Delhi was the most polluted city in India in 2022 with PM2.5 levels more than double the safe limit and the third highest average PM10 concentration, according to an analysis of Central Pollution Control Board data.

 

PM2.5 pollution in the national capital has reduced by over 7 per cent in four years, from 108 micrograms per cubic metre in 2019 to 99.71 micrograms per cubic metre in 2022, the report by NCAP Tracker said.

 

However, it still remains way below the desired level. The government's flagship National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) targets to reduce pollution by 20 per cent to 30 per cent by 2024 (as compared to 2017 levels).

 

NCAP Tracker is a joint project of news portal Carbon Copy and a Maharashtra-based start-up 'Respirer Living Sciences' and is designed to track India's progress in achieving clean air targets.

 

The Centre launched NCAP on January 10, 2019 to reduce PM2.5 and PM10 levels in 102 cities by 20 per cent to 30 per cent by 2024 (with 2017 being the base year).

 

Now there are 131 cities which are called non-attainment cities, as they did not meet the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for the period of 2011-15 under the National Air Quality Monitoring Programme.

 

In September 2022, the government set a new target of a 40 per cent reduction in particulate matter concentration by 2026..

Source : NDTV

Fintech platform BharatPe said it has received in-principle authorisation from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as an online payment aggregator (PA).

The company said that an in-principle nod was awarded to Resilient Payments Private Ltd, a 100 percent subsidiary of Resilient Innovations Private Ltd (BharatPe).

 

RBI’s nod comes amid a slew of high profile exits the Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global-backed firm, which has been battling controversies since last year.

It is currently fighting a court battle with its former co-founder Ashneer Grover alleging financial misappropriation. Grover was ousted 2022 in March.

 

* Payment aggregators are entities that facilitate e-commerce sites and merchants to accept various payment instruments from the customers. The merchants do not need to create a separate payment integration system of their own.

* The payment aggregator framework, introduced formally in March 2020, mandates that only firms approved by the RBI can acquire and offer payment services to merchants. RBI has been strict in its evaluation of entities that have applied for the payment aggregator licence.

* Multiple online payment gateways seeking the aggregator licence came under intense scrutiny from the central bank for – know-your-customer (KYC) related issues, past dealings with cryptocurrency exchanges and gaming apps, and for not complying with the net worth criteria that RBI had set out.

* Some fintech firms like Razorpay, Pine Labs, Open, Cahfree, 1Pay have already received RBI approval for PA in the last few months. Over 185 fintech enterprises and startups which had submitted their proposals for a payment aggregator licence..

Source : Economic Times

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 26th National Youth Festival in Hubballi, Karnataka on 12th January 2023 at around 4 PM.

The programme is being held on National Youth Day, which is celebrated on the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, to honour and cherish his ideals, teachings and contributions.

 

The National Youth Festival is held every year to provide exposure to our talented youth at the national level, along with galvanising them towards nation building.

It brings diverse cultures from all parts of the country on a common platform and unites the participants in the spirit of Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat.

The Festival is being held in Hubballi-Dharwad in Karnataka from 12th to 16th January 2023, with the theme being “Viksit Yuva - Viksit Bharat”.

 

The Festival will witness the Youth Summit, which will witness plenary discussions on five themes stemming from G20 and Y20 events viz. F

uture of work, Industry, Innovation and 21st Century Skills; Climate change and disaster risk reduction; Peace building and Reconciliation; Shared future-youth in democracy and governance; and Health & Well-being. The Summit will witness participation of more than sixty eminent experts.

Several competitive and non-competitive events will also be held. Competitive events will include folk dances and songs, and will be held to provide an impetus to local traditional cultures. Non-competitive events will include Yogathon which aims to mobilise close to 10 lakh people to do Yoga.

Eight indigenous sports and martial arts will also be presented during the event by national level performers. Other attractions include Food Festival, Young Artist Camp, adventure sports activities, special Know Your Army, Navy and Air Force camps, among others..

Source : Narendra Modi

Science and Technology Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh released the Theme of National Science Day 2023 at a function in New Delhi on Monday (9th January 2023).

National Science Day theme 20223 :  Global Science for Global Wellbeing.

The theme has been chosen for the purpose of raising public appreciation of scientific issues in a global context which is having a bearing on global Well-being.

* National Science Day is celebrated every year on the 28th of February to commemorate the discovery of the Raman Effect by Indian Physicist Sir C V Raman.

 

* Speaking on the occasion Dr. Singh said, the theme of Global Science for Global Wellbeing is perfectly in sync with India assuming the Presidency of G-20, where it will become the voice of the global south.

 

* He said, Indian scientific breakthroughs have reached from the lab to the land. The applications of science are being used by every household to bring ease of living for the common man.

 

* The Minister said, Science and Technology ecosystem in the country has made rapid strides in the last eight and half years by initiating several new landmark reforms with far-reaching implications for the country.

* He said, India is progressively marching towards becoming a global leader in industrialisation and technological development..

Source : AIR

He was born on 15th July 1934 in the Bombay Presidency, British India (now Mumbai, Maharashtra, India).

 

* Tehemton E Udwadia pursued medicine and started his career as a research fellow at the King Edward Memorial Hospital and Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College in 1958 and stayed till 1962.

* In 1993, he found the Indian Association of Gastrointestinal Endo-Surgeons and he served as its President from 1993 to 1998.

* He was the 1st surgeon in India to introduce laparoscopy in surgery in 1972, and the 1st to perform laparoscopic surgery in the developing world in 1990.

* He is the author of two books, Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy and Laparoscopic Surgery in Developing Countries, and more than 90 articles in peer-reviewed journals have been published.

* He also authored and published the book “More than Just Surgery: Life Lessons Bey: Life Lessons Beyond the OT” (published by Penguin Ebury Press) in 2021.

* In 2000, Dr Tehemton E Udwadia received the SAGES Millennium Award from the Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons.

* In the same year (2000), he was awarded the Dr B. C. Roy Award, the highest Indian award in the field of Medicine, from the Medical Council of India.

* In 2004, he has conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Indian Association of Gastrointestinal Endo-Surgeons.

* He was honoured with the Padma Shri, India’s 4th highest civilian award, in 2006 and Padma Bhushan, India’s 3rd-highest civilian award, in 2017, for Medicine...

Source : Times of India

World Hindi Day is celebrated on January 10 every year to promote awareness about the language across the world.

It is also the day when Hindi, India’s national language, was spoken for the first time in the United Nations General Assembly.

 

It was on this day in 1975 that the first World Hindi Conference was held in Nagpur. Since then, such conferences are organised in different parts of the world every year.

 

This year, the 12th World Hindi Conference will be organised in Fiji by the Foreign Ministry in collaboration with the Fiji government from February 15 to February 17 2023.

The location for the 2023 event was decided during the 11th World Hindi Conference held in Mauritius last year.

 

Theme of World Hindi Conference 2023 : The theme this year is "Hindi – Traditional Knowledge to Artificial Intelligence"..

Source : Money Control

Facebook's parent firm Meta on Monday (9th January 2023) announced the appointment of Vikas Purohit as the Director of Global Business Group for its India operations.

He will lead the strategy and delivery of the vertical aimed at the country's largest advertisers and agency partners. He will report to Arun Srinivas, Director and Head of Ads Business for Meta in India.

 

Purohit will spearhead the company's strategic relationship with the country's leading brands and agencies to drive Meta's revenue growth across key channels in India, the company said in a statement.

 

Purohit will also partner with the media and creative ecosystems for accelerating the adoption of digital tools by the largest advertisers and agencies.

 

"India's largest businesses and agencies are playing a crucial role in the country's expanding digital economy and are building innovative business models that are inspiring marketers globally," said Srinivas.

 

Before joining Meta, he was the CEO of the e-commerce division of the Tata Group, Tata CLiQ. Purohit resigned in October 2022, after a six-year stint.

He has over 20 years of experience in senior business, sales, and marketing roles at companies including Amazon, Reliance Brands Limited, Aditya Birla Group, and Tommy Hilfiger.

 

To recall, earlier in November, Meta had appointed Sandhya Devanathan as its India Head. She succeeded Ajit Mohan, who joined Snap to lead its Asia Pacific business..

Source : ABP Live

Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry is organizing Startup India Innovation Week from 10th January 2023 to 16th January 2023 to celebrate the Indian Startup Ecosystem as well as National Startup Day (16th January 2023).

 

* Startup India Innovation Week 2023 will include Knowledge Sharing Sessions for entrepreneurs, aspiring entrepreneurs, and other enablers, involving relevant stakeholders from the startup ecosystem such as Government officials, incubators, corporates and investors.

 

* Furthermore, as a part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations, various startup related events are being organized in more than 75 places across the country to foster a spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation by involving the startup community across length and breadth of the country.

* These events include dedicated workshops for women entrepreneurs, training of incubators, mentorship workshops, stakeholder round tables, conferences, capacity building workshops, startup pitching sessions, amongst others.

 

* Furthermore, to commemorate National Startup Day on 16th January 2023, DPIIT is organizing the felicitation ceremony for the winners of National Startup Awards 2022, a flagship initiative under Startup India.

* The ceremony will recognize and reward the excellence exhibited by startups and ecosystem enablers across different sectors, sub-sectors, and categories.

 

* Startup India Innovation Week 2023 aims : To engage startup ecosystem stakeholders across the nation during 10th January-16th January 2023 and spur the spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation in India..

Source : PIB

University of Kerala bagged the ‘Overall Championship’ at Padma Tarang, the 36th Inter University South Zone Youth Festival that concluded on a colourful note at Sri Padmavati Mahila Viswa Vidyalayam (SPMVV) in Tirupati on Saturday (7th January 2023). Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, came the runners-up.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday (7th January 2023) launched the government’s Aspirational Block Programme (ABP), which is aimed at improving performance of blocks lagging on various development parameters.

* The Aspirational Blocks Programme is on the lines of the Aspirational District Programme that was launched in 2018 and covers 112 districts across the country.

 

* The Centre had announced its intention to launch this initiative in the Union Budget 2022-23.

* The programme will cover 500 districts across 31 states and Union Territories initially.

* Over half of these blocks are in 6 states—Uttar Pradesh (68 blocks), Bihar (61), Madhya Pradesh (42), Jharkhand (34), Odisha (29) and West Bengal (29).

* However, states can add more blocks to the programme later.

 

* NITI Aayog in partnership with the states will release a quarterly ranking of these blocks based on their performance on development indicators covering sectors such as health, education and nutrition among others.

 

* Launched in January 2018, the ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ initiative aims to remove this heterogeneity through a mass movement to quickly and effectively transform these districts.

* The broad contours of the program are Convergence (of Central & State Schemes), Collaboration (of Central, State level ‘Prabhari’ Officers & District Collectors), and Competition among districts driven by a spirit of mass Movement.

* With States as the main drivers, this program will focus on the strength of each district, identify low-hanging fruits for immediate improvement, measure progress, and rank districts.

 

* It has transformed into a Jan Andolan.

* The ADP is different in trying to monitor the improvement of these districts through real-time data tracking.

* The programme seeks to develop convergence between selected existing central and state government programmes.

* District performance in the public domain and experience building of the district bureaucracy is another notable feature.

* The programme is targeted, not towards any single group of beneficiaries, but rather towards the population of the district as a whole.

 

* A total of 117 Aspirational districts have been identified by NITI Aayog based upon composite indicators.

* The objective of the program is to monitor the real-time progress of aspirational districts based on 49 indicators (81 data points) from the 5 identified thematic areas..

Source : Indian Express