Sikkim won the Best State Award for Strengthening the Panchayati Raj Institutions

Sikkim, won the best state award for strengthening its panchayati raj institutions. The northeastern
state bagged the five prestigious national awards worth of 1.36 crore rupees, at a Panchayat Raj Day(April 23) function held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh and Union minister of panchayati raj and tribal development V Kishore Chandra Deo presented the 2011-12 Panchayat Empowerment & Accountability Incentive Scheme (PEAIS) award to Sikkim's rural management and development minister CB Karki. The Panchayat Empowerment & Accountability Incentive Scheme (PEAIS) is a Central Sector Plan Scheme which is being implemented by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj since 2005-06. The scheme had an allocation of 5 crore for 2005-06, which was raised to 10 crore rupees for the subsequent years.

Moody's downgrades LIC and three private banks

Moody's downgrade of LIC is a result of LIC's recent investments in state owned companies like ONGC(Oil  and Natural Gas Corporation). LIC lost its higher rating as Moody’s downgraded it from Baa2 to Baa3, although it kept the outlook stable. 
Moody's also downgraded three private sector banks, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank  to D+ from C- to align their rating with that of the country.  
The standalone bank financial strength rating (BFSR) of ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank are revised down to D+ from C-, which now maps to a baseline credit assessment (BCA) of Baa3 from Baa2 on the long-term scale.