- Akshay Kumar receives his first National Award for Rustom
Akshay Kumar was conferred with his “first ever” National Award for the movie ‘Rustom,’ and thereby, has got all the reason to be on cloud nine. The 49-year-old actor took the 64th National Film Awards ceremony, where he can be seen receiving the honour from President Pranab Mukherjee. A controversy had ensued soon after Akshay’s name was announced for the National Award in the Best Actor category, questioning his candidature as there were, according to some, better performances in the year.
- Rajive Kaul gets diplomatic service award from South Korea
Chairman of Nicco group and past president of CII Rajive Kaul was conferred with the Order of Diplomatic Service Merit Sungnye Medal of the Republic of Korea for his services rendered as honorary consul general of South Korea in Kolkata. The award was conferred by the acting President and Prime Minister of South Korea Hwang Kyo-ahn at a programme in New Delhi recently.
- Mallikarjun Kharge appointed as new chairman of PAC
Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge has been appointed new chairperson of parliament’s Public Accounts Committee. Kharge replaces his party’s KV Thomas whose term has ended. PAC, the oldest committee of parliament and reconstituted each year, examines accounts showing appropriation of sums granted by parliament for expenditure of the government.
- Anthony Lianzuala takes over as the New Controller General of Accounts
Mr. Anthony Lianzuala took over as the New Controller General of Accounts (CGA) in national capital. Earlier, the Government of India had appointed Mr. Anthony Lianzuala, a 1982-batch Indian Civil Accounts Service (ICAS) Officer, as the new Controller General of Accounts (CGA), Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance with effect from May 1, 2017. He will be the First person from the North-Eastern Region to hold this position.
- Shobana Kamineni is the new CII President
Shobana Kamineni, Executive Vice-chairperson of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise and a member of its founding family, assumed office as the president of industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), which announced new office-bearers for the year 2017-18. She took over from Naushad Forbes, Co-Chairman, Forbes Marshall Limited.
- Department of Telecom launches ‘Tarang Sanchar’ portal
Department of Telecom (DoT), Ministry of Communications has launched Tarang Sanchar, a web portal for Information sharing on Mobile Towers and EMF Emission Compliances. Manoj Sinha, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Communications and Minister of State for Railways, formally launched the Tarang Sanchar portal in an event organised at New Delhi.
Secretary, Department of Telecommunications, P.K. Pujari during his keynote address said that the DoT has prescribed standards for Electromagnetic emissions from mobile towers that are ten times stricter than the international standards prescribed by International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and recommended by World Health Organization (WHO).
- 4th National Standards Conclave held in New Delhi
Department of Commerce, Government of India in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and the National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB) and other knowledge partners is organizing the 4th National Standards Conclave on 1-2 May 2017 at New Delhi.
The objective of the two day Conclave is to bring awareness and prepare Industries, Central Government Ministries, State Governments, regulatory/standards setting and conformity assessment bodies on the growing importance of “Standards” in the changing scenario of global trade.
The Standards Conclave is being held in the backdrop of diminishing importance of tariffs and rising influence of standards and regulation both in goods and services trade.
- World Asthma Day 2017
On 03 May of Every Year Observed as World Asthma Day – a day dedicated to raising awareness of the condition. It is thought that as many as 300 million people suffer from some form of asthma in the world – and there are 250,000 death each year linked to the disease. While many other disease are decreasing in number, the cases of asthma continue to increase with the number thought to reach 400 million by 2025.
Theme: Asthma: Better Air, Better Breathing
- World Press Freedom Day
Every year, 3rd May is celebrated as the World Press Freedom Day. It is celebrated by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) to evaluate press freedom around the world, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession.
UNESCO, the Government of Indonesia, and the Press Council of Indonesia co-organized the World Press Freedom Days main event and the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize Ceremony in Jakarta, Indonesia, from 1-4 May 2017.
- Madhya Pradesh becomes sixth state to pass GST Bill
Madhya Pradesh Assembly has passed Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill unanimously, becoming the fourth state to have done so. Revenue minister Umashankar Gupta gave credit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union finance minister Arun Jaitley for allying fears from various quarters towards GST and evolving a consensus on the new tax regime. “The concept of One India-One Tax would help in curbing inflation and corruption would be lowered.
- PM Modi inaugurates Patanjali Research Institute in Haridwar
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the Patanjali Research Institute here in the presence of Yoga guru Baba Ramdev. A new health policy has come out, which covers various aspects of good health and wellness. The Prime Minister also visited Kedarnath to offer prayers at the sacred shrine dedicated to Lord Shiva.
- Indian Army Test-Fires Advanced Version of Brahmos Cruise Missile
The Indian Army has successfully test-fired the advanced BrahMos Block III land attack cruise missile in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands for the second consecutive day. The missile was also test-fired, and the Army said the test flight met all parameters in a “copybook manner”. The successive launches reinforce the formidable weapon’s precision strike capability. The long-range tactical weapon was successfully tested from the same location on 2 May, 2017.
- RBI and banks spend ₹21,000 cr a year on currency management
NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said that the RBI and other commercial banks spend Rs 21,000 crore every year on currency management operations. Visa’s report estimates the overall cost of cash upto 1.7 per cent of GDP. As the digital transactions rise in volumes, its costs, mainly in terms of MDR, will come down and will eventually become cheaper than cost of printing, storing, transporting, verifying, distributing and replacing currency.
- World’s Highest Railway Bridge to Come up Over Chenab River
In around two years from now, the Chenab river in Jammu and Kashmir will be spanned by the world’s highest railway bridge that is expected to be 35 metres taller than the Eiffel Tower. The massive arch-shaped structure, being constructed at a cost of around Rs1,100 crore in hostile terrain, will use over 24,000 tonnes of steel and will rise 359 m above the river bed. The bridge forms a crucial link in the 111-km stretch between Katra and Banihal, which is part of the Udhampur- Srinagar-Baramulla rail link project.
- Apple’s Cash Reserve worth 2/3rd of India’s Forex Reserve
Apple has a new milestone to boast of. The tech major has reported over $256 billion in cash and marketable securities. The quarter-trillion cash reserve that the Cupertino giant has piled up is more than Google, Microsoft and Amazon’s total cash, according to rating agencies. Incidentally, Apple’s total cash is so huge that it is more than 2/3rd of India’s total foreign exchange reserve.
In terms of cash and equivalents, Microsoft has $126 billion, Alphabet, the owner of Google, has $92 billion and Amazon has $22 billion, all according to data released by Moody’s. Additionally, social media giant Facebook reported its quarter one earnings recently, and it was $29.45 billion.
- China to Launch its Own Encyclopaedia as a Rival to Wikipedia
China plans to launch its own online encyclopaedia next year, hoping to build a “cultural Great Wall” that can rival Wikipedia as a go-to information source for Chinese Internet users who Beijing fears are being corrupted by foreign influences. China is under pressure to write its own encyclopaedia so it can guide public thought, according to a statement by the project’s executive editor Yang Muzhi published last month on the website of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
- Famous climber Ueli Steck dies in a tragic accident near Mount Everest
Famed Swiss climber Ueli Steck was killed in a mountaineering accident on Mount Everest in Nepal after slipping and falling 3,000 ft. Mingma Sherpa of the Seven Summit Treks says Steck was killed near Camp II of Everest. His body parts have been recovered from Nuptse Face and was taken to Lukla, where the only airport in the Mount Everest area is located.
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