IIP reverses slump, grows by 1.8% in Nov.
- Having contracted for three months in a row, the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) recorded a growth of 1.8% in November, mainly on account of an improvement in the manufacturing sector, official data showed on Friday. The IIP growth in November 2018 was 0.2%.
- According to the National Statistical Office (NSO) data, the growth in the manufacturing sector was 2.7% as against a contraction of 0.7% in the same month last year.
- Electricity generation shrank by 5%, as against a growth of 5.1% in November 2018. The IIP growth during April-November in the current fiscal came in at 0.6%, far slower than the 5% in the same period of 2018-19.
MoD approves rules of business for DMA
- The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has approved the rules of business for the newly created Department of Military Affairs (DMA), headed by the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), defence sources said on Friday.
- “The DMA, headed by Gen. Bipin Rawat, will have two Joint Secretaries, 13 Deputy Secretaries, 25 Under Secretaries and 22 Section officers,” a defence source said.
- The rules of business have been approved by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and would be notified as a gazette, another official added.
- The DMA is the fifth department in the MoD — the others being the Department of Defence, the Department of Defence Production, the Department of Defence Research and Development and the Department of Ex- Servicemen Welfare.
Iranian missile downed airliner: Trudeau
- Iran shot down a Ukrainian airliner after it took off from Tehran, killing all 176 on board, including 63 Canadians.
- Ukraine called for United Nations support for a broad investigation, and sent 45 crash investigators to Tehran to take part in the inquiry led by Iranian authorities.