RBI to Shortly Issue Rs. 500 Banknote in New Series

• The Reserve Bank of India on December 19, 2016, announced that it is issuing a new batch of Rs 500 notes in Mahatma Gandhi (New) series with the inset letter R in both the number panels bearing the signature of Dr Urjit R Patel Governor, Reserve Bank of India, with the year of printing ‘2016’.
• Earlier, the Reserve Bank had also informed to issue Rs 500 notes in Mahatma Gandhi (New) series with the inset letter E having star mark in both the number panels and Swachh Bharat logo printed on the reverse of the banknote.
• ‘Star’ banknotes in Rs 500 denomination are being issued for the first time. ‘Star’ banknotes in the denomination of Rs 10, 20, 50 and 100 are already in circulation.
• The central bank has also notified that it will shortly issue Rs 50 denomination banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi Series-2005, with inset letter R and L in both the number panels bearing the signature of Urjit R Patel and the year 2016 printed on the reverse of the banknote.

Hong Kong to withdraw visa-free facility for Indians post January 23

• Hong Kong has decided to withdraw visa-free facility for Indians. Indians can enter with a valid passport for a period up to 14 days without a visa.
• From January 23, 2017, Indian nationals must apply for and successfully complete pre-arrival registration online before they can visit Hong Kong Special Administrative Region HKSAR visa-free.
• The pre-arrival registration is valid for six months, during which the applicant can visit Hong Kong multiple times. Indian nationals must furnish an “approval slip” before boarding a plane or ship to the city.

Bank of Baroda, First Indian Company to Support FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017

• Bank of Baroda has become the first Indian company to sign up as a National Supporter for the FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017, which will be held from 6 to 28 October 2017.
• This will be the first time that India will be hosting FIFA international football competition. FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017 will see participation from 24 countries including India and matches will be played at six different venues.
• With the signing of the agreement, Bank of Baroda has claimed the first out of six National Supporter slots for the FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017. BOB is the first Indian supporter for the tournament.

Healthy Ministry wins gold in the Web Ratna Category

• The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare lead by Jagat Prakash Nadda has won gold in the Web Ratna category in the Digital India awards 2016.
• Jitendra Arora, Director, e-Governance, at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare received the award from the Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology and Law & Justice, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Arjun Bhati wins in Kids Golf World Championship

• Arjun Bhati bagged the first position in the Kids Golf World Championship after defeating South Africas Methu Denish during the three-level final match in Malaysia.
• Out of the 21 counties that participated in the tournament, Arjun secured the first position scoring 2 extra shots.
• He has played a total of 82 tournaments till date out of which he won around 69 of them. Out of the 69 tournaments that we won, he backed 35 first positions.
• He recently won the Albatross International Junior Golf Championship India 2016 and secured the first position.

Kaisa Matomaki, Maksym Radziwill win 2016 SASTRA Ramanujan award

• Kaisa Matomaki and Maksym Radziwill have been jointly won the 2016 SASTRA-Ramanujan award for mathematics for their ‘revolutionary’ collaborative work on short intervals in number theory.
• Their mathematical work dwells on properties of numbers in “short intervals.” The two mathematicians worked with Fields medallist Terence Tao in making a breakthrough on the Chowla conjecture.
• They were presented with this prestigious award at inauguration of International Conference on Number Theory at SASTRA University at Kumbakonam.
• Kaisa Matomaki from Finland’s University of Turku is first woman to receive this prize since it was instituted in 2005. Maksym Radziwill is Assistant professor at McGill University, Canada.