NATIONAL NEWS

National Conference on Millets

• Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel inaugurated the National Conference on Millets in New Delhi.

• It was organised by industry body ASSOCHAM with the support of M/o Food Processing Industries.
• The conference has been organised to discuss opportunities and challenges in ensuring food and nutritional security.
• The theme of the conference was ‘The Future Super Food for India'.
• The Union Minister announced that the production of coarse cereals in the country has increased to 17.96 million tonnes in 2020-21 from 14.52 million tonnes in 2015-16.

‘Shala Praveshotsav’

• The Chief Minister of Gujarat Bhupendra Patel launched the 17th edition of ‘Shala Praveshotsav’.

• It is the drive to enrol students in primary schools in the state.

• The three-day enrollment drive begins from Memadpur primary school in Vadgam taluka of Banaskantha district.
• He also announced that the priority of the state government is to see that every child has access to education.

National Conference on the Space Start-up Ecosystem

• The Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Rajeev Chandrasekhar inaugurated a National Conference on the development of the Space Start-up Ecosystem in Bengaluru.
• The conference was organised by the Astronautical Society of India in association with the Indian Space Research Organisation, New Space India Limited, Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre and Defence Research and Development Organisation.
• During the conference he announced, since the last eight years a conducive eco-system has been created for the private industries to flourish in the areas of Artificial Intelligence, space science, semiconductor and fin-tech sectors.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Vivatech 2020

• Europe's biggest start-up conference Vivatech 2020 has recognized India as the "country of the year."

• This is a great honour for India to be recognized as the country of the year for Vivatech 2020.

• This is due to the contribution of the Indian start-ups to the world and this is the recognition of Indian start-ups.
• Union Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw inaugurated the Indian pavilion at the conference held in Paris, France.

BANKING

World Bank to Indian Railways

• The World Bank approved a $245-million loan for the rail logistics project to help reduce India’s high Carbon emissions and low modal freight share in the railways.

• The project will help India shift more traffic from road to rail, making transport both freight and passenger which is more efficient and reduce millions of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) each year.

• The project will also incentivise more private sector investment in the sector.
• The loan financed through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development has a maturity of 22 years including a grace period of seven years.

RBI Extends the Date for Implementing Provisions on Cards

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) extended the deadline to implement three provisions by three months, as part of new regulatory guidelines for issuing credit and debit cards from 01 July 2022 to 01 October 2022.

• Regarding card issuers being mandated to seek one-time password-based consent from the cardholder for activating a credit card, if not activated by the customer for more than 30 days from the date of issuance

• Card issuers will have to ensure that the credit limit as sanctioned and advised to the cardholder is not breached at any point in time without seeking explicit consent from the cardholder.
• The issuers shall not capitalize on unpaid charges for the compounding of interest.

CARD91 Partners with YES BANK and RuPay

• CARD91 is a global payment infrastructure powering Business Business (B2B) payments partnered with YES BANK and RuPay, the flagship product of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

• Through this partnership, CARD91 will create a card management system that will allow companies to launch a variety of co-branded card instruments as well as maintain a real-time dashboard to generate insights.

• It will enable CARD91 to expand its presence in the Indian payments market.
• The Partnership will enable the company to provide businesses of all kinds across various sectors with a range of card instruments for managing and securing payments.
• CARD91 is a plug-and-play Payment Issuance Infrastructure designed to help businesses launch co-branded cards and simplify payments.

South Indian Bank Launches EXIM Trade Portal

• The South Indian Bank (SIB) has launched a new portal called ‘SIB TF Online’ for its corporate EXIM (Export-Import) customers.
• The portal provides the customers with a platform for trade-related payments and remittances to foreign entities without visiting the bank’s branches.
• The customer can initiate the payment request over SIB TF Online after uploading the supporting documents for the transaction.

SIB plans to launch SIB TF Online in phases with the initial version allowing for 3 types of import remittances

• Advance Remittance for Imports

• Remittance against Import Bill received from overseas Bank for Collection (Bank-to-Bank Foreign Inward Collection Bill) and

• Payment against Import documents received by Importer directly from overseas suppliers
• SIB TF Online has been hosted on the home page of Corporate Internet Banking (SIBerNet) and would allow corporates to transact on the portal digitally and 24×7 in a safe and paperless manner.

SPORTS

Rumeli Dhar Retires from All Forms of International Cricket

• The right-handed batter and medium pacer Rumeli Dhar, the Indian allrounder has announced retirement from international cricket at the age of 38.

• Dhar played her last international match in the tri-nation women’s T20I series between India, Australia and England, at Brabourne in 2018.
• She featured in 18 T20Is, 78 ODIs and 4 Tests for India.
• She made her International Debut in 2003 against England playing an ODI in Lincoln.
• She scored 1328 runs and picked 84 wickets in 100 matches.

AWARDS & PRIZES

National MSME Award 2022

• The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Department, Government of Odisha has been awarded the first prize in the category ‘National MSME Award 2022.

• It has been awarded in the category of States/UTs for outstanding contribution in the Promotion and Development of MSME Sector'.

• The state has won the award for various developmental initiatives taken up for the development of MSMEs.
• Bihar and Haryana have secured second and third positions respectively.
• The Government of India instituted the National MSME Award 2022 comprising of 44 categories including Manufacturing Entrepreneurship (12 awards), Service Entrepreneurship (09 awards), Special Category Enterprises (14 awards) and the institutional support to MSMEs (09 Awards).

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

Director General of NIA

• Dinkar Gupta, the former Punjab DGP was appointed as the new Director-General of the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

• He will hold the post of NIA chief till 31 March 2024.

• NIA is an anti-terror probe agency that was formed after the 26/11 attack in Mumbai.
• Dinkar Gupta held the position of the Director General of Punjab Police in 2019 and served in the post for a period of two years and seven months.
• Dinkar Gupta also held the post of Director General of Police, Intelligence, Punjab which involved the direct supervision of the Punjab State Intelligence Wing, Organised Crime Control Unit (OCCU) and State Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS).

Member of Advisory Committee of Seri Group

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has appointed Venkat Nageswar Chalasani as a member of the advisory committee of Srei Group.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to retain the three-member advisory committee of two Srei Group companies - Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited and Srei Equipment Finance Limited.
• The Advisory Committee shall advise the Administrator in the operations of the SIFL and SEFL during the corporate insolvency resolution process.

BOOKS & AUTHORS

A New Book by Sonu Phogat

•  ‘On the eighth International Yoga Day, Haryana Chief Minister Mr. Manohar Lal Khattar published the book ‘Ashtang Yoga’ authored by Sonu Phogat.

• Every person, according to Manohar Lal Khattar, should have a resolution for yoga and must identify with that resolution.

• The Yog to Sehyog Mantra will illuminate a fresh path into the future.
• It is a source of pleasure that the yoga book was published on the International Yoga Day, recognizing the efforts of author Dr. Sonu Phogat.