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Nirmala Seetharaman assures immediate action against banks denying loans to SMEs

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has advised banks not to refuse to provide emergency loans to small, medium and micro-enterprises (SME) under the emergency credit guarantee scheme to ease the pressure on firms facing liquidity crunch.

“Banks cannot refuse credit to MSMEs covered under emergency credit facility. If refused, such instances must be reported. I will look into it,” she said.

As on July 23, 2020, the total amount allowed under the 100 per cent emergency credit guarantee scheme in public sector banks and private banks was ₹ 1,30,491.79 crore. Of this, ₹ 82,065.01 crore has already been disbursed. Small, medium and micro enterprises have suffered a sharp decline due to the curfew. In order to repair them, the central government had announced that it would provide a loan of ₹ 3 lakh crore without any collateral till October.

The Finance Minister also said that the Ministry of Finance was in  talks with the Reserve Bank to further extend the repayment period for loans obtained from banks and to restructure loans.

Agarbatti production to boost India’s Atmanirbhar initiative

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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Union Minister for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Nitin Gadkari has approved a unique employment generation program proposed by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC). Named the “Khadi Agarbati Atmanirbhar Mission” (KAAM), the project aims to create employment for unemployed and non-resident workers of different states in various parts of the country, while at the same time significantly increasing domestic Agarbatti production.

The project was submitted to the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises for approval last month and is set to be launched soon. When the project is fully implemented, thousands of jobs will be created in the Agarbatti industry.

KAAM will be implemented in the public-private partnership model. The KVIC will provide a subsidy of 25% on the cost of the machinery, and the remaining 75% of the price will be collected from the artisans in easy instalments every month. The business partner will provide the raw material for the artisans to make the Agarbatti and pay them based on the work. Each automatic Agarbatti making machine produces about 80 kg Agarbatti per day, which provides direct employment to 4 persons. A powder mixing machine is to be provided in a package of 5 Agarbatti making machines, which will employ two persons.

Under the KAAM scheme, wages of the artisans would be provided by the business partners on a weekly basis directly in their accounts through DBT only. The supply of raw material to the artisans, logistics, quality control and marketing of the final product will be the sole responsibility of the business partner.

The ownership of the machines will automatically be transferred to the artisans after recovery of the 75% cost. For this, a two-party agreement will be signed between KVIC and the Private Agarbatti manufacturer.

The announcement of KAAM scheme comes in the wake of the Central government’s decisions to restrict the import of Raw Agarbatti and increase the import duty on Bamboo sticks.

At present, the total daily consumption of Agarbatti in the country is approximately 1490 MT per day. However, currently, India produces just 760 MT of Agarbatti daily.

Meet the woman who had been fasting for 27 years for the Ram Mandir to be built

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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In 1992, Urmila Chaturvedi, a resident of Jabalpur, decided to fast without eating until the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya began. Urmila, 81, lives in the Vijay Nagar area of Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh. She vowed to eat only milk and fruits until the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya began in 1992 when the controversial structure of the Babri Masjid was demolished, and riots broke out in the country.

First, in November 2019, the Supreme Court of India ruled in favour of Ram Lalla Virajman and ordered the Government of India to set up a foundation to look after the construction of the temple. Urmila’s son Amit Chaturvedi said, “My mother ate only fruit and milk for 27 years. She was 54 years old when she started this. The Supreme Court verdict made her very happy.”

The family who supported her during the fast were glad that she would finally eat the food as she had said it was time to end the fast after receiving the blessings of Lord Rama after 28 years of fasting. She has only eaten fruit for 28 years.

Urmila had said that she knew that it would take 28 years for the decision to be made, but that she was relieved that the Ram Temple would be located in its rightful place. During these 28 years she had lost many relatives due to this fasting. However she had always had the support of her family.

Centre to encourage startups based on agriculture

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
-

Union Minister for Agriculture and Agrarian Welfare  Narendra Singh Tomar said o Sunday that the Central government will fund  startups in the agri sector and has allocated ₹11.85 for the current financial year.

These funds will be provided under the Innovation and Agri-entrepreneurship Development Programme launched under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana.

In the first phase of 2020-2021, funds will be provided in installments to 112 new businesses set up in the fields of agricultural processing, food technology and value addition. These startups have been selected by different knowledg partners and have been trained for 2 months at 29 agribusiness incubation centres spread across the country. 

Five knowledge partners as centres of excellence and 24 RKVY-RAFTAAR agribusiness incubators (R-ABIs) have been identified from across the country after a nationwide advertisement and a rigorous selection process.

Earlier this month, Minister Tomar added that while reviewing the progress of research, expansion and education in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasized on the need to encourage new startups and agri-entrepreneurs to ensure that technology is used and innovations are introduced in the agricultural and agro-based sectors. 

Following this, the Prime Minister has also called for conducting hackathons to solve specific problems in agriculture. 

Byju’s to get $400 million investment from billionaire Yuri Milner

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
-

Yuri Milner-owned DST Global is all set to invest $400 million in the Indian education startup Byju’s. Byju’s has a current valuation of $10.5 billion.

This deal could be signed as early as the weekend. If this deal gets signed, it would make the startup the second most valuable in India after PayTM, which has been heavily invested in by China-based Alibaba Holdings Group.

Yuri Milner is one of the biggest technology investors in the world and is known for backing some of the largest internet firms like Alibaba, Facebook, Twitter, etc. in their early stages. He has also funded a lot of high profile Indian startups like Flipkart, Ola, Swiggy, and Udaan.

Notably, Byju already has investments by Facebook’s Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Naspers Limited and Tiger Global Management. This online education service was founded by Byju Raveendran, who had scored a 100% in CAT but yet didn’t join the IIM.

The ed-tech company caters to students from kindergarten through 12th grade, and has 57 million registered users and 3.5 million paid subscribers, with 300,000 new subscribers every month. It recently doubled its revenue in the financial year that ended in March 2020 at 28 billion rupees ($373 million) from the previous financial year and is profitable, a rarity for Indian startups.

Unacademy, another leading startup is said to be raising funds at a valuation of over $1 billion, which would make it the country’s second EdTech unicorn.

“Korean king had been married to Ayodhya’s princess”: South Korean envoy Shin Bong-Kil

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
-

South Korea Ambassador to India Shin Bong-Kil said on Monday that he was relieved to see an end to the conflict in Ayodhya Ram Mandir. “I am very relieved to see that after many years, Ram Mandir will finally be built in Ayodhya. I am also happy that everyone obeyed this decision. This is the real strength of India’s legal system,” he said.

He added that South Korea International Vaccine Institute is planning to establish a foreign office in Delhi as an important partner in the pharma industry.

Notably, in 2018, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the Korean Prime Minister inaugurated the Queen Huh Memorial at the Queen Huh Park in Ayodhya. Speaking about this, he said, “Both India and Korea Park Memorial could not be completed this year. The work is likely to be completed next year”.

He told in an interview to ANI that India and South Korea had a very profound relationship going back to the ancient times. He said that Korea’s old Asian history books had stories of an Indian princess having married a local Korean King Kim Suro. According to the legend, Princess Suriratna, also known as Heo Hwang-ok, went to Korea in 48 AD, some 2000 years ago, and started the Karak dynasty by marrying a local king. They had uncovered artefacts belonging to India in the tombs of the Karak kingdom. They claim that the then King of Ayodhya had a dream where God ordered him to send his 16-year-old daughter to South Korea to marry King Kim Suro.

Sitting DMK MLA to join BJP

By
The Commune
-

Thousand Lights MLA belonging to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) KK Selvam, will be joining the BJP in the presence of BJP President JP Nadda on Tuesday (August 4).

KK Selvam joined the DMK in 1997 from the AIADMK.It is being said that the sitting MLA was dissatisfied with him not being given the post of district secretary, a coveted post in the DMK. A district secretary is considered even more powerful than the post of MLA or MP in the DMK.

The post of Chennai West district secretary had become vacant with the passing away of DMK MLA J. Anbazhagan due to Wuhan virus. KK Selvam and Anna Nagar DMK MLA Mohan were said to be the heavy weights hoping to get the post.

However, Sittrarasu was appointed for the post. KK Selvam is the second horse to run away from the DMK stables to join the BJP. Earlier, VP Duraisamy quit the party and joined BJP who has been appointed the Vice President of BJP Tamil Nadu.

This comes as another setback for the DMK chief Stalin with just months in the run up to the Assembly elections.

Govt to boost indigenous weapons and exports, MoD comes out with draft policy

By
The Commune
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To end the dependency on weapons systems from foreign suppliers and to build a major defence industrial base (DIB) within the next five years, the Ministry of Defence released a draft defence production and export promotion policy (DPEPP 2020) on Monday. The objective is to achieve a turnover of ₹1,75,000 Crores ($ 25 billion), including export of ₹ 35,000 Crore ($ 5 billion) in aerospace and defence goods and services by 2025.

The DPEPP-2020 is envisaged as overarching guiding document of Defence Ministry to provide a focused, structured and significant thrust to defence production capabilities of the country for self-reliance and exports.

The Modi government wants to develop a dynamic, robust and competitive defence industry, including aerospace and naval shipbuilding industry to cater to the needs of the armed forces.

To make sure the objectives are achieved, the government would have to make some changes to some of its public sector units, such as the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) and its 50 labs.

The infrastructure of the four defence shipyards would require massive overhaul along with the five defence PSUs and 41 ordnance factories to deliver cutting-edge weapon systems without huge time and cost overruns.

The current standoff with China has furthered the importance for indigenous development of high-grade military hardware and cutting edge technology in the defence sector.

The draft DPEPP says the aim is to reduce dependence on imports and take forward “Make in India” initiatives through domestic design and development, and also export of defence products as part of the overall ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ policy.

Soil from 2,578 holy places collected for Ram Mandir Bhoomi Poojan

By
The Commune
-

With just a day left for the Bhoomi Pujan of the grand temple of Lord Ram in Ayodhya, soil from 2,578 sacred places of historical significance has been collected for the auspicious ceremony.

This news was made public by Ambrish, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s (VHP) regional secretary for Uttar Pradesh (UP) East. According to this VHP functionary, the soil that has been collected include the birthplace of Ambedkar (Mau), samadhi of Kabir (Maghar) and the meditation site of Deoraha Baba (Deoria), Kamakhya Temple in Assam among thousand others.

Other important “Punya Sthal” (sacred places) from where soil has been collected include the birthplaces of freedom fighter Rani Laxmi Bai (Jhansi) and revered 16th-century spiritual leader Ravidas (Varanasi).

Soil from Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple, Varadharaja Perumal Temple, Ekambaranathar Temple and Kamakshi Amman Temple from Kanchipuram and Srirangam Temple too reached Ayodhya. Pnar tribals of Meghalaya who follow the ancient indigenous “Niamtre” faith also sent water and soil from Myntdu River in Jowai and Myntang River in Nartiang respectively.

The soil has been carefully stored in pots and cans at Karsevakpuram where the temple’s workshop is located.

August 5, 2020 will be a historic moment as the foundation stone for a grand temple for Lord Ram will be built at the Ram Janmabhoomi after centuries of struggle.

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