Modi announces Rs. 100
cut off on LPG refill price
·
On the occasion of International Women’s day on
Friday PM Modi announces reduction on LPG gas cylinder prices by Rs. 100 per
cylinder .
·
This is the second reduction in recent times .
·
In August the prices were reduced by Rs.200 per
cylinder .
·
With new reduction the 14.2 kg gas cylinder
price will be Rs.803 which was earlier Rs.903 in Delhi .
Army officer abducted
from home rescued in few hours
·
On Friday a serving junior commissioned officer
was abducted from his home in Thoubal district .
·
The army was rescued the same evening after an
hour-long rescue operation by security forces . This was the fourth such
incident in recent times .
Rahul , Tharoor ,
Baghel in Congress first list of candidates
·
Congress has released its first list of
candidates from 39 Lok Sabha seats .
Rahul Gandhi has been given ticket from Wayand again . Former Chhattisgarh CM
Bhupesh Baghel has been fielded from Rajnandangaon Chhattisgarh . Shashi
Tharoor has been fielded from Thiruvananthapuram .
·
There are talks that Rahul Gandhi can also be
fielded from Amethi in UP , while
Priyanka Gandhi may be fielded from Rar Bareli .
·
Rae Bareli used to be the seat from where Sonia
Gandhi used to fight . Sonia Gandhi has decided not to fight the election this
time .
Congress promises right
to apprenticeship for youth below 25 years
·
“Right to
Apprenticeship,” is among the major
promises in Congress’s election manifesto .
·
The tagline for this promise says “ pehli naukari pakki “
·
Under
this the Party proposes to organize a one year apprenticeship programme , with
government , public sector , private organization with a stipend of Rs. 1 lakh
crore a year , for all persons under 25 years of age , who are college
graduates or hold a diploma .
INS Jatayu to keep
watch over Arabian sea
·
INS
Jatayu has been placed at Minicoy island in Lakshadweep . INS Jatayu is
equipped with Radars , Jetties , Airfield and Brahmos missiles .
·
“ Jatayu will be the ‘ watch – keeper ‘ for Bharat at the gateway
of Arabian Ocean “ Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha said .
·
Minicoy island is the southernmost Island of
Lakshadweep and separates India and Maldives .
·
It is near a nine degree line . So strategically
it is very important .
·
Government is also involved in the expansion of
Agatti Island Airfield . The govt plans to make a dual use airfield at Minicoy
island .
IT tribunal rejects
cong appeal against Rs. 210 crore penalty
·
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal ( ITAT ) has
rejected the Congress Party’s appeal against the imposition of Penalty for
discrepancies in tax payment .
·
Congress said that it is exploring all options
including to move to the High Court .
·
Income Tax ( IT ) had imposed a penalty of Rs. 210
crore on Congress party over discrepancies in filing tax returns in 2018-19
Center warns against
job offers from Russian army
·
Spokesperson of External Affairs Ministry
Randhir Jaiswal told in his weekly press briefing that India has taken matters
of Indians fighting for the Russian army to the Russian government for early
discharge .
·
He further added that the government was taking
strong action against agents and agencies who were involved in conning Indians
to send to Russia . The CBI has been roped in for this . CBI has busted major
human trafficking networks regarding the matter Government appealed to Indians
not to get swayed away by agents offering jobs in the Russian Army .
Meghalay’s ‘ Byringhat’
most polluted ‘city ‘ in India
·
The Center for Research on Energy in Clean Air
(CREA) on Friday released its data on polluted ‘ cities ‘ in India during
February .
·
The study is based on the monthly average of
Particulate matter (PM 2.5) concentration.
·
It had following findings
Ø
Most
polluted cities – Meghalaya’s Byringhat
was found to be most polluted . Bihar’s Araria
and UP’s Hapur stopped second and
third in most polluted cities .
Ø
Cleanest
cities – Satna from MP is the cleanest city followed by , Sivasagar ( Assam
) and Silchar (Assam)
Ø
Increase
pollution in North East a Concern – There has been a hazardous increase in
pollution levels in the North East according to the data . The North East was
otherwise considered one of the greenest parts of the country . Unregulated
industries , rampant construction lacking efficient pollution control measures
is said to be some of the reasons behind this .
·
Among the most polluted cities from North East
Nalbari (5 th) , Afartalla (12 th) .CREA is an independent body involved in
Pollution , green energy and other similar
research.
Center tweeks solar
‘free electricity’ scheme
·
The Government has tweaked the new PM Surya Ghar
Muft Bijli Yojna (Roof top : Solar Free
electricity scheme).
·
The initial plan was to fully subsidize 1KW – 3
KW solar panels to be installed on one crore roofs .
·
Government now will contribute only 60 % of the
cost
·
Households will have to pay a minimum Rs. 20,000
depending on power capacity of the installed system .
·
Only houses with a suitable roof and existing
system of grid will be eligible for this scheme .
·
However the component that the household will be
eligible to use 300 KW free electricity is still there .
·
Currently the price of a 1KW solar system is
about Rs.50,000.
World
Expanding settlement in
Palestine a ‘war crime’ : U.N.
·
The UN human rights office in a report published
on Friday said that the establishment
and expansion of Israeli settlements in the west Bank and Jerusalem
amounts to a war crime .
·
The report covers the period November 1 , 2022
and October 31 , 2023 when roughly 24,300 housing units in the West Bank were
advanced by Israel .
·
The UN human rights chief said that illegal
settlements by Israel “amounts to war crime under International law”.
·
Israel has been settling it’s citizens in West
Bank for years . Much of the International community considers this illegal .
Nigeria sends troops to
rescue over 250 kidnapped students
·
More than 250 pupils were kidnapped by gun man
from Kurigo school in Kaduna state on Thursday .
·
Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmad Tinubu has sent
troops to rescue them .
·
It is one
of the largest mass abduction in three years .
·
And second in a week . Earlier this week more
than 200 were abducted by Islamist groups from Northeast Nigeria .
·
The abductions show the challenge facing
President Tinubu , who promised to make Nigeria safe .
Biden tears into Trump,
GOP in the state of Union address
·
In his annual state of the Union address , US
President Joe Biden came heavily on Donald Trump . He goaded Trump over his
policies on immigration , taxes and more .He also criticized Trump for praising
those involved in the Capitol Hill incident .
Afghan women stage rare
, private protests on International Women’s Day
·
A handful of women in Afghanistan protested in
different parts of the country on the eve of International Women’s day . The
women demanded that the curbs on women be lifted.
·
Women in Afghanistan have been squeezed from
public life . They are banned from certain
jobs , secondary schools , colleges , parks ,fairs and gyms.
·
They can travel only while accompanied with a
male member .The UN hast termed it “gender apartheid”.
German GDP forecast
downgraded
·
Germany Economic Minister Robert Habeck has
announced that its economy is in “troubled waters”’ slashing the economic
forecast for this year from 1.3% down to .2%.
Indonesian airline
pilots fell asleep mid flight : agency
·
A recent investigation revealed that both pilot
and co-pilot slept for about 28 minutes mid flight . This came to the picture when both pilots and
copilots failed to respond to the Air Traffic Controller ( ATC ) while the
flight diverted from the required path.The incident was on 25 January . The
Indonesian air safety agency has called for a better pilot fatigue mechanism .
