GK Snapshotson 8 July 2021

Indian Economist Kaushik Basu Gets Humboldt Research Award for Economics for 2021

Indian Economist Kaushik Basu has been honoured with the Humboldt Research Award for Economics for 2021 by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation based in Bonn, Germany. Professor Dr Hans-Bernd Schäfer of Bucerius Law School, Hamburg, Germany nominated Kaushik Basu for this awad. Kaushik Basu is set to use this award to do research on moral philosophy and game theory, and on law and economics.

i.The Humboldt Research Award is sponsored by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and annually it is presented to more than 100 recipients.
ii.The award recognises and honours scientists and economists from across the world for their work.

About Kaushik Basu:

i.Kaushik Basu is a Professor of Economics and Carl Marks Professor of International Studies at Cornell University.

ii.He has served as the Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) to the Government of India(2009 to 2012) and Chief Economist of the World Bank From (2012 to 2016).

PVSLN Murty Appointed as the New Chairman & Managing Director of NEDFi

PVSLN Murty was appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director(CMD) of North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Limited (NEDFi). He took charge as the new CMD on 1st July 2021 succeeding B. Paul Muktieh, who served as the CMD of NEDFi from 2010 to June 2021.

About PVSLN Murty:
i.Prior to his appointment as the CMD of NEDFi, PVSLN Murty served as the Chief Strategy Officer(CSO) at State Bank of India (SBI), based at the Corporate Office, Mumbai.

ii.He has served as the Chief General Manager (CGM) and CSO of the SBI.
 

Giriraj Singh Launches ‘Matsya Setu’ for Aqua Farmers

Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Giriraj Singh launched an Online Course Mobile App ‘Matsya Setu’ to spread latest freshwater aquaculture technologies to aqua farmers of India.

• The app has been developed by ICAR-CIFA (Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture) with funding support from the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB), Hyderabad.

• Objective – To educate the fish farmers in India about the latest freshwater aquaculture technologies.

Mumbai & Pune to host 2022’s AFC Women’s Asia Cup football tournament

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has changed the host cities of 2022’s Women’s Asia Cup tournament from the previously selected Bhubaneswar & Ahmedabad to newer venues at Mumbai & Pune both from Maharashtra. This move was taken by AFC to minimise the travel time and maintain an optimum bio-secure bubble for the players.

i.The tournament set to take place from 20th January to 6th February, 2022 will be held at 3 Football Stadiums:

• Andheri Sports Complex – Mumbai

• D Y Patil Stadium – Navi Mumbai

• Chhatrapati Sports Complex – Pune

ii.The 4 spots for the finals were topped by India, Japan, Australia, China. While 28 other teams will compete for the remaining 8 spots.

Harika Dronavalli becomes runner-up in Women’s Speed Chess Championship

Indian Grandmaster Harika Dronavalli finished 2nd with 15-13 points in the Women’s Speed Chess Championship finals after losing to China’s Hou Yifan, the current World No.1 player. The 2021 Women’s Speed Chess Championship is conducted in online mode by FIDE Chess.com

Arjuna Award winner Harika Dronavalli has previously won 3 Bronze Medals in Women’s World Chess Championship, on 2012, 2015 and 2017

Jabir 1st Indian Male to participate in 400m hurdles in Olympics; Maana Patel 1st ever Indian Female Swimmer at Olympics

Indian Navy’s athlete MP Jabir will be 1st Indian male athlete to participate in the 400m hurdles in Olympics when he competes at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. He qualified for the 400m hurdles event after clocking 49.78s to win Gold at the Inter-State Athletics Championships held at Patiala, Punjab.

• Jabir hails from Malappuram, Kerala and is currently ranked 34th in the World Athletics’ Road to Olympics rankings, where 40 athletes qualify.

• India’s PT Usha had competed in the 400m hurdles at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Maana Patel 1st Indian Female Swimmer at Tokyo Olympics 2020
Maana Patel became the 1st Indian female ever to qualify for the Olympics. Maana Patel who hails from Ahmedabad, Gujarat will compete in the Women’s 100m backstroke event of Tokyo Olympics 2020.

• Along with 2 others, she is the 3rd swimmer to qualify for the Summer Olympics, the other two being Srihari Nataraja (100m Backstroke) and Sajan Prakash (Men’s 200m Butterfly).

Central Government creates ‘Ministry of Co-operation’ to Strengthen Cooperative Movement

The Central Government has created a separate ‘Ministry of Co-operation (Sahkarita Mantralaya)’ to provide a separate administrative, legal and policy framework for strengthening the Co-operative Movement in India. The New Ministry has been carved out from the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare.

• Amit Shah will head this new ‘Ministry Of Cooperation’ along with Ministry of Home Affairs.

• The new process will help in realizing the government’s vision of ‘Sahakar se Samriddhi’ (prosperity from cooperation).

• The New Ministry will work to streamline processes for ‘Ease of doing businesses for cooperatives and enable development of Multi-State Co-operatives (MSCS).

• The announcement for creation of a separate Ministry for Co-operation was made by Union Minister of Finance, Nirmala Sitharaman during the Budget Session of 2021-22.

Government brings Department of Public Enterprises under Finance Ministry

President of India Ram Nath Kovind approved the ‘Government of India (Allocation of Business) Three Hundred and Sixty First Amendment Rules, 2021’, which brings the ‘Department of Public Enterprises (Lok Udyam Vibhag)’ which was part of the Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises under the Ministry of Finance.

• The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) will be the 6th Department in the Finance Ministry. It has been brought under the Finance Ministry to enable better coordination and better facilitate the Government’s Disinvestment programme.

• The ‘Government of India (Allocation of Business) Three Hundred and Sixty First Amendment Rules, 2021’ amends the ‘Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961’.

• The other 5 departments under the Finance Ministry are Economic Affairs, Revenue, Expenditure, Investment & Public Asset Management and Financial Services

J&K tops in implementing NISHTHA programme

Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) has trained 80600 Elementary School Teachers through online mode using DIKSHA portal, leading it as India’s top performer under National Initiative for School Heads and Teachers Holistic Advancement (NISHTHA) portal. i.NISHTHA is theWorld’s largest teacher training program that was launched under Samagra Shiksha scheme in 2019-20. It aims to provide an Integrated Teacher Training Programme for improving the quality of school education.

8th BRICS Education Ministers meeting 2021 held virtually; Chaired by MoS Sanjay Dhotre

On July 6, 2021, Minister of State (MoS) Sanjay Shamrao Dhotre, Ministry of Education (MoE), and Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeiTy) virtually chaired 8th BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) Education Ministers 2021 meeting.

• Education Ministers from the five BRICS member states attended the meeting along with senior officials.

• The ministers signed a joint declaration to strengthen their academic and research collaboration in higher education and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).

Themes of Meeting:

i.Leveraging digital and technological solutions for ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education.

ii.Enhancing research and academic collaboration.

Bollywood Actor Dilip Kumar Passed Away at 98

Veteran Bollywood Actor and Padma Awardee Dilip Kumar, popularly known as the ‘Tragedy King of Bollywood’, passed away in Mumbai, Maharashtra. He was born as Mohammed Yusuf Khan in Peshawar, British India (now in Pakistan) on 11th December 1922.

About Dilip Kumar:
i.Dilip Kumar debuted as an Actor in the 1944 film “Jwar Bhata”.
ii.He has starred in more than 65 films which include films like Devdas(1955), Mughal-e-Azam(1960), Ganga Jamuna(1961), Ram Aur Shyam(1967), Naya Daur(1957), Madhumati(1958), Kranti(1981), Vidhaata(1982), Shakti(1982) and Mashaal(1984).
iii.He was the inaugural recipient of the Filmfare Best Actor Award (1954), He won the award for his film “Daag” (1953).

Honours:
i.The government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan in 1991 and Padma Vibhushan in 2015. ii.The government of Pakistan honoured him with its highest civilian honour the “Nishan-e-Imtiaz” in 1998. He is the only Indian to be honoured with this.
iii.In 1994, He won the Dadasaheb Phalke award for his cinematic excellence.

Olympic Gold Medalist Keshav Datt passes away

On 7th July 2021, Keshav Datt, member of 2-time Olympics Gold Medal winning Indian Hockey team passed away at the age of 95. He was part of the 1948 London Olympics Gold medal winning Indian Hockey team and later as Vice-Captain Indian team that won Gold in 1952 Helsinki Olympics. i.He was born in Lahore in 1925 in undivided India.

ii.After representing Punjab, Bombay & Bengal in the National Championship, he became a Member of Indian National Team.

iii.He was also a member of Mohun Bagan Hockey team, which later on won 6 Calcutta League tournaments and 3 Beighton Cup.

iv.In 2019, Mohun Bagan conferred him with the Mohun Bagan Ratna award.

Kaushik Basu Authored a New Book Titled “Policymaker’s Journal: From New Delhi to Washington, DC”

Indian Economist and Padma Bhushan Kaushik Basu has authored a new book titled “Policymaker’s Journal: From New Delhi to Washington, D.C.”. The book features the journal records of his career of 7 years, during which he served as the Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) to the Indian Government and the Chief Economist at the World Bank in Washington D.C., The book is published by Simon & Schuster Publishers India Pvt Ltd.

About the book: This book is a revised version of Kaushik Basu’s journal which also features his encounters with world leaders and influencers like Manmohan Singh, Narendra Modi, Barack Obama, Sheikh Hasina, Deepika Padukone among others.

Other Books by Kaushik Basu: Kaushik Basu has authored more than 20 book which includes,

• An Economist in the Real World: The Art of Policymaking in India

• Prelude to Political Economy: A Study of the Social and Political Foundations of Economics

• Beyond the Invisible Hand: Groundwork for a New Economics

J&K LG Manoj Sinha rolled out LGSDF Fellowship for Graduates

The Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Manoj Sinha launched a fellowship programme namely ‘Lieutenant Governor’s Sustainable Development Fellowship (LGSDF)’ for engineering, management and other graduates.

• It will be monitored by a three-member committee comprising IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) Jammu’s Director (Current- Manoj Singh Gaur) and chief secretary and principal secretary to the LG.

Aim behind this Fellowship:
i.To provide opportunity for young professionals in supporting improvement in government programs and services by making them more efficient, transparent.
ii.To generate valuable insights for policymakers and implementing agencies.
iii.To remove gaps in policy implementation.

Features of LGSDF:
i.On an annual basis, 10 scholars and graduates from IIT-Jammu, IIM (Indian Institute of Management) Jammu, NIT (National Institute of Technology) Srinagar, and other national institutes will be selected with requisite work experience and have qualified GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering), MAT (Management Aptitude Test), NET (National Eligibility Test) examinations.
ii.As of now, the tenure of the fellowship is two years. This will be extended by three years.
iii.The rate of fellowship will be Rs 60,000 per month.

iv.The field travel and other incidentals will be reimbursed.

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