5 W 2017
Golden Peacock Award
Polity and Governance
The Union Labour and Employment Minister
Bandaru Dattatreya has initiated steps to
bring the electronic and digital media journal-
ists too under the ambit of the 'Working
Journalists Act'. The Labour Ministry will
ensure stringent enforcement of the labour
laws and implementation of Wage board rec-
ommendations in the newspaper industry.
The Chief Minister of Manipur 'N Biren Singh'
has launched the two web applications to
check corruption and keep track of govern-
ment activities. The two web applications
were Anti-Corruption Cell and Digital
Application for Review by Public and Nation
(DARPAN). 'DARPAN' would upload details
of projects right from the initial stage till sanc-
tion of the fund, progress of work and photos
the work sites.
The Union Government has relaxed restric-
tions on exports of certain organic agricultur-
al and processed products like wheat, non-
basmati rice to boost their overseas ship-
ments. It has also increased the annual quan-
titative ceiling on the export of organic pulses
and lentils from existing 10,000 tons to
50,000 tons per annum.
The Supreme Court (SC) has set a bench-
mark for maintenance to be paid by a hus-
band to his estranged wife. According to
Supreme Court, (a bench of Justices R
Banumathi and M M Santanagoudar) direct-
ed a resident of West Bengal to set aside
25% as maintenance for his former wife and
their son.
India and South Korea have signed an Inter-
Governmental Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) for Defence Industry
cooperation between their shipbuilding yards
in New Delhi. India has nominated Hindustan
Shipyard at Vishakhapatnam whereas South
Korea is yet to nominate its shipyard. This
MoU is part of the 'Make in India' initiative of
the union government.
The Union Minister Piyush Goyal and
Indonesia's Energy and Mineral Resources
Minister Ignasius Jonan have participated in
the first Indian-Indonesia Energy Forum in
Jakarta, Indonesia. Major Indian companies
in oil and gas sector, like ONGC Videsh
Limited, Petronet LNG Limited, Gas partici-
pated in this forum.
Awards
Best film honour at Hong Kong
International Film Festival
Bollywood film "Newton" has won the Jury
Prize for best film at the Hong Kong
International Film Festival (11th April - 25th
April). 'Newton' is Amit Masurkar's second film
after 'Sulemani Keeda' in 2014.
Note: Newton is a 2017 Indian Hindi-language
black comedy film directed by Amit V
Masurkar and produced by Manish
Mundra of Drishyam Films.
P C Chandra Puraskaar 2017
Nobel laureate (2014) Kailash Satyarthi
(63-year) has been awarded the 'P C Chandra
Puraskar 2017' for his global crusade against
child slavery and exploitative child labour in
Kolkata. He was handed over a citation, a tro-
phy and a cheque of Rs.10 lakh.
Note: Satyarthi has founded the 'Bachpan
Bachao Andolan' in 1980. He is the fifth
Nobel Prize winner for India and only the
second Indian winner of the Nobel Peace
Prize after Mother Teresa in 1979.
[ A
The Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd (GNFC)
has won the prestigious 'Golden Peacock Award 2017' in the cate-
gory of Innovative Product/ Service for pioneering a cashless
township transformation model. The GNFC has won from among
313 applicants for Golden Peacock Global Award for Innovative
Product/ Service.
Green Nobel prize won by...?
India has signed three MoU with Armenia in
Yerevan, on peaceful uses of outer space, on
cooperation in youth matters and a program
of cultural cooperation for the years 2017-
2020. The two countries are celebrating the
25th anniversary of their diplomatic ties.
The Union Minister of Information and
Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu has
launched 'MyMSME app' and website portal
of MSME facilitation council in New Delhi. My
MSME mobile application is for all Micro,
Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) in India
and other stakeholders. This application acts
as a source of all information related to
MSME's Policies, Registration, Services,
Schemes, etc.
India and Sri Lanka have signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on
economic co-operation in the presence of PM
Modi and Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil
Wickremesinghe in New Delhi. The MoU pro-
poses Indian investment in the development
of ports and oil tank farms in Trincomalee,
setting up of an LNG power plant, piped gas
supply in Colombo and also aims to under-
take highway, railway projects in Sri Lanka.
The International Road Federation (IRF) has
announced that India will host the 18th World
Road Meeting on 13th November 2017. The
theme of World Road Meeting 2017 is 'Safe
Roads and Smart Mobility: The Engines of
Economic Growth'. Around 4000 delegates
across the world will discuss important issues
facing in the mobility sector.
Note: The International Road Federation is a
global not-for-profit organization, head-
quartered in Washington, DC since 1948
and supported by regional offices
throughout the world. The IRF seeks to
promote the benefits of a sustainable
road transport infrastructure at all levels
of society.
Honorary life membership of MCC
The 'Marylebone Cricket Club' (MCC) has
offered the honorary life membership to the for-
mer captain of the Indian women's Test team
'Sandhya Agarwal'. Agarwal is being honoured
in recognition of her distinguished service to
the game. She has played 13 Tests and 21
ODIs from 1984 to 1995. Presently, she is the
chairperson of girl's Under-19 and senior
women's team of Madhya Pradesh Cricket
Association (MPCA).
Note: Marylebone Cricket Club has been rec-
ognized as the sole authority on the laws
of cricket since its foundation.
BFJA lifetime achievement award
Veteran actress 'Moushumi Chatterjee' has
received the lifetime achievement award at the
80th Bengal Film Journalists' Association
(BFJA) awards. Bengali film actor Prosenjit
Chatterjee has given the best actor award for
his role in 'Sankhachil'. Rituparna Sengupta
was given the best actress crown for her role in
'Rajkahini'.
In line with 'Ek Bharat- Shresht Bharat' con-
cept of unity in diversity, the states -
Telangana and Haryana have announced to
work for mutual promotion of tourism and cul-
ture.
The Supreme Court ordered the sale by auc-
tion of Sahara group's prized Lonavala asset
in Maharashtra, the Aamby Valley property.
Market regulator SEBI was asked to forward
the court's order to the Official Liquidator and
hand over all the details of the property to the
latter.
Railway minister Suresh Prabhu digitally
inaugurated the first steel coil-carrying
Special Freight Train Operations (SFTO) rake
of TM International Logistics Ltd (TMILL) from
Rail Bhawan in New Delhi.
Note: TMILL, a joint venture of Tata Steel NYK
Holding (Europe) B.V. and IQ Martrade
Holding GmbH of Germany, has com-
menced operations with three BFNSM1
rakes. The first rake carrying steel coils
departed from Tata Steel's Jamshedpur
plant for Chennai.
As part of the innovative initiatives under the
'White Revolution' umbrella Schemes, an ini-
tiative of 'Quality Mark' Award Scheme has
been taken for dairy Cooperatives to promote
and encourage the enhancement of safety,
quality and hygiene of milk and milk products
manufactured by dairy cooperatives.
Indian Railways have announced to restore
the Kolkata Khulna passenger train service
in July 2017 after a gap of nearly seventy
years. A trail run of the service from Khulna to
Kolkata from Benapole (on the Bangladesh
side) inaugurated by the Prime Minister
NarendraModi and the visiting Prime Minister
of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina on April 8,
2017 through video link from New Delhi.
India added 5,525 MW solar power genera-
tion capacity last fiscal, taking the total from
Note: BFJA Awards is given by the Bengal Film
Journalists' Association. The BFJA is the
oldest association of film critics in India,
founded in 1937 to serve the developing
film journalism and film industry.
Goldman Environmental Prize
Environmental activist Prafulla Samantara
(65-year) has been selected for 'Goldman
Environmental Prize' from Asia region for
championing the cause of State's Dongria
Kondh tribals and safeguarding their land &
culture. The prize also known as Green Nobel
prize and Samantara is the sixth Indian to win
the prize.
Note: Green Nobel prize has been Instituted
by the Goldman Environmental
Foundation, headquartered in San
Francisco. The prize includes a no-
strings-attached award of 1 lakh 75 thou-
sand US-dollar per recipient. Earlier,
Indians who received the award are
Medha Patkar, MC Mehta, Ramesh
Agarwal and the duo Rashida Bi and
Champa Devi Shukla.
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this clean source to 12,288 MW. The
Government has envisaged 4,800 MW from
rooftop solar and 7,200 MW from large scale
solar power projects in the country. Among
states, Andhra Pradesh tops the chart with
largest cumulative solar generation capacity
of 1,867 MW as on March 31, 2017 followed
by Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu at 1,812 MW
and 1,691 MW respectively.
The Union Cabinet has approved the signing
of the Framework of Understanding (FoU) on
Cooperation in the Hydrocarbon Sector with
Bangladesh. The objective of the proposed
FoU is to establish a cooperative institutional
framework mechanism to facilitate and
enhance India-Bangladesh bilateral coopera-
tion in the hydrocarbon sector on the basis of
equality and mutual benefit. The proposed
FoU is non-binding in nature and will be valid
for five years.
India has jumped one spot to 8th rank in the
2017 A.T. Kearney Foreign Direct Investment
(FDI) Confidence Index. Governance and reg-
ulatory issues made up 7 of the top-10 factors
that investors consider when deciding on an
investment destination. While US topped the
list, Germany and China were at the second
and third respectively. United Kingdom and
Canada make up the rest of top 5.
The Indian Railway has announced to pro-
vide Wi-Fi facility to railway stations making
them digital hotspots. The plan, under the
'Railwire Saathi' project will soon be rolled out
across 7,000 stations.
As the risk of cyber threats looms over enter-
prises going digital, a Symantec study
reveals that India ranks fourth when it comes
to online security breaches, accounting for
over 5 percent of global threat detections.
The US and China occupy the top two slots
and together make for almost 34 percent, fol-
lowed by Brazil and then India.
Sahitya Akademi Award for
translation of Mathorubhagan
Writer Perumal Murugan's novel
Mathorubhagan (One Part Woman) has won
the Sahitya Akademi award -2016 for transla-
tion in English. The translation was done by
'Aniruddhan Vasudevan' and the book was
published by 'Penguin'. The prize is in the form
of a casket containing an engraved copper
plaque and a cash component of Rs.50,000.
The book 'One Part Woman' is a novel based
on a possible ancient cultural practice among
people living around Tiruchengode.
Dinanath Mangeshkar Award 2017
'Aamir Khan' has honoured with the 75th
Master Dinanath Mangeshkar Award for his
outstanding performance in film 'Dangal'.
Cricket legend Kapil Dev and veteran actor
Vyjayanthimala Bali were also honoured in the
function. Earlier, Mr. Khan attended an award
show 16 years ago when 'Lagaan' film was
nominated in the Best Film category at the
Academy Awards.