Army Inducts Surface to Air Missile Akaash

Juvenile Justice Bill Passed

The Lok Sabha on May 7, 2015 passed a bill that provides for trying juveniles aged between 16 and 18 years for heinous crimes under laws for adults, with the government insisting that it had tried to strike a balance to ensure that no injustice was done to innocent children

What the Amended Law Entails

Under the proposed law, any juvenile aged between 16 years and 18 years will stay in Borstal, an institution meant for housing adolescent offenders, till the age of 21 years whatever be the sentence.

Also, under the new law there will be no provision for ' death sentence or life imprisonment.

At the age of 21 years, their behaviour will be assessed and if an offender has reformed, his sentence may be curtailed.

Their cases will be tried by a Juvenile Justice Board, which will include a sociologist and a child rights activist.

The new law is meant to apply to 3,887 juveniles out of 47.2 crore juvenile population of the country

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill was passed after the government agreed to delete clause 7 which said that 'any person, who is apprehended after completing the age of 21 years, for committing any serious or heinous offence when such person was between the age of 16 to 18 years, then he shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, be tried as an adult."

The Amended Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2014 would replace the existing Juvenile Justice Act, 2000

India Home to 56 of the World's 2K Powerful Companies : Forbes Report

India is home to 56 of the world's 2,000 largest and most powerful public companies, according to the Forbes' annual list which is topped by the US with its share of 579 companies.

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries leads the pack of 56 Indian companies in the 2015 Forbes 'Global 2000' list.

The list gives a snapshot of the world's largest companies, and shows the dominance of the US and China in the current global business landscape

Forbes said that for the first time, China's four biggest banks own the top four spots and the South Asian giant is home to 232 of the world's largest companies.

Reliance Industries is ranked 142 on the list, down from last year's 135th spot, with a market value of $ 42-9 billion and $ 71-7 billion in sales, followed by State Bank of India, which is ranked 152 and has a 33 billion dollars market value.

The other Indian companies on the list are ONGC ranked 183, Tata Motors (263), ICICI Bank (283), Indian Oil (349), HDFC Bank (376), NTPC (431), TCS (485), Bharti Airtel (506), AXIS Bank (558), Infosys (672), Bharat Petroleum(757), Wipro (811), Tata Steel (903) and Adani Enterprises (944).

Modi Dedicates Largest Blast Furnace Plant to Nation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 10, 2015 dedicated to the nation at Burnpur (W. Bengal) the upgraded IISCO Steel Plant (ISP), that houses the country's largest blast furnace and has been modernised by the central government at a cost of Rs. 18,000 crore.

After modernisation, the plant's production capacity has increased from 0-95 million tonnes per annum to 2-9 million tonnes

Union Cabinet's Important Decisions

The Union Cabinet on May 13, 2015 cleared a host of proposals, including banning of child labour in all occupations barring a few exceptions, a new bill to keep black money in check and the government's flagship programme to clean and protect the Ganga.

It also cleared the proposed sale of 10% stake in Indian oil Corporation and 5% in NTPC, besides giving its nod to a new urea policy that aims to increase domestic production by 2 million tonnes and reduce its subsidy bill by over Rs. 4,800 crore annually.

The Narendra Modi government approved allowing children below 14 to work in family enterprises or the entertainment industry but prohibited their employment in all other occupations. The original child labour law banned employment of children below 14 in only 18 hazardous industries

Meanwhile, Worries Abound

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  The amendments allow children below 14 to work after school or during vacations to help "family or family enterprises."
  
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  The new law will also go easy on parents who push their children into labour, as compared to the current one that treats them at,par with a stranger.
  
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  The new bill provides that there would be no punishment for parents or guardians in first offence, while a maximum penalty of Rs. 10,000 can be levied in case of the subsequent offences.
  
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  For others, the fine has been increased to up to Rs. 50,000.
  
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  Activists say the move will open doors for employing children in Industries such as matchbox manufacturing, footwear and carpet making
  

Modi's pet Namami Gange project, which has a budget outlay of Rs. 20,000 crore for the next five years, got the Cabinet's green light. The programme will focus on pollution checks, such as diversion and treatment of waste water flowing into the Ganga through open drains.

The new urea policy would help the government cut subsidy by Rs. 4,800 crore as well as check the recent farm unrest as the retail price of the popular fertiliser has been left untouched at Rs. 268 for a bag of 50 kg. Farmers would have to pay an additional Rs. 14 a bag for neem-cpated urea

PM Narendra Modi's Three-Nation Tour :China, Mongolia and South Korea

From May 14 to May 19, 2015 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on three-nation tour beginning with China, then Mongolia and lastly South Korea

China

The PM opened his three-nation tour with China, his first since coming to power. He was accorded a traditional welcome at the airport, a rare touch of diplomacy by Chinese President Xi Jinping, underscoring his intention to build a strong personal relationship with Modi

Foreign secretary S. Jaishankar said the focus of the meeting was on increasing mutual trust and convergence between the two countries, which are trying to turn a corner in their relationship by focussing on boosting bilateral trade

Modi visited a pit of 2,000-year-old terracotta warrior sculptures and went to an iconic pagoda connected to Hieun Tsang, the monk who brought the Buddhist sutras to China from India thousands of years ago