NATIONAL UPDATES:
1.
NITI Aayog and WRI Jointly Launch ‘Forum for Decarbonizing Transport’: NITI Aayog and
World Resources Institute (WRI), India, jointly launched the ‘Forum for Decarbonizing
Transport’ in India. NITI Aayog is the implementing partner for India. The aim
of the project is to bring down the peak level of GHG emissions (transport
sector) in Asia (in line with a well below 2-degree pathway), resulting in
problems like congestion and air pollution. The Forum has been launched under
the NDC-Transport Initiative for Asia (NDC-TIA) project. The NDC Transport
Initiative for Asia (TIA 2020-2023) is a joint programme of seven organizations
that will engage China, India, and Vietnam in promoting a comprehensive
approach to decarbonizing transport in their respective countries.
Note: NITI Aayog Formed: 1 January 2015;
NITI Aayog Headquarters: New Delhi; NITI Aayog Chairperson: Narendra Modi; NITI
Aayog CEO: Amitabh Kant;
World Resources Institute Headquarters:
Washington, D.C., United States; World Resources Institute Founder: James
Gustave Speth; World Resources Institute Founded: 1982.
2.
Ministry of Jal Shakti launches ‘SUJALAM’ Campaign: Ministry of Jal
Shakti has launched a ‘100 days campaign’ named SUJALAM to create more and more
Open Defecation Free (ODF) Plus villages by undertaking wastewater management
at the village level. The Campaign would help in the management of the
wastewater and in turn, would help to revive the water bodies through the
creation of 1 million Soak-pits and also other Greywater management activities.
The campaign started on August 25, 2021, is part of the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit
Mahotsav’ celebrations.
The three focus areas of the SUJALAM
campaign are: (1) Construction of 1 million soak pits; (2) Retrofitting of
toilets and (3) Access to toilets for new households.
Note: Minister of Jal Shakti: Gajendra
Singh Shekhawat.
3.
India’s First Agri Sectoral Index GUAREX launched by NCDEX: India’s first
sectoral index in the Agri commodities basket i.e. GUAREX was launched by the
National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange Limited (NCDEX). GUAREX is a price
based sectoral index that tracks the movement in the futures contracts of guar
gum refined splits and guar seed on a real-time basis. This index product will
offer a lot of opportunities to the value chain. The weightage of guarseed and
guar gum refined splits in the index will be 63 per cent and 37 per cent,
respectively. The index futures will be cash-settled. Initially, Guarex futures
contracts expiring in September and October will be made available for trading.
India is the world’s largest guar producer
accounting for 80-85 per cent of the output, while Rajasthan is the country’s
top producer with 80 per cent market share. Guar seed was sown on 1.81 million
hectares so far this year, down from 2.25 million hectares logged in the same
period last year.
Note: NCDEX CEO: Vijay Kumar Venkataraman;
NCDEX Founded: 15 December 2003; NCDEX Headquarters: Mumbai.
4. Abhay
Kumar Singh appointed as joint secretary in Ministry of Cooperation: Abhay Kumar Singh
has been appointed as joint secretary in the Ministry of Cooperation. This
ministry was recently formed with an aim to strengthen the cooperative movement
in the country. The appointment of Abhay Kumar Singh has been cleared by the
Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by PM Modi. Singh, a 2004-batch
Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Bihar cadre, has been
appointed as joint secretary in the ministry for a combined tenure of seven
years against the newly created post.
Note: Union Minister of Cooperation: Amit
Shah.
5.
Centre forms panel for doubling production & quadrupling exports of
handlooms in 3 yrs: Union
government has constituted a committee for doubling the production and
quadrupling the exports of handlooms in a span of three years. It will be
headed by Chairman of Fashion Design Council of India Sunil Sethi.The committee
will submit the final report within 45 days from the day of constitution. It
will suggest the strategy and policy framework for doubling the production and
for improving the quality of handloom products with the aim of enhancing income
of the weavers.
INTERNATIONALUPDATES:
1.
Ajit Doval chairs 11th BRICS NSA Virtual Meeting: The 11th Meeting of
the BRICS High Representatives Responsible for National Security was held, via
video conferencing. The National Security Advisor of India Ajit Doval hosted
the meeting since India is the chair for the 2021 BRICS summit. The 15th BRICS
Summit is scheduled to be held in September 2021. The BRICS meeting of the NSA
provided a platform for the five countries to strengthen political-security
cooperation. Secretary of the Security Council of Russia Gen Patrushev, Chinese
Politburo Member Yang Jeichi, South African Deputy Minister of State Security
Ncediso Goodenough Kodwa and Gen Augusto Heleno Ribeiro Pereira, Minister of
State and Head of the Institutional Security Cabinet of the Presidency of
Brazil attended the high-level meeting.
Significance of the meeting:
(1) The BRICS NSA meeting adopted and
recommended the BRICS counter-terrorism action plan for consideration by the
BRICS Summit.
(2) NSA Ajit Doval and other top security
officials of the BRICS discussed the Afghanistan scenario, and developments in
Iran, West Asia and the Gulf region.
(3) The Action Plan aims to further
strengthen existing mechanisms of cooperation in areas such as financing and
combating terrorism, misuse of the internet by terrorists, curbing the travel
of terrorists, border controls, protection of soft targets, information
sharing, capacity building, and regional and international cooperation.
2.
India emerges as Second in Global Manufacturing Risk Index: India has emerged
as a global manufacturing hub and effectively surpassed the United States to
become the world’s second most desired manufacturing destination. This
indicates the growing interest in India by manufacturers as a preferred
manufacturing hub over other countries including the United States and the
manufacturing giant nation, China. India’s ranking was reflected in Cushman
& Wakefield’s 2021 Global Manufacturing Risk Index. The index ranks 47
countries across Europe, the Americas, and the Asia Pacific. This year, the US
is at third position, followed by Canada, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Lithuania,
Thailand, Malaysia and Poland.
3.
UAE announces the world’s tallest observation wheel ‘Ain Dubai’: The world’s largest
and tallest observation wheel is set to be unveiled in Dubai, UAE on October
21, 2021. The observation wheel called as ‘Ain Dubai’, is 250 m (820 ft) in
height, located at Bluewaters Island. The record-breaking wheel is 42.5 m (139
ft) taller than the current world’s tallest observation wheel, High Roller, in
Las Vegas, measuring 167.6 m (550 ft).
Note: UAE Capital: Abu Dhabi; UAE Currency:
United Arab Emirates dirham; UAE President: Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
OTHER UPDATES:
SPORTS
1.
Manika Batra, G. Sathiyan win mixed doubles final at World Table Tennis
Contender: Manika
Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran put up a clinical show in the mixed doubles
final at the WTT (World Table Tennis) Contender Budapest 2021 as they defeated
the Hungarian pair of Nandor Ecseki and Dora Madarasz 3-1. They registered an 11-9, 9-11, 12-10, 11-6
win in the final to win the title. However, Manika lost in the semi-final of
the women’s singles and could not make the final. Manika lost her semi-final
4-0 to Russian Elizabet Abraamian, who takes on Mongolia’s Xiaoxin Yang in the
final.
2.
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran Wins ITTF Czech International Open Men’s Singles Title: India’s top paddler
G Sathiyan beat Yevhen Ryshchepa of Ukraine comprehensively and in straight
sets 11-9, 11-6, 11-6,14-12 in the final of the Czech International table
tennis tournament at Olomouc in Czech Republic. The Indian stormed into the
final after his semifinal rival Truls Moregard of Sweden conceded in the third
game due to back pain 11-4, 11-8, 8-2. Last week, the Swedish sensation had won
the WTT Contender Budapest. This is only his third ITTF Challenger title
following triumphs in Belgium Open 2016 and Spanish Open 2017.
BANKING AND FINANCE
1.
RBI extends card payment tokenisation facility to laptops, wearable devices: In 2019, RBI had
permitted authorized card payment networks to offer card tokenisation services
to any token requestor (i.e., third-party app provider) through mobile phones
and tablets. Now RBI has extended the scope of tokenization to include consumer
devices – laptops, desktops, wearables (wristwatches, bands, etc.), Internet of
Things (IoT) devices, etc. The permission for tokenization extends to various
channels [e.g., Near Field Communication (NFC) / Magnetic Secure Transmission
(MST) based contactless transactions, in-app payments, QR code-based payments,
etc.] or token storage mechanisms (cloud, secure element, trusted execution
environment, etc. The ultimate responsibility for the card tokenization
services rendered rests with the authorized card networks.
Tokenisation: Tokenisation
refers to the replacement of actual card details with a unique alternate code
called the “token”, which shall be unique for a combination of card, token
requestor, and device (referred hereafter as “identified device”).
2.
RBI approves re-appointment of Sandeep Bakhshi as ICICI Bank MD & CEO: The Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) has approved the re-appointment of Sandeep Bakhshi as the MD &
CEO of ICICI Bank. This will be with effect from October 15, 2021, till October
3, 2023. The shareholders at the Annual General Meeting held on August 9, 2019
had already approved the appointment of Mr Bakhshi for a period effective from
October 15, 2018, up to October 3, 2023. Bakshi, who was hand-picked by his
mentors- KV Kamath and N Vaghul, took over the charge in October 2018, after
his predecessor Chanda Kochhar’s exit following the ICICI Bank-Videocon loan
controversy.
Note: ICICI Bank Headquarters: Mumbai,
Maharashtra; ICICI Bank Tagline: Hum Hai Na, Khayal Apka.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
1.
BharatPe launches P2P lending app ‘12% Club’: BharatPe has
launched a “12% Club” app that will allow consumers to invest and earn up to 12
per cent annual interest or borrow at a similar rate. BharatPe has partnered
with LenDenClub (RBI-approved NBFC) for this app and lending arrangement.
Consumers can invest their savings anytime by choosing to lend money on the
“12% Club” app. Apart from this, consumers can avail of collateral-free loans
of up to Rs 10 lakh on the 12 per cent Club app for a tenure of 3 months.
Note: Chief Executive Officer of BharatPe:
Ashneer Grover; Headoffice of BharatPe: New Delhi; BharatPe Founded: 2018.
DEFENCE
1.
5th India-Kazakhstan Joint Training Exercise “KAZIND-21”: The 5th edition of
Indo- Kazakhstan Joint Training Exercise, “KAZIND-21” will be held from August
30 to September 11, 2021, at Training Node, Aisha Bibi, Kazakhstan. The joint
training exercise will boost the bilateral relations between India and
Kazakhstan Armies. The Exercise is also a platform for the Armed Forces of
India & Kazakhstan to train for Counter Insurgency/ Counter-Terrorism
operations in the mountainous, rural scenarios under UN mandate.
The Indian Army contingent represented by a
battalion of the Bihar Regiment consists of a total of 90 personnel led by a
Contingent Commander. The Kazakhstan Army will be represented by a company
group. The scope of Joint Exercise includes professional exchange, planning
& execution of the operation in counterterrorism environment at sub-unit
level and sharing expertise on skills at arms, combat shooting and experiences
in Counter Insurgency/ Counter-Terrorism operations.
Note: Kazakhstan PM: Askar Mamin, Capital:
Nur-Sultan, Currency: Kazakhstani Tenge.
OBITUARIES
1. Former India footballer and Olympian O Chandrasekhar passes away: Former India footballer O Chandrasekharan, popularly known as Olympian Chandrasekharan in his home state Kerala, passed away. Chandrasekharan, who played as a defender, was a member of the Indian team in the 1960 Rome Olympics the last time the country participated in football at the Games.
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