February, 2018: Everything that happened in the second month of 2018

Awards & Honours

India’s Umang App won the Best M-Government Service award in the Accessible Government category while Aadhaar won the best emerging technology award at the 6th edition of the World Government Summit 2018 in Dubai, where India had the status of ‘Guest of Honour’ country.

A veteran expert from Biozentrum University of Basel, Switzerland, Professor Michael N. Hall was bestowed with 2018 Genome Valley Excellence Award of Telangana for his pioneering work in discovering the nutrient- activated TOR (Target of Rapamycin) proteins and their central role in the metabolic control of cell growth.

January, 2018: Cabinet approves amendments in FDI policy

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave its approval to a number of amendments to the FDI Policy. These are intended to liberalize and simplify the FDI policy so as to provide ease of doing business in the country. In turn, it will lead to larger FDI inflows contributing to the growth of investment, income, and employment.

January, 2018: Economic Survey 2017-18

A series of major reforms undertaken over the past year will allow real GDP growth to reach 6.75 percent this fiscal and will rise to 7.0 to 7.5 percent in 2018-19, thereby re-instating India as the world’s fastest-growing major economy. This was stated in the Economic Survey 2017-18 tabled in the Parliament by the Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Arun Jaitley. It said that the reform measures undertaken in 2017-18 can be strengthened further in 2018-19.

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.

December, 2017: India ranks 5th in list of countries with highest NPA levels

India ranks fifth out of 39 major economies with a pile of bad loans, according to a recent report. At 9.9 per cent, the ratio of non-performing assets (NPA) to the total loans collected by Indian lenders is far higher than that of banks of the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Japan. In fact, the NPAs of these economies were less than 2 per cent.

December, 2017: Himachal Politics- A Generational Shift!

After its chief ministerial nominee Prem Kumar Dhumal suffered a shocking defeat in the Himachal Pradesh assembly election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced the name of Jai Ram Thakur as the party’s chief ministerial candidate.

The name of Thakur, a five-time member of legislative assembly (MLA) from the Seraj constituency in Mandi district, was announced after a meeting between the party’s central observers—Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Narinder Singh Tomar—and newly elected members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) and other party leaders in Shimla.

November, 2017: Telangana leads state-wise ease of doing business ranking

Andhra Pradesh and Telangana jointly topped the 2016 all-India State/Union Territory-wise Ease of Doing Business rankings, while last year's topper Gujarat slipped to the third spot. The rankings, announced by Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, are on the basis of a 340-point business reform action plan and their implementation by the States. This covers the period from July 1, 2015, to June 30, 2016.The 340 reform areas are broadly under categories including construction permits, environmental and labor registration, obtaining electricity connection, online tax-return filing, inspection reform, access to information and transparency, single window, land availability and commercial dispute resolution.

November, 2017: Cabinet approves schemes for women empowerment / welfare

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave its approval for expansion of the schemes of Ministry of Women and Child Development under Umbrella Scheme "Mission for Protection and Empowerment for Women" for a period 2017-18 to 2019-20. CCEA also approved a new scheme called ‘Mahila Shakti Kendra', which will empower rural women through community participation to create an environment in which they realize their full potential. Expansion under Beti Bachao Beti Padhao was also approved based on the successful implementation in 161 districts.

November, 2017: Government constitutes 15th Finance Commission under chairmanship NK Singh

The government announced that former revenue secretary NK Singh will be the chairman of the 15th Finance Commission (FC) that will recommend distribution of taxes between the Centre and the states. Other members of the Commission are former economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das, former chief economic adviser Ashok Lahiri, NitiAayog member Ramesh Chand and Georgetown University Adjunct Professor Anoop Singh.

October, 2017: Singapore passport world's 'most powerful', India ranks 75

Singapore has the world's "most powerful" passport, according to a global ranking topped for the first time by an Asian country with India figuring at 75th position, three notches better than its previous ranking.

October, 2017: India Ranks 100th On Global Hunger Index, Trails North Korea, Bangladesh

India has a “serious” hunger problem and ranks 100th out of 119 countries on the global hunger index — behind North Korea, Bangladesh, and Iraq, according to a report. It has the third highest score in all of Asia — only Afghanistan and Pakistan are ranked worse.

October, 2017: Prime Minister launches Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) at Vadnagar in Gujarat. Through this programme, Government of India aims to reach each and every child under two years of age and all those pregnant women who have been left uncovered under the routine immunization programme. The special drive will focus on improving immunization coverage in select districts and cities to ensure full immunization to more than 90% by December 2018. The achievement of full immunization under Mission Indradhanush to at least 90% coverage was to be achieved by 2020 earlier. With the launch of IMI, achievement of the target has now been advanced.

September, 2017: India Ranked 40th On World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Index

India was ranked as the 40th most competitive economy - slipping one place from last year's ranking - on the World Economic Forum's (WEF) global competitiveness index, which is topped by Switzerland. On the list of 137 economies, Switzerland is followed by the US and Singapore in second and third places, respectively. Other countries in the top 10 are the Netherlands (4th), Germany (5th), Hong Kong SAR (6th), Sweden (7th), United Kingdom (8th), Japan (9th) and Finland (10th).

September, 2017: Rohingya Issue

The influx of nearly one million Rohingya refugees from the northern portion of Myanmar’s Rakhine province due to severe persecution affected the political environment in Bangladesh. The impact was particularly acute in the south-eastern district of Cox`s Bazaar as well as to a lesser extent in adjoining Bandarban district and the nearby estuary areas.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina floated a five-point proposal at the United Nations to find a permanent solution to the Rohingya crisis.

August, 2017: Cabinet approves framework for merger of public sector banks

The Union Cabinet gave its in-principle approval for Public Sector Banks to amalgamate through an Alternative Mechanism (AM). The decision would facilitate consolidation among the Nationalised Banks to create strong and competitive banks.

Salient Features

The salient features of the approval Framework for Consolidation of Public Sector Banks are as follows:·

August, 2017: Supreme Court strikes down triple talaq

A five-judge constitutional bench by a 3:2 majority judgment said there is no constitutional protection for triple talaq as it is arbitrary and "whimsical" as it leaves no scope for conciliation and violates Muslim women's rights.

Justices Kurian Joseph, Rohinton Fali Nariman, and Uday Umesh Lalit held that triple talaq is not integral to Islam, is bad in law and lacks approval of the Shariat. Chief Justice J S Khehar and justice S Abdul Nazeer held triple talaq to be part of fundamental right to religion of Muslims and said it was not unconstitutional.

August, 2017: Supreme Court Declares Right To Privacy Is Fundamental Right Under Constitution

The Supreme Court pronounced that individual privacy is a fundamental right protected by the Constitution. A nine-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court ruled that right to privacy is “intrinsic to life and liberty” and is inherently protected under the various fundamental freedoms enshrined under Part III of the Indian Constitution.

July, 2017: India ranks third in terms of terror attacks world over

India has witnessed the third highest number of terrorist attacks in 2016, more than Pakistan that has slipped to the fourth position, according to the latest data compiled by the US State Department.

Iraq with 2,965 terrorist attacks and Afghanistan with 1,340 terrorist attacks, were ranked first and second position respectively, followed by India that recorded 927 attacks and Pakistan at 734 attacks, the department said in its Country Report on Terrorism. The department said more than half of the terrorist attacks in India in 2016 took place in four states: Jammu and Kashmir at 19%, Chhattisgarh at 18%, Manipur at 12%, and Jharkhand at 10%.

July, 2017: IMF retains India’s GDP growth rate at 7.2%

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) retained India's economic growth projections at 7.2 per cent in 2017-18, up slightly from 7.1 per cent in the previous year. However, the growth would accelerate to 7.7 per cent in 2018-19, IMF said while also maintaining the growth rate level projected in April.

June, 2017: Trump announces US withdrawal from Paris Climate Agreement

President Trump announced the withdrawal of the United States from the landmark Paris climate agreement, an extraordinary move that dismayed America’s allies and set back the global effort to address the warming planet.

Trump’s decision set off alarms worldwide, drawing swift and sharp condemnation from foreign leaders as well as top environmentalists and corporate titans, who decried the U.S. exit from the Paris accord as an irresponsible abdication of American leadership in the face of irrefutable scientific evidence.

Trump, who has labeled climate change a “hoax,” made good on a campaign promise to “cancel” the Paris agreement and Obama-era regulations that he said were decimating industries and killing jobs. The president cast his decision as a “reassertion of America’s sovereignty,” arguing that the climate pact as negotiated under President Barack Obama was grossly unfair to the U.S. workers he had vowed to protect with his populist “America First” platform.