Andhra Pradesh Affairs
The state government has cleared the disinvestment proposal of Gangavaram Port Ltd (GPL) and approved the recommendations of the empowered group of secretaries (EGoS), allowing Adani ports and special economic zone (APSEZ) to acquire it.
The government issued a gazette notification on Friday giving its clearance to the disinvestment, and also authorised the chief executive officer of AP maritime board to take further action on the disinvestment proposal. The EGoS, comprising six senior IAS officers, was constituted on June 4 to implement the entire process of disinvestment and merger of GPL with APSEZ.
The EGoS had submitted its report and recommendations to the state government in August, which has now been approved. The government has appointed a SEBI-registered valuation advisor (KPMG), a legal advisor (JSA Associates) and a transaction advisor (Grant Thornton) to assist the EGoS in the disinvestment process. In addition to these firms,SBICAPShas been engaged as financial advisor and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas as legal advisor.
The government has also created a special purpose company on May 25 to execute the sale and transfer of government shares in GPL.
National and International Affairs
Milestone by E-shram Portal
Affairs:The registration of unorganized workers has accelerated nationwide. More than 10 million people are registered on the e-shram portal.
Highlights:
Bihar, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are on the front lines.
Common Service Centres play a vital role in facilitating registration, and nearly 68% of registrations are done through CSC
First ever concentrate step towards producing a complete database of the unorganized employees from different sectors like construction, clothing manufacturing, fishing, gig and platform work, street vending, domestic work, agriculture and allied, transport region and so on
According to the 2019-20 Economic Survey, there are an estimated 380 million unorganized workers (UW) in the country who will register on this portal in a targeted manner.
Longest Expressway of the World Between Delhi and Mumbai
This 1,380-kilometer 8-lane highway-passing through Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh & Gujarat-will reduce travel time between cities to 12 hours.
Highlights:
It will be open in 2023. The eight-lane controlled expressway can be expanded into a twelve-lane expressway according to the traffic volume. It is planned to plant more than 2 million trees and shrubs along the highway. The highway is the first in Asia and only the second in the world to include animal overpasses, allowing for unrestricted wildlife mobility.
12 states, Union territories have implemented 10 per cent reservation for economically weaker sections: Government
About 12 states andUnion territorieshave implemented 10 per cent reservation to economically weaker sections, while no information regarding implementation ofEWSreservation in the remaining states or UTs is available, the government said.
According to available information, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Karnataka, Jharkhand,Maharashtra,Mizoram, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Goa, Assam, Andhra Pradesh and Telengana have implemented 10 per cent reservation to EWS, minister of state for social justice and empowermentPratima Bhoumiksaid in a written reply inLok Sabha.
She said the department of personnel and training (DoPT) monitors the progress in filling up of backlog vacancies reserved for SCs, STs and OBCs with 10 ministries or departments having more than 90 per cent of employees of the central government.
According to the data provided by her, 14,366 out of 28,345 vaccines reserved for SC remain unfilled while 12,612 of 22,016 vacancies for STs remains unfilled. About 15,088 of the 28,562 vacancies forOBCremain unfilled.
This Planetarium challenge was launched with the aim of bringing together the tech firms and Start-ups, that are based out of India, with the potential to build an indigenous planetariums system software.
This system software must be built by using latest technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and Merged Reality (MR).
This challenge has been Inspired by the Chandrayaan launches. Prior to the launch, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) had conducted the ISRO Quiz Competition-2019 in collaboration with MyGov. In the quiz, several schools, parents and enthusiastic mentors actively participated.
Ease of Doing Business Report – World Bank
The World Bank would discontinue the practice of issuing Doing Business report following an investigation mentioning data irregularities in its 2018 and 2020 editions (released in 2017 and 2019, respectively) and possible ethical matters involving bank staff.
Highlights:
It will study a new method of evaluating the business and investment climate.
The report was introduced in 2003 to provide an assessment of goal measures of business regulations and their enforcement throughout one hundred ninety economies on ten parameters affecting a business through its life cycle.
Notably, in three reports, launched in 2017, 2018 and 2019, India ranked among the top 10 economies displaying the most magnificent improvement.
Mahatma Gandhi to be given Congressional Gold Medal
An influential US lawmaker from New York reintroduced a decision in the US’s Representatives House to posthumously awarded the prestigious Congressional Gold Medal to Honourable Mahatma Gandhi in focus of his advertising of peace and nonviolence.
Key Points:
The Congressional Gold Medal is the easiest civilian award in the United States. Gandhi would be the first Indian to get hold of a Congressional Gold Medal, an honour bestowed upon such fantastic figures as George Washington, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, and Rosa Parks.