English| इंग्लिश
HAL’s Light Utility Helicopter clears 6-km flight test
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited’s Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) has cleared the milestone of flying at 6 km altitude in Bangalore recently. The flight was carried out under the envelope expansion tests and flying at 6 km altitude is a critical requirement towards the certification of LUH.
LUH
The LUH is a 3-ton class new generation helicopter designed and developed by Rotary Wing Research and Design Center (RWR&DC) of HAL to replace the ageing Cheetah and Chetak helicopters used by Indian Armed Forces.
HAL has in principal order for 187 LUH that includes 126 for Indian Army and 61 for IAF.
The LUH is being indigenously developed by HAL to meet the requirements of both military and civil operators. The helicopter with Glass Cockpit can be deployed for Reconnaissance, Surveillance roles and as a light transport helicopter.
The helicopter will be capable of flying at 220 Kmph, with a service ceiling of 6.5 Km and a range of 350 Km with 400 kg payload.
Central government has notified amendments to Citizen Rules Act 2009, to include a separate column in the citizenship form for applicants belonging to six minority communities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
Background
A parliamentary committee has been examining the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, that proposes citizenship to six persecuted minorities — Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, Parsis, Christians and Buddhists — from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who came to India before 2014.
It has run into strong resistance in the Assam because it will pave the way for giving citizenship mostly to illegal Hindu migrants from Bangladesh in Assam, who came after March 1971, in violation of the 1985 Assam Accord.
New Amendments
The Centre has made the changes under Section 18 of the Citizenship Act, 1955. New rules were notified on December 3.
Under the amendments, a separate entry in the form will ask the applicant: Do you belong to one of the minority communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan — Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis, Sikhs and Christians?
Former SBI cahirman Arunhdati Bhattacharya has been appointed the chairman of SWIFT India Domestic Services, the local unit of SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) global.
What is SWIFT?
It is a messaging network that financial institutions use to securely transmit information and instructions through a standardized system of codes.
SWIFT assigns each financial organization a unique code that has either eight characters or 11 characters. The code is called interchangeably the bank identifier code (BIC), SWIFT code, SWIFT ID, or ISO 9362 code.
Example:
8 character SWIFT code of SBI Mumbai is SBIINMU@@@
Here, the first three characters SBI stands for State Bank of India.
Next two characters IN stand for India,
Further two characters MU for Mumbai.
And last three characters are used by banks for branch code.
The Union Cabinet on 10 Dec raised government contribution towards the National Pension System (NPS) to 14 per cent.
The move, which will lead to higher payouts, is expected to benefit 18 lakh central government employees. The mandatory contribution by the central government for its employees covered under the National Pension System Tier-1 accounts currently stands at 10 per cent.
Highlights:
The Cabinet also gave nod to an increase to 60 per cent in income tax exemption limit applicable to lump sum withdrawal from NPS on exit.
This move by the government will make the entire withdrawal from NPS on maturity exempt from income tax.
This move by the government will make the entire withdrawal from NPS on maturity exempt from income tax.
At present, 40 per cent of the total accumulated corpus utilised for purchase of annuity is tax-exempt. Out of 60 per cent of the corpus withdrawn by the NPS subscriber at the time of retirement, 40 per cent is tax-exempt and but the remaining 20 per cent is taxable.
The proposed changes in NPS will also lead to an increase in old-age security in a time of rising life expectancy.
New entrants to central government service after January 1, 2004 are covered under the National Pension System (NPS).
NPS is a government-run pension-cum-investment scheme regulated by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel on 10 December, stepped down from his position with immediate effect, citing “personal reasons”.
He is the first RBI governor since 1992 to step down as governor before completing his term.
He was about to complete his term in September 2019.
Urjit Patel: At a glance
55 years old Urjit Patel took over as the 24th Governor on September 5, 2016, when he was chosen by the BJP-led government after his predecessor Raghuram Rajan was denied a second-term.
Urjit Patel was born in Nairobi on 28 October 1963 to Manjula and Ravindra Patel. His grandfather had migrated from Mahudha village in Kheda district, Gujarat to Kenya in the 20th century. His parents run Raxo Products Ltd, a chemical factory in Nairobi.
He earned Bachelor of Science in Economics from London School of Economics, Master of Philosophy in Economics from Linacre College, Oxford in 1986. He later earned Doctor of Philosophy in Economics from Yale University in 1990. He was at IMF India desk during the 1991–94 transition period. He was posted to IMF country mission in India 1992–95. He has also been a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution since 2009.
On 11 January 2013, Patel was appointed as Deputy Governor of RBI for a period of three years.
The rift between Government and RBI
One of the contentious issues was how the government will use Section 7 of the RBI Act in the future. It empowers the government to give directions to the RBI on matters of public interest—clearly not something the RBI will look forward to.
The government used this section in recent weeks in the form of a letter of consultation, but is yet to invoke it to issue specific directions or instructions to the RBI. Invoking it to issue directions was seen as a threat to the central bank’s autonomy.
The problem stems from the fact that the RBI’s main mandate is to control inflation while the government wanted the bank to start lowering interest rates, which could help boost growth.
The government and the RBI are also believed to have not agreed on the current RBI framework for Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) against several state-run banks – which impose lending and other restrictions on them. The government had called for the RBI to revisit the PCA framework but it never came about.
Governments and central bank governors have always had a slightly frosty relationship whether it be former RBI governor Dr. YV Reddy and then finance minister P Chidambaram over issues relating to opening the banking system to foreign ownership or even Duvvuri Subbarao who served under Dr. Manmohan Singh and had faced criticism for often keeping interest rates firm, which could curb growth.
India successfully test-fired nuclear-capable ballistic missile Agni-5, which has a strike range of 5,000 km from Dr Abdul Kalam Island off the Odisha coast on 10 Dec.
The missile has been designed to hit the designated target point accurately, guided by the on-board computer with the support of a Ring Laser Gyro-based Inertial Navigation System, the Micro Inertial Navigation System, fully-digital control system and advanced compact avionics.
Agni V: Main Features
1. Agni-5 is a three-stage missile and is 17 meter tall and 2 meter wide.
2. This is the seventh trial of the indigenously-developed surface-to-surface missile.
3. It is capable of carrying 1.5 tons of nuclear warheads.
India has in its armory the Agni missile series - Agni-1 with a range of 700 km, Agni-2 with a range of 2,000 km, Agni-3 and Agni-4 with 2,500 km to more than 3,500 km range.
The Agni-5 is the latest and most advanced variant in terms of navigation and guidance, warhead and engine.
The missile has a payload capacity of 1,500 kg of high-explosive warhead and once inducted in the military, India will join an exclusive club of countries like the US, Russia, China, France, and Britain which have intercontinental ballistic missile capabilities.
LUH
The LUH is a 3-ton class new generation helicopter designed and developed by Rotary Wing Research and Design Center (RWR&DC) of HAL to replace the ageing Cheetah and Chetak helicopters used by Indian Armed Forces.
HAL has in principal order for 187 LUH that includes 126 for Indian Army and 61 for IAF.
The LUH is being indigenously developed by HAL to meet the requirements of both military and civil operators. The helicopter with Glass Cockpit can be deployed for Reconnaissance, Surveillance roles and as a light transport helicopter.
The helicopter will be capable of flying at 220 Kmph, with a service ceiling of 6.5 Km and a range of 350 Km with 400 kg payload.
Centre amends rules for minorities from three nations
Background
A parliamentary committee has been examining the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, that proposes citizenship to six persecuted minorities — Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, Parsis, Christians and Buddhists — from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who came to India before 2014.
It has run into strong resistance in the Assam because it will pave the way for giving citizenship mostly to illegal Hindu migrants from Bangladesh in Assam, who came after March 1971, in violation of the 1985 Assam Accord.
New Amendments
The Centre has made the changes under Section 18 of the Citizenship Act, 1955. New rules were notified on December 3.
Under the amendments, a separate entry in the form will ask the applicant: Do you belong to one of the minority communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan — Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis, Sikhs and Christians?
Arundhati Bhattacharya appointed chairman of SWIFT India
What is SWIFT?
It is a messaging network that financial institutions use to securely transmit information and instructions through a standardized system of codes.
SWIFT assigns each financial organization a unique code that has either eight characters or 11 characters. The code is called interchangeably the bank identifier code (BIC), SWIFT code, SWIFT ID, or ISO 9362 code.
Example:
8 character SWIFT code of SBI Mumbai is SBIINMU@@@
Here, the first three characters SBI stands for State Bank of India.
Next two characters IN stand for India,
Further two characters MU for Mumbai.
And last three characters are used by banks for branch code.
Centre to contribute 14% to National Pension Scheme
The move, which will lead to higher payouts, is expected to benefit 18 lakh central government employees. The mandatory contribution by the central government for its employees covered under the National Pension System Tier-1 accounts currently stands at 10 per cent.
Highlights:
The Cabinet also gave nod to an increase to 60 per cent in income tax exemption limit applicable to lump sum withdrawal from NPS on exit.
This move by the government will make the entire withdrawal from NPS on maturity exempt from income tax.
This move by the government will make the entire withdrawal from NPS on maturity exempt from income tax.
At present, 40 per cent of the total accumulated corpus utilised for purchase of annuity is tax-exempt. Out of 60 per cent of the corpus withdrawn by the NPS subscriber at the time of retirement, 40 per cent is tax-exempt and but the remaining 20 per cent is taxable.
The proposed changes in NPS will also lead to an increase in old-age security in a time of rising life expectancy.
New entrants to central government service after January 1, 2004 are covered under the National Pension System (NPS).
NPS is a government-run pension-cum-investment scheme regulated by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).
Urjit Patel resigns as Governor of RBI
He is the first RBI governor since 1992 to step down as governor before completing his term.
He was about to complete his term in September 2019.
Urjit Patel: At a glance
55 years old Urjit Patel took over as the 24th Governor on September 5, 2016, when he was chosen by the BJP-led government after his predecessor Raghuram Rajan was denied a second-term.
Urjit Patel was born in Nairobi on 28 October 1963 to Manjula and Ravindra Patel. His grandfather had migrated from Mahudha village in Kheda district, Gujarat to Kenya in the 20th century. His parents run Raxo Products Ltd, a chemical factory in Nairobi.
He earned Bachelor of Science in Economics from London School of Economics, Master of Philosophy in Economics from Linacre College, Oxford in 1986. He later earned Doctor of Philosophy in Economics from Yale University in 1990. He was at IMF India desk during the 1991–94 transition period. He was posted to IMF country mission in India 1992–95. He has also been a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution since 2009.
On 11 January 2013, Patel was appointed as Deputy Governor of RBI for a period of three years.
The rift between Government and RBI
One of the contentious issues was how the government will use Section 7 of the RBI Act in the future. It empowers the government to give directions to the RBI on matters of public interest—clearly not something the RBI will look forward to.
The government used this section in recent weeks in the form of a letter of consultation, but is yet to invoke it to issue specific directions or instructions to the RBI. Invoking it to issue directions was seen as a threat to the central bank’s autonomy.
The problem stems from the fact that the RBI’s main mandate is to control inflation while the government wanted the bank to start lowering interest rates, which could help boost growth.
The government and the RBI are also believed to have not agreed on the current RBI framework for Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) against several state-run banks – which impose lending and other restrictions on them. The government had called for the RBI to revisit the PCA framework but it never came about.
Governments and central bank governors have always had a slightly frosty relationship whether it be former RBI governor Dr. YV Reddy and then finance minister P Chidambaram over issues relating to opening the banking system to foreign ownership or even Duvvuri Subbarao who served under Dr. Manmohan Singh and had faced criticism for often keeping interest rates firm, which could curb growth.
Successful Test Firing of Long-Range Missile Agni V
The missile has been designed to hit the designated target point accurately, guided by the on-board computer with the support of a Ring Laser Gyro-based Inertial Navigation System, the Micro Inertial Navigation System, fully-digital control system and advanced compact avionics.
Agni V: Main Features
1. Agni-5 is a three-stage missile and is 17 meter tall and 2 meter wide.
2. This is the seventh trial of the indigenously-developed surface-to-surface missile.
3. It is capable of carrying 1.5 tons of nuclear warheads.
India has in its armory the Agni missile series - Agni-1 with a range of 700 km, Agni-2 with a range of 2,000 km, Agni-3 and Agni-4 with 2,500 km to more than 3,500 km range.
The Agni-5 is the latest and most advanced variant in terms of navigation and guidance, warhead and engine.
The missile has a payload capacity of 1,500 kg of high-explosive warhead and once inducted in the military, India will join an exclusive club of countries like the US, Russia, China, France, and Britain which have intercontinental ballistic missile capabilities.
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