In a bid to promote regional identity, the Chhattisgarh government has decided that now all government schools will teach Chhattisgarhi and tribal dialects once a week to nurture the language.

Also, to support and encourage regional games, the Bhupesh Baghel-led government has announced plans to organise ‘Chhattisgarhiya Olympic Games’ that will include locally-played games among other sports later this year.

Baghel has not just adopted the annual practice of celebrating local festivals like Teeja, Hareli, Govardhan puja, Pola at his official residence but also declared holidays on these days.

A couple of years ago, the state formed the ‘Chhattisgarh Culture Council’ to safeguard the folk art, customs and traditions of the state.

The council will also promote and safeguard literature, music, dance, theatre, paintings and sculpture, cinema and tribal and folk arts of the state.

The state had earlier taken the decision to prepare textbooks in local dialects Gondi and Halbi. To preserve indigenous cuisine of Chhattisgarh, the state government decided to open ‘Garhkaleva’, an  eatery centre, in every district.

Days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi unwrapped a  centrally-sponsored PM Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) scheme to raise the quality of education, the Union Cabinet on Sep 7 approved the project with an outlay of  Rs 27,360 crore. It will cover more than 14,500 schools across the country.

Select schools managed by the Union/state governments and local bodies will be strengthened to be upgraded as ‘PM SHRI schools’. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had criticised the scheme, saying it was like a drop in the ocean.

The schools will be selected through a three-stage process, which will see them competing with each other. To join the fray, schools must apply through an online portal, which will be opened once every quarter, for the first two years from the launch of the scheme.

In the first of the three-stage process, states or Union Territories will agree to implement the National Education Policy 2020 in its entirety and the Centre will commit to supporting the schools run by the states and UTs in achieving the specified quality norms.

In the second stage, a pool of schools eligible to get the PM-SHRI tag will be created based on adherence to prescribed benchmarks. In the final stage, the schools from the pool will compete to fulfill certain challenging conditions.

Will benefit more than 18 lakh students

The scheme is expected to directly benefit more than 18 lakh students. Of the Rs 26,370 crore earmarked for the scheme, Centre’s share will be Rs 18,128 crore for a period of five years.

The head of Hong Kong's journalist union was arrested on Sep 7, just weeks before he was set to leave the city and begin an overseas fellowship.

Ronson Chan, chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), was arrested for allegedly obstructing a police officer and disorderly conduct in a public place.

Channel C, the online news outlet Chan works for, said the veteran reporter was taken away by police officers who asked to check his identity while he was reporting on a meeting of public housing flat owners.

Police said a 41-year-old man surnamed Chan was arrested after he refused to show officers his ID card and behaved in an "uncooperative" way despite multiple warnings.

Chan was set to leave Hong Kong at the end of September for the six-month Reuters Institute fellowship programme at Oxford University.

Authorities have used a national security law and colonial-era sedition charges to crack down on dissent in Hong Kong after democracy protests three years ago.

The United Nations said on  Sep 7 it was helping connect Palestinian children in the blockaded Gaza Strip to the outside world by distributing tablets to hundreds of pupils.

Children make up nearly half of Gaza's population of 2.3 million. Most of them have never been able to leave the coastal territory, which is ruled by the Islamist movement Hamas.

Some 890 tablets are being handed out this week at schools run by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, following a pilot that saw a few dozen devices given to children last year.

The 15-year blockade of the enclave led by Israel has crippled Gaza's economy, leaving 74 percent of young graduates unemployed, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.

The European Union-funded project to boost children's computer skills is seen by UNRWA as a way to increase their chances of getting a job in the growing tech sector, either locally or remotely.

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel expects to launch 5G services within a month and cover key metros by December.

The telco plans to cover all urban areas of the country by the end of 2023, according to the company's CEO.

Bharti Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal in a communication to the customers said Airtel 5G will deliver dramatically higher speeds of 20-30 times compared to a 4G network.

Customers will get to know about availability of 5G in their town through Airtel Thanks App.

Reserve Bank and the Finance Ministry on  Sep 7 asked top management of banks and representatives of trade bodies to push exports and import transactions in rupee.

It was stressed during a meeting that banks should connect with their foreign counterparts for opening special rupee vostro accounts to facilitate cross-border trade in Indian currency rather than the popular mode dollar.

Trade associations and their foreign trading partners should explore opportunities to make use of the framework.

The meeting, which saw participation from various stakeholders, including officials of external affairs and commerce ministries, Indian Banks' Association, urged embassies abroad to promote the mechanism through diplomatic channels.

The countries like Sri Lanka, Argentina and Zimbabwe may be interested in settling bilateral trade in rupee.

RBI in July issued a detailed circular asking banks to put in place additional arrangements for export and import transactions in Indian rupees in view of the increasing interest of the global trading community in the domestic currency.

The announcement by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to allow cross-border trade transactions in rupee is a timely move and a step towards the internationalisation of the currency.

Currently, a large part of bilateral trade between India and Russia is getting settled in rupee due to sanctions imposed by the US and Europe following Moscow's attack on Ukraine.

The RBI had said for settlement of trade transactions, the concerned banks will require special rupee vostro accounts of correspondent banks of the partner trading country.

Exporters undertaking overseas shipments of goods and services through this mechanism will be paid the export proceeds in Indian rupees from the balances in the designated special vostro account.

As per the circular, the rupee surplus balance held can be used for permissible capital and current account transactions in accordance with the mutual agreement.

Former RBI governor D Subbarao has suggested that the government should come up with a 10-year road map for privatisation of all Public Sector Banks (PSBs) as it would provide much needed predictability to stakeholders.

Subbarao further said that the big bang approach to privatisation of state-owned banks is not desirable but at the same time the issue should not be put on the back burner.

Meanwhile, Subbarao said the government should also be thinking about corporatisation of public sector banks so that they come within the umbrella of uniform RBI regulation.

In the Union Budget for 2021-22, the government announced its intent to take up the privatisation of two PSBs in the year and approved a policy of strategic disinvestment of public sector enterprises.

The government think-tank NITI Aayog has already suggested two banks and one insurance company to the Core Group of Secretaries on Disinvestment for privatisation.

According to Subbarao, the impact on the Indian economy of privatisation of PSBs will be in two ways.

Even so, Subbarao said he believes the net cost benefit calculus of privatisation will be positive.

In 2020, the government merged 10 nationalised banks into four large lenders, thereby bringing down the number of PSBs to 12.

The former RBI governor observed that at India's current stage of development, the country should be using other instruments to pursue social objectives rather than continuing to place the burden on bank depositors and borrowers.

A research paper published in the August 2022 issue of RBI Bulletin had said "the gradual approach to privatisation adopted by the government can ensure that a void is not created in fulfilling the social objective of financial inclusion".

Q1. Name the  Indian-origin  who has been appointed as the Home Secretary of UK ?

1. Suella Braverman
2. Nadhim Zahawi
3. Alok Sharma
4. Kwasi Kwarteng
5. None of These

Q2. In a step to strengthen the bilateral relationship with the East Asian Countries, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh  has inaugurated a Cyber Security Training School in

1. Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2. Vientiane ,  Laos
3. Bangkok , Thailand
4. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
5. None of These

Q3. Name the  rating agency  which  on  Sep 6  has retained India’s Baa3 (stable) credit rating with a stable outlook and  it sees India’s low per capita income and high general government debt as major risks in the future ?

1. CRISIL
2. Fitch Ratings
3. Standard & Poor's
4. Moody’s
5. None of These

Q4. Who among the following has been elected as the president of  All India Football Federation (AIFF) ?

1. Bhaichung Bhutia
2. Kalyan Chaubey
3. Sunil Chhetri
4. I. M. Vijayan
5. None of These

Q5. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi  has unwrapped a  centrally-sponsored PM SHRI , it stand for

1. PM Schools for Rising India
2. PM Schools for Reviving India
3. PM Schools for Revitalizing India
4. PM Schools for Realising  India
5. None of These

Answers

1---------------------------1 Suella Braverman

2----------------------------4  Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

3---------------------------------4   Moody’s

4----------------------------------2 Kalyan Chaubey

5---------------------------------1  PM Schools for Rising India