World Post Day 2021 – October 9

The United Nations (UN)’s World Post Day is annually observed across the globe on October 9th to commemorate the anniversary of the establishment of the Universal Postal Union(UPU) in 1874.

The day aims to create awareness about the role of the postal sector in the everyday life of people across the globe and its contribution to the social and economic development of the countries.

The theme of 2021 World Post Day is “Innovate to recover”.

World Hospice and Palliative Care Day 2021 – October 9

World Hospice and Palliative Care Day (WHPCD) is annually observed across the globe on the 2nd Saturday of October to highlight the need for global palliative care and to highlight the vital role of palliative care.

• The day also aims to ensure that everyone has access to palliative care, regardless of where they live, age or background.

• This is a day of action to celebrate and support hospice and palliative care across the globe.

The 2021 World Hospice and Palliative Care Day (WHPCD) falls on 9th October 2021.

• The 2020 WHPCD was observed on 10th October 2020

• The 2022 WHPCD will be observed on 8th October 2022.

The theme of the World Hospice and Palliative Care Day 2021 is “Leave no one behind – equity in access to palliative care”.

Govt Approved Air India Disinvestment; Tata Sons Won the Bid for Acquiring Air India for Rs 18,000 Crore

Tata Sons Private Ltd subsidiary Talace Pvt Ltd has won the final bid for acquiring the national carrier Air India by submitting Rs 18,000 crore bid. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) – empowered Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism (AISAM) approved the highest price bid of Talace Pvt Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd.

• The bid involves sale of 100 percent stake AI (the shareholding of Government of India), 100 percent stake in AI’s subsidiary Air India Express (AIXL) and 50 percent in the joint venture Air India SATS (Air India SATS Airport Services Private Limited).
• The total permanent and contractual employee strength of Air India & AIXL is 13,500.
• The winning bid of Rs 18,000 crore as Enterprise Value (EV) does not include non-core assets including land and building, valued at Rs 14,718 crore, which are to be transferred to GoI’s Air India Asset Holding Limited (AIAHL).

Key Points:

i.The financial bids were of – Talace Pvt Ltd, for an EV of Rs 18,000 crore; SpiceJet promoter Ajay Singh, for an EV of Rs 15,100 crore.
ii.The process of disinvestment was carried through multi-layered decision making involving Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG), Core Group of Secretaries on Disinvestment (CGD) and the empowered Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism (AISAM) at the apex Ministerial level.
iii.The further process of disinvestment will be of Letter of Intent (LoI) and then sign the Share Purchase Agreement; the transaction is expected to be completed by December 2021.
iv.The AISAM comprises Union Minister for Home Affairs and Cooperation Amit Shah; Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman; Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal and Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

India, Croatia collaborate to improve the traditional medicine system

India’s All India Institute of Ayurveda under Ministry of Ayush and Croatia’s Kvarner Health Tourism Cluster entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for academic collaboration in traditional medicine systems, especially in the field of ayurveda.

• Ministry of Ayush signed the MoU on behalf of AIIA in the presence of Special Secretary of Ayush Pramod Kumar Pathak and India’s Ambassador to Croatia Raj Shrivastava
• According to the Ministry of Ayush, the collaboration with Croatia is a significant step towards bolstering India’s ties with other countries and promoting academic research, clinical and educational activities, medical education, training, and competency building.

First International Conference on Yoga and Ayurveda
1st International Conference on Yoga and Ayurveda was held between Oct 3 to 5, 2021 in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia.The Embassy of India, Zagreb organised the conference with the support of the Ministry of AYUSH.A six-member delegation, led by Special Secretary Ayush Shri Pramod Kumar Pathak attended the conference.

• Theme of the Conference: Ayurveda for Health and Wellness.
• Objective – The goal of this conference is to present scientifically validated benefits and mechanisms of Yoga and Ayurveda practices, promote its application and propagation of AYUSH systems of health care.

Fisheries Minister Parshottam Rupala unveils river ranching programme at in UP

Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Parshottam Rupala launched a nationwide, river ranching programme at Brijghat, Garh Mukteshwar in Uttar Pradesh as part of the government’s efforts to boost fish production in the country.

• In a nationwide launch, four other states — Uttarakhand, Odisha, Tripura and Chhattisgarh also participated.
• The programme was introduced as a special activity under PMMSY (Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana) for augmenting and enhancing fish production.
• The National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB), Hyderabad is a nodal agency under the central sector component of PMMSY for implementing river ranching programmes across the country.

• A total budget of Rs 2.81 crore was sanctioned by NFDB to ranch 97.16 lakh fingerlings as a part of action plan 2020-21 of PMMSY.

Objective

i.To meet the demand of growing human population
ii.To promote sustainable use and conservation of fishery resources.
iii.To achieve sustainable fisheries, reduce habitat degradation, conserve biodiversity, maximize social-economic benefits and assess ecosystem services.

3 products including ‘Karuppur Kalamkari paintings’ from Tamil Nadu receives GI Tags

In October 2021, 3 products from Tamil Nadu – Karuppur kalamkari paintings, Kallakurichi Wood carvings & Kanyakumari Clove were awarded with Geographical Indication (GI) tags.

Karuppur Kalamkari paintings – They are Traditional dyed paintings made on pure cotton cloth, mainly used in temples for umbrella covers, cylindrical hangings, chariot covers. These were patronised by Nayaka rulers back in the 17th century.

Kallakurichi Wood carvings – Traditional wood carvings that are indigenous art of Madurai, which are mainly used for designs & ornamentation.

Kanyakumari Clove – Known for its rich aromatic oil content, with volatile oil content of 21% (normal 18%) resulting in 86% of eugenol.

Power Ministry Revised Policy to Use Biomass Pellets in Coal-Burning Thermal Power Plants

Ministry of Power, Government of India, has set a revised policy to use biomass pellets in coal-burning thermal power plants. This encourages the use of agricultural waste, which will be burnt by the farmers causes air pollution.
About the revised policy:
i.The revised policy has made it mandatory for 3 categories of thermal power plants to use a 5% blend of biomass pellets along with coal.
ii.The revised policy will come into force in October 2022, with a requirement to increase the proportion of biomass to 7% within 2 years of the power plant.
iii.The policy will be in force for 25 years or until the useful life of the thermal power plant.

Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2021 released by UNDP & OPHI; India has max multidimensional poor

On October 7, 2021, a new analysis on global multidimensional poverty namely ‘Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)’ 2021 was released which was produced by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI).

• India has a maximum number of people, 381 millions, living in multidimensional poverty.

What is in the report?

The report examined the level and composition of multidimensional poverty across 109 countries covering 5.9 billion people and presents an ethnicity/race/caste disaggregation for 41 countries.

• It states that disparities in multidimensional poverty among ethnic groups are consistently high across many countries and in nine ethnic groups more than 90% of the population is living in poverty.

Top 5 countries with largest number of people living in multidimensional poverty:

According to the report, the top five countries with the largest number of people living in multidimensional poverty are as follows:

i.India (2015/16) at 381 millions
ii.Nigeria (2018): 93 million
iii.Pakistan (2017/18): 83 million
iv.Ethiopia (2019): 77 million
v.Democratic Republic of the Congo (2017/18): 56 million.

CoinSwitch Kuber names Ranveer Singh as its brand ambassador

Crypto platform CoinSwitch Kuber has roped in Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh as its first-ever brand ambassador.

• With this collaboration, Ranveer Singh will be featured in three ad films for CoinSwitch Kuber’s ongoing ‘KuchToh Badlega’.

• The objective is to connect with millennials and Gen-Z users by featuring Ranveer through its ‘KuchToh Badlega’ campaign.

Note: Earlier, actor Amitabh Bachchan was appointed as the brand ambassador of Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX.

Aveek Sarkar re-elected as the Chairman of PTI
Aveek Sarkar, the Editor Emeritus and Vice Chairman of the Ananda Bazar Group of Publications, has been re-elected as the Chairman of Press Trust of India (PTI) for a period of 2 years. Aveek Sarkar was the founding Managing Director of Penguin India and the founding editor of Business Standard.

• KN Shanth Kumar, Director of The Printers(Mysore) Private Limited, has been elected as the Vice-Chairman of PTI.

India Won 3 Bronze Medals in 2021 Asian Table Tennis Championships in Doha, Qatar

For the first time in the history, Indian table tennis contingent has won 3 Bronze medals in the 2021 Asian Table Tennis Championship organised by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) at Doha, Qatar between 28th September and 5th October 2021. Two of the Three medals came from Men’s Doubles event, while the 3rd medal was won by the Indian Men’s Team.

Medal Winning Teams:

• Indian Men’s Team – Sharath Kamal, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Harmeet Desai

• Men’s Doubles Team – Sharath Kamal Achanta & Sathiyan Gnanasekaran

• Men’s Doubles Team – Manav Thakkar & Harmeet Desai

Magnus Carlsen won the first Melt water Champions Chess Tour 2021

Magnus Carlsen, the Norwegian chess grandmaster, won the inaugural Melt water Champions Chess Tour 2021, which started in November 2020 and concluded in October 2021. Magnus Carlsen secured the victory and clinched the world’s first (non-fungible token)NFT chess trophy.

• Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan finished the tour in 2nd place and Levon Aronian of Armenia finished in 3rd place.

• The first prize of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour 2021 title carries a cash prize of 100000 USD.

Rajnish Kumar authors’ debut book “The Custodian of Trust”

The debut book of Rajnish Kumar, former Chairman of State Bank of India (SBI), named “The Custodian of Trust” is set to be released on 18th October 2021. The book published by Penguin Random House India, discusses various memories of Rajnish Kumar with India’s banking & financial sector.

i.Rajnish Kumar shares noteworthy experience, in his 40 years of service with SBI including 3-years as its Chairman, on the critical role played by banks in India’s fight to eliminate poverty.

ii.Some critical points discussed in the book include, the challenges faced during demonetization, Non-Performing Assets (NPA), crisis in Jet Airways & Yes Bank among others.

News In Detail