NATIONAL AFFAIRS

64th National Film Awards 2017: Neerja, Akshay Kumar, Surabhi Lakshmi win top honours

 
The 64th National Film Awards were announced. Surabhi Lakshmi and Akshay Kumar were among the big winners. While Sonam’s Neerja was declared the Best Hindi Film of 2016, Rustom won Akshay Kumar the Best Actor award. While Shoojit Sircar’s Pink won the best film on social issues, Rajesh Mapuskar’s Ventilator grabbed the prize for best direction.

Best feature films in regional languages

Joker (Tamil)

Pelli Chupulu (Telugu)

Maheshinte Prathikaram (Malayalam)

Reservation (Kannada)

1st TB-Free Summit in: Actors, MPs to play T20 match in Dharamshala

Members of Parliament will play a Mumbai Heroes selection in a friendly T20 cricket match at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) cricket stadium to lend their support to make India TB-free by 2025.

A vision document and roadmap for a TB-free India by 2025 will be drawn under the guidance of three-time Lok Sabha MP and former BCCI president Anurag Thakur.

Venkaiah inaugurates children’s film festival:

 
Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting M. Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated the National Children’s Film Festival at VUDA Children’s Arena in Visakhapatnam. The three-day event is being organised by the Children’s Film Society of India in association with the Andhra Pradesh government.

Samajwadi out, Mukhyamantri in:

    Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath has directed removal of the word ‘Samajwadi’ from development schemes running in UP, saying ‘Mukhyamantri’ should be used in its place.

Difficult to convert to BS-VI from 2019: Auto makers to Supreme Court 

 
Automobile manufacturers conveyed to the Supreme Court their difficulty in starting the process of conversion of vehicles to BS-VI emission norm from 2019 to meet the April 1, 2020 deadline.

The Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA), they have to start the conversion of their vehicles into BS-VI from 2019 so that it could be sold from April 1, 2020.

Tamil Nadu Govt Appoints 3 Additional Chief Secretary:

 
The Tamil Nadu government promoted three IAS officers to the rank of Chief Secretary to the government. The officials include Niranjan Mardi, Home Secretary; PWC Davidar, CMD of Tamil Nadu Urban Finance Development Corporation Limited, and Hans Raj Verma, Rural Development Secretary.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

United Democratic Party wins majority in Gambia:

 
The party of Gambia’s new President Adama Barrow won a majority of seats in Parliament after two decades of domination by the party of former leader Yahya Jammeh, the Independent Electoral Commission announced. President Barrow’s United Democratic Party won 31 seats out of 53.

Deputy PM Bimalendra Nidhi to resign:

 
The decision by Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” to overrule his claim to be the senior most among three Deputy Prime Ministers, Bimalendra Nidhi, who is also in charge of the nation’s Home Affairs, is likely to resign from the Cabinet. Nidhi is a leader of the Nepali Congress, the largest party in the Parliament.

BANKING & BUSINESS

SIB Ties Up With Flyworld Money:

 
South Indian Bank has entered into an agreement with Flyworld Money Exchange for facilitating remittances of Indian expatriates in Australia. This arrangement of SIB marks the first remittance arrangement with an exchange house in Australia. Through this tie-up NRIs in Australia can enjoy quick and cost effective remittances to India using SIB Express facility.

Muthoot Finance to raise Rs.2000 Cr:

 
Muthoot Finance, a gold loan company will raise Rs.2000 crore through public issue of non-convertible redeemable debentures with a face value of Rs.1000 each aggregating to Rs.1950 crore and unsecured redeemable non-convertible debentures of face value of Rs.1000 each aggregating to Rs.50 crore. The subscription has a shelf limit of Rs.2000 crore.

PHCs to be strengthened into wellness centres:

 
On World Health Day, the government to strengthen Public Health Centres; around one lakh sub centres will be transformed into wellness centres. Health Ministry J P Nadda had launched free drugs and diagnostics initiative to make healthcare affordable.

WHO is focusing on depression this year to raise awareness on World Health Day.

India recently passed the long-awaited Mental Healthcare Bill, which guarantee the rights to better healthcare for people with mental illness.

APPOINTMENTS

Mukta Tomar Appointed India’s Envoy to Germany:

 
Mukta Dutta Tomar, has been appointed India’s next ambassador to Germany. The appointment of Tomar, who will succeed Gurjit Singh, comes ahead of PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Germany next month. Among other positions, Ms. Tomar has been Consul General of India in Chicago.

U.S. Senate Approves Gorsuch’s Appointment:

 
The Republican-led Senate gave U.S. President Donald Trump his biggest triumph yet by confirming his Supreme Court nominee, Justice Neil Gorsuch, over stout Democratic opposition and restoring a conservative majority on the highest U.S. judicial body. The Senate voted 54-45 to approve Justice Gorsuch.

BOOKS AND AUTHORS

Pranab Mukherjee releases book on Draupadi by Veerappa Moily:

 
A Book on Draupadi written by senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily was released by President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Published by Rupa, “Flaming Tresses of Draupadi” book is an English translation by D A Shankar of Moily’s original work in Kannada.

SPORTS

Kavya Wins Girls U-18 AITA Championship:

Kavya Sawhney won the girls’ U-18 title in the AITA Championship series in junior tennis tournament, outplaying Harleen Kaur 6-2, 6-0 in the final at the CLTA Stadium in Chandigarh.

10-Member Indian Team participates in ATT:

A 10-member Indian team led by National champions A. Sharath Kamal and Madhurika Patkar, will participate in the Asian Table Tennis championships to be held at Wuxi in China from 9th April. The team will be accompanied by expert Massimo costantini and Coach Arup Basak.

OBITUARY

Famous Sculptor Ganapathi Sthapathi Passes Away:

 
V. Ganapathi Sthapathi, the architect of modern-day wonders such as the 133-foot Thiruvalluvar statue in Kanyakumari, Valluvar Kottam in Chennai and the Kannagi and Madhavi statue in Poompuhar, died here in a private hospital.

He is remembered for his contribution in saving 48 archaeologically important temples near the Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir from submerging at Bhadrachalam. He also worked as Chief Sthapathi (sculptor) of former AP’s CM N T Rama Rao’s government.

 

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