Current and corporate affairs as on 03 september 2020
NATIONAL NEWS
India ranks in top 50 countries for 1st time in Global Innovation Index: India ranked in the top 50 countries for the first time in the Global Innovation Index, which was released today. India jumped four positions to rank at 48th since 2019. The index compiled by World Intellectual Property Index (WIPO) presented the latest global trends and annual innovation ranking for 131 countries. Moving up four positions since last year, India became the third most innovative lower middle economy in the world. According to the report jump can be attributed to newly available indicators and improvements in various areas of the GII. India ranks in the top 15 in indicators such as ICT services exports, government online services, graduates in science and engineering and R&D-intensive global companies. The report added that due to universities like IIT Delhi and Bombay, IIS Bengaluru and other top scientific publications, India is the lower middle-income economy with the highest innovation.
Cabinet approves introduction of J&K Official Languages Bill 2020 in Parliament: The Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister has approved the introduction in Parliament of the Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill 2020 in which five languages will be official languages. These are Urdu, Kashmiri, Dogri, Hindi and English. Briefing the media, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said inclusion of Dogri, Hindi and Kashmiri as official languages in Jammu and Kashmir is not only a fulfillment of a long-pending public demand but is also in keeping with the spirit of equality.
Cabinet approves ‘Mission Karmayogi’, National Prog. for Civil Services Capacity Building; PM says, it will radically improve HRM practices in Govt.: Cabinet today gave its nod to ‘Mission Karmayogi’ – National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building. The scheme will lay the foundation for capacity building for Civil Servants so they remain entrenched in Indian culture while they learn from best practices across the world. ‘Mission Karmayogi’ aims to prepare the Indian Civil Servants for the future by making them more creative, constructive, imaginative, innovative, proactive, professional, progressive, energetic, enabling, transparent and technologyenabled. Briefing the media this afternoon, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said, the Karmayogi scheme will be the biggest Human Resource development programme of the government. The institutional framework will consist of Prime Minister’s Public Human Resources (HR) Council, Capacity Building Commission, Special Purpose Vehicle for owning and operating the digital assets and the technological platform for online training and Coordination Unit headed by the Cabinet Secretary.
Centre blocks 118 mobile apps including PUBG to ensure safety, security and sovereignty of Indian cyberspace: Government has blocked 118 Mobile Apps including PUBG which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, Defence of India, Security of State and Public Order. The move will safeguard the interests of crores of Indian mobile and internet users. This decision is a targeted move to ensure safety, security and sovereignty of Indian cyberspace. PUBG MOBILE Nordic Map: Livik, PUBG MOBILE LITE, WeChat Work, WeChat reading, Cyber Hunter, LifeAfter and Warpath are among the 118 banned mobile apps. The decision to ban such Apps was taken by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology as it has received many complaints from various sources including several reports about misuse of some mobile apps available on Android and iOS platforms for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized manner to servers which have locations outside India.
Govt. says, all calendars, diaries and similar materials to be digital now: Government today said that all calendars, diaries and similar other
materials, which were earlier printed in physical format, will now be done digitally. All Ministries, Departments, Public Sector Undertakings and all other organs of the government have to adopt innovative means to use digital or online methods. The Finance Ministry said, Publication of Coffee Table books will also be stopped and appropriate use of E-Books will be
encouraged. There is to be no activity towards printing wall calendars,
desktop calendars, diaries and other such material for use in the coming year by any Ministries and Departments. The Ministry said, using
technological innovations for planning, scheduling and forecasting is well known to be economical, efficient and effective.
Cabinet approves signing of MoU between India and Japan for improving quality of Indian textiles for Japanese market: Cabinet has approved the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between India and Japan for improving quality and testing of Indian textiles and clothing for the Japanese market. The MoU would enable M/s Nissenken Quality Evaluation Centre, Japan in assigning Textile Committee as their cooperative Testing and Inspection service providers in India for Textiles and Apparel products. Government has also approved an MoU between India and Finland for cooperation in the field of Geology and Mineral Resources. The MoU facilitates cooperation in the field of geology, training, mineral prognostication and suitability analysis with the intent of reinforcing and strengthening scientific links.
Question Hour, Private Members’ Bills will not be taken up in upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament: Question Hour and Private Members’ Bills will not be taken up in the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament. The Zero Hour will be restricted. Notifications issued by Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Secretariats said, there will also be no breaks during the session, which will be held from 14th September to 1st October. Both the houses will function on Saturdays and Sundays as well. In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the session will be held in two shifts — 9 A.M. to 1 P.M. and 3 P.M. to 7 P.M. Except for the first day, the Rajya Sabha will sit in the morning shift and the Lok Sabha will sit in the evening.
STATE NEWS
Goa CM Pramod Sawant tested COVID- 19 positive: In Goa, Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant has tested COVID- 19 positive. He tweeted this saying he has opted for home isolation and is asymptomatic. Dr Sawant further added that he will discharge his duties working from home. The Chief Minister has advised, those, who came in contact with him to take the necessary precautions. Meanwhile, Chief Minister’s Office has clarified that appointments and meetings scheduled earlier stand suspended till further notice.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Google partners with Bangladesh for flood forecasting: Google has partnered with Bangladesh Water Development Board to bring the flood warning services to the country. Announcing this on its official blog on Tuesday Google said that it currently covers more than 40 million people
in Bangladesh and it is working to expand its coverage to the whole of the
country. Quoting a study conducted in collaboration with Yale, it said that
more than 65 per cent of people who receive advance flood warnings take
action to protect themselves and their assets. It said Google is working to
launch a new forecasting model to double the lead time so that people have
an extra day or so to prepare in case of impending floods. It said that is
available in Hindi, Bengali and seven other local languages. The company
is also partnering with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to build to deliver a l e r t s to people who don’t have
smart phones to receive the a l e r t s directly. The company uses Artificial
Intelligence (AI) to analyse historical data to predict flood in the river basins. Google launched its flood forecasting pilot programme in Patna in 2018.
BUSINESS AND FINANCE
Indian Bank announces cut of 5 basis points in MCLR for one-year tenure: State-owned lender Indian Bank has announced a cut of 5 basis points in its marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) for one-year tenure. The bank has decided to reduce the MCLR for one-year tenure by 5 basis points to 7.30 per cent effective from September 3, 2020, Indian Bank said in a regulatory filing. All new retail loans (housing, education, vehicle),
credit to MSMEs are linked to RLLR now. On Monday, the country’s second
largest lender Punjab National Bank (PNB) had raised its RLLR by 15 basis points to 6.80 per cent, making loans costlier for new borrowers.
SPORTS NEWS
Sumit Nagal becomes 1st Indian to win grand slamsingles main draw match in 7 years: Sumit Nagal stormed into the second round of the ongoing US Open Tennis last night. Nagal defeated Bradley Klahn of USA 6-1, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in the first round of the US Open to progress further into the tournament. With this result, the 23-year-old Nagal has become the first Indian to win a singles main draw match at a Grand Slam in the last seven years. In 2013, Somdev Devvarman had reached the second round of the Australian Open, French Open and US Open. Nagal, who is the world number 122, will now face second seeded Austria’s Dominic Thiem in the second round of the tournament.
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Compiled By : CS Surbhi Saxena
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