Governor Generals of British India

Warren Hastings Plan 1772 – 1785 :

•      Brought the Dual Govt, of Bengal to an end by the Regulating Act, 1773.
•      Establishment  of Civil(Faujdari adalat) and Criminal(Diwani adalat) courts were established.
•      Maintenance of records was made compulsory.
•      The First Anglo – Maratha War (1776 – 82), which ended with the Treaty of Salbai (1782), and the Second Anglo– Mysore War (1780 – 84), which ended with the Treaty of Mangalore (1784), were fought during Hasting’s period.
•      Founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal with William Jones in 1784. He wrote introduction to the first English translation of “The Gita” by Charles Wilkins.
•      He was charged of misconduct brought against him for taking bribe. After a trial of 7 years, he was finally acquitted.

Lord Cornwallis India (1786 – 1793) :

•   Did the Permanent Settlement of Bengal (also called Zamindary System).
•   First person to codify laws. The code separated the revenue administration from the    administration of justice.
•   Police Reforms : Each district was divided into 400 sq. miles and placed under a           police superintendent assisted by constables.
•   The civil service was brought into existence.

Sir John Shore History (1793 – 1798)

•   Bring reforms in the revenue administration .

•   Sir John Shore always tried to avoid hostilities and some measures were taken to             ward off the wars.

Lord Wellesley in India (1798 – 1805) :

• Adopted the policy of Subsidiary Alliance a system to keep the Indian rulers under control and to make the British the paramount power.

•  He defeated the Mysore force under Tipu Sultan in the Fourth Anglo – Mysore War in 1799.

Subsidiary Alliance in India :

•  The Subsidiary Alliance System was used by Weilesley to bring Indian Slates within the orbit the British political power.

Land Revenue System in India :

Permanent Settlement (The Zamindari System) :

• Introduced in Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and districts of Banaras and Northern districts of Madras by Lord Cornwallis in 1793. John Shore planned this.
• It declared Zamindars as the owners of the land. Hence, they could keep 1/11th of the revenue collected to themselves while the British got a fixed share of 10/11th of the revenue collected. The Zamindars were free, to fix the rent.
•  Assured of their ownership, many Zamindars stayed in towns (absentee landlordism) and exploited their tenants.

Ryotwari System in India :

• Introduced in Bombay, Madras and Assam. Lord Munro and Charles Reed recommended it.
• In this, a direct settlement was made between the govt, and the ryot (cultivator).
• The revenue was fixed for a period not exceeding 30 years, on the basis of the quality of the soil and the nature of the crop. It was based on the scientific rent theory of Ricardo.
• The position of the cultivator became more secure but the rigid system of revenue collection often forced him into the clutches of the money – lender.

Mahalwari System in India :

•  Modified version of Zamindari settlement introduced in the Ganges valley, NWFR parts of Central India and Punjab. 
• Revenue settlement was to be made by village or estate with landlords. In Western UR a settlement was made with the village communities, which maintained a form of common ownership known as Bhaichara, or with Mahals, which were groups of villages.
•  Revenue was periodically revised.

George Barlow (1805 – 1807)

•          Sepoy mutiny at Vellore 1806.
•          Slave trade abolished in the British Empire in 1807.

•          Established the Fort William College in Calcutta in 1800.
•          Opened Administrative Training College.
•          In 1794 the Board of Trade was founded.
•          Christian missionaries established a printing press at Serampore.

Lord Minto I Governor General of India (1807 – 1813) :

•          Sent Mission of Malcom to Persia and the Elphinstone to Kabul.
•          Importation of slaves into India was stopped.
•          Concluded the treaty of Amritsar with Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1809).
•          Charter Act of 1813 was passed.

Lord Hasting India (1813 – 1823) :

•      The Anglo-Nepal War (1814 – 16) was fought during his reign which ended with the Treaty of Sagauli (1816).
•     Third Anglo- Maratha War .Marathas were finally crushed. Baji Rao II was removed.
•      Extermination of Pindaris
•     Introduction of Ryotwari settlement in Madras by Thomas Munro.
•     Mahalwari system of land revenue was made in North-West province by James Thomson.
•     Subordinate Isolation policy towards Indian states.
•     Terminated the priorities of Magistrates.

Lord Amherst (1823 – 1828)

•         First Anglo-Burmese war. Treaty of Yaudaboo in 1826 by which British merchants were allowed to settle in the southern coast of Burma.
•         Acquisition of territory of Malaya peninsula.Acquisition of Bharatpur.

Lord William Bentinck History (1828-1835) :

•       Carried out the social reforms like Prohibition of Sari (1829) and elimination of thugs (1830).
•       Made English the medium ofhighereducation inthe country (Afterthe recommendations of Macaulay).
•       Suppressed female infanticide and child sacrifice.
•       Charter Act of 1833 was passed; made him the first Governor General of India. Before him, the designation was Governor General of Bengal.

Sir Charles Mercalfe History (1835 – 1836) :

•          Abolished all restrictions on vernacular press (called Liberator of the

Press).

Lord Auckland 1842 (1836 – 1842) :

•          In 1838 Tripartite Treaty between Shah Shuja,Ranjit Singh and the          British.
•          Deposition and deportation of the Raja of Satara.
•          The most important event of his reign was the First Afghan War, which proved to be a disaster for the English.

Lord Ellenborough (1842 – 1844)

•          Termination of Afghan war.
•          Annexation of Sindh.Imposition of humiliating treaties on Sindh and Gwalior. 

Lord Hardinge I (1844 – 1848)

•       War with Nepal (1812-1823) –Treaty of Sagauli in 1816.
•       First Anglo- Sikh War. Treaty of Lahore. This extended the British territory to the lands between the Beas and the Sutlej.
•      Prohibition on female infanticide and suppression of human sacrifice.

•    In 1844 rebellion took place in Kolhapur. English education declared as essential qualification for public services.
•      In 1845 Danish sold their territories to the British.
•      In 1846 the rebellion of Khonds took place.

Lord Dalhousie Reforms (1848 – 1856) :

•  Opened the first Indian Railway in 1853 (from Bombay to Thane).
•  Laid out the telegraph lines in 1853 (First was from Calcutta to Agra).      
•  Introduced the Doctrine of Lapse and captured Satara (1848), Jaipur and             Sambhalpur (1849), oudh(1851),Udaipur (1852),Jhansi (1853) and Nagpur (1854) through it.
•  Established the postal system on the modern lines through the length and breadth of the country.
•  Started the Public Works Department. Many bridges were constructed and the work on Grand Trunk Road was started. The harbors of Karachi, Bombay and Calcutta were also developed.
•  Made Shimla the summer capital.

•       Started Engineering College at Roorkee. 
  
  
•       In 1854, “Wood’s Dispatch’ was passed, which provided for the properly articulated system of education from the primary school to the university.
•       Encouraged science, forestry, commerce, mineralogy and industry.
•       Due to Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar’s efforts, remarriage of widows was legalized by Widow Remarriage Act,
  
  
  1856).
• 
  

Lord Dalhousie Doctrine of Lapse :

The Doctrine of Lapse was an annexation policy devised by Lord Dalhousie.

According to the Doctrine, any princely state or territory under the direct influence (paramountcy) of the British East India Company, as a vassal state under the British Subsidiary System, would automatically be annexed if the ruler was either

“manifestly incompetent or died without a direct heir”.

The Doctrine is thought to be one of the major driving forces behind the Revolt

of 1857.

·         

March-15

>>Today is viswa Upabhokta Adhikar Diwas(World Consumer Rights Day)

• On March 15 1962 US president John F.Kennedy gave a speech on consumer rights which led to the creation of the Consumer Bill of Rights.
• Consumer rights activist Anwar Fazal later proposed the observance of a “World Consumer Rights Day” marking the date,and from March 15 ,1983 consumer organizations began observing  that date as an occasion to promote rights of consumers.

>> Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth lifted Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold at St. Jakobshalle, Basel. 

• First time some Indian male player has won this title, though Saina Nehwal has already won this title for two times in 2011 and 2012. 
• Kidambi Srikanth defeated Viktor Axelsen in finals. 

>>Noted Gandhian Narayan Desai passed away. He was 90 years old.

• He was best known for his rendition of Gandhi Katha i.e. stories on the Mahatma Gandhi's life.
• Sahitya Akademi Award for Gujarati in 1993 and the Jamnalal Bajaj Award in 1999 and the UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence in 1998 are the few awards he was honoured with.

>>NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has spotted massive saltwater ocean under the icy crust of Jupiter’s largest moon Ganymede.

• Scientists believe that this finding could potentially support life.
• The finding was based on the results obtained after analyzing Ganymede’s magnetic field and aurorae created and controlled by it and its interaction with Jupiter’s magnetic field
• This ocean is 100 kms thick. 10 times deeper than Earth’s oceans. It is buried under a 150-kilometre crust of mostly ice.

About Ganymede:

 Ganymede is the largest moon in our solar system. It is also the only moon with its own magnetic field. The magnetic field causes aurorae, which are ribbons of glowing, hot electrified gas, in regions circling the north and south poles of the moon.

>>Researchers have found Endophytic alga belonging to Ulvella leptochaete species thriving in the Indian Ocean.

• This species of alga is originally inhabitant to the seas around the British Isles and the East China Sea.
• Researchers had collected samples of green seaweeds, Cladophora glomerata from Calicut, Kerala and red seaweeds, Laurentia obtusa from Mandapam, Tamil Nadu.

Advantages:

• It has a disease resistance.
• It contains anticancer compounds such as Taxol and can be used for treatment of many cancers including ovarian cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer and pancreatic cancer.

>>Powerful cyclone PAM  hit the south Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu. 

• The cyclone Pam is category five tropical storm and has brought destructive 270 kilometre-per-hour winds and torrential rain. The cyclone was followed by flooding, landslides, sea surges and very rough seas which has caused massive destruction in the small Pacific nation.
•  Cyclone Pam had caused damage to other Pacific islands including Kiribati and the Solomon Islands.
•  Vanuatu is located north east of Australia to south west of Hawaii Islands. It has population of 267,000 spread over 65 islands and about 47,000 people live in its capital Port Vila.

>>Union Government has merged Green India Mission (GIM) with the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) Scheme. 

• By merging GIM with MGNREGA Scheme government seeks to increase 10 million hectares of forest cover.
• Currently, green works such as water harvesting, afforestation and farm foresty are undertaken under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme implemented by Rural Development Ministry.
•  “To further synergise these efforts and to collectively address the climate change concerns, the government has come out with convergence guidelines after consulting both Environment and Rural Development Ministries,” a senior government official said.
• The convergence guidelines sets out the approach to be adopted to strengthen co-ordination at field-level for developing forest cover and improving forest-based livelihoods for about three million households.
• According to the guidelines issued by the Environment Ministry, all lands including village common lands, community lands, revenue wastelands, shifting cultivation areas, wetlands and private agricultural lands will be eligible for afforestation under this convergence.
• Under MGNREGA, forest works such as pre-plantation, pit digging, planting and watering, fencing, plant support and protection activities, weeding, mulching and manuring the plants among others can be undertaken for afforestation.

>> Pioneer of Israeli cinema, Lia van Leer passed away on 13 March 2015 in Jerusalem, Israel. She was 90. She was the founder of Israel Film Archive, Jerusalem Cinematheque, Haifa Cinematheque and the Jerusalem Film Festival.

>>Haryana Govt is going to introduce teaching of Bhagavad Gita in Schools across the state.

  It also going to introduce ‘cow slaughter protection bill’ in the ongoing budget session of the assembly.

March-14-2015

>>International Energy Agency (IEA) released the data on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. According to it, the global emissions of CO2 from energy sector stalled in the year 2014.

• As per the preliminary data released, global emissions of CO2 stood at 32.3 billion tonnes in 2014 which is same as in the year 2013. Further the data suggests that efforts to mitigate climate change may be having a more pronounced effect on emissions than had previously been thought.

>>The Mumbai High Court (HC) directed the Maharashtra government to set up a redressal mechanism for complaints filed by citizens against noise pollution levels.

• The direction given by the Mumbai HC is the latest in the series of rules and judgments pertaining to noise pollution given by various courts and the Union Government respectively.

• The court further said that organizers of the religious festivals do not have the right to take away the fundamental right of citizen to silence and to live in comfort and peace. Right to live peacefully is expressed in the Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed by Mahesh Bedekar.

>>Union Govt is contemplating to relax the criteria of disablility.

• Union minister for social justice and empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot said that govt is mulling to reduce the parameter of body deformity percentage from 40 to 25 for disability certificate.

>>Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is on a visit to Japan to attend an international conference on disaster risk reduction.

>>Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the first train from Thalaimannar to Madhu Road in North Sri Lanka and also visited Anuradhapura shrine during three Island nation tour.

• The North-South Rail link was completely destroyed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) militants during the civil war in 1980s.

• ·    The rail project connects the Jaffna to capital Colombo and connects Thalaimannar to the main rail line.
• ·   The project has been implemented by Indian Railway Construction Company Limited (IRCON) International, a subsidiary of Indian Railways.

·         Indian Government had provided line of credit to this project as part of India’s bid to establish better connectivity between SAARC nations.

Anuradhapura facts:

• ·     Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered prayers at the sacred Bodhi tree in Anuradhapura shrine.
• ·    The sacred Bodhi tree at Anuradhapura shrine was planted as a sapling of the original Bodhi tree, under which Lord Gautam Buddha had achieved enlightenment.
• ·     It was planted 2000 years ago in Anuradhapura shrine which is considered as one of the most sacred places in Buddhism.

>>Pakistan successfully tested its first indigenously built all-weather armed drone named Burraq and a laser guided missile named Barq.

By successfully testing of Burraq, Pakistan became the 9th country in the World to develop an unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) domestically.

About  Buraq:

• ·     Dveloped by a venture of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and the National Engineering and Scientific Commission (NESCOM).
• ·     Burraq has ability to fly in all types of weather conditions.
• ·    With Barq laser-guided missile mounted on it, Burraq can hit moving targets as well as stationary targets with pinpoint accuracy.

·                      UCAV Burraq was first flight tested in May 2009.

>>Union Government has selected legendary boxer and five-time world boxing champion MC Mary Kom as Brand Ambassador for the North East Region.

It was announced by Union Minister of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jitendra Sing.

 About Mary Kom:

• ·    She belongs to Kom tribal community of the north-eastern state of Manipur.
• ·    Mary Kom is nicknamed Magnificent Mary. She is Five-time World Boxing champion,
• ·   She had won a bronze medal in 2012 London Olympics in the flyweight (51 kg) category and was only Indian woman boxer to qualify for this category.
• ·   She is also first Indian woman boxer to get a Gold Medal in the 2014 Asian Games held at Incheon, South Korea.

·         Awards- For her precious contribution to the sport of boxing (sports), she has been conferred with Padma Bhushan (2013), Padma Shree (2010) and Arjuna Award for Boxing (2003).

·         Autobiography- Unbreakable.

>>India’s Dr. Alka Beotra has been nominated as a member of the World Association of Anti-Doping Scientists’ (WAADS) executive board.

At present, Dr. Alka Beotra is Scientific Director of National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL).

>>Japan and France have signed an arms transfer agreement for military equipment, services and technology.

The defence pact seeks to boost cooperation and joint development between both countries in order to strengthen security ties.

>>Former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed was sentenced to 13-year imprisonment by country’s criminal court under the anti-terrorism laws.

• He was charged under the island nation’s Anti-Terrorism Act, 1990 for his order to arrest a Criminal Court judge Abdulla Mohamed in 2012.  
• The case against Nasheed was based on the investigation report of the Human Rights Commission of Maldives into kidnapping of the Judge.

>> Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi bronze statue was unveiled at the Parliament Square in London. It was unveiled jointly by British Prime Minister David Cameron and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

M K Gandhi is the first Indian and the only person who had never held a public office to be honoured with a statue at the Parliament Square.

The statue is placed adjacent to the statues of iconic leaders like Britain’s former Prime Minister Winston Churchill and anti-apartheid icon and former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela.

>>National Dairy Research Institute have for the first time successfully cloned a female CALF (named after Apoorva),using cells from the urine of a buffalo.

March-13-2015

>> The 3^rd edition of the Indian Panorama Film Festival began today at shillong.

·         This festival was inaugurated by Meghalaya CM Mukul Sangma with the screening of award winning Marathi film”Dr Prakash Baba Amte:The Real Hero” directed by Samruoddi Roy.

• The film festival is organized by the Directorate of Film Festivals of Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in collaboration with Meghalaya Department of Information and Public Relations.
• This edition of Indian Panorama Film Festival seeks to showcase films from the Northeast to encourage film production and talent in the region.

• ·    12 award winning films will be screened including 9 feature films and 3 non-feature films in 9 languages during the 3 day festival.

>>India and SriLanka signed Four agreements:

     India and Sri Lanka signed on four agreements during the PM Modi visit to three nation Island tour Seychelles,Maritius and Sri Lanka.

• The two sides signed four agreements on visa, customs, youth development and building Rabindranath Tagore memorial i Sri Lanka. 
• Modi said the progress made by two countries reflects "our shared commitment to stronger economic cooperation".
• ·Modi said India stands ready to help Trincomalee become a petroleum hub.
•  provide a fresh Line of Credit of up to USD 318 million for the railways sector in Lanka. 
• The Prime Minister also said that the RBI  and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka have agreed to enter into a Currency Swap Agreement of USD 1.5 billion to help keep the Sri Lankan rupee stable.
• "We believe that early and full implementation of the 13th Amendment and going beyond it would contribute to this process.

·         Meanwhile, Sri Lanka will reportedly release 86 Indian fishermen and the two nations will also reportedly revive ferry services between Rameswaram in India and Talaimannar in Sri Lanka.

>> The mass nesting of Olive Ridley sea turtles, an endangered species, started near river Rushikulya mouth in Odisha's Ganjam district today.

• On the first day, over 10,000 female turtles have laid eggs in the over 3-km-long sandy beach from Gokharakuda to Podampeta, forest officials said.
• The mass nesting of the Olive Ridley was followed by the sporadic nesting in the rookery, considered as the second largest after Gahiramatha.
• Besides the river Rushikulya mouth and Gahiramatha, the Devi river mouth in Odisha coast is also the famous mass nesting sites for the Olive Ridley.
• "We have taken several measures to protect the eggs and for safety nesting in the beaches," said the DFO. The entire 4.5-km-long stretch of beach is divided into 33 sectors. The area was totally fenced to prevent the visitors.
• Around 175 persons, including forest personnel, wildlife activists and nearby villagers were engaged for round the clock protection of the Olive ridley and the eggs. The protection would continue for next 50 days till the hatching takes place, DFO said.
• While around 100-150 eggs are laid by each female turtle, the mother turtles, however, do not wait to see the baby turtles emerge hatching about 45 to 50 days of the nesting.

About Olive Ridley Turtles

Scientific name: Lepidochelys olivacea.

They are also known as the Pacific ridley sea turtle.

Olive Ridley Turtles are generally found in warm and tropical waters, primarily in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

They are listed as vulnerable species in IUCN Red Data Book because of their few remaining nesting sites in the world.

>>NASA has launched four identical spacecrafts on a billion-dollar mission to study the explosive give-and-take of the Earth and Sun’s magnetic fields.

>>N Sakthan elected as Speaker of Kerala Assembly.

>> British Irish visa scheme came into force in India.This news is revealed by  minister of the State for External Affairs,VK Singh.

• ·  The scheme allows Indian nationals on the same trip to travel to the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland on a single-visit visa from either country. Candidates can apply at one of the existing Visa Application Centres in India of Ireland & the UK.
• ·    This scheme enables the holder of short-stay visa issued by the country of first arrival to travel freely between Ireland and the UK including Northern Ireland, for the duration of that visa.

>>Indian-origin South African educator, Ganasen Reddy was awarded with KwaZulu-Natal 2015 National Teachers Awards at the annual National Teaching Awards held in Johannesburg.

•  KwaZulu-Natal 2015 National Teachers Awards is a Lifetime Achievement Award for teaching in South Africa

Other Indian-origin teachers who were honoured at the awards function were:

·         Silas Pillay, who received the Excellence in Primary School Leadership Award.

·         Anneline Govender, who was placed second in the category Excellence in Primary School Teaching.

·         Caryn Reddy, who took third place in the category Excellence in Special Needs and Inclusive Teaching.

March-12-2015

>>High Court cannot entertain plea against Armed Forces Tribunal:Supreme Court

•  The Supreme Court has said high courts cannot entertain pleas under writ jurisdiction against verdicts of the Armed Force Tribunal(AFT) in disputes pertaining to armed forces.

• Justices SJ Mukhopadhaya and NV Ramana said that if a high court entertains a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution against the order passed by the AFT, it would bypassing the machinery of statute as enshrined in the AFT Act, and there is likelihood of anomalous situation for the aggrieved person in praying for relief from this court.

• The apex court's ruling came after it had set aside an order of the Delhi High Court which had allowed a writ petition against an army personnel.

• Section 30 of AFT Act stipulates that an appeal against the final decision or order of the tribunal shall lie in the Supreme Court.

 

 

>>India and Maritius signs Five MoU s to boost bilateral co-operation

•  Prime Minister Modi, will be the chief guest at the 47 th  National Day celebrations of Mauritius. India and Mauritius signed five agreements to give new momentum to bilateral cooperation. The MoUs were signed in the presence of Prime Minister Modi and his Mauritian counterpart Sir Anerood Jugnuth.

• The agreements signed between both sides included one on Ocean Economy. It provides for mutually beneficial co-operation for exploration and capacity development in the field of marine resources, fisheries, green tourism, research and development of ocean technology, exchange of experts and other related activities.

• The MoUs for improvement in Sea and Air Transportation Facilities at Agalega Island in Mauritius, programme for cultural co-operation between the two countries for the next three years, co-operation in the field of Traditional System of Medicine and Homeopathy, and protocol for import of fresh mangoes from India were also signed between both sides.

• Prime Minister Modi on Thursday offered a concessional line of credit of 500 million US dollars to Mauritius for key infrastructure projects.

• "We have also offered our support for the construction of the second cyber city. I am grateful to you and the people of Mauritius for the invitation as the Chief Guest of the National Day on March 12th 2015.

>>Parliament passes Insurance Laws(Amendment) Bill,2015:

• Parliament  approved the NDA government's first major economic reform measure as the long-pending bill providing for raising the FDI cap in insurance sector to 49% was passed in RajyaSabha.

• The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015 was introduced after Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien ruled that the new bill, as passed by the LokSabha, could be taken up as it was a "unique and unprecedented" situation.

• The bill seeks to replace an ordinance issued by the government earlier, which had come under sharp attack from various quarters.

•  It seeks to amend the Insurance Act, 1938 and the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Act 1972 and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999. It provides for raising FDI cap in insurance sector from 26 % to 49 %.

• The bill provides for imprisonment of up to 10 years for selling policies without registration with the regulator IRDA. The legislation will also allow PSU general insurers to raise funds from the capital market and provides for increased penalty to deter multilevel marketing of insurance products.

• The law provides that 15 % of the premium should be invested in building infrastructure.

• The Lower House had passed the Bill on March 4.

 

>> Sri Lanka has decided to release 86 Indian Fishermen as a goodwill gesture to mark PM Narendra Modi’s visit.

 

>> World Kidney Day is observed annually on the 2^nd Thursday in March.This is global health awareness campaign focusing on the importance of the kidneys and reducing the frequency and impact of kidney deseses.

 

>>International  Monetary Fund(IMF) has raised India’s growth forecast for the current fiscal to 7.2%.

     IMF said that India has emerged as one of the fastest-growing market economies and the growth rate would grow by 7.5%

>>Union Govt launches Pharma Jan Smadhan Scheme for redressal of grievances on drugs pricing:

It was launched by Union Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister Ananth Kumar in New Delhi.

About Pharma Jan Samadhan scheme:

• The scheme is a web-enabled system created by National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA).
• It seeks to serve as a robust E-governance tool for protection of interests of consumers through effective implementation of the price of drugs.
• The scheme will provide consumers with an online facility to redress their complaints related to over-pricing of medicines, non-availability of medicines and refusal of supply for sale of any medicine without good and sufficient reason.
• After receiving the complaint, NPPA will initiate action on any complaint within 48 hrs.
• The scheme also seeks to create awareness among the people and act as a deterrent against black-marketing, spurious medicines and inflated cost of drugs by creating phama-literacy initiative.