Earth Day being observed today

1.    Earth Day being observed today

i. April 22nd, 2014 is the 44th anniversary of Earth Day, an occasion for people to celebrate and raise awareness of the nature. 

ii. It was founded by the US senator Gaylord Nelson as an environment teach-in held on this day in 1970. 

iii. With over 20 thousand partners and organisations in 190 countries, more than 1 billion people participate in Earth Day activities, making it the largest secular civic event in the World. 

iv. Earth day marks the beginning of the modern environmental movement. 

v. In the current scenario, the Earth Day is as important as ever as our environmental challenges and problems continue to need attention. 

vi. Today with news of melting glaciers, increasingly severe droughts, floods and storms and rising ocean levels, Earth day celebrations around the world are marking the anniversary with new calls to combat global warming and to protect our threatened environment. 

vii. Eco-friendly ways of transport helps in reducing your carbon footprint. 

viii. Earth day is a time to pledge for making our planet a better place to live. But it is also important that we continue to practice an eco-friendly lifestyle throughout the year. 

2.    Andhra records highest growth in milk production

i. Andhra Pradesh has recorded highest growth in terms of milk production at over 41 per cent and per-capita milk availability about 36 per cent, during the period 2006-10.

ii. While disclosing the information, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India said, the state ranked third in terms of milk production with over 1.1 million tonnes milk produced annually.

iii. It said milk production across India has grown at a significant rate of about 19 per cent during the aforesaid period with overall milk production crossing 121 million tonnes mark as of 2010-11.

iv. The Industry body also said growing at a compounded annual growth rate of over four per cent, milk production in India is expected to rise to about 177 million tonnes by 2019-2020.

3.    India & Bhutan sign agreement on development of hydropower projects

i. India and Bhutan have signed an agreement on development of hydropower projects.

ii. The inter-governmental agreement provides framework for implementing four hydro-electric projects totalling 2120 MW on a joint venture-model between public sector undertakings of the two countries.

iii. An MEA release issued in New Delhi, said the agreement was today signed by Secretary in the Ministry of Power P K Sinha and Sonam Tshering, Secretary, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Bhutan in Thimphu.

iv. Our Correspondent reports that three projects are already operational in Bhutan and supplying 1416 MW electricity to India.

4.    Delhi ranked 21st in shopping centre development: Report

i. New Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore were among the global cities with maximum shopping centre space under construction in 2014, according to the latest Global Viewpoint report from realty consultant CBRE.

ii. According to CBRE, it signals that India continues to see a wave of new shopping centre development despite some developers pushing back completion dates due to financing issues.

iii. While New Delhi was ranked at 21st rank, Hyderabad stood at 23rd position and Bangalore grabbed the 31st place in the global ranking while Chennai was among the top 15 most active shopping centre development markets in the world in 2013.

iv. India’s tier I and II cities were also among the most active markets globally for shopping centre development as per the report.

5.    India wants Kazakhstan to relax rules in banking sector

i. India is likely to urge Kazakhstan to relax its qualification and visa rules for the banking sector that is weighing heavy on Punjab National Bank that started operations in the country in 2011.

ii. Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who is scheduled to visit the country later this month, may also seek help from Kazakh officials for recovery of dues that PNB inherited when it acquired 91 per cent stake in local Dana Bank in 2011.

iii. “PNB is finding it difficult to run its branches in Kazakhstan because of archaic banking laws, sizeable irrecoverable loans and problems related to work permits and business visas for India-based officers,” a Government official pointed out.

iv. PNB chose Kazakhstan to establish its presence because of the growing economic ties between the two economies, especially in the energy sector.

Slow visa processing
Three years down the line, not only is the bank suffering because of slow processing of visas for its officials, what it finds especially objectionable is that even senior officials of PNB are made to appear for a qualifying written test conducted by local authorities before they can be posted in the Kazakh branches.

“PNB nominated directors of the board and top executives of the bank have vast experience in banking. We are going to demand that they be exempt from the regulation of appearing in a test before they can work in the Kazakh branches,” the official said.

Recovery of dues
The bank is also facing problems with recovering “substantial’’ dues that it inherited while taking over Dana Bank. “Despite obtaining court orders in PNB’s favour, the bank is not able to execute and recover the dues due to lack of support from related Government departments,” the official said.