1) Arun Jaitley Attends G-20 Finance Ministers Meeting
•The Union Minister for Finance Arun Jaitley participated in the G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) Meeting in Washington D.C.
•The discussion focused on the agenda items pertaining to Global Economy and Framework for Growth, Compact with Africa and International Financial Architecture. As co-chairs of G20 Framework Working Group (FWG), India made the lead intervention during the Second Round of the Session on ‘Global Economy and Framework for Growth’, which discussed the IMF’s G-20 Report on ‘Strong, Sustainable, and Balanced Growth(SSBG)’.
2) Global Hunger Index: India Ranks 100 Among 119 Countries
•India, which has more than a fifth (21 percent) of its children wasted (weigh too little for their height), slipped three places to 100th in the 2017 Global Hunger Index (GHI). The ranking of India in the list was 97th in 2016.
•The 2017 GHI released by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) termed India's hunger levels ‘serious’ problem at hand. The data from the report showed that India ranked lower than all its neighboring countries - Nepal (72), Myanmar (77), Bangladesh (88), Sri Lanka (84) and China (29) - except Pakistan, which has been placed at 106th in the global hunger list.
3) Mastercard Launched its First Innovation Centre in India
•US-based fintech company Mastercard has announced the launch of its global research and development arm Mastercard Labs in Pune, India.
•After Singapore, this will be the second Mastercard Labs in Asia-Pacific, and ninth in the world. The initiative aims to bring and harness new commerce, payment and technology ideas at a fast pace in the country.
4) Gujarat Government Announces Garments & Apparel Policy 2017
•Gujarat Government has announced the Garments and Apparel Policy-2017, with the aim of creating more opportunities in the garment sector of Gujarat and to create huge employment opportunities for women through the apparel industry.
•This Policy is prepared with an aim to make Gujarat number 1 in textile which produces more of cotton. The State government will also provide incentives for garment unit owners for generating employment by providing subsidy in wages. The women workers will get Rs 4,000 subsidy, while their male counterparts will get Rs 3,500.
5) GIC Re Launched India’s Third Largest IPO
•General Insurance Corp of India (GIC Re) kicked off its mega Rs 11,370 crore initial public offer (IPO). This is India's third biggest IPO ever after Coal India's Rs 15,200 crore and Reliance Power's Rs 11,700 crore issues.
•General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC Re) is the largest reinsurance company in India in terms of gross premiums accepted in fiscal 2017.
6) Yuvraj Singh Named Laureus’ First Indian Ambassador
•Indian Cricketer Yuvraj Singh was announced as the Laureus' first Brand Ambassador.
•The left-hander becomes Laureus' first Indian ambassador and joins a host of cricket legends in the Laureus Family, including Indian Academy members Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Kapil Dev.
7) India Beat Macau to Qualify for 2019 AFC Asian Cup
•Indian football team has qualified for the 2019 Asian Cup after they had a convincing 4-1 win over Macau with two matches still to go in the qualifying round. This is the third time the country has qualified for the continental showpiece.
•India has qualified for the AFC Asian Cup finals only twice in the past 37 years. The last time it happened was in 2011 and their only appearance before that was way back in 1984.
8) Amazon, Microsoft Ties up to Launch Deep Learning Platform
•Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft have teamed up to launch an open-source and deep learning interface 'Gluon' that will help developers to deploy machine learning models across several platforms.
•The interface would give developers a place where they can prototype, build, train and deploy machine learning models.
