1st Jan to 15 th Jan AWARDS & HONOURS Following are the top awardees at the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony at, California, United States:- Best Motion Picture Drama: The Revenant Best Motion Picture Musical/Comedy: The Martian Best Director in Motion Picture-Drama: Alejandro Inarritu for The Revenant Best Actor in Motion Picture-Drama: Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant Best Actress in Motion Picture-Drama: Brie Larson for Room. BCCI president, Shashank Manohar, presented the BCCI International Cricketer-of-the-Year Award 2014-15 to Test captain Virat Kohli at the ninth BCCI annual awards. He also presented the Col. C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award to former India stumper, Syed Kirmani. British writer, Kate Atkinson won the 2015 Costa novel award for her novel “A God in Ruins’, thus becoming the first British author to receive a Costa prize three times. Earlier she had won it for ‘Life After Life’ (2013) and ‘Behind the Scenes at the Museum’ (1995). The Drug Authentication and Verification Application (DAVA) project of The Department of Commerce won the 2015 eASIA Award under Trade Facilitation category. DAVA project was launched by Union Government in June 2015. It seeks to create an integrated platform for implementation of the Track and Trace system for exporters and domestic markets of Drugs and Pharmaceuticals. Lionel Messi won the FIFA world player of the year award for a record fifth time. Ronaldo ended up in second place. The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) won the National Award on e-Governance 2015-16 for launching the Universal Account Number (UAN). Carnatic vocalist Sanjay Subrahmanyam was conferred with the prestigious 2015 Sangita Kalanidhi award for his outstanding achievements in Carnatic music. The 47-year-old musician was amongst the youngest list of musicians who had received the prestigious award before turning 50. BUSINESS & CORPORATE India's biggest e-commerce company, Flipkart , announced the promotion of current Chief Operating Officer Binny Bansal to the post of Chief Executive Officer (CEO). On the other hand, Sachin Bansal, who has been the CEO since inception, will now take on the newly-created role of Executive Chairman. Forbes released the 2016 30 Under 30 List featuring 600 men and women who achieved remarkable professional success before attaining 30 years of age. Further, 45 Indians and Indian-origin people figured in the annual compilation for their entrepreneurial spirit. General Motors (GM) Board of Directors announced Mary Barra as its next Chairman, effective immediately. She succeeds Theodore Solso, who will continue serving as the Board's Lead Independent Director. The first female CEO of the major global automaker, Barra has been serving as CEO of the company since January, 2014. Industry body Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), which counts companies such as Facebook, Microsoft and Google as members, announced Kunal Shah, co-founder FreeCharge as its new chairman. JetPrivilege, the rewards management programme and frequent flyer programme of Jet Airways entered into a reciprocal frequent flyer partnership with FlyerBonus, the loyalty scheme of Bangkok Airways. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Remote Sensing Center (NRSC) for web-based monitoring of watershed projects. The web- based monitoring of Indo-German Watershed Development (IGWDP) projects will happen in three states of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Telangana.Under the MoU, Hyderabad-based NRSC, will create a separate page for Nabard on Bhuvan web-portal, develop customised software tool and mobile application for real time monitoring, online comparison and visualisation with respect to activities implemented in the projects sanctioned by Nabard. Nokia Corporation announced the completion of the regulatory formalities for acquiring the French telecom equipment company Alca-Lucent. The deal, worth 15.6 billion euro, was signed in 2014 and later approved by the European Commission. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) gave its approval to Reliance Capital Asset Management's proposed acquisition of global giant Goldman Sachs' mutual fund business in India for Rs 243 crore. The deal would also make Reliance MF the exclusive fund manager for the government's ambitious Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE) Exchange. Reliance Capital is the financial services arm of Anil Ambani-led business conglomerate Reliance Group and is also present in insurance, brokerage and wealth management among other areas. Volvo Buses India, the bus unit of Volvo Group (a Swedish multinational manufacturing company) that existed as a standalone entity was merged with Volvo India Private Ltd. Volvo Group in India includes multiple business areas and brands such as Volvo Buses, Volvo Penta Engines, Volvo Construction Equipment, UD Buses, Volvo Trucks, Eicher Trucks and Buses. IT giant Wipro, India’s third largest IT services exporter, appointed current Chief Operating Officer (COO) Abid Ali Neemuchwala as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and member of the board. BILLS / ACTS / COMMITTEES / SCHEMES / POLICIES Union Government constituted Shyam Benegal Committee for holistic interpretation of the provisions of the Cinematograph Act, 1952. The committee was formed with an aim to revamp Censor Board of India. The committee will be headed by noted film-maker Shyam Benegal. Other Members of the Committee include Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Piyush Pandey, Bhawana Somaaya , Nina Lath Gupta and Joint Secretary (Films) as Member Convenor. Actor-filmmaker Kamal Hassan and director Gautam Ghosh were also included later on in the Shyam Benegal committee making it a six-member body. The Union government constituted a five-member high-level committee chaired by NITI Ayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya to monitor the Rs 90,000 crore Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project. These members will look into the overall operations and technical issues of the project, its strategic importance for bilateral relation, financial outlay and the ‘Make in India’ component respectively. The government formed a one-man committee headed by Kamlesh Chandra, a retired member of the Postal Services Board, to examine the wage structure and service conditions of gramin dak sevaks , who are extra-departmental agents recruited by the postal department to serve in rural areas. The Department of Posts has 2.6 lakh such employees and the Committee will go into the service conditions of gramin dak sevaks and suggest changes as considered necessary. The committee will review the existing facilities, the service discharge benefit scheme and other social security benefits of gramin dak sevaks It also has a mandate to examine and suggest any change in the method of engagement, minimum qualification for engagement for these employees and their conduct and disciplinary rules, particularly keeping in view the proposed induction of technology in rural post offices. President Pranab Mukherjee gave his assent to the Sugar Cess (Amendment) Bill, 2015, raising the ceiling of the impost from Rs 25 to Rs 200 per quintal, a measure that will help sugarcane growers and cash- starved mills. An ordinance to amend the 47-year-old Enemy Property Act was approved by President Pranab Mukherjee to allow custodians to continue to hold sway over such properties. The ordinance amends the provisions of the Act declaring that all "enemy property" vested in the 'custodian' would continue to vest in the custodian irrespective of the death or extinction of the enemy. The custodian of enemy property in the country is an Indian government department that is empowered to appropriate property in India owned by Pakistani nationals. The Union Government announced to rollout a LPG-like direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme for kerosene w.e.f 1 April 2016. In the initial phase, the scheme will be implemented in the states of Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Rajasthan. ECONOMY & FINANCE State Bank of India became the first public sector lender to launch wealth management service, a space dominated by private and foreign players, to cater to fast-growing affluent segment of the country. State owed telecom service provider Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) launched the high speed 4G (Fourth Generation) telecom services at Chandigarh in Punjab circle . thus becoming the fifth telecom service provider in India to launch 4G service after Airtel, Aircel, Vodafone and Reliance in that sequence. In a big push to entrepreneurship, the Union cabinet approved 'Stand Up India' scheme and creation of a credit guarantee fund to back the Mudra Yojana. The cabinet also approved conversion of MUDRA Ltd, a non-banking financial company, into MUDRA Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SIDBI. Andhra Bank launched Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) at all its branches in association with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). IMPS makes payments possible within fraction of seconds with all the standards and integrity maintained for security, a release from the bank on Tuesday said. IMPS has been enabled across all branches to provide inter-bank electronic fund transfer service “capable of processing person to account remittances.” IMPS, unlike NEFT, will be available round the clock. Under IMPS, a real time instant fund transfer system for inter-bank remittances, the maximum cap of transaction will