President nominates 6 eminent members to Rajya Sabha
i. President Pranab Mukherjee has nominated of six eminent members to Rajya Sabha as per the provisions of Article 80 of the Constitution.
These nominated members are
- Mary Kom: Legendary boxer and Olympic bronze medallist. She belongs to the Sino-Tibetan speaking Kom tribe of Manipur. She is five-time World Amateur Boxing champion, and the only woman boxer to have won a medal in each one of the six world championships. In 2014, she became the first Indian woman boxer to get a gold medal in the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.
- Narendra Jadhav: He is renowned economist and former member of the erstwhile National Advisory Council (2010-14) and Planning Commission (2009-14). He is also the former vice-chancellor of Pune University.
- Suresh Gopi: He is Malayalam actor and had acted in over 200 films. He is a winner of the National Film Award and Filmfare Award.
- Swapan Dasgupta: He is journalist by profession. He had worked at senior editorial positions in various publications including The Indian Express, India Today and The Times of India.
- Subramanian Swamy: He is BJP leader and was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1977, 1980 and 1988, and to the Rajya Sabha in 1974 and 1998.
- Navjot Singh Sidhu: He is cricketer-turned-politician and former two time member of Lok Sabha.
India, France launch $1 Trillion Potential Solar Programme under ISA
i. India and France have launched a programme with $1 trillion Potential Solar Programme under the International Solar Alliance (ISA).
ii. It is a solar finance programme that aims at helping developing countries to fully harness their solar resources for a clean energy future. It was announced by Minister of State for Power Piyush Goyal and French Environment Minister Segolene Royal at the ministerial side event on ISA at the United Nations.
iii. The solar finance programme aims at lowering the cost of finance and facilitates the flow of more than 1 trillion dollars investment to members of the ISA.
iv. Both countries also launched a second programme at the ISA meeting which aims to make available solar technology for farmers. The meeting was attended by representatives of over 25 countries including the US, Bangladesh, Brazil and Nigeria.
About International Solar Alliance (ISA)
- The ISA was launched at the 2015 Paris Climate Change Summit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Francois Hollande.
- It seeks to empower solar-rich countries located between the tropic of Cancer and the tropic of Capricorn to make collaborative efforts to harness solar energy to generate the electricity.
- Under this alliance, 121 countries that fall within the tropics have been invited. Most of these countries fall within Asia, Africa and South America.
- Three Objectives: (i) To force down prices by driving demand, (ii) To bring standardization in solar technologies and thirdly and (iii) To foster research and development.
India’s first online interactive heritage portal Sahapedia launched
i. The Union Government has launched India’s first online interactive heritage portal named Sahapedia was in New Delhi.
ii. The web portal is a collaborative knowledge resource on the arts, culture and heritage of India.
About Sahapedia
- Sahapedia is a not-for-profit society headed by former TCS chairman S. Ramadorai, who currently helms the National Skill Development Agency.
- The purpose of this portal is to inform, educate and act on subjects such as knowledge traditions, visual and material arts, performing arts, literature and languages.
- It also seeks to educated and spread knowledge about practices and rituals, histories, institutions, people, built spaces and natural environment.
- It will be accessible across user groups such as scholars, practitioners, students, teachers, travellers and enthusiasts.
- It will also play important role in integrating activities and services including research, documentation, digitization and conservation.
Union Government notifies new rules to revamp SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act
i. The Union Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry has notified new rules to give effect amended Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
ii. The new rules seek to tighten provisions to ensure speedy justice to members of the SC/ST community.
Key facts
- The new rules aims at speeding up the process of dispensation of justice, liberalise and expedite access to relief for victims of atrocities, ensuring special sensitivity in cases of offences against women.
- It has been made mandatory for cops to file chargesheet within 60 days after a complaint is lodged.
- For the first time, there is provision of relief for offences of rape and gang rape.
- Requirement of medical examination for getting relief amount for non-invasive kind of offences against women has been delinked.
- Relief in cash or in kind or both must be provided within seven days to the victims of atrocity, their family members and dependents.
- The new rules also call for regular reviews of the scheme for the rights and entitlements of victims and witnesses in accessing justice.
India ratifies Trade Facilitation Agreement of WTO
i. India has formally ratified the WTO’s (World Trade Organisation) Trade Facilitation Agreement, which aims at easing customs procedures to boost commerce.
ii. In this regard, India’s WTO ambassador Anjali Prasad handed over the instrument of acceptance to WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo. India is the 76th WTO member to ratify the TFA.
What is Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA)?
- The TFA is the WTO’s first-ever multilateral accord that aims to simplify customs regulations for the cross-border movement of goods.
- It was outcome of WTO’s 9th Bali (Indonesia) ministerial package of 2013. The agreement includes provisions for –
- Lowering import tariffs and agricultural subsidies: It will make it easier for developing countries to trade with the developed world in global markets.
- Abolish hard import quotas: Developed countries would abolish hard import quotas on agricultural products from the developing world and instead would only be allowed to charge tariffs on amount of agricultural imports exceeding specific limits.
- Reduction in red tape at international borders: It aims to reduce red-tapism to facilitate trade by reforming customs bureaucracies and formalities.
Salman Khan named as Indian contingent’s Goodwill Ambassador for 2016 Rio Olympics
i. Bollywood actor Salman Khan was named as the goodwill ambassador of the Indian contingent for the upcoming Olympics to be held in August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
ii. This is the first time when a Bollywood superstar has been chosen as a goodwill ambassador for the Indian contingent at the Olympics.
iii. He was chosen by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) from a list of two to three candidates which also included Shah Rukh Khan and veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan.
iv. IOA has chosen Salman Khan as he is considered to be more connected with the youth and sportspersons and also is considered as a youth icon for bodybuilding fans across the country.
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