Maharashtra announces financial aid for tur farmers

  • The Maharashtra government will provide Rs.1,000 per quintal to farmers whose tur and gram is not purchased by the administration before May 31.
  • The state government had set up tur procurement target of 44.6 lakh quintals.
  • The government started purchasing tur from farmers, offering them guaranteed rates following a bumper tur crop.
  • CM Devendra Fadnavis said that the government has set Rs.160 crore as financial aid to farmers whose crops were damaged due to unseasonal rains or hailstorms.

RBI hikes repo rate by 25 bps to 6.25% in second bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement

  • The RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has increased the policy Repo Rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) by 25 basis points to 6.25%.
  • The reverse repo rate under the LAF stands adjusted to 6.0%, and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate to 6.50%.
  • The MPC stated that the GDP growth rate for 2018-19 is retained at 7.4%.

MK Jain appointed RBI Deputy Governor

  • The Centre has appointed MK Jain, who is Managing Director and CEO of IDBI Bank, as the RBI’s Deputy Governor.
  • The position of RBI Deputy Governor has been vacant since August 2017 after SS Mundra retired.
  • The central bank now has four serving RBI Deputy Governors. The other three are: NS Vishwanathan, Viral V. Acharya and BP Kanungo.
  • MK Jain has been appointed for a term of three years.

Madhya Pradesh government announces outstanding power bill waiver scheme

  • The Madhya Pradesh government has announced a power bill waiver scheme for labourers and those who live below the poverty line.
  • The state cabinet approved 2 bills – the Bijli Bill Mafi Yojana 2018 (Power Bill Waiver Scheme), and the Mukhyamantri Jan Kalyan (Sambal) Yojana 2018.
  • The scheme is expected to benefit 77 lakh people in the state.
  • Under the scheme, labourers who fall under the unorganised sector in Madhya Pradesh and Below Poverty Line (BPL) families will get power supply at a subsidised rate.

Global economy is healthy but growth will slow: World Bank

  • World Bank predicts that global growth will slow down slightly from a 3.1% this year to 3% in 2019 and to 2.9% in 2020.
  • The organisation says that the steadily expanding global economy is expected to remain resilient, at least for a few years.
  • It predicts that that US economy will grow 2.7% in 2018, aided by tax cuts, before slowing to 2.5% next year and to 2% in 2020.
  • Meanwhile, China’s growth is projected at 6.5% this year, 6.3% in 2019 and 6.2% in 2020.s

Polythene set for complete prohibition from 31st July in Uttarakhand

  • In Uttarakhand, Polythene will be completely prohibited from 31st July.
  • All polythene vendors will have to get rid of their polyethylene stock before 31st July.
  • Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu, Nagaland, Maharashtra and Jharkhand have announced the aim to become plastic-free states.