The chairman of the winning party in Slovakia's parliamentary election told the country's President that he has agreed to form a coalition government with three other parties. Igor Matovic and his centre-right populist opposition group Ordinary People captured 25% of the February 29 vote. It has 53 seats in the 150-seat parliament. President Zuzana Caputova asked Matovic in March 2020 to lead the efforts to create a new government. After their meeting, Matovic said that he presented the details of his Cabinet to the President. It is not clear when the new government might be sworn in.
Gantz to Form New Israeli Govt.
Israel's President Reuven Rivlin decided to give opposition leader Benny Gantz the first opportunity to form a new government following an inconclusive national election this month. President Reuven Rivlin's office announced this decision after consulting with leaders of all of the parties elected to parliament. The decision raises questions about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's political future as he leads the country's battle against the coronavirus threat and prepares to go on trial for corruption charges. Netanyahu's Likud emerged as the largest party in the March 2 election, Israel's third in under a year. But with his smaller religious and nationalist allies, he received the support of only 58 lawmakers during consultations, leaving Likud three seats short of the required majority in parliament.
Private sector Bandhan Bank said that it will invest Rs. 300 crore in Yes Bank as part of RBI's reconstruction plan for the crisis-hit lender.
Bandhan Bank's board granted approval for an equity investment of Rs. 300 crore for acquiring up to 30 crore equity shares of Rs. 2 each of YES Bank Limited, for cash, at a premium of Rs. 8 per equity share, under the proposed Scheme of Reconstruction of YES Bank Limited under the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, subject to regulatory and government approval.
ICICI Bank, Housing Development Finance Corp Ltd, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank too on Friday said that they will join the SBI-led consortium and invest in Yes Bank.
RBI Issues Guidelines for Ind AS Implementation by NBFCs, ARCs
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has framed regulatory guidance on Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) to be applicable on Ind AS implementing Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARCs) for preparation of their financial statements (FS) from financial year (FY) 2019-20 onwards. The guidance has been framed to promote a high quality, consistent implementation, and better supervision of FS.
As per the guidance, all Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) covered by Rule 4 of the Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules, 2015 are required to comply with Ind AS for the preparation of their FS.
The guidelines mandate NBFCs/ARCs to follow board approved policies stating clear and effective business models and portfolios.
They are mandate to frame their policy for sales out of amortised cost business model portfolios and disclose the same in their notes to FS.
The BoDs should approve sound methodologies to be computated for expected credit losses (ECL).
RBI Revises Exposure Limits for Urban Cooperative Banks to Single, Group Borrowers
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) revised exposure limits for urban cooperative banks (UCBs) of tier-1 capital to a single borrower to 15% and a group of borrowers to 25%. The revised exposure limits shall be applicable to all types of fresh exposures taken by UCBs.
The RBI had earlier permitted UCBs to have exposures up to 15% and 40% of their capital funds to a single borrower and a group of borrowers, respectively.
UCBs shall have at least 50% of their aggregate loans and advances comprising loans of not more than Rs. 25 lakh or 0.2% of their tier 1 capital, whichever is higher, subject to a maximum of Rs. 1 crore, per borrower.
The RBI also increased the overall priority sector lending (PSL) target for UCBs to 75% of adjusted net bank credit (ANBC) or credit equivalent amount of off-balance sheet exposure (CEOBSE), whichever is higher from 40% earlier.
Scientists Develop Solar Receiver Tube Technology for Industrial Process Heat
Scientists at the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), Hyderabad (Telangana), developed a cost-effective 'solar receiver tube technology' that absorbs solar radiation and converts it into heat for the targeted applications, especially in industries.
ARCI has filed 2 patent applications for this technology, and also inked an MoU (Memorandum of understanding) with Greenera Energy India Private Limited for technology transfer, that aims to develop the solar receiver tube for wider market absorption.
The solar receiver tube, which has a high corrosion resistance, functions based on the Concentrating Solar Thermal (CST),that provides a better solution to handle the demands on industrial process heat (≤ 250 °C).
The receiver tube has the capability of 93% absorption, 14% emittance and has better thermal stability as well. The trial of absorber coating has been made successfully for heat gain and heat loss studies in a testing facility established at ARCI.
Aadil Bedi won his maiden title in the Bengal Open golf championship at the Tollygunge Club.
Chandigarh-based Bedi triumphed in style with a chip-in birdie on the sixth playoff hole to end Pune golfer Udayan Mane's incredible three-match winning streak on the PGTI Tour.
The tournament, worth Rs. 30 lakh, witnessed the longest-running playoff on the PGTI. The previous record for the longest playoff was four holes which was set three times. The last event decided on the fourth playoff was the Jeev Milkha Singh Invitational 2019 where Ajeetesh Sandhu prevailed over Rashid Khan.
Sanjay Manjrekar Dropped from BCCI Commentary Panel
Former India batsman and now a renowned broadcaster Sanjay Manjrekar reacted to being dropped from the commentary panel of BCCI. In a tweet, Manjrekar said that he accepted the decision from the Indian cricket board. It is up to my employers whether they choose to have me or not & I will always respect that.
Manjrekar, who has been a regular feature in the commentary box during India's home matches for the past couple of years or so, is now expected to not be included in IPL 2020 too, which is now slated to begin from April 15, instead of March 29 because of the global outbreak of coronavirus.
MNRE Launches its New Website to Keep Pace with Time
The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy launched its new website to meet requirements of stakeholders about new schemes and projects particularly. The key feature of the website includes optimized user interface and enables ease of access from various devices including mobile phones.
The website has additional portals such as 'Akshay Urja Portal' and 'India Renewable Idea Exchange' (IRIX).
"Minister of State for Power and New and Renewable Energy R. K. Singh launched the new website of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
The minister directed that sectoral updation of the site should be personally ensured at senior level so that it maintains pace with time.
The new website is developed looking into the present need of quick and accurate information dissemination needs of the Ministry with latest techniques to make it more informative, interactive and user friendly including persons with visual disabilities.
Baseer Ahmed Khan Fourth Advisor to Jammu & Kashmir Lieutenant Governor G. C. Murmu
Kashmir Divisional Commissioner Baseer Ahmad Khan was appointed as Advisor to Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Girish Chandra Murmu.
The letter added that the appointment will be effective from the date from which he assumes charge.
Former CRPF DG Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar, a 1983-batch officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, was earlier appointed as the advisor to the Lt Governor in January 2020, while another IPS officer Farooq Khan and IAS officer K. K. Sharma were retained as advisors after Murmu took over as the first Lt Governor of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019.
Speaker Accepts Resignations of 6 MP Cong MLAs
Madhya Pradesh assembly speaker NP Prajapati accepted the resignations of six ministers from the assembly amid a continuing political standoff between the Congress state government and the opposition BJP over the status of 22 lawmakers of the ruling party.
The six ministers and 16 other MLAs had sent their resignations to the speaker earlier during the week.
Italian Architect of Barcelona Olympic Stadium Vittorio Gregotti Dies
Italian architect Vittorio Gregotti, who designed the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics stadium, died of the coronavirus at the age of 92.
According to Italian media, Gregotti was hospitalised in Milan after contracting COVID-19, and eventually died of pneumonia.
Gregotti also designed the Arcimboldi Opera Theatre in Milan.
Virat Kohli Brand Ambassador of iQOO
iQOO (i Quest On and On) named Indian Cricketer Virat Kohli as its brand ambassador. The brand's first product in India is iQOO 3, 5G-enabled smartphone. iQOO is a sub-brand of Vivo in China and entered India as a separate entity and also part of the BBK group. The BBK (Guangdong Bu Bu Gao Electronics Industrial Private Limited) group markets smartphones of 5 brands: Vivo, OnePlus, OPPO, RealMe and iQOO (in India).
Prachi Salve of IndiaSpend and Pradeep Dwivedi of Dainik Jagran were jointly awarded the top prize for their contribution towards reporting on road safety by the Centre for Media Studies (CMS).
CMS, a not-for-profit research think tank, supported by the World Health Organization (WHO) India, conducted a three-month fellowship programme for journalists to work on road safety and related issues in 2019.
The second prize awardees are B. Raveendra Shetty of Vijay Karnataka and Purnima Singh of Times Now Hindi.
Kishor Dwivedi of the Press Trust of India (PTI) and Sangamesh Menasinakai of The Times of India bagged the third prize.
A total of 12 journalists were selected for the fellowship programme and they have produced in-depth stories on road safety for the print, TV and online medium, the CMS said.
The winners will be presented with certificates and cash prize at a ceremony that was scheduled for March but has been postponed due to coronavirus outbreak.
India's first Living Culinary Arts and Museum of WGSHA Enters Limca Book of Records
Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration (WGSHA) of Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) entered the Limca Book of Records (LBR) for establishing "India's First Living Culinary Arts Museum" at WGSHA, Manipal, Karnataka. The process of WGSHA's Culinary museum's entry into the popular LBR started almost 6 months back and Chef Vikas Khanna was the founder of the first living culinary arts museum at WGSHA.
The museum was opened in the year April 2018, spread approximately over 25,000 square feet & the structure of the museum is shaped in the form of a giant pot.
The Museum consists of historical as well as household items such as plates made by the Portuguese in India, an old seed sprinkler, an ancient Kashmiri tea brewer known as 'samovar', a 100-year-old ladle used to dole out food at temples and bowls dating to the Harappan era.
The vessels from the Konkan, Udupi & Chettinad regions, apart from a large collection of rolling pins, utensils of all shapes and sizes, tea strainers of different types etc. are found in the museum.
Limca Book of Record (LBR) is a book of achievements made by Indians in India and abroad in many fields of human endeavour. It is the second book of records in the world after Guinness Book of World Records.
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