NATIONAL UPDATES:
1. Lalduhoma takes oath as Chief Minister of Mizoram: Veteran politician and Zoram People's Movement (ZPM) leader Lalduhoma sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Mizoram at
Raj Bhawan in Aizawl. Governor Dr
Hari Babu Kambhampati administered the oath to Mr Lalduhoma. Former
IPS officer Lalduhoma led
his party to a decisive victory in the recently concluded Assembly elections. The
party bagged 27 seats in the 40-member House. The ruling Mizo National Front
(MNF) was reduced to 10 seats while the BJP got 2 seats.
2. PM Modi to inaugurate Uttarakhand Global Investors
Summit in Dehradun: Prime Minister Narendra
Modi will inaugurate the ‘Uttarakhand Global Investors Summit 2023’ at Forest Research
Institute, Dehradun. The two-day summit is being organized on the theme of “Peace to Prosperity”. ‘Uttarakhand
Global Investors Summit 2023’ is a step towards establishing Uttarakhand as a
new investment destination. The summit will be attended by thousands of investors and
delegates from across the world.
3. RBI keeps policy repo rate unchanged at 6.5 percent: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has kept the policy repo rate
unchanged at 6.5 percent in
its latest monetary review meeting. This is for the fifth time in a row that
the MPC has maintained
the status quo. The Governor said, real GDP
growth for the current year 2023-24 is projected at 7% - with
Quarter 3 at 6.5% and Quarter 4 at 6%. Real GDP growth for Quarter one of 2024-25 is
projected at 6.7% for Quarter 2 at 6.5% and for Quarter 3 at 6.4%.
4. Max Life Insurance appoints Rajiv Anand as chairman: Max Life Insurance Board of Directors has
appointed Rajiv Anand as
the new chairman of Max Life Insurance. He has been associated with the Company
as a Non-Executive Director since
April 6, 2021. Earlier, Mr. Rajiv was the deputy managing director at Axis
Bank. Rajiv has joined Max Life Insurance with more than 30 years of
experience. Govt. extends restrictions on onion exports
to March 31: India has extended
restrictions on the export of onions until March 31, 2024. The restriction,
which stipulates a minimum export price of $800 per metric ton, was earlier
valid until Dec. 31, 2023. This measure aims to boost the availability of
onions in the domestic market and control their prices.
INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:
1. UNICEF to unveil 'Green Rising' initiative at COP28: UNICEF's Generation Unlimited, in collaboration with India's Ministry of
Environment, Forest, and Climate Change will unveil the "Green
Rising" initiative at COP28 in Dubai. The global "Green Rising"
initiative and the "Green Rising India Alliance" marks a
collaborative effort involving UNICEF, Generation Unlimited, and a diverse
network of public, private, and youth partners.
2. Ajit Doval participates in 6th NSA-level Meeting of
Colombo Security Concla: National Security Advisor Ajit Doval participated in the 6th NSA-level
Meeting of the Colombo Security Conclave in Port Louis, Mauritius. The 6th
NSA-level Meeting of the Colombo Security Conclave was hosted by Mauritius. The
NSA of Member Countries participated along with senior delegates from
Bangladesh and Seychelles. Member States reviewed the progress of the decisions
taken at the 5th NSA-level Meeting and agreed on a Roadmap of Activities for
2024.
3. Nirmala Sitharaman & 3 other Indians among Forbes
list of ‘World’s 100 Most Powerful Women’ of 2023: Union Finance Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman, HCL Corporation Chairperson Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Steel Authority
of India Chairperson Soma Mondal and
Biocon Executive Chairperson Kiran
Mazumdar-Shaw are the four Indians among the 100 named in Forbes’ annual list
of ‘The World’s Most Powerful Women of 2023. Sitharaman has made it to
the list for the fifth year in a row, ranking at number 32. This is the
64-year-old BJP leader’s best ranking so far — in 2022, she had ranked at 36,
while she was 37 in 2021, 41 in 2020 and 34 in 2019. While Malhotra was ranked
60th, Mondal took the 70th spot and Mazumdar-Shaw the 76th. They had made it to
the prestigious list last year also at 53rd, 67th and 72nd spots respectively.
OTHER UPDATES:
SPORTS
1. ICC unveils vibrant logo for men's and women's T20
World: The International
Cricket Council (ICC) unveiled a vibrant makeover of the ICC T20
World Cup’s new brand identity. The logo seamlessly transforms the ‘T20’ text
into a battling stance enclosed within a kinetic sphere, embodying the drama of
each delivery. The transformation aims to encapsulate the inherent drama,
fast-paced action and high-octane moments that define T20 cricket – a format
celebrated for its relentless energy.
2. China’s Ningbo to host World Weightlifting
Championships 2026: The Chinese city of Ningbo will host the 2026 World Weightlifting championships, following the
2024 edition in Manama (Bahrain) and the 2025 edition in Forde (Norway). The
International Weightlifting Federation announced in a statement after a vote by
the IWF Executive Board, meeting in Doha, Qatar, that Ningbo has experience in
successfully staging international sports events. Ningbo, located in China’s
eastern coastal province of Zhejiang, is not far from the cities of Shanghai
and Hangzhou. The venue of the championship will be the Ningbo Olympic Sports Centre,
which was built in 2019 with a 10,000-seat capacity, reports Xinhua.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
1. Meta and IBM launched ‘AI Alliance’ to promote
open-source AI development: Facebook’s
parent company, Meta, and IBM have launched a new group called the AI Alliance advocating
for an “open-science” approach to AI development that puts them at
odds with rivals Google, Microsoft and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI. These two
diverging camps – the open and the closed – disagree about whether to build AI
in a way that makes the underlying technology widely accessible. The AI
Alliance – led by IBM and Meta and including Dell, Sony, the chipmakers AMD and
Intel and several universities and AI startups – is “coming together to
articulate, simply put, that the future of AI is going to be built
fundamentally on top of the open scientific exchange of ideas and on open
innovation, including open source and open technologies”, Gil said in an
interview with the Associated Press before its unveiling.
BANKING AND FINANCE
1. RBI has canceled the license of Sitapur-based Urban
Co-operative Bank: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has canceled the license of
Sitapur-based Urban Co-operative Bank in Uttar Pradesh. The bank's license was
canceled due to lack of adequate capital and prospects of earning. The RBI has prohibited the bank from
any banking, including depositing money and repaying its customers. As per the
data submitted by the bank, 98.32 per cent of the depositors are entitled to
receive full amount of their deposits from DICGC.
2. SBI to acquire 20 percent stake in SBI Pension Funds
for Rs 230 crore: The Executive Committee of the Central Board
(ECCB) of the State Bank of India
(SBI) has accorded final approval to the Bank for acquiring 20 percent stake
held by SBICAPS (SBI Capital Markets Ltd) in SBIPFPL (SBI Pension Funds Private
Ltd). The acquisition, which will be completed by December 15,
2023, is for a cash consideration of ₹229.52 crore, as per SBI’s regulatory
filing. SBICAPS is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SBI. Post-acquisition, SBI will
have 80 percent stake in SBIPFPL, with the balance being held by SBI Funds
Management Ltd. The latter is a joint venture of SBI (62.53 percent) and Amundi
(36.73 percent).
3. Federal Bank Named “Bank of the Year (India)” by
Financial Times: Federal
Bank, a leading financial institution, has been recognized as “Bank of the Year (India)” by Financial
Times owned The Banker, one of the only three global awards that
considers the work of banks spanning 120 countries. This prestigious
recognition is a testament to the Bank’s unwavering commitment to innovation,
customer-centric services, and its outstanding contributions to the banking
industry over the past year. One of the standout initiatives that garnered
attention was the introduction of the Digital Personal Loan by Federal Bank.
This innovative product allows customers to seamlessly apply for and receive
loans entirely online.
AWARDS AND HONOURS
1. CII Sports Business Awards 2023 to KIIT India: Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) bagged the Best Sports
Facility award in the first edition of the CII Sports Business Awards 2023.
Dr.
Achyuta Samanta (KIIT and KISS founder) received the award from Chanakya
Chaudhry, chairman of the CII National Committee on Sports. Jay Shah and Nita
Ambani and Samanta were recognised as the best Sports Business Leaders.
2. Indian-Origin Novelist Meira Chand Receives
Singapore’s Highest Arts Award: 81-year-old Indian-origin writer Meira Chand was among the three
Singaporeans conferred the Cultural Medallion, the city-state’s most
prestigious arts accolade, in recognition of their artistic excellence and
contribution to enriching the country’s arts and culture scene. Meira Chand,
fellow novelist Suchen Christine Lim and Malay dance veteran Osman Abdul Hamid
received the award from President Tharman Shanmugaratnam at a ceremony held at
the Istana. The award comes with an SGD 80,000 (approximately Rs 49 lakh) grant
for each recipient to support their artistic pursuits. A Singaporean of
Swiss-Indian parentage, Meira Chand, along with Lim, is the first
English-language female writer to be conferred the award since Ho Minfong in
1997.
3. Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi named
Time Athlete of the Year for 2023: Lionel Messi, the
captain of Argentina, has been named
Time magazine’s Athlete of the Year for 2023. Messi won the Ballon d’Or
for a record-breaking eighth time and, by moving to Inter Miami, raised
awareness of the sport in the US. Messi joins the likes of Simone Biles,
Michael Phelps, LeBron James, and the United States women’s national team to
win the award. New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge won the award in
2022.
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