NATIONAL NEWS
IIT Delhi hosts fifth World Congress on Disaster ManagementThe fifth World Congress on Disaster Management on the overarching theme of “Technology, Finance and Capacity for Building Resilience to Disasters in the Contexts of Covid-19” was organised the IIT Delhi campus.
- Union defence minister, Rajnath Singh, virtually inaugurated the WCDM 2021 where he called for closer global cooperation to strengthen international architecture for building structures to prevent and manage future disasters.
- The World Congress on Disaster Management is an initiative of Disaster Management Initiatives and Convergence Society (DMICS) to bring researchers, policy makers and practitioners from around the world on the same platform to discuss various challenging issues of disaster risk management.
As a 5T initiative, the Department of Water Resources and the UNICEF signed a Letter of Agreement (LoA) in a ceremony presided over by department Principal Secretary Anu Garg for collaboration on communication and policy initiatives of the department.
- This endeavour aims engaging with the community on sustainable water management, prudent water use, equity in water distribution, water conservation, women as principal stakeholders in water governance, participatory irrigation management, etc.
- For the first time since its inception, is unleashing its soft power through greater community engagement in matters of water governance, water conservation and keeping water clean.
After freight and passenger segments, the railways is set to begin a third segment dedicated to the tourism sector and launch a set of around 190 theme-based trains called Bharat Gaurav trains, minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.
- The railways minister said these trains could be run both by the private sector as well as the IRCTC.
- He also said the fare of these trains would be practically decided by tour operators but the railways will ensure that there is no abnormality in the prices.
Ministry of labour released a new series of Wage Rate Index (WRI) with base year 2016, being compiled and maintained by the Labour Bureau, an attached office of the ministry. The new series of WRI with base 2016=100 will replace the old series with base 1963-65, a labour ministry statement said.
- The government periodically revises the base year for major economic indicators to reflect the changes in the economy and to capture the wage pattern of workers, it said. Base year revision will enhance the coverage and make index more representative.
- A total of 37 industries have been covered in the new WRI basket (2016=100) as against 21 industries in the 1963-65=100 series.
- The New WRI Series with base 2016=100 would be compiled twice a year on a point-to-point half-yearly basis, as on 1st January and 1st July of every year.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
India among top 6 destinations in Asia attracting investments in seed sectorIndia is among the six countries countries in South and South-East Asia that attracts most investments in the domestic seed sector from the global seed industry.
- Apart from India, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Bangladesh attract investments in breeding, production and processing.
- Twenty eight seed companies report investments in seed production in 10 countries in the region, where company activities are usually minimal. Access to Seeds has said in its latest index, launched as part of World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA), said.
- East-West Seed, Bayer and Advanta have the most locations for seed production in the region and tend to involve smallholder farmers in their activities.
Collins Dictionary announced that its Word of the Year is “NFT” — digital assets that exploded in popularity this year along with the rise of cryptocurrencies.
- The term, which stands for the acronym for “non-fungible token,” has seen a “meteoric” rise in usage this year, up 11,000 percent from the prior year, Collins said.
External affairs minister (EAM) S Jaishankar attended the 20th meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Heads of Government (CHG).The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Kazakhstan. The meeting was held in Nur-Sultan in a virtual format.
- The SCO-CHG meeting is held annually to deliberate on a range of pressing regional issues with focuses on the trade and economic agenda of the bloc and to approve its annual budget.
BANKING & FINANCE
Union Bank of India, Capri Global Capital partner under co-lending termsUnion Bank of India has entered into a co-lending partnership with Capri Global Capital, under which they will disburse loans to MSMEs.
- The co-lending agreement aims to enhance last-mile finance and drive financial inclusion to MSMEs by offering secured loans between Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 crore, the public sector lender said.
Bajaj Allianz General Insurance announced its partnership with deep-tech startup TropoGo for the distribution of a drone Insurance product.
- The drone insurance product will cover damage to the Drone and Payload it carries, Third Party Liability along with additional covers for BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) Endorsement and Night Flying Endorsement.
- Drone owners and drone manufacturing companies can avail an annual third-party and comprehensive coverage for accidental damage, theft, and disappearance, it said, adding that users can opt for additional endorsements for night flying, BVLOS, payload and data loss liability.
BOB Financial Solutions Ltd (BFSL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of Baroda (BoB), has partnered with OneCard, to launch a co-branded mobile-first credit card.
- The virtual credit card, powered by a mobile app, will be delivered in under three minutes and the metal card will be delivered in three to five days, BFSL and OneCard said in a joint statement.
- The internationally valid credit card will be issued by BFSL and managed by OneCard on VISA’s Signature platform.
- OneCard has been launched by FPL Technologies, a fintech start-up. It allows users to control all aspects of the card, including locking the card, enabling offline and online tractions, enabling domestic and international transactions, and paying the bill from an app.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
India's GDP growth to rebound strongly, FY22 growth seen at 9.3%: Moody'sIn its latest note, Moody's Investors Services said that India's economic growth is seen to rebound strongly in the next fiscal year. Moody's forecasts the country's GDP at 9.3% in 2022.
- While the rating agency predicts a GDP of 7.9% by the end of March of the fiscal year 2023.
- Moody's highlighted that consumer demand, spending and manufacturing activity is recovering following the easing of pandemic restrictions. These trends, including high commodity prices, will propel significant growth in rated companies’ EBITDA over the next 12-18 months.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
SWADESH, World’s First Multimodal Brain Imaging Data and Analytics, Developed at DBT-National Brain Research Centre, HaryanaThe Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for the Ministry of Science and Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurated Project SWADESH. The project SWADESH is a first of its kind large-scale multimodal neuroimaging database designed specifically for the Indian population.
- The unique brain initiative has been developed by the DBT-National Brain Research Centre (DBT-NBRC), Gurgaon, Haryana.
- SWADESH brings big-data architecture and analytics for various neurological diseases under one platform.
- It will enable the researchers in conducting multimodal brain studies to understand and manage Alzheimer’s disease and several neurological disorders.
The Shiyan-11 satellite was launched aboard a Kuaizhou-1A carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi Desert in Inner Mongolia.
- Shiyan-11 is built for testing, but the purpose of the satellite's latest mission has not yet been revealed. Another series of Chinese satellites called Shijian is used for technology verification.
- Kuaizhou-1A, a general-purpose, small-sized rocket series featuring fast deployment speed, is designed and manufactured by the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation for commercial launches.
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