Zimbabwe has launched its second satellite, ZIMSAT –2, marking another significant stride in the country’s space programme.
In November 2022, the country deployed its inaugural satellite, ZimSat-1.
A low earth observation satellite- ZIMSAT-2, was launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in eastern Russia in a collaborative effort between the Zimbabwe National Geo-Spatial and Space Agency (ZINGSA) and Southwest State University in Russia.
ZINGSA said ZIMSAT-2 is equipped with a high-resolution multispectral camera designed to support various applications,
including agriculture, resource exploration, and environmental monitoring.
The ministry said development of satellite has also contributed to capacity building, as Zimbabwean engineers actively participated in designing and building ZIMSAT-2.
International Finance Corporation (IFC) said that it will partner with Bajaj Finance to invest $400 million out of the $1 billion fundraising to aid in the expansion of the latter’s EV fleet, energy-efficient consumer goods (EECG), and women empowerment.
IFC’s $400 million loan will enable Bajaj Finance to expand access to finance for customers opting to buy EVs, including 2-wheelers, 3-wheelers and 4-wheelers, and strengthen its presence in the EECG space. The partnership will also boost Bajaj Finance’s ability to fund and support more women-owned micro-enterprises and women micro-borrowers.
The funding is aimed at increasing competitiveness in the climate finance market, supporting the country’s climate goals, and promoting financial inclusion.
IFC is a member of the World Bank Group with focus on the private sector in the emerging market. In the FY 2024, IFC committed $56 billion to private companies and financial institutions in developing countries.
Popular folk singer and Padma Bhushan awardee, Sharda Sinha, died due to complications arising out of cancer. She was 72. In 2017, She was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a form of cancer that affects the bone marrow.
Sharda Sinha is one of the most prominent musicians from Bihar. She has sung extensively in Maithili, Bhojpuri, and Magahi languages.
She is also known for her songs in Hindi films like Maine Pyar Kiya, and Hum Aapke Hain Kaun.
She is a recipient of Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian honour. In 1991, she was also awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour, and the Sangeet Natak Akademi award.
In the wake of incidents of cheetahs from Madhya Pradesh straying into neighbouring Rajasthan, a joint corridor management committee of both the states has been formed to work for conservation of the felines, officials said.
The panel will also discuss development of suitable areas for future shifting of cheetahs from Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park (KNP),
and Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary area and recommend measures for improvement including the pre-augmentation base, an official said in a statement.
Under the ambitious cheetah reintroduction project, eight Namibian cheetahs were released into enclosures at the KNP in Sheopur district on September 17, 2022.
Later, another 12 cheetahs were brought to the park from South Africa in February 2023.
The official said a joint committee comprising officials from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan has been constituted for corridor management of the cheetah project.
The committee will also evaluate the possibilities of joint tourist routes in the areas bordering both states like National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary area, Kuno National Park and Ranthambore National Park,etc.
The principal chief conservator of forest and chief conservator (wildlife) of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have been appointed as the joint chairpersons of committee.
Since 2014, India has marked November 7 as National Cancer Awareness Day annually. Raising public awareness of cancer prevention, detection, and treatment is the focus of this day.
Promoting knowledge about cancer prevention, early detection, and accessible treatment choices also remains the goal of National Cancer Awareness Day.
According to the WHO's cancer agency, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), lung, lip, and oral cavity cancers are among the most prevalent among men and account for a significant portion of newly diagnosed cases. The most common malignancies in females were those of the breast and cervix, which accounted for about 27% and 18% of new cases, respectively.
National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. (NHIDCL), a CPSE under the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to provide internship opportunities to Under Graduate (UG)/ Post Graduate (PG) students.
Dr Krishan Kumar, Managing Director, NHIDCL launched an online portal for the Internship Program. This program aims to offer experiential learning opportunities to UG and PG students nationwide specially in the North-Eastern Region, UTs of J&K and Ladakh and A&N Islands. The portal was inaugurated in the presence of officials from both NHIDCL and AICTE.
The MoU was signed for a period of five years, outlines the roles and responsibilities of AICTE and NHIDCL. AICTE will provide technical support for the platform, while NHIDCL will oversee programmatic and non-technical support for the programme.
South Africa’s government launched a new tourism initiative, the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS), to increase visitor numbers from India and China.
In 2023, over 100 million Chinese tourists travelled abroad, yet only 93,000 visited South Africa. By contrast, Australia attracted over 1.4 million Chinese visitors.
Indian tourists currently represent just 3.9% of all international arrivals in South Africa, while Chinese visitors account for 1.8%. The Department of Home Affairs said that even a 10% rise in tourism could improve economic growth by 0.6% and generate thousands of jobs.
The TTOS aims to address challenges that have previously hindered tourism from India and China, including lengthy visa processing times for group applications, limited resources at South African embassies, and language obstacles
The fourth edition of the AIM-ICDK Water Innovation Challenge 4.0 successfully concluded at the 2024 Next Generation Digital Action (NGDA) in Copenhagen, Denmark, marking a significant achievement in the growing Indo-Danish Green Strategic Partnership.
This year’s challenge reinforced its position as a premier platform for fostering innovative and sustainable solutions to global water issues. The challenge brought together key collaborators, including Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog, Innovation Centre Denmark (ICDK), and DTU Skylab under the DTU Next Generation Action Program,
alongside invaluable support from the International Centre for Clean Water (ICCW), the Ministry of Jal Shakti, the Embassy of Denmark, Denmark's Environmental Protection Agency, and the DANIDA Fellowship.
The partnership between India and Denmark has proven instrumental in driving impactful innovation.
The Indian delegation included five startup teams that participated in the global Next Generation Digital Action program, engaging with young talents from leading universities and innovation hubs in 10 countries. Among them, the three university teams — Clim8 (VIT Vellore), Checkmate (VIT Vellore), and Qualgrip (IIT Madras) —
Among them, the three university teams — Clim8 (VIT Vellore), Checkmate (VIT Vellore), and Qualgrip (IIT Madras) — alongside early-stage startups Navmarg and Scrapify, developed promising solutions that tackle critical global water challenges.
Notably, Clim8, a team of three young innovators from VIT Vellore won the Acceleration Award for the challenge posed by South Africa
on ‘Leveraging Machine Learning and AI for Infrastructure Pricing’. They were also recognized with the Best Startup Award in the national category.
In Ladakh, Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, Brigadier (Dr) BD Mishra, inaugurated the 4th LG Horse Polo Cup 2024 at Horse Polo Ground in Goshan Drass. During the event, he also unveiled Ladakh’s first Polo Stadium at Goshan Drass, a landmark facility constructed at a cost of 6.84 crore rupees.
This event underscores Ladakh’s dedication to preserving its polo heritage and enhancing sports infrastructure for local talent and tourism alike.
Shiv Nadar, the founder of HCL Technologies, has retained his position as India’s most generous philanthropist for the third time in five years. The 79-year-old tech magnate donated Rs 2,153 crore in the financial year 2024 — translating to Rs 5.9 crore every single day, according to the EdelGive-Hurun India Philanthropy List 2024.
Nadar’s philanthropic work is primarily channeled through the Shiv Nadar Foundation, with a strong emphasis on education and technology-driven initiatives.
Rohini Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys and wife of Nandan Nilekani, took the lead as the most generous woman on the list with an annual donation of Rs 154 crore.
The EdelGive-Hurun India Philanthropy List 2024 has revealed a remarkable surge in charitable donations across the country, with a collective donation of Rs 8,783 crore by 203 philanthropists, marking an impressive 55% increase in donations compared to two years ago.
The EdelGive-Hurun India Philanthropy List 2024 saw significant milestones in India’s charitable landscape:
18 philanthropists donated over Rs 100 crore annually — a tenfold increase from 2019, showcasing a growing trend among the country’s wealthiest to contribute larger sums.
30 philanthropists donated over Rs 50 crore (a 125% increase from 2019).
61 philanthropists donated over Rs 20 crore, marking a 128% increase from five years ago.
Youngest Philanthropist: Nikhil Kamath of Zerodha
Nikhil Kamath, co-founder of Zerodha, has become the youngest philanthropist featured in the EdelGive-Hurun India Philanthropy List 2024 at just 38 years old.
The Reserve Bank made changes to the Know Your Customer (KYC) norms to align them with recent amendments carried out in the Prevention of Money Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules and revised certain existing instructions.
According to the Amendment to the Master Direction - Know Your Customer (KYC) Direction, 2016, regulated entities (REs) will have to apply the customer due diligence (CDD) procedure at the unique customer identification code (UCIC) level.
The amended provisions in the Master Direction have come into force with immediate effect, said the circular issued by the RBI.
Thus, if an existing KYC-compliant customer of a RE desires to open another account or avail any other product or service from the same RE, there shall be no need for a fresh CDD exercise as far as identification of the customer is concerned.
Amendments have also been made regarding CDD Procedure and sharing KYC information with the Central KYC Records Registry (CKYCR).
Whenever the RE obtains additional or updated information from any customer...the RE shall within seven days or within such period as may be notified by the Central Government, furnish the updated information to CKYCR, which shall update the KYC records of the existing customer in CKYCR.
CKYCR is an entity which receives, stores, safeguards and retrieves KYC records in the digital form of a customer.
Donald Trump has become the first Republican in two decades to secure the popular vote in the US presidential elections. The former president has reclaimed the White House, potentially becoming the first Republican to secure the popular vote since George W Bush in 2004.
In the 2004 US Presidential elections, Bush won 62,040,610 votes and 286 electoral votes compared to Democratic nominee John Kerry who secured 59,028,444 votes and 251 electoral votes.
Donald Trump registered a landslide win in the 2024 US elections, securing 295 Electoral College votes. His Democrat rival, Kamala Harris, managed to secure 226.
Digital payments company Visa named Rishi Chhabra as the country manager for India.
Chhabra, who joined Visa in 2023 as VP and head-merchant services and acquiring for India and the South Asia markets, was key to driving the firm's key merchant, acquirer and cobrand relationships.
Before joining Visa, he served as country head-India and Sri Lanka at Fiserv. Previously, he has held leadership positions in organisations like First Data and PayPal, and has worked with JP Morgan, ABN AMRO and General Electric.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed a monetary penalty of Rs. 2.00 lakh (Rupees Two Lakh only) on Sree Charan Souhardha Co-operative Bank Ltd., Bengaluru (the bank) for non-compliance with certain directions issued by RBI on ‘Income Recognition, Asset Classification, Provisioning and Other Related Matters – UCBs’ and specific directions issued under SAF.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed a monetary penalty of Rs. 1,50,000/, on The Srirangam Co-operative Urban Bank Ltd., Tamil Nadu (the bank) for non-compliance with certain directions issued by RBI on ‘Loans and advances to directors, their relatives, and firms /concerns in which they are interested and specific directions issued under Supervisory Action Framework.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed a monetary penalty of Rs. 50,000/- (Rupees Fifty Thousand only) on The Nilambur Co-operative Urban Bank Ltd., Kerala (the bank) for non-compliance with specific directions issued by RBI under Supervisory Action Framework (SAF).
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has, by an order dated October 29, 2024, imposed a monetary penalty of Rs. 25,000/- (Rupees Twenty Five Thousand only) on Manvi Pattana Souharda Sahakari Bank Niyamitha, Manvi (the bank) for non-compliance with specific directions issued by RBI under Supervisory Action Framework (SAF).
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has, by an order dated October 29, 2024, imposed a monetary penalty of Rs. 5.00 lakh (Rupees Five Lakh only) on Shree Mahabaleshwar Co-operative Bank Ltd., Karnataka (the bank) for non-compliance with certain directions issued by RBI on ‘Loans and advances to directors, their relatives, and firms /concerns in which they are interested’.
Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), Government of India has signed an agreement with CSIR- Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CEERI), Pilani for the development of “Multiport Switch with Tuneable Impedance Matching Network for a Single Broadband Antenna to Cover 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G Bands.”
The project is funded under the Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF) scheme of the Department of Telecommunications, Government of India This scheme, designed to fund Indian startups, academia, and R&D institutions, is a crucial enabler for designing, developing, and commercializing telecommunication products and solutions.
This collaboration will focus on developing a Microelectromechanical technology-based switching network to cover multiple communication bands with enhanced antenna performance. The developed technology can be used to cover all the bands like 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G and beyond in a single antenna without noise.
Director of C-DOT - Dr. Pankaj Kumar Dalela.
