DAILY GK 18-19 AUG 2025
1.
RBI APPOINTS INDRANIL BHATTACHARYYA AS EX-OFFICIO MEMBER OF
MPC
·
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s
Central Board of Directors, during its 618th
meeting in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (UP), approved the nomination of Indranil
Bhattacharyya, Executive Director (ED) of RBI, as some ex-officio
member of the Monetary
Policy Committee (MPC).
·
The meeting was chaired by Sanjay Malhotra, 25th Governor of RBI.
·
Indranil Bhattacharyya succeeds Rajiv
Ranjan, who was shifted to lead the Department of Economic &
Policy Research (DEPR).
·
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) Constituted
under the RBI Act, 1934.
·
Responsible
for setting benchmark policy interest rates to
control inflation and support growth.
·
Structure:
6 members – 3 RBI nominees and 3 external experts.
2.
PCI CHAIRPERSON
·
The
Payments Council of India (PCI) approved
the re-appointment of Vishwas Patel, Joint
Managing Director of Infibeam Avenues Limited, as Chairperson for
the 2025–2027 term.
·
M N Srinivasu and Nalin
Bansal are appointed as Co-Chairpersons for
the same period.
·
PCI is a body representing non-banking companies in India’s digital
payments ecosystem and was formed under the aegis of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).
·
Headquarters – Mumbai,
Maharashtra.
·
Established – 2013.
3.
PRESIDENT OF THE BFI
·
Ajay Singh, Managing Director
(MD) of Spice Jet Airlines, was re-elected as President of
the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) for a third
consecutive term.
·
He secured 40 votes against Olympian
Jaslal Pradhan’s 26 votes in the elections held in Gurugram, Haryana.
·
Pramod Kumar of Uttar Pradesh
(UP) was elected as the new secretary general.
4.
CEO OF FSSAI
·
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC),
headed by Prime Minister(PM) Narendra Modi, approved the appointment of Rajit Punhani,
a 1991 batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre, as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of
the Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
·
Food Safety and Standards Authority of
India (FSSAI) is an autonomous statutory
body established under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (FSS Act).
·
Ministry
of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India is the
administrative Ministry of FSSAI.
·
Headquarters:
Delhi.
5.
INCOME-TAX
(NO. 2) BILL, 2025:
·
On
August 11, 2025, the Lok Sabha approved the Income‑Tax (No. 2) Bill, 2025,
setting in motion the most sweeping overhaul
of India’s direct tax law in more than six decades.
·
The SIMPLE framework is a structural foundation of the
new law, intended to guide interpretation, administration, and future
amendments.
·
S — Streamlined: Cuts the volume from 800+ sections to 536, arranged
into 23 chapters and 16 schedules. Plain‑language drafting reduces dependence
on dense legalese.
·
I — Integrated: Consolidates related rules to avoid duplication and
scattered cross‑references; improves on‑screen form design for e‑filing.
·
M — Minimized Litigation: Clarifies procedures and threshold conditions
to narrow interpretational gaps that commonly led to disputes.
·
P — Practical: Aligns compliance steps with realistic taxpayer
capacity, especially for sole proprietors, small firms, and professionals.
·
L — Learn & Adapt: Structures the code for incremental updates so
emerging income streams can be accommodated without disruptive rewrites.
·
E — Efficient: Extends faceless, digital‑first administration to speed
up assessments and refunds while reducing in‑person interface.
6.
OPERATION
MAHADEV
·
The Indian Army, in coordination with the CRPF and
Jammu and Kashmir Police, launched a high-intensity
counter-terrorism mission codenamed Operation Mahadev in the Dara region near Dachigam National Park, Jammu and
Kashmir.
·
This anti-terror drive is also linked
to ongoing efforts
to track down perpetrators of the April
22 Pahalgam attack, which claimed 26 lives.
·
The operation was a joint effort
involving the Indian
Army (Chinar Corps), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Jammu & Kashmir
Police.
7.
FAITH UNVEILED ‘TOURISM VISION 2047’
·
The Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH), apex body of travel and hospitality
industry in India, has unveiled its ‘Tourism Vision 2047’, a
roadmap designed to boost India’s tourism economy to USD 3
trillion by 2047.
·
It was unveiled at its FAITH Conclave 2025 held under the theme ‘Indian
Tourism-Invincible Spirit’, in New Delhi
·
The newly unveiled roadmap also aims to attract 100 million inbound tourists,
generate 20 billion domestic visits, 200 million tourism-related jobs and USD
400 billion in forex earnings.
·
The primary objective of the roadmap is to double the tourism sector’s share of
India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), from existing 5% to
10% over the next 20 years (by 2047).
·
Position India among the top five countries in the World Economic Forum’s Travel
& Tourism Development Index.
·
The roadmap is based on the 4 main pillars: Policy Reforms,
International and Domestic Marketing, Infrastructure Development and
Sustainability.
8.
PRADHAN MANTRI VIKSIT
BHARAT ROZGAR YOJANA PORTAL
·
The Government of India (GoI) launched
a dedicated online portal for the
Pradhan Mantri Viksit Bharat Rozgar Yojana (PM-VBRY), an
Employment-Linked Incentive (ELI)
scheme.
·
PM Narendra Modi announced the launch of
scheme during his address to the nation on the occasion of 79th Independence
Day (On August 15, 2025) celebrations at Red Fort, New Delhi.
·
PM-VBRY is a Central Sector Scheme (CSS)
aims to boost employment generation, improve employability and social security,
across all sectors, with primary focus on the manufacturing sector.
·
The scheme is expected to generate over
3.5 crore new jobs, including 1.92 crore 1st –time employees,
over a period of 2 years (starting from August 01, 2025 to July 31, 2027).
·
The Ministry of Labour &
Employment (MoL&E) will implement
the scheme through Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).
9.
UIDAI PARTNERS
WITH STARLINK FOR AADHAAR-BASED CUSTOMER VERIFICATION
·
The Unique Identification Authority of
India (UIDAI) works under the Ministry of
Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has collaborated with American satellite internet
provider, Starlink Satellite Communication
Private Limited, to enable Aadhaar-based
customer verification which will make the entire process smooth, secure and
very easy.
10.
NEW GST SLABS PROPOSAL
·
The
Group of Ministers (GoM) on
Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate
rationalisation, headed by Samrat Choudhary, Deputy
Chief Ministe r(DyCM) of Bihar, accepted the Government of India (GoI)’s
proposal to reduce the current four-slab structure to two-slab
structure i.e. 5% and 18%.
·
The six member GoM includes Uttar Pradesh
(UP) Finance Ministers (FM) Suresh Kumar Khanna, Rajasthan Health Minister
(HM) Gajendra Singh, West Bengal (WB) FM Chandrima Bhattacharya,
Karnataka Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, and Kerala FM K N Balagopal.
·
The existing four-rate GST structure
of 5%, 12%, 18%, and 28% is proposed to be replaced
with a simplified two-rate system, 5% for merit
goods and 18% for standard items.
·
The panel proposed that 40% GST slab has been earmarked for sin and luxury goods under the new GST framework.
11.
TRIBAL GRASSROOTS
LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME ‘ADI KARMAYOGI ABHIYAN’
·
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) launched
the “Adi Karmayogi Abhiyan”, envisaged as the world’s largest tribal grassroots
leadership programme, with an aim to empower tribal communities, strengthen
responsive governance, and create local leadership across India.
·
This initiative forms a key part of
the Janjatiya Gaurav Varsh and contributes
towards the vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047.
·
The Adi Karmayogi Abhiyan is envisaged as
a nationwide movement to build a structured cadre of 20 lakh tribal change leaders across 1 lakh tribal villages, 550
districts, and 30 States and Union Territories (UTs).
·
It builds upon the
successful implementation of flagship
schemes, including DhartiAaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan (DA-JGUA), Pradhan
MantriJanjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PM JANMAN), and
National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission (NSCEM).
12.
I-T BILL 2025 GETS PRESIDENTIAL ASSENT
·
The President Droupadi
Murmu has given approval to the
Income-Tax Act (I-T Act), 2025 and the same was notified by the Ministry of
Law and Justice (MoLJ) through a gazette notification.
·
The new law will come into effect
from April 01, 2026.
·
The new law will replace the decades old I–T Act,
1961, with a modern and simpler version to enhance ease of
compliance.
·
The new
act does not impose any new tax rate and removes redundant provisions.
·
Total
word count has been brought down from 5.12 lakh to 2.6 lakh.
·
For the first time, the Act introduces 39 new tables and 40 new
formulas for clarity and ease of reference.
·
A major change in the I-T Act, 2025 is the renaming of the Assessment Year (AY)
and Financial Year (FY) to ‘Tax
Year’, to avoid confusions.
