CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL
India to Launch First-Ever Coal Trading Exchange
- India is reportedly planning to open its first coal trading exchange on the basis of commodity or energy exchanges.
- Coal consumers and traders throughout the country welcomed the move but stated the exchange should be started only when there are more buyers and sellers.
- The coal trading exchange will be an electronic system based that will provide an online platform to various traders in the market. The exchange will boost sales. According to industry experts, the entire coal produced in the country would be traded on the coal exchange.
- This exchange would have the potential to turn the entire coal sector into an open market that will have no barriers to free-market activities.
- The exchange will deal with proposed gas exchanges, power bourses, or commodity exchanges. This will probably lead to the end of Coal India’s new Fuel Supply Agreements (FSA) regime. However, Coal India Ltd is anticipated to be a dominant player in the coal mining sector as it has set a production target of one billion tons by the year
About Coal India Limited
- Headquarters: Kolkata, West Bengal
- Chairman-cum-Managing-Director (MD): Pramod Agarwal
CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL
India to rebuild 56 schools destroyed in Nepal’s 2015 earthquake
- The Indian Embassy in Nepal stated it will rebuild 56 higher secondary schools — replete with furniture and modern sustainable technology — which were destroyed in the powerful earthquake that hit the country in 2015.
- These schools will be rebuilt as part of the Indian government”s post-earthquake reconstruction works in Nepal with a grant of around Rs 184 crore (USD 24.4 million), the Indian embassy stated.
- Seven Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) were signed between the Indian embassy and the Nepal Ministry of Education”s Central Level Project Implementation Unit (CLPIU) to build the 56 higher secondary schools in Gorkha, Nuwakot, Dhading, Dolakha, Kavrepalanchowk, Ramechhap and Sindhupalchok districts.
- India”s Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Roorkee will provide technical expertise in the reconstruction work.
- The schools will be built following Nepal”s earthquake-resilient reconstruction norms. The school infrastructure will consist of academic blocks, classrooms, furniture and sanitation facilities.
About Nepal :
- Capital: Kathmandu
- Prime minister: KP Sharma Oli
- Currency: Nepalese rupee
