DAILY C.A 23 MAY 2020

DAILY   C.A 23 MAY 2020

1. 1 CRORE TREATMENTS PROVIDED UNDER AB-PMJAY

·        Harsh Vardhan to mark 1 crore treatments(milestone) of the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana(AB-PMJAY), the flagship health assurance scheme of government since September 2018 has inaugurated the 1st edition of Arogya Dhara, a series of webinars titled “Ayushman Bharat: 1 crore treatments and beyond” which is created as an open platform for discussion on topical issues of public health and launched ‘Ask Ayushman’ a chatbot on WhatsApp & “Hospital Ranking Dashboard”.

·        Minister of State(HFW), Ashwini Kumar Choubey was present during the webinar.

·        Apart from this, he released a “Special edition of the AB-PMJAY beneficiary electronic(e)-card” exhibiting the milestone of 1 crore hospital admissions

·        Launched “Hindi version of the AB-PMJAY website” to enable effective connection with the masses and to empower them with access to right information through a user-friendly medium.

·        The treatments worth Rs 13,412 crore have been provided through a growing network of 21,565 public and private empanelled hospitals.

·        The National Health Authority(NHA) is responsible for implementing the scheme.

2. BAN GLOBAL TENDER FOR PROCUREMENT UP TO RS 200 CRORES

·        Government has notified the amendments to the General Financial Rules(GFR) 2017 to ensure that goods and services valued less than Rs 200 crores are procured from domestic firms, which states that the global tenders will be banned for government procurement upto 200 crores as announced in the AatmanirbharBharat Package.

·        This move will boost domestic suppliers, particularly Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises(MSMEs).

3. KHADI MASKS TO EXPORT IN FOREIGN MARKETS

·        As the Ministry of Commerce and Industries lifted the ban on export of non-medical/ non-surgical masks of all types, now Khadi and village industries commission (KVIC) is looking at exporting Khadi face masks to countries like the USA, Dubai, Mauritius, several European and Middle East countries through the Indian embassies.

·        In this regard, KVIC has already developed double layered cotton masks and triple-layered silk face masks.

·        If this came to effect then it will be a perfect example of “local the global”, a call in wake of AtmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyan .

4. CABINET APPROVES EXTENSION OF PMVVY TILL 2023

·        Union Cabinet has approved the extension of the Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana (PMVVY) for further 3 years till March 31, 2023 from March 31, 2020.

·        The assured rate of return for fiscal 2020-21 has been pegged at 4% per annum. Earlier, the scheme offered an assured return of 8%.

·        PMVVY scheme, implemented through the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), gives a guaranteed payout of pension at a specified rate for 10 years to senior citizens (60 years and above) based on an assured return on the purchase price or subscription amount.

·        It also offers a death benefit in the form of return of purchase price to the nominee.

5. MONETARY POLICY STATEMENT 2020-21 RELEASED BY RBI

·        The three-day (May 20 to 22,2020) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) virtual meeting by the 6 members was headed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das with the members Dr. Pami Dua, Dr. Ravindra H. Dholakia, Dr. Janak Raj, Dr. Michael Debabrata Patra and Dr. Chetan Ghate.

·        All members of the MPC unanimously voted to reduce the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) to 4.0 % to continue with the accommodative stance as long as it is necessary to revive growth and mitigate the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19 on the economy.

Policy rate	New Rate	Previous Rate	Change in Basis points (bps)
Policy Repo Rate	4.0%	4.40 %	40
Reverse Repo Rate	3.35%	3.75%	40
Marginal Standing Facility Rate	4.25%	4.65%	40
Bank Rate	4.25%	4.65%	40
Cash reserve Ratio (CRR)	3%	3%	No change
Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR)	18.00%	18.25%	25

·        India’s 2020-21 GDP growth rate expected to be negative: RBI Governor

6. IRDAI APPROVES UNION BANK 30% HOLDING IN INDIA FIRST LIFE INSURANCE 

·        Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India(IRDAI) has approved the proposal of the state owned lender Union Bank of India-UBI(which holds 25.1% stake in Star Union Dai-Chi Life) to continue with its 30% holding in IndiaFirst Life Insurance.

·        The holding is with condition that- the lender will not exercise management or any control over the insurer’s management & in appointing separate directors on the board or IndiaFirst and Star Union Dai-Chi and in case of any conflict in the decision will be taken up with the Reserve Bank of India(competent authority)

7. KKR BUYS 2.32% IN JIO PLATFORMS FOR RS 11,367 CRORES

·        Reliance Industries Limited(RIL) announced the sale of a 2.32 % stake in its digital unit, Jio Platforms to US private equity giant KKR for Rs 11,367 crores, which is the 5th deal of Jio since 22 April that will inject Rs 78,562 crores in RIL to cut debt.

Previous deals by Jio

Date	Name of the Company	Stake %	Amount in crores
April 22	Facebook	9.99%	Rs 43,574
May 4	Silver Lake	1.15%	Rs 5,665.75
May 8	Vista Equity Partners	2.32%	Rs 11,367
May 17	General Atlantic	1.34%	Rs 6,598.38

8. INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY 2020-MAY 22

·        Theme for the year 2020: Our solutions are in nature.