NATIONAL NEWS
Govt to give assistance of Rs 1500 to each Transgender person in view of COVID-19 pandemicGovernment has decided to provide assistance of Rs 1500 to each Transgender person as immediate support to meet their basic requirements in view of Covid pandemic.
- Any transgender person or Community-based Organisations on behalf of the Transgender Person can apply for financial assistance after providing basic details like Aadhar and Bank Account number.
- They have to fill a form, which is available on the website of the National Institute of Social Defence. Centre had provided similar financial assistance and ration kits to Transgender persons during last year's lockdown.
TRIFED will now be partnering with NITI Aayog to implement the Van Dhan Yojana in the districts that have been identified as aspirational by NITI Aayog.
- It has been decided that a dedicated team from TRIFED along with the NITI Aayog team will work out the follow-up-plan for the implementation of the Van Dhan Yojana in each of the 39 Tribal Aspirational Districts.
- These identified districts are in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Telangana and Tripura. A special focus will be on these aspirational districts where tribal population constitutes more than 50 per cent.
India and Israel have signed a three-year work program for cooperation in agriculture. India and Israel are implementing the “INDO-ISRAEL Agricultural Project Centres of Excellence” and “INDO-ISRAEL Villages of Excellence”.
- This new work programme will further strengthen the bilateral relations and mutual cooperation between the two countries in the field of agriculture for the benefit of the farming community.
The government of Haryana, with support from Deloitte, has launched Sanjeevani Pariyojana (or ‘the life project’). This is a supervised, virtual home care initiative to help people quickly access health care for mild to moderate symptoms of Covid-19.
- This approach taken by the Government of Haryana provides individuals with support and resources to manage their care at home including access to virtual triage, as well as COVID-19 field hospitals and inpatient facilities when deemed appropriate by state-trained medical staff.
- The Haryana-Deloitte collaboration builds on the state’s existing telemedicine and other virtual medical care services for home treatment.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan chairs 74th World Health AssemblyMinister of Health & Family Welfare and Chairman of WHO Executive Board, Dr Harsh Vardhan, chaired 74th World Health Assembly in virtual mode. Director-General of World Health Organisation, Dr Tedros, also participated in the event.
- According to Dr Harsh Vardhan, executive board has asked for further efforts which can ensure fair and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines under COVAX Facility.
- Board recommended 74th World Health Assembly to consider report on mental health preparedness and response for Covid-19 pandemic.
- It further recommended to endorse updated comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan for 2013 to 2030 and encouraged WHO to work in collaboration with World Organisation for Animal Health and Food & Agriculture Organisation so that source of zoonotic virus can be identified.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the United Kingdom will work with the World Health Organization, other partners and nations to develop an advanced international pathogen surveillance network to identify COVID-19 variants and emerging diseases.
- The prime minister also claimed that the "Global Pandemic Radar," as the network was called, will ensure the early detection of new variants and emerging pathogens, so vaccines and treatments needed to stop them can be rapidly developed.
- The Global Pandemic Radar is expected to become fully operational before the end of with the aim of significantly improving global health security going into next year.
BANKING & FINANCE
MHA permits FCRA accounts to open account in SBI New DelhiThe Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has permitted existing Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) account holders, including NGOs and associations, to open their “FCRA Account” in the New Delhi Main Branch (NDMB) of the State Bank of India up to June 30, 2021.
- After that date they shall not be eligible to receive foreign contribution in any account other than the “FCRA Account” opened in the NDMB.
The International Monetary Fund or IMF proposed a $50 billion plan to end the Covid-19 pandemic, with a target of vaccinating at least 40% of the world's population by the end of 2021 and the remaining 60% by the first half of 2022.
- Doing so, the detailed research piece prepared by the IMF Chief Economist Gita Gopinath and staff economist Ruchir Agarwal say, would inject the equivalent of $9 trillion into the global economy by 2025 due to a faster resumption of economic activity, with rich countries potentially benefiting the most.
- IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva during the Global Health Summit, organized by the European Commission and Italy, as chair of the G20 also announced that the IMF will provide additional upfront grants to the COVAX.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Hallmarking of Gold Jewellery set to begin from June 15Hallmarking of Gold Jewellery is set to begin from 15th June this year. In view of Covid, Government accepted the request of stakeholders to give jewellers some more time to get prepared for implementation and resolve issues.
- Earlier it was expected to be implemented from 1st June this year. A committee was formed to ensure proper coordination and resolve the implementation issues.
Country’s Foreign exchange reserves crossed the USD 590 billion mark on the week ended 14th March.In terms of rupee, it is 43,24,574 crores.
- As per the data released by Reserve Bank of India, in last week it rose by USD 563 million.In last one year country’s foreign exchange reserve rose by USD 102 billion.
- Country has foreign currency assets of USD 546.87 billion, Gold of USD 36654 million, SDR of USD 1506 million and reserve position in IMF of about USD 5,000 million.
SPORTS
Phil Mickelson wins PGA Championship; becomes oldest major winner in historyIn Golf, Phil Mickelson won the PGA Championship by two shots over Brooks Koepka and South African Louis Oosthuizen to become the oldest major winner in history.
- The 50-year-old Mickelson, who started the day with a one-shot lead, sealed the deal with a one-over-par 73 at the Ocean Course that left him at six under on the week.
- The victory by Mickelson marked the sixth major championship win of his career and first since the 2013 British Open.
In Lyon Open tennis, Stefanos Tsitsipas teed himself up for the French Open in dominant fashion as he claimed his second title of 2021 with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Cameron Norrie.
- Tsitsipas, who dropped only one set in the entire tournament, wrapped up the match in 69 minutes to add a second title in the claycourt swing after winning last month's Monte Carlo Masters.
In Geneva Open tennis, world No. 21 Casper Ruud of Norway was rock-solid in the final as he took down 15th-ranked Denis Shapovalov of Canada 7-6 (6), 6-4 for his second ATP Tour title.
- Ruud improved to an ATP Tour-leading 32 clay-court wins in 2020-21, ahead of Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas (26) and Chile’s Cristian Garin (25).
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen has won the Monaco Grand Prix for the first time to take the Formula One championship lead from Lewis Hamilton.
- Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. finished second, while McLaren, L. Norris came in a disappointing third place
APPOINTMENTS
TikTok Parent’s Founder Zhang Yiming to Step Down as CEOThe founder of Chinese internet powerhouse ByteDance, the company behind video-streaming apps TikTok and Douyin, will resign at the end of the year and be succeeded by co-founder Liang Rubo, the company said.
- Zhang Yiming, 38, who launched ByteDance 10 years ago, is the latest high-profile Chinese internet billionaire founder to resign, in the general context of a Beijing crackdown, through threats and fines, designed to curb the influence of big technology companies and their sometimes charismatic leaders.
AWARDS
Hockey India honoured with prestigious Etienne Glichitch AwardHockey India won the prestigious Etienne Glichitch Award in recognition of its contribution to the growth and development of the sport in the country.
- The awards was announced by the game's governing body FIH during the HockeyInvites virtual conference as part of its 47th FIH Congress which concluded with the FIH Honorary Awards.
- The Pablo Negre Award was presented to the Uzbekistan Hockey Federation and The Polish Hockey Association picked up the Theo Ikema Award.
- Among individuals, England striker Sam Ward was named as the recipient of the Super Fair Play Trophy René G Frank.The Guust Lathouwers Memorial Trophy – for an individual who has made a significant mark on the development of umpiring – went to Croatia's Ivona Makar.Sharon Williamson of New Zealand was named as the winner of the HRH Sultan Azlan Shah Award
ENVIRONMENT
World’s largest iceberg breaks off from AntarcticaAn enormous iceberg, a little bigger than the state of Rhode Island, has broken off of Antarctica.
- The finger-shaped chunk of ice, which is roughly 105 miles (170 kilometers) long and 15 miles (25 kilometers) wide, was spotted by satellites as it calved from the western side of Antarctica's Ronne Ice Shelf, according to the European Space Agency.
- The berg is now floating freely on the Weddell Sea, a large bay in the western Antarctic where explorer Ernest Shackleton once lost his ship, the Endurance, to pack ice.
OBITUARIES
China’s ‘father of hybrid rice’ Yuan Longping passes awayYuan Longping, a Chinese agricultural scientist whose breakthroughs in hybrid rice brought food security to China and transformed agriculture worldwide, died aged 91.
- Mr. Yuan, who is celebrated in China as the “father of hybrid rice” for his contributions to agriculture and beloved for his simple demeanour that endured despite the many honours that came his way, was still conducting research at the Sanya Hybrid Rice Research Base until he suffered a fall in March this year.
- His discovery of Nan-you No. 2, led to a rise in China’s rice production from 5.69 billion tonnes in 1950 to 19.47 billion tonnes in 2000, for the first time transforming China into a grain surplus country.
BOOKS & AUTHORS
'The Spiritual CEO’ book by S PrakashThe book titled "The Spiritual CEO”, penned by secretary of Heartfulness Institute, S Prakash has been released. The book was published by Westland Publication.
- In this book, Prakash explores, in the context of Korporate Karma, Korporate DNA and spiritual alchemy, how a CEO can metamorphosis and become a “spiritual CEO”.
IMPORTANT DAYS
International Missing Children’s DayInternational Missing Children’s Day is observed globally on 25th May every year.
- This day is observed for missing children who have found their way home, remember those that are victims of crime, and continue efforts to seek out those that are still missing.
World Thyroid Day takes place on 25th May each year.
- World Thyroid Day aims at increasing public awareness of thyroid deceases, namely the importance of their timely diagnosis, treatment and prevention.
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