Ola Appoints Infosys’ Rajiv Bansal As CFO

Ola Cabs has appointed Rajiv Bansal as its Chief Financial Officer. Rajiv brings close to 21 years of experience in finance sector. Rajiv will be part of Ola’s core leadership team and join the company in January 2016.

Note: OlaCabs (popularly known as Ola) was established by Bhavish Aggarwal (currently CEO) and Ankit Bhati in 2010 in Bengaluru (Karnataka).

Pfizer and Allergan combine in biggest drug merger ever

US drugs giant Pfizer Inc. has struck a deal with Ireland-based Allergan for 160 billion dollars making it the biggest pharmaceuticals merger deal in the history of the healthcare sector. This deal for Pfizer comes after a failed attempt to acquire Anglo-Swedish drug maker AstraZeneca last year, primarily aimed at saving billions in tax by shifting its base outside the United States.

Socialist Leader António Costa Is Named as Portugal’s Prime Minister

Antonio Costa, the leader of Portugal’s Socialist Party was named Prime Minister of Portugal. He was appointed as PM by President Anibal Cavaco Silva and has tasked him to form a new government due to political instability caused by an inconclusive 2015 general election results. With this, for the first time in the history of Portugal Socialist government came to power with the support of Communists parties after the dictatorship was overthrown in 1974.

2019 new deadline for completion of PMGSY schemes

Union Government has reduced the deadline for completion of rural connectivity through all- weather roads under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana by three years from 2022 to 2019 and increased annual allocation to the states by Rs 5,000 crore and with this, the total Central allocation to states under PMGSY would now be 15,100 crore rupees.

  • PMGSY was launched in the year 2000 as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme.
  • The fund sharing pattern of PMGSY will be in the ratio of 60:40 between the Centre and States for all states except for 8 North Eastern and 3 Himalayan states, where the formulae of 90:10 will be applied.

Bihar to ban liquor sale from April next year

Bihar Government has banned the sale of liquor in the state from 1st April 2016. This decision would make Bihar 6th dry state/UT in the country. It was announced by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on the occasion of liquor prohibition day.

Note: Presently, liquor consumption is prohibited in the states of Gujarat (1958), Nagaland (1989), Manipur (1991) and Kerala (2014) and Union Territory of Lakshadweep.

26th November: Constitution Day

Constitution Day in India is celebrated every year on 26th of November as the constitution of India was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26th of November in the year 1949 and came into force on 26th of January in 1950. Dr. Ambedkar is the Father of Constitution of India.

India celebrates National Milk Day on November 26

Every year 26 November is being observed as National Milk Day (NMD). The day marks the birth anniversary of India’s most successful dairy entrepreneur Varghese Kurien, the founder of dairy firm Amul. Kurien is known as the Father of White Revolution.

Note: India is the world’s largest milk producing country, with 16 percent of total global production, followed by America, China, Pakistan and Brazil.

Australia, New Zealand create history by playing first day-night Test

Australia and New Zealand have created history by playing the first day-night Test match at the Adelaide Oval Cricket Stadium with a pink Kookaburra ball.

Anju Bobby George appointed Chairperson of Target Olympic Podium Scheme

Anju Bobby George, the former long jump world champion, was  appointed as the chairperson of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS). The post of the chairperson was lying vacant after the resignation of Anurag Thakur, the BJP parliamentarian and Secretary, Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI).
About Target Olympic Podium Scheme

  • The TOP Scheme under the National Sports Development Fund (NSDF) was formulated with the objective of identifying and supporting potential medal prospects for 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games.
  • The focused disciplines of the scheme were Athletics, Archery, Badminton, Boxing, Wrestling and Shooting.
  • For this purpose, a committee named Top Scheme Elite Athletes Identification Committee under the chairmanship of Anurag Thakur was constituted. Other members of the committee were Rahul Dravid, Pullela Gopichand, Abhinav Bindra and MC Mary Kom.