19th August, 2022

1. Ministry of Science and Technology has approved the start-up loan of Rs 1.15 crores to M/s TGP Bioplastics Pvt Ltd., Maharashtra for commercialising compostable plastics to eliminate the single use plastics.
2. Independence Day 2022 Highlights –
3. Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the special screening of Doordarshan’s production Swaraj: Bharat Ke Swatantrata Sangram Ki Samgra Gatha at Parliament House.
4. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has arrived in Thailand to attend the 9th India-Thailand Joint Commission Meeting as both nations celebrates 75 years of establishment of diplomatic relations.
5. A first-of-its kind database of arrested narcotics offenders named as “NIDAAN” has been made operational for use by various central and State prosecution agencies tasked to enforce anti-drugs laws in the country.
6. Union Cabinet has approved the widening access of the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) database to users, besides patent offices.
7. 10th edition of Asian Textiles Conference named as TEXCON was organized in New Delhi.
8. Indian Railways has operated India’s longest and heaviest freight train, with 295 loaded wagons and 6 engines, named Super Vasuki.
9. Kerala govt has launched the “Lucky Bill” App, developed by Kerala Digital University, to prevent GST evasion by companies.
10. Madhya Pradesh’s city Mandla, which is a tribal-dominated region, has become India’s first fully ‘functionally literate’ district.
11. Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma has launched the “Vidya Rath- School on Wheels” project on the occasion of India’s 76th Independence day at a function held at the premises of Gauhati High Court.
12. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has announced ‘Make India No. 1’ mission to make the country “number one” by focussing on health, education, agriculture, and employment.
13. Union Cabinet has approved interest subvention of 1.5% per year on short term agriculture loan of up to Rs 3 lakh for 2022-23 to 2024-25.
14. Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare has released the 4th advance estimate of major agricultural crops for the year 2021-22.
15. UK has become the first country to authorise a Covid-19 vaccine against the Omicron variant, i.e., ‘Bivalent’ vaccine developed by Moderna.
16. USA has passed the Inflation Reduction Act, 2022 to control the unprecedented high inflation. In July 2022, the inflation rate in US was 8.5%, in comparison to the 9.1% rate in June 2022.
17. Russia is hosting Vostok (East) 2022 exercise (wargame) from August 30 to September 5.
18. US-based Health Effects Institute has released the “Air Quality and Health in Cities” report to analyse the emissions of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2) and their impact on health in more than 7,000 cities around the world.
19. Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the acquisition of 20% stake in IIFL Home Finance by Platinum Jasmine Trust, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, for Rs 2200 crores.
20. Amitabh Chaudhry of Axis Bank is the highest paid MD and CEO among bankers in fiscal 2022, with a salary of Rs 7.63 crores.
21. Axis Bank has signed an MoU with Food Corporation of India (FCI) to provide “Ultima Salary Package”, a best-in-class salary account with exclusive benefits & features to all the FCI’s employees.
22. Ujjivan Small Finance Bank has introduced two new tenures of retail fixed deposits (below ₹2 crore) — 75-weeks (525 days) and 75 months, both carrying the highest rate of 7.5%.
23. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has signed an agreement with global petroleum giant ExxonMobil for deep-water exploration in the east and west coasts of India.
24. Zomato-Backed Shiprocket has become the 106th Unicorn of India.
25. Chennai-based drone startup Garuda Aerospace has partnered with Harare Institute of Technology and Nyangani Virtual University to offer drones-as-a-service to the agriculture sector in Zimbabwe.
26. ReNew Power has partnered with 12 international lenders led by Rabobank (based in Netherland) to collect $1 billion for its hybrid round-the-clock (RTC) battery-enabled project.
27. Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, has collected a record Rs 1.5 lakh crore from the sale of 5G spectrum.
28. In April 2022, RBI has released its final guidelines for microfinance institutions (MFIs) that will be applicable to all entities (banks, small finance banks and NBFC-MFIs) engaged in this sector.
29. Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs under the Department of Revenue has raised the thresholds for prosecutions and arrests under the Customs Act to ₹50 lakh from ₹20 lakh for smuggling and illegal imports of goods in baggage, and from ₹1 crore to ₹2 crore for cases involving commercial fraud.
30. Hinduja Leyland Finance Ltd. (HLFL) has approved the company’s merger with NXT Digital Ltd.
31. Central govt has appointed Rajkiran Rai G as the MD of National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) for nearly five years.
32. Centre has extended the tenure of Drug Controller General of India VG Somani by three months.
33. Ireland all-rounder cricketer Kevin O’Brien has announced retirement.
34. Delhi High Court had appointed Committee of Administrators (COA), comprising former Supreme Court judge Justice Anil R. Dave, former Chief Election Commissioner Y. Quraishi, and former Secretary of Ministry of External Affairs Vikas Swarup, to take over the day-to-day affairs of the Indian Olympic Association.
35. 131st edition of Durand Cup, Asia’s oldest football tournament, is being hosted by Kolkata, Guwahati, and Imphal from 16 Aug-8 Sept.
36. Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023 will be hosted by
37. Ranji Trophy-winning coach Chandrakant Pandit will be the new head coach of Kolkata Knight Riders.
38. Four Indian wrestlers, Abhishek Dhaka (57kg), Sujeet Kumar (65kg), Mulayam Yadav (70kg) and Niraj (97kg), bagged bronze medals in men’s freestyle competitions at the World under-20 wrestling championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.
39. Former BCCI secretary and ICC director Amitabh Chaudhary has passed away.
40. Minister of Finance, Nirmala Sitharaman, has launched “India’s Vaccine Growth Story” book authored by Sajjan Singh Yadav (Additional Secretary in Expenditure Department of the Ministry).
41. German film director Wolfgang Petersen, who made films such as Das Boot, Air Force One and Outbreak, has passed away.

National News

1. Ministry of Science and Technology has approved the start-up loan of Rs 1.15 crores to M/s TGP Bioplastics Pvt Ltd., Maharashtra for commercialising compostable plastics to eliminate the single use plastics.
2. Independence Day 2022 Highlights –

3. Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the special screening of Doordarshan’s production Swaraj: Bharat Ke Swatantrata Sangram Ki Samgra Gatha at Parliament House.
4. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has arrived in Thailand to attend the 9th India-Thailand Joint Commission Meeting as both nations celebrates 75 years of establishment of diplomatic relations.
   • Organizer – India Thai Chamber of Commerce (ITCC)
   • Ambassador of India to Thailand – Suchitra Durai
   • An MOU was also signed between the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), Ministry of External Affairs, India and Devawongse Varopakarn Institute of Foreign Affairs (DVIFA), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Thailand for cooperation.
5. A first-of-its kind database of arrested narcotics offenders named as “NIDAAN” has been made operational for use by various central and State prosecution agencies tasked to enforce anti-drugs laws in the country.
   • NIDAAN – National Integrated Database on Arrested Narco-offenders
   • Developer – Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB)
   • It is a part of the narcotics coordination mechanism (NCORD) portal that was launched by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in July in Chandigarh during the national conference on ‘Drug trafficking and national security’.
   • NIDAAN platform sources its data from the ICJS (inter-operable criminal justice system) and the e-Prisons (a cloud-based application) repository and it is planned to integrate it in the future with the CCTNS (crime and criminal tracking network system).
6. Union Cabinet has approved the widening access of the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) database to users, besides patent offices.
   • The access to the TKDL database would be through a paid subscription model with a phase-wise opening to national and international users.
   • Purpose – to widespread the knowledge of Indian traditional systems
   • It will inculcate thought and knowledge leadership through ‘Bharatiya Gnana Parampara’.
7. 10th edition of Asian Textiles Conference named as TEXCON was organized in New Delhi.
   • Textiles Minister Piyush Goyal highlighted the National Technical Textiles Mission and India’s thrust on developing the textile sector sustainably.
8. Indian Railways has operated India’s longest and heaviest freight train, with 295 loaded wagons and 6 engines, named Super Vasuki.
   • The test run of the 3.5-km-long freight train carrying more than 27,000 tonnes of coal was conducted by South East Central Railway between Korba in Chhattisgarh and Rajnandgaon near Nagpur.

State News

1. Kerala govt has launched the “Lucky Bill” App, developed by Kerala Digital University, to prevent GST evasion by companies.
   • This app will offer exciting prizes to customers who upload bills of their purchase of goods and services.
2. Madhya Pradesh’s city Mandla, which is a tribal-dominated region, has become India’s first fully ‘functionally literate’ district.
3. Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma has launched the “Vidya Rath- School on Wheels” project on the occasion of India’s 76th Independence day at a function held at the premises of Gauhati High Court.
   • Purpose – to provide economically challenged underprivileged children access to elementary education for a period of 10 months
4. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has announced ‘Make India No. 1’ mission to make the country “number one” by focussing on health, education, agriculture, and employment.

Agriculture and Rural Development

1. Union Cabinet has approved interest subvention of 1.5% per year on short term agriculture loan of up to Rs 3 lakh for 2022-23 to 2024-25.
   • Applicability – Loans given by public and private sector banks, small finance banks, regional rural banks, cooperative banks and computerised Primary Agriculture Credit Societies
   • Budgetary requirement for this subvention – Rs 34,856 crore
2. Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare has released the 4th advance estimate of major agricultural crops for the year 2021-22.

International News

1. UK has become the first country to authorise a Covid-19 vaccine against the Omicron variant, i.e., ‘Bivalent’ vaccine developed by Moderna.
   • Moderna Inc. is an American biotechnology company.
2. USA has passed the Inflation Reduction Act, 2022 to control the unprecedented high inflation. In July 2022, the inflation rate in US was 8.5%, in comparison to the 9.1% rate in June 2022.
   • Retail inflation in United Kingdom has also increased to 10.1% in July 2022.
3. Russia is hosting Vostok (East) 2022 exercise (wargame) from August 30 to September 5.
   • China, Belarus, Tajikistan, Mongolia are expected to participate.
   • India is also likely to participate in this exercise. However, no confirmation has been given by the Indian Army.

Reports and Indices

1. US-based Health Effects Institute has released the “Air Quality and Health in Cities” report to analyse the emissions of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2) and their impact on health in more than 7,000 cities around the world.

Banking and Economy

1. Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the acquisition of 20% stake in IIFL Home Finance by Platinum Jasmine Trust, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, for Rs 2200 crores.
2. Amitabh Chaudhry of Axis Bank is the highest paid MD and CEO among bankers in fiscal 2022, with a salary of Rs 7.63 crores.
   • Sumant Kathpalia, MD and CEO, Indusind Bank was the second-highest paid MD & CEO, with Rs 7.3 crore remuneration in FY22.
3. Axis Bank has signed an MoU with Food Corporation of India (FCI) to provide “Ultima Salary Package”, a best-in-class salary account with exclusive benefits & features to all the FCI’s employees.
   • The Bank aims to offer holistic banking services to the employees of the Public Sector Undertakings (PSU) sector.
4. Ujjivan Small Finance Bank has introduced two new tenures of retail fixed deposits (below ₹2 crore) — 75-weeks (525 days) and 75 months, both carrying the highest rate of 7.5%.
   • Ujjivan has increased the interest rate on 990 Days (Platina) FD from 7.20% to 7.50%. Senior citizens will get an interest of 8.25% (0.75% extra).
   • Platina FD’s (a non-callable FD) deposit range is Rs 15 lakh to Rs 2 crores.
   • Callable FD’s allow premature withdrawal whereas non-callable does not allow withdrawal before the maturity date. Therefore, the interest rate and deposit amount of non-callable FD is higher than the callable FDs.
5. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has signed an agreement with global petroleum giant ExxonMobil for deep-water exploration in the east and west coasts of India.
   • The collaboration areas focus on the Krishna Godavari and Cauvery basins in the eastern offshore and the Kutch-Mumbai region in the western offshore.
6. Zomato-Backed Shiprocket has become the 106th Unicorn of India.
7. Chennai-based drone startup Garuda Aerospace has partnered with Harare Institute of Technology and Nyangani Virtual University to offer drones-as-a-service to the agriculture sector in
   • This is Garuda’s second global venture and the first in Africa.
   • In June, Garuda announced that it is setting up a drone factory in Malaysia in collaboration with HiiLSE Drones, a Malaysian drone company.
8. ReNew Power has partnered with 12 international lenders led by Rabobank (based in Netherland) to collect $1 billion for its hybrid round-the-clock (RTC) battery-enabled project.
   • The project will include wind and solar farms set up across Karnataka, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra.
   • ReNew has also signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Solar Energy Corp. of India (SECI) for this project.
   • ReNew has a gross total portfolio of 8 GW of renewable energy projects across India.
9. Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, has collected a record Rs 1.5 lakh crore from the sale of 5G spectrum.
   • Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio was the biggest purchaser, lapping up spectrum worth Rs 88,078 crore.
   • Sunil Mittal’s Airtel that bought spectrum worth Rs 43,084 crore – the second highest.
10. In April 2022, RBI has released its final guidelines for microfinance institutions (MFIs) that will be applicable to all entities (banks, small finance banks and NBFC-MFIs) engaged in this sector.
    • New definition of microfinance loan – A ‘collateral-free’ loan granted to a household with an annual household income of up to Rs 3 lakh.
    • The interest rate on the microfinance loan will be approved by the board of the issuing agency, as against the set ceiling earlier.
    • No pre-payment penalty. In case of delayed payment, penalty should be levied only on the overdue amount.
    • Now, there will be no consideration of the end-use of the loan taken by households. Earlier, the borrowers were required to spend 50% of their loan amount on increasing their income generation capacity.
    • Eligibility criteria for getting NBFC-MFI license –
      • An NBFC-MFI needs to give 75% of its total loans as microfinance loans and rest 25% can be given to companies or other borrowers. Earlier, the limit was 85%.
      • The net-owned fund requirements for NBFC-MFIs are –
        • Rs 5 crores (Rs 2 cr. In N-E region) in 31 March, 2022
        • Rs 7 crores (Rs 5 cr. In N-E region) in 31 March, 2025
        • Rs 10 crores in 31 March, 2027
      • All lending agencies shall provide the credit information and household income of the borrower to the Credit Information Companies.
      • RBI has removed the cap on the number of microfinance borrowers to which a single entity can lend. Rather, a new requirement has been introduced.
      • All entities cannot lend beyond the loan repayment obligation of a household, which is capped at 50% of monthly income.
11. Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs under the Department of Revenue has raised the thresholds for prosecutions and arrests under the Customs Act to ₹50 lakh from ₹20 lakh for smuggling and illegal imports of goods in baggage, and from ₹1 crore to ₹2 crore for cases involving commercial fraud.
12. Hinduja Leyland Finance Ltd. (HLFL) has approved the company’s merger with NXT Digital Ltd.
    • Ashok Leyland (ALL) is the parent company of Hinduja NBFC.

Appointments

1. Central govt has appointed Rajkiran Rai G as the MD of National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) for nearly five years.
   • NaBFID, National Housing Bank, NABARD, Exim Bank, and SIDBI are the five All-India Financial Institutions in India.
2. Centre has extended the tenure of Drug Controller General of India VG Somani by three months.

Sports

1. Ireland all-rounder cricketer Kevin O’Brien has announced retirement.
2. Delhi High Court had appointed Committee of Administrators (COA), comprising former Supreme Court judge Justice Anil R. Dave, former Chief Election Commissioner Y. Quraishi, and former Secretary of Ministry of External Affairs Vikas Swarup, to take over the day-to-day affairs of the Indian Olympic Association.
   • Now, the Supreme Court has ordered to maintain the status quo. Therefore, the COA will not be able to take over the affairs of IOA.
3. 131st edition of Durand Cup, Asia’s oldest football tournament, is being hosted by Kolkata, Guwahati, and Imphal from 16 Aug-8 Sept.
4. Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023 will be hosted by
5. Ranji Trophy-winning coach Chandrakant Pandit will be the new head coach of Kolkata Knight Riders.
6. Four Indian wrestlers, Abhishek Dhaka (57kg), Sujeet Kumar (65kg), Mulayam Yadav (70kg) and Niraj (97kg), bagged bronze medals in men’s freestyle competitions at the World under-20 wrestling championships in Sofia, Bulgaria

Miscellaneous

1. Former BCCI secretary and ICC director Amitabh Chaudhary has passed away.
2. Minister of Finance, Nirmala Sitharaman, has launched “India’s Vaccine Growth Story” book authored by Sajjan Singh Yadav (Additional Secretary in Expenditure Department of the Ministry).
   • Sitharaman said nearly 60% of all the vaccines used in the world are produced in India.
3. German film director Wolfgang Petersen, who made films such as Das Boot, Air Force One and Outbreak, has passed away.

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