13 Dec 2023
#GS2: – 01. India-Germany Relations
Germany’s state-owned investment and development bank is set to sign an agreement to provide €500 million (around ₹4,500 crore) in financial assistance for the expansion of Bengaluru Metro. The funding, in the form of loan and grants,
will help expansion plans and lend technical expertise.
-Commentary in News
#GS3: – 02. Financial Inclusion & Pvt. Sector Banks
There is lower participation by private sector Banks in the government’s financial inclusion drive and They need to step up their efforts. Banks and financial institutions to work on three areas—getting KYC done for inoperative accounts, nomination for bank accounts and strengthening cyber security.
– Financial services secretary Vivek Joshi
#GS3: – 03. GPAI
India is fully committed to responsible and ethical use of AI. We’ve started the National Programme on AI. We will be launching an AI mission with the aim of setting up adequate capacity of compute power needed for AI. This will provide better facilities to Indian startups and entrepreneurs. Under this mission, AI applications will be promoted in the sectors of education, health and agriculture. Through industrial training institues, we will take the AI skills to tier-II and -III cities. The national AI portal will promote AI initiative in the country. The common platform of AIRAWAT—the super computer installed at CDAC Pune —will soon be used by research labs, industry and startups, too.
– PM Modi
Key Terms/Issues : AIRAWAT, CDAC, AI Mission, National Program on AI
#GS3: – 04. e-commerce
India’s e-commerce market is expected to vault past $ 160 billion by 2028, from an estimated $ 57–$ 60 billion in2023,
as online shopping has accelerated after the covid-19pandemic,a report said. Since2020,the country’s on line retail
market has consistently expanded by $ 8–12 billion each year. The covid-19 pandemic has been an inflection point for e-retail adoption globally. The pandemic-induced rise in online shopping has primarily persisted across markets, but to varying degrees. In mature markets like the US and China, the annual uptick in e-retail penetration is slightly lower or comparable to pre-pandemic levels. However, India has witnessed an acceleration in e-retail penetration following the
pandemic
-The How India Shops Online 2023 report by Bain and Co.
#GS2: – 05. Russian Oil for India
India paid the highest prices for Russian oil in October since the price cap was imposed, providing aboostto Moscow’s revenues despite efforts by Western nations to curb the producer’s income and Funding for the Ukraine war. India, the world’s third- biggest oil importer and consumer, has emerged as the biggest buyer of sea- borne Russian crude as western nations cut purchases after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine more than a year ago.
The price of Russia’s flagship grade Uralin Baltic Ports has plunged since late November below the $60/barrel ceiling.
New Delhi wants to cut its crude import bill and the average cost of Russian oil is lower than that from Iraq and Saudi Arabia, the second and third-biggest oil suppliers to India.
-Commentary in News
#GS3: – 06. Indian on Moon by 2040
After the historic success of its Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission, India’s space agency Isro is going full throttle with its plans to send Indian astronauts for the first time to the moon by 2040.
-Isro chairman S Somanath
#GS2: – 07. Poverty & Economic Growth
It would be incorrect to jump to the conclusion that countries can spend their way out of poverty. Implicit in much of the discussion on the role of public goods in poverty reduction is the question of the government’s fiscal capacity, or its ability to fund such spending through tax revenues. That, in turn, requires both a dynamic economy as well as an efficient tax system. Poverty reduction over the long-term is strongly correlated with sustained economic growth.