March 10, 2017 IORA Leaders Summit held in Jakarta The Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Leaders Summit was recently held in Jakarta, capital of Indonesia from May 5 to 7, 2017. The theme of the summit was Strengthening Maritime Cooperation for a Peaceful, Stable and Prosperous Indian Ocean. It was attended by leaders from 21 member states of IORA. From India, Vice President Hamid Ansari attended the two-day summit. It drew attention on issues of regional interest such as maritime security, disaster relief and humanitarian assistance, fisheries management, people-to-people exchanges, trade and investment and tourism. INS Tillanchang commissioned by Indian Navy India Navy has commissioned INS Tillanchang at Karwar, Karnataka. It is a Water Jet Fast Attack Craft (WJFAC) It is the third ship of four follow-on WJFAC built by the Kolkata based Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE). The first two ships INS Tarmugli and INS Tihayu which were commissioned in 2016. These ships will play a vital role in light of India s security environment. They are designed to take on both conventional and asymmetric threats. NS Tillanchang has been indigenously designed and built and is an www.talentsprint.com 1
upgrade from the Chetlat class of Fast Attack Craft (FCA). It is about 50 m long and powered by three waterjet propulsion system, which give it speeds of over 35 knots. India launches Stage II of HCFC Phase Out Management Plan The Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has launched Stage II of HCFCs Phase Out Management Plan (HPMP) for the 2017-23 period. It aims to phase out use of Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), harmful ozonedepleting substances (ODS) by switching over to non-ozone depleting and low global warming potential technologies. India has secured $44.1 million from Multilateral Fund for implementation of Montreal Protocol for phasing out 8,190 MT of HCFC consumption between 2017 to 2023 to meet targets under the protocol for 2020. PM Narendra Modi inaugurates Asia s largest petrochemicals plant in Dahej Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Petro auditions Limited (OPal) in the industrial town of Dahej in Gujarat. The plant, which is claimed to be the largest petrochemicals plant in Asia with occupation over 1700 metres of land. It is the single largest petrochemical plant in India and at full capacity will annually produce 14 lakh metric tonnes of polymers. OPaL is a joint venture company promoted by ONGC, GAIL and GSPC. www.talentsprint.com 2
Sports Ministry constitute high level committee to address grievances of women sports persons The Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) has constituted a high level committee to resolve the grievances and complaints of women sports persons. It will be headed by Joint secretary Sports. It will comprise athletes, advocate, and senior officer of MYAS and sports journalist (all women). Women athletes can approach the committee for their grievance redressal. National Archives of India to celebrate its 127th Foundation Day The National Archives of India (NAI) will celebrate its 127th Foundation Day on March 11, 2017. NAI was established on 11th March 1891 at Calcutta as the Imperial Record Department. It is a repository of the non-current records of the Union Government and holds them in trust for the use of administrators and scholars. It functions as an Attached Office of the Department of Culture under the Ministry of Culture. It is headquarters are at Janpath, New Delhi and has a Regional Office at Bhopal and three Record Centres at Bhubaneswar, Jaipur and Pondicherry. www.talentsprint.com 3
India by the Nile festival held in Egypt The mega cultural festival India by the Nile was held at foot of the Pyramids in Cairo, Egypt. The this year event marked the special moment as India celebrates 70 years of independence and also 70 years of its diplomatic relations with Egypt. The festival is a celebration of Indian music, dance, theatre, visual arts, food and wellbeing. It was organised by the Embassy of India in partnership with the Ministry of Textiles, Export Promotion Council dor Handicrafts (India) and Ministry of Social Solidarity (Egypt) and Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI). IDFC launches Biometric Based Payment System Aadhaar Pay IDFC Bank became the first bank in the country to launch the biometric-based payment system Aadhaar Pay through its network. Aadhaar Pay will enable merchants to receive payments from customers without any physical payment instrument. Customer can use this service by first linking his bank account to the Aadhaar number. To make a payment, customer just has to select the bank s name and enter the Aadhaar number. The fingerprint will serve as the password to authenticate the transaction. www.talentsprint.com 4
SBI launces Work from Home facility The State Bank of India (SBI) has launched a new Work from Home facility to enable its employees to work while at home using mobile devices. This facility aims to address any urgent requirement employees may have, that prevents their travelling to work. For this purpose, SBI will use mobile computing technologies and shall have continuous control over all the enabled devices. It will centrally manage and secure the data and applications on the mobile devices. International Women s Day is observed on March 08 The International Women s Day (IWD) is observed every year on March 8 to commemorate the struggle for women s rights and to highlight the achievements of women while calling for greater equality. The 2017 theme of IWD is Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030. Its campaign theme is #Be Bold For Change. www.talentsprint.com 5