Terms of reference for Swachh Bharat Sub-Group set financial, institutional and technological mandates; report due soon.
The Sub-Group, convened by the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and coordinated by the CEO of NITI Aayog, is mandated to examine financial requirements, propose robust institutional mechanisms, and recommend technological support for solid and liquid waste management. A Working Group with one member from each Sub-Group State will collect best practices and technologies from member and non-member States. The Sub-Group must evaluate private sector participation and civil society engagement, adopt sustainable campaign-mode approaches, work out budgetary needs, involve central ministries, and submit a consolidated report within the specified timeframe.

Investment and Trade Action Agenda to deepen bilateral investment, infrastructure, IT, strategic cooperation and Asia Pacific integration.
An action agenda was signed between India and Japan establishing five priorities: development of selected Indian townships as Japanese industrial townships, promotion of investment and infrastructure development, cooperation in information technology, enhanced cooperation in strategic sectors, and Asia Pacific economic integration to deepen bilateral commercial ties and mobilise private sector engagement.

Non-submission of Annual Return (FC-6) by associations may prompt cancellation of their foreign contribution registration.
Associations registered under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) framework must submit an Annual Return (Form FC-6) with supporting financial statements within nine months of the financial year-end; NIL returns are required if no foreign contribution was received. The Ministry found many associations did not file FC-6 for 2009-2012, has sent notices (Annexure) requesting returns or justifications, and warns that failure to reply may lead to cancellation of registration for non-compliance.

Ballast Water Management: statutory obligations require ships to carry approved plans and certificates, with inspections and penalties.
The Amendment incorporates the Ballast Water Management Convention into the Merchant Shipping Act, requiring ships to adopt an approved Ballast Water Management Plan, carry a Ballast Water Record Book and obtain appropriate ballast water management certificates for international and domestic voyages; exemptions apply to non ballast vessels and certain government ships. The Bill mandates surveys, inspections, port reception facilities, sampling subject to non undue delay, remedies for unreasonable detention, and penalties for non compliance while envisaging no central government financial burden.

Minimum pension guarantee continued perpetually for EPS pensioners, backed by annual budgetary support for implementation.
The Union Cabinet approved perpetual continuation of a minimum pension of Rs. 1,000 per month for Employees' Pension Scheme, 1995 beneficiaries, together with ongoing annual budgetary support to fund the gap. The EPS amendment effective 1 September 2014 requires the EPFO to disburse the revised minimum pension; the record of September 2014-March 2015 disbursements shows affected pensioner counts, original pension costs, amounts after minimum pension application, and central support to cover the difference.

Conversion of SSB battalions into NDRF expands disaster-response capacity and fills deployment gaps in eastern and northeastern regions.
Approval for conversion of Sashastra Seema Bal battalions into NDRF battalions reallocates units to strengthen existing NDRF battalions and provide dedicated response capability for Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh, with placement at Varanasi and Arunachal Pradesh to address deployment gaps and improve disaster-response readiness.

Compensatory afforestation funds: establish national and state non-lapsable funds to transparently manage levies for forest diversion.
The Bill creates non-lapsable interest-bearing National and State Compensatory Afforestation Funds to transfer accumulated balances from an ad-hoc body into public accounts, increase transparency, and ensure structured utilisation. It establishes a National Authority, State Authorities and a Monitoring Group to administer, manage and evaluate fund deployment, with fund flows designed to meet National CAF expenditure without additional central budgetary outlay and to promote mitigation of forest-diversion impacts, asset creation and rural employment.

Reimbursement of value cut: Centre to compensate States for wheat procurement reductions under relaxed quality norms following crop damage.
The Union Cabinet approved central reimbursement to State Governments for the value cut applied to wheat procured under relaxed quality norms after weather-related damage, with payments routed through the Food Corporation of India so farmers are not burdened by deductions while procurement at the Minimum Support Price continues.

Smart Cities Mission selection and central funding to upgrade urban infrastructure, linked to performance-based competition and state reforms.
Union Cabinet approved two interlinked urban programmes: the Smart Cities Mission, using a competition-based City Challenge and city-level SPVs to implement area-based smart solutions, and AMRUT, a project-oriented mission to secure basic infrastructure conditioned on specified urban reforms. States submit State Annual Action Plans for concurrence, receive milestone-linked central assistance differentiated by city size, and gain incentives for achieving reforms; unfinished projects from the predecessor programme are eligible for completion funding.

Manufacturing contribution to GVA: policy reforms including FDI liberalisation and industrial corridors aim to accelerate sector growth.
Manufacturing's share is reported in terms of Gross Value Added (GVA), estimated at about seventeen percent for 2014-15, and the Government has pursued administrative and regulatory measures-licensing simplification, inverted duty correction, FDI liberalisation, e biz integration, industrial corridors, and the Make in India investor facilitation-to accelerate manufacturing growth.

Industrial infrastructure upgradation scheme expands support for cluster competitiveness through quality infrastructure and technical facilities
The Modified Industrial Infrastructure Upgradation Scheme (MIIUS) aims to enhance competitiveness by providing quality infrastructure to catalyse industrial growth, employment generation and technology upgradation in industrial estates, parks and greenfield projects; 24 projects received in-principle approval, 11 received final approval, and central assistance has been released for five projects. MIIUS supports creation of technical infrastructure including Common Facility Centres, R&D-Product Development and Technical Demonstration Facilities, Central Effluent Treatment Plants, training infrastructure, and quality certification and benchmarking to promote modern technology adoption in assisted units.

Initial validity of industrial defence licences revised to longer term with further extension to support contract gestation.
Revision modifies the duration framework for defence-sector industrial licences by extending the initial validity period and permitting an additional extension for both existing and future licences, aligning licence tenure with the long gestation of defence contracts and promoting ease of doing business.

Removal of pre-commencement declaration speeds company start-up; streamlined exemption notification procedure accelerates regulatory relief for ease of doing business
The proposal removes the requirement for companies to file a declaration prior to commencement of business or exercising borrowing powers, and rationalizes the procedure for laying draft notifications granting class-wide exemptions or modifying Act provisions to ensure speedier issuance of final notifications, thereby promoting ease of doing business.

Mega Leather Cluster scheme: graded government assistance for eligible cluster projects, governed by land-size thresholds and demand-driven approval.
The Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion implements the Mega Leather Cluster sub-scheme to create integrated leather cluster infrastructure, requiring minimum land thresholds (25 acres without tanneries; 40 acres with tanneries) and providing graded GOI assistance up to 50% of project cost excluding land, with caps tied to land-size bands. The scheme is demand driven, non location specific, and budgetary outlays were allocated across Plan periods with planned support for at least two clusters during the 12th Plan.

e-BIZ portal integration enhances single-window regulatory access, reducing compliance burden and supporting manufacturing growth objectives.
The e-BIZ portal consolidates Central and selected State services to provide single-window access, reduce procedural compliance burdens, and improve ease of doing business, with ten States selected for pilot integration. Japanese financing and technical assistance support the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor and master planning for nodes under the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor. The National Manufacturing Policy sets targets to expand manufacturing's GDP share, increase sector growth, and boost job creation, further supported by the Make-in-India initiative to attract investment and promote domestic manufacturing.

Public private partnership reforms expand appraisal, grant support and project development funding to accelerate infrastructure investment.
The Government of India promotes Public Private Partnerships through an appraisal mechanism including the Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee, a Viability Gap Funding Scheme providing grants to render projects commercially viable, and the India Infrastructure Project Development Fund supporting project development expenses; complementary institutional support such as 3P India is intended to mainstream PPPs.

Interest rate fixation for government provident funds linked to public provident fund rates, effective until further orders.
The Government fixed the interest rate for General Provident Fund and similar funds, and for the Special Deposit Scheme, 1975 for non-government provident, superannuation and gratuity funds, at 8.7% per annum by linking those rates to the Public Provident Fund; the rate applies to a specified list of central and defence provident funds with effect from 1 April 2015 until further orders.

IMF reform: support delinking quota increase from governance changes to expedite resourcing and shift voting power.
Unconventional monetary policies should be complemented by fiscal policy support and structural reforms, while the IMF must monitor UMP spillovers. Delays in implementing the 2010 IMF Quota and Governance Reforms are of serious concern; as an interim measure, delinking the quota increase from governance reforms is proposed to enable resourcing and shift voting power to emerging markets. India has ratified the New Development Bank and Contingent Reserve Arrangement and is finalising nomination for the Bank President.

Freight revenue growth in railways led to higher freight volumes and commodity-wise earnings rising year-on-year.
Total commodity wise freight revenue rose 12.67 percent to Rs. 105312.09 crore and freight traffic increased 4.18 percent to 1097.57 million tonnes in 2014-15. Coal generated Rs. 48372.81 crore from 545.63 million tonnes, with subsequent contributions from cement, iron ore, food grains, POL, pig iron and finished steel, fertilizers, raw materials for steel plants, container services and other goods as set out in the commodity level breakdown.

Regulatory communication: CCI will issue prompt stakeholder updates via Twitter while detailed orders remain on the website.
Competition Commission of India opened an Official Social Media Account on Twitter to provide prompt communications to stakeholders using short tweets for rapid notifications, while continuing to host full detailed orders and extended records on its official website.