Evening Digest : 5th June 2018

Centre launches ‘Krishi Kalyan Abhiyaan’

• The campaign has been launched by Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare. The campaign will run from June 1 to July 31 2018
• It will aid, assist and advice farmers on how to improve their farming techniques and raise their incomes.
• It will be undertaken in 25 Villages with more than 1000 population each in 115 Aspirational Districts identified in consultation with Ministry of Rural Development as per directions of NITI Ayog.
• In districts where number of villages (with more than 1000 population) is less than 25, all villages will be covered.
• Aspirational Districts Programme focuses on transforming 115 districts across 28 states that have witnessed the least progress along certain development parameters. These 115 districts account for more than 20% of the country’s population and cover over 8,600 gram panchayats.
• Till date, no other developing country has undertaken a data-driven programme of this massive scale to advance the holistic development of one-fifth of its population.

Food Processing Ministry to create new financial institution

• The government will set up a non-banking finance company (NBFC) dedicated for funding companies in the food processing industry.
• The NBFC will exclusively fund food processing projects and create capacity building in the field of risk assessment and lending to the food processing sector.
• The name of the company would be Agro Processing Financial Institution and the government would hold 20 percent stake in it. By July 2018 they would issue the request for proposal (RFP).
• She also said that more than 4 lakh jobs would be created by March 2019 as 15 new mega food parks become operational and another 3.4 lakh direct and indirect jobs will be generated created with operations of 122 projects approved under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana.
• The government is ready with the draft policy on ‘Operation Green’ scheme which entails an investment of Rs 500 crore.

Centre proposes amendments in Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act

• The Centre has proposed amendments to widen the scope of the Indecent Representation of Women Act, 1986, to include digital and internet-based communication services.
• The Ministry of Women and Child Development made the proposals after receiving inputs from a parliamentary panel formed in 2012 to study a bill to bring the law up to date.
• If the Parliament passes the proposed amendments, indecent representation of women in electronic forms, including through text and online messaging services, will be an offence and attract penalties similar to those under the Information Technology Act, 2000.

Heli-Taxi services launched between Shimla & Chandigarh

• The Himachal Pradesh government launched a helicopter taxi service from Shimla to Chandigarh, a journey that will take not more than just 20 minutes between the cities.
• Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur flagged off the Shimla-Chandigarh heli taxi service from the Jubbarhatti Airport near the hill station.
• The heli taxi service, launched in association with Pawan Hans Ltd, will be available on Mondays and Fridays for a minimum price of Rs 2,999.
• The service is expected to boost heli texi tourism in the state, and in future could be expanded to other tourist areas as well.

Jordanian PM Hani Mulki submits his resignation

• Jordanian Prime Minister Hani Mulki submitted his resignation to King Abdullah II.
• It comes amid mass protests over price hikes and adoption of a draft income tax reform bill based on recommendations by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
• Protests have been taking place across Amman and other towns for the last four days calling for the removal of Mulki.
• His government had proposed raising the income tax on employees by at least five percent and on companies by between 20 and 40 percent.
• According to official sources, Omar al-Razza, the current education minister, will replace Mulki.

Reserve Bank of India organises Financial Literacy Week

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) launched on June 4 "financial literacy week" based on theme of consumer protection in Jammu and Kashmir.
• The Financial Literacy Week will focus on four consumer protection messages like 'customer liability-unauthorised electronic banking transaction', 'risk vs return', 'know our liability', 'good practices for a safe digital banking experience' and unauthorised electronic banking transaction and good practices for a safe digital banking
• The Reserve Bank of India has since 2017 earmarked one week in a year as the financial literacy week, other officers said.
• For an average Indian, financial literacy is yet to become a priority. India is home to 17.5% of the world’s population but nearly 76% of its adult population does not understand even the basic financial concepts.

Singapore re-sanctifies 148-year-old Hindu temple

• Maha Samprokshanam, as the ceremony is called, is organised every 12 to 15 years in Singapore's Hindu temples, many of which were built by Indian migrants over 100 years ago.
• The Sri Krishnan Temple was established in 1870 in Waterloo Street, which was then known as Church Street.
• The temple remains at its original site and was gazetted for conservation in June 2014.
• Malaysia appoints ethnic Indian as new attorney general
• Malaysia’s king Sultan Muhammad V has approved the appointment of an ethnic Indian lawyer as the new attorney general, amid protests from Islamic groups that the job must be held by a Muslim.
• A palace statement says the king has approved terminating current Attorney General Mohamad Apandi Ali and replacing him with Tommy Thomas, the first minority to hold the post in 55 years.

Setback for IAF's plans to arm fighter jets with Meteor missiles

• India's plans to equip its Russian SU-30MKI and indigenous Light Combat Aircraft Tejas with long range Meteor beyond visual range missiles may get hit.
• Its European manufacturers have informed the government that they would not integrate their weapon on any Israeli or Russian platform.
• Meteor is an active radar guided beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) being developed by MBDA.
• Meteor will offer a multi-shot capability against long range manoeuvring targets in a heavy electronic countermeasures (ECM) environment with range in excess of 100 kilometres (62 mi).
• The key to Meteor's performance is a throttleable ducted rocket (ramjet) manufactured by Bayern-Chemie of Germany.