacuation
of people residing in about 1,000 villages within 10 km of the International Border
continued following orders of the authorities.
Heads of local gurdwaras and temples, sarpanches and the police reached out to
people using loudspeakers, asking them to start evacuation at the earliest in the
light of escalating situation between the two countries.
The SGPC, the apex religious body of the Sikhs, has announced every possible help
to the evacuees.
PM Modi said re-use and recycling of waste should be

technology driven
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said re-use and recycling of waste should be
technology driven and insisted that there should a focus on the concept of waste to
wealth so that revenue models could be developed around cleanliness.
Re-use and recycling have been our habits for a long time...these need to be made
more technology-driven so that we can create wealth from waste, Mr. Modi said
during his in-augural address at the India Sanitation Conference here.
Mr. Modi said garbage can be used as a means to create employment and wealth by
recycling and then, cleanliness will be-come a by-product.
While no one likes dirtor dirty surroundings, the habit of cleanliness takes some
effort to develop.
Let's join hands and start a Swachhagraha' an initiative for cleanliness to get the
country dirt-free on the lines of Mahatma Gandhi's Satyagraha' that freed us from
British rule, said Mr. Modi.
Defence Minister says Pakistan still unaware that

surgery has been done
Pakistan is like a patient who has been given anaesthesia and doesnt know that
surgery has already been done on him, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said.
The Ministers remarks are first comments from a member of the Cabinet Committee
on Security (CCS) following the surgical strikes on terrorist launch pads along the
Line of Control.
Mr. Parrikars comments came even as Army chief Gen. Dalbir Singh visited the
Northern and Western Commands and reviewed the Armys operational
preparedness in these two crucial commands.
Addressing a gathering in Peethsain in Pauri district of Uttarakhand, the Minister
warned that India would not hesitate to carry out more such operations in the future
if its interests were harmed.
If Pakistan continues with such conspiracies, we will give them a befitting reply
again, the Minister said.
Army chief interacted with top commanders and got a first hand assessment of the
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security situation amid heightened tensions along the LoC and the international
border.
CBDT received disclosures of more than 65000 crores

under IDS
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced that the Central Board of Direct Taxes
(CBDT) had received total disclosures of Rs. 65,250 crore under the Income Disclosure
Scheme, 2016 in the form of cash and other assets.
The Minister added that since some disclosures that were received manually were
yet to be tabulated and verified, the figure could be revised upward.
The four-month window under the scheme for declaring undisclosed income or black
money that had escaped assessment closed.
Mr. Jaitley refused to draw comparisons of the current Income Declaration Scheme
(IDS), 2016 with the Voluntary Disclosure Scheme of 1997.
Then government had mopped up Rs. 9,760 crore in taxes at an average of about Rs.
7 lakh per declarant.
Unlike the IDS, Mr. Jaitley said, the earlier scheme had not penalised the declarents
and allowed them to value the assets declared at the market prices of 1987 rather
than current rates.
Karnataka sought an urgent review of Apex court orders

Karnataka sought an urgent review of the Supreme Court orders to set up the Cauvery
Management Board (CMB), saying the directions amounted to judicial legislation.
Also, it violated the National Water Policy of 2012 which gives Karnatakas
requirement for drinking water first priority over Tamil Nadus need for water to
irrigate its farm land.
The review petition, filed in the Supreme Court a day after the court directed the
Centre to set up the CMB, contends that the judicial orders to release Cauvery water
and form the CMB had gravely prejudiced the Karnataka peoples right to life.
Karnataka said its civil appeal against the 2007 final order of the Cauvery Water
Disputes Tribunal was still pending consideration in the Supreme Court.
Another terrorist attack in Baramulla

Militants planned to mount a Uri-style attack at the Baramulla Army camp but BSF
constable Nitin Kumar (24) put paid to their designs, when he came out of his bunker,
all alone, to challenge them.
A senior Border Security Force (BSF) official said on Monday that Kumar was killed
when the terrorists hurled grenades at the bunkers outside the Army camp and
shrapnel hit him.
The BSF is co-deployed with the 46 RR Battalion of the Army and mans some of the
bunkers there as part of its road opening duty.
Attackers, three-four, fled from the spot through the narrow alleys of the congested
old town after their bid to carry out a Uri-style attack was foiled in effective fire.
A compass, one Global Positioning System (GPS) device and a wire cutter were found
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near the encounter site.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who is on a two-day visit to Leh, said he had spoken
to National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and BSF DG K.K. Sharma.
Home ministry to tighten the rules on foreign funding

The Ministry of Home Affairs is all set to amend the Foreign Contribution Regulation
Rules making it mandatory for all voluntary organisations to have dedicated accounts
only in banks with core banking facilities for their real-time access.
This would allow the security agencies to access the accounts on real-time basis.
The Home Ministry is also making rules to ensure that no NGO is allowed to get
foreign funds under the prior permission category more than once.
The move comes in the backdrop of Amnesty International India getting foreign
funds under the prior permission category at least thrice.The new Foreign
Contribution Regulation Rules are expected to be notified soon.
There are around 33,000 NGOs registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation
Act. However, at least 6,000 of them do not have their FCRA accounts in banks with
core banking facilities.
Many have their FCRA accounts in cooperative banks or State governments-owned
apex banks.
SC put on hold order to constitute the Cauvery

Management Board
In another roller-coaster hearing, the Supreme Court put on hold its order to constitute
the Cauvery Management Board and finally settled for the Centres suggestion to
appoint a technical team to visit the Cauvery basin.
The technical team led by G.S. Jha, Chairman, Central Water Commission, will visit
the river basin along with nominees of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and
Kerala to submit a report in the Supreme Court by October 17.
The court will hear the matter on October 18.
Tamil Nadu accused the Centre of playing into the hands of the Karnataka
government to deny the people of Tamil Nadu their share of Cauvery water.
GSAT-18 to be launched from the European spacepad

of Kourou
GSAT-18, India's heaviest satellite to date at 3,404 kg, is scheduled to be launched
from the European spacepad of Kourou in French Guiana.
It. is expected to add a few new transponders for Indian Space Research Organisation
(ISRO).
The 48 transponders on the new satellite , including 12 in the Ku-band, should ease
ISROs shortfall in meeting the growing demand from its numerous users.
GSAT-18 will be lifted to its space orbit on a European Ariane-5 rocket, ISRO said.
ISRO last launched a communication satellite in November last year. That spacecraft,
GSAT-15, did not add new numbers but has replaced the ageing INSAT-3A and a
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partially crippled INSAT-4B in the 93 degrees East slot.
GSAT-18 was approved in May 2015 with a budget of Rs. 1,022 crore, which includes
the fee to launch provider Arianespace. It will supplement the INSAT-4CR, sent to
orbit in 2007, at the same slot of 74 degrees East longitude.
In the coming days, when it is in its final slot GSAT18 is expected to support the
services of users in telecommunication, broadcasting, VSAT services and digital
satellite news gathering areas.
India gets EU support for surgical strikes

The European Parliament has backed Indias surgical strike on terrorist training
camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
In a signed article in EP Today , the Vice-President of European Parliament, Ryszard
Czarnecki, said Indias cross-border action against terrorists should be commended
and supported by the international community.
Praising the Indian Army for its professional approach to a situation that was
becoming graver by the day, Mr. Czarnecki said the message was loud and clear
that India would no longer allow Pakistan to fuel cross-border terrorism.
The government has made Aadhaar mandatory for

availing LPG subsidies
The government has made Aadhaar mandatory for availing cooking gas (LPG)
subsidies but has given two months grace period for citizens to get the unique
identification number.
The government currently gives 12 cylinders of 14.2-kg each at subsidised rates per
household in a year.
The subsidy on every cylinder is transferred in advance directly into bank accounts
of individuals, who then buy the cooking fuel at market rates.
For those not yet having Aadhaar, it gave time till November 30, 2016 to make
application for enrolment for the unique identification number. Oil marketing
companies have been asked to facilitate enrolments.
Till the time Aadhaar is assigned, LPG subsidy would be transferred based on bank
photo passbook and Aadhaar enrolment ID slip or voter ID card or ration card or
kisan photo passbook or passport or driver licence.
The Ministry said use of Aadhaar as identifier for delivery of services /benefits/
subsidies simplified the government delivery processes, brought in transparency
and efficiency, and enabled beneficiaries to get their entitlements directly
Cabinet approved the long-awaited amendments to the

HIV Bill
The Union Cabinet approved the long-awaited amendments to the HIV Bill, granting
stronger protection to the countrys HIV community.
The Bill prohibits discrimination against people living with HIV (PLHIV) in accessing
healthcare, acquiring jobs, renting houses or in education institutions in the public
and private sectors.

There are approximately 21 lakh persons estimated to be living with HIV in India
and the percentage of patients receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) treatment
currently stands at a mere 25.82% as against the global percentage of 41%.
The HIV and AIDS Bill, 2014 will bring legal accountability and establish a formal
mechanism to probe discrimination complaints against those who discriminate
against such people.
Bill requires that no person shall be compelled to disclose his HIV status except
with his informed consent, and if required by a court order.
The Bill lists various grounds on which discrimination against HIV-positive persons
and those living with them is prohibited.
These include the denial, termination, discontinuation or unfair treatment with regard
to employment, educational establishments, health care services, residing or renting
property, standing for public or private office, and provision of insurance.
The International Court of Justice ruled against the

Marshall Islands
The United Nations highest court rejected nuclear disarmament cases filed by the
Pacific nation of the Marshall Islands against Britain, India and Pakistan, saying it
did not have jurisdiction.
The International Court of Justice ruled that the Marshall Islands had failed to prove
that a legal dispute over disarmament existed between it and the three nuclear powers
before the case was filed in 2014.
It took a casting vote by the courts President Ronny Abraham to break an eighteight deadlock between the 16 judges on the question of jurisdiction in the case
against Britain.
In a landmark 1996 advisory opinion, the court said that using or threatening to use
nuclear arms would generally be contrary to the laws of war and humanitarian
law.
But it added that it could not definitively rule on whether the threat or use of nuclear
weapons would be legal in an extreme circumstance of self-defence, in which the
very survival of a state would be at stake.
India dismissed Nawaz Sharifs speech in the Pakistan

Assembly
India dismissed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs speech in the National Assembly in
Islamabad as an illustration of Pakistans inability to move away from terrorism as a
State policy.
Mr. Sharif reiterated Pakistans hardened position on Kashmir and said, World
powers need to ensure that U.N. resolutions on Kashmir should be implemented in
letter and spirit.
The joint session of the National Assembly was called to discuss Pakistans response
to the surgical strikes by India along the Line of Control (LoC).
India is drawing international support in favour of hot pursuit of terrorists. US, EU
and Germany supported Indias tough stance on cross-border terror.

India reminded the international community that the scale of violence in
Afghanistan was a hurdle for the countrys development.
Hinting at Pakistans opposition to grant transit rights to Afghanistan for accessing
South Asian markets, Mr. Akbar said Afghanistan was entitled to full utilisation of
transit rights as a member of WTO.
Home Minister says Pakistan border will be sealed

within two years
Amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan following the surgical strikes, Union
Home Minister said the entire stretch of 3,323 km border would be completely
sealed by December 2018, for which a time-bound action plan would be formulated.
Mr. Singh said the procedure for sealing the international border would be developed
in a planned manner.
A mechanism would be put in place for periodic monitoring by Home Secretary at
the Central level, BSF from the security forces perspective and Chief Secretaries at
the State level.
Mr. Singh said the government would apply technological solutions for sealing the
border in difficult terrains. A border security grid would also be formed, with
guidelines to be framed with suggestions from all stakeholders in the border areas.
A notification would be issued after inputs from the Chief Ministers, Home Secretaries
and Directors-General of Police, he added.
Eighty percent of the Jan Dhan Yojana now have

balance
Eighty percent of the 240 million new bank accounts created under the Narendra
Modi governments Jan Dhan Yojana now have balance in them, Finance Minister
Arun Jaitley has said.
Mr. Jaitley was participating in a panel discussion at the World Bank on financial
inclusion and de-risking or measures to prevent the illicit use of the banking system.
The Ministers of India, Indonesia, treasury secretary of the U.S. and the Governor of
the Peoples Bank of China who were part of the panel along with World Bank
President represented 43 per cent of the world population and 40 per cent of unbanked
adults.
Mr. Kim said the progress made by India in financial inclusion is a model that is
inspiring for the rest of the world. Other speakers also lauded Indias progress in
financial inclusion.
Apex Court stayed the commercial release of

Genetically Modified mustard crop
The Supreme Court stayed the commercial release of Genetically Modified (GM)
mustard crop till October 17, and asked the Centre to seek public opinion before
releasing the variety for cultivation purpose.
A Bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice A.M. Khanwilkar was assured by
the Centre that there would be no commercial release of the GM seeds till October

17 until the views of the public were collected and placed before the appraisal
committee.
Mustard is one of Indias most important winter crops sown between mid-October
and late November.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for Aruna Rodrigues, alleged that the Centre
was sowing the seeds in various fields and said the entire bio-safety dossier had not
been published.
plea urged the court to prohibit open field trials and the commercial release of
Herbicide Tolerant (HT) crops, including HT Mustard DMH 11 and its parent lines/
variants, as recommended by the Technical Expert Committee (TEC) report.
The plea also said the contamination caused by the mustard HT DMH 11 and its HT
parents would be irremediable and irreversible damage.
NGT wants UP, Haryana and other states to bring CNG

The National Green Tribunal warned of halting State transport in four northern States
if they did not introduce CNG, saying most particulate matters in the air inhaled by
Delhiites emanated from there.
I am being told that over 50 per cent of pollution in Delhi is caused by fine particulate
matter which originates from neighbouring States.
The air quality in Delhi is getting worse. You should take every measure to introduce
CNG stations in your States. If you dont introduce CNG in your State, we will stop
your State transport, a Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar
said.
The Tribunal directed senior officials from Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar
Pradesh, besides officers of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board, to
appear before it on October 19, the next date of hearing.
The NGT in September had asked Uttar Pradesh and Haryana governments to mull
over the possibility of installing CNG stations in NCR while refusing to grant
permission to over 10-year-old diesel vehicles to ply in these areas.
On July 18, the green panel directed authorities in Delhi-NCR to cancel the registration
of all diesel-powered vehicles which are more than 10 years old.
After de-registration, the authorities will issue public notice in this regard and supply
the list of such vehicles to the traffic police to take appropriate steps in consonance
with directions of the tribunal, it had said.
North East Monsoon to come on time

The much-awaited northeast monsoon, accounting for about 50 per cent of the annual
rainfall of Tamil Nadu, is not likely to set in early. Also, the State is likely to experience
around 40 cm rainfall in the next three months.
These aspects have emerged as the authorities, belonging to both the Central and
State governments, are making preparations to face any contingency once the
monsoon arrives and the State starts feeling the full force of the season.
The normal date of onset of the monsoon is October 20, with a deviation of plus or
minus seven days. The withdrawal process of the southwest monsoon is happening
only now.

Field officials have been advised to take action against encroachments, which are in
the nature of permanent structures, on water courses and bodies.
India to deploy an indigenously developed rover on the

lunar surface
India is getting ready to deploy an indigenously developed rover on the lunar surface
for on-site analysis of various samples and relay them to the earth station.
Chandrayaan-II Mission includes launching of lunar explorations by geosynchronous
launch vehicles (GSLV Mk-II) with clinical precision.
The wheeled rover would be useful in using multiple applications by collecting
soil and rock sediments for on-site analysis and transmitting the findings to the earth
station.
ISRO has also taken up ambitious programme to build vehicles with cryogenic
engines with bigger capacity than GSLV, Mr. Ranganathan, who came here to take
part along with other scientists in World Space Week celebrations, said.
India was ahead of other countries in space technology by continuously test-firing
and deploying satellites of various types and configurations for use for
communication and other applications.
LMV3, a full-fledged vehicle will be launched in the first half of 2017. The heavy
launch capability launcher would enable ISROs self-reliance in launching of satellites.
It will send four tonne class geosynchronous satellites into the orbit.
Defence Ministry has started the process to replace

MiG-21s
Defence Ministry has issued a Request For Information (RFI) to global aircraft
manufacturers, formally starting the process to select yet another fighter to be built
in India under technology transfer.
RFI for a single-engine fighter to be manufactured in India with extensive technology
transfer was issued this week to countries involved in fighter aircraft manufacture.
Based on the responses, a detailed RFP (Request for Proposal) would be issued
later.
Last month, India and France concluded a government-to-government deal worth
7.87-billion deal for 36 Rafale multi-role jets in flyaway condition.
The selected aircraft is expected to replace the large number of MiG-21s in service,
which will be phased out over the next few years.
Boeing and Lockheed Martin of the U.S. and SAAB of Sweden have already submitted
detailed proposals to manufacture their F-18, F-16 and Gripen jets respectively in
India under the Make in India initiative.
Terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba suffered the worst

damage in the recent surgical strikes
The Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) suffered the worst damage
in the recent surgical strikes on terror launchpads carried out by the Indian Army.
Radio intercepts indicate that nearly 20 militants of the banned outfit were killed.
The assessment reports available from the Armys field units, show that the most

damage was inflicted on the LeT at the Dudniyal launchpad in Pakistan-occupied
Kashmir, opposite the Kupwara sector in north Kashmir.
The sources said that five teams chosen from the Army division in the area were
tasked with destroying the launch pads of terror groups located at Kail, also known
as Kel, and Dudniyal.
In a well-calibrated operation, which started on the intervening night of September
28 and 29, the Army moved across the Line of Control and smashed four launch
pads that were under the guard of a Pakistani post 700 metres from the Line of
Control.
The sources said the terrorists were not expecting an action by the Indian Army and
were taken by surprise. The terrorists, mainly of the LeT, were seen running towards
the Pakistani post, and they were killed by the Indian troops, the assessment reports
say.
Pakistani Armys radio intercepts indicated that at least 10 LeT terrorists were killed
during the multiple and near-synchronised surgical strikes on four launchpads.
There was heavy movement of Pakistani Army vehicles till the break of dawn, and
all the bodies were taken away. As per the radio intercepts, there was a mass burial
in the Neelum valley.
A similar blow was dealt to the terror launchpads at Balnoi, opposite Poonch, in
which nine LeT militants were killed, the sources said. Two Pakistani soldiers
belonging to 8 Northern Light Infantry were also killed.
There were intelligence reports that terrorists were planning to enter India through
Kashmir and Jammu. The Army waited for the terrorists to gather at one place before
launching the attack.
SC has ordered deletion of words adult male the

Domestic Violence
In a landmark verdict, the Supreme Court has widened the scope of the Domestic
Violence Act by ordering deletion of the words adult male from it.
It paved the way for prosecution of women and even non-adults for subjecting a
woman relative to violence and harassment.
The apex court has ordered striking down of the two words from Section 2(q) of the
Domestic Violence Act, which deals with respondents who can be sued and
prosecuted under the Act for harassing a married woman in her matrimonial home.
Apex court said the microscopic difference between male and female, adult and
non-adult, regard being had to the object sought to be achieved by the 2005 Act, is
neither real or substantial, nor does it have any rational relation to the object of the
legislation.
The remaining part of the legislation had been kept untouched and would remain
operative.
Janani Suraksha Yojana has helped in reducing

socioeconomic disparities
A new study brings in first conclusive evidence of the role played by Janani Suraksha
Yojana (JSY) in reducing socioeconomic disparities existing in maternal care.
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The JSY was launched in 2005 as part of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM)
to improve maternal and neonatal health by promotion of institutional deliveries.
According to a working paper JSY has led to an enhancement in the utilisation of
health services among all groups especially among the poorer and underserved
sections in the rural areas, thereby reducing the prevalent disparities in maternal
care.
While previous studies had shown the impact of JSY in reducing maternal mortality,
it was not known if it had reduced socioeconomic inequalities differences in access
to maternal care between individual people of higher or lower socioeconomic status.
Three key services of maternal care were used for the analysis: full antenatal care
(full ANC), safe delivery, and postnatal care.
There were three major findings. First, the increase in utilisation of all three maternal
healthcare services between the two rounds was remarkably higher among illiterate
or less educated and poor women.
Secondly, the usage of all three maternal healthcare services by the OBC, Dalit,
Adivasis and Muslim women increased between the surveys. The study found that
after the implementation of the JSY, there was generally a narrowing of the gap
between the less educated and more educated women and between the poorer and
richer women.
It was found in the survey that women in their early 20s were more likely to avail of
all three maternal health care services as compared to their older women.
Also, the incidence of women availing maternal healthcare decreases with the
increase in the number of children. High incidence of maternal mortality continue to
plague India.
As per the latest Lancet series on maternal health, India accounted for 15 per cent of
the total maternal deaths in the world in 2015 second only to Nigeria with
45,000 women dying during pregnancy or childbirth.
PM equates fight against terrorism with epic Ramayana

Equating the fight against terrorism to the slaying of Ravan by Ram in the epic
Ramayana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of Vijayadashami urged
all forces of humanity to unite against terrorism, an enemy of humanity.
He also urged people to annihilate the Ravan within us, alluding to the social
evils and parochial practices in the country.
On every Dussehra, the nation and people must assess the social evils they have
eliminated, Mr. Modi said, addressing the Ramlila function at Aishbagh.
There was a need to not just uproot terrorists but those giving them refuge and
support must also not be forgiven, the Prime Minister said.
Mr. Modi became the first premier to celebrate Ramlila outside Delhi, provoking
opposition parties to accuse the BJP of politicising the festival in poll-bound Uttar
Pradesh.
War may be necessary in certain circumstances and time, but this lands path is not
of yudh but of Buddh, he said. He stressed that Buddhas path remained the
countrys destination.
Mr. Modi also used motif of Sitas honour to push through the idea of protecting the
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girl child.
He urged people to take inspiration from the message of Vijayadashmi and end all
social evils, which he said existed as different forms and scattered pieces of Ravan
in modern life.
While burning Ravan we must also resolve to end all our social evils in a similar
fashion. The Ravan within us must be destroyed.
We must eliminate our top 10 faults, all those things which bring down our lives;
bad thoughts and ideas, and misconduct, Mr. Modi said, listing casteism,
communalism, illiteracy, corruption, illiteracy and superstition, as some of the issues
haunting the nation.
Indias ties with Russia affected with Moscows military

relations with Islamabad
Indias ties with Russia are likely to be affected if Moscow continues to expand
military relations with Islamabad. Criticising Pakistan-Russia ties.
Indian Ambassador to Russia Pankaj Saran warned of problems ahead in bilateral
ties, even as both sides planned a major summit on the sidelines of the upcoming
Goa BRICS summit.
Mr. Sarans comments mark the third occasion in less than a month when India
officially conveyed unhappiness over the growing Pakistan-Russia ties after both
countries held the first ever joint military exercise in Pakistans northwest.
India had expressed concern over the exercise with Pakistan during the 22nd IndiaRussia Inter-Governmental Commission (IRGC) that was held on September 13.
India is likely to take up the issue of terrorism at the BRICS summit, pushing the
case for an international counter-terror convention.
However, Russian government think tank sources indicated that Russia may not be
on the same page with India on Pakistan.
Thousands of Amur falcons arrive at Nagaland

Thousands of Amur falcons, small birds of prey that undertake one of the longest
migrations, started arriving on October 7 in Wokha district in Nagaland and
Tamenglong district of Manipur.
Most bird catchers have turned bird lovers, and the species is recognised as friends
of the tribals. The falcons eat various insects, thus helping farmers.
The turnaround is a radical change from the past, when hundreds of trussed up
Amur falcons would be on sale in village markets and towns, while some would be
sold fried or smoked.
At just 150 grams, an Amur falcon, Falco amurensis is a small bird, the male mostly
grey in colour, and the females having dark-streaked cream or orange underparts.
The species flies non-stop from Mongolia to northeast India covering 5,600 km in
five days and nights, a small part of its 22,000 km circular migratory journey.
In Tamenglong, the tribals see the falcons as messengers of god, their arrival indicating
a good year and a bountiful harvest.
China has also raised concerns over Washington and Seouls decision this summer

to install a THAAD missile defence system in South Korea in response to growing
worries about its northern neighbour's nuclear programme.
US says India needs to respond to Cross-border

terrorism
The U.S. empathises with Indias position that it needs to militarily respond to crossborder terrorism.
But given the history of wars between Indian and Pakistan and the heavily militarised
character of the region, both sides must show restraint and caution, a senior White
House official said on Wednesday.
Senior Director for South Asia at the National Security Council said: It [Uri] was a
clear case of cross-border terrorism. We condemn this act of terrorism. It was a horrific
attack.
Every country has a right to self-defence. But in a heavily militarised relationship
that has also experienced three wars, there is indeed a need for caution and restraint.
We share with India, the concern. for preventing any future attack. We empathise
with the Indian position that it needs to respond militarily to cross border threat of
terrorism. But we also advise caution.
Cyber security is a big challenge to the World

Deterrence in terms of national cyber security is a big challenge the world over,
given that identification of the sources from where the threats emanate is a timeconsuming process.
It can be difficult to find an attribution to a cyber attack: was it a foreign state, an
individual or an activist group? It is a tricky issue.
The perpetrators could be operating from different foreign jurisdictions, hiding
behind multiple levels of disguise in the cyber space.
In the recent past, Indian government agencies and corporates have come under
cyber attacks on multiple occasions.
This May, two cyber security firms claimed to have identified espionage groups
that targeted computer systems in government agencies and e-commerce businesses.
There are largely three sources of cyber threats to corporates: state-sponsored;
criminals out to extort money; and activist groups which believe that a particular
corporates activities undermine their cause.
Through ransomware, which is increasingly becoming sophisticated in terms of
technology, criminals block access of corporates to their own data stored in servers
and demand ransom to release it.
The cyber expert said law enforcement agencies are often able to identify the sources
of such threats, which are usually located abroad, but in many cases certain foreign
jurisdictions do not show much interest in taking action against perpetrators.
Final draft of the National Water Framework Bill, 2016

brought by centre
Centre has brought final draft of the National Water Framework Bill, 2016, that stresses
managing water at basin-level and right measurement of States contribution to
river system to resolve conflicts.
The draft Bill pitches for establishing River Basin Authority for each inter-State basin
to ensure optimum and sustainable development of rivers and valleys.
The Bill is expected to be placed before the Union Cabinet for its approval in a month,
before it is tabled in Parliament.
It suggests States to recognise the principle that the rivers are not owned by the
basin-States but are public trustees.
It says all basin States have equitable rights over a river water provided such use
does not violate the right to water for life of any person in the river basin.
The draft Bill says every person has a right to sufficient quantity of safe water for
life within easy reach of the household regardless of caste, creed, religion, age,
community, class, gender, disability, economic status, land ownership and place of
residence.
Describing the draft Bill as comprehensive one, he said the model law also stresses
on Centre and States working in partnership for managing water.
It proposes establishing institutional arrangements at all levels within a State and
beyond up to an inter-State river basin level to obviate disputes through
negotiations, conciliation or mediation before they become acute.
Water being a State subject, the Bill, however, will not be binding on States for
adoption.
All India Muslim Personal Law Board rejected move on

civil code
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), along with several other
organisations associated with the Muslim community, has opposed the Law
Commissions questionnaire on the possibility of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC).
Announcing that they would boycott the entire exercise, the organisations accused
the NDA government of threatening the pluralistic fabric of India.
AIMPLB general secretary Wali Rehmani, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind president Maulana
Arshad Madani and representatives of other bodies addressed a press conference
where the announcement was made.
The Board suggested the Centres affidavit in the Supreme Court last week rejecting
the validity of the triple talaq was an underhand means to impose a UCC in India.
Singer and songwriter Bob Dylan was awarded the

Nobel Prize in Literature
Singer and songwriter Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for
having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition,
in the words of the Swedish Academy.
He is the first American to win the prize since novelist Toni Morrison, in 1993.
Dylan was born on May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota, and grew up in Hibbing.
Dylan joins a number of American Jews who have been awarded the literature Nobel.
However, unlike him, they were all born abroad: Saul Bellow, born in Canada, won
in 1976; Isaac Bashevis Singer, who was born in Poland and wrote in Yiddish, won in
1978; Joseph Brodsky, born in the Soviet Union, won in 1987.
Govt asked AIMPLB to reconsider their decision to

boycott consultation on UCC
The government asked the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and
certain other Muslim organisations to reconsider their decision to boycott the Law
Commissions consultation on triple talaq and the Uniform Civil Code (UCC).
At the same time it sharply criticised the AIMPLB for targeting Prime Minister
Narendra Modi on the issue.
Mr. Naidu asked that the case against triple talaq now under way in the Supreme
Court not be mixed up with the efforts of the Law Commission for a UCC.
The AIMPLB, while announcing the decision to boycott the Law Commissions
consultation, had criticised the Modi government for allegedly trying to distract
attention from its failures by raising the issue of UCC.
Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the question of a UCC or
even invalidation of triple talaq were not matters pertaining to faith but rituals and
customs.
Pakistan Army confirmed sepoy Chandu Chavan is in

its custody
The Pakistan Army confirmed for the first time that sepoy Chandu Babulal Chavan,
who went missing near the Line of Control (LoC) on September 29, is in its custody.
Though India said the sepoy inadvertently crossed the LoC, Pakistan had so far
refused to acknowledge his presence.
The Pakistani side accepted it during a conversation between the Directors-General
of Military Operations over the established hotline.
The 22-year-old sepoy crossed the LoC by accident after the surgical strikes by the
Indian Army.
He was posted in Mendhar district of Jammu and Kashmir near the LoC and had
strayed across the border at Jhandroot, west of Mankote village in Poonch district,
and was captured by the Pakistan Army.
PM said country should not be found sleeping when

it should be awake
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Army would never forgive the country if
it was found sleeping when it should be awake, in comments that come against
the backdrop of the recent surgical strikes.
He asserted that the Army did not believe in speaking but in displaying its valour.
Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. We have to keep alert always. It will be
injustice to the Army if we sleep away when we have to be awake, he said without
elaborating.
Addressing ex-servicemen and their families at the inauguration of the Shaurya
Smarak (memorial to valour) here, he hailed the role of the armed forces and their
spirit of sacrifice in adverse situations.
Mr. Modi said the country had never waged a war to capture another country. But
if it comes to fighting for values and ideals, India is never found wanting, he said.
Lauding the valour and humanity of the armed forces, he referred to their relief and
rescue operations in Srinagar during the floods two years ago despite the violence
they faced from the stone-pelting mobs.
Russia came in support of India for fight against terror

India and Russia put up an emphatic display of deep bilateral ties, setting aside
recent discord, and came out strongly against terror.
Both sides signed 16 important deals including one on S-400 missile systems, a gamechanger in countering airborne threats.
Defence production and acquisition agreements were announced after the summit
between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin.
Apart from the Inter Governmental Agreement on the missile system worth nearly
Rs 39,000 crore Russia also agreed to sell Kamov 226T helicopters and four Krivak
class stealth frigates to India.
The Kamov 226T helicopters will be manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd
(HAL) and Rostec State Corporation of Russia under a joint production plan.
In his statement, President Vladimir Putin highlighted Russias stable approach
to ties with India and said his government will ensure steady energy cooperation
with India to support the expanding Indian economy.
Sometimes differences appear in some projects over a period due to currency
devaluation. But we commit to maintain a steady approach to bilateral projects with
India, said President Putin
He also added, we are working on joint development of Sukhoi super jets and
passenger aircraft.
BRICS, BIMSTEC come together in Goa

When leaders of countries that make up half the worlds population and nearly a
quarter of global GDP ($17 trillion combined) gather, it is a display of muscle that
the world is bound to watch.
Yet, despite the power-packed photo opportunities at Goa this year, there are several
reasons to believe that the BRICS forum, once comprising the worlds fastest growing
economies, is running out of steam.
The slump in oil prices has affected Russia and Brazils growth stories, and Russia
has paid heavily for western sanctions over Ukraine.
Chinese manufacturing saw its weakest growth in years, while India, the worlds
fastest growing economy, has faced a contraction in IIP figures.
The South African Finance Minister said his economy was in a crisis this year,
with revised growth estimates falling below 1 per cent, and 26 per cent
unemployment, fuelling violent protests.
Meanwhile, bilateral ties between India and China have reached new lows: with
Chinas CPEC clinch with Pakistan and Indias shift to the U.S. strategic corner on
the South China Sea.
Russias shift away from an exclusive relationship with India, an ambivalence on
defence ties with Pakistan consistent with its new dependence on China is another
factor that is loosening some of the mortar between the BRICS countries.
Brazil and South Africa are also known to have reservations on Indias bid for the
NSG membership.
The Modi government has made it clear that it wants to see strong language on
terrorism, with specific references to cross-border terror, safe havens, funding and
sponsorship of terror groups, that China may seek to temper on behalf of Pakistan.
Russia would like the full backing of BRICS for its actions in Syria, which India and
Brazils new pro-U.S. government may resist.
And China would like all BRICS countries to express support on the South China
Sea, which India may find difficult to do.
Given all the stresses and strains on the structure of BRICS, the sunny spot for India
as a host may come from the BIMSTEC outreach instead.
The seven-nation grouping of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, was
founded in 1997 as BISTEC, and then refurbished as the Bay of Bengal initiative for
multi-sectoral technical and economic cooperation (BIMSTEC), but has floundered
since then for lack of funding.
It did not even have an office, and meetings were held at the Thai Foreign Ministry
in Bangkok until it was given headquarters in Dhaka in 2011 and a secretary-general,
Sri Lankan diplomat SumithNakandala, in 2014.
In the past few months, the grouping has shown a coherence that is leading to projects
on connectivity, infrastructure and sharing resources, both inter-regionally and
bilaterally.
Indias Act East policy is spurring the government to extend the Trilateral highway
project all the way to Cambodia.
Centre has written to States to implement the

recommendations of nurses pay
The Centre has written to the Health Secretaries of all States to formulate a legislation
or guidelines to implement the recommendations of a committee on better salaries
and working conditions for nurses in private hospitals.
Supreme Court, while hearing a public interest litigation had asked the Ministry to
set up a committee within a month to study the pay and working conditions of nurses
in private hospitals.
The court had also asked the Centre to frame guidelines to regulate the working
conditions of nurses and consider fixing minimum wages for them. A four-member
committee was appointed by the Health Ministry in February.
The main recommendation of the committee was that the salary given to nurses in
private hospitals should not be less than Rs.20,000 a month.
However, in Kerala, the previous United Democratic Front government had set up a
minimum wages committee in February this year to fix the wages of all employees
in private hospitals, including that of nurses.
Though the 26-member committee, which included representatives of two nurses
associations, various trade unions, and hospital managements had met several times,
its term expired when the new Left Democratic Front government took over.
8th BRICS summit ended with the pledge against

terrorism
The 8th BRICS summit ended with the adoption of the Goa Declaration which pledged
opposition to terrorism, even as India failed to get a consensus on references to
Pakistan-based terror groups in the final statement.
However, in a strongly worded statement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, the
most serious direct threat to our economic prosperity is terrorism. Tragically, its
mother-ship is a country in Indias neighbourhood.
The text of the declaration did not name any country specifically as the source of
cross-border terrorism but officials maintained that India did get the diplomatic edge
it wanted from the summit.
Introducing the Goa Declaration, Prime Minister Modi said, We also agreed that
those who nurture, shelter, support and sponsor such forces of violence and terror
are as much a threat to us as the terrorists themselves.
PM Modi made stinging attack on Pakistan

In a stinging attack on Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the
country embraced and radiated the darkness of terrorism which had become its
favourite child and pitched for decisive action.
He pressed the member-nations of BRICS and BIMSTEC groupings to send a clear
message to those who nurture the philosophy of terror to mend their ways or be
isolated in the civilised world.
His comments came as he pushed for greater collaboration among BRICS countries,
as well as members of the BIMSTECgrouping, on issues such as terrorism, economy,
trade as well as connectivity.
Among the BIMSTEC leaders present were Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina,
Sri Lankan President and Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Myanmarese
leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Bhutanese Prime Minister TseringTobgay.
Mr. Modi underlined that geographical barriers and borders posed no limitations
on those who wished to harm societies.
While slamming Pakistan, Mr. Modi said, Terrorism has become its favourite child.
And, the child in turn has come to define the fundamental character and nature of its
parent.
Appealing to the leaders of BRICS and BIMSTEC, Mr. Modi said everyone present
should send a clear message to those who nurture the philosophy of terror and
seek to de-humanise the mankind, to mend their ways or be isolated in the civilised
world.
Mr. Modi said that with 1.5 billion people and a combined GDP of $ 2. 5 trillion, the
countries of BIMSTEC had shared aspirations for growth, development, commerce
and technology.
Similarly, BRICS represents large emerging economies, G-20 member-states and 2
permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.
Standing committee to consult senior jurists for judicial

appointments
With no end in sight to the tug of war between the judiciary and the Union government
on MoP for judicial appointments, the Standing Committee has scheduled a series
of interactions with jurists for their views on a way forward.
A decision to hold consultations with jurists like senior advocate and a former
Solicitor-General Mohan Parasaran and Indira Jaisingh was taken at the meeting of
the panel under the chairmanship of Anand Sharma here on October 13.
Originally, the interactions were slated for October 23, but now they have been
rescheduled for October 25 as some of the senior jurists were not available that day.
A member of the panel, who does not want to be quoted on record,said Our last
session was entirely focused on the huge vacancies to the posts of judges in the
High Courts and the Supreme Court.
The Law Secretary who was present at the meeting was asked by the Chairman as
well as some of the members on the differences between the Central government
and the Chief Justice of India on the MoP.
Panel says Cauvery basin a reason for farmers suicide

The parched Cauvery basin is become a fertile reason for farmers' suicides and mass
migrations to urban areas in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, a Supreme Court-appointed
High Level Technical Team told the apex court.
In its report, the team, said the ground realities of the Cauvery delta region include
drought, rising unemployment, bore wells dug a 1000-feet deep for ground water
and withering of acres of crops in both States.
On October 4, a Bench led by Justice Dipak Misra, unable to resolve the impasse
over the release of water, set up the team to conduct a field inspection in the Cauvery
area.
The matter is scheduled for hearing on October 18.
Babies born to women aged over 40 from assisted reproduction have fewer birth
defects
Babies born to women aged over 40 from assisted reproduction have fewer birth
defects compared with those from women who conceive naturally at that age, a new
study has found.
This is contrary to widespread belief that the greater risk of birth defects after assisted
conception is due to the frequent use of these services by older women.
According to researchers from the University of Adelaide in Australia, this may point
to the presence of more favourable biological conditions in IVF (in vitro fertilisations)
specific to pregnancies in older women.
The research is based on data of all live births recorded in Australia from 1986
2002, including more than 3,01,000 naturally conceived births, as well as 2,200 births
from IVF and almost 1400 from ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection).
The average prevalence of a birth defect was 5.7 per cent among naturally conceived
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births, 7.1 per cent for the IVF births, and 9.9 per cent for the ICSI births, across all
age groups.
In births from assisted reproduction, the prevalence of birth defects ranged from
11.3 per cent at its highest for women less than age 30 using ICSI, down to 3.6 per
cent for women aged 40 and older using IVF.
Laboratory have developed way of producing electricity

from water at room temp.
In a major breakthrough, scientists at Delhis National Physical Laboratory (NPL)
have developed a novel way of producing electricity from water at room temperature
without using any power or chemicals.
A team led by Dr. R.K. Kotnala used nanoporous magnesium ferrite to split water
into hydronium (H3O) and hydroxide (OH) ions and used silver and zinc as electrodes
to make a cell that produces electricity.
The hydroelectric cell that uses magnesium ferrite of 1 sq. inch size produces 8 mA
current and 0.98 volt.
According to a paper published in the International Journal of Energy Research,
magnesium ferrite of 2-inch diameter produces 82 mA current and 0.9 volt.
Now, the hydroelectric cell material design has been improved and a 2-inch diameter
material generates 150 mA current and 0.9 V.
Since magnesium has high affinity for hydroxide, it spontaneously splits or
dissociates water into hydronium and hydroxide ions.
The hydronium ions get trapped inside the nanopores of magnesium ferrite and
generate an electric field. The electric field helps in further dissociation of water.
Magnesium ferrite is made as an oxygen-deficient material and has plenty of oxygen
vacancies.
To further enhance the activity of magnesium ferrite, about 20 per cent of magnesium
is replaced with lithium.
The substitution of lithium at magnesium site increases the sensitivity of magnesium
ferrite. This is helpful in dissociating water at room temperature as the electrons get
trapped in the oxygen deficient sites.
The Centre has proposed a four-slab rate structure for

the Goods & Services Tax
The Centre has proposed a four-slab rate structure for the Goods & Services Tax,
ranging from zero to 26 per cent, at a meeting of the GST Council.
The structure proposes the GST at 0 per cent on a host of goods and services, including
food, health and education services, and at 26 per cent on luxury items, such as fastmoving consumer goods and consumer durables.
On consumption of ultra-luxury items and demerit goods, such as big cars and
tobacco products, it proposes imposition of cess over and above a 26 per cent GST
rate.
The GST is proposed to be levied at 6 per cent, 12 per cent or 18 per cent on the
remaining goods and services.

The rate proposed on all items is by and large lower than the current rate. In the 26
per cent slab, for instance, currently most goods are being taxed at about 27 to 31 per
cent.
The proposal retains only the Clean Environment Cess from the multitude currently
in place, with the GST subsuming all the others, including the Swachh Bharat Cess,
the KrishiKalayan Cess and the Education Cess.
India gets support from US for cross-LoC strikes

The U.S. supports cross-LoC strikes by India, U.S. Ambassador Richard Verma said,
adding that Washington has drastically cut assistance to Pakistan in the past five
years over concerns on terror.
India launched strikes on terror launch pads along the LoC after the terror attack on
an Army camp in Uri, in which 19 Indian soldiers were killed.
In a rare admission that the U.S. had spoken to the Pakistani leadership about the
use of proxies as terror groups, Mr. Verma also said it was important to stand in
solidarity with India on that front.
Ambassador revealed that since 2011, U.S. military aid to Pakistan had dwindled 73
per cent over differences with the Pakistan governments action on terror, indicating
the recent hold on F-16 sales as well as $300 million withheld by the Pentagon.
Mr. Verma wouldnt commit to a timeline on when Indias membership to the Nuclear
Suppliers Group would come through, nor did he respond on whether President
Obama would engage the Chinese leadership directly.
Delhi Air quality is at very poor level

The Capitals air quality on Tuesday took a turn for the worse with monitoring stations
across the city recording it in the very poor category.
The average (24-hour rolling) of PM2.5 and PM10, suspended respirable pollutants,
were recorded as 120.8 and 248 micrograms per cubic metre by System of Air Quality
and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) around 5.30 p.m., as against the
corresponding safe limits of 60 and 100.
SAFARs Dhirpur, Pitampura, Delhi University, Pusa Road, Mathura Road and
airport stations had very poor air quality index. Even last week, the air quality
fluctuated between moderate and poor categories.
PM says Indian army is among best in the world

Prime Minister Narendra Modi saluted the Army for its recent surgical strikes along
the Line of Control in Kashmir and said the action had won it worldwide accolades.
Mr. Modi likened the surgical strikes to Israels exploits and said the Indian forces
had shown they were no less than anybody.
Israel is known for its targeted military strikes against enemy countries and militant
outfits.
Criticising the previous governments at the Centre for not implementing the One
Rank, One Pension (OROP) scheme for ex-servicemen, Mr. Modi pointed out how
the National Democratic Alliance government had kept its promise on OROP.
Appreciating our commitment and on our request, the ex-servicemen have agreed

for us to pay the amount in four simple instalments. We have already released Rs.
5,500 crore to them, the Prime Minister said.
He recalled that before becoming the Gujarat Chief Minister he was the party in
charge of Himachal for a long time and was instrumental in installing the first Dhumal
government in 1998.
The Prime Minister said BJP Chief Ministers Shanta Kumar and Prem Kumar Dhumal
had done a lot for Himachal and credited them for their role in providing drinking
water and initiating the road networking in the State.
The current Congress Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, he alleged, had his hands full
in tackling the corruption cases against him.
The Prime Minister said Himachal was given Rs. 72,000 crore by the 15th Finance
Commission against the paltry Rs. 21,000 crore by the UPA in the 14th Finance
Commission.
People's Resurgence and Justice Alliance launched by

Irom Sharmila
Beginning her political journey, rights activist Irom Sharmila on Tuesday announced
a new political party.
The party, named the Peoples Resurgence and Justice Alliance (PRJA), will contest
the Assembly polls in Manipur in 2017.
She will be the co-convenor of the party, which includes a number of activists and
entrepreneurs.
Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Sharmila said that that everyone is seeking a change
in Manipur, but for a positive change to emerge, each person needed to be a part of
the process of change.
The 44-year-old Sharmila, who broke her 16-year-long fast for the withdrawal of the
Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) on August 9 earlier this year, had
previously announced her decision to test political waters.
GST council deliberations ended without decision on

tax structure
The GST Councils third round of deliberations ended without a decision on the
rates structure after most States objected to a proposal to levy an additional cess on
demerit goods.
The proposal from the Centre that triggered objections was for the imposition of a
cess over and above the Goods and Services Tax on ultra luxury and demerit goods
such as big cars, aerated beverages and tobacco products.
Finance Minister told that the GST Council comprising Ministers from all the
States and headed by him will meet next on November 3-4 to decide on the GST
rates structure.
The Centre had proposed the cess as a means to finance the compensation it will
have to pay States.


Railway stations to be developed under Smart city plan

You cant have a smart city without a smart railway station. Keeping that in mind,
more than 500 railway stations in the country will smarten up with better passenger
amenities, easy access and integrated public transport hubs.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed between the Urban Development
Ministry and the Railways, expects to redevelop railway stations and surrounding
areas under the Smart City plan.
To begin with, 100 railway stations and an adjoining area of 300-800 acres would be
redeveloped in the Smart Cities and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban
Transformation (AMRUT) Cities plans.
At present, railway stations in 10 cities could be taken up for the redevelopment
with the involvement of the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC).
They are Varanasi, Sarai Rohilla (Delhi), Bhubaneswwar, Lucknow, Varnasi, Jaipur,
Kota, Thane, Margao (Goa), Tirupati and Puducherry.
Mr. Prabhu said that countries like Germany, France, Japan, South Korea, the U.K.
and Belgium have shown interest in the redevelopment of railway stations.
A meeting of domestic and overseas bankers will be organised next week to discuss
the financing of these redevelopment projects.
The scope of the MoU will be extended to over 500 cities in time. The cost of
redeveloping about 500 acres in the Smart City Plans of 60 approved cities is
approximately Rs. 1,500 crore.
The validity of the MoU is five years and can be extended with the consent of both
the ministries.
NCW chief said Triple talaq a highly misused custom

National Commission of Women (NCW) Chairperson Lalitha Kumaramangalam said
that triple talaq was a highly misused custom and it should be scrapped to protect
the rights of Muslim women.
Triple talaq is not a political issue. It is an effort to protect the rights of Muslim
women. It cannot be linked to the Uniform Civil Code. It has nothing to do with it,
she said.
The NCW chief said she had received several representations from Muslim women
who said they felt disempowered because of the practice of triple talaq.
Asked about the practices followed by other religions, she said: Its not a comparison
of religious laws and customs.
Banking sector hit by one of the biggest security breach

With India hit by one of its biggest financial security breaches compromising
hundreds of thousands of debit cards, customers need to be doubly vigilant.
Opening the wrong attachment can also introduce a malware to your system. Never
view, open or copy email attachments unless you are expecting the email and trust
the sender.
The law is very clear. All banks are intermediaries under the Income Tax Act. Under
Section 79 of the Act they are mandated to do due diligence.

In case banks are negligent in doing this, leading to a loss, it is the banks that will
have to bear the brunt of the loss. However, a bank may not be liable if it asks the
customer to change his or her PIN but the customer chooses to ignore the advice.
Food securtiy related issues still on WTO agenda

The World Trade Organization (WTO) head, Roberto Azevdo, has said no member
country has sought long-standing issues, including food security-related, to be taken
off the negotiating table of the Doha Round.
Agriculture, is a key priority for developing countries. Progress on these issues will
be difficult but I think that with fresh thinking, open-mindedness, and a renewed
spirit of flexibility, anything is possible.
The main objective of the Doha Round negotiations unveiled in November 2001
is to improve the trading prospects of developing nations. There are fears that
the development agenda is being diluted.
Government will relax the conditions for farmers to

kill wild boars
The Kerala government will relax the conditions for farmers to kill wild boars
attacking their crops.
Threat posed by wild animals to crops and humans had forced the government to
think of relaxing the conditional permit for farmers to shoot wild boars raiding crops
in areas bordering the forests.
Pointing out that the wildlife population in the State was going up, he said habitat
loss, climate change and farming in areas bordering forests were primarily
responsible for wild animals venturing into human settlements.
Forests in Kerala were home to 6,177 elephants, 48,034 wild boars, 136 tigers, 50,000
monkeys and 44,000 deer.
Efforts were on to complete the work on elephant trenches, biofencing, granite walls
and electrified fences and an SMS-based early warning system had been put in place
in Wayanad, Munnar and Aralam.
Pakistan warned India against Indus water treaty

voilation
Pakistan warned appropriate action if India violated the Indus Water Treaty and
said it was closely monitoring the situation, amid reports that New Delhi might
revisit the key water sharing accord.
Pakistan was keeping a close eye on the situation, Radio Pakistan quoted him as
saying. Mr. Zakarias remarks come amid reports that India may review the 56-yearold Indus Water Treaty.
He said Pakistan was highlighting Indian brutalities in Kashmir at world fora and
there had been very substantive outcome of these efforts but the international
community remained concerned about the situation.
Responding to a question, he claimed that India violated ceasefire on the Line of
Control for more than 90 times this year.


He also termed the Indian treatment to Pakistani artistes very disappointing and
highly regrettable as he deplored Indias decision to use SAARC for its political
ambition, according to the report.
Situation remains tense across India Pakistan borders

The Border Security Force (BSF) have killed at least seven Pakistan Rangers personnel
in Hiranagar, Jammu, in retaliation for a sniper attack that injured one of their men
along the International Border.
The sniping incident came after a lull of almost 15 months. Officials cautioned that it
was a worrying development as the 192 km IB in Jammu had not witnessed any
cross-border firing even after the September 29 strikes.
This is also the first time such heavy casualties have been inflicted on the Rangers in
the past five years. Deaths had been confirmed by reports of their observation posts
and by intercepts of Pakistani wireless communication.
The BSF also asked district officials to make necessary arrangements if villages along
the border need to be evacuated in the event of shelling and firing from Pakistan.
DMRC to come up with new smart cards in wrist watches, wrist bands etc.
If you are a Delhi Metro user, you will be able to wear your travel smart card from
next month. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is going to come up new
smart cards in the shape of wrist watches, wrist bands and mobile covers.
These merchandise will work the same way as the smart card but it will mean that
you will not have to carry a smart card separately the way you carry a credit or debit
card.
Though the DMRC did not reveal how much these wrist watches, wrist bands or
mobile covers will cost, it said the wrist watches would be affordable and other
merchandise will be sold at a nominal rate.
The idea behind the chip based merchandise is that commuters wouldnt have the
hassle of carrying around a smart card separately because these merchandise double
up as utility items.
UP saw maximum human rights violations

Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of cases of human rights violation lodged by
the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in the past year, with 44 per cent
of the total number of cases registered with the NHRC pertaining to the State.
As per data released, a total of 1.05 lakh cases were lodged based on complaints
from the public, intimation from the police and prison authorities, and the
Commission taking suomotu cognisance. Of these, 46,575 cases were from U.P.
In fact, the number of cases from Uttar Pradesh was more than total number of cases
from the next five States combined Odisha, Haryana, Delhi, Bihar and Rajasthan.
That said, it must be noted that Uttar Pradeshs population 19.98 crore as per the
2011 Census is more than the populations of Odisha, Haryana, Delhi and Bihar
put together.
U.P. also had the most number of deaths in judicial custody 401 out of a total of
1,757. It is also the State with the highest number of deaths in police custody 27 of
the total 192 cases.

With respect to cases from across the country, the NHRC disposed of 1.11 lakh cases
from October 2015 till September 2016.
The NHRC gave directions in 12,588 of these cases, whereas it transferred 22,252
cases to the State Human Rights Commissions.
PM says sustained fight on corruption and Black money

has been made
Using the analogy of surgical strikes, PM Modi wondered what would have
happened if the government had adopted similar strategy in the recent campaign
against black money, which saw declaration worth Rs. 65,000 crore.
Now think, Rs. 36,000 crore that was leaking has been stopped [by direct benefit
transfer], and Rs. 65,000 crore of black money is unearthed, together it is Rs one lakh
crore.
And this Rs 1 lakh crore has been brought back without launching surgical strikes.
If we do surgical strikes [in this area], you can imagine what all will come out, the
Prime Minister said.
Mr. Modi said he had put up a sustained fight against corruption since he took
charge.
Mr. Modi, speaking at a camp to distribute assistive devices to over 8,000 Divyangs
(differently-abled persons) here, also criticised past governments for not doing
enough for the disabled.
PM said, Knowingly or unknowingly, this country has remained insensitive towards
the Divyangs. The government buildings only had facility for healthy persons.
Since 1992 till 2014, only 56 such camps for distributing assistive devices for Divyangs
were organised. After this government came, 4,500 such programmes were held,
Mr. Modi said.
In the Central government, I came to know that 16,500 posts for Divyangs were
vacant. I told my Ministers to fill up these vacant posts. I can say with satisfaction
that 14,500 such posts have been filled up, Mr. Modi said.
Govt formed a committee to keep a close watch on the

bird flu
The Central Government has formed a three-member committee to keep a close watch
on the bird flu situation with 24 deaths being reported due to the virus.
The move comes even as the Delhi government maintained that there was no threat
to human beings from the bird flu scare.
Delhi Animal Husbandry Minister Gopal Rai said H5N8 virus was found in the
samples of three of eight birds which had died recently at the Delhi Zoo and not the
H5N1 virus, which is more dangerous.
The Union Environment Ministry noted that a constant vigil was being kept around
the national zoological parks.
The Central Governments Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries
added that a new bird flu virus subtype, H5N8, had been confirmed in samples
from the Gandhi Zoological Park in Gwalior.

Previously, the Delhi government shut down the Hauz Khas Deer Park amid bird
flu scare, and cancelled leaves of all officials of the Delhi Animal Husbandry
Department.
He added that the Delhi government had started a helpline number (011-2389 0318)
where citizens could report cases of bird flu and seek help.
Rajasthan has promulgated an ordinance for

constituting a new OBC Commission
Rajasthan has promulgated an ordinance for constituting a new Other Backward
Classes (OBC) Commission, two days after the High Court ordered the dissolution
of the previous one because it was not backed by legislation.
But the ordinance, which was promulgated after Governor Kalyan Singh gave his
approval, has nominated the chairperson, member-secretary and members of the
previous commission to the new body.
High Court directed the government to constitute a new commission, backed by
legislation, by January 15, 2017, and stopped the payment of salary and allowances
to the commission members.
The prompt decision to give statutory backing to the commission will help to continue
the survey to assess the condition of Jats in Bharatpur and Dholpur districts so as to
give them the OBC status.
Sandesh for Soldiers started by PM

Foregrounding the tensions on the border, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched
a campaign for jawans in the Army and the paramilitary forces, called Sandesh
(message) for Soldiers, in the run-up to Deepavali.
In a video on the NaMo app, Mr. Modi, appearing for the first time in a video
promoting a cause, urged Indians to write to MyGov.in and NaMo app as a measure
of solidarity with soldiers.
PM and CJI address global conference on arbitration

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur shared the
dais and mutually agreed that India is a bright spot in the global economy.
But the top judge, in a reality check, pointed out that India continues to be one of the
lowest ranked in the Ease in Doing Business list of countries.
He said foreign investors are still wary of Indias labyrinthine and delayed justice
delivery mechanism.
We have over 3,000 foreign companies with operations in India. In 2015-16, there
has been a 29 percent increase in foreign direct investments.
We wish to overtake China and the United States by 2050... Yet we are ranked 130
among a total 189 countries in the Ease of Doing Business, Chief Justice Thakur
said at a global conference on arbitration organised by NITI Aayog.
Indias school education system is under-performing

Data from new research on female literacy show that Indias school education system
is under-performing in terms of quality when compared to its neighbours, Pakistan,

Bangladesh and Nepal.
The proportion of women who completed five years of primary schooling in India
and were literate was 48 per cent, much less than 92 percent in Nepal, 74 per cent in
Pakistan and 54 per cent in Bangladesh.
The data also revealed that, female literacy rates went up by one to 15 per cent after
completing two years of schooling. Corresponding numbers for Pakistan and Nepal
were three to 31 per cent and 11 to 47 per cent respectively.
Around the world, female literacy rates are improving. However, it is not clear if
that is because of improvement in school quality, the study says. India ranks low in
global indices of female literacy as well.
If countries are ranked by the earliest grade at which at least half of the women are
literate a proxy for quality of learning India ranks 38th among the 51 developing
countries for which comparable data is available.
Indonesia, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Tanzania all rank higher than India. Ghana is
placed at the bottom. According to this study, just seven per cent of female students
in Ghana can read after attaining their sixth grade.
Gorkha Rifles bagged the gold medal in the Cambrian

Patrol Competition
The team of 2/8 Gorkha Rifles of the Army bagged the gold medal in the Cambrian
Patrol Competition in Wales, U.K.
The competition saw 121 teams, including 40 international teams, converging on the
harsh mountains of Wales to square off over 72 hours, during which they are put
through a challenging set of tactical problems.
Not making the task any easy is the extreme climatic conditions that have to be
endured, says an Army statement.
Greyhounds and the Special Operation Group

neutralised 24 members of CPI(M)
In a coordinated joint operation by the elite anti-Naxal strike force of Andhra Pradesh,
the Greyhounds and the Special Operation Group of Odisha, 24 members of the
banned CPI (Maoist) including a few top leaders, were shot dead.
This is the biggest blow the police have inflicted on the Maoists in a single operation
in this area. Earlier, in the Kopparadangi encounter, 17 Maoists (then with Peoples
War Group) were killed.
Though the DGP of AP N. Sambasiva Rao claimed that routine combing party chanced
upon the Maoist camp and an exchange of fire took place, sources in the police say
that it was a planned operation.
Odisha Police had the information of the Maoist camp and sought the help of the
Greyhounds.
Haji Ali Dargah Trustallowed women to enter the

sanctum sanctorum
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conceded before the Supreme Court that it has resolved to allow women to enter the
sanctum sanctorum of the famed dargah in Mumbai on a par with men.
The foundations of the value of equality are deeply-rooted in the structure of Islam,
the value of equality is not simply a matter of constitutional rights or agreement of
noblemen or condescending charity, the Trust said in an affidavit.
The affidavit said the Trust believes in the complete equality of men and women as
envisaged in Islam and to give effect to the said principle of equality have decided
that both men and women shall be allowed to enter the room.
PM Modi condemned triple talaq

Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly condemned triple talaq, arguing that in the
21st century, the lives of Muslim women cannot be allowed to be ruined by the
contentious custom.
He appealed to the media not to give the debate on the issue a Hindu-Muslim
colour, while calling for an informed discussion on the issue with experts and
intellectuals from the Muslim community.
Hitting out at Opposition parties, Mr. Modi said he was shocked that they were
hell-bent on committing injustice to women in the 21st century, in their lust for
[the] vote bank.
Mr. Modi raised the issue of triple talaq among Muslims while condemning the
practice of female foeticide among Hindus, stressing that sisters, mothers and
daughters should be protected irrespective of community or religion.
Though Mr Modi has made veiled references to the issue of triple talaq during his
Dasara speech in Lucknow, the Bundelkhand rally was the first time he has directly
expressed views on the rights of Muslim women in the ongoing debate.
He said the debate on triple talaq must engage the intellectuals and experts from the
Muslim community.
President wants world leaders to come together

against terrorism
President Pranab Mukherjee asked world leaders to come together to defeat the
menace of terrorism, which has no ideology and only believes in wanton
destruction of humanity.
Terrorism has no ideology except the wanton destruction of humanity. We need to
deal with this menace in order to leave a safer world for the coming generations, he
said.
The President said global governance was not just about maintaining peace as there
were many challenges that needed to be tackled.
Manifold challenges are staring at us such as poverty, hunger, disease and
exploitation of the resources of mother earth, he said, adding global governance
was a concept that had come to acquire increasing significance today.
Poverty eradication, environmental preservation of our planet, maintenance of peace,
social inclusion etc. are at once the objectives of global governance and challenges
to overcome.


Rajasthan and UNICEF starts a drive to end child

marriages
Under the banner of Sajha Abhiyan of the Rajasthan government, UNFPA and
UNICEF, a district-level Abhiyan Yatra was flagged off in Dausa for complete
elimination of child marriages in the State.
Child marriage in Rajasthan continues to be much higher than the national average.
In order to address the issue, the State government, with the support of UNFPA and
UNICEF, has taken the lead in developing a comprehensive strategy and action plan
for doing away with the marriages of minor boys and girls.
As part of Sajha Abhiyan, multiple stakeholders, interventions and sectors are
converging to address child marriage in the State as a unified force.
The yatra will bring the community on a united platform to work towards making
the State child marriage-free. Yatra will wind its way through as many as 50 village
panchayats in the district to generate awareness among the rural populace.
A significant aspect of the yatra is that it would apprise the people of the ill effects
and harmful consequences of child marriage and convince them to get such marriages
nullified if they have taken place in their families and neighbourhood.
CBI will have a new Director of Prosecution

In May 2013 the Supreme Court, while hearing the Coalgate probe report, had
described the national agency for investigation and collection of criminal intelligence
information as a caged parrot speaking in its masters voice.
Come December 23, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) would have a brand
new Director of Prosecution with a nominal role for the Union government in the
selection of the candidate.
Thanks to new eligibility norms for appointment at the highest level in the agency,
the same goes for the post of CBI Director.
Following the directives of the apex court, the Centre now is to be entirely guided
by a panel headed by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).
The early 2013 landmark verdict of the Supreme Court deals with issues related to
the status of the CBI as well as the CVC, procedure on appointment of CBI Director
and the changed eligibility criteria for selection of the Director of Prosecution.
The apex court has said that henceforth the selection of the Director of Prosecution
shall be on the recommendation of the Central Vigilance Commission.
Apex court stayed away from Hindutva judgement

The Supreme Court has declined to check the devastating consequences of its
1995 judgment that Hindutva or Hinduism is a way of life and has nothing to do
with narrow fundamentalist Hindu religious bigotry.
A seven-judge Bench, led by Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur, clarified that the
Supreme Court is now examining only what constitutes corrupt electoral practice
under Section 123 (3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
The court said it would not be going into the larger issue of whether Hindutva meant
the Hindu religion.
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Specifically, the Constitution Bench is hearing arguments on whether it amounts to
a corrupt electoral practice if a candidate ropes in the services of religious leaders to
use their mass appeal to swing votes in his or her favour.
Justice Verma had concluded in 1995 that no precise meaning can be ascribed to
the terms Hindu, Hindutva and Hinduism; and no meaning in the abstract can
confine it to the narrow limits of religion alone.
Classifying Hindutva as a way of life of the people in the sub-continent, he dismissed
the idea of equating the abstract terms Hindutva or Hinduism with the narrow
fundamentalist Hindu religious bigotry.
CJI says freebies can't be camouflaged as welfare

measures
Is announcement of free colour TVs in election manifestos in return for votes a
corrupt practice?
In 2013, the Supreme Court replied that a promise in the election manifesto did not
amount to an electoral corrupt practice under the Representation of People Act (RPA).
The court was then deciding a challenge against the free distribution of 30,000 colour
TVs by the DMK after its victory in the 2006 Assembly polls. The partys manifesto
had promised TVs for every household.
Chief Justice T.S. Thakur, presiding over a seven-judge Constitution Bench,
contradicted the apex courts 2013 stand.
The Chief Justice did not mince words. He said promises like free TVs and money in
election manifestos were nothing short of bribery.
Chief Justice Thakur asked how instruments of amusement like free colour TVs could
be camouflaged as welfare measures by political parties.
The CJ made the observations while examining the question of whether Section 123(3)
of the RPA prohibited a candidate or his agent or any other person with the candidates
consent from appealing for votes or refrain from voting on the grounds of his religion,
race, caste, community or language.
Narendra Modi Scholarship for Muslim students

received enthusiastic response
The Narendra Modi Scholarship for Muslim students received enthusiastic response
from students in Aligarh and beyond.
The scholarship was constituted in May by an Aligarh-based group of Muslim
intellectuals, the Forum for Muslim Studies and Analysis (FMSA), and is meant for
the economically backward Muslim students.
Over 22,000 applications were received, claimed director of FMSA Dr.
JaseemMohammmad.
The largest chunk of the 15,956 applications came from girls. The applicants compete
for a total number of 100 annual scholarships of Rs. 5.000 each.
Narendra Modi Scholarship for Muslim Students was launched this year, considering
the weak economic condition of Indian Muslims because of which a large number of
Muslim children remain uneducated or fail to have higher education.
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The first volume of the proposed five volume biography was launched by the Prime
Minister himself on May 10.
Paul Beattys novel The Sellout, won the Man Booker

Prize
Paul Beattys novel The Sellout , a blistering satire about race in America, won the
Man Booker Prize, marking the first time a U.S. writer has won the award.
The five Booker judges, who were unanimous in their decision, cited the novels
inventive comic approach to the thorny issues of racial identity and injustice.
The Sellout drew ecstatic praise from critics and writers when it was published in
the U.S. last year, and it won the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction.
The novels narrator is an African-American urban farmer and pot smoker who lives
in a small town on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Brought up by a single father, a
sociologist, the narrator grew up taking part in psychological studies about race.
He becomes a slave owner to a willing volunteer, an elderly man named Hominy
Jenkins who once played understudy to Buckwheat on The Little Rascals , and seeks
to reinstate segregation in a local school.
Using scathing humor to address serious themes came naturally to Mr. Beatty, who
has said in interviews that he finds everything funny on some level. Still, hes reluctant
to call himself a satirist.
The competition for the Booker, which was first awarded in 1969, has been even
more intense in recent years after the prize was opened to any novel written in English
and published in Britain.
The committee, headed by L. Narasimha Reddy gave

report on OROP
A one-man judicial committee appointed to look into anomalies in the one rank, one
pension scheme for retired military personnel submitted its report to Defence
Minister.
The committee, headed by L. Narasimha Reddy, retired Chief Justice of the Patna
High Court, was appointed in last December for six months and was later given a six
month extension.
The judicial committee had held hearings in nearly 20 cities and towns across the
country and interacted with cross-sections of ex-servicemen and their associations..
The panel received 704 representations from individuals and various ex-servicemen
associations and had held extensive interactions with all stakeholders before
submitting its report, the Ministry statement added.
IMD is looking to transfer its data into the cloud

More than a century after becoming the countrys diviner of clouds to forecast the
annual monsoon, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) is looking to transfer
its massive troves of data into the cloud.
The purpose is to have more centralised control with its regional centres across the
country and to be able to make it easier for research arms to access weather-related
data.

IMD would require data storage in the order of 5 petabytes, according to a 2015
study in the Public Library of Sciences, roughly the amount of data that Twitter is
expected to consume in 2025.
Cloud-based storage usually means that organisations store their data on third-party
servers or access applications without physically storing them on their premises.
However, the IMD will locate its cloud on its Delhi campus, a kind of private
cloud.
Govt said no change in the existing equivalence of the

service ranks
Seeking to reassure the services on the issue of parity with their civilian counterparts,
the Defence Ministry said there had been no downgrading or any change in the
existing equivalence of the service ranks whatsoever.
The existing functional equivalence as clarified in 1991 and further reiterated in 1992,
2000, 2004 and 2005 has only been reaffirmed, the statement said.
In the letter, the Defence Ministry has defined the rank equation between a civilian
officer and a serving military officer based on duties and functional responsibilities.
Earlier, a Colonel was considered equivalent to a Director and so on, which had
created disappointment among the services.
SC says it will not give exhaustive list of dos and don't

sin political speeches
Asked to bar invocation of religion in political speeches, a seven-judge Constitution
Bench of the Supreme Court said it could not be expected to give an exhaustive
list of dos and donts to follow in political speeches.
The Bench, led by Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur, expressed this self-restraint
even as three BJP-ruled States Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan
submitted that religion can never be separated from society.
The Bench, which is examining a reference from a five-judge Bench on the 1995
Hindutva judgment of the apex court, said its mandate did not include going into
the permissibility of using religion in political speeches.
As he reserved the reference for judgment, Chief Justice Thakur continued to be firm
on the aspect that this Constitution Bench was not concerned with the question of a
total bar on religion in political speeches.
The enquiry undertaken by the Bench, he observed, was limited to determining if
the bar on invoking religion under Article 123 (3) of the Representation of the People
Act, 1951, in political speeches was limited to the religion of the candidate and his
agent or extended to the religion of the voters also.
Supreme court says Centre failed to deliver on its

assurance
Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur said the Centre failed to deliver on its assurance
that filling judicial vacancies is its topmost priority, accusing the government of
trying to choke justice by not appointing judges.

In Karnataka HC, an entire floor of courts are locked [up] because there are no
judges. Once we had a situation where we had judges but no court rooms. But now
there are court rooms but no judges, Chief Justice Thakur said.
He said no action had been taken for the past nine months since a Constitution Bench
scrapped the NJAC law and asked the government to frame a new Memorandum of
Procedure (MoP) for Judicial Appointments.
CJI said that in Allahabad HC, the Collegium had recommended 18 judges for
appointment; the government chose eight out of them and now wants only two of
those.
The judicial strength is now 464 out of a total sanctioned strength of 1079 judges in
24 High Courts.
In the Supreme Court, the number of judges is down to 26 out of a total sanctioned
strength of 31. With Justices Anil R. Dave and S.K. Singh retiring in November 2016,
the number would again come down to 24.
PM Modi will spend Diwali with soldiers of the ITBP

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will spend Diwali with soldiers of the Indo-Tibetan
Border Police (ITBP) at Mana post in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand.
He will be visiting some areas near the India-China border as well as worshipping
at the Badrinath Temple.
Prominent celebrities like film actor Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar as well as several
Union Ministers have sent messages tagging Prime Minister Modi during the course
of this campaign.
Delhi police have arrested visa agent in connection with

Pak espionage ring
The Delhi police have arrested a Rajasthan-based visa agent in connection with the
alleged Pakistan espionage ring busted earlier this week.
It is alleged that he was in touch with Mehmood Akhtar, the now expelled Pakistan
High Commission official who is accused of being the recipient of military secrets,
for the past few years.
Police said they will try to recover data from a phablet purportedly seized from
Shoaibs possession.
He had allegedly tried to damage the device when police in Jodhpur detained him.
PM celebrates Diwali with ITBP men

PM Modi said Rs. 5,500 crore has been allocated for implementing the OROP scheme,
an issue that had been hanging fire for the last 40 years.
He lauded the valour and sacrifice of the armed forces amid tension on the border
with Pakistan.
Mr. Modi was celebrating Deepavali with Army and ITBP men in Sumdo in Himachal
Pradeshs Kinnaur district.
Dedicating the festival to the armed forces personnel, he said he fulfilled the
promise made to ex-servicemen on the One Rank, One Pension scheme.

In the wake of the ongoing unrest in Kashmir Valley, he said: Unity in diversity is
our strength.
It is the responsibility of every citizen and all governments to forge unity and curb
separatist tendencies to save the country.
Deepavali was celebrated for the first time at the United

Nations
Deepavali was celebrated for the first time at the United Nations, with the world
bodys imposing headquarters here lit up on the occasion of the Indian festival of
lights.
The facade of the U.N. headquarters was illuminated in bright hues and the words
Happy Diwali, along with the image of a traditional diya, were projected onto the
building.
Lighting up @UN lights up for #Diwali for 1st time, Indias Ambassador to the
U.N. Syed Akbaruddin tweeted.
It is for the first time that the Indian festival of lights is being celebrated at the world
body after the U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution in December, 2014, that
acknowledged the significance of Diwali.
From 2016 onwards, Diwali was made an optional holiday for the U.N., Indias
Permanent Mission to the world body said in a special video message.
Earlier in June, the U.N. building was lit up on the occasion of the International
Yoga Day, with images of Yoga postures projected on the imposing headquarters.
Oceans are responsible for ice ages

Oceans may be responsible for making the Earth move in and out of ice ages every
100,000 years, finds a study.
According to a paper published in the journal Geology , oceans sucking carbon
dioxide (CO2) out of the atmosphere may have triggered this phenomena.
By studying the chemical make-up of tiny fossils on the ocean floor, the team
discovered that there was more CO2 stored in the deep ocean during the ice age
periods at regular intervals every 100,000 years.
This suggested that extra carbon dioxide was being pulled from the atmosphere
and into the oceans at this time, subsequently lowering the temperature on the Earth
and enabling vast ice sheets to engulf the Northern Hemisphere.


International
US Presidential candidate Clinton concerned over
Nuclear weapon in Pak
U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has expressed concern over
the possibility of Pakistans nuclear weapons falling into the hands of jihadists, which
she said was a threatening scenario, according to a media report.
Pakistan is running full speed to develop tactical nukes in their continuing hostility
with India, the former Secretary of State told a close door fundraiser in Virginia in
February, The New York Times reported.
Such remarks from the former secretary of state gains significance in view of an
interview of Pakistani Defence Minister Khwaja Muhammad Asif to the local TV
channel in which he threatened to unleash nukes against India.
European Union ratifies Climate deal

European Union ministers approved the ratification of the Paris Agreement at a
historic meeting of the Environment Council in Brussels. This decision brings the
Paris Agreement closer to entering into force.
The 28 EU member nations together account for close to 12 per cent of global
greenhouse gas emissions.
Their addition will take the cumulative emissions of ratifying parties well beyond
the 55 per cent minimum required for the treaty to enter into force.
The Paris treaty had already crossed the first condition of 55 countries ratifying the
treaty to enable its entry into force on September 21 at the UN Secretary-Generals
special ratification ceremony organised at the UN headquarters.
Thirty one countries submitted their ratification instruments during that ceremony.
As of now, 61 countries, accounting for almost 48 per cent of global emissions have
ratified the deal. India, which accounts for 4.1 per cent of global emissions, has agreed
to ratify the deal on October 2.
Together with the EU, the total global emissions covered by ratifying parties will
make the treaty ready to enter into force, 30 days after all the agreed parties submit
their ratification instruments.
US warns Pakistan about Nuclear posturing

The United States has conveyed to Pakistan that nuclear threats are not acceptable, a
senior State Department official, who did not want to be named, said.
The message was conveyed after Pakistans Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad
Asif said twice in the span of a week that his country could use tactical nuclear
weapons against India.
The U.S is concerned about the safety of Pakistani nuclear weapons otherwise also,
the official said The safety of these weapons is always a concern for us. So we are
always monitoring it, regardless of what they said on this particular occasion,.
Meanwhile, State Department spokesperson Mark Toner said the U.S Secretary of

State John Kerry is talking to the Indian leadership to ensure that the situation does
not escalate.
were very concerned about the situation there. We dont want to see it escalate any
further. And as part of that concern, the Secretary is certainly engaged and talking to
Indian leadership senior Indian leadership, Mr. Toner said.
Mr. Toner said: I would just say nuclear-capable states have a very clear responsibility
to exercise restraint regarding nuclear weapons and missile capabilities. And thats
my message publicly and thats certainly our message directly to the Pakistani
authorities.
YoshinoriOhsumi won the Medicine Prize Nobel

YoshinoriOhsumi of Japan won the Nobel Medicine Prize for his pioneering work
on autophagy a process whereby cells eat themselves which when disrupted
can cause Parkinsons and diabetes.
A fundamental process in cell physiology, autophagy is essential for the orderly
recycling of damaged cell parts and understanding it better has major implications
for health and disease, including cancer.
Researchers first observed during the 1960s that the cell could destroy its own contents
by wrapping them up in membranes and transporting them to a recycling
compartment called the lysosome.
A discovery that earned Belgian scientist Christian de Duve a Nobel Medicine Prize
in 1974.
It was de Duve who coined the term autophagy, which comes from the Greek
meaning self-eating.
Mr. Ohsumis findings opened the path to understanding the importance of
autophagy in many physiological processes, such as how the body adapts to
starvation or responds to infection.
EU struck deal with Afghanistan to take back migrants

The EU said it has struck a tentative deal with Afghanistan to take back migrants
ahead of a conference in Brussels aimed at securing international financial aid for
the war-ravaged nation.
However, European Union (EU) officials have denied that aid pledges would depend
on the Kabul government accepting the return of tens of thousands of Afghans from
an overstretched Europe.
EU member states endorsed the plan to pave the way for signing the deal in the runup to the Brussels aid conference.
Like other parties to international treaties, the EU is legally obliged to admit people
fleeing war and persecution.
After EU vote Paris climate deal set to come into force

In a historic vote held at the plenary session of the EU Parliament in Strasbourg, a
majority of the members voted in favour of ratifying the Paris Agreement.
The vote paved the way for the entry into force of the Agreement in November this
year, with 610 out of 678 Parliament members voting in favour of the ratification.
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As per the rules of the Agreement, adopted in Paris last year, the cumulative
emissions of the ratifying parties must cross the minimum required threshold of 55
per cent of global emissions for it to enter into force.
Accounting for approximately 12 per cent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
globally, the EU-28 nations will add to the 52 per cent of global emissions that the 62
ratifying parties have covered already.
Only seven EU nations France, Germany, Malta, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria and
Portugal have ratified the Paris Agreement at the national level.
However, after the EU submits its instrument of ratification, the member nations
will work on following the requisite procedures back at home.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos won the

Nobel Peace Prize
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos won the Nobel Peace Prize for his
resolute efforts to end more than five decades of war in his country, despite voters
shock rejection of a historic peace deal.
The award was unexpected after voters rejected the terms of the landmark accord
Mr. Santos clinched last month with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC) leader Rodrigo Londono.
The Norwegian Nobel committee rewarded Mr. Santos for his resolute efforts to
bring the countrys more than 50-year-long civil war to an end.
The deal, signed on September 26 after nearly four years of talks, was supposed to
be ratified following an October 2 referendum but voters shot down the agreement,
leaving the country teetering between war and peace.
Inter-Services Intelligence chief to be replaced

Chief of Pakistans powerful spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Lt. Gen.
Rizwan Akhtar, is likely to be replaced within the next few weeks, a media report
said. Lt. Gen. Akhtar was appointed the Director-General of ISI in September 2014
and took office in November 2014, when he replaced the retiring Lt. Gen.Zaheer-ulIslam.
The appointment is normally for a three-year period unless the ISI chief retires or is
replaced by the Army chief.
The Nation , citing a security official privy to the development, reported of the
impending change of command and said preparations were under way for the
changes.
The corps commander of Karachi, Lt Gen Naveed Mukhtar, is most likely to replace
him.
The Colombia conflict has claimed more than 260,000 lives and left 45,000 missing
over five decades, drawing in several Leftist guerilla groups, right-wing
paramilitaries and drug gangs.
The Ethiopian government has declared a state of

emergency
The Ethiopian government has declared a state of emergency effective immediately

following a week of anti-government violence that resulted in deaths and property
damage across the country, especially in the restive Oromia region.
In a televised address, Ethiopias Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said the
state of emergency was declared because there has been enormous damage to
property.
Five Indian-Americans are among the richest in the

U.S.
Five Indian-Americans are among the richest in the U.S., according to a Forbes list of
400 people which has been topped by Microsofts co-founder Bill Gates for the 23rd
year in a row.
Symphony Technology founder Romesh Wadhwani; co-founder of Syntel Bharat

Neerja Desai; Airline veteran Rakesh Gangwal; entrepreneur John Kapoor; and Silicon
Valley angel investor Kavitark Ram Shriram have featured in Forbes The Richest
People In America 2016 list.
Tension between China and US continues to grow

Beijing rapped Washington for its interventions in Asia, as tensions grow between
the two powers over territorial disputes in the South China Sea and how to handle
increasingly erratic North Korea.
Washington has conducted freedom of navigation operations close to artificial islands
Beijing has built in the South China Sea.
They have also agreed to deploy a missile defence system in South Korea following
repeated nuclear and missile tests by Beijing's ally Pyongyang.
China says it has rights to almost the entire region, while Brunei, Malaysia, the
Philippines and Vietnam, and Taiwan all have rival claims.
In July, an international tribunal said almost all of Beijings claims have no legal
basis, a decision China attacked as biased and vowed to ignore.
Washington argues that Chinas moves pose a challenge to freedom of navigation
and has sought to challenge its claims by dispatching military ships and aircraft to
the area.
Syria issue disturbs Russia and West relations

President Vladimir Putin cancelled a planned visit to France and British Foreign
Secretary Boris Johnson called on anti-war campaigners to protest outside the Russian
embassy in London against the bombing of Syrian city of Aleppo.
French Foreign Minister said Mr. Putin cancelled the visit to Paris because he was
embarrassed about Russias bombing of Aleppo.
President Putin had been due in Paris on October 19 to inaugurate a spiritual centre
at a new Russian Orthodox church near the Eiffel Tower and open an exhibition of
artworks assembled by a Russian collector.
But French President Francois Hollande insisted Mr. Putin also took part in talks
with him about Syria, where Moscow is providing military support to the regime of
President Bashar al-Assad.
Russia has been waging a punishing aerial bombing campaign in Syria for more

than a year in support of Mr. Assads forces, part of a multi-front war that has claimed
some 300,000 lives and seen Moscow further estranged from the West.
Moscow blocked a draft French UN resolution calling for an end to air strikes on
rebel-held eastern Aleppo that have escalated in the last month, leaving hundreds
of people dead, including dozens of children.
Israel suspended its cooperation with Unesco

Israel suspended cooperation with Unesco, a day after the U.N. cultural agency
adopted a draft resolution that Israel says denies the deep, historic Jewish connection
to holy sites in Jerusalem.
Unescos draft resolution, uses only the Islamic name for a hilltop compound sacred
to both Jews and Muslims, which includes the Western Wall, a remnant of the biblical
temple and the holiest site where Jews can pray.
Israelis and many Jews around the world viewed it as the latest example of an
ingrained anti-Israel bias at the UN, where Israel and its allies are far outnumbered
by Arab countries and their supporters.
Israel captured East Jerusalem, with sites holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims, in
the 1967 war. Palestinians claim the territory as part of their future state, and its fate
is a central dispute
Jews refer to the hilltop compound in Jerusalems Old City as the Temple Mount,
site of the two Jewish biblical temples.
Muslims refer to it as the Noble Sanctuary, and it is home to the Al-Aqsa mosque
and the golden Dome of the Rock. It is the holiest site in Judaism and the third
holiest in Islam, after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.
Bangladesh-China relationship upgraded to strategic

partnership
Developments like government-to-government deals worth $24.45 billion and private
investment worth $13.6 billion, during Chinese Presidents milestone visit to Dhaka
upgraded the Bangladesh-China relationship to a strategic partnership.
However, it has also prompted a debate here on a possible tilt in balance vis a vis
Dhakas relations with New Delhi, which is all time high under Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina .
Dhaka has categorically said Mr. Xis visit would not have any negative impact on
its relations with other countries, including India.
The ruling Awami League feels Bangladesh needs both China and India to take
forward its aspirations for economic development. The partys General Secretary
Syed Ashraful Islam emphasised on the balance in the countrys foreign policy.
Bangladesh must be careful and maintain a balance among the powerhouses and
players in the region so that none feel aggrieved.
Russia announced an eight-hour humanitarian

ceasefire in Aleppo
Russia announced an eight-hour humanitarian ceasefire in Aleppo later this week,
as the EU warned that the Syrian regimes Moscow-backed assault on the city could
amount to war crimes.
The United Nations (UN) and European Union (EU) welcomed the announcement,
but said the planned pause in fighting needed to be longer to allow the delivery of
humanitarian aid.
In the latest violence, dozens of civilians including 12 members of the same family
were killed in heavy bombardment of rebel-held eastern sectors of the embattled
city, a monitoring group said.
Russia's announcement, to which there was no immediate reaction from rebels, came
as the EU condemned the ferocious air war waged on Aleppo over the past three
weeks.
Since the beginning of the offensive by the regime and its allies, notably Russia, the
intensity and scale of the aerial bombardment of eastern Aleppo is clearly
disproportionate, EU Foreign Ministers said in Luxembourg.
Russian and Syrian air forces have stopped bombing

Aleppo
Moscow announced that Russian and Syrian air forces have stopped bombing Aleppo
ahead of a brief truce, a move the Kremlin said showed goodwill as it faces
mounting criticism for backing a brutal regime offensive.
Russia said there would be an eight-hour humanitarian pause in the battered city,
a move welcomed by the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) which
nevertheless said the ceasefire needed to be longer to allow the delivery of aid.
The UN said it was waiting for safety assurances from all sides before going in with
critical humanitarian assistance for Aleppos desperate population.
The West has voiced increasing alarm at the situation in Aleppo, saying the ferocious
Russian-backed onslaught on the rebel-held east could amount to a war crime.
UK to play important role in EU till it is a member

Theresa May, Prime Minister of United Kingdom (U.K.) vowed that Britain will play
a full part in the European Union (EU) until it leaves.
Ms. May was to use the meeting in Brussels to update EU counterparts on her plan
to start formal exit talks by the end of March, paving the way for Britain to leave the
bloc by early 2019.
But as she arrived to take the seat, she made clear Brexit was not the only issue on
the table, calling for a robust and united EU response to Russias atrocities in
Syria.
EU president Donald Tusk repeated that there would be no negotiations before Britain
triggers Article 50 of the EUs Lisbon treaty, which begins a two-year countdown to
leaving.
Ms. Mays plan to trigger Article 50 by March, unveiled at her party conference earlier
this month, has been welcomed by European leaders.
But she angered many member states by stating her intention to limit EU migration
into Britain, while also seeking maximum freedom to operate in the EUs single
market.
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European leaders have repeatedly said the two demands are incompatible, and
warned London should expect to pay a heavy price for its decision to leave.
Pakistan to appoint a new Army chief in few days

The Pakistan government will appoint a new Army chief within a week or 10 days to
replace incumbent General Raheel Sharif who is poised to retire by end of November.
Gen. Sharif had announced several months ago that he will not seek a second term
unlike his predecessor General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani.
The government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been under pressure to rename
the successor of Gen. Sharif to end uncertainty.
Under the law, it is prerogative of the Prime Minister

to appoint the new Army chief.
Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar called on Sri Lankan President MaithripalaSirisena
on Sunday morning and discussed potential India-Sri Lanka partnerships in areas
such as transport, energy and infrastructure.
Visiting Indian delegation is to hold sector-wise meetings with their Sri Lankan
counterparts. On the agenda, official sources said, are discussions on likely
partnerships in the power sector using Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).
Following Sri Lankas decision this September to scrap an NTPC-aided power project
in the strategically-important Trincomalee, India has offered to partner the country
in LNG and solar power initiatives.
The Foreign Secretarys visit comes a week after Mr. Sirisena met Prime Minister
Narendra Modi in Goa, on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit, where India offered to
build a solar power plant in Trincomalee.
India and Sri Lanka are also negotiating a trade deal, the Economic and Technological
Cooperation Agreement (ETCA).
Iraq said no to Turkeys help in Mosul

Adispute between Iraq and Turkey has emerged as a dramatic geopolitical sideshow
to the complicated military campaign to retake Mosul, Iraqs second-largest city,
from the Islamic State (IS).
President of Turkey has insisted on a role in the battle for Mosul, trying to ramp up
an involvement in Iraq that has already alarmed the Iraqi government.
In response, the normally mild-mannered Iraqi Prime Minister, warned last week of
a military confrontation between Turkey and Iraq. If Turkish forces intervene in
Mosul, he said, they will not be in a picnic.
The rift is no mere diplomatic row; it is a stark example of the complete breakdown
in sovereignty of not just Iraq but Syria as well.
For almost a year, U.S. diplomats have sought to contain the crisis. They have
encouraged the Turks to respect Iraqs sovereignty and aid the fight against the IS by
carrying out activities under the umbrella of the U.S.-led coalition.
But Turkey has kept its troops in Bashiqa, a deployment the Iraqi government says
it never approved.
Turkey has a number of strategic reasons for maintaining a military presence in
northern Iraq.
It wants a bulwark against the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which is waging
an insurgency in southeast Turkey and keeps bases in the mountains of northern
Iraq.
Sri Lanka drafts new law to counter terrorism

Even as Sri Lanka drafts a new law to counter terrorism, human rights activists and
lawyers here fear it might be worse than the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) they
want repealed and replaced.
One of the key demands around regime change in Sri Lanka in January 2015
when former President MahindaRajapaksa was unseated was to repeal the PTA.
The PTA was enacted in 1979, under President J.R. Jayawardene, primarily to crush
the emerging armed struggle of Tamil youth protesting the states apparently
discriminatory policies.
Modelled on South Africas apartheid-era legislation and laws that the British used
against Irish militancy, the PTA became a permanent law in 1982.
Ever since Sri Lankan armed forces defeated the rebel Tigers in May 2009, bringing
a nearly-three decade-long war to an end, civil society groups have been campaigning
for repealing the PTA.
It was this question and mounting international criticism that pushed the government
to consider a new law to replace the PTA with, but the draft of the proposed legislation
has only reinforced old fears.
According to human rights activists, the draft policy and legal framework of the
counter-terror law, much like the PTA, have broad definitions that may infringe on
free expression and human rights activism.
For hundreds of families in the north, the PTA evokes unpleasant memories. The
Act was used indiscriminately during Sri Lankas war yearsthen the army would
round up Tamil-majority villages in the north
One of the few times that the Sri Lankan state evoked the Act in the south was during
the second JVP insurrection from 1987-89, to arrest revolting Sinhalese youth.
Russia will destroy all of its chemical weapons by the

end of 2017
A top Russian official has said his country will destroy all of its chemical weapons
by the end of next year, a year earlier than previously announced.
As a signatory of the international Chemical Weapons Convention, Russia already
has destroyed about 93 per cent of its chemical weapons, according to Russian
officials.
Russia had to build several plants in the past two decades to dispose of the worlds
largest chemical weapons arsenal.
Islamic State is trying to tap into already established

jihadist groups in Asia
The Dhaka caf siege and the recent attack at a police academy in Quetta in Pakistan
claimed by the IS indicate that the terror group is trying to tap into already
established jihadist groups for its operations in the subcontinent.
IS is trying to set up shop and grow (in the region), but it may be much harder for
them to do so today. This is mostly why we are seeing ISIS tap into already established
jihadi groups like LeJA in Pakistan and JMB in Bangladesh.
Despite its large Muslim population, South Asian has seen proportionally less IS
recruits travelling to Iraq and Syria than West Asia and South East Asia.
With some losses in Syria and Iraq, greater attention will be to foreign theatres, and
they will seek to ally themselves with established groups, simply because it is
operationally easy.
Italy struck with most powerful earthquake in three

decades
Italys most powerful earthquake in 36 years struck a new blow to the countrys
seismically vulnerable heart.
It measured 6.6 on the so-called moment magnitude scale.
Norcias 14th-century Basilica of Saint Benedict, built on the reputed birthplace of
the Catholic saint, was reduced to rubble.
India & The World

SAARC summit in Pakistan postponed after withdrawal
from various countries
Blaming India for derailing the SAARC Summit, Pakistan announced that the summit
in Islamabad will now be held on an alternative date, even as Sri Lanka joined others
in opposing the summit under the prevailing environment.
Nepal subsequently issued an official statement seeking an indefinite postponement
of the summit.
Sri Lanka joined India, Afghanistan, Bhutan and Bangladesh in demanding the summit
should not be held.
Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding, Sri Lanka condemns
terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and stresses in this regard the need to
deal with the issue of terrorism in a decisive manner.
Addressing the media in Delhi, Afghan envoy Shaida M. Abdali demanded that
SAARC should focus on counter-terror initiatives. Meanwhile, Ministry of External
Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted, We note Pakistans decision 2 postpone
SAARC Summit.
India would stresson trying to operationalise the Green

Climate Fund
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in Kozhikode on September 25 that India
would ratify the Paris climate deal.
The ratification document will be submitted at the offices of the UN Secretary-General
by Syed Akbaruddin, Indias Permanent Representative to the UN, or his
representative, said Environment Ministry officials.
It is still unclear what led India to alter its position dramatically from mere weeks
ago.
At the G20 summit in China last month, NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind
Panagariya said India wasnt ready in terms of the domestic actions required to
ratify, or at least commit to ratify, the Paris deal within 2016.
After Indias bid to enter the NSG was rebuffed by China in Seoul in June, the External
Affairs Ministry said, An early positive decision by the NSG would have allowed
us to move forward on the Paris agreement.
Mr. Dave said that at the climate talks in Morocco in November, India would stress
most on trying to operationalise the $100 billion corpus called the Green Climate
Fund committed by developed countries.
Fund will aid policy, projects and technology transfer as a buffer against the impact
of climate change. Only a fraction of it has been pledged so far.
The funds will help nations work on fulfilling their Intended Nationally Determined
Contributions (INDC) which aim to reduce carbon emissions through a host of
solutions.
Mr. Dave said that India has already completed 12 per cent of all pre-2020 Intended
National Determined Contributions (INDC), or the road map by which it will make
good on its commitments to reduce carbon emissions.
As part of its INDC plans, India had promised to bring down its emissions intensity,
or emissions per unit of the GDP, by at least 33 per cent by the year 2030 as compared
to 2005 levels.
India gets support of its old ally Russia

Days after it asked Islamabad to take effective steps to stop the activities of terrorist
groups on its territory, Russia welcomed the surgical strike by India, saying every
country had a right to defend itself.
Russias Ambassador to New Delhi Alexander M. Kadakin said his country had
always been with India in fighting cross-border terrorism.
Greatest human rights violations take place when terrorists attack military
installations and attack peaceful civilians in India. We welcome the surgical strike.
Every country has right to defend itself, the Russian Govt.said.
He assured India that it did not need to worry about the Russia-Pakistan joint military
exercise, saying it did not take place in the Pakistan-occupied Indian State of Jammu
and Kashmir.
Last week, a Russian Foreign Ministry statement said Russia stood for a decisive
struggle against terrorism in all its manifestations.
Sri Lanka joined the demand for regional organisation

to counter cross-border terrorism
Pushing for revising the agenda of SAARC, Sri Lanka on Wednesday joined the
growing demand that the regional organisation counter cross-border terrorism.
After a meeting with PM Modi, visiting Srilankas PM cited Sri Lankas experience
with war and terrorism, and warned that SAARC would become irrelevant without
addressing terrorism.
Cross-border terrorism might worsen if SAARC is thrown away, he said and added
that three countries out of the eight-member regional grouping was afflicted by
security problems. He, however cautioned against war.
Sri Lanka was the fifth country to issue a statement against holding the 19th SAARC
summit in Islamabad in November.
He said Sri Lankas decision against attending the summit was decided through a
process of democratic consultations, and highlighted that Sri Lanka was discussing
several options in shaping the South Asian regional order.
Indias preparation to deal with the emerging challenges figured in Mr.
Wickeremesinghes meeting with Mr. Modi and both sides discussed bilateral issues
such as Indias aid and technical support to Sri Lanka.
He said that in the midst of the crucial phase in South Asia, his country would
continue with the peace-building process that started following the end of the war
against the Tamil Eelam fighters.
Mr. Wickremesinghes demand on SAARC with a counter-terror focus follows India,
Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan citing cross-border terrorism, imposed war
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and interference from Pakistan.
India is Russias especially privileged strategic partner

says Russian President
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Russia remains one of Indias leading
suppliers of advanced weapons and defence technology as India is Russias
especially privileged strategic partner.
Mr. Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are expected to sign an agreement on
the delivery of S-400 Triumph anti-missile defence systems and other deals during
the BRICS Summit in Goa.
Russia has deployed the S-400, its most modern air defence system, for the bombing
campaign Syria.
Our countries actively collaborate in the military technical field. Russia remains in
the lead in terms of both direct supplies of most advanced weapons and military
equipment and conducting joint researches with India, as well as producing goods
for military purposes, Mr. Putin told.
He said many of the Russian projects in India had commercial importance and played
a social and economic role for the two economies.
The S-400 anti-missile system can track some 300 targets and shoot down around
three dozen simultaneously over a range of several hundred kilometres.
India has signed a series of key defence deals under the Modi government as part of
a $100-billion upgrade of its Soviet-era military hardware, making it an attractive
proposition for arms exporters.
Maldives quits the commonwealth

The Maldives angrily quit the Commonwealth on Thursday after years of wrangling
over its human rights record since the toppling of its first democratically-elected
leader four years ago.
The island nation said it had been treated unjustly and unfairly by the bloc, a
voluntary association of more than 50 countries, many of them former territories of
the British empire.
The Commonwealth put Male on notice after Mr. Nasheed stood down as President
in February 2012 and said he had been forced out in a coup.
It has since criticised the government over its crackdown on dissidents and its
controversial judiciary, and sent a special envoy to try to improve the archipelagos
rights record.
In its statement, the Maldives, which had previously threatened to pull out of the
bloc, accused the London-based Commonwealth Secretariat of interfering in its affairs.
The United States has said democracy is under threat in the strategically located
archipelago, which sits on key international shipping lanes.
A UN panel has also ruled that Mr. Nasheeds imprisonment last year was illegal
and ordered the regime of President Abdulla Yameen to pay him compensation.
Mr. Nasheed secured political asylum in Britain this year after travelling to London
for medical treatment while on prison leave from a controversial 13-year prison
sentence.
The country becomes the latest to leave the Commonwealth after Gambia which
quit in October 2013.
UN General Assembly appointed Antonio Guterres as

Secretary General
The UN General Assembly on formally appointed Antonio Guterres as the new
Secretary-General of the United Nations, replacing Ban Ki-moon.
The 193 member states adopted by acclamation a resolution appointing the former
Prime Minister of Portugal for a five-year term beginning January 1.
Mr. Guterres, who also served as UN refugee chief for a decade, is expected to play
a more prominent role than Mr. Ban, who will step down after two five-year terms.
Mr. Guterres won unanimous support from the UN Security Council during a vote
last week that capped the most transparent campaign ever held at the UN for the top
post.
He campaigned on a pledge to promote human rights and enact reforms within the
United Nations system, seen as clunky and too slow to respond to unfolding
disasters.
India likely to ink a deal on the S-400 Triumf long range

air defence system
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will raise Indias concerns regarding Russian
cooperation with Pakistan during the bilateral summit meeting.
Diplomats said the recent Russia-Pakistan military exercise was an isolated episode
but expressed the hope that as a special privileged partner Russia will address
Indias Pakistan-related concerns.
Mr. Putin said Russia was moving towards having a regional" approach to deal
with threats from South Asia.
India and Russia are likely to ink a deal on the S-400 Triumf long range air defence
system estimated to be worth Rs. 39,000.
The S-400 is considered one of the most advanced long range defence systems in the
world and can tackle all incoming airborne targets at ranges of up to 400 km.
The second deal likely to be signed is for a Joint Venture to be set up by Hindustan
Aeronautics Limited of India and Rostec State Corporation of Russia to manufacture
Kamov-226T utility helicopters in India.
It is understood that under the agreement, at least 200 helicopters would be produced
to replace the ageing Cheetah and Chetak fleets of the armed forces.
In addition, the FGFA, Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft is also expected to be taken
up during the summit.
Vice-President concluded three-day visit to Hungary

Vice-President Hamid Ansari concluded his three-day visit to Hungary and flew to
Algiers on the next leg of the two-nation trip.
He called on President Janos Andr at the presidential palace after a meeting with
the Speaker of the National Assembly, Laszlo Kover, at Parliament House in the
forenoon.
Vice-President drove down from Budapest to the quaint resort town of Balatonfured
and paid homage to the memory of Rabindranath Tagore who in 1926 spent a few
weeks there 90 years ago.
He was convalescing here for a few weeks after suffering a heart ailment during a
visit to Budapest, where he arrived on October 26. Tagore loved Hungary and has
written of it.
India declared its commitment to play role in energising

the Bay of Bengal community
India declared its commitment to play an asymmetric role in energising the Bay of
Bengal community that held its first global diplomatic outreach during the weekend
with the BRICS countries.
Diplomats said the response of BIMSTEC countries to Indias call for greater
engagement has rejuvenated the organisation, and diplomats are now duty-bound
to take the organisation to a cooperative future.
BIMSTEC-BRICS outreach eclipsed the SAARC event that was planned for Islamabad
in November but was postponed after several member countries withdrew, citing
cross-border terrorism and Pakistans interventionist policy.
However issues of unsettled borders, refugee issues and ethnic tension among
BIMSTEC member countries would pose a challenge to the grouping, especially the
Rohingya issue between Bangladesh and Myanmar, Nepalese refugees in Bhutan,
and also the Myanmar-Thailand border problems
Mr. Modi, in his speech welcoming the BIMSTEC leaders, laid down an entire array
of tasks for the members, including greater coordination in law enforcement, trade
and commerce and digital symmetry.
With 1.5 billion people and a combined GDP of $2.5 trillion, the countries of
BIMSTEC have shared aspirations for growth, development, commerce, and
technology.
India offered to help in reconciliation of Myanmar

India has offered to help in Myanmars national reconciliation effort, officials said
here, shortly after State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi began her first state visit to
India, with a meeting at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
During the meeting with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, the issue of
reconciliation came up again.
The Myanmarese leader received a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Ms. Swaraj conveyed condolences on Indias behalf for the terror attack of October 9
which led to a week of violence that claimed dozens of lives in Rakhine province of
Myanmar.
On October 16, Ms. Suu Kyi had expressed solidarity in the Goa BRICS-BIMSTEC
for Indias fight against terrorism.
Indias proposal for assistance came a day after the Ministry of External Affairs
announced that New Delhi is willing to play a more active role in stabilising and
unifying the Bay of Bengal community, including Myanmar.
India extended support to Myanmar

India extended support to Myanmar for a better connected future while welcoming
State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.
Both countries agreed to cooperate in security and strategic issues and signed three
agreements.
Both sides signed three agreements following a meeting between Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and Ms. Suu Kyi, to assist insurance, power and banking sectors.
Reflecting on the agreements, Mr. Modi said the power agreement would help create
a framework for advancing linkages between India and Myanmar.
The meeting between the two delegations was held three days after Ms. Suu Kyi
attended the BRICS-BIMSTEC meet in Goa where she spoke about the common
concern of terrorism.
Myanmars western province of Rakhine has been facing unrest since October 9 when
a major terror strike killed several security personnel. Subsequently a major military
campaign has begun to deal with the militants.
Mr. Modis comment on security cooperation between two countries came more
than a year after India carried out military operation against militants along the
Myanmar border.
Sino-Indian military exercise in Ladakh

India and China for the first time conducted military exercises in the state of Jammu
and Kashmir in Eastern Ladakh amidst the growing uneasiness in the bilateral
relationship.
The exercise comes in the backdrop of stalemate over India's multilateral
disagreements with China over blacklisting of terrorists at the United Nations and
membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
In 2010, China had refused to issue a visa to the Northern Army Commander Lt.
Gen. B.S. Jaswal as part of a high-level exchange saying he controlled a disputed
area.
This is the second joint tactical exercise under the China-India Cooperation 2016
and was held in the Chushul area, where the two countries fought a brief but intense
war in 1962.
The first exercise was held on the Chinese side in February in the area of Border
Personnel Meeting Hut at Chushul Garrison of Eastern Ladakh, along with Chinese
troops of Moldo Garrison.
A support scheme for the Nitaqat to help Indian

workers
A support scheme for the Nitaqat (Saudi-sation of the workforce), introduced by
Saudi Arabia this week, is expected to benefit a large number of Indian expatriates
facing retrenchment.
Particularly relieved are many Keralites whose jobs in shops and companies had
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According to the new support scheme, business establishments in yellow and red
categories can continue to employ the expatriates after paying a special monthly
fee.
As per the support scheme, an employer will have to pay a fee of 3,600 Saudi Arabian
Riyal (SAR) for avoiding the appointment of a Saudi citizen.
However, the higher the number of Saudis to be appointed, the more the fee to be
paid to the government. For every second Saudi national not appointed, the company
will have to pay SAR 4,200.
The support scheme has come at a time when there were fears among Indians about
a possible forced retirement at 60.
India and Russia called for collective action against

terrorism
Condemning double standards in the fight against terrorism, India and Russia
called for collective efforts to combat terrorism.
The remarks were made by Defence Minister and his Russian counterpart General
at the beginning of the 16th session of the Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental
Commission for military and technical cooperation.
Taking note of Russias efforts to eliminate terrorists in West Asia, Mr. Parrikar said
one of the key security challenges faced by India is that of cross-border terrorism.
Gen. Shoigu said that terrorists cannot go from being terrorists on Monday to being
moderate opposition with reference to the developments in Syria.
The Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement that Gen. Shoigu had invited Indian
specialists to participate in the Army-2017 international military and technical forum.
Negotiations to conclude the final agreements based on the Inter-Governmental
Agreements are now under way for five S-400 air defence systems and four Project
1135.6 follow-on Teg class stealth frigates.
The status of the ongoing negotiations for the joint development of the Fifth
Generation Fighter Aircraft was also reviewed.
India and Russia to bring back old dynamism

Seeking to bring the old dynamism back to their bilateral relations, India and Russia
have agreed on measures to broad-base military cooperation. They have reassured
each other on their evolving partnerships with other countries.
India has submitted a non-paper to the Russian side proposing a series of steps
such as more military-to-military dialogue, exercises, staff-level talks and joint
development.
India raised the issue of timely spares and support for the large number of Russian
military platforms in service.
The dialogue focussed on equipment, platforms, spares, upgrades, serviceability
and so on, and seven or eight working groups are engaged in them.
To emphasise the military-to-military cooperation, the Ministers agreed to rename
the commission Intergovernmental Commission on Military &Military-Technical
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Russia had agreed that Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. and others could procure spares
directly from Russian equipment manufacturers and not go through Rosoboronexport
to ensure quick service availability.

Economy
The centre is reconsidering a plan to widen the social
security net
The centre is reconsidering a plan to widen the social security net for workers by
bringing more factories under the provident fund coverage.
The Cabinet Secretariat has pointed out a few contradictions in the Labour Ministrys
proposal to amend the Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions
Act of 1952.
The Labour Ministry had proposed to bring down the threshold limit for coverage
of firms under the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to factories with at least 10
workers. At present, the EPF Act is applicable to factories with minimum 20 workers.
The proposal to decrease the threshold limit was found to be contradictory with
another proposal in the Act to give an option to workers to switch to the NPS, managed
by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority.
In his Union Budget 2015-16 speech, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had proposed
allowing EPF subscribers to opt for NPS and to make EPF contributions optional for
workers below a certain income threshold.
In June this year, Centre proposed making EPF optional for textile workers earning
less than Rs 15,000 a month as a part of a special package for the garments sector.
The governments proposal to bring factories with at least 10 workers under the EPF
fold can bring 50 lakh additional workers under the social security coverage.
At present, 8.7 crore workers are subscribing to the EPFO out of which around 3.77
crore workers have been making active contributions to their provident fund account
till 2015-16, data showed.
The proposal to cover factories with at least tenworkers under the Employee
Provident Fund Act was one of the recommendations of the 44th Indian Labour
Conference Session which was held in February 2012.
Govt received Bids of 53000 crore

The government received bids worth more than Rs.53,000 crore on the first day of
the biggest ever auction of the countrys telecom spectrum, according to sources. A
total of 2,300 MHz of spectrum worth Rs.5.6 lakh crore has been put up for sale.
Five rounds of bidding were completed. No bids were received for the much-touted
700 MHz band, which is being put up for auction for the first time.
While 700 MHz is considered most suitable for offering high speed broadband
services, industry players have been complaining about its high pan-India reserve
price of about Rs.11,500 crore per MHz.
Seven firms Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications, Aircel,
Reliance Jio Infocom, and Tata Teleservices are in the fray to acquire spectrum in
seven bands.
The government had raked in Rs 1.1 lakh crore from the last spectrum auction held
in March 2015. It had sold spectrum across 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz and 2,100
MHz bands.
To Boost BRICS trade, India will organise trade fair for

BRICS
To boost trade among the BRICS nations, India, for the first time, will organise a
trade fair for the bloc that also includes Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa.
Intra-BRICS trade in 2014 was just $297 billion less than five per cent of the $6.5
trillion worth trade that the five countries had with the world that year.
Goods imports from the world into the BRICS countries were $3.03 trillion in 2014,
while global goods exports of BRICS countries were $3.47 trillion that year.
The first BRICS Trade Fair & Exhibition will be held from October 12-14 in the national
capital, ahead of the BRICS political summit in Goa. This initiative was proposed by
Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year.
The focus of the Fair is Building BRICS Innovation for Collaboration. The Fair is
meant to give an impetus to intra-BRICS economic engagement. It will showcase
about 20 key sectors.
Besides established companies, start-ups and innovators from BRICS will showcase
their offerings to help technology solution providers share knowledge in dealing
with challenges in healthcare, education, energy efficiency, waste management etc.
Leaders from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand have
been invited for meetings at the Fair.
PMI in sept saw a slight dip

The country's manufacturing growth has lost momentum with the Nikkei India
Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), a measure of manufacturing
performance, falling to 52.1 in September from 52.6 in August.
This development comes just ahead of the RBI's monetary policy review on October
4 and amid India Inc. clamouring for an interest rate cut even as the central bank has
had concerns over rising inflation.
An index reading above 50 indicates an expansion, while a reading below 50 shows
an overall decrease or contraction.
Output is still rising at a decent clip and the sector looks likely to have delivered a
stronger contribution to GDP growth in Q2 2016-17, with the quarterly reading for
the PMIs Output Index up from 51.4 during April-June to 53.6.
Although inflation rates edged higher, these remain weak by historical standards
and indicate that one may still see the RBI loosening monetary policy in 2016.
Countrys services sector business activity softer in

September
The expansion of the countrys services sector business activity was softer in
September vis--vis August as the level of new business placed with Indian services
firms increased moderately.
The headline seasonally adjusted Nikkei India Services Business Activity Index
registered 52.0 in September, down from Augusts 43-month high of 54.7. An index
reading above 50 indicates an expansion, while below 50 a contraction.
Reflecting softer expansions in activity at both service providers and manufacturers,
the seasonally adjusted Nikkei India Composite PMI Output Index fell from Augusts
42-month high of 54.6 to 52.4 in September.
World Economic Forum says India and Pak problem

will not impact regional growth
The current standoff between New Delhi and Islamabad will not impact the growth
prospects of the South Asian region including India, the Geneva-based World
Economic Forum said.
Chief economist and member of the executive committee, WEF, said South Asia was
the worlds fastest growing region and there was no reason to believe that the recent
geopolitical tension would impact the regions growth prospects.
Director-general, CII, also said the economy and business in India and South Asia
would not get affected due to the tension at the India-Pakistan border.
India Economic Summits focus area includes the digital economy, travel & tourism,
energy, entrepreneurship, infrastructure, start-ups, skill development, gender equity,
urbanisation, boosting manufacturing and urbanisation.
India is examining mechanisms to offset higher

emissions
India is examining possible mechanisms to offset higher emissions from rising civil
aviation traffic, even as it has firmly opposed a global pact for curbing aviation
emissions proposed by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO.
Indias aviation sector is growing at 22 per cent to 23 per cent over the last year and
we expect it to continue to grow very rapidly over the next decade and a half, so
emissions would rise, said Minister of State for Civil Aviation
India has ratified the COP21 accord on climate change, but while approving its
ratification, the Union Cabinet had last week empowered the civil aviation ministry
to flag Indias concerns about the proposed aviation emissions pact.
Capping emissions from aviation would be unfair for developing countries where
the civil aviation market is not mature and the number of airlines is limited compared
to the developed world
BASIC countries had met in New Delhi and opposed the ICAO accord as one that
could be forced upon developing nations. Aviation is estimated to account for two
per cent of global greenhouse emissions.
But air travel volumes are expected to double by 2030. About 58 out of the 191
countries participating at the ICAO meet have backed the pact so far.
Indias foreign exchange reserves scaled to a new high

Indias foreign exchange reserves scaled a new high of $371.99 billion, up $1.223
billion for the week to September 30, as per the Reserve Bank data.
The increase was on account of a $1.468-billion surge in the foreign currency assets.
In the previous week, the reserves had risen by $1.166 billion to $370.766 billion.
Previously, they had touched a high of $371.279 billion in the week to September 9.
Foreign currency assets which are a major component of the overall reserves surged
by $1.468 billion to $346.71 billion, the Reserve Bank said.
Telecom secretary says despite low response in

spectrum govt will meet targets
With the government expected to receive about Rs.32,000 crore in the current fiscal
as upfront payment for the spectrum sold in the recently concluded auctions, Telecom
Secretary said the Telecom Ministry is on course to meet its budgetary target.
As per the Budget documents, the revenue target from the telecom sector this fiscal
is Rs.98,994.93 crore. Mr. Deepak said the figure agreed to between the two ministries
was Rs.70,000 crore, which they will be able to meet.
Experts had pointed out that the ministry is unlikely to meet its budget target as
premium 700 MHz band saw no demand, leading to revenues of Rs.65,789 crore for
the government as against spectrum worth Rs 5.6 lakh crore put on sale.
The 700 MHz spectrum was alone worth about Rs.4 lakh crore.
As per the Union Budget 2016-17, the government is expected to raise at least
Rs.64,000 crore from the auction of about 2,354.55 megahertz (MHz) of spectrum and
a total of Rs.98,995 crore from various levies and services in the telecom sector in the
current financial year.
The spectrum auction started on October 1 and ended on October 6, wherein about
965 megahertz (MHz) was sold out of 2,300MHz on offer.
The government will only collect about Rs.32,000 crore in the current financial year
as the rest will be spread over a period of 10 years after a 2-year-moratorium.
Government to give push to stalled hydro projects

In a bid to boost hydro power sector, the government is planning to formulate a
policy to push stalled projects and extend the benefits for renewable sources like
wind and solar to hydro projects beyond 25 MW capacity.
According to a proposal of the Power ministry, projects with capacities of up to 25
MW have been categorised as small hydro-power projects and would get the benefits
as extended to other renewable energy projects.
Hydro power potential in the country has been estimated at about 150 GW, with 50
GW coming from Arunachal Pradesh alone.
The Power ministry had earlier said that the planned hydro power generation capacity
addition of 4,371 MW out of the total target of 10,897 MW in the 12th Plan will not be
completed.
A federal appeals court reinstated a $120 million jury

award for Apple
A federal appeals court reinstated a $120 million jury award for Apple Inc. against
Samsung, marking the latest twist in the fierce patent war between the world's top
smartphone manufacturers.
The court said that there was substantial evidence for the jury verdict related to
Samsung's infringement of Apple patents on its slide-to-unlock and autocorrect
features, as well as quick links.
The three-judge panel did not follow U.S. Supreme Court limits on the scope of its
review, because it examined evidence outside the record of the case.
Representatives for Samsung and Apple could not immediately be reached for
comment.
Infringement of the quick links feature accounted for nearly $99 million of the
damages.
A new global pollution deal for aviation

A new global pollution deal for aviation is seen providing a long-term boost for
carbon markets by generating demand for environmental offset projects that now
often sell at rock-bottom prices, according to industry groups and analysts.
The carbon offsetting scheme, the first such industry-wide initiative, will start in
2021 with at least 65 participating countries in its voluntary phases, following the
deal's approval by the International Civil Aviation Organization, a U.N. agency.
Carbon credits now sell for 40 cents a tonne, but can rise to $10 a tonne depending on
the quality of the carbon-emission reduction project, which can range from efforts to
counter deforestation, to more efficient stoves.
Analysts estimate demand will rise closer to the deal's mandatory phase in 2027.
Govt will augment the process of development for 36

waterways
Moving to get its ambitious waterways project under way, the government has said
it will augment the process of development for 36 waterways in the first phase and
soon float tenders to invite bids for the project.
Draft feasibility reports have been received for 36 waterways.
Parliament had enacted a legislation allowing 106 rivers across the country to be
converted into National Waterways in addition to the existing 5 in a bid to boost
movement of goods and passengers via rivers and reducing transportation costs.
The minister said the environment-friendly and cost-effective mode of transportation
will reduce the logistics costs significantly from as high as 18 per cent in India.
Centre to consider approach to revitalise Indias retail

and wholesale trade
The Centre may soon consider a three-pronged approach to revitalise Indias retail
and wholesale trade.
This includes establishing a regulatory body for national internal trade (retail and
wholesale), a comprehensive domestic trade policy and a Board for Internal Trade.
policy, e-commerce entities providing marketplace shall not directly or indirectly
influence the sale prices of goods or services and shall maintain level playing field.
Currently there is no single regulatory body or ministry for domestic trade
comprising mainly non-corporate small businesses providing employment to an
estimated 460 million people.
There are about six crore such enterprises in the country with an annual turnover of
around Rs.30 lakh crore.
CAIT, which has conducted 46 conferences across India in the last two months on
creating awareness amongst the traders on Goods & Services Tax, has estimated that
about 70 per cent of the countrys retail trade has not been linked to computers and
digitised.
For a comprehensive policy, the government will take inputs from stakeholders such
as e-tailers, brick and mortar traders, direct sellers, hawkers, self-help groups and
digital technology providers, consumer associations, financial institutions as well
as payment networks.
The proposed policy, aiming to generate employment, improve financial inclusion
of small traders and ensure ease of doing business by eliminating multiplicity of
approvals, will also be linked to the NDA governments flagship initiatives such as
Digital India, Skill India and Make In India.
As an immediate measure, a panel led by NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant will soon
take up these issues as well and will look into issues related to taxation and online
pharmacies.
Centre formed a high-level committee to consolidate

the regulation of pension products
The Finance Ministry has set up a high-level committee to consolidate the regulation
of pension products that is currently being done by three different watchdogs
including the insurance and stock market regulators.
While the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) was set
up with the intent of regulating all pension products, insurers and mutual funds
continue to sell pension products outside its watch, creating confusion among
consumers looking to build a retirement nest egg.
The move to set up a panel was made after the issue was flagged at recent meetings
of the Financial Stability and Development Council chaired by Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley.
Pension products floated by insurance companies come under the purview of the
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) while those sold by mutual
funds are overseen by the SEBI.
The Centre has formed a committee to look into the issue of bringing these
companies which are offering pension plans under the purview of PFRDA.
The amounts in question are sizeable. IRDA had Rs.3.9 lakh crore in pension, general
annuity, and group superannuation funds, and Rs.22.5 lakh crore in unit-linked funds,
some of which also have a pension component, as of March 31, 2015.
The two main pension plans operated by mutual funds regulated by SEBI UTI
and Franklin Templeton manage about Rs.2,400 crore. The total corpus under the
National Pension Scheme (NPS) is about Rs.1.45 lakh crore.
The committee to be formed by the Department of Financial Services, would have
representatives from all financial sector regulators SEBI, IRDA, RBI and PFRDA.
Govt warns employees against criticism of GSTN

The Centre has warned its employees that they could invite penal action if it is found
that they are indulging in criticism of its policies and actions.
Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN)-a private company tasked with the creation
of Information Technology (IT) infrastructure and composition of a GST council
secretariat for the new tax regime.
It cited the service rules tinkered in June, covering the social media as well, that bar
a government servant from making any adverse criticism of any policy or action of
the government.
The Ministry said the primary objective of the service associations is to promote
common service interest of its members.
The service rules were amended in June making it clear that disapproval of
government policies on social media also amounted to violation of conduct rules.
And the threat of disciplinary action extends to caricatures that are uncharitable to
the government.
Earlier rule book spoke about criticism made in a radio broadcast, public media
(such as television) or documents. It will be applicable to anonymous and
pseudonymous posts by officials too.
The recent memo of the Finance Ministry capped weeks of unrest among officers
and cadre of the Excise and Revenue Department officials over a number of issues
related to roll out of the General Sales Tax regime.
The central government holds 24.5 per cent stake in GSTN while state governments
together hold another 24.5 per cent.
The balance 51 per cent equity is with non-government financial institutions, like
HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and LIC Housing Finance.
Rapid-growth companies number increased very fast

The number of Indian firms among the global rapid-growth companies identified
by the World Economic Forum has almost doubled to 30 now from 17 in 2014.
The sheer scale of the Indian market, and the necessary innovation made by Indian
companies, make them highly competitive at the global level.
They have the opportunity to scale beyond what can be done in Europe, for example.
So that gives birth to very interesting business models that can then be replicated
around the world.
In the category of young, innovative, start-up to mid-size companies, we have 30
from India. We have PayTM, Ola Cabs, Dabur, Parle Agro etc. These are innovative
companies and we see them playing a greater role in the WEFs ecosystem.
There are 100 Indian companies that are members of the WEF, of which 30 are midsized or entrepreneurial companies.
There is a strong entrepreneurial spirit. There is some talk of over-valuation of startups and then the subsequent scaling back of this valuation as being a matter for
concern.
Despite Indias improved performance in the global competitiveness rankings, there
still remain substantial challenges in the ease of doing business, and the taxation
system.

Government pursuing lower GST rate

With an eye on job creation, the government is going all out to make the textile
sector more competitive by pursuing a lower Goods and Services Tax rate and is
even willing to allow automobile and wine imports from the European Union in
return for market access for Indian apparel.
Government is seeking to nullify the competitive disadvantage that arises due to
these countries getting duty-free access to the EU and U.S. Indian products attract a
9.5 per cent duty in the EU.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has chaired about six meetings on Indias strategy
towards free trade agreements (FTAs) with the textiles and commerce ministries,
with a view to offset this disadvantage.
The entire cabinet is on board with a proposal to trade-off access to automobiles and
wine imports under an India-EU FTA in return for access to Indian textiles.
A one crore rupees investment in most sectors creates ten to twelve jobs, but in
textiles it creates 100 jobs.
The government realises the need to incentivise the sector for its job-generation
potential, especially for women who form 70-80 per cent of its workforce.
Air India posts operational profit for first time in 8 years

Air India posted an operational profit of Rs.105 crore in 2015-16 compared with an
operational loss of Rs.2,636 crore in 2014-15 due to an increase in traffic growth.
This is the first time the national carrier has posted an operational profit since it was
merged with erstwhile Indian Airlines in 2007, the financial results of 2015-16 cleared
by the airlines auditors and approved by its Board showed.
A sharp decline in aviation turbine fuel prices helped it bolster operational profit to
more than Rs.100 crore in 2015-16 even as the airline was earlier expecting an
operational profit of Rs.8 crore.
Aviation fuel accounts for roughly 40 per cent of an airlines operational costs. As
the airline offered lower fares, it carried 18 million passengers in 2015-16 compared
with 16.88 million passengers last year.
Airlines operational cost per average seat kilometre came down from Rs.4.59 in
2014-15 to Rs.3.88 in 2015-16.
Wholesale price inflation eased marginally in

September
Wholesale price inflation eased marginally in September to 3.6 per cent from 3.7 per
cent in August due to a cooling off of food prices, data released by the Ministry of
Commerce and Industry showed.
Inflation in the food category eased to 5.75 per cent in September from 8.23 per cent
in August.
The slowdown in the growth of the WPI comes at a time when Indias retail inflation
also eased sharply.
Growth in the Consumer Price Index stood at 4.3 per cent in September, the slowest
in more than a year, down from 5.05 per cent in August.
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This shows that the Reserve Bank of India was correct in cutting rates in its latest
policy review, according to experts.
Credit guarantee fund for start ups to be set up by the

Centre soon
The Centre will soon set up a Rs.2,000 crore credit guarantee fund to support startups, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) Secretary said.
This corpus of Rs.2,000 crore will provide up to 80 per cent risk cover for collateral
free credit being given by banks and financial institutions to start-ups.
government is working on softening existing regulations for start-ups. DIPP is fast
tracking the patent examination process. We are providing 80 per cent rebate in
applications.
Centre to push for infrastructure development in next

few months
The Centre may seek parliamentary approval to spend about $7.5 billion more on
roads, railways and other programmes over the next five months, as Prime Minister
Narendra Modi looks to spur growth and create jobs.
The new spending, details of which are still being worked out, would come at a
time when private investment has plunged, leading to a slowdown.
It would also coincide with the run-up to a crucial state election early next year in
Uttar Pradesh, Indian's most populous state that is home to more than 200 million
people.
At $7.5 billion, the additional spending would represent about 2.5 per cent of the
total budgeted so far for the current fiscal year.
The Uttar Pradesh poll is shaping up to be one of the most important tests for BJP,
with ramifications both for the smooth functioning of government and his chances of
winning a second term in 2019 national elections.
While some of his governments initiatives, such as bank accounts have started
reaching people in the country's vast rural hinterland, the administration has
struggled to create enough jobs.
The Centre plans to widen consultations over a proposed

social security code for workers
The Centre plans to widen consultations over a proposed social security code for
workers, after a series of labour law reform proposals ran into opposition from trade
unions.
The labour ministry plans to hold several meetings with State governments to discuss
the proposed law on social security for organised and unorganised workers beginning
early next month.
NDA govt has announced a slew of labour reform proposals including codes on
industrial relations and wages, small factories Bill, factories Bill, employees provident
fund Bill, and employees' state insurance Bill.
However, the government is going slow on the reforms mainly due to opposition
from trade unions.
The labour ministry now plans a single law on social security for workers that may
combine and alter various laws such as the Employees Provident Fund &
Miscellaneous Provision Act, 1952, the Employees State Insurance Act, 1948, the
Employees Compensation Act, 1921, the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 and the
Maternity Benefit Act, 1961.
Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya had said in August that the ministry had held
about 25 tripartite meetings with stakeholders since coming to power in May 2014
to discuss workers-related issues.
The labour ministry official said state-level officials, including welfare boards and
local bodies, will also be a part of the discussion on the proposed social security
code for workers.
For framing the draft social security code, the Centre had also asked the International
Labour Organisation (ILO) for technical assistance.
BRICS agree to setup independent rating agency

The five-nation group BRICS agreed to set up an independent rating agency based
on market-oriented principles, saying it would further strengthen the global
governance architecture.
We believe that BRICS institution-building is critical to our shared vision of
transforming the global financial architecture to one based on the principles of fairness
and equity, the declaration stated.
To further bridge the gap in the global financial architecture, we agreed to fast-track
the setting up of a BRICS Rating Agency, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a
statement at the conclusion of the BRICS Summit.
Batting for a rating agency backed by BRICS, New Development Bank president
K.V. Kamath had expressed concerns over methodologies of the three global agencies
(S&P, Fitch, Moodys) saying that these constrain growth in emerging nations.
He had said that ratings of multilateral banks like the BRICS-promoted NDB were
affected by the parent countries ratings, despite having deep capital buffers.
NITI Aayog called for an overhaul of India's steel policy

NITI Aayog member V.K.Saraswat wants India's steel policy framed in 2012 to be
overhauled. As old policy is unlikely to meet the target of 300 million tonnes by
2025.
Though India is third largest steel producer, still cheap imports from China, Russia,
Korea and Japan has dented domestic industry's fortune.
Indian steel sector grew heavily with a rate over 9 percent during 2003-04 and 200708. Since then there has been a fall in steel production to 4.7 percent in 2013-14.
Though India steel production cost is about $320-$340 per tonne compared to $400
in China and global average of $390, it is uncompetitive in global market due to
other costs like freight costs, high iron ore royalties etc.
Centre rethinks 40% NPS annuity order

To make the National Pension System (NPS) more attractive, the government could
do away with a norm mandating retiring employees to buy an annuity with 40 per
cent of their accumulated corpus.
Returns on annuity products that deliver a monthly income to retirees are quite low
and the compulsory annuitisation puts off potential investors who may prefer to
park their retirement savings elsewhere for better returns.
For premature withdrawals from the NPS before the age of 60, eighty per cent of the
amount must be invested in an annuity product.
At retirement, 40 per cent of savings must be invested in an annuity, although the
PFRDA has allowed retirees to defer the purchase for three years, if the financial
markets are in a downturn when they turn 60.
The intent is to ensure people get a monthly income in their sunset years instead of
frittering away their entire nest-egg on large expenses at retirement.
Scrapping the annuity requirement altogether would need a change in the PFRDA
Act which stipulates an annuity purchase at retirement, but it is possible to reduce
the proportion of corpus to be annuitised from the 40 per cent prescribed now.
So the PFRDA has proposed a reduction in the mandatory annuity norm, giving
people the option to invest in other products that could offer higher returns, Mr.
Contractor said. The Finance Ministry is considering the proposal.
Diluting the annuity prescription would spur greater competition between the 12year old NPS, which is managing Rs.1.45 lakh crore savings for 3.8 million members,
and the EPFO which has Rs.10 lakh crore under its watch.
It may be recalled that the Centre had to backtrack on a Budget proposal this year,
intended to bring parity between the two retirement savings alternatives by making
60 per cent of EPF corpus taxable, after widespread furore and an intervention at the
highest level.
While he had rolled back the tax on EPF savings, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley made
40 per cent of the NPS corpus tax-free in this Budget. Earlier, the entire NPS corpus
was taxable.
Govt had granted an additional annual deduction of Rs.50,000 from gross taxable
income for NPS investments over and above the Rs.1.5 lakh deduction permitted for
similar investments such as life insurance premia, public provident fund and EPF.
The PFRDA chief said the additional deduction triggered a surge in new NPS
accounts, most of which were opened towards the end of the previous financial year.
The Tea Board of India has decided to keep on hold the

post-auction settlement module
The Tea Board of India has decided to keep on hold the post-auction settlement
module for four weeks, according to its Chairman S. Sarangi
The decision was made after two rounds of meetings here on Monday to address the
issue which has been dogging the tea industry and trade since mid-September when
the Tea Board started the post-auction settlement system for pan-India auctions
through Bank of India, the settlement bank.
While NSEIT has prepared the software for the settlement module., Bank of India is
the designated settlement bank.
The magnitude of problem was such that the tea industry had problems in making
bonus payments, while companies could not close their second quarter results due
to payment reconciliation issues through the four sales since mid- September.
The Tea Boards official missive said that it had been decided that pan-India post
settlement module would be kept on hold from October 18 or till further orders.
Trade and industry see this as a temporary rollback.
RBI has asked banks to replace debit cards for security

reasons
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked banks to replace debit cards whose security
is suspected to have been compromised after being used in some automated teller
machines (ATMs).
The issue was first suspected by payment gateways such as Visa, Mastercard and
Rupay, the last of which is operated by NPCI, when it came to their notice that security
could have been breached in some instances.
Debit cards and credit cards face security issues when unauthorised parties access
confidential details embedded in the card. Such access could happen even as the
card is being used in an ATM.
Cards falling in the suspicious category and needing replacement would number
about 17.5 lakh. The total debit card base in the country was 697 million as of July
2016.
Banks such as State Bank of India (SBI), HDFC Bank and Bank of Baroda have already
started replacing the cards. SBI, the countrys largest lender, has started the process
of replacing 0.6 million debit cards.
Mr. Mahapatra added that while the bank had advised customers to change the debit
card pin, the institution had also blocked the cards, and is now issuing fresh cards.
He said the process would be competed in two to three days.
SBI is investigating the issue to ascertain whether there was any financial loss to the
customers.
Union brought a logo for the IPR Policy

To promote the National Intellectual Property Rights Policy, the Centre brought out
a logo for the Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM) the body set up
to take forward the implementation of the National IPR Policy.
Launching the logo, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said
Indias intellectual property-related activities needed great traction. The logo has
been designed keeping in mind the slogan of the National IPR Policy: Creative
India, Innovative India, said a statement.
The CIPAM is working towards creating public awareness about IPRs in the country,
promoting the filing of IPRs through facilitation, providing inventors a platform to
commercialise their IP assets.
Draft bankruptcy bill to be ready soon

The draft bill on the resolution of bankruptcy of financial firms would put public
sector financial companies on par with their private counterparts, according to
Moody's Investors Service.
Under existing laws, resolution of public sector banks can only happen by order of
the government and in the manner it directs, according to a note prepared by
Moodys.
While the proposed law is a credit positive for banks, Moody's said it would be a
deterrent for senior unsecured creditors due to their altered rankings.
This bill addresses the lacunae of a having a legally codified framework for resolution,
and hence is a credit positive in terms of enhancing overall systemic stability.
The note also highlighted the fact that once enacted, the Bill would create a significant
delineation of regulatory powers between the Reserve Bank of India and the
Resolution Corporation (RC), the organisation to be formed under the Bill.
A key role of the Corporation will be to assign risk ratings to financial sector
companies based on their viability, according to the draft Financial Resolution and
Deposit Insurance Bill, 2016.
Regional connectivity proposal may face problems

The governments plans to boost regional air connectivity could hit a legal air pocket
as leading domestic airlines have opposed the proposal to charge a levy on flights
on major routes to fund subsidies for regional flights.
It said the government is not empowered to levy a tax on airlines to fund the regional
connectivity scheme under the Aircraft Act of 1934.
As a part of its proposed regional connectivity scheme, the Union Civil Aviation
Ministry had mooted amendments to the Aircraft Rules of 1937 in August to set up
a regional connectivity fund to subsidise the losses of airlines that wanted to fly on
regional routes.
The fund was proposed to be financed by a levy on domestic flights along with
contribution from states and credit proceeds from other sources.
Passengers will be able to fly to unserved and underserved airports for a fare of Rs
2,500 an hour, under the scheme which is slated to be launched on October 21.
A levy in the nature of tax can only be levied having regard to the provisions contained
in the Article 265 of the Constitution of India i.e. by authority of law.
The airlines said imposition of a regional connectivity levy would require amendment
to the Aircraft Act, 1934 and not the rule and until then the draft rules would be
beyond the authority of law and in contravention to the Constitution of India.
In its letter, the FIA said that Section 5(2) (ab) of the Aircraft Act of 1934 does empower
the Centre to make rules for economic regulation of air services but it doesnt authorise
it to introduce a levy in the nature of tax on air services.
Moody's report says India's infrastructure needs require

PPP model
Indias infrastructure needs can be addressed by enhancing the public-private
partnership (PPP) model, which will help attract more private sector investment,
according to a Moody's Investors Service report.
While the country's PPP model has seen reasonable success in some sectors over the
last 20 years, PPP activity has been low in the last four fiscal years due to challenges
with the model.
The sharp drop in private investment in PPP projects in recent years was due to
delays in project approvals and land purchases by the government.
Complicated dispute resolution mechanisms in concession agreements and lower
than expected revenues due to aggressive assumptions.
Centre has turned optimistically cautious about

regional connectivity scheme
A day ahead of its introduction, the Centre has turned optimistically cautious
about its regional connectivity scheme, which aims to activate torpid airports and
make flying a cheaper option.
Regional connectivity scheme will offer passengers air fares for Rs.2,500 for an hours
journey to an unconnected airport. The Centre plans to revive dormant airports and
attract regional airlines under the scheme.
To help airlines offer cheaper airfares on such flights, the Centre will provide
subsidies to them by creating a regional connectivity fund. The fund will be financed
by a levy on domestic flights on major routes.
However, most domestic airlines have termed the move illegal and are likely to
challenge it in courts.
In a bid to make the scheme more attractive for lessors, the Union Civil Aviation
Ministry has issued draft rules to help aircraft leasing firms to take back aircraft
quickly from defaulting airlines.
Minister of State Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said that land and skill development
were the two big bottlenecks grappling the aviation sector today.
International Air Transport Association disappointed

over Indias opposition
Global airline body IATA has expressed disappointment over Indias opposition to
a global pact for curbing aviation emissions proposed by the United Nations
International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in Montreal recently.
Although 65 countries signed the pact committing to cap emissions at 2020 levels,
India and Brazil were among countries that opted out as it felt the deal would be
unfair for developing countries where the civil aviation market is not mature.
India ratified the COP21 accord on climate change in the same week and Mr. de
Juniac was hopeful that the spirit of climate leadership would extend to aviation
emissions.
India is set to become the third largest aviation market by displacing the UK in 2026.
Minister of State Civil Aviation said earlier this month that the government is
examining ways to offset higher emissions from rising aviation traffic.
Government to come up with second version of APMC

act
Government will be ready with second version of model Agricultural Produce Market
Committee (APMC) Act by next year, aiming to increase farmers income by measures
like taking contract farming out of the law.
NITI Aayog and Agriculture Ministry are working on the new model law, which can
be adopted by the states. At present, few states like Punjab have come out with
separate contract farming law.
The new APMC Act will also have provision for promoting online or spot (e-national
agriculture market) agriculture market platforms and ensure that all these measures
are revenue neutral for states.
Cyber criminals from Pakistan may target banks

infrastructure
The Centres cyber security arm has issued a fresh warning to all banks cautioning
them that cyber criminals from Pakistan may target their information infrastructure.
The alert came from the Computer Emergency Response Team-India (CERT-In), the
nodal agency under the Ministry of Electronics and IT.
The cyber-security agency is working closely with the Reserve Bank of India to enhance
financial sector security apparatus in the wake of the biggest security breach in Indian
banking affecting over 32 lakh accounts.
The incident has so far not been reported by the banks to CERT-In, which is the
national nodal agency for monitoring and responding to cyber security incidents. It
collects, analyses and disseminates information on cyber incidents.
It has been learnt that CERT-In had also issued alerts to banks on July 1, regarding
cyber attacks planned on their information infrastructure. The official further added
that two such warnings were sent to banks in August as well.
CERT-In along with National Critical Information Infrastructure sent mails to Chief
Information Security Officers of the banks on October 19, on the rise in the frauds
carried out through Bank ATMs using malware and the modus operandi.
The Centre is working with State governments to

introduce a One India concept
The Centre is working with State governments to introduce a One India concept,
the most ambitious ease of doing business initiative so far.
Under the one-form-one-portal model, aimed at attracting huge investments, the
processes will be simplified to an extent where investors will need to fill only a
single e-form for investing and doing business anywhere in India.
Currently, firms are mandated to complete multiple forms at the Central and Statelevels, and it gets more complicated as each State has different requirements and
regulations.
The reform plan is among steps aimed at helping raise Indias global ranking on the
World Bank Groups Doing Business index from 130 in 2016 to the top 50
among the 189 economies featured on the list.
The proposed concept will also make it easy for investors to even change plans
midway and shift projects to different locations in India where it is easier to do
business.
As an initial measure, a draft Common Application Form is being circulated among
states for their feedback, the sources said, adding that a few states have already
accepted the concept.
However, discussions will be held on possible exceptions, including for environment
and security-related clearances.
The Centre is already developing an eBiz project that is basically a government-tobusiness portal. The services offered under the portal are on starting, running and
closing down a business.
Introduced in January 2014, the portal has an integrated payment gateway and
currently offers 17 pan-India services (at the Central government-level).
The focus now is on revamping this portal by identifying and removing glitches.
The thrust will be on quality by reducing the cost, time and processes involved, and
ensuring greater transparency.
The portal will also be soon shifted to an open source multi-platform system/
browser. Also in the pipeline is a permanent account number (PAN)-based Business
Identification Number (BIN) for firms.
This unique business ID will integrate about 18 identification numbers including
the existing Company Identification Number.
India is not looking at full capital account convertibility

India is not looking at full capital account convertibility for the next few years,
previous RBI governor, had said that the central bank was looking at bringing in
capital account convertibility in a few years.
Even the International Monetary Fund (IMF), that has advocated such convertibility
for decades, has become more cautious about its benefits for developing economies
in the recent past.
Along with steps taken by the government in the past two years to ease access to
foreign capital, new instruments have also been made available for foreign investors
such as rupee-denominated offshore bonds (also known as masala bonds) and
alternate investment funds.
Capital controls are used by the state to protect the economy from potential shocks
caused by unpredictable capital flows.
Capital account convertibility means the freedom to convert a currency for capital
transactions and the rupee is not fully convertible on that front yet, though capital
flows have been liberalised in recent years.
Despite the currency risk, the Indian market offers attractive returns to foreign
investors.
NIIF CEO says India needs $150 billion to $300 billion

over the next five years
India needs $150 billion to $300 billion of equity over the next five years to drive
infrastructure investments, National Investment and Infrastructure Fund CEO said.
The NIIF, which will start operations with a first-phase corpus of $6 billion, would
focus on equity and quasi-equity investments at a scale never seen before in India as
it will be six times larger than the biggest infrastructure fund currently.
As the private or public sectors cant meet this investment demand on their own, the
NIIF will work on creating smart public private partnerships (PPPs) to fund projects
of unprecedented scale.
While there were several issues, one of the aspects was that capital was invested on
a fragmented basis by companies that had relatively little access to equity.
The Centre is planning to monitor flights landing

The Centre is planning to monitor flights landing at regional airports remotely instead
of constructing new traffic control towers near such airports in a bid to cut costs.
Flights landing at regional airports will receive instructions from an air traffic control
officer who might be sitting miles away at an air traffic control room located at a
major airport in the city.
Some aviation experts have said that building an ATC tower infrastructure could
cost between Rs.100 crore and Rs.300 crore.
The remote monitoring of planes has been tested in several markets such as Norway,
Ireland, Australia and the United States.
Many major British airports are also considering centralised monitoring of air traffic
services from a larger airport.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI), which provides air navigation services across
the country, also plans to hire retired air traffic controllers to further cut down costs
on training and to recruit people quickly.
At present, 69 airports receive commercial flights and AAIs manpower requirement
is set to increase with the governments plans to revive flight operations at another
50 airports in the next three to four years.
India has about 2,300 air traffic control officers (ATCOs) at present and another 400
ATCOs will get trained by next year.
More than Rate cuts are required for Indian Economy

The policy repo rate is now 6.25 per cent a six-year low. The RBI expects the
transmission of this cut in lowering the costs of new borrowing in the economy will
be more effective than the earlier cuts.
In one respect, the fourth bi-monthly policy review exercise this year is historic: it
involved the maiden decision-making by RBI's first Monetary MPC, in pursuance of
a primary mandate to keep consumer inflation between 2 per cent and 6 per cent.
That the adoption of a legally backed inflation-targeting discipline and the
constitution of an MPC will enhance both the process and quality of monetary policymaking is widely acknowledged.
None of the documents compiled by the RBI in connection with this policy review,
including the one on the post-policy conference call with media, clearly explains the
rationale and necessity of the rate cut.
In fact, it is hard to reconcile some of the key points and facts contained in those
documents with the decision.
It is hard to figure out how, under an inflation-targeting paradigm, a rate cut can be
justified when the projected inflation over the next six months is close to the upper
limit of 6 per cent and the projected GDP growth is close to 8 per cent.
The fact that the decision was unanimous will raise doubts whether all relevant
issues were debated and discussed by the MPC. One wonders if the MPC felt a need
to distance itself from the legacy of Dr. Rajan.
It is likely that the MPC will go through an initial phase of 'learning by doing' as it
evolves and matures as a professional policy-setter.
But it is essential that it adopts a rule-based approach and methodology from the
start itself and eschew too much discretion in order to find space for rate cuts for
supporting growth.
As regards the impact of the rate cut, three issues loom large: credit growth, stressed
assets/NPAs of banks and corporate investment.
Extremely sluggish credit growth on the part of PSU banks to sectors other than
retail borrowers is going to last for quite some time.
And so long as the credit cost by way of provisioning for NPAs remains high, as is
the case now, the likelihood of a reduction in borrowing cost in response to cuts in
the policy rate will continue to be low.
Transmission of monetary policy will continue to remain sub-optimal till the
estimated Rs.13.3 trillion (or Rs.13.3 lakh crore) of stressed assets/NPAs of banks
are resolved.
While RBI has done a good job in pushing banks to recognise their NPAs, it has
been quiet on the lack of progress in the resolution of stressed assets/NPAs.
Various schemes for debt resolution such as Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR),
Strategic Debt Restructuring (SDR) and the recent Scheme for Sustainable Structuring
of Stressed Assets (S4A) have not had any noticeable impact so far.
Finally, the government should enable PSU banks to devise a solution to the following
asymmetric incentives faced by in relation to stressed assets/NPAs: the downside
of a loan becoming an NPA and unrecoverable is much less compared to the downside
of a vigilance enquiry in respect of genuine debt resolution.
The Centre will provide higher a subsidy to airlines

The Centre will provide higher a subsidy to airlines that operate flights between
two regional airports under the regional connectivity scheme.
It will also allow airlines to transfer its rights or contract to get the subsidy from the
government and fly on regional routes to another airline operating a similar type of
aircraft, according to the regional connectivity scheme document.
The subsidy amount given to airlines that operate between two unserved or
underserved airports will be 10 per cent higher than the sum offered to airlines that
connect only one regional airport.
There are 16 airports that have had no flights in the past one year and another 399
airports or airstrips that have not seen flight operations for more than three years.
Under the scheme, also known as UDAN, the Centre will provide a three-year subsidy
to fund the losses of airlines to enable them to offer airfares at Rs.2,500 for an hours
flight on half the seats.
The subsidy amount for airlines connecting to one regional airport will vary between
Rs.2,350 and Rs.5,100 per seat depending upon the distance covered between two
destinations.
In another move, the Union civil aviation ministry has scrapped its earlier proposal
to reduce the subsidy amount based on improved passenger load factor.
The government has also reduced the bank guarantee to be provided by airlines to
fly on each regional route. Airlines will be required to submit a bank guarantee
equivalent to 5 per cent of the total subsidy amount.
An airline operating a 40-seater aircraft to fly thrice a week throughout the year on
an 800-km distance flight will need to submit about Rs.8 lakh as bank guarantee, as
against an earlier proposal of Rs.50 lakh for each regional route
Number of debit cards misused were very few

The Reserve Bank of India said on Monday that the number of debit cards misused
in the recent revelation of fraud was few.
This followed a meeting that the central bank had with select bankers.
The number of cards misused, as per currently available information, is few, the
central bank said. Apart from banks, National Payment Corporation of India and
card network operators also participated in the meeting.
The issue is currently being investigated by an approved forensic auditor, under
PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry-Data Security Standard) framework, the bank said.
NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman defends GST rates

NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya took on critics of the Centre's
proposals to levy a cess on top of the GST with four tax slabs ranging from six per
cent to 26 per cent apart from a zero-tax category.
Moving to just two rates or a single GST rate, instead of the four rates in the range
proposed by the finance ministry to the GST Council, could trigger inflation in some
products and services, Mr. Panagariya said.
The cess on GST would help the Centre compensate states for revenue losses for five
years and could be wound down after that, he pointed out, as opposed to the
alternative of imposing higher GST rates.
Till 1999, there were about 11 rates of excise duty which Yashwant Sinha as Finance
Minister modified to three rates 8 per cent, 16 per cent and 24 per cent. Since then,
the rates have changed a lot and we again have multiple tax rates.
100 per cent of the cess proceeds will go to the Centre and the advantage of cess is
its supposed to be temporary.
If it is imposed for the specific purpose of compensating the states, then it will be
dropped after five years and you will get a lower rate.
World Economic forum says gender gap has narrowed

in India
The World Economic Forum (WEF) reckons that the gender gap in India has narrowed
down with the gap closing in primary and secondary education enrolments,
pushing it up in the Forums global gender gap rankings from 108 to 87.
However, India remains one of the worst countries in the world for women in terms
of labour force participation, income levels as well as health and survival.
According to the Forum which has been compiling the Global Gender Gap report
since 2006 by examining four broad dimensions of gender equality economic
participation, education, health and politics.
India has closed its gender gap by 2 per cent in a year, but much work remains to be
done to empower women in the economic sphere, the WEF report noted.
The global workplace gender gap, measured in terms of economic participation and
opportunities, is getting worse and stands at the highest level since 2008, according
to the WEF. This gap will now not close until the year 2186, going by current trends.
Within South Asia, Indias neighbour Bangladesh is the top performer (ranked 72nd),
recording progress on the political empowerment gender gap, but a wider gap on
womens labour force participation and estimated earned income.
Indias women rank highly on political empowerment and the country is closing the
gap on wage equality and across all indicators of the educational attainment subindex, fully closing its primary and secondary education enrolment gender gaps.
Clubbing India with the likes of Iran, UAE and Chile, the report said these countries
have made key investments in womens education but have generally not removed
barriers to womens participation in the workforce.
Govt formed a committee to look into the regulator

TRAIs recommendation
The Telecom Ministry has formed a committee to look into the regulator TRAIs
recommendation of a Rs.3,050 crore penalty on top three telcos Airtel, Vodafone
and Idea for denial of interconnection points to Reliance Jio.
The committee has been asked to give a report on the recommendations soon. While
the timeline for submission of the report is not confirmed, it is likely to be before
November 15.
TRAI had earlier suggested a hefty penalty on the three incumbents for noncompliance of the terms and conditions of license and denial of Interconnection to
RJIL appears to be with ulterior motive to stifle competition and is anti-consumer.
While the recommended fine for Airtel and Vodafone amounts to Rs.1,050 crore for
21 service areas (all, expect Jammu and Kashmir), for Idea the penalty suggested for
19 service areas pegged at Rs 950 crore.
Centre will hold a special high-level meeting with States

for reforms
The Centre will soon hold a special high-level meeting with States and Union
Territories (UTs), which have performed poorly in implementing reforms, to improve
the ease of doing business. The states, among others, included Kerala and those in
the entire North-Eastern region. They have managed to implement only 25 per cent
or below of the 340-point Business Reform Action Plan that was circulated in late
October 2015.
The performance in respect of this action plan is being considered for a state-wise
ease of doing business ranking in the spirit of competitive and cooperative
federalism. This years state-wise ranking will be released shortly by the Centre.
The 17 states/union territories that are laggards present a contrasting picture to the
intense competition seen among the other states to grab top spots in the state-wise
ease of doing business index.
The Centres portal on the business reform action plan has a real time ranking and
tracking of the states/UTs on the basis of the implementation of the plan.
At present, there are ten states that have an implementation percentage of 90 per
cent or more and these have been categorised as leaders.
The number one rank is currently being held by two States Andhra Pradesh and
Telangana with a score of 99.09 per cent each.
The next category is that of aspiring leaders those with an implementation rate
between 60-90 per cent. There are currently seven states in that category of which
five have an implementation rate of over 80 per cent.
The third category is termed acceleration required those with an implementation
percentage of 30-60 per cent. There are two States in this category.
The 17 poorly performing States/UTs are those falling in the last category called
jump-start needed with a 0-30 per cent implementation percentage.
Reform areas are under categories including construction permit, environmental
and labour registration, obtaining an electricity connection, online tax-return filing,
inspection reform, single window, land availability and dispute resolution.
India improved its position to 130 in the World Bank

Ease of Doing Business 2017 report
Improving Indias ranking in the report has been a key target of the government
headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India which had been ranked 130 in the
2016 report, was placed at 131 according to the revised rankings for last year.
India could not improve its ranking better despite reform measures that have been
lauded in the report because other countries around it in the ranking list also did
well last year, World Bank officials who oversaw the report said .
While ranking is relative, DTF score is an absolute figure, he said. India was 35th
in DTF improvement last year. It is pretty impressive, he said.
India has improved and is at 55.27 compared with last years 53.93, while the perfect
score is 100. New Zealand that is ranked first has a DTF score of 87.01.
Word Bank Doing Business reports, introduced in 2004, review business regulations
and their enforcement across countries 190 this year. The latest edition takes into
account developments in one year up until June 1, 2016.
India is one of the few economies that was discussed separately for its reform
measures in the report. Four reform measures undertaken by India during the year
helped the country improve its DTF score, said the World Bank.
Paying taxes is easier after the introduction of an electronic system for paying
employee state insurance contributions, a reform that applies to both Mumbai and
Delhi.
The report said that the Government has embarked on a fast-paced reform path.
It scored well on protecting minority investors and is one of only six economies in
the world that earn the highest possible score on the extent of shareholder rights
index, which measures shareholders rights in corporate governance.
The overhaul of the Companies Act has brought Indian companies in line with
global standards, particularly regarding accountability and corporate governance
practices, according to the report.
India has third largest startup companies

India continues to harbour the third largest start-up base, marginally behind the
U.K., according to a Nasscom-Zinnov start-up report.
The report, titled Indian Start-up Ecosystem Maturing 2016, says that the
ecosystem is poised to grow by an impressive 2.2X to reach more than 10,500 startups by the year 2020.
There is an increased interest from student entrepreneurs this year, according to the
report. A remarkable growth of 25 per cent has been witnessed in 2016 with over 350
ventures founded by young students.
The median age of start-up founders has reduced marginally from 32 years in 2015
to 31 years in 2016.
Some of the notable findings of the report include: continued growth in the number
of start-ups in 2016 with Bengaluru, the National Capital Region and Mumbai
continuing to lead as major start-up hubs for the nation.
In terms of vertical growth, investors are looking at domains like health-tech, fintech, and edu-tech. With a total funding of approximately $4 billion, close to 650
young firms were funded signifying a healthy growth of the ecosystem.
The number of technology firms in India is expected to grow by 10-12 per cent to
more than 4,750 start-ups by the end of 2016. More than 1,400 new ventures emerged
in 2016 denoting that the ecosystem is becoming prudent with both investors and
start-up founders focusing on profitability and optimising the overall spend.
Due to falling device prices Indias mobile subscribers

to increase
Driven by falling prices of devices and network coverage improvements, India is
expected to have one billion unique mobile subscribers by 2020, according to a new
study by GSMA.
According to the report, The Mobile Economy: India 2016, at the end of June 2016,
616 million unique users had subscribed to mobile services in India, making it the
second-largest mobile market globally.
Almost half the countrys population now subscribe to a mobile service. Improving
affordability, falling device prices and better network coverage aided by operator
investment will help deliver over 330 million new unique subscribers by 2020.
The reports stated that the number of 3G/4G mobile broadband connections is forecast
to reach more than 670 million by 2020, 48 per cent of the total connection base.
The report states that the industry is set to invest heavily, with capital expenditure
by operators growing to $34 billion (Rs.2.3 lakh crore) for the period 2016 to 2020.
In 2015, Indias mobile industry generated economic value equivalent to 6.5 per cent
of the countrys GDP, or more than $140 billion (Rs.9 lakh crore).
Cabinet approved agreement on trade, commerce and

transit with Bhutan
The Cabinet has approved a new agreement on trade, commerce and transit between
India and Bhutan.
The pact provides for a free trade regime between two countries, and duty free transit
of Bhutanese merchandise for trade with third countries.
As per the pact, bilateral trade between will continue to be transacted in Indian
Rupees and Bhutanese Ngultrums.
Both sides had in July held talks to finalise the text of the draft new agreement.
They had then decided that, in the interim, to prevent disruption of trade, the existing
agreement should be extended for one year or till the new pact is enforced, whichever
is earlier.
Bhutan was among the SAARC nations that had shared the concerns of India in the
wake of the Uri attack, and expressed solidarity with New Delhi saying it was not
conducive to hold the SAARC Summit in Islamabad.
Bhutan is also part of the BIMSTEC grouping that had recently held talks with BRICS
nations including India to boost ties.
The bilateral trade had grown by 55 per cent year-on-year in FY16 to $750 million,
with Indias exports increasing 40.4 per cent to $469 million, while imports from
Bhutan rose 87 per cent to $281 million.
GMR group gets compensation in Maldives

GMR Group has been awarded compensation worth $270 million by a three-member
international arbitral tribunal in its dispute with the Maldives government.
The award won by GMR Male International Airport Limited (GMIAL) relates to the
cancellation of airport development contract by the Maldives government in
November 2012.
The compensation covers the debt, equity invested in the project along with a return
of 17 per cent and termination payments and legal costs.
GMIAL entered into a concession pact with the Maldives government and Maldives
Airport Company Limited to modernise and operate the Ibrahim Nasir Intwernational
Airport in 2010 for 25 years.
Centre made a cautious move towards large scale

disinvestment
The Centre made a cautious move towards large scale disinvestment of public sector
units with in-principle agreement to a case-by-case examination of the 20-odd firms
and units recommended for strategic sale by NITI Aayog.
The recommendations of the NITI Aayog with regard to both disinvestment and
strategic sales came up for consideration before the cabinet, Mr. Jaitley said.
The Centre had set a target to raise Rs.20,500 crore in 2017-18 through strategic sales
of public sector firm and another Rs.36,000 crore is to be raised from the sale of
minority stakes in PSUs.
Mr. Jaitley acknowledged that some of the units recommended for sale by the Aayog
are important and each unit will be considered on its own merit with the timing of
the sale to be decided accordingly.
He also assured that settled valuation procedures will be followed in a transparent
process for such transactions.
Benami Transactions Amendment Act will come into

force on November 1
The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act will come into force on
November 1, 2016, the Central Board of Direct Taxes said on Friday.
Following this, the existing Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act will be renamed
as the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act (PBPT Act).
The PBPT Act defines benami transactions, prohibits them and further provides that
violation of the PBPT Act is punishable with imprisonment and fine.
The PBPT Act prohibits recovery of the property held benami from benamidar by
the real owner. Properties held benami are liable for confiscation by the Government
without payment of compensation.
According to the new law, people caught with 'benami' properties could serve up to
seven years of rigorous imprisonment and have to pay a significant fine.
Additionally, the properties will be confiscated. Under the Act, a transaction is named
benami if property is held by one person, but has been provided or paid for by
another person.
A person could also face rigorous imprisonment for up to five years for knowingly
giving false information and will have to pay a fine of up to 10 per cent of the market
value of the property.
The PBPT Act provides for the creation of an appellate mechanism called the
Adjudicating Authority and Appellate Tribunal.
India must be in a state of readiness to implement the

Trade Facilitation Agreement
Cabinet Secretary stressed the need for the trade ecosystem to increasingly become
growth-oriented, adding that India must be in a state of readiness to implement the
commitments under the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA).
National Committee on Trade Facilitation (NCTF), had its first meeting. The NCTF
is a mandatory requirement under the WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation.
It was decided that the next meeting of the NCTF will take place in December and
the Steering Committee will meet twice before that to come up with specific goals
for the implementation of the TFA.
NCTF which was now the high level national body for same could subsume other
such committees and become a uniform voice on these issues.
New year according to Hindu calendar started

The stock markets began the new year Samvat 2073, as per the Hindu calendar on
a weak note even as analysts forecast a bullish journey ahead on the back of better
corporate earnings and policy reforms.
The benchmark BSE Sensex fell 11.30 points to 27,930.21. The broader Nifty of the
National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed the special session at 8,625.70, down 12.30
points.
Stock exchanges conduct a special Muhurat trading session every year to mark the
advent of the new year. Typically, the volume in the Muhurat session is very thin.
Market participants, however, expected the year to be strong for equities because of
the governments reform push and an upswing in corporate earnings.
Sluggish tax revenues of states will make it difficult to

implement 7th pay commission
The sluggish tax revenues of many states may push them into a corner in view of the
pressure created by the Seventh Pay Commission pay out and may even force them
to scale back on plan expenditure or run into higher fiscal deficits.
In its analysis of 16 states finances till April-July 2016 , Edelweiss Securities
discovered a sluggish tax revenue trend up by about 6 per cent versus a budgeted
growth of about 20 per cent.
Land tax revenues were particularly sluggish (up 4 per cent year on year, or YoY,
versus 7 per cent in FY16), implying pressure on land prices.
The associated adverse wealth effect operating in the economy, perhaps, partly
explained the still weak aggregate consumption demand, especially in rural areas,
the report said.
Meanwhile, Plan expenditure is robust though, up 29 per cent YoY (although slightly
below 32 per cent YoY budgeted). This weakness in tax revenues does confirm that
economic recovery is tepid and still not broad-based, the report said.
Meanwhile, oil taxes are in turnaround mode post a sharp plunge last year, given
recovery in oil prices, and going ahead, this should improve further. However, other
than land and oil taxes, the trend hinted at weakness.
Many states have ramped up Plan capital expenditure, an encouraging development,
the report said.
However, the impending burden of higher wage pay-out under the 7th Pay
Commission looms large and in a scenario where tax revenues are not particularly
robust.
states will eventually face a tough choice of either reining in Plan expenditure or
slipping on their budgeted fiscal targets, the report said.
Science & Technology

Trio of scientists won the Nobel Chemistry Prize for
developing molecular machines
A trio of French, British and Dutch scientists won the Nobel Chemistry Prize for
developing molecular machines, the worlds smallest machines that may one day
act as artificial muscles to power tiny robots or even prosthetic limbs.
Inspired by proteins that naturally act as biological machines within cells, these
synthetic copies are usually constructed of a few molecules fused together.
Also called nanomachines or nanobots, they can be put to work as tiny motors,
ratchets, pistons or wheels to produce mechanical motion in response to stimuli
such as light or temperature change. Molecular machines can move objects many
time their size.
The first step towards a molecular machine was taken by Mr. Sauvage in 1983, when
he succeeded in linking together two ring-shaped molecules to form a chain.
The second step was taken by Mr. Stoddart in 1991, when he threaded a molecular
ring onto a thin molecular axle and demonstrated that the ring was able to move
along the axle.
Mr. Feringa (65) was meanwhile the first person to develop a molecular motor in
1999 he was able to make a molecular rotor blade to spin continually in the same
direction. Using molecular motors, he has also designed a nanocar.
Scientists recorded sounds by Jupiters aurora

Scientists have recorded haunting sounds cast by Jupiters auroras, captured by
NASAs solar-powered Juno spacecraft during its first full orbit around the king of
planets.
The radio emissions cast by Jupiters auroras light shows similar to the northern
and southern lights on Earth were recorded by an instrument, called Waves, as
the Juno spacecraft travelled about 4,100 km above Jupiters swirling clouds.
The emissions from Jupiter were discovered in the 1950s but had never been analysed
from such a close vantage point, according to NASA.
The scientists want to learn how electrons and ions are accelerated along magnetic
field lines above Jupiter to eventually collide with the atmosphere, creating the bursts
of light that become the auroras.
To do that, the Waves instrument will sample plasma waves along different segments
in the magnetic field lines with each of its orbits around Jupiter.
ISRO has firmed up a strategy to a make increasingly

smaller satellites
Even as it moves into making heavier communication spacecraft weighing 4,000 kg
to 6,000 kg, ISRO has also firmed up a strategy to a make increasingly smaller
satellites for earth observation and scientific, experimental and other missions.
The plan for small satellites is two-pronged and can range from 10 kg micros to 300
kg-500 kg minis.
A series of 350-kg mini satellites, probably with high resolution cameras and
innovative features, will be built in the near future for the ISROs own remote-sensing
uses.
They will be built on the decade-old IMS-2 platform on which the ISRO Satellite
Centre (ISAC) has earlier brought out half a dozen EO (earth observation) satellites.
It also plans to build 10 kg or smaller nano and micro satellites using a 100 kg IMS1 platform.
This will offer ready and reliable micro and nano satellite shells on which the Indian
Institutes of Technology, universities and even start-ups can put their experimental
payloads or devices.
The idea is to encourage users to save time to import a suitable small satellite and
instead focus on test novel concepts on the satellites. IMS stands for 80 kg Indian
Mini Satellite, launched in 2008.
The 300 kg- 400 kg class may be the new norm in Indian EO.
It estimates that more than 3,600 small satellites are expected to be launched over
the next 10 years, much more than during the last decade.
Their market value, including the cost of satellites and their launch fee, is put at at
$22 billion which would be 76 per cent more than what it was in the previous decade
(2006-15).
Estimates of TB burden has been inaccurate in India

Inaccurate estimates of the tuberculosis burden in India between 2000-2015, has led
the World Health Organisation (WHO) to seriously underestimate the global TB
epidemic.
The most crucial finding of the latest Global TB Report 2016 is that India had reported
only 56 per cent of its TB burden in 2014 and 59 per cent in 2015. This massive
underestimating will result in health authorities revising the global TB data.
The WHO has noted with concern that the TB burden is, larger than previously
estimated, reflecting new surveillance and survey data from India.
In 2015, an estimated 10.4 million people were infected with TB around the world
which is a jump of 500,000 from 2014. The disease killed 1.4 million worldwide in
2015.
The report said In 2015, 6.1 million new TB cases were notified to national authorities
and reported to the WHO. Notified TB cases increased from 20132015, mostly due
to a 34 per cent increase in notifications in India.
The revised estimates put the incidence of TB in India at 217 per 1,00,000 population
in 2015 as against the previously estimated 127 per 1,00,000.
The report and the WHO stated that the size of the epidemic has increased
considerably because researchers have realised that earlier estimates in India for
the previous 15 years were too low.
According to the WHO, the substantial increase in reporting from India is due to the
policy of mandatory TB notification.
There are a dizzying two trillion galaxies in the universe

There are a dizzying two trillion galaxies in the universe, up to twenty times more
than previously thought, astronomers have found.
The surprising find, based on 3D modelling of images collected over 20 years by the
Hubble Space Telescope, has been published in the Astronomical Journal .
Even in the era of modern astronomy, getting an accurate tally of the number of
galaxies in the universe has proved difficult.
To begin with, there is only part of the cosmos where light given off by distant objects
has had time to reach Earth. The rest is effectively beyond our reach.
And even within this observable universe, current technology only allows us to
glimpse ten percent of what is out there, according to the new findings.
The analysis reached back more than 13 billion years very near the time of the
Big Bang thought to have given birth to the universe.
Genetic secrets of purple rice

The mysterious ways of genes influencing the character of crop plants through long
periods of domestication, selection and modern breeding continues to perplex
specialists, as found out by researchers working on coloured rice.
Even the whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) of the Purpleputtu rice variety has not
fully opened the windows to the genetic secrets to the researchers.
Researchers at the SciGenom Research Foundation, said the genome sequencing of
Purpleputtu revealed around 65,000 unique genetic mutations compared with the
reference sequence, of which about 50 are in the genes of the colour pathway.
The question of how specific genes and gene networks control the expression of its
uniqueness, the purple colour, still remains an unanswered mystery, say researchers.
In most cultivated white grain rice varieties, a regulatory gene, Rc is missing 14 base
pairs, which is believed to have changed the phenotype of seeds from coloured to
white.
The presence of the 14 base pairs is believed to help regulate the anthocyanin pathway
enzymes to produce coloured seeds, and its absence is accounted for the grains
remaining more or less white.
The sequencing revealed that the 14 base pairs of Rc gene were absent in Purpleputtu
variety.
This leads to the conclusion that there are alternative regulatory pathways operating
in Purpleputtu.
Process for Chandrayan-2 started

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) started the first set of a series of ground
and aerial tests related to the critical moon landing of Chandrayaan-2.
ISRO Satellite Centre or ISAC, which is the lead centre for the countrys second moon
mission, has artificially created eight to ten craters to make the terrain resemble the
lunar surface. This terrain is now the test bed for the lunar Landers sensors.
The campaign for the Lander tests of Chandrayaan-2 has started. The tests are
conducted over the craters simulated at Chitradurga.
Chandrayaan-2 is tentatively marked for late 2017 or early 2018 launch and includes
a soft-landing on moon and operating a rover on its surface.
Landing on an alien surface is a very complicated activity, said Dr. Annadurai, who
was also the Project Director for the successful Chandrayaan-1 of 2008. The success
of the Lander hinges on the sensors.
As the Lander descends from the mother ship or Orbiter, its sensors must judge the
distance to the lunar surface.
Special telescope-array established in Ooty

The GRAPES-3 experiment is a
special telescope-array established in Ooty to
detect muons from cosmic ray showers.
The experiment has detected a surge in muon intensity correlated with a weakening
of the earths magnetic field due to a solar storm that hit the earth on June 22, 2015.
An Indo-Japanese collaboration, this experiment is unique in that it can be used to
study solar storms and space weather at distances up to two times the earths radius.
A coronal mass ejection (CME) left the sun on June 21, 2015 and, along with two such
others that left the sun on June 18 and 19, reached earth on June 22, 2015.
Solar flares are often followed by CMEs which are nothing but giant clouds of plasma
which also contain embedded magnetic fields.
This CME was associated with a solar flare from the sunspot region 12371 near the
central disc of the sun. This caused a solar storm and ensuing radio blackouts and
Aurore Borealis.
Analysing data from the GRAPES-3 muon-tracking telescope, scientists have inferred
that while it lasted, the CME resulted in weakening the earths magnetic field, allowing
high energy cosmic rays to burst through.
The earths atmosphere provides a shield against UV rays and other incident particles.
But its protection stretches to less than 100 km around the earth.
The stronger protection comes from the earths magnetic field which stretches to
around 10 times the radius of the earth about 60,000 km beyond the surface.
India and Russia have agreed to double the range of

the BrahMos
India and Russia have agreed to double the range of the BrahMos supersonic cruise
missile that the two produce together.
This follows Indias recent accession to the Missile Technology Control Regime
(MTCR). Earlier, India was denied access to the missile technology with range over
300 km as it was not a member state.
The decision was taken earlier this month during the summit between Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Goa on the sidelines of the
BRICS summit.
When the two countries teamed up to develop the missile in 1998, which is based on
the Russian Yakhont anti-ship missile, its range was limited to 290 km as Russia
was a member of MTCR but India was not.
While it was a joint development, most of the critical systems on board the missile,
including the seeker, come from Russia.
BrahMos, which is one of its kind, has already been deployed by the Army and the
Navy in anti-ship and precision strike roles respectively. The air version is at present
undergoing testing.
Russian spaceship Soyuz MS-01 successfully touched

down
The landing module of the Russian spaceship Soyuz MS-01 successfully touched
down on Sunday in the steppes of Kazakhstan with three crew members on board.
Astronauts Anatoli Ivanishin, TakutyaOnishi and Kathleen Rubins, of Russia, Japan
and the U.S. respectively, returned to Earth after completing a nearly four-month
mission on the International Space Station.
The MS-01, the first ship of the new Soyuz model, landed about 140 to 150 km
southeast of Zhezkazgan city. During their tenure on the orbital platform the three
astronauts performed about 40 scientific experiments.
The ISS is currently made up of 14 permanent modules and orbits at a speed of more
than 27,000 km per hour at a distance of 400 km from Earth.
The orbit of the platform is raised periodically as the ISS loses between 100 and 150
metres in height due to terrestrial gravitation, solar activity and other factors.
Omega-3 may help in curing Alzheimer's

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids from fish may help to remove metabolites,
including amyloid-beta, which is one of the factors that lead to Alzheimers, finds a
study.
The research published in the FASEB Journal suggested that Omega3
polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) found in fish oil could improve the function of
the glymphatic system, which facilitates the clearance of waste from the brain.
To make this discovery, scientists first used transgenic fat-1 mice, which express
high endogenous Omega-3 PUFAs in the brain, to investigate the effect of Omega-3
PUFAs on the clearance function of the glymphatic system.
Compared to the wild-type mice, the fat-1 mice with enriched endogenous Omega3 PUFAs significantly promote the clearance function of the lymphatic system,
including the amyloidbeta clearance from the brain.
Sports
Jitu Rai wins Champion of Champions pistol award
Jitu Rai rejuvenated his shooting career by winning the Champion of Champions
pistol award, and a cash prize of 5000 in the World Cup Final.
In the mixed knock-out competition meant only for the medallists in the World Cup
Final, Jitu beat DamirMikec of Serbia 29.6 to 28.3 in the climax featuring three shots.
Olympic champion Anna Korakaki finished third.
Shooters are eliminated after the first four shots, one each after every successive
shot. The last two compete on a three-shot format.
The honour in the rifle event went to Sergey Kamenskiy of Russia who beat twotime Olympian Du Li of China 31.7 to 31.6. London Olympics champion Yi Siling of
China took the third place.
Jitu Rai had earlier won the free pistol silver, but finished sixth in air pistol.
India to face Thailand in kabaddi WC semifinal

Khomsan Thongkham has been one of the bright sparks in the ongoing World Cup.
The lanky raider has inspired Thailand past four teams Poland, Kenya, USA and
Japan carrying his team into the knock-out stages from Group-B.
Against India, Thailands prospects will depend heavily on Thongkhams individual
brilliance.
India, meanwhile, has been in rollicking form shaking off a shock defeat to Korea in
the inaugural match of the competition.
Since the defeat to Korea, India has beaten Australia, Bangladesh, Argentina and
England, with Pardeep Narwal (33 points) and Ajay Thakur (41 points) in superb
raiding form.
Korea goes into the knock-outs as the only unbeaten team in the league. Its key
player will be Jang Kun Lee.
All four semifinalists captains Anup, Dong, Thongkham and Irans Meraj Sheykh
expressed hope that kabaddi would become an Olympic sport in the future.
Indian football team gets its best ranking till date

The Indian football team achieved its best FIFA ranking in over six years when the
side jumped 11 places to be 137th in the latest list released.
India, which defeated 114th-ranked Puerto Rico in an international friendly in
Mumbai in September, garnered 230 points for the month.
In August 2010, India was ranked 137th which stayed Indias best ever FIFA ranking
since then.
National Coach Stephen Constantine sounded delighted but wasnt willing to read
too much into it.
But this is just the beginning of the long-term plan we have for Indian football. I am
certainly not over the moon as I feel my team can achieve much more, he said.
India won Kabaddi World Cup

Ajay Thakur masterminded a memorable triumph against a spirited Iran with a terrific
exhibition of raiding in the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup final at the Arena.
Pardeep Narwal, who was Indias second most successful raider in the league stage,
was off colour, but substitute Nitin Tomar rose to the occasion, winning super raid
points that sent out Sheykh and Fazel Atrachali at a critical juncture.
It was a third clash between India and Iran in a World Cup final the previous two
were held in 2004 and 2007 in Mumbai, and on both occasions, India triumphed.
With the third World Cup being staged after four editions of the ProKabaddi League,
there was a lot of hype and hoopla around the event and there was immense pressure
on Anup Kumars team to win the title a third time.
India took the field with Anup Kumar, Manjit Chillar, Thakur, Pardeep Narwal,
Sandeep Narwal, Surjeet and Surender Nada. After two empty raids from either
side, Sandeep Narwal won the home side the first point with a hand touch.
India showed its wherewithal in a sport it has dominated since the 1990 Asian Games.
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