• Recently, Asian share markets witnessed losses except for South Korea’s KOSPI which gained 0.7 percent.

Other Asian indexes performance

• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index tumbled 2.3 percent
• China’s Shanghai Composite index declined 0.9 percent.
• Singapore’s Straits Times ended 0.3 percent down.
• Japan’s NIKKEI-225 fell marginally by 0.1 percent.

    In European shares, markets were up in intra-day trade.

• London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.4 percent.
• Germany’s DAX gained 1.1 percent.
• France’s CAC was 1.4 percent up.

About KOSPI

• The Korea Composite Stock Price Index or KOSPI was launched in 1983 with the base value of 100 as of January 4, 1980.
• KOSPI is the major stock market index of South Korea. The index represents all common stocks traded on the Korea Exchange.
• The index calculation is based on market capitalization method. KOSPI replaced Dow-style KCSPI (Korea Composite Stock Price Index) in 1983.KOSPI moved below 1,000 mark for several years.
• The index breached 1,000 for the first time in April 1989.
• KOSPI recorded its largest one-day percentage gain of 8.50% on June 17, 1998 & largest one-day percentage drop of 12.02% on September 12, 2001.
• The index’s Korean name was officially changed to Koseupi jisu in November 2005. KOSPI reached another milestone of breaking 2000 level for the first time on July 24, 2007.

• World Nature Conservation Day is observed on 28th July.
• The day is observed to create awareness the importance of protecting our natural resources. Conservation of resources has an important role in protecting the Mother Earth.
• Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu has emphasized for concerted efforts to conserve the limited natural resources, reduce the carbon footprint and protect our planet.
• According to the United Nation Food and Agriculture Organization, 90 per cent of the Earth’s precious topsoil is likely to be at risk by 2050.

• In February 2008, a report by the National Tiger Conservation Authority presented an alarming report, revealing that there were only 1411 tigers left in the country, home to the big cats.
• The efforts for the conservation of tigers on a global level began in 2010, when 13 countries, including Nepal, Bhutan, and India met with a goal to increase their Tiger population. They decided to double their wild tiger numbers by 2022.
• International Tiger Day is being celebrated on 29th July. The main aim behind this day is to promote a global system for protecting the natural habitats of tigers and to raise awareness and support for tiger conservation.
• According to World Wildlife Fund, tiger populations are currently stable or increasing in India.
• The tiger reserves of India were set up in 1973 and are governed by Project Tiger, which is administrated by the National Tiger Conservation Authority.
• According to the latest Tiger Census of 2018-19 conducted in India, 2,967 Tigers live in the country.
• The population growth rate of Tiger is six per cent per annum. India is home to 80 per cent of tigers in the world.
• There are a total of 53 Tiger reserves in India as of 2022.
• The combined area of Guru Ghasidas National Park (Sanjay National Park) and Tamor Pingla Wildlife Sanctuary of Chhattisgarh have been designated as India’s 53rd Tiger Reserve by the National Tiger Conservation Authority.

• Prime Minister will address the inaugural session of first All India District Legal Services Authorities Meet in New Delhi on 30th July 2022.
• The first-ever national-level meet of District Legal Services Authorities (DLSAs) is being organized by National Legal Services Authority.
• The meeting will deliberate on creation of an integrated procedure to bring homogeneity and synchronization across DLSAs.
• There are a total of 676 District Legal Services Authorities in the country. They are headed by the District Judge who acts as Chairman of the authority.
• Through DLSAs and State Legal Services Authorities, various legal aid and awareness programmes are implemented by National Legal Services Authority.
• The DLSAs also contribute towards reducing the burden on courts by regulating the Lok Adalats conducted by NALSA.

• Prime Minister recently launched India’s first International Bullion Exchange (IIBE) at Gujarat International Finance Tech (GIFT) City in Gandhinagar.
• Prime Minister also launched NSE IFSC-SGX Connect and laid the foundation stone of the headquarters of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) at GIFT City.
  GIFT city has been established as an integrated finance and technology services hub for India and the world.
• It will help India in entering the league of countries like USA UK and Singapore which are giving direction to global finance.
• With the inauguration of IIBE, India can influence the gold pricing and can play an important role in setting the gold prices.
• The IFSCA headquarters will provide abundant opportunities for making India an economic superpower.

Various new initiatives

• The commencement of financial operations in India by three leading global banks such as Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan Chase Bank, and MUFG Bank.
• Indian Regional Office of the New Development Bank will also be set up at GIFT City

IFSCA also signed memorandums of understanding

• Recently, The Cabinet gave approval for declaring the Aryabhatta Geo Informatics and Space Application Centre as the nodal agency for the use of spatial and geo spatial technology in planning and development activities by various departments.

Establishment:

• Government of Himachal Pradesh established the Aryabhatta Geo-informatics & Space Application Centre (AGiSAC) under aegis of the HP Council for Science Technology & Environment (HIMCOSTE) in the year
• The centre has been set up in technological collaboration with Gujarat-based Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications and Geo-Informatics (BISAG).

The following objectives were envisaged for the State Centre:

• To facilitate decentralized planning and decision making.
• To facilitate Monitoring and Evaluation of Government Schemes & Programmes.
• To set up integrated natural resources data management system.
• To provide services/consultancy based on specific user needs in the field of Remote Sensing and GIS.
• To provide wider usage of geo-spatial applications through simultaneous support systems/ software.

• Vegetable crops are under attack by white fly in the lower hills of Kangra district. The pest attack comes after the recent damage caused by fall armyworm to the maize crop in the area.
• In the lower hills of the district, vegetable farming is a lucrative occupation. Farmers in these areas produce vegetables such as okra, bitter gourd, bottle gourd, brinjal, cucumber and ridged gourd during the season.
• The farmers claimed that the Agriculture Department was yet to swing into action and visit their fields to monitor and check the attack of white flies.
• As per information, the department was suffering from acute shortage of the field technical staff that could visit the fields and apprise the farmers about the attacks and measures to check the pest.
• According to Dr Rahul Katoch, Deputy Director, Agriculture Department, Palampur. The department has constituted special technical field teams of the state bio-control laboratories at Palampur and Nurpur. The teams will visit the fields and sensitise the vegetable growers about pest attacks. Experts will also suggest remedial measures to them.

• The world champion Sebastian Vettel announced his retirement from Formula One at the end of the season.
• The German racer announced his retirement through a video message on the social media platform, Instagram.
• The 35-year-old said, his goals had changed and he wanted to focus more on family and interests outside the sport.
• Sebastian will end his final season with Aston Martin after winning a total of 53 Grand Prix and 122 podium finishes. Vettel made his debut in 2007.
• His first title win came in 2010 which also made him the youngest title winner. He won four titles for Red Bull in between 2010 to 2013. Vettel who is a legend of the sport is third on the list of all-time Grand Prix winners with 53 victories to his name. Only Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher have more titles than him.
• Sebastian made the announcement ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, the 13th round of the season and the last race before the August break.

• The Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (ECGC) launched a new scheme to provide enhanced export credit risk insurance amid rising uncertainties in global trade.
• The scheme provides enhanced export credit risk insurance cover up to 90 per cent to support small exporters under Export Credit Insurance for Banks Whole Business Packaging Credit and Post Shipment (ECIB- WTPC&PS).
• According to ECGC chairman M. Senthilnathan “By giving 90 per cent cover to banks, we expect more small companies to get export credit from banks, benefiting these industries greatly. We expect banks to provide more concessions. The net effect will be a benefit to exporters, involving a reduction in interest rate.”
• SBI is the first to benefit from the new policy and ECGC is in talks with other lenders. ECIB does not cover the entire loss incurred by the bank in respect of the account. The loss is shared between the ECGC and the bank in a specified percentage. The average percentage of cover is estimated to be around 70 per cent for export accounts with limits up to Rs 20 crore. The increased cover percentage will now be 90 per cent.
• The enhanced cover for SBI will be at the premium rate of the previous year, considering its favourable claim premium ratio. For other banks, there may be a marginal increase in the premium rates. The increase in cover will be based on expected interest concession from banks for accounts with export credit working.
• In the financial year 2021-22, ECGC had extended support to exports worth Rs 6.18 lakh crore In addition, as of March 31, 2022, more than 6,700 exporters benefitted through the direct cover issued to exporters and around 9,000 distinct exporters benefitted under the Export Credit Insurance for Banks (ECIB). It should also be noted that about 96 per cent of these are small exporters.

• The fossil wood park situated near Puducherry holds trees that have turned as fossils is believed to be 20 million years old.
• The National Fossil Wood Park situated in the bordering Thirvakkarai village in Viluppuram District of Tamil Nadu will add a feather to the cap of the tourism map of Puducherry if more infrastructure development is done.
• Thiruvakkarai is less than 25 Kilo metres from Puducherry.
• Situated at the banks of Sankarabarani River in the Puducherry Tamil Nadu border, this national fossil wood park hosts around 200 pieces of stone turned trees that are estimated to be more than 20 Million years old.
• These trees are believed to have been drifted to this place that might have been formed due to crushed sediments of the Sankarabarani River due to plate tectonics that would have happened millions of years ago.Even though these trees are scattered in a sprawling 247 acres of land, stone trees that lay in around 15 acres of land are open for the public.

Other fossil parks in India include:

• Indroda Dinosaur and Fossil Park, Gujarat
• Ghughua Fossil Park, Madhya Pradesh
• Salkhan Fossils Park, Uttar Pradesh
• Akal Wood Fossil Park, Rajasthan
• Amkhoi Fossil Park, West Bengal
• Raiyoli Dinosaur Fossil Park, Gujarat
• Rajmahal Hills Fossil Park, Bihar
• Wadadham Fossils Park, Wadadam, Sironcha, Gadchiroli, Maharashtra