Current Affairs-January 2013 Part-1

Infosys
Infosys will take over the Corporate Affairs Ministry’s e-governance initiative MCA-21 from Tata Consultancy Services. The second phase of the e- governance initiative would, among others, see gradual replacement of desktops, printers and scanners. It is designed to fully automate all the processes related to enforcement and compliance of the legal requirements under the Companies Act. The second phase of MCA-21, from January 2013 to July 2021, has a total project outlay of Rs 357.81 crore. Infosys had bagged the MCA-21 project contract for a period of five years for about $50 million in November last year. The IT firm had said that it would revamp the existing application after the transition from the incumbent vendor and manage the overall transformation. The new features of the latest phase of MCA-21 include replacement of existing desktops, printers and scanners as well as replacement of out-of-support servers and associated infrastructure. Among others, MCA-21 envisages electronic filing of documents, registration of companies and public access to corporate information online through a secure interactive portal.

Gurgaon
The Apparel Training & Design Centre ( ATDC) in collaboration with Juki India, launched India’s first Technology Innovation Research Centre at the ATDC-Training of Trainers’ Academy, Gurgaon to demonstrate technologies in apparel manufacturing and undertake applied research. The ATDC- JUKI TECH Innovation Centre is an initiative to help the apparel Industry, especially the SMEs, to adopt new technologies for increasing productivity, efficiency and quality for better price realization and better global competitiveness.

Bangladesh
The Maitree Express or Dhaka-Kolkata Express is an International passenger train serving the railway connecting the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka and India’s West Bengal (Paschim Banga) states capital Kolkata.This is the only railway link between the cities of the two nations. Recently, India and Bangladesh have decided to expedite the projects for opening rail links to increase people to people contact between the two countries. Ministry of Railways in its statement said that the decision was taken at the delegation level Inter-Governmental Railway meeting between India and Bangladesh. Both sides also exchanged notes on technical, operational and financial matters such as improvement in running of Maitree Express, streamlining of inter- country freight train operations, upgrading infrastructure and establishing more rail connectivity points.

Jasu Shilpi
Renowned sculptor Jasu Shilpi, popularly known as ‘The Bronze woman of India’ passed away recently. Winner of many national and international awards, 64-year-old Shilpi was recognized by Indian as well as international community as a bronze sculpture artist. Apart from statues of Mahatma Gandhi, Rani Laxmibai and Sardar Vallabbhai Patel in Gujarat, bronze sculptures made by her are installed in the states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Uttaranchal and Rajasthan, Dhruv said. She had made more than 225 large size statues and 525 bust size statues in bronze. Jasu Shilpi made it to the ‘Limca Book of Record’ in 2005 for her statue of Rani Laxmibai riding on a horse.

Guwahati
The Union Ministry of Tourism is organizing an International Tourism Mart at Guwahati from 18th to 20th of this month. This will not only be the first ever International Tourism event to be organised in the north-eastern region, but also the first International Tourism Mart to focus on a specific region of India

Prayag
Maha Kumbh Mela, often described as the “greatest show on earth” globally began at Prayag on Makar Sankranti. The Mela, held every 12 years, will go on for next two months and will conclude on Maha Shivaratri on March 10.

Three

Hyderabad
MANAGE was established in 1987, as the National Centre for Management of Agricultural Extension at Hyderabad, by the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India as an autonomous Institute, from which its acronym ‘MANAGE’ is derived. In recognition of its importance and expansion of activities all over the country, its status was elevated to that of a National Institute in 1992 and re-christened to its present name i.e., National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management. MANAGE is the Indian response to challenges of agricultural extension in a rapidly growing and diverse agriculture sector. Recently, India and the United States have joined hands to provide extension training to agricultural professionals in three African countries of Liberia, Kenya and Malawi. The National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management and US Agency for International Development will equip 180 professionals from these countries in the next two years with latest techniques and tools in improving productivity, public private partnerships, strengthening agricultural value chains and market institutions.