GS-III

Committee to meet in the first week of every month Aiming at ensuring speedy clearances for investments proposed in Tamil Nadu by foreign companies during his recent visit to the U.S., U.K. and Dubai, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami has constituted a high-level committee for investment facilitation and single-window clearances. …

To prepare for the next mission to Mars in 2020, NASA has taken to the lava fields of Iceland to get its new robotic space explorer ready for the job. With its black basalt sand, wind-swept dunes and craggy peaks, the Lambahraun lava field at the foot of Iceland’s second …

Nanopowder may replace commercially available substitute Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology-Hyderabad (IIT-H) and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, have developed a process by which bone implant materials can be synthesised from eggshells. The research seeks to produce bone substitute materials such as tricalcium phosphate, a …

Fuel and power sector contracts Inflation at the wholesale level eased for the fourth consecutive month to a 25-month low of 1.08% in July, on lower inflation in the manufacturing and fuel sectors, according to official data released on Wednesday. Growth in the Wholesale Price Index slowed in July from …

Performance review set in motion The Finance Ministry has initiated a comprehensive consultative process with public sector banks (PSBs) to find out the reasons for the sharp rise in bad loans in the previous five years, apart from outlining national priorities with which these banks have to align themselves. Touted …

“There was injustice against women and children, ST and SC communities. And, most importantly, the innovative zeal of the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh was not harnessed. Now, from BPOs to startups, from food processing to tourism, many industries can avail investment and create opportunities for the local youth,” …

Travelogues of foreigners discussed The Hindu parties involved in the Ayodhya title appeals received a barrage of questions from the Constitution Bench, including whether there is any evidence on record to show that the first Mughal emperor, Babur, ordered the building of the Babri Masjid. While Justice S.A. Bobde asked …

Some groups have called for April 1977 instead of December 1963 as the date A joint committee of Naga civil society groups has warned the Nagaland government against changing the cut-off date for including people in the Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland (RIIN). The Nagaland government had, through a …

‘People of J&K must be allowed to express their protest’ A group of activists who visited the Kashmir Valley have demanded that all means of communication — landline telephones, mobile phones and Internet — be restored with immediate effect. The group comprising economist Jean Drèze, Kavita Krishnan of the CPI(ML), …

Retail inflation in July snapped a five-month accelerating trend to ease marginally to 3.15%, according to official data released on Tuesday.Growth in the Consumer Price Index slowed slightly in July from 3.18% in June. Within the index, food prices bucked an eight-month accelerating trend to ease to 2.33% in July, …

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday issued the final framework for regulatory sandbox in order to enable innovations in the financial technology space.A regulatory sandbox usually refers to live testing of new products or services in a controlled/test regulatory environment for which regulators may permit certain regulatory relaxations …

The government is likely todebate lowering the rates on certain categories of automobiles in the next GST Council meeting, according to a Finance Ministry official.It is also likely to look at increasing the rate on premium real estate, but also restore the provision of input tax credit for the segment. …

On the direction of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) said on Tuesday it has decided to restore the practice of charging only Rs. 50 from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students of Delhi government and aided schools. The CBSE had recently hiked …

Assam Public Works, the NGO whose petition made the Supreme Court start the exercise to update the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in 2013, has resented the rejection of its plea for 100% re-verification of documents of the applicants. The court on Tuesday declined to reopen the process to conduct …

Global weakness on account of the crash in Argentina’s peso, the continuing political unrest in Hong Kong and the long-drawn U.S.-China trade war led to the Indian benchmarks losing heavy ground on Tuesday, even as strong gains in Reliance Industries (RIL) helped the indices limit the day’s losses.The 30-share Sensex …