NATIONAL AFFAIRS
Allahabad High Court gets three new judges:
The Allahabad High Court got three new judges taking the total number, including those here as well as at the Lucknow Bench, to 84 as against the sanctioned strength of 160. Chief Justice D B Bhosle administered the oath of office to justices Ashok Kumar, Vivek Chaudhary and Saumitra Dayal Singh. All the three have been elevated from the bar as additional judges of the high court.
Khajuraho Dance Festival begins in Madhya Pradesh:
Country’s one of the celebrated cultural events, the 42nd annual Khajuraho Dance Festival will commence in Chhattarpur district .The festival will
showcase classical dances, including Kathak, Bharatnatyam, Odissi and Kuchipudi, depicting the ancient tales like – ‘Mahishasur Mardini’ and ‘Krishna Rasa’.
Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram celebrates Statehood Day today:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended his greetings and wished state of Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram on their Statehood Day, expressing his desire to see development usher into the states. “Statehood Day greeting to the citizens of Arunachal Pradesh”. Both Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram were granted statehood in 1987. Both the states were Union Territories before being granted statehood.
Uttar Pradesh to be top producer of sugar:
Uttar Pradesh is all set to overtake Maharashtra and become the top producer of sugar, going by the latest projection of sugar production released by the Indian Sugar Mill Association, an all India body representing sugar mills from all sugar producing States.
Mamata to visit Poland:
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will visit Poland which has invited her to a three-day conference of European Economic Congress. The conference is slated to be held from May 10 to May 12.
Anganwadi workers to get smartphones in Cgarh: Minister
Chhattisgarh government will soon be providing ‘Smart Mobile Phones’ to Anganwadi workers. Around 8500 Anganwadi workers will be provided with Smart Phones in the districts of Raipur, Gariyabandh, Durg, Bemetara, Balod and Kabirdham (Kwardha). In first phase, about 200 Anganwadi workers will be provided with Smart Phones. The mobile handsets will be provided to Anganwadi workers under the ISNIP project and they will also be subjected to a training session so that they could operate it smoothly.
Andhra govt allocates land for 9 thematic cities:
Andhra Pradesh government has allocated lands for the construction of nine thematic cities in the new capital Amaravathi. The government has announced allocation of 11,574 acres of land for the construction of Tourism thematic city in Amaravathi, 8,547 acres for Knowledge city, 6,582 for Electronic city, 6,511 for Health city, 5,168 for Finance city, 5,107 for Media city, 4,150 for Sports city, 3,438 for Judiciary and 2,702 for the construction of Administrative city.
Special package for strengthening security in Arunachal Pradesh:
The Centre has sanctioned a special package for strengthening security in three eastern districts of Arunachal Pradesh to tackle the insurgency problem there.“The special package for Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts will also include creation of new posts, purchase of vehicles and equipment for police”.
Necessary funds would be given at the earliest for construction of over 20 police stations in the three districts and asked the State government to expedite the work.
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
IFC invests $47.5 mn. in Granules India:
World Bank arm International Finance Corporation (IFC) plans to part-fund the expansion programme of Hyderabad-based pharma firm Granules India Ltd, which includes setting up of a greenfield facility for manufacturing APIs (active pharmaceutical ingredients) in Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The proposed investment would be the fourth by IFC in the company and in the form of debt investment of up to $47.5 million.
India world’s largest importer of major arms in the last four years:
According to a report released by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), India emerged as the world’s largest importer of major arms during 2012–16.
As per the report, India accounted for 13 percent of the global total sales. The total volume of international transfers of major weapons has grown continuously since 2004 and increased by 8.4 per cent between 2007–11 and 2012–16.
According to the data, in Asia, India increased its arms imports by 43 percent between 2007–11 and 2012–16 which is far greater than the imports by its rivals China and Pakistan.
BANKING AND BUSINESS
Bad loan crisis continues: 56.4 per cent rise in NPAs of banks:
Bad loans have now shot up by 135 per cent from Rs 261,843 crore in the last 2 years, despite the Reserve Bank of India announcing a host of restructuring schemes. Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans, of state owned banks surged 56.4 per cent to Rs 614,872 crore during the 12-month period ended December 2016, especially in the small and medium sectors, struggling to repay after being hit by the government’s decision to withdraw currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination.
SBI rebrands its corporate website as ‘bank.sbi’:
The country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has rebranded its corporate website as “bank.sbi” from the earlier sbi.co.in. Bank.sbi is the highest domain protocol, known as generic top level domain (gTLD).
The adoption of gTLD enables an organisation to use its corporate name –.sbi as their website’s top-level identifier, instead of using a more traditional “.com” or “.co.in” domains, SBI said in a statement.
The existing web address will remain active till customers become familiar with operating through the new address. With this, SBI has become the first banking organisation in India to use a gTLD for its internet presence. This is expected to provide enhanced security to its customers.
Citi launches Citi Tech for Integrity Challenge:
Banking giant Citi has launched the Citi Tech for Integrity Challenge (T4I) – a global program that brings on board technology innovators from around the world to create solutions to promote integrity, accountability and transparency in the public sector.
This initiative from Citi, in collaboration with private and public sector partners, will offer technology companies an opportunity to innovate in the areas of financial transactions, cyber security, financial education and grievance.
IRB InvIT Fund gets Sebi’s approval to launch IPO:
Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has given its approval to IRB InvIT Fund, to raise Rs 4,300 crore through an Initial Public Offering (IPO).
IRB InvIT Fund is an investment trust sponsored by IRB Infrastructure Developers Limited, an Indian highway construction company headquartered in Mumbai. The IRB InvIT Fund is sponsored by Mumbai-based toll road developer while IRB Infrastructure Pvt Ltd. is the investment manager to the trust
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)
♦ Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra
♦ Chairman: U.K Sinha
Karnataka Bank, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles sign MoU:
Karnataka Bank has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Daimler India Commerical Vehicles (DICV) Pvt Ltd for extending finance facilities to customers to purchase commercial vehicles manufactured by the company. DICV is a leading manufacturing company of commercial vehicles in India. The deal will benefit the customers belonging to sectors such as MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) to purchase commercial vehicles.
Flipkart to get on Microsoft’s cloud platform as firms announce strategic partnership:
US based IT giant Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Indian electronic commerce company Flipkart Group CEO Binny Bansal has announced a “strategic partnership”.
Aim: To provide consumers in the country the best online shopping service. As per the deal, Flipkart, will adopt Microsoft Azure as its exclusive public cloud platform.
Tata Steel owned Katamati Mine Wins Best Green Award:
Katamati Iron Mine, owned by Tata Steel, was conferred with the Best Green Organisation of the Year Award at the Global Green Future Leadership Awards in Mumbai. The Global Green Future Leadership Awards, organized by World CSR Day, was honored to Katamati Iron Mine in recognition of its environmental protection measures.
The award was received by Rahul Kishore, Head of Mining Operations, Katamati Iron Mine on behalf of Tata Steel from Jordan Reeves, Consul General of Canada in Mumbai.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
SpaceX successfully lands its first-stage Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral:
Elon Musk-led space exploration startup SpaceX successfully launched its Dragon spacecraft which will deliver nearly 2,500 kg of cargo to International Space Station (ISS) for NASA. Dragon spacecraft is also carrying strains of the MRSA superbug to study its behaviour in microgravity. The launch was conducted from the same pad used for NASA’s first manned mission to the moon.
Iran launches ‘advanced’ rockets during new military exercises:
The Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard launched sophisticated rockets during a military exercise that started in Iran’s central desert.
The three day maneuvers called ‘Grand Prophet 11’. The model of the small and advanced rockets or their capabilities have not been revealed.
SPORTS
Dustin Johnson takes place of Jason Day as golf’s world No1 after win in LA:
Dustin Johnson has taken over from Jason Day as the No1 player in world golf following his victory at the PGA Tour’s Genesis Open in Los Angeles and it had been quite a journey to reach the peak of his sport. Johnson becomes 20th player to be ranked No1.
Ryan Harrison captures first title:
American Ryan Harrison captured his first ATP title, winning all 12 break points he faced to defeat Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-1, 6-4 and win the Memphis Open. Harrison, ranked 62nd, will jump into the world top 50 for the first time since July 2012 by taking the matchup of unseeded 24-year-olds who had not dropped a set all week at the indoor hard court event.
IPL auction: Ben Stokes breaks the bank at ₹14.5 cr:
IPL Auction of 2017, Ben Stokes steals the show as he got Rs 14.5 crore from Rising Pune Supergiants. Tymal Mills the 2nd costliest player with 12 crore Royal Challengers Bangalore. For India, Karn Sharma gets the highest amount at Rs 3.2 crore from Mumbai Indians.
HISTORICAL FACTS OF THE DAY
World Day of Social Justice – February 20th:
The United Nations’ (UN) World Day of Social Justice is annually observed on February 20 to encourage people to look at how social justice affects poverty eradication. It also focuses on the goal of achieving full employment and support for social integration.
Theme: “Preventing conflict and sustaining peace through decent work”
OBTIUARY
Putin ‘deeply hurt’ over Russian UN ambassador’s sudden death in New York:
Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s envoy to the United Nations, died in New York, a day before his 65th birthday. A US official said Churkin died of an apparent heart attack.
Nobel panel chairwoman passes away:
Kaci Kullmann Five, the chairwoman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which selects the Peace Prize laureates, has died aged 65 after a long illness. Kullmann became a member of the Norwegian Nobel committee in 2003, and was elected chairwoman in 2015. “She was a role model for many young women,” Norway’s Conservative Prime Minister Erna Solberg wrote on Facebook.
