06 November 2014
National:
PM gets 15th rank in Forbes list of most powerful people
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi has been ranked 15th in the Forbes list of world's most powerful people this
year. Russian President Vladimir Putin has pipped his US counterpart Barack
Obama for a second year in a row and is at the top. The list of 72 most
powerful people in the world also includes Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh
Ambani at the 36th position, Arcelor Mittal Chairman and CEO Lakshmi Mittal at
57th and Microsoft's Indian-born CEO Satya Nadella at 64th. Congress President
Sonia Gandhi, who was the highest ranked Indian in 2013 at 21, is no longer a
part of the list. The top five remain the same as last year. After Vladimir
Putin and Barack Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping has been ranked third,
Pope Francis at number 4 and the world's most powerful woman German Chancellor
Angela Merkel at fifth.
CM launches ‘Samajwadi Pension’ scheme
Uttar Pradesh Chief
Minister Akhilesh Yadav has launched a pension scheme under which Rs.500 would be
paid every month to some 40 lakh poor families. This is the first-of-its-kind
scheme launched in the country by any state government under which money will
be transferred directly into the account of the beneficiary. It has kept a
provision where the pension amount will be hiked by Rs.50 per annum up to a maximum
limit of Rs.750. The scheme, however, comes with several riders regarding
education, health and literacy. For instance, the head of the family will be
required to ensure enrolment of children in school along with 70 per cent
attendance, vaccination of children up to 5 years and institutional delivery of
pregnant women.
Noted film producer-distributor A.R. Raju no more
Noted film producer and
distributor Alluri Reddappa Raju, popularly known as A.R. Raju, (74) died. Born
on September 30, 1940, Raju produced over 25 films and served in the film
industry for more than five decades. Through his Ajanta Movies he distributed
hundreds of films made in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. He also served as
the President of Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce. Karnataka government
honoured him with Rajyotsava award for his contribution to the Kannada film
industry. Sahodarara Saval, produced by him, was the first colour film of Tamil
superstar Rajinikanth.
India, Russia agree on free trade negotiations
For the first time India
and Russia have agreed on negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between
India and the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia. The agreement
marks the first FTA negotiations initiated by the NDA government, and discussed
by visiting Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and Indian External
Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj during the 20th session of India-Russia
Inter-Governmental Commission (IRIGC) in New Delhi.
International:
Niraj Antani among the youngest
Niraj Antani, a
23-year-old Indian-American student was elected to the Ohio House of
Representatives, becoming one of the youngest state lawmakers in the U.S. A law
student at the University of Dayton, he defeated 62-year-old Patrick Morris of
the Democratic Party. Mr. Antani’s parents came to the United States in 1987.
Tri Valley University founder jailed for 16 years
The founder of
California-based Tri Valley University (TVU), who destroyed the academic
careers of several hundred Indian students in the U.S., has been sentenced to
more than 16 years in prison for running a sham university that served as a
front for an immigration scam. Susan Xiao-Ping Su (44) was sentenced after
being convicted on 31 counts of wire and mail fraud, money laundering, alien harbouring
and other charges related to running an immigration scam, the Department of
Justice announced.
Business & Economy:
Cabinet approves infusion of Rs 2375 crore to revive
23 unlicensed co-operative banks
The Government has
decided to revive 23 unlicensed district central co-operative banks in
different states which were on the verge of closure. Law Minister Ravishankar
Prasad said that of the total, 16 banks are in Uttar Pradesh, three each in
Jammu and Kashmir and Maharshtra and one in West Bengal. Under the Scheme, the
total capital infusion required for revival of these banks would be over 2375
crore rupees. Cabinet also approved an agreement with Nigeria, under which
Indian sentenced to imprisonment in Nigeria can serve their punishment in
India. Mr Prasad said, the country has already such agreement with 34 other
nations.
RBI asks banks to alert customers before clearing
suspicious or high value cheques
To prevent rising
cheque-related fraud cases, the Reserve Bank of India has asked banks to alert
the account holders by a phone call and contact the base branch in case of
non-home cheques before clearing suspicious or high value payments. The RBI
also asked banks to send an SMS alert to payer or drawer when cheques are
received for clearing and examine cheques under UV lamp for clearance beyond 2
lakh rupees. The apex bank, further, said multi-level checking should be done
before clearing cheques above 5 lakh rupees.
SAT allows DLF to redeem MF investments
The Securities Appellate
Tribunal (SAT) has allowed real estate major DLF to redeem its investments in mutual
funds worth Rs.1,806 crore. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)
imposed a ban on Delhi-based DLF and its top executives from accessing the
capital markets for three years, for suppressing information in its initial
public offering (IPO) prospectus and for ‘sham transactions’. While contesting
this ban, in an interim order, the appellate tribunal allowed the debt-ridden
company to redeem this fund till next month to service debt worth Rs.767 crore
in November and Rs.1,039 crore in December.
Centre raises fund outlay for renewable energy agency
The Union government has
approved the rise of capital share in the Indian Renewable Energy
Development Agency
(IREDA) from the existing level of Rs.1,000 crore to Rs.6,000 crore.
Union Bank slashes interest rates for medium
companies
Union Bank of India has
reduced interest rates for medium enterprises in the range of 200-375 basis points.
The new rates are effective from November 3, 2014.
Sports:
People’s Choice Award for Bhuvneshwar
Indian fast bowler
Bhuvneshwar Kumar was declared winner of the LG People’s Choice Award as he pipped
South African paceman Dale Steyn and Australia’s Mitchell Johnson in the voting
by the fans. England women’s captain Charlotte Edwards and Sri Lanka captain
Angelo Mathews were also among the nominees. Bhuvneshwar is only the fourth
cricketer and third Indian to win the coveted prize after Sachin Tendulkar
(2010) and India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who won it in 2013.
Third Golden Boot award for Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo picked
up the third Golden Boot award of his career for being joint top-goalscorer in Europe
and is also the odds-on favourite to win the Ballon d’Or for a third time in
January 2014. Ronaldo’s blistering form has continued this season with 22 goals
in 16 games to propel the European champion to the top of La Liga and into the
last 16 of the Champions League once more.
Renjith Maheswary off-colour, still clinches gold
Renjith Maheswary
managed to clear only three of his six allocated jumps but one of them was
enough to get the triple jumper gold with a leap of 16.09 metres on the final
day of the ONGC 54th National Open Athletics Championships. The veteran jumper
had been doubtful for participation but despite a dodgy back, the meet-record
holder won the showdown with a younger Arpinder Singh.In the women’s 10,000 metres,
L. Surya edged past Preeja Sreedharan in the last 100 metres to take gold.
Tintu was named the ‘best individual women athlete’ while long jumper Ankit
Sharma was named the ‘best male athlete’.
Tendulkar presents first copy of autobiography to his
mother
The first copy of Sachin
Tendulkar’s much-anticipated and talked-about autobiography -- ‘Playing It My Way’
-- was presented to his mother Rajni by the batting maestro himself, in Mumbai.
Tendulkar retired from international cricket in 2013 after playing a record 200
Tests.
