• Prime Minister to inaugurate Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre in Mohali district, Punjab.
• Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre is a 300-bed facility and equipped with state-of-the-art facilities such as MRI, CT, mammography, digital radiography and brachytherapy to treat all types of cancers using every available treatment modalities like surgery and medical oncology — chemotherapy, immunotherapy and bone marrow transplant.
• The hospital has been built at a cost of over Rs 660 crore by Tata Memorial Centre.
• The facility has a day care facility for administration of chemotherapy and minor OT for biopsy and minor surgeries.

• A poultry training centre will be set up at Takarla village in the district. Rural Development and Animal Husbandry Minister Virender Kanwar said this during a public meeting at Basal village.
• He said a piece of land was being transferred to the Union government for setting up the centre.
• Kanwar said a centre of excellence in dairy and a centre for training members of Panchayati Raj Institutions were being set up at Basal village at a cost of Rs 47 crore and Rs 8 crore.
• He added that the diary centre would be built with technical assistance from Denmark where entrepreneurs would be able to get training and technical knowhow regarding the latest interventions in dairy farming.

• A 15-feet crocodile has been spotted in Beas river for the first time, creating panic among people residing along the river as well as fishermen.
• A video of a crocodile in Beas River near Dehara Gopipur area has gone viral on the internet.
• The Wildlife department has also swung into action and is on the lookout for the crocodile.
• As per reports, the crocodile crawled out of Beas River after water rose to dangerous levels due to heavy rainfall and flash floods.

• Better law enforcement and conservation measures, aided by coronavirus-induced lockdowns and restrictions for a couple of years, have led to the number of greater one-horned rhinos in India and Nepal increasing from an estimated 3,588 in 2018 to 4,014 at the end of 2021.
• Prepared for the 19th meeting of the CoP to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which will be held in Panama in November this year, the report has lauded conservation efforts, including strengthened law enforcement in this regard in the two neighbouring countries which share borders ensuring free movement of the endangered wild species.
• The report, however, found that 11 rhino poaching incidents were recorded in Asia (ten in India and one in Nepal) since the beginning of 2018, all of which involved greater one-horned rhinos.
• Overall, world over rhino poaching rates declined since 2018, and trade data suggested the lowest annual estimate of rhino horns entering illegal trade markets since 2013.
• The report found that rhino poaching rates in Africa have continued to decline from a peak of 5.3 per cent of the total population in 2015 to 2.3 per cent in 2021.
• At least 2,707 rhinos were poached across Africa between 2018 and 2021, accounting for both the white rhino (ceratotherium simum), which is vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and the rarer critically endangered black rhino (diceros bicornis).
• South Africa accounted for 90 per cent of all reported cases, predominantly affecting white rhinos in Kruger National Park, home to the world’s largest white rhino population.
• As a result, overall white rhino numbers on the continent have declined by almost 12 per cent (from 18,067 to 15,942 individuals) during this period, while populations of black rhino increased by just over 12 per cent (from 5,495 to 6,195 individuals). Overall, Africa’s rhino population declined around 1.6 per cent per year, from an estimated 23,562 individuals in 2018 to 22,137 at the end of 2021.
• According to the report, global lockdowns and restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic saw several African countries experience dramatically reduced poaching rates in 2020 compared to previous years. South Africa lost 394 rhinos to poaching in 2020, while Kenya recorded no rhino poaching that year. However, as Covid-19 travel restrictions were lifted, some range states reported new increases in poaching activities – for example, South Africa reported 451 and Kenya six poached rhinos in 2021. However, these numbers are still significantly lower than during the peak in 2015, when South Africa alone lost 1,175 rhinos to poaching.
• However, in 2019, before the Covid-19 outbreak, the reported seized weight of illegal rhino specimens reached its highest point of the decade, perhaps due to increased regulations and law enforcement efforts.
• While the range and consumer countries most affected by illegal trade remained the same as in previous reports, the lack of consistent reporting by some countries still limits the ability to better understand patterns of illegal trade in rhino horns.

• In a series of tweets, Finance Ministry said, UPI is a digital public good with immense convenience for the public and productivity gains for the economy. The clarification came amid some reports that there may be possibility of UPI transactions charge.
• The Ministry said, the concerns of the service providers for cost recovery have to be met through other means.
• It said, the government had provided financial support for the Digital Payment ecosystem last year and has announced the same, this year as well to encourage further adoption of Digital Payments and promotion of payment platforms that are economical and user-friendly.

Unified Payments Interface (UPI):

• It is an advanced version of Immediate Payment Service (IMPS)-round–the-clock funds transfer service to make cashless payments faster, easier and smoother.
• UPI is a system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application (of any participating bank), merging several banking features, seamless fund routing & merchant payments into one hood.
• UPI is currently the biggest among the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) operated systems including National Automated Clearing House (NACH), Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), Aadhaar enabled Payment System (AePS), Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS), RuPay etc.
• The top UPI apps today include PhonePe, Paytm, Google Pay, Amazon Pay and BHIM, the latter being the Government offering.
• As part of an agreement, India’s UPI will be linked to Singapore’s PayNow.
• NPCI launched UPI with 21 member banks in 2016.

• Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurated the National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS) on August 17, at the two-day National Securities Strategies (NSS) Conference 2022 held in New Delhi.
• It is conceptualized and managed by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) at the Central Fingerprint Bureau (CFPB) in New Delhi.
• NAFIS project is a country-wide searchable database of crime- and criminal-related fingerprints.
• The web-based application functions as a central information repository by consolidating fingerprint data from all states and Union Territories.
• According to a 2020 report by the NCRB, it enables law enforcement agencies to upload, trace, and retrieve data from the database in real time on a 24×7 basis.
• In April 2022, Madhya Pradesh became the first state in the country to identify a deceased person through NAFIS.

• Sovereign Gold Bonds 2022-23 (Series -2) has been opened for subscription.
• The Finance Ministry said, the issue price of the bond during the subscription period will be 5,197 rupees per gram.
• The government in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India has decided to allow discount of 50 rupees per gram from the issue price to those investors who apply online and the payment is made through digital mode.

About

• Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme was launched by Govt in November 2015, under Gold Monetisation Scheme.
• Under the scheme, the issues are made open for subscription in tranches by RBI in consultation with GOI.
• RBI Notifies the terms and conditions for the scheme from time to time.

Features

• To be issued by Reserve Bank India on behalf of the Government of India.
• The Bonds will be denominated in multiples of gram(s) of gold with a basic unit of 1 gram.
• The tenor of the Bond will be for a period of 8 years with exit option in 5th, 6th and 7th year, to be exercised on the interest payment dates.
• Minimum permissible investment will be 1 gram of gold.
• The maximum limit of subscribed shall be 4 KG for individual, 4 Kg for HUF and 20 Kg for trusts and similar entities per fiscal year (April-March) notified by the Government from time to time. A self-declaration to this effect will be obtained. The annual ceiling will include bonds subscribed under different tranches during initial issuance by Government and those purchase from the Secondary Market.

• The government of Bangladesh has decided to reschedule the office timings to save electricity in the country. Briefing media after the regular Cabinet meeting in Dhaka on Monday, Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam announced that all government and autonomous offices will function from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. from Wednesday, August 24. The banks will remain open from 9 a.m. to 4 a.m. At the same time, the schools will now have a 5-day week.
• The Cabinet Secretary also announced that government offices and autonomous institutions have been asked to minimise the consumption of electricity by removing curtains to allow natural light and air as well as reduce the use of air-conditioning. Khandker Anwarul Islam said that rescheduled timings will also help in reducing traffic jams by distributing the flow of vehicles during the working days.
• The new set of instructions came in line with government efforts to reduce the electricity consumption and save foreign exchange revenue in the country. Earlier, the government had directed the shops, shopping malls and kitchen markets to close by 8 p.m. to save energy.

• Union Minister of State for Textiles Darshana Jardosh inaugurated the Silk Mark Expo in New Delhi. The expo is being organised by the Silk Mark Organisation of India under Central Silk Board, Ministry of Textiles
• The Silk Mark Expo which will run till 28th of this month, is aimed at protecting the interests of not only the silk consumers, but all the stakeholders of silk value chain.
• These include farmers, reelers, twisters manufacturers and traders of pure silk. This time, 39 exhibitors from 12 states are participating in the expo.

About

• Central Silk Board (CSB) is a Statutory body established in 1948 by an Act of Parliament.
• It is working under the administrative control of Ministry of Textiles, Government of India.
• Address of headquarter of the Central Silk Board is at Bangalore.

Vision

• See India emerge as the leader in the world market for silk.

Mission

• Make continuous efforts in Research and Development and Technology Transfer
• To create greater opportunities for gainful employment and improved levels of income .
• in sericulture through spread of scientific sericulture practices
• To improve productivity in all stages of silk production
• Strengthen levels of efficiency through a commitment to quality.

• Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh has said that the country’s Bioeconomy will grow from 70 Billion to 150 Billion US dollars by 2025. He stressed that this can only be achieved with active participation of all the stakeholders in the biotechnology Sector. Dr. Singh said this today during the announcement of 75 “Amrit” Grants for Biotech initiatives involving StartUps, industry, academia and research bodies in integrated collaboration.
• Singh described that the Biotechnology sector has been recognized as one of the key drivers growing exponentially and it will be the main torch bearer of the country’s developed economic status in the Amrit Kaal period of next 25 years.
• Highlighting the 75 Amrit grants Dr. Singh said, 75 inter-disciplinary, multi-institutional grants would be supported for high-risk, ambitious research ideas, milestones-driven collaborative research in all domain-specific areas of the biotech sector in Public-Private Partnership mode.
• The Minister said that Startups, Industries, Academia and Research Bodies can form Team Science Grant in a Public-Private Partnership mode to avail grant of ten to fifteen crore rupees over a period of two to three years for inter-disciplinary, high-quality research.
• He said the grants also would be broadly provided in the areas of health, agribiotech, climate change, synthetic biology and sustainable bioresource management in order to address national priorities to propel India as a global leader in biotechnology.

What is Bioeconomics?

• As per, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Bio-economics could be defined as the production, use, and conservation of biological resources, including related knowledge, science, technology, and innovation to provide information, products, processes, and services to all economic sectors with the aim of moving towards a sustainable economy.

Historical Background:

• The term bioeconomy became popular in the first decade of the 21^st century following its adoption by the European Union (EU) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as a framework for promoting the use of biotechnology to develop new products and markets.

Examples:

• Food systems occupy the largest niche in the bioeconomy. To these systems, which include Sustainable agriculture, Sustainable Fishing, Forestry and aquaculture,Food and feed manufacturing.