Author: sahilbaid

Home grown alternative to GPS, know all about India’s “NavIC”.

Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC), also called the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), is considered on par with US-based GPS, Russia’s Glonass and Galileo developed by Europe.

Making innovative applications to the entire community in the ocean-based services, especially for the underserved and unserved, the NavIC constellation is really going to create history, according to ISRO Chairman K Sivan.

By using receivers on the ground, IRNSS-1I will help in determining position and time accurately through signals in a space covering India.

Standard Positioning Service (SPS) and Restricted Service (RS), which are provided to all and authorised users respectively, are the services associated with IRNSS.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi named the independent regional navigation satellite system developed by India as “NavIC” which offers services like terrestrial and marine navigation, disaster management, vehicle tracking and fleet management, a navigation aid for hikers and travellers, visual and voice navigation for drivers.

Built at a cost of $174 million, NavIC was originally approved in 2006 and became operational in 2018. 

Consisting of eight satellites,  NavIC is currently being used for providing emergency warning alerts to fishermen venturing into the deep sea where there is no terrestrial network connectivity and in public vehicle tracking in India.

In order to ensure the availability of NavIC signal in any part of the world, India’s satellite navigation draft policy in 2021 stated the government will work towards “expanding the coverage from regional to global.”

With the aim of removing dependence on foreign satellite systems for navigation service requirements, NavIC is conceived particularly for “strategic sectors.”

Tips for faster promotion in jobs.

Many people wonder how to get promoted at work. It’s not as hard as it seems. All you need is a little bit of patience and a lot of hard work. Just make sure to not slack off and you’ll be well on your way to the top!

Here’s how to rise through the ranks in the fastest way possible

These are quickly summed up in the bullet points below.

  • Punctuality– Always arrive on time
  • Work Etiquette– This is related to dressing properly and behaving professionally
  • Work ethics– Be committed, proactive and honest in your job.
  • Positive Attitude– Be positive and confident. Increase productivity through attitude. Who doesn’t love good personalities?
  • Stay organised– Keep a track of all your work in progress and keep your work area clean
  • Goal-orientedness– It is important to stay ahead of schedule. Always strive to beat targets and deadlines
  • Be a Team player– Love everyone and be loved by all. This should be the aim to get promoted quickly.
  • Leave home at home– Don’t discuss private affairs and leave your personal baggage of responsibilities at home
  • Work hard– Nothings succeeds like success. Work hard to become successful and further success will follow

IT employees are rewarded with double digit salary hike before the festive season.

As per a report by brokerage and research firm Elara Capital, companies like Coforge, L&T Infotech (LTI) and Persistent Systems (PSYS) hiked salaries in double-digits in FY22. Reportedly, this is the maximum hike that they have given in 4 years.

The same hike trend is been observed among employees of all major IT companies such as Infosys, HCL, TCS and other big IT corporations, and it was seen as a good move considering the pandemic hit stagnant income of the employees and much more relief from the dark clouds of spiking inflation all around.

In FY22, the median wage rise was 2.4x five-year average wage increase for midcap Indian IT companies as acute supply-side strain necessitated roll-out of substantial salary hikes.

As compared to the previous four years, the employee growth has exceeded the median salary growth which implies faster fresher addition (pyramid flattening).

As demand for services such as cloud-computing, digital payment infrastructure, cybersecurity and cryptocurrency transactions surged, employers paid top compensation to lure skilled workers.

Further, Double digit salary hikes are here to stay for at least another year. The Salary Increase Survey report by AON says that Indian companies are expected to boost average salaries by at least 10.4% in 2023, a tad lower than the 10.6% given in 2022 so far.

The average salary hikes in percentage terms for 2022 is highest in India as compared with other big countries, including the USA, the UK and Japan, the report said.

Emerging career options among Indian youth.

Empirical research by various trade organizations, media houses, and the Indian government clearly point towards a single fact: Youth can’t find jobs because they opt for traditionally favourite courses such as medicine, engineering and management. Rather than breaking away from the flock, study emerging trends and finding new generation careers, Indian youth pursue careers they wrongly believe would secure an excellent future.

Blogging

Blogging isn’t something that quirks with a flair for writing engage in. Instead, it’s a top class new generation career for youth. Blogging can help you get high-paying jobs with top companies or make money from home with minimal investment. All you require is passion or in-depth knowledge about a topic or field with creative writing and presentation skills.

Instagram Influencer

Almost every popular brand in the world is on Instagram. And for a reason too: this photo and video sharing website has over 800 million users worldwide. No business worth its name can afford to neglect Instagram as an effective marketing too. Nor can it overlook the importance of influencer marketing through Instagram.

Mobile Applications Developer

As cheaper smartphones and inexpensive mobile data packages flood the Indian market, there’s a correspondingly high demand for Android and IOS –based apps. India’s emergence as a digital economy is imminent. And the country’s moving rapidly towards digitization in various important spheres such as governance, law & order as well as healthcare. In coming years, most Indians will depend heavily on mobile apps for various activities. And organizations are already under pressure to provide apps that ease various processes such as application for services and jobs.

Digital Marketing

By using digital marketing strategies businesses can create their online presence in the form of a website, increasing more traffic to their website, attracting the target customers, interacting with the end customers in real time, collaborating with other businesses for more promotions, all this in an extremely cost efficient way. Digital marketing has helped businesses create their brand value thereby increasing trust and confidence of their customers. This has led to tremendous increase in the demand for many skilled digital marketing professionals for every business, big or small.

Virtual Gaming

The gaming landscape, especially PC and console gaming in India, has changed over the last few years. The major credit for this can be given to the nationwide availability of high-speed internet connectivity. Not only has this contributed to the increasing number of online gamers but gaming is now being considered a viable career option in the country.

Major types of economic system in the world.

An economic system is a network that forms the economic relationships between individuals in society. In other words, how the people of a nation come together to create a complex whole and conduct economic transactions with each other.

An initial surge in demand can create a multiplying effect that ripples throughout the economy. This surge in demand sends a signal to the whole supply chain that more of these products are required, so more are made. An economic system can change the way by which these supply and demand signals transfer through society. For instance, some economic systems may be more restrictive and place tariffs or quotas on imports. In turn, this can affect the signal between, buyer, seller, and supplier.

These are broad types of economic systems but will capture the different varieties that exist in the world today.

Traditional Economic System

Out of the four types of economic systems, the traditional economic system is the most basic. There is no involvement by the government, so people are largely left to conduct economic activities without influence. However, it is a very basic system that relies on basic customs and traditions. Under a traditional economic system, subsistence is the main driver for economic trades, whilst profit is not the main motive. Instead, this system relies on communities and the cohesion between them to provide and sustain each other.

Socialism – Command economic system

A command economic system is often referred to as a socialist or communist system. Under this structure, power is centralised either to the government or a sole ruler. In turn, they decide the rules of the game and command how economic interactions take place. Under a command economic system, central powers own the means of production, so can, therefore, shift it to where they see fit. For instance, if the nation’s central powers want to start making more steel, they may move workers from a construction site and transfer them to a steel factory.

Capitalism – Market economic system

A capitalist economic system is where the means of production is owned and controlled by private enterprise rather than the government. Instead of government dictating what goods and services should be produced, these are driven by supply and demand mechanisms. The capitalist economic system relies on private individuals using capital to produce goods and return a profit. In turn, this increases the private enterprise’s capital stock. The issue with this however is that many individuals can amass great economic power and wealth. Not only does this create social discontent, but can also lead to unscrupulous business practices.

Mixed Economy

A mixed economy is one of the most common forms of economic systems in the world today. We see it in many developed nations such as the US, Japan, and throughout most of Europe. It is simply a mixture of capitalist and command economic systems. A mixed economic system often has some level of private ownership of the means of production. However, in a mixed economy, some industries are controlled by the government, whilst others are privately owned. 

India’s Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) to be accumulated to whopping $100 billion by the end of this fiscal year.

India is on track to attract $100 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the current fiscal on account of economic reforms and ease of doing business, the government said on September 24, 2022.

In 2021-22, the country received the “highest ever” foreign inflows of $83.6 billion.

“This FDI has come from 101 countries, and invested across 31 union territories and states and 57 sectors in the country. On the back of economic reforms and Ease of Doing Business in recent years, India is on track to attract $100 billion FDI in the current FY (financial year),” the commerce and industry ministry said in a statement.

The statement also mentions that the government has installed a liberal and transparent policy to attract foreign investment. Currently, most sectors of the Indian economy are open to FDI under an automatic route.

The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in India can be made under two routes- automatic and government routes. Under the automatic route, the investor requires no or very less permissions from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) or from the Government of India to invest.

Under the government rules, permissions from the appropriate authorities of the government or the RBI are required to invest in the country.

The reform measures include liberalization of guidelines and regulations, in order to reduce unnecessary compliance burdens, bring down costs and enhance the ease of doing business in India, the statement added.

Make in India initiative is an open invitation to potential investors and partners across the globe to participate in the growth story of ‘New India’. Make In India has substantial accomplishments across 27 sectors. These include strategic sectors of manufacturing and services as well. Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme across 14 key manufacturing sectors, was launched in 2020-21 as a big boost to Make in India initiative.

Depreciating Rupee.

The Indian rupee on 22 September fell to all-time low of 81.20 against US dollar in early trade on the back of US Treasury yields climbing to fresh multi-year highs and dollar demand from importers. Currently the rupee had suffered its biggest single session percentage decline since February, due to lack of aggressive intervention by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and a very U.S. hawkish Federal Reserve rate outlook, traders said.

One of the reasons that RBI couldn’t rescue the fall in the currency was inadequate liquidity in the banking system which is currently in deficit. RBI’s intervention in the spot market could make the case worst for the banking system liquidity amid short-term interest rates going higher.

The Central bank in a an attempt to handle the depreciating rate of rupee, frequently burnout forex. In just eight months between mid-January and mid-September this year, forex reserves have depleted by almost $90 billion, or approximately an average of $11 billion a month. For the week-ended September 16, India’s forex reserves stood at $545.65 billion compared with $634.97 billion in the week-ended January 14.

However, faced with dwindling forex reserves, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may not be aggressive in defending the Indian currency and allow it to catch up with other emerging market (EM) currencies that have dropped more.

National Logistics Policy.

National logistics policy was initially mentioned in 2020 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her address regarding the budget. The government claims that there are efforts on to implement an integrated and technologically enabled approach to logistics operations, which will be effective throughout the entire process and be useful in lowering logistics costs in the nation from the current levels of 13–14% of GDP.

The Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the National Logistics Policy which seeks to cut transportation costs by promoting seamless movement of goods across the country.

An umbrella policy for the logistics sector has been in the works for around three-four years. It was felt that the logistics cost in India is high compared to other developed economies. India’s logistics cost as a proportion of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is believed to be around 13-14 per cent. The government now aims to bring it down to single digits as soon as possible.

The primary areas of this National logistics policy 2022 will be process re-engineering, digitization, and multi-modal transportation. It is a key decision since excessive logistical costs affect how competitive domestic products are on the global market.

The National logistics policy 2022 was deemed necessary because India has higher logistics costs than other industrialised nations. India must drastically cut its logistics costs if it wants to increase the competitiveness of its exports and domestic products.

The goal of lower logistics costs is to increase economy-wide efficiency, allowing for value addition and business. The policy lays out an extensive interdisciplinary, cross-sectoral, and multijurisdictional framework for the growth of the entire logistics ecosystem in an effort to solve concerns of high cost and inefficiency.

What does ‘Moonlighting’ mean?

The majority of IT firms have strengthened their opposition to moonlighting and threatened to fire employees who are found to be working two jobs. Moonlighting could be viewed as unfair competition if an employee’s contract stipulates non-compete restrictions and exclusive employment.

Significant IT business, Infosys, has cautioned its employees against accepting a second job without first informing the employer. Infosys recently reminded all of its employees to study their employment contracts before accepting a different job in one of the letters sent to staff members by the HR department. In fact, the employer also issued a warning that if an employee accepted a second job during or after working hours, they risked being fired. The term that IT corporates uses to describe this practice is ‘moonlighting’.

But what is moonlighting?

Moonlighting means taking up a second job or multiple other work assignments apart from one’s full-time job. The practice of working for other organisation while committing oneself to one’s primary workplace, typically without the employer’s knowledge, is termed as ‘moonlighting’. Companies have opposed the practice, saying that employees doing multiple jobs can impact their productivity.

Moonlighting has become a topic of debate in the IT industry as working from home became the normal norm during the Covid-19 pandemic, which is believed to have led to a rise in dual employment.

Businesses disagree with the approach, claiming that having staff perform numerous tasks can reduce productivity. As working from home became the norm during the Covid-19 pandemic, which is thought to have caused an increase in dual employment, moonlighting has come under discussion in the IT industry.

International Day of Peace.

In 1981, the United Nations General Assembly declared the third Tuesday of September as International Day of Peace. This day coincided with the opening day of the annual sessions of the General Assembly. The purpose of the day was and still remains, to strengthen the ideals of peace around the world.

Two decades after establishing this day of observance, in 2001, the assembly moved the date to be observed annually on September 21. So, beginning in 2002, September 21 marks not only a time to discuss how to promote and maintain peace among all peoples but also a 24-hour period of global ceasefire and non-violence for groups in active combat.

Peace is possible. Throughout history, most societies have lived in peace most of the time. Today, we are much less likely to die in war than our parents or grandparents. Since the establishment of the United Nations and the creation of the Charter of the United Nations, governments are obligated not to use force against others unless they are acting in self-defense or have been authorized by the UN Security Council to proceed.

Life is better in a world where peace exists and, today, we look to those who have been peacemakers and peacekeepers to learn what we can each do individually to make the world a more peaceful place.

The United Nations invites all nations and people to honour a cessation of hostilities during the day and to otherwise commemorate the Day through education and public awareness on issues related to peace.

Every year, the International Day of Peace is celebrated under a specific theme. This year, according to the UN, the theme of World Peace Day 2022 is ‘End racism , Build peace.’ There will be many events, workshops, and educational seminars on the eve of World Peace Day 2022 to create awareness among people about how to develop a world free of racism and racial discrimination.

According to the United Nations, “Racism continues to poison institutions, social structures, and everyday life in every society. It continues to be a driver of persistent inequality. And it continues to deny people their fundamental human rights. It destabilises societies, undermines democracies, erodes the legitimacy of governments, and the linkages between racism and gender inequality are unmistakable.”

How UPI is a financial revolution.

United Payment Interface (UPI), a term unheard or unbelieved until April 2016, but in Modern India, UPI is the flag-bearer of the ongoing Financial Revolution.

From a tea vendor selling a Rs 10 Cutting Chai to a showroom with a pricey product range, a large section of our society has adapted to UPI. It actively utilises the mechanism for seamless payments. In the early stages, a year after the launch of UPI, the total number of payments was 6% compared to 36% of Card payments. However, in FY 2021, UPI’s share expanded to 63%, while the percentage of Card payments shrunk to 9%. The progressive advancement of UPI has not just constructed an efficient payment instrument, but it has connected millions on an inclusive and well-structured Digital platform.

It must be noted that the underlying infrastructure of Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) has been paramount for UPI’s grand success. Adopting a UPI ID rather than entering bank account numbers and IFSC codes has made transactions effortless. Integration with Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) for recurring Bill Payments has been crucial in creating an innovative platform.

The Indian real-time payments market is well developed when directly compared with other markets like the US, the UK, Canada and Australia, according to a report published by ACI Worldwide. The report also forecast that the share of all transactions occurring via real time instrument was expected to increase to 70.7 per cent in 2026 from the present 31.3 per cent. The report predicted that in 2026, business and consumer level benefits due to India’s real time instant payment was expected to reach $92.4 billion, adding, that it will have an impact of $54.9 billion or 1.12 per cent in India’s GDP.

Inflation and its types.

Inflation is a general progressive elevation in the prices of services and goods within the economy. It denotes the rate of prices’ elevation within a specific duration. Inflation reduces the purchasing power of money since every unit of currency buys lesser services and goods. Generally, when inflation occurs, the income usually stays the same; however, the level of spending increases. The definition of inflation is the reduction of the purchasing power of a particular currency over a specific timeframe. Inflation is quantitatively estimated by reflecting the elevated average level of prices of selected services and goods within an economy over a given duration. Inflation in economics refers to the collective elevation in money supply, in prices or money incomes. Thus, inflation is an excessive increase in the general level of prices. The inflation concept in common parlance outlines inflation as a quantifier of the elevating rates of services and goods within the economy. In this light, inflation is deemed to occur due to an increase in prices when there is an elevation in the cost of production. However, inflation can occur when there is a demand for particular services and products because the buyers are willing to purchase the product at higher prices. Inflation also declines the value of money.

Types of Inflation.

Demand-Pull Inflation 

Demand-pull Inflation emerges when the total demand for goods and supply is higher than the capacity of production in the market. An increase in demand with constant rate production creates a demand-supply gap. In this type of Inflation, demand is much higher than the production, which in turn increases the prices of goods and services.

Cost-Push Inflation 

Sudden shortfall of supply leads to a surge in the cost of production, which increases the rate of Inflation. For example, soap and shampoo prices may rise if the chemicals used in making these become costlier. This is known as cost – pull Inflation. 

Built-in Inflation

When the cost of wages of the workers increases, to keep up with their demand, the firm increases the cost of production, which leads to the rise in the cost of goods.

Inflation in India:

In India, the ministry of statistics and program implementation measures Inflation. India’s central bank i.e., The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), limits the inflation rate through its monetary policy by using tools such as repo rate, the reverse repo rate, CRR, etc. Inflation is measured by two indices in India, which is the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Wholesale Price index (WPI). CPI and WPI measure retail and wholesale level price changes, respectively. CPI measures the rise in prices of commodities and services such as medical care, food, education, etc. WPI captures goods or services sold by a business to smaller businesses for selling further.

Reducing India’s Forex reserves.

India’s forex reserves are at an alarmingly low stage and have dropped with the aid of 23 months of use. For the week ending September , India’s overseas foreign exchange (forex) reserves fell to $553. The lowest level in over a year, consistent with figures from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The Reserve Bank of India saved its currency and intervened to save the rupee from falling beyond eighty to the greenback at some point every week whilst the greenback surged to over-decade highs, inflicting India’s forex reserves to plummet to their lowest stage in more than a decade and staining the third consecutive week of decline.

The rupee has fallen from around seventy-four to close to eighty against the greenback, a trend that experts say the RBI has maintained vehemently, echoing a drop in FX reserves of slightly more than sixty-seven billion since the Ukraine disaster and more than eighty billion from all-time highs last year. The effect of the appreciation or depreciation of non-greenback currencies like the Euro, British Pound Sterling, and Japanese Yen held in forex reserves is blanketed within the overseas forex belongings expressed in US dollars.

Experts say that the forex reserves have witnessed a fall as a result of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) intervention to rein the currency volatility. In 2022, the rupee has declined by about 7 per cent, which has also made imports costlier.  Even though India’s forex reserves have seen a decline in the past few months, experts say the situation is not at all alarming. Experts say the country has a significant amount of forex reserves.

Role of ‘MSME’ sector in Indian Economy.

MSME has introduced in the year 2006 in India. There are still some service sector that was not yet included in this sector was included in the definition of the Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises making a historic change to this Act. 

The MSME sector in India gave a major boost to the economy. Over 63 million MSMEs spread across the country contributed 30.5% to India’s GDP in FY19 and 30% in FY20. It also created many employment opportunities. Based on a study conducted by the Ministry of Statistics & PI between July 2015 and June 2016, the MSME sector employed 111 million workers. Compared with large-scale companies, MSMEs aided in the industrialisation of rural areas at minimal capital cost. The sector has made significant contributions to the country’s socio-economic growth and complemented major industries as well. MSMEs account for approximately 40% of India’s total exports, 6.11% of GDP from the manufacturing sector and 24.63% of GDP from the services sector.

The significance of the MSMEs sector can be noted from the fact that it is the second-largest employment provider, after agriculture in India. This sector has proven the instrumental in the growth of the nation, leverage exports, creating huge employment opportunities for the unskilled, fresh graduates, and the underemployed. It also extended the opportunities to banks for giving more credit to enterprises to MSME Sector. The government should take the special care by addressing the importance of MSME in terms of providing more and more MSME Registration advantages by implementing better regulations and enable financial institutions to lend more credit at less interest rate for sustainability of this sector.

To ensure that MSMEs continue to lead the country towards economic growth, the Government of India has from time to time announced various schemes to support the development of this sector. Recently, in view of the economic hardship caused by covid 19, the government has announced few schemes under ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ i.e. Self-reliant India initiative. Accordingly, the criterion for classifying MSME has also been revised. Under the revised criterion, the combined factors of ‘Investment in plant and machinery’ and ‘Turnover’ are required to be considered to determine whether a business should be classified as a micro, small or a medium enterprise. In contrast, earlier the classification of an MSME unit was based only its investment in plant and machinery; and also depending on whether the enterprise was in the manufacturing sector or in the services sector.

International Day for Preservation of Ozone Layer : 16th September.

The world observes September 16th as International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer or World Ozone Day. The day marks the anniversary of the Montreal Protocol which was signed to keep in check Ozone depleting substances. On this day, people from all over the world hold talks and seminars on the ozone layer.  Educators teach students about the benefits of the Ozone layer and special events and activities are organised to spread awareness.

The ozone layer is a fragile shield of gas that protects the Earth from the harmful portion of the rays of the sun, thus helping preserve life on the planet. Ozone is a protective layer that protects us from harmful radiations of the sun. It is crucial for sustaining life on this planet. Montreal Protocol was an effort countries made to collaborate and protect the ozone layer. The principal aim of the Montreal Protocol is to protect ozone layer by taking measures to control total global production and consumption of substances that deplete it.

World Ozone Day 2022 Theme “Montreal Protocol@35: global cooperation protecting life on earth” is the theme of World Ozone Day 2022.

Let us understand what Ozone is and how it is being depleted.

Ozone is made up of three atoms of oxygen. It is highly reactive gas and is represented by O3. It occurs naturally as well as a man-made product in the Earth’s upper atmosphere i.e. stratosphere and lower atmosphere i.e. troposphere. The Ozone layer is present in Earth’s atmosphere (15-35km above Earth) in the lower portion of the stratosphere and has relatively high concentrations of ozone (O3). Naturally, it is formed through the interactions of solar UV radiation with molecular oxygen O2. It reduces the harmful UV radiation reaching the Earth’s surface.

 The main cause of ozone depletion and the ozone hole is manufactured chemicals, especially manufactured halocarbon refrigerants, solvents, propellants, and foam- blowing agents (chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), HCFCs, halons). Since the early 1970’s, scientists observed reduction in stratospheric ozone and it was found more prominent in Polar Regions. ODS substances have a lifetime of about 100 years.