Jan. to Oct. 2015[Hindu Review]

JANUARY 2015

United Nation Secretary-General Ban Ki-moonappointed Indian sociologist Saraswathi Menon inpeace-building panel.

Filmmaker Pahlaj Nihalani was appointed as the Chairman of Central Board of Film Certification. Nihalani will succeed Leela Samson.

Hari Shankar Bramha was appointed as the newChief Election Commissioner. Brahma succeedsV.S. Sampath.

Arvind Panagariya took charge as Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog. He became the first vice-chairman of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog, which replaced the Planning Commission on 1 January 2015. NITI Aayog comprises of Prime Minister as chairperson, one vice-chairman, two full-time members,

four ex officio members (Union ministers) and three special invitees.

Alur Seelin Kiran Kumar was appointed asChairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Kiran Kumar became eighth Chairman of ISRO after succeeding K Radhakrishnan.

Senior bureaucrat Sindhushree Khullar was

appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of NITI Aayog with effect from 1 January 2015. She will serve the position for one year.

Atul Khare was appointed as the United Nations Under-Secretary-General, Department of Field Support.

Modibo Keita was appointed as the PrimeMinister of West African nation Mali.

Leela Samson resigned as Chairperson of Central Board of Film Certification.

Actor Amitabh Bachchan was presented with the Social Media Person of the Year Award 2015 by the Internet and Mobile Association of India.

The United States Department of State designated Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan’s chief Maulana Fazlullah, also known as Mullah Fazlullah, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.

Union Government removed Avinash Chander, the Chairman of Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO).

Pallewatte Gamaralalage Maithripala Yapa Sirisena (Maithiripala Sirisena) was sworn-in

as the 7th President of Sri Lanka. Leader of the United National Party Ranil Wickramasinghe took the oath as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.

Larry Page, the chief executive officer and co founder of Google was named as the Business person of the Year for 2014 by Fortune magazine.

Prime Minister of Bhutan Lyonchhen Tshering Tobgay visited India from 10 January to 18 January 2015. He also attended the Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2015.

Saudi Arabia King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz passed away. After the death of Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, his brother and Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was named as the new king.

Actor and comedian Taylor Negron died.

Hollywood actress, Luise Rainer died at her home at London. She won the Oscars for The Great Ziegfeld (1936) and The Good Earth (1937).

Veteran British actor David John Ryall died.

Noted Hindi poet Nand Chaturvedi died.

21st Screen Awards were announced at Mumbai. Shahid Kapoor for Haider and Priyanka Chopra for Mary Kom won the Best Actor Award for Male

and Female category respectively. Best Film award was given to film Queen, while its Director Vikas Bahl won the Best Director award. Hema Malini was honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award.

Sanskrit scholar Prabhu Nath Dwivedi was named as the winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award 2014 for Sanskrit language.

The Mars Orbiter Mission Team of Indian Space Research Organization won the 2015 Space Pioneer Award in the Science and Engineering category.

The director of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, MYS Prasad was selected for the Vikram Sarabhai memorial award 2015.

Amitabh Bachchan was honoured with the Yash Chopra Memorial Award.

Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri, Ex-Foreign Minister of Pakistan, authored a book titled Neither a Hawk nor a Dove.

Hindi novel Farishta was in news after its author Kapil Isapuri accused the makers of film PK of plagiarism.

The Red Sari, an unauthorized biography of Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi, was released by Roli Books. The book has been written by Spanish author Javier Moro.

Book titled The Indian Parliament – A Critical Appraisal was released by Vice President Hamid Ansari. The book is authored by Prof. Sudha Pai and Avinash Kumar.

13th Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas 2015 concluded in Gandhinagar Gujarat. The chief guest of the 13th PBD was Guyana President Donald Ramotar. The theme of 2015 PBD was Bharat ko jano and Bharat ko mano.

102nd Indian Science Congress was held from in Mumbai. The theme of the ISC was Science and Technology for Human Development.

The International Hindi Conference will be hosted by New Jersey in April 2015.

International Labour Organisation released a report titled World Employment and Social Outlook – Trends 2015. By 2019, more than 212 million people will be out of work, up from the current 201 million.

Anti-poverty charity Oxfam released study tittledWealth: Having it all and wanting more. The studyhighlighted that the wealthiest 1% will soon ownmore than the rest of the world's population by2016. Currently, 85 billionaires have the samewealth as the bottom half of the world’spopulation.

The first of the indigenously-built Light Combat Aircraft Tejas was handed over to the Indian Air Force.

Union Government decided to launch Operation All Out against Bodo militants…ASSAM

The four member high-level committee headed by Cabinet Secretary T S R Subramanium was appointed to review environmental laws.

The Lunchbox was nominated for British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards 2015 under non-English best film category. The Lunchbox, starring Nimrat Kaur and Irrfan Khan is directed by Ritesh Batra.

The Interview, an American political comedy film, is produced by Sony Pictures and directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. The film centers on a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.

Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna made it to Guinness Book of World Records. Indian Banks opened 11.50 crore accounts under the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana in a short span of five months.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi released Commemorative Postage Stamps to mark 100 Years of Mahatma Gandhi’s Return from South Africa to India. A set of two Commemorative Postage Stamps were released during the 13th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The coins

are of denomination of 100 rupees and 10 rupees, while the stamps are of value of 25 rupees and 5 rupees.

Kailash Satayarthi dedicated his Nobel Peace Prize to the Nation. The medal was presented by Satyarthi to the President at a ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical weekly magazine, was in news due to attack by terrorist. The magazine has been under threat since 2006, the year when it published cartoons on Prophet Mohammad.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a small deposit scheme Sukanya Samridhi Yojana for girl child under the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign. Yojana will enable parents to open bank accounts of girls who are under 10 years of age. Account will fetch an interest rate of 9.1 percent and provide income tax rebate. It can be opened at any time from the birth of a girl child till she attains the age of 10 years with a minimum deposit of 1000 rupees

and maximum of 1.5 lakh rupees. The account will remain operative for 21 years from the date of opening of the account or marriage of the girl child after attaining 18 years of age. To meet the requirement of higher education expenses, partial withdrawal of 50 percent of the balance amount will be allowed after the girl child has attended 18 years of age.

The Union Ministry of Urban Development launched the National Heritage Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) that seeks to preserve and rejuvenate the rich cultural heritage of the country. In the initial phase of HRIDAY, 12 heritage cities have been identified.

Union Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu inaugurated India’s first compressed natural gas

(CNG)-powered train on the Rewari – Rohtak link of Northern Zone.

President Pranab Mukherjee signed the Ordinance that amends’ Citizenship Act, 1955. The ordinance provides life-long Indian visa

facility to Person of Indian Origin (PIO) and exempts them from appearing before the local police station on every visit.

IRDA was renamed as Insurance Regulatory andDevelopment Authority of India.

The Union Cabinet approved promulgation of an ordinance that amends the Right to Fair

Compensation and Transparency in LandAcquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act,2013. It removes Consent Clause (CC) and Social Impact Assessment (SIA) for acquiring land forfive purposes, but compensation andrehabilitation and resettlement packages will beapplicable as per the new Land Acquisition Act foracquiring land for these purposes. The five casesinclude National security, Defence, Rural

infrastructure including electrification, Industrialcorridors and Building social infrastructureincluding PPP where ownership of land continuesto be vested with the government.

Union Government launched Madan MohanMalviya National Mission on Teachers andTeaching.

The World Bank has approved $ 75 million credit for the Andhra Pradesh Rural Inclusive Growth Project.

Online marketplace Snapdeal has partnered India Post to jointly work on bringing thousands of weavers and artisans from Varanasi through its website.

SEBI has passed an order providing the exit to Bangalore Stock Exchange as a stock exchange.

The Bharatiya Janata Party leader Raghuvar Das was sworn in as Chief Minister of Jharkhand in Ranchi.

Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit and conveyed India’s “strong concern” at the lack of “effective action” by Pakistani prosecuting authorities to keep Mumbai attack mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi in custody.

The Union Cabinet approved infusion of Rs.60 crore in Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) Ltd. to make it a government company. It would raise the shareholding of the Centre to 51 per cent.

The NJAC has the Chief Justice of India as chairperson and two senior-most judges of the Supreme Court as members, apart from the Union Law Minister and two eminent personalities, one of whom would be nominated from among the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, minorities, the Other Backward Classes or women.

Government announced splitting the post of Chairman and Managing Director into two for the public sector banks.

Modi government set up NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India) in place of the Planning Commission. The Prime Minister will head the new institution tasked with the role of formulating policies and direction for the government. Its governing council will comprise the Chief Ministers and the Lieutenant Governors of Union Territories. The Prime Minister will appoint the Aayog’s Vice-Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer.

After Uttar Pradesh, the Bihar government has decided to give Aamir Khan-starrer PK entertainment tax exemption.

66 wild tiger deaths were reported in thecountry in 2014.

The Centre has extended the Armed Forces

(Special Powers) Act, 1958 declaring Assam as a ‘disturbed area’ for another year beyondNovember 3.

U.S. imposed new sanctions on North Korea in retaliation for a cyber attack on Hollywood studio Sony Pictures.

The Union Cabinet approved the largest ever telecom spectrum auction that is targeted to fetch at least Rs.64,840 crore from the sale next month.

ICICI Bank launched the country’s first contactless debit and credit cards that use the near-field communication technology.

The shareholders of Kotak Mahindra Bank and ING Vysya have approved the amalgamation of ING Vysya with Kotak Mahindra Bank.

SunEdison Inc, the U.S.-headquartered solar energy services firm, and India’s Adani Group have come together to invest $4 billion or Rs. 25,000 crore in setting up one of the world’s largest solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing facility in Gujarat.

Ramesh Abhishek has been given a three-month extension as the Chairman of the Forward Markets Commission.

According to World Bank report, India will catch up with China’s growth at 7 per cent in 2016–17. World Bank Chief Economist and Senior Vice President Kaushik Basu told.

Wholesale inflation inched up to 0.11 per cent in December from zero per cent in November on the back of a surge in food prices.

The Reserve Bank of India asked banks to notify the Base Rate, or the minimum lending rate, at least once in

every three months based on the cost of funds.

The International Monetary Fund in its World Economic Outlook report, has projected India to grow at 6.5 per cent in 2016, overtaking China whose growth was forecast to slow down to 6.3 per cent.

The seven-month ban on Indian mangoes, imposed last year by the European Union, has been lifted well in advance of the deadline set for the ban, which was originally till December 2015.

Indian-American author Jhumpa Lahiri won the $50,000 DSC Prize for Literature, one of South Asia’s top literary awards for her book, The Lowland.

RBI asked banks to disclose more information on lending rates and fees on their websites, “for promoting transparency in the operations of the

banks.” These guidelines will come into effect from April 1, 2015.

Government will release next month a new series of Consumer Price Index (CPI) with 2012 as base year for computing the retail inflation rate.

Obama will be the first US President to grace the Republic Day parade 2015 as the Chief Guest.

Ahead of the Budget, the Expenditure Management Commission[EMC], headed by Bimal Jalan, has recommended to the government that it cut fiscal deficit to 3.6 per cent of the GDP during 2015-16.

World Bank said it will commit USD 1 billion in the Narendra Modi government’s Swachh Bharat (Clean India) campaign.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the fair and remunerative price (FRP) of sugarcane

— payable by sugar mills for the 2015-16 season — to be fixed at R230 per quintal, as compared with R220 for the 2014-15 season.

The Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) government in Haryana which has ambitious plans to promote yoga and ayurveda in a big way has appointed yoga guru Ramdev its brand ambassador.

The Narendra Modi government has reportedly raised the solar generation target five-fold from the earlier target of 20,000 MW in 2022 envisaged in the Solar Mission.

Domestic LPG users will get Rs 568 in the bank account the moment they join the Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme for LPG, which has now been renamed PAHAL. PAHAL or ‘Pratyaksh Hanstantarit Labh’ was rolled out in 54 districts from November 15 and will extend to rest of the country from January 1.

Following the tradition, the winners of Padma Awards 2015 announced on the eve of India's 66th Republic Day. Padma Awards are one of the highest civilian Awards of the country. The awards are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.

66th Republic Day Celebrations;India celebrated its 66th Republic Day and showcased before the chief guest US President Barack Obama. Obama was the first ever US President to attend the parade as Chief Guest.

Obama arrived in his own highlysecured bomb-proof vehicle, ‘The Beast,’ at Rajpath. A highlight of this year’s parade was the display for the first time of the recently acquired long-range maritime surveillance and anti-submarine P-8I aircraft and the long-range advanced MiG-29K fighter plane.

FEBRUARY 2015

Kshatrapati Shivaji was appointed as the and Managing Director of Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).

Janatal Dal (United) leader NItish Kumar was sworn in as the 34th Chief Minister of Bihar. succeeded Jitan Ram Manjhi, who resigned from his office on 20 February 2015 before the trust vote. Nitish Kumar resigned from his office on 17 May 2014 after his party performed poorly in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Eminent scientist Tapan Misra was appointed as the Chief of ISRO’s Space Applications Centre (SAC) at Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

Arvind Kejriwal was sworn-in as Chief Minister of Delhi. The oath of office and secrecy was administered by Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung at Ramlila Ground, Delhi.

MO Garg was appointed as the Director General of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research.

Sergio Mattarella was sworn as the PRESIDENT OF Italy.

Alexis Tsipras was sworn in as the Prime Minister of Greece by President Karolos Papoulias at Maximos Mansion.

Film Dhanak directed by Nagesh Kukunoor won two awards at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival.

Eminent Marathi writer Bhalchandra Nemade on 6 February 2015 was chosen for the Jnanpith Award 2014 by the Jnanpith Selection Board.

Madhya Pradesh won the 10th National Award for excellent work in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA).

Major Mukund Varadarajan and Naik Neeraj Kumar Singh were posthumously awarded with the highest peacetime military honour the Ashok Chakra.

Miss Colombia Paulina Vega was crowned Miss Universe 2014. She was crowned at the final of 63rd edition of Miss Universe held in Miami, US.

Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev, one of the world’s most prolific cyber criminal from Russia, was in news because the US State Department, the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation announced a reward of 3 million US dollars for information on him.

Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic was sworn in as the President of Croatia. She is Croatia’s first female President.

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan’s name was included in the LIMCA book of records. Her name was included for being the only woman of the country to represent the same Lok Sabha constituency on the same party ticket for eight times in a row.

President of Singapore Dr. Tony Tan Keng Yam was on a State visit of India.

Dr Rajendra Kumar Pachauri stepped down as Chairperson of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The First World Ocean Science Congress (WOSC) was held in Kochi, Kerala.

Three Indian, two women and one man were among the shortlisted 100 applicants who were chosen for one-way trip to Mars under Mars One mission.

Union Ministry of Home Affairs constituted a three-member Special Investigation Team for re investigation of the 1984 anti sikh riots 1984.It will be headed by Pramod Asthana.

The Union Government constituted a High Level Panel headed by former Union Home Secretary Anil Baijal to suggest a framework to assess Corporate Social Responsibility activities

undertaken by companies under the Companies Act, 2013.

The Indian Army and State Bank of India signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the Defence Salary Package.

Accounting Standards (Ind AS), which will be mandatory for companies from April 1, 2016. Ind AS norms, which are converged with global standards IFRS (International Financial reporting standards), can be followed by corporates on a voluntary basis from April 1 this year. For companies having net worth of Rs 500 crore or more, the new norms would be mandatory from April 1, 2016.

India sealed a nuclear energy deal with Sri Lanka, Under the deal, India will help Sri Lanka build its nuclear energy infrastructure, including training of personnel, the Indian foreign ministry said. Later, India could also sell light small-scale nuclear reactors to Sri Lanka which wants to establish 600 MW of nuclear capacity by 2030.

Cabinet granted its approval for the establishment of the New Development Bank (NDB. It will have an initial authorised capital of

$100 billion. The initial subscribed capital will be of $50 billion, equally shared among founding members, it said,

adding that the first President of the bank is to be from India, while the headquarters will be located in Shanghai.

Naik Neeraj Kumar Singh of the 57 Battalion of the Rashtriya Rifles will be posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra, the country’s highest peacetime military decoration.

Veteran actor Dilip Kumar was conferred ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ for his contribution to Indian cinema.

The U.N. weather agency says 2014 was the warmest year on record.

The central bank doubled the amount of foreign exchange that an individual can remit in a year under a scheme that allows asset purchase outside India. An individual can now

remit up to $250,000 a year under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme.

Britain became the first country in the world to allow the creation of babies with DNA from three people after MPs voted for the controversial procedure.

Bhalchandra Nemade, whose Kosala (Cocoon) published in 1963 transformed the Marathi novel, has been selected for the 50th Jnanpith Award for 2014.

YouTube will remain blocked in Pakistan ‘indefinitely’.

A four-decade-old aircraft, Dakota-3, used during the Bangladesh Liberation War was handed over to Bangladesh.

The much-awaited unveiling of a Mahatma Gandhi bronze at the historic Parliament Square will take place on March 14, Prime Minister David Cameron announced.

MARCH 2015

Indian Space Research Organisation won Gandhi Peace

Prize 2014.

Nobel Laureate John F Nash Jr. won the Abel Prize 2015 for his work on partial differential equations.

Artist Bharti Kher of India was conferred with the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters. This is the highest cultural award of France.

Indian author Amitav Ghosh was shortlisted for the2015 Man Booker International Prize.

Indian ecologist Madhav Gadgil and US Scientist Dr.Jane Lubchenco were named for the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement 2015.

Lee Kuan Yew, the statesman and founding father of Singapore died. Yew,

who in 1959 became the first Prime Minister of Singapore, was widely recognised as the founding father of modern Singapore.

Nobel laureate Sir Venkatraman Ramakrishnan was named as the President of Britain's prestigious Royal Society.

Ratan Tata was appointed as a chairman Kaya Kalp council formed to suggest innovative ways to transform the Indian Railways.

Air Marshal Sohail Aman was appointed as the Chief of Pakistan Air Force.

United States President Barack Obama nominated veteran diplomat David Hale as next Ambassador to Pakistan. His appointment was confirmed by the US Senate and he will succeed Cameron Munter.

Kshatrapati Shivaji was appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director of Small Industries Development Bank of India.

The Waterman of India Rajendra Singh was named as the 2015 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate.

Legendary Singer Lata Mangeshkar was presented with the Laadli Voice of the Century award.

Ganasen Reddy was awarded with KwaZulu-Natal 2015 National Teachers Awards at the annual National Teaching Awards held in Johannesburg.

Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader M. Veerappa Moily was selected for the prestigiousSaraswati Samman for 2014 for his Kannadapoem Ramayana Mahanveshanam.

Three South Asian women, namely Niloofar Rahmani, Nadia Sharmeen and Tabassum Adnan were selected for the prestigious International Women of Courage Award for the year 2015 given by the US Secretary of State.

Bollywood actress Rani Mukerji was awarded with the National Award for the Best Representation of the Cause of Safety, Security and Protection of Women and Girl Child by National Institute of Gender Justice.

Hifikepunye Pohamba, outgoing Namibian President won the Mo Ibrahim prize for achievement in African leadership for year 2014.

Ratan Tata was honoured with an honorary Doctorate of Automotive Engineering by the Clemson University at the South Carolina Automotive Summit.

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan was roped in as the brand ambassador for Union Government’s campaign against Hepatitis B.

Union Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region announced to appoint boxer MC Mary Kom as the brand ambassador of the North-East region.

Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi visited Mauritius between 11 March and 12 March 2015 as part of his three nation tour to Seychelles, Mauritius and Sri Lanka.

The 1st Counter-Terrorism Conference 2015 was held in Jaipur.

India will host the seventh Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in 2016.

The Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) was held in Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.

NASA's Dawn spacecraft completed its Orbit around Dwarf Planet Ceres. By doing so, it became the first spacecraft to orbit around a dwarf planet.

World’s largest and tallest Indian national flag was unfurled on 3 March 2015 at Town Park in Faridabad, Haryana. The flag has dimension of 96 feet by 64 feet and weighs 48 kilograms.

China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank(AIIB) was in news as it was reported that France, Germany and Italy have agreed to join the AIIB after the United Kingdom (UK) decided to join the bank. Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is a 50 billion dollar international investment bank and was floated in 2014 by President Xi Jingping. India along with 20 other countries signed an agreement to become the founding member of Bank.

Eighth India-Nepal combined exercise named SuryabKiran VIII concluded at Salijhandi, Nepal.

Inflation targeting was in news recently as Union Government and Reserve Bank of India signed an

agreement on Monetary Policy Framework. As per the agreement, RBI will have to maintain Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation targets below six per cent by January 2016 and four per cent from 2016-17, with a band of plus/minus two per cent.

British Broadcasting Corporation released adocumentary film India's Daughter. The documentary film has been directed by Leslee Udwin. The film is based on the Delhi gang rape and murder of the 23- year-old female named Nirbhaya that took place on 16 December 2012.

The abbreviation SCRIP (SASEC Road Connectivity Investment Program) was in news as a loan agreement of 300 million US dollars under the programme was

signed between the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Union Ministry of Finance.

A Book Indian Parliamentary Diplomacy - Speaker’s Perspective written by Meira Kumar was released. Meira Kumar is a former Speaker of Lok Sabha.

The Ministry of Railways appointed Ajay Shankar committee to review the performance of the Public

Private Partnership cell functioning under the Railway Board.

Indian Navy concluded its Theatre Level Readiness and Operational Exercise (TROPEX)-2015. TROPEX-2015 was a month long exercise

aimed at validating the Indian Navy’s Concept of Operations and the area of operations spanned across the Arabian Sea and Northern Indian Ocean.

As part of efforts to improve its ranking on ‘Ease of Doing Business’, India reduced the number of mandatory documents required for import and export of goods to three in each case

India and Mauritius have agreed to push forward their negotiations for a long pending revision of Double Taxation Avoidance Treaty (DTAT). Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Mauritian counterpart Sir Anerood Jugnauth expressed this resolve during their talks even as India

offered USD 500 million concessional line of credit.

The Indian Railways signed a memorandum of understanding with the public insurer Life Insurance Corporation to bring in R1,50,000 crore of investments -over the next five years to meet its R8.5 crore capital requirement by 2019.-

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has finally given green signal to the two much awaited big-ticket FDI -proposals for setting up diesel and electric locomotiveplants in Bihar at Madhepura ------Marhora. The estimated cost of the factories is about Rs 1,200 croreeach.

Uttar Pradesh is set to get its first super-critical ultra mega power project (UMPP) at Etah district.

Giving a boost to affordable housing, RBI eased the norms for home loans for up to Rs 10 lakh by allowing

banks to include stamp duty and registration charges to the cost of a unit.

The government plans to raise Rs 5,000 crore by sellin shares of public sector companies through an ExchangE Traded Fund (ETF) in FY16.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley abolished the wealth taxbut increased the surcharge to 12 per cent on individuals earning Rs 1 crore and above annually and on firms with an annual income of Rs 10 crore or more.—

Government increased the service tax to 14 per cent

from the current 12.36 per cent.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced a 5 per cent

reduction in corporate tax over next four years from30% to 25%.

Prime minister Narendra Modi has called upon energy companies to become multinational at the inaugural session of energy conference ‘Urja Sangam’ in New Delhi.-

India has overtaken the US to become the third-largest steel producer in the world after China and Japan with a production of 14.56 million tonnes (MT) in first two -months of the year.

Reserve Bank of India has agreed for a USD 1.5 billion currency swap agreement with the Sri Lankan central -bank to help the island nation keep its currency stable.

After a gap of over 20 years, Re 1 note has been released in the country and it bears the signature of Finance Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi. Earlier last week, RBI had said that it will soon put into circulation one rupee currency notes and would be legal tender as provided in The Coinage Act 2011. In November 1994, printing of Re 1 note was stopped.

The Union Cabinet gave approval for establishing the New Development Bank (NDB) and the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA). The $100

billion BRICS CRA would help countries deal with shorter liquidity pressures, provide mutual support and further strengthen financial stability.

Celebrated author Ruskin Bond has joined the Swachh Bharat campaign, wielding a broom specially made by the students of the Moran Blind School in Assam.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the first indigenously developed and manufactured rotavirus vaccine.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley unveiled the longawaited statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Parliament Square, London.

Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed was sentenced to 13 years in prison on a terrorism charge.

U.S.-based teacher Nancie Atwell has been awarded the world’s first $1 million global teacher prize.

Lok Sabha passed a Bill, raising the number of members of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council from 50 to 58.

The habit of littering, defecation or spitting on and along railway tracks and platforms will now cost Rs. 5,000 under the Polluter Pays principle. The National Green Tribunal passed a string of directions for it.

U.S. Internet Company Yahoo is shutting down its presence in China.

Thirty-three per cent posts in Central paramilitary forces will be reserved for women, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena conferred the highest military rank of Field Marshal on retired army chief and politician Sarath Fonseka.

Sale of gutka will be a non-bailable offence in Maharashtra, the government announced in the Assembly.

Section 66A of the Information Technology Act is unconstitutional in its entirety, the Supreme Court ruled striking down a “draconian” provision that had led to the arrests of many people for posting content deemed to be “allegedly objectionable” on the Internet.

Novelist Akhil Sharma’s 2014 novel Family Lifehas won the Folio Prize 2015.

India and Qatar signed an agreement on transfer of sentenced persons, allowing Indian convicts in Qatar to complete their remaining sentence in India and vice versa.

Governor Raghuram Rajan-led Reserve Bankof India (RBI) has proposed to lower the ceilingon how much a bank can lend to a single corporategroup, in a move to curb risks in the banking sector at atime when bad loans are on the rise. Under the proposal, banks would only be allowed to lend up to 25percent of their core capital, down from the earlierceiling of up to 55 percent, starting Jan. 1, 2019.

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee received

the Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award,which was conferred by President Pranab Mukherjee.In a departure from protocol, President Mukherjeedrove to AB Vajpayee’s residence and presented to the

ailing BJP leader the prestigious award.

APRIL 2015------