25TH AUGUST
Contents
INDIA’S EVACUATION MISSION ‘OPERATION DEVI SHAKTI’
4-TIER STRUCTURE FOR URBAN CO-OPERATIVE BANKS
COPENHAGEN TOPS SAFEST CITIES INDEX 2021
ABHAY K. SINGH AS JOINT SECY. MINISTRY OF COOPERATION
ASSAM CELEBRATES WANCHUWA FESTIVAL
WORLD ATHLETICS U20 CHAMPIONSHIP
FORUM FOR DECARBONIZING TRANSPORT N INDIA
INDIA’S EVACUATION MISSION ‘OPERATION DEVI SHAKTI’
- The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has given a name to India’s complex mission of evacuating its citizens from war-torn Afghanistan, as ‘Operation Devi Shakti’.
- The name of the operation was known when External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar mentioned it in a tweet on August 24 while referring to the arrival of a fresh batch of 78 evacuees in Delhi.
- India began the complex evacuation mission by airlifting 40 Indians from Kabul to Delhi on August 16, a day after the Taliban seized control of the Afghan capital city.
- So far, India has evacuated over 800 people amid a deteriorating security situation in Kabul and scramble by various nations to rescue their citizens.
(SOURCE: INDIAN EXPRESS)
4-TIER STRUCTURE FOR URBAN CO-OPERATIVE BANKS
- RBI appointed panel under the chairmanship of N. S. Vishwanathan suggests 4-tier structure for Urban Co-operative Banks; minimum CRAR (Capital to Risk-Weighted Assets Ratio) for them could vary from 9 per cent to 15 percent.
- A Reserve Bank-appointed committee has suggested a four-tier structure for the urban cooperative banks (UCBs) depending upon the deposits and prescribed different capital adequacy and regulatory norms for them based on their sizes.
- The RBI committee said that UCBs can be split into four categories:
- Tier-1 with deposits up to Rs 100 crore;
- Tier-2 with deposits between Rs 100-Rs 1,000 crores;
- Tier-3 with deposits between Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 10,000 and
- Tier-4 with deposits of over Rs 10,000 crore.
(SOURCE: THE ECONOMIC TIMES)
COPENHAGEN TOPS SAFEST CITIES INDEX 2021
- Copenhagen, the capital city of Denmark, has been named as the world’s safest city from among 60 global cities, in Safe Cities Index 2021, released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
- Copenhagen scored 82.4 points out of 100, to top the fourth edition of the EIU’s biennial index, which measures the level of urban safety. Yangon is at the bottom of the index, as least safe city, with a score of 39.5.
- From India: New Delhi and Mumbai have found a place in the index. New Delhi is placed at 48th position with a score of 56.1, while Mumbai is at 50th place with a score of 54.4.
- World’s top 10 Safest cities
- Copenhagen
- Toronto
- Singapore
- Sydney
- Tokyo
- Amsterdam
- Wellington
- Hong Kong
- Melbourne
- Stockholm
- About the Safe Cities Index 2021: The EIU’s Safe Cities Index is a global, policy benchmarking tool developed to measure global urban safety. The Index was first released in 2015.
- In 2021, cities are ranked based on 76 indicators of security across five broad pillars, which are digital, health, infrastructure, personal and environmental.
- Environmental security is the new addition in the security parameters list for the year 2021.
- Cities score on a scale of 0 to 100 where score denotes the safety in the following manner:
- 0-25 – Low Safety
- 1-50 – Medium Safety
- 1-75 – High Safety
- 1-100 – Very High Safety
(SOURCE: LIVE MINT)
ABHAY K. SINGH AS JOINT SECY. MINISTRY OF COOPERATION
- Abhay Kumar Singh has been appointed as joint secretary in the Ministry of Cooperation.
- This ministry was recently formed with an aim to strengthen the cooperative movement in the country.
- The appointment of Abhay Kumar Singh has been cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by PM Modi.
- Singh, a 2004-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Bihar cadre, has been appointed as joint secretary in the ministry for a combined tenure of seven years against the newly created post.
- Union Minister of Cooperation: Amit Shah.
(SOURCE: JAGRAN JOSH)
ASSAM CELEBRATES WANCHUWA FESTIVAL
- Tiwa tribesmen perform their traditional dance as they take part in Wanchuwa Festival in Assam. This festival is celebrated by Tiwa tribesmen to mark their good harvest.
- It comes with songs, dances, a bunch of rituals and people clad in their native attires.
- Tiwa is also known as Lalung is an indigenous community inhabiting the states of Assam and Meghalaya and are also found in some parts of Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.
- They are recognized as a Scheduled tribe within the state of Assam. They practice Jhum or shifting cultivation.
- Assam Governor: Jagdish Mukhi.
- Assam Chief Minister: Himanta Biswa Sarma.
(SOURCE: THE HINDU)
WORLD ATHLETICS U20 CHAMPIONSHIP
- Shaili Singh claimed the women’s Long Jump silver medal in the World Athletics U20 Championships.
- Her slight wind-aided effort of 6.59m was only 1cm short of the gold medal jump by Sweden’s Maja Askag but her silver medal ensured that Indian athletics continues to showcase the progress it has been making.
- Shaili Singh’s was India’s third medal in the World Athletics U20 Championships, coming after the bronze won by the Mixed Team in the 4x400m Relay and the silver by Amit Khatri in the men’s 10,000m Race Walk.
- India finished 21st on the medal table, aware that a gold would have lifted it to the top 15.
(SOURCE: TIMES OF INDIA)
FORUM FOR DECARBONIZING TRANSPORT IN INDIA
- NITI Aayog and World Resources Institute (WRI), India, jointly launched the ‘Forum for Decarbonizing Transport’ in India. NITI Aayog is the implementing partner for India.
- The aim of the project is to bring down the peak level of GHG emissions (transport sector) in Asia (in line with a well below 2-degree pathway), resulting in problems like congestion and air pollution.
- The Forum has been launched under the NDC-Transport Initiative for Asia (NDC-TIA) project.
- The NDC Transport Initiative for Asia (TIA 2020-2023) is a joint programme of seven organizations that will engage China, India, and Vietnam in promoting a comprehensive approach to decarbonizing transport in their respective countries.
- NITI Aayog Headquarters: New Delhi.
- NITI Aayog Chairperson: Narendra Modi.
- NITI Aayog CEO: Amitabh Kant.
- World Resources Institute Headquarters: Washington, D.C., United States.
- World Resources Institute Founder: James Gustave Speth.
- World Resources Institute Founded:
(SOURCE: HINDUSTAN TIMES)