Pib

Pib

1. PM visits Ananda Temple, Bagan

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today visited the Ananda Temple, at Bagan in Myanmar. 
This is a Buddhist temple built in the early 12th century. It is the second largest temple in the entire Bagan region.
The Archaeological Survey of India has carried out structural conservation and chemical preservation work of this temple.
The ASI has undertaken several major conservation works at the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan, the Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the Ta Prohm Temple in Cambodia, the Vat Phou Temple in Laos, and the My Son Temple in Vietnam. 

2. Exercise of Weeding Out Shell Companies Would not Only Help in Checking the Menace of Black Money But Would Also Promote Ease of Doing Business & Enhancing Investors’ Confidence

  Government’s resolve to strengthen the rules and procedures of Corporate Governance, it has been decided that the Director or authorized signatory of any “struck off” company tries to unauthorizedly withdraw money from its bank account.
These actions would check the menace of black money but also would promote an ecosystem of “Ease of Doing Business” and enhancing investors’ confidence.
Earlier, pursuant to the action of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance had directed all the Banks to restrict operations of bank accounts of such companies by the Directors of such companies or their authorized representatives.

3. Joint Press Statement on The India-Japan Annual Defence Ministerial Dialogue 

        The Ministers exchanged views and ideas with the aim to further strengthen defence and security cooperation under the framework of the “Japan-lndia Special Strategic and Global Partnership”.

They condemned in the strongest terms North Korea’s nuclear test of 03 September 2017.
    The Ministers noted that regular interactions at all levels, in particular the establishment of Staff Talks at the level of the three Services, have enhanced mutual understanding.
(1) Institutionalised Dialogue and Visits.
(2) Exchanges between Japan Ground Self Defence Force and Indian Army.
(3) Exchanges between Japan Maritime Self Defence Force and the Indian Navy.
(4) Exchanges between Japan Air Self Defence Force and Indian Air Force.
(5) Education and Research exchanges.
(6) Cooperation in Defence Equipment and Technology(dual-use technologies)
They noted the effort made by both countries regarding the cooperation on US-2 amphibious aircraft.
They welcomed the constructive engagement between Acquisition, Technology and Logistic Agency (ATLA) and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

4. UJALA scheme launched in Melaka, Malaysia 

Energy Efficiency Services Limited ( EESL) , under Ministry of Power, Government of India has launched UJALA (Unnat Jyoti by Affordable Lighting for All) Scheme in the State of Melaka, Malaysia today .
The UJALA programme has been one of the prime achievements of Government of India in promoting and executing the concept of energy efficiency.
A simple act of change of one light bulb to LED at South Block Prime Minister's office in India heralded a movement in the entire country for considering the same change.

Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Sh. Narendra Modi on January 5, 2015 had launched the world's largest and most extensive LED distribution programme, UJALA (Unnat Jyoti by Affordable Lighting for All).

In this initiative, the nodal organisation, EESL, had undertaken the task of setting up phase-wise LED distribution centers across the nation to provide people with affordable LED bulbs and energy efficient appliances.

Currently, over 25-crore LED bulbs have been distributed under the UJALA scheme in India, which are resulting in 33,828 mn kWh of energy savings and about 2,74,00,887 tonnes of CO2 reduction is taking place per year..

5. Road accidents in India decrease by 4.1% during 2016, fatalities rise by 3.2% 

Road accidents in the country have decreased by around 4.1%   during   2016, with the year seeing 4,80,652 road accidents as against 5,01,423 in 2015.  
However   fatalities resulting from these accidents have risen by about 3.2% during the same period.
Nearly 1,50,785 persons were killed in 2016 as against 1,46,133 in 2015. Shri Nitin Gadkari released the Ministry’s annual publication ‘Road Accidents in India-2016.   
Road accidents deaths have reduced in 25 states and Union Territories in the first half of 2017.  Only states like Assam, Bihar, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh seen increase in road accident fatalities between 2-8 % during this period.
During 2016, 13 States accounted for 86 per cent of the total road accidents in the country .
13 States accounted for 84 per cent of the total persons killed in road accidents during 2016.
The fifty Million-Plus Cities accounted for 18.7 per cent in total road accidents in the country.Chennai had the highest number of road accidents (7,486) while Delhi had the highest number of deaths (1,591)) due to road accidents.

6. Task Force on Employment and Exports and its Terms of Reference

To provide a major thrust to job creation by enhancing India’s exports, an Expert Task Force has, today, been constituted with the NITI Aayog Vice Chairman, Dr. Rajiv Kumar, as its Chairperson.
While the Indian workforce has high aspirations, a majority of the workers are still employed in low-productivity, low-wage jobs in small, micro and own-account enterprises.
An urgent and sustained expansion of the organized sector is essential to address India’s unemployment and under-employment issue.
An important strategy is also to enable a shift towards more labour-intensive goods and services that are destined for exports.
Given the importance of exports in generating jobs, India needs to create an environment in which globally competitive exporters can emerge and flourish.