Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Starred Articles

RBI approves Kotak Mahindra-ING Vysya merger
Corporate > Kotak Mahindra-ING Vysya > Apr 01 
India's fourth largest private sector lender is set to be formed as Reserve Bank approves the merger deal between Kotak Mahindra Bank and ING Vysya. The merged entity formed after transfer of all the tangible and intangible assets to Kotak Mahindra Bank, now has 1,214 branches, with a wide-spread pan-India network. The Rs 15,000 crore merger deal between Kotak Mahindra and ING Vysya had already received the Competition Commission's approval earlier this year.

Sania Mirza – Martina Hingis win Miami Open doubles title
Sports > Tennis > Apr 06
Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza won her 25th doubles trophy by clinching the Miami Open doubles title with Swiss tennis player Matina Hingis on Sunday, 5th April, 2015. The Indo-Swiss pair defeated the Russian duo of Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, the same pair Sania and Martina had defeated to win the Indian Wells, their first title together. The win saw the pair climb to the third place in doubles ranking, while Sania Mirza is just 145 points away from number one rank in the individual doubles category.

PM Modi launches India's first Air Quality Index
India > First Air Quality Index > Apr 06
An Air Quality Index that will inform the public about the level of pollution in the air on a daily basis in real-time has been launched by PM Narendra Modi. This comes forth as a big step to curb air pollution in India. The index will be operational in ten cities to start with. At the launch of the index, PM said India's contribution to the pollution level in the world was one of the lowest and urged the countrymen to change their lifestyle in order to help protect the environment.

Massive immunisation campaign 'Indradhanush' launched
India > Health > Apr 07
On the occasion of the World Health Day, India launched 'Mission Indradhanush', which is a massive vaccination campaign and aims to cover the vaccination of all children who are non-vaccinated or partially vaccinated against seven preventable diseases by the year 2020. In its initial phase of April, 2015 to July, 2015 it will cover pregnant women and all children up to the age of two years. Initially the focus will be on 201 districts, which have been termed as “high priority” and will cover an additional 297 districts in the latter phase. The Hindi word 'Indradhanush' after which the mission is named means a rainbow and like its seven colours, will try and prevent seven diseases, namely - diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, measles and hepatitis B. Despite providing free vaccination for more than the past 30 years, only 65% of India's children receive complete vaccination. The mission aims to cover and sustain at least 90% of the children by the year 2020.

Others

Biocon arm Syngene appoints Peter Bains as CEO
Corporate > Syngene International > Apr 01
Biotechnology major Biocon's subsidiary Syngene International has appointed Peter Bains as the CEO of Syngene. Bains has been serving as director of Syngene, since 2011. Syngene had yesterday said it would set up a new plant at Mangalore SEZ to manufacture pharma ingredients and agro chemicals and is in the process of acquiring approximately 40 acres of land in the SEZ.

RBI's new provisioning laws for bad loans
Banking & Insurance > RBI > Apr 03
Reserve Bank of India's new provisioning laws will now enable banks to recall the loan and take recovery action at the earliest or sell non-performing assets (NPAs) to asset restructuring companies, or ARCs instead of sweeping defaulters under the carpet. According to the new rule, all new restructured loans have to be classified as bad loans. The intent of the new norms is to make promoters more accountable and discourage willful defaulters. The Indian government, has begun work on a comprehensive bankruptcy code to provide easy exit for businesses and improve the country's ranking on the World Bank's 'ease of doing business' list.

Keshari Nath Tripathi becomes new governor of Mizoram
India > Keshari Nath Tripathi > Apr 04
Guwahati High Court Judge Justice Miachael Zothankhuma on Saturday sworn in West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi as the Governor of Mizoram at the Raj Bhavan in Aizwal. He was appointed to the office after the state governor Aziz Qureshi was sacked by the central government on the 28th of March, 2015. In light of the above decision the Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) or the students federation staged a protest in front of the Raj Bhavan and termed the appointment as the centre's move to treat Mizoram as a gubernatorial dumping ground'. The students also said that they would stage protests in front of central government offices and during president Pranab Mukherjee's state visit on the 9th of April, 2015.

Mariyam Asif Siddiqui, Muslim girl won Bhagwad Gita contest
India > Bhagwad Gita contest > Apr 04
A 12 year-old Muslim girl, Mariyam Asif Siddiqui has secured the first position at the 'Shrimad Bhagwad Gita Champion League' for best explaining the teachings of Bhagvad Gita. The class six student of Cosmopolitan High School at Mira Road near Mumbai won the contest from among 4500 students of 195 schools. The 'Shrimad Bhagwad Gita Champion League' is an inter-school competition organised by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). An English version of the holy book was given to students for preparing and explaining its teachings. The competition included recitation of the Bhagvad Gita in English along with a written test.

National Geoscience Awards 2013 to be presented by President Pranab Mukherjee
Awards > National Geoscience Awards > Apr 04
President Pranab Mukherjee will present the National Geoscience Awards 2013 at a ceremony to be held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on 6th April, 2015. The National Geoscience Awards were instituted in the year 1966 by the Ministry of Mines, with an objective to honour scientists for their extraordinary achievements and outstanding contributions in the field of fundamental / applied geosciences, mining and allied areas.

Delhi airport wins Golden Peacock National Quality Award
Awards > Golden Peacock National Quality Award > Apr 05
The Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) has won the prestigious Golden Peacock National Quality Award for the year 2015. The award will be presented by UAE's culture, youth and development minister Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan at a ceremony to be held in Dubai on the 20th of April 2015. Golden Peacock Awards were founded by the Institute of Directors, India in 1991 and are globally regarded as a benchmark of corporate excellence. The National Quality Award Scheme was instituted to encourage total quality improvements in both manufacturing and service sectors of India.

Rajeev Shukla appointed new IPL chairman
Sports > Cricket > Apr 06
Rajeev Shukla gets appointed as the new chairman of Indian Premier League (IPL) Governing Council. Shukla had previously resigned from the post in June, 2013, following allegations of corruption and spot-fixing in the tournament. He took over from Ranjib Biswal, the interim chairman of the council. Former India captain Sourav Ganguly and current team director Ravi Shastri were also named in the governing council.

RBI governor keeps key rates unchanged
India > Economics > Apr 07
Much to the disappointment of the markets RBI governor Raghuram Rajan decided to leave key rates, which affect policy making, unchanged. The Repo Rate, the rate at which banks borrow money from the RBI remained unchanged at 7.5% and the Cash Reserve Ratio, which is the minimum amount to be deposited by banks also remained unchanged at 4%. The governor is optimistic about home and auto loans getting cheaper as the RBI will push banks to reduce interest rates. The central bank is also hopeful about the inflation for March, 2015 to be under 6%, while the economy is projected to grow at a rate of 5.8% at the end of this fiscal year.



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