NATIONAL
UPDATES:
1. “Cyber Surakshit Bharat”
launched by MEITY: In
order to strengthen cybersecurity ecosystem in India, Ministry of
Electronics & IT has announced Cyber Surakshit Bharat initiative in
association with NeGD & industry partners. It will be operated on the three
principles of Awareness, Education and Enablement. It is the first
public-private partnership of its kind & will leverage the expertise of the
IT industry in cyber security.
2. Commencement of ‘Livability
Index’: Union minister
Hardeep Singh Puri has announced commencement of the country’s first-ever
‘Livability Index’ to rank 116 cities. Cities will be assessed on 15 core
parameters like governance, social infrastructure, education, employment etc.
‘Livability Index’ will also take into account physical infrastructures like
housing, open spaces, land use, energy and water availability among others.
3. In an initiative to
empower Persons with Disabilities, 100 websites of various State Govts/UTs
under Accessible India Campaign were launched: Accessible
Websites are those websites into which Persons with Disabilities can perceive,
understand, navigate, and interact with the Web. ERNET India (MEITY) is
executing the project which is funded by DEPwD under Accessibility India
Campaign.
4. CRPF special DG Sudeep
Lakhtakia has been appointed as the new chief of National Security Guard(NSG): Lakhtakia will take over from S P Singh,
the current chief of the elite counter-terror force. NSG is special forces unit
under the Ministry of Home Affairs which was raised in 1984 for combating
terrorist activities with a view to protect states against internal
disturbances.
5. Innovation in Governance
Award 2018: Andhra Pradesh
Information Technology Minister Nara Lokesh was felicitated with Dr. Kalam
Innovation in Governance Award 2018. The award was conferred on him by Rajya
Sabha Secretary General Desh Deepak Verma for exemplary work in improving
governance. The foundation was set up in the memory of former President A J
Abdul Kalam. It works in various areas for development of the society.
6. India is the world’s
largest consumer of petcoke:
The environment ministry has placed restrictions on the use of imported
petroleum coke in Delhi & its surrounding region to curb rising air
pollution: Only consented & registered industrial units of NCR States shall
be permitted to directly import pet coke. India is the world’s largest consumer
of petcoke & imports over half its annual petcoke consumption of about 27mn
tonnes mainly from US.
7. President Kovind
felicitated exceptional women achievers who are the first to set a milestone in
their respective fields at Rashtrapati Bhawan: Over 100 women were selected after an extensive
research process by Women & Child Development Ministry. The women who
have been felicitated are those who have been the first in any field
like first woman judge, first woman porter, first Olympian etc.
8. Tamilnadu to host first
ever Defence Expo:
According to defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Tamil Nadu will host its
first-ever bi-annual defence exhibition in April. The exhibition will take
place from April 11 to 14 and nearly 80 countries are expected to take part in
it. Arrangements will be made for the Navy, Army and Air Force to display their
equipment in the exhibition.
9. Arun Jaitley, Union
Finance & Corporate Affairs minister, launched the National CSR Data Portal
& Corporate Data Portal in Delhi: The initiative is a significant step towards driving
accountability & transparency for corporate India. By making the portals
accessible to general public, it will ensure high level of compliance and also
in institutionalizing and consolidating the CSR activities.
10. Newly appointed chairman
of ISB: Harish Manwani,
non-executive chairman of HUL, has been appointed as the chairman
of executive board of Indian School of Business, Hyderabad: Manwani will take over from Adi Godrej,
chairman of Godrej group, starting April this year. Manwani has been on the
board of ISB since April 2006. ISB is a premier management institution in
India having campuses in Hyderabad & Mohali.
INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:
1. UN special envoy visits
Rohingya camp: UN special
rapporteur for human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee visited Rohingya
refugee camp in Bangladesh’s coastal town of Cox’s Bazar. Lee was also supposed
to visit her native Myanmar, but govt there unexpectedly banned her from
visiting the country. Rohingyas are a Muslim minority ethnic group in Myanmar.
They have been regarded as illegal migrants from Bangladesh.
OTHER UPDATES:
BANKING/FINANCE:
1. Allahabad Bank became
First to issue shares:
Allahabad Bank has became the 1st public sector lender to offer an
employee stock option scheme, under which it will offer 5 crore ordinary shares
to its staff. Proceeds from share sale will be used to raise core capital of
the bank which has long ago been placed under prompt corrective action by RBI.
Bank may issue shares in 1 tranche & will complete the transactions in this
financial year.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY:
1. ONGC To Buy Government
Stake In HPCL: Oil and
Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has agreed to buy the government’s majority stake in
Hindustan Petroleum Corp for Rs. 36,900 crore. The deal is part of the govt’s
objective to combine various public sector enterprises to give them the
capacity to bear higher risks & create more value for shareholders. The
proceeds from the HPCL stake sale will help the government pay for welfare
programmes.
BANKING/
FINANCE:
1. Axis Bank with Srijan NGO
initiated Buddha Fellowship Programme: Axis Bank is partnering with NGO Srijan through an
initiative called Buddha Fellowship Programme to help nurture talent for
development sector. Buddha Fellows are a cohort of IIM grads working in
rural areas with farmer producer companies, govt departments to scale up
projects in livelihood, health & education sectors. The bank is mentoring
15 grads from IIM at Kolkata, Ahmedabad & Shillong.
