06-09-17,

Wednesday
Prashant Mavani, is an expert in current affairs analysis and holds a MSc in Management for University of Surrey (U.K.). Above all he is a passionate teacher.
UJALA scheme launched in Melaka, Malaysia
• Ministry of Power
• 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.
• From invention of fire to modern electric bulbs
• Time
• Thomas Elva Edison: Failed numerous times, but he kept on trying
• Science is universal, but technology can be local
• How we utilise technology, how we shape it and customise it is an art in itself
• Through UJALA, light arrived.
• Darkness is just absence of light
• We never know: Many APJ Kalam, Kovind, Sumitra Mahajan etc would
be working under this light to provide a illumination to others.
• Matter of pride for India
• A small incident in PMO office became a full fledge scheme
• United Kingdom and now Malaysia
• Civil service preparation is all about understanding and observation
• Economic rule of Demand and Supply: Less consumption, less
production
• Less destruction of forest, natural flow of rivers
• Every development brings some sort of destruction
• Malaysia: 19000 tonnes/ year carbon emission reduction
• India: 33,828 million kWh energy saving/year
• Rs 13531 crore saving on bill
• 2 crore 75 lakh tonnes of CO2 emission reduction
 Centre ask States to focus on impactful and
PPP based Smart City Projects
• Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
• Rs.32,000 cr worth PPP projects identified so far; 261 impactful projects worth
another Rs.31,000 cr
• Central government has asked the States to focus on early implementation of smart
city projects that have a visible and transformative impact in the lives of citizens in
identified smart cities.
• Further to review of Smart City Mission by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi during
PRAGATI on the 30th of last month, Shri Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary (Housing &
Urban Affairs) wrote to the Chief Secretaries of all the States and Union Territories in this
regard the next day.
• Shri Mishra urged the States and UTs to ensure commencement of work by November this
year on 261 impactful smart city projects in 60 cities that were announced during January-
September, 2016. These identified projects accounts for an investment of Rs.31,112 cr .
States and UTs have also been asked to speed up work on 370 PPP projects that involve an
investment of 32,410 cr.
• The impactful projects identified range from building 40 outdoor fitness centres in New
Delhi Municipal Council area at a cost of Rs.1.31 cr to redevelopment of 340 acre area in
Bhopal at a cost of Rs.3,000 cr.
• 100 Smart Cities
• Definition: Differs from Europe to India
• Competition between cities
• 4 Pillars of Smart City: 1)Institution, 2) Physical, 3)Social, 4)Economic
• Water supply
• Electricity supply
• Sanitation, including solid waste management
• Urban mobility and public transport
• Affordable housing for poor
• I-T connectivity and digitisation
• Good governance and e-Governance
• Sustainable environment
• Safety: Elderly, children and women
• Health and education
• PRAGATI: Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implemntation
• The PRAGATI platform uniquely bundles three latest technologies:
Digital data management, video-conferencing and geo-spatial
technology.
• It also offers a unique combination in the direction of cooperative
federalism since it brings on one stage the Secretaries of Government
of India and the Chief Secretaries of the States.
• The issues flagged are uploaded seven days prior to the PRAGATI day
(i.e. on third Wednesday of every month)
• Public Private Partnership
• Leverage expertise of private players
• Project management
• Expert human resources
• Professional environment
• Technology
• By passing lengthy bureaucracy
• Government roles
• Identify the needs of citizens
• E-auctions
• Land acquisition
• Guarantee of returns for private players
• Facilitator
Probationers of 67th Batch of Indian Revenue Service (Customs & Central
Excise) Call on President
• Addressing the probationers, the President said that collection of revenue is critical
to the task of nation building. The revenue collected by the officers is used for the
development of the country. He said that tax collection should be a smooth process
and there should be minimum discomfort to the tax-payer. He advised them to
remember what Chanakya had said about tax collection in the Arthashastra that a
government should collect taxes like a honeybee, which collects just the right
amount of honey from the flower so that both can survive.
• The President said that in a sense the young officers would drive GST — which is
one of India’s biggest economic reforms since independence. He stated that this is
the age of globalization and technological advance. This throws up enormous
opportunities for trade and investment. It also, unfortunately, creates avenues for
fraud and money laundering. It is their job to promote economic activity and curb
fraud. Both these goals are important. He said that the work they do has
implications for India and for India’s reputation in the world — as a trusted
business destination, with a fair and predictable tax regime. He asked them to be
mindful of this big responsibility.
• He wished the officers all success in their future career and told them that their
integrity is not negotiable. A credible tax system can only be built by credible tax
officers.
• The probationers are currently undergoing professional training at the National
Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes & Narcotics, Faridabad.
• Collection of revenue is critical to the task of nation building
• Economy is practical

You

Bread
Winner
Mom/Dad

Sister Brother
 Business
Organisation

Tax on Goods
Tax on Individuals
services

Government
• President Kovindji has given example from Kautilya’s Arthashashtra

• Tax should not be detrimental, it should be appropriate

• GST
• One nation one tax
• Cascading effect gone: Tax on tax
• Less pollution: Free flow of trucks
• Revenue collection will go up
• PM talked about GST in BRICS Summit
• Past image: Complicated, volatile
• Current scenario: smooth, technology driven, predictable
• We have to be at par with the world
• Ease of doing business
• Competitive
• More trade and investment opportunities
• More jobs
• More development
• This makes the role of IRS officer vital for Nation Building
Grievance Redressal System revolutionized through CPGRAMS
• For the last several decades several changes have been brought about to
improve transparency in the functioning of the government and bring
accountability.
• Cumulatively, these have helped the common man find his groove in a maze
of laws and indifference of the lower bureaucracy and the response time for
the solution of his or her grievance has improved significantly.
• Nothing has revolutionized accountability, transparency and the response
time of the government departments than the Centralized Public Grievance
Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS), brought in by the Narendra
Modi government.
• Web based CPGRAMS has been designed and implemented in all the
Ministries and Departments of Government of India.
• Moreover, a customized software with local language interface has also been
designed for the state governments too called CPGRAMS - States.
• This provides online access to all citizens, including those in Armed
Forces personnel, to report their grievances. The new system allows the
Ministry to monitor the grievances and ensure their time-bound redressal.
• A Public Grievances Call Centre has also been set: for expediting action
on grievances pending on CPGRAMS for more than two months.
• Guidelines have been issued to all the Ministries and Departments of
Central Government to ensure that their Citizens' Charter,
incorporating list of services, service standards and timelines, are duly
uploaded and updated on the respective websites.
• Lodge a complaint: e-mail ID and Mobile number
• CPGRAMS is the new hope for redressal of any grievance - related
either to the central or the state government. While the grievances
related to departments of central government are handled quite
efficiently, those pertaining to the states are passed on to the respective
state governments.
India-Myanmar
• 2014 on the occasion of ASEAN summit
• First bilateral visit to the golden land of Myanmar
• PM praised courageous leadership of Myanmar peace process
• PM: We thoroughly understand the challenges that you have been facing. We
are partners in your concerns over the loss of lives of security forces and
innocent people due to the extremist violence in Rakhine State.
• India’s democratic experience is also relevant for Myanmar.
• Therefore we are pride of our comprehensive cooperation in the capacity
building of the institutions like the executive, the legislature, election
commission and press council.
• Our interests in the area of security are common as neighbours.
• It’s essential that we work together to ensure the stability of our long
territorial and coastal borders. The construction of roads and bridges, links
in the field of energy and our efforts to boost connectivity indicate in the
direction of a good future.
• Work completed on the Sittwe port and Paletwa Inland Waterways
Terminal in Kaladan project.
• The work on road component has started.
• In order to meet the requirement of Upper Myanmar, two way
movement of high speed diesel trucks have started from India.
• Development of high quality health, education and research facilities in
Myanamar under our development partnership is a cause of happiness.
• In this context, Myanmar Institute of Information Technology and Advanced
Centre for Agricultural Research and Education are worthy of special mention.
Both of these are emerging as the main centres of education.
• In the future, our projects will only be according to the needs and priorities of
Myanmar
• India has decided to release 40 citizens of Myanmar who are currently
lodged in the jails of India.
PM's gift to Myanmar State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
• The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today presented Myanmar
State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi a special reproduction of the
original research proposal that she had submitted for fellowship at the
Indian Institute of Advanced Study at Shimla in May 1986. The research
proposal was titled "The Growth and Development of Burmese and
Indian Intellectual Traditions Under Colonialism: A Comparative Study.“
• 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. Restoration work is being
carried out after damage during the earthquake last year.
• The ASI has undertaken several major conservation works across various
countries of Asia. Besides the Ananda Temple, these include 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.
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