The Daily Brief – 11th January 2019

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The MC Mary Kom became the World No 1 Boxer with 1700 points in 45-48 kg category in the latest International Boxing Association’s (AIBA) World Rankings released on January 10, 2019. ‘Magnificent Mary’ became the most successful boxer in world championships history when she claimed the 48kg category top honours in November 2018, her unprecedented sixth world title triumph. In March 2017, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports appointed Mary Kom along with Akhil Kumar as national observers for boxing.
MC Mary Kom
The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development on January 9, 2018 launched an online campaign, ‘Web – Wonder Women’ also known as ‘#www’ with an aim to discover and celebrate the exceptional achievements of women, who have been driving positive agenda of social change through the social media itself. The Ministry partnered with the Breakthrough and Twitter India for ‘#www: WebWonderWomen’ campaign.
The Indian Parliament passed the Constitution 124th (Amendment) Bill, 2019 that seeks to provide 10 per cent reservation in jobs and educational institutions to economically backward section in the general category. The 10 per cent reservation will be in addition to the existing cap of 50 per cent reservation for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward Classes, taking total reservation to 60 per cent. This will be over and above 50 percent mandated by Constitution and hence the need for Constitution amendment Bill.
Indian men’s hockey coach Harendra Singh was on January 9, 2019 sacked from the position and offered the task of helming the junior squad by the national federation. Hockey India said that though the year 2018 was very disappointing for the Indian Men’s Hockey Team with results not going as expected, they believe investing in the junior program will reap long-term benefits. Harendra Singh is the 25th coach of the men’s hockey team who has been sacked. The fifth-ranked Asian team was aiming to win its first World Cup medal since 1975.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on January 8, 2018 constituted a High-Level Committee on Deepening of Digital Payments to encourage digitisation of payments and enhance financial inclusion. The five-member committee will be headed by UIDAI’s former Chairman Nandan Nilekani. It will review the existing status of digitisation of payments and suggest ways to bridge any gaps in the ecosystem.
India is set to become the third-largest consumer market behind only the US and China and consumer spending in India is expected to grow from USD 1.5 trillion at present to nearly USD 6 trillion by 2030, as per a World Economic Forum report that released on January 9, 2019. The report titled ‘Future of Consumption in Fast-Growth Consumer Market – India’ noted that growth of the middle class will lift nearly 25 million households out of poverty in India.
Every year 10th January is celebrated as World Hindi Day to create awareness about the language of Hindi across the World and to present Hindi as an international language. The first World Hindi Conference was organized in Nagpur on January 10, 1975. To commemorate the occasion, the government of India since 2006 is celebrating 10th January as World Hindi Day. Every year Hindi Divas is celebrated on September 14th because it was the day Hindi was recognised as an official language.
The Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Pema Khandu inaugurated India’s longest single-lane steel cable suspension bridge over Siang River in Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh. The bridge is 300-metre-long and is also known as byorung bridge. The Siang River is considered as lifeline of Arunachal Pradesh. The bridge will reduce the distance between Yingkiong and Tuting in Arunachal Pradesh by almost 40 km.
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Gangajal Project which aims to improve water supply to the city of Agra. The project was launched in 2005 in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency and was scheduled to be completed by March 2012. The project missed several deadlines and even the cost of the project escalated from Rs 345 crore in 2005 to over Rs 2,800 crore.