Weekly Update: March 22, 2021 - March 26, 2021

Never bend your head. Always hold it high.
Look the world straight in the eye.
-Helen Keller
(June 27, 1880 - June 01, 1968; American Author)

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Let's Start!

Here is a Fun Fact that you may not, or may, know: Doctors in Greece and Rome used spider webs to make bandages for their patients in the ancient time. It is believed that a spider's web has natural antiseptic & anti-fungal properties that can keep a wound clean & prevent infection.

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

A spider's web is also known to have Vitamin K that helps to promote clotting.

March 22, 2021 (Monday)
:::The number of Corona Cases were as follows:
Confirmed - 1,16,46,081
Recovered - 1,11,51,468
Deceased - 1,59,967

:::The Parliament of Australia debated a motion to condemn the systematic breach of human rights by China. It was related to the ill-treatment of China's Uighur Muslim minority that is said to be constituted as genocide. Kevin Andrews, a lawmaker of the Liberal Party (Australia), said in an official statement that the most egregious and systematic abuse of human rights in the world was occurring in Xinjiang, China. The Chinese Embassy rejected the allegations and said that they were based on disinformation & lies with an intent to smear China for political motives.

In Pic: Parliament of Australia; Image Credit: https://www.aph.gov.au/

The official statement issued by Kevin Andrews received massive support from the members of all major parties.

:::The Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was passed in the Lok Sabha. The bill raises the limit of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the Indian Insurance Companies to 74% from 49%. Nirmala Sitharaman, the Finance Minister of India, said while presenting the bill that it was necessary to help insurers deal with issues that concerned financial stress. The Lok Sabha also passed The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021. The bill ends ambiguity in running the affairs of New Delhi.

In Pic: Nirmala Sitharaman; Image Credit: PTI file

Additionally, the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2021, was passed in the Rajya Sabha. The bill clubs seven castes in Tamil Nadu under one nomenclature of Devendrakula Vellalars.

March 23, 2021 (Tuesday)
:::The number of Corona Cases as reported on Aarogya Setu App were as follows:
Confirmed - 1,16,86,796
Recovered - 1,11,81,253
Deceased - 1,60,166

:::The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) said that it admitted 283 companies into insolvency during April 01, 2020, and December 31, 2020. Anurag Thakur, the Minister of State for Corporate Affairs, said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha that 76 Corporate Insolvency Resolution Processes (CIRP) ended in resolution, 128 CIRPs were closed due to withdrawal of appeal or settlement, and 189 companies went into liquidation.

In Pic: Anurag Thakur; Image Credit: https://www.tv9hindi.com/

The Government has suspended the initiation of CIRP temporarily. The suspension has been done under sections 7, 9, and 10 of the Code for six months or such a further period not exceeding one year from March 25, 2020. The benefit of this suspension will apply to all those defaults of the corporate debtor that have occurred from March 2020 till the end of the period of suspension.

:::The Government of India proposed a method to trace the origin of a message on WhatsApp without breaking the end-to-end encryption. The method has two steps. These steps are as follows:

1. Every message to be assigned an alpha-numeric hash.
2. The hash to travel with the message and allow the government to trace the original sender in case of any illegal activity.

WhatsApp is yet to react to the proposal but it had earlier issued a statement saying that it would evaluate all the options & remain committed to offer its users end-to-end encryption.

Image Credit: Getty Images

The proposal is a part of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines & Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, that the Government had issued in February 2021.

March 24, 2021 (Wednesday)
:::The number of Corona Cases were as follows:
Confirmed - 1,17,34,058
Recovered - 1,12,05,160
Deceased - 1,60,441

:::BMW India launched BMW 220i Sport. The sedan is available at an introductory price of ₹37.90 lakhs (ex-showroom). It is powered by a 2.0-litre, 4-cylinder BMW TwinPower Turbo engine that is paired with a 7-Speed Steptronic Sport automatic transmission. The engine generates a maximum power of 198 hp and a peak torque of 280 Nm. The sedan can go from 0-100 kmph in 7.1 seconds. BMW 220i Sport comes with four driving modes: Eco, Pro, Comfort and Sport. Some of the features are six airbags, ABS, brake assist, electronic diff locks, BMW ConnectedDrive, 3D navigation, a 5.1-inch interment cluster, and BMW Virtual Assistant.

Image Credit: https://auto.hindustantimes.com/

Vikram Pawah, the President of BMW Group India, has termed BMW 220i Sport as an irresistible choice for every individual who aspires to enter the world of BMW with style and performance.

:::Reckitt Benckiser rebranded itself as Reckitt. The company is known to make some famous products like Dettol, Durex, Harpic, and Lysol. The rebranding comprises a new logo with a new name, an evolved color palette, bespoke typography, and photography. The process to rebrand the company was overseen by Conran Design Group, a branding agency of Havas. Miguel Veiga-Pestana, the Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs & Sustainability of Reckitt, said that the rebranding reflected the existing widespread usage of Reckitt. He added that the new name was clearer, simpler, and more memorable while retaining positive associations with the company's heritage.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

To manage the transition cost-effectively way, the company will implement the new brand over three years by using the natural replacement cycles of the business.

March 25, 2021 (Thursday)
:::The number of Corona Cases as reported on Aarogya Setu App were as follows:
Confirmed - 1,17,87,534
Recovered - 1,12,31,650
Deceased - 1,60,692

:::Wang Yibo, a Chinese actor, terminated his contract with Nike as a representative of the company. He terminated his contract after China's netizens spotted a statement from the company where the company expressed its concerns about the reports of forced labor in Xinjiang.

In Pic: Wang Yibo; Image Credit: https://www.yqqlm.com/

Nike, in a statement, said that neither the company sources its products from Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) nor any of its suppliers use textiles or spun yarn from the region.

:::According to a study by Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) and Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), 657 billionaires of America got richer by $1.3 trillion as their wealth collectively grew by 44.6% from March 2020 to February 2021. During the same period, around eighty million people in the United States of America lost their jobs and eight million people fell into poverty. Frank Clemente, the Executive Director of ATF, said that the pandemic had created an astonishing rise in the wealth for America's billionaires while tens of millions of American citizens fell further behind.

Image Credit: Pinterest

ATF and IPS tracked the fortunes of billionaires by using the information from Forbes.

March 26, 2021 (Friday)
:::The number of Corona Cases were as follows:
Confirmed - 1,18,46,652
Recovered - 1,12,64,637
Deceased - 1,60,949

:::According to a study conducted by the University of Chicago, the factories across India showed a drop in productivity by around two percent annually with every one-degree rise in the temperature. The study indicated the need of adapting to the increase in temperature as the University did not find any negative effect of an increase in the temperature on output at climate-controlled plants. Dr. Anant Sudarshan, the South Asia Director of Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, said that if India wished to succeed in becoming the manufacturing powerhouse with the help of low-cost labor, then the country needed to think hard about how it can adapt to a hotter world.

Image Credit: https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/

The University of Chicago analyzed India's average annual temperature between 1998 & 2014 and used several high-frequency micro data sets of worker output from over fifty-eight thousand factories.

:::To boost institutional investment in crypto-currency, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs announced an amendment in Schedule III of the Companies Act. According to the amendment, companies are now required to disclose profit or loss on transactions that involve the use of virtual currency. Nischal Shetty, the Chief Executive Officer of WazirX, issued a media statement to welcome the step and said that it was good to see the government recognizing the investments made by companies in crypto-currency as a legitimate asset class. He added that as an industry player, he now expects more companies to diversify their portfolio by acquiring and holding crypto-assets.

Image Credit: https://www.mygov.in/

The companies are also required to disclose the amount of currency held and deposits or advances received from any person for trading or investing purposes in crypto-currency.

In this week's Special Section, let's talk a little bit about Holi, the festival of colors and do not miss a special announcement.

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

Holi, is a festival that is celebrated with joy and enthusiasm by people of all the age groups. The festival is known to bring positivity in everyone's life. During this festival, people forget all their resentments and bad feelings towards each other.

The celebration goes on for two days. It starts in the evening of Purnima or Full Moon Day in the month of Falgun when people light-up bonfire and ends on the next day. Holi symbolizes the victory of good over bad. This year, Holi celebration will start on March 28, 2021, and it will end on March 29, 2021.

Image Credit: https://qld.paddle.org.au/

And now, the announcement: I recently came across Buy Me A Coffee. It is a platform that brings content creators and their followers closer. You get various benefits when you follow a content creator on the platform. Some of the benefits are: Early access, merchandise, exclusive messages/posts, shout-outs and a sneak peek into the process of how your favorite creator comes-up with his/her content.

One of the major features that the platform offers is an option to financially support your favorite content creator. You may buy his/her monthly membership. The money that you pay helps your favorite content creator to continue with his/her work.

I just made my account too and you may support me at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ankursachdev.

Support of every member counts and helps us to continue.

That is all for this week.

Do subscribe to my blog to get 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 this week. 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.