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Vice President's Secretariat

*The Vice President of India Shri M Venkaiah Naidu has said that

untouchability is the real enemy of humanity and helping the

poor is real patriotism.

*He addressed the All India Telugu Association event in Chennai

today commemorating 258th birth anniversary of Veerapandiya

Kattabomman & 250th Jayanti of Sadhguru Thyāgarāja.

*The Vice President said that Veerapandiya Kattabomman, one

of the earliest freedom fighters, had courageously fought against

the British in the 18th century.

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*His saga of valiant resistance and indomitable courage continues to inspire all of us even today.

*Kattabomman exemplifies the qualities of courage and conviction, he said.

*India’s great saint-composer, Thyāgarāja, a pioneer of Carnatic music, has provided inspiration to thousands of musicians over the last century.

*He embodies the ennobling and enthralling range of Indian music.

*Music, literature and poetry give solace, he said.

*The Vice President said that India has always celebrated diversity and plurality.

*It has welcomed co-existence of diverse languages and religions.

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*It has fostered unity in diversity.

*It has facilitated individual identity but has promoted a culture of

mutual respect.

*We have been particularly sensitive to the linguistic and cultural needs

of minority groups, he said.

*Major impediments like poverty, illiteracy, gender divide and

discrimination, urban-rural divide, corruption, casteism and

communalism have to be addressed, he said.

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Ministry of Defence

*Agni-5

*Long Range Surface-to-Surface Ballistic Missile

*The three-stage solid propellant Agni-5 missile has a strike range of over 5,000 kilometres and can carry a nuclear warhead of more than one tonne.

*It was successfully flight tested for its full range today at 0953 hrs from DrAbdul Kalam Island.

*All the five missions have been successful.

*This successful test of Agni-5 reaffirms the country’s indigenous missile capabilities and further strengthens our credible deterrence.

*Hats off to DRDO and industries who contributed to the manufacture of indigenous technologies that went into the making of the missile.

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*.

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Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry

*Smriti Irani has said that in the world of celluloid, some create movies

out of love for creativity, while others resort to disruption as a marketing

stunt.

*She said this during her interaction in the "Thinkedu" Conclave in

Chennai.

*The Conclave was organized by a English daily on the topic "Does our

education system encourage creativity".

*Ms Irani said it is not essential that creativity should be at loggerheads with

the society.

*She also stressed that creative world has to respect counter-views.

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Election Commission of India

*The Election Commission today announced the schedule for the Assembly elections in Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland.

*Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Chief Election Commissioner AK Joti said, in Tripura, the polling will take place on the 18th of next month, while Meghalaya and Nagaland will go to polls on 27th February. The counting of votes for all the three states will be held on 3rd March.

*Gazette notification for the poll in Tripura will be issued on the 24th of this month. For polls in Meghalaya and Nagaland, the notification will be issued on 31st January.

*Mr Joti said, EVMs with VVPATs will be used during the polling in the three states.

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India-Israel

*Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today met top business

leaders and addressed the India-Israel Business Summit in Mumbai.

*Israeli Prime Minister said, the future belongs to those who innovate and

therefore it is crucial that business leaders of both countries meet.

*Mr Netanyahu laid wreath at the memorial of the 26/11 terror attack

victims at Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Palace Hotel this afternoon.

*He termed India-Israel’s partnership as the one made in heaven and

one which rests on shared values of love for humanity, democracy

and freedom.

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Fin Min

*Goods and Services Tax Council has reduced the tax rate on 29 goods

and 53 categories of services by bringing them in lower category.

*The new rates will be effective from 25th of this month.

*Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, it was also discussed to simplify the

return filing process by merging all three types of GST returns into a

single return.

*Mr. Nandan Nilekani gave a detailed presentation on simplification of

return filing process.

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*He said, the Council veered around to the idea of registered entities continuing to file the return in GSTR 3B Form while moving to a system where supplier invoice captures details of the transaction.

*The Finance Minister said, the new process will be finalised in the next meeting of the GST Council after a written formulation is circulated to the states.

*Mr Jaitley said, the Council also reaffirmed the implementation of e-waybill system from 1st of next month.

*On a question about inclusion of petroleum products in the GST, the Minister said the matter will be taken up in the next meeting of the council.

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Fact

*Oil import bill has ballooned by over a third to $10.34 billion in

December alone, and we do need proper price signals to proactively

deter oil consumption and dampen runaway demand.

*India is now the world’s third-largest oil consumer.

*Consumers who feel the pinch of dearer oil should use public transport

more often.

*Attempting to bring down oil prices by fiat makes no sense.

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*Retail prices of petroleum products have risen sharply of late, given the

recent flare-up in global oil prices.

*The government must not, in tandem, tamely slash taxes on petrol and

diesel.

*Neither subsidies are necessary to win political points.

*In parallel, we need to better allocate resources for public transport,

and aim to traverse to the electric mode sooner rather than later.

*Clamping down on rampant power theft would vastly improve the

financial health of power utilities, stabilise power supply and curtail

diesel consumption for power generators.

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*The way forward is to tap the potential for efficiency increase to lower

consumer prices, by opening up the retail market for oil.

*The retail oil market needs to be properly integrated with the domestic

retail industry.

*It is par for the course in the mature markets.

*Abroad, independent oil retailers account for about half the retail

offtake and a similar market design in India would bring prices down, via

greater competition, and lower margins and markups.

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1)What was the previous of Abdul Kalam Isand?

2)Abdul Kalam Island shares it’s border with the waters

of Arabian Sea. True or False. Justify it with right

answer.

3)With announcement of polling dates in 3 NE states of

India, application of _____________________ has taken

place now.

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