1. INDIA-BANGLADESH ECONOMIC TIES
The India-Bangladesh CEO Forum will meet soon for the first time, even as the two countries work towards finalising a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) to deepen trade and economic ties as partners rather than competitors, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said.
About:
- He congratulated Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on the country’s transition from a less-developed country to a developing nation status.
- Bangladesh is India’s biggest trade partner in South Asia with a volume of over $10 billion.
- India had sent over one crore COVID-19 vaccine doses to the country and has extended concessional credit lines of about $8 billion, the highest for any single country.
- A bilateral textile industry forum has also been constituted to facilitate cooperation in the textile sector.
- India is also developing two Indian economic zones at Mirsarai and Mongla.
- The Minister identified five focus areas that could strengthen bilateral economic ties: Technology, Connectivity, Entrepreneurship, Health and Tourism.
- The two countries will be celebrating December 6 as Maitri Divas, to mark 50 years of Bangladesh’s independence and its bilateral ties with India, which was the first country to recognise its independence.
Source: The Hindu
2. PRIMARY HEALTH CARE IN INDIA
The Government of India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a $300 million loan to strengthen and improve access to comprehensive primary health care in urban areas of 13 states that will benefit over 256 million urban dwellers including 51 million from slum areas.
About:
- The programme supports the Government of India’s key health initiatives - Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWC) and Pradhan Mantri Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana (PM-ASBY) - which has been renamed as Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM)
- Ayushman Bharat programme, launched in 2018, aims to improve access to comprehensive primary health care as a key strategy to achieve universal health coverage in India.
- With the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic that put additional pressure on the country’s health system, the government launched PM-ASBY later renamed as PM-ABHIM in October 2021 to adopt a long-term approach to system strengthening to prepare for future pandemics and other emergencies.
- The programme will be implemented in urban areas across 13 states: Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and West Bengal.
- The programme is supported by a $2 million technical assistance grant from ADB’s Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction.
Source: PIB
3. WAGE RATE INDEX (WRI)
Expert Group unveils report on base revision of Wage Rate Index (WRI) to 2016=100 from base 1963-65=100.
About:
- The new series of Wage Rate Index (WRI) with base year 2016=100, is being compiled and maintained by Labour Bureau, an attached office of Ministry of Labour & Employment.
- The new series of WRI with base 2016=100 will replace the old series with base 1963-65=100.
- The New WRI Series with base 2016=100 would be compiled twice a year on point-to-point half yearly basis, as on 1st January and 1st July of every year.
Some of the major improvements made under the new series of WRI (2016=100) vis-à-vis old series (1963-65=100) are as under:
- The weighting diagram in the new WRI series has been prepared from the results of the Occupational Wage Survey (Seventh) round.
- A total of 37 industries have been covered in the new WRI basket (2016=100) as against 21 industries in the 1963-65=100 series.
- The selected 37 industries in the new series are categorized as 30 industries from Manufacturing sector, 4 industries from Mining Sector and 3 industries from Plantation Sector as compared to 14 industries from Manufacturing sector, 4 industries from Mining Sector and 3 industries from Plantation Sector in the old series.
- In the new WRI basket, the current wage data has been collected from 2881 units under 37 selected industries as against to 1256 units under 21 industries in the old series of WRI.
- About 700 occupations have been covered under 37 selected industries in new series of WRI (2016=100).
Source: PIB
4. GLOBAL CHEMICALS & PETROCHEMICALS MANUFACTURING HUB (GCPMH)
Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister for Chemicals & Fertilizers inaugurateD the 2nd Global Chemicals & Petrochemicals Manufacturing Hub (GCPMH).
About:
- The event is being organised by the Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India jointly with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), in Phygital format (Physical and Digital) and aims to transform India to a global chemical and Petro-chemical manufacturing hub.
- The summit highlights the true potential of the Indian Chemicals and Petrochemicals Sector to the world.
PCPIRs
- This edition of the Summit will strengthen our effort to establish Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Regions (PCPIRs) as world-class Chemicals and Petrochemicals Manufacturing terminals and Potential and a positive outlook of Indian chemical & petrochemical industry.
- The Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region (PCPIR) policy, announced by the Government of India (GoI) in April 2007, envisages the development of Global Scale Industrial Corridors in the Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical sectors of the country.
Source: PIB
5. INTERNATIONAL TOURISM MARTS
Minister of State for Tourism & Defence Shri Ajay Bhatt addressed the opening session of second day of 9th International Tourism Mart for the North East Region at Kohima, Nagaland.
About:
- The International Tourism Marts are organised in the North Eastern States on a rotation basis.
- The event has been planned and scheduled to facilitate interaction between buyers, sellers, media, government agencies, and other stakeholders.
- Nagaland is hosting this Mart for the first time.
- The earlier editions of this Mart have been held in Guwahati (Assam), Tawang (Arunachal Pradesh), Shillong (Meghalaya), Gangtok (Sikkim), Agartala (Tripura), and Imphal (Manipur).
Source: PIB
6. KONGTHONG VILLAGE
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has expressed gratitude to the people of Kongthong for a special tune in his honour and in appreciation of Government of India’s efforts in promoting the village as a prime tourism destination.
About:
- Meghalaya's Kongthong village, which is also known as the "whistling village", recently honoured Prime Minister Narendra Modi by making him part of a unique tradition that goes back centuries.
- In this village, located in the lush, rolling hills of the northeast state, everyone's name is a melody as mothers compose a special tune for each child when it is born. Everyone in the village, inhabited by the Khasi people, then addresses the person with the individual little tune or whistle for a lifetime. They have conventional "real" names too, but they are rarely used.
- The custom of assigning tunes to residents here is known as "jingrwai lawbei", meaning "song of the clan's first woman", a reference to the Khasi people's mythical original mother.
- The Ministry of Tourism recently nominated the village for the UNWTO Best Tourism Villages Contest from India. To thanks the PM for his efforts, a tune was composed by a woman in the village in his honour.
Source: All India Radio
7. POLICE COMMISSIONERATE SYSTEM
Citing growing population and geographical expansion of Bhopal and Indore and the accompanying administrative and law & order problems, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on November 21 announced the implementation of a police commissionerate system in the two cities.
‘Dual Command’ System of Policing
- Under the dual command system, the District Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police (SP) share powers and responsibilities in a district.
- Under this structure, the DM is entrusted with issuing arrest warrants, licenses while the SP has powers and responsibilities to investigate crime and make arrests.
- The system is designed to ensure a lower concentration of power and making the police more accountable to the DM at the district level.
Police Commissionerate System
- Under the police commissionerate system, the powers of both policing and magistracy are concentrated with the commissioner, who is directly accountable to the state government and the state police chief.
- The commissioner of police under the commissionerate system exercises the powers and duties of a District Magistrate. These powers are also available to any officer under the commissioner who is not below the rank of an Assistant Commissioner of Police.
Source: Indian Express
8. CONNECTED LENDING
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has kept in limbo the proposal of its Internal Working Group (IWG) for granting banking licence to big corporate houses amid fears over connected lending and self-dealing if they are allowed in the banking space.
About:
- Connected lending involves the controlling owner of a bank giving loans to himself or his related parties and group companies at favourable terms and conditions.
- Business groups need financing, and they can get it easily with no questions asked if they have an in-house bank. In short, companies can use the bank as a “private pool of readily available funds”.
- Big business groups already account for a major chunk of non-performing assets (NPAs) in the banking system even without becoming promoters of a bank.
Source: Indian Express
9. NAMING A VIRUS
In picking a name for the newest variant of SARS-CoV-2, Omicron, the World Health Organization (WHO) has skipped two letters of the Greek alphabet, one of which also happens to be a popular surname in China, shared even by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
About:
- The WHO has been using Greek letters to refer to the most widely prevalent coronavirus variants, which otherwise carry long scientific names.
- It had already used 12 letters of the Greek alphabet before the newest variant emerged in South Africa this week.
- After Mu, the 12th named after a Greek letter, WHO selected the name Omicron, instead of Nu or Xi, the two letters between Mu and Omicron.
- The WHO said Nu could have been confused with the word ‘new’ while Xi was not picked up following a convention.
- XI is a common surname and WHO best practices for naming new diseases (developed in conjunction with FAO and OIE back in 2015) suggest avoiding ‘causing offence to any cultural, social, national, regional, professional or ethnic groups’.
Important Info :
Why Greek letters?
- Since the scientific names are not easy to remember, the more prevalent variants started to be named after the country from where they were first reported: ‘UK variant’, ‘Indian variant’, ‘South African variant’, or ‘Brazilian variant’.
- To remove the connection with specific countries, which was triggering name-calling and blame game, the WHO decided on a new naming system using Greek letters.
Source: Indian Express
10. IN-FLIGHT WIFI
Three years after the Department of Telecom permitted WiFi services on commercial flights, it is yet to become a reality for domestic air travellers as airlines grapple with the huge installation costs and the impact of COVID-19 on passenger demand.
About:
- Domestic carriers have been slow in offering the service because retrofitting aircraft with the required antenna is an expensive affair that takes nearly 12 hours. Airlines find it difficult to pass on the costs to the passengers in an extremely competitive market for the cheapest ticket.
- However, international airlines such as Lufthansa, Air France and Emirates have started offering the service, though earlier they were switching it off on entering India skies.
- The equipment costs ₹3 crore to ₹4 crore for one aircraft, which is the entry barrier because it is difficult to recover the cost from passengers.
- Full-service carrier Vistara is the only Indian airline to offer it since September 2020.
Source: The Hindu