KERALA

• State’s tourism earnings will be doubled: Minister

• Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran has said that the government is working towards doubling earnings from tourism.

• Inaugurating the work on the Madavoorppara tourism project on Wednesday, the Tourism Minister said this would see the revenue from tourism, which currently constituted 10% of State revenue, going up to 20%.

• Surendran said Madavoorppara would become a major tourist centre in the district once the development work that cost ₹7 crore, being done by the Uralungal Labour Cooperative Society, was completed in a-year-and-a-half.

• There would be cottages, adventure zone, amphitheatre, cafeteria, walkways, and green huts. 

   

   

  INTERNATIONAL

   

  • Romania to have first female prime minister, Viorica Dancila

   

  • Viorica Dancila has been named as Romania’s first female PM following the sudden resignation of Mihai Tudose.

   

  • Ms Dancila, a member of the European Parliament, is regarded as an ally of the governing Social Democratic Party (PSD) leader Liviu Dragnea.

   

  • Ms Dancila, 54, is Romania’s third prime minister in seven months.

   

  ·        Google awarded 72 lakh for finding bugs in Pixel phone

   

  • Google awarded nearly 72 lakh to researcher Guang Gong for finding bugs in its Pixel devices.
  • The exploit chain consisted of two bugs which together could inject arbitrary code into system server by accessing a malicious URL in Chrome.
  • Around 67 lakh of the reward was given from Google’s Android Security Rewards program, the highest in the program’s history.

   

   

  NATIONAL

   

  ·        India Ratings Projects Economic Growth at 7.1 Next Fiscal

   

  • India Ratings and Research have projected the country’s economic growth to improve to 1 percentin 2018-19 from 6.5 percent in 2017-18, buoyed by robust consumer demand and low commodity prices.
  • In its outlook for 2018-19, according to the agency, there will be a gradual pickup in growth momentum owing to structural reforms like GST and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code in place.
  • The projection is a tad lower than 7.4 percent growth estimated by Asian Development Bank and International Monetary Fund for next fiscal.

   

  • Government to set up $350 million fund to finance solar projects

   

  • Government will set up a $350 million fund to finance solar projects, as the country steps up efforts to achieve its ambitious target of adding 175 gigawatts (GW) in renewable energy by 2022.

  

  • India will need at least $125 billion to fund a plan to increase the share of renewable power supply in the country’s grid by 2022.

   

  • The country, which receives twice as much sunshine as European nations, wants to make solar central to its renewable expansion.

   

  • Installed renewable power capacity is currently about 60 GW

  ·        HDFC Bank Becomes 1st Indian Bank to Cross Rs5 trillion Market Capitalisation

   

  • India’s most-valued lender HDFC Bank Limitedcrossed Rs5 trillion capitalization action for the first time, making it only the third Indian company to achieve this milestone.
  • In intraday trade, the stock touched a fresh record high of Rs1,53.75 on the BSE, up 3.31% from its previous close.
  • Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) and Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) are the other two companies which crossed market capitalisation of Rs5 trillion.

   

  ·        NPPA fixes retail price of 30 drug formulations

   

  • Drug price regulator National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA)fixed retail price for 30 drug formulations, including those used for the treatment of Diabetics, bacterial infections, and high blood pressure.
  • NPPA is an independent body under Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers. It was set up in 1997.
  • Its mandate is to fix/review.
  • Essential medicines are those that satisfy the priority health care needs of the country’s population.

   

  ·        Maharashtra becomes first state to unveil Public Cloud Policy

   

  • Maharashtra became the first state in the country to unveil Public Cloud Policy that virtually mandates state government departments to shift their data storage.
  • The State Government had formed a four-member committee to draft policy framework on cloud usage.
  • The policy will result in additional private sector investments worth the US $2 billion for cloud industry as the government is one of biggest creators.

   

  ·        Virat Kohli named as Captain of ICCs Test and ODI Teams of the Year

   

  • Virat Kohli was named the captain of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test and One-Day International (ODI) teams of the year that included four other Indians as well.
  • Kohli scored 2,023 runs at 77.80, including eight centuries and three half-centuries in 18 matches during the qualification period.
  • He surprisingly pipped Australian skipper Steve Smith for the ICC’s Test team captaincy.
  • The Test team also comprises Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravichandran Ashwin.