Country’s second private train flagged off

The Ahmedabad-Mumbai Tejas Express, the second premium train to be run by Railway subsidiary IRCTC, completed its inaugural run on January 17 in six hours, covering the distance of 491 km. The train was flagged off by Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani from Ahmedabad. The regular commercial run of the train will begin on January 19. The fully air-conditioned train has two executive class chair cars having 56 seats each and eight chair cars having capacity of 78 seats each. The total carrying capacity will be 736 passengers. This is the IRCTC’s second premium train after the inaugural Tejas Express which operates between Delhi and Lucknow. The Tejas Express between Ahmedabad and Mumbai Central will run six days a week. It will halt at Nadiad, Vadodara, Bharuch, Surat, Vapi and Borivali stations in both directions.

Forex reserves rise by $58 mn to $461.21 bn

India’s foreign exchange reserves rose by $58 million to reach an all-time high of $461.21 billion in the week to January 10. In the previous week, the reserves had increased by $3.689 billion to $461.15 billion. The reserves rose despite a decline in foreign currency assets (FCA), which is a major component of the overall reserves. The FCA decreased by $367 million to $427.582 billion. Expressed in dollar terms, the FCA includes the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the forex reserves. In the reporting week, gold reserves rose by $435 million to $28.492 billion. The special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund were down by $5 million to $1.442 billion. The reserve position with the IMF declined by $5 million to $3.697 billion.

NDFB gives up arms, signs pact with govt

The National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB), a banned insurgent group active in Assam, has signed an agreement with the government for suspension of operations. According to the pact, the NDFB under the leadership of its president B. Saoraigwra will abjure violence and join peace talks. The pact was signed by representatives of the NDFB and the central and Assam governments. Active members of the NDFB were brought back from Myanmar on January 11. The NDFB was active in Myanmar along with other Northeast insurgents. They had formed a joint platform namely United National Liberation Front of Western South East Asia along with NSCN-K and ULFA faction headed by Paresh Baruah. This was the only active Bodo insurgent group operating in Assam with the demand for a separate Bodo state.

Newsmaker

Australia has conferred its highest civilian honour, the Order of Australia, on Biocon founder Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw for her contribution towards advancing the country’s relationship with India. An alumnus of Federation University Australia, Mazumdar-Shaw is the founder of one of India’s largest bio-pharmaceutical companies.

Manorama Yearbook app is now available on Google Play Store and iOS App Store