The Union Cabinet approved The Mines and Mineral Development and Regulation (MMDR) Bill, 2011. Provides for mining companies to keep aside 26 per cent of their net profits for a Mineral Development Fund to be used for development and rehabilitation of project-affected people in the tribal areas of the country.

The government prepared a draft of Citizens Right to Grievance Redress Bill 2011 in the first week of November 2011. The bill aims at creating institutionalize mechanism to ensure delivery of public services in a time bound manner and redressal of public grievances.

India's most advanced long-range missile, Agni-IV was test fired successfully on 15 November 2011 from a road-mobile launcher from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Wheelers Island, off the coast of Orissa. The missile covered a range of more than 3,000 km in 20 minutes of fluent flight.

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Addu Declaration in SAARC Summit

The 17th SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) Summit held in Hithadhoo, Addu, Maldives .. A 20-point Addu Declaration was adopted to forge effective cooperation among the member states in a host of areas including economy, connectivity, climate change and food security.

The theme of the 17th SAARC Summit was ‘Building Bridges’. The Summit recognized the importance of bridging differences, creating better understanding and promoting amity and mutually beneficial and comprehensive cooperation in order to promote effective linkages and connectivity for greater movement of people, enhanced investment and trade in the SAARC members region

Bangladesh and Russia Nuclear Deal

Bangladesh and Russia signed a deal to build a nuclear power plant at Rooppur in Pabna district. It would be Bangladesh’s first nuclear plant. Russia will provide technical support for setting up two generators each capable of producing 1000 megawatts of electricity. Russia will also supply fund and fuel rods for safe storage. The new safety features will also be implemented in the plant.

Bangladesh’s junior science and technology minister Yeafesh Osman and Russia’s State Atomic energy corporation director-general Sergei Kiriyenko signed the agreement. Bangladesh relies heavily on gas-fired plants for power. Power generation falls 2000 megawatts short of its daily requirement, which hampers its industrial production and economic growth

G20 Cannes Summit

The 6th G20 (Major Economies) summit was held in Cannes, France to discuss key issues in the global economy. Eurozone debt crisis dominated the Summit in Cannes. The other issues discussed in the summit were global imbalances, financial transactions tax, tax evasion and reform of the international monetary system.

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India was elected to the United Nations' Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and returned to this oversight body after a gap of 35 years. India’s five-year term with the body will start from 1 January 2013.

The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Indonesia from 17 November 2011 to 19 November 2011 and Singapore on 19-20 November 2011. The Prime Minister attended the 9th ASEAN-India and East Asia Summits at Bali in Indonesia. He also held bilateral talks with US President Barack Obama, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. Manmohan Singh also met Prime Minister of Cambodia, Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard and President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on the sidelines of the Summits.

Afghanistan on 28 November 2011 awarded mining rights for three of the four Hajigak blocks located at the central Bamyan province to an Indian consortium led by state-run Steel Authority of India (SAIL). The four blocks in Hajigak are estimated to hold more than 1.8 billion tonnes of iron ore with 62% ferrous content.

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