• National

PM Modi Reconstitutes NITI Aayog; Shah Appointed Ex-Officio Member

• PM Narendra Modi reconstituted NITI Aayog, renaming Rajiv Kumar as its VC and appointing home minister Amit Shah,Defence minister Rajnath Singh, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman & agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar as its ex-officio members.
• Rajiv Kumar will continue as vice-chairman of the body, along with other full-time members V K Saraswat, Ramesh Chand and V K Paul.
• Debroy was appointed full-time member when the Aayog was formed via a resolution of the Union Cabinet on January 1, 2015.

• National

India to have 88 million 5G connections by 2025

• Global telecom industry body GSMA expects India to have 920 million unique mobile subscribers by 2025, which will include 88 million 5G connections.
• “5G connections in India are forecast to reach 88 million by 2025.
• This will leave India trailing regional peers such as China, which is set to see almost 30 per cent of its total connection base on 5G by 2025,”

According to GSMA, the data consumption pattern in India on 4G network supports in time uptake of new 5G devices and services.

• International

Nigeria’s UN envoy Tijjani Muhammad-Bande elected UNGA President

• Nigeria’s Ambassador to the UN, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, has been elected as the next President of the General Assembly.
• He will succeed incumbent Maria Fernanda Espinosa & was elected by acclamation as President of the 74th session of the General Assembly.
• The long-pending reform of the powerful 15-nation UN organ has made little progress after the Inter-Governmental Negotiatins (IGN) a decade ago.
• The negotiations process for UNSC reforms is headed for a roll-over to the next UNGA session that starts in September without making much headway this year.

• International

Russia launched first Arctic train service

• In Russia, the first tourist train traveling through Russia’s Arctic region and on to Norway, set off from St. Petersburg.
• The tourists came from 7 countries including the US, Germany, Norway and Russia.
• The train is named, Zarengold.

• Economy and Business

India Ranks 95 Among 129 Countries in Global Gender Equality Index;Denmark tops

• India ranked 95th out of 129 countries in global gender equality index, looking at aspects such as poverty, health, education, literacy, political representation & equality at workplace.
• The SDGG Index has been developed by UK-based Equal Measures 2030.
• The new index includes 51 indicators across 14 of the 17 official Sustainable Development Goals and covers 129 countries across all regions of the world.

• Economy and Business

FDI in services sector up 37% in 2018-19

• Foreign direct investment in the services sector grew 36.5 per cent to $9.15 billion in 2018-19, according to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
• The sector attracted FDI worth $6.7 billion in 2017-18.
• The services sector includes finance, banking, insurance, outsourcing, R&D, courier, tech testing and analysis.

• Important Days

World Food Safety Day is being celebrated on June 7

• World Food Safety Day is celebrated on 7 June to draw global attention to the consequences of contaminated food and water to the health.
• It focuses on the way to reduce the risk of food poisoning.
• The celebration of the inaugural edition of World Food Safety Day will be facilitated by World Health Organisation (WHO), in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
• This UN’s initiative will be celebrated every year on June 7 to throw some light on the importance of safe food and to reduce the problems related to it.

• Obituaries

Celebrated chef and culinary revivalist Jaspal Inder Singh Kalra passed away

• Celebrated chef and culinary revivalist Jaspal Inder Singh Kalra passed away , aged 71.
• Kalra, who held titles like the “Czar of Indian Cuisine” and “Taste maker to the Nation”, conferred upon him by eminent writer Khushwant Singh, was best known for his role as a culinary revivalist.

• Miscellaneous

Hardeep S Puri launched Swachh Survekshan 2020 League

• Hardeep Singh Puri launched Swachh Survekshan 2020 League in New Delhi.
• The league will be a quarterly cleanliness assessment of cities and towns in India.
• The objective of the Swachh Survekshan survey is to encourage large scale citizen participation.

• Agreements

India notifies tax info exchange pact with Marshall Islands

• India has notified a tax information exchange agreement (TIEA) with the Marshall Islands.
• It will enable bilateral sharing of banking information and allow officials of one country to undertake tax examinations in the other.
• TIEA between India and Marshall Islands for exchange of information with respect to taxes was signed in 2016 at Majuro, the Capital of the Marshall Islands.
• It was notified by India on May 21, 2019.