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Current Affairs Current Affairs March 2019

PM inaugurates Nagpur Metro

With the inauguration of Nagpur Metro, Nagpur has become the second city of the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai to get a Metro Rail.
Nagpur Metro
  • PM inaugurated a 13.5-kilometre stretch comprising five stations from Khapri to Sitabuldi.
  • The Nagpur Metro consists of two corridors with a total length of 38 kilometres.
  • The two corridors will comprise of 38 stations, two depots and a fleet of 69 metro cars.
  • To emphasise on Women Safety and empowerment each train will comprise of a special “Nari Shakti” women’s coach.
  • Nagpur Metro is also hailed as the green Metro since  65% of its electricity consumption from solar energy.
  • Nagpur Metro has earned ?51 crore from stamp duty and ?6.87 crore from Transfer of Development rights even before the start of passenger operations.
The population of the city of Nagpur is projected to double by 2050. Hence it was imperative to equip the city with 21st-century infrastructure, and the Metro Rail is one step in that direction.
Catgeory: State

Monster Salary Index Report

   The Monster Salary Index report has highlighted the following findings:
  • The gender pay gap is still high in India and women in the country earn 19 per cent less than men.
  • Wage inequalities in favour of men are present in all the relevant sectors.
  • The current gender pay gap in India stood at 19 per cent where men earned Rs 46.19 more per hour in comparison to women.
  • The survey report puts the median gross hourly salary for men in India in 2018 stood at Rs 242.49, while for women it stood at around Rs 196.3.
  • Gender pay gap encompasses across key industries, IT/ITES services showed a sharp pay gap of 26 per cent in favour of men, while in the manufacturing sector, men earn 24 per cent more than women.
  • Even in sectors like healthcare, caring services, and social work which are notionally identified with women, men earn 21 per cent more than women.
  • Only in Financial services, banking and insurance industry men earn just 2 per cent more.
  • The report notes that the gender pay gap widens with the years of experience. In the initial years, the gender pay gap is moderate but rises significantly as the tenure increases and for those with over 10 years of experience, the gender pay gap in favour of men reaches the peak, with men earning 15 per cent more than women.
  • The survey reports that the gap has narrowed only by one per cent in 2018 from 20 per cent in 2017.
Monster Salary Index Report was prepared by Monster India in collaboration with Paycheck.in (managed by WageIndicator Foundation) with IIM-Ahmedabad as a research partner.
Catgeory: Economy & Banking

Income tax exemption limit on gratuity doubled to Rs 20 lakh

  The government has increased the tax-free gratuity income limit to Rs 20 lakh. This move will benefit the public as well as private sector employees.
What is Gratuity? Gratuity is the monetary benefit provided by the employer to his/her employee for the services rendered by him during the period of employment. A minimum of five years of service with an organisation is mandatory for availing the benefit of gratuity. The Payment of Gratuity Act 1972 makes it mandatory for the employers to pay their employees gratuity at the time of quitting, provided certain conditions were met. An organisation comes under the purview of the Payment of Gratuity Act 1972 if it has 10 or more employees on any single day in the preceding 12 months. The Payment of Gratuity Act follows the rule of ‘Once Covered, Always Covered’ which implies that that once an organisation comes under the Act, it will always remain covered even if the number of employees falls below 10. The Ministry of Finance has now enhanced the income tax exemption for gratuity under Section 10 (10) (iii) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 to Rs 20 lakhs.
Catgeory: Economy & Banking

New Visually Impaired Friendly Coin Series

  Prime Minister Narendra Modi has unveiled the new series of visually impaired friendly coins of various denominations.
About the Coins
  • The coins are of denomination Rs. 1, Rs. 2, Rs. 5, Rs. 10 and Rs.20.
  • Rs 20 coin, the first-ever coin offering in Rs 20 denomination, has been created in the shape of a 12-edged polygon with a design of grains to denote farm dominance of the nation.
  • Other than Rs 20 coins others are in round shape.
  • The new series of coins are characterized by the increasing size and weight from lower to higher denominations.
  • The coins designed by the National Institute of Design has been produced by Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited and the Finance Ministry.
About Rs 20 Coin
  • The face of the coin has the Lion Capitol of Ashoka Pillar with ‘Satyamev Jayate’ in Hindi inscribed below. The left periphery has the word ‘Bharat’ in Hindi and on the right periphery has the word “INDIA” in English.
  • On the reverse denominational value “20” is inscribed in international numerals below the symbol of Rupee.
  • The reverse side of the coin also has grains depicting the agricultural dominance on the left periphery of the coin.
  • The top right and bottom right peripheries bear the word ‘Bees Rupaye’ in Hindi and “TWENTY RUPEES” in English.
This new series of coins with various differentiating features will aid the visually impaired. These new coins will facilitate the visually impaired to do transactions with ease together with instilling confidence in them.
Catgeory: Economy & Banking

PM inaugurates IOC’s Ennore LNG Import Terminal

  Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Indian Oil Corporation’s (IOCs) LNG terminal at Ennore.
LNG Terminal
  • Ennore terminal is ambitious terminal for storage and re-gasification of imported LNG, built by the nation’s largest fuel retailer Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), at a cost of Rs 5,151 crore inside Kamaraj Port at Ennore.
  • The project was commissioned by the IOC through its joint venture company IndianOil LNG Pvt Ltd.
  • The capacity of the LNG terminal is 5-million tonnes per annum (MMTPA).
  • The LNG terminal was commissioned through the shipload of LNG from Swiss trader, Gunvor carried from Qatar.
  • Ennore LNG terminal is part of India’s plan to raise the share of natural gas in the country’s energy basket to 15 per cent by 2030
  • Together with associated pipeline infrastructure projects cumulatively accounts for Rs 9,000 crore.
  • The imported LNG at the terminal will meet the requirements of Chennai Petroleum Corp Ltd, Madras Fertilisers Ltd, Tamil Nadu Petroproducts and Manali Petrochemicals Ltd together with catering to the requirements of the industries in Tamil Nadu and parts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
IOC is laying a pipeline of 1244 Km for evacuation of gas from Ennore terminal. The pipeline passes through Manali-Thiruvallur-Puducherry-Nagapattinam-Madurai-Trichy- Tuticorin-Ramnathpuram and a separate line will go to Bengaluru through Hosur.
Catgeory: Economy & Banking

India Signs Agreement with Russia for on Chakra III Attack Submarine

 India and Russia have signed an agreement for the leasing of a nuclear-powered attack submarine for the Indian Navy for a period of 10 years.
About the Agreement
  • Russia will be delivering the Akula class submarine, to be known as Chakra III, to the Indian Navy by 2025.
  • India had earlier leased two nuclear submarines from Russia. They are INS Chakra leased in 1988 under a three-year lease and second INS Chakra was taken on lease in 2012 for a period of 10 years.
  • Russia will lease Akula class submarine for the period of 10 years at the cost of USD 3 billion.
  • Chakra III will be equipped with Indian communication systems and sensors, including the indigenously-developed USHUS integrated sonar system and Panchendriya sonar.
  • Chakra III get a unified submarine sonar and tactical control system, which are already in use on the INS Arihant. The Chakra III will also get a refurbished hull.
  • Chakra III weighing around 8,140-ton will have a submerged speed of 30 knots and an operating depth of 530 meters and will be capable of carrying a crew of 73.
  • Chakra III will also be loaded with four 650-millimetre and four 533-millimetre launch tubes for firing Type 65 and Type 53 torpedoes. Both of these torpedoes are made in Russia.
  • Chakra III will be powered with 190 mW nuclear reactor.
Addition of a nuclear-powered submarine is an attempt to bolster the naval prowess of the country as a counter to attempts being made by China to expand its influence in the Indian Ocean region. India has already commissioned French Scorpene submarine INS Kalvari and is in the process of inducting another French Scorpene submarine INS Khanderi.
Catgeory: Defense

RBI Notifies Norms for 2% Interest Subsidy Scheme for Short-term Crop Loans

  The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has notified the norms for banks with regards to two per cent interest subvention or subsidy for short-term crop loans during 2018-19 and 2019-20 under the interest subvention scheme approved by the central government.
Interest subvention scheme Under the interest subvention scheme, the central government provides short term crop loan up to one year for a loan up to Rs. 3 lakhs. The Central government provides an interest subvention of 2 per cent for these short term crop loans. The RBI circular notes that interest subvention of 2 per cent will be calculated on the crop loan amount from the date of its disbursement/drawal up to the date of actual repayment of the crop loan by the farmer or up to the due date of the loan fixed by the banks whichever is earlier, subject to a maximum period of one year. For Farmers repaying the loan promptly an additional 2 per cent interest subvention is provided. This brings down the effective rate of short-term crop loans works out to be 4 per cent per annum.
Catgeory: Government Schemes

Yuvashree Arpan Scheme of West Bengal

 The Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee has unveiled a new scheme Yuvashree Plan II or Yuvashree Arpan to encourage entrepreneurship among youth. Under the Yuvashree Arpan  Scheme around fifty thousand Youths who have passed out of ITI or other polytechnic institutes will be eligible to get financial support of Rs One Lakh from the state MSME department to set up their own business initiatives.
About Yuvashree I Yuvashree I was launched by the labour department of the state of West Bengal. Under the scheme, an unemployment allowance of Rs 1500 per month was provided per month to 1,00,000 unemployed youth.
Catgeory: State

OECD Growth Forecasts 2019

  The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has reduced the world economic growth forecasts for the year 2019.
Economic Forecasts of OECD
  • The report notes that trade tensions and political uncertainty, including Brexit and erosion of business and consumer confidence are weighing on the world’s economy thereby contributing to the slowdown.
  • OECD has cut its 2019 forecast for global economic growth to 3.3% for the current year, down from 3.5% it predicted earlier.
  • OECD growth forecasts for Germany sank to 0.7% from 1.4%, while Italy’s fell from 0.9% growth into a recession at -0.2%.
  • OECD forecasts noted that the sharp downturn in the two countries reflected “their relatively high exposures to the global trade slowdown.
  • The forecasts for France have slipped from 1.5% to 1.3%.
  • Britain’s growth forecast has been chopped from 1.4% to 0.8%. For the first time, the growth rates have fallen below 1% since 2009 following the global economic crisis.
  • The 19-nation eurozone was particularly hard hit, with predicted growth dropping from 1.8 per cent to one per cent which was contributed to policy uncertainty including those over Brexit.
  • The report notes that a sharper slowdown in China would have significant adverse consequences for global growth and trade.
OECD’s forecasts are more downbeat than the IMF’s for many economies, particularly the euro region and the U.K.
Catgeory: Economy & Banking

Google launches Bolo to tutor children to read Hindi and English

  Tech giant Google has unveiled a new app ‘Bolo’ that aims to help children in primary school learn to read in Hindi and English.
Bolo App
  • It is free to use app and can be accessed through the Google Play Store.
  • The app uses Google’s speech recognition and text-to-speech technology.
  • Through an animated character Diya, the app encourages children to read stories aloud.
  • The app also helps if the child is unable to pronounce a word.
  • It lauds the reader when he/she completes the reading.
  • The app also works offline. Once downloaded the user will have access to 100 stories in Hindi and English that the children can read out loud and improve their reading skills.
Google has already piloted the Bolo App in about 200 villages in Uttar Pradesh. Google cites the early results as encouraging with 64 per cent of children showing an improvement in reading proficiency in just three months. Google is now planning to collaborate with non-profit groups to enhance the reach of the app.
Catgeory: Science & Technology

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