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DD Kisan, India’s first television channel dedicated to farmers launched by PM  Narendra Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched India’s first television channel DD Kisan dedicated to farmers in New Delhi. The 24X7 channel is owned by public service broadcaster Doordarshan (DD) and is dedicated to agriculture and allied sectors.

Features of DD Kisan

·         DD Kisan will disseminate real-time inputs to farmers on new farming techniques, water conservation and organic farming.

·         It will also share best farm practices in different parts of the country, quiz shows for farmers, a bottoms-up approach involving agriculturists.

·         The channel show will also invite programme suggestions from general public and real-time interaction with experts and farm scientists.

·         Prior to launching this channel, Prasar Bharati was running ‘Krishi Darshan’ programme on DD1 for farmers. It was one of the longest running programmes on DD and was launched on January 26, 1967.

Background

During the Budget of 2014, NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had had earmarked 100 crore rupees to this dedicated channel to fulfill it election promise. BJP in its 2014 Lok Sabha election manifesto had announced that if they come to power they will set up dedicated 24X7 channel for Indian Farmers.

India and Vietnam Sign a Joint Vision Statement on Defence operation

India and Vietnam signed a Joint Vision Statement on Defence Cooperation for the period 2015-2020. It was signed by Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and his Vietnamese counterpart Minister for National Defence General Phung Quang Thanh in New Delhi. Apart from this statement, a MoU on cooperation between the Coast Guards of the two countries was also signed. Vietnamese Defence Minister is on a 3-day official visit to India. Both nations also had held delegation level talks and discussed wide ranging issues concerning defence cooperation, including cooperation in the area of maritime security. Both sides also reiterated their commitment to further enhancing the ongoing defence engagements between them for mutual benefit.

Lt General (Retd) Nirbhay Sharma sworn-in as Governor of Mizoram

Lt General (Retd) Nirbhay Sharma has sworn-in as the 17th governor of Mizoram. Justice T Vaiphei, judge of the Gauhati High Court administered him the oath of office as per provisions of Article 159 of Indian Constitution. Mr. Sharma will succeed West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi who was given additional charge of Mizoram in April 2015. Prior to this appointment, he was serving as governor of Arunachal Pradesh. He was transferred to Mizoram by President Pranab Mukherjee on May 12, 2015.

Four Indians among Forbes world’s 100 most powerful women

Four Indians have been named in Forbes magazine’s 12th annual list of World’s 100 most powerful women. They are

Arundhati Bhattacharya: First woman (and youngest) Chairperson of State Bank of India (SBI) was placed at 30th position.

Chanda Kochhar: Managing Director (MD) and CEO of India’s largest private sector lender ICICI Bank was placed at 35th position.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw: Founder, Chairman and MD of Biocon Limited was placed at 85th position.

Shobhana Bhartia: Chairperson and Editorial Director of the Hindustan Times Group was placed at 93rd position. It should be noted she has appeared on the list for the first time.

Apart from them, two women of Indian-origin PepsiCo Chief Indra Nooyi (15th position) and Cisco Chief Technology and Strategy Officer Padmasree Warrior (84th position) also have appeared in the list.

Corporation Bank Cuts Lending Rate

State-run Corporation Bank cut base rate or minimum lending rate by 0.25 percentage point to 10 per cent, a move which will lead to lower EMIs for its customers. The bank has revised the base rate for lending from 10.25 per cent to 10 per cent with effect from June 1. With the reduction, all loans linked to base rates will now become cheaper by at least 0.25 per cent. During the month, many banks including Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, and IDBI BankBSE -1.84 % reduced base rate by 0.25 per cent to 10 per cent. State Bank of India, the country's largest lender, had reduced its base rate by 0.15 per cent to 9.85 per cent effective April 10.