1. Inland Waterways Authority
of India (IWAI) is the statutory authority in charge of the waterways in India.
Its headquarters is located in Noida, UP.
Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river
system from Allahabad to Haldia was declared as National Waterway No.1. States
covered under NW-1: are Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal.
payment banks
Payment banks are non-full
service banks, whose main objective is to accelerate financial inclusion.
Minimum paid-up capital - Rs.
100 crore.
Features-
Accept deposits of up to Rs
1 lakh.
No lending.
Accept demand deposits.
Can issue ATM/debit cards
but not credit cards.
Can carry out payments and
remittance services through various channels.
BIMSTEC summit
The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and
Economic Cooperation
Fourth BIMSTEC summit was recently held in Nepal.
The theme of the fourth BIMSTEC summit is
‘Towards a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable Bay of Bengal region’.
ESTABLISHED- June 6, 1997, through the Bangkok Declaration.
Headquartered in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Member countries
- South Asia —
Bangladesh,
Bhutan,
India,
Nepal,
Sri Lanka
Southeast Asia - Myanmar and Thailand.
Uniform Civil Code
Article 44 of the Constitution says
that there should be a Uniform Civil Code. According to this article, “The
State shall endeavor to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout
the territory of India”. Since the Directive Principles are only guidelines, it
is not mandatory to use them.
Official
language of union:
Hindi written in Devanagari script is the Official Language
of the Union. The original constitution provided that for a period
of 15 years from the commencement of the constitution, English will continue to
be used for all official purposes of the Union.
The constitution has put all
authority in the hands of the central government both for formulating and
implementing the language policy.
It is also special responsibility of
the centre to develop and spread the official language (Hindi) of the union
(art. 351).
Kanthasth”
The department has developed a computer
software called “Kanthasth” for translating the all kinds of
official files from English to Hindi and vice versa to make the translation
work simpler and quicker.
An E-learning platform called the “Pravah” also being developed by the
department for use in 16 Indian languages including English. Anybody can learn
Hindi through his mother tongue with the help of this E-learning platform.
Raxaul-Kathmandu
railway line:
Between India
and Nepal.
Exercise
Kakadu: 2018
held in
Australia.
Conservation
of Western Ghats
Western Ghats region is under serious
stress. The region is one of the richest biodiversity areas which needed to be
conserved.
Environment
Ministry set up the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel under Gadgil. The panel
was asked to make an assessment of the ecology and biodiversity of the Western
Ghats and suggest measures to conserve, protect and rejuvenate the entire range
that stretches to over 1500 km along the coast, with its footprints in Gujarat,
Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu.
The committee proposed a Western Ghats
Ecology Authority to regulate these activities in the area.
Important
recommendations of Madhav Gadgil Committee:
1.Strict regulation of tourism.
2.No new railway lines or major roads
in ESZ I and II areas.
3.No new mining licences in ESZ I and
II area.
4.No new special economic zones or hill
stations to be allowed.
5.Ban on the cultivation of genetically
modified in the entire area.
None of the six
concerned states agreed with the recommendations of the Gadgil Committee.
In August 2012,
Kasturirangan to “examine” the Gadgil Committee report.
Public
Credit Registry
RBI Deputy
Governor Viral Acharya made a case for setting up a Public Credit Registry
(PCR), incorporating unique identifiers: Aadhaar for individual borrowers and
Corporate Identification Number for firms.
Purpose- reporting
of loan details to the PCR by lenders and/or borrowers is mandated by law.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had
formed a high-level task force on public credit registry (PCR) for India. The
task force was chaired by Y M Deosthalee.
The task force has suggested the
registry should capture all loan information and borrowers be able to access
their own history. Data is to be made available to stakeholders such as banks,
on a need-to-know basis. Data privacy will be protected.
ASEAN
Recently held
in Singapore(15th ).
Next
ASEAN-India Business Summit will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in
November 2018 with the theme “Towards Building Strategic Partnership between
ASEAN and India in the Era of the 4th IR and Digital Economy”.
It will be followed by the 4th
India-ASEAN Dialogue Partner Expo and Summit scheduled for 21-23 February 2019,
in New Delhi.
Issues related to promoting
connectivity, collaboration on Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) development,
blue economy, healthcare, and tourism as well as women and youth economic
empowerment were discussed.
ASEAN
Founded-
1967 by the five South-East Asian nations of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines,
Singapore and Thailand.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is a political and economic organization
aimed primarily at promoting economic growth and regional stability among its
members.
Member states:10
Indonesia
Malaysia
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand
Brunei
Laos
Myanmar
Cambodia
Vietnam.
Krishna Kutir,
Swadhar Greh scheme.
Union
Ministry of Women and Child Development recently inaugurated widows’
home ‘Krishna
Kutir’at
Vrindavan in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh. The
construction of the home was funded by Central
Government and it will be managed by the Uttar Pradesh Government.
Krishna Kutir is a special home for 1000 widows set under Swadhar Greh scheme and is the largest ever facility of its kind created by
government organization.
The Swadhar scheme was launched
by the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development in 2002 for rehabilitation
of women in difficult circumstances.
The scheme provides
shelter, food, clothing and care to the marginalized women/girls who are in need.
East
Asia Summit
6th East Asia Summit- Economic
Ministers’ Meeting (EAS-EMM) was recently held in Singapore.
held
annually
Membership
expanded to 18 countries including the United States and Russia at the Sixth
EAS in 2011.
The first
summit was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 14 December 2005.
EAS is an
initiative of ASEAN and is based on the premise of the centrality
of ASEAN.
EAS has evolved as a
forum for strategic dialogue and cooperation on political, security and
economic issues of common regional concern and plays an important role in
the regional architecture.
six
priority areas of regional cooperation
Environment and Energy
Education
Finance
Global Health Issues and Pandemic
Diseases
Natural Disaster Management
ASEAN Connectivity
India endorses regional collaboration in all
six priority areas.
Background-
The concept of an East Asia Grouping was first promoted in 1991 by the then Malaysian Prime Minister,
Mahathir bin Mohamad.
Exercise
Rapid Trident:
annual,
multinational exercise that serves as the validation for Ukraine’s Ministry of
Defence unit.
2018- Ukraine
Note-
1. Mauritius was the top source of foreign direct
investment (FDI) into India in 2017-18 followed by Singapore.
2.
Fourth IAvC was recently held in Leiden,
Netherlands. It was jointly organized by International Maharishi
Ayurveda Foundation, Netherlands; All India Ayurvedic Congress, New Delhi and
International Academy of Ayurveda, Pune in association with Indian Embassy in
Netherlands.
3.
France has banned the use of smartphones in
schools.
4.
The Maralal Camel Derby is an annual event, held
midyear just outside of Maralal town. This is Kenya’s best known and most
prestigious camel race, attracting both local and international competitors.
The event is a major draw for spectators as well as racers. 2018 –
Kenya.
5.
Pakal Dul and Lower Kalnai hydropower
projects:- Chenab river.
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