India 5.0

 

News Flash

India will record highest ever exports of merchandise goods and services (range between 520 to 540 billion dollars) during 2018-19.

• India 5.0 denotes convergence of India and Bharat. The basic idea is to reduced disparity, on all fronts: similar quality and access to development for all citizens, coupled with low income disparity.
• By 2047, India@100 should aim to become an ‘innovation and technology driven, inclusive, socially conscious nation’.
• 2019 Theme: INDIA 5.0: INDIA@75 AND BEYOND
• Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CCI) CII annual session 2019 to be held on 4-5 April in New Delhi.

 

India 1.0	Before 1947	Pre-independence
India 2.0	1947 – 1991	Post-independence: laying the foundation
India 3.0	1991 – 2014	Liberalisation: moving to a market economy
India 4.0	2014 – 2022	Digital India: leveraging technology
India 5.0	2022 – 2047	Convergence of India and Bharat: creating an inclusive and developed country

The India 5.0 framework, comprising three axes, will include:

• Economy and business – India is expected to transition from being a ‘low middle income’ country to an ‘upper middle income’ country and later move into the ‘high income’ group. Even as poverty levels come down, it is imperative that income disparity is reduced too.
• Infrastructure – India 5.0 will focus on connectivity, speed and safety, using environmentally friendly technologies. Social infrastructure will be improved with a special focus on education and health, with the underlying principle of ensuring affordable and accessible high-quality services for all citizens.
• Quality of life – Differences between rural and urban India will be reduced, making physical, digital and social infrastructure in rural areas at par with the best in the country. Sustainability will be the guiding principle for development, making India 5.0 a sustainability-focussed country.

 

Other Highlights India is today the world’s fastest growing large economy and looking ahead to assuming a top-three position among global economies. India is capable of achieving double digit growth on a sustained basis. Coordination between macroeconomic policy and action on the ground is essential for this. If each district could grow by an ‘incremental’ 3% – 4%, then India will automatically achieve double digit growth.

 

Removing non-tariff barriers among trading nations

• India is currently negotiating the RECP (Regional comprehensive Economic Partnership). It is a proposed free trade agreement with 10-members Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which will bring huge gains to industry if agreement signed.
• India is also promoting foreign direct investments in technology sectors.
• CII has been working to facilitate export promotion policies, free trade agreements, boosting services exports and marketing of Brand India overseas.

 

Source: Business Standards

 

 

Dhemaji and festival of Po: Rag

 

Dhemaji is about 450 km south-west to Guwahati. It is believed that Siu-kaphaa, the founder of the Ahom dynasty, had established his capital at a place called Haboong in the district in 1240. But perennial flood forced the king to shift his capital across the river Brahmaputra. The Brahmaputra isn’t as much of a problem as a number of its tributaries flowing down the hills of Arunachal Pradesh. These include the Jiadhal, Moridhal, Telijan, Kaitongjan, Laipulia, Sissi, Gai, and Tangani. The damage done by these “playful” rivers is believed to have given Dhemaji its name, a corruption of ‘dhal dhemali’, loosely translating into ‘play of flood’.

 

Po: rag

It is one of the three farming-related festivals of the Mishing community. Po: rag is derived from Apong, the rice wine brewed by the Mishings, and Rag that encompasses merriment, music and dance.

 

Source: The Hindu

 

 

Repo Rate Cut

 

News Flash

The monetary policy committee of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for the second consecutive time cut the benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points to 6%. MPC also lowered the GDP forecast to 7.2% for the current financial year from 7.4% projected in the February policy.

As per the provisions of the RBI Act, out of the six Members of Monetary Policy Committee, three Members will be from the RBI and the other three Members of MPC will be appointed by the Central Government.

 

Main observations

• The output gap remained negative and the domestic economy was facing headwinds, especially on the global front.

Output gap refers to the difference between the actual output of the economy and its maximum potential.

• With the inflation outlook remaining benign, the RBI will address the challenges to sustained growth of the economy while ensuring price stability on an enduring basis.
• The RBI lowered its inflation forecast to 2.9%-3% from 3.2%-3.4% for the first half of the current financial year and 3.5-3.8% in the second half, assuming a normal monsoon.
• Urban and rural demand as well as investment activity are not taking expected upwards direction, it can affect GDP growth negatively.

Repo rate is the rate at which the central bank lends short-term money to the commercial banks. And, reverse repo rate is at which the RBI borrows money from the commercial banks.

The Monetary Policy Goals 

• The primary objective of monetary policy is to maintain price stability while keeping in mind the objective of growth. Price stability is a necessary precondition to sustainable growth.

In May 2016, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act, 1934 was amended to provide a statutory basis for the implementation of the flexible inflation targeting framework. The amended RBI Act also provides for the inflation target to be set by the Government of India, in consultation with the Reserve Bank, once in every five years. Accordingly, the Central Government has notified in the Official Gazette 4 per cent Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation as the target for the period from August 5, 2016 to March 31, 2021 with the upper tolerance limit of 6 per cent and the lower tolerance limit of 2 per cent. Prior to the amendment in the RBI Act in May 2016, the flexible inflation targeting framework was governed by an Agreement on Monetary Policy Framework between the Government and the Reserve Bank of India of February 20, 2015.

 

Way Ahead

The need is to strengthen domestic growth impulses by encouraging private investment that has remained slow.

 

Source: Indian Express

 

 

Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology

 

News Flash

Researchers at CCMB have found another enzyme which helps in breaking cell walls of microscopic organisms and consequently, offers a potential for another drug delivery route to capture the anti-bacterial resistance.

• Newly discovered enzyme called ‘Scissors enzyme’.
• The antibiotics target the bacterial cell wall which provide protection to the cell and is fundamental for bacterial growth and division.

 

CCMB

The Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CCMB) is a premier research organization in frontier areas of modern biology. The objectives of the Centre are to conduct high quality basic research and training in frontier areas of modern biology, and promote centralized national facilities for new and modern techniques in the inter-disciplinary areas of biology.

• It is located in Hyderabad and operates under the aegis of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
• It is designated as “Center of Excellence” by the Global Molecular and Cell Biology Network, UNESCO.

 

Source: Times of India

 

ATTENTION

Zayed Medal

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been accorded with the Zayed Medal, the highest civil award granted by the government of United Arab Emirates.

This is not the first time Modi has been conferred with a state honour. He was conferred with the Saudi Arabia’s Order of Abdulaziz al Saud award in April 2016, Afghanistan’s State Order of Ghazi Amir Amanullah Khan award in June 2016, and with the Grand Collar of State of Palestine in February 2018. In addition to this, he was awarded the UN’s highest environmental award ‘Champions of the Earth’ in October 2018 for his pioneering work towards the International Solar Alliance.

 

 

World’s first 5G networks

South Korea will launch world’s first 5G mobile networks on April 5, 2019.

• The superfast communications supported by fifth generation (5G) wireless technology will ultimately underpin everything from toasters to telephones; from electric cars to power grids.
• The technology will bring fastest connectivity (20 times faster than existing 4G) allowing users to download entire movies in less than a second.
• It is crucial for the future development of devices ranging from self-driving vehicles that send data traffic to one another in real time to industrial robots, drones and other elements of the Internet of Things.

 

 

The CII Woman Exemplar Awards for 2019

The CII Woman Exemplar Awards for 2019 have been awarded to Bhimavva Chalwadi (education sector), Vanlalruati (health sector) and Nilima Tigga (microentrepreneurship).