11th July, 2024

1. NHRC issued advisory aiming at eliminating the need for begging
2. Kerala to hold International GenAI Conclave
3. ICOMOS launches World Heritage Transhumance Initiative
4. 22nd India-Russia Annual Summit concluded
5. Ageas Federal Life Insurance launches Golden Years Pension Plan
6. RBI Cancels Registration Certificates Of Star Finserv, Polytex For Irregular Lending Practices
7. ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund launches India’s first ever Oil & Gas ETF
8. PNB introduces Safety Ring mechanism to enhance security of it’s users
9. India generated 125 million jobs between FY14 & FY23: SBI report
10. SBI raises Rs. 10,000 crores through infra bonds
11. Recently, RBI allowed banks to use the ratings from Brickwork Ratings India Private Limited again.
12. Highlights of Expat Insider 2024 Survey
13. Moody’s keeps India’s 2024 growth unchanged at 6.8%
14. Türkiye’s First Communication Satellite TURKSAT-6A Successfully Launched
15. Indian scientists develop tool to generate infrared star catalogue for Thirty Meter Telescope
16. July 10: National Fish Farmers Day
17. Highlights of 2024 BWF Reunion Open
18. DEPwD Signs Two Significant MoUs towards empowering persons with disabilities
19. Arun Bansal appointed as CEO of Paytm Payments Bank

National News

1. NHRC issued advisory aiming at eliminating the need for begging
• What: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) recently issued an advisory with recommendations to address the issue of begging in India.
• The ‘Advisory for the Protection and Rehabilitation of Impoverished, Uneducated Children, Women, and Differently-abled Individuals Engaged in Begging’ identifies eight key areas for action by Centre and State governments and UT administrations.
• As per the 2011 census, there were more than 413 thousand beggars and vagrants in India.
• Key Action Areas
• Survey, identification. Mapping and preparing Data Bank for building a national database.
• Rehabilitation of individuals engaged in beggary through Shelter homes, education, and necessary assistance.
• Healthcare: Mental health care, de-addiction and healthcare services in shelter homes.
• Education: Early childhood care and Free and compulsory education.
• Drafting a National Policy for the protection and rehabilitation of individuals involved in beggary and decriminalising begging.
• Collaboration with NGOs, civil society organisations, private sector, charitable trusts for skill training programmes.
• Access to financial services through Self-help Groups (SHGs).
• Awareness generation, sensitization and monitoring.

Source: Hindustan Times

State News

1. Kerala to hold International GenAI Conclave
• What: The state government of Kerala is hosting the international conclave on GenAI.
• The event has been hosted along with IBM,
• Venue: Kochi
• The event aims to explore AI’s transformative potential and its impact on society and the economy, bringing together industry leaders, policymakers, and innovators.

Source: Indian Express

International News

1. ICOMOS launches World Heritage Transhumance Initiative
• What: The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) has initiated a project called “Defining a thematic approach towards sustaining transhumance cultural landscapes in a changing environment.”
• This project aims to address the complex environmental, cultural, and social dimensions of transhumance—the traditional practice of seasonal livestock movement.
• Transhumance involves the migration of human communities along with their herds.
• The initiative is led by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and supported by Azerbaijan.

Source: ICOMOS

2. 22nd India-Russia Annual Summit concluded
• What: The Prime Minister of India co-chaired the Annual Summit with the President of Russia in Moscow.
• Tell me more (Major Outcomes)
• Trade and Economic partnership:
• Set the bilateral trade target of USD 100 billion by 2030.
• Transport and Connectivity: Increase of cargo turnover with India by implementing projects like North-South International Transport Corridor, the Northern Sea Route and the Chennai-Vladivostok Eastern Maritime Corridor.

Source: Zee news

Banking and Economy

1. Ageas Federal Life Insurance launches Golden Years Pension Plan
• What: Ageas Federal Life Insurance, a leading private insurer in India, introduced the ‘Ageas Federal Life Insurance Golden Years Pension Plan’.
• It is a comprehensive retirement solution designed to secure a financial future during retirement years.

Source: Live Mint

2. RBI Cancels Registration Certificates Of Star Finserv, Polytex For Irregular Lending Practices
• What: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cancelled the Certificate of Registration (COR) of 2 Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs).
• Star Finserv India Limited in Hyderabad (Telangana)
• Violation: Outsourcing core decision-making functions (credit appraisal, loan sanctioning, and KYC verification) to the service provider.
• Polytex India Ltd in Mumbai (Maharashtra)
• It also violated guidelines related to outsourcing and data confidentiality.

Source: Zee News

3. ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund launches India’s first ever Oil & Gas ETF
• What: ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund (MF) has introduced India’s first Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) focused on the oil and gas sector.
• The name is ICICI Prudential Nifty Oil & Gas ETF.
• This open-ended ETF will tracks the Nifty Oil & Gas Total Return Index (TRI) Index, which reflect the performance of companies within the sector.
• Note: India’s first silver Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) was introduced by ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund

Source: Upstox

4. PNB introduces Safety Ring mechanism to enhance security of it’s users
• What: Punjab National Bank (PNB) has introduced a new security mechanism ‘Safety Ring’ within its Internet Banking System (IBS) and Mobile Banking System (MBS).
• It has been launched in response to the increasing number of cyber frauds.
• About Safety Ring Mechanism:
• Safety Ring is an optional mechanism which allows customers to set daily transaction limitations with respect to Term Deposits (TDs) on online closure or availing overdraft facility on TDs up to the stated limit amount.
• It provides an additional security to reduce losses from the unauthorised access.
• The customer specified limit shall be the consolidated digital channels limit for closing the TD or obtaining an overdraft on it.
• The customers can set the Safety Ring limit via branches or online using IBS/MBS.
• To prevent fraudulent online cancellations, the limit can only be cancelled through branches.
• The new facility makes sure that TD cannot be closed, withdrawn, or utilised for loans (overdrafts) in excess of the customer-specified limit.

Source: Economic Times

5. India generated 125 million jobs between FY14 & FY23: SBI report
• What: India has created 12.5 crore (125 million jobs) jobs during FY14-23, compared to only 2.9 crore during FY04-14, per a State Bank of India (SBI) study based on RBI data.
• It is 4.3 times more than the preceding decade (FY04-FY14).
• The report highlights that even if we exclude agriculture, the total number of jobs created in manufacturing and services stands at 89 million during FY14-FY23, compared to 66 million during FY04-FY14.
• Additionally, the employment reported by micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) registered with the MSME Ministry has crossed 200 million.

Source: Business Line

6. SBI raises Rs. 10,000 crores through infra bonds
• What: State Bank of India (SBI), country’s largest lender, has raised Rs. 10,000 crore at a coupon of 7.36 per cent through 15-year infrastructure bonds.
• Infrastructure bonds are financial instruments issued by governments or corporations to raise capital for funding large-scale infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges, airports, and utilities1
• This issuance marks SBI’s sixth infrastructure bond offering since December 2022. With this latest issue, the total outstanding long-term bonds issued by the bank now stands at Rs. 59,718 crore.

Source: Indian Express

7. RBI permits banks to use Brickwork Ratings
• What: Recently, RBI allowed banks to use the ratings from Brickwork Ratings India Private Limited again.
• This comes 2 years after RBI had stopped banks from obtaining new ratings from Brickwork due to regulatory discrepancies.
• Tell me more
• Background
• Two years ago, Brickwork Ratings had been pulled up by regulators for discrepancies that made RBI to stop in obtaining new ratings from the firm.
• Considering the regulatory review, RBI’s decision comes after a review, indicating some level of confidence or improvement in the practices of Brickwork Ratings.
• Conditions:
• Banks can obtain new ratings from Brickwork Ratings for loans up to Rs 250 crore.
• Brickwork can continue rating surveillance for the residual tenure of loans, regardless of the amount
• For working capital facilities exceeding Rs 250 crore, Brickwork can only undertake rating surveillance until the next renewal by banks.

Source: News18

Reports and Indices

1. Highlights of Expat Insider 2024 Survey
• What: Recently the Expat Insider 2024 Survey, was released by InterNations.
• Expat means migrants
• Tell me more (Highlights)
• A country was ranked on the below mentioned parametres

Best and Worst places for Expats

Raking for Personal Finance index

Highlights for Personal Finance category

• Vietnam topped the list of most affordable countries for 4th consecutive term.

Source: Internations

GDP

1. Moody’s keeps India’s 2024 growth unchanged at 6.8%
• What: Moody’s has maintained its GDP growth forecast for India at 6.8% for 2024.
• It projected that Indian economy to grow at 6.5% for 2025.
• India’s robust manufacturing activity and increased infrastructure spending are key drivers for this growth.
• Inflation is projected to ease to 5.2% in 2024 and further to 4.8% in 2025, down from 5.7% in 2023.

Source: Money Control

Science and Technology

1. Türkiye’s First Communication Satellite TURKSAT-6A Successfully Launched
• What: ASELSAN, a company of the Turkish Armed Forces Foundation (TAFF) launched Türkiye’s 1st indigenously developed communication satellite, TÜRKSAT-6A, into orbit
• This launch has made Türkiye as one of the 11 countries in the world capable of producing their own communication satellites.

Source: Military.com

2. Indian scientists develop tool to generate infrared star catalogue for Thirty Meter Telescope
• What: A research team led by scientists at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) Bangalore have developed an online tool to create a catalogue of stars that can enable the upcoming Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) in Hawaii to generate high-quality astronomical images.
• It will create a comprehensive star catalogue for the Adaptive Optics system (AOS) of the TMT, enabling TMT to generate sharper astronomical images

• Telescopes on Earth’s surface face atmospheric distortion, affecting the quality of images (more pronounced in telescopes with high light-collection capacities, like the TMT).
• To counteract this, an AOS is used

Source: PIB

Important Days

1. July 10: National Fish Farmers Day
• What: The National Fish Farmer’s Day (NFFD) is annually observed across India on 10 July
• Why: To appreciate the contributions of fish farmers, aquaculture professionals.
• The Day 10 July also commemorates the observance of the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) Foundation Day.
• NFDB was established in 2006 and 10 July 2024 marks the observance of the 18th NFDB Foundation Day.

Source: ANI

Sports

1. Highlights of 2024 BWF Reunion Open
• What: The Saint-Denis Reunion Open 2024 was held from 3 to 7 July in Saint-Denis, the capital of the French overseas département of Réunion in the Western Indian Ocean.
• Tell me more (List of winners)

Source: Times of India

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)

1. DEPwD Signs Two Significant MoUs towards empowering persons with disabilities
• What: The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) recently took a significant step towards empowering individuals with disabilities by signing two important Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs).
• Tell me more (Details of MoUs)
• MoU with “Enable Me” Access Association (EMA): The objectives of this agreement include:
• Providing training on Universal Design using Indian accessibility standards.
• Developing a software tool for accessibility education.
• Supporting the Accessible India Campaign 2.0.
• Assisting DEPwD in highlighting and rectifying policies that undermine the RPwD Act-2016 and other mandatory guidelines.
• Additionally, this MoU includes the launch of two advanced accessibility training programs for panel accessibility auditors and engineers of the Central Public Works Department.
• MoU between the Indian Sign Language Research and Training Center (ISLRTC) and YUNIKEE:
• The primary objective of this MoU is to provide free and accessible skills to the deaf community and their youth.
• The program aims to empower deaf youth, enabling them to pursue their passions and become self-reliant in terms of livelihood.

Source: PIB

Appointments

1. Arun Bansal appointed as CEO of Paytm Payments Bank
• What: Paytm Payments Bank, an associate entity of One97 Communications (OCL), which operates the Paytm brand, has appointed Arun Kumar Bansal as the Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Source: Business Standard

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