1. Over Rs.20 crore has been authorized under the Stand Up India Scheme
The Finance Ministry stated that as of March 10, 2020, more than Rs 20,466.94 crore loans were sanctioned in more than 91,000 accounts under the Stand Up India scheme. This information was shared by the Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Mr. Anurag Singh Thakur.
Stand Up India Scheme:
The Stand Up India scheme was launched by the Government of India on 5 April 2016 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is a part of the Department of Financial Services (DFS) to promote entrepreneurial projects.
Aim:
- The main objective of the Stand Up India scheme is to borrow money to start a new business to promote entrepreneurship among Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and women.
- People availing the scheme will be informed about online platforms, other resources of e-marketing, web-entrepreneurship, factoring services and registration.
2. Ministry of Culture established an institute to promote art, Buddhist studies, and Culture
Ministry of Culture has established an institute named Central Institute of Himalayan Culture Studies (CIHCS) at Dahung, Arunachal Pradesh.
Aim:
The main objective of CIHCS is to preserve ancient Buddhist manuscripts, to promote research in different aspects of Buddhism, digitize ancient Buddhist text preserved in the languages of Sanskrit, Pal, Tibetan, Japanese, Chinese, and other Asian languages through the system of a modern university.
3. Prachi Salve, Pradeep Dwivedi got 2019 Road Safety Media Fellowship award
Prachi Salve of IndiaSpend and Pradeep Dwivedi of DainikJagran jointly has got the top prize in the Road Safety Media Fellowship 2019 for their contribution towards reporting on road safety by the Centre for Media Studies (CMS). The awardees were selected by a three-member jury.
Other awardees:
- Purnima Singh of Times Now Hindi and Journalist B. Raveendra Shetty of Vijay Karnataka shared the second prize.
- The third prize was jointly obtained by Sangamesh Menasinakai, The Times of India and Kishor Dwivedi, Press Trust of India (PTI),.
CMS:
CMS is a not-for-profit research think tank supported by the World Health Organization (WHO) India. CMS managed a three-month fellowship program for journalists. The participating member was trained to work on road safety and related issues in the year 2019.
4. SBI degraded FD rates, MCLRs rates for a second time in a month
State Bank of India (SBI) has declared a reduction in its Marginal Cost of Funds based Lending Rates (MCLR) upto15 basis points (bps) across tenors.
This is the second time the lender is announcing the rate cut in its fixed deposit (FD) interest rates. This is the second reduction in a month and the tenth cut in the current fiscal year.
Highlights:
- SBI has reduced retail term deposits (less than Rs 2 crore) from 10 to 50 bps for certain tenures. The new home loan and FD rates became effective from 10 March.
- The one-year MCLR decreased to 7.75% from 7.85% with effect from 10 March 2020.
- The EMI on eligible home loan accounts linked to MCLR will be reduced by about Rs. 7 per 1 lakh rupees on a 30-year loan. It also said that the EMI on a car loan would also be reduced by Ts. 5 per Rs 1 lakh on a seven-year loan.
5. Lok Sabha to discuss 2020 Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda Bill
The Lok Sabha has to take up the Institute of Teaching and Research in the Ayurveda Bill, 2020 for consideration on 19 March.
Bill provisions:
- The purpose of this bill is to merge the three Ayurveda institutes to establish a teaching and research institute in Ayurveda. It demands to be declared as an institute of national importance for promoting quality and excellence in education, research, and training in Ayurveda and allied disciplines.
- The existing institutes that are to be merged are Shree Gulabkunverba Ayurved Mahavidyalaya, Jamnagar; the Institute of Post Graduate Teaching and Research in Ayurveda, Jamnagar; the Indian Institute of Ayurvedic Pharmaceutical Sciences, Jamnagar.
6. NHA ties up with Private hospitals to fight against Coronavirus
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has signed an agreement with the National Health Authority (NHA).
- Its objective is to identify the capacity to recruit patients from 19,840 affected hospitals under the scheme.
- Also, on 18 March, the Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan chaired a high-level review meeting with chiefs of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, RML, and Safdarjung Hospital to examine infrastructure preparedness.
Measures:
- MoHFW is discussing with the private sector and non-profit hospitals across the country to ramp up facilities.
- The Ministry is in the process of shortlisting tertiary care units that are accredited to assist in the process.
- The NHA is planning the rates to include Covid-19 packages in Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY).
- India has recorded 168 confirmed cases to date, of which 14 have been cured, and three have died.
7. Google named Karan Bajwa as MD of Google Cloud in India
Google has elected Karan Bajwa as Managing Director (MD) of Google Cloud in India. He will be responsible for driving all revenue and go-to-market operations for Google Cloud’s extensive solution portfolio that includes the Google Cloud Platform and G Suite in the country.
He will advise Google Cloud’s work with the local developer ecosystem and India-based Global System Integrators (GSIs). Google Cloud’s field sales, partner, and customer engineering organizations in India will report to Bajwa.
Karan Bajwa:
- Karan Bajwa is a senior leader with over three decades of leadership experience. He recently worked as MD for India and South Asia for IBM.
- Before that, he has served as an MD in Microsoft for nine years. He led the company’s operations in India. He worked with Cisco Systems in India and Singapore.