The Daily Brief – 3rd January 2019

On 1st January, around 30 lakh women stood shoulder to shoulder to form Vanitha Mathil, “women’s wall” that ran across the length of Kerala. The wall stretched from Kasaragod in the north to Thiruvananthapuram in the south for about 620 Kms. The participants at the Women’s Wall resolved to uphold the values of Kerala’s renaissance, ensure gender justice, and counter moves to turn the state into a lunatic asylum. The event was organised by the Government of Kerala.

The Union Home Ministry has approved the proposal of the Uttar Pradesh Government to rename Allahabad as Prayagraj. The government of Uttar Pradesh has said that it is restoring the original name of the city. The government states that city was called Prayag in the medieval period. Emperor Akbar called the city Illahabas, meaning the abode of God.

President Ram Nath Kovind has nominated Justice AK Sikri as Executive Chairman of National Legal Services Authority (NALSA). He will be replacing Justice Madan B Lokur. The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) has been constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 to provide free legal services to weaker sections of the society. The Chief Justice of India is the Patron-in-Chief and the Senior most Judge of the Supreme Court of India is the Executive Chairman of the Authority.

Saurabh Kumar, 1982-batch Indian Ordnance Factory Service officer, has been appointed as the Director General of Ordnance Factories (DGOF) and chairman of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) in Kolkata. Indian Ordnance Factories organisation is a family of 41 Ordnance Factories under the aegis of its corporate headquarters Ordnance Factory Board, Kolkata. It is working under the aegis of Ministry of Defence.

The government of West Bengal has announced the Krishak Bandhu scheme to address the farm distress in the state. The West Bengal government will give annual financial assistance of Rs 5,000 per acre in two instalments, one during Kharif and another during Rabi season. The scheme also provides for a life insurance cover of Rs 2,00,000 in case of death, irrespective of the cause, of an earning family member (farmer) aged between 18 and 60 years.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has launched Survey on Retail Payment Habits of Individuals (SRPHi). The Survey will capture payment habits of individuals in cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Guwahati. Sigma Research & Consulting Pvt Ltd has been engaged by RBI to conduct the fieldwork of the survey. The findings of the survey will provide insights into awareness and usage habits of digital payment products.

Justice Thottathil Bhaskaran Nair Radhakrishnan was on January 1, 2018 sworn in as the first Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court. With this, the state of Telangana will have its first independent high court. Prior to this, Justice Radhakrishnan had been serving as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad for both the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh since July 2018. The Chief Justice, then, administered the oath of office to 12 justices of Telangana High Court.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) announced on January 1, 2019 that it has appointed Pramod Kumar Singh as its secretary. Prior to this, P K Singh was adviser (law) to the competition watchdog. The Commission was established in 2003 to replace the erstwhile Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission. It draws its power from the Competition Act, 2002.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched a new platform called ‘Samwad with Students’ on January 1, 2018 in Bengaluru, as part of its enhanced outreach programme. Through the initiative, ISRO aims to constantly engage youngsters across India in activities concerning space science to capture their scientific temperament. The new conversation mission aims to inspire students cutting across schools and colleges.