1. Vivo India transferred Rs 62,476 crore to China to avoid taxes
Tags: Economy/Finance National News
According to a statement issued by the Enforcement Directorate, Rs 62,476 crore has been "illegally" transferred to China by smartphone maker Vivo to evade payment of taxes in India between 2017 and 2021.
Important facts
18 companies that were incorporated fraudulently helped the smartphone maker Vivo to transfer 50 percent of the turnover outside India to mainly China.
Under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 119 bank accounts of entities with a gross balance of Rs 465 crore have been seized so far.
While transferring money to China, Vivo India has shown losses in most of its associate firms.
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has filed a police complaint against Vivo's subsidiary Grand Prospect International Communication Pvt Ltd (GPICPL), its directors, shareholders, certifying professionals etc.
Prevention of Money Laundering Act
It was enacted in 2002 and came into force in 2005.
The objective of the Act is to prevent money laundering, that is, the process of converting black money into white.
The Act empowers government officials to confiscate property acquired through illegal sources and money laundering.
Under the Act the burden of proof lies with the accused, who has to prove that the suspect property has not been obtained through unfair means.
Enforcement Directorate
It is a specialised financial investigation agency under the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India.
It is a law enforcement and economic intelligence agency responsible for enforcing economic laws and fighting economic crime in India.
Its name was changed to Enforcement Directorate (ED) in 1957.
Its headquarters is in New Delhi and has many regional offices all over the country.
The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) - Sanjay Kumar Mishra
2. Centre to promote dragon fruit cultivation in 50,000 hectares
Tags: Popular National News
Following in the footsteps of the Gujarat and Haryana governments, the Center has decided to promote the cultivation of dragon fruit, which is known as "super fruit" for its health benefits.
The centre is planning to expand dragon fruit cultivation in India considering nutritional values, cost-effectiveness and global demand.
Currently, this exotic fruit is being cultivated in India in 3,000 hectares, which is planned to be increased to 50,000 hectares in five years.
About dragon fruit (Kamalam)
Dragon fruit originated in Central and South America and has also spread to Asian countries.
It is the fruit of a species of wild cactus indigenous to South and Central America.
It is also called pitaya or pitahaya.
It belongs to the cacti family.
The fruit is fleshy with tiny black seeds.
The inner part of the fruit is consumed while the outer part is discarded.
The plant grows nearly five to six feet in height during which time it requires support.
Cultivation of Dragon fruit
Dragon fruit is also cultivated in Thailand, Taiwan, China, Australia, Israel, and Sri Lanka apart from its native Latin America.
It was introduced to India in the 1990s, and is grown in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
It is grown in all types of soil and does not require much water.
At present, Mizoram is at the forefront in the states cultivating this fruit.
The export of the fruit has made a huge contribution to Vietnam’s GDP.
All the states of India except the cold regions are suitable for dragon fruit plants.
Nutritional benefit
It is considered beneficial for diabetic patients, is low in calories and is rich in nutrients like iron, calcium, potassium and zinc.
It is rich in Vitamin C and is believed to be helpful in improving the platelet count during infectious diseases.
Farmers benefit
It doesn’t need much water and can be cultivated on dry land.
It gives maximum production from non-productive, less fertile areas.
This is beneficial for a lot of farmers.
3. Boris Johnson resigns as Prime Minister of Britain
Tags: International News
Boris Johnson resigned as Prime Minister of Britain on 7 July. He also announced his resignation as leader of the Conservative Party.
Earlier, more than 50 of Johnson's ministers and aides had resigned leaving his side.
It has become clear that the Conservative Party will have a new leader and Britain will have a new Prime Minister.
Johnson, 58, will remain in charge of 10 Downing Street (British Prime Minister’s residence) until the process of electing a new leader is completed at a Conservative Party convention.
The country's new Finance Minister Nadeem Jahavi had demanded Johnson's resignation.
Johnson had appointed him as the new finance minister, 36 hours after which he demanded his resignation.
Reason of resignation
Defeats of Conservative Party in by-elections for two parliamentary districts, Wakefield, and Tiverton.
The defeat was especially significant because it overturned the Conservative Party’s 24,000 majority in the district, the biggest ever majority to be overturned in a by-election.
On June 24, the co-chairman of the party resigned.
The elections for both the seats were due to the resignations of Conservative Party MPs facing sex scandals.
One of them had quit after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a teenage boy, and the other was caught watching porn in Parliament.
The Pincher scandal - party colleague Chris Pincher had to resign as Deputy Chief Whip last week over allegations of sexual misconduct.
4. S Jaishankar attends G20 Foreign Ministers' meeting in Bali
Tags: International News
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visited Bali, Indonesia on July 7 and participated in the G20 Foreign ministers’ meeting.
Important facts
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia is organising this meeting within the framework of the Indonesia G20 Presidency.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and discussed pending issues related to bilateral ties, including the status of the border dispute in eastern Ladakh.
The meeting focused on pending issues related to bilateral relations, including the situation on the border.
Other issues including students and flights were also discussed between the two.
Jaishankar reiterated the need to restore peace and stability in the border areas.
It is noteworthy that since May 5, 2020, the armed forces of India and China have maintained tense relations along the border in eastern Ladakh.
India and China have so far held several rounds of talks at the military and diplomatic level to resolve the Eastern Ladakh dispute.
In this regard, the two ministers reaffirmed that military and diplomatic officials from both sides should maintain regular contact and look forward to the next round of senior commanders' meeting at the earliest.
The two Ministers also exchanged their perspectives on other regional and global developments.
About G-20
It is an informal group of 19 countries and the European Union.
The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are its representatives.
The G-20 group is the world's largest advanced and emerging economies.
It represents about two-thirds of the world’s population, 85% of global gross domestic product, 80% of global investment and over 75% of global trade.
Member countries - Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.
It has no permanent secretariat or headquarters.
Italy will chair the G-20 in 2021, Indonesia will assume the role in 2022 and India will chair it in 2023.
5. 6th Deputy NSA level meeting of Colombo Security Conclave held in Kochi
Tags: International News
The 6th Deputy National Security Advisor-level meeting of the Colombo Security Conference is being held in Kochi, Kerala.
The seven-member Indian delegation is led by Deputy National Security Advisor Vikram Misri.
Apart from India, delegations from Maldives, Sri Lanka and Mauritius are participating in the meeting.
Representatives of Bangladesh and Seychelles are also attending the meeting as observers.
The delegates called for cooperation among member states on issues such as maritime defense and security, counter-terrorism, countering radicalization, smuggling and organized crime, as well as protecting critical infrastructure.
Colombo Security Conclave (CSC)
It started in 2011 as a trilateral maritime cooperation mechanism between India, Maldives and Sri Lanka.
The Secretariat of CSC is located in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The membership of the group was extended with the inclusion of Mauritius in March 2022.
So far five meetings of the CSC have been held at the level of National Security Advisor and Deputy National Security Advisor.
Since 2011, the mandate of the CSC mechanism has been enhanced to cover other issues of mutual interest.
Five pillars for cooperation
Maritime Safety and Security
Countering Terrorism and Radicalization
Combating trafficking and organized crime
Cyber Security
Protection of critical infrastructure, technology, humanitarian aid and disaster relief
6. PT Usha, Ilaiyaraaja, V Vijayendra Prasad, and Veerendra Heggade nominated to Rajya Sabha
Tags: Popular National News
Music maestro Ilaiyaraaja, sports icon PT Usha, screenwriter V Vijayendra Prasad and philanthropist and spiritual leader Virendra Hegde were nominated to the Rajya Sabha on 6 July.
The nominations were made after the term of Rajya Sabha of Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi of BJP and RCP Singh of JD(U) ended.
Ilaiyaraja
Ilaiyaraja is from Tamil Nadu.
In a career spanning nearly five decades, Ilaiyaraaja has composed songs in several Indian languages and won several awards.
He has won national awards five times. In 2010, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan and in 2018 the Padma Vibhushan.
PT Usha
Usha, born in Kozhikode in Kerala, is India’s best known track and field athlete.
She also runs the Usha School of Athletics for training young athletes in the sport.
He has won 11 medals at the Asian Games, including four golds at the 1986 Seoul Games.
She has been awarded the Arjuna Award and Padma Shri in the past.
V Vijayendra Prasad
He is from Telangana.
He is Telugu cinema’s leading screenwriter.
He has been associated with the creative world for many decades.
His works showcase India’s glorious culture and have made a mark globally.
Sivaji Ganesan (1982-86), Vyjayantimala Bali (1993-99) and S Ramaswamy (1999-2005) are the other Tamil film personalities who have served as nominated members of the Rajya Sabha.
Veerendra Heggade
He is from Karnataka.
He has been the ‘Dharmadhikari’ (custodian) of the Dharmasthala temple in Karnataka from the age of 20.
He established the Institute of Rural Development and Self-Employment Training to provide awareness about self-employment opportunities and to train rural youth.
He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in the year 2015.
Nomination of Rajya Sabha members by the President
Of the 245 members of the Rajya Sabha, 12 are nominated by the President on the recommendation of the government.
They are nominated under Article 80(3) of the Constitution.
As per Article 80(3) they should have special knowledge or practical experience in matters like literature, science, art and social service.
A nominated member is allowed to join a political party within the first six months of taking membership.
7. Smriti Irani gets additional charge of Minority Affairs and Jyotiraditya Scindia of Steel Ministry
Tags: National News
Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani has been given the charge of Minority Affairs Ministry in addition to her existing portfolio.
Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has been given additional charge of the Ministry of Steel.
After the resignation of Ram Chandra Prasad Singh and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi from the Union Cabinet, both the ministers have been given this additional charge.
Singh and Naqvi resigned from the cabinet a day before their term in the Rajya Sabha ended.
The President of India has accepted the resignation of Naqvi and Singh from the Union Council of Ministers, with immediate effect, under clause (2) of Article 75 of the Constitution.
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi was Minority Affairs Minister and Ram Chandra Prasad Singh was Steel Minister in the Union Council of Ministers.
Singh, who comes from an ally party in Bihar, JD(U), had sworn in as a minister in the Modi government a year ago in July 2021.
There is no Muslim face in the Union Council of Ministers and 395 MPs of BJP.
This is also the rare occasion when there is no Muslim member in the Union Council of Ministers.
8. PM launches Golden Jubilee Celebrations of Agradoot Newspaper Group
Tags: National News
Golden Jubilee Celebrations of Agradoot Newspaper Group were launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi through video conference on July 06, 2022.
Important facts
Agradoot is an Assamese language newspaper published in India.
The Chief Minister of Assam, Dr. Himanta Bishwa Sharma is the Chief Patron of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations Committee of the pioneer.
Agradoot started as an Assamese fortnightly.
It was founded by Kanak Sen Deka, a senior journalist from Assam.
It started publication as a regular daily newspaper in the year 1995 and soon became the trusted and influential voice of Assam.
The headquarters of Dainik Agradoot is at Dispur, Guwahati.
Newspapers in india
India's first newspaper was published by James Augustus Hickey in 1780 AD, whose name was 'The Bengal Gazette' or 'The Calcutta General Advertiser'.
The 'India Gazette' was the second Indian newspaper published in November 1780.
Udand Martand is India's first Hindi newspaper published in Hindi by Jugalkishore from Kanpur in 1826.
Sulabh Samachar published by Keshavchandra Sen was an important Hindi daily paper in Bangla.
Balakrishna Bhatt's 'Hindi Pradeep' was published from Allahabad in 1877.
The credit for the establishment of the national press is given to Raja Rammohun Roy.
Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar published the weekly newspaper Som Prakash.
9. Start-Up Ranking of States 2021
Tags: National News
The results of the third edition of the Ranking of States on Supporting the Startup Ecosystem were released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has been conducting the Startup Ranking of States since 2018.
The Startup India initiative of the Government of India envisages building a strong startup ecosystem in the country to foster innovation and provide opportunities to budding entrepreneurs.
This exercise plays a vital role in easing the business environment for startups in the country.
Classification: States and Union Territories are classified into 5 categories best exhibitor
top performers
Leader
aspiring leader
Emerging Startup Ecosystem.
About Ranking 2021
In terms of developing the 'Start-up Ecosystem for Entrepreneurs', Gujarat, Karnataka emerged as the best performers among the states.
Meghalaya ranks first among union territories and north-eastern states.
Gujarat has been recognized as the best performing state for the third consecutive year.
The states of Kerala, Odisha, Maharashtra and Telangana were the top performers.
Among the union territories and northeastern states, Jammu and Kashmir was ranked as the top performer.
Assam, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh emerged as the winners in the “leaders category” among the states.
Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh and Goa emerged as the winners in the "leader's category" among union territories and northeastern states.
This year's ranking was given on the basis of the period 1 October 2019 to 31 July 2021.
10. CBSE has launched the Pariksha Sangam portal
Tags: Popular National News
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has launched the Pariksha Sangam portal for the convenience of the students.
Pariksha Sangam will provide at one place various examination related procedures to be conducted by the School Regional Offices and CBSE Headquarters.
It has 3 parts – School (Ganga), Regional Office (Yamuna) and Head Office (Saraswati).
Here complete information will be given from the registration of the student to the declaration of the board's examination results.
Almost all the processes of CBSE are online which is going on through various portals. Now all these activities will be integrated in the Pariksha Sangam portal by CBSE.
Students will be able to register their request for revaluation, photocopy of answer sheets through this portal.
Apart from all this, this portal will also be used in the registration process of class 9th and 11th.
About Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is a national level board of education in India for public and private schools, controlled and managed by the Government of India.
The first education board to be set up in India was the Uttar Pradesh Board of High School and Intermediate Education in 1921
Formation- 2 July 1929
Headquarters- New Delhi
Chairperson- Nidhi Chibber
