Daily Current Affairs 22nd July 2022

RBI, Banking and Economy

• ADB slashes India growth forecast to 7.2% for FY23
  • The Asian Development Bank (ADB) slashed its growth forecast for India to 7.2 per cent for FY23 from 7.5 per cent.
  • ADB also raised its inflation forecast for India to 6.7 per cent for FY23 from 5.8 per cent projected earlier.

• Govt launches 3 schemes to strengthen MSMEs in pharmaceutical sector
  • The government launched three schemes to strengthen Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the pharmaceutical sector.
  • The chemicals and fertilisers ministry rolled out the schemes under the banner of 'Strengthening Pharmaceuticals Industry' (SPI).
  • SIDBI will be the project management consultant for implementing the scheme.

• India's GDP to grow 7% this fiscal: FICCI survey
  • FICCI's Economic Outlook Survey (July 2022) said India's economy is estimated to grow 7 per cent in the current fiscal, lower than the earlier projection of 7.4 per cent.
  • It also said the policy rate of the Reserve Bank of India is expected to reach 5.65 per cent by the end of this fiscal. Currently, the policy rate (repo) is 4.9 per cent.

SEBI and FINANCIAL AWARENESS

• SAT relief for news broadcaster NDTV
  • The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has provided partial relief to news broadcaster New Delhi Television (NDTV) and its promoters against orders passed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for alleged violation of Takeover Code and disclosure regulations.
  • The tribunal also slashed penalties imposed by the market regulator. In the case involving violation of disclosure norms, SAT reduced the Rs 5 crore penalty imposed on NDTV to just Rs 10 lakh.

NABARD & AGRICULTURE

• ITC launches super app 'ITCMAARS' to boost agricultural business
  • Diversified conglomerate ITC has launched its super app Meta Market for Advanced Agricultural Services (ITCMAARS) to provide agricultural and allied services to farmers on a digital platform.
  • The app has been launched in seven states with over 40,000 farmers grouped in 200-plus farmer produce organisations (FPOs) under four value chains – wheat, paddy, soya, and chilli. But the ultimate aspiration is to take it to 4,000 FPOs and 10 million farmers and 20 value chains.

• Monarch butterflies listed as endangered
  • The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a group headquartered in Switzerland that tracks species and extinctions, added the migratory monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus plexippus) to its Red List of Threatened Species.

• NITI Aayog and WFP Launched Initiative on Mainstreaming Millets in Asia and Africa
  • NITI Aayog and the World Food Programme (WFP), India, launched the ‘Mapping and Exchange of Good Practices’ initiative for mainstreaming millets in Asia and Africa in a hybrid event.
  • NITI and WFP will prepare a compendium of good practices for scaling up the production and consumption of millets in India and abroad.

NATIONAL

• Droupadi Murmu elected 15th President of India
  • Droupadi Murmu has won the 15th Presidential Election becoming the 15th President of India.
  • She will be the first tribal female president of India.
  • She is the second female President of India after the 12^th President of India Pratibha Devi singh Patil from 25 July 2007 to July 2012.

• India and the UK sign an MoU to increase educational opportunities
  • A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Mutual Recognition of Academic Qualifications was signed between United Kingdom (UK) and Ministry of Education, Government of India.
  • Signing of this MoU would enable smoother student mobility between the two countries and help in developing stronger institutional collaboration and widen the scope of academic and research collaboration between the Higher Education Institutions of both countries.

• ‘SVANidhi se Samriddhi’ initiative
  • ‘SVANidhi se Samriddhi’ initiative, designed to build safety net for the beneficiaries’ families by linking them to existing 8 socio-economic welfare schemes of the Government of India was added to the PM SVANidhi Scheme.
  • It was launched in 125 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in the first phase on 4th January, 2021 and extended for 126 ULBs on 12th April, 2022.

INTERNATIONAL

• Italy PM Mario Draghi quits
  • Italian Premier Mario Draghi resigned after his ruling coalition fell apart, dealing a destabilising blow to the country and Europe at a time of severe economic uncertainty brought on by the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine.

• Ukraine and Russia to sign grain deal
  • Ukraine and Russia to sign an elusive deal designed to help relieve a global food crisis caused by blocked Black Sea grain exports.
  • The first major agreement between the both countries comes with global food prices soaring and people in some of the countries facing starvation.

• World’s oldest captive male giant panda dies
  • The world’s oldest male giant panda in captivity has died in a Hong Kong zoo.
  • The panda, named An An, was euthanised at the age of 35, the equivalent of 105 years for humans.
  • He was born in the wild in the south-western Chinese province of Sichuan in 1986.

STATES

• Jai Bhim Mukhyamantri Pratibha Vikas Yojana
  • The Delhi government will begin coaching classes for children from financially poor background under the Jai Bhim Mukhyamantri Pratibha Vikas Yojana from next week.
  • Under the scheme, the Delhi government will provide free coaching to meritorious students from scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and poor families, who have passed Classes X and XII with good grades, the statement added.

REPORTS AND INDEXES

• India Innovation Index 2022
  • The third-edition of India Innovation Index 2022 was released by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Suman Bery on July 21.
  • Karnataka has topped Niti Aayog's India Innovation Index 2022 among major states, while Chandigarh has topped among city-states and union territories Manipur has topped among northeast and hill states.

• State of Preventive Health in India
  • Consulting firm Redseer Strategy Consultants in collaboration with Chiratae Ventures and Amazon Web Services (AWS) has come out with a report on ‘State of Preventive Health in India’.
  • According to the report, India’s preventive healthcare sector – fitness, wellness, foods and supplements, early diagnostics and health tracking – is projected to reach $197 bn by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 22 per cent.

• Online retail may hit Rs 4.9-trillion GMV this year: RedSeer report
  • India’s online retail landscape remains on a robust growth trajectory despite transition to offline.
  • According to a report by consulting firm RedSeer, in April, May, and June this year, close to 40-60 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth was observed.