Daily News Digest:17 January 2019

Gandhi Peace Prize for 2015-18 announced

The Gandhi Peace Prize for the years 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 was announced on January 16, 2019 by the Union Ministry of Culture. 

The 2018 Gandhi Peace Prize was conferred on Yohei Sasakawa, who is at the forefront of many philanthropic initiatives. His compassionate nature can be seen in the manner in which he has worked to eliminate leprosy in India.

Regional Conference on “Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme (DDRS)” to be held in Mumbai

A Regional Conference on “Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme (DDRS)” on 17^th January was organized by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in Mumbai.

It will cover the western states namely Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Madhya Pradesh and two Union Territories i.e., Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu.

Group of Ministers (GoM) constituted on issues relating to lottery

A ministerial panel headed by Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar will examine uniformity of taxation on lottery under GST or other issues arising out of it.

The decision to form a ministerial panel was taken in GST Council meeting on January 10.

Cabinet approves expenditure sanction for Integrated E-filing and Centralized Processing Centre 2.0 Project

The central government on 16 Jan approved expenditure sanction of Rs 4,241.97crore for development of the next generation income tax filing and processing centre, which will help cut down time for processing of returns.

IT major Infosys has been selected to implement the project after the bidding process.

Saksham 2019, annual event of PCRA, launched

The Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA) under the aegis of Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas has launched a month long Saksham 2018 (Sanrakshan Kshamta Mahotsav).

Saksham is annual flagship event of PCRA with active involvement of Oil & Gas PSUs along with other stakeholders like State Governments.

Trump nominates 3 Indian Americans to key administration post

US President Donald Trump has nominated three Indian Americans to key administration positions as per the latest list of senior nominations sent by the White House to the Senate.