National Affairs
Bhutanese parliamentary delegation is on four-day visit to India to discuss issues on bilateral cooperation. The 13-member delegation led by Jigme Zangpo, the Speaker of Bhutan’s National Assembly is visiting New Delhi on the invitation of Meira Kumar, the Speaker of Lok Sabha. During this four-day visit, the parliamentary delegation will meet Meira Kumar and talk about issues on bilateral parliamentary cooperation between both countries. The parliamentarians will also meet with members of Indian Parliament and other high-ranking officials. It’s worth mentioning here that the Indian Parliament has been constantly giving support in the Bhutanese parliamentarian’s human resource development through exchange programmes and such visits.
The India International Pet Trade Fair (IIPTF), India’s largest pet event and South Asia’s only pet trade fair will be hosted by Pune. The fair will commence from January 17-19. Creature Companion, a pet care magazine published by L.B. Associates Pvt Ltd will organise the fair. More than 70 companies from India and overseas are expected to participate in this exhibition-cum-trade show. The fair is dedicated to the pet vertical in India which will showcase a vast range of products and services ranging from health and nutrition products to vacation and exclusive styling studios.
The first state to withdraw the Foreign Domestic Investment (FDI) in Multibrand Retail is Delhi as Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi Chief Minister is not allowing FDI in Delhi because the global level FDI in Multibrand Retail has caused huge job losses at multiple places. In order to prevent unemployment in Delhi this step has been taken by Kejriwal. It’s worth mentioning here that Delhi is one of the major recipients of FDI. Earlier in July 2012, previous Government had allowed multi-brand retail trade and with this action, it will adversely affect the investment in the capital and will ruin Delhi’s FDI friendly image.
‘Corp Micro Plus’, a special campaign for micro enterprises will be launched by Corporation Bank. The scheme will start from January 17 to March 31.The rate of interest will be at base rate (10.25 % currently). There will be no processing charges during the campaign period. A fully furnished SME (small and medium enterprise) loan centre was inaugurated in Ahmedabad that will provide the financial requirements of the MSME sector in Ahmedabad, Gandhidham, Rajkot, Kadi and Jamnagar. Also before February 15, the bank is planning to open SME loan centres in Ludhiana, Pune and Chennai.
Awards & Honours
Two famous Bengali poets Nirendranath Chakraborty and Sankha Ghosh were presented the Sunil Gangopadhyay Memorial Award of 2012 and 2013 by Pranab Mukherjee, President of India. The awards were given at a function held at Raj Bhawan in Kolkata. The Sunil Gangopadhyay Memorial Award has been instituted by a cultural organisation “The Bengal” in 2012 after his death.
Appointment
KS Gopalakrishnan has been appointed as the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Aegon Religare Life Insurance (ARLI). Earlier, he was the Executive Director of the company and prior to this, he was the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and the Appointed Actuary at ARLI. Altogether Gopalakrishnan has above twenty five years of experience in the life insurance industry across markets such as Canada, India and Hong Kong.
Union Minister Sachin Pilot has been appointed as the new Chief of Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee. Congress has appointed Pilot and the announcement was made by Janardan Dwivedi, General Secretary (GS) of party in New Delhi. Currently, Pilot is the Minister of Corporate Affairs in Union Cabinet.
Sports
The Australian Open Tennis tournament, the first Grand Slam of the season was kicked off in Melbourne. India’s Somdev Devvarman is the only Indian who will play in the Singles. He will play his opening match later in the tournament. Leander Paes, Rohan Bopanna, Mahesh Bhupathi, Sania Mirza, Divij Sharan and Yuki Bhambri with their respective team-mates will feature the Doubles section.
The seven—time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams has lost the game in the first round at the Australian Open Tennis tournament, the first Grand Slam of the season for only the second time, with her concentration and serve letting her down when it counted most in a 6-2, 4-6, 4-6 overcome to Ekaterina Makarova. Williams breezed through the first set against Makarova, the No. 22-seeded who had an upset win over Serena Williams in the fourth round during the 2012 Australian Open.
Bhutanese parliamentary delegation is on four-day visit to India to discuss issues on bilateral cooperation. The 13-member delegation led by Jigme Zangpo, the Speaker of Bhutan’s National Assembly is visiting New Delhi on the invitation of Meira Kumar, the Speaker of Lok Sabha. During this four-day visit, the parliamentary delegation will meet Meira Kumar and talk about issues on bilateral parliamentary cooperation between both countries. The parliamentarians will also meet with members of Indian Parliament and other high-ranking officials. It’s worth mentioning here that the Indian Parliament has been constantly giving support in the Bhutanese parliamentarian’s human resource development through exchange programmes and such visits.
The India International Pet Trade Fair (IIPTF), India’s largest pet event and South Asia’s only pet trade fair will be hosted by Pune. The fair will commence from January 17-19. Creature Companion, a pet care magazine published by L.B. Associates Pvt Ltd will organise the fair. More than 70 companies from India and overseas are expected to participate in this exhibition-cum-trade show. The fair is dedicated to the pet vertical in India which will showcase a vast range of products and services ranging from health and nutrition products to vacation and exclusive styling studios.
The first state to withdraw the Foreign Domestic Investment (FDI) in Multibrand Retail is Delhi as Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi Chief Minister is not allowing FDI in Delhi because the global level FDI in Multibrand Retail has caused huge job losses at multiple places. In order to prevent unemployment in Delhi this step has been taken by Kejriwal. It’s worth mentioning here that Delhi is one of the major recipients of FDI. Earlier in July 2012, previous Government had allowed multi-brand retail trade and with this action, it will adversely affect the investment in the capital and will ruin Delhi’s FDI friendly image.
‘Corp Micro Plus’, a special campaign for micro enterprises will be launched by Corporation Bank. The scheme will start from January 17 to March 31.The rate of interest will be at base rate (10.25 % currently). There will be no processing charges during the campaign period. A fully furnished SME (small and medium enterprise) loan centre was inaugurated in Ahmedabad that will provide the financial requirements of the MSME sector in Ahmedabad, Gandhidham, Rajkot, Kadi and Jamnagar. Also before February 15, the bank is planning to open SME loan centres in Ludhiana, Pune and Chennai.
Awards & Honours
Two famous Bengali poets Nirendranath Chakraborty and Sankha Ghosh were presented the Sunil Gangopadhyay Memorial Award of 2012 and 2013 by Pranab Mukherjee, President of India. The awards were given at a function held at Raj Bhawan in Kolkata. The Sunil Gangopadhyay Memorial Award has been instituted by a cultural organisation “The Bengal” in 2012 after his death.
Appointment
KS Gopalakrishnan has been appointed as the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Aegon Religare Life Insurance (ARLI). Earlier, he was the Executive Director of the company and prior to this, he was the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and the Appointed Actuary at ARLI. Altogether Gopalakrishnan has above twenty five years of experience in the life insurance industry across markets such as Canada, India and Hong Kong.
Union Minister Sachin Pilot has been appointed as the new Chief of Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee. Congress has appointed Pilot and the announcement was made by Janardan Dwivedi, General Secretary (GS) of party in New Delhi. Currently, Pilot is the Minister of Corporate Affairs in Union Cabinet.
Sports
The Australian Open Tennis tournament, the first Grand Slam of the season was kicked off in Melbourne. India’s Somdev Devvarman is the only Indian who will play in the Singles. He will play his opening match later in the tournament. Leander Paes, Rohan Bopanna, Mahesh Bhupathi, Sania Mirza, Divij Sharan and Yuki Bhambri with their respective team-mates will feature the Doubles section.
The seven—time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams has lost the game in the first round at the Australian Open Tennis tournament, the first Grand Slam of the season for only the second time, with her concentration and serve letting her down when it counted most in a 6-2, 4-6, 4-6 overcome to Ekaterina Makarova. Williams breezed through the first set against Makarova, the No. 22-seeded who had an upset win over Serena Williams in the fourth round during the 2012 Australian Open.
