Daily News

Image

Centre may scrap UGC, proposes new regulator

The Centre has placed in the public domain a draft Bill for a Higher Education Commission of India – aimed at replacing the University Grants Commission – for eliciting suggestions from educationists.

Key Features of the Bill:

The draft Higher Education Commission of India (Repeal of University Grants Commission Act) Act, 2018, takes away funding powers from the proposed regulator and gives it powers to ensure academic quality and even close down bogus institutions.

The Regulator will have powers to enforce compliance to the academic quality standards and will have the power to order closure of sub-standard and bogus institutions.

UGC vs HECI

The UGCs regulatory power included quality assessment and giving grants. The HECI will ensure academic quality while MHRD will give grants to institutions.

The UGC conducted inspections to assess institutions. The HECI will practically do away with these and shift to a regime of ‘transparent disclosures’ instead.

Did you Know

UGC
Founded: 1956
UGC Chairman: D P Singh
Headquarters: New Delhi

Image

U.S. postpones 2+2 dialogue with India

The much anticipated dialogue, between the defence and foreign ministers of India and the United States scheduled for July, has been postponed.

The talks were expected to boost bilateral ease of ties in the backdrop of growing disagreement over the Iran nuclear deal and the brewing tariff war between the two sides.

The high-level dialogue was designed to address bilateral issues following a summit-level meeting between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Modi in 2017.

Did you Know

The announcement of the “2+2” dialogue had coincidentally come on a day when India announced that its retaliatory tariffs against 30 US products worth $240 million would come into effect starting 4 August to counter the Trump administration’s move to unilaterally hike duties on Indian steel and aluminium.

Image

Drive Ola, Uber: no commercial licence needed

Karnataka State’s transport department has decided to issue a notification allowing people who hold a valid private light motor vehicle (LMV) driving licence to ply taxis, without having to obtain a commercial licence.

The Court’s order did away with the system of obtaining a separate commercial licence to drive a taxi.

Did you Know

Karnataka
Chief minister: H. D. Kumaraswamy
Governor: Vajubhai Vala
Capital: Bengaluru

Image

U.P. to get survey done on welfare schemes

The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet has decided to get a survey conducted by the Gram Sabhas in the State in the next three months to ensure that the benefits of welfare schemes reach maximum people.

The benefits of different welfare schemes were presently being extended on the basis of the Socio-Economic and Caste Census 2011 (SECC) and the new survey will help extending the benefits to more people.

Cabinet gave its nod to “CM Arogya Peyjal Yojna’ in 14 districts of Basti and Gorakhpur divisions and Bundelkhad region in the State to provide clean drinking water.

Did you Know

Uttar Pradesh
Capital: Lucknow
Chief minister: Yogi Adityanath
Governor: Ram Naik

Image

PM to inaugurate ‘Kabir Mahotsav’ in U.P.

PM Narendra Modi will inaugurate the two-day ‘Kabir Mahotsav’.

It is organised by the Union Ministry of Culture, at Maghar in Uttar Pradesh’s Sant Kabir Nagar district on 28 June to mark the 500th death anniversary of mystic poet and saint Kabir Das.

Did you Know

Born 1398 CE Lahartara near Kashi (present-day Varanasi)
Died 1518 CE Maghar
He was a weaver and poet.
He was known for the Bhakti movement, Sikhism, Kabir panth- a religious community that recognises him as its founder and is one of the Sant Mat sects, Hymns in the Guru Granth Sahib ji.

Image

Facebook to end drone delivery programme

Facebook is ending a programme launched in 2014 to build a fleet of drones that could deliver internet to underserved areas of the world.

Facebook will close its facility in Bridgwater, Southwest England, which has been working on the Solar powered Aquila drone.

The drone, named Aquila by the company, was initially created by British aerospace engineer Andrew Cox, whose company Ascenta was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for $20m.

Did you Know

About Facebook
Founded: February 2004
CEO: Mark Zuckerberg
Headquarters: Menlo Park, California, United States
Founders: Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes, Andrew McCollum

Image

Cabinet okays ₹2,000-cr. capital infusion for export guarantor across FY2017-20

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved a capital infusion of ₹2,000 crore into the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) to be infused over the three financial years 2017-20.

The infusion would enhance insurance coverage to MSME exports and strengthen India’s exports to emerging and challenging markets like Africa, CIS and Latin American countries.

With enhanced capital, ECGC’s underwriting capacity and risk to capital ratio will improve considerably.

The increased capital infusion would also help ECGC to diversify its product portfolio and provide cost-effective credit insurance to exporters.

Did you Know

ECGC
Founded: 30 July 1957
Headquarters: Mumbai
Chairman & MD: Geetha Muralidhar

Image

Cabinet approves ‘package’for CEAT Tyres’ mega project

The State Cabinet has approved a structured package of assistance and decided to provide 50% reimbursement on the payment of the State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) to the company.

Company is planning to have its unit in Sri City, which comes under Andhra Pradesh.

The project, falling under the ultra mega projects category, entails an investment in the range of of ₹4,000-5,000 crore.

Did you Know

CEAT (Cavi Elettrici e Affini Torino) ltd Tyres
CEAT is the flagship company of RPG Enterprises, was established in 1924 in Turin.
Headquarters: Mumbai
Chairman: Harsh Goenka

Image

HCL Tech acquires German IT firm H&D

HCL Technologies has acquired German IT and engineering services provider H&D International Group.

Through this deal, HCL Tech will attain significant in-country front office and delivery capabilities, which will further enhance its domain expertise in the global automotive sector.

H&D Group, one of the largest IT service providers in the German automotive industry, has extensive expertise in SAP, computer-aided technologies (CAx), engineering services and customer-specific product development.

It operates in over 20 locations globally.

Did you Know

About HCL:
CEO: C Vijayakumar
Founders: Shiv Nadar, Arjun Malhotra
Founded: 11 August 1976
Headquarters: Noida

Image

Jinson breaks Sriram’s 42-year record

Two-time Asian championship medallist Jinson Johnson gave a commanding performance to break Sriram Singh’s four-decade-old National record in style and clinch the men’s 800m title in the National inter-State athletics championships.

Johnson, who had rewritten the 1500m National record in the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, timed 1:45.65 to beat Sriram Singh’s record by 0.12 seconds.

Hima and Dutee came second and Srabani came third.

Did you Know

National inter-State athletics championships
The Athletics Federation of India is the apex body for running and managing athletics in India and affiliated to the IAAF, AAA and Indian Olympic Association.
The AFI has as many as 32 affiliated state units and institutional units.
The AFI came into existence in 1946 and the federation organises the National Championships, trains the Indian Athletics National Campers, selects the Indian Athletics Teams for various international competitions.
Chairman: Mr. G.S. Randhawa