12 March 2017 news

12th March 2017 Current events

A. India,s first rail ambulance launched at Mumbai

1. It is a four-coach fully AC ambulance, equipped with health care facilities.
 

2. The idea for such a facility came after 19 passengers died and around 145 got injured after the Diva-Sawantwadi train derailed between Nagothane and Roha stations in Maharashtra's Raigad district in May 2014.
 

3. As many as 50 people can be transported and treated using this air conditioned rail ambulance.
 

4. Designed at the rail workshop at Matunga in Mumbai, the vehicle is suited for transporting accident victims to hospital in a short time.
 

5. The coaches are aesthetically designed and house an operation theatre to carry out minor surgeries like cataract and can provide emergency treatment to accident victims

B. Maternity benefit amnedment bill set passed in Lok Sabha

1. Lok Sabha passed today on 9th March, 2017 the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016 which inter-alia includes increasing maternity benefit to woman covered under the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 from 12 weeks to 26 weeks up to two surviving children in order to allow the mother to take care of the child during his/her most formative stage, providing maternity benefit of 12 weeks to Commissioning mother and Adopting mother, facilitate “work from home” to a mother with mutual consent of the employee and the employer, making mandatory in respect of establishment having fifty or more employees , to have the facility of crèche either individually or as a shared common facility within such distance as may be prescribed by rules & also to allow four visits to the crèche by the woman daily, including the interval for rest allowed to her and every establishment to intimate in writing and electronically to every woman at the time of her initial appointment about the benefits available under the Act. 

2. The bill was presented in the Lok Sabha by the Minister of State (IC) for Labour and Employment, Shri Bandaru Dattatreya. 

C. India’s industrial input rises 2.7 % this year

India's industrial output rose 2.7 percent in January from a year ago, according to the latest government data, showing a sharp rebound from the previous month.The cumulative growth for April-January 2016-17 stood at 0.6 percent over the previous year. In December, India posted a decline 0.4 per cent.

Economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast a 0.5 percent growth in output compared with a revised 0.1 percent year-on-year fall in December.The indices of industrial production (IIP) for mining, manufacturing and electricity sectors grew at 5.3 per cent, 2.3 percent and 3.9 percent compared to January 2016.

Sectors that showed high positive growth in January include 'Cable, Rubber Insulated' (282.8%), 'Fruit Pulp' (121.5%), 'Vitamins' (46.9%),'Telephone Instruments including Mobile Phones and accessories' (31.7%), and 'Antibiotics and it's preparations' (25.9%).While sectors that contracted include 'HR Sheets' (-39.6%), 'Ship Building and Repairs' (-31.9%), 'sugar' (-28.2%), 'PVC Pipes and Tubes' (-27.0%), 'Leather Garments' (-24.3%) and 'Three-Wheelers (-24.3%).

D. India successfully test-fires a new BrahMos supersonic cruise missile

India's conventional precision-strike capabilities now have a longer reach. A new BrahMossupersonic cruise missile, with an extended range of 450km from the earlier 290km, was successfully test-fired from the integrated test range at Balasore off the Odisha coast on Saturday morning.

The land-attack version of the missile, which flies almost three times the speed of sound at Mach 2.8, was fired at "an electronic target" at 11.30am. The launch, executed with high precision from the mobile autonomous launcher deployed in full configuration, "met all the test parameters", said defence scientists.

"With the successful test firing of the extended range BrahMos, the Indian armed forces will be empowered to knock down enemy targets far beyond 400kms. BrahMos has thus proved its prowess once again as the best supersonic cruise missile system in the world," said BrahMos Aerospace chief Sudhir Mishra, who oversaw the test-firing at Balasore.

The technology upgrade to the extended range BrahMos comes after India gained entry into the 34-nation Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) in June last year, which "removed the caps" on the range of the missile developed with the help of Russia. The MTCR basically prevents the proliferation of missiles and UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) over the range of 300km.
As earlier reported by TOI, after the front in Pakistan, the government has approved deployment of the missile's Block-III version, which has "trajectory maneuver and steep dive capabilities" for mountain warfare operations, in Arunachal Pradesh to counter China's huge build of military infrastructure all along the 4,057-km Line of Actual Control.

"The missiles already approved for induction can now also be upgraded from the 290-km to 450km range with minor modifications and tweaking of the propulsion system, avionics, fire-control system and mission software. It will not require huge costs," said a scientist.

Since then, the Army has inducted three BrahMos regiments, with the fourth being on the way. Ten warships have also been equipped with the missiles, which has become the standard offensive weapon for the Navy.

With the combined orders placed for BrahMos missiles already around Rs 27,000 crore, the IAF is also slated to begin testing the missile from its heavy-duty Sukhoi-30MKI fighters soon.

E. New Chief Justice appoints foKerala, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Patna and Jharkhand High Courts
President of India has appointed new Chief Justices in Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Patna and Jharkhand High Courts.

1.   Justice Thottathil Bhaskaran Nair Radhakrishnan, Judge of the Kerala High Court, appointed as Chief Justice of the Chhattisgarh high court

2.   Justice Navaniti Prasad Singh, Judge of the Patna High Court, appointed as Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court.

3.   Justice Hemant Gupta, Judge of the Patna High Court, to be the Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

4.   Justice Rajendra Menon, Judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, to be the Chief Justice of the Patna High Court.

5.   Justice Pradip Kumar Mohanty, Judge of Jharkhand High Court, to be the Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court.

F. India falls by 2 in FIFA rankings

The Indian football team slipped two places to be at 132nd in the latest FIFA rankings issued on Thursday.

India secured 233 points, which is 11 lower than its previous month’s total.

Among the countries from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), India rose a place to 19th among 46 nations, with Iran, ranked 33rd internationally, leading the way.Among the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) members, India are comfortably placed the highest. Maldives are now placed 140th while Nepal (170), Bhutan (177), Bangladesh (193), Sri Lanka (197) and Pakistan (198) are ranked much lower.

Argentina leads the international rankings followed by Brazil, Germany, Chile and Belgium