1.Train fares to be hiked from 21Jan: Railway Minister
The government today announced an increase in railway fares for passengers, the first upward revision in nine years, which will help generate 66 billion rupees for the cash-strapped railways.The fare hike will be effective from January 21.
NOTE: Hike in Fares: i. Second Class ordinary suburban fares has been raised by 2 paise per kilometer.
ii.Second Class ordinary non suburban services by 3 paise per Kilometer.
iii. Second class Mail or Express train fares have been increased by 4 paise per kilometer and Sleeper class by 6 paise per Km.
iv. Hike in AC Chair Car and AC three Tier, will go up by 10 paise per kilometer.
2.Aadhaar card to be accepted as proof to get passport: Ministry of external Affairs
i. The Ministry of External Affairs on 8 January 2013 decided and consequently advised all Passport Issuing Authorities to accept Aadhaar letter as Proof of Address and Photo identity in conjunction with any other prescribed documents for proof of address/identity for the purpose of passport application.
ii. Presently, it is being seen that the authorities accept passport applications based on about 14 documents such as voter ID card or electoral photo identity card (EPIC), ration card, PAN, driving license, birth certificates among others.
NOTE: i.Aadhaar is a 12 digit individual identification number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India on behalf of the government. This number will serve as a proof of identity and address, anywhere in India.
ii. Any individual, irrespective of age and gender, who is a resident in India and satisfies the verification process laid down by the UIDAI, can enroll for Aadhaar.
3.India test-fires manoeuvrable version of BrahMos:
i. India today successfully test-fired a highly manoeuvrable version of the 290-km range supersonic cruise missile BrahMos from a naval warship off the coast of Vishakhapatnam in Bay of Bengal.
ii. The present test firing is considered to be the 34th launch of BrahMos after the successful October 2012 launch from INS Teg in the Arabian Sea.
About BrahMos Missile:
i. BRAHMOS is a two-stage missile with a solid propellant booster engine as its first stage which brings it to supersonic speed and then gets separated.
ii. The liquid ramjet or the second stage then takes the missile closer to 3 Mach speed in cruise phase.
iii. Stealth technology and guidance system with advanced embedded software provides the missile with special features.
iv. The BrahMos missile system was inducted into the Indian Navy in 2005 when it began arming the Rajput-class guided missile destroyers and inducted subsequently in many warships.
v. BrahMos is capable of acquiring data not only from the American GPS but also from Russian GLONASS satellite systems also, which ensures double redundancy.
vi. The missile has identical configuration for land, sea and sub-sea platforms and uses a Transport Launch Canister (TLC) for transportation, storage and launch.
4.‘E-fund’ management system introduced in implementation of MGNREGA in Puducherry:
In Puducherry, ‘e-fund’ management system has been introduced in the implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
i. The MGNREGA which has been implemented in the Union Territory since 2008 is providing jobs to about 1,56,000 people.
ii. The entire wage amount has been paid to the beneficiaries through bank accounts only and the UT is the first among the States to achieve 100% account payment.
iii. Now, the Govt. of UT has introduced ‘e-fund’ management system in all the three blocks and the entire data about attendance and measurements are listed into the ‘Management Information System’ (MIS).
iv. The wage lists generated through MIS-MGNREGA are being authenticated through digital signatory of the BDOs and forwarded to banks electronically.
v. All beneficiaries under the scheme will hereafter receive their payment in their bank account instantaneously.
5.Brij Bihari Lal Butail elected new Speaker of HP Legislative Assembly:
Senior Congress leader, Brij Bihari Lal Butail was unanimously elected new Speaker of Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly today .
NOTE: Five time MLA in 1985, 93, 98, 2003, and 2012 Mr.Butail was Revenue Minister in 2003, Chief Parliamentary Secretary in 1995 and Chief Minister Advisor 2005.
6.Narendra Modi inaugurated 6th Vibrant Gujarat summit:
Narendra Modi on 8 January 2013 inaugurated the biennial(held every second year) Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors meet by throwing open a mega trade exhibition that has over one thousand firms from as many as 16 countries displaying their products.
i. The highlight of the sixth edition of the summit is an international conference of academic institutions with expected participation of 200 delegates from 130 institutions from 50 countries.
ii. Unique and interesting displays from various companies are a centre of attraction at the Global Trade Show: like a unique Solar Aircraft model from Solvay Group, Craft Village by Industrial Extension Cottage, Solar Village by Gujarat Energy Development Agency and Gujarat Power Corporation Ltd.
About Vibrant Gujarat summit:
i. Vibrant Gujarat is the name given to a biennial investors' summit held by the government of Gujarat.
ii.This platform offers a unique opportunity to corporate houses, institutions and industrial giants to showcase their innovations, products and services to a large gathering of Indian and global summit delegates and also allows having meaningful business-to-business interactions resulting in serious business and trade opportunities.
iii. Apart from Partner Countries Japan and Canada, various other countries like USA, UK, Australia, Netherlands, Rwanda, Israel and Mozambique etc., have marked their presence at the event.
7.LinkedIn appointed Nishant Rao as Country Manager for India Operations:
i. Professional networking Web site LinkedIn on 8 January 2013 appointed Nishant K. Rao as the new Country Manager for its India operations.
ii. With the appointment of Nishant Rao the former Country Manager Hari V. Krishnan promoted into a larger role as the Managing Director of Asia-Pacific and Japan.
iii. The role of Nishant Rao will be that of focusing on scaling up operations and staying committed to LinkedIn’s value proposition of connecting India’s professionals to make them more successful and productive and helping enterprises hire, market and sell effectively.
NOTE: LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with 187 million members globally. It has over 18 million members in India.
8.Akbaruddin Owaisi Arrested For Delivering Hate Speech!
i. Akbaruddin Owaisi, the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) MLA who was indicted of making hate speech was arrested on 8 January 2013 after going through the medical tests in government hospital in Hyderabad.
ii. The MIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi is facing charges which range from sedition to waging a war against the state.
iii. He was booked under the charges of promoting hostility between different groups as well as performing actions which are harmful to the harmony, apart from the charge of attempting to wage war against the state.
iv. The charge if proved, leads to life imprisonment or death sentence.
NOTE: Akbaruddin Owaisi, who is the member of Andhra Pradesh assembly, is at present facing five charges which include doing public mischief, threatening people for giving false evidence, criminal conspiracy, sedition and disobeying the official orders.
He was booked in Nirmal Town by the police on grounds of delivering malicious speech in town on 22 December 2012 at a public meeting.
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