India third largest e-waste generator in the world

1.Elyments – First Indian Social Media Super App

With more than 500 million social media users in the country and the numbers are only increasing, under the inspiration of Spiritual Leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (Founder of the Art of Living), more than 1000 IT professionals came together to develop the first Made in India social media super application.The application is called ‘Elyments’.The application has already been downloaded around 2 lakh times and been crowd tested for several months.The application is developed by Sumeru Software Solutions Private Limited.

2.India third largest e-waste generator in the world

India is the third largest electronic waste generator in the world after China and the USA.These three countries together contributed 38% of total 53.6 million tonnes (Mt) of e-waste, generated worldwide in 2019.Releasing these data, the UN’s Global E-waste Monitor 2020 presented a worrying scenario where only 17.4% (9.3 Mt) of the total e-waste was collected and recycled globally.It means gold, platinum and other high-value recoverable critical raw materials (cobalt, palladium, indium, germanium, bismuth, and antimony), worth US $57 billion, dumped or burned in e-waste last year.Europe ranked first worldwide in terms of e-waste generation per capita with 16.2 kg per capita.

3.Nagaland bans import, trade and sale of dog meat

The Nagaland government banned the import, trading, and sale of dog meat in the north-eastern state.Earlier, the Mizoram government had taken a similar decision in March.It said that dog meat consumption is prohibited in India through the Food Safety and Standard (Food Products Standard and Additives) Regulation, 2011.However, this is poorly enforced, and in the states of Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh.Thousands of dogs each year are illegally captured from the streets or stolen from homes, and cruelly transported from neighbouring states in gunny bags to be brutally slaughtered for consumption by being beaten to death.

4.IIT Kanpur develops virtual classroom system ‘Mobile Masterjee’

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur has developed an innovative virtual classroom aid titled ‘Mobile Masterjee’.The classroom-to-home teaching setup is designed to record the lectures/instructions by the teachers while using smartphones.‘Mobile Masterjee’ can capture the videos in horizontal (table) and vertical (blackboard) positions.Developed by the Imagineering Lab of IIT Kanpur, it is targeted at helping the rural schools overcome the teaching and learning challenges posed by the pandemic.It is lightweight and compact, and has adjustments to fit sheets/book on it for delivering instructions to pupils.

5.ADB becomes observer of Network For Greening The Financial System

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has joined the central banks and supervisors Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) as an observer.NGFS, launched at the Paris One Planet Summit on December 12, 2017, is a group of central banks and supervisors willing to share best practices and contribute to the development of environment and climate risk management in the financial sector.ADB joins the ranks of the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, the International Monetary Fund, and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development as NGFS observers.

6.India’s GDP may contract by 6.4% in FY21: Care Ratings

Care Ratings revised India’s GDP growth forecast for the current financial year to (-) 6.4 percent.It has been revised as economic activity continues to be under restriction due to the lockdown on account of the COVID-19 pandemic.The rating agency, in May, had projected a decline in GDP growth of 1.5-1.6 per cent in FY21.According to the report GDP forecasts for FY21 are unique as they would be varying depending on the evolving situation and the assumptions being made on the recovery process in the country.

7.NHAI chairman Sukhbir Singh Sandhu gets six months extension

Senior bureaucrat Sukhbir Singh Sandhu was given six months extension, till mid January next year, as the chairman of National Highways Authority of India.Sandhu, a 1988 batch IAS officer of Uttarakhand cadre, took charge of the post in October last year.The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the extension beyond July 21, 2020 i.e. up to January 21, 2021.Meanwhile, last week’s cyberattack on the mail server of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been found to be a ransomware attack that resulted in loss of all data in the server, in addition to breaches in hardware where data is stored.

8.Karnam Sekar retires as Indian Overseas Bank MD & CEO

Public sector Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) said its managing director and chief executive Karnam Sekar retired.Karnam had joined the bank as an OSD (officer on special duty) and whole-time director on April 1, 2019 and was elevated as MD and CEO on July 1, 2019 after the retirement of Subramaniam Kumar.Sekar was appointed as OSD of IOB after merger of Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank into Bank of Baroda.He was MD and CEO of Dena Bank since September 21, 2018.

9.Chinese badminton superstar Lin Dan announces retirement

China’s two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan has announced his retirement.It means that Lin, who won gold at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Games, will not compete at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which have been pushed back to next summer because of coronavirus.The end of Lin’s glorious career comes just over a year after the retirement of his great rival and friend, the Malaysian star Lee Chong Wei.