National Affairs
ADB approves USD 1.5 billion loan to India for purchasing COVID-19 vaccines
The ADB has approved a USD 1.5 billion loans to India for COVID-19 vaccine procurement.
The loan from ADB will fund at least 66.7 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses for an estimated 31.7 crore people.
The loan will support India’s National Deployment and Vaccination Plan which aims to fully vaccinate 94.47 crore people aged 16 years and above.
Quick Facts: ADB is headquartered in Mandaluyong, Philippines.
Economy
YES Bank partners with Amazon Pay for UPI Transactions
Yes Bank has collaborated with Amazon Pay and Amazon Web Services (AWS) to offer customers an instant real-time payment system through a UPI transaction facility.
The partnership will enable Amazon Pay to issue UPI IDs with the @yapl handle allowing customers to make secure, fast, and convenient payments.
The collaboration also allows Yes Bank to acquire merchants through the Amazon Pay platform.
Quick Facts: Prashant Kumar is the CEO of Yes Bank.
Agreement
Prime Volleyball League signs RuPay as title sponsor for three years
The flagship product of NPCI, RuPay has come on board as the title sponsor of the Prime Volleyball League.
The card payment network has acquired the title sponsorship rights of the sporting league for three years of the league which is scheduled to take place in early 2022.
The tournament will consist of 24 games and the player auction will be held in Kochi on December 14.
Quick Facts: The tagline of RuPay is “ONE LIFE, ONE RuPay”.
National Affairs
MPI Report: Bihar, Jharkhand, UP emerge as poorest states in India
According to the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) released by NITI Aayog, Bihar, Jharkhand, and UP have emerged as the poorest states in India.
Bihar has the highest number of malnourished people followed by Jharkhand, MP, UP, and Chhattisgarh.
Kerala, Goa, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, and Punjab have registered the lowest poverty rate across India.
Government Schemes
Women’s Involvement in Science and Engineering Research (WISER) program
The WISER program has been launched recently to promote women in the field of research and development by lateral entry.
The program has been launched by Indo-German Science and Technology Centre (IGSTC) to encourage women researchers in R&D projects
The project is a joint initiative of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), India, and the Federal Ministry of Education & Research (BMBF) of Germany.
Quick Facts: DST was established in May 1971.
Summits and Conferences
21st India-Russia Annual Summit to be held
Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to pay an official visit to New Delhi on December 6, 2021, to attend the 21st India-Russia Annual Summit.
The summit will be the first face-to-face meeting between Vladimir and PM Narendra Modi following their meeting at the BRICS Summit in November 2019 in Brasilia.
During the summit, the leaders will review the state and prospects of bilateral relations and discuss ways to further strengthen the strategic relationship of the two countries.
Quick Facts: Astronauts who have been shortlisted for the Human Space Programme of India were trained by Russia.
Miscellaneous
Amazon, Asian Paints, Tata Tea top the ‘Most Purposeful Brands Banking’
According to Kantar’s BrandZ India 2021 report, Amazon, Tata Tea, and Asian Paints emerged as the most powerful brands in India across technology.
In technology ranking, Amazon leads the index followed by Zomato, YouTube, Google, and Swiggy jointly in 4th place.
Asian Paints has topped the non-FMCG category while Tata Tea has topped the FMCG category.
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