Learn the latest on Foreclosure Defense with this convenient, 24/7 On-demand Seminar & Complimentary Podcast. Register to obtain CLE & MCLE credit, online access to complete course & reference materials, and attend this on-demand seminar. YOU MAY LISTEN FROM ALMOST ANY TYPE OF COMPUTER OR IPOD. ACCESS TO THE RECORDING AND MATERIALS DOES NOT EXPIRE.
Foreclosure practice has become one of the strongest and most profitable practice areas in this weak economy. Today, banks and other creditors have retained record numbers of attorneys to foreclose on loans, repossess property, and obtain favorable workouts. At the same time, there has been a surge of demand for debtors' counsel to defend millions of homeowners facing foreclosures, stringent modifications, defaults, and pre-ordained workouts. The laws across the country have changed dramatically as the federal and state governments have altered procedures, rules, and practices to curb overly aggressive creditors while simultaneously halting abuses by the defense bar. This seminar covers the latest techniques to equip attorneys with the skills necessary to distinguish and grow their practice. Learn from our distinguished and nationally respected faculty, who will share the best practices and tactics to represent lenders, banks, home owners, debtors, and institutional clients. Registration includes access to course and reference materials that serve as a helpful guide to the numerous topics and techniques discussed in the seminar.
1. Michael Wasylik is a leading expert on foreclosure practice and is a founding member of Ricardo, Wasylik & Kaniuk, PL. He serves as Chair of the Foreclosure Defense Department, where he focuses on homeowner's rights, foreclosure defense, mortgage fraud, consumer rights and abusive debt collection litigation. Mr. Wasylik's professional experience includes legislative work for the Unites States Senate and Congress and several large law firms in Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Florida. He holds degrees from Northwestern University and the Florida State University College of Law. He is a widely sought after lecturer and author, having published and spoken widely on fighting mortgage and property foreclosure, foreclosure defense, and consumer law.
3. Christopher G. Brown is a named partner and experienced foreclosure litigator at Begos, Horgan & Brown LLP. Mr. Brown has significant experience in foreclosure matters and foreclosure mediation. He has been featured in many public accounts of legal and consumer press for two groundbreaking judgments in which he appeared and made historic victories in the mortgage industry. Mr. Brown is a highly sought-after speaker and resource on foreclosure matters and has spoken in many national seminars.


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Home Current Affairs Current Affairs Update – 7 to 10 February, 2017
Current Affairs Update – 7 to 10 February, 2017
Hello and welcome to exampundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs Update of 7, 8, 9 and 10 February, 2017. These are very important for the upcoming Syndicate Bank PGDBF, SBI PO Mains and other insurance and bank exams.
Current Affairs at a Glance – 7 to 10 February, 2017
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) decided to
set up a separate Enforcement Department. An announcement in this
regard was made by the Central Bank in the second week of February 2017
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in the second week of February 2017
decided to set up a Standing Committee on Cyber Security.
Gujarat in the first week of
February 2017 became the first State in the country for establishing a cashless
system for distribution of food grains.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
on 8 February 2017 released the Sixth Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement 2016-17.
It is the first policy statement post-Union Budget 2017-18. The key announcement
under the policy was that the policy Repo Rate under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) was kept unchanged at 6.25 percent.
The Union Ministry of Finance
notified an amendment to the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Deposit Scheme (PMGKDS), 2016.
The technology giant Samsung is
soon going to launch its mobile payment wallet 'Samsung Pay' in India. The launch is expected to happen in the
first half of 2017.
India's first National Women's Parliament
(NWP) began on 10 February 2017 in Amaravati, the new capital of
Andhra Pradesh.
The Union Government in the
second week of February 2017 decided to open 56 Post Office Passport Seva Kendras (POPSK).
The Union Cabinet on 8 February
2017 approved the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan
(PMGDISHA). The programme aims at making 6 crore rural households
digitally literate.
Arunachal Pradesh on 7 February 2017 became the first state in the northeast to implement e-Cabinet solution
for the state cabinet members.
The Implementation and Assessment Group (IAG) meeting of the GICNT
partner countries is scheduled to be held from 8-10 February 2017 in New Delhi,
the capital city of India.
Andhra Pradesh's first Smart Police Station
started functioning on 6 February 2017 at Nagarampalem in Guntur city.
Hemant Bhargava has been appointed as the managing director of
Life Insurance Corporation of India, an official statement said in New Delhi on
Senior Finance Ministry official Ajay Tyagi was today appointed as chairman of Securities and
Exchange Board of India (Sebi).
Somalia's Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo chosen
as new President.
ED Director Karnal Singh gets two-year fixed term.
The National Deworming Day was observed on 10 February 2017 in India with an
aim to tackle worm infections in children.
The Safer Internet Day was celebrated on 7 February 2017 with the theme
– Be the Change: Unite for a Better Internet.
The Mission 11 million, a football
initiative aimed towards taking the game to 12,000 schools in 37 cities across
the country was set rolling by the Union Sports Minister Vijay Goel and the
president of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) Praful Patel at the Nehru
Stadium here on Friday.
The Basketball Federation of
India (BFI) on 5 January 2017 announced that India will host the FIBA Women's
Asia Cup basketball tournament in July 2017.
The Union Home Minister Rajnath
Singh on 8 February 2017 released the book titled – Veerappan, Chasing the Brigand.
Author Salman Rushdie's new novel titled 'The
Golden House' is slated to release in September 2017. The
announcement was made by Penguin Random House on 7 February 2017.
India ranked at 43rd position out of 45
countries in the 5th Annual International Intellectual Property (IP) Index of the US Chamber of Commerce (USCC). The 2017
International IP Index, named as 'The Roots of Innovation', was released on 8
February 2017.
Shaikha Mozah Al Maktoum, one of
the female members of Dubai's ruling family, is claimed to have become the first woman commercial pilot,
according to media reports.
Britain-based Indian-origin
artist, Anish
Kapoor was honoured with Israel's 'Genesis prize', popularly known
as the Jewish Nobel for his commitment to Jewish values on 6 February 2017.
The US space agency NASA's Chandra X-Ray
Observatory in February 2017
detected a very strange and distinctive X-ray signal from the Milky Way galaxy.
Qatar Airways on 5 February 2017 launched the world's longest scheduled commercial airline route with
the arrival of its flight from Doha to Auckland,
New Zealand.
Financial and Banking News:
Welspun India Ltd ties-up with Cotton Egypt Association
Welspun India Ltd (WIL) on 9
February 2017 entered into a co-operation agreement with Cotton Egypt
Association (CEA) to promote and market Egyptian cotton products across the
Welspun will help the Cotton
Egypt Association in creating marketing programmes and execute them using its
extensive global network. The agreement will be aimed at boosting Welspun
India's Egypt operations by setting up a manufacturing facility for Egyptian
Cotton home textile products.
Under the agreement, Welspun
India Ltd and Cotton Egypt Association will work together to create programmes
for promotion of Egyptian Cotton logo in the retail markets across the globe.
Welspun India will invest around
USD 3 million in a stage wise manner over next few years to support the joint
initiatives of both the companies.
The Cotton Egypt Association also
granted the right to use the Egyptian Cotton logo to Welspun India for five
years until 2022.
RBI to set up separate Enforcement Department
decided to set up a separate Enforcement Department. An announcement in this
The department will effectively
monitor banks so that they will not indulge in any kind of regulatory
violations. The proposed department will become operational on 1 April 2017.
It will primarily deal with the
penalties imposed on banks for violation of norms. The penalties are determined
by the banking and non-banking supervision departments.
It will deal with cases of
non-compliance with regulations noticed either through the surveillance process
RBI decided to set up Committee on Cyber Security
in the second week of February 2017 decided to set up a Standing Committee on
Cyber Security.
The primary responsibility of the
committee is to examine various threats and suggest measures to deal with it.
The committee will also be
mandated to suggest appropriate policy interventions to strengthen cyber
security and resilience in a bid to strengthen cyber security system.
The committee will the threats
inherent in the existing or emerging technology on an ongoing basis.
It will study the ecosystem
related to various security standards and protocols in the digital financial
It will also suggest appropriate
policy interventions to strengthen cyber security and resilience.
33-members committee constituted for speedy completion of Andhra
Pradesh's Sagarmala Project
A committee comprising 33 members
has been constituted for the speedy completion of the Sagarmala Project in
Andhra Pradesh. The project aims to improve the state's coastline and inland
waterways.
The committee will be chaired by
the state's Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
The committee will be responsible
for overseeing the entire project.
It will bring together all the
concerned departments and review their work on a daily basis, in order to
ensure timely completion of the project.
The committee's first meeting
took place on 8 February 2017 under the leadership of Naidu.
At the meeting, Naidu emphasised
on the many opportunities that Andhra Pradesh has, as a state with the 2nd
largest coastline, to develop a coast-led industrial economy.
Naidu further emphasised the
importance of the development of inland waterways.
He also highlighted the
importance of sourcing raw material at a reasonable rate, stating that it is
the key for development.
Railways Ministry launches first phase of Station Redevelopment Program
Railways Minister Suresh
Prabhakar Prabhu on 8 February 2017 launched the first phase of the Station
Redevelopment Program comprising 23 major railway stations on Indian Railways
network.
Some of these 23 stations will be
Chennai Central, Ranchi, Udaipur City, Indore, Yesvantpur, Bangalore
Cantonment, Visakhapatnam, Howrah, Kamakhya, Faridabad, Jammu Tawi,
Secunderabad, Vijayawada, Kozhikode and Bhopal.
The Railways Ministry will
collaborate with the Union Ministry of Urban Development to develop these smart
stations.
The re-development of 400 A1 and
A Category Stations is a non-fare revenue generating programme which will be
done on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model through a fair bidding system.
In the first phase, 23 stations
will be selected and redeveloped for the fullest use where passengers can enjoy
so many facilities at one place.
These stations will be selected
after a detailed feasibility study by the strategic advisor The Boston Consulting
Gujarat becomes first State for establishing cashless system for
distribution of food grains
An announcement in this regard
was made by the Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public
Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan, who congratulated the Government of Gujarat for
this achievement.
The Government of Gujarat
installed Aadhaar Enabled Payment System in 17250 Fair Price Shops (FPSs), much
before the targeted date of 31 March 2017.
Under this new system, the
beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act, 2013 will need to carry only
Aadhaar cards for getting their food grains.
This will help in establishing
the identity of beneficiaries, help in stopping the leakages of grains at shop
level and eradicating corruption in the Public Distribution System (PDS).
The Gujarat Government has
partnered with common service centers (CSCs), a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)
of the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), by
offering 30 odd digital services through the FPSs.
This partnership will enable
consumers to get his/her rail, air and bus tickets reserved in fair price
shops.
A beneficiary can also pay his
mobile bill, a farmer can deposit crop insurance premium and LIC premium in
these centers.
RBI releases Sixth Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement 2017-18
on 8 February 2017 released the Sixth Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement
2016-17. It is the first policy statement post-Union Budget 2017-18.
The key announcement under the
policy was that the policy Repo Rate under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility
(LAF) was kept unchanged at 6.25 percent. This decision was taken on the basis
of an assessment of the current and evolving macroeconomic situation.
Consequently, all the key
monetary policy rates remain the same.
Reverse Repo Rate: The Reverse
Repo Rate under the LAF remains unchanged at 5.75 percent.
Marginal standing facility (MSF)
Rate: The MSF rate was also kept unchanged at 6.75 percent.
Bank Rate: The Bank Rate also
stands at 6.75 percent.
Highlights of 6th Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement 2017-18
The advance estimates of the
Central Statistics Office (CSO) released in January 2017 placed India's real
Gross Value Addition (GVA) growth at 7.0 per cent for 2017-18.
Agriculture and allied activities
posted a strong pick-up, benefiting from the normal south-west monsoon, robust
expansion in rabi acreage and favourable base effects.
In contrast, the industrial
sector experienced a sharp deceleration, mainly due to a slowdown in
manufacturing and in mining and quarrying.
High frequency indicators point
to subdued activity in the services sector, particularly automobile sales
across all segments, domestic air cargo, railway freight traffic and cement
production.
Railway Ministry to approve an ambitious railway project in Andaman and
The Indian Railway ministry is
all set to approve a 240 km-long railway link, first-ever railway route of
Andaman and Nicobar Islands that will connect two of its major islands.
The ambitious project aims to
link Andaman's capital city Port Blair, which is in the south, with Diglipur
located in the north of the islands. It will involve building several bridges
and stations along the sea coast.
According to Ministry's internal
survey report, the entire project is expected to cost around Rs 2413.68 Cr.
It is also estimated to receive a
negative rate of return on investment of -9.64 per cent.
While the railways only consider
a line commercially viable when the rate of return on investment is at least 12
per cent positive, this project is estimated to receive a negative rate of
return on investment of -9.64 per cent.
Union Government notified amendment to Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan
Deposit Scheme
notified an amendment to the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Deposit Scheme
(PMGKDS), 2016.
The notification was issued by
the Union Government on 7 February 2017 in conusltation with the Reserve Bank
of India (RBI).
The amendment allows declarants
to make deposits on one or more occasions in the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan
Deposit Scheme (PMGKDS), 2016. Before the amendment, the declarants were
allowed to deposit in the scheme in only one installment.
For the first time, the scheme
was proposed by the Union Government under the Taxation Laws (Second Amendment)
Act, 2016.
Consequently, the scheme was
notified on 16 December 2016 and became operational on the next day.
Under the scheme, taxpayers are
required to declare their undisclosed income possessed in the form of cash or
deposited in banks, post offices or RBI.
Tourism Ministry, J&K Government and NPCC sign MoU for
implementation of tourism projects
The Union Ministry of Tourism,
Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Government and two PSUs NPCC & NBCC on 6
February 2017 signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for
implementation of tourism projects In Jammu & Kashmir.
This tripartite MoU was signed by
Suman Billa, Joint Secretary under Ministry of Tourism; Shamim Ahmad Wani,
Managing Director of J&K Cable Car Corporation; K K Sharma, Executive
Director of NPCC and Alok Rastogi, Chief General Manager (BD) of NBCC.
The MoU was signed under the
Prime Minister's Development Package (Reconstruction Plan) for Jammu and
Kashmir that was launched in November 2015.
Here are the details of all proposals included in the Development
Package for Tourism:
Development of Tourism in
the J&K State (Rs 400 crore for 5
years) – New Projects ( New Initiative) – Rs 2000 crore Proposed Central
Construction of Tourist assets in
lieu of damaged/ destroyed assets ( New Initiative) – Rs 100 crore Proposed
Central Assistance
Conservation of Wular Lake
(Existing Projects) – Rs 59.15 crore Proposed Central Assistance
12 Development Authorities, 3
Circuits, Setting up of 50 Tourist villages proposed under PMRP 2004 – Rs 81.85
crore Proposed Central Assistance
Samsung Pay to Launch in India
soon going to launch its mobile payment wallet 'Samsung Pay' in India. The
launch is expected to happen in the first half of 2017.
According to reports, Samsung
will be partnering with American Express (Amex) to bring its mobile payment
solution to India.
The company is also exploring the
possibility of partnering with two global financial services companies, Visa
and MasterCard.
Samsung has previously partnered
with these companies for its e-payment solutions in other regions such as with
Amex in countries including the United States, Australia and South Korea.
Samsung began testing of 'Samsung
Pay' in India in December 2016.
In the first week of February,
the company introduced an update in its Galaxy Note 5 smartphone in India that
included the Samsung Pay app.
Uber launches UberHIRE in 9 Indian cities
Uber launched a new service
called UberHire in 9 Indian cities on 6 February 2017. The new category will
allow customers to hire a taxi for an entire day, make multiple stops and cover
several destinations at one go.
With the introduction of the
service, the American company has made its first foray into the hourly rental
cab market.
The time-based taxi service aims
to reach out to tourists, senior citizens who need to make trips punctuated
with multiple stopovers and business travellers who have multiple meetings in
one city.
Customers will be able to hold
their cabs for up to 12 hours.
Non-financial news – India and states:
National Women's Parliament begins in Andhra Pradesh
India's first National Women's
Parliament (NWP) began on 10 February 2017 in Amaravati, the new capital of
The three-day conference, which
is the first of its kind, is being organised by the Andhra Pradesh Legislative
The theme of the conference is
'Empowering Women – Strengthening Democracy'.
The inaugural session was
attended by imminent personalities and leaders from across India and beyond
including the spiritual Buddhist leader Dalai Lama and Andhra Pradesh CM N
Chandrababu Naidu.
According to Assembly Speaker
Kodela Sivaprasada Rao, over 91 women parliamentarians, 401 legislators, 300
social and corporate sector women leaders from India and abroad are expected to
attend the event.
Some of the notable leaders
include actress Manisha Koirala and Gandhian Ela Bhatt.
Union Cabinet approved MoU between India and Senegal in the field of
The Union Cabinet chaired by the
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 8 February 2017 gave its approval for signing a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Senegal in the field of
health and medicine.
Besides, the cabinet gave its
approval for setting up of a working
group to further elaborate the details of cooperation and to oversee the
implementation of this MoU.
The main areas of cooperation
facilitated by the MoU are –
disease surveillance
Drugs and
pharmaceutical products/hospital equipments
Union Government to open 56 Post Office Passport Seva Kendra facilities
second week of February 2017 decided to open 56 Post Office Passport Seva
Kendras (POPSK).
The centres will be opened at
different locations of many states for delivering passport related services to
public. The states include Delhi, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Odisha,
Telangana, West Bengal and Rajasthan.
In January 2017, the External
Affairs Ministry and the Department of Posts announced their decision to
utilize the Head Post Offices in the various States as Post Office Passport
Seva Kendras. The partnership is aimed at extending passport services on a
larger scale and to ensure wider area coverage.
Earlier, the project was started
on a pilot basis at Mysuru in Karnataka and Dahod in Gujarat on 25 January
Union Cabinet approves Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan
2017 approved the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA).
The programme aims at making 6 crore rural households digitally literate.
The outlay for the project is Rs
2351.38 crore. It targets ushering in digital literacy in rural India by March
The project is in line with the
announcement made by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the Union Budget
The Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital
Saksharta Abhiyan is expected to be one of the largest digital literacy
programmes in the world.
It is being initiated under
Digital India Programme.
Under the programme, 25 lakh
candidates will be trained in the Fiscal Year 2016-17; 275 lakh in the Fiscal
Year 2017-18; and 300 lakh in the Fiscal Year 2018-19.
Arunachal Pradesh becomes first North-East state to implement e-Cabinet
Arunachal Pradesh on 7 February
2017 became the first state in the northeast to implement e-Cabinet solution
With the e-Cabinet solution, the
Arunachal Pradesh Government plans to streamline its decision-making process.
The e-Cabinet solution
facilitates the cabinet members to access the cabinet notes before the meeting.
Moreover, the entire business of the Cabinet can be conducted using the system.
Once the state adopts the
e-Cabinet system completely, the average length of the cabinet meetings will go
down from 4-5 hours to just 30-90 minutes. It will also help the government to
eliminate the need to print and deliver thousands of pages of documents.
Underwater Harbour Defence and Surveillance System launched in Mumbai
The Vice Admiral and Western
Naval Command chief, Girish Luthra inaugurated an Integrated Under Water
Harbour Defence and Surveillance System (IUHDSS) for the Indian Navy in Mumbai,
Maharashtra on 3 February 2017.
The IUHDSS is the third of its
kind to be installed in India.
It has been designed and
developed by one of Israel's leading defence electronics companies, ELTA, a group
and subsidiary of Israeli Aerospace Industries.
It has been developed for surface
and sub-surface surveillance of the harbour.
It is a state of the art system
that is equipped with advanced sensors, integrated radars and electro-optic
cameras as well as sound navigation and ranging systems (SONARs).
3-day global conference on Nuclear Terrorism to begin in New Delhi
The Implementation and Assessment
Group (IAG) meeting of the GICNT partner countries is scheduled to be held from
8-10 February 2017 in New Delhi, the capital city of India.
The 3-day meet will be hosted by
the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in coordination with the
Department of Atomic Energy. It is expected to be attended by over 150
delegates, belonging to various partner countries and international
organisations.
The conference will be
inaugurated by the Foreign Secretary of India, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
The GICNT (Global Initiative to
Combat Nuclear Terrorism) is a voluntary international partnership of 86
nations and five international organisations.
The main agenda of the meeting is
to strengthen the global capacity to detect, prevent and respond to nuclear
terrorism.
First Smart Police Station Inaugurated in Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh's first Smart
Police Station started functioning on 6 February 2017 at Nagarampalem in Guntur
The station, which has the look
and feel of a corporate-style office, was inaugurated by the state's Chief
Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
The station has plush interiors
and exteriors, similar to that of a corporate office.
It does not have any boundary
walls, instead, it has beautifully landscaped exteriors and glass facade.
Along with this, it is fully
air-conditioned with all necessary requirements including a dormitory, staff
room, mini control room and a reception chamber.
Union Government launches measles-rubella vaccination drive
The Union Health Ministry on 5
February 2017 launched the measles-rubella (MR) vaccination campaign in
Bengaluru.
The crusade against the two
diseases will start from five states/UTs Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Goa
and Lakshadweep covering nearly 3.6 crore children.
Subsequently, the measles-rubella
vaccine campaign will be introduced in routine immunisation, replacing the
currently given two doses of measles vaccine, at 9-12 months and 16-24 months
of age.
Hemant Bhargava appointed as LIC managing director
Hemant Bhargava has been
appointed as the managing director of Life Insurance Corporation of India, an
official statement said in New Delhi on Friday.
Bhargava, who was the zonal
manager (I/C) Delhi, has been appointed by the Appointments Committee of the
Cabinet as managing director from the date of notification of his appointment up
to the date of his superannuation (July 31, 2019) or until further orders, the
statement said.
Senior IAS officer Ajay Tyagi appointed Sebi chief for five years
Senior Finance Ministry official
Ajay Tyagi was today appointed as chairman of Securities and Exchange Board of
India (Sebi).
He will succeed U K Sinha, whose
extended tenure ends on March 1.
Tyagi, a 1984 batch IAS officer
of Himachal Pradesh cadre, is at present Additional Secretary (Investment) in
the Department of Economic Affairs and handles capital market, among others.
Tyagi has been appointed as
chairman of the markets regulator, an official order said.
Somalia's Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo chosen as new President
The Parliament of Somalia elected
former Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, as the country's new president
on 8 February 2017.
Farmajo was chosen after two
rounds of voting, after which he immediately took the oath of the office. The
large consensus for Farmajo led current President Hassan Sheikh, who was
elected to the office in 2012, to concede defeat and withdraw himself from the
contest.
ED Director Karnal Singh gets two-year fixed term
Karnal Singh, Director of
Enforcement Directorate (ED), on 7 February 2017 was given a fixed two-year
tenure to head the anti-money laundering investigation agency. The move came
following a recent Supreme Court directive.
The Appointments Committee of
Cabinet (ACC) also approved a two-year fixed term for Singh effective from 27
In October 2016, the ACC had
approved the name of Singh as ED chief until 31 August 2017.
Singh, a Union Territories cadre
officer, had held the additional charge of the post of ED chief since August
19, 2015, until the time he was elevated as the Director.
National Deworming Day 2017 observed in India
The National Deworming Day was
observed on 10 February 2017 in India with an aim to tackle worm infections in
This year, the National Deworming
Day initiative was aimed at reaching approximately 34 crore children in the age
group of 1-19 years in government-aided schools, anganwadis, and private
schools in 34 states of the country.
The day is generally marked by
events and awareness programmes that are conducted by Department of School
Education and Literacy under Union Ministry of Human Resource and Development,
Union Ministry of Women and Child Development and Union Ministry of Drinking
Water and Sanitation.
Moreover, a coordinated effort is
also rolled out across the country with tablets and communication material.
Reporting forms are also delivered to every school and anganwadi for the
deworming program.
Safer Internet Day celebrated on 7 February 2017
The Safer Internet Day was
celebrated on 7 February 2017 with the theme – Be the Change: Unite for a
Better Internet.
To mark the occasion, various
activities were undertaken across the world by the stakeholders of the internet
like internet service providers (ISPs), search engine service provider Google
and policy makers.
In India, Google distributed
awards to the winners of the 2nd edition of the Web Rangers initiative. The
initiative was launched by the company to promote digital literacy and spread awareness
about internet safety.
Sports News:
Mission 11 million initiative launched
The Mission 11 million, a
football initiative aimed towards taking the game to 12,000 schools in 37
cities across the country was set rolling by the Union Sports Minister Vijay
Goel and the president of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) Praful Patel
at the Nehru Stadium here on Friday.
In an event in which the official
mascot of the Under-17 World Cup was also launched, the football drive was made
to cater to the interest of football loving students with matches on smaller
grounds between four or five a side teams.
Through the project, school
children will be encouraged to play football regularly and help them gain
healthy habits, fine tune motor skills, learn life lessons in team work and
cultivate sportsman spirit. There will be seminars for teachers, school activities
and football festivals till September, as a prelude to the Under-17 World Cup
scheduled to be staged in October.
Aashay Verma and Priyanka Prabhakara selected for 2017 All-Star BWB
Global Camp
The National Basketball
Association (NBA) and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) on 9
February 2017 announced the names of the top 67 boys and girls for the third annual
Basketball without Borders (BWB) Global Camp.
The list also shows the names of
India youngsters Aashay Verma and Priyanka Prabhakara. Verma is a 17-year old
teenager, 7-foot, 1-inch tall and plays center. Prabhakara is a 5-foot, 10-inch
tall player and hails from Kerala.
The BWB Global Camp will be held
from 17 February to 19 February 2017 at the New Orleans Pelicans' practice
facility as part of NBA All-Star 2017.
Sourabh Verma & Rituparna Das won singles titles in National
Badminton Championship
Sourabh Verma and Rituparna Das
on 7 February 2017 won the men's singles and women's singles titles
respectively in the 81st Senior National Badminton Championships tournament in
Patna, Bihar.
To win the title, the second seed
Rituparna defeated the 9th seed Reshma Karthik in straight sets 21-12 21-14 in
the final match.
In the men's singles final,
Sourabh Verma defeated Lakshya Sen in straight sets 21-13 21-12.
In the women's doubles event, the
pair of Aparna Balan and Prajakta Sawant clinched the title by defeating Shikha
Gautam and Sanyogita Ghorpade 21-9 21-11.
In the men's doubles event, the
duo of Satwik Sai Raj and Chirag Shetty clinched the title by defeating Nand
Gopal K and Sanyam Shukla 21-17, 16-21 and 21-16.
In the mixed doubles category,
the duo of Satwik Sai Raj and Maneesha K defeated Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi
Dewangan 21-14 21-18 to claim the title.
India to host 2017 FIBA Women's Asia Cup
The BFI has been allotted to host
two international events in 2017, the FIBA Women's Asia Cup and FIBA U-16
Women's Asian Championship.
This will be the first time since
2009 that India will be hosting a major International Basketball Federation
(FIBA) event.
The FIBA Women's Asia Cup will be
held from 23 July to 29 July 2017 in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
The FIBA U-16 Women's Asian
Championship will be held from 22 to 28 October 2017 in Hyderabad, Telangana.
Books & Authors:
Veerappan, Chasing the Brigand authored by K Vijay Kumar
Singh on 8 February 2017 released the book titled – Veerappan, Chasing the
Brigand.
The book was written by K Vijay
Kumar, Senior Security Adviser in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
The book is considered as an
authoritative narrative as the author K Vijay Kumar spearheaded the Tamil Nadu
Special Task Force (STF) that planned and executed the Veerappan's encounter in
Highlights of Veerappan, Chasing
the Brigand
The book is a lucid and incisive
account of the rise and fall of India's most dreaded forest brigand.
The book narrates various
incidents that shaped Veerappan's life – whether it is his birth in Gopinatham in
1952 or his death in 2004 in a shootout in Padi.
Salman Rushdie's novel 'The Golden House' announced
Author Salman Rushdie's new novel
titled 'The Golden House' is slated to release in September 2017. The
The book will be published in
India by Penguin Random House, which acquired the subcontinent rights from the
Wylie Agency.
Rushdie's forthcoming novel is a
modern-day thriller, which tells a story of a mysteriously wealthy family from Bombay
that is desperately seeking to forget the tragedy they left behind as they
settled in New York City.
India ranks at 43rd position in 5th Annual International IP Index of
India ranked at 43rd position out
of 45 countries in the 5th Annual International Intellectual Property (IP)
Index of the US Chamber of Commerce (USCC). The 2017 International IP Index,
named as 'The Roots of Innovation', was released on 8 February 2017.
India was ranked just above
Pakistan and Venezuela. The United States continued to be on the top of the
index. The top four positions of the index were fetched by the United States,
United Kingdom, Japan and the European Union.
According to the report, the 45
countries, analysed in the index, represent nearly 90 per cent of the global
Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
In 2016, India was placed at 37th
position out of 38 countries.
Indian-origin UK sculptor awarded Israel's Genesis Prize
artist, Anish Kapoor was honoured with Israel's 'Genesis prize', popularly
known as the Jewish Nobel for his commitment to Jewish values on 6 February
The award includes a prize money
of $1 million. Kapoor has already announced his decision of using the amount to
assist the Syrian refugees and alleviate the refugee crisis.
World:
Dubai gets first woman commercial pilot in royal family
the female members of Dubai's ruling family, is claimed to have become the
first woman commercial pilot, according to media reports.
A few members of the Al Maktoum
family took to Instagram to congratulate the young achiever, expressing their
pride and joy on her accomplishment.
Other members of the ruling
family sent their congratulations on social media to the young royal pilot,
with Shaikha Maitha Bint Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum saying: "So proud of
you cousin."
Although the veracity of the
airline – that she flies for- can not be confirmed, but the uniform looks
similar to the one worn by Emirates pilots. It is noteworthy that UAE's
aviation sector boasts of many women, from pilots to engineers. In 2016, Etihad
Airways announced that more than half the UAE nationals employed by the airline
are women, including nearly 50 pilots.
Nokia to acquire Comptel Corporation to advance its software strategy
Nokia Corporation 9 February 2017
announced to acquire Comptel Corporation to advance its software strategy. The
acquisition will also provide service providers with a comprehensive solution
to design, deliver, orchestrate and assure communications and digital services
across all the networks.
Earlier on 8 February 2017, Nokia
and Comptel entered into a Transaction Agreement under which Nokia, through its
wholly owned subsidiary Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy, undertook voluntary
public cash tender offer to purchase all of the issued and outstanding shares
of Comptel.
The price offered for each share
in the Tender Offer was EUR 3.04 in cash.
The Tender Offer valued Comptel
at approximately EUR 347 million on a fully diluted basis.
When Comptel will be combined
with Nokia's OSS, BSS, analytics and cloud technology, customers will be
provided with end-to-end orchestration of complex Network Function
Virtualisation (NFV) and Software Defined Networking (SDN) deployments.
NASA's Chandra satellite detects distinct X-ray signal
The US space agency NASA's
Chandra X-Ray Observatory in February 2017 detected a very strange and
distinctive X-ray signal from the Milky Way galaxy. This observation can help
the scientists in proving the existence of dark matter in the universe.
A team of researchers from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Yale Centre for Astronomy and
Astrophysics in the US observed the energy spectrum of X-rays coming out from
the mysterious source.
Researchers observed extra
photons with an energy of about 3500 electron volts in the spectra. While
probing the spectrum, researchers concluded that the production of X-ray
photons with particular energy level could have been the result of decay of
dark matter.
Qatar Airways launches world's longest scheduled commercial airline
Qatar Airways on 5 February 2017
launched the world's longest scheduled commercial airline route with the
arrival of its flight from Doha to Auckland, New Zealand.
The airliner, a 259-seat Boeing
777-200LR, crossed 10 time zones before landing in Auckland early on 6 February
2017 after taking off from Doha, covering a distance of 7848 nautical miles.
That is the furthest distance between any two cities linked by direct flights.
Emirates previously held the
record for its route between Dubai and Auckland.
Nobel laureate Sir Peter Mansfield passes away
Renowned physicist and Nobel
laureate Sir Peter Mansfield passed away on 8 February 2017 in London, England.
Mansfield, along with Paul
Lauterbur, had won the 2003 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for
developing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Sir Peter Mansfield was an
English physicist. He also served as a professor at the University of
Nottingham.
Born on 9 October 1933 in London,
he developed an interest in rocketry at the age of 18.
He took up a job with the Rocket
Propulsion Department of the Ministry of Supply in Westcott, Buckinghamshire.
Eighteen months later, he was called up for National Service.
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Quoted from: http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRDC5097062. See also the USDA news release.
Beginning June 1, 2012, organic products certified in Europe or in the United States may be sold as organic in either region. This partnership between the two largest organic-producers in the world will establish a strong foundation from which to promote organic agriculture, benefiting the growing organic industry and supporting jobs and businesses on a global scale.
Products must travel with an EU import certificate that has been completed by a USDA-accredited certifying agent.
Products must be either produced within the U.S. or have had final processing or packaging occur within the U.S.
For retail products, labels or stickers must state the name of the U.S. or EU certifying agent and use the USDA organic seal or the EU organic logo.
"Made with" organic products. The EU does not have a labeling category for "made with" organic products. For products containing less than 95% organic ingredients, a percentage statement of organic content may be displayed on the label.
For more information on labeling, please see the EU organic regulations, available here.


Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport is located just 9km from Kranj and buses leave the terminal frequently throughout the day and evening. The journey is a pleasant 15 minutes ride and tickets can be purchased on board. More information on timetables and prices see www.ap-ljubljana.si.
Buses leave every 30 minutes from the main bus station in Ljubljana and take about 35 minutes to make the journey. The main bus station in Kranj is in easy reach of the town centre and close to all attractions. Schedule, prices and special tourist packages (bus ticket + attraction ticket), can be found on the official Ljubljana bus station website at www.ap-ljubljana.si. If you're travelling from Bled, you can take the Ljubljana bound bus which departs every hour and takes just under 40 minutes.
Kranj's train station is located just west of the town and an easy 15-20 minute walk depending on which route you take. The shortest one is to follow Ljubljanska Cesta and cross the river, this will bring you into the old town on the south side, where you'll pass the Gorenski Museum and Layer's House. Check out Slovenia Railways' incredibly user-friendly website for a complete schedule and prices at www.slo-zeleznice.si.
From Ljubljana follow Celovška take the 211 highway northwest out of the city and follow the signs for Kranj or Jesenice. Alternatively, take the E61 towards the airport which is slightly longer but on a faster road. This route will bring you into Kranj from the east. From Austria, take the E61 past Jesenice, or the E652 through Podljubelj, both following signs for Ljubljana. Journey time both ways is approximately 30 minutes after crossing the respective borders. From Bled it's an easy 26km journey following the E61.
Once you reach Kranj you'll find numerous options for parking. As the town centre is mainly pedestrianised you'll need to allow for a short walk into the centre.
For those with electric cars, there are a few charging stations on the outskirts of Kranj, see www.gremonaelektriko.si/ for more details.