India drop two places to 147 in FIFA rankings

1.        India drop two places to 147 in FIFA rankings

(i) India have slid down two places to the 147th spot in the latest FIFA Rankings published on 8^th May 8, 2014.

(ii) The national team has however, retained their rank in the continent as they continue to be placed 25th, though jointly with Singapore now, who are also placed 147th in the world rankings.

(iii) India have played only one match this year, when they locked horns with Bangladesh on 5th March. With the Indian Super League (ISL) saga in full throttle which could lead to congestion in the domestic fixtures, it poses a problem for setting dates for more international action.

(iv) Afghanistan are the highest ranked side in the sub-continent with a rank of 128 and while Iran are on top of the pile in Asia with an overall ranking of 37 followed by Japan (47) and Uzbekistan (53).

2.       India gets Dubai Travel Mart award

(i) India has been honoured with New Frontiers Award at the Arabian travel mart in Dubai for its outstanding contribution to tourism development in the face of overwhelming adversity in Uttarakhand.

(ii) The award provides additional exhibition space at the event worth 10,000 US dollars. The award is in recognition of the repair, rebuild and recovery efforts made by India after the Himalayan catastrophy.

(iii) The award was received on behalf of the Government of India by the Economic Advisor in the Ministry of Tourism.

3.       Jignesh Shah arrested in NSEL scam

(i) Jignesh Shah, former director of the scam-ridden National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL), was arrested by the Mumbai police in connection with the nearly Rs.5,600-crore payment crisis.

(ii) The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police also arrested the Chief Financial Officer of Financial Technologies India Ltd. (FTIL), Srikant Javlekar.

(iii) On September 30, an investor had filed an FIR against the directors and key functionaries of NSEL for cheating, forgery, criminal breach of trust and conspiracy

(iv) According to the police, Mr. Shah masterminded the entire scam and engaged in a criminal conspiracy with the co-accused to turn NSEL into a non-banking institution. So far, 11 persons have been arrested in the case.

(v) In January, a charge-sheet had been filed against the NSEL CEO, Anjani Sinha, two vice-presidents — Amit Mukherjee and Jay Bahukhundi — and two borrowers of the beleaguered exchange — Nilesh Patel, managing director of NK Proteins and Arun Sharma, film financier and chairman of Lotus Refineries.