The Daily Brief – 13th June 2019

The Union Cabinet has approved a Memorandum of Collaboration, MoC between India and Kyrgyzstan for collaborative research work on High Altitude Biology and Medicine. The MoC will help in understanding the physical and mental picture of soldiers at high altitude and mitigate the related maladies by using Yoga practice, herbals and neutraceuticals. The Cabinet has also approved a MoU in the field of Legal Metrology between India and Kyrgyzstan.

BJP appointed Thawarchand Gehlot, Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment as Leader of Rajya Sabha (Council of States). The 71-year old is a member & general secretary of ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was elected to Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh. The term Leader of the House has been defined in Rule 2(1) of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Rajya Sabha. Gopalaswami Ayyangar was the 1st Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has constituted a high-level committee under the chairmanship of VG Kannan, Chief Executive of Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) to review the entire gamut of ATM charges and fees. There are around 2 lakh ATMs in India. At end of April 2019, there were over 88.47 crore debit cards and 4.8 crore credit cards in function. The six-member committee will submit its report to RBI within two months from date of its first meeting.

Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) appointed Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) and B. Sriram, former managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI Bank) as part-time members of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI). Established on 1 October 2016, IBBI is an insolvency regulatory agency that was given statutory powers by Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), the bankruptcy law of India which was passed by Lok Sabha on 5 May 2016.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman K Sivan announced that Chandrayaan-2, India’s second mission to the moon will be launched on July 15, 2019 from Sriharikota space centre in Andhra Pradesh, aboard GSLV MK-III launch vehicle. ISRO plans to land Chandrayaan-2 near the South Pole of the Moon, a territory that hasn’t been explored by any other space agency. Chandrayaan, India’s first lunar probe was launched by the ISRO in October 2008 and was in operation till August 2009.

The Forbes 2019 list of world’s highest-paid athletes, announced on 11 June 2019, is topped by Argentinean footballer Lionel Messi. Virat Kohli, only Indian in the list was ranked last on this year’s Forbes list at the 100th spot, down from last year’s 83rd rank, despite an increase of $1m in endorsements. According to the Forbes 2019 list, Virat Kohli earned a total of $25m in the last 12 months making him the highest paid Indian athlete. Forbes began tracking athlete earnings in 1990.

The World Day against Child Labour is observed across the world on June 12, 2019 with the theme ‘Children should not work in fields but on dreams‘. The day was established by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 2002 to focus attention on the global extent of child labour and the action and efforts needed to eliminate it. Despite efforts to curb child labour, around 152 million children across the world are still in child labour. In India, around, 12 percent of all children are engaged in some form of child labour, as per the data released by UNICEF in 2017.