VISION

 What is the issue?

• Pakistan’s double U-turn on resuming trade with India highlights the internal differences within Ministries, between business and political communities.
• All these hint at the reality that the shadow of politics looms over trade and economy.

What is the recent trade decision that was reversed?

• Pakistan’s Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) recently decided to import cotton, yarn, and 500,000 metric tons of sugar from India.
• Pakistan’s new Finance Minister Hammad Azhar announced this decision.
• The media dubbed it as a political breakthrough.
• But the ECC’s decision was based on Pakistan’s immediate economic needs and not on bilateral trade.
• It was only about importing three items - cotton, yarn and sugar.
• It was not designed as a political confidence-building measure to normalise relations with India.
• Despite this, a day later, Pakistan’s cabinet overruled the decision.
• It was also made clear that as long as India did not review the unilateral steps it took on August 5, 2019, normalising relations with India would not be possible.
• The Finance Minister accepted the cabinet’s decision as the working of “economic and political interface in a democracy.”
• It was left with the Prime Minister and the cabinet to “endorse, reject or modify” the ECC’s proposals.

Why was the ECC’s decision inevitable?

 Why in news?

Recently RBI has released a new series of REER which is effective in depicting the rupee’s over/under valuation.

What is REER?

• It is the standard measure to gauge the value of the home currency against the weighted average value of the currencies of its trading partners divided by a price deflator or index.
• REER above 100 denotes that the home currency is overvalued and more expensive compared to its competitors.
• During the global financial crisis in 2007-08, REER was around the 100 and it was moving close to 120 in 2017-18.
• This shows that the rupee was overvalued against its trading partners and is affecting India’s exports.

• Now RBI has released new series for REER which reflects the true state of affairs.

How is new series different from earlier one?

1)  CRPF Valour Day: 09 April

•Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Valour Day (Shaurya Diwas) is observed on 9 April every year, as a tribute to the brave men of the Force. 2021 marks the 56th CRPF Valour Day. It was on this day in 1965, a small contingent of CRPF created history by defeating an invading Pakistani army, several time larger, at the Sardar Post located in the Rann of Kutch, Gujarat. The CRPF men eliminated 34 Pakistani soldiers and captured four alive. In the conflict, CRPF lost six personnel who had attained martyrdom.

2)  Nirmala Sitharaman attends 2nd Virtual G20 Finance Ministers

•Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman has participated virtually in the Second G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting. This meeting held under the Italian Presidency to discuss policy responses to global challenges to restore strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth.

3)  India-Japan signed MoU for Academic and Research Cooperation

•The Union Cabinet recently apprised an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) signed between India and Japan. The MoU was signed between the National Atmospheric Research Laboratory (NARL) that operates under the Department of Space, GoI and the Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere called the RISH that operates under the Kyoto University of Japan.

4)  Narendra Singh Tomar launches Madhukranti portal

•The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar launched a portal ‘Madhukranti’ and Honey Corners on April 07, 2021, with the aim to bring an increase in income of farmers, employment generation and increase in exports. Madhukranti portal is an initiative of the National Bee Board (NBB). The portal is being developed for online registration to achieve traceability source of Honey and other beehive products on a digital platform.

•The portal will also check the source of adulteration and contamination in honey. It will have an end-to-end record to track the source of honey. Honey Corner is a specially designed space in National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) stores dedicated to the sale of honey.

5)  India contributes USD 500,000 to UN Trust Fund for counter-terrorism

•India has contributed an additional $500,000 to the United Nations Trust Fund for Counter-Terrorism, taking the country’s donation to the UN office set up to combat terrorism to over $1 million. With this amount, India’s total contribution to it so far is $1.05 million.

•The UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, established in 2017, enhances coordination and coherence across the Global Counter-Terrorism Coordination Compact entities to ensure the balanced implementation of the four pillars of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. In line with General Assembly resolution 71/291 that established UNOCT in June 2017, the UN Trust Fund for Counter-Terrorism was transferred to UNOCT.

6)  RBI decides to open up RTGS, NEFT facilities for payment system operators

•In a major move in the online payments segments, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to allow payment system operators to take direct membership of Centralised Payment Systems (CPS), such as RTGS and NEFT. Membership in Centralised Payment Systems (CPS) RTGS and NEFT for entities other than banks are so far limited to banks, with a few exceptions, such as specialised entities like clearing corporations and select development financial institutions.

•The RBI noted that over the last few years, the role of non-bank entities in payment space such as prepaid payment instrument (PPI) issuers, card networks, white label ATM (WLA) operators, Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) platforms, has grown in importance and volume, as they have innovated by leveraging technology and offering customised solutions to users.

7)  RBI raise G-SAP for orderly G-Sec market

•The Reserve Bank of India has announced to conduct the open market purchase of government securities of Rs 1 lakh crore under the G-sec Acquisition Programme (G-SAP 1.0) in the first quarter of 2021-22. The objective of this is to have a stable and orderly evolution of the yield curve. Under this scheme the first purchase of government securities for an aggregate amount of Rs. 25,000 crore under G-SAP 1.0 will be conducted on April 15, 2021.

8)  A book titled exam warriors updated version released by PM Modi

•The updated version of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s book named ‘Exam Warriors’ was launched. The book gives out various suggestions to both students and parents to deal with the examination pressure and stress. The book raise the awareness on topics like mental health, the role of technology and time management. The book has new Mantras and a range of interesting activities. The book reaffirms the need to remain stress-free before an exam.

📰 Beyond zero sum: On rich countries and carbon emissions

 GS SCORE Yearly Compilation Geography 2020-2021 PDF

1)  Dr Harsh Vardhan and Arjun Munda launches Tribal Health Collaborative ‘Anamaya’

•The Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr Harsh Vardhan and the Union Minister of Tribal Affairs, Shri Arjun Munda jointly launched ‘Anamaya’, the Tribal Health Collaborative on April 07, 2021, through video conference. The initiative is supported by Piramal Foundation and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).

2)  PM Modi to release Hindi version of ‘Odisha Itihaas’ by Dr Harekrushna Mahtab

•Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release the Hindi translation of the book ‘Odisha Itihaas’, written by Utkal Keshari Harekrushna Mahtab, on 9th April at the Ambedkar International Center. The event marking the release of the Hindi version has been organised by the Harekrushna Mahtab Foundation.

3)  CJI launches top court’s AI-driven research portal ‘SUPACE’

•The Supreme Court of India has launched it’s Artificial Intelligence portal “SUPACE” (Supreme Court Portal for Assistance in Courts Efficiency). Through this portal, the SC intends to leverage machine learning to deal with the vast amounts of data received at the time of filing of cases.

4)  Vietnam National Assembly selects PM & President

•Vietnam’s legislature voted to make Pham Minh Chinh, a member of the Communist party with a history as a security official, the country’s next Prime Minister. Outgoing Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc was appointed the new President. The votes of the nearly 500 members of the National Assembly rubber-stamped the leadership picks the Communist party made during its national congress in January.

5)  Kosovo’s parliament elects Vjosa Osmani as president

•Kosovo’s parliament elected Vjosa Osmani as the country’s new president. Osmani received 71 votes from the lawmakers at the third round of voting in the Assembly of Kosovo. While 82 deputies participated in the vote in the 120-member parliament, 11 votes were declared invalid. The 38-year-old politician studied law at the University of Pristina in Kosovo and earned a doctorate from Pittsburgh University in the US.

6)  RBI to release Financial Inclusion Index (FI Index) annually

•The Reserve Bank of India has announced that it will periodically publish a “Financial Inclusion Index” (FI Index) annually in July for the financial year ending previous March. The FI Index would be based on multiple parameters and shall reflect the broadening and deepening of financial inclusion in the country, a statement on regulatory and developmental policies of RBI.

•Financial Inclusion has been a thrust area for the government, the Reserve Bank and other regulators, with significant progress made over the years. To measure the extent of financial inclusion in the country, the Reserve Bank proposes to construct and publish a Financial Inclusion Index (FI Index) based on multiple parameters.

7)  RBI increases WMA limits for the State Governments/UTs

•The Reserve Bank of India has increased the limit for Way and Means Advances (WMA) for the State Governments/UTs from Rs. 32,225 crore (fixed in February 2016) to Rs. 47,010 crore based on the recommendation of a committee headed by Shri Sudhir Shrivastava. This represents an increase of about 46%.

•RBI has extended the enhanced interim WMA limit of ₹ 51,560 crores (a 60 per cent increase in the current limits allowed by the Reserve Bank during the last fiscal to help states/UTs to tide over the difficulties faced by them during the pandemic) for a further period of six months i.e., from April 1, 2021, up to September 30, 2021.

8)  RBI enhances Loan limit under Priority Sector Lending against eNWR/NWR

•The Reserve Bank of India has enhanced the loan limit from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 75 lakh per borrower against the pledge/hypothecation of agricultural produce backed by Negotiable Warehouse Receipts (NWRs)/electronic-NWRs(e-NWRs) issued by the warehouses registered and regulated by Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA).

•The Priority Sector loan limit backed by other Warehouse Receipts will continue to be ₹50 lakh per borrower. The circular in this regard will be issued separately. With a view to encourage farm credit to individual farmers against pledge/hypothecation of agricultural produce and leverage the inherent safety of NWRs/(e-NWRs) issued by warehouses registered and regulated by WDRA.

9)  Govt Appoints S Ramann as SIDBI CMD

•The government has appointed S Ramann as Chairman and Managing Director of Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). Ramann, a 1991-batch Indian Audit & Accounts Service officer, is currently the CEO of National E-Governance Services Ltd, India’s first Information Utility.

•The appointment is for a period of three years from the date of his assuming the charge or until further orders. Banks Board Bureau, the headhunter for state-owned banks and financial institutions, had recommended his name for the post.

📰 PM to inaugurate vessel for Seychelles