1. El Salvador released the design of the bitcoin city
Tags: International News
Nayib Bukele, President of El Salvador, the smallest country in Central America, released the design of a bitcoin city under construction.
The city of Crypto will be built near the Conchagua volcano on the Gulf of Fonseca in the southeast of the Central American country.
Bitcoin City was first announced during the Latin American Bitcoin and Blockchain Conference.
Releasing the layout of the bitcoin city, an investment of 30 thousand dollars has been made by the government.
Countries adopting bitcoin
El Salvador is the first country in the world to recognize bitcoin as an official currency last year.
Recently, the Central African Republic became the second country in the world and the first in Africa to recognize bitcoin.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION -
About El Salvador -
El Salvador is the smallest and most densely populated country in Central America.
Capital - San Salvador
President- Nayib Bukele
currency - bitcoin
2. ISRO successfully test-fires 'Human-rated' solid rocket carrier (HS200) for Gaganyaan program
Tags: National Science and Technology
%20for%20Gaganyaan%20program%20copy.jpg)
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully completed the static test of the 'Human-rated' solid rocket carrier (HS200) for the Gaganyaan program at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
The HS200 satellite launch vehicle is a 'human-rated' version of the GSLV Mk III S200 rocket carrier, popularly known as LVM-3.
The 'human-rated' version is the process of certification of a spacecraft or launch vehicle to show that the vehicle is capable of carrying humans safely into space.
The design and development of the HS200 carrier was completed at VSSC, Thiruvananthapuram and the propellant casting was completed at SDSC, Sriharikota.
The S200 motor is the first stage of the LVM-3 launch vehicle, intended to launch a 4,000 kg class satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit.
After the success of this test, ISRO has moved one more step towards the Gaganyaan program.
Gaganyaan mission of india
Gaganyaan is a mission of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
Under this mission, three space missions will be sent into orbit, out of these three missions, 2 will be unmanned, while one will be a manned mission.
In the first phase, Gaganyaan's unmanned mission will be G-1. After this a robot named Vyommitra will be sent at the end of 2022.
Gaganyaan mission with crew will be launched for the first time in 2023.
The human space flight programme, called the Orbital Module, will have three Indian astronauts, including a woman.
The three-stage GSLV Mk III will be used for the launch of Gaganyaan, which is capable of launching heavy satellites. GSLV Mk III is also called Launch Vehicle Mark-3.
With the launch of Gaganyaan mission, India will join the club of US, China and Russia.
3. Campbell Wilson named as MD and CEO of Air India
Tags: Person in news National News
Tata Sons has announced the appointment of Campbell Wilson as the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Air India.
Wilson's appointment comes after Turkey's Ilkar IC decided not to take the role of Chief Executive of Air India.
Wilson is currently the CEO of Scoot, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines.
Wilson has 26 years of experience in both full service airlines and low cost airlines.
Other appointments -
Chief Commercial Officer of Air India - Nipun Aggarwal
Chief Human Resource Officer of Air India - Suresh Dutt Tripathi
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION -
Establishment of Air India - 1932
Air India Headquarters- New Delhi
Founder of Air India- Ratan Tata
President of Air India- N Chandrasekaran
4. India bans wheat exports with immediate effect
Tags: National Economics/Business
The central government has banned the export of wheat with immediate effect. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade issued a notification in this regard.
Why has the central government banned the export of wheat?
The export policy of wheat has been amended to manage the overall food security of the country.
The ban has been imposed to support the needs of neighbouring countries and other vulnerable countries.
The decision to ban the export of all types of wheat with immediate effect will bring down the market prices of wheat immediately and bring it closer to the MSP of Rs 2,015 per quintal.
India’s wheat exports
India's wheat exports rose to 7 million tonnes worth USD 2.05 billion in 2021-22 due to strong global demand.
In the last fiscal, about 50 per cent of the total wheat exports were exported to Bangladesh.
The country exported around 963,000 tonnes of wheat this year against 130,000 tonnes in the same period last year.
India was looking to export 10 million tonnes of wheat in 2022-23.
India would send trade delegations to nine countries – Thailand, Morocco, Turkey, Indonesia, Tunisia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Algeria and Lebanon to explore possibilities of boosting wheat shipments.
India’s wheat purchases have also declined sharply by 44 per cent to 16.2 million tonnes as of May 1 in the current Rabi marketing season.
The rabi marketing season runs from April to March.
5. Ujjwala scheme : 90 lakh beneficiaries did not refill the cylinder
Tags: Government Schemes National News
In the last financial year, 90 lakh beneficiaries of flagship welfare scheme Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana did not refill their cylinders.
Along with this, there are about 1 crore beneficiaries who have filled the cylinder only once in a year after taking LPG connection.
About the PM Ujjwala Yojana
It is a central government scheme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016.
The aim of the scheme was to provide Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) connections to five crore women of below poverty line (BPL) households in the first phase.
In the second phase, a target has been set to provide LPG connections to eight crore women by March 2020.
Under this scheme financial assistance of Rs 1600 is provided to BPL families for each LPG connection.
The scheme was expanded in April 2018 to include women beneficiaries from seven more categories (SC/ST, PMAY, AAY, Most backward classes, tea garden, forest dwellers, Islands).
Nodal Ministry - Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG)
Ujjwala Scheme 2.0
It aims to provide maximum benefits to migrants who live in other states and find it difficult to furnish address proof.
They only have to give "Self Declaration" to get the benefit.
Under Ujjwala 2.0, an additional 10 million LPG connections will be provided to the beneficiaries.
6. Indian Embassy in Ukraine to resume its operation in Kyiv from May 17
Tags: International Relations
India announced on 13 May that its embassy in Ukraine would resume its operations from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv from 17 May.
The embassy was temporarily operating from Warsaw in Poland since mid-March.
Several Western countries have also decided to resume the operation of the embassy from Kyiv.
India had decided to temporarily relocate the embassy to Poland in view of the rapidly deteriorating security situation in the war-torn country.
The Russian military was on offensive around Kyiv.
India has moved the embassy after repatriating over 20,000 of its Indian nationals from across Ukraine as part of its mission 'Operation Ganga' launched on February 26 in the wake of the war in Ukraine.
About embassy
An embassy is the base for a country’s diplomatic mission abroad – meaning all of the political, cultural and social relationships between the states.
There is only one embassy for one country in another, this is where the country's ambassador works.
One of the roles of embassies and consulates is to provide assistance to their national citizens abroad.
A consulate is where consular services are performed.
Embassies generally have a consular section.
7. NITI Ayog launches National Data and Analytics Platform
Tags: National News
NITI Aayog launched the National Data and Analytics Platform on 13 May.
The Platform was launched by NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Suman Beri in the presence of NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant.
This public launch follows a beta release of the platform in August 2021 that provided access to a limited number of users for testing and feedback.
The platform will help policymakers, academics and researchers to easily examine data without having to process it.
The portal will have 200 datasets from more than 46 ministries.
New datasets will be added up to the village level in the future.
Aim of the platform
To democratise access to government data by making data accessible, interoperable and interactive for open public use.
About NITI Aayog
NITI Aayog is the premier policy think tank of the Government of India.
The Government of India constituted the NITI Aayog in place of the Planning Commission, which was established in 1950.
This step was taken to better meet the needs and aspirations of the people.
On 18 September 2021, the Prime Minister approved the reconstitution of NITI Aayog, as under:
Chairperson : Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India
Vice Chairperson: Dr Rajiv Kumar (currently Suman Beri)
Full-Time Members:
VK Saraswat
Prof. Ramesh Chand
Dr VK Paul
Ex-Officio Members:
Rajnath Singh, Minister of Defence
Amit Shah, Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Cooperation
Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs
Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare
8. The extended range version of the air-to-air BrahMos missile was successfully launched
Tags: National Science and Technology
The extended range version of the air-to-air BrahMos missile was successfully launched from a Sukhoi-30 Mark-I fighter aircraft.
During the test, the missile hit the target accurately in the Bay of Bengal.
This was the first launch of the extended-range version of the BrahMos missile from a Sukhoi-30 Mark-I fighter aircraft.
The advanced version of this missile has a range of around 350 kms while the original missile had a range of around 290 kms.
Indian Defence Research Organisation (DRDO), Indian Navy, BAPL and HAL were involved in this test along with the Indian Air Force.
Sukhoi 30 MKI fighter aircraft
The Sukhoi 30 MKI is the flagship fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force.
This fighter aircraft is made in collaboration with Russia's military aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi and India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
It was inducted into the Indian Air Force in the year 2002 and since 2004, they have been manufactured in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
This aircraft can attack at a distance of 3000 km.
About BrahMos missile
BrahMos is a short-range ramjet, supersonic cruise missile.
It can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or even from land.
It has been jointly developed by Russia's NPO Mashinostroyenia and India's Defence Research and Development Organisation.
Brahmos is named after the Brahmaputra of India and the Moskva river of Russia.
Features of BrahMos
It can change course in the air and can also hit the moving target.
It can fly at a height of 10 metres and is not caught by radar.
9. Saudi Aramco overtakes Apple as world’s most valuable company
Tags: International News
Recently, Saudi petro company Aramco overtook Apple and received the status of the world's most valuable company.
Apple shares fell due to a slowdown in the technology sector, while the Saudi company's shares rose due to the continuous rise in oil prices.
Due to the fall in stocks, Apple's market cap has dropped 20 per cent to 2.37 lakh crore, while Aramco's market cap has climbed 28 per cent to 2.42 lakh crore.
Aramco's profits have soared 124 per cent after the sharp rise in worldwide oil prices following the Russo-Ukraine war.
Important facts
Establishment of Saudi Aramco- 1933;
Saudi Aramco Headquarters- Dhahran, Saudi Arabia;
Saudi Aramco CEO- Amin H. Nasser
10. BHARAT TAP Initiative launched
Tags: National News
The Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs launched the BHARAT TAP initiative at the ‘Plumbex India’ exhibition on 12 May.
At the exhibition, NARDECO (National Real Estate Development Council) MAHI’s ‘Nirmal Jal Prayas’ initiative was also launched.
About BHARAT TAP Initiative
It will provide large-scale low flow, sanitary-ware thereby significantly reducing water consumption at the source.
This is expected to save about 40% water.
This will result in water saving and energy saving due to less water.
The initiative will be rolled out across the country and will lead to a renewed focus on water conservation efforts.
About MAHI’s ‘Nirmal Jal Prayas’ initiative
The initiative of Nirmal Jal Prayas will focus on groundwater mapping.
This initiative is very important to save ground water and it will save 500 crore litres of water per year.
