World Economic Outlook: IMF: The latest edition of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) World Economic Outlook has cut its 2021 growth forecast for India to 9.5% from 12.5% estimated earlier in April 2021. While re-calibrating its forecast IMF considered two major factors which are access to vaccines and risk of new Corona-variants. Indian Economy: Indian […]
Category: Current Affairs
Factoring Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2020
Factoring Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2020: The Bill was recently passed by the Lok Sabha. The Bill seeks to widen the scope of entities that can engage in factoring business. Factoring is a transaction where an entity (like MSMEs) ‘sells’ its receivables ( dues from a customer) to a third party ( a ‘factor’ like a […]
Central And South Asia: Regional Connectivity
Central And South Asia: Regional Connectivity: Uzbekistan hosted a high-level International Conference titled “Central and South Asia: Regional Connectivity. Challenges and Opportunities” at Tashkent, recently. The conference was an initiative of the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev. Delegates from over 40 countries and about 30 international organizations, and heads of think tanks participated in the […]
Insolvency And Bankruptcy Code (Amendment Bill), 2021
Insolvency And Bankruptcy Code (Amendment Bill), 2021: The government introduced the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment Bill), 2021 in the Lok Sabha. The Bill is set to replace the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code Amendment Ordinance 2021 promulgated in April 2021. It introduced an alternate insolvency resolution process for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) with […]
Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) Certificate
Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) Certificate: The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) has challenged the suspension of its Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) certificate for 180 days. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) suspended CHRI’s certificate in violation of various provisions of the FCRA Act. Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), 2010: Foreign funding of persons […]
Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) Programme
Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) Programme: Under the Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) programme, the government has given approval for establishing two additional facilities. In 2020, India filled its strategic petroleum reserves in view of the slump in crude prices. The new facilities will be commercial-cum-strategic facilities with a total storage capacity of 6.5 MMT (Million Metric […]
Garib Nawaz Employment Scheme
Garib Nawaz Employment Scheme: The Union Minister for Minority Affairs replied in the Parliament that a total number of 371 training centers under Gharib Nawaz Employment Scheme were opened across the country. About Gharib Nawaz Employment Scheme: It was launched by the Ministry of Minority Affairs in 2017. Maulana Azad Education Foundation, an autonomous body […]
Typhoon Fabian
Typhoon Fabian: Typhoon In-fa, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Fabian, is an active and very large tropical cyclone inland over China. The system was first noted as an area of low pressure, located east of the Philippines on July 14. Favorable conditions helped the storm to intensify, becoming a tropical depression, two days later […]
National Mission For Clean Ganga (NMCG) : Latest Status
The National Mission For Clean Ganga (NMCG): The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), conceived as a ₹20,000-crore programme in 2014 to clean up the river, has so far been allocated ₹15,074 crore. Of this only ₹10,972 crore, or about two-thirds, has been released by the Finance Ministry to the NMCG, a body under the […]
India’s Foreign Exchange Reserves : July 2021
India’s Foreign Exchange Reserves: India’s foreign exchange reserves rose by $835 million to touch a record high of $612.73 billion in the week ended July 16, 2021, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed. According to weekly data from the RBI, forex reserves rose to a record $612.73 billion in the reporting week, helped […]