Current Affairs National

India-Bangladesh Jointly Inaugurated 4 Development Projects

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina jointly unveiled e-plaques for development projects in Bangladesh through video conferencing. This was the sixth such video conference between PM Modi and Prime Minister Hasina.

Both the leaders launched the e-plaques for these projects in Bangladesh:

Supply of buses and trucks,

Inauguration of 36 community clinics,

Inauguration of 11 water treatment plants,

Extension of National Knowledge Network to Bangladesh.

Source- DD News

Catgeory: National

Prasar Bharati brings 11 more state Doordarshan Channels on Satellite Footprint

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced that Prasar Bharati has brought 11 more State DD Channels on the Satellite footprint of India through DD Free Dish. The 11 channels include five from Northeastern states.

11 Channels The DD channels of the states of Chhattisgarh, Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Uttarakhand have been brought to satellite footprint through DD Free Dish.

Benefits The state channels represent the aspirations of the people of the state. Satellite network for these 11 channels through DD Free Dish together with increasing visibility of these channels in the regions will also give them an all-India presence. This all India presence and accessibility to regional broadcast will help promote regional culture and give opportunities to local talent as well.

Prasar Bharati Prasar Bharati came into existence on 23.11.1997 is a statutory autonomous body established under the Prasar Bharati Act. Prasar Bharati is the Public Service Broadcaster of India. Through the Prasar Bharati Act, the objectives of public service broadcasting are achieved by making All India Radio and Doordarshan, which earlier were working as media units under the Ministry of I&B as the constituents of Prasar Bharati. Free Dish is the Free Direct to Home (DTH) service of Prasar Bharati for receiving TV service directly through satellite with a personal small dish antenna. DTH service does not require a local cable operator for receiving TV service at home.

Catgeory: National

India launches third IT corridor in China

India has launched its third IT corridor in China. The corridor will facilitate partnerships between Indian and Chinese companies. National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) entered into a partnership with China’s Xuzhou city from Jiangsu Province in China to help develop the IT corridor.

IT Corridor

IT corridor facilitates partnerships between Indian and Chinese companies by enabling Indian software and service industry associations to enter the Chinese market and seize the development opportunities in China.
The corridor facilitates will facilitate match-making between Indian companies wanting to collaborate with companies in China looking to adopt digital transformation from verticals such as manufacturing, retail, automotive, healthcare and utilities and help them create innovative product and solutions in the co-create mode.
The corridor will help create more jobs in China and India and facilitate talent transfer between the two countries.
The earlier two corridors launched at Dalian and Guiyang cities has brought to fore opportunities with over 300 companies where more than 10 Indian SME companies have signed deals worth 31 Million RMB (USD 4.5 million).
The first two corridors had enabled cooperation in co-create mode in the emerging technologies such as AI, IoT and Analytics in the Chinese market.

IT corridor project between India and China strengthens India-China Digital Cooperation by leveraging the respective strengths in hardware and software to build innovative products and solutions in Co-create mode.

Catgeory: National

Prices of 90 cancer medicines cut by up to 87%

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has reduced the MRP of 390 non-scheduled cancer medicines have been reduced by up to 87%. NPA has asked the manufacturers and hospitals to revise the prices based on the trade margin formula. The release by the NPPA states that five brands will see a price reduction of about 70%, while 12 others will see a 50-70% price cut. MRPs of 45 cancer medicines will reduce by 25%.

Benefits from the Move

This price reduction is expected to result in annual savings of around Rs 800 crore for patients.
The price reduction is expected to benefit about 22 lakh cancer patients in India.

National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) constituted in 1997 is an independent Regulator for pricing of drugs and to ensure availability and accessibility of medicines at affordable prices under the Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers. The functions of NPPA include:

To implement and enforce the provisions of the Drugs (Prices Control) Order.
To monitor the availability of drugs, identify shortages, if any, and to take remedial steps.
To collect and maintain data on production, exports and imports, the market share of individual companies, the profitability of companies etc, for bulk drugs and formulations.
To undertake relevant studies with respect to the pricing of drugs and pharmaceuticals.
To render advice to the Central Government on changes and revisions in the drug policy.
To render assistance to the Central Government in the parliamentary matters relating to the drug pricing.

NPPA implements the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy 2012. NPPA provides ceiling price to all Drugs notified under Schedule-I of the DPCO, 2013 and monitors annual price increase for these and the non-scheduled drugs.

Catgeory: National

SC Proposes Mediation Panel for Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid Land Dispute Case

The Supreme Court has proposed a court-monitored mediation in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case to arrive at a permanent solution to the politically and religiously sensitive issue. The mediation panel consists of three members. Justice Kalifullah, Retired judge of the Supreme Court will chair the court-appointed and monitored mediation process and the other two members are spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and senior advocate Sriram Panchu. The mediation panel will hold the proceedings at Faizabad ensuring full confidentiality. The mediation process is expected to start in a week. The status report of the mediation committee will have to be completed in four weeks with 8 weeks deadline to conclude the hearing.

What is the dispute?

The Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi case is a property dispute over the land where the Babri Masjid, a 16th-century mosque once stood. The mosque was razed by kar sevaks on 6 December 1992. The Hindu groups claim that the exact site of Lord Ram’s birthplace is where the Babri Masjid was once located. They argue that the Mughals demolished a Hindu shrine that marked the spot of Lord Ram’s birthplace and constructed a mosque in its place. Those oppose to this view argue that such arguments arose only in the 18th century, and that there is no evidence for the spot being the birthplace of Rama.

Catgeory: National

Government Launches e-Dharti app and e-Dharti GeoPortal

The Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Puri launched the e-Dharti app and e-Dharti GeoPortal to help the public in getting the necessary information on fingertips and the government to effectively manage its properties.

e-Dharti app

Under the e-Dharti app, all the three modules- Conversion, Substitution and Mutation related to properties have been made online.
The payment system in Land and Development Office, L&DO has also been completely digitized.
This enables the public to submit their applications online by visiting the L&DO website. This absolves the need to visit the office for submission of them and for follow up of their applications.

e-Dharti GeoPortal

e-Dharti GeoPortal enables the lessee of the property to see the basic details of property along with the map showing its location.
The lessee can also be issued a Property Card from this office about his property if he asks for it.
e-Dharti GeoPortal will also benefit the government by letting it know the actual status of its vacant properties, whether there is any encroachment on the property.

The government is in process of digitising and integrating other three modules- Sale Permission, Mortgage Permission and Gift Permission. Once completed this digitisation and integration will go a long way in streamlining the working of property related matters by making it more public friendly, efficient, accountable and transparent.

Catgeory: National

Lok Sabha Elections 2019: Polls to be held in 7 phases, starting April 11

Lok Sabha 2019 elections start from April 11, in seven phases, says Election Commission. Code of Conduct for parties kicks in from 10th March and there are close to 90 crore eligible voters. Date of counting will be on the 23rd of May 2019.

Schedule of Lok Sabha polls-

Phase one – 11th April 2019
Phase two – 18th April 2019
Phase three – 23rd April 2019
Phase four – 29th April 2019
Phase five – 06th May 2019
Phase six – 12th May 2019
Phase seven – 19th May 2019
Date of counting- 23rd May 2019

Source-Live Mint

Catgeory: National

PM Launches ‘One Nation One Card’

PM Narendra Modi launched the indigenously-developed National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) to enable people to pay multiple kinds of transport charges, including metro services and toll tax, across the country. Dubbed as ‘One Nation One Card’, the inter-operable transport card would allow the holders to pay for their bus travel, toll taxes, parking charges, retail shopping and even withdraw money.

Source: Economic Times

Catgeory: National

PM Modi Inaugurated 40-Acre National War Memorial in New Delhi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated a new National War Memorial, situated in the India Gate complex in New Delhi, to the nation. He lit the flame positioned at the bottom of the stone obelisk to pay homage to the soldiers who died in the line of duty. The National War Memorial, spread over 40 acres in the India Gate complex behind the canopy, is dedicated to soldiers killed during the Indo-China War in 1962, Indo-Pak Wars in 1947, 1965 and 1971, Indian Peace Keeping Force Operations in Sri Lanka and in the Kargil Conflict in 1999, and also those in the UN peacekeeping missions.

Source- Press Information Bureau (PIB)

Catgeory: National

President Ram Nath Kovind Promulgates 4 Ordinances

President Ram Nath Kovind promulgated four Ordinances. These are the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Second Ordinance, the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Second Ordinance, the Companies (Amendment) Second Ordinance and the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Ordinance, 2019.

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Second Ordinance has been promulgated to give continued effect to the provisions brought in by the earlier ordinance. This Ordinance declares the practice of instant triple talaq to be void and illegal and also to make it an offence punishable with imprisonment up to three years and fine.

The Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Second Ordinance has been promulgated to give continued effect to the work already done by the Board of Governors as per the provisions of earlier Ordinance.

The Companies (Amendment) Second Ordinance, has been promulgated with a view, to empower the Central Government to allow certain companies to have a different financial year instead of as determined by the Tribunal.

The Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Ordinance has been promulgated to have central legislation to tackle the menace of illicit deposits taking activities in the country.

Source- Press Information Bureau (PIB)

Catgeory: National

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