1. Modi launches Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Shramev Jayate Karyakram
Prime Minster Narendra Modi on Thursday launched
Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Shramev Jayate Karyakram. Looking to create an environment conducive to industrial development while also ensuring transparency in the labour sector, the Prime Minister launched a host of schemes which envisage, among others, portable PF accounts and a unified portal for labour inspection at firms.
In an effort towards ease of doing business, he dedicated Shram Suvida portal and unveiled labour inspection scheme. The portal will help an industrial unit to get Unique Labour Identification Number to facilitate online registration. The industry will be allowed to file self - certified and simplified single return for 16 labour laws falling under the purview of the Central Government. Presently, there is seperate return for each of the law.
Under the new inspection scheme, the labour inpector will come to know about the unit which he has to inspect only in the evening before the day of inspection. The selection will be on the basis of draw on computer. Every inspector will have to upload the report within 72 hours of inspection, following which action will be taken against the inspector.
The Government has also launched Provident Fund Portability. The process involves issuance of Universal Account Number to each of the workers. It means whenever he changes his job, his EPF contribution will continue in the same account. This will benefit over 4 crore workers.
2. India launches third navigation satellite
ndia’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C26) lifted off with aplomb from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota at 1.32 a.m. on Thursday and precisely put the Indian navigation satellite, IRNSS-1C into its perfect, pre-designated orbit. This was the 28th successful launch of the Indian Space Research Organisation.
After a long 67-hour countdown, which began at 6.32 a.m. on October 13, the PSLV lifted off from the first launch pad at 1.32 a.m. In the backdrop of a bright half moon, the rocket soared against a dark sky, presenting a celestial spectacle. In the darkness of the night, the first stage separation came across with a blinding flash of light. For several minutes, the rocket travelled across the sky like a dot of light. All the four stages of the vehicle ignited on time and separated on the dot.
“The PSLV has done it again. The navigation satellite is up in orbit and the injection was very precise,” announced an elated K. Radhakrishnan, ISRO chairman, amid applause from the scientists.
3. Rajiv Mehrishi to replace Arvind Mayaram
In a major bureaucratic reshuffle, the Government has transferred Finance Secretary and Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram to the Tourism Ministry. He will be replaced by his batchmate and 1978 batch Rajasthan cadre officer Rajiv Mehrishi. Mehrishi is currently the Chief Secretary of Rajasthan.
Mehrishi will join as Economic Affairs Secretary from November 1. Expenditure Secretary Ratan P Watal is likely to be the new Finance Secretary as he is the senior most among all the five secretaries in the Finance Ministry.
Anil Swaroop has been appointed as new Coal Secretary, while Alok Rawat has been moved to the Personnel Ministry from the Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation Ministry.
4.Arvind Subramanian is Chief Economic Adviser U.S.-based economist Arvind Subramanian became chief economic adviser to the Indian government on Thursday, confirming the appointment of the development economist whose candidacy first emerged in August.
Mr. Subramanian, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, attended a news conference in New Delhi at which his appointment was announced.
He is a development economist who worked closely with Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan when both were at the International Monetary Fund.
5. Tamil poet Iqbal named for Singapore’s highest cultural award
Indian-origin Singaporean poet and writer K.T.M. Iqbal will be awarded Cultural Medallion, the country’s highest cultural award by President Tony Tan Keng Yam on Thursday night in Singapore.
It is the highest recognition for the 74-year-old Tamil poet whose achievements include more than 200 children’s songs written for Radio Singapore in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as seven collections of poetry.
Mr. Iqbal said he was “delighted” to receive the award which was “an incredible honour”.
6. Comet Siding Spring: ISRO re-positions its Mars Orbiter
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has repositioned its Mars Orbiter, as the national space agency, along with its counterparts around the world, is expecting Comet Siding Spring to fly by the Red Planet on October 19.
“We have repositioned the Mars Orbiter, as the Comet Siding Spring is expected to be close to the Mars on October 19. We have taken the Orbiter to a position farthest from the tail of the Comet so that it doesn’t affect the satellite,” A.S. Kiran Kumar, Director, Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad, said.
ISRO, NASA and other space agencies in the world, which have sent their missions to the Red Planet have taken precautionary measures to save their satellites from any possible collision with the space debris, which might be facilitated by the movement of the Comet near Mars.
According to U.S. space agency NASA, Comet Siding Spring has travelled many billions of miles and would come within about 87,000 miles of Mars on October 19. The comet comes from the Oort Cloud, material left over from the formation of the solar system, it said.
7. India and UK signed MoU on Cultural Cooperation
India and United Kingdom (UK) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Culture Cooperation over next five years . The MoU was signed by the Minister of State for Culture Shripad Naik and Sajid Javed, Secretary, Department of Culture, Media and Sport of United Kingdom.
The MoU was signed on Cultural Cooperation which will form the bulwark of the India-UK cultural relations for the period 2014 to 2019.
The agreement envisages collaboration in the field of museums, libraries, archaeology, performing arts, capacity building programs, skill development, joint publications, archives, cinematography and literature.
8. Union Finance Ministry approved 25 FDI proposals with total investment of 1546 crore rupees
Union Finance Ministry approved 25 FDI proposals with total investment of 1546 crore rupees.
The proposals were cleared by the Union Finance Ministry following rthe ecommendations for the same by Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), a multi-department panel headed by Finance Secretary Arvind Mayaram.
The proposals include six of single brand retail trade with multi-brand retail trading (MBRT) applications of Flemingo International (BVI) and Miami Perfume Junction, Inc, USA.
The single-brand retail trading proposals which have been cleared include that of Lush Ltd, UK; Austria Puma Dassier Gesellchaft m.b.H, Austria and Bestseller United (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Singapore.
9. Harbin Ice Festival celebrated in Hong Kong
The Harbin Ice Festival was celebrated in Hong Kong. The festival will be held from 1 November 2014 to 10 November 2014. In the Harbin Ice Festival India will showcase her culture, art, food and fashion.
The aim of the festival is to bring awareness about Indian culture to the people of Hong Kong and China.
There will be special focus on creating trade relations between the people of the two countries. This is to further the endeavour to celebrate 2014 as a Year of Friendship and Exchange between India and China.
10. Kotak Mahindra Bank launched Facebook-based funds transfer platform KayPay
Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) on 14 October 2014 launched Facebook-based funds transfer platform KayPay.
KayPay is a bank agnostic payment product for Facebook users to send money to each other.
KayPay is built on top of the mobile based Immediate Payment System (IMPS) that was launched by the National Payment Corporation of India. Users have to register their bank accounts once to start using the service.
At present, a sender can initiate fund transfer to any person through mobile phone, courtesy the IMPS infrastructure.
The IMPS platform has 28 banks under it and account holders of any of these banks can use the newly launched service.
11. New Uranus like planet discovered
Astronomers have discovered a new planet that resembles our own Uranus in a binary star system 25,000 light-years away.
This is the first time anyone has spotted a twin for our so-called “ice giant” planets, Uranus and Neptune.
While Uranus and Neptune are mostly composed of hydrogen and helium, they both contain significant amounts of methane ice, which gives them their bluish appearance.
Given that the newly discovered planet is so far away, astronomers can’t actually tell anything about its composition.
But its distance from its star suggests that it’s an ice giant — and since the planet’s orbit resembles that of Uranus, the astronomers are considering it to be a Uranus analog.
The newly discovered planet leads a turbulent existence: it orbits one star in a binary star system, with the other star close enough to disturb the planet’s orbit.
The find may help solve a mystery about the origins of the ice giants in our solar system, said Andrew Gould, professor of astronomy at Ohio State University.
Prime Minster Narendra Modi on Thursday launched
Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Shramev Jayate Karyakram. Looking to create an environment conducive to industrial development while also ensuring transparency in the labour sector, the Prime Minister launched a host of schemes which envisage, among others, portable PF accounts and a unified portal for labour inspection at firms. In an effort towards ease of doing business, he dedicated Shram Suvida portal and unveiled labour inspection scheme. The portal will help an industrial unit to get Unique Labour Identification Number to facilitate online registration. The industry will be allowed to file self - certified and simplified single return for 16 labour laws falling under the purview of the Central Government. Presently, there is seperate return for each of the law.
Under the new inspection scheme, the labour inpector will come to know about the unit which he has to inspect only in the evening before the day of inspection. The selection will be on the basis of draw on computer. Every inspector will have to upload the report within 72 hours of inspection, following which action will be taken against the inspector.
The Government has also launched Provident Fund Portability. The process involves issuance of Universal Account Number to each of the workers. It means whenever he changes his job, his EPF contribution will continue in the same account. This will benefit over 4 crore workers.
2. India launches third navigation satellite
ndia’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C26) lifted off with aplomb from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota at 1.32 a.m. on Thursday and precisely put the Indian navigation satellite, IRNSS-1C into its perfect, pre-designated orbit. This was the 28th successful launch of the Indian Space Research Organisation.
After a long 67-hour countdown, which began at 6.32 a.m. on October 13, the PSLV lifted off from the first launch pad at 1.32 a.m. In the backdrop of a bright half moon, the rocket soared against a dark sky, presenting a celestial spectacle. In the darkness of the night, the first stage separation came across with a blinding flash of light. For several minutes, the rocket travelled across the sky like a dot of light. All the four stages of the vehicle ignited on time and separated on the dot.
“The PSLV has done it again. The navigation satellite is up in orbit and the injection was very precise,” announced an elated K. Radhakrishnan, ISRO chairman, amid applause from the scientists.
3. Rajiv Mehrishi to replace Arvind Mayaram
In a major bureaucratic reshuffle, the Government has transferred Finance Secretary and Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram to the Tourism Ministry. He will be replaced by his batchmate and 1978 batch Rajasthan cadre officer Rajiv Mehrishi. Mehrishi is currently the Chief Secretary of Rajasthan.
Mehrishi will join as Economic Affairs Secretary from November 1. Expenditure Secretary Ratan P Watal is likely to be the new Finance Secretary as he is the senior most among all the five secretaries in the Finance Ministry.
Anil Swaroop has been appointed as new Coal Secretary, while Alok Rawat has been moved to the Personnel Ministry from the Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation Ministry.
4.Arvind Subramanian is Chief Economic Adviser U.S.-based economist Arvind Subramanian became chief economic adviser to the Indian government on Thursday, confirming the appointment of the development economist whose candidacy first emerged in August.
Mr. Subramanian, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, attended a news conference in New Delhi at which his appointment was announced.
He is a development economist who worked closely with Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan when both were at the International Monetary Fund.
5. Tamil poet Iqbal named for Singapore’s highest cultural award
Indian-origin Singaporean poet and writer K.T.M. Iqbal will be awarded Cultural Medallion, the country’s highest cultural award by President Tony Tan Keng Yam on Thursday night in Singapore.
It is the highest recognition for the 74-year-old Tamil poet whose achievements include more than 200 children’s songs written for Radio Singapore in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as seven collections of poetry.
Mr. Iqbal said he was “delighted” to receive the award which was “an incredible honour”.
6. Comet Siding Spring: ISRO re-positions its Mars Orbiter
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has repositioned its Mars Orbiter, as the national space agency, along with its counterparts around the world, is expecting Comet Siding Spring to fly by the Red Planet on October 19.
“We have repositioned the Mars Orbiter, as the Comet Siding Spring is expected to be close to the Mars on October 19. We have taken the Orbiter to a position farthest from the tail of the Comet so that it doesn’t affect the satellite,” A.S. Kiran Kumar, Director, Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad, said.
ISRO, NASA and other space agencies in the world, which have sent their missions to the Red Planet have taken precautionary measures to save their satellites from any possible collision with the space debris, which might be facilitated by the movement of the Comet near Mars.
According to U.S. space agency NASA, Comet Siding Spring has travelled many billions of miles and would come within about 87,000 miles of Mars on October 19. The comet comes from the Oort Cloud, material left over from the formation of the solar system, it said.
7. India and UK signed MoU on Cultural Cooperation
India and United Kingdom (UK) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Culture Cooperation over next five years . The MoU was signed by the Minister of State for Culture Shripad Naik and Sajid Javed, Secretary, Department of Culture, Media and Sport of United Kingdom.
The MoU was signed on Cultural Cooperation which will form the bulwark of the India-UK cultural relations for the period 2014 to 2019.
The agreement envisages collaboration in the field of museums, libraries, archaeology, performing arts, capacity building programs, skill development, joint publications, archives, cinematography and literature.
8. Union Finance Ministry approved 25 FDI proposals with total investment of 1546 crore rupees
Union Finance Ministry approved 25 FDI proposals with total investment of 1546 crore rupees.
The proposals were cleared by the Union Finance Ministry following rthe ecommendations for the same by Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), a multi-department panel headed by Finance Secretary Arvind Mayaram.
The proposals include six of single brand retail trade with multi-brand retail trading (MBRT) applications of Flemingo International (BVI) and Miami Perfume Junction, Inc, USA.
The single-brand retail trading proposals which have been cleared include that of Lush Ltd, UK; Austria Puma Dassier Gesellchaft m.b.H, Austria and Bestseller United (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Singapore.
9. Harbin Ice Festival celebrated in Hong Kong
The Harbin Ice Festival was celebrated in Hong Kong. The festival will be held from 1 November 2014 to 10 November 2014. In the Harbin Ice Festival India will showcase her culture, art, food and fashion.
The aim of the festival is to bring awareness about Indian culture to the people of Hong Kong and China.
There will be special focus on creating trade relations between the people of the two countries. This is to further the endeavour to celebrate 2014 as a Year of Friendship and Exchange between India and China.
10. Kotak Mahindra Bank launched Facebook-based funds transfer platform KayPay
Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) on 14 October 2014 launched Facebook-based funds transfer platform KayPay.
KayPay is a bank agnostic payment product for Facebook users to send money to each other.
KayPay is built on top of the mobile based Immediate Payment System (IMPS) that was launched by the National Payment Corporation of India. Users have to register their bank accounts once to start using the service.
At present, a sender can initiate fund transfer to any person through mobile phone, courtesy the IMPS infrastructure.
The IMPS platform has 28 banks under it and account holders of any of these banks can use the newly launched service.
11. New Uranus like planet discovered
Astronomers have discovered a new planet that resembles our own Uranus in a binary star system 25,000 light-years away.
This is the first time anyone has spotted a twin for our so-called “ice giant” planets, Uranus and Neptune.
While Uranus and Neptune are mostly composed of hydrogen and helium, they both contain significant amounts of methane ice, which gives them their bluish appearance.
Given that the newly discovered planet is so far away, astronomers can’t actually tell anything about its composition.
But its distance from its star suggests that it’s an ice giant — and since the planet’s orbit resembles that of Uranus, the astronomers are considering it to be a Uranus analog.
The newly discovered planet leads a turbulent existence: it orbits one star in a binary star system, with the other star close enough to disturb the planet’s orbit.
The find may help solve a mystery about the origins of the ice giants in our solar system, said Andrew Gould, professor of astronomy at Ohio State University.
1. Modi launches Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Shramev Jayate Karyakram
Prime Minster Narendra Modi on Thursday launched
Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Shramev Jayate Karyakram. Looking to create an environment conducive to industrial development while also ensuring transparency in the labour sector, the Prime Minister launched a host of schemes which envisage, among others, portable PF accounts and a unified portal for labour inspection at firms.
In an effort towards ease of doing business, he dedicated Shram Suvida portal and unveiled labour inspection scheme. The portal will help an industrial unit to get Unique Labour Identification Number to facilitate online registration. The industry will be allowed to file self - certified and simplified single return for 16 labour laws falling under the purview of the Central Government. Presently, there is seperate return for each of the law.
Under the new inspection scheme, the labour inpector will come to know about the unit which he has to inspect only in the evening before the day of inspection. The selection will be on the basis of draw on computer. Every inspector will have to upload the report within 72 hours of inspection, following which action will be taken against the inspector.
The Government has also launched Provident Fund Portability. The process involves issuance of Universal Account Number to each of the workers. It means whenever he changes his job, his EPF contribution will continue in the same account. This will benefit over 4 crore workers.
2. India launches third navigation satellite
ndia’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C26) lifted off with aplomb from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota at 1.32 a.m. on Thursday and precisely put the Indian navigation satellite, IRNSS-1C into its perfect, pre-designated orbit. This was the 28th successful launch of the Indian Space Research Organisation.
After a long 67-hour countdown, which began at 6.32 a.m. on October 13, the PSLV lifted off from the first launch pad at 1.32 a.m. In the backdrop of a bright half moon, the rocket soared against a dark sky, presenting a celestial spectacle. In the darkness of the night, the first stage separation came across with a blinding flash of light. For several minutes, the rocket travelled across the sky like a dot of light. All the four stages of the vehicle ignited on time and separated on the dot.
“The PSLV has done it again. The navigation satellite is up in orbit and the injection was very precise,” announced an elated K. Radhakrishnan, ISRO chairman, amid applause from the scientists.
3. Rajiv Mehrishi to replace Arvind Mayaram
In a major bureaucratic reshuffle, the Government has transferred Finance Secretary and Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram to the Tourism Ministry. He will be replaced by his batchmate and 1978 batch Rajasthan cadre officer Rajiv Mehrishi. Mehrishi is currently the Chief Secretary of Rajasthan.
Mehrishi will join as Economic Affairs Secretary from November 1. Expenditure Secretary Ratan P Watal is likely to be the new Finance Secretary as he is the senior most among all the five secretaries in the Finance Ministry.
Anil Swaroop has been appointed as new Coal Secretary, while Alok Rawat has been moved to the Personnel Ministry from the Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation Ministry.
4.Arvind Subramanian is Chief Economic Adviser U.S.-based economist Arvind Subramanian became chief economic adviser to the Indian government on Thursday, confirming the appointment of the development economist whose candidacy first emerged in August.
Mr. Subramanian, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, attended a news conference in New Delhi at which his appointment was announced.
He is a development economist who worked closely with Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan when both were at the International Monetary Fund.
5. Tamil poet Iqbal named for Singapore’s highest cultural award
Indian-origin Singaporean poet and writer K.T.M. Iqbal will be awarded Cultural Medallion, the country’s highest cultural award by President Tony Tan Keng Yam on Thursday night in Singapore.
It is the highest recognition for the 74-year-old Tamil poet whose achievements include more than 200 children’s songs written for Radio Singapore in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as seven collections of poetry.
Mr. Iqbal said he was “delighted” to receive the award which was “an incredible honour”.
6. Comet Siding Spring: ISRO re-positions its Mars Orbiter
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has repositioned its Mars Orbiter, as the national space agency, along with its counterparts around the world, is expecting Comet Siding Spring to fly by the Red Planet on October 19.
“We have repositioned the Mars Orbiter, as the Comet Siding Spring is expected to be close to the Mars on October 19. We have taken the Orbiter to a position farthest from the tail of the Comet so that it doesn’t affect the satellite,” A.S. Kiran Kumar, Director, Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad, said.
ISRO, NASA and other space agencies in the world, which have sent their missions to the Red Planet have taken precautionary measures to save their satellites from any possible collision with the space debris, which might be facilitated by the movement of the Comet near Mars.
According to U.S. space agency NASA, Comet Siding Spring has travelled many billions of miles and would come within about 87,000 miles of Mars on October 19. The comet comes from the Oort Cloud, material left over from the formation of the solar system, it said.
7. India and UK signed MoU on Cultural Cooperation
India and United Kingdom (UK) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Culture Cooperation over next five years . The MoU was signed by the Minister of State for Culture Shripad Naik and Sajid Javed, Secretary, Department of Culture, Media and Sport of United Kingdom.
The MoU was signed on Cultural Cooperation which will form the bulwark of the India-UK cultural relations for the period 2014 to 2019.
The agreement envisages collaboration in the field of museums, libraries, archaeology, performing arts, capacity building programs, skill development, joint publications, archives, cinematography and literature.
8. Union Finance Ministry approved 25 FDI proposals with total investment of 1546 crore rupees
Union Finance Ministry approved 25 FDI proposals with total investment of 1546 crore rupees.
The proposals were cleared by the Union Finance Ministry following rthe ecommendations for the same by Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), a multi-department panel headed by Finance Secretary Arvind Mayaram.
The proposals include six of single brand retail trade with multi-brand retail trading (MBRT) applications of Flemingo International (BVI) and Miami Perfume Junction, Inc, USA.
The single-brand retail trading proposals which have been cleared include that of Lush Ltd, UK; Austria Puma Dassier Gesellchaft m.b.H, Austria and Bestseller United (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Singapore.
9. Harbin Ice Festival celebrated in Hong Kong
The Harbin Ice Festival was celebrated in Hong Kong. The festival will be held from 1 November 2014 to 10 November 2014. In the Harbin Ice Festival India will showcase her culture, art, food and fashion.
The aim of the festival is to bring awareness about Indian culture to the people of Hong Kong and China.
There will be special focus on creating trade relations between the people of the two countries. This is to further the endeavour to celebrate 2014 as a Year of Friendship and Exchange between India and China.
10. Kotak Mahindra Bank launched Facebook-based funds transfer platform KayPay
Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) on 14 October 2014 launched Facebook-based funds transfer platform KayPay.
KayPay is a bank agnostic payment product for Facebook users to send money to each other.
KayPay is built on top of the mobile based Immediate Payment System (IMPS) that was launched by the National Payment Corporation of India. Users have to register their bank accounts once to start using the service.
At present, a sender can initiate fund transfer to any person through mobile phone, courtesy the IMPS infrastructure.
The IMPS platform has 28 banks under it and account holders of any of these banks can use the newly launched service.
11. New Uranus like planet discovered
Astronomers have discovered a new planet that resembles our own Uranus in a binary star system 25,000 light-years away.
This is the first time anyone has spotted a twin for our so-called “ice giant” planets, Uranus and Neptune.
While Uranus and Neptune are mostly composed of hydrogen and helium, they both contain significant amounts of methane ice, which gives them their bluish appearance.
Given that the newly discovered planet is so far away, astronomers can’t actually tell anything about its composition.
But its distance from its star suggests that it’s an ice giant — and since the planet’s orbit resembles that of Uranus, the astronomers are considering it to be a Uranus analog.
The newly discovered planet leads a turbulent existence: it orbits one star in a binary star system, with the other star close enough to disturb the planet’s orbit.
The find may help solve a mystery about the origins of the ice giants in our solar system, said Andrew Gould, professor of astronomy at Ohio State University.
Prime Minster Narendra Modi on Thursday launched
Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Shramev Jayate Karyakram. Looking to create an environment conducive to industrial development while also ensuring transparency in the labour sector, the Prime Minister launched a host of schemes which envisage, among others, portable PF accounts and a unified portal for labour inspection at firms. In an effort towards ease of doing business, he dedicated Shram Suvida portal and unveiled labour inspection scheme. The portal will help an industrial unit to get Unique Labour Identification Number to facilitate online registration. The industry will be allowed to file self - certified and simplified single return for 16 labour laws falling under the purview of the Central Government. Presently, there is seperate return for each of the law.
Under the new inspection scheme, the labour inpector will come to know about the unit which he has to inspect only in the evening before the day of inspection. The selection will be on the basis of draw on computer. Every inspector will have to upload the report within 72 hours of inspection, following which action will be taken against the inspector.
The Government has also launched Provident Fund Portability. The process involves issuance of Universal Account Number to each of the workers. It means whenever he changes his job, his EPF contribution will continue in the same account. This will benefit over 4 crore workers.
2. India launches third navigation satellite
ndia’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C26) lifted off with aplomb from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota at 1.32 a.m. on Thursday and precisely put the Indian navigation satellite, IRNSS-1C into its perfect, pre-designated orbit. This was the 28th successful launch of the Indian Space Research Organisation.
After a long 67-hour countdown, which began at 6.32 a.m. on October 13, the PSLV lifted off from the first launch pad at 1.32 a.m. In the backdrop of a bright half moon, the rocket soared against a dark sky, presenting a celestial spectacle. In the darkness of the night, the first stage separation came across with a blinding flash of light. For several minutes, the rocket travelled across the sky like a dot of light. All the four stages of the vehicle ignited on time and separated on the dot.
“The PSLV has done it again. The navigation satellite is up in orbit and the injection was very precise,” announced an elated K. Radhakrishnan, ISRO chairman, amid applause from the scientists.
3. Rajiv Mehrishi to replace Arvind Mayaram
In a major bureaucratic reshuffle, the Government has transferred Finance Secretary and Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram to the Tourism Ministry. He will be replaced by his batchmate and 1978 batch Rajasthan cadre officer Rajiv Mehrishi. Mehrishi is currently the Chief Secretary of Rajasthan.
Mehrishi will join as Economic Affairs Secretary from November 1. Expenditure Secretary Ratan P Watal is likely to be the new Finance Secretary as he is the senior most among all the five secretaries in the Finance Ministry.
Anil Swaroop has been appointed as new Coal Secretary, while Alok Rawat has been moved to the Personnel Ministry from the Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation Ministry.
4.Arvind Subramanian is Chief Economic Adviser U.S.-based economist Arvind Subramanian became chief economic adviser to the Indian government on Thursday, confirming the appointment of the development economist whose candidacy first emerged in August.
Mr. Subramanian, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, attended a news conference in New Delhi at which his appointment was announced.
He is a development economist who worked closely with Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan when both were at the International Monetary Fund.
5. Tamil poet Iqbal named for Singapore’s highest cultural award
Indian-origin Singaporean poet and writer K.T.M. Iqbal will be awarded Cultural Medallion, the country’s highest cultural award by President Tony Tan Keng Yam on Thursday night in Singapore.
It is the highest recognition for the 74-year-old Tamil poet whose achievements include more than 200 children’s songs written for Radio Singapore in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as seven collections of poetry.
Mr. Iqbal said he was “delighted” to receive the award which was “an incredible honour”.
6. Comet Siding Spring: ISRO re-positions its Mars Orbiter
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has repositioned its Mars Orbiter, as the national space agency, along with its counterparts around the world, is expecting Comet Siding Spring to fly by the Red Planet on October 19.
“We have repositioned the Mars Orbiter, as the Comet Siding Spring is expected to be close to the Mars on October 19. We have taken the Orbiter to a position farthest from the tail of the Comet so that it doesn’t affect the satellite,” A.S. Kiran Kumar, Director, Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad, said.
ISRO, NASA and other space agencies in the world, which have sent their missions to the Red Planet have taken precautionary measures to save their satellites from any possible collision with the space debris, which might be facilitated by the movement of the Comet near Mars.
According to U.S. space agency NASA, Comet Siding Spring has travelled many billions of miles and would come within about 87,000 miles of Mars on October 19. The comet comes from the Oort Cloud, material left over from the formation of the solar system, it said.
7. India and UK signed MoU on Cultural Cooperation
India and United Kingdom (UK) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Culture Cooperation over next five years . The MoU was signed by the Minister of State for Culture Shripad Naik and Sajid Javed, Secretary, Department of Culture, Media and Sport of United Kingdom.
The MoU was signed on Cultural Cooperation which will form the bulwark of the India-UK cultural relations for the period 2014 to 2019.
The agreement envisages collaboration in the field of museums, libraries, archaeology, performing arts, capacity building programs, skill development, joint publications, archives, cinematography and literature.
8. Union Finance Ministry approved 25 FDI proposals with total investment of 1546 crore rupees
Union Finance Ministry approved 25 FDI proposals with total investment of 1546 crore rupees.
The proposals were cleared by the Union Finance Ministry following rthe ecommendations for the same by Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), a multi-department panel headed by Finance Secretary Arvind Mayaram.
The proposals include six of single brand retail trade with multi-brand retail trading (MBRT) applications of Flemingo International (BVI) and Miami Perfume Junction, Inc, USA.
The single-brand retail trading proposals which have been cleared include that of Lush Ltd, UK; Austria Puma Dassier Gesellchaft m.b.H, Austria and Bestseller United (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Singapore.
9. Harbin Ice Festival celebrated in Hong Kong
The Harbin Ice Festival was celebrated in Hong Kong. The festival will be held from 1 November 2014 to 10 November 2014. In the Harbin Ice Festival India will showcase her culture, art, food and fashion.
The aim of the festival is to bring awareness about Indian culture to the people of Hong Kong and China.
There will be special focus on creating trade relations between the people of the two countries. This is to further the endeavour to celebrate 2014 as a Year of Friendship and Exchange between India and China.
10. Kotak Mahindra Bank launched Facebook-based funds transfer platform KayPay
Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) on 14 October 2014 launched Facebook-based funds transfer platform KayPay.
KayPay is a bank agnostic payment product for Facebook users to send money to each other.
KayPay is built on top of the mobile based Immediate Payment System (IMPS) that was launched by the National Payment Corporation of India. Users have to register their bank accounts once to start using the service.
At present, a sender can initiate fund transfer to any person through mobile phone, courtesy the IMPS infrastructure.
The IMPS platform has 28 banks under it and account holders of any of these banks can use the newly launched service.
11. New Uranus like planet discovered
Astronomers have discovered a new planet that resembles our own Uranus in a binary star system 25,000 light-years away.
This is the first time anyone has spotted a twin for our so-called “ice giant” planets, Uranus and Neptune.
While Uranus and Neptune are mostly composed of hydrogen and helium, they both contain significant amounts of methane ice, which gives them their bluish appearance.
Given that the newly discovered planet is so far away, astronomers can’t actually tell anything about its composition.
But its distance from its star suggests that it’s an ice giant — and since the planet’s orbit resembles that of Uranus, the astronomers are considering it to be a Uranus analog.
The newly discovered planet leads a turbulent existence: it orbits one star in a binary star system, with the other star close enough to disturb the planet’s orbit.
The find may help solve a mystery about the origins of the ice giants in our solar system, said Andrew Gould, professor of astronomy at Ohio State University.
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