25-26 march 2015

Twitter Samvad launched for direct communication between Government and Citizens

Union Government on 24 March 2015 launched new platform named Twitter Samwad that facilitates direct communication between leaders, government agencies and citizens. This platform was launched in association with social networking service Twitter.

Through this, the government bodies can have a direct communication with citizens on a daily basis via Tweets and SMS on their mobile devices.

The service was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his meet with Twitter Chief Executive Dick Costolo in New Delhi. The service is aimed to boost the nation's e-governance plans.

As of now, 16 government offices, including the Prime Minister's Office, Ministry of railways, the Bengaluru Police and the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are participating in Twitter Samvad, which is powered by Bengaluru-based ZipDial, which was recently acquired by Twitter.

Benjamin Nethanyahu of Likud Party won the Israel Elections 2015

Benjamin Nethanyahu of Likud Party on 18 March 2015 won the Israel Elections 2015. The elections for 120 seats of the Knesset, Parliament of Israel, were held on 17 March 2015.

In the elections the incumbent Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu's party secured 29 seats. It was followed by center-left Zionist Union party of Isaac Herzog which secured 24 seats and Joint Arab List or Hadash party came at third place by securing 14 seats. Joint Arab List party is an alliance of Israeli Arab-dominated parties that united for the first time.

Apart from this, Yesh Atid party secured 11 seats, Kulanu party secured 10 seats, Habayit Hayehudi (Jewish Home) party secured 8 seats, Shas and United Torah Judaism party secured 7 seats each, Yisrael Beiteinu party secured 6 seats and Meretz party secured 4 seats.

The 2015 elections saw the turnout of 71.8 percent which was 4.6 percent higher than the previous election in 2013 and was the highest since the 1999 elections that saw a turnout of 78.7 percent.

About Israel Elections

Israel has a parliamentary system based on nation-wide proportional representation.

Each faction receives representation in the 120-seat Knesset proportional to how many votes it gets. Factions must meet a threshold of at least 3.25 percent of the vote to qualify for seats in the Knesset.

Knesset elections are held once in every four years. In moments of political instability or stalemate, a majority of the Knesset may vote to dissolve the body and call early elections to be held 90-150 days later.

Scientists at ANU found the world’s largest asteroid impact zone in Warburton basin, Australia

Scientists at Australian National University (ANU) found the world’s largest asteroid impact zone in the Warburton Basin of central Australia. The findings were published in the March 2015 issue of Journal Tectonophysics.

Dr Andrew Glikson from the Australian National University (ANU) School of Archaeology and Anthropology was the lead author of the study.

As per the study
• The impact zone is 400-kilometer (250-mile) wide area.
• It has a high-density of 2.9–3.0 gr/cm3 and high magnetic susceptibility of SI 0.012–0.037 at a depth of 6–10 km at the centre of the anomalies.
• The structures are marked by deep-seated magnetic and seismic tomography anomalies.
• The asteroid broke into two before it hit, with each fragment more than 10km across.
• The impact occurred at least 300 million years ago, that is, it belongs to pre-Carboniferous era.

The impact zone was discovered during drilling as part of geothermal research, in an area near the borders of South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory.

The previous largest asteroid impact zone was found in the Vredefort crater in South Africa. It clocked in a diameter of 380 kilometers (236 miles). It is also the oldest known crater in the world as it is believed that the impact was formed about 2023 million years ago.

Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries sanctioned 17 Mega Food Parks

Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries on 24 March 2015 sanctioned 17 Mega Food Parks (MFPs). These parks are aimed at creating state-of-the-art infrastructure facilities to reduce food wastage and create value addition.

Details of the 17 MFPs
• The 17 MFPs will be spread across 11 States. While Kerala, Telangana, Haryana, Punjab, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu were sanctioned two MFPs each whereas Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar were sanctioned one MFP each.
• These food parks will attract around 2000 crore rupees in modern food processing infrastructure including 850 crore rupees grant-in-aid provided by the government to these establishments.
• An additional collective investment of 4000 crore rupees is also expected to be invested in 500 food processing units to be set up in these parks.
• The annual turnover of the food processing units in these MFPs would be more than 8000 crore rupees.
• These parks will generate direct or indirect employment for 80000 people.
• It is estimated to benefit around 5 lakh farmers once they become operational.
• Out of the 17 MFPs six have been sanctioned for various state government agencies and eleven to private sector.
• For the first time, under the changed eligibility criteria public authorities are also allowed to establish MFPs.

Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries is implementing the MFP Scheme since 2008. So far 42 MFPs have been sanctioned (including newly sanctioned 17 MFPs). Currently, 25 projects are under implementation and two have become operational and three more are expected to be operationalised by June 2015.

About Mega Food Parks Scheme (MFPS)
The Scheme was launched in 2008 by UPA Government. Its focus is to overcome the bottlenecks in the food supply chain due to which around 33 percent food is wasted in India making it the largest food waster in the world.
A Mega Food Park entails an area of a minimum of 50 acres and works in a cluster based approach based on a hub and spokes model. Union government provides a financial assistance of up to 50 crore rupees to set up a MFP.

US agreed to keep 9800 troops in Afghanistan through the end of 2015

The United States (US) President Barack Obama on 24 March 2015 agreed to slow the US military pullout from the war-torn Afghanistan through the end of year 2015.

As per the agreement reached between Barack Obama and Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani in Washington
• The US will maintain 9800 troops in Afghanistan through the end of the year 2015.
• Obama also promised to end America's longest war by the end of his term. That is, the US will not depart from its current plan of closing its bases in Afghanistan and consolidate the remaining US forces in Kabul by the end of 2016.
• Both Obama and Ghani agreed that an end to the war in Afghanistan could only come through a political deal with the Taliban.

Earlier, it was planned that the US will cut the presence of its troop in Afghanistan to 5500 by the end of 2015.

Keeping the extra US troops through the end of the year 2015 would ensure that the Afghan forces continue to make improvements to guarantee that far-flung units have the food, ammunition and intelligence required to fight on their own.

NMCG asked five State Municipal Bodies to furnish Ganga Action Plan within 15 days

National Mission on Clean Ganga (NMCG) on 24 March 2015 asked five states namely States of Uttar Pradesh (UP), Uttrakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand and West-Bengal to furnish Ganga Action Plan within 15 days.

NMCG directed 118 Municipalities/ Urban Local Bodies and 687 industrial units in these States to furnish the action plans directly to the concerned State Program Management Group (SPMGs) in the respective State.

It asked five states to furnish their action plan to set up and modernise sewage treatment plants (STPs), otherwise it would be constrained to report the states' inaction to the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal that have been hearing pending petitions on river pollution.

The NMCG also instructed these states to mark it a copy for construction/rehabilitation and/or upgradation of the sewage treatment plants (STPs), installation of requisite equipments /augmentation of the STPs by such municipalities /urban local bodies and Effluent Treatment Plants /Common Effluent Treatment Plant (ETPs/CETPs) zero liquid discharge and real time monitoring for the discharge of trade effluents for abatement of pollution by the industries.

Background

According to the recent findings of a report which was prepared by a team of experts from different government agencies, have noted that these 118 towns/cities collectively generate over 3636 million litres per day (MLD) of sewage as against the treatment capacity of approximately 1027 MLD of the existing 55 sewage treatment plants (STPs) in these towns/cities spread in five states.

The report, highlighting the poor infrastructure of these towns, was prepared by a team of experts from six different organizations of the ministry including National Institute of Hydrology, Central Water Commission, National Water Development Agency and Central Ground Water Board.

The team had submitted its report to the Ministry of water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation in December 2014.

The report also noted that there are as many as 144 drains that discharge untreated water into the river.

The maximum number of such drains are located in West Bengal (54) followed by UP (51), Bihar (25) and Uttarakhand (14).

Setting up STPs and measures to recycle the entire drain water are parts of Union Government’s Namami Gange plan. The plan was launched in 2014 to clean River Ganga.

Under the Ganga River Basin Management Plan — 2015, prepared and submitted by the consortium of seven Indian Institute of Technology (IITs), the government has already devised a comprehensive action plan for short-term (3 years), medium-term (5 years) and long-term (10 years and more) to clean the river.

Forbes released the Forbes 2015 Midas List

Forbes on 24 March 2015 released The Forbes 2015 Midas List. The list represents the world's 100 smartest technology investors with valuations greater than 1 billion US Dollar and a total of 766 deals. The list includes 11 influential Indian-American investors.

The list was topped by Jim Goetz of Sequoia Capital. He was on first spot for the second year in a row due to WhatsApp, the mobile messaging company acquired by Facebook for 22 billion US dollar.

Four new Vicw Chancellors (VCs) arrived on the List following a stellar year for China-based companies, which saw smartphone maker Xiaomi crowned as the world’s highest-valued private tech company and Alibaba as the largest-ever IPO.

The list included Indians as follows:

The lead on the list of Indian-Americans is 49-year old Aneel Bhusri, CEO and Co-founder of Workday, a cloud-based financials and human resources software firm.

Stanford business school graduate Mr Bhusri is ranked 17th on the list and has a net worth of 1.22 billion US dollars. He is the only venture capitalist to have co-founded and taken a multi-billion dollar company public while also working as a venture capitalist.

On the 24th spot is Salil Deshpande, Managing Director of Bain Capital Ventures. He has had two big exits in 2014 with technology company Dropcam that was sold to Google and the IPO of peer-to-peer lending company LendingClub, both early-stage bets made while at his prior firm Bay Partners.

Norwest Venture Partners Senior Managing Partner Promod Haque comes in at the 26th rank. The 66-year old's most notable deal has been cybersecurity company FireEye, which had the second-best performing IPO in the US in 2013. His investments in more than 60 companies have produced over 40 billion US dollar in exit values.

The other Indian-Americans on the list are Greylock partner Asheem Chandna, Accel partner Sameer Gandhi, Founding Partner at Wing Venture Partners Gaurav Garg, Managing Director of Mayfield Fund Navin Chaddha, Manging Director at Insight Venture Partners Deven Parekh, General Partner at Battery Ventures Neeraj Agrawal, Managing Director at Menlo Ventures Venky Ganesan and Managing Director at Redpoint Ventures Satish Dharmaraj.

About Forbes Midas list

The Forbes Midas list is the annual ranking by Forbes magazine of the best dealmakers in high-tech and life science venture capital. It uses parameters including the first-day market capitalization of IPOs, and the opinions of a panel of experts.

The name is an allusion to the mythological King Midas, renowned for his ability to turn anything he touched into gold. Forbes partnered with venture capital fund-of-funds TrueBridge Capital Partners to create the 2011, 2012, and 2013 Midas List.

The list was topped by Jim Goetz of Sequoia Capital. He was on first spot for the second year in a row due to WhatsApp, the mobile messaging company acquired by Facebook for 22 billion US dollar.

Gujarat Philatelic Exhibition Gujpex-2015 inaugurated in Ahmedabad

The thirteenth state level philatelic exhibition of Gujarat postal circle orGujpex-2015 was inaugurated by the Gujarat Governor O.P. Kohli at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Memorial in Ahmedabad on 24 March 2015.

This exhibition will run from 24 March to 27 March 2015 and is organized by the Gujarat Postal Circle with the active support of philatelic associations of Gujarat.

The purpose of the exhibition is to showcase the beautiful world of stamps to general public especially to children and youth , to promote the hobby of Philately and to provide opportunity to philatelist to show case their valuable collections.

On this occasion the Governor also inaugurated a special cover on River front and released the book Collector’s guide to British India bazaar card- Edwardian and Georgian period written by philatelist Shri Prafful Thakkar.

Philately includes collecting stamps and the study of stamps, postal history and other related items.

Amitav Ghosh among the 10 finalists shortlisted for 2015 Man Booker International Prize

Indian author Amitav Ghosh on 24 March 2015 was shortlisted for the 2015 Man Booker International Prize. He is the only Indian among the 10 finalists shortlisted for the prize.

58-year-old, Ghosh was chosen for his contribution to the English language writing. Earlier in 2008, he was shortlisted for the prize his work Sea of Poppies but he missed the prize narrowly.

The name of the 10 finalists was announced at the University of Cape Town in South Africa by writer and academic Professor Marina Warner, chair of the five-person judging panel.

Finalists for the year 2015 include
• Amitav Ghosh of India
• Cesar Aira of Argentina
• Hoda Barakat of Lebanon
• Maryse Conde of Guadeloupe
• Mia Couto of Mozambique
• Fanny Howe of the United States of America
• Ibrahim al-Koni of Libya)
• Laszlo Krasznahorkai of Hungary
• Alain Mabanckou of Republic of Congo
• Marlene van Niekerk of South Africa

The award will be given to the winner on 19 May 2015 in London.

About the International Man Booker Prize
The International Man Booker Prize, introduced in 2005, is awarded every two years to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in the English language.

It carries a cash prize of 60000 pounds and is given in recognition of the writer's body of work, rather than any one title. It rewards author for their continued creativity, development and overall contribution to fiction on the world stage.

The award sponsored by the Man Group and complements the Man Booker Prize.

Ismail Kadare of Albania was the first winner of the award, he was awarded in 2005. Lydia Davis of the United States was the last recipient of the award in 2013.

18th Round of Talks between India and China on the Boundary Question held in New Delhi

18th round of talks between the Special Representatives of India and China on the Boundary Question was held in New Delhi on 24 March 2015.

The India was represented by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and China was represented Yang Jiechi, State Councillor of China.

Main highlights of the 18th Round of Talks

• India and China agreed to maintain peace along their Himalayan border till an amicable solution to pending border disputes is found.

• The two sides also discussed the issue of counterterrorism, maritime security, climate change, reform of the United Nations and civil nuclear energy cooperation.

• Also, the two Special Representatives emphasized the importance of high-level exchanges for strengthening bilateral ties.

• The two sides also agreed to build on the momentum provided by the Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to India in September 2014 to further expand bilateral relations in areas such as railways, smart cities, vocational education, skill development, clean and renewable energy and manufacturing sector.

• Both sides also agreed that growing linkages between Indian States and Chinese Provinces through sister-city and sister-province mechanism plays an important role in deepening bilateral ties.

The framework of talks between Special Representatives between India and China on Boundary Questions was adopted in 2003.

India-China Border dispute

The border dispute between India and China is related to disagreement over the 4056 kilometers Indo-China border which is also called Line of Actual Control (LoAC).

China claims more than 90000 sq km in the eastern sector of the Himalayas which is disputed by India. Much of that forms the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China calls South Tibet.

India claims that China occupies 38000 square km of its territory on the Aksai Chin plateau in the west.

Also, under a China-Pakistan boundary agreement signed in March 1963, Pakistan illegally ceded 5180 sq. km of Indian Territory in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to China, an area north of the Siachen glacier.

China announced to shut down last coal-fired power plant in Beijing by 2016 to cut pollution

China on 24 March 2015 announced to shut down the last major coal-fired 845 megawatt (MW) power plant China Huaneng Group in Beijing by 2016. The aim of shutting down the plant is to cut pollution and replace it with gas-fired power plants.

This was the fourth major coal-based power plant shut down by China. The other three plants that were closed earlier include

• Coal-based power plant owned by Guohua Electric Power Corp. (closed in third week of March 2015)

• Coal-based power plant owned by Beijing Energy Investment Holding Co. (closed in the third week of March 2015)

• Coal-based power plant owned by Datang Corp (closed in July 2014)

These four major coal-based power plants will be replaced by four gas-fired stations with capacity to supply 2.6 times more electricity than the coal plants.

With the closure of all the major coal power plants in the city, China is estimated to cut carbon emissions of about 30 million tons which is equivalent to reducing annual coal use by 9.2 million metric tons.

China, world’s biggest carbon emitter, in its National Policy had announced plans to cut annual coal consumption by 13 million metric tons by 2017 from the 2012 level in a bid to slash the concentration of pollutants.

Commentary

Air pollution has become the leading environmental challenge to Chinese authorities posing risk to human health. About 90 percent of the 161 cities whose air quality was monitored in 2014 failed to meet official standards.

The level of PM2.5, the small particles that pose the greatest risk to human health, averaged 85.9 micrograms per cubic meter last year in the capital, compared with the national standard of 35.

Closing of all coal-fired power plants is seen as a critical step in addressing pollution in China, which gets about 64 percent of the primary energy it uses from the fossil fuel.

Further with Chinese policy makers encouraging broader use of hydroelectric power, solar and wind, coal use is declining or slowing in China. The nation is also pushing to restart its nuclear power program in a bid to clear the skies.

Artist Bharti Kher conferred with the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters of France

Artist Bharti Kher of India on 23 March 2015 was conferred with the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres). This is the highest cultural award of France.

She was awarded for her contribution in contemporary art landscape. Kher's artworks span several mediums like painting, sculpture and installation.

Her An Absence of Assignable Cause which is a 14-feet- high sculptural interpretation of the heart of the blue sperm whale is among the finest works from the experiment.

The artist is renowned for her remarkable experimentation with bindis that have over time come to be recognised as her signature style.

The French government distinction Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) is conferred on persons who have distinguished themselves by their creativity in the field of art, culture and literature or for their contribution to the influence of arts in France and throughout the world.

Flight 4U 9525 of Germanwings Airbus A320 crashed in French Alps

French Alps: Germanwings plane Airbus A320 crashed

Flight 4U 9525 of Germanwings Airbus A320, the budget carrier airline of Germany’s Lufthansa, crashed in the French Alps between Digne and Barcelonnette with 150 people on board on 24 March 2015.

All 144 passengers and six crew members on board were killed in the worst air disaster in the mainland France in 40 years.

The Flight 4U 9525 of Germanwings Airbus A320 was carrying citizens of Germany, Spain, Australia, Turkey, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium from Barcelona (Spain) to Dusseldorf (Germany).

The cause of the crash was yet not ascertained though the Black box of the plane has been recovered.

Indian-American author Akhil Sharma won The Folio Prize 2015 for novel Family Life

Indian-American author Akhil Sharma on 23 March 2015 won The Folio Prize 2015 for his novel Family Life.

He was presented with the winner trophy by Jean-Marc Rathe of The Folio Society and a cheque of 40000 pound at the awards ceremony held in London.

He was selected for the award by the five-member judging panel for The Folio Prize 2015 chaired by William Fiennes.

His novel Family Life was one among the eight books shortlisted from 80 works of fiction and was chosen as the best fiction published in the UK in 2014 by the 235 writers and critics who constitute the Folio Academy.

Some of the shortlisted candidates for The Folio Prize 2015 were:
•   Ben Lerner for 10:04
•   Miriam Toews for All My Puny Sorrows
•   Jenny Offill for Dept of Speculation
•   Adhiambo Owuor for Dust
•   Colm Toibin for Nora Webster
•   Rachel Cusk for Outline

About the book Family Life

Family Life is an autobiographical story of an immigrant family floundering in America. The book tells the story of Ajay Mishra who moves from Delhi to the United States as a child in the late 1970s. When Ajay's brother has a life-changing accident, it shatters his family's new life.

About The Folio Prize

The Folio Prize was instituted in 2014. The prize recognises the best English-language fiction from around the world, published in the United Kingdom (UK) during a given year, regardless of form, genre or the author’s country of origin.

It is the first major English-language book prize open to writers from all over the world.

In 2014, American short story writer George Saunders became the first winner of The Folio Prize. He won for his collection of short stories Tenth of December.

About Akhil Sharma

Akhil Sharma was born in Delhi and immigrated with his family to the USA in 1979. His stories have been published in the New Yorker and in Atlantic Monthly, and have been included in The Best American Short Stories and O. Henry Prize Collections.

His first novel, An Obedient Father, won the 2001 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award. He was named one of Granta’s Best of Young American Novelists in 2007

Dolly Shivani Cherukuri became the youngest Archer to enter India Book of Records

Three-year-old archer Dolly Shivani Cherukuri of Andhra Pradesh on 24 March 2015 entered the India Book of Records. She entered the list of records by scoring 388 points in the recurve segment in two distances, seven and five meters, at the Volga Archery Academy in Vijayawada.

At the time of entering the India Book of Records, she was nine days less than three years. She shot 36 arrows each from five metres and seven metres to score 388 points in presence of judges from the India Book of Records and the Archery Association of India (AAI). India Book of Records adjudicator and chief editor Biswaroop Roy Choudary handed over a trophy, medal and a certificate to Shivani.

Shivani is the youngest sister of Cherukuri Lenin, former international archery champion and archery coach, who died in a road accident in 2010. She was trained at the Volga Archery Institute run by her father Cherukuri Satyanarayana.

Google Inc appointed Ruth Porat as Chief Financial Officer

Google Inc on 24 March 2015 appointed Ruth Porat as Chief Financial Officer (CFO). She will take the charge on 26 May 2015. She will report to Google CEO and Co-Founder Larry Page.

She succeeded Patrick Pichette who announced his retirement on 10 March 2015. Currently, she is working as Chief Financial Officer at Morgan Stanley.

Ruth joined Morgan Stanley in 1987 and has played several key roles at the company, including Vice Chairman of Investment Banking, Global Head of the Financial Institutions Group and co-Head of Technology Investment Banking.

She is Vice Chair of the Stanford University Board of Trustees, a member of the US Treasury’s Borrowing Advisory Committee, a Board Director at The Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the Advisory Council of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at the Brookings Institution.

Indian Navy commissioned three Immediate Support Vessels (ISVs) in Vishakhapatnam

The Indian Navy on 24 March 2015 commissioned three Immediate Support Vessels (ISVs) comprising T-38, T-39 and T-40 at the Visakhapatnam Naval Dockyard in Andhra Pradesh. These ISVs were commissioned by the Vice Admiral Satish Soni.

These three ISVs are in addition to the first batch of ISVs commissioned on 04 June 2014 and will constitute the 84th Immediate Support Vessel Squadron based at Visakhapatnam.

Two ISVs were built by Rodman Spain and the third vessel was built by the Abu Dhabi Ship Builders (ADSB).

The project to build ISVs was a joint collaboration between the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Ltd, Ship Builders and the Indian Navy.

ISV Specifications

• ISVs are lightly armed surface crafts and can be operated at high seas as well as in coastal waters.
• These are armed with Heavy Machine Guns (HMGs) and are fitted with state of the art radar and navigation equipment.
• Two caterpillar engines of 1600 MHP each provide water jet propulsion to the vessel which enables it to travel at a high speed of 40 knots and an endurance of 500 nautical miles.
• These ships are capable of carrying out day and night surveillance operations by the Marine Commando Force (MARCOS).
The ISVs will be operated from Vishakhapatnam and will augment the Navy’s capabilities to protect the porous maritime borders and offshore assets like petroleum and natural gas production sites.

Union Government sanctioned 2000 crore rupees under NDRF for drought-hit districts of Maharashtra

The High Level Committee (HLC) of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on 24 March 2015 sanctioned 2000 crore rupees to the drought affected areas in Maharashtra for the year 2014.

HLC comprising of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh directed the Union Ministry of Finance to release funds from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to the state.

The funds will be spent to meet the expenses of emergency response, relief and rehabilitation measures in 24000 villages which were declared as drought affected by the Maharashtra Government by the end of 2014. Vidarbha region in the eastern part of the state is the worst affected due to drought conditions. The sanctioned amount is four times higher than 500 crore rupees allotted for the year 2013.

Vikramjit Singh Oberoi appointed as Managing Director of EIH Limited

Vikramjit Singh Oberoi on 24 March 2015 was appointed as the Managing Director (MD) of the EIH Limited which runs the Oberoi hotels under the aegis of The Oberoi Group. He will take the charge from 1 April 2015.

He was appointed as the MD following the resignation of Shib Sanker Mukherji as Chief Executive.

The decision of restructuring the top management was taken at a board meeting chaired by the Chairman Prithvi Raj Singh Oberoi.

Currently, Vikram Oberoi is a Joint MD and Chief Operating Officer (COO). He joined EIH’s board first as a non-executive director in December 1993 and became an Executive Director in July 2004.

Vikram Oberoi has for years been Managing Director of EIH Associated Hotels Ltd, a joint venture between the Oberois and the Rajan Raheja group, which runs Trident hotels.

The Oberoi Group is a global hotel company with its head office in Delhi. The Oberoi hotel was founded in 1934 and it owns and operates 20+ hotels and two cruisers in five countries.

It remains one of the most decorated hotel chains in the world with many of its group hotels winning various awards and accolades.

26-march-2015

India and Qatar inked six agreements to increase commercial and economic exchanges

India and Qatar on 25 March 2015 signed six agreements to increase commercial and economic exchanges between India and Qatar. The deals have a special focus on the Make in India initiative.

These six agreements were inked in New Delhi in presence of Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani was on a two day official visit to India on 25 March and 26 March 2015.

The six Agreements which were inked includes
• Agreement on Transfer of Sentenced Persons: Under this agreement, Indian prisoners convicted in Qatar can be brought to India to serve the remaining part of their sentence. Similarly Qatari Citizens convicted in India can be sent to his home country to serve their sentence.
•MoU for Cooperation in the field of Information and Communication Technology:This MoU would provide enhanced business opportunities for Indian IT industry in Qatar. Qatar has embarked on an ambitious programme for overall development as part of their Qatar 2030 vision and has created a dedicated Ministry of Information and Communication Technology for capacity building in ICT.
• MoU between Ministry of Earth sciences and Qatar Meteorological Department for Scientific and Technical cooperation: The scientific collaboration between India and Qatar will be beneficial to improve atmospheric & Oceanic capacity in both the countries.
• MoU between Diplomatic Institute of MOFA, Qatar and Foreign Service Institute, MEA: This MoU would help in exchange of trainees, students, faculty members and experts between India and Qatar to enhance their skills and improve the training programme in both the countries.
• MoU for cooperation in the field of Radio and Television:This MoU intends to encourage regular exchange of radio and TV programmes and material between Prasar Bharati of India and Qatar Media Cooperation.
• Agreement for Mutual Cooperation and Exchange of News: The agreement between Qatari News Agency and United News of India is to enhance and develop bilateral cooperation in the field of exchange of English-language news on daily basis and free of charge.

NASA's Curiosity rover discovered biologically useful Nitrogen on Mars

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)’s Curiosity rover found evidence of nitrogen on the surface of Mars. The discovery adds to the evidence that ancient Mars was habitable for life.

The finding was published by the NASA on its website on 24 March 2015.

The discovery was made by a team of scientists using the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument placed aboard the rover. Nitrogen was found in the form of Nitric Oxide which was released when Martian sediments were heated.

The discovery assumes significance because of the critical role of nitrogen as the building block of RNA and DNA which control life processes.

However, it is still not clear that the biochemical compounds discovered by the spacecraft are formed by life processes or not because other non-biological processes like meteorite impacts and lightning also can also fix nitrogen dioxide as free nitrogen molecules. Fixation of nitrogen is essential for it to take part in any biochemical processes.

The rover has already discovered evidence at the Gale Crater that suggests existence of liquid water and organic matter in the ancient Martian environment. In December 2014, the spacecraft discovered regular methane emissions near the Martian surface.

The Curiosity rover was launched on 26 November 2011 by the NASA with an aim to study the Martian atmosphere and explore the possibilities for future human habitation.

Researchers at York University provided experimental evidence that stars may generate sound

Researchers at York University of Britain provided experimental evidence that stars may generate sound. The findings were published Physical Review Letters in March 2015.

The research was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.

Main findings of the Study
• When ultra-intense laser interacts with plasma target, the interfering plasma generates a series of pressure pulses, that is, sounds.
• In the trillionth of a second when a laser strikes, plasma flowed from areas of high density to areas of low density
• The spot where the low-density and high-density areas meet, called by researchers as traffic jam, generated an apparent sound wave or the sounds of stars
• The sound which was generated was six million times higher than that which can be heard by any mammal

The technique used for the Study

Researchers employed Hydrodynamics, which studies fluids in motion, to make the discovery. The technique used to observe the sound waves in the laboratory were similar to speed cameras deployed by polices. This enabled researchers to accurately measure how the fluid would sound at the point of being struck by the laser at very minute timescales.

Union Government felicitated the winners of the third Web Ratna Awards

The Union Minister of Communications & Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad on 25 March 2015 felicitated the winners of the 2014 Web Ratna awards. This was the third Web Ratna Awards that were given away at a ceremony held at Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.

List of award and awardees
Citizen Centric Service Category:
• Platinum Award:Passport Seva Project
• Gold Award: National Safai Karmchari Finance Development Corporation (NSKFDC)
•Silver Award: National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS)

pen Data Champion category:
• Platinum Award:Office of Registrar General & Census Commissioner
• Gold Award: Planning Commission and Union Ministry of Statistics & Program Implementation
• Silver Award:Union Ministry of Water Resources

Innovative Use of Technology category:
• Platinum Award: MKisan-Government of India Portal for Farmer Centric Services
• Gold Award:Madhya Pradesh Commercial Tax Department and Department of Commercial Tax, Tamil Nadu
• Silver Award:E-Sahakar, an online Cooperative Society Process Management System of Maharashtra Government

Outstanding Content category:
•Platinum Award: Ministry of External Affairs.
•Gold Award: Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Kerala Tourism
• Silver Award:Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER)

Comprehensive Web presence category:
• Platinum Award: Ministry of Information & Broadcasting
• Gold Award: Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare
• Silver Award: Controller General of Accounts

Comprehensive Web Presence State category:
•Platinum Award: Maharashtra
• Gold Award: Tamil Nadu
• Silver Award: Uttarakhand

Web Ratna Awards
The Web Ratna Awards was constituted by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and acknowledges exemplary initiatives/practices of various states/UTs in the realm of e-governance.

The first and second Web Ratna Awards were awarded for the year 2009 and 2012.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched PRAGATI platform for redressal of grievances

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25 March 2015 launched Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation (PRAGATI) platform. PRAGATI is a multi-purpose and multi-modal platform aimed at addressing grievances of common man.

PRAGATI aims at simultaneously monitoring and reviewing Union Government programmes and projects as well as projects flagged by State Governments.

Features of PRAGATI
• It is a three-tier system (PMO, Union Government Secretaries, and Chief Secretaries of the States).
• Prime Minister will hold a monthly programme where he will interact with the Government of India Secretaries, and Chief Secretaries through Video-conferencing enabled by data and geo-informatics visuals.
• Issues to be flagged before the PM will be picked up from the available database regarding Public Grievances, on-going Programmes and pending Projects
• The system will ride on, strengthen and re-engineer the data bases of the CPGRAMS for grievances, Project Monitoring Group (PMG) and the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. PRAGATI provides an interface and platform for all these three aspects.
• It will also take into consideration various correspondences to PM’s office by the common people or from high dignitaries of States and/or developers of public projects.
• These issues flagged can be viewed by the Union Government Secretaries and Chief Secretaries after entering into the application.
• Union Government Secretaries and Chief Secretaries will be able to see the issues pertaining to their Department /State.
• Union Government Secretaries and Chief Secretaries have to put their comments and updates about the flagged issues within three days.
• One day will be available to the PMO team to review the data entered by the Union Government Secretaries and Chief Secretaries.
• The design is such, that when PM reviews the issue he should have on his screen the issue as well as the latest updates and visuals regarding the same.

The system has been designed in-house by the PMO team with the help of National Informatics Center (NIC). The name suggests that it is aimed at starting a culture of Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation.

PRAGATI is a robust system that will help in for bringing e-transparency and e-accountability with real-time presence and exchange among the key stakeholders.

Cipla launched generic of drug Sofosbuvir under the brand name Hepcvir for treating Hepatitis C

Cipla Limited on 25 March 2015 launched generic drug of Sofosbuvir under the brand name Hepcvir for treating Hepatitis C.

The drug will be available in Indian market till the end of March 2015. The availability of product in other markets is subject to approvals from the regulatory authorities in the respective countries.

Cipla is one of the seven Indian pharmaceutical companies that have been allowed by US-based Gilead Sciences to manufacture and market generic of drug Sofosbuvir. The non-exclusive license agreement in this regard was signed between Gilead Sciences and Cipla in September 2014.

In third week of March 2015, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories entered into an agreement with Hetero Drugs Limited to distribute and market generic version of US firm Gilead Sciences’ Hepatitis C drug under the brand Resof.

Sofusbuvir marks a new era of medicines in oral treatment of Hepatitis C, which reduce the need for injectables.

In India alone, around 12-18 million patients are estimated to be infected with Hepatitis C, which is several fold greater than those with HIV/AIDS.

Usha International Limited won the Gold award at 6th Flame Awards 2015

Usha International Limited on 25 March 2015 won the Gold award in the Last Mile Distribution Initiative of the year category at the 6th Annual Flame Awards 2015. The awards were hosted by the Rural Marketing Association of India.

It was awarded in recognition of its rural marketing initiative to extend their footprint into small towns and villages.

The company set up its rural business in April 2013 and named it Project Sampark. This is an extension of the company's distribution network into towns with population of less than one lakh and all of India's villages.

Through Project Sampark, company has reached out to over 400000 households.

With 69 percent of India's 1.2 billion population based out of rural areas, Usha is looking at establishing its footprint to over 8000 towns and 6.4 Lakh villages.

Dinesh Chhabra is CEO of Usha International Limited.

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the National Super Computing Mission

Union Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the National Super Computing Mission on 25 March 2015.

The mission aims at bringing the High Performance Computing (HPC) facilities within the reach of the scientific community by augmenting indigenous supercomputing infrastructure.

The mission will be implemented at an estimated cost of 4500 crore rupees over a period of seven years.

The mission will be jointly implemented by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) through the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore respectively.

The mission has following components
• A vast supercomputing grid comprising of more than 70 High Performance Computing (HPC) facilities will be established in national academic and Research and Development (R&D) Institutions across the county. The grid will be connected with the computing infrastructure set up under the National Knowledge Network (NKN).
• Advanced HPC facilities will be developed using indigenous resources to make the intended supercomputing grid operational.
The above two components are in tune with Digital India and Make in India initiatives of the Union government. The mission also intends to develop applications of national relevance by using these new facilities.

The successful implementation of the mission is necessary to sustain India’s growth momentum because its complex problems like climate change, energy deficit, shortage of life saving drugs, high defense imports can be addressed only through advancements in science and technology for which development of supercomputing facilities is essential.

Saudi Arabia launched military operation against Houthi rebels in Yemen

Saudi Arabia on 25 March 2015 launched a military operation including airstrikes in Yemen against the Houthi rebels, who drove out the Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. It launched the operation in coalition with nine other countries of the region.

The operation against the Houthi rebels was launched to defend and support the legitimate government of Yemen and prevent the radical Houthi movement from taking over the country.

At present, the action is confined to airstrikes on various targets around Yemen. The airstrikes have targeted the Presidential palace and the police and Special Forces headquarters in the capital, Sanaa.

The operation led by Saudi Arabia is joined by Jordan, Sudan, Morocco, Egypt, Pakistan and countries of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), viz., Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Besides, the US President Barack Obama though had authorised logistical and intelligence support for the operation but US forces will not participate directly in the operation in Yemen.
Earlier, the President of Yemen Abd-Rabbu Mansour fled his palace in Aden as Houthi rebels advanced towards the southern port city.

Iran backed Shiite rebels have been demanding economic and political reforms in Yemen and have made rapid gains in recent months. In the third week of March 2015, Shiite rebels seized Yemen’s third largest city Taiz and in February 2015 took command of the capital Sanaa leading to the US closing its operation in Sanaa.

Vice president released book title Faces and Places written by Prof. Deepak Nayyar

Faces and Places: Prof. Deepak Nayyar

The Vice President of India M Hamid Ansari on 25 March 2015 released a book titled Faces and Places written by Prof. Deepak Nayyar, noted economist and former Vice Chancellor of Delhi University.The book brings together a selection of the author’s photographs that have been taken over the past four decades. Its title captures the essential idea of its dual theme. The focus is on people in their daily lives and on places that are of interest to visitors.

About Deepak Nayyar

Deepak Nayyar is a Professor of Economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has taught at the University of Oxford, the University of Sussex, the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C), and the New School for Social Research, New York. He was Vice Chancellor of the University of Delhi from 2000 to 2005.

India’s first Polar Remotely Operated Vehicle operationalised in North Antarctica

India’s first Polar Remotely Operated Vehicle (PROVe) was successfully operationalised for research in North Antarctica on 25 March 2015. PROVe has been indigenously built by National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) under the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences.

Union Minister for Earth Sciences Harsh Vardhan made the symbolic launch of the PROVe from the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) headquarters in Chennai.

The results of PROVe’s findings will contribute vastly to mankind’s understanding of climate besides enhancing the capability to predict the Monsoon

What will PROVe do?
• Monsoon prediction and reading of pattern will become easier
• It will measure parameters like ocean currents, temperature and salinity in the Arctic
• It is capable of probing the sea bed under normal temperature and is capable of exploring up to 200 meters in inhospitable and tough regions like the ice clad Antarctica.

PROVe was successfully deployed in Priyadarshini Lake located on the Schirmacher Oasis of Antarctica by ESSO-NIOT. The Priyadarshini Lake is a major source of water for Maitri, India’s second base in the Antarctica.

About ESSO-NIOT
ESSO-NIOT is part of an Indo-US initiative under the Monsoon Mission program of the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences.

ESSO-NIOT involving the participation of several institutions is studying the science behind the monsoonal events of Bay of Bengal using both Indian and US research ships using special equipment.

Renowned Hindi poet Gopaldas Neeraj won the Rashtriya Kavi Pradeep Samman for the year 2012-13

Renowned Hindi poet Gopaldas Neeraj on 24 March 2015 won the Rashtriya Kavi Pradeep Samman for the year 2012-13. The award is given by the Department of Culture of Madhya Pradesh (MP) government.

90-year-old poet Neeraj won the award for his immense contribution in the field of literature.

As award he received a cash prize of two lakh rupees, a shawl and a citation by Madhya Pradesh Culture Minister Surendra Patwa at Shaheed Bhawan.

About Rashtriya Kavi Pradeep Samman

The Rashtriya Kavi Pradeep award has been introduced by the Madhya Pradesh government in the reminiscence of Kavi Pradeep, the noted poet and songwriter.

Kavi Pradeep is best known for his devoted song Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo written in respect to the soldiers who died protecting the country during the Sino-Indian War in 1962.

Dalal Street Investment Journal presented the 6th PSU Awards

Dalal Street Investment Journal (DSIJ) presented its sixth Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) Awards on 24 March 2015 in New Delhi.

The awards were given in recognition of performance excellence and their contribution to the economy.

Fifteen PSUs were selected under various categories based on their performance in the year 2014. The performance assessment was based on a model developed by KPMG considering various financial parameters such as productivity, efficiency, efficacy, profitability, corporate social responsibility, etc.

List of Awardees

Award and Category		Winners
1	Maharatna of the year – Manufacturing	NTPC
2	Most Efficient Maharatna – Manufacturing	BHEL
3	Fastest Growing Navaratna of the year -Non Manufacturing	REC
4	Best General Insurance Company of the year	New India Assurance Company
5	Outstanding Performance in Mega Project Implementation	SAIL
6	Highest Wealth Creator among listed PSUs	NBCC
7	Navratna of the year – Non-Manufacturing	PFC
8	Outstanding performer in Retail Banking	Canara Bank
9	Most Consistent Performer of the year- General Insurance	United India Insurance Company
10	Maharatna of the year – Non-Manufacturing	ONGC
11	Biggest e-commerce portal in India	IRCTC
12	Most Efficient Miniratna of the year- Non-Manufacturing	CONCOR
13	Most Efficient Public Sector Bank	Bank of Baroda
14	Most Efficient Navratna –Non- Manufacturing	NMDC
15	Fastest Growing Maharatna – Non-Manufacturing	COAL INDIA

Ministry of Railways constituted Ajay Shankar Committee to review PPP Cell functioning

The Ministry of Railways appointed Ajay Shankar committee on 25 March 2015 to review the performance of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) cell functioning under the Railway Board.

Ajay Shankar is a former Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) under Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

The Committee will recommend measures to make the cell more effective, customer friendly and result oriented.

The Infrastructure Directorate of Railway Board will be the Nodal Directorate for functioning of the Committee and Executive Director/Traffic (PPP) Railway Board will be the Secretary to the Committee.

The ministry’s decision is in tune with the announcement made by the Union Railway minister Suresh Prabhu in his Rail budget speech on 26 February 2015.

Novel titled Family Life written by Akhil Sharma won the Folio Prize 2015

Novel titled Family Life written by Akhil Sharma was in news recently because for this novel the author won the Folio Prize for fiction for the year 2015.

The author took 13 years to write this book. Family Life is an autobiographical story of an immigrant family floundering in America.

The book tells the story of Ajay Mishra who moves from Delhi to the United States as a child in the late 1970s. When Ajay's brother has a life-changing accident, it shatters his family's new life.

It is a heart-wrenching and darkly comic story of a boy torn between duty and survival. It is a masterful novel of distilled complexity: about catastrophe and survival; attachment and independence; the tension between selfishness and responsibility.

This was the second novel written by Akhil Sharma. His first novel was An Obedient Father which had won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award in 2001.

Delhi HC became the first court in India to set up commercial courts for speedy disposal of cases

Delhi High Court (HC) on 25 March 2015 became the first court in India to set up dedicated commercial courts within it to ensure speedy disposal of cases.

Chief Justice of Delhi HC G Rohini designated four benches to act as commercial courts. Out of this, two single judge benches with original jurisdiction will deal with the suits involving commercial disputes relating to intellectual property rights, arbitration, insurance, banking, taxation, company cases etc.

The other two benches with appellate jurisdiction will hear appeals against the commercial disputes cases.

Further out of the four benches, two benches – one each from original and appellate jurisdiction – will be e-courts, that is, they will function as paperless courts.

The HC also designated 11 courts of civil judges in the district courts -- one in each of the 11 districts of NCR of Delhi – to deal with commercial disputes.

Till now, only one commercial court at the district level has been working in Tis Hazaari Court complex, which was created in 1990s.

The move will streamline civil judicial system and is in line with the recommendation of 20th Law Commission of India.

The 20th Law Commission headed by Justice (retd) AP Shah in its 253rd report titled Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts and Commercial Courts Bill, 2015 had recommended setting up commercial courts in high courts to settle any high value commercial suits in a time-bound manner. The report was submitted to the Union Government in January 2015