8 June 2024, The Indian EXPRESS
High food inflation, RBI retains rate at 6.5%; ups FY25 GDP forecast to 7.2%
Page no-1
GS3- Inclusive Growth and issues arising from it
- THE RESERVE Bank of India Friday left the repo rate — the rate at which it lends to banks — unchanged at 6.5 per cent on concerns over rise in food inflation, and revised upwards the real gross domestic product (GDP) growth projection for 2024-25 to 7.2 per cent.
- The central bank retained the FY25 consumer price index based inflation (CPI) projection at 4.5 per cent but indicated that it will fall below 4 per cent during the July-September quarter.
Indian judiciary has shifted to facilitating arbitration: CJI in UK
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GS2-Dispute Redressal Mechanisms and Institutions
- The Indian judiciary has moved from a regime of judicial interference with arbitration to facilitating arbitration, Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud said Thursday.
- “Imposing courtrooms designed to bear the insignia of the sovereign power of the State are being replaced by swanky meeting rooms where parties engage in dialogues over complex commercial matters,” he said.
Heatwave in May warmer than before, worsened by climate change, says report
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GS1-geographical features and their location-changes in critical geographical features (including water-bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes
- The severe heatwave over North and Central India in late May — when temperatures neared the 50° Celsius mark in Delhi and Rajasthan — was warmer than past heatwaves and strengthened by human-induced climate change, an analysis by a European Union-funded organisation has said.
- More than 37 cities in the two regions recorded temperatures above 45° C, leading to heat-related illness warnings, said the analysis by ClimaMeter.
Sticky inflation: why is RBI refusing to cut interest rates?
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GS3- Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development
- On Friday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) unveiled its latest bi-monthly monetary policy review and, for the eighth time in a row, decided that it would not change the benchmark policy rate, also called the repo rate.
- The repo rate is the interest rate at which the RBI lends money to commercial banks. When RBI wants to incentivise economic activity in the broader economy, it reduces the repo rate, which makes it cheaper for banks to borrow from it and lend onwards to customers.
- When it wants to disincentivise economic activity, it raises the repo rate, which makes it costly for everyone in the economy to borrow money.
The NEET controversy
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GS2- Issues Relating to Development and Management of Social Sector/Services relating to Education
- On June 4, as most of India had its eyes on the results of the Lok Sabha election, the National Testing Agency (NTA) published the results of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test, Undergraduate (NEET UG), the competitive examination for admission to medical, dental, and AYUSH courses in government and private colleges.
- The results drew immediate attention for the extraordinarily large number of candidates who got the perfect score of 720/720, and for the reason that some candidates got 718 or 719 — marks that others claimed were impossible to get in the scheme of the exam.
24 Muslim MPs in new Lok Sabha, none from BJP-led ruling alliance
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GS2- Parliament and State Legislatures
- Only 24 Muslims were elected to the Lok Sabha this year, two less than in 2019. Of the 24, 21 MPs are from parties in the Opposition INDIA bloc — Congress had nine Muslim MPs, followed by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) with five, the Samajwadi Party (SP) with four, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) with two, and the National Conference (NC) with one.
- Unaffiliated AIMIM boasts one Muslim MP (Asaduddin Owaisi himself), and there are also two Muslims who won as independent (Engineer Rashid from Baramulla, and Mohammad Haneefa from Ladakh). The ruling NDA does not have a single Muslim MP.
Is it economy, stupid
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GS3- Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development
- India’s electoral shock poses a stunning economic puzzle. How is it possible that the electorate chastised rather than handsomely rewarded a leader who has presided over an astonishing economic boom? This would seem to be an event unprecedented in world history.
- Consider the data. According to official data, in the three years leading up to the election, the economy posted real GDP growth rates of 9.7 per cent, 7 per cent, and 8.2 per cent.
- To be sure, the first of those numbers is the recovery from Covid. But even so, such consecutive numbers — increasing the size of the economy by more than one-quarter in just three years — would normally describe economic nirvana. So, what happened? Has the Indian electorate just demolished the adage attributed to former US President Bill Clinton’s adviser: “It’s the economy, stupid”?
RBI aims for liberalising capital account, globalisation of rupee, digital payment
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GS2- Statutory, Regulatory and various Quasi-judicial Bodies
- Gearing up to remain “future-ready for India’s fast-growing economy”, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has listed a series of aspirational goals, including capital account liberalisation and internationalisation of the Indian rupee (INR), universalising of digital payment system and globalisation of India’s financial sector in a multi-year timeframe.
- The central bank has proposed enabling availability of the rupee to non-residents for facilitating cross-border transactions in the rupee and enhancing accessibility of rupee accounts to persons resident outside India (PROIs).
- It has proposed adopting a calibrated approach towards interest-bearing Non-Resident Deposits and promoting Indian multi-national corporations (MNCs) and Indian global brands through overseas investments, according to ‘Aspirational Goals for RBI@100 in a Multi-Year Time Frame’ released by the central bank on Friday.
Household spend most on processed food; Haryana, Rajasthan opted for milk
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GS3- Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development
- Households across the country’s rural and urban areas spent the highest share of consumption expenditure on ‘beverages, refreshments and processed food’ among food items in 2022-23, but some states bucked the trend in favour of other items — ‘milk and milk products’, and ‘egg, fish & meat’.
- In rural areas among all major states, the households of Haryana spent the maximum on ‘milk and milk products’ at 41.7 per cent as a percentage of total expenditure on food, while Kerala spent the most on ‘egg, fish & meat’ at 23.5 per cent, detailed report of Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) 2022-23 released by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) on Friday showed.
RBI plans to set up new digital platform
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GS2- Statutory, Regulatory and various Quasi-judicial Bodies
- The Reserve Bank of India has proposed to set up a Digital Payments Intelligence Platform which will harness advanced technologies to mitigate payment fraud risks.
- To take this initiative forward, the RBI has constituted a committee, under the Chairmanship of A.P. Hota, former MD & CEO, NPCI, to examine various aspects of setting up a digital public infrastructure for the platform.
- The committee is expected to give its recommendations within two months.
