Boris Johnson resigns as United Kingdom Prime Minister
United Kingdom Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has announced his resignation as Conservative Party leader after he was abandoned by his close allies in the wake of a series of scandals that rocked his government, triggering a leadership election for a new Tory leader who will go on to become his successor. Johnson will remain in charge at 10 Downing Street until the process of electing a new leader is completed – expected by the time of the Conservative Party conference scheduled for October.
Why is Boris Johnson resigning?
Johnson’s resignation comes after he weathered numerous scandals during a tumultuous three years in power in which he brazenly bent and sometimes broke the rules of British politics. He survived a no-confidence vote last month. But recent revelations that Johnson knew about sexual misconduct allegations against a lawmaker before he promoted the man to a senior position in his government led to Johnson’s resignation.
Who could become the next Prime Minister?
Already the list of likely contenders is long and growing, from recently resigned Treasury chief Rishi Sunak, his successor in that job Nadhim Zahawi, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Attorney General Suella Braverman and Defense Secretary Ben Wallace.
India’s undernourished population drops to 224.3 million as per UN report
India’s population of 224.3 million undernourished people has decreased over the past 15 years according to the UN report. However, the number of obese adults and anaemic women has increased in the world’s second-most populous nation. According to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022 report, which was released by the World Health Organization (WHO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), UNICEF, World Food Programme (WFP), and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 828 million people worldwide were suffering from hunger in 2021, up about 46 million from 2020 and 150 million since the COVID-19 pandemic’s outbreak.
KEY POINTS:
There were 224.3 million undernourished persons in India in 2019–21, down from 247.8 million in 2004–06.
The number of stunted children under the age of five decreased from 52.3 million in 2012 to 36.1 million in 2020 and the number of overweight children under the age of five decreased from three million to 2.2 million in 2020.
However, India, which has a population of over 1.38 billion, saw an increase in the number of obese adults from 25.2 million in 2012 to 34.3 million in 2016, and an increase in the number of women with anaemia between the ages of 15 and 49 from 171.5 million in 2012 to 187.3 million in 2019.
From 11.2 million in 2012 to 14 million in 2020, exclusively breastfed infants up to the age of five months.
Important highlights about India as per the Report:
In India, the prevalence of stunting in children under the age of five decreased from 41.7 percent in 2012 to 30.9 percent in 2020, and the prevalence of overweight children under the age of five decreased from 2.4 percent in 2012 to 1.9 percent in 2020. In percentage terms, the prevalence of undernourishment in the country’s entire population stood at 21.6 percent in 2004-06 and fell to 16.3 percent in 2019-21.
The percentage of obese adults in India climbed from 3.1 to 3.9 percent in 2016, whereas the percentage of anaemic women aged 15 to 49 decreased somewhat from 53.2 to 53 percent in that same year.
According to the report, 973.3 million Indians, or roughly 70.5 percent of the population, were unable to afford a nutritious meal in 2020, up from 948.6 million in 2019. (69.4 percent ).
In India, there were 966.6 million people who could not afford to eat a nutritious diet in 2018, down from almost a billion in 2017.
The Targeted Public Distribution System for grains in India and the Food Assistance Programme based on Electronic Vouchers for Rice in Indonesia both offer significant subsidies to ultimate consumers.
Farmers have consistently experienced pricing disincentives (negative NRPs).
In order to make up for the price disincentives caused by trade and market measures and to increase production and self-sufficiency in the nation, input subsidies and expenditure on general services, such as infrastructure and R&D, have been frequently utilised.
The proportion of individuals who experience hunger increased in 2020 and continued to rise in 2021, reaching 9.8 percent of the global population after having remained largely steady since 2015, according to the research. In comparison, the numbers for 2019 and 2020 are 8% and 9.3%, respectively.
Factors responsible as per the Report:
Ukraine and Russia produced nearly a third of the world’s wheat, barley, and half of its sunflower oil. Russia and its ally Belarus are the Nos. 2 and 3 producers of potash, a vital component of fertiliser, respectively.
There were 2.3 billion people who had moderate to severe problems getting enough food in 2021. This was before the Ukraine war, which has led to increases in the price of grain, fertiliser, and energy.
A whopping 924 million people, or 11.7% of the world’s population, experienced acute food insecurity, an increase of 207 million in just two years.
In 2021, the gender gap in food insecurity widened, with 31.9% of women worldwide experiencing moderate to severe food insecurity compared to 27.6% of males, a difference of more than 4 percentage points from the previous year.
In 2020, 3.1 billion individuals, an increase of 112 million from 2019, were unable to afford a nutritious diet due to rising consumer food prices brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and the containment measures that were implemented.
Worst form of malnutrition, wasting, which ups a child’s risk of death by up to 12 times, affects an estimated 45 million children under the age of five.
A chronic shortage of vital nutrients in their diets also resulted in stunted growth and development among 149 million children under the age of five, and 39 million of them were overweight.
Conflict, extreme weather, and economic shocks, which are the three main causes of food insecurity and malnutrition, are constantly highlighted in this report.
MoD gives approval to HDFC, ICICI, and Axis to offer finances for international purchases
The Defence ministry gave three private sector banks permission to offer financial support to it for the purchase of military equipment abroad. These banks include ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, and HDFC Bank Ltd. For services like the issuance of letters of credit and direct bank transfers to the ministry for overseas purchase, only authorised public sector banks have been used up until now.
KEY POINTS:
The ministry has allotted three private sector banks to supply the LoC and direct bank transfer business for foreign procurement in accordance with the Department of Financial Services‘ further openness of the distribution of government business to private sector banks.
For a period of one year, concurrent LC business in the amount of Rs 2,000 crore may be assigned to the chosen banks on both the capital and revenue sides (Rs 666 crore for each bank under both capital as well as Revenue)
Regular monitoring of these banks’ performance will allow for the necessary follow-up action to be taken as needed.
To conduct fieldwork of inflation anticipation survey, RBI chooses Hansa Research Group
In order to undertake field research for the July 2022 cycle of the consumer confidence and inflation anticipation surveys, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced that it had chosen to partner with the Mumbai-based Hansa Research Group. It is now known that M/s Hansa Research Group Pvt.Ltd., Mumbai has been hired to conduct field work for the July 2022 round of the two surveys on behalf of the Reserve Bank of India, the RBI said in a statement. This follows press releases announcing the launch of the consumer confidence survey (CCS) and inflation expectation survey of households (IESH), both dated June 30, 2022.
KEY POINTS:
The Inflation Expectations Survey of Households (IESH) has been regularly conducted by the Reserve Bank of India.
The survey aims to gather subjective opinions from households in 19 cities, including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Patna, Raipur, Ranchi, and Thiruvananthapuram, about price changes and inflation based on their individual consumption baskets.
The survey asks for qualitative responses from households regarding price changes (general prices as well as prices of particular product groups) in the three-month and one-year futures as well as quantitative responses regarding inflation rates for the present, the next three months, and the next year. The survey’s findings offer helpful information for monetary policy.
With regard to their opinions on the state of the economy as a whole, the job situation, the price level, and their own household income and spending, households are asked to provide detailed comments in the Consumer Confidence Survey. Regular surveys are done in 19 cities.
Gita Gopinath becomes 1st woman to feature on IMF’s ‘wall of former chief economists’
India-born Gita Gopinath became the first woman and second Indian to feature on the ‘wall of former chief economists’ of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The first Indian to achieve the honour was Raghuram Rajan who was Chief Economist and Director of Research of IMF between 2003 and 2006. Gopinath was appointed as IMF Chief Economist in October 2018 and was later promoted as the IMF’s First Deputy Managing Director in December last year.
Some interesting facts about Gita Gopinath:
Gopinath had served as the first female chief economist of the Washington-based global lender for three years.
Gopinath’s research has been published in many top economics journals. Prior to her appointment as IMF Chief
Economist, she was the John Zwaanstra Professor of International Studies and Economics in the economics department of Harvard University.
Before joining the faculty of Harvard University in 2005, she was an assistant professor of economics at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.
Amitabh Kant, former CEO of NITI Aayog, to serve as new G-20 Sherpa
The former CEO of Niti Aayog, Amitabh Kant, will take on the role of G-20 Sherpa. Piyush Goyal, a Union Minister, would be replaced by Kant because he is expected to resign owing to workload. Later this year, India will preside over the G-20. It should be highlighted that the nation requires a full-time G-20 Sherpa, which Goyal is unlikely to provide as he already holds a number of cabinet positions.
KEY POINTS:
The Sherpa would need to dedicate a lot of time to several meetings that will be held in various regions of the country because India will hold the G-20 presidency this year.
According to the source, Union Minister Piyush Goyal is responsible for a number of ministries in the Modi government, which takes up a lot of his time. The Minister is also charged with additional urgent tasks, much like the Rajya Sabha Leader.
Goyal has served as the nation’s G-20 Sherpa since September 7, 2021.
For about six years, Kant led the top Indian government think tank for public policy; his extended term concluded last month. Currently, Parameswaran Iyer serves as the CEO of Niti Aayog.
Goyal is a member of the cabinet and is responsible for a number of ministries, including those of commerce and industry, consumer affairs, and food and public distribution.
The G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (FMM) will get underway in Bali. The gathering will be viewed as a strategic forum to talk about international recovery initiatives. Ministers will debate enhancing multilateralism in the first session, while the food and energy crises will be tackled in the second session.
R Dinesh named the Confederation of Indian Industry’s new president
R Dinesh, Executive Vice-Chairman of TVS Supply Chain Solutions, has been chosen as the Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) President Designate for the years 2022–2023. He previously served as the Chairman of the National Committees on Logistics, the CII Family Business Network India Chapter Council, the CII Tamil Nadu State Council, and the CII Institute of Logistics Advisory Council. From 2018 to 2019, he served as the Chairman of the CII Southern Region.
Sanjiv Puri, Chairman and Managing Director of ITC, was elected as the Vice-President of CII at a meeting of the CII National Council held in Delhi. For 2022–2023, Sanjiv Bajaj, Chairman and Managing Director of Bajaj Finserv Ltd., will continue to serve as CII President.
About Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII):
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), an advocacy and trade association with its main office in New Delhi, India, was established in 1895. To influence the global, regional, and industrial agendas, CII works with business, governmental, intellectual, and other leaders of society. The organisation is based on membership.
Suranjan Das named as the new president of AIU
The Jadavpur University Vice-Chancellor, Suranjan Das was appointed as the president of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU). His tenure as president will be for one year from July 1. Das said he will take up the issue of executing the new education policy’s (NEP) salient features, raising central funding for state varsities involved in important research activities, and work on taking the standards of Indian universities to global levels. Das, an eminent historian, was appointed the vice-president of AIU a year ago.
About the Association of Indian Universities:
Association of Indian Universities is an organisation and association of major universities in India. It is based in Delhi. It evaluates the courses, syllabi, standards, and credits of foreign Universities pursued abroad and equates them in relation to various courses offered by Indian Universities.