India's forex reserves hit 15-month low of $588 billion

Why is it in news?

The country's foreign exchange reserves have declined again. It declined by $8.062 billion to $580.252 billion by the time it was 8^th July, 2022. This information has been given in the recently released data of Reserve Bank of India i.e., RBI.

Introduction

• In the balance of payments, foreign exchange reserves are called 'reserve assets' and are in the capital account.

• They form an important part of a country's international investment position.

• It should only include foreign rupees, deposits with foreign banks, foreign treasury bills and short-term or long-term government assets, but also include special drawing rights, gold reserves and IMF reserve positions.

• It is more appropriate to call it official international reserves or international reserves.

Highlights

• Significantly, in the week ending July 1, 2022, it decreased by $ 5.008 billion to $ 588.314 billion. According to RBI data, it increased by $ 2.734 billion to $ 593.323 billion in the week ended June 24, 2022.

• Earlier, by June 17, the foreign exchange reserves had declined by $ 5.87 billion to $ 590.588 billion, while by June 10, 2022 it declined by $ 4.599 billion to $ 596.458 billion.

• Significantly, by July 1, 2022, it decreased by $ 5.008 billion to $ 588.314 billion. According to RBI data, it increased by $ 2.734 billion to $ 593.323 billion by June 24, 2022.

• Earlier, by June 17, the foreign exchange reserves had declined by $ 5.87 billion to $ 590.588 billion, while in the week ended June 10, 2022 it declined by $ 4.599 billion to $ 596.458 billion.

• According to the weekly data released on the other hand, this decline in foreign exchange reserves in the week ended July 8 was mainly due to the decrease in Foreign Currency Assets (Foreign Currency Assets), which is a significant part of the total currency reserves. Is part of.

• The Reserve Bank said that India's FCA decreased by $ 6.656 billion to $ 518.089 billion in the reporting week. FCAs, expressed in dollars, also include the effect of increase or decrease in the value of other foreign currencies such as the euro, pound and yen held in foreign exchange reserves.

• The country's currency reserves kept in the IMF also decreased by $ 49 million to $ 4966 billion.

WEF's Gender Gap Report 2022

Why is it in news?

• India is ranked 135th out of 146 countries in the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Global Gender Gap Index 2022.

• India has the worst performance in the world in the "Health and Survival" sub-index, where India is ranked 146.

• India's position is also worse among its neighbors and is behind Bangladesh (71), Nepal (96), Sri Lanka (110), Maldives (117) and Bhutan (126). In South Asia, only Iran (143), Pakistan (145) and Afghanistan (146) performed worse than India.

Introduction

The Global Gender Gap Index indexes gender equality in four key dimensions or sub-indices – economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. It measures the score on a scale of 0 to 100, which can be interpreted as the distance covered towards equality or the percentage of gender gap that has ended.

Highlights

• According to the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Gender Gap Report 2022, India ranks 135th out of 146 countries in the world in achieving gender equality. However, last year it was ranked 140th. India has jumped five places in one year.

• According to the report, Iceland has retained its position as the most gender-equal country in the world, followed by Finland, Norway, New Zealand and Sweden.

• WEF warned that women are expected to have the biggest impact on livelihoods globally with the wide gender gap in the labor force, with the WEF warning that it will take 132 years to close the gender gap.

• It has been mentioned that it went back a generation in the pandemic. The slow and weak recovery has made it worse globally.

• India's position is much worse among its neighbours. It is currently behind Bangladesh (71), Nepal (96), Sri Lanka (110), Maldives (117) and Bhutan (126). In South Asia, only Iran (143), Pakistan (145) and Afghanistan (146) performed worse than India.

• The World Economic Forum said that the gender gap score in India has recorded its seventh highest level in the last 16 years, but it is one of the worst performers on various parameters.

• The report states, "With a female population of approximately 662 million, India's level of achievement is heavily influenced by regional rankings."

• On the Health and Survival sub-index, India ranks lowest at 146 and is one of five countries with a gender gap of more than 5%. However, India ranks globally in terms of gender equality for all formal secondary education including primary education enrollment and tertiary education enrollment i.e. public and private universities, colleges, technical training institutes and vocational schools.

• India's global gender gap score has fallen between 0.593 and 0.683 since the index was first compiled. Although it showed better performance in the areas of economic participation and opportunity, labor-force participation for both men and women declined from 2021 onwards.

• The share of women legislators, senior executives and managers increased from 14.6% to 17.6%, and the share of women as professional and technical workers increased from 29.2% to 32.9%.

• Improved gender equality scores for estimated earned income; While the values ​​decreased for both men and women. However, in the area of ​​political empowerment, the sub-index where India ranks relatively high at 48, has shown a declining score due to a decreasing share of the service length of women as heads of state for the past 50 years.

First virtual summit of 'I2U2' group leaders held

Why is it in news?       

• Recently on July 14, 2022, in virtual mode, the first India-Israel-UAE-USA (I2U2) Leaders' Summit was held.

• Be aware that in October 2021, when the foreign ministers of India, the US, Israel and the UAE met for the first time, it was named the International Forum for Economic Cooperation.

• Foreign ministers of these four countries included in 1U2 had a meeting in Israel, in which External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar was involved from India's side. But with the changing geopolitical developments over time, the importance of this alliance has increased significantly.

• This is the reason why this time the meeting was attended by top politicians of these four countries, US President Joe Biden, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Israeli PM Yair Lepid and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

What is the purpose of the i2u2 summit?

• According to a senior US official, the new group comprising India, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and the US will hold its first online summit next month, I2U2, as part of the Biden administration's efforts to revitalize and revive American alliances around the world.

• From the outset, part of our vision is to not only revitalize and activate our system of alliances and partnerships around the world, but also to bring together partnerships that have been together before, said US State Department spokesman Ned Price. were not or were not fully utilized.

Highlights

• I2U2 stands for I2 for India and Israel, while U2 stands for USA and UAE. I2U2 is a group of four countries which are India, Israel, USA and UAE.

• These four nations focus on food security and defense to create a new global standard.

• In this meeting, the future agenda of six key areas was discussed. These mainly included energy and food security.

• It was also a big issue in the meeting that how to take forward the partnership between the companies of these four countries to meet the major economic challenges.

• Efforts are being made by the four countries to strengthen economic partnership in other areas of interest as well. Member countries will also work to carry trade and investment in areas other than their region.

Bharat Rang Mahotsav 2022

Why is it in news?

Bharat Rang Mahotsav 2022 is being organized from 16 July 2022 to 14 August 2022 in New Delhi.

Introduction

NSD is a theater training institute located in New Delhi. It was established in 1959 as an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Culture. This school was established by the Sangeet Natak Akademi. In 1975, NSD became an independent school. It was given deemed university status in 2005. However, this status was rescinded in 2011. Presently, Paresh Rawal is the President of NSD.

Highlights

• The objective of the 22nd edition of the event is to showcase events and raise awareness about the unsung heroes of India's freedom struggle who have not been included in the history of India. For example, in 1913, tribal people were brutally tortured in Mangarh.

• But this incident is hardly known to the people. Thus the actors of the theater can prepare plays based on these events.

• The year 2022 is the 22nd edition of Bharat Rang Mahotsav. The 22nd Bharat Rang Mahotsav is being organized by the National School of Drama (NSD), New Delhi.

• The National School of Drama started the Bharat Rang Mahotsav two decades ago to revive the growth of theater across India.

• It is a national festival, held annually to showcase the work of the most creative theater workers in the country.