31st August, 2022

1. The world’s largest religious monument – the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium – has been inaugurated at Mayapur, West Bengal.
2. Indian Railway, along with the Railway Protection Force (RPF), has launched a pan-India operation known as Operation Yatri Suraksha to improve the security of passengers.
3. Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai has announced the extension of the Vidyanidhi scheme to the children of agricultural labourers.
4. Maharashtra’s first “Divyang Park” will be established in Nagpur with the financial assistance from the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
5. PM Narendra Modi has laid the foundation stone of development projects in Gujarat during his two-day visit.
6. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman attended the “Millet Conclave 2022” on the theme of “Making Many Millet Magnets – Making Millet Entrepreneurs”.
7. Ministry of Defence has released a list of 780 weapon sub-systems which will come under import ban in a phased manner between December 2023 and December 2028.
8. Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) has signed an MoU with M/s Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) to jointly work in the field of infrastructure and project execution, in India and abroad.
9. Tata Steel has signed an MOU with the Punjab govt for setting up a greenfield steel plant in Ludhiana.
10. ICICI Bank has partnered with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to launch a range of credit cards on RuPay
11. PGIM India Mutual Fund has launched a new investor education and awareness website named as MoneyAndMe (https://moneyandme.pgimindiamf.com/).
12. According to a report by Benori Knowledge (a research and analytics company), India has become the 10th largest life insurer globally, surpassing China and UK.
13. NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) has signed an MoU with the PayXpert (payments solutions provider) for launching UPI and Rupay payment solutions in the UK.
14. Private equity giant KKR has launched its third infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) named as Highways Infrastructure Trust (HIT), in addition to Virescent Renewable Energy Trust and India Grid Trust, an energy transmissions InvIT.
15. Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta and Mukesh Ambani’s Jio have partnered for integrating WhatsApp and JioMart.
16. The Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) has appointed Ananth Narayan Gopalakrishnan (Professor at SP Jain Institute of Management and Research) as a whole-time member of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for a period of 3 years.
17. Mukesh Ambani has appointed Akash Ambani as the Chairperson of Jio, Isha Ambani as Chairperson of Reliance Retail, and Anant Ambani as Chairperson of New Energy.
18. August 30 – National Small Industry Day
19. The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup will be organized by the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia.

National News

1. The world’s largest religious monument – the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium – has been inaugurated at Mayapur, West Bengal.
   • Additionally, the religious building will have the largest dome in the world.
   • The temple will be the headquarter of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).
2. Indian Railway, along with the Railway Protection Force (RPF), has launched a pan-India operation known as Operation Yatri Suraksha to improve the security of passengers.
   • Under this initiative, several steps are taken to provide round-the-clock security to passengers.
   • RPF is also implementing the Sewa Hi Sankalp initiative to keep passengers’ security intact via drives, quick responses to queries, or by taking the help of technology and utilising its many benefits.

State News

1. Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai has announced the extension of the Vidyanidhi scheme to the children of agricultural labourers.
   • Through this scheme, scholarships amounting to Rs 2500 to Rs 11000 will be provided to the children of farmers who are pursuing higher education.
   • The amount of the scholarship will be transferred directly into the bank account of the beneficiary through the direct benefit transfer method.
   • The state is also establishing a textile park.
2. Maharashtra’s first “Divyang Park” will be established in Nagpur with the financial assistance from the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
   • The ministry has also organized a ‘Samajik Adhikarita Shivir’ under the ‘Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana’ and ‘Assistance to Disabled Persons for Purchase/ Fitting of Aids and Appliances’ schemes to distribute assistive aid to senior citizens and persons with disabilities.
3. PM Narendra Modi has laid the foundation stone of development projects in Gujarat during his two-day visit.
   • Atal Bridge across Sabarmati River in Ahmedabad was inaugurated.
   • Kachchh Branch Canal of the Sardar Sarovar Project was also inaugurated.
   • Foundation stones for two new plants of Maruti Suzuki have been laid.
     • Suzuki Motor Electric Vehicle Battery Manufacturing Facility at Hansalpur, Gujarat
     • Maruti Suzuki vehicle manufacturing facility in Kharkhoda, Haryana

Agriculture and Rural Development

1. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman attended the “Millet Conclave 2022” on the theme of “Making Many Millet Magnets – Making Millet Entrepreneurs”.
   • Organizers – NABARD and University of Agricultural Sciences (Raichur, Karnataka)
   • The finance minister announced providing financial support of Rs 25 crore to the University of Agricultural Sciences through NABARD.
   • “Millet Challenge” for start-ups under the Atal Innovation Mission was also announced during the conclave. The University of Agricultural Sciences will be the field partner in this mission.
   • Purpose of the Challenge – to develop solutions to increase the profitability of the millet farmers
   • The winners of the challenge would receive seed funding of –
     • Rs 1 crore – 3 winners each
     • Rs 20 lakh – 15 selected candidates each
     • Rs 10 lakh – 15 other selected candidates each

Defence News

1. Ministry of Defence has released a list of 780 weapon sub-systems which will come under import ban in a phased manner between December 2023 and December 2028.
   • These weapons will be produced indigenously.
   • This is the third such list in nine months. So far, 2,700 items on these lists have been indigenized.
   • India’s military imports dropped 21% between 2012-16 and 2017-21.

Memorandum of Understanding

1. Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) has signed an MoU with M/s Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) to jointly work in the field of infrastructure and project execution, in India and abroad.

Banking and Economy

1. Tata Steel has signed an MOU with the Punjab govt for setting up a greenfield steel plant in Ludhiana.
   • The plant will have a capacity of 0.75 million tonnes per annum (MnTPA) for long products with a scrap-based electric arc furnace (EAF).
2. ICICI Bank has partnered with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to launch a range of credit cards on RuPay
   • To begin with, the ‘ICICI Bank Coral RuPay Credit Card’ is available in the Coral variant of the Bank’s Gemstone series, which will be followed by Rubyx and Sapphiro variants soon.
   • It is a contactless card.
3. PGIM India Mutual Fund has launched a new investor education and awareness website named as MoneyAndMe (https://moneyandme.pgimindiamf.com/).
   • The company also announced the launch of a consumer awareness campaign – ‘Aapka Happiness Planned’ to promote the MoneyAndMe website.
4. According to a report by Benori Knowledge (a research and analytics company), India has become the 10th largest life insurer globally, surpassing China and UK.
   • The life insurance penetration rate in India has grown to 3.2% in December 2021, at par with the global average of 3.3%.
5. NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) has signed an MoU with the PayXpert (payments solutions provider) for launching UPI and Rupay payment solutions in the UK.
   • NIPL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
6. Private equity giant KKR has launched its third infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) named as Highways Infrastructure Trust (HIT), in addition to Virescent Renewable Energy Trust and India Grid Trust, an energy transmissions InvIT.
7. Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta and Mukesh Ambani’s Jio have partnered for integrating WhatsApp and JioMart.

Appointments

1. The Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) has appointed Ananth Narayan Gopalakrishnan (Professor at SP Jain Institute of Management and Research) as a whole-time member of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for a period of 3 years.
   • With this appointment, SEBI now has fourth whole-time members.
2. Mukesh Ambani has appointed Akash Ambani as the Chairperson of Jio, Isha Ambani as Chairperson of Reliance Retail, and Anant Ambani as Chairperson of New Energy.

Important Days

1. August 30 – National Small Industry Day

Sports

1. The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup will be organized by the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia.

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