12TH & 13TH SEPTEMBER
Contents
1ST EVER 2+2 DIALOGUE B/W INDIA & AUSTRALIA
BHUPENDRA PATEL ELECTED AS NEW CM OF GUJARAT
CAIRN ENERGY ENDS TAX DISPUTE WITH INDIA
NPCI & FISERV LAUNCHED ‘nFINI PROGRAMME’
INDIA’S LARGEST OPEN-AIR FERNERY IN UTTARAKHAND
CAG GC MURMU ELECTED AS ASOSAI CHAIRMAN
WORLD FIRST AID DAY OBSERVED ON 11TH SEPTEMBER
INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION
1ST EVER 2+2 DIALOGUE B/W INDIA & AUSTRALIA
- India and Australia are undertaking their first-ever 2+2 ministerial dialogue at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi.
- The high-level foreign and defence ministerial-level dialogue will further ramp up the overall defence and strategic cooperation between the two countries, including in the Indo-Pacific cooperation amid China’s increasing military assertiveness in the region.
- The Indian delegation at inaugural ‘two-plus-two’ talks is being led by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh with their Australian counterparts Marise Payne and Peter Dutton, respectively.
- In
dia has a 2-2 Ministerial-level meetings framework with very few countries, including the USA and Japan.
(SOURCE: JAGRAN JOSH)
BHUPENDRA PATEL ELECTED AS NEW CM OF GUJARAT
- Bhupendra Patel has been chosen as the new Chief Minister of Gujarat at the BJP legislature meeting. He is a BJP MLA from the Ghatlodia assembly seat in Ahmedabad.
- This comes after the resignation of Vijay Rupani from the post of CM of Gujarat.
- About the Bhupendra Patel: Bhupendra Patel holds a diploma in Civil Engineering and has held positions in Patidar trusts and organisations, including Sardar Dham and World Umiya Foundation, among others.
- He has been a standing committee chairman in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and chairman of the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA).
- Gujarat Governor: Acharya Devvrat.
(SOURCE: INDIAN EXPRESS)
UAE INTRODUCED NEW GREEN VISA
- The United Arab Emirates has introduced a new classification of visas supposed to ease the restrictions faced by foreigners in pursuing employment opportunities in the country, referred to as “green visa”.
- According to the green visa, foreigners can work in the UAE without an employer’s guarantee. This green visa will allow visa holders to sponsor their parents.
- It will raise the upper limit of the child’s age that the holder can guarantee from 18 to 25.
- The program will additionally enable the holder a grace duration of up to three months to look for a new job if they lose their old one.
(SOURCE: LIVE MINT)
CAIRN ENERGY ENDS TAX DISPUTE WITH INDIA
- Cairn Energy, headquartered in the United Kingdom, is working with the Indian government to speed up the “documentation and refund payment” of the $1.06 billion retrospective tax.
- In its half-yearly report, Cairn stated it plans to return $700 million to the shareholders through unique dividends and buybacks, out of the expected tax refund from the Indian government.
- The government recently amended the Income Tax Law to abolish the retrospective tax regulations introduced in 2012-13, according to which Cairn was taxed in 2014 due to the company’s restructuring in 2006-07.
- As part of the proceedings, the tax department subsequently frozen the company’s shares and sold them to recover the tax claims.
- The modifications are to refund the taxes levied retrospectively if the affected taxpayers drop all pending litigation and forego any interest and damages claims.
- Tribunal verdict: An worldwide arbitration tribunal, scrutinising the tax dispute, last 12 months dominated in Cairn’s favour and awarded $1.2 billion in damages to the company.
- While the government has filed an appeal in opposition to the verdict, Cairn has filed court cases in numerous overseas jurisdictions to implement the tribunal’s award.
(SOURCE: THE ECONOMIC TIMES)
CREATING METHANOL FROM COAL
- India’s first indigenously Designed High Ash Coal Gasification Based Methanol Production Plant at Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) Research and Development Centre, Hyderabad was inaugurated.
- The project was funded by the Department of Science and Technology, which provided a Rs 10 crore grant, at the initiative of NITI Aayog, PMO-India and the Ministry of Coal.
- About the plant: The facility can create 0.25 ton per day (TPD) Methanol from high ash Indian coal using a 1.2 TPD Fluidized bed gasifier.
- The purity of the crude methanol produced is between 98 and 99.5 per cent.
- Methanol is utilized as a motor fuel, to power ship engines, and to generate clean power all over the world. Methanol is also used to generate di-methyl ether (DME), a liquid fuel that is very similar to diesel — existing diesel engines simply need to be minimally changed to use DME instead of diesel.
(SOURCE: FINANCIAL EXPRESS)
NPCI & FISERV LAUNCHED ‘nFINI PROGRAMME’
- National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in partnership with Fiserv Inc. to launch the plug-and-play RuPay credit card stack, ‘nFiNi’.
- nFiNi is a ready stack of services required for fintechs and banks to issue RuPay credit cards and will enable fintech to co-create bank-sponsored credit cards. It is a BaaS (banking-as-a-service) programme.
- About the platform: The nFiNi platform will power RuPay cards (including National Common Mobility Card) by offering access to needed services through the NPCI network combined with FirstVisionTM cloud-based open API integrations from Fiserv.
- This will bring significant efficiencies for banking and fintech institutions at various levels in terms of operations and customer management.
- The programme will further enable these institutions to expand their market base to new-to-credit customers.
- National Payments Corporation of India MD & CEO: Dilip Asbe.
- National Payments Corporation of India Headquarters:
- National Payments Corporation of India Founded: 2008.
(SOURCE: MONEY CONTROL)
INDIA’S LARGEST OPEN-AIR FERNERY IN UTTARAKHAND
- India’s largest open-air fernery has been inaugurated in Ranikhet of Uttarakhand. The new centre will serve the dual objective of ‘conservation of fern species as well as ‘create awareness about their ecological role and promote further research.
- The fernery is home to a large number of fern species, some of which are endemic to the state, some hold medicinal value while some are threatened species that demand care and conservation.
- About the centre: The fernery has the largest collection of fern species, second to only Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute (TBGRI),
- However, it is the country’s first open-air fernery in natural surroundings which is not under any poly-house/ shade house.
- The Ranikhet fernery has around 120 different types of fern, spreads over four acres of land at an altitude of 1,800 metres.
- The facility has been developed under Central Government’s Compensatory Afforestation Management Funds Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) scheme, by the Research Wing of Uttarakhand Forest Department over a period of three years.
(SOURCE: HINDUSTAN TIMES)
CAG GC MURMU ELECTED AS ASOSAI CHAIRMAN
- The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, GC Murmu was elected as the chairman of the assembly of the Asian Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) for a period of three years from 2024 to 2027.
- Murmu was elected by the 56th governing board of ASOSAI and approval for the same was conveyed by the 15th assembly of ASOSAI. India will host the 16th assembly of ASOSAI in 2024.
- The CAG, as the chairman, will be the chief executive of ASOSAI and represent ASOSAI in its dealings with national and international organisations.
- After the election, the CAG assured the members that during SAI India’s three-year term as chair of the ASOSAI, they will focus on the areas of environmental audit and leveraging emerging technologies for audit.
- About the ASOSAI: The ASOSAI is one of the regional groups of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) which aims to promote understanding and cooperation among member institutions through the exchange of ideas and experiences in the field of public audit.
- Established in 1979 with 11 members, the membership of the ASOSAI consists of charter members, members and associate members.
- The membership has since grown to 47 SAIs. The assembly consists of all members of the organisation and meets once in three years.
(SOURCE: BUSINESS STANDARD)
WORLD FIRST AID DAY OBSERVED ON 11TH SEPTEMBER
- World First Aid Day is observed on the second Saturday of September every year. In 2021 the day is being observed on September 11, 2021.
- The day is an annual campaign aimed at promoting the importance of first aid training and increasing its accessibility to save more lives in a crisis.
- When a person suffers from minor or serious injury or illness, the first and immediate assistance given to the patient is termed as ‘First Aid’.
- The theme for World First Aid Day 2021 is ‘First aid and road safety’, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
- World First Aid Day: In 2000, World First Aid Day was established by the IFRC and for more than 100 years, this organisation has been providing first aid services to people.
- The history of this day dates back to 1859 when a young businessman, Henry Dunant, saw the carnage at the battle of Solfrino.
(SOURCE: FIRSTPOST)
INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION
- International Day for South-South Cooperation is observed globally on 12th September every year.
- The day celebrates the economic, social and political developments made in recent years by regions and countries in the south.
- It also highlights the UN’s efforts to work on technical cooperation among developing countries.
- Background of International Day for South-South Cooperation:
- The history of the South-South cooperation begins in 1949 with the establishment of the UN technical aid programme by the Economic and Social Council and the creation of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 1969.
- In the year 1978, the conference of the Global South on TCDC adopted the Buenos Aires Plan of Action (BAPA) for promoting and implementing technical cooperation among developing countries. This was one of the main pillars for South-South cooperation.
(SOURCE: JAGRAN JOSH)