PUNJAB

Vini Mahajan appointed Punjab chief secretary

Punjab appointed 1987 batch Punjab cadre IAS officer Vini Mahajan as the new Chief Secretary, replacing the 1984 batch officer Karan Avtar Singh.

She becomes the first woman Chief Secretary of Punjab.

Singh has been posted as Special Chief Secretary, Governance Reforms. He is tipped to be chairman of the state water regulatory body.

INTERNATIONAL

India became 12th largest holder of US govt securities at April

India became the 12th largest holder of the United States government securities at the end of April. As per the official data, India held securities worth 157.4 billion dollars.

The US Treasury Department data stated showed that after March India marginally hiked the holding by 0.9 billion dollars to 157.4 billion dollars the next month.

India’s holding touched a record high of 177.5 billion dollars in February, the same was drastically reduced in March. It stood at 164.3 billion dollars in January.

As per the report, at the end of April, Japan remained the country with the maximum exposure at 1.27 trillion dollars. It is followed by China at 1.1 trillion dollars and the UK at 368.5 billion dollars.

In India, the American government securities are held by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as the Central Banks invests in foreign assets as part of its prudential liquidity management.

France commits 200 million Euros for India’s COVID response

France and India signed an agreement with Paris committing 200 million euros to support Delhi’s Covid response.

Through this loan, France will work with India to increase the state and central governments’ capacities to support the country’s most vulnerable people in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.

The programme design, developed by the World Bank in collaboration with the Indian authorities, seeks to optimize and scale up the Indian Government’s existing social protection measures.

The programme will provide further benefits to low-income families to ensure the health, social and economic shocks arising from Covid-19.

NATIONAL

Minister Mandaviya inaugurated First 2020 Virtual Healthcare and Hygiene EXPO

The Minister of State (MoS) for Shipping (Independent charge) and Chemicals & Fertilisers Shri Mansukh Mandaviya inaugurated India’s one the largest first Virtual Healthcare & Hygiene EXPO 2020.

Highlights:

The Expo has been organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI).

Virtual Healthcare and Hygiene EXPO 2020 is the first-ever largest virtual exhibition in India.

The event will be virtually made live daily from 22-26 June 2020.

This is a step that marks that the business will happen virtually as Digital India is now making a way forward.

Exim Bank extends USD 20.1 mn credit line to Nicaragua govt

Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) has extended a line of credit (LOC) of USD 20.10 million to the government of Nicaragua for reconstruction of Aldo Chavarria Hospital.

With signing of this agreement, Exim Bank, so far, has extended four LOCs to Nicaragua, on behalf of the Indian government, taking the total value to USD 87.63 million.

Projects covered under the LOCs include supply of equipment for building two substations, construction of transmission lines, building new substations, expansion of the existing substations and reconstruction of a hospital.

Post the signing of this LOC agreement, Exim Bank has now in place 261 LOCs, covering 62 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the CIS, with credit commitments of around USD 25.70 billion, available for financing exports from India.

New Covid hotspots are emerging in rural villages across India

After overwhelming India’s megacities, the coronavirus is now moving through the country’s vast hinterland.

Home to nearly 70% of India’s 1.3 billion population, the nation’s villages have little access to healthcare and are struggling to support themselves through the country’s prolonged economic slowdown.

Infections have now spread to 98 of the country’s 112 poorest rural districts, up from 34 on April 15, according to the report from NITI Aayog, the government’s planning body. Nearly 2,250 new cases were added in those districts.

About 57 lakh migrants have been shifted to various destinations across the country by special trains and a further 4.1 million by road transport.

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