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Showing posts from April, 2021

Banks need to take advantage of digital era & become more tech-enabled to compete with fintech Cos: Former finance secretary

* India needs greater credit growth for $5 tn economy: NITI Aayog Consultant There is a greater need for Indian banking sector to become technology enabled and develop tools like APIs (Application Programming Interface) to compete with fintech companies in the credit business, former finance secretary ,S C Garg said in an ASSOCHAM e-summit. In his inaugural address in an ASSOCHAM national e-summit and awards – Banking and Financial Lending Companies, Garg ascertained that banking in the digital era will have to fintechalise and public sector banks need to be generally readying themselves for the new age banking as it would improve performance and strengthen their finances. Garg also said that banks need to be able to match efficiency and service of the fintech companies in the retail loans as well. Ajit Pai, expert and consultant, vice-chairman, Niti Aayog said that credit growth in India during the past seven years has decelerated, whereas for India to grow to a $5 trillion economy, o

Oxygen Express Operations expand to Haryana & Telangana after Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh & Delhi

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** Cumulative liquid medical oxygen (LMO) carried by Indian railways to reach almost 640 MT in next 24 hrs.  ** Uttar Pradesh receives its 5th Oxygen express carrying more than 76 MT LMO, 6th on its way ** Oxygen Express Operations of Indian Railways continue to bring relief to the States Oxygen Express operations of Indian Railways continued to bring relief to the states as its operations expanded to Haryana and Telangana after Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi.  Continuing the momentum, there are three more trains on the run either carrying Liquid Oxygen or on the way to the loading plants. It is expected that cumulative liquid medical oxygen (LMO) carried by Indian railways will reach almost 640 MT in next 24 hours.  Uttar Pradesh received its Oxygen express number 5 carrying 76.29 MT of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) on April 29 in 5 tankers. One tanker was offloaded in Varanasi while remaining 4 tankers are offloaded in Lucknow. Train number 6 is already on its way

Indian Coast Guard locates missing Tamil Nadu fishing boat Mercedes at high seas

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FURTHER UPDATE  - Details SOON UPDATE Indian Coast Guard in yet another successful search and rescue (SAR) operation at sea has located missing Tamil Nadu fishing boat Mercedes in a massive search operation launched since April 24 at a distance of about 1100 kms (590 miles) from Goa.  The fishing boat had sailed for deep sea fishing on April  6 with 11 crew onboard west of Kerala for 30 days voyage from Thengapattnam fishing harbour in Tamil Nadu. The Tamil Nadu Fisheries authorities on April 24 intimated regarding sighting of debris by other fishing boats operating in the area presuming that the fishing boat Mercedes had sunk.  The Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Center (MRCC) of Indian Coast Guard at Mumbai activated International Safety Net to alert merchant vessels transiting near reported position to lookout for the missing boat. Simultaneously, ICGS Samudra Prahari on concurrent deployment was diverted for search.  Fishing Boat Mercedes MRCC (Mumbai) coordinated with merchant vesse

Oxygen Express delivers 510 MT of O2 to UP, Maharashtra, Delhi & MP

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* Haryana to get its first Oxygen Express * 5 empty containers leave from Faridabad to Rourkela * Oxygen Express delivers first set of the consignment to Madhya Pradesh Indian Railways is continuing its journey of delivering liquid medical oxygen to various parts of the country. So far, more than 510 metric tonnes of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) have been delivered to Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh & Delhi.  Haryana government has also requested Railways for Oxygen Express. Currently, tankers are being loaded in Faridabad, which will be sent for filling to Rourkela. As of now, It is planned that two Oxygen Express with a capacity of 5 tankers each will be run specifically for Haryana. O xygen Containers That Indian Railways Is Transporting Madhya Pradesh has received its first Oxygen Express carrying more than 64 metric tonnes of liquid medical oxygen today early morning. These tankers were unloaded at various locations in Madhya Pradesh in cities like Jabalpur (1 tanker

NITCO imparts training to masons under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) programme

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** Ties up with Learnet Skills Ltd for training 24 masons in Rajasthan ** Expertise on types of tiles, raw materials used in tile manufacturing, tile manufacturing processes, etc. shared by NITCO experts during training ** Co plans similar training programme for masons at Dattalur in Andhra Pradesh and Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh In order to support growth infrastructure, NITCO, a leading interior brand and surface designing company, has stepped in to develop and improve skills, build livelihood, and create opportunities for masons across India via a certified training program. The company, which is known for its range of world-class tiles, launched a training programme called ‘mason tiling’ to upgrade the knowledge of mason community working in the building material sector.   Under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) programme, NITCO in association with Learnet Skills Limited, the largest vocational skills company in the country, undertook a two-day workshop at Tonk in Ra

GoAir Launches Car Rental Services; Partners with Eco Europcar

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* Travellers can book chauffeur-driven cars across 100 cities in India, including 25 airports on GoAir domestic network * GoAir partners with Eco Europcar to offer Airport Transfers, Local Transfers and Inter City Transfers across 25 locations in India * Passengers can book this service through GoAir’s website GoAir on April 27 launched car rental services across 100 cities in India, including 25 airports on GoAir’s domestic network as part of its bouquet of Value Added Services (VAS). The airline will provide hassle-free last-mile connectivity to its passengers with chauffeur-driven cars across the spectrum of economy, mid to luxury car segments along with Minivans for closed user groups.  To this effect, GoAir has joined hands with EcoEuropcar, a B2C (business to consumer) company having leadership position in the corporate rent a car service industry. GoAir passengers will be able to book chauffeur-driven cars simply by visiting GoAir’s website (www.goair.in) and avail the followin

Railway Deploys 2670 Covid Care Beds at 9 Railway Stations

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** Railways meet the demand of Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra state governments for Covid Care Coaches ** Covid Care Coaches are also stationed at Faizabad, Bhadohi, Varanasi, Bareli and Nazibabad in Uttar-Pradesh ready for deployment on demand by the state government ** Nearly 64000 Covid Care Beds Provisioned in around 4000 Covid Care Coaches across the Country The Ministry of Railways is swiftly meeting the demands of state governments for the facility of Covid Care coaches during the current raging second spell of the Covid pandemic with its fleet of 4000 coaches (retrofitted as isolation units) with a capacity of 64000 beds. As per currently available data, these facilities are seeing a steady intake registering a cumulative admission of 81 Covid patients and their subsequent discharge of 22 patients. None of the facilities has registered any casualties.   Indian Railways Readying Isolation Coaches The updated position of the utility of these coaches positioned at the nine

Maire Tecnimont Group Expands Its Petrochemicals Business In India with new $450 million Contract By IOCL

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Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. has announced Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) has awarded an EPCC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Commissioning) Lump Sum contract to a consortium composed of its subsidiaries Tecnimont S.p.A. and Mumbai- based Tecnimont Private Limited. The contract is for the implementation of a new Para-Xylene (PX) plant and the relevant offsites facilities. The plant will be located in Paradip, in Odisha. Maire Tecnimont The overall value of the contract is about $450 million. The scope of work entails EPCC activities up to the performance guarantees test run. Once completed, the new PX plant will have a capacity of 800,000 tonnes per year. The time schedule is 33 months for mechanical completion from the award date. The PX produced will be used to feed the adjacent PTA (Purified Terephthalic Acid) unit, thus ensuring the availability of world-class feedstock that will provide a significant boost to India’s manufacturing industry. PX is an intermediate build

War-footing efforts against Covid-19 to yield results in days: ASSOCHAM

War-footing national efforts underway by scaling up vaccination through domestic production and duty-free imports and airlifting of oxygen by IAF and special oxygen trains would strengthen India's fight against coronavirus, ASSOCHAM has said. Welcoming waiver of customs and other levels on import of vaccines, oxygen and the related equipment and machinery, ASSOCHAM Secretary General Deepak Sood said, "The efforts mounted by the government, industry under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi should help ease the situation with regard to oxygen availability and scaling up of the vaccination drive''. The involvement of the Indian Air Force, Railways, and the Army in the joint operations for making available oxygen to hospitals overwhelmed with Covid19 patients should see the situation turn better in the days to come, he said.  ''The industry has responded, putting human lives first to the national call of jacking up oxygen supply. They are ma

New committee to reduce dependency on steel and cement for constructing highways

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The ministry of road transport is setting up a committee under the chairmanship of K Venkataramanan to reduce the dependency on steel and cement to reduce the cost of construction and look for alternatives, said Nitin Gadkari, union minister for road transport and highways (MoRTH) and minister of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) at a webinar - Challenges and Opportunities in HAM & BOT Projects organized by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM). Gadkari stated that all steel - whether produced from ore, billets, pellets or melting of scrap - would be allowed to be used for National Highway construction, as long as it meets the standards required for specific grades of steel. “The steel proposed to be used would be tested in NABL-accredited laboratories as a third-party check before approval,” he said. Committee To Look Into Reduction Of Steel, Cement Costs The ministry has managed to achieve three world records recently. “Firstly, we have m

Parliaments are getting (slightly) younger according to latest IPU data

The global proportion of MPs aged under 30 has edged up to 2.6 per cent, according to the latest IPU report on  Youth Participation in National Parliaments . This represents an increase of 0.4 percentage points compared with two years ago. However, with 50 per cent of the world’s population under 30, the report highlights a sizeable deficit in the political representation of young people worldwide.  Just over a decade ago, the IPU’s Member Parliaments adopted the  2010 resolution on youth participation in the democratic process . The resolution led to the creation of the Forum of Young Parliamentarians, the premier global body for the world’s youngest MPs. It also led the IPU to collect data and information on youth participation in parliaments. This latest report is the fourth in the series and is based on data from 2020.    IPU President Duarte Pacheco said: “To deliver for the people, democracy must represent all the people. We need more young women and men parliamentarians to m

Emirati women scale newer heights in science & tech roles

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When Nora Al Matrooshi was selected to join the United Arab Emirates space programme, she became the Arab world's first woman astronaut.  Her selection – alongside male compatriot Mohammed Al Mulla – echoes the UAE's focus on gender equality and equal opportunities. The country continues to incorporate more women into technology sectors, expanding their role as they gain recognition for their contributions. Casting off stereotypes Over the last five decades, the traditional image of a male-dominated society has changed steadily, with growing numbers of women involved in all aspects of the nation's development. But steps to ensure equality accelerated in recent years. According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2021, the UAE climbed 48 places over the past year, rising from the 120th to 72nd globally in Global Gender Gap Index rankings. The Gulf region’s leader in terms of gender equality, it has also done the most to reduce the gender gap in g

Keep your tryst with another Natural Phenomenon Across Karnataka From April 24

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In the coming days, as the Sun makes its way across the sky, moving towards the north with each passing day, depending upon where one lives, the Sun will pass through the Zenith. This is Zero Shadow Day. Zenith is the point exactly above one’s head wherever one stands. Given the earth is a sphere-globe, this point varies from place to place with respect to the sky. At any other point, with the Sun-facing an individual at an angle, his/her shadow will be cast on the ground around the person. As the sun reaches higher in the sky, the length of the shadow reduces and on this day, when the sun is exactly above one’s head, it casts a shadow exactly below. Since one stands on this shadow, one does not really see their shadow making the shadow invisible… or Zero shadow. Zero Shadow Day Places For Karnataka With the Earth titled at an angle of 23.5 degrees (as the globes are made), as the earth moves around the Sun, the sun appears to move from north to south, appearing at the Zenith on tw