Finance Minister P Chidambaram launched Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme in Mumbai

Finance Minister P Chidambaram on 9 February 2013 launched the much-awaited Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme in Mumbai. The move will encourage new investors to put their money in the stock market. The scheme, which was announced in the Budget 2011-12, seeks to provide tax benefits to first-time investors in stock market. Under the scheme, an individual with an income of less than 10 lakh rupees would get tax incentives for investing up to 50000 rupees in the stock market.

As per the notification issued by the Securities and Exchange Board of India on the scheme, there would be a lock-in period of one year on investments made under the scheme.

Ministry of Civil Aviation launched Monthly Bi-lingual Shubh Yatra Magazine

Ministry of Civil Aviation on 8 February 2013 released Shubh Yatra, an exclusive monthly bi-lingual (Hindi & English) inflight magazine of Air India. It covers travel, lifestyle, culture and entertainment in all colour and spice.

National Conference on e-Governance at Jaipur

The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Government of India, in association with the Department of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India and the Department of Information Technology & Communication, Government of Rajasthan, is organizing 16th National Conference on e-Governance on 11-12 February, 2013 in Jaipur. Senior Officers from the Government, industry, academicians, technical experts and NGOs will participate in the Event.  

                    Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Shri Ashok Gehlot will inaugurate the Conference on 11th February, 2013. Other dignitaries who will be present on the occasion include, Minister of State in the Prime Minister Office and Personnel, Shri V. Narayanasamy; Minister of State in the Ministry of Communication and IT, Dr.(Smt.) Kruparani Killi, Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Government of India, Shri Sanjay Kothari and Chief Secretary, Rajasthan Shri C.K. Mathew.

                   During the Conference, the National Awards on e-Governance for the year 2012-13 will be presented. These awards are given in seven different categories concerning various aspects of e-Governance. The Awards distinguish some of the best Government to Government (G2G), Government of Citizen (G2C), Government to Business (G2B) initiatives by various government departments and public sector units. The Conference along with the Exhibition is a forum to showcase best practices, innovative technologies and ICT solutions.

                The objective of these awards is to recognize and promote excellence in implementation of e-Governance initiatives. These awards recognize achievements in the area of e-Governance; disseminate knowledge on effective methods of designing and implementing sustainable e-Governance initiatives; encourage horizontal transfer of successful e-Governance solutions; promote and exchange experiences in solving problems, mitigating risks, resolving issues and planning for success.

              The Conference will be based on the theme, “Towards an Open Government” with the sub themes, (i) Leveraging Social Inclusion; (ii) E-Governance Infrastructure- status and Challenges; and (iii) Social sector Programs. The Conference will explore how use of ICT has transformed governance from the perspective of the beneficiaries of the services. It is an attempt at a reality check to ascertain the outcome of the services rendered and whether it has achieved the intended objectives of transparent, effective, responsive and accountable system of governance.

India, Gibraltar ink TIEA pact

ndia and Gibraltar have inked a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) that among other things calls for transparent sharing of information.
This is the 13^th TIEA being signed by India.
Countries with whom India has signed TIEA pact are Bahamas, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Isle of Man, Cayman Islands, Jersey, Macau, Liberia, Argentina, Guernsey, Bahrain and Monaco.

About TIEA:
It is a pact which allows the signatories to share tax related information based on international standard of transparency and exchange of information.

Position of Gibraltar:

As per this agreement:

• Information must be foreseeably relevant to the administration and enforcement of the domestic laws of the Contracting Parties concerning taxes covered by the agreement.
• It allows for tax examination abroad and has specific provisions for providing banking and ownership information.
• The requesting state has to provide some minimum details about the information requested in order to justify the foreseeably relevance criteria.
• Information under this is to be treated confidential and disclosed to only specified person or authorities, which are tax authorities or the authorities concerned with the determination of tax appeal.
• Information can be used for non tax purposes with the written consent of the Competent Authority of the requested Party.
• Requested Party shall provide upon request the information even though that Party may not need such information for its own tax purposes.
• Exchange of past information in criminal matters is also feasible through this pact.

Jackie Chan, Mo Yan selected as members of Chinese parliament

Movie star Jackie Chan and the 2012 winner of Nobel prize for literature Mo Yan has been selected as members of one of the houses of Chinese parliament, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
The new leaders in China led by the new general secretary of the Communist Party Xi Jinping have picked 2,237 persons as new members of the CPPCC National Committee. Xi is expected to become the country’s new president when the two Houses of Parliament meet in March, 2013.
The CPPCC members, who are related to different fields, were selected without an election process and include 893 members of the Communist Party. Those chosen include officials, military officers, members of non-Communist parties, along with representatives from economic, political, cultural , social and environmental fields.

Environment Ministry exempts linear projects from taking clearance from Gram sabha

From now on, linear projects, such as roads, transmission lines and gas pipelines will not have to seek consent of gram sabhas to get clearance under the Forest Rights Act as the Environment Ministry has exempted these projects from it. Such consent was seen as one of the bottlenecks in securing clearances.
For such linear projects, which do not require vast parcels of land yet go through several gram sabha clearance process, getting consent from every single such body was difficult. As per NHAI (National Highways Authority of India), the move would speed up the pending projects. One of the major infrastructure projects affected by clearance lag is the 1,185-km Kochi-Koottanad-Mangalore-Bangalore gas pipeline.
Previously, the Highways Authority wanted the Environment Ministry to de-link environment and forest clearance for linear projects. A total of 101 infrastructure projects are awaiting clearance at various levels. These include some 32 road projects.

L.N. Tallur wins Skoda Art Prize 2012

Renowned artist L.N. Tallur from Karnataka, whose works portray majorly the underbelly of India, has won the Rs. 1 million Skoda Prize 2012 for contemporary art.
In his exhibition titled “Quintessential” Mr. Tallur narrates his theory of ‘5th dimension’. He believes, when an object of art is ‘museumised’, it creates a fifth dimension, and is a further addition to Einstein’s 4 dimensions (time-space). Artist Rohini Devasher won the Skoda’s 2012 Art India Breakthrough Artist Award.

Saina, Gopichand to support AP energy conservation mission

Indian badminton player Saina Nehwal and coach Pullela Gopichand have agreed to support the Andhra Pradesh Government’s energy conservation mission.

Enthused by the voluntary support extended by the organisations like Central Institute for Rural Electrification of Rural Electrification Corporation of India, FAPCCI, FICCI, CII and NGOs, the State Energy Conservation mission is striving to make it a mass movement involving all sections of society.

The State is faced with an unprecedented power shortage of about 70 million units per day. This shortage is in spite of AP’s installed capacity of 16,500 MW. However, the utilities are able to generate about 10,000 MW only due to severe shortage of fuel.

The conservation mission is seeking to help conserve energy wherever possible.

BRICS summit 2013

The 2013 BRICS summit will be the fifth annual BRICS summit to be held in South Africa in the year 2013. The summit will include delectes from five BRICS countries namely s Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
 The declaration of 2012 BRICS summit was "Brazil, Russia, India and China thank South Africa for the proposal to host the 5th summit in 2013. They intend to provide multifaceted support for it".

BioAsia 2013 Summit

BioAsia event is an event promoted annually by Andra Pradesh Government with the support of Government of India, Pharmaceutical Export Promotional Council (PHARMEXCIL).

Federation of Asian Biotech Associations [FABA] in association with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

BioAsia 2013 has an objective of promoting biotechnology in India. The ninth edition of the event was held from 9-11 February, 2012. Over 40 countries across the globe participated alongwith 600 corporates.

BioAsia is geared to carry forward its momentum with its Tenth edition at BioAsia 2013, from 28th to 30th January 2013 at HICC, Hyderabad.

India Water Expo Ahmedabad 2013

The exclusive trade show on Indian Water Industry will take place in Ahmedabad from 1st Feb to 3rd Feb 2013. This event is the largest water show in Western India.

It is sponsored by EA Water Pvt. Ltd, India.  In this mega event, manufacturers specializing in water treatment, wastewater management and all other related industries can showcase and exhibit their products and expertise through this medium of trade show. 

This mega event of India Water expo combines education, networking and exhibition to get over and capture the energy of expanding water market in India following the fast forward action.

Entrepreneurship Summit 2013

Entrepreneurship Summit 2013 will be held in IIT Bombay on Feb 2, 2013 and Feb 3, 2013. The theme for E-Summit 2013 is ‘Pioneering the Future'.

The Entrepreneurship Summit 2013 is a confluence of professionals, visionary students or any person who has the passion to prove himself so that he could become a successful entrepreneur and a trend-setter.

The Entrepreneurship Summit 2013 showcases the global trends in entrepreneurship. It also generates actionable outcomes  and progress in your journey as an entrepreneur.

ALH Mk-IV “Rudra” – handed over to Army

An Advanced Light Helicopter Mk-IV army version 'Rudra' was handed over by Dr RK Tyagi, Chairman, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to Lt Gen Narendra Singh, Deputy Chief of Army Staff (P & S), Indian Army during AERO India 2013 at Yelahanka Air Base, Bangalore.

At the outset of the ceremony, Shri P Soundara Rajan, Managing Director said “Rudra, first armoured helicopter - is the Mk IV variant of the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) designed and manufactured by HAL. This helicopter is fitted with Day and Night Targeting systems and can carry a mix of weapons (70 rockets, anti-tank missiles, air to air missiles and 20 mm turret gun), providing the required capability to search and destroy any targets”.

‘Rudra’ is designed indigenously at the Rotary Wing Research and Design Center (RWR & DC) to meet the mission specifications and tested extensively over varied terrains and firing ranges in India. Regional Center for Military Airworthiness has provided Initial Operational Clearance for the project facilitating delivery of helicopters to Indian Armed Forces. ‘Rudra’ is all set to redefine battle tactics in modern day conflicts.

India will be fourth biggest defence spender by 2020

Information Handling Services (IHS) has predicted that India would become the fourth biggest defence spender by 2020, behind the U.S., China and Russia, surpassing France, Japan and the U.K. IHS Jane’s Defence Budgets projects that India’s defence spend will reach $65.4 billion in 2020 despite cuts announced by the government last month. The challenging economic and fiscal climate is expected to wane over the next three years, with IHS expecting India’s GDP growth to recover to rates of around 8 per cent by 2015 – allowing India’s plans for increasing defence spend to recover from 2015 to 2020.
Based on current projections, IHS Jane’s Defence Budgets expects the Indian defence budget, including related pensions obligations, to reach $55.6 billion over the five years.

I&B Ministry launched MyIndia Initiative-A Digital Volunteer Programme to reach Citizens

The Information and Broadcasting Minister, Manish Tewari on 7 February 2013 launched the MyIndia Initiative-A Digital Volunteer Programme to reach out the people in the social media space.

The initiative from the I&B Ministry is aimed towards disseminating and delivering the messages of development to the citizens by registering them as volunteers them on the social media platforms. The initiative is an effort to make the citizen contribute positively towards nation building and this would initiate a principle of participative governance across the nation.

The I&B Ministry on 8 February 2013 also tried to reach out the citizens  for the first time via Live Twitter Conference on the eve of 3rd Community Radio Conference. This was the first ever conference of such type by any of the Ministry’s of Government of India. Community Radio: Road Travelled & way forward was the topic for community radio conference and it lasted for a period of 30 minutes from 4 pm to 4:30 pm.