22ND & 23RD AUGUST
Contents
UBHARTE SITAARE FUND LAUNCHED BY FIN-MIN
KEJRIWAL INAUGURATES COUNTRY’S 1ST SMOG TOWER
INDIA’S LARGEST FLOATING SOLAR PV PROJECT
INDIA’S HIGHEST HERBAL PARK IN UTTARAKHAND
NAKUL CHOPRA APPOINTED AS CEO OF BARC INDIA
INDIAN FILM FESTIVAL OF MELBOURNE AWARDS
CYBERSECURITY MULTI-DONOR TRUST FUND OF WB
NPCI TO LAUNCH UPI FACILITY IN UAE
INT. DAY TO REMEMBER SLAVE TRADE & ITS ABOLITION
WORLD SANSKRIT DAY OBSERVED ON 22ND AUGUST
UBHARTE SITAARE FUND LAUNCHED BY FIN-MIN
- Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has launched an ambitious ‘Ubharte Sitaare Fund’ -USF for export-oriented firms and startups in a program at Lucknow.
- The Fund aims at arranging funds for the promotion of micro, small and medium companies. The fund has been set up by Exim Bank and SIDBI.
- This scheme will be successful in Uttar Pradesh as the state has the highest number of MSMEs.
- About the programme: India Exim Bank’s Ubharte Sitaare Programme (USP) identifies Indian companies that have the potential to be future champions in the domestic arena while catering to global demands.
- The fund is a mix of structured support, both financial and advisory services through investments in equity or equity-like instruments, debt (funded and non-funded) and technical assistance (advisory services, grants and soft loans) to the Indian companies.
(SOURCE: THE ECONOMIC TIMES)
KEJRIWAL INAUGURATES COUNTRY’S 1ST SMOG TOWER
- Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will inaugurate the country’s first smog tower on August 23, 2021, at Baba Kharak Singh Marg, Connaught Place.
- The smog tower will clean 1,000 cubic metres of air every second and reduce PM 2.5 and PM 10 levels in Delhi.
- The smog tower will work with full force after the monsoon season.
- The scientists of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee will accordingly assess the performance of the tower and present a monthly report.
- Chief Minister of Delhi: Arvind Kejriwal
- Lieutenant Governor of Delhi: Anil Baijal.
(SOURCE: INDIAN EXPRESS)
INDIA’S LARGEST FLOATING SOLAR PV PROJECT
- NTPC has commissioned the largest floating solar PV project in India of 25MW power on the reservoir of its Simhadri thermal station in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
- This is also the first solar project to be set up under the Flexibilisation Scheme. This scheme was notified by the Government of India in 2018.
- NTPC is also planning to set up a hydrogen-based micro-grid system on a pilot basis at Simhadri.
- About the floating solar PV project: NTPC’s floating solar installation covers 75 acres of the Simhadri reservoir’s surface.
- It will produce power from more than a lakh of solar PV modules for lighting 7,000 households. The project will annually save 46,000 tonnes of CO2 emission and 1,364 million litres of water, which is adequate to meet the requirement of 6,700 households in a year.
- NTPC Chairman and Managing Director: Shri Gurdeep Singh.
- NTPC Founded: 1975.
- NTPC Headquarters: New Delhi, India.
(SOURCE: JAGRAN JOSH)
INDIA’S HIGHEST HERBAL PARK IN UTTARAKHAND
- India’s highest altitude herbal park has been inaugurated at Mana village in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand.
- The herbal park is situated at a height of 11,000 feet was and is close to the Indo-China border. Mana is the last Indian village in Chamoli bordering China and is adjacent to Badrinath temple.
- The herbal park has around 40 species found in high altitude alpine areas in the Himalayan region.
- About the park: The main aim of this high altitude herbal park is to conserve various medicinally and culturally important alpine species and to do research on their propagation and habitat ecology.
- The park has been developed on an area of three acres given by Mana Van Panchayat by the Research Wing of Uttarakhand Forest Department.
- It has been developed in three years under the central government’s Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) scheme.
- Many of these species are endangered and threatened as per International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list as well as by the State Biodiversity Board. It includes many important medicinal herbs also.
(SOURCE: JAGRAN JOSH)
NAKUL CHOPRA APPOINTED AS CEO OF BARC INDIA
- Television monitoring agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (Barc) has announced the appointment of Nakul Chopra as its chief executive officer (CEO) effective 25 August 2021.
- Former CEO Sunil Lulla has resigned to pursue his ambition as an entrepreneur. This announcement comes as Sunil Lulla has decided to resign from the position of CEO to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions.
- Chopra had joined the BARC India Board in 2016 and had been elected as the Chairman during 2018-19. In January 2020, he was appointed as a member of BARC’s Oversight Committee.
- The media and advertising industry veteran had earlier served as the CEO, India and South Asia of Publicis Worldwide for over a decade.
- Broadcast Audience Research Council Founded: 2010.
- Broadcast Audience Research Council Headquarters: Mumbai.
- Chairman of Broadcast Audience Research Council: Punit Goenka.
(SOURCE: LIVE MINT)
INDIAN FILM FESTIVAL OF MELBOURNE AWARDS
- The Family Man 2 actors Manoj Bajpayee and Samantha Akkineni were among the winners of the latest edition of the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne Awards.
- The IFFM 2021 were held virtually on Friday with several stars from various film industries in attendance.
- Eminent Indian artists like Shoojit Sircar, Anurag Kashyap, Thiagarajan Kumararaja, Sriram Raghavan were amongst the presenters, along with Richa Chadha, Guneet Monga, Onir and others as jury members.
List of winners of the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) 2021:
- Best Feature Film: Soorarai Pottru
- Best Performance Male (Feature): Suriya Sivakumar (Soorarai Pottru)
- Best Performance Female (Feature): Vidya Balan (Sherni) & Honourable mention toNimisha Sajayan (The Great Indian Kitchen)
- Best Director: Anurag Basu (Ludo) & Honorary Mention Prithvi Konanur (Pinki Elli?)
- Best Series: Mirzapur Season 2
- Best Actress in a Series: Samantha Akkineni (The Family Man 2)
- Best Actor in a Series: Manoj Bajpayee (The Family Man 2)
(SOURCE: TIMES OF INDIA)
CYBERSECURITY MULTI-DONOR TRUST FUND OF WB
- The World Bank has launched a new ‘Cybersecurity Multi-Donor Trust Fund’, to better roll out cyber security development agenda in a systematic manner.
- The new fund has been developed as an associated trust fund under the broader Digital Development Partnership (DDP) umbrella program.
- World Bank has partnered with four countries, namely Estonia, Japan, Germany, and the Netherlands, to launch the fund.
- The main aim of this new fund is to enhance cyber and digital security capability and capacity in World Bank member countries, with the development of global knowledge, country assessments, technical assistance, capacity building and training, along with necessary investments in infrastructure and technology.
- World Bank Headquarters: Washington, D.C., United States.
- World Bank Formation: July 1944.
- World Bank President: David Malpass.
(SOURCE: HINDUSTAN TIMES)
NPCI TO LAUNCH UPI FACILITY IN UAE
- NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL) has partnered with Mashreq Bank to launch the payment system facility of Unified Payments Interface (UPI), in the UAE.
- Mashreq Bank is the oldest privately owned bank in the United Arab Emirates.
- This step will benefit the Indian tourists and who travel to UAE for business or leisure purposes to pay for their purchases using UPI-based mobile applications across shops and merchant stores in the UAE.
- This partnership will enable over two million Indians who travel to UAE for business or leisure purposes every year to pay for their purchases seamlessly using UPI-based mobile applications across shops and merchant stores in the UAE.
- National Payments Corporation of India MD & CEO: Dilip Asbe.
- National Payments Corporation of India Headquarters: Mumbai.
- National Payments Corporation of India Founded: 2008.
(SOURCE: MONEY CONTROL)
INT. DAY TO REMEMBER SLAVE TRADE & ITS ABOLITION
- United Nations observes 23 August every year as “International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition”.
- The Day is observed to inscribe the tragedy of the slave trade in the memory of all peoples. It is a day to honour the memory of the men and women who, in Saint-Domingue in 1791, revolted and paved the way for the end of slavery and dehumanization.
- History of the day: The day was designated by UNESCO to memorialize the transatlantic slave trade. It is a day to honour the memory of the men and women who, in Saint-Domingue in 1791, revolted and paved the way for the end of slavery and dehumanization.
- It was on the night of 22 and 23 August 1791, in Santo Domingo (today Haiti and the Dominican Republic) that saw the beginning of the uprising that would play a crucial role in the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.
- It is against this background that the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is commemorated on 23 August each year.
- The Day was first celebrated in a number of countries, particularly in Haiti on 23 August 1998 and at Goree in Senegal on 23 August 1999.
(SOURCE: FIRSTPOST)
WORLD SANSKRIT DAY OBSERVED ON 22ND AUGUST
- World Sanskrit Day, (also known as Sanskrit Diwas), is celebrated every year on Shraavanapoornima, which is the Poornima day of the Shraavana month in the Hindu calendar, which is also marked as Raksha Bandhan.
- In 2021, this day is being observed on August 22, 2021.
- The day commemorates the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit and aims to promote its revival and maintenance.
- The Government of India decided to celebrate World Sanskrit Day in 1969, on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan that falls on the full moon day of the Hindu month of Shravana.
(SOURCE: HINDUSTAN TIMES)