CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL
Shri Arjun Munda inaugurates ‘2 Days’ National Tribal Research Conclave’ being held virtually
- Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Shri Arjun Munda has stated that the Ministry of Tribal affairs is funding 26 Tribal Research Institutes (TRIs) for research under Grant to TRIs and is engaged in quality research in collaboration with reputed Government and Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) spread over the country. National Institute for Tribal research is being set up in partnership with IIPA at the IIPA premises in Delhi, the Minister stated.
- These partner organizations are designated as Centres of Excellence. Addressing at the inaugural session of “National Tribal Research Conclave” organized by Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Tribal Affairs, (M/o Tribal Affairs), Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), New Delhi here today, he stated that his Ministry along with such partner organisations design workable models which provide end to end solution, like problem identification, finding solution and execution of the project as part of Action research which can be implemented by policy initiatives.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL
Donald Trump announces Wilmington as first World War II Heritage City
- US President Donald Trump announced Wilmington in southern US state North Carolina as the first World War II Heritage City at a ceremony held to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II.
- During the war, Wilmington was the site of the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company, which built 243 ships in five years as part of the federal government’s emergency shipbuilding program.
G20 Foreign Ministers’ Extraordinary Meeting (Virtual) on Strengthening International Cooperation Across Borders
- The G20 Foreign Ministers’ Extraordinary Meeting was convened by the current G20 Chair, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, His Highness Prince Faisal Bin Farhan Al-Saud, chaired the meeting. EAM Dr. S. Jaishankar represented India.
- This virtual meeting was convened in the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The discussions centred on strengthening international cooperation across borders in wake of COVID-19 crisis. The Ministers also exchanged national experiences and lessons learned from the cross-border management measures taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemics.
- In his remarks, EAM commended Saudi Arabia for its proactive approach in bringing G20 countries together for dealing with this COVID-19 pandemic.
- EAM called on Governments around the world to ensure that interests of foreign students are protected and movement of stranded seafarers back to their home country is facilitated.
- EAM also proposed development of voluntary ‘G20 Principles on Coordinated Cross-Border Movement of People’ with three elements: a) Standardisation of testing procedures and universal acceptability of test results; b) Standardisation of ‘Quarantine procedures’; c) Standardisation of ‘movement and transit’ protocols.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING AND FINANCE
RBL Bank launches cardless cash withdrawal facility through ATMs
- RBL Bank has launched cardless cash withdrawal facility from ATMs, leveraging the Instant Money Transfer (IMT) system.
- It has tied-up with Empays Payment Systems, a global financial technology provider, to offer this service.
- To avail the service a customer has to log into RBL Bank’s MoBank app to locate an ATM that supports the IMT function and initiate cash withdrawal by either using his or her mobile number linked to the account or by following a few easy steps on the app.
- The customer selects the IMT button on the mobile app, gets a code, and uses it to withdraw money from the ATM.
About RBL Bank
- Headquarters: Mumbai
- MD & CEO: Vishwavir Ahuja
PayPal & DSCI report on ‘Fraud & Risk Management in Digital Payments’
- Data Security Council of India and PayPal India, released a study report on Fraud & Risk Management in Digital Payments by Lt. Gen (Dr) Rajesh Pant, National Cyber Security Coordinator, GoI in the presence of K. Rajaraman, Addl. Secretary, Dept. of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance.
- The report attempts to discuss about the sophisticated online payment fraud mechanisms, threats in the payment ecosystem, incorporating better fraud prevention strategies, role of upcoming technologies, and recommendations for various stakeholders involved in the payment ecosystem.
- UPI transactions in India have crossed 1.49 bn in volume and USD 41bn in transaction value, in July 2020. RBI predicts the number of digital transactions to increase from INR 2069cr in Dec’2018 to INR 8707cr by Dec’2021.
- The internet userbase is expected to grow to 835 million by 2023 from 560 million in 2018. As of March 31, 2019, 925 million debit and 47 million credit cards have been issued in India, second only to China. As a result of the above momentum, the growth of online shoppers is 73% in tier-I cities whereas a staggering 400% in tier-II and tier-III cities.
- The report covers various types of frauds scenarios such as buyer side, merchant side and cyber security frauds, and recent fraud case studies with their modus operandi. The key challenges to safeguard frauds remain fraud detection, investigation and legislative challenges, multilevel awareness, cross-industry collaboration, security as a cost overhead, privacy laws, and organized criminal involvement.
