CHHATTISGARH

A total of 38 Industrial Entrepreneurs Memorandum (IEM) were filed in Chhattisgarh with total investment of Rs 2,483 crore as on December 31, 2017.

This was compared to 50 IEMs filed with proposed investment of Rs 11,853 crores during 2016-17, as per the annual report 2017-18 of the Department of Industrial Promotion and Policy (DIPP).

A total of five Industrial Entrepreneurship Memorandum (IEM) (Part B) form were filed by the entrepreneurs for setting up projects and commencement of production in Chhattisgarh involving proposed investment of Rs 3993 crores during 2016-17 as on December 2016, according to the annual report 2016-17 of the Department of Industrial Promotion and Policy (DIPP) of the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Notably, the Industrial undertakings are required to intimate the commencement of commercial production by way of filing the prescribed ‘Part B’ of the IEM Form.

As per the liberalized industrial policy since 1991, all non-MSME industrial undertakings with an investment of above Rs 10 crore in plant and machinery for manufacturing sector and more than Rs 5 crore for service sector which are exempt from obtaining an industrial license are required to file IEMs.

Chhattisgarh is among 16 states which had implemented the ‘340-point Business Reform Action Plan 2016’ to design and implement an online single window system with functionality for online application, payment and approvals, the Central Government had informed recently.

DIPP in partnership with the World Bank Group, released the Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) 2017 for implementation by States/UTs on April 13, 2017.

INTERNATIONAL

· Prime Minister Narendra Modi China Visit: Important Highlights

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in New Delhi after a two-day informal summit meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Wuhan.
The Prime Minister was received at the airport by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. Earlier, Prime Minister Modi wrapped up his two-day visit to China with both the countries underlining the importance of maintaining peace and tranquillity in all areas of their border region in the larger interest of the overall development of bilateral relations.
On day two both leaders took a long walk by Wuhan’s iconic East Lake.
The two leaders also agreed to issue “strategic guidance” to their militaries to strengthen communications and to build trust and understanding. After the walk the talk followed a Naav (Boat) pe charcha.
The two leaders took a boat ride on a traditional Chinese wooden boat sporting a pagoda.
Wuhan is a city of freshwater lakes along the banks of the Yangtze River.

NATIONAL

· India says Bye to plastic in its protected areas

In order to achieve a plastic-free India, it has been decided to prevent our protected areas to be announced as ‘Plastic Free Zones.’
It has directed states and Union territories to organize awareness campaigns to sensitize people about the issue.
This decision was taken keeping in mind the approaching World Environment Day June 5.
Before that our country shall be clean and plastic free as plastic plays a very negative role in environment maintenance.

Chief Minister Pawan Chamling became the longest-serving Chief Ministerin India, surpassing the record of Jyoti Basu, who served as West Bengal CM from 1977 to 2000.
Chamling became the Chief Minister in December 1994 and belongs to the Sikkim Democratic Front.

Indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas successfully fired an air-to-air beyond visual range (BVR) missile.
With this, Tejas has demonstrated its overall capability as an effective combat jet and inched closer to receive final operational clearance.
The test firing of the missile from a Tejas jet was carried off the Goa coast and it met all operational requirements.
The successful launch of the BVR missile will expedite issuance of the Final Operational Clearance to the aircraft developed by state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The Maharashtra government signed a MoU with the British Council to strengthen educational and cultural cooperation.
The British Council, with this MoU, will expand its existing work in the state, where in recent times, it has trained more than 100,000 teachersbenefitting around five million learners.
The areas of potential collaboration include developing further initiatives to improve English teaching and enhance employability skills in schools and training institutes, building capacity in higher education and research and further co-operation on inspiring hundreds of thousands of people in the state through arts and culture.

Union Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation Uma Bharti and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal will launch Gobardhan Yojna, a Central Government scheme from Karnal district on April 30.
The scheme focuses on managing and converting cattle dung and solid waste from farms and fields to useful compost, biogas and bio-CNG. It will also help in keeping villages clean and generate energy while increasing income of farmers and cattle herders, said an official spokesman.
Apart from this, the Chief Minister would lay foundation stones and inaugurate various other projects to the tune of about Rs 42.23 crore.

Buoyed by year-end sales, which helped the government mop up close to Rs 1 lakh crore in Goods and Services Tax (GST) during March, collections during the first year of rollout were estimated at Rs 7.4 lakh crore.
Although the government did not disclose the March collection numbers, sources said that the overall number was the highest-ever monthly receipt. In a statement, the finance ministry said that collections between August 2017 and March 2018 were estimated at Rs 7.2 lakh crore, including Rs 1.2 lakh crore of central GST, Rs 1.7 lakh crore of state GST, Rs 3.6 lakh crore of integrated GST (which included Rs 1.7 lakh crore from imports). The rest came through compensation cess levied on luxury and sin goods such as high-end vehicles, tobacco and soft drinks.

Including the collections in July, the overall figure added up to Rs 7.4 lakh crore. This translated into monthly collections of a shade under Rs 90,000 crore amid signs that the Centre and states will help realise more funds in the coming months as the new regime was showing signs of settling down and the government’s moves to check leakage of funds was picking pace.