External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj launches Passport Seva mobile app

  • External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj launched the mPassportSeva Mobile App, which will allows Indian citizens to apply for a passport from anywhere in the country.
  • Through the app, people will be able to pay and schedule appointments for passport services on their mobile phones.
  • The Mobile Passport Application was launched on the occasion of Passport Seva Divas (June 26th).
  • Police verification will be conducted at the address specified in the application form.

S Ramesh appointed Chairman of CBIC

  • Senior bureaucrat S Ramesh has been appointed the chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), with the status of special secretary to the central government.
  • He will succeed Vanaja N Sarna, who superannuates on June 30.
  • Ramesh is a 1981 batch officer of the Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise).
  • He is currently a member in the board, mandated with the responsibility of implementing the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
  • Senior IRS (Customs and Central Excise) officer Raj Kumar Barthwal has been named as new member in the CBIC in place of Ramesh.

Health cover under Odisha’s Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana increased

  • The Odisha government will raise the health cover for women, from Rs.5 lakh to Rs.7 lakh, under the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY).
  • The decision was revealed by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik during a video conference on the Ama Gaon Ama Bikash Yojana.

Anant Barua appointed whole-time SEBI member

  • Anant Barua has been appointed as a whole-time member of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
  • Barua has been appointed to the post for a period of three years.
  • Currently Barua is serving as executive director of the SEBI, a position that he took charge of in May 2010.
  • Prior to this, he served as legal advised in the Legal Affairs Department (LAD) of the SEBI.

Brexit bill becomes law, UK can now leave European Union

  • British monarch Queen Elizabeth II has given her approval to the “Brexit” bill that will allow the UK to leave the European Union (EU).
  • House Commons Speaker John Bercow announced that the European Union Withdrawal Bill received royal assent and passed into law.
  • The Brexit bill is approved after months of debate; it was introduced in July 2017.
  • The bill will translate thousands of pieces of (and decades of) EU law into British statute, in an attempt to avoid legal disruption when the UK exits the EU.
  • “Brexit Day”, or the day when the UK will leave the EU, is set for March 29th, 2019 at 11 p.m. (midnight Brussels time).

Power discom BYPL signs MoU with Finnish company for energy sector collaboration

  • Power distribution company BYPL has signed an MoU with Business Finland, a Finnish government agency.
  • The agreement will include collaborative activities in different areas, including energy efficiency and electric vehicles.
  • The three-year MoU will also cover cooperation in the power distribution sector, and include joint studies, pilot projects, knowledge-sharing and consultancy, research projects, and emerging technologies.

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