Major News and Events of 17 May 2015

A 17-year-old girl approached the chief minister of Jharkhand to prevent her parents from getting her married. As per media reports, the girl, a first year student of a technology institute in Ranchi, was being forced by her parents to discontinue her studies and accept a marriage proposal. The girl had approached CM Raghubar Das when he was meeting people to address their grievances. The CM not only rang up her father to inform him that the law did not permit the marriage of minors but also offered assistance for the girl’s studies if the family was having financial problems. 

To Protest the decision of the Supreme Court to uphold land acquisitions in Noida Extension, farmers will organize a maha panchayat. As a part of their protests, the farmers will also march to the Rashtrapati Bhawan on June 1. While the ruling of the Supreme Court has been a huge relief for the homeowners it has been a setback for the farmers.

Assembly elections in Bihar will be held sometime in the months of September-October. As per reports, BJP will face the United Janata Parivar. Calling the Bihar elections as the ‘mother of all elections’, the Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi said that by 31 July the electoral rolls will be ready. The administration would take all necessary steps to curb black money as well as muscle power. For this, a reworked expenditure monitoring system and additional central forces would be deployed.

Rajasthan Royals defeated defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders at Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium on Saturday. As per media reports, Shane Watson’s magnificent century helped RR to secure a place in the IPL playoffs. In an earlier match during the day, Chennai Super Kings beat Kings XI Punjab. With this, CSK has ensured that they end the league stages as table-toppers. They have 18 points from 14 matches.

Oil companies such as Reliance Industries and ONGC may be allowed to sell at market price a part of the natural gas produced by them from new discoveries. The government has taken the decision to increase domestic production and exploration. As per reports, the government had approved a new gas pricing policy in October last year based on international hub rates. The government had decided that new discoveries in Ultra-deep sea or high-temperature and high-pressure fields, as well as deep-water, will be given a premium over the approved price.

Leading telecom firm Airtel has begun the trial of its 4G service in Mumbai. As per media reports, the company has partnered with Flipkart to sell the service. The 4G service is being offered along with devices of leading brands such as Lenovo, Asus, Xiaomi and Huawei. The company has also partnered with South Korean handset maker, Samsung, whereby the two companies will promote each other’s 4G services at their outlets.