The Cabinet approved the next spectrum auction set to be held later this year with a reserve price of Rs 96,317 crore. All the available spectrum in 800, 900, 1800, 2100, 2300, 2500, 3300 megahertz and 26 gigahertz bands will be put to auction. A committee, to be chaired by the Cabinet Secretary, will also be set up to finalise plans for re-farming of certain spectrum bands
The Union Cabinet approved a Rs 6,000 crore sub-scheme under the flagship Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) with the objective of formalising the largely unorganised fisheries sector in the country.
The formalisation will be done through the creation of a national fisheries digital platform, facilitating access to institutional finance for the sector.
The scheme will run for four years starting from FY-24, incentivising fisheries and aquaculture microenterprises through performance grants for improving fisheries sector value-chain. The scheme proposed a one-time incentive to the willing farmers against purchase of insurance with a farm size of four hectares of water spread area and less.
The National Payments Corporation of India announced the appointment of Ajay Kumar Choudhary as non-executive chairman of the Board and independent director for a period of three years starting February 8, 2024. Choudhary succeeds Biswamohan Mahapatra who was appointed non-executive chairman in 2018. Dilip Asbe is the managing director and chief executive officer of NPCI.
The Reserve Bank of India plans to introduce additional additional functionalities of programmability in CBDC retail payments to facilitate transactions for specific/targeted purposes, and allow offline capability to enable these transactions in areas with poor or limited Internet connectivity. Currently, the CBDC Retail (CBDC-R) pilot also allows Person to Person (P2P).
And also Person to Merchant transactions using Digital Rupee wallets by pilot banks.
The Reserve Bank of India launched the first pilot of Digital Rupee- Retail segment (e₹-R) on Dec 01, 2022. RBI has identified eight banks for phase-wise participation in the retail pilot project. These include the State Bank of India, the ICICI Bank, the Yes Bank and the IDFC First Bank, the Bank of Baroda, the Union Bank of India, the HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra bank.
IndianOil-Adani Gas Pvt Ltd will invest 25 billion rupees ($301.24 million) over four years as it looks to double gas sales to small industries and households in India. The company, an equal joint venture of refiner Indian Oil Corp and Adani Total Gas, daily sells about one million standard cubic metres of gas through its 300 retail outlets.
External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar addressed the 7th Indian Ocean Conference in Perth, Australia. The two-day Indian Ocean Conference's theme is "Towards a Stable and Sustainable Indian Ocean”. The Conference is a flagship consultative forum for countries in the Indian Ocean Region.
It is organized annually by the Ministry of External Affairs since 2016, in association with the India Foundation. The Conference will feature Ministers from over 22 countries and senior officials from 16 countries and 6 multilateral organizations. The Ministry added that it will also witness the participation of over 400 social and corporate leaders, policy practitioners.
The government has announced India's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna to Former Prime Ministers PV Narasimha Rao, Chaudhary Charan Singh, and Father of Green Revolution, Dr. M S Swaminathan. The announcement comes days after 96-year-old BJP stalwart LK Advani and two-time Bihar chief minister and socialist icon Karpoori Thakur (posthumously) were conferred with the award
Pamulaparti Venkata Narasimha Rao served as the 10th Prime Minister of India from June 21, 1991, to May 16, 1996, for a total of 1,791 days. Rao previously served as a minister in the Andhra Pradesh government and held a number of portfolios including law, education and health until 1971, when he took over as CM. He remained the CM till 1973.
Chaudhary Charan Singh served as the sixth Prime Minister of India, albeit for a brief period of time. He was sworn in on July 28, 1979, and was compelled to step down just 170 due to no majority. He also went on to form the Bharatiya Kranti Dal (BKD), which later merged with the Samyukta (United) Socialist Party to form the Bharatiya Lok Dal (BLD).
Known as the ‘Father of the Green Revolution’, Dr Swaminathan played a major role in the set of changes introduced in farming in the 1960s and ‘70s that helped India achieve food security. He was awarded the first World Food Prize in 1987, following which he set up the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation in Chennai.
India, Türkiye, and Qatar have been declared the guests of honor at the 2024 World Governments Summit which is set to take place in Dubai from February 12-14.
The summit, themed 'Shaping Future Governments,' will see the participation of over 25 government and state heads from around the world.
Parliament has passed the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Amendment Bill, 2024 with the Lok Sabha approving it today. Rajya Sabha has already passed the legislation. The Bill seeks to amend the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. The Act establishes the central and state pollution control boards to prevent and control water pollution.
The Bill decriminalises several violations and imposes penalties. It will initially apply to Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, and the Union Territories. Under the act, the chairman of a State Pollution Control Board is nominated by the State government. According to the bill, the central government will prescribe the manner of nomination and the terms of chairman.
The Bill imposes a penalty between ten thousand rupees to 15 lakh rupees for violation of provisions related to the discharge of polluting matter in water bodies. The guidelines that will be issued under the legislation will in no way encroach upon the rights of the State Pollution Control Boards.
Towards fostering digital inclusion in the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises sector, the Quality Council of India and Open Network for Digital Commerce launched the DigiReady Certification portal. DRC portal aims to facilitate a streamlined seller journey, ensuring that MSMEs and small retailers can integrate seamlessly into existing digitised workflows.
Agriculture minister launched portal 'Sarathi' that aims to provide a comprehensive suite of insurance products including PMFBY, tailored explicitly for farmers and rural population of India. To strengthen grievance redressal mechanism of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, the Krishi Rakshak portal and helpline number 14447 to enable farmers lodge complaints.
Sarathi (Sandbox for Agricultural and Rural Security, Technology and Insurance)
LIC Mutual Fund Asset Management announced the appointment of Ravi Kumar Jha as its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. Jha has worked for over 30 years with LIC and has handled diverse positions. He was serving as executive of corporate strategy till December 2023 at the company.
Tech giant Google signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Maharashtra to provide artificial intelligence (AI)-led solutions across key sectors in the state.
As a part of the collaboration, Google will leverage its AI capabilities to provide solutions in sectors like agriculture, healthcare, sustainability, education, and startups.
The company also announced launching a state-of-the-art AI Centre of Excellence at the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Nagpur.
To enable an environment of innovation and entrepreneurship across the State, Google plans to provide startups mentorship, networking, and demo days with Google experts and industry leaders.
