Current Affairs | National | International | SSC | UPSC 9th July 2024

 

National News

1.Amit Shah inaugurates Amin PJKP Vidhyarthi Bhavan in Ahmedabad 

• Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah has inaugurated the Amin PJKP Vidhyarthi Bhavan in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. 
• Shah also inaugurated the modern multispecialty SLiMS Hospital in Ahmedabad. 
• 1000 students will study in this Vidhyarthi Bhavan for higher educatio. 

2. Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh launches ‘Indo-French Liver and Metabolic Diseases Network’ (InFLiMeN) 

• Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh launched the Indo-French Liver and Metabolic Diseases Network (InFLiMeN), a virtual node to prevent and cure metabolic liver diseases at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences in New Delhi. 
• Addressing the launch event, Dr Jitendra Singh highlighted that the Indo-French node, InFLiMeN, aims to address key issues related to a common metabolic liver disorder, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which can eventually progress to cirrhosis and primary liver cancer. 
• It precedes diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and several other diseases. As an endocrinologist, I understand the nuances of fatty liver and its association with diabetes and other metabolic disorders. 
• The minister pointed out that nearly 1 in 3 Indians suffer from fatty liver. While in the West, most NAFLD is associated with obesity, in the Indian subcontinent, NAFLD occurs in nearly 20% of non-obese patients. 
• Emphasizing the importance of this initiative, the Minister of Science and Technology said, “India and France have a considerable burden of alcoholic liver disease (ALD)." He further added that both NAFLD and ALD display very similar progression from steatosis to steatohepatitis, cirrhosis and HCC. 
• There is an urgent need to develop simple, low-cost diagnostic tests to detect various stages of fatty liver and their progression to severe, full-blown diseases. 
• He also appreciated the Department and the Indo-French Centre for the Promotion of Advanced Research (CEFIPERA) as well as Prof. Abhay Karandikar, Secretary, DST for adopting this new approach proposed by ILBS. 
• The Minister congratulated Dr. Shiv Kumar Sarin and his team as well as French colleagues. He also directed them to find treatments for metabolic disorders in a lowcost and high-yield manner. 11 French and 17 Indian doctors work jointly in this node. 

3. Govt makes ISI mark mandatory for stainless steel, aluminium utensils 

• The government has mandated conformity to the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for stainless steel and aluminium utensils to enhance kitchen safety, quality and efficiency. 
• According to an order issued by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), the ISI mark will be compulsory for such utensils. 
• Recently, the BIS has developed a range of standards covering essential kitchen items. 
• This move will enhance consumer confidence and drive manufacturers towards adopting best practices. 
• This development follows the BIS’ recent formulation of comprehensive standards for kitchen items, including IS 14756:2022 for stainless steel and IS 1660:2024 for aluminium utensils. 

4. 'Take nation into confidence on border situation at LAC’ 

• Citing news reports of a Chinese military base being built near Pangong Tso, Congress president Malli-karjun Kharge on Sunday attacked the Narendra Modi government demanding that the country be taken into confidence on the border situation with China. 
• Mr. Kharge shared a news report which said that the Chinese military had built bunkers to store weapons and fuel and hardened shelters for armored vehicles in an area around Pangong Lake in eastern Ladakh.
•  Mr. Kharge asked, "How can China build a military base near Pangong Tso on land which was under Indian occupation until May 2020?" 
• He held the Modi government responsible for not maintaining the status quo ante at the LAC, with India losing possession of 26 patrolling points out of 65, including points in the Depsang Plains, Demchok and Gogra Hot Springs area. 
• "The Indian National Congress once again reiterates its demand to take the nation into confidence on the border situation at the LAC. We stand shoulder to shoulder with our valiant soldiers," Mr. Kharge said in a post on X. 
• He said this was the fifth year of giving clean chit to China. 
• He cited Mr. Modi's interview on the run-up to the elections on April 10 to foreign press where, ac- cording to Mr. Kharge, the PM failed to put forth India's case strongly. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar also in an interview said "China has not occupied any of our land", exposing the Modi government's "meek policy" towards China, he stated. 
• 'Occupying territory' Mr. Kharge underlined that on July 4, Mr. Jaishankar met his Chinese counter-part. During the meeting, he spoke about "respecting the LAC and ensuring peace and tranquility in the border areas..." 
• But parallelly, Mr. Kharge said, "China continues to be belligerent, occupying our territory and constructing a military base at Sirijap, reportedly land that was under Indian control.” 

5. UP govt launched ‘Mitra Van’ initiative on the UP-Nepal border 

• Uttar Pradesh Government has launched the ‘Mitra Van’ initiative under the Tree Plantation Jan Abhiyan-2024. 
• The aim of the ‘Mitra Van’ initiative is to increase the green cover on the Uttar Pradesh-Nepal border. 
• The ‘Mitra Van’ initiative will start on the border of Uttar Pradesh and Nepal from 20 July. 

Main Objective 

• To increase the green cover by planting 35 crore saplings. 
• To promote bilateral relations through environmental initiatives with neighboring states and Nepal. 

6. Center set to tweak criteria for according classical language status 

• Amid demand for classical status for many languages, the Union government has decided to tweak the criteria for giving the special tag. 
• The Linguistics Expert Committee of the Culture Ministry submitted a report on October 10 last year, suggesting changes, sources in the Ministry told The Hindu.
•  The sources said the Centre had asked the panel to reconsider the rules. The issue was taken up first at a meeting on June 21, 2023. A Gazette notification of the new criteria will be issued after Cabinet approval.
•  This, in effect, means that classical language status for certain languages, chiefly Marathi, which is under consideration of the government, may have to 
• With polls due in Maharashtra, push for the status for Marathi has gained momentum wait for the notification. 
• Over the years, some States and literary circles have been demanding classical status for languages such as Marathi, Bengali, Assamese and Maithili. 
• In 2014, then Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan constituted a committee of Marathi language experts chaired by Ranganath Pathare, and the report was submitted to the Centre. The Pathare committee had concluded that Marathi fulfills all parameters to be recognised as a classical language. Mr. Chavan had written to then Culture Minister Shripad Naik requesting that the demand be met. 
• The issue has been raised time and again by MPs from Maharashtra in Parliament, and the Centre has given assurances at least three times in the past 10 years that Marathi was being considered. Then Union Culture Minister G. Kishan Reddy informed Parliament in February 2022 that "the proposal for classical status to Marathi was under the active consideration of the Ministry of Culture". 
• Once a language is notified as a classical language, the Education Ministry helps promote it, which includes instituting two major annual international awards for scholars of eminence in the language. Apart from this, a center of excellence for studies in the language is set up, and the University Grants Commission is requested to create a certain number of Professional Chairs in Central universities. 
• With the Assembly election due in Maharashtra in October, the demand in support of Marathi has gained momentum. Recently, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh posted on X: "For the last ten years, the demand for declaring Marathi as a classical language has been pending with the Modi Sarkar". The Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra too upped the game by forming a "persuasion" committee, led by former diplomat Dnyaneshwar Muley, four months ago. The mandate of this committee is to liaison and pursue the matter with Union government officials. 
• Lakhshmikant Deshmukh, a committee member, told The Hindu: "Maharashtra is a rich State. We do not need any funds for the promotion of the language. It is just a matter of pride for us.” 

About Uttar Pradesh 

• Capital – Lucknow 
• Chief Minister – Yogi Adityanath 
• Governor – Anandiben Patel 

International News 

7. Estonia is the cleanest country in the world according to Environmental Performance Index 2024 

• Estonia is the cleanest country in the list of top 10 cleanest countries in the world by Environmental Performance Index 2024. It is followed by Luxembourg, Germany, Finland, United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, Austria, Switzerland and Denmark. 
• Known for its lush forests and pristine lakes, Estonia has made significant progress in environmental protection and sustainability. The country excels in waste management, air quality and biodiversity conservation. 
• Estonia's commitment to green initiatives and eco-friendly practices ensures a clean and healthy environment for its residents and future generations. 
• The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) evolved from the Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) to measure the effectiveness of a state's environmental policies. EPI refers to the Environmental Performance Index, an index developed by Yale and Columbia Universities in collaboration with the World Economic Forum (WEF) that measures the cleanliness and environmental friendliness of 180 countries in the world.
• The EPI measures 40 parameters spread across 11 categories, such as climate change mitigation, air quality, sanitation and drinking water, heavy metals, solid waste, water resources, agriculture, fisheries, air pollution, forests and biodiversity and habitats. 
• Klaus Schwab, a German professor with a background in mechanical engineering and a master's degree in public administration from Harvard, founded the WEF, originally known as the European Management Forum, in the year 1971. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. 

8. Japan, Philippines sign defense pact amid China concerns 

• Japan and the Philippines signed a key defense pact on Monday allowing the deployment of Japanese forces for joint drills in the Southeast Asian nation that came under brutal Japanese occupation in the Second World War but is now building an alliance with Tokyo as both face an increasingly assertive China. 
• The Reciprocal Access Agreement, which similarly allows Filipino forces to enter Japan for joint combat training, was signed by Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa in a Manila ceremony witnessed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. It would take effect after ratification by the countries' legislatures. The officials on both sides "expressed serious concern over the dangerous actions by China" in Second Thomas Shoal, the scene of a confrontation between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea. 

9. China is the world’s top country to file generative AI patents in the last decade according to the World Intellectual Property Organization 

• The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) announced that China-based organizations filed the most patents related to generative AI in the last decade, more than the four other top generative AI patent-holding countries, the United States, Republic of Korea, Japan, and India combined. 
• China filed 38,210 generative AI patents from 2014 to 2023, while the U.S. ranks second with 6,276 patents. The Republic of Korea (South Korea) has 4,155, Japan 3,409, India 1,350, the U.K. 714, and Germany 708.
• The top GenAI patent applicants are: Tencent (2,074 inventions), Ping An Insurance (1,564 inventions), Baidu (1,234 inventions), Chinese Academy of Sciences (607), IBM (601), Alibaba Group (571), Samsung Electronics (468), Alphabet (443), Bytedance (418), Microsoft (377). 
• GenAI allows users to create content including text, images, music and computer code, which powers a number of industrial and consumer products including chatbots such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini or Baidu's ERNIE. 
• 54,000 GenAI-related inventions were filed and over 75,000 scientific publications were published between 2014 and 2023. Image and video data dominate GenAI patents (17,996 inventions), followed by text (13,494 inventions) and speech/music (13,480 inventions). Major organisations 
• According to the WIPO report, 19 of the top 20 patent holders are from academic organisations, with Alphabet (Google) ranking first in terms of citations, with its research receiving 47,568 citations from 2010 to 2023. 
• The University of California, Berkeley ranks second with 26,090 citations, followed by Université de Montréal and Stanford. Meta ranks fifth with 19,418 citations. Of the top 20 organisations by citations, only one Chinese organisation, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is on the list with 15,674 citations. 

State News 

10.Maharashtra to be honoured with the Best Agriculture State Award for the year 2024 

• The 15th Agriculture Leadership Awards Committee, headed by former Chief Justice of India and Governor of Kerala P Sathasivam, has announced that Maharashtra has won the Best Agriculture State Award for 2024. 
• Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde will receive the award at a ceremony in New Delhi on July 10, 2024. Maharashtra has been selected for the award for its innovative agriculture and rural initiatives. 
• The Maharashtra government has launched the country's largest bamboo mission, spanning 21 lakh hectares. 
• In the recent budget, the Maharashtra government announced plans to establish a green belt spanning 1.20 lakh acres in Nandurbar district in collaboration with the central and state governments. 
• The Maharashtra government has also set a target to increase irrigation potential in about 17 lakh hectares through the implementation of 123 projects. It has implemented revolutionary initiatives like Shri Anna Abhiyan for grains and biomass use in thermal power generation across the state. 
• The annual Agriculture Leadership Award was established in 2008 by Agriculture Today magazine. The award honours the contribution of various stakeholders - government, individuals and organisations - who have demonstrated exemplary leadership in agriculture. 
• Earlier, current Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, etc. have won this award. 
• Maharashtra is the largest economy among the states of India. Maharashtra contributes 12.92% to the country's GDP. The per capita income of the state is higher than the national average. 

Appointment 

11.Rachel Reeve becomes UK’s first woman Finance Minister 

• Rachel Reeves, a former Bank of England economist, has been appointed as the UK’s first female Finance Minister after the Labour’s landslide victory, ending 14 years of Conservative rule. 
• She became British girls’ chess champion aged 14 before studying philosophy, politics and economics at the University of Oxford, which was followed by a Master’s degree at the London School of Economics. 
• After graduating, she worked as an economist for a decade, first at the Bank of England before switching to the private sector. 
• The United Kingdom is made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. 

Recent Appointment in Foreign 

• President of FATF – Elisa de Anda Madrazo (replace T. Raja Kumar) 
• First woman brigadier in Pakistan Army from minority community – Helen Mary 
• Defence minister of Russia – Andrei Belousov (replace Sergei Shoigu) 
• UN Resident Coordinator in Indonesia – Gita Sabharwal (India) 
• MD of International Monetary Fund – Kristalina Georgieva (2nd time) 

12.Govind Singh re-appointed as MD & CEO of Utkarsh SFB 

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved the re-appointment of Govind Singh as the managing director and chief executive officer of Utkarsh Small Finance Bank (Utkarsh SFB) effective from September 21, 2024.
• The present term of Govind Singh is up to September 20, 2024.

Recent Appointment in Banking & Insurance Sector 

• Interim MD & CEO of Bandhan Bank – Ratan Kumar Kesh (replace Chandra Shekhar Ghosh) 
• Executive Director of RBI – Arnab Kumar Chowdhury and Charulatha S. Kar 
• Chairman of State Bank of India – Challa Sreenivasulu Setty (27th; replace Dinesh Khara) 
• MD & CEO of IndiaFirst Life Insurance – Rushabh Gandhi (replace Vishakha R.M.) 
• MD & CEO of SBI General Insurance – Naveen Chandra Jha (replace Kishore Kumar Poludasu) 

Awards 

13. President Droupadi Murmu confers 10 Kirti Chakras, 26 Shaurya Chakra 

• President Droupadi Murmu conferred 10 Kirti Chakras, including seven posthumously, to personnel of the Army and paramilitary forces for displaying indomitable courage and extraordinary valour in the line of duty. 
•  Kirti Chakra is India’s second-highest peacetime gallantry award. 
• President Murmu, who is the Supreme Commander of the armed forces, also presented 26 Shaurya Chakras, including seven posthumously, to the personnel of the armed forces, Central Armed Police Forces and state/Union Territory police during a defence investiture ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Delhi. 
• Sepoy Pawan Kumar of The Grenadiers, 55th Battalion, the Rashtriya Rifles; Captain Anshuman Singh of the Army Medical Corps, 26th Battalion, the Punjab Regiment; and Havildar Abdul Majid, 9th Battalion, the Parachute Regiment (Special Forces) from the Indian Army have been conferred the Kirti Chakra posthumously. 
• Inspector Dilip Kumar Das, Head Constable Raj Kumar Yadava, Constable Bablu Rabha and Constable Sambhu Roy of 210 CoBRA Battalion, CRPF have been also conferred the Kirti Chakra posthumously. Three personnel, including two of major-rank and one naib Subedar, have been conferred the Kirti Chakra 
• A constable of J&K Police was also bestowed a Shaurya Chakra posthumously, besides six other personnel from the Army. 
• A group of personnel from the Army, the Air Force, Navy and those rendering services under the Ministry of Home Affairs have also been conferred the Shaurya Chakra. 
• The Shaurya Chakra is India’s third-highest peacetime gallantry. 

14. Sivashankari to honour with Dr. C. Narayana Reddy National Literary Award 

• Noted Tamil writer Sivashankari has been selected for Dr. C. Narayana Reddy National Literary Award. 
• Sivashankari will be honoured with a cash prize of ₹5 lakh, a memento and a shawl in recognition of her contribution to the field of literature.
•  A recipient of the Saraswati Samman Award, Ms. Sivashankari will receive the ‘Vishwambhara’ award during Dr. C. Narayana Reddy’s 93rd birth anniversary celebrations at Ravindra Bharati in Hyderabad on July 29. 
• The Chennai-based writer has penned 36 novels, 48 mini-novels (navalikas), 150 stories, 15 travelogues, seven volumes of essays, four research papers and two biographies in Tamil. 

Recent Award 

• First K. Saraswathi Amma Award – P Geetha 
• Atal Pension Yojana Annual Award for FY24 by PFRDA – Bank of India 
• Sustainable Governance Champion Award 2024 – Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd. 
• 12th Vishwa Hindi Samman – Dr. Usha Thakur 
• UK Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2024 – Sanjana Thakur (For Aishwarya Rai) 
• Pen Pinter Prize 2024 – Arundhati Roy (for Unflinching and unswerving) 

15 Roshni Nadar conferred highest civilian award of France 

• Chairperson of IT services firm HCLTech, Roshni Nadar Malhotra has been conferred with the “Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur” (Knight of the Legion of Honour), the highest civilian award of France. 
• The award recognizes her contributions to the business world, her endeavor to promote economic ties between France and India, as well as her commitment to social and environmental causes. 
• HCLTech has been operating in France since 2009. It is a digital transformation partner to G2000 French companies across diverse industries including aerospace, manufacturing, financial services and pharmaceuticals. 

About Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur 

• Instituted in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur is the highest civilian award given by the French Republic for outstanding service to France, regardless of the nationality of the recipients. 
• The President of the French Republic is the Grand Master of the Order of the Legion of Honour. 

Sports 

16. Tasnim Mir and Tharun Mannepalli of India win singles titles at Saint-Denis Reunion Badminton Open 2024 

• In badminton, Indian shuttlers won the men's and women's singles titles at the Saint-Denis Reunion Open 2024 held in Saint-Denis, the capital of Reunion, the French overseas department in the western Indian Ocean. The Saint Denis Reunion Open 2024 was held from 03 - 07 July. 
• In men's singles, Tharun Mannepalli of India defeated Yudai Okimoto of Japan 21-15, 21-15 in straight sets to win his second title of the year. Earlier, he had won the Kazakhstan International Challenge. 
• In women's singles, world No. 75, Tasnim Mir of India won the title after defeating compatriot Rakshitha Shri 21-15, 21-19 in straight games. Tasnim won her fourth International Challenge title. ● In the semifinals, 19-year-old Tasnim from Gujarat defeated top seed and world No. 63 Rosie Octavia Pankasari of France in straight games 21-10, 21-17. 
• However, the Indian pair of Prakash Raj and Gausey Sheikh lost 9-21, 14-21 to Julien Maio and William Villiger of France in the men's doubles final and had to settle for the runners-up position. Avinash Sable sets new national record in 3000m steeplechase at Paris Diamond League in France 
• India's Avinash Sable set a new national record in 3000m steeplechase at the Paris Diamond League in France. The star steeplechaser bettered his own record by more than a second. 
• Sable finished sixth in the event with a timing of 8 minutes, 9 seconds and 91 hundredths of a second. However, the race was won by Ethiopia's Abraham Sime with a personal best time of 8:02.36, beating Kenya's Amos Serem by a small margin who had recorded the same time. 

17. Vinesh Phogat wins Gold at Grand Prix of Spain 

• India’s two-time Olympian Vinesh Phogat has won the gold medal in the women’s 50kg category in the Grand Prix of Spain international continental wrestling championship. 
• Vinesh defeated Mariia Tiumerekova – former Russian grappler now competing as an Individual Neutral Athlete – 10-5 in the final encounter to bag the yellow metal. 
• In the quarterfinals, the 29-year-old from Charkhi Dadri, Haryana, pinned Madison Parks of Canada, a silver medallist at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. In the semifinals, Vinesh defeated another Canadian Katie Dutchak 9-4 to seal a place in the final. 

18. Gagan Narang named as new Chef-De-Mission in Paris Olympics 2024 

• The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has named Gagan Narang as the Chef-de-Mission of the Indian contingent to compete in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, starting on 26th July. 
• He will replace MC Mary Kom. 
• Naragng is the four-time Olympian and 2012 Olympic Games men’s 10-meter Air Rifle bronze medalist. ● Star Shuttler PV Sindhu and Table Tennis Ace Achanta Sharath Kamal will be the flag bearers during the opening ceremony. 
• India’s only women to win two Olympic medals, P.V. Sindhu, will be the female flag-bearer, alongside Sharath Kamal in the opening ceremony. 
• Chef-de-Mission is an important administrative post as he is responsible for ensuring the welfare of the participating athletes, taking care of their needs and liaising with the organising committee. 

Important day 

19. 9 July – National Dimples Day

•  National Dimples Day is observed every year on 9 July. 
• This lighthearted day encourages everyone to embrace their dimples, whether natural or drawn on for fun, and spread happiness through their cheerful grins. 

20. 9 July – National Sugar Cookie Day 

•  National Sugar Cookie Day is observed every year on 9 July. 
• This sweet occasion pays homage to the simple yet irresistible sugar cookie, a beloved treat enjoyed by people of all ages. 
• The origins of National Sugar Cookie Day are not well-documented, but it likely emerged as a result of the cookie’s enduring popularity in American culture. 
• Sugar cookies themselves trace their roots back to the 1700s in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, where German Protestant settlers created a simple cookie called “Nazareth Cookies” that evolved into what we now know as sugar cookies. Schemes and committees 

21 Railway Board's pitch for European system put off Kavach rollout 

• The slow roll-out across the Indian Railways of Kavach, the indigenously developed Train Collision Avoidance System (TCAS), was due to the Railway Board's decision to opt for the expensive European Train Control System (ETCS), sources said. The COVID-19 pandemic put a brake on this move subsequently, senior officials in the Railways said. 
•  They said the Kavach system, despite being extensively tested during trial runs under various conditions, including on automatic signaling routes, and having obtained the highest Safety Integrity Level (SIL)-4 in 2017-18 itself, was not allowed to be deployed quickly for reasons that were not explained. The original design team was sidelined after the de- cision to opt for ETCS, the sources said. 
• The Kavach Version 3.2 has so far been implemented in about 1,465 km of the South Central Railway, covering 133 stations, 29 level crossing gates, and 150 locomotives. 
• The latest Kavach Version 4 is currently under testing and deployment over 3,000 km in the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Kolkata sections. 
• The system was conceived by the Indian Railways' own Lucknow-based Research Design and Standards Organisation, after the Anil Kakodkar Committee of 2012 recommended an "advanced radio based signaling system similar to level ETCS 'level 2' for the entire trunk route length of 19,000 km within five years". 
• The proposed new system was to provide safety and enhance existing line capacity, based on which it was decided ETCS-2 or equivalent was preferable. Kavach was originally cleared for field concept trials back in 2012, and field trials for the develop- ment of the "full-fledged SIL 4 compliant multi-vendor interoperability version" started in 2013 between the Tandur-Kurgunta section in Karnataka for 32 km. This was later by extended trial 265 km in Sulekha Wadi-Vikarabad-Sa....gar-Bidar section. 

22. Rural Development Ministry signs MoU with Convergence Energy Services for ‘STREE Initiative’ 

• The Rural Development Ministry signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL) for “Sustainable Transportation for Rural Entrepreneurs through Electric Bicycles” (STREE) for Self Help Group Women under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission. 
• STREE aims to empower the rural economy, especially rural women by providing them access to green mobility through the introduction of electric bicycles. 
• The MoU was signed by Smt. Smriti Sharan, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Rural Livelihoods and Shri. MD & CEO, CESL. 
• Speaking on the occasion, Shri Shailesh Kumar Singh said that this partnership of green mobility will further promote economic and social empowerment of rural women and accelerate the empowerment of Lakhpati Didis in line with the vision of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. 
• The project aims to create livelihood opportunities, independence and prosperity among SHG women, thereby improving their socio-economic status. Additionally, the project aims to decongest rural mobility, thereby contributing to the decarbonisation of the last-mile mobility sector. 
•  Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL) is a subsidiary of state-owned Energy Efficiency Services Limited, a joint venture of public sector companies under the Ministry of Power, Government of India.