6th BRICS Summit to be held in Fortaleza, Brazil from 15-17 July 2014

1.    6th BRICS Summit to be held in Fortaleza, Brazil from 15-17 July 2014

i. The 6th BRICS summit will be the sixth annual diplomatic meeting of the BRICS, a grouping of major emerging economies that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

ii. It will be hosted by Brazil, as the first host country of the current five-year summit cycle, the host city will be Fortaleza.

iii. PM Narendra Modi will be attending the two-day summit of five-nation BRICS forum in Brazil next week when it is likely to give a concrete shape to establishment of a Development Bank and pitch for reforms of the UN Security Council.

iv. Modi’s first participation in a multilateral meeting after taking over as Prime Minister will also give him an opportunity to meet with world leaders including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin apart from leaders of South America. 
v. Summit host and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has invited leaders of South American nations including those from Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuala and Surinam for the summit following on the footsteps of South Africa which invited African nations to the last year's Summit in Durban. 

Note: 5^th BRICS Summit 2013 was held in Durban, South Africa.

2.    C Rangarajan sets poverty line at Rs. 32 per day in rural & Rs. 47 in Urban areas

i. A panel headed by former Economic Advisor to Prime Minister, C Rangarajan sets poverty line at Rupees 32 per day in rural areas and Rupees 47 in Urban areas.

ii. The panel has dismissed the Tendulkar Committee report on estimating poverty, which had suggested persons spending below 33 Rupees per-day mark in Urban areas to be considered poor. He also said that the number of poor in India was much higher in 2011-12 at 29.5 per cent of the population, which means that three out of 10 persons are poor.

iii. The Rangarajan Committee was set up last year to review the Tendulkar Committee methodology for estimating poverty and clear the ambiguity over the number of poor in the country.

3.    Kamla Beniwal  appointed as new Governor of Mizoram

i. Governor of Gujarat, Kamla Beniwal was transferred and appointed as Governor of Mizoram for the remainder of her term.