- Supreme Court asks why SBI did not give all the details of poll bonds
- The Supreme Court asked the State Bank of India why it had not disclosed the unique alphanumeric numbers of individual electoral bonds to the Election Commission for publication.
- The Supreme Court had directed disclosure specifically of all the details of the electoral bonds including the date the amount and the names of purchasers.
- To protect the donor’s identity, the bond does not contain their name but a unique alphanumeric character.
2. Inflation is impacting personal consumption and hurting growth
- While February’s headline consumer price index based rating remained virtually unchanged from the preceding month at 5.09%, the pace of food price gains computed from the consumer food price index accelerated by 36 basis points to 8.66%.
- Vegetable prices continued to remain the biggest concern with the 3rd heaviest food category in the Food and beverages subgroup of the cpi registering 30.3% inflation year on year.
- Govts supply side measures including a three month old ban on export of onions has had little impact on cooling prices of these politically sensitive food inputs.
- Consumer Price Index measures price changes from the perspective of a retail buyer. It is released by the National Statistical Office (NSO). The CPI calculates the difference in the price of commodities and services such as food, medical care, education, electronics etc, which Indian consumers buy for use.
3. Railways plans to develop multimodal transport hubs
- The Indian Railways will create mega railway terminals with multimodal connectivity in aspirational cities with a population of more than 10 lakh across the country.
- The programme is a part of the infrastructure being developed for Viksit Bharat Initiative.
- The ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’ agenda is a comprehensive vision plan by the Government of India, aiming to transform India into a developed nation by the year 2047, marking the 100th anniversary of its independence. The four pillars of Viksit Bharat are Yuva (Youth), Garib (Poor), Mahila (Women) and Kisan (Framers).
4. Army raises first unit to operate Apache Attack helicopters in Jodhpur
- The Indian Army aviation corps raised its first unit at Jodhpur that will operate the AH64E Apache Attack helicopters.
- Army will receive the first batch of three Apache in May and another 3 in July.
- India signed a deal with Boeing for six more apaches for the army at a cost of around $100 million in February 2020.
- AH-64E Apache is the world’s most advanced multi[1]role combat helicopter, Originated in the United States. It is designed and equipped with an open systems architecture to incorporate the latest communications, navigation, sensor, and weapon systems.
5. Exports hit 11 month high in February but gold pushed imports to $60 billion
- India’s merchandise exports grew 11.87% in February to hit an 11 month high of $41.4 billion.
- However, imports surged at a faster pace of 12.2% to hit $60.11 billion due to sharp spike in gold imports.
- February marks only the 5th occasion that India’s good export has registered positive growth in the present financial year.
- International merchandise trade statistics record all goods which add to, or subtract from, the stock of material resources of a country by entering (as imports) or leaving (as exports) its economic territory.
