GS-III

Association tells govt. to stop prioritising supply to power plants, says others deprived of raw material The Aluminium Association of India (AAI) has written to the government asking it to stop prioritising coal supply to power plants. The exclusion of other industries that required coal was depriving them of the …

While LIC has a direct stake in more than 300 listed companies – with a stake of at least 1% or more – there are at least 24 entities in which it has a stake of over 10%, as per the shareholding data available on the BSE. Most of these …

Aimed at reducing the rapidly growing human-elephant conflict in areas of Chhattisgarh, where nearly 20 human lives were lost because of attacks by a herd of 19 elephants, the State Forest Department in collaboration with Wildlife SOS has radio-collared a wild elephant to help create an early warning system and …

Union Drinking Water and Sanitation Minister, Uma Bharti, on Wednesday likened the government’s initiative to mandate a minimum flow for the Ganga as a “MeToo moment” for Indian rivers. “All rivers in India would say ‘MeToo’ and would want that such standards be imposed for them [to restore their health] …

Central Water Commission made designated authority In a first, the Union government has mandated the minimum quantity of water — or ecological flow as it’s called in scientific circles — that various stretches of the Ganga must necessarily have all through the year. The new norms would require hydropower projects …

A whale calf has been freed after it got tangled in a shark net off the Australian east coast. Authorities worked for almost two hours on Tuesday morning to free the calf. “The calf had some superficial wounds, but nothing life threatening, and swam away with its mother when released,” …

Scientists say they have developed the first bioelectronic medicine — an implantable, biodegradable wireless device that speeds nerve regeneration and improves the healing of a damaged nerve. Researchers at the Washington University in the U.S. developed a device that delivers regular pulses of electricity to damaged peripheral nerves in rats …

Billionaire Yusaku Maezawa says he has received “safety guarantees” from Musk Billionaire Japanese tycoon and future space tourist Yusaku Maezawa’s training to go the moon should not be too tricky, he joked on Tuesday, adding that he planned to use free time from his six-hour work day to squeeze it …

Tech giant also unveils Pixel 2-in-1 tablet and a connected Home Hub speaker Google’s new Pixel phones mirror the industry trend moving the devices toward lusher, bigger screens and add new twists on the camera for taking better selfies and other pictures. The Pixel phones have barely made a dent …

The Centre has notified a higher interest rate of 8% for the non-government provident, superannuation, and gratuity funds, effective from October 1. The interest rate on these funds has been raised from 7.6%. The move comes on the back of a hike in small savings rates — by up to …

India is projected to grow at 7.3% in 2018 and 7.4% next year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday, predicting that the country will regain the tag of the world’s fastest growing major economy this year, surpassing China with more than 0.7 percentage points. In 2017, India had …

Weakens for sixth straight session The rupee weakened against the dollar for the sixth straight session, as the currency hit a fresh low amid strengthening of the greenback. The rupee declined 33 paise against the dollar to end the day at 74.39, which is a record low. The rupee opened …

JSW Energy is planning to revive its 240 megawatt (MW) hydro power project in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh at a cost of Rs.2,500crore. The plant, conceived in2007, was put on hold as the company could not have a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with the buyers. Government tender “The …

State Bank of India (SBI) has decided to triple the target for loans it purchases from non-banking finance companies (NBFCs). The move is expected to provide much-needed liquidity to these entities. SBI had earlier planned to buy Rs. 15,000 crore worth of portfolio from NBFCs. It has now decided to …

Payment service, in pilot mode, to expand countrywide Ahead of the October 15 deadline to comply with RBI’s data localisation norms, Facebook-owned Whatsapp said it had built a system in India to store payments related data locally. “In response to India’s payments data circular, we’ve built a system that stores …

Suppliers keen on assurance from clients on payment obligations The payment default by some Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) group entities and the resultant debt overhang has, in its wake, reportedly created a panic reaction in the diamond market as members of the diamond trade are known to be …

Vehicle checks at the Kalakkad tiger reserve will be intensified after it emerged that 11 teak trees were felled by a gang with the assistance of an anti-poaching watcher inside the Kalakkad–Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve. The gang moved the timber from the sanctuary in a lorry under the guise of devotees …

Cyclonic storm likely to intensify Several coastal districts of Odisha have been put on high alert as the cyclonic storm ‘Titli’ is expected to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm in the next 24 hours. As a precautionary measure, the State government has ordered the closure of all educational institutes …

Pedestrians and cyclists suffered the biggest spike in fatalities in road accidents across the country in 2017, even as overall fatalities in road accidents and the total count of such incidents declined marginally. According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways’ annual report on road accidents, the total number …

Scientists have often framed climate change in terms of the future; but for many people, that watery future is already here, reports Orb Media In the morning, before she left for work, Ambika Thankappan called her son Arun to tell him their world was about to drown. “It’s already flooded …