12th July, 2022

1. India has become the 68th country to join the Interpol’s international child sexual exploitation (ICSE) database.
2. A joint Indo-US Counter Narcotics Working Group (CNWG) meeting was held to discuss on drug law enforcement and increase in seizures of heroin from Afghanistan.
3. Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired the 30th Meeting of the Northern Zonal Council (NZC) in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
4. Central government has planned to monetize an additional 500 km of completed highway projects worth ₹8,000 crores through the infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) route over the next six months.
5. ISRO has launched ISRO System for Safe and Sustainable Space Operation and Management (IS4OM) to boost self-reliance in safeguarding its space assets in Bengaluru.
6. Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship will be organising the Pradhan Mantri National Apprenticeship Mela, as part of the Skill India Mission, across 200 locations.
7. IIT-Kanpur has announced to start a $2.5-million project to install nearly 1,400 sensors in the rural blocks of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to bolster measurement of air pollution in rural India.
8. Karnataka has become the first state in India to launch an exclusive Research & Development policy.
9. Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) has partnered with the State Bank of India (SBI) to support the start-ups with collateral-free loans of up to Rs 2 crores for their seed-level needs.
10. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in Mumbai has become the first railway station in India to be equipped with augmented reality screens.
11. Jharkhand has secured the first position in the Delta Ranking for the month of June 2022 under the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Rurban Mission Scheme.
12. Natural Farming Conclave 2022 has been organized at Surat, Gujarat.
13. Safran Helicopter Engines and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) have signed an agreement to create a new joint venture for developing helicopter engines.
14. Union Health Ministry and Panchayati Raj Ministry have signed an MoU to eliminate TB by 2025 under the “TB Free India Campaign”.
15. Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has announced to establish an Interim Operational Hub, the Bank’s first overseas office, at Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
16. China and Pakistan have started their four-day naval exercises named ‘Sea Guardians-2’ off the coast of Shanghai.
17. UN has released the ‘Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022’ to provide a global overview of progress on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
18. GODI India has become the first company in India to receive Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification for its 21700 cylindrical NMC811 lithium-ion cells.
19. Max Life Insurance Company Ltd. has launched Smart Capital Guarantee Solution, a life insurance product solution that combines three benefits.
20. RBI has cancelled the license of Shri Anand Co-operative Bank, Chinchwad, Pune due to lack of adequate capital.
21. Bank of Baroda has partnered with Women’s World Banking (WWB) to launch the third and broader phase of the ‘Baroda Jan Dhan Plus’ programme across 25 districts of Uttar Pradesh and all 13 districts of Uttarakhand.
22. Power Finance Corporation, a Maharatna company, has signed a loan agreement for JPY 30 Billion with Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).
23. REC Ltd has signed an agreement with Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) for improving the operational and financial sustainability of discoms.
24. City Union Bank and Shriram General Insurance has signed a bancassurance agreement for the distribution of Shriram General Insurance products through the bank’s network of 727 branches across the country.
25. Axis Bank has signed an MOU with the Indian Air Force for offering a defence service salary package to the Air Force personnel under its “Power Salute” initiative.
26. Tata Mutual Fund has partnered with CAMSPay to introduce Unified Payments Interface (UPI) Autopay facility for the payment of Systematic Investment Plan (SIP).
27. RBI has imposed various restrictions on four cooperative banks, which are Ramgarhia Co-operative Bank, New Delhi; Sahebrao Deshmukh Co-operative Bank, Mumbai; Sangli Sahakari Bank, Mumbai; and Sharada Mahila Co-operative Bank Limited, Tumkur, Karnataka.
28. RBI has imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 5.72 crores on Federal Bank Ltd., Rs 70 lakh on Bank of India and Rs 7.60 lakh on Dhani Loans and Services Ltd. for violating the provisions of its regulations.
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30. Union Bank of India (UBI) has launched Metaverse Virtual Lounge, ‘Uni-verse’, and Open Banking Sandbox environment.
31. Tata Power has announced to spend Rs 75,000 crore to expand capacity in its renewable business.
32. India’s GMR Group has started operating the Kualanamu International Airport in Medan, Indonesia.
33. Air Cargo Forum India (ACFI) has formed a new board for a term of 2 consecutive years 2022-2024.
34. The First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Gita Gopinath has also become the first woman to be featured on the ‘wall of former chief economists’ of the IMF.
35. India has won against England by 50 runs, in the 3-match series of the first T20I at Southampton, England.
36. India has defeated Sri Lanka by 39 runs in the third and final Women’s ODI in Pallekele, Sri Lanka.
37. Wimbledon (Grand Slam tennis tournament) at London, UK – Men’s Singles: Novak Djokovic (Serbia) and Women’s Singles: Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan)
38. Malaysia Masters 2022 (Badminton) – Men’s Singles: Chico Auro Dwi Wardoyo (Indonesia); Women’s Singles: An Se Young (South Korean)
39. India’s Gukesh has won the Gijon Chess Masters at Gijon, Spain.
40. Charles Leclerc (Monaco) has won the Austrian Grand Prix.
41. Mexico’s Rey Vargas has won the World Boxing Council featherweight title at USA.
42. Former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe has passed away.
43. Former Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has passed away.
44. “The Architect of the New BJP: How Narendra Modi Transformed The Party” book has been authored by Ajay Singh.

National News

1. India has become the 68th country to join the Interpol’s international child sexual exploitation (ICSE) database.
   • The database will allow India to draw links between victims, abusers and crime scene using audio-visual data.
2. A joint Indo-US Counter Narcotics Working Group (CNWG) meeting was held to discuss on drug law enforcement and increase in seizures of heroin from Afghanistan.
   • The two sides also signed an agreement on strengthening cooperation and sharing intelligence.
   • The Indian delegation was headed by Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) director general SN Pradhan.
3. Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired the 30th Meeting of the Northern Zonal Council (NZC) in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
4. Central government has planned to monetize an additional 500 km of completed highway projects worth ₹8,000 crores through the infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) route over the next six months.
   • In October 2021, the government, through the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), has monetized a road bundle of 390km by transferring it to NHAI’s InvIT.
   • So far, NHAI has raised about ₹7,000-8,000 crore through this route.
5. ISRO has launched ISRO System for Safe and Sustainable Space Operation and Management (IS4OM) to boost self-reliance in safeguarding its space assets in Bengaluru.
   • IS40M is a part of the space situational awareness (SSA) programme to identify space debris and monitor them.
   • It will identify the potential collision of India’s active satellites with other space objects and avoid collisions with proper manoeuvring to save our space assets (satellites).

   Additional Facts –

   • ISRO SSA Control Centre, ‘NETRA’ (NEtwork for space object TRacking and Analysis), envisaged to function as a hub of all SSA activities within India, was set up within the ISTRAC (ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network) campus at Peenya, Bengaluru.
6. Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship will be organising the Pradhan Mantri National Apprenticeship Mela, as part of the Skill India Mission, across 200 locations.
   • The one-day event will feature 36 sectors and more than 1000 companies and 500 distinct sorts of trades.
7. IIT-Kanpur has announced to start a $2.5-million project to install nearly 1,400 sensors in the rural blocks of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to bolster measurement of air pollution in rural India.

State News

1. Karnataka has become the first state in India to launch an exclusive Research & Development policy.
2. Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) has partnered with the State Bank of India (SBI) to support the start-ups with collateral-free loans of up to Rs 2 crores for their seed-level needs.
   • The assistance will be provided under the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE).
   • The loans will be provided to start-ups recognised under KDEM’s Elevate programme.
3. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in Mumbai has become the first railway station in India to be equipped with augmented reality screens.
4. Jharkhand has secured the first position in the Delta Ranking for the month of June 2022 under the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Rurban Mission Scheme.
   • The ranking has been released by the Ministry of Rural Development.

Agriculture and Rural Development

1. Natural Farming Conclave 2022 has been organized at Surat, Gujarat.
   • At the Conclave, PM Modi urged the farmers to adopt natural farming.
   • Indian agriculturalist from Maharashtra, Subhash Palekar has introduced the Zero Budgeting Natural Farming technique.

Defence News

1. Safran Helicopter Engines and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) have signed an agreement to create a new joint venture for developing helicopter engines.
   • It will be dedicated to the development, production, sales and support of aero-engine and meet the requirements of HAL and India’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) future helicopters, including the future 13-ton IMRH (Indian Multi Role Helicopter).
   • HAL and Safran have also recently established the Helicopter Engines MRO Pvt Ltd (HE-MRO) at Goa to provide MRO (maintenance, repair, overhaul) services for TM333 and Shakti engines already in service with India’s military. It will become operational by 2023.

Memorandum of Understanding

1. Union Health Ministry and Panchayati Raj Ministry have signed an MoU to eliminate TB by 2025 under the “TB Free India Campaign”.

International News

1. Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has announced to establish an Interim Operational Hub, the Bank’s first overseas office, at Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
2. China and Pakistan have started their four-day naval exercises named ‘Sea Guardians-2’ off the coast of Shanghai.

Reports and Indices

1. UN has released the ‘Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022’ to provide a global overview of progress on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

SDG 1: END POVERTY

• The combined crises of rising inflation and Russia-Ukraine war could lead to an additional 75 million to 95 million people living in extreme poverty in 2022, compared with pre-pandemic projections.
• An additional 93 million people worldwide were pushed into extreme poverty because of the pandemic.
• Forecasts for 2022 estimate that 75 million more people than expected prior to the pandemic will be living in extreme poverty.
• The global poverty rate has increased sharply from 2019 to 2020, from 8.3% to 9.2%, the first rise in extreme poverty since 1998 and the largest since 1990.
  • Poverty rate, as explained by OECD, is the ratio of the number of people (in a given age group) whose income falls below the poverty line; taken as half the median household income of the total population.

SDG 2: END HUNGER, ACHIEVE FOOD SECURITY AND IMPROVED NUTRITION AND PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

• About 1 in 10 people, globally, are suffering from hunger. Nearly 1 in 3 people lacked access to adequate food in 2020.
• 47% of countries were affected by the rising prices of food in 2020, as compared to 16% in 2019.

SDG 13: CLIMATE ACTION

• Energy-related CO2 emissions increased by 6% in 2021 – reaching its highest level ever.

• 17+ Million Metric Tons of plastic entered the oceans in 2021.
• It is projected to double or triple by 2040.

SDG 15: LIFE ON LAND

• 10 million hectares of forest are destroyed every year.
• Almost 90% of global deforestation is due to agricultural expansion.
• Around 40,000 species are documented to be at risk of extinction over the coming decades.
• 133 Parties have ratified which addresses access to genetic resources and their fair and equitable use.

Banking and Economy

1. GODI India has become the first company in India to receive Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification for its 21700 cylindrical NMC811 lithium-ion cells.
2. Max Life Insurance Company Ltd. has launched Smart Capital Guarantee Solution, a life insurance product solution that combines three benefits.
   • The new plan merges the benefits of ‘Max Life Smart Wealth Plan’ and ‘Max Life Flexi Wealth Advantage Plan’ and the life insurance.
3. RBI has cancelled the license of Shri Anand Co-operative Bank, Chinchwad, Pune due to lack of adequate capital.
4. Bank of Baroda has partnered with Women’s World Banking (WWB) to launch the third and broader phase of the ‘Baroda Jan Dhan Plus’ programme across 25 districts of Uttar Pradesh and all 13 districts of Uttarakhand.
   • WWB is a global non-profit, headquartered in US, committed to giving low-income women access to financial tools for long-term financial security and prosperity.
5. Power Finance Corporation, a Maharatna company, has signed a loan agreement for JPY 30 Billion with Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).
   • JBIC provided this long term facility to PFC under JBIC’s initiative titled ‘Global action for Reconciling Economic growth and Environmental preservation’ (“GREEN”).
   • Under GREEN, JBIC provides financing for projects for effective reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and conservation of the global environment.
6. REC Ltd has signed an agreement with Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) for improving the operational and financial sustainability of discoms.
   • REC Limited is an NBFC focusing on power sector financing and development across India.
7. City Union Bank and Shriram General Insurance has signed a bancassurance agreement for the distribution of Shriram General Insurance products through the bank’s network of 727 branches across the country.
8. Axis Bank has signed an MOU with the Indian Air Force for offering a defence service salary package to the Air Force personnel under its “Power Salute” initiative.
   • The bank will offer benefits to all ranks of Indian Air Force personnel including the veterans, cadets/recruits.
   • Benefits –
     • Personal accident cover of up to ₹56 lakhs to all personnel including the veterans, cadets/recruits
     • An additional children education grant of up to ₹8 lakh
     • Total permanent disability cover benefit up to ₹46 lakhs
     • Permanent partial disability cover of up to ₹46 lakhs
     • Air accident cover of ₹1 Crore
     • Nil processing fee & 12 EMI waiver on home loans
     • Additional zero balance accounts for 3 family members with no charges and universal account number across India
9. Tata Mutual Fund has partnered with CAMSPay to introduce Unified Payments Interface (UPI) Autopay facility for the payment of Systematic Investment Plan (SIP).
10. RBI has imposed various restrictions on four cooperative banks, which are Ramgarhia Co-operative Bank, New Delhi; Sahebrao Deshmukh Co-operative Bank, Mumbai; Sangli Sahakari Bank, Mumbai; and Sharada Mahila Co-operative Bank Limited, Tumkur, Karnataka.
    • The restrictions have been imposed for six months and it includes a limit on withdrawals for the depositors.
    • Upper limit on withdrawals –
      • Ramgarhia Co-operative Bank and Sahebrao Deshmukh Cooperative Bank – ₹50,000 per depositor
      • Sangli Sahakari Bank – ₹45,000 per depositor
      • Sharada Mahila Co-operative Bank – ₹7,000 per depositor
11. RBI has imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 5.72 crores on Federal Bank Ltd., Rs 70 lakh on Bank of India and Rs 7.60 lakh on Dhani Loans and Services Ltd. for violating the provisions of its regulations.
12. RBI has given an in-principle approval to Razorpay, Pine Labs, Stripe, and 1Pay to act as the payment aggregators.
    • Payment aggregators are entities that provide a single payment platform, with varied options, to the e-commerce sites and merchants.
    • By virtue of the payment aggregators, merchants are acquitted from the obligation of partnering with individual payment gateways (companies like Paytm, Amazon Pay etc.) and cramming their websites with multiple payment options.

Additional Facts –

• RBI issued the guidelines for payment aggregators in 2020.
• According to RBI guidelines, payment aggregators need to have a net worth of Rs 15 crore as on March 2021, and a net worth of Rs 25 crore by on or before March 2023. And, they have to maintain a net worth of Rs 25 crore at all times thereafter.
13. Union Bank of India (UBI) has launched Metaverse Virtual Lounge, ‘Uni-verse’, and Open Banking Sandbox environment.
    • Uni-verse will host the bank’s product information and videos in the initial phase.
    • Tech Mahindra has developed this platform.
    • The Uni-verse will provide information about the bank and Open Banking Sandbox will provide a platform for fintechs and startups to test their innovative products.
14. Tata Power has announced to spend Rs 75,000 crore to expand capacity in its renewable
    • Tata Power aims to increase its generation capacity to over 30 GW by FY27 from current 13.5 GW.
    • Of this, clean energy will contribute from current levels of 34% to 60% by 2027 and 80% by 2030.
15. India’s GMR Group has started operating the Kualanamu International Airport in Medan, Indonesia.
    • The company has won the contract for it in December 2021.

Appointments

1. Air Cargo Forum India (ACFI) has formed a new board for a term of 2 consecutive years 2022-2024.
   • Yashpal Sharma (MD of Skyways Group) has been appointed as the President of ACFI for this period.

Awards

1. The First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Gita Gopinath has also become the first woman to be featured on the ‘wall of former chief economists’ of the IMF.
   • This makes her only the second Indian to achieve this feat after Raghuram Rajan.

Sports

1. India has won against England by 50 runs, in the 3-match series of the first T20I at Southampton, England.
2. India has defeated Sri Lanka by 39 runs in the third and final Women’s ODI in Pallekele, Sri Lanka.
3. Wimbledon (Grand Slam tennis tournament) at London, UK – Men’s Singles: Novak Djokovic (Serbia) and Women’s Singles: Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan)
   • It was the 7th Wimbledon title for Novak Djokovic.
4. Malaysia Masters 2022 (Badminton) – Men’s Singles: Chico Auro Dwi Wardoyo (Indonesia); Women’s Singles: An Se Young (South Korean)
5. India’s Gukesh has won the Gijon Chess Masters at Gijon, Spain.
6. Charles Leclerc (Monaco) has won the Austrian Grand Prix.
7. Mexico’s Rey Vargas has won the World Boxing Council featherweight title at USA.

Miscellaneous

1. Former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe has passed away.
2. Former Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has passed away.
3. “The Architect of the New BJP: How Narendra Modi Transformed The Party” book has been authored by Ajay Singh.

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