TELANGANA

Panchayat elections likely in State next month

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has asserted that a working Panchayat Raj system should be set up in the State and for this, several measures have been initiated and more are in the offing.

Telangana has notched up successes in many areas but failed in keeping its villages clean, and drew criticism.

Geographical boundaries would have to be fixed for the new panchayats proposed by the District Panchayat Officers by January 25. Effort should be to create new panchayats without giving scope for litigations and this would be done through a legislation.

Good suggestions would be incorporated in the new Panchayat Raj Bill to be introduced in the Assembly in the first week of February.

Indicating that 4,000 more panchayats will be set up in addition to the present 8,684 gram panchayats

Telangana was the only State in the country to be giving ₹8,000 input assistance per acre and farmers coordination committees were set up so far at village and mandal level to enable them get support price.

INTERNATIONAL

Romania to have first female prime minister, Viorica Dancila

Viorica Dancila has been named as Romania’s first female PM following the sudden resignation of Mihai Tudose.

Ms Dancila, a member of the European Parliament, is regarded as an ally of the governing Social Democratic Party (PSD) leader Liviu Dragnea.

Ms Dancila, 54, is Romania’s third prime minister in seven months.

· Google awarded 72 lakh for finding bugs in Pixel phone

Google awarded nearly 72 lakh to researcher Guang Gong for finding bugs in its Pixel devices.
The exploit chain consisted of two bugs which together could inject arbitrary code into system server by accessing a malicious URL in Chrome.
Around 67 lakh of the reward was given from Google’s Android Security Rewards program, the highest in the program’s history.

NATIONAL

· India Ratings Projects Economic Growth at 7.1 Next Fiscal

India Ratings and Research have projected the country’s economic growth to improve to 1 percentin 2018-19 from 6.5 percent in 2017-18, buoyed by robust consumer demand and low commodity prices.
In its outlook for 2018-19, according to the agency, there will be a gradual pickup in growth momentum owing to structural reforms like GST and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code in place.
The projection is a tad lower than 7.4 percent growth estimated by Asian Development Bank and International Monetary Fund for next fiscal.

Government to set up $350 million fund to finance solar projects

Government will set up a $350 million fund to finance solar projects, as the country steps up efforts to achieve its ambitious target of adding 175 gigawatts (GW) in renewable energy by 2022.

India will need at least $125 billion to fund a plan to increase the share of renewable power supply in the country’s grid by 2022.

The country, which receives twice as much sunshine as European nations, wants to make solar central to its renewable expansion.

Installed renewable power capacity is currently about 60 GW

· HDFC Bank Becomes 1st Indian Bank to Cross Rs5 trillion Market Capitalisation

India’s most-valued lender HDFC Bank Limitedcrossed Rs5 trillion capitalization action for the first time, making it only the third Indian company to achieve this milestone.
In intraday trade, the stock touched a fresh record high of Rs1,53.75 on the BSE, up 3.31% from its previous close.
Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) and Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) are the other two companies which crossed market capitalisation of Rs5 trillion.

· NPPA fixes retail price of 30 drug formulations

Drug price regulator National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA)fixed retail price for 30 drug formulations, including those used for the treatment of Diabetics, bacterial infections, and high blood pressure.
NPPA is an independent body under Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers. It was set up in 1997.
Its mandate is to fix/review.
Essential medicines are those that satisfy the priority health care needs of the country’s population.

· Maharashtra becomes first state to unveil Public Cloud Policy

Maharashtra became the first state in the country to unveil Public Cloud Policy that virtually mandates state government departments to shift their data storage.
The State Government had formed a four-member committee to draft policy framework on cloud usage.
The policy will result in additional private sector investments worth the US $2 billion for cloud industry as the government is one of biggest creators.

· Virat Kohli named as Captain of ICCs Test and ODI Teams of the Year

Virat Kohli was named the captain of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test and One-Day International (ODI) teams of the year that included four other Indians as well.
Kohli scored 2,023 runs at 77.80, including eight centuries and three half-centuries in 18 matches during the qualification period.
He surprisingly pipped Australian skipper Steve Smith for the ICC’s Test team captaincy.
The Test team also comprises Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravichandran Ashwin.

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