Thursday, June 18, 2015

Starred Articles

Landmark Motor Vehicles Agreement with 3 SAARC nations gets cabinet approval
Politics and Government > Motor Vehicles Agreement > Jun 11
The Union Cabinet gave nod to the signing of the Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA) with three other nations, which are a part of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) – Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal. The pact will be signed on 15th of June, 2015 in Bhutan and will facilitate an exchange of passenger, personal and cargo vehicles among the nations. The agreement will pave the way for a seamless movement of people and goods across the borders of the four countries and will benefit the integration among the region along with its economic development. The agreement was signed by the Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping Mr. Nitin Gadkari, he has also hinted at another agreement with two other nations Myanmar and Thailand, which are a part of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

India and Australia to hold first joint naval exercise this year
World > Military > Jun 14
India and Australia are set to hold their first joint naval exercise later this year with the possibility of Japan joining the two nations for a trilateral exercise. The exercise aims at strengthening the ties between the three nations in all sectors, especially maritime security. The naval exercise with Japan is likely to anger China as it had reacted sharply in 2007, when the three nations had carried out such joint talks with the US. The trio had held their first-ever high-level trilateral dialogue here last week which was attended by the foreign ministers of the respective countries.

Sushma Swaraj drowned in controversy over helping Lalit Modi
Politics and Government > Sushma Swaraj - Lalit Modi > Jun 17
Speculations claiming ex- IPL chief Lalit Modi receiving help with British travel documents from Sushma Swaraj has been doing the rounds in India's political circle with oppositions demanding her resignation. Swaraj has maintained that she helped Modi on "humanitarian grounds" — to attend to his wife who was undergoing surgery for cancer in Lisbon and has found constant support in BJP. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has spoken in favor of Swaraj saying she acted with good intentions. With the support from government, RSS, NDA allies and even those from the opposition like Samajwadi Party, the official position of Sushma Swaraj remains as firm as it was for the moment.

Others

Reliance Industries may begin 4G services in December
Corporate > Telecom > Jun 12
Reliance Industries Ltd may enter the telecom sector in the start of December with 4G phone services, according to a statement by Mukesh Ambani. After facing difficulties in establishing a foothold in the telecoms sector, Relaince Industries is again gearing up to venture into the sector dominated by Airtel and Vodafone. Seeking to make its 4G services available to more Indian consumers, Reliance will offer its own 4G services for as little as 300 rupees a month.

US probes Infosys, TCS over H-1B visa violations
Corporate > H-IB Visa > Jun 12
Two of the biggest Indian outsourcing companies face probe from the US authorities for possible violations of H-1B visa. According to the reports, the two companies had recently laid off more than 500 technology workers, following which the terminated employees were made to train the immigrant workers on temporary H-1B visas who were to replace them. The immigrants were brought in by by the outsourcing firms based in India.

Consumer forums to get rate cards for public scrutiny
Politics & Government > Rate Card > Jun 15
Now district consumer forums will have to work efficiently as government launches a mechanism for giving rate card to forums based on their scores calculated keeping in mind speed of disposal of cases, period of adjournment, number of adjournments and average time taken for admission. A dashboard will be developed by Computerization and Computer Networking of Consumer Fora in Country (CONFONET) that will contain all these information and will be made public. The detailed performance of forums made public on a website will pressurize forums to fulfill the needs of consumers.

Delhi police allege former Delhi Law Minister non cooperative
India > Delhi Law Minister > Jun 15
The Delhi police have said that former Delhi law minister Jitender Singh Tomar was not cooperating in the investigation regarding a fake law degree scam. The police have said the ex-minister was reluctant to answer questions during interrogation during his police custody. The Delhi high court has extended the police custody of the AAP MLA by two more days, as the police could not take him to the concerned educational institutes for investigations, as they were closed on account of being a Sunday.

Bill to force-feed prisoners on hunger-strike passed in Israel
World > Israel > Jun 15
The Israeli government has faced a lot of flak for passing a bill, which allows the forceful feeding of prisoners who go on a hunger-strike and risk their health. The passing of the bill was led by Internal Security Minister, Gilad Erdan, who said that prisoners observing a hunger strike are mainly Palestinians and posed a “threat” to Israel. The bill was previously approved in June 2014, on the back of a mass hunger strike when 80 Palestinian prisoners were hospitalised, but it was eventually put on hold.

Cairn India to merge with Vedanta Ltd
Corporate > Vedanta > Jun 15
Metal and mining giant Vedanta Ltd and its subsidiary oil explorer Cairn India will merge in an all share swap deal, giving the parent company Vedanta complete control of decision making and access to Cairn India's treasure of $2.7 billion, which will help Vedanta to reduce debt. The merger has consolidated Vedanta's position as one of India's leading diversified natural resources company.

Reliance Communications talks about merger plans with Sistema Shyam
Corporate > M&A > Jun 16
The Anil Ambani owned Reliance Communications (RCOM) is in talks with Sistema, a Russian company to merge their Indian business Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd (SSTL). SSTL operates under the MTS brand and has around nine million subscribers. RCOM is India's fourth-largest telecom carrier, and has more than 110 million users. The deal is supposed to be an all-stock deal, where RCOM will buy out around 90% of SSTL's shares.

PAN-based information at the click of a button
Economy > PAN > Jun 17
Now all PAN-based information about a tax payer will be made available to assessing officers through a data mining tool known as the Income Tax Business Application. Through this new tool with “smart and intelligent database”, the tax department is expecting to address the problems of the tax payers and make the process of paying taxes simple.

Real Estate biggie Donald Trump to run for president of the US
Politics and Government > US Presidency > Jun 17
Real estate tycoon Donald Trump has officially announced his bid for 2016 US presidency putting all speculations to rest over his entry in politics. In a speech launching his run for presidency, he called the current crop of politicians stupid and vowed to make the US great again. However, in a recent poll just five percent of voters said would vote for Trump at the Republican primary.

Mohamed Morsi sentenced to death over jailbreak and other offences
Politics and Government > Egypt > Jun 17
In two separate court cases, deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi was sentenced to death and life in prison on charges of killing, kidnapping and other offences during a 2011 mass jail break. The court last month convicted Dr Morsi and his fellow defendants of killing and kidnapping policemen, attacking police facilities and breaking out of jail during the 2011 uprising against Mubarak.

John Kerry calls Nawaz Sharif over India-Pak tension
Politics and Government > Bilateral Ties > Jun 17

Talks on bilateral ties and ongoing tension between India and Pakistan happened when US secretary of state John Kerry called Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Kerry told reporters that the rising public dispute between India and Pakistan has raised concerns from all over the world and the phone call was made to work out the issue together. He added that Sharif was very welcoming and had actually just finished a conversation with the Prime Minister of India.

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