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By admin: Dec. 14, 2021

14th December: National Energy Conservation Day

Tags: Important Days

2021 Theme: “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav: Energy Efficient India” and “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav: Cleaner Planet”

In 2021: Under Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, the Ministry of Power celebrates Energy Conservation Week from 8th to 14th December 2021. Various activities have been undertaken by Power CPSUs as part of the celebrations.
In India, National Energy Conservation Day is observed every year on 14th December to raise awareness about the significance of energy and the need of conserving energy by using less energy.
On this day, National Energy Conservation Awards are given away to honour innovation and accomplishments in energy conservation by industries, buildings, and manufacturers of BEE(Bureau of Energy Efficiency) star labelled appliances, as well as raise awareness that energy conservation is an important part of India’s response to reducing global warming.

India’s Harnaaz Sandhu crowned Miss Universe 2021

Tags: National News

Punjab’s Harnaaz Sandhu (21) won the Miss Universe 2021 pageant on 12 December 2021, beating contestants from 79 countries to bring the title back to India after 21 years
She was crowned by the last year Miss Universe Andrea Meza of Mexico
Nadia Ferreira ( Paraguay) of Paraguay was the first Runners Up
Previously only two Indians won this beauty pageant. They are Sushmita Sen in 1994 and Lara Dutta in 2000.
The 70th edition of the event was held in Israel’s resort town of Eilat
She earlier won the Miss Diva Universe 21 contest which was held in Mumbai , which enabled her to represent India in the Miss Universe 2021 contest.

Miss Universe

Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by the United States–based Miss Universe Organization.

It has its headquarters in New York City, USA

Along with Miss World, Miss International, and Miss Earth, Miss Universe is one of the Big Four international beauty pageants.

Chola Sarva Shakti Policy launched by Equitas Bank for women

Tags: National News

Equitas Small Finance Bank Ltd. has partnered with Cholamandalam MS General Insurance to introduce the Chola Sarva Shakti Policy, a women-specific health insurance policy.
Any Employed /Self Employed/ Unemployed Woman in the age group of 18 -65 years who is a resident of India can buy the policy.
The policy is of Cholamandalam General Insurance which will also be sold through the Equitas branch to the bank account holder of the Equitas bank.
Equitas Small Finance bank was founded in 2016 with its headquarters at Chennai.

27th The CII Partnership Summit 2021

Tags: National News

The 27th edition of The CII Partnership Summit is being held virtually By Confederation of Indian Industries(CII) , in partnership with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India from 13 -15 December 2021
Theme - Partnering for Building a New World: Growth, Competitiveness, Sustainability, Technology.

PM addresses depositors in “Depositors First” programme

Tags: National News

Synopsis

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi addressed a function on “Depositors First: Guaranteed Time-bound Deposit Insurance Payment up to Rs. 5 Lakh” in New Delhi on 12th December 2021. Union Finance Minister Mrs Nirmala Sitharaman , and RBI Governor Mr. Shakti Kanta Das were among those present on the occasion. Highlights:

The Prime Minister informed that in India, the system of insurance for bank depositors came into being in the 60s. Earlier, out of the amount deposited in the bank, only the amount up to 50 thousand rupees was guaranteed. Then it was raised to one lakh rupees.That is, if the bank fails , then the depositors had a provision to get only up to one lakh rupees. There was no time limit on when this money would be paid.
Deposit insurance covers all deposits such as savings, fixed, current, recurring deposits, etc. in all commercial banks, functioning in India. Deposits in State, Central and Primary cooperative banks, functioning in States/Union Territories are also covered. In a path breaking reform, Bank deposit insurance cover was enhanced from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 5 lakh.
Earlier where there was no time limit for refund, now the government has made it mandatory within 90 days i.e. 3 months. That is, even in the event of a bank failing , the depositors will get their money back within 90 days.
With deposit insurance coverage of Rs. 5 lakh per depositor per bank, the number of fully protected accounts at end of previous financial year constituted 98.1% of the total number of accounts, as against the international benchmark of 80%.
The first tranche of interim payments has been released by the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation recently, against claims received from depositors of 16 Urban Cooperative Banks which are under restrictions by RBI. Payout of over Rs 1300 crore has been made to alternate bank accounts of over 1 lakh depositors against their claims.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das indicated that the banking regulator will ring in sweeping regulatory changes to reform urban cooperative banks that have been plagued by a spate of failures, and warned people against parking their savings in banks offering high returns.

DICGC

Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) is a specialised division of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) which is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance, Government of India.

Coverage: Deposits in public and private sector banks, local area banks, small finance banks, regional rural banks, cooperative banks, Indian branches of foreign banks and payments banks are all insured by the DICGC.

The DICGC insures all deposits such as savings, fixed, current, recurring, etc. deposits except the following types of deposits:

Deposits of foreign Governments;
Deposits of Central/State Governments;
Inter-bank deposits;
Deposits of the State Land Development Banks with the State co-operative bank;
Any amount due on account of and deposit received outside India
Any amount, which has been specifically exempted by the corporation with the previous approval of Reserve Bank of India

Funds: The Corporation maintains the following funds :

Deposit Insurance Fund
Credit Guarantee Fund
General Fund
The first two are funded respectively by the insurance premia and guarantee fees received and are utilised for settlement of the respective claims.
The General Fund is utilised for meeting the establishment and administrative expenses of the Corporation.

Established: 15 July 1978

Headquarters: Mumbai, India

Note:

Deposit Insurance: It is a protection cover against losses accruing to bank deposits if a bank fails financially and has no money to pay its depositors and has to go in for liquidation.
Credit Guarantee: It is the guarantee that often provides for a specific remedy to the creditor if his debtor does not return his debt.
Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Despite being an insurance company, it is not regulated by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) but by Reserve Bank Of India (RBI).

DICGC Act, 1961

The Act established the Corporation to provide insurance for bank deposits and guarantee credit given by banks and financial institutions.

Under the DICGC Act,1961 the Corporation is liable to pay the insured deposit amount to depositors of an insured bank.

Such liability arises when an insured bank undergoes:

(i) liquidation, i.e., sale of all assets on closing down of the bank,
(ii) reconstruction or any other arrangement under a scheme, or
(iii) merger or acquisition by another bank, i.e., transferee bank.

Once the Corporation makes the payment to the depositors, the liquidator or the insured or transferee bank (as the case may be) becomes liable to repay the same amount to the Corporation. The amount paid by the Corporation in respect of a deposit reduces its liability against the deposit by that amount.

Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation Bill, 2021

DICGC Bill, 2021 was introduced by the Minister of Finance, Nirmala Sitharaman on July 30, 2021. This bill seeks to amend the DICGC Act, 1961.

The move came after Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank faced a grave fraud.
Subsequently, Yes Bank and Lakshmi Vilas Bank, too, came under stress, leading to their restructuring.
In a relief to depositors of stressed banks, the Cabinet cleared amendments to the Deposit Insurance Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) Act, which will enable customers to have access to their deposits up to Rs 5 lakh within just 90 days, if their banks go bust and are placed under moratorium.

“India” 4th Most Powerful Country in Asia

Tags: International News

In the Asia Power Index for 2021 that ranks 26 nations and territories in Asia- Pacific, prepared by the Lowy Institute of Sydney, India has been ranked 4th most powerful Asian country.
The Lowy Institute ranks the country's power on the basis of 8 indicators. It includes the country’s economic capability, military capability, resilience, cultural influence, economic influences, future resources, defence network, diplomatic influence.

Rank of the powerful countries

United States 82.2 points
China 74.6
Japan 38.7
India 37.7
Russia 33.0

Highlights of the report:

India lost 2.0 points (-5% change) in overall score in 2021 (compared to 2020).
India performed better in future resource measures where it finished behind only the United States and China.
India finishes in 4th place in four other measures, i.e. Economic Capability, Military Capability (+0.5), Resilience (+1.7) and Cultural Influence.
India remains in the 7th place in its “Defence Networks”, reflecting progress in its regional defence diplomacy - notably with the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue which includes: Australia, Japan and the United States.
On the other hand, India has slipped into 8th position for economic relationships, as it falls further behind in regional trade integration efforts.

Lowy Institute

The Lowy Institute is an independent think tank founded in April 2003 by Frank Lowy to conduct original, policy-relevant research about international political, strategic and economic issues from an Australian perspective.

Headquarters: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Executive Director: Michael Fullilove

Elon Musk named Time Person of the year 2021

Tags: Person in news

New-York based Time magazine has named Tesla founder and space entrepreneur Elon Musk as the Time person of the year 2021.
The tradition of selecting a "Man of the Year" began in 1927. Charles Lindbergh, who completed the first solo transatlantic flight in May 1927 by piloting his monoplane Spirit of St. Louis from Garden City, New York to Paris, France is the first Time Person of the Year.
Mahatma Gandhi is the only Indian till date to have won the Time Person of the Year in 1930 (then called Time Man of the Year) for his Salt Satyagraha (Dandi march).
US President Franklin D. Roosevelt is the only person to have won Time Person of the Year 3 times in 1932, 1934 and 1941.
Time magazine also holds an online poll for the readers to vote for who they believe to be the Person of the Year. While many mistakenly believe the winner of the poll to be the Person of the Year, the title, as mentioned above, is decided by the editors of Time. Time continues to annually run an online poll for the "People's Choice", but stresses the decision on whom the magazine recognizes is not made by the poll, but by the magazine's editors.
Indian PM Narendra Modi has won this “People’s Choice Person of the Year” twice in 2014 and 2016
Elon Reeve Musk is an entrepreneur and business magnate. He is the founder, CEO, and Chief Engineer at SpaceX; Tesla, Inc.; The Boring Company; and co-founder of Neuralink and OpenAI.

Books and Authors

Tags: Books and Authors

The 1619 Project: Born on the Water

Author: Nikole Hannah Jones

Nikole Hannah-Jones is a Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter covering racial injustice for The New York Times Magazine, and creator of the landmark 1619 Project.
In 2017, she received a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, known as the Genius Grant, for her work on educational inequality.
She has also won a Peabody Award, two George Polk Awards, three National Magazine Awards, and the 2018 John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism from Columbia University.

Other works by her are:

The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story
Living Apart: How the Government Betrayed a Landmark Civil Law

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