What is the position of India in the Startup Ecosystem Ranking for 2019?

While India (USD 0.26) topped the scale of cheap mobile data, Kyrgyzstan (USD 0.27), Kazakstan (USD 0.49), Ukraine (USD 0.5A) and Rwanda (USD 0.56) completed the top five countries offering the cheapest data packs. Price comparison site Cable.co.uk found that 1 gigabyte (GB) of data cost USD 0.26 in India, compared to USD 6.66 in the UK. The US had one of the most expensive rates, with an average cost of USD 12.37 for the same amount of data. The cheapest mobile data in Western Europe was found in Finland with an average price of USD 1.16 for 1GB of data. In Eastern Europe, Poland is the cheapest at USD 1.32 per GB, followed by Romania (USD 1.89) and Slovenia (USD 2.2A).

The government of India has formed a 13-member committee having representatives from GST Network (GSTN), central and state governments to examine the electronic tax invoice system of various countries like South Korea, Latin America and suggest a model for India. The introduction of electronic invoices (e-invoices) through the Goods and Services Tax (GST) portal which will help the indirect tax system and keep a check on tax evasion. For the e-invoices system, the committee will examine and suggest the target taxpayers and the threshold limit. The committee will look at a centralized system of e-invoices, which will give automatic access to authorities to invoices. It will also discuss whether a system of e-invoices would help in dispensing the requirement of e-way bill or modification of the e-way bill or even combine both the options of e-invoice and e-way bill. The e-invoice system will replace the requirement of the generation of e-way bill for movement of goods. At present, the e-way bill is required for moving goods exceeding Rs. 50,000.

According to World Bank's Migration and Development Brief; with the Indian diaspora sending 79$ billion back to their home country, India retained its position as the world's top recipient of remittances in 2018. India followed by China: 67$ billion, Mexico: 36$ billion; Philippines: 34$ billion and Egypt: 29$ billion.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi Apprised about MoU between India and Saudi Arabia for cooperation in the field of Housing.

President Ram Nath Kovind has been conferred with the highest State honor of Bolivia, "Condor de Los Andes en el Grado de Gran Collar" during his visit to Bolivia. President of Bolivia Evo Morales awarded him the Honour at a function held in Santa Cruz. On the second day of President's three-day visit to Bolivia, India and Bolivia signed eight MoUs in the fields of culture, Visa waiver arrangement for diplomats, exchange between diplomatic academies, mining, space, traditional medicine, establishment of Centre of Excellence in IT and Bi-Oceanic Railway project. India offered a 100 million US Dollar Line of Credit to Bolivia for financing development projects. Both countries also agreed on the need for reform of the UN Security Council to make it reflective of contemporary realities. President is in Bolivia on the 2nd leg of his 3 nation tour. He is on a three-nation visit to Croatia, Bolivia, and Chile.

The government of India, has put a complete ban on import of solid plastic waste/scrap into the country. Import of plastic was earlier partly banned as it was prohibited in special economic zones (SEZ) but allowed by Export-Oriented units (EOUs) who would obtain it from other countries in the form of post-recycling resources .This complete prohibition has been done by amendment of Hazardous Waste (Management & Trans-boundary Movement) Rules on March 1.The rule is a part of India's aim to completely phase out single-use plastic by 2022. A study by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) states that 10,376 tonnes (40%) out of the 25,940 tonnes of plastic waste per day remains uncollected in the country.

The 13th Conference of Parties (COP) of the Convention on the conservation of migratory species of wild animals (CMS), an environmental treaty under the aegis of United Nations Environment Programme, is going to be hosted by India during 15th to 22nd February 2020 at Gandhinagar in Gujarat. Representatives from 129 Parties and eminent conservationists and international NGOs working in the field of wildlife conservation are expected to attend the COP.

Gram Samridhi Yojana, a Rs 3,000 crore scheme funded by the World Bank and the Government of India, is being worked upon by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries in order to strengthen the unorganised food processing sector concentrated in rural areas. World Bank will be giving Rs 1,500 crore and Rs 1,000 crore will be borne by the Centre while state governments will put in Rs 500 crore. The scheme will be run in Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Punjab for a five-year period in the initial phase and thereafter in other states of the country. NITI Aayog has given its approval to the scheme and now the proposal is pending with the Expenditure Finance Committee for clearance.

Dearness Allowance (DA) to central government employees and Dearness Relief to pensioners has been increased from 9% to 12% with effect from January 1, 2019. This move will benefit 48.41 lakh central government employees and 62.03 lakh pensioners. The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both DA and DR would be Rs 9,168.12 crore per annum and Rs 10,696.14 crore in 2019-20 (for a period of 14 months from January 2019 to February 2020). Previously, the Cabinet had increased dearness allowance in March 2018, from 5% to 7% in accordance with the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC).

Norway is ranked first in the World Press Freedom Index 2019 for the third year running while Finland (up two places) has taken second place from the Netherlands (down one at 4th). India dropped two places to be ranked 140th out of 180 countries in the global press freedom index analysis. Violence against journalists - including police violence, attacks by Maoist fighters and reprisals by criminal groups or corrupt politicians - is one of the most striking characteristics of the current state of press freedom in India.