1. Union Cabinet approves MoU between India, Nepal for construction of petroleum pipeline
i. The Union Cabinet has approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
between India and Nepal for construction of petroleum products pipeline
from Raxaul (Bihar) in India to Amlekhgunj in Nepal.
ii. The MoU seeks to promote bilateral cooperation in the oil and gas
sector between both neighbouring countries and secure long term supply
of petroleum products to Nepal.
iii. In the first phase it will be constructed by Indian Oil Corporation
(IOC) on behalf of Indian Government at a cost of 200 crore rupees. IOC
will be also engaged in re-engineering and construction of the
Amlekhgunj Depot and allied facilities.
iv. The Union Cabinet also gave its ex-post-facto approval to MoU
between India and Mongolia to establish cooperative institutional
relationship and to promote and encourage technical bilateral
cooperation on new and renewable energy between both countries.
v. The Union Cabinet also gave ex-post-facto approval to a MoU signed
between India and France to establish cooperative institutional
relationship to promote and encourage technical bilateral cooperation on
new and renewable energy issues between both countries.
2. Indian Railways ink 4 MoUs with Union Power Ministry to save power, improve efficiency
i. Union Railway Ministry has signed 4 Memorandum of Understandings
(MoUs) with Union Power and New & Renewable Energy Ministry for
energy conservation, transmission and solarisation.
ii. These MoUs seek to boost cooperation between both parties in the
areas of electricity transmission, promotion of renewable energy and
energy conservation in a time bound manner.
iii.
First MoU seeks to boost knowledge sharing in the field of energy and
electricity conservation to reduce the cost of electricity for the
Railways. Second MoU was signed to promote solar energy usage and
provide a framework for providing future energy solutions.
iv. Third MoU it was signed between India Railways and Bureau of Energy
Efficiency (BEE) to identify technologies to improve energy utilisation.
Fourth MoU was signed between Railway Energy Management Company (REMC)
and Energy Efficiency Services (EES) Ltd for implementation of energy
efficient systems and conservation of energy projects for the Railways.
v. These agreements will help Indian Railways in increasing savings on
the power as it the largest power consumer in the country by providing
future solutions (switching to renewable energy) in the power sector.
3. Coca-cola India signs Sourav Ganguly for 3-years as social ambassador
i. Beverage maker Coca-Cola India has roped in
cricketerturned-commentator Sourav Ganguly as its social ambassador for a
three-year deal ending in 2017, replacing Sachin Tendulkar, the
country's most famous cricketer, whose contract ended last year.
ii. Besides the cricket association, Ganguly will lead Coca-Cola's
football programmes and run various grassroots football activities.
Ganguly has also volunteered to be a part of the Coca-Cola Support My
School movement - a programme that promotes the cause of healthy schools
iii. Establishing an association with sports resonates well for cola
companies, which often face flak for promoting sugary drinks. Rival
Pepsi-Co, too, has cricketers MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli as the faces of
its brands.
4. Amitabh Bachchan is now Maharashtra's Tiger ambassador
i.
Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan has accepted the proposal of
Maharashtra Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, to be the tiger
ambassador of the state.
ii. To promote eco-tourism, especially tiger tourism in Maharashtra,
Mungantiwar had requested Amitabh Bachchan to represent the state as its
tiger ambassador.
iii. The 72-year-old actor has communicated his consent to Mungantiwar on Monday through a letter.
iv. Mungantiwar had written letter to Bachchan on July 29 on the occasion of World Tiger Day.
5. Acharya Dev Vrat sworn-in as 27th Governor of Himachal Pradesh
i. Acharya Dev Vrat was sworn in as the Governor of Himachal Pradesh at oath taking ceremony held in Raj Bhawan, Shimla.
ii. He is 27th Governor and 18th regular Governor of the Himachal Pradesh, since it was granted full statehood in 1971.
iii. Vrat took his oath of office in Sanskrit and it was administered by
Chief Justice of the Himachal High Court, Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir as
per provisions of Article 159 of Constitution.
iv. Acharya Dev Vrat is an eminent educationist and hails from Haryana.
He was born on 18 January 1959. He holds double post-graduate in History
and Hindi from the Punjab and Kurukshetra University, respectively. He
also has studied Naturopathy and Yogic Science.
v. He has also authored several books including Gurukul Kurukshetra ka
Gauravshali Itihaas, Swasthya ka Anmol Marg – Prakritik Chikitsa (Hindi
and English editions) besides, editing various magazines and translation
works.
6. Uninor signed worth Rs 1,200 cr contract with Huawei for modernising its network
i. Uninor a subsidiary of Norway’s telecom major Telenor has inked an
agreement worth 1,200 crore rupees with Chinese firm Huawei for
modernising and managing its network across six circles in the country.
ii. The advancement of payment will be done in phase manner for three
years. As per the partnership Huawei will modernise and manage Uninor’s
network by making it future ready for 4G network and internet service.
iii. Accordingly Huawei India will modernise its entire telecom network
across all six operating telecom circles in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra
Pradesh, UP (East), UP (West), Bihar (including Jharkhand), which as of
now has 24,000 base stations.
iv. Huawei has announced that the network modernisation will be done in
environment-friendly green solutions that would lower power consumption
by almost 30 per cent and increase spectral efficiency.
7. Government sanctioned 1,500-MW ultra mega solar power park for Andhra Pradesh.
i.
The Ministry for New and Renewable Energy sanctioned a 1,500-MW ultra
mega solar power park for Andhra Pradesh. The 1,500 MW ultra mega solar
park will be developed in Kadapa district by NTPC, which will the third
mega park of over 1,000 MW to be taken up by the state.
ii. Earlier two mega parks of 1,000 MW each were executed by NTPC at Anantapur and Kurnool districts, respectively.
iii. Part from the above projects the state utility Andhra Pradesh Genco
has approved a move to set up a 500 MW (250×2) solar park in Anantapur.
iv. Andhra Pradesh Government has set target to develop over 9,000 MW
energy from renewable sources by 2019, which includes 5,000 MW of solar
and 4,000 MW of wind capacity.
8. Union Cabinet approves Spectrum Sharing Guidelines
i. The Union Cabinet gave its approval to the spectrum sharing
guidelines based on the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory
Authority of India (TRAI).
ii. The decision is part of Union Government’s commitment to improve
spectral efficiency and quality of telecom service across the country.
iii. Spectrum sharing will be allowed only for the access service
providers in the first instance in a Licensed Service Area (LSA). In
this case both spectrum license holders should have spectrum in the same
band and have paid market price for it.
iv. Access of all spectrums including traded spectrums will be sharable
provided that both license holders having spectrum in the same band.
