NATIONAL NEWS
Centre to Invest Rs 64,000 Crore in Health Sector: Mansukh MandaviyaUnion Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said about Rs 64,000 crore will be invested by the Centre in creating health infrastructure in the country over the next five years.
- The union health and family said that the central government is working to provide health security to all through various health welfare schemes.
The Finance Ministry has allocated additional funds of ₹10,000 crore as an interim measure for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme after it ran out of funds allocated in the budget, according to the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD).
- Further, allocation may be made upon assessment of demand during the Revised Estimate stage, said the rural development ministry — the nodal ministry for the implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
- In the Union Budget presented earlier this year, the government allocated Rs 73,000 crore to the scheme for the financial year 2021-22.
The Centre has constituted a Central Vista Oversight Committee to directly oversee the Rs 20,000 crore project for a period of two years, informed an official statement issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
- Former finance secretary Ratan P Watal has been appointed the chairman of the panel, which will submit its reports or recommendations to the Housing and Urban Affairs ministry.
- PK Tiwari, former Deputy CAG, Shailendra Roy, former Director L&T, Prof Mausam, IIT, Delhi has been appointed as the member of the committee, Joint Secretary, MoHUA will be Convenor of the committee.
A quarter of India’s population is still poor, according to the first National Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) released by the NITI Aayog, but the situation has improved since then, officials said.
- Bihar has the highest proportion of people who are poor (51.91%), followed by Jharkhand (42.16%), Uttar Pradesh (37.79%) and Madhya Pradesh (36.65%), the index showed.
- Kerala, Goa, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu and Punjab have registered the lowest poverty rate among all states and are at the bottom of the index.
- The national MPI 2021 has been developed by NITI Aayog in consultation with 12 ministries and in partnership with state governments and index publishing agencies – Oxford University’s Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, and United Nations Development Programme.
In a pioneering initiative to take tourism deep into the state's interiors and rural hinterland, Kerala Tourism launched the 'STREET' project in select spots in seven districts, which would help visitors experience the diversity of offerings in these locales.
- The project, conceived by the Responsible Tourism Mission, is inspired by the 'Tourism for Inclusive Growth' slogan of The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO),
- The STREET is an acronym for Sustainable, Tangible, Responsible, Experiential, Ethnic, Tourism hubs. Green street, cultural street, village life experience street, experiential tourism street, agri-tourism street, water street and art street are the themes that have been planned as part of the project.
State-level scheme sanctioning committee (SLSSC) approved drinking water supply schemes worth Rs 225.24 Crore for Uttarakhand.
- These schemes will provide tap water connections in 293 villages spread over 7 districts of the State. Of the 12 water supply schemes sanctioned, 11 are multi-village and one is a single village scheme.
- This year, Jal Shakti Ministry has allocated Rs. 1,443.80 Crore to Uttarakhand, for ensuring clean tap water in every household and freeing women and girls from drudgery of fetching water from a distance.
In Madhya Pradesh, the ‘Kranti Surya Gaurav Kalash Yatra’ is being launched from the birthplace of freedom fighter Jannayak Tantya Mama, Barod Ahir village of tahsil Pandhana in Khandwa district.
- Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has called upon the citizens to participate in this yatra and pay obeisance to Tantya Mama.
- The holy soil of Tantya Mama’a birthplace will be filled in the Kalash and worshipped. This Kalash will then pass through various tribal areas of Malwa and Nimar region.
The 7th India International Science Festival (IISF) 2021 will be held in Panaji, Goa from 10th to 13th of December.
- The 4 days festival will be organized by the Ministry of Earth Sciences in collaboration with the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Department of Atomic Energy, the Department of Space and the Government of Goa.
- More than 100 scientists from different fields will participate and 740 science films from 70 countries will be screened. The festival theme will be based on Aazadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav with the motto of Celebration of science and its promotion by all.
Indo-German Science and Technology Centre, IGSTC has launched a first-of-its-kind programme called Women’s Involvement in Science and Engineering Research, WISER.
- The programme aims at promoting women in the field of research and development through lateral entry and encouraging their involvement at various joint research projects.
- This programme will be in addition to the ongoing flagship 22 programme of the centre. This programme by IGSTC, a joint initiative of the DST and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Government of Germany, will support women scientists holding regular and long-term research positions in academia or research institutes and industry.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
BANKING & FINANCE
Exim Bank commits $100 million loan for Covid vaccines in FY 22Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) has committed loans worth $100 million for domestic manufacturers of Covid-19 vaccines or related products.
- These loans are being extended to about half a dozen drug makers in the country during the present financial year. The loans for vaccines are also being extended to other countries.
- This will be an advantage for Indian firms as the financing mandates Africa to source vaccines and related products only from India.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a penalty of Rs 1 crore on State Bank of lndia (SBI) for contravention of provision of sub section (2) of Section 19 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
- This penalty has been imposed in exercise of powers vested in RBI under the provisions of section 47 A (1) (c) read with sections 46 (a) (i) and 51 (1) of the Act.
An internal working group of the Reserve Bank on the ownership and corporate structure of private sector banks has favoured allowing promoters to maintain any percentage of holding in the first five years-- more than the present minimum of 40 per cent now favoured -- and then capping it at 26 per cent after 15 years of operations.
- According to the RBI's current norms, a promoter of a private bank needs to pare holdings to 20 per cent within 10 years, and to 15 per cent within 15 years.
- Releasing the report on the ownership guidelines and corporate structure for private sector banks, the Reserve Bank explained the cap on promoters' stake in the long run of 15 years may be raised from the current levels of 15 per cent to 26 per cent of the paid-up voting equity share capital of the bank.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Indian Oil, BPCL, HPCL launch Model Retail Outlet SchemeIndian Oil, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited announced the launch of Model Retail Outlet Scheme and a Digital Customer Feedback Program called Darpan@petrolpump.
- Three oil PSU’s have joined hands to launch Model Retail Outlets to enhance service standards and amenities, across their networks, which serve over 6 Crores consumers everyday.
- The scheme involves an intense 5 Level evaluation process of over 70000 retail outlets in the country on a set of core service and facility parameters as well as standard of customer amenities e.g., clean and hygienic washrooms, customer centric innovative offerings etc.
- The Retail Outlets have been divided into 4 categories based on sales performance, facilities offered and their percentage of digital transactions at the point of sale in keeping with the Digital India imperative.
A strategic cyber intelligence centre of excellence (CoE) will be set up in Assam's largest city Guwahati soon.
- A tripartite agreement for establishing the centre was signed between Assam Electronics Development Corporation Limited (AMTRON), Mastercard Asia/Pacific Pvt Ltd, and I-Sec Security Services Pvt Ltd.
- The Cyber COE is envisaged to provide intelligence services to the Government of India, state governments, Public Sector Undertakings, and corporates within the country against the growing and rapidly evolving cybersecurity threat landscape.
SPORTS
Senior Women's National Football Championship kicks off in KeralaThe senior women's national football championship is all set to kick off from November 28 in four venues across Kerala.The championship will conclude on December 9.
- The matches will be held in four venues -- Municipal Stadium, Kuthuparamba, EMS Corporation Stadium, Kozhikode, Calicut University, Kozhikode and Calicut Medical College Kozhikode.
- There are 32 teams that have been divided into eight groups, with the teams in each group set to play against each other for the qualifying stage. The winners of qualifying matches will play the semi-finals, with the two winners from the last four proceeding to the final.
Parmjeet Kumar became the first Indian para-powerlifter to win a medal in World Championships as he claimed a bronze at the ongoing edition in Tbilisi, Georgia.
- Kumar, who trains at Sports Authority of India Centre in Gandhinagar, won the bronze in men’s 49kg category with an effort of 158kg.
Indian tennis player Ramkumar Ramanathan won his maiden Challenger level singles title, 12 years after turning a Pro, when he outplayed Evgeny Karlovskiy in the summit clash of the ATP80 Manama event.
- The 27-year-old Ramkumar, who had lost six Challenger finals in his career before, beat his Russian rival 6-1 6-4 in 68 minutes.
- Ramkumar, seeded sixth and ranked 222 in the world, sealed the first set when the Russian’s backhand return sailed over the baseline.
APPOINTMENTS
Ace mountaineer Harshwanti Bisht elected as first woman president of Indian Mountaineering FoundationNoted mountaineer from Uttarakhand Harshwanti Bisht has earned the distinction of being elected the first woman president of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF).
- She was elected to the coveted post on November 20, winning 60 out of a total of 107 votes.
- It is for the first time that a woman has been elected as the president of the IMF, which was founded in the year 1958.
Czech President Milos Zeman appointed the leader of a centre-right alliance Petr Fiala as prime minister in a ceremony he performed from a plexiglass cubicle after testing positive for COVID-19.
- Fiala, 57, heads the three-party coalition Together (Civic Democratic Party, Christian Democrats, TOP 09 party), which garnered 27.8% of the vote in early October. Fiala succeeds Andrej Babis.
- The alliance narrowly defeated the ANO movement led by billionaire Babis. The centrist group of the Mayors and Independents and the left-wing Pirate Party joined with Fiala’s coalition to remove Babis, who had served as prime minister since 2017.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
In a first, Meghalaya uses drone to deliver medicinesIn a first, a drone developed by a Gurugram-based company was put to service to carry lifesaving drugs to a remote part of the state. The successful delivery has inspired the government and the founders of the startup to explore other areas where drone delivery could be put to use.
- TechEagle, the Gurugram-based company, partnered the Meghalaya government and Smart Village Movement (SVM) to carry out India's first hybrid e-VTOL drone delivery of lifesaving drugs.
- The collaboration is aimed to transform the healthcare supply chain for people living in remote areas.
OBITUARIES
Veteran Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim passes awayVeteran songwriter Stephen Sondheim, who redefined the American musical theatre, has passed away. He was 91.
- From the comedic 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum' to the ground-breaking 'Company' and the experimental 'Pacific Overtures', his shows have had undoubtedly transformed the Broadway musical stage.
- He's a recipient of Tony Awards plus a 2008 Special Tony Award for lifetime achievement in the theatre. He also received a Pulitzer Prize ('Sunday in the Park'), and an Academy Award for the song 'Sooner or Later'.
