25 August Current News August 2013

25 August Current News August 2013 , Gk Of August 2013

Maharashtra government launches Rs 10,000 crore dryland agriculture mission

Maharashtra government launches Rs 10,000 crore dryland agriculture mission

for the rainfed areas in the state.

In the first phase of the programme, one village from each rainfed taluka will be selected. 

Rs. 150 crore have been earmarked for the first year for 347 village.

Dr YSP Thorat, former chairman of the National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development ( Nabard) is the head of DAM.

Maharashtra has 82% area under rainfed conditions and droughts are a frequent phenomenon. 

The components of DAM include, agricultural development through farmers groups, farm ponds, micro irrigation, controlled agriculture, inter-cropping and double cropping, processing, value addition and marketing.

India's forex reserves up $205 million

India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves increased by $205.8 million to $278.80 billion for the week ended Aug 16, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The reserves had increased by $1.43 billion to $278.60 billion for the week ended Aug 9.

The foreign currency assets (FCA) - the biggest component of the forex reserves - grew by $211.7 million at $251.56 billion, the weekly statistical supplement of the central bank showed.

The central bank said FCA in US dollar terms included the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies held in reserve, such as the pound sterling, euro and yen.

Gold reserves remained stagnant at $20.74 billion. The reserves of the precious metal remained stagnant after plunging $1.28 billion in the week ended July

However, the special drawing rights (SDRs) declined by $3.9 million to $4.39 billion during the week ended Aug 16, 2013, while reserves with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) went down by $2.0 million to $2.10 billion.

Bharat Forge founder Neelkanth Kalyani passes away

Industrialist and Bharat Forge founder Neelkanth Kalyani passed.

Neelkanth Kalyani founded Bharat Forge in 1951 which subsequently became a leading name in the forging sector with rapid expansion.

Bharat Forge is the flagship company of the Kalyani Group and the world's second-largest forgings manufacturer.

He had served as chairman of Maharashtra Co-operative Land Development Bank for 12 years. 

He was a Non-Executive Independent Director of Kinetic Engineering Limited, Sudarshan Chemicals Industries Limited, Kalyani Institute of Scientific Research, and Kalyani Medical Foundation.

He was 87 and is survived by his son Baba Kalyani, who is the Kalyani Group chairman, and a daughter.

India gets its own national media centre

A state-of-the art National Media Centre comparable to those in capitals across the world was inaugurated Saturday, with an impressive conference hall, workplace for the media, a library, cafeteria and high-speed internet.

The four-storied Rs. 60 crore facility, built over three years, is located at the heart of the capital, on Raisina Road - with many important government buildings a stone's throw away and in the vicinity of the Parliament House and Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The Press Club of India and the Indian Women's Press Corps are right next door.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, speaking at the inauguration, said the building was not only New Delhi's latest landmark but also "showcases our ability to keep pace with similar state-of-the-art facilities across the world. It symbolizes the vibrant mood of the existing media landscape in our country.

According to an information and broadcasting ministry official, the media centre is planned on the model of media centres in some of the capitals of the world such as Washington and Tokyo

It also has facilities for live webcast, video feed to television channels outside the building, IT facilities for media persons working in the lounge, internet telephony and facilities for audio visual screening.

The media centre is aimed at further improving the dissemination of information about government's policies and programmes.

The effort is to meet the requirements of the international and Indian media for their professional and communication needs within the overall Government of India framework of information dissemination,"

Constructed by the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC), it is built on 13,867 sqm. 

Google buys virtual imaging patents from Foxconn

Google buys virtual imaging patents from Foxconn n its interactive "Google Glass" devices.

The patents relate to a technology that permits virtual images to be super-imposed over real ones.

Foxconn Technology, also known under the name Hon Hai Precision Industry, is the main supplier in Asia for Google's biggest rival Apple, particularly for the manufacture of iPhones.