North East ASEAN Business Summit Inaugurated In Imphal
- The first ever two day North East-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Business Summit was inaugurated at the City Convention Centre in Imphal, Manipur.
- The two day summit has been organized by Manipur Commerce and Industries Department (MCID) in collaboration with the Union Ministries of External Affairs and Development of North-Eastern Region(DoNER), Indian Chamber of Commerce(ICC) and Indian Chamber of Service Industries(ICSI).
- Bangladesh Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed was the chief guest at the inaugural session of the Summit.
- The North East -ASEAN Business Summit aims to attracting investment from both domestic and foreign firms to the North-Eastern states to increase productivity and generate employment in the region.
- The main highlights of the Summit include a Regional conference on “Ease of Doing Business”, “Agro and Food Processing : Potential and Challenges” and a “Session on Empowering MSME in North East”.
Govt. inaugurates ‘Namma Toilet’ in Delhi under Swachh Bharat Mission
- To promote the Swachh Bharat Mission, Union Urban development Minister Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated ‘Namma Toilet’ in the national capital Delhi.
- This is a step in the direction of fulfilling the mission’s target to establish over 2.5 lakh public toilets by 2nd October 2017.
- Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is contributing in a major way to ensure hygiene and cleanliness to all in the country, public toilets are being built across the country.
- The mission targets to establish 2 lakh 56 thousand public toilets by 2nd October 2017.
- Across Delhi Namma toilets were inaugurated at 19 other places by the local municipal councillors. These toilets are being built under corporate social responsibility by NBCC. People were enthusiastic to see these innovative toilets. It is designed to withstand the extreme harsh conditions one can expect outdoors in our country and the high usage.
Petroleum & Natural Gas Minister dedicates 36 new CNG stations in Delhi & NCR.
- Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan dedicated 36 new CNG stations located in Delhi and NCR to the public.
- 30 out of these stations have been installed by Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) 3 stations by Haryana City gas in Gurgaon, 1 station by GAIL Gas in Sonepat and 2 stations by Adani gas – one each in Faridabad and Khurja (Bulandshahar) have been set up.
- While 25 out of these 36 CNG stations are located in NCT of Delhi, 11 are located in NCR – Ghaziabad, Greater Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonipat and Khurja.
- Presently Delhi-NCR is having 347 CNG stations of about 77 lakh kg per day CNG dispensing capacity.
- All 4 CGD companies operating in Delhi-NCR have planned to augment the existing CNG dispensing capacity to 88 lakh kg per day by developing additional 104 CNG Petroleum & Natural Gas Minister dedicates 36 new CNG stations in Delhi & NCR stations in Delhi-NCR.
Asia’s 50 Most Powerful Businesswoman List Topped By Nita Ambani
- Reliance Industries director Nita Ambani and State Bank of India chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya have been ranked top two in Forbes’ “Asia 50 Power Businesswomen 2016” list, which acknowledges the inroads women are making in the business world, despite gender inequalities.
- American magazine Forbes has released 2016 “Asia’s 50 Power Businesswomen” list featuring business women from 14 countries.
- According to list, 6 other Indian business women have also been included in the list- at no. 14-Mu Sigma CEO Ambiga Dhiraj, 16- Dipali Goenka CEO Welspun India, 18- Vinita Gupta CEO Lupin, 22-Chanda Kochhar ICICI Bank Managing Director, 26-Vandana Luthra VLCC Health Care Founder, 28- Kiran Mazumdar Shaw Biocon Founder.
HP Unveils World’s Thinnest Laptop
- American multinational information technology company HR Inc (Hewlett-Packard) has launched eight new personal products including the world thinnest laptop.
- The laptop is having 10.4 mm thickness.
- According to the company ‘Spectre’ is the world’s thinnest laptop and has a battery life of up to nine and a half hours.
- Another USP of the laptop is its copper design combined with carbon fiber that gives the laptop a premium look.
- It features 13.3-inch full HD screen with Corning Gorilla Glass. The laptop comes with 8GB LDDR3 RAM and 512GB SSD storage and runs on 6th generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processors. According to the company the laptop includes 3 Type-C USB I/O ports and the price of the laptop is around $1,249 (Rs 83,121 approx).
CCEA Approved Andrew Yule Proposal To Convert Bank of Baroda’s Loan Into Equity
- The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) cleared conversion of Working Capital Term Loan (WCTL) of Bank of Baroda’s (BoB) 29.91 crore rupees loan to Andrew Yule & Co. Ltd. (AYCL) into equity shares.
- This approval was granted during the CCEA meet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
- Price of equity shares will be based on market price determined as per Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Guidelines on the date of acquiring of shares by Bank of Baroda with face value of 2 rupees per share.
- This conversion of WCTL will pave the way for disinvestment of the Kolkata-based PSU in the next three months. The conversion of loan to equity would help bring down the cost of servicing of debt by 2.86 crore rupees per annum, resulting in improved profitability and liquidity of Andrew Yule in coming years.
- This will provide an opportunity to finance working capital needs of existing and new businesses. It will also result in improved Debt Equity ratio for AYCL and will enhance the strength of its balance sheet.
Snapdeal launches donation program ‘Sunshine’
- Snapdeal has partnered with 9 non governmental organisations (NGOs) to launch Snapdeal Sunshine, a platform where users can make donations to causes under education, health, sports, women empowerment, disaster relief and old age care.
- These organisations include Magic Bus, Akshaya Patra, Care India, Teach For India and HelpAge India, which will list required products for ongoing projects.
iii. At face value, it doesn’t look like Snapdeal is charging a fee for this service, but the products needed by the NGOs are from Snapdeal’s inventory and currently include cooking, education, sports, study, clothing, stationery, housing and other miscellaneous supplies.
- The products will be sent to the partner after the donation is accepted, and donors will be able to track the progress on Snapdeal.
- The company says that it launched the platform based on ‘studies indicating that Indians would like to give more to society but faced constraints like lack of visibility of end utilisation of their donations’. Users can donate by selecting the cause or the NGO they wish to support and its products, decide an amount for donation, process payment and Snapdeal will deliver the products to the NGO’s location.
Hashim Thaci Sworn In As New President Of Kosovo
- Hashim Thaci , Foreign Minister of Kosovo has been sworn in as the President of Kosovo by the members of Parliament of the country in the 3rd round.
- Thaci succeeded Atifete Jahjaga in the voting held in Pristina.
- With this, he becomes fourth President of Kosovo after the European country had unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008. Prior getting elected as President he was serving as Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister in the Government led by Isa Mustafa.
- Thaci born on April 24, 1968 in the Drenica region of central Kosovo.
- In the early 1990s he was a leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which fought a guerrilla war against Serbia from 1998-99.
Rudy launches Transnational Skill Standards aligned to UK
- Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy Launches Transnational Skill Standards in India Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy launched Transnational Skill Standards benchmarked to the United Kingdom across 82 identified job roles, aiming to to support international mobility of Indian workforce.
- Besides, the launch also signing of Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) that will enable sharing of best practice, staff exchange, and development of new models to increase employer engagement and investment in skills.
- India and the UK have been collaborating on skill development since a long time now and this is yet another effort to bring more quality in vocational education which will open more avenues for employment across countries for the youth.
Debraj Pradhan appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Norway
- Debraj Pradhan appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Norway. Mr. Debraj Pradhan , Presently Ambassador of India to Chile, has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Norway.
- He is expected to take up his assignment shortly.
- From August 1995 to July 1998, he was posted as First Secretary and later Counsellor overseeing Commercial matters in Embassy of India, Buenos Aires.
- He became Deputy High Commissioner of India, Lagos from September 1998 to July 2001.
- From August 2001 to December 2005 he was moved to Embassy of India, The Hague as Counselor and then as Minister.
TNCA Has Appointed Mr. D. Vasu As Its New Director
- Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) Academy has appointed D. Vasu as its new director for a period of two years.
- TNCA is the governing body of Cricket activities in the Tamil Nadu state of India and the Tamil Nadu cricket team.
- It is affiliated with the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
- The former Tamil Nadu and South Zone all-rounder Mr. Vasu will be in charge of coaching at the various age-group levels and in the districts.
- Earlier, Mr. D.Vasu has been the chairman of the selection panel in the TNCA at the various age-group levels, from under-13, to under -19 and under -23.
Book Launched By Arvind Kejriwal Co-Authored By Imran Hashmi
- Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has launched the book “The Kiss of Life: How a superhero and my son defeated cancer” in New Delhi.
- The book is written by Bilal Siddiqi and co authored by Emraan Hashmi.
- The book has been published by Penguin Books India in three languages.
- The book narrates the story of Emraan’s life when his family dealt with the horrific struggle as his six-year-old son Ayaan battled his way through cancer.
- The book is about hope to all cancer patients who loses hope, his or her body starts to give up.
GoJavas Appointed Amitabh Coomar As Its New CEO
- Gojavas, the logistics and supply chain solutions company has announced the appointment of Mr. Amitabh Coomar as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
- The appointment of Coomar came after the departure of Vijay Ghadge, who was the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the company.
- Ghadge left the company to start his own venture.
- Amitabh Coomar is an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad and having impressive track record of 19 years spread between the Indian Army and ITC Limited.
- Besides, Coomar, Jai Vohra, an IIT-Kharagpur and ISB Hyderabad alumnus will now head the company’s Strategy and Planning functions. Prior to this appointment Vohra was working with tha Jabong.com as a Head of marketplace.
Veteran Journalist Yogendra Bali Is No More
- The veteran journalist and author Yogendra Bali has passed away on Thursday due to a heart attack. He was 85 year old.
- Bali was a member of the general council of the Lalit Kala Akademi and a member of its committees on Art Education, Publications, the Triennele and International Exhibitions.
- In his long and success career, Mr. Bali has served The Times of India as its roving correspondent till retirement.
- He was also associated with a number of dailies and publications like The Tribune, Current Weekly, Probe, Sunday Mail, etc.
- Bali has written many books which include The Communal Bogey’ with foreword by late prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘Chandra Shekhar: A Political Biography,’ ‘Pawan Chamling: Daring To Be Different,’ and ‘Sri Satguru Ram Singh Ji and Freedom Movement of India’.
American country music legend Merle Haggard died
- American country music legend Merle Haggard died of pneumonia at his home in Northern California, the day was his 79th birthday.
- Born on 6 April 1937 in California, Haggard along with Buck Owens and his band the Strangers is credited to define the Bakersfield sound, country music with a distinctive twang and lack of sophisticated production.
iii. Haggard wrote songs, sang and played fiddle and guitar, usually singing about American pride and outlaws.
- He recorded about three dozen number one country hits in a musical career that spanned six decades, from the 1960s into the 2010s.
- His top hits include Mama Tried, The Fugitive, If We Make It Through December, Okie from Muskogee and Fightin’ Side of Me. Legacy and honors. He received numerous awards from the Academy of Country Music, Country Music Association, and National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (Grammy Awards).