1) Narendra Modi government to scrap UGC, AICTE soon with HEERA
•The University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) will soon be a thing of the past as the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre is planning to replace the two education regulators with a new Higher Education Regulator.
•This is being done to bring one single education regulator named HEERA in place. Higher Education Empowerment Regulation Agency or HEERA is the name of the new proposed regulator. This new body will be implemented with the aim of eliminating the overlaps in the jurisdiction and also to remove the irrelevant regulatory provisions.
•The Human Resource and Development Ministry (HRD) is working with the Niti Aayog towards the implementation of this new proposed regulatory body. They are working to bring the technical as well as the non-technical institutions under the same umbrella.
2) Sher Bahadur Deuba elected Nepal’s Prime Minister for the fourth time
•Veteran Nepalese politician Sher Bahadur Deuba was elected as Nepal’s Prime Minister for the fourth time. Deuba, 70, was the sole candidate to contest in the Prime Minister election as the main opposition UML or any other party didn’t register their candidacies.
•He secured 388 votes in his favor and 170 votes against him. A total of 558 were cast during the voting. He needed 297 votes in the 593-strong Parliament to prove his majority. The Nepali Congress leader has become the 40th Prime Minister of Nepal.
•The post of Prime Minister fell vacant after Maoist leader Prachanda resigned in May under a power-sharing deal with the Nepali Congress leader. Mr. Deuba served as the prime minister from 1995 to 1997, from 2001 to 2002, and from 2004 to 2005.
3) Montenegro becomes NATO’s 29th member
•Montenegro has officially joined North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and hence became the 29th member country of NATO. Montenegro Foreign Minister Srdjan Darmanovic submitted the official accession papers in a ceremony at the US State Department.
•The move came in the face of bitter opposition from Russia, which says NATO’s steady expansion into the former communist states of Eastern Europe threatens its own security and cannot go unchallenged. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stated that the alliance will benefit from Montenegro’s insight into the Balkans.
4) RBI keeps Repo Rate unchanged in Second Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement, 2017-18
On the basis of an assessment of the current and evolving macroeconomic situation at its meeting today, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to:
•Keep the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged at 6.25 per cent.
•Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF remains at 6.0 per cent, and
•The Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate at 6.50 per cent.
The decision of the MPC is consistent with a neutral stance of monetary policy in consonance with the objective of achieving the medium-term target for consumer price index (CPI) inflation of 4 per cent within a band of +/- 2 per cent, while supporting growth.
5) India Signs Loan Agreement with the World Bank for the project "Assam Citizen Centric Service Delivery"
•An agreement for International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) Credit of USD 39.2 Million from World Bank for the project 'Assam Citizen Centric Service Delivery' was signed recently. Loan agreement was signed by Shri Raj Kumar, Joint Secretary (MI), Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance on behalf of the Government of India and Mr. Hisham Abdo, Manager, Operations (India) on behalf of the World Bank.
•The programme size is USD 49 million, of which USD 39.2 million will be financed by the Bank, and the remaining amount will be funded-out of State Budget. The programme duration is 5 years. The objective of the project is to improve access in the delivery of selected public services in Assam.
6) India signs agreement with Sri Lanka for developing Railway sector
•India signed an agreement to provide fresh assistance of 318 million US Dollar credit line to Sri Lanka for the development of the railway sector in the country. The agreement was signed in Colombo amidst the presence of senior officials of Sri Lanka’s finance and transport ministries.
•The Indian side was represented by Managing Director of the Export- Import (EXIM) Bank of India David Rasquinha and Deputy High Commissioner Arindam Bagchi. India has already provided four Lines of Credit for the development of railway sector in Sri Lanka through its EXIM Bank amounting to approximately USD 966 million.
