1. US imposes $1.4 mn fine on Air India over delay in refunds
Tags: International News
Tata Group-owned Air India has been fined $1.4 million in penalties for delayed refunds amounting to $121.5 million for delayed or cancelled flights, under an order from the US Department of Transportation.
Important facts
Under US law, airlines and ticket agents have a legal obligation to refund consumers in the event of a flight cancellation or a passenger not accepting the option offered.
According to US regulations, it is illegal for an airline to deny refunds and instead provide vouchers to such consumers.
The US Department of Transportation received a large number of complaints from air travellers that airlines had failed to provide timely refunds after cancellations or significant changes to flights.
The US Department of State has fined six airlines over delayed refunds, in what has been called a "historic" enforcement action.
The fine imposed on Air India is the third highest after Denver-based Frontier and TAP Portugal.
Apart from Air India, Frontier, TAP Portugal, Aero Mexico, EI AI and Avianca Airlines have also been fined by the US government.
2. National Commission for Women launched Digital Shakti 4.0
Tags: National National News
The National Commission for Women (NCW) launched the fourth phase of Digital Shakti Campaign, a pan-India project on digitally empowering and skilling women and girls in cyberspace on 15 November.
Important facts
Digital Shakti 4.0 focuses on making women digitally proficient and aware to stand against any illegal/inappropriate activity online.
The National Commission for Women launched it in association with Cyberpeace Foundation and META.
The launch was followed by an interactive panel discussion on "Combating Online Cyber-enabled Human Trafficking and Other Forms of Online Violence".
Third phase of Digital Shakti
The third phase of the program was launched in Leh in March 2021 by the Chairperson of the National Commission for Women in the presence of Lieutenant Governor Radha Krishna Mathur and Ladakh MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal.
In the third phase, a resource center was developed to provide information on all the ways a woman can report when she faces a cybercrime.
About Digital Shakti
Digital Shakti was launched in June 2018 to raise awareness and help women on the digital front across the country.
Through this project, more than 3 lakh women across India have been sensitised regarding cyber security tips and tricks.
It is helping women with reporting and redressal mechanisms, data privacy and use of technology for their benefit.
Chairperson of the National Commission for Women - Rekha Sharma
3. NASA launches its Artemis 1 mission from Kennedy Space Centre, Florida
Tags: Science and Technology International News
The US space agency NASA launched its Artemis 1 mission on 16 November, 2022 from Kennedy Space Centre, Florida.
Important facts
About eight minutes after launch, the core stage's engines cut off and the core stage separated from the rest of the rocket.
After this, the Orion spacecraft was propelled by the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS).
NASA also deployed the four solar arrays of the Orion spacecraft.
After completing "translunar injection", Orion separated itself from the ICPS and is now on its way to lunar orbit.
About Artemis 1 mission
For the first time in 50 years since the end of the Apollo program, the launch of Artemis 1 is an ambitious US mission to return astronauts to the surface of the Moon.
The Artemis 1 launch will also be the first flight of NASA's 21st century moon-exploration program.
With Artemis 1 on the surface of the Moon, NASA aims to demonstrate new technologies, business approaches and capabilities that are essential for future explorations, including Mars.
The launch aims to further aid in the study of the Moon, its origin and history.
ISRO’s Moon Exploration Mission
Chandrayaan 1
Chandrayaan-2
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) recently announced India's third lunar mission Chandrayaan-3, which will consist of a lander and a rover.
4. Britain approves three thousand work visas for young Indian professionals
Tags: International Relations International News
On November 16, 2022, the United Kingdom government approved three thousand visas for young professionals from India to work in the country every year.
Important facts
This visa is done under the UK-India Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement which was signed in 2021.
India is the first country to benefit from such a scheme.
The UK government has approved the UK-India Young Professionals Scheme which offers 3,000 visas to Indian graduates aged 18-30 years to live and work in the UK for up to two years.
The announcement was made hours after British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the 17th edition of the G20 Summit in Bali.
UK-India Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement
The Union Cabinet approved the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Migration and Mobility Partnership in 2021 between India and the United Kingdom.
The objective of the agreement is to liberalize the issuance of visas promoting the mobility of students, researchers and skilled professionals and to strengthen cooperation between the two sides on issues related to irregular migration and human trafficking.
About United Kingdom
It is an island country located off the northwestern coast of mainland Europe.
Prime Minister - Rishi Sunak
Capital - London
Currency - British pound
Head of State - King Charles III
5. Union Agriculture Minister inaugurates first Greenfield Farm Machinery Plant in MP
Tags: Economy/Finance National News
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on 15 November, 2022 inaugurated the first greenfield farm machinery plant of Mahindra & Mahindra at Pithampur in Madhya Pradesh.
Important facts
This new farm machinery plant is capable of manufacturing affordable and accessible farm machinery equipment under the Mahindra and Swaraj brands.
The plant will also manufacture products for export to global markets in Asia, Africa, Europe and the America.
The facility is capable of manufacturing a range of new products designed at Mahindra's Global Centers of Technology Excellence in Finland, Japan and Turkey.
The plant is spread over 23 acres and can manufacture 1,200 combine harvesters and 3,300 rice transplanters per year.
The establishment of this plant is likely to provide employment to about 1,100 people.
Mahindra has been one of the leading tractor manufacturing companies globally.
In fact, in the first half of the financial year 2022-23, the company sold 2,52,844 tractors in the country, which was 12 percent more than the previous one.
What is a Greenfield Project?
It refers to an investment in a building, office, or other physical company-related structure or group of structures where no prior facilities exist.
6. Jeff Bezos Amazon Company becomes the first company in history to lose $1 trillion market capitalisation
Tags: Economy/Finance International News
Jeff Bezos’s company Amazon has become the first publicly listed company in the world to lose a trillion dollars in market value as a combination of fear of recession, rising inflation, tightening monetary policies and slowdown in the earnings updates triggered a historic selloff in the stock.
Shares in the e-commerce and cloud company have been declining in October and November month pushing its market value to about $879 billion from a record close at $1.88 trillion in July 2021.
The Big five Tech companies of America, Intel, Microsoft, Alphabet (owner of Google),Meta (formerly Facebook) and Amazon share prices are falling in the United States as their growth prospects look uncertain in an economy plagued by fear of recession.
The top five US technology companies by revenue have lost nearly $4 trillion in market value this year.
In October 2022, Amazon projected the slowest revenue growth for a holiday quarter in the company’s history as shoppers reduce their spending in the face of economic uncertainty. That sent its market value below $1 trillion for the first time.
What is Market capitalisation or M-cap?
Market capitalisation refers to the total number of free floating shares of a company in the market multiplied by the current market price of each share.
Explanation
Suppose there is a company called Tata motors and its promoter is Mr Ratan Tata. The company has 100 shares and all the shares of the company are with Ratan Tata. Ratan Tata decides that he needs money. He decided to sell 20 shares of Tata motors to the public through the Tata Motors Initial Public offering (IPO) at Rs 10 per share. People will buy the shares and the Tata motors company will be listed on an Indian Stock Exchange like BSE after the completion of the process.
Now Ratan Tata has only 80 shares of the company.
Keep in mind only 20 shares of the company will be listed on BSE as the company has sold only 20 shares to the public. In Stock market language it will be said that the Tata motors free float is 20 shares not 100.
Now suppose the price of the Tata motors in the market is Rs 100 then the Market capitalization of the Tata Motors will be: Free floating share of the company X market price of the company’s single share.
Thus it will be 20X Rs 100= Rs 2000
Types of Market capitalisation
In India on the basis of market capitalization companies are classified into Large Cap, Mid-Cap and Small Cap. Here cap means capitalisation.
Publicly listed companies which have a market capitalization of Rs 20,000 crore or more are called as Large Cap companies.
Mid-Cap: Publicly listed companies which have a market capitalization of less than Rs 20,000 crores and up to Rs 5000 crore.
Small Cap: Publicly listed companies which have a market capitalization of less than Rs 5,000 crores.
7. INDO - US Joint training Exercise“YUDH ABHYAS 2022” to commence in Uttarakhand
Tags: Defence National News
The 18th edition of Indo-US joint training exercise "Yudh Abhyas 22" will be held in Auli, Uttarakhand in November 2022.
Important facts
The 'Yudh Abhyas' between India and the US is held annually with the aim of exchanging best practices, strategies, techniques and procedures between the armies of the two countries.
The previous edition of this exercise was conducted in October 2021 at Joint Base Elmdorf Richardson, Alaska (USA).
The US Army soldier from the 2nd Brigade of the 11th Airborne Division and Indian Army soldier from the Assam Regiment will participate in the exercise.
The training schedule focuses on employment of an integrated battle group under Chapter VII of the UN Mandate.
The training program will cover all functions related to peacekeeping and peace enforcement.
Soldiers of both the countries will work together to achieve common objectives. The joint exercise will also focus on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations.
Troops of both the countries will practise launching quick and coordinated relief efforts in the wake of any natural calamity.
The exercise was started in 2004 under the US Army Pacific Partnership Program.
Other Exercises between India and the USA
Exercise Tiger Triumph - Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief exercise
Exercise Vajra Prahar - Special Forces’ Exercise
Cope India - Air Force
Malabar Exercise - Quadrilateral naval exercise of India, USA, Japan and Australia
Red Flag - US’ multilateral air exercise
8. World Population crosses 8 billion on 15 November 2022: United Nations
Tags: National International News
According to the United Nations (UN) the world human population has crossed the 8 billion mark on 15 November 2022 and it is expected to grow to 10.4 billion by 2080’s. The United Nations attributed the rise in population to a gradual increase in human longevity due to improvements in public health, nutrition, personal hygiene, and medicine.
Historical growth of Human Population
- According to the UN Population Fund , it took 12 years for the global population to go from 7 billion to 8 billion.
- In less than 100 years since 1930, the world population has grown four times.
- The global human population crossed the billion milestone in 1804 and it took another 126 years to cross the 2 billion population mark in 1930.
- It crossed the 3 billion mark in the next 30 years, 4th billion in the next 14 years and the 5th billion in the next 13 years.
- The annual population growth rate was highest between 1963 and 1972, at over 2 per cent.
- The growth rate has declined since then, and has fallen below 1 per cent since 2021.
Future Projections of Human population growth
- According to the United Nations it will take around 15 years until 2037 for it to reach 9 billion.
- It has been projected that the world population could grow to nearly 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050, and 10.4 billion in 2100.
- More than half of the projected increase in global population till 2050 will be concentrated in Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, and Tanzania.
- India is projected to cross China as the world’s most populous country during 2023.
- The most populous regions on Earth are Eastern and South-Eastern Asia with 2.3 billion people and Central and Southern Asia with 2.1 billion people. India and China
According to the World Bank population projection:
- In 2022 China and India account for over a third of the world’s population, with China‘s share at 18.2 per cent and India’s at 17.7 per cent.
- The world’s third most populous country, the United States of America and the fourth most populous Indonesia at present in 2022, have a share of 4.2 per cent and 3.5 percent of the global population respectively.
- This is expected to change by 2050, with India having the world’s highest population share at 16.8 percent, while China’s population share would have declined by over 4.2 per cent.
- India is projected to add over 2.3 billion people by 2050, while China’s population is projected to decline from 2030 onwards.
- At present Asia has the largest share of the world’s population, Africa is home to the youngest population with a median age of just 20, and Europe will have the oldest population on the globe with a median age of around 43.
9. Union Minister of Power & New and Renewable Energy launches the Green Energy Open Access portal
Tags: National National News
The Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy, RK Singh, launched the Green Energy Open Access Portal through video conferencing on November 11, 2022, in continuation of several initiatives of the Government of India to promote clean and green energy.
Important facts
This portal will allow electricity consumers with a sanctioned load of 100 kW or more to get the supply of renewable energy.
Under the new system, any consumer with a sanctioned load of 100 kW or more "can get renewable energy through an open access portal from any renewable power generation plant set up by him or any developer."
This open access has to be given within 15 days. An application for open access can be made on this portal.
These stakeholders include Open Access Participants, Traders, Power Exchanges, National/Regional/State Load Despatch Centres, Central/State Transmission Utilities.
The portal provides a transparent, simplified, uniform and streamlined process for providing open access to green energy.
This will be instrumental in making electricity markets more convenient and enabling integration of renewable energy (RE) resources into the grid.
Objectives of the Portal
The portal aims to ensure affordable, reliable, sustainable and green energy for all. Consumers can now easily access renewable energy.
Green Energy Open Access Rules, 2022
The Ministry of Power had notified the Electricity (Promotion of Renewable Energy through Green Energy Open Access) Rules- 2022 on June 6, 2022.
The objective of these rules is to promote production, purchase and consumption of green energy including electricity from waste to power plants.
As per the rules, green open access is allowed to any consumer and the open access transaction limit for green energy has been reduced from 1 MW to 100 kW so that even small consumers can buy renewable energy through open access.
10. The third edition of Coastal Defence Exercise 'Sea Vigil-22' began on 15 November
Tags: Defence National News
The third edition of the two-day 'Sea Vigil-22' is commencing on the eastern seaboard from November 15 as part of an all-India coastal defence exercise.
Important facts
The exercise was conceptualised in the year 2018 among various measures initiated to enhance maritime security since the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
The exercise will be conducted along the country's 7,516 km long coastline covering India's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
The exercise will involve all coastal states, union territories and other maritime stakeholders including fishing and coastal communities.
The exercise is being conducted by the Indian Navy in coordination with the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and the ministries tasked with maritime activities.
This exercise is a build-up towards the major Theatre Level Readiness Operational Exercise (TROPEX), which is conducted by the Indian Navy every two years.
'Sea Vigil' and 'TROPEX' together will cover the entire spectrum of maritime security challenges.
Assets from the Indian Navy, Coast Guard, Customs and other maritime agencies will participate in the 'Sea Vigil' exercise.
Apart from the Defense Ministry, the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Customs and other Central/State agencies are also assisting in the conduct of this exercise.
The exercise will provide a realistic assessment of India's strengths and weaknesses, which will help further strengthen maritime and national security.
