Table of Contents
PMO
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said, innovations have the power to overcome the challenges the world is facing.
• Addressing the Grand finale of Smart India Hackathon-2018 through video-conferencing in New Delhi, Mr Modi said it is essential to know the root of every problem.
• He stressed on the need to think about out-of-box ways to solve problems.
• Mr Modi said questioning is an important aspect of innovations.
• He advised students not to shy away from questioning.
• The Prime Minister said power and work force are the biggest assets of any nation and once the people decide to bring about change, everything is possible.
• He said, if the governments think that that they alone can bring changes, they are mistaken.
• Changes can be made through participative governance
•Indians living abroad as the true national ambassadors who contribute to strengthening India’s relation with other countries.
• Mr Modi was addressing the Shree Kutchi Leva Patel Samaj of Nairobi via video conferencing on its silver jubilee celebrations today.
•He said, Kutchi Leva Patel Samaj has made a noteworthy contribution in the development of Africa in the last 125 years.
• The Prime Minister said, the Patel Samaj must be residing in Kenya but Indianess dwells deep in their hearts.
•He said, several Indians have played an important role in the freedom of Kenya.
• Mr Modi said, India is investing in Kenya in various sectors from food processing to skill development.
Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry
• The Government has decided to file a review petition in the Supreme Court over the recent ruling on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
• This was informed by Social Justice and Empowerment Minister, Thaawarchand Gehlot through a tweet.
•He said the government is committed to the welfare of the SCs and STs in the country.
•Recently, the Supreme Court had introduced the provision of anticipatory bail in the Act while
directing that there will be no automatic arrest on any complaint filed under the law.
•Opposition parties as well as some NDA allies have raised their voices that a review petition be filed in the matter.
Madhya Pradesh government
• The Madhya Pradesh government has raised the retirement age of state government employees from 60 to 62 years.
• Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan made the announcement in Bhopal today.
•He said, the move will provide opportunity to those who did not get promotions due to various reasons.
•Over 5 lac employees are going to be benefited from this decision.
• The worker unions we’re demanding for the same for past many years. Many protests took place for the same.
• This the government had announced the increase in the retirement age by 2 years.
• There have been cases where an employee retires without getting due promotions and retirement age has been raised keeping in mind their plight.
Kaziranga National Park
•In Assam, a total of 2,413 rhinos have been found at the Kaziranga National Park as per the latest census.
• As per the recent survey 1,641 adult rhinos including 793 females and 642 males have been spotted in the Kaziranga national park.
• The number of sub-adult rhinos aged between 4 to 6 years stood at 387
•In 2015 census, 2401 rhinos were found in the park.
• This year’s enumeration has an increase of 12 rhinos from the last census.
•However the technical committee has recommended to hold the rhino census again in 2019.
InSight’s Launch
•InSight is scheduled to launch under pre-dawn skies from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the central coast of California in May 2018.
• InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is NASA’s state of the art Mars lander designed to explore the planet
below its surface.
• For the first time in a staggering 4.5 billion years, humans will have the opportunity to look below Mars’ mantle and study in-depth what goes on below the planet’s barren
landscapes.
AIR India
•Government’s plan to divest 76% stake in Air India.
• Cede total management control.
• Possible outcomes
1. It would stop a drain on the exchequer
2. Might produce an efficient airline
•India has a fast-growing aviation market.
AIR India
• We are already the world’s third largest.
• The proposed sale will include offloading 100% stake in AI’s low-cost airline Air India Express, and a 50% stake in its ground-handling arm, SATS Airport Services.
•Of the carrier’s total debt of about Rs 48,700 crore, Rs 33,390 crore will remain with AI and has to be absorbed by the potential buyer.
• AI’s valuation will depend on its ability to generate value.
• An investor who wants to take over the airline will have to generate profits on a scale that would make the deal worthwhile.
• So, his capacity to service the debt will depend on how efficiently he expects to run the business.
• Strengths of AI
• prize assets by way of fleet
• experienced pilots and engineers
• slots in key airports around the world
• bilaterally negotiated rights to carry passengers to and from key markets
• Privatisation would offer an opportunity to slash debt, resulting from years of under capitalisation.
• So long as a bidder puts money on the table for the stake buy, why should the seller worry about the colour of his cat or other irrelevant detail?
• The conditions for bidding — such as a minimum net worth of Rs 5,000 crore, a three-year lock-in period, reporting profit in three of the last five years — are too stringent.
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