19th-21st May, 2023

1. Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in collaboration with Shree Guru Gobind Singh Tricentenary University and Sanrachna Foundation held Rabindra Jayanti Celebrations in New Delhi.
2. India and Bangladesh have launched the “50 start-ups exchange programme”. Under this programme, 50 Start-ups from Bangladesh and 50 Start-ups from India will exchange visits to each other’s countries for exploring partnerships, expanding business relations, sharing experience and knowledge and expanding youth and entrepreneurial cooperation.
3. Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Communications, Railways and Electronics & IT, launched the Sanchar Saathi portal to prevent frauds such as identity theft, forged KYC, banking frauds.
4. ‘City Beauty Competition’ portal (https://citybeautycompetition.in) has been launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
5. Madhya Pradesh has launched the Mukhyamantri Krishak Byaaj Maafi Yojana 2023 to waive the loans of up to Rs 2 lakh (including the principal and interest) for defaulting farmers.
6. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin inaugurated a 570-meter long and 4.2-meter-wide skywalk bridge connecting the Mambalam railway station and T Nagar bus terminus.
7. Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh has become the first city in India to adopt the localisation of the United Nations-mandated sustainable development goals (SDG).
8. 7th edition of joint military exercise “AJEYA WARRIOR-23” between India and the United Kingdom was conducted at Salisbury Plains, United Kingdom.
9. UN Environment Program has released the “Turning off the Tap How the world can end plastic pollution and create a circular economy”.
10. The Asian Development Bank has released the “ADB Annual Report 2022: Building Resilience in Challenging Times”.
11. Food aggregator platform Zomato has partnered with ICICI Bank to launch its very own unified payments interface (UPI) offering called Zomato UPI, for some of its users.
12. HDFC Asset Management Company Ltd has launched India’s first mutual fund focussed on defence sector.
13. SBI Capital Markets, BoB Capital Markets and IDBI Capital Markets and Securities have been chosen as the merchant bankers (nodal agencies) for conducting the initial public offer (IPO) of state-run Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA).
14. Grain commerce platform ag has partnered with Shivalik Small Finance Bank to drive financial inclusion for farmers and FPOs and offer loans through Shivalik Small Finance Bank under Warehouse Receipt Finance.
15. According to RBI’s data, Scheduled Commercial Banks’ credit growth moderated to 15% as of March 24, 2023, from the peak of 17.8% recorded in October 2022.
16. UN has released the World Economic Situations and Prospects 2023 report.
17. One 97 Communications Ltd, the parent company of fintech firm Paytm, has appointed Bhavesh Gupta as its president and chief operating officer.
18. Raheja QBE General Insurance Company Limited has appointed Rajeev Dogra as the new Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer following regulatory approval from Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI).
19. Debadatta Chand has been appointed as the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of the Bank of Baroda for a period of three years.
20. Last Wednesday of April (April 26, 2023) – Administrative Professionals Day (also known as Secretaries Day or Admin Day)
21. May 17 – International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia; Theme – “Together always: United in diversity”
22. May 17 – World Hypertension Day; Theme – Measure Your Blood Pressure Accurately, Control It, Live Longer
23. May 17 – World Telecommunication and Information Society Day; Focus – “Empowering the least developed countries through information and communication technologies”
24. Dr M.N. Nandakumara, a well-known UK-based Sanskrit scholar and the Executive Director of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan centre in London, has been conferred an honorary MBE by King Charles III for services to Indian classical arts in Britain.
25. Owen Davidson (Australian tennis player) has passed away.
26. ‘Collective Spirit, Concrete Action’ book has been written by Shashi Shekhar Vempati, former CEO of Prasar Bharati (2017-2022).

National News

1. Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in collaboration with Shree Guru Gobind Singh Tricentenary University and Sanrachna Foundation held Rabindra Jayanti Celebrations in New Delhi.
   • ‘Vigyan Vaibhav’ portal has been developed by IGNCA to provide information about 75 Indian scientists. It identifies the contribution of women and men in equal numbers.

2. India and Bangladesh have launched the “50 start-ups exchange programme”. Under this programme, 50 Start-ups from Bangladesh and 50 Start-ups from India will exchange visits to each other’s countries for exploring partnerships, expanding business relations, sharing experience and knowledge and expanding youth and entrepreneurial cooperation.
   • The first group of 10 start-up companies returned to Dhaka after completing a successful five-day visit to India.
     Source: News on Air
3. Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Communications, Railways and Electronics & IT, launched the Sanchar Saathi portal to prevent frauds such as identity theft, forged KYC, banking frauds.
   • Link of the portal is (https://sancharsaathi.gov.in).
   • The Department has also launched other initiatives such as –
   • CEIR (Central Equipment Identity Register) – for blocking stolen/lost mobiles.
   • Know your mobile connections – to know mobile connections registered in your name.
   • ASTR (Artificial Intelligence and Facial Recognition powered Solution for Telecom SIM Subscriber Verification) – to identify fraudulent subscribers.
     Source: PIB

4. ‘City Beauty Competition’ portal (https://citybeautycompetition.in) has been launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
   • Purpose – to encourage and recognize the transformational efforts made by cities and wards across the country to create beautiful, innovative and inclusive public spaces
   • Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) across the country can participate in this competition through an online process.
   • Under this competition, wards and public spaces in cities would be judged against five broad pillars , (i) accessibility (ii) amenities (iii) activities (iv) aesthetics and (v) ecology.
   • Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) as the knowledge partner will provide handholding support to Wards / ULBs / States in this exercise.
     Source: PIB

State News

1. Madhya Pradesh has launched the Mukhyamantri Krishak Byaaj Maafi Yojana 2023 to waive the loans of up to Rs 2 lakh (including the principal and interest) for defaulting farmers.
   Source: Krish Jagran
2. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin inaugurated a 570-meter long and 4.2-meter-wide skywalk bridge connecting the Mambalam railway station and T Nagar bus terminus.
   • The skywalk, built by the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) at a cost of Rs 28.45 crore under the Smart City funds.
     Source: Times of India
3. Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh has become the first city in India to adopt the localisation of the United Nations-mandated sustainable development goals (SDG).
   • Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan launched an Agenda for Action: Sustainable Urban Transformation in Bhopal.
     Source: Down to Earth

Defence News

1. 7th edition of joint military exercise “AJEYA WARRIOR-23” between India and the United Kingdom was conducted at Salisbury Plains, United Kingdom.
   • Exercise AJEYA WARRIOR is a biennial training event with the United Kingdom which is conducted alternatively in the United Kingdom and India, the last edition was held at Chaubatia, Uttarakhand in October 2021.
   • Participants – Royal Gorkha Rifles from the United Kingdom and Indian Army soldiers from the BIHAR Regiment
     Source: PIB

Reports and Indices

1. UN Environment Program has released the “Turning off the Tap How the world can end plastic pollution and create a circular economy”.
   • The report introduces measures to the global plastic pollution by 80% by the year 2040.
     Source: UNEP
2. The Asian Development Bank has released the “ADB Annual Report 2022: Building Resilience in Challenging Times”.
   • As per the report, it committed USD 20.5 billion from its own resources in 2022 to help Asia and the Pacific recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.
   • ADB mobilized an additional $11.4 billion in co-financing.
   • ADB committed $6.7 billion in financing for climate mitigation and adaptation in 2022, making progress toward its ambition of providing $100 billion in cumulative climate financing during 2019–2030.
   • Pakistan has become the largest recipient of ADB loans in the year 2022. Out of total disbursement of over USD 31.8 billion to 40 countries, Pakistan received loans of USD 5.58 billion.
     Source: ReliefWeb, ET, and ADB’s report

Banking and Economy

1. Food aggregator platform Zomato has partnered with ICICI Bank to launch its very own unified payments interface (UPI) offering called Zomato UPI, for some of its users.
   Source: Business Standard
2. HDFC Asset Management Company Ltd has launched India’s first mutual fund focussed on defence sector.
   • The new fund offering (NFO) of HDFC Defence Fund is an open-ended equity scheme.
   • The fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets in defence and allied sector companies.
     Source: Economic Times
3. SBI Capital Markets, BoB Capital Markets and IDBI Capital Markets and Securities have been chosen as the merchant bankers (nodal agencies) for conducting the initial public offer (IPO) of state-run Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA).
   The draft red herring prospectus (DHRP) for the IPO is expected to be submitted to SEBI within next six months.

4. Grain commerce platform ag has partnered with Shivalik Small Finance Bank to drive financial inclusion for farmers and FPOs and offer loans through Shivalik Small Finance Bank under Warehouse Receipt Finance.
   • A warehouse receipt financing system is a mechanism that allows the use of commodities as collateral to secure loans.
     Source: ET
5. According to RBI’s data, Scheduled Commercial Banks’ credit growth moderated to 15% as of March 24, 2023, from the peak of 17.8% recorded in October 2022.
   • Aggregate deposits with banks increased by 1% year-on-year (y-o-y) as on March 24, 2023 (8.4% a year ago).
   • As on April 7, 2023, SCBs’ credit-deposit (C-D) ratio stood at 8% (71.5% as on April 8, 2022).
     Source: Hindu Business Line

GDP Forecasts

1. UN has released the World Economic Situations and Prospects 2023
   • India’s economy is expected to expand by 5.8% in 2023 and 6.7% in 2024 (calendar year basis), supported by resilient domestic demand.
   • Inflation in India is expected to reduce to 5.5% in 2023 as global commodity prices moderate and slower depreciation of Indian currency will reduce the inflation caused by imported products.
   • Global inflation is projected to decline from 7.5% in 2022 to 5.2% in 2023, mainly due to lower food and energy prices and softening global demand.
   • Global growth is now projected to slow from 3.1% in 2022 to 2.3% in 2023 due to resilient household spending in developed economies and recovery in China.

Source: UN WESP

Appointments

1. One 97 Communications Ltd, the parent company of fintech firm Paytm, has appointed Bhavesh Gupta as its president and chief operating officer.
   Source: Economic Times
2. Raheja QBE General Insurance Company Limited has appointed Rajeev Dogra as the new Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer following regulatory approval from Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI).
   Source: Economic Times
3. Debadatta Chand has been appointed as the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of the Bank of Baroda for a period of three years.
   • Rajneesh Karnatak will take over as the MD and CEO of the Bank of India.
     Source: Economic Times

Important Days

1. Last Wednesday of April (April 26, 2023) – Administrative Professionals Day (also known as Secretaries Day or Admin Day)
   Source: National Calendar
2. May 17 – International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia; Theme – “Together always: United in diversity”
   Source: UNFPA
3. May 17 – World Hypertension Day; Theme – Measure Your Blood Pressure Accurately, Control It, Live Longer
   Source: World Hypertension League
4. May 17 – World Telecommunication and Information Society Day; Focus – “Empowering the least developed countries through information and communication technologies”
   Source: UN

Awards

1. Dr M.N. Nandakumara, a well-known UK-based Sanskrit scholar and the Executive Director of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan centre in London, has been conferred an honorary MBE by King Charles III for services to Indian classical arts in Britain.
   • Nandakumara hails from the village of Mattur in Karnataka.
   • The honorary Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) is given by the British monarch to foreign nationals for their contribution to public life.
     Source: HT

Miscellaneous

1. Owen Davidson (Australian tennis player) has passed away.
   • He won the 8 Grand Slams in the category of mixed doubles titles with Billie Jean King only.
   • From 1965 to 1974, he won 11 major mixed doubles titles and two men’s doubles titles.
     Source: New York Times

2. ‘Collective Spirit, Concrete Action’ book has been written by Shashi Shekhar Vempati, former CEO of Prasar Bharati (2017-2022).
   Source: The Print

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