VISION

Rau’s IAS Prelims Compass 2021 Indian Economy PDF

1)  World Creativity and Innovation Day: 21 April

•World Creativity and Innovation Day is observed globally on 21 April every year. This day is celebrated to raise awareness around the importance of creativity and innovation in problem-solving with respect to advancing the United Nations sustainable development goals, also known as the “global goals”. The main objective of the day is to encourage people to use new ideas, make new decisions, and do creative thinking. Creativity is what makes the world go ‘round.

2)  National Civil Services Day: 21 April

•In India, ‘Civil Services Day is celebrated on April 21 every year. It is a day to appreciate the tremendous work done by officers engaged in public administration, in various departments of the central and state governments.

•The Government of India chose April 21 as the National Civil Service Day as on this day the country’s first home minister, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel addressed the newly appointed Administrative Services Officers in 1947. The historic occasion took place at the Metcalf House in Delhi. In his address, he called Civil Servants, the ‘Steel Frame of India’.

3)  AP launched Jagananna Vidya Deevena Scheme

•The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy recently released the first tranche of Rs 672 crores under the Jagananna Vidya Deevena Scheme for the year 2021-22. This reimbursed the fees for 10.88 lakh students. So far, a total of Rs 4, 879 crores have been disbursed under the Jagananna Vidya Deevena Scheme.

4)  Prahlad Singh Patel inaugurates first-ever online exhibition on Ramayana

•The Union Minister of State for Tourism and Culture ( I/C), Prahlad Singh Patel virtually inaugurated the first-ever Online Exhibition on Ramayana, the Epic by Maharishi Valmiki, on the occasion of World Heritage Day 2021.

•The online exhibition has been titled “Rama Katha: The Story of Rama Through Indian Miniatures”. It showcases 49 miniature paintings collections from different art schools of India, from the 17th through the 19th century. The collection of the painting has been taken from National Museum, New Delhi.

5)  Miguel Díaz-Canel to succeed Raúl Castro as the President of Cuba

•Miguel Mario Diaz-Canel has been officially sworn in as the ‘First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba’, following the resignation of Raul Castro. The Secretary of the Communist Party is the most powerful position in one party ruling Cuba. Díaz-Canel now holds Cuba’s two most important positions, head of the party and president of the state.

•Raúl Castro announced that he would step down from the key position of the party and hand over the leadership to a younger generation. Díaz-Canel is almost 30 years younger than his predecessor and will now hold Cuba’s two most important positions, head of the party and president of the state. Castro had been in the post since 2011 when he took over from his older brother, Fidel Castro.

6)  India-Germany enter into agreement to prevent plastic waste entering oceans

•The Government of India and Germany have signed an agreement for Technical Cooperation in enhancing practices to prevent plastic from entering the marine environment at a virtual ceremony in New Delhi. The project titled ‘Cities Combating Plastic Entering the Marine Environment’ will be implemented for a period of three and a half years.

•The outcome of the project is completely in line with the objectives of Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban focusing on sustainable solid waste management and Prime Minister Modi’s vision to phase out single-use plastic by 2022.

•The agreement was signed between the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH India on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. It will be undertaken at the national level (at MoHUA), select states (Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Andaman & Nicobar Islands) and in the cities of Kanpur, Kochi and Port Blair.

7)  India Ranks 142 in World Press Freedom Index 2021

•India has been placed at 142nd position among 180 countries in the latest World Press Freedom Index 2021, released on April 20, 2021. India was at 142nd position in 2020 as well. Norway has retained its top spot for the fifth year running, followed by Finland and Denmark at second and third place respectively. Eritrea is at the bottom of the index at 180th place.

•The index is published every year by the international journalism not-for-profit body, “Reporters Without Borders (RSF)”, to evaluate the press freedom situation in 180 countries and territories.

1)  U.S. currency watchlist an intrusion: official

‘Putting India under scanner invasion into central banks’ policy space’

•Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan on Tuesday questioned the rationale behind the U.S. government’s decision to put India in the watchlist for currency manipulators, and said the list constituted an intrusion into the policy space needed by central banks around the world to meet their mandates.

•The U.S. Treasury Department had recently retained India in a watchlist for currency manipulators submitted to the U.S. Congress, citing higher dollar purchases (close to 5% of the gross domestic product) by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

•Another trigger for the inclusion in the currency watchlist is a trade surplus of $20 billion or more. India’s trade surplus with the U.S. grew by about $5 billion to $23 billion in 2020-21 from around $18 billion in the previous fiscal year as imports fell more sharply than exports in the COVID-affected year.

•In response to a question on the U.S .move, Mr. Wadhawan said the RBI has been taking necessary steps to maintain stability in the financial markets and not accumulating forex reserves like China did in the past.

•“I think the central bank’s activity in the foreign exchange market has been perfectly balanced and completely legitimate within the accepted monetary policy mandate of central banks across the world. This watchlist is a recent phenomenon (and) it is an intrusion into policy space of central banks. I personally don’t understand its rationale or its economic logic,” the Commerce Secretary said.

•“These are, in my view, very legitimate market-based operations of a central bank. It is a mandate of the central bank to provide stability in the currency as a result of which central banks buy and sell foreign currency. Our overall reserves have been fairly steady at $500 bn to $600 bn. We are not accumulating reserves like China, which at one point had reserves of $4 trillion,” he pointed out.

•India, he asserted, had a steady holding pattern of forex reserves ‘with ups and downs’ based on market-based transactions that central banks may undertake.

📰 Managing an upheaval: On universal vaccination

Insights IAS Prelims 2021 Exclusive Environment PDF

Shankar IAS Target 2021 Environment & Geography-I PDF

1)  UN Chinese Language Day observed globally on 20 April

•UN Chinese Language Day is observed globally on April 20 every year. The day has been chosen to pay tribute to Cangjie, who is a mythical figure who is presumed to have invented Chinese characters about 5,000 years ago.

•The 1st Chinese Language Day was celebrated in 2010 on the 12th of November, but since 2011 the date has been on the 20th of April. The day celebrates multilingualism and cultural diversity as well as promote equal use of all six of its official working languages throughout the organization.

2)  Piyush Goyal launches the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme

•Union Minister Piyush Goyal launched the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS). The Fund aims to provide financial assistance to startups for proof of concept, prototype development, product trials, market-entry, and commercialization.

•The government has approved Rs. 945 Crore corpus for the fund, which will be divided over the next 4 years beginning April 01, 2021, for providing seed funding to eligible startups through eligible incubators across India. The scheme is expected to support an estimated 3,600 startups through 300 incubators.

3)  Punjab All Set to become ‘Har Ghar Jal’ State by 2022

•Punjab State reiterated the commitment of the State to achieve the ‘Har Ghar Jal’ target by 2022 as planned. Punjab has 34.73 lakh rural household, out of which 25.88 lakh (74.5%) have tap water supply. In 2021-22, the State plans to provide 8.87 lakh tap connections, thereby providing tap connection to every rural household. So far, 4-districts, 29 blocks, 5,715 panchayats and 6,003 villages in Punjab have been declared ‘Har Ghar Jal’, which means every rural household has access to water through the tap.

•To ensure transparency and accountability, Punjab has set up a well-equipped digital 24×7 call centre with Interactive Voice Responsive System. This analog grievance redressal system was upgraded in December 2020. Last year, the redressal rate was 97.76%. The pending complaints daily monitoring is done by sending reminders to the Executive Engineer via SMS, What’s App messages, e-mail and over the phone.

4)  DRDO develops supplemental oxygen delivery system for soldiers

•Defence Research and Development Organisation has developed a SpO2-based supplemental oxygen delivery system for soldiers serving in extremely high altitude areas & COVID-19 patients. This automatic system delivers supplemental oxygen based on the SpO2 (blood oxygen saturation) levels & prevents the person from sinking into a state of hypoxia, which is fatal in most cases.

•Hypoxia is a condition in which the amount of oxygen reaching the tissues is inadequate to fulfil all the energy requirements of the body. This is exactly the situation that gets replicated in a COVID-19 patient due to the virus infection and has been leading to the current crisis, If a COVID-19 patient’s SpO2 level goes below 94 per cent, he or she is generally advised to contact the doctor immediately as hospitalisation may be necessary.

5)  New Zealand Makes World’s 1st Climate Change Law For Financial Firms

•New Zealand is about to become the world’s first country to bring a law into force that demands environmental accountability from financial firms by asking them to report on how their businesses affect climate change. The aim is to bring the financial sector on board with the efforts being made towards achieving the country’s target of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.

•The New Zealand government first revealed its plans to compel the financial sector to make disclosures in September last year, informing that those unable to disclose would have to give explanations.

6)  Henley Passport Index 2021 released

•Amid the rising COVID-19 cases and subsequent restrictions on travel overseas, when many countries are banning individuals from worst-hit nations, the Henley Passport Index on April 17 released its list of the most powerful passports. India stands at number 84 on the list, as the Indian citizens can visit Visa-Free or Visa-on-Arrival in over 58 places. Japan, Singapore and Germany, South Korea stand in Top 3 respectively.

•The Henley Passport Index releases list which measures the world’s most travel-friendly passports. The index ranks the countries based on how strong their passport is.

Index

•Rank 1: Japan

•Rank 2: Singapore

•Rank 3:  Germany, South Korea

•Rank 4: Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain

•Rank 5:  Austria, Denmark

•Rank 107: Pakistan

•Rank 110: Afghanistan (Bottom)

7)  RBI sets up committee to review working of ARCs

•The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has constituted a six-member panel to carry out a comprehensive review of the working of Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARCs) in the financial sector ecosystem. The panel will be headed by former Executive Director of RBI, Sudarshan Sen.

8)  ‘The Christmas Pig’: JK Rowling to release new children’s book in October

•JK Rowling has a new book coming this autumn, a festive children’s story with all new characters. The story is about a boy named Jack and his toy Dur Pig, who goes missing on Christmas Eve. The book is set to be released worldwide on Oct. 12. “The Christmas Pig” is Rowling’s first children’s novel since Harry Potter.

9)  Stefanos Tsitsipas Wins Monte Carlo 2021 Title

•Stefanos Tsitsipas has won his first ATP Masters 1000 series after a flawless performance against Andrey Rublev in Monte Carlo. The Greek star had lost his previous two finals at this level, with Rafael Nadal denying him in Toronto and Novak Djokovic beating him in Madrid.

•Rublev beat 11-time Monte Carlo champion Nadal in the quarter-finals. Rublev knocked out Roberto Bautista Agut, Rafael Nadal and Dan Evans en route to the final but could not find a way past Tsitsipas.

📰 European Council approves conclusions on EU’s Indo-Pacific strategy

Vision IAS PT 365 Science and Technology 2021 PDF