1) USAID & MNRE partners for clean energy development
•The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has announced a partnership for clean energy development. The partnership has been established between the USAID-supported South Asia Group for Energy (SAGE) and MNRE’s National Technical Institutions. As per the partnership, SAGE will offer advanced technical knowledge on clean energy development to MNRE’s National Technical Institutions. SAGE will also help US in achieving its goals of Asia EDGE (Asia Enhancing Growth and Development through Energy) Initiative.
•The partnership will offer a formal platform for collaboration on clean energy development. It will also aim to increase the SAGE’s engagement with the MNRE National Institutions in order to make them a powerhouse of science, engineering, and technology for India as well as the entire South Asia region. Hence, it will being the U.S. knowledge and expertise to the Indian national institutions. It will strengthen the broader partnership and friendship between both countries.
•SAGE is an association comprising of USAID, the U.S. Department of Energy, and three of the Department of Energy’s National Laboratories – Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
2) RBI: Tamil Nadu tops market borrowings among States
•According to data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Tamil Nadu has raised ₹30,500 crores in the fiscal 2020-21 and has topped market borrowings among States in the country. Tamil Nadu, which has accounted for 17% of the borrowings done through the issue of bonds (known as state development loans), has been followed by Maharashtra ₹25,500 crores (14%), Andhra Pradesh ₹17,000 crores (9%) and Rajasthan ₹17,000 crores (9%).
3) IOC receives EU Green Building Leadership Award 2020
•The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced that its new headquarters in Lausanne has been awarded the European 2020 US Green Building Council (USGBC) Leadership Award. Olympic House, which also holds the rigorous LEED Platinum certification, is one of the most sustainable buildings in the world.
•In addition to receiving the highest number of points of any LEED v4-certified new construction project to date, the Olympic House is the first international headquarters and the second building overall to obtain the highest (Platinum) level of the Swiss Sustainable Construction Standard (SNBS).
4) India ranks 34th in GRETI 2020 by JLL
Jones Lang LaSalle’s (JLL) has released its biennial Global Real Estate Transparency Index (GRETI). The GRETI is a unique benchmark of real estate market transparency and an essential guide for companies operating in foreign markets. It covered 99 countries and territories and 163 cities.
The Global Real Estate Transparency Index (GRETI) is based on 210 indicators which includes additional data on sustainability and resilience, health and wellness, proptech and alternatives. All the variables have been divided into six areas with certain weights, as follows:
•Performance Measurement 25%
•Market Fundamentals 16.5%
•Governance of Listed Vehicles 10%
•Regulatory and Legal 23.5%
•Transaction Process 15%
•Sustainability 10%
5) Union Bank of India CMD Rajkiran Rai gets 2-year extension
•Union Bank of India’s managing director and CEO, Rajkiran Rai an extension of two-year given in its ongoing merger process with Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank. Rai, whose term would have ended yesterday, will now be serving till May 31, 2022.
•Rai was appointed as the managing director of Union Bank on July 1, 2017, for a period of 3 years until June 30, 2020. The extension of Rai’s tenure implies to facilitate the merger properly. The merged entity is now India’s fifth-largest public sector bank.
6) Google Plus relaunched by Google as “Google Currents”
•“Google+” a social networking platform of internet search giant “Google” has been rebranded as “Google Currents”. Google Currents is a platform which enables its users to connect with their colleagues, exchange documents and interact with like-minded people who have similar interests. It also helps the users to track what is happening in other departments across the organisation. Presently, the app is only available for the G Suite customers.
•The shut down process of Google+ was announced by the tech giant in April 2019 because of the low usage of platform along with some security bugs discovered by the company.
