1. Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) member-states have finalised Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) for cooperation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) sector. The MoUs were finalised during the Workshop on MSME Cooperation amongst IORA member countries held in New Delhi. They will take effect for each party upon signature by 5 countries. Focus areas of MoUs Finalise linkages and alliances amongst MSMEs organizations, associations and various institutions engaged in MSME development in IORA countries. Exchange best practices, programs and policies for MSME development. Exchange greater involvement of MSMEs in the global supply chain and increase their market access. Promote women and youth’s economic empowerment. Encourage synergies with the IORA forum. IORA Secretariat at Mauritius will be the coordinating agency for the implementation of the MoU. Besides, for to carrying out activities envisaged under this MoU, IORA special fund will be created by member countries. Workshop on MSME Cooperation amongst IORA member countries: It was organised by Union Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and was attended by around 29 delegates from 14 IORA member-states. About Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) IORA is an international organisation consisting of coastal states bordering the Indian Ocean established in 1997 to promote cooperation in the Indian Ocean region. It was formerly known as the Indian Ocean Rim Initiative and Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC). Its coordinating Secretariat is located at Ebene, Mauritius. It is a regional forum, tripartite in nature that brings together representatives of Government, Business and Academia, for promoting co-operation and closer interaction among them. It is based on the principles of Open Regionalism for strengthening economic cooperation particularly on trade facilitation and investment, promotion as well as social development of the region. IORA comprises 21 member states and 7 dialogue partners, Indian Ocean Research Group and the Indian Ocean Tourism Organisation have observer status.

2. The World Economic Forum (WEF), NITI Aayog, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and Cornell University will work to develop an India Innovation Index to provide impetus to states to drive innovative spirit. Based on the WEF’s GII (Global Innovation Index), the India Innovation Index will be tailored to better reflect of India’s ground reality and include metrics well suited to the Indian context for innovation. Key Facts The India Innovation Index will measure and rank the innovation performance of all states in India with the aim of moving India towards an innovation-driven economy. It will be based on key pillars of innovation and sub-indices that together will assist in tailoring policies for innovation that inturn will promote inclusive growth. The pillars of index include the capacity of human capital and research, strength of institutions, supporting infrastructure and the level of business sophistication, among others. Each partnering organization will nominate a working group member to work on the index. The first ranking of Indian states will released at the India Economic Summit to be held in October 2017. This index will encourage states to compete with each other and, in turn, lead to better policies for inclusive growth. It will create a transparent benchmark of innovation for Indian states and spur competition among states. It will also ensure progress towards innovation at the local level in India.

3. The Union Government has Tamil Nadu government’s proposal to promulgate an ordinance to hold Jallikattu, a traditional bull taming sport. The Union Ministries of Home, Law and Environment has vetted the state’s draft ordinance and cleared the amendment. Now, Tamil Nadu Governor can promulgate ordinance as per Article 213 of the constitution.

4. India and the UAE held the first meeting of their strategic dialogue in New Delhi to elevate the bilateral relationship to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. The meeting was co-chaired by Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs M J Akbar and MoS in Ministry of Foreign Affairs of UAE Anwar Gargash. The first dialogue took place pursuant to the decision to elevate the relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the UAE in August 2015 followed by crown prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan visit to India in February 2016.India-UAE Relations deeply rooted in history and strategic cooperation which is driven by mutual aspirations of both countries. UAE is lynch-pin of the economic, defence and strategic strands of the India’s coordinated strategy to outreach west Asia. UAE is India’s third largest trading partner after China and the United States. Bilateral trade between India and the UAE stood at about $50 billion in 2015-16. UAE is among the top investors in India in terms of foreign direct investments (FDI) and was the fifth largest supplier of crude oil to India in 2015-16. Besides, there are also more than 2.6 million Indians living in the UAE and their annual remittance is estimated to be around 14 billion dollars.

5. Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China has withdrawn the visa-free facility for Indians who will have to complete a pre-arrival registration. Henceforth, Indian Nationals will require Pre-arrival Registration.

6. The Union Ministry of Water Resources has constituted negotiations committee to assess availability and utilisation of waters of Mahanadi and its tributaries to resolve disputes over sharing of river waters among five states. These five states are Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Jharkhand. The committee will be chaired by member (water planning and projects) of the Central Water Commission (CWC). It will have 11 other members

7. According to the United Nations World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) 2017 report, India’s economy is projected to grow by 7.7% in fiscal 2017 and 7.6% in 2018 India will remain the fastest growing large developing economy due to its strong private consumption and gradual introduction of significant domestic reforms. The UN flagship report has not mention of the withdrawal of the high-denomination Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 currency notes nor its impact on the country’s economic growth. Key Highlights from Report India has positioned itself as the most dynamic emerging economy among the largest countries and is expected to remain the fastest growing. However, incase of India, low capacity utilisation and stressed balance sheets of banks and businesses will prevent a strong investment revival in the short term. China’s growth is projected to remain stable at 6.5% for fiscal years 2017 and 2018 due to domestic demand and accommodative fiscal measures, including off-budget fiscal support through policy banks and public-private partnerships. Implications of China’s ongoing economic rebalancing will inevitably be felt by the region in medium and long-run through trade (including commodity prices) and financial channels. Earlier, International Monetary Fund (IMF) had cut India’s growth rate for FY2017 to 6.6% from its previous estimate of 7.6% due to the “temporary negative consumption shock” of demonetisation. The World Bank also too decelerated India’s GDP growth for 2016-17 fiscal to 7% from its previous estimate of 7.6% citing the impact of demonetisation.

8. The Supreme Court has ruled that Canon law and decrees of divorce given by ecclesiastical tribunals or ‘Church Courts’ cannot veto the statutory law of divorce. Ruling in this regard was given by SC Bench of Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud on writ petition filed in 2013 seeking a judicial declaration that divorce decrees passed by ecclesiastical tribunals are valid and binding.

9. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) was officially launched at World Economic Forum (WEF) Davos after it received $460-million to develop vaccines against 3 emerging highly-contagious and fatal diseases. These three diseases are Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)-coronavirus, Lassa fever, and Nipah virus. CEPI will use this fund to contain outbreaks these 3 diseases before they become global health emergencies.

10. The Union Cabinet has excluded States and Union Territories except Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala, Delhi (UT) and Madhya Pradesh from National Small Savings Fund (NSSF) investments with effect from 1 April 2016 The cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi also approved one-time loan of Rs. 45000 crore from NSSF to Food Corporation of India (FCI) to meet its food subsidy requirements. Key Facts Arunachal Pradesh will be given loans to the tune of 100% of NSSF collections within its territory, while Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi (UT) will be provided with 50% of collections. Through the budget line of Department of Food and Public Distribution, the servicing of interest and principal of debt will be extended to Food Corporation of India (FCI). The repayment obligation of the FCI in respect of NSSF Loans will be treated as the first charge on the food subsidy released to the FCI. In addition, FCI will be required to reduce the amount of its current Cash Credit Limit with the banking consortium to the extent of the NSSF loan amount. An legally binding agreement will be signed between Department of Food, FCI and NSSF on the modalities for repayment of interest rate and the restructuring of FCI debt will be made possible within 2-5 years. In the future, NSSF will invest on items whose expenditure is ultimately borne by Union Government and Union budget will meet requirement of the repayment of the principal and interest of that amount. Background The 14th Finance Commission (FFC) had recommended that the State Governments should be excluded from the investment operations of the NSSF. The main reason given was that NSSF loans come at an extra cost to the State Governments compared to the market rates which are considerably lower. Following this, Union Cabinet in February 2015 held that this recommendation will be examined in due course in consultation with various stake holders. Later, all states except Arunachal Pradesh, Delhi, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh expressed their desire to be excluded from NSSF investments. About National Small Savings Fund (NSSF) NSSF was set up on 1 April, 1999 with an objective to account all the monetary transactions under small savings schemes of the Union Government under one umbrella. It was set up in the Public Account of India. The net accretions under the small savings schemes are invested in the special securities of various States/ Union Territories (with legislature)/Central Governments. States not only can borrow from this account but have the obligation to borrow. The minimum obligation of States to borrow from the NSSF has been brought down from 100% to 80% of net collections from 2007.

11. Delhi Police Commissioner and Senior IPS officer Alok Kumar Verma was appointed as new Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation. He will have tenure of two years. He was selected by a three-member committee comprising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Justice J S Khehar and Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge. He will take over from interim director Rakesh Asthana, who was handed the reins of the premier investigating agency after former director Anil Sinha retired on December 2, 2016.

12. The Union Cabinet has given its approval for amendment in the Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (M-SIPS) for electronics manufacturing. These modifications will further incentivize investments in electronic sector and move towards Union Government’s goal of ‘Net Zero imports’ in electronics by 2020. Key Amendment The applications will be received under M-SIPS scheme till December 2018 or till such time that an incentive commitment of Rs 10,000 crore is reached, whichever is earlier. In case the incentive commitment of Rs 10,000 crore is reached, a review will be held to decide further financial commitments. For new approvals, the incentive under the scheme will be available from the date of approval of a project and not from the date of receipt of application. The incentives will be available for investments made within 5 years from the date of approval of the project. Unit receiving incentive will provide undertaking to remain in commercial production for at least 3 years. The Appraisal Committee chaired by Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and IT will recommend approval of project. Significance of amendment in M-SIPS Expedite investments into the Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector in India. Create employment opportunities and reduce dependence on imports. About Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (M-SIPS) The Union Cabinet in 2012 approved the M-SIPS to provide a special incentive package to promote large scale manufacturing in the ESDM sector to boost domestic electronic product manufacturing in the country. The scheme provides subsidy for capital expenditure 20% for investments in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and 25% in non-SEZs. It also provides reimbursement of countervailing duty/excise for capital equipment for non-SEZ units and also reimbursement of duties and central taxes for some of the projects with high capital investments.

13. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has given its ‘in principle’ approval for listing the five Public Sector General Insurance Companies (2016-17) owned General Insurance Companies in the stock exchanges. They are New India Assurance Company Ltd, United India Insurance Company Ltd, Oriental Insurance Company Ltd, National Insurance Company Ltd and General Insurance Corporation of India. The shareholding of these PSGICs will be divested from 100% to 75% in one or more tranches over a period of time as per Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) rules and regulations. Significance of listing of PSGICs Bring transparency and equity in the companies functioning as listing on the stock exchange necessitates compliance requirements of SEBI. Improve corporate governance and risk management practices leading to improved efficiency. It will lead to greater focus on growth and earnings. Open the way for the companies to raise resources from the capital market to meet their fund requirements to expand their businesses, instead of being dependent on the Government for capital infusion. Divestment in these companies will help government in raising resources and portion of the funds can be used by the company for expansion. Background The Union Finance Minister in his 2016-17 Budget speech had announced that public shareholding in Government-owned companies is a means of ensuring higher levels of transparency and accountability. In order to promote this objective, the general insurance companies owned by the Government will be listed on the stock exchanges.

14. According to recently released Jones Lang LaSalle’s City Momentum Index (CMI), Bengaluru (capital of Karnatak) has emerged as the most dynamic city in the world. The index tracks the speed of change of a city’s economy and commercial real estate market. It covers 134 major established and emerging business hubs and ranks them on parameters like technology, connectivity, population, education and real estate investments. Key Facts Top 10 cities in 2017 CMI: Bengaluru (India), Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), Silicon Valley (US), Shanghai (China), Hyderabad (India), London (UK), Austin (US), Hanoi (Vietnam), Boston (US) and Nairobi (Kenya). Most dynamic cities around the world share the ability to embrace technological change, absorb rapid population growth and strengthen global connectivity. Cities in India, China and Vietnam, along with several in the United States head the list of the world’s fastest changing cities. In this edition of CMI, cities from Asia-Pacific region comprise half of the top 30 fastest-changing cities. India has over taken China as home to some of the world’s most dynamic cities. Six Indian cities feature in the CMI Global Top 30 that includes Pune (13th rank), Chennai (17th), Delhi (23rd), Mumbai (25th).

15. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has received 45 initial bids from 11 parties to fly routes under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) launched by the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation. The initial bid proposals covers more than 200 routes and as many as 65 airports, 52 of them not served by any airline and 13 under-served airports. Now, Government has invited counter-bids against these initial proposals. After that, these routes will be awarded to bidders who quote the lowest Viability Gap Funding (VGF) requirement against the routes under the RCS. About Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) The RCS aims to boost air travel in Tier II and Tier III cities by capping fares at Rs 2,500 per one hour flight. The AAI is the implementing authority of the scheme. Its objective is to make flying affordable for the masses, to promote tourism, increase employment and promote balanced regional growth. As per the scheme, the Union Government will subsidise the losses incurred by airlines flying out of dormant airports to allow airlines to charge Rs. 2,500 for an hour’s flight to passengers. About 80% of the subsidy will be collected by charging a levy of up to Rs. 8,500 on each departing flight of domestic airlines and the rest 20% will come from the respective state governments.

16. The second edition of Ministry of External Affairs’ annual Raisina Dialogue was held in New Delhi with the theme “The New Normal: Multilateralism in a multipolar world”. The flagship geo-political conference was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and was attended by delegates from 65 countries. Highlights PM Narendra Modi’s speech Outlined government’s foreign policy from May 2014 and also referred to differences with China, and India’s close partnerships with the US, Russia and Japan. Pakistan and Terrorism: Pakistan must walk away from terror for dialogue with India as India alone cannot walk the path of peace. Peaceful South Asia: India remained committed to vision for a “peaceful and harmonious” South Asia, and neighbourhood first. Globalisation: Growing sentiment against trade and migration and rising parochial and protectionist attitudes are putting globalisation’s gains at a risk. China: It has unprecedented business and commercial opportunities for India. However, rising ambition and festering rivalries (in Asia) are generating visible stress points such as freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. CPEC: The ambitious $45 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) connectivity project cannot override sovereignty as it runs through disputed parts of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). United States: US administration led by Donald Trump and India will further focus on building bilateral relationship. About Raisina Dialogue Raisina Dialogue is an annual conference held in New Delhi. It is envisioned to be India’s flagship conference of geopolitics and geo-economics. The conference is held jointly by Ministry of External Affairs and the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), an independent think tank based in India. The name of conference comes from Raisina Hill which is the elevation in New Delhi where presidential palace of India, Rashtrapati Bhavan is located. The first edition of the conference was held in March 2016 with the theme “Asia: Regional and Global Connectivity”. It is organized on the lines of the Shangri-La Dialogue held in Singapore. It is structured as a multi-stakeholder, cross-sectorial conclave, involving policy and decision makers, including cabinet ministers from various Governments, high-level Government officials and policy practitioners, leading personalities from business and industry etc.

17. The Union Cabinet has given its approval to the proposal for India’s taking full membership of the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) Governing Council. This decision involves payment of annual contribution of US $5,00,000 to the IVI (headquartered in Seoul, South Korea).

18. The Union Cabinet has approved holding negotiations for Trade Agreement with Peru on trade in goods, services and investment. The trade agreement will be an important landmark in India-Peru relations and consolidate the traditional fraternal relations that have existed between India and LAC countries. The trade agreement will enhance the trade and economic relations between the two countries. Background India and Peru had agreed to carry forward the discussions on trade in goods, trade in services and investment after they concluded Joint Study Group (JSG) Report in October, 2016. A JSG between India and Peru was constituted in order to explore the possibility for entering into trade agreement in January, 2015.

19. The Union Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) has commissioned a very high resolution (12 km) global deterministic weather prediction model for generating operational weather forecasts. The model has been on trial since September 2016. It has shown significant improvements in skill of daily weather forecasts. It was made operational from January 2017. Key Facts This model replaces the earlier version which had a horizontal resolution of 25 km which was very helpful, in predicting track and intensity of recent Cyclonic Storm Vardah and cold wave over northern India. MoES’s operational Ensemble Prediction System (EPS) was upgraded to 12 km. For this, High Performance Computing (HPC) system resources were augmented to 10 Peta Flops (PFs) from current 1.2 PFs. The EPS was adopted to overcome problem of uncertainties in the forecasts. It involves the generation of multiple forecasts using slightly varying initial conditions. The EPS also help generate probabilistic forecasts and quantify the uncertainties. The latest model replaces the earlier version that had a horizontal resolution of 25 km. Note: MoES provides climate, weather and hydrological services to various users round the year and 24/7. Both operational and research aspects for these services are implemented through India Meteorological Department (IMD), Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), and Indian National Centre for Ocean Information System (INCOIS).

20. Union Railway Ministry has unveiled ‘Mission 41K’ to save Rs. 41,000 crore on the Indian Railways’ expenditure on energy consumption over the next 10 years. The launch of this programme was announced at a Roundtable Discussion on Energy Initiatives of Indian Railways with external stakeholders headed by Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu.

21. India formally became an associate member of CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) with the government completing the internal approval procedures for the agreement it signed in November 2016. Prior to it, in September 2016, CERN Council had adopted a resolution upgrading India’s position as associate member from earlier ‘observer’ status (since 2004). Benefits for India Now, India can take part in meetings of the CERN Council and its committees (Scientific Policy Committee and Finance Committee). However India will not have voting rights on decisions of the council. It will enhance participation of young scientists and engineers from India in various CERN projects and bring back knowledge for deployment in the domestic programmes. It will open up new avenues for Indian scientists to engage with their counterparts in front line research in physics and engineering. Also, Indian scientists will become eligible for staff appointments. It will help to boost India’s science credentials and give access to high end scientific technology. It will also make Indian scientists eligible for staff appointments in CERN. Besides, Indian industries will be entitled to bid for CERN contracts. Thus, it will open up opportunities for industrial collaboration in areas of advanced technology. About European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) CERN as an organisation is world’s largest nuclear and particle physics laboratory. It is situated in North West suburbs of Geneva on France-Swiss Border. It was established in 1954. Members: It has 22 member states, four associate members (including India, Pakistan, Turkey and Ukraine) and three International Organisations have observer status. Functions: The laboratory helps scientists and engineers probing fundamental structure of Universe using the most sophisticated scientific instruments and advanced computing systems. Provide the necessary infrastructure needed for high-energy physics research including particle accelerators. Achievements: CERN operates the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) which is the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator. It is associated with the discovery of the Higgs Boson which is popularly known as the God particle. India-CERN India has been actively involved in CERN’s activities for over 50 years. Indian physicists, engineers and technicians have made substantial contributions to various projects of CERN. In 1991, India and CERN had signed a Cooperation Agreement, setting priorities for scientific cooperation. Since then India and CERN have signed several other protocols. Indian scientists had active in construction of the LHC in the areas of design, development and supply of hardware accelerator components, software development and deployment in the machine. They also had played significant role in the CMS (Compact Muon Experiment), one of the two large experiments that led to discovery of God particle.

22. Scientists from Tohoku University in Japan have claimed that Silicon (Si) is the ‘missing element’ in the Earth’s core. This discovery could help us to better understand how our world formed. According to them silicon likely makes up a significant proportion of Earth’s core after its major constituents iron and nickel. It was missing element in the deep interiors of our planet that has eluded us for decades.

23. India was ranked 92nd among 118 countries in the 2017 Global index of talent competitiveness (GTI) list. The index measures ability of countries to compete for talent i.e. how countries grow, attract and retain talent. The index is produced by global business school INSEAD in partnership with Adecco Group and Human Capital Leadership Institute (HCLI) of Singapore. Key Highlights of 2017 GTI Top 10 Countries: Switzerland (1st), Singapore (2nd), United Kingdom (3rd), United States (4th), Sweden (5th), Australia (6th), Luxembourg (7th), Denmark (8th), Finland (9th) and Norway (10th). BRICS Countries: India’s ranking is worst among the five BRICS countries. China (54th), Russia (56th), South Africa (67th) and Brazil (81st). It noted that BRICS countries are not getting stronger and both China and India have slipped from their year-ago rankings. India Related Facts: In this edition of the list, India slipped by 3 places compared to 89th rank in 2016 GTI. India stood on a relatively solid in pool of global knowledge skills compared with other emerging markets. But in terms of retaining and attracting talent indices, India ranked lowly 104th and 114th, respectively. Overall a major challenge for India is to attract talent from abroad, particularly in the context of large emigration rates of high-skilled people. India has been able to create a stable pool of global knowledge skills, but still experiences a brain drain. India’s ranking will improve only if it improves in its regulatory (94th) and market (99th) landscapes. GTI global ranking of cities: 2017 edition of GTI also released the first-ever global ranking of cities on the basis of their reputation and growing footprint in attracting, growing, and retaining global talent. Top 10 global cities in terms of talent competitiveness: Zurich, Helsinki, San Francisco, Gothenburg, Madrid, Paris, Los Angeles, Eindhoven and Dublin. Mumbai was only Indian city to make into this list.

24. India ranked 60th among the 79 developing countries in 2017 Inclusive Development Index (IDI) released in World Economic Forum’s (WEF) ‘Inclusive Growth and Development Report’. The index is based on 12 performance indicators and countries are ranked on IDI scores based on a scale of 1-7. It has three pillars Growth and Development, Inclusion and Intergenerational Equity, and Sustainability in order to provide a more complete measure of economic development than GDP growth alone. Key Highlights of 2017 IDI Top 10 developing economies in 2017 IDI: Lithuania (1st), Azerbaijan (2nd), Hungary (3rd), Poland (4th), Romania (5th), Uruguay (6th), Latvia (7th), Panama (8th), Costa Rica (9th) and Chile (10th). Top 10 advance economies in 2017 IDI: Norway (1st), Luxembourg (2nd), Switzerland (3th), Iceland (4th) and Denmark (5th), (6th), Netherlands (7th), Australia (8th), New Zealand (9th) and Austria (10th). BRIC’s countries: Russia (13th), China (30th) and Brazil (30th). India’s neighbours: India’s many of the neighbouring nations are ahead in the rankings. China (15th), Nepal (27th), Bangladesh (36th) and Pakistan (52nd). India, with a score of only 3.38, ranks low among 79 developing economies, despite its growth in GDP per capita is among the top 10 and labour productivity growth has been strong. India scores well in terms of access to finance for business development and real economy investment. Reasons for India’s lower rank: India’s debt-to-GDP ratio is high, that raises some questions about the sustainability of government spending. India’s labour force participation rate is low, informal economy is large and many workers are vulnerable to employment situations with little room for social mobility. India needs more progressive tax system to raise capital for expenditures in infrastructure, health care, basic services and education,

25. The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has notified the Graded Response Action Plan to combat air pollution in NCR Delhi region. In this regard, MoEFCC amended laws and formally tasked a Supreme Court-appointed panel with implementing a graded action plan for pollution control. Key Facts Graded Response Action Plan defines the measures to taken based on air quality on the basis of PM 2.5 and PM 10 in the atmosphere. Based on the air quality the grades have been classified as Emergency, Severe, Very Poor and Moderate poor. It will be enforced by Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA). Under this plan eemergency measures will be automatically enforced in NCR if level of PM2.5 breaches 300 micrograms per cubic metre (µgm/m3) and PM10 levels stay above 500 (µgm/m3)for two consecutive days. The plan recommends measures like odd-even car rationing scheme and ban on construction activities to combat air pollution. During ‘very poor’ air quality, it recommends banning diesel generators and parking fee increased by three to four times. It also lists a number of other measures such as closing brick kilns, stone crushers, hot mix plants and intensifying public transport services and increasing the frequency of mechanised cleaning and sprinkling of water on roads. For enforcement of the action plan, the Union Government has assigned the task of implementation of the Graded Response Action Plan to the EPCA (Environment Pollution Control Authority) in pursuance of sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (29 of 1986). Background The Delhi specific comprehensive action plan was prepared by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and was submitted to the Supreme Court in December 2016. The court had accepted the plan and asked the Union Government to notify it. Particulate Matter (PM): They are tiny particles of dust which can cause very serious respiratory disorders and even damage the lungs.

26. The World Economic Outlook (WEO) update released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has cut India’s growth rate for the fiscal year 2016–17 to 6.6% from its previous estimate of 7.6%. India’s growth rate was cut due to the temporary negative consumption shock of demonetisation. It has dampen India’s growth by 1% point in the FY2017 and 0.4% point in FY2018, compared with IMF’s earlier projections. Key highlights of IMF’s Outlook Global economic activity will pick up pace in FY17 and FY18, especially in emerging markets and developing economies. Global growth is forecast at 3.4% in FY17 against 3.1% in FY16. There is marginal upward shift in prospects for the US and China until 2018 but India, Mexico and Brazil are among the large economies that have had their projections revised downwards. For China, the growth forecast for FY 2017 was revised upwards, to 6.5%, 0.3% point above the October 2016 forecast. In 2018, China’s growth rate is projected to be 6% against India’s 7.7%. The recent election of Donald Trump as US President could have a positive impact on US economy, but extent of it could not be gauged immediately. The stimulus policies expected and already underway in US and China will hold world economy from further slowdown and result in rise of global growth. India’s Demonetisation move led to shortage of currency causing a slump in demand and widespread job losses dampening growth. Other Asian countries such as Thailand and Indonesia will also face headwinds in medium term.

27. The sub-committee under chairmanship of professor Timothy Gonsalves has recommended reservation for girl students in IITs to address the issue of slump in number of female students entering the prestigious institutes. The recommendation of the committee will be taken up in the meeting of the Joint Admission Board (JAB) for a final decision, which will decide whether the reservation will come in effect from 2017 or from 2018.

28. According to study conducted by rights group Oxfam, India’s richest 1% now hold a huge 58% of the country’s total wealth, indicating rise income inequality. It is higher than the global figure of about 50%. It shows that 57 billionaires in India now have same wealth ($216 billion) as that of the bottom 70% population of the country. Globally, just 8 billionaires have the wealth as the poorest 50 % of the world population.

29. The Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MOCI) has launched a mobile application named “SEZ India” under its broader e-Governance initiative to help the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Units and Developers. It will help the SEZ Units and Developers to find information easily and track their transactions on Online System. It will also facilitate them to file all their transactions digitally through SEZ Online system and track the status on the go through the SEZ India mobile app.

30. hina has handed over two ships to the Pakistan to safeguard the strategic Gwadar port and trade routes under the ambitious China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). These ships have been named as Hingol and Basol, after two rivers near Gwadar. They will be part of Pakistan Navy and are equipped with state-of-the-art guns. They will be used to protect the sea-lanes in the Arabian Sea. Besides, China will also provide two more ships to Pakistan Navy which have been named Zhob and Dasht after two districts in Balochistan.

31. The grand Annual 62nd Jio Filmfare Awards event organised by the Filmfare magazine was held in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It honored the best Indian films of the year 2016 Dangal was adjudged as the Best film. Neerja and Kapoor & Sons with 5 awards each were the film wining highest number of awards. Awards in various categories are Best Actor: Aamir Khan (Dangal). Best Actress: Alia Bhatt (Udta Punjab). Best Film: Dangal. Best Director: Nitesh Tiwari (Dangal). Lifetime Achievement: Shatrughan Sinha. Best Debut Director: Ashwini Iyer Tiwari (Nil Battey Sannata). Critics Award for Best Film: Best Supporting Actor: Rishi Kapoor (Kapoor & Sons). Best Supporting Actress: Shabana Azmi (Neerja). Best Male Debut: Diljit Dosanjh (Udta Punjab). Best Female Debut: Ritika Singh (Saala Khadoos). Best Singer (male): Arijit Singh (Ae Dil Hai Mushkil). Best Singer (female): Neha Bhasin (Sultan). Best Music Director: Pritam (Ae Dil Hai Mushkil). Best Lyricist: Amitabh Bhattacharya (Ae Dil Hai Mushkil).

32. US based rocket manufacturing company SpaceX successfully launched constellation of 10 satellites into orbit on board of its two stage Falcon 9 Rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The satellites were deployed into the designated to low-Earth orbit about an hour after launch. Besides, rocket’s first stag also landed upright on a so-called droneship in the Pacific Ocean south of Vandenberg.

33. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has tightened rules for mergers and amalgamations by Indian companies in a bid to safeguard the interests of the public shareholders. The market regulator amended rules in an effort to make listing process more transparent and ensure wider public holding, prevent mergers of large unlisted firms with small ones. The new rules will ensure that all classes of shareholders get an equitable treatment during mergers and acquisitions. It will also stop practice using route of merger to get an indirect listing for an unlisted company.

34.The Expert Group set up to prepare Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) has submitted its report to the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD). The expert group was headed by former Finance Secretary Sumit Bose. The objective of the expert group was to study criteria for allocation of resources to States and identification and prioritization of beneficiaries under various programmes using SECC data. The MoRD will use the SECC data for identification of beneficiaries and generating priority list of beneficiaries under its programmes. Based on it appropriate guidelines were issued for making inter-state allocation to cover households under Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana and Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihood Mission.

35. According to recently released World Employment and Social Outlook for 2017, the number of unemployed people in India is expected to rise by 1 lakh in 2017 and another 2 lakh in 2018. The report was released by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) with projections based on econometric modelling carried out in November 2016. The report has clubbed India in the category of emerging nations. Key highlights of the report Number of jobless in India will increase from 17.7 million in 2016 to 18 million by 2018 even though the country’s unemployment rate is expected to go down from 3.5% to 3.4% in 2017. India performed slightly well in terms of job creation in 2016, as majority of the 13.4 million new employment were created. Globally, the number of jobless people will increase by 3.4 million in 2017. The global unemployment rate is expected to rise modestly from 5.7 to 5.8% in 2017 as pace of labour force growth outstrips job creation. The increase in unemployment levels and rates in 2017 will be driven by deteriorating labour market conditions in emerging countries. Vulnerable forms of employment, which include own account workers and contributing family workers are expected to stay above 42% of total employment. About 1.4 billion people are likely to be engaged in such employment in 2017, with the number rising by 11 million per year. Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia will be the most affected. In developing countries, the number of workers earning less than $3.10 per day is even expected to increase by more than 5 million over the next two years. Global uncertainty and the lack of decent jobs are, among some of the other factors, underpinning social unrest and migration in many parts of the world.

36. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has entered into a Bilateral Advance Pricing Agreement (BAPA) on the with Indian subsidiary of a Japanese trading company. Earlier, CBDT also had modified an existing Bilateral APA with another Indian subsidiary of a Japanese company to include rollback provisions. Thus, total three BAPAs have been signed by CBDT with Indian subsidiaries of Japanese companies all including rollbacks. With this total number of BAPAs entered into by CBDT is now eight. What is Advance Pricing Agreement (APA)? The APA Scheme was introduced in the Income Tax (IT) Act, 1961 in 2012 and the provisions related to rollback were introduced in 2014. It strengthens Government’s mission of fostering a non-adversarial tax regime. It endeavours to provide certainty to taxpayers in the domain of transfer pricing by specifying the methods of pricing and setting the prices of international transactions in advance. Under BAPA, certainty in tax treatment is provided for the next 5 years while rollback provides dispute redressal for a maximum of four past years preceding APA years.

37. India and the United States has signed MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) to collaborate in the fields of developmental activities and aid in third world countries. The MoU was signed between the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and Union Ministry of External Affairs’ Development Partnership Administration (DPA).

38. India has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sri Lanka to construct 3000 rain water harvesting systems in Rin Jaffna District at a cost of 300 million Rupees (Sri Lankan). The rain water project envisages construction of 3000 rainwater harvesting systems for 3000 households in selected divisions of Jaffna District.

39. The ambitious Ken-Betwa river linking project has received formal environment, forest and tribal clearances. The project aims at addressing water needs of dry swathes in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The Union Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation is working out the funding pattern with NITI Aayog. The Ministry is pursuing NITI Ayog to change its funding pattern of Centre state share from 60:40 to 90:10 for the project as it is a special project. Key Facts It is India’s first river interlinking project that will connect Ken river in Madhya Pradesh with the Betwa in Uttar Pradesh. The project was envisaged first in 1980 to transfer surplus river water to dry and arid areas of Bundelkhand region. It will help irrigate an area of 6.35 lakh hectares annually in Bundelkhand region. Of this, 3.69 lakh hectares will be covered in Madhya Pradesh’s Tikamgarh, Chattarpur and Panna districts. The remaining 2.65 lakh hectares of area falls in Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi, Mahoba and Banda districts. The project is estimated to provide 49 million cubic metres (mcm) of drinking water to a population of 13.42 lakh in Bundelkhand region in the two states. Besides, it will also generate 78 mega watt (MW) of power.

40. India’s factory output, measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) has registered 5.7% growth in November 2016 as against 1.9% in October 2016. It is the fastest growth recorded in more than four years and is largely on account of a low base effect. It also does not display the negative effects of demonetisation as production cycles in manufacturing take longer to adjust to any demand change. Key Facts Manufacturing sector grew by 5.5% in November 2016. Mining sector output rose 3.9%. Electricity generation sector increased 8.9%. Capital goods output surged 15%. Consumer durable output jumped 9.8% Consumer non-durable production increased 2.9% Overall growth in consumer goods output was 5.6%. About Index of Industrial Production (IIP) The IIP is compiled and published every month by Central Statistics Office (CSO) of the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. It covers 682 items comprising Manufacturing (620 items), Mining (61 items) & Electricity (1 item). The weights of the three sectors are 75.53%, 14.16%, 10.32% respectively and are on the basis of their share of GDP at factor cost during 2004-05. The eight Core Industries comprise nearly 38 % of the weight of items included in IIP. Base Effect: It is basically the consequence of abnormally high or low levels of inflation in a previous month distorting headline inflation numbers for the most recent month.