Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan unveiled four books, Wings to Our Hopes- Volume 1 (English and Hindi), Rashtrapati Bhavan: Heritage Meets the Present, and Kahani Rashtrapati Bhavan Ki.
Along with Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Dr. L. Murugan and Secretary, I&B, Shri Sanjay Jaju. The book, Wings to Our Hopes, contains President Droupadi Murmu’s speeches delivered on various occasions in the first year of her presidency.
During this period – July 2022-July 2023 – President Murmu has been vocal and had shared her thoughts on a wide range of subjects endearing herself to the people of the country through her simplicity, thoughtfulness and erudition. The book ‘Kahani Rashtrapati Bhavan Ki’ contains information related to the President and Rashtrapati Bhavan for children.
Divided into three chapters – ‘Our President’, ‘Main Attractions of Rashtrapati Bhavan’, and ‘Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum Complex’. The book, brought out by the Publications Division, contains 75 speeches distributed into XI sections viz., - Addressing the Nation, Education- The Key to Empowerment, Guiding Public Servants on Kartavya Path, Our Forces Our Pride, and so on.
The “e-mobility R&D Roadmap for India” report was launched by Professor Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India at Vigyan Bhawan Annexe in New Delhi. The R&D roadmap has been prepared after detailed horizon scanning of the global automotive sector and identifying future cutting-edge technological requirements.
It categorizes research projects into four important areas: Energy Storage Cells, EV Aggregates, Materials and Recycling, Charging and Refueling, and provides clear pathways to attain global leadership by being Atmanirbhar in the next five years.
Prof. Sood highlighted that India aims to achieve a 45% reduction in emission intensity by 2030 and energy independence by 2047 to reach net-zero commitment by 2070. A significant part of this vision will require the wider adoption of electric vehicles, manufacturing of indigenous energy storage systems, and generation of renewable energy to feed charging infrastructures.
The report, "e-mobility R&D Roadmap for India", has been prepared by the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), Pune, under the overall guidance of the government's Consultative Group on e-Mobility. It highlights research projects for 34 critical areas of electric mobility, with an estimated cost of INR 1151.65 crore during a span of the next five years.
The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research CSIR-Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) celebrates its 73rd Foundation Day On 16th July 2024 in the august presence of Dr. N. Kalaiselvi, Secretary DSIR, Government of India, and DG CSIR, along with other eminent dignitaries at its campus in New Delhi.
The event also celebrated the presence of Dr. N. Kaliselvi, the 26th DG of CSIR and the first woman to lead the organization in its 80-year history. Dr. Kaliselvi inaugurated the ‘AcSIR PhD Scholar Lab’ and delivered a keynote lecture, sharing her valuable insights and guidance. She emphasised the need for private and alumni collaboration need of AcSIR.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set up a committee to review the fee structure for white-label ATMs (WLAs). This committee will evaluate current policies and practices, aiming to recommend a fair and sustainable model that balances the interests of all stakeholders. An assessment will be done on fee structure, existing ATM infrastructure and international best practices
The committee will submit its report to deputy governor T Rabi Sankar. As per industry estimates, India's ATM market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.2% from 2024 to 2032. The committee, headed by Indian Banks' Association chief executive Sunil Mehta, has representation from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI),
And leading banks and other stakeholders, including ATM manufacturers. At present, four authorised non-bank entities are operating white-label ATMs in the country. The biggest challenge is the interchange fee, which is currently the same for both bank-operated ATMs and WLAs," said an industry executive.
Adding that with increased digital banking, the transactions at ATMs have declined, which is making operations unsustainable. "Besides, most WLAs operate in rural areas where transactions are low as compared with urban areas," he added. The interchange fee is around ₹17 for a financial transaction and ₹6 for a non-financial transaction.
Adding that with increased digital banking, the transactions at ATMs have declined, which is making operations unsustainable. "Besides, most WLAs operate in rural areas where transactions are low as compared with urban areas," he added. The interchange fee is around ₹17 for a financial transaction and ₹6 for a non-financial transaction.
Earlier, WLAOs had suggested a revision of the interchange fee for financial transactions to up to ₹30 and for non-financial transactions to ₹10. An RBI committee was set up in 2019 to review the ATM interchange fee structure and customer ATM usage charges at stipulated intervals by RBI.
The Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), the first multipurpose river valley project of independent India, will be corporatised, unbundling into at least three entities for transmission, generation, and distribution to achieve greater efficiency. Established in 1948, the DVC is an integrated power major spread across a command area of 24,235 sq km in West Bengal and Jharkhand.
DVC plans to install an additional capacity of nearly 10,000 MW in thermal and green energy, ramping up its total capacity to about 16,700 MW. This would comprise 3,720 MW of thermal power, 4,000 MW of solar power, and 2,500 MW from a pump storage power plant. The total capex is estimated to be between Rs 50,000-60,000 crore.
Stating that only 40 percent of Uttarakhand’s total capacity for hydroelectricity generation is being utilised at present, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami sought the clearance of 21 new hydel power projects with a capacity of 2123 MW for the state from the Centre.
Expert committees have recommended the implementation of 21 new hydel power projects with a capacity of 2123 MW to be built on the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi rivers and their tributaries, the chief minister said.
Zen Technologies an anti-drone technology and Defence training solutions provider, has launched four new products, enhancing defense capabilities and operational efficiency. The new products – Hawkeye, Barbarik-URCWS (Ultralight Remote Control Weapon Station), Prahasta, and Sthir Stab 640.
Cater to a wide range of Defence requirements, empowering the Forces with tactical superiority and improved operational efficiency. The company worked with its Pune-based AI Turing Technologies to develop these products. Hawkeye is an anti-drone system camera capable of all-weather drone tracking up to 15 km.
While Barbarik-URCWS is a light-weight remote-controlled weapon station, offering precise targeting for ground vehicles and naval vessels, The third product, Prahasta is an automated quadruped equipped with LIDAR and reinforcement learning for real-time 3D terrain mapping and mission planning.
The quadruped can be used as the first line of defence for commandos during counter-insurgency operations like 26/11, thereby saving lives. We believe the launch of these products will raise awareness around the need to integrate advanced robotics into combat and reconnaissance missions,” Zen Technologies’ Chairman and Managing Director Ashok Atluri, said.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame by Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), was gearing up for a fourth term in office after winning a thundering 99.15 percent of the vote in an election where only two challengers were allowed to run against him. Democratic Green Party candidate Frank Habineza could only muster 0.53 percent and independent Philippe Mpayimana 0.32 percent.
Overseas Indians deposited close to $3 billion in non-resident Indian (NRI) deposit schemes in April-May FY25, which is over four times higher than the amount deposited in these schemes in the same period last year, data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed.
In April-May FY25, inflows into the NRI schemes stood at $2.72 billion, compared to $623 million during the same period a year ago. With this, the total outstanding NRI deposits as of May stood at $154.72 billion. In May alone, inflows into various NRI schemes stood at $1.7 billion compared to $1.07 billion in April, according to the data.
The NRI deposit schemes include foreign currency non-resident (FCNR) deposits, non-resident external (NRE) deposits, and non-resident ordinary (NRO) deposits. During the April–May FY25 period, maximum flows came into NRE deposits.
Acc. to RBI data, NRE deposits witnessed an inflow of $1.13 billion during this period, compared to an outflow of $10 million in the corresponding period a year ago.The total outstanding NRE deposits now stand at close to $100 billion. Meanwhile, over $1.10 billion came FCNR deposits compared to $524 million in the corresponding period a year ago, the total $26.8 billion.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a monetary penalty of ₹1,90,000/- (Rupees One Lakh Ninety Thousand only) on Muthoot Finance Limited (the company) for non-compliance with certain provision of ‘Know Your Customer (KYC) Directions, 2016’ issued by RBI.
This penalty has been imposed in the exercise of powers conferred on RBI under the provisions of clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 58G read with clause (aa) of sub-section (5) of section 58B of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
Vietnam's Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong has died, after holding the country's most powerful position for 13 years. He was 80. In 2021 Trong secured a third term after a rule limiting holders to two terms as party boss was waived, demonstrating his strength and significant political clout in a party that has ruled Vietnam for nearly half a Centuries.
ChatGPT maker OpenAI said it was launching GPT-4o mini, a cost-efficient small AI model, aimed at making its technology more affordable and less energy-intensive, allowing the startup to target a broader pool of customers. Priced at 15 cents per million input tokens and 60 cents per million output tokens, the GPT-4o mini is more than 60per cent cheaper than GPT-3.5 Turbo.
Microsoft-backed OpenAI, the market leader in the AI software space, has been working to make it cheaper and faster for developers to build applications based on its model, at a time when deep-pocketed rivals such as Meta and Google rush to grab a bigger share in the market. It currently outperforms the GPT-4 model on chat preferences and scored 82 percent on MMLU.
The GPT-4o mini model's score compared with 77.9 percent for Google's Gemini Flash and 73.8 percent for Anthropic's Claude Haiku. With the mini model currently supporting text and vision in the application programming interface, OpenAI said support for text, image, video, and audio inputs and outputs would be made available in the future.
TATA AIG, a significant general insurance company in India, has established a strategic relationship with Mahindra Finance, one of the country’s top non-banking finance companies. This agreement intends to increase the distribution of TATA AIG’s non-life insurance products to Mahindra Finance’s large client base.
Under this agreement, TATA AIG will provide over 10 million Mahindra Finance customers with a broad variety of general insurance products, including vehicle, health, personal injury, and other non-life insurance options. The alliance aims to provide customer-centric insurance products that serve the unique needs of people and families across many areas.
Fusion Micro Finance Ltd, one of India’s major NBFC-MFIs, has announced a name change to Fusion Finance Limited, starting July 9, 2024. Fusion, founded in 2010, is a prominent player in India’s developing microfinance market, having an asset under management (AUM) of INR 11,476 crores as of March 31, 2024. Fusion Finance operates in 453 districts in 22 states.
Mastercard and ClearTax joined hands to make it easier for Indian consumers to file their Income Tax Returns (ITR). This collaboration will combine Mastercard’s world-class payment solutions with ClearTax’s streamlined tax filing services, resulting in a safe, convenient, and rewarding experience for taxpayers.
As part of this agreement, taxpayers who use Mastercard-powered credit cards will be able to receive a unique 5% discount on ClearTax ITR Plans by entering the promo code CTBMASTER at checkout. This offer will be active until December 31, 2024. The Indian government enables income tax payments via credit cards to provide citizens with more convenient taxpaying options.
