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The World Hemophilia Day (WHD) is observed every year on April 17 to improve and sustain care for people with inherited bleeding disorders around the world. The 2017 World Hemophilia Day theme is “Hear Their Voices” to unite the community and show support for the millions of people affected by bleeding disorders. Hemophilia is an inherited bleeding disorder in which a person lacks or has low levels of certain proteins called “clotting factors” and as a result, the blood doesn’t clot properly. Clotting factor is a protein in blood that controls bleeding. If you have hemophilia, you may bleed for a longer time after an injury than you would if your blood clotted normally. Hemophilia is quite rare. About 1 in 10,000 people are born with it.

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The World Heritage Day (WHD) is being observed every year on April 18 to spread awareness of the importance of protecting and preserving various sites around the world that have achieved world heritage status. The 2017 theme is “Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Tourism”. The world heritage sites are officially recognised by the UN and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO. These sites are classified as a natural or man-made structure that has international importances and hold cultural and physical significance. There are total 1,052 heritage sites in all over the World. In India, there are 35 World Heritage Sites including the very famous Taj Mahal in Agra, Nalanda University, Mahabodhi Temple in Bihar and Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh.

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India’s oldest and largest Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), IIT Kharagpur will start “Vastu Shastra” classes for architecture students from the next academic session i.e. starting from August 2017. It will be introduced to undergraduate students as part of courses on basic design and history of architecture. At the post-graduate level, concepts of social principles, 9-circuit placements or the nabagraha mandal, sacred altars and design semiotics and semantics will be taught to students. The purpose of this initiative is to explore India’s ancient roots in Vastu Shastra. It is a part of the institute’s Science and Heritage Initiative (SandHI) which will oversee the curriculum design.

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The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee has inaugurated the 3rd edition of the Global Exhibition on Services (GES-2017) on April 17, 2017 at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. The GES-2017 will highlight India’s potential to boost its services exports across sectors. The 4-day event will be held at India Expo Mart in Greater Noida and will focus on 20 services sectors, including information technology, tourism and hospitality, logistics, education and financial services. GES 2017 brings together 550 exhibitors from 70 plus countries. More than 20,000 visitors are expected to attend the exhibition. The exhibition will see over 5,000 business meetings and deliberations at more than 30 seminars. The exhibition is being organised by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry together with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Services Export Promotion Council (EEPC).

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The 14th edition of United Nations International Day of Vesak will be hosted by Srilanka from May 12-14, 2017 under the theme “Buddhist Teachings for Social Justice and Sustainable World Peace”. Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, will be the chief guest for UN Vesak Day. The events include an International Buddhist Symposium the participation of over 400 delegates from 100 countries. Vesak is associated with three important locations of Buddhist history – Lumbini in Nepal, the birth place of Prince Siddharta, Bodh Gaya (Buddha Gaya) Bihar State in India where The Buddha attained the most exalted Enlightenment under a Bodhi Tree and Kushinagar (Kusinara) in Uttar Pradesh, India where The Buddha attained Mahaparinibbāna. The significance of Vesak lies with the Buddha’s teaching of cessation of suffering and universal peace to all humankind. It is a message to urge followers to do that which is good and to turn away from evil. It is a message of peace and perfect harmony between human beings and nature.

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As per latest biannual World Economic Outlook (WEO) report, International Monetary Fund (IMF) has increased India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate estimate for FY 17 (2016-17) to 6.8%, from 6.6% estimated in January 2017. As per WEO, IMF has also retained India’s GDP growth projection of 7.2% for FY 18 and 7.7% for FY19 because of the temporary negative consumption shock induced by cash shortages and payment disruptions from the recent currency exchange initiative. According to WEO, the global economy is expected to do better with 3.5% growth in 2017 against 3.1% in 2016 on the back of better growth in the US and the emerging market pack, but Euro zone is likely to continue to grow at current pace.

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The National Safety Council (NSC) is a self-supporting non-profit autonomous society, set up by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Govt. of India (GoI) on 4th March 1966. Its aim is to strengthen a national movement on Safety, Health & Environment (SHE) to prevent and mitigate loss of life, human suffering & economic losses and provide support services. It is in news because the 2016 NSCI Safety Awards will be presented by the Minister of State (Independent Charge), Labour & Employment Bandaru Dattatreya on April 20, 2017 in New Delhi. The NSCI Safety Awards are coveted national level awards in the field of Workplace Safety, Health and Environment. The headquarters of the NSC is located in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

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Veteran actress Saira Banu has been named for the prestigious Raj Kapoor Lifetime achievement award of the Maharashtra Government. Actor Jackie Shroff is selected for the Raj Kapoor Special contribution award. Apart from this, noted Marathi film industry personalities Vikram Gokhale and Arun Nalawade have been named for the coveted V. Shantaram Lifetime Achievement and V. Shantaram Special Contribution annual awards. Both the lifetime awards carry a citation and cash of Rs. 5 lakh each, while both the special contribution awards carry a citation and Rs. 3 lakh. The awards will be presented at the 54th Maharashtra State Marathi Film Festival.

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India has been ranked at the 8th position in the 2017 A.T. Kearney Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index. As per A.T. Kearney report, foreign companies have considered India as an attractive destination due to its reforms to enable a transparent and an easy business environment. Around 31% of firms surveyed were optimistic about India’s economic outlook over the next three years. About 70% of the respondents plan to maintain or increase their FDI in India. The Index is an annual analysis of how political, economic, and regulatory changes will likely affect FDI inflows into countries in the coming years. The Index is constructed using primary data from a proprietary survey administered to senior executives of the world’s leading corporations. All companies participating in the survey have annual revenues of $500 million or more. United States has ranked first in the FDI index, followed by Germany, China, United Kingdom and Canada.

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Vinay Sah has become the new MD and CEO of LIC Housing Finance. He succeeded Sunita Sharma, who has been promoted as Managing Director of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). Prior to joining LIC Housing Finance, Sah was Executive Director–Marketing/Product Development with LIC of India.