RBI hikes repo rate by 50 bps as inflationary pressures intensify

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) increased the repo rate by 50 basis points to 4.90%. The earlier repo rate was 4.40% after the rates were increased by 40 basis points at an off-cycle meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee.
• The RBI also revised the inflation projection for FY23 to 6.7 percent from 5.7 percent earlier.
• The RBI also left its FY23 GDP growth forecast unchanged at 7.2%.
• The Standing Deposit Facility and Marginal Standing Facility rates also raised by 50 basis points. Standing Deposit Facility rate is now 4.65 per cent, while Marginal Standing Facility rate is at 5.15 percent.
• The Repo rate hike will force banks and non-banking finance companies to increase repo-linked lending rates and minimum cost of funds based lending rates (MCLR) further. This is because the cost of funds of banks will rise with the Repo rate hike.
• The net result will be a further rise in equated monthly instalments (EMIs) of existing borrowers. Moreover, new home, vehicle and personal loans will also become costlier.
• Consumption and demand can be impacted by the Repo rate hike.
• Banks will also have to increase the deposit rates in the coming months.

RBI proposes linking of credit cards with UPI

• The integration will first begin with the indigenous RuPay credit cards.
• Both the RuPay network and UPI are managed by the same organisation – the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
• The linkage of UPI and credit cards could possibly result in credit card usage zooming up in India given UPI’s widespread adoption.
• The integration also opens up avenues to build credit on UPI through credit cards in India, where in the last few years, a number of startups like Slice, Uni, One etc. have emerged.
• The move could also be a push to increase adoption by banking on UPI’s large user base.

Tamil Nadu sculptures recovered from Australia, US

• Dvarapala: This stone sculpture belongs to the Vijayanagar dynasty dating to the 15th-16th century. He is holding a gada in one hand and has another leg raised up to the level of his knee.
• Nataraja: This image of Nataraja, a depiction of Shiva, in his divine cosmic dance form, is in tribhanga posture, standing on the lotus pedestal. Possibly, ananda tandava or the Dance of Bliss is portrayed here.
• Kankalamurti: Kankalamurti is depicted as a fearsome aspect of Lord Shiva and Bhairava. The sculpture is four-armed, holding ayudhas such as damaru and trishula in the upper hands and a bowl and a trefoil shaped object, as a treat for the playful fawn, in the lower right hand.
• Nandikeshvara: This bronze image of Nandikeshvara, dateable to the 13th century, is shown standing in tribhanga posture with folded arms, holding an axe and a fawn in the upper arms, with his forearms in namaskara mudra.
• Standing child Sambandar: Sambandar, the popular 7th-century child saint, is one of the Muvar, the three principal saints of South India. THE legend goes that after receiving a bowl of milk from Goddess Uma, the infant Sambandar devoted his life to composing hymns in praise of Lord Shiva.

Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr Mansukh Mandaviya released the 4th State Food Safety Index

• SFSI was started from 2018-19 with the aim of creating a competitive and positive change in the food safety ecosystem in the country.
• The SFSI measures the performance of States on the basis of five parameters of food safety set by the Health Ministry.
• The rating is done by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
• This year, among the larger states, Tamil Nadu was the top ranking state, followed by Gujarat and Maharashtra.
• Among the smaller states, Goa stood first followed by Manipur and Sikkim.
• Among UTs, Jammu & Kashmir, Delhi and Chandigarh secured first, second and third ranks.
• The Health Minister also felicitated 11 winning smart cities of the EatSmart Cities Challenge, launched by FSSAI last year in association with the Smart Cities Mission under the aegis of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned India’s efforts to create ‘green jobs’.

• ‘Green jobs’ refer to a class of jobs that directly have a positive impact on the planet, and contribute to the overall environmental welfare.
• Jobs involving renewable energy, conservation of resources, ensuring energy efficient means are categorised under the same. In all, they’re aimed at reducing the negative environmental impact of economic sectors and furthering the process of creating a low-carbon economy.
• Awareness and training individuals regarding green jobs skills will ensure limiting greenhouse gas emissions, minimising waste and pollution, protect and restore ecosystems, support adaptation to the effects of climate change.
• The Skill Council for Green Jobs was launched by the Union government on October 1, 2015.
• Aligned to the National Skill Development Missions, it was set up to be a not-for-profit, independent, industry-led initiative.
• Promoted by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the council aims to help manufacturers and other service providers in India’s ‘green business’ sector to implement industry-led, collaborative skills push the country on the path to truly realising the real potential and significance of ‘green jobs’.
• According to the ILO, India moving to a green economy by the next decade would alone create about 3 million jobs in the renewable energy sector. The renewable energy sector created about 47,000 new jobs in 2017 accounting for a 12% increase in just the span of a year, they said.
• The International Labour Organisation, the International Trade Union Confederation, the United Nations Environment Programme and the International Employers Organisation collectively launched the Green Jobs Initiative in 2008, aimed at bettering placements, training and creating opportunities for individuals to work in ‘green jobs’.

Environmentalists join forces to fight ‘carbon bomb’ fossil fuel projects

• The usage of the term ‘carbon bombs’ picked up after an investigative project of The Guardian from May 2022. Defining the term in its report, The Guardian said that it is “an oil or gas project that will result in at least a billion tonnes of CO2 emissions over its lifetime.”
• Whenever coal, oil, or gas is extracted it results in pollution and environmental degradation. Further, carbon emissions take place in particularly large amounts when fuel is burned.
• In total, around 195 such projects have been identified world over, including in the US, Russia, West Asia, Australia and India. According to the report, they will collectively overshoot the limit of emissions that had been agreed to in the Paris Agreement of 2015.
• Apart from coal, oil, and gas operations, the report highlighted the threat of methane, which “routinely leaks from gas operations and is a powerful greenhouse gas, trapping 86 times more heat than CO2 over 20 years”.

Leave It In the Ground Initiative (LINGO).

• The network working towards this goal of ‘defusing’ carbon bombs is called Leave It In the Ground Initiative (LINGO).
• Its mission is to “leave fossil fuels in the ground and learn to live without them.”
• It believes the root of climate change is the burning of fossil fuels, and the 100% use of renewable energy sources is the solution.
• On its website, it has listed carbon bomb projects from all over the world. This includes the Carmichael Coal Project owned by the Adani Group, Gevra Coal Mines in Chhattisgarh owned by Coal India, and Rajmahal Coal Mines in eastern Jharkhand owned by Eastern Coalfields.
• LINGO aims to organise ground support for protesting such projects, challenge them through litigation, and conduct analysis and studies for the same.

World Brain Tumour Day is being observed on June 08, 2022.

• It is observed to raise awareness and educate people about brain tumours. The day also pays tribute to those affected by brain tumours.
• The German Brain Tumor Association started this international commemoration day in the year 2000 as a tribute to all brain tumour patients and their families.
• A brain tumour occurs when cells grow at an abnormal rate to form a mass of abnormal cells within the brain.
• There are two main types of tumours-cancerous tumours and non-cancerous tumours.
• Some common symptoms of brain tumor are headaches, seizures, problem with vision, vomiting, and mental changes. Patient may feel headache and vomiting in the morning.
• More specific problems may include difficulty in walking, speaking and sensation.
• Brain tumour can be a life-threatening disease but completely treatable. Some of the common treatments of brain tumour include surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, anti-seizure medication, steroid treatment, etc.
• On a global scale, 330,000 children and adults worldwide are diagnosed with cancer of the central nervous system in one year.

World Ocean Day was observed on June 8, 2022 with the theme for this year is "Revitalization: Collective Action for the Ocean".

• The Day is celebrated every year on June 8.
• The Day was proposed in 1992 and was officially recognised by the United Nations in 2008.
• The purpose of the Day is to raise public awareness on Oceans and its resources and also to inform the public of the impact of human actions on the ocean.
• The ocean covers over 70 percent of the planet. According to the UN, oceans produce about 50 percent of the planet’s oxygen and are home to earth’s biodiversity.
• It is the main source of protein for more than a billion people around the world.
• The ocean is key to economy with an estimated 40 million people being employed by ocean-based industries by 2030.