PM inaugurates Six Major Projects in Uttarakhand

NATIONAL NEWS

PM inaugurates Six Major Projects in Uttarakhand

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated 6 mega development projects in Uttarakhand under the Namami Gange Mission.
• Namami Gange Mission as the largest integrated river conservation mission, which not only aims at the cleanliness of River Ganga but also focuses on comprehensive upkeep of the River.
• He also inaugurated the Ganga Avalokan Museum, the first of its kind on the River Ganga at Haridwar and released a book “Rowing down the Ganges” and the new logo for the Jal Jeevan Mission.
• The Prime Minister also unveiled the ‘Margadarshika for Gram Panchayats and Paani Samitis under Jal Jeevan Mission’ (Guidelines for the Village Panchayats and Water Committees) on the occasion.

Fact: Union Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation - Gajendra Singh Shekhawat

Rajnath Singh launches Defence India Startup Challenge-4

• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has launched the Defence India Startup Challenge (DISC 4) during the iDEX event, featuring the initiatives aimed at expanding the horizons of Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) ecosystem in New Delhi.
• He also launched iDEX4Fauji initiative and Product Management Approach (PMA) guidelines.
• The iDEX4Fauji is a first of its kind initiative, launched to support innovations identified by members of the Indian Armed Forces and will strengthen simple innovation ideas from soldiers and field formations.
• The iDEX initiative stands out as one of the most effective and well-executed defence Start-up ecosystem created in the country.
• The government launched Defence Acquisition procedure 2020, which seeks to encourage the private industry to participate in the defence sector.

NFL Vijaipur has signed a MoU with ITI Raghogarh for skilling of youth

• National Fertilizers Limited, a PSU under the Department of Fertilizers, has tied up with Industrial Training Institute (ITI) Raghogarh (M.P) by signing a MoU, to train youth in various trades and to enhance the chances of their employability in heavy and process industry.
• The MoU is also to train youth in Electrician, Fitter and Welder trades.
• The MoU was exchanged between Sh Narender Singh, Chief Manager (HR), NFL Vijaipur unit and Sh J P Koli, Principal, ITI, Raghogarh, in the presence of Sh Jagdip Shah Singh CGM, NFL Vijaipur.
• NFL has five gas based Ammonia-Urea plants in Nangal and Bathinda plants in Punjab, Panipat plant in Haryana and two plants at Vijaipur in Guna District of Madhya Pradesh.

Andhra Govt Launches YSR Jala Kala Scheme To Facilitate Irrigation to Farmers

• Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has launched the 'YSR Jala Kala' scheme for the benefits of small and medium farmers in irrigation.
• The scheme under which bore wells will be drilled to benefit small and medium farmers who have no open source of water for irrigation at free of cost.
• About 3 lakh farmers will be benefited from 'YSR Jala Kala' and bring in 5 lakh acres under cultivation with an estimated cost of Rs 2,340 crore in 4 years.
• The farmer or a group of farmers with a landholding of 2.5 to 5 acres can apply for the scheme.
• All the eligible farmers can avail the new initiative by applying either online or through the village secretariats, which will be scrutinized after Hydro-geological and geophysical surveys.
• The state government has also developed a software application to monitor the implementation of the scheme. The farmers will get text messages in their registered mobile phone numbers on the status of their applications at every stage.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

India and Bangladesh to set up monitoring committee to review project implementation

• India and Bangladesh have agreed to set up a ‘High Level Monitoring Committee’  headed by the Secretary, Economic Relations Division of Bangladesh and High Commissioner of India in Bangladesh to regularly review the progress of implementation of projects being run with Line of Credit (Loc) provided by India.
• The decision was taken during the 6th meeting of the Joint Consultative Commission (JCC) which was held on a virtual platform.
• India assured Bangladesh that it would expedite the investment proposal from Bangladesh in case they face delays in approval.
• On the proposal of Bangladesh inviting investment from top investor of India, the External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar assured that it would encourage the potential investors to invest in Bangladesh.

UNDP and UN Women launch COVID-19 Global Gender Response Tracker

• UNDP and UN Women’s newly launched COVID-19 Global Gender Response Tracker shows the social protection and jobs response to the pandemic has largely overlooked women’s needs.
• According to new data released by UNDP and UN Women from the COVID-19 Global Gender Response Tracker, Most of the world’s nations are not doing enough to protect women and girls from the economic and social fallout being caused by the COVID-19 crisis.
• The tracker, which includes over 2,500 measures across 206 countries and territories, specifically analyses government measures with a gender lens in three areas: those that tackle violence against women and girls (VAWG), support unpaid care, and strengthen women’s economic security.
• The results signal that 42 countries, one-fifth (20%) of those analysed, have no gender-sensitive measures in response to COVID-19 at all.
• The tracker also shows that the gender response varies widely across countries and regions.

ECONOMIC NEWS

IDBI Bank becomes first bank to enable document-embedding feature on SFMS

• IDBI Bank has become the first lender to enable document-embedding feature on a structured financial messaging system managed by Indian Financial Technology and Allied Services - IFTAS.
• Indian Financial Technology and Allied Services (IFTAS) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of India.
• In an effort to further digitise the financial transactions and to secure the financial communication system, IFTAS has introduced the feature of document embedding, along with Letter of Credit/ Bank Guarantee messages.
• The new feature will ease the current process of manual verification, reconciliation, reduce frauds, and enable documentary evidence for all the parties involved in the transaction.
• Reliability of the Bank Guarantee is enhanced when a copy of the stamp duty information is embedded and transmitted along with the message itself.

BSE joins hands with Yes Bank to empower SMEs

• Leading stock exchange BSE has signed a pact with private sector lender Yes Bank to empower the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) listed on the platform.
• The pact aims at empowering the SME segment through awareness and knowledge-sharing programmes.
• As per the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), BSE and Yes Bank will conduct knowledge events for SMEs, export promotion of SMEs, in addition to providing banking and financial solutions.
• The bank will also offer customised services and products to the listed SME members of the platform.

AWARDS & HONOURS

Kerala Tourism bags prestigious PATA Grand Award

• Kerala Tourism’s internationally acclaimed ‘Human by Nature’ campaign bagged the prestigious PATA Grand Award 2020.
• The award was provided for Marketing, giving a huge stimulus to tourism industry in the state that is grappling with the adverse aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• It was for the first time that this year’s PATA Gold Awards, supported and sponsored by the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), were announced virtual since its inception in 1995.
• Overall, PATA 2020 presented 21 Gold Awards and 3 Grand Title Winners for best of show entries in the categories of Marketing, Sustainability and Human Capital Development.

APPOINTMENTS

Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur appointed president of FTII Society & chairperson of FTII Governing Council

• Noted Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur has been named as the President of Film and Television Institute of India, FTII Society and Chairman of Governing Council of FTII.
• Mr Kapur has directed several films, many of which are critically acclaimed.
• The Movies include Masoom, Mr. India, Bandit Queen and Elizabeth.