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National News
Germany to develop Bhubaneswar, Kochi, Coimbatore as Smart Cities
- Will partner with India’s flagship program Smart City Mission
- Will develop Bhubaneswar, Kochi, and Coimbatore as smart
- They are among the 20 cities in the program.
Telangana and Maharashtra sign MoU for five irrigation projects
- River Godavari Water Projects have been signed.
- construction of five Barrages on Godavari River and its tributaries Penganga and Pranahita projects
- Project was delayed due to inter-state disputes
Color based classification for industries.
- New Four-colour Classification Scheme for industries based on their pollution level.
- industrial sectors have been categorized into four colours category- Red, White, Green and Orange
- It is based on range of pollution index
Nagepur village in Varanasi selected for development under SAGY
- Selected for development under Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana.
Haryana Global Investors Summit 2016
- 12 countries will participate
- Will discuss topics on artificial intelligence, solar and renewable irrigation
- Joint research projects will be taken up for development of new technologies and performance improvement
India’s rank slips for proportion of Women in Parliament
- Slipped from a rank of 117 among 188 countries in 2014 to 144 among 191 countries
- 16th Lok Sabha has the highest number of women ever
- 12% of MPs in the Lok Sabha are women. 12.8% in Rajya Sabha
- Global average is 22%.
- Rwanda ranks #1 with 8% women in the lower house of parliament and 38.5% in the upper house.
India at bottom of ranking for women membership at top science academics
- Drop in the number of women researchers at Indian National Science Academy (INSA) in the past three years.
- 15% of all members in 2010
- 6% in 2013
- Of 864 members in 2013, only 52 were women
- Until 2014, INSA had no woman in its 31-member governing body.
Tobacco use down in country
- Dip in the use of all forms of tobacco, among men and women
- Hailing as one of the biggest successes in public health.
- In Sikkim, there is up to 20% dip in tobacco use.
- Manipur and Meghalaya show increase in consumption
- Tobacco industry too has been reporting a consistent dip in production since 2011.
International
South Korea and US Begin Military Exercise
- Training involves about 17,000 American troops and more than 300,000 South Korean troops.
Business and Economy
Forecast of India’s growth at 7.5 maintained
- The forecast is by Global Rating Agency Fitch
- Sees higher growth over the next two financial years.
- 8% growth in short term is not possible
- Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth forecast for India is at 5%
SoftBank splits into two subsidiaries
- Move is to bolster Shareholder value after $ 4.4 billion US share buyback plan a month ago.
- The Company’s Japanese assets will be put into a distinct domestic operations management company.
- Company’s stakes in US wireless carrier Sprint and e-commerce company Alibaba will be under a new global operations management subsidiary.
- SoftBank has been investing in the Indian Start-ups like Snapdeal, Oyo Rooms, Housing.com and OLA
Dedicated structure for monitoring taxpayer services
- Approved by Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT)
- Two separate Directorates, called Directorate of Tax Payer Services-I&II have been set up.
- Will be responsible for delivery and monitoring of taxpayers services in the field offices and e-services.
- Responsibility for delivery of tax payer services has been assigned at every level in the field offices.
Ford to setup tech and business center in Tamil Nadu SEZ
- Proposed Centre is for Research and Development unit and a product testing center.
- Centre will come up at Tamil Nadu Government owned Electronics Corporation in Chennai.
- Will be Co-developer of the Automotive Company for Developing IT/ITES services related to Automotive, Finance and Allied sectors.
- Company will be eligible for all tax concessions available for investment in the zones.
Reliance-Jio to Offer Free Wi-Fi Services in 6 Stadiums
- The move is launched ahead of the T-20 World Cup
- The stadiums are:
- Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi
- Eden Gardens in Kolkata
- Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai
- Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru
- IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali
- HPCA stadium in Dharamshala
- Network is supported by 100 Gbps. 15Mbps browsing speed to be provided.
“Mahila e-Haat” online marketing platform for women launched
- An initiative for meeting aspirations and need of women entrepreneurs
- As a part of ‘Digital India’ and ‘Stand Up India’
- More than 10000 Self Help Groups (SHGs) and 1.25 Lakh women beneficiaries would be benefited
- Will be integrated with e-commerce portals to provide a larger platform for selling and buying.
Science and Technology
China to land probe on Mars in 2021
- Coincide with the 100th anniversary of founding of the ruling communist Party of china.
- Its first mission in 2011 failed.
A ‘meta-skin’ to cloak objects from radars
- Flexible, stretchable and tunable
- Can protect objects from radar detection
- Can help to develop next generation of stealth aircraft or even invisibility cloaks
- By stretching and flexing the polymer meta-skin, it can be tuned to reduce the reflection of a wide range of radar frequencies.
- Technology will find applications in electromagnetic frequency tuning, shielding and scattering suppression.
People in News
M S Dhoni signed as Revital H brand ambassador
- New ad campaign featuring MS Dhoni will be showcased at the ICC T20 World Cup
- Will reposition the brand after 25 years since its launch in the active lifestyle.
Awards
Saudi Arabian Prince conferred France’s highest Civil Award
- The Legion of Honour award was conferred
- It has fueled controversies in France
NTPC awarded Poll Based Investor Communication Award
- Award is given for following transparent and fair communication practices by Research Bytes
- An independent poll having participation of over 3000 Fund Managers Analysts and Non Institutional Investors was performed
- The company was founded in 1975 and headquartered in Delhi.
Sports
Maria Sharapova provisionally suspended
- She failed drug test at Australian Open
- Meldonium was found in her system.
- She has been taking it for years for health issues including family history of diabetes
- It became a prohibited substance on January 1st
- World’s highest-paid female athlete last year for the 11th consecutive year.
- Forbes put her off-court career earnings at more than $200 million.