Who releases ease of doing business report?

• Ease of doing business report is released by World Bank Group.
• The Doing Business Report (DB) is an annually published report aimed to measure the costs to firms of business regulations in 190 countries.
• The report measures the performance of countries across 10 different parameters namely-
• Starting a Business
• Dealing with Construction permits
• Electricity availability
• Property registration
• Credit availability
• Protecting minority Investors
• Paying Taxes
• Trading across borders
• Contracts enforcement, and
• Resolving Insolvency.

World Bank suspend the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ report

• The World Bank halted its annual ‘Doing Business’ report, as it detected irregularities of data for a few countries.
• China, Azerbaijan, UAE and Saudi Arabia are among nations that may have had data “inappropriately altered”.
• India was placed at 63rd position this time (2019) out of 190 countries marking an improvement of 14 places from its 77th position in 2018.

3rd India US Strategic Partnership Forum Summit

• PM delivered the Special Keynote Address at the 3rd Annual Leadership Summit of the (USISPF)US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF).
• Theme “US-India Navigating New Challenges”.
• The theme covers various subjects such as India’s potential in becoming a Global Manufacturing Hub, Opportunities in India’s Gas Market, Ease of Doing Business to attract FDI in India, Common Opportunities & Challenges in Tech Space, Indo-Pacific Economic issues etc.
• USISPF is the only independent not-for-profit institution dedicated to strengthening the U.S.-India partnership in Washington, D.C. and in New Delhi.
• Established in 2017

Water Heroes Contest 2.0

• The Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti has launched the ‘Water Heroes – Share Your Stories’ Contest.
• Aim: To reach out to people on the important subject of water conservation and management.
• Through this Contest, the government hopes to encourage and collect best practices in water conservation from across India.
• To take part in the contest, the participants will have to post their success stories on water conservation through a specially made video
• Every month (from September 2020 onwards) entries would be invited for consideration of awards.
• ll selected entries will be awarded a cash prize of Rs. 10,000 each and a certificate.

Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill 2020

• Recently, the Union Cabinet has approved the Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill 2020 to be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament.
• Under this 5 languages will be official languages.
• These are Urdu, Kashmiri, Dogri, Hindi, and English.
• Only English and Urdu were official languages in the former State.
• Dogri Language:
• Dogri along with Bodo, Maithili and Santhali was added to the scheduled languages under the Eighth Schedule.
• For this 92nd Amendment Act of 2003 was brought.
• 8^th Schedule: The Eight Schedule consists of the 22 languages namely Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu Bodo, Santhali, Maithili and Dogri.

Question Hour and Zero Hour

• Central government has decided to suspend the Question Hour and curtail Zero Hour for Monsoon Session.
• This monsoon session of Parliament cut short due to the pandemic.
• Question Hour:
• The first hour of every parliamentary sitting is slotted for this.
• liveliest hour in Parliament.
• It is during this one hour that Members of Parliament ask questions of ministers and hold them accountable for the functioning of their ministries.
• The questions can also be asked to the private members (MPs who are not ministers).
• The presiding officers of the both Houses are the final authority with respect to the conduct of Question Hour.
• Zero Hour:
•  It is not mentioned in the parliamentary rules book.
• Under this, MPs can raise matters without any prior notice.
• The zero hour starts immediately after the question hour.
• It continues between 12 noon and 1 pm. During this period, the members raise the questions of earnest necessity and the need of urgent action.

Current COVID19 Situation in India

QUIZ TIME

What is the theme of 3rd India US Strategic Partnership Forum Summit?

1. COVID 19 Fight Together
2. US-India Navigating New Challenges
3. Today, Tomorrow, Together
4. Emerging out of challenges

Answer – B

How many official languages are there in the 8^th schedule?

1. 21
2. 22
3. 23
4. 24

Answer – B

Dogri was added to Eighth Schedule with:

1. 92 Amendment
2. 93 Amendment
3. 94 Amendment
4. 95 Amendment

Answer – A

Which of the following is the first hour of every parliamentary sitting?

1. Zero hour
2. Question hour
3. Both
4. None

Answer – B

Question of the Day

Highlight key features of Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project.

Answer in next session…