Lok Sabha Passed IIT (Amendment) Bill
• The Lok Sabha passed the Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2016 that will govern the six new recently set-up Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and bring the Indian School of Mines at Dhanbad in Jharkhand within the ambit of this law on July 25, 2016.
• The government will set-up a fund with a Rs 1000 crore investment and an equal contribution from a financial institution that will leverage 120000 crore for adding research infrastructure to IITs.
• The six IITs that have come up are at Tirupati, Palakkad, Goa, Dharwar, Bhilai and Jammu. Students from the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, those from BPL families and physically challenged are exempt from fees in IITs and NITs.
Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2016 Passed
• The Parliament passed the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill 2016 with Lok Sabha’s approval on July 25, 2016. The bill seeks to prohibit the employment of children below 14 in all occupations and enterprises, except those run by his or her own family.
• The bill seeks to make child labour a cognisable offence attracting a jail term of up to three years and penalty up to Rs 50000.
• Children below 14 will be allowed to work only in family enteiprises, that too after school hours. The bill also defines children between 14 to 18 years as adolescents and bars their employment in any hazardous occupations.
Notification Issued for Implementation of 7th Pay Commission
• The Union government published the implementation notification of the 7th Pay Commission on July 25, 2016. According to recommendation, it has to increase minimum pay from existing Rs 7000 to Rs 18000 per month.
• He announced that a fitment factor of 2.57 would apply for pay revision of all employees. And the rate of annual increment has ! been retained at 3%.
• The government also announced that CBSE Chief Rajesh Kumar | Chaturvedi will be given additional charge Of chief of the implementation cell of the Seventh Central Pay Commission.
India’s First Green Rail Corridor Launched
• The 114 km long Manamadurai-Rameswaram stretch of Southern Railway became India’s first ‘Green corridor’ inaugurated on July 24, 2016.
• To ensure proper working of the bio-toilets, Southern Railway had established a bio-lab at the coaching depot. Indian Railway had developed the environment friendly ‘IR-DRDO Bio-toilets’, in association with DRDO.
• Regenerative type anaerobic bacteria in liquid form was poured into the six-chamber retention tanks in the bio-toilets and the bacteria helped in disintegrating human waste into liquid and gas.
Committee Constituted to Prepare Guidelines for Desiltation of River Ganga
• The Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation has constituted a committee on July 22, 2016 to prepare guidelines for desiltation of river Ganga from Bhimgauda (Uttarakhand) to Farakka (West Bengal).
• Madhav Chitale (Expert Member, NGRBA) has been appointed as Chairman of the committee. The other members of the committee are : Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change and Dr. Mukesh Sinha, Director, Central Water and Power Research Station (Pune).
• The committee also established difference between desilting and sand mining and also to establish need for desilting for ecology and e-flow of the river Ganga. The tenure of the committee would be for a period of three months.
Prime Minister Modi Laid the Foundation of AIIMS, Fertiliser Plant in Gorakhpur
• The Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the foundation stone of AIIMS and revival of gas-based fertiliser plant, implemented by Hindustan Urvarak Rasayan Limited on July 22, 2016 at Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh).
• It is a joint venture between CIL and NTPC Limited. The revival of the plant, entailing an investment of Rs 6000 crore, is in the equity pattern of 50% each between both the entities.
• This initiative would help the farming community getting urea timely and usher in a new era of rural progress and prosperity in the country especially in the eastern parts. This is in harmony with the government of India s commitment to empower farmers, increase agricultural income and accelerate rural development.
Union Government Approved Incorporation of Sagarmala Development Company
• The Union Cabinet on July 20, 2016 approved the incorporation of Sagarnjala Development Company (SDC) under the Companies Act, 2013.
• The SDC will be under the administrative control of the Ministry of Shipping. It will provide equity support to the project Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) and funding support to the residual projects under the Sagarmala Programme.
• The SDC will Identify port-led development projects and assist the project SPVs in project development and structuring activities, bidding out projects for private sector participation, putting in place suitable risk management measures for strategic projects cutting across multiple States/regions and obtaining requisite approvals and clearances.
National Electoral Roll Purification 2016 Launched
• The National Electoral Roll Purification (NERP) programme launched across the country with intensive, to enhance the purity and fidelity of Electoral Rolls (ERs) and to standardisation of PS for electors convenience and facilitate electors’ reach his PS with ease on July 20, 2016.
• No voter to be left behind is the motto of ECI for year 2016.
• Objective of programme is to improve Health of ERs by-inclusion of all eligible citizens in mission mode; ERs to be Free from errors; Single ER entry for every eligible elector with unique Elector Photo Identity Card (EPIC) number; Removal of all Absent (A)/ Shifted (S)/ Dead (D) electors’ entries and Repeat Entries (REs) and ensuring Photo Electoral Rolls (PERs) with good quality correct images of every elector confirming to ECI standards, and linking Electors with ECI by obtaining their contact details.
