GOVT ANNOUNCES NEW RULES TO EASE PROCESS OF GETTING PASSPORT

Government announced new passport rules today in order to streamline, liberalize and ease the process of issue of passport. Briefing media in New Delhi this evening, Minister of State for External Affairs, Gen V K Singh, said birth certificate is no longer mandatory for getting passport. He said date of birth on documents such as PAN card, driving license, Aadhar, Matriculation Certificate will also suffice.

The online passport application form now requires the applicant to provide the name of only one parent and not both. This would enable single parents to apply for passports for their children. Besides, married applicants would not be required to provide any marriage certificate.

The application form does not require the applicants to provide the name of their spouse in case of separated or divorced persons. An official release said necessary notifications would be soon published in the Official Gazette to give effect to these changes. Instructions are also being issued to the Passport Issuing Authorities in India and abroad on these revised regulations.

CENTRE COMMITTED TO HELP MANIPUR GOVT TO OPEN ECONOMIC BLOCKADE: RIJIJU

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju took stock of the situation in Manipur arising from the economic blockade called by the United Naga Council (UNC) on the Imphal-Kohima and Imphal-Silchar National Highways.

Mr. Rijiju met State Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh and Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam along with senior officials of State police and central security forces deployed in the State at the Secretariat in Imphal today.

Later, speaking to mediaperson, Mr. Rijiju said, the Centre is committed to help the State government to open the economic blockade at any cost.

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju speaking to mediapersons at Imphal this afternoon said, the people of Manipur should not get further suffered by the economic blockade on the two national highways of the state.

He also said that there are as many as 189 companies of Central Paramilitary Forces deployed in the state and seven more companies are on the way to Manipur to help the state government to clear the national highways.

Mr. Rijiju further said that the economic blockade is an inhuman affair and it can never be justified. He also made it clear that anyone from his Ministry including Home Minister Rajnath Singh had never asked the State government to release the leaders of the UNC who are now in police custody in connection with the economic blockade.

He said, all out efforts will be made to clear the 53-day economic blockade called by the UNC on the two national highways of Manipur.

DEADLINE FOR PHASE IV OF CABLE TV DIGITIZATION EXTENDED TILL 31ST MARCH

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has decided to extend the cut-off date for Phase IV of Cable TV Digitization to 31st March, 2017.

The decision is taken due to uncertainty in the market in view of pending court cases and unsatisfactory progress of installation of Set Top Boxes in Phase IV areas.

Digitization in rural areas was targeted to be achieved by 31st December, 2016 under this Phase.

GST COUNCIL MEETING UNDERWAY IN NEW DELHI

The Goods and Services Tax, GST Council meeting is underway in New Delhi. The Council meeting is to consider the model GST laws and iron out differences on the vexed issue of jurisdiction over assessees in the new indirect tax regime. This is the seventh meeting of the Council, which is being headed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and has ministers from states as members.

Earlier, the council took several important decisions in its meetings. The decisions include the threshold limit of 20 lakh rupees exemption from levy of GST for normal States and 10 lakhs for the Special Category States. Besides, to compensate States for 5 years for loss of revenue due to implementation of GST, the base year for the revenue of the State would be 2015-16 and a fixed growth rate of 14 per cent will be applied to it.

The government has time till 16th September next year to implement the Goods and Services Tax Act as per the Constitution Amendment Bill passed by both the Houses with two-thirds majority and by half of the states.

INDIA HEADING TOWARDS HIGHER TRAJECTORY OF GROWTH: PRESIDENT MUKHERJEE

President Pranab Mukherjee today said, India is heading for a major change towards higher trajectory of growth. Speaking at the centenary celebrations of the FTAPCCI in Hyderabad today, he said there is no doubt in saying the growth in the last 15 years effected the country because of external factors despite India’s strong fundamentals. He said India could put up a brave face even in shaky situation with an impressive growth. The President further said the country is witnessing a buyount growth by taking several corrective measures at the right time even as several economies in the world are limping.

The apex body representing the interests of Industry, Trade &Commerce in both of the States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh came into existence in the year 1917. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiatives like Digital India, Clean India and Make in India open new Vistas for the overall development of the country.

Earlier welcoming the gathering, FTAPCCI President Ravinia Modi said, 100 years is a long journey for any organization. It is not historical, but able to connect even after 100 years is important. It is not a great thing to survive, but going strong for next 100 years is essential. Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Governor ESL Narasimhan, Dy Chief Minister of Telangana Mahmood Ali also present.

CENTRE ALLOWS USE OF OLD NOTES FOR TAX PAYMENT UNDER PMGKY

The Centre has allowed use of old bank notes of 500 and 1,000 rupees for payment towards tax, surcharge, penalty and deposit under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) till 30th of this month.

Finance Ministry in a statement said, the Taxation and Investment Regime for PMGKY, 2016 has come into effect form 17th of this month and is open for declarations upto 31st March, 2017.

The payment of tax, surcharge and penalty under the Scheme is to be made through challan and the deposits are to be made in the scheme. The scheme allows assessees to disclose previously unaccounted and undeclared income under its ambit.

The PMGKY permits voluntary declarations of previously undisclosed income with an effective tax rate of 50 per cent and requires assessees to deposit a further 25 per cent of such wealth into a four-year interest-free deposit.

GLOBAL WAGE REPORT BY ILO

International LabourOrganisation (ILO) released global wage report 2016-17

Found India suffers from huge gender pay gap

India is among the worst levels of gender wage disparity with the gap exceeding 30%

Gender wage disparity – men earning more than women in similar jobs

In India, women formed 60% of the lowest paid wage labour, but only 15% of the highest wage-earners

Singapore is among the lowest gender wage disparity at 3%

Countries with lowest gender wage disparity is Singapore, Greece, Italy, Iceland

The ILO is a United Nations agency dealing with labour issues

Established in 1919 as an agency of the League of Nations

Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland

JAPAN APPROVED HIGHEST ANNUAL BUDGET IN DEFENCE SPENDING

Shinzo Abe’s cabinet approved 5.13 trillion yen ($43.6 billion) in defence spending for the next fiscal year starting in April 2017

This is Japan’s highest annual defence budget announced so far

It is up by 1.4% from the initial budget for the current fiscal year

Under the new budget, Japan aims to increase its ballistic missile defence

Earmarks funds to dispatch extra personnel to the Philippines and Vietnam to increase gathering and sharing of information

It marks the 5th straight annual increase in defence budget in the face of North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats and a territorial row with China

WITHDRAW VISA FREE FACILITY FOR INDIANS: HONG KONG

Hong Kong decided to withdraw visa-free facility for Indians from January 23, 2017

Decision was taken to prevent illegal immigration as number of Indian asylum seekers was on the rise

New rule: Indian travelers will have to complete a pre-arrival registration

Hong Kong used to be part of a block of countries that gave Indians unconditional visa-free entry

Indians were permitted to enter Hong Kong with a valid passport for a period up to 14 days without a visa

PRATIKAR – 1: FIRST EVER MILITARY EXERCISE OF NEPAL WITH CHINA

Nepal announced to hold its first ever joint military exercise ‘Pratikar-1’ with China on February 10, 2017 to begin a new level of bilateral military engagement with China

The focus of the military exercise will be on training Nepali forces in dealing with hostage scenarios involving international terror groups

Nepal’s Chief of Army Staff General RajendraChhetri visited Beijing when both sides had resolved to strengthen military ties

DEAL TO IDENTIFY 123 ARGENTINE SOLDIERS BURIED ON THE FALKLAND ISLANDS SIGNED

The UK and Argentina signed a deal to identify 123 Argentine soldiers buried on the Falkland Islands

The 74-day war began when Argentina seized the islands and Britain sent a taskforce to retake them

The Red Cross will assemble a team of forensic experts, including two Argentinians, who will retrieve DNA samples from 123 unidentified Argentinian combatants buried at Darwin Cemetery on East Falkland

The two countries also agreed to increase the number of flights between Argentina and the islands, which they claim as the Malvinas

INDIA AND KYRGYZSTAN SIGNED 6 NEW AGREEMENTS

6 new agreements were signed between India and Kyrgyzstan to boost bilateral cooperation

Signed during the visit of Kyrgyzstan President AlmazbekAtambaye

Agreements that were signed:

1. MoU in the field of Tourism
2. Agreement in the field of agriculture and Food industry
3. Agreement in the field of Youth Development
4. MoU between Foreign Service Institute, New Delhi and Diplomatic Academy of Kyrgyzstan
5. MoU in the field of Broadcasting and exchange of audiovisual program
6. MoU in the cooperation of youth exchange

TATA STEEL TO ACQUIRE 100% EQUITY IN BRAHMANI RIVER PELLETS

Tata SteelBSE -0.42 % has signed an agreement to acquire 100% equity in Odisha-based Brahmani River Pellets (BRPL) for Rs 900 crore. The deal which will be financed through the company’s internal cash flows is tipped to help Tata Steel as it ramps up capacity at its new plant at Kalinganagar.

The company said it had signed definitive agreement with Aryan Mining and Trading Corporation (AMTC) and other companies in the Moorgate Industries Group (MIG) as part of the deal. The transaction is based on an enterprise value of Rs 900 crore plus closing adjustments and is subject to completion of certain condition precedents including regulatory approvals. The funding for the acquisition will be done from internal cash flows of Tata Steel, a company statement issued on Friday said. BRPL was established by MIG, which was formed as a result of the demerger from Stemcor Group of companies as part of a UK-court approved restructuring in 2015. MIG continues to hold a significant stake in AMTC. BRPL owns a four million tonne (mt) pellet plant in Jajpur, Odisha and a 4.7 mt per annum iron ore beneficiation plant in Barbil Odisha connected through a 220 km underground slurry pipeline.

RELIANCE INFRA SELLS 4 PER CENT STAKE IN IEX FOR RS 103 CRORE

Reliance infrastructure has exited India Energy Exchange, selling its stake in the country’s largest power trading platform, for Rs 103 crore, sources said.

The company offloaded its stake in IEX to a non-resident investor for Rs 103 crore, valuing the energy exchange at Rs 2,500 crore. Nearly 30% of short-term power transactions take place on IEX.

Reliance Infrastructure is among primary investors in IEX that invested Rs 1.25 crore for 4.122% stake in October 2007.

MARUTI SUZUKI TO INVEST ANOTHER RS 2000 CRORE IN ROHTAK TILL 2019

The country’s largest car maker Maruti SuzukiBSE 2.14 % will invest an added Rs 2000 crore at its state-of-the-art research and development centre in Rohtak, Haryana over the next three years.

C V Raman, executive director (engineering), Maruti Suzuki IndiaBSE 2.14 % Limited (MSIL), said, “We have already set up test tracks at Rohtak. Majority of the testing for the Brezza was done in India. We are going to invest another Rs 2000 crore to augment capability further at Rohtak by 2019.” This would take the company’s total investment at Rohtak to Rs 3800 crore.

PASSENGERS CAN’T CARRY POWER BANKS, ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES IN CHECKED-IN BAGGAGE

Airlines have now barred passengers from carrying power banks and electronic cigarettes in their checked-in baggage.

“In the interest of safety and as mandated by the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) Jet AirwaysBSE -0.60 % will not permit carriage of power banks from any manufacturer to be carried in guests’ check in baggage on board all its flights.

However, guests may carry these charging devices in their cabin bags,” said a Jet Airways spokesperson.

An executive at another airline said the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security enforced the new rules a few weeks back. He didnt however say this followed any global mandate neither a specific recent security or terror threat.

SUN PHARMA ARM PICKS UP 14.6% STAKE IN US COMPANY FOR $13MN

Sun PharmaBSE 2.40 % today said its subsidiary has invested $13 million (about Rs 88 crore) in the US-based sun Pharmaceuticals Inc.

“…One of the wholly-owned subsidiaries of the company has acquired 13,000,000 Series B preferred stock of scPharmaceuticals Inc (equivalent to 14.58 per cent fully diluted equity stake on conversion) by way of allotment,” Sun Pharmaceutical IndustriesBSE 2.40 % said in a BSE filing.

It further said: “Consideration for Series B preferred stock acquired is $13 million.”

Sun Pharmaceuticals Inc is a United States-based pharmaceutical company developing a portfolio of transformative pharmaceutical products for subcutaneous delivery.

ICICI BANK UNVEILS ONE MERCHANT MOBILE APP FOR ALL PAYMENT MODES

ICICI BankBSE -0.42 % has launched a mobile application for merchants that allows consolidation of all modes of payments, including digital wallets, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), QR code, and credit & debit cards. The app, eazypay , which is designed for business, allows multiple users to connect to the same account. This makes it possible to be used for cash-on-delivery payments.

“This is a first such product in India. We developed this after feedback that the multiple digital options were creating a lot of confusion,“ said Anup Bagchi, ED, ICICI Bank. He added that the bank planned to cover 2 lakh merchants in coming months. “It took us 15 years to build that kind of acceptance for cards. We are planning on achieving the same scale for this application in two months,“ said Bagchi.

JASPAL BINDRA, CHANDIR GIDWANI TAKE THE OPEN MARKET ROUTE TO BUY 5% MORE IN CENTRUM CAP

Centrum Group promoters Jaspal Bindra and Chandir Gidwani have acquired an additional 5% stake in Centrum CapitalBSE 2.55 % through an open market purchase on Thursday , a development that shows the confidence of promoters in the company .

Bindra, former executive director and head of Standard Chartered’s Asian operations, and Gidwani bought 1.95 crore shares or about 5% of the equity from the open market, thereby increasing their stake to 37.25% in Centrum Capital.

The transaction, valued at around Rs 51 crore, was done through their investment company , JBCG Advisory Services. It led to a sharp 17.6% jump in Centrum Capital shares.

BOMBAY HIGH COURT ADMITS HERSHEY’S WINDING UP PETITION AGAINST LOKMANGAL SUGAR

The Bombay High Court has admitted a winding-up petition filed by Hershey’s India to recover dues from its vendor Lokmangal Sugar.

Solapur based Lokmangal Sugar & Ethanol had entered into an agreement with the Indian unit of Hershey Company last year to supply sugar, assuring them that their requirement will be kept separately.

However, Lokmangal delivered about 40% of the sugar to the chocolate and confectionary manufacturer and said they were unable to supply the remaining stock.

JAPAN SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES SOLID FUEL ROCKET

apan’s space agency on Tuesday announced that it successfully launched a 26-metre-long rocket named Epsilon-2, which put a satellite that helps study radiation belts in orbit.

Epsilon-2 is part of a new generation of solid propellant rockets which can reduce launch costs up to one-third.

Reduction in cost can allow countries to put more communication and weather satellites in space.

INDIA TOURISM DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (ITDC) WINS SKOCH SILVER AWARD AT THE 46TH SKOCH SUMMIT 2016

India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) has been bestowed with “SKOCH Silver Award” at the 46th Skoch Summit 2016 under Skoch Blue Economy Award.

The Silver Award is presented to ITDC for its ‘Clean India Campaign at Qutub Minar, New Delhi’ under the flagship drive “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan” by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India.

Further, this project of Clean India Campaign at Qutub Minar has been adjudged amongst the “Top 100 Projects in India” for the year 2016 and bestowed with “SKOCH ORDER-OF-MERIT”.

Shri. Piyush Tiwari, Director Commercial & Marketing and Shri. Pradeep Kumar Das, Director Finance received the prestigious awards on behalf of ITDC at a function in New Delhi. –

PRIYANKA 1ST INDIAN TO BE MADE PANTENE’S GLOBAL AMBASSADOR

Actress Priyanka Chopra has become the first Indian to be appointed as the global ambassador of the hair care brand ‘Pantene’.

“Her strength & confidence inspires us!” tweeted the brand while making the announcement.

Calling the brand a “favourite around the world”, Priyanka added, “I love that Pantene celebrates and advocates that being strong is beautiful.”

SASTRA RAMANUJAN PRIZE FOR RADZIWILL, MATOMAKI

The 2016 SASTRA-Ramanujan award for mathematics was presented to Maksym Radziwill of McGill University, Canada, at the inauguration of the International Conference on Number Theory at SASTRA University at Kumbakonam.

The joint winner is Kaisa Matomaki of University of Turku, Finland.

The award citation and the shared prize money of $5,000 was presented by Prof. Steven Weintraub from Lehigh University who is also the Associate Secretary of the American Mathematical Society.

Prof. Radziwill will deliver the Srinivasa Ramanujan Birthday Commemorative Lecture on December 22.

INDIA’S CHEF-DE-MISSION IN RIO HITS OUT AT SSP CHAWRASIA, QUESTIONS HIS TIMING OF PROTEST AGAINST IOA

A day after SSP Chawrasia lashed out at the IOA alleging shoddy treatment at the Olympics, India’s chief-de-mission in Rio, Rakesh Gupta, said the golfer should have brought the issues to his notice during the Games instead of complaining four months laterChawrasia had vented his ire at IOA officials on Thursday, saying that there were no proper arrangements even for transportation and they were treated like servants at the Rio Games.Gupta said transportation of the athletes was the responsibility of the local organisers.It is the responsibility of the local organisers to receive athletes at the airport and transport them to the Games Village. All the Indian players, say Abhinav Bindra, Leander Paes, they were brought to the Games Village via the transport provided by the local organisers,” Gupta said.”The Indian players reached Rio in several batches, one by one, many of them came alone. Chawrasia came alone, (Anirban) Lahiri came alone, Aditi Ashok came alone with his father, Leander Paes came alone, wrestlers and shooters, they came in ones and twos.”We cannot go to the airport every time and receive each of them. How we could we have done that, it is not possible. We had  made a complaint to me. I met him again at the airport while returning home after the Games are over, then also he did not make any complaint. If he had any issue, he would have told me at Rio and we could have taken up the issue.”There could have been rain in Rio but more than rain, I think there was also storm and other players had no issues.”As far as I remember no Indian player, except these golfers, had made a complaint about these kind of problems during the Olympics. I don’t know why he (Chawrasia) made these allegations four months after the Games are over,” he added.

2016 IN REVIEW: ADITI ASHOK, INDIAN SPORT’S ‘ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

Away from the limelight of more popular Indian sports such as cricket, hockey, badminton and tennis, this year a teenager from Bangalore embarked on her journey in the professional world of golf. At 17, Aditi Ashok had already secured the Ladies European Tour (LET) card for 2016, having won the 2015 Lalla Aicha Tour School, the qualifying event for LET, and becoming the first Indian to do so, as well as the youngest ever. A rookie year was supposed to be a learning experience for Aditi but it turned out to be a landmark start to her career. She started modestly in the European tour, finishing tied-77th in the New Zealand Women’s Open, but that was just a minor blip ahead of what lay ahead. Aditi bounced back immediately at the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco, where she finished a creditable tied-21st which opened her Order of Merit account at 6,525 Euros. There was no looking back since, and in the next 13 LET tournaments Aditi registered seven top-ten finishes. Near the end of 2016, Aditi became the first Indian woman to win a title in the prestigious tour, when she lifted the Hero Women’s Indian Open at Gurgaon’s DLF Golf and Country Club. She topped that up by winning her next tournament, the Qatar Ladies Open in Doha and with successive titles she coolly pocketed 129,988 Euros (54,988 + 75,000).

SAKSHI MALIK SAYS TRAINING CAMPS IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES ARE NECESSARY FOR QUALITY PREPARATION

With her sights firmly set for the 2018 Commonwealth and Asian Games, Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik feels that quality preparation can only happen if there are at least two extended camps in foreign countries every year.Before Olympics, we went to Spain for a training camp and we got to practice with a lot of quality wrestlers. I believe for better performances we need more foreign exposure where we compete with the top wrestlers from other countries,” Sakshi, who is face of Delhi Sultans franchise.Commonwealth Games and Asian Games are obviously my main target. I have started training two months back and it’s been good so far. I don’t intend to change my weight category (58 kg),” said Sakshi, who was present along with teammates Bajrang, Praveen Rana and Satyawart Kadian, who is also her fiance, at the logo launch of the Delhi Sultans.

Asked about being sold for Rs 30 lakh which was far less than the youngest Phogat girl Ritu, team owner Anurag Batra said: “We would have loved to go up to Rs 45 lakh for Sakshi but by the time her bidding happened at the auction, the other teams had exhausted their purse. So even though we wanted, we could only give her Rs 30 lakh.