Govt mulls no registration charges for EVs

The Centre has proposed to waive registration charges for electric vehicles (EVs) to boost the adoption of such vehicles. The proposal comes at a time when India plans high penetration of EVs by 2030. Issuing the draft notification to amend the Central Motor Vehicles Rules (CMVR), 1989, the road transport and highways ministry said battery-operated vehicles “shall be exempted from the payment of fees for the purpose of issue or renewal of registration certificate and assignment of new registration mark”. The exemption will apply to all categories of vehicles. Last year, Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said a blueprint has been drawn to boost the production of EVs and take their share to 15 per cent of total vehicles in the next five years.

IAS officers to work as assistant secretaries

A total of 169 newly recruited IAS officers were posted as assistant secretaries in different central government departments for three months, beginning July 1. The posting is part of a unique initiative started by the central government to groom bureaucrats at the Centre before they move out to their respective state cadres. All IAS officers are allotted cadres which could either be a state or group of states. The officers are supposed to start their career in their respective cadre states. As per rules, IAS officers are eligible to come on central deputation only after completing nine years of service at their respective cadres. A total of 169 IAS officers of the 2017 batch will be on central deputation for 13 weeks from July 1 to September 27, said an order issued by the personnel ministry.

Army plans IBGs along the western border

The Army is planning to raise Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs) along the border with Pakistan that will help it carry out swift strikes in case of war. The IBGs, which aim to integrate different components of the Army into the new formation, will include artillery guns, tanks, air defence and logistical elements. This is expected to make it a complete battle-ready unit. The move comes amid efforts to bring better synergy among the three armed forces. The Army tested the new fighting concept of IGBs, whose role is expected to be offensive in nature. Following positive results, the Army gave its green signal to form the units. At least three units are likely to come up by the end of this year. The IBGs are likely to be headed by Major General-rank officers and could have around 5,000 troops.

Railways eyes faster trains in main routes

The Railways plans to bring down by five hours the travel time between the busy Delhi-Howrah and Delhi-Mumbai routes with an investment of about Rs 14,000 crore in infrastructure over the next four years. This is one of the 11 proposals prepared by the Railways in its 100-day plan. The two routes account for 30 per cent of passenger and 20 per cent of freight traffic. Presently, the fastest train on the Delhi-Howrah route takes 17 hours to complete the journey, while on the Delhi-Mumbai route the quickest train takes 15.5 hours. The proposal is to reduce the travel time to 12 hours and 10 hours, respectively. The Railways has set a target to ramp up the speed on these routes from the present 130 km/h to 160 km/h.

Ex-CEA accused of cherry-picking data

Rejecting the claims of former Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian regarding over-estimation of GDP growth after 2011, the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) said his analysis is based on “cherry-picking” of high-frequency indicators while ignoring data on services, agriculture and robust tax collection. The EAC-PM also accused him of blindly trusting data provided by a private agency, CMIE, and distrusting government institution CSO. The EAC-PM said India’s GDP estimation methodology stands at par with its global standing as a major and responsible economy.

IIT Bombay ranked top Indian university

IIT Bombay has emerged as the top Indian university for the second time in a row in the 2020 Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings, rising from 162nd position to 152 this year. Three Indian universities - IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore - have found a place among the top 200. According to higher education consultancy Quacquarelli Symonds, IIT Bombay’s ranking has jumped 10 spots due to an improvement in its research performance. However, the IISc, which was the second best Indian university last year, has dropped to third spot. IIT Delhi has clinched the second spot. MIT has again been named the world’s top university. This is the eighth year in a row that MIT has received this distinction.

Himalayan glaciers melting at a rapid pace

Himalayan glaciers have been melting twice as fast since the start of this century, underscoring the threat the climate crisis poses to water supplies for hundreds of millions of people across Asia, according to a new study. Scientists have long been trying to establish how quickly rising global temperatures caused by the burning of coal, oil and gas are eating away at the region’s icebound landscapes, sometimes referred to as Earth’s third pole. The new analysis, spanning 40 years of satellite observations across India, China, Nepal and Bhutan, showed glaciers have been losing the equivalent of more than a vertical foot-and-a-half of ice each year since 2000. That represents double the rate between 1975 and 2000.

Newsmakers

Senior bureaucrat Shefali Juneja has been appointed as India’s representative in the council of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a UN body. Juneja, a 1992 batch officer of IRS, is at present a joint secretary in the civil aviation ministry.