DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS : JANUARY 17, 2018

NATIONAL

West Bengal has highest number of MSMEs

  • West Bengal has the highest number of MSMEs in the country with 52,69,814 units.
  • Bengal has been accounted for 11.62 percent of micro, small and medium enterprises, the most among the top 10 states of the country.
  • Uttar Pradesh ranked second after West Bengal, followed by Maharashtra. Gujarat stood eighth with 4.89 percent of the MSME share.
  • West Bengal also tops the list of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion’s Business Reforms Action Plan (BRAP) 2017.
  • In 2017, West Bengal also recorded the biggest bank credit flow to the MSME sector in the last five years at USD 15 billion.

West Bengal

Capital: Kolkata

Chief Minister: Mamata Banerjee

Governor: Keshari Nath Tripathi

Central Govt sanctions projects over Rs. 10,000 cr for North East

  • The Centre has sanctioned projects over 10,000 crore rupees in the North East for better network connectivity.
  • Telecommunication Minister Manoj Sinha announced that the projects will be completed in 2018.Two MoUs have been signed to cover the uncovered areas in the North East including Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
  • Two nodal officers has been appointed to monitor the progress of the work, announced by Assam IT Minister Keshab Mahanta.

     

RIL plans to invest ₹20,000 crore in West Bengal

  • Reliance Industries Ltd. chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani announced a investment of ₹5,000 crore, in addition to the group’s investments about ₹15,000 crore made in the State.
  • West Bengal figured among the RIL’s largest investments in India, RIL had also emerged as one of West Bengal’s largest investors.
  • The latest investment is to be made in Jio and the digital ecosystem, retail and petro-retail over the next few years.

West Bengal

Capital: Kolkata

Chief Minister: Mamata Banerjee

Governor: Keshari Nath Tripathi

Adani group to invest Rs. 750 cr in West Bengal

  • The Adani Group would invest Rs. 750 crore to double the capacity of the company’s edible oil refinery at Haldia in West Bengal.
  • According to Pranav Adani, MD, the Group will invest in port, agri and power sectors.
  • Adanis have already doubled the refining capacity from 800 tonnes to 1,600 tonnes per day in five years. Packaging capacity has also been expanded from 1,200 tonnes to 1,800 tonnes.

     

Ministry of Petroleum Launches Saksham 2018 Campaign

  • Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has been launched ‘Saksham 2018’.
  • It is a vigorous and high intensity one-month mega campaign of Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA).
  • Saksham aims at creating focused attention on fuel conservation through people centric activities and efficient use of petroleum products leading to better health and environment.
  • PCRA plans to observe Cycle Day on 21st January throughout the country.

India, Sri Lanka Sign 4 Agreements for Collaboration in ICT Sector

  • India and Sri Lanka signed four agreements for collaboration in ICT sector, setting up of e-office system and connecting of National Knowledge network (NKN) for collaboration among universities and academics.
  • The MoU for cooperation was signed by Union minister for Information Technology Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad representing India.
  • Sri Lanka has become the first country to be connected to NKN through a Gigabyte optical fibre network.
  • The constituency of Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad is Bihar, Rajya Sabha.

INTERNATIONAL

Vajra Prahar: Indo-US joint military exercise to be held in Seattle

  • ‘Vajra Prahar’ will be held at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) in Seattle.
  • Indian Army with 45 members team from the Pune-headquartered Southern Command will participate in this exercise.
  • ‘Vajra Prahar’ is a Indo-US Special Forces joint training exercise conducted alternately in India and the US.
  • The aim of the exercise is to promote military relations between the two countries by enhancing interoperability and mutual exchange of tactics between Special Forces.
  • The last edition was held in 2017 at Jodhpur.

     

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

TCS gets $690 million deal from M&G Prudential

  • Tata Consultancy Services has signed a $690-million (Rs 4,400-crore), 10-year deal with M&G Prudential, the UK and European savings and investments business unit of Prudential.
  • This is the third largeest insurance contract won by India’s top IT services company in the past four months.
  • TCS will digitally transform M&G Prudential’s business and deliver enhanced service to its customers in the UK.

Chief Executive of M&G: Prudential John Foley

Chief Executive of TCS: Rajesh Gopinathan

AWARDS AND HONOURS

President Kovind to confer Sangeet Natak Awards for 2016

  • President Ram Nath Kovind will confer the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships and Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards for 2016 to an eminent group of musicians, dancers, and theatre artists.
  • The function will be held at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
  • Four eminent artists will be conferred Fellowships of the Akademi with three lakh cash prize each and 43 artists will receive the Akademis Awards with one lakh cash prize each.
  • The four Fellowships (Akademi Ratnas) this year will be conferred on Arvind Parikh, R Vedavalli, Ram Gopal Bajaj and Sunil Kothari.

     

Sudhir Dalvi receives Janakavi P Sawlaram Award

  • Actor Sudhir Dalvi was honoured with the Janakavi P Sawlaram award.
  • The award is jointly given by the Thane Municipal Corporation and the Janakavi P Savlaram Kala Samiti.
  • Well-known dancer Jaishree T was bestowed with the Ganga Jamuna award, which is instituted in memory of a popular song written by Sawlaram.

BOOKS AND AUTHORS               

Sanjay Manjrekar Launches his Autobiography ‘Imperfect’

  • Sanjay Manjrekar launched his autobiography ‘Imperfect’, in the event held in Mumbai. The book was published by Harper Collins, a global publishing company.
  • The book ‘Imperfect’ was released by Dilip Vengsarkar, Sanjay Manjrekar’s first international captain. Sanjay Manjrekar has played 37 Test matches. His first test appearance was in the Delhi Test against the West Indies.

SPORTS

Ronaldinho retires from professional football

  • Brazilian World Cup winner Ronaldinho has formally confirmed his retirement from football.
  • He played last in 2015 with Fluminense. He has been awarded the Ballon D’Or in 2005.
  • For Brazil, Ronaldinho made 97 appearances, scoring 33 goals, including two in the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.
  • Ronaldinho’s career began with Gremio football club in Porto Alegre before he emerged as a star with French giants PSG.

     

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