Uttarakhand
- Uttrakhand Government launches the Super 30 coaching.
ð The Uttrakhand government has launched its own version of ‘Super 30’, which is an innovative educational programme. The aim is to improve the standard of higher education in the state.
ð Another similar scheme, sponsored by the state government, is also being introduced for civil services aspirants,
ð Announcing a third scheme for postgraduates, CM said 100 such meritorious students will also be selected every year for doing PhD and will be provided with financial assistance by the government.
- Centre may ease RCS norms for flights to hilly areas, islands
- To improve air connectivity to the country’s hilly areas and islands by use of smaller aircraft, the Centre is likely to ease norms for bidding under its regional connectivity scheme.
- The government has categorised these regions as “high prirority areas” for enhancing connectivity.
- The RCS, also known as UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik), aims at making flying affordable for the masses by capping fares at Rs 2,500 per hour as well as improving connectivity to tier-2 and tier-3 cities.
- This move is likely to benefit Jammu and Kashmir, the seven north-eastern states, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshwadeep.
- The government was also mulling over amending the exclusivity clause under which an airline operator was granted exclusive rights to fly on a route for a period three years.
INTERNATIONAL
- 22ndWorld Petroleum Congress held at Istanbul.
- Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan chaired a Ministerial Session on the subject “Current Economic Strategies in Indian Oil & Gas Sector”.
- He also chaired a Plenary Session on ‘Supply and Demand Challenges for Oil, Gas and Products’ at the 22nd World Petroleum Congress at Istanbul, Turkey.
- The Minister launched an event on Hydrocarbon Exploration & Licensing Policy (HELP) as a part of process of promoting the upcoming oil & gas bidding rounds in India.
- Vietnam renews Indian Oil Deal in South China Sea.
- Vietnam has granted ONGC Videsh a two-year extension to explore oil block 128 in the South China Sea. The permission was first granted in the year 2006 which is due to expire in mid-June.
- The part of the oil block 128 is in the U-shaped ‘nine-dash line,’ the area which is claimed by China. The area is also a route for more than $5 trillion in trade every year and is also claimed by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan.
NATIONAL
- Retail inflation at 1.54% in June, lowest in 5 years
- India’s annual retail inflation eased in June to its slowest pace in more than five years, as food prices fell, building pressure on the central bank to cut interest rate when it meets for a monetary policy review on August 2.
- This is the lowest inflation rate since India started releasing retail inflation data in January 2012 based on a combined CPI index for rural and urban consumers.
- Good rains this year could lead to bumper grain production and a further slide in food prices in Asia’s third-largest economy.
Gk byte – Inflation and Index (WPI,CPI)
- Inflation is the rising price of goods and services over time. Inflation reduces the purchasing power of each unit of currency. The inflation rate is the percent increase or decrease of prices during a specified period. It’s usually over a month or a year.
- If the inflation rate is more than 50 percent a week, that’s hyperinflation. If inflation occurs at the same time as a recession, that’s stagflation. Rising prices in assets like housing, gold or stocks are called asset inflation.
- Inflation rates in India are usually quoted as changes in the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), for all commodities.
- Many developing countries use changes in the consumer price index (CPI) as their central measure of inflation. India used WPI as the measure for inflation but new CPI(combined) is declared as the new standard for measuring inflation.
- CPI numbers are typically measured monthly, and with a significant lag, making them unsuitable for policy use. India uses changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to measure its rate of inflation.
- WPI measures the price of a representative basket of wholesale goods. In India, this basket is composed of three groups:-
Primary Articles (20.1% of total weight),
Fuel and Power (14.9%)
Manufactured Products (65%).
- WPI numbers were typically measured weekly by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. This makes it more timely than the lagging and infrequent CPI statistic. However, since 2009 it has been measured monthly instead of weekly.
- Union Cabinet approves establishment of International Rice Research Institute in Varanasi.
- It will be named as IRRI South Asia Regional Centre (ISARC) and will be set up on the campus of National Seed Research and Training Centre (NSRTC) in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.
- This Centre will be the first International Centre in the eastern India and it will play a major role in harnessing and sustaining rice production in the region. It is expected to be a boon for food production and skill development in the eastern India and similar ecologies in other South Asian and African countries.
- P., Telangana and Gujarat top in ease of doing business
- Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Gujarat are the three best-performing states in “ease of doing business” NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said.
- One the other hand, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam fare worst in the rankings.
- The World Bank, along with the Centre’s Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) was involved in the process of reviewing the evidence submitted by states/UTs regarding implementation of reforms for the rankings.
- RailCloud – The new security system of Railway.
- The Indian Railways has launched RailCloud, a virtual server with an inbuilt security system that will enable faster connectivity at a reduced cost.
- Developed by rail PSU RailTel at an estimated cost of about Rs 53 crore, RailCloud is aimed at optimising server resources and its management.
- RailCloud technology enables maximising the usage of available server and storage resulting in accommodation of bigger data and more applications within same server space. This makes the system suitable to meet higher demand.
- India’s Mithali Raj becomes first to score 6000 runs in women’s ODI cricket
- Indian captain Mithali Raj created history by becoming the first player in the history of Women’s One-day International (ODI) cricket to score more than 6000 career runs.
- She broke the previous record of Charlotte Edwards (5992) in 164 innings.
- She achieved the record feat against Australia in the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 match at Bristol.