January, 2018: Everything that happened in the first month of 2018

AWARDS & HONOURS

Ravi Menon, an Indian-origin banker in Singapore was named as the best central bank governor in Asia- Pacific for 2018. Menon, managing director of Singapore's central bank Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), was recognized by the leading UK-based magazine 'The Banker' for his contribution in the makeover of Singapore's financial system.

Aishwarya Tipnis, a Delhi-based conservation architect, was conferred France’s top cultural award ”Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres” for her outstanding commitment to preservation of French heritage in India.

Actor Sudhir Dalvi was honoured with the Janakavi P Sawlaram award. The award is jointly given by the Thane Municipal Corporation and the Janakavi P Savlaram Kala Samiti.

The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, India’s Premier Container Port, won the 2017 “Samudra Manthan - Caring Organisation of the Year” award.

BUSINESS & CORPORATE

The Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry signed a MoU with South Korea for Business co-operation with a focus on automobile, defence and textiles sectors.

Salil S Parekh, an aeronautical engineer from IIT Bombay, formally took charge as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director (MD) of Infosys.

Pankaj Jain, a 1990 batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre took charge as the Managing Director of India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL), a state-owned company focused on infrastructure financing and development.

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), an umbrella organisation for retail payment systems in India, appointed Dilip Asbe as Managing Director and CEO of the organisation.

Punjab National Bank (PNB) and National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation (NSFDC) tied up to provide financial assistance for economic empowerment of persons belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) families living below Double Poverty Line (DPL).

With the growing trend of virtual currency worldwide, telecom giant Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd is expected to create its own cryptocurrency, JioCoin. Mukesh Ambani’s elder son Akash Ambani will be spearheading the JioCoin project.

The Election Commission (EC) has set up a 14-member committee to suggest changes to Section 126 of the Representation of the People (RP) Act, which prohibits poll campaign in the last 48 hours leading to voting, in the wake of media expansion.

In a major digital initiative to help plan the traffic flows and optimize freight operations, Ministry of Railways launched Smart Freight Operation Optimisation & Real Time Information (SFOORTI) App for Freight Managers which provides features for monitoring and managing freight business.

Haryana achieved the distinction of becoming the first state in the country to launch High Risk Pregnancy (HRP) Portal. This portal not only helps in early identification of high-risk pregnant cases up to the grass- roots level but also ensures their timely referral to the civil hospitals for further management and delivery by specialists.

The Telangana government constituted the SC/ST Commission in the state. Errolla Srinivas, a leader of the ruling TRS, was named the chairman of the five-member panel. The commission is mandated to monitor matters related to the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (SCs/STs) and also inquire into complaints pertaining to members of these communities.

Maneka Gandhi, the union minister of Women and Child Development, inaugurated an online portal NARI in New Delhi for the empowerment of women.

The Karnataka government received the approval for purchase of electric vehicles from the Department of Heavy Industries of the Union Government under FAME India subsidised scheme.

Arun Jaitley, the Union Finance Minister, launched India’s first agri-commodity options contract in guar seeds on the commodity bourse National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange Limited (NCDEX), to benefit farmers and ensure better prices in the coming days.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has ranked India at 30th position on a global manufacturing index - below China’s 5th place but above other BRICS peers, Brazil, Russia and South Africa.Japan has been found to have the best structure of production in the Geneva-based WEF’s first ‘Readiness for the future of production report’ and is followed by South Korea, Germany, Switzerland, China, Czech Republic, the US, Sweden, Austria and Ireland in the top 10. Among BRICS nations, Russia is ranked 35th, Brazil 41st and South Africa at 45th place.

The World Bank in its latest report “Global Economic Prospects (GEP-2018)” has projected India’s GDP growth rate at 7.3% in 2018 and 7.5% for the next two years.

Gujarat topped logistics index chart, an indicator of the efficiency of logistical services necessary for promoting exports in particular and economic growth in general. According to the report by the Commerce Ministry - LEADS (Logistics Ease Across Different States), prepared with the help of consultancy firm Deloitte, the findings would help in identifying the right problem areas in the sector and prepare policy responses to deal with them.While Gujarat occupied the top position among 22 states, Jammu and Kashmir appeared last, even a notch below Bihar. The second place is occupied by Punjab, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra ranked for the index based on the analysis of perception with regard to eight parameters, including infrastructure, services, regulatory process and safety of cargo. Among the Union Territories, Daman & Diu occupied the top slot followed by Delhi and Chandigarh. The LEADS index, according to the report, provides useful insights into how stakeholders perceive international trade logistics performance across the states and UTs.

The Reserve Bank of India initiated Prompt Corrective Action against public sector lender Allahabad Bank, owing to its high net Non-Performing Assets and negative Return on Assets for two consecutive years.

HDFC Bank announced a partnership with Rajasthan Government to promote and nurture startups in the state. Under this partnership, HDFC Bank will team up with the state government to provide end-to-end solutions like current accounts, credit cards and other solutions to startups under its SmartUp programme.

State Bank of India and Nabard signed an agreement with five NGOs in Bengal for the promotion of 2,500 joint liability groups (JLGs) in select districts of the State. JLGs are informal groups of 4-10 members engaged in similar economic activities and willing to jointly undertake the responsibility to repay loans taken by the group from a bank. They are typically credit groups of small or marginal tenant farmers who do not have a proper title of their farmland. Nabard has fixed a target of credit linking 80,000 JLGs in West Bengal in 2017-18.

PEOPLE in NEWS

Oscar-winning composer A R Rahman was officially announced the first brand ambassador of Sikkim.

Renowned Urdu poet Anwar Jalalpuri, famous for translating the Bhagwad Gita into Urdu couplets, passed away at 71.

Prof Baldev Raj, the director of the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), passed away at age 71. He nurtured schools of global stature in nuclear materials and mechanics, non-destructive evaluation, nanoscience and technology, robotics and automation, and was also responsible for resolving many problems in the strategic and security sectors. He had authored around 1,000 academic papers in peer-reviewed journals and over 70 books. He had been conferred over 100 awards in more than 30 countries.

Doodhnath Singh, a well-known Hindi writer, critic and poet, passed away in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh at age 81. In 2014, the government of Uttar Pradesh honoured him with their Bharat Bharti Samman.

Political scientist Gopal Guru was appointed as the Editor of the Economic and Political Weekly (EPW), as per an announcement by its publisher Sameeksha Trust.

Senior Advocate Indu Malhotra will be the first woman lawyer to be directly elevated from the Bar to the Supreme Court as a judge. Her name was cleared unanimously by the Supreme Court Collegium. The elevation of Malhotra, as and when approved by the Centre, will take the strength of judges in the Supreme Court to 27 as against the sanctioned 31. Malhotra will be the seventh woman judge since Independence to make it to the Supreme Court. At present, Justice R Banumathi, appointed in August 2014, is the lone woman judge in the apex court and will retire in July 2020.

John Young, NASA's longest-serving astronaut, who walked on the moon and flew on the first Gemini and space shuttle missions, died at age 87. He was the first person to fly six times into space and the only astronaut to command four different types of spacecraft.

Julian Assange has been granted Ecuadorian citizenship as the country says it is seeking a “dignified and just” resolution to the Wikileaks founder’s extended residence in its London embassy. Mr. Assange was granted political asylum in the embassy five-and-a-half years ago when Swedish prosecutors were investigating sex crime allegations against him.

Rocket scientist K. Sivan, currently Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, is to be the next Secretary of the Department of Space, and Chairman of the Space Commission and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), with a term of three years.

CPI (M) leader and Chengannur MLA K K Ramachandran Nair passed away at age 65. He had been representing Chengannur constituency in the Kerala state legislative assembly from 2016 until his death.

Veteran journalist NK Trikha passed away at age 82. Trikha had worked at the Times of India Group's Hindi newspaper 'Navbharat Times' for a long time and was also the editor of its Lucknow edition. He also served as a member of the Press Council of India and he was twice president of the National Union of Journalists (India).

The prestigious Gallup International's annual survey 'Opinion of Global Leaders' ranked PM Narendra Modi among the top three leaders of the world. The top spot in the survey went to French president Emmanuel Macron followed by German chancellor Angela Merkel.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar was selected for the 1st Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Award for Probity in Public Life.

Former World Trade Organization director general Peter Sutherland, who was also a long-serving chairman of oil giant BP and the overseas arm of Goldman Sachs, died at age 71. Sutherland became the WTO’s first chief in 1995, having previously been head of its precursor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). He also served as Ireland’s youngest Attorney General and then youngest European Union (EU) commissioner during the 1980s.

Carnatic vocalist Radha Vishwanathan died in Bengaluru at age 83. he was the daughter of legendary classical singer M S Subbulakshmi.

Saksham Yadav, an international-level powerlifter, passed away at age 28. He was admitted in an extremely critical condition on account of a car accident. Yadav had won a gold medal in the 2017 World Championship for Power Lifters in Moscow.

Sterling K Brown created history by becoming the first African-American to win Golden Globe in the Best Actor in a TV Series, Drama category for his performance as Randall Pearson on NBC's breakout hit “This Is Us”.He won  the award at the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards.

Sunny Verghese, a Singapore-based Indian-origin businessman, was appointed as the Chairman of the Geneva- based World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Verghese, 57, Co-Founder and the CEO of Singapore's agri-business group Olam International Limited, is the first World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Chair from the agri-sector. He succeeded Paul Polman, the CEO of Unilever, on January 1 and will serve a two-year term.

T S Tirumurti, a 1985-batch officers of Indian Foreign Service, was appointed the Secretary (Economic Relations) in the External Affairs Ministry.

Vijay Keshav Gokhale, 1981-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer was appointed the new Foreign Secretary of India.

SPORTS

Aanchal Thakur, a 21-year-old from Himachal Pradesh, created history when she became the first Indian to win an international medal in skiing. Aanchal clinched bronze at the Alpine Ejder 3200 Cup in Turkey. The event is organised by the International Ski Federation (FIS) — skiing's international governing body.

Aditya Mehta, an Indian professional snooker player & Asian Games medalist, won the 2018 Kolkata Open International Invitation Snooker Championships.

Senior sports administrator Anil Khanna was named Chairman of the Finance Commission of the Indian Olympic Association.

G Sathiyan became India’s highest- ranked player in the latest International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) rankings.

The Indian Olympic Association appointed Harjinder Singh as the Chef De Mission for the 23rd Winter Olympic Games to be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea in February 2018. Currently, Singh holds the post of General Secretary in the Ice Hockey Association of India.

Former world silver-medalist Sarjubala Devi (48kg), representing Manipur, claimed the gold as well as the best boxer trophy in the National Women's Boxing Championships.

Switzerland won the 30th edition of the Hopman Cup tournament 2018 at Perth, Australia. It is their 3rd third Hopman Cup title as Roger Federer and Belinda Bencic beat Germany’s Alexander Zverev and Angelique Kerber in the deciding mixed doubles.

MISCELLANEOUS

World:

The 13th edition of joint military drill exercise “Iron Fist 2018” started between American and Japanese forces in California.

The 34th Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival 2018 and the 3rd China International Ice and Snow Tourism Summit officially started in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

Iran recently banned teaching of English language in primary schools to fight against western cultural invasion.

The Himalayan Hydro Expo 2018 was held at Kathmandu in Nepal with the objective of unleashing the massive hydro power potential of Nepal and bringing all stakeholders under one roof.

Iceland became the first country in the world to force companies to prove they pay all employees the same. The new law, which came into force on New Year's Day, means every firm with 25 or more staff must have a certificate showing they pay everyone in the same roles equally - no matter what their gender, sexuality, or ethnicity is.

The 31st International Kite Festival was launched at Sabarmati River Front in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, with enthusiasts from over 44 countries participating in the event.

Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kuwait, Peru, Poland and the Netherlands formally joined the ranks of the non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

The unusual and very efficient whistle language used as a means of communication by villagers in the remote and mountainous northern Turkey entered the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

India:

15th January was celebrated as army day in recognition of Field Marshal Kodandera Madappa Cariappa's taking over as the first Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army.

The Bhopal railway station became India’s first railway station to have a sanitary napkin vending machine. The machine – aptly named Happy Nari, dispenses two sanitary napkins at a cost of Rs 5. A local voluntary organisation, Aarushi, supported the installation of the machine that has a capacity to store 75 napkins at a time.

The 2018 National Youth Day was celebrated in India on January 12 to mark the 155th birth anniversary of social reformer, philosopher and thinker Swami Vivekananda.

The 22nd National Youth Festival was inaugurated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Gautam Buddha University in Greater Noida. The theme of 5-day festival was ‘Sankalp Se Siddhi’.

Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) successfully launched a Cartosat-2 series weather observation satellite, along with 30 other spacecrafts, using its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C40), which lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

The 4th edition of the three day International Dharma Dhamma conference (IDDC-2018) was inaugurated by President Ram Nath Kovind in Rajgir, Bihar.

The Punjab government rolled out e-Raktkosh web portal in all the 45 government blood banks. The web portal provides the guidelines and streamlines the workflow of blood blanks and storage centres across  the nation and interconnects all blood banks with a single network.

The Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) announced free and compulsory education for girls up to post-graduate level across the country.

The Matunga suburban station on the Central Railway (CR) found its way into the Limca Book of Records for having an all-woman staff.

The World Hindi Day was observed on January 10 to mark the first anniversary of World Hindi Conference (WHC) which was held in 1975.

Union minister for science and technology Harsh Vardhan dedicated India’s fastest and first “multi- petaflops” supercomputer to the nation in Pune. Petaflops is a measure of a computer’s processing speed. Christened “Pratyush”, meaning the sun, the High Performance Computing (HPC) has been established at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, and will be a national facility for improving weather and climate forecasts.

Arunachal Pradesh would get its first Film and Television Institute, being set up by the Union Government as part of tapping the potential of the Northeastern region. This would be the second such one in the country. The first Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) was set up in Pune, an autonomous institute operating under the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas was celebrated on 9th January to mark the contribution of Overseas Indian community in the development of India. January 9 is chosen as the day to celebrate this occasion since it was on this day in 1915 that Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest Pravasi, returned to India from South Africa, led India’s freedom struggle and changed the lives of Indians forever.

According to Union Defence Minister Nirmala Seetharaman, the Defence Innovation Centre (DIC) will be set up in Coimbatore to assist small industries in manufacturing components for the defence sector.

With a major focus on environment and climate change, the 45th edition of New Delhi World Book Fair started at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. Co-organised by the National Book Trust (NBT) and India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), the theme “Environment and climate change” highlighted various environment-related issues like climate change, global warming, water pollution and other relevant matters. European Union is the focus country. More than 40 countries including Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom participated in the book fair, and European Union was the focus country.

The 3rd edition of the Science Film Festival of India titled “SCI-FFI Goa” was held in Goa from January 16- 19, 2018.

The Border Security Force launched Operation Alert along the over 200 km long International Border in Jammu and Kashmir to curb the increasing movement of infiltrating terrorists from across the border.

The 16th edition of the Sundaram Finance Mylapore Festival was held in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The four day fest included about 40 events, such as heritage walks, competitions and cultural performances, and was organized by city based non banking finance company Sundaram Finance.

The Union Cabinet gave its approval for establishment of a new AIIMS in Bilaspur (Himachal Pradesh) under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY). The cost of the project is Rs.1351 crore and will be completed in a period of 48 months.

The Assamese and Manipuri language versions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Official website, www.pmindia.gov.in were launched recently. With this launch, the PMINDIA website is now available in 11 regional languages namely Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu in addition to English and Hindi.