Chennai Open: Bopanna & Nedunchezhiyan bag men's doubles title
Indian pair of Rohan Bopanna and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan were crowned the champions in the doubles category in Chennai Open tennis 2017.
They defeated compatriots Purav Raja and Divij Sharan 6-3, 6-4 in the summit clash.
A doubles history was created even before the first ball was hit, as it was the first time in the ATP event’s 22-year existence that four Indians featured in the finals.
Spain's No. 2 seed Roberto Bautista Agut has won the singles trophy effortlessly by demolishing Russia’s Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-4.
Note:
The Chennai Open is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts annually in January at the SDAT Tennis Stadiumin Chennai (Tamil Nadu) India.
It is currently part of the ATP World Tour 250 series of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) World Tour.
South Eastern Railway defeat Western Railway to clinch Railways Hockey cup
Today, the South Eastern Railway (SER) has defeated Western Railway 2-1 in the final of the 38th All India Railways Women's Hockey Championship held at SAI Centre, Bhopal.
The championship, organized by West Central Railway Sports Association (WAS) held between January 2 to 8.
RBI to provide rupees 1 billion in Rs 100 notes to Nepal Rashtra Bank
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has agreed to provide rupees one billion in Rs 100 denomination notes to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) to ease the acute shortage of Rs. 100 notes faced by the Himalayan nation Nepal.
The NRB's plan to import INR 100 denomination notes was delayed due to the Indian government's move to demonetise INR 500 andINR 1,000 notes.
Recently, RBI has written to Nepal Rastra Bank that it will be able to provide INR one billion in INR 100 denomination notes.
Bank of India to reduce its interest rates
Today, the Bank of India has decided to reduce its interest rates on retail loans, including home and vehicle loans.
Earlier, the bank has reduced its minimum lending rates (marginal cost) of funds based lending rates (MCLR) by up to 90 basis points.
The rate on home loans has been lowered to 8.65% for women borrowers, while for others the rate has been set at 8.70%.
The bank has reduced the interest rates for vehicle loans to 9.35% and the new rates are set in the range of 10.50-11%.
The rates for women borrowers will be 0.5% lower than the others.
Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani passes away
Former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (82-year) has passed away due to the heart attack.
Rafsanjani was a dominant figure in the country's politics since the 1980s.
He served as president from 1989 to 1997 but lost to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when he ran again in 2005.
He was a part of the religious establishment and regarded as "pragmatic conservative" open to improving ties to West.
74th Golden Globe Awards
The Annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony (74th ) has been organized at Beverly Hills, California, United States (US).
A romantic musical comedy-drama film "La La Land" sweeps theGolden Globes awards by winning in all the seven categoriesincluding the top award of the best musical or comedy.
The Golden Globe Awards are the annual awards that honor the best in Motion Pictures and American Television for the previous year.
Veteran actress Meryl Streep was bestowed with the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award.
Note:
Best Motion (Picture Drama): Moonlight
Best Motion (Picture Musical/Comedy): La La Land
Best Director (Motion Picture-Drama): Damien Chazelle for La La Land
Best Actor (Motion Picture-Drama): Casey Affleck for Manchester by the Sea
Best Actress (Motion Picture-Drama): Isabelle Huppert for Elle
Best Actor (Motion Picture or Musical or Comedy): Ryan Gosling for La La Land
Best Actress (Motion Picture Musical or Comedy): Emma Stone for La La Land
Best Actor (Supporting role in Motion Picture): Aaron Taylor-Johnson for Nocturnal Animals
Best Actress (Supporting role in Motion Picture): Viola Davis for Fences.
Best Original Score-Motion Picture: Justin Hurwitz for the La La Land.
Best Original Song: “City of Stars” (Justin Hurwitz, Pasek & Paul) for the La La Land.
Best Animated Feature Film: Zootopia. Best Foreign Language Film: Elle (France).
Odisha govt plans to issue 11.40 lakh RuPay cards to farmers
The Odisha government has planned to issue 11 lakh 40 thousandRuPay cards to farmers of the state by March this year.
The new cards that now come fitted with a microchip enabling it to store detailed information about the card holder.
The necessary steps have been initiated to provide Point of Sale(POS) machines in all 708 Samitis of the State through which the farmers can withdraw money by using their RuPay card.
The State government also plan to convert all these Kisan cards to RuPay cards by June this year.
8. Maharashtra govt comes up with amendment in Land Revenue Code
The Maharashtra government has come up with an amendment inMaharashtra Land Revenue Code, following which non-agriculture certification will no longer be required for a land for which development plan is finalized.
Unless an agricultural land is converted into non-agricultural, development work can not be started.
With the new amendment in the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code 1966, things would move more swiftly.
Earlier, the requirement of non-agriculture certification used to cause the delay in projects, including all types of infrastructure development works.
9. 3-day National Conference for e-Governance to begin in Visakhapatnam
Today, the three-day National Conference for e-Governance 2016-17 (20th Edition) has begun in Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh).
The conference has been organized by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) and the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), Government of India in partnership with Information Technology, Electronics and Communication (ITE&C) Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh.
The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Internet of Things and e-Governance’ and will be covering newly evolving areas of e-Governance across five plenary sessions.
E-Governance is one of the subjects allocated to DARPG under the Second Schedule to the Allocation of Business Rules, 1961.
Note:The last year’s edition of the National Conference on e-Governance was held on 21st January, 2016 at Nagpur, (Maharashtra).