9 PM Current Affairs Brief – March 7, 2019

Wind energy expansion capacity to slow in next five years: CRISIL A recent report by CRISIL has projected that the wind energy sector in India will record a slow growth in next five years (2019-2023). According to CRISIL, the shift to competitive bidding mechanism has slowed wind energy sector growth due to a significant fall… Continue reading Wind energy expansion capacity to slow in next five years: CRISIL

Indore gets cleanest city tag for third year in a row Indore (Madhya Pradesh) has been awarded the cleanest city in the country in the Swachh Survekshan 2019. Indore had bagged cleanest city award in 2017 and 2018 too. The second and third positions in the cleanest city category went to Ambikapur (Chhattisgarh) and Mysore… Continue reading Indore gets cleanest city tag for third year in a row

Environment Ministry plugs loophole that allowed plastic waste import The government has amended the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Trans-boundary Movement) Rules, 2016. The rules deals with environmentally sound management of hazardous and other wastes. Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management& Trans-boundary Movement) Amendment Rules, 2019 has prohibited import of solid plastic waste to India… Continue reading Environment Ministry plugs loophole that allowed plastic waste import

Women rights activists release list of demands Women right activists have released ”Womanifesto”. It is a 44-point list of demands for consideration of all political parties for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The major demands include a) free sanitary napkins, b) free treatment for survivors of sexual assault and acid attack, c) criminalisation of marital… Continue reading Women rights activists release list of demands

Poorest of poor and uneducated women left behind in ICDS A paper published in a WHO bulletin has revealed that the services under Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) have an inadequate reach among the poorest of the poor and uneducated mothers. The Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) was launched in 1975. The scheme comes under  … Continue reading Poorest of poor and uneducated women left behind in ICDS

Draft e-commerce policy: Some stakeholders seeking more time to give comments, suggestions Some stakeholders from the online trading sectors have sought more time to provide their comments on the draft National E-commerce Policy, 2019. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) had released the draft policy for public consultation in February 2019.… Continue reading Draft e-commerce policy: Some stakeholders seeking more time to give comments, suggestions

Guard against misuse, social media platforms told The parliamentary panel on information technology asked social media platforms such as Facebook,Instagram and WhatsApp to ensure that their platforms are not misused to (a)spread fake news (b)incite violence (c)pose a threat to India’s security or (d)to let foreign powers meddle in the upcoming general election. Fake news… Continue reading Guard against misuse, social media platforms told

Rafale documents ‘stolen’ remark: how can govt defend the country, ask Opposition parties The government opposed any review of the Supreme Court’s earlier refusal to order an investigation into the Rafale deal. Government informed the Supreme Court that documents linked to the Rafale fighter jet deal were stolen from the defence ministry and newspapers that… Continue reading Rafale documents ‘stolen’ remark: how can govt defend the country, ask Opposition parties

I-T to assess 80k big cash depositors during demonetisation The income tax department has ordered ‘best judgement’ assessment of over 80,000 taxpayers who had deposited significant amounts of cash during the demonetisation period but failed to respond to initial notices sent by the income tax (I-T) department and furnish their tax returns for the financial… Continue reading I-T to assess 80k big cash depositors during demonetisation

Philip Morris flouted FDI rules in cigarettes Philip Morris,the world’s largest tobacco company based in Japan has been found circumventing a nine-year-old government ban on foreign direct investment in the tobacco industry, In a bid to curb smoking,the Indian government had banned foreign direct investment on manufacturing in the tobacco sector in 2010. Although,it still… Continue reading Philip Morris flouted FDI rules in cigarettes

Congress hosts G20 diplomats, shares political vision Congress leaders held an interaction with ambassadors of G20 member-countries. G20 is an international forum of the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies formed in 1999.The group accounts for 85% of world GDP and two-thirds of the population.They have no permanent staff of its own… Continue reading Congress hosts G20 diplomats, shares political vision

ISRO, French space agency seal agreement on maritime security The French space agency, National Centre for Space Studies (CNES), has signed an agreement with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to set up a maritime surveillance centre in India. The two nations will initially share data from their present space systems and develop new algorithms… Continue reading ISRO, French space agency seal agreement on maritime security