1. India’s GDP pegged up at 7.4% in 2014-15

i. India’s gross domestic product  has been pegged at 7.4% for current fiscal.
The estimate is based on new formula.

ii. According to estimates released by Central
Statistics economy grew at 7.5 per cent during the October – December 2014
quarter.

iii. The GDP growth for first quarter of 2014-15
has been revised to 6.5 per cent as opposed to 5.7 per cent estimated earlier.

iv. The CSO, under the ministry of statistics
and programme implementation, had shifted base year from 2004-05 to 2011-12.

2. Odisha no. 1 state in DBTL registration

i. Odisha has ranked number one among the Indian states in the registration of Direct Benefits
Transfer for LPG (DBTL).

ii. With 70.07% of the LPG consumers in Odisha
have registered under the scheme against the all India average of 69 percent.
iii. According to official sources,
the scheme, introduced by the Centre, has become immensely successful in the
country as more than 10 crore LPG beneficiaries have already been registered.

iv. The Centre has set 31st March this year as
the deadline for DBTL registration in the country

3. MP govt introduces new Scholarship for tribal
students

i. The Madhya Pradesh government introduces new Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme for tribal
students of class ninth and tenth.

ii. Students whose
parents’ annual income is up to Rs 2 lakh will get benefited from this Scheme.

iii. Under the
new scheme, students who stay in hostels will get 350 rupees per month and students
who stays at their home will get Rs 150 per month for 10 months. Rs 1000 grant
for books will be given to hostelers and Rs 750 to non-hosteler tribal
students.
iv. Five types of allowances will be
provided to disabled tribal students studying in non-government aided private
schools. Rs 240 per month coaching allowance will be provided to mentally
challenged students.

4. Karnataka
Vikas Grameena Bank ties up with Tata Motors

i. Karnataka
Vikas Grameena Bank (KVGB), a regional rural bank, and Tata Motors Co Ltd has
signed an agreement with for financing commercial vehicles manufactured by the
latter at Dharwad on Monday.

ii. Under the agreement, the bank will provide loans
of up to 80 per cent of the value of the vehicle to eligible borrowers for a
maximum tenure of five years.

iii. At present, the bank has more than 6,020 accounts
of commercial road transport operators with an outstanding balance of Rs. 103
crore.

5. Veteran Marathi theatre artist, Atmaram
Govind Bhende passed away

i. Veteran
Marathi theatre artist and film actor Atmaram Govind Bhende died following
brief illness in Pune, Maharashtra. He was 91.
ii. The
most recent being the one where Bhende – a grandfather is seen gifting a
diamond ring to his wife (played by Asha) on Valentine’s Day.

6. Lok Sabha Speaker named in LIMCA Book of
Records

i. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan’s name was included
in the LIMCA book of records in the first week of February 2015.

ii.
Her name was included for being the only woman of the country to represent the
same Lok Sabha constituency on the same party ticket for eight times in a row.

iii. As a leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), she represents
the Indore constituency of Lok Sabha in Madhya Pradesh. For the first time she
was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1989. Since then she has been re-elected to the
Lok Sabha in 1991, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2009 and finally to the 16th Lok
Sabha on 18 May 2014.

iv. During this period, Mahajan has served as
member/head of various parliamentary committees and as a Minister. She was
unanimously elected as Speaker of 16th Lok Sabha on 6 June 2014.

7. Indians rank 16th on leaked
HSBC list; Swiss on top

i. In the new HSBC
list of Swiss bank account holders, Indians ranked on 16th
place with total funds of $4.1 billion. Switzerland
people remain on the top rank in the list.

ii. The list,
made public by an international body of journalists ICIJ (International
Consortium of Investigative Journalists), comprises over one lakh HSBC
customers and their bank accounts with balances totalling over $100 billion.

iii. In terms of
money in these accounts, account holders from Switzerland are on the top (USD
31.2 billion), followed by UK, Venezuela, US and France in the top five.

iv. In terms of
the number of account holders, India is at 18th place (1,668 account holders),
while Switzerland is on the top again with 11,235 account holders. Others in
the top-five include France, UK, Brazil and Italy.