ALL News Headlines 2019 December 24TH December

German Student ousted: A German student at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras has been asked to leave India for protesting against the new citizenship law that has sparked unrest across the country.

NATIONAL

NPR: Information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday said that the National Population Register has nothing to do with the National Register of Citizen.”The NPR has nothing to do with the NRC. It was a good move, first started in 2010 by the UPA government. We are just carrying it forward. The NRC was not mentioned in the Cabinet meeting,” Javadekar said at a press conference in New Delhi.

CDS: The government on Tuesday approved the creation of a chief of defence staff in the rank of a four-star General who will act as the principal military adviser to the defence minister on all matters relating to tri-services. The creation of the CDS as the single-point military adviser to the government was suggested by the Kargil Review Committee in 1999.

Force in Kashmir: The Union home ministry has ordered “immediate” withdrawal of over 7,000 paramilitary troops from Kashmir after a security review, officials said on Tuesday. A total of 72 companies of Central Armed Police Forces have been ordered to go back to their original locations across the country. One company is equivalent of 100 personnel.

Census 2021: The government on Tuesday approved nearly Rs 12,700 crore for carrying out the Census 2021 and the National Population Register, and made it clear that NPR has no relation with the contentious National Register of Citizens amidst stiff opposition against the NRC. At the same time home ministry officials said “at present there is no proposal to create the NRC in the country based on the NPR data”.

Boeing: Boeing chief executive, Dennis Muilenburg was replaced on 23erd December, in an attempt to restore its reputation amid the protracted 737 MAX crisis. Boeing named board Chairman David Calhoun as chief executive and President.The Company pledged to “operate with a renewed commitment to full transparency, including effective and proactive communication with the FAA.

New Appointment: Harsh Vardhan Shringla was on Monday appointed as the new foreign secretary for a two-year fixed term, succeeding Vijay Gokhale. Shringla, a 1984 batch officer of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), is considered an expert on India’s neighbourhood and is currently serving as envoy to the United States.

Maruti Udyog: The CBI has accused former Managing Director of Maruti Udyog, Jagdish Khattar, for alleged bank loan fraud of Rs 110 crore by his new company. In its FIR filed recently, the CBI has named Khattar and his company Carnation Auto India Limited for allegedly causing a loss of Rs 110 crore to Punjab National Bank.

German Student ouster: A German student at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras has been asked to leave India for protesting against the new citizenship law that has sparked unrest across the country.

NPR: The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved funds to the tune of over Rs 8,500 crore for updating the National Population Register. The NPR exercise is to commence from April next year. The NPR is a list of “usual residents” of the country. Now it has been decided to update the National Population Register along with the house-listing phase of Census 2021 from April to September 2020 in all the states/union territories, except Assam.

Lok Sabha: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has referred the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Second Amendment) Bill, which seeks to streamline the corporate insolvency resolution process, to the standing committee on Finance of which former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is a member.The committee, chaired by BJP MP and former minister of state for Finance Jayant Sinha, has been asked to examine and submit the report on the bill within three months.

ECONOMY

PAN: The deadline for linking (PAN) with Aadhaar is December 31. Linking PAN to Aadhar is mandatory if you want to file your income tax return. If PAN is not linked with ADHAR by this date then the PAN will become inoperative.

IMF: India is now in the midst of a significant economic slowdown, the International Monetary Fund has said, urging the government to take urgent policy actions to address the current prolonged downturn.In its report released on 23^rd December, the IMF Directors noted that India’s rapid economic expansion in recent years has lifted millions of people out of poverty. However, in the first half of 2019, a combination of factors led to subdued economic growth in India.

INTERNATIONAL

China: Chinese Premier Li Keqiang signalled plans to free up more cash for the country’s banking system in a bid to boost lending to small businesses as leaders look to kickstart their economy. Li flagged a fresh cut to the amount of cash lenders must keep in reserve, according to state news agency Xinhua, in the latest move to ramp up stuttering growth. The comments from Li came as he visited a bank in Chengdu a day before Tuesday’s trilateral summit with the leaders of South Korea and Japan in the southwestern city.

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