08/03/2016
International Women's Day observed with campaign theme "PledgeForParity"i. 8 March: International Women's Day (IWD) , International Women's Day was observed across the world on 8 March 2016.ii. This year's theme for the Day is “Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality”. The campaign theme for the day is .iii. United Nations observance and the ideaof this theme reflect on how to accelerate the 2030 Agenda, building momentum for the effective implementation of the new Sustainable Development Goals.iv. The theme will also focus on new commitments under UN Women’s Step It Up initiative, and other existing commitments on gender equality, women’s empowerment and women’s human rights.v. 2016 International Women's Day (IWD) was observed in India by conferring the Nari Shakti Awards by President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhawan. On the other hand, the day was observed in different states of India in different ways like around 40 acid attack survivors were felicitated with the Rani Laxmi Bai award and provided financial assistance in Uttar Pradesh.Fitch Maintains India's Growth Forecast At 7.5 %i. Fitch, the global rating agency has maintained India's growth forecast for India at 7.5 % for this fiscal ( 2015-2016 ) and also sees higher growth around 7.7 % & 7.9 % over the next two financial years. However, 8 per cent growth will remain elusive in the short term. The GDP growth in the first three quarters of this fiscal stands at 7.6%, 7.7% and 7.3%.ii. The growth rate for the April-June quarter was revised sharply upward from a provisional 7% to to 7.7%, which has driven up the projections for theentire 2015-16 fiscal.iii. Despite a slowdown in the third quarter,India's economic growth still outpaced China's 6.8% for the same period. Fitch also pitched for monetary policy easing.iv. Fitch expects another 25 bps of monetary policy loosening, facilitated by the government’s recent announcement tomaintain its fiscal targets for 2016-17 and 2017-18.v. Fitch Ratings Inc. is one of the three nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (NRSRO) designated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 1975, together with Moody's and Standard & Poor's, and the three are commonly known as the "Big Three credit rating agencies". Fitch Ratings is dual-headquartered in New York, USA, andLondon, UK.E- Haat : A Online Marketing Platform Launched By Union Governmenti. Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Sanjay Gandhi launched Mahila e-Haat portal in New Delhi to facilitate women entrepreneurs to sell their products to buyers.ii. It will provide access to markets to thousands of women who make products and are spread all over the country. The Mahila e-Haat portal, http://mahilaehaat-rmk.gov.in, is an online marketing platform.iii. It is an initiative for women acrossthe country asa part of ‘Digital India’ and ‘Stand Up India’ initiatives of Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi.iv. On the occasion of the launching Mrs. Menka Gandhi, the minister for Women & Child Development said that this empowerment of women will take place in three stages in which Mahila E-Haat is the first stage. In the second stage, it is planned to integrate it with e-commerce portals to provide a larger platform for selling and buying. Ultimately it will culminate into Women’s Entrepreneurs Council which will help to expand this initiative further and give it an institutional shape.v. It is a Joint initiative of Union Women and Child Development Ministry and Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) for meeting the needs of women entrepreneurs. And the objective of this platform is to strengthen the financial inclusion of women entrepreneurs by providing continued support to their creativity.PM selects another village in Varanasi for development under SAGYi. Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) is a rural development programme broadly focusing upon the development in the villages which includes social development, cultural development and spread motivation among the people on social mobilization of the village community.ii. Prime Minister Narendra modi is member of parliament from varanasi utter pardesh.iii. PM has selected another village for adoption in his Varanasi Constituency of U.P. for development under the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY).iv. Nagepur, a village dominated by backward castes has been selected under the second phase of the Yojana.v. Earlier, Prime Minister had adopted Jayapur village in the same Varanasi constituency in the first phase in 2014.Govt to import 8,500 tonnes of pulsesi. Government has contracted import of Eight thousand Five Hundred tonnes of pulses and the shipments are on the way.ii. The pulses procurement for buffer stock has alsosurpassed thetarget of 50 thousand tonnes set for this kharif season.iii. Consumer Affairs Secretary C Viswanath today reviewed the prices and availability of essential commodities at an inter ministerial meeting in New Delhi.iv. According to an official release, consumer affairs, agriculture and commerce ministries now have been asked to start procurement of masoor, gram dal and other rabi pulses.v. During the meeting, the representative of the agriculture ministry said the area under oilseed production in 2015-16 rose by 2.1 per cent and mustard output is expected to be higher by 6 lakh tonnes. The meeting also reviewed production of tomato in the country and its price trends. Tomato output is also expected to increase by 11.6 per cent in 2015-16.Union Government announced to withdrawtax proposal on Employee Provident Fundi. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on 8 March 2016 announced to withdraw proposal to tax Employee Provident Fund (EPF) withdrawals.ii. He announced to withdraw the proposal whileclarifying NDA government’s stand on the issue in the Lok Sabha.iii. He further stated that government would also like to comprehensively review EPF tax proposal.iv. However, government retained the tax proposal for National Pension Scheme (NPS) withdrawals.v. The proposal was made by the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley while presenting the Union Budget 2016-17 in the Lok Sabha on 29 February 2016. As per the proposal 60 percent of the amount deposited in the EPF account of the employee would be taxable at the time of withdrawal, and 40 percent would be tax free. This proposal would have become effective from 1 April 2016.Indian Railways Signs Agreement With Bajaj Poweri. Bajaj Power Generation Company has signed an agreement with the Indian Railways for electrification of the Lalitpur-Udaipura rail section under the public private partnership (PPP).ii. With the help of Bajaj the Railways would complete the electrification work in a year's time under its customer funding scheme.iii. It would cost nearly around Rs 47 crore. The electrified rail section is expected to facilitate uninterrupted coal supply to its plant and also help running of fast passenger trains in the area.iv. Bajaj Power Generation Company (BPGC) is setting up a 1,980 megawatt (mw) thermal power plant in Lalitpur district of Uttar Pradesh. While, two units of 660 mw each had already been commissioned in September and December 2015 respectively, the third unit of 660 mw is scheduled to start generatinglater this month.v. The total investment in the plant is pegged at Rs 16,000 crore. BPGC President (commercial) Dwarikesh Sharmaand North Central Railway (NCR) AdditionalDivisional Railway Manager (ADRM) JhansiVinit Singh signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations.Banks disburse over Rs 1.15 lakh cr under PM Mudra Yojanai. Banks have so far disbursed over Rs 1.15lakh crore under Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY), Financial Services Secretary Anjuly Chib Duggal said today.ii. Micro Units Development and RefinanceAgency Ltd (MUDRA) focuses on 5.75 crore self-employedwho use funds totalling Rs 11 lakh crore and provide jobs to 12 crore people. UnderPMMY, loans between Rs 50,000 and Rs 10 lakh are provided to small entrepreneurs. "We have been working with MUDRA. It has been a runaway success.iii. we are looking at Rs 1.15 lakh crore plus right now," she said at an event organised by MFIN here.iv
International Women's Day, originally called International Working Women’s Day, is celebrated on March 8 every year, after the United Nations General Assembly invited member states to proclaim March 8 as the UN Day for women's rights and world peace in 1977.It is a day when women are recognised for…
