Hawkish Turn
Earlier thismonth, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) rate-setting panel indicated its intention to shed its accommodative stance on monetary policy and prioritize inflation over growth. Minutes of the meeting released last Friday show members stressed the need for monetary policy action even as risks to growth favoured an accommodative stance. In March, inflation breached RBI’s upper limit of 6% for the third straight month with food prices running hot.
Appalling Practice
The illegalpractice of employing people as manual scavengers and to clean sewers, which is intricately linked to caste discrimination, continues in full force, as the shocking deaths of 17 individuals over the past one month show. The family of a worker who dies because of this practice is entitled to a ₹10-lakh compensation. Yet 362 families out of the recorded 920 have received only partial or no compensation since 1993, according to the government.
Oily Woes 40%:That’s theshare of palm oil in India’s edible consumption basket. Indonesia, the largest producer and exporter, has imposed a sweeping ban on exports of palm oil. India buys about 8 million metric tonnes of the edible oil annually, about half of which comes from Indonesia, according to a 24 April note from Jefferies India. This drastic development is expected to add to inflationary pressures in India and increase edible oil prices further.
Exports Game
India hasplans to step up wheat exports to fill the void in supply that has developed as a fallout of the Russia-Ukraine war.
The two countries are the world’s third and eighth biggest wheat producers, respectively. In 2021-22, India saw record wheat exports of 6.6 million tonnes, a more than three-fold increase over 2020-21. Yet there are domestic and global risks that exports could bring to India’s food security.
Vaccinating Children
India’s drugregulator has approved covid-19 vaccines for children at a time the country has seen a spike in infections over the past two weeks. The Drugs Controller General of India approved Biological E’s Corbevax for those aged five to 12 years and Covaxin for children in the age group of six to 12 years. Zydus Cadila’s ZycovD vaccine was approved for children above 12 years. India had already been vaccinating those in the 15-18 age group since January.
Arsenal Boost
$2.1 trillion:That’s theglobal military spending in 2021, surpassing the $2-trillion mark for the first time, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. India again figured at the third spot in the list of top spenders. Notwithstanding the economic impact of covid-19, global military spending rose by 0.7% last year, the data showed. Russia, which is at war with Ukraine, increased its military spending for the third straight year, this time by 2.9%.
Air Cheer
India’s airpassenger traffic increased for the third consecutive month in March, underscoring a revival in travel confidence as air travel moves towards achieving normal levels.
Indian airports catered to 24.4 million passengers in March, while the number of domestic passengers was 21.1 million. The number was up from 15.3 million in February, data released by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) showed.
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With ElonMusk set to purchase the social media site Twitter for $44 billion, in one of the largest such buyouts, a look at some of the billionaire’s other investments till date.
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