1. 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)
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. India US 2+2 ministerial dialogue
Tags: International News
India and the United States of America will hold the 4th 2+2 ministerial dialogue in the United States on 11 April 2022.
The dialogue will be held between Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin respectively.
India and the United States decided to start 2+2 dialogue during Prime Minister Narendra Modi Visit to the U.S in June 2017.
The first meeting was held in September 2018.
India holds 2+2 meeting with Australia and Japan also
In the United States Foreign Minister is called the Secretary of State and the Defence Minister is called the Secretary of Defence.
7. Shehbaz Sharif elected as the new Prime Minister of Pakistan
Tags: Popular International News
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The Pakistan Parliament has elected the 70 year old Shehbaz Sharif as the 23rd Prime Minister of Pakistan on 11 April 2022. He secured 174 votes in a 342 lower house called the National Assembly. He is the leader of Pakistan Muslim League (N).
He was elected unopposed as the other candidate, former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmmod Qureshi boycotted the poll after his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, boycotted the voting and staged a walkout.
Sharif was administered the oath of office by the Senate chairman Sadiq Sanjarani after the Imran Khan supported President Arif Alvi went on a sick leave.
Sehbaz Sharif is the younger brother of former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif. He has been three times the Chief Minister of the Pakistani province of Punjab.
The 100 members of Imran Khan’s PTI party later announced their resignation from the National Assembly in protest against the removal of the PTI leader Imran Khan Government. Imran Khan has called for nationwide protests and called for early elections in the country.
The Imran Khan Government had to resign after a vote of no confidence was passed against the government in Pakistan's National Assembly on 10 April 2022.
Imran Khan alleged that America wanted to remove him from the office due to his policy of supporting China and Russia and not acceding to the American demand for military bases for operations against Taliban in Afghanistan. America has denied such accusations.
The Imran Khan government was becoming increasingly unpopular in Pakistan due to the serious economic crisis in the country and rising prices of daily essential commodities.
No Prime Minister in Pakistan has completed its five year terms. Imran khan is the only Prime Minister who has to resign after the passage of a no confidence motion against his government.
Important for Exam
Pakistan Parliament Name : It is called as Majlis e-Shoora
It consists of two Houses. The Upper House is called the Senate and the Lower House is called the National Assembly.
President of Pakistan : Arif Alvi
Capital : Islamabad
Currency : Pakistani Rupee
8. Shahbaz Sharif elected next Prime Minister of Pakistan
Tags: Popular International News
The Parliament of Pakistan (National Assembly) has elected Shahbaz Sharif as the new Prime Minister of the country on 11 April. The political crisis that had been going on for the last few days came to an end after the vote on the no-confidence motion moved against Imran Khan on April 10, in which he was removed from the post of Prime Minister.
Nawaz Sharif's younger brother:
Shahbaz Sharif, nominated as the new Prime Minister of Pakistan, is the younger brother of three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Nawaz Sharif was disqualified as prime minister in 2017.
There were many contenders for the post of Prime Minister:
The session of the Pakistan National Assembly has begun. Opposition candidate and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) president Shahbaz Sharif and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf vice-president and former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi are in the race for the new prime minister's post.
9. Foreign Ministers meeting of BIMSTEC held in Sri Lanka
Tags: International News
The foreign ministers of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 29 March 2022.
It was hosted by the Sri Lankan foreign minister G.L.Peiris and was attended by the foreign ministers of member countries.
The foreign ministers of member countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan India, Maldives ,Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand were present in Colombo while the foreign minister of Myanmar participated virtually.
India was represented by the foreign minister S. Jaishankar.
The foreign ministers meeting was held to prepare for the BIMSTEC summit meeting which will be held on 30 March 2022.
BIMSTEC
It was set up as Bangladesh, India Sri Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) on 6 June 1997 at Bangkok, Thailand .
It was renamed as Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation on 31 July 2004 when the first summit meeting was held in Bangkok, Thailand .
The member countries are Bangladesh, Bhutan India, Maldives ,Myanmar ,Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand .
The group was formed to promote economic cooperation between the member countries
- Headquarters : Dhaka, Bangladesh
10. Indian Foreign Minister S.Jaishankar visit to Maldives and Sri Lanka
Tags: International News
Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishanker is on an official visit to Maldives and Sri Lanka from 26 to 30 March 2022.
Maldives
On the first leg of his visit he visited Maldives on 26 and 27 March 2022. He met the Maldives foreign minister Abdulla Shahid and President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.
The President Solih assured Jaishankar that his government will follow India first policy.
What is India First Policy of Maldives
Maldives like Sri Lanka is a battleground of India and China to increase their area of influence in the region. During the previous regime of president Abdulla Yameen in Maldives,the influence of China became very strong and he followed anti- India policy. He was ousted from power in 2018 and was put in jail on corruption charges.
He is now out of jail and is leading a vehement anti-India campaign “Out India” in Maldives.
The current regime of Solih is considered a close friend of India and is following a “India First Policy”.
Highlights of the Jaishankar Visit
He met the Maldives foreign minister Abdulla Shahid at Addu City , in Maldives.
India and the Maldives also agreed to mutually recognise the COVID-19 vaccine certificates issued by each other, a move that will facilitate easier travel between the two countries and give a boost to the tourism sector.
Both countries signed an agreement linking India's National Knowledge Network and the Maldives’ Higher Education Network. National Knowledge Network is a multi-gigabit national research and education network, whose purpose is to provide a unified high speed network backbone for educational and research institutions in India. The network is managed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC).
Jaishankar also inaugurated a police training academy and a drug rehabilitation center built with Indian financial assistance at Addu.
Sri Lanka Visit
Foreign Minister S Jaishankar will be in Sri Lanka from 28 to 30 March 2022. He went to Sri Lanka on the invitation of the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister GL.Peiris.
Highlights of his visit
He met the Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. He assured them of India’s help to Sri Lanka which is facing a severe economic crisis.
Since January, India has extended $2.4 billion in assistance by way of a currency swap, loan deferment and credit lines for essential imports to help Sri Lanka cope with a stifling dollar crisis and shortages.
Along with the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa he virtually inaugurated the Jaffna Cultural Centre in Sri Lanka ,built with an Indian grant of $11 million.
They also virtually toured a camp in Jaffna where “Jaipur foot “ was being fitted. Jaipur Foot is an artificial low cost prosthetic foot made of rubber and it is made by Bhagwan Mahavir Viklang Samiti, Jaipur.
- He also attended the Foreign Ministers meeting of the BIMSTEC held on 29 March 2022.
