Monthly Current Affairs April 2021

FINANCE AND BANKING

• RBI cancels licence of Bhagyodaya Friends Urban Co-operative Bank
  • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on April 22 said it has cancelled the licence of Maharashtra-based Bhagyodaya Friends Urban Co-operative Bank Limited due to inadequate capital.

• RRA 2.0: RBI sets up regulatory review authority to review regulations, ease compliance
  • The Reserve Bank recently set up the second Regulatory Review Authority (RRA 2.0) with a view to streamlining regulations and reducing compliance burden of regulated entities.
  • Deputy governor M Rajeshwar Rao has been appointed as the head of the RRA which would be set up for a period of one year from May 1, 2021, unless its tenure is extended.

• RBI sets up 6-member panel to review working of asset reconstruction companies
  • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has formed a six-member panel under the chairmanship of Sudarshan Sen, former RBI executive director, to examine the role of asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) in stressed debt resolution, including under the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016 and review their business model.

ECONOMY

• SEBI issues guidelines for warehousing norms for agri, non-agri goods
  • Markets regulator SEBI recently came out with guidelines for preparing warehousing norms by clearing corporations for agricultural, agri-processed, base and industrial metals goods.

• S&P forecasts 11% growth for India this fiscal, flags ‘substantial’ impact of broader lockdowns
  • S&P Global Ratings recently raised India's growth forecast for financial year 2021-22 to 11% from 10% earlier, led by an expansionary fiscal policy aimed at boosting domestic private spending.

• Ind-Ra Projects India’s GDP Growth Rate at 10.1% in FY22
  • India Ratings and Research on recently revised down India’s FY22 real GDP growth forecast to 10.1 per cent, from earlier projection of 10.4 per cent, citing the second wave of COVID-19 infections and slower pace of vaccination.

NATIONAL

• MyNEP2020 Platform of NCTE Portal launched
  • Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' launched the MyNEP2020 Platform of National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) Web Portal which will be operational from April 1 to May 15, 2021.

• West Central Railway becomes first fully electrified Indian Railways zone
  • Indian Railways’ West Central Railway zone has become the first fully electrified railway zone in the country.

• India's biggest floating solar power plant to be set up at Ramagundam in Telangana
  • India's biggest floating solar power plant with a capacity of 100 MW will be set up at Ramagundam in Telangana.
  • The project expected to be opened in May, is being set up at Ramagundam thermal power plant reservoir.

INTERNATIONAL

• Vietnam National Assembly selects Prime Minister & President
  • Outgoing Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc was appointed the new president of Vietnam.
  • Vietnam’s legislature has voted to make Pham Minh Chinh, a member of the Communist party with a history as a security official, the country’s next prime minister.

• Vjosa Osmani elected as new president of Kosovo
  • Politicians in Kosovo elected and swore in a new president, Vjosa Osmani for a five-year term.
  • She is the Balkan nation’s seventh president, and second female leader, in the post-war period.

• Miguel Díaz-Canel will become the President of Cuba
  • Miguel Díaz-Canel will succeed Raúl Castro as the President of the state party and the Cuban Communist Party’s first secretary.
  • He is the first person without the surname Castro to run Cuba since the 1959 revolution.

REPORTS AND INDEXES

• Global Gender Gap Report 2021
  • The Global Gender Gap Report is annually published by World Economic Forum. It was first published in 2006.
  • The Global Gender Gap Report 2021 report, which is the 15th edition, covers 156 countries.

• Inclusive Internet Index
  • The Facebook-Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) released 'Inclusive Internet Index' for 120 countries, representing 98 per cent of global GDP and 96 per cent of global population.
  • Top Ranked Nations: The index is topped by Sweden followed by United States and Spain.
  • India’s Rank: India is ranked 49th in the index. India is tied with Thailand in 49th place.

• World Press Freedom Index 2021
  • The World Press Freedom Index is an annual ranking of countries compiled and published by Reporters Without Borders since 2002.
  • The World Press Freedom Index 2021 ranks 180 countries.
  • Top Ranked Nations: Norway is ranked number 1 in the index, followed by Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Costa Rica.
  • India’s Rank: India ranks 142nd in the index. India shares the “bad” classification with Brazil, Mexico and Russia.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• ISRO to support 8 joint research projects proposed by IIT-Delhi's Space Technology Cell
  • The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will support eight joint research projects mooted by the Space Technology Cell (STC) of IIT Delhi.
  • ISRO will support the projects under its RESPOND program with varying duration of 1-3 years.

• NASA's Ingenuity Helicopter Takes Flight on Mars
  • NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter became the first aircraft in history to make a flight on another planet.
  • Ingenuity traveled to Mars attached to the underside of Perseverance, which touched down on the planet on a mission to search for signs of extraterrestrial life.

• NASA's Mars rover extracts first oxygen from Red Planet
  • In a first, NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has converted some of the Mars’ thin, carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere into oxygen. The task was accomplished by Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilisation Experiment (MOXIE).

AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT

• Jal Jeevan Mission deploys sensor-based IoT devices to monitor rural drinking water supply systems
  • In a bid to monitor the rural drinking water supply systems in villages, the Ministry of Jal Shakti has decided to take the digital route to use sensor-based IoT devices to effectively monitor the implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in more than six lakh villages.

• eSaNTA platform launched for marine products to empower farmers
  • Commerce and Industry Ministry has launched e-commerce platform eSaNTA for marine products.
  • It will empower farmers as they will be able to sell their produce at the click of a button through this portal.

• CIBA releases first indigenous vaccine for fish
  • The Chennai-based Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture (CIBA) has developed the country's first vaccine for deadly viral nervous necrosis (VNN) disease, which is currently affecting several species of fish. The name of the indigenous vaccine is Nodavac-R.

DEFENCE

• Multinational Military Exercise: SHANTIR OGROSHENA -2021
  • Indian Army will participate in Multinational Military Exercise namely SHANTIR OGROSHENA -2021 in Bangladesh.

• 11th edition of 'Vajra Prahar'
  • The 11th edition of Indo-US joint Special Forces exercise Vajra Prahar 2021 was conducted at Special Forces training school located at Bakloh, in Himachal Pradesh in March.

• Maritime Exercise ‘LA PEROUSE’
  • Indian Navy Ships are participating, for the first time; in multi-lateral maritime exercise La Pérouse. It was conducted in the Eastern Indian Ocean Region.

• 8th edition of Khanjar Exercise
  • The 8th Indo-Kyrgyz Joint Special Forces Exercise “Khanjar” was inaugurated at the Special Forces Brigade of National Guards of Kyrgyz Republic in Bishkek, Krygzstan.

EVENTS

• 103rd Development Committee Meeting of World Bank-IMF
  • Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman participated in the 103rd Meeting of the Development Committee Plenary via video conferencing.

• IAF Commanders' Conference 2021
  • Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated First bi-annual Indian Air Force Commanders' Conference 2021 at Air Headquarters Vayu Bhawan in New Delhi.

• Raisina Dialogue 2021
  • The 6th edition of the Raisina Dialogue, which is India’s flagship conference on geopolitics and geo-economics was organised as a fully digital event this year in New Delhi.
  • Hosted by: Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and External Affairs Ministry.
  • Theme for the summit 2021: “#ViralWorld: Outbreaks, Outliers and Out of Control”.

AWARDS AND REWARDS

• 51st Dadasaheb Phalke Award
  • The 51st Dadasaheb Phalke Awards honoured actor Rajinikanth with India's highest film honour. The award is for the year 2019.

• Kalinga Ratna Award 2021
  • Andhra Pradesh Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan has been conferred the Kalinga Ratna Award 2021.

• 30th GD Birla Award for Scientific Research
  • Professor Suman Chakraborty has been selected for the 30th GD Birla Award for Scientific Research for his outstanding contribution to engineering science and its applications in developing technologies for affordable healthcare.

SPORTS

• Dubai Para Badminton International 2021
  • The Dubai Para-Badminton International 2021 concluded with Indian contingent bagging 5 gold, 6 silver and 10 bronze medals in the competition.

• South Asian Wushu Championship
  • 28-year old Aniyan Midhun of Nattika in Thrissur won the gold at the International Games 2021 - South Asia Championship - Wushu Sanda that held at Kathmandu, Nepal.
  • He represented the country in the 70-kg category in the championship.

• Four Indian sailors qualify for Tokyo Olympics
  • Four Indian sailors - Nethra Kumanan, Vishnu Saravanan, KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakkar -qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in the Asian qualification event which concluded in Oman.
  • While Nethra, Vishu and Ganapathy are part of the Tamil Nadu Sailing Association, Vishnu represents the Indian Army.

• Arjun Kalyan Becomes India’s 68th Grandmaster
  • Arjun Kalyan, 18-year-old from Chennai, became India’s 68th Grandmaster.
  • He crossed the 2500 ELO mark after scoring a win over Dragan Kosic in the 5th round of the GM Round Robin “Rujna Zora-3” in Serbia.