RBI in its recent monetary policy review decided to retain the repo rate, for eighth time in a row, due to concerns of sticky inflation.

About Sticky Inflation

• It refers to a phenomenon where prices do not adjust quickly to changes in supply and demand, leading to persistent inflation. 
• Rising wages and prices for consumer goods and services are typically the main factors behind inflation stickiness.
• It can push monetary authorities to tighten monetary policy and raise interest rates.

Adoption of Facial Authentication Technology (FAT) based Digital Life Certificate (DLC) in 2022-23 by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has eased the life pensioners. 

• FAT is based on Face Recognition Technology (FRT).

About FRT

• Facial recognition is a category of biometric security. 
  • Other forms of biometric security include voice recognition, fingerprint recognition, and eye retina or iris recognition.
• It can identify human faces in images or videos or search for a face among a large collection of existing images.
• Significance: Used in automatic image indexing, video surveillance systems for  personal security, etc.

Union Health Ministry along with Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) will launch NHCX to allow patients to access quality healthcare with reduced out-of-pocket expenditure.

About NHCX

• It will serve as a protocol for exchanging claims-related information among various actors, including payers, providers, beneficiaries, regulators, and observers.
• It is designed to be an interoperable, machine-readable, auditable, and verifiable to ensure that the information being exchanged is accurate and trustworthy.
• It is an open standard-based communication.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is seeking foreign partners for its flagship Mumbai High oil-field due to declining outputs. 

About Mumbai High Field

• Located in Arabian Sea at about 165 km west-northwest of Mumbai city in the western offshore. 
• It was discovered in 1974 and commenced production in 1976.
• It is the largest oil field in India and has an estimated initial oil-in-place of 1,696 million metric tonnes.

East Asia Summit Senior Official’s Meeting was held in Vientiane, Lao PDR.

About East Asia Summit

• Established: In 2005 at Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia).
• It is Leaders-led forum for dialogue and cooperation on broad strategic, political, and economic issues of common interest and concern with aim of promoting peace, stability, and economic prosperity in East Asia.
• Membership: 18 Members, including 10 ASEAN members and Australia, China, Japan, India, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russia, and the US.
• 6 priority areas of cooperation: Environment and energy, Education, Finance, Global health issues and pandemic diseases, Natural disaster management, and ASEAN Connectivity.

With the latest advancement, the Northern Limit of Monsoon now passes through several regions in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, etc.

About Northern Limit of Monsoon (NLM)

• Southwest monsoon normally sets in over Kerala around June 01 and advances northwards, usually in surges, and covers the entire country around July 15.
• It is the northern most limit of monsoon upto which it has advanced on any given day.

An Agreement has been signed for the implementation of a comprehensive Fisheries Management Plan at Subansiri Lower Hydro Electric Project (SLHEP). 

• SLHEP is an under construction gravity dam on the Subansiri River.
  • Gravity dam is a concrete or masonry dam so proportioned that it will resist overturning and sliding forces by its own weight.

About Subansiri River (Gold River)

• Rises from the Kangig glacier range in Tibet.   
  • It is a trans-Himalayan river. 
  • In India, it enters in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. 
• Right bank tributary of Brahmaputra River, joins it, in the plains of Assam.
• Major tributaries: Laro, Nye, Yume, Tsari, Kamla, etc.

Enterprises globally are adopting LAMs to cut their labour cost. 

About LAMs

• An artificial intelligence model that can understand and execute complex tasks by translating human intentions into action. 
  • LAMs go beyond generating and interpreting text like ChatGPT.
• Working of LAMs: 
  • At its core, LAM utilizes a hierarchical approach to action representation and execution. 
  • It breaks down complex actions into smaller sub-actions, allowing for efficient planning and execution.
• Applications: Job application automation, investment portfolio optimisation, personalised social media content creation, etc.