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INDIAN AFFAIRS
5 key bills assented by Prez Pranab Mukherjee
As per the provisions of Article 111 of the Constitution of India, President Pranab Mukherjee has given assent to five key bills that were passed by both the houses of Parliament, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in the recently concluded winter session of Parliament.
Justice Lodha panel submits report to SC for reforms in BCCI
Justice R M Lodha panel, had recommended suspension of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals due to their involvement in illegal betting and spot-fixing, submitted its report by advocate Gopal Shankar Narayan to the Supreme Court registry. It will be considered by the bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur.
Reason behind suspension:
It had suspended Chennai Super Kings(Dhoni led) which is the the most successful team of IPL, and Rajasthan Royals for two years from the League in a clear-out of cricket in 2013 betting scam involving their top officials Gurunath Meiyappan(Son-in-law of the then BCCI chief N Srinivasan) and Raj Kundra. They were suspended for life from any matches conducted by BCCI.
Key Points:
- Meiyappan, a former Team Principal of India Cements Ltd (ICL)-owned franchise CSK
- Raj Kundra, co-owner of Jaipur IPL that runs Rajasthan Royals (RR)
BANKING & FINANCE
“Jeevan Labh” initiated by LIC
Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) introduced a limited premium paying, non-linked with-profits Endowment Assurance plan “Jeevan Labh”.
What is Jeevan Labh plan?
Jeevan Labh is a limited premium paying endowment plan which means premium paying shall be less than the policy tenure and policyholder’s nominee will receive the maturity benefit together with any other benefits at the end of the policy term or on the death of the policy holder, whichever is earlier.
RBI imposes Rs 1 cr fine on State Bank of Travancore
RBI has imposed a penalty of Rs 1 crore on an SBI associate bank i.e. State Bank of Travancore violating some of its instructions including report of data to Central Repository of Information on Large Credits (CRILC) which was set up by to collect, store, and disseminate data on all borrowers’ credit exposures.
- Banks are required to report all information including classification of an account as Special Mention Accounts( SMA), on all borrowers having aggregate fund-based and non-fund-based exposure of Rs.5 crore and more than that.
Effect of penalty: Shares of State Bank of Travancore have fallen by 1.5% to quote at Rs.402 on the BSE after the RBI slapped a penalty of Rs.1 crore on the bank for violation of some of its instructions.
Points to remember: State Bank of India
- Slogan: The Banker to Every Indian
- Headquarters: Mumbai
- Chairperson: Smt. Arundhati Bhattacharya
BUSINESS
HAL to open helicopter factory in Tumakuru
Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled a plaque for the foundation stone of the new plant for the construction of new helicopter manufacturing unit of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Tumkur district in Karnataka to serve soldiers stationed in distant locations.
- About 4000 families will get livelihood due to this factory. The first helicopter built in this unit is expected to take flight by 2018.
Key facts: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited(HAL) is an Indian state-owned aerospace and defence company based in Bangalore, Karnataka, governed under the Indian Ministry of Defence. The German engineer Kurt Tank designed the HF-24 Marut fighter-bomber, the first fighter aircraft made in India.
- CMD: T Suvarna Raju
- Manufacturing plants: Nasik, Korwa, Kanpur, Koraput, Lucknow, Bangalore and Hyderabad.
AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS
Mt. Aconcagua conquered by Amputee mountaineer Arunima Sinha
After conquering Mount Everest, Amputee Mountaineer Arunima Sinha has added another feather to her cap by conquering Mount Aconcagua, Argentina.
- She started her mission on the morning of December 12 and hoisted the Indian tricolour on December 25.
- She has successfully completed the 5th summit of the Mission 7 Summits – Mt. Everest (Asia), Mt. Kilimanjaro (Africa), Mt. Elbrus (Europe), Mt.Kosizko (Australia) and Mt. Aconcagua (Argentina).
- Aconcagua (6,960.8 metres) is the highest mountain outside Asia and is also known as second Everest.
Padma Shri awardee VVS Laxman’s 281 awarded the Best Test Innings
Vangipurapu Venkata Sai Laxman’s (41) masterly innings of 281 against Australia at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on 14 March 2001 has been voted the greatest Test performance of the last 50 years by a 25-member panel of cricketers, writers, broadcasters, historians and statisticians assembled by the January issue of ESPN’s digital magazine the Cricket Monthly.
APPOINTMENTS
Syngene appoints Jonathan Hunt as CEO-designate
Syngene International(contract research organization) has appointed Jonathan Hunt as CEO-designate after the retirement of current CEO Peter Bains in March 2016.
- He will be responsible to strengthen Syngene’s relations with its present global customers and building new relationships.
Jonathan Hunt was with AstraZeneca and held many leadership positions with President & Director of AstraZeneca, Austria, and President & COO, AstraZeneca India.
About Syngene International: Syngene International Limited is Biocon’s custom research organisation that offers pharmaceutical and biotechnology majors customised solutions in synthetic chemistry and molecular biology for early-stage drug discovery and development.
- Established: 1994
- Managing Director: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
Wipro names Abidali Neemuchwala as its new CEO, TK Kurien to be vice chairman
Wipro, spponted Abidali Z Neemuchwala as chief executive officer (CEO), succeeding T K Kurien( now executive vice-chairman).
- Neemuchwala, who joined the Bengaluru-based company last year, would also join the board as an executive director. He will have to deal with both secular headwinds and company-specific issues
About Abidali Z Neemuchwala:
- A graduate in Electronics & Communication engineering from NIT, Raipur, and a PG in Industrial Management from IIT, Mumbai
- Spent around 23 years at TCS before joining Wipro in March as COO & Group President
Key Facts:
- Wipro Limited (Western India Palm Refined Oils Limited or more recently, Western India Products Limited) is the country’s third largest information technology services company.
- Headquarters: Bangalore
- Chairman & MD: Azim Premji
Shekhar Saran assumes charge as CMD of CMPDI
Shekhar Saran assumed charge as Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Ranchi-based Central Mine Planning & Design Institute Ltd (CMPDI). He served as the Director (Technical) of CMPDI.
About Shekhar Saran:
A mining engineer and MBA, he started his career in the coal industry from Sohagpur area of South Eastern Coalfields Ltd (SECL) in 1981.
About CMPDI: Central Mine Planning and Design Institute is a fully owned subsidiary of Coal India Limited, engaged in the field of environmental engineering and provides consultancy and engineering services across the globe.
ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS
Paytm acquires Shifu for $8mn to enrich customer experience
The mobile wallet and e-commerce platform Paytm announced the acquisition of Delhi-based startup Shifu, a consumer behaviour prediction platform, for $8 million (Rs. 53.2 crore).
- Shifu analyses the smartphone usage patterns of users and makes personalised and relevant recommendations to them.
Through the acquisition, Paytm aims to leverage the tech infrastructure of Shifu to enrich the customer experience it offers to its users. The move is in line with Paytm’s strategic plan to invest $150 million in a dozen Indian tech start-ups over the next few months.
- In November, Paytm acquired home service marketplace Near.in for an undisclosed amount to boost online-to-offline (O2O) play.
IMPORTANT DAYS
207th Birth anniversary of Louis Braille celebrated across the world
On 207th birth anniversary of world’s greatest source of inspiration for the blind, an impressive function was organized by the Department of Social Welfare at Residential School for Blinds (RSB) at Roop Nagar.
Chief Guest: Minister for Social Welfare,Forest, Ecology & Environment, Bali Bhagat
- Director Social Welfare, Jammu, Veerji Hangloo, Chairman SAHYOG, Ashwani Jojra, were present on the occasion.
- The Government has also launched several welfare and rehabilitation schemes for these special people and Social Welfare Department takes care of these schemes.
- A camp will be organized to provide artificial limbs and other aids and appliances to the physically challenged people in Jammu, for which registration has been done.
Louis Braille, who despite being himself blind, struggled greatly and wrote a golden chapter for millions of blind, the developer of Braille Code, was born on January 4 in 1809. The day is celebrated as “World Braille Day”. Louis Braille also developed a set of alphabets for music notations. At present, almost every of language, including Computer languages, has Braille versions.
