DISCOVER TIPS | Knowledge Magazine

1. Rajnath Singh - Home Affairs 2. Sushma Swaraj - External Affairs 3. Arun Jaitley - Finance & Corporate Affairs 4. M Venkaiah Naidu - Urban Development Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation, Information & Broadcasting 5. Nitin Jairam Gadkari - Road Transport and Highways & Shipping 6. Manohar Parrikar - Defence 7. Suresh Prabhu - Railways 8. D V Sadananda Gowda - Statistics & Programme Implementation 9. Uma Bharati - Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation 

1. Jharkhand Assembly convened today to ratify GST Bill i. Jharkhand Assembly has been convened today to ratify Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill passed by both Houses of Parliament. ii. Now Jharkhand became the third state to ratify the bill. iii. Last week, Assam became the first state in the country to ratify the constitution amendment bill on the GST as the assembly unanimously passed the bill.

1. Bihar Assembly unanimously passes GST bill i. The Bihar state assembly has unanimously passed the crucial Goods and Services Tax Bill (GST Bill). ii. With this, it has become the first non-Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state to ratify the GST, Last week, Assam became the first state to ratify the Bill. iii. The GST Bill needs to be ratified by at least 15 state legislatures before the President can notify the GST Council, which will then decide the new tax rate and other issues.

Union Minister launches clean cooking fuel scheme for BPL women in West Bengal i. Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan has launched the Pradhan Mantri UjjwalaYojana (PMUY) in West Bengal, which is a scheme to provide clean cooking fuel to the women belonging to the 'Below Poverty Line' (BPL) households across the country. ii. PMUY which was launched by the Prime Minister of India on May 1, 2016 at Ballia (Uttar Pradesh) aims to provide LPG connections to 5 Crore BPL households by 2019 and is a part of larger programme of adding 10 Crore new LPG connections by 2019 to achieve full coverage of connections in Indian households.

No Rail Budget from next fiscal i. The 92-year-old practice of presenting a separate Rail Budget is set to come to an end from the next fiscal, with the Finance Ministry accepting Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu’s proposal to merge it with the General Budget. ii. Finance Ministry has now constituted a five-member committee comprising senior officials of the Ministry and the national transporter to work out the modalities for the merger. iii. The committee has been asked to submit its report by August 31.

1. Railway Budget set to be merged with Union Budget from next fiscal i. Ending a 92-year-old tradition which started during the colonial era, Railway Budget will be merged with the General Budget from 2017-18 onwards. ii. The move is considered to be a relief to the national transporter, which was suffering from an additional burden of about Rs 40,000 crore on account the Seventh Pay Commission and close to Rs 35,000 crore on subsidy burden. If the merger happens, the Railways will get rid of the annual dividend that it has to pay for gross budgetary support from the government. iii. According to a report, the finance ministry has given a go-ahead signal to the proposal by the Railways ministry and has set up a five-member committee in this regard.  2. Govt sets up National Committee on Trade Facilitation i. The Centre has constituted the National Committee on Trade Facilitation following India’s ratification of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) in April. ii. T...

1. India's first touch-and-feel garden for visually impaired  i. A first-of-its-kind touch and feel garden for the visually impaired people in the country was inaugurated near Calicut University campus by Kerala Assembly Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan. ii. The garden has nearly 70 aromatic, medicinal and herbal plants brought from various parts the country. iii. The visually impaired will get an opportunity to study the plants not only by touching, feeling and smelling them but also getting information about them through audio inputs. 2. RBI transfers Rs 65,876 crore surplus to government i. The Reserve Bank will transfer to the central government its surplus profit of Rs 65,876 crore which is marginally lower than the amount given last year. ii. The approval to transfer the surplus was taken at the 559th meeting of the Central Board of the RBI, chaired by Governor Raghuram Rajan. iii. The surplus is generated through RBI's investment activities, primarily in other sove...

1. Azim Premji, Shiv Nadar in Forbes list of 100 richest tech tycoons i. Wipro Chairman Azim Premji and HCL co-founder Shiv Nadar are the only two billionaires from India in Forbes' list of the world's 100 richest people in technology. They are ranking in the top 20 ahead of Google boss Eric Schmidt and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. ii. While the '100 Richest Tech Billionaires In The World 2016' list has been topped by Microsoft founder Bill Gates with an estimated fortune of USD 78 billion. iii. Premji ranks 13th on the list with a net worth of $16 billion and Nadar comes in on the 17th spot with $11.6 billion of net worth. However, only five women rank among the world’s 100 richest in tech, including Zhou Qunfei on the 33rd spot. 2. Cabinet approvals i. The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its ex-post facto approval for amendments to Section 44 and consequential amendments of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 by introducing the ...

1. PM Narendra Modi launches Yaad Karo Kurbani celebrations i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched Yaad Karo Kurbani (remember the sacrifices) celebrations at the birthplace of freedom fighter Chandra Shekhar Azad at Alirajpur, Madhya Pradesh. ii. The Yaad Karo Kurbani is a 15-day programme aimed to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Quit India Movement (QIM) and 70 years of Independence. iii. Later he also flagged off the Tiranga Yatra to mark the launch of the 70th Freedom Year celebrations with a theme song  '70 Saal Azadi Yaad Karo Kurbani' which has been composed by Dr. Ghazal Srinivas. 2. PM Modi, Russian Prez Vladimir Putin jointly dedicated Kudankulam Nuclear Plant Unit-I to the nation i. The first unit of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant has jointly dedicated to the nation by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin through video conferencing. ii. It has been built with Russian experti...

1. RBI : 3rd Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement 2016-17 i. Raghuram Rajan the governor of Reserve Bank of India has published the third bi-monthly monetary policy statement for the fiscal year 2016-17 and kept the rates unchanged. ii. Mr. Rajan, whose term ends on September 4, maintained repurchase (repo) rate at 6.5 %, cash reserve ratio (CRR) at 4 %, Reverse Repo Rate - 6.00%, Marginal Standing Facility Rate (MSF)- 7.00%, Bank Rate- 7.00% , Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR)- 21%. iii. While the Growth forecast at 7.6% for the current fiscal and Inflation target remains 5% for January 2017. 2. International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples observed on 9th August i. The International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples is observed on August 9 each year to promote and protect the rights of the world’s indigenous population. ii. The theme for 2016 International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples is 'Right to Education'. iii. It was first pronounc...

1. PM launches Mission Bhagiratha and lays Foundation Stone of key development projects in Telangana i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the Telangana government's ambitious Mission Bhagiratha at Komatibanda Village, Gajwel, in Medak District of Telangana.  ii. The scheme has been launched by the State Government with an objective to provide safe drinking water to all. As the Mission, Bhagiratha is a pet project of the Chief Minister, taken up at an outlay of Rs. 42,000 crore. Apart from creating a water grid for supply drinking water to houses, it aims to rejuvenate more than 45,000 water tanks. iii. The Prime Minister also laid the Foundation Stones for important development projects. These included the 1600 MW Thermal Power station of NTPC at Ramagundam, revival of a Fertilizer Plant at Ramagundam, Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences, Warangal, and Manoharabad-Kothapalli Railway line. He also dedicated to the nation the 1200 MW Thermal Power Station of ...

1. Vijay Rupani takes oath as Gujarat Chief Minister i. 60 year old BJP leader Vijay Rupani has sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Gujarat at the Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar today. ii. He was administered the oath of office and secrecy by the Governor OP Kohli. iii. While Nitin Patel has sworn in as the Deputy CM of the state. 2. Modi Launches PMO App At MyGov Anniversary Event i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the new PMO app at a function organised by MyGov in New Delhi. The app would correspond to the website of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). ii. The app is developed by a team of young engineering students from Delhi who has won the contest to develop the app. iii. The new app will allow mobile users to connect with the website of the Prime Minister's Office.   3. 2nd National Handloom day has celebrated today i. The second National Handloom Day has been celebrated all over the country, on today (August 7). As the first National Handloom Day was c...

1. Union Government aims to roll out GST from April 1, 2017 i. The Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has announced that the Government has set the ambitious target to roll out of the Goods and Services Tax, (GST) from 1st April 2017.  ii. Mr. Jaitley also unveiled a detailed roadmap for GST implementation.  iii. This announcement was made after Rajya Sabha had passed The Constitution (122nd Amendment) (GST) Bill, 2014. 2. Union Government fixes an inflation target of 4 percent for five years i. The Union Government has set an inflation target of 4 % for the next five years with a range of plus/minus 2 % for the next five years under the monetary policy framework agreement with the Reserve Bank.  ii. In this regard, Union Government will soon set-up Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to adhere to the target till March 31, 2021.  iii. This target was fixed after the Union Government and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had reached an agreement on a monetary policy fra...

1.Vijay Rupani to be CM of Gujarat while Nitin Patel his Deputy i. In a surprise move, BJP state chief Vijay Rupani has been named as the new Chief Minister of Gujarat while Nitin Patel as Deputy CM after a meeting of the BJP legislators at State Party headquarter.  iii. The 60-year-old Nitin Patel is a Cabinet Minister for Health, Medical Education, Family Welfare, Road and Building, Capital Project in the government of Gujarat in India. He was formerly a cabinet minister for water supply, Water Resources, (excluding Kalpsar Division), Urban Development and Urban Housing. He was elected to Gujarat Legislative Assembly from Mehsana in 2012. 2. First Tech Meet of Hydrocarbon Vision 2030  i. The first technology two-day meet under the Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 for Northeast India has begun in Guwahati and deliberate various issues regarding implementation of the document which envisages an investment of Rs 1,30,000 crore.  ii. The meet is a stepping stone to put the...

1. Cabinet Approval :-  i. The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for the terms and conditions for transfer of 12 acres of National Textile Corporation Ltd. (NTCL), Indu-6 Mill land to Government of Maharashtra for construction of a memorial of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. ii. The Union Cabinet has also approved the rates for Spectrum Usage Charge (SUC) for various bands of spectrum for which auction are going to be conducted shortly. With this decision the path is clear for issuance of the Notice Inviting Application for spectrum auction by the Department of Telecommunications. iii. The 3rd approval by the Union Cabinet has given for Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill 2016 to improve road safety in the country. As every year 5, lakh road accidents are reported in the country in which 1.5 lakh people lose their lives. The Government has committed to reducing the accidents and fatalities by 50% in five years. iv. The 4th approval is for signi...

1. WEF India Economic Summit in Delhi on October 6-7 i. World Economic Forum (WEF), will host its annual India Economic Summit on October 6-7 in New Delhi which would be attended by over 500 business and political leaders including top policymakers and CEOs. ii. This year's meet will be convened under the theme, 'Fostering an Inclusive India through Digital Transformation'.  iii. WEF is known for its annual five-day meet in Davos, Switzerland, attended by top leaders from business, politics, academia, civil society, international organizations, arts and culture and media. 2. Rajasthan becomes first state to approve sewage & waste water policy i. Rajasthan has become the first state in the country to approve sewage and wastewater policy. It has been approved by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje in Jaipur. ii. Under this policy, all district headquarters, heritage cities, and cities in the state which have more than one lakh population will be included. Waste water tre...

1. Parliament passes Indian Medical Council (Amendment Bill), 2016 i. The Parliament has passed Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2016 to conduct of uniform entrance examination for admission to all medical educational institutions.  ii. The bill seeks to replace the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Ordinance, 2016 and its provisions will come into force retrospectively from May 24, 2016.  iii. It will be applicable for admission at the undergraduate and the postgraduate level. This provision will be applicable to state government seats in government and private medical institutions.  2. Central body approves Rs 400 crore for Ganga rejuvenation projects i. A high-level panel of the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) has approved various projects worth approximately Rs 400 crore for development of ghats (river fronts) and crematoria at different places along the river Ganga from Uttarakhand to West Bengal under the Centre’s ambitious Namami Ga...

1. Suresh Prabhu flags off Agartala-Delhi train 'Tripura Sundari Express' i. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has flagged off maiden broad-gauge train service between Agartala and Delhi, ‘Tripura Sundari Express’. ii. The ‘Tripura Sundari Express’ will run weekly between Agartala and Anand Vihar in Delhi. The rail link was developed at an expense of 968 crore rupees. iii. Apart from this, Prabhu along with Bangladesh Railway Minister Md. Mazibul Hoque also laid the foundation stone for Agartala-Akhaura International Rail Project. This train link would be part of the trans-Asian rail connectivity.  2. Andhra Pradesh signs MoU with Japan to develop food value chain i. The Andhra Pradesh government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Japan to develop a food value chain in the state. ii. Under the MoU, Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF) will encourage direct investments by Japanese companies in the fields of agric...

1. PM Modi flags off 'Run for Rio' i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has flagged off the Run for Rio event in New Delhi today to celebrate the Olympic mood in the country. ii. The mass run was announced by the Sports Minister Vijay Goel at a press conference. iii. Around 20,000 school children participated in the event, which commenced from Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in Delhi. 2. SEBI's first phase of new enterprise portal goes live i. Markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has initiated the first phase of its new enterprise portal to facilitate accurate and timely circulation of information to internal and external stakeholders. ii. The portal, developed by IT firm Tech Mahindra, provides an e-platform to registered and prospective intermediaries to interact in a secure, transparent, and paperless manner with SEBI. 3. PM  Modi wishes Rio-bound athletes in 'Mann ki Baat' i. PM Modi talked about various subjects such as health, ...

1. CM Chandrababu Naidu launches 'Mission Harita Andhra Pradesh'  i. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has launched 'Mission Harita Andhra Pradesh'. ii. With the theme 'green cover for a happy living', by planting saplings at Sunkollu village under Nuzividu mandal in Krishna district. iii. The objective of the mission is to increase the green cover in the state to 50 % by the year 2029. 2. Centre sanctions nearly Rs. 620 crore to UP as drought assistance i. Centre has sanctioned nearly Rs. 620 crore to Uttar Pradesh as assistance for the recent drought situation in the state. ii. It also approved almost 80 crores for Rajasthan which was affected by hailstorm and 15 crores to Manipur affected by earthquake. iii. A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting in New Delhi chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. 3. Indian-American girl becomes the youngest delegate at DNC i. An 18-year-old Indian-American girl has become the youngest delegate at t...