ADB retains India growth forecast at 7.3%

The Asian Development Bank said on December 12 that it has retained its India growth forecast at 7.3 per cent for the current fiscal and 7.6 per cent in the following year. India is maintaining growth momentum on rebounding exports and higher industrial and agricultural output, the ADB said in its Outlook Supplement. “India saw GDP growth moderate to 7.1 per cent in Q2 of FY2018 from 8.2 per cent in Q1, for 7.6 per cent growth in the first half,” it said. The slowdown came mainly from weak food prices, dampening rural consumption, higher oil prices delivering a negative shock in the terms of trade, and rising costs for raw materials.

Consensus-builder is new RBI governor

The Centre appointed former economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das as the new RBI governor, a day after Urjit Patel’s shocking resignation citing “personal reasons”. Das, a strong defender of demonetisation, will take charge as the RBI’s 25th governor. Das, 61, a veteran Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer, will first have to work on normalising the relationship between the central bank and the government that had turned frosty in the past few months as the two differed on many issues. For a career bureaucrat who was equally at ease with three different finance ministers, the journey has often seen him adopting a non-confrontational approach and building consensus on tackling tricky issues.

TIME honours Khashoggi, three others

Journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul in October, and three other journalists were named TIME’s Person of the Year for “taking great risks in pursuit of greater truths”. TIME said it is recognising four journalists and one news organisation who have paid a terrible price to seize the challenge of this moment: Khashoggi, Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo and the Capital Gazette in the US, where five journalists were gunned down. “They are representative of a broader fight - as of December 10, at least 52 journalists have been murdered in 2018 - who risk all to tell the story of our time,” it said.

Navy inducts deep submergence rescue vehicle

The Indian Navy on December 12 inducted the Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV) into service at the Western Naval Command. The Navy successfully concluded maiden trials of the DSRV on October 15. The vehicle can rescue as many as 14 people in one dive. The DSRV carried out underwater mating with a bottomed submarine, at a depth of over 300 ft. On successful mating, the DSRV opened its hatches and the submarine hatches and carried out transfer of personnel from the submarine to the DSRV. During the trials, the DSRV also dived successfully up to 666 m, which is a record for deepest submergence by a ‘manned vessel’ in Indian waters.

GST evasion worth Rs 12,000 cr detected

The government has detected GST evasion worth Rs 12,000 crore in the eight months till November. Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) member John Joseph said despite the electronic way bill mechanism, there has been rampant evasion. Joseph, who looks after investigation in the CBIC, said almost Rs 8,000 crore worth GST evasion has been recovered. GST was introduced on July 1, 2017. Since it was a new tax, the government decided to go slow on enforcement in the initial months. Joseph said the new GST return forms will have a beta version initially, so that the industry has enough time to suggest what could be done to improve the quality of returns.

312 GI tags registered in past one year

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry registered 312 Geographical Indication (GI) tags - including Bangla rasgulla and Alphonso mango - in the past one year. A GI is an indication used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin. Such a name conveys an assurance of quality and distinctiveness, which is essentially attributable to its origin in that defined geographical locality. Darjeeling tea, Mahabaleshwar strawberry, Jaipur’s blue pottery, Banarasi sarees and Tirupati laddus are some of the GIs. A total of 325 products from India carry this indication. GI products can benefit the rural economy in remote areas by supplementing the incomes of artisans, farmers, weavers and craftsmen.

PM promises increased spending on health

India is set to increase its public health spending to 2.5 per cent of its GDP by 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said. Addressing the 2018 Partners’ Forum in New Delhi, Modi said the high out-of-pocket expenditure incurred by families to avail medical care worried his government and to address the issue, it launched the Ayushman Bharat Yojana, which offers health insurance cover to 500 million poor Indians and a plan to set up 1.5 lakh health and wellness centres by 2022. As of now, the country spends 1.15 per cent of the GDP on health. “This will mean an actual increase of 345 per cent over the current share, in just eight years,” he said.

Trade restrictive measures on the rise

World Trade Organisation members have applied as many as 137 new trade restrictive measures during the one-year period starting October 2017, a report said. “The report shows that 137 new trade-restrictive measures were put in place by members during the review period, including tariffs increases, quantitative restrictions, import taxes and export duties,” the WTO report said. This equates to an average of 11 new measures per month, which is higher compared to the average of nine recorded in the previous annual overview (mid-October 2016 to mid-October 2017). It said the trade coverage of import-restrictive measures ($588.3 billion) is more than seven times larger than that recorded in the previous annual overview.

Arctic’s record warming driving big change

Global warming is heating the Arctic at a record pace, driving broad environmental changes across the planet. Persistent heat records have rattled the fragile Arctic for each of the past five years, a record-long warming streak, said the 2018 Arctic Report Card, released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Arctic air temperatures for the past five years since 2014 “have exceeded all previous records since 1900”, when record-keeping began. During the latest period studied - October 2017 through September 2018 - annual average temperature in the Arctic was 1.7 Celsius higher than the 1981-2010 average.

Draft rules for online sale of drugs

The Union government has published draft rules over regulation of distribution and sale of drugs through e-pharmacies. “The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has published draft rules to amend Drugs and Cosmetics Rules regarding regulation of distribution or sale, stock, exhibit or offer for sale of drugs through e-pharmacy,” Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers Mansukh L. Mandaviya said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. As per these draft rules, the e-pharmacy shall mention various details on its e-pharmacy portal, including name of the registered pharmacist, with the registration number and name of pharmacy council where the pharmacist has been registered, the minister added.

Govt portal for subsidy on animal farming

Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh launched a portal (ensure.nabard.org) for subsidy payment of activities related to poultry, small ruminants, pigs etc. The portal, developed by Nabard and operated under the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries, is to make sure the subsidy is paid through Direct Benefit Transfer system and is credited to the beneficiary’s account. Singh said under the new process, controlling officer/branch manager of the bank, after scrutinising and sanctioning of proposal, uploads the subsidy claims in the portal. The subsidy will be approved within 30 days from the date of sanction of loan. The burden of extra interest due to delay in the disbursal of the subsidy would now be reduced, he added.

Mary Kom named ‘Meethoi Leima’

The Manipur government on December 11 felicitated world champion pugilist M.C. Mary Kom by conferring the title Meethoi Leima (ultimate lady) to honour her achievement in the sport. Chief Minister N. Biren Singh also handed over a cheque of Rs 10 lakh to her, besides naming the Imphal West DC Road (connecting the main city and the National Games Village at Langol) after her. In November, Mary Kom became the most successful boxer in the history of women’s world championships after winning the sixth gold medal with an unanimous result over Ukraine’s Hanna Okhota in New Delhi. She had also matched Cuban legend Felix Savon as the joint most successful boxer (men and women) in world championships.

Newsmaker

Comptroller and Auditor General Rajiv Mehrishi has become the vice-chair of the UN Panel of Auditors. The panel consists of external Auditors of the UN and its agencies.