VISION

1)  World Hand Hygiene Day: 05 May

•Every year, the World Hand Hygiene Day is observed on May 5. The day is organised by the World Health Organization (WHO) to raise awareness among people across the globe about the importance of hand hygiene in warding off many serious infections.

•The theme for 2021 is ‘Seconds Save Lives: Clean Your Hands’. The day recognizes hand washing as one of the most effective actions that can be taken to avoid a huge range of infections including the COVID-19 virus.

2)  International Day of the Midwife: 05 May

•International Day of the Midwife is observed globally on 5 May every year since 1992. This day is celebrated to recognise the work of midwives and raise awareness about the status of midwives for the essential care they provide to mothers and their newborns.

•The theme for 2021 International Day of the Midwife is “Follow the Data: Invest in Midwives.”

3)  Mamata Banerjee takes oath as West Bengal CM for the 3rd consecutive time

•Mamata Banerjee was sworn as West Bengal Chief Minister for the third time in the shadow of Covid and post-poll violence in parts of the state. The oath ceremony took place with Covid protocols in place at the “Throne Room” at the Raj Bhavan. The rest of the cabinet and the council of ministers will be sworn in on May 9, the birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore.

•Mamata Banerjee won a landslide victory in the Bengal election to secure a third straight term. The Trinamool won 213 of 292 seats while its strongest rival, BJP, finished second with 77 seats. Mamata Banerjee will head to her office Nabanna, where she will be given a guard of honour by the Kolkata Police.

4)  Indian Army Launches First Solar Plant in North Sikkim

•The Indian Army recently launched the first Green Solar Energy harnessing plant in Sikkim. It was launched to benefit the troops of the Indian army. The plant uses Vanadium based battery technology. It was built at an altitude of 16,000 feet. The capacity of the plant is 56 KVA. It was completed in collaboration with IIT Mumbai.

5)  Maria Ressa conferred UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize 2021

•Maria Ressa has been named as the 2021 laureate of the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. The $25,000 prize “recognizes outstanding contributions to the defence or promotion of press freedom especially in the face of danger,” according to UNESCO. The prize was named after Guillermo Cano Isaza, the Colombian journalist.

•UNESCO cited Ressa’s more than a 3-decade career as a journalist, including her work as CNN’s lead investigative reporter for Asia and as news chief of Philippine broadcast giant ABS-CBN. Recently, her citation added, Ressa “has been the target of online attacks and judicial processes” for her investigative work and her position as CEO of Rappler.

6)  World’s largest aeroplane by Stratolaunch completes test flight

•The world’s largest aeroplane, designed to transport hypersonic vehicles and facilitate easy access to space, soared into clear skies over California’s Mojave Desert. The company Stratolaunch designed it to transport hypersonic vehicles and facilitate easy access to space.

•The aircraft named ‘Roc’ features a twin-fuselage design and the longest wingspan ever flown, at 385 feet (117 m), surpassing the Hughes H-4 Hercules flying boat of 321 feet (98 m). The Stratolaunch is intended to carry a 550,000-pound payload and will be able to launch rockets from high altitude.

7)  Goldman Sachs lowers GDP growth forecast for India in FY22 to 11.1%

•Wall Street brokerage, Goldman Sachs has cut the GDP growth rate estimate for the Indian economy to 11.1 per cent in fiscal year FY22 (April 01, 2021, to March 31, 2022), due to increasing intensities of lockdowns by states to check the spread of coronavirus infections. Goldman Sachs has also revised the 2021 Calendar Year growth forecast to 9.7 per cent, from the previous estimate of 10.5 per cent.

8)  Armed Forces Launches Op “CO-JEET” for Mental Health Of COVID Patients

•The armed forces have launched operation “CO-JEET” to aid anti-COVID-19 efforts, like strengthening the medical system in India and oxygen supply chains. Along with these, CO-JEET also take measures to ensure the mental wellbeing of people. Apart from medical therapy, patients necessitate the assurance that “they will be fine” and at times that is all they need to gain back self-confidence and courage.

•Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Medical) Kanitkar is the third woman to become a three-star general in the armed forces. Vice Admiral Dr. Punita Arora & Air Marshal Padmavathy Bandopadhyay are the 1st & 2nd.

•Under the CO-JEET plan, personnel of the three wings of the armed forces have been pressed into service to help restore oxygen supply chains, set up COVID beds and provide help to the civilian administration in its fight to control the outspread of the virus. The operation also attempts to provide additional beds across the country for mixed COVID-19 management.

9)  Mark Selby becomes World Snooker Champion

•In Snooker, English professional player Mark Selby has become the World Snooker Champion for the fourth time. He won the Championship title after defeating fellow mate Shaun Murphy by 18-15 victory at a professional snooker tournament, that took place from 17 April to 3 May 2021 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. Prior to this, Selby won the Championship title in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2021.

Shankar IAS Monthly Mainstorming April 2021 PDF

📰 Scientists see flaws in govt-backed model's approach to forecast pandemic

 Why in news?

Recently revenues from the GST hit an all-time high, surpassing the previous month’s record.

Why the revenue was high?

• In April 2020, GST collections had dipped to a mere Rs. 32,172 crore due to national wide lockdown which affected all the economic activity.
• In October 2020, GST revenues was around Rs. 1.05 lakh crore and since then there was a steady increase with hopes of a sustained recovery.
• In April 2021, revenues from the GST was Rs. 1,41,384 crore surpassing the previous month’s record of about Rs. 1.24 lakh crore.
• This is essentially driven by the transactions in previous month, due to heightened economic activity.
• The rising COVID-19 cases and the fear of an impending lockdown could have driven people to make advance purchases in anticipation.
• Moreover, firms in the process of closing annual accounts may have remitted higher GST based on audit advice.
•  Also gradual tightening of the compliance regime, pro-active co-ordinated probes against taxpayers using fake bills to evade liabilities has also played a significant role.

What are the future prospects?

 What is the issue?

• Global powers are fixated on the concept of “net zero carbon emissions” and the appropriate target year for achieving it.
• While securing a global consensus around this target is important, the immediate priority should be to lay out the stepping stones; here is why natural gas is crucial in this regard.

What is the need now and how does natural gas help?

 YOJANA Magazine April 2021 English PDF

GS SCORE FACT FILE- IUCN Red List Of Threatened Species PDF

1)  Coal Miners’ Day: 4 May

•Coal Miners’ Day is celebrated on May 4 to recognize the hard work of some of the great unsung heroes of the Industrial Revolution. The day is celebrated to show appreciation for the coal miners and honour their accomplishments. Coal miners spend most of the days digging, tunnelling and extracting coal from the mines. They dig deep into the Earth to bring out the riches that help to sustain our life. Coal mining is one of the toughest professions.

2)  International Firefighters’ Day: 04 May

•The International Firefighters’ Day (IFFD) is observed on May 4 every year since 1999. The day is celebrated to recognise and honour the sacrifices that firefighters make to ensure that their communities and environment are as safe as possible. The day was instituted, after the deaths of five firefighters in tragic circumstances in a bushfire in Australia on 2 December 1998.

3)  World Asthma Day 2021: 04 May

•World Asthma Day is observed every year on the 1st Tuesday of May. This year, World Asthma Day is observed on May 4, 2021. The day spread awareness about asthma disease and care around the world. Whilst the primary focus is supporting the person with asthma, support may also extend to family, friends and caregivers. The theme for 2021 World Asthma Day is “Uncovering Asthma Misconceptions“.

4)  Barclays Projects India’s GDP Growth Forecast to 10% in FY22

•UK-based global brokerage firm Barclays has cut India’s GDP growth estimate for 2021-22 (FY22) to 10 per cent from its earlier estimate of 11 per cent. Apart from this, Barclays has estimated the economy to contract by 7.6 per cent in FY21.

5)  Kotak Mahindra Life appoints Mahesh Balasubramanian as MD

•Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Company Limited (KLI) on 1st May announced it has appointed Mahesh Balasubramanian as managing director of the company. He has been appointed following the retirement of G Murlidhar.

•The company is in receipt of approval from the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India for the appointment of Balasubramanian. The appointment is for a period of three years. Suresh Agarwal has been elevated to MD & CEO of Kotak General Insurance.

6)  Justice Pant appointed NHRC acting chairperson

•The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) member Justice (retired) Prafulla Chandra Pant had been appointed as the acting chairperson of the Commission with effect from April 25. A former Supreme Court judge, Justice Pant was appointed member of the NHRC on April 22, 2019.  The post of a chairperson has been vacant since Justice H.L. Dattu, a former Chief Justice of India, completed his tenure on December 2, 2020.

•Previously, he was appointed the first Chief Justice of the newly established Meghalaya High Court at Shillong on 20th September 2013 and continued till 12th August 2014.

7)  Facebook to introduces vaccine finder tool on mobile app in India

•Facebook has partnered with the Indian government to roll out a vaccine finder tool on its mobile app in India, which will help people identify places nearby to get inoculated. The social media giant had, earlier this week, announced a USD 10 million grant for emergency response efforts for the COVID-19 situation in the country.

8)  RBI imposes ₹3 crore penalty on ICICI Bank

•The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a monetary penalty of ₹3 crores on ICICI Bank for non-compliance with its directions in the matter of shifting of securities from one category to another. The monetary penalty has been imposed on the Bank for contravention of certain directions contained in its Master Circular on ‘Prudential Norms for Classification, Valuation and Operation of Investment Portfolio by Banks.’

•This penalty has been imposed in exercise of powers vested in RBI under the provisions of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (the Act). RBI observed that an examination of correspondence in the matter of shifting of securities from one category to another revealed, inter alia, contravention of the aforesaid directions issued by it. This action is based on the deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers.

9)  Sindhu, Michelle Li appointed ambassadors for IOC’s ‘Believe in Sport’ campaign

•The Badminton World Federation announced that India shuttler PV Sindhu and Canada’s Michelle Li have been nominated as athlete ambassadors for the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) ‘Believe in Sport’ campaign aimed at preventing competition manipulation.

•Sindhu and Li will be working alongside other athlete ambassadors from around the world to raise awareness on the topic of competition manipulation amongst athletes and encourage. The pair have been global ambassadors for BWF’s ‘i am badminton’ campaign since April 2020. The IOC’s ‘Believe in Sport’ campaign was launched in 2018 to raise awareness among athletes, coaches and officials of the threat of competition manipulation.