25th May 2018
Economy and Banking
TCS: first company to achieve market cap Rs7 trillion mark
- Tata Consultancy Services Ltd’s (TCS) market cap has surged past the Rs7 trillion mark on Friday becoming the first company to achieve this milestone.
- TCS’s market cap jumped to Rs703,309 crore in intraday trading on the BSE.
- The market cap has been calculated from its 52-week high price of Rs3,674 hit Friday on the exchange.
- TCS share price rose by 1.91% to Rs3,674 on Friday.
- Shares of the company have gained nearly 35% in this year.
Earlier this year, TCS market cap had surged past the Rs6 trillion mark, making it the second company to achieve the milestone after Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL).
About TCS
- An Indian multi–national information technology(IT) service, consulting and business solutions company.
- Headquarteredin Mumbai,
- It is the world's 9th largest IT services provider by revenue.
- In April 2018, TCS became the first Indian IT company to breach $100 billion market capitalization.
CEO – Rajesh Gopinathan
Government and Polity
Navy conducts security exercise “Prasthan”
- Western Naval command conducted a security exercise called “Prasthan” in the Offshore Development Area off the coast of Mumbai.
- Aim of the exercise is to integrate maritime stakeholders including Navy, Airforce, Coast guard ONGC, Port trust, customs, state fisheries department and marine police for refining standard operating procedures in response to various contingencies.
- It was conducted on MHN platform of ONGC located about 95 nautical miles west of Mumbai.
- The drill was focused on contingencies like collision of an adrift vessel with an oil platform, fire on an oil platform, oil spill and pollution control, casualty evacuation from the ODA, and search & rescue for a crashed helicopter.
About western naval command
Commanding officer – Admiral Girish Luhtra
Headquarters – Mumbai, Maharashtra
States
Kerala unveils world’s largest bird sculpture
- Kerala tourism will inaugurate the world’s largest bird sculpture, Jatayu Earth’s Centre.
- The replica of bird Jatayu (a character of Ramayana) is 200ft long, 65 ft tall, 150 ft wide.
- The sculpture built at the cost of Rs100 crore, spreaded over 65 acres in Thiruvananthapuram.
- It has been created by an award winning filmmaker Rajiv Aanchal and the project was declared under built operate transfer basis during the congress govt. in 2006.
About Kerala
- It is a southern state present on Malabar coast of India formed in Nov. 1956.
- Official language – Malayalam, English
- Capital – Thiruvananthapuram
States
Manipur: first North Eastern state to get solar toilet
- Manipur has become the first north eastern state and third state in India to have solar toilets.
- Solar toilets are inaugurated at Ibudhou Marjing hill Heingang by Tourism Director, Waikhom Ibohal.
- Now there is plan of installation of 100 units in Manipur.
- In Manipur, it is the third project installed, before this installation had taken place in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
About Manipur
- Capital – Imphal
- Meitei ethnic group constitutes 53% population of the state.
- Main language of the state – Meitei, also known as Manipuri language.
Person/Events/Awards
India ranks 145th in terms of healthcare access and quality
- India ranks 145th among 195 countries in terms of quality and accessibility of healthcare.
- India’s healthcare access and quality scored at 41.2 as compared to 24.7 in 1990.
- However, India is improved as compare to other states but it’s gap between highest and lowest score is widened – Goa and Kerala has highest score exceeding 60 points and Assam and Uttar Pradesh had the lowest below 40 points.
- Five countries with highest levels of healthcare access and quality – Iceland (97.1 points), Norway (96.6 points), Netherlands (96.1), Luxembourg (96.0) and Finland & Australia (95.9)
- India lags behind china, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan
- Countries with lowest score – Central African Republic, Somalia, Guinea- Bissau, Chad and Afghanistan.
- This survey is conducted under Global Burden of Disease Study.
Global Burden of Disease Study
It is a comprehensive regional and global research program of disease burden that assesses mortality and disability from major diseases, injuries, and risk factors.
Person/Events/Awards
Nari Shakti Puraskar to INSV Tarini Team
- Minister for women and child development Smt Menaka Sanjay Gandhi presented Nari Shakti Puraskar 2017 to the members of INSV Tarini team in New Delhi.
- Team sailing in INSV Tarini comprises Lt. Commander Vartika Joshi, Pratibha Jamwal, Swathi Patarpalli, Aishwarya Bodapatti, Vijaya Devi, Payal Gupta.
- Each crew member has minimum sailing experience of 20,000 nautical miles.
- The Six-member all-women team is led by Lieutenant Commander Vartika Joshi.
- The voyage lasted for 254 days, with 199 days at sea and covered 21600 nautical miles.
- It had 5 port calls in Fremantle, Australia; Lyttelton, New Zealand; Port Stanley, Falklands; Cape Town, South Africa and finally at Mauritius before returning home to Goa.
- All six members of the crew were trained for over three years under Captain Dilip Donde who is the first Indian to successfully carry out solo-circumnavigation of the globe between 2009 and 2010.
It’s a part of the Indian Navy’s unique project 'Navika Sagar Parikrama' - an all-women team circumnavigating the globe, promoting ocean sailing activities in the Navy and depicting Government of India's commitment towards women empowerment.
Person/Events/Awards
Arjun Vajpai climbs world’s 3rd highest peak
- 24 year old Noida Resident Arjun Vajpai successfully climbed Kanchenjunga the world’s third highest peak.
- He has climbed 6 of the 14 peaks in the world which are higher than 8000 meters.
- He is the youngest to climb the hill.
About Kanchenjunga
- World’s third highest peak after Mt. Everest and K2.
- Partly lies in Sikkim, India and partly in Nepal.
Person/Events/Awards
UNICEF India launches a data visualization app
- UNICEF India organised “Shiksa Mela – Education Open Day” to demonstrate holistic and equitable quality education across 17 states and there it launched Data visualization app.
- App uses Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE), National Assessment Survey (NAS) and demographic data, together providing a user friendly visual representation of complex analytics of Education scenario in the country.
- It is built by UNICEF India in collaboration with National Institute of Education Planning and Administration (NIEPA) and National council for Education Training and Research.
About UNICEF
- Stands for United Nations International children Emergency Fund.
- Headquartered in New York
- Created in Dec, 1946
International News
India – Nepal joint exercise Surya Kiran- XIII
- India and japan are conducting joint military exercise Surya Kiran at Pithoragarh from 30 may – 12 June, 2018
- Exercise comprises nearly 300 soldiers of both India & Nepal, this is a biannual exercise.
- The aim of this exercise is to conduct battalion level joint training with emphasis on counter terrorism operations in mountainous terrain.
About Nepal
Capital – Kathmandu
Currency – Nepalese rupees
Nepal PM – Khadga Prasad Oli
Appointments
Sushil Chandra’s term extends for 1 year as chairman of CBDT
- Sushil chandra’s term as chairman of CBDT extended for 1 year i.e. till may 2019.
- This is his 2nd extension, first was done in 2017
- Appointment committee of cabinet has extended the Chandra's term in order to provide continuity as the CBDT is at the forefront of combating black money.
About CBDT
- It is the part of department of revenue under ministry of Finance.
- It is working under central board of revenue act, 1963.
- It is headed by chairman and comprises of 6 members.
- It’s members and chairman are selected from Indian Revenue Services.
Appointments
Anubrata Biswas: new MD & CEO of Airtel Payment Bank
- Airtel Payment Bank has appointed Anubrata Biswas as its managing director and CEO.
- Prior to this, he was joint general manager and retail business head for south India in ICICI bank.
- He replaced Shashi Arora, the first MD and CEO of Airtel Payment Bank.
Airtel payment bank was the first payment bank to start operations in India.
Payment bank -
- A new model of banks conceptualised by the Reserve Bank of India(RBI).
- These banks can accept a restricted deposit, which is currently limited to ₹1 lakh per customer and may be increased further.
- These banks cannot issue loans and credit cards.
- Both current account and savings accounts can be operated by such banks.
- Payments banks can issue services like ATM cards, debit cards, net-banking and mobile-banking.