The Daily Brief – 25th July 2019

The trial run of Vande Bharat Express, India’s fastest train, was successfully conducted from New Delhi to Katra, a small town in Jammu and Kashmir, by the Northern Railway zone of Indian Railways. Also known as Train 18, it can run at a speed of 160 km per hour. It was designed and developed by Chennai-based railways’ production unit Integral Coach Factory. In February 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had flagged off the train’s maiden run from New Delhi to Varanasi.

A team of scientists working for state-run Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) developed a method to convert Jute fibre into low-cost bio-degradable cellulose sheets dubbed as “Sonali”. The commercial production of these bags is likely to start by the end of 2019. Bangladesh is the world’s 2^nd biggest producer of jute after India.

Central Government has restructured the Group of Ministers (GoM) that was constituted to deal with and prevent sexual harassment at workplace. Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, Amit Shah, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ and Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani are members of the group. The GoM can inspect and give recommendations for strengthening the legal and institutional framework.

Union Minister for Commerce and Industries Piyush Goyal launched the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2019 with the theme ‘Evaluating the Medical Innovation Scenario of the Next Decade’. India improved by 5 positions from 57^th position in 2018 to 52^nd position in 2019. Started in 2007, Global Innovation Index (GII) is an annual ranking of countries by their capacity for, and success in, innovation.

Senior IAS officer, Atanu Chakraborty will succeed Subhash Chandra Garg as the Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs in Finance Ministry while IAS officer Subhash Chandra Garg has been appointed as the Secretary in the Ministry of Power. IAS officer Ajay Kumar Bhalla, who was Secretary in the Ministry of Power, has been appointed as the Officer on Special Duty in the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The Rajya Sabhapassed a bill entailing amendments to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 by including death penalty for aggravated sexual assault on children, besides providing stringent punishments for other crimes against minors. The bill will now be sent to the Lok Sabha for its approval. The POCSO (Amendment) Bill, 2019 also provides for fines and imprisonment to curb child pornography.

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the creation of buffer stock of 40 lakh Metric Tonnes of sugar for one year from 1^st August, 2019. CCEA also approved the determination of Fair and Remunerative Price of sugarcane payable by sugar mills for 2019-20 sugar season at 275 rupees per quintal for a basic recovery rate of 10 per cent.