1. According to World Bank Report
"MGNREGA" world’s largest public works programme
i) World Bank has
ranked the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (MGNREGA) as
the world’s largest public works programme.
ii) It was revealed
in recently released World Bank Group’s report titled ‘The State of Social
Safety Nets 2015‘. Report Highlights MGNREGA (under Ministry of Rural
Development) provides social security net to 182 million beneficiaries i.e.
almost 15 per cent of the India’s population.
iii) Mid-day meal
scheme (under Ministry of Human Resource Development) has been classified as
biggest school feeding programme. It benefits around 105 million
beneficiaries.
iv) Janani Suraksha
Yojna (Under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) is top-most social security
programme with conditional cash transfers. It has 78 million beneficiaries.
v) Indira Gandhi
National Old Age Pension Scheme (under Ministry of Rural Development) is the
second-largest unconditional cash transfer social security progamme in the
world. Five middle-income countries running the world’s largest social safety
net programmes are India, China, South Africa and Ethiopia.
2. UGC grants heritage status to 19 colleges
i) UGC has approved
for financial assistance to 19 colleges for conserving campuses and specialised
courses related to heritage
ii) The colleges
which have been granted the status include St.Xavier’s College, Mumbai; CMS
College Kottayam; St Joseph College, Trichy; Khalsa College, Amritsar; St
Bede’s College, Shimla, Christ Church College in Kanpur, Old Agra College,
Agra; Meerut College, Meerut and Langat Singh College in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur.
iii) Others which
have figured in the list are Govt.Brennan College, Kerala; University College
in Mangalore, Cotton College in Guwahati, Midnapore college in West Bengal,
Govt Medical Science in Jabalpur, Deccan Education Society’s Fergusson College
in Pune, Hislop college in Nagpur, Govt. Gandhi Memorial Science College in
Jammu, Kanya Mahavidyalya in Jalandhar and St Xavier’s College in Kolkata.
3. Infosys signs multi-year agreement with Deutsche
Bank.
i) Infosys, India’s
second largest IT services exporter, on Wednesday announced that it has signed
a multi-year agreement with Deutsche Bank.
ii) Under the terms
of the deal, Infosys will provide services like development, application
maintenance, digital and mobility, package implementation and testing services
across the Deutsche Bank Group, Infosys press release said.
iii) “Deutsche Bank
is committed to applying innovative technology to enhance its efficiency and
service to clients. Working with Infosys will help the bank to achieve these
goals,” Kim Hammonds, Global Chief Information Officer, Deutsche Bank said.of
the company unless it is required by law.
iv) Deutsche Bank’s
Supplier Partnership Program was successfully launched in June 2014 to
concentrate the most strategic vendors based on business impact across all
categories of the bank.
4. BRICS Central Banks Sign Forex Reserves Pool
Pact.
i) The five major
emerging national economies, known by the acronym BRICS, were a step closer to
setting up a $100 billion pool of mutual reserves by signing an “operational
agreement”
ii) The pool would
be drawn on by the central banks of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South
Africa whenever they suffered a shortage of dollar liquidity, helping them
maintain financial stability, Russia’s central bank said.
iii) The Bank of
Russia in Moscow. The central banks of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South
Africa have signed an operational pact to set up a pool of foreign exchange
reserves.
iv) Financial
stability has been Moscow’s sore point over the past year as the Russian
economy has slipped into recession, while the country has lost access to global
capital markets, due to Western sanctions, and has had to drain billions of
dollars from its reserves.
5. Ashok Haldia appointed MD and CEO of PTC India
Financial Services
i) PTC India
Financial Services said on Wednesday that Ashok Haldia was appointed the
company’s new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.
ii) Haldia has been
a part of the company’s board as a whole-time director for the last seven
years. Prior to joining PTC India Financial Services, Haldia served as a
Secretary in the Institute of Chartered Accounts of India. He has also been a
member of several Central Government committees.
iii) Dr.
Ashok Haldia is Whole Time Director of PTC India Financial Services Limited. A
member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Institute of Company
Secretaries of India and the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India.
Dr. Ashok Haldia has diversified experience of project financing and industrial
financing policy, public sector policy reforms, evaluation and management,
power sector reform, restructuring and financing.
6. K7 Computing signs pact with ICT Academy
i) K7 Computing
Pvt. Ltd, a Chennai-based provider of safe and secure computing experience, has
signed a memorandum with ICT Academy of Tamil Nadu to jointly conduct 12 power
seminars across the state and ICT awareness week in six cities.
ii) The seminar
will be held in Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Salem and
Tirunelveli and will highlight the importance of cyber security and the latest
developments within that spectrum, says a press release from K7.
iii) The academy, a
Government of India, Government of Tamil Nadu and Industry initiative, has
introduced a platform for all the stakeholders to discuss improving the
industry-institute interaction on the key issues.
7. India, Kazakhstan launch first drilling at
Satpayev oil block of OVL
i) India and
Kazakhstan launched the first exploratory drilling at Satpayev oil block owned
by India’s ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) and Kazakhstan company KazMunaiGaz. It was
jointly launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Kazakhstan premier Karim
Massimov in Astana, Kazakh capital.
ii) Satpayev oil block
is an offshore field located in the Northern Caspian Sea. It has potential
reserves estimated at 1.8 billion barrels crude oil and natural gas.