- Nasim Zaidi
- Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi was appointed as the next Chief Election Commissioner. President Pranab Mukherjee has cleared his appointment, a Law Ministry statement said.
- 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.
- A 1976 batch IAS officer, Zaidi has worked in the Civil Aviation Ministryfor a long time.
- Hrushikesh Moolgaonkar
- Former Air Chief Marshal Hrushikesh Moolgaonkar, who had the honour of leading the fly-past on Independence-day in 1947, passed away here after a prolonged illness.
- His competence as an ace pilot manifested as he flew 67 types of aircraft during his long span in the IAF.
- Moolgaonkar had led the fly-past on August 15, 1947, and also on January 26, 1951, the Republic Day, when he was a Squadron Leader, a Defence release said.
- Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin
- Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, head of the Bohra community in India, was elected as the Aligarh Muslim University”s new Chancellor.
- Syedna was elected to the post, which was vacant for over five years.
- Malala Yousafzai
- The youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner and girls’ education campaigner Malala Yousafzai now has an asteroid named after her.
- Amy Mainzer, astronomer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, named Asteroid 316201 after Malala.
- Mainzer discovered the asteroid in the Main Belt between Mars and Jupiter which gives her the right to name it. It orbits the Sun every 5.5 years.
- Mohan Kumar
- Senior diplomat Mohan Kumar, currently India’s top envoy to Bahrain, has been appointed the next Ambassador to France to succeed Arun Kumar.
- A 1981-batch IFS officer, Mohan Kumar is expected to take up his assignment shortly, External Affairs Ministry said today.
- Arun Kumarhas been appointed the country’s Ambassador to the US, replacing S Jaishankar.
- Vivek Priyadarshi
- The Supreme Court appointed CBI sleuth Vivek Priyadarshi to head a new investigating team to further probe the IPL-6 spot-fixing and betting scandal.
- Priyadarshi, currently a superintendent of police in the anti-corruption cell of the agency, will replace 1983-batch Assam-Meghalaya cadre IPS officer B B Mishra as the head of the probe team following his retirement.
- Sitaram Yechury
- The Communist Party of India-Marxist unanimously elected Sitaram Yechury as the new General secretary of the party.
- Bhalchandra Nemade
- The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi emphasized the combination of wisdom (Saraswati) and prosperity (Lakshmi) as the key to India’s progress.
- Speaking after the presentation of the 50th Jnanpeeth Award to Prof. Bhalchandra Nemade, the Prime Minister said creative writing has the capacity to touch lives of several generations.
- Mukesh Ambani
- Industrialist Mukesh Ambaniregained his position as the world”s richest Indian with a networth of USD 19.6 billion, as pharma tycoon Dilip Shanghvi slipped to the second place after remaining on the top for about seven weeks.
- Raja Rajeswari
- Raja Rajeswari has been sworn-in as a criminal court judgehere by Mayor Bill de Blasio, becoming the first India-born woman to be appointed a judge in the New York City.
National Affairs
- The much-hyped ‘Aahar’ cheap meal scheme was launched by Odisha government for providing subsidised food to urban poor.
- The populist programme aimed at providing meal at Rs fiveto the urban poor was launched by Chief minister Naveen Patnaik at the Capital Hospital here amid criticism by opposition parties which slammed the state government for asking corporate houses to fund the scheme.
- Apart from Bhubaneswar, the scheme is also being launched simultaneously in Rourkela, Cuttack, Berhampur and Sambalpur in the first phase on the occasion ofUtkala Dibasa, the foundation day of the state.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi coined a new slogan – “give it up” – to exhort the better off sections of society to forego their LPG subsidy that can be utilised in providing subsidised LPG connections to the poor.
- Kalvari, the first of the Indian Navy’s six Scorpene class stealth submarines, was “undocked” here, paving the way for sea trials and its eventual commissioning in September, 2016.
- The six Scorpenes are being built by Mazagon Docks Ltd in collaboration with French firm DCNS.
- P75(I) is the next project of the Navy under which six submarines will be built in India.
- The first Scorpene submarine has been named after its predecessor, an erstwhile Russian ‘Foxtrot’ class submarine, Kalvari. It was the first submarine operated by India.
- As for ‘Project 75′, the remaining five boats would be delivered by the yard by 2020.
- In a move that will benefit over one crore Central government employees and pensioners, the Union Cabinet hiked Dearness Allowance (DA) by 6 per cent to 113 per cent of their basic pay with effect from January.
- The decision will benefit 48 lakh government employees and 55 lakh pensionerswould involve an outlay of Rs 7,889.34 crore in the current fiscal.
- India 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-developedPrithvi 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.
- Capable of carrying of 500 to 1000 kilogram conventional as well as nuclear payload.
- India’s first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) at GIFT City nearAhmedabad became operational . Finance Minister Arun Jaitley unveiled rules and regulations for this global financial hub.
- Canada agreed to supply 3,000 metric tonnes of uranium to energy-hungry India from this year under a USD 254 million five-year deal to power Indian reactors as the two countries decided to set in motion a new strategic partnership.
- The agreement for uranium supply, which came two years after protracted negotiations following the 2013 civil nuclear deal between India and Canada, was signed after comprehensive talks Prime Minister Narendra Modi had with his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper.
- More than 2 decades after the thenJanata Dal disintegrated, 6 of its constituents merged to form a new party which will be headed by SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav.
- While the SP leader will head the committee, its members will be H.D. Deve Gowda (Janata Dal-S), Sharad Yadav (Janata Dal-United), Om Prakash Chautala (Indian National Lok Dal) , Kamal Morarka (Samajwadi Janata Party) and Ram Gopal Yadav (SP).
- A 900-yr-old piece of sculpture from Khajuraho temple, which had somehow reachedCanada, was returned by PM Stephen Harperwhen his Indian counterpart Modi met him.
- Indian Navy’snew stealth destroyer, Visakhapatnam, designed indigenously and fitted with advanced features, was launched in Mumbai, boosting the maritime force’s firepower capability.
- It will be fitted with supersonic surface-to-surface missile system.
- The vessel is expected to be commissioned in the Navy in 2018.
- The vessel is follow-on of P15-A Kolkata-classdestroyers with enhanced features.
- The first of P15-B stealth destroyersVisakhapatnam have been designed by the force’s in-house unit – Directorate of Naval Design.
- It is the largest destroyer commissioned in India.
- With an aim of monitoring implementation of various ongoing projects including Rail Budget proposals, railways launched E-Samiksha, an online monitoring mechanism.
- Designed by NIC, the software is currently being used by Cabinet Secretariat, PMO and other Ministries for monitoring progress implementation of various programmes and follow-up of meetings.
- Apart from budget-related projects, the E-Samiksha can also be used for monitoring the infrastructure target and board meeting follow-up.
- Moving ahead in line with digital India, Railways launched mobile application forpaperless unreserved tickets.
- Developed by Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) “utsonmobile” – the paperless unreserved ticketing feature in mobile application aims to eliminate the need for printing of unreserved tickets.
- On a pilot basis, the paperless ticketing system in unreserved segment will cover 15 stations in the suburban section of Southern Railway, officials said.
- Payment for the ticket is done through the “railway wallet” feature in the App. After booking the ticket, the passenger will get ticket confirmation screen, which will contain limited information about the ticket.
- The passenger has to use the ticket within an hour of booking the ticket as per the policy of suburban sections. Also the ticket will have distinct colour scheme everyday and it cannot be forwarded to another mobile.
- In a major decision the Union Cabinet approved lowering of age of juveniles from eighteen to sixteen years.
- The proposal will empower Juvenile Justice Board to decide on whether a juvenile above 16 years involved in heinous crimes such as rape is to be sent to a observation home or tried in a regular court.
- However, according to the bill, in no case the juvenile involved in a heinous crime will be sentenced to death or life imprisonment either when tried under the provisions of JJ Act or under the provisions of IPC.
- The Union Cabinet has approved the introduction of Amendment to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill 2014, which has special provisions to tackle heinous offences like murder and rape committed by juveniles in the age group of 16-18 years. One of the accused in the Nirbhaya rape case was 17 but was given a light sentence.
- The US has expressed concern over India”s crackdown on the Ford Foundation andGreenpeace, and said it is seeking “clarification” on the action.
- The ministry of home affairs has, in recent weeks, cancelled Greenpeace’sregistration and frozen its accounts, accusing it of working against the economic interest of the country.
- The ministry put Ford Foundation on a list of non-governmental organisations that must seek prior permission from the government for funding organisations and individuals in India.
- The Army conducted a major exercise, ‘Akraman-II’, in Rajasthan to test a new generation of weaponry and platforms employed in the desert region, with providing ‘real time battle and situational awareness’ to its commanders.
- The exercise was conducted by the Bhatinda-based Chetak Corps, a part of South Western Command.
- More than 300 Combat Vehicles, Main Battle Tanks, Long Range Arty Guns and about 10,000 troops are participating in the exercise, an official release said here.
- ‘Akraman-II’ envisages orchestration of an integrated battle field scenario in network centric environment with integration of reconnaissance, surveillance and electronic warfare and communication assets to provide real time battle and situational awareness to commanders, the release said.
- Govt decided to continue its Rs 1,000 per minimum monthly pension scheme in perpetuity, a move which would benefit over 20 lakh pensioners.
- “The Union Cabinet today gave its approval for continuation of the minimum pension of Rs 1000 per month to the pensioners of Employees’ Pension Scheme, 1995 (EPS) beyond the financial year 2014-15 on perpetual basis,” an official statement said.
- An Indian-American Harvard Professor has been named as one of the Top 25 Women in Healthcare in the US by Modern Healthcare magazine.
- Tejal K Gandhi, president and chief executive officer of the National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF) has been named as one of the country’s Top 25 Women in Healthcare in the sixth biennial list of women leaders compiled by the magazine.
- India stands at the 13th place world-wide in generating electricity from nuclear source and expects to increase the installed nuclear power capacity from 5,780 MW to 10,080 MW by 2019, government said.
- There are thirty one countries including India in the world which generate electricity from nuclear source. According to the data published in 2014, by Power Reactor Information System (PRIS) of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), India ranked at 13th position in terms of generation.
International
- Pakistan and Sri Lanka signed six agreements including one on nuclear cooperation, two months after Sri Lanka inked an atomic deal with India,as the two countries agreed to deepen ties in various fields.
- The two sides also decided to increase the current trade of USD 438 million to USD 1 billion within the next few years.
- Bangladesh Cabinet has approved a revised trade deal with India under which the two nations would be able to use each other”s land and water routes for sending goods to a third country, removing a long standing barrier in regional trade.
- With this Bangladesh will be able to use Indian railways, roads and waterways in transshipment of goods to Bhutan and Nepal. While, India will be able to send goods to Myanmar through Bangladesh.
- A Pakistani court set free Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind and LeT operations commander, suspending the Punjab govt detention order against him.
- France announced an investment of 2 billion euros (about USD 1 billion) in India as Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited French companies to pump in money in technology in the fastest growing economy.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked France and wrapped up his first visit here that saw the two nations elevate their strategic ties to a new level as they agreed on a deal for 36 Rafale fighter jets and decided to move ahead with the log-jammedJaitapur Nuclear Project.
- In a major boost to Chinese military, Russia has agreed to sell its sophisticated surface to air missile system to China in an over USD 3 billion deal which could strengthen the world’s largest army’s air defence specially in high-altitude areas like Tibet.
- The S-400 is a new generation, anti-aircraft weapon system capable of engaging any aerial target as well as cruise and tactical ballistic missiles, with a maximum speed of 8 km per second, according to Russian media reports.
- The sophisticated air defence system is capable of firing three types of missiles, creating a layered defence, and can simultaneously engage 36 targets.
- The system is able to shoot down aircraft and missiles — ballistic and cruise — within a range of 400 km, a report in the Diplomat magazine said.
- Pakistan and Russia have agreed to hold first-ever joint military exercises as part of their enhanced defence cooperation, in a sign of increasing bonhomie between the Cold War-era adversaries.
- Pakistan and Russia last year signed a military cooperation agreement to deepen their defence ties and vowed to translate their relationship in “tangible” terms during the first-ever visit of a Russian defence minister in 45 years.
- Russia will invest a whopping USD 2 billion in Pakistan to build a 1,100-kilometre pipeline from southern port city of Karachi to Lahore to transport liquefied natural gas.
- Germany”s Parliament is set to use the term genocide in a resolution marking the slaughter of Armenians by Ottoman Turks 100 years ago, and the government said Monday that it “stands behind” the motion drawn up by the ruling parties.
- Finland’s opposition Centre Party won general election, ousting Prime Minister Alexander Stubb’s left-right coalition after a campaign dominated by the country’s economic woes.
- Centre Party leader Juha Sipila, a 53-year-old IT millionaire and newcomer to politics, is set to become Finland’s next prime minister.
- Pakistan conferred its top civilian award ”Nishan-e-Pakistan” on Chinese President Xi Jinping for his outstanding contribution in promotion of relationship between the two countries.
- The Nishan-e-Pakistan is Pakistan’s highest civil award given by the government for the highest degree of service to the country. The award was established in March 1957.
- Unlike other honours, it is a highly restricted and most prestigious award and is only conferred for meritorious and distinguished services to Pakistan, the international community and foreign relations. Nelson Mandela, Queen Elizabeth II, Morarji Desai and Dwight Eisenhower are among the recepients of the award.
- Thirty-seven-year-old Indian-American Vivek Murthy was sworn-in as the U.S Surgeon-General by Vice-President Joe Biden at a ceremony here, becoming the youngest-ever in-charge of the country’s public health.
- Murthy, who took the oath on the Gita, is now the highest ranking Indian-American in the Obama administration.
- Murthy is the country’s 19th Surgeon General.
- As the US Surgeon General, Murthy carries the rank of Vice Admiral.
- S. surgeon general does not set any government policy but is an advocate for the people’s health. US President nominates him and confirmed by a majority vote of the Senate and has term of four-years.
- The Calbuco volcano in southern Chile has erupted twice in the space of a few hours – having lain dormant for decades.
- The authorities have declared a red alert and evacuated more than 4,000 peoplewithin a 20km (12 mile) radius.
- The Calbuco volcano is one of the most active in Chile, but its eruption took officials in the area by surprise.
- With Nepal being hit by a massive earthquake, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised all possible help to it in this “tough” time as he spoke to its President Ram Baran Yadav and Prime Minister Sushil Koirala.
- As many as four aircraft including a C-130 plane carrying three tonnes of relief supplies and a 40-member rescue team were today pressed into service to assistNepal after it suffered a devastating earthquake in which hundreds of people have been killed.
- Pakistan will acquire 110 latest JF-17 Thunder fighter jets from China as the two countries forge closer economic and defence cooperation following President Xi Jinping”s visit here earlier this week, a media report said.
- Scaling up relief and rescue efforts in quake-hit Nepal that was named ‘Operation Maitri’, India deployed two dozen military aircraft and choppers and was also undertaking a “big evacuation” through the road route.
- Sudan”s President Omar al-Bashir won re-election with 94 percent of the vote, according to official results announced Monday, extending his 25-year rule despite international war crimes charges and multiple insurgencies.
- Saudi Arabia’s king has removed his half-brother as crown prince, replacing him with his nephew, and elevated his son to the position of deputy crown prince, in the most significant repositioning of power among the royal family since King Salman assumed the throne in January.
- As crown prince, Mohammed bin Nayef, 55, is the most likely successor to the king. The prince, who is also the interior minister, is known internationally as Saudi Arabia’s counter-terrorism tsar and was previously also deputy crown prince.
- A 19-year-long process for Seychelles to become a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) came to an end when the island nation’s Minister for Finance Trade and Investment Pierre Laporte signed the accession protocol.
- This means the Indian Ocean archipelago of 115 islands, with a population of around 90,000 people, will officially become the 161st member of the WTO, 30 days after the ratification by the National Assembly of its accession protocol.
Economy
- RuPay card holders of all public sector banks are now eCommerce enabled. Card-holders can now conveniently purchase rail, road and air tickets by logging into the websites of travel companies or buy goods and services from online stores.
- The RuPay cards, launched by the RBI-promoted NPCI, are alternative to foreign cards like Visa and MasterCard, which earn high revenue for facilitating transactions. There are 140 million RuPay cardsin use at present.
- Snapdeal has acquired online mobile recharge platform FreeCharge in the largest buyout so far in the Indian consumer Internet sector.
- According to Snapdeal, the acquisition, carried out through a combination of stock and cash, has made the Delhi-based company the largest mobile-commerce (m-commerce) company in the country, with 40 million users.
- M-commerce refers to commercial transactions conducted electronically, through mobile phones. Such transactions include purchasing goods or services, making payments and banking.
- Freecharge allows users to recharge their mobile phones or internet connections and get coupons as reward for using its services. Founded in 2010 by Kunal Shahand Sandeep Tandon.
- Earlier, Snapdeal had strengthened its presence in the m-commerce space by acquiring luxury fashion e-tailer Exclusively and digital financial products platformRupeePower. Founded in 2007 by Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, an alumnus of IIT Delhi.
- In the biggest oil and gas deal in a decade, Royal Dutch Shell announced acquisition of smaller British rival BG Group Plc for about $ 70 billion to create the world’s largest independent producer of LNG.
- The deal, the first major acquisition since oil prices began to slump last July, would be among the largest oil-and-gas deals of past two decades and the biggest in last 10 years.
- In buying BG, Shell is concentrating on the fast-growing business of producing and selling liquefied natural gas.
- Credit rating agency Moody’s revised upwards the outlook to positive, from stable, for 12 state-owned banks and financial institutions including SBI, PNB, Canara Bank, REC and PFC.
- Moody’salso revised to positive the outlook on the long- term ratings of private sector lenders — ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank.
- Earlier in the day, Moody’s raised India’scredit rating outlook to ‘positive’ and said an upgrade in its sovereign rating is also possible in the next 12-18 months.
- India’s Sovereign Ratingcurrently stands at ‘Baa3′, the lowest investment grade just a notch above ‘junk’ status.
- Restaurant search application Zomato has acquired cloud-based point of sale (POS) product for restaurants MaplePOS, a company statement said here on Tuesday.
- Zomato has already renamed the MaplePOS product “Zomato Base”, and information on the product is now available.
- Zomato offers restaurants features such as menu and inventory management, and has a built-in payment solution to accept debit and credit card payments.
- The online food services market is valued at over $14 billion (about Rs 86,600 crore) in India and $371 billion globally and increasingly technology is becoming an integral part of servicing the palette.
- Finland-basedNokia and French telecom gear maker Alcatel Lucent announced their merger in a 15.6 billion euro deal.
- Together, Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia intend to lead in next-generation network technology and services, with the scope to create seamless connectivity for people and things wherever they are.
- Government has allowed retirement fund body EPFO to invest atleast 5 per cent of its corpus in exchange traded funds which will result into an inflow of around 5,000 croreinto the stock markets during this fiscal.
- Worldwide, pension funds have 52% of their investment in equity with US at 57%, followed by Australia (54%), UK (50%), Canada (48%) and Japan (40%), as per the study by Towers Watson.
- The EPFO has more than five crore subscribers across the country and has a corpus of over Rs 6 lakh crore.
- The Paris-headquartered Capgemini has announced the acquisition of New Jersey-basedIGATE, which has operations in India, for $4 billion in cash. The markets gave a thumbs up to the acquisition: While the Capgemini stock was up 7.6 per cent, the IGATE stock opened 3.45 per cent higher.
- In India, Capgemini’s headcount will rise to 90,000, following the addition of IGATE’s 30,000 employees. The company crossed the 100,000-employee mark at its global delivery centres this year.
- Online marketplace Flipkart has announced the acquisition of Appiterate, a mobile engagement and marketing automation company based out of Delhi. Appiterate helps ecommerce companies target consumers better and increase sales by using push notifications and inapp messages. The deal size was not disclosed.
- Appiterate’s mobile marketing automation platform will be integrated intoFlipkart’s mobile app for better targeting.
- Appiterate, which started out as a testing platform for mobile apps had raised more than $500,000 from SAIF Partners & angel investors.
Banking & Finance
- Seeking to check fraud in banks, Reserve Bank prescribed a uniform provisioning norm for all cases of fraud.
- RBIhas finalised a structure of Central Fraud Registry and will soon come up with guidelines to enable quick sharing of information about unscrupulous borrowers and help banks fight bad loans.
- Presently, banks are advertising the list of willful defaulters on their website and newspapers individually.
- With setting up of this registry, list of all unscrupulous borrowers will be available on a single platform.
- Banks can take advantage of the registry at the time of sanctioning loan by checking the credentials of a borrower from the registry.
- Insurance sector regulator IRDAI has made passing an examination based on its syllabus a must for becoming an insurance agent.
- The guidelines of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India(IRDAI) have come into force from April 1, 2015.
- RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan kept the benchmark repo rate or the rate at which the central bank lends money to banks, unchanged at 7.5 per cent, in the first bimonthly monetary policy review of 2015-16.
- Highlights of RBI’s first bi-monthly monetary policy statement, 2015-16:
- Short-term lending rate (Repo) unchanged at 7.5%.
- Cash Reserve Ratio unchanged at 4%.
- Retains Statutory Liquidity Ratio at 21.5%.
- Estimates GDP growth at 7.8% in FY’16, up from 7.5% in FY15.
- Forecasts CPI inflation at 5.8 pc by March 2016.
- Hailstorms in March affected 17% of the rabi crop sown area.
- In a bid to boost infrastructure investment, the Reserve Bank allowed banks to invest in long-term infrastructure bonds issued by other banks.
- In July 2014, RBI had allowed banks to issue Long-term bonds (LTBs) for lending to long-term projects in infrastructure sub-sectors, and affordable housing.
- However, cross-holding of such bonds amongst banks was not permitted. Banks’ investment, it said, in these bonds will not be treated as “assets with the banking system in India” for the purpose of calculation of total deposits (NDTL).
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Micro Units Development Refinance Agency (MUDRA) Bank which will provide credit of up to Rs 10 lakh to small entrepreneurs and act as a regulator for ‘Micro-Finance Institutions’ (MFIs).
- The scheme, which has a corpus of Rs 20,000 crore, can lend between Rs 50,000andRs 10 lakh to small entrepreneurs.
- The roles envisaged for MUDRAinclude laying down policy guidelines for micro-enterprise financing business and registration of MFI entities, as well as their accreditation and rating.
- The Bank will nurture small businesses through different stages of growth and development of businesses termed as Shishu, Kishorand Tarun.
- Shishu: This is the first step when the business is starting up. The loan cover in this stage will be upto Rs 50,000.
- Kishor:In this stage, the entreprenuer will be eligible for a loan ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh.
- Tarun: This last and final category will provide loans for upto Rs 10 lakh.
The roles envisaged for MUDRA include:
- Formulating and running a Credit Guarantee scheme for providing guarantees to the loans/portfolios which are being extended to micro enterprises
- Support development & promotional activities in the sector
- Creating a good architecture of Last Mile Credit Deliveryto micro businesses under the scheme of Pradhan Mantri MUDRA.
- India and many influential western nations are among the 57 founding members of theUSD 50 billionAsian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), while the US and Japan stayed away from the China-backed multilateral lender, according to the final list of members released today.
- Backing the Chineseinitiative, India was one of the first countries to have signed up for the bank expected to offer stiff competition to other financial institutions such as the World Bank, the IMF and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
- Countries that have been accepted as founding members of the AIIBinclude China, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Maldives, Britain, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Spain.
- Reserve Bank of Indiahas allowed banks to offer higher rates of interest to those who agree not to prematurely withdraw their high-value fixed deposits.
- Banks can offer such rates to depositors who can keep a minimum of Rs 15 lakhfor the tenure of the deposit. At present, depositors are entitled to withdraw their deposits prematurely without giving any reason to the banker.
- Retail customers typically prefer to keep their money in deposits offering the highest rate. However, since depositors have the option of breaking their term deposits without any notice, banks are always concerned about the possibility of mismatches between assets and liability.
- Banks that offer such term deposits should give customers the option to choose between lock-in and premature withdrawal of the money, RBI
- Largest private sector lender ICICI Bankin collaboration with Tech Mahindra launched a payment service ‘Tap-n-Pay’ based on the near-field communications (NFC)technology, enabling customers make over-the-counter payments without using cash.
- It can be used for merchant payments by merely tapping a NFC-enabled mobile phone or a tag on the counter.
- The service is a close-end one, only for a close group of customers.
- The Reserve Banksimplified procedure for lenders to open Currency Chests by doing away with multiple layers of approvals.
- For locations at or close to the international borders or insurgency affected areas, it said, banks may approach Regional Offices(ROs) of the RBI for obtaining security clearance.
- For all other locations, it said banks may construct new chests at any place after informing the regional office concerned.
- The RBIsaid approvals for opening of vaults by public sector banks and private banks will continue to be given by its regional offices.
- The approvals will normally be accorded within 30 days provided the construction conforms to the specifications.
- In a move aimed at helping Transgender personsto open bank accounts and avail related services, the Reserve Bank directed banks to include a separate column ‘third gender’ in all their forms and applications.
- It has been brought to our notice that transgender persons face difficulties in opening accounts as there is no provision for them in the account opening and other forms, the RBI
- As per a judgment on April 14, 2014, the Supreme Courthad upheld transgender persons’ right to decide their self- identified gender and directed the centre and state governments to grant legal recognition of their gender identity such as male, female or as third gender.
- A rise in banking frauds has forced the Reserve Bank of Indiato ask banks to send employees working in treasury business, risk management and currency chests among others on mandatory 10 days leave.
- RBI said in a statement that “The bank should identify such highly sensitive positions where the bank will, without any prior intimation, advise the employee to be away from his desk for a specified number of working days each year,”.
- Banks in consultation with the board would have to put in place an exhaustive list of sensitive positions or areas of operations to be covered under ‘mandatory leave’and under ‘away from desk’
- The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) today revised priority sector lending (PSL) norms, adding new segments such as micro, small and medium enterprise (M SME ), social infrastructure and renewable energy under the ambit of priority sectors.
- The RBIrevised the Priority sector lending (PSL) norms – which mandate banks to lend at least 40% of the total loans to farmers, small businessmen, students, exporters and small ticket home loan buyers.
- Further, the Reserve Bank outlined targets of 8 percent and 7.5 percent (of a bank’s total loan book) for small and marginal farmers and micro enterprises, respectively, which shall be achieved in a phased manner by March 2017. The RBI also maintained the PSL target for the weaker section at 10 percent.
- The revised norms says that foreign bankswith over 20 branches will have to meet priority sector target by 2018 while those with less than 20 branches will have to meet the target by 2020 in a phased manner.
- Priority sectorrefers to those sectors of the economy which may not get timely and adequate credit in the absence of this special dispensation. Typically, these are small value loans to farmers for agriculture and allied activities, micro and small enterprises, poor people for housing, students for education and other low income groups and weaker sections.
- Governmentdetected a whopping over Rs 7,800 crore of illegal monies within the country and abroad during 2013-14 as the elite Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) found all-time high cases of suspicious transactions in the country’s economic channels.
- STR(suspicious transactions report) is defined as a transaction which gives rise to a reasonable suspicion that it may involve proceeds of a crime or appears to be made in circumstances of unjustified complexity or gives reasonable grounds to suspect that it may be linked to terrorist activities.
- The agency also received a total of 87,79,082 Cash Transaction Reports(CTRs), 3,01,804 Counterfeit Currency Reports (CCRs) and 80,616 Non-Profit Organisation Transaction Reports (NTRs), the latest updated report also submitted to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money, said.
- CTRis fund movement of the value of more than Rs. 10 lakh in one tranche or a series of transactions internally connected to each other in either Indian currency or foreign in the country’s banking or any other channel.
- A CCRis amply clear from its name as it pertains to an instance of usage of fake currency in any bank by an entity.
- while NTRs pertain to filing of dossiers by Non-Governmentaland non-profit organisations with regard to their economic operations.
- All banking, financial intermediaries, insurance companies, payment system operators and capital market operatives are stipulated to submit the said reports to the FIU statutorily under money laundering laws.
- A bill to amend the Regional Rural BanksAct was passed by Parliament, with government saying it was necessary to empower such financial institutions which are the “jewel in the crown” of the country’s financial system.
- The Regional Rural Banks (Amendment) Bill, 2014, which got the assent of the Rajya Sabha by voice vote, seeks to help Regional Rural Banks(RRBs) raise their authorised capital and will enable them to mop up funds from capital market to help strengthen them.
- Lok Sabha had earlier passed the Bill in December last. Moving the bill for passage, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinhasaid 57 RRBs have been playing an important role in financial inclusion of villages, covering every district and having nearly 80,000 employees.
- He said under the present system, the Centrehas a 50 per cent share, the sponsorBank 35 per cent and state government 15 per cent shareholding in the The proposed amendments will provide flexibility in this structure.
- Opening its first branch in India, Qatar-based Doha Bank said it is open to acquisitions to scale up its operations and it will soon follow the wholly- owned subsidiary model to do business in the country, as prescribed by the Reserve Bank.
- The RBI, in November 2013, had released a framework for large foreign banks with over 20 branches to convert into wholly-owned subsidiaries.
- The foreign banks which move to a wholly-owned subsidiary route will be given near-national treatment apart from capital gains tax and stamp duty benefits
- The Reserve Bank of Indiahas imposed a Rs 1.5 crore penalty each on Bank of Maharashtra, Dena Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce for violation of know your customer and anti money laundering norms, it said in a statement.
- The central bank cautioned and directed eight other banks –Central Bank of India, Bank of India, Punjab and Sind Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur, UCO Bank, Union Bank of India and Vijaya Bank to put in place appropriate KYC practices.
Sports
Winners of 2015 Miami Open Titles
- Men’s Singles Title
- Novak Djokovic extended his winning streak against Britain’s Andy Murray to seven matches with victory in a grueling Miami Open
- The world number one prevailed 7-6 (7-3) 4-6 6-0 in hot and humid conditions to win his fifth Miami title.
- Women’s singles Title
- World number one Serena Williams thrashed Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro to win her eighth Miami Open
- The 33-year-old raced to a 6-2 6-0 victory in 56 minutes to secure her third straight title at Crandon Park.
- Men’s doubles Title
- American Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan pair has won the 2015 Miami Open Men’s doubles Title. In the final match they defeated Vasek Pospisil (Canada) and Jack Sock (US) pair by 6–3, 1–6, 10–8 score.
- Women’s doubles Title
- Sania Mirza achieved yet another career milestone by capturing her 25th WTAdoubles title as the Indian continued her dream start with Martina Hingis to win theMiami Open
- The top-seeded Indo-Swiss pair overcame a sluggish start to take the title with a 7-5, 6-1 scoreline against second-seeded Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina.
- They had beaten the same Russian duo at Indian Wells to win their first title together.
Women’s chess championship
- Indian Grandmaster Dronavalli Harika won the Bronze medal along with Swedish Grandmaster Pia Cramling by virtue of making it to the semifinals of World Women’s chess championship in Sochi, Russia.
- Harika lost to the eventual winner Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine in the semifinals.
- World Women’s chess championship’s winners is Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine) who has Won Gold medal along with US $ 60,000 by 2.5 points.
- Sultan Azlan Shah Cup
- The tournament is named after 9th king of Malaysia and ‘Father of Malaysian Hockey’ Sultan Azlan Shah.
- New Zealand men’s hockey is celebrating a major international success with a penalty shoot-out win over Australia to claim the 2015 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia.
- India defeated South Korea 4-1 (6-3) on penalties to win the Bronze medal in the 24thSultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament.
- India”s Y Pranjala clinched the Asian Junior Tennis championship title after a come-from-behind victory over top seed Chinese Zheng Wushuang here today.
- women’s world team chess championship
- D Harika and Koneru Humpy came up with fine individual performances to win asilver and a bronze, respectively, even as the Indian eves finished fourth in thewomen’s world team chess championship here in china.
- China was beaten in the final round by Georgia, who finished the event with an impressive 17 points to clinch the gold medal.
- Russia claimed the silver medal with 15 points after defeating United States in the final round.
Awards
- U.S.A President Barack Obama plans to honour Microsoft’s Indian-origin CEO Satya Nadella with the “Champions of Change” Award for bringing about a change within his company to support working families.
- The award is given to those who support working families and have helped to bring about a change within their companies, communities or organisations by advocating for paid sick and paid leave policies and equal pay.
Florence Nightingale International Foundation
- An Indian-origin nurse here will receive an international achievement award for her work in the healthcare sector of women and refugees, becoming the first Singaporean to get the prestigious biennial prize.
- Dr Subadhra Devi Rai, a nurse and a senior lecturer at the School of Health Sciences at Nanyang Polytechnic in Singapore, will be bestowed by this year’s International Achievement Award by the Florence Nightingale International Foundation.
- FNIF is the International Council of Nursespremier foundation. Its purpose is to support the advancement of nursing education, research and services.
- The award recognizes Rai’s work in the health of women and refugees, and is the first time a Singaporean will be awarded the biennial award since its introduction in1999.
Richard Hadlee Medal 2014-15
- New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum has been named the winner of the Sir Richard Hadlee Medal for 2014-15, while Kane Williamson swooped up the awards forTwenty20 international player of the year, ODI player of the year, Test player of the year, as well as the Redpath Cup for First Class batting at the New Zealand Cricket Awards in Auckland.
Laureus World Sports Academy
- Sachin Tendulkar became the latest member of the prestigious Laureus World Sports Academy as he was inducted alongside Chinese basketball player Yao Ming, Kenyan long-distance runner Tegla Loroupe, Chinese gymnast Li Xiaopeng and former Chinese short track speed skater Yang Yang in a ceremony held at Shanghai’s Grand Theatre on the night of April 15.
- Here are the major winners from this year’s World Sports Awards:
- Sportsman of the year: Novak Djokovic, Tennis
- Sportswoman of the year: Genzebe Dibaba, Athletics
- Sportsperson of the year with a Disability: Tatyana McFadden, Paralympian
- World Team of the year: German National Football Team
- World Breakthrough of the year: Daniel Ricciardo, F1
- Sports For Good Award: Skateistan, NGO in Afghanistan, South Africa & Cambodia
- Spirit of Sport Award: Yao Ming, Former Basketball player
Hevesy Medal Award 2015
- Professor Susanta Lahiri, Chemical Sciences Division, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata, received the Hevesy Medal Award 2015, on April 12.
- At the Tenth International Conference on Methods and Applications of Radio-analytical Chemistry, Susanta Lahiri awarded for his outstanding contributions toHeavy ion induced radioisotope production, tracer packet technique, converter targets, and green chemistry.
- This premier international award named after George de HEVESY, the 1943- Chemistry Nobel Laureate, for his work on the use of isotopes as tracers in the study of chemical processes.
- It is given to “an individual in recognition of excellence through outstanding, sustained career achievements in the fields of pure as well as applied nuclear and radiochemistry, in particular applications to nuclear analytical chemistry.”
2015 Pulitzer Prize Winners
- The Pulitzer Prize is an award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature, and musical composition in the United States.
- It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of American (Hungarian-born) publisher Joseph Pulitzer, and is administered by Columbia University in New York City. Prizes are awarded yearly in twenty-one categories.
- The winner in the public service category of the journalism competition is awarded a gold medal.
- Winners -2015 –Pulitzer Prize
- Letters, Drama, and Music
- Fiction-All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (Scribner)
- (All the Light We Cannot See, a novel based on Second World War)
- Drama-Between Riverside and Crazy by Stephen Adly Guirgis
- History-Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People by Elizabeth A. Fenn (Hill and Wang)
- Biography or Autobiography-The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe by David I. Kertzer (Random House)
- Poetry-Digest by Gregory Pardlo (Four Way Books)
- General Nonfiction-The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert (Henry Holt)
- Music-Anthracite Fields by Julia Wolfe (Red Poppy Music/G. Schirmer, Inc.)
- Journalism
- Public Service-The Post and Courier, Charleston, SC
- Breaking News Reporting-The Seattle Times Staff
- Investigative Reporting-Eric Lipton of The New York Times,The Wall Street Journal Staff
- Explanatory Reporting-Zachary R. Mider of Bloomberg News
- Local Reporting-Rob Kuznia, Rebecca Kimitch and Frank Suraci of the Daily Breeze, Torrance, CA
- National Reporting-Carol D. Leonnig of The Washington Post
- International Reporting-The New York Times Staff
- Feature Writing-Diana Marcum of the Los Angeles Times
- Commentary-Lisa Falkenberg of the Houston Chronicle
- Criticism-Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times
- Editorial Writing-Kathleen Kingsbury of The Boston Globe
- Editorial Cartooning-Adam Zyglis of The Buffalo News
- Breaking News Photography-St. Louis Post-Dispatch Photography Staff
- Feature Photography-Daniel Berehulak, freelance photographer, The New York Times
‘Outstanding Service Award’
- Indian-origin diplomat Gopinath Pillai has been bestowed with ‘Outstanding Service Award’ for his services to the city-state by the National University of Singapore (NUS).
- 78-year-old Gopinath Pillai,who is currently the ambassador-at-Large of Singapore and special envoy to Andhra Pradesh recieved the award on Friday.
- Pillai has contributed significantly to Singapore through his distinguished service as a diplomat for more than 25 years. Additionally, his past and current involvement in a number of agencies, ranging from NTUC FairPrice Co-operative Limited and Ang Mo Kio-Thye Hua Kwan Hospital to Hindu Advisory Board, has had substantial impact on the social fabric of Singapore.
Officier de la Légion d’Honneur
- The French Government has appointed former Finance Minister and BJP leaderYashwant Sinha, Officier de la Légion d’Honneur (Officer of the Legion of Honour), the highest French civilian distinction, in recognition of his international action as Union Minister of Finance (1998-2002), then External Affairs (2002-2004), and his invaluable contribution to thought on international issues.
- Created in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, the Legion of Honour is the highest civilian award given by the French Republic for outstanding service to France, regardless of the nationality of the recipients.
- French Ambassador to India François Richier said as Minister of External Affairs, and Chair of the Indo-French Parliamentary Friendship Group since its very inception (2009-2014), Sinha contributed to the deepening of the Indo-French strategic partnership, launched during the visit of Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Paris (September 1998) and the development of ties between France and India.
Asian Banker Achievement Award 2015
- Bharatiya Mahila Bank Ltd has won The Asian Banker Achievement Award 2015 for Technology Implementation in the category of Best Outsourcing Project (New Bank).
- The award was received by Smt. Usha Ananthasubramanian, Chairman and Managing Director, Bharatiya Mahila Bank at a function held recently in Hongkong as a part of The Asian Banker Summit 2015.
2015 Heinz Award
- Sangeeta Bhatia, an Indian-origin scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has been named the recipient of the 2015 Heinz Award for Technology, the Economy, and Employment.
- Bhatia who has developed artificial human microlivers for drug testing, won a prestigious $2,50,000 Heinz award for her work in tissue engineering and disease detection.
- The Heinz Awards annually recognise individuals for their extraordinary contributions to arts and humanities; environment; human condition; public policy; and technology, the economy, and employment.
Fellowship of the Royal Institute of Navigation
- Senior DRDO scientist G Satheesh Reddy, who played a critical role in the Agni 5 programme, has been conferred the prestigious Fellowship of the Royal Institute of Navigation, a first for an Indian.
- Reddy, Director, Research Centre Imarat of DRDO, has been recognised for his work in the field of inertial and satellite-based navigation and avionics technologies.
- He is the first Indian to get the fellowship.
- Established in 1947, Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN) is one of the world’s leading professional bodies dedicated to advancement of navigation around the world.
- The Institute has elected nearly 450 highly distinguished navigation professionals as Fellows from all over the world and as on date Reddy becomes the first and the only one to be elected from India.
Whitley Awards
- Two Indians have been awarded with the prestigious Whitley Awards for their contribution to wildlife conservation.
- Dr Ananda Kumar, a conservationist from India, was awarded the prize, in honour of his work using innovative communication systems to enable human-elephantcoexistence in southern India.
- Another winner of the Whitley Award, dubbed ‘Green Oscar’ is Dr Pramod Patil. He has been awarded for his work to protect the iconic great Indian bustard in the Thar Desert.
- The Whitley Awards is an annual award given by the Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN). The award recognises and celebrates effective national and regional conservation leaders across the globe.
Reports
‘Top 10 Most Dangerous Countries’
- The IntelCenter’s‘Top 10 Most Dangerous Countries’ list as of March 2015 is topped by the Middle East, with Iraq and Syria ranked No 1 and 2 respectively.
- Pakistanhas emerged as the world’s eighth most dangerous country in a latest analysis of the top 10 danger zones based on terrorist and rebel activity.
- Intel Centeris a Washington-based company established in 1989. It works globally for intelligence agencies a by providing them counterterrorism intelligence services.
- IntelCenter’s Country Threat Index(CTI) examines the volume of terrorist and rebel alerts, messaging traffic, videos, photos, incidents and the number killed and injured in a country and runs it through an algorithm to assign the country its CTI.
FM Global Resilience Index 2015
- The 2015 FM Global Resilience Index offers powerful insights to help business executives target their investments towards more reliable returns and to protect their customers from unforeseen disruption.
- India has been ranked a low 119 out of 130 countries on an index that measures business resilience of nations based on economic, risk quality and supply chain factors, dropping seven ranks from 2014.
- On the economic parameter, which takes into account gross domestic product, political risk and oil intensity, the country is ranked 115, the same as in 2014.
- In the risk quality factor, India is ranked 109 for its quality of natural hazard and fire risk management, a slight improvement from its 113th rank in 2014.
- In the third category of supply chain, which looks at corruption control, infrastructure and local supplier quality, the country is ranked 89th, falling 11 notches from the previous year.
- Venezuela is ranked last on the 2015 FM Global Resilience Index and the list has been topped by Norway for being the best country for companies seeking to avoid disruptions in their global supply chain operations.
- Among the top 10 countries that are most resilient, Norway is followed by Switzerland (2), Netherlands (3), Ireland (4), Luxembourg (5), Germany (6), Qatar (7), Canada (8), Finland (9) and the US (10).
Time -100 Readers’ Poll
- Russian President Vladimir Putin emerged the winner of this year’s Time 100 readers’ poll. He edged out rapper-singer 24-year-old rapper Lee Chae-rin ‘CL’ (of the South Korean girl-group 2NE1) to claim the number one spot with 95 per cent of the votes in the final tally.
- Pop stars Lady Gaga (2.6 per cent), Rihanna (1.9 per cent) and Taylor Swift (1.8 per cent) rounded out the top five.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal have been voted among the 100 most influential people in the world in an online poll by readers of Time magazine.
- The only non-celebrities to appear in the top 10 were the Dalai Lama (1.7 percent), Pakistani female activist Malala Yousafzai (1.6 percent) and Pope Francis (1.5 percent).
- The TIME 100 is an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, spanning politics, entertainment, business, technology, science, religion and other fields. Chosen by the editors of TIME, this year’s list will be unveiled April 16. Voting for the reader’s poll closed April 10.
Global E-Waste Monitor 2014′
- India is the fifth biggest producer of e-waste in the world, discarding 1.7 million tonnes(Mt) of electronic and electrical equipment in 2014, a UN report has said warning that the volume of global e-waste is likely to rise sharply by 21 per cent in next three years.
- The ‘Global E-Waste Monitor 2014′, compiled by UN’s think tank United Nations University (UNU), said at 32 per cent, the US and China produced the most e-waste overall in 2014.
- India came in fifth, behind the US, China, Japan and Germany, the report said.
- Most e-waste in the world in 2014 was generated in Asia at 16 Mt or 3.7 kg per inhabitant. The top three Asian nations with the highest e-waste generation in absolute quantities are China (6.0 Mt), Japan (2.2 Mt) and India (1.7 Mt).
2015 World Happiness Report
- India comes in at the 117th spot out of 158 countries in the 2015 World Happiness Report, published by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), which is a global initiative for the United Nations
- The report takes into account GDP per capita, life expectancy, social support and freedom to make life choices as indicators of happiness.
- Indians are less happy than their counterparts in Pakistan and Bangladesh, according to the report.
- India’s rank dropped six notches from the 2013 report, when it was on the 111th spot.
- Pakistan is ranked 81 and Bangladesh, 109. Places like Ukraine (111), Palestine (108) and Iraq (112) too come up higher than India on the index.
- Switzerland has been named the happiest country in the world. The other countries in the top five are Iceland, Denmark, Norway and Canada.
- The US is ranked 15, followed by UK (21), Singapore (24), Saudi Arabia (35), Japan (46) and China (84).
Policy
Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20
- The much awaited Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 was unveiled by Minister of Commerce & Industry Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman.
- The new five year Foreign Trade Policy, 2015-20 provides a framework for increasing exports of goods and services as well as generation of employment and increasing value addition in the country, in keeping with the “Make in India” vision of Prime Minister. The focus of the new policy is to support both the manufacturing and services sectors, with a special emphasis on improving the ‘ease of doing business’.
Key features of the new Foreign Trade Policy:
- Introduces two new schemes, namely “Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS)” for export of specified goods to specified markets and “Services Exports from India Scheme (SEIS)” for increasing exports of notified services.
- These schemes (MEIS and SEIS) replace multiple schemes earlier in place, each with different conditions for eligibility and usage. Incentives (MEIS & SEIS) to be available for SEZs also. e-Commerce of handicrafts, handlooms, books etc., eligible for benefits of MEIS.
- Measures have been adopted to nudge procurement of capital goods from indigenous manufacturers under the EPCG scheme by reducing specific export obligation to 75% of the normal export obligation. This will promote the domestic capital goods manufacturing industry.
- Measures have been taken to give a boost to exports of defense and hi-tech items. At the same time e-Commerce exports of handloom products, books/periodicals, leather footwear, toys and customized fashion garments through courier or foreign post office would also be able to get benefit of MEIS (for values upto 25,000 INR).
- Trade facilitation and enhancing the ease of doing business are the other major focus areas in this new FTP. One of the major objective of new FTP is to move towards paperless working in 24×7 environment.
- Attention has also been paid to simplify various ‘Aayat Niryat’ Forms, bringing in clarity in different provisions, removing ambiguities and enhancing electronic governance.
- Considering the strategic significance of small and medium scale enterprise in the manufacturing sector and in employment generation, ‘MSME clusters’ 108 have been identified for focused interventions to boost exports.
- Accordingly, ‘Niryat Bandhu Scheme’has been galvanized and repositioned to achieve the objectives of ‘Skill India’.
Real Estate (Regulation and Development Bill)
The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved the Real Estate (Regulation and Development Bill) which will address a long-standing demand to bring in a regulator for the real estate sector.
- The Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Bill seeks to protect the interests of consumers and establish regulatory bodies at the Centre and States for ethical and transparent business practices in the real estate sector.
- The Bill provides for mandatory registration of all projects and real estate agents who intend to sell any plot, apartment or building with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority.
- It makes mandatory the disclosure of all information for registered projects like details of promoters, layout plan, land status, schedule of execution and status of various approvals.
- The Bill also seeks to enforce the contract between the developer and buyer and a fast track mechanism to settle disputes.
- The government said the Bill is expected ensure greater accountability towards consumers, and to significantly reduce frauds and delays.
