17) Delhi government launches DVAT BILL app to boost tax collection.
- In order to boost Delhi government’s tax collection and bring in transparency, deputy chief minister Manish Siodia has launched ‘DVAT BILL’ app and said that people can play an important role in governance through this mobile application.
- The software has been developed by Delhi government’s Trade and Taxes department. Through this app, people can become a ``VAT Inspectors``.
- According to VAT commissioner S.S. Yadav, the scheme would be for bill or cash memo/ retail invoice of not less than Rs. 100 for purchases made from a registered dealer in Delhi.
- The cash award would be transferred to the bank account of the customer directly after verification of the purchases from the seller through ward VAT inspector.
- The prize amount would be five times the value of goods purchased (excluding tax), subject to a maximum of Rs. 50,000.
18) Jayalalithaa launches ``Amma Call Center`` for grievance redressal.
- Tamil Nadu Chief J. Jayalalithaa launched a round-the-clock Amma call centre for ensuring fast response to grievances, aimed at quick delivery of government services.
How it Works:
- The latest initiative was aimed at ensuring quick response to people’s grievances where in they can dial toll-free number ‘1100’ at any point of time in the day.
- The details of the callers and the issues reported by them would be registered on computer and referred to the relevant department for action through e-mail, SMS and telephone.
- The callers will also be informed of the details through SMS like which department and official their issue had been referred to. Equipped with latest technology like Computer Telephony Integration and Voice Logger System, the centre will initially handle upto 15,000 calls a day, with 138 operators recruited for the purpose.
19) Ministry of Shipping initiates Project Green Ports.
- The Ministry of Shipping has started ‘Project Green Ports’ which will help in making the Major Ports across India cleaner and greener.
- ‘Project Green Ports’ will have two verticals – one is ‘Green Ports Initiatives’ related to environmental issues and second is ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan’.
Project Green Ports:
- The Green Port Initiatives include twelve initiatives which will be implemented under strict time bound fashion in order to achieve the targets.
- Some of these initiatives are preparation and monitoring plan, acquiring equipments required for monitoring environmental pollution, acquiring dust suppression system, setting up of sewage/ waste water treatment plants/ garbage disposal plant, setting up projects for energy generation from renewable energy sources, completion of shortfalls of Oil Spill Response (OSR) facilities (Tier-1).
Under Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan:
- The Ministry has identified 20 activities with certain time-line to promote cleanliness at the port premises.
- Some of the activities include cleaning the wharf, cleaning and repairing of sheds, cleaning and repairing of port roads, painting road signs, zebra crossing, pavement edges, modernizing and cleanliness of all the toilet complexes in the operational area, placement of dustbins at regular intervals, beautification and cleaning of parks.
20) Recommendations of R.V. Easwar Committee on simplification of the provisions of IT Act, 1961.
- Expert Committee to simplify income tax laws headed by Justice (retired) R.V. Easwar has submitted its report to Union Finance Ministry.
- The 10 member committee has recommended simplifying provisions related to tax deduction at source (TDS), tax refunds and claims of expenditure for deduction from taxable income.
Recommendations of the committee:
- Deferring the contentious Income Computation and Disclosure Standards (ICDS) provisions and making the process of tax refunds faster.
- Deletion of a clause in IT Act, 1961 that allows the IT department to delay tax refund due beyond six months. In case of delay in refunds levying higher interest.
- IT department should stop the practice of adjusting tax demand of a taxpayer against legitimate refunds due whose tax return is under assessment.
- Treat stock trading gains of up to 5 lakh rupees as capital gains and not business income.
- TDS rates for individuals must be reduced to 5 per cent from current 10 per cent. Dividend income should be treated as part of total income.
21) Uttarakhand allows heli-taxi for tourists.
- Tourists travelling to Uttarakhand will now be able to enjoy the aerial view of the Himalayas as the first helicopter service between the city of Haldwani and Munsiyari town.
- The tourism authority of Kumaon region of Uttarakhand will run the service, known as heli-taxi, and will offer an aerial view from a height of 8,000 to 10,000 feet.
- Uttarkhand Tourism Minister Dinesh Dhane, and other state officials flagged off the helicopter service that would cost rupees 15,000 for a return trip and rupees 8,000 for one-way.
22) Doordarshan’s free DTH service FreeDish to have 112 channels by March.
- Government owned broadcaster Doordarshan (DD) is set to carry 112 channels on its DTH service FreeDish by March end.
- FreeDish is a free to air (FTA) DTH service, which recently added Big Magic to its service last month, after an initial run with the DTH service before.
- As per IndianTelevision.com, DD director general C Lalrosanga has recently conducted several meetings to successfully implement this major expansion from the state controlled broadcaster.
- DD FreeDish (previously DD Direct Plus) was launched in December 2004 and right now, INSAT-4B satellite at 93.5° is used to broadcast 64 FTA MPEG-2 Channels, 48 MPEG-4 channels and 29 radio channels using this platform.
23) India starts anti dumping probe on rubber import from EU, South Korea.
- GOI has initiated a probe into alleged dumping of rubber variants used for leather goods by the EU, South Korea and Thailand.
- The Govt initiated after complaints from Reliance Industries and Indian Synthetic Rubber. The move is aimed at protecting domestic players in the sector against cheap imports.
Back Ground:
- Countries start anti-dumping probes to determine whether their domestic industries have been hurt because of a surge in cheap imports. As a counter measure, they impose duties under the multilateral regime of WTO.
- The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trading practices and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers vis-a-vis foreign producers and exporters.
- India has already imposed an anti-dumping duty on several products, to tackle cheap imports from countries, including China.
24) CCEA approves six-laning of NH-2 in Bihar and Jharkhand.
- The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved development of the six laning of National Highway-2 from Aurangabad-BarwaAdda section in Bihar and Jharkhand.
- The six laning work approximately length of 222 kms will be under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) Phase-V.
- It will be undertaken on Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (BOT/ DBFOT) basis with an estimated cost of Rs. 4918.48 crore.
- Project’s main object is to expedite the improvement of infrastructure in Jharkhand and Bihar and also in reduce the time and cost of travel for traffic.
25) Bihar Government approves 35 per cent job reservation for women.
- Bihar Government has formally approved 35 per cent reservation for women in government jobs in the state.
- This 35 per cent reservation for women will be applicable to in all government jobs including reserved and unreserved category.
- Presently state is already providing 35 per cent reservation for women in recruitment as police constables and sub-inspectors.
- There is also 50 percent reservation for women as primary school teachers and in the Panchayati Raj system.
Back Ground:
- During 2015 state assembly election campaigning, Nitish Kumar who was chief ministerial candidate of the Grand Alliance comprising of Janata Dal-United (JDU), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Indian National Congress (INC) had promised 35 percent reservation for women in all government jobs if he formed a government again.
26) Maharashtra government inks MoU with Tata Trust for skill training of youth.
- Maharashtra Government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Tata Trust for a skill training programme for the youth in the state.
- This programme has been undertaken under the state government’s ambitious Kushal Maharashtra, Rojgaryukt Maharashtra initiative.
Features of skill training programme:
- Tata Trust will train around one lakh youths in the state in order to make them employable.
- It will set up skill development and vocational training centres in 10 districts across the state.
- The Trust will also set up virtual classrooms in 100 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in Maharashtra. It will improve infrastructure these of ITIs.
27) India inks Loan Agreement with World Bank for Bihar Kosi Basin Development Project.
- Union Government has signed 250 million dollars Financing Agreement with World Bank for Bihar Kosi Basin Development Project.
- The loan has been sanctioned by the World Bank’s concessionary lending arm International Development Association (IDA). The loan has implementation period of 5 years and Bihar Government is the implementing agency.
About Bihar Kosi Basin Development Project:
Project objective is to enhance:
(i) Resilience to floods from Kosi River which is infamously dubbed as sorrow of Bihar and increase agricultural production and productivity of targeted districts along the river basin.
(ii) State’s capacity to respond promptly and effectively to an eligible crisis or emergency.
Five components of Project are:
(i) Improving Flood Risk Management.
(ii) Augmenting Connectivity.
(iii) Enhancing Agricultural Productivity and Competitiveness.
(iv) Implementation Support
(v) Contingent Emergency Response.
28) Union Cabinet approves Policy on Promotion of City Compost.
- The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval to Policy on Promotion of City Compost.
- This policy will help in circulating compost produced from city waste for the purpose of farming and agriculture.
Importance of Policy:
- For increasing production and consumption of City Compost, provision for Market development assistance of Rs. 1500 per tonne of city compost has been added.
- Farmers will be benefitted from lower MRP of city compost as result of Market development assistance.
- To ensure that environment friendly quality city compost, eco-Mark standard has been made mandatory.
- Fertilizer companies will co-market City Compost along with chemical fertilizers. For promoting the use of compost, these companies will adopt villages.
- It will be mandatory for Public Sector undertakings and Government Departments to use City Compost for purpose of their horticulture.
29) Cabinet approves India’s stand on food security at WTO.
- Cabinet has given ex-post facto approval for the approach adopted by India at Nairobi WTO meeting. The outcomes of the Conference, referred to ‘Nairobi Package’ include ministerial Decisions on agriculture, cotton.
- The Tenth WTO Ministerial Conference concluded in Nairobi in December 2015.
- It had proposed either amending the formula to calculate the food subsidy cap of 10 per cent, which is based on the reference price of 1986-88, or allowing such schemes outside the purview of subsidy caps.
About WTO:
- The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization which regulates international trade.
- The WTO officially commenced on 1 January 1995 under the Marrakesh Agreement, signed by 123 nations on 15 April 1994, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1948.
- The WTO’s current Director-General is Roberto Azevedo.
30) Nai Manzil Scheme launched in Jammu and Kashmir.
- The Nai Manzil scheme was launched for the first time in Jammu and Kashmir. The scheme was launched for girls in Srinagar in three institutions- Skill Development Centre, University of Kashmir and two Madarsas.
Highlights of the scheme:
- Under the scheme, girls from minority communities will be imparted three month skill development training in seven identified sectors relevant to the region.
- These include training in saffron processing, food processing, embroidery, computers IT (both software and hardware), Tourism/hospitality, electronics and plumbing.
- Trainees will also be given stipend of 4500 rupees for the course.
About Nai Manzil Scheme:
- Nai Manzil Scheme is an integrated Education and Livelihood Initiative for the Minority Communities. It was announced by the Union Budget 2015-16.
- The scheme aims to benefit the minority youths who are school-dropouts or educated in the community education institutions like Madrasas.
- This will enable them to seek better employment in the organised sector and equipping them with better lives. The scheme covers the entire country.
31) Union Government granted Infrastructure status to Shipyard Industry.
- The Union Government granted Infrastructure Status to the Shipyard Industry in a bid to ease its financial stress.
- With the granting of the infrastructure status, the shipyards will be able to avail flexible long-term funding at lower costs.
Benefits of the status:
- With this inclusion, the financial stress on the shipyard industry will be eased substantially.
- The shipyards will be able to avail flexible structuring of long-term project loans, long-term funding from infrastructure funds at lower rates of interest.
- It will also be able to avail longer tenure equivalent to the economic life of their assets, relaxed ECB norms, issuance of infrastructure bonds as well as benefits under Income Tax Act, 1961.
32) Union Cabinet approves amendments of Power Tariff Policy to promote clean energy.
- The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of the Union Ministry of Power for amendments in the Power Tariff Policy 2006.
- The comprehensive amendments bring required changes for holistic view of the power sector and also to achieve the objectives of Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) with the focus on 4 Es.
The 4 Es are:
Electricity for all:
- 24X7 power supply will be ensured to all consumers. In this case state governments and regulators will devise appropriate power supply trajectory to achieve this.
- Micro Grids will provide power to remote unconnected villages. It will have provision for purchase of power into the grid.
- People near coal mines will be provided with affordable power through procurement of power from coal washery reject based plants.
Environment for a sustainable future:
- Reduce power cost to consumers through expansion of existing power plants.
- For reduction in overall power cost, benefit from sale of un-requisitioned power to be shared.
- To enable Time of Day metering installations of smart meters will be fasten. It will help to reduce theft and allow net-metering.
Efficiency to ensure affordable tariffs:
Renewable Power Obligation (RPO): By March 2022, 8% of electricity consumption shall be from solar energy in order to promote renewable energy and energy security.
Renewable Generation Obligation (RGO): New thermal plants based coal/ligniteto establish/purchase/ procure renewable capacity.
100% power procurement produced from Waste-to-Energy plants in order to give big boost to Swachh Bharat Mission.
Ensure financial viability and Ease of doing business to attract investments:
Investments will be encouraged in coal rich states like West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh to generate employment.
33) Cabinet approves MoU between India and UK in the field of Public Administration and Governance Reforms.
- The Union Cabinet has approved Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and United Kingdom for Cooperation in the field Public Administration and Governance Reforms.
- Under this MoU the co-operation will be in areas like sharing good governance practices in public administration, reducing bureaucracy in service delivery and user led service design.
- It will also be in areas like Government Process Re-engineering, Public Grievance Redress Mechanism, Building and developing staff capability, Local Government Reforms.
Back Ground:
- This MoU was signed as per the Union Government’s decision of quantum shift in online delivery of Government Services in the context of ‘Minimum Government with Maximum Governance’ across the country.
- The Citizen-Centric Online Services are very foundation of an efficient public administration system that leads to accountability and transparency in the governance and also fosters equitable growth.
34) Indian Bureau of Mines, National Remote Sensing Centre signed MoU for monitoring mining activity.
- Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) and National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for monitoring mining activity through satellite technology.
- The MoU was signed by IBM Controller General R K Sinha and NRSC Director V K Dadhwal in the presence of joint secretary, Union Ministry of Mines, Subhash Chandra.
Highlights of MoU:
- As part of the MoU, the IBM would set up an exclusive remote sensing cell under the technical guidance of the NRSC at its offices in Nagpur and Hyderabad.
- These cells utilise Bhuvan-based services for monitoring mining activities across the country.
- A mobile application will be developed for field data collection to verify ground realities with respect of approved proposals.
- Chhattisgarh Government inked pact with central PSUs for railway project.
- The Chhattisgarh Government signed a share-holding agreement with a few central government-run corporations for the second phase of Jagdalpur-Raoghat railway project.
Highlights of project:
- National Mines Development Corporation will have 43 percent stake in the SPV.
- IRCON, a Ministry of Railways company, will have 26 percent stake in the SPV.
- SAIL will have 21 percent and Chhattisgarh Mines Development Corporation will have 10 percent stake in the SPV.
- The work on the first phase of the project, which will connect Dalli-Rajhara with Raoghat, is already underway.
- The second phase will have 32 medium-size and 172 small bridges, 12 stations and will require 876 hectares of land.