Daily Current Affairs 9 November for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.
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NATIONAL NEWS
WHO Confirms India’s Achievement In Decreasing TB Incidents
India has made tremendous progress in improving case detection and reversed the impact of COVID-19 on the tuberculosis (TB) programme, noted the World Health Organization’s (WHO) ‘Global TB Report 2023’ released earlier this week, the Union Health Ministry said.
- The treatment coverage has improved to 80 per cent of the estimated TB cases, an increase of 19 per cent over the previous year.
- India’s efforts have resulted in the reduction of tuberculosis incidence by 16 per cent in 2022 from 2015, almost double the pace at which global TB incidence is declining (which is 8.7 per cent), it said, adding that mortality due to the disease has also reduced by 18 per cent during the same period in India.
- The World Health Organization has made a downward revision of the TB mortality rates from 4.94 lakhs in 2021 to 3.31 lakhs in 2022, a reduction of over 34 per cent.
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s statue unveiled in J&K’s Kupwara
Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde unveiled a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Kupwara district.
- The equestrian statue of the Maratha warrior king has been installed at the Army’s 41 Rashtriya Rifles Maratha Light Infantry Regiment in the north Kashmir district which shares its border with Pakistan.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
QS Asia University Rankings 2024: IIT Bombay & IIT Delhi among top 50
Quacquarelli Symonds released QS Asia University Rankings 2024. Two Indian institutes– IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi have been ranked in the top 50 list.
- IIT Bombay has secured the top position in India and 40th position in overall Asia. Similarly, IIT Delhi stood second among Indian institutes and secured 46th rank overall.
- Peking University of China topped the Asia ranking list by securing Rank 1 followed by the University of Hong Kong in the second position and the National University of Singapore in the third place. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and Tsinghua University, China have secured 4th spot.
- Zhejiang University of China secured the 6th position, Fudan University of China in 7th place, Yonsei University of South Korea in 8th spot. Korea University stood on 9th place and the Chinese University of Hong Kong secured the 10th position. A total of 856 universities from Asia are included in this year’s QS Asia University Rankings.
BANKING & FINANCE
India’s first contactless payment smart ring launched in India
Homegrown consumer electronics startup Seven launched an innovative smart wearable ring – called ‘7 Ring‘ for contactless payment. The ring has been crafted using premium Zirconia Ceramic material that gives it a premium look and makes it durable.
- The 7 Ring comes in seven different sizes, providing a comfortable and customised fit for all users.
- With its seamless and hassle-free payment technology, users can effortlessly make transactions, from their morning coffee to their evening cocktail, with a simple tap, the company said.
PayGlocal gets RBI nod for payment aggregator license
PayGlocal, a cross-border focused payments platform provider, has received in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India for Payment Aggregator (PA) license.
- This process, once completed, will enable PayGlocal to onboard merchants onto its platform for online payment processing.
- This helps them accept online payments securely through various payment instruments including cards and global alternative payment methods, per the company.
RBI to cut rates in 2024-25 if food inflation remains under control: S&P Global Ratings
S&P Global Ratings expects the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to cut interest rates in 2024-25 if food inflation and the monsoon don’t play spoilsport next year, and believes India would stick to its indicated fiscal glide path till 2026 despite the extension of the free food grain scheme by adjusting other spends.
- The ratings major, which expects India’s GDP to grow 6% this year and 6.9% over the next two years, said the country’s economic growth compared to its BBB- to A-rated peers Asia-Pacific clearly shines, but higher rates threaten a fiscal headwind.
- Indian government bond yields, which have historically been higher than their peers, are still high, putting additional pressure on the cost of financing the country’s large debt stock, it said. “While growth bolsters market confidence and revenue generation, interest rate dynamics will be an additional factor driving India’s debt performance over the next few years,” the company said in a note on the Asia Pacific Credit Outlook for 2024 titled “Slow Dragons, Roaring Tiger”.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
UBS upgrades India’s FY24 real GDP growth estimate marginally to 6.3%
Foreign brokerage UBS upgraded its FY24 real GDP growth estimate marginally to 6.3 per cent.Also, it has increased India’s FY25 GDP growth forecast upwards by 20 basis points to 6.2 per cent. However, it feels that macro risks and next year’s general poll will be key factors to watch.
- The brokerage’s chief India economist Tanvee Gupta Jain said domestic economic activities are fairing better than expected, but added that managing the macro risks and next year’s General Elections are the key factors to watch out for.
IBM, AWS join hands to launch Generative AI Innovation Lab in Bengaluru
IT major IBM and Amazon Web Services announced an expansion of their services to facilitate mutual clients operations and derive value from generative artificial intelligence (AI). As part of this, IBM launched the Innovation Lab, in collaboration with AWS, at the IBM Client Experience Center in Bengaluru.
- The company announced in a release that the lab is a first of its kind for the IBM-AWS collaboration and is open to clients from around the world to explore joint solutions, test prototypes and proofs of value that aim to help accelerate innovation across industries.
- The target industries for this collaboration are Banking and Financial Services, Automotive, Manufacturing, Energy and Utilities, Travel and Transportation, and Healthcare, among others.
Adani’s Sri Lanka port terminal project to get funding from U.S. government
The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) said it will provide $553 million financing for a Colombo port terminal project, partly owned by India’s Adani Group, advancing the first foray by an Indian company into the sector.
- The financing from International Development Finance Corp. for the deepwater West Container Terminal in Colombo is the US government agency’s largest infrastructure investment in Asia, and among its biggest globally.
- It will bolster Sri Lanka’s economic growth and “its regional economic integration, including with India, a key partner to both countries.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
ISRO’s Aditya L1 mission captures its first high-energy solar flare
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said the HEL1OS payload has captured the first high-energy X-ray glimpse of solar flares.
- During its first observation period on October 29, the High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer (HEL1OS) on board Aditya-L1 recorded the impulsive phase of solar flares.The recorded data is consistent with the X-ray light curves provided by NOAA’s Goes.
- The image was captured by the Aditya L1 mission’s HEL1OS instrument. The High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer is the hard X-ray spectrometer on the mission. It operates in the wide X-ray energy band between 10 and 150 keV. It helps study solar flare activities on the Sun.