NATIONAL UPDATES:
1.
Prime Minister launch the IBU of Deutsche Bank at GIFT-IFSC: The Gujarat
International Finance-Tec City (GIFT City) in Ahmedabad is home to the Deutsche
Bank AG’s IFSC Banking Unit (IBU), which was opened by Prime Minister Narendra
Modi. The IBU will first offer financial products in the areas of trade
finance, fixed income, and currencies, according to Deutsche Bank AG. According
to a release, the IBU will offer all authorised international finance products
to Deutsche Bank‘s clients in India and abroad. Additionally, it will enable
cash pooling and other deposit proposals for Indian and foreign clients within
the parameters of the current regulations. Key Points:
a)
Deutsche
Bank’s IBU will help its top clients obtain external commercial borrowing (ECB)
financing and provide products including factoring and bank guarantees, all of
which are anticipated to aid international clients in improving supply chain
efficiency and lowering financing costs.
b)
The
securities services offering will also serve all asset classes, including
equities, fixed income, commodities, and derivatives, and will help increase
investment flows.
c)
In
order to help MSMEs (micro, small, and medium-sized businesses) grow
internationally, Deutsche Bank intends to provide trade credit solutions.
d)
The
GIFT City IBU will give the bank the ability to offer liquidity in INR to
foreign investors and foreign corporations with exposure to India on a 24/7
basis.
Note: Chief Executive Officer, Deutsche
Bank Group, India: Kaushik Shaparia; CEO of Deutsche Bank, Asia Pacific and
Member of the Management Board: Alexander von zur Muehlen; Headquarters:
Frankfurt, Germany,
2.
Monkeypox virus: Centre creates special task force under VK Paul: The Centre
announced that it will set up a task force to keep track of monkeypox cases in
India. Dr. VK Paul, Member (Health), Niti Aayog, will serve as the team’s
leader, and members will include the Secretaries of the Union Health Ministry,
Pharma, and Biotech. Dr. Paul countered that there was no need for excessive
alarm but that society and the nation should remain on guard. Key Points:
a)
After
India reported its first fatality from monkeypox, this step was taken. A man
from Kerala who had tested positive for monkeypox in another nation passed away
in Thrissur.
b)
The
death from monkeypox would be the fourth outside of Africa and the first to
occur in India. The young person, according to sources, arrived in Kerala on
July 22 from the United Arab Emirates.
c)
In
Punnayur, the health department summoned a conference after a young man
allegedly died from monkeypox. A contact list and route plan for the deceased
youth have been created in the interim. It is advised that contact people move
into isolation.
d)
Notably,
India has so far documented five instances of monkeypox, with three cases
occurring in Kerala, one in Delhi, and one in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh.
3.
Aurangabad: First smart city in India to receive data from Google’s EIE: The Environmental
Insights Explorer (EIE) data from Google was officially released in Aurangabad,
according to the Aurangabad Smart City Development Corporation Limited (ASCDCL).
This makes Aurangabad the first city in the nation to experience this. The data
would aid research groups in formulating sustainable solutions for the city,
according to ASCDCL authorities, who noted that the EIE dashboard for
Aurangabad was introduced by Google during an event in New Delhi.
According to ASCDCL officials, the latest
breakthrough is consistent with the city’s commitment to the United Nations’
“race to zero” and “race to resilience” programmes and will help create a
sustainable environment for future generations. Soon, Google’s EIE parameters
for Aurangabad and its official study will be made available to the public.
4.
Nilekani Center established by IIT-M to promote Indian language technology: The Nilekani
Centre at AI4Bharat was established by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)
Madras to advance the state of Indian language technology and make a positive
social impact. Rohini and Nandan Nilekani have donated Rs 36 crore through
Nilekani Philanthropies to fund this Center, which was opened by Nandan
Nilekani. IIT Madras launched the AI4Bharat programme to create open-source
language AI for Indian languages.
The center’s main goal will be to carry out
fundamental research that will be helpful to society as a whole. All the
research data would be accessible to start-ups and other sectors working on
Indian language technology because the objective is to energise the ecosystem
to do more for Indian languages.
5.
Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik releases a book titled ‘Lockdown Lyrics’: Odisha Chief
Minister Naveen Patnaik has released a book titled Lockdown Lyrics’, a
collection of poems written by Sanjukta Dash. The poems are an unadulterated
narration of the author’s experiences and exasperations during the pandemic.
She has reflected all the trauma & tribulations and hope and aspirations of
humanity during this most critical journey of society in a long time.
INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:
1.
Japan, US, and South Korea participate in missile defence drill: A joint ballistic
missile defence exercise between South Korea, the US, and Japan will begin this
week in the waters off Hawaii as part of increased security cooperation against
North Korea‘s growing military threats, a media outlet claimed. According to
the sources, the biannual Pacific Dragon drill will take place. Australia and
Canada will also take part in the exercise in the edition of 2022, in addition
to the three other nations. Key Points:
a)
The
exercise, which involves the mobilisation of eight warships and two planes,
aims to improve coordination between the participating nations in the
identification, tracking, and reporting of ballistic missile targets.
b)
The
exercise was planned after the defence chiefs of South Korea, the United
States, and Japan decided to improve their security coordination during their
trilateral meeting on June 11 in Singapore, which was held in conjunction with
the annual Shangri-La Dialogue.
c)
The
South Korea-US-Japan missile warning and ballistic missile search and tracking
exercises will go forward, the three parties decided at the meeting.
d)
The
trainings had been going on quietly since 2018 as part of initiatives to
promote diplomacy with North Korea.
e)
Concerns
that the North would undertake what would be its seventh nuclear test or other
provocative actions to ‘ratchet up tensions’ have led to the three countries to
recently be seen uniting.
2.
Auguste Tano Kouamé appoints World Bank’s New Country Director for India: The World Bank has
appointed Auguste Tano Kouamé as the Country Director for India, effective. He
replaces Junaid Kamal Ahmad who recently completed a five-year term. He most
recently served as the World Bank’s Country Director for the Republic of
Türkiye, where he led the expansion of the Bank’s country program and deepened
its support to Türkiye’s climate agenda. Prior to this, he served as Director
of the Department of Human Development and Economic Management in the World
Bank Group’s Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) from January 2017 to April
2019.
OTHER UPDATES:
SPORTS
1.
Commonwealth Games 2022: Weightlifter Harjinder Kaur claimed the bronze medal: India’s Harjinder
Kaur claimed the bronze medal in the women’s 71kg weightlifting at the
Commonwealth Games 2022 at Birmingham. England’s Sarah Davies won gold with a
Commonwealth Games record of 229kg, while young Alexis Ashworth of Canada won
silver with a total lift of 214kg. ‘
2.
Commonwealth Games 2022: In Judo, Shushila Devi Likmabam won the silver medal: Shushila Devi
Likmabam got a silver in the women’s judo 48kg final, giving India its seventh
medal of the Commonwealth Games 2022. Shushila had defeated Harriet Bonface in
the quarterfinal, and notched up a second win by beating Priscilla Morand of
Mauritius in the semis to assure herself a medal. Sushila was in for a gold
finish but came up short against South Africa’s Michaela Whitebooi in the
final.
3.
Commonwealth Games 2022: In Judo, Vijay Kumar bagged the bronze medal: Vijay Kumar Yadav
handed India second medal in Judo of the Commonwealth Games 2022 as he beat
Petros Christodoulides of Cyprus in the men’s 60kg tie to clinch bronze.
Earlier, India’s Vijay Kumar Yadav defeated Dylon Munro of Scotland to enter
the bronze medal match.
4.
‘Games Wide Open’ unveiled as Paris Olympics 2024 official slogan: The organizers of
the 2024 Paris Olympics unveiled “Games Wide Open” as their official slogan.
The 2024 Summer Olympics are scheduled to take place from July 26 to August 11,
2024. The slogan was released alongside a video promising the Olympics and
Paralympics would be “faster”, “higher” and “stronger” — as well as “more
inclusive, more brotherly, more beautiful.” Athletes will compete in a total of
329 events in 32 sports. As Paris 2024 aims to be the most gender-balanced Olympic
Games in history, the organizers have placed women’s competitions in the
spotlight.
Note: International Olympic
CommitteeHeadquarters: Lausanne, Switzerland; International Olympic Committee
President: Thomas Bach; International Olympic Committee Founded: 23 June 1894,
Paris, France.
5.
IOC Commission Athletes’ adds four new members: The four new
members were appointed by International Olympic Committee President, Thomas
Bach. The appointments were made in consultation with Emma Terho, Chair of the
IOC Athletes’ Commission. While the focus of the four newest members will soon
shift to the elected positions as the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games approach.
Four Olympians have joined the IOC Athletes’ Commission to help represent the
athlete voice within the Olympic Movement:
a)
Allyson
Felix (USA): Sprinter
b)
Alistair
Brownlee (UK): triathlon
c)
Oluseyi
Smith (Canada): Sprinter
d)
Masomah
Ali Zada (first refugee athlete on any IOC commission): Cyclist
According to the IOC Athletes’
Commission Regulations: The IOC President may appoint up to 11 members to the
commission to help ensure a balance between sports, genders, and regions. They
can each serve a term of up to eight years. With these additions, the IOC AC
will consist of 14 women and nine men. One of the appointees, in particular,
will play a vital role in representing the interests of refugee athletes.
BANKING AND FINANCE
1.
RBI’s Financial Inclusion Index(FI-Index) Inches Up: The Reserve Bank
of India’s composite financial inclusion index (FI-Index) capturing the extent
of financial inclusion across the country rose to 56.4 in March 2022, showing
growth across parameters. RBI now publishes the index annually in July every
year. The index stood at 53.9 in March
last year. It was at 43.4 for the period ending March 2017, showing rapid
improvement in reach of financial services over the past five years.
The Index Calculatation: The index
captures information on various aspects of financial inclusion in a single
value ranging between 0 and 100, where 0 represents complete financial
exclusion and 100 indicates full financial inclusion. It comprises three broad
parameters — access with 35% weightage, usage with 45% weightage and quality
with 20% weightage. It incorporates details of banking, investments, insurance,
postal as well as the pension sector.
What Is Financial Inclusion: Financial
inclusion means that individuals and businesses have access to useful and
affordable financial products and services that meet their needs –
transactions, payments, savings, credit and insurance – delivered in a
responsible and sustainable way. Being able to have access to a transaction
account is a first step toward broader financial inclusion since a transaction
account allows people to store money, and send and receive payments. A
transaction account serves as a gateway to other financial services.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
1.
GST collection for July 2022 second highest ever at Rs 1.49 lakh crore: Goods Services Tax
collection has risen 28 per cent to touch the second-highest level of Rs 1.49
lakh crore in July on the back of economic recovery and steps taken to curb tax
evasion. Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection stood at Rs 1,16,393 crore in
the same month a year ago. GST, introduced in July 2017, touched a record high
of Rs 1.68 lakh crore in April 2022.
About the Goods Services Tax:
a)
This
is the sixth time that the monthly GST collection crossed the Rs
1.40-lakh-crore mark since the inception of GST and the fifth month at a
stretch since March 2022.
b)
In
July, revenues from import of goods were 48 per cent higher and the revenues
from domestic transactions (including import of services) were 22 per cent higher
than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year.
c)
Of
the Rs 1,48,995 crore GST collected in July, Central GST is Rs 25,751 crore,
State GST is Rs 32,807 crore, Integrated GST is Rs 79,518 crore (including Rs
41,420 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 10,920 crore
(including Rs 995 crore collected on import of goods).
AWARDS AND HONOURS
1.
Tamil Nadu Police received President’s colour from Venkaiah Naidu: In an usual event
at Rajarathinam Stadium in Chennai, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin received the
renowned “President’s Colours” for the Tamil Nadu Police from Vice-President of
India M. Venkaiah Naidu. One of the very few law enforcement agencies in the
nation to be awarded the coveted “President’s Colours” is the Tamil Nadu
Police. To commemorate the achievement, Mr. Stalin declared that each police
officer in the service would get a medal.
Speaking at the event, Mr. Naidu claimed
that the Tamil Nadu Police was among the best in the nation and was renowned
for providing exemplary service. He acknowledged that Tamil Nadu was home to
the nation’s first women’s commando unit, but said that “a lot remains to be
done to give them equal opportunities” and encouraged police officers to be
“particularly sensitive” to crimes against women. The State Disaster Response
Force, Commandos, Coastal Security Group, and the Nilgiris police contingents
reviewed the Guard of Honour after the chief guest had taken the formal salute.
At the ceremony, the Tamil Nadu Police Pipe Band also put on a magnificent
performance. The parade’s commander was IPS officer A. Pradeep.
2.
Canadian Jeffrey Armstrong received ‘Distinguished Indologist for 2021’ award: Canadian scholar,
Jeffrey Armstrong has been awarded the Indian Council for Cultural Relations
(ICCR) Distinguished Indologist for 2021. He has presented the award in a
ceremony by Manish, India’s consul-general in Vancouver. The citation for the
award states that it has been conferred upon Armstrong “in recognition of his
outstanding contribution to the study/teaching/research in India’s philosophy,
thought, history, art, culture, Indian languages, literature, civilisation,
society, etc”. He becomes the seventh recipient of this award and joins the
earlier recipients from Germany, China, Japan, the UK, South Korea and the USA.
About the ICCR Distinguished
Indologist for 2021:
a)
The
annual award was instituted in 2015 during the First World Indology Conference
hosted by the then President of India bringing prominent Indologists from the
world over to a single platform with Indian scholars to deliberate upon the
scope of promoting Indian studies abroad.
b)
The
award is conferred upon a foreign scholar for “their outstanding contribution
in the study, teaching and research in any of the fields of Indian Studies”.
c)
The
first recipient of the award in 2015 was Professor Heinrich Freiherr Von
Stietencron from Germany.
d) The award comprises a citation, a gold-plated medallion, and US$ 20,000 (approximately ₹1.6 million).
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