National Current Affairs December 2015 (Part 5)

Indian Railways Issued Letter of Award for Setting-up of DLF

• Indian Railways have taken a giant leap forward in ‘Make in 4 India’ drive on November 9, 2015 by issuing the Letter of Award (LoA) for setting-up of Diesel Locomotive Factory (DLF) at Marhowra, Saran district. Bihar and procurement and maintenance of mainline Diesel Electric Locomotives to M/s GE Global Sourcing India Private Limited.
• The Mantra of Decentralisation, Deregulation and Delegation of Powers to the Cutting Edge Functionaries Initiated by Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu in a Bjg way Helped Expedite the Awarding of this Milestone LOA.
• The Factory to Manufacture and Supply Modem Diesel Electric Locomotives of 4500 HP and 6000 HP to Indian ‘ Q Railways. These Locos in Combination can Operate as 9000 HP and 12000 HP Multiple Units. 1000 Locos to be Manufactured in a Period of Ten Years.

Union Government Launched Three, Portals/Mobile Apps

• The Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani launched e-Pathshala, Saaransh, and National Programme on School Standards and Evaluation Framework (Shala Siddhi) at the edNEXT, National Conference on ICT in School Education at New Delhi on November 7, 2015.
• E-Pathshala. a web portal which hosts educational resources for Students, Teachers, Parents, researchers and educators, is available through especially developed mobile app interface on Android, IOS and windows platforms for wider access and contains textbooks and other e-books.
• Shaala Siddhi is a comprehensive instrument for school evaluation which enables the schools to evaluate their performance in more focused and strategic manner to facilitate them to make professional judgement for continuous improvement.
• Saransh is a tool which a lion s the schools to identify areas of improvement in students, teachers and curriculum to facilitate and implement change. The platform is presently available lor classes 9th to 12th and provides a comprehensive overview of standard 10th performance since 2007 and standard 12th performance since 2009 till the current academic session.

2.5 Million War Veterans, Widows to Benefit with OROP Notification

• The Union government issued a notification regarding the long-pending One Rank One Pension scheme for ex-servicemen. It was brought into force on November 7, 2015 that will benefit more than 2.5 million veteran.’ and war widows.
• The notification is almost similar id the announcement made by Defence Minister Manohar Parrtkar on September 5, 2015 Pension would be re-fixed on the basis of pension of retirees of calendar year 20 and the benefit w ill be effective from July 1, 2014.
• The notification said that in future, the pension would be re fixed every five years, against the demand by ex-servicemen for pension to be rev .serf e very two years, if not one.

Union Government Announced Draft Aviation Policy-2015

• The Onion government released a revised draft of civil aviation policy on October 31, 2015 aimed at popularising air travel among the people in the country. The government will send the draft policy for Cabinet s approval by mid-December, 2015.
• The draft was released by Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Mahcsh Sharma in New Delhi. The policy is open to comments from the industry and various stakeholders before finalisation. Government may increase FDI in airlines from the present 49% to above 50% from 2020.

CCEA Raised MSP for Major Rabi Crops Including Wheat and Pulses

• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on November 5, 2015 hiked the MSP to farmers for masoor and gram dais sharply by Rs 250 a quintal each to boost production in the ongoing rabi season and reduce dependency on imports.
• Apart from raising the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of pulses, CCEA approved a bonus of Rs 75 per quintal for gram and masoor dais over and above the support price. The MSP of wheat, the main rabi crop, has been increased by Rs 75 to Rs 1525 a quintal for the 2015-16 rabi season, while that of oilseeds has been increased by Rs 250 a quintal.

President Launched ‘IMPRINT India’

• IMPRINT India’, a Pan-IIT and IISc joint initiative to develop a roadmap for research to solve major engineering and technology challenges in ten technology domains relevant to India was launched by the President Pranab Mukherjee on November 5, 2015. The objectives of this initiative is to:-
• Identify areas of immediate relevance to society requiring innovation
• Direct scientific research into identified areas
• Ensure higher funding support for research into these areas
• Measure outcomes of the research effort with reference to impact on the standard of living in the rural/urban areas

‘UDAY’ Scheme Approved

• The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme on November 5, 2015 that aimed at bailing out debt ridden State-run power distribution companies (discoms).
• The financial restructuring package is launched to financially turn around discoms that have been severely indebted and make them strong. P According to the package, States can take over by March, 2016, 75% of the discoms’ debts up to September, 2015, by issuing special bonds at a price determined by the Reserve Bank at G-Scc rates plus 5%.

Read More>> National Current Affairs- Nov (Part 4)

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