P Uday Bhaskar : Chairman of Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission.
- The post was vacant for quite some time now.
- There had been no permanent Chairman of the APPSC since 2014.
- Sivanarayana, who is one of the member of APPSC, had been the Interim Chairman but he retired in June 2015.
- Dr Uday Bhaskar is a professor of Civil Engineering and Director of Foreign Universities and Alumni Relations of the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Kakinada (JNTU-K).
Patricia Scotland : Secretary General of Commonwealth of Nations.
- Patricia become the first British citizen and first woman as well to hold the role in the 66-year history of 53-member Commonwealth.
- Scotland succeeds India’s Kamalesh Sharma and will join the office on 1 April 2016.
- She will receive a salary of nearly 160000 British Pound as well as a four storey mansion in Mayfair.
- She was selected during the 24th biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Malta on 27 November 2015.
UNESCO Fellini medal to be conferred at IFFI for first time.
- The medal will be awarded in India for the first time at the 46th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in collaboration with the International Council for Film, Television and Audiovisual Communication (ICFT), Paris.
- The medal is given to a film that reflects UNESCO’s ideals.
- The Fellini medal was unveiled at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1995.
RBI grants in principle approval to NPCI to function as central unit for Bharat Bill Payment Systems.
- BBPS is an integrated bill payment system which will function as a tiered structure for operating the bill payment system in the country.
- As the central unit, NPCI will set necessary operational, technical and business standards for the entire system and its participants.
- NPCI will also undertake clearing and settlement activities.
- The present scope of BBPS will include utility bill payments, such as, electricity, water, gas, telephone and Direct-to-Home (DTH).
RBI gave in principle approval to three applicants for setting up TReDS.
- Three organisations have been asked to set and operate TReDS in accordance to the Guidelines issued on 3 December 2014 under the Payment and Settlement System (PSS) Act 2007.
Organisations which got in-principle approval was granted are
- NSE Strategic Investment Corporation Limited (NSICL) and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI),
- Axis Bank Limited, Mumbai
- Mynd Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Gurgaon, Haryana
The approval will be valid for a period of 6 months, applicants have to comply with the requirements under the Guidelines and fulfill the other conditions as may be stipulated by the RBI during that period.
India proposed to launch $1-billion equity fund for renewable energy.
- India proposes to launch a $1-billion equity fund, with seed capital from public sector units, to support renewable energy companies.
