Ramachandran becomes IOA boss

The decks were cleared on Sunday for India's return to the Olympic fold after a 14-month suspension with Indian Olympic Association conducting its polls with N Ramachandran being elected as the president. Kho-Kho Federation of India President Rajeev Mehta and All India Tennis Association (AITA) chief Anil Khanna were also elected unopposed as Secretary General and Treasurer respectively in the polls which marked the exit of corruption-tainted Abhay Singh Chautala and Lalit Bhanot from the IOA. Voting was done only for eight vice-presidents as there were nine candidates in the fray. The three observers from International Olympic Committee said they would submit a "favourable" report to IOC president Thomas Bach and expressed hope that India's suspension would be revoked "sooner than later".

Production of Maruti 800 stopped

Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) on 7 February 2014 announced that it has stopped the production of the iconic car brand Maruti 800 that had been carrier for millions of middle class Indian families. The company in its announcement claimed the production was the car was stopped in 18 January 2014. The sale of the car was stopped in 13-cities in April 2010 including Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kanpur and Pune. It was launched in India in early 1980s and the time of its launch it was priced 50000 rupees only and at the time of closure of production it was priced at 2.35 lakh rupees.

Nabard sanctions Rs348.63 cr

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development has sanctioned Rs 348.63 crore to Karnataka under Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF). Nabard’s assistance to Karnataka Government is under RIDF XIX for construction of 174 road projects and 33 bridge projects by Public Works Department (Rs 152.60 crore), 24 rural road and three bridge projects by Tourism Department (Rs 65.68 crore), 127 veterinary institution projects by Animal Husbandry Department (Rs 30.32 crore), 60 Raitha Sampark Kendras by Agriculture Department (Rs23.37 crore) and nine maternal and child hospital projects by Health Department (Rs 76.66 crore) in different districts of the State.

Sikkim achieves over 100 percent sanitation

Sikkim has become the only state in the country to achieve more than 100 percent sanitation in rural and urban households, schools, sanitary complexes and Aanganwadi centres. The state has also sensitised people to adopt a holistic approach to improve sanitation and hygiene in a clean environment while accelerating its overall development.

Achieving 140.05 percent success, altogether 1,105 sanitary complexes were constructed as against the target of 789. According to a survey conducted in 20 gram panchayats by Planning Commission, 17 village councils of Sikkim were declared as 'best performance panchayats', which is highest in the country.

RBI scraps 26% cap on interest rate for MFIs

India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that it has removed 26 per cent cap on the interest rate that can be charged by a microfinance company to its borrowers. The RBI said that MFIs can arrive at their lending rate by calculating their cost of funds and adding the prescribed margin. The new method will allow the companies to determine their interest rates.

The bank said that the MFI will have to accept the lower of the two rates. The new rules also states that the large MFI, registered as a non-banking finance company, will be allowed to have a margin of 10 per cent while the remaining can have margin of 12 per cent.

Automatic SMS after confirmation of waitlisted tickets

Now automatic SMS after confirmation of waitlisted tickets

 Waitlisted passengers will soon get status messages in their mobile phones if their tickets get confirmed before journey.

A senior Railway Ministry official said the waitlisted passenger will get a SMS about the status of the ticket on the mobile phone number given at the time of ticket booking before the journey. 
Currently, one has to either dial the enquiry number 139 or use the Internet to know the waitlisted ticket status. 
"Once the SMS-based service is operational, passengers will get the updated status of their waitlisted tickets automatically," the official said, adding "only those passengers will get the message whose tickets get confirmed." 

Sushil Koirala set to become next PM of Nepal

Sushil Koirala set to become next PM of Nepal 

Veteran Nepali Congress leader Sushil Koirala is set to become the next prime minister of Nepal with the support of the CPN-UML, ending months of political gridlock following last year's elections. 

The Parliament of Nepal will elect Koirala, 75, as prime minister on Monday following the Constituent Assembly elections on 19th November that failed to throw up a clear winner. 

 The deal was inked between the two top leaders of the parties, NC president Koirala and CPN-UML chairman Jhala Nath Khanal on Sunday. 

Koirala on Sunday filed his nomination for the post of prime minister which was proposed by party vice president Ram Chandra Poudyal and seconded by CPN-UML parliamentary party leader K P Sharma Oli.

 Under the six-point agreement, the two parties have agreed to promulgate the new constitution within a year and to hold elections for the posts of president, vice president and chairman of the Constituent Assembly after it approves the new constitution, said NC spokesperson Dilendra Badu.