NOV 17th 2015-Current Affairs

>>Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal today laid the foundation stone of the first mega food park in Nizamabad district, Telangana, which is expected to provide employment to 6,000 people and benefit about 30,000 farmers in its catchment area. 

The mega food park promoted by Smart Agro Food Park Pvt Ltd would cost 108.95 crore and will be set up in 78 acres at Lakkampally and Chimrajpally village in Nizamabad. 

The Centre has sanctioned two more mega food parks to be set up in Khammam and Mahboobnagar districts in the state. 

·    >> Finance Minister is the chairman of Governing Council for monitoring the activities of the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) constituted on November 13, 2015.

·         The objective of NIIF would be to maximize economic impact mainly through infrastructure development in commercially viable projects both Greenfield and Brownfield including stalled projects.

·        Its aim is to attract investment from both domestic and international sources.

·    It is notable that a contributory and determinate investment trust called National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (the “Fund” or the “Trust”) under the provisions of the Indian Trusts Act, 1882 has been registered.

·         Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, is the Settler of the Trust.

·         To oversee the activities of the NIIF, it has been decided to constitute a Governing Council with the following composition:-

(i)    Chairman- Finance Minister

(ii)   Member- Secretary, DEA

(iii)  Member- Secretary, Financial Services

(iv)  Member- Ms Arundhati Bhattacharya

(v)   Member- Shri Hemendra Kothari

(vi)  Member- Shri T.V. Mohandas Pai

>> Government of India approved Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) Action Plans for 81 cities has been approved with total project outlay of Rs 5,748 crore.

As many as 81 cities in Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Mizoram will invest Rs 5,748 crore to enhance basic infrastructure including water supply and sewerage connections under AMRUT action plans for the year 2015-16.

An inter-ministerial Apex Committee headed by Mr Madhusudan Prasad, Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development has approved State Annual Action Plans(SAAP) of these five states which account for 81 mission cities.

>> The 2015 G-20 Antalya summit will be the tenth annual meeting of the G-20 heads of government.

It will be held in Antalya, Turkey, a southwestern city, which is the most visited destination in Turkey and the tenth in the world, on 15-16 November 2015. The venue for the Leaders Summit will be Regnum Carya Hotel Convention Centre.

Turkey officially took over the presidency of the G-20 from Australia in December 1, 2014 and China will preside over the organization in 2016.

Turkey is looking forward to welcoming all media representatives to Antalya for G20 Leaders Summit, which will take place on 15^th and 16^th of November 2015.

Turkish Presidency is committed to facilitate a wide media coverage of the Summit and a pleasant stay for all media representatives.

The G20 summit was focused on political rather than economic issues due to the terrorist attacks in Paris, in which 132 people were killed. As an organization dealing with global issues of financial and economic cooperation, the G20 decided to change the format of the session. Nevertheless, the format has always been efficient enough so we can expect success in the implementation of the decisions, taken during the summit.

According to the summit results, in addition to the pre-planned communiqué, the parties adopted a declaration on fighting terrorism. "We condemn in the most serious way the heinous terrorist attacks in Paris on November 13 and in Ankara on October 10th. They are unacceptable insults to all humanity," read a joint G-20 statement. The heads of state expressed their readiness to fight terrorism in all its forms, including taking steps to resist economic terrorism.

>> Young Indian shuttler Siril Verma clinched a silver medal at the BWF World Junior Championships after suffering a narrow defeat against Chinese Taipei's Chia Hung Lu.

The 15-year-old Indian, who trains at the Pullela Gopichand Academy.

>> The National Food Security Act (NFSA) was today implemented in 14 of the 30 districts of Odisha in first phase covering 26.33 lakh families.As many as 93.35 lakh people would be benefitted from the scheme that was launched in 14 districts. 

In the first phase, the NFSA is to be launched in the districts of Angul, Bargarh, Boudh, Balangir, Deogarh, Gajapati, Jharsuguda, Kandhamal, Kalahandi, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nuapada, Sambalpur and Sonepur. 

The beneficiaries would get 5 kg of rice or wheat at Rs 3 and Rs 2 respectively from PDS centres in the 14 districts. 

NFSA has started in 2013 in UPA Government.Meanwhile, the Food supplies and Consumer Welfare department has issued directives to the district administration to monitor the implementation of the NFSA and rectify irregularities if any. The second phase of the NFSA will be implemented in 16 other districts from December 1.

>> Ministry of Urban Development is going to invest Rs.5,748 crore in 81 cities in five states to enhance basic infrastructure including water supply and sewerage connections under AMRUT action plans for the year 2015-16.

“Central assistance will be provided to an extent of Rs. 2,440 crore while the rest would be contributed by five state governments (Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Mizoram) and urban local bodies,” the statement added.

The Government had launched Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) in July to ensure coverage of all urban households with water supply and sewerage connections.

Under the approved State Annual Action Plans (SAAP), Tamil Nadu with 27 AMRUT cities would invest Rs. 3,249 crore followed by MP (32 cities) Rs.1,656 crore, Odisha (9 cities) Rs. 456 crore, Jharkhand (7 cities) Rs. 313 crore and Mizoram will invest Rs. 73 crore in Aizawl.

>> The Maharashtra government has declared a "drought-like condition" in 14,708 of the state's 43,000 villages. This means the drought covers 34% of the state.

This is the second successive year of drought in Maharashtra. In fact, the state has experienced three such calamities in the last four years.

The region of Marathwada has been worst-hit, with a drought-like condition declared in every single village. As many as 8,522 villages in the region have been impacted. This accounts for 58% of the drought area in the state.

The government has announced a series of measures for drought-affected farmers, including the waiver of land revenue and school fees for their children and a 33% waiver in the bill amount of agricultural pumps. 

The government has also said it will provide water tankers in scarcity-prone villages and take steps not to disconnect agricultural pumps.

>> Sectoral regulator TRAI today made it mandatory for telecom operators to compensate consumers by one rupee for call drops with effect from January 1, 2016.

The compensation will, however, be limited to three dropped calls in a day, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said in a statement today.

TRAI said a telecom operator should send a message through SMS or USSD to the calling customer within four hours of the occurrence of call drop and the details of amount credited in his account. For post paid customers, the details of the credit should be provided in the next bill.

The regulator said it is of the view that the mandated regime would provide relief to the customers from the menace of call drops to some extent and spur service providers to improve quality of service.