BIHAR
- No need to hide mobiles, now jail inmates can officially make calls
- Making phone calls secretly from prisons is a big menace the jail authorities have to grapple with. Quite frequently, mobile phones are recovered during raids in prisons.
- Now, making phone calls will be legal for more than 30,000 inmates of at least 30 jails, including eight central prisons, in Bihar.
- The prison will have an official telephone facility by November 15 to be availed by the jail inmates as per laid down norms.
- Chief minister Nitish Kumar will inaugurate this facility during a function held on the premises of the newly constructed Bihar Institute of Correctional Administration in Hajipur.
- The state government has allotted Rs 9-crore to the BSNL to install telephone booths inside jails for the inmates.
- According to the plan, each of the eight central jails will have three telephone booths, while the district and the sub-jails will have two and one booth respectively.
- Prison officials had seized more than 1000 cellphones during checks in prisons in the past two years. Earlier, the state’s jail department had spent lakhs of rupees to install jammers in jails to block the use of cellphones by hardcore criminals, but to little effect.
INTERNATIONAL
- International Day for Tolerance: 16 November
- The International Day for Tolerance is an annual observance declared by UNESCO in 1995 to generate public awareness of the dangers of intolerance. It is observed on 16 November.
- In 1996, the UN General Assembly (by resolution 51/95) invited UN Member States to observe the International Day for Tolerance on 16 November.
- This year’s theme is ‘Together’.
- India to Host Global Conference on Cyber Space 2017
- India, for the first time ever, is going to host the Global Conference on Cyber Space (GCCS), one of the world’s largest conferences in the field of Cyber Space and related issues, on 23 & 24 November 2017, at Aerocity, New Delhi.
- The Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi will inaugurate the mega event, while Smt. Sushma Swaraj, Hon’ble Minister of External Affairs will deliver the keynote address in the Valedictory function.
- Themed on Cyber4All: A Secure and Inclusive Cyberspace for Sustainable Development, this is the fifth edition of GCCS wherein international leaders, policymakers, industry experts, think tanks and cyber experts will gather to deliberate on issues and challenges for optimally using cyber space.
- Canada Has Been Declared The World’s Best Travel Destination For 2017
- Major travel publication Travel+Leisure has named Canada ‘the destination of the year’ in their recent feature.
- The selection was based on data from polls conducted on travel agents, arrival statistics and cultural relevance.
NATIONAL
- Cabinet approves the establishment of the National Anti-profiteering Authority
- The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval for the creation of the posts of Chairman and Technical Members of the National Anti-profiteering Authority (NAA) under GST, following up immediately on sharp reduction in the GST rates of a large number of items of mass consumption.
- This paves the way for the immediate establishment of this apex body, which is mandated to ensure that the benefits of the reduction in GST rates on goods or services are passed on to the ultimate consumers by way of a reduction in prices.
- The establishment of the NAA, to be headed by a senior officer of the level of Secretary to the Government of India with four Technical Members from the Centre and/or the States, is one more measure aimed at reassuring consumers that Government is fully committed to take all possible steps to ensure the benefits of implementation of GST in terms of lower prices of the goods and services reach them.
- Government launches ‘Saubhagya’ Web-Portal
- Shri R.K. Singh, Minister of State (IC) for Power and New & Renewable Energy, launched the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana – ‘Saubhagya’ Web Portal.
- The portal can be accessed at http://saubhagya.gov.in.Addressing the media during the event, Shri Singh said that the Saubhagya Dashboard is a platform for monitoring household electrification progress, which would disseminate information on Household Electrification Status (State, District, village-wise), Household Progress on live basis, State-wise Target vs Achievement, Monthly Electrification Progress, etc.
- Nagaland becomes first North East state to launch PoS for electricity bill payments
- Nagaland became the first among the North Eastern states to launch Point of Sale (PoS) for electricity bill payment.
- The PoS facility was formally launched by State Chief Secretary, Pankaj Kumar, at Kohima Electrical Subdivision-1 in Kohima on 16th November 2017.
- The Chief Engineer of Power Department, Khose Sale informed that PoS services will be extended to other major cities and districts of Nagaland.
- RBI Governor Urjit Patel Appointed to Advisory Board of BIS
- RBI GovernorUrjit Patelwas appointed to the Financial Stability Institute Advisory Board of the Bank of International Settlement (BIS).
- The Bank of International Settlement is a global financial organization owned by major central banks from across the world.
- The Financial Stability Institute (FSI) of the BIS assists financial sector authorities worldwide in strengthening their financial systems.
- Moody’s Upgrades India’s Sovereign Rating for First Time in 14 Years
- The International rating agency Moody’s Investors Serviceupgraded India’s local and foreign currency issuer ratings to Baa2 from Baa3 and changed the outlook on the rating to stable from positive.
Moody’s has revised the sovereign rating of India a notch above investment grade after a long gap of 14 years. Moody’s has also upgraded India’s local currency senior unsecured rating to Baa2 from Baa3 and its short-term local currency rating to P-2 from P-3.