06-09-2016, 04:36 PM
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i. The Union government and the World Bank signed a $50-million credit agreement for a project aimed at helping young people from minority communities complete their education and improve their employment opportunities named Nai Manzil Scheme.
ii. The Nai Manzil Scheme is designed as an integrated education and training programme that provides youth from minority communities skills needed for different tasks in a rapidly changing world.
iii. The agreement was signed by Mr. Kumar and Michael Haney, the World Bank’s Operations Adviser in India.
The ambitious odd-even scheme of Delhi government, a first such intervention in the country to combat spiralling air pollution, got off to a decent start on new year with volume of cars on the city roads coming down significantly amid deployment of thousands of policemen and and moderately augmented public transport.
ii. As the clock struck eight, the vehicular restriction policy came into effect with thousands of volunteers carrying roses also taking to the streets to assist traffic police in enforcing the pilot plan that will stay in force till January 15.
iii. Under the scheme, cars bearing odd-numbered registration plates shall ply on city roads while those with even number plates, if taken out, will attract a penalty of Rs 2,000 under relevant sections of the Motor Vehicles Act. It will be vice-versa on Saturday. Also, 25 categories of people are being given exemptions including the VIPs.
Long Range Surface-to-Air Missile (LRSAM), the missile co-developed by India and Israel, was successfully test-fired on the Western Sea Board. The missile was fired from INS Kolkata and it successfully intercepted an aerial target at extended ranges.
ii. The test-fire was jointly carried out by the Indian Navy, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Israel Aerospace Industries.
iii. This was the first test for LRSAM or BARAK 8 missile in India. Earlier, on 11 November 2015, it was successfully test-fired from a range in Israel.
iv. The missile was developed by the DRDL, Hyderabad in collaboration with Israel Aerospace Industries. It has been manufactured by M/s Bharat Dynamics Limited, India.
Iran’s leading banks will soon open branches in India
i. Iran’s leading banks will open branches in India to energise commercial ties between New Delhi and Tehran. The decision was amongst a slew of commercial measures taken by the India-Iran Joint Commission that met for the first time.
ii. After the meeting led by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Iranian Finance Minister Ali Tayebnia, India decided to allow the Pasargan Bank and Parsian Bank of Iran to set up branches in New Delhi and Mumbai.
iii. A major beneficiary of normalisation of banking channels between two sides will be India which has just begun settling more than $6.5 billion energy-related pending payment, with Iran.