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CURRENT EVENTS
WORD OF THE NEWS:“ JALLIKATTU”
Meaning: A traditional sport played in rural parts of Tamil Nadu as a part of harvest festivals. Bulls are often reared especially for the game. It is a competition of strength between man and bull. If the bull loses, it is used for tilling the soil in the fields. If it wins, it is sent for breeding to ensure continuity of the species.
WHY WAS IT IN NEWS?
The Supreme Court of India, on the plea of Animal Welfare organizations put a ban on the sport, citing animal cruelty as a reason. Supporters of Jallikattu, led a protest stating that it was a part of a tradition that goes back to over 2000 years. They also argued that there was no question of animal cruelty as the livestock involved in the game are reared, fed and nurtured by a farmer’ s family and is an essential part of their life.
PERSONS
• The Reserve Bank of India( RBI) has appointed Surekha Marandi as its Executive Director( ED). She was appointed in place of U S Paliwal who retired on December 31, 2016. In her new role, she will look after Consumer Education and Protection Department, Financial Inclusion and Development Department, and Secretary’ s Department of the RBI.
• President Pranab Mukherjee has appointed Prof David R Syiemlieh as the Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission( UPSC) as per Article 316 of Constitution. He will take over from Alka Sirohi and shall remain the head of the organisation till his retirement on January 21, 2018 or till further orders.
• Delhi Police Commissioner and Senior IPS officer Alok Kumar Verma was appointed as new Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation.
• Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa took charge as the 22nd Chief of the Air Staff( CoAS) of the Indian Air Force( IAF). He succeeded Arup Raha who retires from the service.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
• According to the annual 50 Most Innovative Companies survey report published by the management consulting firm BCG( Boston Consulting Group),, Apple Inc. has been named as the World’ s Most Innovative Company in 2016.
• India was ranked 92nd among 118 countries in the 2017 Global index of talent competitiveness( GTI) list. The index measures ability of countries to compete for talent i. e. how countries grow, attract and retain talent. The index is produced by global business school INSEAD in
WINSPIRE: Empowering youth | February, 2017
partnership with Adecco Group and Human Capital Leadership Institute( HCLI) of Singapore.
• According to study conducted by rights group Oxfam, India’ s richest 1 % now hold a huge 58 % of the country’ s total wealth, indicating the rise of income inequality. It is higher than the global figure of about 50 %. It shows that 57 billionaires in India now have same wealth($ 216 billion) as that of the bottom 70 % population of the country. Globally, just 8 billionaires have the wealth as the poorest 50 % of the world population.