President accepts resignation of Kumari Selja i. President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday accepted the resignation of Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Kumari Selja from the Council of Ministers, with immediate effect. ii. Prime Minister, the President has directed that Minister of Railways Shri Mallikarjun Kharge shall be given additional charge of the transecting business of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. iii. The fourth-time Lok Sabha member put in her papers soon after being nominated to the Rajya Sabha from her home state Haryana. Now, she will devote more time to party organization. iv. Selja, 51, a known detractor of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, comes at a time when the Congress high command is undertaking a rejig in the party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Union Ministry of Rural Development signed MoU with Digital Green i. The Union Ministry of Rural Development signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Digital Green on 28 January 2014. ii. The MoU was signed to exchange the relevant livelihood practices among rural communities under the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM). About Digital Green: i. Digital Green is an international, non-profit development organization and it is supported by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Government of India. ii. It aims to provide strategic direction, management, and coordination of the development, successful implementation, and monitoring of Digital Greens livelihood-related activities. iii. It builds on the existing extension systems of public, private, and civil society organizations and strengthens them to be more effective and efficient. About National Rural Livelihood Mission • Aajeevika or National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) was launched by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) in June 2011. • NRLM is the biggest programme for women empowerment in India. • NRLM aims to cover rural poor households through self-managed Self Help Groups (SHGs) and federated institutions and support them for livelihoods collectives. • NRLM believes in harnessing the innate capabilities of the poor and complements them with capacities (information, knowledge, skills, tools, finance and collectivization) to participate in the economic growth. 7. NABARD projects a credit potential of Rs 12,727 cr for Ukhnad i. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) on Wednesday projected a credit potential of Rs 12726.83 crore in the state focus paper (SFP) for the year 2014-15 in Uttarakhand under the priority sector. ii. This envisages an increase of 17.35% over the current year projection, said S Selvaraj, Chief General Manger of NABARD’s Uttarakhand regional office while releasing the SFP. iii. While projecting the credit potential, NABARD took into account the resources endowed with the state, infrastructure and extension support available, market trend, skill profile and the damage caused by the devastating floods last year. 8. India ranks at the bottom in terms of Intellectual Property i. Despite the current decade being called India’s ‘decade of innovation’, the country has ranked at the bottom of the list of 25 countries in terms of its intellectual property (IP) environment. ii. According to a report by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC), India’s percentage score has further fallen from 25% in 2012 to 23% in the year 2014. iii. The continued use of compulsory licenses, patent revocations, and weak legislative and enforcement mechanisms raise serious concerns about India’s commitment to promote innovation and protect creators,” the report said. Note: US ranked on the top followed by UK and France. The five BRICS economies—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—continue to face serious challenges. 9. Google is best company to work for: Fortune i. For the fifth consecutive year, Internet search giant Google has been named as the best company to work for by Fortune Magazine. ii. Google has topped the latest list of 100 Best American Companies to Work for followed by -- software developer SAS and strategy consultants the Boston Consulting Group in the second and third positions, respectively. iii. Googles stock climbed past $1,000 in 2013-a boon for Googlers, all of whom are stockholders, Fortune said adding that Google tops the list once again, marking its eighth appearance and fifth time as No. 1. iv. So much so that three winners of Googles annual talent show opened for Bruno Mars at his Las Vegas show in April at the Global Sales Conference. v. Among other noted names, Qualcomm was ranked 32 in the list, Goldman Sachs Group (45), CISCO (55), Marriott International (57), Deloitte (61), PricewaterhouseCoopers (65), American Express (67), Novo Nordisk (72), Ernst & Young (78), Discovery Communications (79), KPMG (80), Intel (84), Microsoft (86), Accenture (90) and Hyatt Hotels (95). vi. To pick the 100 Best Companies to Work For, Fortune partnered with the Great Place to Work Institute. More than 252,000 employees at those companies were surveyed by the institute.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 03:50:51 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015