Today News~17\10\2014

1.    Arvind Subramanian appointed new Chief Economic Advisor

i. Arvind Subramanian became chief economic advisor to the Indian government on Thursday.
ii. Mr. Subramanian, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, attended a news conference in New Delhi at which his appointment was announced.
iii. He is a development economist who worked closely with Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan when both were at the International Monetary Fund.
iv. Mr. Subramanian, said he was hopeful on the economy and that macro-economic stability and creating the conditions for investment would be priorities.
v. Kaushik Basu (World Bank Chief Economist) and Raghuram Rajan (current RBI Governor and former IMF chief economist) were the other two internationally renowned economists who recently served as CEA.

2.    Rajiv Mehrishi appointed new finance secretary

i. Rajiv Mehrishi, the top bureaucrat from Rajasthan, replace Arvind Mayaram as a new finance secretary.
ii. He holds Masters Degree in history and a degree in management from UK.
iii. Mehrishi is said to be the brains behind key labour reforms in Rajasthan.
iv. Arvind Mayaram transferred to tourism ministry.
v. Arvind Mayaram's transfer was part of the first major shuffle of top civil servants since Modi took office in May.

3.    Raghuram Rajan conferred Euromoney's Central Bank Governor of Year Award
i. Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan, has been conferred Euromoney’s Central Bank Governor of the Year Award 2014.
ii. Rajan received the award in Washington on October 10, 2014.
iii. According to a RBI statement, Euromoney said, “Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan’s tough monetary medicine combated the storm ravaging the deficit-ridden economy in the recent emerging market crisis.

4.    PM launches Pt Deendayal Upadhyay Shramev Jayate programme to ensure labour reforms
i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Shramev Jayate programme at a function in New Delhi to implement new initiatives on labour reforms.
ii. Mr Modi also dedicated Shram Suvidha portal to create a conducive environment for development of manufacturing industry in the country. Under the initiative, a Unique Labour Identification Number,LIN, will be allotted to around seven lakh industrial units to facilitate online registration.
iii. The portal will help such units to file a single consolidated returns online in lieu of 16 returns. Mr Modi also dedicated a portability facility through Universal Account Number for Employees Provident Fund under which will ensure portability of social security benefits to the labour of organised sector across the jobs.
iv. The Prime Minister said , there is need to impart skill training to the youths to meet the requirement global workforce demand in the coming years.The Prime Minister also honoured brand ambassadors selected for vocational training to instill pride and confidence among ITI students.

Note: Launching another initiative called Labour Inspection Scheme to abolish inspector raj, the Prime Minister said, a computerized list of inspections will be generated randomly for labour inspectors. It will be mandatory for them to upload inspection reports within 72 hours. He said, the process will do away the cases of harassment.

5.    ISRO successfully launched third navigation satellite IRNSS 1C

i. Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on 16 October 2014 successfully launched third navigation satellite Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) 1C.
ii. Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C26 injected IRNSS 1C into the designated orbit from the first launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. This was the 27th consecutive successful flight of PSLV.
iii. Initially, the satellite was injected into a sub-geosynchronous transfer orbit with a 282.56 km perigee (nearest point to Earth) and 20670 km apogee (farthest point from Earth).