1) National Conference on Jal Kranti Abhiyan to be held
•Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti will inaugurate a national conference on Jal Kranti Abhiyan in New Delhi .
•About 700 participants representing various stakeholder groups such as farmers, panchayat members, NGOs and students will attend the day-long conference.
•Ministry of Water Resources and River Development had launched Jal Kranti Abhiyan on June, 2015 to consolidate water conservation and management in the country through a holistic and integrated approach involving all stakeholders.
•One of the main objectives of the Abhiyan is strengthening grass root involvement of all stakeholders including Panchayati Raj institutions and local bodies for participatory irrigation management.
2) PM Narendra Modi to release Special Commemorative Postage Stamp
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release commemorative Postage Stamp on 100th Anniversary of the Yogoda Satsang Society of India at a function in New Delhi .
• Yogoda Satsanga Society is a non-profit religious organization founded by Paramahansa Yogananda in 1917. Yogoda Satsanga Society of India (YSS) celebrated its 100 years journey on 10th March 2017.
3) M P Veerendra Kumar presented Moortidevi award
•Eminent Malayalam author and journalist M P Veerendra Kumar presented the 30th Moortidevi award by Bharatiya Jnanpith organization.
•Kumar was chosen for the prestigious award for his Malayalam travelogue 'Hymavathabhoovil', which dwells upon ancient trails of Indian culture, myth, literature, and people strewn in the plains, valleys, and mountains of India.
•The award was presented by Jnanpith laureate M T Vasudevan Nair at a function at the Tagore Centenary.
4) Dr K Srinath Reddy appointed as adviser to the Odisha Govt
•Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced appointment of Prof Dr K Srinath Reddy as the adviser to the Odisha government.
•Prof Dr K Srinath Reddy will advise the state government on proper implementation and smooth delivery of the ongoing health service programs so as to better the indicators.
•Reddy, a Padma Bhushan awardee, was the former head of the Department of Cardiology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi.
5) Cabinet approves India-Portugal MoU on renewable energy
•The Indian cabinet gave post facto approval to the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on renewable energy between India and Portugal.
•The MoU was signed on January 6, 2017. The MoU aims to promote bilateral technical cooperation on new and renewable issues. The MoU envisages constitution of a Joint Working Group which can co-opt other members from Scientific Institutions, Research Centres, Universities.
6) Leander Paes retained in Indian Davis Cup team
- Veteran tennis star Leander Paes was today retained in the Indian Davis Cup team for next month's Asia/Oceania Zone tie against Uzbekistan.
- The tie, which will be India's first with Mahesh Bhupathi as the non-playing captain, will also see the return of Rohan Bopanna. Bopanna had been ignored for last month's tie against New Zealand, which India had won.
- He did extremely well at the just-concluded Dubai ATP 500 event, where he ended runner-up with partner Marcin Matkowski. En route the summit clash, he also got the better of Paes and his partner Gracia Gulliermo-Lopez in the semifinals.
- India will go in with two specialist singles players in Yuki Bhambri and Ramkumar Ramnathan.
