Posted on by InsightsIAS
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

All India Radio News Summary: 01 March 2018

All India Radio News Summary: 01 March 2018

  1. The two countries, India and Jordan, sign 12 agreements.

Prime Minister held delegation level talks with King of Jordan Abdullah II Bin Al Hussein in New Delhi. The two leaders discussed entire gamut of bilateral relations.

  • The two countries signed 12 agreements after the delegation talks in the fields of defence, health, culture, visa, manpower and media.
  • A Special event with the theme ‘Islamic Heritage: Promoting Understanding and Moderation’ was organised.

Highlights of PM speech:

  • Challenges like violence and terrorism can be tackled through strengths of heritage and value and message of religion and their principles.
  • No religion teaches people to be intolerant and violent.
  • The most urgent need is that the youth should be linked to humanitarian Islam on one side and on the other hand, should use modern science for progress.   
  • The soil of India has nurtured all religions and faiths and diversity and plurality of culture is the identity of India.
  • Indian democracy is a celebration of India’s age old plurality.
  • India is spreading the message of peace and faith across the globe.

Jordan PM said, India and Jordan have shared responsibility to bring peace in the world. There is a need to give the youth a future with prosperity and security.

Conclusion:

  • Today’s global war against terror is not a fight between different religions or peoples. It is between moderates of all faiths and humanities against extremists whose faith is hate and violence.
  • We need to make sure young people learn the true values of our religions and let us teach them to honour our shared civilization of global learning.

 

  1. President asserts, India and Jordan need to work together to defeat terrorism.

President said terrorism is challenging India and Jordan on a daily basis, therefore both countries need to work together to defeat it.

  • The two countries enjoy warm and friendly ties and India attaches great importance to its relations with Jordan.
  • The phosphate related joint ventures of the two countries are doing well and a large number of Indian textile companies have invested in Jordan and have received good support from the Government of Jordan.
  • The President emphasised that there is much scope to enhance trade and investment, particularly in the fields of IT, infrastructure, pharma and tourism.
  • President conveyed India’s deepest appreciation to Jordan for the assistance extended to Indian citizens in the region.
  • India will provide five million Dollar assistance to Jordan in the form of vaccines and medicines

 

  1. Union Cabinet has approved establishment of National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA)

 

The NFRA will act as an independent regulator for the auditing profession which was one of the key changes brought in by the Companies Act 2013.

  • The jurisdiction of NFRA for investigation of Chartered Accountants and their firms will be extended to the listed companies and large unlisted public companies.

 

Union Cabinet approved Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill – 2018 to deal with those escaping overseas to avoid getting caught.

  • The Bill will help in laying down measures to deter economic offenders from evading the process of Indian law by remaining outside the jurisdiction of Indian Courts.
  • The legislation will allow the government to confiscate all the assets in India, including Benami properties, after the economic offenders are declared fugitives.
  • The economic offences worth 100 crore rupees or more will come under the purview of the Bill. 
  • The new Bill defines category of fugitive economic offenders against whom an arrest warrant has been issued and who have left India to avoid criminal prosecution and refuse to return to face the law.

 

  1. Two state-run lenders raised their lending rates despite RBI’s accommodative or neutral stance since January 2015
  • Two state-run lenders the State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank have raised their lending rates by up to 20 basis points setting the tone for industry to follow suit.
  • While the nation’s largest lender, SBI raised its one year MCLR or the lending rate by 20 basis points to 8.15 per cent, PNB increased its loan prices by 15 basis points to 8.30 per cent.
  • This move will increase the interest rates on existing as well as new home, auto and personal loans.
  • Defending the hike, SBI said in the past one month, liquidity situation, which used to be in surplus has become neutral or maybe in a minor deficit mode.
  • The lending rate hike by these lenders come even as the Reserve Bank has been in an accommodative or neutral stance since January 2015.

 

  1. Women and Child Development Ministry has approved projects worth over 2,900 crore rupees under the Nirbhaya fund

The Women and Child Development Ministry has approved projects worth over 2,900 crore rupees under the Nirbhaya fund for eight major cities to make them safer for women.

  • These cities are Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Lucknow.
  • The main components of the proposal include ABHAYAM Vans for quick response to women in distress,
  • Bharosa One Stop Crisis Centres and ‘She Teams’ of women for surveillance.
  • Delhi has been sanctioned over 663 crore rupees for using latest technologies, such as video monitoring, facial recognition analytics and tracking of people.
  • The national capital will also get more police patrol vans equipped with GPS and the capability of sharing video feed.
  • Bengaluru has been sanctioned projects worth 667 crore rupees. Chennai has been given 425 crore rupees.
  • The Nirbhaya Fund, which aims at improving safety for women, was set up in the aftermath of the gruesome gangrape and murder of a paramedical student in Delhi in 2012.

 

  1. Largest Opposition party at centre declines government’s offer to its Lok Sabha leader to attend Lokpal Selection Committee as a special invitee. 
  • Opposition said that a special invitee invitation is a concerted effort to exclude the voice of the opposition in Lokpal selection.
  • As per the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act, 2013, only the leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha is a member of the Selection Committee and since current opposition LS leader does not have that status, he is not part of the panel.
  • The Government had invited him for meeting of Selection Committee as a special invitee.
  • Opposition alleged that while the Government has brought out amendments in other Acts to replace the Leader of Opposition to leader of single largest party in opposition, it has not done so in the Lokpal Act.

 

  1. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has entered into seven more Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs)
  • All the seven agreements are Unilateral APAs.
  • With the signing of these Agreements, the CBDT has crossed the important milestone of having signed 200 APAs.
  • The seven APAs signed in February pertain to the Pharmaceuticals, Automobiles, Financial and Food and Beverages sectors of the economy.

Advance Pricing Agreements:

  • The APA scheme endeavours to provide certainty to taxpayers in the domain of transfer pricing by specifying the methods of pricing and setting the prices of international transactions in advance.
  • The progress of the APA scheme strengthens the Government’s resolve of fostering a non-adversarial tax regime.

 

  1. Tata and Boeing Aerospace limited rolled out its state of the art production facility at Adibhatla on the outskirts of Hyderabad
  • The facility is the joint venture between Boeing and Tata Advanced Systems and Boeing’s first equity joint venture in India.
  • Set up in over 14000 square meters, the joint venture will co-produce Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopter fuselages and other aero structures, as well as pursue integrated systems in aerospace. 
  • The Defence Minister congratulated the TATA and Boeing for taking the bold step towards – Make in India- and making the substantial investment in the Defence space.

 

  1. US has said India is an incredibly valuable and a close counter-terrorism partner of the United States

This was stated by the US Counter-terrorism Coordinator at the conclusion of the conference on Law Enforcement Efforts to defeat Islamic States terror group.

  • The future is very bright for US-India counter-terrorism cooperation.
  • US President and Prime Minister held a very productive series of meetings earlier and both the Governments have forged ahead to create a really powerful partnership.
  • South Asia is one of the areas of the world where ISIS has an increasingly robust presence.