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Will RBI joining NGFS help in climate finance?

The 22nd Financial Stability Report (FSR22) of the RBI had, about the “climate-related risk” that the value of financial assets/liabilities could be affected either by continuation in climate change (physical risks), or by an adjustment towards a low-carbon economy (transition risks). The manifestation of physical risks could lead to a sharp fall in asset prices and increase in uncertainty, it said.

AIIB provides $125 million funding for Kerala’s climate adaptation and disaster resilience

An estimated 49.6 million people will benefit from the loan, part of a comprehensive $ 530-million package cofinanced by the Government of Kerala, the World Bank Group’s International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the French Development Agency.

Two key government programs will benefit from the financial injection—the Rebuild Kerala Development Program and the State Health Mission—both of which aim to improve state governments’ institutional resilience.

Automobile retail sales in fast lane in July as COVID restrictions ease across country

”With the entire country now open, July witnessed robust recovery in auto retails as demand across all categories remained high. Besides, the low base effect also continues to play its part,” Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) President Vinkesh Gulati said in a statement
However, long waiting periods due to supply-side constraints continue to persist for the last few months and are becoming a cause of concern for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), he added.

Global average temp rise of 1.5 degrees Celsius in next 20 years: UN report

This report tells us that recent changes in the climate are widespread, rapid and intensifying, unprecedented in thousands of years, said IPCC Vice Chair Ko Barrett, senior climate adviser for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The changes we experience will increase with further warming.

Extreme sea level events likely every year by end of this century: IPCC

If we reduce emissions globally to net zero by 2040 there is still a two-thirds chance to reach 1.5 degrees and if we globally achieve net zero emissions by the middle of the century, there is still a one-third chance to achieve that, said Dr Friederike Otto, Associate Director of the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford and one of the authors of the IPCC report.

Indian Ocean warming at faster pace, India to witness increased heat waves, flooding: Report

”The Indian Ocean region is warming at a higher rate, which means the relative sea level can also increase over the regions. Hence, the coastal regions will see the sea level rise through the 21st century and it will contribute to more frequent and severe coastal flooding in low-level areas and coastal erosion. Along with this, extreme sea-level events that were previously seen once in a hundred years, could also happen every year by the end of the century,” she said.

Non-life insurers to suffer longer from pandemic: Liberty General CEO

The two waves of the deadly viral infection so far have bled the general insurance industry to the tune of around Rs 27,000 crore as over 2 million customers have made industry-wide claims till early July, according to Roopam Asthana, managing director and chief executive of the mid-scale non-life player Liberty General Insurance.

Of this, the whole of FY’21 saw only about claims worth Rs 14,500 crore from around 9.8 lakh customers. As against this, the first three months of FY’22 alone have seen close to 12 lakh customers seeking over Rs 13,000 crore in refunds or cashless hospitlisation, he said and added that this is only from the second wave and no one knows what is in store for the industry as the world is fearing a third wave.

Tap water for rural homes: Chattisgarh lagging in 30th position, says Union minister

“Some states have done good work. Telangana, Goa, and two Union Territories have achieved a cent-percent target. Some states have set targets to complete work under the mission by 2021, while some by 2022 and 2023. There are 74 districts and over 1,000 village panchayats in the country where all rural households have a tap water connection,” he said.

India to Indonesia: Asian economies challenged by Delta Covid variant

Supply chains from Vietnam to Thailand, where outbreaks are surging, have also been interrupted, with factories that make goods for Nike Inc. and Adidas AG shutting down over virus restrictions, potentially missing out on the crucial holiday shopping season. That raises the prospect of Asia’s delta hit reverberating worldwide, if exports are delayed longer term.

“The current delta wave in Asia may snarl production networks further,” said Frederic Neumann, co-head of Asian economic research at HSBC Holdings Plc in Hong Kong. “The risk is that growth scars linger for longer.”

Did inequality in US increase during pandemic? Wait for more data to get answers

Researchers at the Urban Institute estimated last month that, thanks to big job gains and the benefits included in the American Rescue Plan approved in March and earlier pandemic-aid legislation, the share of Americans below the poverty line would fall to 7.7 per cent this year from what they estimated using the same methodology to have been 13.9 per cent in 2018.
The bottom half did enjoy a bigger percentage wealth gain than the top 1 per cent —30.3 per cent versus 20.7 per cent since the end of 2019 — although because it had so little wealth to start with, that amounted to just $609 billion in new wealth versus $7.1 trillion for the 1 per cent.

Still, the total wealth of the bottom 50 per cent in the first quarter of this year amounted to 6.3 per cent of that of the top 1 per cent, up from 5.8 per cent at the end of 2019 and the highest such percentage since 2007. In that sense, at least, inequality between the top and bottom decreased.

Depict real picture of job loss: Parliamentary panel to Labour Ministry

It observed that despite Covid-19 pandemic, net EPFO payroll addition for 2020-21 was 77.08 lakh which is almost at par with 2019-20 net payroll addition of 78.58 lakh.”However, the Committee’s attention has been drawn to a study conducted by the Azim Premji University according to which nearly half of the formal salaried workers moved into informal work either as self-employed (30 per cent), casual wage (10 per cent), informal salaried jobs (9 per cent) between late 2019 and late 2020.”

UK eases travel restrictions for Indians, compulsory institutional quarantine rule removed

According to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) all arrivals from India who have been vaccinated with both the doses can choose to isolate at home. The individuals no longer need to shell out 1, 750 pounds per head for 10 day quarantine at a government-approved facility. Moreover, people vaccinated in UK or Europe are exempted from home quarantine requirements as well. Moreover, work is ongoing to determine which non-UK vaccines and certification solutions will be recognised. This comes as the UK reviews its three-tier international travel restrictions with a color-coded list of countries (red, amber & green).

ICMR study finds mix of Covishield, Covaxin yields better results

These findings have an important implication for the COVID-19 vaccination program wherein heterologous immunisation will pave the way for induction of improved and better protection against the variant strains of SARS-CoV-2.

Such mixed regimens will also help to overcome the challenges of shortfall of particular vaccines and remove hesitancy around vaccines in people’s mind that could have genesis in programmatic ‘errors’ especially in settings where multiple COVID-19 vaccines are being used, the study highlighted.