• International

Chicago Creates History, Elects Lori Lightfoot as 1st Black-Woman Mayor

• Chicago has created history by electing an African-American woman as its mayor for the first time.
• Lori Lightfoot, a 56-year-old former federal prosecutor and practicing lawyer won the city’s mayoral race by a huge margin. Lightfoot will take over office from Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
• Lightfoot’s primary proposals include increasing access to affordable housing, creating an office of public safety to reduce crime and reform policing, and pushing through a real estate transfer tax to help combat homelessness.

• Economy and Business

1st Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement Released: Repo Rate Reduced to 6%

• On the basis of an assessment of the current and evolving macroeconomic situation, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) at its meeting today decided to Reduce the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) by 25 basis points to 6.0% from 6.25% with immediate effect.
• Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF stands adjusted to 5.75%, and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate to 6.25%.
• GDP growth for 2019-20 is projected at 7.2%.
• The MPC also decided to maintain the neutral monetary policy stance. These decisions are in consonance with the objective of achieving the medium-term target for consumer price index (CPI) inflation of 4%. The next meeting of the MPC is scheduled during June 3, 4 and 6, 2019.

• Economy and Business

RBI sets WMA Limit for Government at Rs 75000 crore for H1 of 2019-20

• The Reserve Bank of India (consultation with the Government of India) has decided that the limits for Ways and Means Advances (WMA) for the first half (April- Sep 2019) of the financial year 2019-20 will be Rs 75000 crore.
• The Reserve Bank may trigger fresh floatation of market loans when the Government of India utilises 75% of the WMA limit.
• The Reserve Bank retains the flexibility to revise the limit at any time, in consultation with the Government of India.
• The interest rate on WMA will be Repo Rate and overdraft will be 2% above the Repo Rate.

• Economy and Business

Govt permitted import of maize at 15% duty

• The government permitted import of feed grade maize at a concessional import duty of 15% with a view to meet the shortage of the poultry feed in the country.
• The import of up to 1 lakh tonne of it will be allowed on actual user condition.
• Keeping in view the urgency, the feed grade maize is proposed to be imported under TRQ (tariff rate quota) with certain relaxations and conditions.

• Sports

Pawan Munjal felicitated by Asian Tour for contribution to Golf in Asia

• Pawan Munjal, Chairman, Hero MotoCorp, the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles and scooters, was felicitated by the Asian Tour with a Special Achievement Award for his contributions to Asian Golf.
• Munjal was presented with a special salver by leading Indian golfer Shiv Kapur, representing the players on the Asian Tour.
• Pawan Munjal Felicitated by Asian Tour for Contribution to Golf in Asia.

• Appointments

Vikram Patel Awarded the Prestigious John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health Award

• The Gairdner Foundation announced the 2019 Canada Gairdner Award laureates, recognizing Goa and Boston-based Vikram Patel, Ph.D., F. Med. Sci., for his research career raising the global profile of mental health problems.
• Prof Patel has been awarded 2019, John Dirks, Canada Gairdner Global Health Award for his world-leading research in global mental health, generating knowledge on the burden and determinants of mental health problems in low-and-middle-income countries.

• Appointments

UN Appoints Nicholas Koumjian As Investigation Head for Myanmar

• The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres announced the appointment of Nicholas Koumjian of the United States as the head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar.
• International criminal justice lawyer Nicholas Koumjian will serve as the first head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism (IIM) for Myanmar, which was established by the Human Rights Council in September 2018 and welcomed by the UN General Assembly in December 2018.

• Appointments

Mayuri Kango is now Google India industry head

• Mayuri Kango has now joined Google India as its industry head.
• Earlier, Mayuri Kango Kango was the managing director of Performics Resultrix, part of the Publicis Group.
• She has also worked with Digitas as associate director, media and Zenith as chief digital officer.
• At the age of 15-years, Kango chose films over getting enrolled in IIT Kanpur and went on to make her acting debut with National Award-winning film ‘Naseem’.
• She later appeared in films like ‘Papa Kehte Hain’, ‘Betaabi’, ‘Hogi Pyaar Ki Jeet’, ‘Badal’ and ‘Papa the Great’.

• States

Sana Dua: Brand ambassador J&K election dept

• Lawyer-turned-model Sana Dua would be the brand ambassador of the Jammu and Kashmir election department for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
• She was the first runner-up in the Femina Miss India 2017 contest and has also participated in the Miss United Continents 2017 and figured among the top 10 contestants.

• Agreements

Reliance Jio signed pact with Haptik

• Reliance Jio Digital Services Limited (RJDSL) entered into an agreement with Haptik Infotech Pvt. Ltd., for Rs. 700 crores.
• On a fully-diluted basis, Reliance would hold about 87% of the business.
• The focus of the investment is on enhancement and expansion of the platform, with an addressable market opportunity of more than one billion users in India.