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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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