NATIONAL AFFAIRS
Sumitra Mahajan inaugurates South Asian Speakers Summit in Madhya Pradesh:
The two-day South Asian Speakers Summit was inaugurated by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan at Indore in Madhya Pradesh . The speakers would discuss achieving sustainable goals, including poverty, development, environment and gender concerns in South Asia, the home to over 25 per cent of the world population. The summit is being organised jointly by the Indian Parliament and Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), a global organisation for multilateral political and legislative discussions. This will conclude with the adoption of an ‘Indore Declaration‘ at a closing ceremony.
Telangana ERC decides to determine power hike on Suo Motu basis:
In a major embarrassment to power distribution companies, Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission (TSERC) has decided to determine the power tariff for the year 2017-18 on the Suo Motu basis.
The reason is that the discoms, which had filed the Aggregate Revenue Requirement (ARR) in November itself, have failed to submit the tariff proposals for the next financial year till now. “Initially, the delay was due to the state joining Centr’s UDAY scheme. But now the chief minister has to look into the proposals and finalise the state government’s subsidy portion. Once, the subsidy is finalised, then we will decide on the tariff and file the proposals before the ERC”.
Aadhaar a must for scholarships:
The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has made Aadhaar mandatory for providing scholarships to meritorious school students from economically weaker sections. Students who want to avail scholarship benefits under ‘National Means-cumMerit Scholarship Scheme’ need to get enrolled under Aadhaar by June 30 . This will not be applicable in the states of J&K, Assam and Meghalaya.
Tamil Nadu CM Palaniswami wins confidence vote; DMK members evicted for causing chaos:
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami won the vote of confidence in the state assembly. Palaniswami won by 122 voice votes. He belongs to the AIADMK faction led by party General Secretary VK Sasikala.
Telangana acquires land for Kaleswaram project:
The Medak district administration will acquire as much as 2,000 acres of land for various requirements including that of the Kaleswaram irrigation project. 900 acres each in Toopran and Narsapur are needed for Kaleswaram, which involves building barrages and reservoirs.
Kashmir to observe 2017 as the ‘Year of Apple’:
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti 2017 as ‘Year of Apple’ in a major bid to promote the famed Kashmiri apples in domestic and foreign markets. The Chief Minister launched the High Density Apple Plantation Scheme in Srinagar. These high-density plants will be routed through J&K Bank along with the subsidy. “Fifty per cent subsidy would be provided by the government to the farmers under the scheme,” said Ms. Mufti. The high density plants have a yield of 50-70 metric tonnes per hectare against 10-12 tonnes in case of conventional plants.
Aero India- 2017 concludes at Yelahanka in Bengaluru:
11th biennial edition of the International Aerospace and Defence exhibition- Aero India concluded at the Air Force Station, Yelahanka in Bengaluru. AIR correspondent reports that Asia’s biennial premier air show Aero India 2017, has received overwhelming response from business delegates and general public.On the first three days number of MOUs was signed under manufacturing sector. HAL, the premier Aeronautics giant received several crore rupees worth contracts for manufacturing sub-parts of aircrafts. Boeing and Rolls Royce have signed MOUs to set up manufacturing base in India and Airbus will set up Centre of Excellence for Aerospace skills development in Hyderabad.
TTD loses around ₹200 cr. in laddu sale:
TIRUMALA Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams suffered a heavy loss in the sale of its famous ‘laddus’. The loss for the financial year is expected to cross ₹200 crore. The steep rise in the price of ingredients that go into the making laddus, the subsidy it enjoys, and stagnant selling price have contributed to a huge deficit, and loss of ₹8 per laddu, on the sale price of ₹25.
Hyderabad to get new set of twin reservoirs:
Work for the next generation of twin reservoirs for the city’s drinking water requirements might commence this year, more than a century after the Osmansagar and Himayatsagar lakes were conceptualised by the legendary engineer Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya. The existing twin reservoirs together can hold 6 tmc of water, the future twins are being planned for holding a whopping 20 tmc of water each.
Swachh Bharat Mission: Tamil Nadu’s Perambalur district builds 4666 toilets in 48 hours:
Each unit costed Rs 12,000 and was constructed with full government subsidy.In a mission to provide all rural households with individual toilets in Perambalur district, the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) built 4,666 toilets in 121 villages in 48 hours under the Swachh Bharat Mission.The total cost of the work was Rs 7.20 crore with 6.60 lakh hollow cement blocks, 3.60 lakh concrete cement rings and 30,000 cement bags utilised for the construction of toilets.
GST Council clears law to compensate states for revenue loss:
The Finance Minister Arun Jaitley-led GST Council finalised the Draft Compensation Bill, in a bid to speed up the rollout of Goods and Services Tax by July 1, 2017. The 10th meeting of the GST Council also cleared the final drafting of the anti-profiteering clause to ensure benefit of lower taxes gets shared with consumers. Crucial draft laws pertaining largely to Central GST (CGST), Integrated GST (IGST) and State GST (SGST) are yet to be finalised. The GST Council will now meet next on March 4 and 5 to give final touches to the CGST, IGST and SGST laws.
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
China to build reactors in South China Sea:
To power its offshore oil and gas exploration work, China is stepping up construction of floating nuclear reactors in the South China Sea, which is claimed by multiple countries. China is seeking help from Russia to speed up the project. At present, diesel generators are the main power source for China’s offshore operations.
India’s vaccine regulatory body NRAI gets highest WHO ratings :
WHO completed the assessment of the status of the Indian vaccine regulatory system against WHO NRA Global Benchmarking Tool (GBT) and measured the maturity of the system in India. The National Regulatory Authority of India (NRAI) has been given the maximum ratings by global health body World Health Organisation for vaccine regulations. WHO completed the assessment of the status of the Indian vaccine regulatory system against WHO NRA Global Benchmarking Tool (GBT) and measured the maturity of the system in India.
Germany keen on investments in Tamilnadu: CG:
Germany was keen on strengthening its ties with India particularly in Tamil Nadu and was looking forward to investments in various sectors, Consul-General in Chennai.“In the same way, Germans invested in India in various fields, specially in automobile industry in Chennai”, he was quoted as saying in a Raj Bhavan release. “Germany is keen on further strengthening its business and strategic ties with India, particularly in Tamil Nadu and look forward to investments in areas of renewable energy, green technologies and education exchange programmes”.
Powerful storm slams California, bringing mudslides, sinkholes and deadly winds:
The powerful storm blew in from the Pacific Ocean, hitting California with high winds and heavy rain that downed power lines, leaving 60,000 people in the Los Angeles area without power, and prompting hundreds of flight delays and cancellations at airports.
With the storm feeding on an atmospheric river of moisture stretching far out into the Pacific, precautionary evacuations of homes in some neighbourhoods were requested due to the potential for mudslides and debris flows.
Pakistan Senate passes much-awaited Hindu marriage bill:
The upper house of Pakistan’s Senate passed the much-awaited Hindu marriage bill on Friday, awaiting the President’s signature to become a law.
HIGHLIGHTS
The Hindu Marriage Bill 2017 was adopted by Pakistan Senate on Friday.
The bill had already been approved by the lower house
The bill will help Hindu women get documentary proof of their marriage.
APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNS
Gambia’s new president set for inauguration:
Gambia’s new president Adama Barrow is set to be inaugurated this tiny West African nation celebrates wider freedoms after a tense political standoff with its former leader.Several heads of state are scheduled to attend ceremony for President Adama Barrow. He was sworn into office last month at Gambia’s embassy in neighboring Senegal as former leader Yahya Jammeh refused to cede power.
BCCI General Manager RP Shah resigns:
RP Shah, one of the three General Managers of BCCI, resigned from his post citing his age as a “reason”.Shah was the General Manager (Commercial) and was considered to be one of the big decision makers in board’s commercial interests. Shah said that it was purely a personal decision taken four months back.
BANKING,BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
SBI associate SBT to raise up to ₹600 crore:
Ahead of its proposed merger with SBI, State Bank of Travancore (SBT) will raise up to ₹600 crore to shore up additional tier-I capital by issuing Basel compliant bonds through private placement . The bank got approval of its Executive Committee to raise the money.
“The executive committee of the board of directors of the bank at its meeting has approved the raising of up to ₹600 crore by way of issue of Basel III compliant additional tier-I bonds by private placement,” SBT said in a regulatory filing.
Axis Bank keeps MCLRs unchanged; 1-yr tenor loan at 8.25%:
Private sector Axis Bank has decided to keep the marginal cost of fund based lending rates (MCLRs) unchanged for the next monthly cycle .”Axis Bank reviews and retains the MCLRs at the same levels across tenors. The one year MCLR stands unchanged at 8.25 percent”.
Sprint and T-Mobile Merger Back on the Table as SoftBank Agrees to Cede Control of Sprint:
Sprint parent company SoftBank is prepared to sell Sprint to T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telekom, reviving a potential merger between the two companies. SoftBank is reportedly frustrated with Sprint’s growth in the United States and is ready to surrender control of the company and take a minority stake in T-Mobile.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
Lata Mangeshkar gets Legendary Award :
Melody Queen Lata Mangeshkar has been honoured with the ‘Legendary Award’ by Brand Laureate. The Brand Laureate Awards recognise worldclass achievement in branding amongst individuals and companies.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Nagpur IIT Madras’ first step to cheaper cancer diagnostic alternative:
A team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has developed a cheaper yet reliable alternative for diagnosing leukaemia and colorectal cancer. Like monoclonal antibodies which are currently used for cancer diagnostics, the fusion protein developed by the researchers has high specificity and sensitivity. The results were recently published in the journal Molecular Diagnosis & Therapy.
Inexpensive mass production of smart and stretchable fabric at almost any size:
Michigan State University researchers have developed the first stretchable integrated circuit made entirely using an inkjet printer. The researchers successfully created the elastic material, the circuit and the organic light-emitting diode, or OLED. The next step is combining the circuit and OLED into a single pixel.
Scientists from Disney Research have found a way to charge electrical devices without using wires:
The method involves inducing electric currents in the metallised walls which in turn generate uniform magnetic fields that penetrate the interior of a room. This technology could make electricity as accessible as wifi.
SPORTS
India get silver at Asian Women’s Rugby Sevens Trophy:
The Indian Women’s team settled for a silver at the Asian Rugby Sevens Trophy held at Vientiane, Laos.The team participated under the aegis of the Indian Rugby Football Union (IRFU), the governing body for the sport of Rugby in India and supported by Societe Generale, the financial partner of Rugby India.
Sandeep wins in record time:
Sandeep Kumar clocked a National Record 3 hours 55 minutes 59.05 seconds in winning the 50 kilometre gold in the Max Bupa National race walking championship at the Vinay Marg here. The 30-year-old Sandeep, who beat Jitender Singh and Chandan Singh of the Services in clinching the gold for Haryana, had set the earlier mark of 3:56:22.00 in 2014.
OBTIUARY
Laker Test’ centurion Richardson dies :
Peter Richardson who made a century for England in the 1956 Ashes Test in which Jim Laker took a world record 19 wickets has died aged 85, his former county Kent announced .Richardson accrued five centuries in the 34 Tests he played between 1956 and 1963.
Famous Hindi novelist Ved Prakash Sharma dies at 61:
Celebrated Hindi novelist Ved Prakash Sharma, who has 176 novels to his credit, died late in Meerut .He was fighting lung cancer for 11 months. Sharma had his own publishing house, Tulsi Books Publications, which printed novels and textbooks. Sharma had also written scripts for about half-a-dozen Hindi movies.
His famous novels which broke many records and added to his popularity included “Qaidi No 100” and “Vardi Wala Gunda”.
Former MP Jambuwantrao Dhote, popularly known as Lion of Vidarbha, passes away:
Former Nagpur MP and firebrand leader Jambuwantrao Dhote passed away at Yavatmal, Former MP Jambuvantrao Dhote passes awayMaharashtra Dhote is Popularly known as “Lion of Vidarbha” because he always stood for the cause of separate Vidarbha
He was also a legislator for two terms from Yavatmal district. Ge started his political career with the Forward Bloc and later moved to the Congress in the late 70s before joining the Shiv Sena.
Senior journalist Yudhisthir Joshi passes away:
Senior Marathi journalist Yudhisthir Joshi passed away after a brief illness. He was 81. Joshi passed away at his residence in Mira Road near here, family sources said. He was editor with leading Marathi publications such as Lokmat.
