July 2014

1
 July 2014

PREFACE 12

PICK OF THE MONTH 13

Union Budget 2014-15 13
Economic Survey 2013-14: Highlights 22
2014 FIFA Football World Cup 36
6th BRICS Summit: Fortaleza Declaration 39
NASA launched Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 to track Carbon Dioxide 42
Union Government launched Rashtriya Gokul Mission 43
India State of Forest Report 2013 released by Union Environment Minister 46
Veteran actress Zohra Sehgal died at 102 49
Doordarshan’s Naad Bhed-The Mystery of Sound to be featured in Limca Book of Re-
cords 50

INTERNATIONAL 52
Iraqi Parliament elected Fuad Masum as the seventh President of Iraq 52
Indian mission in Tripoli advised all Indian nationals to leave strife torn Libya 54
India voted in favour of the UNHRC resolution on Israel’s offensive in Gaza 55
Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo won Indonesian presidential election 57
UNSC adopted the resolution for an international probe into MH-17 plane crash 58
Deadline for reaching an agreement on Iran’s Nuclear Programme extended till November
24 59
Bolivia legalised Child Labour for Kids from Age 10 60
India and Brazil signed three agreements to strengthen the bilateral relation 61
Bashar al-Assad sworn in as President of Syria 63
PM Narendra Modi met Russian President Putin in Fortaleza 63
Japan nuclear regulator gave nod to restart work at Sendai nuclear plant 64
BRICS to create New Development Bank and Contingency Reserve Arrangement 65
PM Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Fortaleza 67
15-member UNSC adopted resolution to allow cross-border aid to Syrians 68
India & Sri Lanka signed MoU to set up Engineering & Agricultural faculty for University of
Jaffna 70
Afghanistan’s presidential candidates agreed on the audit of votes casted in June 2014
election 72

2
 July 2014

India-Canada Audiovisual Co-production Treaty Signed 73

UN Tribunal ruled Indo-Bangladesh Maritime border dispute 74
India and UK to launch civil nuclear cooperation 75
German Cabinet approved dual citizenship for children of immigrants 76
Senegal President Macky Sall sacked Prime Minister Aminata Toure 77
Japanese Cabinet adopted resolution to end 60 years of pacifism 78
China – South Korea bilateral summit held in Seoul 79
Japan issued multiple entry visas to Indians 81
Four-party meet in Berlin agreed to resume ceasefire in eastern Ukraine 82
National Assembly of Pakistan approved Protection of Pakistan Bill 2014 82
France announced to provide 1 billion Euros credit line to India 84
Pakistan Army launched Phase-II of the Operation Zarb-e-Azb against militants 85

NATIONAL 86
Finance Ministry approved setting up of rape crisis centres in all districts 86
Union Government decided to intensify war against Japanese Encephalitis 86
Union Government proposed to set up three Low Cost Airports for Bihar 89
Union Government notified Public Servants Rules, 2014 90
PM Narendra Modi paid first visit to BARC 92
PM Narendra Modi suggested qualitative changes in PMNRF functioning 93
Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan released National Health Profile 2013 94
President rejected mercy petitions of Nithari killer Surinder Koli and 5 others 96
SC asked State governments and UTs to submit responses over Euthanasia 97
National Centre for R & D in Bulk Drugs to be set up in NIPER Hyderabad 98
SC ordered Union Government to bring MGNREGS’s wage rates on par with minimum
wages 100
Union Ministry of Railways launched Social Media Platform for Indian Railways 102
Law Commission submitted a report titled Manpower Planning in Judiciary: A Blue Print to
Union Govt 102
President Pranab Mukherjee appointed Governor for Mizoram and Nagaland 104
SC ruled Shariat Courts are illegal 105
Supreme Court ruled no automatic arrest of accused in dowry cases 105
Union Government introduced four new vaccines as a part of UIP 106
India became the first Country to Ratify the Marrakesh Treaty 108

3
July 2014

ECONOMY 111
Union Budget 2014-15: Sector wise 111
Railway Budget 2014-15: New Initiatives 134
Union Rail Budget 2014-15: Highlights 138
UNDP released Human Development Report 2014 142
CCEA approved sale of 10 million tonnes of wheat in Open Market to Check Prices 145
RBI cancelled Certificate of Registration of six NBFCs 146
RBI penalised 12 Banks in Deccan Chronicle Holdings case 146
Union Government revised Investment target for DFC to 80000 crore rupees 147
CCEA approved 49 percent Foreign Investment in Insurance Sector 148
India decided against signing WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement 149
RBI Issued Guidelines for Setting up Trade Receivables Discounting System for MSMEs
152
OECD released global Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information
153
SEBI issued draft guidelines for infrastructure investment trusts 155
ADB released Asian Development Outlook 2014 Supplement 157
RBI released Draft Guidelines for Licensing of Payments Banks and Small Banks 159
CBDT formed committee to reduce litigation at dispute resolution forums in IT Department
161
RBI eased the infrastructure financing norms to encourage infrastructure development 162
SEBI barred Satyam founder Ramalinga Raju and 4 others from accessing capital markets
163
Per Student Cooking Cost under Mid Day Meal Scheme Enhanced 164
Retail inflation fell to 30-month low of 7.31 percent in June 2014 165
Railways register 9.48 percent increase in its earning 166
Union Budget 2014-15: Weaker Sections 167
Telecom Consumers Complaint Redressal (Third Amendment) regulations, 2014 168
Economic Survey of India 2013-14: Highlights 169
C Rangarajan Committee on Poverty presented its report to Union Government 173
NABARD and SFAC signed a MoU for development of Small Farm Producers 174
Udhampur-Katra rail line inaugurated by the Prime Minister 175
RBI restored the limit of Overseas Direct Investment taken under automatic route 176
Indian Railways successfully conducted test run of Delhi-Agra semi-high speed train 177

4
 July 2014

CCEA approved inclusion of onion and potato under Essential Commodities Act, 1955 178

ENVIRONMENT | ECOLOGY 180

Sneha, a White tigress, gave birth to a black cub 180
3rd Phase of Science Express Biodiversity Special flagged off from Safdarjung Railway
Station 181
SC permitted UP government to cut 697 trees of protected forests in the Taj Trapezium
zone 183
Typhoon Matmo struck east of Taiwan 185
Nagoya Protocol on Biodiversity Received Necessary Ratifications 186
Australia’s Senate voted to repeal Carbon tax 188
Typhoon Rammasun struck large parts of the Philippines 189
Central Ground Water Board & IIRS signed MoU 190
Hurricane Arthur hit the coast of North Carolina 191
Bor Wildlife Sanctuary of Maharashtra to be the country’s 47th Tiger Reserve 192

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 195

NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity set off-Earth roving distance record 195
Only 8.2 percent of Human Genome functional: Oxford University researchers 196
EU extended sanctions on Russia in wake of MH-17 incident 198
IWGSC scientist’s unveiled genetic blueprint of bread wheat 198
One-in-Three Alzheimer’s cases are preventable: Cambridge University Research 199

SPORTS 201
Sabine Lisicki sets record of fastest serve in women’s tennis 201
Jacques Kallis announced retirement from all formats of International cricket 201
CSF agreed to reinstate shooting Pair events in 2018 CWG on India’s request 202
Cycling: Italian Vincenzo Nibali won 101st edition of Tour de France 203
Abhinav Bindra won Gold medal in Men’s 10m Air Rifle at the 2014 Commonwealth
Games 204
Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014 got off at the Celtic Park in Glasgow in Scotland
205
Indian tennis star Sania Mirza appointed as Brand Ambassador of Telangana 210

5
 July 2014

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg won 2014 German Grand Prix 211
Irishman Rory McIlroy won British Golf Open 2014 211
Germany’s football team captain Philipp Lahm announced retirement 213
Germany ranked number One in FIFA’s world rankings 214
Rahul Dravid elected as member of Laureus World Sports Academy 214
127th edition of Durand Cup football tournament to be held in Goa in October 2014 216
Brazil Football Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari resigned 217
Jayawardene announced retirement from Test Cricket 218
Sim Bhullar became first Indian-origin basketball player to join NBA 219
FIFA suspended Nigeria’s team from International football competitions 220
F-Cube Technology to promote Football at ground level launched 220
Kvitova won the Women’s Wimbledon Tennis Open 222
Novak Djokovic won the Men’s Wimbledon Tennis Open defeating Roger Federer 222
MCC XI won the match played to celebrate 200 years of Lord’s Cricket Ground 223
Sania Mirza ranked career-best fifth in WTA doubles rankings 224
Indian pistol shooter Jitu Rai ranked No. 1 in the world 224

CORPORATE 226
NCDEX announced to introduce Comprehensive Hedge Policy for Commodity Markets
226
TCS became first Indian Company to achieve Market Capitalization of 5 lakh crore rupees
227
Google announced to launch Hindi version of Google Maps on Android and PC 228
Air India formally joined global airline group Star Alliance 228
APSEZ formed JV with French shipping company CMA CGM to build a container terminal
229
ADB to provide equity investment of 50 million US dollars to ReNew Power 230

STATE 232
TN Establishment of Private Law Colleges (Prohibition) Bill, 2014 introduced in Assembly
232
5th Sahyadri Cine Awards 2014 presented in Mumbai 233
Delhi HC asked Delhi government to ban unregulated e-rickshaws 235

6
 July 2014

Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu announced launching Web Portal for Industrial Licences 237
CMSA Scheme launched in Meghalaya for Widows and Pensioners 237
HP selected for Union Government’s pilot programme to train Heads of Government
Schools 238
Union Civil Aviation Minister announced to Upgrade Tirupati Airport to International
Standar 239
Delhi Budget 2014-15: Highlights 240
DERC approved power tariff hike in national capital, Delhi 244
245
Meghalaya saluted its heroes of WW1 on Garo Labour Corps Day 245
Delhi government to set up 320 Mahila Suraksha Dals for women safety 246
Assam decided to implement National Food Security Act from 1 September 2014 247
Haryana Governor gave assent to Sikh Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee Bill 2014 248
Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act invoked against striking medical officers
248
Narendra Modi inaugurated 240MW Uri-II hydroelectric project in Jammu and Kashmir 249
Supreme Court directed Haryana Government to stop illegal mining in Aravali Hills 250
ADB approved 300 million US dollar loan for Assam’s power sector 252
Ram Naresh Yadav sworn-in as Governor of Chhattisgarh 252
Swamy Goud elected as Chairman of Telangana Legislative Council 253
Supreme Court directed J&K government to restore Dal Lake 254
Rajasthan Government declared Camel as the State animal 255

NEWS CAPSULE 257

PERSON IN NEWS 257
Om Prakash Kohli sworn in as the Governor of Gujarat 257
Veteran actress Suchitra Sen’s house to be converted into a museum 258
Michelle Howard became first female four-star admiral in US Navy 259
Former French President Sarkozy charged with corruption & influence peddling 260
Sujit Choudhry became the first Indian-American dean of Berkeley Law School 260
US named a mountain in Antarctica after an Indian-American scientist, Akhouri Sinha 261

7
July 2014

Person Appointed 263

Lt General Dalbir Singh Suhag took over as Chief of Army Staff 263
Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha took over as the Chairman of COSC 264
Amitabh Bachchan named as Maharashtra’s horticulture ambassador 265
Veteran BJP Leader Kaptan Singh Solanki Appointed Governor Of Haryana 265
CAG Of India, Shashi Kant Sharma took charge as member of UN Board Of Auditors 266
KN Tripathi sworn in as 22nd Governor of West Bengal 269
SC appointed R S Cheema as special public prosecutor in coal scam 270
Ram Naik sworn in as 27th Governor of Uttar Pradesh 271
Y Sudharshan Rao appointed as Chairman of ICHR 273
B Ashok took charge as Chairman of IOC 274
President appointed Governors of five states 274
Emma Watson appointed as UN Goodwill Ambassador 275
M S Mehta appointed as CEO of Reliance Infrastructure 276
Supreme Court appointed three judges 277
Bihar Governor DY Patil took additional charge of West Bengal 279

Person Resigned 281

Haryana Power Minister Captain Ajay Singh Yadav resigned from state cabinet 281
Prime Minister of Ukraine, Arseniy Yatsenyuk Resigned 281
B V Wanchoo, the Governor of Goa resigned 283

Places in News 285

7th BRICS Summit to be held in Russian city of Ufa 285
Post recovery of four bodies from River Beki, tensions rise in Assam’s Baksa district 286
Inter-island air service to start in Andaman & Nicobar from 24 July 286
Special Air India flight carrying 46 Indian Nurses and 137 others from Erbil arrived at Kochi
287

Person on Visit 289

Sushma Swaraj visited Nepal 289
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim visited in India 290
Narendra Modi visited Brazil to attend 6th BRICS Summit 291

8
 July 2014

Person Died 293

Theodore Van Kirk, the last airman in US bombing of Hiroshima died 293
Eminent Hindi litterateur Madhukar Singh died at 87 294
Sushilarani Patel, a Classical singer died at 96 295
Bangladesh freedom fighter Bir Bikrom UK Ching Marma died 296
Veteran journalist Sundaram Sankaran died at 87 297
American actor James Garner died at 86 298
South African Nobel-prize winning author Nadine Gordimer died 299
Senior VHP leader Giriraj Kishore died at 94 300
World-renowned conductor Lorin Maazel died at 84 301
Eduard Shevardnadze, the ex-President of Georgia died at 86 302
Alfredo Di Stefano, the Real Madrid FC legend died 303
Granville Austin, the scholar of Indian constitution died 304
Olympian and WW II veteran Louis Zamperini died 305
Former Haitian President Leslie Manigat died at 83 306

Awards | Honours 308

Environmentalist Chandi Prasad Bhatt won the Gandhi Peace prize 2013 308
Four Indian Americans honoured on the eve of US Independence Day 310
Shah Rukh Khan Conferred with Knight of the Legion of Honor 311
President conferred National, Shilp Guru and Sant Kabir Awards for 2011 312
Malala Yousafzai won Liberty Medal for the year 2014 314

Books | Authors 316

The Lives of Others written by Neel Mukherjee shortlisted for Man Booker Prize 2014 316
The Vijay Mallya Story written by K Giriprakash published 317
Coffee-Table book titled First Citizen: Pranab Mukherjee in Rashtrapati Bhavan released
318

Defence | Security 321

IAF received 6th C-17 Globemaster III aircraft 321
Malabar Naval Exercise featuring Indian, Japanese and US Navy started 322
India’s first indigenous anti-submarine warship INS Kamrota handed over to Indian Navy

9
July 2014

323
INS Kuthar Warship damaged in mishap, 15th such incident since August 2013 324
India successfully test-fired BrahMos supersonic cruise missile 325

Report | Survey 327

Global Innovation Index 2014 released 327
Earthquakes in Oklahoma due to wastewater disposal wells: Cornell University 330
UN released World Urbanization Prospects Report 2014 331
World Bank released a report titled Student Learning in South Asia 332

Accident | Incident 335

Air Algerie plane Boeing MD-83 went missing over Mali 335
Malaysia Airlines plane Boeing 777 plane MH-17 crashed over Eastern Ukraine 336
Subway metro train derailed in Moscow 337

Summit | Conference 338

B20 Australia Summit held in Sydney 338
India to host 7th IBSA Summit in 2015 340

Committees | Commissions 342

Union government decided to appoint Suresh Prabhu Committee to review gas pricing
formula 342
R S Sharma Expert Committee constituted on Cost Records and Cost Audits 342
Union Health Ministry constituted a core group to eradicate Kala Azar by 2015 344
IMG constituted to examine potential of GAGAN in Non-Aviation Sectors 345

Inventions | Discoveries 347

Prehistoric rock paintings depicting aliens and UFOs found in Chhattisgarh 347

Art | Culture 349

Union Government issued guidelines for Selection of Dance Productions for Festival of
India abroad 349

10
 July 2014

Ramayana month started in Kerala temples 351

Third edition of Ladakh International Film Festival held in Leh 352

Day | Week | Year 353

International Tiger Day 2014 observed across the world 353
International Gaucher Day observed on 26 July 355
World Hepatitis Day observed across the world on 28 July 357
Kargil Vijay Diwas Celebrated across the country on 26 July 358
World Population Day 2014 observed across the world 359
National Doctors’ Day observed across India on 1 July 360

Miscellaneous 362
Prime Minister launched web platform MyGov to get citizens’ ideas for governance 362
India’s President inaugurated Bank and Post Office in President Estate’s new buildings363
Logo Design Competition launched for Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Campaign 364
National Geographic launched magazine Explorer for schoolchildren in India 366
Operation to refloat wrecked Italian ship Costa Concordia launched 367
President joined on Twitter with @RashtrapatiBhvn 368
First Aid Post inaugurated at Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi 368

NEWS SNIPPETS JULY 2014 370

WORLD DAIRY JULY 2014 374
INDIA DAIRY JULY 2014 381
ONE LINER JULY 2014 390
DESCRIPTIVE QUESTIONS JULY 2014 397

11
 July 2014

PREFACE
The Current Affairs July 2014 eBook covers the current events that happened in the month of July. Current
Affairs is a crucial component of any competitive exams including IAS|PCS, SSC, Banking, MBA. The lack
of preparation for current affairs by the aspirants and candidates often is a main cause of their failure. Even
though the candidates know it but they are often confused about how to prepare the current affairs section of
the different competitive exams. It is to clear such doubts and confusion, Jagranjosh.com has come up with
eBook concept. Although current affairs section per se is very wide to be covered, yet we have tried to cover
all the possible current affairs for the month of July 2014.
The July 2014 eBook is divided into different section keeping in mind the need of various exams. The sections
covered namely are International, National, Economy, Ecology and Environment, Science & Technology,
Corporate, Sports, States, and News Capsule. Every news item in each section is arranged date wise with the
most recent news being covered first and so on. Although there might be some deviations but that is solely to
give priority to the most important current affairs in each section.
Presentation of the given current affairs has been planned meticulously. It has been planned in such a way
that it remains in the minds of readers for a longer duration. Wherever necessary each news item is presented
along with a background and analysis so as to help candidates contemplate all the important current events at
the time of exam in an effective way.
The eBook has been prepared keeping in mind the requirements of various competitive exams and utmost
care has been taken to make the content accurate and informative. All the contents given in the book has been
thoroughly cross-checked from various news websites and government and non-government websites. Our
experts have tried to put in their best efforts to make sure that the content provided remains in the mind of the
candidate for a longer period of time and is perceived with its true meaning.

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12
 July 2014

PICK OF THE MONTH

Union Budget 2014-15

Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley on 10 July 2014 presented Union Budget 2014-
15. This budget was the maiden budget of Arun Jaitley as well as the first of the
newly appointed government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

13
July 2014

Highlights of the Union Budgets 2014-15

• The tax bracket has been increased to 2.5 lakh rupees from previous 2 lakh rupees,
whereas, for senior citizen it has been raised to 3 lakh rupees from previous 2.5
lakh rupees

• Tax relief for interest on housing loan rose from 1.5 lakh rupees to 2 lakh rupees

• Deduction under 80C increased from 1 lakh rupees to 1.5 lakh rupees

• 2037 crore rupees for Ganga cleaning

• 4200 crore rupees for Ganga project river connectivity from Allahabad to Haldia

• 15000 KM of additional pipeline through PPP mode to complete Gas Grid

• 37800 crore rupees proposed for NHAI and State Highways

• 3000 crore rupees for roads in North East

• 1000 crore rupees for improving North East connectivity

• 1000 crore rupees for one rank one pension policy adopted by government

• 11635 crore rupees for habour projects

• 10000 crore rupees set aside for startup firms

• 1000 crore rupees proposed for Pradhanmantri Krishi Seechai Yojana to improve
irrigation facility

• 30 crore rupees for setting up Hasthkala Academy for revival of handicrafts

• 14389 crore rupees announced for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna, PMGSY

• 1785 crore rupees for road under-bridges & over-bridges

• 4000 crore rupees for National Housing Bank for flow of cheap housing finance

• 3600 crore rupees for National Rural Drinking Water programme

• 100 crore rupees has been allotted for modernization of Madarasas

• 500 crore rupees for power transmission

14
 July 2014

¤ÉVÉ] BÉEÉ ºÉÉ® Budget at a Glance

(BÉE®Éä½ âó{ÉA) (In crore of Rupees)
2012-2013 2013-2014 2013-2014 2014-2015
´ÉɺiÉÉÊ´ÉBÉE ¤ÉVÉ] ºÉƶÉÉäÉÊvÉiÉ ¤ÉVÉ]
+ÉxÉÖàÉÉxÉ +ÉxÉÖàÉÉxÉ +ÉxÉÖàÉÉxÉ
Actuals Budget Revised Budget
Estimates Estimates Estimates
ɪÉÉÆ 1. Revenue Receipts 879232 1056331 1029252 1189763
ɺ´É (BÉEäxp BÉEÉä 2. Tax Revenue
(net to centre) 741877 884078 836026 977258
xÉ ®ÉVɺ´É 3. Non-Tax Revenue 137355 172252 193226 212505
ÉÆ (5¨6¨7)$ 4. Capital Receipts (5+6+7)$ 531140 608967 561182 605129
EÉÒ ´ÉºÉÚãÉÉÒ 5. Recoveries of Loans 15060 10654 10802 10527
ÉÎ{iɪÉÉÆ 6. Other Receipts 25890 55814 25841 63425
ÉÉè® +ÉxªÉ 7. Borrowings and other
* liabilities * 490190 542499 524539 531177
ÉÆ (1¨4)$ 8. Total Receipts (1+4)$ 1410372 1665297 1590434 1794892
ÉxxÉ BªÉªÉ 9. Non-Plan Expenditure 996747 1109975 1114902 1219892
JÉÉiÉä {É® 10.On Revenue Account 914306 992908 1027689 1114609
ºÉä of which,
MÉiÉÉxÉ 11. Interest Payments 313170 370684 380066 427011
ÉiÉä {É® 12.On Capital Account 82441 117067 87214 105283
ÉªÉ 13. Plan Expenditure 413625 555322 475532 575000
JÉÉiÉä {É® 14.On Revenue Account 329208 443260 371851 453503
ÉiÉä {É® 15.On Capital Account 84417 112062 103681 121497
9¨13) 16. Total Expenditure (9+13) 1410372 1665297 1590434 1794892
BªÉªÉ 17.Revenue Expenditure
4) (10+14) 1243514 1436169 1399540 1568111
{ÉÚÆVÉÉÒ 18.Of Which, Grants for
ÉÊkɪÉÉå BÉäE creation of Capital
äiÉÖ +ÉxÉÖnÉxÉ Assets 115710 174633 138228 168104
ªÉ 19.Capital Expenditure
5) (12+15) 166858 229129 190894 226781
É (17-1) 20. Revenue Deficit (17-1) 364282 379838 370288 378348
(3.6) (3.3) (3.3) (2.9)
º´É PÉÉ]É 21. Effective Revenue 248572 205205 232060 210244
Deficit (20-18) (2.5) (1.8) (2.0) (1.6)
PÉÉ]É 22. Fiscal Deficit 490190 542499 524539 531177
6)} {16-(1+5+6)} (4.8) (4.8) (4.6) (4.1)
]É (22-11) 23. Primary Deficit (22-11) 177020 171814 144473 104166
(1.8) (1.5) (1.3) (0.8)

àÉå ´ÉKÉÇ 2012-13 BÉäE ´ÉɺiÉÉÊ´ÉBÉE +ÉÉÆBÉE½ä +ÉxÉÆÉÊiÉàÉ cé* Actuals for 2012-13 in this document are provisional.
BÉE®hÉ ªÉÉäVÉxÉÉ BÉEä +ÉÆiÉMÉÇiÉ |ÉÉÉÎ{iɪÉÉå BÉEÉä UÉä½BÉE®* Excluding receipts under
15 Market Stabilisation Scheme.
¶ÉäKÉ àÉå +ÉÉc®hÉ uÉ®É BÉEàÉÉÒ ¶ÉÉÉÊàÉãÉ cè* Includes draw-down of Cash Balance.
July 2014

• 100 crore rupees allotted for Beti Union Budget 2014-15:

bachao-beti padhao yojna
Schemes/Initiatives
• 150 crore rupees for safety of
women scheme
Rural Development
• Minimum pension of 1000 rupees
• Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission
to meet the expenditure to all
for integrated project based infrastructure
subscribers of EPFO scheme
in the rural areas.
• 1000 crore rupees allocated for
• Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana
PM Irrigation Scheme
for feeder separation to augment power
• 200 crore rupees has been supply to the rural areas with an outlay of
allocated for the Statue of Unity 500 crore rupees to be launched
in Gujarat, Sardar Patel stands
• Ajeevika, the provision of bank loan for
as a unity of statue
women SHGs at 4% to be extended to
• 8000 crore rupees allocated for another 100 districts
rural housing scheme
• Start Up Village Entrepreneurship
• 2000 crore rupees allocated for Programme ‰for encouraging rural youth
new Water Shed programme to take up local entrepreneurship programs
with an outlay of 100 crore rupees to be
• 3600 crore rupees under national
launched
rural drinking water programme
• Neeranchal to give impetus to watershed
• 50000 crore rupees for SC/ST
development in the country with an initial
schemes
outlay of 2142 crores rupees
• 500 crore rupees allocated for
setting AIIMS in Andhra Pradesh,
Urban Development
West Bengal, Vidharbha and
Purvanchal. Aim is to create an • Housing for All by 2022
AIIMS in every state • Mission on Low Cost Affordable Housing
• FDI cap in Defence sector has anchored in the National Housing Bank to
been raised to 49 percent be set up

16

• The finance minister in the
budget announced steps for
sustained growth of 7-8 percent
within the next three-four years
• Separate commission will
be constituted to decrease
government expense
• Aim to make food and fuel
subsidy more targeted so that it
helps those who need them
• High-level committee will
scrutinize all retro taxes
• No change was made in tax rates
retrospectively
• GST by the end of 2014 (no
deadline was announced), GST
will streamline tax administration
and result in higher tax collection
for centre and states
• FDI cap on minimum built up area
has been reduced to encourage
development of smart cities
• FDI will be promoted in selected
sectors
• Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao Yojna
announced
• Greater autonomy to banks
• PSU 247944 crore capex to
July 2014
• Slum development to be included in the
list of Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) activities to encourage the private
sector to contribute more
• One Hundred Smart Cities to be developed
at a cost of 7060 crore rupees
• Tax incentives for Real Estate Investment
Trusts (REITS)
Weaker Sections and Minorities
• Van Bandhu Kalyan Yojna for the welfare
of the tribals with an outlay of 100 crore
rupees
• National level institutes for Universal
Inclusive Design, Mental Health
Rehabilitation and a Centre for Disability
Sports to be established
• Up gradation of Traditional Skills in Arts,
Resources and Goods for the up gradation
of skills and training in ancestral arts
for development for the minorities to be
launched
• Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana (VPBY)
to be revived for a limited period from
15 August, 2014 to 14 August 2015 for
the benefit of citizens aged 60 years and
above
17
July 2014
create industrial cycle
• 100 new Smart cities to be
developed, 7060 crore rupees
fund for smart cities
• Tourism: e-visas to be introduced
at nine airports in the country in a
phased manner
• Modified REITS (Real estate
investment trusts) has been
announced for infrastructure
projects to reduce pressure on
banking system
• Kisan Vikas Patra has been
pushed further
• New scheme for skill development
called Skill India to be launched
• By 2019, every household will
have Sanitation
• Shyama Prassad Mukherjee
Rozgar mission to be launched
• New scheme for agricultural
irrigation
• National level institute for mental
health to be set up
• To help blind, currency notes
with Braille like signs has been
announced
Women and Child Development
• Safety for Women on Public Road Transport
Project with an outlay of 50 crore rupees
started
• Scheme to increase the safety of women
in large cities with an allocation of 150
crore rupees
• Crisis Management Centres to be set up
in all the government and private hospitals
of the districts of NCT of Delhi in 2014-15
• Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana a focused
scheme to generate awareness and help
in improving the efficiency of delivery of
welfare services meant for women with an
outlay of 100 crore rupees
• School curriculum to have a separate
chapter on gender mainstreaming
Drinking Water & Sanitation
• Swachh Bharat Abhiyan to cover every
household with sanitation facility by the
year 2019
Health and Family Welfare
• Free Drug Service and Free Diagnosis
Service to achieve Health for All
• Two National Institutes of Ageing to be
18

• Gender main-streaming: School
curriculum to have a chapter on
the issue
• MNREGA will be made more
productive by linking it to
agriculture related activities
• Women SCGs bank loan scheme
to be extended to other districts
• Backward region grant fund for
272 backward districts: BRGF
will be restructured
• Under Health for all, free drug
and free diagnostic service to be
taken
• 12 more government medical
colleges to be added
• Aerated drinks to be more
expensive
• Cigarettes to cost more, excise
duty hiked to 72 percent from 11
percent
• Personal computers, electronic
goods to be cheaper
• Proposal to make CRT TVs
cheaper
• Basic customs duty on LED
panel below 19 inch removed
July 2014
set up at AIIMS, New Delhi and Madras
Medical College, Chennai
• A national level research and referral
Institute for higher dental studies to be set
up
• AIIMS like institutions in Andhra Pradesh,
West Bengal, Vidarbha in Maharashtra
and Poorvanchal in Uttar Pradesh with an
outlay of 500 crores rupees
• 12 new government medical colleges to
be set up
• 15 Model Rural Health Research Centres
to be set up for research on local health
issues concerning rural population
• A national programme in Mission Mode to
halt the deteriorating malnutrition situation
in India to be put in place within six months
School Education
• A School Assessment Programme initiated
at a cost of 30 crore rupees
• Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya New
Teachers Training Programme to infuse
new training tools and motivate teachers
with an outlay of 500 crore rupees
• Communication Linked Interface for
Cultivating Knowledge (CLICK) and online
courses to be established as virtual
19
July 2014
• Soaps and oil products to
become cheaper
• Excise duty on footwear reduced
from 12 percent to 6 percent
• Excise duty concessions to
continue till 31 December 2014
• Annual deposit under PPF
scheme rose to 1.5 lakh rupees
from previous 1 lakh rupees
• Open market sale of food grains,
wherever required
• National industrial corridor to be
set up with Pune at centre
• Banks to give long term infra
loans
• 10-year Tax holiday for power
sector to continue
• Single D-mat A/c for all financial
transactions
• Funds for communications,
disaster preparedness for UTs
• Funds for power, water reforms
for capital in budget
• No change in surcharge
• No change in Direct Tax rates
• War Memorial will be set up at
classrooms with an outlay of 100 crore
rupees
Higher Education
• Jai Prakash Narayan National Centre for
Excellence in Humanities to be set up in
Madhya Pradesh
• 5 Indian Institute of Technology to be set
up in Jammu, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Andhra
Pradesh and Kerala with an outlay of 500
crore rupees
• 5 Indian Institute of Management to be
set up in the States of Himachal Pradesh,
Punjab, Bihar, Odisha and Rajasthan
• Two more Agricultural Research Institute
of excellence in Assam and Jharkhand
with an initial sum of 100 crore rupees
• Agriculture Universities in Andhra Pradesh
and Rajasthan and Horticulture Universities
in Telangana and Haryana to be opened
with an outlay of 200 crore rupees
• Film & Television Institute, Pune and
Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute,
Kolkata are proposed to be accorded
status of Institutes of national importance
• National Centre for Excellence in
Animation, Gaming and Special Effects to
be set up
20

Princess Park, New Delhi
• Pending Insurance Amendment
Bill to be taken up in Parliament
• Government to examine proposal
to give additional autonomy to
banks
• Committed to 4 percent growth
in agriculture
• Six debt recovery tribunals to be
set up
• Ultra modern solar power
projects to be set up
• Mumbai infra corridor to be
completed on schedule
• Investment in mining sector to
be encouraged
• Financial sector to be at heart of
economic growth
• To augment power supply in rural
areas Deen Dayal Upadhaya
Gram Jyoti Yojana to be launched
• MSME definition to be revised
for high capital ceiling
• Effective steps will be initiated to
revive SEZs
• Pension scheme for senior
citizens being revived
July 2014
Employment and Skill Development
• Skill India to be launched to skill the youth
with an emphasis on employability and
entrepreneurial skills
• More productive, asset creating and with
linkages to agriculture and allied activities
wage employment would to be provided
under MGNREGA
• Start Up Village Entrepreneurship
Programme ‰for encouraging rural youth
to take up local entrepreneurship programs
with an outlay of 100 crore rupees to be
launched
Regional Development
• A new 24x7 channel called Arun Prabha to
provide a strong platform to rich cultural
and linguistic identity of the North-East to
be launched
• Construction of long pending Renuka Dam
to be taken up on priority
• 500 crore rupees provided to support
displaced Kashmiri migrants for rebuilding
their lives
• 100 crore rupees provided to set up a
National Centre for Himalayan Studies in
Uttarakhand
21
July 2014
• Slum development to be included
in CSR activities
• Composite cap on FDI in
insurance proposed to be raised
to 49 percent from 26 percent
• 15 Model Rural Health Research
centers for rural health issues
• National multiscale Skill India
programme to provide training
and support for employment
• 15 new Braille presses to be
established and 10 existing to be
revived
• Government to leave no stone
unturned to create a vibrant India
• New urea policy will be formulated
• Centre looks forward to low
inflation regime
• Commitment to AP and
Telangana issues reiterated
Economic Survey 2013-
14: Highlights
Overview
• The Indian economy has been
going through challenging times
Agriculture
• Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojna
assured irrigation 1000 crore rupees
• Two more Agricultural Research Institute
of excellence in Assam and Jharkhand
with an initial sum of 100 crore rupees
• Agri-tech Infrastructure Fund to be set up
with an initial corpus of 100 crore rupees
• Agriculture Universities in Andhra Pradesh
and Rajasthan and Horticulture Universities
in Telangana and Haryana to be opened
with an outlay of 200 crore rupees
• A scheme to provide every farmer a soil
health card in a Mission mode will be
launched with an outlay of 100 crore
rupees
• 100 Mobile Soil Testing Laboratories to be
set up across the country with an outlay of
56 crores rupees
• National Adaptation Fund with an amount
of 100 crore rupees to be set up to meet
the vagaries of climate change
• Protein revolution to be launched
• Price Stabilization Fund to be set up with
an outlay of 500 crore rupees to mitigate
the risk of Price volatility in the agriculture
produce
• To provide institutional finance to landless
22
 July 2014

that culminated in lower than 5 farmers, it is proposed to provide finance

percent growth of GDP at factor to 5 lakh joint farming groups of Bhoomi
cost at constant prices for two Heen Kisan through NABARD
consecutive years, i.e. 2012-
• Warehouse Infrastructure Fund to be set
13 and 2013-14. Sub-5 percent
up with an outlay of 5000 crore rupees
GDP growth for two years in
succession was last witnessed a • Long Term Rural Credit Fund to set up for
quarter of a century ago in 1986- the purpose of providing refinance support
87 and 1987-88. to Cooperative Banks and Regional Rural
Banks with an initial corpus of 5000 crore
• India’s growth declined from
rupees
an average of 8.3 per cent per
annum during 2004-05 to 2011-
Industry
12 to an average of 4.6 per cent
in 2012-13 and 2013-14. • Central Government departments and
Ministries to integrate their services with
• Although average wholesale price
the e-Biz, a single window platform, for
index (WPI) inflation declined in
services on priority by 31 December 2014
2013-14 to 6.0 percent vis-à-
vis 8.9 per cent in 2011-12 and • National industrial Corridor Authority to be
7.4 percent in 2012-13, it is still set up with an outlay of 100 crore rupees
above comfort levels
• Export Promotion Mission to be
• WPI inflation in food articles that established to bring all stakeholders under
averaged 12.2 percent annually one umbrella
in the five years ending 2013-
• Committee to examine the financial
14, was signif icantly higher than
structure of Micro, Small and Medium
non-food inflation.
Enterprises (MSMEs) to be set up
• The external sector witnessed a
• Fund of Funds with a corpus of 10000 crore
remarkable turnaround after the
rupees for providing equity to encourage
first quarter of 2013-14, and the
new startups by youth to be set up
year ended with a CAD of 1.7
percent of GDP as against 4.7 • Technology Network Centre to be set up

23
July 2014
percent in 2012-13.
• Improvement is also observed
on the fiscal front, with the
fiscal deficit declining from 5.7
percent of GDP in 2011-12 to
4.9 percent in 2012-13 and 4.5
percent in 2013-14. Much of this
improvement has been achieved
by reduction in expenditure rather
than from increased revenue.
Sectoral Growth Trends
• Aided by favourable monsoons,
the agriculture and allied sectors
achieved a growth of 4.7 percent
in 2013-14 compared to its long-
run average of around 3 percent
(between 1999-2000 and 2012-
13).
• Mining and Quarrying have
shown decelaration since 2011-
12. Two prominent components
of mining, coal and crude
petroleum, have stagnated in the
last three-four years.
• The last two years were
particularly disappointing for
the manufacturing sector, with
growth averaging 0.2 percent
per annum. The decline has been
with a corpus of 200 crore rupees
• District level Incubation and Accelerator
Programme to be taken up
• Trade Facilitation Centre and a Crafts
Museum with an outlay of 50 crore rupees
to be set up to develop and promote
handloom products and carry forward the
rich tradition of handlooms of Varanasi.
• Sum of 500 crore rupees for developing
a Textile mega-cluster at Varanasi and six
more at Bareilly, Lucknow, Surat, Kutch,
Bhagalpur and Mysore.
• Hastkala Academy for the preservation,
revival, and documentation of the
handloom/handicraft sector in PPP mode
in Delhi to be set up with an outlay of 20
crore rupees
• Pashmina Promotion Programme (P-3) for
the development of other crafts of Jammu
& Kashmir to be started with an allocation
of 50 crore rupees
Infrastructure
• An institution to provide support to
mainstreaming PPPPs called 4PIndia to be
set up with a corpus of 500 crores rupees
• Phase-I of Outer Harbour Project in
Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu to be developed with
an outlay of 11635 crore rupees
24

quite broad based.
• The slowdown in services, in
particular the internal trade,
transport, and storage sectors,
could be attributed to the loss
of momentum in commodity-
producing sectors
• During the eight years between
1999-2000 and 2007-08, the
share of agriculture and allied
sectors in GDP declined by 6.4
percentage points, while that of
industry and services increased
by 1.9 and 4.4 percentage points
respectively.
• In the case of manufacturing,
most of the gain in share occurred
during 2004-05 to 2007-08, when
the sector was growing at an
annual average rate exceeding
10 percent. However, during
2008-09 to 2012-13, the share of
manufacturing remained roughly
constant despite an increase in
share of the registered segment
• The share of services has been
consistently rising; more so since
2004-05. However, the pace of
expansion was not balanced.
The biggest drivers of the service
July 2014
• Special Economic Zones to be developed
in Kandla and Jawahar Lal Nehru Port
Trust
• Project on Ganges called Jal Marg Vikas
to be developed between Allahabad and
Haldia
• Scheme for development of new airports
in Tier I and Tier II Cities to be launched
• Tax incentives for Infrastructure Investment
Trusts (INVITS)
Energy
• Ultra-Modern Super Critical Coal Based
Thermal Power Technology Scheme to
get 100 crore rupees
• Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects with an
outlay of 500 crores rupees provided to
States of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu,
Andhra Pradesh and Laddakh
• Solar power driven agricultural pump sets
and water pumping stations to be started
with an outlay of 400 crores rupees
• 100 crore rupees provided for the
development of 1 MW Solar Parks on the
banks of canals
• A Green Energy Corridor Project is being
implemented to facilitate evacuation of
renewable energy across the country
25
July 2014
sector expansion since 2004-
05 were communications and
banking and insurance.
Investment
• Investment comprises fixed
capital formation, acquisition of
valuables, and changes in stock
and inventories, adjusted for
errors and omissions.
• The investment rate (investment
to GDP ratio) averaged 24.5
percent over the period 1990-91
to 2003-04.
• The year 2004-05 marked a
break, with the rate of investment
exceeding 30 percent for the
first time. Between 2004- 05 and
2012-13, the rate of investment
averaged 35.4 percent, reaching
the peak of 38.1 percent in 2007-
08.
• Investment averaged 35.3
percent during the higher growth
phase of 2004-05 to 2007-08
and 35.5 percent between 2008-
09 and 2012-13. The investment
rate of 34.8 percent in 2012-13 is
lower than these two sub-period
averages.
Banking and Finance
• A National Savings Certificate with
insurance cover will also be launched to
provide additional benefits for the small
saver
• Introduction of uniform KYC norms and
inter-usability of the KYC records across
the entire financial sector.
• Introduce one single operating Demat
account
• Uniform tax treatment for pension fund
and mutual fund linked retirement plan
• Financial Inclusion Mission to be launched
on 15 August 2014 with focus on the
weaker sections of the society
• Six new Debt Recovery Tribunals to be set
up
• For venture capital in the MSME sector,
a 10000 crore rupees fund to act as a
catalyst to attract private Capital by way
of providing equity , quasi equity, soft
loans and other risk capital for start-up
companies with suitable tax incentives
to participating private funds to be
established
• Kissan Vikas Patra (KVP) to be reintroduced
• A special small savings instrument to
26
 July 2014

• As per the provisional estimates cater to the requirements of educating and

for 2013-14 released by the marriage of the Girl Child to be introduced
CSO, the ratio of fixed capital
• FDI in insurance sector raised to 49 percent
formation to GDP in 2013-14
was 2.1 percentage points lower
Defence and Internal Security
than in 2012-13.
• FDI in defence sector raised to 49 percent
• The increase in the rate of
with full Indian management and control
investment since 2004-05
and the decline in the rate of • One Rank One Pension to get 1000 crore
investment since 2007-08 are rupees
primarily explained by rise and
• 100 crore rupees provided for construction
fall in private sector investment.
of a war memorial in the Princes Park,
During 2004-05 to 2007-08, it
which will be supplemented by a War
averaged 48.1 percent annually
Museum
at current prices. The rate of
growth declined to 3.4 percent • Technology Development Fund for
during 2008-09 to 2012-13. Defence to be set up with an initial outlay
of 100 crore rupees
• Public-sector investment, which
grew at an annual rate of 23.9 • National Police Memorial to be constructed
percent during 2004-05 to 2007- with an outlay of 50 crore rupees
08, also slowed subsequently.
Tourism and Culture
Savings
• Statue of Unity (National Project) to be
• For estimation of gross domestic
built at a cost of 200 crore rupees
savings, the economy is classified
into three broad institutional • Facility of Electronic Travel Authorization
sectors, public, private corporate, (e-Visa) to be introduced in phased manner
and households. at nine airports in India

• The savings rate increased from • National Mission on Pilgrimage

29.0 percent in 2003-04, the Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation
highest achieved till then, to 36.8 Drive (PRASAD) to be launched with an

27
July 2014

percent in 2007-08, which still outlay of 100 crore rupees

remains the historic peak.
• National Heritage City Development and
• From a high of 36.8 per cent, Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) to be
the gross savings rate fell by 6.7 launched at an outlay of 200 crore rupees
percentage points of the GDP in
• Sarnath-Gaya-Varanasi Buddhist circuit
2012-13. The bulk of the decline
to be developed with world class tourist
can be attributed to the private
amenities to attract tourists from all over
corporate and public sectors.
the world
• The savings of the household
• Integrated Ganga Conservation Mission
sector are the sum of financial
NAMAMI GANGE to be launched with an
savings and savings in physical
outlay of 2037 crore rupees
assets.
• 100 crore provided for Ghat development
• The household savings rate had
and beautification at Kedarnath, Haridwar,
stabilized around an average of
Kanpur, Varanasi, Allahabad, Patna and
23 percent of the GDP between
Delhi.
2000-01 and 2006-07 and
started fluctuating thereafter. It • NRI Fund for Ganga will be set up
witnessed strong compositional
shifts from financial to physical Science and Technology
savings during the period 2007-
• Development of Biotech clusters in
08 to 2011-12.
Faridabad and Bengaluru

• Nascent agri-biotech cluster in Mohali to be

Agriculture and Food Manage-
ment
• A record foodgrain production of
264.4 million tones is estimated
in 2013-14, as per the Third
Advance Estimates, indicating
an increase of more than 20
million tonnes over the average
scaled up and two new clusters in Pune and
Kolkata to be established
• Digital India, a Pan India programme to be
launched with an outlay of 500 crore rupees
• Programme for promoting Good Governance
to be launched with an outlay of 100 crore
rupees

28
 July 2014

production during the previous

five years. Sports

• Horticulture production is • Young Leaders Programme with an initial

estimated at 265 million tonnes allocation of 100 crore rupees to be set up
in 2012-13 and for the first time
has exceeded the production of Tax Administration
foodgrains and oilseeds.
• National Academy for Customs & Excise at
• The robustness of the agriculture Hindupur in Andhra Pradesh
and allied sector can be attributed
• Setting up of Expenditure Management
to the steady increase in gross
Commission to look into expenditure reforms
capital formation (GCF) in this
sector (both public and private)
as a percentage of its GDP, from 14.9 percent in 2006-07 to 21.2 percent in 2012-
13 (2004-05 prices).

• The share of public expenditure (comprising public investments and input subsidies)
in total GCF of the agriculture and allied sector declined from 25 percent in 2006-
07 to 14.7 percent in 2012-13.

• Private investment as a proportion of agri-allied GDP increased from 12.6 percent

in 2007-08 to 18.1 percent in 2012-13.

• The per capita net availability of foodgrains increased to 186.5 kg per year in 2013
from 162.1 kg per year in 2009 and the net availability of edible oils from 12.7 kg
per year to 15.8 kg per year.

Issues and Concerns in Agriculture

• Productivity levels in Indian agriculture are still much lower than global standards.
Productivity levels of rice and wheat have not risen significantly after the 1980s.

• Soil degradation owing to declining efficiency of fertilizer use and alarming reduction
in the water table, especially in Punjab and Haryana due to their cropping pattern,
are other major concerns. There is a need to review the nutrient based subsidy

29
 July 2014

(NBS) policy, which does not have urea under its purview.

• The pricing of subsidized fertilizers has resulted in their higher usage. The
recommendation of the Task Force for Direct Transfer of Subsidy to shift to a
system of direct transfer of fertilizer subsidy to farmers in a phased manner needs
to be considered.

• The predominance of small and marginal farms in India’s agriculture, with limited
capital availability, hampers progress of farm mechanization.

• Domestic and international marketing of agricultural commodities needs immediate

attention. There is need to facilitate a National Common Market for agricultural
commodities with uniform taxes in the domestic market, and to foster a long-term
stable trade policy for agricultural products.

• There is need to expand the adoption of the decentralized system of procurement

for the PDS from 11 states and union territories (UT) at present to all states. This
would help save transport costs, reduce transit losses and other leakages, increase
food availability, reduce food prices in the open market and ultimately rein in food
subsidy.

Industry and Infrastructure

• As per the latest GDP data, the industry sector registered a growth of 1.0 per cent
in 2012-13 that slowed further to 0.4 per cent in 2013-14. The key reason for poor
performance was contraction in mining and deceleration in manufacturing.

• Manufacturing- and mining-sector GDP declined by 0.7 percent and 1.4 percent
respectively in 2013-14. The underlying cause for this has been the deceleration in
investment particularly by the private corporate sector during 2011-12 and 2012-
13.

• For eight ‘core’ industries—coal, fertilizer, electricity, crude oil, natural gas, refinery
products, steel, and cement—the average growth rate declined from 6.5 percent
during 2012-13 to 2.7 percent during in 2013-14.

30
 July 2014

• The moderation in growth occurred mainly on account of contraction in natural

gas and crude oil, and subdued growth in coal, fertilizers, and refinery products.

• Total foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into major infrastructure sectors
registered a growth of 22.8 percent in 2013-14 as compared to the contraction of

31
July 2014

60.9 percent during 2012-13.

• In recent years, services, construction, telecommunications, computer software

and hardware, drugs and pharmaceuticals, automobile industry, power,
metallurgical industries, and hotels and tourism sectors have attracted maximum
FDI inflows.

Services Sector
• The services sector has emerged as the fastest growing sector of the economy
and the second fastest growing in the world, with a CAGR of 9 per cent, behind
China with a CAGR of 10.9 percent during the period from 2001 to 2012.

• The share of the services sector in employment increased from 19.7 per cent in
1993-94 to 26.9 per cent in 2011-12.

Financial Intermediation
• During 2012-13, the deteriorating asset quality of the banking sector emerged as
a major concern, with gross Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) registering a sharp
increase.

• Overall NPAs of the banking sector increased from 2.36 percent of total credit
advanced in March 2011 to 3.90 percent of total credit advanced in March 2014
(provisional).

• The RBI in the Financial Stability Report (December 2013) identified five sectors—
infrastructure, iron and steel, textiles, aviation and mining—as stressed sectors.

• Public sector banks (PSBs) have high exposures to the ‘industry’ sector in general
and to such ‘stressed’ sectors in particular.

International Trade
• India’s share in world exports and imports increased from 0.7 percent and 0.8
percent respectively in 2000 to 1.7 percent and 2.5 percent respectively in 2013.

32
 July 2014

• There has also been marked improvement in India’s total merchandise trade to
GDP ratio from 21.8 percent in 2000-01 to 44.1 percent in 2013-14.

• India’s merchandise exports reached 312.6 billion US dollars (on customs basis)
in 2013-14, registering a growth of 4.1 percent as compared to a contraction of
1.8 percent during the previous year.

• Exports of petroleum products, engineering goods, chemicals and related products

accounted for more than half of total exports in 2013-14.

• The value of imports declined by 8.3 per cent in 2013-14 as compared to 2012-13,
owing to a 12.8 per cent fall in non-oil imports.

• The sharp decline in imports and a moderate growth in exports in 2013-14 resulted
in a decline in India’s trade deficit to 137.5 billion US dollars from 190.3 billion US
dollars during 2012-13, contributing to a lower CAD.

• Services exports registered a growth of 4 percent in 2013-14 as against 2.4 percent

in 2012-13.

• Surplus in services trade (net services) has been a major source of financing India’s
growing merchandise trade deficit in recent years.

• In 2012-13, net services financed 33.2 percent of the merchandise trade deficit,
during 2013-14, with moderate growth in services exports and fall in their imports,
net services financed nearly half of merchandise trade deficit.

• India’s Balance of Payments (BoP) position improved significantly in 2013-14,

particularly in the last three quarters.

• With higher exports and lower imports, there was a reduction in trade deficit to 7.9
percent of GDP in 2013-14 from 10.5 percent in 2012-13.

• Out of the total reduction of 48.0 billion US dollars in trade deficit on BoP basis
in 2013-14, reduction in import of gold and silver contributed approximately 47
percent, reduction of non-POL and non-gold imports constituted 40 percent, and
higher exports constituted 25 percent.

33
July 2014

• Net invisibles’ surplus remained stable at 28-29 billion US dollars per quarter
resulting in overall net surplus of 115.2 billion US dollars for 2013-14. Thus the
CAD moderated to 32.4 billion US dollars in 2013-14 as against 88.2 billion US
dollars in 2012-13.

• The CAD at 1.7 percent of GDP in 2013-14, compares favourably with the levels
in the pre-2008 crisis years.

• Foreign exchange reserves were placed at 304.2 billion US dollars at end march
2014 as against 292.0 billion US dollars at end March 2013. On 20 June 2014,
foreign exchange reserves stood at 314.9 billion US dollars.

• India’s external debt consists predominantly of long-term borrowings and has

remained within manageable limits owing to prudential restrictions on debt varieties
of capital inflows given large interest differentials.

• India’s external debt stock at end March 2013 stood at 404.9 billion US dollars as
against 360.8 billion US dollars at end March 2012. This increased further to 426.0
billion US dollars at end December 2013.

Human Development
• The proportion of working-age population is likely to increase from approximately
58 percent in 2001 to more than 64 per cent by 2021.

• According to the United Nations Human Development Report (HDR) 2013, India
with a human development index (HDI) of 0.554 in 2012 slipped down the global
ranking to 136 from 134 as per HDR 2012.

• India is in the medium human development category with countries including

China, Egypt, Indonesia, South Africa, and Vietnam having better overall HDI
ranking within the same category.

• The existing gap in health and education indicators in India as compared to

developed countries and many developing countries calls for much faster spread
of basic health and education.

34
 July 2014

• Life expectancy at birth in India was 65.8 years in 2012, compared to 75.1 years
in Sri Lanka and 73.7 years in China.

• The expenditure on social services by the government as a percentage of GDP

has increased from 6.8 percent in 2008-09 to 7.2 percent in 2013-14 (BE) with
expenditure on education increasing from 2.9 percent to 3.3 per cent and on health
from 1.3 percent to 1.4 per cent.

• The poverty ratio declined from 37.2 percent in 2004-05 to 21.9 percent in 2011-
12.

• In absolute terms, the number of poor declined from 407.1 million in 2004-05 to
269.3 million in 2011-12.

• During 2004-05 to 2011-12, employment growth (CAGR) was only 0.5 per cent,
compared to 2.8 per cent during 1999-2000 to 2004-05 as per usual status.
However the unemployment rate continued to hover around 2 per cent under
usual status (principal + subsidiary).

Sustainable Development and Climate Change

• Sustainable development is an imperative for achieving intergenerational equity
and business as usual will not work.

• Anthropogenic activities are the main cause of climate change. GHG emissions
grew on an average by 2.2 percent per year between 2000 and 2010, as compared
to 1.3 percent per year between 1970 and 2000.

• India’s per capita carbon emissions were 1.7 metric tons in 2010, well below the
world average of 4.9 metric tonnes.

• Following the Rio +20 mandate, the global community is working to develop a
set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), possibly to be integrated with
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) when they end in 2015.

• Sustainability has acquired prominent focus in India’s Twelfth Five Year Plan.

35
July 2014

• India reduced CO2 emissions per unit of GDP by 20 per cent between 1990 and
2011.

• India’s renewable power capacity reached 23 GW in January 2012, equivalent to

nearly 12 per cent of total power capacity.

• The cumulative costs of India’s low carbon strategies have recently been estimated
by an Expert Group at around 834 billion US dollars at 2011 prices, between
2010 and 2030. This could constrain India’s efforts, as the magnitude of resources
required is very large. Continued on...111

2014 FIFA Football World Cup

Germany on 13 July 2014 became the 2014 FIFA World Cup champion after defeating
Argentina 1-0 at the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The single goal of the final
was made by Mario Gotze during the extra-time.

36
 July 2014

With this win, Germany lifted the trophy for the fourth time in the history of FIFA world
Cup and first since 1990. The previous title was won by Germany in 1954, 1974
and 1990. Brazil with 5 wins is the country that leads the winning record. Germany
also became the first European team to win a World Cup played in North or South
America.

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament

• Golden Ball - Lionel Messi of Argentina

• Golden Boot - James Rodriguez of Colombia

• Golden Glove - Manuel Neuer of Germany

• Best Young Player - Paul Pogba of France

• FIFA Fair Play Trophy – Colombia

To qualify into the finals, Germany led by Philipp Lahm defeated Brazil 7-1 in the
semi-final, which was the worst defeat ever for Brazil. On the other hand, Argentina
defeated Netherlands 4-2 on penalty shootout in the semi-finals and reached the
final of the Football World Cup for the first time in 24 years.

Important Facts to Remember about FIFA World Cup 2014

• For the first time Brazuca balls to be used
in FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil will have
six in-built HD cameras. The cameras will
help in capturing 360 degree view of the
on-field action.

• Brazuca, the official match ball was unveiled

on 3 December 2013. In 2010, the name of
the official ball was Jabulani also developed
by Adidas.

• The official mascot, A Smiling Armadillo,

37
July 2014

was unveiled on 12 September 2012. In 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, the
official mascot was Zakumi – the green-haired leopard.

• In 2010 FIFA World Cup, the official song was Waka Waka sung by Colombian pop
singer Shakira

• For the first time in World Cup finals, match officials are using goal-line technology,
as well as vanishing foam for free kicks.

• It is the fourth FIFA competition to use the technology after successful trials at
2012 Club World Cup, 2013 Club World Cup and 2013 Confederations Cup.

• The German company GoalControl is the official goal-line technology provider in

October 2013.

• France’s second goal in their group game against Honduras was the first game
where goal-line technology confirmed that a goal should be given.

• Cooling breaks for the players have been introduced for the first time. Breaks
can take place after the 30th minute of the first and second half of games at the
referee’s discretion if the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature exceeds 32 °C (90 °F).

• The biological passport was introduced in the FIFA World Cup starting in 2014.

• Bosnia and Herzegovina is the only team with no previous World Cup Finals
experience

• It is the second time that Brazil has hosted the competition, the first being in
1950, when the host Brazil was defeated by Uruguay in the final match called
Maracanazo to win the title for the second time.

• It is for the fifth time that South America is hosting the World Cup since 1978 in
Argentina.

• This is for the first time that two consecutive World Cups were held in the Southern
Hemisphere (the 2010 FIFA World Cup was held in South Africa)

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 July 2014

FIFA World Cup 2014 in numbers

• Number of team participating: 32

• Total matches to be played: 64 matches

• Official Ball: Brazuca manufactured by Adidas

• Official Mascot: A Smiling Armadillo

• Official Song: We Are One

• Total Prize Money at Offer: 576 million US dollars

6th BRICS Summit: Fortaleza Declaration

6th BRICS Summit was held in Fortaleza, Brazil on 15 July and 16 July 2014. The
theme of the Summit was Inclusive Growth: Sustainable Solutions.

During the plenary session on 15 July 2014, the participating countries Brazil, Russia,
India, China and South Africa jointly issued the Fortaleza Declaration.

Main Highlights of the Fortaleza Declaration

• Russia will host the Seventh BRICS
Summit in 2015 in the city of Ufa

• South Africa to host the 4th Meeting

of BRICS Competition Authorities in
2015 to improve competition policy
and enforcement

• To establish BRICS Information Sharing

and Exchange Platformto facilitate
trade and investment cooperation

• Proposed to establish the BRICS Network University recognizing the strategic

39
July 2014

importance of education for sustainable development and inclusive economic

growth

• Agreement for establishing the New Development Bank (NDB) with 100 billion US
dollars corpus having equal distribution from all the BRICS countries for mobilizing
resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS.

• Treaty for the establishment of the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA)
with an initial size of 100 billion US dollars to forestall short-term liquidity pressures

• Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation among BRICS Export Credit and

Guarantees Agencies that will improve the support environment for increasing
trade opportunities among our nations

• National Institutes of Statistics and the Ministries of Health and Education of

BRICS countries asked to work on the development of joint methodologies for
social indicators to be incorporated in the BRICS Joint Statistical Publication.

• The BRICS countries pledged to contribute to the G20 goal of lifting our collective
GDP by more than 2 percent above the trajectory implied by current policies over
the coming 5 years.

• To explore avenues of cooperation in insurance and reinsurance market among

BRICS countries to realize the potential and pool capacities

• To continue cooperative approach on issues related to tax administrations and to

enhance cooperation in the international forums targeting tax base erosion and
information exchange for tax purposes.

• BRICS countries called the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to find ways to
implement the 14th General Review of Quotas without further delay so as to
ensure increased voice and representation of Emerging and developing countries

• Called on the membership of the IMF to reach a final agreement on a new quota
formula together with the 15th General Review of Quotas so as not to further
jeopardize the postponed deadline of January 2015

• To initiate the work on the next shareholding review at the World Bank as soon as

40
 July 2014

possible in order to meet the agreed deadline of October 2015.

• It is proposed to establish BRICS Economic Cooperation Strategy and a Framework

of BRICS Closer Economic Partnership which lay down steps to promote intra-
BRICS economic, trade and investment cooperation.

• To establish by the end of 2014 a post-Bali work program for concluding the Doha
Round, based on the progress already made and in keeping with the mandate
established in the Doha Development Agenda, Public Stock-Holding for Food
Security Purposes and implementation of the Agreement on Trade Facilitation.

• Reaffirmed the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD)

mandate as the focal point in the UN system dedicated to consider the interrelated
issues of trade, investment, finance and technology from a development perspective

• Called for a comprehensive reform of United Nations in line with the 2005 World
Summit Outcome Document so as to make it more representative, effective and
efficient

• To support the convening, at the earliest possible date, of the Conference on

the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and all other
weapons of mass destruction.

• Called for an inclusive and consensus-based multilateral consultations on a draft

International Code of Conduct on Outer Space Activities

• The proposal for the creation of an Anti-Drug Working Group presented at the
Second Meeting of BRICS Heads of Drug Control Agencies.

• BRICS countries reaffirmed their commitment to the implementation of the UN

Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.

• BRICS countries also reiterated their commitment to the implementation of the

Convention on Biological Diversity and its Protocols, with special attention to the
Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the Aichi Targets.

• To combat domestic and foreign bribery, and strengthen international cooperation,

including law enforcement cooperation, in accordance with multilaterally established

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July 2014

principles and norms, especially the UN Convention Against Corruption.

• Commended South Africa for the full implementation of the eThekwini Action Plan

NASA launched Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 to track

Carbon Dioxide

NASA on 2 July 2014

launched Orbiting
Carbon Observatory-2
(OCO-2), a satellite
designed to track
carbon dioxide which
is responsible for
global warming. The
satellite was launched
aboard Delta 2 rocket
from Vandenberg Air
Force Base in
California.

The OCO-2 launch mission preparation was managed by NASA’s Launch Services
Program, based at Kennedy Space Center in Florida and was handled by the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in California.

OCO-2 is the first of its kind mission of NASA dedicated to study the atmospheric
carbon dioxide over several seasons. The spacecraft was launched to replace the
first OCO that did not make it into orbit due to an anomaly in February 2009.

The mission worth 468 million US dollars will last for two years. During these two
years it is expected to produce detailed readings to provide regional sources of
carbon dioxide as well as sinks for the greenhouse gas.

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 July 2014

The spacecraft carries one instrument and its sole focus is detecting carbon. The
instrument is very accurate through which researchers will be able to count the
number of carbon dioxide molecules in the layers of the atmosphere and use the
data to draw conclusions about how the increasing amount of gas will affect things
like the global temperature.

OCO-2 is a part of the A-Train, a constellation of five other international Earth-

observing satellites and joins the train of polar-orbiting environmental satellites of the
Earth.

The spacecraft was launched from the west coast of Vandenberg because it is the
only way to accomplish a polar orbit from the US.

Union Government launched Rashtriya Gokul Mission

Union Government on 28 July

2014 launched the Rashtriya Gokul
Mission (a nationwide scheme) to
promote conservation and
developments of indigenous
breeds of cows in a focused and
scientific manner. The Mission is a
focused project under National
Programme for Bovine Breeding
and Dairy Development.

The mission was launched in New

Delhi by Union Agriculture Minister Radhamohan Singh.

43
July 2014

Aim and objective of the mission

• Development and conservation of indigenous breeds

• Undertake breed improvement programme for indigenous cattle breeds to improve

the genetic makeup and increase the stock

• It aims at enhancing milk production and productivity

• Upgradation non-descript cattle using elite indigenous breeds like Gir, Sahiwal,
Rathi, Deoni, Tharparkar, Red Sindhi and others

• Distribution of disease free high genetic merit bulls for natural service

To run the project, the government has allocated 150 crore rupees for the fiscal 2014-
15. Whereas, the project has an outlay of 500 crore rupees during the 12th five year
programme.

Funds under the scheme will be allocated for

• Establishment of Integrated Indigenous Cattle Centres viz Gokul Gram

• Strengthening of bull mother farms to conserve high genetic merit Indigenous

Breeds

• Establishment of Field Performance Recording (FPR) in the breeding tract

• Assistance to Institutions/Institutes which are repositories of best germplasm

• Implementation of Pedigree Selection Programme for the Indigenous Breeds with

large population

• Establishment of Breeder’s Societies: Gopalan Sangh

• Distribution of disease free high genetic merit bulls for natural service

• Incentive to farmers maintaining elite animals of indigenous breeds;

• Heifer rearing programmes; award to Farmers (Gopal Ratna) and Breeders’

Societies (Kamadhenu)

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 July 2014

• Organization of Milk Yield Competitions for indigenous breeds

• Organization of Training Programme for technical and non technical personnel

working at the Institute/Institutions engaged in indigenous cattle development

Implementation of the Rashtriya Gokul Mission

Rashtriya Gokul Mission will be implemented through State Implementing Agency
(SIA viz Livestock Development Boards, LDBs). The funds of the scheme will be
allocated for establishment of Integrated Indigenous Cattle Centre, Gokul Gram.

The State Gauseva Ayogs will be given the mandate to sponsor proposals to SIA
(LDBs) and monitor implementation of the sponsored proposal. All Agencies having a
role in indigenous cattle development will be the “Participating Agencies” like CFSPTI,
CCBFs, ICAR, Universities, Colleges, NGO’s, Cooperative Societies and Gaushalas
with best germplasm.

Gokul Gram
Under the mission an Indigenous Cattle Centres or Gokul Grams will be established
in breeding tracts of indigenous breeds. The Gokul Grams will be set up in a PPP
mode and will be established in

• The native breeding tracts

• Near metropolitan cities for housing the urban cattle

The Gokul Gram will also function as state of the art in situ training centre for Farmers,
Breeders and MAITRI’s. Metropolitan Gokul Gram will focus on genetic upgradation
of urban cattle.

These Grams that will have a capacity of 1000 animals will have unproductive animals
along with productive ones in a ratio of 60:40. These Gokul Grams will have house
fodder production to meet the Nutritional requirements of the animals.

45
July 2014

Economic perspective of the Rashtriya Gokul Mission

Gokul Gram will be an institute that will generate economic resources through sale of

• Milk

• Organic manure

• Vermi-composting

• Urine distillates

• Production of electricity from bio gas for in house consumption

• Sale of animal products

These activities will make Gokul Grams as a self sustaining organisation.

How the animals will be kept free from diseases?

To keep the breeds free from disease, regular screening of the animals will be done
for important diseases like JD, TB and brucellosis. Apart from this, the Gokul Gram
will have an inbuilt dispensary and AI Centre.

The Union Agriculture Ministry will convene a meeting of State Animal Husbandry
Ministers on 16 September 2014 to successfully implement the mission and work
out the modalities.

India State of Forest Report 2013 released by Union

Environment Minister

India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2013 was released in New Delhi by Prakash
Javadekar, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Environment, Forests
& Climate of 8 July 2014. The India State of Forest Report 2013 is 13th report in the
series.

The report provides information on forest cover, tree cover, mangrove cover and

46
 July 2014

growing stock inside and outside forest areas.

Information that is available in the India State of Forest Report 2013

• Information on forest cover, tree cover mangroves cover (occupies an area of 4628
square kilometer making India for nearly three percent of the world’s mangrove
vegetation) and growing stock inside and outside the forest areas

• The report has also highlighted special thematic information on forest cover
such as tribal districts, hill districts and north eastern region had also been given
separately

• The information of forest cover for all the States and districts for the current
assessment and changes with respect to forest cover of previous assessment is
also available

Three new chapters have been added in the report

• Important Characteristics of India’s Forest – the chapter describes important
features of forest areas like regeneration status, susceptibility to various injuries,
crop composition, its origin, forest soil characteristic and others

• Trees in Agroforestry System – the chapter provides information on area, growing

stock and carbon stock and other things under Agroforestry

• Urban Tree Resources – the chapter provides information on green cover and
growing stock of wood in urban areas

The report in its assessment has said that total forest and tree cover of the country is
87.92 million hectare, which turns up to be 24.01 percent of the geographical area of
India. When compared to the 2011 assessment, the forest cover of the country has
increased by 5871 square kilometer.

Based on assessment, States with maximum increase in forest cover are

• West Bengal - 3810 square kilometer

47
July 2014

• Odisha - 1444 square kilometer

• Kerala - 622 square kilometer

Apart from this, the assessment also highlighted certain states with largest
forest cover and they are
• Madhya Pradesh - has the largest forest cover of 77522 square kilometer in terms
of area in the country

• Arunachal Pradesh - with forest cover of 67321 square kilometer

Mizoram in terms of percentage of forest to Geographical area with respect to total

geographical area 90.38 percent had highest forest cover. In this aspect, Mizoram
was followed by Lakshadweep with 84.56 percent

Apart from this, the report says that 15 States or Union Territories has above 33
percent of the geographical area under forest cover. Whereas of these states and
UTs Mizoram, Lakshadweep, A&N Island, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya,
Manipur and Tripura had more than 75 percent forest cover. While 7 States namely
Goa, Sikkim, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Chhattisgarh and Assam
had forest cover between 33 percent and 75 percent.

The report’s estimates highlighted the total growing stock of India’s forest and trees
outside forests as 5658.046 million, which comprises of 4173.362 million cum inside
the forests and 1484.68 million cum outside the forests.

IT also highlighted that the carbon stock in India’s forest was estimated to be 6941
million tonnes. While, it suggests an increase of 278 million tonnes in the carbon
stock of country as compared to the year 2004 as reported in ISFR 2011.

About the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2013

The ISFR 2013 is based on interpretation of LISS III sensor data of indigenous
Resources at-II satellite with spatial resolution of 23.5 meter with minimum mapable
area of one ha for the period October 2010–January 2012.

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 July 2014

Apart from the interpretation of satellite, the report is also followed by extensive
and rigorous ground truthing. In addition, periodic ground data collected by field
parties and information from other collateral sources were also used to improve the
accuracy of the interpreted image. Change matrices recorded in the present report
refer to changes with respect to the last report i.e. ISFR 2011.

Forest Survey of India (FSI) has been assessing the forest and tree resources of our
country on a biennial basis since 1987. The results of the assessment have been
published in its biennial report India State of Forest Report (ISFR).

Veteran actress Zohra Sehgal died at 102

Veteran actress, Zohra Sehgal died on 10 July 2014 at a private Hospital in New
Delhi. She was 102. She died due to cardiac arrest.

Zohra Sehgal as an actress made a mark across generations and was associated with
Bollywood for seven decades. She was called as the grand old lady of Bollywood.

About Zohra Sehgal

• In 2010, Zohra was awarded with the
Padma Vibhshan

• She was also a recipient of other two of

India’s four civilian awards Padma Shri
(1998), Padma Bhushan (2002)

• She was also a recipient of Kalidas Samman

(2001) the Sangeet Natak Akademi
Fellowship for lifetime achievement (2004),
Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1963)

• Sehgal’s daughter Kiran in 2012 wrote her biography named Zohra Segal: Fatty

49
July 2014

• Zohra last appeared in Sanjay Leela Bhasali’s film Saawariya in 2007, apart from
this, she also appeared in films like Veer-Zara, Saaya, Cheeni-Kum, Hum Dil De
Chuke Sanam and others

• A prolific and full of life, Zohra started her career as a dancer with Uday Shankar
in 1935 and worked with him for the next eight years

• She also worked in many Hollywood movies like The Vengeance of She, Tales that
Witness Madness, Bend It Like Beckham, Never Say Die and Little Napoleons

• She also appeared in British TV serials like The Jewel in the Crown

• She in 1946 made debut in the film industry with Dharti Ke Lal

• Her Chetan Anand’s Neecha Nagar won top prize at Cannes

• In 1945, she joined the Prithvi Theatre in Mumbai

• In 1942, she was married with a scientist and dancer Kameshwar Sehgal

• She was born on 27 April 1912 as Sahibzadi Zohra Begum Mumtaz-ullah Khan
and was one of seven children and grew up near Dehradun

• She was the first Indian to be admitted to a ballet school in Dresden, Europe

Doordarshan’s Naad Bhed-The Mystery of Sound to be fea-

tured in Limca Book of Records

The classical music reality show of Doordarshan Naad Bhed-The Mystery of Sound
will be featured in Limca Book of Records. This was revealed through a statement
issued by Doordarshan on 21 July 2014.

The reality show will be featured under Television Chapter in Limca Book of Records
for being the first ever National level reality show on Classical Music.

About Naad Bhed - the Mystery of Sound

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 July 2014

Naad Bhed – the Mystery of Sound, a national-level classical music reality show,
aims at promoting and popularising Indian classical music and rewarding the best
young practitioners of classical music.

The central idea of the show was to earn respect for the rich Indian heritage of
classical music.

Naad Bhed was produced by the Doordarshan and an NGO,the Society for the
Promotion of Indian Classical Music And Culture Amongst Youth (SPIC MACAY).

The show kickstarted in August 2013 through regional rounds of competition at DDs
20 regional centres. While Hindustani music contestants were judged at Sangeet
Research Academy, Kolkata and Carnatic music contestants were judged at Madras
Music Academy, Chennai. The final of the reality show was held in Mumbai.

It included great maestros of Indian classical music as probable judges, like Us Amjad
Ali Khan, T N Krishnan, Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma, Begum Parween Sultana, Vidwan T
V Shankarnaraynan, Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia and R K Srikantan.

Six categories of award in each Carnatic and Hindustani classical music

• M S Subbulakshmi Yuva Puraskar (Carnatic Vocal)

• Vidwan Sheikh Chinna Moulana Yuva Puraskar (Carnatic Instrumental)

• Vidwan Palghat Mani Iyer Yuva Puraskar (Carnatic accompanist)

• Bhimsen Joshi Yuva Puraskar (Hindustani vocal)

• Ravi Shankar Yuva Puraskar (Hindustani instrumental)

• Ustad Alla Rakha Yuva Puraskar (Hindustani accompanist)

The winner in each category of the Hindustani and Carnatic will receive 3 lakh rupees
each as cash award and the mega winner across these two categories a further 7
lakh rupees.

51
July 2014

INTERNATIONAL
Iraqi Parliament elected Fuad Masum as the seventh
President of Iraq

Muhammad Fuad Masum of Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party was elected as
the seventh President of Iraq on 24 July 2014. He was elected with overwhelming
majority by the Council of Representatives of Iraq (Iraqi Parliament) in Baghdad. He
won 211 votes as against 17 votes won by Judge Hussein al-Musawi in the second
round of voting.

Masum is the second non-Arab President of Iraq after Jalal Talabani who founded the
PUK party and is the incumbent President of Iraq.

In the first round of voting, out of four presidential candidates Fuad had won 175
votes. But it was short of the 218 absolute-majority required for the president in the
first vote. The other presidential candidates Hanan al-Fatlawi, Faiq al-Sheikh Ali and
Hussein al-Musawi shared the remaining seats.

As a result, the other two presidential candidates Hanan al-Fatlawi and Faiq al-Sheikh
Ali withdrew from the elections leaving the second round of voting a ceremonial
contest between Fuad Masum and Hussein al-Musawi who had challenged the
incumbent President Talabani in 2010.

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 July 2014

What lies ahead?

Fuad Masum election as the President would pave the way for much-delayed
formation of a new government in Iraq. Iraq is now actually ahead of the constitutional
timeline for forming its next government. But the potentially most problematic task of
identifying the largest bloc in the Parliament and nominating Prime Minister remain
for which Masum has only got 14 days.

On the one hand, the pan-Shiite alliance has declared itself the largest bloc repeatedly
but it has to agree on a Prime Minister candidate. As long as it does not have an agreed
PM candidate it doesn’t exist in a way that is interesting to the Iraqi government
formation. On the other hand, The State of Law bloc of PM Maliki – whose candidate is
Maliki – is the biggest bloc. Unless a PM candidate emerges, Maliki could legitimately
complain to the federal Supreme Court that Masum is wasting his time with a non-
existent political alliance.

Further, while forming the next government it has to be seen that it is inclusive.
This is because on pretext of this only ISIS has gone for a rampage in Iraq alleging
that Nuri-al-Maliki government was discriminating against Shias and Kurds. This has
brought Iraq to a near collapse. In fact, after the Fuad election as President, the UN
chief Ban ki-Moon met current Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and stressed the need
for a broad-based government to be formed as soon as possible to save the country
from collapse.

About Fuad Masum

• After the 1991 Kurdistan Regional uprising, Masum became the first Prime
Minister of autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan and served at the position for more than
two decades

• In 1976, he was a founding member of PUK in the Syrian capital of Damascus

• He was born in 1938 in the town of Koya, east of Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan

53
July 2014

Indian mission in Tripoli advised all Indian nationals to leave

strife torn Libya

India’s mission in Tripoli on 28 July 2014 advised all its nationals to leave strife-torn
Libya using all available means for exiting Libya. It also asked its citizens not to travel
to the Libya till the situation improves. The mission asked Indians to move to safer
places and avoid the conflict zones that include Benghazi and Tripoli.

In the meanwhile, India also decided to deploy additional staff at its Mission in Tripoli
after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj directed Indian Mission to facilitate
return of the Indian nationals from Libya.

The advice was issued after an oil depot was set on fire on 28 July 2014 during
severe fighting between rival militias at Tripoli’s international airport. The spurt in
violence has been the worst level of violence since the 2011 Spring Revolution that
ousted Moammar Gadhafi.

Over the weekend, the United States and Britain have evacuated their embassies
in Libya and transferred the staff to Tunisia. Other countries to have pulled out their
embassies in Libya are Germany, the Netherlands and France.

Indians in Libya
At present, Libya houses about 6000 Indian citizens, who are engaged in their works
over there. Before the uprising, Libya housed more than 18000 Indians, which has
decreased to 6000 since uprising.

Indians nationals in Libya are employed in

• Hospitals

• Teaching institutions

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 July 2014

• Construction project

Earlier, a major number of Indians were evacuated to India from Libya in February-
March 2011.

India voted in favour of the UNHRC resolution on Israel’s

offensive in Gaza

India on 23 July 2014 voted

in favour of United Nations
Human Rights Council
(UNHRC) resolution for a
probe on Israel’s offensive
in Gaza.

The resolution titled Ensuring

Respect for international
law in The Occupied
Palestinian Territories,
including East Jersusalem
saw 29 countries voting in
favour of resolution while 17 countries including European countries abstained from
the voting. In the 47-member UNHRC the US was the only nation to vote against the
resolution.

Main highlights of the UNHRC resolution

• The Council strongly condemned the failure of Israel to end its prolonged occupation
of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem

• It also condemned all violence against civilians wherever it occurs, including the
killing of two Israeli civilians

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July 2014

• It also called for an end to attacks against all civilians, including Israeli civilians

• It demanded Israel to immediately and fully end its illegal closure of the occupied
Gaza Strip

• It called upon the international community to provide urgently needed humanitarian

assistance and services to the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip

• It expresses deep concern at the condition of Palestinian prisoners and detainees

in Israeli jails and detention centres.

• It also recommended the Government of Switzerland to promptly reconvene the

conference of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention.

In the meanwhile, on the 16th day of ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict, around 680
Palestinians and 31 Israelis have been killed. Neither Israelis nor Hamas are backing
down despite several attempts at truce including the one brokered by Egypt.

Commentary/Analysis
In the days leading up to UNHRC resolution, India went for many flip-flops on the Gaza
issue. During the 6th BRICS Summit, India partnered with other BRICS countries to
censure Israel. Then in the third week of July 2014, Union Government after resisting
the demands of Opposition to debate the Gaza issue in the Parliament, it gave in to
the demand of Opposition and voted in favour of Palestine in the Parliament.

The stand of India in UNHRC has been termed by foreign policy hawks as a monumental
blunder. According to them, this indicates a major shift in India’s earlier stance as it
contradicts the carefully neutral stance India has maintained during the course of the
Gaza offensive.

But, the flip-flop shown by India indicates that Indian foreign policy still lacks certainty
on the issue of Israel-Palestine conflict. As Hindustan Times columnist Abhijit
Majumder tweeted, “In Rio, Modi signs BRICS censure of Israel. In Delhi, his govt
blocks #Gaza debate. At UNHRC, India votes Palestine. Abki baar, decide yaar.”

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 July 2014

The Israel-Gaza Conflict

The Gaza–Israel conflict, taking place in the region of the Gaza Strip and southern
Israel, is a part of the long-term Israeli–Palestinian conflict. It began in the summer
of 2006 following the control of Gaza Strip by Hamas after an overwhelming election
result in favour of Hamas in 2005.

The conflict escalated with the split of the Palestinian Authority to Fatah government
in the West Bank and the Hamas Government in Gaza and the following violent
ousting of Fatah. Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel and Israel’s blockade of Gaza
have exacerbated the conflict.

The recent Israel-Gaza conflict started with the kidnapping of three young Israeli
settlers in West Bank in June 2014. This led to rampaging by Israel provoking Hamas
to fire rockets on 30 June 2014, for the first time since the November 2012 ceasefire.

Since the launch of Operation Protective Edge by Israeli Defence Forces in Gaza,
more than 680 peoples including Palestine and Israelis have lost their lives. The UN
High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay termed the offensive as committing
war crime.

Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo won Indonesian presidential

election

Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo won the Indonesian presidential elections on 22 July
2014. He won the election with 53 percent of the vote

Final result released was released by General Elections Commission, known as the
KPU, in Jakarta. The results showed that Widodo won 70997859 votes, or 53.15 per
cent of the nearly 133 million valid ballots cast. On the other hand, Subianto won
62576444 votes, or 46.85 per cent. Voter turnout was 70.7 per cent. The election result
were released after his opponent, former general Prabowo Subianto withdrew from
the presidential election citing massive fraud which was unfair and undemocratic.
Subianto was on his third bid for the presidency.

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July 2014

Widodo, a former furniture maker, is known widely as Jokowi

It was the first election that pitted two candidates directly against each other since
Indonesia emerged from the long and brutal Suharto dictatorship 16 years ago in
1998.

UNSC adopted the resolution for an international probe into

MH-17 plane crash

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on 21 July 2014 adopted a resolution
demanding an international probe into the shooting down of Malaysian airplane MH-
17 in eastern Ukraine on 17 July 2014.

The resolution was adopted by the 15-member UNSC unanimously and it condemned
the shooting down of MH-17 in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine in the strongest terms. The
incident resulted in the tragic loss of 298 lives.

The resolution also demanded that pro-Russia rebels allow unfettered access to the
Grabove village, the crash site of Malaysian plane MH17 in eastern Ukraine.

Further, the Council demanded that the armed groups in control of the crash site and
the surrounding area refrain from any actions that may compromise the integrity of
the crash site.

The Council also demanded that those responsible for this incident to be held to
account and that all States cooperate fully with efforts to establish accountability.

Council members also insisted on the dignified, respectful and professional treatment
and recovery of the bodies of the victims.

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 July 2014

Deadline for reaching an agreement on Iran’s Nuclear

Programme extended till November 24

The deadline for reaching an agreement on Iran’s Nuclear Programme was extended
till 24 November 2014 on 20 July 2014. The decision to extend the deadline was
announced by the high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and
security policy Catherine Ashton and the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad
Zarif.

The decision was taken after the negotiations between P5+1 countriesand Iran along
with European Union held in Vienna, Austria failed.

The extension of deadline will enable Iran access another 2.8 billion US dollars of
its cash frozen abroad during that period, though most sanctions on the Islamic
Republic stayed in place.

Earlier on 24 November 2014, after the election of Hassan Rouhani as 7th President
of Iran, the P5+1 countries and Iran had agreed on a Joint Plan of Action in Geneva,
Switzerland.

The Joint Plan of Action that came into effect on 20 January 2014, aimed to arrive on
an agreement by 20 June 2014. Within these six months, Iran and the six countries
agreed to draw up a comprehensive nuclear deal which will lead to a lifting of the
whole sanctions on Iran. The six-month deal allowed Iran to receive 4.2 billion US
dollars in funds held abroad.

Background
The dispute over Iran’s Nuclear Programme is decade old. On the one hand the
western powers led by the US alleges that Iran is using its nuclear programme for
enriching uranium and could be used for developing weapons of mass destruction. As
a result, P5 + 1 countries want Iran to significantly scale back its uranium enrichment
programme to make sure it cannot produce nuclear bombs.

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On the other hand, Iran refutes this stand and argues it is its sovereign right to continue
its nuclear programme so as to meet its huge energy needs. Further Iran says the
programme is entirely peaceful and wants sanctions that have severely damaged its
oil-dependent economy to be lifted as soon as possible.

Although Iran agreed to take several steps, including keeping neutralizing it’s most
sensitive uranium stocks (uranium that has been enriched to a level of 20 percent
purity) by converting it to fuel for a research reactor in Tehran used to make medical
isotopes. However, the core issue is still not resolved.

The core issue is that Iran says it would be willing to delay development of an industrial-
scale uranium enrichment programme for up to seven years and to keep the 19000
centrifuges it has installed so far for this purpose. This is too many centrifuges that is
being demanded by Iran to be kept with alleges western powers.

The P5 + 1 Group of countries comprises of five permanent members of the United

Nations Security Council (UNSC) and Germany. The permanent five members of
UNSC are Russia, China, the US, Britain and France.

Bolivia legalised Child Labour for Kids from Age 10

Bolivia on 18 July 2014 passed a law to legalise child labour for kids from age 10. The
bill was approved by Bolivian Congress in June 2014. The bill was signed into law by
the Vice President of Bolivia.

Under the legislation, 10-year-olds will be able to work as long as they are under
parental supervision and also attend school. It sets 12 as the minimum age for a child
to work under contract. They also would have to attend school.

The bill also offers safeguards for working children like the bill sets harsher punishment
of 30 years for violence against children.

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Comment
The move of Bolivia is out of step with the rest of the world. As per the norms of The
International Labour Organisation (ILO) children under the age of 15 should not be
allowed to work, but it allowed a minimum working age of 14 for developing countries.

The lawmaker favoured the legislation by saying that the Child labour already exists
in Bolivia and it’s difficult to fight it. Rather than persecute it, we want to protect the
rights and guarantee the labour security of children. The lawmakers opined that
there is no alternative in a society where half the population is poor.

India and Brazil signed three agreements to strengthen the

bilateral relation

India and Brazil on 16 July 2014 signed three agreements to strengthen the bilateral
relationship between the two countries. The agreement was signed by Prime Minister
of India Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff at the Brazilian
President official residence the Itamaraty Palace, Brasilia.

Narendra Modi was on a visit to Brazil to attend 6th BRICS Summit being held in
Fortaleza, Brazil form 15 July to 16 July 2014.

The three agreements signed between the two countries are

• MoU on Cooperation in the Field of Environment

• Agreement on Space

• MoU on Cooperation in the Establishment of a consultation mechanism on mobility

and consular issues.

MoU on Environment
In the field of Environment, India and Brazil mutually agreed to extend cooperation

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on Climate change; Biodiversity; Afforestation in arid areas; Water conservation;

Protection of wetlands and Waste management. Waste management includes
Management of agricultural waste and electronic waste; Management of waste water
management; Use of bio-fuels; Air and water quality management; Environmental
information systems.

The cooperation in environment between the two countries will be in the form of
exchange of information and documentation and collaborative projects. For this two
countries agreed to set up an Indo-Brazil Joint Working Group on Environment. The
Joint group will see that the contents of the MOU are implemented.

Agreement on Space
The two countries agreed on Implementing Arrangement Establishing Cooperation
in Augmentation of a Brazilian Earth Station for Receiving and Processing Data from
Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) Satellites.

Other Agreements
The two countries also agreed to take steps to further expand and diversify trade
and investment flows and deepen cooperation in agriculture and dairy science,
conventional and renewable energy, space research and application, defence, cyber
security and environment conservation.

They also agreed to intensify their cooperation in international forums and multilateral
institutions, including the G 20.

As leaders of G 4 countries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President

Dilma Rousseff called urgent progress on reforms of the United Nations, including
the Security Council, by the time of the 70th anniversary of the UN in 2015.

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Bashar al-Assad sworn in as President of Syria

Bashar al-Assad was sworn in as Syria’s President in Damascus for a seven-year

term on 16 July 2014. With this he became the President for the third consecutive
term. He was re-elected after a presidential election that was held in June 2014.

Assad won 88.7 percent of the votes in the first multi-candidate election that was
conducted only in the areas of Syria which were under government control.

After his swearing-in, Assad vowed to fight terrorism until security was restored
to all of the country. However, he also promised to offer national reconciliation to
opponents.

He has defied calls to step down since an uprising began in March 2011. Since then
around 170000 people have been killed and more than nine million people have
been forced out from their homes. The displaced people have been either within the
country or are as refugees in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and other countries. According
to Syrian Observatory for Human Rights based in Britain, since the election in June
2014, 4743 civilians have been killed.

PM Narendra Modi met Russian President Putin in Fortaleza

The Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi met Russian President Vladimir Putin in
Fortaleza, Brazil on 15 July 2014. He met the Russian President Putin on the sidelines
of Sixth BRICS Summit being held in Fortaleza. The meeting was the first-summit
level interaction of PM Narendra Modi with Russian President.

During the 40-minute meeting, PM favoured broadening of the special and privileged
strategic partnership with Russia in nuclear, defence and energy sectors and invited
President Vladimir Putin to visit Kudankulam atomic power project during his trip in
December 2014.

PM emphasized that India is committed to taking the relationship forward and the

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focus is to broaden the strategic partnership including in the areas of defence,

nuclear energy, space, energy, trade and investment, people-to-people contacts and
addressing regional and global challenges.

Also, PM stressed on strengthening the issue of liberal visa regime, especially

students going for studies. President Putin acknowledged that there was a case for
looking at it.

The two leaders looked forward to their Annual Summit in Delhi in December 2014 as
an opportunity to outline a bold vision and roadmap for their relationship in the years
ahead.

Units 1 and 2 of Tamil Nadu-based Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) have
been built with the help of Russian assistance at the cost of 17200 crore rupees.

India and Russia signed a General Framework Agreement on unit 3 and 4 in April
2014 after crossing the initial hurdles of the Civil Liability Nuclear Damage Act 2010.
Nuclear power project has been a symbol of India-Russia relations.

Japan nuclear regulator gave nod to restart work at Sendai

nuclear plant

Two nuclear reactors of Sendai plant on 15 July 2014 got a preliminary approval from
Japan’s nuclear regulator to restart. The decision to restart the Sendai nuclear plant
was given after it met the new standards set by Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority
(NRA) after Fukushima disaster.

As a result, the two nuclear reactors at Sendai plant became the first two nuclear
reactors in Japan since Fukushima disaster to get the approval of restarting them.

Following this approval, the Japanese government and Sendai’s operator, Kyushu
Electric Power, have agreed to a month-long public consultation period and winning
agreement from local officials before giving a final nod.

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Background
Japan is a country that lies in one of the world’s most seismically active areas and is
always hit by powerful earthquakes. Sendai plant is located in Kagoshima Prefecture,
Kyushu in southern part of Japan. Following Fukushima disaster in 2011 that was
caused by earthquake triggered tsunami, all the 48 nuclear reactors were shut down
but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been pushing for restarting them, if possible.

Fukushima disaster occurred in March 2011 when a 9.0-magnitude earthquake

struck followed by a monster tsunami that slammed into Japan’s Pacific coastline.
The tsunami left about 18000 dead. In the meantime, the huge waves swamped the
Fukushima plant, sending reactors into meltdown and spewing radioactivity across
the adjacent farming region.

Although no one died as a direct result of the atomic accident, but experts warn that
decommissioning of the plant could take decades and many evacuated residents
may never be able to return to their homes in the shadow of the plant.

BRICS to create New Development Bank and Contingency

Reserve Arrangement

BRICS nations on 15 July 2014 signed a deal to create a New Development Bank
and Contingency Reserve Arrangement. Both the institution will be established with
a corpus of 100 billion dollars each. The deal was signed during the 6th BRICS
Summit being held in Fortaleza, Brazil form 15 July to 16 July 2014. BRICS group
includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Creation of the bank was announced after a plenary meet at a BRICS summit meet
by Brazil’s President, Dilma Rousseff.

The founding treaty for the New Development Bank and the Contingency Reserve
Agreement (CRA) were signed by the economy ministers of the member nations.

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Initially, the bank will start off with 50 billion dollars in initial capital with the five
BRICS putting in 10 billion US dollars each.

As per the deal, the headquarter of the Bank will be in Shanghai, China. The Bank will
have a rotating chair and its first President will come from India for the first six years.
The Bank will also have a regional office in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The Bank’s board will have five Finance Ministers and will be chaired by Brazil. Initially
the bank will be involved in infrastructure projects in the BRICS nations.

BRICS Finance ministers or central banks’ governors will form a governing body to
manage the CRA while it will be presided over by the BRICS President. The BRICS
CRA will not be open to outsiders.

Participant leaders of the five nations are

• Brazil - Dilma Rousseff

• Russian - Vladimir Putin

• Indian - Narendra Modi

• China - Xi Jinping

• South Africa - Jacob Zuma

Contribution of BRICS Countries in CRA

• China will contribute 41 billion US dollar

• Brazil, Russia and India will contribute 18 billion US dollar each

• South Africa will provide 5 billion US dollar

Future impacts of the deal

The establishment of the 100 billion US dollars development bank will help the
developing nations to avoid

a) Short term liquidity pressures

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b) Promote further BRICS cooperation

c) Strengthen the global financial safety net

d) Complement existing international arrangements

Comment
The deal on the establishment of the bank is a major victory for India because

• The idea of creation of BRICS Bank was proposed by India during the 2012 Summit
held in New Delhi

• This is precursor to the longstanding demand of India to reform the World Bank
and International Monetary Fund which does not give developing nations enough
voting rights

• The equal sharing of 100 billion US dollars by the founding members meets India’s
demand which emphasised to prevent domination by anyone of the members

PM Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping in For-

taleza

The Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping in
Fortaleza, Brazil on 15 July 2014. He met the Chinese President on the sidelines of
Sixth BRIC Summit being held in Fortaleza. The meeting was the first-summit level
interaction of PM Narendra Modi with Chinese President.

During the 80-minute meeting emphasised on the importance of bilateral relationship

between India and China and expressed satisfaction at the high momentum of bilateral
engagement since Narendra Modi assumed the office of PM in May 2014.

Both sides also emphasized on the need to find a solution to the Boundary Question
and stressed the importance of strengthening mutual trust and confidence, and
maintaining peace and tranquility on the border.

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Besides, the PM Modi suggested opening of a second route for the Kailash Mansarovar
Yatra and called for enhanced Chinese investment in the infrastructure sector in
India. He also expressed the hope that trade imbalance between the two countries
is resolved.

PM Modi also expressed hope for increase in tourism and ties between the people of
the two ancient civilizations.

Chinese President Xi invited India to Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)

meeting in November 2014 and asked India to deepen engagement with the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization.

Since May 2014, there has been some high level bilateral engagement between India
and China. These includehe the visit of Vice-President of India Hamid Ansari to China
and the visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to India as President Jinping’s
Special Envoy, in June 2014. Later in the year 2014, Chinese President Xi Jinping will
be visiting India. All these high level bilateral engagement presents an opportunity to
India and China to chart a new and ambitious agenda for the strategic partnership.

15-member UNSC adopted resolution to allow cross-border

aid to Syrians

15-member United Nations Security Council (UNSC) uanimously adopted the

resolution 2165 in New York on 14 July 2014. The resolution 2165 sought to allow
cross-border aid to three million Syrians.

The resolution authorized UN Humanitarian agencies and other agencies to deliver

relief materials to Syrians for 180 days across the conflict lines and through additional
border crossings. It also called for the expeditious deployment of a monitoring
mechanism to assure compliance.

The four additional border crossings through which relief delivery will take place are
Bab al-Salam, Bab al-Hawa, Al Yarubiyah and Al-Ramtha. Bab a-Salam and Bab al-

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Hawa are border crossings in Turkey, Al-Yarubiyah in Iraq and Al-Ramtha in Jordan.
All of these border crossings fall outside the control of the Syrian government.

The relief delivery will be in the form of food supplies, access to basic healthcare,
delivery of medical and surgical supplies. Due to unavailability of safe food and basic
health care, humanitarian situation has deteriorated in Syria.

The resolution also called for a cease-fire and resumption of political talks. The
resolution declared that all Syrian parties to the conflict must help enable the delivery
of humanitarian aid and take all appropriate measures to safeguard UN personnel.

The resolution came five months after the Council adopted resolution 2139 in February
2014, in which it demanded unhindered humanitarian access to those in need inside
Syria, where the conflict has raged for over three years. The resolution adopted on
14 July 2014 was jointly sponsored by Australia, Jordan, and Luxembourg. Despite
initial opposition, Russia and China both supported the resolution.

Comment and Exam Preparation Notes

UNSC adopted the resolution 2165 on 14 July 2014, amid increasing humanitarian
crisis in Syria. According to the UN humanitarian agencies, there are three million
refugees from Syria outside the country and 10.8 million displaced in Syria. Some 4.5
million of these displaced persons are in hard-to-reach areas.

In his latest report, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted that the main
obstacle to humanitarian access is the deliberate decision by the Syrian authorities
to systematically prohibit the delivery of vital relief supplies. It has been reported that
month after month, Syrian authorities confiscated medical and surgical equipment
for the most vulnerable populations living in areas controlled by the opposition to
Assad’s regime and they denied the passage of humanitarian convoys through the
border crossings identified as priorities by the UN.

The resolution 2165 can be taken as serious efforts to provide humanitarian solution
in the Syria. Syrian crisis is now in its fourth year with over 150000 people killed.

The resolution adopted on 14 July 2014 showcased an unusual agreement on Syria

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among the often divided council for the first time in the recent days. It has never been
able to adopt a legally binding resolution calling for an end to the conflict. Earlier, the
council has been deeply divided over Syria, between Russia and China, key allies of
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and the United States and its European allies, who
have backed the opposition.

On 22 February 2014, the UNSC had reached a rare agreement and adopted a
resolution 2139 focusing on the growing humanitarian crisis and demanding that all
sides in the conflict allow immediate access for aid, lift the sieges of populated areas,
stop depriving civilians of food, halt attacks against civilians and withdraw foreign
fighters. Resolution 2139 set out very clearly the council’s expectations of what the
Syrian parties need to do. But situation in Syria actually worsened.

Conclusion
Effect of whole efforts is lying on the support of Syrian government and rebels. We
have to see that how much Syrian government is extending its help to fulfill the
humanitarian helps to civilian people. Earlier, Syrian government viewed aid entering
the country without its approval as an attack on its sovereignty. Russia and China
have to use their influence on Assad government to execute humanitarian helps and
minimize atrocities on common people of Syria. Rebels have to see that civilian in
the areas of their control, getting humanitarian helps, because they are fighting with
regime not the common people of Syria. The United Nations has been accusing the
Syrian regime of imposing bureaucratic and arbitrary obstacles to the delivery of
humanitarian aid.

India & Sri Lanka signed MoU to set up Engineering &

Agricultural faculty for University of Jaffna

India on 14 July 2014 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sri Lanka
for setting up a Faculty of Agriculture and a Faculty of Engineering for the University

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of Jaffna at Kilinochchi.

The MoU was signed in the presence of Sri Lanka’s Minister of Higher Education, SB
Dissanayake in Colombo and the signatories of the MoU were

• YK Sinha, High Commissioner of India

• Dunil Jayantha Nawaratne, the Secretary to the Ministry of Higher Education

The Main Elements of the MoU signed

• India will set up the physical infrastructure for the two faculties. The physical
infrastructure for the two faculties will comprise of

• Lecture halls, a conference hall, computer laboratory, library, and sports complex
for the Faculty of Agriculture

• Lecture halls, a conference hall, laboratories, administrative office and staff room
for the Faculty of Engineering

• India will also train the teaching staff of the two faculties at prestigious Indian
colleges

• Government of India will also provide support for curriculum development, faculty
exchanges, training and research

• The estimated cost of 30 crore rupees (600 million SLR) for the project will be
given by India through grant assistance

Significance of the MoU

It will directly benefit the students in the war torn northern region of Sri Lanka and
help to develop the region as a whole through capacity building.

India-Sri Lankan Knowledge Initiative

India-Sri Lanka Knowledge Initiative was signed in 2010 to tap the immense potential
that exists in the two countries in the area of knowledge. As per the Initiative, India

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provides Sri Lanka with extensive assistance in education sector with a number of
annual scholarships for meritorious students and by training teachers in various
specialized fields. At present about 800 scholarships are available annually to Sri
Lanka students.

Other projects of Government of India that has been implemented for edu-
cation sector in Sri Lanka includes
• The setting up of Nenasalas (e-Learning Centres) in Eastern, Western and Southern
Provinces

• Renovation of 79 war-damaged schools in Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and Vavuniya

• Setting up of five Vocational Training Centers (VTCs) at Puttalam, Batticaloa and

Nuwara Eliya

• Supply of 1260 computers and 218 laser printers to about 500 schools in the
Eastern Province

• Setting up of a Siddha Faculty at Trincomalee

• Setting up language laboratories in each of the nice provinces of Sri Lanka to train
teachers from schools and colleges

• Gifting of 110 buses to educational institutions for assisting school students

Afghanistan’s presidential candidates agreed on the audit of

votes casted in June 2014 election

The two presidential candidates agreed on 13 July 2014 for an audit of every vote
cast in June 2014 presidential election. The deal was brokered by US Secretary of
State John Kerry in an effort to end a bitter standoff that raised fears of violence and
ethnic unrest.

The two presidential candidates agreed to the deal Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah

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Abdullah after two days of negotiations held in Kabul.

As per the deal, after the audit of the votes, the winner will serve as President and will
immediately form a government of national unity.

Further the deal reached was far wider than a UN proposal made on 10 July 2014.
According to UN proposal, the audit of votes was to be done for over 8000 polling
stations where suspicions of ballot-stuffing was raised which was about 44 percent
of the total votes cast.

Background
The deadlock over the run-off vote to choose a successor to outgoing President
Hamid Karzai plunged Afghanistan into political crisis and dented US hopes of a
smooth transfer of power as Washington seeks to withdraw all its troops by late 2016.

Preliminary results released on 7 July 2014 showed that Ghani was in the lead, with
some 56 percent of the vote, ahead of Abdullah on 44 percent. However, Abdullah
declared himself the true winner citing massive fraud in counting of votes.

India-Canada Audiovisual Co-production Treaty Signed

India and Canada has signed an India-Canada Audiovisual Co-production Treaty with
an aim to create jobs in both countries and boost tourism. This audiovisual treaty is
the first of its kind for India and was signed in Delhi. The treaty came into force on 1
July 2014 but the announcement was made on 9 July 2014.

The treaty will combine creative, technical and financial resources of both the countries
to create audiovisual co-productions. It is applicable for the media and entertainment
industry across India and thus would lead to a deeper level of engagement between
the audiovisual sectors of both the countries, greater cultural and economic benefits
and increased access to audiences worldwide.

This treaty of Canada with India has been inked after negotiations of last 15 years.

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Benefits of the audiovisual treaty

• The treaty has opened gateway to Canadian federal incentives for film and video
productions, as well as the provincial tax incentives and other benefits reserved
for Canadian productions.

• It covers digitization of footage, animation and other digital forms of audiovisuals

• It has opened more business opportunities in the area of digital media flowing
between Canada and India

• Speed of visa processing for Indians who wants to go to Canada has been
increased and now a person travelling can expect that they will receive their short-
term visas within 5 days of application

However, the treaty allows third-party producers to be a part of these productions

and benefit of the co-production treaty. These producers will also be allowed in
cases their respective country doesn’t have a treaty with either of the two countries,
namely India or Canada. But the investment has been limited and it cannot exceed
20 percent of the funding.

Canada has over 50 co-production treaties with different countries across the world.
With this co-production treaty, Canada in last decade was successful in producing
about 700 audiovisual treaty co-productions with an estimated production budgets
of about 5 billion Canadian dollars. This co-production has been created in Canada
with the implementation of CRTC (Canadian Content) regulations. The CRTC require
Canadian films a list of pre-requisites before it qualified for Canadian government
funding as well as broadcasting opportunities.

UN Tribunal ruled Indo-Bangladesh Maritime border dispute

UN Tribunal, Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) on 8 July 2014 ruled on the Indo-
Bangladesh maritime border dispute of the Bay of Bengal.

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The court has awarded 19467 square kilometers, a major part of disputed area to
Bangladesh from a total disputed area of 25602 square kilometers.

The Verdict was binding on both countries that will open the way for Bangladesh to
explore for oil and gas in the Bay of Bengal. Both the Countries accepted the ruling
and described that the ruling paved the way for greater economic cooperation of the
Bay of the Bengal.

This verdict brings an end to the arbitration process of Bangladesh, started in 2009
under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), over disputes with
Myanmar and India. The argument focussed on issues including the location of the
land boundary terminus, delimitation of the territorial sea, exclusive economic zone,
and the continental shelf within and beyond 200 nautical miles.

The Myanmar dispute was settled in 2012 after arbitration at the International Tribunal
on the Law of the Sea in Hamburg, Germany.

The dispute had hampered the economic development of both countries for more
than 30 years. Now the area will be open to exploit the undersea resources and to
develop the fishing industry.

About Permanent Court Of Arbitration

The PCA is an intergovernmental organization was established in 1899 in The Hague,
Netherlands. It was established to facilitate arbitration and other forms of dispute
resolution between states. It provides services for the resolution of disputes involving
various combinations of states, state entities, intergovernmental organizations, and
private parties.

India and UK to launch civil nuclear cooperation

India and United Kingdom on 8 July 2014 decided to launch negotiations for civil
nuclear cooperation. The decision was taken during the visit of UK foreign secretary
of state William Hague to India. He visited India on 7- 8 July 2014.

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The Union External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj and UK foreign secretary of state
William Hague had discussions on variety of issues related to bilateral, regional and
global issues of mutual interest.

The discussions were wide-ranging and extensive and covered variety of issues like
civil nuclear cooperation, extradition, counter-terrorism and cyber issues as well as
security situation in Iraq and Afghanistan. The issues mainly included economic ties
between the two countries.

At present, the Bilateral trade between the UK and India stands at 15 billion US
dollars.

India demanded extradition of British citizen Raymond Varley, accused of being a

part of an international paedophile ring and abusing children in Goa in the 1980s
and 1990s. Besides, India also invited British companies to invest in its Bangalore-
Mumbai Economic Corridor infrastructure project.

British drived the sale of its Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) to India
though their Eurofighter Typhoon lost to Rafale of France.

German Cabinet approved dual citizenship for children of

immigrants

German Cabinet headed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel on 3 July 2014

approved a new law that allows dual citizenship for the children of immigrants on 3
July 2014.

According to the new law, those born since 1990 will now be allowed to keep both
passports, that is, German citizenship and the citizenship of their parent’s country
of origin. The rule applies for those who are at age 21 and have lived in Germany
for at least eight years, attended school for at least six years, gained school-leaving
qualifications in Germany or completed vocational training in Germany.

Now the law will have to be approved by the lower house of the German Parliament

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 July 2014

Bundestag before it becomes an Act.

Until now, Germany-born children of immigrants from most non-EU countries were
granted both German and their parents’ citizenship at birth but then had to opt for
one of them by age 23.

Germany had already allowed dual citizenship to European Union and several dozen
other nations and many countries in the world allows dual or multiple Citizenship.

Background
The approved law allowing dual citizenship will relieve the three million Turkish peoples
living in Germany who have been demanding this since very long. Besides, the law
also gives the green light to a pet project of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD)
who shares power with Angela Merkel’s conservatives.

However, Turkish community leaders have criticised the new law because it applies
only to youngsters and does not cover older people who have often spent decades
in Germany.

Senegal President Macky Sall sacked Prime Minister Aminata

Toure

Senegal President Macky Sall on 4 July 2014 sacked Prime Minister Ms Aminata
Toure. She was sacked due to her failure to win a seat from Dakar in the 2014 local
elections.

Aminata Toure, 51, headed the Alliance for the Republic (APR) was appointed as
Prime Minister in September 2013. Earlier she was a Justice Minister.

Senegal is West African country and seen as a beacon of democracy in West Africa.
It is the only country never to have had a military coup in the West African region.

Senegal is a republic with Presidential form of government. The President is elected

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for a five year term since 2001. Earlier the term was seven years. The President is
responsible for appointing local administrators who are responsible to him.

Japanese Cabinet adopted resolution to end 60 years of

pacifism

Japan on 1 July 2014 ended the 60 years of pacifism giving Army the option to
exercise force. The resolution towards this was adopted by Japanese Cabinet headed
by Prime Minister Shizo Abe.

The Cabinet resolution laid down certain scopes or minimum degree under which
Japan can exercise force and they are:

• Threat to the existence of the Japanese State

• In case there is a clear danger to the people’s right to life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness could be subverted and there is no appropriate alternative

• Defensive support to the US forces under attack in vicinity of Japan

• Co-operating military with US forces to safeguard the citizens of Japan at risk

overseas

• During the time of war, it will participate in minesweeping activities

• Deployment of the Japanese forces to protect access to energy supplies or

critically important sea-lanes of communication vital for Japan’s survival

Comment
With the end of pacifism in Japan imposed by the Article 9 of the 1947 Constitution,
Japanese armed forces will become more aligned with the militaries of other advanced
nations in terms of its options. The resolution also provides relation limits on activities
in UN led peace-keeping operations and grey zone incidents short of full-scale war.

Now the country’s military can go for collective self-defence or can aid a friendly

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country under attack.

War-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan had limited Japan’s ability to

defend itself. Article 9 restricted the nation from building a military any larger than it
needs for self-defence of its immediate geographic area. The post-war Constitution,
also barred Japan from using force to resolve conflicts except in cases of self-defence.

This step of allowing the military to fight abroad has brought worries among many
Japanese voters and has riled China, which has had strangled relation with China
over the maritime row.

Whereas, the United States that defeated Japan in the World War II has welcomed
the Japanese move and said that this step would nurture the US-Japan alliance
more effective. The US is a close ally of Japan with a security cooperation treaty.
The reason that made Japan depended on the US for its defence was the Treaty of
Mutual Cooperation and Security between Japan and the United States.

China – South Korea bilateral summit held in Seoul

China – South Korea bilateral summit was held in Seoul on 3 July 2014. The summit
was held between South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Chinese President Xi
Jinping. It was held during the Chinese President Xi’s first visit to South Korea since
he became the President in 2013.

During the summit, both the Presidents agreed to push for the denuclearization of
North Korea and issued a Joint Statement.

The Main Highlights of the Joint Statement

• Two countries agreed for denuclearizing and maintaining peace and stability of
the Korean Peninsula.

• Both the countries also called on all relevant parties to solve major issue through
dialogue and negotiation

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• The two countries also called on relevant parties to unremittingly promote the
process of the six-party talks which was suspended in 2008.

• They also called on all parties to respect one another, strengthen communication
and coordination on both bilateral and multilateral levels, and address the concerns
of all parties involved, to achieve the goal.

• The Joint Statement also stressed on building mutual trust with the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) through the Korean Peninsula trust-
building process. This will boost the development of South Korea-DPRK relations
and safeguard peace of the peninsula.

Other Highlights of Joint statement

• Regular exchange of security officials

• Finalizing Korea-China maritime boundaries by 2015

• Signing a contract on the joint production of films

• Finalizing an FTA within the year

• Setting up a direct won-yuan trading market

Analysis
The issue of Joint Statement by China and South Korea on denuclearisation of
North Korea has put an symbolic weight to the issue. However, it fell short on how
they would pursue that goal mainly on account of difference in both the countries
approach towards the issue.

On the one hand, South Korea wants to use “all means” possible approach to bring
denuclearisation. On the other hand, China stressed “dialogue and negotiation”
approach.

Besides, Xi’s decision to visit South Korea before North Korea is seen as a calculated
rebuff that spoke of the strained relationship between North Korea and its historic

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and most important ally China.

Also, China is being pressured by international community to use its leverage to rein
in North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. However, China remains wary of penalising the N
Korea too heavily. This is because any regime collapse in N Korea would result in a
unified Korea with a US troop presence on its border.

The larger issue which seems to flow from Xi’s first visit to S Korea is the China’s
response to the US “pivot to Asia” and the battle between the two major powers for
regional influence. China is currently South Korea’s largest export market and two-
way trade stood at around 275 billion US dollars in 2013.

However, China wants to move beyond economic ties and promote political and
security links. This leaves Seoul with a difficult balancing act, given its historic military
alliance with the United States.

Japan issued multiple entry visas to Indians

Japan on 3 July 2014 issued multiple entry visas for short term stay to Indians. The
visas will allow Indian visitors to spend up to 15 days on a visit and the visas are likely
to be valid for three years.

The multiple entry visas will be issued at the Japanese diplomatic missions in India
and also at all the Japanese embassies and Consulate Generals overseas.

The decision will increase the number of Indian tourists to Japan and improve
convenience in business activities and further development of bilateral exchanges
between the two countries.

The decision was taken in the backdrop of the announcement made by Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe when he visited India in January 2014. As per the announcement, Japan
Government will introduce multiple entry visas to enhance the people to people
exchange between the two countries.

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Four-party meet in Berlin agreed to resume ceasefire in

eastern Ukraine

Four-party meet held in Berlin on 2 July 2014 agreed on a series of step to resume
the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine. The four-party meet was held between Foreign
Ministers of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France.

The steps include reopening talks before 5 July 2014 with the goal of reaching an
unconditional and mutually agreed sustainable cease-fire. The talks will be monitored
by the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSC) in Europe.

During the meet, Russia also agreed to the proposal to grant Ukrainian border guards
and OSC representatives’ access to Russian territory. They will take part in controlling
two border crossings once the ceasefire is in place.

Background
20 June 2014: Ukraine declared unilateral ceasefire in eastern Ukraine

25 June 2014: Russian Parliament revoked the military intervention in Ukraine

30 June 2014: Ukraine withdrew the ceasefire and declared military action against
pro-Russian separatist

2 July 2014: Cease-fire resumed during a four-party meet in Berlin

National Assembly of Pakistan approved Protection of

Pakistan Bill 2014

National Assembly of Pakistan on 2 July 2014 approved Protection of Pakistan Bill

2014 amid military offensive against the Taliban in North Waziristan. This Bill will
remain in force for two years.

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The Protection of Pakistan Bill, 2014 seeks to provide for protection against waging of
war against Pakistan and the prevention of acts threatening the security of Pakistan.

Earlier, the Bill was unanimously approved by the Senate or upper house on 30 June
2014.

The Main Provisions of the Bill

• It defines enemy alien as a militant whose identity is unascertainable as a Pakistani,
in the locality where he has been arrested or in the locality where he claims to be
residing, whether by documentary or oral evidence; or who has been deprived of
his citizenship by naturalisation.

• It defines militant as any person who wages war or insurrection against Pakistan,
or raises arms against Pakistan, its citizens, the armed forces or civil armed forces;
or takes up advocates or encourages or aids or abets the raising of arms or waging
of war or a violent struggle against Pakistan.

• It empowered the official of grade 15 (Non Gazetted Officers/Junior Officers/

JCOs) and above to issue orders of shoot-at-sight.

• It also allows the security forces to detain suspects for a period of 60 days after
getting judicial remand.

• It also allows security forces to conduct search operations without securing

warrant from a judicial officer.

• The circumstances justifying the search & seizure operation and the items recovered
shall be reported within two days to special judicial magistrate of the area by the
officer conducting the search.

• It provides for at least 20 years of imprisonment for those convicted of militancy.

• Convicted persons will have the right to appeal before a high court against their
convictions. Earlier, a convicted person had only the right to appeal before the
Supreme Court.

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• It also containS a list of scheduled offences which among others include

cybercrimes and offences related to information technology and crossing of
national boundaries illegally.

• The punishments for these scheduled offences can be extended to 20 years.

The bill essentially is an anti-terror law which provides unbridled powers to security
forces that includes shoot-at-sight of suspects involved in terrorism, arson and murder.
However, the human rights bodies and opposition of Pakistan have criticised the
Protection of Pakistan Bill 2014 as it provides unbridled powers to security agencies.

France announced to provide 1 billion Euros credit line to

India

France on 30 June 2014 announced to provide one billion Euros (8200 crore rupees)
line of credit over a three years period to India. The announcement was made by
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius who is on a visit to India.

The line of credit will help India take initiative in the climate control area and enable
India to work closely with France on the issue of climate change.

The credit will be offered through the Agnece Francaise de development (French
Development Agency) for creation of sustainable infrastructure and urban development
in India.

Earlier, Fabius held talks with his counterpart Sushma Swaraj on the crucial issue
of climate change. He said that his country was looking forward to make the Paris
Climate Change Conference of the UN in December 2015 a success one.

Apart from this, the Fabius announced decision of his country to have a new visa
regime for Indian travellers from January 2015. Under the new visa regime an Indian
traveller would get visa in 48 hours. The minister stressed for more people-to-people
contact through developing tourism linkages.

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During his India visit, Fabius also unveiled a mobile application named Chalo Paris.
The application will provide all information about tourists’ destinations, food and
other key to Indian travellers during their visit to France. This app will work on both
Android and iOS platforms and will start functioning from September 2014.

Pakistan Army launched Phase-II of the Operation Zarb-e-

Azb against militants

Pakistan Army launched the Phase-II of the Operation Zarb-e-Azb or Strike of the
Prophet’s Sword on 30 June 2014. The Phase-II of the Operation will be in the form
of ground offensive against Taliban militants in North Waziristan.

The launch of ground offensive will strengthen security on the border of Afghanistan-
Pakistan and prevent militants from escaping into Afghanistan.

The Pakistani Army launched the Operation Zarb-e-Azb on 15 June 2014 but limited
its tactics to airstrikes. The operation in North Waziristan came after militants launched
an attack on Karachi airport on 7 June 2014, which left 36 people dead, including the
10 Taliban gunmen who performed the attack.

Earlier, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif had held several rounds with the
Taliban militants to broker a ceasefire as part of a broader regional settlement.

North Waziristan is a key sanctuary for the Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups,
such as the Haqqani network and Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.

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NATIONAL

Finance Ministry approved setting up of rape crisis centres

in all districts

Union Finance Ministry on 28 July 2014 gave its nod to the proposal to set up rape
crisis centres in all district of the country. The proposal was made by the Union
Ministry of Women and Children Development.

The proposal has been made in wake of increasing crime against women.

Benefits of the proposed Rape crisis centre

• It will offer medical and legal services besides police help to victims of rape and
sexual assault

• The facilities are likely to be linked to a national helpline

According to the proposal, 660 rape crisis centres will be created across the country.

Union Government decided to intensify war against Japanese

Encephalitis

Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare decided to intensify major war against

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Japanese Encephalitis (JE) in the fourth week of July 2014.

This decision was taken in light of outbreak of JE and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome
(AES) across 17 States of India with more Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and
Assam in the month of June and July 2014. The outbreak of the disease in these
States have claimed hundreds of lives mostly children.

The main element of the offensive against JE and AES

• Priority would be to ensure 100 per cent immunisation against the JE and AES in
the affected areas. The immunization would be carried out on the lines of Pulse
Polio Campaign.

• To involve all the stakeholders so as to ensure full vaccine coverage

• Active surveillance along with early diagnosis and effective implementation of

control measures

• The Ministry also sought help from the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention,
Atlanta to deal with the annual outbreak.

• Additional beds and ventilators at the Governmental Hospital in Gorakhpur which

sees the highest number of patients and other affected areas

About Japanese Encephalitis

JE is an acute inflammation of the brain and when it occurs with meningitis is known
as meningocephalitis.

The disease generally occurs during monsoon and is caused by a mosquito-borne

virus. The Japanese encephalitis virus is a virus from the family Flaviviridae.

Domestic pigs and wild birds (herons) are reservoirs of the virus; transmission to
humans may cause severe symptoms. Amongst the most important vectors of this
disease are the mosquitoes Culex tritaeniorhynchus and Culex vishnui.

Symptoms include headache, fever, confusion, drowsiness, and fatigue. More

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advanced and serious symptoms include seizures or convulsions, tremors,

hallucinations, and memory problems

JE and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) generally have high mortality and morbidity
rates. Since the virus attacks the brain of the child, the chances of the child becoming
mentally retarded are high.

Situation in India:
In India, the most affected region is eastern India particularly Uttar Pradesh, Bihar
and Assam.

Uttar Pradesh generally reports 500-600 JE deaths every year while just in June 2013
in Bihar over 100 children died of the disease. Whereas in July 2013, disease claimed
about 100 lives in West Bengal and similar number of lives in lower Assam, especially
in Barpeta district.

The World Health Organisation put the JE toll at over 1000 in 2013.

Recent Effort of Union Government to tackle JE:

On 4 October 2013, Union Health Ministry launched indigenously produced
Japanese Encephalitis (JE) vaccine JENVAC. The vaccine has been jointly developed
by scientists of National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune, Indian Council of Medical
Research and Bharat Biotech Limited- Hyderabad.

On 3 July 2014, Union Government introduced adult vaccine against JE along with
rotavirus, rubella and polio as part of India’s Universal Immunization Programme
(UIP).

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Union Government proposed to set up three Low Cost Airports

for Bihar

Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation, G.M. Siddeshwara on 22 July 2014 proposed
to set up three new low-cost airports in Bihar at Muzaffarpur, Raxaul and Gaya. While
Gaya will is an operational custom airport, Raxaul will be a non-operational airport.

The development of airports would depends upon availability of land, availability of

mandatory clearances, environmental clearances, traffic projections, and provision
of support services by the State Government. The support services include access
road to the airport, water supply, power supply, services of State Police and State
Fire Staff.

Besides, the Ministry of Aviation also decided to develop Kolhapur airport as a small
airport among 50 locations identified across the country. The Ministry also recognized
the proposed greenfield airport of Solapur in the same category.

The identification of 50 locations across the country for the development of small
airports is being considered as a good move towards pending development of the
airports. These airports will be constructed in the tourism circuit or backward areas
where connectivity needs to be boosted.

Earlier in the fourth week of July 2014, the Ministry also approved for six new airlines.
These are Air One Aviation Private Limited, Zexus Air and Premier Air that eventually
want to become national airlines. In addition, Turbo Megha, Air Carnival and Zav
Airways that want to operate as regional airlines.

Comment
The unveiling of these steps by the Aviation Ministry can be seen as revival of regional
airline policy but the means of achieving it are falling short of expectations. This is
because there is still no DGCA-approved blueprint for no-frills airports, and building
these small airports could cost anywhere northwards of 70-80 crore rupees, setting
up 50 such airports is no easy task.

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Also because of myriad issues and lack of encouragement from respective state
governments, the regional airline policy has not been able to take off in the manner
envisioned.

Furthermore, instead of tying up loose ends and ensuring that these small airports
and airlines are viable, the ministry seems to have shown undue haste in clearing such
proposals. The government has paid enough lip service in recent weeks on creating
airport infrastructure, boosting regional connectivity and enhancing competition
among existing airlines. It has been speaking of setting up hundreds of no-frills
airports in Tier II and Tier III towns, offering incentives for regional airline startups
and getting jet fuel taxation down. However, until the groundwork is done in terms
of policy formulation and infrastructure, it is unlikely these plans will take-off anytime
soon.

Union Government notified Public Servants Rules, 2014

The Union Government in the third week of July 2014 notified Public Servants
(Furnishing of Information and Annual Return of Assets and Liabilities and the Limits
for Exemption of Assets in Filing Returns) Rules, 2014.

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) under Union Ministry of Personnel,
Public Grievances and Pensions notified the rules under Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act,
2013.

As per the Public Servants Rules 2014, it has been made mandatory for all Government
employees to file declarations of their assets and liabilities and those of their spouses
and dependent children.

Declarations to Be Made under Public Servants Rules, 2014

• New forms for filing the returns have been issued by the Government. The forms
will seek information on cash in hand, bank deposits, investment in bonds,
debentures, shares and units in companies or mutual funds, insurance policies,

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provident fund, personal loans and advance given to a person or any entity, among
others.

• As per the rules of the Act, the employees will have to declare motor vehicles,
aircraft, yachts or ships, gold and silver jewellery and bullion possessed by them,
their spouses and dependent children.

• They should also give detail of their immovable properties and statement of debts
and other liabilities on first appointment or as on March 31 of every financial year.

• These declarations are in addition to such returns being filed by the government
employees under various services rules.

• The employees, who have already filed their declarations, information and annual
returns of property, shall file revised declarations as on 1 August 2014, to the
competent authority on or before 15 September 15 2014.

However, the competent authority may exempt a public servant from filing the
information in respect of any asset if its value does not exceed his or her four months
basic pay or two lakh rupees, whichever is higher.

The Union Government is also under the process of modifying other rules, including
the ones associated with search committee’s working.

The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013

The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act was given asset by the President of India, Pranab
Mukherjee on 1 January 2014. The Act provides for establishing Lokpal for the Union
as well as Lokayuktas for the States in order to inquire the corruption charges against
Government officials.

According to the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 a public servant shall furnish to
the competent authority the information relating to the assets of which he, his spouse
and his dependent children, jointly or severally, own. He is also mandated to declare
his liabilities and that of his spouse and his dependent children, as per the Act.

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PM Narendra Modi paid first visit to BARC

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
(BARC) under Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) in Mumbai on 21 July 2014. This
was his first visit to the DAE after becoming the Prime Minister of India in May 2014.

He was received by Dr. R.K Sinha, Secretary, DAE and Chairman, Atomic Energy
Commission (AEC).

During his visit, he was briefed on India’s atomic energy programme; DAE’s extensive
research and development and education programmes; and DAE’s contributions
in other areas such as healthcare, especially cancer treatment, food security, solid
waste management and water purification.

Key Highlights of the Visit

• On his visit, the PM explained about the energy security need, which is based on
clean and reliable sources and is critical driver of India’s rapid and sustained long
term development.

• In implementing, DAE’s ambitious expansion programme, the PM assured

complete support from the Union Government and asked DAE to meet the target
of increasing the capacity by three times from the present level of 5780 MWe by
2023-24 within the projected cost.

• Prime Minister told DAE that nuclear safety and security were of the highest priority
and asked DAE to ensure that India’s standards and practices were the most
advanced in the world.

• The PM asked DAE to pay special attention to the local communities in planning
and implementing nuclear power projects.

• Prime Minister lauded the contribution of DAE scientists in the critical area of
cancer research and treatment through the Tata Memorial Hospital.

• He expressed hope that DAE would soon implement the planned projects

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in Chandigarh and Vishakapatnam and would take one of the most advanced
standards of cancer treatment in Asia to other parts of India.

• PM also directed DAE to make special efforts to expand its research and extension
on national scale applications of atomic science in areas like healthcare, waste
management, water treatment, agriculture and food preservation.

Year-Long Celebrations for Diamond Jubilee of DAE

In context of the Diamond Jubilee of DAE which will be celebrated on 3 August 2014,
the Prime Minister asked DAE to chalk out programme of year-long celebrations,
with special focus on the various human and developmental dimensions of atomic
science, with special outreach to the youth in schools and colleges throughout the
country.

PM Narendra Modi suggested qualitative changes in PMNRF

functioning

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 19 July 2014 suggested certain qualitative changes
in the functioning of Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF). The suggested
qualitative changes would be on the lines of Gujarat Model.

The suggested changes will target the selection of beneficiaries and will give priority
to the poor and children.

Besides, PM Modi also reviewed the functioning of the other Prime Minister’s funds
-- the PM’s discretionary fund, the PM’s National Defence Fund, the PM’s fund for
student’s aid, and the PM’s fund for folk art.

Suggested Qualitative Changes

• Selection of beneficiaries should be done in a more comprehensive, scientific and
humanitarian basis, giving priority to children, poor and cases from government

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hospitals.

• Cases involving life-threatening diseases should be accorded priority and

applications should be decided on need and merit

• Pendency in appeals for help should be minimised

• The draw to select the cases should be conducted in a manner that does not
leave out any genuine case

• A letter from the Prime Minister should be sent to all beneficiaries

• Beneficiaries whose appeals have been approved for grant of relief will be informed
through an SMS alert

About Prime Minister National Relief Fund

The PM National Relief Fund (PMNRF) was established in 1948 with public
contributions to assist displaced persons from Pakistan. The PMNRF fund consists
entirely of public contributions and does not get any budgetary support. The corpus
of the fund is invested with banks in fixed deposits. Disbursements are made with the
approval of the Prime Minister.

The resources of the PMNRF are utilised primarily to render immediate relief to families
of those killed in natural calamities like floods, cyclones and earthquakes and to the
victims of major accidents and riots. Assistance from PMNRF is also rendered for
medical treatment like heart surgeries, kidney transplantation, cancer treatment etc.

Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan released National

Health Profile 2013

Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr. Harsh Vardhan on 17 July 2014
released the National Health Profile 2013.

The National Health Profile 2013 called for creating comprehensive database for all

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sectors in healthcare for sound planning

and effective implementation

Besides, releasing the National Health

Profile 2013, Harshvardhan announced
the agreement between The Union
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
and CDC Atlanta for close cooperation
and collaboration, and exchange of
information aimed at strengthening each other.

As per the agreement CDC would designate a doctor who would work for better
coordination of the India projects by acting as a communication bridge between the
Director, CDC and India’s Health Minister.

Main Highlights
In 2013, India’s doctor-to-population ratio worsened as compared to 2012. It was
1: 1217.84 as compared to 1:740.49 in 2012. That is, for a population of more than
1200 people only one doctor is available.

The average population served per government hospital bed is 1946, while every
hospital serves an average population of 61744 which was much more than the
50689 people in 2012.

The per capita private expenditure is three to four times more than the per capita
public expenditure except for a few union territories, and the states of Arunachal
Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim.

Acute respiratory infections accounted for the maximum number of cases among
various communicable diseases reported by the states.

Non-communicable diseases like diabetes and coronary heart disease have been
rising in the country since 2000.

More than 60 million Indians will suffer from coronary heart disease by 2015, and

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more than 40 million will suffer from diabetes by 2015.

Only 33 per cent of Government doctors are available in the rural areas, that is, only
29562 of India’s 106613 government doctors work in villages.

There is wide difference in health facilities available to people. For instance, infant
mortality rate, a key human development index, in Kerala was only 66 per 1 lakh live
births while it was 328 in Assam in 2010-12.

Infant mortality rate in the country declined from 47 in 2010 to 42 in 2012 and the
total fertility rate fell to 2.4 in 2012About National Health Profile 2013

About National Health Profile

The annual document is prepared by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI).
It covers demographic, socio-economic, health status and health finance indicators,
along with comprehensive information on health infrastructure and human resources
in health. CBHI has been publishing NHP every year since 2005. This is the 9th
edition.

President rejected mercy petitions of Nithari killer Surinder

Koli and 5 others

Pranab Mukherjee, the President of India on 18 July 2014 rejected the mercy petitions
of Nithari serial killer Surinder Koli and five other death row convicts. These five death
row convicts are Renukabai and Seema (Maharashtra), Koli (Uttar Pradesh), Rajendra
Pralhadrao Wasnik (Mahasrashtra), Jagdish (Madhya Pradesh) and Holiram Bordoloi
(Assam).

The President rejected the mercy petitions of the six death row convicts on the advice
of the Union Home Ministry which rejected the mercy petitions of all the convicts on
18 June 2014.

The six death row convicts may still challenge the rejection of their mercy petition

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on the grounds of inordinate delay. In February 2014, the SC bench had commuted
the death sentence of 15 convicts to life imprisonment on the grounds of inordinate
delay and mental illness. Though the SC bench had not quantified the inordinate
delays but in all the cases the delay ranged from 7 to 11 years.

In at least two cases, the gap between upholding of death sentence and rejection
of clemency plea is not more than three years so in any case these cases might not
qualify under inordinate delay. These relate to upholding of death sentence by SC of
Surinder Koli in 2011 and that of Wasnik in 2012.

As for the other cases, the death penalty for the two sisters was confirmed by the
Supreme Court in 2006 and that Holiram Bordoloi in 2005. t will be interestingly to
see whether this is viewed as “inordinate” delay on part of the Executive in deciding
their mercy pleas.

SC asked State governments and UTs to submit responses

over Euthanasia

The five-judge Constitution bench of Supreme Court on 16 July 2014 issued notice
to the State governments and Union Territories (UTs) to submit their responses over
legalising passive euthanasia. State Government and UTs have to submit their
responses to the notice till the 17 September 2014.

The five-judge Constitution bench consisted of Chief Justice of India R.M. Lodha,
and Justice J.S. Khehar, J. Chelameswar, A.K. Sikri and Rohinton F. Nariman.

Main highlights of the Notice issued by SC Bench

• The SC bench reasoned that States and UTs must also be heard because the issue
not only involves the Constitutionality of euthanasia but also involves morality,
religion and medical science.

• It further raised the question that what safeguards should be laid down so as to

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prevent the misuse of euthanasia and asked the petitioners to cite the least painful
method to bring life to an end in light of the discussion going around the world on
legalizing euthanasia.

• However, it dismissed the contention of Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi that

euthanasia statute can be misused and hence it cannot be legalised. The bench
said that misuse of the statute cannot be the ground for not legalizing euthanasia.

• In order to look into the issue, the SC Constitution bench appointed senior lawyer
and former Solicitor General T R Andhyarujina as amicus curiae to assist it.

The notice was issued by the SC bench on a PIL filed by Non-Governmental

Organization (NGO) Common Cause. In the PIL Common Cause had reasoned that, if
there is medical expert opinion that a person treatment is beyond from being curable
has reached the point of no return, then the person should be given the right to refuse
the treatment and die, if the person gives a living will.

However, the Attorney General said this was a matter to be considered by the
legislature, because it raised multiple issues, aside from coming with the possibility
of misuse.

National Centre for R & D in Bulk Drugs to be set up in NIPER

Hyderabad

Union Ministry of Chemical and Fertilisers decided on 14 July 2014 to set up National
Centre for Research & Development in Bulk Drugs (NCRDBD) at National Institute of
Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Hyderabad.

The NCRDBD will fill the crucial existing gap in Research and Development in bulk
drugs. The total cost of setting up NCRDBD will be over 52 crore rupees and will
have an operating cost of over 37 crore rupees for five years.

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Some Characteristic Features of NCRDBD

The NCRDBD would be an innovative R&D provider in the field of bulk drugs

It will offer competitive and eco-friendly technologies in specified areas products and
processes

It will also provide centralized research facilities and technologies, analytical facilities
and consulting services for process improvement and optimization

It would give special emphasis to the empowerment of MSME sector

Why the Need?

The performance of Bulk Drug sector is one of the critical factors that affect the
overall efficiency and cost competitiveness of the pharmaceutical sector. There are
nearly 2500 bulk drugs manufacturing units in India.

The estimated turnover of the Bulk Drug Industry in 2012-13 was around 12.5 billion
US dollars. The industry has a share of about 10 percent of the global bulk drugs
market of about 110 billion US dollars.

However, the import of Bulk Drugs has seen a compounded annual growth rate
(CAGR) of 18 percent during 2011 to 2013 compared to 17 percent CAGR in
domestic production of Bulk Drugs. This indicates an increasing level of dependence
on international supply. This is further compounded by the fact that more than 60
percent share in imports of Intermediate for Active PIs is from a single country.

The NCRDBD will be set up to urgently address these concerns and make the
industry cost competitive. In Bulk Drug Industry, the reduced processes and improved
technology can help in reducing the cost significantly.

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July 2014

SC ordered Union Government to bring MGNREGS’s wage

rates on par with minimum wages

Supreme Court
ordered Union
government to bring
wages under
Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural
E m p l o y m e n t
Guarantee Scheme
(MGNREGS) on par
with minimum wages
existing under
different States. The order was passed by the SC on 11 July 2014.

The decision was given by the SC bench of Justice S J Mukhopadhaya and Justice
S A Bobde. The bench directed that wage under the scheme cannot be less than the
minimum wage fixed by the State government for agricultural labourers. The bench
also asked the Union government to pay arrears to workers who had been paid less.

The bench issued the direction while hearing an appeal filed by the Union government
against a Karnataka High Court order which on 23 September 2011 had held the
wage under the scheme cannot be less than the minimum wage.

Earlier, the SC had questioned the Union government for paying fewer wages. It said
that MGNREGS is a beneficiary legislation so there cannot be difference between
minimum wages and the wage paid under the MGNREGS.

The wage rate under the MGNREGS, which varied between 118 rupees and 181
rupees from State to State, was less than the notified minimum daily pay in six States.
But in 14 States the wages under rural job scheme was higher than the minimum
wage.

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 July 2014

About Minimum Wages Act, 1948

In India, the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 provides for fixation and enforcement of
minimum wages in respect of scheduled employments.

The Act also requires the appropriate government (both at Centre and States) to fix
minimum rates of wages in respect of employments specified in the schedule and
also review and revise the same at intervals not exceeding five years.

Since the respective state governments have been empowered to independently fix
minimum wages, disparities between wages in neighboring states are common. In
order to reduce this problem and bring comparability the Central government has set
up 5 regional committees for harmonization of minimum wages.

5 Regional Committees in India:

Eastern Region: West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Andaman
and Nicobar Islands

North Eastern Region: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram,

Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim

Southern Region: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and
Lakshadweep

Northern Region: Punjab, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir,

Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Delhi and Chandigarh

Western Region: Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Dadra and Nagar
Haveli and Daman and Diu

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Union Ministry of Railways launched Social Media Platform

for Indian Railways

Union Ministry of Railways launched Social Media Platform for the Indian Railways
on 7 July 2014.

With this, customers can connect with the Railways through Facebook and Twitter.
Besides, all the important announcements of Railways starting with Rail Budget
2014-15 will be available to the customers on 24×7 basis.

The launch of Social Media Platform is the endeavour of Indian railways to use social
media as a platform to tell its stories and constantly hear from fellow travelers.

The new initiative of railways joining social media will add to the technology
development of India and transparent.

Law Commission submitted a report titled Manpower

Planning in Judiciary: A Blue Print to Union Govt

Law Commission of India on 7 July 2014 a report titled Manpower Planning in

Judiciary: A Blue Print was submitted to the Union Government. Chairman of Law
Commission Former Justice, A P Shah submitted the report to the Union Minister
of Law & Justice and Communications & IT Ravi Shankar Prasad. The Commission
recommended recruitment of judges to dispose the backlog, special evening and
morning courts and additional courts to ensure timely justice.

Highlights of report and recommendations

• Recruitment of new judges should be focused as a matter of priority and on the
number of judges required to breakeven and to dispose of the backlog in a 3 year
time frame.

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• Age of retirement of Subordinate judges be raised to 62.

• Special morning and evening Courts be set up for dealing with Traffic and Police
Challan cases which constitute 38.7 percent of the institutions and 37.4 percent of
all pending cases in the last three years before the Subordinate Judicial Services.

• Recent law graduates may be appointed for short durations for 3 years, to preside
over these special traffic Courts.

• Adequate provisions will be made for staff and infrastructure required for the
working of additional Courts.

• High Courts will be directed to evolve uniform data collection and data management
methods in order to ensure transparency and to facilitate data based policy
prescriptions for the judicial system.

• Creation of additional Courts is one amongst various measures required to ensure

timely justice and facilitate access to justice.

• The Commission recognizes that apart from increasing judge strength, many other
measures have to be undertaken for reducing delays, including the application of
good judicial management practices such as putting into place timeliness and
performance benchmarks.

Law Commission of India

• Law Commissions is constituted by the Government to recommend legislative
reforms with a view to clarify, consolidate and codify particular branches of law.

• It is an executive body constituted from time to time by the Government of India

(GOI).

• The first Law Commission was established in 1834 under the Charter Act of 1833
under the Chairmanship of Lord Macaulay.

• In Post Independence, GOI established the First Law Commission of Independent

India in 1955 with M C Setalvad then Attorney-General of India, as its Chairman.

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• The Twentieth Law Commission was constituted by the Government and it has a
three year term (1 September 2012 to 31 August 2015). Former chief Justice, A P
Shah is the Chairman of the present Law Commission.

• The other members of the commission are Justice S N Kapoor, Former Judge
of Delhi High Court; Justice Usha Mehra, Former Judge of Delhi High Court ;
Professor Mool Chand Sharma, Former Vice-Chancellor, Central University of
Haryana; N L Meena; Brahm A Agrawal, Law Secretary; SP K Malhotra, Secretary
(Legislative);Professor G Mohan Gopal ; R Venkataramani, Senior Advocate;
Professor Yogesh Tyagi ; Bijai Narain Mani ; Professor Gurjeet Singh.

President Pranab Mukherjee appointed Governor for Mizo-

ram and Nagaland

President Pranab Mukherjee on 6 July 2014 appointed Governor for Mizoram and
Nagaland.

Governor of Gujarat, Kamla Beniwal was transferred and appointed as Governor of

Mizoram for the remainder of her term.

Vakkom Purushothaman, the Mizoram Governor, transferred and appointed as

Governor of Nagaland for the remainder of his term. Vakkom will continue to hold the
additional charge of the office of the Governor of Tripura.

Margaret Alva, the Governor of Rajasthan, was given the additional responsibility of
discharging the functions as Governor of Gujarat, until regular arrangements for the
office is made.

The appointments will take effect from the dates the incumbents assume charge of
their respective offices.

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SC ruled Shariat Courts are illegal

The Supreme Court of India on 7 July 2014 ruled that Shariat courts are illegal and
objected to Shariat court from passing orders against innocent person. It said that no
religion allows punishment of innocent and hence no Darul Qaza should give verdict
on rights of a person, unless it is asked for by the person.

It said that no legal status has been granted to the Sharia Courts or religious decrees
of fatwas, thus they are illegal if it violates fundamental rights of an individual.

The SC judgment was delivered while hearing a petition that asked whether Shariat
courts are unconstitutional or not. The petition was filed by a Delhi-based advocate
Vishwa Lochan Madan in 2005, which challenged the parallel courts run by institutions
like the Darul Qaza and Darul-Iftaa and have an impact on the fundamental rights of
the Muslim citizens.

The decision was delivered by the bench headed by Justice CK Prasad of SC.

Earlier in February 2014, the Supreme Court had observed that it cannot interfere
with fatwas or religious decrees issued by Muslim clerics.

However, All India Personal Law Board had earlier submitted that fatwa was not
binding on people and it was just an opinion of a mufti (cleric) and he has no power
and authority to implement it. Also, if a fatwa was sought to be implemented against
the wish of the person concerned, then he could approach the court of law against it.

Supreme Court ruled no automatic arrest of accused in dowry

cases

The Supreme Court on 2 July 2014 ruled that the police cannot automatically arrest
the accused in dowry cases and police must give reasons for taking such steps,
which will be judicially examined.

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The Supreme Court bench headed by Justice C K Prasad directed

• All the State governments to instruct its police officers not to automatically arrest
when a case under Section 498-A of the IPC (dowry harassment) is registered.

• The police should satisfy themselves about the necessity for arrest under the
parameters laid down flowing from Section 41 Criminal Procedure Code.

• The police officer shall furnish the reasons and materials which necessitated the
arrest before the magistrate.

• A person accused of offence punishable with imprisonment for a term up to seven

with or without fine, cannot be arrested by the police officer only on its satisfaction
that such person had committed the offence.

• The attitude of police to arrest first and then proceed with the rest is despicable
and it must be curbed.

• Any arrest or detention by a police official without recording reasons as aforesaid

by the judicial magistrate concerned shall be liable for departmental action by the
appropriate High Court and amount to contempt of court.

SC gave the judgement in the backdrop of misuse of the anti-dowry law by disgruntled
wives against their husbands and in-laws (mother and sister). It referred to the
statistics that rate of charge-sheeting in these cases is as high as 93.6 percent, while
the conviction rate is only 15 percent that means the remaining cases are pending at
trial stage.

Union Government introduced four new vaccines as a part of

UIP

Union Government on 3 July 2014 introduced four new vaccines as part of India’s
Universal Immunization Programme (UIP). These include vaccines against rotavirus,
rubella and polio (injectable), along with an adult vaccine against Japanese

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encephalitis. The adult vaccine against Japanese encephalitis will be introduced in

districts with high levels of the disease (in 179 endemic districts in 9 states).

The aim of introduction of these lifesaving vaccines is to ensure that the benefits of
vaccination reach to all sections of the society, regardless of social and economic
status. Till now these are available through private practitioners to only those, who
can afford them.

The decision to introduce new vaccines was announced by Narendra Modi, the Prime
Minister of India after accepting the recommendations made by the National Technical
Advisory Group of India (NTAGI). NTAGI, the country’s apex scientific advisory body
on immunization recommended the introduction of the new vaccines after numerous
scientific studies and comprehensive deliberations.

Importance and impact of these vaccines

• These vaccines will collectively expedite India’s progress on meeting the Millennium
Development Goal 4 targets to reduce child mortality by two-thirds by the year
2015 and meet global polio eradication targets

• The recent introduction of the pentavalent vaccine will help in preventing at least
1 lakh infant deaths, deaths of adult in working age group and up to 10 lakhs
hospitalization each year With introduction of these new vaccines, India’s UIP
will now provide free vaccines against 13 life threatening diseases to 27 million
children annually, the largest birth cohort in the world.

The rotavirus vaccine is an indigenous vaccine of India that has been developed
under a public-private partnership by the Union Ministry of Science and the Union
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. This vaccine will be introduced in a phased
manner.

Universal Immunization Programme (UIP)

Universal Immunization Programme is a vaccination program of the Government
of India and was launched in 1985. It became a part of Child Survival and Safe

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Motherhood Programme in 1992 and is currently one of the key areas under National
Rural Health Mission (NRHM) since 2005.

Evolution of the programme

1978: Expanded Programme of immunization (EPI) and it had a limited reach-mostly
urban

1985: Universal Immunization Programme (UIP)

• For reduction of mortality and morbidity due to 6 VPD’s

• Indigenous vaccine production capacity enhanced

• Cold chain established

• Phased implementation-all districts covered by 1989-90

• Monitoring and evaluation system implemented

1986: Technology Mission on Immunization

• Monitoring under PMO’s 20 point programme

• Coverage in infants (0–12 months) monitored

1992: Child Survival and Safe Motherhood (CSSM)

• Included both UIP and Safe motherhood program

1997: Reproductive Child Health (RCH 1)

2005: National Rural Health Mission (NRHM)

India became the first Country to Ratify the Marrakesh Treaty

India on 30 June 2014 became the first country to ratify the Marrakesh Treaty to
facilitate access to published works for persons who are blind and visually impaired

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Dilip Sinha, the Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations, handed
over the Instrument of Ratification to Francis Gurry, Director General, WIPO. The
instrument was handed over at a ceremony held during the 28th Session of SCCR
(Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights) in WIPO Headquarters.

Marrakesh Treaty and its goal

The Marrakesh Treaty formally is the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to

Published Works by Visually Impaired Persons and Persons with Print Disabilities,
and was signed in Marrakesh, Morocco, on 28 June 2013.

The Marrakesh Treaty has been created to set mandatory limitations and exceptions
for the benefit of blink, visually impaired and otherwise print disabled (VIPs). The
Treaty has been signed by 64 countries but has been ratified just by India.

The Marrakesh treaty will come into force once it is ratified by 20 countries.

According to the Treaty the contracting parties need to adopt national law provisions
that permit reproduction, distribution and making available of published works in
accessible formats, like Braille to VIPs. It also permits exchange of these works
across the borders by organisations that serve those beneficiaries.

Benefits of Marrakesh Treaty

Marrakesh Treaty after being into force will facilitate

• Access to published works for millions of blind, visually impaired and other print
disabled persons in India

• It will establish equal rights and opportunities for education and employment for
them

• It will also facilitate import of accessible format copies from the member states by
the Indian authorized entities like as educational institutions, libraries and other
such institutions working for benefits of visually paired people

• It will facilitate translation of imported accessible format copies and export of

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accessible format copies in Indian languages

The Indian Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012 is in harmony with the Marrakesh Treaty.

Marrakesh Treaty is also associated with the establishment of the World Trade
Organization in 1994.

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ECONOMY
Union Budget 2014-15: Sector wise
Union Budget 2014-15: Banking and Insurance
Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley on 10 July 2014 presented Union Budget
2014-15. The Union Budget introduced many new initiatives like Financial Inclusion
Mission, Debt Recovery Tribunals to improve the economic system in India and also
introduced National Savings Certificate, a new insurance cover to provide additional
benefits for the small saver.

Banking
• Time bound programme as Financial Inclusion Mission to be launched on 15
August 2014 with focus on the weaker sections of the society.

• Banks to be encouraged to extend long term loans to infrastructure sector with

flexible structuring.

• Banks to be permitted to raise long term funds for lending to infrastructure sector
with minimum regulatory pre-emption such as CRR, SLR and Priority Sector
Lending (PSL).

• RBI to create a framework for licensing small banks and other differentiated banks.

• Differentiated banks serving niche interests, local area banks, payment banks
etc. are contemplated to meet credit and remittance needs of small businesses,

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unorganized sector, low income households, farmers and migrant work force.

• Six new Debt Recovery Tribunals to be set up.

• For venture capital in the MSME sector, a 10000 crore rupees fund to act as a
catalyst to attract private Capital by way of providing equity , quasi equity, soft
loans and other risk capital for start-up companies with suitable tax incentives to
participating private funds to be established.

Insurance Sector
• The pending insurance laws (amendment) Bill to be immediately brought for
consideration of the Parliament.

• The regulatory gap under the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Scheme (Banking)
Act, 1978 will be bridged.

Small Savings
• Kissan Vikas Patra (KVP) to be reintroduced.

• A special small savings instrument to cater to the requirements of educating and

marriage of the Girl Child to be introduced.

• A National Savings Certificate with insurance cover to provide additional benefits

for the small saver.

• In the Public Provident Fund (PPF) Scheme, annual ceiling will be enhanced to 1.5
lakh rupees per annum from1 lakh rupees at present.

Union Budget 2014-15: Rural Development

The Budget 2014-15 introduced new initiatives for rural development such as Shyama
Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission, Neeranchal, Start Up Village Entrepreneurship
Programme and allocated finance to the existing programmes.

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Highlights
• Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission for integrated project based infrastructure
in the rural areas.

• 500 crore rupees for Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana for feeder
separation to augment power supply to the rural areas.

• 14389 crore rupees provided for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna(PMGSY).

• More productive, asset creating and with linkages to agriculture and allied activities
wage employment would to be provided under MGNREGA.

• Under Ajeevika, the provision of bank loan for women SHGs at 4 percent to be
extended to another 100 districts.

• Initial sum of 100 crore rupees for Start Up Village Entrepreneurship Programme
for encouraging rural youth to take up local entrepreneurship programs.

• Allocation for National Housing Bank increased to 8000 crore rupees to support
rural housing.

• New programme Neeranchal to give impetus to watershed development in the

country with an initial outlay of 2142 crores rupees.‰

• Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF) to be restructured to address intra-district

inequalities

Union Budget 2014-15: Regional Development

Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley on 10 July 2014 presented Union Budget 2014-
15. Arun Jaitley in his maiden budget announced certain plans and programmes for
Regional Development.

Steps and plans announced for Regional Development in the budget 2014-15

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North Eastern States

• 100 crore rupees provided for development of organic farming in North Eastern
States

• 1000 crore rupees provided for development of rail connectivity in the North
Eastern Region

• A new 24x7 channel called Arun Prabha to provide a strong platform to rich cultural
and linguistic identity of the North-East to be launched

• NCT of Delhi

• 200 crore rupees for power reforms and 500 crore rupees for water reforms to
make Delhi a truly World Class City

• Construction of long pending Renuka Dam to be taken up on priority

Andaman and Nicobar Island and Puducherry

• 150 crore rupees provided to tide over communication related problems of the
Island

• 188 crore rupees to Puducherry for meeting commitments for Disaster preparedness

Displaced Kashmiri Migrants

• 500 crore rupees provided to support displaced Kashmiri migrants for rebuilding
their lives

• 100 crore rupees provided to set up a National Centre for Himalayan Studies in
Uttarakhand

Union Budget 2014-15: Environment and Ecology

Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley on 10 July 2014 presented Union Budget 2014-
15. Arun Jaitley in his maiden budget announced certain plans to benefit the country’s

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Environment and Ecology.

Steps and plans announced on Environment and Ecology front in the budget 2014-
15

• The finance minister announced finance for Clean Environment initiatives for which
Clean Energy Cess was increased from .50 per tonne to .100 per tonne

• 2037 crore rupees for Ganga cleaning

• 4200 crore rupees for Ganga project river connectivity from Allahabad to Haldia

Union Budget 2014-15: Agriculture Sector

Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitely on 10 July 2014 presented Union Budget 2014-
15. The Budget 2014-15 was the maiden budget for the newly formed Government
of NDA led by PM Narendra Modi.

The Union Government introduced many funds like Agri-tech Infrastructure Fund,
National Adaptation Fund, Price Stabilization Fund to improve country’s Agricultural
sector.

Highlights
• An amount of 100 crores rupees set aside for Agri-tech Infrastructure Fund.

• 200 crore provided to open Agriculture Universities in Andhra Pradesh and

Rajasthan and Horticulture Universities in Telangana and Haryana.

• A scheme to provide every farmer a soil health card in a Mission mode will be
launched.

• 100 crore rupees has been provided for this purpose and additional 56 crores
rupees to set up 100 Mobile Soil Testing Laboratories across the country.

• To meet the vagaries of climate change a National Adaptation Fundwith an initial

sum an amount of 100 crore rupees will be set up.

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• A sustainable growth of 4 percent in Agriculture will be achieved.

• Technology driven second green revolution with focus on higher productivity and
including Protein revolution will be area of major focus.

• To mitigate the risk of Price volatility in the agriculture produce, a sum of 500 crore
rupees is provided for establishing a Price Stabilization Fund.

• Central Government to work closely with the State Governments to re-orient their
respective Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Acts.

• Sum of 50 crores rupees provided for the development of indigenous cattle breeds
and an equal amount for starting a blue revolution in inland fisheries.

• Transformation plan to invigorate the warehousing sector and significantly improve

post-harvest lending to farmers.

Agriculture Credit
• To provide institutional finance to landless farmers, it is proposed to provide
finance to 5 lakh joint farming groups of Bhoomi Heen Kisan through NABARD .

• A target of 8 lakh crore rupees has been set for agriculture credit during 2014-15.

• Corpus of Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) raised by an additional

5000 crore rupee from the target given in the Interim Budget to 25000 crores
rupees.

• Allocation of 5000 crore rupee provided for the Warehouse Infrastructure Fund.

• Long Term Rural Credit Fund to set up for the purpose of providing refinance
support to Cooperative Banks and Regional Rural Banks with an initial corpus of
5000 crore rupees.

• Amount of 50000 crore rupees allocated for Short Term Cooperative Rural Credit.

• Sum of 200 crore rupees for NABARD’s Producers Development and Upliftment
Corpus (PRODUCE) for building 2,000 producers organizations over the next two
years.

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Food Security
• Restructuring FCI, reducing transportation and distribution losses and efficacy of
PDS to be taken up on priority.

• Government committed to provide wheat and rice at reasonable prices to the

weaker sections of the society.

• Government when required will undertake open market sales to keep prices under
control.

Union Budget 2014-15: Sports and Youth Affairs

Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley on 10 July 2014 presented Union Budget 2014-
15. In his maiden budget, the Union Finance Minister announced certain plans for
Sports and Youth Affairs.

Steps and plans announced for Sports and Youth Affairs in the budget 2014-
15
• 200 crore rupees has been provided for upgrading the indoor and outdoor sports
stadiums in Jammu and Kashmir Valley to international standards

• 100 crore rupees has been provided for sports university in Manipur

• India to start an annual event to promote Unique sports traditions in the Himalayan
region games

• 100 crore rupees has been provided for the training of sports women and men for
forthcoming Asian games

• With an initial allocation of 100 crore rupees a Young Leaders Programme has to
be set up

Union Budget 2014-15: Science and Technology

Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley on 10 July 2014 presented Union Budget 2014-

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15. In his maiden budget, the Union Finance Minister announced certain major plans
for Science and Technology.

Steps and plans announced for Science and Technology in the budget 2014-
15
• Government to strengthen at least five institutions as Technical Research Centres

• Development of Biotech clusters in Faridabad and Bengaluru

• Nascent agri-biotech cluster in Mohali to be scaled up, in addition to this, two new
clusters, in Pune and Kolkata will be established

• Global partnerships will be developed under India’s leadership to transform

the Delhi component of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and
Biotechnology (ICGEB) into a world-leader in life sciences and biotechnology

• Several major space missions planned for 2014-15

Union Budget 2014-15: Defence & Internal Security

Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley on 10 July 2014 presented Union Budget 2014-
15. In his maiden budget, the Union Finance Minister announced certain major plans
for Defence and Internal Security.

The Union Finance Minister announced that the FDI cap in Defence sector would be
raised to 49 percent.

Steps and plans announced for Defence in the budget 2014-15

• The budget allocated further sum of 1000 crore rupees to meet requirement for
One Rank One Pension‰

• Capital outlay for Defence increased by 5000 crore including a sum of 1000 crore
for accelerating the development of the Railway system in the border areas.‰

• Urgent steps would also be taken to streamline the procurement process to make

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it speedy and more efficient

• 100 crore rupees is provided for construction of a war memorial in the Princes
Park, which will be supplemented by a War Museum

• 100 crore rupees has been allocated to set up a Technology Development Fund
for Defence

Steps and plans announced for Internal Security in the budget 2014-15
• 3000 crore ruppes allocated in the current financial year for modernization of state
police forces

• Adequate allocation for Additional Central Assistance for Left Wing Extremist
Affected districts

• 2250 crore rupees provided to strengthen and modernize border infrastructure

• 990 crore rupees allocated for the socio economic development of the villages
along the borders

• 150 crore rupees ear-marked for the construction of Marine Police Station, Jetties
and for the purchase of boats and others

• 50 crore rupees has been provided for construction of National Police Memorial

Union Budget 2014-15: Tax Proposals

Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitely on 10 July 2014 presented Union Budget 2014-
15. The Budget 2014-15 was the maiden budget for the newly formed Government
of NDA led by PM Narendra Modi. The proposed tax changes have factoredin the
Budget Estimates 2014-15.

The government took measures to revive the economy, promote investment in

manufacturing, rationalize tax, provisions to reduce litigation, address the problem
of inverted duty structure in certain areas. It also provided tax reliefs to individual tax
payers.

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Direct Taxes Proposals

• Personal Income-tax exemption limit raised by 50000 rupees that is, from 2 lakh
to 2.5 lakh rupees in the case of individual taxpayers, below the age of 60 years.

• Exemption limit raised from 2.5 lakh to 3 lakh rupees in the case of senior citizens.

• No change in the rate of surcharge either for the corporates or the individuals,
Hindu Undivided Family (HUFs), firms etc.

• Education cess to continue at 3 percent.

• Investment limit under section 80C of the Income-tax Act raised from 1 lakh to1.5
lakh rupees.

• Deduction limit on account of interest on loan in respect of self occupied house

property raised from 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh rupees.

• Conducive tax regime to Infrastructure Investment Trusts and Real Estate

Investment Trusts to be set up in accordance with regulations of the Securities
and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

• Investment allowance at the rate of 15 percent to a manufacturing company that

invests more than 25 crore rupees in any year in new plant and machinery. The
benefit will be available for three years (upto 31 March 2017).

• Investment linked deduction extended to two new sectors

• Slurry pipelines for the transportation of iron ore

• Semi-conductor wafer fabrication manufacturing units

• Ten year tax holiday extended to the undertakings which begin generation,
distribution and transmission of power by 31 March 2017.

• Income arising to foreign portfolio investors from transaction in securities to be

treated as capital gains.

• Concessional rate of 15 percent on foreign dividends without any sunset date to

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be continued.

• The eligible date of borrowing in foreign currency extended from 30.06.2015 to

30.06.2017 for a concessional tax rate of 5 percent on interest payments. Tax
incentive extended to all types of bonds instead of only infrastructure bonds.

• Introduction of a Roll Back provision in the Advanced Pricing Agreement (APA)

scheme so that an APA entered into for future transactions is also applicable
to international transactions undertaken in previous four years in specified
circumstances.

• Introduction of range concept for determination of arm’s length price in transfer

pricing regulations.

• To allow use of multiple year data for comparability analysis under transfer pricing
regulations.

• To remove tax arbitrage, rate of tax on long term capital gains increased from
10 percent to 20 percent on transfer of units of Mutual Funds, other than equity
oriented funds.

• Income and dividend distribution tax to be levied on gross amount instead of

amount paid net of taxes.

• In case of non deduction of tax on payments, 30% of such payments will be

disallowed instead of 100 percent.

• Government to review the DTC in its present shape and take a view in the whole
matter.

• 60 more Ayakar Seva Kendras to be opened during the current financial year to
promote excellence in service delivery.

• Net Effect of the direct tax proposals to result in revenue loss of 22200 crore
rupees.

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Indirect Taxes Proposals

• To boost domestic manufacture and to address the issue of inverted duties, basic
customs duty (BCD) reduced on certain items.

• To encourage new investment and capacity addition in the chemicals and

petrochemicals sector, basic customs duty reduced on certain items.

• Steps taken to boost domestic production of electronic items and reduce our
dependence on imports. These include imposition of basic customs duty on
certain items falling outside the purview of IT Agreement, exemption from SAD
on inputs/ components for PC manufacturing, imposition of education cess on
imported electronic products for parity etc.

• Colour picture tubes exempted from basic customs duty to make cathode ray TVs
cheaper and more affordable to weaker sections.

• To encourage production of LCD and LED TVs below 19 inches in India, basic
customs duty on LCD and LED TV panels of below 19 inches reduced from 10
percent to Nil.

• To give an impetus to the stainless steel industry, increase in basic customs duty
on imported flat-rolled products of stainless steel from 5 percent to 7.5 percent.

• Concessional basic customs duty of 5 percent extended to machinery and

equipment required for setting up of a project for solar energy production.

• Specified inputs for use in the manufacture of EVA sheets and back sheets and
flat copper wire for the manufacture of PV ribbons exempted from basic customs
duty.

• Reduction in basic customs duty from 10 percent to 5 percent on forged steel

rings used in the manufacture of bearings of wind operated electricity generators.

• Exemption from SAD of 4 percent on parts and raw materials required for the
manufacture of wind operated generators.

• Concessional basic customs duty of 5 percent on machinery and equipment

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required for setting up of compressed biogas plants (Bio-CNG).

• Anthracite coal, bituminous coal, coking coal, steam coal and other coal to attract
2.5 per cent basic customs duty and 2 per cent CVD to eliminate all assessment
disputes and transaction costs associated with testing of various parameters of
coal.

• Basic customs duty on metallurgical coke increased from Nil to 2.5 percent in line
with the duty on coking coal.

• Duty on ship breaking scrap and melting scrap of iron or steel rationalized by
reducing the basic customs duty on ships imported for breaking up from 5 percent
to 2.5 percent.

• To prevent mis-use and avoid assessment disputes, basic customs duty on semi-
processed, half cut or broken diamonds, cut and polished diamonds and coloured
gemstones rationalized at 2.5 percent.‰

• To encourage exports, pre-forms of precious and semi-precious stones exempted

from basic customs duty.

• Duty free entitlement for import of trimmings, embellishments and other specified
items increased from 3 percent to 5 percent of the value of their export, for
readymade garments.

• Export duty on bauxite increased from 10 percent to 20 percent.

• For passenger facilitation, free baggage allowance increased from 35000 rupees
to 45000 rupees.

• To incentivize expansion of processing capacity, reduction in excise duty on

specified food processing and packaging machinery from 10 percent to 6 percent.

• Reduction in the excise duty from 12 percent to 6 percent on footwear of retail

price exceeding 500 rupees per pair but not exceeding 1000 rupees per pair.

• Withdraw concessional excise duty (2 percent without Cenvat benefit and 6 percent
with Cenvat benefit) on smart cards and a uniform excise duty at 12 percent.

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• To develop renewable energy, various items exempted from excise duty.

• Exemption to PSF and PFY manufactured from plastic waste and scrap including
PET bottles from excise duty with effect from 29 June 2010 to 7 May 2012.

• Prospective levy of a nominal duty of 2 percent without Cenvat benefit and 6

percent with Cenvat benefit on such PSF and PFY.

• Concessional excise duty of 2 percent without Cenvat benefit and 6 percent with
Cenvat benefit on sports gloves.

• Specific rates of excise duty increased on cigrettes in the range of 11 percent to

72 percent.

• Excise duty increased from 12 percent to 16 percent on pan masala, from 50

percent to 55 percent on unmanufactured tobacco and from 60 percent to 70
percent on gutkha and chewing tobacco.

• Levy of an additional duty of excise at 5 percent on aerated waters containing

added sugar.

• To finance Clean Environment initiatives, Clean Energy Cess increased from 50

rupees per tonne to 100 rupees per tonne.

Service tax Proposals

• To broaden the tax base in Service Tax, sale of space or time for advertisements
in broadcast media, extended to cover such sales on other segments like online
and mobile advertising. Sale of space for advertisements in print media however
would remain excluded from service tax. Service provided by radio-taxis brought
under service tax.

• Services by air-conditioned contract carriages and technical testing of newly

developed drugs on human participants brought under service tax.

• Provision of services rules to be amended and tax incidence to be reduced on

transport of goods through coastal vessels to promote Indian Shipping industry.

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• Services provided by Indian tour operators to foreign tourists in relation to a tour

wholly conducted outside India to be taken out of the tax net and Cenvat credit
for services of rent-a-cab and tour operators to be allowed to promote tourism.

• Service tax exempted on loading, unloading, storage, warehousing and

transportation of cotton, whether ginned or baled.

• Services provided by the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation for the period
prior to 1 July 2012 exempted, from service tax.

• Exemption available for specified micro insurance schemes expanded to cover

all life micro-insurance schemes where the sum assured does not exceed 50000
rupees per life insured.

• For safe disposal of medical and clinical wastes, services provided by common
bio-medical waste treatment facilities exempted.

• Tax proposals on the indirect taxes side are estimated to yield 7525 crore rupees.

• 24X7 customs clearance facility extended to 13 more airports in respect of all

export goods and to 14 more sea ports in respect of specified import and export
goods to facilitate cargo clearance.

• Indian Customs Single Window Project to facilitate trade, to be implemented.

• The scheme of Advance Ruling in indirect taxes to be expanded to cover resident

private limited companies. The scope of Settlement Commission to be enlarged
to facilitate quick dispute resolution.

• Customs and Central Excise Acts to be amended to expedite the process of

disposal of appeals.

Union Budget 2014-15: Urban Development

Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley on 10 July 2014 presented Union Budget 2014-
15. In his maiden budget, the Union Finance Minister announced certain major steps
on urban developments.

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He underlined that the budget 2014-15 focus is on providing good infrastructure that
includes public transport, solid waste disposal, sewerage treatment and drinking
water in urban areas.

Steps announced in the budget 2014-15 for Urban Development includes

• Vision of the Government is that 500 urban habitations to be provided support
for renewal of infrastructure and services in next 10 years through Public Private
Partnerships (PPPs)

• Present corpus of Pooled Municipal Debt Obligation Facility to be enlarged to

50000 Crore from 5000 crore, which is ten-fold increase. This facility has been
extended by five years to 31 March 2019

• 100 crore provided for Metro Projects in Lucknow and Ahmedabad. Apart from
this, the government will encourage development of metro rail systems that
include light rail system in the PPP mode, which will be supported by the Union
Government

Pooled Municipal Debt Obligation Facility

It was set up in 2006 with an aim of participation of several banks to promote and
finance infrastructure projects in Urban Areas on shared risk basis.

Union Budget 2104-15: Financial Sector

Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley on 10 July 2014 presented Union Budget 2014-
15. the union budget to energize capital markets introduced uniform KYC norms and
inter-usability of the KYC records across the financial sector, one single operating
demat account and Uniform tax treatment for pension fund and mutual fund.

Capital Market

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• Ongoing process of consultations with all the stakeholders on the enactment of

the Indian Financial Code and reports of the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms
Commission (FSLRC) to be completed.

• Government in close consultation with the RBI to put in place a modern monetary
policy framework.

• Following measures will be taken to energize Capital markets:

1. Introduction of uniform KYC norms and inter-usability of the KYC records

across the entire financial sector.

2. Introduce one single operating demat account

3. Uniform tax treatment for pension fund and mutual fund linked retirement plan

Union Budget 2014-15: Infrastructure

Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley on 10 July 2014 presented Union Budget 2014-
15. The Union Budget provided finances to set up an institute which provides support
to mainstream the 4PIndia, Comprehensive policy will be announced, to develop Jal
Marg Vikas (project on Ganges) and encouraging Tier I and Tier II airports.

Infrastructure
• An institution to provide support to mainstreaming (People Public Private
Partnership - PPPPs) called 4PIndia to be set up with a corpus of 500 crores
rupees.

Shipping
• 11635 crore rupees will be allocated for the development of Outer Harbour Project
in Tuticorin for phase I.

• SEZs will be developed in Kandla and JNPT.

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• Comprehensive policy to be announced to promote Indian ship building industry.

Inland Navigation
• Project on Ganges called Jal Marg Vikas to be developed between Allahabad and
Haldia.

New Airports
• Scheme for development of new airports in Tier I and Tier II Cities to be launched.

Roads sector
• Sector needs huge amount of investment along with debottlenecking from maze
of clearances.

• An investment of an amount of 37880 crores rupees in NHAI and State Roads is

proposed which includes 3000 crores rupees for the North East.

• Target of NH construction of 8500 km will be achieved in current financial year.

• Work on select expressways in parallel to the development of the Industrial

Corridors will be initiated. For project preparation NHAI shall set aside a sum of
500 crore rupees.

Petroleum & Natural Gas

• Production and exploitation of Coal Bed Methane reserves will be accelerated.

• Possibility of using modern technology to revive old or closed wells to be explored.

• Usage of PNG to be rapidly scaled up in a Mission mode.

• Proposal to develop pipelines using appropriate PPP models.

Mining

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• Changes, if necessary, in the MMDR Act, 1957 to be introduced to encourage

investment in mining sector and promote sustainable mining practices.

Union Budget 2014-15: Industry, MSME & Textiles

Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley on 10 July 2014 presented Union Budget 2014-
15. The Union Budget 2014-15 provided new initiatives like National Industrial
Corridor Authority and preparing master planning of industrial corridors and economic
corridors to increase the industrial growth. It also proposed for Export promotion
Mission to bring different stake holders under one umbrella.

In MSME sector, new schemes like skill India to create employability and entrepreneur
skills to youth whereas Fund of Funds is corpus to provide equity through venture
capital funds, quasi equity, soft loans and other risk capital etc.

In Textile sector, budget provided finance to set up Trade Facilitation Centre and a
Crafts Museum, and to develop the Textile mega-clusters. It also provided finance
to set up Hastkala Academy and for the development of Pashmina Promotion
Programme (P-3) and Jammu and Kashmir crafts.

Industry
• Central Government Departments and Ministries to integrate their services with
the e-Biz -a single window IT platform- for services on priority by 31 December
2014.

• 100 crore rupees provided for setting up a National Industrial Corridor Authority.

• Amritsar Kolkata Industrial master planning to be completed expeditiously.

• Master planning of 3 new smart cities in the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor

region, viz., Ponneri in Tamil Nadu, Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Tumkur
in Karnataka to be completed.

• Perspective plan for the Bengaluru Mumbai Economic corridor (BMEC) and Vizag-
Chennai corridor to be completed with the provision for 20 new industrial clusters.

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• Development of industrial corridors with emphasis on Smart Cities linked to

transport connectivity to spur growth in manufacturing and urbanization will be
accelerated.

• Proposed to establish an Export promotion Mission to bring all stakeholders under

one umbrella.

• Apprenticeship Act to be suitably amended to make it more responsive to industry

and youth.

Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Sector

• Skill India to be launched to skill the youth with an emphasis on employability and
entrepreneur skills.

• Committee to examine the financial architecture for MSME Sector, remove

bottlenecks and create new rules and structures to be set up and give concrete
suggestions in three months.

• Fund of Funds with a corpus of 10000 crore rupees for providing equity through
venture capital funds, quasi equity, soft loans and other risk capital specially to
encourage new startups by youth to be set up.

• Corpus of 200 crore rupees to be set up to establish Technology Centre Network.

• Definition of MSME to be reviewed to provide for a higher capital ceiling.

• Programme to facilitate forward and backward linkages with multiple value chain
of manufacturing and service delivery to be put in place.

• Entrepreneur friendly legal bankruptcy framework will be developed for SMEs to

enable easy exit.

• A nationwide District level Incubation and Accelerator Programme to be taken up for

incubation of new ideas and necessary support for accelerating entrepreneurship.

Textiles

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• 50 crore rupees is provided to set up a Trade Facilitation Centre and a Crafts

Museum to develop and promote handloom products and carry forward the rich
tradition of handlooms of Varanasi.

• Sum of 500 crore rupees for developing a Textile mega-cluster at Varanasi and six
more at Bareilly, Lucknow, Surat, Kutch, Bhagalpur and Mysore.

• 20 crore rupees to set up a Hastkala Academy for the preservation, revival, and
documentation of the handloom or handicraft sector in PPP mode in Delhi.

• 50 crore rupees is provided to start a Pashmina Promotion Programme (P-3) and

development of other crafts of Jammu & Kashmir.

Union Budget 2014-15: Employment and Skill development

Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley on 10 July 2014 presented Union Budget 2014-
15. In his maiden budget, the Union Finance Minister announced certain major plans
for employment generation and Skill development in the budget.

The Finance Minister has emphasized on skill development and entrepreneurship in

the budget. Plans announced for Employment and Skill in the budget 2014-15 are

• A programme for the upgradation of skills and training in ancestral arts for
development for the minorities “Up gradation of Traditional Skills in Arts, Resources
and Goods” to be launched

• Skill India to be launched to skill the youth with an emphasis on employability and
entrepreneur skills

• A nationwide “District level Incubation and Accelerator Programme” to be

taken up for incubation of new ideas and necessary support for accelerating
entrepreneurship

• Employment exchanges to be transformed into career centres and for this a sum

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of 100 crore has been provided

• More productive, asset creating and with linkages to agriculture and allied activities
wage employment would to be provided under MGNREGA

• Start up Village Entrepreneurship Programme ‰for encouraging rural youth to

take up local entrepreneurship programs with an outlay of 100 crore rupees to be
launched

Union Budget 2014-15: Energy Sector

Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley on 10 July 2014 presented Union Budget 2014-
15. In his maiden budget, the Union Finance Minister announced certain major plans
related to Energy sector.

Plans announced for the energy sector in the budget 2014-15 are Energy
• 100 crore is allocated for a new scheme “Ultra-Modern Super Critical Coal Based
Thermal Power Technology”

• Comprehensive measures for enhancing domestic coal production are being put
in place

• Adequate quantity of coal will be provided to power plants which are already
commissioned or would be commissioned by March 2015

• An exercise to rationalize coal linkages to optimize transport of coal and reduce

cost of power is underway

New & Renewable Energy

• 500 crores provided for Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects in Rajasthan, Gujarat,
Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Laddakh

• 400 crores provided for a scheme for solar power driven agricultural pump sets
and water pumping stations

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• 100 crore provided for the development of 1 MW Solar Parks on the banks of
canals

• A Green Energy Corridor Project is being implemented to facilitate evacuation of

renewable energy across the country

Petroleum & Natural Gas

• Production and exploitation of Coal Bed Methane reserves will be accelerated

• Possibility of using modern technology to revive old or closed wells to be explored

• Usage of PNG to be rapidly scaled up in a Mission mode

• Proposal to develop pipelines using appropriate PPP models

Union Budget 2014-15: Women and Child Development

Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley on 10 July 2014 presented Union Budget 2014-
15. The Union Budget allocated finance for safety for women in transport in large
cities. A new scheme Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana launched to create awareness
and improve the efficiency of delivery of welfare services for women.

Highlights
• Outlay of 50 crores rupees for pilot testing a scheme on Safety for Women on
Public Road Transport.

• Sum of 150 crores rupees on a scheme to increase the safety of women in large
cities.

• Crisis Management Centres to be set up in all the government and private hospitals
of the districts of NCT of Delhi in 2014-15.

• A sum of 100 crore rupees is provided for Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana, a

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focused scheme to generate awareness and help in improving the efficiency of

delivery of welfare services meant for women.

• School curriculum to have a separate chapter on gender mainstreaming.

Railway Budget 2014-15: New Initiatives

Union Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda on 8 July 2014 presented the Railway
Budget 2014-15 in the Parliament. In the budget he announced introduction of several
trains on different routes pan India. Apart from this, the budget also saw certain new
initiatives for Railways, the lifeline of India.

Some of the major proposed initiatives include

• Private investment in Rail Infrastructure through Domestic and Foreign Direct
Investment

• Works to be re-prioritized with more focus on doubling and tripling to decongest

the over-utilized network

• Recent fare and tariff hike to mop additional revenue of about 8000 crore rupees

• Alternate resource mobilization need to be explored as enlisted

1. Leveraging Railway PSU Resources by bringing in their investible surplus funds in

infrastructure projects of Railways

2. Domestic investments and FDI in rail infrastructure

3. Pursuing Public Private Partnership

• Near Plan-holiday approach

• Prioritizing and setting timelines for completion of the ongoing projects

• Decision Support System for project implementation

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• Strategic partnerships and transparency in procurements

• Aggressive indigenization of imported products

• Developing locomotives, coaches and wagon leasing Market

Green Initiatives
• Harnessing solar energy by utilizing roof top spaces of stations, railway buildings
and land including through PPP mode

• Use of bio-diesel up to 5% of total diesel fuel consumption

• Increasing bio-toilets in sufficient numbers in trains to mitigate the problem of

direct discharge of human waste on the tracks and platforms

Rail Tourism
• Eco-Tourism and Education Tourism in Northeastern States

• Special Packaged trains on identified pilgrim circuits like Devi Circuit, Jyotirling
Circuit, Jain Circuit, Christian Circuit, Muslim/Sufi Circuit, Sikh Circuit, Buddhist
Circuit, Famous Temple Circuit, etc.

• Tourist Train from Gadag to Pandarpur via Bagalkot, Bijapur and Solapur covering
the pilgrim and tourist places of Karnataka and Maharashtra

• Tourist Train from Rameshwaram covering pilgrim and tourist places like Bengaluru,
Chennai, Ayodhya, Varanasi and Haridwar

• Special Train featuring life and work of Swami Vivekananda

IT Initiatives including revamping reservation system

• Revamping Railway Reservation System into Next Generation e-Ticketing System

• E-ticketing to support 7200 tickets per minutes to allow 120000 simultaneous

users

• Augmentation of Coin operated Automatic Ticket Vending Machines

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• Provision of platform tickets and unreserved tickets over internet

• Shift towards large scale integrated computerization of major functions of Indian

Railways to take place

a) Paperless offices in Indian Railways in 5 years

b) Wi-fi Services in A1 and A category stations and in select trains

c) Real-time tracking of trains and rolling stock

d) Mobile based Wakeup Call System for passengers

e) Mobile based Destination Arrival Alert

Station Navigation Information System

• Extension of Dual Display Fare Repeaters at all the Ticket Counters through PPP

• Digital reservation charts at Stations (Bangalore model)

• Extension of Computerized Parcel Management System

• Extension of logistics support to various e-commerce Companies by providing

designated pick-up centres at identified Stations

• Providing education to children of Railway staff at remote locations through Railtel

OFC (optical fibre cable) network

Other Initiatives
• Setting up of Project Management Groups consisting of professionals and State
Government Officials at Railway Board and Zonal level for coordinating and
expediting project management with respective State Governments

• Establishing Innovations Incubation Centre to harness the ideas generated from

staff and converting them into practical solutions

• Summer internships for under-graduates of engineering and management studies

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• Structural Reforms – separation of overlapping roles of policy formulation and

implementation

• Top priority to transparency in administration and execution of projects

• Adopting strategic procurement policies to make procurement process transparent

and most efficient

• Status of ongoing projects to be made available online

• E-procurement to be made compulsory for procurements worth 25 lakhs and more

• Launching online registration of demands for wagons in next two months for
facilitating online payment of Wagon registration fee

• Initiating process for ERR (Electronic Railway Receipt) during the year

• Introduction of corrosion-free wagons with low tare weight for movement of salt

• Close monitoring of Dedicated Freight Corridor Project Implementation of Eastern

and Western DFCs; Target of nearly 1000kms of civil construction contracts

• Passenger Amenities through private entity by extending service of battery-

operated carts to facilitate differently-abled and senior citizens to reach any
platform comfortably at all major stations

• The Online booking facility will also cater to certain requirements like booking of a
Train, a Coach, a Berth and a Seat in Chair Car

• Pre-cooked (Ready-to-eat) meals from reputed brands will be available in a phased

manner

• For improvement in catering services Quality Assurance Mechanism through Third

Party Audit by NABCB certified agencies will be initiated

• IVRS mechanism will be used as a system to collect feedback from travelling

passengers on quality of food being served

• Food Courts at major stations to provide the option of ordering regional cuisine
while onboard, through emails, SMS and Smart Phones, etc. A pilot project will be

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started shortly between New Delhi-Amritsar and New Delhi-Jammu Tawi sections

• CCTVs at Stations will be extended to monitor cleanliness activities

• Bio-toilets will be increased in sufficient numbers in trains in order to mitigate the

problem of direct discharge of human waste on the tracks and platform aprons at
stations

• RO drinking water units at Stations and in trains

• Modern Vehicle Borne Ultrasonic Flaw Detection System to detect rail and weld
fractures

• Office on Wheels: Workstations in select trains on payment basis of which a pilot

project will be launched by this year

• e-Booking of Railway Retiring Room: Online booking facility of Railway Retiring

Room will be extended to all the stations during the course of the year

• GIS mapping and Digitisation of Railway land

Union Rail Budget 2014-15: Highlights

Union Rail Budget 2014-15 was presented by the Union Railway Minister Sadanand
Gowda on 8 July 2014. This is the first rail budget presented by any Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) minister and it is also Gowda’s first rail budget.

Highlights of Union Rail Budget 2014-15

• Railways to build FOB and escalators, toilets on all stations

• Railways also proposes to set up Food Courts at major stations

• RO drinking water facilities to be installed at stations

• Separate housekeeping wing at 50 major stations

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• CCTV to monitor cleanliness activities

• Mechanized laundry will be introduced

• Dedicated freight corridor on Eastern and Western corridors

• Tourist trains to be introduced to link all major places of tourist interests across
the country

• 4000 women constables to be recruited to ensure safety of women

• 17000 Railway Protection Force (RPF) constables to provide safety to passengers

• Setting up of Railway University for technical and non-technical study

• Ultrasonic Broken Rail Detection System (UBRD) to detect problem in track

• Proposal to start Bullet trains in Mumbai—Ahmedabad route

• Diamond Quadrilateral project of high speed trains to connect all major metros

• Efforts will be made to increase speed of trains to 160-200km/h on select sectors.

The identified sectors are: Delhi-Agra; Delhi-Chandigarh; Delhi-Kanpur; Nagpur-
Bilaspur; Mysore-Bengaluru-Chennai; Mumbai-Goa; Mumbai-Ahmedabad;
Chennai-Hyderabad and Nagpur-Secunderabad.

• E-ticketing system to be improved. Future e-ticketing to support 7200 tickets per

minute & to allow 120000 simultaneous users

• Wi-fi in A1 and A category stations and in select trains. Internet-based platform

and unreserved tickets

• Will develop 10 metro stations with state-of-the-art facilities

• Outsourcing at 50 major stations; on board housekeeping to be extended to more

trains; launching feedback service through IVRS on the quality

• Hospital Management Information System to integrate all railway health units and
hospitals

• Special milk tanker trains to be introduced

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• Temperature-controlled storage for fruits and vegetable

• setting up of Railway University for technical and non-technical subjects, tie-up

with technical institutions

• Paperless office of Indian railways in 5 years. Digital reservation charts at stations

• Ready-to-eat meals to be introduced in phased manners

• New trains in Rail Budget: 5 Jansadharan, 5 Premium, 6 AC, 27 express trains, 8

passenger, 5 DEMU & 2 MEMU services; 11 train extensions

• Office-on-wheels: Internet and workstation facilities on select trains

• Temperature-controlled storage for fruits and vegetable

Some financial aspects of Railways in 2013-14

• Social obligation of Railways in 2013-14 was 20000 crore rupees

• Gross traffic receipts in 2013-14 was 1235558 crore rupees

• Operating ratio was 94 per cent.

• Spend 94 paisa of every rupee earned, leaving a surplus of only 6 paisa

• Gross Traffic Receipts were 139558 crore rupees

• Total Working Expenses were 130321 crore rupees

• Plan Outlay under budgetary sources was 35241 crore rupees

Rail Budget Estimates 2014-15

• Total receipts of 164374 crore rupees

• Total expenditure at 149176 crore rupees

• Earnings from Freight Traffic are estimated at 105770 crore rupees

• Earnings from Passenger Traffic 44645 crore rupees

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• Plan outlay under budgetary sources 47650 crore rupees

• Additional Budgetary Support (ABS) of 1100 crore rupees as Capital

• Railways Share from diesel cess at 273 crore rupees for important Road Safety
works

Resource Mobilisation
• Leveraging Railway PSU Resources

• Private investment in Rail Infrastructure through Domestic and Foreign Direct

Investment (FDI)

• Public Private Partnership

In tiatives for Resource Mobilisation

• Near Plan Holiday approach

• Prioritizing and setting timelines for completion of the ongoing projects

• Decision Support System for project implementation

• Aggressive indigenization of imported products

• Adopting safety standards matching international practices and setting up of

Simulation Center to study causes of accidents

• Encouraging development of Locomotives, Coaches and Wagon Leasing Market

Analysis
Railways are a microcosm of India on the move. With 12500 trains, railways move
23 million passengers every day; equivalent to moving Australia’s population. Thus,
extending passenger-friendly services shall be the main motive of any reforms.

Besides, Railways is also the carrier of bulk goods but it suffers from host of
infrastructural and logistics issues. Hence, the Rail Budget target is to become the

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largest freight carrier in the world.

Indian Railways spent 41000 crore rupees on laying of 3700 km of new lines in
last 10 years. A tardy progress and Railways need immediate course correction.
Hence the Rail Budget 2014-15 focuses is on project completion rather than project
announcements.

From above it can be discerned that Railways is in dire financial crunch. As per Interim
Rail Budget 2014-15, Railways are in losses to the tune of 26000 crore rupees. Earlier
in June 2014 Narendra Modi-led government increased railway passenger fares by
14.2 percent and freight carriage charges by 6.5 percent.

However, there is need to explore alternative sources of resource mobilisation and

not depend on fare hike alone. This is because although fare revision will bring in
8000 crore rupees but an additional 9 lakh crore rupees alone needed for golden
quadrilateral project. 5 lakh crore rupees is required for ongoing projects alone over
the next 10 years. In sum, the Rail Budget tries to balance social and commercial
obligations.

UNDP released Human Development Report 2014

United Nations Development Progrmme (UNDP) released the Human Development

Report 2014 (HDR 2014) in Tokyo, Japan on 24 July 2014. The theme of the HDR 2014
was Sustaining Human Progress: Reducing Vulnerability and Building Resilience.

As per the HDR 2014, improvement in human development measures has slowed
down in the past few years. The human development index (HDI) barely grew from
0.700 in 2012 to 0.702 in 2013. HDI measures human development on the basis of
life expectancy, education levels and incomes.

This slowdown in human development is a result of the lingering global economic

crisis that has caused a dip in income growth in Europe, Arab countries, and Central
Asia

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In the report, India was ranked 135 out of 187 countries in the Human Development
Index (HDI) for the year 2013.

Main Highlights of HDR 2014

• The small improvement in the HDI could be at risk of getting reversed given the bleak
picture of the vulnerabilities facing people across the world. These vulnerabilities
existing in the form of financial crises, fluctuations in food prices, natural disasters
and violent conflict significantly impede progress.

• 1.2 billion people live on $1.25 or less a day and about 1.5 billion people in 91
developing countries are afflicted with multi-dimensional poverty, that is, they
suffer from overlapping deprivations in education, health and living standards. A
further 800 million are at the brink of falling back into poverty.

• Nearly 80 percent of the global population lacks comprehensive social protection.

About half of all workers, more than 1.5 billion, work in informal or precarious
employment.

• The expected number of years of schooling too is not growing adequately, with
43 percent primary students dropping out before completing primary education
worldwide.

• Life expectancy growth has slowed down in Asia, although there is improvement
in child mortality rates in Africa.

• The top five countries ranked in terms of the HDI are Norway, Australia, Switzerland,
Netherlands and the US.

• The bottoms five ranked in terms of HDI are Niger, Democratic Republic of Congo,
Central African Republic, Chad and Sierra Leone.

• Over 200 million people are affected by natural disasters and 45 million, the largest
number in 18 years, were displaced by conflicts at the end of 2012. These factors
also contributed to denting the improvement in human development.

• HDR 2014 also provides gender development index (GDI), which measures gender

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development gaps among 148 countries.

• The overall gender gap is an 8 percent deficit for women, the income gap is
shockingly high — per capita income for men is more than double that for women.

• There are 16 countries where the female HDI is equal to or higher than the
male HDI. These countries are Argentina, Barbados, Belarus, Estonia, Finland,
Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Mongolia, Poland, Russian Federation, Slovakia,
Slovenia, Sweden, Ukraine and Uruguay.

• Afghanistan, with a female HDI of only 60 per cent of its male HDI, was the most
unequal country.

• Inequality has declined in health access, remained constant in education but

increased by two percentage points with respect to income.

• Three-fold policy path to get the world out of the morass it is stuck in: universal
provision of social services, stronger social protection and a return to full
employment policies. All these would require a strong and active role of the state.

India and HDR 2014

• India is ranked at 135 with 0.586 score, among the medium development countries
like Egypt, South Africa, Mongolia, Philippines and Indonesia. In HDR 2013, India
was ranked 136 with 0.552 score on HDI.

• Among India’s neighbours, Bhutan (136) and Bangladesh (142) too figure medium
development category. Pakistan (ranked 146) and Nepal (145) are in the low
development category, while Sri Lanka (73) is in the high development category.

• Among the BRICS countries, India’s rank is the lowest, with Russia at 57, Brazil at
79, China 91 and South Africa 118.

• India is ranked 135 in Inequality-adjusted HDI with a score of 0.418 with a coefficient
of human inequality at 27.7.

• In Gender Inequality Index, India with a score of 0.563 is ranked 127 and in Gender

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Development Index, India is ranked 132 with a score of 0.828.

• In Multi-dimensional Poverty Index, India’s score is 0.282.

• Citing recent estimates of giving universal basic old age and disability pension,
basic childcare benefits universal healthcare, social assistance and 100-day
employment guarantee, the report says India would need to spend just about 4%
of its GDP to provide all this.

CCEA approved sale of 10 million tonnes of wheat in Open

Market to Check Prices

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 24 July 2014 approved the
sale of 10 million tonnes of wheat from the FCI stock in the open market in order to
boost domestic supply and check prices. The CCEA was headed by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi.

Highlights of the Meeting

The reserve price under OMSS was fixed at 1500 rupees per quintal plus freight
charges for old crop and five percent premium for new crop.

It was decided that wheat would be sold through the e-tendering process by the
State-run Food Corporation of India (FCI) with an aim to improve domestic supply of
wheat and check prices, besides reducing storage pressure on FCI.

The wholesale price of wheat was increased to 19 rupees per kg in the national
market in July 2014, from 16.10 rupees per kg in July 2013. Additional release of
wheat will ease prices.

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RBI cancelled Certificate of Registration of six NBFCs

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 28 July 2014 cancelled the certificate of
registration of six non-banking financial company (NBFCs). With this cancellation,
these six NBFCs based in Delhi would not be able to conduct business of non-
banking financial institution.

These six non-banking financial company (NBFCs) whose cancellation of registration

certificate has been issued are

• GE Strategic Investments India (GESII)

• Profound Exports Private Limited

• Two Brothers Holding Limited

• Swank Services Private Limited

• Praxis Consulting and Information Services Private Limited

• Credible Microfinance Ltd. (formerly known as “Credible Securities & Finance Pvt.
Ltd.”)

However, reason for the cancellation of registration was not disclosed by RBI.

Power granted to RBI to cancel registration certificate of NBFC

The registration certificate of a non-banking financial company can be cancelled by
RBI under the powers conferred under Section 45-IA(6) of the Reserve Bank of India
Act, 1934. The business of a non-banking financial institution is defined in clause (a)
of Section 45-I of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.

RBI penalised 12 Banks in Deccan Chronicle Holdings case

The Reserve Bank of India on 25 July 2014 penalised 12 banks in Deccan Chronicle
Holdings Limited case. The penalty imposed on these banks was of order 1.5 crore

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rupees.

These 12 banks are Andhra Bank; Axis Bank; Canara Bank; Corporation Bank; HDFC
Bank; ICICI Bank; IDBI Bank; IndusInd Bank; Kotak Mahindra Bank; Ratnakar Bank;
State Bank of Hyderabad; Yes Bank

The penalties were imposed by RBI in exercise of the powers vested in the RBI under
the provisions of Section 47A (1) read with Section 46(4)(i) of the Banking Regulation
Act, 1949.

The penalties were imposed after RBI carried out the scrutiny of the loan and current
account of Deccan Chronicle in these banks in 2013. In the scrutiny, RBI found that
proper guidelines were not followed in advancing loan to the Deccan Chronicle group
which defaulted to the extent of 4000 crore rupees.

Union Government revised Investment target for DFC to

80000 crore rupees

The Union Government on 25 July 2014 revised investment target for Dedicated Freight
Corridor (DFC) from 27000 crore rupees to 80000 crore rupees. The announcement
was made by the Railway Board Chairman, Arunendra Kumar during the ASSOCHAM
conference in New Delhi.

Reason for Revising Investment Target

The multiplication of land acquisition led to an increase of investment targets.
The Railway Board Chairman explained that the Union Government has plans of
constructing more corridors and more investment which will bring down the cost and
enhance the technological levels in Railways.

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Further Course of Action

As the future course of action, the President of ASSOCHAM, Rana Kapoor explained
that India needs to urgently act on developing connectivity to ports, mines and power
plants by fast tracking DFC which will provide strong impetus to the economy.

In the meanwhile, timely execution of projects will boost manufacturing output to 25

percent of GDP by 2025 and result in job creation.

CCEA approved 49 percent Foreign Investment in Insurance

Sector

The Union Cabinet on 24 July 2014 gave its approval to 49 percent foreign investment
in insurance companies through the FIPB route ensuring management control in the
hands of Indian promoters.

The decision was taken in the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs
(CCEA) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. With this decision, the FDI cap in
insurance sector has been raised from 26 percent to 49 percent.

It is important to note that in his first budget speech in the Lok Sabha, the Union
Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley had explained that the insurance sector is investment
starved and there is a need to increase the composite cap in the sector to 49 percent,
with full Indian management and control, through the FIPB route.

The move will probe beneficial for the insurance firms, which will now be able to
enjoy much needed capital from overseas partners.

Important Facts
The proposal of raising the FDI limitation was introduced in 2008 when UPA government
introduced the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill to hike foreign holding in insurance
joint ventures to 49 percent from the existing 26 percent.

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The insurance sector was opened up for private sector in 2000 after the enactment
of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999 (IRDA Act, 1999).

This Act permitted foreign shareholding in insurance companies to the extent of 26

percent with an aim to provide better insurance coverage and to augment the flow of
long term resources for financing infrastructure.

The industry has been demanding for long to increase the FDI limit for adequate
funds for expansion of the sector.

India decided against signing WTO’s Trade Facilitation

Agreement

India on 24 July 2014 decided against signing Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) of
the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The decision was taken at the meeting of the
General Council of the 160-member WTO Geneva, Switzerland.

The decision of India to not sign the TFA protocol was taken in the backdrop of
Narendra Modi government’s stand that India will not agree to a critical trade pact of
WTO until India’s food security concerns are addressed.

India’s demand at WTO

• India want a concrete framework on finding a permanent solution for its public
stock holding issue that is critical to providing food security to millions in India.

• Further India is also asking or a change in the base year (1986) for calculating the
food subsidies.

Developed Countries response

• Conclude the protocol on TFA by 31 July 2014

• Issue of public stockholding can be discussed and an agreement can be reach

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upon by 2017

The reason for India’s demand

Under the WTO Agreement on Agricultural (AoA) subsidies, a developing country
like India can only provide 10 percent of the total value of foodgrain production as
subsidy. However, the subsidy is calculated at a base year price of 1986 rather than
current prices.

Due to calculation of subsidy with 1986-88 prices, the subsidy provided under the
Food Security Bill of Government of India exceeds the WTO limit of 10 percent. This,
the developed countries argue, distorts trade.

But when seen in the context of current prices based subsidy calculation and the
subsidy provided by the US, the argument of the developed countries seems to be
futile. For instance, the US gives about 120 billion US dollars (7.2 lakh crore rupees) as
agriculture subsidy as compared to India’s 12 billion US dollars (72000 crore rupees).

G-33 food security proposal and India

G-33 group of developing countries including India at the Bali Ministerial Conference
in December 2013 proposed acquisition of food stocks by developing countries with
a clear aim of protecting food security initiatives from the ambit of subsidies.

The G33 proposals also raised the fact that even the grossly disfavouring 10 percent
subsidy limit was calculated on the basis of a fixed reference price of 1986-88, when
prices were substantially lower.

The intense negotiation by G-33 at Bali finally led to developed countries agreeing to
the Bali package.

Bali Package
Bali package allows India and other developing countries to subsidise food staples
without the risk of legal challenges as long as they do not distort international trade.

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It also provided for a interim Peace Clause.

Peace Clause
The Peace Clause provides for four year interim period starting from December 2013
during which all the issues related to food security will be addressed and a permanent
solution will be reached by 2017.

However, the Peace Clause comes with many conditions like India can be taken to
WTO’s dispute settlement body once the four year period ends in 2017. Moreover,
the Anti-Circumvention/Safeguard clause stipulates that counties using this clause
shall ensure that stocks procured under such programs do not distort trade.

This is fundamentally against India’s system of minimum support prices and direct
procurement that sustain both its PDS as well as farming.

Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA)

The TFA aims at simplifying customs procedure, increasing transparency and reducing
transactions cost so as to allow unhindered trade. It was agreed at Bali that TFA will
be formally implemented in 2015.

The TFA is being pushed by the US and other developed nations because they seek
to bolster their sagging economies.

According to estimates, the implementation of TFA could add 1 trillion US dollars (60
lakh crore rupees) to the world economy and create 21 million jobs.

The Fallout of India’s Stand

The negative stand of India means that TFA protocol may not meet the deadline of 31
July 2014 set at the Bali Ministerial Conference in December 2013. This is because
India’s stand is crucial without its approval WTO could not adopt protocol on TFA.

It may risk undermining the first major accord in the WTO’s 19-year history. Besides,
from Indian economy viewpoint, this may lead to negative sentiments among foreign

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investors who thought that Modi led government would be more pro-business.

Furthermore, it may lead to developed countries abandoning the global trade body,
WTO, and seek their own free trade policies which are far more ambitious. In fact, the
US and EU have started negotiating with smaller countries in this direction.

RBI Issued Guidelines for Setting up Trade Receivables

Discounting System for MSMEs

The Reserve Bank of India on 23 July 2014 issued draft guidelines for setting up and
operating a Trade Receivables Discounting System in order to facilitate financing
to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and to help them convert trade
receivables into liquid funds.

The draft guidelines issued were a follow up to a paper titled Micro, Small & Medium
Enterprises (MSME) Factoring-Trade Receivables Exchange published by the RBI in
March 2014. The paper highlighted that there was a need for addressing this pan-India
issue through setting up of an institutional mechanism for financing trade receivables
for MSMEs so as to enable the MSMEs have access to finance.

The Draft Guidelines

• The Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) will provide the platform to
bring these participants together for facilitating uploading, accepting, discounting,
trading and settlement of the invoices or bills of MSMEs.

• The TReDS may also introduce some random audits to ensure that there is no
window dressing and that factoring units uploaded on the exchange are authentic
& based on genuine transactions.

• TReDS would put in place a standardized mechanism / process for on-boarding of

buyers and sellers on the TReDS. This one-time on boarding process will require
the entities to submit all KYC related documents to the TReDS

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• The TReDS would be governed by the regulatory framework put in place by the
Reserve Bank of India under the Payment and settlement Systems Act 2007.

• TReDS will not be allowed to assume any credit risk and the minimum paid up
voting equity capital shall be 100 crore rupees Further, the TReDS should have a
net worth of 100 crore rupees at all times.

• The promoter’s minimum initial contribution to the paid up voting equity capital
of TReDS shall be at least 40 per cent which shall be locked in for a period of five
years from the date of commencement of business of the TReDS.

• Shareholding by promoters in TReDS in excess of 40 per cent shall be brought

down to 40 per cent within three years from the date of commencement of business
of TReDS.

• The foreign shareholding in the TReDS would be as per the extant FDI policy.

• The TReDS should have sound technological basis at the minimum to support its
operations.

About the Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS)

Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) is the scheme for setting up and
operating an institutional mechanism for facilitating the financing of trade receivables
of MSMEs from corporate buyers through multiple financiers.

The TReDS will facilitate the discounting of both invoices as well as bills of exchange.

The direct participants in the TReDS will be MSME sellers, corporate buyers and
financiers, both banks and non-bank (NBFC factors).

OECD released global Standard for Automatic Exchange of

Financial Account Information

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on 21 July

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2014 released single global standard for automatic exchange of financial account
information between jurisdictions.

The Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters
calls on governments to obtain detailed account information from their financial
institutions and exchange that information automatically with other jurisdictions on
an annual basis.

Two Components of the Standard

• Competent Authority Agreement (CAA)

• Common Reporting Standard (CRS)

Main Elements of the Standards for Automatic Exchange

• The Standard provides for annual automatic exchange between governments in the
field of financial account information. The financial account information includes
balances, interest, dividends, and sales proceeds from financial assets which are
reported to governments by financial institutions. It also covers accounts held by
individuals and entities, including trusts and foundations.

• The Standards also provides confidentiality clause and safeguards in the exchange
of information. For this the countries will need to pass domestic laws as per their
respective legal jurisdictions to enable such cooperation.

• Also, the Standards provides that each competent authority needs to notify the
other competent authority immediately regarding any breach of confidentiality
or failure of safeguards and any sanctions and remedial actions consequently
imposed.

The OECD will formally present the Standard to G20 Finance Ministers at their meeting
in Cairns, Australia, on 20-21 September 2014.

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Background
The new framework is a major development in the fight against black money and
important move towards greater transparency and putting an end to banking secrecy
in tax matters.

The Standard was developed at the OECD Secreteriat in Paris, France. These
Standards were developed under a mandate from the G20 of major economies,
endorsed by G20 Finance Ministers in February 2014, and approved by the OECD
Council.

More than 65 countries and jurisdictions have already publicly committed to

implementation, while more than 40 have committed to a specific and ambitious
timetable leading to the first automatic information exchanges in 2017.

Countries and jurisdictions publicly committed to implementation of Auto-

matic Exchange of Information
Andorra, Anguilla, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, Brazil, British
Virgin Islands, Bulgaria, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, People’s Republic of
China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guernsey, Hungary,
Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Isle of Man, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jersey, Korea,
Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Montserrat,
Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation,
Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, Turkey, Turks & Caicos Islands, United Kingdom, and United States, and
the European Union.

SEBI issued draft guidelines for infrastructure investment

trusts

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on 17 July 2014 announced draft

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regulations for infrastructure investment trusts. The trust will allow companies to
monetize their infrastructure projects.

The infrastructure investment trusts aims to provide easier financing options to

developers of public works.

Draft Regulations issued by SEBI

• Infrastructure trusts can raise money either through a public issue or a private
placement, with a minimum issue size of 250 crore rupees.

• If an investment trust proposed to invest at least 80 percent of its assets in completed

and revenue generating infrastructure assets, it has to raise funds through a public
issue of units. These sales will need to have a minimum subscription size and
trading lot of at least 5 lakh rupees.

• Of the remaining 20%, such trusts can invest a maximum of 10% in under-
construction infrastructure projects.

• If such a trust proposes to invest more than 10% of its assets in under-construction
public works, it has to mandatorily raise funds through private placement from
qualified institutional buyers (typically banks and other financial institutions) and
corporate bodies only.

• For such trusts, the minimum investment and trading lot will be of 1 crore rupees
and a part of the assets under such trusts will have to be mandatorily invested in
at least one completed and revenue generating project and in at least one pre-
COD (commercial operation date) project.

• Listing would be mandatory for both publicly offered and privately placed
infrastructure investment trusts.

• Both categories of investments trusts may also sell a minimum 5 percent stake to
strategic investors who would typically be banks or multilateral finance institutions.

• The aggregate consolidated borrowing of such investment trusts and their

underlying SPVs should never exceed 49 percent of the value of the trust’s assets.

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However, this may exclude any debt infused by the trust in the underlying SPV.

• For any borrowing exceeding 25 percent of the value of assets, the trust will be
required to secure approval from unit holders and a credit rating from a SEBI-
registered credit rating agency.

Main Functions of trusts

Such trusts will be able to invest in infrastructure projects only directly or through
special purpose vehicles (SPVs). A special purpose vehicle is a company created for
a specific purpose.

For public-private partnership (PPP) projects, investments can be routed only be

through an SPV.

A PPP is one that usually involves a private entity building public infrastructure that is
owned by the government, but from which it earned revenue over the duration of its
agreement with the government.

Objective of Trust
The trust will attract long term finance from foreign and domestic sources including
the NRIs (non-resident Indians).

These structures would reduce the pressure on the banking system while also make
available fresh equity.

ADB released Asian Development Outlook 2014 Supplement

Asian Development Bank released the Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2014
Supplement on 18 July 2014. In the outlook, ADB forecasted a stable outlook for
developing Asia in 2014 despite slower-than-expected growth in the United States
(US) in the first quarter.

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It maintains ADB’s April 2014 forecast of 6.2 percent growth in 2014 and 6.4 percent
in 2015 for the region’s 45 developing economies.

Main Highlights
• The major industrial economies are anticipated to expand by 1.5 percent in 2014
compared to 1.9 percent forecast in April’s ADO 2014.

• The People Republic of China is on track to meet ADO 2014 forecasts of 7.5
percent growth in 2014 and 7.4 percent in 2015 on back of steady consumer
demand, targeted government measures to stabilize investment, and a pickup in
external demand in the second quarter of 2014.

• Indian economy is forecasted to grow at 5.5 percent in 2014 and at 6.3 percent
in 2015. The improvement in the forecast has come on the back of formation of
new government and its 10-point plan to revive the Indian economy prioritizing
infrastructure and investment reforms, faster resolution of inter-ministerial issues,
efficient policy execution, and policy stability.

• Pakistan’s growth for the financial year ending June 2014 is forecasted to grow
at 4.1 percent compared to the ADO 2014 forecast of 3.4 percent and Nepal’s
growth was seeing a strong finish to its fiscal year.

• Overall, South Asia’s 2014 forecast is nudged up 0.1 percentage points to 5.4
percent. The improved outlook in India pushes up the subregional forecast for
2015 from 5.8 percent to 6.1 percent.

• The outlook for Southeast Asia has softened as growth prospects falter in
Indonesia, Thailand, and Viet Nam. In Indonesia, first quarter 2014 growth slowed
to 5.2 percent whereas Thailand’s economy contracted by 0.6 percent in the first
quarter of 2014.

• Growth in Central Asia is gradually moderating, with many economies affected by

the deteriorating outlook of the Russian Federation.Aggregate growth projections
for the region are revised down to 6.3 percent in 2014 and further to 6.1 percent
in 2015, from 6.5 percent forecast for both years in ADO 2014.

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• A devastating tropical storm in Solomon Islands and weaker-than-expected

indicators for Palau and Timor-Leste are holding back growth in the Pacific.
Overall, Pacific GDP is expected to grow 5.2 percent in 2014, a 0.2 percentage
point decline from the ADO 2014 forecast.

RBI released Draft Guidelines for Licensing of Payments

Banks and Small Banks

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 17 July 2014 issued draft guidelines for licensing
of payments banks and small banks. Both these banks will be created with a
common objective of furthering financial inclusion by adding value through adapting
technological solutions to lowers costs.

The Draft Guidelines issued by the RBI

• Small banks will provide a whole suite of basic banking products, such as, deposits
and supply of credit, but in a limited area of operation

• Payments banks will provide a limited range of products, such as, acceptance of
demand deposits and remittances of funds, but will have a widespread network
of access points particularly to remote areas, either through their own branch
network or through Business Correspondents (BCs) or through networks provided
by others.

• The entities eligible to set up a Payments Bank include existing non-bank Pre-paid
Instrument Issuers (PPIs), Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs), corporate
BCs, mobile telephone companies, super-market chains, companies, real sector
cooperatives, and public sector entities.

• The entities eligible to set up a small bank include resident individuals with ten
years of experience in banking and finance, companies and societies, NBFCs,
Micro Finance Institutions and Local Area Banks.

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• The eligible entities should be fit and proper in order to be eligible to promote
payments banks and small banks.

• The RBI would assess the fit and proper status of the applicants on the basis
of their past record of sound credentials and integrity; financial soundness and
successful track record of at least five years in running their businesses.

• The minimum paid up capital requirement of both payments banks and small banks
is kept at 100 crore rupees, of which the promoters’ initial minimum contribution
will be at least 40 percent, to be locked in for a period of five years.

• Shareholding of the promoters should be brought down to 40 per cent within three
years, 30 per cent within a period of 10 years, and to 26 per cent within 12 years
from the date of commencement of business of the bank.

Purpose of setting up local feel small banks and payment banks

• These banks will disburse small-ticket loans to farmers and businesses and suite
of basic banking products such as deposits and supply of credit

• It will cater to marginalized sections of the society that includes migrant labourers,
for collecting deposits and remitting funds

• It will also offer limited range of products like acceptance of demand deposits and
remittances of funds

The final guidelines will be issued after the process of receiving suggestions will be
completed. RBI will also start inviting application for setting up the Payment and
Small Banks after receiving the feedbacks on the drafted guidelines.

Background
The issuance of guidelines are the follow up the to the set of guidelines issued for
licensing of new banks in the private sector in February 2013. On 2 April 2014, RBI
gave in-principle approval to Bandhan andIDFC Ltd to set up new banks in the private
sector within a period of 18 months.

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While giving in-principle approval to Bandhan and IDFC Ltd, the RBI indicated that
it would be revising the guidelines based on the learning experience gained so as to
grant licences more regularly. Further, it also indicated that, it would work on a policy
of having various categories of differentiated bank licence that will allow a wider pool
of private entrants into banking.

In the Union Budget 2014-2015 presented on 10 July 2014, the Union Finance Minister
Arun Jaitley emphasised on putting in place a structure for continuous authorization
of universal banks in the private sector in 2014-15. He further said that RBI will create
a framework for licensing small banks and other differentiated banks.

In lieu of above announcements, RBI prepared the draft guidelines on payments

banks and small banks as differentiated or restricted banks.

CBDT formed committee to reduce litigation at dispute

resolution forums in IT Department

Central Board of Direct Tax (CBDT) on 17 July 2014 constituted a six-member

empowered committee to reduce litigation at the dispute resolution forums in the
Income Tax Department. The Committee will also suggest steps to reduce legal cases
and has been asked to submit its report within two months.

The Committee will be headed by Chief Commissioner of Income Tax office in

Ahmedabad, Rani S Nair. The other five members of the committee will be drawn
from various field formations of the IT department.

The committee was also authorized to reduce litigation within the first two forums of
Commissioner of Income Tax (CIT) and Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT). It was
also asked to undertake fresh initiative and study selected assessment orders issued
by IT officers across India under various income groups. The selected groups include
income under 25 lakh rupees, 25 lakh rupees to 1 crore rupees, 1-10 crore rupees
and above 10 crore rupees. In its study it will undertake the sampling orders passed
by ITAT spread across various month of 2013-14.

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With this, CBDT for the first time has constituted the six-member panel to examine
the efficacy of the existing preliminary litigation mechanism in the IT (Income Tax)
department

At present there is a four-stage grievance redressal mechanism that starts

• With an appeal to the Commissioner of Income Tax (CIT)

• Then is followed by Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT)

• Then to the High Court

• Finally to the Supreme Court

Reason for constitution of the Committee

The CBDT constituted the panel after seeing that an estimated 4 lakh crore rupees of
tax revenue is locked up in litigation.

About Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT)

The Central Board of Direct Taxes is a statutory authority functioning under the Central
Board of Revenue Act, 1963. The officials of the Board in their ex-officio capacity
also function as a Division of the Union Ministry of Finance and deals with matters
related to levy and collection of direct taxes and formulation of policy concerning
administrative reforms and changes for the effective functioning of Income-tax
Department.

RBI eased the infrastructure financing norms to encourage

infrastructure development

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 15 July 2014 announced to ease the infrastructure
financing norms in order to encourage infrastructure development and affordable

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housing.

The RBI exempted long-term bonds from mandatory regulatory norms of Cash
Reserve Ratio (CRR), Priority Sector Lending (PSL) and Statutory Liquidity Ratio
(SLR) if the money raised is used for funding of infrastructure projects.

Further, it asked the Banks to issue long-term bonds with a minimum maturity of
seven years to raise resources for lending to long-term projects in infrastructure sub-
sectors and affordable housing.

The objective of easing infra norms is to mitigate the Asset-Liability Management

(ALM) problems faced by banks in extending project loans to infrastructure and core
industries sectors. Further it would also ease the raising of long term resources for
project loans to infrastructure and affordable housing sectors.

The easing of infrastructure norms are in pursuance of Union Finance Minister

Arun Jaitley’s budget speech in which he sought banks to extend long-term
loans to infrastructure sector with flexible structuring to absorb potential adverse
contingencies. This process of extending loans is sometimes known as the 5:25
structure.

Under the 5:25 structure, bank may fix longer amortisation period for loans to projects
in infrastructure and core industries sectors with periodic refinancing, say every five
years.

SEBI barred Satyam founder Ramalinga Raju and 4 others

from accessing capital markets

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on 15 July 2014 barred founder of
Satyam Computers, B Ramalinga Raju and four other top executives from accessing
the capital markets for 14 years.

Apart from this, the market watchdog also ordered the top five executives of Satyam
to pay 1849 crore rupees because they made unlawful gains through sale of shares.

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The amount has to be paid within 45 days. In its order SEBI also said that the amount
must be deposited along with 1200 crore rupees as interest due from January 2009
till date. It means that with extra 1200 crore rupees (which is 12 percent simple
interest), the five executives will have to pay at least 3049 crore rupees to SEBI.

The four executives are

• B Rama Raju, the company’s former managing director

• Vadlamani Srinivas, its former chief financial officer

• G Ramakrishna, its former vice-president (finance)

• VS Prabhakara Gupta, its former head (internal audit)

Per Student Cooking Cost under Mid Day Meal Scheme En-
hanced

Union Government of India enhanced the per student cooking cost under the Mid
Day Meal Scheme (MDMS). The enhancement of the budget came into effect from
1 July 2014. The cooking cost per student has been enhanced by 7.5 percent every
year since 2010-11.

The enhancement in the cost in terms of Rupees

The enhancement in the cost in terms of Rupees

Stage Cooking cost per child per Revised cooking cost per
day 2013-14 child per day 2014-15
Primary 3.34 3.59
Upper Primary 5.00 5.38

About Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS)

Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS) is a programme of Government of India and has

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been designed to improve the nutritional status of school-age children nationwide

school. The meal programme covers over 12 crore children across India, in 12.65
lakh government and government aided schools on a daily basis. The scheme is the
world’s largest school feeding programme.

On 15 August 1995 the scheme was launched as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme,

initially in 2408 blocks in the country. By the year 1997-98 the NP-NSPE was introduced
in all blocks of the country. It was further extended in 2002 to cover not only children
in classes I -V of Government, Government aided and local body schools, but also
children studying in EGS and AIE centres.

The MDMS has been covering the upper primary (class VI- VIII) level in all Government
and Government aided schools since 1 April 2008.

Retail inflation fell to 30-month low of 7.31 percent in June

2014

Retail inflation fell to a 30-month low of 7.31 percent in June 2014 from 8.28 pecent
in May 2014. The retail inflation went down mainly on account of lower prices of food
items that includes vegetables, cereals, and meat.

Earlier in January 2012, the retail inflation was at its lowest at 7.65 percent.

On the other hand, Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation (or Headline inflation)
fell to 5.43 percent in June 2014 as against 6.01 percent in May 2014. The decline was
mainly on account of fall in prices of food items and vegetables with the exception
of potatoes and onions.

Retail inflation is measured by the consumer price index.

Findings of the data released by Union Ministry of Commerce & Industry

• Food inflation fell to 7.97 percent in June 2014 from 9.56 percent in May 2014

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• Inflation in vegetables dropped to 8.73 percent in June 2014 from 15.27 percent
in May 2014

• Cereals and their products saw a lower inflation rate of 7.6 percent

• Inflation in the fuel and light segment declined to 4.58 percent in June 2014

• Retail inflation for rural areas dropped to 7.72 percent in June 2014, while in urban
areas it slipped to 6.82 percent

• Wholesale inflation dropped to four-month low of 5.43 percent in June 2014

• As per the wholesale price index, inflation had stood at a five-month high of 6.01
percent in May 2014 was and at 5.16 percent in June 2013

• Food inflation eased to 8.14 percent in June 2014, from 9.5 percent in May 2014

• Vegetable prices declined 5.89 percent in June 2014

• Prices of sugar fell 2.09 percent and of edible oils fell 0.75 percent during the June
2014

• But prices of potatoes soared 42.51 percent in the period

Railways register 9.48 percent increase in its earning

Indian Railways has registered an increase of 9.48 percent in its earning during the
first quarter of the fiscal year 2014-15. Total approximate earnings was 36674 crore
rupees against 33500 crore rupees during the same period of fiscal year 2013-14.

As per the reports, the earnings from goods between April-June 2014 grew by 7
percent and reached to 24850.37 crore rupees as compared to 23214.60 crore rupees
during the same period in 2013. The total revenue earnings from the passengers
during April-June 2014 registered 16 percent increase, which was 10153.68 crore
rupees against 8724.65 crore rupees during the same period of 2013.

Passengers booking also witnessed a rise of 143 million registering an increase of

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more than 7 percent.

Union Budget 2014-15: Weaker Sections

Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley on 10 July 2014 presented Union Budget 2014-
15. the Union Budget introduced new scheme Van Bandhu Kalyan Yojna for tribals,
National level institutes for Universal Inclusive Design, Mental Health Rehabilitation
and a Centre for Disability Sports to be established.

Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe

• An amount of 50548 crore rupees is proposed under the SC Plan and 32387 crore
rupees under TSP.

• For the welfare of the tribals Van Bandhu Kalyan Yojna launched with an initial
allocation of 100 crore.

Senior Citizen & Differently Abled Persons

• Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana (VPBY) to be revived for a limited period from
15 August 2014 to 14 August 2015 for the benefit of citizens aged 60 years and
above.

• A committee will to examine and recommend how unclaimed amounts with PPF,
Post Office, saving schemes etc. can be used to protect and further financial
interests of the senior citizens?

• Government notified a minimum pension of 1000 per rupees month to all subscriber
members of EP Scheme. Initial provision of 250 crore rupees.

• Increase in mandatory wage ceiling of subscription to 15000 rupees. A provision

of 250 crore rupees in the current budget.

• EPFO to launch the Uniform Account Number Service for contributing members.

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• Scheme for Assistance to Disabled Persons for purchase/fitting of Aids and

Appliances (ADIP) extended to include contemporary aids and assistive devices.

• National level institutes for Universal Inclusive Design, Mental Health Rehabilitation
and a Centre for Disability Sports to be established.

• Assistance to State Governments to establish fifteen new Braille Presses and

modernize ten existing Braille Presses.

• Government to print currency notes with Braille like signs for visibly challenged
persons.

Telecom Consumers Complaint Redressal (Third Amend-

ment) regulations, 2014

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) amended the Telecom Consumers

Complaint Redressal Regulations, 2012 and now these regulations are known as
Telecom Consumers Complaint Redressal (Third Amendment) regulations, 2014. It
was notified on 1 July 2014 by the TRAI.

With this amendment, TRAI raised the minimum broadband speed to 512 kilo bytes
per second (kbps) from the earlier 256 kbps.

According to the new amendment, definition of broadband is a data connection that

is able to support interactive services including internet access and has the capability
of minimum download speed of 512 kbps to an individual subscriber from the point
of presence (POP) of the service provider intending to provide broadband service.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had revised the broadband speed

in consonance of the National Telecom Policy 2012 and TRAI recommendations.
According to the National Telecom Policy 2012, Government aims to raise the
broadband download speed of to 512 kbps from 256 kbps and subsequently to 2
Mbps by 2015.

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Economic Survey of India 2013-14: Highlights

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely on 9 July 2014 presented Economic Survey
of India 2013-14 in the Lok Sabha. This was the first economic survey of the new
government led by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

India’s economy in financial year 2014-15 is expected to grow in the range of 5.4 –
5.9 percent overcoming sub-5 percent growth. The Survey listed certain risk factors
for the growth and they are poor monsoon, the external environment and the poor
investment climate.

The Economic Survey is presented every year, just before the Union Budget and
after the Railway Budget. It is an annual document of the Union Ministry of Finance,
Government of India and it reviews the developments in the Indian economy of
previous 12 months (fiscal year).

It summarizes the performance on major development programmes, and International

the policy initiatives of the government and the prospects of the economy in the short
to medium term.

Highlights
• Economy to grow in the range of 5.4 – 5.9 per cent in 2014-15 overcoming sub-5
percent growth.

• Growth slowdown was broad based, affecting in particular the industry sector.

• Aided by favourable monsoons, agricultural and allied sector registered a growth

of 4.7 per cent in 2013-14.

• Industry and Service sectors also witnessed slowdown.

• Reforms needed for long term-growth prospects on 3 fronts- low and stable
inflation regime, tax and expenditure reform and regulatory framework.

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• Survey suggests removal of restriction on farmers to buy, sell and store their
produce to customers across the country and the world.

• Rationalisation of subsidies on inputs such as fertilizer and food is essential.

• Government needs to eventually move towards income support for farmers and
poor households.

• The fiscal policy for 2013-14 was calibrated with two-fold objectives; first, to aid
growth revival; and second, to reach the FD level targeted for 2013-14.

• The Budget for 2013-14 followed the policy of revenue augmentation and
expenditure rationalization to contain government spending within sustainable
limits.

• The fiscal outcome of the central government in 2013-14 was achieved despite
the macroeconomic challenges of growth slowdown, elevated levels of global
crude oil prices, and slow growth of investment.

• High inflation, particularly food inflation, was the result of structural as well as
seasonal factors.

• IMF projects most global commodity prices are expected to remain flat during
2014-15.

• The RBI with a view to restoring stability to the foreign exchange market hiked
short term interest rate in July and compressed domestic money market liquidity.

• • RBI has indentified five sectors -- infrastructure, iron and steel, textiles, aviation
and mining as the stressed sectors.

• Public sector banks (PSBs) have high exposures to the ‘industry’ sector in general
and to such ‘stressed’ sectors in particular.

• The New Pension System (NPS), now National Pension System, introduced for
the new recruits who join government service on or after January 2004, represents
a major reform of Indian pension arrangements

• The next wave of infrastructure financing will require a capable bond market.

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• The India’s balance-of-payments position improved dramatically in 2013-14 with

current account deficit at US $ 32.4 billion as against US$ 88.2 billion in 2012-13.

• India’s foreign exchange reserves increased from US$ 292.0 billion at end March
2013 to US$ 304.2 billion at end march 2014.

• India’s external debt has remained within manageable limits due to the external
debt management policy with prudential restrictions on debt varieties of capital
inflows.

• World trade volume which decelerated to 2.8 per cent in 2012 has shown signs of
recovery in 2013, albeit slow with a 3.0 per cent growth.

• The sharp fall in imports and moderate export growth in 2013-14 resulted in a
sharp fall in India`s trade deficit by 27.8 per cent.

• In April-May 2014, trade deficit declined by 42.4 per cent.

• Record food grains and oilseeds production of 264.4 million tonnes (mt) and 32.4
mt is estimated in 2013-14.

• Horticulture production estimated at 265 mt in 2012-13 has exceeded the

production of foodgrains and oilseeds for the first time.

• Due to higher procurement, stocks of foodgrains in the Central Pool have increased
to 69.84 million tonnes as on June 1, 2014.

• The net availability of foodgrains increased to 229.1 million tonnes and that of
edible oils to 12.7 kg per year in 2013.

• The latest gross domestic product (GDP) estimates show that industry grew by
just 1.0 per cent in 2012-13 and slowed further in 2013-14, posting a modest
increase of 0.4 per cent.

• India ranked 12th in terms of services GDP in 2012 among the world’s top 15
countries in terms of GDP (at current prices).

• India has the second fastest growing services sector with its CAGR at 9.0 per
cent, just below China’s 10.9 per cent, during 2001 to 2012.

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• In 2013-14, FDI inflows to the services sector (top five sectors including construction)
declined sharply by 37.6 per cent to US$ 6.4 billion compared to an overall growth
in FDI inflows at 6.1 per cent resulting in the share of the top five services in total
FDI falling to nearly one-sixth.

• Major sector-wise performance of core industries and infrastructure services

during 2013-14 shows a mixed trend. While the growth in production of power
and fertilizers was comparatively higher than in 2012-13, coal, steel, cement, and
refinery production posted comparatively lower growth. Crude oil and natural gas
production declined during 2013-14.

• The performance of the coal sector in the first two years of the Twelfth Plan has
been subdued with domestic production at 556 MT in 2012-13 and 566 MT in
2013-14.

• A total length of 21,787 km of national highways has been completed till March
2014 under various phases of the NHDP. In spite of several constraints due to the
economic downturn, the NHAI constructed 2844 km length in 2012-13, its highest
ever annual achievement. During 2013-14 a total of 1901 km of road construction
was completed.

• From the infrastructure development perspective, while important issues like delays
in regulatory approvals, problems in land acquisition & rehabilitation, environmental
clearances, etc. need immediate attention, time overruns in the implementation of
projects continue to be one of the main reasons for underachievement in many of
the infrastructure sectors.

• Human- induced Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are growing and are chiefly
responsible for climate change.

• The world is not on track for limiting increase in global average temperature to
below 2◦C, above pre-industrial levels. GHG emissions grew on average 2.2 per
cent per year between 2000 and 2010, compared to 1.3 per cent per year between
1970 and 2000.

• There is immense pressure on governments to act through two new agreements

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on climate change and sustainable development, both of which will be global

frameworks for action to be finalized next year.

• The cumulative costs of India’s low carbon strategies have been estimated at
around USD 834 billion at 2011 prices, between 2010 and 2030.

• According to HDR 2013, India has slipped down in HDI with its overall global
ranking at 136 (out of the 186 countries) as against 134 (out of 187 countries) as
per HDR 2012. It is still in the medium human development category.

• The poverty ratio (based on the MPCE of 816 for rural areas and 1000 for urban
areas in 2011-12 at all India level), has declined from 37.2 per cent in 2004-05 to
21.9 per cent in 2011-12.

• In absolute terms, the number of poor declined from 407.1 million in 2004-05 to
269.3 million in 2011-12 with an average annual decline of 2.2 percentage points
during 2004-05 to 2011-12.

• During 2004-05 to 2011-12, employment growth [CAGR] was only 0.5 per cent,
compared to 2.8 per cent during 1999-2000 to 2004-05 as per usual status.

C Rangarajan Committee on Poverty presented its report to

Union Government

C Rangrajan Committee to review the Methodology for Measurement of Poverty

presented its report to the Union Planning Minister Rao Inderjit Singh in the first week
of July 2014.

The report retained consumption expenditure estimates of NSSO as the basis for
determining poverty. On the basis of this, it pegged the total number of poor in India
at 363 million or 29.6 percent of the population. This is higher than 269.8 million poor
people or 21.9 percent pegged by the Suresh Tendulkar committee.

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Highlights of the Report

• The daily per capita expenditure is pegged at 32 rupees for the rural poor and at
47 rupees for the urban poor.

• Poverty line based on the average monthly per capita expenditure is pegged at
972 rupees for rural India and 1407 rupees for urban India.

• The all-India poverty line in terms of consumption expenditure for a family of five
is estimated at 4760 rupees per month in rural areas and 7035 rupees per month
in urban areas in 2011-12.

• The percentage of people below the poverty line in 2011-12 was 30.95 in rural
areas and 26.4 in urban areas.

• The respective ratios for the rural and urban areas were 41.8 percent and 25.7
percent, respectively, and 37.2 percent for the country as a whole in 2004-05. In
1993-94, it was 50.1 percent in rural areas, 31.8 percent in urban areas and 45.3
per cent for the country as a whole.

• In 2009-10, about 91.6 million people were lifted out of poverty as compared to
454.6 million poor in 2009-10.

• The poverty rate fell by 8.7 percentage points in 2009-10 under the Rangarajan
formula against a 7.9 percentage point fall under the Tendulkar methodology.

NABARD and SFAC signed a MoU for development of Small

Farm Producers

National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and Small Farmers
Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) on 4 July 2014 signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) for the development of Small Farm Producers.

The MoU seeks to bring the two institutions in close coordination for implementing
schemes for promotion of Producer Organisations (POs).

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The SFAC is implementing a scheme of the Government of India whereby the

Producers Organisations are given equity support and the financing banks are given
credit guarantee cover to enable formation of Producer Organisations.

NABARD will proactively leverage the benefits of the equity grant and credit guarantee
fund for Follow on Public Offers (FPO) set up by SFAC to ensure that finance for
producer company flows smoothly.

NABARD will actively collaborate with the SFAC at national, state and district level by
participating in the Food Security Mission. NABARD informed that it has a fund of 50
crore rupees for supporting producer organisations.

Follow on Public Offers (FPO)

FPO is a process by which a company, which is already listed on an exchange, issues
new shares to the investors or the existing shareholders, usually the promoters. FPO
is used by companies to diversify their equity base.

Udhampur-Katra rail line inaugurated by the Prime Minister

Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, on 4 July 2014 dedicated 25 km-long
Katra-Udhampur railway line of Jammu to the nation. He was on his first visit to the
State after becoming the Prime Minister.

He inaugurated the first train from Katra railway station and named it as Shree Shakti
Express. This train will facilitate pilgrims to visit Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine.

The train on its route will cross seven tunnels and over 30 small and large bridges.
The route from Udhampur and Katra has a small station named Chakrakhwal. The
complete project has been developed at an estimated cost of 1132.75 crore rupees.
The railway station is situated on the foothills of the Trikuta Hills in Reasi district of the
state. The Trikuta Hills nestle the holy cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi.

While dedicating the Katra-Udhampur rail to the nation, the Prime Minister said that he

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will take ahead the plan of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for connecting
Jammu and Kashmir through Railways. Vajpayee as a Prime Minister emphasized on
development of the state to deal with all the sensitive issues in Kashmir.

RBI restored the limit of Overseas Direct Investment taken

under automatic route

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 3 July 2014 restored the limit of Overseas
Direct Investment (ODI) by an Indian company under the automatic route of Foreign
Exchange Management Act, 2004.

With this decision now an Indian company can undertake financial commitment or
invest up to 400 percent of the net worth in all its Joint Ventures (JVs) and/or Wholly
Owned Subsidiaries (WOSs) abroad.

However, RBI decided that any financial commitment exceeding one billion US Dollars
or its equivalent in a financial year will require prior approval of the Reserve Bank.
This rule is applicable even if total commitment undertaken by an Indian company
falls within the eligible limit.

Earlier in August 2013, RBI reduced the ODI limit to 100 percent of net worth of
company from 400 percent for all Indian companies by considering the prevailed macro
economic situation. The decision was taken in order to control the unprecedented
appreciation of the dollar when the rupee touched an all-time low of 68.80 rupees.

However, the restriction was not applicable on public sector firms like Oil India and
ONGC Videsh.

Overseas direct investments (ODI)

ODI is the reverse of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) i.e. Indian direct investment
abroad.

ODI brings host of benefits along with it. These are: promotes economic co-operation

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between India and the host countries; helps in transfer of technology and skills;
enables sharing of results of Research & Development; provides access to the global
market; enables promotion of the brand image; generates employment and aids in
utilization of raw materials available in India and the host country.

Indian Railways successfully conducted test run of Delhi-

Agra semi-high speed train

Indian Railways on 3 July 2014 successfully conducted a trial run of a semi-high-

speed train to make travel faster between Delhi and Agra. This train is equipped with
an electronic locomotive of WAP 5400 horse power from the Ghaziabad Loco Shed.
It is the country’s fastest train.

The train was flagged off from New Delhi Railway Station at 11:45 am, which reached
Agra at 1 pm. The speed of this semi-high speed train is 160 kilometer per hour. The
semi-high-speed train will come into service from November 2014 and will reduce
the travel time between the two destinations by 30 minutes.

At present the fastest train of India is Bhopal Shatabdi Express that runs at a speed
150 kilometer between Delhi and Agra stretch.

Expenditure incurred
An estimated cost of 15 crore rupees has been invested to make the track ready for
the semi-high-speed train. The track will witness fencing for a stretch of 27-kilometer
along the track between Delhi-Agra route to prevent obstruction and ensure speed.

Apart from this, the Railways have also planned to run similar trains for Kanpur and
Chandigarh from Delhi.

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CCEA approved inclusion of onion and potato under Essen-

tial Commodities Act, 1955

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 2 July 2014 approved the
inclusion of onion and potato under the purview of stock holding limits under the
Essential Commodities Act 1955. The inclusion will remain in force for a year. CCEA’s
decision was taken after six states, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram,
Tripura and West Bengal requested the centre for such a measure. With this inclusion,
the State governments have been empowered to undertake de-hoarding operations
of onion and potato based on local conditions, to control the prices. This de-hoarding
operations include limits/licensing requirements and others.

The decision will help in tackling the problem of price rise and improve availability of
these commodities to general public especially vulnerable sections.

Other decision taken by CCEA to tackle food price inflation

• CCEA increased the minimum export prices (MEP) of onion by 67 percent to 500
US dollar per tonne from 300 US dollars/tonne. A higher MEP would mean that
exports will become costlier and no longer profitable for traders. Earlier on 26
June 2014, the Union Government had imposed an MEP of 450 US dollars/tonne
for potato.

• It also approved additional allocation of 50 lakh tonnes of rice for distribution to

Below Poverty Line and Above Poverty Line families for the July 2014 to March
2015 period. The allocations were approved in view of the persistent demand
from States and Union Territories for more foodgrains to meet their targeted public
distribution system requirements. This will mitigate the problems of people affected
by food price inflation, particularly in States where the National Food Security Act
has not been implemented so far.

• It also approved the continuation of the scheme to modernize and strengthen

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intellectual property offices. The overall project cost would be 309.6 crore rupees.
The scheme will address the increase in the number of filings of intellectual property
applications.

The reasons for such a move by CCEA

• In May 2014, inflation based on the wholesale price index rose at the quickest
pace since December 2013 to 6.01%. The increase in WPI was led by an increase
in food prices, especially that of potatoes, fruits, eggs and fish.

• In the coming months, the threat of inadequate rainfall is expected to exert further
pressure on food prices. Rainfall in June was 42% lower than normal.

• A lot of speculative elements get into the pricing of onions and potatoes and this
has a cascading impact on prices of other vegetables as well.

About Essential Commodities Act, 1955

The Essential Commodities Act, 1955 was enacted to ensure the easy availability
of essential commodities to consumers and to protect them from exploitation by
unscrupulous traders. The Act provides certain rights to maintain and increase
supplies by securing equitable distribution and availability at fair prices and they are

• Regulation and control of production

• Distribution and pricing of commodities

At present the stock limits are imposed on pulses edible oils and oilseeds till September
2014, while on rice and paddy, the stock limits are imposed till November 2014.

About Stockholding limit under ESA, 1955

A stockholding limit ensures that traders cannot stock more than a prescribed
quantum. If it is found that traders are holding more than the prescribed limit, they
can be fined and, in some cases, even prosecuted. Currently, stock limit provisions
exist for various foodgrains and cereals under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955

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ENVIRONMENT | ECOLOGY

Sneha, a White tigress, gave birth to a black cub

A white tigress named Sneha on 27 July 2014 gave birth to a melanistic (dark skinned)
cub along with other three white cubs in Nandankanan Biological Park in Odisha.
This is the first incident in the country in which a white tigress has given birth to a
black cub that too in captivity. Black tigers are usually seen in Similipal Tiger Reserve
in Mayurbhanj district of Odisha.

Five-year-old Sneha gave birth to these cubs including one black two days before
the International Tiger Day that is observed across the world on 29 July 2014. Eight-
year-old Royal Bengal tiger Manish is the father of these cubs.

Tiger Population in the Nandankanan Biological Park

Total number of tigers in the park has gone up to 27 including the latest births. The
zoo has eight white tigers of which five are females. Before the birth of these four
cubs, the park witnessed birth of three tigers on 13 January 2012. These three tigers
were born to tigress Sara and Rishi, a white tiger.

Nandankanan Biological Park

The Nandankanan Biological Park lies in the vicinity of Kanjia Lake and is adjacent
to Chandaka-Dampara Wildlife Sanctuary. Birth of white tiger from normal coloured
tigers has given a special place to Nandankanan over the world as one of the major

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host zoo for the white tigers. White tigers were born to normal coloured parents in
1980, a unique event in the world.

It is the first zoo in the country where endangered Gharials were born in captivity in
1980. Nandankanan has largest enclosures for housing Gharials and Hippoptamus.
Apart from this, it is the only zoo of India that has certain animals with itnamely

• Patas monkey (Erythrocebus patas)

• Eastern Rosella (Platycercus eximus)

• Open-billed Stork (Anastomus oscitans)

3rd Phase of Science Express Biodiversity Special flagged

off from Safdarjung Railway Station

Third phase of Science Express Biodiversity

Special (SEBS) was flagged off from Safdarjung
Railway Station in New Delhi on 28 July 2014.
The train was flagged off by Union Minister of
State (Independent Charge) Environment, Forests
and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar along
with Minister of Railways, D. V. Sadananda
Gowda and Union Minister of State (Independent
Charge) Science and Technology, Dr. Jitendra
Singh.

In this phase, the train is envisaged to cover

57 locations over a span of 194 days on Broad
Gauge network of Indian Railways across the entire length & breadth of the country.
The present phase would culminate on 4th February, 2015 at Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

The Union Minister of Forests and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar on the
occasion also announced that an advertising campaign would be initiated so as to

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sensitize and educate the masses on the nuances of the rich biodiversity of the
country.

The state-of the- art exhibition aboard SEBS aims to create wide-spread awareness
on the unique biodiversity of India, Climate Change, Water, Energy Conservation and
related issues among various sections of the society, especially students.

First Launch of Science Express Biodiversity Special

• The Science Express Biodiversity Special was launched in the year 2012 and
since its launch; the train has covered 114 stations and travelled across more than
37000 kms in the first two phases.

• Phase-I of the SEBS was launched on World Environment Day (5 June 2012) from
Safdarjung Railway Station, New Delhi. Phase-II of the SEBS was launched on 9
April 2013 from Safdarjung Railway Station, New Delhi.

• It covered 62 locations and over 22 lakh people, including 5 lakh students and
29000 teachers from 6005 schools.

About Science Express Biodiversity Special

• The Science Express Biodiversity Special is an innovative exhibition on wheels.
The train aims to create awareness amongst masses in general and youth in
particular about the exceptional biodiversity of India.

• SEBS is a flagship venture of Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate

Change, Union Ministry of Science and Technology and Indian Railways.

• The train explores the journey of learning, spreading the message of Bio diversity
conservation.

• The train was the brand ambassador of COP 11.

• It showcased the rich biodiversity of India to delegates from over 190 countries.

• The train was stationed at Secunderabad in October 2012 to facilitate visit of

delegates to the Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biodiversity.

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• This was one of the world’s most visited train exhibitions.

• Within India, it had gone to the highest rail track possible for broad gauge, and
also covered some extreme locations in the north, south, east and west.

Importance of the Science Express Biodiversity Special Train Initiative

The initiative is said to be was unique and innovative. It provides for the platform to
showcase the achievements of science to the people.

The current decade (2011-2020) has been declared as the United Nations Decade on
Biodiversity and United Nations Decade for Deserts and Fight against Desertification.
The Science Express Biodiversity Special train therefore primarily addresses the
theme of biodiversity.

SC permitted UP government to cut 697 trees of protected

forests in the Taj Trapezium zone

The Supreme Court on 23 July 2013 permitted Uttar Pradesh government to cut
697 trees spread across four hectares of protected forests in theTaj Trapezium zone.
The green signal was given to pave way for the widening and four-laning of Agra-
Shamshabad-Rajakhera Road.

The 12-km long stretch serves as a link to Taj Mahal from Yamuna Expressway and
connects the Agra-Gwalior-Mumbai National Highwayor National Highway 3 (NH-3).
The four-laning and widening of the road is estimated at 103.27 crore rupees.

The green signal was given by a Special Bench of SC comprising of Justice T.S.
Thakur and Justuice C.S. Nagappan.

However, the SC Bench laid down some stringent afforestation conditions which
needs to be met before the cutting of trees start. It directed the UP government to
plant 10 times the felled trees in suitable places which has to be identified by the
State Forest Department. It also directed that State government should get a formal

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approval under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 and deposit the net present value
of the forest land.

Background
The issue of felling of trees in the Taj Trapezium zone came to the SC bench in
November 2013. During that time, SC asked its Central Empowered Committee (CEC)
to look into the issue of either safeguarding the trees or favour the development
project. The CEC on 5 February 2014 filed its report mentioning that the project was
in public interest and there is no other viable alternative to cutting the trees. Even the
Union Ministry of Environment and Forest had also gave the in-principle approval to
the development project.

In light of the above developments, SC found no reason to disfavour the project and
allowed UP government to cut 697 trees.

National Highway 3
National Highway 3, or NH 3, commonly referred to as the Mumbai–Agra Highway
or AB Road, is a major Indian National Highway that runs through the states of Uttar
Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra in India. NH 3 runs for a
distance of 1,190 km.

The stretch between Agra and Gwalior is marked as the North-South corridor by the
National Highways Authority of India. In greater Mumbai area, the highway is also
known as Eastern Express Highway which continues as Mumbai Nashik Expressway.

Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ)

Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ) is a defined area of 10400 sq km around the Taj Mahal
to protect the monument from pollution. The TTZ comprises over 40 protected
monuments including three World Heritage Sites — the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and
Fatehpur Sikri. TTZ is so named since it is located around the Taj Mahal and is shaped
like a trapezoid.

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On 30 December 1996, the Supreme Court banned the use of coal/ coke in industries
located in the TTZ with a mandate for switching over from coal/ coke to natural gas,
and relocating them outside the TTZ or shutting down.

On 13 May 1998, Union Ministry of Environment and Forest constituted Taj Trapezium
Zone Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority headed Commissioner, Agra Division
under sub-sections (1) and (3) of section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

Typhoon Matmo struck east of Taiwan

Typhoon Matmo struck east of Taiwan on 22 July 2014. Matmo, with a wind gust
of 173 kilometres per hour, was the first tropical storm of 2014 to make landfall on
Taiwan.

Due to strong winds and heavy downpour brought by Matmo, roofs were tore off
and trees were uprooted. This resulted into interruption of rail and air service and
closure of financial centres. Besides, the Matmo also left nine people injured.

Typhoon Matmo slightly weakened before entering the Taiwan Strait and headed
towards China’s southeastern Fujian province. Yet the residents of Taiwan have been
asked by authorities to take precautions because despite moving away from the
island, the typhoon was forecasted to spark more rains in the mountainous areas of
the southeast.

In 2013, Typhoon Soulik had struck Taiwan which brought torrential rains and powerful
winds and left people dead and at least 100 injured.

In 2009 Typhoon Morakot hit Taiwan which left more than 600 dead. The Morakot
was the worst storm to hit Taiwan in half a century.

About Typhoon
The English word typhoon originates from the Japanese word taifū. Typhoon is the
regional name in the northwest Pacific for a severe tropical cyclone, whereas hurricane

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is the regional term in the northeast Pacific and northern Atlantic.

Intensity classifications by Japan’s Meteorological Agency:

Tropical depression: Wind speeds not exceeding 33 knots or 61 km per hour

Tropical storm: Wind speeds exceeding 34 knots or 63 km per hour

Severe tropical storm: wind speeds of 48 knots or 89 km per hour

Typhoon: Wind speeds of 64 knots or 119 km per hour

From 2009 the Hong Kong Observatory started to further divide typhoons
into three different classifications:
Typhoon: Wind speeds between 64-79 knots or 118-149 km per hour

Severe typhoon: Wind speeds of 80 knots or 150 km per hour

Super typhoon: Wind speeds of at least 100 knots or 190 km per hour

If measured on Saffir-Simpson scale used by National Hurricane Center and Central

Pacific Hurricane Center of US, then a typhoon has a speed of 130 knots or 241 km
per hour and is equivalent of a strong Category 4 storm.

Nagoya Protocol on Biodiversity Received Necessary

Ratifications

The Nagoya Protocol, in the third week of July 2014, received the 50th instrument
of ratification which was mandatory for it. The Instrument of Ratification will become
effective on 12 October 2014, i.e. 90 days after the completion of formalities required
for ratification. The protocol is meant for creation of incentives for conservation of
biodiversity.

Ratification of Nagoya Protocol: A Crucial Step for Achieving Global Aichi

Biodiversity Targets

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Union Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate explained receiving the ratification
of Nagoya Protocol as crucial step meant for achievement of first of the international
Aichi Biodiversity Targets. This also explained the leadership role played by India in
context with biodiversity, on the global podium.

India as CoP President and Entry into Landmark International Treaty

It is important to note here that India was the host to Convention on Biodiversity
in October 2012 in Hyderabad. Also, India, at present, is the President of the
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The early entry
into this international treaty called Nagoya Protocol had therefore been of paramount
importance to India as the President of CoP.

India’s Efforts in getting the treaty Signed

The Nagoya Protocol was ratified by only 44 countries as of May 2014. But India
took the issue to UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi in June 2014 and through
negotiations, got its way to signing of the treaty.

About Nagoya Protocol

• The Nagoya Protocol is primarily an international agreement.

• The aim of the protocol is to share the benefits which arise from the use of genetic
resources in a fair and equitable way.

• The Protocol is also meant to create incentives, which in turn, shall be used for
conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources.

• The Nagoya Protocol is meant to enhance the contribution of biodiversity to

development as well as human being.

• The Protocol was adopted by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on
Biological Diversity at its 10th meeting in 2010 in Nagoya, Japan.

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Australia’s Senate voted to repeal Carbon tax

Australia’s Senate on 17 July 2014 voted to repeal the carbon tax. The Australian
Senate voted by 39 to 32 votes to repeal the tax. With this Australia became the first
country in the world to abolish carbon tax.

The repealing of the carbon tax will now be replaced with Direct Action Plan, if Senate
passes it. Direct Action Plan is a 2.55 billion Australian dollars taxpayer-funded plan
under which industries will be paid to reduce emissions and use cleaner energy.

The carbon tax was passed in July 2012 by the previous Labor government headed
by Julia Gillard. The tax was levied on the 348 biggest polluters. The tax saw 348 of
Australia’s biggest companies pay 23 Australian dollars (22.60 US dollars) for each
tonne of CO2 they emitted.

Comment
The repeal of carbon tax is a major victory for Prime Minister Tony Abbott of Liberal-
National coalition. He had promised to repeal the carbon tax in his election manifesto
in June 2013. The repeal would give a fillip to the Abbott government’s Economic
Action Strategy.

However, the repeal of carbon tax has been criticized by the environmentalists. They
cite it as a major setback in fighting global warming and global CO2 trading. This
is because Australia is one of the world’s biggest carbon emitters on a per capita
basis and has world’s third largest emissions trading scheme (ETS) after Europe and
Guangdong.

It might also affect Australia’s Renewable Energy Target scheme (ETS). Australia’s
ETS was designed to ensure that 20 per cent of Australia’s electricity comes from
renewable by 2020.

Australia also had committed unconditionally to reducing its overall emissions by 5

per cent compared with 2000 levels by 2020.

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About Carbon Tax

A carbon tax is a tax on energy sources which emit carbon dioxide. It is a pollution
tax, which some economists favour because they tax a bad rather than a good (such
as income). Carbon taxes address a negative externality. Externalities arise when an
individual production or consumption activity imposes costs or benefits on others.

By placing a cost on these negative externalities the underlying purpose of a carbon

tax is to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and thereby slow global warming.

The first carbon tax was enacted in Finland in 1990, with a small tax on fuels (except
for biofuels including peat).

Typhoon Rammasun struck large parts of the Philippines

Typhoon Rammasun
smashed large parts of
the Philippines on 15
July 2014. This is the
first major typhoon of
the season striking the
Philippines.

Churning across the

country, it passed
through capital Manila
and killed at least five people.

The gushing winds at a speed of 250 kilometers per hour ripped down trees, tore
roofs off houses, overturned cars, uprooted electrical posts and brought rain up to
16 cm.

Hundreds of thousands were sheltered in evacuation centers, as ferocious winds of

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Typhoon Rammasun smashed large part of the country.

Rammasun typhoon, locally known as Glenda made its landfall near Legazpi City in
the country’s east coast from Pacific Ocean. It was category 3 typhoon.

Central Ground Water Board & IIRS signed MoU

Central Ground Water Board and Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS) on 9 July
2014 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to facilitate a collaborative
study to assess the impact of ground water abstraction on land subsidence in
Northern India.

The study involves use of state of art technologies such as Space borne Geodetic
observations on land subsidence, predictive modelling, inter-comparison of land
subsidence, ground water depletion and space based gravity anomaly etc.

The Project results include land subsidence information for selected cities of northern
India and regional groundwater depletion scenario along with recharge assessment.

About Central Ground Water Board

Central Ground Water Board is one of the scientific organisations in the Ministry of
Water Resources. The organisation’s responsibility is to advise the Ministry on all
matters related to Ground Water Resources in India.

About Indian Institute of Remote Sensing

• IIRS formerly was known as Indian Photo-interpretation Institute (IPI).

• It was established in 1966, with the collaboration of the Government of The

Netherlands along with the help of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation
(ITC) of the University of Twente (International Institute for Aerospace Survey and
Earth Sciences, The Netherlands).

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Hurricane Arthur hit the coast of North Carolina

Hurricane Arthur hit the coast of North Carolina on 4 July 2014. It made landfall on
the southern end of the barrier island with a speed of 100 miles per hour.

The Category-2 Hurricane Arthur is the first hurricane of the season. It flooded some
homes and businesses, trees were toppled and initially thousands were without
electricity.

Pattern of naming storms that can graduate to hurricanes

The process of naming storms started in 1953 and since then it has continued. Name
of storms are kept in alphabetical order in which letters Q, U, X, Y and Z has been
omitted. The international committee of World Meteorological Organization (WMO),
an agency of the United Nations, is the in charge that names the Atlantic tropical
storms that sometimes become hurricanes. Whereas, the lists originated by the
National Hurricane Center.

The process of naming the storms consider six years of lists and the list is reused
every six years (2008 list is being used in 2014). Earlier, the name list featured only
women’s names but in 1979 the list was updated and saw men’s names also. These
names are alternate with the women’s names.

Categorisation of Storms
The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale categorizes storms based on their sustained
wind speed and estimates property damage.

Category 1: 74 to 95 mph. Very dangerous winds will produce some damage

Category 2: 96 to 110 mph. Extremely dangerous winds will cause extensive damage

Category 3: 111 to 129 mph. Devastating damage will occur

Category 4: 130 to 156 mph. Catastrophic damage will occur

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Category 5: 157 mph and higher. Catastrophic damage will occur

Bor Wildlife Sanctuary of Maharashtra to be the country’s

47th Tiger Reserve

Union Ministry of Environment and

Forests (MoEF) on 1 July 2014 notified
Bor Wildlife Sanctuary as Tiger Reserve.
With this, Bor Wildlife sanctuary will
become the 47th Tiger Reserve of India
and sixth Tiger Reserve of Maharashtra.
The approval aimed at strengthening
the conservation efforts of the national
animal.

In its notification the MoEF declared

13812 hectare area of Bor Sanctuary,
New Bor Sanctury and the New Bor
Extended Wildlife Sanctuary as a core,
critical tiger habitat. The sanctuary will also act as an important corridor between
Tadoba-Andhari and Pench Tiger Reserves that lies on the boundary of Nagpur and
Wardha districts.

The notification of Union Government will help the sanctuary to receive funding and
technical support to strengthen tiger conservation and eco-development and benefit
of local communities residing along the border of the reserve.

The proposal to notify Bor Wildlife Sanctuary in Wardha district as Tiger Reserve was
forwarded by Maharashtra Government. The other Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra are
Melghat, Pench, Tadoba, Nagzira and Sahyadri.

Bor Wildlife Sanctuary notified by Maharashtra government in 1970 is rich in

biodiversity with a wide variety of flora and fauna that includes tigers, co-predators,

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prey animals and birds.

Apart from it, the Ministry also approved the recommendations of a technical committee
of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to establish ecological baselines
for long term monitoring of tigers in the Dibang Wildlife Sanctuary and adjoining
landscapes in Arunachal Pradesh. The proposal for Dibang Wildlife Sanctuary was
mooted by the Wildlife Institute of India and would also conduct monitoring of co-
predators and prey species apart from tigers.

About Project Tiger

Project Tiger was launched in the year 1973 by the Government of India led by the
then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The project was initiated to save the endangered
species of tiger in the country. The project was started with nine (9) reserves in 1973-
74 and till now it has gone up to 47.

Aim of Project Tiger

To aid and facilitate the breeding of tigers within a safe environment and then transport
these tigers further afield so that the world’s population can be increased.

The Project Tiger is controlled by the National Tiger Conservation Authority, which is
under the umbrella of a Steering Committee.

Minister of State (Independent Charge), Environment, Forests & Climate Change -

Prakash Javadekar, he is also the a Chairperson of the National Tiger Conservation
Authority

Due to concerted efforts under Project Tiger, at present India has the distinction of
having the maximum number of tigers in the world (1706) as per 2010 assessment,
when compared to the 13 tiger range countries. The 2010 country level tiger
assessment has also shown a 20% increase of tigers in the country (from 1411 in
2006 to 1706 in 2010).

Tiger Reserves are spread out in 17 of our tiger range states. This amounts to around

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2.08% of the geographical area of our country. The tiger reserves are constituted on
a core/buffer strategy.

Nagarjunasagar Tiger Reserve is the largest tiger reserve in terms of area.

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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity set off-Earth

roving distance record

NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover

Opportunity set the record of
maximum distance covered by a
rover. It set the record when it
travelled a distance of 157 feet
(48 meters) on 27 July 2014 and
with this the total distance (or
odometry) covered by Opportunity
rover stood at 25.01 miles (40.25
kilometers). The previous off-
Earth roving record was held by
Lunokhod 2 rover of erstwhile
USSR (Soviet Union).

The distance covered by Mars rover Opportunity in July 2014 brought it closer to the
western rim of Endeavour Crater. The Opportunity rover had reached the Endeavour
crater in 2011 after covering a distance of 20 miles (32 kilometers), where it examined
outcrops on the crater’s rim containing clay and sulfate-bearing minerals.

If the rover succeeds in covering the marathon distance of 26.2 miles (about 42.2

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kilometers) then it will reach the next major investigation site named as Marathon
Valley by the mission scientists.

The Mars Exploration Rover Project is one element of NASA’s ongoing and future Mars
missions preparing for a human mission to the planet in the 2030s. Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL) manages the project for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in
Washington.

Mars Exploration Rover Project Manager - John Callas, of NASA’s JPL in Pasadena,
California

About Russian Lunokhod 2 rover

Russian Lunokhod 2 rover was a successor of the first Lunokhod mission in 1970 and
it landed on Earth’s moon on 15 January 1973. This rover drove a distance of about
24.2 miles (39 kilometers) in less than five months, according to calculations recently
made using images from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) cameras that
reveal Lunokhod 2’s tracks.

Only 8.2 percent of Human Genome functional: Oxford

University researchers

The researchers from Oxford University in their study found that only 8.2 percent of
the human genome are presently functional or doing something important.

The study was authored by Chris M. Rands, Stephen Meader, Chris P. Ponting and
Gerton Lunter and was published in journal PLOS Geneticson 24 July 2014. The
study was funded by the UK Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust.

Findings of the Study

• There is an abundance of genome sequences with short lived lineage-specific
functionality

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• Most of the sequence involved in the functional “turnover” is non-coding genome

sequence because as species become more closely paired, the mutually
constrained genome sequence increases within non-coding sequences.

• Half of present day non-coding constrained sequence has been gained or lost in
approximately the last 130 million years

• Constrained DNase 1 hypersensitivity sites, promoters and untranslated regions

have been more evolutionarily stable than long non-coding RNA loci which have
turned over especially rapidly.

• Much of the short-lived constrained sequences are not detected by models

optimized for wider pan-mammalian conservation.

• Protein coding sequence has been highly stable, with an estimated half-life of
over a billion years

• 8.2 percent (7.1–9.2 percent) of the human genome is presently subject to negative
selection and thus is likely to be functional, while only 2.2 percent has maintained
constraint in both human and mouse since these species diverged.

• These results reveal that the evolutionary history of the human genome has been
highly dynamic, particularly for its non-coding yet biologically functional fraction.

Purpose of the Study

The study was conducted to clearly identify what percentage of human genome
sequence is functional or is of some use since the complete human DNA sequence
was mapped ten years ago. Although Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE)
project in 2012 had identified 80 percent of human genome to be functional but it
was mired in controversy.

It was argued that the biochemical definition of function was too broad. This was just
because an activity on DNA occurs; it does not necessarily have a consequence. For
functionality, one needs to demonstrate that an activity matters.

Nearly 99% of the human genome does not encode proteins, and while there recently

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has been extensive biochemical annotation of the remaining non-coding fraction, it

remains unclear whether or not the bulk of these DNA sequences have important
functional roles.

EU extended sanctions on Russia in wake of MH-17 incident

European Union on 25 July 2014 extended the sanctions on Russia in wake of the
Malaysian Airplane MH-17 crash that happened over eastern Ukraine in third week
of July 2014.

The sanctions were approved by the Committee of Permanent Representatives of

the European Union (EU) at a meet in Brussels, Belgium.

The extended sanctions include names of 15 individuals and 18 companies from

Russia and Ukraine. These names have been added to the existing list of 72 individuals
and two companies against whom visa bans and asset freezes have been imposed.

The chief names among these include the head of the Russian Federal Security
Service Alexander Bortnikov and Sergei Beseda, head of the FSB department that
oversees international operations and intelligence activity. The names include four
members of Russia’s Security Council.

The imposition of sanctions on Russia started with the annexation of Crimea in

eastern Ukraine by Russia in February 2014.

IWGSC scientist’s unveiled genetic blueprint of bread wheat

The scientists at the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC)

on 17 July 2014 unveiled the genetic blueprint of bread wheat. The scientists at
IWGSC, to which three research institutes from India are also a partner, published the
first draft sequence of the wheat genome.

The importance of gene sequencing of wheat

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• The unveiling of genome sequence of wheat will make possible the increase in
wheat productivity and better resistance to climate change.

• It will facilitate mapping and cloning of genes of agronomic importance in much

lesser time and at a cheaper cost due to recognition of many gene markers during
the sequencing.

• Decoding the wheat genome would facilitate understanding of the gene function.

• It will ensure food security and the development of sustainable agriculture in the
context of climate change and growing population.

The efforts to accomplish this task were first formulated in 2005 when an International
Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium was formed. There are 15 countries in the
consortium including India.

The contribution of India

Three leading institutes — Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana; National
Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology, New Delhi; and South Campus Delhi
University with the financial support from the department of biotechnology (DBT),
were entrusted with the responsibility of decoding one chromosome designated as
2A.

The chromosome 2A is about 900 million bases in size and is about one-third the size
of the human genome and 2.5 times the size of the rice genome.

One-in-Three Alzheimer’s cases are preventable: Cambridge

University Research

A research report from the University of Cambridge said that one in the three cases of
Alzheimer’s disease worldwide is preventable. The research report is titled Potential
for primary prevention of Alzheimer’s disease: an analysis of population-based data.

The study was published in the August 2014 edition of the journal Lancet Neurology.

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The study was led by Professor Caroline Brayne, from the Cambridge Institute of
Public Health at the University of Cambridge.

The study was funded by National Institute for Health Research Collaboration
for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care for Cambridgeshire and
Peterborough.

Main Findings of the Study

• Lack of exercise, smoking, depression and poor education are the main risk factors
of the disease, however, age was still the biggest risk factor

• The highest estimated Population-Attributable Risk (PAR) worldwide was for low
educational attainment

• The combined PAR for the seven risk factors was 49.4 percent which equates to
16.8 million attributable cases of 33.9 million cases worldwide

• The seven risk factors identified in the study are: Physical inactivity; Depression;
Smoking; Low educational attainment; Diabetes; Mid-life hypertension and Mid-
life obesity

• These seven risk factors are responsible for one-third or 30 percent of the Alzheimer
cases worldwide

• The number of the affected people can be reduced by reducing these factors

• Reducing each factor by 10 percent will reduce the prevalence of Alzheimer by

about nine million or 8.3 percent by 2050

• It also suggested that more than 106 million people of the world will be living with
the disease by 2050. The predicted number is three times more that the number
affected (34 million) in 2010

• Physical inactivity was the main cause for the largest proportion of cases of
Alzheimer’s in the US, UK and the rest of Europe

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SPORTS
Sabine Lisicki sets record of fastest serve in women’s tennis

German Sabine Lisicki on 30 June 2014 created a record of fastest serve in the
women’s tennis. The world No29 Lisicki set the record by serving at 131 miles per hour
during the first-round loss in the Bank of the West Classic Stanford, USA. However,
she lost the game played against Ana Ivanovic 7-6 (7-2) 6-1.

The previous record of fastest serve in women’s tennis was held by Venus Williams
achieved at the 2007 US Open, at a speed of 129 miles per hour.

Apart from this, the fastest serve record in the men’s side is held by Australian Sam
Groth at a pace of 163.4 miles per hour. This record was created at a Challenger
event in South Korea in 2012.

Jacques Kallis announced retirement from all formats of

International cricket

Jacques Kallis, the South African all-rounder on 30 July 2014 announced his retirement
from all-formats of International cricket, viz., One Day Internationals and T20s. In
December 2013, he had announced his retirement from Test cricket after playing the
Test series against India. But he would continue to play further for club cricket like
Sydney Thunder and Kolkata Knight Riders.

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About Jacques Kallis

• He is considered as one of the greatest all-rounder of all time as a right-handed
batsman and right-arm fast-medium swing bowler

• He played 166 Tests (scored 13289 runs), 328 ODIs (scored 11579 runs) and 25
T20s (scored 666 runs) in career spanning 19 years

• He is the only cricketer in the history of the game to score more than 11000 runs
and take 250 wickets in both one-day and Test match cricket

• With this 40th Test century in January 2011, he became the second highest Test
century maker after Sachin Tendulkar who has 51 Test centuries to his name.

• He made his international Test debut in December 1995 in a Durban Test against
England

• He made his ODI debut against England on 9 January 1996 at Cape Town

CSF agreed to reinstate shooting Pair events in 2018 CWG

on India’s request

General Assembly of the Commonwealth Shooting Federation (CSF) in its meeting

in Glasgow on 28 July 2014 agreed to reinstate shooting pair events in the 2018
Commonwealth Games (CWG) to be held in Australia. The CSF agreement came
after India pushed for reinstatement of the shooting pair events.

Apart from this, Baljit Singh Sethi, the National Rifles Association Advisor was elected
unopposed as Vice President of the CSF at the General Assembly meeting in Glasgow.

The General Assembly has also decided to bring back two pistol events, which will
increase the number of pistol matches for men to five instead of three. The two
events that will be brought back are:

• Centre Fire Pistol

• Standard Pistol

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Background
The pair events of shooting were removed from the programme of the Commonwealth
Games in 2014, which led to a loss to India. Its removal from the Glasgow edition
has brought down the number of medals in Commonwealth Games. In the 2010
Delhi Commonwealth Games, Indian shooters won 30 medals (14 gold, 11 silver and
five bronze) out of total 101 medals (38 gold, 27 silver and 36 bronze) won by India.
This helped India complete the game at second spot. Whereas, in the pair events of
shooting, India in 2010 won eight gold, five silver and three bronze medals from 20
events which was dropped at Glasgow Games

Cycling: Italian Vincenzo Nibali won 101st edition of Tour de

France

Vincenzo Nibali of Italy on 27 July 2014 won the 101st edition of the Tour de France
in cycling. To win the cycling championship, he finished the final stage in Paris. Nibali
led the race for eighteen days out of twenty-one.

Nibali is the first Italian in 16 years to accomplish cycling’s greatest race. The last
Italian to win the Tour de France was Marco Pantani in 1998. With this win, Nibali
became the sixth man to win all three Grand Tours, the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia
and Vuelta a Espana.

He completed the Tour with a margin of 7 minutes 37 seconds over runner-up Jean-
Christophe Peraud, which second largest margin, since Jan Ullrich who won by
nine minutes in 1997. Ullrich margin was of 9 minutes, when he defeated second-
placed Richard Virenque in 1997. On the other hand, Nibali’s win equaled to Lance
Armstrong’s win over Swiss rider Alex Zulle in 1999, which was nullified for doping.

Apart from this, Jean-Christophe Peraud and Thibaut Pinot completed the race at
second and third position respectively. Whereas, Germany’s Marcel Kittel won the
traditional final stage sprint finish.

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Tour de France 2014

The 101st Tour de France 2014 started on 5 July 2014 and ended on 27 July 2014.
The 101st edition was conducted in 21 stages and covered a total distance of 3664
kilometers. The stages were

• 9 flat stages

• 5 hill stages

• 6 mountain stages with 5 altitude finishes

• 1 individual time-trial stage

• 2 rest days

The tour saw 9 new stage cities and they were Leeds, Harrogate, York, Sheffield,
Cambridge, Ypres, Oyonnax, Risoul, Maubourguet Pays du Val d’Adour.

Abhinav Bindra won Gold medal in Men’s 10m Air Rifle at the
2014 Commonwealth Games

Olympic Gold medalist Abhinav

Bindra on 25 July 2014 won the
Gold medal in Men’s 10-m Air Rifle
event at the 2014 Commonwealth
Games in Glasgow, Scotland He
shot 205.3 points to win the Gold.

The Silver medal was won by

Abdullah Baki of Bangladesh and
the Bronze medal was won by Daniel Rivers of England.

This was Bindra’s first individual Gold medal in Commonwealth Games. Earlier he had
won Gold medal in pairs in Manchester (2002), Melbourne (2006) and Delhi (2010).

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So far he had only won Silver medal in the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games in
individual category.

Women’s 10-m Air Pistol

In the Women’s 10-m Air Pistol event, India won its first medal of shooting in the 2014
Games. The medal came in the form of Silver medal won by 16-year-old Malaika
Goel. She shot 197.1 points to win the Silver.

Malaika, currently ranked 15th in the World, hails from Ludhiana in Punjab and is a
product of Olympic Gold Quest.

The Gold in the Women’s 10-m Air Pistol event was won by Shun Xie Teo of Singapore
and the Bronze medal was won by Dorothy Ludwig of England.

About Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ)

Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ) was founded in 2001 by former billiards player Geet
Sethi and badminton player Prakash Padukone. It was founded to support athletes
in winning Olympic gold medals.

OGQ is a program of the Foundation for Promotion of Sports and Games which is a
Not for Profit Company under Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956.

OGQ aims to create a level playing field for our athletes to enable them to be competitive
at the highest level of sport. OGQ’s first test was the London 2012 Olympics. 4 out of
the 6 Indian medalists were supported by OGQ.

Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014 got off at the Celtic

Park in Glasgow in Scotland

The Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014 got off at the Celtic Park in Glasgow in
Scotland on 23 July 2014. The 2014 Games are the 20th Commonwealth Games.

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The Game was declared open by the British Queen Elizabeth II after more than
two hours of colourful opening ceremony. In the opening ceremony the crowd was
enthralled by performances of singer Rod Stewart, Susan Boyle and violinist Nicola
Benedetti

During the ceremony a minute’s silence was observed in memory of the 298 people
who died when flight MH17 crashed in the Ukraine.

The players’ parade was led by India, by the virtue of being the previous hosts of
Commonwealth Games in 2010. 2012 London Olympics silver medallist shooter Vijay
Kumar led the Indian contingent.

India was followed by Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Malaysia, Pakistan and
Brunei. The parade ended with the current host Scotland led by Judo player Euan
Burton.

About Commonwealth Games 2014

• In the 2014 Commonwealth Games, 4500 athletes from 71 nations will be
competing for 261 medals spread over 17 sports discipline.

• For the first time, 22 para-sport events will be contested in five different sports
(athletics, cycling, lawn bowls, swimming and weightlifting). Para track cycling will
be held for the very first time

• Archery and tennis from the 2010 games were replaced on the sports program
with triathlon (for the first time since 2006) and judo (first time since 2002).

• Among sport disciplines removed from 2010 include the walking events in athletics,
synchronised swimming and Greco-Roman wrestling, while mountain biking will
be contested for the first time since 2006.

• Shooting medal events also dropped from 44 in 2010 to 19.

• The closing ceremony will take place at Hampden Stadium Aug 3.

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Glasgow Games Mascot

Clyde is the mascot of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. The mascot is by a
real ship called the SS Cameronia built on the Clyde in 1920. Clyde is a cheeky wee
thistle who has been nurtured by seafaring Scot, Captain Bristle.

Glasgow Games Logo

The logo depicts two sprinters woven into a tartan motif, representing Scotland.
The logo also vaguely resembles the Clyde Auditorium, one of Glasgow’s most
recognisable landmarks. The pattern, forming the Roman numerals XX, also represents
20th edition of the Commonwealth Games.

The official logo for the 2014 Commonwealth Games was unveiled on Commonwealth
Day, 8 March 2010 and was designed by Marque Creative

Queen’s Baton Relay

Queen’s Baton Relay was launched on 9 October 2013 at Buckingham Palace. Since
then the Baton travelled for 288 days covering 190000 kilometers across 70 nations
to reach the Celtic Park on 23 July 2014.

The Queen’s Baton Relay is a much loved tradition of the Commonwealth Games
and symbolises the coming together of all Commonwealth nations and territories in
preparation for the four-yearly festival of sport and culture.

Five big names missing from Glasgow 2014

• Heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill, England: 2012 Olympic champion and former
world champion

• Sprinter Yohan Blake, Jamaica: Olympic silver medallist in 100m and 200m and
former 100m world champion

• Cyclist Mark Cavendish, Isle of Man: Former world champion on track and road,

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plus multi-stage winner in Tour de France

• Cyclist Becky James, Wales: Double gold medallist at 2013 World Track Cycling
Championships

• Heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson, England: Gold medallist at 2012 World

Junior Championships

Important Facts
• Scotland is staging the Commonwealth Games for third time, after Edinburgh
played host in 1970 and 1986.

• The first Games were held in 1930 in Hamilton, Canada, where 400 athletes from
11 countries took part in 59 events across six sports.

• Only six teams have attended every Games: Australia, Canada, England, New
Zealand, Scotland and Wales

• Australia has won the most gold medals - 804 - and are the only team to have
amassed more than 2000 medals.

• Australia has staged the four-yearly event four times as have Canada.

Delhi Commonwealth Games 2010

• The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX Commonwealth
Games, were held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 2010.

• A total of 6081 athletes from 71 Commonwealth nations and dependencies

competed in 21 sports and 272 events, making it the largest Commonwealth
Games to date.

• It was the first time that the Commonwealth Games were held in India and the
second time it was held in Asia after Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1998.

• This also marked the first time a Commonwealth Republic hosted the games.

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• Official mascot: Shera

• Official song: Jiyo Utho Bado Jeeto composed by A.R. Rahman.

• The final medal tally was led by Australia. The host nation India achieved its best
performance ever at the Games, finishing second overall.

• India won 101 medals in total comprising of 38 Gold, 27 Silver and 36 Bronze

Weightlifters Sukhen Dey & K Sanjita Chanu won Gold Medal on Day 1 of
Commonwealth Games 2014
Weightlifters Sukhen Dey and K Sanjita Chanu on 24 July 2014 clinched a Gold
Medal each in weightlifting in the 20th Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.
In all, India won seven medals on the first day of Games in Glasgow, Scotland.

In the men’s 56kg contest, Sukhen Dey lifted a total of 248kg at the Clyde Auditorium.
In the women’s 48kg weightlifting, K Sanjita Chanu won with a total lift of 173kg,

Other medal winners from India

S Mirabai Chanu: Silver medal (Weightlifting, Women’s 48 kg)

Ganaesh Mali: Bronze medal (Weightlifting, Men’s 56 kg)

Navjot Chana: Silver medal (Judo, Men’s 60 kg)

Shushila Likmabam: Silver medal (Judo, Women’s 48 kg)

Kalpana Thoudam: Bronze medal (Judo, Women’s 52 kg)

Records Established on the First Day

In the meanwhile, Australia’s female swimmers set a new 4x100m freestyle relay
world record of 3min 30:98sec as they retained their Commonwealth Games title in
style.

The first Gold medal of the 20th Commonwealth Games was won by Jodie Stimpson
of England in women’s triathlon.

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Indian tennis star Sania Mirza appointed as Brand Ambas-

sador of Telangana

Indian tennis star Sania Mirza was appointment as Brand Ambassador of Telangana
on 22 July 2014. Sania Mirza will promote the new state’s interests in India and
abroad.

The letter of appointment and a cheque of one crore rupees was handed over to
Sania Mirza by the Chief Minister of Telangana K Chandrasekhar Rao in Hyderabad.

About Sania Mirza

• Born in Mumbai on 15 November 1986 and
brought up in Hyderabad, she turned Pro
in 2003

• She is the highest ranked female tennis

player ever from India, with a career high
ranking of 27 in singles and 5 in doubles

• She is the first Indian woman to win a WTA

title. She won it at Hyderabad in 2005.

• She also is the first Indian woman to reach

Round 3 of a Grand Slam at Australian Open in 2005

• She is also first Indian woman to crack Top 50 in 2005

• She is the first Indian female player to surpass 1 million US dollars in career
earnings

• In all she has won 20 WTA doubles titles

• She also has won two Grand Slams in mixed doubles, viz., Australian Open (2012)
and French Open (2009). In both the finals she paired with Mahesh Bhupathi.

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Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg won 2014 German Grand Prix

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg of Germany on 20 July 2014 won the German Grand
Prix. This is his first German GP and his fourth win of 2014.The race was held at the
Hockenheimring near Hockenheim in the Germany.

With this, Rosberg became the first German to triumph at Hockenheim since Michael
Schumacher won in 2006.

William-Mercedes driver Valterri Bottas secured second place whereas Mercedes

driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain secured third place.

After the German Grand Prix, Rosberg leads the championship standings with 190
points, with Hamilton on 176 points and Daniel Ricciardo third with 106 points.

After the German GP, the team standings was led by Mercedes with 366 points
followed by Red Bull Racing-Renault at 188 points and Williams-Mercedes at 121
points.

German Grand Prix 2014 is the tenth round of the 2014 Formula One season, and
marked the 75th running of the German Grand Prix.

Irishman Rory McIlroy won British Golf Open 2014

Irishman Rory McIlroy won the British Golf Open Championship 2014 held at Royal
Liverpool Golf course in Holyake, United Kingdom on 20 July 2014.

Spain’s Sergio Garcia (L) and US golfer Rickie Fowler finished two strokes behind
McIlory to finish at second position.

The 25-year-old McIlory from Northern Ireland won the championship with a 17-under
271. With this McIlroy joined golfers Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus to win three of
the four majors in golf that complete the Grand Slam, by the time they reached 25.

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He also became the first European to have won three Majors.

Rory McIlory has so far not won the US Masters Tournament, the only Major that
eludes him in completing a Career Grand Slam. The Majors won by him are: US Open
in 2011, USPGA Championship in 2012 and the British Open in 2014.

The modern Majors (or golf championship) that makes Career Grand Slam
US Masters Tournament hosted as an invitational by and played at Augusta National
Golf Club

U.S. Open hosted by the USGA and played at various locations in the USA

The British Open hosted by The R&A and always played on a links course at various
locations in the UK

PGA Championship (USPGA) hosted by the Professional Golfers’ Association of

America and played at various locations in the USA

Only five golfers have won all four of golf’s modern Majors at any time during their
careers, an achievement which is often referred to as a Career Grand Slam.

These golfers are: Gene Sarazen (USA), Ben Hogan (USA), Gary Player (South Africa),
Jack Nicklaus (USA), and Tiger Woods (USA). Woods and Nicklaus not only have a
Career Grand Slam, they have won each of the four Majors three times.

About Men’s Grand Slam

The Grand Slam in professional golf is winning all of golf’s major championships in
the same calendar year. Bobby Jones of USA was the only golfer to have won Grand
Slam in golf. The term Grand Slam, in fact, was first applied to him in 1930. In 1930
he won four major golf events. These were: The Open Championship, the U.S. Open,
the U.S. Amateur and The Amateur Championship.

Till the founding of The Masters in 1934 (that started modern Majors) the national
amateur championships of the US and the UK were considered majors along with
the two national opens.

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Germany’s football team captain Philipp Lahm announced

retirement

Philipp Lahm, the captain of Germany’s football team

announced his retirement from international game on
18 July 2014. He announced his retirement just five
days after Germany led by him won its fourth football
World Cup beating Argentina 1-0 in the final of the
2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

The win on 13 July 2014 helped Lahm to be 20th World Cup winning captain.

However, 30-year-old Bayern Munich defender, Lahm will continue to play for his
club side, where he renewed his contract till 2018 before the World Cup. He started
playing for club side at the age of 11.

He made his debut for the senior side in 2002 and has been its captain since 2011.
He captained Bayern Munich to win 2013 Champions League, two Bundesliga title
and two DFB-Pokal Cups

About Philipp Lahm

• He became the captain of Germany football team in 2010 when Michael Ballack
was ruled out of 2010 World Cup due to injury

• He is the country’s fourth most-capped player behind Lothar Matthaus (150),

Klose (137) and Lukas Podolski (116).

• He is also the fourth Mannschaft captain to lift the World Cup Trophy, after Fritz
Walter in 1954, Franz Beckenbauer in 1974 and Matthaus in 1990.

• Lahm made his Germany debut in a 2-1 defeat of Croatia on 18 February 2004

• He was born in Munich on 11 November 1983

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Germany ranked number One in FIFA’s world rankings

Germany was ranked number One in the latest release of the FIFA’s world rankings
released on 17 July 2014. Germany improved its position by one places as it was
ranked number two behind Spain until now.

Germany led by Philipp Lahm reclaimed the top spot after a gap of 20 years after
it won the 2014 FIFA Football World Cup held in Brazil. In the final held at Rio de
Janeiro’s Maracana, it defeated Argentina 1- 0.

Argentina led by Lionel Messi was ranked second improving its position by three
places, whereas Netherlands led by Robin van Persie was placed at third place
improving its ranking by twelve places.

India was ranked 151 in the latest FIFA rankings improving its position by three places.

FIFA latest rankings

1. Germany; 2. Argentina; 3. Netherlands; 4. Colombia; 5. Belgium; 6. Uruguay; 7.
Brazil; 8. Spain; 9. Switzerland; 10. France

11. Portugal; 12. Chile; 13. Greece; 14. Italy; 15. USA; 16. Costa Rico; 17. Croatia;
18. Mexico; 19. Bosnia and Herzegovina; 20. England

Rahul Dravid elected as member of Laureus World Sports

Academy

Indian cricket legend Rahul Dravid on 16 July 2014 was elected as the member of
Laureus World Sports Academy. He is the 47th member of the Academy.

After his election to the Academy, Dravid (nicknamed The Wall) met and played cricket
with the young coaches of the Urban Academy of London’s East End. He was joined

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by fellow Academy member Steve Waugh, the Australian cricketing legend, who is
the most successful captain in the history of Test Cricket. The young coaches of the
Academy were being trained with support from Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.

Other Indian cricketing legend who is the member of the Academy is Kapil Dev.

About Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid started his Test career at Lord’s Cricket Ground in 1996 against England
scoring 95 runs. He retired from Test Cricket in 2012 becoming the fourth-highest run
scorer in Test cricket after Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting and Jacques Kallis. He is
the second Indian cricketer to score more than 10000 runs in both the Test Cricket
and ODIs. He also is the first and the only cricketer to score a century in all the ten
Test-playing nations.

Laureus World Sports Academy

The Laureus World Sports Academy is a unique association of 47 of the greatest living
sporting legends from sports as diverse as football, tennis, athletics, skateboarding
and motor racing. The members of the Academy believe in the power of sport to
break down barriers and bringing people together to improve lives of young people
around the world.

Laureus comprises
• The Laureus World Sports Academy

• The Laureus Sport for Good Foundation

• The Laureus World Sports Awards

All these three together harness the power of sport to promote social change and
celebrate sporting excellence.

Laureus Ambassadors

Laureus Ambassadors are a select group of both current and retired sportsmen and

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women who have achieved sporting greatness or made significant contributions to

the sporting community during their careers.

127th edition of Durand Cup football tournament to be held

in Goa in October 2014

The 127th edition of the Durand Cup Football Tournament will be held in Goa from
28th October 2014 to 9th November 2014. This was revealed by a Defence press
release from Mumbai on 15 July 2014.

A host of top clubs and military football teams will participate in the tournament. The
tournament will be conducted in two phases.

The first phase would be a qualifier phase in which 12 to 16 teams would be grouped
into pools. Top two teams from the qualifier phase would participate in the main
tournament.

The tournament will carry prize money of 50 lakh rupees. It will be held under the
aegis of the Indian Army’s Headquarter, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa Area.

About Durand Cup

• The Durand Cup is the Asia’s
oldest and third oldest football
tournament in the world. It
was first played in 1888.

• The Tournament is named

after its founder, Sir Mortimer
Durand, British India’s Foreign
Member of the time, the
counterpart of the Foreign
Secretary in London.

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• The first Durand Cup was won by Royal Scots Fusiliers. They defeated Highland
Light Infantry 2-1.

• In 1940 the venue was transferred to New Delhi, and it is now held at the Ambedkar
Stadium in the city. Following India’s independence in 1947, the tournament was
hosted by the Indian Army.

• The first Durand Cup after independence was won by Hyderabad City Police in
1950. They defeated Mohun Bagan AC 1-0.

• The 125th edition of the Durand Cup was won by Air India in 2012. They defeated
by Dodsal Mumbai 3-2.

• The 126th edition of the Durand Cup was won by Mohammedan Sporting. They
defeated ONGC 2-1 to win the cup after 70 years.

• The Durand Cup was not played during World War-I (1914-1918), World War-II
(1939 – 1945) Partition of India (1946 – 49) and Indo-China War (1962).

• The most successful teams are currently East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, with 16
wins each, accounting for no less 32 cup victories over the years.

Brazil Football Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari resigned

Luiz Felipe Scolari, the football coach of Brazil on 14 July 2014 resigned after Brazil
failed to win the 2014 FIFA World Cup. His resignation was confirmed by the Country’s
Football Federation Confederação Brasileira de Futebol (CBF).

Scolari, a former Brazilian defender, became the coach of Brazil football team for the
first time in 2001. He guided the team to win FIFA World Cup 2002. In the 2002 final
played in Yokohama, Japan, Brazil defeated Germany 2-0 to win the Cup for the fifth
time.

He was again appointed as Brazil’s coach in 2012 after the debacle of Brazil in 2010
FIFA World Cup in South Africa under Dunga. However, this time he was unsuccessful

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in guiding the team to win the World Cup for the sixth time.

In the semifinals of 2014 FIFA World Cup, Brazil lost to Germany 7-1. It was Brazil’s
worst-ever defeat in World Cup history and their first defeat in semifinals in 39 years.
Eventually, Brazil finished their campaign in 2014 World Cup at fourth place after they
lost to Netherlands 3-0 in the play-off for third place.

Scolari, called Big Phil, also had brief stint as coach with Portugal, Premier League
side Chelsea, Bunyodkor of Uzbekistan and Brazilian club Palmeiras.

Jayawardene announced retirement from Test Cricket

Mahela Jayawardene, the former skipper of Sri Lankan cricket team, announced his
retirement from Test cricket on 14 July 2014. He will retire from Test Cricket after the
home series against Pakistan in August 2014.

The 37-year-old, Lankan batsman, will play two Tests against South Africa on 16 July
and 24 July 2014, followed by a two-match series against Pakistan in August 2014.

He communicated his written decision to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Sri Lanka
Cricket (SLC) Ashley De Silva. However, Jayawardene will represent the country in
the one-day format.

The decision to continue in the one-day format is a hint that he will be playing for the
nation during the Cricket World Cup 2015 that will be jointly hosted by Australia and
New Zealand.

Earlier in April 2014, he announced his retirement from the T20 format of the game
after Sri Lanka won the ICC World T20 Cup for the first time defeating India.

About Jayawardene and his Test career

• Jayawardene played his Test debut against India in 1997

• Till date he has played 145 Tests scoring 11493 runs with 33 centuries and 48

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fifties

• In 2006, he made the highest ever test-score of 374 by any Sri Lankan cricketer

• He is also the first player in the history of Sri Lankan cricket to score over 10000
Test runs

• In 2006, Jayawardene was named by the International Cricket Council as the best
international captain of the year

• He was nominated in 2007 as the best Test cricket player of the year

Sim Bhullar became first Indian-origin basketball player to

join NBA

Sim Bhullar became the first basketball player of Indian origin to join the National
Basketball Association (NBA). He signed a summer contract in second week of July
2014 with the Sacramento Kings, a professional basketball team in the US.

In 2013, the Sacramento Kings became the NBA’s first team to have an Indian-origin
majority owner -- Vivek Ranadive.

Since taking over the reins of the Kings, which was lying low in recent years due to
less winning percentages and declining ticket sales, Ranadive has transformed the
organisation into one of the better ones in the league.

About Sim Bhullar

• He is originally from Canada and his parents are from Punjab.

• Bhullar, aged 21, is 7.5 feet tall and weighs 360 pounds. He is a centre from New
Mexico State University.

• He made everyone took note of him in college as he averaged 10.4 points, 7.8
rebounds and 3.4 blocks per game in his two-year career with the Aggies.

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• His younger brother Tanveer, who is 7.2 feet, also plays college basketball at New
Mexico State.

FIFA suspended Nigeria’s team from International football

competitions

FIFA on 9 July 2014 suspended Nigeria from all international football competitions
with immediate effect. Nigeria was suspended on account of government interference
in running Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

The Statement released by FIFA includes that during the period of suspension, the
NFF may not be represented in any regional, continental or international competitions,
including at club level, or in friendly matches.

The decision was taken after the Nigerian Government sacked the NFF executive
committee and appointed a civil servant to manage NFF. FIFA had given Nigeria
until 9 July 2014 to reinstate the sacked Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) executive
committee.

Nigeria reached the second round of the World Cup 2014 in Brazil and this is the third
time to reach second round of World Cup in their history (earlier in 1994 and 1998).

F-Cube Technology to promote Football at ground level

launched

The Sports Authority of India (SAI) and TheFootballLink on 8 July 2014 jointly launched
F-Cube, technology to promote football at the grass-root level. F-Cube technology
was launched at the Weightlifting Auditorium of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in
New Delhi.

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About F-Cube and its benefits

F-Cube is interactive software that has various entertaining and educational games
and can create standardized test that can help SAI to recognise talented children and
will also develop an athlete’s mental and physical attributes.

• F-Cube is an attractive medium that can entice children of all age-groups and
economic backgrounds

• F-Cube will also act as a video coaching platform that will be an aid in the Technical
and Tactical development of a Footballer through various educational and game/
practice apps

Under-17 FIFA World Cup 2017 will be hosted by India and thus All India Football
Federation is taking steps to scout talent with SAI’s assistance

Sports Authority of India (SAI)

The Sports Authority of India (SAI) is an institute set up as a Society registered of
Societies Act, 1860 on 25 January 1984. It is functional under Ministry of Youth Affairs
& Sports, Government of India. It was formed with an objective to promote sports
and games in India.

• SAI Director General - Jiji Thomson

TheFootballLink Sport Private Limited

TheFootballLink Sport Private Limited established in June 2012, is a Delhi based

social enterprise. The organisation is involved in exploring and advancing the Football
ecosystem across India.

• Founder of TheFootballLink - Chetan Misra

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Kvitova won the Women’s Wimbledon Tennis Open

Petra Kvitova of Czechslovakia on 5 July 2014 won the women’s single of Wimbledon
Tennis Open of 2014. To win her second title, she defeated the Canadian Eugenie
Bouchard 6-3, 6-0.

With this win, Kvitova collected a reward of 1760000 Pound and the Venus Rosewater
Dish, symbol of the greatest prize in the women’s game. Kvitova won her first
Wimbledon title in 2011 by defeating Maria Sharapova.

On the other hand, Bouchard (20-years-old) became the first Canadian to reach a
Grand Slam final.

Sixth seeded, Kvitova with this win, will move up to fourth in the world rankings.

Novak Djokovic won the Men’s Wimbledon Tennis Open de-

feating Roger Federer

Novak Djokovic of Serbia on 6 July 2014 won the Men’s Wimbledon Tennis Open
defeating Roger Federer of Switzerland. He defeated Federer 6-7(7), 6-4, 7-6(4), 5-7,
6-4. This is the second Wimbledon title for 27-year-old, Djokovic and seventh career
Grand Slam. Djokovic won his first Wimbledon title in 2011.

With this win world number two Djokovic reclaimed top spot in the men’s rankings
replacing Rafael Nadal for the first time since September 2013.

This defeat of 32-year-old Federer ended his bid to become the oldest Wimbledon
Champion in the Open Era and of breaking the record of seven titles he shares with
Pete Sampras.

In the women’s single Petra Kvitova of Czechoslovakia won the Wimbledon Tennis
Open defeating Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard 6-3, 6-0.

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Other Results of Wimbledon Open

Mixed Doubles: Nenad Zimonjic (Serbia) and Samantha Stosur (Australia) beat Max
Mirnyi (Belarus) and Hao-Ching Chan (China)

Men’s Doubles: Vasek Pospisil (Canada) and Jack Sock (USA) defeated Bob Bryan
and Mike Bryan of USA

Women’s Doubles: Sara Errani (Italy) and Roberta Vinci (Italy) beat Timea Babos
(Hungary) and Kristina Mladenovic (France)

Boys Singles: Noah Rubin of USA beat Stefan Kozlov of USA

Girls Singles: Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) beat Kristina Schmiedlova (Slovakia)

MCC XI won the match played to celebrate 200 years of

Lord’s Cricket Ground

Marylebone Cricket Club XI on 5 July 2014 won the match played to celebrate
200-years (bi-centenary) of Lord’s Cricket Ground – the Home of Cricket. Sachin
Tendulkar-led MCC XI beat Shane Warne-led Rest of the World XI in Lord’s in London,
UK.

Batting first MCC XI made 296 for 3 wickets. Aaron Finch with unbeatable 181 was
the highest scorer of the match. On the other hand, Yuvraj Singh of Rest of the World
XI was able to make 132 runs and helped the team to reach a respectable score of
293.

Players of both the team

Marylebone Cricket Club Team: Sachin Tendulkar, S Chanderpaul, Rahul Dravid,
Aaron Finch, Brian Lara, Brett Lee, Chris Read, Saeed Ajmal, SW Tait, Umar Gul,
Daniel Vettori

Rest of the World XI Team: Shane Warne, TL Best, Paul Collingwood, Adam Gilchrist,

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M Muralitharan, KP Pietersen, Virender Sehwag, Shahid Afridi, PM Siddle, Tamim

Iqbal, Yuvraj Singh

Sania Mirza ranked career-best fifth in WTA doubles rankings

Sania Mirza, the Indian tennis ace, along with her Zimbabwean doubles partner Cara
Black on 7 July 2014 were ranked career-best fifth in the latest WTA Doubles rankings.

This feat was achieved by the duo after displaying some consistent results on their
tour to just concluded Wimbledon championships. Their appearance in the second
round fetched them crucial 130 ranking points which was enough to push them under
top-5.

Sania, who became a professional tennis player in 2003, entered the top-five chart
for the first time in her career.

On the other hand in the ATP rankings, Somdev Devvarman was dropped by 10
places to 135 due to his poor performance. In the doubles Leander Paes remained
unchanged at number 13. Rohan Bopanna was dropped three places to sit on the
edge of top-20.

Indian pistol shooter Jitu Rai ranked No. 1 in the world

Jitu Rai became World Number 1 pistol shooter in the men’s 10m air pistol category.
This was revealed by the latest rankings released by the International Shooting
Federation (ISSF) on 1 July 2014.

Earlier, Rai was ranked 26th in the World but his recent performance in Maribor and
Munich Shooting World Cup made him number 1 pistol shooter in the World. At the
Maribor Shooting World Cup in June 2014, he won a Gold and a Silver and at the
Munich Shooting World Cup in June 2014, he won the Silver medal in 10-meter air
pistol.

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Apart from Jitu Rai, Indian Prakash Nanjappa also moved up to the fifth spot in the
10m air pistol category. Other Indians to be ranked under top 10 are

• Sanjeev Rajput at 10th

position in 50m rifle

• Manavjit Singh Sandhu

was placed at 8th
position in trap

In women listing, Heena

Sidhu was ranked at 4th
position in women’s 10m air
pistol category, whereas,
Ayonika Paul was ranked at World Number 8 in the women’s 10m air rifle category

Jitu Rai, a 27-year-old army man from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh is the seventh Indian
shooter to have achieve the feat. The other six to be ranked number 1 in ISSF release
were

• Anjali Bhagwat

• Rajyavardhan Rathore

• Gagan Narang

• Manavjit Singh Sandhu

• Ronjon Sodhi

• Heena Sidhu

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CORPORATE
NCDEX announced to introduce Comprehensive Hedge Policy
for Commodity Markets

National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Ltd (NCDEX) on 25 July 2014 announced
introducing a comprehensive hedge policy for the commodity markets.

Objectives of the Policy

The NCDEX explained that the policy has been designed with the objective of making
risk management easier, simpler and accessible for commodity businesses.

Benefits of the new Policy

The policy has widened the eligibility criteria for bonafide hedgers and has simplified
processes and documentation for availing hedge limits on the Exchange platform.
With expanded eligibility criteria, the documentation has also been further simplified.

About the Policy

The policy also special additions like hedging for related products of commodity,
same commodity but different contracts, cross hedging in upstream, downstream
commodity and related commodity having a very high correlation arising out of the
similar degree of effect.

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About the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Ltd

• The National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited (NCDEX) is primarily
the multi commodity exchange in India. The shareholders include national level
institutions, companies and large public sector banks.

• It is important to note that this is the only commodity exchange in India which is
promoted by the institutions at national level.

• NCDEX is public limited company and was incorporated on 23 April 2003 under
the Companies Act, 1956. The operations of NCDEX began on 15 December 2003.

• The commodity exchange is regulated by the Forward Markets Commission.

• It remains subjected to various laws which include Stamp Act, Contract Act,
Companies Act and Forward Contracts (Regulation) Act apart from various other
legislations.

• The headquarters of National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited are

located in Mumbai and the facilities are offered through the centers located Pan
India.

TCS became first Indian Company to achieve Market

Capitalization of 5 lakh crore rupees

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on 23 July 2014 became the first Indian company
to achieve a market capitalization of 5 lakh crore rupees. This feat was achieved by
the company on the back of Quarter 1 results.

In terms of market capitalisation, TCS is followed by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation
(ONGC) at 3.5 lakh crore rupees and Reliance Industries at 3.3 lakh crore rupees.

The market capitalization of TCS is higher than the combined market capital of next
4 biggest IT Indian companies, viz. Infosys (1.90 lakh crore rupees), Wipro ( 1.39 lakh
crore rupees) and HCL Tech (1.07 lakh crore rupees) and Tech Mahindra (45000 crore

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rupees). The combined market value of these four biggest IT companies in India is
approximately 4.88 lakh crore rupees.

TCS is the largest software services exporter of the country and is currently the most
valued company in India in terms of market valuation.

Google announced to launch Hindi version of Google Maps

on Android and PC

Internet search engine giant Google on 22 July 2014 announced to launch its Hindi
version of Google Maps.

The Hindi language service will be available both on Android and Desktop platforms,
and not on Apple’s iOS format. On Android, a user can use Google Maps only he/she
has Android version 4.3 (Jelly Bean) and upwards.

To access Google Maps in Hindi on a desktop, the user has to go to the settings
wheel at the right bottom of the map and select Hindi. On the Android smartphone,
users can choose Hindi as their language option to access the maps in Hindi.

With this application, people will be able to see Hindi names for cities, localities,
important roads, as well as popular points of interest such as public parks and
schools, on the new Google Maps.

These new labels was created by transliterating English names to Hindi, or, translating
the English names to Hindi and ensuing the text resonated with local dialects

Air India formally joined global airline group Star Alliance

Air India on 11 July 2014 formally joined the airline group Star Alliance as its 27th
member. By formally joining the group, public carrier became the first Indian airline to
become a member airlines club operating over 18500 flights a day in 192 countries.

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This Alliance will further benefit the passengers to get the benefit from a wider
choice on routes connecting North America, Europe, Asia and Australia via the Indian
Subcontinent.

CMD of Air India Rohit Nandan and CEO of Star Alliance Mark Schwab jointly inducted
an A320 airbus livery that was unveiled at the terminal 3 of the IGI international airport
in New Delhi.

Decision of including Air India, the national air carrier of India into the global airlines
grouping, Star Alliance was taken during a meeting of the Star Alliance Chief Executive
Board (CEB) on 23 June 2014 in London.

APSEZ formed JV with French shipping company CMA CGM

to build a container terminal

Adani Ports & SEZ Ltd (APSEZ) on 4 July 2014 formed a joint venture (JV) with French
shipping company CMA CGM to build a container terminal. The container terminal
will be built at Mundra in Gujarat.

The terminal, fourth in number, will have a capacity to handle 1.3 million twenty foot
equivalent containers annually. The construction phase will be completed in a 24
months.

The new terminal adds to the company’s existing two container handling locations at
Mundra and Hazira along with its already announced two container terminals to be
constructed at Ennore in Chennai and Dhamra in Odisha.

CMA CGM is the third-largest container shipping line in the world. It has 24 offices
and 8 direct shipping services in India.

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ADB to provide equity investment of 50 million US dollars to

ReNew Power

The Asian Development Bank

(ADB) on 3 July 2014 announced
to provide 50 million US dollars of
equity investment into an Indian
company, ReNew Power Ventures
Private Limited.

The investment will help the

company’s growing pipeline of
wind power projects which are at various stages of development across India with a
total capacity of 1000 megawatts (MW).

The Investment will allow ReNew Power to tap into ADB’s extensive network,
knowledge, and experience in the field of renewable energy, especially in India.

Background
The equity investment of 50 million US dollars into ReNew Power Ventures is a
signal to private sector companies that renewable sector in India is ripe for further
investment.

In 2013, ADB invested 2.3 billion US dollars in clean energy and has pledged to
continue investments of at least 2 billion US dollars per year.

India relies on expensive imports of coal and natural gas. The Government of India
has set a goal of maintaining renewables’ current share of installed capacity through
to 2023 and to reduce the dependence on imported fossil fuels and cut greenhouse
gas emissions.

The investment by ADB will enable Re New Power Company to generate an extra
1000 gigawatt-hours of electricity, which will help eliminate nearly 1 million tons of

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carbon dioxide emissions.

About ReNew Power

ReNew Power Ventures Pvt. Ltd, an Independent Power Producer company, is
committed to leading a change in the India’s current energy portfolio by delivering
cleaner and smarter energy choices and thereby reducing India’s carbon footprint.

ReNew Power currently owns and operates nearly 500 MW of clean energy assets
across India.

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STATE
TN Establishment of Private Law Colleges (Prohibition) Bill,
2014 introduced in Assembly

State Government of Tamil Nadu on 30 July 2014 introduced Tamil Nadu Establishment
of Private Law Colleges (Prohibition) Bill, 2014 in the Legislative Assembly. The Bill
seeks prohibition of establishment of private law colleges in the state. This Bill will
become an Act after being enacted and then will also be into force with immediate
effect.

The decision was taken as the private trusts and societies failed to provide legal
education at affordable cost to the socially and economically sections. They are also
unable to run the colleges successfully.

Apart from this, the Bill also mentions that the state government has made a policy
decision to establish adequate number of government-run law colleges in the State.
These government-run colleges will provide legal education at an affordable cost and
will be developed in a phased manner.

The Bill was introduced in the State Assembly by the Minister for Law and Justice
SP Velumani. At present, Tamil Nadu has only 12 law colleges, of which 7 are run by
state government.

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5th Sahyadri Cine Awards 2014 presented in Mumbai

5th Sahyadri Cine Awards 2014 were presented in Mumbai on 25 July 2014. The
award ceremony was sponsored by Godrej Expert.

CEO, Prasar Bharati, Jawahar Sircar was the Chief Guest at the 5th edition of the Cine
Awards ceremony, organized by DD Sahyadri TV channel of Doordarshan Kendra,
Mumbai.

Sunil Sukhtankar’s Marathi Film ‘Astu’, Nagraj Manjule’s- ‘Fandry’ and Mahesh
Limaye’s ‘Yellow’ won top honours at the Sahyadri Cine Awards.

Important Awards and Honours

• Sumitra and Sunil Sukhtankar’s ‘Astu’, that has won critical acclaim, was adjudged
the Best Film. The film starring veteran actor Mohan Agashe with Iravati Harshe,
Milind Soman and an Elephant in a leading role, is a depiction of the Indian value
system.

• On the other hand, Nagraj Manjule’s directorial debut ‘Fandry’ focuses on romance
amidst caste based discrimination. Manjule won the Best Director Award. Earlier,
he had also won the Indira Gandhi Award for Best First Film of a Director at the
61st National Film Awards instituted by the Government of India.

• 2014 Marathi Film ‘Yellow’, directed by Mahesh Limaye and produced by Riteish
Deshmukh got the special Jury Award. The film explores a mother-daughter
relationship and developmental disability of a child suffering from Down’s
Syndrome.

• Ashok Lokhande won the Best Actor Male award for “Yashwantrao Chavan- Ek
Bakhar’, while Smita Tambe won the Best Actor Female award for “72 Mile -Ek
Pravas.”

• Oscar Awardee Resul Pookutty won the Best Sound Award for the film ‘Rainy
Day’.

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 List of Awardees
Sr.JulyNo
2014 Category Name of Awardees Name of film
1 Best Film N/A ‘Astu’
2 Best Director Nagraj Manjule ‘Fandry’
3 Jury Special Award film N/A ‘Yellow’
4 Best Actor Male Ashok Lokhande ‘Yashwantrao Chavan :
Ek Bakhar’
5 Best Actor Female Smita Tambe ‘72 Mile : Ek Pravas’
6 Special contribution to Marathi Mahesh Kothare
Cinema
7 Special Mention – Social Biopic Samruddhi Pore Dr. Prakash Baba Amte

8 Best Child Artiste Mihiresh Joshi/ ‘Avatarachi Goshtha’

Yash Kulkarni
9 Best Supporting Actor- Male Rushikesh Joshi ‘Yellow’
10 Best supporting actor-Female Tejashri Pradhan ‘Lagna Pahave Karun’
11 Best Sound Resul Pookutty ‘Rainy Day’
12 Best Screen Play Nitish Bharadwaj/ Pitrarun

Pravin Tarde
13 Best Story Nitin Dixit ‘Avatarachi Goshta’
14 Best Dialogue Sanjeev Kolte ‘Rangkarmi’
15 Best Lyrics Sanjay Krushnaji ‘72 Mile : Ek Pravas’
Patil
16 Best Music Atul Lohar Pikuli
17 Best Playback Male Aadarsha Shinde ‘Duniyadari’
18 Best Playback Female Vaishali Made ‘Vaghi’
19 Best Backround Music Shashank Powar Gulam Begam adshaha
20 Best Art Director Satish Bidkar/ ‘Sat Na Gat’
Prashant Bidkar
21 Best Cameraman Ishwar Bidri ‘Thoda Tujha Thoda
Majha’

22 Best Editing Dipak Birkud/ Vilas ‘Ranbhumi’

Ranade
23 Best Choreographer Lila Gandhi ‘Yashwantrao Chavan:
Ek Bakhar’
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 July 2014

Delhi HC asked Delhi government to ban unregulated

e-rickshaws

Delhi High Court on 23 July

2014 rapped Delhi
government over its failure to
regulate e-rickshaws and
asked it to clarify its stand on
how to regulate them by 31
July 2014.The Court said the
e-rickshaws could not be
allowed to ply uncontrolled
without licence, registration or insurance and they should be banned.

The Division Bench of the Delhi HC comprising of Justice Badar Durrez Ahmed and
Justice Siddharth Mridul rapped the Delhi government while hearing the affidavit filed
by Delhi Chief Secretary S K Srivastava.

In its affidavit seeking regulation of the e-rickshaws, Chief Secretary said that the
operation of the e-rickshaws was wholly unauthorised and illegal. This is because
under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, e-rickshaws are motor vehicles and their plying
on the Delhi’s road posed a danger to the public safety. Further, a policy or regulation
governing e-rickshaws could not be framed because they already are covered under
the Act.

The affidavit further stated that Transport Department of the State had stopped taking
action against e-rickshaws after the Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on 18
June 2014 announced a Deendayal e-rickshaw scheme and promised to change the
laws pertaining to these vehicles in order to take them out of the ambit of the Motor
Vehicles Act, 1988.

The affidavit was filed by the Chief Secretary following the HC order of 21 May 2014
asking for disclosure of circumstances in which e-rickshaws were allowed to ply in

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Delhi. The Delhi HC order of 21 May 2014 came following a petition filed by social
activist Shahnawaz Khan.

In its petition Khan sought regulation of e-rickshaws on the ground that with four 12
volt batteries and power output of 650 to 850 watts, these rickshaws can only carry
four persons. But they carry around eight persons endangering the lives of peoples.

Background
The issue of e-rickshaws has been hogging the limelight from last few months. The
main issue is whether these vehicles are motor vehicles or not and whether they
should be regulated or not under the definition of motor vehicles in Motor Vehicles
Act, 1988.

On 24 April 2014, e-rickshaws were rendered illegal following a notification from

Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. However, while addressing a huge
rally of e-rickshaws driver on 18 June 2014, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari
announced to regularize the e-rickshaws and launched the Deendayal e-rickshaw
scheme.

He announced that the e-rickshaws with motor power up to 650 watts would be
considered non-motorised vehicles under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and hence
they would not be barred from operating.

Further, he stated that the Transport Department and traffic police would not challan
e-rickshaws. These were to be regularised by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi by
registering them with a fee of 100 rupees. This would enable the e-rickshaw drivers
to earn their livelihood.

Deendayal e-rickshaw Scheme

Deendayal e-rickshaw Scheme was launched on 18 June 2014 by the Union Transport
Minister Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi. The scheme aims to legalise the operation of
e-rickshaws in Delhi with the assurance that e-rickshaw drivers would no longer be
fined by the Delhi Police.

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Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu announced launching Web

Portal for Industrial Licences

The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, J Jayalalithaa on 23 July 2014 announced that
the process of issuing licenses to the new industries will be done online henceforth.
The step was taken in order to simplify the process involved for registration of new
industries in the state.

J Jayalalithaa explained that the difficulties which were faced while issuing the
licenses will be tackled through the web portal; which will also facilitate information
about the government services apart from other things.

Key Highlights of the New Portal

• The new portal, apart from issuing the industrial licenses, will also help the general
public and industrialists in finding out about new government schemes.

• The portal will be developed at the cost of 2.24 crore rupees

It is important to note that according to the Industries Act, 1948, it is obligatory for
the industry to get registration and the license from State Government. There are
more than 42000 industries that are registered and have also received licenses under
the Government of Tamil Nadu.

CMSA Scheme launched in Meghalaya for Widows and

Pensioners

The Chief Minister of Meghalaya, Dr Mukul Sangma on 23 July 2014 launched a mass
enrolment drive under the Chief Minister’s Social Assistance (CMSA) Scheme for
widows and persons with disabilities at Patharkhmah in Ri Bhoi District in Meghalaya.

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Each beneficiary shall be given a financial assistance of 500 rupees per month under
the scheme.

Eligibility of Receiving Financial Assistance under CMSA

As far as the persons with disabilities are concerned, there is no age bar for receiving
the financial aid. However, in case of widow, the age limit of 58 years was decided for
a woman and 60 years for a man to be made eligible for receiving this aid.

The CM, in the meanwhile, stated that the Government was working towards ensuring
the upliftment of people in rural areas by providing them the livelihood opportunities
in various sectors; especially tourism and agriculture.

About the Chief Minister’s Social Assistance (CMSA) Scheme

The Chief Minister’s Social Assistance (CMSA) Scheme was launched in Asanang in
West Garo Hills in the year 2012.

Financial aid of 500 rupees per month is given to the beneficiaries of the scheme.

HP selected for Union Government’s pilot programme to train

Heads of Government Schools

Himachal Pradesh on 23 July 2014 was selected for a pilot project under a sponsored
programme of the Union Government to train Principals and Headmasters of
government schools. Other states selected for this programme include Gujarat, Tamil
Nadu and Rajasthan.

The training will provide education quality and improvement in the overall system.
The programme has been prepared by the National University of Education, Planning
and administration (NUEPA).

About the Programme

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 July 2014

• Under the unique national programme, a ten day workshop has been organized
in Kullu.

• Over sixty principals and headmasters from various government schools will
participate in the programme to improve leadership quality and other skills.

• The objective of the programme is to help Principals and Headmasters of

government schools in better coordination with other teachers.

• The programme also strives to make the principals and headmasters work as the
resource persons to train their colleagues in the schools.

• As a part of the programme, 628 identified schools in the state would have on line
facilities so that everyone can check day to day activities of these schools.

Union Civil Aviation Minister announced to Upgrade Tirupati

Airport to International Standar

The Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju on 21 July 2014 announced
that the Tirupati airport in Andhra Pradesh will be upgraded to international standards
by June 2015.

Tirupati along with Kadapa, Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh and Warangal in Telangana
are the sites which have been identified for promotion of regional air connectivity.

The construction of Kadapa airport in Andhra Pradesh has already been completed.

Standard for Modernisation and Upgradation of Airport Infrastructure

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the United Nations Agency
defines International Standard Atmosphere for an airport. According to the ICAO
standards as well as recommendations, the detailed master plan of selected airports
is prepared and revised by operating agency.

The upgradation as well as modernization of the airports should be done as per

these master plans only. Deviation from master plan leads to seeking approval from

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July 2014

Operating Agency’s Board as well as statutory Government agency, both of which

are designated primarily for this purpose.

Characteristics Kept in Mind while Airport Upgradation to International

Standards
A few main characteristics should be kept in mind for upgrading an airport to the
international standards and these include:

• Safety

• Passenger facilities

• Aircraft and cargo handling

These three factors play a crucial role in decision of the funds to be allocated for
modernization and upgradation schemes of the airports.

Delhi Budget 2014-15: Highlights

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on 18 July 2014 presented Delhi’s Budget 2014-
15 of 36776 crore rupees in Parliament. He presented the budget as the legislative
assembly of Delhi has been kept under suspended animation because of imposition
of President Rule.

In the proposed budget, the Union Finance Minister proposed no new taxes. Of
the total proposed budget of 36766 crore rupees, 19066 crore rupees is non-plan
expenditure.

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Major Highlights of Delhi Budget 2014-15

Health

• A new medical college with 100 seats will be started at Rohini and efforts will be
made to ensure that the first batch of students is admitted by 2015.

• One multi-specialty hospital for South Delhi in the current year is proposed.

• One stop centre for crisis management and rehabilitation of victims of sexual
assault will be setup in each district with the support of Central Government.

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July 2014

• Three more Forensic Science Laboratories will be setup at Sheikh Sarai, Rohini
and Village Sayurpur.

• Regional Forensic Science Laboratory at Chanakya Puri will be made functional

from the rented accommodation.

Education
• Senior Secondary Schools exclusively for girls would be opened in two Assembly
Constituencies.

• A new School of Planning, Architecture and Design will be setup in East Delhi by
GGSIP University.

• Construction work of National Institute of Technology (NIT) at Narela will be

expedited.

Social Security & Welfare

• Financial support will be extended to two children of incarcerated parents till they
attain the age of 18 years or till their parents are released whichever is earlier.

• All eligible beneficiaries will be covered under Food Security Scheme in next few
months.

• All fair price shops will be computerized. All vehicles deployed for transportation
of food articles to fair price shops will be covered by a GPS – RFID based vehicle
tracking system.

• To set up three new homes for mentally challenged persons at different locations.

Housing & Urban Development

• At present 185 night shelters are operational in Delhi, seven more night shelters
will be constructed.

• Toilet facilities to all slum dwellers will be provided.

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• Piped water supply system will be provided in 50 unauthorized colonies and

sewerage system will be laid in 95 unauthorized colonies.

Water Supply
• Construction of Renuka Dam would be taken up on priority.

• Renovation and modernization of Chandrawal Water Treatment Plant and

Wazirabad Water

• About 500 ATMs supported with ground water / tanker services will be setup

Sanitation & Control of Pollution in Yamuna

• Special Treatment Plant (STP) at Pappan Kalan, Nilothi, Yamuna Vihar and Delhi
Gate will be commissioned. This will increase the sewerage treatment capacity
from the present level of 604 MGD to 684 MGD.

• Old STP and their allied infrastructure at Kondli, Rithala and Okhla shall be
rehabilitated under Yamuna Action Plan (YAP-III).

• A 40 MGD STP will be setup with technical support of Singapore Government for
achieving tertiary quality of treated effluent.

Transport
• DTC will introduce an automated fare collection system through electronic ticketing
machines and card readers. This system will subsequently be integrated with the
fare collection system of Delhi Metro.

• ISBT at Sarai Kale Khan and Anand Vihar will be developed.

• Elevated corridor over Barapullah Nullah will be extended from Sarai Kale Khan to
Mayur Vihar under phase - III.

Energy
• To provide relief to the targeted consumers on account of increase in tariff and to

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July 2014

ensure poor and marginalized should not suffer, subsidy @ 1.20 rupee per unit up
to 200 units and 80 paisa per unit for the slab 201 – 400 units will be extended to
domestic consumers. Accordingly a provision of 260 crore rupees is proposed.

• 400 kV sub-station at Harsh Vihar and 220 kV GIS sub-station at Peera Garhi will
be commissioned.

• Three new 220 kV GIS sub-stations at Papankalan, Tughlakabad and Rajghat

Power House will be constructed.

• 1500 MW Gas Turbine Station at Bawana will be made fully functional.

• New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) area will be developed as a solar city.

DERC approved power tariff hike in national capital, Delhi

Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) on

17 July 2014 approved the power tariff hike in the
national capital. The revision of the tariff came into
effect from the date of announcement.

The tariff was revised to improve the revenues of

the power distribution companies operational in
national capital, Delhi. The tariff rates will increase
for consumers of Anil Ambani-promoted BSES
Rajdhani Power Limited and BSES Yamuna Power
Limited, BSES Yamuna Power Limited, Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited by 8.32
percent. It has also increased the tariff rates for consumers of New Delhi Municipal
Council (NDMC) area by 9.52 percent.

Besides, DERC introduced new slabs for high-end domestic consumers of 800-1200
units, and above 1200 units to safeguard the smaller consumers from the burden of
expensive power

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The commission also implemented incentive-disincentive mechanism to promote

higher realisation on account of sale of surplus power.

The tariff has been hiked by 10 paisa per unit up to 200 units, 15 paisa per unit in the
slab of 201 to 400, 50 paisa per unit for 400 to 800 slab, 1.10 paisa per unit for slab
of 801 to 1200 units and 1.75 paisa per unit for consumption above 1201 units.

Revision of the tariff

Consumption of Previous Rates in Revised Rates in
Unit Rupees Rupees
0-200 3.90 4.00
201-400 5.80 5.95
401-800 6.80 7.30
801-1200 7.00 8.10
1200 and above - 8.75

Meghalaya saluted its heroes of WW1 on Garo Labour Corps

Day

95th Garo Labour Corps Day was observed in Meghalaya on 16 July 2014. On this
day the State saluted and paid homage to the heroes of World War I. The homage
was paid to the 500 Garo men, who were recruited by British 96 years ago in 1917 in
the 69th Garo Labour Corps. The selected men were sent to France to help the Allied
forces during the War.

These recruits from distant places of the state made roads and carried goods during
the war at different places in France i.e. Puisieux, Bucquoy, La Chapellette, Brusle
and others. The historian and academician, Milton Sangma has documented the
story of courage and bravery of the Garo men in his book on Garo Labour Corps.

The state remembered those heroes of the war in a special commemorative ceremony
– the Garo Labour Corps Day. The tributes were paid at the cenotaph built in the
memory of the Garo soldiers at Tura, the headquarters of West Garo Hill district.

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July 2014

During the homage, gun salute was given and wreaths were laid.

Garo Labour Corps Day is celebrated on 16 July because on this day the Garo men
returned to India at Tura in Meghalaya from Mersailles in France.

Delhi government to set up 320 Mahila Suraksha Dals for

women safety

State Government of Delhi on 14 July 2014 decided to set up 320 Mahila Suraksha
Dals (MSDs) across the national capital. These MSDs will be established to ensure
women safety at public places.

According to the plan, the MSDs will be made functional in the 80 Gender Resource
Centers. As a pilot programme, one MSD will be created in all 11 Districts of the city
on the day of Raksha Bandhan.

The decision to this effect of MSDs was taken at a high-level meet chaired by the
Chief Secretary SK Srivastava.

About Mahila Suraksha Dals (MSDs)

The Mahila Suraksha Dals (MSDs) will comprise of retired army personnel,
representatives from the local community (both men and women) and local NGO
representatives. Each team will consist of 20 community members and three ex-
servicemen.

The initiative MSDs will work at the grass-root level and will address the issues
of women safety at public place. It will also support women in distress including
situations of sexual harassment, assault and rape.

For creation of the MSDs, the former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal constituted a
committee headed by the Director General of Home Guards and the Director of
Women and Child development. The committee was supposed to submit a detailed
report on the structure of the MSD by 15 February 2014.

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Earlier, Delhi Government, to address women safety issues, had created new parallel
structures, Awaaz Uthao Project.

Assam decided to implement National Food Security Act

from 1 September 2014

National Food Security Act (NFSA) will

be implemented by the Assam
Government from 1 September 2014.
The decision to implement the Act in
the state was taken on 14 July 2014
at a meeting of senior officials of Food
and Civil Supplies and Consumer
Affairs Department convened by Chief
Minister Tarun Gogoi in Guwahati.

During the meet, the state government

also decided to bring onions and
potatoes in the list of essential
commodities to curb hoarding.

The Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department of the Assam
Government will be the nodal department for implementing NFSA.

The Chief Minister has also asked the officials to make adequate arrangements of the
prescribed stock limit of essential commodities in Amar Dukans and keep a check
on it, so that no anti-social element could indulge in hoarding of necessary articles
leading to black-marketing. He also directed them to ensure that

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July 2014

Haryana Governor gave assent to Sikh Gurudwara Prabandhak

Committee Bill 2014

Haryana Governor Jagannath Pahadia on 14 July 2014 gave his assent to Haryana
Sikh Gurudwaras (Management) Bill, 2014. With this, the Haryana Sikh Gurdwaras
(Management) Bill, 2014, will be notified as an Act.

The Act cleared the decks for the state government for creation of a separate
committee for managing the Sikh Gurdwaras in the state.

The Bill was passed on 11 July 2014 by the Haryana Legislative Assembly. The Bill
stripped the powers of Amritsar-based Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee
(SGPC), an apex Sikh body, to control and manage 11 historical Sikh shrines and
their assets worth crore across Haryana.

Earlier, the Chief Minister of Haryana Bhupinder Singh Hooda had said that a separate
committee will be set up in the state under the new law for management of Sikh
religious places and their properties in the state.

About the Management Committee

• The management committee will comprise 40 members, who will be elected for a
five-year term by Sikh voters in Haryana

• The Committee’s head office will be at Kurukshetra with regional offices at

Panchkula and Jind

Till the formation of the Haryana Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee

(HSGPC), the state’s Gurudwaras’ will be managed by an ad hoc committee.

Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act invoked

against striking medical officers

State Government of Maharashtra on 5 July 2014 invoked Maharashtra Essential

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 July 2014

Services Maintenance Act (MESMA) 2011 against medical officers’, who are on strike
since 1 July 2014. In its directive, the government ordered to register cases against
those medical officers, if they fail to resume their services by 6 July 2014.

Background
About 5000 medical officers of the state went on strike on 1 July 2014 with a demand
of higher pay, permanent status to Ayurveda and dental health officers and fixed
duty hours. The striking medical officers included permanent employees, temporary
employees and bonded doctors, and this strike crippled health services of the state.

They went on strike under banner of Maharashtra Association of Gazetted Medical

Officers Organisation (MAGMO).

Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act (MESMA) 2011

The Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act (MESMA) 2011 has given
authority to police to arrest the doctors without issuing warrants. It states:

• Any police officer can arrest any person without any warrant who is reasonably
suspected of having committed any offence under this Act.

• All offences under this Act is non-bailable and can be imprisoned for a term which
extends to one year or with fine that extends up to 2 thousand rupees or both.

Narendra Modi inaugurated 240MW Uri-II hydroelectric

project in Jammu and Kashmir

Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi on 4 July 2014 inaugurated the 240MW Uri-II
Hydro Electric Project (HEP) in Jammu and Kashmir. This Uri-II project will be able to
generate an estimated 1124 million units of hydel-energy annually from its four units
of 60 MW each.

The Uri-II project is the second power project on the Jhelum River in Uri area and is

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July 2014

close to the Line of Control (LoC) in Baramullah district of the state. It is locate on the
downstream of the 480-MW Uri-I HEP that is operational whose work was completed
in 1997.

About the Uri-II Hydro Electric Project

The Uri-II Hydro Electric Project has a concrete gravity dam with four spillways of
nine meters each. The dam is 52-meter high and 157-meter long. In the process
of generating the power, the 4.23-km head race tunnel carries water from the dam
to the powerhouse that has four units of 60 MW that is designed to generate 1124
million units of electricity annually. It has been built by NHPC at an expense of 2290
crore rupees.

Jammu and Kashmir is a state that has a great potential of generating hydroelectric
power (clean and environment-friendly energy) in a great amount.

Apart from this, earlier on 4 July 2014 he also inaugurated prestigious project Katra-
Udhampur train.

Supreme Court directed Haryana Government to stop illegal

mining in Aravali Hills

The Supreme Court (SC) of India on 4 July 2014 directed Haryana Government to stop
all illegal mining and stone crushing activities in Aravali Hills region. In its direction,
SC gave two weeks time to stop the process otherwise it will face Contempt of Court
proceedings.

SC also asked the Haryana Government to file an affidavit along with a status report
on stoppage of illegal mining within two weeks.

SC also asked Advocate AND Rao, amicus curiae for SC green bench, to request its
high-powered environmental panel, Central Empowered Committee, to inspect the
area and furnish a report.

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 July 2014

The direction was passed by the Supreme Court’s bench comprising of Justice FMI
Kalifulla and Justice AK Sikri after referring the fresh site inspection report submitted
by the environment panel. The order came on a PIL filed by an NGO Bandhua Mukti
Morcha. In the PIL, the NGO argued that illegal mining in the region have not stopped
despite SC order banning illegal mining in Arravali and Shivalik regions. This is causing
immense damage to the and ecology of the area.

Background
In May 1992, some parts of the Aravalli hills in Rajasthan and Haryana were protected
from mining by declaring it as Ecologically Sensitive Areas. In 2003, The Union
Government prohibited mining operations in these areas. In 2004, Supreme Court
banned mining in the notified areas of Aravalli range. In May 2009, the Supreme Court
extended the ban on mining in an area of 448 square kilometers across Faridabad,
Gurgaon and Mewat districts in Haryana, covering Aravalli range.

About Aravali Ranges

• The Aravali Range literally meaning ‘line of peaks’ is a range of mountains in
western India running approximately 800 km in a north-eastern direction across
Indian states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi. It is also called Mewat hills
locally

• The Aravalli ranges are the oldest fold mountains in India

• The northern end is at Delhi Rdige and the southern end is at Palanpur near
Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The highest peak is Guru Shikhar (1722 meters) in Mount
Abu in Rajasthan

• Numerous rivers rise amidst the ranges. These are the Banas River, the Luni River,
the Sahibi, the Sakhi, and the Sabarmati River.

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July 2014

ADB approved 300 million US dollar loan for Assam’s power

sector

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on 3 July 2014 approved 300 million US dollars
loan to Assam. The loan will help Assam in its drive to eliminate power sector
inefficiencies that are hurting its consumers, its world-famous tea industry, and its
environment.

The funds will be disbursed to the State in three tranches with the project set to be
completed by the end of 2023. The first installment will be of 50 million dollars for
the replacement of ageing gas turbines at the Lakwa Gas Power Plant in northern
Assam. The second tranche will also be for 50 million US dollar and the third for 200
million US dollar.

The new loan will continue past efforts to build up the capacity of power companies
and regulatory agencies, and to further cut distribution losses

The loan is a part of a broader 10-year, 3.5 billion US dollars state investment program.
It will fund generation and distribution upgrades, including the construction of a
120-megawatt hydropower plant. Lower Kopili run-of-the-river hydropower plant in
central Assam will help Assam avoid over 530000 tons per annum of carbon dioxide
emissions that would otherwise be produced by fossil fuel-driven generation.

The loan will also finance new energy efficient generating equipment at existing plants,
new distribution lines and substations. It will also provide financial management
training and other support for staff of the Assam Power Generation Corporation and
Assam Power Distribution Company.

Ram Naresh Yadav sworn-in as Governor of Chhattisgarh

Ram Naresh Yadav was sworn-in as Governor of Chhattisgarh at Raj Bhawan, Raipur
on 2 July 2014. Ram Naresh Yadav, Governor of Madhya Pradesh, has been given

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the additional charge of Chhattisgarh.

He was adminsterd by oath of secrecy by the Chief Jusitce Yatindra Singh of Bilaspur
High Court, Chhattisgarh.

Ram replaced Shekhar Dutt, who resigned as the Governor of Chhattisgarh on 18

June 2014.

About Ram Naresh

• Ram Naresh Yadav was born in 1928 in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh.

• He served as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh from 1977 to 1979 from Janata Party.

• Later he joined the Congress and he was appointed Governor of Madhya Pradesh
in 2011.

Swamy Goud elected as Chairman of Telangana Legislative

Council

Swamy Goud of Telangana Rashtriya Samiti party was elected as Chairman of the
40-member Telangana Legislative Council (LC) on 2 July 2014. Goud was polled
21 votes against zero votes polled for Farooq Hussain, congress candidate who
contested for the chairman of Legistlative council of Telangana.

About Legislative Council

Legislative Council (also called Vidhan Parishad) is the upper house of the state.

Article 168 of the Constitution: The Legislative Council of a State shall be constituted.
Article 171 of the Indian Constitution provides that the total number of Members in
the Legislative council of a State shall not exceed one third of the total number of
Members in the Legislative Assembly.

Article 182 of the Constitution provides that the Legislative Council of the state may

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choose two members as Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the council.

At present there are seven states which have legislative council. These are Andhra
Pradesh, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and
Telangana.

TN government sets up Raghupathy commission to probe Chennai building collapse

State Government of Tamil Nadu on 3 July 2014 constituted a one-man commission

headed by Justice (retd.) R Raghupathy to inquire into the 11-storey building collapse
of Chennai. In the building collapse that happened in June 2014 about 56 lives were
lost.

The inquiry commission will look out for the reasons of collapse and will also suggest
preventive measures that should be taken up during construction of such huge
buildings.

About the Incident

The 11-storey building collapsed in Moulivakkam suburb of Chennai on 29 June
2014 that has claimed about 56 lives. But the death toll would increase further as
the rescue team of National Disaster Response Force is nearing the ground and
basement. It’s likely that the rescue operation would continue till 5 July 2014.

After the accident, five people including promoters and engineers of the building
have been arrested and charged with violations of approved structural plans.

Supreme Court directed J&K government to restore Dal Lake

The Supreme Court on 1 July 2014 directed the Jammu and Kashmir government to
concentrate on efforts to restore the pristine beauty of the world-famous Dal Lake.

A Supreme Court Bench of Justice T S Thakur and Justice C Nagappan gave directions
rejecting the plea of the J&K government for discounting the service of Irfan Yasin,
the Vice Chairman of the Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA).

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Besides, the Supreme Court also directed that State government have to obey with
all the directions of the High Court of J & K concerning the restoration of Dal Lake
and to prevent pollution and encroachments in the periphery of Dal Lake.

Background
Earlier, the High Court had directed the state government to appoint a full-time official
as the chairperson of the J&K LAWDA but as the deadline for appointment was
reaching, the government gave additional charge of the Lake Authority to an already
serving official.

In the absence of regular chairperson of LAWDA, State government extended the

term of Irfan Yasin, Vice Chairman of LAWDA, who was due to superannuate on 31
March 2014. The State government of J&K challenged the directions of High Court in
the Supreme Court in the extension of term of Yasin, Vice Chairman of LAWDA.

Rajasthan Government declared Camel as the State animal

State Government of Rajasthan on 30 June 2014 declared Camel as the State animal.
The step has been taken to check the diminishing number of camels in the State.

The decision to declare Camel as State Animal was taken during a State Cabinet
meet held in Bikaner on the last day of Sarkar Aapke Dwar campaign. The Cabinet
meet was chaired by Vasundhara Raje, the Chief Minister of Rajasthan.

Comment
Camel as an animal provide livelihood to numerous people of Rajasthan and is
called as a ship of desert. However, over the years these animals are slaughtered for
its meat and are also illegally transported to neighbouring states. Camels are also
killed as part of sacrifice in several districts of the Rajasthan. As a result, the camel
population in Rajasthan has dwindled sharply. As per the Livestock Census data,
668000 camels were recorded in 1997 which has gone down to 498000 in 2003. This

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means 25 percent decrease in a period of five years. In the next five year census data,
the population went down by 13.5 percent to 430426. The census also highlighted
that the population during 2003-08 period increased in Jaisalmer district.

Thus, besides declaring Camel as the State Animal, the State government is also
in a process to draft a new law that bans slaughter, illegal trade and transportation
of camels. The step includes camel milk in its food security programme and fast
disappearing grazing areas leading to severe food crisis for camels.

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NEWS CAPSULE
PERSON IN NEWS

Om Prakash Kohli sworn in as the Governor of Gujarat

Om Prakash Kohli on 16 July 2014 took oath of office as Governor of Gujarat. He

succeeded Kamla Beniwal who was transferred to Mizoram by the President of India.

His oath of the office and secrecy was administered by Chief Justice of Gujarat High
Court Bhaskar Bhattacharya. He was appointed as the Governor of Gujarat by the
President on 14 July 2014 along with new governors for Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,
West Bengal and Nagaland.

About Om Prakash Kohli

• Om Prakash Kohli (79) is a veteran leader of BJP

• He is a former Rajya Sabha member (1994-2000)

• He was the Delhi unit BJP president during 1991-

95 and 2009-10

• He is an MA in Hindi from University of Delhi

• For over three-decades, he has served as a

lecturer at Hansraj College and Deshbandhu

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College of Delhi University. He retired from service as a reader in 1994.

• During the emergency period, he was arrested under Maintenance of Internal

Security Act (MISA) and lodged in Delhi, Agra and Varanasi jails for 19 months

Veteran actress Suchitra Sen’s house to be converted into a

museum

Veteran Indian film actress, Suchitra Sen’s ancestral home in Pabna district of
Bangladesh will be converted into a museum. The decision of converting the house as
a museum was passed by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh
on 10 July 2014.

The court ordered to take over the house immediately from Imam Ghazali Institute
that is run by Jamaat-e-Islami that had occupied the house for decades.

Suchitra sen, born as Roma Dasgupta Krishna in 1931 spent her childhood in Pabna’s
Gopalpur area of Bangladesh. Her family moved to India during the 1947 Partition.

About Suchitra Sen

• Suchitra was an Indian film actress who worked in both Bengali and Hindi films

• She was the first Bengali actress to be awarded at international film festival in
1963. She won the silver medal for Best Actress for Saat Paake Bandha at Russian
Film Festival.

• In 1972, she was awarded the Padma Shri, one of the highest civilian awards in
India

• In 2005, she refused the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest cinematic award
in India

• In 2012, she was conferred the West Bengal Government’s highest honour: Banga
Bibhushan

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• Suchitra was born on 6 April 1931 and died on 17 January 2014

Michelle Howard became first female four-star admiral in US

Navy

Michelle Howard became the first female

four-star admiral in US Navy. She is the
first women admiral in 236 year old
history of US Navy.

Vice-Admiral Michelle was promoted to

the highest rank of four-star admiral at
the Women in Military Service for America
Memorial in US on 1 July 2014. The
Promotion ceremony was presided over
by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus.

Howard is perhaps best known for leading Task Force 151, which oversaw counter-
piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden conducted in April 2009 to rescue captured
Capitan Richard Phillips by Somali pirates.

About Michelle Howard

• Michelle was born in 1960 in US.

• She was the first African Women to achieve three star rank in US Armed Forces
and first African-American woman to achieve the rank of admiral in the US Navy.

• She is also the first African American woman to command a ship, the amphibious,
dock-loading ship, Rushmore, in 1999.

• She was the first female graduate of the US Naval Academy selected for flag rank
in 2006.

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July 2014

• She is the first African-American and the first female Vice Chief for Naval Operations.

Former French President Sarkozy charged with corruption &

influence peddling

Nicolas Sarkozy, the former President of France, on 2 July 2014 was charged with
corruption and influence peddling.

Sarkozy was charged on the allegation that he sought insider information from a judge
regarding an investigation into illegal campaign financing of his 2007 presidential
campaign by former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

With this, Sarkozy became the first French President who was taken into custody
in criminal investigation. The ex-President for the second time has lost presidential
immunity from legal prosecution. He lost presidential immunity for first time in 2013
but the case was later dropped against him.

In case he is convicted of those charges, he could face a sentence of 10 years in

prison.

Sujit Choudhry became the first Indian-American dean of

Berkeley Law School

Sujit Choudhry became the first Indian-American dean of the Berkeley Law School,
University of California. He is the 12th dean of the famed Law school and he will
serve the institution for five years starting from 1 July 2014.

He relieved Interim Dean Gillian Lester, and replaces Christopher Edley, who stepped
down in December 2013 after nearly ten years as dean.

He is a noted expert in comparative constitutional law and his core work addresses
basic methodological questions in comparative constitutional law. He also studied

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constitutional design as a way for states to transition from civil war to peaceful
democracies, especially in ethnically divided societies.

About Sujit Choudhry

• He was born in Delhi and raised in Toronto, Canada. A Rhodes Scholar, Choudhry
holds law degrees from Oxford, Toronto, and Harvard.

• He was the Cecelia Goetz Professor of Law at New York University School of Law
and founder of its Centre for Constitutional Transitions.

• He was a member of the United Nations Mediation Roster, and has served as a
consultant to the World Bank Institute.

• He was an expert in support of constitutional transitions in Egypt, Jordan, Libya,

Tunisia, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

• He had published more than 70 articles, book chapters, working papers, and
reports.

• He has authored several books and they are Constitutional Design for Divided
Societies: Integration or Accommodation, The Migration of Constitutional Ideas
and Dilemmas of Solidarity: Rethinking Redistribution in the Canadian Federation.

• He received the Trudeau Fellowship, Canada’s equivalent of the MacArthur awards

in 2010 and the South Asian Bar Association of Toronto named him Practitioner of
the Year in 2011.

US named a mountain in Antarctica after an Indian-American

scientist, Akhouri Sinha

The United States on 30 June 2014 named a mountain in Antarctica as Mt. Sinha
to honour an eminent Indian-American scientist, Akhouri Sinha. The mountain
was named in recognition of Sinha’s work done as an explorer in 1971-72. Sinha’s

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July 2014

pioneering biological research expedition has provided critical data about animal
populations in Antarctica.

Mt Sinha is a mountain of 990 meter at the southeast extremity of Erickson Bluffs in

the south part of McDonalds Heights. It overlooks lower Kirkpatrick Glacier from the
north in Marie Byrd Land.

The mountain was named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN)

and the US Geological Survey. Akhouri was recognised by the US Geological Survey.

About Akhouri Sinha

• He was a member of a team that catalogued population studies of seals, whales
and birds in the pack ice of the Bellingshausen and Amundsen Seas using US
Coast Guard Cutters South wind and Glaciers in 1972 and 1974. He was invited
to conduct research on reproduction of Antarctic seals by the National Science
Foundation Antarctic Program.

• Akhouri Sinha is an adjunct professor in the Department of Genetics, Cell Biology

and Development at the University of Minnesota

• He graduated with BSc degree from the Allahabad University in 1954 and MSc
degree in Zoology from Patna University in 1956

• Before going to the US, he taught in the Department of Zoology at the Ranchi
College from November 1956 to July 1961

• His forefathers migrated to Buxar in Bihar from Delhi after it was invaded by Nadir
Shah of Iran in 1739

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PERSON APPOINTED

Lt General Dalbir Singh Suhag took over as Chief of Army

Staff

Lt. General Dalbir Singh Suhag took over as Chief of Army Staff on 31 July 2014. He
succeeded General Bikram Singh to become the 28th Army Chief and will serve as
Army chief for 29 months till 31 December 2016.

59-year-old Lt. Gen. Suhag was designated as Army chief in May 2014 by the outgoing
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

About Lt. Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag

• He is an alumnus of Sainik School, Chittorgarh who joined National Defence
Academy in Khadakwasla in Pune in 1970.

• He was commissioned in 4/5 Gorkha Rifles in June 1974.

• He is the second Gorkha Rifles officer to become the Army chief after Field Marshal
Sam Manekshaw.

• He had participated in the 1987 Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) operation
named Operation Pawan in Sri Lanka

• He holds the distinction of commanding 8 Mountain Division in Kargil from October

2007 to December 2008

• He took over as the Eastern Army Commander on 16 June 2012

• He became Vice Chief of Army Staff in December 2013

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July 2014

Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha took over as the Chairman of

COSC

Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha on 30 July 2014 took over as the
Chairman of the Chief of Staff Committee (COSC). He received the baton of Chairman,
COSC from outgoing Chief of Army Staff, General Bikram Singh at a brief ceremony
in the South Block, New Delhi.

About Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha

• He graduated from the National Defence Academy, Pune with the President’s Gold
Medal in 1973 and was commissioned in the flying Branch of Indian Air Force in
December 1974.

• He is an experienced fighter pilot, a qualified Flying Instructor and a Fight Combat

Leader with nearly 3400 hours of flying experience to his credit, primarily on fighter
aircraft.

• The Air Chief Marshal has the rare distinction of being the Air Officer Comamnding
in Chief of two Operational Air Commands i.e. Central Air Command and the
Western Air Command.

• He also is an alumnus of Defence Services Staff College and the National Defence
College, Delhi

• For his distinguished service, he has been awarded Param Vishisht Seva Medal,
Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and Vayu Sena Medal

• He was appointed as Honorary Aide De Camp (Air) to the Hon’ble President of

India with effect from 1 December 2012

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 July 2014

About Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC)

• The Chiefs of Staff Committee is a forum for service chiefs to discuss matters
having a bearing on the activities of services and to advise the ministry.

• Its members include Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS),
Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), and Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (a non-voting
member).

• The position of chairman devolves on the longest serving Chief of Staff and rotates
amongst the chiefs of services

• The function of the COSC is advising the Defence Minister and normally through
him the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs on all military matters which require
ministerial consideration.

Amitabh Bachchan named as Maharashtra’s horticulture

ambassador

Amitabh Bachchan, the Indian Megastar on 28 July 2014 was appointed as the
horticulture ambassador of Maharashtra. With this appointment, he will start promoting
the horticulture sector in Maharashtra.

Maharashtra, the western Indian state is India’s largest fruit producing state with
around two million hectares area covered in fruit orchards.

Veteran BJP Leader Kaptan Singh Solanki Appointed Governor

Of Haryana

Veteran BJP leader Kaptan Singh Solanki was appointed as the Governor of Haryana
by President Pranab Mukhejee on 25 July 2014. Kaptan Singh Solanki will succeed
Jagannath Pahadia who completed his tenure on 26 July 2014.

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July 2014

About Kaptan Singh Solanki

• Kaptan Singh Solanki was born on 1 July 1939 in Garhpara, Distt. Bhind (Madhya
Pradesh).

• He belongs to Bharatiya Janata Party.

• He served as the member of Parliament of India representing Madhya Pradesh

State in the Rajya Sabha since August 2009.

• He also served as a teacher in Banmor in Morena district from 1958-1965.

• He remained a Professor at P.G.V. College Gwalior from 1966-2000.

• From August 2009 onwards, he has been serving as the Member of Committee on
Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution.

• Apart from this, in July 2010, he was elected as the Member of Consultative
Committee for the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

• He was re-elected for the second term in Rajya Sabha in April 2012.

CAG Of India, Shashi Kant Sharma took charge as member of

UN Board Of Auditors

The Comptroller & Auditor General of India, Shashi Kant Sharma on 25 July 2014
assumed office as Member of the United Nations Board of Auditors for a term of six
year upto June 2020. Shashi Kant Sharma took over the charge from Liu Jiayi, the
Auditor General of the People’s Republic of China at the United Nations Headquarters
at New York. He was elected to this position defeating Philippines by a margin of 62
votes in November 2013.

United Nations Board of Auditors

The United Nations General Assembly established the United Nations Board of

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Auditors to audit the accounts of the United Nations Organization and its funds and
programmes and to report its findings and recommendations to the UN General
Assembly.

For this purpose, the Assembly appoints three members, each of whom must be the
Auditor-General of a Member State. Other two members of the Board besides Shashi
Kant Sharma are Amyas Morse, Comptroller and Auditor General, United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Ludovick Utouh, Controller and Auditor-
General of United Republic of Tanzania.

CAG’s International Audit Experience

The CAG of India has been the external auditor of various international organizations.
Presently, besides being a Member of the UN Board of Auditors, he is the external
auditor of the World Food Programme, World Intellectual Property Organization,
International Atomic Energy Agency, UN World Tourism Organization and the
International Organization for Migration.

He had also served as the external auditor of major UN Agencies like the World
Health Organization, Food and Agricultural Organization, International Maritime
Organization, Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons etc.

Benefits for India

• The UN Board of Auditors is one of the key oversight organs of the United Nations
and its importance has grown in recent years, especially in view of the resource
crunch being faced by all Member Nations in the wake of economic crisis.

• The reports of the Board form a key input in policy-making within the UN system.

• The election of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India to the UN Board of
Auditors would greatly enhance the visibility of India within the UN system.

• Unlike most elections in the UN and its Agencies, this election was a rare case
where an institution was involved.

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July 2014

• CAG of India will now get access for audit of UN Organizations, the prominent one
being the UN Headquarters itself.

• By auditing international organizations of the UN system, not only would the

Comptroller and Auditor General of India add value to the operations of UN, but
its own officers would also be further exposed to the best international auditing
and accounting practices leading to enhancement of their professional skills.

• Deploying of such professionals in India would translate into high quality of

auditing and accounting and would promote accountability, transparency and
good governance in India.

Benefits for United Nations

With their wide experience in the audit of UN and its Agencies and other International
Organizations, the auditors of the CAG of India would assist the UN in bringing about
greater efficiency, economy and effectiveness in its operations by focussing their
audit thrust on key risk areas within the UN.

Presently, the United Nations is in the process of business process transformation

by way of migrating to International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) for
financial reporting and introduction of a SAP based Enterprise Resource Planning
solution.

CAG of India has a pool of audit professionals specialising in IPSAS, who have
assisted World Health Organization (WHO), International Maritime Organization (IMO)
and International Organization for Migration (IOM) in their on-going migration to an
IPSAS compliant financial accounting system.

CAG of India is known for its expertise in the audit of IT systems. India’s twin strengths
in IPSAS and auditing ERP systems would bring value to the United Nations in its
ongoing migration to IPSAS and implementation of its SAP system, UMOJA.

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About the Comptroller and Auditor General

• The Comptroller and Auditor General of India mentioned in the Constitution of
India under Article 148 – 151

• It is one of the largest Supreme Audit Institutions in the world, with a large human
resource pool which is professionally qualified in diverse fields.

• Highly regarded in the international community of Supreme Audit Institutions, the

CAG of India chairs the Knowledge Sharing Committee - one of the four major
Committees of International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI)
besides being a member of a number of other standards setting committees and
sub-committees.

• He is on the Governing Board of INTOSAI.

• He is member of the UN Panel of External Auditors.

• The CAG also chairs the Asian Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI).

• CAG is closely associated with activities in establishing standards, best practices

and guidance in different areas of audit for use by the SAI community at large.

KN Tripathi sworn in as 22nd Governor of West Bengal

Keshari Nath Tripathi was sworn in as 22nd Governor of West Bengal on 24 July
2014. The Acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court Asim Kumar Banerjee
administered the oath of office to KN Tripathi in Raj Bhavan, Kolkata.

He is 22nd Governor of the State since Independence. As s a person he is the 21st

Governor of the State because Professor Saiyid Nurul Hasan was Governor of the
State for two terms.

With his swearing in, he will replace D Y Patil who took oath as the Governor of the
State on 4 July 2014. Patil, the Governor of Bihar, was given the additional charge
as Governor of West Bengal by the President of India Pranab Mukherjee after M K

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Narayanan resigned from the office on 30 June 2014. (Article 153 of the Constitution
states that one Governor can be appointed as Governor of two or more States.)

About Keshari Nath Tripathi

• Keshari Nath Tripathi, the BJP leader from UP, was born in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh
on 10 November 1934

• He served the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly as a BJP member for six times
(1977-1980, 1989-1991 1991-1992, 1993-1995, 1996-2002 and 2002 - 2007)

• He was also the Speaker of the UP Legislative Assembly three times (1991, 1997
and 2002)

• He held position of Cabinet Minister, Institutional finance and Sales Tax in Uttar
Pradesh Government from 1977-1979.

• He practiced as the Senior Advocate at Allahabad High Court.

• He was the President of the Allahabad High Court Bar Association from 1987 to
1989

• He was the UP State President of Bharatiya Janata Party from 2004 to 2007

• Some of his books include commentary on The Representation of the People Act,
1951. He also authored two poetry books- Aayu Pankh and Manonukriti.

• He has been honoured with many awards given by the UP government. Chief
among these awards are Uttar Pradesh Samman,Vishwa Bharati Samman,
Abhishek Shri, Bharat Gaurav

SC appointed R S Cheema as special public prosecutor in

coal scam

The Supreme Court on 25 July 2014 appointed R S Cheema as Special Public

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Prosecutor for trial in coal blocks allocation scam. R S Cheema is a senior advocate.

The appointment of R S Cheema came following the refusal of senior advocate Gopal
Subramanium and Dayan Krishnan to accept the assignment.

Besides, SC Bench headed by Chief Justice R M Lodha also approved the appointment
of Additional Sessions Judge Bharat Parashar as a judge of the special CBI court.
The special CBI court will conduct the trial on day-to-day basis.

Earlier, the SC had ordered setting up of a special CBI court to exclusively conduct
trial of the coal blocks allocation scam. It had also asked the Chief Justice of Delhi
High Court to nominate a judge towards this.

CBI has initiated its preliminary probe into more than 200 cases of illegal allocation
of coal blocks.

Ram Naik sworn in as 27th Governor of Uttar Pradesh

Ram Naik on 22 July 2014 was

sworn in as 27th Governor of Uttar
Pradesh in Lucknow. He is a former
Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) leader from Maharashtra.

The oath of secrecy was administered

by the Chief Justice of Allahabad
High Court Justice Dhananjaya Y
Chandrachud.

Ram Naik succeeded B L Joshi who resigned from the post of Governor resigned in
June 2014. Till the swearing in of Ram Naik, Governor of Uttarakhand Aziz Qureshi
held the additional charge of Uttar Pradesh.

He was appointed as Governor of UP by the President Pranab Mukherjee on 14 July

2014.

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July 2014

About Ram Naik

• He was the Union Cabinet Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Ram in the Atal
Bihari Vajpayee led NDA government from 1999 to 2004.

• After the creation of Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry in 1963, he holds
the distinction of being the only minister to complete full five years as Petroleum
and Natural gas minister in one government.

• He was responsible for introducing 5kg cylinders to the needs of families in lower
income group in hilly regions as well as urban slums.

• He also introduced CNG in Delhi and Mumbai so as to reduce pollution emitted

by diesel-run vehicles.

• As a Minister of State for Railways in 1998 under Vajpayee government, he got

established the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporationfor providing facilities to 76 lakh
commuters of the world’s most over-crowded suburban trains in Mumbai.

• He founded Goregaon Pravasi Sangh in 1964 for organizing suburban commuters

in Mumbai.

• He was also responsible for starting Special Ladies Local Trains in Mumbai for the
first time in world.

• He got elected as Member of Parliament successively for five terms from North
Mumbai Lok Sabha constituency as BJP candidate.

• He created a new record for getting elected as BJP MP from Mumbai Lok Sabha
constituency for eight times.

• He is a law graduate from Kishinchand Chellaram College in Mumbai.

• He wrote a book titled Saga of Struggles that narrates the case of rehabilitation
of people affected from Tarapur Atomic Power Project III and IV. The book is
translated version of his original Marathi bookGatha Sangharshachi.

• He was born on 16 April 1934 at Sangli in Maharashtra.

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Y Sudharshan Rao appointed as Chairman of ICHR

Yellapragada Sudharshan Rao on 25 June 2014 was appointed as Chairman of Indian

Council of Historical Research (ICHR). He replaced Basudev Chatterjee. He would
serve the council for a term of three years.

Y.S. Rao taught at Department of History, Kakatiya University. He had worked at

Kakatiya University for about 40 years. He had vast experience in teaching and
researching.

He guided eight PhD and 15 MPhil students and has about 40 research papers
published in various national and international journals to his credit.

About ICHR
The Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR)
is an agency under the Department of Higher
Education in the Union Ministry of Human
Resource Development.

ICHR was established in 1972. It is registered

under the Societies Registration Act of 1860
with the Department of Industries of Delhi
Government, Delhi.

ICHR supports the academic and empirical

research of scholars using funds received
from the Union Ministry of Human Resource
Development. ICHR does not carry out any historical research of its own.

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July 2014

B Ashok took charge as Chairman of IOC

B Ashok on 16 July 2014 took charge as

Chairman of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC),
the India’s largest oil firm.

His appointment was cleared by the

Appointments Committee of the Cabinet
headed by the Prime Minister Narendra
Modi before leaving for the 6th BRICS
Summit.

He was to succeed R S Butola who

retired from service on 31 May 2014 on attaining superannuation age of 60 years.
Since a full-time chairman was not appointed in time, R K Malhotra, Director (R&D)
and senior most Director on IOC board, was given additional charge.

Malhotra retired in June 2014 and A M K Sinha, Director (Planning and Business
Development) was given the additional charge.

B Ashok, Executive Director (Retail Sales) was chosen for the post of Director by the
Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) in October 2013, but the previous UPA
government could not appoint him before its tenure ended.

Ashok is a mechanical engineer from College of Engineering, Guindy, Madras University

and a Post-Graduate in Management from National Management Programme of
Management Development Institute.

President appointed Governors of five states

President of India, Pranab Mukherjee on 14 July 2014 appointed Governors of five

states, namely Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Gujarat and Nagaland.

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 July 2014

People, who have been appointed as the Governors by the President are
• Ram Naik as the Governor of Uttar Pradesh

• Balramji Dass Tandon as the Governor of Chhattisgarh

• Keshari Nath Tripathi as the Governor of West Bengal

• Om Prakash Kohli as the Governor of Gujarat

• Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya as the Governor of Nagaland

Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya, the Governor of Nagaland will also discharge

the functions of the Governor of Tripura, in addition to his own duties, until regular
arrangements for the office of the Governor of Tripura are made.

The terms of these Governors will take effect from the dates the incumbents assume
charge of their respective offices.

Apart from this, the President also accepted the resignation of Vakkom Purushothaman
as Governor of Tripura.

Emma Watson appointed as UN Goodwill Ambassador

Emma Watson, the British Actress on 8 July 2014 was appointed as the Goodwill
Ambassador for UN Women. With this appointment, the accomplished actress and
humanitarian Watson will work for empowerment of young women and also as an
advocate for UN Women’s HeForShe campaign in promoting gender equality.

Watson is the first Goodwill Ambassador appointment under Phumzile Mlambo-

Ngcuka’s leadership. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is the Under-Secretary-General and
Executive Director of UN Women.

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July 2014

About Emma Watson

• Watson is popularly known for her role as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter
movie series

• She in May 2014 graduated from Ivy League

institution Brown University with a bachelor’s
degree in English literature

• She has been involved in the promotion of girls’

education for several years and earlier has
visited to Bangladesh and Zambia as part of her
humanitarian efforts

About UN Women
UN Women is the UN organization dedicated to
issues of gender equality and the empowerment of
women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to
accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide.

UN Women goodwill ambassadors include Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman

and Thailand’s Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol.

About UN Women’s HeForShe Campaign

He Or She is a solidarity movement of UN Women. The campaign calls upon men

and boys to stand up against the persisting inequalities faced by women and girls
globally. The campaign strengthens the support for women’s rights as human rights
by enlisting the support of men and exhorting them to put themselves forward as
advocates for gender equality.

M S Mehta appointed as CEO of Reliance Infrastructure

M S Mehta was appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Reliance Infrastructure

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on 7 July 2014. He took charge as CEO for a period of five years.

He replaced Lalit Jalan, who held the post of CEO of Reliance Infrastructure for more
than seven years.

About M S Mehta
• MS Mehta is a mechanical engineer and done MBA from IIM Ahmedabad.

• Earlier, he was working with Vedanta Resources as its Group CEO for five years.

• He also served as CEO of Hindustan Zinc and also worked with Lloyds Steel.

About Reliance Infrastructure

Reliance Infrastructure is a part of Reliance Group. It is India’s largest infrastructure
company and has presence across three verticals such as Engineering, Procurement
and Construction, Energy and Infrastructure.

The company has presence in across the value chain of power business i.e. Generation,
Transmission, Distribution, EPC and Trading and the largest infrastructure company
by developing projects in all high growth areas in infrastructure sector i.e. Roads,
Highways, Metro Rails, Airports and Speciality Real Estate.

Supreme Court appointed three judges

Justice Arun Mishra, Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice Rohington F Nariman
were appointed as Supreme Court judges on 7 July 2014. The three judges were
administered the oath of office by Chief Justice of India, R M Lodha.

Justice Mishra and Justice Goel were the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court
and the Orissa High Court, respectively. Justice Nariman was a senior advocate at
the Supreme Court and has been elevated from the advocates bar.

With this appointments, the Supreme Court‘s bench strength is raised to 27 including

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Chief Justice of India, R M Lodha. The sanctioned strength of judges in the Supreme
Court is 31, including the CJI and all of them are appointed by the President of India.

About Arun Mishra

• Justice Mishra was part of law faculty in Jiwaji University, Gwalior from 1986 to
1996.

• He was appointed as Additional Judge in the Madhya Pradesh High Court in 1999
and was made a Permanent Judge in 2001.

• He was appointed Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court on 26th November
2010.

• In 2012, he was transferred to the Calcutta High Court as Chief Justice.

About Adarsh Kumar Goel

• Justice Goel was designated senior advocate by the Supreme Court in 1999.

• He was appointed a judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2001.

• He was appointed Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court on 20th December
2011.

• He was transferred to the Orissa High Court as Chief Justice on 12th October
2013.

About Rohington F Nariman

• Rohington F Nariman is the fifth lawyer to be elevated as Supreme Court judge,
who has a term of about seven years.

• In July 2011, he was appointed as the Solicitor General of India.

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 July 2014

Bihar Governor DY Patil took additional charge of West Ben-

gal

DY Patil, the
Governor of
Bihar, on 4
July 2014
assumed the
additional
charge of
West Bengal
as the acting
Governor. His
oath of the
office was
administered by senior most judge Justice Asim Kumar Bandyopadhya of the Calcutta
High Court at a function in Raj Bhawan in Kolkata.

Patil took over the charge of the office from MK Narayanan who resigned from the post
on 30 June 2014, which was accepted by the President on 4 July 2014. Narayanan
became the 24th Governor of West Bengal on 24 January 2010.

DY Patil will hold the additional charge of the post as interim arrangement till some
permanent Governor is not appointed for the state.

About DY Patil
• He is an educator and a leader of the Indian National Congress from Maharashtra
state

• Patil was elected to the Kolhapur Municipal Council as a Congress candidate in

1957 and remained in office until 1962

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July 2014

• He was the member of the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha from 1967-78

• He was appointed the Governor of Tripura state on 21 November 2009

• He became Governor of Bihar on 29 May 2013

• He received the Padma Shri award in 1991 for social work

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PERSON RESIGNED

Haryana Power Minister Captain Ajay Singh Yadav resigned

from state cabinet

Haryana Power Minister, Captain Ajay Singh Yadav resigned from the state cabinet
on 29 July 2014. He submitted his resignation to the Chief Minister Bhupendra Singh
Hooda in Chandigarh.

Captain Yadav, a six time MLA from Rewari, alleged that he resigned due to regional
bias on part of the Chief Minister and existing favoritism in the party along with
asymmetrical development. However, he will continue to be in Congress and will
abide by the directions of the high command.

Yadav’s resignation came few months before Haryana’s Vidhan Sabha elections
scheduled to be held in September/October 2014.

Prime Minister of Ukraine, Arseniy Yatsenyuk Resigned

The Prime Minister of Ukraine, Arseniy Yatsenyuk resigned from his post from
Verkhovna Rada (The Parliament of Ukraine) on 24 July 2014 after his governing
coalition collapsed. The collapse of the ruling coalition will lead to early elections,
which will be called by the President Petro Poroshenko within 30 days.

Two Ukrainian parties, viz., Udar or Punch Party and Svoboda or Freedom Party left
the majority coalition, paving way for new election.

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July 2014

About Arseniy Yatsenyuk

• Arseniy Petrovych Yatsenyuk was born on 22 May 1974.

• He is the economist, lawyer and politician of Ukraine.

• He served as the Minister of Economy in the Ukraine Government from 2005

to 2006. During his duration as the Minister of Economy, he also headed the
negotiations about Ukrainian membership in the World Trade Organization.

• He was appointed as the Foreign Minister of Ukraine in 2007.

• He has also served as the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada (The Parliament of
Ukraine) from 2007 to 2008.

• He belonged to Ukraine’s second biggest party All-Ukrainian Union ‘Fatherland.’

• He also served as the acting Minister of Economy of Crimea from September

until November 2001. He remained the Minister of Economy of the Autonomous
Republic of Crimea from November 2001 to January 2003.

• Arseniy Yatsenyuk served as the Vice-Governor of Vasyl Tsushko of Odessa Oblast

from March to September 2005.

• He is also the Head of the Ukraine-European Union commission.

• He served as the first vice-president of the Head of Secretariat of the President of

Ukraine from 20 September 2006 onwards.

• He was also the representative of the president in the Cabinet of Ministers of

Ukraine.

• He was elected as the Foreign Minister of Ukraine on 21 March 2007.

Prime Minister of Ukraine- Important Facts to Understand

The Prime Minister of Ukraine is the Head of the Government of Ukraine and presides
over the Cabinet of Ministers, which is the highest executive body of the Ukrainian
Government. This designation replaced the Soviet post of the Chairman of Council

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of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR, established in the year 1946.

Resignation of the PM of Ukraine- Constitutional Provisions

The Prime Minister of Ukraine can resign from his position voluntarily by offering the
resignation to the President of the country.

Resignation of PM leads to dismissal of complete cabinet. The present Constitution

of Ukraine was adopted in the year 1996. Since then, apart from Arseniy Petrovych
Yatsenyuk, only two other Prime Ministers of the country, viz. Pavlo Lazarenko and
Mykola Azarov have resigned from their posts.

The Prime Minister of Ukraine has no set term limit. He stays in the designation for
the term duration of the Parliament; until and unless, he/she resigns or is dismissed
before the term.

B V Wanchoo, the Governor of Goa resigned

Bharat Vir Wanchoo, the Governor of Goa resigned on 4 July 2014. He is the fifth
Governor to resign in last one month after M K Narayanan (West Bengal), B L Joshi
(Uttar Pradesh), Shekhar Dutt (Chhattisgarh) and Ashwani Kumar (Nagaland).

Also, he became the second Governor to be quizzed by Central Bureau of Investigation

(CBI) after M K Narayanan. He is being quizzed as a witness in connection with the
alleged irregularities in the 12 helicopters deal meant for VVIPs from AgustaWestland.

About BV Wanchoo
• He is Indian Police Service officer of 1976 batch of West Bengal cadre

• He was appointed Director of the Special Protection Group (SPG) in 2004 and
continued in that post till his retirement in 2011

• SPG was created in 1985 after the assassination of Indira Gandhi. It protects the
Prime Minister, former Prime Ministers and their families

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July 2014

• He was awarded the Indian Police Medal in 1993 and was awarded President’s
Police Medal in 2001

• He became Governor of Goa in May 2012 and his tenure was scheduled to end
in 2017

About the AgustaWestland Deal

The AgustaWestland 3600-crore deal was signed in 2010 and was cancelled in January
2014 by India. The reason for cancellation was allegations that kickbacks were paid by
AgustaWestland and its parent company (Italian defence giant Finnmeccanica). The
12 VVIP helicopters, for which the deal was signed was to be used by the President,
Prime Minister and others VVIPs.

AgustaWestland, the Anglo-Italian helicopter company owned by Italy’s Finmeccanica,

is a total capability provider in the vertical lift market.

Comment
This process of questioning the Governors by the CBI has raised questions on
whether Governors are entitled to the Constitutional immunity from interrogation
or not. Whereas, as per the Raj Bhawan release, Wanchoo volunteered to give his
statement after the CBI formally requested him on 24 June 2014.

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 July 2014

PLACES IN NEWS

7th BRICS Summit to be held in Russian city of Ufa

Ufa: 7th BRICS Summit to be held in 2015

7th BRICS Summit will be held in Russian city of Ufa in 2015. The announcement
was made in Fortaleza Declaration on 16 July 2014 on the sidelines of 6th BRICS
Summit in Fortaleza, Brazil.

Ufa is the capital city of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia, and the industrial,
economic, scientific and cultural centre of the republic.

Brazil, India, China and South Africa conveyed their appreciation to Russia for its
offer to host the Seventh BRICS Summit in 2015 in the city of Ufa and extend their
full support to that end.

The sixth summit was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Presidents Vladimir
Putin of Russia, Xi Jinping of China, Jacob Zuma of South Africa and Dilma Rousseff
of Brazil.

About BRICS
The term BRIC was first used in 2001 by international investor firm Goldman Sachs
in their Global Economics Paper No. 66, The World Needs Better Economic BRIC.

The first summit of the leaders of BRIC countries was held in the Russian city of
Yekaterinburg in June 2009. Brasilia hosted the 2nd BRICS summit in 2010, followed
by Sanya in China in 2011, New Delhi in 2012 and Durban in 2013.

In global geopolitics, the acronym BRICS has a special character and weight as the

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five countries comprise 20 per cent of global GDP amounting to 24 trillion dollars at
PPP, 40 per cent of the world’s population and 1/4th of the world’s landmass.

The BRICS is a unique grouping in so far as it’s not a geography-bound grouping

like the EU or the ASEAN; or a commodity-based club, like the OPEC, or a security-
based alliance such as the NATO. What provides mortar to cement the grouping is
the joint strategic will of BRICS countries to reconfigure the world order and engage
the world in search of inclusive growth and sustainable solutions.

Post recovery of four bodies from River Beki, tensions rise in

Assam’s Baksa district

River Beki in Assam: Source of tension in Baksa district

River Beki in Baksa district of Assam was in news due to recovery of four kidnapped
bodies on 13 July 2014. The bodies recovered were those of lemon traders from
Baksa district who were kidnapped by suspected National Democratic Front of
Bodoland – Songbijit (NDFB – S) militants.

The recovery of bodies led to mob protesting and imposition of indefinite curfew in
Salabari sub-division and Anand Bazar area of the Baksa district. As a result, Deputy
Commissioner of Baksa district Vinod Seshan has called in the Army and kept it on
stand-by.

Earlier in May 2014, 50 people were killed in Baksa and Kokrajhar in Bodoland
Territorial Area Districts by suspected Bodoland Peoples Front-supported militants.

Inter-island air service to start in Andaman & Nicobar from

24 July

Andaman and Nicobar Island: inter-island air service to start

An inter-island air service will start its operation in Andaman and Nicobar from 24

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 July 2014

July 2014. The proposed commercial air service from Port Blair to Car Nicobar is
being launched by the Andaman and Nicobar Administration.

Inter-island air connectivity will start with CRJ-700 model jet aircraft (chartered by
Islands Administration) from Alliance Air Limited, a subsidiary of Air India. The weekly
services would be operated from both ends on Thursdays.

The first chartered flight with 67 passenger capacity will fly from the Veer Saavarkar
International Airport, Port Blair to Car Nicobar.

Impact and benefits of the service

• The service will provide air connectivity to the southernmost Nicobar group of
islands

• The service will help the island to get a better connectivity also during monsoons,
which gets paralyzed during this period due to its dependence on the shipping
services – considered as the lifeline for the islands

Comment: This air connectivity will formally fulfill the longstanding demands of the
tribal population (southern islanders) for better connectivity.

Special Air India flight carrying 46 Indian Nurses and 137

others from Erbil arrived at Kochi

Erbil in Kurdistan, Iraq: from where 46 Indian Nurses and 137 others came to India

Special Air India flight that carried 46 Indian nurses and 137 others from Erbil in
Kurdistan, Iraq arrived to Kochi in Kerala, India on 5 July 214.

At present Iraq is under the attack of ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant)
jihadist militants. They abducted the nurses against their will from a hospital in the
militant-controlled city of Tikrit in Iraq. Tikrit is the birthplace of former President
Saddam Hussein.

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July 2014

Kurdish authorities released the Nurses from the ISIL captivity in Iraq on 4 July 2014.
After releasing the nurses from Mosul they brought them to Erbil and handed over
them to Indian Embassy officials.

This evacuation process was undertaken under collective efforts of External Affairs
Ministry and Indian Embassy in Iraq.

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 July 2014

PERSON ON VISIT

Sushma Swaraj visited Nepal

External Affairs Minister

Sushma Swaraj visited
Nepal from 25 July to 27
July 2014. She was on a
three-day visit to Nepal at
the invitation of Mahendra
Bahadur Pandey, Minister
for Foreign Affairs of the
Government of Nepal.

She co-chaired the meeting of the Indo-Nepal Joint Commission that was held on
26 July 2014. This Joint Commission meet was held after a gap of 23 years. India
and Nepal agreed to review and adjust the Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1950 to
reflect the current realities. The two countries also agreed to finalise the text of power
trade deal.

During the visit, Swaraj also prepared a ground for two-day official visit of Narendra
Modi to Nepal from 3 August 2014. Modi’s visit to Nepal will be the first visit of an
Indian Premier in over 17 years. The last Indian Premier to visit Nepal was late Prime
Minister IK Gujral in 1997.

During her visit, she met Nepal’s top leaders namely President Ram Baran Yadav and
Prime Minister Sushil Koirala. Apart from them, she also met UCPN-Maoist chief and
Leader of the Opposition Prachanda.

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July 2014

Apart from this, during the visit, she led an Indian delegation that included Sujatha
Singh (Foreign Secretary), Sujata Mehta (the Secretary ER&DPA) and other senior
officials of the Government of India. After returning back to India, she termed the visit
as successful and productive.

The 71-year-old actor is also the face of Gujarat tourism as well as the polio eradication
campaign.

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim visited in India

The World Bank President Jim Yong Kim visited in New Delhi, India on 21 July 2014
on his three-day visit. During his visit, he will meet Prime Minister of India, Narendra
Modi for understanding the development priorities in India. Jim Yong Kim is scheduled
to meet the Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley also.

Activities to Be Undertaken during Jim Yong Kim’s Visit

Jim Yong Kim will also visit the World Bank assisted project sites in Tamil Nadu in
order to find out about rural-urban transformation challenges.

Important Facts
The International Finance Corporation, which is
the private sector arm of the World Bank Group
has so far mobilized 1 billion dollars offshore
rupee bond program, which was aimed at
providing strength to the capital markets of India
as well as for attracting the foreign investments.

India is also the place for largest operations of

the the International Finance Corporation (IFC),
the International Development Association (IDA)
and International Bank for Reconstruction and

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 July 2014

Development (IBRD).

The assistance received by India by the World Bank Group between July 2013 and
June 2014 amounted to 6.4 billion dollars and this included 100 million dollars from
the Clean Technology Fund, 2 billion dollars from IBRD and 3.1 billion dollars from
IDA. All these resources are administers of the World Bank Group.

Narendra Modi visited Brazil to attend 6th BRICS Summit

Prime Minister of India

Narendra Modi visited
Brazil to attend the 6th
BRICS Summit in Fortaleza,
Brazil form 15 July to 16
July 2014. BRICS group
includes Brazil, Russia,
India, China and South
Africa.

During the visit, many decisions were taken and on the sidelines of the summit, the
Prime Minister also met with other leaders of BRICS nation.

One of the most important decision taken during the 6th BRICS Summit was the
creation of 100 billion dollar New Development Bank with equal contribution from all
the BRICS countries. Besides, the Summit also saw the creation of 100 billion dollar
Contingency Reserve Arrangement (CRA) fund for the BRICS nation.

The Prime Minister on the sidelines of 6th BRICS Summit in Brasilia met with leaders
of the BRICS nation, namely President Xi Jinping of China, President Vladimir Putin
of Russia, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and President Jacob Zuma of South
Africa.

Apart from the BRICS leaders, he also met with President Ollanta Humala of Peru,

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July 2014

President Donald Ramotar of Guyana and President Dési Bouterse of Suriname

During his meet with Dilma Rousseff, three agreements were signed between the two
countries and they were

• MoU on Cooperation in the Field of Environment

• Agreement on Space

• MoU on Cooperation in the Establishment of a consultation mechanism on mobility

and consular issues

Prime Minister during the journey of Brazil also inaugurated the new Chancery
Building of Embassy of India in Brasilia, Brazil.

During his speech at the plenary session of the 6th BRICS Summit with theme Inclusive
Growth: Sustainable Solutions, PM Narendra Modi emphasizing on establishing
People to People contact proposed

• 5Ts: Trade, Tourism, Technology, Tradition and Talent to redefine existing paradigmsl

• To establish Sub-national Level exchanges between States, Cities and other local
bodies

• Nurturing Innovation, by establishing a BRICS Young Scientists’ Forum so as to

explore developing innovative mechanisms of Youth engagement

• Setting up of BRICS language schools; offering language training in each of our

languages

• Establishing, Massive Open Online Courses, for making quality education,

accessible to all

5th BRICS Summit was held on 26 March to 27 March 2013 in Durban under the theme:
BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Development, Integration and Industrialisation.
The 7th Summit will be held in 2015 in Russian city of Ufa.

India hosted it’s the third Summit on 29 March 2013 in New Delhi.

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 July 2014

PERSON DIED

Theodore Van Kirk, the last airman in US bombing of Hiroshima

died

Theodore Van Kirk, the last surviving crewman of the US plane that dropped the
atomic bomb in Hiroshima, Japan during the World War II died on 28 July 2014. He
was 93. Kirk also known as Dutch died due to natural causes at the Park Springs
Retirement Community in Stone Mountain, Georgia.

About Theodore Van Kirk

• Kirk was 24-year old at the time when the first atomic bomb was used in combat

• He was born on 27 February 1921 in Northumberland, Pennsylvania

• He joined the Army Air Force Aviation Cadet Program October 1941

• He was a navigator of the United States Army Air Forces, best known as the
navigator of the Enola Gay

• He was the last surviving member of the Enola Gay crew after the death of fellow
crewman Morris Jeppson, who died on 30 March 2010

The Hiroshima attack on 6 August 1945 was first atomic bomb attack in the history of
combat. The nuclear bomb was dropped by a US plane that carried 12 airmen as the
crew of the Enola Gay - the B29 Superfortress. They dropped Little Boy (9000-pound
bomb) on Hiroshima in which about one lakh forty thousand people were killed.

After Hiroshima bombing, the second nuclear bomb named Fat Man was dropped
in Nagasaki on 9 August 1945. About 60 to 70 thousand people were killed in the

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July 2014

incident. These explosions and killing of more than 2 lakh people forced Japan to
surrender. Japan surrendered on 15 August 1945, bringing an end to World War II.

Since then, the survivors of atomic bomb attack known as Hibakusha has always
opposed both nuclear and civilian use of nuclear power. Many of Hibakusha died
later due to radiation sickness and cancer.

The use of nuclear bombs has raised the debate on the issue of use of nuclear
technology. Till date the United States is the only country to ever use nuclear bomb
in combat.

Eminent Hindi litterateur Madhukar Singh died at 87

Madhukar Singh, an eminent Hindi litterateur died at his residence in village Dharahara
of Bhojpur district on 21 July 2014. He was 87.

He was bedridden since many years after a paralytic attack and is now survived by
three daughters and three sons

About Madhukar Singh

• In 1970s Madhukar Singh led Samantar Kahani Andolan in story writing along with
Kamleshwar, a noted writer and others

• He extensively wrote about rural downtrodden workers and farmers

• Singh wrote about 35 books and it included 17 collections of stories and 13 novels

• His story titled Dushman is considered as a milestone in Hindi story writing and
was played in 1980s in Hindi belt by different drama groups

• Some other novel works of Singh were Arjun Zinda Hai, Benimadho Tiwari Ki
Patoh Sonbhadra Ki Radha and Mere Gaon Ke Log

• In late 1960s, he was deeply influenced by Naxal movement

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 July 2014

• Awards and honours given to Madhukar singh included

a) Soviet Land Nehru Award

b) Bihar government’s prestigious Jannayak Karpoori Thakur Sahitya Puraskar

c) Udayraj Puraskar

Sushilarani Patel, a Classical singer died at 96

Sushilarani Patel, the renowned classical singer of India died at her Bandra home on
24 July 2014 due to heart attack. She was 96. She in 2002 became a Sangeet Natak
Academy laureate.

Patel, a widow of Baburao Patel was living alone in her Bandra home since his death
in 1982 and was cared by her disciplines as she had no close relatives. Baburao
Patel was the person, who ran India’s first Bollywood trade journal FilmIndia.

About Sushilarani Patel

• She bagged a recording assignment with the HMV music company in 1942 by the
help of Patel, to whom she married later

• Patel, in 1946 produced two movies namely Gwalan and Draupadi with Sushilarani
as the heroine and singer

• She continued her singing career under gurus that included legendary Mogubai
Kurdikar and Sundarabai Jadhav

• To encourage classical music among the masses and also discover new talent,
the couple founded Shiv Sangeetanjali in 1961

• Some of the prestigious honours and awards bagged by her included

a) Dadasaheb Phalke Academy Award

b) Sangeet Natak Akademi

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July 2014

c) Maharashtra Rajya Sanskritik Puraskar

• She had trained several disciples of which some where

a) Sitar maestro Ustad Alim Khan

b) Alvira Khan (sister of actor Salman Khan)

c) Kiran Rao (wife of Aamir Khan who before being married was a paying guest with
her)

Bangladesh freedom fighter Bir Bikrom UK Ching Marma

died

Bir Bikrom UK Ching Marma, the well known Bangladeshi freedom fighter died on 25
July 2014. He was 76. He died at Chittagong Medical College Hospital due to brain
stroke.

He was given state honour at his Langipara home, about 2 kilometres from the district
town, in presence of top officials of district administration, police and army.

U K Ching was the only person of ethnic minority origin to be awarded Bir Bikrom for
his contribution to the country’s Liberation War in 1971. He belonged to the Marma
community.

About UK Ching
• UK Ching was born in 1937 in a Marma family of Chittagong Hill Tracts (now in
Bangladesh) of British India

• Ching was the only ethnic minority origin person to be awarded with Bir Bikram for
his contribution to the country’s Liberation War in 1971

• He served Bangla rebels in the Bangladesh war, he participated in the Liberation

War along with nine of his colleagues in 1971, while being posted at Rangpur’s

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 July 2014

Hatibandha border outpost as a Nayek

• He served East Pakistan Rifles (now known as the Bangladesh Rifles) in 1952 and
retired in 1982

About Bir Bikrom

Bir Bikrom, literally means Valiant hero in Bengali, is the third highest gallantry award
in Bangladesh. Like the other gallantry awards, this was introduced immediately after
the Bangladeshi Liberation War in 1971. Bir Bikrom was awarded to 175 fighters.

Veteran journalist Sundaram Sankaran died at 87

Veteran Journalist Sundaram Sankaran died on 19 July 2014. He passed away at his
residence in Kensington, Maryland in the US. He was 87.

He served the World Bank for more than 25 years in Washington D.C. He joined the
World Bank in 1962 as a writer in the Office of Information and played a key role in
shaping World Bank’s information policy in developing countries. He retired from
World Bank in 1988 as Chief of the Bank’s Public Affairs Division.

About Sundaram Sankaran

• Sankaran started his journalistic career with the Press Trust of India (PTI) in 1950.

• While working for The Statesman in Mumbai he had covered important

developments including the Samyuktha Maharashtra agitation for the bifurcation
of the then Bombay Presidency.

• He was also the U.S. correspondent for several Indian dailies like Business
Standard, The Economic Times and The Hindu.

• He graduated in Economic and was a fellow of the Economic Development Institute

of World Bank-Harvard University venture in Washington

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July 2014

• Sankaran was presented the Indira Gandhi Media Award by the Indian community
in Washington.

• He was fond of Indian classical music and wrote for Sruti, a Chennai-based
magazine on classical music.

• He donated his collection of classical music— 185 tapes and 20 long playing
records— to the archive of World Music Collection at the Loeb Music Library at
Harvard University.

American actor James Garner died at 86

American actor James Garner died at the age of 86 in Los Angeles on 19 July 2014.
He was best known for playing a detective Jim Rockford in crime series Rockford
Files and also famous for his role in western drama, Maverick.

Garner starred in films such as The Great Escape (1963), The Americanization of Emily
(1964), Grand Prix (1966), Blake Edwards’ Victor Victoria (1982), Murphy’s Romance
(1985) Space Cowboys (2000), and The Notebook (2004).

He was nominated for Oscar Award for his role in Murphy’s Romance. He received
Screen Actor’s Guide lifetime achievement award in 2005.

He was nominated for Emmy Award for best actor in the drama series for five
consecutive years. Finally he won the award in 1977 for Rockford Files.

Rockford Files was produced by Roy Huggins and writer Stephen J Cannell and it
earned three best drama nominations for Emmy Awards from 1978-80. It finally won
it in 1980.

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 July 2014

South African Nobel-prize winning author Nadine Gordimer

died

Nadine Gordimer, the South African Nobel Prize-winning author, died on 14 July 2014
in Johannesburg. She was 90.

Her last novel No Time Like the Present was published in 2012.

About Nadime Gordimer

• She was the first South African to win the Nobel prize in literature.

• Gordimer was among one of the literary world’s most powerful voices against
apartheid

• In 1974, she jointly won Booker Prize for her book The Conservative

• In 1991, she was awarded with the Nobel Prize for literature

• First published work of Gordimer was a story titled Come Again Tomorrow, which
was published in a Johannesburg magazine. At that time she was just 15-year-old

• She was among the leading member of the African National Congress (ANC) that
fought for release of Nelson Mandela

• She edited Mandela’s famous I Am Prepared to Die speech that was given by him
during his 1962 trial

As an author, she wrote several books (both novels and short stories), which majorly
were based on the themes of consequences of apartheid, exile and alienation.

Some famous novels were

• Get a Life (2005)

• The Pickup (2001)

• The House Gun (1998)

• None to Accompany Me (1994)

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July 2014

• My Son’s Story (1990)

• July’s People (1981)

• A Guest of Honour (1970)

• Occasion for Loving (1963)

• World of Strangers (1958)

• The Lying Days (1953) (her first published novel)

Some of her books, which were banned by the South African government under the
apartheid regime, were

• The Late Bourgeois World – 1966

• Burger’s Daughter – 1979

The Nobel prize winning authors from African continent

• Wole Soyinka of Nigeria won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986.

• J. M. Coetzee from South Africa won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2003

Senior VHP leader Giriraj Kishore died at 94

Giriraj Kishore, the senior Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader died on 13 July 2014
following prolonged illness in New Delhi. He was 94-year-old.

Giriraj Kishore, a bachelor who was wheelchair-ridden for last few years earlier had
pledged to donate his body for social cause.

About Giriraj Kishore

• Giriraj Kishore, an Indian activist and politician was actively associated with the
Ram temple agitation (Ram Janmabhoomi Andolan) that led to the demolition of

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Babri mosque on 6 December 1992

• He joined the RSS at an early age, which sent him to VHP. He joined VHP in 1983
during the first Bharat Mata Yatra

• He has served the VHP International wing as the senior vice president and has
also served on the advisory board of the organisation.

• He was one of the senior-most pracharaks of RSS

• He was born on 4 February 1920 in Etah of Uttar Pradesh

• Earlier, he was a school teacher in Morena

World-renowned conductor Lorin Maazel died at 84

Lorin Varencove Maazel, the American conductor of classical music, violinist and
composer died on 13 July 2014 at his home in Castleton, Virginia. He died due to
complications following pneumonia. He was 84 and is survived by four daughters,
three sons and four grandchildren.

Apart from conducting, he also composed music, produced an opera based on

George Orwell’s novel, 1984

About Lorin Varencove Maazel

• Lorin Maazel occupied top positions at

1. The Vienna State Opera

2. The New York Philharmonic accompanied by him on a 2008 tour of isolated North
Korea.

• He along with his wife, in 2009 founded the Castleton Festival, which aimed to
showcase classical musicians at the start of their careers

• Till 2002, he served as the music director of the Symphony Orchestra of the

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Bavarian Radio

• He made a debut in New York Philharmonic in 1942

• At the age of 30 in 1960, he became the first American to conduct at the Bayreuth
Festival in Germany

• From 1965 onwards, he served as an artistic director and chief conductor of the
Deutsche Opera Berlin for five years

• From 1972 to 1982, he served as the music director of the Cleveland Orchestra

• After Cleveland Orchestra, he became the first American to serve as general

manager, artistic director and principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera

• Being at the podium for about 72 years, he guided nearly 200 orchestras in at
least 7000 opera and concert performances

• He had a powerful memory and became known for performing without a score

• He took his first violin lesson at the age of 5 further was invited by Arturo Toscanini
to conduct the NBC Symphony at the age of 7

• From 1988 to 1996, he was also music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony

• He won 10 Grand Prix du Disques

• He was born in 1930 in France

He is the second leading conductor to die in 2014. The first was Italian conductor
Claudio Abbado, who died in January 2014 at the age of 80.

Eduard Shevardnadze, the ex-President of Georgia died at 86

Eduard Shevardnadze, the former President of Georgia died on 7 July 2014. He died
after prolong illness at the age of 86.

He became the second President of Georgia in 1992 after disintegration of Georgia

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from the erstwhile Soviet Union. He had succeeded Zviad Gamsakhurdia. He was
toppled in November 2003 after the Rose Revolution led by Mikheil Saakashvili.

He was alleged about irregularities in Parliamentary polls as well as with corruption

and nepotism. However, Eduard Shevardnadze led Georgia out from the long running
instability and civil war.

About Eduard Shevardnadze

• He was born in 1928 in Lanchkhuti, Georgia

• In 1946, he joined the youth movement of the Communist party and became the
party’s Georgia head in 1972

• In 1985 under reformist leader Mikhail Gorbachev, he was appointed as the foreign
minister of the Soviet Union

• In 1990 he resigned from the post and rejoined it in 1991 when Soviet Union was
disintegrating

• He was credited with helping end the Cold War

• He authored his memoir titled The Future Belongs to Freedom

• He was the last foreign minister of Soviet Union

Alfredo Di Stefano, the Real Madrid FC legend died

Alfredo Di Stefano, the legend of Real Madrid Football Club, died on 7 July 2014 at
the General Universatario Gregorio Maranon Hospital in Madrid. He was 88. He died
after suffering a heart attack.

Stefano was a football player, who played for three different nations at international
level but never appeared at the world cup. He played for Argentina, Colombia and
Spain. Although FIFA in 1954 blocked him from playing for Spain but the decision
was reversed in 1957, when Stefano gained the Spanish citizenship. Apart from this,

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FIFA do not officially recognised his Colombian caps.

About Alfredo Di Stefano

• Stefano was born on 4 July 1926, in Buenos Aires, Argentina

• He was regarded as one of the greatest players of all time

• He played between 1956 and 1960 as a forward and won five straight European
Cups

• In 1957 and 1959, was voted as European player of the year

• He won eight Spanish league titles

• At the age of 38, he left the Real Madrid after scoring over 300 goals across 11
seasons

• With over 300 goals he was the second highest scorer from Real Madrid after
Spaniard Raul Gonzalez who scored 307 goals in all competitions

• He managed Real Madrid for five months from 1990 when the club won Spanish
Super Cup against Barcelona.

• Stefano as manager led Boca Juniors and River Plate to Argentine league titles
and won La Liga and the Copa del Rey with Valencia

• In 2000, he became an honorary President of Real Madrid

Granville Austin, the scholar of Indian constitution died

Granville Austin, the eminent scholar of the Indian Constitution died on 6 July 2014
in Washington DC. He died at the age of 87. He described Indian Constitution as first
and foremost a social document that embodied the objectives of a social revolution.

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About Granville Austin

• He authored two books on Indian Constitution. These are

a) The Indian Constitution – The Indian Constitution: A Cornerstone of a Nation

b) Working a Democratic Republic: The Indian Experience

• In 2011, he was awarded with fourth highest civilian award in India, Padma Shri.
He was awarded in recognition of his writings on the framing and working of the
Indian Constitution.

• He worked as a journalist and photographer

• He was born in 1927 at Norwich, Vermont

• He earned recognition in the form of numerous fellowships and grants, including

from St. Antony’s College, Oxford, the Ford Foundation, the Fulbright Program,
the American Institute of Indian Studies, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Woodrow
Wilson International Centre for Scholars, the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, and the
Institute of Current World Affairs.

• Among friends he was described as a remarkable man and was known as Red

Olympian and WW II veteran Louis Zamperini died

Louis Zamperini, a 1936 US Olympic distance runner and World War II veteran, died
due to pneumonia on 2 July 2014. He was 97.

About Louis Zamperini

• He was born on 26 January 1917 in the western New York city of Olean

• He participated in the 5000-meter race at the 1936 Berlin Olympics in which he

became famous for running the last lap in 56 seconds despite finishing 8th

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• He was also known as Torrance Tornado

• He was an enlisted in the US Army just before the Pearl Harbour incident in 1945
and participated in WW-II

• He survived on a raft for 47 days and before being captured by the Japanese
Army. He spent more than two years as a Prisoner of War

• His life as a WWII prisoner of war is the subject of the 2010 book titledUnbroken:
A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption authored by Laura
Hillenbrand

• In December 2014 a movie adaption of the novel will be released. The movie is
being directed by Angelina Jolie

• Zamperini, already a five-time Olympic torch bearer, ran a leg in the torch relay for
the 1988 Winter Olympic in Nagano, Japan

• In May 2014, he was named as grand marshal of the 2015 Rose Parade in
Pasadena, California

Former Haitian President Leslie Manigat died at 83

Former Haitian president Leslie Francois Manigat on 27 June 2014 died at the age of
83. He was elected as the President of Haiti in January 1988 but was overthrown by
General Henri Namphy in June 1988.

He led the centre-left Assembly of Progressive National Democrats party (RNDP) that
was founded in the late 1970s.

About Leslie Francois

• He was born in 1930 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

• He was an academic turned politician and was recognised for his intellect and
personal integrity.

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• He began his career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the 1950s. He was
imprisoned under the rule of Francois Duvalier in 1963 and after his release he
went into exile to France, US and Venezuela. He returned to Haiti after the fall of
Jean- Claude Duvalier in 1986.

• He was the first elected President of Haiti in 1988 and again after this was
presidential candidate in 2006.

• He won The Haiti Grand Prize of literature 2004 at the Miami Book Fair International.

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AWARDS | HONOURS

Environmentalist Chandi Prasad Bhatt won the Gandhi Peace

prize 2013

Environmentalist and social activist Chandi Prasad Bhatt on 15 July 2014 was
awarded with the prestigious Gandhi Peace prize for 2013. He was awarded by the
President of India Pranab Mukherjee at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.

80-year-old Bhatt is a Gandhian, an environmentalist and a social activist. He, after

realizing aspirations of people, dedicated himself to improve lives of villagers. He is
the person, who fought against government’s wrong policies on forests through non-
violent means

About Chandi Prasad Bhatt

• In 2005, he was awarded with Padma Bhushan

• At present, he is considered as one of India’s first modern environmentalist

• He is also known for his work on subaltern social ecology

• In 1964, he founded Dasholi Gram Swarajya Sangh (DGSS) in Gopeswar.

• Later, GPSS became a mother-organisation of the Chipko Movement, for which

Bhatt was awarded with the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership
in 1982

• He was born on 23 June 1934 in Gopeshwar (now in Uttarakhand)

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Books written by Chandi Prasad Bhatt

• Pratikar Ke Ankur (Hindi)

• Adhure Gyan Aur Kalpanik Biswas per Himalaya Se Cherkhani Ghatak (Hindi)

• Future of Large Projects in the Himalaya

• Eco-system of Central Himalaya

• Chipko Experience

• Parvat Parvat Basti Basti

About Gandhi Peace prize

Gandhi Peace prize is an annual award given by Government of India and was
instituted in 1995 on the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
It carries a plaque, citation and cash prize of one crore rupees.

The award is given to individuals and institutions for their contributions towards social,
economic and political transformation through non-violence and other methods of
Mahatma Gandhi.

Previous recipients of the award includes

• Julius K Nyerere, former Tanzanian President (he was the first recipient of the
award in 1995)

• Nelson Mandela, former South African President,

• AT Ariyaratne, founder President of Sarvodaya Shramadana movement in Sri

Lanka

• Gerhard Fischer of Rama Krishna Mission in Germany and

• Baba Amte (Murlidhar Devidas Amte), a social worker of India who is known
particularly for his work for the rehabilitation and empowerment of poor people

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suffering from leprosy

• Archbishop Desmond Tutu, cleric and activist of South Africa (received the award
in 2005)

Four Indian Americans honoured on the eve of US Independ-

ence Day

Four India-born Americans were honoured on the eve of US Independence Day on 4

July 2014. They were honoured for their contributions to the US during annual Great
Immigrants tribute held in New York, US.

The Indian-Americans honoured were Microsoft Corp chief executive Satya Nadella,
Comedian and actor Aasif Mandvi, Carnegie Mellon University president Subra
Suresh and former president of the University of West Georgia, Beheruz Sethna.
They were honoured along with 36 others.

Satya Nadella born in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh became the shining stars among
the Indian-Americans when he was chosen to head technology giant Microsoft Corp
in February 2014. He migrated to the US in the 1980s.

Aasif Mandvi was born in Mumbai, Maharashtra and migrated to the US when he was
16. He is known for his satire on issues such as Islam, the Middle East and South
Asia during his stint as correspondent on The Daily Show.

Subra Suresh was born in Chennai, Tamil nadu and migrated to the US to work on a
postgraduate science degree. He graduated in 1979. He is the ninth president of the
Carnegie Mellon University. He was appointed as director of the National Science
Foundation in 2010 by US President Barack Obama. He served as the director of
federal science agency till 2013.

Beheruz Sethna was born in India in 1948 and served as the sixth president of the
University of West Georgia - the first Indian-American to lead a university in the US.

The annual Great Immigrants event is sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation, a

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foundation started by a Scottish immigrant Andrew Carnegie who spearheaded the

expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and was himself one
of the most well-known philanthropists of his time.

Shah Rukh Khan Conferred with Knight of the Legion of Honor

Shah Rukh Khan was conferred with top French civilian

award Knight of the Legion of Honor on 1 July 2014. The
Knight of the Legion of Honor was presented to him by
the French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius in Mumbai.
The award was presented for his outstanding contribution
to cultural diversity across the world.

Shahrukh Khan is the second Bollywood actor after

Amitabh Bachchan to be honoured with Knight of the Legion of Honour. Amitabh
Bachchan received the honour in 2007.

Other Indian personalities who have been honoured with France highest honour
are Singer Lata Mangeshkar and director Satyajit Ray for their contribution in their
respective fields as well.

About Shah Rukh Khan

• Shah Rukh Khan was born in 1965. He acted in over 50 films like Darr, Baazigar,
Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Dil To Pagal Hai, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kabhi Khushi
Kabhie Gham, Swades, Chak De! India, Devdas, My Name Is Khan and Chennai
Express.

• He is a producer, television personality, philanthropist and entrepreneur.

• He was awarded Padma Shri in 2005 by the Government of India.

• He was also awarded with the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the government of
France in 2007 for his contribution to cinema.

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President conferred National, Shilp Guru and Sant Kabir

Awards for 2011

Pranab Mukherjee, the President of India on 1 July 2014 presented the National
Awards for Handicrafts and Handlooms, Shilp Guru Awards and Sant Kabir Awards
for the year 2011. The awards were given to weavers and artisans at a function at
Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi.

Sant Kabir Awardees are

• L Subadani Devi of Manipur

• Gour C Basak of West Bengal

Shilp Guru Awardees are

• Ghulam Mehdi Joo of Jammu and
Kashmir

• MM Mahapatra of Odisha

• Ghanshyam Nimbark of Rajasthan

• Shabbir Hasan of Rajasthan

• K Rahmatullah of Tamil Nadu

• Subhrendu B Roy of Tripura

• Kaneez Asghar of Uttar Pradesh

• Fayyaz Ahmad of Uttar Pradesh

• Babu Ram Yadav of Uttar Pradesh

• Alima Khatun of West Bengal

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The National Awards were presented in two categories namely in Handi-

crafts and Handlooms.
• National Award in Handicrafts category was conferred on 21 people

• National Award in Handlooms category was conferred on 25 people

Besides, President Pranab Mukherjee also gave National Merit Certificate to 20

people in Handicrafts category and to 21 persons in Handloom category.

Sant Kabir Award

Sant Kabir Award established in 2009 is conferred to outstanding weavers who have
made valuable contribution in keeping alive the handloom heritage. The award is
christened in the memory of sant Kabir, a 15th-century mystic poet and sant of India.
It consists of one mounted gold coin, one shawl and a citation along with a financial
assistance of 6 lakh rupees.

About Shilp Guru Awards

Shilp Guru Award was established in 2002 on occasion of Golden Jubilee Year of
Handicrafts Resurgence in India. It is conferred to legendary master craft persons of
handicrafts whose work and dedication have contributed not only to the preservation
of rich and diverse craft heritage of the country but also to the resurgence of handicrafts
sector as a whole.

The award consists of one mounted gold coin, one shawl and a citation along with a
financial assistance to the extent of 7.50 lakh rupees.

The Eligibility criteria for Sant Kabir Awards and Shilp Guru Awards are same. Any
Indian master craft persons who is either a National Awardees or a State Awardees
of exceptional standing or master craft persons of extraordinary skills and having
immense contribution to handicrafts sector. The craftsman should not be below the
age of 55 years. A maximum of 10 Awards is given in each category in a given year.

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About National Awards

The National Awards for craftsmen was introduced during the year 1965 and later the
same was extended to weavers also. Every year up to 20 national awards and 20
national merit certificates is given in each category to the outstanding craftsmen and
handloom weavers. National award consists of a certificate, angavastram, a copper
plaque and cash award of 1 lakh rupees and national merit certificate award consists
of a certificate and a cash award of 50000 rupees.

All craftspersons and weavers residing in India and who are above the age of 35
years and are having 10 years experience in the field of handicrafts or handlooms as
on 31st December of previous year are eligible for the award.

Malala Yousafzai won Liberty Medal for the year 2014

Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani education

advocate, on 30 June 2014 won the 2014 Liberty
Medal given by the National Constitution Centre in
Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, US.

She won the medal for her continued demonstration

of courage and resilience in the face of adversity and
for serving as a powerful voice for those who have
been denied their basic human rights and liberties.

Malala, the youngest recipient of medal in 25-year

history, will receive the award at a ceremony to be held at the centre in Philadelphia
on 21 October 2014.

About Liberty Medal

• Established: 1988

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• Founder: National Constitution Center, Philadelphia.

• Given for what: For courage and conviction to secure the blessings of liberty to
people the world over

• First recipient: Polish Solidarity founder Lech Walesa

• Other recipients: Muhammad Ali, former President Jimmy Carter, South African
leader Nelson Mandela, Sandra Day O’Connor, Shimon Peres, Colin Powell and
former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

• 2013 Winner: Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

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BOOKS | AUTHORS

The Lives of Others written by Neel Mukherjee shortlisted for

Man Booker Prize 2014

The Lives of Others: Neel Mukherjee

The Lives of Others authored by Neel Mukherjee was shortlisted for Man Booker
Prize 2014 in the fourth week of July 2014. Neel Mukherjee is a Kolkata-born British
Indian writer and this is his second novel.

The novel is set in 1960s Bengal and revolves around a man’s extremist political
activism during troubled times. The Novel is published by Granta which has so far
sold 300000 copies in the United Kingdom and almost 500000 copies worldwide.

His first novel was Past Continuous which was joint winner of the Vodafone-Crossword
Award, India’s premier literary award for writing in English for best novel of 2008.

In 2013 another book set in Kolkata, The Lowland written by Jhumpa Lahiri was, was
shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2013. But it lost to The Luminaries written by
Eleanor Catton of New Zealand. The Lowland is a story of a young man’s tryst with
the Naxalite movement at the cost of his family.

Other Books shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2014

• We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves: Karen Joy Fowler

• To Rise Again at a Decent Hour: Joshua Ferris

• The Narrow Road to the Deep North: Richard Flanagan

• History of the Rain: Niall Williams

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• The Blazing World: Siri Hustvedt

• Orfeo: Richard Powers

• The Dog: Joseph O’Neill

• J: Howard Jacobson

• The Wake: Paul Kingsnorth

• The Bone Clocks: David Mitchell

• Us: David Nicholls

• How to be Both: Ali Smith

Some Interesting Facts about Man Booker Prize

• For the first time since 1969 (when the award was first given), the 50000 pound
prize in 2014 has been opened up to writers of any nationality, writing originally in
English and published in the UK. Previously, the prize was open to authors from
the UK and the Commonwealth, Republic of Ireland and Zimbabwe.

• Catton became the youngest writer to ever win a Man Booker prize in 2013. Her
book The Luminaries with 832-page is also the longest novel to ever win the
coveted literary prize.

• The youngest ever winner before Catton was Ben Okri who was 32 when his work
The Famished Road won the Booker prize in 1991.

The Vijay Mallya Story written by K Giriprakash published

The Vijay Mallya Story: K Giriprakash

The Vijay Mallya Story written by K Giriprakash was published by Penguin Books
Limited in 2014. K. Giriprakash is the Chief of Bureau, The Hindu Business Line.

The book is an intriguing story of the life of Vijay Mallya, an Indian industrialist with a

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history of ground-breaking success.

The book tells about even the lesser
known facts and stories from the
professional events of Mallya’s life.

The making of this industrial tycoon, his

success story, the story of his decline
with the downfall of Kingfisher, and a
lot of important events from his life are
presented in the book.

The book also tells about the various

names by which Vijay Mallya was
referred. These include the King of
Good Times, The Liquor King of India,
and King of Good Thrones. The book also presents the details about his presence
in the Rajya Sabha (or the Upper House) of the Indian Parliament, his ownership of
IPL team Royal Challengers, Bangalore and many other professional roles which he
donned.

The book not merely includes the professional life of Mallya, but also of his childhood
events, the business acumen he was born with, and how he shared his relationship
with his father. The book explains how his skills and the business-dealing abilities
got him a long period of unmatched success, while the fall of Kingfisher has been a
break in his reign.

Coffee-Table book titled First Citizen: Pranab Mukherjee in

Rashtrapati Bhavan released

First Citizen: Pranab Mukherjee in Rashtrapati Bhavan: published by The

Week Magazine

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 July 2014

A coffee-table book titled First Citizen:

Pranab Mukherjee in Rashtrapati Bhavan
was released on 2 July 2014 at a function
in Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi. The
book’s first copy was received by Pranab
Mukherjee, the President of India.

The book has been published by The

Week Magazine and was released by Dr.
Karan Singh in the presence of Pranab
Mukherjee and Philip Mathew, the Managing Editor of The Week.

The foreword of the book has been written by the President in which he has written
about The Raisina Hill and the buildings in and around Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The coffee-table book is a compilation of articles that were published in The Week
under the column titled First Citizen from January 2013 to May 2014. The book covers

• Initiatives of President to reach out to citizens on issues concerning them

• President’s tours across the country and abroad

• The new initiatives taken to open up the doors of the Rashtrapati Bhavan to the
common citizen

• The ceremonies associated with the Presidency, the Kitchen and others

The book also includes

• Never before seen archival photographs of former Presidents from the Rashtrapati
Bhavan collection

• Interesting news snippets of information

• Three articles authored by the President on Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Rabindranath

Tagore and Swami Vivekananda which were published in The Week

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About The Week

The Week is one of India’s leading news-magazines and is published by the Malayala
Manorama Group, the 125th Anniversary celebrations of which were inaugurated by
the President of India at Kottayam in 2013. The Week has been in publication since
1982.

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DEFENCE | SECURITY

IAF received 6th C-17 Globemaster III aircraft

Indian Air Force on 28 July 2014 received its sixth C-17 Globemaster III aircraft. This
aircraft was received by the Union Defence Minister Arun Jaitley at the Palam Airbase
in New Delhi.

Benefits of the C-17 Globemaster III aircraft

The C-17 Globemaster III aircraft will enhance the operational potential of the Indian
Air Force (IAF) with its payload carriage and performance (about 75 tonnes). It would
also augment the strategic reach of the nation during operations to about 4500 kms
during disaster relief and other similar missions.

The first Boeing C-17 Globemaster III Aircraft was received by India on 18 June 2013
at Hindon Airbase in Uttar Pradesh in India.

About Boeing C-17 Globemaster III Aircraft

Boeing C-17 Globemaster III Aircraft is a 4-engine, high wing, T-tailed military
transport aircraft. C-17 is the biggest aircraft in Indian Air Force inventory and is
capable of carrying large equipment, supplies and troops directly to small airfields,
day and night, across the world. It has delivered cargo during worldwide operations,
since 1990s.

Background
Indian Air Force signed a 4.1 billion US dollar deal with Boeing to get 10 C-17 Aircraft

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in June 2011. The deal was signed after conducting a thorough study of its capabilities
of being operational under all conditions and abilities to take-off from short runways
with heavy loads.

Malabar Naval Exercise featuring Indian, Japanese and US

Navy started

Malabar Naval exercise 2014 started on 24 July 2014 in the Pacific Ocean. Malabar
naval exercise 2014 is the 18th edition of the Malabar series conducted to enhance
multinational maritime relationships and mutual security issues.

Japan is participating in the Malabar exercises for the third time since it first participated
in 2007.

Highlights of the Exercise

The exercise will feature both ashore and at-sea training. The ashore exercise at Port
Sasebo in Tokyo, Japan will take place from 24 July 2014 to 26 July 2014.

In this exercise, the interactions will include subject matter expert and professional
exchanges on Carrier Strike Group operations, maritime patrol and reconnaissance
operations, anti piracy operations and Visit, Board, Search and Seizure (VBSS)
operations.

Three ships of Indian Navy viz. INS Ranvijay (guided missile destroyer), INS Shivalik
(stealth frigate) and INS Shakti (fleet tanker) entered Port Sasebo, Japan on 23 July
2014 for the participation in exercise.

The sea phase of the exercise is scheduled from 27 July 2014 to 30 July 2014 and
will be conducted in the Western Pacific Ocean. Exercises planned during this phase
include search and rescue exercises, helicopter cross-deck landings, underway
replenishments, gunnery and anti-submarine warfare exercises, Visit, Board, Search
and Seize operations (VBSS) and Liaison officer exchange and embarkation.

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Designed to enhance maritime cooperation among the navies of the participating

nations, these exercises further hone individual capacity to conduct operations in a
multi-national environment.

Participants of the Exercise

The navies of India, Japan and the U.S. shall take part in the exercise which will help
advance the level of understanding among the navies.

Two destroyers along with a P3C Orion and a sea-plane (US-2) are the participants
from the Japanese Navy. From the US Navy one submarine (SSN), two destroyers,
one tanker along with one MR aircraft would be participating. One US Carrier Strike
group (CSG) is likely to join for the sea phase of the exercise.

About Exercise Malabar

The Exercise Malabar is a joint naval exercise first conducted as a bilateral one
between the US and Indian navies in 1992.

In 2007, it was expanded to include the navies of Australia, Japan and Singapore
when the exercise was conducted in the Bay of Bengal. Since then India has restricted
the Malabar exercise after China protested it.

Malabar exercise was not conducted for a brief period after Pokhran II nuclear test
conducted by India in 1998.

India’s first indigenous anti-submarine warship INS Kamrota

handed over to Indian Navy

India’s first indigenous anti-submarine warship (ASW) Indian Naval Ship (INS)
Kamorta was handed over to the Indian Navy by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and
Engineers (GRSE) in Kolkata on 12 July 2014. The ship was handed over to the Navy
by Rear Admiral (retd) A K Verma, Chairman and Managing Director of GRSE, in a

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brief ceremony at GRSE’s Fitting-Out-Jetty.

INS Kamrota is the first in its class of four ASW corvettes being built by GRSE under
Project-28 for the Navy. It is the first warship ever built in the country with almost 90
per cent of indigenous content.

It is armed with stealth features and is the first warship equipped with new trainable
chaff launcher - Kavach. Besides, it is loaded with formidable array of weapons on
board. These includes heavy weight torpedoes, ASW rockets, 76 mm medium range
gun and two guns as Close-in-Weapon System (CIWS) with dedicated fire control
systems, chaff systems.

The ship would be commissioned in August 2014 at Visakhapatnam and would form
part of the Eastern Fleet under the Eastern Naval Command.

The ship’s keel was laid on 20 November 2006 and the ship was launched on 19 April
2010.

INS Kuthar Warship damaged in mishap, 15th such incident

since August 2013

Indian Naval Ship (INS) Kuthar Warship was damaged in a mishap on 13 July 2014.
This was the 15th such incident after INS Sindhurakshak sank on 14 August 2013.
The Indian Navy ordered a Board of Inquiry to probe the incident.

INS Kuthar suffered damage while entering the harbour of a naval base in Port Blair,
A & N Islands when it ran aground in rough weather in the end of June 2014.

About INS Kuthar

INS Kuthar is a Khukri class missile corvette warship weighing 1350 tonne. It is the
part of the fleet of the Vishakhapatnam-based Eastern Naval Command, which is in-
charge of operations in Bay of Bengal and areas beyond it.

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It was commissioned in the Indian Navy in 1990 and was designed by Indian naval
architects and built at Mazagon Dock in Mumbai.

INS Kuthar along with INS Satpura and INS Ranvijay represented Indian Navy in the
first ever Japan-India maritime exercise (JIMEX) held in the Bay of Bengal from 19
December - 22 December 2013.

Some Major mishaps since August 2013

14 August 2013: Russian-origin submarine INS Sindhurakshak sank killing 18
personnel on board

22 September 2013: Fire on board aircraft carrier INS Virat

4 December 2013: Fire on board INS Konkan

23 December 2013: Russian-origin stealth frigate INS Talwar rammed a fishing vessel
off Ratnagiri

The spate of accidents in the Navy resulted in the resignation of former Navy Chief
Admiral DK Joshi, who took moral responsibility for the accidents and sought voluntary
retirement from the maritime force on 26 February 2014.

India successfully test-fired BrahMos supersonic cruise mis-

sile

India on 8 July 2014 successfully

test-fired an advanced version of
the 290-km range BrahMos
supersonic cruise missile from
Chandipur-on-Sea off Odisha
coast. It was test-fired from a
mobile launcher from launch
complex number three of the

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Integrated Test Range (ITR), Balasore.

BrahMos has been inducted into the Army and Navy, while, the Air Force is in final
stages of trial. The induction of the first version of BrahMos Weapon Complex (N1)
in the Indian Navy commenced from 2005 with the missile being deployed on-board
warship INS Rajput (the first ship with the missile).

The Indian Army also received the first regiment of BrahMos missile, Block I (A1), with
the formation of N816 missile regiments and commencement of deliveries from 2007.

At present, to develop an air as well as the submarine–launched version of the

missile system, work is going on by an Indo-Russian joint version company, BrahMos
Aerospace.

About the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile

• BrahMos supersonic cruise missile is capable of carrying a conventional warhead
of 300 kilogram and operates on ‘Fire and Forget Principle’, adopting varieties of
flights on its way to the target

• BrahMos is the first supersonic cruise missile known to be in service

• BrahMos with a top speed of Mach 2.8 is about three times faster than the US
subsonic Tomahawk cruise missile

• It can be launched from ships, aircrafts and submarines

• It is a two-stage missile with Solid propellant in the first stage and Ramjet liquid
propellant in the second stage

• Name BrahMos has been formed from the names of two rivers, namely the
Brahmaputra of India and the Moskva of Russia

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REPORT | SURVEY

Global Innovation Index 2014 released

The Global Innovation Index 2014 (GII) was released at the B20 Australia Summit held
in Sydney on 18 July 2014. The 2014 Index was released by the Australia’s industry
minister Ian Macfarlane.

GII 2014 in its 9th edition covers 143 countries around the world and uses 81 indicators
across a range of theme.

The theme of the GII 2014 is Human Factor in Innovation and the main authors of the
GII 2014 are Soumitra Dutta, Bruno Lanvin, and Sacha Wunsch-Vincent.

Main highlights of the Index

• Switzerland topped the GII rankings like 2013 while the UK took the second
position. Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands are ranked third, fourth and fifth
respectively.

• USA is ranked on 6th position followed by Singapore, Denmark, Luxembourg and

Hong Kong at seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth position respectively.

• As of 2013, a fall in the growth of public R&D support coupled with the continued
hesitancy of company R&D expenditures seems to be leading to slower overall
growth of total R&D expenditures worldwide; this is the case especially in high-
income countries.

• The GII 2014 confirms the continued existence of global innovation divides even
within income groups. All top 25 economies are in the high-income group. China

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and Malaysia are the only upper-middle income countries getting closer to these
ranks

• Sub-Saharan Africa is the region that sees the most significant improvement in GII
rankings in 2014. Thirty-three countries make up the region in the GII.

• The BRICS economies show signs of divergence, with China improving at a

significantly faster pace than its BRICS counterparts and India slipping back.

• The retention of cohort of most productive innovators is a neglected but important

policy objective for developing countries. Developing countries should pursue
priorities other than the provision of research and innovation infrastructure
necessary to retain the elite cohort.

• It posits that successful innovation requires the population to obtain a higher level
of education, to be more creative, and to boost their ability to perceive essential
achievements in science, technology, and innovation (STI) and implement those
in daily practices.

• Imparting and emphasising on science does not lead to innovation as there exists
a negative correlation between national-level student test scores in science and
interest in science.

• Improving skills is one of the most important ways to raise innovation, productivity,
and economic growth, and to improve social welfare and equality.

• The regions with the highest numbers of people with tertiary education and with
the highest enrolment ratios in higher education are also those with the most
researchers as a proportion of the total population. North America and Western
Europe and Central and Eastern Europe are the two such regions.

• The highest growth rates in enrolment in tertiary education are in Asia dominated
by China, with the exception of Central Asia, where the gross enrolment ratio even
decreased after 2007.

• The magnitude of the global emigration rate of highly skilled persons from Africa
is striking: it is estimated at 10.6 percent (9.7 percent for migration to OECD

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countries), compared with other regions of origin and the world average of 5.4
percent (4.3 percent to OECD countries).

• The leading countries of origin among immigrants with a highest degree in science
and engineering are China and India.

• Economies that are catching up are more dependent on technology transfer than
they are on original R&D. R&D is generally unprofitable in countries with low levels
of human capital.

India and GII 2014

• India slipped 10 notches on the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2014. India fell from
the 66th position to the 76th on the index.

• India became the only one among the BRICS economies that fell in the rankings
of countries based on their innovation capabilities.

• China was the best among BRICS nations at 29th position, an improvement of six
places. Russia went up 13 places at 49th rank. South Africa ranked 53rd, went up
five places, while Brazil at 61st position, moved up three places.

• The divergence of India from the rest of the BRICS economies is the result of
the challenges it faces in integrating its efforts along the different dimensions of
innovation to sustain a high level of innovation success.

About the Global Innovation Index

The Global Innovation Index (GII) was first published in 2007. It is the result of
collaboration between Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO).

The GII 2014 is calculated as the average of two sub-indices. The Innovation Input
Sub-Index gauges elements of the national economy which embody innovative
activities grouped in five pillars: (1) Institutions, (2) Human capital and research,
(3) Infrastructure, (4) Market sophistication, and (5) Business sophistication. The

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Innovation Output Sub-Index captures actual evidence of innovation results, divided

in two pillars: (6) Knowledge and technology outputs and (7) Creative outputs.

Earthquakes in Oklahoma due to wastewater disposal wells:

Cornell University

The Earthquakes in Oklahoma since 2009 increased due to massive injections of

subsurface wastewater from the oil and gas industry at a handful of wastewater
disposal wells.

This was revealed by a study conducted by Cornell University researchers led by Prof
Katie Keranen. The Study was published in the journal Science on 3 July 2014.

According to the study, waste water associated with oil and gas production is injected
into the ground called disposal well. These wells operating at very high volumes,
created substantial anthropogenic seismic hazard.

The number of potentially damaging earthquakes with magnitude of 3.0 or larger was
up more than 120 percent (241 earthquakes) by the end of June 2014 as compared
to 109 earthquakes in 2013.

Researchers of Cornell University reported that earthquakes can be induced nearly

30 km or nearly 19 miles, away from a disposal well, beyond the current range of
about 5 km or 3 miles.

Besides, researchers also said that four of the highest-volume disposal wells in
Oklahoma were capable of triggering 20 percent of recent earthquakes in the
Oklahoma. Earthquakes of Oklahoma in areas of high industry waste water disposal
constituted nearly half of all central and eastern US seismicity from 2008 to 2013.

In 2011, Oklahoma suffered its biggest recorded earth quake of 5.6 magnitudes.

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UN released World Urbanization Prospects Report 2014

The United Nation (UN) on 10 July 2014 launched the 2014 revision of the World
Urbanisation Prospects report. The report said that at present, 54 percent of the
world’s population lives in urban areas, which will have an additional 2.5 billion people
in urban areas by 2050.

Highlights of the report

• Tokyo was ranked at first position as populous cities in 2014 with 38 million
inhabitants (projection says that Tokyo’s population will decline, but will remain
the world’s largest city in 2030 with 37 million people)

• Delhi with 25 million population was ranked at 2nd position

• Shanghai with 23 million was placed at the at the third position

• Mexico City, Mumbai and Sao Paulo, each with around 21 million inhabitants in
2014 were ranked at fourth position

• Osaka with just over 20 million people, round up the top five spots.

• According to UN, at present worldwide, there are 28 megacities that represents

12 percent of the world’s urban population of which 16 megacities are located in
Asia, with four in Latin America, three each in Africa and Europe and two in North
America. The number of megacities has reached to 28 from previous 10 marked
in 1990 (megacities are defined as urban agglomerations with more than 10 million
inhabitants).

• By 2030, the world will have 41 megacities each with more than 10 million
inhabitants of which maximum will be in developing nations.

• The World Urbanisation report said that between 2014 and 2050, the largest
urban growth will take place in India, China and Nigeria. These three countries will
account for 37 percent of the projected growth of the world’s urban population

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• As per the report, by 2050 India will add 404 million urban dwellers, which will be
much more than China’s projection of 292 million. Nigeria will add 212 million to
its urban population.

• At present, urban population of 758 million exists in India and China, which
accounts to 30 percent of world’s urban population.

• After combining India and China with the United States, Brazil, Indonesia, Japan
and Russia at present accounts for more than half of the world’s urban population.

Report in context of India

The UN report highlighted Delhi with 25 million inhabitants as the world’s second
most populous city after Tokyo. Mumbai was ranked at fourth place in the list.

The reports projection says that Delhi’s population that has almost doubled to 25
million, since 1990 will retain the spot of world’s second most populous city through
at least 2030, when its population is expected to rise swiftly to 36 million. It also
projected that India will add the highest number of people to its urban population by
2050, ahead of China. At present India’s urban population are 410 million people and
by 2050, it will grow to 814 million.

Director of the UN Population Division - John Wilmoth

World Bank released a report titled Student Learning in South

Asia

World Bank released a report titled Student learning in South Asia: challenges,
opportunities, and policy priorities on 30 June 2014. According to the report, the
poor quality of education is hampering the development of South Asia including
India.

The poor quality is reflected in learning levels, traps many of its young people in
poverty and prevents faster economic growth and more broadly shared prosperity.

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Highlights of the Report

• Many governments in South Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,
Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka) have invested heavily in education to
achieve the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education for all
children by 2015.

• The investment resulted in an increase in the net enrollment rate in South Asia’s
primary schools from 75 percent to 89 percent from 2000 to 2010. The increase in
enrollment brought the region closer to the enrollment rates in Latin America and
the Caribbean (94 percent) and East Asia and the Pacific (95 percent).

• There are large differences in schooling access across the countries of South
Asia as well as between different socioeconomic and demographic groups within
countries. For instance, Sri Lanka is a clear outlier, having achieved near-universal
primary education decades ago. On the other hand, Afghanistan and Pakistan still
lag significantly behind other South Asian countries.

• Most of the South Asia’s education system has shown disappointing outcomes,
as measured by student learning. This in part reflected coping with the large influx
of children who were first-generation school-goers.

• Inferior education systems and the shortage of skills are constraining private
sector investment and future economic prospects

• The teachers in India and Pakistan have poor performance in Mathematics and
language tests based on the curriculum they are supposed to teach.

• Students are poorly prepared in practical competencies such as measurement,

problem-solving, and writing of meaningful and grammatically-correct sentences.

• One quarter to one third of those who graduate from primary school lack basic
numeracy and literacy skills that will enable the students to further their education.

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Recommendations
Raising education quality in South Asia is an urgent priority that could transform the
region’s economic landscape. The following recommendations are the multi-pronged
strategy to address the challenges of the above.

• Ensure young children get enough nutrition

Government need to invest in early-life nutrition, with appropriate coverage and age
targeting. It can be a highly cost-effective investment in the quality and efficiency of
education.

• Raise teacher quality

Teachers in South Asia are poor in math and languages tests based on the curriculum
they are supposed to teach. To overcome this higher and clear standards must be
enforced, absenteeism curbed, and non-merit-based promotions halted.

• Use financial incentives to boost quality

The extra resources are available, instead of going to higher pay for teachers, reducing
class sizes or improving facilities, the resources will be to link them to need and
student performance.

• Bring in the private sector

The private sector is already playing a major role in education, and governments
should encourage greater private-sector participation by easing entry barriers and
encouraging well-designed public-private partnerships.

• Improve the measurement of student progress

Governments need to improve the quality and reliability of assessments and

benchmarking national learning outcomes against international standards.

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ACCIDENT | INCIDENT

Air Algerie plane Boeing MD-83 went missing over Mali

Air Algerie plane Boeing MD-83 went missing over Gao in Mali in Africa on 24 July
2014. The plane was carrying 119 passengers, mostly French and Spanish nationals,
from Burkina Faso to Algiers. The plane had taken off from Ouagadougou in Burkina
Faso.

The airplane was a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 leased from Spanish company Swiftair.

Past air accidents in Algeria

In February 2014, one of Algeria’s worst air disasters, a C-130 military aircraft carrying
78 people crashed in poor weather in the mountainous northeast, killing more than
70 people. The plane was flying from the desert garrison town of Tamanrasset in
Algeria to Constantine.

In March 2003, an Air Algerie passenger plane crashed on takeoff from Tamanrasset
after one of its engines caught fire. This was the worst ever air disaster in country’s
aviation history in which all but one of 103 people on board were killed.

Comment
The missing of Air Algeie happened one and a half month after the Malaysian airplane
MH370 went missing with all passengers on board in the Indian Ocean in June 2014.
Also the incident happened one week after the Malaysia airplane MH-17 crashed in
the eastern Ukraine killing 298 passengers on board on 17 July 2014. These three
incidents in a gap of one and a half month have sent jitters among the major airlines
of the world.

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Malaysia Airlines plane Boeing 777 plane MH-17 crashed

over Eastern Ukraine

Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane, MH-17, was shot down over war-torn eastern
Ukraine near the Russian border on 17 July 2014. The Plane was shot down at an
altitude of 10000 meters (33000 feet).

The burning wreckage of the aircraft and bodies were found scattered at the village
of Grabovo (some 40 km from the Russian border). Pro-Russian rebels are active in
the area. Ukrainian authorities and Malaysia Airlines are investigating the incident.

MH-17 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur carrying 280 passengers and 15
crew members. It is feared that almost everyone on board the plane have died.

The plane, as reported, might have been shot down by the terrorists by aBuk surface-
to-air missile system. The Buk missile system can fire missiles up to an altitude of
22000 meters (72000 feet).

Earlier on 8 March 2014, Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 operating a Boeing 777-
200ER aircraft disappeared from the radar screens over the South China Sea with
239 people on board.

In lieu of the above incident, Air India and Jet Airways changed the routes of all their
flights and have directed their staff not to overfly Ukraine and take longer route,
till further orders. Apart from Indian Airlines, global carriers like Russia’s Aeroflot,
Germany’s Lufthansa, Air France and Turkish Airlines have also avoided the Ukrainian
airspace. European flight safety body Eurocontrol has also closed the airspace in the
east of Ukraine to all airline flights.

Other incidents of airplane crashes after being shot

1973 – Israeli fighter jets shot down a Libyan Arab Airlines after it entered Israel-
controlled airspace. About 115 people were killed in the incident

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1979 – Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) guerrillas shot down an

Air Rhodesia by a missile. The plane was travelling between Kariba and Salisbury,
Rhodesia. All 59 passengers along with crew members were killed

1983 – Soviet Su-15TM fighter shot down a Korean Air Lines travelling between New
York and Seoul over Sakhalin Island. It was shot for flying through prohibited Soviet
airspace; all 269 people on board were killed

1988 – US Navy shot down an Iran Air flight from Bandar Abbas, Iran to Dubai. The
plane was shot during the Iran-Iraq war and 290 passengers travelling on the plane
were killed

Subway metro train derailed in Moscow

Moscow: Subway metro train derailed

Subway metro train derailed in Moscow, Russia on 15 July 2014. The derailment killed
about 21 people and injured several. The accident happened at Park Pobedy which
is the deepest metro station (84 meter underground) in Moscow. It was constructed
about 10 years ago.

The train derailed after the commuter train braked abruptly during rush-hour leading
to spark of fire and smoke. The cause of the accident was reported to be power
surge. At the time of the accident, the train was travelling from north-west of Moscow
to the city centre.

The President of Russia Vladimir Putin has ordered a criminal investigation into the
accident. At present, Putin is on a visit to Brazil to attend the 6th BRICS Summit. On
the other hand, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin declared 16 July 2014 as a day of
mourning.

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SUMMIT | CONFERENCE

B20 Australia Summit held in Sydney

Business 20 (B20) Australia Summit was held in Sydney, Australia on 18 July 2014. At
the Summit, the business leaders of G20 countries issued a blueprint for G20 leaders
to boost economic and job growth and make global economy more resilient to deal
with future shocks.

The B20 Australia Summit was chaired by Richard Goyder, Managing Director and
CEO of Wesfarmers

The blueprint is the result of a set of 20 mutually reinforcing recommendations for

action by G20 leaders. These 20 recommendations include among others

• Implement unilateral structural reforms for diversified and sustained growth

• Close infrastructure gap which could create 100 million jobs and generate 6 trillion
US dollars

• Create human capital in the right place, at the right time with the right skills

• Allow private sector investment which is a prerequisite for sustained and inclusive
economic growth

• Frame policies that ensures greater structural flexibility and freedom of movement
across borders of goods, services, labour and capital within an effective regulato

• Framework which promotes transparency in commerce

• Ensure safely regulated, accessible and affordable finance

If these recommendations are implemented, the G20 would not only meet but exceed

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the two percent additional growth target set by G20 Finance Ministers in February
2014. The G20 has set a target of lifting collective GDP by two per cent above the
trajectory.

B20 recommendations are drawn from four common themes that are critical to
success in a global economy. These are

• Structural flexibility

• Free movement across borders of goods, services, labour and capital

• Consistent and effective regulation

• Integrity and credibility in commerce

In order to boost economic growth and create job opportunities, B20 gave five
messages for policy makers. These are

• The urgent goal is growth and jobs to lift living standards around the world. There
is no room for complacency

• The G20 is the right forum to pursue this goal, because it is the only forum capable
of achieving the coordinated action necessary to drive and shape the global
economy

• The G20 has set a realistic and necessary growth target, but now must focus on
how that target will be achieved

• B20 has identified policy principles to meet the target by focussing on the major
impediments to growth and jobs creation

• The B20 recommendations require collective agreement by the G20 for unilateral
action by each member country

About B20
The Business 20 (B20) is a forum through which the private sector produces policy
recommendations for the annual meeting of the Group of 20 (G20) leaders.

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The B20 brings together business leaders from across G20 member countries to
reflect the key role of the private sector as the main driver of strong, sustainable and
balanced growth.

The B20 was first convened as a business summit during the Canadian G20 Presidency
in June 2010. The second B20 Summit was held under the Korean presidency of
G20. In 2011, under the G20 presidency of France, the third B20 Summit was held. In
2012 and 2013, the fourth and fifth B20 Summit was held under the G20 Presidency
of Mexico and Russia.

The B20 Summit was made a permanent event during the French G20 presidency in
2011.

As President of the G20 in 2014, Australia has established a B20.

India to host 7th IBSA Summit in 2015

7th India-Brazil-South
Africa (IBSA) summit will
be held in New Delhi, India
in 2015. This was
announced after Prime
Minister Narendra Modi
met South African
President Jacob Juma on
the sidelines of 6th BRICS
Summit in Fortaleza,
Brazil on 16 July 2014.

Apart from this, it was also agreed to hold India Africa Forum meet in New Delhi in
December 2014.

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About IBSA
IBSA is a trilateral initiative amongst three different societies of three different
continents in India, Brazil and South Africa. It was formed with an aim to promote
South-South cooperation and exchange of like-minded countries, committed to
inclusive sustainable development. The group was formed on 6 June 2003 with the
adoption of the Brasilia Declaration followed by a meet of foreign ministers of the
three countries in Brasilia.

IBSA cooperates on three front. First, as a forum seeking reforms in global institutions
of political and economic governance; second, trilateral collaboration through working
groups and People-to-People Forums for the common benefit of three countries;
and, third, assisting other developing countries by taking up projects through the
IBSA Fund.

Previous IBSA Summits

2006: Brasilia, Brazil

2007: Tshwane, South Africa

2008: New Delhi, India

2010: Brasilia, Brazil

2011: Tshwane, South Africa

2013: New Delhi, India

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COMMITTEES | COMMISSIONS

Union government decided to appoint Suresh Prabhu

Committee to review gas pricing formula

Union government on 24 July 2014 decided to appoint Suresh Prabhu Committee

to review the gas pricing formula. Suresh Prabhu is a former Union Power Minister
under National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The other members of the Committee will be Pratap Bhanu Mehta, President and
Chief Executive of Centre for Policy Research and Bibek Debroy of the same institute.

The decision to appoint Suresh Prabhu Committee comes one month after the Union
government decided to put on hold the revision of natural gas price. The Union
Cabinet on 25 June 2014 had deferred the implementation of the C Rangarajan
Committee’s pricing formula till 30 September 2014 for conducting a comprehensive
review of the whole issue.

The implementation of the Rangrajan pricing formula would have doubled current
gas rates to at least 8.4 US dollars per million British thermal unit raising power cost
by over 2 rupees per unit, urea production cost by 6228 rupees per tonne and piped
gas by 8.50 rupees per kg.

R S Sharma Expert Committee constituted on Cost Records

and Cost Audits

Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs on 19 July 2014 constituted R S Sharma Expert

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Committee on Cost Records and Cost Audits. The Committee will submit the report
within three months.

The Expert Committee will review the Companies (Cost Records and Audit) Rules
2014 and the need to have a comprehensive policy towards the role of the cost
professions in the corporate and other sectors of economy.

The Composition of the Committee

• R. S. Sharma, former Chairman and Managing Director, ONGC - Chairman

• R.K. Jain, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare - Member

• Chandra Wadhwa, former President, ICWAI - Member

• Aruna Sethi, Adviser (Cost), Ministry of Corporate Affairs - Member-Convener

Terms of Reference
• To examine the Companies (Cost Records and Audits) Rules, 2014 including the
prescribed classes of companies/industries/sectors and threshold limits

• To examine the current cost Audit scenario in the country and to suggest measures
to optimally utilise Cost Audit as an instrument of promoting transparency and
efficiency in business and industry

• To identify and suggest principles that govern assignment of greater opportunities

to cost professionals

• To suggest measures to enhance the utility of Cost Audit Reports to the government
and other regulators/related agencies and the manner and extent of their filing.

• To study prevalent international practices relating to Cost Records in large

economies and draw comparison to current Indian scenario

• To look into and make suitable recommendations about issues incidental to the
above.

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The expert committee was constituted in lieu of the concern expressed by the
Council of the Institute of Cost Accountants of India (CICAI) over notification of the
Companies (Cost Records and Audit) Rules 2014.

Union Health Ministry constituted a core group to eradicate

Kala Azar by 2015

Union Health Ministry on 8 July 2014 constituted a core group to work out a detailed
action plan to eradicate the dreaded vector-borne disease, Kala Azar by 2015.

Union Health Minister, Harsh Vardhan has advised the core group to expedite the
process to eradicate the disease from the country. India’s progress against Kala Azar
is unsatisfactory.

Earlier, the Union Government in 2004 had set a target to wipe out the disease by
2008, which has been revised twice to 2010 and now to 2015.

Members of the Core Group

Ranjit Roy Chaudhury, the clinical pharmacologist has been named to coordinate a
group of experts and officials. Earlier, Chuadhury has headed WHO’s Rational Use of
Drugs in India programme. Other members of the group are

• Former Health Minister, CP Thakur,

• Head of Indian Council of Medical Research, VM Katoch

• Director General of Health Services, Jagdish Prasad,

• Specialist in pharmaceuticals, Kavita Khanna

• Head of the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme, AC Dhariwal

• Health Secretaries of Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh

• Joint Secretary in the Union Health Ministry, Anshu Prakash

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About Kala Azar

Globally, Kala Azar is known as Visceral Leishmaniasis, a zoonotic infection and is
world’s second deadliest vector borne disease after Malaria. The disease is carried
by sand fly found in the eastern UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal and usually
strikes during the months of the monsoon. At present, the disease is concentrated in
about 54 districts of India, of which Bihar is the worst affected state.

90 percent of the Visceral Leishmaniasis cases occur in 5 countries: Bangladesh,

India, Nepal, Sudan and Brazil.

Sodium Stibogluconate use for treatment of Kala Azar

Research conducted late UN Brahmachari in 1920s led to use of Sodium Stibogluconate
to treat the disease. But due to resistance developed among people against the drug
has led to its minimal impact on patients.

IMG constituted to examine potential of GAGAN in Non-

Aviation Sectors

The Union Civil Aviation Ministry on 7 July 2014 constituted an Inter-Ministerial Group
(IMG) to examine the maximum potential of the GPS Aided Augmented Navigation
(GAGAN) system. The IMG will be headed by Ashok Lavasa, the Secretary of Ministry
of Civil Aviation.

Tasks of the Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG)

• The Group will examine the potential of sector-specific utilisation of GAGAN
system for its use in non-aviation sectors

• Develop appropriate work programmes using GAGAN signals that can benefit
diversified users With GANAN, India would become the fourth nation after the US,

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Europe and Japan to use the satellite-based navigation system.

About GPS Aided Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) system

• GAGAN is a satellite based augmentation system of India

• It has been developed jointly by Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO)

• It has been developed at an estimated cost of 774 crore rupees for enhanced Air
Navigation Services across the country

• GAGAN system offers free enhanced satellite navigation signals over India and
these signals are ten times more precise than GPS

Benefits of GAGAN
• GAGAN as a system can offer civilian users’ integrity as it is capable of automatically
alert about the error made by the system.

• It will play an important role in safety of life applications in transport, sensitive

commercial applications and liability-critical applications needing legal course.

• It will generate substantial fund for India in future because GAGAN can be leased
by India to neighbouring countries to manage their air traffic as well as overflights.

• It will enable transition of the air traffic management system to satellite-based

seamless navigation across continents covering the airspace from Australia to
Africa as well as west Asia to China and Russia.

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INVENTIONS | DISCOVERIES

Prehistoric rock paintings depicting aliens and UFOs found

in Chhattisgarh

Prehistoric rock paintings that depict aliens and UFOs were found inCaves of Charama
village in Kanker district of Bastar region of Chhattisgarh. As per the preliminary
dating, the pictures are at least 10000 years old.

The cave was found by archaeologists led by J R Bhagat. The caves are located
about 130km from Raipur between village Chandeli and Gotitola.

Depiction of the prehistoric paintings discovered by archaeologists

• Humanoids with featureless faces (nose and mouth are missing)

• Humanoids are seen holding weapon like object

• The fan-like antenna and three legs of vehicles stand resembling UFOs depicted
in Hollywood movies

• The pictures show these people in suitcase-like attire

The paintings on the cave have been done in hard natural colours and hence these
paintings have lasted for so long.

The findings suggest that humans in prehistoric times might have seen or imagined
beings from other planets which still generated curiosity among people. To further do
research on the found paintings, Chhattisgarh state department of archaeology and
culture is planning to seek help from ISRO and NASA.

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According to the villagers, the images depicted on the cave were worshipped by their
ancestors who referred these images as Rohela people – small-sized peoples. These
small-sized peoples would come from the sky and take the peoples in a round flying
like object.

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ART | CULTURE

Union Government issued guidelines for Selection of Dance

Productions for Festival of India abroad

Union Ministry of Culture on 4 July 2014 issued guidelines for Selection of Dance
Productions for Festival of India abroad. The guidelines were issued with an aim
to streamline the outsourced productions and transparent choices of artists and
choreographers while maintaining international quality parameters.

New Guidelines issued by the Union Ministry of Culture

Dance Schools under the Union Ministry of Culture:

• The dance schools under the Ministry of Culture should present in-house
productions by their repertory represented by students and faculty. These dance
schools are Kalakshetra Foundation, Kathak Kendra, Sattariya Kendra (Guwahati)
and Jawaharlal Nehru Dance Academy (Imphal).

• If outsourced choreographers are used, the copyright of the dance production

shall vest with the institution and the dancers used shall be from the institution.

Other Dance Schools falling outside the Ministry:

• Should place a two step-process for selection of dance productions

1. The first step shall be to create a graded resources list of performing groups by a
specialist committee;

2. The second step is recommendation of performances for Festivals of India abroad

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• The nomination of graded resources list are restricted to ballet

• The graded resources list shall be prepared on an bi-annual basis and updated on
an bi-annual basis

• Kalakshetra Foundation will prepare the graded resources list on a bi-annual

basis for Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha,
Maharashtra, Goa, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Gujarat.

• The graded resources list for the remaining States will be prepared by Sangeet
Natak Akademi.

Comment
The new guidelines have come in for criticism from eminent classical dancers from
south India. It is critiqued that under the new guidelines artists will never appear for
this nature of audition. As a result, the Government would lose out on some of the
best artistic dance presentations of Southern, Western and Eastern India.

Besides, it is critiqued that responsibility of selecting artists cannot rest with one
institution which may not be competent to evaluate art and artists from different
States and traditions.

Also, the selection should be done by a board of eminent artists and not by the heads
of established institutions

About Festivals of India abroad

Festivals of India abroad were revived by the Union Ministry of Culture in 2013. The
participation to the Festival of India by Ministry of Culture was hitherto restricted to
Kalakshetra Foundation and Sangeet Natak Akademi.

Since October 2013, the Ministry conducted Festivals of India abroad in Peru, Cuba,
Lao PDR, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and China.

In 2014 Festivals of India abroad have been proposed in China, South Africa, Japan,
Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Mongolia, and SAARC countries.

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Ramayana month started in Kerala temples

Ramayana month in Kerala temples - Karkkidakam, the last month of the Malayalam
Calendar is observed as Ramayana month

Kerala on 17 July 2014 started observing Ramayana month in the temples. In

Malayalam it is termed as the Ramayana Masam.

During this month the temples and homes of the state recites Adyatma Ramayana
Kilippattu written by Thunjath Ezhuthachan for the 31 days. Ezhuthachan is regarded
as the father of Malayalam literature.

The reading of epic Ramayana begins on the first day of the month and is completed
on the last day of the month Karkkidakom, which falls on 16 August 2014. The
Ramayana is recited by the elder members’ everyday in the evenings after lighting
traditional lamp nilavilakku.

During the observation of the Ramayana month several competitions and cultural
activities based on Ramayana is organised across the state. This unique custom has
been preserved across the state over the centuries.

Karkkidakam (July - August) is the last month of Malayalam calendar and is considered
as month of rain and scarcity (Panjamaasom). It brings good luck and prosperity to
the families as well as spiritual strength to go through different difficulties that comes
during monsson.

Karkkidakam month comes ahead of Chingam that brings colourful festival of Onam
for the Malayalis.

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Third edition of Ladakh International Film Festival held in

Leh

The third edition of Ladakh International Film Festival (LIFF) was held in Leh, Jammu
and Kashmir from 27 June to 29 June 2014. The festival screened over 50 films which
included among others Bollywood, Iranian and Korean films etc.

Bollywood’s Kaafiron Ki Namaaz (The Virgin Arguments) won four awards and Iranian
film Wet Letters bagged three awards at the third edition of Ladakh International Film
Festival.

Category wise Awards

Best Director Short Film: Villari –India

Jury Grand Prize: White Van Stories- Sri Lanka

Best Documentary Film: Roque Dalton - Let’s Shoot The Night- Cuba

Grand Jury Prize: The Homecoming-Venezuala

Best Debut: The Virgin Arguments (director Ram Ramesh Sharma) – India

Best Actress: Wet Letters- Iran

Best Actors: The Virgin Arguments (Alok Chaturvedi and late Chandrahas Tiwari )-
India

Best Cinematography: Wet Letters – Iran

Best Screenplay: The Virgin Arguments – India

Best Director: Wet Letters –Iran

Best Feature: The Virgin Arguments (producer Bhargav Saikai) – India

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DAY | WEEK | YEAR

International Tiger Day 2014 observed across the world

29 July: International Tiger Day

The World on 29 July 2014 observed the International Tiger Day. The day is celebrated
as an awareness day. The goal of the Tiger Day is to promote protection and expansion
of the wild tiger habitats and also to gain support awareness for tiger conservation.

At present the number of wild tigers is at its lowest. In last 100 years, around 97
percent of the total tigers population have been lost. In 1913, the world has about 1
lakh wild tigers, which has dropped to 3000 in 2014. As per estimates, India in 2010
had 1706 wild tigers that increased from 1411 in 2006. Among the 13 tiger-range
countries, India has the highest number of tiger population.

Decrease of their population

• 1913 – About 1 lakh tigers were available

• 2013 (in 100 years) – The population went down to 3724 tigers

• 2014 – The population has gone down to 3000

It is estimated that if the rate of extinction continues at this rate then all living tigers
in the wild could become extinct in 5 years.

Species of Tigers
Tigers are categorised by the colour of their fur and includes White tigers (rarely
occurs once in about 10000 births). Mainly there are six species of tigers that lives in

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the wild at present and they are

• Siberian tigers

• Bengal tigers

• Indochinese tigers

• Malayan tigers

• Sumatran tigers

• South China tigers

Apart from this, several subspecies of tigers had already extinct which includes Bali
Tigers and Javan Tigers.

Cause of decrease of their population

Expansion of cities and agriculture by humans has lead to a loss of 93 percent natural
habitat of wild tigers. Poaching is another reason that has made tigers fall into the
vulnerable category of IUCN. They are poached for their skins, bones and other body
parts, which are consumed as traditional medicines and some time they are also
killed as status symbols.

Apart from this, climate change is also a major reason that acts as a threat to
population of wild tigers. Climate change is leading to rise in sea levels which poses
risk of wiping out of the forests, particularly in Sundarban region, and hence the
remaining habitat of the tiger population in this region. Study of World Wildlife Fund
(WWF) suggests that sea level will rise by nearly a foot by 2070, which is enough to
destroy nearly entire Sunderbans tiger habitat.

World’s largest number of tiger populations is majorly found in Sundarbans (a large

mangrove forest area shared by India and Bangladesh) located on northern coast of
Indian Ocean.

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About International Tiger Day

The decision to observe 29 July as World Tiger Day was taken in 2010 at the Saint
Petersburg Tiger Summit because at that moment wild tigers were too close to
extinction. In the summit, the governments from 13 tiger-range countries committed
to double the number of wild tigers by 2022.

International Gaucher Day observed on 26 July

26 July: Gaucher Day

The World on 26 July 2014 observed first
International Gaucher Day (IGD). The day was
observed to mark the 160th birthday of
Philippe Gaucher. Slogan of the day was Rare
but Not Alone.

The IGD day has been established by the

European Gaucher Alliance (EGA) to raise
international awareness about Gaucher
disease.

Gaucher Day 2014 in India

To observe the International Guacher Day and seek financial support from the
government to help the patients of the Gaucher disease, a silent rally was organised
in New Delhi. The rally was conducted at Race Course Road by Lysosomal Storage
Disorder Support Society (LSDSS).

The participants included, seven-year-old Mohammed Ahmed, the first patient to be

awarded free treatment at AIIMS following a verdict from the high court in April 2014.

About Philippe Gaucher

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Philippe Charles Ernest Gaucher was a French dermatologist who in 1882 became
the first person to describe the signs and symptoms of Gaucher disease. Gaucher
discovered the disease as a student, which later became famous as Gaucher disease.

He was born on 26 July 1854 in the Bourgogne region at a time when France and
Paris in particular, was a world leading centre for medical research and teaching.

He discovered this disease in a 32-year old woman who had an enlarged spleen. But
at that time, he considered the disease as a form of splenetic cancer. However in
1965, the true biochemical nature of Gaucher disease was understood.

About Gaucher Disease

The Gaucher Disease is a life-threatening autosomal recessive disease called as
Lysosomal Storage Disorders (lipid storage disease). This disease is reported in only
1 person in 1 lakh. It is caused by deficiency of specific enzyme (glucocerebrosidase)
in the body. It is generally caused by a genetic mutation received from both parents
(autosomal recessive inheritance), which leads to accumulation of the enzyme’s
substrate glucocerebroside. Persons affected most seriously may also be more
susceptible to infection.

Some symptoms of the disease includes

• Enlarged spleen and liver

• Liver malfunction

• Skeletal disorders and bone lesions that may be painful

• Neurologic complications

• Swelling of lymph nodes and (occasionally) adjacent joints

• Distended abdomen

• A brownish tint to the skin

• Anemia

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• Low blood platelets

• Yellow fatty deposits on the sclera

World Hepatitis Day observed across the world on 28 July

World Hepatitis Day was observed across the world on 28 July 2014. The year’s
theme Think Again, acknowledges that ‘we do not know nearly enough about viral
hepatitis as a health threat in much of the world.

The day s observed to raise awareness and influence real change in disease prevention
and access to testing and treatment.

About World Hepatitis Day

World Hepatitis Day is an annual event that is observed on the 28 July. For the first
time, it was launched in 2008 by the World Hepatitis Alliance in concern of chronic
viral hepatitis. In May 2010 the World Health Assembly passed resolution WHA63.18
on viral hepatitis which provides official endorsement of World Hepatitis Day. Since
2010 World Hepatitis Day has been coordinated by the World Hepatitis Alliance in
collaboration with the WHO.

28 July was chosen as a date for observing the World Hepatitis Day to mark the
birthday of Professor Baruch Blumberg, the person who discovered hepatitis B virus.
For his work on hepatitis B virus, Blumberg was awarded with the Nobel Prize.

Hepatitis
Hepatitis is a disease (medical condition) that leads to inflammation of the liver and
it is characterized by the presence of inflammatory cells in the tissue of the organ.
Viral Hepatitis is a disease that annually claims about 1.4 million deaths. The most
common types of Hepatitis are A, B, C, D and E.

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Kargil Vijay Diwas Celebrated across the country on 26 July

The 15th anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas was celebrated in India on 26 July 2014.
The day is celebrated in the honour of war heroes of Kargil every year.

The Day was celebrated with equal pomp in Dras sector in Jammu & Kashmir and at
Amar Jawan Jyoti, India Gate in New Delhi.

Defence Minister Arun Jaitley, Army chief Bikram Singh,Navy chief Robin Dhowan
and Air Force chief Arup Raha paid tribute to martyrs at Amar Jawan Jyoti, India Gate
in New Delhi.

On the eve of KargiL Vijay Diwas announce that Union government will soon finalise
the construction of National War Memorial and War Museum for which the Union
government has earmarked 100 crore rupees in the Union Budget 2014-15. The war
memorial and museum will be constructed at Princess Park at India Gate Complex
in New Delhi.

About Kargil War

Kargil War was fought between India and Pakistan in 1999. The war started with the
reports that intruders from Pakistan had come deep inside Indian territory in strategic
positions that overlooked the only road link between Srinagar and Leh.

The 73-day conflict fought during May – July 1999 saw Indian forces come out
victorious against the intruders and taking back all the occupied strategic positions
in Kargil and Dras sector.

Important facts of Kargil War

3 May 1999: Infiltrators from Pakistan side under the Operation Badrcomes inside
India with an aim to sever the link between Kashmir and Ladakh, and cause Indian
forces to withdraw from the Siachen Glacier

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25 May 1999: Indian Air Force launched Operation Safed Sagar with instructions to
not cross the Line of Control

26 May 1999: Operation Vijay launched mobilizing almost 200000 troops

30 May 1999: Indian Navy launched Operation Talwar sending submarines on patrols
close to Karachi harbor

4 July 1999: Indian forces captured Tiger Hill along with Point 4590 (the nearest point
with full view of the Srinagar-Leh highway) and Point 5353(the highest peak in the
Dras Sector)

14 July 1999: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee declares Operation Vijay a success

26 July 1999: Indian Army announces complete eviction of Pakistani intruders. Over
520 soldiers were killed in the entire Kargil war

The war saw awarding of Four Param Vir Chakras (PVCs), nine Maha Vir Chakras
(MVCs) and 53 Vir Chakras among other medals.

Four Param Vir Chakras

• Captain Vikram Batra, 13 JAK Rifles, Posthumous

• Lieutenant Manoj Kumar Pandey, 1/11 Gorkha Rifles, Posthumous

• Rifleman Sanjay Kumar, 13 JAK Rifles

• Grenadier Yogendra Singh Yadav, 18 Grenadiers

World Population Day 2014 observed across the world

11 July: World Population Day

World Population Day was observed across the world on 11 July 2014. The theme of
World Population Day 2014 was investing in Young People.

World Population Day is observed to bring awareness to people about importance

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of small families and living healthy lives. The day is celebrated with several programs
that are initiated to educate people about family planning methods.

About World Population Day

World population day was first celebrated in 1987, the day when world population
reached five billion people. At present, the day is celebrated across 200 countries
by Government Organizations, NGO’s and numerous non-profit organizations
by arranging special campaigns and programs to educated people about global
population issues.

The World population edged to 7 billion people in 2011 from 2.5 billion in 1950.
The 7 billion people are both a challenge and an opportunity with implications on
sustainability, urbanization, access to health services and youth empowerment. To
create awareness to the people, who need to realize and act on healthier lives on
growth of population.

National Doctors’ Day observed across India on 1 July

1 July: National Doctors’ Day

India on 1 July 2014 observed the National Doctors’ Day. The day is observed to honour
legendary physician, Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy whose birth and death anniversary falls
on the same day. On 4 February 1961, he received the Bharat Ratna.

The doctors’ day gives an opportunity to raise the awareness about the doctor’s role
in our daily lives.

About Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy

• He was born on 1 July 1882 in Patna and died on 1 July 1962

• He was a legendary physician who also served West Bengal as its second Chief
Minister from 1948 to 1962

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• Bidhan Roy is often considered the great architect of West Bengal, who founded
five eminent cities, Durgapur, Kalyani, Bidhannagar, Ashokenagar and Habra.

• The B.C. Roy National Award was instituted in 1976 for work in the area of medicine,
politics, science, philosophy, literature and arts

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MISCELLANEOUS

Prime Minister launched web platform MyGov to get citizens’

ideas for governance

Prime Minister of India,

Narendra Modi on 26 July
2014 launched a web
platform –MyGov.nic.in.
The platform has been
created to facilitate Citizen
Engagement in Good
Governance.

My Gov will enable the

citizens especially the
youth to volunteer for specific tasks and projects at grassroots level. It will allow the
common people to reach the government with ideas and suggestions.

To be a participant in development of the country through this platform, a citizen will

have to register him/herself on the portal. After which the participants can discuss
the key challenges being faced by the country. To enable more focused participation,
the platform has been split into two halves – Discuss and Do.

The platform – MyGov will be implemented and managed by National Informatics

Centre (NIC), Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY).

The platform has been divided into various groups with an objective to bring about a
qualitative change in that sphere through people’s participation. The groups are

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• Clean Ganga

• Girl Child Education

• Clean India

• Skilled India

• Digital India

• Job Creation

India’s President inaugurated Bank and Post Office in Presi-

dent Estate’s new buildings

The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee on 24 July 2014 inaugurated the President’s
Estate Branch of United Bank of India andRashtrapati Bhavan Post Office in their
new buildings.

The Bank and Post Office were relocated from a heritage building as part of measures

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to implement the Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan for the President’s

Estate.

Apart from these two buildings, a fitness centre for the staff of the President’s Estate
was also inaugurated by the President.

Important Facts
The President’s Estate Branch of United Bank of India was established on 28 February
1976. It was inaugurated by the then President of India Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed.

The Rashtrapati Bhavan Post Office started functioning as Viceroy’s Camp Post
Office at Shimla on 10 June 1904.

In the year 1948, Rashtrapati Bhavan Post Office was renamed as Governor-General
Post Office. In 1950 it was again renamed as President-Camp Post Office. Finally, on
7 December 1950, it was named Rashtrapati Bhavan Post Office. This Post Office
caters to the needs of President’s Secretariat as well as residents of the President’s
Estate.

Logo Design Competition launched for Beti Bachao Beti Pad-

hao Campaign

The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development on 24 July 2014 launched
a Logo Design Competition for the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Campaign. The logo
for the campaign is to be developed through crowd sourcing with the purpose of
including the logo in all advertisements issued by the Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting and also for mass campaign through conventional and social media.

Objectives of the Global Logo Design Competition

The primary Global Logo Design Competition objectives are as follows:

• Creation of a Logo for a campaign aimed at improving child sex ratio and promote

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value of the girl child

• Highlight the absolute importance of education in empowering girls

• Ensuring engagement with the youth of the country on this issue as they are the
future parents

• Ensuring ownership of the issue by the masses as stakeholders and generating

awareness through the competition

About the Global Logo Design Competition

• The Global Logo Design Competition will take place through crowd sourcing.

• The last date for receiving entries is 3 August 2014.

• The winning entry will receive a cash award of Rs. 50000 and national recognition.

• Entries can be emailed to betibachaobetipadhao@gmail.com

• The details of the logo competition for ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ can be obtained
from www.wcd.nic.in.

About the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ campaign

The ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ campaign will be a major inter-ministerial initiative of
the Union Government of India.

The campaign shall bring together Ministries, Institutions and Civil societies in a
rational effort to reverse the declining sex ratio.

The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development will be nodal ministry and will
be assisted by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Human Resource
Development and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in this endeavour.

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National Geographic launched magazine Explorer for school-

children in India

The famed National Geographic on 22 July 2014 launched a special edition of

Explorer magazines for schoolchildren in India. With this, India became one of the
first countries where the magazine has been launched. The magazine will provide
educational resources and new learning solutions for teachers as well as students.

The magazine was launched during the inauguration of National Geographic Learning’s
Explorer Education Program by the US Ambassador to India Kathleen Stephens at
the American Centre in New Delhi. The magazine was launched in the presence
of the Vice President of India Hamid Ansari and Publisher of National Geographic
Learning, Francis Downey.

The programme includes accessing content through an interactive application, content

on its website, large posters, projectable magazine content, monthly magazines and
a teacher’s guide. There will be four reading levels and seven issues will be published
in a calendar year for each level.

About 20 to 199 copies of the Explorer will cost 1800 rupees per year, between 200 to
499 copies 1600 rupees and 500 and more copies would cost 1400 rupees annually.

The application is available for teachers and students across the globe with videos,
photography and stories as its content.

About National Geographic

• National Geographic, formerly The National Geographic Magazine, is the official
magazine of the National Geographic Society.

• It has been published continuously since its first issue in 1888, nine months after
the Society itself was founded.

• It primarily contains articles about geography, history, and world culture.

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• In 1995, National Geographic began publishing in Japanese, its first local language
edition. The magazine is currently published in many language editions around the
world, including English on a worldwide basis.

Operation to refloat wrecked Italian ship Costa Concordia

launched

Operation to refloat the wrecked Italian ship Costa Concordia was launched on
14 July 2014. The refloating operation launched was one of the biggest maritime
operations in the history.

The operation will tow the wreck of Concordia at a top speed of about two knots
(about 2.3 miles per hour) to the port of Genoa, Italy for dismantling. The total cost of
the operation will be 2 billion US dollars (1.5 billion euro).

The in-charge of the refloating operation to lift the Costa Concordia and tow it to
Italy’s mainland is South African Nick Sloane .

During the operation, the team will also search the vessel for Indian waiter Russel
Rebello, the only victim of the tragedy who has not been found.

At this gigantic size, to tow the Concordia to the port of Genoa poses extreme risk of
releasing toxic material into the sea if the vessel would fall apart.

Background
The cruise liner Concordia capsized near Giglio Island in 2012 killing 32 peoples.
The ship weighs about 114000 tonnes and is 290 meters long which is equivalent of
nearly three football fields. It is two-and-a-half times as heavy as the Titanic.

Francesco Schettino, the ship’s captain, was charged with manslaughter, causing
the shipwreck and abandoning the vessel before the evacuation of all its passengers.
If he is convicted he could face decades in jail.

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President joined on Twitter with @RashtrapatiBhvn

President Pranab Mukherjee on 1 July

2014 joined Twitter with the handle - @
RashtrapatiBhvn (https://twitter.com/
RashtrapatiBhvn). He is the first serving
president of India to join Twitter.

The account is the official Twitter account

of Rashtrapati Bhavan and is run by
President’s Secretariat and tweets from
the President Pranab Mukherjee are signed. People can fallow the President for all
the updates about activities and news from Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Prime Minister Modi also has an account on twitter with the handle @narendramodi
and former President Abdul Kalam with the handle @apj_abdul_kalam.

First Aid Post inaugurated at Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi

First Aid Post was launched on 2 June 2014 at Shastri Bhawan in New Delhi. The
post was launched to expand the network of health care to its beneficiaries. It was
inaugurated by Harsh Vardhan, the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare and
Smriti Irani, the Union Minister for Human Resources Development.

The First Aid Post will provide first aid services like BP monitoring, dressing and other
referral services to about 15000 employees of various ministries posted at Shastri
Bhavan and nearby Government offices.

The Post was opened under Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) which
already runs five such health posts in Delhi at

• Central Secretariat

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• Parliament House

• Vitthal Bhai Patel House

• Supreme Court

• Nirman Bhawan

Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS)

The Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) was started as a scheme in New
Delhi in 1954 and provides comprehensive health care facilities for the Central
Government employees and pensioners and their dependents residing in CGHS
covered cities.

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NEWS SNIPPETS JULY 2014

Office for International Religious Freedom of US released IRF Report 2013

US State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom on 28 July 2014
released is 16th International Religious Freedom (IRF) Report 2013.

According to the report, in 2013, the world witnessed the largest displacement of
religious communities in recent memory. In almost every corner of the globe, millions
of Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and others representing a range of faiths were forced
from their homes on account of their religious beliefs

Main Highlights of the IRF Report 2013

• All around the world, individuals were subjected to discrimination, violence and
abuse, perpetrated and sanctioned violence for simply exercising their faith,
identifying with a certain religion, or choosing not to believe in a higher deity at all.

• Militants in Pakistan killed more than 400 Shia Muslims in sectarian attacks in
2013 and more than 80 Christians in a single church bombing; the government
arrested and jailed a number of those responsible for sectarian attacks, but it
generally failed to prevent attacks.

• In Pakistan, authorities continue to enforce blasphemy laws and laws designed

to marginalize the Ahmadiyya Muslim community; these laws continued to restrict
religious freedom, and remained the most visible symbols of religious intolerance.

• In much of the Middle East, Christian presence is becoming a shadow of its

former self. For instance, in Syria, some 160000 Christians lived in Homs before
the conflict began. Now only some 1000 Christians do.

• In Burma’s western Rakhine state, violence against Muslims has displaced some

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140000 people since 2012.

• In Sri Lanka, violent Buddhist groups destroyed mosques and churches. In some
European countries, anti-Semitism led as much as 48 percent of the Jewish
population to consider emigrating.

IRF Report 2013 and India

• Besides, the 2013 report also mentioned about Uttar Pradesh. As per the report,
Uttar Pradesh saw the highest number of deaths in communal clashes in India in
2013, including the 65 killed in Hindu-Muslim communal violence in Muzaffarnagar.

• The report for the first time since 2007 dropped the name of Narendra Modi.
Modi was a regular name mentioned in the report on account of Godhra riots
that happened in Gujarat in 2002 when he was the Chief Minister of the State.
However, with him becoming the Prime Minister of India on 26 May 2014, his
name was dropped from the report.

• The report also notes that the Gujarat government continued to expand the
number of Muslim-dominated areas in Ahmedabad, the capital city, designated
as “disturbed” under the law.

• The Indian Government generally enforced legal protections for religious freedom;
however, human rights activists criticized it for failing to respond effectively to
some abuses committed by state and local authorities and private citizens.

Heavy downpour caused landslide in the Malin Village near Pune

Heavy downpour caused landslide in Malin Village in Ambegaon Taluka near Pune.
The landslide buried the whole Malin village. Two days of torrential rain triggered
the landslide on 30 July 2014. As per the estimates more than 120 people are still
trapped.

Notably, Malin village is one of the three high-risk villages in the region marked
Ecologically Sensitive Areas by the Kasturirangan Committee report on Western

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Ghats.

Landslides are common in the hills during the monsoon season. Environmentalists
said the area around Malin has been deforested extensively for construction and
mining which has increased its vulnerability.

Arvind Verma Panel submitted report to the Union Government

Arvind Verma Panel on 31 July 2014 submitted its report to the Union Government.
The three-member panel was constituted in March 2014 to examine the grievances
of students against the Civil Services examination pattern.

According to sources in the government, the recommendations include a possible

review of the CSAT-Paper II pattern to reduce the weightage of questions relating to
English comprehension and a simpler Hindi translation for all other questions.

If the recommendations are accepted by the government, then there are chances
that students from Hindi medium and other regional languages might get relief. These
students have been protesting since June 2014 and pressing for scrapping of CSAT
Paper-II as they argue that it is against other Indian languages and students from
Humanities background.

Earlier during the UPA-II regime, the students have pressed for relaxation in age
and increasing the number of attempts on account of changes in the pattern of Civil
Services Exam. The UPA-II yielded to the demand of students allowed two additional
attempts to Civil Services aspirants, besides suitably raising the minimum age.

CSAT Paper-II was introduced in 2011 to test the aptitude and decision making ability
of the IAS aspirants so as to recruit future IAS officers who are more prompt and
logical in decision making for the benefit of the common man.

One Life is Not Enough written by Natwar Singh published

One Life is Not Enough written by Natwar Singh was published on 1 August 2014. The
book is an autobiography of the former External Affairs Minister and senior Congress

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Party leader Natwar Singh.

In it Mr. Singh describes his early years as a diplomat, his proximity to former Prime
Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, but more pertinently, say sources, to events
post-Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination in 1991. Among the events Mr. Singh was privy to
at 10 Janpath (Sonia Gandhi’s residence) was the selection of P.V. Narasimha Rao in
1991, and Manmohan Singh in 2004 as Prime Ministers.

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WORLD DAIRY JULY 2014

1 July 2014

• Michelle Howard became first female four-star admiral in US Navy

• Sujit Choudhry became the first Indian-American dean of Berkeley Law School

• Shah Rukh Khan Conferred with Knight of the Legion of Honor

• Japanese Cabinet adopted resolution to end 60 years of pacifism

2 July 2014

• Olympian and WW II veteran Louis Zamperini died

• Four-party meet in Berlin agreed to resume ceasefire in eastern Ukraine

• National Assembly of Pakistan approved Protection of Pakistan Bill 2014

• NASA launched Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 to track Carbon Dioxide

3 July 2014

• China – South Korea bilateral summit held in Seoul

• Japan issued multiple entry visas to Indians

• Japan eased sanctions against North Korea

• Germany‘s new law allowed dual citizenship to citizen ship of immigrants

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4 July 2014

• Senegal President Macky Sall sacked Prime Minister Aminata Toure

• Hurricane Arthur hit the coast of North Carolina

5 July 2014

• Kvitova won the women’s singles of the Wimbledon Tennis Open of 2014

• MCC XI won the match played to celebrate 200 years of Lord’s Cricket Ground

6 July 2014

• Novak Djokovic won the Men’s Wimbledon Tennis Open defeating Roger Federer

7 July 2014

• Eduard Shevardnadze, the ex-President of Georgia died at 86

8 July 2014

• Emma Watson appointed as UN Goodwill Ambassador

• UN Tribunal ruled Indo-Bangladesh Maritime border dispute

• India and UK to launch civil nuclear cooperation

9 July 2014

• Sim Bhullar became first Indian-origin basketball player to join NBA

• FIFA suspended Nigeria’s team from International football competitions

• India-Canada Audiovisual Co-production Treaty Signed

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 July 2014

10 July 2014

• UN released World Urbanization Prospects Report 2014

11 July 2014

• World Population Day 2014 observed across the world

12 July 2014

One-in-Three Alzheimer’s cases are preventable: Cambridge University Research

13 July 2014

• World-renowned conductor of classical music Lorin Maazel died at 84

• Germany won the 2014 FIFA Football World Cup beating Argentina 1-0

• Afghanistan’s presidential candidates agreed on the audit of votes casted in June

2014 election

14 July

• 15-member UNSC adopted resolution to allow cross-border aid to Syrians

• Brazil Football Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari resigned

• Jayawardene announced retirement from Test Cricket

15 July

• Fortaleza Declaration issued at the 6th BRICS Summit

• PM Narendra Modi met Russian President Putin in Fortaleza

376
 July 2014

• Japan nuclear regulator gave nod to restart work at Sendai nuclear plant

• Subway metro train derailed in Moscow

• BRICS to create 100 billion dollar development bank and emergency reserve
fund

• PM Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Fortaleza

16 July

• India to host 7th IBSA Summit in 2015

• 7th BRICS Summit to be held in Russian city of Ufa

• India and Brazil signed three agreements to strengthen the bilateral relation

• Bashar al-Assad sworn in as President of Syria

17 July

• IWGSC scientists unveiled genetic blueprint of bread wheat

• Germany ranked number One in FIFA’s world rankings

• Malaysia Airlines plane Boeing 777 MH-17 crashed over Eastern Ukraine killing
298 peoples

• Australia’s Senate voted to repeal Carbon tax

18 July

• Deadline for reaching an agreement on Iran’s Nuclear Programme extended till

November 24

• Bolivia legalised Child Labour for Kids from Age 10

• B20 Australia Summit held in Sydney

377
 July 2014

• ADB released Asian Development Outlook 2014 Supplement

• Global Innovation Index 2014 released

19 July

• Nagoya Protocol on Biodiversity Received Necessary Ratifications

20 July

• Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg won 2014 German Grand Prix

• Irishman Rory McIlroy won British Golf Open 2014

• Iran eliminated stockpile of enriched uranium: IAEA Report

21 July

• OECD released global Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account

Information

• India won 5 medals at 45th International Physics Olympiad (IPHO2014) held at

Astana

• UNSC adopted the resolution for an international probe into MH-17 plane crash

22 July

• Typhoon Matmo struck east of Taiwan

• Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo won Indonesian presidential election

378
 July 2014

23 July

• Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014 got off at the Celtic Park in Glasgow in
Scotland

• India voted in favour of the UNHRC resolution on Israel’s offensive in Gaza

24 July

• Prime Minister of Ukraine, Arseniy Yatsenyuk Resigned

• Malabar Naval Exercise featuring Indian, Japanese and US Navy started

• India decided against signing WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement

• Air Algerie plane Boeing MD-83 went missing over Mali

• Iraqi Parliament elected Fuad Masum as the seventh President of Iraq

25 July

• CAG of India, Shashi Kant Sharma took charge as member of UN Board Of

Auditors

• Bangladesh freedom fighter Bir Bikrom UK Ching Marma died

26 July

• EU extended sanctions on Russia in wake of MH-17 incident

27 July

• Cycling: Italian Vincenzo Nibali won 101st edition of Tour de France

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 July 2014

28 July 2014

• Theodore Van Kirk, the last airman in US bombing of Hiroshima died

• World Hepatitis Day observed across the world on 28 July

• CSF agreed to reinstate shooting Pair events in 2018 CWG on India’s request

• NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity set off-Earth roving distance record

29 July 2014

• International Tiger Day 2014 observed across the world

30 July 2014

• Jacques Kallis announced retirement from all formats of International cricket

• Sabine Lisicki sets record of fastest serve in women’s tennis

31 July 2014

• Ghana offers land on lease to Punjab farmers

380
 July 2014

INDIA DAIRY JULY 2014

1 July 2014

• Bor Wildlife Sanctuary of Maharashtra to be the country’s 47th Tiger Reserve

• President joined on Twitter with @RashtrapatiBhvn

• President conferred National, Shilp Guru and Sant Kabir Awards for 2011

• National Doctors’ Day observed across India on 1 July

• Indian pistol shooter Jitu Rai ranked No. 1 in the world

• Ram Naresh Yadav sworn-in as Governor of Chhattisgarh

• Supreme Court directed J&K government to restore Dal Lake

2 July 2014

• Coffee-Table book titled First Citizen: Pranab Mukherjee in Rashtrapati Bhavan

released

• First Aid Post inaugurated at Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi

• Supreme Court ruled no automatic arrest of accused in dowry cases

• CCEA approved inclusion of onion and potato under Essential Commodities Act,
1955

• Swamy Goud elected as Chairman of Telangana Legislative Council

381
 July 2014

3 July 2014

• Union Government introduced four new vaccines as a part of UIP

• RBI restored the limit of Overseas Direct Investment taken under automatic route

• Indian Railways successfully conducted test run of Delhi-Agra semi-high speed

train

• ADB to provide equity investment of 50 million US dollars to ReNew Power

• ADB approved 300 million US dollar loan for Assam’s power sector

• TN government sets up Raghupathy commission to probe Chennai building

collapse

4 July 2014

• Bihar Governor DY Patil took additional charge of West Bengal

• B V Wanchoo, the Governor of Goa resigned

• NABARD and SFAC signed a MoU for development of Small Farm Producers

• Udhampur-Katra rail line inaugurated by the Prime Minister

• Narendra Modi inaugurated 240MW Uri-II hydroelectric project in Jammu and

Kashmir

• Supreme Court directed Haryana Government to stop illegal mining in Aravali

Hills

5 July 2014

• Special Air India flight carrying 46 Indian Nurses and 137 others from Erbil arrived
at Kochi

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 July 2014

6 July 2014

• Kamla Beniwal, the Gujarat Governor transferred to Mizoram

• Maharashtra Government invoked Essential Services Maintenance Act, against

striking medical officers

7 July 2014

• IMG constituted to examine potential of GAGAN in Non-Aviation Sectors

• M S Mehta appointed as CEO of Reliance Infrastructure

• Union Ministry of Railways launched Social Media Platform for Indian Railways

• Law Commission submitted a report titled Manpower Planning in Judiciary: A

Blue Print to Union Government

• SC ruled Shariat Courts are illegal

• Sania Mirza ranked career-best fifth in WTA doubles rankings

• Telecom Consumers Complaint Redressal (Third Amendment) regulations, 2014

8 July 2014

• Union Health Ministry constituted a core group to eradicate Kala Azar by 2015

• India State of Forest Report 2013 released by Union Environment Minister

• India successfully test-fired BrahMos supersonic cruise missile

• Union Rail Budget 2014-15 was presented in Parliament

• F-Cube Technology to promote Football at ground level launched

383
 July 2014

9 July 2014

• Central Ground Water Board & IIRS signed MoU

• Economic Survey of India 2013-14 released

10 July 2014

• Veteran actress Zohra Sehgal died at 102

• Union Budget 2014-14 presented in the Parliament by Union Finance Minister

Arun Jaitley

11 July 2014

• SC ordered Union Government to bring MGNREGS’s wage rates on par with

minimum wages

• Air India formally joined global airline group Star Alliance

12 July 2014

• India’s first indigenous anti-submarine warship INS Kamrota handed over to

Indian Navy

13 July 2014

• Post recovery of four bodies from River Beki, tensions rise in Assam’s Baksa
district

• INS Kuthar Warship damaged in mishap, 15th such incident since August 2013

• Senior VHP leader Giriraj Kishore died at 94

• Inter-island air service to start in Andaman & Nicobar from 24 July

384
 July 2014

• Railways register 9.48 percent increase in its earning

14 July

• National Centre for R & D in Bulk Drugs to be set up in NIPER Hyderabad

• Delhi government to set up 320 Mahila Suraksha Dals for women safety

• Assam decided to implement National Food Security Act from 1 September 2014

• President appointed Governors of five states

• Retail inflation fell to 30-month low of 7.31 percent in June 2014

15 July

• RBI eased the infrastructure financing norms to encourage infrastructure

development

• 127th edition of Durand Cup football tournament to be held in Goa in October

2014

• SEBI barred Satyam founder Ramalinga Raju and 4 others from accessing capital
markets

• Environmentalist Chandi Prasad Bhatt won the Gandhi Peace prize 2013

16 July

• SC asked State governments and UTs to submit responses over Euthanasia

• Narendra Modi visited Brazil to attend 6th BRICS Summit

• Om Prakash Kohli sworn in as the Governor of Gujarat

• B Ashok took charge as Chairman of IOC

• Meghalaya saluted its heroes of WW1 on Garo Labour Corps Day

385
 July 2014

• Rahul Dravid elected as member of Laureus World Sports Academy

17 July

• SEBI issued draft guidelines for infrastructure investment trusts

• Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan released National Health Profile 2013

• RBI released Draft Guidelines for Licensing of Payments Banks and Small Banks

• CBDT formed committee to reduce litigation at dispute resolution forums in IT

Department

• Ramayana month started in Kerala temples

18 July

• Union Government Allocated 200 crore rupees to NABARD for Setting up of

Mega Food Parks

• Delhi Budget 2014-15: Highlights

• President rejected mercy petitions of Nithari killer Surinder Koli and 5 others

19 July

• PM Narendra Modi suggested qualitative changes in PMNRF functioning

• R S Sharma Expert Committee constituted on Cost Records and Cost Audits

20 July

• Pre-historic rock paintings depicting aliens and UFOs found in Chhattisgarh

• Union Government notified Public Servants Rules, 2014 under Lokpal and
Lokayuktas Act, 2013

386
 July 2014

21 July

• Doordarshan’s Naad Bhed-The Mystery of Sound to be featured in Limca Book

of Records

• Union Government decided to intensify war against Japanese Encephalitis

• Union Government notified Public Servants Rules, 2014

22 July

• Google announced to launch Hindi version of Google Maps on Android and PC

• National Geographic launched magazine Explorer for schoolchildren in India

• Indian tennis star Sania Mirza appointed as Brand Ambassador of Telangana

• Ram Naik sworn in as 27th Governor of Uttar Pradesh

23 July

• Delhi HC asked Delhi government to ban unregulated e-rickshaws

• SC permitted UP government to cut 697 trees of protected forests in the Taj

Trapezium zone

• Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu announced launching Web Portal for Industrial
Licences

• TCS became first Indian Company to achieve Market Capitalization of 5 lakh

crore rupees

24 July

• Logo Design Competition launched for Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Campaign

• CCEA approved 49 percent Foreign Investment in Insurance Sector

387
 July 2014

• India’s President inaugurated Bank and Post Office in President Estate’s new
buildings

• KN Tripathi sworn in as 22nd Governor of West Bengal

25 July

• Veteran BJP Leader Kaptan Singh Solanki Appointed Governor Of Haryana

• NCDEX announced to introduce Comprehensive Hedge Policy for Commodity

Markets

• 5th Sahyadri Cine Awards 2014 presented in Mumbai

• RBI penalised 12 Banks in Deccan Chronicle Holdings case

• Union Government revised Investment target for DFC to 80000 crore rupees

• SC appointed R S Cheema as special public prosecutor in coal scam

26 July

• Prime Minister launched web platform MyGov to get citizens’ ideas for governance

• Kargil Vijay Diwas Celebrated across the country on 26 July

27 July

• External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj concluded her three-day visit to Nepal

28 July 2014

• Union Government launched Rashtriya Gokul Mission

• Finance Ministry approved setting up of rape crisis centres in all districts

388
 July 2014

• IAF received 6th C-17 Globemaster III aircraft

• Amitabh Bachchan named as Maharashtra’s horticulture ambassador

• RBI cancelled Certificate of Registration of six NBFCs

• Sneha, a White tigress, gave birth to a black cub

• 3rd Phase of Science Express Biodiversity Special flagged off from Safdarjung
Railway Station

29 July 2014

• Haryana Power Minister Captain Ajay Singh Yadav resigned from state cabinet

• The Vijay Mallya Story written by K Giriprakash published

30 July 2014

• TN Establishment of Private Law Colleges (Prohibition) Bill, 2014 introduced in

Assembly

• Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha took over as the Chairman of COSC

31 July 2014

• Lt General Dalbir Singh Suhag took over as Chief of Army Staff

• The Arunachal Pradesh Assembly passed the Arunachal Pradesh District Planning
Committee (Amendment) Bill, 2014

• SC appointed one-man commission to probe 2006 Meerut fire tragedy

• Subhash Sheoratan Mundra appointed as the fourth deputy governor of the

Reserve Bank of India

389
July 2014

ONE LINER JULY 2014

• Former Trades Union Congress leader who led the TUC during the most difficult
years in the trade union movenment died at the age 81 - Norman Willis

• India and China signed three agreements in the fields of - commerce, water
resources and human resources development

• A mountain in Antarctica has been named as Mt. Sinha by the US after the name
of - an eminent Indian-American scientist, Akhouri Sinha

• France has announced one billion Euros credit of line over for India to take initiatives
in - the climate control area

• 2014 Liberty Medal from National Constitution Centre in Philadelphia has been
given to - Malala Yousafzai

• National Doctors’ Day is observed across India on 1 July to honour legendary

physician - Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy

• Nepal and UNESCO inked pact to implement 2nd phase of key conservation
project - in Lumbini

• World Bank report: Poor quality of education hampering economic development

of - South Asia

• Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has approved proposal of

Maharashtra Government to notify - Bor Wildlife Sanctuary as 47th Tiger Reserve
of India and sixth of the state

• To check the declining number of camels in the state, Rajasthan Government

declared - Camel as the State animal

• ISSF ranked Indian shooter as world’s number 1 in the men’s 10m air pistol

390
 July 2014

category - Jitu Rai

• India became the first country to ratify the Marrakesh Treaty that will facilitate -
blind and visually impaired an access to published works

• Pranab Mukherjee received first copy of a coffee-table book published by The

Week Magazine entitled - First Citizen: Pranab Mukherjee in Rashtrapati Bhavan

• Amid military offensive against the Taliban in North Waziristan, National Assembly
of Pakistan has approved and adopted a tough anti-terror law - Protection of
Pakistan Bill 2014

• CCEA approved inclusion of onion and potato under the purview of stock holding
limits under - the Essential Commodities Act 1955 to curb price rise

• To inquire into the 11-storey building collapse of Chennai, the Tamil Nadu
Government constituted one-man commission headed by - Justice (retd.) R
Raghupathy

• Indian Railways successfully conducted trail run of a semi-high-speed train

between - Agra and Delhi

• Japan abolished the ban on military that barred it from fighting abroad after
adoption of - the constitution in 1947 after World War II ended

• A hurricane that churned off the North Carolina coast with a speed of 100 miles
per hour on the eve of Independence Day - Arthur

• Government introduced 4 new vaccines as part of UIP and it includes vaccines

against - rotavirus, rubella, polio (injectable), and Japanese encephalitis

• A 1936 Berlin Olympics distance runner of US who died - Louis Zamperini

• Goa Governor resigned after being questioned by the CBI as a witness in alleged
irregularities in AgustaWestland deal - BV Wanchoo

• SC ordered Haryana Government to stop illegal mining within two weeks or face
contempt of court charges - in Aravali Hills

391
July 2014

• Special Air India flight carrying 46 Indian nurses and 137 others from - Erbil in
Kurdistan, Iraq arrived to Kochi in Kerala, India.

• Prime Minister has dedicated 25 km-long Katra-Udhampur railway line of Jammu

to the nation and named it as - Shree Shakti Express

• Narendra Modi inaugurated - the 240MW Uri-II HEP in J&K

• Sachin Tendulkar-led MCC XI won over Shane Warne-led Rest of the World XI in
a match played in honour of the - Lord’s bi-centenary year

• Kamla Beniwal, the Gujarat Governor has been transferred to - Mizoram for rest
of her tenure

• Czech left-hander won the 2014 Wimbledon women singles title by defeating
Canadian Eugenie Bouchard - Petra Kvitova

• SC said that no religion allows punishment to innocent termed - Shariat courts as

illegal

• Against medical officers, who were on strike since 1 July 2014 in Maharashtra, the
state government invoked - MESMA 2011

• Rail Budget 2013-14 presented in Parliament by - Sadananda Gowda, the Union

Railway Minister

• Lewis Hamilton revived his world championship bid with an emphatic victory in -
British Grand Prix

• Pakistan’s new chief justice took charge - Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk

• Union Civil Aviation Ministry constituted an IMG to examine the maximum potential
of the - GAGAN system under Ashok Lavasa

• The eminent scholar and biographer of Indian Constitution, died in Washington

DC at the age of 87 - Granville Austin

• Economic Survey of India 2013-14 was presented in – the Parliament

• The British Actress of Harry Potter movie series was appointed as the Goodwill

392
 July 2014

Ambassador for UN Women - Emma Watson

• F-Cube Technology to promote Football at ground level launched jointly by -

Sports Authority of India (SAI) and TheFootballLink

• To create jobs in both countries and boost tourism India and Canada signed - an
India-Canada Audiovisual Co-production Treaty

• Union Health Ministry constituted a core group to work out a detailed action plan
to eradicate the dreaded - vector-borne disease, Kala Azar by 2015

• Union Budget 2014-15 was presented in the Parliament by - Union Finance

Minister, Arun Jaitley

• Germany on 13 July 2014 became the 2014 FIFA World Cup champion after
defeating Argentina 1-0 at the - Maracana in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

• The only goal of 2014 FIFA World Cup final was scored by - Mario Gotze of Germany
during the extra-time

• The South African Nobel Prize-winning author, died on 14 July 2014 in Johannesburg
- Nadine Gordimer

• 95th Garo Labour Corps Day was observed in Meghalaya on - 16 July 2014

• Air India formally joined the airline group - Star Alliance as its 27th member

• Union Minister of Minority Affairs, Najma Heptulla released the UN Secretary

General’s - Global Millennium Development Goals Report 2014

• Indian cricket legend captain Rahul Dravid was elected as the 47th member of -
Laureus World Sports Academy

• Bashar al-Assad was sworn in for a seven-year term as - Syria’s President in

Damascus

• Archeologists has discovered prehistoric rock paintings depicting aliens and UFOs
in Caves of - Charama region of Kanker district of Chhattisgarh

• SEBI barred Satyam founder Ramalinga Raju and 4 others from - accessing capital

393
July 2014

markets

• NRA of Japan gave its preliminary approval to start two nuclear reactors of Sendai
plant that is located in - Kagoshima Prefecture, Kyushu

• BRICS nations during 6th BRICS Summit in Fortaleza signed a deal to create - a
new 100 billion dollar development bank and emergency reserve fund

• Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi form 15 July to 16 July 2014 visited Brazil
to attend the - 6th BRICS Summit in Fortaleza, Brazil

• India and Brazil has signed a bilateral agreement on co-operation in the field of
environment on the sidelines of - 6th BRICS Summit in Brazil

• Om Prakash Kohli was sworn in as - the Governor of Gujarat

• Malaysia Airlines plane MH-17 was shot down over war-torn eastern Ukraine near
- the Russian border

• 7th IBSA (India-Brazil-South Africa) summit will be held in 2015 in - New Delhi,
India

• The captain of Germany’s football team announced his retirement from international
game - Philipp Lahm

• Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the Parliament presented - Delhi’s Budget
2014-15 of 36776 crore rupees

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued draft guidelines for licensing of payments
banks and draft guidelines for - licensing of small banks

• 101st edition of the Tour de France in cycling was won by - Italian Vincenzo Nibali
(first Italian in 16 years)

• The World on 26 July 2014 observed first International Gaucher Day (IGD) to mark
the 160th birthday of - Philippe Gaucher

• To facilitate Citizen Engagement in Good Governance, Prime Minister of India has

launched a web platform – MyGov.nic.in

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 July 2014

• Sushma Swaraj during three-day visit to Nepal from 25 July to 27 July 2014 co-
chaired the meet of - the Indo-Nepal Joint Commission

• Union Finance Ministry gave its nod to the proposal to set up - rape crisis centres
in all district of the country

• Indian megastar, Amitabh Bachchan has been appointed as the horticulture

ambassador of -Maharashtra

• World Hepatitis Day was observed on - 28 July 2014

• To promote conservation and developments of indigenous breeds of cows in a

scientific manner Government has launched - the Rashtriya Gokul Mission

• To promote protection and expansion of the wild tiger habitats, International Tiger
Day was observed across the world on - 29 July 2014

• RBI has cancelled certificate of registration of - six NBFCs based in Delhi

• Indian Air Force at the Palam Airbase in New Delhi has received its - sixth C-17
Globemaster III aircraft

• General Assembly of CSF has agreed to reinstate shooting pair events in the -
2018 edition of Commonwealth Games to be held in Australia

• Bir Bikrom awardee well known Bangladeshi freedom fighter died - UK Ching
Marma

• Muhammad Fuad Masum of Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party was elected
as - the seventh President of Iraq

• White tigress Sneha gave birth to a melanistic (dark skinned) cub in Captivity at -
Nandankanan Biological Park

• NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity broke the record of maximum distance
covered by a rover set by - Lunokhod 2 rover of erstwhile USSR (Soviet Union)

• The last surviving crewman of the plane that dropped the atomic bomb in Hiroshima,
Japan on 6 August 1945 during the World War II died - Theodore Van Kirk

395
July 2014

• Venus Williams record of fastest serve in the women’s tennis set in 2007 US Open
has been broken by - Sabine Lisicki of Germany in Stanford, USA

• To prohibit establishment of private law colleges in the state, the Tamil Nadu
government introduced – Tamil Nadu Establishment of Private Law Colleges
(Prohibition) Bill 2014 in the Assembly

396
 July 2014

DESCRIPTIVE QUESTIONS JULY 2014

1. Write short notes on following (100 words)

(i) MH-17

(ii) Contingency Reserve Arrangement

(iii) Rashtriya Gokul Mission

(iv) Carbon Observatory-2

(v) El Nino and its impact on Indian Monsoon

2. What is New Development Bank? Bring out its importance in furthering

development in BRICS countries? Do you think it will serve as an alternative to
World Bank and International Monetary Fund?

3. Critically analyse the India’s move to vote in favour of UNHRC resolution on

Israel’s offensive in Gaza. Does it highlight a paradigm shift in India’s foreign
policy?

4. Discuss the schemes and initiatives announced in the Union Budget 2014-15 for
Social Sector.

5. Write on following in not more than 50 words

(i) Neel Mukherjee

(ii) Dalbir Singh Suhag

(iii) Nadime Gordimer

(iv) Philipp Lahm

(v) James Rodriguez

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 July 2014

(vi) Jitu Rai

(vii) Michelle Howard

(viii) Sujit Choudhry

(ix) Akhouri Sinha

(x) Shashi Kant Sharma

6. Write on following in not more than 200 words

(i) Bring out the importance of gene sequencing of wheat and India’s contribution
into it.

(ii) How the cyclonic storms are categorized and outline the different categories of
storms.

(iii) What is carbon tax? Discuss its importance in checking global warming

(iv) Nagoya Protocol on Biodiversity

(v) Taj Traepzium Zone

7. Critically examine the C Rangarajan Committee Report on Poverty estimation.

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 July 2014

399
July 2014

400
 July 2014

401
 July 2014

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