1. Pakistan Woman Rights Activist Wins Nelson Mandela Award
Tabassum Adnan, a women's rights activist from Pakistan's troubled Swat valley has won the prestigious Nelson Mandela award, becoming the second woman from the restive region to gain international recognition after Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai.
Adnan, 39, was bestowed with the Nelson Mandela – Graca Machel Innovation Award 2016 in Bogota, Colombia.
2. Ashok Chawla to become National Stock Exchange Chairman
Ashok Chawla, former chief of Competition Commission, will be the new chairman of National Stock Exchange subject to approval from market watchdog Sebi.
Earlier this month, NSE announced the induction of Chawla and Dharmishta Raval into its board as public interest directors.
The exchange is now awaiting nod from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for appointing Chawla as the chairman.
3. Nabard partners Germany for food security initiative
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) said that it has collaborated with the German government for a special programme on 'Soil Protection and Rehabilitation for Food Security'.
A high-level delegation from the Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) Ministry of Germany, led by Stefan Schmitz, Commissioner, was here in connection with the programme, a release said.
As part of the collaboration, Nabard is anchoring two major programmes -- soil conservation and rehabilitation of degraded land for food security in Maharashtra andMadhya Pradesh and innovation of watershed development for rehabilitation of degraded soils and climate change adaptation in five states (Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan).
The programme is part of the German government's recently introduced special initiative 'One World, No Hunger' on addressing the food security needs of countries.
India is the only country in Asia chosen for this initiative, it said.
'One World, No Hunger' addresses areas such as food and nutrition security, promotion of innovation, protection and sustainable use of natural resources in rural areas and promotion of responsible land use and access to land.
4. DBS Bank launches mobile-only bank
Singapore-based DBS Bank, hitherto focusing on the affluent segment, has decided to shed that tag and instead go for mass-market retail (individual) customers.
To woo this segment, it has launched a mobile-only bank. It says this will be completely paperless and branchless, allowing customers to open accounts by using their Aadhaar card, the biometric authentication, at various companies it makes arrangements with. At present, it has tied up with 500 Café Coffee Day outlets.
To expand the customer base, the bank will be offering seven per cent annual interest (no minimum balance required) on a savings account, higher than the five per cent it was offering till now, and free cash withdrawal across all ATMs.
Piyush Gupta, chief executive officer, says the reduced cost in investments with this mobile-only bank will allow them to offer a high savings interest rate and other benefits. At present, the bank’s cost to income is 55 per cent in India. It aims at bringing this down to its global average of 45 per cent.
5. Lalita Babar Sets National Mark, Sudha Singh Qualifies For Olympics
Olympics-bound Lalita Babar smashed her own national record to win the gold while Sudha Singh also qualified for the Rio Games while winning silver in women's 3000m steeplechase on the second and penultimate day of the Federation Cup National Athletics Championships in New Delhi.
Rajiv Arokiya set the second national record of the day while winning the gold in men's 400m race with a time of 45.47secs, missing the Rio Olympics qualification standard of 45.40secs by 0.7secs at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
Sudha's was the first Olympic qualifying effort in the Championships. Two national records were created on the first day yesterday with Dutee Chand (women's 100m) and Amiya Kumar Mallick (men's 100m), both from Odisha, clocking 11.33secs and 10.26secs respectively, though both could not make the Rio cut.
Maharashtra's Babar, who has already qualified for the Olympics in both the 3000m steeplechase and marathon, clocked 9:27.09 to win the gold and set the national record in world leading time while Sudha, representing Uttar Pradesh, came up with a timing of 9:31.86 and bettered the Rio Games qualification standard of 9:45.00.
6. Govt raises EPF interest rate to 8.8% for 2015-16
In the third roll-back in two months, the government raised the interest rate on employee provident fund (EPF) contributions to 8.8% for 2015-16 against 8.7% approved by the Finance Ministry last week.
Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya announced the decision to raise interest rate on a day employee unions had called nationwide protests against fixing interest rates lower than 8.8% decided by the retirement fund body EPFO as well as 8.75% paid for the previous fiscal.
This is the third rollback on EPF. Last month the government was forced to withdraw the Budget proposal to tax a certain portion of withdrawals. Subsequently, it withdrew tighter withdrawal norms.
7. Gujarat government announced 10 percent reservation for EBCs in general category
Gujarat government announced 10 percent reservation for economically backward classes (EBCs) in general category.
EBCs in the upper castes, include Patidars, with a family income cap of 6 lakh rupees a year that is 50000 rupees per month can avail the benefit
This decision will breach the Supreme Court set reservation limit of 50 percent as the government is already providing 50 percent reservation to Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.
But, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led government of Gujarat is serious on the issue and declared that it would fight it out legally.
A notification will be issued on the Gujarat state formation day on 1 May 2016, and EBCs among general category will be able to take the benefit of the reservation in education and jobs from the 2017-18 academic year
8. IOA appoints Olympic gold-medallist Abhinav Bindra as goodwill ambassador
After Salman Khan's appointment as the good will ambassador for the Rio 2016 Olympics, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has now roped in shooter and 2008 Olympic gold-medalist Abhinav Bindra as well.
The IOA has also approached Tendulkar and Oscar-winning music composer AR Rahman with a similar offer.
India's first and only individual Olympic gold-medallist, Bindra said he received IOA's invitation and immediately agreed for the role.
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