The Bommai-led government in Karnataka okayed the ‘Kashi Yatra’ project on Monday(27th June 2022), which offers financial assistance of Rs. 5,000 to each of up to 30,000 pilgrims traveling to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi.

 

For this scheme, the government will be using funds of up to ₹7 crores from the accounts head of ‘Assistance to Manasa Sarovara Pilgrims’ which was announced in the chief minister's budget speech for the financial year.

 

Shashikala Jolle, the Minister for Religious Endowment, Hajj and Wakf, said, any pilgrim taking up the government-sponsored ‘Kashi Yatra’ would get the benefit only once in a life time.

 

 

1. Beneficiary should be a native of Karnataka

 

2. Applicant should be above 18 years old

 

3. Beneficiaries who have already availed the subsidy once are not eligible

 

 

1. Proof of beneficiaries' domicile of origin in Karnataka - voter ID, Aadhaar card or ration card.

 

2. Age proof - Aadhaar card, voter ID etc.

 

Shashikala Jolle said those who took up pilgrimage from April 1 to June 30 and want to take benefit of the ‘Kashi Yatra’ scheme would have to furnish proof that they visited Kashi Vishwanath Temple such as their darshan ticket, waiting list or their pooja receipt, and submit it to the commissioner of religious endowment department in the prescribed proforma..

Source : Hindustan Times

Telangana Chief Minister "K Chandrashekar Rao" on Tuesday(28th June 2022) dedicated the "T-Hub 2.0" facility, world’s largest innovation campus in Hyderabad, to young Indians across the country. T-Hub’s new innovation campus is T-shaped, with a total built-up area of 5,82,689 sq ft, making it the world’s largest, the second largest being Station F based in France.

 

The new T-hub facility has been built at a cost of Rs 400 crore with state government funds. T-Hub phase-II, which is five times bigger than the first phase of T-Hub established in 2005, will have the capacity to house about 4,000 start-ups.

 

Speaking on the occasion, the CM said "we have created a world-class entity at T-Hub to promote entrepreneurship and innovation. Our state’s startup policy is progressive, it has helped forge fruitful partnerships with both corporates and academia.

Around the fulcrum of T-hub, we promoted sister institutions to support different requirements of an entrepreneur and today all of these institutions also, namely We-hub, T-Works, TSIC, RICH, and TASK, have become champions in their own right, he said. He said T-Hub was founded to bring in the best talent from across the country to nurture a startup ecosystem. T-Hub has now become a national role model. It has impacted over 2000 entrepreneurs and seen 1.19 billion US dollars raised in funding by T-Hub startups..

Source : India Times

Pinterest Inc said that Chief Executive Officer "Ben Silbermann" would step down, handing over the reins of the social media platform to Google commerce executive Bill Ready.

 

Ready's appointment brings end to Silbermann's 12-year tenure as CEO, which began when he co-founded the company in 2010.

 

He will now take up the newly created role of executive chairman and keep his board seat, while Ready will also join the board, the company said.

 

The news sent the company's shares 9 percent higher in extended trading on Tuesday(28th June 2022) and underscored a shift in focus at Pinterest to e-commerce initiatives from its advertising-based business model.

 

Ready, 42, the company gets an executive who for the past two years ran commerce and payment operations at the Alphabet Inc-owned search giant. Ready has also held senior leadership roles at PayPal.

 

Pinterest has grown rapidly since then and now has more than 430 million monthly active users.

 

Ready will receive an annual salary of $400,000 and be eligible for a stock option award to buy about 8.6 million Class A shares.

 

"In our next chapter, we are focused on helping Pinners buy, try and act on all the great ideas they see," Silbermann said..

Source : Mint

International Day of the Tropics is observed globally on 29th June. The International Day of the Tropics celebrates the extraordinary diversity of the tropics while highlighting unique challenges and opportunities nations of the Tropics face.

It provides an opportunity to take stock of progress across the tropics, to share tropical stories and expertise and to acknowledge the diversity and potential of the region.

 

International Day of the Tropics 2022 Significance : The International Day of the Tropics is intended to raise awareness of the particular problems that tropical areas face, the far-reaching impacts of issues affecting the world’s tropical zone, and the need, at all levels, to raise awareness and highlight the critical role that tropical countries will play in achieving sustainable development.

 

International Day of the Tropics History : The inaugural State of the Tropics Report was launched on 29 June 2014, as the culmination of a collaboration between twelve leading tropical research institutions.

The report offers a unique perspective on this increasingly important region. Marking the anniversary of the report’s launch the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/70/267 in 2016, which declared that 29 June of each year is to be observed as the International Day of the Tropics..

Source : News9live

Business tycoon Pallonji Mistry, who headed the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, passed away at the age of 93 late night on Monday, 27th June 2022.

 

Mistry had been felicitated with the Padma Bhushan, one of India’s top civilian awards, in 2016. An Irish citizen, the business magnate had also been known as the “Phantom of Bombay House” for keeping low profile.

 

According to the latest Forbes data, he had a net worth of over $13 billion, ranking at 143 worldwide.

The Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar launched the Honey Testing Laboratory at Dimapur during his visit to Nagaland.

 

The honey testing laboratory will help beekeepers and processors to test their honey produced.

 

Tomar was attending an event organised at the North-East Agri Expo, Chumaokedlma on Monday(27th June 2022).

 

The event also witnessed the presence of G. Kaito, Agriculture Minister of Nagaland, Chief Secretary, J. Alam and Central Horticulture Commissioner Prabhat Kumar amongst others.

 

Speaking at the occasion tomar said “The Northeast Region cannot be overlooked when it comes to all-round development. Therefore, through the schemes, programmes, funding and institutions of the government, we aim to make north east region self-reliant.”

 

The Agriculture Minister also visited the Bamboo Museum and Organic AC Market..

Source : KNN India

A report titled “India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy” was released by NITI Aayog. Suman Bery, vice chairman of NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant, and Dr K Rajeswara Rao, special secretary, released the report. The study, which is a first of its kind, offers in-depth viewpoints and suggestions on the gig-platform economy in India.

CEO Amitabh Kant emphasised the industry’s potential to generate jobs in light of India’s growing urbanisation, and widespread access to the internet, digital technology, and cellphones.

 

* The report offers a comprehensive methodical approach to calculating the sector’s current size and potential for employment creation.

* It examines the benefits and drawbacks of this developing industry, shows international best practices for social security programmes, and outlines plans for skill development and job creation for various worker categories in the industry.

 

 

* According to the research, the gig economy employed 77 lakh (7.7 million) employees in 2020–21.

* They made up 1.5 percent of India’s total labour force or 2.6 percent of the non-agricultural workforce.

* By 2029–2030, there will be 2.35 crore (23.5 million) workers in the gig economy. By 2029–2030, it is anticipated that gig workers will account for 6.7 percent of India’s non-agricultural workforce and 4.1 percent of all income.

* Currently, medium-skilled occupations make up approximately 47% of gig labour, high skilled jobs make up about 22%, and low-skilled jobs make up about 31%.

* The trend indicates that the concentration of workers with medium skills is gradually decreasing while it is rising for those with low and high skills.

* The report suggests connecting self-employed people in the business of selling regional and rural cuisine, street food, etc., with platforms in order to enable them to sell their products to larger markets in towns and cities to accelerate access to finance through products specifically designed for platform workers.

* The report recommends platform-led transformational and outcome-based skilling, improving social inclusion through programmes that educate workers and their families about gender issues and accessibility, and extending social security measures in partnership as envisioned by the Code on Social Security 2020.

Other suggestions include conducting a second census exercise to calculate the size of the gig and platform workforce and gathering data during official censuses (Periodic Labour Force Survey) to identify gig workers.

Source : PIB

The National Insurance Awareness Day is observed on 28 June annually to make people aware about the several benefits of investing in an insurance plan or policy. Insurance policies offer financial cover in case of unfortunate happenings such as injury, accident or losses in business, among others, if one remembers to pay their premium regularly.

 

 

Nicholas Barbon, an English economist, physician, and financial speculator set up the first fire insurance company in 1666 CE. He came up with this idea after a huge fire in London destroyed the city. After that, Barbon was successful in forming the first actual insurance company known as The Insurance Office, which was located in a small building behind London’s Royal Exchange.  From then on, the insurance market has only expanded to newer sectors.

 

This special day is a reminder to check if all your insurance payments (or renewals) are up to date..

Source : First Post

The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and data utilisation strategy can add $500 billion to India's GDP by 2025, a new Nasscom report showed on Thursday(23rd June 2022).

 

The AI adoption in four key sectors -- BFSI, consumer packaged goods (CPG) and retail, healthcare, and industrials/automotive -- can contribute 60 per cent of the total $ 500 billion opportunity, according to "AI Adoption Index" Nasscom, EY and Microsoft, EXL and Capgemini.

 

Though the current rate of AI investments in India is growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30.8 per cent and poised to reach $881 million by 2023, it will still represent just 2.5 per cent of the total global AI investments of $340 billion.

 

This creates a massive opportunity for Indian enterprises to accelerate investments and adoption of AI to drive equitable growth across sectors.

 

For India to achieve its $1 trillion GDP goal by FY 2026-2027, it needs to have a strong correlation to the maturity of AI adoption.

Source : Business Standard

Khushi Patel, a biomedical student from the United Kingdom, has been declared the winner of the Miss India Worldwide 2022, the longest-running Indian pageant outside of India.

 

Vaidehi Dongre from the US was declared the first runner up on Friday(24th June 2022) night while Shrutika Mane was adjudged the second runner up. The top 12 contestants at the pageant were the winners of various other contests globally.

 

Patel, who is doing her major in biomedical sciences and minor in psychology, said that she is delighted to have won the Miss India Worldwide 2022 pageant.

 

Over the next one year, the model, who also owns a clothing store, plans to do a lot of charity events and help third-world countries.

 

Roshani Razack from Guyana was declared Miss Teen India Worldwide 2022. Navya Paingol from the US was the first runner up, while Chiquita Malaha from Suriname was the second runner up, according to India Festival Committee (IFC), which has been organising the event for the past 29 years..

Source : The Print