1.
AAP to launch 'Jai Kisan Abhiyan' in Haryana
Senior
Aam Aadmi Party leader Yogendra Yadav on Tuesday declared that a “Jai Kisan
Abhiyan” would be launched across the State from February 21. The AAP national
spokesperson said the
four things which have impacted the farmers of Haryana are shortage of urea, their not getting the promised minimum support price for their produce, changes brought about in the Land Acquisition Bill through an ordinance and the Haryana Government’s lowering of the acquisition rates through a notification issued on November 4.
four things which have impacted the farmers of Haryana are shortage of urea, their not getting the promised minimum support price for their produce, changes brought about in the Land Acquisition Bill through an ordinance and the Haryana Government’s lowering of the acquisition rates through a notification issued on November 4.
2.
Government exempts oilseeds, raw cotton, 36 other products from CTT
The government has added 38 more products to the list of commodities exempt from commodity transaction tax (CTT). Twenty three commodities like oilseeds, raw cotton, spices, etc, were exempt from CTT, introduced in July 2013. The government has exempted 38 more commodities from the levy. Many of these, onion, seedlac, ginger, gram dal, gram husk, masur, methi, safflower, rice, paddy, sesamum, moth, small millets, etc.
3.
Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan: Government builds 7.1 lakh toilets in January
Construction
of toilets under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream project, Swachh Bharat
Abhiyan, has gained momentum with 7.1 lakh individual household toilets being
built in January. According to data, a total of 31.83 lakh toilets have been
built between April 2014 and January 2015, which is 25.4% of the target for
2014-15.The programme entails an investment of nearly Rs 2 lakh crore over the
next five years to construct 12 crore toilets in India. In the 12th
Five-Year Plan, an outlay of Rs 37,159 crore was set aside for rural sanitation
under the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan, launched by the previous UPA government.
4.
NTPC to invest USD 10 bn for building renewable projects
Country’s
largest power producer NTPC will invest close to USD 10 billion for executing
green energy projects in the next five years as part of government’s plans to
provide thrust to clean electricity generation. The public sector company has
committed to set up renewable power projects of 10,000 MW capacity in the
country over the next five years. NTPC signed a term loan agreement of Rs
10,000 crore and Rs 2,000 crore with state-run SBI and Bank of Baroda,
respectively, for partially funding its capital expenditure.
5. Spectrum auction: Eight telcos apply, SSTL opts out
Reliance Jio announced its participation in the auction together with four other operators, whose licences are up for renewal are Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Idea Cellular & Reliance Communications. Crisil estimates that operators will shell out over Rs 90,000 crore to win spectrum, pointing out that nearly half the Rs 1,20,000 crore of annual revenues is at stake for the large operators. Although the earnest money deposited by the company was not known, it appears Reliance will bid for all bands of spectrum — 800, 900, 1800 and 2100 MHz, focusing more on the 800 MHz band.
6. Union Government imposes Anti-dumping duty on graphite electrodes imports
The decision was taken following the recommendations of the Directorate General
of Anti-Dumping Duty (DGAD).
What is Anti-Dumping Duty
It is duty imposed by government
on imported products which have prices less than their normal values or
domestic price. Usually countries initiate anti-dumping probes to check if
domestic industry has been hurt because of a surge in below-cost imports. Anti-Dumping
Duty is imposed under the multilateral WTO regime and vary from product to
product and from country to country. In India, anti-dumping duty is recommended
by the Union Ministry of Commerce, while the Union Finance Ministry imposes it.
7.
Indian-origin scientist Professor Srikanth Jagabathula received CAREER Award
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Indian-origin
scientist Professor Srikanth Jagabathula received Faculty Early Career
Development Award (CAREER) given by the National Science Foundation (NSF) of
the United States (US).He received the award for developing data-driven
modelling and learning techniques to improve the accuracy of operational
decision making. As part of this prestigious award, he will receive a total of
500000 US dollar over the next five years to further his research in developing
data-driven modelling and learning techniques with the goal of improving the
accuracy of operational decision making.
8. Jawed Usmani takes oath as Chief Information
Commissioner (CIC) of UP
Former
IAS officer Jawed Usmani took oath as Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) of
Uttar Pradesh (UP). He
was administered oath to office by Governor of UP Ram Naik at a function at Raj
Bhawan in Lucknow.
He
was sworn-in to office after he had taken voluntary retirement as Chairman of
the Uttar Pradesh Board of Revenue.
About
Jawed Usmani
- Jawed Usmani is a 1978 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer.
- He holds MBA degree from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad and MSc degree in Social Policy and Planning from the London School of Economics.
- Earlier, he had served as secretary in Union coal ministry and also as joint secretary to the several Prime Ministers including H D Deve Gowda, I K Gujral and Atal Bihari Vajpayee from 1996 to 2001.
- He also had served as joint secretary of then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh between 2004 and 2007
- He was a senior advisor to the Executive Director at the World Bank in Washington DC and Minister of Economic Cooperation at the Embassy of India in Nepal.
- In 2012, he had served as Chief Secretary in Uttar Pradesh.
9. Infosys acquires automation tech firm Panaya for $200
million
India’s
software services giant Infosys has announced to acquire to acquire US-based
automation technology firm Panaya.
In
this regard, Infosys has signed a definitive agreement to fully acquire Panaya
for an enterprise value of $200 million (1200 crore rupees) in cash.
Acquisition
of Panaya is part of Infosys new strategy to enhance its competitiveness and
productivity of current service lines by leveraging automation, innovation and
artificial intelligence.
It
also the first major acquisition since Vishal Sikka took over as the CEO and MD
of the company.
Panaya
was founded in 2005 in Israel by its current CEO Doron Gerstel. It has around
50 employees and its clients include Coca-Cola, Mercedes-Benz, Bosch,
Whirlpool, GSK and Siemen .
Panaya
is the Infosy’s second largest acquisition after it had acquired Zurich-based
consulting company in 2012 for around $350 million.
10. Punit Renjen
appointed as CEO of Deloitte’s global operations
Punit Renjen was appointed as the Chief executive officer (CEO) of accounting giant Deloitte’s global operations. He will succeed Barry Salzberg and assume his new role of Deloitte Global CEO from 1 June 2015. Currently he is serving as US business Chairman and CEO of the Deloitte group.
11. Veteran journalist, cartoonist Rajinder Puri passes
away
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Veteran
journalist, cartoonist and political activist Rajinder Puri has passed
away on 15 February 2015 in New Delhi. He was 80.