FICCI president

Chairman and managing director of Cadila Healthcare Ltd, Pankaj Patel has been elected president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) for 2017. At present Pankaj Patel is Chief Managing Director of Zydus Cadila. He is actively involved in various educational institutions and is on advisory committees and academic councils of several educational institutions such as IISER (Kolkata), IIM Ahmedabad etc. He is also the Vice President, Executive Chairman and Trustee of the Gujarat Cancer Society and Chairman of the Gujarat Cancer and Research Institute, one of the largest of its kind regional Cancer Centre in India.

Balamuralikrishna passed away

Singer-composer Mangalamapalli Balamuralikrishna, who caught the nation’s attention in Doordarshan’s iconic music video ‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’ in the eighties, passed away. He was considered as doyen of classical music. During his long musical career he had excelled as a prominent Carnatic vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, playback singer, composer and actor. He had innovated the whole Carnatic music system by keeping its rich tradition untouched. The ragas like Ganapathi, Sarvashri, Mahati, Lavangi etc. were credited to him. He also had composed over 400 compositions in various languages including in his native tongu, Telugu and in Kannada, Tamil, Sanskrit, Malayalam, Hindi, Bengali, and Punjabi. His compositions range from Devotional to Varnams, Krithis, Javalis and Thillans, in all the fundamental 72 melakartha ragas to film music. He made his acting debut with Bhakta Prahlada (1967) as Narada and also has acted in various films including in Kananda.

IMO award for Exceptional Bravery

Captain Radhika Menon became first woman in the world to receive the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea. She was presented with this award for saving lives of seven fishermen from sinking fishing boat in Bay of Bengal. Captain Menon was nominated for the award by the Government of India, for her great determination and courage in leading the difficult rescue operation to save all seven fishermen from the fishing boat Durgamma. The boat was adrift following engine failure and loss of anchor in severe weather. Food and water had been washed away and they were surviving on ice from the cold storage.

IMO:It UN’s specialised agency responsible for the safety and security of shipping and the prevention of marine pollution by ships.

Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea: It is an annual Award established by IMO. It seeks to provide international recognition for those who perform acts of exceptional bravery at the risk of losing their own life.

India in CERN

India became an associate member of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), the world’s largest nuclear and particle physics laboratory.  The agreement was signed by Dr. Sekhar Basu, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and CERN Director General Dr. Fabiola Gianotti in Mumbai, Maharashtra. As an associate member, India can take part in meetings of the CERN Council and its committees (Scientific Policy Committee and Finance Committee). However India will not have voting rights on decisions of the council. It will open up new avenues for Indian scientists to engage with their counterparts in front line research in physics and engineering It will help to boost India’s science credentials and give access to high end scientific technology. It will also make Indian scientists eligible for staff appointments in CERN.India will formally become member of CERN around January 2017 after depositing an instrument of ratification.

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G) has finally been launched by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in Agra on 20th November 2016. Under PMAY-G Government aims to provide affordable, environmentally safe and secure house to every rural household living below the poverty line by 2022. The beneficiaries for this scheme will be selected through a completely transparent process using the Socio Economic Census 2011 data and validating it through the Gram Sabha. It uses ICT and space technology to further confirm correct selection of beneficiaries and progress of work. The unit cost for houses has been increased with convergence of a minimum support of nearly Rs. 1.5 lakh to Rs. 1.6 lakh to a household is available. If the beneficiary desires, then there is also a provision of Bank loan upto Rs. 70,000. PMAY-G will be also serve as a major step forward in bringing together Skill India, Make In India, IT/DBT Aadhaar platform, Digital India and Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana.

“Islamic window” in banking

Reserve Bank of India, has reportedly proposed opening of “Islamic window” in conventional banks for “gradual” introduction of Sharia-compliant or interest-free banking in the country.Both the Centre and RBI are exploring the possibility of introduction of Islamic banking for long to ensure financial inclusion of those sections of the society that remain excluded due to religious reasons.In this regard, RBI has also prepared a technical analysis report and submitted to the Union Finance Ministry for its consideration.

Islamic or Sharia banking is a finance system based on the principles of not charging interest. The charging of interest is prohibited under Islam. However, in recent times both the Union Government and the RBI have been exploring the possibility of introduction of Islamic banking for a while to ensure financial inclusion of those sections of society that have remain excluded due to religious reasons.

Pehchan

Union textile Minister Smriti Irani launched a scheme of ‘Pehchan’ identity cards to artisans in Ahmedabad.‘Pehchan’ identity cards distributed to artisans from five clusters of Gujarat namely Jamnagar, Naroda, Surendranagar, Amreli and Kalol.The cards will give national identity to the artisans who will be covered under a database.The artisans can avail benefit of anyt government scheme through these cards.Besides, minister also announced that to give tool kits and safety equipment women and BPL artisans for metal craft for free of cost in a bid to encourage women.

Pehchan cards scheme was launched as part of the Pehchan’ initiative of Union Textile ministry to register and provide Identity (ID) cards to handicraft artisans and link them to a national database. It is a new upgraded ID card for artisans that will be linked with their Aadhar numbers and bank accounts so that they can receive direct cash transfer benefit.

China Open badminton tournament

Olympic silver medalist PV Sindhu clinched her maiden Super Series Premier title after edging out Sun Yu of China in the final of the $700,000 China Open badminton tournament.In the summit clash held in Fuzhao, Sindhu (World No 11) defeated China’s Sun Yu (World No 9) by 21-11, 17-21, 21-11 score In the Rio Olympics, she became the first Indian woman shuttler to clinch the silver medal.

Project Insight

The Income Tax department is bringing out an initiative called 'Project Insight' from May 2017.To monitor high value transactions, with a view to curbing the circulation of black money. 'Project Insight’ is an integrated platform that will utilize vast amount of information easily available on social media to conduct raids online rather than traditional way of conducting random searches, known as tax raids. It will use data mining, big data and analytics to scoop out tax evaders from social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. It will also be leveraged for implementation of Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act Inter Governmental Agreement (FATCA IGA) and Common Reporting Standard (CRS).

It will help in catching tax evaders in a non-intrusive manner using technology and without traditional intrusive methods like search and seizure. The integrated platform will play a key role in widening of tax base and data mining to track tax evaders. The reporting compliance management system of project will ensure that third party reporting by entities like banks and other financial institutions is timely and accurate. It will also set up a streamlined data exchange mechanism for other government departments.

2016 Sumitra Charat Ram Award

2016 Sumitra Charat Ram Award for lifetime achievement in the field of Indian classical music awarded to Legendary flutist Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia at Shriram Bhartiya Kala Kendra.The award, which recognises the contribution of individuals in the field of Indian Classical Dance and Music or other disciplines of Indian Art and Culture, was presented to Chaurasia by Najeeb Jung, the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi. Sumitra Charat Ram was also the founder of Shiram Bharatiya Kala Kendra, one of the country’s premier institutions of performing arts.