General Awareness Magazine Vol 18 December 2015

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National News
NGT says no to age-old practice
Even as the winter has set in, the pollution-ravaged Capital is now battling thick
smog due to stubble burning, forcing the National Green Tribunal to direct Delhi
and its neighbouring States to stop the age-old practice.
A Bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar directed the Delhi
government and the four northern States of Punjab, Haryana, Rajas-than and Uttar
Pradesh to check the bi-annual menace, which the farmers engage in to save time
between sowing of wheat and rice.
The tribunal also announced a fine of Rs. 2,500 to Rs. 15,000 on farmers found
indulging in straw burning.
The practice is followed by farmers not only to save time under the rice-wheat crop
rotation to clear the land of residue of one harvest and sow the next, it is also believed
that it makes the land more fertile and kill pests.
The burning of agriculture waste is a serious issue contributing towards global
warming and the environmental pollution. You all are putting the life of people and
children at danger, and they are getting sick. You cannot allow them to suffer.
The tribunal also directed the District Magistrates to form a committee to organise
aware-ness programmes for farmers and villagers so as to educate them about the
ill-effects of straw burning.
President to launch IIT -IISc initiative

President Pranab Mukherjee will, on Thursday, launch an initiative to develop a
road map for research and pave the way for solutions to major engineering and
technology challenges, at the on-going Visitor's Conference in Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The initiative, IMPRINT India', is a pan-IIT and IISc joint collaboration to develop a
blueprint for research of immediate relevance to society requiring innovation, direct
scientific research into identified areas, ensure higher fund-ing support for research
into these areas and measure out-comes of the research efforts with reference to the
impact on the standard of living in rural/urban areas.
IMPRINT India will focus on 10 themes and each theme will be coordinated by one
IIT/IISc. For instance, IIT -Kharagpur will work on the themes of health care, computer
science and information and communication technology, while IIT -Kanpur will work
on advance material, water re-sources and river systems.
SC throws open collegium system to public scrutiny

Braving uncharted territories to fulfil its promise of transparency in judicial
appointments, the Supreme Court on Thursday threw open the collegium system to
public scrutiny and invited the common man from every part of the country to give
his opinion on what kind of per-sons should be appointed as judges of the highest
courts.
Judicial appointments to the Supreme Court and the High Courts were based entirely
on the Memoranda of Procedure framed after a nine-judge Bench of the Supreme
Court established the collegium system.
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The public had never been consulted in these matters.
The public can post their suggestions on the Ministry website till 5 p.m. November
13.
Meanwhile in a report to improve the collegium prepared by senior advocate Arvind
Dattar and Additional Solicitor-General Pinky Anand, lot of suggestions have come.
Improve transparency, formulate eligibility criteria, establish a Secretariat for the
collegium and frame a mechanism to deal with complaints against judicial candidates.
Some of the suggestions to ensure transparency within the collegium include
subjecting the minutes of its meetings to Right to information Act.
The report records a proposal to have candidates dis-close whether they are related
to any sitting judge.
While the OBC Advocates Association made an oral representation to include 50
per cent quota in judicial appointments to highest courts, the report has incorporated
a special suggestion for representations for minority, backward classes, and SCs/
STs.
Now , 0.5% cess on services to support Swachh Bharat

The government on Friday imposed two new levies a 0.5 per cent Swachh Bharat
Cess on all services, now liable to service tax and a 2 per cent regional connectivity
cess on international air travel and flights between metros and big cities.
The Swachh Bharat cess will be effective from November 15, said an official re-lease.
The proceeds from this cess will be exclusively used for Swachh Bharat initiatives.
The decision will in-crease the service tax outgo on insurance premiums, air fares
and cell phone bills.
This is not another tax but a step towards involving each and every citizen in making
contribution to Swachh Bharat, the government said.
The scheme provides for viability gap funding (VGF) from the government for
operating small aircraft to small towns with a fare cap of Rs. 2,500 per hour of flying.
The government estimates that with the increased allocation for Swachh Bharat
Abhiyan con-sequent to the collections from the cess, it will be able to prevent
diseases. At present, an estimated Rs.6,700 crore or about Rs.60 per capita is spent
annually on health.
Rail ticket cancellation charges hiked

The Indian Railways has again revised the re-fund rules, doubling the cancellation
charges and reducing the window time for cancellation of tickets with effect from
November 12.
As per the new rules, no re-fund would be granted for confirmed tickets if they are
cancelled after four hours be-fore the scheduled departure of the train, as against the
existing rule (June 25) of 50 per cent refund if the tickets were cancelled before two
hours after the actual departure of the train, as per the Commercial Circular 64 issued
by the Railway Board on Friday.
The minimum cancellation charges have been fixed at Rs. 240 for AC I/ Executive
class (Rs. 120), Rs. 200 for AC II/First class (Rs. 100), Rs. 180 for AC III/ AC chair car
(Rs. 90), Rs. 120 for sleeper class (Rs. 60) and Rs. 60 for second class (Rs. 30).
If reserved tickets are cancelled after 48 hours and up to 12 hours of the scheduled
departure, 25 per cent of the fare is deducted while giving the refund while 50 per
cent of the fare is deducted if ticketsare cancelled within 12 hours and up to four
hours of the scheduled departure, both subject to minimum cancellation charges.
Greenpeace's registration cancelled

The Registrar has further accused the Executive Director of the society of making
completely irrelevant and in-valid statements, aimed at procrastination.
It further stated that the decision had come at a time when several international
leaders, including the United Nations Secretary General, upheld the importance
ofcivil society in healthy democracies.
Greenpeace India, on its part, termed the notice as the latest assault on free speech in
India.
Centre notifies OROP , veterans reject it

The Union government notified the one rank, one pension (OROP) scheme on
Saturday, but ex-service-men were quick to reject it.
The Government Order by the Ministry of Defence, which could not be issued
[earlier] because of the model code of conduct [for Bihar elections], has been issued
to-day, said a government statement.
The government seems to have stuck to the conditions announced by Defence Minister
Manohar Parrikar in September. The veterans had rejected them then, and last
weekend, announced plans to step up protests.
Personnel who henceforth get discharged on their own request under Rule 13(3)1(i)(b)
,13(3)1(iv) or Rule 16B of the Army Rule 1954 or the equivalent Navy or Air Force
Rules will not be entitled to OROP benefits, the government said. The ex-servicemen,
however, want no distinction between retirees, and exclusion of such personnel will
become a major point of friction.
The two sides had not reached a consensus on the concept of premature retirement.
Earlier, the government stated that those opting for it would not be eligible for the
OROP.
After protests by ex-service-men, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said everyone was
eligible. However, the notification said those opting for it in future would be out of
the scheme.
The notification says in future, the pension would be re-fixed every 5 years. The
ex-servicemen have been demanding more frequent revisions. They have argued
that revision after every five years, which means five different pensions for the same
rank, will not be in the spirit of the OROP.
The government announced that the pension of past retirees would be revised on
the basis of the pension of retirees of calendar year 2013 and the benefit will beeffective
from July 1, 2014. This is not acceptable to the veterans, sources said. The notification
said arrears would be paid in four equal half-yearly instalments.
However, family pensioners and gallantry award winners would be made the
payment in a single instalment, it said.
Over 100 community radios operating illegally' in India

As many as 100 community radio operators in the country, out of 187 radio stations
currently on air, are in effect operating illegally while transmitting pro-grammes.
A majority of them do not have the licence to operate, and as for the rest, they don't
have valid agreements with the Information and Broad-casting Ministry. The licences
and the agreements have expired and the fault lies with the Ministry, which is yet to
give finishing touches to the Grant of Permission Agreement (GOPA), an essential
prerequisite to obtain licences.
For a government for which communication is the key, the operators are surprised
why the ministry has not demonstrated any urgency to draft the agreement guidelines
for community radio. By keeping it a work in progress, the operators lose out in
several ways. Says Arti Jaiman, station director of Gurgaon Ki Awaaz, a community
radio station that broadcasts in Hindi, Till we get a valid GOPA, we cannot get a
wireless operating licence from the Department of Telecommunications.
This creates a whole lot of problems because, at the State lev-el, when we seek
advertisements, they ask us for the broadcasting licences first. The GOPA is valid
for five years while licences are re-is-sued annually.
Two-third majority for Nitish-Lalu GrandAlliance

As the Nitish Kumar-Lalu Prasad duo led the Grand Alliance on Sunday to a historic,
thumping two-thirds majority, even reviving its junior partner, the Congress, the
BJP-led NDA bit the dust and the curtain came down on what must rate as one of
the most bitterly fought Assembly elections in Bihar.
Conscious that this victory would resonate through the country, influencing politics
in other parts, Chief Minister and JD (U) leader Nitish Kumar com-posed but
clearly moved by the extent of the mandate said: The Bihar 2015 poll will always
be remembered as a milestone in the electoral politics of the State; it reflected the
national mood. Mr. Kumar said the poll would be remembered as one where the
party at the Centre had put all its re-sources into an Assembly election.
Seat share in Bihar election saw RJD comes out as single largest party with 80 seats
followed by JD(U) at 71 seats and BJP got 53seats.
Greater weightage to be given for theory in ISC exam

The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) has changed the
marking scheme of its Class XII examinations from 2016 onwards. Under the new
scheme, greater weightage will be given to theory.
Hitherto, equal weightage was given to theory and practicals in six subjects -- Indian
classical music (Hindustani), Indian classical music (Carnatic), western music,
computer science, fashion design-ing and physical education.
But from the 2016 examination, there will be 70 per cent weightage to theory and 30
per cent to practicals.
Mars Orbiter Mission is in good nick, says ISRO chief

Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar said on Sunday
that the health of the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) or Mangalyaan was extremely
good. Speaking to press persons after participating in the Graduation Day ceremony
of SMV Institute of Technology and Management (SMVITM) here in Karnataka, Mr.
Kumar said that the ISRO had a pro-gramme in Bengaluru on November 5, where it
marked two years of completion of launch of Mangalyaan and more than a year of
its orbit-ing around the Mars
All five payloads of MOM were sending data on a regular basis. It is completing
one revolution around the Mars roughly in two and a half days. All the sub-systems
are work-ing fine. We still have about 35 kg of fuel. The satellite is expected to last
for quite some time, he said.
Future plans to a query, he said Chandrayaan-2 would carry a lander and a rover. It
would help in having a controlled landing on the surface of the moon.
The rover would move on the surface of the moon. It would collect data and send it
to Earth. Chandrayaan-2 was likely to be launched in 2017 or 2018. The ISRO was
planning to launch Aditya, the satellite, which would help in studying solar eclipses
on continuous basis and also other aspects of the Sun.
GSA T -15 launched successfully

Communications satellite GSAT -15 was launched in the early hours of Wednesday
from Kourou in French Guiana in South America. The 3,164-kg spacecraft will replace
the ageing In-sat-3A and 4B spacecraft, which are in the same orbital slot, when they
expire, the In-dian Space Research Organisation said.
GSAT -15's 24 transponders in the Ku-band will mainly cater to direct-to-home services of Doordarshan and private broadcasters besides VSAT operators who drive
Internet services. A majority of Indian private DTH operators have leased Ku-band
transponders of foreign spacecraft owing to internal shortage; ISRO has earlier said
the deficit would be bridged in about two years. GSAT -15 also carries the third and
last transponder for GPS-augmentation or GA-GAN in the L1 and L5 bands; it will
ensure backup for GPS-based satellite navigation across the region.
European launch services company Arianespace launched GSAT -15 into space at
3.34 a.m. IST from the Guiana Space Center. Its Ariane VA-227 vehicle also lofted the
5-tonne Arab-sat-6B in the same flight. ISRO said the initial elliptical orbit of 250 km
x 35,819 km, inclined at 3.9 degrees to the Equator, was very close to the intended
one.
Orbit manoeuvres The Master Control Facility that handles orbiting communications
satellites from Hassan in Karnataka, took over the command and control of GSAT 15 immediately after it was ejected into space by the launcher.
SC to remove gender disparity in judiciary

The Supreme Court admitted to decades of institutional disparity in appoint-ing
women as judges to the High Courts and the Supreme Court despite women
practising as lawyers since 1922.
Justice J.S. Khehar, who heads a Constitution Bench looking into ways to improve
the Collegium system of judicial appointments, said recently in no uncertain terms
that the ratio of female judges to male judges must be in the same ratio.
This historic introspection on the negligible participation of women on the Bench
was triggered by a written representation filed by the Supreme Court Women Lawyers
Association, through senior advocate Mahalakshmi Pavani, advocates Sneha Kali-ta
and Prerna Kumari, before the Bench.
Ms. Pavani submitted the apparent fact that lack of proper representation for women
in the judiciary may raise questions of how gender bias is inherent in the very high
temples of justice.
Ecological norms are diluted in kerala

Environmental organisations and public interest groups are up in arms against the
government move to dilute environmental laws for the mining industry in the State.
This follows a number of government orders and notifications issued by the Industries Department to amend the provisions of the Kerala Minor Minerals Concession
Rules.
According to the notification amending Rules 12 and 13 of KMMCR, quarries which
had short-term permits on or before February 26, 2012 would not require Environmental Clearance (EC) or mining plan for renewal of permit.
The notification also allows the permit holder to operate the quarry for three years
before applying for a quarrying lease with EC.
Environmental activists say the amendments amount to a blatant violation of the
directions issued by the Supreme Court and High Court making it mandatory to
secure EC for all quarries.
They feel the government was driven by its commitment to supply building materials
for the Vizhinjam seaport project.
The State EIA Authority has also expressed apprehension that the amendment would
make it possible to by-pass environmental regulations.
Paris, Syria to dominate G-20 talks

The Paris terror attacks have added fresh urgency to the scheduled talks on terror, a
key theme on the agenda at the two-day Group of 20 Summit starting here on Sunday.
Leaders of the 20 major economies (G-20), including the U.S., China, Japan, Russia,
Cana-da, Australia and Brazil, will dis-cuss climate change and global cooperation
to unearth black money, but the talks are set to be dominated by the attacks in Paris
and the war in Syria.
The leaders will discuss terrorism and migrationat a working dinner on Sunday, but
following the Paris attacks, the deliberations can be moved forward if such a proposal
is moved by the Turkish presidency.
LPG subsidy likely to be limited to households below

10 lakh income
The Union government is actively examining discontinuation of subsidies such as
the one given on domestic LPG cylinders to all households having an annual income
of Rs. 10 lakh and above.
Union Minister for Urban Development, Housing and Poverty Alleviation M.
Venkaiah Naidu said the government was also planning to give other subsidies
such as the one on urea directly to farmers, instead of giving it to fertilizer companies.
He also said that government should be given more time for their policies to show
result on ground.
The sun shines on India's Aditya

After a seven year long wait, Aditya, Indias first dedicated scientific mission to
study the sun is likely to get a go-ahead from the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) this
week. The ambitious solar mission will study the suns outer most layers, the corona
and the chromosphere, collect data about coronal mass ejection and more, which
will also yield information for space weather prediction.
The project costs approximately Rs 400 crores and is a joint venture between ISRO
and physicists from Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru; Inter University
Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune; Tata Institute of Fundamental
Research, Mumbai, and other institutes.
Though the project was conceptualised in 2008 itself, it has since morphed and grown
and is now awaiting clearance with the government. It now aims to put a heavy
satellite into what is called a halo orbit around the L1 point between the Sun and the
Earth. This point is at a distance of about 1.5 million km from the earth. With the
excitement about the Mars Orbiter Mission yet to settle down, this could be the next
most complicated feat that ISRO has carried out till date.
Though the project was conceptualised in 2008 itself, it has since morphed and grown
and is now awaiting clearance with the government. It now aims to put a heavy
satellite into what is called a halo orbit around the L1 point between the Sun and the
Earth. This point is at a distance of about 1.5 million km from the earth. With the
excitement about the Mars Orbiter Mission yet to settle down, this could be the next
most complicated feat that ISRO has carried out till date.
In a three-body problem such as this with the earth and sun engaged in an elliptical
orbit and a relatively very light, call it massless in comparison, satellite being placed
in between there are five so-called lagrangian points in space where the light, third
body in our case, the satellite may be placed so that it can maintain its position
with respect to the two others. One of these is the L1 point, which is about 1.5 million
km from the earth.
India to push for inclusive view in G-20 summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrived here from London on Saturday evening
to attend the two-day G-20 Summit, after completing his three-day U.K. visit, is
scheduled to be the lead speaker at its inaugural session on Climate Change and
Development.
India's stated position is that the emphasis should rather be on clean technology,
Economic Affairs Secretary and head of India's finance track delegation here at the
G-20 Summit Shaktikanta Das told press persons. India calls for balance between
focus on climate change and development needs.
Mr. Modi is also expected to emphasise that the commitment from the developed
countries to make available from 2020 $100 billion of cli-mate finance every year to
developing countries has to be ensured and a road map for this should be laid down
over the next five years.
On the IMF, India is concerned that the 14th round of reforms are pending, in the
absence of ratification by the U.S. Congress, since 2010 which have also pushed the
15th round reforms that were to be taken up in January 2015.
Coordinated action by U.S. and Russia on Islamic state

The terror strikes by the Islamic State in Paris, Beirut and the downing of the
Russian plane in Egypt is likely tobring Russia and the U.S. together in
counterterrorism operations.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian ForeignMinister Sergey Lavrov, met
at the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) in Vienna and said they expected
cooperation to be more effective and broader in the coming days in tackling IS terror.
The U.S.-led NATO had in April 2014 suspended military and civilian cooperation
with Russia in response to its military intervention in Ukraine.
The U.S. and Russia are working together in the International Syria Support Group
to promote a political process to end the civil war in Syria but both are at loggerheads
over the question of President Bashar al-Assad's future.
The U.S. has been accusing Russia of bombing moderate anti-Assad rebels and civilian
targets along with its anti-IS raids.
Proposed H-1B visa changes may not hit Indian

software engineers
Prospective soft-ware engineers seeking jobs in the United States need not be
perturbed by the recent changes proposed by the U.S. senators on the H-1B visa
norms as the changes may not come through in the proposed form.
This is the overwhelming view of the software industry that sends large number of
young software professionals to work on projects in the United States.
Recently, two U.S. Senators introduced the legislation against the abuse of the H1B visa hitting employment opportunities of the U.S. nationals, and sought reforms
to en-sure that Americans don't lose out to foreign employees on jobs and pay
packages.
Indians created 4,50,000 jobs in the U.S., paid $ 2 billion as tax-es and contributed
another $ 6 billion to social security. It's only a perception that we are taking away
jobs meant for the U.S. nationals.
Americans argue that the H-1B visa was meant for highly specialised areas of
employment but foreign companies were dumping lesser skilled workers willing
to work at lower wages. Some U.S. Senators have been arguing that the visa was
highly misused by companies to make huge profits.
G20 vows to step up anti-terror coordination

The G20 on Monday pledged stepped up cooperation to combat terrorism, especially
the threat from the Islamic State.
G20 also resolved to develop measures for better information-sharing, border
management and to strengthen global aviation security.
G20 statement came after the meeting of USA and Russian Presidents on the sidelines
of the summit.
The united show also helped ease concerns about the differing tactics being pursued
by various powers in Syria, and their possible disastrous consequences.
To tackle the terrorism, the G20 leaders also pledged to cooperate on preventive
measures and appropriate criminal justice response.
The statement, the first-ever political communique,condemned the heinous attacks in Paris and pledged solidarity in com-bating terrorism.
It also expressed concern over the acute and growing flow of foreign terrorist fighters
and the threat it poses for all states, including countries of origin, transit and
destination.
However, Mr. Obama rules out putting U.S. troops on the ground. Increasing theU.S.
ground force against theIS in Syria and Iraq would be a serious mistake and lead the
nation into an unsustainable strategy requiring along-term occupation in the region.
Common man unaware of antibiotic resistance, says

WHO survey
The common man does not seem to know much about antibiotic abuse and resistance,
and the threat it poses to public health.
In fact, a World Health Organisation (WHO) survey conducted in 12 countries has
said that most people don't understand how to keep anti-biotic resistance from
growing.
Overuse and misuse of antibiotics causes bacteria to become resistant. The WHO
survey points out some of the practices, gaps in understanding and misconceptions
that contribute to this phenomenon.
Almost two thirds (64 per cent) of the 10,000 people surveyed across the 12 countries
said they knew antibiotic resistance could affect them and their families. However,
they do not understand how it affects them and what they can do to address it.
Around 64 per cent of the respondents believe that antibiotics can be used to treat
cold and flu. This is despite the fact that antibiotics have no impact on viruses. Close
to one third (32 per cent) of those surveyed believe they should stop taking antibiotics
when they feel better, rather than completing the prescribed course of treatment.
7th pay panel to submit its report tomorrow

The Seventh Pay Commission will submit its report to Union Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley, recommending an increase in remuneration of Central government employees
as well as pensioners.
the Commission's Chairman Justice A.K. Mathur told PTI. The Commission was set
up by the UPA government in February 2014 to revise remuneration of about 48
lakh Central government employees and 55 lakh pensioners.
Its recommendations will also have a bearing on the salaries of the State government
staff. The Union Cabinet had ex-tended the term of the panel in August by four
months, till December.
The government constitutes the Pay Commis-sion almost every 10 years to revise
the pay scale of its employees and often these are adopted by the States after some
modifications.
As part of the exercise, the Commission holds discus-sions with various stakeholders,
including organisations, federations, groups, representing civil employees as well
as Defence services.The recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission are
scheduled to take effect from January 1, 2016.
Delhi government clears the Jan Lokpal bill

The Bill brings the Chief Ministers office under its purview and ensures that any
investigation and trial by the Lokpal has to be completed within six months.
The draft Bill envisages a system where a corrupt person found guilty would go to
jail within two years of the complaint being filed and his ill-gotten wealth confiscated.
It also envisages power to the Jan Lokpal to prosecute politicians and bureaucrats
without government permission.
The Bill also envisages CAG audit in the cases.
The Jan Lokpal Bill (Ombudsman Bill) is an anti-corruption Bill drawn up by activists
seeking the appointment of an independent body that would investigate corruption
cases, complete the investigation and trial in a time-bound manner.
Once passed and notified, people will be able to complain directly and imprison
corrupt politicians and bureaucrats under the law.
Telanganas tribal master craftsman set to zoom into

big league
65-year old tribal master craftsman from the remote confines of Adilabad district in
Telangana State would be conferred prestigious national-level Shilp Guru Award
from President Pranab Mukherjee.
The Ojha artisan community which primarily makes brass metal objects for the
GondAdivasis of Adilabad district to which he belongs.
The brass metal casting of Pjhas, popularly known as Dhokra art though has its
range of traditional artefacts limited to about 50 is looking up after a few design
development projects taken up recently.
Justice Thakur has been appointed as CJI

President Pranab Mukherjee appointed Justice T.S. Thakur, judge of the Supreme
Court, the Chief Justice of India with effect from December 3 as 43rd Chief Justice of
India till January 3, 2017.
Justice Thakurs appointment comes shortly after a five-judge Constitution Bench
on October 16 struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission law
and restored the collegium system of judicial appointments.
The present incumbent and Chief Justice of India H.L. Dattu had recommended Justice
Thakurs name, following which the Union Law Ministry processed his file and sent
it to the Prime Ministers Office, from where after approval, it reached the President.
Deaths due to pneumonia, diarrhoea are among highest

in India
India has the highest number of pneumonia and diarrhoea deaths among children
globally, reports the International Vaccine Access Centre (IVAC).
With 2,97,114 deaths, India is once again at the top of the list of countries with the
highest burden of the two diseases among children under the age of five. The list
includes Nigeria, Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola.
Progress is evaluated by the Global Action Plan for Prevention and Control of
Pneumonia and Diarrhoea intervention scores, including parameters such as
vaccination, exclusive breastfeeding,access to care and use of antibiotics, oral
rehydration solution and zinc.
The global study does recognise in India, a strong political commitment to immunise
all children in the next five years, increased efforts to monitor data and progress at
the district levels.
Launch of Mission Indradhanush, aiming to expand immunization coverage in highpriority districts with large populations of unvaccinated and under-vaccinated
children.
Nitish sworn in Bihar CM, 28 join his team

Nitish Kumar was sworn in Bihar Chief Minister for a fifth time on Friday at a grand
event attended mostly by non-BJP leaders.
The two sons of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Tejaswi and Tej Pratap and 26 others
were also sworn in. In the late-evening allocation of portfolios, Tejaswi Yadav, the
younger son of Mr. Lalu Prasad, became Deputy Chief Minister.
The elder son, Tej Pratap, was given charge of three important Ministries.
United Nation allows the fight against IS

The U.N. Security Council on Friday authorised countries around the world to take
all necessary measures to fight the Islamic State in a resolution that won unanimous
backing, even as threats of terror strikes locked down Brussels, the Belgium capital
that houses the European Commission headquarters.
The French-drafted measure calls on all U.N. member states to redouble and
coordinate their efforts to prevent and suppress terrorist attacks committed by the
IS and other extremist groups linked to the Al-Qaeda.
Turkish authorities arrested three persons with suspected ties to the IS for the
November 13 attacks in Paris
One of the suspects was identified as Ahmet Dahmani, 26, a Belgian national of
Moroccan descent, who allegedly scouted targets for the attacks.
Hollande to be chief guest at Republic Day Parade

French President Francois Hollande will be the chief guest at the Republic Day parade
of January 26.
Mr. Hollandes visit will be symbolic and is expected to send out a message of a
solidarity among the democratic countries against terrorism of the ISIS.
Niti Aayog in dialogue with China's think tank DRC

Taking a step towards closer economic ties with China and to deliberate on
macroeconomic issues, a team led by Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya
will engage in a dialogue with China's Development Research Centre (DRC)
It will be the first dialogue between NITI Aayog and the DRC after the body was
constituted to replace the erstwhile Planning Commission.
There will be deliberations on opportunities and challenges for both the nations in
the current global economic scenario.
issues related to regional trade associations and their implications for India as well
as China.
strengthening Sino-Indian economic cooperation. The officials and experts of the
two bodies will deliberate on building closer developmental partnership.
The issue of the wide trade imbalance between the two nations will also be discussed
at the China-India Development Roundtable 2015 beginning on November 23.
India's trade deficit with China increased about 34 per cent to USD 48.43 billion in
2014-15 from USD 36.21 billion in the previous fiscal.
India revives its easternmost airfield at Teju

Indias easternmost strategic airfield at Teju has been revived with a new runway.
The runway can now host heavy lift aircraft as well as long range bombers which can
cross the Greater Himalayan range within minutes.
Teju is part of the six strategic airfields that were planned for Arunachal Pradesh.
But the Teju airfield which will increase air connectivity with the region is unique as
it is the easternmost landing strip in the country.
PM Modi urges for not providing shelter to terrorists at

ASEAN
Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggested a multi-pronged approach for combating
international terrorism
Making an intervention at the East Asia Summit (EAS), he emphasised the need for
building a new global resolve and new strategies for combating terrorism, without
balancing them against political considerations.
Mr. Modi said India drew strength from its diversity and his government was working
to create an environment where enterprise flourished and everybody got basic needs
like shelter, sanitation, water, health care and education. Development in India was
gathering speed now amid the global slowdown and the country was growing at
7.5 per cent with faster growth expected in the coming years.
INS Viraat
Fifty-seven-year-old and the oldest serving aircraft career, INS Viraat , Indian Navys
flagship for over a decade before another aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya was
commissioned in 2013, is being offered to States to be converted into a national
maritime museum after it is decommissioned next year, after the International Fleet
Review to be held here during February.
Andhra Pradesh is the first to approach the Defence Ministry to allot the ship to the
State so that it could be converted into a tourist attraction.
Interceptor missile engages simulated target over sea

Indias ballistic missile defence system received a boost after an upgraded version
of the indigenously developed interceptor missile was successfully launched against
an electronically simulated target missile over the Bay of Bengal.
This would enable the missile to carry a bigger warhead, reduce the cost and facilitate
faster production of the missile.
India plans to deploy a two-tiered ballistic missile defence system to protect
important cities and vital installations from enemy attack.
The first phase of the system seeks to destroy incoming enemy missiles of 2,000-km
range, while the second phase envisages killing incoming missiles of more than
2,000 km.
Streedhan is womans exclusive property: SC

The court said streedhan, a gift in gold valuables given to a woman by her family,
is her exclusive and absolute property.
Women judicially separated from their husbands can invoke the domestic violence
law to get streedhan back
Judicial separation is a period of suspension of marriage granted by the court. This
time may be used by the couple to explore the possibilities of reviving their broken
marriage. If the result is negative, the court annuls their marriage with a decree of
divorce. SC said the woman, who had suffered domestic and economic abuse at her
matrimonial home, continued to be a victim or an aggrieved person under the
domestic violence law even after her judicial separation. The court said the legal
relationship of a husband and wife continued during the period of judicial
separation.
Castigating the Tripura High Court for depriving an agonised and perturbed wife
of her absolute right over her streedhan, the Supreme Court said she had every
right to invoke the domestic violence law to protect herself from both domestic and
economic abuse she suffered at the hands of her in-laws.
Terrorism should be countered at all fronts: Modi

Against the growing tide of Islamic State violence and concerns about its possible
domestic repercussions, India toughened its posture on terrorism with Prime Minister
Narendra Modi asking that countries be held accountable for providing terror
sanctuaries.
The contours of India's multi-pronged response to the IS threat emerged even as the
post-Paris global response was firming up despite fear writ across the world, from
Brussels to the U.S. mainland, of fresh attacks.
New Delhi's multi-layered stand on terrorism comes against the backdrop of reports indicating that almost 150 Indian youths may have been enticed by the IS
ideology, about two dozen Indians are in the Syrian battlefield, and many others
have been intercepted while trying to reach the IS sanctuary.
Meanwhile, Indian intelligence agencies said the IS did not consider South Asian
Muslims, including Indians and Pakistanis, good enough to fight in the conflict zone
of Iraq and Syria, and they were treated inferior to Arab fighters, often being tricked
into suicide attacks.
Sources said that of the 23 Indians who are believed to be fighting along-side the IS,
six have died, an unusually high casualty rate.
Food security act to be rolled by every state except

Tamil Nadu
Barring Tamil Nadu, all States are on board for implementing the National Food
Security Act by April next, Union Food Minister Ram Vi-las Paswan said on Monday
af-ter a meeting with State food secretaries here.
So far, 22 States and Union Territories have rolled out the Act which covers up to 67
per cent of the population (75 per cent rural and 50 per cent ur-ban) and gives with 5
kilo-gram of subsidised rice or wheat or coarse cereals per identified beneficiary.
It is mandatory for the States and Union Territories to adopt digital identification of
the beneficiaries, arrange for doorstep delivery of food-grains and constitute grievance
redressal cells before they roll out the scheme.
Representatives of 11 States said they would be ready with the digitisation and
identifi-cation of beneficiaries by March next year.
The Tamil Nadu representative, howev-er, said the Public Distribu-tion System was
universal in the State and as such it was diicult to identify benefici-aries. To switch
to a targeted system would involve a policy decision.
Of the 14 States that have not implemented the Food Security Law, Andhra Pradesh
and Sikkim will be ready by December. Uttar Pradesh, Meghalaya, Jammu & Kashmir and Andaman & Nicobar will roll it out in January 2016. Other States, including
Gujarat, Kerala, Arunachal Pra-desh, Manipur, Mizoram, Na-galand, will implement
it by March next year.
As against a target of 1.5 lakh, over 51,000 e-PoS ma-chines had been installed at
ration shops so far, she said. Deletion of bogus ration cards in the last two years had
helped the government save food subsidy to the tune of Rs. 4000 crore.
On the issue of the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme, the Minister said it was not compulsory. The government was implementing it on a pilot ba-sis in Puducherry and
Chandigarh.
Civil and Military salary gap may widen after Pay

commision recommendation
In the military fraternity, already peeved over discrepancies in the imple-mentation
of the one rank, one pension (OROP) scheme, recommendations of the Seventh Pay
Commis-sion have raised hackles.
After analysing the pay structures of civil and military officials, the commission
observed in its report that.
In fact, the pay of defence service officers remains uninterruptedly high-er for a 32year period. Thereafter, pay of defence and civil service officers are at par.
However, several officers pointed that the recommendations are based on the pay of
the officer cadre who constitute 3-4 per cent of the 1.3-million-strong Army.
The allowances given to military personnel number 50 as against 90 to civilian
officials.
Special duty allowance Hardship allowance is paid to the former serving in forward
locations and extremely hard conditions.
The maximum of Rs. 31,500 a month is paid to those serving on the Siachen glacier,
the world's highest battlefield.
Civil servants posted in Jammu & Kashmir and North-east India are paid a special
duty allowance (SDA), which was recommended at 30 per cent of their basic pay for
postings, which are mostly in district headquarters.
A colonel posted at Siachen gets a fixed allowance of Rs. 31,500, while a person of
equivalent rank in the civil service, a director-level officer, draws upwards of Rs.
50,000.
Armed forces to have 33% quota for women

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh told Parliament on Thursday that the
government was considering 33 per cent reservation for women in the paramilitary
forces.
According to the data available with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA),women
comprise only 2.04per cent of the paramilitary forces. Forces like the Central Reserve
Police Force(CRPF), Border SecurityForce (BSF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP),
Central Industrial SecurityForce (CISF), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and AssamRifles
together constitute a9.8 lakh-strong force. Of these, only 19,575 are women.
The CRPF, which is the largest paramilitary force deployed in the country for law
and order duties as well as in the Left-wing extremism-hit areas, has only6,234 women
in its fold.
Ram Sethu dilemma

The Supreme Court gave the Centre four weeks' time to respond to BJP leader
Subramanian Swamy's information that a Cabinet decision had been taken to not
touch the ancient Ram Sethu or the Adam's Bridge in the implementation of the
Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India H.L. Dattu was hearing a plea filed by Dr.
Swamy urging the apex court to verify the Centre's stand and wrap up the litigation
pending with it.
It was Dr. Swamy who had moved the Supreme Court seeking the project to be
scrapped as the original route was to cut across the Ram Sethu.
Acting on the suggestions of the Supreme Court, the government had then appointed
a high-power committee under Dr. R.K. Pachauri to study whether an alternative
route to Alignment 6 (cutting through Ram Sethu) was feasible.
PMs address in the parliament

Asserting his governments commitment to the Constitution, Prime Minister Narendra
Modi told Parliament that the religion of the government was India first and the
Constitution its holy book.
Mr. Modi's address in the Lok Sabha came as part of the commemoration of the
Constitution to mark the 125th birth anniversary year of the chairman of its drafting
committee Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
Debate coincided with a debate on intolerance and secularism outside Parliament.
Reaching out to the Opposition, Mr. Modi said consensus was more important than
majority rule.
The government is looking to pass crucial Bills like the Goods and Services Tax Bill
which re-quires a constitutional amendment in the ongoing winter session of
Parliament and needs to get a belligerent Opposition on board.
Picking holes in the present debate on secularism, Finance minister said that if the
House had again become the Constituent Assembly and Dr. Ambedkar had proposed
Articles 44 (uniform civil code) and Article 48 (ban on cow slaughter) today, how
would this House have reacted?
He added that the governments of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi had written
to States to implement Article 48 and but for Kerala and West Bengal the others
responded by banning cow slaughter.
Maoists movement in Tiger reserve

The Kawal Tiger Reserve in Adilabad district has become a safe zone more for the
resurgent Maoists than tigers.
Curiously, however, the clue to controlling extremism also lies in this disappointing
phenomenon, if experts are to be believed.
Implementation of development schemes in tribal habitations located in the park,
especially those which concern human development, will definitely make a
difference.
People who are generally on the path of development are not known to be supportive
of Naxalism.
In KTR buffer areas, activity should be concentrated on formation of eco-development
committees, capacity building for enhancing livelihoods, provision of LPG kits to
decrease dependence of Adivasi families on forest for fuel needs and facilitation of
value addition and marketing of non timber Forest produce.
In the current phase of its resurgence, Maoist activity in the district is confined to the
jungles which form the reserve which in turn means that the thrust of anti-naxalite
measures need to be restricted to this area only.
Naxal threat hampers CBI probe into Dantewada

violence
As the Centre reaches out to naxals in insurgency-hit Chhattisgarh, the Central Bureau
of Investigation (CBI) informed the Supreme Court that a team of its officers walked
a thin line between life and death as they investigate a series of alleged naxal attacks
on villages in Dantewada district of the State.
The odds faced by the team working in the extremely hostile area prompted the
Supreme Court to pull up the Chhattisgarh government for not providing adequate
protection to conduct the investigation.
The court's reaction came after Additional Solicitor-General P.S. Patwalia said further
investigation was required on the five FIRs filed by them on the violence, and they
would need six more months of field investigation.
GST logjam
Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha expressed the hope that the Goods and
ServicesTax would be implemented soon, and prove to be one of the biggest gamechangers inIndias history.
The GST constitutional amendment bill is stuck in the Rajya Sabha, having been
passed in the Lok Sabha in May,2015.
What the NDA wants
Policy shift angers fishing community

Fishing communities in Kerala and the other coastal States are up in arms against
the constitution of an expert committee by the Central government to revise the
National Marine Fisheries Policy, without ensuring the representation of
stakeholders.
A survey initiated by the expert committee to elicit response to the preparation of
the revised fisheries policy has also come under fire from fishermen organisations
who feel that it failed to address their livelihood concerns and the key issues affecting
the marine fisheries sector
Preparations for long-range missile launch from ship

Close on the heels of the successful firing of a long range surface-to-air-missile (LRSAM), often referred to as Barak-8, from an Israel naval platform, the missile jointly
developed by Indias Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) will now be test-fired from Indias new class of
stealth destroyers under P15-A, INS Kolkata and INS Kochi.
Technicians from the DRDO, the IAI and BDL (Bharat Dynamics Limited which is
producing the advanced missile) are configuring the sensors, especially the MFSTAR
(multifunction surveillance and threat alert radar) active phased array radar, and
ancillary systems on board INS Kolkata to fire the missile from the ship
Artificial glaciers come to rescue for Ladakh tackle

effects of climate change
Ladakh, a cold desert at an altitude of 3000-3500 meters above sea level, has low
rainfall rate of 50mm
Due to this glaciers are the only source of water, but over years with increasing
effects of climate change, rainfall and snowfall patterns have been changing, resulting
in severe shortage and drought situations
The artificial glacier is an intricate network of channels and structures built on the
upper slope of a valley to divert water from the main river of the glacier melt and
then freeze it in winter in cascades which melt in summer in time for the sowing
season
Fondly called the glacier man, Mr. Norphel has designed over 15 artificial glaciers
in and around Leh since 1987
Fate of GST Bill depends on intolerance debate

The Congress has decided not to engage with the ruling BJP on the contentious Goods
and Services Tax(GST) Bill until the issue ofintolerance is debated in Parliament
The Congresss demands are that the tax cap be fixed at18 per cent, the 1 per cent
inter-State cess be scrapped and independentaccountability be ensured.
Some experienced leaders had urged caution arguing that since the ruling parties
of the consumer States were willing to back the Bill, the Congress might lose their
support in Parliament, and its influence as the leading party of the Opposition
Enough funds for clean Ganga project

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Sunday said the Central government is giving
priority to making the Ganga pollution-free and there is no dearth of funds for the
Clean Ganga' mission.
Projects worth crores of ru-pees have been launched to make the river pollutionfree. A number of ghats and gar-dens would be built on its banks boosting tourism
and provide a source of income for at least 10 lakh youths.
He was speaking at a symposium on conservation of the Ganga organised at
Chaudhary Charan Singh University here, which was also attended by a number of
leaders including Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti.
The government alone can't keep the Ganga clean. It can make the river pollution
free by spending Rs 20,000 crore but the society has to come forward to keep it that
way.
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International
Africa makes outreach beyond China
The India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS) ended with a globally relevant declaration.
Though India and African countries meet often in international platforms, IAFS 2015
will remain unique because it was the first time that India appeared before Africa
speaking the language of pure economic development and finance capital, in a
departure from the ideology-dominant days of Jawaharlal Nehru in the 1950s.
The summit was important because Africans have realized that it is necessary to let
China know that the Africans too have an alternative to China, said former Indian
High Commissioner to Kenya, T.P. Sreenivasan.
A Sudanese political activist now in India said that African human rights activists
were disturbed by the fact that despite being the largest avoided showing any interest
in advising African countries like Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, and
several others on how to resolve conflicts and end discriminations.
Crisis deepens in the Maldives

The state of Emergency declared in the Maldives on Wednesday, as of now for 30
days, by President Abdulla YammenAbdul Gayoom is the latest in a host of crises
that shook the Indian Ocean nation's young democracy.
The Emergency was declared after the Maldives National De-fence Force (MNDF)
and the Maldives Police discovered a large cache of arms in different locations in
the archipelago nation.
The government recently arrested the Vice-President, Ahmed Adeeb, and conducted
a series of raids to recover arms and explosives from several locations after the
September 28 blast on the Presidential boat.
S. China Sea row cancels ASEAN joint statement

Differences over the South China Sea forced countries from Southeast Asia, along
with China and the United States, to cancel a joint statement at a meeting of de-fence
ministers in Malaysia.
The meeting was split between countries that agreed with China and those that
strongly disagreed, including Australia, Japan and the United States.
China maintains that its territorial claims in the South China Sea must be discussed
with individual countries that also have claims. It has consistently opposed eforts to
have conflicting claims discussed in a regionalsetting like ASEAN.
WHO declares Sierra Leone Ebola-free

The World Health Organisation on Saturday declared that Sierra Leone's deadly
Ebola outbreak is over, prompting jubilant celebrations as thousands massed in the
capital Freetown.
Crowds poured onto the streets, waving banners, dancing and banging drums as
the steep hills surround-ing the city reverberated with the crackle of fire-works. It
was the first public party tolerated in the impoverished west African nation since
the epidemic hit 18 months ago. Ebola killed almost 4,000 citizens and plunged the
economy into severe recession.
Millions vote in Myanmar polls

With tremendous excitement and hope, millions of citizens voted on Sunday in
Myanmar's historic general election that will test whether the military's long-standing
grip on power can be loosened, with Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party
expected to secure an easy victory.
The count began after polling stations shut at 4 p.m. Early indications were of an 80
percent turnout, according to Union Election Commission deputy director Thant
Zin Aung.
In a country that was under military rule for almost a half a century, many of the
eligible 30 million voters cast ballots for the first time in what was billed as the
nation's freest election ever. It was the first time even for Ms. Suu Kyi, the epitome of
the democracy movement who had defied the junta for decades.
She quickly cast her vote and left without speaking to reporters. Many people lined
up in Buddhist temples, schools and government buildings early in the morn-ing to
vote, well before a heavy downpour beat down in Yangon an hour before voting
ended peacefully in the late afternoon with no reports of major irregularities or
violence.
Vote counting began immediately, and hundreds of supporters gathered under
umbrellas at theopposition National League for Democracy party's office hoping to
see results. But party functionaries announced that results would not be available
until Monday, and that the 70-year-old Suu Kyi would not address the crowd as
expected, urging the crowds to return the next day.
Pakistan invites India for key Afghan meet

Pakistan has invited External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for a crucial regional
conference here on Afghanistan, a move that could provide an opportunity for the
two neighbours to mend their frosty ties.
The Heart of Asia' conference will be held on December 7 and 8, where
representatives from Azerbaijan, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Saudi
Arabia, Tajiks-tan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and the UAE are expected to attend.
Pakistan has also sent an invitation to Ms. Swaraj, the Express Tribune reported. A
formal invitation has been sent to India and 25 other countries for the Heart of Asia
ministerial meeting on Afghanistan to be hosted by Pakistan, a senior Foreign Office
official was quoted as say-ing by the paper.
An Indian diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed New Delhi
has received the invitation but said the decision on whether the External Affairs
Minister will attend the conference has yet to be taken.
EU-Africa refugee action plan

EU to provide initial 1.8 billion euros ($1.9 billion) to a new Emergency Trust Fund
to support projects aimed at reducing refugee flows from Africa to Europe and
displacement of people within Africa.
Future development cooperation to focus on projects which will reduce migratory
pressures: includes fostering jobs and economic growth in areas refugee come from
or transit through, a scheme to reduce the development impact of remittances by
cutting transfer costs and joint research on the causes of migration.
Opportunities for legal migration to be "promoted". Only concrete step agreed was
an increase in the number of EU-funded scholarships for African students and
academics.
New programmes to be set up by end-2016 to increase protection and economic
opportunities of displaced people in the Horn of Africa and North Africa.
Increased cooperation on combatting illegal immigration and people trafficking,
including creation of joint investigative team as a pilot project in key transit country
Niger.
Repatriation of failed asylum seekers to be accelerated. At least 10 African countries
agreed to help European states identify illegal immigrants without official documents
(making them difficult to deport).
Hollande vows to punish IS for attacks

French President Francois Hollande vowed to attack the Islamic State group without
mercy as the jihadist group claimed responsibility on Saturday for orchestrating the
deadliest attacks on France since World War II.
The Islamic State group's claim of responsibility appeared in Arabic and French in
an online statement circulated by IS sup-porters. It was not immediately possible to
confirm the authenticity of the admission, which bore the group's logo and resembled
previous verified statements from the group.
Officials said a Syrian passport was recovered from the remains of one suicide bomber
outside the stadium and that a suicide bomber at the concert hall was identified as a
young Frenchman flagged in the past for links with an Islamic extremist activity.
Prosecutor's office spokes-woman Agnes Thi-baultLecuivre said authorities couldn't
rule out the possibility that other militants involved in the attack remained at large.
The violence raised questions about security for the millions of tourists who come
to Paris and for world events routinely hosted in the normally luminous capital,
where 1,500 troops were deployed to support police in restoring order and re-assuring
a frightened populace.
G20 nations narrow differences on climate change

The worlds largest economies narrowed their differences over the stand on climate
change ahead of theCOP 21 talks in Paris that start at the end of this month.
After intense negotiations on the key issue of whether to mention the aim to limit
the rise in global warming to 2 degrees, they included the two-degree-goal in the
G20 communique.
The final text did not specify the target deadline for the phasing out of fossil fuel
subsidies, taking care of a major concern for Indian negotiators.
India has done a lot by phasing out subsidies on petrol and diesel but those on
fertilisers and power are apolitically sensitive issue,NitiAayog Vice-Chairman and
Prime Minister Narendra Modis G20 Sherpa ArvindPanagariya briefed presspersons
just before the release of the G20communique.
The G20 expressed deep disappointment with the continued delay in implementing
the IMF quota and governance reforms agreed in 2010 and urged the U.S. to ratify
the reforms as soon as possible.
It also asked the IMF to complete work on an interim solution that will meaningfully converge quota share as soon as and to the extent possible to the levels agreed
under the 14th General Review of Quotas.
Possible situations in Syria

The tide of global rage against the Islamic State group lends greater urgency to ending
the jihadists' ability to operate at will from a base in war-torn Syria.
That momentum could also force a re-evaluation of what to do about President Bashar
Assad and puts a renewed focus on the position of his key patrons, Russia and Iran.
The Syrian leader has lost much of the country to the IS and other groups in the fouryear war; half the population has been displaced, many areas have been levelled,
and masses of refugees are flooding Europe.
Along the way, Assad's brutal military response has made him hated in most of the
world.
Ceasefire in Syria could allow Assad and his military to take a leading role in battling
IS.
The fact remains, though, that the U.S. and its allies don't want to see Assad benefit
from any effort to dislodge IS from territory it controls in Syria unlike in Iraq.
A temporary reprieve is starting to seem more possible, setting the stage for what
some observers suggest may be an arrangement in which Assad is part of a transition
government that has a role in the priority of defeating ISIS but then quietly makes
way.
Russia and Iran would have to be a big part of engineering such a solution.
Life-saving medicines in short supply in blockade-hit

Nepal
Shortages of life-saving medicine because of political protests in Nepal that have
blocked key roads could lead to a crisis, as hospitals have started to cut services.
Hospitals were rescheduling surgeries by weeks, and patients were finding it difficult
to get to medical facilities due to fuel shortages.
Truckloads of medicine have been blocked at the main border crossing with India
for the last few months by Nepal's Madhesi ethnic protesters.
Talks between the protesters and the government have made little progress. India,
which has close cultural ties with the group, has restricted fuel and other goods to
Nepal.
Nepal imports 60 per cent of its medicine from India. The remaining locally made
drugs also get most of the raw material and packaging from India. Most of the fuel
comes from India, and the restriction has led to severe shortages in Nepal.
Fuel rationing has led to buses and trucks cutting down services. People travel on
rooftops and taxis charge four times the normal rate.
Patients with long-term illnesses including high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney
and heart diseases, were also having difficulty finding medicine.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party defends war crimes

convict Chowdhury
Breaking its long silence, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has come out with
a strong defence of a top war crimes convict, even as jail authorities have started
preparations for his execution.
The party, which has a strong alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami which took up arms
along with Pakistan army to oppose Bangladesh's independence in 1971, claimed
the death row convict, Salahud-din Quader Chowdhury, had been deprived of
justice.
The BNP claimed that Chowdhury, an young leader of the then Muslim League in
1971 and now a presidium member of the BNP.
PM pitches for transparent tax policy

India would have a comprehensive national intellectual property rights (IPR) policy
by the 2015 end, and a national investment and infrastructure fund for leveraging
public investments.
Speaking at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Business and Investment
Summit, Narendra Modi said India was committed to protecting the IPRs of all
innovators. It was also moving fast to ensure a transparent and predictable tax regime.
India is also coming up with tax-free infrastructure bonds with a view to broadening
the corporate bond market and providing long-term finance for infrastructure.
To revitalise flow of funds from global investors, the government had launched the
second set of structural and financial reforms.
These included more FDI in such key sectors as insurance, defence and railways;
rationalised FDI policies in other sectors, including construction, plantation and
medical devices; and liberalisation of the licensing regime to improve the ease of
doing business.
Even while cutting the fiscal deficit, the government had substantially increased
productive investment.
This was made possible by decontrolling diesel prices and thereby eliminating energy
subsidies; and by reducing wasteful expenditure through innovative methods,
including targeting subsidies at the deserving through technology.
Money sources of IS
Even as the United Nations has au-thorised member countries to do more to combat
the Islamic State (IS), one of the key challenges the world powers would face in the
war would be to choke the funding of the jihadist group.
The group, which has establish-ed a proto-state in the self-pro-claimed Caliphate'
that stretches from the suburbs of Damascus to the outskirts of Baghdad comprising 8 to 10 million people, is one of the best funded terror outfits in the world.
It has a religious police in the Caliphate' and is also running schools, food points
and other ad-ministrative centres. Besides, it is fighting a protracted war on its borders
against several enemies the Iraqi and Syrian national ar-mies, rebel forces and
other jiha-dist groups such as Jabbat al-Nusra.
According to The Economist, IS fighters are paid around $400 a month, better than
an average Iraqi soldier. Where does the money come from for all these operations?
Donors' money Usually terror organisations are run on money they receive from international donors.
The IS is also getting money through this chan-nel. According to a Washington Post
report, the IS received up to $40 million in 2013-14 from busi-nessmen, wealthy
families and oth-er donors in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE.
But unlike other terror groups, the IS is not only dependent on in-ternational donors
for revenues. Ever since it captured the east-ern Syrian city of Raqqa in 2013, the IS
has expanded its financial mus-cles along with its military capabil-ities.
According to the Rand Cor-poration, the IS's total revenue rose from a little less than
$1 million a month in 2008-2009 (when it was called the Islamic State in Iraq) to
perhaps $1 million to $3 million a day in 2014.One of the means of revenues was tax
collection in the Caliphate'.
The group has also made millions from kidnappings. According to some estimates,
the jihadist group has made at least 20 million in 2014 through kidnapping for ransom alone. The IS has also looted banks in Iraqi cities that fell to its hands. Mosul
was a case in point.
But the group's single largest source of income is oil trade. The group controls six of
Syria's 10 oil-fields, including the big Omar facil-ity, and at least four small fields in
Iraq, including those at Ajeel and Hamreen, according to Maplecroft, a risk
management firm.
New President of Argentina

When he was just 32, the President elect of Argentina, Mauricio Macri, thought his
life would follow the predictable pattern of the son of an industrial tycoon, marked
by luxury and privilege as he followed his fathers path into business inside the
cocoon of this nation's elite.
Likening the experience tosurviving a terminal illness, Mr. Macri, now 56, credits
the kidnapping with an awakening, putting him on a course that would ultimately
lead him to politics.
He eventually became the mayor of Buenos Aires, and on Sunday, he defied early
expectations by winning Argentinas presidential race, up ending the nation by
defeating the Peronists, who have dominated politics here for decades.
Only a day later, Mr. Macri moved quickly to strike a different tone from that of the
departing President, Cristina Fernandez, who along with her late husband, Nstor
Kirchner had controlled the presidency for the last 12 years.
Before entering politics with the formation of a centre-right party in 2003, Mr.Macri
cut his teeth in the cut-throat world of Argentine soccer. After his kidnapping, he
remained for a few years in leadership roles in the construction and auto
manufacturing business empire.
Missiles will be deployed in Syria

Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered state-of-the art air defence missile systems
to be deployed at a Russian air base in Syria follow-ing the downing of a Russian
war-plane by Turkey, a move that raised the threat of a military confrontation between
the NATO member and Russia.
The S-400 missile systems, which will be sent to the Hemei-meem air base in Syria
coastal province of Latakia, located just about 50 km south of the border with Turkey,
are capable of target-ing Turkish jets with deadly precision.
If Russia shot down a Turkish plane, NATO would be required to intervene. Turkey
shot down a Russian Su-24 bomber on Tuesday, saying it crossed into its airspace
from Syria despite repeated warnings.
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday that the Russian missile cruiser
Moskva al-ready has moved closer to shore to protect the Russian aircraft fly-ing
missions near Syria border with Turkey with its long-range Fort air defence system.
Mr. Shoigu also said from now on all Russian bombers will be escorted by fighters
on their combat missions in Syria. He said that his Ministry has severed all contacts
with the Turkish military.
Russia doesn't plan to go to war with Turkey.
Reforms in China Military structure

China will shake up its military by establishing a joint operational command structure
by 2020 and rejig existing military regions as part of overall reforms, President Xi
Jinping.
In a lengthy speech carried by the official Xinhua news agency, President Xi gave a
broad-brush description of the reforms he wanted, but gave few details aside from
repeating a September pledge to cut troop numbers by 3,00,000.
Under the leadership of the [Communist] Party, our military has gone from small
to big, from weak to strong, from victory to victory. On this road, reform and
innovation steps have never stopped, he was quoted as saying.
China's navy is investing in submarines and aircraft carriers, while the air force is
developing stealth fighters. The troop cuts are part of long-mooted reforms to simplify
and further professionalise the military, especially command and leadership
structures that are still largely run along Soviet lines.
As part of this move, China's seven military regions, which have separate command
structures that tend to focus on ground-based operations, are expected to be reduced.
Delhi-Dhaka ties crucial ahead of war crimes execution

Dhaka-New Delhi collaboration will play a key role in maintaining law and order in
the India-Bangladesh border region, as the government of Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina gears up for the possible execution of one of the most important 1971 war
crimes accused, Motiur Rahman Nizami.
Though India has not officially commented on the recent executions of war crimes
accused, it is generally understood that India supports Bangladeshs quest to bring
the accused to justice.
Problems in Nepal persists

India-Nepal ties hit another flashpoint on Sunday after 13 personnel of the Sashastra SeemaBal (SSB) were detained by the Nepal ArmedPolice Force (APF) in
Jhapa(Nepal).
They were released after several hours in custody of the government would not
react officially, so as not to further harm bilateral relations that have deteriorated
since Nepal promulgated a Constitution that India has objected to.
Migrant flow into Turkey and Consequences

European Union (EU) leaders will offer Turkey cash and a boost for its membership
bid in exchange for its cooperation with the migrant crisis at a summit.
The European Union is expected to agree a three billion euro ($3.2 billion) aid package
for Turkey to help it stop the flow of refugees to Europe from the conflict in Syria,
2.2 million of whom are currently in Turkey.
Prime Minister Ahmet Da-vutoglu, standing in for PresidentRecepTayyip Erdogan,
is also set to win a deal for the opening in December of a new chapter in Turkey's
stalled accession talks for the 28-nation bloc.
But conditions are likely to be attached to both, while Turkey's shooting down of a
Russian jet on the Syrian border on Tuesday will also add strain to an already
complicated relationship between Brussels and Ankara.
Fuelled by the Syrian war, some 850,000 people have entered the EU this year and
more than 3,500 have died or gone missing in what has be-come Europe's worst
refugee crisis since World War II.
Turkey is the main gateway for migrants and refugees to reach Europe, and Germany
has pushed for the summit as it is the main destination for most of the people arriving
in the bloc.
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Economy
India eyes bankruptcy reform to ease decades of
gridlock
A group of government-appointed advisors has recommended sweeping changes
to India's outdated and overburdened bankruptcy system, aiming to modernize a
process that takes several years and costs investors and taxpayers billions.
The changes would be the most ambitious overhaul to date of rules governing the
liquidation or revival of companies in India, a country with no single bankruptcy
code and where competing laws, unclear jurisdictions and inadequate resources
can leave cases languishing for decades.
Under current rules, even deciding whether to save or liquidate an ailing company
can take years, leaving it in the hands of managers who can and do - strip assets
with impunity. Under the proposed changes, a decision would have to be reached
in 180 days - even 90 days for fast-track applications.
The World Bank says it takes 4.3 years on average, more than twice as long as in
China, with an average recovery of 25.7 cents on the dollar, one of the worst among
similar size economies.
Troubled companies in India, or their creditors, largely turn to the Official Liquidator,
a government-appointed officer attached to the country's high courts, who
administers assets and oversees liquidation. Banks can also turn to separate Debts
Recovery Tribunals (DRT), partly staffed by officials on assignment from the banks
themselves and overseen by the Ministry of Finance. Both are overstretched; on visits
to their offices in India's financial capital, Mumbai, computers were often of and
always outnumbered by teetering pillars of files.
India may need to import10 million tonnes of pulses

India may have to import a large quantity of 10 million tonnes of pulses if the
domestic production-consumption mismatch has to be bridged, leaving the
government with a daunting task, an Assocham study has said.
Considering deficit in rainfall for 2015-16, it is expected that the production of pulses
for the year would decrease slightly to 17 million tonnes as against 17.2 million
tonnes recorded in 2014-15. Further with the rise in demand it is expected that a total
of 10.1 million tonnes of pulses might have to be imported.
But given the global supply constraints, the demand-supply gap may be difficult to
achieve this year.
Maharashtra is the largest kharif pulses producer in the country followed by
Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The respective shares of
these major states in total kharif pulse production are 24.9, 13.5, 13.2, 10 and 8.4
percent respectively.
These five States together account for about 70 per cent of the countrys total kharif
pulse production. All these states have witnessed weather related issues affecting
the production.
5-member panel mooted for deciding on monetary

policy
After four months of debate and discussion, the Reserve Bank of India and the Finance
Ministry has overcome the stalemate over the most significant reform in the central
banks 80-year history.
The Ministrys note for the Cabinets approval proposes a five-member Monetary
Policy Committee.
The government will nominate two members and the RBI one expert, besides two of
its officials: the Deputy Governor and the executive director dealing with monetary
policy.
Each of the five members would have one vote and the RBI Governor, chair of the
committee, will have a casting vote in the event of a tie in situations such as the
absence of a member.
The inflation target for the RBI in each financial year will be determined by the
Government in consultation with the RBI itself.
At present, the Governor is advised by a technical committee but can veto decisions,
being singularly responsible for monetary policy.
A draft of the Indian Financial Code that the Ministry had posted on its website in
July proposed to strip the Governor of veto vote on the monetary policy.
The draft proposed a six-member monetary policy committee, besides powers for
the government to appoint four of the six members.
Relations between the Centre and the RBI had already been uneasy over amendments
to the RBI Act that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced in his Budget speech,
leading to a breakdown of talks between the two sides.
RCom acquires Sistemas India unit

Indian telecoms operator Reliance Communications (RCom) has agreed to
buyRussian conglomerate Sistemas Indian mobile phone business with a share swap
that marks the first major deal in seven years in a crowded and indebted sector.
The agreement will see Sistema take a 10 per cent stake in billionaire Anil Ambanis
RCom, worth about $290 million at current prices, in exchange for its operations.
Mondays announcement comes at a critical time for a fast-growing but hugely
competitive industry.
Indias mobile phone market is the worlds second-biggest after China by number of
customers, but its phone carriers operate on wafer-thin margins and cut-throat
competition that have dented their balance sheets.
Steel, cement output weigh on infrastructure sector

The Modi Governments big infrastructure push is yet to translate into pick-up on
the ground.
Growth of the eight core infrastructure industries slowed to 2.3 per cent in the first
six months compared with 5.1 per cent in the corresponding period last year.
The performance does not reflect the more than 60 percent jump to Rs.82,818 Crore
in the Governments capital expenditure during April-September this year.
Led by fertilizers and electricity sectors, output of the eight core infrastructure
industries improved in September to 3.2 per cent from 2.6 percent in August.
The tepid performance could be a drag on Indias overall industrial growth in the
first half of the current year as the core industries comprise almost 38 percent of the
index for industrial production.
The data released on Mon-day showed that the production of fertilizers grew 18.1
percent in September, ahead of the rabi sowing, which is to have started from Octoberend and will go on till December.
That followed the sector's robust growth of 12.59per cent in August.Almost 11 per
cent more electricity was generated inSeptember than in the comparable period in
2014. The growth in the sector was 5.6per cent in August 2015.
Small tea growers seek international agency

An international agency has been proposed to help represent the small tea growers'
sector, which currently contributes about 70 per cent of the world tea crop. Efforts
are also on to find ways to directly market small tea growers' produce.
The 11-member Indian delegation was led by Santosh Kumar Sarengi, chairman,
Tea Board India. It also included a member represent-ing the interests of India's
small tea growers. The need for an international body for small tea growers was
brought to the fore by quite a few tea-growing countries including India, Sri Lanka,
Kenya and Indonesia.
These countries have among them a small tea holders' group with representatives of
the respective governments and the industry. The contribution from this segment of
the tea indus-try is highest in Sri Lanka and Kenya.
Cotton production expected to decline

Cotton production for the 2015-2016 (October to September) season is estimated to
be 365 lakh bales, which is about 15 lakh bales less than the previous season.
Area of the crop has come down in States such as Karnataka and Maharashtra and
production is expected to be lower in some States.
Accord-ing to the provisional estimate, the opening stock for the current season is
estimated to be 52 lakh bales and imports to be 12 lakh bales. Consumption by textile
mills is expected to be 312 lakh bales (non-SSI and SSI sectors). During the previous
season (October 2014 to September 2015), consumption by the mills was 305 lakh
bales. Ex-ports this year are likely to be higher at 68 lakh bales. It was 57.72 lakh
bales last season.
However, there are indications in yarn import by China. Export of yarn and fabric is
expected to pick up in the coming months. Prices of yarn is also stable in the recent
weeks.
GST only a matter of time: FM

Obstruction against the GST has been due to political reasons. Within months from
now, the numbers (in the Rajya Sabha) are going to tilt even more. So it will become
easier to pass. GST is only a matter of time. As and when it is put to a vote, it will be
passed, the Finance Minister said.
Mr. Jaitley also added that he is looking to table the government's proposed
Bankruptcy Bill in the upcoming winter session of Parliament.
Also regarding corporates, the Union Finance Minister said that he will soon be
announcing the first tranche of exemptions from corporate tax that are to be done
away with. The first round of corporate rate cuts part of the governments longer
term agenda of cutting corporate tax rates from 30 per cent to 25 per cent will be
announced in the next Budget.
Talking about infrastructure, Mr. Jaitley lauded the performance of the road sector,
but said that the power sector was still a problem. The big problem in infrastructure
is the power sector. We are generating more power than India needs. However, state
discoms, the last mile, are not in a position to lift that power because of their poor
financial health, he said, adding that re-forms regarding the power sector will be
announced soon.
There are some crises that impact more than others, he added. If the U.S. Fed hikes
rates, there will be some turmoil here but it will settle down. Like what happened
after China's currency devaluation, Mr. Jaitley said.
Govt. issues notice to V Volkswagen India unit on diesel

car emissions
India has issued a notice to Volkswagen AG's lo-cal unit after finding significant
variations' in the German carmaker's diesel car emissions.
The government has asked Volkswagen to respond to the notice in 30 days.
Europe's biggest carmakerhas admitted cheating U.S. diesel emissions tests and that
up to around 11 million vehicles worldwide could contain illegal software - the
biggest business crisis in its 78-year history.
PM unveils 3 gold schemes

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday unveiled three gold-re-lated schemes,
namely the Gold Monetisation Scheme, Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme and Gold Coin
and Bullion Scheme.
India has no reason to be de-scribed as a poor country, as it has 20,000 tonnes of
gold. The gold available with the country should be put to productive use, and
these schemes show us the way to achieve this goal, the Prime Minister said while
introducing the schemes.
The Gold Monetisation Scheme (GMS) will replace the existing Gold Deposit Scheme,
1999. However, the government has made clear that deposits outstanding under the
Gold Deposit Scheme will be allowed to run till maturity unless the depositors prematurely withdraw them.
Under the GMS, resident Indians (classified as individuals, Hindu Undivided
Families, Trusts including Seri-registered Mutual Funds and Exchange Traded
Funds) can deposit gold at collection and purity testing centres certified by the Bureau
of Indian Standards.
The deposit certificates will be issued by banks in equivalence of 995 fineness of
gold and the principal and interest of the deposit under the scheme will be
denominated in gold. The terms of deposit range from short-term deposits (1-3 years),
medium-term deposits (5-7 years) and long-term deposits (12-15 years).
Depositors will be allowed to prematurely withdraw their deposits subject to a
minimum lock-in period and a penalty that is to be determined by each authorised
bank. The minimum deposit atany one time shall be raw gold (bars, coins, jewellery
excluding stones and other metals) equivalent to 30 grams of gold of 995 fine-ness.
There is no maximum limit for deposit under the scheme, the government said in a
notification.
Under the Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme, the Reserve Bank of India will issue Gold
Bonds on behalf of the Government of India. The applications for the bonds will be
accepted between November 5-20 and the bonds will be issued on November 26.
The Bonds will be sold through banks and designated post offices as may be notified.
As with the GMS, the Gold Bonds will be sold only to Indian entities including
individuals, HUFs, trusts, Universities, charitable institutions. They will be denominated in multiples of gram(s) of gold with a basic unit of one gram.
The Bonds will be for a tenor of eight years, with an exit option from the 5th year.
Those buying the bonds will not be allowed to purchase less than two grams-worth
of bonds and not more than 500grams-worth per person per financial year.
Under the Gold Coin and Bullion Scheme, the government will issue gold coins, the
first ever national gold coins, which will have the Ashok Chakra engraved on them.
Initially, coins of five grams and 10 grams will be available, soon to be followed by
a 20 gram bar.
The government will make avail-able 15,000 coins of five grams, 20,000 coins of 10
grams and 3,750 gold bars. The Indian Gold coin is unique in many aspects and
will carry advanced anti-counterfeit features and tamper proof packaging that will
aid easy re-cycling, the government said.
These schemes are aimed at bringing the gold lying with citizens into the economy,
and at reducing India's dependence on gold imports.
India imported Rs.2.1 lakh crore worth of gold in the financial year 2014-15, according
to CMIE, not counting jewellery. So far, Rs.1.12 lakh crore worth of gold has been
imported between April-September 2016.
Cabinet clears financial reform' package for discoms

The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved a re-form' package for loss-making
electricity utilities, allowing for the transfer of 75 per cent of the about Rs 4.3 lakh
crore outstanding debt incurred by stressed discoms to States' debt.
The scheme, named Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana(UDAY), will be optional for
States. The electricity distribution firms in the states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Haryana are among the most stressed and have run up the maximum
losses. Announcing the Cabinet decision, Union Power Minster Piyush Goyal told
re-porters that the Centre aims to help states in wiping out the discoms' losses by
2019.
States shall take over 75 per cent of discom debt as on September 30, 2015 over two
years 50 per cent of discom debt shall be taken over in 2015-16 and 25 per cent in
2016-17, an official release said. The decision is also expected to help the banks
inmanaging their bad loans.
The future losses of Dis-coms States will take over in a graded manner all the way
up to 2020-21. The balance discom debt outstanding with banks not taken over by
States will be converted into loans or bonds. The bonds will carry interest rate of not
more than the bank's base rate plus 0.1 per cent.
States accepting UDAY and performing as per operational milestones will be given
additional / priority funding through Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana,
Integrated Power Development Scheme, Power Sector Development Fund (PSDF)
or other such schemes of Ministry of Power and Ministry of New and Renewable
Energy.
States not meeting the operational milestones will be liable to forfeit their claim on
IPDS and DDUGJY grants.
States which want to take up the rescue package will sign agreements with the power
ministry.
Comfortable' with interest rates, says Rajan

India's central bank governor Raghuram Rajan said on Thursday that he was
comfortable with current interest rates of 6.75 per cent but would stay
accommodative.'
Mr. Rajan was speaking in a televised debate with the governments Chief Economic
Adviser Arvind Subramanian, who prodded the RBI governor to take into account
wholesale price inflation in monetary policy decisions.
Wholesale inflation fell for an 11th consecutive month in September, leading to calls
for the RBI to cut interest rates even further after already easing them by 125 basis
points to 6.75 per cent so far this year, including a larger than expected 50 bps cut in
late September.
Mr. Rajan and the government have enjoyed a respectful relationship, although there
have been differences between the two sides. The RBI is not statutorily independent
from the government, although its central bankers enjoy broad autonomy.
SBI books 25 % rise in second quarter profit

State Bank of India (SBI), India's largest lender, beat expectations with a 25 per cent
rise in quarterly standalone profit at Rs.3,879 crore against Rs. 3,100 crore in the
year-ago period and a drop in its closely monitored bad debt ratio, predicting an
improvement ahead.
The non-interest income jumped 35.58 per cent to Rs.6,197 crore from Rs.4,571 crore,
primarily boosted by a hefty Rs.485 crore repatriation of profits from its foreign
operations, which on an average con-tributes to a fourth of the bank's business.
Analysts in the sector have been watching for signs that credit quality is stabilising
in India. State-owned banks that dominate the industry have been grappling with
their worst bad debt burden in a decade, after years of liberal lending and slow
credit growth. Friday's earnings provided room for optimism.
SBI, whichhas been tightening scrutiny of borrowers and increasing fund recovery
efforts, said gross bad loans as a proportion of total loans dipped to 4.15 per cent in
July-September from 4.29 per cent in the previous three months.
In a further sign of improvement, SBI said it saw a faster growth in mortgage and
auto loan books, helping it offsetslower loan growth to small companies and
bolstering its plans to hit a loan growth target of 14 per cent for the year ending in
March.
Facebook joins $300-billion club, beats GE in market

cap
Facebook, the 11-year-old social media company founded by Mark Zuckerberg in
his Harvard dorm room, surpassed the $300-billion mark in market capitalisation,
overtaking General Electric (GE) along the way.
Facebook became the seventh most valuable firm in the U.S. on Friday, with market
capitalisation touching $303 billion and joined Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft and
Amazon among the top 10 ranks.
$896-million profit The surge in market value came on the back of Face-book posting
$896 million in third quarter profit on a revenue of $4.5 billion. In comparison, GE
reported a profit of $2.51 billion on a revenue of $41.7 billion for the third quarter.
Facebook shares touched a high of $108 after the results valuing the tech giant at a
whopping $306 billion,surpassing the about $300-billion market cap of GE. We
had a good quarter and got a lot done,.
The stark contrast in revenue and profits of Facebook and GE notwithstanding,
investors are bullish about Facebook's prospects, especially given its reach and ability
to monetise the people's connections through advertisements.
The social media company, which counts more than 1.45 billion active monthly users,
got 78 per cent of its advertising revenue from mobile advertising in the third quarter,
a 66 per cent jump over the year earlier period.
Robust U.S. jobs report bolsters case for December

rate hike
U.S. job growth surged in October and the un-employment rate hit a 7-1/2-year low
of 5 per cent in a show of economic strength that makes it much more likely the
Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in December.
Nonfarm payrolls in-creased 2,71,000 last month, the largest rise since December
2014, the Labor Department said on Friday.
In addition, average hourly earnings rose a respectable 9 cents. The payrolls jump
followed modest gains in August and September.
The unemployment rate now stands at its lowest level since April 2008 and is in a
range many Fed officials see as consistent with full employment.The employment
reporthad everything you could have asked for.
The reaction in financial markets was swift and sharp. The dollar rallied to a near
seven-month high against a basket of currencies as investors braced for higher
borrowing costs. U.S. Treasury debt prices fell, with yields on the two-year note
hitting a 5-1/2-year high.
Cost of sending remittances likely to come down

With remittance to India is expected to increase by 2.5 per cent in this calendar year,
the cost of sending remittances likely to come down further with many initiatives of
the Government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), like payment banks.
However, remittances to developing countries are expected to rise by about 4 per
cent in 2016 and 2017, buoyed by the continuing recovery in the U.S. and a modest
acceleration of economic activity in Europe.
It is hoped that India's new payments banks will expand penetration of the banking
sector in rural areas, thus in-creasing competition in the remittances market, says
the recent World Bank's report on Migration & Development Outlook, which indicates
remittances to India continue to grow steadily.
The report says that the decision by RBI to grant in principle' approval for 11 entities
to set up payments banks, which would be directed at small savers in underserved
(largely rural) markets, could help transform the rural remittances market.
The entry of new players is likely to increase competition, lower remittance costs,
and extend the formal market for remittances.
Unlike earlier, emigration from Northern parts of the country is on the increase
compared to Southern India as per the State-wise figures of workers granted
Emigration Clearance / ECNR Endorsement during the last five years 2010-2014. In
2014, U.P. is the highest 229,444, followed by Bihar 98,721, Tamil Nadu (83,202),
Andhra Pradesh (53,104), Kerala (55,058), and West Bengal (51,561).
Government considers Africa route to help central PSUs

The Centre is considering a plan to help the Central Public Sector Undertakings
(CPSUs), including those of them incurring losses, set up subsidiaries or form joint
ventures with State-owned enterprises (SOEs) in poor African countries.
The proposal has been moved by the department of public enterprises (DPE) of the
heavy industries and public enterprises (HI & PE) ministry, and is currently being
considered by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), official sources told
DPE wants the MEA to influence African countries, especially those with hardly any
private capital investment currently, to replicate the Nehruvian' post-independence
period industrial policy of India that heavily favoured SOEs.
For such a policy, the DPE, as per its proposal, wants these African countries to
reserve several sectors for SOEs so that these CPSEs can operate in a near
monopolistic environment for about 15-20 years, the sources said.
The new plan is to ask the MEA to convene a special meeting of all the African high
commissioners / senior diplomats stationed in Delhi and elicit their views on the
strategy. On its part, the HI & PE ministry will shortly call a meeting of CPSUs to
discuss the idea.
The development comes even as the Centre has identified 58 loss-making PSUs for
either reviving or closing them down, and has been holding inter-ministerial
consultations to chalk out a viable strategy. It is also planning to raise Rs.69, 500
crore from disinvestment of PSUs this year. Africa is not entirely a new playing
ground for Indian PSUs, especially for those in the energy sector. Indian
privatecompanies including Bharti Air-tel and the Tata Group also have their presence
in several African countries.
However, India is far behind China in this game. China-Africa trade has surpassed
$200 billion, and is almost thrice as large as the about $70 billion for India-Africa
trade. By 2020, China aims to double its trade with Africa to $400 billion and increase
direct in-vestment to $100 billion.
Now, Telangana eyes share in e-commerce pie

After Kerala and Karnataka, it has become the turn of Telangana State to feel the
pinch over loss of tax revenue from the growing e-commerce transactions.
Though the State, more so its cosmopolitan capital Hyderabad, contributes
significantly to the booming e-tail-ing business, the sunrise sector hardly brings in
any additional tax revenues under the existing tax laws.
The annual sales turnover of one leading e-commerce company in Hyderabad alone
is estimated at Rs. 2,500 crore. There are other players too. Thus the government,
sources revealed, has been exploring possibilities, including amending provisions
of its VAT Act, suitably to bring e-commerce transactions under the State tax net.
Governed by Central Sales Tax laws, e-commerce companies like Amazon and Flipkart among others, which were encouraged to set up their fulfilment centres in
Hyderabad do not charge VAT on the goods supplied to the consumer States. As
facilitators of these transactions, they are only liable to pay ser-vice tax under the
CST. Under the existing tax laws, when goods move from one State to other, taxes
accrue to the State from which goods originate.
But with emergence of e-commerce as a popular B to C business model,
manufacturing States are walking away with all the tax revenue while the consumer
States are left out of VAT though the sales actually take place in their territory where
the goods are delivered, they point out.
The proposed GST regime offers hope to address the e-commerce concerns of
consuming States by bringing both goods and services under the same tax rates. The
taxes on inter-state supply of goods and services under the GST would go to the
consuming State.
Maggi noodles is back

Five months after Maggi noodles was taken of shelves, Nestle India on Mon-day
resumed sales of the popular instant noodles brand in India. To start with, Maggi
will be available in 100 towns and will be rolled out across the country in a phased
manner, for which the company is working with its suppliers and distributors.
The Swiss food giant has al-so tied up with online market-place Snapdeal for the
sale of the product. Maggi, however, continues to be banned in eight states Bihar,
Orissa, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Nestle is in discussions with these States.
Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had slapped a nationwide ban
on Maggi in June alleging that the snack contained excessive quantities of lead. The
Bombay High Court,however, overturned the ruling and ordered fresh tests. Earlier
this month, Nestle said a government-approved laboratory had found samples from
the freshly manufactured stocks of Maggi to be safe.
Government relaxes FDI norms across 15 sectors

The Centre on Tuesday announced Big Bang' Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) reforms,
easing norms across 15 sectors including defence, banking, construction, single brand
retail, broadcasting and civil aviation. The move is aimed at boosting the investment
environment and attracting more foreign capital to the country.
The announcement was made two days after the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National
Democratic Alliance suffered a resounding defeat in the Bihar Assembly elections.
It also came on the eve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the U.K., where he
could have otherwise faced tough questions on his government's major initiatives
to spur foreign investment.
For facilitating faster approvals on most of the proposals, the government also raised
the threshold limit of approval by Foreign Investment Promotion Board from the
earlier Rs.3,000 crore to Rs.5,000 crore. As per the existing policy, FIPB considers
foreign investment proposals of in-flow up to Rs.3,000 crore and those above that
limit are placed for consideration of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.
According to an official release, the crux of these reforms is to further ease, rationalise
and simplify the process of foreign investments in the country and to put more and
more FDI proposals on automatic route in-stead of Government route where time
and energy of the investors is wasted.
For the sake of ease of doing business, the Industry Ministry will soon consolidate
all FDI related instructions contained in various notifications & press notes and
prepare a booklet so that the investors do not have to refer to several documents of
different time-frames.
The official release said refining of foreign investment norms in construction is to
facilitate the construction of 50 million houses for poor. It added that opening up of
the manufacturing sector for wholesale, retail and e-commerce is aimed at motivating
industries to Make In India and sell it to the customers here instead of importing
from other countries.
The struggling construction sector will be a major beneficiary as radical changes in
FDI norms have been brought in to boost demand for steel, cement and spur economic
activity, ultimately with an aim to help build 50 million affordable houses for the
poor.
Foreign investment up to 49 per cent has been allowed under automatic route from
the earlier government approved route. Proposals for foreign investment in excess
of 49 per cent will be considered by FIPB. Portfolio investment and foreign venture
capital investment, which were restricted to 24 per cent, have now been hiked to 49
per cent and that too through the automatic route.
To ensure that ownership and control remain in Indian hands, Government approval,
of course, will be required in case of infusion of fresh foreign in-vestment within the
permitted automatic route level, resulting in change in the ownership pattern or
transfer of stake by existing investor to new foreign investor.
The government also decided to plantation activities namely; coffee, rubber,
cardamom , palm oil tree and olive oil tree plantations also for 100 per cent foreign
investment under automatic route. As of now, only tea plantation was open to foreign
investment.
Key indicators register fall

Growth in industrial production, as measured by the Index of Industri-al Production,
slowed down in September to 3.6 per cent from the break-neck 6.3 per cent achieved
in August. Retail inflation for October, also released on Thursday, accelerated to 5
per cent from 4.4 per cent in September, marking the fourth consecutive month of
consumer price inflation quickening.
The General Index (of Industrial Production) for the month of September 2015 stands
at 178.0, which is 3.6 per cent higher as com-pared to the level in the month of
September 2014. The cumulative growth for the period April-September 2015-16 over
the corresponding period of the previous year stands at 4 per cent, the government
said in a release.
The 3.6 per cent growth rate in industrial production seems more the norm than the
high 6.3 achieved the previous month. In fact, the growth rate achieved in September
is exactly the median growth rate over the period January-September. August seems
to have been an aberration, registering a growth rate 2.6 percentage points higher
than the median.
That said, some elements of the index certainly have fallen more drastically than
others. Growth in the manufacturing sector, for ex-ample, plummeted to 2.6 per cent
in September from a heady 6.6 per cent the previous month. However, this 2.6 per
cent is low even com-pared to more normal' months, falling well below the 3.9 per
cent median growth rate since January.
An exception The electricity sector, on the other hand, grew very strongly in
September, coming in at 11.4 per cent, up from 5.6 per cent in Au-gust. This is the
fastest growth the sector has seen since August 2014. Notably, by usage, the capital
goods sector slowed down considerably, coming in at 10.5 per cent in September
compared to 21.4 per cent in August.
However, this could be more of a correction since the sector grew at 10.6 per cent in
July. Consumer goods, a measure of demand in the economy, also slowed to 0.6 per
cent in September compared to 6 per cent in Au-gust. Growth in the Consumer Price
Index, at 5 per cent in October, was the highest it has been since June, when it was 5.4
per cent. The greatest increase can be seen in the food and beverages segment, which
accelerated from 4.3 per cent in September to 5.3 per cent in October. Here, urban
Indians felt the pinch more than rural Indians, although the rate of inflation quicken
considerably for the latter as well. Food inflation in urban India went from 3.8 per
cent in September to 5.4 per cent in October.
The same numbers are 4.5 per cent and 5.4 per cent for rural India. Significantly,
growth in the fuel and light segment of the CPI slowed for the third consecutive
month to 5.3 per cent from 5.8 per cent two months ago. Inflation in clothing and
footwear, at 5.6 per cent was at a multi-year low, lower than it has been for at least
three and a half years.Although CPI inflation has been accelerating lately, it is still
within the Reserve Bank of India's com-fort zone of 6 per cent that it want-ed to
achieve by January 2016.
Subir Gokarn appointed ED at IMF

Former Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn was on Thursday
appointed as an Executive Director on the board of the International Monetary Fund
(IMF).
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the proposal for
appointment of Mr. Subir Gokaran, Economist as Executive Director representing
the Indian Constituency (India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka) at the International
Monetary Fund vice Mr. Rakesh Mohan, the government said in a release.
Mr. Gokarn's name was cleared by Appointments Committee of Cabinet headed by
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as per an order issued by the Department of
Personnel and Training. He replaces Mr. Rakesh Mohan at the IMF.
PM vows to work towards a globally integrated economy

Top CEOs from India and the U.K. on Friday pitched for a more transparent and
consistent deci-sion-making regime as also a uni-form treatment of corporates across
the world, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to work ceaselessly towards
Indian economy's integration with the rest of the world.
A reconstituted India-UK CE-Os Forum, during its first meet-ing, identified six
overarching themes as important areas of collaboration to take forward smart
cities and the digital economy, healthcare, education and skills, engineering, defence
and security, and financial and professional services.
The meeting took place in the presence of Mr. Modi as well as his British counterpart
David Cameron. We are confidently, consistently and ceaselessly working to
integrate our economy with the world, Mr. Modi told the gather-ing at 11 Downing
Street, next door to Mr. Cameron's offIce in London. Mr. Cameron encouraged the
company chairs and chief executives to identify the best ways to build new trade
partnerships and investment opportunities and use the strength of existing
commercial relationships to identify and build more partnerships between innovative
Indian and U.K. companies.
The forum was co-chaired by Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mis-try on the Indian side
and Standard Life chairman Sir Gerry Grimstone on the U.K. side. The common ask
of the industry in both countries is a business environment characterised by simplicity
in structures and processes, clarity and transparency in decision-making and
uniformity and consistency in the treatment of corporates and people across borders,
Mr. Mistry said.
The new UK-India CEOs Fo-rum provides a powerful foundation with which to
implement initiatives that will bring our two countries closer together, based on
mutual respect and shared values, said Mr. Mistry, who was joined by the likes of
Bharti Enter-prises chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, Tata Consultancy Services CEO &
MD N. Chandrasekaran and Bharat Forge Chairman Baba Kalyani.
Today's meeting was a great opportunity to celebrate the success of the UK-India
commercial relationship. India is the third largest investor in the U.K., and the U.K.
is the largest G20 investor in India, Mr. Gerry Grim-stone said. This forum will
forge deeper collaboration in areas where there is scope to take relationship to the
next levels, said Mr. Grim-stone, whose U.K. team included leading British company
representatives like Vodafone chief executive Vitorio Calao, BAE CEO Ian King and
Rolls-Royce CEO Warren East.
The U.K. is the largest G20 investor in India, with 535 U.K. businesses employing
6,91,000 people across the country in sectors as diverse as retail, infrastructure,
construction, information and communications technology, creative industries and
health-care. In the U.K., around 800 In-dian businesses employ 110,000 people.
Royal dining at Buckingham Palace

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Queen Elizabeth II over lunch at the Buckingham
Palace on Friday.
The Prime Minister arrived in a Jaguar, and the 89-year-old Queen greeted Mr. Modi
at the Grand Entrance of the palace, shaking hands with him before they moved on
to inspect items from the Royal Collection, brought out specially for the Prime
Minister's visit.
While a ceremonial ride in a gilded carriage with the Queen associated with an
official state visit was missing for Mr. Modi, the more intimate setting of a lunch
with her had been stressed upon as an indication of the closeness of ties between
India and the U.K. Mr. Modi was hosted at Chequers, the British Prime Minister's
country residence in Buckinghamshire, on Thursday
North-East connectivity project struck in hurdles

The ambitious Rs.15,000 crore North East connectivity project is struggling to take
of one year after India and Japan jointly agreed to work on the project to quickly
transform the region into a manufacturing hub with the help of bet-ter road
infrastructure.
There were differences between JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) and
the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL) on
issues such as the various costs involved in the project, and the technology that is to
be used in building roads.
There are also differences between the two on the manner in which environment and
social impact assessments are to be carried out. NHIDCL is a wholly owned company
of the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MORTH) and is the project
implementing agency.
Also, it is learnt that local stakeholders such as the Khasi Hills Autonomous District
Council in Meghalaya are yet to give their no objection certificates'.
With the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe slated to visit India later next month,
the Prime Minister's office (PMO) has sought a status report of the project and will
shortly hold an inter-ministerial meeting on it to expeditiously resolve all the
outstanding issues.
Vodafone set to invest 2 billion dollar in India

Vodafone, India's second largest telecommunications service provider by number
of users, will invest Rs.13,000 crore or $2 billion on capacity expansion and new
business initiatives.
Vodafone, which ranks behind Bharti Airtel in the Indian telecom market, is already
the largest FDI investor in the country with investments exceeding Rs.1,11,000 crore
since starting its Indian operations in 2007.
Vittorio Colao, Vodafone Group Plc CEO, committed to the latest investment during
his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Lon-don on Friday. The
announcement of the increase in investment comes as the U.K. major readies to tap
the Indian capital market with an initial public offering.
China's yuan takes another step towards SDR basket

inclusion
Chinas currency, the yuan, took an-other step forward towards join-ing the elite
group of global re-serve currencies on Saturday when the International Monetary
Fund's (IMF) staff on Saturday recommended that the Chinese currency be included
in the IMF's benchmark foreign exchange basket, a move that will indirectly benefit
India as well.
Managing Director of the IMF Christine Lagarde also endorsed the yuan's inclusion
in the IMF's Special Drawing Rights basket.
The staff of the IMF has today issued a paper to the Executive Board on the
quinquennial re-view of the SDR (Special Drawing Rights). A key focus of the Board
review is whether the Chinese renminbi (RMB), also meets the other existing criterion,
that the currency be freely usable', which is defined as being widely used' for
international transactions and widely traded' in the principal foreign exchange
markets.
SDR are not a currency them-selves, but are a certain number of rights given by the
IMF to countries who, in a crisis, can draw up-on any of the reserve currencies in the
basket currently the dollar, euro, yen and pound.
The inclusion of the yuan in this basket has been endorsed by almost all of the major
economies of the world, including Germany, Britain, France and Italy.
The U.S. was historically cautious about this, but recently softened its stance in
September when President Obama said the U.S. would support China's bid for
inclusion in the SDR basket as long as it met the IMF's technical specifications, which
it now has.
India aims to triple its steel production

Union Minister for Steel and Mines Narendra Singh Tomar has said that the country
is striving hard to achieve its target of tripling the current annual steel production of
100 million tonnes by 2025.
Globally, the steel industry is going through a crisis with a fall in production by 2.3
per cent this year. However, India has been able to show a four per cent increase in
production despite heavy imports from China. Four new large steel plants would
be established in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand andKarnataka.
Ministry seeks more than Rs. 25,000-cr for urea subsidy

bills
The Fertiliser Ministry has sought more than Rs.25,000 crore from the Fi-nance
Ministry for making subsidy payments to domes-tic urea manufacturers, as it is
facing liquidity crunch.
In this year's budget, the government had allocated Rs.72,968.56 crore for fertiliser
subsidy, out of which Rs.38,200 crore was ear-marked for domestic urea.
The Fertiliser Ministry isfacing shortage of funds for making payments to domestic
urea manufacturers as there were more than Rs.30,000 crore subsidy arrears from
the previous years.
The Department of Fertiliser has sought more than Rs.25,000 crore from the Fi-nance
Ministry for making subsidy payments to the domestic urea manufacturers as there
has been shortage of funds for making subsidy payments.
The Department of Fertilisers has issued revised energy norms under the new urea
policy for existing 25 gas based urea plants in the country, a move that is expected to
save about Rs.800 crore in fertiliser subsidy.
Urea is provided to farmers at a fixed subsidised MRP of Rs.5,360 per tonne. The
difference between the cost of production and MRP of urea is provided as subsidy
to manufacturers.
Difficulties for the new gold schemes

The government has launched three new schemes to monetise gold in the country
the gold monetisation scheme, the sovereign gold bond and gold coin.
Households in India hold a large amount of their savings as physical assets gold,
silver and other precious metals and real estate.
With very little of the precious metal now being mined in the country, the seemingly
insatiable domestic demand is being met by gold imports.
Hence a two-pronged strategy is needed to provide an instrument that would target
would-be gold investors and second, to draw out gold lying idle in private hands.
The amount of gold with households is a mind boggling 20,000 tonnes. Even if 5 per
cent can be mopped up through innovative financial instruments based on gold, the
domestic demand estimated at between 850 and 900 tonnes annually can be
met.
The gold monetisation scheme (GMS) appears to be central to the three schemes.Under
the new scheme, as small as 30 gms of gold can be accepted.
The tenure can go up to 15 years and the scheme pays higher interest rates to
depositors 2.25 to 2.5 against one per cent before.
The gold bond scheme is for those investors who buy gold as an investment.
The gold monetisation scheme is no doubt an improvement over earlier scheme.
However, gold held as jewellery will be very difficult to be monetised.
The point has been made several times before that there would be a sentimental
objection to parting with jewellery, which in many households are passed on from
one generation to another.
In fact, no gold monetisation scheme can overcome the inhibitions of all would-be
investors. People buy gold with different motivations. Pledging gold to meet seasonal
requirements is very common.
WPI inflation at -3.8 per cent, 12th straight month in

negative territory
WPI inflation in October was -3.8 per cent, com-pared with -4.5 per cent in September,
the 12th consecutive month in which WPI inflation was negative.
This was mostly driven by a high base effect, muted commodity prices in India and
internationally, and poor demand in the economy.
The annual rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI,stood at -3.81 per cent
(provisional) for the month of October, 2015 (over October, 2014)as compared to 4.54 per cent(provisional) for the previous month and 1.66 per cent during the
corresponding month of the previous year, the government said in a release.
WPI inflation was -5 percent in August.One of the statistical reasons for WPI inflation
remaining negative for so long is the high-base effect.
That is,the index numbers in the year-earlier period were higher. However, this base
effect is coming to an end.\
Besides muted commodity prices, this is also reflective of persisting weak demand
conditions in the economy.
At this point in time all steps should be taken for improving the demand situation in
the economy and bringing pricing power back in the hands of manufacturers.
Canadian pension fund set to pick up 49% in Reliance

Infra
Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) has agreed to sell49 per cent
stake in its Mumbai-based power generation, transmission and distribution business
to aCanadian pension fund for an enterprise value of Rs.15,000 crore,leading to six
per cent increase in RInfra shares to Rs.417 in a firm Mumbai market on Monday.
RInfra signed the non-binding term sheet with the Public SectorPension Investment
Board (PSP In-vestments), one of the largest pen-sion fund managers in Canada
withC$112.0 billion of net assets under management.
Specified business was to be carved out on a going concern basis into a separate
special purpose vehicle (SPV), in which RInfra would own the con-trolling 51 per
cent stake.
This move is significant as the enterprise value comprisesRs.7,500 crore in debt and
equity each, meaning Rs.7,500 crore of debt goes of from RInfras book directly to
the SPV and the company will get another Rs.3,500 crore from PSP Investments for
the 49per cent stake.
Greece strikes deal for 12-billion bailout funds

Greece has reached agreement on bailout, including the 48 additional measures.
This should allow the 12 billion to be paid out on Friday.
A Greek government source said the compromise reached will protect around 60
per cent of indebted households from having their primary residence seized.
The Greek government had sought to protect more than 70 per cent of families at
risk of losing their homes, while creditors had initially been willing to exclude no
more than 20 per cent from seizure.
The government is to submit the agreed measures to parliament later Tuesday for a
vote on Thursday
What is the economic cost of terrorism?

It feels frivolous to ask about the cost of terror after the horrific Paris attacks, but it is
one of the central issues with which policymakers and investors are grappling.
The conventional wisdom is that an act of terrorism accounts for a mere blip in
economic damage.
The aftermath of the November 13 Paris attacks may not in itself prompt extensive
market-based volatility, Citigroup wrote in a report.
The events in Paris could add to the pressure to close borders in the Euro Zone. It is
also reigniting a debate about privacy and surveillance that could have big
implications for technology companies.
The connection between the terror threat and migration flows threatens to rupture
the border-free Schengen zone, the note said, describing the borderless, passportfree zone known as the Schengen area.
India's Internet user base to touch 402 mn by

December, surpassing U.S.
The number of Inter-net users in India is expected to touch 402 million by De-cember,
a 49 per cent jump over last year, making India home to the second largest online
user base after China, according to a report released by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International.
India, which currently has the third largest Internet user base in the world after China
and the U.S., had about 375 million Internet users in October. By December, India is
expected to overtake the U.S. and also will become the first country to have largest
Inter-net users in a free market democratic setup, according to the report released on
Tuesday.
China leads the pack with more than 600 million Internet users. While Internet in
India took more than a decade to move from 10 million to 100 million and 3 years
from 100 to 200 million, it took only a year to move from 300 to 400 million users, as
per the report.
According to the report, 71 per cent male and 29 per cent female are Internet users in
India. The Internet usage among males has been grow-ing at a rate of 50 per cent
while it is growing at 46 per cent for female users.
However, in Urban India, the ratio between male to fe-male Internet users is 62:38.
Significantly, Internet users among females are growing at a rate of 39 per cent
compared to 28 per cent among males.
Internet users in rural India are expected to reach 117 mil-lion by December and 147
mil-lion by June 2016 on the back of growing penetration of mobile phones in the
country. Rural Internet users wit-nessed a 77 per cent jump to reach 108 million in
October 2015.
The number of active mobile Internet users grew about 99 per cent to 80 mil-lion by
October 2015 and is ex-pected to reach 87 million by December and 109 million by
June 2016, the report stated.
CCEA approves 10 per cent stake sale in CIL

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved a 10 per cent disinvestment
in Coal India, the third government stake sale in the companys history
At the companys current market capitalisation, a 10 percent stake sale will fetch the
government around Rs. 21,100 crore.
the disinvestment target of the government is Rs.69,500 crore for this financial year
So far, the government has been able to pare its stake in only four companies
Power Finance Corporation, Ru-ral Electrification Corporation,Dredging Corporation
and Indian Oil Corporation and has earned only Rs.12,600 crore.
The Department of Disinvestment has reportedly asked for the disinvestment target
to be brought down to Rs.30,000crore. If this happens, then a suc-cessful Coal India
stake sale could see the government overshooting its target.
The CCEA also approved a three per cent interest subvention scheme for SME
exporters in a move to boost exports.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister
Mr.NarendraModi, has given its approval for Interest Equalisation Scheme(earlier
called Interest Subvention Scheme) on Pre & Post Shipment Rupee Export Credit
with effect from April 1, 2015 for five years,
Cabinet had given its approval to several moves that would empower the National
Highway Authority of India to get stalled projects moving.
The first has to do with allowing NHAI to extend the tolling period for concessionaires
who have been facing project delays for no fault of their own, such as unavailability
of land or relevant clearances.
The second involves authorising NHAI to pay compensatory annuities to the
concessionaire corresponding to the actual period of delay, when the delay was not
attributable to the concessionaire.
Tata Steel commissions Kalinganagar Steel Project

Indian steel major Tata Steel commissioned the first phase (3 million tonnes per
annum) of its 6 MTPA capacity Kalinganagar Steel Plantthe largest single-location
greenfield steel project in India in Odisha
The state-of-the-art plant, which will produce world-class flat and lighter, high-tensile
strength steel. It is Indias largest blast furnace at 4,330cubic meter with production
capacity of 3.2 MTPA.
]Two weeks on, Govt. gets just 400 gm yellow metal

Gold Monetisation Scheme,launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this
month, has so far attracted 400 grams of gold,industry body GJEPC. According to
official estimates, around 20,000 tonnes of gold worth over Rs.52 lakh crore is lying
idle with households and temples in the country.
If the 13,000 BIS-certified jewellers are allowed to act as collection agents, then there
is a hope that the scheme will take of in a good way.
Finance Ministry was requested to allow jewellers registered with BIS to act as
collection point for gold.
Under Gold Monetisation Scheme, launched on November 5,banks were authorised
to collect gold for up to 15 years to auction them off or lend to jewellers from time to
time. Depositors will earn up to 2.50 per cent interest per annum, a rate lower than
bank deposits.
As far as the scheme is concerned, earnings are exempt from capital gains tax, wealth
tax and income tax.
The designated banks will accept gold deposits under the short-term (1-3 years)
bank deposit as well as medium (5-7 years) and long-term (12-15 years) government
deposit schemes. The designated banks may sell or lend the gold accepted under
the short-term bank deposit to MMTC for minting India Gold Coins and to jewellers,
or sell it to other designated banks participating in the scheme.
To meet the growing domestic demand, India imports about 800-1,000 tonnes of
gold annually.
Reliance Group to develop 6,000 MW solar park

Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group will develop a6,000 megawatt Solar Power Park in
Rajasthan, a plan that has potential to attract an investment of Rs.60,000 crore.
The Reliance Group is the pioneers to set up the first largest solar photovoltaic project
of 40 MW at Dhirubhai Ambani Solar Park at Pokhran, Jaisalmer District, in a record
time of just 129 days.
Reliance Group was also the first to commission the worlds largest concentrated
solar power project(CSP) of 100 MW.
Centre to auction eight blocks in fourth round

The government will auction eight coal blocks for the unregulated sector,which
includes iron, steel, cement and capacitive power plants in the fourth round of
e-auctions to be held in January 2016.
The coal blocks to be put on auction include Brahmapuri and Suliyari in Madhya
Pradesh, Bundu and Gondul-pura in Jharkhand, Gondkhari and Khappa & Extn in
Maharashtra and Jaganathpur A and Jaganathpur B in West Bengal.
These mines together have re-serves totalling 1,143.42 million tonnes (MT) and their
peak rated capacity is 12.86 MT. The first three rounds of auctions had fetched over
Rs.3 lakh crore, which would be realised over 30 years by States where the mines are
located.
The e-auctions are taking place following the Supreme Court decision last year to
cancel the allocation of 204 coal mines to companies without auction.
Coal India, which accounts for over 80 per cent of the domestic coal production, is
targeting one billion tonnes of coal production by financial year 2020.
Coal imports in India dropped for the third successive month in September by 27
per cent to 12.6 million tonnes as compared to the year-ago period on the back on
increased domestic production.
CBDT outlines roadmap to phase out corporate tax

exemptions
The government announced its roadmap towards phasing out corporate tax
exemptions, a commitment made by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget
speech.
The Finance Minister had promised the dual actions of reducing the corporate tax
rate from 30 per cent to 25 per cent in a gradual manner, and the removal of corporate
tax exemptions.
Regarding tax incentives with no date of termination, the CBDT proposes a sunset
date of March 31, 2017, adding that there will be no weighted deduction with efect
from 01. 04.2017.
During his Budget speech in February, Mr Jaitley had raised the issue of India's
perceived high corporate tax and large number of exemptions.
Centre committed to boost public spending on

infrastructure
The Centre was committed to boosting public spending on infrastructure in the
coming years so that allied sectors such as cement and steel get a boost, leading to
greater employment generation, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry
Nirmala Sitharaman said during the Resurgent Rajasthan Partnership Summit'.
In a veiled attack on the critics of the NDA Government, Ms. Sitharaman said Prime
Minister Narendra Modi has been making several trips overseas to lift India's image.
Ms. Sitharaman's comments on increase in public spending on infrastructure assumes
significance because some analysts apprehend that owing to the Seventh Pay
Commission recommendations and the consequent increase in the Centre's wage
bill in the next financial year.
It is also significant due to the expected reduction of corporate tax rates, the
government could be forced to bring down public expenditure (including in
infrastructure) in the coming year to reduce the fiscal deficit further.
India-ASEAN trade must reach 200 billion by 2025

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said the trade between India and the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) should increase to $100 billion by
2020 and to $200 billion by 2025. During 2014-15, after a temporary decline, the trade
stood at $76.5 billion. India would soon extend electronic visa facility to all 10 Asean
members.
The Prime Minister also intends to set up an Asean-India innovation platform to
facilitate commercialisation of low-cost technologies, technology transfer and
collaborative research and development projects.
Laying special emphasis on Indias partnership with Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar
and Vietnam, PM said India would create a project development fund to create
manufacturing hubs in the four countries.
As for climate change, Mr. Modi proposed an international solar alliance of 122 solarrich countries, which he and French President Francois Hollande would launch at
the Paris convention on November 30, 2015
Omnicom to buy Brazil ad group ABC

Omnicom Group Inc, the world's second largest advertising company, has agreed to
pay 1 billion reais ($270 million) for Brazil's Grupo ABC.
Omnicom is a New York based company.
Grupo ABC was founded by Guanaes and Valente in 2002
Aurobindo gets USFDA nod for Pfizers Revatio

Aurobindo Pharma on Saturday received final approval from the USFDA to
manufacture and market generic version of Pfizers Revatio (sildenafil citrate) tablets
used in the treatment of high blood pressure in lungs.
Arun Jaitley to meet PSB heads today

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will meet heads of PSU banks on Monday to discuss
various issues, including bad loans and interest rate reduction, in light of the Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) lowering its policy rate in September.
The performance review meeting of public sector banks (PSBs) will also take stock
of the credit flow to productive sectors to spur economy and review of Indradhanush,
the seven-pronged strategy to revive PSBs.
The government in August announced the programme, which includes Rs.70,000Click Here to Study Kit in Hard Copy for IBPS, Bank Exams:
crore capital infusion in PSBs in four years, starting with Rs.25,000 crore this fiscal,
and measures to de-stress banks by introducing governance reforms.
The gross NPAs of PSBs rose to 6.03 per cent at the end of June 2015, as against 5.20
per cent in March 2015.
Implications of rise of chineese currency on India

The international Monetary Fund (IMF) is poised to approve the inclusion of Chinas
renminbi (oryuan as it is called) as a reserve currency later this month.
The implications of that would be several. Above all, it is an acknowledgement by
the global community of Chinas economic prowess.
The worlds second largest economy will have to be given its due place in the global
financial architecture.
Chinas quest for a reserve status for its currency has for long been in the making.
Way back in 2009 senior Chinese monetary oicials advocated the replacement of the
US dollar as the dominant international currency with a group of currencies
administered by the IMF.
Such an advocacy tantamount to a drastic overhaul of the global financial order
seemed too premature at that time and in any case was ignored by the US and other
developed countries.
The expectation that the yuan or the renminbi will acquire reserve currency status is
no longer a pipe dream. What in 2009 appeared to be, at best a vision, is now very
much in the realm of possibility.
It will certainly mark a big step for the Chinese currency although opinion among
experts seems divided on how significant the inclusion of the yuan in the global
currency basket will be.
The prospect of the yuan joining currencies such as the dollar, euro, yen and sterling
in backing the IMFs Special Drawing Rights has been variously described as
everything from a symbolic move to the dawn of a new era.
SDRs are the IMFs unit of account restricted to its members. The SDR basket is the
basis of IMFs lending made up of the worlds most liquid currencies and hence
suitable for any member country that needs support for its balance of payments.
Arun Jaitley says NPA of Banks are at " unacceptable

level"
Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley said non-performing assets of Indian banks were at
an unacceptable' level but the situation is expected to improve as the government
and the central bank were taking steps to relieve stress in various sectors.
The health of the public sector banks was a key subject, particular-ly in relation to
the fact that a car-ried over problem of the past con-tinues to persist. And that problem
relates to the unacceptable level of NPAs, Mr. Jaitely told journalists on Monday
after a meeting with bankers to review their July-Sep-tember performance.
The meeting was attended by the Chiefs of the public sector banks as well as
Secretaries from various ministries including micro, small and medium enterprises,
agricul-ture, textiles, and rural development.
While acknowledging that a part of the stress with the banking sec-tor has to do with
certain sectors, the Finance Minister expressed hope that the reforms announced in
the power sector will relieve the problems with the distribution companies.
He also added that the highways sector has started mov-ing, and that the bankers at
the meeting suggested measures to im-prove the situation in the belea-guered steel
sector.
The gross NPAs of public sector banks were at six per cent at the end of June, up
from 5.2 per cent in March. According to RBI data, stressed asset, that is gross NPA
plus standard restructured advanc-es, as a percentage of gross advanc-es moved up
to 11.1 per cent as on March 2015 as compared to 9.2 per cent two years ago.
Public sector banks share a disproportionate burden of these stress. Bankers who
attended the meet-ing highlighted six sectors that were facing maximum stress -iron and steel, textile, power, sugar, alu-minium and construction.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in its financial stability report, also cited five subsectors that were un-dergoing maximum stress, which are infrastructure, iron and
steel, textiles, mining (including coal) and aviation.
According to the RBI data, these five sub-sectors had 52 per cent of total stressed
advances of all com-mercial banks as of June 2014, whereas in the case of PSBs it was
at 54 per cent.
Crude oil output fell 2.1 per cent in October

Natural gas produc-tion in the country declined 1.8 per cent in October 2015 compared
to the same month last year, while crude oil pro-duction fell 2.1 per cent.
Natural gas production increased for the first time in 5 years in August, and then
grew again in September, but has now again reverted to its normal' scenario of
contracting year-on-year.
Natural gas production during October 2015 was 2795.024 MMSCM (million metric
standard cubic meters) which is 6.77 per cent lower than the target for the month and
1.82 per cent lower than the production during the corresponding period of last
year, according to a state-ment from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas on
Monday.
While ONGC saw its on-shore fields producing 8.8 per cent more natural gas in
October 2015 than in the same month last year, its ofshore production was lower by
4.4 per cent of its levels last year.
Private producers seem to be the main cause for the dip in overall production, with
their production levels in Oc-tober coming in at a lower 6.6 per cent of their October
2014 levels. Here, again, the main culprits were the ofshore fields, which saw a 10.6
per cent dip in their production levels.
India to sell rupee bonds

India has decided to start selling Rupee Bonds in some countries to provide longterm finance for infrastructure development in the country. This will be in addition
to the setting up of the NationalInvestment and Infrastructure Fund and introduction
of the tax-free Infrastructure Bonds.Singapore could be among the countries where
the Rupee Bonds would be offered. With this last round of reforms, India will be
among the most open economies for FDI
New sectors have been fully opened for FDI, entry and exit norms had already been
relaxed to a great extent.
For most of the sectors, the FDI clearances were now on automatic route. In addition
to greenfield areas, many sectors could freely absorb FDI in brownfield projects.
These included roads, construction and medical services.
IDEA And VIDEOCON spectrum deal

The countrys third largest telecom services provider, Idea Cellular, will buy spectrum
in Gujarat and Ut-tar Pradesh (West) from Videocon Telecommunications for Rs
3,310 crore ($499 mil-lion) to boost its high-speed data services.
This is the first deal after the government allowed tele-com companies to trade mobile airwaves in September to address the problem of short-age of spectrum and
improve services for mobile phone users facing issues such as frequent call drops.
EPFO investing in AA+-rated private bank bonds

The EmployeesProvident Fund Organisation(EPFO), the countrys largest retirement
fund with over Rs.8lakh crore under its watch,has decided to begin investments in
bonds rated AA+ or higher issued by private sector banks.
With the EPFO board,chaired by Union Labour and Employment Minister Bandaru
Dattatreya, ratifying onTuesday investments in bonds rated AA+ or higher, PF savings
can now be invested in bonds issued by private banks with a tenure of 10years, with
an upper limit of 20 per cent of each banks net worth
Rail upgrade to boost economic growth by 3%

The ongoing modernization of railways may boost the countrys gross domestic
product by about 3 percent over a period of time
The ministry is also planning to redevelop 400 stations through open bids called the
Swiss Challenge method, a form of public procurement. Besides consider-ing port
connectivity projects, the ministry is also planning to use revenue from clients such
as Steel Authority of India and Coal India on coal evacuation projects.
Bad debts to hit student loans

An increase in non-per-forming assets have led several public sector banks togo
slow on educational loans, latest data complied by the Finance Ministry shows.
Banks were given a target of 20 per cent growth in disbursement and 15 per cent
growth in accounts for the current financial year.
A student, under the educational loan scheme, can borrow up to Rs.10 lakh for
domestic education andRs.20 lakh for studying in foreign colleges. Borrowers need
not pay during the tenure of the course and for an additional year.
The repayment period is five to seven years.For loans up to Rs.4 lakh,banks cannot
demand any collateral. According to bankers, the maximum number of bad loans
are in this segment.
Due to rising bad loans,the finance ministry, at the request of bankers, has created a
credit guarantee fund for education loans. TheMinistry of Human Re-sources has
transferredRs.351.09 crore to the corpus fund and Rs.112.05 crore maybe transferred
in the next week.
7.5% GDP growth will help boost business:Moody's

Healthy 7.5 per cent GDP growth for India for the fiscal year ending March 2017
(FY2017) and a pick-up in manufacturing activity will be broadly supportive of
business growth.
Most non-financial corporates Moody rates in India (Baa3 positive) will benefit from
strong domestic growth and accommodative monetary policy.
Although weak global growth and a potential U.S. rate hike will weigh on businesses.
However, the corporations will also remain vulnerable to the volatile Indian rupee
as against the U.S. dollar and to low commodity prices, which has in turn led to a
sharp decline in external trade.
The Modi administration so far this year has been un-able to enact legislation on key
reforms, including a unified goods and services tax and the Land Acquisition Bill.
It seems highly unlikely that the major reforms will get enacted by the upper house
of the Indian parliament where the ruling coalition is in minority.
The fall in commodity prices has benefited many Indian corporates given the
countrys status as a net importer of raw materials and its recent history of high
inflation.
The resultant moderating inflation should result in low-er borrowing costs for
corporates and yields on corporate bonds, says Moody's.
Government says call drop rate is decreasing

The government's intervention has led to a decline in frequent call drops faced by
mobile phone users with private operators installing over 22,000 new cell sites
between July and October
While the number of dysfunctional sites has come down to 13,823 across the country.
Earlier (in September) 35,000 cell sites were found to be defective. At last count, the
number stood at 25,598.
Between the July and October period private operators have installed 7,528 new 2G
sites and 14,751 new 3G sites across the country.
A total of 18.33 lakh mobile sites are be-ing operated by telecom service providers
across the country.
The problem of call drops have improved in New Delhi but operators still didn't
meet the quality parameters of less that 2 per cent.
According to a survey done by TERM cell -- the vigilance and resource monitoring
arm of the Department of Telecom, call drops on Bharti Airtel network in Delhi,
which was in the range of 2.92 - 17.77 in August, improved to 0.08-2.98 at the end of
October.
Undistorted' goods and services tax backed of Industry

body
Finance Minister Arun Jaitely got the backing of India Inc. for bringing in an
undistorted' goods and ser-vices tax (GST) regime with corporations opting for a
complete move to GST even if it involved making a compromise on its structure.
I have no doubt that we can attain 9 per cent growth in the economy by 2018-19, if
political parties can rise above their differences and help ring in the new indirect tax
regime that has been in the making for over a decade, said Sunil Kanoria, vice
chairman of Srei Infrastructure and current president of industry chamber, Assocham.
GST can help kickstart our economywe are bolstering connectivity infrastructure
like highways, railways and digital, but doing business between states remains a
nightmare and 4.5 lakh MEs particularly suffer on this account.
Global investors would also consider it a critical element in the ease of doing business
a parameter on which the Mo-di government is trying to improve India's abysmal
standing.
The industry, however, was not in favour of the one per cent inter-state cascading
sales tax to be imposed over the GST in order to compensate manufacturing states
for a possible loss of revenue.
We should be moving towards a united India rather than dividing states, so there
should be a single rate and the 18 per cent GST rate that the Finance Ministry seems
to be considering is reasonable, the Assocham president said, adding that the GST
shouldn't be creating new problems.
The government's efforts to improve the business regulatory environment and give
entrepreneurs the confidence to invest fresh capital would start showing results by
2017-18 following a marginal improvement in growth and investments in 2016-17,
the Assocham chief said.
Indian industry has not been able to have a regular audience with Prime Minister
Narendra Modi as the NDA government has not reconstituted the PM's Council on
Trade and Industry and other forums.
Rupay Insurance cover period extended

The government has extended the usage criterion of the RuPay debit cards in order
to avail of the in-built insurance cover, according to a press statement issued by the
Ministry of Finance.
Earlier, cardholders had to use the card within 45 days prior to claim the insurance
claim. This has now been extended to 90 days. One of the stipulations of meeting
the claim under Accidental Death and/or Permanent Disablement was that the RuPay
Card holder has to carry-out at least one successful financial or non-financial
transactionsup to 45 days prior to the date of incident resulting into Accidental
death / Permanent Disability.
This condition was posing problem to the RuPay Card holders, according to the
statement. The National Payment Corporation has extended the usage clause to 90
days for RuPay Classic card-holders from November 25.
Only accidents arising on or after November 25 will be considered for the extended
period. Claim intimations on accidents having occurred before November 25 will
re-main under the previous eligibility criterion of 45 days. Under the Pradhan Mantri
Jan Dhan Yojana 16.54 crore accounts have been provided a RuPay debit card.
Incentives for shipbuilding industry

The government announced additional income tax incentives for the domestic
shipbuilding industry in a bid to help Indian shipbuilders remain afloat at a time
when the global industry is going through an extended slump.
The new tax incentives include an exemption of all raw materials and parts used in
the manufacture of ships, vessels, and tugs from customs and central excise duties
India has a small percentage of the global market share and other countries actively
back the ship-yards by making sure they get the necessary loans and capital
The government notification did away with the requirement stating that only vessels
manufactured in custom-bounded warehouses were eligible for customs and excise
duty exemptions.
Deputy Governor of RBI candidates to be evaluated

A government appointed panel will interview candidates next month for the post of
Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India as the term of Urjit Patel, the central
bank's incumbent in charge of monetary policy, expires in January.
A central bank Deputy Governor can be appointed for a term with a maximum of
five years or till the age of 62, whichever is ear-lier.
Some other candidates will also be interviewed, the sources said. Apart from the all
important monetary policy portfolio, Mr. Patel is also in-charge of the economic and
policy research department.
The RBI has provision for 12 Executive Directors, which was in-creased from nine
following the appointment of three new officials in 2014.
The RBI has four deputy governors and typically two are from the outside, of which
traditionally one is a commercial banker and the other an economist.
HSBC to close India private banking business

HSBC Holdings Plc has decided to shut its India private banking operations after a
strategic review, a spokesman for the bank said. The private banking customers will
be given the option to be a client of HSBC Premier its global retail banking and
wealth management proposition.
The Indian private banking arm of HSBC has about 70 clients who will transferred.
HSBC employees about 32,000 in India, and there may not be any lay-of.
HSBC India reported 12 percent dip in pre-tax profit for the January-June period at
$335 million due to a fall in the merchant banking, retail banking and wealth
businesses.
Gold bond scheme getting responce

The government's Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme has received an excellent response.
The Finance Ministry decided to postpone the date of issuance citing a large number
of applications.
Gold Bond Scheme: 63000 applications for 917 kgs gold amounting to Rs 246 cr in
first tranche. Excellent response for an innovative product.
The Ministry of Finance had on Wednesday decided to shift the issue date of the
Sovereign Gold Bonds to November 30 from the earlier date of November 26.
The response to the Gold Bonds Scheme comes at a time when one of the other goldrelated schemes launched by the governmentthe Gold Deposit Schemehas met
a very poor response from the public.
Industry officials have said that the gold deposit scheme has so far attracted only
400 grams of the yellow metal, a fraction of the estimated 20,000 tonnes in the country.
Billionaire unveils bicycle that generates electricity

Billionaire philanthropist Manoj Bhargava unveiled a bicycle that produces electricity
when pedalled and the product, named Free Electric, aims to help solve problem of
electricity shortage in the country, particularly rural areas.
The U.S.-based billionaire plans to make 10,000 bicycles, which is expected to be in
the price range of Rs.12,000-Rs.15,000, in India by March 2016.
The design and manufacturing of the product will be done in the U.S. He intends to
start the manufacturing the bicycle in India to reduce final price. Free Electric works
by converting kinetic energy into electric energy.
As the user pedals the flywheel it spins a generator which in turns charges the
attached battery.
One hour of pedalling can meet a rural household's electricity needs for 24 hours, he
said. As of now the bicycle will be able to light up 24 bulbs, power an electric fan
and charge a mobile device simultaneously.
8% growth would trigger employment

India needs to grow at 8 per cent for decades so as to create the required amount of
employment for the countrys working-age population
This building of production capacity involves developing hard assets, such as roads,
ports, rails connectivity,and others s well as soft assets like skills and an innovation
eco-system
Six game-changers . The first, was putting in place universal social security through
the JAM trinity (Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar, and Mobile). In100 days the government
has en-sured that 100 per cent of families have bank accounts and 90per cent of
MGNREGA payments are being done directly into the accounts. This is
historic,revolutionary.
The second was the various schemes and initiatives, such as the Krishi Sinchayee
Yojana and providing agri-credit and crop insurance,the government has under taken
for the upliftment of farmers.
The third is endeavor to create employment through Skill India mission
The government would soon be launching a major initiative around startups, a
Startups Yojana of sorts.
Public investment is pouring into transportation, including railways. There was
virtually no capital investment in railways in the last 10 years. Now Rs.8.5 lakh crore
will be investment in rail-ways during this governments term. Public investment in
general is up 40 per cent over its levels last year.
The Indradhanush revamp plan is do-ing more for banks than any-thing since
nationalisation.
This involves empowering the States in terms of the devolution of taxes. The
devolution share was increased from 32per cent to 42 per cent, a change of 10 per
cent. The earlier largest change was in the order of 2.5per cent.
BS-V andBS-VI norms for 4-wheelers

The government on Saturday said it has advanced the date for implementation of
the roll out of Bharat Stage(BS) stage V and VI norms for four-wheelers by three
years.
The ministry has decided to implementBS-V norms from April 1, 2019.BS-VI norms,
which aim at substantial reduction in NOx/4C levels will be implemented from
April 1, 2021, it added. This reflects a firm commitment to play a major role in
reducing vehicular emissions. Draft norms for two- and three-wheeler categories
will be notified shortly with advanced timeline similar to the four wheeler category
Aircraft import norms eased

Carriers requiring to import aircraft will now only have to get the initial approval of
the regulator, the Di-rectorate General of Civil Aviation(DGCA), instead of the
ministry,according to a government statement.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation has delegated the power to grant initial No Objection
Certificate orin-principle approval for import or acquisition of aircraft to theDGCA,
two days after the RBI relaxed norms for remittances of money for import of aircraft,
helicopters and other aviation-relatedpurchases by airlines.
As per the existing procedure,Scheduled Operators (airlines)and Regional Scheduled
Operators have to seek approval from the ministry for import of aircraft.
The delegation of power is be-ing done in order to simplify procedures as compliance
of variousCivil Aviation Requirements are regulated by the DGCA
Liquidity situation is tightening during festive season

An increase in consumer spending during the festival season has pushed up the
short-term money market rates.
This happens at a time when the interest rates are supposed to soften after the central
bank reduced its repo rate, the one at which the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lends
money to commercial banks and used as tool to control inflation.
As a result, banks are expecting the central bank to provide some comfort by infusing
more money into the banking system in its fifth bi-monthly monetary policy review
scheduled December 1.
On an aver-age there are outflows to the tune of Rs.50,000 crore during the festival
season. But this year the amount went up was be-tween 15 and 20 per cent.
Bankers said since the central bank has taken an accommodative monetary policy
stance and reduced policy interest rate by 125 bps in this calendar year, which is
now at 6.75 per cent, it could ad-dress the liquidity issue by pump-ing in more
money into the system by open market purchase of bonds.
Apart from increased consumer spending, government's cash balances with the
Reserve Bank of India have also increased, which means the government is spending less as compared to what it did during the first half of the financial year, and so
there is lesser cash coming into the system.
Foreign investors are also pulling out the country and investing in lesser risky assets
with the US Fed forecast to be on course for a rate hike in December.
India for protection of poor farmers' interests at Nairobi

WTO meet
India, at the forth-coming Nairobi meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO),
will put all its energies on pushing through a plan meant to protect the interests
and livelihood of poor and vulnerable farmers.
Roberto Azevedo, WTO Director General, recently said that the negotiations to firm
up rules to liberalise global trade are currently stuck due to member countries
finding it difficult to reconcile their views on a host of issues.
The Indian position echoed the one recently proposed by the G-33 on an
effectiveSpecial Safeguard Mechanism (SSM). The G33 is a coalition of 48 nations
including India, Indonesia and China, which took up the issue of develop-ing
countries getting considerable flexibility in limiting market opening of agriculture
sector.
The SSM is a trade remedy that would allow developing countries to temporarily
hikeimport duties on farm products to counter sudden import surges and price falls,
thereby, protecting the interests of poor farmers.
The same issue had led to the breakdown of a WTO ministerial meeting in July
2008. It has been generally agreed that the developing countries could have an SSM,
but developed countries including the US have opposed a proposal to enable
developing countries to raise tariffs (using SSM) over and above the duty
commitments made by them (developing countries) in the farm sector during the
earlier Uruguay Round of WTO global trade pact negotiations.
Centre to map country's training infrastructure

The government, in a bid to bolster the impact of the Skill India mission, is mapping
the country's exist-ing training infrastructure, including thousands of private training
institutes that are thriving but do not reflect in the official data.
New enterprise- and household-level statistical surveys to be conducted by the
National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) would now glean details about training institutions, their capacities for imparting different skill sets and their utilisation
by young job market aspirants.
The government runs about 12,000 industrial train-ing institutes and has direct access
to data on their operations and outcomes, but that information is inadequate to assess
the actual training capacity in the country.
Skill development capacities created through government funded programmes is
only a part of the story. Thecapacity created by private in-vestment is unknown.
The NSDA, an arm of the skill development and entrepreneurship ministry, had requested the NSSO under the statistics ministry to incorporate new questions to
capture these details into their house-hold and enterprise surveys.
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Science & Technology

IISc: cleaning rivers using a nano-composite
Scientists from the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru have developed a novel
reusable' nano-composite material, with Cerium being the crucial compound in it,
which can degrade microbes and chemical dyes that are among common effluents in
rivers.
It is this notion, that the compound can speed up the degradation of chemical dyes
and the bacterium Escherichia coli (which forms a large chunk of organic waste in
sewage) led the re-searchers to develop ceria nanoflakes, which com-bines ceria with
silver salts.
The superior photo catalytic activity of this nano-composite for the degradation
chemical dyes is attributed to its extended absorption in visible region and enhanced
stability of the catalyst owing to the firm adherence of silver bromide and phosphate
to ceria nanoflakes.
The compound was to re-main stable even after seven cycles of its usage with polluted
fluids.
Scientists developing battery-free pacemakers

Scientists are developing next-generation battery-free implantable pacemakers that
may be powered by an unlikely source the heart itself.
The advancement is based upon a piezoelectric system that converts vibrational
energy created inside the chest by each heartbeat into electricity to power the
pacemaker.
The technology may eliminate the medical risks, costs and inconvenience of having
a battery replacement every five to 12 years for millions of people worldwide.
The new wireless option does not require leads because it rests inside the heart.
This removes a potential point of failure, but the device still relies on a battery that
must be replaced as often as the batteries that conventional pacemakers use.
GSA T -15 set to replace INSA T -3A, 4B

GSAT -15, the mainly communications satellite being put in space next week, will
replace two older space-craft that will likely expire in the coming months.
Its 24 transponders are solely in the Ku band and will cater to DTH (direct-to-home)
television first, besides supporting the thousands of VSAT operators who provide
broadband services; and DSNG (digital satellite news gathering) for TV news
channels.
GSAT -15 will not add new transponder capacity to thecountry; it will ensure
sustainability of service for the capacity-hungry DTH sector.
It will also carry the third GAGAN satellite navigation transponder as a back-up for
airlines and other users of augmented GPS-based systems.
GSAT -15, weighing 3,164 kg, will be launched in the wee hours of November 11
(IST) from Kourou in French Guiana (in South America) on the European
Arianespace's Ar-iane-5 launcher.
GSAT -15 will be flown along with Saudi Arabia's Arabsat-6B/Badr-7.
For saving Asian vulture from fatal drugs

After successfully campaigning for the ban on multi-dose vials of painkiller drug
diclofenac in veterinary use, conservationists have stepped up pressure for
withdrawing two more drugs, which they say, are fatal for Asian vultures.
It was recently that the authorities slapped a ban on the 30 ml multi-dose vials of the
drug, which was largely responsible for the decline of the vultures, which used to
feed on bovine carcasses.
The bird conservationists pointed out that twenty years ago there were tens of
millions of vultures in the Indian sub-continent. They provided a valuable ecosystem
service by disposing of millions of tonnes of waste carrion from dead cattle each
year.
Nowthey, and the services they provided, are nearly all gone, according a
publication of Saving Asia's Vultures from Extinction (SAVE), a consortium of eleven
organisations.
The three species of Gyps vultures endemic to South and Southeast Asia, oriental
white-backed vulture (Gyps bengalensis), long-billed vulture (G. indicus) and
slender-billed vulture (G. tenuirostris), are the worst affected and are threatened
with glob-al extinction after rapid population declines, which began in the mid1990s.
2015 to be hottest year on record: WMO

This year will be the hottest on record and 2016 could be hotter due to the El Nio
weather pattern, According to the World Meteorological Organisation
Warming inaction on climate change could see temperatures rise by 6 degrees
Celsius or more.
But decisions taken at a summit of world leaders in Paris starting on Monday could
keep global temperature rises within 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial times, a
target set down in 2010 to try to prevent dangerous climate change.
Global average surface temperatures in 2015 were likely to reach what the agency
called the symbolic and significant milestone of 1 degree Celsius above the preindustrial era.
This is due to a combination of a strong El Nio and human-induced global warming.
Concern over large gaps in airspace security

There is no guarantee that India's air defence systems would be able to detect enemy
nation, or a terrorist organisation and launch a counter-at-tack to shoot it down before
it wreaks havoc on targets.
The vulnerability of Indian cities and other strategic as-sets have been exercising
military planners for long. Their efforts to develop a robust air defence network
received a major boost with the first successful test of the Long Range Surface to Air
Missile (LR-SAM), jointly developed by India and Israel, from an Israeli warship on
Thursday.
The test came just a few days after the November 22 successful interception of Orissa
by an Advanced Air Defence (AAD) missile of a dummy in-coming ballistic missile.
However, officials point out that given the large airspace, there still remain significant
gaps in the air defence network and most systems in service, largely old Russian
ones, are in urgent need of re-placement.
Sports
Joshna stuns Raneem El Welily
JoshnaChinappa stunned World No. 1 and top seed Raneem El Welily of Egypt in
the first round of the $1,15,000 Qatar Classic squash here on Saturday.
This is the first time that she was beating a player in the top five in the world ranking.
Indias SauravGhosal is in the fray in the mens section and will play his first match
on Sunday.
New Zealand retains World Cup

New Zealand became the first team to retain the Rugby World Cup after holding of
a second-half comeback by Australia to win 34-17 in an absorbing final.
In probably the last test of his record-breaking career, fly-half Dan Carter steered the
All Blacks to a record third global title.
Finals were held at Twickenham stadium, London.
Sania-Hingis domination is complete

Swiss veteran Martina Hingis and India's Sania Mir-za crowned a stunning year for
their partnership on Sunday by winning their ninth title at the WTA Finals here on
Sunday.
The top seeds, who joined forces only in March, beat Spain's eighth seeds Garbine
Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro 6-0, 6-3 in 66 minutes, much of which looked
more like an exhibition match than a season finale.
Hingis, 35, and Sania, 28, have also won Wimbledon, the US Open and Indian Wells
on their way to Singapore, where they also swept all their matches. Their only finals
loss was in Rome.
The pair had bagged the 2015 WTA year-end top ranking.
Dynamos set sights on top spot

Returning after al-most a month for its second out-ing this season on home turf,Delhi
Dynamos would be hop-ing to go on top of the leader-board when it takes on a
struggling NorthEast United FC in the Indian Super League (ISL).
In other match Athletico de Kolkata striker Hume scored hat rick.
Federer goes past Murray

Federer overtook AndyMurray as he climbed to second in the ATP world rankings
after seeing of Rafael Nadal for his seventh Swiss Indoors title at the weekend.
The rankings1. Novak Djokovic (Srb)15,785; 2. Roger Federer (Sui) 8,250(+1); 3. Andy
Murray (GBr) 8,070 (-1);4. Stan Wawrinka (Sui) 6,585.
Yogeshwar the highest-paid marquee player

London Games bronze medallist Yogesh-war Dutt pipped double Olympic medallist
and World champion, Sushil Kumar, to become the highest-paid marquee player at
Rs. 39.7 lakh in the Pro Wrestling League auction.
The league, with a total cash prize of Rs. 3 crore and a Rs. 20 crore budget for the
players, will be staged in six cities Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Ludhiana, Gurgaon
and Noida from December 10 to 27.
In all, over 150 Indian and international wrestlers went under the hammer in the
auction conducted by Bob Hayton.
Tom Graveney passes away

Tom Graveney, the former England captain and president of Marylebone Cricket
Club, died at the age of 88.
Graveney made 11 centuries in 79 Test matches be-tween 1951 and 1969, scoring
4,882 runs at an average of 44.38. Appointed MCC president in 2005 he was an
honorary life member of the Lord's Club.
India was a lucky hunting ground for Graveney. Hescored his first Test century
(175) against India at the BraBourne Stadium before the 1951 Christmas.
Indian juniors strike it rich

India finished with a rich haul at the World youth chess championship in Halkidiki,
Greece, on Thursday. It won 11 medals five gold, three silver and three bronze.
It was indeed quite an impressive show by the Indians who won five out of the 12
gold medals on ofer.
India was by far the best-per-forming country. The other top teams, Russia and the
United States, won just four medals each but neither of them could win a gold.
Heena Sidhu wins thriller against Gundegmaa Otryad

Heena Sidhu pipped Olympic silver medallist Gundegmaa Otryad of Mongolia by
0.2 point for the women's air pistol gold in the Asian shoot-ing championship in
Kuwait City on Friday.
Heena captured the gold in a thrilling fashion despite shoot-ing eight 9s on the last
10 shots of the final. It was the second successive gold for Heena following the Asian
Air Gun championship last month. She also managed to push the London Olympics
gold medallist Kim Jangmi of Korea to the bronze.
There were more gold medals for India through Angad vir Singh Bajwa in junior
men's skeet. Angad along with the bronze medallist Anant Jeet Singh Naruka and
fourth-placed Arjun Mann won the team gold, 27 points ahead of Kuwait.
Warriors trump Blasters in opener

The chants of Sachin, Sachin' filled the air but Sachin Tendulkar could not trump
Shane Warne's magic as the Indian icon's Blasters went down to the Australian
legend's Warriors in the first Cricket All Stars' Twenty20 here.
Tendulkar was the undisputed favourite for the largely Asian crowd at a baseball
stadium here but it was Warne, who weaved some old-time magic to lead his side to
a six-wicket win. Set a target of 141, the Warriors romped home with 16 balls to
spare after Ricky Ponting and Kumar Sangakkara hit 81 runs between them.
Shane Warne snared three wickets, including that of Tendulkar and the legendary
Brian Lara. For the Blasters, Virender Sehwag hit the series' first half-century which
came of just 22 deliveries. Electing to field after wining the toss, the Blasters were
given a rollicking start by Tendulkar and Sehwag, much to the delight of an expatriate
crowd that filled the stands.
Together, the former Indian batsman raked in 85 runs in a mere 48 deliveries.
However, the rest of the star-studded line-up failed to come good and the team
ended with 140 for eight.
For Warriors, Warne showed he had lost none of the famed magic with figures of
three for 20 in his four overs. In reply, Ponting (48 not out) and Sangakkara (41)
steered the Warriors home after a top-order collapse.
IPL: Kochi and Jaipur removed from venue list

Kochi and Jaipur have been removed from the venue list for the two new IPL
franchisees for season 2016 and 2017. The new franchises will re-place CSK and
Rajasthan Royals which have been suspended from the league for two years.
Issues with Jaipur have not been sorted out and Kochi, too, has problems, but there
are nine other venues. The IPL Governing Council has approved the draft invitation
to tender (ITT) that will be endorsed by the AGM tomorrow [Monday], said IPL GC
chair-man Rajiv Shukla, who is likely to be renamed IPL chairman for2015-2016.
Shukla also said the GC has deferred the big auction by a year.
The two new franchisees will be allowed to choose from ten players together from
CSK and Rajasthan Royals, and the rest of the 40 players from CSK and RR will go
for the auction. We will follow a reverse bidding for the two new franchisees and
Rs. 40 crore will be the base price, which means a franchise can start bidding be-low
the base price.
Manohar to replace Srinivasan as ICC head

Board of Control for Cricket in India president Shashank Manohar will be the new
BCCI representative at the International Cricket Council. He will replace former BCCI
president N. Srinivasan who was elected the first chairman of the ICC in June 2014.
Former BCCI and ICC president Sharad Pawar has been named the alternative
representative in case Mr. Manohar is unable to attend The house praised Mr.
Srinivasans contributions as the ICC chairman.
The BCCI accepted in principle the proposed rules on conflict of interest and other
amendments to its constitution.
It also appointed Justice (retd.) A.P. Shah as the ombudsman, who will look into all
conflict of interest disputes. Another important decision was that it would meet every
quarter and make professional appointments to strengthen the governance of the
BCCI based on the report to be submitted by Deloitte.
Vijay Kumar clinches centre fire pistol bronze

Olympic silver medallist Vijay Kumar emphasised his versatility by winning the
centre fire pistol bronze in the 13th Asian shooting champion-ship that concluded in
the Ku-wait City on Wednesday.
It could have been a better medal, but the 30-year-old, after being tied on 584 with
Pong-pol Kulchairattana of Thailand lost the shoot-of for the silver 48-49. The gold
went one point higher at 585 to Jang Dae Kyu of Korea.
Vijay had recovered from 287 in the precision series with an impressive 297, the best
in the rapid fire section. The Indian team missed the gold to Korea by two points,
with Samaresh Jung faring be-low his best with a 572 while Pemba Tamang chipped
in with 580.
Swapnil Kusale had earlier won the individual and team gold in the junior men's
rifle 3-position event on Tuesday, to enhance the rich haul for the In-dian team that
eventually wound up with 17 gold, 14 silver and 13 bronze medals.
Despite repeated notices from the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF),
about the International Olympic Committee (IOC) revoking the Olympic quota places
from the championship owing to Kuwait Olympic Association being suspended for
government interference, the organisers listed the Olympic quota winners. It included
six Indians Pooja Ghatkar, Heena Sidhu, Lajja Gauswami, Sanjeet Rajput, Manavjit
Singh Sandhu and Neeraj Kumar in the list displayed on the official website Kuwait
Shooting Federation.
India tastes victory, finally

India overcame great odds to emerge a 1-0 winner against Guam in Bengaluru, its
first victory in six 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers (AFC second round). Not only
were the Indians up against a higher-ranked team, they also had to compete for
near-ly 45 minutes with only 10 men.
The home team, which claimed its first points in the competition, continued to stay
at the bottom of Group D. Guam (seven points) was placed a rung higher. In a stunning
opening sequence, India took the lead through Robin Singh in the 11th minute.
Goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh launched a long goal-kick and found skipper Sunil Chetri
open on the flank. Chetri cut into the box before relaying the ball to Robin. The
striker received the pass with his back to the goal, and spun around his marker to
create some space. Though he shot of his weaker right-foot, the near-perfect curler
nestled into the far top-corner.
Just before half-time, the Indians were dealt a big blow when defender Sehnaj Singh
was sent of. A high tackle and a collision brought an instant red card from the referee,
forcing coach Stephen Constantine to change his approach. The players fell back in
open play, and apart from the lone forward upfront, the rest were called up to hold
fort.
Saina enters final

Defending champion SainaNehwal is just one step away from retaining her womens
singles title at the $700,000 China Open Super Series Premier badminton.
The Olympic bronze medal-list on Saturday sealed the final spot after notching up a
21-13, 21-18 win over China's Yihan Wang, a 2011 World champion and 2012 London
Olympics silver medal-list, in the semifinals.
Up against one of her toughest rivals, who has beaten her nine times, Saina showed
her prowess as she fought back from 2-4 down in the opening game and prevailed in
a gruelling battle in the second to outclass Wang.
The top-seeded Indian will next take on Olympic champion Li Xuerui of China, an
opponent against whom she has lost nine times and the only wins coming during
the 2012 Indonesia Open and Singapore Open Super Series in 2010.
I lost the hunger: Johnson

Retiring Australia fast bowler Mitchell Johnson said he had simply lost the hunger
to play Test cricket.
Johnson said he finalised the decision in the first innings in Perth, when he returned
figures of one for 157.
While he admitted his body was sore, he said it was the men-tal aspect of Test cricket
that prompted the decision. I just lost that hunger in the end to play on those tough
days, he said.
Johnson said it was a decision which had been on his mind for around 12 months,
and especial-ly since Australia's World Cup win.
Delhi High Court paves the way for DDCA hosting IndiaSouth Africa Test
In a respite for Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA), the Delhi High Court
on Wednesday paved the way for holding of fourth cricket Test match of the IndiaSouth Africa series at FerozshahKotla Stadium here from December 3 to 7.
The Court directed the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) to issue a
provisional occupancy certificate for the venue.
The Court directed DDCA to deposit Rs.50 lakh with the municipal body towards
property tax dues within two weeks.
Disposing of DDCA's writ petition, a Division Bench also appointed Justice
MukulMudgal, a former Judge of Delhi High Court and former Chief Justice of
Punjab and Haryana High Court, to oversee the affairs of the match.
The Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA), facing numerous corruptionrelated charges from the Delhi Government, had appealed to the High Court for
permission to stage the Test.
Justice Mudgal was asked by the High Court on Wednesday to oversee the conduct
of the match.
Maiden gold for Supuksorn

Thailand's Supuksorn Nuntana claimed her maiden gold medal of the Track Asia
Cup cycling championship by lapping Bidiyaluxmi Devi in the women's 3-km
individual pursuit.
Besides this silver, India also collected a bronze in the event when Rutuja Satpute
expectedly lapped Bangladesh's Shila Farhana Sultana.
An assured bronze came the way of the host when, in the junior section, Aashu
Sharma beat Amritha Reghu-nathan in the 2-km individual pursuit. In the men's and
junior men's sections, India drew a blank
India takes on Japan in last four

Unbeaten India will look to ride its winning momentum and book a place in the
summit clash when it takes on Japan in the first semifinal of the eighth junior mens
Asia Cup hockey tournament
India goes into the last-four clash on the back of a 2-1 win over the same opponent in
its opening pool match. India had defeated Japan, Malaysia, China and Oman.
On the other hand, Japans performance has improved in its last two matches with
wins over China in its last group match and Bangladesh in the quarterfinals.
Pankaj Advani triumphs

India's ace cueist Pankaj Advani won the 2015 IBSF World snooker title defeating
Zhao Xintong of China 8-6 in a thrilling final.
This is Advani's 15th World title and he now is the first person in history to take the
short (6-Red) and the long snooker format in the same year.
Djokovic beats Federer in Tour Finals

Novak Djokovic finished the best season of his life in fitting style as the world No. 1
crushed Roger Federer 6-3, 6-4 to win the ATP Tour Finals title for a record fourth
successive year.
Djokovic is the first player in the tournament's 46-year history to take home the trophy
four years in a row and he joins Pete Sampras and Ivan Lendl on five victories at the
season-ending event.
Only Federer, with six Tour Finals crowns, has won the tournament more times.
The 11th title of Djokovic's as-tonishingly dominant campaign served as the perfect
finale to ar-guably the best run by any male player in the Open Era.
Playing in a record 15th con-secutive tour-level final, Djokovic delivered another
masterclass to record his 82nd victory from 88 matches this year and bank the winners'
cheque for $1.05 million.
Cricket association of Bihar for reforms in BCCI

The Cricket Association of Bihar secretary, Aditya Verma, has appealed to the Justice
Lodha Committee to make the Board of Control for Crick-et in India (BCCI) introduce
some reforms in its functioning.
Pointing out that the BCCI has handed out memberships to various associations in
an arbitrary manner' as a result of which meritorious players from various parts of
the country have suffered.
Verma requested for reforms in the Board's administration, including the grant of
membership. Citing a Supreme Court ruling which said the BCCI should meet the
demands of institutional integrity and avoid conflict of interests.
Sindhu seizes title for the third time

Two-time defending champion P.V. Sindhu completed a hat-trick of women's singles
title at the $120,000 Macau Open Grand Prix Gold after defeating Japan's MinatsuMitani in the final on Sunday.
Sindhu produced a dominating game to notch up a 21-9, 21-23, 21-14 win over sixth
seed Mitani in a women's singles match that lasted an hour and six minutes.
The World No. 12 Indian dished out some superb strokes and acute angled returns
to bamboozle the Japanese, be-sides making some sound judgements at the baseline
to get across Mitani, who struggled to keep the shuttle inside the court.
Sindhu dominated the proceedings right from the start as she rode on the errors of
Mitani to reach 11-5 at the break.
Mitani came up with an aggressive rally and sealed it with a down the line smash
but she failed to curb her errors and most of her returns went wide and long to allow
Sindhu lead 17-6 in a jify.
Fury becomes new world heavyweight champion

Britain's Tyson Fury was crowned the new world heavy-weight champion on
Saturday after a unanimous points win over WladimirKlitschko, who sufered his
first defeat in elev-en years.
The 27-year-old Fury was awarded the fight in Duessel-dorf 115-112, 115-112 and
116-111 by the judges to take Klitschko's WBA, IBF, IBO and WBO belts as the
Ukrainian sufered his first defeat since 2004.
Fury will cash in on the vic-tory regardless of the fight purse having bet 200,000
($300,630) on himself.
Fury had problems with ill-fitting gloves in the week leading up to the fight, there
was plenty of tension in the build-up on Saturday.
First Day-Night test match goes to Australia

Australia on Sunday claimed a thrilling three-wicket victory inside three days over
New Zealand at the Adelaide Oval in the first-ever day-night Test.
Shaun Marsh took Australia to the cusp of victory before los-ing his wicket on 49
and the fighting Kiwis set up a tense fin-ish under lights by also dismis-sing Peter
Nevill to leave the home side seven wickets down.
Peter Siddle hit the winning runs, much to the relief of the crowd, to clinch a 2-0
series win over the gallant Black Caps. Australia won the first Bris-bane Test by 208
runs and the second Perth Test was drawn.
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