IAF Signed MoU with CSIR-NML for Research in Material Science, Engineering

• The Indian Air Force (IAF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) with Council of Scientific & Industrial Research-National Metallurgical Laboratory (CSIR-NML), Jamshedpur, Jharkhand for the research and development in the field of material science and engineering.

• This MoU for cooperation in activities of interest to IAF, within the field expertise of CSIR-NML was the development due to IAF's visit CSIR-NML.

About CSIR-NML:

• CSIR-NML is the 3rd laboratory of the CSIR's 38 labs.
• Director-Indranil Chattoraj

• Headquarter- Jamshedpur, Jharkhand

NBCFDC, NSFDC sign MoA with Central Bank of India to implement VISVAS Yojana

• National Backward Classes Finance & Development Corporation (NBCFDC) & National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation (NSFDC) signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Central Bank of India for implementation of Vanchit Ikai Samooh aur Vargon ki Aarthik Sahayta (VISVAS) Yojana' an Interest Subvention Scheme of the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India. With the signing of the agreement, interest subvention for the beneficiaries under the VISVAS Yojana will be provided through Central Bank of India.

"Vanchit Ikai Samooh aur Vargon ki Aarthik Sahayta (VISVAS)' Yojana:

• Launched by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment in September 2020, the scheme has set a target to provide benefits to around 3.28 Lakh People in the 2020-21 financial year.

• The Scheme aims to provide OBC/SC SHGS of loans/borrowings of up to INR 4 Lakh & OBC/SC Individuals with loans/borrowings of up to INR 2 Lakh with an interest subvention benefit of 5%.

• The Government of India (Gol) has identified around 3,28,500 beneficiaries for the scheme

• SC or OBC Households with an Annual Income of up to INR 3 Lakh are eligible for the scheme.

• Gol aims to run the scheme till 2024-25, but has given approval for only one financial year - 2020-21..

About National Backward Classes Finance & Development Corporation (NBCFDC):

• Managing Director - K. Narayan
• Headquarters - New Delhi

About National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation (NSFDC):

• Chairman cum Managing Director - K. Narayan
• Headquarters - New Delhi

About Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment:

• Union Minister - Thaawarchand Gehlot
• Minister of State - Krishan Pal Gurjar, Ramdas Athawale, Rattan Lal Kataria

About Central Bank of India:

• Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer - Pallav Mohapatra
• Headquarters - Mumbai, Maharashtra

NTPC signs MoU with IIFM, Bhopal for Narmada Landscape Restoration Project

• NTPC Limited (formerly known as National Thermal Power Corporation) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indian Institute of Forest Management (IFM), Bhopal for the implementation of Narmada Landscape Restoration Project (NLRP). NTPC Ltd & United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will provide the funds in equal proportions for the implementation of the project.

• The project will be implemented in Khargone District of Madhya Pradesh along the catchments of tributaries of River Narmada between the Omkareshwar & Maheshwar dams. The tenure of the project will be 4 years.

• IFM, Bhopal will jointly implement the project along with Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI).

• IFM is an autonomous institute under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), whereas GGGI is an intergovernmental organisation providing sustainable and inclusive economic growth in developing countries.

About NTPC Limited (formerly known as National Thermal Power Corporation):

• Chairman & Managing Director - Gurdeep Singh
• Headquarters - New Delhi

About Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM):

• Director - Pankaj Srivastava
• Location - Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

About Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI):

• Director General - Frank Rijsberman
• Headquarters - Seoul, South Korea

PwC India Collaborated with UNICEF & YuWaah to Upskill 300 mn Indian youths over 10 yrs

• Consulting firm PwC (PriceWaterhouseCoopers) India announced the launch of a strategic collaboration with United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and YuWaah (Generation Unlimited in India) to upskill 300 million youths in India in the next 10 years.

• It should be noted that in November 2019, UNICEF launched Generation Unlimited aka YuWaah in India is aimed at imparting skills & providing employment to 1.8 billion young people in India in the age bracket of 10 24 years by 2030.

• In order to upskill 300 youth from migrant families impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Shahani Academic and Global Empowerment (SAGE) Foundation has signed a pact with Rise Infinity Foundation and UNICEF MahaPECONet for their training through online and offline channels.

• UNICEF MahaPECONet is a network of volunteers, corporates, government bodies and organisations that support migrant workers and their families.

• Through this collaboration, we aim to provide job-specific skill training to these underprivileged youth, to enable them obtain entry-level white collar jobs in the BFSI sector.

About UNICEF:

• Executive Director- Henrietta Holsman Fore
• Head Quarter - New York, United States (US)
• UNICEF Representative in India- Dr. Yasmin Ali Haque

About SAGE Foundation:

• Managing Director - Akhil Shahani
• Headquarter - Mumbai, Maharashtra.

About PwC India:

• Chairman - Shyamal Mukherjee

Mastercard, ni-msme and CII Partners to Launch Digital Saksham

• Mastercard, National Institute for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (ni-msme) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) entered into partnership to launch Digital Saksham, a capacity building initiative to drive awareness about digitization for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises(MSMEs) in India. Under this 3 year project, more than 3 lakh MSMEs will be trained to adopt digitisation.

• Digital Saksham will be launched across 25 cities in 7 states of India.

• The training of the MSMEs in the project will enable them to have access to credit and markets, enhance their financial prudence, knowledge and tools that drives operational efficiencies and helps in overall enterprise development by increasing their business acumen.

About Confederation of Indian Industry(CID) :

• President- Uday Kotak(Managing Director & CEO, Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited)
• Director General- Chandrajit Banerjee
• Headquarters-New Delhi, India

About National Institute for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises(ni-msme):

• Director General, S. Glory Swarupa
• Chairman of Governing Council of ni-msme & President of Society- Union Minister of MSME, Govt of India
• HeadQuarters- Yousufguda, Hyderabad

India only high endemic country to report a decline of 17.6 % in Malaria cases in 2019: WHO World Malaria Report 2020

• According to the World Malaria Report 2020 released by the World Health Organization (WHO), India became the only high endemic country to report a decline of 17.6 % in 2019 compared to 2018. India reported the largest fall in Malaria cases in the WHO South-East Asia Region, it reported 5.6 Million cases in 2019 compared to 20 Million cases in 2000. Globally 229 Million malaria cases were reported in 2018 in 87 malaria endemic countries. As per the World Malaria Report 2020", Meghalaya has topped the list in reducing malaria cases by 59% in India.

• List of High Endemic States in India which recorded highest decline of Malaria cases in 2019 (compared to 2018):

• 29 Countries accounted for 95% of the Global Malaria cases.

• Countries such as Nigeria (51%), Congo(12%), Uganda (5%), Mozambique(4%) , 7 Niger(3%) accounted for 51% of the globally reported cases

• Timor-Leste reported 0 Malaria cases in 2018 & 2019 and since 2015 WHO European Region has also been free of malaria.

WHO's HBHI Initiative:

• The High Burden to High Impact (HBHI) initiative was introduced by WHO in 11 high Malaria burden countries to tackle Malaria

• In India it has been implemented in 4 states - West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh in July, 2019

Malaria:

• It is caused by Plasmodium Parasite, and is mostly spread by Infected Female Anopheles mosquitoes.

About World Health Organization (WHO):

• Director General - Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
• Headquarters - Geneva, Switzerland

16th Climate Change Performance Index 2021: Sweden Ranked at 4th while India ranked at 10th Position

• A non-profit, non-governmental organization, Germanwatch has released the 16th edition of Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) i.e. CCPI 2021 for 57 countries and European Union (EU) in which India was ranked at 10th spot with a score of 63.98 out of 100. This was the second consecutive time that india remained in top 10 as it was at 9th position in 2019 with an overall score of 66.02.

• CCPI 2021 uses the data from 2018 to rank the countries.

• The CCPI is assessed under four categories consisting of 14 indicators. The categories are Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions (40% of the overall ranking), Renewable Energy-RE (20%), Energy Use (20%) and Climate Policy (20%).

• Notably, the index has placed no country on the first three positions, which states overall very high rating, because countries are not performing well in all index categories. In categories ranking also there are no first three positions.

• Therefore, Sweden got the best ranking among its competitors but overall it is ranked at 4th with a score of 74.42. It topped the ranking in the categories GHG Emissions, Renewable Energy and Climate Policy.

• India received high ratings on all CCPI indicators except renewable energy, where it was categorised as having a 'medium' performance.

• India ranked 12th in GHG emission category with overall "high" rating while Sweden placed at best spot i.e. 4th.

• In RE category, India positioned at 27th with "medium" rating while Latvia ranked 4th.

• In Energy Use, India again gained "high rating" at 10th position. Ukraine got the 4th spot in this category

• In the category of Climate Policy, India placed at 13th rank under "high" rating while the Finland ranked in top rank (i.e. 4th rank).

About Germanwatch:

• Policy Director- Christoph Bals

• Location- Bonn & Berlin, Germany

Nepal, China announced revised height of the World's Highest Peak Mt. Everest - 8848.86 metres

• Nepal and China jointly announced that "8848.86 metres" is the revised height of World's Highest Peak, Mount Everest.

• The revised height of Mt. Everest is 86 centimetres more than the previous measure done in 1954 by Survey of India (8,848 metres).

• The decision to re-measure the peak was taken due to many reasons, one of the reasons was the 2015 Nepal Earthquake.

• "Sagarmatha" is the Nepali name for Mount Everest, whereas it is called "Chomolungma" or "Qomolangma"in Tibetian and "Qomolangma Feng" in Chinese.

• It is a peak in the Himalayan Mountain Range and is located in the Mahalangur Himal Sub-range of Himalayas.

Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Introduces 'Money Mitra'

• Ujjivan Small Finance Bank(SFB) Ltd introduced 'Money Mitra', a new channel, to make banking services accessible to its customers in their neighbourhood.

• Money Mitra facilitates entrepreneurs of local businesses like kirana / medical stores or Insurance agencies to offer retail banking solutions to Ujjivan SFB customers exclusively.

• Ujjivan SFB customers can make a deposit, withdraw money, pay Loan EMI(Equated Monthly Installments) and transfer funds without the need to visit the branch, at the Money Mitra outlets.

About Ujivan Small Finance Bank Limited:

• Commenced operations as a Small Finance Bank, February 1, 2017

• Managing Director(MD) and Chief Executive Officer(CEO) Nitin Chugh Headquarters, Bengaluru(Bangalore), Karnataka

ADB Approves a $2.5 million Technical Assistance to Help Improve Advanced Biofuel Production in India

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $2.5 million (about Rs 18 crore) Technical Assistance to support advanced biofuel development in India. This grant is funded from the Asia Clean Energy Fund, financed by the Government of Japan under the Clean Energy Financing Partnership Facility, and the Republic of Korea's e-Asia and Knowledge Partnership Fund.

• To help address the technical and financial barriers that discourage the commercial production of biofuels and prepare for advanced biofuels' commercial application and large-scale production.

About National Policy on Biofuels:

• It was introduced in 2009.

• The main objective of the policy is to take forward the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy(MNRE)'s target to achieve 20% blending of ethanol in petrol and 5% blending of biodiesel in diesel by 2030.

About Asian Development Bank (ADB):

• Headquarters, Mandaluyong, Manila, Philippines
• President- Masatsugu Asakawa
• Membership 68 countries(Including India)
• Formed- 1966

UP government and IWAI signs MoU to promote Water Tourism

• Uttar Pradesh(UP) State tourism department signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) to promote water tourism in the state. This will allow the operation of 2 Ro Pax Passenger vessels in varanasi by the tourism department.

• To prepare an action plan to enhance the potential of River tourism.

• To Promote river tourism in Saryu river in Ayodhya.

• Development of Tour Package to Ayodhya.

• Operation of 2 Ro Pax Passenger Vessels in varanasi.

About IWAI:

• Headquarters- Noida, Uttar Pradesh
• Chairman- Amita Prasad

Justice GR Udhwani of Gujarat High Court Passed Away at 59

• Justice GR Udhwani, sitting judge of Gujarat High Court passed away at the age of 59 at a private hospital in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. He died due to COVID-19.

• He was confirmed as a permanent judge in the High Court in July 2014.

• UBS Principal Capital Asia Ltd Sells Over 20 lakh shares of IndusInd Bank Ltd Worth Rs 184.51 crore

• On December 4, 2020 UBS Principal Capital Asia Ltd. sold 20,70,000 shares of Indusind Bank Ltd through open market transaction. The shares were sold at an average price of Rs 891.4 a piece, valuing the transaction at Rs 184.51 crore. BofA Securities Europe SA purchased the shares of IndusInd Bank at the same price. As per the shareholding data of Indusind Bank for September quarter 2020, UBS Principal Capital Asia held 3.22% stake in the bank as a public shareholder.

• NHPC to commission 2,000 MW Hydropower project on Subansiri River by March 2022

• Public Sector Undertaking NHPC stated that the 2,000 MegaWatt (MW) Hydropower Project on Subansiri River would be commissioned by March 2022. The project is located near North Lakhimpur on the border of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. The project was delayed due protests by Many groups in Assam.