Sri Lanka's Only Refinery Resumes Operations after more than Two Months; Begins Receiving Russian Crude
Sri Lanka's only refinery, which was shut down more in March 2022, commenced operations and has begun receiving Russian crude, as the crisis-hit island nation tried to overcome its worst economic crisis since independence.
The more than five-decade-old Iran-built Sapugaskanda oil refinery, which boasts of 50,000 barrel-per-day capacity, was temporarily shut down on March 20 following the non-availability of crude oil supplies due to the ongoing foreign exchange crisis that has crippled the country. Sri Lanka became the latest Asian country to accept Russian crude after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine on February 24 prompted a slew of crippling sanctions on Moscow.A crippling shortage of foreign reserves has led to long queues for fuel, cooking gas, and other essentials while power cuts and soaring food prices heaped misery on the people.
Govt. Launches Indian Business Portal to Help Indian Exporters Get Global Visibility
Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel launched the Indian Business Portal in New Delhi. The portal will serve as an international trade hub for Indian exporters and foreign buyers. The portal is a business to business digital marketplace to empower small medium enterprises exporters, artisans and farmers to identify new markets for their products and grow their sales globally.
Indian Business Portal was developed by Federation of Indian Export Organisations to provide Indian Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) exporters, artisans and farmers, and foreign buyers a business to business marketplace on a single digital window.
US Trumps China as India's Top Trading Partner
The US surpassed China to become India's top trading partner in 2021-22, according to the data of the Commerce Ministry. In 2021-22, bilateral trade with the US was at $119.42 billion while that with China was $115.42 billion. In 2021-22, exports to the US increased to $76.11 billion from $51.62 billion in the previous fiscal. In contrast, exports to China were at $21.25 billion from $21.18 billion in 2020-21.
Imports from the US also rose to $43.31 billion as compared to about $29 billion in 2020-21. But imports from China jumped much more sharply to $94.16 billion from $65.21 billion in 2020-21.
China occupied the top slot as India's trading partner from 2013-14 till 2017-18 and also in 2020-21. The third spot in 2021-22 was occupied by the UAE with total trade of $72.9 billion, followed by Saudi Arabia ($42.85 billion), Iraq ($34.33 billion) and Singapore ($30 billion).
RBI's Banknote Survey Revealed that ₹100 Banknote was the most Preferred
RBI's Banknote Survey of Consumers findings revealed that Rs. 100 was the most preferred banknote while Rs. 2,000 was the least preferred denomination.
Among coins, Rs. 5 denomination was the most preferred whereas Re. 1 was the least preferred.
Watermark of Mahatma Gandhi's image followed by windowed security thread was the most recognized security feature as per the survey.
Survey took the sample of 11,000 respondents from rural, semi-urban, urban and metropolitan areas.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 ended with Gujarat Titans (GT) lifting the trophy by defeating inaugural champions Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 was the 15th edition of the professional Twenty20 cricket league established by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and General Secretary Jay Shah received a certificate as IPL created a Guinness world record for the world's largest cricket jersey.
AR Rahman, the Academy Award winner, was the star of the show at the IPL 2022 Closing Ceremony. Ranveer Singh's dance performance, which included the 'Vaathi Coming' from Master and 'Naatu Naatu' from RRR, was the perfect start of the electric evening of the IPL 2022 Closing Ceremony.
Red Bull's Perez Wins Monaco GP
Sergio Perez won a rain-delayed, crash-halted and ultimately nail-biting Monaco Grand Prix for Red Bull to make his dream come true as another evaporated for Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. The Mexican's teammate Max Verstappen finished third to stretch his Formula One championship lead over Leclerc, who was fourth, to nine points after seven of 22 races. Ferrari's Carlos Sainz was second, for the second year in succession.
The race was twice red-flagged and shortened from 77 scheduled laps to 64 after running out of time. Perez was only the third driver to win a race this season, with Verstappen winning four of the previous six and Leclerc the other two.
Tokyo Bronze Medallist Lovlina Borgohain is IBA's Athletes' Committee Chair
Tokyo Bronze Medallist, Lovlina Borgohain was elected as IBA's Athletes' Committee Chair. International Boxing Association (IBA) announced that Indian boxer and Tokyo Olympics Bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain received the highest number of votes during the election held at the 2022 Women's World Championships and thus has been elected as the chair and a voting member on the Board of Directors for the IBA's Athletes' Committee.
Further, Indian boxer Shiva Thapa was elected as a member of the IBA Athletes Committee following the election held during the 2021 IBA Men's World Championships. The duo, who are both under the Sports Authority of India's (SAI) Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) have confirmed that they have accepted their roles and look forward to representing India and other boxers at the Board of Directors' meeting.
Justice Pradip Kumar Mohanty Appointed Acting Chairperson of Lokpal
President Ram Nath Kovind gave justice Pradip Kumar Mohanty the additional charge of Lokpal chairperson after justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose completed his term as the Lokpal chief. At present, there are six members in the Lokpal. Two posts of judicial members were lying vacant for over two years.The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, which envisages the appointment of a Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in states to look into cases of corruption against certain categories of public servants, was passed in 2013.
A Lokpal chief and members are appointed for a term of five years or until attaining the age of 70 years. A Lokpal chief and its members are appointed by the President after obtaining the recommendations of a selection committee headed by the Prime Minister and comprising the speaker of the Lok Sabha, the Leader of Opposition in the lower house, the Chief Justice of India or a judge of the Supreme Court nominated by him, and an eminent jurist as recommended by the chairperson and members of the selection panel.
Government of India Sets a Target to Achieve 100 Million Tonnes Coal Gasification by 2030
The Government of India has set a target to increase coal gasification to 100 million tonnes (MT) by 2030. It is considered a cleaner option compared to the burning of coal. Gasification facilitates utilization of the chemical properties of coal. The government prepared a National Mission document to achieve 100 MT Coal Gasification by 2030.
Refineries and fertiliser plants are the largest consumers of hydrogen now, which is being produced from natural gas. It can be produced through coal in the processes during coal gasification.
PM Inaugurates World's First Nano Urea (Liquid) Plant in Gujarat
PM Narendra Modi inaugurated the world's first nano urea liquid plant by Indian Farmers' Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) at Kalol in Gujarat.
The virtual inauguration took place at a ceremony held in Gandhinagar in the presence of Union home minister, Amit Shah, Union minister of chemicals and fertilizers, Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, along with chief minister, Bhupendra Patel.
The first IFFCO nano urea (liquid) production unit at Kalol has been made with an investment of Rs 175 crore. At present, it has the capacity to produce 1.5 lakh bottles of 500ml capacity of nano urea per day.
Russia Conducts Test-launch of Tsirkon hypersonic Cruise Missile
Russian successfully test-fired a Tsirkon hypersonic cruise missile from the Barents Sea. The missile hit a naval target about 1,000 km away in the White Sea and the flight of the projectile corresponded to the designed parameters. The Tsirkon missile was test-fired several times from the Admiral Gorshkov frigate and a nuclear-powered submarine.
President Vladimir Putin said the Tsirkon missile is capable of flying at Mach 9 or nine times the speed of sound and striking a target over 1,000 km away.
India's First Drone-detection Dog Deployed at Attari
To thwart smuggling of arms and narcotics through drones from across the fencing, the Border Security Force (Punjab Frontier) added a dog to assist troops in detecting the drone infiltration at Attari-Wagah joint check post. Christened as "Frooti", the dog (German Shepherd) was deployed after undergoing special training at the BSF's National Dog Training Centre at Tekanpur, Gwalior. Since this breed has undisputed hearing ability to capture sound waves from a distance, it was selected and put under training and introduced to a particular sound generated by drones. With its deployment, "Frooti" secured the title of being India's first trained dog in drone detection.
Ironically, the highest number of drone sightings and smuggling of arms and narcotics were reported along the Punjab border only. The drone detection dog squad would be introduced at this border in the first phase. Punjab shares an approximately 553 km of International Border with Pakistan.
GRSE Launches Indian Navy Survey Vessel 'INS Nirdeshak'
Nirdeshak, the second of the four Survey Vessels (Large) (SVL) projects being built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) in collaboration with L&T shipbuilding for the Indian Navy was launched, at Kattupalli, Chennai. The ship has taken its name from erstwhile Nirdeshak which was also an Indian Naval Survey ship and was decommissioned after 32 years of glorious service in December 2014.
Part construction of three out of four ships of SVL is being undertaken at L&T, Kattupalli as part of a collaborative approach between GRSE and L&T shipbuilding. This model of Public-Private Partnership shall be a harbinger of future successful collaboration for Warship construction in India. The contract for building four SVL ships was signed between MoD and GRSE, Kolkata on October 30, 2018. The first of class ship 'Sandhayak' was launched in December 2021 at GRSE, Kolkata.
Congress leader and popular Punjabi singer Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu Moosewala was shot dead near Mansa. He was shot at while he was driving his SUV in village Jhawahar Ke in Mansa district with two others, and was declared brought dead at the Mansa Civil Hospital.
Moosewala, who belonged to Moosa village near Mansa, was the voice of many superhit songs over the last few years. In February 2022, he had contested the Assembly polls on a Congress ticket from Mansa, losing to AAP's Vijay Singla — the minister who was sacked by the AAP government and arrested earlier over alleged corruption charges.
Former Albania President Bujar Nishani Passes Away
Bujar Nishani, a former Albanian President had died at 55 due to a health problem. President Bujar Nishani born on 29 September 1966 in Durrës, Albania, was well known for his centre-right political affiliation with the leftist coalition. He served as president from 2012 until 2017. At 45, he was elected as the youngest and sixth president in post-communist Albania, supported only by lawmakers from the centre-right Democratic party of then-Prime Minister Sali Berisha.
Shaunak Sen's Documentary 'All That Breathes' Wins L'�'il D'or Award at Cannes
Filmmaker Shaunak Sen's documentary All That Breathes, India's only entry at Cannes Film Festival 2022, has won the 2022 L'Oeil d'Or, the festival's top prize for documentaries. All That Breathes follows the lives of siblings Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad who, working out of their derelict basement in Delhi's Wazirabad, rescue and treat injured birds, especially the black kites. It recently had its premiere at Cannes in the Special Screening segment.
The 90-minute long film was chosen the winner by the jury, comprising Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland, Ukrainian writer-director Iryna Tsilyk, French actor Pierre Deladonchamps, journalist Alex Vicente, and Moroccan writer-filmmaker Hicham Falah. The L'Oeil d'Or documentary award, also known as The Golden Eye award, was created in 2015 by the French-speaking authors' society LaScam in collaboration with the Cannes Film Festival.
Government Preparing Exhaustive Database of Healthcare Workers
To project India as a global source in the health sector, the Centre is developing an online repository of all categories of healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses and pharmacists that also mentions the country where they wish to render their services. The portal, being developed by the National Health Authority (NHA) under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) as part of the government's 'Heal by India' initiative, is likely to be launched on August 15. It will be voluntary for all healthcare professionals to provide their information to the portal and all steps are being taken to ensure data security. The personal information provided will be authenticated by UIDAI while registration details will be verified by the respective councils.
The healthcare professionals who can register themselves in the portal include practitioners of modern medicine as well as the traditional system of medicine, dentists, nurses, pharmacists and 56 categories of allied health professionals.
Jitendra Singh Inaugurates India's First 'Lavendar Festival' in Bhaderwah
Union Minister Jitendra Singh inaugurated the country's first 'Lavendar festival' at Jammu's Bhaderwah where the cultivation of lavender has transformed the economy of the mountainous area. Bhaderwah in the Doda district is the birthplace of India's purple revolution. The minister described Bhaderwah in the Doda district as the birthplace of India's purple revolution.
Lavender changed the fortunes of farmers in Jammu and Kashmir under the 'Aroma Mission or Purple Revolution', an initiative of the Central government towards transforming the lives of UT's farmers' community.
The Purple or Lavender Revolution was launched in 2016 by the Union Ministry of Science & Technology through the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research's (CSIR) Aroma Mission.
The aim of the mission is to support the domestic aromatic crop-based agroeconomy by moving from imported aromatic oils to homegrown varieties. Lavender cultivation is practised in almost all 20 districts of Jammu and Kashmir.
India-Bangladesh Passenger Train Services Resume after 2 Years
Passenger train services — Maitree Express and Bandhan Express — between Bangladesh and India resumed, two years after it was paused due to the outbreak of Covid. The Maitree Express train service between Dhaka and Kolkata resumed from Dhaka Cantonment railway station. Train will run five days a week though it did not draw the expected number of passengers on the first day apparently because the Covid-19 situation was yet to be wiped out completely.
The 465-seat train used to carry around 300 passengers on an average.
Meanwhile, another train service, Bandhan Express, which runs between on Bangladesh's southwestern Khulna and Kolkata route reached Bangladesh, resuming its service after two years of halt. Bandhan Express runs two days a week.
Seeking to usher in more transparency and reduce the use of paper, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju launched a dedicated e-portal for receiving applications online from those applying to become notaries. The portal will lead to a paperless regime by receiving applications online, processing payments, online certificate generation, uploading seal and stamp and annual returns.
This will reduce paperwork and cut the cost on account of postage and other related expenditure. The portal will facilitate maintenance and retrieval of records relating to appointment of notaries. According to the ministry, over 22,000 notaries have been appointed since 1952.
Uttarakhand Government Forms 5 Member Panel to Implement the Uniform Civil Code
The Government of Uttarakhand made a 5-member panel, led by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai which shall examine the relevant laws pertaining to the implementation the Uniform Civil Code (UCC). The other members of the committee comprise of retired High Court judge Justice Permod Kohli, the social activist Manu Gaur, the retired IAS officer Shatrughan Singh, and Doon University Vice-Chancellor Surekha Dangwal along with Justice Ranjana Prasad.
The Central government had told the Delhi high court in January 2022 that the Uniform civil code can only be introduced after an in-depth study is done in the personal laws that govern the communities.
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