18-10-22 Daily-Punjab-PPSC Current Affairs

Punjab minister Aman Arora said the will come out with a new affordable housing policy whose draft has been uploaded on official website for seeking suggestions from the public.

The AAP government will not leave any stone unturned to fulfill the common man’s aspirations to own a dream house, said Arora, Punjab Housing and Urban Development Minister. The draft of ‘Punjab Affordable Housing Policy-2022’ has been uploaded on the official website for seeking suggestions from the public, he said.

In the new policy, the minimum area for a plotted colony has been fixed at five acres and for a group housing project at two acres, the minister said. The saleable area has been increased to 65 per cent as compared to 55 per cent in normal colonies to provide plots at affordable rates to common man, he said. The change of land use, external development charges and other charges have also been reduced to 50 per cent. Maximum plot size has been fixed at 150 square yards and maximum size of the flat will be 90 square metres, it said. Relaxation is being provided for parking norms to reduce the cost of construction, the minister said. He also said this policy will not be applicable in New Chandigarh (Mullanpur) area. To enable speedy clearances and other approvals, Arora said a single competent authority has been designated at local level irrespective of the size of the colony. All powers for approvals have been delegated to the chief administrators of the concerned urban development authorities, he said. The policy will also encourage promoters to get their colonies approved in hassle-free manner and will curb mushrooming of unauthorized colonies, he added.

NHAI InvIT is the Investment trust sponsored by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to support the governments National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP). NHAIs InvIT is a Trust established by NHAI under the Indian Trusts Act, 1882 and SEBI (Security and Exchange Board of India) regulations.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime MinisterNarendra Modihad approved the NHAIs Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT) in December 2019, and the company had started to meet investor groups the following year.

Infrastructure investment trusts are institutions similar to Mutual Funds, which pool investments from various categories of investors and invest them into completed and revenue-generating infrastructure projects, thereby creating returns for the investor.

The Union Government has filed a fresh affidavit before The Supreme Court, through the Ministry of Social and Empowerment, stating its current position on the inclusion ofDalit Christians and Dalit Muslims in the Scheduled Castes listand on the petitions challenging the constitutionality of Para 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, which allows only members of Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism to be identified as SCs.

The Union government said it had examined the issue and noted the demands from Dalit Christian and Dalit Muslim communities for inclusion in the SC list and accordingly formed athree-member Commission of Inquiry headed by former Chief Justice of India Justice K.G. Balakrishnanto look into all aspects of the matter. It said this was done because the issue is a seminal and historically complex sociological and constitutional question that requires a definitive study and extensive consultation with all stakeholders.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on October 21, 2022 said most of the “hotspots” in the country are almost free from anti-national activities now and the situation in major security theatres has improved over the last eight years of the Narendra Modi government.

He said more than 70% decline has been recorded in incidents of violence that were reported from insurgency-hit areas of the Northeast during this time period and this is an indicator of a “happy Northeast”.

Same was the situation in Jammu and Kashmir as well as in the states affected by Naxal violence, the Minister said while addressing top Police and paramilitary forces commanders at the National Police Memorial in the Chanakyapuri area here on the occasion of the National Police Commemoration Day.

To bolster investments in solar power projects, the (ISA), in its General Assembly meeting here on Tuesday, approved the Solar Facility, a payment guarantee mechanism expected to stimulate investments into solar projects through two financial components a Solar Payment Guarantee Fund and Solar Insurance Fund.

The thrust of the facility is to attract private capital to flow into underserved markets in Africa. The ISA would aim to crowdsource investments from various donors across the globe and proposed projects in Africa would be able to purchase payment guarantees or partial insurance premium from these funds.