India and Finland have agreed to enhance partnership in areas such as digital partnership in Future ICT, Future Mobile Technologies and digital education.

 

* Both countries also emphasised on having institutionalised joint working groups on areas of mutual interest.

 

* The decision was taken during a meeting between Finland’s Minister of Education and Culture, Petri Honkonen and Minister of Science and Technology, Jitendra Singh in New Delhi.

 

* He was accompanied by a high level delegation which later held a separate meeting with the Indian delegation in the presence of the two Ministers.

 

* Honkonen’s visit comes in the wake of the announcement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Finnish counterpart Sanna Marin during a Summit meeting on 16 March last year..

Source : Mint

Former Chief Economic Advisor "Arvind Virmani" has been appointed as a full-time member of NITI Aayog, according to an official notification.

 

Mr. Arvind Virmani served as the chief economic adviser in the finance ministry (2007-2009).

 

"The Prime Minister has approved the appointment of Shri Arvind Virmani, Founder, Chairman, Foundation for Economic Growth & Welfare as Full-Time Member, NITI Aayog with immediate effect and until further orders, on the same terms and conditions as are applicable to Full-Time Members of NITI Aayog," the Cabinet Secretariat's notification said.

 

He served as a member of the Technical Advisory Committee of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monetary Policy from February 2013 to August 2016.

 

He was till end-2012, Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Washington DC, representing India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan..

Source : The Hindu

In India, National Newborn Week is celebrated every year from 15 to 21 November. This week aims to reinforce the importance of neonatal health as a priority area of the health sector and reduce infant mortality by improving health care conditions for infants in the neonatal period. The main purpose of celebrating this week is to raise awareness about the care of newborn babies.

 

National Newborn Week 2022 Theme : The theme of this week is ‘Safety, Quality and Nurturing Care – Every Newborn’s Birth Right’. This year’s theme for NNW has been chosen to ensure reaching every newborn with quality and developmentally supportive health care services rendering safety and dignity at all service delivery platforms – Health Facilities, Community Outreach Sessions, and Homes etc.

 

The neonatal period (first 28 days of life) is the most crucial and alarming period for child survival as this period carries the highest risk of deaths per day than any other period during the childhood. The first month of life is also a foundational period for lifelong health and development. Healthy ones grow into healthy adults who can thrive and contribute to their communities and societies.

 

* Prematurity.
* Severe infections.

* Complications during birth.

 

The major causes of newborn deaths in India are pre-maturity/preterm (35%), neonatal infections (33%), intra-partum related complications/ birth asphyxia (20%), and congenital malformations (9%).

 

India Newborn Action Plan (INAP) : INAP was launched in September 2014, for accelerating the reduction of preventable newborn deaths and stillbirths in the country – with the goal of attaining ‘Single Digit Neo-natal Mortality Rate (NMR) by 2030’ and ‘Single Digit Still Birth Rate (SBR) by 2030’. Currently, there are estimated 7.47 lakh neonatal deaths annually. The neo-natal deaths are expected to reduce to below 2.28 lakh annually by 2030, once the goal is achieved.

 

The India Newborn Action Plan (INAP) is India’s committed response to the Global Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP), launched in June 2014 at the 67th World Health Assembly, to advance the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health.

India's national grid operator 'Power System Operation Corporation Ltd (POSOCO)' on Monday(14th Nov 2022) announced that it has changed its name to 'Grid Controller of India Ltd'.

 

The name has been changed to reflect the critical role of grid operators in ensuring integrity, reliability, economy, resilience and sustainable operation of the Indian electricity grid.

 

The change in name as 'Grid Controller of India Ltd' is a welcome step as it has unique position at the heart of India's energy system connecting people to the energy they use, it stated.

 

"It (Grid Controller of India Ltd) explains the functions performed by the grid managers in the country at national and regional levels," said S R Narasimhan, Chairman & Managing Director, Grid Controller of India Ltd, in the statement.

 

"The change in name is also to reflect who we are and the role we play in clean energy transition. We continue to be driven by our vision i.e. 'to be a global institution of excellence for reliable & resilient power systems, fostering efficient electricity markets, promoting economy and sustainability' with a renewed vigour," he added.

 

The Grid Controller of India Limited (Grid-India) operates the national load despatch centre (NLDC) and five regional load despatch centres (RLDCs).

 

The Grid-India is also designated as the nodal agency for major reforms in the power sector such as implementation and operation of Green Energy Open Access Portal, Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) Mechanism, transmission pricing, short-term open access in transmission, deviation settlement mechanism, Power System Development Fund (PSDF), etc..

Source : Business Standard

President of the Paris 2024 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Tony Estanguet has unveiled the mascots for Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The mascot for Paris 2024 is "The Phryges".

It is a red Phrygian caps, type of hat that has become an enduring symbol of freedom throughout French history.

Motto : Alone we go faster, but together we go further

The mascot of Paris 2024 is a non-gender-specific mascot..

Source : Olympics

Assam Chief Minister "Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma" on Monday(14th Nov 2022) launched the much-awaited Mission "Basundhara 2.0" in an official ceremony held at Shrimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra Auditorium in Guwahati.

 

* Apart from the formal launch of the service under Mission Basundhara 2.0, the Assam Chief Minister also launched the National Generic Documents Registration System (NGDRS) and e-stamping facilities in the State.

 

* It is worth mentioning that under Mission Basundhara 2.0, a total of eight services would be provided to the public in digital mode.

* The new services under Mission Basundhara 2.0 are the settlement of government Khas and ceiling surplus land, conferring ownership rights to occupancy tenants, settlement of transferred annual Patta land, settlement of village grazing reserve and professional grazing reserve, settlement of land for indigenous special cultivators, settlement of hereditary land of tribal communities, composite land transfer service and online payment of land revenue.

 

* On the other hand, the NGDRS would be initially implemented in Kamrup and Darrang districts.

 

* Speaking at the occasion, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma termed the launch of Mission Basundhara 2.0 a historic moment for the residents of the State.

 

* “Through Mission Basundhara – 1, those issues of the general public which were pending resolution at the offices of the Circle Officers were sought to be resolved, he said.

* Mission Basundhara – 1 was able to provide relief and benefits to more than 6 lakh people. A total of 8 lakh applications were received during the operation of Mission Basundhara- 1,” the Chief Minister added.

 

* He further termed Mission Basundhara – 1 one of the major success stories in public service delivery in the State.

 

* “The widespread appreciation received for Mission Basundhara – 1 motivated the government to opt for Mission Basundhara 2.0,” Chief Minister added..

Source : The Print

Navi Technologies Ltd which sells financial products like personal loans, home loans, and general insurance etc., has appointed Mahendra Singh Dhoni as its brand ambassador.

Dhoni will be the face of the company’s branding initiatives. The association with the former team India captain strengthens the brand’s trustworthiness as it works to fulfill customer goals by providing simple, affordable, and easily accessible financial services across India.

 

* The company has launched its first digital advertisement with the cricketer on Hotstar. The goal of this campaign is to promote its financial services by dismantling the old and conventional ways of this sector.

* The campaign will initially run-on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube before moving on to print and out-of-home (OOH) advertising in the second phase.

Dhoni said : “Today’s India is intelligent, aspirational, and always working toward its goal. It is crucial for billions of Indians to achieve and surpass their life goals, which is why we have teamed up to make this vision a reality. Its mission is to make financial services easily accessible whenever needed.

Interesting facts : According to Kroll’s Celebrity Brand Valuation Report 2021, among sports celebrities, Dhoni entered the top five club this year and saw a big spike in his brand value to reach $61.2 million, double his value in 2020 at $36.3 million. Dhoni, who jumped six slots to fifth spot, enjoys a huge following and has brilliantly transitioned himself out of his pure cricketing image..

Source : Mint

Amazon.com Inc. is the world’s first public company to lose a trillion dollars in market value as a combination of rising inflation, tightening monetary policies and disappointing earnings updates triggered a historic selloff in the stock this year.

 

Shares in the e-commerce and cloud company fell 4.3% on Wednesday(9th Nov 2022), pushing its market value to about $879 billion from a record close at $1.88 trillion on July 2021.

Amazon and Microsoft Corp. were neck-and-neck in the race to breach the unwelcome milestone, with the Windows software maker close behind after having lost $889 billion from a November 2021 peak.

 

While technology and growth stocks have been punished throughout the year, fears of a recession have further dampened sentiment in the sector.

The top five US technology companies by revenue have seen nearly $4 trillion in market value evaporate this year(2022).

 

The world’s largest online retailer has spent this year adjusting to a sharp slowdown in e-commerce growth as shoppers resumed pre-pandemic habits. Its shares have fallen almost 50% amid slowing sales, soaring costs and a jump in interest rates. Since the start of the year, co-founder Jeff Bezos has seen his fortune dwindle by about $83 billion to $109 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

 

Last month, 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 since the pandemic-fueled rally in tech stocks more than two years ago..

Source : Business Standard

The Infosys Science Foundation (ISF) on Tuesday(15th Nov 2022) announced the winners of the Infosys Prize 2022 in six(6) categories.

These categories include Engineering and Computer Science, Humanities, Life Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, Physical Sciences and Social Sciences. 

 

The prize for each category comprises a gold medal, a citation, and a prize purse of $100,000 (or its equivalent in rupees).

 

The Infosys Prize focuses on the achievements of the recipients and awards them for their contributions to science and research impacting India.

 

* Engineering & CS : Suman Chakraborty

* Humanities : Sudhir Krishnaswamy

* Life Sciences : Vidita Vaidya

* Mathematical Sciences : Mahesh Kakde

* Physical Sciences :  Nissim Kanekar

* Social Sciences : Rohini Pande

Source : Business Standard

India has climbed two spots to reach the eighth(8th) rank out of 63 countries evaluated on the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) 2023 due to its low emissions and the increasing use of renewable energy, according to a report by three environmental non-governmental organisations.

 

On the other hand, China, currently the world's biggest polluter, slid 13 places to the 51st position mainly due to massive plans for new coal-fired power plants.

 

The report said though India was on track to meeting its 2030 emission targets, the renewable energy pathway was not on track.

 

Interestingly, there are no names for the first three places as “no country performed well enough in all index categories to achieve an overall very high rating”, said the report that tracks climate performance of a group of countries accounting for more than 92 per cent of world's greenhouse gas emissions.

 

Denmark is in the fourth place followed by Sweden and Chile. India earned a high rating in the GHG emissions and energy use categories..

Source : Tribuneindia