01 May 2016 Current Affairs
India – New Zealand Signed Air Services
Agreement
India and New Zealand have signed a landmark Air Services
Agreement paving the way for introduction of direct flights between the two
countries. The agreement was on 1 May signed in the presence of the President
Pranab Mukherjee and the New Zealand Prime Minister John Key. The agreement was
signed under the Convention of International Civil Aviation opened for
signature at Chicago on 7 December 1944. It was opened with an aim to promote
international air services between their respective territories.
Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act,
2016 Comes Into force
Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 came into force
on 1 May 2016. In this regard, Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty
Alleviation (HUPA) had notified 69 of the total 92 sections of the Act to bring
it into force from 1 May 2016. The much awaited and widely acclaimed Act sets
up in motion the process of making necessary operational rules and creation of
institutional infrastructure for protecting the interests of consumers. It also
promotes the growth of real estate sector in an environment of trust,
confidence, credible transactions and efficient and time bound execution of
projects. A proposal for a law for Real Estate was first mooted at the National
Conference of Housing Ministers of States and Union Territories in January
2009.
Prime Minister Launched Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala
Yojana
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 1 May launched the Pradhan Mantri
Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) at Ballia, Uttar Pradesh. It will benefit the poor,
especially the women. The scheme aims to provide cooking gas connections to
five crore below-poverty-line beneficiaries over the next three years. Under
PMUY, each of the beneficiaries will receive monetary support of about 1,600
rupees to get a connection of cooking gas. It includes administrative cost,
pressure regulator booklet and safety hose The scheme seeks to empower women
and protect their health by shifting them from traditional cooking based on
unclean cooking fuels or on fossil fuels to clean cooking gas. It is being
implemented by Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. It is for the first
time this ministry is implementing a welfare scheme. The identification of
eligible BPL families will be made in consultation with the State Governments
and the Union Territories.”
International Labour Day
International Labour Day was celebrated on 1 May 2016. This is
also known as International Worker’s Day and May Day. The theme of the Day of
2016 is Celebrating the international labour movement. The theme assumes
further significance with economic relationships undergoing rapid change in the
emerging global economic order. Giving due importance to the significance of
the day about 80 countries across the world declared it as national holiday.
The International Labour Day is being celebrated to promote the requirement of
eight-hour work day. In earlier times, the working conditions of the labourers
were very severe and working hours lasted 10 to 16 hour a day even in the
unsafe conditions which resulted in death, injuries of workers. In 1886,
workers in Chicago (US) started demanding that the working period of eight
hours a week and have one day off and also raised their voice for the safety of
the working group. After the workers struggle, eight-hours was declared as the
legal time for the workers in the national convention at Chicago by the
American Federation of Labour in 1886. In 1889, the second meeting of the
General Assembly of the International Worker held in Paris passed a resolution
that 1st May should be celebrated as International Workers ‘ Day. In India,
this day is celebrated as a national holiday since 1923.
