27 FEBRUARY 2014

Ø  Navy Chief Admiral D.K. Joshi resigned on Wednesday, owning “moral responsibility for accidents and incidents during the past few months,” the Defence Ministry said. Admiral Joshi is the first Indian military commander to have resigned since General Kodandera Subayya Thimmaiah in 1959 — and the only one to have his resignation accepted by the government. His resignation came hours after a fire on board the newly refitted INS Sindhuratna , leaving two officers missing and injuring seven — the third in a series of submarine accidents, including an explosion on INS Sindhurakshak , which exploded and sank in the sea in Mumbai’s naval dockyard in August 2013, killing 18 sailors. Last month, INS Sindhughosh ran aground on its way to the Mumbai harbor. Five of India’s 13 conventionally powered submarines, naval sources told The Hindu , have exceeded their design life. INS Sindhughosh , INS Sindhudhwaj , INS Sindhuraj , INS Sindhuvir and the ill-fated INS Sindhuratna, all Russian-manufactured Kilo-class submarines, were inducted between 1986 and 1988. The most recent of the Kilo-class fleet, INS Sindhushastra , was purchased in 2000, preceded by INS Sindhurakshak in 1997 and INS Sindhuvijay in 1991. A fire on board INS Sindhurakshak in 2010 claimed the life of a sailor.

Ø  Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi launched a 130-MW solar power plant at Bhagwanpur in Neemuch. The Welspun Solar MP project, the largest solar power plant in India set up at a cost of Rs. 1,100 crore on 305 hectares of land, will supply power at Rs. 8.05 a kWh.

Ø  The Uttar Pradesh Government on Wednesday approved the proposal for establishing a tiger reserve in Pilibhit for conservation of the feline.

Ø  In an unusual move, the Japanese police have recruited a ‘Robocop’ on public trains to protect women commuters.

Ø  The Indian tea industry, in association with the Tea Board of India, is taking a delegation to Iran from March 2 to 6, 2014. The delegation, to be led by Tea Board chairman Siddharth would visit Tehran and Mashhad, Iran’s second most populous city close to its border with Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. Altogether, 22 people are on the delegation.

Ø  Retail investors can participate in the government’s PSU stake sale programme by investing a minimum of Rs.5,000 to buy units of CPSE Exchange Traded Fund that comprises shares of 10 blue-chip companies, including ONGC, IOC and Coal India. As per the draft offer document filed by the Finance Ministry with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), individual investors can invest a minimum of Rs.5,000, while the maximum limit is Rs.10 lakh. The ETF, which is expected to hit the markets next month, could fetch government Rs.3,000 crore. Other companies in the ETF basket are GAIL, REC, Oil India, Container Corporation, Power Finance, Engineers India and Bharat Electronics Ltd. Goldman Sachs is acting as the asset management company for the ETF. ETF is a security that tracks an index, a commodity or a basket of assets like an index fund, but trades like a stock on an exchange. ETFs were introduced in India in 2001. At present, there are about 33 ETFs with assets under management of close to Rs.11,500 crore held by 6.2 lakh investors. Gold ETFs dominate the market in India.

Ø  The government appointed Dinesh K. Sarraf as the new head of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.