Employment News 20 October 2013

Employment News 20 October 2013 Science, Research and Technology

Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre takes oath as new Chief Justice of Gauhati HC

In Assam, Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre today took oath as the new Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court at Rajbhawan in Guwahati. Governor J B Patnaik administered the oath to him. Justice Sapre earlier served as the Chief Justice of Manipur High Court.

Iran's president proposes new ministers 

President Hassan Rouhani has named three candidates for ministerial posts to replace nominees who were rejected by the conservative-dominated parliament as Reza Faraji Dana to be Science, Research and Technology Minister, Reza Salehi Amiri to fill the Sports and Youth portfolio and Ali Asghar Fani to head the Education Ministry. 

The parliament will discuss the nominations next week. 

Brazil to host internet governance summit

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff this month announced a plan to host a global meeting on Internet governance in April.

Ms. Rousseff had tweeted, after holding consultations with Fadi Chehade, head of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the Los Angeles-based organisation responsible for the coordination of global internet systems.

Since June, when NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden escaped to Hong Kong from the U.S., a series of articles in various publications, have exposed the NSA’s mass surveillance activities. 

India, from where more than  billion information were picked by the agency’s clandestine programmes such as Prism in just one month, was one of its biggest targets. 

RBI launches new RTGS system

The Reserve Bank of India today launched the new Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system for large-value funds transfer.

The system has several new functionalities including advance liquidity features, gridlock resolution mechanism and hybrid settlement facility, facility to accept future value-dated transactions and options to process multi-currency transactions.

The Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system is a large-value funds transfer system which banks use to settle inter-bank transfers for their own accounts as well as for their customers.

With its advanced liquidity and queue management features, the new RTGS system is expected to significantly improve the efficiency of financial markets,” said Rajan.

The new ISO 20022 compliant RTGS system provides three access options to participants — thick-client, Web-API (through INFINET or any other approved network) and Payment Originator module. 

Participants can decide the mode of participation in the system based on the volume of transactions and the cost of setting up the infrastructure.

Financial inclusion can be better achieved through self-help groups

According to a Nabard (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) report, though the SHG-BLP (self-help group-bank linkage programme) is a step towards bringing the ‘unbanked’ poor into the mainstream banking channel, its formal acceptance as a financial inclusion channel by the central bank is still awaited.

An SHG is a homogeneous group, comprising 15-20 members (mostly women), where members first pool in their savings and give out small loans to needy members. 

Once the SHG successfully undertakes savings and credit operations from its own resources, it can borrow from a bank (SHG-BLP) to enhance its pool of resources.

The ‘Status of Microfinance in India’ report observed that a successful programme such as the SHG-BLP, which could link millions of rural poor to the formal banking system, could have been the main instrument for financial literacy and financial inclusion in the country.

There are a number of plausible ways by which matured SHGs could have been participants in the financial inclusion initiative, including being agents of providing direct banking services to the poor at their doorsteps, as a low-cost and efficient alternative.

The Government and the RBI hold 99.50 per cent and 0.50 per cent stake, respectively, in Nabard. 

The institution was promoted in 1982 for ensuring sustainable and equitable agriculture and rural prosperity through effective credit support, related services, institution development and other innovative initiatives.

Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban visited India

Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary visited India on 16-17 October 2013. 

During his visit, India and Hungry signed several important agreements to further strengthen cooperation which includes a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the field of traditional Indian medicine systems.

Earlier this year, India’s Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid had visited Hungary where he discussed regional, bilateral and international issues with his Hungarian counterpart Janos Martonyi.

Infosys wins award for resource management

IT bellwether Infosys Ltd Friday announced it has won the 'Corporate Sustainability Stewardship' award for efficient management of energy, waste and water resources in its production processes and operations.

The Parivartan sustainability leadership awards, instituted by Sustainability Outlook, a not-for-profit social organisation, recognise corporates and their executives who contribute in the field of sustainability every year.

Our infrastructure and green initiatives head Rohan Parikh was declared finalist in the 'sustainability trailblazer' category at the 2013 annual summit of the sustainable business leadership forum in New Delhi Thursday,

The event also showcased efforts of organisations in conservation, innovation and leadership in sustainability

BCCI Anti-Doping tribunal bans Pradeep Sangwan

Pacer Pradeep Sangwan was on Saturday slapped with an 18-month ban from cricket after being found guilty of consuming a banned anabolic steroid by the BCCI’s Anti-Doping Tribunal.

The ban on the 23-year-old Delhi cricketer has been imposed with retrospective effect from May this year when the IPL took place.

The Tribunal has found that the Player has committed an Anti-Doping Violation under Article 2.1 of the Code for the presence of the Prohibited Substance Stanozolol, an Anabolic Steroid,” it added.

Sangwan, who played a stellar role in India’s victorious U-19 World Cup campaign back in 2008 represented Kolkata Knight Riders during the last two editions of the IPL. He has taken 123 wickets in 38 first-class matches.

Sangwan, who hails from Najafgarh, played two matches in the IPL against Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad. 

He could not get a single wicket during the two games.

Sangwan is only the second cricketer in the history of IPL after Pakistani speedster Mohammed Asif to have been found guilty of consuming banned drugs.

Ding Junhui won Indian Open Snooker Title 2013

Ding Junhui of China won the 2013 Indian Open Snooker title with a 5-0 victory over Aditya Mehta of India in New Delhi on 18 October 2013.

Ding Junhui, world number four, 26, scored two century breaks as he earned the 50000 Pounds first prize.

Aditya Mehta, 72nd in the world, became the first Indian player to make the last four of a major ranking event when he reached the semi-finals on 17 October 2013 and he was also first Indian ever to reach the final of the event.