Notes:
The Union Agriculture Minister Radhamohan Singh has inaugurated India’s first International Centre for Foot and Mouth Disease (ICFMD) at Argul in Bhubaneswar, Odisha on April 1, 2017. The research centre has been constructed in joint collaboration of UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation and Union government’s Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to conduct research on viral disease of cattle and buffaloes. The centre has the facility for safe handling and storage of live Foot and Mouth disease virus that essentially is required for control of the disease. The samples from all over the country will be collected in this research centre to find a cure of the disease. Notably, India is suffering a loss of Rs. 23 thousand crore annually due to Foot and Mouth disease of cattle and buffalos.

Notes:
Sunaina Singh has been appointed the new vice chancellor of Nalanda University (NU). She is expected to take up the new assignment soon. Currently, she is vice chancellor of the English and Foreign Language University (EFLU), Hyderabad. The headquarters of NU is at Rajgir, Bihar. Dr.Vijay Pandurang Bhatka, who is the father of India’s first supercomputer and acclaimed scientist, is the Chancellor of the university.

Notes:
N Chandrababu Naidu, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, has been selected for the US India Business Council (USIBC)’s Transformative Chief Minister (TCM) award for his good governance to people after bifurcation. Naidu would receive award at the 2nd annual West Coast Summit (WCS) to be held in Menlo Park, California on May 8, 2017.

Notes:
Japan will provide an Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan for an amount of Yen 371.345 billion (=Rs.21,590 crore approx) under FY 2016-2017 to India for infrastructure projects, the dedicated freight corridor. For this, the notes were exchanged in New Delhi between S Selvakumar, Joint Secretary under Department of Economic Affairs and Kenji Hiramatsu, Ambassador of Japan to India. (Exchange Rate: Re.1 = Yen 1.72).

Notes:
Vanaja N. Sarna, a 1980 batch officer of Indian Revenue Service (IRS), has been appointed the new chairman of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC). She succeeded Najib Shah. The CBEC is the apex body for framing policy and administrative issues related to indirect tax, and central excise duty. It works under finance ministry, which comprises of a chairperson and a maximum of six members.

Notes:
The Atria Convergence Technologies (ACT) Fibrenet has recently launched 1 Gigabit per second wired broadband internet service in Hyderabad. With this launch, Hyderabad has become the India’s first ‘Giga-enabled’. ACT Fibrenet uses fiber optic technology and its 1 Gbps offering is 400 times faster than the average internet speed of 2.5 megabits per second in India. Giga speeds will allow downloads from the internet faster than transferring data from a USB drive and will be available for Rs 5,999 per month.

Notes:
Myanmar has become the 7th member of South Asia Sub-regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) program of Asian Development Bank (ADB) in 2017. The SASEC program was formed in 2001 in response to the request of the four countries of South Asia – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal – from ADB to assist in facilitating economic cooperation among them. As a project-based partnership, the SASEC program has been helping realize regional prosperity by enhancing cross-border connectivity, facilitating faster and more efficient trade and promoting cross-border power trade. Maldives and Sri Lanka joined SASEC in 2014.

Notes:
The high-level committee headed by Arvind Panagariya has been set up to examine the working of the regulatory bodies viz. Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) and Central Council of Homoeopathy(CCH) and their governing legislations viz. Indian Medicine Central Council (IMCC) Act 1970 and Homoeopathy Central Council (HCC) Act 1973 respectively, for suggesting suitable reforms. Panagariya is the Chairmanship of Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog. The AYUSH systems of medicine are regulated by two statutory regulatory bodies viz. CCIM and CCH. These regulatory bodies regulate education and practice of AYUSH systems of medicine through its subordinate regulations and also maintain central registers of Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy.

Notes:
Dr. Navrang Saini has taken charge as new Whole Time Member (WTM) of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) in New Delhi. Dr. Saini will look after Registration & Monitoring wing comprising Insolvency Professionals, Information Utilities, Insolvency Professional Agencies & Entities, Valuers, Surveillance, Investigation and Grievance Redressal. He will also look after Legal Affairs and Establishment. Dr. Saini served as a member of the Indian Corporate Law Service (ICLS). He has served Ministry of Corporate Affairs in various capacities and played a key role in implementation of MCA 21. His last assignment was Director General, Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

Notes:
Gilbert Baker, who created the rainbow flag as a symbol for the gay community, has recently passed away in Kansas, United States. Baker’s flag was widely associated with LGBT rights causes.