International News
Finland will become the 31st member of NATO after Turkey's Approval
- Finland will now be formally admitted to NATO at the next summit in Lithuania in July 2023.
- Despite Russia's opposition to Finland's membership, Turkey's acceptance has allowed the expansion of NATO. Finland is now set to become the 7th NATO country on the Baltic Sea.
Italy Becomes First Western Country to Ban Chat GPT Over Privacy Concerns
- Chat GPT is already blocked in many countries including China, Iran, North Korea and Russia. The Italian watchdog said it will not only block Open AI's chatbot but will also investigate whether it complies with the General Data Protection Regulation.
- ChatGPT has gained wide global attention for its ability to generate essays, songs, exams and even news articles from brief prompts.
National News
Telangana Urban Development Minister launches 'Lake Development Program'
- These lakes have been adopted by real estate developers under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) scheme.
- The benefits of the Telangana Lake Development Program include rejuvenating and developing 50 water bodies in and around Hyderabad.
Foreign Trade Policy 2023 released by Union Minister Piyush Goyal
- It is a policy document which is a continuation of time-tested schemes facilitating exports. Earlier FTP 2015-20 was working.
- The key features of the policy include ease of doing business, reduction in transaction cost and e-initiatives. Automatic approval of various permissions under Foreign Trade Policy based on process simplification and technology implementation.
Banking
GST Revenue Collection Increases 13% to Rs 1.60 lakh crore in March 2023
- Out of the total collection, CGST is 29,546 crore rupees, SGST is 37,314 crore rupees and IGST is 82,907 crore rupees, including ₹42,503 crores collected on import of goods.
- While cess contributed 10,355 crore rupees, including 960 crore rupees collected on the import of goods.
Government Hikes Interest Rates of Small Savings Schemes
- The interest rates for popular PPF and savings deposits have been retained at 7.1 percent and 4 percent, respectively, there has been an increase between 0.1 percent and 0.7 percent in other saving schemes.
- The highest increase was in the interest rate of the National Savings Certificate (NSC), which will now attract 7.5 percent, up from 7 percent, for the April 1 to June 30, 2023 period.
