National News

Indian Navy inducts indigenously developed Advanced Torpedo Decoy System Maareech

• The Indian Navy has inducted the Advanced Torpedo Decoy System ‘Maareech’ in its fleet on 26 June 2020, to further enhance the Anti-Submarine Warfare capability of the Indian Navy
• Maareech is capable of being fired from all frontline warships.
• The Design and Development of this anti-torpedo decoy system has been undertaken indigenously by DRDO labs-(NSTL and NPOL).
• Meanwhile, the Bharat Electronics Limited, a Defence PSU, would undertake the production of this decoy system.

India among Switzerland’s top-3 partners for getting info on bank accounts

• India is among the top-three countries to get detailed information from Switzerland on request about bank accounts and beneficiary ownership of entities established by their residents in the Alpine nation, as per the latest study by Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD’s) Global Forum on transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes.
• The Global Forum’s latest peer review report on exchange of information on request, during the period from July 2015 to June 2018,features India among the top-three jurisdictions, helping India to launch prosecution against a large number of alleged tax evaders..
• The other two countries were France and Germany.

Banking & Economy News

World Bank Approves USD 500 mn loan to improve quality of education system in 6 Indian States

• The World Bank has approved loan worth $500 million (about Rs 3,700 crore) for Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States Program (STARS) on June 24, 2020, to improve quality and governance of school education in six Indian states.
• The STARS program builds on the long partnership between India and the World Bank (since 1994), for strengthening public school education and to support the country’s goal of providing Education for All.
• The six states are Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Rajasthan.

RBI extends enhanced borrowing limit under MSF till 30 September

• In March 2020, the Reserve Bank of India, had increased the borrowing limit of scheduled banks under the marginal standing facility (MSF) scheme from 2 percent to 3 percent of their Net Demand and Time Liabilities (NDTL) as a temporary measure to deal with cash crunch caused by coronavirus pandemic.
• This relaxation was effective from March 27, 2020 and was granted till June 30, 2020.
• Now, RBI has decided to extend this enhanced borrowing facility provided to the banks to meet their liquidity shortages till September 30, 2020.
• Apart from this, the Central Bank has also extended the relaxation on the minimum daily maintenance of the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 80 percent for a further period of three months till September 25, 2020.
• On March 27, the minimum daily maintenance of the CRR was reduced from 90 percent of the prescribed CRR to 80 percent till June 26, 2020 due to the hardships faced by banks in terms of social distancing of staff and consequent strains on reporting requirements.

Sidbi sets up Swavalamban Crisis Responsive Fund to facilitate free onboarding of MSMEs on TReDS platform

• The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has set up ‘Swavalamban Crisis Responsive Fund’ to support free onboarding for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) on trade receivables discounting system (TReDS).
• The initiative aims to offer relief to the MSMEs from severely crunched cash flow, during these challenging times.
• The free onboarding of MSMEs would be available till September 2000.
• It is an open-ended fund with the target to onboard 10,000 MSMEs during this period.
• Usually, an MSME has to pay a fee of Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 for getting registered on a TReDS platform.
• Three TReDS platforms namely Receivables Exchange of India Ltd (RXIL), M1xchange and Invoicemart will help MSMEs to gain access to working capital through invoice discounting via multiple financiers.

PhonePe partners with ICICI Bank on UPI multi-bank model

• Flipkart-owned PhonePe has partnered with ICICI Bank on UPI multi-bank model giving its users the option to create and use multiple UPI IDs with ICICI and Yes Bank”s handles.
• The ‘@ibl’ handle for ICICI Bank users and ‘@ybl’ handle for YES Bank users will enable easy, quick and contactless payment services to over 200 million registered PhonePe users.
• The PhonePe customers will now be able to choose between multiple handles for their UPI IDs, thus making payments easy, secure and accessible to all.

Important Days

National Statistics Day: 29 June

• The Government of India celebrates Statistics Day on June 29 every year since 2007 to popularize the use of Statistics in everyday life and sensitize the public as to how Statistics helps in shaping and framing policies.
• The day marks the birth anniversary of Father of Indian Statistics, Prof. P C Mahalanobis, in recognition of his invaluable contribution in establishing the National Statistical System.
• The theme of Statistics Day, 2020 is SDG- 3 (Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages) & SDG- 5 (Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls).

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has approved the signing and ratifying of the Extradition Treaty between the Republic of India and the Kingdom of Belgium.

Salient Features

            The following are the salient features of the Treaty:-

1. Obligation to Extradite

Each Party agrees to extradite to the other any person found in its territory, who is accused or convicted of an extraditable offence in the territory of the other Party.

2. Extraditable Offences

An extraditable offence means an offence punishable under the laws of both the Parties with imprisonment for a period of one year or more severe punishment.  Where extradition is sought in respect of a convicted person, the duration of the sentence remaining to be served must be at least six months at the time of making the request.  Offences relating to taxation, or revenue or is one of a fiscal character also fall within the scope of this Treaty.

3. Mandatory grounds for Refusal

Under the Treaty, extradition shall be refused if:

1. the offence involved is a political offence.  However, the Treaty specifies certain offences, which will not be considered as political offences.
2. the offence for which extradition is requested is a military offence
3. the request for prosecution has been made for the purpose of prosecuting or punishing the person on account of his race, sex, religion, nationality or political opinion.
4. the prosecution of enforcement of sentence has become time barred.

(iv)      Extradition of Nationals

Extradition of nationals is discretionary.  The nationality will be determined at the time the offence was committed.

Important Features

            The Treaty inter-alia also contains provisions on:

1. Assurance in case of Capital punishment (Article 3 (7))
2. Central Authorities (Article 6)
3. Surrender (Article 11)
4. Handing over of Property (Article 18)
5. Transit (Article 19)
6. Protection of Personal Data (Article 21)
7. Expenses incurred in extradition (Article 22)
8. Consultations (Article 24)
1. Mutual legal assistance relating to extradition (Article 25)
10. Entry into Force Amendment and Termination of the Treaty (Article 26)

Benefits

            The Treaty would provide a legal framework for seeking extradition of terrorists, economic offenders, and other criminals from and to Belgium.  After ratification, the Treaty will enter into force from the date of exchange of instruments of ratification between India and Belgium.

Background

            The new Extradition Treaty will replace the pre-Independence Extradition Treaty between Great Britain and Belgium of 1901 that was made applicable to India through the exchange of Letters in 1958 and is currently in force between the Republic of India and the Kingdom of Belgium.  Due to the present procedural requirements and the fact that only limited number of offences are listed under the pre-Independence Treaty, the same has become obsolete in today’s context.

INS Airavat, deployed by the Indian Navy for “Operation Samudra Setu", entered Tuticorin harbour early morning today, 23 Jun 2020 with 198 Indian nationals embarked from Male, Maldives. Thus far Indian Navy has brought back 2386 Indian citizens from Maldives to India.

The embarkation of Indian nationals was facilitated by the Indian Mission in Maldives. Personnel were embarked onboard after carrying out requisite medical screening. COVID related safety protocols were also strictly adhered to during the sea-passage.

The evacuees were received by local authorities at Tuticorin and arrangements were in place for speedy disembarkation, health screening, immigration and transportation of the evacuees.

With this evacuation, the Indian Navy has repatriated 3305 Indian nationals from Maldives, Sri Lanka and Iran during the ongoing pandemic.

• Prompt Policy measures by Government and RBI in a calibrated manner to reinvigorate the economy at the earliest with minimal damage

• Commitment of Government towards both structural reforms and supportive social welfare measures will help build on ‘Green Shoots’

• Resolve for ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ will be strengthened with the collective effort of all stakeholders and contribute to rebuilding a strong vibrant Indian economy

Guided by the urgent need to save lives -‘Jaanhaitoh Jahan hai’, India resorted to a strict 21 days nationwide lockdown on 24^thMarch, 2020 to contain the spread of COVID-19 in its early stages in the country. The lockdown period gave a respite to ramp up the health and testing infrastructure in the country. Due to timely tracing, treatment and reporting, the number of people recovering from the virus is continuously rising and the active cases, as on date, are 41% of the total cases in the country.

The strict lockdown and social distancing measures, however, adversely affected the economy. With a gradual shift in strategy towards saving lives as well as livelihoods-‘Jaanbhi Jahan bhi’, India has entered the ‘Unlock India” phase from June 1 with phased resumption of services and businesses. The Government and the RBI have taken prompt policy measures - both short term and long term - in a calibrated manner to reinvigorate the economy at the earliest with minimal damage.

Agricultural sector remains the foundation of the Indian economy and with a forecast of a normal monsoon, should support the rebooting of the Indian Economy. Though the GDP contribution of the sector may not be very large (in relation to Industry and Services), its growth has a very positive impact on the large population dependent on agriculture. Further, the recent landmark reforms announced in the sector will go a long way in building efficient value chains and ensuring better returns for farmers.

The resilience of the Indian manufacturing is evident from the fact that within a period of 2 months, India has become the world’s second largest manufacturer of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) starting from scratch. Early green shoots of economic revival have also emerged in May and June with real activity indicators like electricity and fuel consumption, inter and intra-state movement of goods, retail financial transactions witnessing pick up.

Improvement in Economic Indicators

Agriculture

• Procurement of wheat from farmers by Government agencies has touched an all-time record figure of 382 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT) on 16^th June, 2020 surpassing the earlier record of 381.48 LMT achieved during 2012-13. This has been accomplished during the trying times of Covid-19 pandemic under the social distancing restrictions. 42 Lakh farmers have been benefitted and a total amount of about Rs. 73,500 crore has been paid to them towards Minimum Support Price (MSP) for wheat.
• Theprocurement of Minor Forest Produces (MFP) under the MSP for MFP Scheme in 16 states has hit a record-breaking high with the procurement touching Rs. 79.42 crores. This has proved to be a much needed panacea in these distressing times of Covid-19 pandemic, which has disrupted lives and livelihoods of tribals.
• As on 19^th June, farmers have sown 13.13 million hectares of Kharif crops, 39 per cent higher than corresponding period of last year with a big jump in area coverage under Oil seeds, Course Cereals, Pulses and Cotton.
• Fertilizer sales have surged by almost 98 per cent year-on-year in May 2020(40.02 lakh tonnes), reflecting a robust agricultural sector.

Manufacturing

• India’s PMI Manufacturing and Services showed lower contraction in May at 30.8 and 12.6 respectively over April (27.4 and 5.4 respectively).
• Electricity consumption saw lower contractionin growth rates from (-) 24 per cent in April to (-) 15.2 per cent in May to (-)12.5 per cent in June (till 21^stJune). In June, electricity consumption has continuously improved from (-)19.8 per cent in the first week to (-)11.2 per cent in the second week to (-)6.2 per cent in third week of June.
• Total assessable value of E-Way bills picked up by a massive 130 per cent in May 2020 (Rs. 8.98 lakh crore) compared to April 2020 (Rs. 3.9 lakh crore), though lower than previous year and pre-lockdown levels. Value of E-Way bills generated between 1^st and 19^th June stood at Rs. 7.7 lakh crore, with 11 days left for the month to complete.
• Consumption of petroleum products, a major indicator reflecting consumption and manufacturing activity in the countryincreased by 47 per cent from 99,37,000 metric tonnes in April to 1,46,46,000 metric tonnes in May.Consequently, year-on-year contraction in consumption growth of petroleum products was much smaller at (-)23.2 per cent in May against (-)45.7 per cent in April. In June, growth in consumption of petroleum products is expected to be still higher after one month of Unlock 1.0.

Services

• Railway freight traffic improved by 26 per cent in May (8.26 crore tonnes) over April (6.54 crore tonnes), though still lower than previous year levels. The improvement is likely to continue in June in sync with growth in movement of goods on National Highways.
• Average daily electronic toll collectionsincreased from Rs. 8.25 crore in April, 2020 to Rs. 36.84 crore in May, rising more than 4 times.In the first three weeks of June, it has improved furtherto Rs. 49.8 crore.
• Total digital Retail financial transactions via NPCI platforms increased sharply from Rs. 6.71 lakh crore in April, 2020 to Rs. 9.65 lakh crore in May. The trend is expected to continue in June driven by a sustained pick-up in real activity.

Monetary Indicators

• With RBI’s efforts towards ensuring adequate liquidity, private placement of corporate bonds picked up sharply by 94.1 per cent (YoY growth) in May (Rs. 0.84 lakh crore) as compared to a contraction of 22 per cent in April (Rs. 0.54 lakh crore).  June is likely to see a still larger placement as excess liquidity persists in the system.
• Average assets under management (AUM) of mutual funds increased by 3.2 per cent to Rs.24.2 lakh crore in May 2020 from Rs. 23.5 lakh crore in April 2020. Contraction in YoY growth in the indicator also fell from (-)6.9% in April to (-)4.5% in May.
• India’s forex reserves at USD 507.6 billion as on 12^th June, continue to provide a crucial cushion to external shocks on the back of higher FDI, portfolio flows and low oil prices. FDI in India recorded inflow of USD 73.45 billion in FY 2019-20, an increase of 18.5 per cent over the previous fiscal.

The commitment of the Government towards both structural reforms and supportive social welfare measures will help build on these ‘green shoots’.  The resolve for ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ will be strengthened with the collective effort of all stakeholders and contribute to rebuilding a strong vibrant Indian economy.

PM CARES Fund Trust has allocated Rs. 2000 crore for supply of 50000 ‘Made-in-India’ ventilators to government run COVID hospitals in all States/UTs. Further, a sum of Rs. 1000 crore has been allocated for the welfare of migrant labourers.

pm cares ventilators

Out of the 50000 ventilators, 30000 ventilators are being manufactured by M/s Bharat Electronics Limited.  The remaining 20000 ventilators are being manufactured by AgVa Healthcare (10000), AMTZ Basic (5650), AMTZ High End (4000) and Allied Medical (350). So far 2923 ventilators have been manufactured, out of which 1340 ventilators have already been delivered to the States/UTs.  The prominent recipients include Maharashtra (275), Delhi (275), Gujarat (175), Bihar (100), Karnataka (90), Rajasthan (75). By the end of June 2020, additional 14,000 ventilators will be delivered to all States/UTs.

Further a sum of Rs. 1000 crore has already been released to States/UTs for welfare of the migrant labourers.  The distribution of the fund is based on the formula of 50% weightage for the population as per 2011 census, 40% weightage for number of positive COVID-19 cases and 10 % for equal distribution among all the States/UTs.  This assistance is to be used for arranging accommodation, food, medical treatment and transportation of the migrants. The main recipients of the grant are Maharashtra (181 cr), Uttar Pradesh (103 cr), Tamil Nadu (83 cr), Gujarat (66 cr), Delhi (55 cr), West Bengal (53 cr), Bihar (51 cr), Madhya Pradesh (50 cr), Rajasthan (50 cr) and Karnataka (34 cr).

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals on Saturday announced the launch of antiviral drug Favipiravir (brand name FabiFlu®) for the treatment of mild to moderate Covid-19 patients.

Image Source:https:live.staticflickr.com

Glenmark has received manufacturing and marketing approval from India’s drug regulator, making FabiFlu® the first oral Favipiravir-approved medication in India for the treatment of Covid-19, officials said at a press conference organised online.

Favipiravir is backed by strong clinical evidence showing encouraging results in patients with mild to moderate Covid-19.

The antiviral offers broad spectrum RNA virus coverage with clinical improvement noted across age groups 20 to >90 years. Favipiravir can be used in Covid-19 patients with co-morbid conditions such as diabetes and heart disease with mild to moderate Covid-19 symptoms. It offers rapid reduction in viral load within four days and provides faster symptomatic and radiological improvement.

Of most importance, Favipiravir has shown clinical improvement of up to 88 per cent in mild to moderate Covid-19 cases, an official statement said.

Glenn Saldanha, Chairman and Managing Director of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd, said FabiFlu® has demonstrated an encouraging response in mild to moderate Covid-19 patients during clinical trials.