Minister of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia Sri Mulyani Indrawati was announced as the ‘Best Minister in the World’ during the sixth World Government Summit.

She was ranked as the 38th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine and was selected among eight ministers who were shortlisted during the final round of the award. 

Joko Widodo, also known as Jokowi, is the seventh and current President of Indonesia, in office since 2014. 

Vikas Sathaye, an enginner from Mumbai was part of the technical team that was honoured with the scientific and engineering award at the Oscars 2018 Scientific and Technical Awards recently.

The ceremony was held at the Beverly Hills in which all the four members of the team (Brad Hurndell, John Coyle Shane Buckham and Vikas Sathaye) was felicitated for the concept, design, engineering and implementation of the Shotover K1 Camera System. 

A three-day National Youth Festival organised by the Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) began in Noida to help the youth understand their potential and encourage them to contribute to the society in a more effective manner.

Around 400 Red Cross volunteers from across the country participated in the festival which aims to give the volunteers direction towards self-sufficiency and sustainability. 

After organising the largely-attended Indo-Global Business Meet at the House of Lords, UK and the IOD Global Convention on Corporate Governance and Sustainability at London in October, 2017, and Global Convention on Risk Management and Business Meet at Singapore in December, 2017, the Institute Of Directors organised it’s 12th International Conference on corporate social responsibility (CSR) on February 9 and 10 at Hotel Lalit Ashok, Bengaluru (India). 

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has launched the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS), a project to keep digitised records of FIRs and information on crimes and criminals.

FIRs and General Diaries can now be updated online by police officials on CCTNS ‘Go-Live’. They would be provided Tablets for this purpose. The basic objectives of the project include improving quality of investigation and prosecution, linking crimes with criminals and vice versa. 

The commerce and industry ministry has stated that national productivity week will be observed till February 18.

The National Productivity Council, under the ministry, has selected ‘Industry 4.0 Leapfrog Opportunity for India’ as the theme for the week. 

A new scheme promoting menstrual hygiene, under which sanitary pads will be provided to girls and women in rural areas of Rajasthan, will be launched in Rajasthan.

Raje, who also holds the financial portfolio, allotted Rs 76 crore for the scheme which she announced during her budget speech in the assembly. 

The World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) 2018 would be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 16.

Themed ‘Partnerships for a Resilient Planet’, WSDS 2018 aims to create action frameworks to resolve some of the most urgent challenges facing developing economies in the backdrop of climate change. 

Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) has joined hands with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur to promote ‘Science of Happiness’. The Rekhi Centre of Excellence for Science of Happiness was set up in IIT Kharagpur in 2016 with a vision to promote the science and practice of positivity for fostering meaningful life, happiness, wellbeing and holistic self- development. 

ICICI Lombard General Insurance and RBL Bank have entered into a corporate agency tie-up agreement for the distribution of non-life insurance products.

The agreement has been signed for the distribution of ICICI Lombard’s non-life insurance products at RBL Bank branches all over the country as part of the insurer’s Bancassurance channel focus. 

The Bank of Baroda (BoB), which is embroiled in controversial banking transactions involving the embattled Gupta family, will no longer operate in South Africa, the country’s central bank stated.

The Bank of Baroda has notified the Office of the Registrar of Banks of its exit from South Africa. The Registrar, which is part of the South African Reserve Bank, is in discussions with the Bank of Baroda to ensure its orderly withdrawal from South Africa so that no depositor is disadvantaged. 

The ADB would provide USD 100 million to Nepal government for upgrading nearly 400 km of rural roads to all-weather standards.

The Rural Connectivity Improvement Project will also serve the agriculture sector and bring access to 7.5 million people in 16 districts, according to a press release issued by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Nepal. 

India and Oman signed eight Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs), including pacts on tourism and military cooperation. 

The February 12 to 18 ‘Darwin Week’ is being organised by The India March for Science Organising Committee and the Breakthrough Science Society.

The objective of the Darwin Week will be to remove any doubt that has been planted in the minds of the common people about Darwin’s theory of evolution. 

Australia captain Steve Smith won the Allan Border Medal and was named Test Player of the Year at the prestigious event in Melbourne. He was recently named ICC Test Cricketer of the Year as well for scoring 1,875 runs, which included eight hundreds and five half-centuries, in 16 matches at an average of 78.12. 

Veteran Odia cine actress, director and producer Parbati Ghosh passed away following prolonged illness.  She was 85.

Born in 1933 at Manasinghpatana in Cuttack, Ghosh had carved a niche in the Odia film industry through her stellar performance on the silver screen.