NATIONAL NEWS
Government reconstitutes empowered group on Covid-19Centre has reconstituted the six Empowered Groups into ten groups to tackle the COVID situation in the country.
- The decision is aimed at further improving the efforts in catering the current need of COVID management. NITI Aayog Member (Health) Dr VK Paul will head the Emergency Management Plan Group and the ten-member panel on Vaccination.
- Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan will be the convener of the Empowered Group on Emergency Response Capabilities. It will look into the issues related to hospitals, equipment and medicines. A separate Empowered Group has been formed under the chairmanship of Road and Transport Secretary, Giridhar Aramane on oxygen production, import and other related issues.
- Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Balram Bhargava has been made the convener of the panel on COVID testing, while NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant will head the group which will take care of work of private sector, NGOs and international organisations.
- Economic and Welfare Measures group which has been tasked with emerging issues related to growth and employment, will be headed by Department of Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth.
- Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla will be the convenor of 12 member Empowered Group on Pandemic Response and Coordination.
- An 11 member group headed by Information and Broadcasting Secretary Amit Khare will look after the steps on information, communication and public engagement.
The Union Government has decided to provide monetary assistance to students through Direct Benefit Transfer under the Mid-Day Meal Scheme.
- The Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has approved the proposal to provide monetary assistance to Rs. 11.80 crore to students as a special welfare measure.
- This measure of the Union Government will benefit children studying in Class one to eight in the Government and Government aided schools across the country.
Director General of Central Reserve Police Force, CRPF Kuldiep Singh has been given additional charge of Director General of National Investigation Agency, NIA.
- Mr. Singh will hold the additional post after 31st or this month after superannuation of Y C Modi.
- Mr. Singh will continue to hold the additional charge till appointment of next DG, NIA or any further orders in this regard.
Uttar Pradesh Government also launched Bal-Seva Yojana for the children who lost their parents due to COVID pandemic.
- Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced a slew of measures for the care for such children and said, the assistance will be provided to the care taker, if none of the parents are alive.
- The State Government will provide financial assistance of Rs. 4,000 per month to such children.
- Government will also provide laptop/Tablet to such children if they are getting education in any school or are doing any professional course.
- Financial assistance of Rs. 1,01,000 will be provided for the marriage of girl children who lost their parents in this pandemic.
The Assam government has announced Chief Sishu Sewa Scheme for the welfare of those children who lost parents due to COVID-19.
- Mr. Sarma said that monthly scholarship of Rs. 3,500 per month would be given to those children who lost their parents or the bread earner, but have their extended family members.
- On the other hand, those children who do have not extended family members they would get free residential educational facilities.
- Mr. Sarma further said that a girl would also be given one tola of gold and Rs. 50,000 during her marriage.He said that such children will also get free computer and also vocational training.
The Tamil Nadu Government has announced that an amount of Rs. 5 lakh would be deposited on the account of each orphaned child and would be given to the child with interest when the child attains 18 years of age.
- The Government stated that the orphaned children would be given priority in Government homes and hostels. The Government would take care of their education fees. The statement also said that families who have been left with single parents due to Covid will also be given an immediate benefit of Rs. 3 lakh to enable them to take care of their children. The Government also plans to pay Rs 3000 per month to the relatives who have the custody of the orphaned.
The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), the apex body of broadcasters, is expanding its purview to cover digital streaming platforms and will be renamed the Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation (IBDF).
- The move would bring broadcasters and OTT (over-the-top) platforms, which have seen a substantial jump in their viewership base after the pandemic, under one roof.
- For this, the IBDF was in the process of forming a new wholly-owned subsidiary to handle all matters of digital media.
- Madhya Pradesh has one crore 23 lakh rural households, out of which more than 31 per cent have tap water supply at their homes.
- The state is planning to provide 22 lakhs more tap water connections by March next year.
Centre has enhanced and liberalised the insurance compensation schemes under Employees State Insurance Corporation and Employees Provident Fund Organization with a view to mitigate the financial difficulties faced due to death of single earning member in the family.
- Under the relief measures announced, benefit of ESIC pension scheme for employment related death cases has been extended to even those who have died due to COVID.
- Dependent family members of such persons will be entitled to the benefit of pension equivalent to 90 per cent of average daily wage drawn by the worker as per the existing norms. This benefit will be available retrospectively with effect from 24th of March of last year and for all such cases till 24th of March next year.
- Additionally, the insurance benefits under the Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme (EDLI) have been enhanced to seven lakh rupees. The provision of minimum insurance benefit of two lakh 50 thousand rupees has been restored and will also apply retrospectively from 15th of February last year for the next three years. To benefit families of contractual and casual workers, the condition of continuous employment in only one establishment has also been liberalized.
The Ministry of Education launched YUVA- Prime Minister’s Scheme For Mentoring Young Authors. It is an Author Mentorship programme to train young and budding authors belows 30 years.
- The launch of YUVA (Young, Upcoming and Versatile Authors) is in tune with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to encourage young writers to write about India's freedom struggle.
- YUVA is a part of India@75 Project to bring to the fore the perspectives of the young generation of writers on themes like Unsung Heroes, Freedom Fighters, Unknown and Forgotten Places.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
2nd BRICS Sherpas’ and Sous Sherpas’ meeting convened under India’s Chairship concludesThe second BRICS Sherpas’ and Sous Sherpas’ meeting was convened under India’s Chairship.
- BRICS partners discussed the preparations for the upcoming meeting of the BRICS Foreign Ministers on 1st June. They negotiated key deliverables for India’s BRICS 2021 Chairship, including outcome documents for the Foreign Ministers’ meeting.
- BRICS partners appreciated the positive leadership of the Indian Chair in advancing intra-BRICS cooperation, despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
BANKING & FINANCE
RBI Annual Report-2021Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has published its annual report and highlights “asset quality of banks and their preparedness requires close monitoring for higher provisioning for upcoming quarters”. Highlights of RBI Annual RBI report 2021 :
- RBI in its semi-annual financial stability report earlier highlighted bad loan ratio of banks could rise to 13.5% under the baseline stress scenario by September 2021.
- The Provision Coverage Ratio (PCR) of banks improved from 66.6% in March 2020 to 75.5 % by December 2020, because of prudent provisioning by banks above regulatory prescriptions on accounts availing moratorium and undergoing restructuring.
- The capital to risk-weighted assets ratio (CRAR) of banks increased to 15.9% by December 2020, in March it was 14.8%.
- In its report, RBI cautioned “banks being lenders will have to provide a true picture of bad loans after Supreme Court lifted the interim stay on classifying non-performing assets (NPA) in March 2021.
- According to it, waiver of compound interest on all loan accounts opted for a moratorium during March-August 2020 would put stress on the financial health of banks.
- The Gross NPA ratio of banks decreased from 8.2% in March 2020 to 6.8% in December 2020.The Gross NPA ratio for non-banking financial institutions (NBFCs) increased from 6.8% in March to 5.7% in December 2020.
- The capital adequacy ratio of NBFCs increased from 24.8% in December 2020 to 23.7% in March.Frauds reported by banks fell by 25% in value terms in just one year to Rs 1.38 lakh crore at the end of fiscal year ended March 2021, data released by the RBI as part of it annual report showed
- The Reserve Bank of India on 27th May said banknotes in circulation witnessed a higher than the average increase during 2020-21, on account of precautionary holding of cash by people due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and its prolonged continuance. Value and volume of banknotes in circulation increased by 16.8% and 7.2% respectively in 2020-21.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Govt constitutes GoM to look into matter of concessions & exemptions from GST for COVID relief materialsUnion Finance Ministry has constituted a Group of Ministers, GoM to look into the matter of concessions and exemptions from GST to COVID relief materials.
- Chief Minister of Meghalaya Conrad Sangma has been named as the Convenor of the GoM which is constituted of total eight members including Deputy Chief Minister of Gujarat Nitinbhai Patel, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra Ajit Pawar, Transport Minister of Goa Mauvin Godinho and State Finance Ministers of Kerala, Odisha, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh.
ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS
Tata Digital buys 64% stake in BigBasketTata Sons has acquired a majority stake in popular online grocer BigBasket through its subsidiary, Tata Digital Limited.
- The majority stake acquisition in BigBasket will help the conglomerate take on the likes of Amazon, Walmart’s Flipkart, Reliance’s JioMart and Softbank-backed Grofers.
- While Tata Digital did not disclose the details, regulatory filings show that it has acquired 64 per cent stake in Supermarket Grocery Supplies, the online grocer's business-to-business entity.
APPOINTMENTS
Govt approves appointment of B V R Subrahmanyam as Commerce SecyJ & K Chief Secretary, B V R Subrahmanyam, was posted as OSD in the Union Commerce Ministry and will succeed Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan on his retirement next month-end.
- With the shifting of Subrahmanyam from J&K, three seniormost IAS officers -- Pradip Kumar Tripathi, Sudhanshu Panday and Arun Kumar Mehta -- are front runners for the Chief Secretary's post.
- Tripathi and Panday are posted in the Centre, as Secretaries, Steel and Food and Public Distribution, respectively.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad won a fourth term in office with 95.1 per cent of the votes in an election that will extend his rule over a country ruined by war but which opponents and the West say was marked by fraud.
- The win delivers Assad, 55, seven more years in power and lengthens his family's rule to nearly six decades. His father, Hafez al-Assad, led Syria for 30 years until his death in 2000.
The French presidency has appointed Laurence des Cars, the current director of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, to head the world’s largest museum as of September 1.
- Des Cars, 54, was tapped to replace the Louvre’s outgoing director Jean-Luc Martinez, who had been in charge since 2013.
- Her appointment caps a remarkable rise to the helm of France’s flagship museum, just four years after she became the first woman to head the nearby Musée d’Orsay.
AWARDS
Hong Kong woman breaks record for fastest ascent of EverestClimbers from the United States and Hong Kong have set new records as they scaled Mount Everest this week, hiking officials said.
- Arthur Muir, 75, became the oldest American to climb the world’s highest peak at 8,848.86-metres (29,031 feet). Muir beat the record set by Bill Burke, who became the oldest American to climb the mountain at the age of 67 in 2009.
- Separately, Hong Kong’s Tsang Yin-Hung, 45, scaled the peak in less than 26 hours, the shortest time taken by any woman after starting from the base camp.
Corporal Yuvraj Singh who served with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and two civilian peacekeepers -- Ivan Michael Picardo, who served with UNMISS, and Mulchand Yadav, who worked for the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) -- were honoured posthumously with the Dag Hammarskjold Medal during a sombre virtual ceremony here on the occasion of the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers.
- India is the 5th largest contributor of uniformed personnel to UN peacekeeping with more than 5,500 military and police serving in peace operations in Abyei, Cyprus, Congo, Lebanon, the Middle East, Somalia, South Sudan and the Western Sahara, according to the UN.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Ayush Minister launches Ayush Clinical Case Repository portal and 3rd version of Ayush Sanjivani AppAyush Minister Kiren Rijiju launched the Ayush Clinical Case Repository portal and the third version of Ayush Sanjivani App in a virtual event.
- The Ayush Clinical Repository portal will serve as a platform to support both Ayush practitioners and general public. This portal aims at aggregating information about clinical outcomes achieved by Ayush practitioners on a large scale.
- It will not only benefit the practitioner community and the public but will also help widen the solid scientific base of all streams of Ayush.
National Security Advisor (NSA ) Ajit Doval has commissioned Indian Coast Guard Offshore Patrol Vessel Sajag and dedicated it to the nation for safeguarding maritime interests. Sajag has been constructed by Goa Shipyard Limited.
- Sajag is the third in a series of five offshore patrol vessels indigenously designed in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' vision.
- The ICG said that the indigenously-built ship is fitted with advanced technology equipment, weapon and sensors capable to carry a twin engine helicopter and four high speed boats.
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