Weekly Update: January 04, 2021 - January 08, 2021

There are two ways to be.
One is at the war with reality and the other is at peace.
-Byron Katie
(December 06, 1942; American Author)

[Personal note: Kindly show your support to this blog on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/randomwalablog.]

Let's start!

Did you know, that dogs use both their nostrils - left & right - to sniff different kinds of smells? Dogs generally use their right nostril to sniff. If the smell signals danger, then they keep it in their right nostril. If it is a pleasant smell, then they sniff it with their left nostril.

Image Credit: Getty Images

The pleasant smell often includes the smell of a tasty food or a smell of their mating partner.

January 04, 2020 (Monday)
:::The number of Corona Cases were as follows:
Confirmed - 1,03,40,469
Recovered - 99,46,867
Deceased - 1,49,649

:::Vijay Shankar, Indian-American advocate, was nominated for the position of Associate Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals by Donald Trump, President of the United States of America. If his nomination is confirmed, then he will replace John R Fisher, who has now retired, and it will be valid for a period of fifteen years. Vijay Shankar currently serves in the Criminal Division of Department of Justice as a Senior Litigation Counsel and as Deputy Chief of the Appellate Section.

Image Credit: http://www.sabadc.org/

He completed his bachelors and his Juris Doctor from Duke University and University of Virginia School of Law, respectively.

:::Researchers from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT Bombay) created an A-I based model that can help to differentiate between P falciparum and P vivax, two major species of malaria parasites. The researchers collected blood samples by collaborating with: Medical College Hospital, Kolkata, a P falciparum endemic region; Sardar Patel Medical College, Bikaner, a P vivax endemic region; and, Dr. L H Hiranandani Hospital, Mumbai, a P vivax endemic region. The research was conducted using proteomics technology and it was funded by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India.

Image Credit: https://www.iitb.ac.in/

Study and findings of the research were published in the November 2020 edition of a journal called, "Communications Biology - Nature".

January 05, 2021 (Tuesday)
:::The number of Corona Cases as reported on Aarogya Setu App were as follows:
Confirmed - 1,03,56,844
Recovered - 99,75,958
Deceased - 1,49,850

:::Karan Bajwa was appointed as the new leader of Asia Pacific (APAC) for Google Cloud. He will now lead all the regional revenue and go-to-market operations for Google Cloud - Google Cloud Platform & Google Workspace. He succeeds Rick Harshman, who has left the company for a new opportunity, and he will report directly to Rob Enslin, President of Sales at Google Cloud. Rob Enslin said that the organization was thrilled to have him at the helm of the APAC business as he brings in a lot of experience in the field of Sales & Management.

Image Credit: https://www.indiatvnews.com/

Karan Bajwa has earlier led the operations of Google Cloud in India.

:::India Meteorological Department (IMD) released a report saying that 2020 was the eighth warmest year in India in the last 121 years, and recorded the annual mean land surface air temperature of 0.29 degrees Celcius above the normal temperature. The annual mean land surface air temperature recorded in 2020 was, however, much lower as compared to 0.71 degrees Celsius that was recorded in 2016, a year that remains the warmest ever year the country has recorded since 1901. The other years that recorded a warm temperature are: 2009 (0.55 degree Celsius); 2017 (0.54 degree Celsius); 2010 (0.53 degree Celsius); and, 2015 (0.42 degree Celsius).

Image Credit: https://mausam.imd.gov.in/

The global mean surface temperature for the previous year (recorded till October 2020) was 1.2 degree Celsius above the normal temperature, making it the warmest year in the last decade (2011-2020).

January 06, 2021 (Wednesday)
:::The number of Corona Cases were as follows:
Confirmed - 1,03,74,932
Recovered - 99,97,272
Deceased - 1,50,114

:::Toyota Kirloskar Motor launched the 2021 version of Toyota Fortuner Facelift and Legender. The brand new SUV is priced at ₹29.98 lakh (ex-showroom) and the price goes up to ₹37.43 lakh (ex-showroom). Toyota Fortuner Legender is priced at ₹37.58 lakh (ex-showroom). The latest version of Fortuner has some newly added features like ventilated seats, an enhanced eight-inch touchscreen infotainment system and an eleven-speaker JBL music system. The SUV comes with two drive modes: Eco; & Sport, and it is available in 2.8 litre diesel engine with six-speed automatic & six-speed manual transmission with Intelligent Manual Transmission options and 2.7 litre petrol engine with six-speed automatic & five-speed manual transmission.

Image Credit: https://gaadiwaadi.com/

The automatic version generates a torque of 500 Nm & 204 PS power. The manual version generates a torque of 420 Nm and 204 PS power.

:::Honda Motorcycle & Scooter, India, wrote a letter saying that it has started to offer a voluntary retirement scheme to its permanent employees amid slowing demand due to Covid-19. Employees who are above forty years of age or who have completed ten years of service as on January 31, 2021, would be eligible to opt for the scheme. A senior manager or a vice president, too, is eligible to opt for the scheme.

Image Credit: Honda

First four hundred permanent employees who opt for the scheme will get an additional amount of ₹5 lakh, while a senior manager or a vice president would be eligible to receive a payout of ₹7.2 million, depending on the number of years they have served the company.

January 07, 2021 (Thursday)
:::The number of Corona Cases as reported on Aarogya Setu App were as follows:
Confirmed - 1,03,95,278
Recovered - 1,00,16,859
Deceased - 1,50,336

:::As per data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Currency in Circulation (CIC) went up by 22% and grew by ₹5,01,405 crore between January 01, 2019 and January 01, 2020. CIC shrunk by 20% in FY2017 due to demonetisation, but it bounced back by 37% in the next year when fresh notes were issued.

Image Credit: https://entrackr.com/

RBI also revealed that the average growth in CIC for last decade was 12.6%.

:::Entertainment duty worth ₹3.4 crore was waived off by the Maharashtra Cabinet. The entertainment duty was payable towards the musical event of Michael Jackson that was organized in Mumbai around twenty-four years ago by Shiv Udyog Sena led by Raj Thackeray. The amount has been released to the organizers of the show, Wizcraft Entertainment. The court, however, has asked the state government to reconsider its decision in eight weeks.

Image Credit: PTI

The decision to waive entertainment duty has been objected by Mumbai Grahak Panchayat (MGP) who have termed it as untenable.

January 08, 2021 (Friday)
:::The number of Corona Cases were as follows:
Confirmed - 1,04,13,417
Recovered - 1,00,37,398
Deceased - 1,50,570

:::The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), Ahmedabad, turned down the plea of Sanjay Gupta, a businessman, to allow bankruptcy proceedings to be initiated for Neesa Infrastructure Ltd. The plea was turned down on the grounds that the applicant was no longer a director of the company and he did not qualify for the filing. In the past, the entire board of directors was disqualified as the company did not file its financials with the ministry of corporate affairs for more than three years, as is legally required.

Image Credit: https://in.pinterest.com/ (In Photo: Sanjay Gupta)

Vikash G Jain, an insolvency professional & regional council member of ICAI, issued a statement in this regard saying that any mala fide initiation of insolvency should be rightly nipped in the bud.

:::Banks and mortgage lenders in Denmark started offering home loans for twenty years at a fixed interest rate of zero. Two major lenders: Totalkredit, a unit of Nykredit Realkredit A/S; and, Danske Bank A/S also signaled that they will follow suit to offer home loans for twenty years at a fixed interest rate of zero.

Image Credit: Creative Commons

Lisa Bergmann, Chief Housing Economist at Nordea Kredit, wrote a note saying that bonds which are backing the mortgages are likely to price close to a record high as there is a high demand for them.

This week's Special Section is written by my friend, Arnav Singh, and it is about the "Bird Rescue Program" undertaken by an NGO, called, "Vadodara Center for Rescue and Emergency" or "VCARE". VCARE works towards prevention of cruelty, health, safety and welfare of animals.

Image Credit: VCARE

In the state of Gujarat, we celebrate Makar Sankrati by flying kites. Although the celebrations brim us with joy and happiness, it has some negative externalities. The glass laced manjha, or thread, used for flying kites can, & often does, cause injury and death to scores of birds who inhabit the skies of Gujarat.

Image Credit: VCARE | Facebook

While it is unfortunate that nothing can be done for a bird that has lost its life, one can certainly take immediate action to save the life of a bird that has been injured by the use of glass coated thread. If you see an injured bird, kindly get in touch with VCARE on Facebook @VCAREpeople.

That is all for this week.

Do subscribe to my blog to get the updates. You can connect with me on Instagram @sachdev_ankur.

I hope that the blog was useful and it helped you in catching up with what happened. If you have anything to contribute, then please feel free to comment. Do share this blog with everyone you know and help them too.

*Disclaimer: The information has been presented in this blog after reviewing various news articles. In case you find any article, or if you have any article, that states some facts differently, then share them in the comment section. Please keep the publishing date of the article in mind as it may be an update on the article which was published previously, or it may contain outdated information if it was published before the date mentioned in this blog. The blogger is not responsible for any transaction that happens between the reader and the brand.