NATIONAL NEWS
Delhi falls to 32nd in Knight Frank's global prime property indexNew Delhi's rank declined to 32nd among global cities in terms of prime residential properties.
- Knight Frank, in its 'Prime Global Cities Index Q1 2021' report, also said that Bengaluru moved down four spots in the latest index at 40th rank in the first quarter of 2021. Against the 36th rank in Q4 2020.
- New Delhi, on the global index, remained unchanged in terms of annual capital value change in the prime residential market to an average price of Rs 33,572 per square feet in Q1 2021. Whereas Mumbai's prime residential market registered a decline of 0.1 per cent with an average price of Rs 63,758 per square feet.
The Madhya Pradesh government announced the launch of the 'Mukhyamantri COVID Upchar Yojana' amid a rise in cases in the state.
- The scheme has been divided into three sections. 'Under the first section, hospitals run by state medical colleges, district and civil hospitals and community health centres will give free treatment to COVID-19 patients.
- In the second section, 20 per cent ICU/HDU and isolation beds will be reserved in hospitals run by private medical colleges to give free treatment,'.
- In the third section of the scheme, 20 per cent beds will be reserved for free treatment in hospitals accredited under Ayushman scheme for economically weaker sections of the society holding Ayushman cards.
NITI Aayog and Mastercard released a report titled ‘Connected Commerce: Creating a Roadmap for a Digitally Inclusive Bharat’.
- The report identifies challenges in accelerating digital financial inclusion in India and provides recommendations for making digital services accessible to its 1.3 billion citizens.
- The Key recommendations in the report include strengthening the payment infrastructure to promote a level playing field for Non Banking Financial Companies-NBFCs and banks and digitizing registration and compliance processes and diversifying credit sources to enable growth opportunities for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
- It also includes building information sharing systems and ensuring that online digital commerce platforms carry warnings to consumers to the risk of frauds.
Puducherry has become the ‘Har Ghar Jal’ Union Territory by ensuring that every rural home gets a household tap connection.
- Puducherry has now become the fourth state or UT after Goa, Telangana and Andaman and Nicobar Islands to provide assured tap water supply to every rural home under Central Government’s flagship programme, Jal Jeevan Mission, JJM.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Patel Virtually participates in G20 Tourism Ministers' MeetingUnion Minister of State for Tourism & Culture (I/c) Prahlad Singh Patel participated virtually in G20 Tourism Ministers' Meeting held in Italy.
- This dialogue aimed to collaborate in protecting tourism businesses, jobs and taking initiatives to frame policy guidelines to support the sustainable and resilient recovery of travel and tourism.
- Patel conveyed India’s support for the Principles for the transition to a green travel and tourism economy submitted by UNWTO as a further contribution to the policy area “Green Transformation” to embrace sustainability in tourism.
- The Minister concluded with the thanks to the Italian G20 Presidency for its leadership and India will continue its support and cooperation to ensure further progress under Indonesia’s G20 Presidency in 2022.
The Council of the European Union approved inviting the United States, Canada and Norway to participate in the bloc's Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) defense initiative.
- The EU project on military mobility is designed to facilitate the movement of troops across Europe, something NATO deems as crucial in the event of a conflict with Russia.
- The PESCO’s Military Mobility project aims at enabling quick movement of military personnel and assets across the bloc by rail, road, sea or air.
BANKING & FINANCE
Bajaj Finance gets RBI nod for prepaid payment businessThe Reserve Bank of India (RBI), granted an authorization to Bajaj Finance for issuance and operation of semi-closed prepaid payment instruments with perpetual validity.
- Bajaj Finance is engaged in lending and allied activities. It focuses on consumer lending, small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) lending, commercial lending, rural lending, fixed deposits and value-added services.
Bajaj Finserv launches 'Savdhan Rahein, Safe Rahein', across digital and social media platforms, to educate customers and public at large on financial fraud risks and how to stay protected.
- Through this awareness initiative, Bajaj Finserv aims to convey a very important message to its customers and prospects to strictly avoid making any refundable advance payments in the name of loan processing fee, bank charges, GST, verifications etc., and verifying all loan offers at the Bajaj Finance’s official website, only.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
EPFO can invest up to 5% in alternate investment funds to support infra pushThe labour ministry has notified the changes in the investment pattern of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), paving way for the retirement fund body to invest up to 5% of its investible surplus in alternate investment funds (AIFs) that support infrastructure, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), venture capital funds and social venture capital funds.The new investment pattern will be effective from March 15, 2021.
- EPFO, however, will have to seek the approval of its central board of trustees before making such an investment which is considered high risk.
- With this, EPFO will have the option to invest in AIFs whose corpus is equal to or more than Rs 100 crores with maximum exposure to a single AIF capped at 10% of the AIF Size.
- Further, at least 51% of the funds of such AIF shall be invested in either of the infrastructure entities or SMEs or venture capital or social welfare entities.
SPORTS
Arzan Nagwaswalla, a Parsi in Team India after 28 yearsArzan Nagwaswalla was not even born when Farokh Engineer - the last Parsi cricketer to have featured in the India men’s team - played his final Test for the country in 1975.
- But the 23-year-old left-arm medium pacer from Gujarat created history when he was named as a standby for India’s trip to the United Kingdom - for the World Test Championship final and the Test series against England.
- The youngest member of a Parsi community from the village of Nargol, Nagwaswalla is the first Parsi cricketer to break into the Indian men's team since 1975. While Engineer played his final Test for India in 1975, Diana Edulji's last game in the women's team came in July 1993.
APPOINTMENTS
Ujjwala Singhania takes over as 38th National President FICCI FLOUjjwala Singhania has been appointed as the National President of FICCI Ladies Organization (FLO), the oldest women-led & women-centric business chamber of Southeast Asia.
- She took over as the 38th President of FLO at the FLO’s 37th Annual Session.
- As the 38th National President of FLO Singhania will focus on empowering women by facilitating an enabling environment that promotes entrepreneurship, industry participation and economic development of women.
Sankar Ghosh, an award-winning Indian-origin immunologist, has been elected to the prestigious National Academy of Sciences in recognition of his “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.
- He was among the 120 newly elected members announced by the Academy.
- Ghosh joined Columbia in 2008 and was previously a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. He is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
AWARDS
Nepalese Sherpa guide Kami Rita scales Mt Everest for the 25th time, breaking his own previous recordNepalese climber, Kami Rita scaled Mount Everest for the 25th time, breaking his own record for the most ascents of the world’s highest peak.
- Rita, 51, first scaled Everest in 1994 and has been making the trip nearly every year since then. He is one of many Sherpa guides whose expertise and skills are vital to the safety and success of the hundreds of climbers who head to Nepal each year seeking to stand on top of the 8,848.86m mountain.
- In addition to the 25 times he’s reached the top of Everest, Rita has scaled several other peaks that are among the world’s highest, including K2, Cho-Oyu, Manaslu and Lhotse.
Anupam Kher won the Best Actor award for his performance in the short film Happy Birthday at the New York City International Film Festival.
- The film has been directed by Prasad Kadam and produced by FNP Media.
- Besides Anupam, Happy Birthday stars Aahana Kumra. The film also won the Best Short Film award at the festival.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced that the state government will present 'Manoj Das International Literary Award' in memory of eminent litterateur Manoj Das.
- The award will be conferred on litterateurs from Odisha for their creative contribution to English literature every year. It will carry a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the winners of the ICC Player of the Month Awards for April which recognise and celebrate the best performances from both male and female cricketers across all forms of international cricket throughout the year.
- Pakistan's Babar Azam won the ICC Men’s Player of the Month for April 2021, for his consistent and outstanding performances across all formats in the recently concluded series against South Africa and was chosen as the April winner by fans and the ICC voting academy.
- From the Australian camp, Alyssa Healy was deservingly named the ICC Women’s Player of the Month for April 2021.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
SpaceX to Launch DOGE-1 to the Moon!SpaceX has announced that it will launch "DOGE-1 Mission to the Moon" in the first quarter of next year.
- The company's new satellite will be called Doge-1, and that the mission will be funded by Dogecoin. “SpaceX launching satellite Doge-1 to the moon next year. Mission paid for in Doge.
- DOGE-1 will fly a 40 kilogram cube satellite as a payload on a Falcon 9 rocket, with Geometric Energy Corporation saying its payload "will obtain lunar-spatial intelligence from sensors and cameras on-board with integrated communications and computational systems.
An anti-COVID oral drug developed by the DRDO has been approved by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for emergency use as an adjunct therapy in moderate to severe coronavirus patients, the defence ministry said.
- Clinical trials of the drug 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) showed that it helps in faster recovery of hospitalised patients and reduces supplemental oxygen dependence.
- The anti-COVID-19 therapeutic application of 2-DG drug has been developed by the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), a leading laboratory of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), in collaboration with Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL) in Hyderabad.
The Interpol has launched a mobile phone application (app) which will help identify stolen cultural property, reduce smuggling and increase the possibility of recovering stolen works and artefacts.
- The ‘ID-Art’ app enables users — from law enforcement agencies to the general public — to get mobile access to the Interpol database of stolen works of art, create an inventory of private art collections and report cultural sites that are potentially at risk, said the Interpol. It is available for both Android and Apple devices.
- The app’s users can immediately cross-check if an object is among the over 52,000 items registered as stolen in the Interpol’s “Stolen Works of Art” database.
OBITUARIES
Consul General of India in Mazar-e-Sharif Afghanistan Vinesh Kalra passes awayVinesh Kalra, India’s Consul General in the Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif, passed away at a hospital in Kabul. He was 52.
- He is the first Indian diplomat serving overseas who has died after being infected with Covid-19.
- Kalra had served in various Indian missions abroad, including Muscat, Hanoi, Pretoria, Kuala Lumpur and Beijing.
Veteran Communist leader and the leader of Janadipathya Samrakshana Samiti (JSS), K.R. Gouri Amma passed away at a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram due to age-related ailments. She was 102.
- She has been the longest serving woman legislator in the Kerala Assembly, the oldest woman member in the Assembly, the oldest woman Minister etc.
- The eight-decade-long political life of K.R Gouri Amma is an important part of the history of modern Kerala. She had been a minister in the first democratically elected Communist Government of 1957 in Kerala led by E M S Namboodiripad. As the revenue minister in the EMS cabinet, Gouri had drafted and piloted the historic Kerala Agrarian Relations Bill, which paved the way for land reform.
IMPORTANT DAYS
National Technology DayMay 11 is observed as the National Technology Day. This day marks the anniversary of Pokhran nuclear tests of 1998 and India's technological advancements in this space.
- Pokhran nuclear tests were a series of five nuclear bomb test explosions conducted by India at the Indian Army's Pokhran Test Range. On May 11, 1998, India successfully fired Operation Shakti missile at the Indian Army’s Pokhran Test Range in Rajasthan, the first among the five nuclear tests in Pokhran.
- The test was led by aerospace engineer and late President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.
No comments:
Post a Comment