Daily GK Update - 17th July 2015

Union Cabinet gives nod to redevelop 400 major railway stations

(i) Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the redevelopment of 400 major railway stations. 

(ii) This approval will enable the Union Ministry of Railways to accelerate the redevelopment of ‘A-1’ and ‘A’ category railway stations across the country. 

(iii) These stations generally are located in major cities, metros, pilgrimage centres and important tourist destinations. 

(iv) These major railway stations will be redeveloped under a new a unique method which is form of public procurement of ideas called the Swiss Challenge. 

(v) It will also encourage innovative ideas from interested parties without any additional extra cost from the Railways.

Union Cabinet gives nod to Composite Foreign Investment Cap

(i) Union Cabinet has given nod to introduce composite foreign INVESTMENT cap in a bid to streamline the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) structure. 

(ii) Decision in this regard was taken during Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra  Modi in New Delhi. 

(iii) This move will help government to club all forms of overseas INVESTMENTS such as FDI, Non-resident Indians (NRIs), foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and other foreign INVESTMENTS to define sectoral limits as a composite cap. 

(iv) Present policy has different caps for separate investment categories like FDI, FII and NRIs. 

(v) The proposed sectors for composite foreign investment cap are agriculture, mining, tea, broadcasting, airports, media, retail (single brand and multi-brand), asset reconstruction companies, e-commerce, banking, insurance and COMMODITY EXCHANGES.

(vi) The cost is estimated for this project is to be 7,558 crore rupees including 1,759 crore rupees for land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement activities.

CCEA approves creation of Intra State Transmission System in 7 States

(i) The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the creation of an Intra-state Transmission System (ISTS) in 7 states across the country. 

(ii) 7 States are: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. 

(iii) Key facts about Intra-state Transmission System Under the project, the activities envisaged includes establishment of 48 new Grid sub-stations of different voltage levels. 

(iv) It will have total transformation capacity around 17,100 Mega Volt Ampere (MVA). It will also include installing over 7,800 Circuit Kilometres (ckt-kms) of transmission lines in these seven states. The project is proposed to be completed within a period of 3 to 5 years.

India inks $250-million loan pact with World Bank for Andhra Pradesh Disaster Recovery project

(i) India has inked a FINANCING agreement with World Bank (WB) to raise US 250 million dollars financial assistance for Andhra Pradesh Disaster Recovery Project (APDRP). 

(ii) The agreement was signed by the Union Government, Andhra Pradesh government and the World Bank in New Delhi. 

(iii) About Andhra Pradesh Disaster Recovery Project (APDRP) Objective: To restore, enhance resilience and improve public services, livelihoods and environmental facilities in targeted communities of Andhra Pradesh.

(iv) It includes approximately 3 million populations in 4 heavily impacted districts of state viz. Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and East Godavari.

INS Astravahini decommissioned after 31 years of service

(i) INS Astravahini, indigenously built torpedos launch and recovery vessel was decommissioned after its service for almost 31 years to the nation. 

(ii) It was decommissioned in a ceremony held at the Ship Building Centre (V) at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. 

(iii) The vessel had immensely contributed in the trials of indigenous torpedoes developed by Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL). 

(iv) INS Astravahini was an auxiliary vessel of the torpedo launching and recovery (TLRV) class. It was commissioned in Indian Navy in 1984, at Visakhapatnam and served for about 31 years.

Union Cabinet approved setting up of Panagariya Committtee to classify Caste Census data, 2011

(i) The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 16 July 2015 gave its approval to set up an expert group to classify the Caste names returned in the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC), 2011.

(ii) The expert group will be chaired Arvind Panagariya, Vice-Chairperson of NITI Aayog and will be serviced by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and Ministry of Tribal Welfare.

(iii) As per the released SECC data on 3 July 2015, there are about 46 lakh Caste/Sub Caste names/ synonyms/surnames/ clan/gothra names. The caste census was the first since 1932. 

Indian-American woman Sunita Viswanath honoured with Champion of Change

(i) Sunita Viswanath, an Indian-American woman has been with Champion of Change award by the White House of United States. 

(ii) She is among the 12 other recipients who have been honoured with this award for their continuous efforts towards climate change. 

(iii) Sunita was honoured for her work with Sadhana, US based organisation’s s Project Prithvi which encourages Hindus to take care of the environment. 

(iv) She is co-founder and board member of Sadhana: Coalition of Progressive Hindus. She is also co-founder and active board member of Women for Afghan Women (WAW), US based women`s human rights organisation. 

(v) In 2011, she was awarded with the Feminist Majority Foundation`s Global Women`s Rights Award for her work with WAW.