By: D.K Chaudhary
1. Maharashtra Becomes 1st State to Unveil Public Cloud Policy
i. Maharashtra has become the first state in the country that has come out with a public cloud policy, virtually mandating its departments to shift their data storage onto the cloud. This move has created a USD 2- billion opportunity for the industry.
ii. The announcement was made by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at the Maharashtra Technology Summit. The policy will result in additional private sector investments as the government is one of the biggest creators and consumers of data.
- Maharashtra Chief Minister- Devendra Fadnavis, Governor- C Vidyasagar Rao.
2. India to Set up $350 million Fund to Finance Solar Projects
i. As per the Power Minister RK Singh, India will set up a $350-million fund to finance solar projects as the country steps up efforts to achieve its ambitious target of adding 175 gigawatts (GW) in renewable energy by 2022.
ii. The announcement was made at an event organised by the International Solar Alliance (ISA) in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Installed renewable power capacity is currently about 60 GW, and India plans to complete the bidding process by the end of 2019/20 to add a further 115 GW of installed renewable energy capacity by 2022.
3. Centre, CII Ink MoU for Development of Logistics Sector
i. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Government of India and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in the presence of Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu to enhance import and export performance.
ii. The Centre has entrusted the task of integrated development of the logistics sector to the Department of Commerce.
4. Facebook Appoints its 1st African-American Member to Board
i. Facebook has appointed outgoing American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault to its board, making him the first African-American to be on the board.
ii. Chenault serves on the Boards of IBM and Procter & Gamble and is also a Harvard Law School graduate.
- Facebook CEO- Mark Zuckerberg.
5. S Selvakumar Appointed CMD Of SPMCIL
i. The government appointed senior IAS officer S Selvakumar as Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd (SPMCIL).
ii. Selvakumar has replaced Anurag Agarwal. The state-owned SPMCIL produces banknotes, coins, postage stamps, non-judicial stamps and other official documents.
- The four mints operationalized in Idia are located in Kolkata, Noida, Hyderabad, and Mumbai.
