- India Signs Loan Agreement with Adb for $50 Million Loan To Boost Power Generation Capacity in Assam
- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India has signed a $50 million loan agreement for the second Assam Power Sector Investment Program.
- This program aims to build up the capacity of power generation and distribution systems to meet the growing energy demand in the state of Assam.
- More than a third of households in the State face daily electricity cuts of 5 to 6 hours, many important businesses, such as the tea gardens, still aren’t connected to the grid, and in peak periods Assam has to buy up to 15% of its power from independent producers at very high cost.
- International Mother Language Day observed on February 21
- The day is observed every year since February 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.
- The theme for the year 2015 is Inclusive Education through and with Language – Language Matters.
- Indian-American, Purnendu Dasgupta, wins prestigious chemistry award
- Purnendu Dasgupta, who developed an environment friendly field analyser for checking toxic arsenic levels in water, has been awarded a prestigious award for his special contribution in the field of chemistry.
- He is a Jenkins Garrett professor of chemistry at The University of Texas at Arlington, has been awarded the 2015 American Chemical Society Division of Analytical Chemistry J. Calvin Giddings Award.
- He is the author of more than 400 scientific papers and book chapters and holds 25 US patents. His work has earned more than USD 18 million in research grants.
- Government Launches Portal ‘Madad’ to Redress Consular Grievances
- Indian citizens living abroad will now be able to file consular grievances online as the government today launched an e-portal to address such complaints promptly with a high degree of “accountability”.
- The portal ‘Madad'(Help) was launched at the Ministry of External Affairs or MEA headquarters in Delhi by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
- “After registering, the complainant can log in and file his or her complaints, and the entire history of that grievance would be maintained online. The authorities would be assigned the responsibility through a colour-coded dashboard that would change the colour if the response in not given in a stipulated time,” a senior official of the MEA said.
- Nitish Kumar takes oath as Bihar Chief Minister for 4th time
- Nine months after he stepped down, JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar was today sworn-in as the Bihar Chief Minister, ending days of political drama following a bitter power struggle with Jitan Ram Manjhi.
- Besides Kumar, 22 ministers, including three women, were also administered the oath of office.
- State Bank of India to finance small tea growers in NE
- State Bank of India (SBI) will provide finance totaling Rs 100 crore benefiting 3,000 small tea growers in the North East soon.
- Finance will be provided to tea growers who have proper basic documents of their existing garden as per Tea Board of India norm.
- The finance will be for all sections of small growers to establish mini-bought tea leaf factories and buying vehicles for transporting green leaves.
- In a first, women join Sarang team
- For the first time, two women are part of the Sarang team of the Indian Air Force, a show-stopping helicopter-formation team that is performing at the Aero India show under way here.
- Squadron Leader Deepika Misra and Flight Lieutenant Sandeep Singh, an engineering officer, hope that one day, there will be an all-woman quartet in the squad, whose name means peacock.
- BJP, PDP set to clinch deal
- After two months of talks between the BJP and PDP over government formation in Jammu and Kashmir, the two political parties have resolved most differences over forming a coalition to rule the state for the next six years.
- Mufti Sayeed will be the next Chief Minister of the state for the full term of six years in the BJP-PDP coalition.
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