DAILY CURRENT
AFFAIRS: 21ST MAR 2017
1. GOVERNMENT APPROVES SOLAR ENERGY
SCHEME FOR SMALL POWERLOOM UNITS
i. Shri Ajay Tamta, The Minister of
State for Textiles, informed the Lok Sabha that the Government has approved a
new scheme, Solar Energy Scheme, to provide financial assistance/capital
subsidy to small powerloom units, for installation of Solar Photo Voltaic plant.
ii. Its aim is to mitigate the
problem of power cut/ shortage faced by decentralized powerloom units in the
country so as to improve efficiency, utilization, productivity to face both the
domestic and international markets competitively.
iii. The Scheme is meant for Units
having 04, 06 & 08 powerlooms and subsidies for different SPV plants will
be given in the range of Rs 2,25,000 to Rs 8,55,000 depending upon the capacity
of the SPV plant.
iv. The Scheme will come into force
with effect from April 1, 2017.
v. Under the Solar Energy Scheme, the
Solar Photo Voltaic (SPV) plant will be implemented in two modes:On-Grid Solar
Power Plant and Off-Grid Solar Power Plant.
2. INDIA’S LONGEST ROAD TUNNEL,
CHENENI-NASHIRI TUNNEL READY FOR OPENING
i. The longest road tunnel of India
built at Cheneni in Jammu’s Udhampur district has successfully completed its
trail run and is ready for public opening.
ii. The longest tunnel connecting
Chenani and Nashiri town is likely to be inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi by the
end of March.
iii. The trial run was successfully
carried out between March 9-15 during both peak and non peak hours.
iv. The 9-km-long tunnel passes
through the Himalayas and is a part of the 286-km-long four-lane project on
Jammu- Srinagar National Highway.
v. The tunnel is 1st in India to be
equipped with world class integrated tunnel control system through which
ventilation, signals, fire control, communication and electrical systems will
be automatically actuated.
3. UNION CABINET CLEARS 4 GST
SUPPLEMENTARY LEGISLATIONS FOR INTRODUCTION TO PARLIAMENT
i. The Union Cabinet chaired by PM
Shri Narendra Modi has approved the 4 supporting GST legislations on March 20.
ii. The 4 supporting legislations are
the Compensation Law, the Central-GST, Integrated-GST and Union Territory-GST.
iii. Once the Parliament approves the
Bill, the states would start taking their SGST bill for discussion and passage
in the respective state assemblies.
iv. Once the new GST regime is into
effect it will subsume central taxes like excise and service tax and state
levies like VAT.
v. A composite GST will be charged on
sale of goods or rendering of services while the revenue would be shared
between the Centre and the states in almost equal proportion.
4. FIVE INDIANS NAMED IN WEF’S 100
YOUNG GLOBAL LEADERS LIST 2017
i. The annual World Economic Forum’s
100 Young Global Leaders list released for the year 2017 have given place to
five Indians for their innovative approaches.
ii. Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder
& CEO PayTm, Shruti Shibulal, The Tamara Hospitality,Ambarish Mitra,
Founder and CEO of Blippar, a mobile phone app.
iii. Hindol Sengupta and Rwitwika
Bhattacharya-Agarwal, Editor-at-large, Fortune India and Founder and CEO of
Swaniti Initiative.