Mumbai gives India its first baby penguin

Why in news?

The Humboldt penguin was hatchedon August 15

About Penguin

• As the country celebrated its 72nd Independence Day, the Byculla Zoo had another reason to celebrate as it witnessed the birth of India’s first penguin.
• The baby penguin was born to Flipper and Mr Molt, two of the seven Humboldt penguins brought to the Zoo in 2016.
• The Humboldt penguin is a South American penguin that breeds in coastal Chile and Peru.
• The penguin is named after the cold water current it swims in, which is itself named after Alexander von Humboldt, an explorer.
• The species is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN.

Byculla Zoo

• This is the Only Zoo in Mumbai since 1861, also called ‘Jijamata Udyan’, ‘Byculla Zoo’, ‘Rani Baug’, ‘Victoria Garden’ in British era and Officially named ‘Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan’ now.
• It has varied flora & fauna with about 853 Species of plants, 3000 plus trees, Wild Animals, Birds and the only ‘heritage’ botanical garden of city, spread over 53 acres of land.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee

•  Vajpayee was born to Krishna Devi and Krishna Bihari Vajpayee on 25 December 1924 in Gwalior.

• Atal Bihari Vajpayee BR was an Indian politician who thrice served as the Prime Minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, for a period of eleven months from 1998 to 1999, and then for a full term from 1999 to 2004.
• Vajpayee was among the founding members of the erstwhile Bharatiya Jana Sangh which he also headed from 1968 to 1972. He was the Minister of External Affairs in the cabinet of Prime Minister Morarji Desai.
• He was the first Indian prime minister who was not a member of the Indian National Congress party to have served a full five-year term in office.
• He was conferred India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, by the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee in 2015.The Modi government declared in 2014 that Vajpayee’s birthday, 25 December, would be marked as Good Governance Day.
• His activism started with Arya Kumar Sabha of Gwalior, the youth wing of the Arya Samaj, of which he became the general secretary in 1944.
• He also joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as a swayamsevak, or volunteer, in 1939.
• Influenced by Babasaheb Apte, he attended the Officers Training Camp of the RSS during 1940–44 and became a pracharak, RSS terminology for a a full-time worker, in 1947.
• By 1942 Vajpayee was already an active member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, though he was only 16 years old at the time. In August 1942 he and his elder brother Prem were arrested for 23 days during the Quit India Movement.
• A great leader and orator, former Prime Minister of India Vajpayee also published some of his works of non-fiction and Hindi poetry. Here’s a list of some of the books written by him Meri Sansadiya Yatra ,Meri Ekyavan Kavitayen ,Sankalp Kaal,Shakti-se-Shanti,Mrityu Ya Hatya.

Unified Payments Interface (UPI) 2.0

Why in news?

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) launched Unified Payments Interface (UPI) 2.0.

New features

• In addition to current and savings accounts, customers can link their overdraft (OD) account to UPI in its latest version. Customers will be able to transact instantly and all benefits associated with OD account will be made available to the users.
• UPI mandate could be used in a scenario where money is to be transferred later by providing commitment at present. UPI 2.0 mandates are created with one time block functionality for transactions. Customers can pre-authorise a transaction and pay at a later date.
• Mandates can be created and executed instantly. On the date of actual purchase, the amount will be deducted and received by the merchant/individual user.
• UPI 2.0 has a feature whereby customers can check the invoice sent by merchant prior to making payment. This is aimed at helping customers to view and verify the credentials and check whether it has come from the right merchant or not.
• A quick response (QR) code feature has been introduced for customers to check the authenticity of merchants while scanning the code. It notifies the user with information to ascertain whether the merchant is verified UPI merchant or not. This provides an additional security to the QR as well as intent.
• Transactions are processed faster as app passcode is not required in case of signed intent. It also negates the chances of QR tampering. Customers will be informed in case the receiver is not secured by way of notifications.

About UPI

• UPI is a system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application (of any participating bank), merging several banking features, seamless fund routing & merchant payments into one hood.
• It also caters to the “Peer to Peer” collect request which can be scheduled and paid as per requirement and convenience.
• NPCI is an umbrella organization for all retail payments in India. UPI version 1 was launched in April 2016.

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)

• National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), an umbrella organisation for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India, is an initiative of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) under the provisions of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, for creating a robust Payment & Settlement Infrastructure in India.
• it has been incorporated as a “Not for Profit” Company under the provisions of Section 25 of Companies Act 1956 (now Section 8 of Companies Act 2013), with an intention to provide infrastructure to the entire Banking system in India for physical as well as electronic payment and settlement systems.
• National Financial Switch (NFS) and Cheque Truncation System (CTS) continues to be the flagship products of NPCI.
• Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has been termed as the revolutionary product in payment system and Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) has also been launched in pilot mode.
• The other products include RuPay Credit Card, National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) and National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC). With these products the aim is to transform India into a ‘less-cash’ society by touching every Indian with one or other payment services.

RUCO (Repurpose Used Cooking Oil)

Why in news?

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) launched RUCO (Repurpose Used Cooking Oil), an initiative that will enable collection and conversion of used cooking oil to bio-diesel. The initiative has been launched nearly a month after the food safety regulator notified standards for used cooking oil.

About RUCO (Repurpose Used Cooking Oil)

• FSSAI may look at introducing regulations to ensure that companies that use large quantities of cooking oil hand it over to registered collecting agencies to convert it into biofuel.
• Under this initiative, 64 companies at 101 locations have been identified to enable collection of used cooking oil. For instance: McDonald’s has already started converting used cooking oil to biodiesel from 100 outlets in Mumbai and Pune.
• The regulator believes India has the potential to recover 220 crore litres of used cooking oil for the production of biodiesel by 2022 through a co-ordinated action.

• FSSAI wants businesses using more than 100 litres of oil for frying, to maintain a stock register and ensure that UCO is handed over to only registered collecting agencies.
• According to FSSAI regulations, the maximum permissible limits for Total Polar Compounds (TPC) have been set at 25 per cent, beyond which the cooking oil is unsafe for consumption.