Odd-even vehicles to run date-wise – (Governance)
- Frenetic activity related to implementation of the odd-even vehicle rationing scheme, which the Aam Aadmi Party government has proposed to check the rising levels of pollution, was witnessed in the Capital on Tuesday.
- While Delhi Home Minister Satyendra Jain met Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari to seek the Centre’s cooperation for its effective implementation, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal sought an appointment with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh for the same purpose.
India-Pak. ties should move forward: Sushma – (International Relation)
- Starting a new phase in India-Pakistan ties, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Tuesday in Islamabad, “The message that I have come with is that India-Pakistan ties should become much better and should move forward.”
- Ms. Swaraj, who is visiting Pakistan to participate in the Heart of Asia conference on Afghanistan, proceeded to a dinner with her counterpart Sartaj Aziz, along with her team of diplomats — Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar, spokesperson Vikas Swarup and MEA’s Pakistan desk in-charge Gopal Baglay.
Mullaperiyar safety: Kerala to move Supreme Court against Tamil Nadu – (Indian Polity)
- As heavy rain brought the water level in the Mullaperiyar dam closer to the permissible limit of 142 feet, the Kerala government told the Assembly on Tuesday that it was preparing to move the Supreme Court against Tamil Nadu for the failure to comply with dam safety regulations.
- Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told the House that the issue would be taken up with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister for Water Resources Uma Bharti later this week. He was intervening during the discussion on the notice for an adjournment motion moved by E.S. Bijimol and others.
Country’s flagship HAL turns 75 – (Defence)
- Way back in 1939-40, a Gujarati entrepreneur’s dream venture to build aircraft in the country took off with Rs. 4 crore on about 2,000 acres of land given by the then Mysore maharaja.
- Growing in tandem with, and on the outskirts of, what was a small, obscure town, that entrepreneurial spark has gone on to become one of the country’s flagships and part of Bengaluru’s lore.
Parliament must ratify WTO deals, say NGOs – (Governance)
- Days ahead of the Nairobi meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for negotiations towards an agreement to open up global trade, civil society groups have urged the Union government not to undertake new binding commitments without public consultation as well as before debate and ratification by Parliament.
- Organisations such as the Forum against Free Trade Agreements and the National Working Group on Patent Laws and WTO also asked Parliament to take inputs from all stakeholders and carry out a thorough assessment of the employment, social and environmental impacts arising out of the commitments India makes at the WTO-level talks as well as due to the various free trade agreements (FTA) between India and other countries.
No proof that Subhash Chandra Bose escaped to Soviet Union’ – (Indian Polity)
- Letters exchanged between the Indian and Russian governments between 1991 and 1995 re-affirm that Subhash Chandra Bose, founder of the Indian National Army, did not visit the Soviet Union in 1945 or after.
- The correspondence, released by veteran journalist Ashis Ray at a press conference here, seeks to put at rest at least one of the many theories that a section of Bose’s followers have floated, namely that he id not die in an air crash on 18 August 1945 in Taipei, but instead escaped to the Soviet Union.
How a docked submarine bled Rs. 450 crore – (defence)
- The medium refit of INS Sindhukirti , a Russian-made submarine of the Indian naval fleet, was to have been completed by 2004.
- However, the work was over only in 2015, with the submarine unavailable for operations for a decade, even as the refit cost shot up by over Rs. 450 crore, an audit by the Comptroller and Auditor-General has found.
Green energy targets remain a mirage’ – (Environment)
- Even as countries negotiate to arrive at a new global accord to counter the climate change crisis in Paris, an audit report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday showed that the government had failed to meet its targets for scaling up the use of renewable energy sources under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).
- The NAPCC had envisaged raising renewable energy sources to 8 per cent of the national energy mix for electricity by 2012-13 and 9 per cent by 2013-14.
‘Sanitation goals not met’ – (Governance)
- The government could achieve just above half of its pledged target on construction of individual household lavatories under the total sanitation campaign in the past five years, according to the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) of India.
- The campaign was launched with an objective of providing access to toilets to all by 2012. Rechristened as Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan in 2012, the deadline was pushed to 2022.
Doing its bit in Paris, and then some – (International Relation)
- India’s carbon reduction pledges (the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, or INDCs) have been labelled as medium or even weak by many global observers.
- Global op-eds talk of India as the “stumbling block”. In contrast, not only has China pledged to peak emissions by 2030, there are discussions it could peak even sooner. The sad reality is twofold — India is doing its fair share, but even that will not be enough.
BASIC optimistic about legally binding Paris deal – (International Relation)
- The countries forming the BASIC group — Brazil, South Africa, India and China — on Tuesday committed themselves to a comprehensive, balanced, ambitious and legally binding agreement emerging from the Paris Climate Change conference, but cautioned that it must not deviate from the differentiation principles that are already part of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
- China, which has a parallel understanding with the U.S. on tackling climate change, joined the other developing countries in the bloc, and carefully skirted the contradictions between the U.S. position and the stand of the developing countries.
Tensions along South China Sea hastened Su-35 deal – (International Relation)
- Russia’s decision to export is highly capable Su-35 planes is expected to bolter China’s military presence in the South China Sea. It is also set to escalate military technology exchanges that would help Beijing and Moscow develop cutting edge weapons.
- After protracted negotiations that lasted several years, Russia finally relented to sell China, 24 Su-35 planes.
Norms soon for crowdfunding, MF sale through e-commerce: Sinha – (Economics)
- Capital markets regulator the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) will soon put in place norms to help entrepreneurs raise funds through ‘crowdfunding’, while discussions are also underway to allow sale of mutual funds through e-commerce platforms, Chairman U. K. Sinha said in Mumbai on Tuesday.
- A SEBI-constituted committee, headed by Infosys co-founder N. R. Narayana Murthy, to suggest ways for raising of funds through crowdfunding is likely to submit its report in a month, Mr. Sinha said.
Budget may drop plan, non-plan classification of expenditure – (Economics)
- The Centre is looking to do away with the practice of classifying expenditure as ‘plan and non-plan’ in the Budget documents as part of an effort to improve the link between spending and outcomes, Union Finance Secretary Ratan P. Watal said on Tuesday.
- The distinction, in the budget due to be presented in February 2016, he indicated, could be between ‘capital and revenue’ spending—a proposal first mooted in 2011 by Dr. C. Rangarajan, the Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.
E-commerce market in India may touch $100 billion by 2020: Study – (Economics)
- E-commerce market is likely to grow ten-fold in next five years to reach $100 billion on the back of increasing penetration of Internet, smartphones and spread of digital network in rural areas, says a study.
- According to a report titled ‘Direct selling; Mapping the industry across Indian states’, the country’s e-commerce sector, which is around $10 billion (Rs.65,000 crore) at present, can even touch $250 billion in next ten years as digital network would spread in the rural areas.