PM inspired stimulus package may come as early as this weekend

  • After revoking Article 370 granting special status to Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has begun to focus on the beleaguered economy haemorrhaging in an ugly manner
  • In his meeting with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her team, Modi has argued for quick alleviation measures. With the FPI surcharge causing cataclysmic corrections in the capital markets
  • The BSE Sensex has seen a drop of 8 per cent since early June, accentuated after the Budget speech which imposed the tax, and the Prime Minister is reportedly concerned about disinvestment receipts which are contingent on a stable equity market

Heavy Rain In Himachal Pradesh’s Dharamshala, high alert in Punjab

  • All educational institutions will remain closed due to heavy rains in Dharamshala district in Himachal Pradesh on Saturday
  • According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the district will continue to receive rainfall accompanied by a thunderstorm for the next two days
  • Separately, the Punjab government on Friday issued an alert in the state after a weather forecast predicted heavy rainfall in the next 48 to 72 hours

In another setback, US cuts $440 million financial aid to Pak

  • In another jolt to Pakistan, the United States slashed the aid to the cash-strapped nation by nearly USD 440 million, bringing down its commitment to just $4.1 billion
  • The aid was disbursed under Pakistan Enhanced Partnership Agreement (PEPA) 2010, reported Express Tribune
  • The US apprised Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan about its decision to cut aid three weeks before his planned visit to Washington

Indonesia to move its capital from Jakarta, the ‘sinking city’

  • One of the fastest-sinking cities on earth, environmental experts warn that one third of it could be submerged by 2050 if current rates continue
  • Decades of uncontrolled and excessive depletion of groundwater reserves, rising sea-levels, and increasingly volatile weather patterns mean swathes of it have already started to disappear
  • “The capital of our country will move to the island of Borneo,” Indonesian leader Joko Widodo said on Twitter