1. Sumit Mullick appointed as Maharashtra Chief Secretary
•BEML (Bharat Earth Movers Limited), a defense public sector company, has set itself a goal of utilizing 100 percent renewable energy for its consumption.
•In this endeavor, the company has inaugurated a 200 KW grid connected rooftop solar project at its Mysore complex. The project was inaugurated by Deepak Kumar Hota, Chairman & Managing Director, BEML, in the presence of B R Viswanatha, Director-Mining & Construction, BEML.
•To achieve 100 per cent renewable energy, BEML has set up a 5 MW windmill project in Gadag district in north Karnataka. This project has been generating power since 2007.
2. DRDO tests interceptor missile successfully
•India’s Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) shield got a further fillip with the successful test of an interceptor supersonic missile conducted by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)
•The Advanced Area Defence (AAD) endo-atmospheric missile capable of intercepting incoming target missile at an altitude of 15 to 25 km range was tested.
•It was launched from the Abdul Kalam Island off Odisha coast to stop an incoming enemy missile which was launched from the Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur.
3. Aashray inks MoU with Jharkhand, to set up incubation center for start-ups
•Gujarat-based Incube Ventures Pvt Ltd, under the banner of Aashray Promotion of Social Enterprises Foundation announced the signing of an MoU with the Jharkhand government’s Department of Information Technology and e-Governance (DoIT) to establish an incubation center for start-ups in the state.
•The MoU was entered in the ‘Momentum Jharkhand Global Investors Summit 2017’ held recently.
4. International Yoga festival: Uttarakhand
•On the eve of International Yoga Festival in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that world is threatened by the twin challenges of terrorism and climate change.
•He also stated that there should be peace among nations and yoga helps create harmony and peace within individuals, society, nation and all across the world.
•He quoted Swami Vivekananda saying expansion is life and contraction is death. He appreciated the work of Parmarth Niketan in bringing Yoga closer to people across the world.
5. Ajay Tyagi takes charge as 9th Sebi chief
IAS officer Ajay Tyagi is taking charge as the chairman of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on 2 March 2017. He has replaced Mr. U.K Sinha. Mr. Tyagi needs to immediately take a call on five key issues:
The Key issues are as follows:
1. Corporate governance- The recent high-profile board room battle has triggered the need for transparency and ensuring that interest of minority shareholders is safeguarded.
2. NSE' co-location issue and a new set of rules for high-frequency trade (HFT)- Sebi to finalize the action on NSE's co-location matter over alleged unfair trade practices which also triggered the need for a tougher rule against high-frequency traders.
3. Start-up listing/REITs launch- To address the capital raising needs of new-age technology companies, Sebi introduced a separate listing platform meant for startups.
4. Self-trading of exchanges- At present, Sebi’s regulations don’t allow exchanges self-listing and self-trading. The market regulator has taken a firm stand on not allowing self-listing.
5. Commodity market development- To shore up confidence in commodity space needs to also come up with the new set of rules for the commodity market especially allowing more participants in the spot commodity market and sorting the legal hurdles in option trading.
6. Kohli nominated for Polly Umrigar award, Ashwin for Dilip Sardesai award
•India captain Virat Kohli was nominated for the prestigious Polly Umrigar award while all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin named for the Dilip Sardesai award.The awards will be presented at the BCCI Annual Awards to be held in Bengaluru on 8th March, 2017.
•Kohli becomes the first Indian cricketer to get Polly Umrigar award on the third occasion after 2011-12 and 2014-15 season.
•Ashwin will also become the first cricketer to receive the 'Dilip Sardesai Award' twice. The award is given to honor the best performance in the bilateral Test series between India and West Indies.
