MAHARASHTRA
· Maharashtra tops US Green Building Council’s list
ð According to a recent assessment done by the US Green Building Council(USGBC), Maharashtra topsamong Indian states for hosting the most environment-friendly buildings that save electricity and other green resources.
ð The state stood first in a USGBC list of India’s top 10 states for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), which is the world’s most widely used green building rating system.
ð This is the second year that the list has been released in India. Its ranking system is based on considering each state’s creation of cumulative gross square feet of LEED-certified space as of December 31, 2018.
INTERNATIONAL
- World Bank retains growth forecast for the Indian economy at 7.5%
- The World Bank retained its forecast of India’s growth rate at 7.5 per cent for the current financial year.
- In its Global Economic Prospects report, the World Bank also said growth rate is expected to remain the same for the next two fiscals.
- According to the report, private consumption and investment will benefit from strengthening credit growth amid more accommodative monetary policy, with inflation having fallen below the Reserve Bank of India’s target.
- US terminated India’s preferential trade status under GSP programme
- Generalized System of Preference (GSP) is the largest and oldest US trade preference programme.
- India was the largest beneficiary of the GSP programme in 2017 with $5.7 billion in imports to the US given duty-free status.
- The move was taken on determining that India has not committed to provide “equitable and reasonable access to its markets” for the US.
- US’s trade imbalance with India,
- No access to Indian market for US dairy,
- Medical device industry and
Issues related to data localisation norms.
- China launched a space rocket from the sea for the first time on 5 June
- Chinalaunched a space rocket from the sea for the first time on 5 June 2019. With this China will be the third nation to successfully demonstrate the ability to launch satellites into orbit from a floating platform following the U.S. and Russia.
In the operation, March 11, a Long rocket was launched from a ship in the Yellow Sea.
- The first ever seaborne launch technology aims to meet the growing launch demand of low inclination satellites.It is also expected to help China provide launch services for countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative
NATIONAL
- Govt to remove minimum educational qualification requirement for driving licence
- The government has decided to do away with the requirement of minimum educational qualification for obtaining driving licence to boost employment opportunities.
- At present, under Rule 8 of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989, a transport vehicle driver needs to have passed class 8.
- The ministry has initiated process to amend Rule 8 of Central Motor Vehicles 1989 and a draft notification in this regard will be issued soon.
- The ministry had already proposed the removal of requirement for educational qualification in the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill that got passed by the previous Lok Sabha.
- Government to focus on the allied issue of water under the scheme Nal se Jal
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi’snew government has shifted its focus to the allied issue of water after the country-wide sanitation drive with the Swachh Bharat Mission comes to an end on October 2, 2019. The focus will is carried out by the Ministry of Jal Shakti.
- The scheme ‘Nal se Jal’ will be a component of the government’s Jal Jivan Mission. The Ministry plans to providepiped water connections to every household in India by 2024.
- The ministry will also look at conservation of surface and groundwaterand inter-linking rivers across the country. The idea of inter-linking rivers across the country was proposed by the late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in order to ease the irrigation and drinking water crisis.
- The reason for the merger isto bring all aspects of water management and regulation under one department. The introduction of the Jal Shakti Ministry was announced in the interim budget of the NDA government.
- Govt notifies extension of PM-KISAN scheme to all farmers
- The government has notified its decision to extend the benefit of six thousand rupees per year to eligible farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme.
- The decision will benefit all 14.5 crore farmers, irrespective of the size of their landholding, in the country.
- Notifying the decision, the Union Agriculture Ministry has written to all state governments, asking them to identify beneficiaries subject to the existing exclusion factors.
- PM-KISAN scheme was announced in the interim budget, under which the government decided to provide 6,000 rupees per year to about 12.5 crore small and marginal farmers.
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