NATIONAL NEWS
Govt targets 17 million tonnes mustard production by 2025-26The Government plans to bring around nine million hectares of land under mustard cultivation and raise the production to around 17 million tonnes (mt) by 2025-26, according to Shubha Thakur, Joint Secretary (Oilseeds), Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare.
- In the Rabi of 2021, the area covered under mustard was around 7.3 million hectares and an increase of around 4 lakh hectares over the Rabi of 2020.
- To achieve the target for 2025-26, it is being planned to provide high quality seeds to the farmers, and the Government has embarked upon a proper seed planning.
The Haryana government has approved allotment of 140 acres of land to e-commerce major Flipkart for setting up its largest fulfilment centre in Asia, having a covered area of 3 million square feet in Patli Hajipur in Gurugram district's Manesar.
- The land, belonging to Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (HSIIDC), has been allotted at a price of Rs 3.22 crore per acre.
BANKING & FINANCE
Government infuses Rs 200 crore capital in IFCIIn line with Budget announcement, the government has infused Rs 200 crore capital in state-owned IFCI to improve its financial health.
- Following the capital infusion, the government holding in the financial institution has increased to 63.8 per cent from earlier 61.02 per cent.
- The infusion was done through preferential issue of equity shares. The government had committed Rs 200 crore to IFCI in the Budget 2020-21.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it has provided $ 1.5 billion to India to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The institution had announced a package of $ 20 billion in April 2020 to provide financial support to 26 countries to help fight the pandemic.
Financial Software and Systems (FSS) has partnered with NPCI International Payments to expand the presence of digital payments platform Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in international markets.
- The FSS and NIPL collaboration brings together complementary capabilities to deliver a compelling end-to-end proposition to activate real-time payments at speed and minimal risk.
- Under the partnership, NIPL will offer its real time payments processing platform and technical acumen to scheme operators, while FSS will extend integration and support services.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Google pledges Rs 135 crore in funding to help India fight Covid-19As the Covid-19 crisis intensifies in India, tech companies are coming forward to offer help. Google has now announced Rs 135 crore in new funding for India, including two grants from Google.org, the philanthropic arm of the tech giant. The total amount from these grants is Rs 20 crore.
- The first one will go to GiveIndia while the second fund is for UNICEF, both of which will help in procuring medical supplies and help families affected by the Covid-19 outbreak.
ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS
Amazon acquires Perpule to aid kirana-techAmazon Technologies Inc., part of Amazon.com Inc., has acquired retail tech startup Perpule in an all cash-deal of ₹107.6 crore to bolster its play in the kirana-tech space.
- Amazon is expected to pay additional remuneration to Bengaluru-based Perpule’s employees, which may bump up the overall deal value to about ₹150 crore.
- With this, the firm plans to up its game in the kirana-tech space as it would now leverage Perpule’s cloud-based point-of-sale (PoS) offering ‘UltraPoS’ and offer a new suite of technology products to kirana partners, while digitizing neighbourhood stores.
APPOINTMENTS
BRO Appoints First Woman Officer For Road Project Along Border With ChinaIn a first, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has appointed a woman officer to command a Road Construction Company (RCC) tasked to provide connectivity in a high-altitude area along the India-China border, officials said.
- They said Vaishali S Hiwase from Wardha in Maharastra will discharge her duties in a challenging environment.
Media and entertainment conglomerate Walt Disney has named K. Madhavan as president, the Walt Disney Company India and Star India, with immediate effect.
- Madhavan takes over from Uday Shankar who had stepped down as president, the Walt Disney Company APAC and chairman, Star and Disney India, last October.
Private sector lender Axis Bank said its board has approved the re-appointment of Amitabh Chaudhry as its Managing Director and CEO for three years with effect from January 1, 2022.
- The appointment will be subject to the approval of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and shareholders of the bank.
- Prior to joining Axis Bank, Chaudhry was MD and CEO of HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company.
WhatsApp Pay has hired senior Amazon executive Manesh Mahatme to head its newly launched payment service in India.
- Manesh Mahatme, a seven-year Amazon Pay executive, was hired by WhatsApp at a time when digital messaging, shopping and payments is at a historic high in India and throughout much of the world.
Sportswear brand ASICS announced that it has appointed Ravindra Jadeja, the all-rounder of the Indian cricket team and Chennai Super Kings as its brand ambassador.
- The company, which focuses on sporting gear for the running category, said that its partnership with Jadeja would further strengthen the company’s commitment, spread awareness about its diverse offerings, and magnify the reach of the brand during the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) season.
AWARDS
Krithi Karanth becomes first Indian woman to be chosen as a 'Wild Innovator'Dr.Krithi K Karanth, Chief Conservation Scientist at Bengaluru-based Centre for Wildlife Studies (CWS), has been chosen as the first Indian and Asian woman for the 2021 ''WILD Innovator Award''.
- This award given by the ''WILD ELEMENTS Foundation'' brings together a coalition of innovators, advocates and partners to "disrupt the status quo and identify solutions to global sustainability and conservation."
- The other winners are Richelle Thomas (USA), Abigail Williams and Jayne Goss (United Kingdom), Erika Allen and Laurell Sims (USA), AnnaSophia Robb, Genesis Butler (USA), Sheila Funnell (Kenya), Rosamira Guillen (Colombia), Resson Kantai Duff (Kenya), Dr.Adriana Verges (Australia), and Dominique Goncalves (Mozambique).
Two Indian firms, Reliance Industries’ technology arm Jio Platforms and e-learning startup Byju’s have figured in the Time Magazine’s first-ever list of 100 most influential companies.
- It listed Jio Platforms under the Innovators category alongside Zoom, Adidas, TikTok, Ikea, Moderna and Netflix.
- Byju's was listed alongside Tesla, Huawei, Shopify, Airbnb and DiDi Chuxing in the Disruptors category.
M. C. Mary Kom, the only boxer – male or female – to win eight world championships medals, was named Sportstar of the Decade at the 2021 Sportstar ACES Awards.
- Abhinav Bindra, the only Indian to win an individual Olympic gold medal, was conferred the Inspirational Giant of Indian Sport honour.
- Former World No. 1 K. Srikanth and reigning badminton World champion P.V. Sindhu bagged the Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Decade (Racquet Sports) titles.National badminton coach P. Gopi Chand, who bagged the Coach of the Decade Trophy.
- The 2021 edition of the Sportstar ACES Awards honoured the Giants of the Decade in Indian sport, with the winners being assessing on their performance and consistency from 2011 to 2020.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
DRDO successfully conducts maiden trial of Python-5 Air to Air MissileIndia's indigenous Light Combat Aircraft, Tejas, has added the 5th generation Python-5 Air-to-Air Missile (AAM) in its air-to-air weapons capability.
- The trials conducted were also aimed to validate enhanced capability of the already integrated Derby Beyond Visual Range (BVR) AAM on Tejas.
- The test firing at Goa completed a series of missile trials to validate its performance under extremely challenging scenarios. Derby missile achieved direct hit on a high-speed maneuvering aerial target and the Python missiles also achieved 100% hits, thereby validating their complete capability.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation(DRDO) has developed a single crystal blade technology as part of their indigenous helicopter development program for the helicopter engine application.
- This is part of a program that has been taken up by the Defence Metallurgical Research laboratory- DMRL.
- It is a premium laboratory of DRDO which will develop 5 sets (300 numbers) of single-crystal high-pressure turbine- HPT blades. They will be developed with the use of a nickel-based superalloy.
OBITUARIES
Former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee passes awayFormer Attorney General of India and renowned jurist Soli Sorabjee died of Covid-19 at a private hospital in New Delhi. He was 91.
- Serving as a legal professional for nearly seven decades, Sorabjee occupied the highest office of the attorney general of India twice — first from 1989-90 and then from 1998-2004.
Former MP and veteran Congress leader Eknath Gaikwad passed away after losing a battle with Covid-19. He was 81.
- A two-time Lok Sabha MP, Gaikwad had represented the Mumbai South Central consituency. He had also served as a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, winning thrice from Dharavi.
Noted Hindi litterateur and Padma Shri awardee Manzoor Ahthesham has died of Covid-19 in Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. He was 73.
- He was honoured with Padma Shri Award (fourth highest civilian award) in 2003.
John Konrads, who set 26 individual freestyle swimming world records and won an Olympic gold medal in 1960, has died. He was 78.
- At the age of 14, Konrads was a reserve for Australia’s Olympic swim team at the 1956 Melbourne Games.
- Four years later Konrads won the 1,500-meter freestyle gold and two bronze medals at the 1960 Olympics in Rome. He was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985.
