Cabinet Approvals
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in its meeting has approved several MoUs.
Some important cabinet approvals are as follows:
1. National Health Policy, 2017 approved by Cabinet Focus on Preventive and Promotive Health Care and Universal access to good quality health care services.
2. MoUs for cooperation in Youth and Sports Matters with Indonesia and the Kyrgyz Republic.
3. MoU between India and Bangladesh on Aids to Navigation (AtoNs).
India joins WHO call to end TB by 2030 in South East Asian
i. India with World Health Organization (WHO) signed a 'call for action' and pledged to scale up measures to end the Tuberculosis by 2030.
ii. India among other countries in the South East Asian Region, which bear half of the global tuberculosis burden. India reports 2.8 million new TB cases annually and nearly half a million deaths due to the disease.
iii. Six of the region's countries Bangladesh, Democratic People's Republic (DPR) Korea, India, Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand are among the 30 high TB burden nations globally.
IISc, Bengaluru Placed Among Top 50 in THE’s Asia Universities Ranking
i. The Times Higher Education (THE) released its Asia University Rankings 2017. The top rank in the Asia University Rankings was attained by the National University of Singapore (NUS) for the second consecutive year.
ii. According to the 2017 ranking, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru has been ranked best Indian University and has been placed at 27th position among the universities in Asia.
iii. Besides, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay was another Indian university among top 50 placed at 42 position.
Bandhan Bank, Avenues India tie up
i. Bandhan Bank, has signed an agreement with Avenues India Pvt Ltd, a payment solution provider to provide merchants with seamless access to point-of-sales (POS) and payment gateway products.
ii. Merchants are expected to have a faster and more direct access to POS machines, payment gateways, and competitive financing options.
BSE ties up with Sentifi for algo analysis, updates
i. The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has tied up with Sentifi, a Swiss company and leader in algorithmic-based analysis, for social media updates of 40,000 globally listed stocks.
ii. Sentifi analyses in real time the public online communication of more than 60 lakh persons and organizations relevant to the financial markets. Under the partnership, Sentifi would track, analyze and report social media messages on various stocks which would be provided on the BSE website.
SEBI allows celebrity endorsements in MFs
i. Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) allowed celebrities to endorse Mutual Fund products at the industry level and issued new advertising code that will require fund houses to communicate in a simple manner with the public.
ii. SEBI stated that it has permitted celebrity endorsements at the industry level for the purpose of increasing awareness of mutual funds as a financial product category.
Dilip Shanghvi appointed as member of RBI's western board
i. Sun Pharmaceuticals Managing Director Dilip Shanghvi has been appointed by the central government as a member of the western area local board of Reserve Bank of India.
ii. The appointment is for four years with effect from March 11, 2017, as per the central bank.
Jwala Gutta appointed SAI governing body member
i. India's most successful Badminton Doubles specialist Jwala Gutta has been appointed a member of the governing body of Sports Authority of India (SAI).ii. The 14-time national champion and two-time Olympian Jwala won the bronze medal at the 2011 World Championships. She is also a 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games champion and a silver medallist at the 2014 Glasgow Games in women's doubles.
Indian-American Teen Indrani Das Wins 2017 Regeneron Science Talent Search
i. An Indian-American high school student, Indrani Das, 17, of New Jersey, has won the 2017 Regeneron Science Talent Search bagging the top award of 250,000 dollars.
ii. Indrani, a student at the Academy for Medical Science Technology in Hackensack, won the prestigious high school science and mathematics competition for her new approach to neurological damage.
ONGC to invest Rs 21,500-crore in India's deepest gas find
i. State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) will invest over Rs 21,500 crore to develop India's deepest gas discovery by 2022-23, helping it more than double output from its prime KG basin block.
ii. ONGC, which had last year firmed up an investment of Rs 34,012 crore in bringing to production 10 oil and gas discoveries in its Bay of Bengal block KG-DWN-98/2 (KG-D5), plans to invest another Rs 21,528 crore in developing the ultra-deepsea UD-1 find.
Aeries Financial Tech, Rubique form tie-up
i. CASHe, a fin-tech product promoted by Aeries Financial Technologies, has entered into a strategic partnership with online marketplace for financial products Rubique.
ii. Under the partnership, Rubique will enlist CASHe on its online platform for borrowers to avail viable short-term loan products from CASHe.
iii.CASHe disburses multiple loan products ranging from Rs. 5,000-1 lakh payable over 15, 30 and 90 days.
Changi voted World's Best Airport for 5th consecutive year
i. Singapore's Changi Airport has been voted the World's Best Airport by air travellers at the 2017 World Airport Awards for the fifth consecutive year.
ii. The 2017 World Airport Awards are based on 13.82 million customer nominations across 105 nationalities of air travellers, with 550 airports worldwide taking part.
China, Saudi Arabia ink deals worth about $65 billion
i. China and Saudi Arabia have signed preliminary deals that is about $65 billion while four-day visit by Saudi King Salman to China.
ii. China’s Deputy Foreign Minister Zhang Ming stated that President Xi Jinping and King Salman inked a total 14 cooperation agreements, including a memorandum of understanding on 35 projects for production capacity and investment cooperation.
NEXTracker partners with to APL Apollo Tubes to expand domestic manufacturing
i. Global solar tracker manufacturer, NEXTracker has partnered with APL Apollo Tubes for manufacturing a bulk of its products in India.
ii. NEXTracker will be increasing its local steel content percentage to over 80% by volume and weight of its final product. NEXTracker also assess that the association with new Indian steel manufacturer reduces shipment time by up to 50%.
SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Launches EchoStar 23 Satellite
i. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket conducted its third flight of the year to launch a commercial communications satellite in the geosynchronous transfer orbit.
ii. The launch took off from NASA’s Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida and carried the EchoStar 23 communications satellite into orbit.
iii. Having a mass of around 5,500 kilograms (12,000 lb), EchoStar XXIII was the heaviest geosynchronous payload yet launched by the Falcon 9 and will operate at 45 degrees west in geostationary orbit.
Pakistan successfully test-fires surface-to-sea missile
i. Pakistan Navy conducted a successful test of a land-based anti-ship missile, bolstering the operational reach of the country’s navy to launch long-range, anti-ship missiles from land.
ii. The trial of the missile was conducted from the coastal region and the missile secured a hit on a target placed at sea. The missile is equipped with advanced technology and avionics, which enable engagement of targets at sea with a high degree of accuracy.
