Hindi Writer Krishna Sobti to Receive 2017 Jnanpith Award
- Renowned Hindi litterateur Krishna Sobti has been chosen for 53rd Jnanpith Award for the year 2017, the Jnanpith Selection Board announced.
- Born in 1925 in Gujarat, now in Pakistan, Sobti, 92, is known for experimenting with new writing styles and creating "bold" and "daring" characters in her stories who were ready to accept all challenges.
- She has been the recipient of many coveted awards in the past, including Hindi Akademi Awards, Shiroman Awards, Maithli Sharan Gupt Samman, Sahitya Akademi Fellowship and Padma Bhushan.
- Jnanpith Award for 2016 was given to Shankha Ghosh.
- Jnanpith Award is India’s highest literary honour.
- First Jnanpith Award was given to G. Sankara Kurup in 1965.
- It was instituted in 1961 by Bharatiya Jnanpith trust founded by the Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain family.
Harayana govt signs Rs 20,000 Cr worth MoU for logistics parks
- The Harayana govt. has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with an integrated trade facilitation services organisation Verbind to set up a logistics and trading hub in the state.
- The hub will be spread over an area of 600 acres near Gurugram and attract investment to the tune of 20,000 crore rupees.
- The Harayana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation will be the nodal agency for the project.
All cars to be rolled out with toll FASTags from 1st December
- According to the gazette notification of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, all cars sold or manufactured on or after 1st December will have to be rolled out with “FASTags” (electronic toll collection product).
- FASTags work mainly through radio-frequency identification (RFID) strips pasted on windscreens for contact-less passage in toll plazas on national highways.
- RFID strips will now have to be pasted on vehicles by manufacturers or dealers if the vehicles have already left the factories.
- In case of vehicles sold as “drive away chassis without windscreen”, FASTag will have to be fitted by the vehicle owner before it is registered.
Ashok, Kirti Chakra awardees to travel executive class free: Railways
- The Indian Railways has decided to provide lifelong free travel to Ashok Chakra and Kirti Chakra awardees, not only 1st AC coaches but also the executive class on all trains.
- As per a 2014 policy, earlier the Railways Ministry provides free travel passes for 1st AC Class/ Executive Class to Param Vir Chakra and Maha Vir Chakra awardees.
Bihar govt to apply reservation formula in engaging outsourced employees
- The Bihar government has decided to follow its reservation policy while engaging professionals and other employees through outsourcing agencies.
- New policy will make private outsourcing agencies recruit manpower based on the reservation policy of the state government if they want to work with the state agencies.
- 50% of the government jobs are reserved for the Scheduled Cast(SC), Scheduled tribe (ST), other backward classes (OBC) and differently abled candidates in Bihar.
- There is also a provision of 35% horizontal quota for women in all reserved categories.
Note: In the absence of technical manpower on its rolls, the state government engages technical staff, mostly dealing in information technology (IT)-based operations, through outsourced agencies.
Senate confirms Kenneth Juster as US Ambassador to India
- The Senate has confirmed by a voice vote the nomination of Kenneth Juster (62-year) the next US Ambassador to India.
- He would replace Richard Verma, who resigned from the post with the swearing in of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States.
- Juster had played a key role in the landmark Indo-US civil nuclear deal.
Note:
- US Ambassador is the top American diplomat to India.
- Juster holds a law degree from the Harvard Law School, Master degree in Public Policy from the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, and a Bachelor degree in Government from Harvard College.
Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan arrives in India
- Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan arrived in New Delhi on a three-day visit to India and attend the World Food India Conference.
- The visiting dignitary will also meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and call on President Ramnath Kovind.
- Bilateral dialogue between the two countries will be conducted through the mechanisms of Foreign Office Consultations and Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technological, Cultural and Educational Cooperation.
Indo-Kazakhstan joint exercise Prabal Dostyk 2017 begins in HP
- A joint training exercise between Indian Army and the Kazakhstan Army “PRABAL DOSTYK – 2017” commenced with the opening ceremony at Bakloh, Himachal Pradesh.
- The fourteen-day joint exercise is aimed at enhancing the military ties between the two countries as also at achieving interoperability between the two armies.
- The training contingents comprise of platoon strength from the 11th Gorkha Rifles of the Indian Army and a similar strength of the Kazakhstan Army.
Yes Bank’ unveils BHIM Yes Pay
- YES bank, unveiled a superior payment wallet service, BHIM YES PAY by fully integrating the application with all the IndiaStack APIs and NPCI Products.
- BHIM YES PAY now supports e-KYC, UPI, IMPS, RuPay, BBPS and BharatQR making customers’ as well as retailers’ digital journey smooth
- YES BANK has over 5.5 lakh registered users on BHIM YES PAY and more than 2 lakh users have already availed either UPI or Virtual Card Services to carry out P2P payments and online shopping.
Walmart India launched India's first Fulfilment center in Mumbai
- The US-based retail chain giant Walmart India has opened its first Fulfilment Center (FC) in Mumbai.
- With this, Walmart India brings a wide range of quality merchandise, local assortment, unique shopping options, door-step delivery and convenient payment solutions to its members in Mumbai.
- This will get access to a wide and exciting assortment of merchandise relevant to them without stepping out of their stores.
- Earlier, Walmart India has signed an MoU with the Maharashtra government to build 15 Cash and Carry stores under the brand `Best Price’ in the state.
Prakash, Amanpreet, Jitu win medals in 50m pistol event at C'wealth
- Today, Indian shooters Prakash Nanjappa, Amanpreet Singh and Jitu Rai made a clean sweep in the 50m pistol event at the Commonwealth Shooting Championships at Gold Coast in Australia.
- Prakash won the coveted gold medal, Amanpreet the Silver and Jitu settled for bronze medals.
India's K Srikanth achieves career-best World No 2 ranking
- India's ace shuttler Kidambi Srikanth (25-year) has achieved career-best World Number 2 ranking in the latest BWF ranking.
- Srikanth has reached in five finals and cliched four titles (Indonesia and Australia and Denmark and France) this year so far.
- Now, Srikanth has 73,403 points, 4527 points away from World Champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark, who heads the ranking list.
- He has clinched back-to-back titles at Indonesia and Australia and then at Denmark and France.
- In women's singles, shuttler P V Sindhu was static at World No. 2 & Saina Nehwal (former World No. 1) at the 11th spot.