Daily Current Affairs 25 October, 2024

October 25, 2024

Table of Contents:

1. Finance Ministry to Review Co-Lending and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Credit at Public Sector Banks
2. The Indian AI mission has recently selected 8 responsible artificial intelligence(AI) projects through the expression of interest(EOI)
3. Union Minister of Commerce and industry Piyush Goyal launches district master plan under pm Gati Shakti for 27 aspirational districts
4. Ukraine war briefing: Russia plans to send North Korean troops into battle
5. International Monetary Fund (IMF)

1. Finance Ministry to Review Co-Lending and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Credit at Public Sector Banks:

Secretary M Nagaraju is likely to chair a meeting with the Managing directors(MDs) and chief executive officers (CEOs) of public sector banks(PSBs) on November 5, 2024.

Key Highlights:

• The agenda of the discussion will be on the progress of co-lending regulations for banks and non banking financial companies (NBFCs).

• Background: the last meeting was shared by Vivek Joshi, the former the former DFS Secretary, in June 2024.

• A report on Co – lending submitted by the State Bank of India(SBI) to the Finance ministry as clearly recommended eliminating the 18% of Goods and Services tax (GST) on Co – lending activities.

Some glimpse of the report:

• The GST should be imposed on co – lending.

• Co – lending should be limited to priority sector only.

About co – lending:

Col lending is a lending arrangement between the bank and a non banking financial company (NBFC) which provides loans to the undeserved areas. The coal landing has been introduced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 2020 and its main motive was to improve the credit flow to priority sectors. 

Key Features:

• The banks and NBFCs is which are involved in the loan process are responsible for the risk and regards which is involve in the loan life cycle. The majority of the loan is provided by the bank, while the NBFCs handles the loan origination as well as the paper work.

• The fund is being divided in the ratio 80:20 by Bank and NBFCs respectively.

• Co lenders are entitled to resolved any type of complaint registered by a borrower within 30 days.

• Interest rates is decided mutually by both the lenders and must be followed by the applicable guidelines of RBI.

About RBI:

RBI was established on April 1 1935, based on the Recommendation of Hilton young Commission. It was then privately oned but later Nationalized in 1949 and is now fully owned by government of India.

• It’s headquarter is in Mumbai. Governor of RBI is Shri Shaktikanta Das.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Reserve Bank of India is India’s Central Bank and regulatory body it is responsible for the issue and supply of the Indian currency and printing as well as minting currency notes. 

• Regulating the banking sectors and acting as a bankers Bank.

• Controlling the inflation through its monetary policies.

• Deciding repo rate as well as reverse repo rate.

2. The Indian AI mission has recently selected 8 responsible artificial intelligence(AI) projects through the expression of interest(EOI):

These project will include the development of transparent, ethical, and trustworthy AI Technologies.

About Indian AI mission:

This is a government initiative that has been launched by government of India to promote AI innovations and address societal needs at the very grassroot level.

The IndiaAI Mission was launched on July 3–4, 2024 at the Global IndiaAI Summit in New Delhi. 

The missions to create and ethical AI infrastructure driven by various air Technology and to enhance the data quality. 

It also promote AI driven startups and the applications of AI within the industries.

Focus areas:

 The main focus area of this mission are Healthcare, education, agriculture, smart cities and infrastructure.

Key components:

Building a AI computing ecosystem with over 10,000 GPUs .

Developing impactful AI applications.

Setting up data and  AI labs in order to promote AI  courses well as upskilling the youths.

The mission is led by NITI Aayog, the Department of Science and Technology (DST), the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT).

Financial Support: The Union Cabinet approved the Rs 10,372 crore IndiaAI Mission in March to establish a computing capacity of over 10,000 GPUs and develop foundational models with a capacity of more than 100 billion parameters trained on datasets covering major Indian languages for priority sectors like healthcare, agriculture, and governance. 

3. Union Minister of Commerce and industry Piyush Goyal launches district master plan under pm Gati Shakti for 27 aspirational districts:

Union Minister of Commerce and industry, Sri Piyush Goyal today launch the district version of PM GatiShakti National Master Plan for 27 aspirational districts in the country on the occasion of completion of 3 years of PM GatiShakti. 

• Mr. Goyal said that it is a very intelligent tool for infrastructure planning and the district master plan will expand to cover almost 750 districts around the country within 18 months. 

• Mr. Goyal also launched the ‘ guidelines for preparing City Logistics plans for Indian cities”. 

• Pointing towards the significance of the plan he said that the tool will be utilized by the world in future for their infrastructure planning.

• He also said that that is Shakti as a major effect on the economy and will help India to become one of the largest fast growing economies.

About Gati Shakti Mission:

PM Gati Shakti national master plan (PMGS=NMP) was launched on 13th October 2021. It’s ambition is to provide multimodal connectivity infrastructure to various economic zones.

• Basically it is a plan to develop India’s infrastructure as well as connectivity through digital platforms.

• The aim is to achieve $5 trillion economy and to increase it to $20 trillion by the end of 2040.

• The plan uses a integrated approach by bringing together 16 Ministries including Railways, Roadways, Indian Airways and Indian Waterways all together in a single digital platform.

• This includes multiple projects such as developing around 400 new Vande Bharat trains, and upgrading 200 railway terminals and buildings.

4. Ukraine war briefing: Russia plans to send North Korean troops into battle:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, demanded that international leaders put “tangible pressure” on Pyongyang, warning that Russia was preparing to deploy North Korean forces against his nation as early as Sunday.

• South Korea expressed concern and asked Russia to stop its “illegal karte ho cooperation” with North Korea.

• North korea’s hot department to Russia has grown some serious concern in Seoul..

• In order to put an end to the conflict that has lasted for more than two and a half years, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff said that, complete evacuation of Russian troops rather than a peace negotiations was needed.

• According to a statement, G7 leaders have finalized a $50 billion loan to support Kyiv, which would be generated through the income from Russian assets that were frozen during its invasion of Ukraine. The Group of Seven nations’ leaders said that they “have reached a decision on how to disburse $50 billion in loans, by the end of this year.

Course of the war:

Background: There have been linguistic and cultural similarities between Russia and Ukraine for hundreds of years.

• The country’s common culture as well as ancestry ties is a sensitive topic that has been used for political benefits by mostly Russia and and some regions Ukraine as well.

• Ukraine was one of the most important your geo-political and cultural area during the Soviet Union era. It was also second most important area after Russia as far as economy is concerned

Cause of Conflict: 

Power Balance: In order to maintain the regional power balance, Russia and the western power have fought for a decade in Ukraine since the nation is separated from the Soviet Union.

• Western Countries’ Buffer Zone: Ukraine serves as an important barrier between Russia and the west specially for the US and the EU.

• The US and the EU are trying their best to prevent Ukraine from falling under Russian control as tensions with Russia increases.

Russian Interest in the Black Sea: Russia benefits from a number of geopolitical advantages.

• Firstly, it is an important crossroads for the entire region.

• Access to the Black Sea is very important for all neighboring states.

• Secondly, the region is an important corridor for goods and energy.

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR):

From 1922 to 1991, the Soviet Union, also known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was a transcontinental nation like Egypt and Indonesia.

Origins:

After the 1917 Russian Revolution, which cause the Romanov monarchy to fall, Vladimir Lenin established the Soviet Union. Soviet Union was the first Marxist-Communist state in history.

• With an area of approx. two and a half times that of the United States, the Soviet Union was the biggest nation in the world during that period of time. It was extended to the Pacific Ocean from the Black and Baltic Seas.

• Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan were among the fifteen nations, that in the Soviet Union.

Second World War

• World War II: The Soviet Union was an Allied Power during the World War II and helped to defeat Germany. 
• Cold War: After World War II, tension between Soviet Union and the United States rises which is also termed as Cold War. The Soviet Union formed its own military alliance, the Warsaw Pact, in 1955. 
• Collapse: The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

Facts to remember:

5. International Monetary Fund (IMF): International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday, retained its growth rate projects for India in its World Economic Outlook (WEO) and projected the growth of India at 7% in current fiscal year ending in March 31 2025 and 6.5% in the next fiscal year (FY2025-26).

About International Monetary Fund:

Since December 27, 1945, India has been a member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF is a group that comes up with economic initiatives aiming the financial stability and monetary cooperation. Increasing productivity, job creation, and economic sustainability are some of the IMF’s objectives.

The IMF was established in 1944 at the Bretton Woods Conference in New Hampshire, USA. The IMF came into existence on December 27, 1945, when 29 countries ratified its Articles of Agreement

• India is the 13th largest quota-holding nation in the IMF. India now owns 2.44% of the company.
  
• India’s GDP is expected to rise by 7% in the fiscal year 2025 and 6.5% in 2026, according to the IMF’s October 2024 World Economic Outlook report.
• The IMF was established in July 1944 at the Bretton Woods conference in the United States, along with the World Bank. The ambition of both the institutions are of creating a more stable and healthy global economy.
• The Principality of Liechtenstein became the 191st member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on October 21, 2024. The IMF’s headquarters are located in Washington, D.C.