1) President Ram Nath Kovind Inaugurated 4th International Dharma Dhamma Conference
•President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated a three-day International Dharma-Dhamma conference at Rajgir in Bihar. The conference has been jointly organised by India Foundation, Nalanda University, Ministry of External Affairs, Asean-India and Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha.
•The inaugural session was chaired by Mr Kovind. The conference was attended by Sri Lanka’s foreign Minister Tilak Marapana.
2) UIDAI Introduces ‘Virtual ID’ to Strengthen Privacy and Security of Aadhaar Data
•The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has introduced a concept of 'Virtual ID' to further strengthen privacy and security of Aadhaar number holders. The Aadhaar number holder can use 'Virtual ID' in place of an Aadhaar number whenever authentication or KYC services are performed.
•Aadhaar card holder can generate the Virtual ID from UIDAI website and give for various purposes, including SIM card verification, instead of sharing the actual 12-digit biometric ID. The Virtual ID will be a temporary and revocable 16 digit random number mapped to a person’s Aadhaar number.
3) Ministry of Railway Launches SFOORTI Application
•In a major digital initiative to help plan the traffic flows and optimize freight operations, Ministry of Railways has launched Smart Freight Operation Optimisation & Real Time Information (SFOORTI) App for Freight Managers which provides features for monitoring and managing freight business using Geographic Information System (GIS) Views and Dashboard.
4) Dr Sivan K Appointed New ISRO Chairman
•Noted rocket scientist Sivan K was appointed as the 9th chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). He has replaced A.S. Kiran Kumar.
•The appointment has been made for the tenure of three years. Sivan was the Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Kerala. Sivan joined the ISRO in 1982 in Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) project.
5) Jeff Bezos Becomes Richest Person Surpassing Bill Gates: Bloomberg Report
•Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon has become the richest man in the history, overtaking the wealth Bill Gates ever had to his name, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The Index showed that Bezos' net worth had hit USD 105.1 billion.
•According to Forbes' tracker, most of Bezos' wealth comes from his 78.9 million shares of Amazon stock.According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the richest people in the world are Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Mark Zuckerberg, Amancio Ortega.
6) IOA Appoints Harjinder Singh as 'Chef de Mission' for Winter Olympics 2018
•The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) appointed Harjinder Singh as the Chef De Mission for the 23rd Winter Olympic Games to be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea in February 2018.
•Harjinder Singh is at present the General Secretary in the Ice Hockey Association of India.
