08th-10th April, 2023

1. The 2nd Tourism Working Group meeting was held under India’s G20 presidency at Siliguri, West Bengal.
2. Central Electricity Authority, Ministry of Power has published the list of best performing power generation companies in the country for the financial year 2022-23.
3. Union Government has approved the Indian Space Policy 2023 to institutionalise and mostly facilitate private sector participation into the space sector for India.
4. Union Cabinet has approved revised domestic gas pricing guidelines and the price of natural gas will be 10% of the monthly average of the Indian crude basket.
5. India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ruchira Kamboj handed over the contribution of USD 2 million to the United Nations Trust Fund in support of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS).
6. 8th Anniversary of the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana is being celebrated in The scheme was launched in 2015 to facilitate easy collateral-free micro-credit of up to Rs 10 lakh to non-corporate, non-farm small and micro-entrepreneurs.
7. India has extended a Standby Credit Facility to Bhutan at the reduced interest rate with an extended settlement period of five years.
8. Union Cabinet has approved to build a gravitational-wave detection facility in Maharashtra at a cost of ₹2,600 crore.
9. Ministry of Education has released the draft of the “National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023”.
10. Total enrolments under National Pension System (NPS) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) have crossed 35 crore margin during the Financial Year 2022-23.
11. President Droupadi Murmu flew a sortie in a Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft from Tezpur Air Force Station in
12. Central Government has announced to set up the 16th Finance Commission in November 2023. The commission will submit its report in by around October 2025.
13. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has released the summary report of the “Status of tigers 2022” (tiger census of India) at Mysuru, Karnataka.
14. Festival of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (FINE)-2023 was organized by the Department of Science and Technology and the Office of President at Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Center (RBCC) in Delhi.
15. Indian Railways’ 12th Vande Bharat Express was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Secunderabad (Telangana) – Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh) route.
16. PM flagged off the Chennai-Coimbatore Vande Bharat Express at MGR Chennai Central Railway Station.
17. Scientists at the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), a Council of Scientific and Industrial Research facility in Hyderabad, have discovered the rare-earth elements (REEs) in Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh.
18. Himachal Pradesh government has launched a new project ‘Sanjeevani’ to provide quality treatment to livestock in a time-bound manner.
19. Central Government has approved the Indian Army’s decision to induct woman officers in the Regiment of Artillery.
20. Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane inaugurated a new production facility in Nashik to boost manufacturing of indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft Tejas.
21. Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have just discovered the four most distant galaxies ever seen, located a little over 13 billion light-years from Earth.
22. SpaceX successfully launched Intelsat’s IS-40e communications satellite, which will help the SpaceX meet growing demand for connectivity on planes while also carrying its first hosted payload for NASA.
23. Global magazine Time Out has released the list of “Best Public Transport in the World 2023” in London.
24. TVS Supply Chain Solutions, an integrated supply chain solutions provider, has won a UK government contract for providing spares and accessories for the Land Rover Wolf, a military vehicle.
25. RBI has released its Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies – April 2023.
26. State-owned non-banking finance firm REC Ltd has raised USD 750 million (about Rs 6,138 crore) through issuance of green bonds.
27. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman visited the USA for attending the annual spring meetings of the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), along with G20 meetings.
28. April 8 – International Romani Day
29. April 10 – World Homeopathy Day (birth anniversary of the founder of Homoeopathy, Dr Christian Fredrich Samuel Hahnemann)
30. Bharat Biotech has won the `Best Production /Process Development’ award as part of the Vaccine Industry Excellence (ViE) awards at the World Vaccine Congress 2023 held in Washington, USA during April 3-6.
31. Superstar Shah Rukh Khan has secured the top position in Time Magazine’s annual TIME100 list.
32. For the first time ever, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) has integrated Khelo India Games Certificates with DigiLocker, to allow athletes, support staff, technical officers, Chef de Missions, competition manager etc. to access their Khelo India certificates through the digital platform.
33. Indian shuttler Priyanshu Rajawat has won his first BWF World Tour Super 300 title by defeating Denmark’s Magnus Johannesen in the Orleans Masters’ Badminton Tournament 2023 in Paris.
34. Chennai will host the 2nd edition of the Street Child Cricket World Cup 2023 in September, in partnership with Save the Children India, and Street Child United (organizer of the world cup).

National News

1. The 2nd Tourism Working Group meeting was held under India’s G20 presidency at Siliguri, West Bengal.
   • The working group meeting was preceded by a Side Event on the theme of ‘Adventure Tourism as a vehicle for achieving Sustainable Development Goals’.
   • The Minister of Tourism, G Kishan Reddy, has felicitated the delegates with Wooden Owl set from Burdwan District, Dokra GI Hook fish from Bankura District, Banglshree Silk Pocket Square from Malda District and Chitpore Attar from Kalimpong District to promote the ODOP items.
   • The Tourism Working Group will reconvene for two more meetings including a Ministerial meeting, which will take place in Goa.

Source: PIB

2. Central Electricity Authority, Ministry of Power has published the list of best performing power generation companies in the country for the financial year 2022-23.
   • West Bengal Power Development Corporation (WBPDCL) has topped the rankings.
   • The rankings are based on the performance and efficiency (as measured by the plant load factor or PLF) of the companies.
   • Santaldih Thermal Power Station-West Bengal (2nd), NTPC Korba (3rd), and NTPC Vindyachal (4th) are the other rankers on the list.

Source:The Hindu Business Line

3. Union Government has approved the Indian Space Policy 2023 to institutionalise and mostly facilitate private sector participation into the space sector for India.
   • The policy will see Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) focusing on research and development of advanced space technologies.
   • The global space industry is worth over $500 billion, with the United States and China spending the most.
   • India’s share in the global space economy was less than 2% at present and the space policy will help it increase substantially to 10% in the future.

Source: LiveMint

4. Union Cabinet has approved revised domestic gas pricing guidelines and the price of natural gas will be 10% of the monthly average of the Indian crude basket.
   • The guidelines also incorporate the Kirit Parikh Committee’s recommendations.
   • The Kirit Parikh committee, which was set up by the government to review the pricing formula for gas produced in the country, has recommended complete liberalisation of natural gas prices by January 1, 2027.

Source: The Economic Times

5. India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ruchira Kamboj handed over the contribution of USD 2 million to the United Nations Trust Fund in support of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS).
   • ATMIS was established on 1 April 2022 to support the implementation of the Somali Transitional Plan towards a full handover of security responsibility to the Somali security forces and institutions by the end 2024.

Source: The Print

6. 8th Anniversary of the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana is being celebrated in The scheme was launched in 2015 to facilitate easy collateral-free micro-credit of up to Rs 10 lakh to non-corporate, non-farm small and micro-entrepreneurs.
   • Since its inception, the scheme has sanctioned around Rs 23.2 lakh crore in 40.82 crore loan accounts.
   • About 68% of accounts under the scheme belong to women entrepreneurs and 51% of accounts belong to entrepreneurs of SC/ST and OBC categories.

Source: ANI

7. India has extended a Standby Credit Facility to Bhutan at the reduced interest rate with an extended settlement period of five years.
   • This facility is used to providing additional currency swap support of USD 200 million to support the Bhutan’s 13th Five Year Plan.
   • His Majesty Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, the King of Bhutan, paid an official visit to India.
   • India and Bhutan have been collaborating on the fin-tech, start-up, emerging technology, and hydropower fronts.

Source: Economic Times and PIB

8. Union Cabinet has approved to build a gravitational-wave detection facility in Maharashtra at a cost of ₹2,600 crore.
   • The facility will consist of a detector called the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), to be built in the image of the twin LIGO instruments already operational in the U.S.
   • For the first time, the gravitational waves were detected in 2016, which launched a new era of astronomy.

Source: The Hindu

9. Ministry of Education has released the draft of the “National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023”.
   • The last edition of the guidelines was launched in 2005.
   • A week will be of 5.5 days as opposed to 6 days as suggested by 2005 guideline.
   • As per the new guidelines, the class period will be 40 minutes for preparatory and middle school stages, and 50 minutes for Class 9 onwards.
   • The academic year should consist of 180 school days or 34 weeks across all stages of education.
   • These guidelines are concise and to the point as opposed to 2005 guidelines which were broad and general.
   • These new guidelines are based on the National Education Policy of 2020. Class 11-12 students will be allowed to opt a mix of arts, science, and commerce subjects.

Source: Indian Express

10. Total enrolments under National Pension System (NPS) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) have crossed 35 crore margin during the Financial Year 2022-23.
    • Total enrolments under the National Pension Scheme are 16 lakhs. Of this, NPS-All Citizen and NPS-Corporate account for 60% of the enrolments, i.e., 10 lakhs. NPS-Government Employees account for the rest of enrolments i.e., 6 lakhs.
    • Total enrolments under APY are over 19 crore.

Source: News on Air

11. President Droupadi Murmu flew a sortie in a Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft from Tezpur Air Force Station in
    • The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces.
    • Murmu is the third President and the second woman President to fly such a sortie. Before her, Former Presidents APJ Abdul Kalam and Pratibha Patel had flown the Sukhoi-30 MKI aircrafts.

Source: Indian Express

12. Central Government has announced to set up the 16th Finance Commission in November 2023. The commission will submit its report in by around October 2025.

Source: The Hindu

13. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has released the summary report of the “Status of tigers 2022” (tiger census of India) at Mysuru, Karnataka.
    • As per the estimates, India is now home to at least 3,167 tigers.
    • This is around 7% higher than the tiger census of 2018, which pegged tiger numbers at 2,967.
    • The report also highlighted the local extinction of tigers in some areas such as Kawal Tiger Reserve in Telangana.
    • India is home to an estimated 70% of the world’s tiger population.
    • The report was released on the 50 years of Project Tiger (launched in 1973).

• PM also launched the International Big Cats Alliance (IBCA):
• It is being launched with focus on the protection and conservation of 7 major big cats of the world, viz. Tiger, Lion, Leopard, Snow Leopard, Puma, Jaguar and Cheetah.
• It will be done in collaboration membership of 97 range of countries harbouring these species.
• It will provide assured support over five years with guaranteed funding of over Rs.800 crores.

Source: The Wire and Times of India

14. Festival of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (FINE)-2023 was organized by the Department of Science and Technology and the Office of President at Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Center (RBCC) in Delhi.
    • The President Droupadi Murmu presented NIF’s 11th Biennial National Grassroots Innovation and Outstanding Traditional Knowledge Awards to 1093 grassroots innovators and school students at the national level.
    • The festival was organized to promote science, technology and innovation and encourages citizens to start entrepreneurship.

Source: News on Air

15. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has received the recognition of a National Party by the Election Commission of India.
    • The national status of National Communist Party, Trinamool Congress, and Communist Party of India has been removed.
    • The country now has six national parties — BJP, Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), CPI(M), National People’s Party (NPP) and AAP.

Source: Indian Express

16. India-France Business Summit was organized in France to celebrate the 25 years of India-France Friendship.
    • Co-chairs – Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal along with Mr Olivier Becht, Minister delegate of Foreign Trade, Attractiveness and French Nationals Abroad, Government of France
    • The Summit focused on themes including building a green future, emerging technologies, defence cooperation and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific regions.
    • The Minister of Commerce will also visit Italy during his visit.

Source: PIB

State News

1. Indian Railways’ 12th Vande Bharat Express was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Secunderabad (Telangana) – Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh) route.
   • This is the second Vande Bharat Express train that will be connecting the two Telegu-speaking states after the Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam Vande Bharat Express.
   • The PM has laid the foundation stones for various projects worth over Rs 11,300 crore, which include AIIMS Bibinagar, in Telangana.

Source: LiveMint and Economic Times

2. PM flagged off the Chennai-Coimbatore Vande Bharat Express at MGR Chennai Central Railway Station.
   • PM will inaugurate various development projects worth over ₹5,200 crores in Chennai.

Source: Hindustan Times

3. Scientists at the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), a Council of Scientific and Industrial Research facility in Hyderabad, have discovered the rare-earth elements (REEs) in Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh.
   • The REEs are lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, yttrium, hafnium, tantalum, niobium, zirconium, and scandium.
   • These metals can be used on electronic devices.

Source: The Hindu

4. Himachal Pradesh government has launched a new project ‘Sanjeevani’ to provide quality treatment to livestock in a time-bound manner.
   • Under the project, the doorstep veterinary services will have curative treatment, vaccination, artificial insemination, preventive care and all animal husbandry-related information.
   • The farmer is saved from additional expenses like travelling to the point of care and availing quality medicines.
   • The collaboration under National Animal Disease Control Programme-Mobile Veterinary Van (NADCP-AHD-MVU) will enhance the doorstep delivery of livestock care, making all veterinary services available for farmers just a phone call away.

Source: Times of India

5. Maharashtra government has made the submission of payment receipts of vacant land tax or property tax mandatory for registration of assets in the state.
   • Reason – The local bodies in urban and rural areas were unable to collect the vacant land tax due to the absence of the property owner database.

Source: LiveMint

Defence News

1. Central Government has approved the Indian Army’s decision to induct woman officers in the Regiment of Artillery.

Source: The Indian Express


2. Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane inaugurated a new production facility in Nashik to boost manufacturing of indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft Tejas.
   • It is the third production line of the Tejas jets set up by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), the maker of the aircraft.
   • The HAL has two manufacturing facilities for LCA Tejas in Bengaluru.
   • HAL also handed over 100th Sukhoi-30 MKi ROH aircraft, repaired and overhauled, to the Indian Air Force (IAF).

   Source: The Economic Times

International News

1. Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have just discovered the four most distant galaxies ever seen, located a little over 13 billion light-years from Earth.

Source: Wion


2. SpaceX successfully launched Intelsat’s IS-40e communications satellite, which will help the SpaceX meet growing demand for connectivity on planes while also carrying its first hosted payload for NASA.
   • IS-40e also carries NASA’s Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) hosted payload, touted to be the first instrument to monitor air pollution across North America from geostationary orbit.

   Source: spacenews.com

Reports and Indices

1. Global magazine Time Out has released the list of “Best Public Transport in the World 2023” in
   • Top ranker – Berlin (1st), Prague (2nd), Tokyo (3rd), Copenhagen (4th), and Stockholm
   • Mumbai is at the 19th rank.
   • A total of 19 cities have been identified in this list.

Source: TimeOut’s website

Banking and Economy

1. TVS Supply Chain Solutions, an integrated supply chain solutions provider, has won a UK government contract for providing spares and accessories for the Land Rover Wolf, a military vehicle.

Source: Business Standard


2. RBI has released its Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies – April 2023.

Note: To understand the technicalities of these steps, you can watch this video of RBI 247 –

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XB3lNYjFTGE&list=PL0oZLcCMn5NOItaKB8oxuJfgJD8gnT9uj&index=1

6. State-owned non-banking finance firm REC Ltd has raised USD 750 million (about Rs 6,138 crore) through issuance of green bonds.
   • The green bond has tenure of 5 years with a maturity date of April 11, 2028.

Source: Business Standard

7. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman visited the USA for attending the annual spring meetings of the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), along with G20 meetings.
   • These meetings are scheduled to take place from April 10 to April 16, 2023, in the WBG and IMF Headquarters in Washington DC.
   • During the official visit, a meeting of the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable will be co-chaired by India, IMF, and the World Bank on April 12 to discuss the current global debt landscape and ways to address existing challenges in debt restructuring.
   • She will host the Second G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting under India’s G20 Presidency, along with RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das as the co-chair on April 12-13, 2023.

Source: Business Standard

Important Days

1. April 8 – International Romani Day

Source: EU’s website


2. April 10 – World Homeopathy Day (birth anniversary of the founder of Homoeopathy, Dr Christian Fredrich Samuel Hahnemann)
   • The Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy (CCRH) under the Ministry of AYUSH, has organised a scientific convention in New Delhi on the theme of ‘Homoeoparivar- Sarvajan Swasthya, One Health, One Family’.
   • An MOU was signed between CCRH and the Department of Homoeopathy, Government of Kerala for conducting clinical trial on immunological responses of Arsenicum album (a homeopathic medicine) in COVID-19.
   • CCRH signed MoU with 70 State/National Homoeopathic Medical Colleges.

Source: PIB

Awards

1. Bharat Biotech has won the `Best Production /Process Development’ award as part of the Vaccine Industry Excellence (ViE) awards at the World Vaccine Congress 2023 held in Washington, USA during April 3-6.
   • Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech was the only Indian company in the list of VIE awards in various categories, including best clinical trial company, best clinical trial network, best central/specialty laboratory award, best contract research organisation, best production/process development award, among others.

2. Superstar Shah Rukh Khan has secured the top position in Time Magazine’s annual TIME100 list.

Source: Time Magazine

3. Calyampudi Radhakrishna Rao, a prominent Indian American mathematician and statistician, has been chosen for the 2023 International Prize in Statistics for his monumental work 75 years ago that revolutionised statistical thinking.
   • The award will be presented to Rao at the biennial International Statistical Institute World Statistics Congress in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
   • He was also awarded the title of Padma Bhushan by the Indian Government (1968) and Padma Vibhushan in 2001.

Source: LiveMint

Sports

1. For the first time ever, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) has integrated Khelo India Games Certificates with DigiLocker, to allow athletes, support staff, technical officers, Chef de Missions, competition manager etc. to access their Khelo India certificates through the digital platform.

2. Indian shuttler Priyanshu Rajawat has won his first BWF World Tour Super 300 title by defeating Denmark’s Magnus Johannesen in the Orleans Masters’ Badminton Tournament 2023 in Paris.
   • Women’s singles – Carolina Marín (Spain)

Source: Times of India

3. Chennai will host the 2nd edition of the Street Child Cricket World Cup 2023 in September, in partnership with Save the Children India, and Street Child United (organizer of the world cup).

Source: Street Child United’s website

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