9th April 2015

>>In a major milestone for the nuclear industry, India has registered a record production of over 1,252 MT of uranium bundles, manufacturing close to double the annual fuel requirement of atomic reactors in the country.

• The production has also exceeded country’s annual fuel requirement of 650 MT for the Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs), which means the country has surplus nuclear fuel, for at least a few months.
• The Hyderabad-based Nuclear Fuel Complex, which produces fuel for nuclear reactors in the country, has produced over 30 per cent more fuel compared to its 961.023 MT production in 2013-14.
• NFC, set-up with an initial production capacity of 100 MT per year, was augmented several times to a capacity to 850 MT, to cater to the fuel requirement of all the 18 operating PHWRs and the two Boiling Water Reactors at Tarapur.
• In 2008-09, NFC produced 226.89 —— the year Indo—US nuclear deal was signed. In 2009-10, the figure increased to 600.91 MT. In 2013-14, it crossed its rated capacity of 850 MT for the first time and produced 961.23 MT of uranium fuel.
• India produces around 5,780 MW of nuclear power. Of this, 4,780 MW of electricity is generated by fuel processed at the NFC. Fuel for the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) unit 1 is provided by Russia, as per the bilateral agreement.

 >>The government has allowed pharmaceutical companies to hike rates of 509 essential medicines used for treating various ailments like diabetes, hepatitis and cancer by 3.84 per cent with effect from April 1.

• The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has issued a notification for price hike of drugs in line with the wholesale price index of 2014 under Drug Price Control Order (DPCO), 2013.
• The 509 medicines which have become costlier include Alpha Interferon injection used to treat hepatitis B and C as well as certain types of cancer, carboplatin injection used for cancer treatment and fluconazole capsules indicated for fungal infections, among others.
• According to the notification, antibiotics which have Amoxicillin capsules have also become costlier with effect from April 1.
• At present, the government caps prices of a total of 348 essential medicines based on the simple average of all medicines in a particular therapeutic segment with sales of more than 1 per cent.
• Besides, the government regulates prices of all other medicines and companies are allowed to hike prices of such drugs by only up to 10 per cent in a year.
• The government had notified DPCO, 2013, which covers 680 formulations, with effect from May 15, 2014, replacing the 1995 order that regulated prices of only 74 bulk drugs.

>>The Centre has decided to allow 10 per cent of the calamity relief funds given to state governments for dealing with local disasters.

• A maximum of 5 per cent of SDRF(State Disaster Relief Fund) allocation can be spent on capacity building, an official release said.
• The Ministry has issued orders on revision of the items and norms, in respect of the centrally notified disasters like floods, cyclones, drought, hailstorm, tsunami, earthquake etc.

• "The state governments can also use up to 10 per cent of their SDRF allocation on 'local disasters', for which the state executive committees have to work out the modalities and criteria," the release said.
• The central government has also simplified the procedure for adjustment of available balances under SDRF, while releasing assistance from the NDRF in case of severe disasters.
• The government has also enabled automatic annual updation of the norms by referencing with the movement of wholesale price index.
• The revised orders include various aspects of response and preparedness like ex-gratia to the next of kin of persons who may lose their lives, ex-gratia in cases of persons suffering severe disability, gratuitous relief for families whose livelihoods may seriously be affected due to disasters, agricultural input subsidy to farmers, replacement of different categories of animals, procurement of search, rescue, evacuation and communication equipment.

>>Union Road Transport and Highways minister Nitin Gadkari and American Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx on eight Apr 2015 signed a memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) in New Delhi for deepening partnership in the field of transport between the 2 countries.

Key Facts:

• It’ll enable India to make use of world’s latest technology available with the USA for projects like developments of waterways and multi-modal hub.
• It aims to foster cooperative work on key problems with mutual interest for all modes of transportation and coordinating public and pvt sector resources and expertise to advance safe, secure, efficient and integrated transportation systems.
• It covers areas like highway transportation, urban transportation, safety and environmental protections, vehicle and behavioural safety, fuel efficiency, rail transportation, maritime shipping and intermodal transportation.

>>Legendary Tamil writer Jayakanthan passed away on 8 April 2015 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He was 81.

• He was known for charting a new course in Tamil literature with his bold and progressive works.

About Jayakanthan Jayakanthan

• He  was born on 24 April, 1934 in Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu.
• Apart from being novelist, he was also journalist, essayist, pamphleteer, filmmaker and critic. In his entire career, he had written around 40 novels and 200 short stories. His work mostly highlighted social injustices and economic inequality.
• Jayakanthan’s novels Cinemavukku Pona Chithalu, Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal, Oru Nadigai Nadagam Paarkiral and Yaarukkaga Azhudhaan were adapted into films.
•  He was also associated with undivided Communist Party of India (CPI). He was founder of the Indo-Russian Cultural and Friendship Society.

 Awards- Sahitya Akademi Award (1972) for his Tamil novel Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal, Jnanpith Award (2002), Padma Bhushan (2009). Russian government had conferred Order of Friendship (2011) on him for his translation works of Russian novelist Pushkin.

>>Renowned Tamil Muslim devotional singer EM Hanifa passed away in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He was 90. He was well-known for his number of devotional songs and was a leading propagandist of Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) Party for more than five decades.

>>Uttar Pradesh government has conferred Sahitya Shiromani Samman upon noted Hindi poet Gopal Das Neeraj. The award carrying cash prize of 21 lakh Rupees was bestowed upon Neeraj by UP Chief Akhilesh Yadav.

• While presenting award, CM Akhilesh Yadav also announced to give Rashtra Ratn- Sitara-e Hind award to Neeraj for his lifelong service to Hindi literature. Along with Gopal Das Neeraj, veteran Hindi litterateur Uday Pratap Singh was also conferred with Sahitya Shiromani award and cash prize of 21 lakh Rupees.

>>President Pranab Mukherji has appointed the senior-most Election Commissioner, Dr Nasim Zaidi, as the next Chief Election Commissioner (CEC).

• Zaidi will have a tenure up to July, 2017 when he attains the age of 65.
• An EC or a CEC has a tenure of six years in office or 65 years of age, whichever is earlier.

• Zaidi will assume the charge of office of the chief election commissioner with effect from April 19, after the incumbent Harishankar Brahma will retire on April 18.

>>India on Thursday successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable Dhanush ballistic missile with a strike range of 350 km from a naval ship off the Odisha coast.

• The surface-to-surface Dhanush, a naval variant of India's indigenously-developed Prithvi missile, was test fired from a ship in the Bay of Bengal off Odisha coast by the Strategic Force Command (SFC) of the defence force.

• The single-stage, liquid-propelled Dhanush having 350 km range has already been inducted into the armed forces and is one of the five missiles developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP), defence sources said.

• The trial was conducted by the SFC of the defence force in co-operation with DRDO 
• Dhanush missile is capable of carrying conventional as well as nuclear payload of 500 kg and hit both land and sea- based targets.
• The previous trial was successfully conducted on November 14 last year. 

>>In a major relief to wheat farmers affected by unseasonal rains and hailstorms,the central  food minist er Ram Vilas Paswan relaxed quality norms  for what procurement in Gujarat,Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and would ease the norms in other states afte testing the grain samples.

• Unseasonal rains and hailstorms,being witnessed from February-end have damaged rabi(winter-sown) crops in about 113 lakh hectares of area in about 14 states.
• Total cultivable area in rabi season stands at 600 lakh heactares and wheat is a major rabi crop.

>>Karnataka state High Court clear that places of worships of any religion can not violate norms of noise pollution limits and directed the KSPCB to submit a consolidated data of noise levels recorded at various stations in the city.