Essar Oil and Gas signs MoU with Indian School of Mines

• Essar Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Ltd (EOGEPL), India's leading Coal Bed Methane (CBM) gas producer has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with IIT (Indian School of Mines-ISM), Dhanbad (Jharkhand) for collaboration.
• Through this MoU both entities will work together on research and development of various advanced Coal Bed Methane (CBM) technological innovations.

• EOGEPL will propose an initial list of research topics and provide data for the same to industry experts and researchers of IIT Dhanbad. The IIT (ISM) will provide advanced training to EOGEPL officials in mutually agreed areas.

About Essar Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Ltd (EOGEPL):

• Chief Executive Officer (CEO)- Santosh Chandra
• Headquarter- Mumbai, Maharshtra

Punjab's 1st solar-based water supply project set up at Jalandhar District

• Punjab Water Supply and Sanitation Department has set up First of its kind Solar-based Water Supply Projects at Jagrawan-Muradpur&Talwara villages of Jalandhar district. The pilot project has been set up under 'HarGharPaani, HarGharSafai' Mission.

• To ensure Uninterrupted potable water (drinking water) supply in rural areas of Punjab.

• The Solar-based projects have been commissioned at a cost of INR 67.71 Lakhs.

• It was launched by Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on February 1, 2021 to provide 100% potable water supply to all rural households of the state by March, 2022.

West Bengal Governor Inaugurates 11th RashtriyaSanskritiMahotsav at Cooch Behar

• West Bengal Governor JagdeepDhankhar inaugurated the 11th Edition of 'RashtriyaSanskritiMahotsav' at Cooch Behar Palace at Cooch Behar, West Bengal in the presence of Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Culture &Tourism.It is the flagship programme of the Ministry of Culture and is organized under the 'Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat Programme.

• The 11th Edition of RashtriyaSanskritiMahotsav is being held between February 14-28, 2021 in West Bengal at Cooch Behar (February 14-16, 2021), Darjeeling, West Bengal (February 22-24, 2021) &Murshidabad, West Bengal (February 27-28, 2021).

• The programme is a platform for showcasing folk & Tribal art, dance, music, cuisines, culture of various states besides providing an opportunity to artists & artisans to support their livelihood.

• The previous Ten editions of the Mahotsav have been held in cities like Delhi, Varanasi, Bengaluru, Tawang, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tehri, and Madhya Pradesh.

India recorded $1422 mn FDI inflow from UK in 2019-20; Maharashtra Tops

• In accordance with the Grant Thornton Bharat's Britain Meets India report, the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflow from the United Kingdom (UK) to India has increased from $898 million in 2015-16 to $1,422 million in 2019-20.

• The report is prepared in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and with the support of the UK's Department of International Trade

• It should be noted that Maharashtra is the top investment destination for UK companies, followed by Haryana, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Karnataka.

• In accordance with the report, there are 572 UK companies in India.

About United Kingdom (UK):

• Capital, London

• Currency- Pound sterling
• Prime Minister- Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson

Google Partners with EIF, Inter-American Development Bank & Kiva

• Google has partnered with European Investment Fund (EIF), Inter-American Development Bank(IDB) and Kiva, an organisation that crowdfunds loans to unlock capital for the underserved around the world to invest $75 million(about Rs. 545 crore) to small and medium-sized companies outside US who are suffering from the impact of COVID-19.

• The funds are part of $800 million (about Rs. 5,820 crores) commitment announced by Google in March 2020 to support small businesses in response to COVID-19 pandemic.

• Google also plans to invest $15 million in India to support the small and micro enterprises across the country.

• In Europe, Google will invest in EIF

• Google will invest in two EIF funds and becomes the 1st company to do so.

• $15 million(about Rs. 110 crores) in loan capital- Will support over 1000 European small businesses

• $10 million(about Rs. 73 crores) in EIF's Life Sciences Fund, a venture capital fund- Will support about 200 life sciences companies

• EIF It is a part of the European Investment Bank group.. Chief Executive- Alain Godard
• Headquarters- Luxembourg

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB):

• Headquarters, New York, Washington, D.C.
• Presidency- Mauricio Claver-Carone

Kiva:

• CEO- Neville Crawley
• Headquarters, San Francisco, California, US

About Google:

• Headquarters, California, United States
• CEO- SundarPichai

Piramal Group Gets RBI nod to Acquire DHFL

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given approval to the Dewan Housing Finance Corporation(DHFL) resolution plan from Piramal Capital and Housing Finance (PCHFL), a company of Piramal group.

• The total debt of DHFL is around Rs 89,000 crore.

• As per the plan, Piramal group will merge PCHFL with DHFL, which involves a total payment of around Rs 35,000 crores.

• It is to be noted that DHFL was the 1st finance company to be referred to NCLT by the RBI using special powers under Section 227 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code(IBC), 2016.

• RBI in November 2019, superseded the Board of Directors of the corporation under Section 45 IE of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.

• RBI also appointed Shri R. Subramania Kumar as its Administrator with effect from 20th November, 2019.

• In addition to this, RBI also constituted a 3-member committee under Section 45 IE of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, to act as advisors to the Administrator.

Members of Committee:

• Rajiv Lall, Non-Executive Chairman, IDFC First Bank Limited:

• Shri N S Kannan, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, ICICI-Prudential Life Insurance Co. Limited

• Shri NS Venkatesh, Chief Executive, Association of Mutual Funds of India

• Head Office- Mumbai, Maharashtra

About Piramal Group:

• Chairman Ajay Piramal
• Head Office- Mumbai, Maharashtra

Exim Bank Extended LOC of 15 Million USD to Republic of Sierra Leone

• Export-Import (Exim) Bank, government of India, extended a Line of Credit(LOC) of 15 million USD (around Rs. 109.11 crore) to the government of the Republic of Sierra Leone.

• The agreement to this effect was signed by SarojKhuntia, General Manager, Exim Bank, and Jacob JusuSaffa, Finance Minister, Government of Republic of Sierra Leone

About Sierra Leone:

• President - Julius Maada Bio
• Capital Freetown
• Currency- Sierra Leonean Leone

About Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank):

• Managing Director- David Rasquinha
• Headquarter- Mumbai, Maharashtra
• Regulated by - Reserve Bank of India Established in 1982

Govt to Infuse Rs 1,500 Crore into EXIM Bank in FY 22

• The government has decided to infuse Rs 1,500 crore capital into Export-Import Bank of India (EXIM Bank) in FY22

• This equity support/subscription is to maximise the paid up capital of the bank to the level of its authorised capital.

• The government had doubled the authorised capital of the bank from Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 20,000 crore in 2019.

About Export-Import Bank of India (EXIM Bank):

• It is wholly owned by the Government of India.

• Established- 1982 under The Export-Import Bank of India Act, 1981

• MD- David Rasquinha

• HeadQuarters, Mumbai, Maharashtra Regulated by- Reserve Bank of India(RBI)

Usha Rao-Monari of India Appointed as Under-Secretary-General and Associate Administrator of UNDP

• AntónioGuterres, United Nations Secretary-General appointed Ms. Usha Rao-Monari of India as Under-Secretary-General and Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

• She succeeds MouradWahba of Egypt, who served as the acting associate administrator. He also serves as the UNDP Regional Director for Arab States.

• The previous Associate Administrator of UNDP was TegegneworkGettu.

Tata Group to Acquire 68% Stake in BigBasket for About Rs 9,500 Crore

• Tata Group has signed a deal to acquire 68% stake in bigbasket for about Rs 9,500 crore. The stake will be acquired by Tata Digital, a subsidiary of Tata Sons. Post acquisition, the enterprise value of BigBasket becomes more than Rs 13,500 crore.

• Tata Communications has partnered with Google Cloud in India to drive cloud adoption and transform Indian businesses.

About Tata Digital:

• CEO- Pratik Pal
• Headquarters- Mumbai, Maharashtra

About Tata Communications:

• MD & CEO- Amur SwaminathanLakshminarayanan (Lakshmi)
• Headquarters- Mumbai, Maharashtra

Kiran Bedi Removed as Puducherry LG; Telangana Governor TamilisaiSoundararajan Given Additional Charge

• President of India, Ram NathGovind directed Dr Kiran Bedi shall cease to hold (Removed) the office of the Lieutenant-Governor (LG) of Puducherry. While, Dr TamilisaiSoundararajan, Governor of Telangana, was given additional charge as LG of Puducherry. Her appointment is effective from the date she assumes charge of her office.

• She is a retired Indian Police Service (IPS) Officer, social activist and former tennis player.

• She was the first female IPS officer and was the 1st Indian & 1st woman to be appointed as head of the United Nations Police and Police Advisor in the United Nations Department of Peace Operations

• She has authored many books including, It's Always Possible: One Woman's Transformation of Tihar Prison and Be the Change: Fighting Corruption among others.

• President's Police Medal for Gallantry in 1979 from President of India for her in preventing violence during Akali-Nirankari clashes

• United Nations Medal in 2004 from United Nations for her Outstanding service

Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar Launched Software Applications for 5 Pan-India Surveys

• Santosh Kumar Gangwar Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Labour and Employment launched the software application for 5 pan-India surveys which are being conducted by the Labour Bureau.

• Government has already constituted an Expert Group under the chairmanship and co chairmanship of Dr. S. P. Mukherjee and Dr. Amitabh Kundu respectively with leading economists and statisticians as members to guide Labour Bureau for conducting these surveys.

• He also released the instruction manuals with questionnaires for these 5 surveys. The 5 pan India surveys are;

• All-India Survey on Domestic Workers (DW) 2) All-India Survey on migrant workers

• All-India survey on employment generated by professionals

• All-India Survey on employment generated in the Transport Sector

• All-India Quarterly Establishment based Employment Survey

Arun Kumar Authors a New Book, 'Indian Economy's Greatest Crisis: Impact of Coronavirus and the Road Ahead'

• Arun Kumar has authored a new book titled, 'Indian Economy's Greatest Crisis: Impact of Coronavirus and the Road Ahead'. The book is published by Penguin Random House.

• His popular books include:

• Indian Economy Since Independence: Persisting Colonial Disruption (2013), Understanding the Black Economy and Black Money in India: An Enquiry into Causes, Consequences and Remedies (2017), Demonetization and the Black Economy (2017) and The Ground Scorching Tax (2019).

"Louiz Banks: A Symphony of Love", the Biography of Louiz Banks Authored by AshisGhatak

• "Louiz Banks: A Symphony of Love", authored by AshisGhatak is the biography of Louis Banks, the Godfather of Indian Jazz. UstadZakir Hussain, the tabla maestro has written the foreword of this book.

• The book of 15 chapters each named after a song by Banks provides a detailed narrative about the life incidents and experiences of Louiz Banks.

• The book features the mastery of banks in Jazz and fusion music along with his expertise as a jingle composer who contributed to many iconic commercials of Britannia, Vico, Liril, among others, and Doordharshan's 'Freedom Run', "Mile Sur".

• The book also traces back to the roots of Indian Jazz during the colonial period of India and provides a glimpse of the sociopolitical and cultural scenario of that period.

• Louis Banks started his career as a pianist in a Band in Kolkata.

• He has worked as a pianist with RD Burman, BappiLahiri and Laxmikant Pyarelal.

• IAF Chief RKS Bhadauria Launched the Book "The Epic Battle of Longewala" Authored by Air Marshal Bharat Kumar

• As a part of the celebration of the 50th Anniversary year of India's victory over Pakistan in 1971 war, Indian Air Force (IAF) Chief Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria launched the book "The Epic Battle of Longewala" authored by Air Marshal (retd) Bharat Kumar at the event organised at the IAF Museum in Palam, New Delhi.

• The book aims to document the stories of valour and pass it to the next generation.

• This book will provide a better understanding about the battle of longewala to the present and future generation.

• The battle of Longewala took place in December 1971 in Thar Desert, Rajasthan.

South Africa's Faf du Plessis Announces Retirement from Test Cricket

• Former South African Captain & Batsman Francois 'Faf du Plessis announced Retirement from Test Cricket format of the game. He is the only South African Captain to lead his team to a Test Series victory over Australia in both home (South Africa) & Away (Australia)

• The 36-year-old has played 69 Tests for South Africa & captained the team in 36 Tests.

• Faf du Plessis will be playing in Limited over formats of the game like One Day Internationals (ODIs) & Twenty20 Internationals (T20ls).

• He made his Test debut against Australia in 2012.

Former MP & Congress leader Captain Satish Sharma, passed away

• Captain Satish Sharma, Veteran congress leader and the former Member of Parliament, passed away at the age of 73 in Goa.

• Captain Satish Sharma was a professional commercial pilot with Air India.

• He served as the Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas from 1993 to 1996 under premiership of Narasimha Rao.

• He was first elected to Rajya Sabha in 1986 and served as the member of Rajyasabha from 2004 to 2016.

• He represented Amethi in 1991 in Lok Sabha, following the death of Rajiv Gandhi.