08th-09th May, 2023

1. Central Govt has set up an 11-member committee, under the chairmanship of Additional Secretary of Department of Agriculture Research and Education and ICAR (incumbent: Sanjay Garg), to restructure the Indian Council of Agriculture Research.
2. ISRO has launched a new introductory-level online training programme called ‘Space Science and Technology Awareness Training (START)’ aimed at post-graduate and final-year undergraduate students of physical sciences and technology.
3. Trade ministers of India and Canada will review the progress on the proposed free trade agreement between the two countries to strengthen economic ties.
4. Two new labs – Renewable Grid Integration Laboratory and Green Hydrogen Laboratory – were inaugurated at the IIT Roorkee’s Department of Hydro and Renewable Energy (HRED).
5. A total of 3 Cheetahs, which were brought in India from South Africa, have died. A total of 20 Cheetahs (8 from Namibia and 12 from South Africa).
6. 8th anniversaries of the three social security schemes — Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY).
7. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will set up Asia’s largest bio-gas plant in Mumbai to scientifically treat the segregated wet-waste of the city into compressed biogas (CBG).
8. Uttar Pradesh has launched the “School Health Program” for preparing the digital health report card for children – the first in India.
9. Rajasthan announced three new conservation reserves, which are Sorsan in Baran, Khichan in Jodhpur, and Hamirgarh in Bhilwara.
10. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone and dedicated to the nation various development projects worth more than ₹4,850 crores at Silvassa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
11. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid foundation stone and inaugurated various developmental projects worth over ₹5,500 crore in Nathdwara, Rajasthan.
12. A mutual firefighting exercise named AGNI DAMAN-23 was conducted at 29 Field Ammunition Depot, Dehu Road, Maharashtra under the aegis of headquarter of Southern Command.
13. Indian Air Force’s first C295 medium transport aircraft has completed its maiden flight at Seville, Spain.
14. Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) has designed ALS 50 Loitering Munitions for Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) and has successfully demonstrated its capability to carry out precision strikes during trials and tests.
15. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated India’s first Indian Air Force Heritage Centre in Chandigarh’s Sector 18.
16. Federation of Indian Export Organisations (Indian Apex exporters body) has signed an MoU with Business Russia to promote trade and investments between the two countries.
17. NASA has announced the winners of the 2023 Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC) – the annual engineering competition – one of NASA’s longest standing challenges.
18. WHO has launched Preparedness and Resilience for Emerging Threats Initiative (PRET) to provide guidance on integrated planning for responding to any respiratory pathogen such as influenza or coronaviruses.
19. Rocket Lab has launched two cubesats (satellites) onboard the Electron rocket.
20. Sweden’s space agency launched the microgravity research rocket named TEXUS-58, which has crashed in Norway.
21. Arab League has re-admitted Syria after an 11-year absence, following an extraordinary meeting at the Arab League’s headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.
22. According to a report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and QED Investors, revenues in the financial technology sector are projected to grow sixfold from $245 billion to $1.5 trillion by 2030.
23. BharatPe Group has announced to rebrand its Payback India, multi-brand loyalty program, as Zillion.
24. Visa has launched the cardholder verification value (CVV)-free cards to allow users to carry out online transactions without the entering the CVV, if the card has been tokenised.
25. Vistara has become the first Indian airline to operate a commercial plane i.e., Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner using Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).
26. Reliance General Insurance has become the first general insurance company to accept RBI’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) e-Rupee (e₹) for premium payments.
27. SBI General Insurance launched a fully customizable digital-only health product ‘Health Edge Insurance’.
28. NPCI Bharat BillPay Ltd (NBBL) has launched the NOCS platform to provide reconciliation and settlement services for transactions undertaken on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) network.
29. Neobanking startup Jupiter has secured a non-banking finance company (NBFC) licence from RBI.
30. RBI cancelled the banking licence (dated January 03, 1987) granted to The Adoor Co-operative Urban Bank (Adoor, Kerala).
31. Amazon Web Services (AWS) has launched two skill development programmes for quantum computing in India.
32. RBI added 22 metric tonnes of gold in its reserves in FY23, taking the total gold reserves to 794.64 metric tonnes.
33. Hari Hara Mishra has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Asset Reconstruction Companies.
34. April 26 – International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day
35. May 3 – International Leopard Day
36. May 6 – International No Diet Day
37. May 7 – 64th Raising Day of Border Roads Organization
38. May 8 – World Thalassemia Day; Theme – “Be Aware. Share. Care: Strengthening Education to Bridge the Thalassaemia Care Gap”
39. May 8 – World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day; Theme – Everything we do comes #fromtheheart
40. Fatimah Asghar (poet and screenwriter) won inaugural Carol Shields Prize for Fiction (worth $150,000) for her debut novel “When We Were Sisters”.
41. Maria Stepanova (Russian now living in exile in Berlin) has been awarded the prestigious Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding in 2023.
42. Forbes released The World’s 10 Highest-Paid Athletes 2023.
43. Former President of India Ram Nath Kovind honoured Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath with the Bharat Ratna Dr Ambedkar Award 2023 for creating a fear-free Uttar Pradesh.
44. Prince of Arcot Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali has won the Meritorious Service Award, 2023, given by the Indo-Australian Association (IAA).
45. Biologist Sathyabhama Das Biju, who is popularly known as ‘the Frogman of India’, has been chosen for Harvard University’s prestigious Radcliffe fellowship.
46. Max Verstappen (Dutch-Belgian) has won the 2023 F1 Miami Grand Prix in Florida.
47. India has finished second by winning 2 golds, 1 silver and 1 bronze at the Archery World Cup 2023 Stage 1 in Antalya, Turkey.
48. India has won a total of three silver medals at Asian Weightlifting Championships 2023 in South Korea.
49. 2023 Madrid Open – Men’s Singles: Carlos Alcaraz (Spain); Women’s Singles: Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus)
50. Tamil Nadu Champions Foundation (TNCF) was officially launched, and the Chief Minister’s Trophy 2023 logo, mascot, and theme song were unveiled at The Leela Palace in Chennai.
51. “Sachin @50: celebrating a maestro” book has been authored by Boria Majumdar.
52. Dr Sandeep Marwah, the Chancellor of AAFT University and President of the International Chamber of Media and Entertainment Industry (ICMEI), presented the first copy of the book “8 Years of Modi Sarkar- A compilation of Achievements” to former President of India, Ram Nath Kovind.
53. The Hindi version of “Cyber Encounters“, a highly anticipated book depicting the challenges of cybercrime, was launched.
54. Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi virtually released a 113-verse book titled ‘Saurashtra Tamil Sangam Prashasti’ written by Somnath Sanskrit University.
55. Tripura’s first Padma Shri awardee, Himangshu Mohan Chowdhury, has passed away.

National News

1. Central Govt has set up an 11-member committee, under the chairmanship of Additional Secretary of Department of Agriculture Research and Education and ICAR (incumbent: Sanjay Garg), to restructure the Indian Council of Agriculture Research.

2. ISRO has launched a new introductory-level online training programme called ‘Space Science and Technology Awareness Training (START)’ aimed at post-graduate and final-year undergraduate students of physical sciences and technology.
   • The programme will cover various domains of space science, including Astronomy & Astrophysics, Helio-physics & Sun-Earth interaction, Instrumentation, and Aeronomy.
   • It will be delivered by the scientists from Indian academia and ISRO centres.
     Source: ISRO
3. Trade ministers of India and Canada will review the progress on the proposed free trade agreement between the two countries to strengthen economic ties.
   • The discussions were held during the sixth India-Canada Ministerial Dialogue on Trade and Investment (MDTI) in Ottawa.
   • Indian Pavilion was inaugurated at SIAL CANADA-2023, which is the largest food innovation trade show in North America with participation of more than 1,000 national and international exhibitors from 50 countries.

4. Two new labs – Renewable Grid Integration Laboratory and Green Hydrogen Laboratory – were inaugurated at the IIT Roorkee’s Department of Hydro and Renewable Energy (HRED).
   • IIT-Roorkee’s Director – Kamal Kishore Pant
     Source: Hindu Business Line
5. A total of 3 Cheetahs, which were brought in India from South Africa, have died. A total of 20 Cheetahs (8 from Namibia and 12 from South Africa).
   • Daksha (female Cheetah), Uday (male cheetah), and Sasha (male cheetah).
     Source: BBC
6. 8th anniversaries of the three social security schemes — Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY).
   • PMJJBY, PMSBY and APY were launched by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 9th May 2015 from Kolkata, West Bengal.
   • 2 crore, 34.2 crore and 5.2 crore enrolments have been done under PMJJBY, PMSBY & APY respectively till 26th April 2023.
     Source: PIB

State News

1. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will set up Asia’s largest bio-gas plant in Mumbai to scientifically treat the segregated wet-waste of the city into compressed biogas (CBG).
   • The BMC will set up this plant jointly with Mahanagar Gas Limited (MGL), which is a Public Sector Undertaking of the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL).
   • The plant will have a capacity to treat 1,000 tonnes of wet waste daily, making it Asia’s largest bio-gas plant.
     Source: Indian Express
2. Uttar Pradesh has launched the “School Health Program” for preparing the digital health report card for children – the first in India.
   • Under the pilot project, the School Health Program has been started by Lucknow Smart City in three schools in Lucknow.
   • The digital health report card for the overall physical and mental well-being of 1765 municipal school students is also being prepared under the project.
   • Along with this, the benefit of health insurance worth Rs 25,000 is also being given to these children.
   • The digital health report card is being prepared based on 130 parameters.
     Source: The Print
3. Rajasthan announced three new conservation reserves, which are Sorsan in Baran, Khichan in Jodhpur, and Hamirgarh in Bhilwara.
   • Sorsan in Baran will be a safe home for the Great Indian Bustard and blackbucks, the state animal of Rajasthan.
   • Khichan in Jodhpur hosts thousands of migratory Demoiselle cranes. Khichan is also India’s first conservation reserve for Demoiselle cranes.
   • With these three new additions, now there are 26 wildlife conservation reserves in Rajasthan.
     Source: Times of India
4. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone and dedicated to the nation various development projects worth more than ₹4,850 crores at Silvassa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
   Source: LiveMint
5. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid foundation stone and inaugurated various developmental projects worth over ₹5,500 crore in Nathdwara, Rajasthan.
   Source: LiveMint

Defence News

1. A mutual firefighting exercise named AGNI DAMAN-23 was conducted at 29 Field Ammunition Depot, Dehu Road, Maharashtra under the aegis of headquarter of Southern Command.
   • Purpose – for awareness and training of men on firefighting
     Source: PIB
2. Indian Air Force’s first C295 medium transport aircraft has completed its maiden flight at Seville, Spain.
   • European firm Airbus Defence and Space has developed the aircraft.

3. Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) has designed ALS 50 Loitering Munitions for Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) and has successfully demonstrated its capability to carry out precision strikes during trials and tests.
   • The loitering munitions are also known as Suicide Drones.
     Source: Economic Times
4. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated India’s first Indian Air Force Heritage Centre in Chandigarh’s Sector 18.
   Source: Indian Express

Memorandum of Understanding

1. Federation of Indian Export Organisations (Indian Apex exporters body) has signed an MoU with Business Russia to promote trade and investments between the two countries.
   Source: Economic Times

International News

1. NASA has announced the winners of the 2023 Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC) – the annual engineering competition – one of NASA’s longest standing challenges.
   • The challenge has various categories. Among these categories, India has won in the following categories.

2. WHO has launched Preparedness and Resilience for Emerging Threats Initiative (PRET) to provide guidance on integrated planning for responding to any respiratory pathogen such as influenza or coronaviruses.
   • PRET will provide technical guidance and support for promoting and strengthening integrated preparedness and response.
     Source: WHO
3. Rocket Lab has launched two cubesats (satellites) onboard the Electron rocket.
   • These satellites are a part of NASA’s new hurricane-hunting constellation.
   • The TROPICS constellation (short for “Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation Structure and Storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats”) will consist of four cubesats in low Earth orbit.
     Source: Space.com
4. Sweden’s space agency launched the microgravity research rocket named TEXUS-58, which has crashed in Norway.
   Source: BBC
5. Arab League has re-admitted Syria after an 11-year absence, following an extraordinary meeting at the Arab League’s headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.
   Source: CNN

Reports and Indices

1. According to a report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and QED Investors, revenues in the financial technology sector are projected to grow sixfold from $245 billion to $1.5 trillion by
   • The fintech sector, which currently holds a 2% share of the global financial services revenue of $12.5 trillion, is estimated to grow up to 7%.
   • Fintechs are estimated to constitute almost 25% of all banking valuations worldwide by 2030.
     Source: Financial Express

Banking and Economy

1. BharatPe Group has announced to rebrand its Payback India, multi-brand loyalty program, as Zillion.
   • Chief marketing officer of BharatPe – Parth Joshi
     Source: Economic Times
2. Visa has launched the cardholder verification value (CVV)-free cards to allow users to carry out online transactions without the entering the CVV, if the card has been
   • Purpose – for making the online transaction process smoother
   • The merchants who adopt this will not have to ask customers for their CVV every time they do a domestic transaction. They will be verifying this three-digit number on the back of the card only once, at the time of tokenising the card.
     Source: Economic Times

3. Vistara has become the first Indian airline to operate a commercial plane i.e., Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner using Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).
   • The flight was routed from Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), Delhi to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai.
   • The blend included 17% SAF with 83% conventional jet fuel.
   • Through this, Vistara was able to reduce approximately 10,000 pounds of CO₂ emissions on this flight.
   • Last month, Vistara operated the SAF blended fuel (30:70) on an international flight from USA to India, first time for an Indian airline.
     Source: Economic Times
4. Reliance General Insurance has become the first general insurance company to accept RBI’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) e-Rupee (e₹) for premium payments.
   • The insurer has collaborated with YES Bank to facilitate the collection of premiums in digital mode using the bank’s e-rupee platform.
     Source: Hindu Business Line

5. SBI General Insurance launched a fully customizable digital-only health product ‘Health Edge Insurance’.
   • The policy provides multiple sums insured options ranging between INR 3 Lacs to INR 25 Lacs, with long-term policy options available for up to 3 years.
   • The entry age to purchase the ‘Health Edge’ plan is 18 years to 65 years for adults and for children it starts from 91 days.
     Source: The Print
6. NPCI Bharat BillPay Ltd (NBBL) has launched the NOCS platform to provide reconciliation and settlement services for transactions undertaken on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) network.
   • The NOCS platform is integrated with banks, fintechs and e-commerce players, and will soon go live with the first set of five banks on ONDC--AU Small Finance Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, IDFC First Bank, and YES Bank.
     Source: Hindu Business Line

7. Neobanking startup Jupiter has secured a non-banking finance company (NBFC) licence from RBI.
   Source: Economic Times
8. RBI cancelled the banking licence (dated January 03, 1987) granted to The Adoor Co-operative Urban Bank (Adoor, Kerala).
   • The cancellation of licence is with effect from the close of business on April 24, 2023.
   • Separately, RBI has imposed penalties on
     • Bombay Mercantile Co-operative Bank – Rs 13 lakh for contravention of the provisions of Banking Regulation Act, 1949
     • Tamil Nadu State Apex Co-operative Bank – ₹16 lakhs for non-compliance with the directions issued by the NABARD on “Review of Frauds – Guidelines on Monitoring and Reporting System”
     • Janata Sahakari Bank, Pune – ₹13 lakh for non-compliance with directions on ‘Interest Rate on Deposits’
     • Baran Nagrik Sahkari Bank, Rajasthan – ₹2 lakh

     Source: LiveMint

9. Amazon Web Services (AWS) has launched two skill development programmes for quantum computing in India.
   • The company is collaborating with academic institutions and learning platforms to integrate Amazon Braket — a fully managed quantum computing service — in the courses.
   • AWS will be collaborating with QpiAI to integrate Amazon Braket with the QpiAI Explorer platform — an interactive learning platform for students, industry professionals, and researchers.
   • The QpiAI Explorer has curriculum designed by QpiAI and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) with direct integration of the Amazon Braket quantum programming framework.
   • AWS is also working with Tech Mahindra and Mahindra University (MU) and integrating the Amazon Braket platform to provide a quantum computing programme for students and working professionals.
     Source: The Hindu Business Line
10. RBI added 22 metric tonnes of gold in its reserves in FY23, taking the total gold reserves to 794.64 metric tonnes.
    Source: Indian Express

Note: Do read about the “gold monetisation scheme” and “sovereign gold bond” scheme.

Appointments

1. Hari Hara Mishra has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Asset Reconstruction Companies.

Source: Hindu Business Line

Important Days

1. April 26 – International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day
   Source: UN
2. May 3 – International Leopard Day

3. May 6 – International No Diet Day
   Source: Republic World
4. May 7 – 64th Raising Day of Border Roads Organization
   • The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has constructed its first highway café, ‘BRO CAFÉ’, at Pandukeshwar, about 18km from Joshimath on the Rishikesh-Badrinath national highway in Uttarakhand.

5. May 8 – World Thalassemia Day; Theme – “Be Aware. Share. Care: Strengthening Education to Bridge the Thalassaemia Care Gap”

6. May 8 – World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day; Theme – Everything we do comes #fromtheheart

Source: IFRC

Awards

1. Fatimah Asghar (poet and screenwriter) won inaugural Carol Shields Prize for Fiction (worth $150,000) for her debut novel “When We Were Sisters”.
   • The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction is named for the late Pulitzer Prize-winning writer. It is given for outstanding work by a woman or non-binary person in the U.S. or Canada.
     Source: Economic Times
2. Maria Stepanova (Russian now living in exile in Berlin) has been awarded the prestigious Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding in 2023.
   Source: Indian Express

3. Forbes released The World’s 10 Highest-Paid Athletes 2023.
   • 1st – Cristiano Ronaldo (Portuguese)
   • 2nd – Lionel Messi (Argentine)
     Source: Forbes
4. Former President of India Ram Nath Kovind honoured Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath with the Bharat Ratna Dr Ambedkar Award 2023 for creating a fear-free Uttar Pradesh.
   Source: Economic Times
5. Prince of Arcot Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali has won the Meritorious Service Award, 2023, given by the Indo-Australian Association (IAA).
   • The award was given by Sara Kirlew, Australian Consul General to South India, and Dr Susan Verghese, president, Indo-Australian Association.
     Source: Times of India
6. Biologist Sathyabhama Das Biju, who is popularly known as ‘the Frogman of India’, has been chosen for Harvard University’s prestigious Radcliffe fellowship.
   • He will be a part of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (or Harvard Radcliffe Institute) at Harvard University.
     Source: The Hindu

Sports

1. Max Verstappen (Dutch-Belgian) has won the 2023 F1 Miami Grand Prix in Florida.
   Source: New York Times
2. India has finished second by winning 2 golds, 1 silver and 1 bronze at the Archery World Cup 2023 Stage 1 in Antalya, Turkey.
   • USA is at the first position with (2 golds, 2 silver).
   • Medal winners –

Miscellaneous

1. “Sachin @50: celebrating a maestro” book has been authored by Boria Majumdar.
   • The book has been launched on the 50th birthday of Sachin Tendulkar (April 24).
     Source: The Hindu

2. Dr Sandeep Marwah, the Chancellor of AAFT University and President of the International Chamber of Media and Entertainment Industry (ICMEI), presented the first copy of the book “8 Years of Modi Sarkar- A compilation of Achievements” to former President of India, Ram Nath Kovind.
   • The book, published by ICMEI, documents the achievements of the Modi government over the past eight years.
     Source: ANI

3. The Hindi version of “Cyber Encounters“, a highly anticipated book depicting the challenges of cybercrime, was launched.
   • The book, co-written by Ashok Kumar, Director General of Police in Uttarakhand, and O.P. Manocha, a former DRDO Scientist.
     Source: Times of India
4. Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi virtually released a 113-verse book titled ‘Saurashtra Tamil Sangam Prashasti’ written by Somnath Sanskrit University.
   • Saurashtra Tamil Sangam event was organized in Gujarat.
     Source: CMO Gujarat
5. Tripura’s first Padma Shri awardee, Himangshu Mohan Chowdhury, has passed away.
   • He was a retired Civil Service officer and a humanitarian.
     Source: ANI

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