WHY IN THE NEWS?

• The Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas will lead a delegation to Russia to participate in the 6th Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) Summit in Vladivostok.
  About Eastern Economic Forum(EEF)

The Eastern Economic Forum was established by decree of the President of Russia in 2015. Its aim is to support the economic development of Russia’s Far East and to expand international cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. The summit takes place each year in Vladivostok, a city in Russia.

India-Russia Energy Ties

India and Russia have robust and growing bilateral energy cooperation, which is a key pillar of Special and Privileged Strategic partnership. Russia is the largest investment destination for the Indian oil and gas companies. Indian public sector companies have made investments in Russia of about US$ 16 billion, including in the Far East in oil and gas assets such as Sakhalin-1, Vankor and Taas-Yuryakh.

The largest investor in India’s Oil & Gas Sector

Russia is also the largest investor in India’s oil & gas sector and India is encouraging further investments by Russian companies in India’s oil and gas sector, especially in gas infrastructure.

India-Russia Strategic Economic Dialogue (IRSED) was established following a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation during the 19th edition of the annual India-Russia Bilateral Summit in the year 2018. Its aim is to identify the most promising areas to improve bilateral trade, economic and investment cooperation and to define joint projects in the framework of national programmes.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• Firstly, the first shipments on a newly-launched railway line from the Myanmar border to the key commercial hub of Chengdu in western China were delivered last week. A “test cargo” through what is being called the China-Myanmar New Passage arrived at the Chengdu rail port in Sichuan province.
• Secondly, red flags are going up in India over China’s fresh attempts to expand its footprint in northern Sri Lanka in the garb of infrastructure projects, with Beijing even making efforts to woo the ethnic Tamil community there.

China-Myanmar New Passage

The transport corridor involves a sea-road-rail link.

• Goods from Singapore reached Yangon Port, arriving by ship through the Andaman Sea of the northeastern Indian Ocean, and were then transported by road to Lincang on the Chinese side of the Myanmar-China border in Yunnan province.
• The new railway line that runs from the border town of Lincang to Chengdu, a key trade hub in western China, completes the corridor.

Other port dev plans by China

• China also has plans to develop another port in Kyaukphyu in the Rakhine state, including a proposed railway line from Yunnan directly to the port, but the progress there has been stalled by unrest in Myanmar.
• Gwadar port: China has also looked at the Gwadar port in Pakistan as another key outlet to the Indian Ocean that will bypass the Malacca Straits. The costs and logistics through CPEC are also less favorable than the Myanmar route to Chengdu. Transportation time on the railway line from the Myanmar border to Chengdu takes just three days.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

Equitas Small Finance Bank (SFB) has launched a new initiative that enables Google Pay users to book fixed deposits (FDs) on Google Pay in just 2 minutes without opening a bank account.

About:

• This functionality of booking FDs will be available for Google Pay users who are using the app from Android devices.
• Collaboration between SFB and google way was done ahead of the SFB’s 5th anniversary on September 5th, 2021.
• Under this functionality, principal and interest of the FD will go directly to the Google Pay user’s existing bank account once the FDs are matured.

Equitas SFB’s FD

Equitas SFB’s offers high FD returns as compared to other private lenders or public state lenders. Under RBI Scheduled Commercial Bank, deposits in Equitas are covered through a deposit guarantee up to Rs 5 lakhs per depositor. Customers get returns of up to 6.35% for an FD of one year.

How this will work?

The proceeds will automatically go to Google Pay user’s existing Google Pay linked bank account, on maturity. From the Equitas Bank Spot on Google Pay platform, Google Pay users can track their deposit, add new ones and place order for premature withdrawal.

What will happen on Premature withdrawal?

If a Google Pay user go for premature withdrawal of deposits, proceeds will reach their bank account the same day.

Equitas small finance Bank FD

This small finance bank was founded in 2016 as a microfinance lender. It became a scheduled bank in 2017. It is headquartered in Chennai, and is a subsidiary of holding company Equitas Holdings Ltd.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

Bangladeshi scientist, Dr Firdausi Qadri, won the Ramon Magsaysay Award.

Who is Dr Firdausi Qadri?

• Dr Qadri is an emeritus scientist at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b).
• She is also a laureate of the 2020 L’Oréal-Unesco for Women in Science Award which was presented to her for her advocacy of early diagnoses and global vaccination & her work on understanding and preventing infectious diseases affecting children across developing countries.

When did she started medical research?

She decided early on to pursue a career in medical research. She joined icddr,b in 1988 to focus her research on communicable diseases, immunology, vaccine development and clinical trials.

Challenging assignment

The most difficult assignments before her were in the fight against cholera and typhoid. These two major diseases are prevalent in Bangladesh as well as in Asian and African nations with limited access to adequate water, sanitation, medical treatment and education. Dr Qadri played a key role in development of a more affordable oral cholera vaccine (OCV) as well as typhoid conjugate vaccine (ViTCV) for infants, children and adults.

Institute for Developing Science and Health Initiatives

This institute was founded by her in 2014. It conducts biomedical research and runs training courses as well as a testing center. The institute has become a hub of scientific activity by local and visiting scientists in Bangladesh.

About Ramon Magsaysay Award

Ramon Magsaysay Award is the highest honour in Asia. It was established in April 1957 and is widely regarded as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in Asia. The award is presented to individuals who have made extraordinary contributions in eradication of poverty and development of the society in Asia.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

Indian Army contingent is set to participate in a two-week multination military exercise called ‘ZAPAD 2021’.

About:

• This exercise will begin from September 3, at Nizhny in Russia.
• Exercise will be held with the aim of boosting anti-terror cooperation.

About ZAPAD 2021

• ZAPAD 2021 is a 13-day exercise.
• It will be held between September 3 to September 16.
• More than a dozen nations will take part in the exercise.
• China and Pakistan are also expected to join the exercise as observers.

Indian contingent

According to the defence ministry, a contingent of 200 personnel of the Indian Army will participate.  Naga Battalion group will also be participating in the exercise and will feature an all Arms combined task force. The Indian contingent has gone through a strenuous training schedule which include conventional operations like mechanised, airborne & heliborne, counter-terrorism, combat conditioning and firing.

Aim of the exercise

ZAPAD 2021 exercise will be organised with the aim of enhancing military and strategic ties amongst the participating nations and boosting anti-terror cooperation.

KAZIND-21

A separate exercise called KAZIND-21 also started on September 1, 2020. It is a 13-day military exercise between the militaries of India and Kazakhstan. It commenced at training Node Aisha Bibi, Kazakhstan. This year marked the fifth edition of the annual bilateral exercise between both the armies. 90 personnel from Bihar Regiment of the Indian Army are participating in the exercise.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• In Chess, Indian Grandmaster S P Sethuraman has won the 2021 Barcelona Open chess tournament title, remaining unbeaten through the nine rounds, winning six matches and drawing three.
• Chennai-born Sethuraman collected 7.5 points after the ninth and final round to tie the score with Daniil Yuffa of Russia. However, the Indian player emerged as the winner on the basis of a better tie-break score. India’s Karthikeyan Murali finished third.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• The world’s highest movie theatre has recently been inaugurated in Ladakh, which got its first-ever mobile digital movie theatre in the Paldan area of Leh, at an altitude of 11,562 feet. The inflatable theatre can operate in -28 degrees Celcius.
• The initiative aims to bring cinema watching experience to most remotest areas of India. It must be noted that four such theatres will be established in Leh in the coming period.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• India has won the elections for membership of two key bodies of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), HQ at Bern, Switzerland, during the 27th UPU Congress in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
• India got elected to the Council of Administration(CA) with 134 votes, out of 156 countries. The country received the highest votes in CA elections from South Asia and the Oceania region.
• Apart from this, India has also been elected to the Postal Operations Council (POC) with 106 votes. India will now work with all to strengthen cooperation in the Universal Postal Union

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• The Reserve Bank of India has announced to include street vendors of tier-1 and tier-2 centres, identified as part of the PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi Scheme) as beneficiaries under the Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) Scheme.
• Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) Scheme was launched by RBI to encourage deployment of Points of Sale (PoS) infrastructure (both physical and digital modes) in tier-3 to tier-6 centres and northeastern states.
• So now RBI has specifically allowed street vendors of Tier-1 and Tier-2 centres, to be part of PIDF Scheme. The street vendors in tier-3 to tier-6 centres will continue to be covered under the Scheme by default. PIDF presently has a corpus of Rs. 345 crore.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman has announced the EASE 3.0 Awards. State Bank of India is the Overall winner of the EASE Reforms Index Award 2021 (EASE 3.0 Awards).
• Bank of Baroda is second and Union Bank of India is third. Indian Bank won the award for the best improvement from the baseline performance.
• SBI, BoB, Union Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Canara Bank won the top awards in different themes of the PSB Reforms Agenda EASE 3.0.