1. PM Shram Awards Announced For The Year 2014 i. The Government of India has announced the Prime Ministers Shram Awards for the year 2014. ii. The award will be awarded to 54 workers employed in the Departmental Undertakings and Public Sector. iii. The award has been given in recognition of their distinguished performances, innovative abilities, outstanding contribution in the field of productivity and exhibition of exceptional courage and presence of mind. iv. This year, 9 nominations for the Shram Bhushan Award, 19 nominations for Shram Vir/Shram Veerangana and 26 nominations for Shram Shree / Shram Devi Awards have been selected. 2. The 6th National Science Film Festival Begins In Mumbai i. The 6th National Science Film Festival & Competition (NSFF) has begun at Nehru Science Center in Mumbai. ii. The festival has been jointly organised by Nehru Science Centre and Vigyan Prasar. Vigyan Prasar is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Science and Technology. iii. The event was chaired by veteran director Shyam Benegal and science film maker Dr Mike Panday. iv. The winners will be chosen among the 35 short-listed entries by a jury of eight people chaired by Shyam Benegal.
3. India's 1st Aviation Park To Come Up In Gujarat i. The state government has planned to set up the country s firstever Aviation Park in Gujarat near Bagodara village in Ahmedabad to strengthen the aviation sector. ii. State government has given this task to Gujarat State Aviation Infrastructure Company Ltd (GUJSAIL) to carry out the project. iii. The first ever Aviation Park will have the facilities including an airstrip, training school, helipad and space for setting up small manufacturing units among others. iv. In the later stages, this park will have small manufacturing units to produce spare parts for aircraft and also in planning to develop this park on Public Private Partnership (PPP). 4. R K Verma : New Secretary Of Railway Board i. A 1980 batch officer of Indian Railway Services Of Engineers Mr. R K Verma has assumed the charge as Secretary, Railway Board. ii. Earlier he has served as Adviser (Public Grievance) to the Minister of State (MoS) for Railways. iii. In his previous assignments, he has worked with various railways, including Southern, North-East Frontier Eastern and Western comprising of Indian Railways Institute of Civil Engineering.
iv. He also has Life Fellowship of Institution of Engineers (India), Institution of Permanent Way (India) and Indian Institute of Bridge Engineers. 5. India Ranks 37 on USCC IP Index i. India has ranked 37 out of 38 countries for its intellectual property rights environment in the annual IP index released by the United States Chamber of Commerce (USCC).. ii. These 38 countries bench marked in the 2016 index accounts for nearly 85% of the global GDP. iii. Venezuela ranked lowest below India at 38th position with 6.42 points on the index. iv. This index is based on six key parameters like rights and limitations of the patent, copyright and trademark regimes, trade secrets, enforcement and ratification of international treaties. 6. Kala Committee : Draft National Wildlife Action Plan i. The National Wildlife Action Plan (NWAP) 2017-2031 unveiled by the environment ministry accords special emphasis to rehabilitation of threatened species of wildlife. ii. While conserving their habitats which include inland aquatic, coastal and marine eco-systems.
iii. The Ministry Of Environment Forest and Climate Change has been implementing the National Wildlife Action Plan. iv. It envisages on 17 key areas includes new area linking wildlife planning to climate change and Mitigation of human wildlife conflict, coastal and marine ecosystem. 7. India Australia Energy Security Dialogue Held At Canberra, Australia i. To implement the Prime Minister s vision of affordable energy for all, Shri Piyush Goyal Union Minister of State (IC) for Coal, Power and New and Renewable had an Energy Security Dialogue with Australian Minister for Resources, Energy and Northern Australia, Mr Josh Frydenberg at Canberra. ii. In this both the countries discussed the issues, business cooperation in coal bed methane and LNG production and trade. iii. The several roundtables have organized during the Energy Security Dialogue with a view to getting to know the state of art technologies in the relevant areas. iv. The policy collaboration on issues pertaining to LNG trade have also been discussed. 8. RBI Tells To Bank Set Aside More For Stressed Loans
i. The Reserve Bank of India has directed commercial banks to accelerate provisioning requirement, from April 1, for the existing stock of restructured loans that are showing signs of stress. ii. RBI has identified bank specific accounts in which respective lenders have to make higher provisioning from new financial year. These accounts were restructured earlier. iii. Banks have provided only 5 per cent for these restructured loans, but now the central bank has directed them to increase the provisioning by 2.5 per cent every quarter so that by March 31, 2017, provisioning reached the 15 per cent level in line with substandard accounts. However, banks are not allowed to classify these accounts as non-performing assets. iv. The central bank s move comes in the back drop of RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan s drive to clean up banks balance sheets by March 2017. 9. Mukesh Bansal & Ankit Nagori To Quit Flipkart i. Mukesh Bansal, the head of commerce and advertising business and Ankit Nagori, Chief Business Officer of Flipkart has put in his papers. ii. Mr. Nagori quit the firm to start an entrepreneurial venture in the sports domain. iii. Bansal, who joined Flipkart when the online marketplace acquired fashion retailer Myntra in 2014, will continue to be an adviser to the company.
iv. Binny Bansal will now directly oversee the commerce and advertising platforms. 10. Veteran Director Aurobindo Mukherjee Passes Away i. Veteran film director Aurobindo Mukherjee passed away in Kolkata at his residence. ii. He was 97. He was ailing from geriatric problems for some time. iii. He was younger brother of famous novelist Balaichand Mukhopadhyay who is popularly known as Bonophool. iv. He had joined Tollywood in 1950s. 11. Siachen Avalanche Survivor Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Passes Away i. Lance Naik Hanamanthappa, who had been battling for life at the Army s Research & Referral hospital, breathed his last on Today morning. Really sorry to inform everyone that LNk Hanamanthappa is no more. He breathed his last breath at 11:45 a.m. today, Army officials said on Today. ii. He was 33.
iii. Hanamanthappa, hailed from Koppal in Karnataka. He belonged to a farming family in Betadur village in Kundagol taluk of Dharwad district.