1. Gopal Krishna Gandhi to get Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavana award 2018
The 24th Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award will be given to former West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi for his outstanding contribution towards promotion of communal harmony.
This year award will be presented to Mr. Gandhi at a special ceremony on 20th August 2018 in the auditorium of Jawahar Bhawan, New Delhi.
The award carries a citation and a cash award of Rs. 10 lakhs.
Note: The Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award was instituted by All India Congress Committee of the Indian National Congress Party (INC), in 1992 to commemorate the lasting contribution made by the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
2. UN’s E-Government Index: India Ranks 96th, Denmark Tops
As per United Nation’s E-Government Index 2018, India (total score - 0.9551) ranks 96th (118 in 2014) in the bi-annual United Nation’s E-Government Index 2018 among 193 countries.
The 2018 edition was titled as 'Gearing E-Government to Support Transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies'.
Denmark (0.9150) topped in the 2018 E-Government Development Survey.
Note:
The E-Government Development Index (EGDI) is a composite index based on the weighted average of three normalized indices to assesses e-government development at the national level.
The E-Government survey is released by the United Nations in every two years.
Banking & Finance
3. RBI hikes repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.50%
Today, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced its third Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Rates for 2018-19 in Mumbai.
The Bi-monthly policy has been released based on the assessment of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Increase the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) by 25 basis points (100 bps=1 prcentage point) to 6.50%.
The reverse repo rate under the LAF stands adjusted to 6.25%.
The marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate to 6.75%.
Sahitya Academy awardee Bengali writer ‘Ramapada Chowdhury’(95-year) passed away at a city hospital in Kolkata.
Chowdhury's novel ‘Abhimanyu’ was based on the life and work of Dr Subhas Mukhopadhyay who created India's first and the world's second test-tube baby in 1978.
National Appointments
5. Renu Satti resigns as Paytm Payments Bank CEO
The Paytm Payments Bank CEO (Chief executive officer) Renu Satti has resigned from the role and will now head Paytm's new retail initiative.
Under its 'New Retail' model, consumers will be able to discover nearby pharmacies, groceries and other shops to place an order and get instant deliveries.
Earlier, Satti has built businesses ground up that include the marketplace, movie ticketing and most recently Paytm Payments Bank.
Renu had taken over as the CEO of the Paytm Bank in May 2017.
National Affairs
6. Digital payments market in India set to touch one trillion dollars in the next 5 years
According to Niti Aayog’s principal adviser, 'Ratan P Watal', the digital payments market in India is set to become a trillion-dollar industry in the next five years.
It will be led by growth in mobile payments which are slated to rise to 190 billion dollars by 2023 from 10 billion dollars (in 2017-18) to USD 190 billion by 2023.
This will present huge business opportunities for players in the digital space.
7. Health Ministry signs MoU to facilitate access of AB-NHPM to the last mile
The Union Health Ministry (J P Nadda) has signed a MoU with Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Ravi Shankar Prasad) to facilitate access of Ayushman Bharat-NHPM to the last mile.
The National Health Agency (NHA) under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Common Service Centres (CSC) scheme under the Digital India Programme, have inked an MoU to provide information and eligibility validation services to beneficiaries.
National Health Agency (NHA) is the apex body for the implementation of Ayushman Bharat-National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM).
The identity and registrations of beneficiaries would be done through CSCs.
Note: AB-NHPM targets deprived families has identified occupational category of urban workers' families as per the latest Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data, for both rural and urban India.
8. Chhattisgarh CM launch Mobile Distribution Scheme 'Mobile Tihar'
The chief minister of Chhattisgarh Raman Singh & actress Kangana Ranaut have launched a smartphone distribution scheme 'Mobile Tihar', under Sanchar Kranti Yojna (SKY) in Raipur.
The smartphone distribution scheme includes distribution of smartphones to women (45 lakhs) & children (5 lakhs) and setting up of new mobile towers (556).
The Chhattisgarh government is working towards improving network connectivity and empowering youth with smartphones.
9. Eight core sector industries' growth climbs to 6.7% in June
A ccording to the commerce and industry ministry data, The Eight core sector industries registered seven-month high growth of 6.7% in June this year.
Eight sectors including coal, refinery products, fertilisers, steel and cement showed better performance due to better outcome by cement, refinery and coal segments.
The expansion in cement (13.2%), in refinery products (12%) and coal (11.5%) year-on-year basis.
Crude oil registered a negative growth of 3.4% while natural gas witnessed a negative growth of 2.7% in June compared to the year-ago period.
10. Reliance beats TCS to become India's most valued company
Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) beat IT bellwether Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to become the most valued company in India.
Reliance Industries (RIL) boasts a market capitalisation of Rs. 7.46 trillion while Tata Consultancy Services’ market cap has fallen to Rs. 7.39 trillion.
Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is an Indian conglomerate holding company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS) is an Indian multinational information technology (IT) service, consulting company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
11. Jaipur’s Walled City proposed for UNESCO World Heritage
The Walled City of Jaipur (Rajasthan) has been proposed for World Heritage.
As per UNESCO's Operation Guidelines 2017, only one site can be nominated each year.
At Present, there are total 37 World Heritage sites in the country.
Note:
A World Heritage site is a landmark or area which is selected by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as having cultural, historical, scientific or other form of significance, and is legally protected by international treaties.
The sites are judged important to the collective interests of humanity.
