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 Seventy Fourth – 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 Mehak Gupta, Nikunj Gulati and Kanika)
Politics
Suppressing democratic rights of farmers to protest
Farmers are standing resolutely in the face of “cruelty”, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said as he hit out at the Modi government after Haryana Police used water cannons and teargas to disperse hundreds of farmers marching towards Delhi to protest the Centre’s farm laws. Read More
Trump inching towards exiting the White House
U.S. President Donald Trump said he will leave the White House if the Electoral College votes for Democratic President-elect Joe Biden. Speaking to reporters on the Thanksgiving holiday, Republican Trump said if Democrat Biden – who is due to be sworn in on Jan. 20 – is formally declared the winner by the Electoral College, he will depart the White House. Read More
China’s Xi congratulates Biden, hope for win-win ties
Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated U.S. President-elect Joe Biden and expressed hope for win-win cooperation” amid conflicts over trade, technology, and security. China became one of the last major governments to congratulate Biden. In a congratulatory message, Xi told Biden that we hope the two sides will uphold the spirit of non-conflict and non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, will focus on cooperation, control differences, and promote the healthy and stable development of Chinese-U.S. relations. Read More
India sees itself as Nepal’s foremost friend and development partner: Foreign Secretary
Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said that India sees itself as Nepal’s “foremost friend and development partner” as he stressed the need for strong cooperative relations between the two neighbours as he is on a two-day maiden visit to Nepal. Delivering a talk hosted by the Asian Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs – a Kathmandu-based non-partisan foreign policy think-tank, Shringla said the relation between Nepal and India is “intricate” and they share the same geography, civilisational heritage, culture, and customs.Read More
‘One Nation, One Election’ as need of India
Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the pitch for “One Nation, One Election” and a single voter list for all polls to prevent the impact of the model code of conduct on development works every few months due to frequent spread-out polls. One Nation, One Election’ isn’t just an issue of deliberation but also a need of the country. Read More
Science and Technology
Scientists create world’s thinnest memory storage device
Faster, smaller, smarter and more energy-efficient chips for everything could soon be on the way after engineers at The University of Texas created the smallest memory device yet based on a discovery from two years ago. Using the physics that pack dense memory storage capability into these devices enabled the ability to make them much smaller. Read More
China launches a mission to collect first moon samples
China’s latest lunar mission, called Chang’e-5, is on its way to the Moon after a successful launch from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on Hainan Island. Assuming everything goes to plan, Chang’e-5 will touch down on the Moon within the next two weeks, scoop up a few kilograms of lunar dust and rocks, and haul them back to Earth next month. Read More
Diabetes set to devastate India’s metropolitan cities
Research shows that more than half of men (55%) and some two thirds (65%) of women currently aged 20 years in India will likely develop diabetes in their lifetime, with most of those cases (around 95%) likely to be type 2 diabetes (T2D). Obesity had a substantial impact on these projections. Lifetime risk was highest among obese metropolitan Indians. Read More
ISRO to launch Bhutan’s satellite next year
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India will soon be sending Bhutanese satellite to space. “India opened its space sector for private enterprises. It will boost innovation, capacity, and skills. ISRO will be sending Bhutan’s satellite next year and work on that is progressing fast,” he said. Read More


Business
Google India FY20 revenue rises 35% to Rs 5,594 cr, profit up 24%
Google India Private Limited, reported a 24% increase in profit to Rs 586 crore for financial year 2019-20. The tech giant reported Rs 5,594 crore in revenues for 2019-20 which was 35% higher than the previous year. The company reported total expenses as Rs 4,455 crore in the period. Read More
Big Basket lost 80% of workforce within 2 days of lockdown, but bounced back with resilience: CEO Menon
Online grocery service provider BigBasket lost 80% of their workforce in the first two days of India’s nationwide lockdown owing to the fear and uncertainty of COVID-19 pandemic, said the company’s co-founder and CEO, Hari Menon. He also said that BigBasket had to recruit over 12,300 people in 16 days.
Menon said that an organisation needs to be a learning organization and the first at Big Basket was to set up an excellent training and innovation function. Read More
France resumes digital tax on US technology giants
France authorities have begun demanding millions of euros from Big Tech companies like Amazon and Facebook as they are resuming collection of a special digital tax despite the threat of U.S. retaliatory tariffs on French Champagne, cheese, handbags and other goods. Read More
Amazon to spend $500 million in holiday bonus to frontline workers
E-retail giant Amazon will pay the employees who pack and deliver its goods a one-time bonus of up to $300, extra compensation that comes as the company faces a union drive and criticism from others for rolling back pandemic hazard pay. The cost to Amazon will amount to about $500 million, logistics chief Dave Clark said.Read More
Economics
PSUs put in more efforts to meet CAPEX targets
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the capital expenditure by PSUs is a critical driver of economic growth, and need to be scaled up for the current and the next financial year. Appreciating the efforts of the ministries and PSUs for making visible efforts to meet out the CAPEX targets, she said that more efforts are still required to achieve the target of 75 percent CAPEX by Q3 and more than 100 percent by Q4 of this fiscal year. Read More
Indian economy recession to end soon
The recent vaccine news has boosted Indian stocks to repeated record highs and fueled hopes of a pick-up in economic activity. India’s economy is expected to recover early next year from the recession, but at a modest pace, according to a majority of economists in a Reuters poll who said their upgraded growth predictions were based on the progress of COVID-19 vaccines. Read More
Economy emergency has just begun with Spending Review
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a Spending Review to lay out expenditure plans for the next year in the House of Commons, the finance minister told the parliamentarians the UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) expects unemployment to rise to a peak of 2.6 million people next year.
Read More
India cuts import tax on crude palm oil
The government slashed import tax on crude palm oil to 27.5% from 37.5% , aiming to bring down rising food prices with the measure. India is the world’s biggest importer of palm oil. It imports around 9 million tonnes of palm oil annually, mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia. Read More
US economy surges by record 33.1% in Q3
The US economy rebounded at a record pace of 33.1% in the July-September quarter, unchanged from the first estimate a month ago. But a resurgence in the coronavirus is expected to slow growth sharply in the current quarter with some economists even raising the spectre of a double-dip recession. The overall increase in the gross domestic product, the country’s total output of goods and services, remained the same as its first estimate. Read More
Finance
Burger King India IPO to open on December 2
Quick service restaurant chain Burger King India is all set to open its initial public offer (IPO) on December 2. Shares are available at a premium of Rs 20-25 in the grey market against issue price of Rs 59-60 per share. Post the IPO, the promoter entity will hold 52.9% in the company.Read More
Facebook crypto Libra to launch as early as Jan
Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency is readying to launch as early as January, a report stated. The Geneva-based Libra Association that will issue and govern Libra plans to launch a single digital coin backed by the dollar. Libra was originally meant to be backed by a wide mix of currencies and government debt.
But regulators feared Facebook’s plan to create one single coin could destabilize monetary policy and erode user privacy. Read More
Union Bank of India Plans To Raise Up To Rs 6,800 Crore
State-owned Union Bank of India said it proposes to raise up to Rs 6,800 crore during this fiscal to fund business growth. The board has approved raising of equity capital during 2020-21 by way of various modes such as Public issue and/or Rights Issue and/or Private Placements, including Qualified Institutions Placement and/or Preferential Allotment to the Government of India, the bank said.
Read More
BSE, NSE declares Anugrah Stock & Broking as defaulter, expels from memberships
BSE and NSE have declared Anugrah Stock & Broking as a defaulter and have expelled the brokerage house from respective memberships. Markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had ordered the scam-tainted broking firm to stop its operations and barred the two promoters from the markets. Read More
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