Current Affairs 2018

PM Modi launches world’s largest healthcare scheme

PM Narendra Modi on Sunday launched the world’s largest state-funded health insurance scheme, Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, which aims to provide free secondary and tertiary care to 50 crore people across the country.

Calling the scheme a “game changer”, Modi said the plan will change the healthcare scenario in India and will form a model for other countries to follow and replicate.

Ibrahim Mohamed Solih Won Presidential Election In Maldives

Opposition leader Ibrahim Mohamed Solih won the Maldives' presidential election, a surprise defeat for President Abdulla Yameen. Results released by the Elections Commission showed Solih had secured 58.3% of the popular vote.
The poll is being closely watched by regional rivals India and China, who are jostling to influence Indian Ocean nations. The European Union and the United States, meanwhile, have threatened sanctions if the vote is not free and fair.

BRICS Bank Approves $525-mn Loan For Infra Projects In MP

The BRICS' New Development Bank has approved a $525-million loan for infrastructure projects in India. The loan will be used by the Indian government for on-lending to the Madhya Pradesh government for rehabilitating major district roads with a total length of about 2,000 km.
The loan aims to improve connectivity of the rural interior with the national and state highways.

Fitch raises India growth forecast to 7.8% this fiscal

Fitch Ratings Friday upped India's growth forecast for the current fiscal to 7.8 per cent, from 7.4 per cent earlier, but flagged rising oil bill and higher interest rates as key concerns.

Fitch, in its Global Economic Outlook, said it expects inflation to rise to the upper end of the central bank's target band (4 per cent, plus-minus 2 per cent) on relatively high demand-pull pressures and rupee depreciation.