GS-III

Foreign exchange reserves declined by $951 million to $404.2 billion in the week to July 27, on account of a fall in the foreign currency assets, the RBI said. In the previous week, the reserves rose by a marginal $67.7 million to $405.1 billion. The forex kitty is an indicator …

EIH Ltd., the flagship company of The Oberoi Group, is planning to mark major footprints in managing resorts at wildlife sanctuaries and national parks. By 2020, three resorts to be opened at Maasai Mara (Kenya), Gir and Bandhavgarh will be managed by EIH, which is planning to increase the share …

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday reviewed the preparations for the launch of the health protection programme, Ayushman Bharat. The scheme will provide a health insurance cover of up to Rs. 5 lakh per family and will cover over 10 crore poor families. Top officials of the Ministry of Health …

India said on Saturday that delayed higher tariffs against some goods imported from the U.S. would go into force on September 18. New Delhi, incensed by Washington’s refusal to exempt it from new tariffs, decided in June to raise import tax from August 4 on some U.S. products, including almonds, …

India’s benchmark equity index, the 30-share Sensex, is on a record-breaking spree this year. The recent past saw the index regularly touching a new high with ease as it breached the 37,000-mark for the first time ever on July 26. Incidentally, the index took only 13 trading sessions to clock …

Such nets dry up the marine wealth, not leaving even fishlings and fish eggs behind. Large quantities of juvenile fish are sold to poultry farms for as cheap as Rs. 5 a basket. Bycatch such as snakes, puffer fish, ray fish and olive ridley turtles are thrown back into the …

Company to sell CNG in 11 cities, piped cooking gas in six Billionaire Gautam Adani’s group on Friday emerged as the biggest winner of gas retailing licences, winning rights to sell CNG in 11 cities, including Allahabad. Adani won the rights to retail CNG to automobiles and piped cooking gas …

Increase in new business strongest since June 2017; inflation pressures still ‘high’ India’s services sector activity remained in the growth territory for the second consecutive month in July, as business activity witnessed the strongest growth since October 2016, amid improved demand conditions, said a monthly survey. The seasonally adjusted Nikkei …

Italian firm developing CNG, LPG and battery-powered vehicles to help meet 5 million sales target Piaggio Vehicles Pvt. Ltd. (PVPL), a unit of Italy’s Piaggio Group, is focussed on developing vehicles powered by alternative fuels such as CNG, LPG and electrically charged batteries to achieve its target of selling 5 …

Likely to prevent three lakh deaths in five years It is estimated that the Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin (SBM-G) will result in preventing more than three lakh deaths due to diarrhoea and protein-energy malnutrition between 2014-October 2019, notes a World Health Organisation (WHO) report released on Friday. The progress report …