Daily News

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BJP invited to form govt, Congress moves SC

Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala invited former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa to form the government based on his election as Leader of the BJP Legislature Party.

Mr. Yeddyurappa will take oath as the 29th Chief Minister of Karnataka in contrast the Congress approached the Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra, seeking an urgent hearing of its petition challenging the Governor’s decision

The decision of governor is expected to intensify the political slugfest after the people’s mandate threw up a hung Assembly.

Did you Know

B.S. Yeddyurappa will take the oath for the third time as Chief Minister of Karnataka. He was the first person from the Bhartiya Janata Party to become the Chief Minister of a South Indian state.

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Cabinet approves National Biofuel Policy to cut Green House Gas emissions

The Union cabinet approved the national biofuels policy that will help India’s efforts to cut energy imports and carbon emissions.

The policy will help in improving farmer income and will also expand the scope of raw material for ethanol production which includes sugarcane juice, sugar beet, sweet sorghum and starch-containing materials such as corn, cassava, and damaged grain. The policy will eventually lead to reduced import dependency as the government aims to develop an Rs1 trillion biofuel economy.

Did you Know

India is the world’s third-largest oil importer and the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases after the US and China.

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Cliff habitat requires a vulture safe zone

According to reports, the Long-billed vulture or Indian vulture (gyps indicus) of Palarapu cliff vulture habitat in Kumram Bheem Asifabad is critically endangered.

The Vulture Safe Zone (VSZ) initiative of the Pinjore, Haryana located Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre (JCBC) is to be implemented to make it safer for the scavenger birds.

The project envisages elimination of the probability of consumption of the drug Diclofenac through animal carcasses by the vultures.

Did you Know

A critically endangered (CR) species has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as the one facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.

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Swachh Survekshan 2018 rankings, Indore gets cleanest city tag

As per the results of sanitation survey, Indore and Bhopal have retained their position as the top two cleanest cities for the second consecutive year and Chandigarh has been ranked as the third cleanest city.

New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) was ranked the cleanest city among municipal bodies with less than three lakh population while Greater Mumbai was found to be the cleanest among all state capitals.

Vijayawada is cleanest among big cities having more than one million population while Mysuru has emerged as the cleanest among cities with a population of three lakh to one million.

Did you Know

Swachh Survekshan is a ranking exercise taken up by the Government of India to assess rural and urban areas for their levels of cleanliness and active implementation of Swachhata mission initiatives in a timely and innovative manner.

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General V.K. Singh makes visit to North Korea.

Minister of State for External Affairs General VK Singh makes a visit to North Korea’s capital Pyongyang, the talks among ministers are expected to focus largely on bilateral ties and North Korea’s nuclear programme.

Meanwhile, as the Indian minister arrived in Pyongyang for talks, North Korea threatened to scrap the scheduled June 12 meeting between its leader Kim and US President Donald Trump.

Did you Know

It is the first time in nearly 20 years that an Indian minister has traveled to the reclusive state of North Korea.

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Justice Karnan launches party, to contest 2019 LS polls

Former Calcutta High Court Justice C S Karnan launched his political party and will contest the general elections next year with women candidates only.

The party is named ‘Anti-Corruption Dynamic Party’, with an aim of removing corruption from the country and protecting the interests of the minorities and Dalits since they are the weaker sections of the society.

Did you Know

Justice C S Karnan is the first Indian High Court judge to be sent to prison for contempt after retirement, he was sentenced to six months of imprisonment by the Supreme Court of India, holding him guilty of contempt of court.

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Council of Homoeopathy to be restructured

To bring in transparency, accountability, and quality in homeopathy education system, the Union Cabinet approved an Ordinance which will replace the existing Central Council of Homoeopathy (CCH) with a board of governor.

The board will be comprising of seven persons who will be eminent homeopathy practitioners and administrators. They will be appointed by the government.

The move comes in the backdrop of allegations of corruption against office bearers of the CCH.

Did you Know

Central Council of Homoeopathy is a statutory apex body under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Department of AYUSH.

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ITC profit rises 9.9% on FMCG, hotels

Cigarette-to-soap maker ITC reported 9.9 percent year-on-year (YoY) increase in net profit at Rs 2,933 crore for the fourth quarter of FY18.

The rise was driven mainly by the branded packaged foods, personal care and the education and stationery products businesses offset by decline in agribusiness revenue.

The earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) grew 6.9 percent YoY to Rs 4,144 crore.

Did you Know

ITC Limited is a multi-business conglomerate having a diversified presence in FMCG, Hotels, Paperboards, and Packaging, Agri-Business and Information Technology. Recently the board has re-designated Sanjiv Puri, Chief Executive Officer & Wholetime Director, as the Managing Director of the Company.

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BSE gets SEC certification

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has received the recognition certificate of ‘Designated Offshore Securities Market’ (DOSM) from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which will help US investors in India.

The recognition by the SEC illustrates the comparability of the international regulatory framework adopted by the BSE, governing structure, organisation and disclosure standards.

Did you Know

The BSE established in 1875 is Asia’s first stock exchange and now became the first bourse in India to receive the DOSM recognition and now joins an elite list of foreign exchanges.

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Infosys creates blockchain-based trade finance network with seven banks

Infosys has created a blockchain-based document tracking system for trade finance and is implementing the solution with seven private banks in the country —Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, RBL Bank, South Indian Bank and Yes Bank.

The blockchain solution allows trade financing to happen in a digitised manner where a buyer, the buyer’s bank, the seller and the seller’s bank are all on the platform.

Did you Know

A blockchain is a digitized, decentralized, public ledger of all cryptocurrency transactions, which allows market participants to keep track of digital currency transactions without central recordkeeping.

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Centre halts security operations in J&K

The Centre has asked the security forces not to launch operations in Jammu and Kashmir during the month of Ramzan.

However, the security forces reserve the right to retaliate if attacked or if it is essential to protect the lives of innocent people.

A decision was taken to help the peace-loving Muslims observe Ramzan in a peaceful environment. The government expects everyone to cooperate in this initiative and help the Muslim brothers & sisters to observe Ramzan peacefully.

Did you Know

Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visited Srinagar to open the Kishanganga hydroelectric project at Bandipore in North Kashmir.