NATIONAL UPDATES:
1. Indore Gets
India’s Cleanest City Tag for 6th Time in a Row: Swachh Survekshan Awards:
Indore bagged the title of India’s cleanest city for the sixth time in a row as
the results of the Central government’s annual cleanliness survey ‘Swachh
Survekshan Awards 2022’ were announced. Madhya Pradesh secured the first
position in the category of best performing states, followed by Chhattisgarh
and Maharashtra. As per the survey results:
a)
Surat is the second cleanest city and
Navi Mumbai comes a close third in the category of cities with a population of
more than a lakh.
b)
Tripura has bagged the top rank among
the states having fewer than 100 urban local bodies.
c)
In the category of cities having a
population of fewer than one lakh, Maharashtra’s Panchgani was ranked number
one, followed by Chhattisgarh’s Patan (NP) and Maharashtra’s Karhad.
d)
Haridwar was adjudged the cleanest
Ganga town in the category of more than 1 lakh population, followed by Varanasi
and Rishikesh.
Swachh Survekshan: Swachh Survekshan is
the world’s largest urban sanitation and cleanliness survey which has been
conducted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs since 2016. It aims to
encourage large-scale citizen participation and create awareness amongst all
sections of society about the importance of working together towards making
towns and cities better places to reside in.
The scale of Swachh
Survekshan is evidenced in the consistent increase in the number of cities over
the years. From surveying 73 major cities in 2016 and 434 cities in 2017, the
7th edition of Swachh Survekshan has become became the world’s largest urban
cleanliness survey, with 4,355 cities having participated in the survey. This
year’s survey with a “People First” theme captured an unprecedented number of
citizen feedback this year – over 9 crores, a marked increase from last year’s
5 crores.
2. CBI launched
Operation ‘GARUDA’ to dismantle drug networks: The Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI) has launched a multi-phase ‘Operation Garuda’. Operation
Garuda will help to disrupt, degrade, and dismantle networks with international
linkages through the rapid exchange of criminal intelligence on drug
trafficking and coordinated law enforcement action across international
jurisdictions through Interpol. Key Points:
a)
Operation Garuda is a Global Operation
that was initiated in close coordination with Interpol and Narcotics Control
Bureau.
b)
Operation Garuda was initiated to
combat the smuggling of illicit drugs and psychotropic substances, with a
special focus on the Indian Ocean Region.
c)
The CBI and the NCB have been closely
coordinating with all the states and UTs police agencies for information
exchange, analysis, and development of Operational Information.
d)
Across multiple states of India several
arrests, searches, and seizures were carried out under Operation Garuda.
e)
In this operation apart from CBI and
NCB, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, and
Manipur also participated in Operation Garuda.
f)
During this special operation, 6600
suspects were checked, 127 new cases were registered, and 175 persons including
six absconder’s offenders were arrested.
3. Government
approved Railways proposal for redevelopment of 3 major stations: Union Cabinet
has approved Indian Railways’ proposal for the redevelopment of 3 major railway
stations in the country. These are New Delhi Railway Station, Ahmedabad Railway
Station and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in Mumbai. The project
involves an investment of approximately ₹10,000 crores. Currently, the
redevelopment of 199 railway stations across India is already underway. The
first phase of the project is covering stations having footfalls of 50 lakhs
and above each year. The overall cost of the redevelopment of these 199
stations as well as the New Delhi, CSMT and Ahmedabad railway stations is
Rs.60,000 crore. The progress the re-development work of station with 10 lakhs
and above will begin in the second phase.
4. IRCTC signed an
agreement with Chhattisgarh toursim board to promote tourist spots of state: The
Chhattisgarh Tourism Board has signed an MoU with the Indian Railway Catering
and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to promote tourist places of the state. The
IRCTC will attract travelers from all over the country by promoting
Chattisgarh’s tourism on their social media websites like Twitter, and Facebook.
Tourism in the state was neglected for a long time and even after the formation
of the state (in 2000) it could not get due popularity and the focus remained
centred on Maoist issues.
Note: Chhattisgarh
Capital: Raipur; Chief Minister: Bhupesh Baghel; Governor: Anusuiya Uikey
5. Sujoy Lal Thaosen,
Anish Dayal Singh named as New DGs of CRPF, ITBP: Senior Indian Police Service
(IPS) officers Sujoy Lal Thaosen and Anish Dayal Singh have been appointed as
the new director generals of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and
Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) respectively. Thaosen’s scheduled retirement
is in November this year, while Singh will superannuate in December 2024. The
order for their appointment was issued by the Personnel Ministry after sanction
from the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by the prime
minister.
Note: Central Reserve
Police Force Headquarters: New Delhi, India; Central Reserve Police Force
Formed: 27 July 1939; Central Reserve Police Force Motto: Service and Loyalty;
ITBP Founded: 24
October 1962; ITBP Headquarters: New Delhi, India.
INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:
1. Lalit Bhasin
elected new President of Indo-American Chambers of Commerce: Noted lawyer Lalit
Bhasin has been appointed as the national president of Indian American Chambers
of Commerce (IACC). Bhasin, before being elected to the post, was the executive
vice president of IACC. Bhasin is the 54th national president of IACC, which
was set up in October 1968 and is headquartered in Mumbai, having 14 offices
all over India, with a large membership from large, medium and small business
entities.
Note: The
Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC), was established in 1968
2. ISRO scientist
Anil Kumar elected Vice President of IAF: Senior Indian Space Research
Organization scientist Anil Kumar has been appointed as the Vice-President of
the International Astronautical Federation (IAF). Dr. Anil Kumar is currently
serving as the Associate Director, of ISRO Telemetry, Tracking, and Command
Network (ISTRAC).
About International
Astronautical Federation (IAF): The International
Astronautical Federation was founded in 1951. IAF is one of the world’s top
space advocacy bodies with 433 members in 72 nations. International
Astronautical Federation Congress (IAC) is an annual space event and it is
attended by more than 6000 participants, IAC is organized by the IAF. The
International Astronautical Federation Congress includes networking events,
talks, and a technical program on advances in science and exploration,
applications, and operations, technology, infrastructure, and space and
society.
3. Optimus robot’s
prototype unveiled by Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla: Elon Musk unveils Optimus
robot’s prototype: Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, unveiled a model of the
humanoid “Optimus” robot, which uses some of the same Artificial Intelligence
(AI) software and sensors as the Autopilot driving assistance system in Tesla
vehicles. At Tesla AI Day 2022, which was held to show off how far the
company’s research into autonomous robots and vehicles had progressed, Optimus
was unveiled. Key Points:
a)
Optimus was initially seen during the
event pacing around the stage, along with updates on new self-driving software
and a first look at the Dojo hardware that powers Tesla’s AI research,
according to media sources.
b)
Elon Musk claims that this humanoid
prototype is capable of more than what was demonstrated in real life.
c)
But at the Tesla AI Day celebration, it
was used for the first time without a tether.
d)
Musk also asserted that Tesla’s Optimus
is different from previous really stunning humanoid robot demos since it is
designed for mass manufacturing in the “millions” of units and is extremely
competent.
OTHER UPDATES:
SPORTS
1. Indian javelin
thrower Shivpal Singh suspended till 2025 for doping: Indian javelin thrower,
Shivpal Singh has been suspended from competing till October 2025 due to a
doping violation. As per the Olympics.com he subsequently tested positive for
the banned substance methandienone, a performance-enhancing steroid. As a
result, the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) suspended Shivpal Singh for four
years. The ban comes into effect from October 21, 2021, which means that the
27-year-old will be out of action till October 2025.
Shivpal Singh is the
fifth notable Indian athlete to be caught in the doping net this year. Discus
thrower Navjeet Kaur Dhillon, sprinter Dhanalakshmi Sekar and quarter-miler MR
Poovamma have all been banned from competitions due to violations. Tokyo
Olympian Kamalpreet Kaur, too, failed a dope test.
BANKING AND FINANCE
1.
Active credit cards drop 2.3 million in August over new RBI norms: The Reserve Bank
of India’s (RBI) new rules, which call for the deactivation of cards that have
been inactive for a year, are mostly to blame for the decline in the number of
outstanding credit cards, which fell to 77.99 million in August from over 80 million
in July. Key Points:
a)
Credit
card spending fell 3% on a high base in August, the first time in several
months that net card additions decreased month over month (MoM) by 2.8%.
Nevertheless, spending exceeded Rs 1 trillion for the sixth straight month.
b)
For
some years, the banking system had been adding roughly 1-1.5 million cards
every month. However, credit cards outstanding for the sector fell by 2.3
million in August, primarily due to steep drops seen by HDFC Bank and Axis
Bank. This is partly due to the adoption of the new RBI regulations, which
demand that credit card firms delete dormant cards after 365 days.
c)
HDFC
Bank and Axis Bank’s net credit card additions got significantly decreased in
August. Outstanding credit card balances at HDFC Bank decreased from 17.94
million in July to 16.42 million in just one month, an 8.47% decrease. The
number of outstanding credit cards at Axis Bank decreased by 10.6% in July,
from 9.93 million to 8.87 million. Axis Bank is the fourth-largest credit card
issuer in the nation, behind HDFC Bank, which is the largest.
d)
According
to the RBI’s circular, cards inactive for more than 12 months as of 1st July
2022 had to give clear consent to continue or be closed.
e)
On
the other side, SBI Card added the most cards in the reviewed month (296,259),
followed by ICICI Bank (211,520).
f)
In
terms of active cards, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank had market share declines of 130
basis points (bps) and 100 bps, respectively. SBI Card and ICICI Bank saw
increases of 90 bps and 80 bps, respectively. In light of this, the SBI Card
stock increased 3.4% on the BSE.
2. New debit, credit
card rules kick in with Tokenisation: The rules and regulations for online
payments for debit and credit cards have been changed. The Reserve Bank of
India’s (RBI) card-on-file (CoF) tokenization norms came into effect on 1st
October 2022. RBI’s CoF tokenization aims to improve the payment experience of
cardholders. The new rule released by RBI says that neither businesses nor
payment aggregators can save customer card details on their platforms. The card
details can only be saved by card networks or issuing banks.
Benefits of
Tokenisation
a)
Tokenisation has replaced sensitive
card information including card number, and card expiry with
cryptographically-generated random strings.
b)
Once the card is Tokenised, the
generated card token can be used for processing payments as a substitute for
card details.
c)
The Tokenised card eliminates the risk
of loss of sensitive card information.
Impact of
Tokenisation: The impact of Tokenisation on
customers is minimal. The customers are only required to enter their card
details the first time for issuance of a token. After that, the merchant will
trigger the tokenization process at no cost or effort to the customer.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
1. ‘Hurun India 40 & under self-made rich list
2022’ topped by Zerodha’s Nikhil Kamath: Nikhil
Kamath, the cofounder of Zerodha, topped the ‘IIFL Wealth Hurun India 40 &
Under Self-Made Rich List 2022’ with a net worth of Rs 17,500 crore. Bhavish
Aggarwal, the founder of Ola, came in second place (Rs 11,700 crore), and
Divyank Turakhia of Media.net in third place (Rs 11,200 crore). Key Points:
a) According to Hurun, this year the number of under-40 billionaires surged
to 1,103, an increase of 96. The cumulative wealth of the entrants in 40 &
Under Self-made List has increased by 11% in comparison to last year, currently
standing at Rs 1,83,700 crore highlighting the increasing rate of
entrepreneurship that exists in the ecosystem.
b) A majority of young billionaires on the list live in India while some
live abroad. The report said 47 of the 53 entrepreneurs reside in India.
India’s Silicon Valley Bengaluru has the highest number of billion residents.
The Top 10 in
IIFL Wealth Hurun India 40 & Under Self-Made Rich List:
|
Rank |
Name |
Wealth (INR Cr) |
Company |
|
1 |
Nikhil Kamath |
17,500 |
Zerodha |
|
2 |
Bhavish Aggarwal |
11,700 |
Ola Electric |
|
3 |
Divyank Turakhia |
11,200 |
Investments |
|
4 |
Nakul Aggarwal |
9,900 |
BrowserStack |
|
5 |
Ritesh Arora |
9,900 |
BrowserStack |
|
6 |
Binny Bansal |
8,100 |
Flipkart |
|
7 |
Ritesh Agarwal |
6,300 |
OYO |
|
8 |
Harshil Mathur |
5,500 |
Razorpay |
|
9 |
Shashank Kumar |
5,500 |
Razorpay |
|
10 |
Neha Narkhede &
family |
4,700 |
Confluent |
2.
Hero MotoCorp Appoints Movie Star Ram Charan New Brand Ambassador: The Hero MotoCrop
has appointed actor Ram Charan as the new brand ambassador. Hero MotoCrop, the
country’s largest two-wheeler maker has launched the Hero GIFT Programme. The
Hero GIFT stands for the Grand Indian Festival of Trust. This initiative
includes exciting model refreshers, retail benefits, several financing schemes,
pre-booking offers, and many more.
Key Points related to the New Hero
GIFT Programme:
a)
The
customers will get HF Deluxe in festive gold stripes and pleasure+ XTEC in Pole
Star Blue.
b)
The
festive portfolio will also include the eye-catching Xtreme 160R stealth 2.0
edition.
c)
The
company is also offering insurance benefits, easy financing schemes along with
other promotional activities.
d)
The
Glamour XTEC personifies the evolved preferences of today’s youth with its
elevated glamour quotient and consistent performance.
e)
The
new campaign or initiative emphasizes the new age youth culture of swiping.
f)
The
campaign depicts Glamour XTEC setting the benchmark in the market with its new
age features, and premium and youthful appearance.
AWARDS AND HONOURS
1. Nobel Prize 2022:
Svante Pääbo awarded Nobel Prize in medicine: The Nobel Prizes 2022 for
medicine or physiology was awarded to Swedish geneticist Svante Pääbo. Svante
Pääbo was given the award “for his discoveries concerning the genomes of
extinct hominins and human evolution,” the Nobel Prize committee.
About his research: Through his
pioneering research, Svante Pääbo accomplished something seemingly impossible:
sequencing the genome of the Neanderthal, an extinct relative of present-day
humans. He also made the sensational discovery of a previously unknown hominin,
Denisova. Importantly, Pääbo also found that gene transfer had occurred from
these now extinct hominins to Homo sapiens following the migration out of
Africa around 70,000 years ago. This ancient flow of genes to present-day
humans has physiological relevance today, for example affecting how our immune
system reacts to infections.
The Nobel Prize: The prestigious award comes with a gold medal and 10 million Swedish kronor (over $1.14 million). The prize money comes from a bequest left by the prize’s creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, who died in 1895. The other prizes are for outstanding work in the fields of physics, chemistry, literature, peace and economics.
