A software developer called Satoshi Nakamoto proposed bitcoin, which was an electronic payment system based on mathematical proof. The idea was to produce a currency independent of any central authority, transferable electronically, more or less instantly, with very low transaction fees. Bitcoin’s most important characteristic, and the thing that makes it different to conventional money, is that it is decentralized. Bitcoin is created digitally, by a community of people that anyone canjoin. Bitcoins are ‘mined’, using computing power in a distributed network.This network also processes transactions made with the virtual currency, effectively making bitcoin its own payment network.The bitcoin protocol –the rules that make bitcoin work –say that only 21 million bitcoins can ever be created by miners. However, these coins can be divided into smaller parts (the smallest divisible amount is one hundred millionth of a bitcoin and is called a ‘Satoshi’, after the founder of bitcoin). Bitcoin stores details of every single transaction that ever happened in the network in a huge version of a general ledger, called the blockchain.

India has the Highest Income Inequality according to the ‘World Inequality Report 2018’, released by World Inequality Lab based at Paris School of Economics. India’s Top 1% of earners grabbed 22% share of national income, while bottom 50% managed to get only 15% share.

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the ‘Saubhagya’ (Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana) scheme to provide subsidy on equipment like transformers, meters, and wires and is expected to cover allrural families after expected electrification of all villages by the end of 2018.Note:The total outlay for the Saubhagya scheme will be Rs 16,320 crore.

The Department of Economic Affairs, Finance Ministry of India presents the Economic Surveyin the parliament every year, just before the Union Budget. It is prepared under the guidance of theChief Economic Adviser, Finance Ministry. It is the ministry's view on the annual economic development of the country.

The bank rateis the rate of interest at which banks takelong term loansfrom Reserve Bank of India (RBI) by putting no collateral security. It is the rate at which RBI rediscounts the bills of exchange and government securities held by the commercial banks. For controlling the credit, inflation and money supply, RBI increases the bank rate.