1) Ministry of Ayush organizing Samarpan Dhyanyog Shibir for Parliamentarians.

• AYUSH Minister is organizing Samarpan Dhyanyog Shibir for parliamentarians and their families from 6 pm to 8.30 pm everyday at Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga, New Delhi.
• The Yoga Shibir was announced by Shri Shripad Naik, Hon’ble Minister of State(I/C), Ministry of AYUSH.
• The Minister emphasised that the Shibir has been organized especially for the Parliamentarians in the first phase as they have a very stressful life and have important responsibilities to cater to the society.

• Bicentenary of the first battalion of Gorkha Rifles (1/1 GR) was celebrated by Hundreds of serving and veteran officers with vigour and zest at Pathankot.
• From both India and Nepal Veterans, serving officers, junior commissioned officers and other ranks attended the event which was held at the Military Station, Sevoke Road, near Siliguri in West Bengal, where the `First-Third` as they are also referred to, celebrated their bicentenary.

• Over three decades for the first time private member’s Bill was passed in Rajya Sabha.
• In the presence of 19 Union Ministers the Bill was passed by voice vote.
• The last private members Bill was passed in 1970.
• DMK member Tiruchi Shiva’s Bill has 58 clauses in 10 chapters dealing with different aspects ranging from social inclusion, rights and entitlements, financial and legal aid, education, skill development to prevention of abuse, violence and exploitation.

4) TRAI gets over 10 lakh petitions on Net Neutrality.

• Proponents of Net Neutrality have submitted more than 10 lakh petitions to `keep internet free through `savetheinternet` e-mail campaign, which was started around two weeks ago by a coalition of net neutrality supporters online.
• NASSCOM also called violation of net neutrality as violation of freedom of speech and expression, also submitted two separate response to the TRAI.
• Net neutrality creates an open and level playing field that facilitates innovation, adoption and inclusion. The other key priority is the proliferation of an affordable telecom infrastructure.
• Rahul Khullar is the chairman of TRAI.

• www.indiahealthcaretourism.com India’s Healthcare Tourism Portal inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the ‘SAAARC Trade Mart’ in the Global Exhibition on Services (GES).
• It was inaugurated on the occasion of three-day Global Exhibition on Services (GES) that commenced in Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.
• Union Government’s Department of Commerce and the Services Export Promotion Council (SEPC) developed the portal and this is a comprehensive one-point information site and it covers travel-related information & hospital and in India.

• The operation was launched shortly after the 7.9-magnitude quake hit Nepal.
• The quick response again highlighted India’s emergence as a country capable of a rapid response to natural disasters and emergencies in the region, an offshoot of its drive to ramp up the strategic lift capabilities of its air force and navy.
• India also pressed nearly 1000 trained personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) into service after Nepal on 25 April 2015 was struck by the worst earthquake in 80 years in which more than 2500 people were killed.

• The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), on the advice of the erstwhile National Innovation Council, proposed to set up a Rs. 5,000 crore dedicated fund namely ‘India Inclusive Innovation Fund’ for promoting grass-root innovations with social returns.
• The total corpus of this fund is proposed to be an initial size of Rs. 500 crore and maximum size of Rs. 5,000 crore with initial Government contribution of Rs. 100.00 Crore. Since National Innovation Council has ceased to exist, a revision in the three level of Management structure has been proposed.

1. The Fund would operate as a for-profit entity with a social investment focus. The exact extent to which the India Inclusive Innovation Fund is likely to benefit the MSME Sector has not been estimated.
2. It is proposed to back enterprises developing innovative solutions primarily for citizens who lie in the lower half of India’s economic pyramid, with a limited physical and institutional access to basic services.

8) Union Government cancelled licenses of nearly 9000 NGOs.

• The government has cancelled licenses of nearly 9,000 NGOs for the alleged violation of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).
• Union minister of state (home) Kiren Rijiju defended the decision saying action has been taken after getting specific inputs.
• The home ministry issued notices to 10,343 NGOs for not filing annual returns for the year 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12.
• The notices were served on October 16, 2014 saying that the NGOs should file their annual returns within a month specifying amount of foreign funds received, sources of such funds, for which purpose it was received and in manner in which such foreign contribution was utilized, according to a home ministry notification.

9) Parliament passed Payments and Settlement Bill, 2014

• Parliament passed a bill that seeks to address the problem of insolvency in the payment and settlement system by increasing transparency and stability and bring India`s banking payment system in sync with international practices.
• Moving the amended bill, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley explained it was needed to address the issue of insolvency so that there is protection for payments. The amendment to the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, was proposed to update the regulations in line with globally accepted standards.
• The amendment seeks to protect funds collected from the customers by the payment system providers and to extend the Act to cover trade repository and legal entity identifier issuer. A Legal Entity Identifier is a unique ID associated with a single corporate entity.

10) Union Government approved continuation of 1000 rupees Monthly Pension Scheme under EPS

• The move would benefit over 20 lakh pensioners under social security scheme run by Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO). It will cost additionally 850 crore rupees to the exchequer of the government.
• The scheme was launched with effect from 1 September 2014. It hiked the pension amount to a flat 1000 rupees per month for those who were getting lower amount earlier and it was initially effective till 31 March 2015.
• As a result, the EPFO had to suspend the scheme from 1 April 2015 in the absence of any direction from the government to continue with this benefit beyond 31 March 2015.

11) Logo of the International Day of Yoga launched

• The logo of International Day of Yoga was launched on 29 April 2015 in New Delhi by Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Union Minister of State (MoS) for AYUSH Shripad Yesso Naik.
• The logo was selected by a committee of yoga experts constituted by Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) and was approved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

International Day of Yoga:

1. The idea to observe 21 June as the International Day of Yoga was proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September 2014 during his speech at United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
2. In December 2014, UNGA unanimously adopted an India-led resolution to observe 21 June as the International Day of Yoga. The resolution was passed within a record time of 75 days. It was also first resolution in which 177 countries had become co-sponsors and was a world record.
3. Tourist Visa scheme extended to 31 more countries
4. Union Government announced to extend e-

12) Tourist Visa scheme to 31 more countries. This extension will be effective from 1 May 2015.

• The 31 countries to which the scheme was extended includes Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Canada, Cayman Island, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominic an Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, France, Georgia, Grenada, Haiti, HolySee (Vatican), Honduras, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Nicaragua, Paraguay, St. Kitts & Nevis and Seychelles.
• The e-Tourist Visa scheme (earlier called Tourist Visa on Arrival scheme) was launched by Union Government on 27 November 2014 for 45 countries from nine designated Indian airports namely Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Thiruvananthapuram.

13) Union Cabinet approved Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013

• The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 by pursuing the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013.
• The proposed amendments are mainly aimed at laying down more stringent measures to tackle corruption.
• The proposed amendments will fill the gaps in the domestic anti-corruption law and will help in meeting the country`s obligations under the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) more effectively.
• It provides more stringent punishment for the offences of bribery, both for the bribe giver and the bribe taker.
• It enhances penal provisions from minimum 6 months to 3 years and from maximum 5 years to 7 years (the seven year imprisonment brings corruption on equal footing with the heinous crime).

14) First meeting of Chief Ministers Sub-Group on Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan at NITI Aayog

• The first meeting of the Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan was held at NITI Aayog, New Delhi. The Sub-Group was constituted as per decision taken at the first meeting of the Governing Council of the NITI Aayog chaired by the Prime Minister on 8th February, 2015. The Sub-Group consists of Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Sikkim, West Bengal, and Uttarakhand as Members.
• The Sub-Group discussed the issue of the best technologies and best practices available in the country and abroad for Swachch Bharat Abhiyaan. A Working Group has been set up under the CEO, NITI Aayog with one member from each of the Sub-Group Member-States.
• The meeting decided to seek inputs from other states which are not the members of the Sub Group regarding best practices and technologies followed by them. The members discussed the issues of solid and liquid waste management and changing behavioral pattern.
• It was also pointed out that Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan programs should be run in campaign mode which must be sustainable.

15) Rajya Sabha passed Regional Rural Banks (Amendment) Bill, 2014

• The Regional Rural Banks (Amendment) Bill, 2014 that seeks to amend the Regional Rural Banks (RRB) Act, 1976 was introduced by the Union Minister of Finance, Arun Jaitley.
• It seeks to amend the RRB Act, 1976 which mainly provides for the incorporation, regulation and winding up of Regional Rural Banks (RRBs).
• It removes the five year limit cap that was put on the sponsor banks to assist the upcoming RRBs under the RRB Act, 1976. As per the Act, sponsor banks were liable to train personnel and provide managerial and financial assistance for the first five years.
• It raises the amount of authorized capital to 2000 crore rupees and it is not to be reduced below one crore rupees. In the 1976 Act the authorised capital of each RRB was five crore rupees which was not permitted to be reduced below 25 lakh rupees.
• It allows Union government to specify that the capital issued by a RRB should be at least one crore rupees. Under the Act, a RRB was to issue capital between 25 lakh rupees and one crore rupees.

• Six socialist parties merged to stave off a crushing defeat in the upcoming elections in Bihar this year, hoping to take on the BJP that has romped home in a string of state polls, except the Capital, after an emphatic Lok Sabha victory.
• Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav will lead the so-called Janata Parivar combine but issues such as the name, flag and election symbol of the party will be finalised by a six-member committee, Janata Dal (United) president Sharad Yadav said.
• ``The Modi government has failed to meet the aspirations of the people. Not one election promise has been fulfilled. We have come together to defeat the communal designs of the BJP government and provide a national, secular alternative to the country``, Mulayam said after a 90-minute meeting.
• Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad, Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Deve Gowda and SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav were among those named as members of the panel determining the structure of the alliance that also comprises the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Samajwadi Janata Party (Chandra Shekhar).

• Justice A.R. Dave of the Supreme Court of India (SC) recused himself from five-judge Constitutional bench that was to hear a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act, 2014.
• The act replaces the two-decade-old collegium system of judicial appointments with the NJAC.
• Justice Dave, head of the Constitution Bench, took the decision following an objection from the Supreme Court Advocates on Record Association (SCAORA) and other petitioners.
• SCAORA and other petitioners objected on the grounds of conflict of interest because of appointment of Justice AR Dave to the NJAC by virtue of being one of the two senior most judges of SC.
• The NJAC Act, 2014, provides for constitution of NJAC comprising of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) as the chairperson, two senior most judges of the SC, Union Law Minister and two eminent personalities as members.
• The present Constitutional Bench was formed by the CJI HL Dattu on the recommendation made by a three member SC bench headed by Justice AR Dave to litigate the petitions.

• Supreme Court has appointed Vivek Priyadarshi to head an investigating team to further probe the Indian Premier League (IPL) season 6 spot-fixing and betting scandals.
• Decision in this regard was taken by a SC bench comprising Justices T.S. Thakur and F.M.I. Kalifulla. The bench took this decision on the recommendation of a three member panel headed by former Chief Justice of India (CJI) RM Lodha which was appointed in January 2015.
• Vivek Priyadarshi currently is serving as Superintendent of Police (SP) in the anti-corruption cell of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). He will succeed 1983-batch Assam-Meghalaya cadre IPS officer B B Mishra as the head of the probe team following his retirement.
• SC also has given Priyadarshi liberty to form his own team and seek the services of police officers from the central and state governments as and when required to probe into this case. 

4) SC declared fundamental right to speech cannot be misused to abuse nationally revered figures.

• The Supreme Court of India (SC) declared that the fundamental right to speech and expression as provided by the Article 19 (1) of the Indian Constitution should not be misused to abuse nationally revered figures like Mahatma Gandhi and Subash Chandra Bose.
• The SC further stated that, one cannot resort to abusive language against historical figures in the guise of artistic expression to accentuate sensationalism.
• The judgment was delivered by a SC bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Prafulla C Pant while hearing a plea of Vasant Dattatraya Gujar, who was facing criminal charges for writing an objectionable poem on Mahatma Gandhi.
• The marathi poem, Gandhi Mala Bhetla Hota (I Met Gandhi), was published in the in-house magazine of the Bank of Maharashtra Employees Union in 1994. The poem depicts Gandhi as the narrator, who uses obscene language in the poem.

• The Supreme Court of India (SC) declared that it cannot issue guidelines to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) on how to assess a movie before allowing its release.
• The SC declined to issue guidelines because of the following reasons.
• The CBFC is an apex body consisting of experts from the film industry who are eligible to assess a movie.
• Any aggrieved person is always at the liberty to approach the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) against the order of the CBFC under the Section 5C of Cinematograph Act, 1952.
• The verdict was delivered by a SC bench headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) HL Dattu while hearing a plea filed by the Dharmaprachar Sabha appealing for revocation of the certificate issued by the CBFC to Singham Returns movie.
• The litigants contended that the movie maligned certain religious and spiritual places while glorifying certain other religions.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s grand plan to erect a giant statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the “Statue of Unity” expected to be the tallest in the world at 182 metres, on the Sadhu Bet Island on the Narmada near Vadodara, has come under National Green Tribunal scrutiny.
• The tribunal has asked Gujarat to file a reply before May 8 to allegations of irregularities in the project made by activists.
• A group of environmental activists from Gujarat has filed a petition with National Green Tribunal seeking a stay on the construction of the proposed 182 metre Sardar Patel Statue on Sadhu Bet Island on the Narmada.
• The State has taken time to file a reply, and we are expecting it by May 8 when the petition will be heard again,” Lara Jesani, lawyer representing the petitioners, told.
• The activist said the project had not obtained the mandatory permissions required under the Environment Impact Assessment Notification.
• Moreover, the site was on an active tectonic plate in a fault line area.

7) Income Tax Department Awarded the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration.

• The Income Tax Department has been awarded the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration’ for ‘Easy Tax Compliance through Quality Service.
• The award was presented by the Prime Minister on Civil Services Day.
• The award has been conferred to the Income Tax Department for setting-up and for successful implementation of end to end solution of core services.
• The services include
• e-governance initiatives i.e. viz. Tax Information Network (TIN).
• e-filing portal.
• Centralized Processing Cell (CPC-TDS) for processing of TDS statements.
• Centralized Processing Centre (CPC) for processing of Income Tax Returns and the Refund Banker.

1. Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) is a means of collecting income tax in India, governed under the Indian Income Tax Act of 1961.
2. Any payment covered under these provisions shall be paid after deducted prescribed percentage.
3. It is managed by the Central Board for Direct Taxes (CBDT) and is part of the Department of Revenue managed by Indian Revenue Service (IRS).
4. In the financial year 2014-15, more than 94% of the tax returns have been filed on-line, while more than 80% of the direct tax revenue is being received online.
5. The TDS statements are processed within a week, the tax returns are being processed within an average period of 30 days.

• The Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu launched ‘E-Samiksha’ for monitoring the implementation of budget announcements/ commitments.
• This portal would help to keep an eye on the implementation of budget commitments.

1. E-Samiksha is a real time, on-line system for monitoring of follow-up action on the decisions taken during the presentations made by different Ministries/Departments to the Prime Minister.
2. This system can also be configured to review the follow up action in respect of other meetings, if required.
3. Computerization and Information System (C&IS) of Railway Board in coordination with NIC and Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) have developed the software for E–Samiksha.

• Employees and officials of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited commenced a two-day strike as part of the nation-wide agitation in support of their 20-point charter of demands.
• The demands included
• supply of the required equipment to BSNL.
• dropping of the move for merger of BSNL and the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL).
• provision of adequate financial grants for the development of BSNL.
• issuing orders to the central government and public sector organisations to utilise the services of BSNL.
• immediate commencement of 4G service by BSNL.
• compensation for the losses sustained by BSNL in its rural operations.
• recruitment of staff.
• allotment of free bandwidth to BSNL, and return by the central government of the Rs. 6700 crores given by BSNL for spectrum allocation.

• Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu introduced from Delhi, the mobile app for paperless unreserved ticketing for commuters in Egmore and Tambram suburban sections in Chennai under Southern Railway zone.
• 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.

• Indian American pop singer Reggie Benjamin and Tollywood Actor Krishna Madhav launched the Mission `Save Her` at the Prasad Film Labs in Hyderabad.
• Benjamin was moved by the news of rapes in India and delved into the rape and trafficking statistics. He said that a women is sexually assaulted every 2 minutes in the USA, raped every 22 minutes in India.

• With the new facilities, officials have to clear files on seniority basis, unlike the present practice.
• About:
• Every day, Muda receives nearly 20 applications for khatas. Many suffer due to delay in receiving khatas or building clearance certificates.
• The move is aimed at eliminating undue delay or harassment by officials. Hereafter, files will have to be cleared on a priority without which officials cannot take up another file. Property owners can apply online at Spandana Centre on Muda campus.

• The Union Cabinet cleared a proposal to try juveniles in the age group of 16 to 18 years who are accused of heinous crimes under laws for adults.
• According to which, juveniles in the age group of 16-18 years can be tried under IPC if they are accused of heinous crimes.
• The proposed law states that if a person aged between 16-18 years is accused of a heinous crime, the case will be examined by the Juvenile Justice Board to assess if the crime was committed as a “child” or as an “adult”.
• The new legislation also proposes to streamline the adoption procedures for orphaned, abandoned and surrendered children by establishing “a statutory status for the Child Adoption Resources Authority (CARA)”. 

1) Union Cabinet approves release of additional installment of DA and DR.

• The Union Cabinet gave its nod to release an additional installment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners.
• The approved additional installment of DA/DR is at the rate of six percent increase over the existing rate of 107 percent with effect from 1 January 2015. This decision is going to benefit 48 lakh government employees and 55 lakh pensioners.
• Decision in this regard was taken in Union meeting chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in accordance with the accepted formula based on the recommendations of the 6th Central Pay Commission.
• With this Central Government employees as well as pensioners are entitled for DA/DR at the rate of 113 percent of the basic pay with effect from 1 January 2015.
• This decision will have combined impact on the exchequer on account of both DA and DR will be of the order of 6762.24 crore rupees per annum and 7889.34 crore rupees in the Financial Year 2015-16. FY 2015-16 will be for a period of 14 months from January 2015 to February 2016.

• The Union Cabinet approved amendments to the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2013 to protect the interests of consumers and curb the malpractices in the real estate sector.
• Decision in this regard was taken by Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• The bill seeks to create a uniform regulatory mechanism across the country and enhance the growth of construction sector.
• It also ensures to bring transparency and accountability in the real estate sector to access capital and financial markets essential for its long term growth.

• Regulates transactions in real estate projects between the promoters and buyers.
• Establishes state level regulatory authorities called Real Estate Regulatory Authorities (RERAs) and tribunals called Real Estate Appellate Tribunals to settle disputes.
• Promoters and real estate agents must register project details with RERAs who intend to sell any plot, apartment or building.
• All information for registered projects must be disclosed on website of the RERA. It will include details of promoters, land status, layout plan, schedule of execution and status of various approvals.
• The bill enforces the contract between the developer and buyer and fast track the mechanism to settle disputes.
• 50% of the amount collected from buyers for a project must be maintained in a separate bank account and must only be used for construction of that project.
• The Bill was initially introduced in Rajya Sabha by then UPA-2 government led by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. It was only applicable for residential real estate and is still pending in Rajya Sabha.

• Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has proposed ‘112’ as a single emergency number that can be used all across the country including for police, fire and ambulance departments.
• This emergency number will be similar to the ‘911’ an all-in-one emergency service in the United States.
• At present, for emergency disaster management different numbers for different emergencies such as 100 for police, 101 for fire and 102 for ambulance are in existence.
• TRAI has suggested that existing emergency numbers can be retained as secondary numbers and the calls made to them be re-routed to ‘112’. After time being, once a call to the secondary numbers significantly reduces, they can be withdrawn gradually.
• Callers seeking help in emergency can dial ‘112’ from mobile or landline phones even when outgoing facility has been debarred or the service temporarily suspended. TRAI also has proposed SMS-based access for the emergency services.
• The regulator also has recommended setting up of Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) – a call centre through which all calls to ‘112’ will be routed.
• Depending upon type of emergency, PSAPs will send police, fire, medical and other emergency response services.

• Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued orders on revision norms with respect of the centrally notified disasters. These disasters include tsunami, earthquake, floods, cyclones, drought, hailstorm, etc.

1. Norms related to various aspects of response and preparedness like ex-gratia to the kin’s in case of loss of lives, disability and livelihoods have been revised.
2. Permitted State governments to use upto 10% of allocation of the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) on equipment. On capacity building, maximum of 5% of SDRF allocation can be spent.
3. State Governments also can use upto 10% of their SDRF allocation on local disasters. In this case the State Executive Committees have to work out the criteria and modalities.
4. Procedure for adjustment of available balances under SDRF is simplified while releasing assistance from the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) in case of severe disasters.
5. Automatic annual updation of the norms by reference with the movement of wholesale price index (WPI) is also enabled.

• Union government has allowed pharmaceutical companies to hike rates of 509 essential medicines by 3.84 per cent. The new prices will be effective from 1 April 2015.
• In this regard, National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has issued a notification under Drug Price Control Order (DPCO), 2013 in line with the wholesale price index of 2014.
• These essential medicines are used for treating various ailments like hepatitis B and C, diabetes, and cancer.
• Presently, Union government regulates prices of a total of 348 essential medicines based on the simple average of all medicines in a particular therapeutic segment with sales of more than 1 per cent.
• Union government also regulates prices of all other medicines and pharma companies are allowed to hike prices of such drugs by only up to 10 per cent in a year.
• DPCO, 2013 was notified by the Union government with an effect from May 2014. It has replaced the 1995 order that regulated prices of only 74 bulk drugs and covers 680 formulations.

6) Union Government suspends Greenpeace India’s registration for 6 months.

• Union government has suspended the registration of Greenpeace India, a non-profit environmental organization for six months with immediate effect.
• Decision in this regard was taken by Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) after Greenpeace India had prejudicially acted against the public interests and economic interests of the country.
• As per MHA, Greenpeace India has used its funds received from foreign sources for unauthorised purposes and has violated the rules mentioned Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), 2010.
• If Greenpeace India fails to make a satisfactory presentation to the Union government in this regard, its licence may be cancelled permanently.

1. Government’s action against the Greenpeace came in the wake of the Intelligence Bureau’s (IB’s) report on foreign funding of NGOs.
2. In the IB report, it had charged the Greenpeace and other lobby groups for preventing economic growth of country by campaigning against mining, power projects and genetically modified food.
3. Security agencies also have alleged that nearly 200 foreign donors were indulged in money laundering under the garb of donating money to some of these organisations.

• National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed Real Estate Sector in the Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR) to check air pollution caused by dust emanating from construction sites.
• The ruling was given by NGT bench headed by Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar.

1. Ordered to stop to all construction activity in the NCR immediately which do not follow rules stipulated in the 2010 guidelines of Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF).
2. Directed developers to provide masks to every workers working on the construction site or engaged in loading and unloading of building materials.
3. Directed every owner and builder to put tarpaulin sheets around area of construction so the material does not disperse through air.
4. Trucks or vehicles carrying construction material and debris must be fully covered.
5. Banned builder and owner from throwing construction material particularly sand on the roads or inside colonies.
6. Any developer if found violating these orders, shall be liable to pay a fine of 50 thousand rupees.
7. In this regard, NGT has directed all concerned authorities to take appropriate measures in order to ensure follow and implement all these directions.

8) Union Home Ministry notified Governors (Allowances and Privileges) Amendment Rules, 2015.

• Union Home Ministry notified amendments to the Governors (Allowances and Privileges) Rules, 1987 and named these rules as Governors (Allowances and Privileges) Amendment Rules, 2015.
• The rules were notified after President Pranab Mukherjee exercising his powers conferred under Section 13 of the Governors (Allowances and Privileges) Rules, 1982 amended the Governors (Allowances and Privileges) Rules, 1987.
• The amendment notifies 18-set of rules to regulate any foreign visit or domestic visit outside the State by the Governors.

1. The Governors can leave the state for a private visit to a foreign country or within India only after receiving the due approval of the president except in emergent or extraordinary circumstances.
2. The requests for permission to travel outside the state will have to be sent to president secretariat anywhere between two weeks (for domestic visit) and six weeks (for foreign visit) before the date of travel.
3. It bars Governors to stay in their respective states for at least 292 days in a year.
4. The Governor can’t undertake such visits even under any emergent or extraordinary circumstance. In such cases, the Governors will have to provide details of the circumstances and compelling reasons why it was not possible to obtain prior permission.
5. The intimation to the president secretariat in emergency circumstances shall be given as soon as the programme is finalized.
6. It also says that the duration of visits in extraordinary circumstances cannot exceed 20 percent of the days in calendar years. 

• Union Government has brought into force the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act, 2014 along with the 99th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2014.
• With this new law the collegium system to appoint members to the higher judiciary has come to an end. Now President will appoint judges in the Supreme Court (SC) and 24 High Courts (HCs) in consultation with the NJAC.

1. Composition of NJAC.
2. As per Article 124A, NJAC is a 6 member constitutional body. Consisting of
3. Chairman: Chief Justice of India (CJI).
4. Members: Two senior most Judges of the Supreme Court, the Union Minister of Law and Justice and two eminent persons.
5. Two eminent persons will be nominated by committee led by Prime Minister of India, the CJI, and the Leader of the Opposition in the House of the People.

• Recommend persons for appointment as CJI, Judges of SC, Chief Justices and other Judges of High Courts.
• Recommend transfer of Chief Justices and other Judges HCs from one HC to another HC.

1. Previously, under the collegium system, five top judges of the Supreme court recommended transfer and elevation of judges to Supreme Court and High Courts.
2. It came into existence in 1993 after a Supreme Court judgement.

• Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has renamed Tourist Visa on Arrival-Electronic Travel Authorization scheme (TVoA-ETA) to e-Tourist Visa.
• With this ambiguities faced by foreign tourists especially by scheme’s nomenclature VoA, presuming that they would be granted visa on arrival upon landing will be removed.

• MHA move comes after some of Indian embassies had requested to change the nomenclature of the scheme.
• A committee of officers from the External Affairs Ministry, MHA and Bureau of Immigration also had suggested renaming the scheme.
• Foreign tourists were confused with Visa on Arrival (VoA) scheme as other countries allowed tourist to land and then get visa.

1. E-Tourist Visa Scheme is a pre-authorization of Visa to foreigners that being given prior to travel.
2. Under the scheme, a foreign tourist is required to apply for a visa online by uploading his photograph and passport and also paying his visa fee online.
3. Then visa authorities will process his application and send him an electronic travel authorization, or simply e-visa, via e-mail within 72 hours.
4. TVoA-ETA was launched in November 2014. It had enabled Electronic Travel Authorization to 44 countries at nine airports across India.

• Border Security Force (BSF) launched nationwide satellite-based tele-medicine programme for its troops.
• The programme will address medical and health-related problems of its troops deployed in far-flung frontier areas and difficult regions in the hinterland in case of an emergency or illness.

1. It will be operated and hosted from the BSF’s Kadamtala-based composite hospital in Siliguri, West Bengal.
2. The full-time team of doctors at hospital will be connected with BSF posts along the Indo-Pak and Indo-Bangla frontiers.
3. The hospital has been equipped with required technology including satellite phones and the VSAT platform to host the programme.
4. BSF’s anti-Naxal operations units in Chhattisgarh and Odisha will also be linked with the same facility.

• Union Government constituted a task force on interlinking of rivers in the country.
• The Task Force will be chaired by former Secretary of Ministry of Water Resources. B.N. Navalawala and comprises experts and senior officials.

1. Take up all issues related to expediting the work on interlinking of rivers in the country.
2. Consider alternative plans in case of infeasible links in the present National Perspective Plan (NPP) apart from examining the existing links which are laid out as per the NPP under both Himalayan and Peninsular components.
3. Facilitate interlinking of intra-basin and intra-state Rivers, along with that of inter-state and inter-basin links.
4. Recommend time schedules for completing feasibility studies of all the river links along with implementation schedule.
5. Suggest different means of funding mechanisms for the interlinking of rivers project.
6. Provide guidance norms of appraisal for individual projects in respect of economic viability, environmental impacts, socio-economic and preparation of resettlement plans.
7. Device suitable mechanisms in order to bring speedy consensus among the states. 

1) Union Government launches FAME-India scheme to boost electric, hybrid vehicle sales.

• Union Government launched Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric vehicles (FAME) – India Scheme.
• The scheme was launched as part of the National Mission for Electric Mobility to boost eco-friendly vehicles sales in the country.

1. Objective: To support the hybrid or electric vehicles market development and its manufacturing eco-system in the country in order to achieve self-sustenance in stipulated period.
2. The overall scheme is proposed to be implemented over a period next 6 years i.e. till 2020.
3. It envisages providing Rs. 795 crore support till 2020 for the manufacturing and sale of electric and hybrid vehicles.
4. It also seeks to provide demand incentives to electric and hybrid vehicles from two-wheeler to buses.
5. Implementation: It will be implemented in phases. The Phase-1 will be implemented over a two year period in FY15-16 and FY16-17.
6. Based on the outcome and experience from the Phase-1, it will be reviewed for implementation after 31 March 2017. Then appropriate fund will be allocated for future.
7. Four focus areas of scheme: Technology development, Pilot Projects, Demand Creation and Charging Infrastructure. In the first two years Rs. 260 crore and Rs. 535 crore will be spent on the focus areas.

• Union Cabinet gave its approval for the amendment of the Homoeopathy Central Council Act, 1973. Decision in this regard was taken by Union Cabinet meeting chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• The approved amendments in parent act aims at improving the quality of homeopathy education in the country to provide better healthcare through the homeopathy system of medicine.
• The amendments will add provisions related to granting permission by Union Government to all homoeopathic medical colleges for continuing courses to impart quality education.

• Union Government’s permission is being made mandatory for all the homoeopathy colleges to undertake annual admissions.
• Union Government can give permission for 5 years to homoeopathy colleges which conform to the prescribed standards as specified in the Act.

1. The existing provisions of parent Act do not empower Union Government to stop admissions in existing homoeopathy colleges which are not conforming to standards specified in the Act. Thus, comprising the quality of homoeopathy education.

3) Union Government unveils new Foreign Trade Policy.

• Union Government has unveiled new Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) to make India an exporting powerhouse in the next five years.
• The new trade policy will incorporate government ambitious initiatives such as Make in India, Digital India mission, Skill India programme, ease of business in order to boost jobs and take India’s exports to 900 billion dollars by 2020.
• The goals of the new policy will be achieved by simplifying complex procedures, addressing infrastructural bottlenecks and eliminating manufacturing hurdles.

1. Labour intensive sectors to generate more employment.
2. Boosting to environment-friendly products.
3. High tech value addition.
4. Involving skill India programme to promote entrepreneurship.
5. Moving towards branding of products.
6. Incentives for units located in SEZs.
7. Making the life of traders easier.

1. FTP also takes into consideration e-commerce. Under the new policy, India’s nascent, e-commerce sector would also be extended sops.
2. The new trade policy will be based on two new schemes- Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) and Services Exports from India Scheme (SIES). Under these two schemes, government has merged all earlier export promotion schemes.
3. MEIS is for export of specified goods in specified markets with the rate of rewards range from 2 to 5%. SIES is for increasing exports of notified services and the selected services will be rewarded at the rates of 3 to 5%.
4. The new also move towards paperless working. In this regard, a facility has been created to upload documents in exporter/ importer profile in order to avoid need of repeatedly submitting documents.

• President Pranab Mukherjee gave his assent to re-promulgate the Land Acquisition Ordinance as per Article 123 of Constitution.
• Earlier, in this regard Union Cabinet had made a recommendation to President as present Land Acquisition Ordinance promulgated in December 2014 is going to lapse on 5 April. 
• The new ordinance includes 9 amendments that were part of Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015.
• Lok Sabha had passed the bill in the budget session in March 2015. However, the bill is pending before the Rajya Sabha, where government is in minority.
• Earlier, President had prorogued the 234th session of the Rajya Sabha in order to pave the way for re-issuing of the Ordinance as per provisions of Constitution.

1. It gives legislative power to President. He can issue ordinances when Parliament is in recess i.e. not in session if there is urgent need to have a law on some urgent public matter.
2. The ordinance has similar effect to an act of parliament. However, every ordinance must be laid and approved by both houses of the parliament within 6 weeks from the reassembling.
3. If not placed and approved by both houses of the parliament after reassembling it becomes invalid or lapses.

• 88th Akhil Bhartiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan (All India Marathi Sahitya Sammelan) began in Ghumaan village in Gurdaspur district of Punjab.
• It was inaugurated by Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari along with the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. The three-day long sammelan is dedicated to Marathi Saint Bhagat Namdev (Sant Namdeo). In this conference large contingent of Marathi litterateurs is going to take part.
• The President of 88th Akhil Bhartiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan is Dr. Sadanand More. Apart from inaugurated the sammelan, foundation stone of Bhagat Namdev Degree College was also laid in the Ghumaan village.
• Village Ghumaan is the place where Marathi Saint Bhagat Namdev had spent 18 years of his life and gave valuable teachings to the society.
• It is believed that in Ghuman, Sant Namdeo had composed his shlokas in Awadhi, Marathi and Punjabi. His 61 shabads were included in Holy Scripture of the Sikhs i.e. in Guru Granth Sahib.

• Union Government again has extended rolling out deadline for National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013 by six months.
• It was announced by Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan in order to give more time to states to roll out NFSA. The extension will help remaining states adopt and implement the law within next six months.
• It is third time, this deadline has been extended and the second deadline was to end on 4 April 2015.
• So far only 11 states and Union Territories (UTs) have implemented NFSA which was passed by Parliament in September 2013. Remaining 25 states/UTs have not implemented it yet.
• 11 states and UTs that have implemented NFSA fully or partially are- Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi and Chandigarh.

1. NFSA aims at providing legal entitlement to 5 kg of subsidised foodgrains to the identified person per month.
2. Grains like wheat, rice and coarse grain will be distributed at the price of Three Rs. 3, Rs. 2 and Rs. 1.
3. Pregnant women and lactating mothers and children are entitled to get meals under the prescribed nutrition by MDM and ICDS. The age group would be 6 months to 14 years.
4. NFSA 2013 will provide high nutrition food to the age group of 6 years.
5. Pregnant women and lactating mothers will be entitled to get maternity benefit of not less than Rs. 6,000.

• Union Government formally launched the ‘Give It Up’ movement in Karnataka. It was launched by Union Minister of State (MoS) for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradan.
• The movement appeals to the rich people to voluntarily give up their subsidy amount given on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders.
• The money surrendered under this movement will be utlised for poor to get LPG connection in rural as well as in urban areas who are still using firewood for cooking.
• Earlier in this regard, Give it Up campaign was launched Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the annual energy-focussed summit Urja Sangam 2015. During this summit, Prime Minister had asked companies and banks to encourage their employees to give up the subsidy on LPG.
• PM also had mentioned that Give it Up campaign should be taken up on the lines of Union Governments initiatives like Swacch Bharat and Beti Bachao - Beti Padhao.

8) MoU inked for construction of BR Ambedkar memorial at Indu Mills land.

• A three party MoU was signed between Union Ministry of Textiles, Maharashtra government and National Textile Corporation for transfer of land for construction of the memorial for Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar memorial in Mumbai.
• The MoU was signed in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union textile minister Santosh Gangwar in New Delhi.

1. Pave the way for construction of memorial on the 12 acre land adjacent to the Chaityabhoomi in the Indu Mills Compound which belongs to the National Textiles Corporation (NTC).
2. Facilitate the transfer the land of NTC to the state government as per section 11 of The Textile Undertakings Nationalization Act-1995 which mentions that it can be transferred with prior permission of Union government.
3. The memorial will be constructed on the site where the last rites of architect of the Indian Constitution, Bharat Ratna Dr Ambedkar were performed after he had died on December 6, 1956.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched National Air Quality Index (AQI) to give pollution information on real time basis.
• Initially the new index will cover 10 cities. They are Ahmedabad, Chennai, Delhi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Agra, Faridabad, Varanasi, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Later it will be extended to more than 60 cities with a population exceeding one million.

1. AQI will be used to inform people about daily air quality in turn it will provide advisories on health consequences.
2. It will also tell how clean or polluted the air is and what associated health effects.
3. The AQI has been developed for six pollutants- nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, ozone, Particle Pollution (PM) 2.5, PM10 and carbon monoxide.
4. The new AQI is hosted on the website of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

• The Supreme Court (SC) of India said that divorced Muslim women are entitled to seek maintenance from their ex-husbands. They are entitled for maintenance under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) which provides the same relief to wives, children and parents.
• The apex court upheld a family court`s order of directing a man to pay 4000 rupees as maintenance to his divorced wife and said that right to maintenance of a wife under Section 125 of the CrPC was absolute and no exceptions could be made. The rule would also apply to divorced Muslim women as well.
• It further said that the amount of maintenance to be awarded under Section 125 of CrPC cannot be restricted for the iddat period (three months) only as the inherent and fundamental principle behind Section 125 is amelioration of financial state of affairs.
• Also, it said that an order under Section 125 CrPC can be passed if a person, despite having sufficient means, neglects or refuses to maintain the wife.

1. The case relates to ill-treatment of Shamima Farooqui by her husband Shahid Khan, an Army personnel, who divorced her and later remarried.
2. She filed a case against her husband seeking maintenance in a family court in 1998; however, her application was taken up in 2012. The family court ruled in her favour and initially granted her 2000 rupees per month and later 4000 rupees per month after it found that she had no other means of supporting herself.

• The Supreme Court (SC) of India asked the Union Government to re-examine the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 and make it more stringent at least in cases pertaining to heinous crimes like rape and murder.
• Further, the apex court noted that a juvenile cannot get away by claiming that he is too young to understand the consequences of his crime and a message had to be sent that the victim`s life was equally important.
• The court also noted the number of cases against juveniles had spiked, a statement backed by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), which says the number of rapes committed by juveniles jumped by a massive 300 percent and juvenile crime rose by 78 percent in the last decade.
• In this light, it asked the Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi to consult competent authorities and suggest to it whether the relevant laws can be re-looked, re-scrutinised and re-visited so that it has a deterrent effect.

1. The demand to amend the JJ Act gained momentum after the brutal Nirbhaya case of December 2012 in which the most brutal offender out of six was below 18 but was given only three years of punishment.
2. The Act defines a juvenile who is 16 years old and provides for children-sensitive approach towards prevention and treatment of underage offenders. 
3. Under the existing law, a juvenile convict is not sent to jail but tried by a board with the maximum punishment being three years in an observation home, a provision that critics say is too lenient for serious offenses.

• Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved strengthening and widening of three sections connecting the two temple towns of Varanasi and Madurai.
• CCEA approved four laning of Sultanpur-Varanasi section of National Highway-56 in Uttar Pradesh- This project will upgrade 138 km long stretch NH-56 at the cost of 3,800 crore rupees. It will substantially upgrade Varanasi’s connectivity to Lucknow and other parts of Central UP.
• Varanasi to Ghazipur, Gorakhpur and Nepal section of NH- 29 in UP- This project will upgrade 200 km long stretch NH- 29 at the cost of 4,400 crore rupees. It will improve regional connectivity and facilitate improved movement of people and goods in the region and across the border.
• Madurai-Ramanathapuram section of NH- 49 in Tamil Nadu- This project will upgrade 115 km long stretch NH- 49 at the cost of 1,400 crore rupees. It will be undertaken under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) Phase-III.