September 3rd Current Affairs

1. TB Free India by 2025

IN NEWS:

Union minister of health and family welfare Shri Mansukh Mandaviya chairs High Level Meet with all States to review Public Health gains against Tuberculosis.

KEY POINTS:

• The minister assured that the Union government is open to all suggestions from the States/UTs on Tuberculosis in its mission to fulfil Prime Minister’s dream of a TB Free India by 2025.
• He also encouraged the States and UTs to provide suggestions on the Public Health Management of COVID and other programs and initiatives of the Union Health Ministry.
• On the threat to the gains made against TB due to COVID-19, he spoke on the ramping up of COVID Vaccination in the recent days and also highlighted the importance of vaccinating all teachers by the 5th of September for which additional doses are being provided to the States.
• He encouraged states to ensure that COVID protocols are continued to be followed and no laxity in shown due to improved situation in the country.
• He emphasised on encouraging the common people to join us in this mission for eradicating TB. It has to be made a people’s initiative.

TB and COVID-19:

• The World Health Organization (WHO) is advising Member States that are leading the response to the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic.
• The WHO Global TB Programme, along with WHO regional and country offices, has developed an information note, in collaboration with stakeholders.
• This note is intended to assist national TB programmes and health personnel to urgently maintain continuity of essential services for people affected with TB during the COVID-19 pandemic, driven by innovative people-centred approaches, as well as maximizing joint support to tackle both diseases.
• It is important that the progress made in TB prevention and care is not reversed by the COVID19 pandemic. Finding and treating people with TB remain the fundamental pillars of TB prevention and care and those would require maintained attention.

SOURCE: PIB

2.DefExpo-2022

IN NEWS:

Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh and Gujarat Chief Minister Shri Vijay Rupani jointly reviewed the preparations of DefExpo-2022, at Kevadia, Gujarat on September 02, 2021.

KEY POINTS:

• The 12th edition of DefExpo, which is India’s flagship event showcasing the land, naval, air as well as homeland security systems, will be held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat between March 10-13, 2022.
• The Gujarat Government aims to utilise the opportunity to further its aerospace & defence vision and seek foreign investments.
• In February 2021, India was the first country to conduct a hybrid aerospace exhibition, Aero India-2021 at Bengaluru, in compliance with strict COVID-19 protocols. The event, under the aegis of Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence, had witnessed tremendous global response.

DefExpo-2022

• The DefExpo, the premier event in the international aerospace and defence calendar, has witnessed year-on-year growth, both in the quantity and quality of participation.
• The aim of DefExpo-2022 is to build upon the vision to achieve ‘Aatmanirbharta’ in defence and reach USD five billion defence exports target by 2024.
• The objective is to make India a major destination of land, naval, air & homeland security systems and defence engineering.
• Keeping with future warfare in mind, the event aims to recognise the impact of disruptive technologies on conflicts and its consequent impact on the equipment and platforms required.
• The DefExpo-2022 will be organised keeping with the COVID-19 protocols and aims to ensure maximum international and domestic participation.
• The events planned include Conclave, Hybrid events, live demonstrations & business seminars.

SOURCE: PIB

3. Shikshak Parv-2021.

IN NEWS:

The Shikshak Parv-2021 will be observed from September 5, 2021.

KEY POINTS:

• During the Shikshak Parv-2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address teachers, students and other stakeholders of the education sector on September 7.
• This event will be celebrated to honour the contribution of teachers.
• On the occasion, PM will launch five initiatives:
• Indian sign language dictionary of 10,000 words
• Talking books (audio books for visually impaired)
• School quality assessment and accreditation framework (SQAAF) of CBSE
• NISTHA teachers’ training programme for NIPUN Bharat, and
• Vidyanjali portal to facilitate education volunteers, donors and CSR contributors in development of school.

Shikshak Parv-2021

Shikshak Parv-2021 will be celebrated by Ministry of Education (MoE) from September 5 to 17, 2021. It will be organised to recognise the valuable contributions of teachers and to take National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 ahead.

SOURCE:TH

4. Additional Tier 1 Bonds.

IN NEWS:

• Recently, State Bank of India (SBI) has raised Rs. 4,000 crore of the Basel compliant Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bonds at coupon rate of 7.72%.
• This is the first AT1 Bond issuance in the domestic market post the new SEBI regulations.
• This is also the lowest pricing ever offered on such debt issued by any Indian bank since the implementation of Basel III capital rules in 2013.

KEY POINTS:

• AT1 bonds, also called perpetual bonds, carry no maturity date but have a call option. The issuer of such bonds may call or redeem the bonds if it is getting money at a cheaper rate, especially when interest rates are falling.
• They are like any other bonds issued by banks and companies, but pay a slightly higher rate of interest compared to other bonds.
• Banks issue these bonds to shore up their core capital base to meet the Basel-III norms.
• These bonds are also listed and traded on the exchanges. So, if an AT-1 bondholder needs money, he can sell it in the secondary market.
• Investors cannot return these bonds to the issuing bank and get the money. i.e there is no put option available to its holders.
• Banks issuing AT-1 bonds can skip interest payouts for a particular year or even reduce the bonds’ face value.
• Regulated By:AT-1 bonds are regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). If the RBI feels that a bank needs a rescue, it can simply ask the bank to write off its outstanding AT-1 bonds without consulting its investors.

Bonds

• Bonds are units of corporate debt issued by companies and securitized as tradable assets.
• A bond is referred to as a fixed-income instrument since bonds traditionally paid a fixed interest rate (coupon) to debtholders. Variable or floating interest rates are also now quite common.
• Bond prices are inversely correlated with interest rates: when rates go up, bond prices fall and vice-versa.
• They have maturity dates at which point the principal amount must be paid back in full or risk default.

SOURCE:TH