International Labour Day being celebrated today
Today is International Labour Day, also known as International Worker's Day or May Day.
The day is celebrated to honour the contribution of working men and women. The theme of Labour Day this year is - Uniting Workers for Social and Economic Advancement.
Labour Day aims to pay tribute to workers sacrifices in achieving economic and social rights all over the world.
During industrialization at the beginning of the 19th Century, the industrialists used to exploit the labour class and made them work up to 15 hours a day. The workers rose against this exploitation and demanded paid leaves, proper wages and breaks for the workforce.
The day marks the victory of the workers' movement for eight hours of work. In India, the first Labour day or May Day was celebrated in 1923 in Chennai.
US Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein submits his resignation
US Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Special Counsel Robert Mueller to investigate links between Russia and Donald Trump's campaign in the Presidential elections, has submitted his resignation.
In a letter to Mr Trump, Rosenstein said, he will leave his post on the 11th of next month. Attorney General William Barr confirmed in a statement that the letter had been submitted.
GRSE to build eight ASWSWCs for Indian Navy
The public sector Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited (GRSE) has been awarded a ₹6,311 crore contract to build eight anti-submarine warfare shallow water craft for the Indian Navy, a statement from India’s defence ministry said on Monday.
The contract was signed by Joint Secretary & Acquisition Manager (Maritime Systems) Ravi Kant on behalf of the Ministry of Defence and S S Dogra, Director (Finance), on behalf of GRSE, in New Delhi.
The request for proposals was issued by the Indian Navy to defence public sector unit shipyards and other Indian private shipyards in April 2014, with GRSE emerging as the successful bidder for design, construction and supply of the eight craft, the statement said.
These craft are designed for a deep displacement of 750 tons, speed of 25 knots and complement of 57 and capable of full-scale subsurface surveillance of coastal waters besides coordinated anti-submarine warfare operations with aircraft, the statement said. “In addition, the vessels shall have the capability to interdict or destroy sub surface targets in coastal waters. These can also be deployed for search and Rescue by day and night in coastal areas," the statement said.
Cyclone Fani: Home Ministry orders for advance release of financial assistance of Rs 1086 crore for four states
The Home Ministry has ordered for advance release of financial assistance of 1086 crore rupees for four states to assist them in undertaking preventive and relief measures in response to cyclonic storm FANI.
Based on the decision of National Crisis Management Committee, NCMC, the amount will be released to their State Disaster Response Fund, SDRF.
Around 200 crore rupees for Andhra Pradesh, over 340 crore for Odisha, 309 crore for Tamil Nadu and 235 crore rupees for West Bengal have been sanctioned.
Wipro Consumer acquires Filipino personal care firm
Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting on Monday said it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Splash Corp., Philippines’s largest personal care company. Splash, which clocked $80 million revenue last year, owns brands including SkinWhite, Maxi-peel and Vitress.
The transaction strengthens Wipro’s consumer care portfolio in personal care and strengthens its South-East Asian market footprint. The transaction value was not disclosed.
“This acquisition enables us to grow Wipro brands in the Philippines market by leveraging Splash’s distribution strength across market segments. Splash’s brands can be expanded further to other international markets where Wipro has a strong footprint and brands have latent equity. Splash brands are not only strong in the Philippines, but also have tremendous equity in multiple international markets such as Indonesia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, the Middle East and Nigeria," Nagender Arya, regional director (East Asia, Africa and Europe), Wipro Consumer Care, said in a statement.
This is Wipro’s 11th consumer business acquisition, and the ninth in the personal care segment. The company has made five acquisitions in the Indian market in the consumer line business.
DD-Kashir launches Kashmiri version of 'Kaun Banega Crorepati'
DD-Kashir launched the Kashmiri version of 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' at the Doordarshan Kendra's Srinagar Studios yesterday. The show is named, 'Kus Bani Koshur Karorpaet'.
The first episode was aired last night. The broadcast will be at 8 PM from Monday to Saturday and will be repeated the following day at 7 am and 2 PM.
Speaking on the occasion, Director General, Doordarshan Supriya Sahu said, the show would give opportunity to highlight the local unsung heroes and bring their untold stories from Jammu and Kashmir region to the rest of the country. She thanked the team behind the show and Prasar Bharati for the support.
Canara Bank’s Life Insurance Branch Launches Webassurance
Public sector lender Canara Bank and its life insurance partner Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Saturday announced the launch of 'Webassurance'.
Four life insurance products of Canara HSBC OBC Life would be made available to customers of Canara Bank, covering the key needs of child future, savings and investments, retirement planning and protection, a release issued in Mumbai said on Saturday.
Launching of Webassurance is a significant step towards providing the bank’s customers a one-stop, convenient online solution to meet their financial needs. It aims at empowering customers to address their financial needs in a completely paperless manner.
To bridge the gap between the banks and the potential customers Canara Bank and their life insurance partner Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance announced the launch of ‘Webassurance’ to enable bank customers to purchase life insurance through a seamless journey starting from the bank’s website. This initiative will provide greater control of the buying life insurance products online and won’t need to visit the branch.
Government hikes customs duty on wheat to 40%
The government has hiked the customs duty on wheat to 40 percent from 30 percent to curb imports and protect the domestic industry.
The government wants to restrict overseas purchase so that domestic prices of wheat do not come under pressure as the country's wheat output is expected to scale a record high this year.
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), through a notification, has hiked the basic customs duty (BCD) on wheat to 40 percent.
In May last year, the government had hiked BCD on wheat to 30 percent from 20 percent.
The government has fixed wheat's minimum support price (MSP) or the price at which it buys from farmers, at Rs 1,840 per quintal, up from Rs 1,735 a year earlier, as part of its decision to fix the support price at a minimum of 1.5 times the production cost.
Stuttgart Open: Petra Kvitova triumphs to win second singles title of 2019
Petra Kvitova has become the first player to win two WTA singles titles this year after beating Anett Kontaveit in the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix final.
The Czech, 29, won 6-3 7-6 (7-2) in one hour 31 minutes in Stuttgart on Sunday.
World number 15 Kontaveit reached the final after world number one Naomi Osaka withdrew from Saturday's semi-final because of an abdominal injury.
Prior to Kvitova's triumph, the 18 previous WTA Tour events this year had all been won by different players.
Estonian Kontaveit, 23, led 3-1 in the second set before world number three Kvitova responded to force a tie-break.
ISSF World Cup: India wins 3 golds, 1 silver
India topped the standings at the International Shooting Sport Federation, ISSF World Cup on the final day in Beijing on Sunday, bagging four medals comprising 3 Gold and a Silver.
In the last edition in New Delhi, India had jointly topped the standings with Hungary. China followed India in the Beijing edition by bagging 2 gold, as many silver and a bronze.
For India, Anjum Moudgil and young Divyansh Singh Panwar started the medal hunt with a gold in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team competition.
The teenaged pair of Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary won another yellow metal in the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Pistol event.
Divyansh then won India's first individual medal by clinching a silver in the men's 10m Air Rifle. Abhishek Verma won India's third gold in men's 10m Air Pistol event.