Here
is the Daily Current Affairs of the 04th and
5th December 2022 covering the following news
headlines: World
Soil Day, International Volunteer Day, International Day of Banks, SS
Rajamouli, Canara Bank, Earthshot Prize 2022.
The world’s leading full-stack
debt support and risk mitigation platform has inaugurated India’s first
Innovation Lab (SIL) dedicated to the debt collection segment of
banking industries in India and the Middle East.
Through an expedited method, SIL is
intended to speed development on disruptive technologies such as AI/ML,
big data, data security, and so on. SIL is working with all
participants in the collecting ecosystem to prepare for the future by taking a
digital-first strategy.
Spocto will also promote digitalization
in the collections ecosystem by leveraging technology that provide
hyperpersonalization and data-driven solutions to improve repayments. The ideas
will be finalised in cooperation with a ‘borrower’ focus group comprised
of persons from various demographics. Because SIL will collect input from both
the borrower and lender sectors, spocto hopes to cut the default rate by 10
per cent by 2025.
Indian tech brand “Noise” has
appointed Virat Kohli as its new brand ambassador for
its smartwatches. The new partnership will bring together the
two domains together which is said to exemplify the brand. The partnership will
further help in deepening consumer trust and allegiance, claims the company.
Noise and Virat Kohli- both are
leaders in the smart connected lifestyle industry and the cricket world
respectively. Moreover, as the brand ambassador has always felt pride in his
fitness levels, Noise signed him because of Kohli’s era of super-athletes,
which makes him an ideal fit for the brand.
Former Union Minister Hansraj
Gangaram Ahir has assumed charge as Chairperson of
the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC). He is an
Agriculturist by profession, read a statement from the Ministry of Social
Justice & Empowerment.
He had been elected four times Member
of Parliament from Parliamentary Constituency Chandrapur, Maharashtra and also
he was Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council. He had been Union
Minister of State for Home Affairs and Union Minister of State for Chemicals
and Fertilizers, Government of India the 16th Lok Sabha.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
National Commission for Backward
Classes Formed: 14 August 1993;
National Commission for Backward
Classes Headquarters: New Delhi.
The Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) has put in place a framework to allow overseas
subsidiaries and branches of Indian banks and financial
institutions to undertake activities not specifically permitted in the
Indian domestic market.
The framework also specifies the
applicability of these instructions to International Financial
Services Centres in India, including Gujarat International Finance
Tec-City (GIFT City). While these activities may not need prior approval,
they are subject to compliance with all applicable laws/regulations and
conditions stipulated by the RBI and those prescribed by the host
regulator.
IDFC Asset Management Company Limited
(AMC), one of the top 10 AMCs in
the country, has received regulatory clearances from regulators for
its proposed change in ownership.
Securities market regulator SEBI granted the necessary no objection for IDFC AMC’s acquisition by a
consortium comprising Bandhan Financial Holdings Limited (BFHL),
GIC (GIC), and ChrysCapital (CC).
The Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) granted its approval, whereas the Competition Commission
of India (CCI) had already approved the deal in August 2022. In April
2022, the Board of Directors of IDFC Limited and IDFC Financial Holding Company
Limited approved the sale of IDFC AMC and IDFC AMC Trustee Company Limited to
the consortium.
The Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) and the Financial Services Agency (FSA), Japan exchanged
letters of cooperation in the field of Central Counter Parties (CCPs) with
the objective of improving mutual cooperation.
With this exchange of letters, RBI
and FSA are committed to deepen relations between the two countries
and strengthen the exchange of information. RBI and FSA also
expressed their willingness to hold a dialogue or exchange views about matters
of common interest and concerns as appropriate.
A central clearing counter party,
also referred to as a central counter party, is a financial institution
that takes on counter party credit risk between parties to a
transaction and provides clearing and settlement services for trades in foreign
exchange, securities, options, and derivative contracts.
The National Stock Exchange’s subsidiary NSE
Indices has said it has launched one more index under the Nifty
Bharat Bond Index series.
The Bharat Bond
Index series follows a target maturity date structure wherein
each index in the series measures the performance of a portfolio of ‘AAA’
rated bonds issued by government owned entities maturing in a specific
year.
In December 2019, NSE Indices
launched the first two indices in the Bharat Bond Index with
maturities in April 2023 and April 2030, and in July 2020, further two indices
with maturities in April 2025 and April 2031 were launched.
The National Payments
Corporation of India has extended the deadline for payment aggregators
to meet the guidelines on volumes of UPI (Unified Payments Interface) transactions
by two years till December 31, 2024.
In view of significant potential of
digital payments and the need for multi-fold penetration from its current
state, it is imperative that other existing and new players (banks and
non-banks) shall scale-up their consumer outreach for the growth of
UPI and achieve overall market equilibrium, NPCI said.
The step was taken to address
the risks and protect the UPI ecosystem, NPCI had then said.
However, payment aggregators have since argued that it is near impossible to
control market share without impacting new customers or slowing down their own business growth,
especially if the product and services are being used and preferred by
customers.
IIFL Mutual Fund has launched India’s first passive tax saver fund, almost
six months after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) introduced
the passive alternative in the Equity Linked Savings Scheme (ELSS)
space.
Being an index fund, the scheme will try to mirror the Nifty 50 and generate returns in
line with the movement in the index. As it will be passively managed, investors
will be charged lower expenses compared to active ELSS funds. Till now, tax
saving MF investment was only possible through the active route even
as Sebi allowed fund houses to launch passive ELSS funds through
a circular in May 2022.
India’s Greenhouse-in-a-box was among the five winners announced by the Prince of Wales,
Prince William, in Boston, United States. It is a sustainable solution for
small-scale farmers developed by an Indian startup, Kheyti, in
Telangana which has won one million pounds ($1.2 million).
Co-founder and CEO of Kheyti, Kaushik
Kappagantulu, said that he had launched the solution for at least 100 million
local smallholder farmers who are most impacted by climate change. The aim of
greenhouse-in-a-box is to reduce costs and increase yields which in turn would
help protect the livelihoods of these farmers.
Founded by Prince William this was
the second edition of the Earthshot prize which has also been dubbed the ‘Eco
Oscars’ and witnessed the presence of several celebrities who walked the green
carpet. Kheyti won the prize in the Protect and Restore Nature category which
saw hundreds of entries from across the world.
Here are the 2022 Earthshot Prize winners:
Mukuru Clean Stoves tackles clean air
in Kenya
Kheyti is protecting and restoring
nature in India
The Queensland Indigenous Women
Rangers Network is helping revive Australia’s oceans
Notpla’s circular solution to waste
in the U.K.
The 44.01 Project in Oman is turning
CO2 into rock
Canara Bank won the ‘Banker’s Bank of the Year Award 2022’’ for
India segment at the Global Banking Summit held in London. Bank
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer LV Prabhakar received the award
from the organisers.
These are prestigious awards to the
banking industry and Canara Bank has been adjudged as the Best Bank in India
for 2022. It expressed gratitude to its customers, investors, staff and other
stakeholders.
Canara Bank is an Indian public
sector bank under the control and ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government
of India. Established in 1906 at Mangalore by Ammembal Subba Rao Pai, the bank
also has offices in London, Dubai and New York.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
Canara Bank Headquarters: Bengaluru;
Canara Bank Founder: Ammembal
Subba Rao Pai;
Canara Bank Founded: 1 July
1906.
Filmmaker SS Rajamouli won
the Best Director Award for RRR at the New York Film
Critics Circle 2022. The group is one of the first critics’ groups to
weigh in on the awards season.
Rajamouli’s win surprised many as his
competitors included Steven Spielberg, Darron Aronofsky, Sarah Polley, and Gina
Prince-Blythewood. A pre-Independence fictional story, “RRR” stars Ram
Charan and Jr NTR as real-life Indian revolutionaries in the 1920s
Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem, respectively.
At the New York Film Critics Circle:
Todd Field’s Tar has won the Best Picture of the year, also nabbing Best Actress
for Cate Blanchett’s leading performance.
Colin Farrell won Best Actor for two of his performances this year — Kogonada’s
future-set sci-fi drama After Yang and Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of
Inisherin.
Ke Huy Quan has won the Best Supporting Actor for his performance in
Everything Everywhere All At Once,
Keke Palmer won the Best Supporting Actress for Nope.
As per the recent report by the US
think tank Early Warning Project, India is ranked 8th among
the countries that are at the highest risk for mass killing in 2022 and 2023.
India has seen a drop in rank from second position in the earlier year.
“India’s shift in rank from second to
eighth can be most attributed to an improvement in the freedom of movement for
men [which is one of the variables used for the analysis],” the report said.
Pakistan is estimated to have about a one in six chance of experiencing a
new mass killing in 2022 or 2023, it said.
While Pakistan topped the list this
year, Yemen ranked second, Myanmar third, Ethiopia fifth, Nigeria sixth
and Afghanistan seventh, among all 162 countries, the 2022-23 report
said.
India has performed worse than Sudan
(ninth), Somalia (10th), Syria (11th), Iraq (12th), and Zimbabwe (14th rank).
According to the 2021-2022 report,
India was ranked in the second position among the top 15 highest-risk countries
for the last five years.
WMO (World Meteorological Organization) has released its
first annual State of Global Water Resources Report 2021. The aim
of this annual report is to support monitoring and management of global
freshwater resources in an era of growing demand and limited supplies.
The report gives an overview of river flow, as well as major
floods and droughts. It provides insights into hotspots for changes in
freshwater storage and highlights the crucial role and vulnerability of the
cryosphere (snow and ice).
The report shows how large areas of the globe recorded drier than normal
conditions in 2021 – a year in which precipitation patterns were influenced by
climate change and a La Niña event. The area with below-average
streamflow was approximately two times larger than the above-average area, in
comparison to the 30-year hydrological average.
According to DGCA officials, India has
jumped to the 48th position in the global aviation safety
ranking by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
Four years ago, the country was
ranked at the 102nd position. In the ranking, Singapore is at the top, followed
by the UAE and South Korea at the second and third positions, respectively, the
officials said. China is at the 49th place.
Under its Universal Safety
Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) Continuous Monitoring Approach, an
ICAO Coordinated Validation Mission (ICVM) was undertaken from November 9 to
16. The country’s score in terms of effective implementation of key safety
elements has improved to 85.49 per cent, the officials said.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
International Civil Aviation
Organization Headquarters: Montreal, Canada;
International Civil Aviation
Organization Founded: 7 December 1944;
International Civil Aviation
Organization Council President: Salvatore Sciacchitano;
International Civil Aviation
Organization Secretary General: Juan Carlos Salazar Gómez.
A book titled ‘Brave Hearts
of Bharat, Vignettes from Indian History’ by Vikram Sampath,
an anthology of 15 stories of men and women and their indomitable spirit of
freedom and courage, was launched in Delhi. The book is published under Penguin
publication.
The book chronicles the stories of
courage and determination of few individuals, whose stories largely remained
untold and therefore unknown for a long time. Fifteen Brave Men and Women of
Bharat, who Never Succumbed to the Challenges of Invaders. But Lost and
Forgotten in the Annals of History. This is the Story of these Bravehearts, who
Fought to Protect their Rights, Faith and Freedom.
Indian shooter Rudrankksh Patil has clinched the International Shooting Sport Federation
(ISSF) President’s Cup held in Cairo, Egypt.
He defeated Italy’s Danilo
Sollazzo in the 10-metre rifle play-off by 16-8. Athletes
from 42 nations representing 43 ISSF Member Federations from
all continents are taking part in this competition, which is being held since
November 28.
In the ISSF Rifle/Pistol
World Championships 2022 held in Cairo, Egypt, which concluded in October,
the 18-year-old Rudrankksh Patil bagged the country’s first quota for the 2024
Paris Olympics after clinching a gold in men’s 10 m air rifle, becoming
only the sixth Indian shooting world champion after Olympic
gold medalist Abhinav Bindra, Tejaswini Sawant, Manavjit Singh Sandu, Om
Prakash Mitherval and Ankur Mittal.
International Volunteer Day for
Economic and Social Development is
observed on December 5 ever year. The day is also referred to
as International Volunteer Day (IVD) to recognize and promote the tireless
work, not just of UN Volunteers, but of volunteers across the globe.
The international observance was
mandated by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in 1985. The day
commemorates 80 countries in the world.
International Volunteer Day (IVD)
2022 celebrates the theme of solidarity through volunteering. This
campaign highlights the power of our collective humanity to drive positive
change through volunteerism.
The General Assembly invited
governments to observe the day as the International Volunteer Day for Economic
and Social Development under resolution 40/212 on December 5. It was a result
of their resolution from December 17, 1985, that guided all
government, civil society organizations, and communities to work together with
volunteers all around the world to celebrate the day.
December 5 is celebrated annually as World Soil Day to
highlight the importance of healthy soil and promote sustainable management of
soil resources.
The event aims to raise awareness of
the importance of soil quality for human well-being, food security and
ecosystems, and events are held at the UN FAO offices and through community
based events. The day was first considered by the International Union of
Soil Sciences in 2002, but was not officially endorsed by FAO until
2013.
The theme for 2022 World Soil Day is ‘Soils:
Where Food Begins’. It emphasises upon the importance of maintaining
healthy ecosystems and human well-being.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
International Union of Soil Sciences
Headquarters: Vienna, Austria;
International Union of Soil Sciences
Founded: 1924;
International Union of Soil Sciences
President: Laura Bertha Reyes Sánchez (Mexico).
International Day of Banks is celebrated on December 4 to recognise the importance
of multilateral and international development banks in financing sustainable
developments. United Nations also observes the day in recognition of the vital
role of banking systems in Member State in contributing to the improvement of
the standard of living.
The International Day of Banks was
adopted by the U.N. General Assembly as a way to draw attention to the role
that international development banks can play in supporting sustainable
development. Banks support the international community’s goals by financing the
sustainable development of member nations and providing information for
achieving these goals
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