‘Centre poised for advanced action on bank privatisation’

• In the Union Budget for 2021-22, Union Finance Minister had announced privatisation of two PSBs besides IDBI Bank. However, this year’s Budget Speech had skipped the mention of the progress made for the privatisation of two PSBs.
• Even as the NITI Aayog has suggested names of two PSBs for privatisation, the Centre is yet to make an enabling provision in the law for the divestment of the government’s stake sale below the 51 per cent threshold.
• The government had listed the introduction of Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970, in the Winter Session, but the Bill was not tabled. The Aayog had reportedly suggested privatisation of Central Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank.
• According to the amendments to the Banking Companies Act moved last year, the government is looking to retain at least 26 per cent stake in PSBs post privatisation.
• The approval to privatise the two PSBs is yet to be considered by the Core Group of Secretaries on Divestment (CGD) headed by cabinet secretary.
• Once approved by the CGD, the proposal will be sent to the Alternative Mechanism (AM) that comprises Union Finance Minister Sitharaman and Union Minister of Roads Nitin Gadkari.
• After their nod, the Cabinet will take up the proposal.

Supreme Court upholds National Medical Commission’s regulations for foreign medical graduates

• The regulations had in the recent past been a point of debate with relation to Indian students who were forced to return due to the Ukraine crisis.
• The Bench upheld the regulatory validity of the National Medical Commission (Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate) Regulations, 2021 and the National Medical Commission (Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship) Regulations, 2021.
• The first one requires the foreign medical graduates (FMGs)
  • to undergo a medical course for a minimum of 54 months and an internship for a minimum duration of 12 months in the same foreign medical institution;
  • to register with a professional regulatory body competent to grant licence in the same foreign country and further undergo a supervised 12-month internship in India after applying to the National Medical Commission.
• The second lists rigorous conditions for internship in India for the FMGs.

India’s move away from coal hampered by Ukraine war: Nirmala Sitharaman

• Coal consumption needs to come down as the power sector in India accounts for 49% of total carbon dioxide emissions, compared with the global average of 41%.
• As of February 2022, the installed capacity for coal-based power generation across the country was 2.04 lakh MW. This accounts for about 51.5% of power from all sources. Natural gas has been dubbed as the transition fuel.
• As per a letter by the power Ministry, Coal India, the country’s largest supplier of the dry fuel is set to import coal for the first time since 2015. The aim of the exercise is to avoid a repeat of the power outage crisis that India faced in April.

VP Embarks On Three Nation Tour Of Gabon Senegal And Qatar

• The Vice President''s visit to Gabon and to Senegal will add momentum to India''s engagement with Africa and also emphasise its commitment to the African continent.
• The visit to Qatar, as both sides prepare to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, will further enhance the bilateral ties.
• Gabon is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, Gabon is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo on the east and south, and the Gulf of Guinea to the west. Gabon''s capital is Libreville.
• Senegal is a country in West Africa. Senegal is bordered by Mauritania in the north, Mali to the east, Guinea to the southeast, and Guinea-Bissau to the southwest. Senegal''s capital is Dakar.

Two Indians Among 21 New Cardinals Named By Pope

• The two Cardinals from India are Archbishop Filipe Neri António Sebastião di Rosário Ferrão, Archbishop of Goa and Damão and -Archbishop Anthony Poola, Archbishop of Hyderabad.
• These cardinals represent the Church worldwide, and reflect a wide variety of cultures, contexts and pastoral ministries.
• He also said that he will meet from August 29 and 30 with all the cardinals to reflect on the new Apostolic Constitution Praedicate evangelium.
• A cardinal (literally "cardinal of the Holy Roman Church") is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church, immediately behind the pope in the order of precedence. Collectively, they constitute the College of Cardinals, and are appointed for life.

Maharashtra overtook UP to re-emerge as top sugar producer

• The state’s output for the 2021-22 crushing year (October-September) is expected at 138 lakh tonnes (lt). That is an all-time-high, beating the previous 107.21 lt of 2018-19.
• This record production is attributed to three factors.
• The first is the bountiful rainfall since the 2019 southwest monsoon.
• The second is higher yields from farmers taking extra care of their crop.
• The third factor is a huge jump in “unregistered” cane cultivation. The large “unregistered” area has meant that there is un-harvested cane still in the fields and mills will continue to crush till the first week of June.

Indian Council for Cultural Relations''s (ICCR) ten days programme Gen Next Democracy Network concluded.

• Youth from democratic countries come to India under the Gen Next Democracy Network programme. During the programme, they get acquainted with India''s heritage, culture and functioning of Indian democracy.
• In the closing ceremony, 27 delegates from six countries- Ghana, Bangladesh, Peru, Nepal, Brunei and Norway shared their experiences of visiting India.

Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR)

• The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), is an autonomous organisation of the Government of India. The ICCR Headquarter is situated in New Delhi.
• It was founded in 1950 by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the first Education Minister of independent India. It is involved in India''s global cultural relations, through cultural exchange with other countries and their people.
• The council also operates missions internationally, with established cultural centres in various countries. It also administers the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding, established by the Government of India in 1965, whose last award was in 2009.

PM releases benefits under PM CARES for Children Scheme

• Prime Minister of India had earlier launched the PM CARES for Children Scheme in 2021.
• Under this Scheme, an initiative was started in Feb 2022 to provide financial assistance to support such children who have lost both the Parents or legal Guardian or Adoptive Parents or Surviving Parent to COVID-19 pandemic.
• In line with the above initiative, the Department of Social Justice & Empowerment, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment has decided to provide scholarship assistance to such Children who have lost both the Parents or legal Guardian or Adoptive Parents or Surviving Parent to COVID-19 pandemic to continue their education without any hindrance.
• Accordingly, a new Scheme was formulated for the purpose namely; SCHOLARSHIP FOR PM CARES CHILDREN as a Central Sector Scheme.
• Under the Scheme Scholarship allowance would be ₹20,000/- per child per annum which will comprise monthly allowance of ₹1,000 per month and Annual academic allowance of Rs. 8,000 to cover the entire school fees, cost of the books and uniform, shoes and other educational equipment.
• The Scholarship will be disbursed through DBT to the Children from Class 1std until they pass out the 12 std Class.

DRI seizes Red Sanders worth Rs. 11.70 crore under “Operation Rakth Chandan”

• Red Sanders is a flora-species that is endemic to a distinct tract of forests in Eastern Ghats region of Andhra Pradesh and fall under ‘endangered list’ in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
• Red Sanders is also listed in Appendix-II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wildlife Fauna and Flora (CITES).
• Its rich hue and therapeutic properties are responsible for its high demand across Asia, particularly China, for use in cosmetics, medicinal products and high-end furniture/woodcraft.
• The export of Red Sanders from India is prohibited as per the Foreign Trade Policy.

PARAM ANANTA Supercomputer commissioned at IIT, Gandhinagar

• PARAM ANANTA supercomputing facility is established under Phase 2 of the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) - a joint initiative of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Department of Science and Technology (DST).
• It is a 838 TeraFlops Supercomputing Facility and is based on Direct Contact Liquid Cooling technology.
• Under NSM, till date 15 supercomputers have been installed across the nation with aggregate compute capacity of 24 petaflops. All these supercomputers have been manufactured in India and operating on indigenously developed software stack developed by Centre for Development in Advanced Computing (C-DAC).