::NATIONAL::

Union cabinet clears rental housing scheme for migrants

• A scheme for providing affordable rental housing to about 3 lakh urban migrants was approved by the Union Cabinet on Wednesday.
• The creation of affordable rental housing complexes was announced by Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on May 14 as a part of the package to address the COVID-19 crisis.
• At a meeting chaired by Prime Minister NarendraModi, the Cabinet approved the scheme, which will be a sub-scheme of the PradhanMantriAwasYojana-Urban that is implemented by the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry. 
• About 1.03 lakh completed government-funded houses across cities that were yet to be allotted to beneficiaries under existing schemes would be converted into the rental housing complexes, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister PrakashJavadekar said at a press briefing.
• He said the urban local bodies in cities would decide the rent amount. The vacant housing complexes would be converted through 25-year concession agreements, a statement said.
• It added that the target beneficiaries would be workers who come from rural areas or towns to work in manufacturing, hospitality, health, construction, etc.

RajyaSabha officials claim quorum required only during deliberations

• Contradicting the Opposition’s argument for virtual meetings of standing committees to ensure quorum during deliberations, officials at the RajyaSabha Secretariat have said that quorum is essential only when the committees take decisions or adopt reports and not during routine deliberations.
• Sources said this issue came up at a meeting on Wednesday chaired by RajyaSabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu. Congress leader and Chairman of the Standing Committee on Science and Technology Jairam Ramesh had written to Mr. Naidu demanding a virtual meeting citing lack of quorum. Quorum for these meetings is generally 11 out of 30 members.
• The officials, sources said, told Mr. Naidu that out of 281 meetings of the eight department-related Standing Committees that are headed by RajyaSabha members, 16% were held without quorum.
• “The committee on Science and Technology & Environment and Forests held 32 meetings during the past three years, of which 22% were without quorum. In respect of the 38 meetings of the committee on Home Affairs, 21% were without quorum,” a senior RS official said.
• Mr. Ramesh has been heading the committee only since September last year. He said that during his tenure, 11 meetings were held and quorum was complete in each one of them.
• “Point isn’t about quorum alone. It’s about facilitating those MPs who want to attend and are unable to because of containment zones and quarantine restrictions in their home states,” Mr. Ramesh said.

::ECONOMY::

New agricultural infrastructure fund formed with 1 lakh crorebudget

• The Union Cabinet today gave its approval to a new pan India Central Sector Scheme- Agriculture Infrastructure Fund. The scheme will provide a medium and long term debt financing facility for investment in viable projects for post-harvest management Infrastructure and community farming assets through interest subvention and financial support.
• Under the scheme, one lakh crore rupees will be provided by banks and financial institutions as loans to Primary Agricultural Credit Societies, Marketing Cooperative Societies, Farmer Producers Organizations, Self Help Group, Farmers, Startups and Centre and State agency among others.
• All loans under this financing facility will have interest subvention of 3 per cent per annum up to a limit of two crore. rupees and this subvention will be available for a maximum period of seven years.
• Further, credit guarantee coverage will be available for eligible borrowers from this financing facility under Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) scheme for a loan up to two crore rupees.
• The Project by way of facilitating formal credit to farm and farm processing-based activities is expected to create numerous job opportunities in rural areas.

CBDT signs MoU with SEBI for data exchange

• A  Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed today between the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for data exchange between the two organizations.
• Ministry of Finance in a statement said,  theMoU will facilitate the sharing of data and information between SEBI and CBDT on an automatic and regular basis.
• In addition to regular exchange of data, the two organizations will also exchange with each other, on request and suomoto basis, any information available in their databases for the purpose of carrying out their functions under various laws.
• The MoU comes into force from the date it was signed and is an ongoing initiative of CBDT and SEBI, who are already collaborating through various existing mechanisms. 
• A Data Exchange Steering Group has also been constituted for the initiative, which will meet periodically to review the data exchange status and take steps to further improve the effectiveness of the data sharing mechanism.
• The Ministry said, the MoU marks the beginning of a new era of cooperation and synergy between SEBI and CBDT.

::INTERNATIONAL::

Srilanka and Maldives eliminate Measles, Rubella ahead of target

• Maldives and Sri Lanka have become the first two countries in the South-East Asia region to eliminate both measles and rubella ahead of the 2023 target. The announcement was made by WHO South-East Asia's Regional Director, Dr PoonamKhetrapal Singh after the fifth meeting of the regional verification commission for measles and rubella elimination, held virtually.
• Dr. Singh said protecting all children against these killer and debilitating diseases is an important step in endeavour to achieve healthier population and health for all. The Regional Director commended Member countries’ efforts to deliver life-saving vaccines to children even while battling the COVID pandemic.
• A country is verified as having eliminated measles and rubella when there is no evidence of endemic transmission for over three years by a well-performing surveillance system.
• Maldives reported its last endemic case of measles in 2009 and of rubella in October 2015, while Sri Lanka reported last endemic case of measles in May 2016 and of rubella in March 2017.
• Member countries of WHO South-East Asia region had set 2023 as the target for elimination of measles and rubella. Bhutan, DPR Korea and Timor-Leste are other countries in the region who have eliminated measles.

US announces visa restrictions on Chinese officials related to Tibet

• US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has announced visa restrictions for a certain group of Chinese officials under the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act. 
• He said, Beijing has continued systematically to obstruct travel to the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) and other Tibetan areas by US diplomats and other officials, journalists, and tourists, while Chinese officials and other citizens enjoy far greater access to the United States.
• Mr Pompeo announced visa restrictions on Chinese government and Chinese Communist Party officials involved in the formulation or execution of policies related to access for foreigners to Tibetan areas.
• He said access to Tibetan areas is increasingly vital to regional stability, given the Chinese human rights abuses there, as well as Beijing's failure to prevent environmental degradation near the headwaters of Asia's major rivers. 
• Mr Pompeo said the US will continue to work to advance the sustainable economic development, environmental conservation, and humanitarian conditions of Tibetan communities in China and abroad.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Scientists discover cause of production of Lithium in stars

• A forty-year-old puzzle regarding the production of lithium in stars has been solved by Indian researchers.
• Stars, as per known mechanisms of evolution, actually destroy lithium as they evolve into red giants. Planets were known to have more lithium than their stars — as is the case with the Earth-Sun pair. However, leading to a contradiction, some stars were found that were lithium-rich.
• The Sun, for instance, has about a factor of 100 lower amount of lithium than the Earth. About 40 years ago, a few large stars were spotted that were lithium-rich. This was followed by further discoveries of lithium-rich stars, and that posed a puzzle — if stars do not produce lithium, how do some stars develop to become lithium-rich?
• For the present study, the group studied over 200,000 stars using the Galactic Archaeology survey of the Anglo-Australian Telescope.
• This is the first study to demonstrate that lithium abundance enhancement among low mass giant stars is common. Until now, it was believed that only about 1% of giants are lithium rich. 
• Secondly, the team has shown that as the star evolves beyond the Red Giant stage, and before it reaches the Red Clump stage, a helium flash produces an abundance of lithium. Lastly, they set a lower limit for helium abundance which will classify the star as “lithium-rich”. This value is about 250 times lower than the previous limit.

::SPORTS::

England-West Indies test match begins at London

• The first cricket match of three Test series between England AND West Indies will be played today at Ageas Bowl, London. The match will begin at 0330 hrs IST. With this, the International cricket is finally returning after a hiatus of 117-days caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Host England will be led by all-rounder Ben Stokes in the absence of regular captain Joe Root while Windies, will be led by Jason Holder - team's most experienced player. Holder, embarking on his 33rd Test as captain. 
• The two teams comprise a formidable bowling line-up but it is their batting department that looks pretty weak. With the new ICC rules in place in the wake of the pandemic, it will be interesting to see how the teams come to terms with them.

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