MOEFCC releases Marine Mega Fauna Stranding Guidelines' & 'National Marine Turtle Action Plan

• Prakash Javadekar, Union Minister for Environment Forest & Climate Change (MoEFCC) virtually released 'Marine Mega Fauna Stranding Guidelines' & 'National Marine Turtle Action Plan' in New Delhi. The documents will help in long-time conservation of Marine mammals & their habitats

India, Japan hold Fifth Joint Meeting of Act East Forum at New Delhi

• India & Japan held the 5th Joint Meeting of the India-Japan Act East Forum (AEF) at New Delhi. AEF was established in 2017 with an objective of modernization of North Eastern (NE) Region of India.

• Connectivity, Hydropower, Sustainable Development, Utilization of Water Resources & Skill Development are the areas under which projects are taking place.

• Japan's Official Development Assistance (ODA) to the NE region is INR 1600 crores.

• India called for fastening the construction of Smart city projects in Kohima (Nagaland), JIT Nagarbera (Assam) & Establishment of Three Healthcare projects namely

• 4000 bed Teaching hospital in Kohima

• Super-specialty cancer & Research center in Mizoram

• Strengthening of health system & Excellence of Medication Education in Assam

About Japan:

• Prime Minister - Yoshihide Suga
• Capital - Tokyo
• Currency - Japanese Yen

Cargill in Collaboration with UNWFP and CRB Launched Nutrition Programme

• Cargill in collaboration with the United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP) and Centre for Responsible Business (CRB) launched a programme to improve nutrition status in Jaipur, Rajasthan

• The program is supported by the Department of Women & Child Development, Government of Rajasthan.

• It is aligned with the Government of India's National Nutrition Strategy and the Poshan Abhiyan.

• To address the issue of Malnutrition with child, pregnant and lactating mothers that leads to low birth weight, stunting, and anaemia.

• The program aims to address the nutritional intake in first 1000 days of a child's life, i.e., from conception to two years after birth.

• It will collaborate with Anganwadi centers (AWCs) to enhance the nutritional quality of Take-Home Ration (THR) served to children, pregnant and lactating mothers

About Cargill:

• Chairman & CEO, David MacLennan

• Headquarters- Minnesota, United States
• President, Cargill India- Simon George

About Centre for Responsible Business (CRB):

• CEO- Rijit Sengupta

• Headquarters-New Delhi, India

About United Nations World Food Programme(UNWFP):

• Executive Director- David Beasley

• HeadQuarters, Rome, Italy

Maharashtra regains Top Spot in Justice Delivery among states in India: IJR report 2020

• According to the 2nd Edition of India Justice Report 2020, Maharashtra regained the Top spot for Better Justice Delivery among 18 Large and mid-sized states (Population over one crore each), it was followed by Tamil Nadu & Telangana. In the Category of 7 small states (Population less than one crore each). Tripura topped the list followed by Sikkim & Goa.

• The report was released by Tata Trusts with the support of Centre for Social Justice, Common Cause, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, DAKSH, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) - Prayas & Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy and How India Lives.

• It is India's only ranking of states based on delivery of Justice to people.

• The Justice Delivery is based on 4 pillars - Police, Judiciary, Prisons & Legal Aid.

• Apart from 18 Large and Mid Sized States & 7 Small States remaining states were not ranked.

• The report is based on 53 Indicators. It is also based on Number of women among judges, police & police officers, prison staff & legal aid panel lawyers.

Judiciary:

• Top states - Tamil Nadu topped in 18 Large-Mid sized states & Sikkim topped in 7 small states.

Prisons:

• : Top states - Rajasthan topped in 18 Large-Mid sized states & Himachal Pradesh topped in 7 small states.

Legal aid:

• Top states: Maharashtra topped in 18 Large-Mid sized states and Goa topped in 7 small states.

Police:

• Top State - Karnataka topped in 18 Large-Mid sized states and Sikkim topped in 7 small states.

About Tata Trusts:

• Chairman - Ratan Tata
• Headquarters - Mumbai, Maharashtra

2nd India-Bangladesh Consular Dialogue 2021 held in New Delhi

• 2nd India-Bangladesh Consular Dialogue 2021 was held in New Delhi to discuss issues related to consular, visa, and mutual legal assistance matters. Notably, the bilateral diplomatic ties between both nations have completed 50 years therefore they reiterated their commitment to continue to work towards citizen-centric consular mechanisms.

• The next Consular Dialogue will be scheduled in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

• The dialogue was initiated in 2017.

• Indian Delegation was led by Sanjay Bhattacharyya, Secretary of Consular, Passport & Visa (CPV) and Overseas Indian Affairs (OIA), Divisions of Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

About Bangladesh:

• Prime Minister - Sheikh Hasina

• Capital - Dhaka
• Currency - Bangladeshi Taka

India in 3rd Position Globally in Scientific Publications After China and US

• The Department of Science and Technology has announced that India is currently in 3rd position globally in scientific publication after China and the United States, with 1,35,788 scientific articles in the year 2018. The data is provided by the US agency, the National Science Foundation.

• Of the 13,045 patents filed in 2017-18, 1,937 were done by Indians.

• Of the 15,550 patents filed by Indians at Indian Patent Office during 2017-18, 65% of them were filed from the States of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Delhi.

• It is to be noted that India's national investment in R&D has increased from Rs 1,13,825 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 1,23,847 crore in 2018-19.

About Ministry of Science and Technology:

• Union Minister - Harsh Vardhan (Constituency - Chandni Chowk(NCT of Delhi)
• Headquarter - New Delhi, Delhi

UN Releases Findings of 'People's Climate Report - World's Largest Survey on Climate Change

• The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) released the results of People's Climate Report - World's Largest Survey of Public Opinion on Climate Change. Around 1.2 Million People participated in the survey, out of which two-thirds of people (64%) believe that Climate Change is a Global Emergency

• The survey conducted by UNDP along with University of Oxford, United Kingdom spanned 50 countries and covered 56% of the World's Population.

• The Peoples Climate Vote is part of the Mission 1.5 campaign launched by UNDP in 2020 for educating people about climate change solutions & asking people about actions needed to be taken for tackling the climate change problem.

• The 6 specified areas were Energy, Economy, Transportation, Farms & Food, Protecting people and nature

• Four Popular Climate Policies among the respondents for tackling Climate Change Conservation of Forests & Land (54% Support)

• Solar, Wind and Renewable Power (53%)

• Climate-friendly farming techniques (52%)

• Investing more in green businesses and jobs (50%)

About United Nations Development Programme (UNDP):

• Administrator - Achim Steiner
• Headquarters- New York, United States of America

Harsh Vardhan Addressed 4th edition of FII Forum 2021

• 4th edition of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Forum 2021 was held virtually from Riyadh, Capital of Saudi Arabia under the theme of "The Neo-Renaissance". It was hosted by FII Institute.

• Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Harsh Vardhan addressed the FII Forum 2021.

• The forum acted as a platform for leaders, investors and policymakers to find solutions for expanding access to healthcare, train healthcare workers, remove regulatory barriers and encourage investment in advanced health technologies.

India Slipped to 86th in CPI 2020; New Zealand & Denmark Tops with Minimum Corruption

• Transparency International released the 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index(CPI) where India's rank slipped to 86th with a score of 40 from 80th rank with score of 41 in 2019 stating a low position as CPI uses a scale of 0 to 100, where is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.

• The list has been topped by New Zealand and Denmark rank at the first position with scores of 88 stating minimum corruption levels.

• Contrarily, Somalia and South Sudan rank lowest at 179th position with scores of 12

• CPI ranked 180 countries and territories on the basis of levels of public sector corruption, 13 expert assessments and surveys of business executives

About United Nations Development Programme (UNDP):

• Administrator - Achim Steiner
• Headquarters- New York, United States of America

HDFC Bank Partners with CSC to Launch EMI Collection Service

• HDFC Bank and CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) under the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (Meity) has entered into partnership to launch Equated Monthly Installment(EMI) service that allows Business Correspondents(BCs) to collect HDFC Bank's EMIs at CSCS across India.

• To enable customers to deposit their overdues without the need to visit bank branches.

• CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd was set up under Companies Act, 1956 to oversee the implementation of the Common Services Centers(CSC) scheme.

• Under the initiative, CSC and HDFC Bank will use the services of BC to collect regular EMis / overdue amount on loans taken by customers from segments like auto loan, two-wheeler loan, personal loan, business loan and sustainable livelihood initiative.

About HDFC Bank:

• Headquarters - Mumbai, Maharashtra
• Managing Director(MD) and Chief Executive Officer(CEO)- Sashidhar Jagdishan
• Tagline- We understand your world

Global Public Debt to touch 98% of GDP in 2020 amid COVID Crisis: IMF

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its latest fiscal monitor update has projected Global public debt to touch 98% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) at the end of 2020 due to severe challenges imposed to public finances amid COVID-19. It was 84% before COVID-19.

• In this regard, Indian government debt will also be elevated at 83% of GDP.

• The fiscal monitor was released by Vitor Gaspar, Director of the IMF's Fiscal Affairs Department

• It also projected that in 2021 the debt will further elevate to almost 100% of GDP in 2021.

• Notably, IMF has provided financing totaling about USD 105 billion to more than 80 countries

• The maximum lending capacity of the IMF is USD 1 trillion.

About International Monetary Fund (IMF):

• Member Countries, 190
• Headquarter - Washington, D.C., United States
• Managing Director- Kristalina Georgieva
• Economic Counsellor and Research Department Director- Gita Gopinath

Shyam Srinivasan awarded the Business Standard Banker of the Year (2019-20)

• Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Federal Bank, Shyam Srinivasan, was awarded with the Business Standard Banker of the year for 2019-20.

• The high level 5-member Jury panel of Business Standard's chaired by former Reserve Bank of India deputy governor S S Mundra, unanimously selected Shyam Srinivasan for the award.

Dhanlaxmi Bank Appoints JK Shivan as MD & CEO

• Dhanlaxmi Bank appointed JK Shivan as Managing director(MD) and Chief Executive Officer(CEO) for a period of 3 years.

• Sunil Gurbaxani was the MD & CEO of the bank.

• The bank has its headquarters at Thrissur, Kerala

India to host 2022 AFC Women's Football Asia Cup

• India has got the hosting rights from Asian Football Confederation to host 2022's Women's Football Asia Cup. For the first time the event will feature 12 teams from across Asia. Ahmedabad and Navi Mumbai are the two possible venues to hold 2022 AFC's Women's Football Asia Cup.

• This event will act as a qualifier to the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup that is to be held in Australia and New Zealand.

• India will host the AFC Women's Asia Cup in 2022, for the second time only after it was hosted in 1980.

• 1980 India host the Women's Football Asia Cup in Calicut (now Kozhikode), Kerala.

• India was the runner up in the 1980 event, Chinese Taipei won the 1980 Women's Football Asia Cup.

About Indian Women's Football Team:

• Head Coach - Maymol Rocky
• Captain - Loitongbam Ashalata Devi

About Asian Football Confederation:

• President - Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa
• Headquarters - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Kaja Kallas Becomes 1st Female PM of Estonia

• Estonia President Kersti Kaljulaid appointed Kaja Kallas as the Prime Minister of the country. With this appointment she becomes the 1st female PM of the country since the nation regained independence in 1991. She succeeds Jüri Ratas.

About Estonia( Officially- Republic of Estonia):

• Capital, Tallinn
• Currency- Euro

Shaibal Gupta, Patna Based Social Scientist & Economist Passed Away at 67

• Shaibal Gupta, Patna based social scientist, a renowned Economist and the Founder of Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI) passed away at the age of 67 in Patna, Bihar. He hails from Patna, Bihar.

• He has been running the ADRI to carry out groundworks in the field of social research since 1991.

• He has served as the Director of the Centre for Economic Policy and Public Finance(CEPPF),

• Government of Bihar and has also served as the Director of Andhra Bank.

• He has also worked with the Institute of Development Studies in Sussex, the International Labour Organisation(ILO), World Bank and the London School of Economics.