• National

Namami Gange gets global recognition at the Global Water Summit in London

• ‘Public Water Agency of the Year’ award was presented to India’s flagship programme National Mission for Clean Ganga or Namami Gange at Global Water Summit held in London, United Kingdom.
• The Global Water Intelligence presented the award during the Global Water Summit.
• The Global Water Summit is the primary business conference for the water industry worldwide.
• The award recognises excellence across the entire international water industry and rewards those initiatives in the water, wastewater, and desalination sectors which bring remarkable improvements in the lives of people.

• International

Google launches New Cloud platform Anthos

• On 10, April 2019, Google has launched a new cloud platform Anthos, which allow users to run applications from anywhere.
• Anthos is a completely software-based solution. Users can set it up on existing hardware, claimed Google.
• It allows users to run applications, unmodified, on existing on-premise hardware or on the public cloud and is based on the Cloud Services Platform that announced in 2018.

• Economy and Business

LIC gets 12 years from RBI to cut stake in IDBI Bank, says a report

• According to the report, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) 12 years to reduce its stake by 10 percent in IDBI Bank.
• RBI has stipulated that after 12 years LIC has to reduce stake in IDBI Bank by 10 percent to 40 percent.
• LIC has 51 percent controlling stake in the bank, making the insurer the lender’s majority shareholder.
• The government is the other major investor in IDBI Bank owning 46.46 per cent while the rest is with the public.

• Awards

GIC India chief awarded Freedom of the City of London

• The Chairman and Managing Director of the General Insurance Corporation (GIC) of India Alice G. Vaidyan have been awarded the Freedom of the City of London in recognition of her work to promote insurance ties between India and the UK.
• Alice G. Vaidyan was the first lady officer to assume the post of Chairman-cum-Managing Director of General Insurance Corporation of India.
• She was the first lady officer to assume the post of Chairman-cum-Managing Director of General Insurance Corporation of India.

• Awards

Deepa Malik honoured with New Zealand Prime Minister’s Sir Edmund Hillary Fellowship for 2019

• Rio Paralympics silver medallist Deepa Malik was named as the recipient of the New Zealand Prime Minister’s Sir Edmund Hillary Fellowship for 2019 in recognition of her “inspiring achievements “.
• The first Indian woman to earn a medal at the Paralympic Games, Deepa has won 58 national and 23 international medals.
• A recipient of the Padma Shri and Arjuna Award, she has entered the Limca Book of World Records four times.
• As a Sir Edmund Hillary Prime Minister’s Fellow for New Zealand, Deepa will travel to New Zealand and meet with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, undertake a series of visits to Paralympic sporting organisations, and engage with Kiwi athletes, students and the media as well as New Zealand’s significant Indian Diaspora community.

• Awards

Siva Reddy selected for Saraswati Samman 2018

• Telugu poet K Siva Reddy has been selected for the prestigious Saraswati Samman, 2018 for his collection of poetry titled Pakkaki Ottigilite.
• The award carries a cash prize of 15 lakh rupees, a citation, and a plaque.
• The award, instituted by the KK Birla Foundation in 1991, is given annually for an outstanding literary work written in any Indian language, published during the last 10 years.

• Appointments

Shiv Das Meena appointed as NBCC Chairman and Managing Director

• Shiv Das Meena, Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has been appointed as the Chairman cum Managing Director (CMD) of National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC).
• Shiv Das Meena, an Indian Administrative Service officer of Tamil Nadu cadre of 1989-Batch, will succeed Dr. Anoop Kumar Mittal. He takes charge as the 17th CMD of the company after Mittal.

• Resignation

Cairn India CEO and CFO resigned

• Vedanta-owned Cairn India’s CEO and CFO, Sudhir Mathur and Pankaj Kalra have resigned in quick succession.
• The frequency of exits in the company since Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta took over it in 2011 has raised many questions.

• Science and Tech

SpaceX carried out first commercial launch

• SpaceX has carried out its first commercial launch with its Falcon Heavy rocket tasked with placing a Saudi satellite in orbit.
• The rocket exerts 5.1 million pounds of thrust — that of more than a dozen jetliners.
• The rocket carried a Saudi Arabian satellite operated by Arabsat.

• Miscellaneous

Image of toddler won World Press Photo

• The haunting image of a little girl crying helplessly as she and her mother are taken into custody by US border officials has won the prestigious World Press Photo Award.
• The picture of the wailing toddler was published worldwide and caused a public outcry about Washington’s controversial policy to separate thousands of migrants from their children.
• The picture was taken by John Moore.

• Agreements

SBI inks co-origination loan pact with Paisalo Digital Ltd

• With a vision to empower Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and small businesses, PAISALO Digital Limited signed the first co-origination loan agreement with State Bank of India (SBI).
• Introducing a platform for the last mile customer, the loan ticket is designed at Rs 10,000 to 2 lakh.
• The company expects to disburse 200,000 loan applications in FY20.
• PAISALO Digital Limited operates a business in various states including Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Bihar.
• The company serves customers with 118 branches in rural areas, serviced by a team of persons over 1500.