15 November 2014
National:
Kerala ranks fourth in employable status
Kerala ranks fourth
after Delhi, Orissa, and Uttar Pradesh on the list of top 10 States with the
highest employable population, according to India Skills Report 2015. The report
has been prepared by the Confederation of Indian Industry, in association with
organisations such as Weebox, PeopleStrong, and Linkedin. Data on various
aspects pertaining to skills and employability were prepared on the basis of an
online employability skill test among 3 lakh students on 1,800 educational
campuses in 29 States and seven Union Territories across the country. On an
age-wise analysis, Kerala came ninth among States with most employable
candidates in the age group 18-21 and eighth in the category of most employable
candidates aged 22-25.
India successfully test-fired Dhanush ballistic missile
India has
successfully test-fired nuclear-capable Dhanush ballistic missile from a naval
ship off the Odisha coast. The surface-to-surface Dhanush was test fired from a
ship in the Bay of Bengal by the Strategic Force Command (SFC) of the defence
force. Dhanush is a naval variant of India's indigenously developed 'Prithvi'
missile. According to Director of Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Chandipore,
MVKV Prasad, the missile launch and its flight performance was monitored from
the test range. Prithvi-II surface-to-surface missile, which has a strike range
of 350 km, was also test-fired from a test range at Chandipur.
Modified DBTL scheme for LPG to be launched in 54 districts
spread across 11 states today
The Modified Direct
Benefit Transfer for LPG, DBTL, scheme will be launched in 54 districts. In the
modified DBTL scheme, LPG consumers in 54 districts of 11 states will be able
to get cash subsidy to buy the cooking fuel at market price. Talking to AIR,
Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that the modified scheme would start
on November 15. Now under the scheme, requirement of unique identification
number, Aadhar number to avail cash subsidy is not mandatory.
Railway Minister appoints E. Sreedharan as a one-man committee
Railway Minister
Suresh Prabhu has appointed former Managing Director of Delhi Metro Rail
Cooperation E. Sreedharan as a one-man committee to suggest proper procedures
for accountability in all tendering processes, which will be dealt at the
operating levels. The committee would suggest the system and procedure and a
manual of instructions to be followed to implement the Railway Minister’s
decision speedily.
Delhi has lower crime rate than New York
A research report
presented at the 13th Urban Age conference, held at the London School of
Economics, has both good and bad news in store for Delhi. Research in eight
urban cities across the world has found that Delhi has a very low violent crime
rate compared to New York and Istanbul. The bad news is that the city has a
high average density of built up area — despite its relatively low-rise urban
landscape — making it difficult to control average particulate matter 10
pollution levels. Delhi scores well in having a very low level of violent
crime, measured by the murder rate (homicides per 100,000 people), than New
York and Istanbul. Comparing Delhi’s urban dynamics to seven urban cities —
London, Bogota, Lagos, Tokyo, New York, Istanbul and Berlin — the study
highlights that the capital has an extremely high average density of built up
area of 19,698 people per square km. This is nearly twice that of the New York
Metro area (which at 11,531 people/sq km includes high rise Manhattan) and
Tokyo with 11,025 people/sq km.
Business & Economy:
HDFC Bank’s proposal to hike foreign holding to 74% cleared
The Foreign
Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has cleared the long-pending proposal of HDFC
Bank to hike foreign holding in the bank to 74 per cent. The FIPB is of the
view that the bank’s parent HDFC’s 22.5 per cent holding in the bank is FDI,
and, hence, total foreign holding is 73.2 per cent, which includes FII, FDI,
ADR and GDR. Total foreign investment in HDFC Bank was 73.39 per cent at the
end of June, 2014. It came down to 73.2 per cent at the end of September, 2014.
In 2013, HDFC Bank, a foreign-owned lender, had approached the FIPB for
increasing the foreign holding in the bank to 67.55 per cent from 49 per cent.
ED slaps Rs.660-crore notice on Videocon group for forex
violations
The Enforcement
Directorate (ED) has issued a Rs.660-crore show-cause notice to consumer
electronics major Videocon group on charges of violation of foreign exchange
laws. The group has been charged under Section 6 (3) of FEMA which talks about
transfer or issue of any foreign security by a person resident in India. The
show-cause notice has said that the violation done by the group is worth Rs.660
crore.
Sebi bars Sawaca Communications from securities markets for 1
year
Regulator Sebi has
barred Sawaca Communications Ltd from the securities market for one year for
allegedly violating capital markets norm. The Securities and Exchange Board of
India (Sebi), in its order, restrained Sawaca Communications Ltd from accessing
the securities market and prohibit it from buying, selling or otherwise dealing
in securities, directly or indirectly, in any manner, whatsoever, for a period
of one year from the date of this order.
Pincon Spirits gets BSE listing
The equity shares
of Pincon Spirit Ltd (PSL) were listed with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) at
Rs 68.15. The company is already listed with the Calcutta Stock Exchange. PSL,
a part of Pincon Group was established in 1978. It has two divisions--Indian
Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG). The company
has atleast six IMFL brands and sells in Eastern, North Eastern states apart
from Goa and Karnataka. It plans to venture into Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu,
Kerala, New Delhi, Bihar and Chhattisgarh. In FMCG it is into various types of
edible oil.
Sports:
Johnson named ICC Cricketer of the Year
It was double
delight Mitchell Johnson as the Australian fast bowler was declared ICC
Cricketer of the Year as well as the ICC Test cricketer of the Year. The
33-year-old has won the coveted Cricketer of the Year award for the second time
in his career while he is only third Australian after Ricky Ponting (2006) and
Michael Clarke (2013) to win the Test Cricketer of the Year award. During the voting
period between 26 August 2013 and 17 September 2014, Johnson claimed 59 Test
wickets at an average of 15.23, with best bowling figures of seven for 40 runs
against England in Adelaide in December 2013. In ODIs, Johnson claimed 21
wickets in 16 games. Since the inception of the awards in 2004, Johnson is only
the second player after compatriot Ricky Ponting to win the Sir Garfield Sobers
Trophy twice. While Johnson previously won this trophy in 2009, Ponting lifted
it back—to—back in 2006 and 2007. Other winners include Rahul Dravid (2004),
Jacques Kallis and Andrew Flintoff (2005), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (2008),
Sachin Tendulkar (2010), Jonathan Trott (2011), Kumar Sangakkara (2012) and
Michael Clarke (2013).
Equatorial Guinea to host 2015 Africa Cup
Equatorial Guinea
has been named as the hosts for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, the
Confederation of African Football (CAF) has confirmed. Morocco were concerned
over the spread of the outbreak of the Ebola virus. CAF subsequently expelled
Morocco from the relocated tournament, which will now be held in the country,
which co-hosted with Gabon in 2012. Equatorial Guinea will now take on sole
responsibility for holding the 16-team event. CAF said the decision was made
after a meeting in Malabo between Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang
and CAF President Issa Hayatou.
Pune to hold 29th International Marathon on December 7
Pune will hold 29th
International Marathon on December 7. Forty thousand runners from around 35
countries across the globe are scheduled to participate in this most
prestigious event.
