General Affairs
Major Changes In Voluntary Retirement Rules For Babus
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The government has made major changes in the service rules for bureaucrats seeking voluntary retirement. As per new rules formed by the Ministry of Personnel, the request for voluntary retirement by officers will not be kept pending beyond the notice period mentioned by them.
The new rules effected, are applicable on three all-India services- Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IFoS).
As per the new rules, if the competent authorities don't issue any order for the bureaucrat's retirement before the expiry of the notice period specified by a service member, the voluntary retirement shall become effective from the date of expiry of the said period.
Existing rules allow a service member to retire before attaining 60 years age of superannuation, after giving three months' notice in writing to the state government concerned, after he or she completes 20 years of qualifying service.
The move assumes significance as there were complaints of alleged harassment by few bureaucrats who claimed that their requests were kept pending for a long time.
The new rules also allow bureaucrats to take back their voluntary retirement request. The request for withdrawal of notice of voluntary retirement shall be submitted to the competent authority within the period mentioned in the notice. Earlier an IAS, IPS or IFoS officer was allowed to withdraw notice of voluntary retirement only "after it is accepted by the state government".
The new rules effected, are applicable on three all-India services- Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IFoS).
As per the new rules, if the competent authorities don't issue any order for the bureaucrat's retirement before the expiry of the notice period specified by a service member, the voluntary retirement shall become effective from the date of expiry of the said period.
The move assumes significance as there were complaints of alleged harassment by few bureaucrats who claimed that their requests were kept pending for a long time.
The new rules also allow bureaucrats to take back their voluntary retirement request. The request for withdrawal of notice of voluntary retirement shall be submitted to the competent authority within the period mentioned in the notice. Earlier an IAS, IPS or IFoS officer was allowed to withdraw notice of voluntary retirement only "after it is accepted by the state government".
Maneka Gandhi Says Hostel Curfew To Save Girls From 'Hormonal Outbursts'
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Union minister Maneka Gandhi, who has frequently advocated gender equality and women's empowerment, today made a statement that left her college-going audience speechless. Ms Gandhi said early curfew for girls who live in hostels could be necessary for their own safety.
Asked why girls in hostels should have an early curfew, Ms Gandhi said, "At 16 or 17 you are hormonally very challenged. So to protect you from your own hormonal outbursts, perhaps a lakshman rekha is drawn. It really is for your own safety,'' she said while speaking at an interview about International Women's Day.
Asked if the matter cannot be solved by tightening security at women's colleges, the minister said, "No, not by two Bihari gentlemen at gate with dandas (sticks). It has to be solved literally by giving time limits for everything.... Give them (boys) two nights to go to the library and two nights for girls -- if you want to go to library, that is."
On being questioned why boys should be treated differently, the minister said, "Yes, so maybe the same deadlines should be there for both boys and girls... Why should the boys be allowed to wander about in the campus after 6'o-clock? Let them also stay in and do their work."
Last year in March, speaking at the 60th session of the Commission on the status of women, Ms Gandhi, who is the minister of women and child welfare, had said the Government of India "remains fully committed to advancing the goal of gender equality and empowerment of women, and to eliminating all forms of discrimination against women".
It was also at her initiative that the government had redrawn the national policy on women. Steps have been taken towards "awareness generation and starting sensitisation programmes to fight social prejudices and stereotypes," she had said at the time.
Moral policing by the state had become a matter of debate after two policemen in Kerala were caught harassing a couple at a public park in Thiruvananthapuram last month. As the young man involved had live-streamed the event on Facebook, the state police faced a barrage of criticism from the social media.
Asked why girls in hostels should have an early curfew, Ms Gandhi said, "At 16 or 17 you are hormonally very challenged. So to protect you from your own hormonal outbursts, perhaps a lakshman rekha is drawn. It really is for your own safety,'' she said while speaking at an interview about International Women's Day.
On being questioned why boys should be treated differently, the minister said, "Yes, so maybe the same deadlines should be there for both boys and girls... Why should the boys be allowed to wander about in the campus after 6'o-clock? Let them also stay in and do their work."
Last year in March, speaking at the 60th session of the Commission on the status of women, Ms Gandhi, who is the minister of women and child welfare, had said the Government of India "remains fully committed to advancing the goal of gender equality and empowerment of women, and to eliminating all forms of discrimination against women".
It was also at her initiative that the government had redrawn the national policy on women. Steps have been taken towards "awareness generation and starting sensitisation programmes to fight social prejudices and stereotypes," she had said at the time.
Moral policing by the state had become a matter of debate after two policemen in Kerala were caught harassing a couple at a public park in Thiruvananthapuram last month. As the young man involved had live-streamed the event on Facebook, the state police faced a barrage of criticism from the social media.
PM Narendra Modi Wraps Up Campaign With Strategic Varanasi Visits And 23rd Rally
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrapped up an intense campaign for the Uttar Pradesh elections today with a pitch for votes to farmers at a public rally in Rohaniya, about 200 km from Varanasi, his parliamentary constituency. For the last three days, PM Modi has been in Varanasi holding massive road shows as the BJP attempts to consolidate and secure a big win in eastern UP. This is the longest campaign by a Prime Minister in his constituency in any election.
The Rohaniya rally was the PM's 23rd in the UP assembly election; the BJP has projected no one for Chief Minister, seeking votes for PM Modi's development agenda.
Apart from PM Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and more than 20 union ministers have been camped in Varanasi for the last week to campaign in eastern UP for the last two rounds of elections, in which a total 89 of UP's 403 constituencies vote. The sixth round of voting was held on Saturday. The seventh and final round is on Wednesday, when voting will be held in 40 seats, including the five assembly seats in Varanasi.
Campaigning not far from Varanasi in Jaunpur, UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said today, "PM Modi has been saying that the BJP has already won the elections and that the last two phases are just a bonus. If that is the case, then why is PM Modi in Banaras for three days?"
Winning eastern UP, which has Varanasi at its heart, is crucial to the BJP's plan to come back to power in UP after 15 years, after reports that in the first few rounds of polling in western UP, the party could lose some ground because the Jats who powered its sweep of that region in the 2014 national election are upset this time over the notes ban and their demand for quota in government jobs and colleges not being met.
The Prime Minister's hectic programme on Monday, the last day for campaigning for the last round of the UP elections, was strategically designed. He first visited the Gadwaghat Ashram which is most revered by Yadavs. The ashram has over a crore followers and is said to have a powerful say in the political decision-making of the Yadav community, which Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party counts as a core support base.
From the ashram PM Modi went to Ramnagar to pay tribute to former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, whose paternal home is in this part of Varanasi. He garlanded a statue of the former Prime Minister and spent some time at his home, from where as a young boy from a poor family, Lal Bahadur Shastri swam across the Ganga to go to school on the days that he did not have money for a boat ride.
The PM's visit was seen as another attempt by him to claim the legacy of a tall Congress leader. The BJP alleges that the Congress has in obsequious worship of the Nehru-Gandhi family, ignored its other great leaders like Sardar Patel, BR Ambedkar and Lal Bahadur Shastri.
The Rohaniya rally was the PM's 23rd in the UP assembly election; the BJP has projected no one for Chief Minister, seeking votes for PM Modi's development agenda.
Campaigning not far from Varanasi in Jaunpur, UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said today, "PM Modi has been saying that the BJP has already won the elections and that the last two phases are just a bonus. If that is the case, then why is PM Modi in Banaras for three days?"
Winning eastern UP, which has Varanasi at its heart, is crucial to the BJP's plan to come back to power in UP after 15 years, after reports that in the first few rounds of polling in western UP, the party could lose some ground because the Jats who powered its sweep of that region in the 2014 national election are upset this time over the notes ban and their demand for quota in government jobs and colleges not being met.
The Prime Minister's hectic programme on Monday, the last day for campaigning for the last round of the UP elections, was strategically designed. He first visited the Gadwaghat Ashram which is most revered by Yadavs. The ashram has over a crore followers and is said to have a powerful say in the political decision-making of the Yadav community, which Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party counts as a core support base.
From the ashram PM Modi went to Ramnagar to pay tribute to former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, whose paternal home is in this part of Varanasi. He garlanded a statue of the former Prime Minister and spent some time at his home, from where as a young boy from a poor family, Lal Bahadur Shastri swam across the Ganga to go to school on the days that he did not have money for a boat ride.
The PM's visit was seen as another attempt by him to claim the legacy of a tall Congress leader. The BJP alleges that the Congress has in obsequious worship of the Nehru-Gandhi family, ignored its other great leaders like Sardar Patel, BR Ambedkar and Lal Bahadur Shastri.
Pollution Kills 1.7 Million Children Each Year: WHO
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Each year, environmental pollutants lead to the death of an estimated 1.7 million children under five, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in a new report on Monday.
The causes include unsafe water, lack of sanitation, poor hygiene practices and indoor and outdoor pollution, as well as injuries.
The new numbers equate to these pollutants being the cause of one in four deaths of children one month to five years old, CNN reported.
"A polluted environment is a deadly one -- particularly for young children," Margaret Chan, the WHO director-general, said in a statement.
"Their developing organs and immune systems, and smaller bodies and airways, make them especially vulnerable to dirty air and water."
Infants exposed to indoor or outdoor air pollution, including secondhand smoke, have an increased risk of pneumonia during childhood as well as an increased risk of chronic respiratory diseases -- such as asthma -- for the rest of their lives, the report stated.
The global body also highlighted the increased risk of heart disease, stroke and cancer from exposure to air pollution.
However, new report highlights that the most common causes -- diarrhea, malaria and pneumonia -- of child death are preventable through interventions like insecticide-treated bed nets, clean cooking fuels and improved access to clean water, are already available to the communities most affected, reports CNN.
Other potential pollution prevention solutions mentioned in the report are removing mould and pests from housing, removing lead paint, ensuring sanitation and good nutrition at schools and using better urban planning to create more green spaces in cities.
The causes include unsafe water, lack of sanitation, poor hygiene practices and indoor and outdoor pollution, as well as injuries.
The new numbers equate to these pollutants being the cause of one in four deaths of children one month to five years old, CNN reported.
"Their developing organs and immune systems, and smaller bodies and airways, make them especially vulnerable to dirty air and water."
Infants exposed to indoor or outdoor air pollution, including secondhand smoke, have an increased risk of pneumonia during childhood as well as an increased risk of chronic respiratory diseases -- such as asthma -- for the rest of their lives, the report stated.
The global body also highlighted the increased risk of heart disease, stroke and cancer from exposure to air pollution.
However, new report highlights that the most common causes -- diarrhea, malaria and pneumonia -- of child death are preventable through interventions like insecticide-treated bed nets, clean cooking fuels and improved access to clean water, are already available to the communities most affected, reports CNN.
Other potential pollution prevention solutions mentioned in the report are removing mould and pests from housing, removing lead paint, ensuring sanitation and good nutrition at schools and using better urban planning to create more green spaces in cities.
Giant Magnetic Shield Could Make Mars Habitable: NASA Scientists
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Scientists at NASA have proposed that launching a giant magnetic shield into space to protect Mars from solar winds could give the Red Planet its atmosphere back and make it habitable for humans.
Mars now appears to be a cold desert world and it has no global magnetic field. The cold temperatures and thin atmosphere on the red Planet do not allow liquid water to exist at the surface for long. But it might not have been always so.
Scientists believe that the Red Planet once had a thick atmosphere necessary to maintain liquid water, and a warmer, potentially habitable climate. It is the collapse of the protective magnetic field billions of years ago that eventually made Mars what it is today -- cold and arid.
In a presentation at the Planetary Science Vision 2050 Workshop in Washington, DC last week, NASA scientists proposed that launching a giant magnetic shield into space between Mars and the Sun could help the Red Planet restore its atmosphere and make it suitable for humans to colonise in the future.
The US space agency thinks a powerful-enough magnetic shield launched into space could serve as a replacement for Mars's own lost magnetosphere, ScienceAlert reported on Monday.
Launching an "artificial magnetosphere" into space between Mars and the Sun could hypothetically shield the Red Planet in the extended magnetotail that trails behind the protective field, NASA's Planetary Science Division director Jim Green was quoted as saying.
"This situation then eliminates many of the solar wind erosion processes that occur with the planet's ionosphere and upper atmosphere allowing the Martian atmosphere to grow in pressure and temperature over time," the researchers explained in an accompanying paper.
The researchers believe that the magnetic shield could help Mars regain some of its lost Earth-like habitability within the space of a couple of generations.
Mars now appears to be a cold desert world and it has no global magnetic field. The cold temperatures and thin atmosphere on the red Planet do not allow liquid water to exist at the surface for long. But it might not have been always so.
Scientists believe that the Red Planet once had a thick atmosphere necessary to maintain liquid water, and a warmer, potentially habitable climate. It is the collapse of the protective magnetic field billions of years ago that eventually made Mars what it is today -- cold and arid.
Launching an "artificial magnetosphere" into space between Mars and the Sun could hypothetically shield the Red Planet in the extended magnetotail that trails behind the protective field, NASA's Planetary Science Division director Jim Green was quoted as saying.
"This situation then eliminates many of the solar wind erosion processes that occur with the planet's ionosphere and upper atmosphere allowing the Martian atmosphere to grow in pressure and temperature over time," the researchers explained in an accompanying paper.
The researchers believe that the magnetic shield could help Mars regain some of its lost Earth-like habitability within the space of a couple of generations.
Business Affairs
Reconsider penalty for not keeping minimum balance: Govt to SBI
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The government today asked SBI to reconsider its decision to levy penalty on non-maintenance of minimum balance, which the bank plans to hike manifold from April 1 impacting over 31 crore savings bank account holders.
State Bank of India, according to a source, has also been asked to reconsider charges it proposes to levy on cash transactions and ATM withdrawals over specified limits.
The country's largest lender has announced imposing penalty ranging from Rs 20-100 on non-maintenance of Minimum Average Balance (MAB) in savings bank accounts from April 1.
The penalty is as high as Rs 500 in case of current accounts.
The penalty for breach of MAB is being reintroduced after a gap of five years.
The bank has also increased the minimum balance requirement by many times, which is as high as Rs 5,000 for account maintained with branches in six metro cities.
SBI has also imposed restrictions on withdrawals of cash from its branches as well as ATMs. These will attract charges after certain specified limits.
"Government has asked SBI to reconsider it's decision to impose a penalty on non- maintenance of minimum balance in accounts from April 1 onwards," the source said.
The government has also urged SBI and other lenders, including private sector banks to "reconsider the charges on cash transactions and ATM withdrawals above a certain limit".
Some private banks, like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank, have started charging a minimum amount of Rs 150 per transaction for cash deposits and withdrawals beyond four free transactions in a month.
The government today asked SBI to reconsider its decision to levy penalty on non-maintenance of minimum balance, which the bank plans to hike manifold from April 1 impacting over 31 crore savings bank account holders.
State Bank of India, according to a source, has also been asked to reconsider charges it proposes to levy on cash transactions and ATM withdrawals over specified limits.
The country's largest lender has announced imposing penalty ranging from Rs 20-100 on non-maintenance of Minimum Average Balance (MAB) in savings bank accounts from April 1.
The penalty is as high as Rs 500 in case of current accounts.
The penalty for breach of MAB is being reintroduced after a gap of five years.
The bank has also increased the minimum balance requirement by many times, which is as high as Rs 5,000 for account maintained with branches in six metro cities.
SBI has also imposed restrictions on withdrawals of cash from its branches as well as ATMs. These will attract charges after certain specified limits.
"Government has asked SBI to reconsider it's decision to impose a penalty on non- maintenance of minimum balance in accounts from April 1 onwards," the source said.
The government has also urged SBI and other lenders, including private sector banks to "reconsider the charges on cash transactions and ATM withdrawals above a certain limit".
Some private banks, like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank, have started charging a minimum amount of Rs 150 per transaction for cash deposits and withdrawals beyond four free transactions in a month.
Reliance Industries extends rally; mcap swells by Rs 23,291 crore in 2 days
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Rising for the second straight session, Reliance Industries shares zoomed nearly 4 per cent today to end at a nearly nine-year high.
The company has added Rs 23,291 crore to its market valuation in two days. Shares of the company went up by 3.69 per cent on BSE to end at Rs 1,304.90, the highest closing in nearly nine years.
During the day, it had jumped 4 per cent to Rs 1,309.90-its 52-week high.
On NSE, it rose by 3.71 per cent to close at Rs 1,305.35. On Friday, the stock had gained 2 per cent. In two trading sessions, the company's market valuation went up by Rs 23,291.09 crore to Rs 4,23,307.09 crore.
Last week, the company had announced that 15 promoter group entities of Reliance Industries Ltd will transfer their 119 crore shares to eight other promoter group entities.
The proposed inter-se transfers will not result in any change in promoter group shareholding of 45.24 per cent in RIL.
Rising for the second straight session, Reliance Industries shares zoomed nearly 4 per cent today to end at a nearly nine-year high.
The company has added Rs 23,291 crore to its market valuation in two days. Shares of the company went up by 3.69 per cent on BSE to end at Rs 1,304.90, the highest closing in nearly nine years.
During the day, it had jumped 4 per cent to Rs 1,309.90-its 52-week high.
On NSE, it rose by 3.71 per cent to close at Rs 1,305.35. On Friday, the stock had gained 2 per cent. In two trading sessions, the company's market valuation went up by Rs 23,291.09 crore to Rs 4,23,307.09 crore.
Last week, the company had announced that 15 promoter group entities of Reliance Industries Ltd will transfer their 119 crore shares to eight other promoter group entities.
The proposed inter-se transfers will not result in any change in promoter group shareholding of 45.24 per cent in RIL.
SC issues notice to Centre on plea against RBI's refusal to accept banned notes
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The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the Narendra Modi-led central government, asking it to explain why it junked the November 8 notification which stated that an opportunity will be given to those who are unable to deposit demonetised notes by December 30.
"For those who are unable to exchange their Specified Bank Notes on or before December 30, 2016, an opportunity will be given to them to do so at specified offices of the RBI, along with necessary documentation as may be specified by the Reserve Bank of India," the November 8 notification had said.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India J S Kehar gave the directive on a petition filed by a woman who argued that she could not exchange a substantial amount of the defunct currency notes in November and December as she was pregnant at that time and that she intended to do so after giving birth to her child, the Economic Times reported.
At least four cases have been filed before the apex court alleging that RBI's refusal to accept old notes is a violation of statutory notification issued on 8 November 2016.
"The Prime Minister's speech and the notification that followed clearly said that any person who is unable to deposit the old notes before 31 December 2016 can do so at specific branches of RBI," the lawyer for petitioners argued.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar sought the Centre's response on the pleas before March 10.
The Supreme Court notice comes close on the heels of Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Bill, 2017, receiving the assent of the President on February 27
The legislation, which was passed by Parliament last month, makes holding, transfer and receiving of the old 500 and 1,000 rupee notes a criminal offence. It also ends the liability of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the government on the currency notes demonetised in November last year.
It prohibits holding of "more than 10 notes in total, irrespective of the denomination" after expiry of the 50-day deadline on December 30 for depositing the junked currency in banks or post offices.
However, holding of up to 25 notes is provided for "the purposes of study, research or numismatics".
Violation is "punishable with fine which may extend to Rs 10,000 or five times the amount of the face value of the specified bank notes involved in the contravention, whichever is higher".
The Indian citizen, who was outside the country between November 9 and December 30, now has a grace period up to March 31 to tender the demonetised notes.
This grace period was provided subject to condition that the he or she makes a declaration of being outside India in the 50 days immediately following the November 8 demonetisation decision.
False declaration is punishable with a fine of at least Rs 50,000.
"Whoever knowingly and wilfully makes any declaration or statement... which is false in material particulars or omits to make a material statement or makes a statement which he does not believe to be true, shall be punishable with fine which may extend to Rs 50,000 or five times the amount of the face value of the specified bank notes tendered, whichever is higher," the Act stipulates.
The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the Narendra Modi-led central government, asking it to explain why it junked the November 8 notification which stated that an opportunity will be given to those who are unable to deposit demonetised notes by December 30.
"For those who are unable to exchange their Specified Bank Notes on or before December 30, 2016, an opportunity will be given to them to do so at specified offices of the RBI, along with necessary documentation as may be specified by the Reserve Bank of India," the November 8 notification had said.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India J S Kehar gave the directive on a petition filed by a woman who argued that she could not exchange a substantial amount of the defunct currency notes in November and December as she was pregnant at that time and that she intended to do so after giving birth to her child, the Economic Times reported.
At least four cases have been filed before the apex court alleging that RBI's refusal to accept old notes is a violation of statutory notification issued on 8 November 2016.
"The Prime Minister's speech and the notification that followed clearly said that any person who is unable to deposit the old notes before 31 December 2016 can do so at specific branches of RBI," the lawyer for petitioners argued.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar sought the Centre's response on the pleas before March 10.
The Supreme Court notice comes close on the heels of Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Bill, 2017, receiving the assent of the President on February 27
The legislation, which was passed by Parliament last month, makes holding, transfer and receiving of the old 500 and 1,000 rupee notes a criminal offence. It also ends the liability of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the government on the currency notes demonetised in November last year.
It prohibits holding of "more than 10 notes in total, irrespective of the denomination" after expiry of the 50-day deadline on December 30 for depositing the junked currency in banks or post offices.
However, holding of up to 25 notes is provided for "the purposes of study, research or numismatics".
Violation is "punishable with fine which may extend to Rs 10,000 or five times the amount of the face value of the specified bank notes involved in the contravention, whichever is higher".
The Indian citizen, who was outside the country between November 9 and December 30, now has a grace period up to March 31 to tender the demonetised notes.
This grace period was provided subject to condition that the he or she makes a declaration of being outside India in the 50 days immediately following the November 8 demonetisation decision.
False declaration is punishable with a fine of at least Rs 50,000.
"Whoever knowingly and wilfully makes any declaration or statement... which is false in material particulars or omits to make a material statement or makes a statement which he does not believe to be true, shall be punishable with fine which may extend to Rs 50,000 or five times the amount of the face value of the specified bank notes tendered, whichever is higher," the Act stipulates.
Tech Mahindra to acquire US-based healthcare IT services firm
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IT Firm Tech Mahindra on Monday announced it has signed an agreement to acquire a US-based healthcare Information Technology consulting company CJS Solutions Group LLC, which does business as The HCI Group.
Tech Mahindra will make an upfront payment of $89.5 million for purchase of 84.7 per cent stake in the company. The balance stake of 15.3 per cent will be acquired over a period of three years, it said.
The move is expected to strengthen position in healthcare provider space and give access to marquee customers and healthcare consultants, the statement added.
"Healthcare is one of the few sectors globally that is driving adoption of digital technologies. The acquisition will not only position Tech Mahindra as a significant player in the healthcare provider space, but will also provide an opportunity to go deeper in this space via EMR implementation and surrounding services route," said CP Gurnani, MD & CEO of Tech Mahindra.
Headquartered in Jacksonville, The HCI Group works with global Tier-I healthcare service providers, primarily in the US and UK, focusing on providing end-to-end implementation of Electronic Health Record (EHR) and Electronic Medical Record (EMR) software, training and support services.
The HCI Group has a large pool of 'Epic' and 'Cerner' (healthcare software) certified professionals, and it is a leading implementation firm for these companies globally, it said. For 12-month period ended September 20, 2016, HCI Group had revenues of USD 114 million.
The Enterprise Value is USD 110 million. The transaction is expected to close by April 2017, subject to the regulatory approvals.
IT Firm Tech Mahindra on Monday announced it has signed an agreement to acquire a US-based healthcare Information Technology consulting company CJS Solutions Group LLC, which does business as The HCI Group.
Tech Mahindra will make an upfront payment of $89.5 million for purchase of 84.7 per cent stake in the company. The balance stake of 15.3 per cent will be acquired over a period of three years, it said.
The move is expected to strengthen position in healthcare provider space and give access to marquee customers and healthcare consultants, the statement added.
"Healthcare is one of the few sectors globally that is driving adoption of digital technologies. The acquisition will not only position Tech Mahindra as a significant player in the healthcare provider space, but will also provide an opportunity to go deeper in this space via EMR implementation and surrounding services route," said CP Gurnani, MD & CEO of Tech Mahindra.
Headquartered in Jacksonville, The HCI Group works with global Tier-I healthcare service providers, primarily in the US and UK, focusing on providing end-to-end implementation of Electronic Health Record (EHR) and Electronic Medical Record (EMR) software, training and support services.
The HCI Group has a large pool of 'Epic' and 'Cerner' (healthcare software) certified professionals, and it is a leading implementation firm for these companies globally, it said. For 12-month period ended September 20, 2016, HCI Group had revenues of USD 114 million.
The Enterprise Value is USD 110 million. The transaction is expected to close by April 2017, subject to the regulatory approvals.
China's economy will open up like never before: President Xi Jingping
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President Xi Jinping has vowed to open up China like never before as the world's second-largest economy faces dwindling foreign exchange reserves and rising competition from countries like India for foreign investment.
China has been trying several measures to keep the economy floating and struggling to keep the growth rate steady. It has moderated its economic growth forecast for 2017 to "around 6.5 per cent" from the 6.7-7 per cent it had targeted last year.
This year's target is below expectations and signals China is likely to embrace risk-control over short-term growth.
Last year, however, it achieved a full-year growth of 6.7 per cent. That figure was the weakest since the 1990s.
Xi, who has emerged as China's most powerful leader in recent years and who is nearing the end of his first term in office, told lawmakers on Sunday that China's opening door will not close, vowing that the country will continue to open up on all fronts and continue to liberalise, state-run Xinhua news agency reported today.
His remarks - made during a panel discussion with lawmakers from Shanghai at the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC) - assume significance as China has been loosening its grip on foreign capital inflows and reducing restrictive measures and opening more sectors.
Yesterday, Premier Li Keqiang delivering a government work report detailed "unprecedented" opening-up measures to the outside world under its flagship 'Made in China' initiative.
President Xi Jinping has vowed to open up China like never before as the world's second-largest economy faces dwindling foreign exchange reserves and rising competition from countries like India for foreign investment.
China has been trying several measures to keep the economy floating and struggling to keep the growth rate steady. It has moderated its economic growth forecast for 2017 to "around 6.5 per cent" from the 6.7-7 per cent it had targeted last year.
This year's target is below expectations and signals China is likely to embrace risk-control over short-term growth.
Last year, however, it achieved a full-year growth of 6.7 per cent. That figure was the weakest since the 1990s.
Xi, who has emerged as China's most powerful leader in recent years and who is nearing the end of his first term in office, told lawmakers on Sunday that China's opening door will not close, vowing that the country will continue to open up on all fronts and continue to liberalise, state-run Xinhua news agency reported today.
His remarks - made during a panel discussion with lawmakers from Shanghai at the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC) - assume significance as China has been loosening its grip on foreign capital inflows and reducing restrictive measures and opening more sectors.
Yesterday, Premier Li Keqiang delivering a government work report detailed "unprecedented" opening-up measures to the outside world under its flagship 'Made in China' initiative.
General Awareness
Latest Current Affairs - February 2017
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Appointments
2017 Open 13 men's tennis tournament (held in France) -
- Men's Singles - Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France )
- Women's Singles - Julien Benneteau (France ) and Nicolas Mahut (France)
- Adani Group appointed Jennifer Purdie as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for its renewable energy business unit in Australia.
- Ajay Tyagi appointed as new chairman of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), replacing U K Sinha. He will initially serve for 3 years.
- Amina J Mohammed (Nigeria) appointed as Deputy Secretary General of United Nations (UN).
- Anand Kumar Gupta appointed as Director (Commercial) of National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC).
- Arun Kumar is appointed as Secretary in Ministry of Mines.
- Arun M Kumar has been appointed as Head of consulting and accounting major KPMG's India operations.
- Asian Hockey Federation (Malaysia) appointed India's Abhijit Sarkar as Vice President and Chief of AHF commercial and TV Committee.
- BJP leader from Chhattisgarh, Nanda Kumar Sai been appointed as Chairman of National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST).
- Cressida Dick became first female to be appointed head of London’s Metropolitan Police Service (known as Scotland Yard.
- D. R. Doley Barman is appointed as Director of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel National Police Academy Hyderabad.
- Edappadi K Palaniswamy appointed as 13th chief minister of Tamil Nadu.
- England and wales cricket Board named Joe Root as England’s Test Cricket Captain, after Alastair Cook stepped down from post.
- Former Nagaland CM T R Zeliang has been appointed as Finance Advisor to state government.
- Former chief executive of Exxon Mobil, Rex Tillerson appointed as Secretary of State of USA.
- France’s Jean-Pierre Lacroix appointed as Under-Secretary-General for United Nations peacekeeping operations.
- Frank Walter Steinmeier elected 12th President of Germany. He will replace Joachim Gauck for this role.
- Gopal Baglay appointed as External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson. While Ruchi Ghanashyam is appointed as Secretary (West) in Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
- Government appointed 3 part-time non-official directors on Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) Central Board for four years - Ashok Gulati, Manish Sabharwal and Rajiv Kumar. Besides, Prasanna Kumar Mohanty (Southern), Sunil Mitra (Eastern) and Vallabh Roopchand Bhanshali (West) are appointed on Local RBI Boards.
- Government appointed 8 Executive Directors in various Public Sector Banks, on Recommendations of Bank Board Bureau -
- Neelam Damodaran and Atanu Kumar Das - Bank of India.
- K Swaminathan - Indian Overseas Bank.
- Ashok Kumar Pradhan - United Bank of India.
- P Ramana Murthy - Central Bank of India.
- Fareed Ahmed Khan - Punjab and Sind Bank.
- M K Bhattacharya - Indian Bank
- S Harishankar - Allahabad Bank.
- Government appointed Abhay Manohar Sapre as chairman of Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal.
- Government appointed Suman Saxena, Mukulita Vijaywargiya and Navrang Saini as whole-time members in Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI).
- Hemant Bhargava appointed Managing Director of LIC (Life Insurance Corporation of India).
- Herbert Raymond McMaster appointed as new National Security Advisor of USA. He took this post after Michael Flynn resigned.
- Indian Actress Shilpa Shetty has been appointed as Brand Ambassador of cleanliness initiative Swachh Bharat Mission by Government.
- J S Deepak appointed as India’s Ambassador to World Trade Organisation (WTO).
- Jeff Sessions appointed as Attorney General of USA.
- Karnal Singh appointed as Director of Enforcement Directorate.
- Khursheed A Ganai appointed as Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) of Jammu & Kashmir.
- Ministry of Urban Development appointed Actress Anushka Sharma as ambassador of Swachh Bharat Campaign.
- Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed elected as new President Of Somalia (Africa).
- Nand Kuamr Sai appointed as chairman of National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST).
- Narinder Chauhan appointed as Ambassador of India to Philippines.
- Neelu Rohmetra appointed as director of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh. With this, she became first woman to head an IIM.
- New Secretaries Appointed -
- Ministry of Tourism - N. K. Sinha
- Ministry of Tribal Affairs - G. Latha Krishna Rao
- Nik Khanna is appointed as Managing Director (MD) of BAE Systems’ India operations.
- BAE Systems has been recently awarded contract from US Department of Defense to provide 145 M777 ultra-lightweight howitzers to Indian Army.
- Nilesh Shivji Vikamsey appointed as new President of Institute of Chartered Accountant of India (ICAI) for 2017-18.
- Norman Isaac became first Indian to be promoted by International Basketball Federation (FIBA) as Technical Delegate.
- Noted actor Kabir Bedi appointed as honorary brand ambassador of Sight savers, global Organisation working to prevent avoidable blindness.
- PVK Reddy appointed as Director General (Investigation) in National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
- Pakistan appointed Tehmina Janjua as Foreign Secretary to United Nations (UN). She is first Woman to hold this post.
- Portugal’s Luis Norton de Matos appointed as head coach of India’s Under-17 team for FIFA Under-17 World Cup to be held in India in October 2017.
- President Pranab Mukherjee appointed 5 new judges to Supreme Court as per Article 124 of constitution. New judges are - Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Shantanagoudar Mohan Mallikarjunagouda, Navin Sinha, Deepak Gupta and S. Abdul Nazeer. Current Strength of SC Judges has now become 28 (max allowed is 31 Judges).
- Raghvendra Singh appointed as Director General in National Archives of India (Ministry of Culture).
- Ravi Shankar appointed as India's ambassador to Rwanda. While Renu Pall is appointed as Indian Ambassador to Montenegro.
- Rupak Kumar Dutta appointed as Director General of Police (DGP) of Karnataka.
- Sandeep Jajodia was appointed as the new President of industry chamber ASSOCHAM (Associated Chambers of Commerce of India).
- Sanjeev Kumar Shrivastava appointed as 25th Director General Border Roads (DGBR).
- Sanjeev Sanyal appointed as principal economic adviser in department of economic affairs in Finance Ministry.
- Shürhozelie Liezietsu elected as new Chief Minister of Nagaland.
- Software Firm Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) appointed V. Ramakrishnan as Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
- Sudeep Lakhtakia appointed as Director General in Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
- Suman Saxena appointed as Member in Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI).
- Sumit Mullick appointed as Chief Secretary of state of Maharashtra.
- Sunil Mehta has been appointed as Non Executive Chairman in Punjab National Bank.
- Suresh Sharma appointed as Engineer-in-Chief of Indian Army. Besides, Jagbir Singh Cheema appointed as Deputy Chief of Indian Army (Information Systems and Training).
- T C A Ranganathan and Sunil Mehta were appointed as Non-Official Directors in Indian Overseas Bank and Punjab National Bank respectively.
- Tata Sons Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran will also hold chairmanship of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
- UN General Assembly re-appointed Indian Achamkulangare Gopinathan to Joint Inspection Unit (JIU), only independent external oversight body in UN.
- United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) appointed Neil Gaiman (UK) as global Goodwill Ambassador.
- Vikas Swarup appointed India’s High Commissioner to Canada.
- Vikram Limaye appointed as new Managing Director and CEO of National Stock Exchange (NSE).
- Vikramjit Sen appointed as chief of Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA).
Awards
- 2 Indian films won awards at 67th annual Berlin International Film Festival.
- Newton - CICAE Art Cinema Award. It is co-written by Mayank Tiwari and directed by Amit V Masurkar.
- Short film Aaba - Special Prize of Generation KPlus International Jury for Best Short Film. It has been directed by Amar Kaushik.
- 59th Annual Grammy Awards (Held at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California) -
- British singer Adele won the most awards in 5 different categories.
- Album of the year - 25 (Adele)
- Record of the year and Song of the year - Hello (Adele)
- Best urban contemporary album - Beyonce – Lemonade
- Best country solo performance - My Church – Maren Morris
- Best new artist - Chance the Rapper
- Pop -
- Vocal album - Adele – 25
- Performance - Soul : Hello (Adele), Group - Stressed Out (Twenty One Pilots)
- R&B -
- Performance - Solange – Cranes In the Sky
- Song - Maxwell – Lake By the Ocean
- Album - Lalah Hathaway – Lalah Hathaway Live
- Rap -
- Album - Chance the Rapper –Coloring Book
- Performance - Chance The Rapper featuring Lil Wayne & 2 Chainz – No Problem.
- Song - Drake – Hotline Bling
- Rock -
- Performance - David Bowie – Blackstar
- Song - Blackstar – David Bowie
- Indian - American tabla player Sandeep Das won Grammy Awards won Best World Music Album with Yo-Yo Ma.
- 70th British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards -
- La La Land won most awards, winning five and was also most nominated in 11 categories.
- Best Film - La La Land
- Best Director - Damien Chazelle (La La Land)
- Best Actor - Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)
- Best Actress - Emma Stone (La La Land)
- Best Supporting Actor - Dev Patel (Lion)
- Best Supporting Actress - Viola Davis (Fences)
- Best Original Music - La La Land
- Best Original Screenplay - Manchester by the Sea
- Best British Short Film: Home
- Best British Film: I, Daniel Blake
- Best Film Not in the English Language: Son of Saul
- Best Documentary: 13th
- Best Animated Film: Kubo and the Two Strings
- BAFTA Fellowship: Mel Brooks
- AIIMS Delhi won first prize of 5 crores for maintaining high standards of sanitation and hygiene under Government's Kayakalp awards. North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences Shillong was second (3 crore) and Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh received third Prize (1 crore).
- Ahmedabad-based Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII) received International Mercury Awards (IMA) for 2016-17 for best overall presentation of its 2015-2016 annual report.
- Chairman of Motherson Sumi systems, Vivek Chaand Sehgal has been named Indian Entrepreneur of year 2016 by consulting firm Ernst & Young.
- Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani honored with lifetime achievement award for spearheading India’s Aadhaar project.
- Corporation Bank won 2017 National MSME Excellence Award in New Delhi.
- Dr P Raghu Ram, President of Association of Breast Surgeons of India has been honored by Dr B C Roy national award for outstanding service in field of socio-medical relief for 2016. It will be conferred on him by Prez Pranab Mukherjee on Doctors day observed annually on 1st July.
- GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (Rajiv Gandhi International Airport) won center of Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA)'s order of Merit for its focus on environmental sustainability and becoming first airport in Asia Pacific to become carbon neutral.
- Indian - Scottish person Shand Panesar and Craig Nicholson awarded 2017 UK's Outstanding Bravery of Year Award in special award ceremony of Total Excellence in Policing Awards.
- Indian Airline SpiceJet won 3 awards at Asia One Awards in Singapore - Asia’s Greatest Brands 2016, Global Asian of the year 2016 and Asia’s Greatest CFO 2016.
- Indian Hockey Player Sandeep Singh honoured with Honorary Doctorate Degree by Desh Bhagat University, Fatehgarh Sahib (Punjab). He is second Indian hockey player to receive this award after Dileep Tirkey.
- Indo - British sculptor Anish Kapoor won 2017 USD 1 Million Genesis Prize by Israel for his contribution for Jewish community across world.
- Jawaharlal Nehru University won Visitor’s Award 2017 for best Central University in India. These awards were instituted in 2015.
- Noted cultural event - Khajuraho Festival will be Organized by Madhya Pradesh Government in February 2017, aiming to promote cultural heritage of India.
- Oscars 2017 (89th Academy Awards) -
- La La Land won 6 Awards (nominated into 14 categories).
- Noted Awards (Total categories are 24) -
- Best Picture - Moonlight
- Best Actres - Emma Stone (La La Land)
- Best Actor - Casey Affleck (Manchester By The Sea)
- Best Director - Damien Chazelle (La La Land). At 32, he became youngest director to win oscar.
- Best Supporting Actress - Viola Davis (Fences).
- Best Supporting Actor - Mahershala Ali (Moonlight). He is first Muslim to win acting Oscar.
- Best Foreign Language Film: The Salesman (Iran).
- Best Animated Feature Film: Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Clark Spencer (Zootopia).
- Best Animated Short Film: Alan Barillaro and Marc Sondheimer (Piper).
- Best Original Screenplay - Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester By The Sea)
- Best Cinematography - Linus Sandgren (La La Land)
- Best Original Score - Justin Hurwitz (La La Land)
- Best Original Song - Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (La La Land).
- Other Awards -
- Best Adapted Screenplay - Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney (Moonlight)
- Best Sound Editing: Sylvain Bellemare (Arrival).
- Best Film Editing: John Gilbert (Hacksaw Ridge).
- Best Visual Effects: Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Dan Lemmon (The Jungle Book).
- Best Production Design: David Wasco and Sandy Reynolds Wasco (La La Land).
- Best Sound Mixing: Kevin O’Connell, Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie and Peter Grace (Hacksaw Ridge).
- Best Documentary-Feature: Ezra Edelman and Caroline Waterlow (O.J.: Made in America).
- Best Documentary-Short Subject: Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara (The White Helmets).
- Best Live Action Short Film: Kristof Deak and Anna Udvardy (Sing).
- Best Make-Up and Hairstyling: Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini and Christopher Nelso (Suicide Squad).
- Best Costume Design: Colleen Atwood (Fantastic Beast and Where To Find Them).
- Rajasthan and Telangana named Winners of Excellence under State category in eGov Awards 2017, Instituted by the Computer Society of India. Award of Recognition went to Odisha and Nagaland.
- Renowned Hindi litterateur Surendra Verma selected for Vyas Samman 2016 for his novel Kaatna Shami Ka Vriksha : Padma Pankhuri Ki Dhar Se.
- Vyas Samman award is given by K.K. Birla Foundation for outstanding literary work in Hindi. The award carries monetary award of 2.5 lakh rupees, a citation and a plaque.
- Singer Lata Mangeshkar honoured with Legendary Award 2017 by BrandLaureate (Malaysia).
- Brand Laureate Awards (including Legendary Award) recognise world-class achievement in branding amongst individuals and companies. In 2012, Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan was honoured with Legendary Award.
Books
- Book Hema Malini: Beyond the Dream Girl, written by Ram Kamal Mukherjee will be released in October 2017.
- Book The man who could never say No, has been authored by S Muthiah.
- Book Veerappan, Chasing the Brigand written by K Vijay Kumar has been released.
- Renowned Author Salman Rushdie's new novel The Golden House will be released in September 2017.
Committees
- 16 member committee constituted by Ministry of AYUSH to prepare a Yoga Protocol for Diabetes Control, to be headed by H.R. Nagendra.
- Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) constituted 11 member Panel on Food Fortification and Nutrition to identify critical nutritional gaps in the Indian diet in general and also in specific target groups. Panel will frame regulations on fortification of foods and prepare strategies to address malnutrition problem.
- Government appointed Working Group on Migration headed by Partha Mukhopadhay recommended necessary legal and policy framework to protect the interests of migrants in country. Panel stated that migrant population makes substantial contribution to economic growth, making it necessary to secure their Constitutional rights.
- Government constituted committee to crack down on benami firms, to be headed by Revenue Secretary and Corporate Affairs Secretary.
- Government formed committee Under Afzal Amanullah, to study ways to improve India’s Haj policy and look into issue of subsidy to pilgrimage. It is being done in light of 2012 Supreme Court order on gradually reducing and abolishing it by 2022.
- Human Resource Development Ministry constituted a committee of Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) to look into issues of girl’s education, to be headed by Telangana's Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Kadiyam Srihari.
- Reserve Bank of India has set up committee to suggest measures to tackle cyber security challenges. It will be headed by Meena Hemchandra (RBI Executive Director).
Days
- Feb 02 - World Wetlands Day. Theme for 2017 is Wetlands for disaster risk reduction.
- Feb 04 - World Cancer Day. Theme between 2016 and 2018 is We can. I can.
- Feb 06 - International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). 2017 Theme is Building a solid and interactive bridge between Africa and the world to accelerate ending FGM by 2030.
- Feb 07 - Safer Internet Day. 2017 theme is Be the Change: Unite for a Better Internet.
- Feb 10 - National Deworming Day.
- Feb 11 - International Day of Women and Girls in Science. 2017 theme is Gender, Science and Sustainable Development: The Impact of Media.
- Feb 12 - National Productivity Day. 2017 Theme of National Productivity Week is From Waste to Profits-through Reduce, Recycle and Reuse.
- Feb 13 - World Radio Day. 2017 Theme is Radio is You.
- Feb 20 - State Hood Day of Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram. Both states were formed on Feb 20, 1986.
- Feb 20 - World Day of Social Justice. 2017 Theme is Preventing conflict and sustaining peace through decent work.
- Feb 21 - International Mother Language Day. 2017 Theme is Towards Sustainable Futures through Multilingual Education.
- Feb 23 - Annual Central Excise Day 2017.
- Feb 28 - National Science Day. It marks discovery of Raman effect by Great Indian physicist Sir Chandrashekhara Venkata Raman on 28 February 1928.
- Government launched Bharat QR code, a quick response (QR) code to enable digital payments without card swiping machines, jointly developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), Visa, MasterCard and American Express.
- It is world’s first interoperable payment acceptance solution launched by Indian Government to move towards less-cash economy.
- Bharat QR code is a common interface for MasterCard/Visa/RuPay platforms and also facilitate acceptance of Aadhaar-enabled payments and Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
- It enables person to make payments to retailers without using the merchant’s ID or number and eliminates need of using card swiping machines making digital payments.
- Using, BharatQR code merchants will be required to only display one QR code instead of multiple ones. Users can make payment by scanning the code.
- BharatQR code is of static and dynamic types. Static - firstly code need to be scanned and then amount is entered to make payment. Dynamic - New QR code will be generated in real time for every transaction and no need to enter the amount.
Defence
- Advanced Air Defence (AAD) interceptor missile Ashwin successfully test-fired by Indian Army.
- DRDO Successfully Test Fired Prithvi Defence Vehicle (PDV) Interceptor Missile.
- Defence Ministry approved Phase II of coastal surveillance project to expand coastal radar surveillance network over 7,500-km coastline India. This Phase involves setting up 38 additional radars aimed to give gap less electronic surveillance of Indian coastline.
- Defence Ministry will set up a Defence Procurement Organisation (DPO) to streamline and Simplify process of defence acquisitions.
- Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) handed over 3 products to Indian Army - Weapon Locating Radar (SWATHI), NBC Recce vehicle and NBC Drugs.
- Government approved deal with Israel to jointly develop 200 medium range (50 KM) surface-to-air missiles (MR-SAM) for Indian Army. Deal is approx 17000 Crores.
- INHS Asvini (Mumbai) received Raksha Mantri’s Trophy for best Service Hospital in Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) for 2016.
- Indian Airforce (IAG) inducted first indigenously built Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AEW&C) dubbed as NETRA.
- Indian Coast Guard Ship ICGS AYUSH commissioned.
- Indian Navy launched Integrated Underwater Harbour Defence and Surveillance System (IUHDSS) in Mumbai, to enhance security of valuable naval assets against asymmetric threats. IUHDSS is developed by Israeli Aerospace Industries ELTA for harbour surveillance activities.
- Indian Navy’s INS Sarvekshak (based at Southern Naval Command in Kochi) became first naval ship to go green by installing a solar power system on board.
- Indian Navy’s second sailboat INSV Tarini inducted.
- Indian and UAE Coast Guards will take part in Joint exercise in Dubai. Indian Coast Guard will be represented by ICGS Samudra Pavak.
- Indian navy successfully test-fired an anti-ship missile for first time from indigenously built Kalvari class submarine. Kalvari is first of India’s 6 Scorpene-class submarines being built under Project 75.
- Indigenously developed Prithvi supersonic Advance Area Defence (AAD) interceptor missile successfully test-fired. It is capable of destroying any incoming enemy ballistic missile at low altitude.
- Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu commissioned Indian Coast Guard Ship Shaunak, 4th in series of 6 offshore patrol vessels (OPV).
- Reliance Aerostructure Limited incorporated joint venture (JV) with French Firm Dassault Aviation to manufacture Rafale fighter jets, named Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited (DARL) with facility to be set up in Nagpur.
- Reliance Defence and Engineering Limited (RDEL) became first Indian company (either public or private) to provide logistical support to the US military within Indian territory after it signed a Master Ship Repair Agreement (MSRA) with US Navy to provide repair and alteration services for ships of Seventh Fleet.
- Russia will start deliveries of military helicopters to India in 2018.
- India and Russia signed an agreement in October 2016 to jointly manufacture 200 KA-226T helicopters for Indian Armed Forces.
- USA's defence technology firm Raytheon signed MoU with Tata Advanced Systems Limited to produce Stinger air defence missile components in India.
- World Trade Organisation's Trade Facilitation Agreement in Goods came into effect with its ratification by two - third members including India.
- TFA in Goods was adopted by the WTO Members in 2014 and aims to simplify procedures and cut trade costs around world. It was outcome of WTO’s 9th Bali (Indonesia) ministerial package of 2013.
- The agreement includes provisions for Lowering import tariffs and agricultural subsidies, Abolish hard import quotas and Reduction in red tape at international borders.
Economy
- 2nd National Conference on “Economics of Competition Law organised by Competition Commission of India (CCI) in New Delhi.
- According to data by Controller General of Accounts, fiscal deficit in first nine months (April-December 2016) of FY 2016-17 touched 93.9% of Budget estimate. In earlier year during same period, fiscal deficit was 87.9% of Budget. Tax revenue so far is 71.4% of the full-year budget estimate with expenditure being 74.3% of full-year estimate.
- According to data by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), India received $46 billion foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2016. It is 18% more than $39.32 billion in 2016. Most of FDI came from Singapore followed by Mauritius, Netherlands and Japan.
- Ahmedabad based India’s first listed ecommerce startup Infibeam accquired payment aggregator company CC Avenue for 2000 Crores.
- Airtel Payments Bank and Mastercard launched India’s first online debit card along with a prepaid card, accessible via Myairtel App. Online debit card will enable customers of Airtel Payments Bank to make digital payments to online merchants.
- Airtel was first to launch payment bank operations in November 2016 by launching pilot programme in Rajasthan.
- As per India's Central Statistics Office Revised Data, Indian economy expanded by 7 % in 3rd quarter of 2016-17, keeping growth projection for current fiscal at 7.1 % (compared to 7.9 % in 2015-16.
- Real GDP (Gross Domestic Product at constant (2011-12) prices) in 2016-17 is likely to be 121.65 lakh crores (compared to 113.58 lakh crore in 2015-16).
- Real GVA (Gross Value Added) will increase from 104.70 lakh crore in 2015-16 to 111.68 lakh crore in 2016-17.
- Bancassuranca Tie-ups -
- Apollo Munich Health Insurance - Dena Bank.
- Chennai based general insurance provider Cholamandalam General Insurance Company - Oriental Bank of Commerce.
- Cigna TTK Health Insurance - Bank of Maharashtra.
- Religare Insurance - Corporation Bank.
- Bharti Airtel acquired telecom operator Telenor India for approx 6,500 crores.
- Canara Bank signed MoU with Ministry of Human Resource Development to operationalise Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA), with authorised capital of INR 2000 crores. HEFA aims to push creation of high quality infrastructure in premier educational institutions (IITs/IIMs/NITs).
- Cash purchases of jewellery (Over 2 lakh) will attract 1% TCS (Tax Collected at Source) from April 1, 2017. After Finance Bill 2017 is passed, jewellery will be treated on par with general goods which attract 1% TCS on cash purchase of above Rs 2 lakh.
- Catholic Syrian Bank initiated name and shame campaign against wilful defaulters in Kerala.
- Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) launched mobile application for Goods and Services Tax (GST) to inform taxpayers of latest updates on GST, under Digital India initiative.
- Citi Bank launched instant chat services for its customers named Citibank Online, First such customer support service in India by a Bank.
- Dena Bank introduced Radio Frequency Identification Card (RFID) enabled banking cards. It enables branch manager to identify a valued client entering a branch with the card. Client's Info will flash on Manager's desktop as soon as he enters the branch.
- Direct-to-home operator Dish TV signed agreement with ICICI bank for digital payments, to enable customers to recharge through unified payment interface (UPI) transactions.
- Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das announced that Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be implemented from 1st July 2017.
- Economic Freedom 2017 released by US based Think Tank The Heritage Foundation -
- India ranked 143rd out of 186 economies with score of 52.6 points, compared to 123rd rank last year.
- Top 5 countries - Hong Kong (1st), Singapore (2nd) and New Zealand (3rd), Switzerland (4th) and Austria (5th).
- Bottom 5 - Eritrea (176), Congo (177), Cuba (178), Venezuela (179) North Korea (180)
- Neighbours - Nepal (125th), Sri Lanka (112th), Pakistan (141st), Bhutan (107th), and Bangladesh (128th).
- BRICS - Brazil (140), Russia (114), China (111th) and South Africa (81).
- Federal Bank partnered with online data and information portal Commodity Online for distribution of loans against warehouse receipts and collateral management services across country.
- Government Raised Rs 1670 Crores from 5% Disinvestment of Its 74.41 % Stake in BEL (Bharat Electronics Limited) through Offer for Sale (OFS).
- Government allocated INR 500 crores to India Post Payments Bank for 2017-18, to help it in setting up 650 branches by September 2017.
- Government approved Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA) to make 6 crore rural households digitally literate by March 2019. Under This, 25 lakh candidates will be trained in 2016-17, 27.5 Crore in 2017-18 and 30 Crore in 2018-19. Outlay for this project is 2,351 crores.
- Government approved extension of tenure of loans under Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) to 20 years from 15 years. Scheme is also renamed as CLSS for EWS/LIG (for economically weaker sections (EWS) / Lower Income Group (LIG)). A new CLSS for middle income group with a provision of Rs 1000 crores in 2017-18 is also Introduced.
- Government approved setting up Electronic Development Fund with total corpus of INR 6,831 crores to support entrepreneurship and innovation in electronics and IT.
- Government asked all banks to provide mobile banking facility to all customers by March 31, 2017. This is part of government’s efforts to boost digital payments.
- Government cleared proposal to conduct single entrance test for Admission to all engineering colleges in country, from 2018 onwards. It will replace multiple tests conducted by central agencies, state governments and private institutions.
- This is similar to National Eligibility-Cum-Entrance Test launched in 2016, for admission to all medical and dental colleges.
- Students seeking admission to Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) will have to clear JEE-Advanced after taking unified engineering entrance exam.
- Government increased Cash Credit (CC) limit for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to 30% of turnover (from 20%), to encourage them to conduct businesses digitally.
- Government notified Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Act 2017 to prohibit holding scrapped old Rs.500 and Rs. 1000 currency notes, that were demonetized earlier. This Act ends liability of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and government on demonetised Rs.500 and Rs. 1000 currency notes.
- Government shifted responsibility of promoting digital transactions in country to Ministry of IT and Electronics (MEITY) from NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog.
- Government sold 2 % stake in ITC to Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) to raise Rs 6690 crores, under Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (SUUTI).
- Government will investment INR 2200 crores in start-ups working on new technologies in electronic sector under Electronics Development Fund (EDF) by 2019.
- Government will launch Misison Indradhanush 2.0 as plan for recapitalisation of public sector Banks. It will be finalised by RBI after completion of Asset Quality Review (AQR) to be completed by March 2017.
- It aims to clean up balance sheets of PSBs to ensure they remain solvent and comply with global capital adequacy norms Basel-III.
- Under ‘Indradhanush’ roadmap announced in 2015, Government announced infusion of 70,000 crore in Govt banks over 4 years. Banks also were allowed to raise a further Rs. 1.1 lakh crore from the markets to meet their capital requirement in line with global risk norms, Basel-III.
- In line with plan, PSBs were given Rs. 25,000 crore in 2015-16 and 2016-17. Now, 10,000 crores will be infused in 2017-18 and 2018-19.
- HDFC life launched life insurance plan Pragati for low income group families.
- IDFC Bank collaborated with fintech startup IndiaLends to enable first-time borrowers who do not have a credit history to take loans.
- India Post Payments Bank rolled out services in Raipur and Ranchi in Chhattisgarh. IPPB is 2nd payments bank to start operations after Airtel Payments Bank.
- It will offer an interest rate of 4.5% on deposits up to Rs. 25,000; 5% on deposits of Rs. 25,000 to 50,000 and 5.5% on Rs. 50,000 to 1,00,000.
- India Signed Loan agreement with World bank for USD 201.50 million for Third Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP III), aimed at enhancing quality and equity in participating Engineering Education Institutes.
- India and Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed $375 million pact for loans to develop 800 km Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor. It is first phase of a planned 2,500-km East Coast Economic Corridor.
- India signed US$ 63 million Loan agreement with World Bank for Tejaswini - Socio-Economic Empowerment of Adolescent Girls and Young Women Project.
- Indian Software Firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) rated among top 3 most-valuable brands in Information Technology (IT) sector by global brand valuation firm - Brand Finance (IBM and Accenture are top 2). Overall global position of TCS stayed 25th in 2016.
- Indian construction Firm Larsen and Toubro (L&T) and European missile major MBDA will set up joint venture to develop and manufacture missiles in India.
- Indian e-Commerce Firm Flipkart signed partnership with Microsoft, to adopt Microsoft Azure as Flipkart's public cloud computing platform.
- International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group) has signed agreement with India's Finance Industry Develoment Council (FIDC) to conduct training programmes for Non Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs).
- Lakshmi Vilas Bank partnerec with Bangalore based fin-tech startup firm Fisdom to launch mobile application FINFIT, to offer customers with financial planning and personal wealth management services based on Robo advisory.
- Lok Sabha passed Payment of Wages (Amendment) Bill 2017 to enable employers to pay wages to workers through cheque or directly crediting to their accounts.
- Bill will replace Ordinance promulgated by President in December 2016 to amend Payment of Wages Act 1936.
- Earlier in parent Act, employer could only pay salaries by cheque or by crediting into bank account after obtaining employee's written authorisation. Now, employer can pay employee by cheque or by crediting into his bank account without written authorisation.
- Government issued an ordinance in Dec 2016 to amend Payment of Wages Act 1936 because after demonetisation of 500 and 1000 banknotes, empoyers were facing difficulties paying workers in cash.
- Ministry of Finance amended Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Deposit Scheme (PMGKDS) 2016, to allow declarants to make deposits in more than one Installements. Earlier, declarants were allowed to deposit in scheme in only one installment.
- Ministry of Women & Child Development clarified that Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (B3P) Scheme has no provision for individual cash transfer component and warned unauthorised websites/organisations, NGOs, individuals distributing forms in name of cash incentives under B3P Scheme.
- National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) signed MoU with IoT Acceleration Consortium (ITAC) Japan., To address digital technology shifts and accelerate IoT (Internet of Things) adoption at a global level across industry.
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) stated India’s GDP growth at 7% for current fiscal, 7.3% for next and 7.7% for 2018-19. As per IMF (International Monetary Fund), India's growth is projected to slow to 6.6% in 2016-17.
ii. The post November 8, 2016 cash shortages and payment disruptions caused by the currency exchange initiative have undermined consumption and business activity, posing a new challenge to sustaining the growth momentum. India's economy grew at 7.6% in 2015-16.
- Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) Celebrated 75th Foundation Day. As part of it -
- Mobile wallet ‘Oriental Batuaa’ was launched.
- 2 MSME schemes - Oriental Sanjeevani for doctors for setting up new hospitals and clinics and‘Oriental Budget Hotels and Restaurants for individuals, proprietors, companies etc.
- Paytm launched Paytm Mall as a mobile app and online shopping portal, aiming to offer combination of Mall and Bazaar concepts to Indian consumers on online platform.
- Reserve Bank Of India will reimburse MDR (Merchant Discount Rate) charges to banks for payments made since January 1, 2017 through debit cards by citizens. It is in line with government's move to push digital solutions further.
- Reserve Bank of India (RBI) permitted NRIs access exchange traded currency derivatives (ETCD) market, enabling NRIs to hedge currency risk due to making investment in India. Upto now, NRIs were allowed to hedge their currency risk through Over-The-Counter (OTC) transaction with Authorized Dealer (AD) banks. Access to ETCD market will provide them additional hedging options.
- Reserve Bank of India (RBI) permitted multilateral and regional financial institutions (FIs) to invest in ‘masala bonds’, rupee denominated bonds issued by Indian entities. This will allow multilateral agencies like Asian Development Bank (ADB) and BRICS led New Development Bank (NDB) to invest in these bonds. It also provides more choices for investors to Indian entities issuing rupee-denominated bonds abroad.
- Reserve Bank of India emhanced limit on weekly withdrawal of cash from savings bank accounts to INR50000. Now, There is no limit on current account and there is a cap of 50,000 for farmers a week and 2.5 lack for marriage.
- Reserve Bank of India increased gold loan limit for RRBs (Regional Rural Banks) to Rs 2 lakh from 1 lakh, to help farmers / artisans to have access to credit who are willing to pledge gold as collateral.
- Reserve Bank of India will set up separate Enforcement Department to efficiently monitor banks in case they violate KYC and Money Laundering regulations. Department will be operational from April 1, 2017.
- RBI will also set up a Committee on cyber security to examine various threats and suggest measures to deal with it.
- Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) signed MoU with Vijaya Bank for providing concessional finance to micro and small enterprises (MSEs).
- South Indian Bank (SIB) has been awarded ISO 27001: 2013 certification for its Information Security Management System (ISMS). This certification involves extensive audit by British Standards Institution (BSI) on various domains of IT functions.
- State Bank of India (SBI) rebranded its website as bank.sbi from earlier sbi.co.in.
- New domain name bank.sbi is the highest domain protocol known as generic top level domain (gTLD).
- SBI became first banking organisation in India to use a gTLD for its online presence.
- Tamilnadu High Court ordered state government to enact law to eradicate Seemai Karuvelam (prosopis juliflora) trees within 2 months. Seemai Karuvelam is invasive species of tree harmful to environment as it sucks lot of water, affecting environment and agricultural activities.
- Tata Communications partnered with Hewlett Packard to support roll-out of Its Internet of Things platform, LoRa network.
- Tata Power Renewable Energy Ltd installed 15 MW solar plant at Bellampally in Telangana, taking Tata Power's installed capacity to 10500 MW.
- Telangana Government signed MoU with NABARD for loan of 874 crores, to be used for Horticulture Development Corporation to cover 3.15 lakh acres under Micro Irrigation scheme for 2016-17 and 2017-18.
- To push digitalisation and cashless economy, Bank of Baroda (BOB) tied up with IFFCO to provide co-branded debit cards with inbuilt overdraft facilities to farmers.
- Ujjivan Small Finance Bank started its operations with 5 pilot branches in Bengaluru.
- United Bank of India (UBI) launched railway ticket booking facility by having a direct tie-up with IRCTC.
International
- New MOUs Signed -
- With Greece for Co-operation in Air Services.
- With Australia for co-operation in civil aviation security.
- With Poland for Co-operation in Agriculture and Allied Sciences.
- With Japan for enhancing railway safety in Indian Railways with focus on railway track and rolling stock safety.
- Amending tax treaty with Israel for easy exchange of information on tax matters to check flow of black money.
- 2016 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report by Lauder Institute of the University of Pennsylvania (TTCSP) -
- India's Centre for Civil Society (CCS) ranked among top 100 think tanks globally (Rank - 80). Besides, nine other Indian institutes also have figured among the top 175.
- UK’s Chatham House is top think tank In Non US Category and USA’s Brookings Institution retained as top think tank worldwide in US Category.
- According US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC), Antarctic sea ice extent has shrunk to the lowest recorded-level in last four decades, covering covers just 2.26 million square kilometres.
- According to report by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), India remained world’s largest importer of Arms during 2012 to 2016, accounting for 13% of global total sales.
- Airport Authority of India (AAI) and International Air Transport Association (IATA) launched SKYREV360 e-billing solution for airport operators across world. SKYREV360 will help airport operators and air navigation services providers to overcome revenue leakages and disputes.
- American startup Planet Labs, that launches small satellites into orbit and sells the imagery, has acquired Google's 'Terra Bella' satellite business.
- Annual Multinational Army Exercise Cobra Gold held in Chonburi Province of Thailand, jointly hosted by USA and Thailand. This year over 8300 army personnel from 29 countries participated in it.
- Australia and Indonesia have restored full military ties, training exchanges and activities after they were suspended in January 2017.
- Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev appointed his wife Mehriban Aliyev as First Vice President of country. This position was created after referendum in September 2016.
- C-SPAN’s latest survey of Presidential Leadership in USA has ranked Abraham Lincoln as USA's most esteemed leader. Current President Barack Obama is ranked 12th in list.
- Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved investment for generation component of Arun-3 Hydro Electric Project in Nepal, to be implemented by Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN). It will generate 900 Megawatt of hydro power at an estimated cost of 5723 crore rupees.
- Canada announced to give asylum to 1200 Yazidis, most vulnerable refugees in world currently.
- China announced to cut 5 lakh jobs from steel, coal and other heavy industries, amid economy slowdown.
- China calaimed it became world’s largest solar energy producer by augmenting its photovoltaic capacity to 77.42 GW in 2016, surpassing Germany's 40.78GW solar energy capacity. India’s PV capacity reached 9 GW in 2016.
- China successfully tested a new version of Dongfeng-5C ICBM missile that can carry up to 10 nuclear warheads.
- China tested new version of a DF-5C missile that can carry up to 10 nuclear warheads, within range of 12,000 - 15,000 kilometers.
- Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) signed Technology Partnership MoU with 2 Singapore agencies - International Enterprise (IE) Singapore and Singapore Business Federation (SBF) to promote expertise in expanding businesses.
- Curators from National Archives in Trencin (Slovakia) found world’s oldest emoji, in a 382-year-old account book. Discovery contains a small circle with 2 dots and a line in a legal document dating back to 1635.
- Desert gulf Nation Qatar recorded its lowest temperature ever of Minus 1.5 degree Celsius, beating previous record of lowest reading of 3.8 degrees taken in January 1964.
- Electrical equipment maker Havells India acquired Lloyd Electric & Engineering for approx 1500 crores.
- European Parliament approved a landmark Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) deal with Canada. It will eliminate almost all trade tariffs between EU and Canada.
- European Union member nations approved visa-free travel for Georgia. Now Georgian citizens will be able to travel visa-free for 90 days in EU during any 180-day period.
- Folk singer from Punjab Satinder Sartaaj selected for awareness project against human trafficking'Blue Heart Campaign by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
- Fortune Magazine's World's Most admired Companies List 2017 -
- Top 5 Companies - Apple (1), Amazon.com (2), Starbucks (3), Berkshire Hathaway (4), Disney (6)
- Germany opened an Honorary Consulate Office at Madhapur in Hyderabad (Telangana).
- Global Gene Corp and Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) launched first beacon for Indian genomics data in United Kingdom. It will enable scientists in developing more effective drug delivery systems.
- A Genomic beacon is an web service allowing researchers to determine whether an institution has particular genomic data in its data set.
- Aim is to address gap in shared Indian genomics data, which helps scientists better understand disease and develop more effective drug delivery systems.
- Government Signed Agreement with Croatia for Economic Cooperation, during visit of Commerce and Industry Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman to Croatia.
- Government approved signing Air Services Agreement (ASA) between India and Rwanda (East Africa).
- Hindustan Motors sold Its Ambassador Indian car brand to French carmaker Peugeot for INR 80 crores.
- IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) banned Russia from 2017 World Athletics Championships to be held in London (UK), on doping charges.
- In latest Global 500 rankings of most powerful brands, Google surpassed Apple to achieve top position. Apple is second and Amazon ranked Third.
- India Bangladesh signed MoU for sustainable development of Sylhet city in northeastern Bangladesh with financial aid from India.
- India and Austria signed Protocol amending Convention for Avoidance of Double Taxation and Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income.
- India and Germany ratified a Social Security Agreement to improve investment flows between two countries. It agreement signed in October 2011 and will come into force from May 1, 2017. SSA establishes rights and obligations of nationals of both countries.
- India and Israel celebrated 25 years of establishment of their diplomatic relations.
- India and Norway founded Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to accelerate life-saving research and development for epidemics. CEPI has been founded by governments of India and Norway along with Welcome Trust, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and World Economic Forum.
- India and Sri Lanka signed MoU to construct new multi-ethnic tri-lingual secondary school in Polonnaruwa District of Sri Lanka.
- India and Ukraine agreed to strengthen cooperation through medium of Cinema, during visit of Iurii Artemenko (Chairman of National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine).
- India and United Kingdom (UK) signed MoU to ease restrictions on the number of scheduled flights between the two countries.
- India sanctioned soft loan of $340 million to Nepal for various infrastructure development programmes. It will include Mahalaki bridge and 15 roads will be constructed in various parts of Nepal.
- India will be Guest Country at St. Petersburg International Economic Forum to be held in Russia in June 2017.
- India will host conference on counter-radicalisation with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in October 2017.
- India will present Trade Facilitation in Services (TFS) Agreement to World Trade Organisation (WTO), aimed at boosting services trade at Global Level to ease norms including those relating to movement of foreign skilled workers and professionals across borders for short-term work. This services pact is similar to Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) in Goods adopted by WTO at 2014 Bali Summit.
- India's National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) banned British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) from filming in all Indian tiger reserves for 5 years. Ban was imposed after BBC via a documentary, One World: Killing for Conservation, questioned India’s aggressive policy to protect endangered rhinos at Kaziranga national park in Assam.
- Indian and Italian Railways signed MoU for technical cooperation in rail sector, especially in area of safety in train operations.
- Indian renewable energy producer ReNew Power Ventures sold 10 % stake in to Japanese firm JERA for USD 200 million.
- International Intellectual Property Index (IIPI) 2017 (The Roots of Innovation) by US Chamber of Commerce’s Global Intellectual Property Centre (GIPC) -
- India ranked 43rd among 45 nations, ahead only to Pakistan (44th) and Venezuela (45th). India scored a meagre 8.75 out of a total of 35 points, falling significantly behind the median score of 15.39.
- Top 5 - United States (1st), United Kingdom (2nd), Germany (3rd), Japan (4th), Sweden (5th).
- BRICS - China (27th), South Africa (33rd), Brazil (32nd) and Russia (23rd).
- International Monetary Fund (IMF) opened first-of-its-kind South Asia Training and Technical Assistance Centre (SARTTAC) in New Delhi for economic capacity building in South Asia.
- International rating agency Moody’s report Modest Acceleration in the Global Economy predicted that India will be fastest growing economy among G-20 countries in year 2017 with 7.1% growth.
- Iran Removed ban on USA wrestlers, allowing them to take part in Freestyle World Cup In Iran in Feb 2017. Ban was Put by Iran after USA Prez Donald Trump suspended travel from seven Muslim majority countries, including Iran.
- Iran and Russia signed agreement to jointly produce nuclear fuel. It will also buy 950 tonnes of uranium from Kazakhstan, as part of Iran’s international nuclear deal known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between Iran and P5+1 nations.
- Ireland became first country to completely cease Investing in fossil fuels. Irish Parliament passed legislation to drop coal, oil, and gas (fossil fuel) investments from its $8.56 billion Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, forcing Ireland to sell its investment in fossil fuel industries over five years.
- Israel approved building 3000 new settlements in West Bank territory, despite December 2016 UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution calling on Israel to immediately cease all settlement activities in West Bank and east Jerusalem.
- Japan's SoftBank Group Corp and Taiwan's Foxconn have formed joint venture to expand investments. Foxconn accquired 54.5% stake in SoftBank Group Capital Apac Pte Ltd, a wholly owned SoftBank unit, for $600 million.
- Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp acquired Fortress Investment Group LLC for $3.3 billion, aiming to add investment expertise to launch world’s largest private equity fund.
- Kuwait suspended issuing visas for travellers belonging to 5 major Muslim countries including Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria and Afghanistan in order to prevent entry of Islamic terrorists.
- Legislation introduced in US House of Representatives to mandate minimum salary of H-1B visa holders to be doubled to $130,000 (from $60,000 currently). Bill is titled High-Skilled Integrity and Fairness Act of 2017 and has been introduced amid reports that US Prez Donald Trump might order to clamp down H-1B and L1 Visas.
- Malaysia-based low-cost airline AirAsia signed MoU with Odisha government to start 2 way direct international flights from Bhubaneswar to Kuala Lumpur.
- Meeting of SAARC Programming Committee held in Kathmandu (Nepal). This was first senior level meeting of SAARC since postponement of 19th SAARC Summit in November 2016 after Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh and India avoided it, following tension between India and Pakistan.
- Ministry of Railways signed MoU with an Italian Firm Ferrovie Dello Stato Italiane Group (FS Group) for technical cooperation in rail sector.
- Mumbai based Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) and Singapore Diamond Investment Exchange signed MoU to explore areas of cooperation.
- New MOU Approved -
- With Senegal in field of Health and Medicine.
- With France in field of Science and Technology and innovation.
- With Vietnam in exploration and uses of outer space for peaceful purposes.
- Nokia acquired Finland Based Comptel Corporation for 347 Million Euros to advance its software strategy.
- Pakistan Navy started its biannual multinational AMAN 2017 naval exercise in Karachi. 37 countries are participating in This event.
- Pakistan and Turkey signed 10 agreements to enhance bilateral cooperation in various fields.
- Pakistan army launched nationwide military operation Radd - ul - Fasaad to eliminate terrorism across Country.
- Pakistan’s Senate passed landmark The Hindu Marriage Bill 2017 to regulate marriages of minority Hindus in country.
- Right to Information (RTI) Act came into force in Sri Lanka, to ensure transparency in governance and easy availability of information.
- Samsung will launch its mobile payment wallet Samsung Pay in India, in partnership with American Express to bring its mobile payment solution to India.
- Scientists confirmed existence of a lost continent under Indian Ocean's island of Mauritius, left over by break-up of super-continent Gondwana that started 200 million years ago.
- The discovery was based on study of Zircon, a mineral found in rocks spewed up by lava during volcanic eruptions which is too old to belong to Mauritius.
- South Africa’s decision to withdraw from International Criminal Court (ICC) has been ruled invalid and unconstitutional by South African High Court. South Africa notified its intention to leave ICC In October 2016, accusing it for undermining its sovereignty.
- South Korean and USA held joint military exercise Foal Eagle.
- Survey of India will remeasure height of Mount Everest. It is being undertaken to determine whether peak's Height has been shrinking after devastating Nepal earthquake.
- Tech Firm Apple acquired Israeli startup RealFace, a cybersecurity and machine learning firm specializing in facial recognition technology. Amount of deal was not disclosed.
- Top 10 beaches of the World by TripAdvisor (American travel company) -
- India's Radhanagar beach in Andaman and Nicobar Islands’ featured at 8th Position.
- Baia do Sancho Fernando de Noronha in Brazil topped list, followed by Grace Bay Providenciales in Turks and Caicos.
- UAE unveiled 100 Year plans to build first city on Mars by 2117. For this, UAE will collaborate with specialised international organisations and scientific institutes. UAE will also launch its first-ever mission to Mars in 2020, an unmanned orbiter called ‘Hope’ from Japan’s space centre. It will be first-ever Mars Mission from an Arab country.
- UN's Food and Agricultural Organization called for International collaboration on wheat rust to curb threat to global supplies. As per report, wheat in Africa, Asia and Europe is increasingly threatened by fresh groups of wheat rust.
- US and Japanese militaries successfully tested Standard Missile 3 Block IIA missile defence system by intercepting a medium-range ballistic missile target in space for the first time.
- USA imposed new sanctions on Iran, following its recent ballistic missile test.
- USA made changes in its export control laws that will benefit India by facilitating smoother transfer of technologies and arms, inline with recognisation of India as a ‘Major Defence Partner’.
- USA's Spatial Technology Firm SpaceX became first private company to launch rocket from NASA’s launch facility after It launched Dragon cargo ship aboard Falcon 9 Rocket to International Space Station (ISS) from NASA’s Launch Complex at Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
- United Arab Emirates (UAE) payments solutions provider OMA Emirates entered Indian Market, by acquiring mobile point of sale (mPOS) firm MobiSwipe.
- United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) appealed for $3.3 billion to help 4.8 crore children in crises worldwide amid fears of a funding cut from top donor USA.
- United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) launched $110 million appeal to help 20 lakh undernourished children across Sudan.
- Venezuela and Libya are suspended from voting in United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 2016-17 session for not paying their dues. Venezuela needed to pay $24 million and Libya's dues were $6.5 million.
- World’s largest annual food event, Gulfood 2017 held at Dubai World Trade Centre (UAE). Among 90000 Exhibitors, 64 Indians are participating in range of Agriculture and Processed Food products.
- World’s longest commercial flight (By Time) landed in New Zealand's Auckland (From Doha (Qatar)). It was made by Qatar Airways’ Boeing 777-200LR flight QR920 with length 14,535 km.
- Note that In terms of length, Air India’s Delhi-San Francisco covers larger distance than Doha - Auckland Flight.
- World’s longest elevated cycle path opened in Xiamen (China), which can handle over 2000 cyclists with speed limit of 15 miles per hour.
Meetings
- 4th India CLMV (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam) Business Conclave held in Jaipur (Rajasthan).
- 17th International Seminar on Counter Terrorism organised by National Security Guard, in Manesar (Haryana).
- 2017 Indian Seed Congress held in Kolkata (West Bengal) with theme Seed of Joy.
- 23rd International Conference and Exhibition on Terrestrial & Satellite Broadcasting held in New Delhi with theme Hybrid Technologies in Broadcasting – New Opportunities.
- 2nd International Spice Conference held at Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) with theme 21st Century Spice Industry-Disrupt or be Disrupted.
- 3rd National Dam Safety Conference organized by Central Water Commission in association with Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam and IIT Roorkee at Roorkee (Uttarakhand).
- 4th BIMSTEC Summit 2017 will be held in Nepal.
- BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative on Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) is sub-regional group of 7 countries lying along areas of Bay of Bengal - India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka from South Asia and Myanmar, Thailand from South East Asia.
- 9th BRICS Summit’s first Sherpas Meeting held in Nanjing (China) with theme BRICS: Stronger Partnership for a Brighter Future.
- China will host 2017 BRICS Summit in September 2017 with theme Stronger Partnership for a Brighter Future, in Xiamen City.
- First National Women’s Parliament held at Pavithra Sangamam in Amravati, Andhra Pradesh.
- GST Council approved a law to compensate states for any loss of revenue from implementation of the new nationwide indirect taxation regime of Goods and Services Tax. Meeting was held in Udaipur (Rajasthan) first time outside Delhi.
- National Biodiversity Congress (NBC) 2017 held in Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) with theme Mainstreaming Biodiversity for Sustainable Development.
- World CSR congress held in Mumbai. On this 0ccasion, Tata Steel's Katamati iron mine has been honoured with the Best Green Organisation of Year Award, in recognition of its environmental protection measures.
- World Integrated Medicine Forum on Regulation of Homeopathic Medicinal Products held in New Delhi.
National
- Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad launched Cyber Swachhta Kendra –Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre for analysis of malware and botnets that affect networks and systems. Tools released as part of system are -
- USB Pratirodh -A desktop security solution, which protects from USB mass storage device threats.
- AppSamvid - A desktop solution which protects systems by allowing installation of genuine applications through white listing.
- M-Kavach - An indigenously developed solution to address the security threats in mobiles.
- 10th 3 - day Sula Fest held in Nashik (Maharashtra), featuring professional wine tastings and grape stomping, includes artists Infected Mushroom and Nucleya.
- 11th biennial International Aerospace and Defence exhibition Aero India began at Air Force Station in Bengaluru (Karnataka).
- Bharat Electronics Ltd unveiled new communication radio for Indian armed forces - called STARS-V Mk III.
- Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) signed MoU with Central Public Works Department (CPWD) for development of HAL’s new Greenfield helicopter facility at Tumakuru (Karnataka).
- 19th Bharat Rang Mahotsav / International Drama Festival held in New Delhi.
- 2017 International Conference on NexGen Technologies for Mining and Fuel Industries (NxGnMiFu-2017) organised in New Delhi by CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research Dhanbad as part of CSIR’s platinum jubilee (completing 75 years) celebration.
- 2nd India Pharma & India Medical Device International Conference Held in Bengaluru (Karnataka).
- 31st Surajkund International Crafts Mela held in Haryana with Egypt as partner country and Jharkhand as theme state.
- A 33 Member committee headed by Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu has been constituted for speedy completion of Sagarmala Project in Andhra Pradesh, aimed at improving state’s coastline and inland waterways.
- According to 2016 census by Odisha State Forest and Environment department, 181 Irrawaddy dolphins sighted in Odisha; which is much lesser than 450 dolphins recorded in 2015.
- According to Goa based National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), India’s only live volcano at Barren Island in Andaman and Nicobar has become active again and spewing smoke, ash and lava After lying dormant for 150 years.
- According to Internet and Mobile Association of India (IMAI) and Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB), internet users in India are expected to be around 45 Crores. Urban India has 60% internet penetration while rural Areas only have 17% Internet penetration.
- According to South African market research group New World Wealth, Mumbai has been named as Richest Indian City with total wealth of $820 billion as its is home to 46,000 millionaires and 28 billionaires. Mumbai is followed by Delhi ($ 450 billion).
- Andhra Pradesh Government signed MoU with Microsoft to utilise Microsoft Azure Stack for its state data centre. Microsoft Azure Stack will be used to migrate live applications currently hosted in Hyderabad State Data Centre (SDC) to Vishakhapatnam (Vizag) data centre.
- Andhra Pradesh’s first Smart Police Station inaugurated at Nagarampalem in Guntur city in capital Amaravati.
- Apollo Hospitals Foundation signed agreement with WWF India (World wide fund for nature), to provide medical support to forest department employees and local communities in areas where WWF-India operates.
- Arunachal Pradesh Government introduced Arunachal Civil Service Awards for excellence in public administration, to encourage good governance and recognize extra-ordinary services by government employees. Award consists of a medal, scroll and cash award of 1 lakh for individual and 5 lakh rupees for organisation / group.
- Arunachal Pradesh became first North eastern state to implement e-Cabinet solutions as a powerful governance tool to be used to streamline its decision-making process. Using this system, state cabinet members can access the cabinet notes before the meeting.
- As per Government, implementation of regional air-connectivity scheme (UDAN) will see number of operational airports in country increase up by over 50, with cost of travelling will come down to as low as 2500 for up to an hour of journey.
- Assam Government launched Chief Minister Samagra Gramya Unnayan Yojana (CMSGUY) for development of villages, with an outlay of 30000 Crores. It aims at doubling farmers' income in State by 2022.
- Assam state government will set up a Wild Sanctuary to grow Muga cocoon in an effort to give more exposure to Muga, Eri and Silk Products under Assam Silk Outreach Mission.
- Assam will host its first river festival-‘Namami Brahmaputra’ in March - April 2017.
- Bangalore based E-Paathsala Launches Unique Technology-Backed Services for Educational Institutions in India.
- Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) for the first time has introduced the third gender category in school exams conducted by it.
- Cab Aggregator Uber launched UberHire service in 9 Indian cities, allowing customers to hire a taxi for an entire day and cover several destinations at one go.
- Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved enhancement of capacity from 20,000 MW to 40,000 MW of Scheme for Development of Solar Parks and Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects, to make sure setting up of 50 solar parks each with Min capacity of 500 MW across country.
- Solar Parks and Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects will be set up by 2019-20 with Central Government financial support of 8100 crores. Capacity after operationalisation will generate 64 billion units of electricity, leading to abatement of 55 million tonnes of CO2 / year.
- Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) signed technology transfer agreement with Jindal Stainless (Hisar) Limited for manufacturing high nitrogen steel (HNS). HNS has higher ballistic strength and is non-magnetic, corrosion-resistant.
- Delhi will soon get India’s first dedicated “Heliport” for flying in and out of Delhi to nearby areas in Helicopters. It will be built by Pawan Hans Limited.
- Digital Payments 2020 report by Google and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) said that digital payment industry in India will reach USD 500 billion by 2020.
- By 2020, over 50 % of Internet users in the country will be using Digital modes of payment.
- Digital technology in India will influence 45 % of all retail sales by 2025 and non-cash transactions will exceed cash transactions by 2023.
- First meet of Committee on Cultural Harmony Conclave under Hamari Dharohar Scheme held in New Delhi.
- First portion of Indian Railways Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) between Ateli (Haruana) and Phulera (Rajasthan) will become operational by March 2018.It will be 190-km double track route with a total of 380 km track length.
- Ateli-Phulera section will take over the freight load from the Indian Railways. 500-600 km of additional track length will be operational by 2018-19.
- DFCCIL is a special purpose vehicle of railways and responsible for developing 6 Dedicated Freight Corridors across country.
- French Aviation Firm Airbus signed MoU with Telangana government, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) of India and AEROCAMPUS France to establish centre of Excellence at Hyderabad’s Begumpet Airport. It will provide skill development training to young aspirants to enhance their employability.
- Geologists claimed discovery of new geological continent named Zealandia submerged beneath south-west Pacific Ocean.
- Zealandia has 4.5-million square km area and is 94% underwater. Only its highest points - New Zealand and New Caledonia are visible.
- It had broken off from Antarctica about 100 million years ago, then from Australia about 80 million years ago as part of breakup of super-continent Gondwanaland and sank beneath sea.
- Global payments network Visa signed MoU with Andhra Pradesh Government to transform Vishakhapatnam into India’s first ‘less cash’ city and make it emerge as India’s ‘Fintech Valley’.
- Government allowed Tamil Nadu Government to increase number of workdays under Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) scheme in Tamil Nadu from existing 100 to 150 days.
- Government announced expansion of rotavirus vaccine in 5 additional states under Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) - Assam, Tripura, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.
- In First Phase, 38 lakh children were vaccinated in four states – Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
- Government approved amending Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950 Bill to make changes to list of Scheduled Castes in Odisha. Amending Constitution (Pondicherry) Scheduled Castes Order 1964 was also approved, to change name of Union Territory of Pondicherry to Puducherry.
- Government approved amendments in Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950 to modify list of SC in Odisha. Constitution (Pondicherry) Scheduled Castes Order 1964 was also changed to change name of Union territory from Pondicherry to Puducherry.
- Government approved establishment of Food Legumes Research Platform (FLRP) at Amlaha in Sehore, Madhya Pradesh with Satellite Hubs in West Bengal and Rajasthan. FLRP will have international status as contemplated in Clause 3 of United Nations (Privileges and Immunities) Act, 1947.
- Department of Agricultural Research (DARE) is authorized on behalf of Indian Government in all matters regarding establishment of FLRP.
- FLRP will be established by International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) for meeting the emerging food security challenges.
- Government approved introduction of Bill in Parliament to extend jurisdiction of Collection of Statistics Act 2008 to State of Jammu & Kashmir. It will strengthen data collection mechanism in the state of Jammu & Kashmir. It will extend jurisdiction of the parent Act to J&K in respect of matters not reserved for J & K State as per 1954 Order.
- Collection of Statistics Act 2008 was enacted by Parliament to facilitate collection of statistics on economics, social, demographic, scientific and environmental aspects etc. The Act extended to whole India except J&K.
- J&K state legislature enacted J & K Collection of Statistics Act 2010 which was replica of central legislation. However, central and state legislations are not applicable to statistical subjects falling in Union List, as applicable to J&K under the Constitution (Application to Jammu & Kashmir) Order 1954. This created a legislative vacuum which is intended to be filled by this amenment.
- Government approved introduction of Indian Institutes of Information Technology (Amendment) Bill 2017 in Parliament, aimed at inclusion of Indian Institute of Information Technology Design and Manufacturing (IIITDM) Kurnool in Principal Act and make it an Institute of National Importance.
- Government doubled maternity leave for women Working in industries from 3 to 6 months. However, benefit will be restricted to women who make a monthly contribution to employees state insurance corpus from their salaries.
- Government inaugurated Centre of Integrative Oncology, an institute dedicated to building collaboration in areas of cancer prevention, research and care in New Delhi.
- Government launched Saathiya Resource Kit including Saathiya Salah Mobile App for adolescents, as part of Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) program. Peer Educators (Saathiyas) will act as catalyst for generating demand for adolescent health services and imparting age appropriate knowledge on key adolescent health issues to their peer groups.
- Government made Aadhaar card mandatory for receiving subsidised foodgrains under National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013 from all Public Distribution Scheme (PDS) shops. Those not possessing Aadhaar numbers may get one and submit by 30 June 2017.
- Government refused to implement recommendations of Parliamentary Committee to form new law for Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Committee recommended replacing Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act 1946 that as per committee, has became inadequate considering changing times.
- Government will develop large deposits of uranium found in Meghalaya to tap its potential to generate substantial nuclear fuel for atomic power plants in India.
- Government will form policies on second-generation ethanol and methanol. These non-conventional fuel resources sector will create industry worth Rs. 1 lakh crore with 25 Lakh jobs.
- Government will open 56 Post Office Passport Seva Kendras (POPSK) at different locations in various states for delivering passport related services to people.
- Gujarat Assembly passed Gujarat Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill 2017 to empower state government to use Aadhaar number as the sole identifier for delivery of various subsidies and benefits in effective and targeted manner.
- By linking Aadhhaar number with various schemes, state government will create a credible system to authenticate identity of actual beneficiaries.
- Gujarat Technological University (GTU) sets up centre of excellence in automation technologies at Ahmedabad campus to foster research & knowledge among Engineering students.
- Gujarat became first state to establish cashless system in public distribution system (PDS) of food grains. Gujarat State Government installed Aadhaar Enabled Payment System in 17250 FPS (Fair Price Shops), much before targeted date of 31st March, 2017.
- Haryana Govrnment constituted a committee of ministers to prepare a blueprint for developing Integrated Dairy Complexes across state.
- Haryana government has set up online system called sex ratio monitoring dashboard in Panipat, as part of ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ Scheme. It will have data of child sex ratio collected from all villages every month in district by state Health and Women and Child Welfare Departments.
- Human Resource Development Ministry made Aadhaar mandatory for students to avail benefits Central Sector Scholarship Scheme for College and University.
- ICAI’s Accounting Research Foundation signed pact with Indian Railways, for national rollout of accrual accounting in Railways.
- India Vetiver Network (INVN) launched at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University as a not-for-profit scientific network, to promote vetiver (Khus) in India. Vetiver has worldwide application to tackle many environmental issues like soil erosion, mitigation of soil and water pollution.
- India hosted Implementation and Assessment Group Meeting of Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT). GICNT was launched in 2006 and has now grown to include 86 partner nations and 5 official observer organisations.
- India joined Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, a global health network focused on improving quality of care for new mothers and babies. It is supported by World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and other partners.
- Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur will start India’s first inter-disciplinary School on Quality and Reliability (Q&R), aiming to improve quality of life for Indians as well as develop quality conscious global citizens.
- Indian Panorama Film Festival held in Port Blair (capital of Andaman & Nicobar islands) with screening of About 15 films of different languages.
- Indian Railways unveiled Antyodaya Express as a new train for unreserved passengers. First Antyodaya Express will start between Mumbai (Maharashtra) and Tatanagar (Jharkhand) and second between Ernakulam and Howrah.
- Indian cricketer and Rajya Sabha MP Sachin Tendulkar adopted Donja in Osmanabad (Maharashtra) under Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojna as his second adopted village after Puttamraju Kandriga in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh.
- India’s first floating elementary school named Loktak Elementary Floating School inaugurated at Langolsabi Leikai of Champu Khangpok floating village on Loktak Lake in Manipur.
- India’s first hill station bicycle path inaugurated in Darjeeling (West Bengal) at height of 2000 metres. The 20 km long cycle route runs through thick pine forest and Senchal wildlife sanctuary, one of India’s oldest nature reserves.
- India’s first integrated heliport inaugurated at Rohini in Delhi, developed by Pawan Hans Limited. It will provide various helicopter services ranging from offshore transport, connecting remote & inaccessible Islands of Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep.
- India’s vaccine regulatory body NRAI (National Regulatory Authority of India) has been given maximum ratings by World Health Organisation (WHO) for vaccine regulations.
- India is a main exporter in pharmaceutical industry and efficient functioning of NRAI is a pre-requisite for WHO prequalification of vaccines.
- Assessment was done in respect of 9 different functionalities, of which NRAI has been granted Maturity Level 4 in 5 functionalities and Level 3 in 4 functionalitie.
- It reflects growing maturity of NRAI emanating from a concerted effort by Government to build capacity and capability of NRAI.
- Information and Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu released annual year book India-2017 and Bharat-2017 in New Delhi.
- Inter-state migration of workers in India increased to 9 crore annually between 2011-16 period, compared to 5 Crore In 201 - 2011. It is based on analysis of 2011 census data and railway passenger traffic in unreserved category.
- International Coin Fair held in Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala).
- Jammu and Kashmir Government declared 2017 as Year of Apple, to promote famed Kashmiri apples in domestic and foreign markets.
- Jammu and Kashmir Government has launched the e-Prison project to enumerate jail inmates in the State.
- Jammu and Kashmir Government imposed restrictions on number of guests at weddings and small functions like social and government functions, To curb misuse of resources. Number of guests at bride’s place are to stay under 500 and guests at groom’s place can be maximum 400. Number of guests at smaller functions like engagement etc. are restricted to 100.
- Jharkhand Government announced 2 % reservation for sports persons in government jobs.
- Karnataka Assembly passed Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Karnataka Amendment) Bill 2017 to allow kambala, traditional buffalo race and bullock-cart racing.
- Kerala Cabinet approved construction of an airport in Hindu Pilgrimage Center Sabarimala.
- Kerala Government constituted Unified Command under CM Pinaryai Vijayan to contain spread of left wing extremism (LWE) in State.
- Kerala will be first state to launch a registry of sex offenders and keep it in Public Domain for people to see, with all details of sex offenders.
- Kerala’s Nilambur teak known for its superior timber quality and elegant appearance will be added to list of Kerala produces with Geographical Indication (GI) tag. Britishers were first to identify superior quality of teak from Kerala’s Nilambur plantations and forests.
- Geographical Indication (GI) GI tag is an insignia on products having a unique geographical origin and evolution over centuries with regards to its special quality or reputation attributes.
- Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development signed MoU with online travel Portal MakeMyTrip to promote Its home-stay scheme. Besides, Andhra Pradesh Government tied ip with Another Travel Portal - Yatra.com to promote home - stays.
- Madhya Pradesh state government will set up a tourism board with CM Shivraj singh chauhan as chairman.
- Maharashtra Government approved 250 crore Cloud Seeding Programme during 2017 monsoon season to produce sufficient rain. Under this, weather scientists using aircrafts will spray chemicals (silver iodide) over clouds clouds hovering above Solapur district, a rain shadow region of Western Ghats. This will be the first controlled experiment to quantify the extent to which clouds form water drops large enough to make rain.
- Maharashtra declared it will become completely Open Defecation Free (ODF) by March 2018.
- Meghalaya’s noted root-bridge has been nominated for National Innovation Foundation (NIF) award for grassroots innovations and outstanding traditional knowledge. Living root bridges are community-driven innovation by Khasi and Jaintia people of mountainous terrain along Shillong Plateau.
- Mil Banche (Let read together) programme held in all primary and middle government schools in Madhya Pradesh.
- Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Science, Harsh Vardhan released Atlas for Visually Impaired (India) in English Braille in New Delhi, prepared by National Atlas and Thematic Mapping Organisation (NATMO). It is world’s first braille atlas for visually impaired.
- Minister of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Narendra Singh Tomar launched Swachh Shakti Saptah in Gurugram (Haryana) to highlight role of women in Swachh Bharat Mission and to recognize their leadership.
- Minister of state for labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya launched National Career Service (NCS) for youths and Jeevan Pramaan Facility to EPFO pensioners through post offices in Hyderabad.
- Ministry of Commerce and Industry launched Revenue Insurance Scheme for Plantation Crops (RISPC) for protecting growers from risks such as pest attacks, yield loss and income decline caused by fall in prices.
- Ministry of Defence will set up a Defence Unit in Morena district of Madhya Pradesh, at cost of 1500 crores.
- Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched Measles - Rubella vaccination campaign as largest ever disease campaign (against Measles and Rubella diseases), targeting 3.6 crore children.
- Ministry of Health and Family Welfare unveiled National Family Health Survey-4 (2015-16) Findings -
- Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) declined from 57 to 41 per 1,000 live births between NFHS-3 (2005-06) and NFHS-4.
- Sex ratio at birth (number of females per 1,000 males) improved from 914 to 919. It is highest in Kerala (1,047), followed by Meghalaya (1,009) and Chhattisgarh (977). Haryana also witnessed a significant increase from 762 to 836.
- Institutional births Increased by 40 percentage points from 38.7% in NFHS-3 to 78.9% in NFHS 4.
- Total Fertility Rate (TFR) declined to 2.2 children per woman from 2.7 in NFHS-3.
- Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRB) will set up a National Testing Agency to conduct examinations for higher and secondary education. NTA will be single authority that will conduct entrance tests for all higher institutions like JEE, NEET, NET etc. NTA will free CBSE, AICTE and other agencies from conducting various exams and enable them to focus on improving quality of education.
- Ministry of Mines has launched Transparency, Auction Monitoring and Resource Augmentation (TAMRA) Portal and Mobile Application to ensure transparent award of statutory Clearances for mining operations.
- Ministry of Textiles and Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment have signed MoU to step up interventions for the welfare and economic development of scheduled caste artisans.
- Ministry of Urban Development approved development of 6 km long Bet Dwarka Darshan Circuit in Gujarat under Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY). It will connect famous Dwarkadish Haveli and Hanuman Dandi (only temple housing Hanumanji and his son Makardhwaj) in Dwarka district of Gujarat at cost of 16 crores.
- Momentum Jharkhand, 2 day global investors summit held in Ranchi with total 209 MoUs were signed between different companies. It will bring investment approx 3. 49 lakh crores in Jharkhand, creating over 2 lakh Jobs.
- NITI Aayog, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) launched India Innovation Index, that will rank states on Innovations by capturing innovation data in real time.
- Nagaland Government submited a memorandum to Prime Minister to issue an ordinance to exempt Nagaland from provision of Part IX A of Constitution, related to municipalities and ULBs and their composition.
- It is being done after various tribal organisations opposing elections to Urban Local Bodies (ULB) with 33 % seats reserved for women.
- National Aluminium Company Limited(NALCO) signed MoU with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), with Objective of Scientific, technological and educational activities in mining rehabilitation.
- National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) sanctioned loan of 157 crore to Haryana Government to undertake drinking water project.
- National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Ayog) declared Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers Limited (GNFC) Township at Bharuch as India’s first cashless township, with all of its 10000 residents opting to digital means for financial transactions.
- PM Narendra Modi unveiled 112-feet-tall Lord Shiva (Adiyogi form) statue on occasion of Mahashivratri in Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu).
- PNB Housing Finance Limited (PNBHFL) signed an MOU with CREDAI West Bengal to train 1000 construction workers in Kolkata and nearby villages.
- President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated international conference on ‘Bharat Bodh’ (Idea of Bharat) organized by Indira Gandhi National Open University and Bhartiya Shikshan Mandal in New Delhi.
- Punjab Government banned manufacture / sale of gutkha, pan masala and any other food products containing nicotine or tobacco for 1 year.
- Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu launched first phase of Station Redevelopment Programme as world’s largest transit-oriented development programme. Under this, tenders are being floated for 23 of total 400 A1 and A category stations selected for re-developing.
- Railway Ministry approved a 240-KM broad-gauge railway line project in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, connecting Port Blair (capital) with Diglipur.
- Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje inaugurated Rajasthan Heart Attack Treatment programme (RAHAT) to provide people timely treatment during heart attacks in remote and rural areas. Rajasthan is second state after Tamil Nadu to launch health programme against Heart Diseases.
- Rajasthan became second largest crude oil producer in India with its oil fields producing 90 lakh tonnes (24 %) oil annually.
- Bombay High offshore oil field of Mumbai is largest producer of crude oil in India which accounts for 50% of total domestic crude oil production.
- State Cultural Festival - Visakha, held in Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh).
- Supreme Court approved government‘s plan to record identity of mobile subscribers through e-KYC mechanism linked to Aadhaar, to enhance national security and prevent fake users.
- Supreme Court asked Central Government to prepare plan to eradicate leprosy (a skin disease) from country.
- Supreme Court introduced Middle Income Group Scheme (MIGS) as a self-supporting scheme for providing legal services to middle and relatively lower income groups. Under this, middle class people who cannot afford the expensive litigation in the apex can avail the services of society for a nominal amount.
- MIGS is a self-supporting scheme that will provide legal services to the middle income group citizens whose gross income does not exceed Rs.60, 000 per month or Rs. 7, 50, 000 per annum. A case will be registered under the MIG Legal Aid Scheme and forwarded to Advocate-on-Record/ Senior Counsel/Arguing Counsel on the panel for their opinion.
- If Advocate-on-Record is satisfied that case is fit, then the society will consider that applicant is entitled to legal aid. A society will be created with Chief Justice of India (CJI) as Patron-in-Chief.
- Tata Motors introduced TAMO as a sub-brand, to act as an incubator to develop new range of technology heavy mobility solutions for Indian and global markets.
- Tata Motors also signed MOU with Microsoft to collaborate on technology front for making driving a more personalized experience.
- Telangana government launched India’s first social innovation centre Kakatiya Hub for Social Innovation in Nizamabad, to act like a rural incubator to encourage entrepreneurship at grassroots level.
- Thanal, a Thiruvananthapuram based group in Kerala has launched a helpline for providing technical support in treating organic waste and managing non-biodegradable solid wastes. Helpline is available at 9400147150.
- Thiruvananthapuram (capital of Kerala) topped in city governance ranking of Annual Survey of India’s City Systems (ASICS) 2016 by Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy. Survey evaluated 21 major cities from 18 states. Pune (Maharashtra) is ranked second and Kolkata retained its third rank.
- UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization) organised Nature Fest at World Heritage Site Great Himalayan National Park (GNHP) in Kullu district, Himachal Pradesh.
- Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has shut down 12 websites and 12 mobile apps offering Aadhaar-related services illegally and charging excessive money from public.
- Uttarakhand Government issued shoot-at-sight order in Corbett Tiger Reserve to curb poaching (Illegal Hunting) of tigers.
- West Bengal Government declared Kalimpong as 21st district, separating it from Darjeeling. It spreads over 1,056 square kms and will be Bengal’s least populated district with population under 50,000.
- Women and Child Development Ministry will setting up of a compensation fund to provide financial help to children who are victims of sexual crimes under POCSO Act (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences). Money for this fund will be drawn from Nirbhaya Fund.
Persons
- Admiral Sunil Lanba, Chief of Indian Navy Visited United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman.
- As a First Ever Move of Its Kind, Supreme Court issued contempt notice to Calcutta High Court Judge CS Karnam; Taking away all His Judicial Powers.
- Bollywood Actor Shah Rukh Khan will host Hindi Version of popular International Show TED Talks, to be broadcast by Star India.
- English physicist and Nobel laureate Peter Mansfield Passed Away. He had developed Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Technology.
- Feb 27 is martyrdom day of Great Indian Indian freedom fighter Chandra Shekhar Azad.
- Former Chief Justice of India, Altamas Kabir passed away.
- Former Union minister and Indian Union Muslim League leader E Ahamed passed away.
- Freedom Fighter Racharla Samrajyam passed away.
- Guinness World Record recognised sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik’s 48.8 feet (14.84 metre) tall world peace featuring sand castle at Puri beach in Odisha as tallest sand castle in world.
- In order to focus on deep space missions, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will set up of 2 Space Technology Research Institutes (STRIs) in Centre for Utilization of Biological Engineering in Space (CUBES) and Institute for Ultra-Strong Composites by Computational Design (US-COMP).
- Indian Actor and Model Milind Soman successfully completed a 517.5 km race, an extremely high endurance event called Ultraman held in Florida. The race that was divided into three days included swimming, cycling and running. The 51 year old man completed whole event barefoot and gained title of Ultraman.
- Indian National Army veteran Colonel Nizamuddin passed away. He served as driver and guard of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
- Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari Visited African Nations Uganda amd Rwanda.
- Uganda - MOUs in various fields like space programme, vocational training and peaceful use of atomic energy were signed.
- Rwanda - India will open resident mission in Rwanda. MOUs were signed in fields of innovation, aviation and visa regime.
- Indian-origin neurosurgeon Shawna Pandya shortlisted by NASA for its 2018 space mission under the Citizen Science Astronaut (CSA) programme.
- Japanese comic art legwend (Known for manga Art), Jiro Taniguchi passed away.
- Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan visited Myanmar.
- Neeti Mohan became first Indian female singer to collaborate with United Nations for women empowerment. She will collaborate to UN Voluntary Trust Fund project titled Music To Inspire - Artists United Against Human Trafficking.
- Nobel winning American economist and mathematician Kenneth J. Arrow passed away.
- Noted Bangladeshi Painter and Freedom fighter Shahabuddin Ahmed will be first foreign artist to live in Rashtrapati Bhavan as a guest of Pranab Mukherjee.
- Noted Bengali singer Banasree Sengupta passed away.
- Noted Hindi novelist Ved Prakash Sharma passed away.
- Noted Hindi writer and journalist Pandit Dharmsheel Chaturvedi passed away.
- Noted Indian columnist, humorist and playwright Taarak Mehta passed away.
- Noted Marathi journalist Yudhisthir Joshi passed away.
- Noted Odia theatre personality Asim Basu passed away.
- Noted educationist and litterateur Pathani Patnaik passed away.
- Noted journalist T V Parasuram passed away.
- Pakistani Cricketer Shahid Afridi announced retirement from all formats of international cricket.
- Prasad Erande from Pune travelled 14,576 Kilometers on a bicycle across India, establishing a Guinness World Record for longest journey by bicycle in a single country.
- Renowned Pakistani Urdu novelist and playwright Bano Qudsia passed away.
- Toshiba Corporation’s Chairman Shigenori Shiga resigned amid company reporting huge losses.
Science
- 2 day South Asian Speakers Summit held at Indore (Madhya Pradesh).
- According to Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), pests eat away about 30 - 35% of annual crop yield in India.
- Among such pests, nematodes (microscopic worms many of which are parasites) are major threat to crops as they caused loss of 60 million tonnes of crops annually.
- Chinese scientists from Northwest A&F University produced world’s first cows with increased resistance to bovine tuberculosis (TB).
- Electric car maker Tesla unveiled world’s largest battery storage plant in California, consisting 396 Tesla powerpacks that can store 80 megawatt-hours of electricity. It is enough to power 2500 households for a day.
- First Strategic Dialogue between India and China held in Beijing (capital of China). It was attended by Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar on India’s Behalf.
- Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) developed Telemetry & Telecommand Processor (TTCP) and its productionisation will be initiated shortly. With this, ISRO aims to replace expensive imported equipment necessary for uplinking and downlinking to satellites.
- Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully ground tested India’s largest indigenously developed Cryogenic Upper Stage engine for GSLV Mark III. C25 stage is most powerful upper stage so far developed by ISRO. It uses Liquid Oxygen and Liquid Hydrogen propellant combination stored at minus 253 degrees centigrade.
- Development of C25 cryogenic stage will provide ISRO capability to launch 4 ton class satellites in Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO), an altitude where satellites revolve in sync with Earth’s rotation.
- Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched record 104 satellites in single mission, on board of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C37.
- Of total 104 satellites, 3 were Indian and remaining 101 were International. Indian satellites included earth-mapping Cartosat-2 satellite (main payload) and nanosatellites INS-1A and INS-1B.
- Cartosat-2 Satellite: It was the primary payload of the mission. It is similar to the earlier four satellites in Cartosat-2 Series. It weighs 714 kg and has a mission life of five years. It is earth observation satellite that will provide remote sensing services.
- INS-1A and INS-1B Satellites are nanosatellites, carrying Surface Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function Radiometer and INS-1B was carrying Earth Exosphere Lyman Alpha Analyser as payloads.
- Foreign Satellites - 96 from USA and remaining 5 from Israel, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Switzerland and United Arab Emirates. Around 90 small satellites belonged to US-based company Planet Inc. They are named ‘Doves’ and their constellation will be used to image the earth at low cost.
- Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch its First mission to Venus and its 2nd to Mars. It is confirmed by newly allotted budget to department of space with 23% increase and mentioning provisions under its space sciences section for ‘Mars Orbiter Mission II and mission to Venus’.
- Intech DMLS has launched India’s first indigenously developed Jet Engine series under brand name Poeir Jets. India became first in Asia and 4th country in world after to indigenously develop such an engine in private space.
- International team of researchers from China, Russia, and USA conducted computer modeling to create a thermodynamically stable compound of sodium and noble gas helium - Na2He, which is stable at high pressures.
- Noble gasses were thought not to mix with other elements and forming no compounds. However, this study will bring big change in noble gas theory.
- Japanese FORPHEUS (Future Omron Robotics Technology for Exploring Possibility of Harmonised automation with Sinic Theoretics), world’s first robot table tennis tutor has created Guinness World Record for being able to play table tennis better than most humans.
- Japanese Scientists developed terahertz (THz) transmitter technology as next generation system which can transmit digital data over 10 times faster than 5G mobile networks (over 100 GBPS). Range of frequencies will fall within 275 GHz to 450 GHz, paving way for faster internet.
- NASA Scientists discovered living microorganisms (mostly bacteria) trapped inside crystals for 60,000 years in a Naica mine in Mexico.
- It has caused concern for astrobiologists about bringing back samples collected on space missions in solar system as dangerous extraterrestrial organisms could accidentally enter into Earth on a returning spaceship.
- NASA discovered 7 new Earth-sized exoplanets that may sustain life, detected using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and several observatories including Trappist robotic telescope at Chile. These exoplanets are orbiting dwarf star named Trappist-1, which at 39 light years away. They could have some liquid water and maybe supporting life.
- Of seven planets, three orbit in habitable (Goldilocks zone) where temperatures are suited to surface oceans of liquid water. 6 inner planets lie in a temperate zone where surface temperatures range from zero to 100C and masses around 0.4 to 1.4 times mass of Earth.
- NASA stated that Earth sized planet Proxima b may not host life despite it being in the habitable zone of its host star, due to frequent stellar eruptions.
- NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory detected a strange X-ray signal from Milky Way galaxy, paving way to help scientists in proving existence of dark matter in universe.
- NASA’s solar-powered Juno spacecraft completed closest flyby of Jupiter's mysterious cloud tops for fourth time, roughly 4,300 km above Jupiter’s cloud tops at speed of 208,000 kmph.
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will send its first robotic spacecraft to Sun in 2018 -
- Solar Probe Plus mission will get within six million kilometres of the Sun to probe its atmosphere. Sun is about 149 million kilometres from Earth.
- Mission's aim is to answer 3 important questions -
- Why Sun’s surface is not as hot as its atmosphere. Sun's surface temparatue is only 5500 Degree Celsius while temparature of Atmosphere is 2 Million Degree Celsius.
- What accelerates speed of the solar wind.
- Why does Sun occasionally emit high-energy particles that pose a danger to unprotected astronauts and spacecraft.
- Researchers From China discovered 540 Million Year Old years old Fossils of microscopic sea animal Saccorhytus, earliest known ancestor of humans along with a vast range of other species.
- Researchers discovered new species of bird - Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush (Monticola saxitilis) Nepal's upper Dolpa region.
- Researchers from MIT (USA) developed a small battery that runs on stomach acids and is capable of powering e-pills to monitor patient health. It can generate power to run small sensors or drug delivery devices that can reside in gastrointestinal tract for extended periods.
- Researchers from Sweden developed world’s first heat-driven transistor, with high sensitivity to heat. It means that Single degree temperature rise is sufficient to cause a detectable current variation.
- Researchers from USA based Michigan State University developed first stretchable integrated circuit (IC) made entirely using an inkjet printer. Using ink, researchers created elastic material, circuit and organic light-emitting diode (OLED).
- As material is produced using a standard printer, it has cost advantage over current technologies that are expensive to manufacture.
- Stretchable electronic fabric can be easily folded and put in one’s pocket without breaking.
- Scientists developed an effective and economical treatment for Ebola Virus using antibodies from Horses. This is a cost effective treatment that can be used in low-income countries like Africa.
- Scientists developed novel rubber like material nicknamed thubber with high thermal conductivity and elasticity. It is an electrically insulating composite material with combination of metal-like thermal conductivity, elasticity similar to soft, biological tissue.
- Scientists found that consumption of litchi fruit on an empty stomach can result in very low blood glucose level and acute encephalopathy leading to seizures and coma, and causes death in Children.
- Litchi contains toxins hypoglycin A and methylenecyclopropyl-glycine (MCPG). Its consumption and skipping evening meals causes very low blood glucose level (less than normal 70 mg/dL) and acute encephalopathy in children.
- Outbreaks of high fever followed by seizures and death in young children reported in Muzaffarpur in Bihar and other litchi-growing regions in India due to consumption of unripe lychees on an empty stomach.
- Scientists from Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) made world’s strongest material graphene commercially more viable by using soybean. They developed GraphAir technology that transforms soybean oil into graphene films in a single step. GraphAir technology grows graphene film in ambient air with a natural precursor, making its production faster and simpler.
- Scientists from California National Primate Research Centre (USA) tested new male contraceptive Vasalgel, that blocked sperm flow on monkeys; leading to efective birth control. Now it is waiting for human trials.
- Scientists from Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute (JNTBGRI) have confirmed the multiple therapeutic properties of Neurocalyx calycinus, a medicinal plant endemic to southern parts of Western Ghats and Sri Lanka.
- Scientists from University of Delhi and Kerala Forest Department discovered 4 new species of miniature night frogs in Western Ghats - Athirappilly Night Frog, Sabarimala Night Frog, Radcliffe’s Night frog and Kadalar Night Frog.
- Scientists from University of Western Australia successfully mapped molecular structure of EptA protein that shields superbugs from antibiotics and masks bacteria from both human immune system and antibiotics. Shape of EptA protein was mapped using technique called X-ray crystallography which is mainly used for determining atomic and molecular structure of a crystal. This mapping is important because it will allow development of a drug to prevent superbugs hiding from medication.
- USA Scientists successfully implanted world’s smallest pacemaker dubbed as Micra Transcatheter Pacing System (TPS). It is about size of large vitamin capsule and is meant for patients with bradycardia, a condition characterised by a slow heart rate (60 beats / minute).
- World Health Organisation (WHO) urged nations to develop new drugs to tackle 12 antibiotics-resistant super-germs threatening an explosion of incurable diseases.
Sports
- 2017 Rio Open Tennis -
- Men's Singles - Dominic Thiem (Austria)
- Women's Singles - Pablo Carreño Busta (Spain) and Pablo Cuevas (Uruguay)
- 81st Senior National Badminton Championships tournament held at Patna (Bihar)
- Men’s singles - Sourabh Verma.
- Women’s Singles - Rituparna Das.
- Women’s doubles - Aparna Balan and Prajakta Sawant.
- Men’s doubles - Satwik Sai Raj and Chirag Shetty.
- Mixed doubles - Satwik Sai Raj and Maneesha K.
- ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament 2017 Winners (also known as Rotterdam tennis) -
- Singles - Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France)
- Doubles - Ivan Dodig (Croatia) and Marcel Granollers (Spain)
- American golfer Dustin Johnson claimed No 1 Position in Official World Golf Ranking for first time in his career. He achieved it after winning Genesis Open 2017 at Riviera.
- Australian Cricketer Adam Voges announced retirement from international cricket.
- BCCI Awards 2016 -
- CK. Nayudu Lifetime achievement award - Padmakar Shivalkar, Rajinder Goel.
- BCCI Lifetime achievement award for women - Shantha Rangaswamy (This award category has been included for first time)
- Polly Umrigar Award - Virat Kohli (Third Polly Umrigar title for Virat Kohli)
- Dilip Sardesai award - Ravichandran Ashwin
- Best performance in BCCI Domestic tournaments: Mumbai Cricket Association.
- Other Awards -
- Lala Amarnath Award for best all-rounder in Ranji Trophy - Jalaj Saxena (Madhya Pradesh).
- Lala Amarnath Award for the best all-rounder in domestic limited-overs competitions: Axar Patel.
- Madavrao Scindin Award Highest scorer in the Ranji Trophy: Shreyas Iyer (Mumbai).
- Madavrao Scindin Award Highest wicket-taker in the Ranji Trophy: Shahbaz Nadeem (Jharkhand).
- Jagmohan Dalmiyra Award (Best Woman cricketer (Sr.): Mithali Raj (Railways).
- Jagmohan Dalmiyra Award (Best Woman cricketer (Jr.): Deepti Sharma (Uttar Pradesh).
- Bangalore will host Davis Cup Tennis Asia-Oceania Zone group-1 tie against Uzbekistan in April 2017.
- Ben stokes (England) became most expensive overseas acquisition in history of Indian Premier league. Rising Pune Supergiants acquired him away for 14.5 crores for IPL Xth. Tymal Mills is second most expensive player who was bought by Royal challengers Bangalore for 12 crores.
- Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan became First Afghanistan cricket players to be picked in Indian Premier League, for Rs 30 Lakh and Rs 4 Crore respectively.
- Delhi cricketer Mohit Ahlawat became First to score Triple Century in a T-20 Game. He scored it in Just 72 balls, hitting 39 sines and 14 fours.
- Dutch boxer Germaine De Randamie Crowned UFC’s first female featherweight Champion.
- England Cricketer Alastair Cook honoured with Commander of Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his Cricket Achievements. He has recently stepped down and England's Test Captain.
- Ethiopia's Genzebe Dibaba ran fastest ever women's 2,000 metres at indoor Miting Internacional de Catalunya meeting in Sabadell (Spain).
- FIFA named Argentina’s former soccer player Diego Maradona as new Ambassador for 2017.
- Government unveiled mascot KHELEO for FIFA under 17 World Cup India 2017, during launch of Mission XI Million programme. FIFA under 17 world cup to be held in India In October 2017.
- Haryana defeated Railway to win first edition of Pandit Deen Dayal Updhyay All India National Style Kabaddi Championship held in Sonipat (Haryana).
- Haryana government conferred Bhim awards to 42 sportspersons of state, recognising them for their outstanding performance at the national and international level between 2013 to 2017. BHIM awards carry cash prize of 5 lakh.
- India defeated South Africa to win ICC Women Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2017 held at Colombo (Sri Lanka).
- India hosted first ever International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) world Tour Event in New Delhi. 2017 world Tour will be played in 12 countries.
- India will host Combined World Cup for Shooting in 2019, which will be a qualifying event for 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
- India will host Combined World Cup for shooting in 2019, as a qualifying event for 2020 Tokyo Olympics. It will comprises all three categories - shotgun, rifle and pistol.
- India will host FIBA Women’s Asia Cup basketball tournament in Bengaluru (Karnataka) i n July 2017 and FIBA U-16 Women’s Asian Championship in October 2017 in Hyderabad (Telangana).
- India won T20 Blind Cricket World Cup by defeating Pakistan. It was hosted By India In Bangalore.
- India won all three medals in the 12.8 Kilometre Individual Time Trial at the sixth Asian Para-Road Cycling Championship held in Bahrain.
- India won gold medal in boy’s team event at Asian Junior Squash championships in Hong Kong (defeating Malaysia).
- India's Kush Bhagat has been awarded Candidate Master (CM) title by World Chess Federation body FIDE.
- Indian Badminton Player PV Sindhu achieved her career best Badminton World Federation (BWF) Women’s single ranking of 5th place. Saina Nehwal is placed at 9th rank.
- Indian Cricketer Virat Kohli became Second Indian After Sachin Tendulkar to appear on Cover of Cricket's Most Prestigious Magazine - Wisden Almanack.
- Indian Female Ctricketers Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur placed 2nd and 10th respectively in latest ICC batswomen’s rankings. Meg Lanning of Australia is at top.
- Indian Racer Jehan Daruvala won Toyota Racing Series’ New Zealand Grand Prix in Manfeild, New Zealand. He score 781 points in 15-race series held in Jan - Feb 2017 and finished fifth.
- Indian Shooter Pooja Ghatkar won bronze in women’s 10 mt Air Rifle event in New Delhi at International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup.
- Indian Women's team won silver after getting defeated by South Korea, at Asian Rugby Sevens Trophy tournament at Laos.
- Indian Women’s team won silver at Asian Rugby Sevens tournament held in Laos. They defeated South Korea.
- Indian bowler Ravichandran Ashwin became fastest cricketer to take 250 wickets in Test matches, achieving this in 45th test matches.
- Indian cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara broke 52-year long record of Chandu Borde of having scored highest first-class runs in a single cricketing season. Borde scored 1604 runs in 1964-65 season, which is now surpassed by Pujara.
- Indian cricketer Virat Kohli became first Indian sportsperson to sign a Rs 100 crore endorsement deal with a single brand, after He signed 8 year deal with sports apparel brand Puma worth 110 crores.
- Indian cricketer Virat Kohli named Captain of the year at 10th Annual ESPN Cricinfo Awards.
- Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal selected to represent Olympic Committee’s panel in Badminton World Federation (BWF).
- India’s Lakshya Sen became World No 1 Junior Badminton player in latest rankings of Badminton World Federation (BWF).
- India’s first Gramin Khel Mahotsav will be held in New Delhi in March 2017 with five sports disciplines - Athletics, Volley Ball, Wrestling, Kabaddi and Kho-Kho.
- India’s first ever Centre of Excellence for differently-abled sportsmen will be established in Gandhinagar (Gujarat).It will train para athletes for various international sporting competitions including Olympics, Asian Games and Common Wealth Games.
- Inter-ministry Hockey tournament 2016 - 17 won by Infoation and Broadcasting Ministry, by defeating Ministry of Health.
- International Hockey Federation (FIH) named John-John Dohmen (Belgium) and Naomi Van (Netherlands) as male and female Players of Year 2016.
- Jamaican cricketer Andre Russell has been banned from all forms of cricket for 1 year, over doping code violations. Pakistani cricketer Nasir Jamshed also suspended from all forms of cricket for violating anti-corruption code.
- Kalinga Lancers won 5th Hockey India League title, defeating Dabang Mumbai in finals played at Chandigarh.
- Laureus World Sports Awards 2017 (Held in Monaco) -
- Sportsman of the Year - Usain Bolt (Sprinter from Jamaica)
- Sportswoman of the Year - Simone Biles (Gymnast from USA)
- Team of the Year - Chicago Cubs (American Baseball Team)
- Comeback of the Year - Michael Phelps (Swimmer from USA)
- Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability - Beatrice Maria (Italian wheelchair fencer)
- Breakthrough of The Year - Nico Rosberg (German Formula One racer)
- Action Sportsperson - Rachel Laura Atherton (English racing cyclist)
- Spirit of Sport Award - Leicester City (Football Club in England)
- Manchester United defeated Southampton to win 2016–17 EFL Football Cup.
- Medals of 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games will be made of Recycled mobile phones, to promote sustainability and reduce costs. Japanese public will be asked to donate old phones and small appliances to gather 2 tonnes of gold, silver and bronze required for making 5000 medals.
- Pankaj Advani won Indian National Snooker Championship Title, defeating Pandurangaiah of Railways.
- R. Aswin became Highest Test Wickets Indian bowler in a single year. He took 67 wickets from 10 tests in 2016-17 season, and went past Kapil Dev's 63 wickets in 1979-80 season.
- Sandeep Kumar of Haryana won men's 50-kilometre event of National Race Walking Championships in New Delhi, breaking his own national record.
- Thanackal Gopi and Monika Athare won men’s and Women’s titles in 2nd IDBI Federal Life Insurance New Delhi Marathon.
- Men's Singles - Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France )
- Women's Singles - Julien Benneteau (France ) and Nicolas Mahut (France)
- Neelam Damodaran and Atanu Kumar Das - Bank of India.
- K Swaminathan - Indian Overseas Bank.
- Ashok Kumar Pradhan - United Bank of India.
- P Ramana Murthy - Central Bank of India.
- Fareed Ahmed Khan - Punjab and Sind Bank.
- M K Bhattacharya - Indian Bank
- S Harishankar - Allahabad Bank.
- Ministry of Tourism - N. K. Sinha
- Ministry of Tribal Affairs - G. Latha Krishna Rao
- BAE Systems has been recently awarded contract from US Department of Defense to provide 145 M777 ultra-lightweight howitzers to Indian Army.
- Newton - CICAE Art Cinema Award. It is co-written by Mayank Tiwari and directed by Amit V Masurkar.
- Short film Aaba - Special Prize of Generation KPlus International Jury for Best Short Film. It has been directed by Amar Kaushik.
- British singer Adele won the most awards in 5 different categories.
- Album of the year - 25 (Adele)
- Record of the year and Song of the year - Hello (Adele)
- Best urban contemporary album - Beyonce – Lemonade
- Best country solo performance - My Church – Maren Morris
- Best new artist - Chance the Rapper
- Pop -
- Vocal album - Adele – 25
- Performance - Soul : Hello (Adele), Group - Stressed Out (Twenty One Pilots)
- R&B -
- Performance - Solange – Cranes In the Sky
- Song - Maxwell – Lake By the Ocean
- Album - Lalah Hathaway – Lalah Hathaway Live
- Rap -
- Album - Chance the Rapper –Coloring Book
- Performance - Chance The Rapper featuring Lil Wayne & 2 Chainz – No Problem.
- Song - Drake – Hotline Bling
- Rock -
- Performance - David Bowie – Blackstar
- Song - Blackstar – David Bowie
- Indian - American tabla player Sandeep Das won Grammy Awards won Best World Music Album with Yo-Yo Ma.
- La La Land won most awards, winning five and was also most nominated in 11 categories.
- Best Film - La La Land
- Best Director - Damien Chazelle (La La Land)
- Best Actor - Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)
- Best Actress - Emma Stone (La La Land)
- Best Supporting Actor - Dev Patel (Lion)
- Best Supporting Actress - Viola Davis (Fences)
- Best Original Music - La La Land
- Best Original Screenplay - Manchester by the Sea
- Best British Short Film: Home
- Best British Film: I, Daniel Blake
- Best Film Not in the English Language: Son of Saul
- Best Documentary: 13th
- Best Animated Film: Kubo and the Two Strings
- BAFTA Fellowship: Mel Brooks
- Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani honored with lifetime achievement award for spearheading India’s Aadhaar project.
- La La Land won 6 Awards (nominated into 14 categories).
- Noted Awards (Total categories are 24) -
- Best Picture - Moonlight
- Best Actres - Emma Stone (La La Land)
- Best Actor - Casey Affleck (Manchester By The Sea)
- Best Director - Damien Chazelle (La La Land). At 32, he became youngest director to win oscar.
- Best Supporting Actress - Viola Davis (Fences).
- Best Supporting Actor - Mahershala Ali (Moonlight). He is first Muslim to win acting Oscar.
- Best Foreign Language Film: The Salesman (Iran).
- Best Animated Feature Film: Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Clark Spencer (Zootopia).
- Best Animated Short Film: Alan Barillaro and Marc Sondheimer (Piper).
- Best Original Screenplay - Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester By The Sea)
- Best Cinematography - Linus Sandgren (La La Land)
- Best Original Score - Justin Hurwitz (La La Land)
- Best Original Song - Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (La La Land).
- Other Awards -
- Best Adapted Screenplay - Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney (Moonlight)
- Best Sound Editing: Sylvain Bellemare (Arrival).
- Best Film Editing: John Gilbert (Hacksaw Ridge).
- Best Visual Effects: Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Dan Lemmon (The Jungle Book).
- Best Production Design: David Wasco and Sandy Reynolds Wasco (La La Land).
- Best Sound Mixing: Kevin O’Connell, Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie and Peter Grace (Hacksaw Ridge).
- Best Documentary-Feature: Ezra Edelman and Caroline Waterlow (O.J.: Made in America).
- Best Documentary-Short Subject: Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara (The White Helmets).
- Best Live Action Short Film: Kristof Deak and Anna Udvardy (Sing).
- Best Make-Up and Hairstyling: Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini and Christopher Nelso (Suicide Squad).
- Best Costume Design: Colleen Atwood (Fantastic Beast and Where To Find Them).
- Vyas Samman award is given by K.K. Birla Foundation for outstanding literary work in Hindi. The award carries monetary award of 2.5 lakh rupees, a citation and a plaque.
- Brand Laureate Awards (including Legendary Award) recognise world-class achievement in branding amongst individuals and companies. In 2012, Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan was honoured with Legendary Award.
- It is world’s first interoperable payment acceptance solution launched by Indian Government to move towards less-cash economy.
- Bharat QR code is a common interface for MasterCard/Visa/RuPay platforms and also facilitate acceptance of Aadhaar-enabled payments and Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
- It enables person to make payments to retailers without using the merchant’s ID or number and eliminates need of using card swiping machines making digital payments.
- Using, BharatQR code merchants will be required to only display one QR code instead of multiple ones. Users can make payment by scanning the code.
- BharatQR code is of static and dynamic types. Static - firstly code need to be scanned and then amount is entered to make payment. Dynamic - New QR code will be generated in real time for every transaction and no need to enter the amount.
- India and Russia signed an agreement in October 2016 to jointly manufacture 200 KA-226T helicopters for Indian Armed Forces.
- TFA in Goods was adopted by the WTO Members in 2014 and aims to simplify procedures and cut trade costs around world. It was outcome of WTO’s 9th Bali (Indonesia) ministerial package of 2013.
- The agreement includes provisions for Lowering import tariffs and agricultural subsidies, Abolish hard import quotas and Reduction in red tape at international borders.
- Airtel was first to launch payment bank operations in November 2016 by launching pilot programme in Rajasthan.
- Real GDP (Gross Domestic Product at constant (2011-12) prices) in 2016-17 is likely to be 121.65 lakh crores (compared to 113.58 lakh crore in 2015-16).
- Real GVA (Gross Value Added) will increase from 104.70 lakh crore in 2015-16 to 111.68 lakh crore in 2016-17.
- Apollo Munich Health Insurance - Dena Bank.
- Chennai based general insurance provider Cholamandalam General Insurance Company - Oriental Bank of Commerce.
- Cigna TTK Health Insurance - Bank of Maharashtra.
- Religare Insurance - Corporation Bank.
- India ranked 143rd out of 186 economies with score of 52.6 points, compared to 123rd rank last year.
- Top 5 countries - Hong Kong (1st), Singapore (2nd) and New Zealand (3rd), Switzerland (4th) and Austria (5th).
- Bottom 5 - Eritrea (176), Congo (177), Cuba (178), Venezuela (179) North Korea (180)
- Neighbours - Nepal (125th), Sri Lanka (112th), Pakistan (141st), Bhutan (107th), and Bangladesh (128th).
- BRICS - Brazil (140), Russia (114), China (111th) and South Africa (81).
- This is similar to National Eligibility-Cum-Entrance Test launched in 2016, for admission to all medical and dental colleges.
- Students seeking admission to Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) will have to clear JEE-Advanced after taking unified engineering entrance exam.
- It aims to clean up balance sheets of PSBs to ensure they remain solvent and comply with global capital adequacy norms Basel-III.
- Under ‘Indradhanush’ roadmap announced in 2015, Government announced infusion of 70,000 crore in Govt banks over 4 years. Banks also were allowed to raise a further Rs. 1.1 lakh crore from the markets to meet their capital requirement in line with global risk norms, Basel-III.
- In line with plan, PSBs were given Rs. 25,000 crore in 2015-16 and 2016-17. Now, 10,000 crores will be infused in 2017-18 and 2018-19.
- It will offer an interest rate of 4.5% on deposits up to Rs. 25,000; 5% on deposits of Rs. 25,000 to 50,000 and 5.5% on Rs. 50,000 to 1,00,000.
- Bill will replace Ordinance promulgated by President in December 2016 to amend Payment of Wages Act 1936.
- Earlier in parent Act, employer could only pay salaries by cheque or by crediting into bank account after obtaining employee's written authorisation. Now, employer can pay employee by cheque or by crediting into his bank account without written authorisation.
- Government issued an ordinance in Dec 2016 to amend Payment of Wages Act 1936 because after demonetisation of 500 and 1000 banknotes, empoyers were facing difficulties paying workers in cash.
ii. The post November 8, 2016 cash shortages and payment disruptions caused by the currency exchange initiative have undermined consumption and business activity, posing a new challenge to sustaining the growth momentum. India's economy grew at 7.6% in 2015-16.- Mobile wallet ‘Oriental Batuaa’ was launched.
- 2 MSME schemes - Oriental Sanjeevani for doctors for setting up new hospitals and clinics and‘Oriental Budget Hotels and Restaurants for individuals, proprietors, companies etc.
- RBI will also set up a Committee on cyber security to examine various threats and suggest measures to deal with it.
- New domain name bank.sbi is the highest domain protocol known as generic top level domain (gTLD).
- SBI became first banking organisation in India to use a gTLD for its online presence.
- With Greece for Co-operation in Air Services.
- With Australia for co-operation in civil aviation security.
- With Poland for Co-operation in Agriculture and Allied Sciences.
- With Japan for enhancing railway safety in Indian Railways with focus on railway track and rolling stock safety.
- Amending tax treaty with Israel for easy exchange of information on tax matters to check flow of black money.
- India's Centre for Civil Society (CCS) ranked among top 100 think tanks globally (Rank - 80). Besides, nine other Indian institutes also have figured among the top 175.
- UK’s Chatham House is top think tank In Non US Category and USA’s Brookings Institution retained as top think tank worldwide in US Category.
- Top 5 Companies - Apple (1), Amazon.com (2), Starbucks (3), Berkshire Hathaway (4), Disney (6)
- A Genomic beacon is an web service allowing researchers to determine whether an institution has particular genomic data in its data set.
- Aim is to address gap in shared Indian genomics data, which helps scientists better understand disease and develop more effective drug delivery systems.
- India ranked 43rd among 45 nations, ahead only to Pakistan (44th) and Venezuela (45th). India scored a meagre 8.75 out of a total of 35 points, falling significantly behind the median score of 15.39.
- Top 5 - United States (1st), United Kingdom (2nd), Germany (3rd), Japan (4th), Sweden (5th).
- BRICS - China (27th), South Africa (33rd), Brazil (32nd) and Russia (23rd).
- With Senegal in field of Health and Medicine.
- With France in field of Science and Technology and innovation.
- With Vietnam in exploration and uses of outer space for peaceful purposes.
- The discovery was based on study of Zircon, a mineral found in rocks spewed up by lava during volcanic eruptions which is too old to belong to Mauritius.
- India's Radhanagar beach in Andaman and Nicobar Islands’ featured at 8th Position.
- Baia do Sancho Fernando de Noronha in Brazil topped list, followed by Grace Bay Providenciales in Turks and Caicos.
- Note that In terms of length, Air India’s Delhi-San Francisco covers larger distance than Doha - Auckland Flight.
- BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative on Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) is sub-regional group of 7 countries lying along areas of Bay of Bengal - India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka from South Asia and Myanmar, Thailand from South East Asia.
- USB Pratirodh -A desktop security solution, which protects from USB mass storage device threats.
- AppSamvid - A desktop solution which protects systems by allowing installation of genuine applications through white listing.
- M-Kavach - An indigenously developed solution to address the security threats in mobiles.
- Bharat Electronics Ltd unveiled new communication radio for Indian armed forces - called STARS-V Mk III.
- Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) signed MoU with Central Public Works Department (CPWD) for development of HAL’s new Greenfield helicopter facility at Tumakuru (Karnataka).
- Solar Parks and Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects will be set up by 2019-20 with Central Government financial support of 8100 crores. Capacity after operationalisation will generate 64 billion units of electricity, leading to abatement of 55 million tonnes of CO2 / year.
- By 2020, over 50 % of Internet users in the country will be using Digital modes of payment.
- Digital technology in India will influence 45 % of all retail sales by 2025 and non-cash transactions will exceed cash transactions by 2023.
- Ateli-Phulera section will take over the freight load from the Indian Railways. 500-600 km of additional track length will be operational by 2018-19.
- DFCCIL is a special purpose vehicle of railways and responsible for developing 6 Dedicated Freight Corridors across country.
- Zealandia has 4.5-million square km area and is 94% underwater. Only its highest points - New Zealand and New Caledonia are visible.
- It had broken off from Antarctica about 100 million years ago, then from Australia about 80 million years ago as part of breakup of super-continent Gondwanaland and sank beneath sea.
- In First Phase, 38 lakh children were vaccinated in four states – Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
- Department of Agricultural Research (DARE) is authorized on behalf of Indian Government in all matters regarding establishment of FLRP.
- FLRP will be established by International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) for meeting the emerging food security challenges.
- Collection of Statistics Act 2008 was enacted by Parliament to facilitate collection of statistics on economics, social, demographic, scientific and environmental aspects etc. The Act extended to whole India except J&K.
- J&K state legislature enacted J & K Collection of Statistics Act 2010 which was replica of central legislation. However, central and state legislations are not applicable to statistical subjects falling in Union List, as applicable to J&K under the Constitution (Application to Jammu & Kashmir) Order 1954. This created a legislative vacuum which is intended to be filled by this amenment.
- By linking Aadhhaar number with various schemes, state government will create a credible system to authenticate identity of actual beneficiaries.
- India is a main exporter in pharmaceutical industry and efficient functioning of NRAI is a pre-requisite for WHO prequalification of vaccines.
- Assessment was done in respect of 9 different functionalities, of which NRAI has been granted Maturity Level 4 in 5 functionalities and Level 3 in 4 functionalitie.
- It reflects growing maturity of NRAI emanating from a concerted effort by Government to build capacity and capability of NRAI.
- Geographical Indication (GI) GI tag is an insignia on products having a unique geographical origin and evolution over centuries with regards to its special quality or reputation attributes.
- Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) declined from 57 to 41 per 1,000 live births between NFHS-3 (2005-06) and NFHS-4.
- Sex ratio at birth (number of females per 1,000 males) improved from 914 to 919. It is highest in Kerala (1,047), followed by Meghalaya (1,009) and Chhattisgarh (977). Haryana also witnessed a significant increase from 762 to 836.
- Institutional births Increased by 40 percentage points from 38.7% in NFHS-3 to 78.9% in NFHS 4.
- Total Fertility Rate (TFR) declined to 2.2 children per woman from 2.7 in NFHS-3.
- It is being done after various tribal organisations opposing elections to Urban Local Bodies (ULB) with 33 % seats reserved for women.
- Bombay High offshore oil field of Mumbai is largest producer of crude oil in India which accounts for 50% of total domestic crude oil production.
- MIGS is a self-supporting scheme that will provide legal services to the middle income group citizens whose gross income does not exceed Rs.60, 000 per month or Rs. 7, 50, 000 per annum. A case will be registered under the MIG Legal Aid Scheme and forwarded to Advocate-on-Record/ Senior Counsel/Arguing Counsel on the panel for their opinion.
- If Advocate-on-Record is satisfied that case is fit, then the society will consider that applicant is entitled to legal aid. A society will be created with Chief Justice of India (CJI) as Patron-in-Chief.
- Tata Motors also signed MOU with Microsoft to collaborate on technology front for making driving a more personalized experience.
- Uganda - MOUs in various fields like space programme, vocational training and peaceful use of atomic energy were signed.
- Rwanda - India will open resident mission in Rwanda. MOUs were signed in fields of innovation, aviation and visa regime.
- Among such pests, nematodes (microscopic worms many of which are parasites) are major threat to crops as they caused loss of 60 million tonnes of crops annually.
- Development of C25 cryogenic stage will provide ISRO capability to launch 4 ton class satellites in Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO), an altitude where satellites revolve in sync with Earth’s rotation.
- Of total 104 satellites, 3 were Indian and remaining 101 were International. Indian satellites included earth-mapping Cartosat-2 satellite (main payload) and nanosatellites INS-1A and INS-1B.
- Cartosat-2 Satellite: It was the primary payload of the mission. It is similar to the earlier four satellites in Cartosat-2 Series. It weighs 714 kg and has a mission life of five years. It is earth observation satellite that will provide remote sensing services.
- INS-1A and INS-1B Satellites are nanosatellites, carrying Surface Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function Radiometer and INS-1B was carrying Earth Exosphere Lyman Alpha Analyser as payloads.
- Foreign Satellites - 96 from USA and remaining 5 from Israel, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Switzerland and United Arab Emirates. Around 90 small satellites belonged to US-based company Planet Inc. They are named ‘Doves’ and their constellation will be used to image the earth at low cost.
- Of total 104 satellites, 3 were Indian and remaining 101 were International. Indian satellites included earth-mapping Cartosat-2 satellite (main payload) and nanosatellites INS-1A and INS-1B.
- Noble gasses were thought not to mix with other elements and forming no compounds. However, this study will bring big change in noble gas theory.
- It has caused concern for astrobiologists about bringing back samples collected on space missions in solar system as dangerous extraterrestrial organisms could accidentally enter into Earth on a returning spaceship.
- Of seven planets, three orbit in habitable (Goldilocks zone) where temperatures are suited to surface oceans of liquid water. 6 inner planets lie in a temperate zone where surface temperatures range from zero to 100C and masses around 0.4 to 1.4 times mass of Earth.
- Solar Probe Plus mission will get within six million kilometres of the Sun to probe its atmosphere. Sun is about 149 million kilometres from Earth.
- Mission's aim is to answer 3 important questions -
- Why Sun’s surface is not as hot as its atmosphere. Sun's surface temparatue is only 5500 Degree Celsius while temparature of Atmosphere is 2 Million Degree Celsius.
- What accelerates speed of the solar wind.
- Why does Sun occasionally emit high-energy particles that pose a danger to unprotected astronauts and spacecraft.
- As material is produced using a standard printer, it has cost advantage over current technologies that are expensive to manufacture.
- Stretchable electronic fabric can be easily folded and put in one’s pocket without breaking.
- Litchi contains toxins hypoglycin A and methylenecyclopropyl-glycine (MCPG). Its consumption and skipping evening meals causes very low blood glucose level (less than normal 70 mg/dL) and acute encephalopathy in children.
- Outbreaks of high fever followed by seizures and death in young children reported in Muzaffarpur in Bihar and other litchi-growing regions in India due to consumption of unripe lychees on an empty stomach.
- Men's Singles - Dominic Thiem (Austria)
- Women's Singles - Pablo Carreño Busta (Spain) and Pablo Cuevas (Uruguay)
- Men’s singles - Sourabh Verma.
- Women’s Singles - Rituparna Das.
- Women’s doubles - Aparna Balan and Prajakta Sawant.
- Men’s doubles - Satwik Sai Raj and Chirag Shetty.
- Mixed doubles - Satwik Sai Raj and Maneesha K.
- Singles - Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France)
- Doubles - Ivan Dodig (Croatia) and Marcel Granollers (Spain)
- CK. Nayudu Lifetime achievement award - Padmakar Shivalkar, Rajinder Goel.
- BCCI Lifetime achievement award for women - Shantha Rangaswamy (This award category has been included for first time)
- Polly Umrigar Award - Virat Kohli (Third Polly Umrigar title for Virat Kohli)
- Dilip Sardesai award - Ravichandran Ashwin
- Best performance in BCCI Domestic tournaments: Mumbai Cricket Association.
- Other Awards -
- Lala Amarnath Award for best all-rounder in Ranji Trophy - Jalaj Saxena (Madhya Pradesh).
- Lala Amarnath Award for the best all-rounder in domestic limited-overs competitions: Axar Patel.
- Madavrao Scindin Award Highest scorer in the Ranji Trophy: Shreyas Iyer (Mumbai).
- Madavrao Scindin Award Highest wicket-taker in the Ranji Trophy: Shahbaz Nadeem (Jharkhand).
- Jagmohan Dalmiyra Award (Best Woman cricketer (Sr.): Mithali Raj (Railways).
- Jagmohan Dalmiyra Award (Best Woman cricketer (Jr.): Deepti Sharma (Uttar Pradesh).
- Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan became First Afghanistan cricket players to be picked in Indian Premier League, for Rs 30 Lakh and Rs 4 Crore respectively.
- Sportsman of the Year - Usain Bolt (Sprinter from Jamaica)
- Sportswoman of the Year - Simone Biles (Gymnast from USA)
- Team of the Year - Chicago Cubs (American Baseball Team)
- Comeback of the Year - Michael Phelps (Swimmer from USA)
- Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability - Beatrice Maria (Italian wheelchair fencer)
- Breakthrough of The Year - Nico Rosberg (German Formula One racer)
- Action Sportsperson - Rachel Laura Atherton (English racing cyclist)
- Spirit of Sport Award - Leicester City (Football Club in England)
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