[CA] Daily News [Feb 26, 2018]

Around INDIA

# Vice President, Mr. Venkaiah Naidu presented the International Gandhi Award 2017 to Dr. M. D. Gupte for his outstanding contribution to the global programme of elimination of leprosy and Dr. Atul Shah for humanitarian services to alleviate the suffering of leprosy - affected persons

# Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi in his 41st edition of Mann Ki Baat radio programmed said about the newly launched GOBAR Dhan scheme where rural waste would be converted to clean energy through biogas under the government’s Swachch Bharat campaign. GOBAR: Galvanising Organic Bio Agro Resources

# Supreme Court gave the State governments the discretion to decide, on facts, whether areas covered by local self-governing bodies or areas proximate to municipal pockets should be exempted from the court’s nationwide prohibition on sale of liquor within 500 metres along the highways

# International Conference on Sustainable Biofuels (ICSB) 2018 to be held in New Delhi [Feb 26 - 27, 2018] with the theme "Right Time, Right Now"

# DRDO successfully flew its Rustom - 2 or TAPAS-BH-201, a medium - altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle, at its Aeronautical Test Range at Chalakere in Chitradurga Dt of Karnataka

# 21st National Conference on e - Governance to be held in Hyderabad today with the theme "Technology for accelerating Development"

TAMIL NADU

# Government announced an agreement with Microsoft to improve the integration of technology in teaching and learning across the State

- The agreement aims at education, build tech capacity and enhance digital literacy across all levels

- As per the terms of the agreement, Microsoft will adopt seven schools identified by Tamil Nadu State Government and will train their teachers and students in inculcating skills such as critical thinking, app development, creative coding and gaming, robotics and entrepreneurship

- All educators in primary, secondary, vocational and tertiary education across Tamil Nadu will be offered Microsoft Innovative Educator Program

# Industries Minister, Mr. M. C. Sampath and Rural Industries Minister, Mr. P. Benjamin would be heading a high – level delegation to Japan with an aim to promote Japanese investment in the State

STATES SCAN

# Andaman & Nicobar Is: to host MILAN 2018 in March 2018 with the theme "Friendship across the Sea"; MILAN is a congregation of littoral navies conducted biennially by the Indian Navy

# Puducherry: 50 years (Golden Jubilee) of Auroville (City of Dawn)

BILATERAL ISSUES

# SBI will be undertaking a major restructuring of its business in the United Kingdom form April 2018

# 20th Conference on Commonwealth Education Ministers Meet held in Fiji

WORLD

# China: Communist Party of China (CPC) cleared the decks for third term for President, Mr. Xi Jinping

# Saudi Arabia: Conducted its first ever Jazz festival (Groovz Jazz Festival) held in Riyadh

ECONOMICS

# After PNB, now it is Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) sees a loan default of Rs. 109.8 crore

# Union Commerce and Industry Minister has appointed four institutes, to interact with stakeholders and suggest measures to push up India's ranking in ease of doing business index

- IIFT (Indian Institute of Foreign Trade), ICAI (Institute of Chartered Accounts of India), NICMAR (National Institute of Construction Management and Research) and ICSI (Institute of Company Secretaries of India)

# India has imposed anti-dumping duty on import of ceramic tableware and kitchenware from China

# French international banking group BNP Paribas has announced that it is acquiring the Luxembourg - based wealth management and insurance business of ABN Amro

SPORTS

# India's Parupalli Kashyap won the men's singles title of the Austrian Open International Challenge 2018 by defeating Malaysia's June Wei Cheam in Vienna, Austria

# India's Sameer Verma won the men's singles title of the Swiss Open 2018 by defeating Malaysia's Jan O Jorgensen in Basel, Switzerland

# 2018 Winter Olympics

- Medals tally (1) Norway (2) Germany (3) Canada

- Next winter Olympics will be held in 2022 (Beijing)

MISC

# Indian scientists have discovered a new plant species named "Drypetes kalamii" in Jaldapara and Buxa national parks in West Bengal

- Drypetes kalamii was discovered by the scientists of Botanical Survey of India (BSI); it is a small shrub; it grows up to a length of 1 metre

- This new plant has been named after former President of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam

# Bhanu Kumar Shastri, founder member of Bharatiya Jana Sangh and former MP passed away

# Renowned Indian film actress Sridevi passed away at the age of 54

- Awarded Padma Shri in 2013

- She started her career as a child artiste in a Tamil Movie and later acted as a lead actor in the languages of Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi

- She is also called as "India's first female superstar"