23rd-24th July, 2023

1. NITI Aayog has released the Revamped India Energy Security Scenarios (IESS) 2047 (IESS 2047 V3.0) to assess the integrated impact of various green energy policies of Government of India.
2. The Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), under the Ministry of Labour and Employment, has extended the Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana for a period of two years from 01.07.2022 to 30.06.2024.
3. For the first time in India, the Global Food Regulators Summit 2023 was hosted by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) under the aegis of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) in New Delhi.
4. Update on Tele-MANAS (Mental Health and Normalcy Augmentation System) –
5. President of Sri Lanka, H.E. Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, paid an official visit to India.
6. The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team-India (CERT-In), an office within the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, has warned of a new ransomware called ‘Akira’, which can get into your computer and lock your files by encryption.
7. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a six-day event focusing on semicounductors – Semicon India 2023 – at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar on July 28.
8. The 5th Helicopter & Small Aircraft Summit will be jointly organised by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of Madhya Pradesh, Pawan Hans Ltd. and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) on 25th July 2023 in Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh.
9. Telangana is launching the second phase of the “Saagu Baagu” (agricultural advancement), in collaboration with the World Economic Forum (WEF).
10. Kerala has got India’s first Construction Innovation Hub (CIH) that seeks to promote affordable and sustainable building facilities to foster collaboration, innovation and knowledge-sharing among the stakeholders.
11. Odisha’s Naveen Patnaik became the second-longest-serving chief minister in the country, replacing West Bengal’s Jyoti Basu.
12. Gujarat government has unveiled the Semiconductor Policy (2022-2027) to promote domestic semiconductor chip manufacturing sector.
13. The Indian Air Force will receive its first Airbus military transport aircraft C295 in September 2023.
14. The Indian Army flagged off an all-women motorcycle rally, in partnership with TVS Motor Company, on the occasion of commemorating the 24th Anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas (July 26).
15. Home minister Amit Shah inaugurated the Aviation Security Control Centre (ASCC) as a part of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
16. India has decommissioned INS Kirpan, its fully operational indigenously built missile corvette, and handed it over Vietnamese Navy.
17. IIT-Guwahati has signed an MoU with Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) to build capacity/skills in international affairs and foreign policy.
18. India Chamber of Business and Commerce and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) have signed an MOU to promote India as global Hub in healthcare manufacturing.
19. An MoU was signed between the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation and Echo India (a non-profit organization) to establish JJM Digital Academy.
20. International Seabed Authority (HQ – Kingston, Jamaica) will conduct its 30th session in 2025.
21. Exercise Talisman Sabre – Australia’s largest bilateral military exercise with United States – is taking place in Australia.
22. BRICS Urbanisation Forum’s meeting will be organized in Durban, South Africa.
23. Indian Bank launched Resources Acquisition Centre (RAC) to strengthen its retail deposit portfolio, which encompasses current deposit, savings bank and term deposit accounts.
24. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has clarified that a non-resident investor’s income from offshore investments that go through an Alternate Investment Fund set up in an International Financial Services Centre will not be taxed.
25. The pension regulator PFRDA has proposed changes to the Points-of-Presence (POP) regulations under the National Pension scheme, which were originally issued in 2018.
26. According to an RTI reply given by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to The Indian Express, banks wrote off bad loans worth over Rs 2.09 lakh crore (around US $ 25.50 billion) during 2022-2023.
27. Commodore A Madhavarao has been appointed as the CMD of Bharat Dynamics Limited.
28. July 22 – World Brain Day; Theme – Brain Health and Disability: Leave No One Behind
29. July 22 and March 14 – Pi Day / International Day of Mathematics; Theme – Mathematics for Everyone
30. July 22 – National Flag Adoption Day (to commemorate the Constituent Assembly’s adoption of the tricolour in its current form in 1947)
31. Esther Vergeer (Dutch para-tennis player) and Rick Draney (US) have been added to the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
32. Indian para-archers finished the World Archery Para Championships 2023 with three medals in Pilsen, Czech Republic.
33. Brian Harman (from US) has won the 2023 Open Championship (golf) held at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, Merseyside, England.
34. Max Verstappen (Dutch-Belgian motorsports racing driver) has won the Hungarian Grand Prix 2023.
35. Leon Marchand (French 22-year-old) has broken Michael Phelps’ world record in the men’s 400-meter individual medley (in swimming) in a time of four minutes, 2.50 seconds.
36. Tony Bennett, an American singer and a Grammy award winner, has passed away.
37. Batagaika crater lies in East Siberia (Russia). It is a thermokarst depression.

National News

1. NITI Aayog has released the Revamped India Energy Security Scenarios (IESS) 2047 (IESS 2047 V3.0) to assess the integrated impact of various green energy policies of Government of India.
   • An open-source tool, IESS incorporates several policies related to alternative energy resources like Green Hydrogen, Energy Storage, Renewable Purchase Obligations, PM-KUSUM, offshore wind strategy, Electric Vehicle policy, Energy efficiency, etc.
   • IESS 2047 is a user-friendly interactive tool that can help ministries/ departments to develop a variety of energy transition scenarios to achieve net-zero.
   • Designed with the help of IIT Bombay, the revamped IESS 2047 will be updated on yearly basis. The baseline has been standardised at 2020 and calibrated up to 2022.
     Source: PIB
2. The Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), under the Ministry of Labour and Employment, has extended the Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana for a period of two years from 01.07.2022 to 30.06.2024.
   • This is the third extension to the scheme with two extensions given each in 2020 and 2021 to financially support ESIC beneficiaries who had lost jobs during the pandemic.

3. For the first time in India, the Global Food Regulators Summit 2023 was hosted by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) under the aegis of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) in New Delhi.
   • CEO, FSSAI – Shri G Kamala Vardhana Rao
   • Initiatives launched at the Summit –
   • Common Digital Dashboard – The Dashboard is a common unified IT-portal that provides comprehensive information on standards, regulations, notifications, advisories, guidelines
   • SaNGRAHA – It was conceptualized to facilitate domestic and overseas exporters, importers, manufacturers, traders etc. This handbook provides the information about the Food Regulatory Authorities of various countries across the world, their mandate, food safety ecosystem, food testing facilities etc. at one platform.
   • ‘SaNGRAH’ – Safe food for Nations: Global food Regulatory Authorities Handbook
   • Food- ‘O’-copoeia – It is a collection of food category-wise monographs which is a single point reference for all applicable standards for a specific product category specifying quality & food safety standards, labelling and claim requirements, specific packaging requirements and many more
     Source: PIB FSSAI and FSSAI
4. Update on Tele-MANAS (Mental Health and Normalcy Augmentation System) –
   • Announced – Union Budget 2022-23
   • Launched – October 2022
   • Ministry – Health and Family Welfare
   • Purpose – to provide mental health counselling to people via telecommunication methods
   • Helpline numbers – 14416 or 1-800-891-4416
   • Languages – 20
   • Functioning cells – 42 Tele-MANAS cells in 31 states and Union Territories
   • Counsellors – More than 1,900 counsellors have been trained and they are running the first line services
   • Services – First, callers are attended by over 1900 trained counsellors. Callers who required specialist care are being successfully linked to appropriate services such as District Mental Health Programme (DMHP) and other nearby health care facilities
   • Plans for Tele-MANAS – integration with e-Sanjeevani will be launched in the coming days
   • Progress till now – It has received more than 2,00,000 calls from various parts of the country since its launch in October last year.
     Source: ET

5. President of Sri Lanka, H.E. Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, paid an official visit to India.
   • This will be President Wickremesinghe’s first visit to India since assuming the current responsibilities.
   • India and Sri Lanka are examining the possibility of allowing the use of the Indian rupee for local transactions.
     Source: LiveMint and MEA

   
   
   
   
6. The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team-India (CERT-In), an office within the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, has warned of a new ransomware called ‘Akira’, which can get into your computer and lock your files by encryption.
   • The malware encrypts data, modifies filenames of all affected files by appending the “.akira” extension.
   • Akira ransomware has been active since March 2023 and breaching corporate networks.
   • The hackers use a VPN to launch an attack and target organizations that do not have two-factor authentication enabled. The hackers, then, ask for a ransom.
   • Over the past two months, CERT-In has warned of two other ransomwares active across networks – Bl00dy ransomware, which was targeting the education sector in June and the Trigona ransomware in May.
     Source: TOI
7. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a six-day event focusing on semicounductors – Semicon India 2023 – at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar on July 28.
   • The event is scheduled to be held between July 25 and 30 and with the PM inaugurating the main event on July 28.
     Source: IE
8. The 5th Helicopter & Small Aircraft Summit will be jointly organised by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of Madhya Pradesh, Pawan Hans Ltd. and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) on 25th July 2023 in Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh.
   • Theme – “Reaching the Last Mile: Regional Connectivity through Helicopters & Small Aircraft”
     Source: PIB

State News

1. Telangana is launching the second phase of the “Saagu Baagu” (agricultural advancement), in collaboration with the World Economic Forum (WEF).
   • Recently, the Switzerland-based WEF has also released a report “How AI and emerging technologies are shaping the future of agriculture in India’s Telangana State” based on the results of the pilot “Saagu Baagu” project.

   About the Project –

   • Purpose of the project – to provide the farmers access to ag-tech services such as AI-based advisories, soil testing, produce quality testing and e-commerce
   • Launch – The project was initiated in 2022
   • Implementation partner – Digital Green (in consortium with three agritech start-ups) and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
   • Progress – The first phase of the project has impacted the lives of over 7000 chilli farmers in the state.

   Phase 2 of the Project –

   • Launch – 2023
   • Coverage – 20,000 chilli and groundnut farmers in three districts
   • Database – Public infrastructure — India’s first agricultural sandbox, an agricultural data exchange and agri-data management framework — will be included in this phase to support agritech services.

   Phase 3 of the Project –

   • Launch – 2025
   • Coverage – to be announced

2. Kerala has got India’s first Construction Innovation Hub (CIH) that seeks to promote affordable and sustainable building facilities to foster collaboration, innovation and knowledge-sharing among the stakeholders.
   • Location of CIH – Kochi
   • Collaboration – It has been set up in association with Habitat for Humanity India (HFHI), which is an American non-profit organisation building homes and providing housing-related services to low-income families
   • Administration of CIH – Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) will be responsible for the CIH’s overall programme management
   • KSUM Chief Executive Officer – Anoop Ambika
     Source: HBL

3. Odisha’s Naveen Patnaik became the second-longest-serving chief minister in the country, replacing West Bengal’s Jyoti Basu.
   • Patnaik, the five-time chief minister of Odisha, took charge on March 5, 2000, and holds the post for 23 years and 138 days.
   • Basu served as the chief minister of West Bengal for 23 years and 137 days.
   • Former Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling still holds the record of being the longest-serving CM in the country. He was the CM from December 12, 1994, till May 27, 2019 — more than 24 years.
   • Patnaik is also the third leader after Chamling and Basu to become the chief minister of a state for five consecutive times.
     Source: ET
4. Gujarat government has unveiled the Semiconductor Policy (2022-2027) to promote domestic semiconductor chip manufacturing sector.
   • It is the first state in India to introduce a dedicated Semiconductor Policy.
   • The State government has also unveiled an IT/ITES (Information Technology and Information Technology Enabled Services) policy tailored to invigorate the information technology and semiconductor design domains.
   • Recently, an MoU was signed between the US-based Micron Technology and the Government of Gujarat for establishment of a state-of-the-art Semiconductor Assembly, Testing, Marking, and Packaging (ATMP) facility in Sanand, Gujarat at over Rs 22,500 crore.
     Source: News on Air

Defence News

1. The Indian Air Force will receive its first Airbus military transport aircraft C295 in September 2023.
   • The trials of the aircraft will take place at Airbus’s Seville facility in Spain.
   • The first 16 C-295 aircraft will be delivered to the IAF by Airbus in flyaway condition from Spain.
   • Remaining 40 planes are to be built in India
   • Total cost of 56 planes – ₹21,935 crore
   • Indian Developer of the 40 planes – Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) and Airbus are jointly executing the project
   • Manufacturing – The main constituent assembly for the C295 set up by Tata at Hyderabad will be functional in July 2023, while the final assembly line in Vadodara will be operational in November 2024
     Source: LiveMint
2. The Indian Army flagged off an all-women motorcycle rally, in partnership with TVS Motor Company, on the occasion of commemorating the 24th Anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas (July 26).
   • 25 riders, atop TVS Ronin, participated in this rally which will stretch from the National War Memorial in New Delhi to Kargil War Memorial in Dras, Ladakh.
   • Chief of Army Staff – Gen. Manoj Pande
     Source: FE
3. Home minister Amit Shah inaugurated the Aviation Security Control Centre (ASCC) as a part of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
   • Scope – The ASCC will cater to all airports protected by CISF.
   • Location – It will be located at the force’s Mahipalpur campus in New Delhi.
   • Components – It will have four components – communication and monitoring centre, incident management centre, aviation research centre and data centre.
   • Purpose – to present a one-stop solution to all aviation security needs including real-time monitoring of bomb threat calls and VVIP movement, maintenance of contingency plans and researching the latest technologies and gadgets in the field
     Source: TOI
4. India has decommissioned INS Kirpan, its fully operational indigenously built missile corvette, and handed it over Vietnamese Navy.
   • It is the first time in India’s history when it has decommissioned a fully operation corvette and given to another nation with a complete weapon complement.
   • The handing over ceremony took place at Cam Ranh in Vietnam.
   • INS Kirpan served in Indian Navy for 32 years. Since its commissioning in 1991, the ship has been an integral part of the Navy’s Eastern Fleet.
   • It is manned by about 12 officers and 100 sailors and is 90 meters long and 10.45 meters in width with a maximum displacement of 1,450 tons.
   • The transfer of INS Kirpan from the Indian Navy to the Vietnam People’s Navy symbolises the status of the Indian Navy of being the ‘Preferred Security partner’ in the Indian Ocean Region.
   • Chief of Naval Staff – R Hari Kumar

Source: IE

Memorandum of Understanding

1. IIT-Guwahati has signed an MoU with Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) to build capacity/skills in international affairs and foreign policy.
   • The agreement will be valid for a period of 3 years.
   • Vice President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar, who is also the President of the Indian Council of World Affairs, announced this collaboration during his address at the 25th Convocation of IIT Guwahati.

   
   

2. India Chamber of Business and Commerce and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) have signed an MOU to promote India as global Hub in healthcare manufacturing.

3. An MoU was signed between the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation and Echo India (a non-profit organization) to establish JJM Digital Academy.
   • The online portal of JJM Digital Academy was launched by the Union Minister of Jal Shakti, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
   • Purpose – to build the capacity of various stakeholders associated with water supply programme like administrators, engineers, Panchayat functionaries, technicians, sanitation workers and foot soldiers by equipping them with necessary knowledge and skills to effectively contribute to achieving Jal Jeevan Mission objectives.
   • The Academy will be using digital technology in delivering training through innovative approach.
     Source: PIB

International News

1. International Seabed Authority (HQ – Kingston, Jamaica) will conduct its 30th session in 2025.
   • At the session, the authority and its members aim to sign the deep-sea mining regulations.
   • The Authority is working to develop a code for regulating the possible exploitation of nickel, cobalt and copper in deep seabed areas that fall outside of national jurisdictions.

   28th session of ISA –

   • Dates – March 2023 (part 1), July 2023 (part 2), and November 2023 (part 3)
   • Venue – Kingston, Jamaica

   ISA’s S.H.E. See Her Exceed Mentoring Programme –

   • Launched – 2023
   • Starting – The kick-off meetings between mentors and the selected mentees are foreseen to take place in October 2023.
   • Tenure – The mentorship program is of 12 months.
   • Purpose – to encourage women to make a career in deep-sea science

   ISA’s Deep-Dive e-Learning Platform–

   • This platform has been conceived to equip participants with specialized knowledge of the Area and insight into deep-seabed activities for optimal career success.

2. Exercise Talisman Sabre – Australia’s largest bilateral military exercise with United States – is taking place in Australia.
   Source: AUS Def
3. BRICS Urbanisation Forum’s meeting will be organized in Durban, South Africa.
   • Theme – Advancing urban resilience for sustainable cities and towns for future generations
   • BRICS 2023 Summit (15th edition) – Johannesburg, South Africa

Source: ET

Banking and Economy

1. Indian Bank launched Resources Acquisition Centre (RAC) to strengthen its retail deposit portfolio, which encompasses current deposit, savings bank and term deposit accounts.
   • Purpose – the RAC team will work to improve relationship banking to deepen relationships with the existing clients and it will also attract potential new High-Value clients
   • The bank will focus on specific customer segments, including HNIs, government/institutional clients, salaried class, corporates, business community, traders and pensioners.
   • The bank plans to open 20 RACs at ultra potential centres in phase-I to bolster its deposit portfolio.
     Source: TOI
2. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has clarified that a non-resident investor’s income from offshore investments that go through an Alternate Investment Fund set up in an International Financial Services Centre will not be taxed.
   • With the latest amendment, the definition of the investment funds (mentioned in the box) has been expanded to include AIFs registered in the IFSC located in GIFT city India.
   • In 2019, the CBDT had notified that a non-resident investor’s income from investments made outside India through a domestic investment fund will not be taxed.

4. According to an RTI reply given by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to The Indian Express, banks wrote off bad loans worth over Rs 2.09 lakh crore (around US $ 25.50 billion) during 2022-2023.
   • Now, the total loan write-off by the banking sector stands at Rs 10.57 lakh crore (around $ 129 billion) in the last five years.
   • Because of this write off-
     • Gross NPA reduced to 3.9% of advances in March 2023.
     • Gross NPA amount reduced from Rs 10.21 lakh crore in FY2018 to Rs 5.55 lakh crore by FY23.
   • Total write-off of bad loans since 2012-13 till now – Rs 15 lakh crore approx.
   • Recovery rate of banks – banks recovered only Rs 1 lakh crore approx. from over Rs 5 lakh crore loans written off in the last three years, revealing that they could only recover 18.6% of the write-offs during the three-year period.
   • The total defaulted loans (including write-offs but excluding loans recovered from write-offs in three years) amount to Rs 10.32 lakh crore.
   • Including write-offs, the total NPA ratio would have become 7.47% of advances as against 3.9% reported by the banks.

Source: IE

Appointments

1. Commodore A Madhavarao has been appointed as the CMD of Bharat Dynamics Limited.
   • Headquartered in Hyderabad, Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), was incorporated on 16 July 1970 as a Public Sector Undertaking under the Ministry of Defence to manufacture the guided missile systems and allied equipment for the Indian Armed Forces.
     Source: BDL

Important Days

1. July 22 – World Brain Day; Theme – Brain Health and Disability: Leave No One Behind
   Source: HT
2. July 22 and March 14 – Pi Day / International Day of Mathematics; Theme – Mathematics for Everyone
   Source: Quint and ET
3. July 22 – National Flag Adoption Day (to commemorate the Constituent Assembly’s adoption of the tricolour in its current form in 1947)
   • India’s flag was first designed in 1923 by Pingali Venkayya.
   • The Flag Code, 2002 gave permission to everyone to hoist the tricolour at their houses, offices, or any other establishment throughout the year.
     Source: CNBC

Awards

1. Esther Vergeer (Dutch para-tennis player) and Rick Draney (US) have been added to the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
   • Both are wheelchair tennis players.
   • They will be added to the Newport, Rhode Island, shrine.
     Source: Sportstar

Sports

1. Indian para-archers finished the World Archery Para Championships 2023 with three medals in Pilsen, Czech Republic.
   • The winners have secured a place in the Paris 2024 Paralympics.
   • Medals – India’s medal total included one gold, one silver, and one bronze
   • Gold – Sarita and Rakesh Kumar in compound mixed team open event (India’s first-ever gold medal in the world championship)
   • Silver – Archer Sheetal Devi (aged 16) in women’s compound
   • Bronze – Sarita and Jyoti in compound women’s team event
     Source: ANI

2. Brian Harman (from US) has won the 2023 Open Championship (golf) held at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, Merseyside, England.
   Source: Golf Digest
3. Max Verstappen (Dutch-Belgian motorsports racing driver) has won the Hungarian Grand Prix 2023.
   • It is the 12th consecutive F1 Grand Prix win of Verstappen from Red Bull (a racing team in the Grand Prix).
     Source: The Hindu

4. Leon Marchand (French 22-year-old) has broken Michael Phelps’ world record in the men’s 400-meter individual medley (in swimming) in a time of four minutes, 2.50 seconds.
   • Marchand swims at Arizona State and is coached by Bob Bowman, the coach of the American team at the world championships.
     Source: IE

Miscellaneous

1. Tony Bennett, an American singer and a Grammy award winner, has passed away.
   Source: BBC
2. Batagaika crater lies in East Siberia (Russia). It is a thermokarst depression.
   • Recently, it was in news because of climate change impacts.
     Source: DTE

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