On December 29, 2021, the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) announced to add Egypt as its new member.
The NDB will provide a new platform to Egypt, for fostering cooperation with BRICS countries on infrastructure and sustainable development. NDB will also help Egypt in engaging with other emerging economies and developing countries.
NDB is a multilateral development bank. It was jointly founded by the BRICS countries in 2014, at the 6th BRICS Summit in Fortaleza, Brazil. But it was formally opened on July 2015. The bank was set to support the infrastructure and sustainable development efforts in BRICS grouping and other underserved & emerging economies for a faster development through cutting-edge technology and innovation. Its headquarter is at Shanghai, China.
NDB had received observer status in the United Nations General Assembly, in 2018. Thus, it established a firm basis for active and fruitful cooperation with the UN.
NDB has understated objectives:
In order to fulfil its purpose, NDB supports public or private projects by means of loans, equity participation, guarantees, loans, and financial instruments.
Ever since its establishment, NDB has approved around 80 projects for its members, with a portfolio of USD 30 billion. The projects cover sectors like clean energy, water & sanitation, transport, social infrastructure, digital infrastructure, and urban development.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released its Financial Stability Report on December 29, 2021.
The capital to risk-weighted assets ratio (CRAR) of scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) have increased to a new peak of 16.6 percent. On the other hand, provisioning coverage ratio (PCR) was at 68.1 percent in September 2021.
As per report, global economic recovery has been losing momentum in second half of 2021 in the light of increasing COVID-19 infections, emergence of new variant Omicron, bottlenecks & elevated inflationary levels and supply disruptions.
The FSR is published biannually by the Reserve Bank of India. It reflects the collective assessment of Sub-Committee of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC), on risks to financial stability. It also discusses the issues related to development and regulation of financial sector.
NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission released compendium of innovations on December 29, 2021.
‘Innovations for You’ is a compendium of innovations which focuses on agriculture featuring 70 start-ups. These start-ups are supported by Atal incubation Canters (AICs) of AIM.
The Ingenious Tinkerers is a compendium on “innovations on technology”. It features 41 innovations from Atal Tinkering Lab (ATL) of India.
AIM is the flagship initiative of Government of India, launched to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship across India. AIM was set up under NITI Aayog. It was launched with the objective of developing new programmes and policies to foster innovation across different sectors of the economy. It also seeks to provide platform and collaboration opportunities to different stakeholders. This mission has played a significant role in advancing India in Global Innovation Index, from 81st position in 2015 to 48th position in 2020.
ATLs are being established in schools across India, under the Atal Innovation Missions, with the objective of ‘cultivating one Million children in India as Neoteric Innovators’. These labs seek to foster curiosity, creativity and imagination in young minds besides inculcating skills like computational thinking, adaptive learning, physical computing etc.
State of Tamil Nadu has released its “New Policy for Women 2021” on December 29, 2021. This policy will be implemented for more than five years.
Under the new policy, all forms of transport will be made women-friendly. In buses, first half of the seats will be earmarked for women. Front exit or entrance will be used only by women.
The draft policy provides for establishment of a system of “victim support” in all cases of abuse. It also focuses on rehabilitation and identity protection at first place, without any delay, in order to ensure that women do not feel abandoned.
Tamil Nadu government will also provide free or subsidised coaching classes for exams including JEE, UPSC, CAT, & TNPSC, as well as for higher management & technical courses for encourage women’s participation. At least 3% interest subvention will be on education loans to girl students going for higher education.
On December 30, 2021, Central government declared entire Nagaland as a “disturbed area” for six more months, under the AFSPA Act.
Central government is of the view that, area comprising whole of the Nagaland is in such disturbed and dangerous condition that use of armed forces to aid the civil power is necessary.
Central government exercised the powers conferred by Section 3 of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 to declare entire Nagaland as ‘disturbed area’.
This decision was taken following the recommendation of a panel, which was set to examine the possibility of withdrawal of the AFSPA. Notification to extend AFSPA was issued by additional secretary in Home Ministry, Piyush Goyal. He has been also named as the member secretary in the panel. The Panel is headed by secretary-level officer Vivek Joshi. Panel was set up to ease the rising tension in Nagaland because of killing of 14 civilians.
The Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 gives power to the armed forces to maintain public order in “disturbed areas”. With this act, armed forces are authorised to use force or even open fire after warning a person found to be in contravention of the law.
An area where “use of armed forces in aid of civil power is necessary” is called as a disturbed area. Any area can be declared as disturbed area, under section 3 of the AFSPA.
The Indian government and Saudi Arabian Government have finalised an air bubble agreement, to allow all eligible travellers to travel between both the countries.
The air bubble agreement will allow flights between the two countries, starting from January 1, 2022.
Following passengers would be eligible to fly From India to Saudi Arabia:
Air Travel Bubbles agreement are temporary arrangements between two countries. Such arrangements aim to restarting commercial passenger services, in case regular international flights are suspended.
Amid the covid-19 pandemic, India has signed an air bubble agreement with 35 countries, including Afghanistan, Bahrain, Australia, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Canada, Germany, Finland, France, Japan, Iraq, Kenya, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Kuwait, Maldives, Mauritius, Oman, Netherlands, Nigeria, Russia, Qatar, Seychelles, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Switzerland, Tanzania, United Kingdom, United States of America, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Uzbekistan.
India has suspended all the scheduled international passenger flight operations in India till January 31 because of rising Covid-19 cases and emergence of Omicron variant.
On December 28, 2021, Israeli foodtech firm SavorEat launched a plant-based burger system, that has been personalized to each customer.
SavorEat is funded mainly by Israeli institutions. On December 28, the Tel Aviv-listed shares increased by 11 percent.
SavorEat is also collaborating with food service firm called Yarzin Sela. Yarzin Sela supplies Israeli high-tech companies. SavorEat also signed a deal with Sodexo for serving its vegan burgers to US universities.
Demand for meat alternatives by health & environmentally conscious consumers has increased in recent years. The alternative protein start-ups had raised roughly Rs. 22,418 crores in 2020 itself.
Flexitarian is the one who is centered on plant foods, but occasionally eat meat. In United States, there is a growing community of people called “flexitarian”. The people are trying to look for meat alternatives for reducing their meat consumption. They make about one-third of the US population.
The Indian Army recently established the “Quantum Laboratory” at Mhow in Madhya Pradesh, highlighting its steady and significant strides in emerging technology domains.
Idea of Army’s involvement in Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations was put forward during a seminar on Electromagnetic Spectrum & National Security, which was organised in October 2020. Since then, thrust has been given to Technology Institutions of Indian Army, for investing in AI, Quantum and Cyber.
Indian Army’s research in the field of Quantum Technology will help in leapfrogging into next generation communication and transforming the current system of cryptography in Indian Armed Forces to Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC). Key thrust areas include Quantum Computing, Quantum Key Distribution, Quantum Communication, and Post Quantum Cryptography.
NSC is an executive government agency, that advises Prime Minister’s Office on matters related to national security and strategic interest. It was established by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1998. The first National Security Advisor was Brajesh Mishra.
On December 29, 2021, government released the “Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievement (ARIIA) 2021” award list was released.
Minister of State for Education, Dr Subhas Sarkar, released the Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievement 2021 award list.