GS-III

Former Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has, in a letter, raised serious objections to the rules governing the administration of the Compensatory Afforestation Fund. He has described them as a “blatant breach of assurances” given to Parliament. Here is a look at the key issues involved What is the Compensatory Afforestation …

Non-institutional moneylending at exorbitant interest rates is a complex phenomenon, with different facets in different regions. While the Karnataka government on Friday announced one-time discharge of loans availed from moneylenders through Debt Relief Bill, 2018, implementing this is a tough task, given the nature of rural lending. Source : https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/the-tentacles-of-moneylending-run-deep/article24783052.ece

Power trading solutions provider PTC India on Thursday announced that it has operationalised the flow of 126 MW inter-state wind power commissioned capacity to beneficiary states. The power will be supplied to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha, PTC India said. The commissioned capacities are part of Ministry of New …

Vedanta Ltd. is planning invest as much as $8 billion or Rs. 56,000 crore in expanding its oil and energy businesses in India. “As India’s largest private sector oil producer, Vedanta Limited contributes 27% to the domestic production and aspires to take it up to 50%,” said Navin Agarwal, chairman, …

Minister for Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu has sought a detailed report from aviation regulator DGCA on the grounding of A320 Neo planes due to snags in Pratt and Whitney engines. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has in the meantime, submitted preliminary details on the status of the planes …

In a major effort to improve emergency medical support to soldiers posted in high-altitude areas, especially Siachen, the Integrated Defence Staff of the Defence Ministry and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) signed a memorandum of understanding on Friday to set up telemedicine nodes in critical places across the country. …

At a time when the Opposition is using the dipping employment data as a stick to beat the government with, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has brought out a special issue of its annual journal, Yojana , on “Employment and self-employment”. The issue reportedly aims at clearing the air on …

An analysis of 14 cities in India, including six mega cities and eight metropolises, on how they fare when it comes to pollution and energy consumption from urban commuting, places Kolkata as the top-performing megacity. Bhopal leads the list on the lowest overall emissions. Delhi and Hyderabad are the two …

A study on air and travel-related pollution loads caused by urban transport has ranked Kochi as the 5th cleanest among the 14 Indian cities. The study carried out by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi, looked at the quantum of toxic emissions of particulate matter (PM), nitrogen …

Microfinance lender CreditAccess Grameen made a tepid debut on the bourses on Thursday with the shares falling below the issue price even as the benchmark indices posted marginal gains. On BSE, the shares listed at Rs. 385, much lower than the issue price of Rs. 422 before closing at Rs. …