International News
India to become 3rd Largest Economy in 2025 to overtake Japan
- IHS Market Ltd in a report said that the transform from $3 trillion economies (2019) to $5 trillion economies (2025) is the key reason for the shift.
- The information provider estimates that India will surpass the UK in 2019 to become the world’s 5th largest economy.
- An average GDP growth of 7% is forecasted by IHS Market over the period of 2019-2023.
National News
India gets Jaipur as its 38th UNESCO World Heritage Site
- Jaipur city, Rajasthan is inscribed in the list of UNESCO world heritage sites during the 43rd session of the world heritage committee at Baku, Azerbaijan.
Train 18 Production put to halt
- The production of Train18, India’s first semi high-speed train has come to halt as the design of the train violates certain specifications.
- Major Deviations were found from specifications prescribed by the Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO).
Karnataka 1% quota for Trafficked Women’s Girl Child
- The Higher Education Department has issued an order for all state-run universities in Karnataka to provide 1% reservation for girl children of trafficked women.
- Odanadi Seva Samsthe, Mysore, an NGO working for the rescue, rehabilitation of trafficked and sexually exploited women and children sought academic reservation in the University of Mysore.
MoAFW Commemorates Partnership with UN WFP
- The book contains India’s journey towards food and nutrition security with giving light on the Green Revolution, digitization of food safety nets and the White Revolution.
- Both of them aims for ‘ending hunger, achieving food security, improving nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture’ to achieve the target of Sustainable Development Goal 2.
NCDEX to add basmati paddy in the Grain Basket
- India contributes about 23% (116 million tonnes) of global rice production (500 million tonnes).
- In the case of basmati rice production, India commands over 70% (about 5.5 million tonnes) of global production (9 million tonnes) becoming the world’s top exporter of basmati rice.
- Basmati accounts for about 5% of the total production of paddy in India.
Changes made in TPAs Health Norms
- Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) has introduced changes in the regulation governing TPA (Third-Party Administrators)-Health Services.
- TPAs would not be allowed to discuss matters of health services directly to the policyholders or prospects.
- The policyholder will choose the TPAs from the names of the TPAs explicitly provided by the insurers.
“Operation Thirst” launched by RPF
- The operation was launched on 8th and 9th July 2019.
- The operation was to tackle the menace of unauthorized Packaged Drinking Water (PDW) in Railway premises.
- 1371 persons were arrested during the drive for selling PDW of unauthorized brands.
India’s First ‘private’ Train TEJAS Express
- Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) is to be given the custody of the train.
- The train is given on an experimental basis to the private players and will start running within 100 days.
- The Tejas Express will offer premium services and comforts to the passengers.
195 cases of NRI husbands Deserting their Wives: RPO
- 195 cases of NRI husbands deserting their wives in the past 2 years is noted by the regional passport office (RPO).
- A large number of the cases were reported from Punjab.
- Complaints filed by third parties are accepted.
India built 250 Homes in Myanmar for Rohingya
- The project was signed in 2017 between India and Myanmar.
- Under the agreement, the government of India had committed to spending $25 million over 5 years for rehabilitation of Rohingya.
Wholesale Inflation declines in June
- Wholesale price-based inflation declined to its 23 month low of 2.02% in June.
- Inflation eased marginally in food articles basket to 6.98 per cent in June from 6.99 per cent in May.
- Vegetable inflation softened from 33.15 per cent in the previous month to 24.76 per cent in June.
Banking
RBI can supersede NBFC board
- For strengthening the regulatory authority of RBI over NBFCs, appropriate proposals are being placed in the Finance Bill.
- According to the Finance Bill, the RBI can supersede the NBFC Board for a maximum five year period, if the RBI finds that it is the ‘public interest’ or to prevent the affairs of an NBFC whose conducts are detrimental to the interest of the depositors or creditors.
SEBI gets power to Probe Data Leak
- Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has acquired new powers to act against information tampering, leak of data, destroying of regulatory data or unauthorised access to data.
- According to the bill, if a person tampers with information, destroys regulatory data, access data in an unauthorised manner then a penalty of up to Rs 10 crore or 3 times the unlawful gains, whichever is higher would be imposed on the entity.
‘UTKARSH 2022’: Three-year roadmap of RBI
- The three-year medium-term strategy- named UTKARSH 2022 has been made for improving regulation, supervision of the central bank and avoid any crisis.
- Deputy Governor Viral Acharya anchored an internal committee which was formed to identify issues to be addressed in the next three years.
Bank 44,016 frauds in the last 11 years
- As per the data provided by the Finance Ministry, 44,016 Bank frauds have occurred in the last 11 years.
- Since 2008-2009, 2016-17 was the worst year with the highest amount of money involved in bank frauds.
- 2016-17 alone had 3927 frauds of amount Rs 25,883 crore.
RBI data on Affordable Housing in Four Years
- The house price-to-income ratio has increased in the last 4 years, as per the RBI’s quarterly Residential Asset Price Monitoring Survey.
- The price-to-income ratio is used by the lenders as a measure of purchasing power for home buyers and the affordability of a residential property.
- A wide gap between home prices in the country and real income was found in the survey.
Appointments
| Name of the Person | Designation |
| Anshula Kant | MD and CFO of World Bank |
Awards and Honours
| Award | Awardee |
| Best Innovation Award | “Plan Bee” |
Important Days
| Date | Day | Theme |
| 11th July 2019 | World Population Day | ---------- |
Government Schemes
Parliament Cleared Aadhaar (Amendment) Bill, 2019
- The amended Aadhaar Act will provide a more robust mechanism for UIDAI, the power to give necessary directions to an entity in Aadhaar ecosystem.
- The amendment allows the use of Aadhaar number for KYC authentication on a voluntary basis.
- The Bill allows people to register complaints regarding impersonation or disclosure of their identity whereas the Aadhaar Act only allowed courts to take cognizance of an offence if UIDAI registered a complaint.
Government aids SHGs to Empower Women
- The Finance Minister has proposed to make a shift in approach from women-centric-policy making to women-led initiatives/movements.
- One woman in every SHG will be eligible for a loan up to Rs. 1 lakh under MUDRA Scheme.
- Women SHG interest subvention program will be expanded to all districts.
Zero-Balance Bank Accounts under PMJDY crossed balance of Rs 1 trillion
- The balance and the number of accounts had a sudden surge after demonetisation.
- Six out of 10 accounts are in rural areas.
- Three-fourth accounts are in public sector banks and just 3.4% are in private sector banks.
Workers Safety Code Bill Cabinet Approvals, 2019
- The Worker safety code Bill seeks to merge 13 labour laws into one code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Bill, 2019.
- The bill aims to enhance the safety, health and working conditions provisions of Labours and workers.
- The code will be applicable to all traders, including serving the sector, IT establishments and also to Mines and docks employing even one worker.
Study in India programme to attract Foreign Students
- The government is preparing its way to implement the ‘Study in India’ Programme which was announced by the Finance Minister in Budget 2019.
- Top 100 partner institutions will be selected on the basis of National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranking and National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) grading.
FSSAI to Launch Testing scheme for Licensed Dairy Units
- Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) plans to launch a scheme for sampling, testing and inspection of milk.
- The step is taken after a few samples were found containing adulterants in FSSAI’s National Milk Quality Survey last year.
- The state authorities are advised to strengthen the enforcement along with State Animal Husbandry Departments.
“LaQshya” to improve Public Health Facility
- 2427 Public health facilities have been identified for implementation of LaQshya Scheme across the country.
- The government of India launched “LaQshya” scheme to improve public health facility in maternity operations Theatres and labour rooms.
- It works as per ‘Newborn Health Toolkit’ and ‘Labour Room Standardization Guidelines’ issued by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
Science and Technology
ISRO lunar Chandrayaan-2 Mission
- ISRO has conducted a dry run of all operations of chandrayaan-2 which is scheduled for launch next week.
- Chandrayaan-2 is the second lunar mission of ISRO after Chandrayaan-1 launched on 22nd October 2008.
NCRB proposed Automated Facial-Recognition System
- The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has proposed to use an Automated Facial Recognition System (AFRS) across the country.
- AFRS a national database of photos and videos of people’s faces is a component of the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and System (CCTNS).
Defence
Indian Army Celebrated Kargil Vijay Diwas
- Indian Army has celebrated the 20th years of operation Vijay of winning the Kargil war.
- The theme of the Kargil Diwas was ‘Remember, Rejoice and Renew’.
- Relay of a victory flame from National War Memorial to Kargil War Memorial was planned during the celebration.
Sports
Dutee Chand won gold in 100m World Universiade
- She completed the 100m race in 11.32 seconds.
- Dutee became the first Indian to win gold in a 100m race at the global level.
- Hima Das is the first Indian sprinter to win gold at a global event (400m World Junior Athletic Championship) and Dutee has become the second sprinter in the series to win gold.
Simona Halep wins Wimbledon Women’s Final 2019
- Simona Halep beat Serena Williams to win Wimbledon female title 2019.
- She dispatched 7-times winner Serena Williams in just 56 minutes.
- She became the first Romanian to win the singles title at SW19.
Summits and Conference
Key Decisions of Union Cabinet Meeting
- Important bills & schemes were passed by the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in its meeting on 10th July 2019.
- Banning of Unregulated Deposited Scheme Bill, which says that SEBI and RBI approved deposits will be allowed, tackle the menace of illicit deposit-taking activities in the country.
2nd India-Russia Strategic Economic Dialogue
- The meeting focused on 6 core areas covering Agriculture, Digital Technologies, Transport, Small and Medium Business, Tourism & Connectivity and Finance.
- Digital transformation discussions held on the joint Startup ecosystem, payments platform, digital technology use in various areas such as education, construction and skilling.
