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want fo be start but th Important News Articles Taking Delhi/Noida edition as the base 1. Page 1: Modi, Abe back 'free Indo-Pacific 2. Page 10: Tokyo talks stress democratic values reve 3. Page 10: PM seeks to strengthen business ties ph 4. Page 14: India, Japan sign $75 billion currency swap agreement 5. Page 1: Tamil Nadu seeks morning slot for bursting of crackers 6. Page 1: ICF rolls out Train 18, the NextGen Shatabdi ink h cause ferent 7. Page 3: Odisha launches disaster alert system for its coast 8. Page 6: 'No Bihar police station linked to crime database 9. Page 7: Children under 15 at serious risk from polluted air: WHO 10. Page 7: Delhi tops national charts in bad air quality pu kand stay 11. Page 7: 'Green firecrackers unlikely to hit market this Diwali' 12. Page 13: 'Divided' board signals strained RBI-Centre ties 13, Page 13: 'RBI, FinMin not interacting'
but th Page 10: PM seeks to strengthen business ties Addressing a Japan-India business symposium as part of his two-day visit to Tokyo, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a pitch for deepening bilateral business ties. He invited Japanese collaboration in India's efforts to establish smart cities; metro networks; phe reve port, road and rail construction; inland water transportation and green energy. r. Modi highlighted the fact that India's ranking in the World Bank's Ease of Business Index had jumped from 140 to 100 since he came to power. However, Hiriyuki Ishige, Chairman and CEO of the Japan External Trade Organisation, said that "further improvement is required" and at a minimum, India should be in the top 50 of the rankings. ink h cause ferent pu kand stay
want fo be start but th Page 14: India, Japan sign $75 billion currency swap agreement . The Prime Ministers of India and Japan, building on great friendship between the two countries and to further strengthen and widen the depth and diversity of economic cooperation, agreed during Prime Minister Modi's visit to Japan, to conclude a Bilateral ph Currency Swap Agreement for an amount of $75 billion. e*A currency swap typically involves the exchange of interest and sometimes of principal rev in one currency for the same in another currency. Interest payments are exchanged at fixed dates through the life of the contract. The currency swap agreement was an important measure in improving the confidence in the nk ferent Indian market and that it would not only enable the agreed amount of capital being available to India, but it will also bring down the cost of capital for Indian entities while accessing the foreign capital market. The swap arrangement should aid in bringing greater stability to foreign exchange and capital markets in India. With this arrangement in place, prospects of India would further improve in tapping foreign capital for country's developmental needs. PLI kand stay
want fo be start but th Page 1: Tamil Nadu seeks morning slot for bursting of crackers . The Tamil Nadu government asked the Supreme Court to modify its October 23 order restricting the bursting of firecrackers to a two-hour period between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m during festivals, including Deepavali As Deepavali is celebrated in the morning in the State, the SC should allow bursting of recrackers from 4.30 a.m. till 6.30 a.m. there, it said in an application filed through advocate phe B. Vinodh Khanna India is a federal state with different traditions and cultures. As far as celebrations relating to Deepavali are concerned, each State or sect has a separate set of beliefs, traditions- and culture," the application argued. cause t ferent "In northern India, Deepavali is celebrated in the night to celebrate the home-coming of Rama after slaying Ravana. Deepavali is, therefore, on the night of November 7, 2018. In the ..u State of Tamil Nadu, Deepavali is celebrated commemorating the death of Narakasura, the Evil, slain by the Goddess in the early hours," it said. The application said, "In Tamil Nadu, on the day of Deepavali, people wake up at 4 a.m take an oil bath, wear new clothes, and start the celebration with bursting of firecrackers in the early morning itself. The celebration goes on all day. Deepavali this year in Tamil Nadu, PLI kand stay . is in the early morning of November 6."
want fo be start but th It said people in Tamil Nadu do not light lamps on Deepavali, day or night. The customary lighting of lamps is reserved for 'Karthigai Deepam' which falls on full moon day in the Tamil Karthigai month. The State pointed out that there are lakhs of people from other States, including the northern parts of the country, who have settled down in Tamil Nadu. However, they continue to follow their own traditions and culture. So, Deepavali is celebrated both in the morning and in the night. So, instead of restricting the bursting of crackers for two hours in the night, another two-hour window should be opened in the morning. Besides, it would make pollution worse if crackers are burst en masse at the same time in the State. reve . ink h cause ferent g the people of Tamil Nadu from bursting firecrackers in the early morning would amount to rejecting their religious rights, the application said. "Deepavali is a religious practice religiously and scrupulously followed by the Hindus from time immemorial and it had become a core and essential religious practice which is also protected under Article 25 of the Constitution as their fundamental right," it said. kand stay The Supreme Court had restricted the time for bursting crackers across India on festivals and other occasions as a means to reduce air pollution.
want fo be start ut th Page 1: ICF rolls out Train 18, the NextGen Shatabdi The gleaming, blue-nosed train standing at 's Integral Coach Factory (ICF) has a cone- shaped frontage, similar to a bullet train. The new train comes fitted with amenities on a par with the best in the worldfrom on- pboard Wi-Fi to GPS-based passenger information system, 'touch-free' bio-vacuum toilets, eLED lighting, mobile charging points, and a climate control system that will adjust the temperature according to occupancy and the weather. Train 18' is a self-propelled, semi-high-speed trainset that will soon replace the box cars of the inter-city Shatabdis Train 18 will be a game- changer for the Indian Railways. a CF It can reach a maximum speed of 160 km per hour. The train can both accelerate and pull to pur a stop rapidly, thereby consuming much less energy. . The train was completed in a record time of 18 months after it was conceived in 2016. About 80% of the design, technology and manufacture ofTrain 18, a predecessor to 'Train 20, is ndian. The coaches in the fully air-conditioned train are linked with advanced bridge plates, leaving the train free of the shaky gangways Indian train travellers are used to.
want fo be start but th Page 3: Odisha launches disaster alert system for its coast The Odisha government launched the much-awaited Early Warning Dissemination System, the first-of-its-kind technology in India, to simultaneously warn coastal communities and fisherfolk about impending cyclone and tsunami through siren towers. Sirens will go off from 122 towers installed along the 480-km-long coast of the State if . revebutton is pressed in the State emergency centre in Bhubaneswar heThe innovative warning system would alert people about disasters such as floods and cyclone Fishermen fishing in deep sea can also be reached via mass SMS on their mobile phones through EWDS .The EWDS, a collaborative effort of the Central and State governments, has been cause t ferent implemented under the assistance of World Bank It comprises technologies such as satellite-based mobile data voice terminals, digital mobile radio, mass messaging system and universal communication interface for interoperability. It's a part of the last-mile connectivity programme under National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project. Six coastal districts-Balasore, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Puri and Ganjam- have been covered under the EWDS. . kand stay .Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik dedicated the EWDS to the public on the 19th anniversary of the Odisha Super Cyclone.
want fo be start but th Page 6: 'No Bihar police station linked to crime database' . No police station in Bihar has been linked so far with the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems, a pan-India database of crime and criminals, National Crime Records Bureau Director said. y ha A a two-day conference CCTNS-Good practices and Success Stories, organised by the heNCRB, he said 14,749 police stations, out of the 15,655 in the country, and 6,649 higher offices out of the 7,931 are connected with the CCTNS. Out of the remaining 1,000 police stations, 894 are from Bihar. The NCRB chief said that 35 States and UTs have launched their citizen portals for providing services like filing of complaints online and seeking antecedents for verification of tenants and domestic helps through the CCTNS. Another official said the CCTNS has not been kicked off in Bihar due to certain technical wou si reasons, hich are being sorted now. The CCTNS, a 2,000-crore project, was conceptualised in 2009 by then Home Minister P. Chidambaram in the wake of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. Its database helps law enforcement agencies to get information on crime and criminals on a real-time basis. cause ferent PLI kand stay
want fo be start but th Page 7: Children under 15 at serious risk from polluted air: WHO . Every day about 93% of the world's children under the age of 15 (1.8 billion children) . Tragically, many of these children die, with as many as six lakh estimated to have perished A report on air pollution and child health released by the WHO says breathe polluted air that puts their health and development at serious risk rewe n 2016 alone due to complications from acute lower respiratory infections caused by dirty air When pregnant women are exposed to polluted air, they are more likely to give birth prematurely, and have small, low birth-weight children. Air pollution also impacts neuro-development and cognitive ability and can trigger asthma, can ink h cause t ferent and childhood cancer. Children exposed to high levels of air pollution may be at greater risk for chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease later in life. One reason why children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of air pollution is that they breathe more rapidly than adults and so absorb more pollutants. They also live closer to the se ground, where some pollutants reach peak concentrations at a time when their brains and bodies are still developing. PLI kand stay In addition, newborns and small children are often at home. If the family is burning fuels like wood and kerosene for cooking, heating and lighting, they would be exposed to higher levels of pollution.
want fo be start but th Silent killer Air pollution affects neurodevelopment and cognitive test outcomes, and negatively affects mental and motor development Damages children's lung function, even at low levels of exposure cause t ferent -Globally, 93% children under 18 are exposed to PM2.5 levels above WHO guidelines In low- and middle-income About 6 lakh deaths acrossu countries, 98% of all children | the world in children under 5 are exposed to PM2.5 under 15 years were levels above WHO air iy attributed to the joint effects kand stay RSCOS This includes 630 million children under 5 years, and 1.8guidelines. In high-income of ambient and household air billion children under 15 countries, the figure is 52% l pollution in 2016 mage Credit. The Hindu
want fo be start but th Page 7: 'Green firecrackers unlikely to hit market this Diwali' There is little likelihood of 'green' firecrackers being available in the market in time for this year's Diwali even though a clutch of CSIR laboratories have developed them, according to Union Environment Minister, who didn't specify a timeline for when such improved crackers would become commercially available The Nagpur-based CSIR-NEERI (National Environmental Engineering Research Institute) rev had demonstrated "reduced emission crackers" in which aluminium had been replaced by magnesium and magnesium-based compounds. These products showed promising results in terms of reduced emission of particulate matter (PM), toxic gases, less smoke and less noise. In an order last week, the Supreme Court said that only 'green' firecrackers would be ink h cause ferent permitted across the country this Diwali What are green crackers? PLI Broadly, such crackers are defined as those which avoid harmful chemicals and, in the manufacturing process, eschew the use of ash, which contributes to particulate matter emissions when burnt. kand stay They would have to avoid barium, lithium, arsenic and lead. They would also, as far as possible, have a significantly reduced presence of aluminium
want fo be start but th Argument for diluting the threshold in PCA framework - capital norms for Indian banks were a lot stringent than what the Basel norms prescribed, such as 9% capital adequacy ratio as e compared with the 800 requirement of Basel norms. RBI's argument - the non-performing asset provision norms for Indian banks are less stringent than what Basel proposes. Presently, there are 12 banks, 11 in the public sector and e one in the private sector, that are under the PCA framework he2. Norms for stressed asset classification .RBI had released a circular on Feb 12, 2018 in which RBI had scrapped all existing restructuring norms and asked banks to start resolution process if loan repayment was overdue even for a day. Some of the board members opposed the circular. 3. RBI's surplus transfer .While the government wants more funds transfer from RBI by dipping into contingency cause t ferent reserves, the central bank has not been agreeing to this proposal PLI O RBI contended that the government was impinging on the autonomy of the central bank. RBI said "Governments that do not respect central bank independence will sooner or later incur the wrath of financial markets, ignite economic fire, and come to rue the day they undermined an important regulatory institution; their wiser counterparts who invest in kand stay central bank independence will enjoy lower costs of borrowing, the love of international investors, and longer life spans