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India celebrated its 71st Republic Day 

January 26, 2020

India on 26th January celebrated its 71st Republic Day, honouring the historic date when the country completed its transition towards becoming an independent republic after its Constitution came into effect. Many states joined the nation to celebrate the Republic Day on Sunday morning.

The day was celebrated with great fervour all across the country. In Delhi, the parade for the Republic Day began at Rajpath with President Ram Nath Kovind unfurling the national flag and receiving a 21-gun salute. The chief guest for this year’s republic day parade was Brazilian president, Jair Messias Bolsonaro.

Rs 1,624 crore infused in Indian markets by FPIs

January 26, 2020

Foreign portfolio investors have infused a net sum of Rs 1,624 crore into the domestic capital markets in January so far. As per latest depositories data, Foreign portfolio investors put-in a net of 13,304 crore rupees, in equities and withdrew a net 11,680 crore rupees from the debt segment between January 1 and 24. This translates into a total net inflow of 1,624 crore.

The latest investments came despite challenges such as enhanced geopolitical tension between the US and Iran and dwindling domestic economic growth. On the domestic front there are some signs of India shaking away the slowdown with business activity picking up and this is reflecting in the investments coming into equities. Besides, after the limit to which FPIs can invest in debt instruments has been increased, more inflows into the debt category can be expected.

Nepal wants India to take back demonetised notes worth Rs 7 crore

January 26, 2020

Nepal’s Central Bank is saddled with Rs 7 crore of demonetised Indian currency but India is not making “adjustments” to take back the notes, hoping the scrapped notes would be accepted by its neighbour. The land-locked country depends on India for trade and supplies. Indian currency is widely used in Nepal for day-to-day transactions, especially in the border areas.

The Indian government on November 8, 2016 announced the ban on old 500 and 1,000 rupee notes to curb black money in the system. Of the Rs 15.41 lakh crore worth Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in circulation on November 8, 99.3 per cent or notes worth Rs 15.31 lakh crore have returned to the banking system.

Agreement to upgrade Ashuganj-Akhaura road signed by India and Bangladesh

January 26, 2020

India and Bangladesh signed an agreement to upgrade the 58-kilometre long road between Ashuganj river port and the Akhaura land port in Bangladesh into a 4-lane highway. The deal was signed between the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) of Bangladesh and an Indian Company Afcons Infrastructure Limited, to upgrade the 39 km long road between Ashuganj river port to Dharhar area.

The RHD and an India-Bangladesh joint venture firm will take up the work of upgrading the remaining part of the road from Dharhar to Akhaura. The project is part of the dollar 2 billion second line of credit extended by India to Bangladesh in 2016. Both governments have identified 46 projects in Bangladesh that would improve connectivity within the country and out of the country.

24X7 call centre launched by Government for coronavirus management

January 26, 2020

The government has set up a 24X7 helpline number to attend to queries about the novel coronavirus (nCov) as number of cases rose across the world. A 24X7 call centre is active for responding to queries on nCov2020. Anyone seeking information can call on the number 011-23978046.

Seven central teams will visit states and designated airports of New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi to review the end-to-end preparedness for management and control of Novel Coronavirus in India. The team will consist of a public health expert, a clinician and a microbiologist.

The team will also visit the tertiary hospitals attached to the airports for reviewing the isolation wards and availability of Personal Protective Equipment and masks. The decision was taken by the Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan at a review meeting held in New Delhi.

79th Foundation Day of ‘Income Tax Appellate Tribunal’ inaugurated by CJI

January 26, 2020

The 79th Foundation Day celebrations and All India Members’ Conference of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal was inaugurated by the Chief Justice of India A. Bobde on 24th January. The two-day event held several sessions of interaction in which eminent speakers addressed variety of subjects.

The CJI underlined the need for Artificial Intelligence in the judicial system but added that it should never be allowed to substitute human discretion necessary for decision making. He also stated that imposition of excessive tax is a kind of social injustice on the people.

The delegations included the President, ITAT, Mr. Justice P.P. Bhatt, the Solicitor General of India, Shri Tushar Mehta, the Secretary, Ministry of Law and Justice, Shri Anoop Kumar Mendiratta, the Vice President, ITAT, Delhi Zone, Justice P.P. Pannu, among others participated in the event.

Grandmasters B Adhiban and S L Narayanan wins in Gibraltar chess

January 26, 2020

Indian Grandmasters B Adhiban and S L Narayanan registered impressive wins in the third round of the Masters’ category of the ongoing Gibraltar chess festival. Adhiban and Narayanan scored wins over Martin Petrov of Bulgaria and Tingjie Lei of China while young GM Raunak Sadhwani securing 1.5 points shared the point with higher-ranked David Navara.

Apart from Adhiban and Narayanan, there are a few other Indians on 2.5 points, including Vaibhav Suri and Karthikeyan Murali. Young Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa beat International Master Padmini Rout to take his tally to 2.

He had lost to fellow Indian P V Nandhidhaa in the opening round. D Gukesh, another rising star from India and the second youngest GM ever, was held to a draw by Adrian Gschnitzer. GM Karthikeyan Murali, took a draw against Ori Kobo to take his tally to 2.5.

Georgia’s Ivan Cheparinov, Kyrsa Leandro of Argentina, Vasif Durarbayli of Azerbaijan, Pier Luigi Basso of Italy and Maksim Chigaev from Russia are ahead of the field with three points after the third round.

Indigenously-developed military systems to be showcased at DefExpo 2020

January 26, 2020

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) will display various indigenously-developed military systems and technologies at the 11th edition of DefExpo 2020, that will be held in Lucknow from 5th to 9th February. In the 5-day event, DRDO will exhibit more than 500 products from all technology clusters. The theme of the event will be “Digital Transformation of Defence”.

It will showcase over 23 products in the India Pavilion, which has been set up to showcase the combined strength of DRDO, public and private sector in defence manufacturing. The participation of DRDO at the expo is marked with the live demonstration of Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS), Main Battle Tank (MBT) Arjun MK IA, Wheeled Armoured Platform (WhAP), Counter Mine Flail, 15m Advanced Composite Modular Bridging System (ACMBS) and modular bridge.

Government nominates Debashish Panda on SBI Central Board

January 26, 2020

The Central government has nominated Debashish Panda, Special Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Finance Ministry as a director on the Central Board of State Bank of India. He is appointed with immediate effect replacing the earlier nominee Ravi Mittal.

SBI, the country’s largest bank had posted a 218 per cent jump in standalone net profit for the September quarter to Rs 3,011.73 crore. The lender had posted a profit of Rs 944.87 crore in the same quarter last year. Under exceptional items, the bank reported a net profit of Rs 3,484.30 core on sale of partial investments in subsidiary SBI Life Insurance Company.

Fresh slippages had halved to Rs 8,800 crore from Rs 16,000 crore on a quarterly basis. The asset quality of the bank improved with gross non-performing asset (NPA) ratio coming in at 7.19 per cent, down 276 bps yearly and 34 bps sequentially. Net NPA ratio was at 2.79 per cent, down 205 bps YoY and 28 bps QoQ.

World’s largest meditation centre to be inaugurated in Hyderabad

January 26, 2020

Hyderabad is all set to add one more global landmark. The world’s largest meditation centre and the global headquarters of the Heartfulness Institute will be inaugurated on January 28. To mark the 75th anniversary of the organisation, Kanha Shanti Vanam will be dedicated to the first guide of Heartfulness, fondly called Lalaji by the present global guide Daaji.

Baba Ramdev, the popular yoga guru, will be present on the occasion and address about 40,000 abhyasis or practitioners. Kanha Shantivanam, about 40 km on the outskirts of Hyderabad, spread over 30 acres, has one central and eight secondary halls. It can accommodate 100,000 practitioners at one go, making it the largest closed structure meditation centre in the world.

Three, three-day sessions will be held during January 28-30, February 2-4 and February 7-9, 2020, will host 1.2 lakh practitioners as part of mass meditation activity to commemorate the milestone of 75 years. The President of India Ramnath Kovind and Anna Hazare will address the practitioners on February 2 and 7, respectively.