1. India, Mozambique ink MoU to boost ties in New and Renewable Energy sector
i. India and Mozambique agreed to deepen cooperation in New and
Renewable Energy. In this regard both sides inked Memorandum of
understanding (MoU) on expanding cooperation in energy sector.
ii. It was signed after delegation level talks between Indian Prime
Minister Narendra Modi and his counterpart Filipe Nyusi, President of
Mozambique who is on official 5 day visit to India.
iii. Apart from this, both nations also agreed ways to intensify
cooperation in maritime security and ocean economy as both have large
coastlines and are linked by Indian Ocean.
iv. India and Mozambique share a history of profitable trade relations
and there bilateral trade in 2014-15 valued at US 2.4 billion dollars.
In last 5 years trade between the two countries has multiplied five
times.
2. ILO, FICCI ink MoU to boost MSME productivity
i. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Federation of Indian
Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) have inked MoU to impart
training to Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to make them
competitive and boost productivity.
ii. The MoU was signed as part of the second phase of Sustaining
Competitive and Responsible Enterprises (SCORE) Global Programme. The
second phase covers three years period from January 2014 to December
2017 wherein national institutes will provide training to MSMEs.
iii. SCORE is a training programme which seeks to empower employers and
workers and increase productivity and competitiveness of MSMEs. It is
being supported by the Norway Agency for Development Cooperation (NADC)
and the Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SSEA). Presently it is
operational in eight countries including India.
iv. It seeks to enable the FICCI to effectively coordinate and manage
SCORE training services. Each phase under this global programme will
approximately have year or more period and will be governed by a
technical partnership agreement. The first phase was covered between
October 2009 and December 2013.
3. Union Cabinet approves proposal to sign agreement with UNESCO
i. Union Cabinet gave its nod to a proposal to sign an agreement with
UNESCO for establishment of a Centre for World Natural Heritage
Management and Training for Asia-Pacific region.
ii.
This centre will be established as a category-2 centre (C2C) of the UN
body at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.
iii. By signing this agreement WII Dehradun will be first existing
institute to be accorded recognition by UNESC. It will be also the first
institute to get natural heritage recognition by UNESCO as currently
there are 9 C2C institutes related to cultural heritage.
this agreement has been mooted by the Union Environment Ministry. While,
Union Government will provide capacity building for establishing this
centre in order to support countries in the region for up keeping of
heritage and natural sites.
4. Union Cabinet gives nod to Direct Release of Wages into bank accounts of MNREGA workers
i. Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of direct release of wages in
to the accounts of the workers engaged under the Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Direct release of
wages system under the MNREGA aims to streamline the flow of funds and
to empower state governments to deliver entitlements as per the
objectives of the Act.
ii.
The wage component of MGNREGA will be directly released to the worker’s
accounts based on a fund transfer order to be generated by states’
implementing agencies of government.
iii. The fund transfer order in case of wages of workers from
implementing agencies will be based in accordance with procedures
prescribed by Union Rural Development Ministry and the wage component
will be given to the State Employment Guarantee Fund window for further
transferring it to beneficiaries.
iv. In the implementation of this scheme, the gram panchayats will be
empowered to take up work according to the agreed labour budget and
without struggling for release of funds.
5. Central Government liberalises single-brand retail norms for non-resident entities
i. Now non resident single-branded retailers in India can operate their
own outlets, can franchise their stores and can even opt for wholesale
business as per central government’s new notification.
ii.
These single-brand retailers can opt for above said trading options
only when they do business through subsidiaries in India or form a joint
venture with Indian entity.
iii. Central government allowed single-brand retailers because the
proceeds from franchise business will come into the current account
while proceeds from FDI will be accounted in the capital account which
does not violates rules set for non resident entities doing business in
India.
iv. Central government norm of 30 percent sourcing from Indian MSEs or
cottage industries may be relaxed for all non-resident entities who are
involved in FDI beyond 51 percent.
v. At present there is 100 per cent FDI allowed in single-brand retail
trading and require prior approval from government for the proposals
beyond 49 per cent FDI
6. Murugappa Group to form new Joint venture with Japan-based Organo
i. The water treatment engineering company Polutech Limited of Murugappa
Group signed an agreement with Organo Corp of Japan to set an
industrial water treatment requirement company in a Joint venture.
ii. According to the agreement signed the Murugappa Group will hold 51
per cent in joint venture and the remaining portion will be with the
Organo Group. The estimated new venture will deal in industrial water
treatment requirements services, which will deal to meet growing demand
of industries for waste water management.
iii. Murugappa Group’s Polutech is a key player in the water treatment
engineering services in India; it manufactures equipment and designs
systems for water and waste water treatment plants. Whereas, Japan’s
Organo is a key player in general water treatment engineering. It
provides water treatment systems, management and maintenance of
delivered systems and also deals in sales of standard products and
chemicals.
7. Airtel commercially Launches India’s first 4G services across 290 cities
i. On 6 August 2015 India’s telecom giant Airtel has commercially
launched the high-speed 4G services across 296 towns across India .
ii. In April 2012 Bharti Airtel had first launched its 4G service in Kolkata and from then conducted trials in 51 cities.
iii. For the 4G devices Airtel has join hands with mobile handset maker
Samsung to develop and provide 4G-enabled handsets in affordable price.
iv. It should be noted that it is Airtel who has built first commercial
4G network in India that has brought high speed mobile broadband into
reality.
