Contents
- YUKTI 2.0
- India-Russia defence cooperation
- Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) comparison: World Bank
YUKTI 2.0
Focus: GS-II Social Justice
Why in news?
Union Minister of Human Resource Development launched an initiative (Young India combating COVID with Knowledge, Technology and Innovation) ‘YUKTI 2.0’ to help systematically assimilate technologies having commercial potential and information related to incubated start-ups in our higher education institutions.
YUKTI 2.0 is logical extension of earlier version of ‘YUKTI’.
Details
- The portal intends to cover the different dimensions of COVID-19 challenges in a very holistic and comprehensive way.
- The portal is set-up to ensure that students, teachers and researchers in higher educational institutions are getting appropriate support to meet the requirements needed to advance their technologies and innovations.
- YUKTI 2.0 will also help in fostering the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in our academic institutions.
- It will also help us identify many more disruptive solutions from our higher and technical institutions.
- YUKTI 2.0 aims to emerge as Market place for connecting innovators with investors, so that innovative technologies can be taken forward for commercialization.
INDIA-RUSSIA DEFENCE COOPERATION
Focus: GS-II International Relationship
Why in news?
- India’s Defence Minister reviewed India-Russia defence cooperation with the Deputy Prime minister of Russian Federation during their discussions on bilateral cooperation and regional issues.
- India and Russia enjoy Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership and defence relationship is one of its important pillars.
- India’s Defence Minister is on a 3-day visit to Moscow at the invitation of the Russian Defence Minister to attend the 75th Anniversary of Victory Day Parade marking the end of WW-II.
India-Russia relations
- Indo-Russian relations foreign policy are the bilateral relations between India and Russia.
- During the Cold War, India and the Soviet Union (USSR) had a strong strategic, military, economic and diplomatic relationship. After the Dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia inherited its close relationship with India which resulted in both nations sharing a special relationship.
- Traditionally, the Indo-Russian strategic partnership has been built on five major components: politics, defence, civil nuclear energy, anti-terrorism co-operation, space and even economy.
- The powerful IRIGC (India-Russia Intergovernmental Commission) is the main body that conducts affairs at the governmental level between both countries
- Both countries are members of UN, BRICS, G20 and SCO amongst others.
- Russia has stated publicly that it supports India receiving a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.
India-Russia Defence Cooperation
- Defence cooperation is an important pillar of the India-Russia strategic partnership.
- India is the second largest market for the Russian defence industry.
- In 2017, approximately 70% of the Indian Military’s hardware import came from Russia, making Russia the chief supplier of defence equipment.
- It is guided by the Programme for Military Technical Cooperation signed between the two countries.
- The two sides also have periodic exchanges of armed forces personnel and military exercises.
- India and Russia have an institutionalized structure to oversee the complete range of issues of military technical cooperation. The India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC), set up in 2000, is at the apex of this structure.
- Joint exercises between the two Armed Forces are held under the title “INDRA”.
- Bilateral projects currently underway include indigenous production of T-90 tanks and Su-30-MKI aircraft, supply of MiG-29-K aircraft and Kamov-31 and Mi-17 helicopters, upgrade of MiG-29 aircraft and supply of Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher Smerch.
PURCHASING POWER PARITY (PPP) COMPARISON: WORLD BANK
Focus: GS-III Indian Economy
Why in news?
The World Bank has released new Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) for reference year 2017, under International Comparison Program (ICP), that adjusts for differences in the cost of living across economies of the World.
International Comparison Program (ICP)
- The International Comparison Program (ICP) is the largest worldwide data-collection initiative, under the guidance of UN Statistical Commission (UNSC), with the goal of producing Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) which are vital for converting measures of economic activities to be comparable across economies.
- The PPPs generated by the ICP have a basis from a worldwide price survey that compares the prices of hundreds of various goods and services.
- Every three years, the World Bank releases a report that compares the productivity and growth of various countries in terms of PPP and U.S. dollars.
- Both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) use weights based on PPP metrics to make predictions and recommend economic policy.
- Along with the PPPs, the ICP also produces Price Level Indices (PLI) and other regionally comparable aggregates of GDP expenditure.
India and ICP
- India has participated in almost all ICP rounds since its inception in 1970.
- The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation is National Implementing Agency (NIA) for India, which has the responsibility of planning, coordinating and implementing national ICP activities.
- India is also proud to have been a co-Chair of the ICP Governing Board along with Statistics Austria for the ICP 2017 cycle.
Highlights for India
- The Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) of Indian Rupee per US$ at Gross Domestic Product (GDP) level is now just over 20 in 2017 from just over 15 in 2011.
- The Exchange Rate of US Dollar to Indian Rupee, is around 1$ = 75 INR now and was around 65 in 2017 from just over 45 in 2011.
- The Price Level Index (PLI) is the ratio of a PPP to its corresponding market exchange rate (which is used to compare the price levels of economies) – which for India is more than 47 in 2017 from almost 43 in 2011.
- In 2017, India retained and consolidated its global position, as the third largest economy, accounted for 6.7 percent of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in terms of PPPs as against China (16.4%) and United States (16.3%), respectively.
- India is also third largest economy in terms of its PPP-based share in global Actual Individual Consumption and Global Gross Capital Formation.
- In 2017, India retained its regional position, as the second largest economy (Just over 20%). China was at slightly over 50 % at first and Indonesia at over 7% was third.
What is Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)?
- One popular macroeconomic analysis metric to compare economic productivity and standards of living between countries is purchasing power parity (PPP).
- Purchasing power parity (PPP) is a popular metric used by macroeconomic analysts that compares different countries’ currencies through a “basket of goods” approach.
- Purchasing power parity (PPP) allows for economists to compare economic productivity and standards of living between countries.
- Some countries adjust their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures to reflect PPP.
