The Government of India releases the following amounts as part of the13th Finance Commission Recommendations to States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana :
Andhra Pradesh
(Amount in Rupees)
Implementation of Statistical System = 2.6 Crore
PRI/ULB/Spl. Area = 298.8259 Crore
A.C.A (for other Project) = 49.99 Crore
State Specific New = 33.50 Crore
Total = Rs. 384.918 Crore
Telangana
(Amount in Rupees)
PRI/ULB/Spl. Area = 73.10 Crore
Grant for PRI/ULB/Spl. Area = 76.77 Crore
Total = Rs. 149.87 Crore
The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, which met in New Delhi on Saturday, approved the purchase of two Airbus A330 aircraft for the AWACS project worth Rs.113 crore. The Indian Air Force is already flying three AWACS mounted on IL-76 transport aircraft under a joint Russia-Israel project.
Airbus was the only bidder in the AWACS programme and the approval for purchase of the aircraft is the first deal in a single-vendor situation that has been sanctioned by the DAC.
AWACS are integral part of modern air operations and the Indian Air Force acquired the capability in 2009 when first of the three A-50 EI Phalcons was inducted.
Though purchase of two Airbus 330 aircraft has been approved, the plan is to have six such aircraft. AWACS provide a 360-degree view of an area. It allows to keep an eye on the enemy territory without actually penetrating the border.
The IAF is hoping that the AEW&C is ready for induction by the end of this year. It became critical to go for the second generation platform as Pakistan has bridged this crucial technological gap negating the lead taken by India in this field. China already has its own systems in operations.
Before he left for Japan on his maiden foreign visit, Parrikar also approved purchase of 1,512 mine ploughs for T90 tanks. These are going to cost Rs.710 crore. In addition, 30 weapon locating radars worth Rs.605 crore would also be bought.
The DAC also approved certain deviations in the offset policy for the purchase of harpoon missiles for the Indian Navy, which had been sanctioned earlier. Under the programme, 22 Harpoon anti-ship missiles from the US have to be purchased for Rs.913 crore for submarines. The US government has already approved the sale of Harpoon Block-II missiles and 10 Harpoon encapsulated training missiles. These will be fitted in Shishumar class submarines of the Indian Navy.
ISRO`s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C27, successfully launched the 1425 kg IRNSS-1D, the fourth satellite in the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) on March 28, 2015 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota. This is the twenty eighth consecutively successful mission of the PSLV. The `XL` configuration of PSLV was used for this mission. Previously, the same configuration of the vehicle was successfully used seven times.
After the PSLV-C27 lift-off at 1719 hrs IST from the Second Launch Pad with the ignition of the first stage, the subsequent important flight events, namely, strap-on ignitions and separations, first stage separation, second stage ignition, heat-shield separation, second stage separation, third stage ignition and separation, fourth stage ignition and satellite injection, took place as planned. After a flight of about 19 minutes 25 seconds, IRNSS-1D Satellite was injected to an elliptical orbit of 282.52 km X 20,644 km (very close to the intended orbit) and successfully separated from the PSLV fourth stage.
After injection, the solar panels of IRNSS-1D were deployed automatically. ISRO`s Master Control Facility (at Hassan, Karnataka) took over the control of the satellite. In the coming days, four orbit manoeuvres will be conducted from Master Control Facility to position the satellite in the Geosynchronous Orbit at 111.75 deg East longitude with 30.5 deg inclination. IRNSS-1D is the fourth of the seven satellites constituting the space segment of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System. IRNSS-1A, 1B and 1C, the first three satellites of the constellation, were successfully launched by PSLV on July 02, 2013, April 04, 2014 and October 16, 2014 respectively. All the three satellites are functioning satisfactorily from their designated orbital positions.
IRNSS is an independent regional navigation satellite system designed to provide position information in the Indian region and 1500 km around the Indian mainland. IRNSS would provide two types of services, namely, Standard Positioning Services (SPS) – provided to all users – and Restricted Services (RS), provided to authorised users.
A number of ground stations responsible for the generation and transmission of navigation parameters, satellite control, satellite ranging and monitoring, etc., have been established in many locations across the country.
In the coming months, the next satellite of this constellation, namely, IRNSS-1E, is scheduled to be launched by PSLV. The entire IRNSS constellation of seven satellites is planned to be completed by 2016.
Railway minister Suresh Prabhu appointed Ratan Tata – India’s best brand ambassador, to head the ‘Kayakulp’ Committee. This Council will recommend innovation and processes to turn around the gargantuan Indian Railways.
Minister Suresh Prabhu is a man of action, he has not only appointed Ratan Tata but is also expected to rope in former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai to bring in much needed transparency in Railway’s processes and financial actions. He roped in LIC to invest 1.5 Lakh crore in Indian railways and appointed former DIPP Secretary Ajay Shanker to overhaul the ministry’s PPP cell, to bring in private investment which has until now proved very challenging because of poor investor interest and lack of co-ordination among various wings of government. According to Construction World http://tinyurl.com/pq8qxcl, Railways could attract only Rs 8,000 crore from private investors during the 11th five-year plan against a target of Rs 50,000 crore.
Getting Tata, an Engineer from Cornell and a Harvard Business School graduate on board is an achievement for Suresh Prabhu, who had earlier refused Praful Patel’s request to head an advisory board of Air India. Ratan Tata was the Chairman of Tata Sons till 2012 and transformed the group into a $103. 27 billion group, that operates in over 80 countries, has over 100 operating business, a history dating back to 1868 which has stood the test of time no less than 150 years. 
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Justice Vishnu Kumar Mathur and Justice Kallakuri Girija Shankar to the post of Chairperson, Debts Recovery Appellate Tribunals (DRATs) at Allahabad and Chennai respectively for a period of five years or till they attain the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.
Sukesh Kumar Jain,a 1992 batch Indian Revenue Service officer has been appointed as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Jain, is at presently serving as a Director in the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) under the Finance Ministry. He will be “relieved of his duties” with effect from March 16 to take up the new assignment.
In a PSU news update; the functioning of Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) was reviewed by a Committee headed by Prof. P. Rama Rao. DRDO has accepted several recommendations which inter-alia include creation of Seven Technology Domain based Clusters headed by Director’s General; Restructuring of DRDO HQrs; Creation of Directorate of Quality, Reliability and Safety (QR&S); increase in budget for Extramural Research; creation of empowered Defence Technology Commission (DTC); creation of a Commercial Arm of DRDO; creation of 5 Senior Administrative Grade (SAG) posts along with 162 other posts for full scale implementation of Integrated Financial Advisor (IFA) Scheme etc.
Recently, a review of all DRDO Projects along with the three Services, OFB and Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) has been carried out so as to realign the focus towards the “Make in India” Programme. Also, more than 1000 small, medium and large Indian industries have been involved in the development and productionisation of products for the delivery to the Services.
With the objective of achieving self-reliance in defence production, the DPSUs have been continuously modernizing and upgrading their capabilities and widening their product range. Some of the DPSUs have also collaborated with DRDO and other R&D institutions in this regard. There is also increasing emphasis on partnerships of DPSUs with the private sector for sourcing various components so that DPSUs can play the role of system integrators and become more competitive.
This information was given by Defence Minister Shri Manohar Parrikar in a written reply to Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar in Rajya Sabha
Vice Chief S Lanba has been appointed as the chief of the southern naval command, replacing SPS Cheema who will take over the western naval command from Vice-Admiral Anil Chopra, who retires on March 31.
Suresh Kumar Home Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir has been transferred, days after the controversy over the release of hardline separatist leader Masarat Alam.Kumar, a 1986 batch IAS officer of J&K cadre, has been transferred to a much less important post of Director General of J&K Institute of Management.
T V Somanathan, senior IAS officer has been appointed as Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office,till August 5, 2017.Somanathan, a 1987 batch IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre, at present working as Director, Joint Secretary level, in the World Bank in Washington since May 12, 2011.
The President has appointed Judges in Delhi High Court. Justice Jayant Nath, Justice Najmussahar Waziri,Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva, Justice Vibhu Bakhru, Justice Valluri Kameswar Rao, Smt. Justice Sunita Gupta, Smt. Justice Deepa Sharma, and Justice Ved Prakash Vaish, Additional Judges of the Delhi High Court, to be the Judges of Delhi High Court from the date they assume charge of their respective offices.
54 IAS officers of 1997 batch have been empanelled as joint secretary or equivalent to Government of India. Out of them, five each are from Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu cadre. Among the empanelled officers, there are eight women officers. The complete list is given below:
1. Peeyush Kumar (Andhra Pradesh cadre)
2. Jamjam Syamala Rao (Andhra Pradesh cadre)
3. Ahmed Nadeem (Andhra Pradesh cadre)
4. Santosh Kumar Mall (Bihar cadre)
5. Ms AN Safeena (Bihar cadre)
6. Subodh Kumar Singh (Chhattisgarh cadre)
7. Ms Niharika Barik (Chhattisgarh cadre)
8. Ms Shahmeena Husain (Gujarat cadre)
9. Manish Bhardwaj (Gujarat cadre)
10. Ms Sonal Mishra (Gujarat cadre)
11. Ashwini Kumar (Gujarat cadre)
12. Ramesh Chand Meena (Gujarat cadre)
13. Subhashish Panda (Himachal Pradesh cadre)
14. Rajneesh (Himachal Pradesh cadre)
15. Rakesh Gupta (Haryana cadre)
16. Sunil Kumar Barnwal (Jharkhand cadre)
17. Manoj Kumar Dwivedi (Jammu and Kashmir cadre)
18. Ms Sharmila Mary Joseph K (Kerala cadre)
19. Rabindra Kumar Agarwal (Kerala cadre)
20. Shasidhar K Srinivas (Kerala cadre)
21. S Selvakumar (Karnataka cadre)
22. Harsh Gupta (Karnataka cadre)
23. Asheesh Sharma (Maharashtra cadre)
24. Vijay Singhal (Maharashtra cadre)
25. Eknath Rajaram Dawale (Maharashtra cadre)
26. AL Jarhad (Maharashtra cadre)
27. Harshdeep Shriram Kamble (Maharashtra cadre)
28. Manish Singh (Madhya Pradesh cadre)
29. Sukh Veer Singh (Madhya Pradesh cadre)
30. Gulshan Bamra (Madhya Pradesh cadre)
31. Shantanu (Manipur-Tripura cadre)
32. Sanjeeb Kumar Mishra (Odisha cadre)
33. Sanjay Kumar Singh (Odisha cadre)
34. Pramod Kumar Meherda (Odisha cadre)
35. Krishan Kumar (Punjab cadre)
36. Veerendra Kumar Meena (Punjab cadre)
37. Ms Rakhee Gupta Bhandari (Punjab cadre)
38. Hemant Kumar Gera (Rajasthan cadre)
39. Ms Gayatri A Rathore (Rajasthan cadre)
40. Rohit Kumar (Rajasthan cadre)
41. Ashish Vachhani (Tamil Nadu cadre)
42. Pankaj Kumar Bansal (Tamil Nadu cadre)
43. D Karthikeyan (Tamil Nadu cadre)
44. Satyabrata Sahoo (Tamil Nadu cadre)
45. Ms Beela Rajesh (Tamil Nadu cadre)
46. Ramesh Kumar Sudhanshu (Uttarakhand cadre)
47. Lalrinliana Fanai (Uttarakhand cadre)
48. Mahendra Prasad Agarwal (UP cadre)
49. Hari Om (UP cadre)
50. MK Shanmuga Sundaram (UP cadre)
51. Sandeep Kumar (UT cadre)
52. V Chandavelou (UT cadre)
53. P Krishnamurthy (UT cadre)
54. Rajeev Kumar (West Bengal cadre)
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