CII-SIGNED -AGREEMENT

CII signed agreement with NUS to improve India’s rating on ease of doing business 

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore (NUS) on 19 March 2015 to improve India’s rating on ease of doing business
The MoU aimed to enhance the ease of doing business and bring the rating of India amongst the top 50 countries from the present 142nd slot as per World Bank Report.

The MoU was signed during the CII Conference on Make in India: Focus North oragnised by CII as part of CII Northern Region’s Annual Regional Meeting.

CII and NUS will conduct joint state level research across 11 parameters including starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, land acquisition and registration of property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency and labour market regulations.

Subsequently, this MoU would be followed by individual tripartite MoUs between the CII, NUS and respective state governments to in turn create state-wise Master plan for ease of doing business and then prepare a comprehensive state-level action plan.

The NUS would study where the states stand presently on various parameters, guide on the specific best practices to be adopted by different states, handhold them and would also analyze their improvement on year on year basis.

Addressing the issue of ease of doing business is crucial for accelerating growth and job creation as the Make in India campaign aims to position India as a world class manufacturing destination.

However, in order to realise this potential, the major thrust needs to be placed on improving the investment climate in states ranging from ease of doing business, structural & regulatory reforms to enabling infrastructure.

Singapore is ranked at no.1 country in ease of doing business.

OBAMA -URGES -IRAN

Obama urges Iran to grab 'historic chance' for N-deal

 US President Barack Obama called on Iranian leaders not to miss a "historic opportunity" to reach a reasonable nuclear deal, saying such a moment "may not come again soon".

In a video message to mark Nowruz (Persian New Year), Obama on Thursday said this is "the best opportunity in decades to pursue a different future between our countries," referring to the ongoing talks being held in Switzerland to clinch a deal on Iran's nuclear programme, Xinhua reported.

Obama said "gaps remain", despite the progress made in the negotiations between Iran and six major countries, or P5+1, which includes the US, Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany.

"The days and weeks ahead would be critical. Our negotiations have made progress, but gaps remain. And there are people, in both our countries and beyond, who oppose a diplomatic resolution," he said.

Obama added that Iran and the US both kept their commitments to an interim deal reached a year ago, under which Iran halted progress on its nuclear programme in exchange for the easing of economic sanctions imposed by the US-led West.

The US suspects that Iran's nuclear programme is aimed at producing a nuclear bomb that could threaten the existence of Israel, the sole US ally in the Middle East, but Tehran has insisted that its programme is solely for the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

If Iran agrees to take "meaningful, verifiable steps" to reach a reasonable deal that will assure the peaceful nature of its nuclear programme, it would open the door to a brighter future for Iranian people. Otherwise, Iran will keep on the current path of isolation and hardship, Obama said.

"This is what's at stake today. And this moment may not come again soon. I believe that our nations have an historic opportunity to resolve this issue peacefully - an opportunity we should not miss," Obama said.

Iran and the P5+1 group are intensifying their negotiations this week in the Swiss city of Lausanne, in an attempt to reach a comprehensive framework deal before the end of March.

JOHN KERRY- TO- MEET- EUROPEAN

John Kerry to meet European counterparts on Iran talks on Saturday

LAUSANNE, Switzerland: US secretary of state John Kerry will meet his British, German and French counterparts on Saturday to discuss his week-long negotiations with Iran on curbing Tehran's nuclear programme, a US spokeswoman said on Friday.

Spokeswoman Marie Harf said the nuclear talks with Iran would resume next week. The venue for Kerry's meeting with the Europeans was still being worked out, Harf added.

Separately, Iran's deputy foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said Tehran's talks with the six major powers would resume on Wednesday, according to Iran's ISNA news agency.

BRILLIANT-GADGET-APPS

10 -BRILLIANT -GADGETS



"gadgets**us"
Think you know all the cool gadgets that are coming out soon? Think again. Thanks to crowd-funding, 3D printing and cheap manufacturing in China, we're seeing a lot more hardware start-ups coming up with interesting new devices.
Several of our favourite products at the DEMO conference in Silicon Valley this month were the kind of hardware you used to need to be an established company to tackle, only coming from tiny new companies.
The hardware will take a few months to make it to the market, but some of these intriguing apps and services should be available much sooner.

1. NuRoast

 

 

The freshest coffee is made with the beans you roast yourself. But that's tricky to do right - and anyway, where do you get good green coffee beans? 

NuRoast is going to make an induction coffee roaster that you pop a sealed can of selected coffee beans into. The can has internal fins that heat and stir the beans in the digitally-controlled roaster.

Each can comes with a list of flavour profiles to get different styles of roast: just tap in the one you like the sound of and the same beans will come out with a different flavor.

Do we want it?

We taste-tested the prototype and you can taste the difference between profiles, but $175 on Indiegogo makes this one for coffee afficionados

2. Picrition

 

Need some encouragement to eat more healthily? Snap a photo of everything you eat and let this social network rate you (anonymously) as a junk food junkie or a smart snacker.

Do we want it?

Food diaries are a great tool, but unless you pay extra, the people looking at your photos won't be nutrition experts (and a photo doesn't give you a calorie count). You'll have to do most of the work yourself, but Pictrition could still give you a boost.

 

THE- BALLONS

The balloons that could fly tourists to the edge of spaceInstead of rocket-powered sub-orbital flights like those of Virgin Galactic, could high-altitude ballooning become the most viable way of letting paying tourists experience space -- or at least something thrillingly close to it?

Ballooning is already tried and tested technology -- "It's the origin of space travel," explains Annelie Schoenmaker, external relations and legal officer for Zero - infinity, a Spanish company that plans to launch passengers to near space using balloons known as "Bloons" for €110,000 ($124,000) a time.

Zero2infinity is one of two organizations hoping to use pressurized capsules suspended beneath helium balloons as a way to take tourists into near space.

Flights using helium-filled balloons began in the early 1930s. "For me this time was what I call the first space race, as it was the first time we went into the stratosphere," explains Dr Jonathan Clark, an associate professor in neurology and space medicine, who has advised on both Red Bull Stratos and StratEx -- the project that saw Google executive Alan Eustace make a record-breaking space dive, assisted by ballooning company World View Enterprises.

"Even the first spacesuits were tested using balloons," adds Schoenmaker. To this day ballooning is hugely important for space science; NASA and other commercial companies use balloons as an inexpensive means to test payloads in near-space environments.

THE WORLD- BIGGEST- AIRCRAFT

The world's biggest aircraft: Giant airship gets closer to take-oFF




Look to the skies above London and you'll see the usual suspects -- rainclouds, planes and pigeons. But by the end of the year, you might just see something else.

Longer than a soccer pitch and filled to the brim with helium, at 302 feet long, the Airlander 10 will be the world's biggest aircraft. Part blimp, part plane, part helicopter, it was originally created by British design company Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) for military surveillance by the U.S. Army.

But budget cuts doomed the project and HAV bought the airship back across the pond, where it seemed set to remain on solid ground until the company received a £3.4 million ($5.1 million) grant from the UK government. Thanks to this recent injection of financing, designers and engineers are now readying the craft for first flight tests scheduled for later this year.

Old concept, new tricks

While the concept has been around for nearly a century, airships fell out of fashion following the Hindenburg disaster in 1937, when the German passenger craft erupted into flames while trying to dock, killing 36.

While an airship might seem like a craft from a time long passed, it has been given a 21st century design overhaul and HAV hopes to have airships back in the skies over the UK by 2016.

Chris Daniels, HAV head of partnerships and communications, said: "The sole problems existing old-style airships had (were) having lots of ground crew, limited ability to carry payloads and to be susceptible to weather conditions. We solved all those problems with a new concept -- a hybrid aircraft. So a mix between a wing and an airship."

The Airlander 10 -- named because it can carry 10 tons -- is made of a bespoke fabric of carbon fiber, kevlar and mylar, while the pressure of the helium inside maintains the aircraft's shape. Diesel fuel helps the Airlander take off and land and powers the propellers. The spacious cockpit is currently configured to accommodate a pilot and one observer but Daniels says this can easily be reconfigured to end-user specifications.

SILICON- VALLEY

Silicon Valley to millennials

We have no problem taking Wall Street executives to task for decisions that leave American families financially devastated, yet we give Silicon Valley billionaires a pass when they do the same thing. America needs to realize that instead of creating jobs, Silicon Valley is erasing them, leaving millennials financially stranded before their careers can get off the ground.

Silicon Valley is tossing millennials aside like yesterday's laptop.The commonly held belief is that with hard work and a good education, a young person in America can get a good job. But despite falling unemployment, college grads age 22 to 27 are stuck in low-paying jobs that don't even require a college degree. The percentage of young people languishing in low-skill, low-paying jobs is 44%, a 20-year high.
Only 36% of college grads have jobs that pay at least $45,000, a sharp decline from the 1990s, after adjusting for inflation. Perhaps most depressingly, the percentage of young people making below $25,000 has topped 20%, worse than in 1990. In other words, those with a bachelor's diploma were better off before the digital revolution.

If this comes as a surprise, that's because images from popular culture push the idea that young college graduates are shrugging off bad employment prospects with their do-it-yourself attitude. In our collective imagination, millennials are saying, "No jobs? That's OK — I'll create my own!" And then they solve their own problems by heading to Silicon Valley with little more than an iPhone and an idea to create the next hip app that supposedly will turn them into overnight millionaires.

A fictional example of this new breed of young idealistic entrepreneur would be Mike Bean, founder of Internet behemoth Gryzzl on the show "Parks and Recreation." Played by Blake Anderson, Bean might best be described as "barefoot and pregnant with ideas." The bumbling entrepreneur conquers the world practically by accident, armed only with his digital savvy, a can-do spirit, and a penchant for invading users' privacy. You get the idea that his success came easily.

Privacy concerns aside, the Mike Beans of America are just about as rare as the Mark Zuckerbergs. In fact, the percentage of people under 30 who own private businesses has reached a 24-year low. Garages across the country are not exactly humming with millennials launching tech startups.

But wait — won't the digital economy eventually lead to better jobs? After a period of adjustment, won't things get better? Unfortunately that's not the path we're on. One of the biggest misconceptions about the digital economy is that for every middle-class job rendered obsolete by technology, there's a new, equally good (or better) job created by Silicon Valley.

But exactly the opposite is happening. The digital economy is vaporizing the good jobs and replacing them with two kinds of jobs: minimum wage jobs (think Amazon warehouse employees) and so-called "sharing-economy jobs" (think Uber drivers).

The sharing-economy jobs are even worse than minimum wage jobs because they offer no stability or protections for workers. Sharing economy jobs aren't really jobs at all; they're freelance gigs.

Sure, Silicon Valley doesn't owe America jobs. But something is wrong with the picture of a handful of tech billionaires overseeing a kingdom of falling wages, decreased worker protection and zero job security.

This "winner-take-all" digital economy is not sustainable. People on both sides of the political spectrum are worried. Liberal luminary Robert Reich, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley and former secretary of labor under Bill Clinton, calls the sharing economy the "share-the-scraps" economy. Speaking of tech companies that utilize on-demand labor, such as Uber, Instacart and Taskrabbit, he says, "The big money goes to the corporations that own the software. The scraps go to the on-demand workers."

Meanwhile, conservative columnist Ross Douthat fears a dystopian future in which "a rich, technologically proficient society will no longer offer meaningful occupation to many people of ordinary talents."

Put simply, Silicon Valley's utopia is the rest of America's dystopia. And those who are punished more than anyone else are recent college graduates, whose lifetime earning potential has already suffered an irreversible setback.

And if you think your own job is safe, think again. New research predicts that nearly half of all jobs are susceptible to automation over the next two decades. This is a giant leap backward, but it's deceptively described as technological "progress." As anyone who's talked to an automated system on the phone lately can attest, "automated" usually means "worse."

"technology**us"

What can be done? How can we fight this slide back toward the Middle Ages? If we take no action, we're headed toward a kind of digital world feudalism where there are a handful of kings, a lot of peasants and no middle class.
There's no easy fix, but we can do three things immediately. First, we can stop glorifying tech titans and start talking openly about Silicon Valley's questionable tactics and its real job creation record (i.e., just follow the numbers). Second, we can encourage more lawsuits against the abusive practices of "sharing-economy" powerhouses. Third, we can elect leaders who are vocal about holding Silicon Valley accountable for their power over the entire American workforce, including white-collar employees.
The fictional Gryzzl's tagline borrows some millennial slang: "Wouldn't it be tight if everyone was chill to each other?" Indeed it would. And if we want a better future for millennials and the generations after them, we need to challenge the prevailing Silicon Valley ethos before it's too late. 

FBI -LETS -SUSPECTS -GO

 FBI lets suspects go to protect 'Stingray' secrets

 The FBI has a secret device to locate criminal suspects, but it would apparently rather let suspects go free than reveal in court any details of the high tech tracker.
The device, called a "Stingray," tricks cell phones into revealing their locations. A judge's court order this week threatens to reveal closely guarded details about how police use Stingrays.
 Judge Patrick H. NeMoyer in Buffalo, New York, described a 2012 deal between the FBI and the Erie County Sheriff's Office in his court order Tuesday: The FBI instructed the police to drop criminal charges instead of revealing "any information concerning the cell site simulator or its use."

Erie police had long tried to keep that contract secret, but the judge rejected that idea and ordered that details of the Stingrays be made public.

"If that is not an instruction that affects the public, nothing is," NeMoyer wrote.

Erie police had used Stingrays to track down several criminal suspects, a suicidal person and four missing people, including an 87-year-old with dementia, according to the judge's order.

The Erie County Sheriff's Office declined to comment to CNNMoney on Wednesday. Police spokesman Scott Zylka said they're now working with the FBI to appeal the judge's decision and keep the FBI agreement secret.

The FBI did not provide immediate comment.

The American Civil Liberties Union is demanding details about Stingray use under public records laws.

What are Stingrays?

Few people know Stingrays even exist -- or that federal agents and police across the country are increasingly using them to arrest people. It's a small device that mimics a cell phone tower, duping nearby cell phones into connecting to it rather than a real phone company tower.

There's a growing privacy concern because while police use the Stingrays to track down an individual, they can potentially grab text messages and phone call data on thousands of innocent people.

In November, we learned that federal agents regularly fly planes nationwide that spy on Americans' phone calls. We also know police in at least 20 states use Stingrays, according to public records obtained by the ACLU.

But everything else is a mystery because police agencies have non-disclosure agreements with the maker of Stingrays: the Harris Corporation based in Melbourne, Florida. They also have similar hush-hush contracts with the FBI.

There have been several examples of prosecutors dropping charges to keep quiet about Stingrays. Late last year, Tallahassee police gave a sweet plea deal to a pot dealer who robbed someone with a BB gun. A felony charge with a four-year prison sentence became a misdemeanor with six-months' probation because his defense attorney discovered police used a Stingray to locate him.

Hanni Fakhoury, an attorney with the pro-privacy Electronic Frontier Foundation, said Tuesday's court order was the first time that revealed a nationwide police tactic to maintain secrecy at all costs.

"We've long suspected that's the policy, but now we know," he said. "It's crazy on a billion legal levels."

The lead ACLU attorney on this case, Mariko Hirose, described Stingrays as military grade equipment that has no place being used on unsuspecting American citizens. She also said that the FBI's tactic to stay quiet about Stingrays makes little sense. Erie County spent more than $350,000 to buy two Stingray devices and related training and equipment.

OBAMA-TIME FOR MANDATORY

Obama: Maybe it's time for mandatory voting
 (CNN)The president whose major policy achievement is mandatory health insurance thinks maybe voting should be mandatory, too.

Asked how to offset the influence of big money in politics, President Barack Obama suggested it's time to make voting a requirement.

"Other countries have mandatory voting," Obama said Wednesday in Cleveland, where he spoke about the importance of middle class economics, and was asked about the issue during a town hall.

"It would be transformative if everybody voted -- that would counteract money more than anything," he said, adding it was the first time he had shared the idea publicly.

The clout of millionaires and billionaires in campaign funding has been enormous, and many claim the uber wealthy have undue leverage in politics.

"The people who tend not to vote are young, they're lower income, they're skewed more heavily towards immigrant groups and minority groups," Obama said. "There's a reason why some folks try to keep them away from the polls."

At least 26 countries have compulsory voting, according to the Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. Failure to vote is punishable by a fine in countries such as Australia and Belgium; if you fail to pay your fine in Belgium, you could go to prison.

Aside from campaign finance issues, the United States also grapples with one of the lowest voter turnout rates among developed countries.

Less than 37% of eligible voters actually voted in the 2014 midterm elections, according to The Pew Charitable Trusts. That means about 144 million Americans -- more than the population of Russia -- skipped out.

But mandatory voting could bring its own set of problems. Haydon Manning, associate professor at Flinders University in Australia, said that country's rules can backfire.

"Turning the vote out might not be a problem, but wooing disengaged citizens now requires banal sloganeering and crass misleading negative advertising," Manning wrote. "To me, this can diminish the democratic experience for those who take the time to think through the issues."

India-Automobile-Industry

AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY  In INDIA

The Indian Automobile Industry is amongst the largest automobile markets in the world. It is up-and-coming as one of the fastest growing passenger car markets in the world. In recent days, the automobile industry in India is witnessing a flat and even negative growth rates. It is also the second largest two wheeler manufacturer country in the world. India is also the fifth largest commercial vehicle manufacturer.

The Indian automobile industry is becoming a budding hub for exporting sports utility vehicles (SUVs) to Europe, Southeast Asia and South Africa. Furthermore, hybrid and electronic vehicles are new expansion in the Indian automobile outlook. Nowadays, Indian manufacturers are focusing to develop new innovative products, technologies and resource chains.

The automobile plants in India are ranked among the best in the world in terms of quality and productivity. Following are the Indian automotive companies in India: Chinkara Motors, Force Motors, Hindustan Motors, International Cars & Motor Ltd, Mahindra, Premier Automobiles Limited, San Motors, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors.

Following are the foreign automotive companies in India: BMW India, Fiat India, Ford India, General Motors India, Chevrolet, Honda Cars India Limited, Hyundai Motor India, Mercedes-Benz India, Mitsubishi, Nissan Motor India, Renault The automobiles sector is compartmentalized in four different sectors which are as follows:
Two-wheelers which comprise of mopeds, scooters, motorcycles and electric two-wheelers
Passenger Vehicles which include passenger cars, utility vehicles and multi-purpose vehicles
Commercial Vehicles that are light and medium-heavy vehicles
Three Wheelers that are passenger carriers and goods carriers.
The automobile industry is one of the key drivers that boosts the economic growth of the country. Since the de-licensing of the sector in 1991 and the subsequent opening up of 100 percent FDI through automatic route, Indian automobile sector has come a long way. Today, almost every global auto major has set up facilities in the country.

Austria based motorcycle manufacturer KTM, the established makers of Harley Davidson from the US and Mahindra & Mahindra have set up manufacturing bases in India. Furthermore, according to internal projections by Mercedes Benz Cars, India is set to become Mercedes Benz’s fastest-growing market worldwide ahead of China, the US and Europe.

As per the data published by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce, Government of India, the cumulative FDI inflows into the Indian automobile industry during April 2000 to October 2013 was noted to be US$ 9,079 million, which amounted to 4% of the total FDI inflows in terms of US $. The production of compact superbikes is also expected to take place in India. The country has a mass production base of 16 million two-wheelers and the several global as well as Indian bike makers are looking forward to use it as an advantage in order to roll out sports bikes in the 250 cc capacity.India, Toyota Kirloskar, Volkswagen, Audi India, Skoda Auto India and Volkswagen India.

The world standing for the Indian automobile sector, as per the Confederation of the Indian industry is as follows:
1.Largest three-wheeler market
2.Second largest two-wheeler market
3.Tenth largest passenger car market
4.Fourth largest tractor market

5.Fifth largest commercial vehicle market

Xolo LT2000 - 4G LTE

Lava’s sub-brand XOLO has further expanded its range of devices

Xolo has launched a new 4G LTE-enabled budget smartphone under its range of 'LT' devices - the Xolo LT2000 at Rs. 9,999. It is worth mentioning that the company had launched the Xolo LT900 in December 2013. The smartphone is available to buy from leading e-commerce websites.

The smartphone running Android 4.4 KitKat. The company has however, promised to release an Android 5.0 Lollipop update for the smartphone in the future. It features a 5.5-inch HD (720x1280 pixels) resolution display protected with Dragontrail glass. Powered by a quad-core 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor clocked at 1.2GHz, the LT2000 sports 1GB of RAM and Adreno 306 GPU clocked at 400MHz.

The phablet features a 5.5 inch HD touchscreen display (1280×720 pixels resolution) with 267 ppi pixel density and is powered by a 1.2 GHz MSM 8916 Snapdragon 410 quad-core processor. It runs on the Android 4.4 KitKat OS and has 1GB of RAM. The internal memory of the device is 8GB that can be further expanded up to 32GB with a microSD card.

Measuring 115x74.8x7.8 mm, the LT2000's connectivity features include 4G TDD and FDD LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Micro-USB with OTG, and A-GPS. A 2920mAh battery backs the handset, which is available only in a Black colour variant.

Xolo has also introduced a self-updating phone book app called 6degrees. The app offers a suite of features dealing with calling, messaging and managing connections. The app also updates the phone book on the device whenever contacts change their details. Searching for shops and restaurants, apart from requesting friends for their contact details, is also possible through the app.

AIR -- AIR -MISSILE

Air-to-Air missile Astra successfully test fired from ITR Chandipur in Odisha by india

Indigenously developed Beyond Visual Range (BVR) air-to-air missile, Astra, was successfully test fired at the Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur in Odisha on 18 March 2015. It was test-fired aboard a Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft.

The present test was a part of the series of tests planned to test the missile’s subsystems like propulsion, navigation and guidance and the smooth separation of the missile from the aircraft, etc. 

Further, the test was intended to prove the missile’s manoeuvring capability against a simulated target and also to validate various subsystems.

The previous test was conducted on 04 May 2014 from a Naval Range in the Western Sector.

Astra is a beyond visual range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) that is capable of engaging its target at ranges of 37 km or beyond. Astra missile has operational range of 60km.

About the Astra missile
It is India’s first BVR air-to-air missile. The all-weather missile was indigeniously designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
It is a state-of-the-art missile in the sense that it travels at supersonic speed (4780 km/h), possesses Single Shot Kill Probability (SSKP) with active radar terminal guidance, uses smokeless propulsion system to evade enemy radars and has the capacity to engage in multi-target scenario.
The 3.8 metre long missile is the smallest of the DRDO-developed missiles and can be launched from different altitudes.
It can reach up to 110 km when fired from an altitude of 15 km, 44 km when launched from an altitude of eight km and 21 km when fired from sea level.

BIHAR- BUDGET- HIGHLIGHTS

Bihar Budget 2015-16: Highlights
State Government of Bihar led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on 12 March 2015 presented the state budget for the financial year 2015-16.

The overall size of the budget is 120685.32 crore rupees that includes plan expenditure of 57437 crore rupees and non-plan expenditure of 63259 crore rupees.

Key Highlights of the Budget 2015-16
• After registering double-digit growth rate in the past few years, the growth rate of Bihar declined to 9.92 percent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) in 2014-15. GSDP estimate is 455451 crore rupees for the year 2015 -16.
• The State has Revenue Surplus of 11980.95 crore rupees during 2015 - 16 which is 2.63% of GSDP.
• The Fiscal Deficit has been estimated at 13584.46 crore rupees which is 2.98% of GSDP for the year 2015-16.
• The Outstanding Public Debt is estimated at 89239.87 crore rupees in 2015-16 which is 19.58% of GSDP. 
• The percentage of Development expenditure and Non-Development expenditure in total expenditure is 68.28 and 31.72 respectively
• The percentage of Revenue and Capital expenditure in total expenditure is 75.58 and 24.42 respectively.
• The percentage of Non-Plan and Plan Expenditure in total expenditure for 2015-16 is 52.42 and 47.58 respectively
• A Consolidated Sinking Fund making provisions for repayment of loans has been created since 2008-09. It shall help the State in times of crisis to meet the debt obligations.  In the year 2015-16, 491.84 crore rupees is proposed to be invested in the Fund.

Department wise allocation for State Plan in Budget 2015-16

Name of Department   Plan Outlay (rupees in crore) Percentage total outlat
 Education                   10950.14                             19.16

Rural Works                5612.30                               9.82

Rural Development      5420.13                              9.49

Rural Construction      4856.22                               8.50

Social Welfare            4132.77                                7.23

Energy                        4058.60                               7.10

Health                         2372.00                              4.15

Agriculture                  2342.35                               4.10

Food and Consumer Protection  2121.63                     3.71

BC & MBC Welfare         1970.03                              3.45

Others                              13301.45                             23.28

Total                                57137.62                             100.00

Budget Estimates of 2015-16 in Brief:
• Total Expenditure: 120685.32 crore rupees
• Total Plan Size: 57425.73 crore rupees
• Total Non-Plan size: 63259.59 crore rupees
• Revenue Surplus: 11980.95 crore rupees (2.63% of GSDP)
• Fiscal Deficit: 13584.46 crore rupees (2. 98% of GSDP)
• State Own Tax Revenue:
a) Commercial Tax: 21375.00 crore rupees
b) Excise Duty: 4000.00 crore rupees
c) Stamp and Registration: 4000.00 crore rupees
d) Transport: 1200.00 crore rupees
e) Land Revenue: 300.00 crore rupees
• State's main Non-Tax Revenue
a) Receivable from Jharkhand State due for pension share's liabilities: 1600.00 crore rupees
b) Mines: 1000.00 crore rupees
c) Interest receipts: 312.13 crore rupees
d) Irrigation: 34.00 crore rupees
e) Other Non Taxes: 449.73 crore rupees
• Committed Expenditure
a) Salary - (i) Non-Plan: 17757.90 crore rupees (ii) Plan: 776.85 crore rupees
b) Pension: 12979.67 crore rupees
c) Interest: 7220.77 crore rupees
d) Repayment of Public Debt: 3895.28 crore rupees

UNSC -ADOPTED -RESOLUTION 2201

UNSC adopted Resolution 2201 demanding Houthis withdrawal from Yemen’s government institutions

United Nation Security Council (UNSC) on 15 February 2015 adopted the Resolution 2201 demanding immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Houthis from the government institutions of Yemen.

The resolution was brought after the UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon had warned the 15-member UNSC that Yemen was collapsing under the weight of a protracted political crisis, widespread attacks by Al-Qaida, increasing secessionist tendencies in the south and an acute humanitarian crisis.
Main Highlights of the Resolution

    The resolution demanded Houthis to safely release President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and all others from house arrest, and engage in good faith in UN-brokered negotiations designed to keep the fracturing Middle Eastern country on a steady path towards democratic transition.
    The Council strongly deplored actions by the Houthis, who had gained control of the capital Sana’a in September 2014, to dissolve parliament and take over Government institutions.
    The resolution urged all parties to agree upon and publicly announce dates for completing the constitutional consultation process, hold a referendum on the text and conduct elections under the new electoral law.
    It strongly called on all parties, in particular the Houthis, to abide by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Initiative and its Implementation Mechanism, as well as the outcomes of the comprehensive National Dialogue Conference, and the Peace and National Partnership Agreement, which provided for a Yemeni-led democratic transition.
    The Council also demanded that all parties cease armed hostilities against the people and legitimate authorities of Yemen, and relinquish arms seized from military and security institutions. 
    Stressing the importance of the United Nations’ cooperation with international partners, the Council requested the Secretary-General to propose options for strengthening the office of the Special Adviser.
    It also called on Secretary-General to propose options on UN assistance for finalizing and adopting the Constitution in Yemen, carrying out electoral reform and holding general elections. 

Background

Yemen has been beset by unrest for months. The country has been marred by fights between Houthis militias and Yemen government.

The Houthis, who adhere to a branch of Shia Islam known as Zaidism, have staged periodic uprisings since 2004 in an effort to win greater autonomy for their northern heartland of Saada province.

They consolidated their control over Saada during the 2011 uprising that forced long-time President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down.

In September 2014, they gained control of Sana'a, the capital of Yemen.

Houthis accuse President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and other leaders of putting their interests ahead of the Yemeni people. However, the opponents allege that the rebels ultimately hope to reinstall the Zaidi imamate, which ruled North Yemen for almost 1000 years until 1962.

RUSSIA -CYPRUS- SIGNED -AGREEMENT

Russia and Cyprus signed an agreement to allow Russian navy ships to use Cypriot ports

Russia and on 25 February 2015 signed an agreement to give Russian navy ships access to Cypriot ports in the Mediterranean Sea. Russian ships that will dock at Cypriot ports would mostly be used in counter-terrorism and anti-piracy efforts.

The agreement was signed in Moscow after talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades.

The military deal also included the possibility of Russia using an air base on Cyprus for humanitarian relief missions.
Why the deal is important for Russia?
It would end the search of Russia for building a base in Mediterranean Sea since it had lost a military base on Syria’s Coast during fighting between anti-government rebels and troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

Further, in the wake of plummeting of ties between Russia and the West over Ukraine crisis, Russia has sought to strengthen ties with a number of individual EU members including Cyprus, Hungary and Greece.

The relations between Russia and Cyprus
Cyprus is heavily dependent on Russian investment and has been a destination for cash from Russia. Earlier in the last week of February 2015, Russia restructured a 2.5 billion euro (2.8 billion US dollars) loan to Cyprus it signed in 2011. The restructuring included cutting the annual interest rate to 2.5 percent from 4.5 percent and extending the redemptionperiod to 2018-2021.

According to Global Financial Integrity, illicit money flows from Russia to Cyprus amounted to at least 211.5 billion US dollars during the period 1994 – 2011.

SIPRI -RELEASED -ARMS-REPORT

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on 16 March 2015 released Trends in International Arms Transfers 2014 report.
According to it, India is the world's largest importer of weapons and military equipment, accounting for 15 percent of global imports, with Russia being its majority supplier.

Highlights of the Report

• The volume of transfers of major weapons in 2010–14 was 16 percent higher than in 2005– 2009.

• The five biggest exporters in 2010–14 were the USA, Russia, China, Germany and France. Together, they accounted for 74 percent of the volume of arms exports. Combined, the USA and Russia supplied 58 percent of all exports.

• China replaced Germany as the third largest arms exporter in 2010–14, in 2005–2009 China was ranked ninth.

• Total exports from all EU member states in 2010–14 were 16 percent lower than in 2005–2009; in 2005–2009 EU export volumes were higher than those for the USA or Russia, while in 2010–14 they were below US and Russian export totals.

• The five biggest importers in 2010–14 were India, Saudi Arabia, China, the UAE and Pakistan. Together, they received 33 percent of all arms imports.

• The main recipient region in 2010–14 was Asia and Oceania (accounting for 48 percent of imports), followed by the Middle East (22 percent), Europe (12 percent), the Americas (10 percent) and Africa (9 percent).

• Between 2005–2009 and 2010–14, arms imports by states in Africa increased by 45 percent, Asia and Oceania by 37 percent, the Middle East by 25 percent and the Americas by 7 percent. Imports by states in Europe decreased by 36 percent.

India: The largest importer of arms

• India was the largest importer of major arms in 2010–14, accounting for 15 percent of the global total. Between 2005–2009 and 2010–14 imports increased by 140 percent.

• In 2010–14 India’s imports were three times larger than those of its regional rivals China and Pakistan.

• This contrasts with 2005–2009 when India’s imports were 23 percent below China’s and just over double those of Pakistan.

• India has so far failed to produce competitive indigenous-designed weapons and remains dependent on imports.

• In 2010–14 Russia supplied 70 percent of India’s arms imports, the USA 12 percent and Israel 7 percent. The acquisitions from the USA are a break with the recent past.

• Prior to 2005–2009 India barely received any major weapons from the USA. However, there now appears to be an upward trend in arms imports from the USA. Imports in 2010–14 were 15 times higher than in 2005–2009 and included advanced weapons such as anti-submarine warfare aircraft. In 2014 additional deals with the USA were agreed, including for 22 combat helicopters.

About SIPRI

SIPRI is an independent international institute dedicated to research into conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament. Established in 1966, SIPRI provides data, analysis and recommendations, based on open sources, to policymakers, researchers, media and the interested public.