Indian Overseas Bank: Ajay Kumar Srivastava appointed as MD and CEO
Indian Overseas Bank: Ajay Kumar
Srivastava appointed as MD and CEO
Why In News
Ajay Kumar Srivastava
has been elevated as Managing Director and CEO of Indian Overseas Bank with
effect from January 1, 2023 from his current posting as executive director.
Key Points
Ajay Kumar Srivastava
has been elevated as Managing Director and CEO of Indian Overseas Bank with
effect from January 1, 2023 from his current posting as executive director. He
started his banking career as a probationary officer in 1991 with Allahabad
Bank where he worked in various capacities in different parts of the country.
He is an astute and hardcore banker with Vast field-level experience and has
the distinction of having successfully led the largest and most critical areas
of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Delhi while working at a senior level in
Allahabad Bank.
Ajay Kumar Srivastava:
After the successful
completion of about 27 years in Allahabad Bank he was elevated as Executive
Director of IOB in October 2017.
He made strategies
for each of the key areas and successfully implemented them at the ground level
with the support of the Board.
He served the Bank as
Executive Director for more than five years and handled all the departments and
portfolios during the period.
He was appointed as
Director on the Board of India Infrastructure Finance Company by the government
for two years. He also served as Director on the Board of Regional Rural Bank
in his previous Bank.
India and Pakistan Exchange Lists of Nuclear Assets and Prison Inmates
India and Pakistan Exchange Lists of
Nuclear Assets and Prison Inmates
Why In News
India and Pakistan
exchanged lists of nuclear installations that cannot be attacked in the event
of hostilities, maintaining a tradition dating back to 1992.
Key Points
India and Pakistan
exchanged lists of nuclear installations that cannot be attacked in the event
of hostilities, maintaining a tradition dating back to 1992 despite bilateral
ties being at an all-time low. The two sides further exchanged lists of
prisoners held in each other’s jails, and the Indian side sought the early
release and repatriation of civilian prisoners, missing defence personnel and
fishermen, along with their boats, from Pakistan’s custody.
This was the 32nd
consecutive exchange of such lists between the two countries, the first one
having taken place on January 1, 1992. Under the provisions of the 2008
Agreement on Consular Access, the two sides also exchange lists of prisoners in
each other’s custody twice a year, on January 1 and July 1, through diplomatic
channels in New Delhi and Islamabad.
The external affairs
ministry said India currently has 339 Pakistani civilian prisoners and 95
fishermen in its custody. Pakistan shared a list of 51 civilian prisoners and
654 fishermen in its custody. In this context, Pakistan was asked to expedite
the release and repatriation of 631 Indian fishermen and 02 Indian civilian
prisoners, who have completed their sentence and whose nationality has been
confirmed and conveyed to Pakistan. In addition, Pakistan was asked to provide
immediate consular access to 30 fishermen and 22 civilian prisoners in its
custody who are believed to be Indians.
The lists of nuclear
installations and facilities were simultaneously exchanged through diplomatic
channels in New Delhi and Islamabad according to provisions of the Agreement on
the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear Installations and Facilities. Both
sides do not disclose details of such facilities.
Inacio Lula da Silva Sworn in As the President of Brazil for the 3rd Time
Inacio Lula da Silva Sworn in As the
President of Brazil for the 3rd Time
Why In News
Luiz Inacio Lula da
Silva took office for a third term as Brazil's president, vowing to fight for
the poor and the environment and "rebuild the country".
Key Points
Luiz Inacio Lula da
Silva took office for a third term as Brazil’s president, vowing to fight for
the poor and the environment and “rebuild the country” after far-right leader
Jair Bolsonaro’s divisive administration. The 77-year-old veteran leftist, who
previously led Brazil from 2003 to 2010, took the oath of office before
Congress, capping a remarkable political comeback for the
metalworker-turned-president less than five years after he was jailed on
controversial, since-quashed corruption charges.
It is the first time
since the end of Brazil’s 1965-1985 military dictatorship that an incoming
leader has not received the yellow-and-green presidential sash from his
predecessor. Foreign dignitaries including 19 heads of state were in attendance
as Lula, who previously led Brazil through a watershed boom, took the oath of
office for a new four-year term.
Lula faces numerous
urgent challenges in the Latin American giant, which looks little like the
commodities-fueled dynamo he led in the 2000s. They include rebooting economic
growth, curbing rampant destruction of the Amazon rainforest and delivering on
his ambitious agenda to fight poverty and inequality.
Markets are meanwhile
watching nervously how Lula will fund his promised social spending, given Brazil’s
overstretched government finances.
Lula will face a
Congress dominated by Bolsonaro’s conservative allies. In a sign of how
polarized the country remains, far-right hardliners have been protesting
outside army bases ever since Lula’s narrow runoff win on October 30, calling
for a military intervention to keep him from taking power.
International Year of millets 2023
International Year of millets 2023
Why In News
The Government of
India sponsored the proposal for International Year of Millets (IYM) 2023 which
was accepted by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
Key Points
The Government of
India sponsored the proposal for International Year of Millets (IYM) 2023 which
was accepted by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). The declaration has
been instrumental for the Government of India to be at the forefront in
celebrating the IYM. PM Narendra Modi has also shared his vision to make IYM
2023 a ‘People’s Movement’ alongside positioning India as the ‘Global Hub for
Millets’.
Recognising the
enormous potential of Millets, which also aligns with several UN Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), the Government of India (GoI) has prioritized
Millets. In April 2018, Millets were rebranded as “Nutri Cereals”, followed by
the year 2018 being declared as the National Year of Millets, aiming at larger
promotion and demand generation. The global millets market is projected to
register a CAGR of 4.5% during the forecast period between 2021-2026.
On 6th December
2022, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations,
organized an opening ceremony for the International Year of Millets – 2023 at
Rome, Italy. The event was attended by a delegation of senior government
officials from India. Next in the series, prior to the year-long celebration of
‘International Year of Millets (IYM) 2023’, the Department of Agriculture &
Farmers Welfare hosted a special ‘Millet Luncheon’ for the Members of the
Parliament at the Parliament house.
Among central
ministries, the activities related to IYM for the month of January 2023 will be
kick started by the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs, Government of India.
The ministry has planned 15 activities over 15 days in January which include
engaging sports persons, nutritionists and fitness experts through video
messages, conducting webinars on millets with leading nutritionists, dieticians
and elite athletes, promotion amplification through Fit India App, etc. Some of
the other ministries which have planned events in January are Ministry of Food
Processing Industries which will be organizing Millet Fair-cum-exhibitions in
Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh; FSSAI will organize Eat Right Melas
in Punjab, Kerala and Tamil Nadu etc.
With respect to
states, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Rajasthan have been allocated the month of
January for carrying out specific activities for sensitization and promotion of
IYM. The states will be conducting millet centric activities including
mahotsavs/ melas and food festivals, training of farmers, awareness campaigns,
workshops/ seminars, placement of hoardings and distribution of promotional
material at various key locations in the state, etc. Other states that are
organizing similar activities in the month of January include Maharashtra,
Uttarakhand and Punjab.
Millet is a common
term for categorising small-seeded grasses that are often called Nutri-cereals.
Some of them are sorghum (jowar), pearl millet (bajra), finger millet (ragi),
little millet (kutki), foxtail millet (kakun), proso millet (cheena), barnyard
millet (sawa), and kodo millet (kodon). An essential staple cereal crop for
millions of smallholder dryland farmers across Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia,
millets offer nutrition, resilience, income and livelihood for farmers, and
have multiple uses such as food, feed, fodder, biofuels and brewing.
Significance
Millets are
nutritionally superior to wheat and rice owing to their higher protein levels
and a more balanced amino acid profile. Millets also contain various
phytochemicals which exert therapeutic properties owing to their
anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative properties. Further, besides being climate
resilient, millet grains are rich sources of nutrients like carbohydrates,
protein, dietary fibre, and good-quality fat; minerals like calcium, potassium,
magnesium, iron, manganese, zinc and B complex vitamins. Most importantly,
millet production is not dependent on the use of chemical fertilizers.
Millet Producing States:
India produces all
the nine commonly known millets and is the largest producer and fifth-largest
exporter of millets in the world. Most of the states in India grow one or more
millet crop species. Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya
Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana are
the major millets producing states.