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IDEAS 2015
This section Ideas 2015 is taken from :

ISBN : 9789385846335

JANUARY
Kerala to get first International
Institute of Music: It was
announced in January 2015 by
the Kerala Culture Minister K C
Joseph that an international institute
of music, the very first of its kind,
would be set up on Indian land in
Kerala. The institute is expected
to start within two years. The land
for the institute would be provided
by the state government while the
responsibility of heading the institute
has been assigned to the Trust
run under the guidance of Ustad
Amjad Ali Khan, the well known
Sarod Maestro. The Sarod Maestro
also teaches students at Stanford
University three months every year.
The state government has suggested
Thiruvananthapuram or Kochi or
Kozhikode as the place to build
the institute but the final decision
will be taken by Ustad Amjad Ali
Khan. The institute would provide
opportunity for students from the
state, country and even from abroad.
Various courses related to different
kinds of music, musical systems and
musical instruments will be offered
to students at the institute. Though
the institute is said to be under the
Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi,
it would be managed by a separate
assembly.
RBI relaxed KYC rules for Non-
Banking Financial Companies:
Reserve Bank of India has amended
the rules for non-banking financial
companies (NBFCs) with regard to
Know Your Customer activity. The
amendment of rules was announced
on January 2, 2015. Practical
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difficulties and constraints faced in
getting the KYC documents updated
at periodic intervals compelled the
RBI to ease the rules. According
to the previous norms, it was
mandatory for NBFCs to update
the KYC documents every 5 years
for low risk section customers and
once in two years for those falling
in the medium and high risk section.
The new norms have eased the
process of updating KYC for low
risk section customers to 10 years
and 8 years for medium and high
risk section customers. Also, RBI
communicated that NBFCs need
not ask the low risk customers to
submit fresh documentsidentity
and address proofs (if the address
remains the same)for opening a
new account with them. RBI has
asked NBFCs to keep a watch on
the transactions of the customers to
analyse business, risk and source of
funds. RBI has also communicated
to NBFCs that fresh photographs
of minor customers turning majors
would be required.
Government launched women
safety app Himmat: On January
1, 2015 was launched Indias first
ever unified mobile application for
the safety of women. The launching
of the app was done by the Union
Home Minister, Rajnath Singh in
the presence of Delhis Lieutenant
Governor, Najeeb Jung and Delhi
Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi. The
application is linked to the Police
Control Room and an immediate
notification will be sent to the PCR
by either shaking the phone or
pressing the power key twice. The

information of the victim would also
be transmitted to the Police Patrol
cars in the area and the local SHO.
The location can be traced easily
as the movement of the person will
be updated in every ten seconds. It
is a free application for all and can
be downloaded from the website of
Delhi Police or Google Play Store.
The app also has a feature that
enables the person to send alerts via
sms to minimum five acquaintances.
An alert would even be posted on
social networking sites like Facebook
and Twitter. The applications sole
aim is to strengthen the safety of
women in the country.
Karnataka to amend Karnataka
Compulsory Primary Education
Act, 2012: The Government of
Karnataka decided to amend the
Karnataka Compulsory Primary
Education Act (KCPEA), 2012
to impart primary education in
Kannada language. This was done
in order to strengthen Karnatakas
case before the Supreme Court (SC).
In 1980s the committee headed by
VK Gokak recommended to use
Kannada as the first language in
schools which followed peoples
movement called as Gokak Agitation.
Formal action on this report was
taken in April 1994 by M Veerappa
Moily, Chief Minister then. The
Notification provided two options
to the students: Mother tongue
of the child, which covered eight
languages; and Kannada as medium
of instruction. The Karnataka
Unaided Schools Managements
Association (KUSMA) along with
several others, filed petitions calling
it non-Constitution. On cancellation
of this notification by Karnataka
High Court on 2 July 2008, the State
government challenged the verdict
in the SC where five-judge bench
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of the apex court upheld KUSMAs
petition on 6 May 2014. The
government under the section 19(2)
of the Act tried to incorporate the
words Mother Tongue Kannada
which guarantees compulsory
primary education for children from
class I to V.
GTU Launched E-Raksha Research
Centre to Fight Cybercrime: To
control the rise in cybercrimes,
Gujrat Technological University
(GTU) launched e-Raksha Research
Centre on 28 January 2015 in
Ahmedabad. Former Chhattisgarh
Governor Shekhar Dutt and former
Deputy National Security Advisor
S D Pradhan were present at the
launch. This centre will not only
support research but also increase
the competency to provide latest
techniques of fighting cybercrimes to
build capacity for issues pertaining
to cyber security. The centre has
been set up by GTU in association
with Cyber Peace Foundation (CPF)
with the objective to ensure peaceful
and amicable cyber space for all.
This centre will undertake numerous
activities for faculties, students and
government officials in areas of
research on recent techniques of
cybercrime and enhance capability
to handle such issues. It will also
provide support to Make in India
campaign by manufacturing routers,
switches, firewalls, UTMs (Unified
Threat Management) and similar
network appliances. Furthermore,
the centre will play a fundamental
role to shield critical infrastructure
and mission critical services by
researching on malwares such as
botnet, and setting up malware
analysis test bed.
Gujarat government announced
new industrial policy for 2015: On
January 1, 2015, Gujarat announced

its new industrial policy for the year
2015. The chief minister of Gujarat,
Anandiben Patel, issued the policy.
The policy aims at creating a
business environment that is friendly
and encourages people to start their
own business rather than to search
job opportunities. Over 60% of the
population will be provided with
opportunities. The target population
would age group between 15
to 59 years. The key areas like
infrastructure development and new
innovations will be encouraged.
Besides, the need for incentives for
youth, women, scheduled castes
and tribes and physically challenged
individuals will be attended on
priority. Reducing the pollution by
promoting use of clean and green
energy is yet another important focus
of the policy. The existing resources
will be given a boost to scale down
the imports of auto components,
drugs, chemicals etc. Special
incentives would also be provided
for establishing new businesses in
sectors like garments, apparel and
food processing. The motive of the
policy is to make the state a global
manufacturing centre, therefore,
contributing to the encouragement
of PMs Make in India dream.
Ministry of Railways inaugurated
Indias first CNG Powered Train:
The Indian Railways has started
its green journey with Indias
first compressed natural gas
(CNG)-powered train which was
innaugrated by Rail Minister Suresh
Prabhu on January 13, 2015 on
Rewari Rohtak link of Northern
Zone.
A milestone in helping to reduce
greenhouse gas emission and also
diesel consumption by adoption of
green fuel in Indian Railways. Main
charecteristics were
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T he CNG Diesel Electric
Multiple Unit (DEMU) is based
on dual-fuel i.e. diesel and CNG.
It was manufactured by Chennai-
based Factory (ICF) through
fumigation technology.
It would help in reducing the
operating cost by say 50 percent.
It will also help in reducing CO
emission by 90 percent, CO2 by
25 percent, nitrogen oxide by
35 percent and non-methane
hydrocarbon emissions by 50
percent.
New technology would come in
handy once India has substantial
reserves of natural gas.
Indias first CNG powered train
inaugurated: The Indian Railways
has started its green journey with
Indias first compressed natural gas
(CNG)-powered train which was
innaugrated by Rail Minister Suresh
Prabhu on January 13, 2015 on
Rewari Rohtak link of Northern
Zone.
A milestone in helping to reduce
greenhouse gas emission and also
diesel consumption by adoption of
green fuel in Indian Railways. Main
charecteristics were
The CNG Diesel Electric
Multiple Unit (DEMU) is based
on dual-fuel i.e. diesel and CNG.
It was manufactured by Chennai-
based Factory (ICF) through
fumigation technology.
It would help in reducing the
operating cost by say 50 percent.
It will also help in reducing CO
emission by 90 percent, CO2 by
25 percent, nitrogen oxide by
35 percent and non-methane
hydrocarbon emissions by 50
percent.

New technology would come in
handy once India has substantial
reserves of natural gas.
FEBUARY
ICICI bank launched pockets -
indias first digital bank: In one of its
kind endeavour, ICICI Bank, Indias
largest private sector bank, recently
launched countrys first digital
wallet cum mobile app, Pockets.
Pockets gives any person, be it an
account holder or not, the facility
to download, instantly activate and
use the e-wallet. Currently available
only on mobile phones with android
system, Pockets is a free of cost
app with no usage and registration
charges. This virtual, VISA powered
wallet helps in instant transfer
of money to any email id, bank
account, mobile number, facebook
user or online retailer the user
selects. With its unique one on one
feature, the app ensures safety by
having only one registered user
for each mobile number. The user
also has the advantage of choosing
a zero-balance savings account
to the wallet, which will further
provide the benefit of earning
interest on their idle money. With
a new youth oriented outlook, the
Pockets digital bank offers two
unique products a universal wallet
and a savings account. Initially, the
transaction limit is Rs 10,000 for
non ICICI Bank users. Pockets
also provides its users the option of
having a specially designed physical
card that can be used for shopping or
other payments.
Indias first air quality checking
mobile app launched: To spread
awareness about the hazards of
increasing air toxicity in India,
Indias Earth Sciences Ministry
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launched the countrys first air
quality checking mobile application
to provide the forecast for air
quality and corresponding health
advisories in real time. The mobile
app, SAFAR-Air, developed by
scientists at Pune-based Indian
Institute of Tropical Meteorology,
was launched on 17 February 2015
at the Indian Institute of Tropical
Meteorology in Pune, Maharashtra.
The service is presently for Delhi and
Pune, and by 2017 the forecasting
services will be extended to cover
Chennai and Kolkata. SAFAR is an
acronym for System of Air Quality
Weather Forecasting and Research
which was first launched in Delhi
in 2010 during the Commonwealth
Games. SAFAR-AIR will provide
current and one to three day forecast
based on a colour-coded system
indicating air quality, in which
green is good, yellow is moderately
polluted, orange is poor, red is very
poor and maroon is critical. The app
is initially available on smartphones
operating on Googles Android
system and later on will also be
available on devices using Apples
iOS.
Election Commission to Launch
Electoral Roll Authentication
Mission: The Chief Election
Commissioner (CEC) H.S. Brahma
announced to launch Electoral
Roll Authentication Mission. This
project will use the database of
Unique Identification Authority
of India to link Aadhar number of
citizens with their electoral database
to further authenticate and purify
electoral rolls.
The move will help to erase a large
number of bogus voters from the
list. The move will be started on a
mission mode. This move comes two

days after the Centre clarified before
the Supreme Court that Aadhar will
be mandatory for the citizens for
availing any social benefit.
The Election Commission has
decided to mark 2015 as the year
of Easy Registration and Easy
Correction. Within this mission
ECI has already launched a National
Voter Service Portal (NVSP) on 25th
January, 2015 on the occasion of
National Voters Day; where people
can feed their Aadhar number for
linking it with the electoral data
base.
RBI to Bring Back One Rupee
Notes: The Reserve Bank of
India announced to bring back
the currency notes of one rupee
denomination into circulation.
Printing of one rupee notes was
discontinued in 1994, mainly due to
higher cost and for freeing capacity
to print currency notes of higher
denomination.
Printing of two and five rupee notes
was discontinued in 1995, since then
only coins have been issued for these
denominations. However, older
currency notes are still in circulation
and remain a legal tender. It has been
decided to reintroduce these notes
in order to meet the gap between
demand and supply of coins in this
denomination.
At present, one rupee coins are
minted. The new currency note will
be predominantly pink green on
obverse and reverse in combination
with other colours.
Unlike other currency notes which
bear the signature of the Governor
of the RBI, one rupee note will have
signature of the Finance Secretary.
These notes will contain the bilingual
signature of Finance Secretary with
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a replica of New Rupee One Coin
with symbol of 2015, issued with
Satyamev Jayate and capital letter
L inserted in the numbering panel.
On the reverse side these notes will
contain the words Bharat Sarkar
above the words Government of
India with the year 2015 on the
representation of One Rupee coin
with a symbol having floral design
surrounded by a picture of Sagar
Samrat- oil exploration platform
with the authentic rendering of
value in fifteen languages in the
languages panel and the year figure
shown in the centre bottom in the
international figure
Union Government decides
to infuse 6990 crore rupees in
nine Public Sector Banks: The
government has decided to infuse
Rs. 6,990 crore in nine public sector
banks under new criteria which
reward efficient banks with extra
capital to strengthen their position.
In the Budget for 2014-15, amount
has been allocated.
Method used for calculating at the
amount was based on efficiency
parameters.
First parameter is weighted average
of return on assets (ROA) for all
public sector banks for last three
years put together was considered
and all the banks above the average
were considered.
The second parameter used was
return on equity (ROE) for these
banks for the last financial year.
In beneficiaries, largest public
sector lender SBI leads the pack
with Rs 2,970 crore, followed by
Punjab National Bank with Rs
870 crore other banks are Canara
Bank, Syndicate Bank, Allahabad
Bank, Indian Bank, Dena Bank and
Andhra Bank.

MARCH
Mc Mary Kom Quits Boxing
After Rio Olympics Games 2016:
Olympic medallist M C Mary Kom
has decided to quit boxing after
the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. She
explained that her body is not being
able to cope up with the rigours
of the sport any further.Mary is
concentrating on setting up her
boxing academy in Imphal. She is
the first Indian woman boxer to win
a Gold Medal in the 2014 Asian
Games held at Incheon, South
Korea. She had also won a bronze
medal in 2012 London Olympics in
the flyweight (51 kg) category and
was the only Indian woman boxer
to qualify for this category. Mary
has been nicknamed as Magnificent
Mary. She is the only woman boxer
to have won a medal in all the six
world championships.She has been
conferred with Padma Bhushan
(2013), Padma Shree (2010) and
Arjuna Award (2003) for her
important contribution to boxing.
APRIL
Rajya Sabha passes The Rights of
Transgender Persons Bill, 2014: On
25th April 2015, a private members
Bill protecting and providing rights for
transgenders was passed by the Rajya
Sabha. The Bill guarantees reservation
in education and jobs, financial aid and
social inclusion. This is the first time
in 45 years that a private members
Bill has been passed by the House.
The bill seeks to provide framework
for formulations and implementations
of laws to ensure overall development
of the transgender people. It demands
for 2 percent reservation in primary,
secondary and higher education and
in government jobs.
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It also protects a transgender childs
rights saying they cannot be separated
from their parents on grounds of being
transgender. Penalty for hate speech
and social discriminations against
transgender include imprisonment
upto one year and fine.
29 nations and leading democracies in
the world including US, UK, Canada,
France, Australia, Italy and Singapore
have legislations protecting rights of
transgender persons.
Indian Railways launches
E-Samiksha to monitor rail
projects online: Indian Railways
based on Rail Budget proposals, on
21st April launched E-Samiksha, an
online monitoring mechanism. It is
a very good beginning and now each
and every project implementation
can be monitored on real-time basis,
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu
said in New Delhi after launching
the system.
The software is designed by NIC
and is currently being used by
Cabinet Secretariat, PMO and
other Ministries for monitoring
progress implementation of various
programmes and follow-up of
meetings. The main objective of
this software is to to monitor the
progress of every project whether
small or big.
Computerization and Information
System (C&IS) of Railway Board
in coordination with NIC and
Department of Electronics and
Information Technology (DeitY)
have developed the software
for ESamiksha. According to
a Railway official involved with
the E-Samiksha, the software
has been developed to make it a
highly interactive web-based, user-
friendly and customised system.
Currently, it is being used by Cabinet
Secretariat, Prime Ministers Office

and other Ministries for monitoring
progress implementation of various
programmes and follow-up of
meetings.
MAY
RBI Allowed Tap And Pay Without
Pin For Transactions Up to 2000
Rupees: Relaxing norms, the Reserve
Bank of India on 14th May 2015
allowed banks to enable transactions
in contactless cards for values
up to Rs 2,000 without requiring
a separate PIN authentication.
Beyond this transaction limit, the
card has to be processed as a contact
payment and authentication with
PIN will be mandatory. This will
hasten acceptance of `tap and pay
electronic payments at retail outlets,
in transport services and for toll
payments. Tap and pay refers to
the use of near field communication
technology in payment cards where
instead of the traditional swiping of
the card and punching in payment
details, all the customer needs to
do is wave a card in front of an
acceptance device for the bill to be
settled. One of the preconditions set
out by RBI is that the contactless card
should also incorporate the latest
EMV Chip technology for enabling
payment beyond 2000 rupees. RBIs
announcement came on the day
State Bank of India announced the
largest roll-out of contactless card
payments in the country.
SEBI Notifies The Securities And
Exchange Board of India (Mutual
Funds) Regulations, 2015: On
20 March 2015 the Security and
Exchange Board of India (SEBI)
notified the SEBI (Mutual Funds)
Regulations, 2015. They have now
simplified norms for domestic funds
to manage offshore pooled assets
8
by dropping its 20-25 rule, that
required a minimum of 20 investors
and a cap of 25% on investment by
an individual, for funds from low-risk
foreign investors. The relaxation of
the rule is intended to make it easier
for domestic mutual funds to manage
offshore pooled assets. As per the
existing norms, a fund manager who
is managing a domestic scheme is
allowed to manage an offshore fund,
subject to three specific conditions.
The first requires the investment
objective and asset allocation of the
domestic scheme and of the offshore
fund to be the same. The second
condition requires at least 70 % of
the portfolio to be replicated across
both the domestic scheme and the
offshore fund. The third and most
stringent condition required offshore
fund to be broad-based with at least
20 investors with no single investor
holding more than 25% of the fund
corpus.
Government Launched Official
Website of NITI Aayog: The Union
Government replaced the Planning
Commission with National
Institution for Transforming India
(NITI) Aayog on January 1 2015
and on 18 May 2015 launched
official website of NITI Aayog. The
website was launched by Dr Arvind
Panagariya, Vice Chairman, NITI
Aayog. The function was attended
by Chief Executive of NITI Aayog
Sindhushree Khullar and members
Bibek Debroy and V.K. Saraswat.
The website has a unique feature of
blogs section that contains articles,
field reports, work in progress and
opinions by the officials; along with
details of the constitution, functions
and current activities of the NITI
Aayog. Nominated to serve as a
policy think-tank for the central as
well as state governments, NITI

Aayog has the Prime Minister as
its chairperson. The website can
be accessed on http://www.niti.
gov.in. However, the final website
is under construction and will be
updated soon. The designing of
the website took a little longer than
usual because it would have a wider
target audience as there would be a
platform for states, experts, citizens
and stakeholders where they can
share their views on different issues
and see others perspectives.
JUNE
Railway Ministry Decides To Run
Suvidha Trains: Railway Ministry
has decided to run Suvidha with
dynamic to address the rush during
peak travel seasons. The railway
ministry has followed a list of terms
and conditions to be followed for the
running of these trains. Tickets will
be issued only for confirmed and
RAC passengers accommodation.
There shall be no provision for
waiting list in the train. The earliest
advance reservation period will
be 30 days while the minimum
Advance Reservation period will
be of 10 days. No concession shall
be relevant on these trains. Full
adult ticket shall be changed for
all passengers irrespective of their
age. No provisions for free passes/
complimentary passes/warrant/
concessional voucher etc. will be
permitted in these trains. Apart
from e-ticketing the sale of tickets
shall also be allowed through PRS
counters. Only General quota
bookings will be applicable and
the up gradation option shall
not be applicable in these trains.
Passenger should produce one of
the prescribed Identity cards during
journey for verification purpose
for both e-ticket and PRS ticket.
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According to the demand pattern,
Suvidha train services will run
during peak seasons like winter
rush, summer rush, Dussehara rush,
Holi rush and on other occasions
as jointly decided by COMs and
CCMs of the zonal Railways.
Delhi Metro got its first driver-less
train: Delhis highly anticipated
Metro received its first driver-less
train, equipped with several highly
developed features. The train was
manufactured at Changwan in
South Korea. The new-age train that
arrived at the Mukundpur depot will
eventually run unattended, guided
by Delhi Metros operations control
centres. The route they would run
on the over 58 km-long Majlish
Park-Shiv Vihar (Line 7) and the
over 38 km-longJanakpuri(West)-
Botanical Garden (Line 8) corridors
of the Phase-III. According to the
latest reports both these sections are
expected to be operational by the
end of 2016.The trains are designed
for a maximum speed of 95 kmph
and operational speed of 85 kmph.
A total of 20 six-coach trains will be
manufactured in South Korea by the
end of this 2015, while 61 are being
manufactured at the Bharat Earth
Movers Limited (BEML) plant in
Bengaluru.Each train will be able to
accommodate 2,280 passengers
240 more than the regular six-coach
Metro train as driverless trains do
not require a cabin for the operator.
JULY
E-Tourist Visa Scheme Extended
To China, Hong Kong And Macau:
On 29th July, the Government of
India has extended e-Tourist Visa
(eTV) scheme for the applicants
from China, Hong Kong and Macau
with effect from 30th July 2015.

This would bring the total number
of nationalities availing this facility
from 74 to 77. The scheme is about
to be extended to more countries in
a phased manner.
Touristsundere-Tourist Visa scheme
can arrive at nine designated
airports i.e. Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad,
Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore,
Chennai, Cochin and Trivandrum.
After the launch of this scheme,
more than two lakh e-Tourists Visa
have been issued to nationals of
different countries.
Since last three year, a total of 1,
79,873 (One lakh seventy-nine
thousand eight hundred seventy-
three) tourist visas have been
issued to China, Hong Kong and
Macau. The aim of government for
launching e-Tourists Visa scheme
is to boost the tourist arrival from
these countries and strengthen
bilateral ties among people of these
regions.
RBI Releases Guidelines on PPI
For Mass Transit System: The RBI
has released Final Guidelines on
Prepaid Payment Instruments for
Mass Transit System (PPI-MTS) to
enable the issuance of a separate
category of semi-closed prepaid
instruments for mass transit system.
The PPI-MTS will not only enhance
commuter convenience but also
facilitate the transition towards the
countrys vision of moving to a less-
cash society.
The PPI-MTS can be used within
the mass transit systems and will
have a minimum validity of six
months from date of issue. Such
PPIs will be reloadable instruments
subject to an outstanding limit of
2,000/- at any point of time.
This new category of semi-closed
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PPIs has been introduced taking
into account the requests received
from various segments, including
providers of mass transit services,
such as metro train and road
transport services, indicating the
need for PPIs catering to the
requirements of this segments to
enhance commuter convenience.
MPEDA Launches Mobile-Based
Applications: The Marine Products
Export Development Authority
(MPEDA), a nodal agency for
promotion of marine exports from
India has launched two mobile
based applications to help farmers
get prices on shrimp and capture
data on aquaculture through mobile.
The two mobile- based applications
are:
1. Shrimp price information over
SMS by a missed call.
2. mkrishi-Mobile App for
Aquaculture Operations
MPEDA is providing price related
market information on Vannamei
and Black Tiger shrimp to farmers.
The farmers need to give a missed
call to a predetermined number and
they will get to know the prices of
various grades of these two varieties
of shrimp in major world markets
such as Japan, the U.S. and EU
through an SMS.
This service is being provided at
no cost to farmers all over India
and would enable them to take
an informed decision on harvest
of their produce and get better
price realization. The agency
has launched an Android based
mobile app called mKrishi to
enable farmers get expert guidance
on all operations, besides helping
with book keeping and weather
information.

The farmers can see the reports in a
graphical form. An option to view
the trends or reports in the computer
is also provided to give seamless
data entry and visualisation. This
will help in resolving issues quickly
on a more personalised manner.
NDDB Launches Mobile
Application Pashuposhan:
National Dairy Development Board
launched a mobile application
Pashu-Poshan to boost dairy
farmers income by raising milk
yield and reducing feed cost. The
app will recommend a balanced
diet for cows and buffaloes. The app
will be available on both web and
android platforms. This service can
be accessed by registering on the
INAPH portal.
To avail of this service a farmer
needs to provide complete animal
profile; its breed, age, milk
production, fat content in milk apart
from the food items that the animal
is fed on along with the cost in
order to formulate a balanced ration
formula.
This has resulted in reducing the
feed cost by Rs. 5-15 per animal
and an average increase in milk
production by an average 300 ml per
animal per day.
India is the largest milk producer in
the world, but the challenge before
the countrys dairy sector is low
productivity of its bovine population
as compared to developed countries.
Online National Agriculture
Market: Union Cabinet has
approved setting up of an online
National Agriculture Market that
will provide more options to farmers
for selling their produce. For online
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national agriculture market, an
online platform will be set up. On
this platform farmers will be able
to sell and buy vegetables, fruits
and other produce from across the
country. The Union Government
will also establish an agency to
oversee online trading and ensure
that transactions take place
smoothly.
This Online agriculture market will
also focus on creating godowns
and facilitate transportation of the
farm produce after online trade.
The move is expected to give
choice to farmers to sell the farm
produce both in physical mandis as
well as online. The free access to
sell via online trade is believed to
boost their incomes and improve
availability, moderating price rise.
Currently, farmers sell their produce
at traditional mandis or market
committees which charge various
taxes on producers.
1st Earthquake Warning System in
Uttarakhand: Uttarakhand became
the first state to install a system to
detect earthquakes and disseminate
warnings. This system has been
installed in Dehradun which will
issue warnings 1-40 seconds before
earthquakes of magnitude 5 or
more. The system is designed and
manufactured by Italian Company,
Space Dynamics.
Main Features of the Earthquake
Warning System (EWS):
This system has sensors, capable
of detecting P (Primary) and S
(Secondary) waves generated during
an earthquake.
It is capable of detecting the
harmless P wave, which travels

faster than the S wave for advance
warning.
The system has the earliest detection
among those currently in use
worldwide.
It can generate a variety of alarms
like programmable built-in audio
alert, connected to external alarms
like sirens and public announcement
systems.
It can also trigger visual alerts
and send them via cell phones
and the internet. According to the
Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS),
Uttarakhand falls under seismic
Zone V; a zone of high seismic
activity with magnitude of 6.9 or
larger on Richter scale. Apart from
it, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal
Pradesh, Rann of Kutch (Gujarat),
Northern Bihar and Andaman
and Nicobar islands fall under this
seismic zone.
AUGUST
6 new SEZ proposals approved:
(28th August) The Union
Government approved six new
proposals which include four from
IT and IT enabled Service (ITeS)
sector, for setting up of Special
Economic Zones (SEZs). The
decision was taken by the Board of
Approval (BoA) for SEZ headed by
Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia.
The proposals which got the
approval include the HCL IT City
Lucknow, Loma IT Park Developer
and North Mumbai International
Commodity Township.
The exports from these particular
zones had risen to Rs 4.94 lakh
crore in 2013-14 from the previous
amount of Rs 22,840 crore in 2005-
06. These SEZs account about 25%
12
of the nations total exports.
In total there are 330 notified SEZs
across the country of which 36 are
operational in Tamil Nadu, followed
by Karnatakaand Telangana having
26 each while Maharashtra having
25. The Commerce Ministry has
been taking a number of steps
to boost exports as the value of
countrys shipments in the last four
financial years has been around
$300 billion.
SEPTEMBER
Gold Monetization Schemes
Introduced: The Union Cabinet
chaired by the Prime Minister Modi
on September 9 gave its approval for
introduction of Gold Monetization
Schemes (GMS), as announced
in the Union Budget 2015-16.
The objective of introducing the
modifications in the schemes is to
make the existing schemes more
effective and to broaden the ambit
of the existing schemes from merely
mobilizing gold held by households
and institutions in the country to
putting this gold into productive use.
The long-term objective which is
sought through this arrangement is
to reduce the countrys reliance on
the import of gold to meet domestic
demand.
The long-term objective of the
scheme is to reduce the countrys
reliance on the import of gold to
meet domestic demand. GMS
would benefit the Indian gems and
jewellery sector which is a major
contributor to countrys exports
by accounting 12 per cent of total
exports. It would enable depositors
to earn interest on their on their
gold accounts. These schemes are
in addition to the implementation
Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme

(SGBS) which was approved by the
Union Cabinet. Under this scheme,
bonds will be issued with an interest
rate decided by Union Government
and calculated on value at the time
of investment.
BSE Has Highest Number of
Listed Companies in the World:
WFE: Bombay Stock Exchange
(BSE) has the highest number of
listed companies in the world as
announced by the World Federation
of Exchanges (WEF). A total
number of 5689 companies were
listed with the BSE by the end
of June 2015. However, there is
only one foreign company out of
5689. By the end of June 2015, the
National Stock Exchange of India
(NSE) had 1750 listed companies.
The total value of transactions in
the BSE was 94 billion US dollars
during the same period.
AS for Shanghai stock exchange of
China (having 1070 companies), it is
at the top in terms of value of share
trading with 30 trillion US dollars
worth transactions in June 2015.
BSE is followed by TMX Group,
BME Spanish Exchanges, London
SE Group, NASDAQ OMX, NYSE
Euronext (US), Tokyo SE Group,
Australian SE, Korea Exchange
and NSE in the top ten. While
TMX has 3,964 listed companies,
London Stock Exchange has 2,782
companies, NASDAQ OMX has
2,598 and NYSE Euronext (US) has
2,345.
Purchase of 10 Heron TP Drones
From Israel Approved: India on
11 September 2015 approved the
purchase of 10 Heron TP drones
from Israel. This 400 million US
dollars proposal for buying armed
13
missile-armed drones from Israel
will enhance Indias cross-border
military strike capabilities. The
Indian Air Force (IAF) which has
also a fleet of Harpy UAVs from
Israel will operate the drones; they
are primarily tasked with taking out
enemy radar positions.
The armed drones are equipped
with air-to-ground missiles which
will carry a payload of 1,000 kg.
The project has been given pace and
the drones may be put into service
within a year. The armed forces had
proposed buying the same armed
drones in 2012. But the proposal
didnt take off due to not getting
support of UPA-2 government. The
project was revived by the Modi
government this year.
The armed drones are the same
as the Predator unmanned aerial
vehicles (UAVs) capable of
reconnaissance, combat and support
roles. India operates unarmed Heron
and Searcher UAVs for surveillance
and intelligence purposes.
Indian Railways & Google
Provide Free Wi-Fi Services:
Indian Railways and Google have
partnered to launch a new project
under the code name Project Nilgiri
on September 13. The project will
deliver free Wi-fi access to around
400 railway stations across India.
Google will be using the Google
Fiber project, thatll provide high
speed internet connection for the
travellers.
Commuters can access Wi-fi only
after mobile number verification
through a one-time password sent
over SMS. Initially, a user will get
high speed internet connectivity for

the first 30 minutes and thereafter,
the speed will drop and become
slow though the connection of the
users will still be active.
In the first phase, Google and
Indian Railways will set up Wi-
fi hotspots across 400 railway
stations throughout India over a
period of 4 months from now. In
its phase 2 expansion, Google will
provide Wi-fi on board moving
trains Pan India using cutting
edge technology. Presently, Indian
Railways provide Wi-fi connectivity
in moving trains for select routes
like Rajdhani express using satellite
communication technology.
National World
Name
ranking ranking
1 39 Mukesh Ambani
2 44 Dilip Sanghvi
3 48 Azim Premji
4 185 S P Hinduja
5 108 Pallonji Mistry
6 156 Shiv Nadar
7 208 Godrej family
8 82 Lakshmi Mittal
Cyrus
9 208
Poonawalla
10 142 Kumar Birla
Indian Railways Develops
Prototype of Hybrid Vacuum
Toilet: The Indian Railways has
come up with an eco-friendly
sanitation project, under which,
this new kind of toilet has been
set up to save water on trains. A
prototype of the new hybrid vacuum
toilet has been made that comprises
a modified vacuum toilet that is
used in aircraft and a biodigester
tank, which converts the excreta
14
Forbes Releases List Of Indias
100 Richest People: Forbes list of
Indian richest people is based on
an annual assessment of wealth
and assets compiled and published
by Forbes magazine in 2015. The
combined net worth of the 2015
class of the 100 richest Indians is
US$ 345 billion, down from 346
billion a year ago in 2014. Mukesh
Ambani remains Indias richest
person for the ninth consecutive year
with a net worth of US$18.9 billion,
according to the latest Forbes India
Rich List. The top 10 richest people
of India are as follows:
Net worth
Source(s) of wealth
(USD)
18.9 billion Reliance Industries
18 billion Sun Pharmaceutical
15.9 billion Wipro
14.8 billion Hinduja Group
14.7 billion Shapoorji Pallonji Group
12.9 billion HCL
11.4 billion Godrej Group
13.5 billion ArcelorMittal
Poonawalla Group,
7.9 billion
Serum Institute of India
7.8 billion Aditya Birla Group
into water and gas with the help of
anaerobic bacteria.
With the transfer of the discharge of
the vacuum toilets into biodigester,
the need to create separate ground
handling installation and creating
additional sewer load on the
Municipal Corporation will be done
away with. The concept has been
converted into a working prototype
by Indian Railways as a first ever
system of its kind to have been

developed and built by any railway
system in the world. This newly
developed toilet has been fitted in
one coach of Dibrugarh Rajdhani
for trial.
The prototype consists of a custom
designed Vacuum toilet adapted
from a commercially available
vacuum toilet that is used in aircrafts
which evacuates its discharge into
a biodigester tank which is now
successfully proven in the biotoilets
of Indian Railways. The biodigester
tank is fitted underneath the coach
and contains anaerobic bacteria that
convert human fecal matter into
water and small amount of gases
before discharging the same on the
ground/track.
Government Provides Additional
50 Days Work Under MGNREGA:
The Union government on
September 14 decided to provide
additional 50 days of work in
drought-hit areas under the
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act
(MGNREGA) scheme to provide
relief to farmers on account of
deficit monsoon in various parts of
the country. Currently, 100 days of
work is provided to rural job card
holders under the MGNREGA.
The decision was taken following
monsoon deficit reaching 16 per
cent across the country, which
could affect kharif crops and rural
income. The move will enable
states to provide additional wage
employment to rural poor in drought
affected areas. The poorest rural
households will benefit from this, as
it will help in immediate absorption
of rural seasonal unemployment,
and reduce rural distress.
The government had already
15
announced diesel subsidy for
farmers to help save standing crops.
It also enhanced ceiling on seed
subsidy to compensate the farmers
in the drought affected districts for
the additional expenditure incurred
in the re-sowing.
Besides, the government has
made flexible allocation under the
Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana and
other centrally sponsored schemes.
It has put in place crop contingency
plan for 600 districts.
Marathi-film Court as Indias
Official entry to Oscar: Chaitanya
Tamhanes debut Marathi movie
Court, a courtroom drama has been
chosen as Indias official entry for
the Best Foreign Language Film
category at the 88th Academy
Awards. Court had also won a
National Film Award.
The 17-member jury to choose the
entry was headed by veteran actor-
filmmaker Amol Palekar. According
to reports, PK, Masaan, Mary Kom,
Haider, Kaaka Muttai, Baahubali
and Kuttram Kadithal were among
the films that the jury also watched.
Court about a trial which unfolds
in a lower court, where the hopes
and dreams of the citys ordinary
people play out won the National
Film Award in the Best Feature
Film category for 2014.
With impactful performances by
actors Vivek Gomber, Vira Sathidar,
Geetanjali Kulkarni and Shirish
Pawar, the movie did its fair share
of rounds at foreign movie galas.
Last year, Liars Dice, a road drama
starring Geetanjali Thapa and
Nawazuddin Siddiqui in lead roles,
was selected as Indias official entry
to the Best Foreign Film category
of Oscars, but it failed to make
it to the top five at the Academy

Awards. The 88th Academy Awards
ceremony will be held on February
28, 2016.
Four new isotopes discovered at
Manipal University: Researchers
from the Manipal Centre of Natural
Sciences at Manipal University,
Karnataka, with collaborators from
GSI, Germany, have succeeded in
discovering four new atomic nuclei
to be added to the Chart of the
Nuclides. The newly discovered,
exotic nuclei are one isotope each of
the heavy elements berkelium and
neptunium and two isotopes of the
element americium.
To enable the discovery of the new
isotopes, scientists used a new,
highly sensitive method to create
and detect the nuclei and the results
of this work constitute the first
proof of this new technique. A
300-nanometer-thick foil of curium
was bombarded with accelerated
calcium nuclei in this experiment.
In the collisions studied, the atomic
nuclei of the two elements touched,
and formed a compound system for
an extremely short time. Before the
compound system could break apart
again, after about a sextillionth of
a second, the two nuclei involved
exchanged a significant number
of their nuclear building-blocks
protons and neutrons to form
various isotopes as the end products.
The newly discovered isotopes have
fewer neutrons and are lighter than
the previously known isotopes of
the respective elements.
OCTOBER
RBI Allows NRIS To Subscribe
To National Pension System: The
Reserve Bank of India has given
non-resident Indians (NRIs) to
subscribe to the National Pension
16
System (NPS) for giving them access
to income security during old age.
The decision has been taken by the
RBI in consultation of the Union
Government and Prime Minister
Narendra Modis efforts. The
subscription of the pension system
can be availed through normal
banking channels and the eligible
person can make investments
according to the provisions of
PFRDA (Pension Fund Regulatory
and Development Authority) Act,
2013. NRIs will have two ways to
pay the subscription amounts, that
is, either by inward remittance
through normal banking channels or
out of funds they have in their NRO/
NRE/FCNR account. There will not
be any restriction on repatriation
of annuity or accumulated savings.
NPS is governed by PFRDA and was
launched in the year 2004. NPS,
initially, was introduced for the new
Government recruits (other than
armed forces). It aims at inculcating
the habit of saving money for
retired citizens in order for them to
have monetary aid during their old
age. The pension plan was, on May
1, 2009, extended for all citizens
living in the country.
RBI Issues Gold Monetization
Scheme Guidelines for Banks: The
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued
guidelines for banks to implement
the gold scheme that was approved
earlier by the government. The
Gold Monetization scheme would
allow the banks to fix interest rates
on gold deposit according to their
own guidelines. According to the
scheme the interest and the principal
payments on gold deposits will be
done in gold. Subject to a minimum
lock-in period, RBI will give the
provision of premature withdrawal
of the deposited gold. An idle gold

worth about INR 5, 40, 000 crore
has been targeted by the banking
systems for gold monetisation
scheme. The scheme does not have
any limit to the maximum deposit
a person can make however, there
is a minimum deposit set which
is 30 grams. The gold can be in
any formcoins, bars, jewellery
excluding other metals and stones.
There will be two deposit options
available to the customersShort
Term Bank Deposit (1-3years)
and Medium (5-7 years) and Long
Term Government Deposit (12-
15 years). All the deposits will be
made Collection and Purity Testing
Centre (CPTC).
Union Government Launches
KISAN Project and Hailstorm
App for Crop Damage: The
pilot programme, KISAN, was
launched to fasten the payment
process of crop insurance claims
to the farmers. It will make use of
satellite and imaging by drone and
other technology to generate timely
and accurate data on crop yielding.
On the basis of crop cutting
experiments, the payment against
crop insurance is released. To
develop a new index based insurance
approach is yet another feature
incorporated in the program. The
delay in settlements of the insurance
has been of great concern to the
government. Mahalanobis National
Crop Forecast Centre, Indian
Space Research Organisation,
India Meteorological Department,
State Agriculture Departments and
Remote Sensing Centres, Climate
Change, Agriculture and Food
Security will all work together
jointly in this programme. The
newly launched android based
App will enable to collect data
of hailstorm causing damages to
standing crops. Hailstorms have
17
been noted to be responsible for
crop damage on a large scale basis.
The App would allow farmers to
send pictures of hailstorms to the
ISROs Bhuvan server giving the
government opportunity to have a
quick assessment of the damages to
the crops.
E-Sahyog Pilot Project of Income-
Tax Department to Facilitate
Taxpayers: The Income-tax
Department is committed to
the Digital India initiative of
the Government of India. The
Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley
launched here today an e-Sahyog
pilot project which furthers the
Departments commitment to work
in an e-environment and reduces the
need for the taxpayer to physically
appear before tax authorities.
The e-Sahyog project launched
on a pilot basis is aimed at reducing
compliance cost, especially for
small taxpayers. The objective of
e-Sahyog is to provide an online
mechanism to resolve mismatches
in Income-tax returns of those
assesses whose returns have been
selected for scrutiny, without
visiting the Income Tax Office.
Under this initiative the Department
will provide an end to end e-service
using SMS, e-mails to inform the
tax assesses of the mismatch. The
taxpayers will simply need to visit
the e-filing portal and log in with
their user-ID and password to view
mismatch related information and
submit online response on the issue.
The responses submitted online
by the taxpayers will be processed
and if the response and other
information are found satisfactory
as per automated closure rules, the
issue will be treated as closed. The
taxpayers can check the updated
status by logging in to the e-filing
portal.

NOVEMBER
NITI Aayog Initiates New
Nutrition Strategy Development to this newly launched scheme, the
Idea_india: NITI Aayog conducted
its first initiative towards setting up
a National Nutrition Strategy on
October 28, 2015. It was chaired
by the CEO of NITI Aayog,
Ms Sindhushree Khullar. NITI
Aayog conducted a meeting with
the Ministries of Women and
Child Development and Health
and Family Welfare after having
gathered necessary data on under
nutrition specifically targeting
the poorly performing states and
districts. Professional bodies,
international agencies, voluntary
organisations and experts came
together at one place to discuss
the issue of under nutrition in the
country and the ways to eradicate it.
The NITI officials and the Ministries
of Health and Family Welfare
and Program Implementation and
Additional Registrar General of
India shared important vision and
design of the Nutritional Strategy.
International organisations such
as UNICEF, WHO, UN Women
and UNDP also presented their
views at the meeting. By the end of
December, 2015, NITI Aayog has
been asked to prepare a draft on
Nutrition Strategy in consultations
of the experts. Constitution of an
Inter-Ministerial Group on Health
and Nutrition Data has been seen
as an important requirement to
enable the identification of focus
districts and recommendations to
monitor and track the progress of
the strategy in these areas.
Indian Railways launches Vikalp
scheme for waitlisted passengers:
With effect from November 1, 2015,
18
Indian Railways launches passenger
friendly scheme - Vikalp Scheme for
waitlisted passengers. According
passengers on waitlist will be able
to get confirmed berths in the next
train on the same route subject to
availability. The pilot project of a
new scheme i.e. Vikalp Scheme
is also known as alternative train
accommodation scheme (ATAS)
and is launched on Delhi- Lucknow
and Delhi-Jammu routes. The
facility of this scheme is limited to
the express and mail trains. This
scheme is available only for the
tickets which are to be booked
online i.e. E-ticket.
The objective to launch this
scheme is to provide confirmed
accommodation to the waitlisted
passengers and to ensure the
optimal utilisation of available
accommodation for these
passengers. Under this scheme,
passengers have to pay No extra
charge to avail this facility or any
refund provided for the difference
of fare. In the next available train,
a separate list of the passengers
transferred will be pasted along with
the confirmed and waitlist charts.
DECEMBER
Employers Attestation not
Required for PF Claim: The
Employees Provident Fund
Organisation (EPFO) has allowed its
subscribers to file their applications
directly to the retirement fund body
without employers attestation.
This was earlier mandatory for this
purpose. Employees whose details
like Aadhaar Number and Bank
Account Number have been seeded

in their Universal (or portable PF)
Account Number (UAN) and whose
UAN have been activated will be
able to enjoy this benefit given
by EPFO. Claims will have to be
submitted manually by subscribers
and this initiative will make the PF
withdrawals easy for the employees.
National Waterways Bill, 2015:
Union Cabinet has given its approval
to carry out official amendments
in The National Waterways Bill,
2015. The amendments are based
on the recommendations of the
Department related Parliamentary
Standing Committee on Transport,
Tourism and Culture and comments
of State Governments. It provides
for enacting a Central Legislation
to declare 106 additional inland
waterways as the national
waterways by which the total
number of NW goes up to 111
from existing 5. Union Government
is empowered to make laws on
shipping and navigation on national
waterways as per Entry 24 of the
Union List of the 7th Schedule of
the Constitution.
SABLA Scheme to Empower
Adolescent Girls: Rajiv Gandhi
Scheme for Empowerment of
Adolescent Girls (RGSEAG)
Sabla has been implemented by
Govt. which aims at empowering
Adolescent Girls (AGs) between 11-
18 years through nutrition, health
care and life skills education. Nearly
100 lakh adolescent girls per annum
are expected to be benefitted under
the scheme. The scheme will cover
19
205 districts selected from all the
States and UTs. An amount of Rs
27486.79 lakhs has been released
to states under SABLA in 2015-16
till date and amount utilised is Rs
7844.49 lakhs.
SETU to Support Start-up
Businesses: Government has
set up a mechanism known as
SETU to support all aspects of
start-up businesses and other self-
employment activities. SETU
(SelfEmployment and Talent
Utilisation) has been established
under NITI Aayog is a Techno-
Financial, Incubation and
Facilitation Programme to support
all aspects of start-up businesses,
and other self-employment
activities, particularly in technology-
driven areas.
Arbitration and Conciliation
(Amendment) Bill, 2015: The
Lok Sabha has today passed the
Arbitration and Reconciliation
(Amendment Bill), 2015 by voice
vote. The Bill seeks to make the
arbitration process more investor-
friendly, cost effective and suitable
for expeditious disposal of cases. It
will also facilitate in making India
a hub of international commercial
arbitration. Courts will also be asked
to decide disputed arbitral awards
within a year. It may be noted that
the President had promogulated an
ordinance for amending the earlier
prevalent act, the Arbitration and
Conciliation Act 1996 related and
for matters connected there with or
incidental thereto.

JANUARY
Project Lettuce: To grow lettuce
on Mars in 2018: Scientists at
University of Southampton are
planning to grow lettuce on the
red planet in year 2018. The team
will grow some plants on Mars
to see if the plants can survive the
atmosphere. Minimum amount
of resources would be taken from
Earth while essential gases would
be extracted and processed from
Martian atmosphere for growing
the plants. A green house, frozen
seeds of lettuce, several nutrients
and systems for monitoring and
processing the atmosphere would be
taken along to Mars. A not-for-profit
foundation, Mars One, will launch
Mars One Lander. The frozen
lettuce seeds would be reactivated
inside the greenhouse chamber
after Mars One Lander reaches
Mars. The lettuce is reported to be
grown on Mars without any soil.
Water and other nutrients would
be sprayed timely on the plants.
The foundation, Mars One, aims at
establishing a permanent habitat for
humans on the red planet by the year
2026. The project leader, Suzanna
Lucarotti, communicated that
food is important for humans and
so it should be tested if the plants
can thrive on the planet before the
planet can be affirmed fit for human
habitation.
Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna
made it to Guinness World
Records: With 11.5 crore Jan Dhan
accounts opened, the Pradhaan
Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana entered
the Guinness World Records.
The Guinness World Record has
commended India for having
achieved the opening of highest
20
number of bank accounts in a short
span of nearly five months. The
Yojana was announced by the PM on
January 26, 2015 and launched on
August 28, 2015. The initial target
was the underprivileged section of
the Indian society. The three most
important needs of launching the
programme were to create a way
to encourage the habit of saving
money, providing credit channels
and bridging gaps in the public
subsidy and welfare programmes.
9.06 crore accounts were opened
by the public banks alone while
the regional banks opened 2 crore
accounts. According to reports,
about 8.24 crore accounts had zero
balance. To more than 10 crore
beneficiaries, the RuPay cards have
been issued so far. Indian Finance
Minister, Arun Jaitley was presented
with the official record certificate
issued by the Guinness World
Records. The programme is said to
boost the countrys economy in the
coming time.
FEBUARY
3 Indians Shortlisted For The Trip
to Mars: In a proud moment, 3
Indians - 19-yearl Sharadha Prasad,
29-year Ritika Singh and 29-year
Taranjeet Singh Bhatia - are among
the 100 shortlisted applicants who
were chosen for one-way trip to
Mars under Mars One mission in
the third week of February 2015.
The candidates selected from a
pool of 202586 candidates for a
planned one-way trip to Mars in
2024 include 50 men and 50 women
from all around the world - 39
from America, 31 from Europe,

16 from Asia, 7 from Africa and 7
from Oceania. The first troop will
reach the red planet in 2025. These
candidates will now appear in the
second and third round of the Mars
One Astronaut Selection Process to
be conducted by the Netherlands-
based non-profit organization Mars
One. These rounds will focus on
composing teams that can endure
all the hardships of a permanent
settlement on Mars. The candidates
will receive their first shot at training
in the replica of the Mars Outpost
on Earth and will demonstrate their
suitability to perform well in a team.
New 3D vaccine for cancer and
infectious diseases found: National
Institute Biomedical Imaging and
Bioengineering (NIBIB) funded
researchers have developed a novel
3D vaccine that could provide a
more effective way to manipulate
the immune system to fight cancer
and other infectious diseases. The
vaccine is able to self-construct
into a 3D structure and manipulate
immune cells.
The vaccine is composed of many
micro-sized, porous silica rods
dispersed in liquid; When injected
under the skin, the liquid quickly
diffuses leaving the rods to form
a randomly assembled three
dimensional structure resembling
a hayrack. The spaces between
the rods are big enough to house
dendritic cells and other immune
cells, and the rods have nano sized
pores that can be loaded with a
combination of antigens and drugs.
Cancer cells are often ignored by the
immune system because for the most
part- they closely resemble cells that
belong to the body than pathogens,
21
such as bacterial cells or viruses. The
goal of cancer vaccines is to provoke
the immune system to recognize
cancer cells as foreign and attack
them.
RWB releases the World Press
Freedom Index 2015: The Reporters
without Borders (RWB) released the
World Press Freedom Index (WPFI)
2015. In the WPFI India was
placed at 136th position out of 180
countries that were surveyed in terms
of Freedom of Press. On the top
of the list were three Scandinavian
countries: Finland on the First
position followed by Norway and
Denmark. At the other end of the
scale were Turkemenistan, North
Korea and Eritrea were the worst
performers securing the last position
in the Index.
World Press Freedom Index
highlights the worldwide
deterioration in the freedom of
information in 2014.
India has shown improvement in its
rank from in 2014. However Indias
score has gone down from 40.34 to
40.49
World Press Freedom Index
is produced by France based
international non-governmental
organization, Reporters without
Borders (RWB). WPFI aims to
promote and defend freedom of
information and freedom of press.
The WFPI ranks countries according
to index calculated based upon
various parameters.
These parameters include media
pluralism and independence,
respect for the safety and freedom
of journalists and the legislative,
institutional and infrastructural
environment in which the media
operate.

MARCH
RBI Signs $400 million Currency
Swap Pact with Sri Lanka: The
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
signed a US $400 million currency
swap agreement with the Central
Bank of Sri Lanka. The currency
swap agreement will permit the
central banks of both nations to
make withdrawals of US Dollar or
Euro in multiple tranches up to a
maximum limit of USD 400 million
or its equivalent. The agreement will
be valid for a period of three years
and strengthen the economic co-
operation between the two countries.
During the SAARCFINANCE
Governors meeting held in Nepal
in 2012, the RBI announced that it
will offer currency swap facilities
aggregating USD 2 billion. This
facility will be offered in both foreign
currency and rupee to SAARC
member countries. In this regard,
the swap arrangement are signed to
provide a backstop line of funding
for the SAARC member countries
to meet any balance of payments
(BOP) and liquidity crisis till long-
term arrangements are made.
APRIL
Canada to Supply Uranium to
India: On 15th April 2015, Canada
agreed to supply 3,000 metric tonnes
of uranium to energy-hungry India
from this year under a $254-million
five-year deal to power Indian
atomic reactors, four decades after
bilateral cooperation in this sector
was frozen over Indias nuclear
programme. The agreement for
22
uranium supply came two years after
protracted negotiations following
the 2013 civil nuclear deal between
India and Canada. It was signed
after comprehensive talks between
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and
his Canadian counterpart Stephen
Harper.
Canada is the third country to
supply uranium to India after Russia
and Kazakhstan. The supplies will
be under the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards.
Cameco Corporation will supply
3,000 metric tonnes of uranium over
five years to India at an estimated
cost of $254 million and the supply
will start from this year.
Canada is the second-largest
producer of uranium globally, with
exports valued at over $1 billion per
year.
MAY
Japanese scientists Discover new
State of Matter: Scientists at
Tokohu University in Japan, on
14th May 2015, discovered a new
state of matter called the Jahn-
Tellermetal that resembles an
insulator, superconductor, metal
and magnet all rolled into one. The
researchers said that the research
could help develop new molecular
materials that are superconductors
at even higher temperatures.
The study is led by Kosmas
Prassides of Tohoku University
in Japan and provides important
clues about how the interplay
between the electronic structure
of the molecules and their spacing
within the lattice can strengthen
interactions between electrons that
cause superconductivity. The study
shows that the material has a rich
combination of insulating, magnetic,

metallic and superconducting phases
- including the otherwise unknown
state, dubbed as Jahn-Teller metal.
In terms of Science Advances, this
research involves caesium fulleride
(Cs3C60) in a face-centred-cubic
lattice with a Cs3C60 molecule at
each lattice site. Jahn- Teller Metal
was found by changing the distance
between neighbouring buckyballs by
doping the material with rubidium.
It is named after the Jahn-Teller
effect, which is used in chemistry to
describe how at low pressures, the
geometric arrangement of molecules
and ions in an electronic state can
become distorted.
Forbes Global 2000 Companies
List: Forbes released Global 2000
Companies list comprising the
worlds biggest, most powerful and
most valuable companies. China
landed five of the top 10 spots for
the second time in a row. The top
five companies include Industrial &
Commercial Bank of China (ICBC);
China Construction Bank (China);
Agricultural Bank of China (China);
Bank of China (China); Berkshire
Hathaway (United States). State
Bank of India (world ranking 152)
topped the Indian companies list
with assets worth $400.6 billion,
followed by Indian Oil (349) in the
second and Coal India (490) in the
third place. The Forbes Global 2000
is an annual ranking of the top 2,000
public companies in the world by
the renowned Forbes magazine.
The criteria for the ranking in the
list included sales, profits, assets
and market value. The list has been
published since 2003. The top five
country-wise breakdown include
US 579, China (mainland and Hong
Kong) 232, Japan 218, Britain 94
and South Korea 66.
State of Food Insecurity in The
World 2015 Report: State of Food
23
Insecurity in the World 2015 was
released by Food and Agriculture
Organisation of the United Nations
(FAO), the International Fund for
Agricultural Development (IFAD)
and the World Food Programme
(WFP) by UN hunger report titled
annually.
The report mentions that the
number of undernourished has
reduced significantly; now 795
people are undernourished globally
which is 216 lesser than in 1990-
1992. This has brought the share of
undernourished people in the world
down from 23.3 per cent to 12.9 per
cent. The decline is more marked
in developing nations despite
population growth.
Chinese social media platform
Weibo joined by PM Modi: Prime
Minister Narendra Modi joined
Chinas popularsocial media
platform Weibo. He became the
first Indian leader to join Weibo.
The site also features accounts
of politicians like British Prime
Minister David Cameron. Modi is
one of the worlds most followed
politicians on social media. His
account had over 7,000 hits in the
first hour after he set up his Weibo
account. PMs Office maintains a
strong presence on social media so
that the prime minister can maintain
the sync with his vision of digital
India in which technology plays
a pivotal role for Governance and
policy making.International social
media sites like Google, Facebook
and Twitter arent available in
China, therefore, local services
possessing similar features have
become immensely popular with
the people of China. Sina Weibois
aChinesemicro blogging website

which was launched bySINA
Corporationon 14 August 2009,and
by December 2012 had503 million
registered users.Sina Weibo has
approximately 100 million messages
posted each day.
JUNE
Wealth-X Releases Worlds
Wealthiest Self-Made Billionaires
List: Microsoft co-founder Bill
Gates was declared worlds richest
self-made billionaire with net
worth USD 86 billion, according to
Wealth-X, global wealth intelligence
and prospecting company. Business
magnate Warren Buffett with USD
70.1 billion took the second slot on
the list. Spains Amancio Ortega
(USD 65 billion) came in next. The
list of the top wealthiest self-made
billionaires includes Larry Ellison
(USD 51.5 billion), Ingvar Kamprad
(USD 48.1 billion), Jeff Bezos (USD
39.8 billion), Carlos Slim (USD
35.4 billion), Mark Zuckerberg
(USD 35.3 billion), Wang Jianlin
(USD 35.2 billion) and Michael
Bloomberg (USD 33.7 billion).
American entrepreneurs dominated
the Wealth-X list by grabbing 14 of
the 25 spots. The joint wealth of the
14 Americans on the list amounted
to USD 514.2 billion, which is
greater than GDP of Norway. The
list also features Googles Larry
Page and Sergey Brin, and Alibaba
chairman Jack Ma.Wealth-X is
the global authority on wealth
intelligence, providing sales and
marketing strategy and compliance
solutions to clients in the financial
services, luxury, and not-for-profit
and education sectors.
India and the US Sign 2015
Framework for the India-US
Defence Relationship: US Defence
24
Secretary Ash Carter and Indian
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar
signed a 10-year defence framework
agreement to strengthen the growth
of defence cooperation between
the two countries. The agreement
was an outgrowth of the meeting
that was held between President
Barack Obama and Indian Prime
Minister Narendra Modi in January
2015. Both the countries have
finalized two project agreements
for joint development of Mobile
Electric Hybrid Power Sources and
the Next Generation Protective
Ensembles. The also agreed to speed
up discussions to take forward the
cooperation on jet engines, aircraft
carrier design and construction,
and other areas. The agreement
also included plans to cooperate in
developing a mobile solar energy
power source that could be used in
remote areas and in developing a
lightweight protective suit effective
in chemical and biological hazard
environments.The US secretarys
visit also aims at convergence of
Indias Act East policy and the U.S.
rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region.
Under the Act East policy, India
will focus on improving relations
with Association of Southeast
Asian Nations and other East Asian
countries. The two nations have
agreed to continue their efforts to
enhance bilateral cooperation in
areas such as maritime security and
knowledge partnership in the field of
defence.
China Unveil Worlds First Facial
Recognition ATM Machine:
China has unveiled the worlds first
facial recognition ATM, which
wont allow users to withdraw cash
unless their face matches their
IDs. Chinese researchers have

successfully developed the first
automated teller machine (ATM)
with facial recognition technology.
The first of its kind ATM was
developed by researchers from
Tsinghua University and technology
firm Tzekwan. The machine has a
camera installed which captures the
facial features of the user and then
compares it with photos stored in
a database for authentication. Its
technology and software looks at
biological features of person and has
potential to identify people even if
their facial features have changed.
The machine combines high-speed
banknote handling, improved
counterfeit-bill recognition and
facial recognition. Cash machines
using fingerprint authentication have
sprung up in countries like Chile and
Colombia, though biometric ATMs
have not been released because of
concerns over cost and privacy.
It provides 20% more accurate
authenticity in verifying multiple
currencies compared to present
conventional ATMs used globally.
JULY
Banks operationalise Contingent
Reserve Arrangement: The Central
Banks of Brazil, Russia, India, China
and South Africa signed Mutual
Assistance Agreement (MAA)
to operationalise the Contingent
Reserve arrangement (CRA) of 100
billion US dollars. The Agreement
was signed after meeting the BRICS
finance ministers and Central Bank
governors in the Russian capital
Moscow.
MAA is an operating system of
mutual support specifying the
procedures to be followed by central
banks of BRICS countries as part
of the CRA and defines their rights
and obligations. The purpose of
25
BRICS is to provide mutual support
(monetary funds in US dollars)
in the event of national financial
systems facing liquidity problems.
The CRA along with the New
Development Bank are part of
the BRICS framework aimed at
maintaining financial stability in
BRICS countries. Total committed
resources of CRA are 100 billion
with individual commitment of
China-41 billion, Russia-18 billion,
Brazil -18 billion, India -18 billion,
South Africa -5 billion.
It would also contribute to
strengthening the global financial
safety net and complement existing
international arrangements (from
IMF) as an additional line of
defence.
DusKadam: 10 Steps for BRICS:
To facilitate closer cooperation
and coordination among BRICS
nations, Prime Minister Narender
Modi proposed a ten-point initiative
that includes India hosting the First
Trade Fair for the grouping and
establishing research centres for
railways and agriculture.
Calling it DusKadam: Ten steps
for the future, the Prime Minister
Narender Modi put forward new
initiatives for the BRICS grouping
that is formed by major economies.
The Prime Minister proposed these
points at the BRICS meet attended
by the Russian Prime Minister
Vladmir Putin, Brazilian President
DilmaRousseff and South African
President Jacob Zuma besides
Chinese Premier Xi Jinping.
The Ten Steps proposed by the
Prime Minister are:

1. BRICS Trade Fair
2. BRICs Railway Research Centre
3. 
Cooperation among Supreme
Audit Institutions
4. BRICS Digital Initiative
5. 
BRICS Agriculture Research
Centre
6. 
BRICS State/Local Govern-
ments Forum
7. 
Cooperation amongst cities in
the field of urbanisation
8. 
BRICS Sports Council and
Annual BRICS Sports Meet
9. First Major NDB Project to be in
the field of Clean Energy
10. BRICS Film Festival
The Prime Minister also proposed
that every country should obey
international rules and norms.
BRICS is an association of five major
emerging economies namely, Brazil,
Russia, India, China and South
Africa. The five BRICS nations
represent over 3 billion people, or
42 per cent of the world population.
The five countries have a combined
nominal GDP of US $ 16.039
trillion, equal to approximately 20
per cent of the Gross World product.
Bilateral relations between BRICS
countries are mostly conducted
on non-interference, equality and
mutual benefit.
RBI Signed Special Currency Swap
Agreement with the Central Bank
of Sri Lanka: The Reserve Bank of
India signed a special Currency swap
Agreement with the Central Bank of
Sri Lanka in which it can draw up
to US $1.1 billion for a maximum
period of six months. This special
agreement is in addition to the
existing Framework on Currency
Swap Arrangement for the SAARC
Member Countries.
26
Earlier in 25th March 2015, The
Reserve Bank of India Signed a
currency swap agreement with the
central Bank of Sri Lanka for 400
million US Dollar under the existing
SAARC Swap Framework within
the overall limit of 2 billion US
Dollar.
The Governor of Central Bank of
Sri Lanka stated that the country
will receive the balance of 1.1 billion
US Dollar from the RBI to boost
foreign reserves under a 1.5 billion
US Dollar swap arrangement.
The significance of this is that the
exchange rate would stabilize in the
line with sound macroeconomic
fundamentals and movements of
other currencies of major trading
partners.
White-Fi Technology of Microsoft
to Boost Digital India Initiative:
US Software major Microsoft
Corporation newly introduced
White-Fi technology in the second
week of July 2015. As per the
technology, Microsoft will provide
free WiFi connectivity to a large
section of the Indian population and
give a boost to the Prime Minister
Narendra Modis Digital India
initiative.
White-Fi or television White-
Space technology has potential to
provide free WiFi to approx one
billion Indians with no internet
access through wider coverage and
economical deployment and licence
free access. WiFi has a range of
only 100 meters; however, 200-300
MHz spectrum band is available
in the white space which can reach
up to 10 kms, 93 percent of this
spectrum is not in use. Four world-
class Broadband products developed
by C-DOT launched under Digital
India Programme. It aims to
provide the digital connectivity
to low-income group segments

which mostly remain unattractive
to commercial telecom provider.
Other countries than India, where
Microsoft implement this new
technology are Kenya, Singapore,
the US and London.
Science Express 2015: Science
Express has now been redesigned
on the theme Climate Change.
From October 2015, it has been
planned to run it as Science
Express-Climate Change Special
(SECCS). It is a unique collaborative
initiative of Department of Science
& Technology and Ministry of
Environment, Forests and Climate
Change (MOEFCC), and Ministry
of Railway, Government of India.
Climate change is the most
important environmental issue, with
short term as well as long term and
large scale impact. From shifting
weather patterns that threaten food
production, to rising sea levels that
increase the risk of catastrophic
flooding, the impacts of climate
change are not just global in scope
and unprecedented in scale but
more severely affect poor and
marginalized people.
The Science Express is an innovative
science exhibition mounted on a
16 coach AC train which has been
custom-built for Department of
Science & Technology (DST) by the
Indian Railways. This unique mobile
exposition was launched in the year
2007, by DST, in collaboration with
German Government and Max
Planck Society and it travelled across
India in 4 phases of 6-7 months
duration each.
For climate change, 2015 could
be a decisive year, when leaders
of 190 countries meet in Paris to
discuss a new global agreement on
climate change during 21st session
of Conference of the Parties (COP
27
21) to the 1992 United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) and the 11th
session of the Meeting of the Parties
(CMP 11) to the Kyoto Protocol.
SEPTEMBER
India, US create Joint Challenge
Coin to mark partnership: India
and US on 17 September jointly
created a Joint Challenge Coin to
symbolise their unique partnership
in creating a next generation aircraft
carrier for the Indian Navy. One side
of the coin reads Forward Together
We Go and Chale Saath Saath in
Hindi, which is the vision statement
of US President Barack Obama and
Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The other side of this coin which
is golden in colour has the flags of
India and the United States and an
aircraft carrier floating on blue water.
The joint challenge coin was created
by the joint working group at their
first meeting in US in August 2015
to symbolise partnership. During
Obamas visit to India in January,
the two countries had announced
the establishment of a working
group for a next-generation aircraft
carrier to bolster the Indian Navys
blue-water capabilities, which held
its first-ever meeting here last month.
18th Edition of Global Innovation
Index 2015 Released: The Global
Innovation Index (GII) 2015,
released on September 17 saw India
ranked a disappointing 81 out of
the 141 countries surveyed. Topping
the list for the 5th year running is
Switzerland, followed by UK and
Sweden. The GII, presently in its
8th edition is an annual report co-

published by Cornell University,
INSEAD, and the World Intellectual
Property Organization (WIPO).
Using 79 indicators from over
30 international sources and
with a transparent and replicable
computation methodology, it is
widely recognized as the leading
measure of the innovation power of
economies around the world. The
report has been themed Effective
Innovation for Development.
India, receiving a score of 31.74
(out of 100) ranked 81st of the 141
countries surveyed, 8th amongst 34
Lower-Middle Income Countries,
1st from the 11 Central and South
Asian region countries, and 31st
out of 141 countries in terms of
efficiency ratio.
While Indias continually dropping
rank is bound to raise some cause
for worry, it is interesting to note
that the Report refers to India as an
Innovation Achiever a term they
use to describe economies that are
performing at least 10% better than
their peers for their level of GDP.
Hangzhou City chosen to host
2022 Asian Games: The eastern
Chinese city of Hangzhou was
on 16 September chosen by the
Olympic Council of Asia (OCA)
to host the 2022 Asian Games. The
decision was made by the OCA at
its 34th Congress in Ashkhabad,
Turkmenistan. Hangzhou was the
only candidate city for the 2022
Asian Games. Its successful bid
means the regional games will
be staged in China for the third
time following Beijing in 1990 and
southern Guangzhou in 2010.
Beijing was just selected to hold
28
the 2022 Winter Olympics after
hosting the Summer Games in 2008.
The South Korean city of Incheon
hosted the last Asian Games in
2014, while Indonesias Jakarta will
host in 2018.
Asian Games also known as Asiad
is a pancontinental multi-sport
event (44 sports events) among
athletes from all over Asia. It is held
every four years and regulated and
organized by the OCA since 1982. It
was first held in 1951 in New Delhi,
India under the aegis of Asian
Games Federation (AGF).
NASA and ISRO jointly working on
NISAR mission: ISRO and NASA
are jointly working on the NASA-
ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar
(NISAR) mission to co-develop and
launch a dual frequency synthetic
aperture radar satellite. NASA-ISRO
Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR)
mission is a dual frequency (L &
S Band) Radar Imaging Satellite.
In this joint mission, JPL/ NASA
will design and develop L-band
SAR, 12m unfurlable antenna,
GPS system and data recorder.
ISRO will be responsible for design
and development of S-band SAR,
Spacecraft Bus, data transmission
system, Spacecraft integration and
testing, launch using GSLV and on-
orbit operations.
The objectives of NISAR mission
are:
Design, Develop and launch a Dual
frequency (L and S Band) Radar
Imaging Satellite.
Explore newer application areas
using L and S band microwave
data, especially in natural resources
mapping & monitoring; estimating
agricultural biomass over full

duration of crop cycle; assessing
soil moisture; monitoring of floods
and oil slicks; coastal erosion,
coastline changes and variation of
winds in coastal waters; assessment
of mangroves; surface deformation
studies due to seismic activities etc.
The cost of the project includes
cost of ISROs work share, which is
estimated to be Rs 788.00 Cr and
cost of JPLs work share, which is
expected to be around USD 808
millions.
Low-Cost Device to Monitor
Air Quality Unveiled: A ground-
breaking air quality measuring
device was unveiled on August 31
in Nairobi by the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP),
expected to cost up to 100 times less
than existing solutions. The device
has the potential to revolutionize air
quality measurement in developing
countries and help prevent deaths
from air pollution.
The device is capable of collecting
all the vital parameters of air quality
and will cost around $1,500 per
unit. It would allow governments to
establish a countrywide network of
mobile and stationary air monitoring
stations for as little as $150,000-
200,000. Presently, around the same
amount of money is necessary to set
up just one monitoring station.
The low cost and ease of use of
UNEPs device will facilitate
community participation in
environmental and health
monitoring, and increase digital
and technological literacy through
the participation of schools. It
can measure the concentration of
particulate matter ranging from 1 to
10 microns in diameter (PM 1 - PM
10), including PM 2.5, considered
29
by the WHO to have the greatest
effect on human health.
Liquid Water on Mars: NASA:
Water exists in liquid form on the
surface of Mars, Nasa scientists
have revealed making it possible
for life to be sustained on the Red
Planet. Nasa claimed the strongest
evidence yet of intermittent
flows of briny water on Mars after
scientists found hydrated salts in
dark streaks that ebb and flow down
the planets slopes. The dark marks,
which appear in summer months,
are thought to be caused by the salty
water wicking up from a shallow
flow beneath the surface though the
origins of the briny flows still not
known.
The water appears to exist in the
form of thin layers of wet soil
rather than pools of standing water,
according to Alfred McEwen of
the University of Arizona, one of
the scientists who made the finding
using new imaging techniques.
Water is essential to life as we know
it on Earth and on Earth, wherever
there is water there is also life, the
scientists said. However, it is not
yet known whether the briny water
discovered on Mars may be too salty
to support terrestrial life forms.
NOVEMBER
China ends one child policy: Since
the time draconian family planning
rules were announced, the Chinese
could have only one child. This
rule went on for more than three
decades but the policy of one child
was scrapped. All the couples in
China are now allowed to have two
children. A four-day Communist

party summit took place in Beijing
following the announcement day.
In the summit, Chinas leaders
deliberated on how the growth could
be maintained at the time of raised
concerns of economy. Some people
took in a positive way, regarding
it to be a step towards a better yet
greater personal freedom in the
country. The human rights activists,
on the other hand, discouraged it
expressing that the Communist
party is continuing to control the
size of Chinese families. Because
of the fear of population increase
going out of control, the one child
policy had been introduced in China
in 1980. The minority families and
rural couples though had received
a relaxation since 2013 for having
a second child in case the firstborn
was a girl. The Communist party
claims to have prevented 400million
births through the one-child policy
that had contributed to a spectacular
economic rise since the 1980s.
Project Loon in India: Google,
govt working on balloon: Internet
giant Google and government
of India are working on Project
Loon. This project involves the
use of hot air balloons at a height
of 20 km above the surface of the
Earth which will provide internet
connectivity. The transmission f
internet services would cover about
40km diameter to beam 4G signals.
Each balloon has a capacity to float
for around 6 months. In the whole
project, Google will play the role
of an enabler and not the ISP. The
Department of Electronics and
30
Information Technology (DeitY)
is also facilitating co-ordination
between various agencies to test this
project.For testing this technology by
using a broadband spectrum in the
2.6 GHz band, Google is believed
to initially partner with BSNL. The
aim to bring this technology is to
replace the mobile towers in the rural
areas and remote areas and designed
to connect people, to eliminated
coverage gaps and bring people back
online after disaster. This technology
has the potential to transmit signals
directly to mobile devices. Google
has already tested this technology in
New Zealand, California and Brazil.
DECEMBER
DTAC Agreement with Japan:
The Double Taxation Avoidance
Convention (DTAC) which was
signed between India and Japan in
1989 has been amended in order by
the Union Cabinet to facilitate tax-
related exchange of information.
The protocol will facilitate exchange
of information as per accepted
international standards on tax
matters, including bank information
and information without domestic
tax interest. The protocol signed
between the countries also has
a provision to offer assistance to
each other country in collection
of revenue claims as well as for
exemption of interest income from
taxation in the source country with
respect to debt claims insured by the
government or government-owned
financial institutions.