NATIONAL NEWS

PADMA

• Pay Roll Automation for Disbursement of Monthly Allowances (PADMA), an automated Pay and Allowances module for the Indian Coast Guard was inaugurated by Shri Rajnish Kumar, Controller General of Defence Accounts (CCDA), Ministry of Defence.

• PADMA is an automated platform leveraging latest technology which will provide seamless and timely disbursal of Pay and Allowances to around 15,000 Indian Coast Guard personnel.

• This module has been developed under the aegis of Defense Accounts Department and will be operated by Pay Accounts Office Coast Guard, Noida.
• It is also an Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative as the entire module has been designed and developed by Indian entrepreneurs assisted by domain experts.

DAD Synergy Conference

• The fourth Synergy Conference between the Indian Army and Defence Accounts Department (DAD) was held in New Delhi.

• The day-long conference was co-chaired by Vice Chief of Army Staff (VCOAS) Lt Gen BS Raju and Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA) Rajnish Kumar and attended by senior officers of Indian Army and DAD.

• The primary agenda of the conference included deliberations on the Agnipath scheme and the schedule for timely implementation of a system for pay and allowances for Agniveers.
• Other agenda items included improving the functioning of Pay and Accounts Offices (PAOs) for better service delivery to junior commissioned officers/other ranks of the Indian Army.

Indigenously-Developed Laser-Guided ATGM

• Indigenously-developed Laser-Guided Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) was successfully test-fired from Main Battle Tank (MBT)- Arjun by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Army in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra.

• The all-indigenous ATGM employs a tandem High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) warhead to defeat Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA) protected armoured vehicles.

• The ATGM has been developed with multi-platform launch capability and is currently undergoing technical evaluation trials from 120 mm rifled gun of MBT Arjun.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Gabon and Togo to Join the Commonwealth

• The Commonwealth has admitted Gabon and Togo as its 55th and 56th members respectively. Both countries are former French colonies.

• Leaders accepted applications by the two west African countries at the closing session of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda.
• Rwanda was the last country to join the Commonwealth, in 2009.
• The Commonwealth, which began as eight nations in 1949.
• The eligibility criteria for Commonwealth membership, amongst other things, state that an applicant country should demonstrate commitment to democracy and democratic processes.

BANKING

Airtel Payments Bank Partners with Axis Bank

• Airtel Payments Bank has partnered Axis Bank, India’s third largest private sector bank to digitise the cash collection system in the country’s tier III cities and semi-urban regions.

• This partnership with Airtel Payment Bank is yet another step towards embracing digitisation, offering greater convenience and faster solutions to our vast customer base in the semi-rural regions of the country.

• It would also speed up the payment cycle.
• Axis Bank’s agents will no longer have to travel back to the branch to deposit the collected EMI amount as they can deposit the amount at any Airtel Payments Bank outlet in the neighbourhood, and it will be immediately transferred to the Axis Bank accounts.

SBI’s Establishment of Operations Support Subsidiary

• The State Bank of India (SBI) has received in-principel approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for its proposed operations support subsidiary aimed at bringing down the cost-to-income ratio.
• The pilot will be launched soon within a quarter or so in a few circles and once the results are seen, it would be rolled out across India.
• This subsidiary is expected to provide support services mainly for agriculture, micro, small and medium enterprises, other micro-loans, data entry operations, and activities that can be undertaken as allowed for Business Correspondents, among others.
• SBI’s cost-to-income ratio stood at 53.3 percent in FY22, an improvement of 240 basis points over FY19 levels.

SPORTS

Eoin Morgan Announced Retirement

• 2019 World Cup-winning captain of England Eoin Morgan announced his retirement from international cricket.

• Morgan is England’s all-time leading run-scorer in ODI and T20 cricket with 6,957 and 2,458 runs respectively.
• He is the only man to lead the team to an ODI World Cup Success.
• He steps down as England’s leading run-scorer and most capped player in both white-ball formats.

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

KK Venugopal to Continue as Attorney General

• Attorney general KK Venugopal has been given another three months of extension as his present tenure was to end on June 30, 2022.

• KK Venugopal was appointed by the President of India as Attorney General for India in July 2017.

• Tushar Mehta was appointed as the solicitor general, Venugopal was appointed AG.

President of the International Weightlifting Federation

• Mohammed Jalood was elected as the new President of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) at the 2022 IWF Special & Electoral Congress in Tirana, Albania.

• He Succeeds the incumbent interim leader, Michael Irani.

• Mohammed Jalood is the first Asian to became President of IWF.

IMPORTANT DAYS

National Statistics Day

• National Statistics Day is celebrated every year on 29 June.

• The Government of India decided to celebrate the 29th of June every year as the National Statistics Day as recognition to Prof. Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis for his contribution in the fields of economic planning and statistical development.

• For his contributions, Mahalnobis has been considered as the Father of Modern Statistics in India.
• The theme for the year 2022 is ‘Data for Sustainable Development’.

OBITUTARY

Malayalam Actor Ambika Rao

• Malayalam actor and assistant director Ambika Rao, who is best known for her performance in ‘Kumbalangi Nights’ passed away. She was at the age of 58.

• She has been working in the entertainment industry for nearly two decades.

• Ambika Rao entered the movie industry as an assistant director.

Hockey Player Varinder Singh

• Former Indian hockey player and one of the best right-half Indian players in the 1970s, Varinder Singh passed away.

• 75-year-old Singh, who was a member of the 1972 Munich Olympics bronze medal winning Indian hockey team, was born on 16 May, 1947 in the village Dhannowali near Jalandhar in Punjab.

• He was also part of the 1973 World Cup silver winning Indian Hockey team and the 1975 World Cup winning Indian hockey team.
• In 2007, he was conferred with the Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award.