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The Union Power Ministry has constituted a 4-member committee to investigate into the causes of the recent accident that occurred on 1st November 2017 at NTPC’s Unchahar Thermal Power Plant in Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli district. The committee, headed by PD Siwal, Member of Central Electricity Authority, will submit its report to the Ministry of Power within a month. According to the term of reference of the committee, it will investigate the causes of the accident and fix responsibility for lapses, if any. It will also suggest remedial measures to avoid the recurrence of such incidents in the future. More than 30 people had lost their lives after a boiler exploded at the plant.

Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia has been designated as the new Finance Secretary of India. Adhia is a 1981 batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre. The post was vacant after former Finance and Expenditure Secretary Ashok Lavasa retired on October 31, 2017. As per the convention, the senior most Secretary in the Finance Ministry is designated as the Finance Secretary. Adhia’s appointment comes ahead of the 10 November GST Council meeting in Guwahati that is likely to see a revision in the tax rates for some common use items and easier GST returns filing norms for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

Shiv Kapur from India has won the 2017 Panasonic Open (India) Golf tournament at the Delhi Golf Club in New Delhi on November 5, 2017. It is second Asian Tour title of the season for Kapur, who fired five birdies against one bogey to stay three strokes clear off a pack of fellow Indians, including Ajeetesh Sandhu (65), Sudhir Sharma (69) and Chirag Kumar (64).

The India women’s national field hockey team has won the 2017 Women’s Hockey Asia Cup Tournament by defeating China in the final by 5-4 via a shootout at Kakamigahara in Japan on November 5, 2017. Savita was adjudged Goalkeeper-of-the-Tournament while Monica won the Woman-of-the-Match award. With this win, Indian team has qualified for the 2018 Women’s Hockey World Cup i.e. scheduled to be held in England. South Korea secured third place with a 1-0 win over Japan. India had to wait long for their second Women’s Asia Cup title with the last one coming way back in 2004, when they had beaten Japan in New Delhi for the trophy. The triumph of the Indian women’s team follows the Asia Cup victory of the men’s side in October 2107.

Goa has topped the 2017 Gender Vulnerability Index (GVI) with score 0.649, which is recently released by the Child development NGO Plan India during its national conference in New Delhi on November 1. Kerala has acquired 2nd position followed by Mizoram and Sikkim. Bihar ranked the lowest at 30, with Delhi faring only slightly better at 29 and Uttar Pradesh at 28. The highest ranking north Indian state is Himachal Pradesh at the sixth position. The composite index has been developed within research for the NGO’s Plan for Every Child campaign which is aimed at comprehensively understanding the dimensions of various problems affecting children, particularly girls, in difficult circumstances. This index provides a state-wise ranking which is calculated by analysing four issues pertinent to the situation of girls — child safety/protection, poverty, health and education.

Fake news has been named official word of the year 2017 by Collins dictionary due to its widespread use around the world. The UK-based dictionary writer found that the use of this word registered a 365% rise in the last 12 months. The term-was defined as false, often sensational, information disseminated under the guise of news reporting. Other words on 2017 shortlist included “genderfluid”, defined as not identifying exclusively with one gender rather than another; “fidget spinner”, the toy being twirled by children around the world; and “gig economy” – the term for a system of casual, unstable employment that firms like Uber are associated with. All new words and meanings from the year will be added to CollinsDictionary.com and considered for inclusion in future print editions of the dictionary.

The 14-day joint training exercise “PRABAL DOSTYK – 2017” has started between the Indian Army and the Kazakhstan Army at Bakloh, Himachal Pradesh. The purpose of the joint exercise is to enhance the military ties between the two countries as also at achieving interoperability between the two armies. The training contingents comprise of platoon strength from the 11th Gorkha Rifles of the Indian Army and a similar strength of the Kazakhstan Army.

The first-ever India-US Ocean Dialogue has started in Goa on November 1, 2017, which is being hosted by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Institute of Oceanography (CSIR-NIO). The purpose of the Ocean dialogue is to promote sustainable development of the Blue Economy. According to the World Bank, the Blue Economy is sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods and jobs, and ocean ecosystem health.

According to World Health Organisation (WHO)’s Global TB Report 2017, India topped the list of seven countries, accounting for 64% of the 10.4 million new tuberculosis (TB) cases worldwide in 2016. Indonesia has acquired 2nd position, followed by China, Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria and South Africa. As per new TB report, an estimated 1.7 million people died from TB in 2016, including nearly 400,000 people who were co-infected with HIV, recording a drop by 4 per cent as compared to 2015. Also, India along with China and the Russia accounted for almost of half of the 490,000, multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) cases registered in 2016. The report pointed out that though global efforts to combat tuberculosis have saved an estimated 53 million lives since 2000 and reduced the TB mortality rate by 37 percent, the latest picture is grim as TB remains the top infectious killer in 2016.

Pakistan will host the 2018 Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Emerging Nations Cup in April 2018. The decision to have the Emerging Cup in Pakistan was taken during the meeting of the ACC held in Lahore on October 30, 2017. In it, six ACC teams including five full members will play in the tournament.

Burundi has become the first country to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) with effect from October 27, 2017. According to ICC officials , a preliminary investigation launched by the prosecutor in April 2016 into possible crimes against humanity in the central African nation would continue. Burundi’s withdrawal does not affect the jurisdiction of the court with respect to crimes alleged to have been committed during the time it was a state party. It must be noted that Burundi has faced deadly political turmoil since April 2015, when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced plans to seek a disputed third term that he ultimately won. In 2002, the ICC was established in The Hague, Netherlands to prosecute those behind the world’s worst atrocities.

The International Conference on Green Initiatives & Railway Electrification has inaugurated by Union Minister of Railways & Coal Piyush Goyal in New Delhi on October 27, 2017. The conference is organised by Ministry of Railways through Institution of Railways Electrical Engineer (IREE). The main purpose of the 2-day international conference is to bring green power project developers and other stakeholders on a common platform for making Indian Railways (IR) an efficient and Greener mode of transport. This will open an international discussion on various Green initiatives including use of renewable energy, shift towards electric traction, development of new locomotive technology, high speed rail traction system and development in generation of Solar/Wind power as well as use of energy in efficient ways.

Professors Salim Abdool Karim and Quarraisha Abdool Karim, a globally-acclaimed South African Indian-origin researcher couple, has been honoured with a prestigious 2017 IHV Lifetime Achievement Award for their exceptional contributions in the field of HIV/AIDS. The researcher couple received the award from the Institute of Human Virology (IHV) in Baltimore in the US. The award was presented to them by Robert Gallo, who discovered HIV as the cause of AIDS, at the 19th international meeting of the IHV. The Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a syndrome caused by a virus called HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). The disease alters the immune system, making people much more vulnerable to infections and diseases.

The Union Ministry of AYUSH hosted the first-ever meeting of BIMSTEC Task Force on Traditional Medicine (BITFM) on October 24-25, 2017 at Parvasi Bhartiya Kendra in New Delhi. India being a major stake holder in the field of Traditional Medicine plays an important role in influencing the policies and strategies related to the Traditional Medicine in the BIMSTEC Forum. The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an International Organisation involving a group of countries in the South Asia and South East Asia namely, Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has formed a 10-member task force on Public Credit Registry (PCR) for India to improve market efficiency. The task force will be headed by M Deosthalee, former chairman of L&T Finance Holdings. The terms of reference of the task force include, reviewing the current availability of information on credit in the country, assessing gaps in India that could be filled by a comprehensive public credit registry and suggesting a “roadmap including the priority areas, for developing a transparent, comprehensive and near-real-time” public credit registry for India. The task force will also study the best international practices on public credit registry and will decide the structure of the new information system. It will submit its report by April 4, 2018.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) is in news because it will analyse the social media trends and data for the first time in monitoring security. The data will be used to monitor the India’s most vital assets such as airports and nuclear and aerospace installations. A special team of CISF men and women has been trained to track social media trends, news, reports and indicators across various platforms, collate them and dish them out as vital pieces of actionable intelligence to its various airports and other vital units. According to CISF Director-General, this project is being done on experimental basis and based on the experiences; this smart centre will be further strengthened. The CISF is directly under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and its headquarters are at New Delhi.

The International Conference on Green Initiatives & Railway Electrification has inaugurated by Union Minister of Railways & Coal Piyush Goyal in New Delhi on October 27, 2017. The conference is organised by Ministry of Railways through Institution of Railways Electrical Engineer (IREE). The main purpose of the 2-day international conference is to bring green power project developers and other stakeholders on a common platform for making Indian Railways (IR) an efficient and Greener mode of transport. This will open an international discussion on various Green initiatives including use of renewable energy, shift towards electric traction, development of new locomotive technology, high speed rail traction system and development in generation of Solar/Wind power as well as use of energy in efficient ways.

India’s National field hockey team has won the 10th edition of Men’s Hockey Asia Cup tournament – 2017 by defeating Malaysia in the final by 2-1 at Maulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium in Dhaka, Bangladesh on October 22. India started strongly and scored first goal through Ramandeep Singh in the first quarter and the second goal was scored by Lalit in the second quarter. The victory came to India under massive pressure from Malaysia. Pakistan won the bronze medal after edging out Korea 6-3 in the third-fourth place play-off match. The winner of this tournament qualified for the 2018 Men’s Hockey World Cup, which is scheduled to be held in India.

The first-ever International tri services joint exercise “INDRA – 2017” has started between Indian and Russian Armed Forces at the 249th Combined Army Range Sergiyevisky and in the Sea of Japan near Vladivostok port from October 19, 2017. The 11-day exercise will serve towards strengthening mutual confidence and interoperability as well as sharing of the best practices between the armed forces of both the countries. The Indian contingent will comprise of 350 personnel from Army, 80 from Air Force, two IL 76 aircraft and one Frigate and Corvette each from the Navy. The Russian Federation Armed Forces is represented by approximately 1000 troops of the 5th Army, Marines and Ships of Pacific Fleet and aircraft from Eastern Military District. The joint tri-service exercise will be a demonstration of the increasing commitment of both nations to address common challenges across the full spectrum of operations.

The 6th annual LNG Producers Consumer Conference has started in Tokyo, Japan from Oct 16-18, 2017. In it, India has signed a Memorandum of Co-operation (MoC) with Japan to send youngsters there as technical interns for on-the-job training for a period of three to five years. The MoC on Technical Intern Training Programme (TITP) was signed by Union Minister of Skill Development Dharmendra Pradhan and Japanese Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare with Katsunobu Kato in Tokyo on October 17, 2017. The MoC on TITP is expected to significantly expand the bilateral cooperation between India and Japan in the field of skill development. India is the third country with which Japan has signed the MoC. As per the Japan’s official data for 2016-end, approximately 2.3 lakh technical intern trainees from multiple countries are on training in the island nation.

Noted Indian-American attorney Ajay Raju has been honoured with the 3rd American Bazaar Philanthropy award in recognition of his philanthropic activities in the US. Asif Ismail, publisher of The American Bazaar, an online ethnic news publication about Indian-Americans stated that Raju was honoured for his commitment to revive Philadelphia through the Germination Project.

Young Indian paddler Selena Selvakumar has won triple gold medal at the Egypt Junior and Cadet Open Table Tennis Championship 2017. In the junior girls’ team event, she won singles and doubles gold medal apart from the team championship gold. Selvakumar remained unbeaten throughout the 2017 ITTF World Junior Circuit event.

Audrey Azoulay, a French civil servant and politician, has been elected to become the new Director-General (DG) of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). She will succeed outgoing DG Irina Bokova of Bulgaria. Azoulay was born in Paris to a Moroccan Jewish family from Essaouira, and is the daughter of Andre Azoulay, who is current adviser to king Mohammed VI of Morocco.

The 5th India-Sri Lanka joint training exercise “Mitra Shakti 2017” has started at Aundh Military Station in Pune, Maharshtra. The exercise is based on Counter Terrorist Operations (CTO) and an Infantry company from both the countries is participating in the same. It will be conducted for next 14 days upto 26 Oct 17 & will involve sharing and learning from each others experiences.

The 48th Conference of Governors has started at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on October 12, 2017. The 2-day conference is being attended by 27 Governors and 3 Lt. Governors of States and Union Territories. The two-day Conference will deliberate on distinct agenda items in different sessions. The theme of the opening session was ‘New India-2022’. The second session is on the subjects of ‘Higher Education in States’ and ‘Skill Development and Entrepreneurship to Make Youth Employable’. In the third session, to take place on October 13, 2017, Governors will make brief remarks on any special issues pertaining to their respective States/Union Territories. In the concluding session, a brief report on the deliberations will be presented by the respective conveners.

The World Mental Health Day (WMHD) is observed every year on 10 October, to raise awareness of mental health issues around the world and to mobilize efforts in support of mental health. The 2017 theme is “Mental health in the workplace’. The day provides an opportunity for all stakeholders working on mental health issues to talk about their work, and what more needs to be done to make mental health care a reality for people worldwide.

The International conference on “Dialogue of Civilizations – IV” has started from October 8 –15, 2017 at Delhi, Gandhinagar and Dholavira. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and Union Ministry of Culture are hosting the conference in collaboration with National Geographic Society (NGS). The purpose of the conference is to encourage scholarly and public discourse about the five ancient, literate civilizations of the world, i.e. Egypt, Mesopotamia, South Asia, China and Mesoamerica and how the study of the past can share our present and future towards the right direction. The present conference is the fourth in this series, with the final dialogue planned in Egypt.

Anupama Ramachandran from India has clinched the World Open Under-16 Snooker Championship title at St. Petersburg in Russia on October 8, 2017. In the girls category, second seed Anupama knocked out her compatriot and top seed Keerthana Pandian in the final by 3-1 to become World Open Under-16 champion. Federation of Billiards Sports of Russia hosted this first ever World Open championships for Under-16 boys and girls. Dylan Emery of Wales has claimed the title in the boys category. Total 73 cueists from across the world have participated in this championship.

The 3-day international exhibition – ‘World Dental Show 2017’ has opened in Mumbai, Maharashtra on October 6, 2017 to showcase the evolving global technologies and techniques in dentistry. The show will facilitate the exhibitors from across the globe to meet the ‘who is who’ in the Indian dental arena and provide them to use this platform to build networks of influence, launch new products and create awareness about new clinical claims. The exhibition, hosted by the Indian Dental Association (IDA), has witnessed participation from the international exhibitors from China, Germany, Israel, Malaysia, Russian Federation, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, UK and US.

Bangladesh has signed $4.5 billion third line of credit (LoC) agreement with India for its infrastructure and social sector development on October 4, 2017. The new Indian line of credit will be used to fund 17 major projects in Bangladesh, which include electricity, railroads, roads, shipping and ports. As with previous LoC agreements, Bangladesh will pay an interest rate of 1 % a year. It will have 20 years to pay back the loans, with a grace period of five years. Under the agreement, Bangladesh would have to purchase 65 to 75% of the services, goods or works from the Indian market with the money to be provided under the third LoC following the precedence of the previous two nearly identical agreements. Bangladesh has two other LoCs open with India: the first one was signed in 2010, and the second one in 2016. These LOCs are collectively worth Tk3.06 billion, but till last year, Bangladesh government has been able to use only USD 576 million.

British writer Kazuo Ishiguro has won the 2017 Nobel Prize for Literature. The novelist was praised by the Swedish Academy as a writer “who, in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world”.The prize of 9 million Swedish kronor will be awarded to him. The literature prize is given for a lifetime of writing rather than for a single work. Ishiguro has written eight books, which have been translated into over 40 languages. His most famous novels “The Remains of the Day” and “Never Let Me Go” were adapted into highly acclaimed films. He won the Booker Prize in 1989 for The Remains of the Day and made an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1995.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2017 was awarded to Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson for developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution. It’s a method of simplifying and improving the imaging of biomolecules.

The sixth edition of the World Government Summit (WHS) is scheduled to be held from February 11th – 13th, 2018 in Dubai, UAE. India will be the guest of honour in this summit. The summit is the largest movement to review and share the best experiences, and the first global forum for governments, countries, organizations and private sector leaders interested in the industry of the future. At its 5th session in February 2017, the World Summit of Governments attracted more than 4,000 participants from 139 countries and 150 speakers attended 114 sessions.

Birendra Sasmal, a Ghana-based Indian entrepreneur, has won a prestigious International Business Person of the Year at the Asian Achievers Awards in London for his efforts to bring innovative IT solutions to Africa. Sasmal is CEO of Subah Group, which employs around 350 people with offices in Guinea, Sierra Leone, New York City and Dubai. Under Sasmal’s leadership, the group’s revenues have increased by over 3,000% and it has been named among one of Africa’s fastest growing tech companies.

The 3rd India International Science Festival (IISF-2017) will be held in Chennai, Tamil Nadu from October 13-16. The festival is being organised by the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) and Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST).Top scientists from the government are expected to participate in the four-day festival at IIT-Chennai.The event will be jointly inaugurated by science and technology ministers of Nepal, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Portugal.

The Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Women and Child Development. It functions as the nodal body for adoption of Indian children and is mandated to monitor and regulate in-country and inter-country adoptions. Recently, it is in news because, CARA has started a monthly ‘Jan Sampark’ program to enable the public to have interaction with its officials for seeking information related to adoption as well as flagging their concerns. The first of its kind programme was held in New Delhi recently. The event will now be a regular feature every month apart from the quarterly Facebook live chat by CEO CARA.

The Union government has set up the Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund (DPIDF) worth Rs 10,881 crore to boost the dairy sector. With this investment, 95 lakh farmers from about 50,000 villages would be benefited. The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and the National Cooperative Development Cooperation (NCDC) will utilise DPIDF to provide the loan for building an efficient milk procurement system and other infrastructure. The DPIDF will focus on building an efficient milk procurement system by setting up infrastructure and installing electronic milk adulteration testing equipment, besides creating and expanding infrastructure and manufacturing faculties for the value-added products for milk unions and milk companies.

N. Chandrababu Naidu, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, has declared the year of 2017-18 as e-Pragati year. The flagship e-pragati training programme is for AP government officials to familiarize and update new technologies and its usage. The six-week training is conducted by a team from Indian School of Business (IBS), Hyderabad to all the 32 departments of AP government. These departments will start using the latest technology from October for administration & e-governance, which will bring transparency and make everything visible online.

The Central Government will launch a 15-day ‘Gram Samridhi Evam Swachhta’ campaign to promote development and cleanliness in rural areas on the 1st of October in partnership with state governments. The campaign will focus on educating villagers about hygiene and cleanliness through self-help groups, anganwadi centres and schools, and conducting training programmes.

Dharmendra Pradhan, the Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, has launched a nation-wide ‘Pradhan Mantri LPG Panchayat’ at Mota Ishanpur village in Gandhinagar district of Gujarat on September 23, 2017. The new scheme is a backup to the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana to distribute LPG connections among the rural areas where conventional fuel is used for domestic purposes. The purpose of the LPG Panchayat is to spread awareness among the LPG users about how to properly use the clean fuel and its many benefits. Under the scheme, one lakh LPG Panchayats will be activated across the country during the next one and a half years. The idea of this platform is to trigger a discussion through sharing of personal experiences on the benefits of use of clean fuel compared to traditional fuels like cowdung, charcoal or wood. India has over 21 crore LPG connections, with 51% reach in the rural areas and nearly 100% penetration across the urban centres.

Balraj Joshi has been appointed as the new Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) of National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) Ltd., the country’s premier hydro power utility. Presently, Joshi is at Director (Technical) in the organisation. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved his appointment to the post till December 31, 2019, i.e. the date of his superannuation, according to an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).

N. Chandrababu Naidu, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, has launched ‘People First’ mobile application at the Collectors’ conference in Vijayawada. The app will empower citizens with real-time governance. It will keep the citizens updated with the latest schemes and services of the government and the users will also be able to use the app for registering their complaints. The registered complaints will be addressed as soon as possible and selected complaints will be directly monitored by the chief minister himself.

Tripura has become the India’s first state to set up family welfare district committees to examine the complaints of women against their husbands, in-laws and relatives of the husband and to find an amicable solution through negotiation. The Tripura High Court is the first high court among 24 high courts of the country that has constituted the family welfare district committees. The new system would be valid for the next six months and after that National Legal Services Authority (NLSA) would submit a report of its performance to the apex court, on the basis of which a new course of action would be decided.

India has started ‘Operation Insaniyat’ to provided assistance to Bangladesh in response to the humanitarian crisis being faced on account of the large influx of Rohingya refugees into that country from Myanmar. Under it, relief material consisting of items including rice, pulses, sugar, salt, cooking oil, biscuits and mosquito nets will be provided to the affected people. The relief material will be delivered in multiple consignments, and the first tranche will be brought to Chittagong by an Indian Air Force plane on September 14, 2017. The Union External Affairs Ministry has stated that India has always responded readily and swiftly to any crisis in Bangladesh, in view of close ties of friendship between the people of India and Bangladesh. In this hour of need, India stands ready to provide any assistance required by Government of Bangladesh.

India’s first lithium-ion battery facility will be set up by Japanese automobile giant Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) at Hansalpur in Gujarat. The new plant will make lithium-ion batteries for hybrid car models to be sold in domestic and international markets. The facility will be set up jointly by Suzuki, Toshiba Corporation and Denso with a proposed investment of $180 million. Suzuki made this announcement during the 12th India-Japan Annual Summit at Mahatma Mandir in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe.

Arjan Singh (98), who led the Indian Air Force in the 1965 India-Pakistan War, has passed in New Delhi on September 16, 2017. Throughout the 1965 war, Singh showed exemplary leadership, and was awarded the Padma Vibhushan for his leadership during the war and subsequently the rank of the CAS was upgraded to that of Air Chief Marshal. Thus, Singh became the first Air Chief Marshal of the Indian Air Force. Till date, he is the only Air Force officer to have been promoted to the five-star rank. After his retirement in July 1969, he was appointed Indian ambassador to Switzerland.

The first ever National Conference on “Mission Mode to address Under-Nutrition” was successfully held in New Delhi on September 19, 2017. The conference was organized by the Ministry of Women & Child Development in collaboration with Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation and Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, keeping in mind the goal of “Mission Malnutrition Free India-2022”. The Ministry of Women & Child Development will soon issue new guidelines on supplementary nutrition in this regard in the next few days which will supersede all existing guidelines. Similarly, a separate self contained protocol for severely and acutely malnourished (SAM) children will also be issued shortly. The Minister also highlighted the importance of child protection alongwith nutrition.

Halimah binti Yacob, the former Speaker of Parliament, has been declared the President-elect of Singapore, after her nomination papers were found to be in order. She will be Singapore’s first female President and the first Malay head of state in 47 years. On September 13, Yacob was certified by the Presidential Elections Commission as the only eligible candidate, and since she has no opponent, there will be no election. Halimah will be sworn in as country’s 8th President at the Istana on September 14, 2017. The 2017 Presidential Election was reserved for candidates from the Malay community. Under amendments to the Constitution that came into effect in June 2017, applicants had to show that they helmed a company with at least 500 million Singapore dollar in shareholders’ equity. Halimah meets the criteria set out for those in the public sector, having held office for at least three years as Speaker.

Prakash Padukone, the renowned Indian Badminton legend, will be conferred with the first Lifetime Achievement Award instituted by the Badminton Association of India (BAI) for his rich contribution to the sport. The award carries cash prize of Rs 10 lakh with a citation, which will be presented to Padukone at New Delhi very soon. Padukone had won the 1980 All England, besides bagging a bronze at the 1983 World Championship in Copenhagen. He also won a gold medal at the 1978 Commonwealth Games. He was bestowed with the Arjuna award in 1972 and the Padma Shri in 1982.

The researchers at IIT-Roorkee have developed a low-cost method for treating Osteoarthritis (OA), a disease that causes pain and stiffness in the joints leading to degeneration of the bone cartilage. Under the new method, a nano-material and a polymer are injected around the knee joint followed by a regular heat therapy, which is believed to be far superior to the conventional treatment administered in the form of multiple injections and anti-inflammatory drugs like steroids, which have critical side effects.