GS-III

Expects a positive response from RBI on the formation of the bank The State government is expecting a positive response from the Reserve Bank of India on the formation Kerala Bank, Cooperation Minister Kadakampally Surendran has said. Mr. Surendran said in a clarification issued here on Tuesday that the government …

An RFI for 30,000 guns has been issued The Army has issued a Request for Information (RFI) for the procurement of 30,000 light machine guns (LMG) to equip the infantry.The RFI, which was issued on Monday, set a four-week timeframe for interested vendors to submit bids. “Tentative date of issue …

Stronger implementation of minimum wage laws and boosting frameworks for collective bargaining are needed Real average daily wages in India almost doubled in the first two decades after economic reforms, but low pay and wage inequality remains a serious challenge to inclusive growth, the International Labour Organization warned in its …

India’s first community radio station, Sangham Radio, owned and run by 5,000 poor, mostly Dalit women in one of India’s most underdeveloped areas, is on the verge of closing down , unless its crowdfunding campaign raises enough funds. The radio station, an initiative of the Deccan Development Society (DDS), a …

Drinking high-protein milk at breakfast can help lower blood glucose level throughout the day, suggests a study. The findings showed that milk consumed with a high-carbohydrate breakfast reduced blood glucose even after lunch. Milk with an increased proportion of whey protein had a modest effect on pre-lunch blood glucose, achieving …

Robots can influence the opinions and decisions of young children, according to a study published in the journal Science Robotics. The study shows that kids are significantly more susceptible to manipulation by machines than adults. Researchers from University of Plymouth in the U.K. compared how adults and children respond to …

Residents of Tripoli’s seafront wake up most weekends to loud blasts: fishermen using dynamite to maximise their catch, regardless of the damage they are causing to marine life. Dynamite fishing, or “blast fishing”, has flourished — with impunity — since Libya’s 2011 uprising that left the country awash with weapons …

Consumption of non-coking coal is forecast to climb to 1,076 million tonnes in fiscal 2023, from 826 million tonnes in fiscal 2018, Crisil Research said in a report. In a sectoral study, Crisil Research also said that non-coking coal imports would decline to 145 million tonnes in fiscal 2023 from …

The Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, may need to be amended to facilitate the setting of a public credit registry (PCR), RBI Deputy Governor Viral Acharya said on Monday. Underscoring the vital need for the registry — the PCR is planned as an extensive database of credit information for …

The benchmark indices of South Korea, Indonesia and Taiwan also gained ground amid hopes that the U.S. and China would soon resolve trade disputes. Nikkei, however, lost marginal ground on Monday. Back in India, the overall market breadth also remained slightly on the stronger side with 1,437 advances against 1,307 …

Indian benchmark equity indices rose to new highs on Monday as investor sentiments were lifted on account of a positive trend across most leading Asian markets and a recovery in the rupee against the dollar. The 30-share Sensex gained 330.87 points or 0.87% to close at a new high of …

Dodgy lip sync dubbing could soon become a thing of the past as researchers have developed an Artificial Intelligence-based system that can edit the facial expressions of actors to accurately match dubbed voices. The AI system, called Deep Video Portraits, can also be used to correct gaze and head pose …

Scientists have discovered a beetle trapped in amber that dates back to 99 million years, a finding that may help better understand the relationship between ancient flowering plants and pollinators. A group of unusual evergreen gymnosperms, known as cycads, may have been the first insect-pollinated plants. A study published in …

Robots that can diagnose diseases, play badminton and wow audiences with their musical skills are among the machines China hopes could revolutionise its economy, with visitors to a Beijing exhibition offered a glimpse of an automated future. The popular stars of this year’s World Robot Conference, which ended on Sunday, …

At Google, there are thousands of projects, supported by machine learning. They are impacting so many products from Gmail, Smart Reply, autonomous driving, Google Assistant to cloud AI functions. Google has been pushing forward a few core aspects related to AI. The first is data, it is so important to …

The ‘clean banking’ drive has started showing results with public sector banks (PSBs) increasingly adopting prudent business approach, replacing aggressive lending practices, said Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar. “The NPA crisis brought an opportunity for the introduction of responsible and responsive banking. All the PSBs, which [collectively] have about 75% …

With the rupee recently weakening past Rs. 70 to a dollar and hovering about that level since, concerns over the impact of the devaluation on economic indicators are intensifying. Here is what happens when the rupee falls: What happens to inflation? One of the first visible effects of currency depreciation …

India’s current account deficit (CAD) will widen to 2.5% of the GDP in the current fiscal due to the higher oil prices that has been accentuated by rupee depreciation, Moody’s and other experts said. The rupee last week slid to a record low of 70.32 to a U.S. dollar as …

India’s economic growth seems to be back on a recovery path and the country will be on a firm 7.5%-plus growth track this fiscal, former Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) Arvind Virmani said on Sunday. He further said the U.S.-China tariff war provides an opportunity to increase India’s exports to the …

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Sunday that six health officers would be deployed in each panchayat to ensure that there was no outbreak of communicable diseases as the flood waters receded and the focus shifted to relief and rehabiliation. The State government would distribute 36 lakh textbooks free …