UTTAR PRADESH

Governor has sent the controversial up control of organized crime bill for presidential reference

Governor has sent the controversial UP Control of Organized Crime Bill (UPCOCA), 2018 passed by both Houses of UP Legislature for Presidential reference. Naik has also referred two other Bills – `UP Inter-state Migrant Labour (Amendment) Bill, 2018 and UP Revenue Code (Amendment) Bill, 2018 for Presidential reference.

Incidentally, a similar law to curb organized crime was passed by UP government during Mayawati’s regime in 2007-08, but it was withdrawn after the then President Pratibha Patil refused to give her nod.

UPCOCA was first introduced by the Yogi government and passed by UP Assembly in December 2017. The Bill fell in the Legislative Council as the ruling BJP lacked majority in the Upper House. The Bill was then referred to a select committee of Council which rejected the Bill. It was again passed by UP Aassembly during the Budget session in February and later sent to the Governor for his assent.

The UPCOCA law would give special powers to the police to arrest offenders and members of crime syndicates and empowers the state to seize property of such people after taking consent of a special court constituted to hear cases. Properties acquired through illegal activities and organised crime could also be seized.

Some crimes defined under UPCOCA are : land grab (government and private property), illegal mining, manufacture and sale of illegal medicines and illicit liquor, money laundering, wildlife smuggling, extortion, abduction syndicate, hafta collection, murder and conspiracy to murder and white-collar offences.

INTERNATIONAL

· Index of Economic Freedom 2018: India Ranks 130th, Hong Kong Tops

India jumped 13 places in the last one year to a 130th spot in the latest annual Index of Economic Freedom released by a top American think-tank the Heritage Foundation.
As per the latest Index of Economic Freedom, China has jumped one spot to 110th and Pakistan is now at 131 positions.
Economic freedom is the fundamental right of every human to control his or her own labor and property.
The top 5 countries on the list are-
Hong Kong
2. Singapore
3. New Zealand
4. Switzerland
5. Australia.

NATIONAL

· Indian Consortium And Saudi Aramco Sign MoU For Refinery In Maharashtra

An Indian consortium consisting of IOCL, BPCL and HPCL signed a MoU with Saudi Aramcoon the sidelines of the16 International Energy Forum Ministerial.
According to the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan, the project cost is estimated at around Rs3 lakh crore ($44 billion).
The refinery will be capable of processing 1.2 million barrels of crude oil per day (60 million tonnes per annum).
The plan is to finish the project by 2025.

· Union Home Minister launches e-FRRO scheme

The Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh launched the web-based application ‘e-FRRO’ (e-Foreigners Regional Registration Office).

He said the e-FRRO scheme is aimed at building a centralized, transparent online platform for the foreigners to avail visa related services and to provide Faceless, Cashless and Paperless services to the foreigners with user friendly experience.

Pipes to replace canal system for irrigation: Govt

In order to cut delays and reduce cost in laying canal for irrigation, the government has, in principle, decided to use pipes of different diameters for water conveyance in place of canal.

“Alternate technology is the need of the hour for mega water conveyance systems in the country”

Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra have already started using pipes for water conveyance. As opposed to canal systems, piped conveyance of water does not require land acquisition and forest\environment clearance. The problems of contamination of water and loss due to evaporation can also be tackled by using pipes.

Noting these advantages, Indian participants at the workshop did not rule out the possibility of using pipes in future while taking up inter-linking of river projects and setting up the connected irrigation network. The workshop was meant for discussing the availability of best technology in the world for efficient water transfer. Many countries including the USA, China, Brazil, Italy, South Africa and Germany are already using pipes for large-scale transfer of water from one region to other.

Highlighting the benefits of large diameter pipes for water conveyance, Union water resources secretary, UP Singh, said that many canals in the country were being constructed for many years and were still not complete.

· 65th National Film Awards for 2017 announced

The 65th National Film Awards 2017 were announced by the Chairpersons of the juries on Feature Films, Best Writing on Cinema and members of Dadasaheb Phalke Award and Non-Feature films.

Veteran Hindi film actor Shri Vinod Khanna was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for his contribution to Indian Cinema.

Some of the other prominent winners in various categories for this year National Film Awards included Assamese movie ‘Village Rockstars’ in Best Feature Film category and ‘Baahubali – The Conclusion’ in the Best Popular Film providing Wholesome Entertainment category.

Indira Gandhi Award For Best Debut Film Of A Director was given to the Jasari language movie ‘Sinjar’ directed by Pampally.

Marathi Movie ‘Dhappa’ was awarded the Nargis Dutt Award For Best Feature Film On National Integration.

· CWG 2018: Anish Bhanwala Becomes India’s Youngest CWG Gold Medalist

Fifteen-year-old shooterAnish Bhanwala became India’s youngest gold medalist at the Commonwealth Games, winning the men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Finals with a record score at Gold Coast, Australia.
India’s Neeraj Kumar stood fifth at the event. Anish, who is participating in his first Commonwealth Games, won gold at the ISSF Junior World Cup in Sydney 2017.

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