Facts in News

Facts in News

Asian Development Bank (ADB)

Recently ,Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed a pact with the union government for USD 2.5 million (approx Rs 18.23 crore) loan assistance to upgrade road infrastructure in the north-eastern state Sikkim. 

• It is a regional development bank established on 19th December 1966.
  • It was modeled closely on the aWorld Bank.
• Headquarters: Manila, Philippines.
• Members: 68 members, 49 from within Asia.
  • Japan holds the largest proportion of shares in ADB followed by the USA, because Japan is one of the largest shareholders of the bank, the president has always been Japanese.
• ADB is an official United Nations Observer.
• Aim: To promote social and economic development in Asia.
  • It is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty.

OPEC+

Recently , OPEC+ decided to stick to its plan to gradually restore supply to the market. 

• The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is a permanent, intergovernmental Organization.
• It was created at the Baghdad Conference in September 1960, by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
  • Members who joined later: Libya, United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Nigeria, Angola, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Congo.
• The OPEC Secretariat is the executive organ of the OPEC Located in Vienna.

Objectives

• To coordinate and unify petroleum policies among member countries.
• To secure fair and stable prices for petroleum producers.
• To ensure an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to consuming nations and a fair return on capital to those investing in the industry.

• OPEC+ or OPEC Plus.
  • In 2016, OPEC allied with other top non-OPEC oil-exporting nations to form an even more powerful entity named OPEC+ or OPEC Plus.
  • It is composed of the 13 OPEC members and 10 of the world’s major non-OPEC oil-exporting nations.
    • The Declaration of Cooperation (DoC) constitutes an unprecedented milestone in the history of OPEC as under it, for the first time ever, OPEC countries coordinated with 11 non-OPEC oil producing countries (now 10 as Equatorial Guinea became a member).
• These 10 countries are: Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, South Sudan and Sudan.
• OPEC+ came into existence, in part, to counteract other nations’ capacity to produce oil, which could limit OPEC’s ability to control supply and price.

INS Sandhayak

• Recently ,INS Sandhayak decommissioned 04 Jun 21 after serving the nation for 40 years  .

• INS Sandhayak, the first of its class indigenously designed and built Hydrographic Survey Ship of Indian Navy.
• It was conceptualised by then Chief Hydrographer to the Government  of India who had a strong desire for indigenously designed and built hydrographic survey vessels in India. 
• The construction of the ship began at GRSE Kolkata (then Calcutta) by laying the keel in 1978.  
• The ship was commissioned to the Indian Navy in 1981
• The ship has conducted surveys in shallow coastal waters and in deep seas, besides serving as alma-mater for numerous hydrographers of the Navy.
• The ship, during her commissioned service, has undertaken approximately 200 major Hydrographic Surveys and numerous minor surveys in both East and West coasts of the country, the Andaman seas and the neighbouring countries too. 
• Significant operations : 
  • Operation Pawan, assisting Indian peacekeeping forces in Sri Lanka in 1987.
  • Operation Rainbow, when India helped the Sri Lankan Government search for and rescue fishermen and boats lost at sea. 
  • It was also part of humanitarian missions after the 2004 Tsunami and the maiden Indo-U.S. Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Exercise – ‘Tiger Triumph’.

Tulsa Race Massacre

Recently, the US President Joe Biden has become the first sitting American Head of State to officially recognise the violent racial hate of Tulsa Race Massacre.

• The years following World War I saw a spike in racial tensions, lynchings and violence as well as efforts by African Americans to prevent such attacks on their communities.
• Tulsa, fueled by oil money, was a growing, prosperous city but was also a highly segregated city.
  • Tulsa is a city on the Arkansas River, in the US state of Oklahoma.
  • Tulsa was an unofficial sanctuary for African Americans suffering from harsh segregation in pre-civil rights America.
  • Most of the city’s 10,000 Black residents lived in Greenwood, which included a business district referred to as Black Wall Street.
• Under racial tensions, a white mob attacked Greenwood from 31^st May to 1^st June 1921.
  • 2021 marks its 100^th anniversary.
• The event remains one of the worst yet least-known incidents of racial violence in US history.

• The Tulsa “Race Riot” Commission was formed to investigate the events in 1997 and officially released a report in 2001, concluding that between 100 and 300 people were killed and more than 8,000 people made homeless in 1921.

Mega Food Park Scheme

• It was launched by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries in 2008.
• Aim
  • To provide a mechanism to link agricultural production to the market.
  • To ensure maximizing value addition, minimizing wastage, increasing farmers income and creating employment opportunities in the rural sector.
• It is based on the “Cluster” approach and envisages the creation of state-of-the-art support infrastructure in a well-defined agri/horticultural zone.
  • It is done for setting up modern food processing units in the industrial plots provided in the park with a well-established supply chain. 
• It is implemented by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) which is a Body Corporate registered under the Companies Act, 2013.
  • State Government, its entities and cooperatives are not required to form a separate SPV for implementation of the project.

(Image Courtesy: IBEF)

Senior care Ageing Growth Engine (SAGE) Project 

• It has been launched by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
• Aim: To select, support and create a “one-stop access” of elderly care products and services by credible start-ups.
  • There is an urgent need to create a more robust elder care ecosystem in India, especially in the post-Covid-19 phase.
  • India’s elderly population is on the rise, and as per surveys, the share of elders, as a percentage of the total population in the country, is expected to increase from around 7.5 percent in 2001 to almost 12.5 percent by 2026, and surpass 19.5 percent by 2050.
• It is shaped on the recommendations of the Empowered Expert Committee (EEC) report on start-ups for elderly.
• Start-ups can apply for being a part of SAGE through a dedicated portal.
• The start-ups will be selected on the basis of innovative products and services, which they should be able to provide across sectors such as health, housing, care centres, apart from technological access linked to finances, food and wealth management, and legal guidance.