NATIONAL NEWS
Chandigarh Administration, IAF sign pact for heritage centreFor setting up the country’s first Air Force Heritage Centre, the Chandigarh administration and Indian Air Force signed an in-principle agreement. The centre will come up at the Government Press Building, Sector 18.
- The Indian Air Force will showcase its vintage aircraft, armaments and memorabilia and other IAF artefacts, including audio-video displays.
- The IAF will design the museum, for which it will hire a consultant. Depending upon the space and design, the number and type of vintage aircraft will be selected.
The Finance Ministry has released over 13 thousand 385 crore rupees to 25 states for providing grants to the Rural Local Bodies. The grants have been released as per the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission.
- Over 25 thousand 129 crore rupees have been released to Rural Local bodies in this financial year so far.
- This Grant-in-aid is the first installment of tied grants of the year 2021-22. Tied grants are released to the Rural Local Bodies for improving two critical components. These components are related to sanitation, maintenance of Open Defecation Free status, supply of drinking water, rain water harvesting and water recycling.
In a huge relief to pension subscribers in National Pension Scheme (NPS), the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has revised the rules for those joining it after 65 years of age. In a set of new rules, PFRDA has permitted them to allocate up to 50% of the funds in equity, besides easing the exit norms.
- The pension fund has revised the guidelines on entry and exit following an increase in the maximum age for joining the NPS from 65 years to 70 years of age. The entry age for NPS has been revised to 18-70 years from 18-65 years.
- The maximum equity exposure, however, will be only 15%, if subscribers joining NPS beyond the age of 65 years decide to invest under the default 'Auto Choice'.
- The PF can be changed once per year, whereas the asset allocation can be changed twice.On the exit conditions for subscribers joining NPS beyond the age of 65 years, the circular said "normal exit shall be after 3 years".
- The subscriber will be required to utilise at least 40 per cent of the corpus for purchase of annuity and the remaining amount can be withdrawn as lump sum.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a special commemorative coin of Rs 125 on the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of the Hare Krishna movement, through videoconferencing.
- Swami Prabhuprada, was an Indian religious leader and the founder of the Hare Krishna movement and the ISKCON. Born in Kolkata in the year 1896 as Abhay Charan De, Prabhupada initially ran a pharmacy business before leaving India in 1959 to spread the teaching of Krishna. He went to New York in 1965 and set up the first ISKCON centre, which is now spread across the world with hundreds of temples and cultural centres.
Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani has said nutrition has to be affordable and locally available to the needy people.
- She said, over eight thousand 800 crore rupees have been transferred to the bank accounts of the pregnant women and lactating mothers under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana.
- The Minister was speaking at a function in New Delhi on the start of POSHAN Maah at All India Institute of Ayurveda. She said, the centuries-old Indian tradition of holistic health has become a global way of life. She said, Ayurveda market has touched one lakh crore rupees mark in the country.
India hosted the 8th Meeting of Agriculture Experts of Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Countries virtually. Dr Trilochan Mohapatra, Director General of Indian Council of Agricultural Research chaired the daylong meeting.
- During the meeting, Dr Mohapatra highlighted the UN Food System Summit 2021 and the transformations that are happening in the agriculture and food systems globally.
- He exhorted to enhance the engagement and deepen the cooperation in agriculture and allied sectors amongst the BIMSTEC Member States.
- The cooperation in the areas of high impact transboundary diseases of livestock and poultry; aquatic animal diseases and bio-security in aquaculture and digitalization to promote precision farming was also discussed in the meeting.
In a bid to help women who have lost their husbands due to COVID, the Maharashtra government launch a special mission to serve around 18 benefits, schemes, services to them under one roof.
- A new programme- 'Mission Vatsalya'- has been designed for widows, especially from rural areas who come from poor backgrounds and deprived sections.
- Under this scheme, 8,661 women have applied for the Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Anudan Yojana, 405 for the Shravanbal Seva State Pension Scheme and 71 for the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme.
- Officials from the Women and Child Development Department, office of the Child Development Project Officer, the Local Unit Officer and the Anganwadi Sevikas will be going to the homes of these women and to check and provide them these services.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Indian Navy conducts Naval exercises with Morocco and AlgeriaAs part of the ongoing goodwill visit to Europe and Africa, the Indian Naval Ship (INS) Tabar participated in a Maritime Partnership Exercise with the Algerian Navy ship 'Ezzadjer'.
- INS Tabar, as part of her overseas deployment, made a port call at Casablanca in Morocco and participated in a Maritime Partnership Exercise with Royal Moroccan Navy ship "Lieutenant Colonel Arrahman" off Casablanca port.
- Indian Naval Ship (INS) Tabar, commenced its prolonged deployment on June 13 to visit various ports in Africa and Europe till the end of September.
Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri lead an official and business delegation to Russia to participate in the 6th Eastern Economic Forum EEF Summit in Vladivostok.
- This will be the first overseas visit of Minister Mr Puri since the assumption of the office as the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
- During his visit, Mr Puri have meetings with Energy Minister of Russia Nikolay Shulginov to review bilateral energy cooperation in the energy sector and with Russian Minister for Development of Far East and Arctic Alexei Chekunkov to discuss the collaboration between Indian and Russian companies in that region.
- Along with the Russian Minister of Energy, Mr Puri will co-chair India-Russia Business Dialogue, on the sidelines of EEF. He will also hold discussions with Russian Energy majors including Rosneft, GazpromNeft and Sibur.
BANKING & FINANCE
Jica signs a loan agreement for women’s financial inclusion in IndiaThe Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has signed a 50 million dollar (about Rs 368 crore) loan agreement with Northern Arc Capital (NAC), an Indian financial institution, to fund non-bank financial entities that provide financial services to women.
- The loan will be provided through co-financing with the United States International Development Finance Corporation (USDFC) based on the Facility for Accelerating Financial Inclusion in Asia (FAIA) announced on March 27, 2020.
IDBI Intech Ltd., the technology led business transformation organisation offering specialised solutions in the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) verticals has successfully implemented their iAML (Anti Money Laundering) solution at India’s insurance giant, the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).
- iAML will provide an Enterprise-Wide Single View of Risk & Compliance at transactions & customer level, harnessing Advanced Analytics, Workflow and Artificial Intelligence with a comprehensive set of pre-built rules and scenarios.
The International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Bangalore and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) will jointly offer an advanced executive program in cybersecurity.
- The programme has been designed for mid-level management professionals working in banking, cybersecurity, and finance domains who come with prior technical knowledge on the basics of cybersecurity.
- The course will be offered in collaboration with Simplilearn. With more than 90 hours of learning, the programme consists of a comprehensive curriculum that focuses on industry-relevant skills in cybersecurity.
- Upon completing the program, learners will receive a completion certificate from IIIT Bangalore, along with an internship completion letter jointly offered by NPCI, Simplilearn and IIIT Bangalore.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Moody's retains India's real GDP growth DP growth forecast for 2021 at 9.6%Moody’s Investors Service has retained India’s growth forecast for the calendar year (CY) 2021 at 9.6 per cent, in its August update to ‘Global Macro Outlook 2021-22’ report.
- The GDP growth forecast for calendar year 2022 is retained at 7 percent.
- In India, economic activity is picking up alongside a gradual easing of restrictions that were implemented in response to the second wave. And there is further upside to growth as economies around the world progressively reopen.
Amul, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) has dropped two places to rank 18th in the Rabobank’s 2021 Global Top 20 Dairy Companies list. Amul was placed at 16th spot in 2020.Amul has achieved an annual turnover of $5.3 billion.
- French-based dairy company Lactalis has topped the list as the world’s largest dairy company with a turnover of US $23.0 billion.It has unseated Switzerland-based global behemoth Nestle, which dominated the list for decades.
- Rabobank’s Global Diary Top 20 Report is released annually to rank the dairy industry upon their sales data and financial statements.
The gross domestic product, GDP, of the country surged 20.1 percent in the April-June quarter of the current fiscal. According to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation data released, its best-ever fiscal-quarter numbers.
- GDP in the first quarter of 2021-22 is estimated at 32.38 lakh crore rupees at Constant Prices of 2011-12 as against 26.95 lakh crore rupees in the same period of last fiscal showing a growth of 20.1 percent.
- The GDP logged a high growth amid the opening of the economy after the lockdown to arrest Covid-19 and low base effect as the economy witnessed a contraction of 24.4 percent in the first quarter of 2020-21 fiscal.
ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS
Naspers' Prosus set to Acquire BillDesk for $4.7 BillionIn one of the biggest deals in the Indian consumer internet space, global player Prosus NV said its fintech business PayU will buy digital payments provider BillDesk for USD 4.7 billion (about Rs 34,376.2 crore). With the deal, the Netherlands-incorporated Prosus NV’s investment in India will jump to more than USD 10 billion.
- The PayU-BillDesk transaction, which is subject to approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI), is expected to close by early 2022.
SPORTS
GM Iniyan wins Noisiel International Open chess tournamentIndian Grandmaster P Iniyan won the Noisiel International Open 2021 Chess Tournament, scoring eight points from nine rounds in the Classical event after securing the top prize in the Blitz section.
- Iniyan (Elo rating 2506) finished half a point ahead of higher rated GM Yuri Solodovnichenko of Ukraine (Elo 2561) who secured 7.5 points, while French International Master Kambrath Yannick took 3rd place.
South African pacer Dale Steyn has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.
- The 38-year-old made the announcement, bringing to an end a 17-year career, which saw him play in 93 Tests, 125 ODIs and 47 T20Is for the Proteas.
AWARDS
- Dorje Angchuk of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Govt. of India, is also the first Indian to bag the position in the prestigious body.
- This honour is meant to officially recognise those individuals who have significantly contributed to the progress of astronomical research and culture in their country.
- This recognition by the International Astronomical Union is for ‘his passionate promotion of astronomy in the Ladakh region, through his excellent astrophotography’.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
IIT Madras to Develop Online Marketplace called e-Source to Tackle e-WasteThe Indian Institute of Technology Madras is developing an online platform to tackle e-waste. Called e-Source, it will link stakeholders in the formal and informal economy.
- The Indo-German Centre for Sustainability (IGCS) is spearheading the initiative, which aims to connect buyers and sellers of used and waste electronic equipment.
- The institute’s researchers, who are working on a method to generate a $50 billion economy from e-waste, said the world is expected to double the e-waste it has generated from the current 56.3 million tonnes.
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