NATIONAL UPDATES:
1. The
book titled, ‘Tree & Serpent: Early Buddhist Art in India’, authored by: The book titled, ‘Tree & Serpent: Early Buddhist Art in
India’, authored by John Guy, would be released soon. This book is
published by Mapin in collaboration with The Metropolitan Museum of
Art (MET) in New York. It is a pioneering study of the emergence
of Buddhist art in southern India, featuring vibrant
photography of rare works It will feature over 125 objects,
including a series of spectacular sculptural masterpieces from southern
India on public display
2. Ashok
Leyland bags orders worth Rs 800 crore from Indian Army: Ashok Leyland (A subsidiary of the Hinduja Group) has bagged
orders worth Rs 800 crore from the Indian Army. Reason: To
deliver specialized vehicles to the defense sector. These vehicles
includes the Field Artillery Tractor (FAT 4x4) and the Gun Towing Vehicle
(GTV 6x6). The FAT 4x4 and GTV 6x6 are specialized vehicles employed
by the Artillery for towing light and medium guns, respectively.
3. Cement
Manufacturers Association elects Neeraj Akhoury as its president: Neeraj Akhoury has been elected as the new President of
the Cement Manufacturers' Association (CMA) the apex body of India's
large cement manufacturers. While Parth Jindal has been appointed as Vice
President of CMA. Both were unanimously elected at the Extraordinary General
Meeting of CMA. ICI will reiterate its commitment to being India's partner in
nation-building for creating business value chains, supporting infrastructure
growth and a sustainability agenda.
4. Sarbananda Sonowal launches Global India Maritime
Summit: Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has
inaugurated the 3rd edition of its most prestigious ‘Global
India Maritime Summit’.
Objective
– To create an international forum for key decision makers and industry
leaders; to Provide opportunity platform for start-ups, researchers and
incubators; to Showcase the latest technology and emerging trends in the
maritime sector The Curtain Raiser for the ‘Global Maritime India Summit 2023’
will provide a glimpse into the grandeur and significance of the main summit,
highlighting India’s strength in the maritime sector and setting the stage for
fruitful collaborations and new investment opportunities. The event will focus
on new investment opportunities along with collaborations for knowledge and
technology, enhancing trade between nations and promoting
Ease-of-Doing-Business.
5. Maharashtra CM inaugurates PM MITRA Park in Amravati: Chief Minister of Maharashtra Eknath
Shinde has virtually inaugurated the PM Mega Integrated Textile
Regions and Apparel Park (PM MITRA Park) at Amravati, Maharashtra. A
Memorandum of Understanding of the PM-MITRA Park was signed between the
Government of India and the Government of Maharashtra at the event. MoUs were
also signed with investors for PM-MITRA Park. In March this year, the
Government of India announced the sites for setting up of 7 PM MITRA Parks for
the Textile industry. The Parks are aimed at creating world-class industrial
infrastructure that would attract large-scale investment including foreign
direct investment (FDI) and encourage innovation and job creation within the
sector. Inspired by the 5F vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi (i.e. Farm to
Fibre to Factory to Fashion to Foreign). The PM MITRA Parks are a major step
forward in realizing the Government’s vision of making India a global hub for
textile manufacturing and exports.
INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:
1. Fourth
Energy Transitions Working Group meeting in Goa: The
4th G20 Energy Transitions Working Group meeting chaired by Pankaj
Agarwal, the secretary of the Union Ministry of Power, is being held
at Goa on 19th July 2023. The Priority Areas focus on
healing our ‘One Earth’, creating harmony within our ‘One Family’, and
giving hope for our ‘One Future’. Highlights: ‘Enabling policies to
accelerate e-mobility’, ‘Promoting solar energy for universal energy access’
and ‘DRE applications for achieving SDG7 goals’.
2. Indian,
Indonesian naval ships to conduct joint exercise in Jakarta: Two frontline Indian Naval ships INS Sahyadri and INS
Kolkata arrived in Indonesia's Jakarta to participate in
the Maritime Partnership Exercise with the Indonesian Navy. INS Sahyadri
is the third indigenously designed and built Project-17
class stealth frigate and INS Kolkata is the first indigenously
designed and built stealth destroyer of the Project-15A class. Recently,
Indo-Indonesia concluded its bilateral Exercise Samudra Shakti-23 in
the South China Sea
3. India
and the US jointly launched a call for proposals on CET: India and the United States jointly launched a call for
collaborative proposals on “Critical and Emerging Technology: Quantum
Technologies and Artificial Intelligence for Transforming Lives". The Indo-US
Science and Technology Forum and the Secretariat for USISTEF have designed
the program. Aim: To foster technology innovation and
entrepreneurship in commercially viable and socially relevant areas.
4. Singapore’s
passport becomes the most powerful in the world:
According to the Henley Passport Index 2023, published by Henley &
Partners, Singapore becomes the world’s most powerful passport with visa-free
access to 192 travel destinations out of 227 around the world.
While
India ranked 80th with visa-free entry to 57 nations. Germany,
Italy, and Spain shared second place with 190 visa-free destinations. Japan
has slipped to third place as the number of destinations its passport can
access without a visa fell to 189.
5. Nokia
and TSSC launch 5G skill development centre in Gujarat: Nokia joined hands with Telecom Sector Skill Council
(TSSC) to establish a 5G skill development CoE at Kaushalya - The
Skills University, Gujarat. The Center of Excellence (CoE) at ITI
Kubernagar would establish a skill Lab dedicated to training individuals
in 5G technology skills. Aim: To offer job placements to at least 70% of
learners within 4-6 weeks after completing the course President and CEO of
Nokia: Pekka Lundmark
6. BIMSTEC meeting begins in Bangkok, Thiland: The BIMSTEC Foreign Ministers’ Retreat began in Thailand’s capital
city BIMSTEC is an economic and technical initiative which brings together the
countries of the Bay of Bengal for multifaceted cooperation. The retreat would
discuss ways to further deepen the BIMSTEC agenda and strengthen the
organization. The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and
Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a regional multilateral organization. Its
members lie in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal
constituting a contiguous regional unity. BIMSTEC not only connects South and
Southeast Asia but also the ecologies of the Great Himalayas and the Bay of
Bengal. It mainly aims to create an enabling environment for rapid economic
development; accelerate social progress; and promote collaboration on matters
of common interest in the region.
7. India & UAE sign MoU for planning to establish
IIT-Delhi campus: India and UAE have
signed an MoU for planning to establish the Indian Institute of Technology
(IIT) Delhi in Abu Dhabi, which could be the second IIT abroad after
Tanzania. The MoU was signed following talks between UAE President Sheikh
Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and PM Narendra Modi in Abu Dhabi. IIT Delhi – Abu
Dhabi will become operational by January 2024 by offering a Master’s program in
Energy Transition and Sustainability. Other Bachelor, Master’s, and Ph.D. Level
programs are expected to be offered from September 2024, in addition to
establishing research centers in the fields of sustainable energy, climate
studies, computing, and data sciences, according to a joint statement issued
after the dialogue.
8. Biden appoints Indian-American business leader Shamina
Singh: US President Joe
Biden has appointed Shamina Singh, a
prominent Indian-American business leader, to the President’s Export
Council. The President’s Export Council serves as the principal national
advisory committee on international trade. She is the Founder and President of
the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. The Council advises the president
of government policies and programmes that affect US trade performance,
promotes export expansion and provides a forum for discussing and resolving
trade-related problems among the business, industrial, agricultural, labour and
government sectors.
OTHER UPDATES:
SPORTS
1. Indian
Shuttler sets Guinness world record for fastest badminton shot: Indian shuttler Satwiksairaj Rankireddy managed to feature in
the Guinness World Record by striking the fastest smash in the ongoing
Korea Open 2023. He broke the record of Malaysian Tan Boon
Heong by surpassing his speed by 72 kmph and registered
a record-breaking speed of 565 kmph. He and his partner, Chirag Shetty,
are the only men's doubles pair from India to win the BWF World Tour 1000 &
be ranked inside the top 10 of the BWF World Ranking
2. Ruturaj Gaikwad to lead India men’s squads for 19th
Asian Games: The BCCI has announced both
the men’s and the women’s team which will take part in the
upcoming Hangzhou Asian Games, scheduled to start from September 23 and
end on October 8. The women’s cricket competition will take place from
September 19-28 while the men’s competition will start from 23 September 28 to
October 8. Both competitions will be played in T20 formats. The men’s team will
be captained by Ruturaj Gaikwad and boasts the talents of Yashasvi Jaiswal,
Rahul Tripathi, Tilak Varma and Rinku Singh among others. The likes of Yash
Thakur, Sai Kishore, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda and Sai Sudharsan are
standbys. Meanwhile, the women’s team will be led by captain Harmanpreet Kaur
with Smriti Mandhana as her deputy. Harleen Deol, Kashvee Gautam, Sneh Rana,
Saika Ishaque and Pooja Vastrakar are in the standby list. Cricket was part of
two editions of the Asiad, in 2010 and 2014, but India did not field a team.
After being left out of the 2018 Asiad in Jakarta, cricket has returned to the
programme for the Hangzhou Games, which were supposed to be held last year but
were postponed due to China’s zero-Covid policy. India men’s team: Ruturaj
Gaikwad (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul Tripathi, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh,
Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan,
Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Shivam Mavi, Shivam Dube, Prabhsimran Singh (wk)
3. Ajit Singh won gold medal in Para Athletics
Championship in Paris: Indian athlete Ajit Singh won the gold medal in the final of
men’s javelin throw F46 at the Para Athletics Championships in Paris. Ajit
Singh topped the event with a throw of 65.41m. He broke the previous
championship record of 61.89 held by Chunliang Guo of China. Rinku, another
Indian athlete, won the silver medal with a best throw of 65.38m. Sri Lanka’s
Dinesh Priyanta Herath and Rinku finished joint second in the event. Sundar
Singh Gujjar, representing India, finished fourth with a throw of 61.81m.
BANKING AND FINANCE
1. PhonePe
launches India’s first Health Insurance platform:
PhonePe Insurance Broking Services announced the launch of health insurance
plans that will for the first time in India offer monthly subscriptions Aim: To
reduce the burden by breaking down the premium payments
into manageable monthly installments These insurance plans come with
coverage up to one crore rupees, allow users to choose any hospital room. Only
platform in the country where customers can pay for Insurance in easy
installments through UPI on the PhonePe app
2. SBI
to set up Trustee Company to manage CDMDF:
SBI would set up a new trustee company as its wholly-owned subsidiary
for managing the Corporate Debt Market Development Fund. SBI has a 62.53
percent stake in SBI Funds Management Ltd. The fund will act as a
safety net to buy high-quality corporate debts when the bond
market gets stress. This will make investors feel more secure. It will also
improve the trading of these debts by setting up a system that can
step in and help during tough market situations.
3. ADB
retains India’s growth forecast at 6.4% for the current fiscal: The Asian Development Bank retained India's economic growth forecast
at 6.4 per cent for the current FY (2023-24) and 6.7 per cent for the next
FY (2024-25) The ADB noted that the inflation is expected to continue
to fall, and is expected to approach its pre-pandemic levels as fuel and food
prices decline The bank forecasted 3.6% inflation this year for developing
economies in Asia, and 3.4% in 2024
India's
economy grew by 7.2% in the 2022-23 fiscal ended in March 2023
AWARDS AND HONOURS
1. Prof.
Thalappil Pradeep of IIT Madras won the international EniAward: Prof. T. Pradeep from the Department of
Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) has won the
prestigious Eni Award 2023 Reason: To discover the advanced sustainable
and affordable nano-scale materials for the removal of toxic contaminants
from water Eni Award is considered among the top global honors for scientific
research in energy and environment. It is given in three categories-Energy
Transition, Energy Frontiers and Advanced Environmental Solutions
2. NTPC wins ET HR World Future Skills Awards 2023: NTPC has received the prestigious Economic Times (ET) HR World
Future Skills Awards 2023 for “Best use of AI/AR/VR in Learning and
Upskilling” and “Best Advance in Creating an Extended Enterprise Learning Programme”.
Director (HR) of NTPC Dillip Kumar Patel received the awards on behalf of NTPC
at a programme held in Gurugram. These awards bear testimony to NTPC’s focus on
the adoption of cutting-edge technologies such as virtual reality (VR) in
Learning and Development (L&D). NTPC has been adopting and
institutionalizing progressive and best HR practices, which have been
recognized by various prestigious fora at national and international levels.
OBITUARIES
1. Former Kerala CM Oommen Chandy passed away: Senior Congress leader and Former Kerala of CM Oommen Chandy passed away at the age of 79. He was the chief minister twice for a total of seven years (2004–2006 and again from 2011–2016). Chandy had also served as Minister of Labour, Home, and Finance in various governments headed by K Karunakaran and AK Antony. He also served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly. He was the longest-serving legislator, representing the Puthuppally Assembly constituency from 1970 until his death.
No comments:
Post a Comment