- Raghuram Rajan Conferred Central Banker of the Year Award
- RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has been felicitated with the Central Banker of the Year Award (Global and Asia Pacific) for 2016 by the Financial Times Group’s monthly publication ‘The Banker’.
- The Central Banker of the Year 2016 awards celebrate the officials that have best managed to stimulate growth and stabilise their country’s economy.
- Amitabh Kant appointed CEO of NITI Aayog
- Amitabh Kant, secretary in the department of industrial policy and promotion, has been appointed the chief executive officer (CEO) of the NITI Aayog.
- Amitabh Kant is known to be the brain behind two key campaigns of Narendra Modi government – Make in India and the ease of doing business.
- Kant has been appointed in place of former IAS officer Sindhushree Khullar, who was appointed as the first CEO of the National Institution for Transforming India (Niti) Aayog, a body that has replaced Planning Commission, for a fixed one-year term beginning January 1, last year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is Chairman of Niti Aayog.
- Indo-French military exercise ‘Shakti-2016’ begins in Rajasthan
- Indian and French troops will on Friday begin their eight-day counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency joint exercise in Rajasthan.
- The French contingent comprising 56 personnel of 35th Infantry Regiment of 7th Armoured Brigade, which had taken part in the Afghan war, had arrived in Jodhpur on Wednesday to take part in ‘Shakti-2016’.
- The exercise is an important step for the armies to train together and gain from each other’s rich operational experience
- Overseas Indian Affairs Ministry, MEA merged
- In order to avoid duplication of work and to improve efficiency, the government on Thursday merged the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) with the Ministry of External Affairs.
- The MEA, which has been short of staff, wanted greater number of officials with diplomatic experience in key positions in MOIA to deal with emergencies involving Indians in various crisis-prone countries in West Asia. The merger is expected to increase efficiency in MEA’s emergency work abroad.
- Quikr buys online real estate portal Commonfloor.co
- Online classifieds firm Quikr India Pvt. Ltd, one of India’s most valuable start-ups, bought real estate portal CommonFloor in a distress sale orchestrated by Tiger Global Management Llc
- Quikr, valued at an estimated $1 billion, and CommonFloor (maxHeap Technologies Pvt. Ltd) didn’t disclose the terms of the transaction, but two people familiar with the matter said Quickr paid $120 million in an all-stock deal.
- Sailesh appointed new Registrar General, Census Commissioner
- Senior IAS officer Sailesh was today appointed as Registrar General and Census Commissioner.
- Sailesh, a 1985 batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, is presently Additional Secretary in Home Ministry
- The Appointments Committee of Cabinet has approved the appointment of Sailesh as Registrar General and Census Commissioner for a period till July 28, 2017, an order issued by Department of Personnel and Training said.
- Former IAS officer D.K. Sikri appointed CCI chairman
- Devender Kumar Sikri, a former Gujarat cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, was on Thursday appointed as chairman of fair-trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI).
- Chawla has been the former finance secretary and had succeeded Dhanendra Kumar, who demitted office in June 2011.
- Sikri will have a tenure of about two and half years, i.e. till he attains the age of 65 years
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