1) India's first Eco-bridges for the movement of tigers in Telangana
•In a first of its kind, Telangana State will have eco-friendly bridges over a canal cutting across the tiger corridor linking the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) in the Chandrapur district of Maharashtra with the forests in Telangana's Kumram Bheem Asifabad district.
•The ‘eco-bridges’ will be constructed at key spots along the 72 km-long, and at some places over a kilometre wide, right flank canal of the Pranahita barrage in the Bejjur and Dahegaon mandals.
2) FM Arun Jaitley releases National Trade Facilitation Action Plan
•Finance Minister Arun Jaitley released the National Trade Facilitation Action Plan. The WTO-Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) was a major milestone for the global trading system.
•This Action Plan gives a time bound map, not only for implementing TFA, but also for India's initiatives for trade facilitation and ease of doing business which goes beyond TFA. According to a Finance Ministry statement, all actions covered under the plan have been categorised by prioritising the activities into short, mid and long term.
3) President inaugurates Bicentenary Celebration of Paika Rebellion
•President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the Bicentenary celebration of Paika Rebellion of Odisha organised by the Union Ministry of Culture in New Delhi.
•Many scholars, researchers and historians have opined that the Paika Rebellion of 1817 was India’s first organised armed rebellion against British Raj.
4) India-Japan agreement on peaceful uses of N-energy comes into force
•India-Japan agreement for Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy has come into force recently. Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and Ambassador of Japan to India Mr. Kenji Hiramatsu exchanged diplomatic notes in this regard. The agreement was signed on 11th November 2016 in Tokyo during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Japan.
•The agreement is a reflection of the strategic partnership between the two sides and will pave the way for enhanced cooperation in energy security and clean energy.
5) SEBI inks pact with ESMA for information exchange on CCPs
•Markets regulator SEBI has entered into a pact with the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) for exchange of information concerning Central Counterparties (CCPs). CCPs are entities that help facilitate clearing and settlement activities.
•The MoU establishes cooperation arrangements, including exchange of information regarding CCPs which are established and authorised or recognised in India by SEBI and which have applied for EU recognition under EMIR.
6) Google introduces recruiting app 'Hire' for businesses
•Google has launched 'Hire', a recruiting app for small- and medium-sized businesses that also integrates seamlessly with G Suite. It is an move to compete with Microsoft-owned LinkedIn.
•"Hire makes it easy to identify talent, build strong candidate relationships and efficiently manage the interview process end-to-end"
