Highlights of President Droupadi Murmu’s Visit to Gujarat from September 12-13, 2023Droupadi Murmu, President of India, was on a two-day visit to Gujarat from September 12 to 13, 2023. During her visit,

• She inaugurated the Gujarat Assembly’s ‘National e-Vidhan Application’ (NeVA) project and addressed the members of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly at Gandhinagar.
• She also virtually launched the Ayushman Bhav initiative of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW) from the Raj Bhavan, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

On 12th September 2023, President Droupadi Murmu inaugurated the First Global Symposium on Farmers’ Rights (GSFR) in an event held at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Convention Centre, National Agricultural Science Centre in New Delhi, Delhi.
About Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare(MoA&FW):
Union Minister– Narendra Singh Tomar (Constituency- Morena, Madhya Pradesh)
Ministers of State(MoS)– Sushri Shobha Karandlaje; Kailash Choudhary

 

Highlights of Saudi Arabia’s PM HRH Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud visit to Indiai.From September 9-11, 2023, the His Royal Highness (HRH) Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister (PM) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, paid a State visit to India on the invitation of Prime Minister (PM) of India Narendra Modi. This marks the Prince’s 2nd State visit to India, His Royal Highness earlier visited India on a State Visit in February 2019.
ii.The overarching context of his visit was to strengthen bilateral relations and strategic partnership between India and Saudi Arabia.
iii.Official talks were held between HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and PM Narendra Modi to enhance India-Saudi strategic relations and discussed current global and regional matters.
iv.Both leaders chaired the first meeting of the India – Saudi Strategic Partnership Council (SPC) which was set up with the signing of an Agreement by both leaders during the PM Narendra Modi state visit to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in October 2019.
v.The Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and the Saudi Ministry of Energy have signed a MoU to strengthen their energy partnership, supporting India’s transition to sustainable energy and global climate change mitigation efforts.
About Saudi Arabia:
Capital– Riyadh
Currency– Saudi Riyal

 

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan launched Skill India Digital PlatformUnion Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Ministry Skill Development and Entrepreneurship(MSDE) has launched the Skill India Digital (SID) platform.

• SID is India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for skilling, education, employment, and entrepreneurship.
• The digital platform includes both a website and a mobile Application that was developed by the National Skill Development Corporation(NSDC). It is available in multiple Indian languages.

About the Skill India Digital platform:
i.Skill India digital platform offers a variety of industry-specific skill courses, career opportunities, and support for aspiring entrepreneurs.

• It includes listings for courses from Google, Microsoft, Cisco, and the Skill Council for Green Jobs(SCGJ).
• Presently, more than 264 skilling courses from 42,623 centers across India will be available on the platform.

ii.The platforms serve as the link between job-seekers and employers, enabling educational institutions to develop courses to industry demands.

• The platform will accelerate skilled talent hiring, facilitating lifelong learning and career advancement.

iii.The platform aligns with the vision outlined in the G20 framework for developing DPI and the digital economy in order to promote digital skills and literacy.
iv.The app will be linked with DigiLocker and Aadhaar to issue verifiable certificates of course completion and to generate digitally signed Curriculum Vitae (CVs) for job applicants and people taking courses.

• It also provides Digital CVs of jobseekers through personalized QR Codes.
• SID is linked to the Udyam portal for the registration of micro, small and medium enterprises.
• It also linked with the eShram portal which was created to build a National Database of Unorganized Workers and the National Career Service which was a five-year project launched by the Government in 2015 for job-seekers.
• It is also linked with the Aatmanirbhar Skilled Employee Employer Mapping (ASEEM) portal.

Additional info:
During the launching event, several memorandum of understanding (MOUs) were exchanged with organizations to advance digital skilling, foster industry participation, and enhance learner engagement, including All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE),National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), Infosys, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS), RedHat, Wadhwani Foundation, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Future Skills Prime, SAP, Tech Mahindra Foundation.

 

MCA Extends Tenure of Company Law Committee by 1 YearThe Ministry of Corporate Affairs(MCA) has extended the tenure of the Company Law Committee by 1 year, until September 16, 2024.
Company Law Committee:
i.The Company Law Committee was set up in 2019 with a tenure of one year(2020), and its tenure was successively extended year after year.
ii.The committee has been tasked with examining and recommending the government on different matters concerning the implementation of the Companies Act, 2013, and the Limited Liability Partnership (LLP)Act, 2008.
objectives:

• To promote the Ease of Living in the country by providing ease of doing business to law-abiding corporates.
• To Promote improved corporate compliance for all stakeholders.
• To address emerging issues having an impact on the working of companies in India.

Committee Members:
At Present, the Company Law Committee consists of 11-members under the chairmanship of the Dr Manoj Govil, Secretary, MCA.
Additional Info:
The Company Law Committee recently released its third report in March 2022. They had recommended various changes to the Companies Act, 2013 to recognise new concepts, expedite corporate processes, improve compliance requirements, and remove ambiguities from existing provisions
About Ministry of Corporate Affairs: 
Union Minister – Nirmala Sitharaman (RajyaSabha Karnataka)
Minister of State (MoS) – Rao Inderjit Singh (Lok Sabha Constituency – Gurugram, Haryana)

 

MHA Cancels FCRA Licence of Bal Raksha Bharat & 2 other NGOs
Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) has cancelled the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) licence of Bal Raksha Bharat, Srinivas Malliah Memorial Theatre Crafts Museum and SELF EMPLOYED WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION (SEWA).

• The licences were cancelled ahead of the deadline (30th September 2023) for FCRA licences renewable for Non-Governmental Organisations(NGOs).

i.Bal Raksha Bharat is the India unit of the United Kingdom(UK) Based NGO “Save The Children” which operates in around 16 states across India.

• The audited report of the NGO revealed that it has received Rs 163 crore in its bank accounts and Rs 66.66 lakh worth of in-kind contributions for year 2021-2022.

ii.Srinivas Malliah Memorial Theatre Crafts Museum was established in memory of freedom fighter Ullal Srinivas Malliah to provide training in traditional handicrafts like puppet making, mask making, paper figures, bamboo crafts and others.
Points to note:  MHA grants FCRA licences to NGOs for 5 years and evaluates based on annual returns and foreign grants received for their intended purposes.  Misuse or diversion of foreign funds by NGOs is a violation of the FCRA Act.

 

India Becomes 13th Country to Issue OIML Certificate
India has been recognised as an authority to issue internationally accepted OIML(International Organization of Legal Metrology) pattern approval certificates for selling weights & measures anywhere in the world. With this India becomes the 13th country in the world that can issue OIML certificates.

• Department of Consumer Affairs under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs will now issue the OIML certificates.
• OIML Pattern Approval certificate is mandatory to sell a weight or measure in the International market.

Other countries that can issue OIML Certificates are Australia, Switzerland, China, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, France, United Kingdom(UK), Japan, Netherlands, Sweden and Slovakia.
About International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML French: Organisation Internationale de Métrologie Légale):
OIML is an international standard-setting body.
Established in 1955.
Headquarters– Paris, France
Members: 63 Member States & 64 Corresponding Members (India has been a member of the OIML since 1956)

 

Yes Bank Partners with Juspay to Launch HyperUPI, NPCI’s UPI-based Plug-in Service Yes Bank partnered with Juspay, India’s leading payments company, to launch HyperUPI, a plug-in Software Development Toolkit (SDK) developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) that empowers in-app Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payments for merchant apps.

• With this, the merchants can now offer customers a hassle-free one-click UPI experience. This will also allow customers to undertake UPI-based transactions within the merchant app.
• This plug-in (SDK) is built on one of the most reliable UPI-on-cloud stacks in India, which also supports UPI payments for several consumer and merchant apps.

Yes Bank and BriskPe Partnered to Enable Cross-border Payments for MSMEs by BriskPe A2A Solution
GoBrisk Technologies Pvt Ltd. (BriskPe), a Mumbai (Maharashtra) headquartered payments fintech company, and Yes Bank partnered to introduce BriskPe Account-to-Account (A2A), a cutting-edge suite of solutions designed to empower exporters and importers.

• This collaboration represents a significant milestone in the world of cross-border payments, benefiting Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) operating in the manufacturing and services sectors.

About Yes Bank Limited:
Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer– Prashant Kumar
Headquarters– Mumbai, Maharashtra
Established in– 2004

 

NPCI Launches India’s First Contactless Payment Wearable “OTG Ring”National Payment Corporation of India(NPCI) has launched a RuPay ON-THE-GO(OTG)ring named as 7 Ring, the first contactless payment wearable ring which was made in India.

• The ring was unveiled in Global Fintech Fest, 2023 (GFF 2023) which was held during 5th to 7th September 2023 in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
• 7 Ring is designed, assembled, manufactured and patented in India.
• The ring was made in collaboration with 7 (Sevenring Innovations Private Limited) and LivQuik Technology(India) Private Limited.

Eligibility:
Any Indian resident above 18 years of age with an active Unified Payments Interface (UPI) address can buy the ring (provided they satisfy any one of the invite-only criteria).
About 7 Ring:
i.7 Ring is a sleek, wearable ring that is made from a very strong and scratch-resistant material called zirconia ceramic(ZrO2) which is  also used in aerospace applications
ii.The ring is Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) compliant, as neither its body nor any of its electronic components contain any hazardous substances.
iii.  The National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) customers can use the ‘OTG Ring’ for the transactions.
Working:
i.The ring allows to make payment by just placing the fist on a Point of Sale (POS) device
ii.7 Ring links to a digital prepaid wallet  not linked to a Bank Account

• The wallet can be topped-up and payments can be made from it.

iii.The device also provides a comprehensive Passbook feature to keep track of the transactions.
iv.7 Ring only works when it is placed parallelly within 4 cm range of a contactless reader.
Features:
i.7 Ring doesn’t require a smartphone application or an One-time password(OTP) / PIN for making payments below Rs 5,000 in India.

• Also the ring  doesn’t require pairing with a smartphone, instead it is linked to a digital prepaid wallet in the cloud.

ii.7 Ring is a passive wearable that draws power from the POS machine, so has no battery
iii.7 Ring works on Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, is EMVco certified, and contains the same security standards which are used in payment instruments worldwide by all leading networks.
Transaction Criteria:
There are two limit criteria based on Know Your Customer (KYC).
i.Monthly transaction limit of Rs 10,000 –  registered as a Minimum KYC(During ring activation)
ii.Monthly transaction limit of Rs 2 Lakhs – Full KYC

 

IndusInd Bank launched ‘Virtual Commercial Credit Card’ in Collaboration with Visa and JuspayIndusInd Bank in partnership with Visa and Juspay launched  a “virtual commercial card” with additional layers of security to give the cardholders a complete control over cross-border transactions for corporates and travel agents. The card is built on the Visa Payables Automation platform.

• The card benefits the customers who make multiple bookings in different foreign-denominated currencies.
• The card offers a high degree of control, reduced complexity and complete transparency.

Features of the card:
i.The cardholders can  generate virtual cards and customise its credentials such as Card Number, Card Verification Value (CVV) code and expiry dates.

• The card can also be customised with transaction-specific limits.
• This feature makes the parent card out of the process, so that it will be safe.

ii.The card complies with tokenisation-cum-Additional Factor of Authentication (AFA) regulation & follows Maker and Checker workflow.
iii.The card allows for multiple user access.
iv.This card recognises the evolving needs of customers by redefining domestic and cross-border transactions  of the customers.
Additional Info:
Tokenisation-cum-AFA regulation: Tokenization is a backend process of replacing Credit/ Debit/ Prepaid Card details with a unique set of characters or a ‘token’.

• AFA is a security measure that requires customers to provide more than one piece of evidence to verify their identity. Examples: One-time passwords (OTPs), Security questions and Biometric authentication.

About IndusInd Bank Limited(Ltd):
Managing Director(MD) & Chief Executive Officer(CEO) – Sumant Kathpalia
Headquarters – Mumbai, Maharashtra
Established in – 1994
Tagline – We Make You Feel Richer
About Visa:
Chief Executive Officer(CEO) – Ryan McInerney
Headquarters-  California, United States of America(USA)
Established – 1976
About Juspay:
Founder – Vimal Kumar
Headquarters – Bangalore, Karnataka
Established in – 2012

 

Fitch Retains India’s Growth Forecast at 6.3% for FY24: Global Economic Outlook Sept 2023Fitch Ratings in its special report titled  Global Economic Outlook – September 2023 retained India’s Gross Domestic Product(GDP)’s growth forecast for the current fiscal year(FY 2023-24) at 6.3% and projected growth rate of 6.5% for FY 2024-2025.

• Earlier in June 2023, the rating agency had revised its forecast to 6.3% from the 6%.
• Inspite of tight monetary policy and poor export, the economy is striving to grow.

Quarterly analysis:
The Indian economy grew at 7.8% in the first quarter(Q1 – April to June) in FY 2023-24.

• According to the report, the high-frequency indicators suggest that the growth in July-September will be moderate due to low exports and credit growth.

RBI’ consumer confidence survey (CCS):
i.Reserve Bank of India(RBI) in its bi-monthly consumer confidence survey (CCS) (July 2023) pointed out that consumers are becoming a little more pessimistic on income and employment prospects.
ii.Fitch  expects that the RBI’s benchmark interest rate will stay at 6.5% for 2023.
Impact of Inflation:
i.The global economy is slowing down, and India will be affected by this. The RBI has raised interest rates (by 250 Basis Point)to control inflation.

• Though the increase in inflation is temporary, (particularly rise in  food price), this will reduce the purchasing power of the household.

ii.Annual headline inflation was 6.8% in August after 7.4% in July and 4.9% in June.
Additional info:
The threat of El Niño makes the inflation exceed the forecasts.
Fitch expects 2023-end retail or CPI inflation at 5.5%, higher than our previous forecast of 5%.

 

Mastercard India Appoints Former SBI Chief Rajnish Kumar as Non-Executive ChairmanRajnish Kumar, former chairman of the State Bank of India(SBI) has been appointed as the Non-Executive Chairman of  Mastercard India.

• Rajnish Kumar will guide Mastercard’s South Asia executive leadership team, led by Gautam Aggarwal, Division President for South Asia and Country Corporate Officer, India.
• He is currently serving as the chairman of payments startup BharatPe.

About Rajnish Kumar:
i.Rajnish Kumar served as the chairman of SBI from 2017 to  2020.

 

• He is also widely credited for spearheading the SBI YONO platform.
• He served at SBI and its subsidiaries across India, the United Kingdom and Canada in various leadership roles.

ii.He serves on the boards of various organisations and corporations, including HSBC Asia Pacific, Larsen & Toubro(L&T), and Brookfield Property Management.
iii.He also served as Director on the boards of various organizations including Export- Import Bank of India(EXIM), Institute of Banking Personnel Selection(IBPS), National Institute of Bank Management, Pune, Indian Banks’ Association, Khadi & Village Industries Commission, Indian Institute of Banking & Finance.
iv.Book – Rajnish Kumar Authored a book ‘The Custodian of Trust: A Banker’s Memoir’ published by Penguin Viking in 2021.
About Master Card:
Mastercard is a payment and technology company, which deals with clearing, authorization, and settlement of payment transactions.
Chief Executive Officer(CEO) – Michael Miebach
Headquarters – New York, United States of America(USA)
Established – 1966

 

Moldova’s 1st President Mircea Snegur Passed Away 
Mircea Snegur who served as the first President of the independent Moldova has passed away. He was born on 17th January 1940 in the village of Trifanesti, in Florești District, Moldova.

• He became the President of the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic in 1990 following the approval from the Moldovan Supreme Council.
• He led the Republic of Moldova to its proclamation of independence on 27 August 1991.
• Following the independence, in 1992, Snegur and then Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed an agreement to stop a conflict over Moldova’s breakaway Transdniester (Transnistria) region.

International Day of Democracy 2023- September 15 The United Nations (UN) International Day of Democracy is annually observed across the globe on 15th September to highlight the significance of democracy and to create awareness among the people about democratic rights.

• The day also offers a platform to review the the state of democracy in the world.

The theme of International Day of Democracy 2023 observed on 15th September 2023 is “Empowering the next generation.”

• The 2023 theme focus on the role of the children and young people in advancing democracy and ensuring that their voices are included in the decisions that have a profound impact on their world.

Background:
i.On 8th November 2007, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution A/RES/62/7 and proclaimed the 15th September of every year as the International Day of Democracy.
ii.The first International Day of Democracy was observed on 15 September 2008.
About Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU):
President and Head of Executive Committee– Duarte Pacheco
Headquarters– Geneva, Switzerland
Established in– 1889

National Engineer’s Day 2023- September 15 National Engineer’s Day is annually observed across India on 15th September to commemorate the birth anniversary of Bharat Ratna Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya (15 September 1861), one of the greatest Engineers in India, who is known as India’s first civil Engineer.

• This day also honours engineers for their vital role in shaping society and recognizes the contributions made by engineers to India’s development through innovation and technology.

The theme of National Engineer’s Day 2023 observed on 15th September 2023 is, ‘Engineering for a Sustainable Future,’ which highlights engineers’ role in addressing global challenges.
Background:
i.In 1968, the Government of India (GoI) declared the birth anniversary of Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, as National Engineers’ Day.
ii.Since then, National Engineers’ Day has been celebrated in India on September 15th each year as a tribute to his legacy and acknowledges the contributions made by engineers to India’s growth and development.
About Institution of Engineers India (IEI):
IEI was incorporated under the Royal Charter on 9th September 1935 by the then His Majesty King George V. After Independence(1947), IEI became a “Body Corporate” protected under Article 372 of the Constitution of India and is administered by a National Council.
President– Er. Shivanand Roy
Headquarters– Kolkata, West Bengal
Established in– 1920