Govt. To Celebrate 2 Years Of GST On July 1st:

• Government of India organized an event on July 1 to celebrate the second anniversary of Goods and Services Tax (GST). 
• The event will be addressed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The event will be held in Ambedkar Bhawan.
• The event will be attended by senior officers of the central and state tax authorities. The two years presentation of GST and the road ahead for the indirect tax regime will be published.
• The pilot of new return filing replaces the current system of GSTR-3B (summary returns) and GSTR-1 (supplies return) launched on July 1, 2019. 
• The generation of e-way bill for transporting goods over Rs 50,000.

No charges on NEFT, RTGS money transfers from 1 July:

As per Second Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement for 2019-20, the Reserve Bank of India will stop imposing additional charges on Fund transfer through RTGS and NEFT systems from 1st July, 2019. 

This has been done to provide an impetus to digital funds movement.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB NTPC/IBPS RRB Mains:

RBI 25th Governor: Shaktikant Das, Headquarters: Mumbai, Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata.

The real time gross settlement (RTGS) system is meant for large value instantaneous fund transfers and the national electronic funds transfer (NEFT) system is used for fund transfers of up to Rs 2 lakh.

Union Budget 2019-20 & Economic Survey 2019:

Union Budget 2019-20 has finally been presented, washing away all the uncertainties and assumptions. This first maiden budget of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman comes out to be an ambitious one, aiming to fulfill the dreams of Modi 2.0 Government to take India’s economy to USD 5 billion by 2024. The budget 2019 offers incentives for startups and MSMEs, re-initiates disinvestment of Air India, strengthens NBFCs, eases the tax compliance norms, prioritises empowerment of rural India and women and focuses on infrastructural development including roads, railways, waterways and airways.

Union Budget 2019: New schemes announced by Finance Minister:

While presenting Union Budget 2019 Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced various new schemes in her maiden budget. Emphasizing on rural India various new schemes for the benefit of the public were announced.

Pradhan Mantri Karam Yogi Maandhan Scheme:

Pension benefits to about three crore retail traders and small shopkeepers with annual turnover less than Rs. 1.5 crore were announced under this scheme. Enrolment to be kept simple, requiring only Aadhaar, bank account and a self declaration. Apart from that, among other measures related to the MSMEs, Rs. 350 crore allocated for FY 2019-20 for 2% interest subvention (on fresh or incremental loans) to all GST-registered MSMEs, under the Interest Subvention Scheme for MSMEs.

Jal Jeevan Mission:

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that New Jal Shakti Mantralaya is set up to look at the management of our water resources and water supply in an integrated and holistic manner. Under this ministry, Jal Jeevan Mission to achieve Har Ghar Jal (piped water supply) to all rural households by 2024. Its objective will be focus on integrated demand and supply side management of water at the local level. She also informed that 1592 critical and over exploited Blocks spread across 256 District being identified for the Jal Shakti Abhiyan.

New National Education Policy:

Budget 2019 speech of Nirmala Sitharaman explained that a new National Education Policy (NEP) to be brought which proposes major changes in school and higher education, better governance system and greater focus on research and innovation.

National Research Foundation (NRF):

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed National Research Foundation (NRF) to fund, coordinate and promote research in the country. It will also help to assimilate independent research grants given by various Ministries. NRF would help to strengthen overall research eco-system in the country and this would be adequately supplemented with additional funds.

As per ILO, India could lose 34 million jobs in 2030 due to global warming:

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) in its report ‘Working on a Warmer Planet: The Impact of Heat Stress on Labour Productivity and Decent Work’, stated that India is projected to lose 5.8% of working hours in 2030 equivalent to 34 million full-time jobs due to global warming. It will mainly impact the agriculture and construction sectors.

Key Points:

• The estimates were based on a global temperature rise of 1.5 degree Celsius by the end of the twenty-first century, and labour force trends.
• The global financial loss due to heat stress was expected to reach $2,400 billion by 2030.
• Globally, in 2030, 2.2% of total working hours will be lost to high temperatures which is a productivity loss equivalent to 80 million full-time jobs.
• India will be the most affected country because of its large population.
• The report also noted that Ahmedabad, a city in Gujarat, incorporated a cool roofs initiative into its 2017 Heat Action Plan to provide access to affordable cool roofs for the slum residents and urban poor.
• Other sectors which are at risk include refuse collection, emergency services, transport, tourism, and sports, with southern Asian and western African States suffering the biggest productivity losses, equivalent to approximately 5% of working hours by 2030.

USISPF honors Wipro Chairman Azim Premji & Mastercard CEO and President Ajay Banga with Global Excellence Award 2019:

• Indian multinational corporation Wipro`s Chairman, Azim Premji, and Global Financial services company Mastercard`s CEO and President, Ajaypal Singh Banga chosen for 2019 Global Excellence Award. 
• The award will be given by LIS-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF)for their contribution to strengthening economic ties between the US and India. 
• The awards will be given at the USISPF Second Annual Leadership Summit in Washington on July 11, 2019.  
• US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, LIS Energy Secretary Rick Perry, LIS House of Representative Speaker Nancy Pelosi, US Senator Dan Sullivan, a Republic from Arkansas and Indian Ambassador to the US Harsh Shringla attend the leadership summit. 
• The aim is to highlight bilateral cooperation, trade, and investment, strategic energy ties, manufacturing, and innovation partnership of two countries.  

About Wipro: 

CEO: Abidali Neemuchwala  Founder: M.H. Hasham Premji  Headquarters: Bengaluru  About USISPF The U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) is the most powerful strategic partnership between the U.S. and India. The U.S. and India work closely together with business and government leaders. Their main aim is to achieve our goals of driving economic growth, job creation, innovation, inclusion, and entrepreneurship.

Economic Survey for 2018-19 predicted a 7 percent GDP growth for financial year 2019-20:

• Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Economic Survey for 2018-19 in the Parliament on 5 July. 
• The survey predicted a 7% GDP growth for financial year 2019-20 as compared to 6.8% in 2018-19. 
• The Economic Survey was prepared by Chief Economic Advisor KV Subramanian. 
• In the Second term of the NDA govt. 
• PM Modi laid a goal to bring Indian economy to a $5 trillion economy by 2024-25. 
• According to the Economic Survey, India needs to sustain a real GDP growth rate of 8%.  
• The report also said that India continued to remain the fastest-growing major economy in the world in 2018-19, despite a slight moderation in gross domestic product (GDP) growth from 7.2% in 2017-18 to 6.8% in 2018-19.