GS-III

Amplifying system imitating buzz earns NFR award Plan Bee, an amplifying system imitating the buzz of a swarm of honey bees to keep wild elephants away from railway tracks, on Tuesday earned the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) the best innovation award in Indian Railways for the 2018-19 fiscal. The first …

Govt. claims a 43% dip after Feb. 26 The security situation in Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed an improvement and the net infiltration from across the border has reduced by 43% after the February 26 last air strike on a terror camp at Balakot in Pakistan, Union Minister of State …

Children have to stop education in some extreme cases’ The Central government has admitted that 75 lakh families fall below the poverty line annually due to the rising cost of health care in India. Replying to a question on the availability and price control on generic drugs Mansukh L. Mandaviya, …

K. Kasturirangan, chairman, Drafting Committee, National Education Policy 2019, on Tuesday said the draft education policy has recommended merger of 900 universities and 40,000 colleges into around 15,000 large, well-resourced, vibrant multidisciplinary institutions and the higher education institutions (HEIs) in the country would move towards becoming three types of universities. …

Mani says 30 minutes to one hour curbs within 10 days With the southwest monsoon playing truant over the 40 days since its onset, Kerala is grappling with a serious power shortage as the water level in hydel reservoirs dips to alarming levels. Hinting at the possibility of regulations in …

Asia, which accounts for 60% of the global population, recorded the lowest rate of homicide in 2017 with only 2.3 killings per 1,00,000 people while the Americas had the highest homicide rate, according to a UN report. The Global Study on Homicide 2019 published on Monday by the UN Office …

Japan, S. Korea, Europe to be beneficiaries Caught in the crossfire of the U.S.-China trade war, Chinese students are looking for alternative study destinations — threatening to turn off an important source of revenue for American universities. China accounts for nearly a third of foreign students on U.S. campuses who …

Exports to Iran may touch 30 mn kg Tea Board of India is planning to set a floor price for the sale of tea at auctions. It is also planning to take about 100 million kg of tea away from India’s output basket in a bid to prop up the …

Are taxed as per individual tax slabs The government may well have targeted high-income individuals while proposing a tax surcharge but that has taken a toll on foreign investors in the Indian capital market. According to experts, a large number of foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) in India operate through a …

‘Bulk of investment from govt. firms’ The government hopes to get investments from public sector companies as well as the private sector, according to Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg. Mr. Garg said that the government’s own contribution to gross capital formation was small and so, in the unlikely event that …

Three-year road map to improve regulation, supervision The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) board, which met in New Delhi, finalised a three- year roadmap to improve regulation and supervision, among other functions of the central bank. This medium term strategy — named Utkarsh 2022 — is in line with the …

India is an important talent contributor to our global leadership in the U.S., says Ramadurai Minnesota-based 3M Company, that manufactures more than 60,000 products for homes, schools, enterprises, governments and hospitals, may be staring at a barrage of market challenges. These include flagging demand for cars and smartphones, growing end-market …

Repo transmission taking 2-3 months against the 6 months earlier, says Das The financial system is “hugely surplus” with liquidity, Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Monday, adding that this would facilitate better transmission of rate cuts implemented by the central bank. “You have to keep in …

It can fine up to Rs. 10 cr. if a person tampers with information to obstruct probe, destroy data The Finance Bill, 2019 has given the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) new powers to act against entities that tamper or destroy electronic databases or fail to furnish information …

Surcharge on high income group, strong U.S. jobs data lowering prospects of Fed rate cut dampeners The first trading session of the equity markets after the Union Budget saw stocks in a free-fall mode on Monday as a mix of global factors and domestic concerns emanating from some of the …

Beijing pushes for diplomacy for the settlement of the issue China on Monday alleged that “unilateral bullying” by the United States was the “root cause” of Iran’s decision to expand uranium enrichment. While regretting Iran’s announcement as a breach of the nuclear deal, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang made …

‘People gave us a strong mandate to change Greece. We will honour it to the full’ Greece’s new conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was sworn in on Monday after a sweeping election victory put him in charge of the EU’s most indebted member with promises to end a decade of …

Aviation trails will take place after delivery, says Vice Admiral India-made Vikrant to be delivered by 2021 India’s first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC-I) Vikrant is at an advanced stage of construction and will be delivered in 2021, a senior Navy officer said on Monday. “Starting of gas turbines will take …

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to urgently hear a petition filed by an NGO against a Bombay High Court order, which upheld the reservation provided to the Maratha community in education and government jobs in Maharashtra. Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, responding to an oral mentioning, scheduled for …

The Indian Newspaper Society (INS) has requested the Centre to withdraw the 10% customs duty imposed on newsprint, uncoated paper used for printing of newspapers and lightweight papers used in magazines. In a statement, INS said on Monday that newspapers and magazines were already reeling under severe financial pressure due …