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By admin: Oct. 4, 2022

Mumtaz Khan named FIH women's rising player of year 2021-22

Tags: Sports Person in news

Young India Hockey player Mumtaz Khan was named the FIH Women's Rising Star of the Year 2021-22 on 4 October 2022.  Mumtaz Khan who hails from Lucknow was rewarded for her brilliant performance at the FIH 2021 junior women World Cup in South Africa.

The 19 year old Mumtaz scored eight goals in six matches of the tournament. India finished fourth in the tournament which was won by Netherlands.  

Mumtaz Khan is the third Indian woman to win the award after Lalremsiami in 2019 and Sharmila Devi in 2020-21.

 In the men’s category, Vivek Sagar Prasad has won the honour in both 2019 and 2020-21.

FIH Men's Rising Star of the Year

Timothee Clement of France was voted FIH Men's Rising Star of the Year.

The FIH Rising Star of the Year Award is the annual award for the best men’s and women’s young players (U23) in international hockey in a given calendar year as determined by experts, teams, fans and media.

FIH 

FIH ( Fédération Internationale de Hockey) is the governing body of men’s and women’s International hockey.

Headquarters : Lausanne , Switzerland 

Acting President :  Seif El Dine Ahmed 

CCI approves the merger of Zee with Sony with conditions

Tags: Economy/Finance

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on 4 October 2022 granted conditional approval to the proposed merger of Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) with Sony Pictures Networks (SPN) India owned by Japan’s Sony. However this is not the final order of the CCI and both the networks will have to meet the conditions of the CCI.

Sony and Zee decided to merge their television channels, film assets and streaming platforms in December last year.

Under the terms of the arrangement, Sony will hold 50.86 per cent stake in the merged entity. The promoters of Zee will hold 3.99 per cent and other Zee shareholders will hold 45.15 per cent stake in the combined company.

Sony will also inject cash of $1.5 billion into the merged entity.

The Zee-Sony combine will become India’s second-largest entertainment network by revenue with over 75 television (TV) channels, along with two video streaming services — ZEE5 and SonyLIV.

Competition Commission of India (CCI) 

• The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is the chief national competition regulator in India. 
• It was set up under the Competition Act, 2002
• It comes under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
• It promotes healthy market competition and prevents activities that have an adverse effect on competition in India. 
• CCI also approves combinations under the act so that two merging entities do not overtake the market.

Headquarter - New Delhi

Current Chairman - Ashok Kumar Gupta

Dr. Rajendra Kumar assume charge as the Director General of ESIC

Tags: National Person in news

Senior IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre, Dr. Rajendra Kumar, took over the charge of Director General of Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) on 4 October 2022.

The ESIC comes under the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment.

Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC)

It was set up under the Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948.  It comes under the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment.

The ESIC was set up to administer a health insurance scheme for the workers and their dependents.

It also has hospitals in India where medical facilities are provided to eligible workers and their families. 

The Scheme was started in New Delhi and Kanpur on 24th February 1952.

24 February is observed as ESIC day. 

Headquarters: New Delhi 

NPCI to launch Rupay Debit Card in Oman

Tags: place in news Economy/Finance International News

Oman has become the latest country in the world where National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) will launch its RuPay Debit card. 

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed on 4 October 2022 between the Central Bank of Oman and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for cooperation in digital payment systems.

The agreement was signed during the visit of the Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan to Oman. He was on a two day (3-4 October) visit to Oman.

This was his second visit to Oman and he met Oman’s foreign minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood Albusaidi .

Rupay Card

RuPay is an Indian payment gateway like Visa or MasterCard and is increasingly being expanded to India's neighbouring countries or nations with a huge Indian diaspora.

Rupay card was officially launched for public in India on 8 May 2014

Singapore was the first foreign country where it was launched in May 2018, followed by Bhutan and the Maldives.

In West Asia, UAE was the first country where RuPay was launched during PM Modi's August 2019 visit.  

Agreement has also been signed with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, France and Nepal for its launch in the respective countries.

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)

• NPCI, an umbrella organization for operating retail payment and settlement systems in India, has been initiated by the 'RBI' and the 'Indian Banks' Association' (IBA) under the 'Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007'.
• It is a 'not-for-profit' company established under the provisions of Section 25 of the Companies Act 1956 (as amended in 2013), with the objective of providing physical and electronic payment infrastructure to the entire banking system in India.

Union Minister Murugan addresses the Global News Forum in New Delhi

Tags: place in news Summits

Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Dr L. Murugan delivered the keynote address at Global News Forum 2022 meeting in New Delhi on 4 October 2022. The three day (3-5 October) meeting is being organized by the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union with DD (Doordarshan) India in New Delhi.

The theme of the Global News Forum 2022 is: Truth and Trust at times of Crisis’

Worlds leaving news media channels like Al Jazeera, CNN, NHK, ABC and CNA and other international organisations like Reporters without Borders, the World Food Programme, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Zero Risk International are participating in the Forum meeting.

Asia -Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU)

ABU was established in 1964 as a non-profit, non- governmental, non-political, professional association with mandate to assist the development of broadcasting organisations in the region.

 It has over 253 members in over 67 countries in Pacific region, Asia (South east, North, And South, and Central), West Asia,East, Europe, North Africa and North America.

Doordarshan (DD) & All India Radio (AIR) both are Full Members of ABU. All India Radio was a founding member of the ABU in 1964 while Doordarshan joined ABU in 1976. 

Headquarters: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

Prosus terminates the PayU deal to buy payment aggregator BillDesk

Tags: Economy/Finance

Prosus, owner of PayU, has announced the termination of its $4.7-billion deal to acquire India’s leading payments aggregator BillDesk.

On 31, August 2021, Prosus announced that its company PayU will buy the online payments firm BillDesk for $4.7 billion (about Rs 34,400 crore). It was approved by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on September 5, 2022.

The Netherlands based Prosus in a statement said that ““Certain conditions were not fulfilled by September 30, 2022, and the agreement has terminated automatically”. 

Walmart’s $ 16 billion acquisition of e-commerce major Flipkart in 2018 is the biggest M & A (merger & acquisition) deal in the Indian fintech space.

Prosus has invested around $6 billion in Indian new tech companies like Swiggy, PharmEasy,Meesho,Byju,DeHaat, Mensa Brands, and Good Glamm Group.

BSNL to start 4G services from November

Tags: Economy/Finance

The Government of India owned Telecom Company Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has announced that it will start its 4 G service from November 2022 and will gradually upgrade it to 5 G by August 2023. BSNL is the only telecom company in India which still offers 3G service.

This was announced by the   BSNL chairman and managing director PK Purwar at the 6th India Mobile Congress held in New Delhi from 1-4 October 2022.

Prime Minister Narendra officially launched 5G service on 1 October and Airtel became the first company to launch 5G service in India.

According to R K Purwar, the company is in discussion with IT major TCS and state-run telecom research and development organisation C-DOT-led consortium to deploy indigenously developed 4G technology in the network.

BSNL was set up in 2000 by the Government of India under the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Telecommunication. Its Headquarters is at New Delhi.

India's economic growth to decline to 5.7% in 2022: UNCTAD

Tags: Economy/Finance

According to the  United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Trade and Development Report 2022, the Indian economy growth rate is expected to decline to 5.7% in 2022(January-December period ). The report was released on 3 October 2022.

It also expects the Indian economy growth rate to reduce to 4.7 % in 2023. 

The Indian economy grew by 8.7% in 2021-22. In the first quarter (April-June) of the current financial year (2022-23) it grew by 13.5%.

The Reserve Bank of India also reduced the expected growth rate of the Indian economy for 2022-23 to 7% in its latest monetary policy review on 30 September 2022.

The main reason cited by the UNCTAD report for reducing the economic growth rate of India is the expected reduction in the capital expenditure of the government due to adverse global economic situations.

UNCTAD said it expects the South Asia region to expand at a pace of 4.9 per cent in 2022

UNCTAD projects that the US economy will grow at 1.9 per cent in 2022 will further slow down to 0.9 per cent in 2023.

Meanwhile, China's economic growth is projected to be 3.9 per cent in 2022 and 5.3 per cent growth in 2023.

Forecast for Indian Economy Growth Rate by various agencies (till 3^rd October 2022)

UNCTAD (United Nation Conference on Trade and Development) 

UNCTAD is a permanent intergovernmental body established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1964.

 It was set up to promote the interests of developing countries in world trade.

It also releases the World Investment Report. 

Headquarters of UNCTAD:  Geneva, Switzerland

Offices of UNCTAD:  New York in the United States and Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.

Secretary-General:  Mrs. Rebeca Grynspan of Costa Rica

Indian American Vivek Lall gets Lifetime Achievement award in US

Tags: Awards International News

Indian-origin General Atomics CEO Vivek Lal has been honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award by US President Joe Biden with a citation for 'With Grateful Recognition'.

Important facts

• The award is given to him by AmeriCorps and by the Office of the President.

• AmeriCorps operates as part of the US government, which aims to promote activities that inspire Americans to "serve communities".

• Indian-American Vivek Lal is currently the Chief Executive Officer of General Atomics Global Corporation.

• Lal was born on 05 March 1969 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

• Lal completed his PhD in Aerospace Engineering from Wichita State University in Kansas.

• He has also been the CEO and Chairman of Reliance New Ventures Reliance Industries Limited.

Alain Aspect, John Clauser, Anton Zeilinger chosen for the Nobel Prize for Physics 2022

Tags: Awards International News

The Royal Swedish Academy of Science has announced the winners of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics on 4 October 2022.  Three scientists; Alain Aspect of France, John Clauser of USA and Anton Zeilinger of Austria were honoured for their work in Quantum physics.

According to the Academy the awards were given for their "experiments with entangled photons, and pioneering quantum information science",

Quantum physics is a field of science that aims to study matter and energy at the most fundamental level. Each of the three winners conducted ground breaking experiments using entangled quantum states, where two particles behave like a single unit even when they are separated.

The Academy said that as a result of their work, development was underway to use the "special properties of individual particle systems to construct quantum computers, improve measurements, build quantum networks and establish secure quantum encrypted communication."

On 3 October 2022, Svante Paabo of Sweden was announced the winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine.

The Nobel Prize will be conferred on 10 December 2022 in Stockholm, Sweden.

List of Nobel Prize winners from India - 

• Rabindranath Tagore (1913) - Literature. First Asian to get a Nobel Prize.
• CV Raman (1930) - Physics
• Har Gobind Khurana (1968) - Medicine. He was an Indian born American citizen.
• Mother Teresa (1979) - Peace
• Subhramanyan Chandrashekhar (1983) - Physics. He was an Indian born American citizen.
• Amartya Sen (1998) - Economics. 
• Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (2009) - Chemistry. He is an Indian born British and American citizen.
• Kailash Satyarthi (2014) - Peace
• Abhijit Banerjee (2019) - Economics. He is an Indian born American citizen. 

PNB launches WhatsApp banking for customers and non-customers

Tags: Economy/Finance

Government of India owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) on 3 October 2022 said that it has introduced banking services through WhatsApp for both customers and non-customers. The customer of the bank has to first register with the bank for this facility.

At present, Punjab National Bank would be offering non-financial services such as balance inquiry, last five transactions, stop cheque, request cheque book to its account holders through the WhatsApp banking service.

Other informative services that would be provided to both account and non-account holders include online account opening, enquire bank deposit/loan products, digital products, NRI services, locate branch/ATM, opt-in, opt-out options.

The WhatsApp banking service will be available 24x7, including holidays, on both android and iOS-based mobile phones

Punjab National Bank (PNB)

It is a Public Sector Bank which was set up in 1894 and started its functioning in 1895.

It is the first Swadeshi bank which was set up by Indians with Indian capital.

Lala Lajpat Rai was the first person to open an account with the bank.

It was nationalized in 1969 and it is owned by the Government of India.

It is the third largest public sector bank after SBI and Bank of Baroda.

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer: Atul Kumar Goel

Headquarters: New Delhi 

Tagline of the Bank: A name you can bank upon.

Sanjeev Kishore takes over as new Director General Ordnance (C&S)

Tags: Person in news

Sanjeev Kishore, a 1985 batch officer of the Indian Ordnance Factory Service (IOFS), has taken over as the Director General Ordnance (C&S) with effect from 1 October, 2022 upon the superannuation of M K Grag. 

Important facts

• Prior to assuming the new role, Kishor was Additional Director General Ordnance in the Directorate of Ordnance (Coordination and Services), Kolkata.

• Kishor has held several senior positions including as the first CMD of Armoured Vehicles Nigam Limited (AVNL), one of the seven new DPSUs formed by the Government of India in 2021.

• He has ensured smooth transfer of the armoured group of factories from the government department to the corporation.

• AVNL registered profits in the first six months of its operations under his leadership.

• Prior to his appointment as CMD, Kishor was also posted as Senior General Manager, Heavy Vehicle Factory (HVF) Avadi and General Manager, Opto Electronics Factory (OLF), Dehradun.

• He has been honoured with the Santu Sahni Memorial Shield and Ayudh Bhushan Award for his services to enhance defence production.

Indian Ambassador to France Jawed Ashraf attends Paris Infra Week

Tags: International News

Indian Ambassador to France Jawed Ashraf attended the Paris Infra Week inaugural on October 3. 

Important facts

• In this event, he highlighted India's infrastructure, digitization, logistics support growth, inclusion, sustainability, sovereignty, strategic autonomy and resilience.

• The event was attended by various dignitaries.

India - France relations

• India and France have always had traditionally close and friendly relations.

• In 1998, the two countries entered into a Strategic Partnership, which marks the convergence of their views on a number of international issues, apart from the close and growing bilateral ties.

• There are more than 1000 French businesses in India in diverse sectors like Defence, ITeS, Consultancy, Engineering Services, Heavy Industries etc.

• France is the 7th largest foreign investor in India with a cumulative FDI stock of USD 9 billion from 2 April 2000 to December 2020, representing 2% of the total FDI inflows into India.

• During the second wave of COVID-19 in India, France supported India with a massive solidarity mission.

• The mission was implemented by the Embassy of France in India led along with IFCCI and Team France. 

• During this mission, 29 state-of-the-art French-built oxygen-generating plants were set up in Indian hospitals across the country and 55 crores (6.1 million Euros) were raised from 55 French and Indian groups.

About France

• Prime minister - Élisabeth Borne

• Capital - Paris

• President - Emmanuel Macron

• Currency - euro

• Official Language - French

• Official Name - French Republic

Indian Railways converts 500 Mail Express trains to Superfast category

Tags: National National News

Indian Railways converted 500 Mail Express trains to the Superfast category on 4 October.

Important facts

• In addition, 130 services (65 pairs) have been converted into superfast category.

• The speed of trains has been increased from 10 minutes to 70 minutes.

• Overall the average speed of all trains has increased by about 5 per cent, leaving about 5 per cent additional routes available for operation of more trains.

• Indian Railways has released its new All India Railway Time Table known as 'TRAINS AT A GLANCE'.

• This new timetable is effective from October 1, 2022.

Punctuality of Indian Railways during the year 2022-23

• The punctuality of Indian Railways for Mail Express trains during the year 2022-23 is around 84%.

• This is about 9 percent more than the nearly 75 percent punctuality achieved during the year 2019-20.

• In addition, around 3,000 passenger trains and 5,660 suburban trains also operate on the Indian Railways network.

• About 2.23 crore people travel by trains every day.

ICICI bank has announced a new bank account for Indian students in UK

Tags: Economy/Finance

ICICI Bank UK, a wholly-owned subsidiary of India’s 2nd largest private sector bank ICICI Bank, has announced on 3 October 2022, the launch of a new account designed for Indian students going for higher education in the United Kingdom. 

The account named “The HomeVantage Current Account (HVCA)”, comes with a Visa debit card valid for use anywhere in the world and can be activated digitally before the students leave India for the UK.

It is an equivalent to a savings account in India, the account holder can activate internet banking and mobile banking once it has been activated. 

ICICI BANK 

It is a private sector bank which was set up in 1994 by ICICI. In 2002 ICICI merged with ICICI bank.

It is the second largest private bank in India after HDFC Bank.

In 1999, ICICI became the first Indian company and the first bank or financial institution from non-Japan Asia to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer: Sandeep Bakshi 

Headquarters: Vadodara, Gujarat 

Tagline of the Bank: Khayal Apka 

Indian merchandise goods exports registers a growth of 15.54% in the first six months of financial year 2022-23

Tags: Economy/Finance

According to the data released by the Union Ministry of Commerce on 3 October 2022, the Indian merchandise export from India in the first six months (April-September) of the financial year 2022-23 was $229.05 billion. It registered a growth of 15.54% over the same time period last year 

The import of the merchandise goods during the first months (April-September) of the financial year 2022-23 was $ 378.53 billion with an increase of 37.89% as compared to the same period last year.

The trade deficit (Import-Export) in the first six months (April-September) of the financial year 2022-23 was $ 149.47 billion.

Merchandise export and import in 2021-22 

The total merchandise export from India in 2021-23 was a record $417.81 billion with a growth rate of 43.18% as compared to the last year.

India’s merchandise import in 2021-22 was $ 610.22 billion with an increase of 54.71% over the last year.

Top exported goods from India during the first six months (April-September) of the financial year 2022-23

 All figures are in million dollars (1 million = 10 lakhs)

Top imported goods by India during first six months (April-September) of the financial year 2022-23

 All figures are million dollars.

President Draupadi Murmu launches 'herSTART' - a start-up platform

Tags: State News

President Droupadi Murmu launched a start-up platform 'herSTART' for women entrepreneurs created by Gujarat University, Ahmedabad on 4 October. 

About 'herSTART' start-up platform

• It is one of the flagship programs of Gujarat University Startup and Entrepreneurship Council (GUSEC), which will provide support to women entrepreneurs during their entrepreneurial endeavours.

• It is established with the vision of empowering innovative ideas by women. 

• It has been established to empower aspiring women entrepreneurs as they pursue their entrepreneurial endeavors.

• The program is open to all women who have innovative ideas, prototypes or existing business ventures and want to take their efforts to the next level.

Other projects inaugurated by President

• The President also laid the foundation stone of various projects related to education and tribal development at Gujarat University in Ahmedabad.

• She inaugurated and laid foundation stones of various projects worth Rs 1,330 crore.

• She laid the foundation stone for Super Specialty Hospital, Critical Care Centre at Gandhinagar Civil hospital, GMERS hospital, and a hostel at Narmada besides various irrigation and civic projects among others.

About Gujarat State 

• Formation - 1 May 1960

• Gujarat is also known as 'The Land of Legends'.

• The Gir Forest National Park in Gujarat is home to the only wild population of Asiatic Lions in the world.

• Gujarat is the main producer of cotton, tobacco and groundnut in the country.

• Garba is the main traditional dance of Gujarat.

• Lothal was the ancient city of Gujarat where India's first port was established.

• Capital- Gandhinagar

• Governor- Acharya Devvrat

• Chief Minister- Bhupendrabhai Patel (BJP)

• Assembly seats-182

• Rajya Sabha seats- 11

• Lok Sabha seats- 26

India's second Adarsha Veda Vidyalaya inaugurated by Dharmendra Pradhan in Puri

Tags: State News National News

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurated India’s second ‘Rashtriya Adarsha Veda Vidyalaya’ (National Model Vedic School) on the premises of Central Sanskrit University in Odisha’s Puri on 4 October.

Important facts

• Adarsh Vedic Vidyalaya has been constructed in the Sri Sadashiv campus of the University.

• Free education will be provided in this residential school.

• The Puri campus will be the first Vedic school outside the main campus of Maharishi Sandipani Rashtriya Veda Vidya Pratishthan in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh.

• Four more such schools will be opened in Badrinath in Uttarakhand, Sringeri in Karnataka, Dwarka in Gujarat and Guwahati in Assam.

• The academic session of the new school will start from 2022-23. 

• Admission on the basis of merit will be done to Veda Bhusan fourth (Class-IX), Veda Bhusan fifth (Class-X), Veda Vibhusan first (Class-XI) and Veda Vibhusan second (Class-XII).

• Apart from imparting education on the four Vedas – Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda and Atharvaveda, courses such as Science, English, Mathematics, Vedic Mathematics, Social Science, Computer Science and Agriculture will be offered in this school.

Central Sanskrit University, Puri 

• It is established by an act of Parliament. 

• It is a Premier University for promoting Sanskrit studies in India and abroad.

• It is currently the largest Sanskrit university in the world.

• It was established on 15th October, 1970. 

Digital India Conference of State IT Ministers concludes

Tags: National Summits National News

The three day "Digital India Conference of State IT Ministers" began on 1st October 2022 concluded on 3rd October in New Delhi.

Important facts

• The Digital India Conference of State IT Ministers, along with the sixth edition of India Mobile Congress (IMC 2022) was inaugurated by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

• On the first day, detailed discussions were held with the States and Union Territories on the key priority areas of the Digital India initiative, chaired by the Minister of Communications, Electronics & Information Technology and Railways, Ashwini Vaishnav.

• In his concluding remarks, Ashwini Vaishnav said that connectivity is the key to Digital India and its reach to every nook and corner of the country.

• He said that Rs 26,000 crore has been sanctioned by the government for setting up 25,000 new towers in the next 500 days.

• He congratulated all the States and Union Territories for swiftly joining PM Gati Shakti.

• On the second day of the conference MeitY organized three sessions on important aspects like ‘IT Rules, Online Gaming and Data Governance’, ‘Digital India Bhashini & Digital Payment’, and ‘MyScheme and Meri Pehchaan’.

• On the third day, MeitY organised five panel discussions.

• The title of discussions were ‘Attracting Startups to Tier 2 Cities and Sustaining Them’, ‘Use of Emerging Tech in Public Services’, ‘Making India Talent Nation’, ‘Realization of Digital Government in States’, and ‘Make-in-India for the Globe – India as Semiconductor Nation’.

World Animal Day

Tags: Important Days

Every year 4 October is observed as World Animal Day.

Important facts

• This day is celebrated to respect the rights of animals and to make people aware about their well being.

• The day highlights the fact that animals have the same value as humans and at the same time their rights need to be respected.

• The purpose of this day is to improve animal welfare standards, to show love towards animals so that their lives can be better and better and to spread awareness in the context of animal welfare.

• The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 has been implemented in India to promote animal protection and to end cruelty to animals.

• The theme of the year 2022 - "Shared Planet".

Background of the day

• The day was first observed on 24 March 1925 by animal protection activist Heinrich Zimmermann in Berlin, Germany.

• At a conference of the world's animal protection organizations in Florence, Italy in May 1931, his proposal to universalize World Animal Day on 4 October was unanimously accepted.

• The day is currently being organized by the Naturewatch Foundation, a UK based animal welfare charity.