Shubham, 13, Silicon Valley’s youngest entrepreneur, develops Braille printer
(i) In Silicon Valley, it’s never too early to become an entrepreneur. Just ask 13-year-old Shubham Banerjee.
(ii) The California eighth-grader has launched a company to develop low-cost machines to print Braille. Tech giant Intel Corp. recently invested in his start-up, Braigo Labs.
(iii) Mr. Shubham built a Braille printer with a Lego robotics kit as a school science fair project in 2014 after he asked his parents a simple question - How do blind people read? “Google it,” they told him.
Facebook's impact on Indian economy pegged at $4 billion
(i) Facebook enabled $4 billion economic impact on the Indian economy and contributed to 3,35,000 jobs in some or the other way during last year, according to a study.(ii) The study titled Facebook’s Global Economic Impact, by Deloitte, analyses how the social networking site has facilitated growth and jobs around the world.
(iii) Commissioned by Facebook, the study estimates that the company, with an approximately $8 billion cost base, enabled global economic impact of $227 billion and 4.5 million jobs around the world in 2014.
Obama’s India visit: Richard Verma exudes hope
(i) U.S. President Obama’s visit will usher in a “new era in the India-U.S. partnership”, says the newly appointed American Ambassador to India Richard Verma.
(ii) In his first public statement after presenting his credentials last Friday, Mr. Verma, said he was very proud to be the first American of Indian origin to represent the U.S. in India, and his appointment came at a “defining time” in relations.
(iii) Mr. Verma fills the post of Ambassador eight months after the former Ambassador Nancy Powell left in a cloud over the arrest of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade.
Government to allocate 36 coal blocks to PSUs
(i) The government on Wednesday kick-started the process of allocating cancelled coal mines to state-owned firms, saying that it will initially allot 36 blocks.
(ii) Of these 36 coal blocks, one mine will be given to the steel sector while the rest will be given to the power sector.
(iii) “Except one block which will be going for steel sector, rest will be for power sector,” Coal Secretary Anil Swarup told reporters.
11.50 cr. bank accounts opened under Jan Dhan Yojana
(i) Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday that the Guinness Book of World Records had recognised the achievements made under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), the biggest financial inclusion initiative in the world.
(ii) The records book gave a certificate on Tuesday stating that the “Most bank accounts opened in one week as part of the Financial Inclusion Campaign is 1,80,96,130 and was achieved by the Department of Financial Services, Government of India, from 23rd to 29th August, 2014.”
Uttarakhand becomes No. 2 in tiger population
(i) Tiger population in Uttarakhand has risen from 227 to 340 since the last census, becoming the second State in the country after Karnataka with the highest number of tigers.
(ii) “There has been an encouraging rise in tiger population in Uttarakhand. It has risen from 227 to 340 since the last census. This is all the more creditable given the fact that the hill State has just one tiger reserve,” Corbett Tiger Reserve Director Samir Sinha told PTI.
(iii) There was a time when Madhya Pradesh had the highest tiger population in the country but then it had six tiger reserves, he said.
Amazon to take JLF closer to book lovers
(i) Amazon.in, India’s largest online store, has partnered with Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) to bring the festival closer to book lovers across India.
(ii) As official book partner of the JLF this year, it will create a special JLF Store on its marketplace.
(iii) The store that goes live with the inauguration of the festival will be a one-stop destination for customers across India to access books of their favourite authors from the festival as well as purchase new releases such as Arise, Awake by Rashmi Bansal, Restart by Mihir Sharma, India Shastra by Shashi Tharoor and In Other Words by Javed Akhtar.
(iv) “The festival has emerged as one of the biggest events in India which sees the confluence of readers and writers and the publishing industry,” according to Samir Kumar, Director Catefory Management, Amazon India.
Australian Open: Sania, Paes make it all-win day for India
(i) India enjoyed an all-win day at the Australian Open tennis Grand Slam after Leander Paes and Sania Mirza sailed into the second round of their respective men’s and women’s doubles events in Melbourne on Wednesday.
(ii) Sania and her Chinese Taipei partner Su-Wei Hsieh, who are seeded second, defeated the Argentine-Swiss combine of Maria Irigoyen and Romina Oprandi 6-2 6-0 in just 48 minutes to advance.
(iii) The Indo-Taipei team will now be up against the Canadian-Polish pair of Gabriela Dabrowski and Alicja Rosolska.
(iv) In the men’s doubles event, 10th seeded Paes and his South African partner Raven Klaasen edged past the American duo of Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram 6-4 7-6 (6) to enter the second round.
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