The Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) for high-value transactions will become available round-the-clock from today (December 14), making India one of the few countries in the world to operate the system 24X7.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das announced that the RTGS facility would become operational 24X7 from 12:30 am on Monday. "RTGS facility becomes operational 24X7 from 12.30 am tomorrow. Congratulations to the teams from RBI, Indian Financial Technology and Allied Services (IFTAS), and the service partners who made this possible," Das had tweeted on Sunday.

The Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) for high-value transactions will become available round-the-clock from today (December 14), making India one of the few countries in the world to operate the system 24X7.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das announced that the RTGS facility would become operational 24X7 from 12:30 am on Monday. "RTGS facility becomes operational 24X7 from 12.30 am tomorrow. Congratulations to the teams from RBI, Indian Financial Technology and Allied Services (IFTAS), and the service partners who made this possible," Das had tweeted on Sunday.

In October, the RBI had announced that RTGS will be available round-the-clock on all days of the year. RTGS facility comes within a year of RBI operationalizing NEFT 24x7. NEFT is a popular mode for small-value transactions.
RTGS, which began its operations on March 26, 2004 with a soft launch involving four banks, presently handles 6.35 lakh transactions daily for a value of Rs 4.17 lakh crore across 237 participant banks.

"Round the clock availability of RTGS will provide extended flexibility to businesses for effecting payments and will enable the introduction of additional settlement cycles in ancillary payment systems. This can also be leveraged to enhance operations of Indian financial markets and cross-border payments," RBI had said last week.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Dhordo in Kutch, Gujarat on December 15, 2020, and lay the foundation stone of several development projects.

These projects include a desalination plant, a hybrid renewable energy park, and a fully automated milk processing and packing plant. 

Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani will also be present on the occasion. The Prime Minister will also undertake a visit to the White Rann, followed by witnessing a cultural programme, said the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in a statement issued on Sunday.

"Harnessing its vast coastline, Gujarat is taking a significant step towards transforming seawater to potable drinking water with the upcoming desalination plant at Mandvi, Kutch. This desalination plant, with 10 crore litre per day capacity (100 MLD), will strengthen water security in Gujarat by complementing Narmada Grid, Sauni network and treated wastewater infrastructure. It will be an important milestone for sustainable and affordable water resource harvesting in the country," the PMO statement added.  

Nearly 8 lakh people across the regions of Mundra, Lakhpat, Abdasa and Nakhatrana talukas will receive desalinated water from this plant, which will also help in sharing the surplus to upstream districts of Bhachau, Rapar and Gandhidham. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the Global Climate Summit today on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the landmark Paris Climate Agreement. The Paris Agreement is a landmark deal in the multilateral climate change process. For the first time, a binding agreement brought all nations into a common cause to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects. It is a legally binding international treaty on climate change which was adopted by 196 Parties at the twenty-first session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) in Paris, on 12th of December 2015 and came into force on 4th of November 2016.

Briefing the media in New Delhi on the eve of the completion of five years of Paris Agreement yesterday, Environment Minister Prakash  Javadekar informed that the United Kingdom has called for a virtual Global Climate Summit today and Prime Minister Modi would also be taking part in the meeting. Mr Javadekar has said that climate change is not an overnight phenomenon and it has taken the last 100 years to have an impact on the environment.

The Minister said, climate change is not a result of recent actions but of historical actions. He said, historically the United States of America has 25 per cent of CO2 emissions, Europe has 22 per cent whereas China has 13 per cent and India only 3 per cent of emission.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will address the International Bharati Festival, 2020 today via video conferencing.

It is being organized by the Vanavil Culture Centre in Chennai. The festival is being organised in virtual mode this year and will see participation of several national and international poets and artists.

The festival is being held in honour of the national poet, Mahakavi Subramanya Bharati whose 138th birth anniversary is being celebrated today. AIR correspondent reports that Prime Minister Narendra Modi confers this year’s Bharati Award via virtual mode to the writer and author Seeni Vishvanathan who has made a voluminous compendium on the national poet Subramaniya Bharati in a chronological order.

The festival is being held through video-conferencing this year by the Vanavil Culture Centre, due to the prevailing pandemic situation. Vanavil means rainbow, signifying unity. The Prime Minister has earlier quoted the works of the Mahakavi Subramaniya Bharati earlier, whose poems ignited the national spirit among the public during the freedom struggle, apart from adding newer dimensions to the Tamil literary world. The event is a fitting tribute on his 138th anniversary today.

Human Rights Day is being celebrated today. The day is celebrated on this day every year to commemorate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The declaration was adopted and proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948 as the shared standard yardstick to protect human rights across the globe. It recognizes inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of mankind as the foundation of justice, freedom and peace in the world. The theme for this year’s Human Rights Day, relates to the COVID-19 pandemic and focuses on the need to recover better by ensuring Human Rights are at the heart of recovery efforts.
 
The National Human Rights Commission, NHRC India is organizing a function through virtual mode today to celebrate Human Rights Day. Since its inception 12th October, 1993 till 6th December this year, the Commission has registered more than 19 lakh 50 thousand cases and disposed of over 19 lakh 32 thousand. A total 188 crore rupees have been paid as relief to the victims of human rights violations in over seven thousand cases by various state agencies on the recommendations of the Commission.

Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju, today said that the government has made various policy changes and taken up initiatives to encourage and support sportspersons and the sporting community even after they retire.  

Addressing the 10th Global Sports Summit, TURF 2020, organized by FICCI, Mr.Rijiju said, that we are also starting 1000 Khelo India small centres across the country that will help retired sports persons get employment or some role in shaping the sports culture of the country.

The Minister noted that India has huge potential where sports is concerned but potential alone has no meaning unless utilized and channelized in the right way.

Rijiju urged the industry, business, and corporate houses to come together with the government in helping create a sporting obsessive society.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stressed on the need to work together to ensure timely roll-out of next generation 5G technology to leapfrog into the future and empower millions of people in the country. Mr Modi was delivering the inaugural address at the virtual India Mobile Congress (IMC) yesterday. Addressing the event, the Prime Minister gave a call to work together to make India a global hub for telecom equipment, design, development and manufacturing.

Mr Modi cautioned that due to technological upgradation, there is a culture of replacing handsets and gadgets frequently. He called for setting up a task-force to think of a better way of handling the electronic waste and create a circular economy.

The Prime Minister said that the digital potential of the country is immense. He said, with the help of mobile technology, poor and vulnerable sections of the society have been provided help during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Prime Minister said, India will launch the world's biggest Covid-19 vaccination drive with the help of mobile technology.

Appreciating the country's growth in the mobile and internet connectivity sector, Mr. Modi said, India has a billion plus mobile phone users and 750 million internet users. He said, half of total internet users have been added in the last four years.

Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju has launched the second edition of Fit India Cyclothon via social media. The mega cycling event which started yesterday will run for 25 days till 31st December.

The event will be held across the country in each district and citizens can participate by registering on Fit India website, cycle daily a distance of their choice, and share their images and videos on social media. They may tag @FitIndiaOff and use the hashtag -  FitIndiaCyclothon and #NewIndiaFitIndia.

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has declared ‘Invest India’ as winner of the 2020 United Nations Investment Promotion Award. The award ceremony took place at UNCTAD Headquarters in Geneva yesterday. The Award recognizes and celebrates the outstanding achievements of the World’s best-practice investment promotion agencies. The evaluation was based on UNCTAD’s assessment of work undertaken by 180 national Investment Promotion Agencies across the world.

The COVID-19 pandemic had generated important challenges for investment promotion agencies. In March 2020, UNCTAD constituted a team to monitor IPAs response to the pandemic. UNCTAD reported best practices from investment promotion agencies in the IPA Observer publications in April and July. IPAs response to the pandemic became the basis for the evaluation of the 2020 United Nations Investment Promotion Award.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will give the inaugural address at the virtual India Mobile Congress 2020 today. IMC 2020 is being organised by the Department of Telecommunications, and the Cellular Operators Association of India. It will be held from today to 10th December.

The theme for IMC 2020 is "Inclusive Innovation - Smart, Secure, Sustainable”. It aims to align to the Prime Minister’s vision to promote ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’, ‘Digital Inclusivity’, and ‘Sustainable development, entrepreneurship and innovation’. It also aims to drive foreign and local investments, encourage Research and Development in the telecom and emerging technology sectors.

It will see the participation from various Ministries, the telecom CEOs, global CEOs, and domain experts in 5G, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Data Analytics, Cloud and Edge computing, Blockchain, Cyber-security, Smart Cities and Automation.