Today's Current Affairs-26th August 2022
INTERNATIONAL
‘So much potential’: Jaishankar preps for 3-nation South America tour, meets envoys
- Looking forward to augmenting relationships with all nations of the Latin American Region, External Affairs minister Dr S Jaishankar has embarked on a three-nation visit. During the Minister’s meeting with top leaderships of these three countries as well as his counterpart, focus will be on food and energy security, defence and security, space, IT, and aerospace. This is the minister’s first visit to the South American Region when he travels to Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina starting August 22-27. The minister, accompanied by senior officials, will have bilateral engagements with his counterparts and will also call on the top leadership in all the three countries.
- During his visits to Brazil and Argentina, the minister will co-chair the Joint Commission Meetings (JCM) with his counterparts.
- Since September 2021, Jaishankar visited four important countries in the region. Last year in September he visited Mexico.
NATIONAL
PM's Economic Advisory Council to release roadmap for India@100
- The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) on the 30th of this month in New Delhi will be unveiling the Competitiveness Roadmap for India@100. The India@100 document by the EAC-PM serves as a roadmap for India’s ascent to its centenary year and will inform and direct the country’s path to higher income status by 2047.
- The EAC-PM in order to further move India’s economy toward sustainability and resilience, rooted in social progress and shared prosperity, recommends policy goals, concepts, and methodologies in India@100.
- The EAC-PM document (India@100) will be made public in the presence of Sherpa G-20 Amitabh Kant, Member EAC-PM Sanjeev Sanyal, and Chairman EAC-PM Dr. Bibek Debroy.
About PMO:
Headquarters: New Delhi, India
Formed: 1947; 75 years ago (As Prime Minister's Secretariat); 1977; 45 years ago (As Prime Minister's Office)
Officeholders: C. Sridhar (Joint secretary to the Government of India)
Village Defence Guards Scheme started in J&K
- Village Defence Guards Scheme 2022 (VDGS-2022), is a programme with a defence component that was only recently introduced for the state of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K). The Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav has already started a number of initiatives, and this programme was also introduced at that time with the primary objective of enhancing security in Jammu’s border regions.
- On August 14, a new programme, Village Defence Guards Scheme 2022 in the field of defence was unveiled for the state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).
- In an effort to improve security in Jammu’s border regions, this project (Village Defence Guards Scheme 2022) was launched concurrently with the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.
- This initiative, Village Defence Guards Scheme 2022, which had a previous expiration date of September 30, 1995, was once known as the Village Defense Committee Village Defence Guards Scheme 2022 involved both the Indian Army and the Police in training volunteers from local communities.
About Jammu and Kashmir:
Lieutenant Governor : Manoj Sinha
Capitals: Srinagar (Summer) Jammu (Winter)
SPORTS
Asian U-18 Volleyball Championship; India won Bronze medal
- Indian men’s volleyball team has won the bronze medal by defeating Korea 3-2 in the 14th Asian U-18 Championship in Tehran, Iran. In the preliminary league match too, India defeated Korea but lost to Iran in the semifinal. The Indian U-18 team has qualified for the FIVB World U-19 Men’s Volleyball Championship. Japan clinched the gold after beating Iran in the final match. China finished fifth and Chinese Taipei was placed sixth at the end of the competition.
- However, this is not the first time, India has won a medal in this event. In 2003, India won its first medal after defeating Iran to secure gold. Ever since, India has always come close to gold but has never it. From 2005-2008, India has won two bronze and one silver medal, while coming a close fourth in 2010.
About Iran:
Capital: Tehran
Currency: Iranian rial
President: Ebrahim Raisi
Supreme leader: Ali Khamenei
Official language: Persian
APPOINTMENS & RESIGNATIONS
RBL Bank appoints Gopal Jain, Dr. Sivakumar Gopalan as non-executive directors
- The private sector lender RBL Bank has appointed Gopal Jain and Dr Sivakumar Gopalan as the non-executive directors. RBL Bank has been working on adding a diverse set of leaders with relevant experience to accelerate its 2.0 strategy. With the new additions, the bank’s board will have 14 members. The board of RBL Bank approved raising up to Rs 3,000 crores through the issue of debt securities on a private placement basis, on a “time-to-time basis”.
- Gopal Jain is an experienced private equity investor and a managing partner at Gaja Capital. He has been appointed as a non-independent director till he is liable to retire by rotation. Gaja Capital through Gaja Capital Fund II Ltd held 1.3 per cent stake in RBL Bank as at the end of June.
- Dr Sivakumar Gopalan is a researcher with over three decades of experience across various aspects of technology and has been appointed as an independent director for five years.
About RBL Bank:
Founded: 1943
Headquarters: Mumbai
MD & CEO: R Subramaniakumar;
Tagline: Apno ka Bank
Govt appoints former CEA K Subramanian as Executive Director for India at IMF
- Former Chief Economic Adviser, KV Subramanian was appointed as the Executive Director for India at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). His term will begin from November and will continue for a period of three years or until further orders, whichever is earlier, by curtailing the tenure of eminent economist Surjit S Bhalla as ED (India), IMF up to 31 October 2022.
- Bhalla was appointed as the Executive Director for India on the board of the IMF in 2019. He succeeded former RBI deputy governor Subir Gokarn, who died in the US on 30 July after a brief illness.
About IMF:
Formation: 27 December 1945;
Headquarters: Washington, D.C., United States;
Member Countries: 190;
MD: Kristalina Georgieva.
Samir V Kamat appointed DRDO chief
- According to a Personnel Ministry order, Distinguished scientist Samir V Kamat was appointed as Secretary of the Department of Defence Research and Development and Chairman of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Kamat, who is Director General, Naval Systems & Materials, at the DRDO will succeed G Satheesh Reddy who has been named as scientific adviser to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
- The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Kamat as Secretary of the Department of Defence Research and Development and Chairman of DRDO from the date of his assumption of charge till he attains the age of 60 years.
About DRDO:
Headquarters: DRDO Bhavan, New Delhi
Founded: 1958
Jurisdiction: India
Aircraft designed: Avatar, DRDO Lakshya, DRDO Nishant
SUMMIT'S & MOU's
Celebrate The Cultural Heritage Of The Himalayas With UNESCO And Royal Enfield
- Royal Enfield has partnered with UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) to promote and safeguard the ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage of India, beginning with the Himalayas. The programme is curated as an experiential and creative showcase of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) practices in the Western Himalayas and the North Eastern region.
- This includes an exhibition, panel discussions, film screenings, performances and lecture demonstrations. The four-day programme will see eminent artists, designers, chefs, mixologists, musicians, actors, photographers and luminaries of the social development sector such as Adil Hussain, Peter D’Ascoli, Sonam Dubal, Rita Banerji, Mallika Virdi and Tsewang Namgail, Yangdup Lama, Nilza Wangmo and Anumitra Ghosh.
- UNESCO has been spearheading the movement to identify, document and preserve the Intangible Cultural Heritage of India, which is one of the 178 countries to have adopted the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH), for decades.
About UNESCO:
Headquarters: Paris, France
Founded: 16 November 1945, London, United Kingdom
Founders: India, United States, China, Brazil, France, Australia ETC
Parent organization: United Nations
About Royal Enfield:
CEO: B. Govindarajan (18 Aug 2021–);
Headquarters: Chennai;
Founded: 1955;
BANKING AND ECONOMY
India has ample forex buffers to withstand pressure on credit worthiness: S&P Global
- India has built up buffers against cyclical difficulties and has ample foreign exchange reserves to withstand pressure on credit worthiness, S&P Global Ratings said. Speaking at the India Credit Spotlight 2022 webinar, S&P Sovereign & International Public Finance Ratings Director Andrew Wood said the country has a strong external balance sheet and limited external debt, making debt servicing not so expensive. He said the rating agency does not expect the near-term pressures to have a serious impact on India’s credit worthiness.
- The rupee has depreciated about 7 per cent against the US currency this year but has performed better than its emerging market peers. Wood said India has “ample buffer” in its foreign exchange reserves and the forex kitty is expected to recover to USD 600 billion by the end of this year. Forex reserve stood at USD 570.74 billion as of August 12. The US-based agency has a ‘BBB-‘ rating on India with a stable outlook. “We are expecting a strong level of GDP growth of 7.3 per cent this fiscal,” he said, adding the rupee exchange rate movement against the US dollar has been moderate.
About S&P Global Ratings:
Headquarters: New York, United States
Founder: Henry Varnum Poor
Founded: 1860
Predecessor: Poor's Publishing; Standard Statistics
Bank Credit Growth Accelerates To 14.2% In June Quarter: RBI Data
- The Bank credit growth increased from 6% in the quarter that ended in June 2021 to 14.2% in the quarter that concluded in June 2022 as per the data released by the Reserve Bank of India. The Bank credit has increased by 10.8% in the three months that ended in March 2022. The last five quarters have seen a consistent 9.5 to 10.2% annual growth in aggregate deposits.
- The “Quarterly Statistics on Deposits and Credit of SCBs for June 2022” were published by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI Report).
- The last five quarters have seen a consistent 9.5 to 10.2% annual growth in aggregate deposits.
- Over the past three years, the percentage of current account and savings account (CASA) deposits in total deposits has risen (42% in June 2020, 43.8% in June 2021, and 44.5% in June 2022), according to the RBI Report.
About Reserve Bank of India:
Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata
Founder: British Raj
Governor: Shaktikanta Das