Current Affairs July 2019 - Reports

1 - India ranked at 74^th place among nations with money in Swiss banks

India has been ranked at 74^th place in terms of money parked by its citizens and enterprises with Swiss banks as per data released by the Swiss National Bank (SNB). The UK tops the list. India was ranked 73^rd last year.

India accounts for just about 0.07 per cent of the aggregate funds parked by all foreign clients of Switzerland-based banks. UK is followed by the US, West Indies, France and Hong Kong in the top five.

2 - Maharashtra scored top position in NITI Aayog's AMFFR Index

Maharashtra scored top position in NITI Aayog's AMFFR (Agricultural Marketing & Farm Friendly Reforms) Index. AMFFR Index ranks States and UTs based on implementation of seven provisions proposed under model APMC Act, joining eNAM initiative, special treatment to fruits and vegetables for marketing and level of taxes in mandis.It has a score which can have minimum value “0” implying no reforms and maximum value “100” implying complete reforms.

The state of Maharashtra has implemented most of the marketing reforms and it offers best environment for doing agribusiness among all the states and UTs.

3 - Henley Passport Index 2019 placed India at 86^th position

The latest Henley Passport Index 2019 ranks the Indian passport on the 86^th position with a mobility score of 58. The score points out that Indian Passport holders can access 58 countries around the world without a prior visa.

Japan and Singapore hold onto the top spot with a visa-free or visa-on-arrival score of 189. South Korea is placed 2^nd on the index along with Finland and Germany. Afghanistan at 109^th is last on the list with a visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of just 25.

4 - UNESCO Education Report presented to the Vice-President of India

A UNESCO delegation led by Mr. Eric Falt, Director, UNESCO, New Delhi presented ‘State of the Education Report for India 2019- Children with Disabilities’, to the Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu.

The report contains 10 recommendations, including amendments to Right to Education Act to align with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act by incorporating specific concerns of children with disabilities. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is based in Paris. The current head of UNESCO is Audrey Azoulay.

5 - US-India bilateral trade could reach USD 238 billion by 2025

According to a recent report titled “US India Bilateral Trade Report” released by the US India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF), the bilateral trade between India and the US could reach USD 238 billion by 2025 from the current USD 143 billion. This growth will occur if trade grows by 7.5% each year.

The report also projected that by 2025, bilateral trade could range between USD 283 billion to USD 327 billion, at an annual average growth rate of 10%-12.5%.

6 - 2019 Forbes' list of the world's 100 highest paid celebrities

Forbes has released the “Highest paid Forbes Celebrity 100” for year 2019 list. The list was topped by singer Taylor Swift with pretax income of $185 million followed by Kylie Jenner with $170 mn earnings.

The other celebrities who were in top ten list were sports person Lionel Messi, Cristino Ronaldo, Neymar and American rapper Kanye West. There were only 16 women who made it to the list of the top 100. Indian star Akshay Kumar was placed at 33^rd position in top 100 list with $65mn earnings.

7 - 2019 Multidimensional Poverty Index released

United Nations Development Programme and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) released the 2019 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index data and publication “Illuminating Inequalities”. The MPI provides in-depth picture of global poverty in all its dimensions and monitors progress towards Sustainable Development Goal to end poverty.

MPI results show that across 101 countries, 1.3 billion people, 23.1% are multidimensionally poor and around 886 million people live in middle-income countries. 1.3 billion poor people are children under age 18. India and Cambodia reduced their MPI values the fastest and they did not leave the poorest groups behind.

8 - New UN report reveals over 820 million people suffering from hunger

According to a UN report named 'The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World', more than 821 million people suffered from hunger worldwide in 2018, the third year in a row that the number has risen.

Key facts and figures −

Number of hungry people in the world in 2018: 821.6 million (or 1 in 9 people)
- in Asia: 513.9 million
- in Africa: 256.1million
- in Latin America and the Caribbean: 42.5 million
Number of moderately or severely food insecure: 2 billion (26.4%)
Babies born with low birth weight: 20.5 million (one in seven)

9 - PM released results of 4^th cycle of All India Tiger Estimation – 2018

On the occasion of Global Tiger Day, 29^th July 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the results of the fourth cycle of All India Tiger Estimation – 2018 in New Delhi. According to survey, the count of tigers in India has risen to 2967 in 2018. The survey is conducted once in 4 years. It was 4^th tiger survey since 2006.

The key findings were −

Madhya Pradesh has highest tiger population at 526, followed by Karnataka (524) and Uttarakhand (442).
Chhattisgarh and Mizoram showed decline in population.
Best managed tiger reserves are Pench sanctuary (MP) and Periyar sanctuary of Kerala.
Pench Tiger Reserve has highest number of tigers.

10 - India moves 5 places up in the Global Innovation Index 2019

India moved up in the Global Innovation Index, 2019 by five notches to 52^nd position. The Index prepared is by World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). It ranks innovative performances of 129 economies around the world on 80 indicators including political environment, education, infrastructure and business sophistication.

Switzerland retained its top spot. The theme this year is Creating Healthy Lives - The Future of Medical Innovation, which aims to explore the role of medical innovation as it shapes the future of healthcare.

11 - Fortune Global list of top 500 companies unveiled

US giant Walmart remained on top of the Fortune 500 list followed by Chinese state-owned oil and gas company Sinopec Group. The third in the list is Dutch company Royal Dutch Shell followed by China National Petroleum and State Grid in the top five respectively.

Reliance Industries became the highest-ranked Indian firm in the list at 106^th position leaving behind State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) at 117. ONGC, SBI, Tata Motors, BPCL and Rajesh Exports are the other Indian companies to feature on the list.