India to buy more US oil, gas and arms

India has committed to buy $5 billion worth of oil and gas from the US per annum and $18 billion worth of defence equipment, said India’s Ambassador to the US Harsh Vardhan Shringla. US exports to India have gone up by at least 30 per cent. In the past two years, bilateral trade has increased from $119 billion to $140 billion, he said. In the field of oil and gas alone, India has committed to purchase $5 billion from the US every year. Indian airlines have placed orders of 300 planes worth $40 billion. Not only this, the large number of Indian students numbering 227,000 contribute $6.5 billion to the American academic sector, he said, giving an example of India’s contribution to the US economy.

Govt to infuse Rs 6,000 cr in Exim Bank

The Union government has decided to recapitalise state-owned Exim Bank to the tune of Rs 6,000 crore and double its authorised capital to Rs 20,000 crore. The equity will be infused in two tranches - Rs 4,500 crore in 2018-19 and Rs 1,500 crore in 2019-20, said Union Minister Piyush Goyal. Established by the Government of India, Exim Bank commenced operations as a purveyor of export credit, mirroring global export credit agencies. It serves as a growth engine for industries and small and medium enterprises through a wide range of products and services. This includes import of technology and export product development, export production, export marketing, pre-shipment and post-shipment and overseas investment.

Centre moots corridor for flying drones

Seeking to develop an ecosystem for drone operations, the government has suggested establishing a corridor for flying drones. Coming out with a draft policy note on January 15, the civil aviation ministry has also proposed constructing droneports to facilitate take-off and landing of drones and a stricter regulatory framework, including features for protecting “personal data by design”. A Digital Sky Platform for registration of drones is already operational under Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) 1.0. Now, the ministry has issued a draft policy note on CAR 2.0. Another suggestion is for setting up of a Drone Directorate within the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, which would issue necessary guidelines for the nascent industry.

EWS quota from new academic session

The HRD ministry announced on January 15 that it will implement 10 per cent reservation for economically weaker section of the general category from the 2019 academic session and increase around 25 per cent seats in higher educational institutions and universities. Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said the decision was taken at a meeting of officials from the ministry, UGC and the AICTE. “The reservation will be implemented from the 2019-20 academic session itself. Nearly 25 per cent seats will be added to ensure that the reservation does not disturb the existing quota for SCs, STs and other categories. There are around 40,000 colleges and 900 universities across the country and supernumerary quota will be provided in these,” he said.

Record allocation for rural jobs scheme

The Union government said on January 15 that it has made an additional allocation of over Rs 6,000 crore to rural employment scheme MGNREGA, taking the total to Rs 61,084 crore - the highest ever in a financial year. The addition comes after nearly 90 MPs, several civil society members, activists, leaders of farmers’ movements and former bureaucrats wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi raising concerns over fund crunch. “The government has allocated an additional Rs 6,084 crore to MGNREGA. This brings the total allocation to Rs 61,084 crore in 2018-19, making it the highest ever allocation,” said the Union Rural Development Ministry.

Exports flat in Dec; trade deficit narrows

India’s exports growth remained almost flat at $27.93 billion in December, mainly on account of global trade tensions. According to trade data released by the commerce ministry, exports grew at the slowest pace in three months at 0.34 per cent in December, while imports entered the negative zone, registering a decline of 2.44 per cent to $41 billion. Declining imports have narrowed the trade deficit to a 10-month low of $13.08 billion in December as against $14.2 billion in the same month in 2017. The last time imports had plunged into the negative territory was in September 2016, when it had dipped by 2.54 per cent. The import of gold too contracted by 24.33 per cent to $2.56 billion in December.

May suffers crushing loss over Brexit

In the biggest defeat for a sitting British government in history, Prime Minister Theresa May’s divorce deal to leave the EU was overwhelmingly rejected by MPs, triggering a no-confidence motion against her government and leaving the country with no plans for Brexit on March 29. The crushing defeat on January 15 threw the government and its plan for Brexit into crisis. May’s bid to get the withdrawal agreement, struck between London and Brussels, was rejected by 432 votes to 202 - a margin of 230, the biggest defeat ever suffered by a British premier in modern history. Within minutes after the defeat, Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party moved a no-confidence motion against the May government.

Govt unveils national air cargo policy

The Centre on January 15 unveiled the national air cargo policy, which seeks to make India among the top five air freight markets by 2025, besides creating air transport shipment hubs at all major airports over the next six years. The policy document released during the two-day Global Aviation Summit 2019 stated that the policy will encourage code sharing and interline agreements between foreign and Indian carriers. As per the policy, international cargo comprises 60 per cent of the total air cargo tonnes handled in the country, logging a growth of 15.6 per cent in the previous fiscal, while domestic cargo grew by over 8 per cent, which reflects the skewed modal mix, in which roads account for over 60 per cent of cargo transportation as compared to the global average of around 30 per cent.

Seventh pay panel bonanza for teachers

The HRD ministry has approved a proposal to extend the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations to academic staff of government and aided technical institutions with a grant of Rs 1,241 crore. “This will directly benefit a total of 29,264 teachers and other academic staff of state government funded institutes. Besides, about 3.5 lakh teachers and other academic staff of private colleges or institutions within the purview of the AICTE will also benefit from the approval,” said Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar. “The Central government will also reimburse 50 per cent of total additional expenditure to be incurred by these institutes for the payment of arrears on account of the Central Pay Commission implementation.”

MP launches Rs 50,000 cr farm loan waiver

 

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath launched his government’s Rs 50,000 crore farm debt waiver scheme called Jai Kisan Rin Mukti Yojana on January 15. The state cabinet on January 5 gave its nod to waive crop loans of 55 lakh farmers, while extending the eligibility cut-off date from March 31 to December 12, 2018. “The Madhya Pradesh economy is based on agriculture. About 70 per cent people are associated with agriculture and allied sectors. Hence, this loan waiver is an investment in the economy, which can’t be strengthened without farmers,” the CM said. “This decision is a milestone. It will benefit 55 lakh small and marginal farmers and cost the state exchequer Rs 50,000 crore.”

India rises in global varsity rankings

India has improved its showing in the university rankings of Times Higher Education Emerging Economies with 49 institutions making it to the list, including 25 in the top 200. Last year, 42 Indian institutions made it to the list. IISc Bengaluru is the top institution in India and is at 14th position, followed by IIT Bombay at 27th rank. However, both of them slipped a place this year, largely due to increased competition. China remains the most represented nation in the list, claiming four of the top five spots. Tsinghua University surpasses Peking University as this year’s top institution overall, while Zhejiang University rises three positions to third, the University of Science and Technology of China climbs one place to fourth, with Lomonosov Moscow State University completing 2019’s top five.

Palestine takes over the reins of G77

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the “historic leadership” of Palestine, which assumed the chairmanship of G77, the global body’s largest inter-governmental organisation of developing countries, including India. Egypt was the previous chair of the Group of 77 (G77), a coalition of 134 members, along with China, which aligns itself with the bloc. India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin wished Palestine success, saying “India is privileged to stand up for the global South’s quest for greater equity and justice”. UN chief Guterres said: “Palestine and its citizens have first-hand experience of some of the most challenging and dramatic global issues we face.”

CERN plans next-gen particle collider

Scientists behind the world’s largest atom smasher have laid out their vision to build an even bigger one, in hopes of unlocking even more secrets of matter and the universe in the coming decades. Officials at CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, presented their study for a ‘Future Circular Collider’ inside a 100-km circumference tunnel, which could start operating in 2040. It would sit next to the current 27-km circumference Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, perhaps best known for helping confirm the subatomic Higgs boson in 2012. Officials hope for a decision by CERN’s 22 member states within the next few years about the project that would debut with an electron-positron collider at an estimated cost of €9 billion.

China germinates seed on moon lander

A small green shoot is growing on the moon in an out-of-this-world first after a cotton seed germinated on board a Chinese lunar lander, scientists said. The sprout has emerged from a lattice-like structure inside a canister since the Chang’e 4 lander set down earlier this month, according to a series of photos released by the Advanced Technology Research Institute at Chongqing University. “This is the first time humans have done biological growth experiments on the lunar surface,” said Xie Gengxin, who led the design of the experiment. The Chang’e 4 probe - named after a Chinese moon goddess - made the world’s first soft landing on the moon’s “dark side” on January 3, a major step in China’s ambitions to become a space superpower.

Newsmakers

Tamil Nadu lad D. Gukesh has become the second youngest Grandmaster in the world and the youngest Indian to achieve the feat at 12 years, seven months and 17 days, erasing the mark set by R Praggnanandhaa last June.

Former Vishwa Hindu Parishad president Vishnu Hari Dalmia, one of those who spearheaded the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation, died on January 16. He was 91.

The International Cricket Council has named Manu Sawhney its new CEO to replace David Richardson, who will step down after the World Cup in July.

Social worker and economist Bajrang Lal has been conferred with the Swami Vivekananda Lifetime Achievement Award.