1) N Venudhar Reddy takes charge as Director General of All India Radio
•N Venudhar Reddy, an Indian Information Service, IIS Officer of 1988 batch took charge as Director General of All India Radio. Currently Working as Principal DG of News Services Division, All India Radio, he was given additional charge of AIR, upon the approval of the Appointments Committee of the cabinet. All India Radio, officially known since 1957 as Akashvani.
•Reddy brings with him vast experience in media planning and management, administration and newsgathering. He has also served in various capacities earlier with All India Radio News and Doordarshan News.
2) Haiti President Jovenel Moise assassinated at his home
•Haiti President, Jovenel Moise was assassinated and his wife wounded in an attack at their home, the interim prime minister announced an act that risks further destabilizing the Caribbean nation beset by gang violence and political volatility. The president faced steep opposition from swathes of the population that deemed his mandate illegitimate, and he churned through a series of seven prime ministers in four years. Most recently, Joseph was supposed to be replaced this week after only three months in the post.
•Moise, a former entrepreneur who set up a string of businesses in the north of the country, where he hails from, burst onto the political stage in 2017 with a message of re-building the impoverished nation. He campaigned on populist pledges, as all candidates in Haiti do, but he kept up the rhetoric even after he was elected in February 2017.
3) Indian Army Inaugurates War Memorial of Capt Gurjinder Singh Suri
•On the occasion of the birthday of Captain Gurjinder Singh Suri, who died during the operation “Birsa Munda” in 1999, the Indian Army inaugurated a war memorial in memory of Captain in Gulmarg near the Line of Control (LOC). Lieutenant Colonel (Col), Tej Prakash Singh Suri (Retd), father of Captain Gurjinder Singh Suri, MVC (Posthumous) was also present on the occasion. Gurjinder Singh Suri was later awarded Maha Vir Chakra (Posthumous).
4) Fitch Ratings projects India GDP growth for FY22 at 10%
•Fitch Ratings has revised its GDP growth projection for India in 2021-22 (FY22) to 10%. Earlier it has projected the same at 12.8%. The reason for this cut is the slow recovery post-second wave of COVID-19.
•Fitch believes that rapid vaccination could support a sustainable revival in business and consumer confidence; however, without it, economic recovery would remain vulnerable to further waves and lockdowns.
5) Kaushik Basu awarded prestigious Humboldt Research Award
•Indian economist Kaushik Basu has been awarded the Humboldt Research Award for Economics. The award was conferred on him by Professor Dr Hans-Bernd Schäfer of Bucerius Law School in Hamburg, Germany. A former chief economist of the World Bank, Basu is currently a professor of Economics at Cornell University. He also served as the Government of India’s chief economic advisor from 2009 to 2012. Basu is also a recipient of the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award in India.
6) DMRC launches India’s first UPI-based cashless parking
•Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has launched India’s first FASTag or Unified Payments Interface (UPI)-based parking facility to reduce the time for entry and payment. The facility was launched at the Kashmere Gate metro station. As part of the Multi-Model Integration (MMI) initiative, dedicated Intermediate Public Transport (IPT) lanes for autos, taxis and r-Rickshaws were also inaugurated at the station.
7) Indian Army names firing range after Vidya Balan
•The Indian Army has named one of its firing ranges in Kashmir after Bollywood actress Vidya Balan. The Vidya Balan firing range is situated at Gulmarg in the Baramulla district of Jammu & Kashmir. The decision was taken in recognition of her contribution to Indian cinema. Earlier in the year, the actress and her husband Siddharth Roy Kapoor had attended the Gulmarg Winter Festival organised by the Indian Army.
8) Razorpay partners with Mastercard to launch ‘MandateHQ’
•Razorpay has partnered with Mastercard to launch ‘MandateHQ’. It is a payment interface that will help card-issuing banks to enable recurring payments for their customers. It must be noted that the Reserve Bank of India had issued a framework for processing e-mandates on recurring online transactions. The product by Razorpay is a step in this direction.
9) Mumbai, Pune to host 2022 women’s Asian Cup
•Women’s Asian Cup in India will be held in Mumbai and Pune after the Asian Football Confederation dropped Bhubaneswar and Ahemdabad as venues to minimise the travelling time for participants and ensure an “optimum environment” for a bio-secure bubble. The Mumbai Football Arena at the Andheri Sports Complex and the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi, Pune have been chosen as the new venues.
•The decision was taken after considering the existing challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and as part of efforts to minimise the travelling time for teams and officials between the venues, whilst ensuring the optimum environment to implement the biomedical bubble for the benefit of all stakeholders.
