The First Forum is an initiative that focuses on covering the latest happenings in a brief format. This is in lieu of the importance of knowledge about current happenings in this fast-changing world.
In the Sixty Third Edition of The First Forum we would be covering the following topics:
1. Politics
2. Science and Technology
3. Business
4. Economics
5. Finance
(By Divyansh Gupta, Ayush Harlalka)
Politics
Kesavananda Bharati, Seer who stood for protecting Constitution, dies
Kesavananda Bharati Sripadagalvaru, the Kerala seer who stood for protecting the Constitution, has passed away. Bharati, whose property rights case in the Supreme Court in 1973 helped define basic rights under the Constitution, breathed his last at his ashram in Edaneer in Kasargod district of north Kerala this morning. He was 79. He is remembered as a man of great respect as he had filed a case challenging the Constitution (29th Amendment Act, 1972, questioning the Kerala government’s move to take over the mutt property. The timing of his move was significant as it came around the time when the Indira Gandhi-led government had made changes to the 24th, 25th, 26th and 29th amendments of the Constitution to get the court to rule in favour of the government in bank nationalisation and privy purses cases.Read More
Donald Trump, US president gets nominated twice for Nobel Peace Prize 2021
United States President Donald Trump has been nominated for Nobel Peace Prize 2021 for his role in brokering a deal between Israel and United Arab Emirates, according to reports. The nomination was submitted by Christian Tybring-Gjedde, a Norwegian parliamentarian to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. He has nominated Trump for his contribution for peace between Israel and the UAE. Earlier, Tybring-Gjedde nominated Trump for the award for his diplomatic efforts with North Korea. Read More
UK to quit Brexit if no deal by Oct 15
With the 11- month transition period after Brexit ending December 31, Britain will enter into an economic break with EU and the Prime Minister Boris Johnson has made some tough remarks which could end up bringing various trade restrictions on Britain. The PM says that Britain can opt for no-deal Brexit if the negotiators of EU do not adhere to their demands. Read More
India and Japan enter into 10-year military pact to counter China
Amid the brewing tensions in the Indo-Pacific region and South China Sea due to the Chinese aggression, India and Japan has entered into a 10-year military pact that will facilitate the movement of essential supplies and services between the forces of respective countries. Read More
Trump ends federal Anti-Racism training
US President Donald Trump has directed the Office of Management and Budget to end federal agency training programs meant for supporting diversity and combating racism calling it “divisive, anti-American propaganda”. This came after the president learnt that millions of dollars were being spent by federal agencies in training employees. Read More
Science and Technology
World Solar Technology Summit
Recently, the first-ever World Solar Technology Summit (WSTS) was organized by the International Solar Alliance (ISA) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). More than 26000 participants from 149 countries registered to join this virtual Summit. The ISA also launched the ISA Journal on Solar Energy (I JOSE) on the occasion that would help authors from across the globe to publish their articles on solar energy. There was also a CEO conclave where CEOs of top global corporations that have made path breaking progress in implementing and scaling up solar technologies took part.Read More
India successfully test scramjet technology for hypersonic missiles
India on Monday successfully tested an indigenously-developed hypersonic technology demonstrator vehicle (HSTDV) powered by a scramjet engine, which will serve as a critical building block for next-generation hypersonic cruise missiles. The HSTDV test, conducted from the Dr Abdul Kalam Island off the Odisha coast at 11.03 am to demonstrate the autonomous flight of a scramjet integrated vehicle, propelled India right into an extremely exclusive hypersonic club consisting of the US, Russia and China as of now. The hypersonic cruise vehicle in its test sustained its scramjet-powered flight path at a velocity of six times the speed of sound (Mach 6, or nearly 2-km per second) for 22-24 seconds. Read More
SII halts trials for Oxford Covid vaccine
The Serum Institute of India has halted the process of vaccine trial for Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 on receiving a notice for the same from DCGI. The move comes after the vaccine’s trials have been suspended in UK after a participant developed an unexplained illness after getting the vaccine. It is not clear, however, if the problem has arisen due to the given vaccine or any other medical sophistications. Read More
NASA Enlists Commercial Partners to Fly 10 Science and Technology Payloads to the Moon
Under the NASA’s Artemis Program, it has issued a request to its 14 Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) partners to bid for flying 10 NASA science investigations and technology demonstrations to a non- polar region of Moon by 2022. Read More
Huawei is set to launch Android-rival HarmonyOS next year
Huawei is planning to launch its own operating system next year. The Chinese company is doing this in order to reduce reliance on other providers like Google’s Android. The company will be trying to replace the Android operating system on Huawei devices. The company is also facing some serious accusations from the US government. The Harmony OS was first unveiled to the public in 2019 at a time when the company was facing flak in United States and Google was restricted to provide its services to the Chinese company. Read More


Business
EPFO sets out two instalments for interest payments of 2019-20
The EPFO (Employee Provident Fund organization) will credit the promised interest rate of 8.5% for the year 2019-20 to its subscribers in a staggered manner in the wake of Covid 19. This promised rate is lowest among the interest rates offered since 2012. The payment will be made in two tranches. Read More
IIP (Index of Industrial Production)
Due to the halt in industry activity due to nationwide lockdown since March, there has been a steep shrink in the industrial production by 10.4%. The non- operation of large number of industrial units has had a significant impact on the items produced by these establishments in the lockdown period. Although the index has improved if we compare the month of August to that of March and April, the comparison from last year gives big differences.Read More
Auto sales rebound to positive territory after 9 months
Domestic wholesales of passenger vehicle rebounded in August after 9 months of consecutive decline due to pent-up demand. Rise of 14.16% was recorded on a YoY (year-on-year) basis. The number of units sold stood at 215916 units as against 189129 units in the same month previous year. According to SIAM President Kenichi Ayukawa, although growth brings back confidence in one of India’s most important industry, it has been achieved due to the low base of August 2019. Read More
Vodafone Idea Rebrands as ‘Vi’ To Mark Merger Completion
Vodafone and Idea have integrated to transform into the new identity – ‘Vi’. The announcement was made by Ravinder Takkar, MD & CEO, Vodafone Idea. Vodafone Idea board on Friday had approved a plan to raise up to ₹25,000 crore through a combination of equity and debt instruments. The decision came days after the Supreme Court directed telecom operators to pay 10% of total adjusted gross revenue (AGR)-related dues this year, and rest of the payments in 10 instalments, starting next fiscal year. Vodafone Idea faces outstanding AGR dues of about ₹50,000 crore. Read More
UK signs trade deal with Japan, first major deal post Brexit
The UK struck its first major deal post Brexit with Japan on Friday. This is expected to boost trade by over £15.2 Billion between the two countries. According to Britain’s trade department, UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement will allow tariff-free trade on 99% exports and will benefit UK businesses extensively. While the supporters said that the deal brings new wins for tech, manufacturing and food industry, the critics argue that it will merely boost the UK GDP by 0.07%. Read More
Economics
Kamath Committee Sets Thresholds for Debt Restructuring Across 26 Sectors
A Reserve Bank of India appointed committee, headed by veteran banker KV Kamath, has recommended that the banking industry look at atleast five financial parameters before taking a decision on restructuring. The five-member committee has recommended minimum and maximum thresholds for these five parameters, which lenders must assess before approving a restructuring request. The committee has specified different thresholds across 26 sectors which may have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The committee suggested that lenders track the following parameters: Total outside liabilities /adjusted tangible net worth, Total, debt/Ebitda, Current ratio, Debt service, coverage ratio, Average debt service and coverage ratio. Read More
Finance Minister unveils EASE 2.0 Banking Index
Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman today inaugurated Doorstep Banking Services by PSBs and participated in the awards ceremony to felicitate best performing banks on EASE Banking Reforms Index. As part of the EASE Reforms, Doorstep Banking Services is envisaged to provide convenience of banking services to the customers at their door step through the universal touch points of Call Centre, Web Portal or Mobile App. Customers can also track their service request through these channels. The services shall be rendered by the Doorstep Banking Agents deployed by the selected Service Providers at 100 centres across the country. Read More
Goldman Sachs considers Indian economy worst hit, says GDP will shrink to 14.8% by financial year 2021
Gold man sachs, an American brokerage firm has revised its estimates that GDP of India will shrink to 14.8% due to the pandemic from the earlier estimate of 11.8% few days back. The greater estimate is the result of major halt of the economic activity owing to the two-month long lockdown which could not help in flattening the Covid case curve. Analysts say the GDP of India is worst hit among the major economies in the world. Read More
Fitch Ratings revises global GDP contraction to 4.4%
In its latest September update of Global Economic Outlook (GEO), Fitch Ratings has revised its global GDP fall due to coronavirus pandemic to 4.4% in 2020 as against a 4.6% decline expected in its June GEO. India’s growth projection has taken a major hit from an estimated 5% decline to a 10.5% decline after data release of official GDP contraction in the April-June quarter by 23.9%. Limited fiscal support, stringent lockdown, rise in virus cases and fragilities in the financial system is cited as the reason behind this revision. Read More
India at 105 in Global Economic Freedom Index, slips 26 places
According to Economic Freedom of the World: 2020 report, India slipped 26 places from 79 to 105 among 162 countries and territories in the Global Economic Freedom Index 2020. This report was published by Fraser Institute jointly with New-Delhi based Centre for Civil Society. This index analyses institutions and policies in a country to measure the ability of an individual to make their own economic decisions. Read More
Finance
Cannabis Medicine Project: First Foreign Investment project in J&K
India’s first international collaboration on cannabis medicinal project will produce and export quality medicinal drug for pain relief in cancer, diabetic and neuropathy at the facility being developed in J&K. The CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (IIIM), Jammu, signed an agreement on cannabis research with IndusCann, a Canadian company, here in the presence of the Union minister and R R Bhatnagar, the adviser to Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor G C Murmu. Read More
Capital India Finance gets forex business licence from RBI
Capital India Finance Ltd (CIFL) has received Authorised Dealer Category II licence from RBI for conducting forex business. CIFL is the first listed NBFC in India to receive this licence and is now authorised to build and do forex business under the brand name ‘RapiMoney’. Last year, RBI permitted systemically important non-deposit taking NBFCs to obtain Authorised Dealer Category-II licence from it. Read More
Borrowings by States soar 51% to 2.97 lakh crore
The cash starved states of India are grappling with the rising expenses due to the pandemic. Accompanied by fall in revenues, states are getting heavily burdened with the debt which is nearly 51% higher compared to last year. The cumulative borrowings of all states stand at Rs 2.97 lakh crore in comparison to the Rs 1.97 lakh crore last year. Read More
Reliance cap hits $200 Billion after reports of potential Amazon investment
Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) became the first Indian company to cross the US$ 200 Billion mark after news of a likely Reliance-Amazon deal worth US$ 20 Billion. The stock prices jumped over 7% on the 10th of September to settle at Rs. 2314 apiece and reached the historic mark. According to a Bloomberg report, Reliance is offering a stake sale worth US$ 20 Billion to Amazon in its retail arm, Reliance Retail. Read More
Tata Motors to sell stake in 2 units for its debt-free plan
Tata Motors is willing to sell stakes in Tata Technologies and Tata Hitachi Construction Machinery to move forward in its ambitious plan to turn debt-free and generate free cash flows within 3 years. As of 31 July 2020, Tata Motors has a consolidated debt of Rs. 68000 crore, a sharp rise from Rs. 48000 crore as of 31 March 2020. This comes due to excessive cash burn from the coronavirus pandemic.Read More
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