1) PM to inaugurate Annual Meetings of African Development Bank
•Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB) on May 23, 2017. This is the first time in the history of AfDB Group that India would be hosting the Annual Meetings of the bank.
•The meetings are to be held from May 22 to 26 at Gandhinagar in Gujarat. The core theme of the event is "Transforming Agriculture for Wealth Creation in Africa". About 3,000 delegates from 81 member countries are expected to gather at the sprawling Mahatma Mandir Convention Centre.
2) PM Narendra Modi to inaugurate India’s longest river bridge in Assam on May 26
•Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate India’s longest river bridge 'Dhola-Sadiya bridge' in Assam on May 26. It will bolster the road connectivity in the Northeast as the bridge will be used by people of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh besides defence forces extensively.
All you need to know about India’s longest river bridge:
1.The length of the Dhola-Sadiya bridge is 9.15 km and is built cross river Lohit at the easternmost tip of Assam.
2.Dhola-Sadiya bridge will be the longest bridge in India overtaking the Bandra-Worli sea link in Mumbai.
3.Lohit is one of three rivers – the others are Dibang and Siang – that meet to form the Brahmaputra downstream of the site of the bridge.
4.The bridge, designed to facilitate the movement of battle tanks will help the movement of troops to the border with China in the Wallong-Kibithu sector in southern Arunachal Pradesh.
5.The project was started in 2011. It will reduce the travel time for people on either bank of river Lohit by at least eight hours.
3) Start up India Summit to be held in Dubai
•CGI (Consulate General of India) Dubai and Embassy of India in Abu Dhabi in partnership with iSPIRIT, a nonprofit think tank will host a two-day “Start-up India Summit” in UAE on 23rd and 24th of May 2017.
•This is the first such “Start-Up Summit” being held in the UAE. The aim is to provide a shared platform for the Start-up ecosystem in both India and UAE for greater collaboration, exchange ideas, interact with academia, investors and industry.
•Consul General of Dubai, Mr. Vipul stated that 17 Start-up Companies from India from the various fields like Health, Medicine, Software Technology etc. will take part in the two-day event. India is the third largest eco system in the world leading in tech innovation globally while UAE aims to be the world hub for technology in future.
4) Harsh Vardhan gets additional charge of Environment Ministry
•Union Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan was given additional charge of the Environment Ministry following the death of Union Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave.
•The President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee as advised by the Prime Minister has directed that Dr. Harsh Vardhan should be assigned the charge of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, in addition to his existing portfolios.
5) CCEA approves new coal linkage policy 2017
•Cabinet approve signing of Fuel Supply Agreement (FSA) with Letter of Assurance (LoA) holders of Thermal Power Plants(TPPs), fading away of the existing LoA-FSA Regime and Introduction of a new more transparent coal allocation policy for Power Sector, 2017-SHAKTI (Scheme for Harnessing and Allocating Koyala (Coal) Transparently in India).
•The approved framework ensures that all projects with linkages are supplied coal as per their entitlement. This will ensure the rights of coal supplies for FSA holders and signing of FSA with LoA holders.
The salient features of the SHAKTI are as follows:
1.TPPs having LoA shall be eligible to sign FSA after ensuring that the plants are commissioned, respective milestones met, all specified conditions of the LoA fulfilled within specified timeframe and where nothing adverse is detected against the LoA holders and the TPPs are commissioned before 31.03.22.
2.TPPs, part of 78000 MW, that could not be commissioned by 31.03.15 shall now be eligible for coal drawal if the plants are commissioned before 31.03.22.
3.Actual coal supplies to all TPPs shall be to the extent of long-term PPAs or medium term PPAs to be concluded in future.
6) Paytm Payments Bank names Renu Satti as the new CEO
•Paytm has announced its long-time executive and vice president Renu Satti will be the CEO of its Paytm payments bank.
•India's leading digital wallet player Paytm has recently received the final licence from the Reserve Bank of India for its payments bank entity.
