India is scheduled to host the meeting of Council of Heads of Government (CHG) of SCO on 29-30 Nov 2020. This will be the 1st Prime Minister level meeting to be hosted by India since its elevation as a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
SCO HQ: Beijing, China.
Secretary-General: Vladimir Norov.
Department of Posts under Ministry of Communications launched Five Star Villages to ensure universal coverage of flagship postal schemes in rural areas of the country. It seeks to bridge gaps in public awareness and reach of postal products and services.
It will be implemented by a team of five Gramin Dak Sevaks.
Union Minister of State for Shipping Mansukh Mandaviya launched ‘SAROD-Ports’ (Society for Affordable Redressal of Disputes - Ports). SAROD-PORTS aims to resolve the disputes in a fair and just manner. SAROD-Ports consists of members from IPA and IPTTA.
SAROD-Ports is established under Societies Registration Act 1860
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited, Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited and GAIL Limited to join ISA's Coalition for Sustainable Climate Action (ISA-CSCA) as Corporate Partners.
PSUs will be contributing to ISA's Corpus Fund.
Hubballi railway station headquarters of South Western Railway is being changed for the second time in last 5 years. It was changed in 2015 from Hubli to Hubballi. It is being renamed after Shree Siddharoodha Swamiji who was a Hindu Guru and Philosopher.
Hubli (or Hubballi) is a city in Karnataka.
Mastercard announced a proprietary virtual testing environment for central banks to evaluate CBDC use cases. The platform enables the simulation of issuance, distribution and exchange of CBDCs between banks, financial service providers and consumers.
CBDC is the digital form of a country’s fiat currency.
Finance Ministry set up an expert committee to assess the impact of waiving interest payments on loans under moratorium and suggest measures to provide relief to borrowers. It will be headed by former CAG Rajiv Mehrishi. Panel to submit report in a week.
Other members of the committee: Ravindra H Dholakia & B. Sriram.
Capital India Finance Ltd (CIFL) received Authorised Dealer Category II licence from RBI for conducting forex business, the first listed NBFC in India to receive a licence. It is now authorised to build and do forex business under the brand name RapiMoney.
MD & CEO of Capital India Finance Ltd: Vineet Saxena.
ICICI Bank has launched iStartup 2.0, for start-ups with improved features. Under this, ICICI customers to get a current account in three variants that will offer additional services, salary accounts for employees, dedicated relationship manager, etc.,
ICICI Bank CEO: Sandeep Bakhshi.
HQ: Mumbai.
Private Life Insurer ICICI Prudential Life Insurance entered into a corporate agency agreement with NSDL Payments Bank, a subsidiary of NSDL. Under this, the insurer will provide its protection and savings products to customers of NSDL Payments Bank.
NSDL Payments Bank CEO: Ashutosh Singh.
The market valuation of Reliance Industries (RIL) hit another milestone by becoming the first Indian firm to cross $ 200 billion. Apple Inc is the world's most-valued company with a market value of $2 trillion followed by Saudi Aramco at $1.9 trillion.
In terms of oil & gas companies, RIL ranks 2ndafter Saudi Aramco
India and Japan have inked a landmark agreement that will allow their militaries to access each other's bases for logistics support. The acquisition and cross-servicing pact was signed by Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar and Japanese Ambassador Suzuki Satoshi.
This comes at a time when India & China are engaged in face-off.
The All India Tennis Association (AITA) elected BJP Rajya Sabha member Anil Jain as its new President while Anil Dhupar was chosen as its Secretary-General. India’s Davis Cup Captain Rohit Rajpal was elected as the treasurer for a 4-year term till 2024.
AITA - Governing body of Tennis in India.
Founded in March 1920.
Citigroup named Jane Fraser as its next chief executive tapping a woman to lead a giant Wall Street bank for the first time. Fraser, who has served as president and CEO of global consumer banking since 2019, will join the board of directors immediately.
Citigroup - American multinational investment bank.
HQ: New York
Bollywood veteran Paresh Rawal has been appointed Chairperson of the National School of Drama (NSD), the country’s premier institute for theatre students. Rawal replaces veteran theatre artist Amal Allana as the chairperson of the esteemed institution.
NSD – Theatre training institute under the Ministry of Culture.
According to Countdown to 2023 report by WHO 58 countries have introduced laws to protect 3.2 billion people from trans fats by the end of 2021. But more than 100 countries still need to take actions to remove these substances from their food supplies.
WHO has set a goal of eliminating trans fats by 2023.
Diana Rigg, the award-winning British actress who shot to fame in the 1960s television series The Avengers and won new fans in Game Of Thrones, passed away at the age of 82. She won Emmy, Tony and Bafta awards during her lengthy career.
She won the 1994 best actress Tony Award.
Forest Martyrs Day is observed on September 11 every year to remember those who laid their lives for nature. On September 11, 1730 over 360 people of the Bishnoi tribe were killed because they had objected to felling of Khejri trees by the king of Jodhpur.
Minister of Environment: Prakash Javadekar.