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NITI Aayog will launch the “Decarbonising Transport in India” project in collaboration with International Transport Forum (ITF). The project would be launched to develop a pathway towards a low-carbon transport system for India. It will design a tailor-made transport emissions assessment framework for India and facilitate the government with a comprehensive understanding of present as well as future transport activities along with the related CO2 emissions. The project “Decarbonising Transport in India” is a part of the International Transport Forum’s “Decarbonising Transport in Emerging Economies (DTEE)” family of projects. DTEE supports transport decarbonisation across different world regions such as Argentina, Azerbaijan, Morocco and India.

 France has signed a loan agreement of 200-million-euros with India to boost India’s COVID-19 response. With the loan agreement, France aims to increase the state and central governments’ capacities to support India’s most vulnerable people in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. World Bank has developed the programme design in collaboration with the Indian authorities to optimize and expand the existing social protection measures taken by India. World Bank would be the lead funder of this programme, being supported by French Development Agency (AFD) including other multilateral and bilateral development banks. The programme will focus on Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojna by providing benefits to the low-income families so that the health, social as well as the economic shocks arising from Covid-19 do not negatively affect people’s well-being and their contribution to the India’s economic growth in the long run.

  The virtual 32nd special Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG) plenary meeting was attended by the Indian officials including the representatives from enforcement agencies. The meeting was held under the aegis of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG) is a nine member regional body. The nine member countries of EAG are: India, Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The body is an associate member of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

 The Reserve Bank of India has enhanced the withdrawal limit for depositors of Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank Limited, Mumbai to Rs 1 Lakh per depositor. The withdrawal limit was earlier set at Rs 50,000. According to RBI, with the enhancement of the withdrawal limit, more than 84% of the depositors of the bank will be able to withdraw their entire account balance. RBI placed the PMC bank under All-Inclusive Directions under sub-section (1) of Section 35 A read with Section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 with effect from close of business on 23rd September 2019, in the interest of depositor protection. These directives were applicable till June 22, 2020. But, due to lockdown on account of COVID-19 pandemic the resolution process of the bank was negatively affected. Hence, these directives has been extended by RBI for a further period of six months from June 23, 2020 to December 22, 2020 subject to review.

 World Hydrography Day is observed globally on 21st June every year. This day was adopted by the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) as an annual celebration to publicise the work of hydrographers and the importance of hydrography. World Hydrography Day 2020 theme is “Hydrography enabling autonomous technologies”.
  • History of World Hydrography Day
The IHO came up with the idea of a World Hydrography Day in 2005, and it was welcomed by the United Nations General Assembly in resolution A/RES/60/30 Oceans and the law of the sea. The date chosen to mark the day is the anniversary of the founding of the International Hydrographic Organization.

 A Line of Credit (LOC) of USD 20.10 million has been extended by the Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) on behalf of the Government of India, to the Government of the Republic of Nicaragua. This LOC has been extended for reconstruction of Aldo Chavarria Hospital in the Republic of Nicaragua. With the signing of the above LOC Agreement for reconstruction of hospital, the total number of LOCs extended by Exim Bank to the Republic of Nicaragua comes to four, comprising projects which includes supply of equipment for building two substations, construction of transmission lines, building new substation, expansion of the existing substations and reconstruction of a hospital. The total value of the 4 LOCs is USD 87.63 million.

 Niti Aayog has formed a panel to develop a job platform for migrant labourers. Through this panel, Niti Aayog includes top officials of tech companies like Google, Microsoft and Tech Mahindra. This platform helps migrant workers have lost their jobs during the lockdown period. The main aim is to develop a platform that can help blue-collar workers find job opportunities in their own language and location. The platform will connect job seekers, employers, government agencies, skill centres and external partners using new-age technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning. The project would come up with a multilingual application that can be accessed via feature phones and help identify location-based jobs, skill development gaps. The panel has some prominent names from the industry including Reliance Industries President Kiran Thomas, Microsoft India President Anant Maheshwari, Tech Mahindra MD and CEO CP Gurnani, Google India country manager and vice president Sanjay Gupta, Bharti Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal, among others. As per estimates, there are over 40 crore workers in the unorganized sector accounting for around 30 per cent of India”s GDP and nearly 60 per cent of these migrant workers are either semi-skilled or unskilled who struggle every day to find the right job opportunity.

 Veteran economist and the member of 10th Finance Commission, B.P.R. Vithal passes away. He was a former IAS officer of the 1950 batch. He also served as the Secretary, Finance and Planning, government of Andhra Pradesh, from 1972 to 1982. B.P.R. Vithal also worked at the International Monetary Fund as the fiscal adviser to the governments of Malawi and Sudan. He also played an instrumental role in the establishment of Centre for Economic and Social Studies, Hyderabad.

 The 19th Great June Uprising Day was observed on 18th June at Kekrupat, Manipur. The day is being observed every year on 18 June to pay tribute and respect to 18 persons who lost their lives in June, 2001 to protect the territorial integrity of Manipur. On the occasion, family members of the 18 martyrs and leaders of some organisations paid floral tribute & respect to 18 persons at Kekrupat, Manipur. In June 2001, the Union government signed the amended ceasefire agreement with the NSCN(IM) and inserted the words “without territorial limits”, following which people came out in streets to protest and there was arson at many places. To control the uprising, security personnels resorted to firing leading to death of 18 persons.

 Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) for PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi). PM SVANidhi is a Special Micro-Credit Facility for Street Vendors. According to the MoU, PM SVANidhi Scheme will be implemented by SIDBI under the guidance of MoHUA. The credit guarantee to the lending institutions would also be managed by the SIDBI through Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE). Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) will ensure effective implementation of the scheme by providing a Project Management Unit (PMU) consisting of domain experts in training/ capacity building, project and platform management, banking, NBFC and MFI sectors etc for the period of scheme, i.e. upto March 2022. SIDBI will also leverage the network of lending Institutions for the Scheme implementation. The lending institutions will include Scheduled Commercials Banks (SCBs), Non-Bank Finance Companies (NBFCs), Regional Rural Banks (RRBs), Co-operative Banks, Small Finance Banks (SFBs), etc.


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