Niti Aayog sets up task force to brainstorm on agriculture reforms

• The task force will include state chief ministers and central ministers. The timeframe for making recommendations will be announced shortly
• The task force will examine ways of improving productivity in farming and the changes needed in legislation

Making India $5 trillion economy challenging but achievable, says PM Modi

• 'States should recognise their core competence, and work towards raising GDP targets right from the district level'
• 'The spirit of per-drop, more-crop should be promoted'

Amitav Ghosh on myth, magic and his new novel, 'Gun Island'

• Winner of the 2018 Jnanpith award, Amitav Ghosh's new novel 'Gun Island' tells a story of migration, climate change and human-animal conflict
• The novel moves from the Sundarbans in West Bengal to Venice in Italy

West Bengal doctors in no mood to relent despite CM Mamata Banerjee's offer

• Chief minister Mamata Banerjee urged agitating doctors to resume work and said her government had accepted all their demands
• Bengal governor KN Tripathi wrote to Mamata Banerjee, advising her to take immediate steps to provide security to the medicos and find out a solution to the impasse

Centre seeks report from Mamata Banerjee govt on ongoing violence in West Bengal

• Centre on Saturday sought a report from the West Bengal Government on measures taken to contain political violence
• This is the second such advisory sent by the Centre to West Bengal

Take immediate steps to ensure security for doctors, WB governor advises CM

• Chief minister Mamata Banerjee said that she apprised the governor about the steps taken by the state government to resolve the impasse in hospitals
• Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi advised her to take the doctors into confidence about the arrangements of their security

India to impose retaliatory tariff on 28 US goods from Sunday

• The US had announced its decision to withdraw the preferential duty benefits to India in March
• Indo-US trade stood at about $142.1 billion in 2018

Production cuts restrict decline in retail sales of vehicles to 7.5% in May

• Demand slump in both urban and rural markets led to a year-on-year decline of 8.6% in sales of two-wheelers
• Customers’ decision to wait for the general elections results before making a big-ticket purchase, also contributed to the demand slowdown

Bowler-friendly Old Trafford will test arch rivals India, Pakistan

• It’s been raining in Manchester, and showers are forecast on match day as well
• Mint tells you what to look for in Game 22 on Sunday, which marks the midpoint of the league phase

Hours after Gujarat CM's all-clear, IMD says cyclone Vayu could recurve

• The intensity of the very severe cyclonic storm is also likely to reduce
• Gujarat government has been alerted about the possible recurvature of the cyclonic storm

May trade deficit widens to a six-month high

• Rising crude oil prices could further increase imports and put pressure on India’s current account deficit
• Rising crude oil prices, amid sanctions on Iranian oil imports, could further increase imports and put pressure on India’s current account deficit

Opinion | Planning higher education for your little one

Like most other goals, a high quality education goal(s) can be achieved, with the right planning, discipline and execution

Government promises to fix issues plaguing Indian airline industry

• Civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri says domestic carriers deserve a level playing field
• There has also been an airline capacity shortage problems following the grounding of Jet Airways

Huawei to countries: Welcome us in and we'll invest big time

• Huawei will invest heavily in those countries where we are welcome: Andrew Williamson vice president—public affairs and communications, Huawei
• Huawei is working with every major carrier, including AT&T Inc. and America Movil SAB

Flipkart, GOQii settle dispute over sharp discounting

• GOQii, a seller of smartwatch-type health devices, sued Flipkart last month, alleging its devices were discounted by around 70% to the retail price, much more than the two sides had agreed
• The court had, as an interim measure, ordered device sales to be halted on Flipkart

AIIMS doctors issue 48-hour ultimatum to Mamata Banerjee to end ongoing strike

• RDA issues an ultimatum of 48 hours to the West Bengal government to meet the demands of the striking doctors, says AIIMS RDA
• Safdarjung Hospital RDA president Parakash Thakur also echoed a similar stand on the matter

Opinion | How populists gain electoral traction and win

Populism appeals to the growing cohort of those who are disillusioned with existing arrangements

Donald Trump warns of epic stock market crash if he's not re-elected

• 'If anyone but me takes over, there will be a Market Crash the likes of which has not been seen before'
• 'The US stock market would be 5,000 to 10,000 points higher if the Federal Reserve hadn’t raised interest rates four times in 2018'

Rain may dampen Star's plans to earn around ₹100 cr from India-Pak WC match

• Star has pinned high hopes on the match, charging more than a 50% premium on last minute ad spot buying
• Star India has pinned high hopes on the India-Pakistan match, charging more than a 50% premium on last-minute ad spot buying, with 10-second ad slot rates touching ₹25 lakh

$135 million: What Ivanka Trump, Kushner earned last year as Trump's aides

• Ivanka Trump's stake in her family's Washington hotel down the street from the Oval Office generated $3.95 mn in revenue in 2018
• The disclosure for Jared Kushner shows that he took in hundreds of thousands of dollars from his holdings of New York City apartments

ICC cricket World Cup 2019: Predicted India line-up against Pakistan

• The match between the two nations at the 1999 cricket World Cup was also played at Old Trafford, Manchester; where India went on to beat Pakistan by 47 runs
• India have never lost to Pakistan in a World Cup match

American Honda recalling all 2016-2019 Pioneer 1000 vehicles

• Japanese automaker cited a possible malfunctioning with the side-by-side vehicle’s throttle pedal which could result in 'loss of vehicle control'
• Earlier this year, Honda said it would recall more than a million vehicles in the US to replace a batch of faulty air bag parts

Know your equity, debt funds

• The average one-year returns of close ended schemes are 6.86% and three-year returns are 8.97%
• The average one-year return of open-ended debt schemes is 8.06%, three-year returns 7.2% and average five-year returns is 7.85%

Nirmala Sitharaman meets economists for budget suggestions

• Sitharaman is expected to present budget on 5 July
• Economists present at the meeting suggested reforms pertaining to import duty, maintaining fiscal consolidation

In relief to telcos, Trai told to review reserve price for  5G spectrum

• Trai has been asked to respond to DoT’s request on reserve prices with revised suggestions within a month
• Bharti Airtel has said 5G prices are exorbitant, while Vodafone Idea suggested the 5G auction should happen in 2020

War risk insurance soars for Middle East tankers after attacks in Gulf of Oman

• War risk premiums that owners pay each time they go to the Persian Gulf have now surged to at least $185,000 for supertankers
• The premiums rose to $50,000 after the attacks a month ago

A Pak batsman has a strategy to defeat India: Watching Virat Kohli's videos

• Pakistan suffered a 124-run defeat against India in the opening match of the Champions Trophy but hit back by crushing their arch-rivals in the final
• Babar said his side would take inspiration from their Champions Trophy final victory over India two years ago

TechM to appoint Shikha Sharma, Haigreve Khaitan as independent directors

• The company would seek approval on the appointments at the ensuing 32nd Annual General Meeting of the company on 31 July
• Tech Mahindra also said that R Ravi Kulkarni and Anupam Puri, who are currently independent directors on the board, have opted not to be re-appointed

Sebi tells rating firms to disclose probability of default for issuers they rate

• Probability to be based on a 10-year marginal default rate and the economic cycle
• This is the fifth change for rating agencies in the past three years to improve transparency and processes

Real estate index gains the most as sales volume picks up pace

• New launches under Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act have seen a sharp rise, leading to higher sales
• The once unorganized real estate sector is now getting legitimacy, with organized developers launching more properties under the legislation

Row over Southern Railway circular making English, Hindi mandatory

• Officials in the Southern Railway clarified that the circular was "purely internal"
• Ramadoss wondered if there was any "gag" on communicating in Tamil among the railway staff

Think your manager doesn’t know what you do? You may be right

• There are lessons for Indian managers too as the observations cover strategy, culture, employment brand, coaching, and the future of work
• The study finds that only 34% of employees say their managers are aware of what project or tasks they are doing

Gruh Finance falls 7.5% after report of promoter stake sale

• The stock hit an intraday low of ₹285.30 and fell as much as 7.5%
• As of March HDFC holds 411.56 million shares or 56.09% stake in the company

Enough downloads, it’s time to stream games from cloud

Cloud gaming lets gamers play without heavy hardware, making gaming more accessible

Debit cards continue digital payment dominance

• Debit card transactions in April record 1.21 billion transactions worth ₹3.39 trillion
• Out of this, 808.91 million transactions worth ₹2.84 trillion took place via ATMs, with the rest through point of sale (POS) terminals

Hottest crypto is up 360% this year and its name isn’t Bitcoin

• This year’s top-performing cryptocurrency is up almost fourfold and you’ve likely never heard of it
• Cryptocurrencies are undergoing a renaissance this year on the back of wider acceptance from mainstream institutions and increased attention from Wall Street

Importance of Bitcoin futures has been understated, JPMorgan says

• 'The importance of the listed futures market has been significantly understated,' Panigirtzoglou wrote
• Bitwise said in the report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in March that some exchanges inflate their trading volumes

Amazon plans to tap students, housewives to speed up deliveries

• An Amazon Flex delivery partner can earn ₹120-140 an hour delivering packages, working four hours a day
• India is the seventh country where Amazon Flex has been launched

India hopes to rake in $84 billion from airwaves auction in 2019

• The telecom watchdog had recommended in August last year that price bands be lowered for some telecom airwaves to make them more viable
• Spectrum auctions -- a significant source of revenue for the national exchequer in the past

N Chandrasekaran hints at more collaboration among Tata group firms

• Chandrasekaran, a career TCSian who rose to the top of the group, said there is a case for senior employees at the largest software exporter to be paid more
• The $100-billion plus group is working on a comprehensive plan to get down its water usage and carbon footprint

Star looks to earn ₹100 crore from India-Pakistan World Cup match through ads

• Star is charging ₹25 lakh for 10 second ad slots during the match, up from ₹16-18 lakh for other India games
• With about 5,500 seconds of total inventory, Star is expected to generate as much as ₹100 crore from the India-Pakistan match alone

NBFC liquidity, AIFs figure in FM's pre-Budget meet with financial sector

• With a view to give boost to Indian markets, the representatives of financial sector and capital markets submitted several suggestions
• The representatives suggested capital infusion in regional banks, review of interest rates of the government’s small savings schemes

Business and pleasure - How Russian oil giant Rosneft uses its corporate jets

• Sechin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin and head of the world's largest listed oil company by production
• The jet with tail number M-YOIL is operated by a Singapore-registered company called AV Asia Developments Pte Ltd

Ola plans to set up technology centre on rival Uber’s home turf of San Francisco

• Ola’s last international expansion was in April in the UK when it launched services in seven cities
• Headquartered in Bengaluru, Ola has a presence in 150 cities across India, besides operations in the UK, Australia and New Zealand

As oil tankers burn in the gulf, investors focus on trade war

• As in the Gulf War, oil tankers are at risk, with two attacked in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday
• US bought just 1 million barrels a day from countries in the Persian Gulf in March

Agni, Aakash, Bijli, Vayu: How cyclones get their names

• Fani was the longest lasting cyclone over Bay of Bengal lasting for over 11 days
• As per the existing list, the next cyclone that forms over the Indian Ocean will be named Hikaa

EPF advance: Check how much money you can withdraw from your PF account

• An EPFO subscriber can take non-refundable PF advances during the service period for s purposes
• Under the Provident Fund scheme, you can take both refundable and non-refundable loans

Paris's Notre-Dame to celebrate first mass after fire

• Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris will host its first mass on Saturday
• For safety reasons, the mass led by Archbishop of Paris Michel Aupetit will be celebrated on a very small scale