1. Railway budget 2016-17 tabled in
Parliament
(i) On February 25th, the Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu tabled the Railway Budget, 2016-17 in the Parliament. In his address Prabhu said, this Budget owes inspiration to the vision of PM Narendra Modi --- to make railways backbone of India's progress & economic development'.
(ii) There was no hike in passenger rail fare announced in this budget. In addition with the view to make the railway journeys more comfortable the Indian Railways announced to give more facilities to the passengers, 65,000 additional berths will be provided in the trains and 2500 water vending machines will be installed. The railways have developed world's first Bio-Vaccum toilet and 17,000 Bio-toilets will be provided in the trains and re-development of stations under Public Private Partnership mode, too has been proposed among other things.
(iii) It was also proposed to introduce 1,780 Automatic Ticket Vending Machines all over the country with mobile apps and GoIndia smartcard for cashless purchase of UTS and PRS tickets. The capacity of e-ticketing system will be enhanced from 2,000 tickets per minute to 7,200 tickets per minute to support 1, 20,000 users as against 40,000 earlier. 400 more stations will be provided with Wi Fi facilities.
(iv) The core objective as mentioned by Prabhu was to make Indian Railways the engine of employment generation, economic growth at national level and improve the quality of services for each individual.
2. Economic Survey 2016-17 tabled ahead of annual budget
(i) On February 26, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley tabled the Economic Survey for the Financial Year 2016-17 in Parliament ahead of the annual budget. The economic survey includes the analysis of economic condition in various sectors and reform programs in the past 12 months, and also presents projections for 2016-17.
(ii) The economic survey has projected the growth rate of Indian economy to be 7- 7.75% in the current financial year while inflation will remain between 4.5 to 5%. In long term the government has projected the growth momentum to reach 8% and above provided economic reforms continue.
(iii) The survey called for further momentum for economic reforms, subsidy cuts and fiscal consolidation. Overall, survey presented an optimistic picture of Indian economy stating that amidst the gloomy landscape of global slow down, India stands as a haven of stability and an outpost of opportunity.
(For more details of the economic survey 2016-17 click here -http://www.pagalguy.com/articles/highlights-of-the-economic-survey-2016-17-40463472)
3. Indian sport-stars lead Forbes list of promising young under 30
(i) As per the recently released Forbes' inaugural list of top "promising young leaders and game changers" under the age of 30 in Asia, Indian sportsperson lead the pack of 56 Indians on the list.
(ii) Tennis star Sania Mirza, Indian Batsman Virat Kohli and top-seeded badminton player Saina Nehwal are among the few who have made it to the list.
(iii) The Forbes list includes 300 young inspiring and charismatic leaders from countries including India, Indonesia, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Pakistan, Vietnam and Australia, who are contributing to their industries in a significant way various fields such as media, retail, industry, consumer technology, enterprise technology, arts, healthcare and science, et al.
(iv)Other prominent Indian personalities who figured on the list included Bollywood actress Shraddha Kapoor, Arunima Sinha, the first female and first Indian amputee to climb Mt Everest in 2013, Chaitanya Tamhane, the writer and director of the critically acclaimed movie 'Court'. In the retail and e-commerce category, Raghav Verma, the co-founder of Indian tea chain 'Chaayos' with IIT-Mumbai alumnus Nitin Saluja.
4. President to declare Kerala as the first digital state
(i) President Pranab Mukherjee recently declared Kerala as the first digital state of the country thereby adding another feather in the cap of the southern state.
(ii) Kerala was declared the first digital state on account of its high e-literacy rate and mobile penetration (32 m connections). It is also the first to complete the national optic fiber network project which helps to provide high-speed internet in all gram panchayats and remote areas.
(iii) Owning to these developments many key government offices are soon to switch to paperless operations. More than 3000 offices in the state, including motor vehicles and land registration departments have achieved this feat.
(iv) In addition, President is also expected to launch a digital empowerment campaign aimed at bridging the digital divide by 2020.
5. India's largest lender SBI to raise Rs. 15,000 crore
(i) As per the recent development, India's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) got the approval of share-holders to raise Rs.15,000 crore by public issue or overseas issuance of shares.
(ii) In January 2016, SBI had expressed about its plans to raise this sum of Rs.15000 crore by March 2017. Following the general meeting recently, it was decided to raise the said amount.
(iii) As per the bank's BSE filing, "The money can be raised by either of the ways including public issue, rights issue or private placement, such as qualified institutional placement (QIP) or Global Depository Receipt or American Depository Receipt or any another mode or a combination, as may be decided by the Board."
(iv)The money raised is to help SBI meet global risk norms under Basel III, which the banks needs to be fully compliant with by March 2019.
6. Vijay Mallya steps down as Chairman of USL
(i) Vijay Mallya, chairman of the UB Group has stepped down as non-executive chairman of United Spirits Ltd., controlled by Diageo Plc recently.
(ii) The deal to this effect was struck between Mallya and UK firm Diageo which agreed to drop all charges of irregularities against him, and pay him $75 million over five years in return asking him to step down.
(iii)This development, finally put an end to year-long boardroom battle and speculations which found Mallya guilty impropriety and violation in the company. Mahendra K Sharma, an independent Director is expected to replace Vijay Mallya as the Chairman of USL.
7. Gianni Infantino elected Fifa's president
(i) In a recent development, Switzerland's Gianni Infantino succeeded countryman Sepp Blatter as the president of the World football governing body --- FIFA.
(ii) As per reports, Infantino polled 115 votes, 27 more than closest rival Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa, who received second highest votes. Prince Ali bin al-Hussein (four votes) and Jerome Champagne (0) were third and fourth respectively.
(iii) Infantino is a 45 year old lawyer from Brig, in the Valais region of Switzerland. He will succeed Blatter, who led Fifa since 1998 but stood down last year and subsequently suspended from football for six years for breaching ethics guidelines
(i) On February 25th, the Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu tabled the Railway Budget, 2016-17 in the Parliament. In his address Prabhu said, this Budget owes inspiration to the vision of PM Narendra Modi --- to make railways backbone of India's progress & economic development'.
(ii) There was no hike in passenger rail fare announced in this budget. In addition with the view to make the railway journeys more comfortable the Indian Railways announced to give more facilities to the passengers, 65,000 additional berths will be provided in the trains and 2500 water vending machines will be installed. The railways have developed world's first Bio-Vaccum toilet and 17,000 Bio-toilets will be provided in the trains and re-development of stations under Public Private Partnership mode, too has been proposed among other things.
(iii) It was also proposed to introduce 1,780 Automatic Ticket Vending Machines all over the country with mobile apps and GoIndia smartcard for cashless purchase of UTS and PRS tickets. The capacity of e-ticketing system will be enhanced from 2,000 tickets per minute to 7,200 tickets per minute to support 1, 20,000 users as against 40,000 earlier. 400 more stations will be provided with Wi Fi facilities.
(iv) The core objective as mentioned by Prabhu was to make Indian Railways the engine of employment generation, economic growth at national level and improve the quality of services for each individual.
2. Economic Survey 2016-17 tabled ahead of annual budget
(i) On February 26, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley tabled the Economic Survey for the Financial Year 2016-17 in Parliament ahead of the annual budget. The economic survey includes the analysis of economic condition in various sectors and reform programs in the past 12 months, and also presents projections for 2016-17.
(ii) The economic survey has projected the growth rate of Indian economy to be 7- 7.75% in the current financial year while inflation will remain between 4.5 to 5%. In long term the government has projected the growth momentum to reach 8% and above provided economic reforms continue.
(iii) The survey called for further momentum for economic reforms, subsidy cuts and fiscal consolidation. Overall, survey presented an optimistic picture of Indian economy stating that amidst the gloomy landscape of global slow down, India stands as a haven of stability and an outpost of opportunity.
(For more details of the economic survey 2016-17 click here -http://www.pagalguy.com/articles/highlights-of-the-economic-survey-2016-17-40463472)
3. Indian sport-stars lead Forbes list of promising young under 30
(i) As per the recently released Forbes' inaugural list of top "promising young leaders and game changers" under the age of 30 in Asia, Indian sportsperson lead the pack of 56 Indians on the list.
(ii) Tennis star Sania Mirza, Indian Batsman Virat Kohli and top-seeded badminton player Saina Nehwal are among the few who have made it to the list.
(iii) The Forbes list includes 300 young inspiring and charismatic leaders from countries including India, Indonesia, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Pakistan, Vietnam and Australia, who are contributing to their industries in a significant way various fields such as media, retail, industry, consumer technology, enterprise technology, arts, healthcare and science, et al.
(iv)Other prominent Indian personalities who figured on the list included Bollywood actress Shraddha Kapoor, Arunima Sinha, the first female and first Indian amputee to climb Mt Everest in 2013, Chaitanya Tamhane, the writer and director of the critically acclaimed movie 'Court'. In the retail and e-commerce category, Raghav Verma, the co-founder of Indian tea chain 'Chaayos' with IIT-Mumbai alumnus Nitin Saluja.
4. President to declare Kerala as the first digital state
(i) President Pranab Mukherjee recently declared Kerala as the first digital state of the country thereby adding another feather in the cap of the southern state.
(ii) Kerala was declared the first digital state on account of its high e-literacy rate and mobile penetration (32 m connections). It is also the first to complete the national optic fiber network project which helps to provide high-speed internet in all gram panchayats and remote areas.
(iii) Owning to these developments many key government offices are soon to switch to paperless operations. More than 3000 offices in the state, including motor vehicles and land registration departments have achieved this feat.
(iv) In addition, President is also expected to launch a digital empowerment campaign aimed at bridging the digital divide by 2020.
5. India's largest lender SBI to raise Rs. 15,000 crore
(i) As per the recent development, India's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) got the approval of share-holders to raise Rs.15,000 crore by public issue or overseas issuance of shares.
(ii) In January 2016, SBI had expressed about its plans to raise this sum of Rs.15000 crore by March 2017. Following the general meeting recently, it was decided to raise the said amount.
(iii) As per the bank's BSE filing, "The money can be raised by either of the ways including public issue, rights issue or private placement, such as qualified institutional placement (QIP) or Global Depository Receipt or American Depository Receipt or any another mode or a combination, as may be decided by the Board."
(iv)The money raised is to help SBI meet global risk norms under Basel III, which the banks needs to be fully compliant with by March 2019.
6. Vijay Mallya steps down as Chairman of USL
(i) Vijay Mallya, chairman of the UB Group has stepped down as non-executive chairman of United Spirits Ltd., controlled by Diageo Plc recently.
(ii) The deal to this effect was struck between Mallya and UK firm Diageo which agreed to drop all charges of irregularities against him, and pay him $75 million over five years in return asking him to step down.
(iii)This development, finally put an end to year-long boardroom battle and speculations which found Mallya guilty impropriety and violation in the company. Mahendra K Sharma, an independent Director is expected to replace Vijay Mallya as the Chairman of USL.
7. Gianni Infantino elected Fifa's president
(i) In a recent development, Switzerland's Gianni Infantino succeeded countryman Sepp Blatter as the president of the World football governing body --- FIFA.
(ii) As per reports, Infantino polled 115 votes, 27 more than closest rival Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa, who received second highest votes. Prince Ali bin al-Hussein (four votes) and Jerome Champagne (0) were third and fourth respectively.
(iii) Infantino is a 45 year old lawyer from Brig, in the Valais region of Switzerland. He will succeed Blatter, who led Fifa since 1998 but stood down last year and subsequently suspended from football for six years for breaching ethics guidelines
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