World Food Day, observed annually on October 16, has its roots in the establishment of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) by the United Nations in 1945. Officially founded in 1979 during the FAO's 20th General Conference, the day highlights global food security issues. World Food Day 2024 theme is "Right to Food for a Better Life and a Better Future."
The first celebration occurred in 1981 with the theme "Food Comes First," and the United Nations General Assembly endorsed it in 1984. India’s diverse food security programs encompass national schemes and local initiatives targeting low-income families, children, and the elderly. GoI various welfare schemes, showcase India’s commitment to tackling hunger and malnutrition:
- National Food Security Act (NFSA): This act ensures subsidized food grains for up to 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population, benefiting approximately 81 crore individuals, including 16 crore women.
- Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY): Launched to assist the poor during the COVID-19 pandemic, PMGKAY will continue for an additional five years, providing free food grains to around 81.35 crore beneficiaries.
Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY): Focused on the most vulnerable, AAY supports over 8.92 crore individuals, ensuring food security and emphasizing women's empowerment among its beneficiaries.
Rice Fortification: Between 2019-20 and March 31, 2024, approximately 406 lakh metric tonnes of fortified rice were distributed through the PDS.
Price Stability and Affordability Initiatives: The government has utilized the Price Stabilization Fund (PSF) to manage price volatility of essential commodities. Strategic measures include increasing the onion buffer and launching subsidized products like Bharat Dal, Bharat Atta, and Bharat Rice, ensuring affordability for lower-income groups.
Competition Commission of India has approved the proposed acquisition of 24.91% shareholding in Future Generali India Insurance and 25.18% shareholding in Future Generali India Life Insurance by Central Bank of India.
Proposed combination envisages acquisition by Central Bank of India of 24.91%equity stake in Future Generali India Insurance Company Limited (FGIICL) and 25.18%equity stake in Future Generali India Life Insurance Company Limited (FGILICL) through bid/resolution plan submitted by Central bank of India under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Insolvency Resolution 2016
India and Columbia have signed the Audio-Visual Co-Production Agreement which will enable Indian and Colombian film producers to utilize a platform for collaboration on various facets of film making. The agreement is expected to deepen the engagement between the critical sectors of the film industries of both countries thereby, unfolding a new chapter of collaboration.
Colombia - 17th Country to sign Audio Visual co-production Agreement with India. Earlier, the Government of India had signed similar agreements with the Government of Italian Republic and Government of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 2005, Federal Republic of Germany in 2007, Government of the Federative Republic of Brazil in 2007.
India has also signed this agreements with Republic of France in 2010, Republic of New Zealand in 2011, Republic of Poland and Republic of Spain in 2012. More recent agreements were signed with Canada and China in 2014, Republic of Korea in 2015, Bangladesh in 2016, Portugal in 2017, Israel in 2018, Russia in 2019 and Australia in 2023.
Bengaluru-based insurtech firm Acko has appointed Sandip Goenka the chief executive officer of its recently launched life insurance business. As a founding member of Acko Life, Goenka has played a key role in establishing the D2C life insurance business.
Founded in 2016, ACKO has expanded its offerings beyond life insurance to include vehicle, health, and travel insurance, serving over 78 million unique customers and issuing more than 1 billion policies.
Aditya Birla Housing Finance (ABHFL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aditya Birla Capital Ltd, has entered into a strategic partnership with BharatPe, a fintech company, to facilitate access to home loans and loan against property for latter’s merchant partners.
ABHFL is the first housing finance company to partner with BharatPe, offering streamlined access to secured lending through advanced digital solutions, significantly enhancing the user experience. This collaboration enables ABHFL to offer Home Loans (HL) and Loans Against Property (LAP) to over 1. 3 crore merchants of BharatPe across 450+ cities.
Nalin Negi is CEO, BharatPe and Pankaj Gadgil, MD & CEO of ABHFL
State-owned BEML has been awarded a contract of Rs 867 crore for designing, manufacturing, and commissioning two high-speed train sets, marking the first time that such work will be done indigenously.
The contract was awarded by Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai.
“The price of each car is Rs 27.86 crore and the total contract value is Rs 866.87 core which includes design cost, one-time development cost, non-recurring charges, one time cost towards jigs, fixtures, tooling and testing facilities, which will be utilised for all future high-speed projects in India,” BEML told exchanges in a disclosure.
This project marks a significant milestone in India's high-speed rail journey and will see the first indigenously designed and manufactured train sets with a test speed of 280 kmph,” it added.
The sets will be built at BEML's Bengaluru rail coach complex and are scheduled for delivery by the end of 2026.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Union Minister of Labour and Employment Mansukh Mandaviya launched the e-Migrate portal and mobile app.
Jaishankar said that the launch of the e-migrate portal is a testament to the government's continuing efforts to create safer, more transparent, and inclusive mobility for Indian labour and,
marks a significant milestone in our efforts to safeguard the welfare and interests of our citizens.
The External Affairs Minister said that MEA has leveraged the use of technology and digital systems to enhance the efficiency of the portal.
He said that the e-migrate version 2.0 portal has also been integrated with Digilocker and,
termed it a "big step" in digital transformation. He said that this will allow immigrants to submit various documents for obtaining clearances through Digilocker in a paperless mode, and to store them securely so that all important documents like passports and employment contracts are secured.
Actor Rashmika Mandanna has been appointed as the national brand ambassador of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), an initiative of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India to combat cyber crimes.
dit: Special Arrangement
As the ambassador,Ms. Rashmika will spearhead nationwide cyber awareness campaigns designed to inform the public about cyber crimes
including deepfake technology, malicious AI-created content, cyberbullying, financial frauds, and other online scams.
Cyber Dost, the cyber safety and cyber security awareness handle maintained by the MHA, welcomed Ms. Rashmika as the national brand ambassador of I4C. The I4C was set up by the MHA to provide a framework and eco-system for law-enforcement agencies.
As of October 2024, Global SWF has crowned Abu Dhabi with the title of the world’s richest country, in terms of its sovereign wealth funds. The country is estimated to boast a staggering $1.7 trillion in capital, followed closely by Oslo (home of the world’s largest SWF, NBIM), Beijing, Singapore, Riyadh and Hong Kong.
Collectively, these six cities account for two-thirds of the capital managed by sovereign wealth funds worldwide, totalling $12.5 trillion as of October 1, 2024.
This total encompasses the assets managed by Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (AIDA), Mubadala, Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC), Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company (ADQ), Lunate, Abu Dhabi Fund for,
for Development (ADFD), Tawazun, and Emirates Investment Authority (EIA). The city is ranked first not only in financial capital but also wins in human capital, employing 3,107 staff across its SWFs.
A sovereign wealth fund, is a government-owned investment pool created from surplus reserves, often accumulated through government-generated revenue.
Apart from sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), the emirate also hosts various other types of asset owners. These include Central Banks (CBs), which manage a nation's currency and monetary reserves, Public Pension Funds (PPFs) that secure retirement benefits for citizens, and Royal Private Offices (RPOs), which are family offices tied to members of the royal family for,
for managing their wealth. This puts Abu Dhabi’s public capital at US$ 2.3 trillion, currently.
Abu Dhabi has grown into the world's richest city by managing $1.7 trillion through its sovereign wealth funds, thanks to its oil resources and smart investments. Besides its wealth, the city has a rich culture, including traditions like falconry and pearl diving.
UGRO Capital, a leading DataTech NBFC specialising in MSME financing, announced a key milestone in its effort to close the credit gap in India’s MSME sector. The Company obtained a commitment document with the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) for a USD 40 million (about INR 3300 million) loan.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is supporting this transaction by allocating personnel resources and linking technical initiatives to promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth. This investment is a significant step in UGRO Capital’s efforts to empower small companies at the grassroots level and increase financial inclusion in country.
Magma HDI General Insurance provides ‘Double Suraksha,’ a comprehensive insurance solution tailored to the demands of people with diverse financial backgrounds. Whether for individuals who cannot afford complete health policies due to high costs, or for the wealthy wanting additional coverage for unexplained expenses while hospitalised, ‘Double Suraksha’ give,
a fixed daily cash reward. This gives policyholders the financial freedom to use the payout for medical or non-medical expenses associated to hospitalisation, depending on their specific needs.
Magma HDI undertook a thorough multi-city qualitative research study to better understand client needs, which led to the development of this product.
Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, Hon'ble Minister of Communications and Development of the North Eastern Region, inaugurated the International 6G Symposium at the sidelines of ITU-WTSA24 and IMC 24.
The Bharat 6G Alliance is a collaborative initiative of Indian industry, academia, national research institutions, and standards organizations.
It brings together various stakeholders to foster innovation, standardization, and research in the field of 6G telecommunications and to contribute to global 6G standards through bodies like the ITU and 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project).
The Bharat 6G Alliance(B6GA) signed various Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with global collaborators, NGMN Alliance (Next Generation Mobile Network Alliance), 5G ACIA (5G Alliance for Connected Industries and Automation), Germany, UKI-FIN (UK- India Future Networks Initiative) & UK TIN (UK Telecom Innovations Networks), 6G Forum (South Korea), 6G Brasil (Brazil).
B6GA has already forged alliance with NextG Alliance of ATIS USA, 6G Smart Networks and Services Industry Association (6G IA), European Council, and 6G Flagship- Oulu University.
About WTSA 2024:
WTSA 2024, organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), serves as a platform for the development and implementation of global telecommunications standards etc.
The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved an additional installment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners w.e.f. 01.07.2024 representing an increase of three percent (3%) over the existing rate of 50% of the Basic Pay/Pension, to compensate against the price rise.
This increase is following the accepted formula, which is based on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission. The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both DA and DR would be Rs.9,448.35 crore per annum.
This will benefit about 49.18 lakh central government employees and 64.89 lakh pensioners.
The Global Hunger Index (GHI), a tool used by international humanitarian agencies to measure and track hunger levels with GHI scores based on under-nourishment and child mortality indicators across 127 countries, has ranked India 105th, which places it under the “serious” category of the analysis.
The 2024 report, now in its 19th edition, is published this week by Irish humanitarian organisation Concern Worldwide and German aid agency Welthungerhilfe to highlight that hunger levels will remain high in many of the world’s poorest countries for several decades in the absence of more progress in measures to tackle the issue.
India is among 42 countries that fall within the "serious" category, alongside Pakistan and Afghanistan, with other South Asian neighbours such as Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka showing better GHI scores to be listed under the “moderate” category.
“With a score of 27.3 in the 2024 Global Hunger Index, India has a level of hunger that is serious,” reads the index entry.
India's GHI Score is based on the values of four component indicators: 13.7% of the population is undernourished, 35.5% of children under five are stunted with 18.7% of them being wasted, and 2.9 percent of children die before their fifth birthday, the report notes.
For the purpose of the index, undernourishment is defined as the share of the population with,
insufficient caloric intake, stunted as the share of children under age five who have low height for their age to reflect “chronic” undernutrition, wasting as the share of children under five who have low weight for their height due to “acute” undernutrition, and mortality refers to the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments.
Based on the values of these four indicators, a GHI score is calculated for each country on a 100-point scale reflecting the severity of hunger, where 0 is the best possible score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst.
Based on its analysis, the report concludes the chances of achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger by 2030 are looking unlikely.
Globally, around 733 million people face hunger each day due to a lack of access to a sufficient amount of food, while about 2.8 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet.
Some of the African nations are on the extreme ends of the GHI spectrum under the "alarming" category, with wars in Gaza and Sudan being highlighted as having led to exceptional food crises.
