DAILY NEWS SERIES 1

Daily dose of current affairs are:

• The Reserve Bank relaxed the leverage ratio (A leverage ratio is financial measurements that look at how much capital comes in the form of debt (loans) or assesses) (LR) to 4% for Domestic Systemically Important Banks (DSIBs) and 3.5% for other banks. This has been done to help them boost their lending activities. The reduced leverage ratio will be effective from the quarter commencing October 1, 2019. The leverage ratio, as defined under Basel-III norms, is Tier-I capital as a percentage of the bank's exposures

• India born Priya Serrao has won the Miss Universe Australia title for 2019. Serrao edged past 26 other women from across the country in Melbourne to win the title on 27 June. She will now represent Australia in the Miss Universe Australia 2019. Australian-Ugandan Bella Kasimba was announced the first runner-up in the finale. She is a law graduate who currently works in Department of Jobs, Precincts and regions in Melbourne.

• As per Mercer's 25th Annual Cost of Living Survey which was conducted in March 2019, Mumbai was considered as India's most expensive city. It was included in the list of top 20 most-expensive cities in Asia for expatriates as its residential housing prices were the highest in the world. Indian Cities: Mumbai fell 12 spots and was ranked 67th position. New Delhi stood at 118th place, Chennai was ranked 154th position, Bengaluru at 179th position and Kolkata at 189th place.

• The Union Government has constituted an 18-member working group for the revision of the current series of Wholesale Price Index (WPI) under Chairmanship of Prof. Ramesh Chand, Member of NITI Aayog. The revision of the base year would help in presenting a more realistic picture of the price situation and its impact on people. The Office of Economic Adviser, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade will be the nodal office for the Working Group and will process the report and recommendation of the Group for further necessary action. The current series of WPI with 2011-12 as the base year was introduced in May 2017. Since 2011-12, significant structural changes have taken place in the economy. Therefore, it has become necessary to examine the coverage of commodities, weighting diagram and related issues pertaining to the existing series of index numbers of Wholesale Price Index.

• The Department of Higher Education of HRD Ministry has finalized and released a five year vision plan named Education Quality Upgradation and Inclusion Programme. It consists of Double the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education and resolve the geographically and socially skewed access to higher education institutions in India. Upgrade the quality of education to global standards. Position at least 50 Indian institutions among the top 1000 global universities. Introduce governance reforms in higher education for well-administered campuses. Accreditation of all institutions as an assurance of quality.

• The Prof. C.R. Rao Award 2019 was conferred to Dr. Subhra Sankar Dhar, Associate Professor, IIT (Indian Institute of Technology), Kanpur for his contribution in the field of Statistics. It launched the revamped portal of Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS), SDG (Sustainable Development Goal) Dashboard, Baseline Report on SDGs and Study report on Revamping Project Management Practices conducted by Project Management Institute (PMI).MoSPI will institutionalize Prof. P.C. Mahalanobis National Award in Official Statistics to recognize and honour the outstanding contribution and meritorious work of Official Statisticians working in the Central Government, State Governments and their Institutions.

• Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal stated that a Standing Group of Secretaries (GoS) has been constituted for ensuring inter-ministerial coordination on resolving issues related to e-commerce.Chairman: The committee formed under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ramesh Abhishek.

• Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri announced that 81,03,196 houses were approved under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) scheme. 47,57,987 houses are at stages of construction and 26,07,913 houses were completed or occupied.Central Assistance of Rs. 51,113 crores was released under the PMAY (Urban) and the assistance was met through Budgetary Resources as well as Extra Budgetary Resources (EBR).