12th August, 2022

1. Meenakshi Lekhi, Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture, has unveiled two books at the ‘Vishwa Sadbhavana’ event organised by the National Institute of Design (NID) Foundation at Melbourne in Australia.
2. The Union Cabinet has approved the extension of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) till 31 March 2024.
3. International Solar Alliance (ISA), in partnership with the Cuban government, has floated a tender for setting up a 1,150 MW solar project in Cuba.
4. IIT-Mandi has used AI-based multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) algorithms to select sustainable waste water treatment and management systems from previously existing techniques.
5. Microsoft has partnered with the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and Capacity Building Commission (CBC) to help India’s civil servants develop their digital skills.
6. Union Cabinet has approved the signing of an Audio Visual Co-production Treaty between India and Australia, which is aimed at facilitating joint production of films between the two countries.
7. Election Commission of India would host a virtual meeting of the Asian Regional Forum on the theme of “inclusive and accessible elections”.
8. NLC India Ltd., a Public Sector Undertaking under the Ministry of Coal, has signed an MOU with Assam Power Distribution Company Limited (APDCL) to develop 1,000 MW of solar power projects in Assam.
9. Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, has launched the indigenous vaccine Lumpi-ProVacInd to protect livestock from Lumpy Skin disease.
10. Union Minister of Fisheries and Animal Husbandry, Shri Parshottam Rupala launched a unique coffee table book titled ‘Fish & Seafood -a collection of 75 gourmet recipes’ under the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.
11. HDFC Bank has partnered with M1xchange (a Trade receivables Discounting System (TReDs) platform, promoted by Mynd Solutions Pvt Ltd) to make a debut in the TReDs sector.
12. State of Bank of India (SBI) is the first Indian bank to frame a policy to fund makers of lab-grown diamonds.
13. ONDC has signed an MOU with SIDBI for coordination to bring MSMEs on the ONDC platform and accelerate their participation in e-commerce.
14. One97 Communications (the parent entity of digital payments firm Paytm) has partnered with Piramal Capital and Housing Finance to expand its merchant loan business to small towns and villages.
15. In 2021, RBI had constituted Working Group on Digital Lending, under the chairmanship of Jayant Kumar Dash.
16. Central govt has released two instalments of tax devolution totalling Rs 1.16 lakh crore to states.
17. Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has consolidated its position on top of the market share list, with 68.57% market share in July 2022 from 65.42% at the end of June.
18. Life Insurance Corp. of India (LIC) has sold 2% shares in automaker Mahindra & Mahindra for about ₹2,222.49 crore.
19. JSW Neo Energy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of JSW Energy, will acquire a portfolio of 1,753 MW of renewable energy generation capacity from Mytrah Energy (India) for ₹10,530 crores approx.
20. Nitish Kumar (from Janata Dal (United) party) has taken oath as the CM of Bihar for the 8th time in a row.
21. Justice Uday Umesh Lalit has been appointed as the 49th Chief Justice of India.
22. August 10 – World Biofuel Day
23. August 10 – World Lion Day
24. Aarya Walvekar, an Indian-American teenager from Virginia, has been crowned Miss India USA 2022.
25. Sangeetha Abhayan, a Kerala-based entrepreneur, won the World Women Entrepreneurs’ Award, instituted by the Junior Chamber International Hong Kong (JCIHK).
26. International Cricket Council (ICC) has awarded Associate Membership Status to Cambodia and Uzbekistan from Asia, and Cote D’Ivoire from Africa, taking ICC’s total members to 108 countries, including 96 Associates.
27. Indian fencer Bhavani Devi (from Tamil Nadu) won the gold medal in the women’s senior individual sabre category at the Commonwealth Fencing Championships 2022 in London by defeating Australian fencer Veronika Vasileva.
28. Tata Steel Rapid and Blitz Chess India Tournament 2022 will be held in Kolkata from November 29 to December 4.
29. Commonwealth Games long jump silver medallist, Sreeshankar, was sixth at the Wanda Diamond League Athletics Meeting in Monaco.
30. Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) has released a book named “Fauna of Thattekad Bird Sanctuary”.
31. “Bravo Yadav” book has been authored by Deepak Singh. The book is based on Journey of Honorary Captain Subedar Yogendra Singh Yadav (India’s Youngest Param Vir Chakra Recipient).
32. P V Kamaraj (former athlete) has passed away.
33. Shabdansh, a collection of Home Minister Amit Shah’s speeches edited by Shiwanand Dwivedi, has been released by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

National News

1. Meenakshi Lekhi, Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture, has unveiled two books at the ‘Vishwa Sadbhavana’ event organised by the National Institute of Design (NID) Foundation at Melbourne in Australia.
   

   • 1st – “Heartfelt-The Legacy of Faith” book has been brought out by NID
   • 2nd – “Modi@20: Dreams Meet Delivery”, a compilation brought out by famed Oncologist in America Dr Bharat Barai
2. The Union Cabinet has approved the extension of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) till 31 March 2024.
   • The continuation of the scheme based on the request of states and union territories up to 31 December 2024 will help in completion of already sanctioned houses.
   • In December 2021, the cabinet had approved the extension of the rural housing scheme, PMAY-Gramin (Rural) till March 2024.
3. International Solar Alliance (ISA), in partnership with the Cuban government, has floated a tender for setting up a 1,150 MW solar project in Cuba.
   • NTPC is the project management consultant for ISA for setting up the project.
   • The project is part of Cuba’s plan to implement 2,100 MW of solar projects, reducing the reliance on expensive and polluting diesel generators and increasing its green energy portfolio. It also includes building of 150 MW/150 MWh of storage to support grid reliability.
4. IIT-Mandi has used AI-based multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) algorithms to select sustainable waste water treatment and management systems from previously existing techniques.
5. Microsoft has partnered with the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and Capacity Building Commission (CBC) to help India’s civil servants develop their digital skills.
   • The partnership aims to enhance the functional computer literacy of nearly 2.5 million civil servants.
   • The training will be offered to job roles such as section officers, assistant section officers, clerks and upper division clerks.
6. Union Cabinet has approved the signing of an Audio Visual Co-production Treaty between India and Australia, which is aimed at facilitating joint production of films between the two countries.
   • India has, so far, signed 15 audio visual co-production treaties with other countries.
7. Election Commission of India would host a virtual meeting of the Asian Regional Forum on the theme of “inclusive and accessible elections”.
   • The forum is a precursor to the ‘Global Summit for Democracy’ to be hosted by the National Electoral Institute of Mexico next month.

State News

1. NLC India Ltd., a Public Sector Undertaking under the Ministry of Coal, has signed an MOU with Assam Power Distribution Company Limited (APDCL) to develop 1,000 MW of solar power projects in Assam.
   • The MoU is for setting up a joint venture company with equity participation of 51% by NLCIL and 49% by APDCL.

Agriculture and Rural Development

1. Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, has launched the indigenous vaccine Lumpi-ProVacInd to protect livestock from Lumpy Skin disease.
   • Developers – National Equine Research Center, Hisar (Haryana) and Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izzatnagar (Bareilly, UP)
   • Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is a highly infectious viral disease that affects all breeds of cattle and water buffalo. It is transmitted by blood-feeding insects, such as certain species of flies and mosquitoes, or ticks. As of now, no specific treatment is available.
2. Union Minister of Fisheries and Animal Husbandry, Shri Parshottam Rupala launched a unique coffee table book titled ‘Fish & Seafood -a collection of 75 gourmet recipes’ under the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

Banking and Economy

1. HDFC Bank has partnered with M1xchange (a Trade receivables Discounting System (TReDs) platform, promoted by Mynd Solutions Pvt Ltd) to make a debut in the TReDs sector.
   • This partnership will bring in high liquidity to buyer corporates and MSMEs at competitive interest rates.
   • RBI regulates M1xchange and other such platforms under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.
2. State of Bank of India (SBI) is the first Indian bank to frame a policy to fund makers of lab-grown diamonds.
   • SBI’s Diamond Bourse branch in Mumbai Bandra Kurla Complex and the Commercial branch in Surat have been identified for the business.
3. ONDC has signed an MOU with SIDBI for coordination to bring MSMEs on the ONDC platform and accelerate their participation in e-commerce.
4. One97 Communications (the parent entity of digital payments firm Paytm) has partnered with Piramal Capital and Housing Finance to expand its merchant loan business to small towns and villages.
   • Now, the loans provided by Piramal will be available on Paytm’s platform.
   • Loan disbursement is a key source of revenue for Paytm.
   • Payment banks receive a ‘differentiated’ bank license from the RBI and hence, they cannot lend or issue credit cards. Payment banks cannot accept time deposits or NRI deposits.
5. In 2021, RBI had constituted Working Group on Digital Lending, under the chairmanship of Jayant Kumar Dash.
   • RBI has adopted the recommendations of the committee.

   Recommendations –

   • Digital lenders have been classified into 3 categories –
     • Entities regulated by RBI and permitted to carry out lending business
     • Entities authorized to carry out lending as per other statutory/regulatory provisions but not regulated by RBI
     • Entities not regulated or authorised
   • Scope of recommendations – RBI’s Regulated Entities (REs) and the Lending Service Providers (LSPs) engaged by them

6. Central govt has released two instalments of tax devolution totalling Rs 1.16 lakh crore to states.
   • Currently, 41% of taxes collected by the Centre is devolved in 14 instalments among states during a fiscal year.

7. Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has consolidated its position on top of the market share list, with 68.57% market share in July 2022 from 65.42% at the end of June.
   • SBI Life has the second highest share in the market above 7%.
8. Life Insurance Corp. of India (LIC) has sold 2% shares in automaker Mahindra & Mahindra for about ₹2,222.49 crore.
   • After the sale, the LIC holding in the passenger cars and utility vehicles company decreased from 8.430 % to 6.421%.
9. JSW Neo Energy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of JSW Energy, will acquire a portfolio of 1,753 MW of renewable energy generation capacity from Mytrah Energy (India) for ₹10,530 crores approx.

Appointments

1. Nitish Kumar (from Janata Dal (United) party) has taken oath as the CM of Bihar for the 8th time in a row.
   • Tejashwi Yadav (from Rashtriya Janata Dal) was appointed as the Deputy CM.
2. Justice Uday Umesh Lalit has been appointed as the 49th Chief Justice of India.
   • He will take oath on Aug 27 and will have a term till November 8.
   • Present age of retirement of CJI is 65 years. On the other hand, judges of the 25 high courts retire at 62.
   • Part V of Indian Constitution (from Article 124 to Article 147) mentions the provisions for constitution and functioning of the Supreme Court.
   • Article 126 details about the appointment of CJI.

Important Days

1. August 10 – World Biofuel Day

Note: According to some unauthenticated websites, the theme of this day is “Biofuels towards a Carbon Neutral World”

2. August 10 – World Lion Day

Awards

1. Aarya Walvekar, an Indian-American teenager from Virginia, has been crowned Miss India USA 2022.
2. Sangeetha Abhayan, a Kerala-based entrepreneur, won the World Women Entrepreneurs’ Award, instituted by the Junior Chamber International Hong Kong (JCIHK).
   • Reason – for the performance of eweworld.com -her handloom and handicrafts start-up- in tune with the United Nation’s sustainable development goals (SDGs)

Sports

1. International Cricket Council (ICC) has awarded Associate Membership Status to Cambodia and Uzbekistan from Asia, and Cote D’Ivoire from Africa, taking ICC’s total members to 108 countries, including 96 Associates.
   • It was announced during the ongoing ICC Annual Conference in Birmingham.
2. Indian fencer Bhavani Devi (from Tamil Nadu) won the gold medal in the women’s senior individual sabre category at the Commonwealth Fencing Championships 2022 in London by defeating Australian fencer Veronika Vasileva.
   • The Indian fencer is ranked at 42nd in the world.
3. Tata Steel Rapid and Blitz Chess India Tournament 2022 will be held in Kolkata from November 29 to December 4.
   • For the first time, the tournament will introduce a women’s edition, with equal total prize money for both the open & women’s editions.
4. Commonwealth Games long jump silver medallist, Sreeshankar, was sixth at the Wanda Diamond League Athletics Meeting in Monaco.
   • Cuban Maykel Masso has won the title.

Miscellaneous

1. Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) has released a book named “Fauna of Thattekad Bird Sanctuary”.
   • Thattekad Bird Sanctuary is located in Kerala.
   • ZSI has also signed an MOU with University of Calicut and Dr Gafoor Memorial MES Mampad College in Kerala for sharing knowledge.
2. “Bravo Yadav” book has been authored by Deepak Singh. The book is based on Journey of Honorary Captain Subedar Yogendra Singh Yadav (India’s Youngest Param Vir Chakra Recipient).
   • He is famous for fighting the Kargil War of 1999.
3. P V Kamaraj (former athlete) has passed away.
4. Shabdansh, a collection of Home Minister Amit Shah’s speeches edited by Shiwanand Dwivedi, has been released by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
   • Dwivedi has also authored a biography of the Home Minister, titled as “Amit Shah and the March of BJP”, along with Anirban Ganguly.

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