India to be most populous by 2027
Category: International
- India is set to overtake China as the most populous country by 2027 and will have almost 1.64 billion inhabitants by 2050, says a United Nations report- World Population Prospects 2019.
- South Asia’s opportunity to reap the “demographic dividend” will peak by 2047.
- Globally, people aged above 65 are the fastest growing age group, putting pressure on social protection systems as the proportion of the working-age population shrinks.
- According to the report, India is expected to add 273 million people by 2050, which will be the largest national increase in the world.
- China, on the other hand, is expected to become smaller, dropping from its current 1.43 billion people to approximately 1.4 billion by 2050.
- However, while India may have the highest absolute increase in numbers, its rate of growth is slowing.
- The rate of population growth is the highest in sub-Saharan Africa, where the fertility rate stand at 4.6 births per woman over a lifetime.
- Nigeria is expected to add 200 million people over the next three decades and overtake the U.S. to become the third most populous nation.
- In 2018, for the first time in history, people above 65 outnumbered children under five years of age.
Cotton Imports
Category: Agriculture
- Import of cotton in the 2018-2019 cotton season is expected to be 22 lakh bales, almost seven lakh bales higher compared with the previous season.
- The international price of cotton is lower compared to the domestic price.
- It is not just the mills, but traders are also importing, especially African cotton.
Libra
Category: Sc/tech
- There’s a new cryptocurrency called Libra by Facebook.
- Libra will be controlled by the Libra Association, which is a non-profit based in Geneva, Switzerland. But Facebook will have a leadership role for all of 2019, though later on it will be just one of the many members part of the association.
- Facebook also announced a dedicated wallet app called Calibra, which will be built into WhatsApp and Messenger as well, to let users store and use these Libra coins.
- Libra is a cryptocurrency built on a blockchain network.
- Libra is like any other cryptocurrency powered by blockchain technology.
- Blockchain technology functions like an open ledger that gets updated in real time, and each transaction made on a blockchain network is preserved.
- Reversing a record is impossible on blockchain and with cryptocurrency, the idea is a decentralised network, which is not controlled by one bank or a government.
Sinha Panel
Category: Economy
- The U K Sinha committee on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) has proposed doubling the limit on collateral-free loans to Rs 20 lakh from the current level of Rs 10 lakh to boost the fund requirement of the MSME sector.
- The proposal is to provide the loans under the MUDRA scheme of the central government as working capital and term loans for business enterprises in manufacturing, trading, services and agriculture activities.
- The RBI constituted an ‘Expert Committee on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises’ under the chairmanship of former Securities and Exchange Bureau of India (Sebi) chairman U K Sinha in January 2019 to suggest long-term measures for the economic and financial sustainability of the MSME sector.
- Under the aegis of Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), MUDRA has created three products: Shishu, Kishor and Tarun to signify the stage of growth, development and funding needs of the beneficiary micro unit/entrepreneur and also provide a reference point for the next phase of growth.
- Under the Shishu scheme, loans up to Rs 50,000 will be offered.
- Under Kishor scheme, loans above Rs 50,000 and up to 5 lakh are offered.
- Tarun scheme covers loans above Rs 5 lakh and up to Rs 10 lakh.
