Wall Street slips into a bear market; here’s what that means

• Rising interest rates, high inflation, the war in Ukraine and a slowdown in China’s economy have led investors to reconsider what they’re willing to pay for a wide range of stocks, from high-flying tech companies to traditional automakers.
• A bear market is a term used by Wall Street when an index like the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, or even an individual stock, has fallen 20% or more from a recent high for a sustained period of time.
• Why use a bear to represent a market slump? Bears hibernate, so bears represent a market that’s retreating. In contrast, Wall Street’s nickname for a surging stock market is a bull market, because bulls charge.

Southern Railway commences Coimbatore North to Sainagar Shirdi Bharat Gaurav train service

• With this, Southern Railway becomes the first zone in Indian Railways to get the first Registered service provider under the ‘Bharat Gaurav” Scheme and commence the operations of the maiden service from Coimbatore North to Sainagar Shirdi.
• Indian Railways had launched the operation of theme-based Bharat Gaurav train in the month of November 2021.
• The objective of this theme is to showcase India’s rich cultural heritage and magnificent historical places to the people of India and the world, through Bharat Gaurav Trains.
• This scheme also aims to leverage the core strengths of the professionals of the tourism sector to run theme-based trains to tap the vast tourist potential of India.

10 lakh persons to get government jobs in 18 months, announces PM Modi

• Unemployment has emerged as one of the major challenges before the Modi government after two years of the pandemic and its attendant economic woes.
• An additional problem with regard to recruitment to government jobs has been the frequent leak of examination papers both for departments such as the Railways and for teacher recruitment as well.
• Much of the recruitment would be in the Railways, armed forces (‘Agnipath’ and regular recruitment which had been frozen through the pandemic), the Central Paramilitary Forces, Goods and Services Tax (GST) departments, including customs and excise and administrative staff for government- owned banks and insurance companies.
• The announcement came on a day when Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and the three Service Chiefs announced the ‘Agnipath’ scheme of recruiting youth between the ages of 17.5 and 21 for a four-year stint in the armed forces with a provision of voluntary retention after this period, based on merit.

World Blood Donor Day

• The slogan for this year is ''Donating blood is an act of solidarity. Join the effort and save lives''.
• World Blood Donor Day marks the Birth Anniversary of Karl Landsteiner, who first distinguished human blood into A, B, AB and O groups.
• As per the World Health Organization, blood donation by one per cent of the population is generally the bare minimum for meeting a nation''s most basic blood needs. According to available data, India fell short of the WHO standard by 1.9 million units or 15 per cent.

International Albinism Awareness Day

• The theme for International Albinism Awareness Day this year is ''United in making our voice heard''. The General Assembly of United Nations adopted a resolution on 18th of December in 2014, proclaiming that with effect from 2015, 13th of June will be observed as International Albinism Awareness Day.
• Albinism is a non-contagious, rare and genetically inherited health condition present at birth, which results in the lack of melanin in the skin eyes and hair.
• It is causing vulnerability to the sun and bright light.Due to this, people with albinism are prone to many issues, both social and biological. Almost all people with albinism are visually impaired and are prone to developing skin cancer.
• One in 17,000 people in the world is born with Albinism. As per reports, about one lakh to two lakh people in India have this condition. Albinism in India is often confused with another condition, Leucoderma, which is characterised by patchy skin colour changes.
• Albinism is not infectious and Albinos are equally normal.

Construction of New Link National Highway 133B and 131A is in full swing, says Nitin Gadkari

• The National Highway-133B project spanning over 21 kilometer, is a one-of-its-kind project involving the construction of a six-kilometer-long Ganga Bridge. He said that it is the world''s third-longest extradosed bridge.
• The highway, once constructed, will connect Sahibganj in Jharkhand to Manihari in Bihar and aims to reduce travel distance. This will also serve as a strategic connecting point to the North East.
• He also informed that the project for Six-Laning of National Highway 140 from Chittoor to Mallavaram in Andhra Pradesh will be completed by 30th September this year. He said that his ministry is working in mission mode to complete this project which is being constructed under the Bharatmala Pariyojana.

AZAN initiative fulfilling its goal of ensuring enhanced, modernized land records management

• The initiative - ''Aapki Zameen Aapki Nigrani'' (AZAN) - is aimed at facilitating easy online access to the system to view or monitor the status of revenue records.
• Citizens no longer need to visit the offices for obtaining information about their land. AZAN has empowered them to check their land records on CIS Portal
• The initiative is part of the Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP).

Crypto contagion fears spread after Celsius Network freezes withdrawals

• Celsius is a crypto lender, which essentially means it is a bank of the crypto world. Crypto lenders allow customers to deposit their coins with them for an interest, and then lend out cryptocurrencies to earn a return. Crypto lenders make money by lending – also for a fee, typically between 5%-10%.
• New Jersey-based Celsius, New York-based Genesis, U.S. lender BlockFi and London-based Nexo.
• Crypto lending has boomed over the past two years, along as decentralised finance, or “DeFi,” platforms. DeFi and crypto lending both tout a vision of financial services where lenders and borrowers bypass the traditional financial firms that act as gatekeepers for loans or other products.
• While savings at traditional banks offer paltry returns due to historically low interest rates, crypto lenders offer much higher returns – at the very top end as much as 20%, though rates depend on the tokens being deposited.
• Crypto lenders aren’t overseen by financial regulators. That means that customers who hold their crypto at the platforms could lose access to their funds – as happened with Celsius recently. Crypto lenders also face other risks, from volatility in crypto markets than can hit the value of savings to tech failures and hacks.