News updates 28-2-2017

1. National Science Day: 28 February

i. National Science Day is celebrated all over India with great enthusiasm on 28th of February every year in order to commemorate the invention of the Raman Effect in India by the Indian physicist, Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman on the same day in the year 1928.
ii. For his great success in the field of science in India, Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman was honored with the Nobel Prize in the Physics in the year 1930.
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2. India & Ukraine to strengthen bilateral cooperation through Cinema

i. Minister for Information & Broadcasting M Venkaiah Naidu and Member of the Parliament of Ukraine and Chairman of the National Council of Television Ukraine Mr. Iurii Artemenko have agreed to strengthen the bilateral cooperation between the two countries through the medium of Cinema in New Delhi.
ii. The cooperation would be helpful to showcase films through the medium of Film Festivals and utilizing the Film Facilitation Office platform established by India.

3. Iran and Russia Agrees Road map to Jointly Produce Nuclear Fuel

i. Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation (AEOI) stated that Russia and Iran have reached an agreement to jointly produce nuclear fuel.
ii. A preliminary agreement with Russia on the joint production of nuclear fuel was reached during the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the major world powers in 2015.

4. Government Issues Sovereign Gold Bonds 2016-17-Series IV

i. The Government of India launched the 7th tranche of the Sovereign Gold Bonds and it will be the last offering for 2016-17.
ii. The Sovereign Gold Bonds 2016-17–Series IV will be issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on behalf of Government of India. Applications for the bond has accepted from February 27, 2017 to March 03, 2017 and the Bonds will be issued on March 17, 2017.
iii. The Bonds will be sold through banks, Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited (SHCIL), designated post offices, National Stock Exchange of India Limited and Bombay Stock Exchange.

5. Suresh Prabhu flags off first Antyodaya Express between Ernakulam, Howrah

i. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu flagged off the first Antyodaya Express a long distance, fully unreserved, superfast train service between Kochi's Ernakulam Junction and Howrah Junction through video conferencing from Rail Bhavan.
ii. The new clan of trains will have facilities like cushioned luggage racks which can serve as seats, potable drinking water dispenser, mobile charging points, modular toilets of reinforced plastic, toilet occupation indication display board, LED lights among others for comfortable long distance travel.The 22-coach train will cover a distance of 2,307 kilometers in 37 hours.

6. Haryana Launches Online Sex Ratio Monitoring System For Panipat

i. The Haryana government has set up an online system for Panipat to monitor the sex-ratio in the district as part of the 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' programme.
ii. The system, called the sex ratio monitoring dashboard, will have the data of child sex-ratio collected from all villages by the Health and Women and Child Welfare Departments every month.
iii. The dashboard had been developed in association with National Informatics Centre (NIC) as a pilot project.The dashboard is also proving to be an effective tool for enhancing ground-level coordination between the Health and Women and Child Welfare Departments.

7. Apollo Munich and Dena Bank Enters Into Bancassurance Tie-Up

i. Standalone health insurer Apollo Munich Health Insurance expanding its footprint across the country with bancassurance tie-up with state-owned Dena Bank.
ii. Under the tie-up the bank will distribute customized Apollo Munich Health insurance and personal accident policies to the bank's 20 million customers nationwide.

8. SIDBI expert panel sanctions Rs 1,112 cr to funds for startups

i. An expert committee Venture Capital Investment Committee (VCIC) set up by SIDBI has sanctioned Rs 300 crore to fund managers who would invest in startups, taking the total sanctions so far this fiscal (2017) to over Rs 1,100 crore.
ii. During the fiscal year 2014-15 and 2015-16 sanctions were made to 11 funds (Rs 314 crores) and 16 funds (Rs 607 crores) respectively while the number during the current financial year (2017) has already crossed Rs 1,112 crores to 30 funds.

9. Paytm arm unveils online shopping portal Paytm Mall

i. Paytm E-Commerce, the online marketplace arm of One97 Communications Pvt. Ltd, launched Paytm Mall, a mobile app and online shopping portal.
ii.  Paytm Mall is the new avatar of Paytm’s three-year-old e-commerce business.
iii. Paytm Mall will allow customers to shop from 68 million products across categories such as fashion, electronics, consumer durables and home furnishings, from about 140,000 sellers.

10. Tata Communications partners with HPE for roll-out of LoRa network

i. Tata Communications is partnering with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) to support the roll-out of the former's Internet of Things platform, the LoRa network.
ii. The company will also work with HPE to provide a range of domestic and cross-border IoT connectivity and management services, particularly for applications requiring elements of mobility, such as connected cars, fleet management and transportation services.

11. Kabir Bedi appointed honourary brand ambassador of Sightsavers

i. India’s most famous international actors Kabir Bedi was appointed as the honourary brand ambassador of Sightsavers India to prevent avoidable blindness by RN Mohanty, CEO of Sightsavers.

12. ZTE launches world’s first 5G IT baseband unit (BBU) in partnership with Intel

Chinese multinational telecommunications equipment company ZTE made an announcement that it has launched a next generation 5G IT baseband unit (BBU) partnered with Intel Corporation for this technology. The announcement was made at the  Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona.

13. Former Union Minister P Shiv Shankar Passes Away

i. Former Union Minister P. Shiv Shankar passed away after a prolonged illness.He was 89 ii. He contested the by-election to the Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency in 1979 on the Indian National Congress party ticket.
iii. He became Law Minister in the Indira Gandhi Cabinet in 1980. From 1985 till 1993, he represented the Congress as Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat.

14. Kohli named captain of the year at ESPNcricinfo Awards

i. Indian international cricketer Virat Kohli has named as the ‘Captain of the Year‘ at the 10th annual ESPNcricinfo Awards.
ii. Kohli led India to nine wins out of 12 Tests in the year 2016.
iii. Stuart Broad bagged the Test Bowling performance of the year for his brilliant spell of 6/17 in the final Test against South Africa.