Weekly Current Affairs 1st April- 8th April 2021

FINANCE AND BANKING

• RBI extends deadline for processing auto-debit payments by 6 months
  • Earlier it was announced that from April 2021 onwards, there will be no automatic recurring payment for various services including recharge and utility bill as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has made Additional Factor of Authentication (AFA) mandatory after March 31.

• RBI allows RTGS, NEFT facilities to non-banking payment firms
  • The Reserve Bank of India has proposed to enable regulated payment system operators to take direct membership in Central Payment Systems such as RTGS and NEFT.

• RBI puts off card on file regulations for non-bank PAs by six months
  • The Reserve Bank of India has extended the timeline for storage of card credentials under the Payment Aggregator and Payment Gateway guidelines for six months till December 31, 2021.

ECONOMY

• Govt amends insolvency law; introduces pre-packaged resolution process for MSMEs
  • The government has amended the insolvency law to provide for a pre-packaged resolution process for micro, small and medium

• IMF projects India’s growth rate to jump to impressive 12.5 per cent in 2021
  • IMF recently projected an impressive 12.5 per cent growth rate for India in 2021, stronger than that of China, the only major economy to have a positive growth rate last year during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• India's current account deficit narrows to 0.2% of GDP in December quarter
  • India's current account deficit narrowed to USD 1.7 billion or 0.2 per cent of the GDP in the December quarter as against USD 2.6 billion or 0.4 per cent of GDP in the year-ago period, according to Reserve Bank data released on recently.

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.

• Indian Army formally closes down military farms
  • Indian Army formally closed down military farms. The military farms were set up with the sole requirement of supplying hygienic cow's milk to troops billeted in various garrisons across British India.

• Indo-Korean Friendship Park inaugurated in Delhi
  • An Indo-Korean friendship park was jointly inaugurated by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Minister of National Defence of South Korea Suh Wook at Delhi cantonment.

INTERNATIONAL

• Russia registers world's first COVID-19 vaccine for animals
  • Russia has registered world's first animal vaccine against COVID-19. Immunity lasts for six months after vaccination.

• 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.

STATES

• Odisha celebrates 86th statehood day ‘Utkala Dibasa’
  • Odisha marked the 86th statehood day on 1st April.
  • Celebrated as Utkal Diwas, the day commemorates the coming into being of Odisha as a state on April 1, 1936.

• Chhatrasal Convention Centre inaugurated in Khajuraho
  • Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union Tourism and Culture Minister Prahlad Singh Patel inaugurated the state-of-the-art Chhatrasal Convention Center in Khajuraho.

• Rajasthan becomes first state to provide health insurance for all its residents
  • Rajasthan launched its cashless mediclaim scheme ‘Chiranjeevi Health Insurance Scheme’ (Mukhyamantri Chiranjeevi Swasthya Bima Yojana) worth Rs 5 lakh for each family of the state.
  • Rajasthan has become the first state in the country to provide health insurance to all its residents.

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.

• Digital payments in India to account for 71% of all payments by 2025: report
  • Digital payments in India are set to account for 71.7% of the total payments volume by 2025, leaving cash and cheques at 28.3%, according to a report by a US-based payment systems company ACI worldwide.

• NITI Aayog Report
  • India’s healthcare sector is expected to reach $372 billion in 2022, registering a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 22% since 2016, more so with the pandemic opening up several opportunities, NITI Aayog said in a report recently.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• IIT-K develops touch-sensitive watch for the visually impaired
  • A professor and a research associate at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur have developed a novel touch-sensitive watch for the use of visually impaired people to sense time accurately.

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.

DEFENCE

• Fourth batch of 3 Rafale fighter jets arrive in India
  • The fourth batch of three Rafale fighter jets arrived in India from France. The Rafale jets, manufactured by French aerospace major Dassault Aviation, are India’s first major acquisition of fighter planes in 23 years after the Sukhoi jets were imported from Russia.

• 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.

• Multinational Military Exercise: SHANTIR OGROSHENA -2021
  • Indian Army will participate in Multinational Military Exercise namely SHANTIR OGROSHENA -2021 in Bangladesh.
  • The nine days exercise will start on the 4th April to commemorate the birth centenary of Bangladesh Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and mark glorious 50 years of liberation.

EVENTS

• Climate and Development Ministerial Meet
  • Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar participated in the virtual Climate and Development Ministerial Meet in the run up to COP26, the UN Climate Change Conference 2021. The Summit is being hosted by the UK.

• Raisina Dialogue 2021 to go fully digital
  • The organisers of Raisina Dialogue 2021 have decided to host this year’s edition as a fully digital event. The conference is scheduled from April 13-15.

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. Widely regarded as one of the most popular cinematic icons in India, Rajinikanth has also been honoured with the Padma Bhushan in 2000 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2016 by the Government of India.

• Kalinga Ratna Award 2021
  • Andhra Pradesh Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan has been conferred the Kalinga Ratna Award 2021. The award instituted by Sarala Sahitya Sansad was presented to Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan by M. Venkaiah Naidu, Vice President of India, during the 600th Birth Anniversary of Adikabi Sarala Das and 40th Annual Celebrations of Sarala Sahitya Sansad during the programme held at Sarala Bhawan in Cuttack.

• 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.

• Road Safety T20 World Series 2021
  • Sachin Tendulkar-led India Legends defeated Tillakaratne Dilshan's Sri Lanka Legends and emerged champions in the inaugural season of the Road Safety World Series T20 tournament in Raipur.

• Aniyan Midhun wins gold at 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.