08th-10th April, 2023
2nd Tourism Working Group meeting , best performing power generation companies , Indian Space Policy 2023 , domestic gas pricing guidelines , India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ruchira Kamboj , African Union Transition Mission in Somalia , Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana , Standby Credit Facility , gravitational-wave detection facility in Maharashtra, “National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023”, National Pension System , Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft , 16th Finance Commission , Status of tigers 2022, Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Center , Secunderabad (Telangana) – Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh) route, Chennai-Coimbatore Vande Bharat Express , National Geophysical Research Institute , project ‘Sanjeevani’ , Regiment of Artillery, new production facility, James Webb Space Telescope , Intelsat’s IS-40e communications satellite, “Best Public Transport in the World 2023” , TVS Supply Chain Solutions, Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies – April 2023, issuance of green bonds, annual spring meetings , International Romani Day, World Homeopathy Day , Best Production /Process Development’ award, World Vaccine Congress 2023 , top position in Time Magazine’s annual TIME100 list, Khelo India Games Certificates , first BWF World Tour Super 300 title, Street Child Cricket World Cup 2023, ,
- The 2nd Tourism Working Group meeting was held under India’s G20 presidency at Siliguri, West Bengal.
- 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.
- Union Government has approved the Indian Space Policy 2023 to institutionalise and mostly facilitate private sector participation into the space sector for India.
- 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.
- 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).
- 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.
- India has extended a Standby Credit Facility to Bhutan at the reduced interest rate with an extended settlement period of five years.
- Union Cabinet has approved to build a gravitational-wave detection facility in Maharashtra at a cost of ₹2,600 crore.
- Ministry of Education has released the draft of the “National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023”.
- Total enrolments under National Pension System (NPS) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) have crossed 35 crore margin during the Financial Year 2022-23.
- President Droupadi Murmu flew a sortie in a Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft from Tezpur Air Force Station in
- 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.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi has released the summary report of the “Status of tigers 2022” (tiger census of India) at Mysuru, Karnataka.
- 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.
- Indian Railways’ 12th Vande Bharat Express was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Secunderabad (Telangana) – Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh) route.
- PM flagged off the Chennai-Coimbatore Vande Bharat Express at MGR Chennai Central Railway Station.
- 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.
- Himachal Pradesh government has launched a new project ‘Sanjeevani’ to provide quality treatment to livestock in a time-bound manner.
- Central Government has approved the Indian Army’s decision to induct woman officers in the Regiment of Artillery.
- Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane inaugurated a new production facility in Nashik to boost manufacturing of indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft Tejas.
- 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.
- 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.
- Global magazine Time Out has released the list of “Best Public Transport in the World 2023” in London.
- 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.
- RBI has released its Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies – April 2023.
- State-owned non-banking finance firm REC Ltd has raised USD 750 million (about Rs 6,138 crore) through issuance of green bonds.
- 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.
- April 8 – International Romani Day
- April 10 – World Homeopathy Day (birth anniversary of the founder of Homoeopathy, Dr Christian Fredrich Samuel Hahnemann)
- 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.
- Superstar Shah Rukh Khan has secured the top position in Time Magazine’s annual TIME100 list.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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).
Table of Content
National News
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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: PIB
Source:The Hindu Business Line
Source: LiveMint
Source: The Economic Times
Source: The Print
Source: ANI
Source: Economic Times and PIB
Knowledge Nuggets - |
---|
• Diplomatic relations between India and Bhutan were established in 1968. • The basic framework of India-Bhutan bilateral relations is the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation was signed in 1949, which was updated in February 2007. • The First Five Year Plan (FYP) of Bhutan was launched in 1961. Since then, India has been extending financial assistance to Bhutan’s FYPs. • So far, India has extended a standby credit facility of Rs 1000 crore to Bhutan to help Bhutan overcome the rupee liquidity crunch. Under this Facility, India provides credit to Bhutan at a concessional interest rate of 5% per annum. The facility is valid for 5 years. Source: Ministry of External Affairs’ |
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
Source: Indian Express
Source: News on Air
Source: Indian Express
Knowledge Nuggets - |
---|
• Article 280 of the Constitution provides for the constitution of the Finance Commission. • The commission is a constitutional body which provides the recommendations for the devolution of taxes between Centre and States for a period of five years. |
Source: The Hindu
- 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).
Knowledge Nuggets - |
---|
• India began the tiger census in 2006. • India estimates tiger numbers every four years. • The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) under the Union environment ministry, state forest departments, and Wildlife Institute of India conduct the Census. • There are seven big cat species in the world, namely tiger, lion, cheetah, leopard, snow leopard, jaguar, and cougar (Puma). India is the only country in the world to have 5 big cat species (except pumas and jaguars). |
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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: News on Air
Source: Indian Express
Source: PIB
State News
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 and Economic Times
Source: Hindustan Times
Source: The Hindu
Source: Times of India
Source: LiveMint
Defence News
- Central Government has approved the Indian Army’s decision to induct woman officers in the Regiment of Artillery.
- 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
Source: The Indian Express
International News
- 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.
- 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
Source: Wion
Reports and Indices
- 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
- 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.
- RBI has released its Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies – April 2023.
Source: Business Standard
Important highlights - A) Operation of Pre-Sanctioned Credit Lines at Banks through the UPI
• In other words, the consumers will be able to use UPI to make payments, which are financed by the credit given by banks. |
B) Grievance Redress Mechanism for delay in updation of information by Credit Information Companies
• There is a provision for SMS/ email alerts to customers when their credit information is accessed from CICs; • A timeframe for disclosure of data received by CICs from Credit Institutions for display on the website of CICs has been put in place. |
C) Development of Centralised Web portal for Public to Search Unclaimed Deposits
• RBI has decided to develop a web portal on which banks have to disclose the information of unclaimed deposits of users. This will help users to search their unclaimed deposits across banks on one portal. • The search results will be enhanced by use of certain AI tools. |
D) Enhancing Efficiency of Regulatory Processes
• The portal will show time limits for deciding on the applications/approvals sought. This measure will bring greater efficiencies into regulatory processes and facilitate ease of doing business for the regulated entities of RBI. |
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
- 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.
- 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
Source: Business Standard
Important Days
- April 8 – International Romani Day
- 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: EU’s website
Source: PIB
Awards
- 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.
Knowledge Nuggets - |
---|
• Bharat Biotech is the world’s first producer of intranasal Covid-19 vaccine, iNcovacc. • Its intramuscular vaccine, Covaxin, is part of India’s public vaccination programme and was also exported. • The World Vaccine Congress is the largest global meeting for the stakeholders in the vaccine value chain. |
- Superstar Shah Rukh Khan has secured the top position in Time Magazine’s annual TIME100 list.
- 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: Time Magazine
Knowledge Nuggets - |
---|
• The prize, given by the International Prize in Statistics Foundation, carries an award of USD 80,000. • The International Prize in Statistics is awarded every two years by a collaboration among five leading international statistics organisations. • The award is equivalent to the Nobel Prize in this field. The International Prize in Statistics, along with the COPSS Presidents' Award, are the two highest honours in the field of Statistics. |
Source: LiveMint
Sports
- 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.
Knowledge Nuggets - |
---|
• DigiLocker is a flagship initiative of the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) under Digital India programme. • It was launched in 2015. |
- 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)
- 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: Times of India
Source: Street Child United’s website
About Anuj Jindal
━━━━━
Anuj Jindal, the founder, is an ex-manager from SBI, with an M.Com from Delhi School of Economics. He also has a JRF in Commerce & Management and NET in HRM, along with more than 5 years of experience in the field of Education.
0 Comments