1. Government appoints Lt Gen Manoj C Pande as next Chief of Army Staff
Tags: National Popular Defence Person in news
Presently Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Manoj C Pandey has been appointed by the Government as the next Chief of Army Staff.
His appointment to the post will be effective from the afternoon of April 30, 2022.
Born on May 06, 1962, Lt Gen Manoj C Pande was commissioned on December 24, 1982 in the Corps of Engineers (The Bombay Sappers) of the Indian Army.
During his long and distinguished service spanning over 39 years, he has served in a variety of Command, Staff and Instructional appointments.
The Command appointments of Lt Gen Manoj C Pande include Command of an Engineer Brigade in the Western Theatre, as part of Strike Corps and an Infantry Brigade along with Line-of-Control in Jammu & Kashmir.
Other important Command appointments include a Mountain Division in the high-altitude area of the Western Ladakh and Command of a Corps, deployed along the LAC and in the Counter Insurgency Operations area of Eastern Command.
2. “UDAN” scheme selected for Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration
Tags: National Government Schemes
The UDAN (UdeDeshkaAamNagrik) Scheme has been selected for Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration 2020 under the category “Innovation (General) – Central”.
Ministry of Civil Aviation will receive the award on 21st April i.e. Civil Services Day.
A special event has been organised by the Government of India at VigyanBhawan on the occasion of “Civil Service Day” where the representative of the ministry will be facilitated with the award.
Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration
–Government of India has instituted this scheme in 2006
–its purpose is to acknowledge, recognize and reward the extraordinary and innovative work done by Districts/ Organisations of the Central and State Governments.
–The Scheme was restructured in 2014 for recognizing the performance of District Collectors in Priority Programs, Innovations and Aspirational Districts.
–The Scheme was restructured again in 2020, to recognize the performance of District Collectors towards economic development of the District.
UDAN Scheme
–It was launched under the Ministry of Civil Aviation in 2016.
–its objective is to develop the regional aviation market.
–It is also known as the regional connectivity scheme (RCS)
–it seeks to improve air connectivity to tier-2 and tier-3 cities through revival of unused and underused airports.
–The scheme will be jointly funded by the central government and state governments.
–The scheme will run for 10 years and can be extended thereafter.
3. Visit of Prime Minister of Mauritius to India
Tags: International Relations
Prime Minister of Mauritius, Pravind Kumar Jugnauth arrived in Mumbai on an eight-day visit to India.
Mr Jugnauth is accompanied by his wife Kobita Jugnauth and a high-level delegation.
He has visited India with an aim to further strengthen the ties between the two countries.
He will attend the inaugural program of Global Centre of Traditional Medicine in Jamnagar, Gujarat.
After this, on April 20, he will also attend the Global AYUSH Investment and Innovation Summit in Rajkot.
Bilateral relations between India and Mauritius
–India-Mauritius relationship is very significant for India’s geostrategic policies in the Indian Ocean Region.
–India and Mauritius jointly inaugurated an India-assisted social housing units project in Mauritius.
–both the countries signed a USD 100 million Defence Line of Credit agreement
–in 2019, the main import partners of Mauritius were India (13.85%), China (16.69%), South Africa (8.07%), and UAE (7.28%).
–India has been one of the largest trading partners and exporter of goods and services to Mauritius since 2007.
–India’s exports to Mauritius are largely of petroleum products.
4. Inauguration of 40th 'Hunar Haat’ in Mumbai
Tags: National
Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting and Youth Affairs & Sports, Shri Anurag Thakur inaugurated the 40th edition of the 'Hunar Haat’ in Mumbai.
The 40th edition of Hunar Haat is a credible platform to promote 'Swadeshi' products.
It is being held at MMRDA Ground, Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai from 16th to 27th April, 2022.
Atma Nirbhar Bharat is being strengthened by initiatives like Hunar Haat.
In this 40th edition of Hunar Haat, more than a thousand craftsmen and artisans coming from 31 states have put up 400 stalls."
Tejas Skills Program is a program launched by the Government of India.
Under this initiative India will send skilled manpower to the UAE.
Within a year, 30,000 skilled job-seekers will be sent to the UAE.
About 'Hunar Haat’
–it is an exhibition of handicrafts and traditional products made by artisans from the minority communities.
–launched in 2016
–its theme is Vocal for Local.
–organiser - Ministry of Minority Affairs under USTTAD (Upgrading the Skills & Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development) scheme.
–its aim is to provide market exposure and employment opportunities to artisans, craftsmen and traditional culinary experts.
5. Extreme poverty in India declined by 12.3 percentage points during 2011-2019
Tags: Economy/Finance International News
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According to the World Bank Report Poverty in India is 12.3 percentage points lower in 2019 as compared to 2011.
The poverty headcount rate has declined from 22.5 percent in 2011 to 10.2 percent in 2019.
As per a policy research working paper of World Bank, Poverty reduction was higher in rural areas as compared to urban India.
Rural poverty dropped by 14.7 percent while urban poverty declined by 7.9 percentage points during 2011 to 2019.
Study says that farmers with small landholding sizes have experienced higher income growth.
Real incomes for farmers with the smallest landholdings have grown by 10 percent in annualised terms between the two survey rounds in 2013 and 2019 compared to a 2 percent growth for farmers with the largest landholding.
Extreme poverty has been measured in terms of the number of people living on less than $1.90 a day (roughly Rs 145).
About World Bank
– The World Bank is a provider of financial and technical assistance to individual countries around the globe.
–it comprises 189 countries and five constituent institutions that work towards eradicating poverty and creating prosperity.
–Currently, the World Bank has two stated goals that it aims to achieve by 2030.
–The first is to end extreme poverty by decreasing the number of people living on less than $1.90 a day to below 3% of the world population.
–The second is to increase overall prosperity by increasing income growth in the bottom 40% of every country in the world.
–HQ : Washington DC (USA)
6. Egypt approves India as wheat supplier
Tags: Economics/Business International News
Egypt, which is one of the largest importers of wheat from Ukraine and Russia, has approved India as a wheat supplier.
Egypt is likely to lift about one million tonnes of wheat from India, of which 240,000 tonnes will be shipped in April itself.
Export was approved after a rigorous process of field visits and checks in quarantine facilities in India by Egyptian authorities.
The teams visited wheat fields in Madhya Pradesh, UP and Punjab to check for themselves the quality of wheat produced in India.
India aims to export 10-11 million tonnes of wheat in FY23 due to the surge in global demand following the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
India’s wheat export
India's wheat exports rose to $1.74 billion in April-January 2021-22 as against $340.17 million in the same period last year.
In 2019-20, wheat exports were worth USD 61.84 million, which rose to USD 549.67 million in 2020-21.
India's wheat exports are mainly to neighbouring countries with Bangladesh having the largest share of more than 54 percent.
7. Musk set to buy Twitter with $43 billion offer
Tags: International News
Elon Musk, Tesla's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) has offered to buy Twitter.
Twitter informed the stock market on April 14 that Musk sent it a letter on April 13, proposing to buy the rest of the company's shares.
Musk has offered $54.20 for each Twitter share. The offering comes in at over $43 billion.
Musk has described this price as his maximum and final offer.
It is noteworthy that Musk currently owns more than nine percent of Twitter's shares. He is the largest shareholder of the company.
8. Kangra tea gets EU GI tag
Tags: National
Kangra tea of Himachal Pradesh has received the GI tag of the European Union. Kangra tea is in great demand in the market due to its many properties.
It got the GI tag of India in the year 2005 itself.
In Himachal Pradesh, 2311 hectares of land is under tea.
Geographical Indication ie GI tag is found about the characteristics of the goods produced in a particular place.
Kangra Tea:
Due to its medicinal properties and rapidly increasing use in cosmetics, its demand has increased rapidly globally.
This tea is grown at an altitude of 900 to 1400 metres above sea level. Tea requires annual rainfall of 270 to 350 cm.
9. Israel has developed the world's first laser missile defence system: Iron Beam
Tags: Defence International News
Israel has successfully test-fired a laser missile defence system for the first time in the world.
The name of this missile defence system has been given 'Iron Beam'. This laser-based missile defence system destroyed mortars, rockets and anti-tank missiles in a single blow.
Israel also has a missile defence system named Iron Dome, which has proved to be very useful for this. This is a very expensive defence system that costs thousands of dollars for repeated use.
But the best thing about this iron beam is that it will cost only Rs 267 in one blow.
10. Boris Johnson rejects calls to resign amid ‘partygate’ fine
Tags: International News
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has refused to resign after being fined for breaking his government’s pandemic lockdown rules, saying he would instead redouble efforts to strengthen the economy and combat Russian aggression in Ukraine.
London police fined Mr. Johnson and other people on Tuesday for attending a birthday party thrown for the Prime Minister at his Downing Street offices on June 19, 2020.
The penalty made Mr Johnson the first British Prime Minister ever found to have broken the law while in office.
