Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 21 September 2016

:: National ::

Govt releases list of 27 new smart cities

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi has made its way to the list of 27 new smart cities announced by the Urban Development Ministry.

• Varanasi is one of the three cities, others being Agra and Kanpur, from Uttar Pradesh which goes to the polls next year, which are part of the list of new smart cities.

• The 27 cities, including Madurai, were selected after three rounds of competition, with the total number selected under Smart City Mission standing at 60.

• Govt said the new 27 smart cities proposed projects worth Rs. 66,883 crore under Smart City Mission, including Rs. 42,524 crore under area-based development and Rs.11,379 crore for technology-based pan-city solutions.

• With five cities, Maharashtra has the highest number of cities on the list. The 27 new cities are from 12 States, including four each from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, three from Uttar Pradesh and two each from Punjab and Rajasthan. Nagaland and Sikkim have made it to the list for the first time.

• Amritsar topped the list of 27 new smart cities chosen among 63 total cities.

• Eight other cities of pilgrim and tourism importance that have made it to the third list are Ujjain, Tirupati, Nashik, Madurai, Thanjavur and Ajmer, apart from Agra and Varanasi.

• The implementation of Smart City Mission is now spread over 27 States and Union Territories.

• The nine States and Union Territories that are yet to enter the implementation phase are Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Puducherry, Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra, Nagar and Haveli.

• Each of these cities will receive a Central assistance of Rs. 200 crore in the first year and Rs. 100 crore over the three subsequent financial years, and the State Govts and urban local bodies will match the Centre’s contribution of Rs. 500 crore.

• The Centre plans to transform 100 cities by 2019-20 by providing Rs. 48,000 crore in financial support over five years.

Government is set to embark strategic disinvestment programme

• The BJP-led NDA government is all set to embark on its strategic disinvestment programme.

• NITI Aayog’s proposal for shutting down 17 sick or loss-making government companies has received the go-ahead from Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

• A second set of proposals from the Aayog for strategic sales aimed at reducing government ownership to below 51 per cent in about 22 public sector companies has also got the green signal from the PMO.

• Government companies in the hospital services business and the construction consultancy industry are also on the list of PSUs for strategic disinvestment.

• The Finance Ministry is approaching the Cabinet for its approval separately for each of the strategic sales the PMO has approved. It expects minimum resistance as the administrative ministries were brought on board.

• Before these PSUs are shut down, the Centre will offer voluntary retirement to their employees.

• The administrative ministries of these PSUs will seek approvals of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs for each of these cases.

Supreme Court directed Karnataka to release 6000 cusecs of Cauvery water per day (Register and Login to read Full News..)

India’s first inter-State river interlinking project got a go-ahead from NBWL (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: International ::

The United Nations suspended all aid convoys in Syria

• The United Nations suspended all aid convoys in Syria, the day after a deadly airstrike on trucks loaded with crucial supplies of food and medicine. The airstrike came after the Syrian military had declared an end to a seven-day partial cease-fire.

• Stephen O’Brien, the head of the U.N. agency that coordinates aid, said in a statement that the attack would amount to a war crime if it were found to have targeted humanitarian aid workers.

• The airstrike came as workers were unloading aid. It killed a senior official of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and some civilians, but initial reports that 14 people had died could not be confirmed.

• Repeated strikes by aircraft destroyed 18 of 31 trucks that the U.N. said had been clearly marked as a humanitarian convoy.

• The trucks were carrying wheat flour, 9 tonnes of medicine and winter clothing for about 78,000 people.

• The attack came shortly after the Syrian army had announced that the partial cease-fire was over and resumed offensive operations, reportedly including airstrikes on rebel-held parts of the city of Aleppo.

:: Business and Economy ::

Asian Development Bank approved $631 million for India’s first coastal industrial corridor

• Asian Development Bank has approved $631 million for building India’s first coastal industrial corridor between Visakhapatnam and Chennai.

• The fund will help develop the first key 800-km section of the planned 2,500-km East Coast Economic Corridor expected to spur development on India’s eastern coast and enable seamless trade links with other parts of South and Southeast Asia.

• The total cost of the project is $846 million and work on it is expected to be over by 2031. The remaining $215 million would be funded by the Andhra Pradesh government.

• ADB’s loans and grants comprise a $500 million two-tranche facility to build key infrastructure and a $125 million two-tranche loan to help in industrial policies and business promotion.

• By 2025, annual industrial output along the corridor will increase fourfold to $64 billion from about $16 billion in 2015 if investment opportunities are maximized over the coming 10 years.

• The Centre is keen to encourage manufacturing to create jobs for a labour force that is growing by about 12 million each year.

Govt looking to give boost to tourism sector (Register and Login to read Full News..)

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB