GS-III

Appoints Vineet Nayyar as MD, chalks out roadmap to put troubled firm back on track by month end The newly appointed board of troubled project developer and financier Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) met on Friday to take stock of the situation, and started preparing a roadmap to bring …

Rajasthan had last month cut its state VAT by Rs. 2.5 per litre, while Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh both had cut their VAT rates by Rs. 2 per litre. West Bengal and Kerala had cut their VAT rates on petrol and diesel by Rs. 1 per litre in September and …

Arbitrary pricing, says committee; asks for detailed report Parliamentarians slammed private airlines for the “exorbitant increase in excess luggage charges” at a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Transport Tourism and Culture on Thursday. The majority of private airlines allow only 15 kg of luggage on domestic flights and charge …

U.S. officials sound a note of caution As India looks to sign several big-ticket defence deals with Russia on Friday, U.S. officials cautioned that even if India manages to get a one-time waiver from the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) law, it cannot expect a “free ticket.” “It …

So many deaths being attributedto a virus is a first in many years While Gujarat officials are grappling with the death of 21 lions in the last month, wildlife experts say that more than the numbers it’s the fear of a mutation in a virus as the likely cause of …

Voluntary facility to be rolled out from Feb. 2019 A mere facial scan will soon enable air travellers to skip long queues and zip through various check points at airports in the country. The Centre is set to introduce the “Digi Yatra” facility at the Hyderabad and Bengaluru airports in …

Jaitley asks States to match this with reduction in VAT rates for overall Rs. 5 relief The Centre has decided to effect a cumulative cut of Rs. 2.5 per litre on fuel prices, with the Centre absorbing Rs. 1.5 of this and the oil marketing companies Rs. 1, Finance Minister …

The German-French observation device is part of a mission to find clues to the solar system’s origins A Japanese probe launched a new observation robot towards an asteroid on Wednesday as it pursues a mission to shed light on the origins of the solar system. The Hayabusa2 probe launched the …

Tightening the norms for issuance of e-way bill, the GST Network has made it mandatory for businesses and transporters to mention PIN codes of places of loading and unloading of consignments. Quoting of PIN codes will help in calculating the correct distance and determine the validity of the e-way bill, …

Hindustan Oil Exploration Company Ltd. (HOEC) has signed a revenue sharing contract with the Government of India for the exploration block in Assam it won under the Open Acerage Licensing Policy (OALP) Bid Round I. The bid round-I of OALP was launched in January 2018 under the liberalised Hydrocarbon Exploration …

BoI has highest exposure with Rs. 2,388 cr., followed by SBI at Rs. 2,140 crore Lenders to the crisis-hit Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services, which has dues of Rs. 34,480 crore are keeping their fingers crossed. Almost all the public sector banks have exposure to the group companies of IL&FS. …

With banks stopping refinancing and major shareholders not agreeing on fresh equity infusion, IL&FS started facing a liquidity crunch leading to loan defaults, according to a former board member. As long as banks were refinancing, there was no asset-liability mismatch. However, such refinancing started drying up since 2015, which forced …

Move will provide additional return of Rs. 62,635 crore to farmers: Centre In what should come as a boost to farmers, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved raising the minimum support prices of rabi crops such as wheat, barley, gram, masur, rapeseed and mustard, and safflower for 2018-19. “Giving a …

Firm had a non-functioning Risk Management Committee that met just once, says govt.Default by firm could have led to cancellation of licences of 1,500 smaller NBFCsConsolidated group loss of Rs. 2,670 cr. in2017-18 and a leveraging of 13 times equity Concerns of a “catastrophic” impact on the financial markets if …

Centre’s nod for mental health institute in M.P. The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the setting up of the National Institute of Mental Health Rehabilitation in Madhya Pradesh’s Sehore. The latest approval revises a government decision in May which chose Bhopal as the location. Source :  https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/centres-nod-for-mental-health-institute/article25117087.ece

Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on Wednesday launched the Measles-Rubella Vaccination Campaign (MRVC) in the State targeting to vaccinate 4.72 lakh children in the age group of 9 months to 15 years during the next five weeks.PTI Source :  https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/nagaland-cm-launches-vaccination-campaign/article25117455.ece

Air India will launch six new flights this month to New York, Frankfurt, London, Bangkok and Jaipur as part of its plans to better utilise its aircraft, some of which have been lying idle for the past several months due to lack of funds for maintenance. The airline will introduce …

Days after the Union Health Ministry ordered an inquiry into the Type-2 polio virus contamination detected in the vials used for immunisation in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Telangana and ordered for additional immunisation in the three States, the ministry on Wednesday issued a statement stating that “India was certified polio-free …

“We urge all of our allies and partners to forgo transactions with Russia that would trigger sanctions under CAATSA. The Administration has indicated that a focus area for the implementation of CAATSA Section 231 is new or qualitative upgrades in capability – including the S-400 air and missile defense system,” …

The National Green Tribunal on Wednesday came down heavily on the National Highways Authority of India for not maintaining green cover along national highways. Rapping the NHAI for not implementing the policy to maintain a mandatory green cover along the highways, a Bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar …