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All India Radio News Summary 23 FEBRUARY 2018

All India Radio News Summary 23 FEBRUARY 2018

  1. India and Canada signed six agreements in different fields

India and Canada signed six agreements in different fields including sports, education, science and technology.

PM said,

  • India is in favour of strengthening its strategic partnership with Canada. Both countries should work together to fight terrorism. Terrorism and extremism are a threat to countries and to fight these elements it is important for both nations to come together.
  • Both countries can work together in several fields including space technology.
  • The entire gamut of bilateral relations was discussed during the talks.
  • There should be no place for those who misuse religion for political motives and promote separatism.
  • Canada is an energy super power which can help in fulfilling India’s ever increasing energy demands.
  • Canada and India share historic ties and similar values of pluralism and diversity.
  • PM also highlighted the need to strengthen people-to-people ties.

 

  1. Trump administration has announced a new policy that makes the procedure of issuing H-1B visas very tough

In the US, the Trump administration has announced a new policy that makes the procedure of issuing H-1B visas very tough to those who are to be employed at one or more third-party worksites.

  • The new policy announced empowers the US Citizenship and Immigration Services to issue H-1B visas to an employee only for the period for which he or she has work at the third-party worksite.
  • Now the issuing of H-1B visas could be of less than three years.
  • The move would reverse the tradition of issuing the H-1B visas for three years at a time.
  • The H-1B programme offers temporary US visas that allow companies to hire highly skilled foreign professionals working in areas with shortages of qualified American workers.
  • Indian IT companies, which are among the major beneficiaries of H-1B visas, has a significant number of its employees deployed at third-party worksites.

 

  1. In Nepal, the election for a new president will be held on March 13th

The Election Commission announced the date for the presidential election.

The decision was taken after having consultations with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and leaders of political parties.

The President will be elected through an Electoral College comprising members of both the houses of parliament (House of Representatives and the National Assembly) and members of Provincial Assembles.

There are 334 members of federal parliament and 550 members of state assemblies in seven provinces.

 

  1. India successfully test-fired the nuclear-capable surface-to-surface Dhanush missile

India successfully test-fired the nuclear-capable surface-to-surface Dhanush ballistic missile with a strike range of 350 km from a naval ship off Odisha coast.

  • The missile is capable of carrying a payload of 500 kilograms.
  • The successful test fire of five nuclear capable missiles Agni, Prithvi and Dhanush this month from the Odisha coast could be seen as major boost to the missile capability of Indian armed forces.
  • This demonstrate sovereignty and self-reliance vis-à-vis its technological achievements in Indian defence sector.
  • The single-stage, liquid-propelled ‘Dhanush’, has already been inducted into the defence services.
  • It is one of the five missiles developed by the DRDO under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme.

 

  1. Reserve Bank of India has launched Ombudsman Scheme for non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) for redressal of complaints against them
  • The scheme will provide a cost-free and expeditious complaint redressal mechanism relating to deficiency in the services by NBFCs covered under the Scheme.
  • The Scheme provides for an Appellate mechanism under which the complainant/ NBFC has the option to appeal against the decision of the Ombudsman before the Appellate Authority.
  • The offices of the NBFC ombudsmen will function at four metro centres — Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi.
  • They will handle complaints of customers in the respective zones. LUBNA YUSUF MOOSA,

 

  1. The United States has imposed fresh set of sanctions on North Korea, the largest ever

The sanctions target 56 entities – 27 shipping and trade companies, 28 vessels, and one individual, adding that all of them were involved in sanctions evasion schemes.

President Donald Trump warned of serious consequences if the latest round of sanctions did not generate results.

North Korea is already under a range of international and US sanctions over its nuclear programme and missile tests.