Current Affairs

DAC approves procurement of equipment worth Rs 9,100 crores

The upgraded Akash Weapon System is operationally critical equipment which will provide protection to vital assets. The DAC also accorded approval for progressing Design and Development of Individual Under Water Breathing Apparatus (IUWBA) for T 90 Tanks. Developed by DRDO Lab DEBEL, the IUWBA is used by the crew of Tanks as a safety gear and is required by the Tank crew for emergency escape when negotiating water obstacles while deep fording. The DAC also accorded approval for Design and Development of Test Equipment for Guided Weapons System of T 90 Tank. The equipment is being developed by DRDO and will give an indigenous solution to the Test Equipment used for checking the Guided Weapon System of Tank T 90. The equipment earlier procured from foreign OEMs, has been developed indigenously and is in pursuit of the Government's 'Make in India' initiative.



Emmy Awards 2018: Here's the Complete List of Winners

The 70th annual Emmy awards are taking place in Los Angeles, with usual favorites Game of Thrones, Saturday Night Live and The Handmaid's Tale leading the hunt for trophies, at least when it comes for nominations.

The awards were hosted by SNL cast members Michael Che and Colin Jost, who began the ceremony with a musical number, celebrating Hollywood's (lack of) diversity.



Supreme Court allows sale of Saridon, 3 other drugs

New Delhi: Popular painkiller Saridon will be available in medical stores across the country, with the Supreme Court on Monday allowing the sale of the drug and three other banned fixed dose combinations (FDCs).

A bench of Justices R F Nariman and Indu Malhotra issued notice to the Centre and sought its reply on a plea filed by some drug makers and pharma associations. The medicines whose sale was allowed were Piramal Healthcare’s Saridon, GlaxoSmithKline’s Piriton, Juggat Pharma’s Dart and another drug, the details of which could not be immediately known.

The top court, however, did not grant any relief to the other medicines falling in the list of 328 FDC drugs, which were banned by the Health Ministry through a September 7 notification.

FDCs are two or more drugs combined in a fixed ratio into a single dosage.

The Delhi High Court had earlier allowed Indian pharma major Wockhardt to sell its Ace Proxyvon tablets, which is a mixture of three salts -- aceclofenac, paracetamol and rabeprazol -- a combination that is banned. The pharma company, which claimed to have been manufacturing and selling the drug for over 11 years, had contended that it had not been provided with the Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) report, based on which the decision was taken.



Govt proposes merger of Bank of Baroda, Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank

The central government has announced the proposal to merge three public sector lenders - Bank of Baroda, Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank.

The combined lending entity will be India's third largest globally competitive bank, said Rajeev Kumar, Secretary - Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance in a media address on September 17.

According to the government's estimates, Net non-performing asset (NNPA) ratio of the



PayU India gets RBI approval to operate its own NBFC

New Delhi: PayU India has received Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) approval to operate its own non-banking financial company (NBFC), the digital payments firm owned by South Africa’s Naspers Ltd said today. The move will help PayU promote inclusive growth in the country by catering to the diverse financial needs of various segments of the society, fintech startup claims.

The approval from the central bank is subject to “certain pending RBI compliance”, PayU said in a statement. “We realized the potential in consumer credit space and have already introduced innovative credit products in order to tap the market. We have already served more than 500,000 consumers during last 12 months,” said PayU India managing director



Cisco signs agreements with NITI, BSNL

Cisco, a U.S.-based firm, that makes networking telecommunications equipment, has signed two agreements with the NITI Aayog and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to speed up its Country Digital Acceleration programme in India. “The current set of investments will focus on fostering innovation and entrepreneurship through the Atal Innovation Mission and in developing use cases to showcase the possibilities of 5G in citizen services and application of innovative digital technologies in transportation modernisation,” according to a statement from Cisco.

Cisco has made over 25 strategic investments in growth stage companies in India. To further support the start-up ecosystem in India, Cisco signed an agreement with NITI Aayog to boost connectivity and collaboration across all 100 Atal Incubation Centers in the country. These solutions converge voice, chat, video meetings, group messaging, file sharing, and whiteboarding securely, all in one platform.

Cisco Webex Teams and Cisco Sparkboard will facilitate information exchange and collaboration among all Atal Incubation Centres in India and Cisco’s other incubation and innovation centers across the world enabling entrepreneurs to build businesses, innovate and go global with digital solutions. To facilitate new citizen services, especially in government and public sector, Cisco signed an



Prashant Kumar takes charge as SBI CFO

State Bank of India on Monday said Prashant Kumar has taken charge as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Bank.

Before Kumar, Anshula Kant, who has been promoted as Managing Director of SBI, was the CFO.

Prior to this appointment, Kumar was designated as Deputy Managing Director (HR) & Corporate Development Officer of India's largest bank.

Kumar has earlier worked as DMD and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Bank.



Rajnath Singh to inaugurate smart fence pilot project along India-Pakistan border

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is slated to inaugurate the first ‘smart fence’ pilot project of the country along the India-Pakistan international border in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday. The pilot project will be inaugurated by the Home Minister during his one-day visit to the state.

According to news agency ANI, the Home Minister will reach Border Security Force (BSF) headquarters at Paloura on Monday morning and formally launch the initiative taken by the force.

The BSF had taken up the initiative as part of the comprehensive integrated border management system.



HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar to confer Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar 2017-18 in New Delhi tomorrow

Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar will confer the Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar 2017-18 in New Delhi tomorrow. An official release said, the Department of School Education and Literacy had launched the Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar to honour the schools that have done exemplary work in the field of water, sanitation and hygiene.

These awards are given to ensure long term sustainability and behaviour change towards cleanliness. It also provides a benchmark and roadmap for schools to make further improvements. The Ministry said, this year, first time the awards have also been extended to private schools besides government and government aided schools.

This award was launched as a follow up to the Swachh Vidyalaya Initiative launched in 2014. In his Independence Day in 2014, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi had declared that all schools in the country should have toilets with separate toilets for girls within a period of one year.

Under Swachh Vidyalaya Initiative, a record number of over four lakh 17 thousand toilets were constructed in over two lakh 61 thousand schools.



PNB wins Hindi implementation award

State-run Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Friday bagged the "Rajbhasha Kirti" award for outstanding performance in implementing the Official Language Policy during 2017-18, the bank said.

The award, under the category of 'Nationalised Banks and Financial Institutions in Region A', was presented by Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu to PNB Chief Executive and MD Sunil Mehta, the bank said in a statement here.


Home Minister Rajnath Singh was among Union Ministers and senior bank officials present on the occasion of Hindi Divas, the statement added.