NATIONAL NEWS

Tata AIA with CSC

• Under the Ministry of Electronics & IT, Tata AIA Life Insurance Co Ltd has partnered with Common Services Centers (CSC).

• It is to engage its network of over 4 lakhs Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) for distribution of life insurance plan to rural households.

• Through its network, CSC will offer Tata AIA Life POS Smart Income Plus plan that provides the dual advantage of a life cover combined with savings.
• By paying premiums for 7 years, customers can enjoy a life cover for 15 years. Women policyholders enjoy a higher benefit for the plan.

UIDAI, NRSC and ISRO sign MoU for Technical Collaboration

• Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), New Delhi, and National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), ISRO Hyderabad for technical collaboration.
• NRSC will be developing Bhuvan-Aadhar portal providing information and locations of the aadhaar centres across India.
• The portal also provides a facility to search the relevant Aadhaar centres by location based on residents’ requirements.
• NRSC will also provide web-based portal to collect and store data pertaining to existing and new enrolment centres to improve citizen centric services by carrying out regular statutory inspections.
• Bhuvan will facilitate complete geographic information storage, retrieval, analysis and reporting for Aadhaar centres, with a high-resolution backdrop of natural color satellite images.
• The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is a statutory authority established under the provisions of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 ("Aadhaar Act 2016") on 12 July 2016 by the Government of India, under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

Kadam – IIT-M

• Indian Institute of Technology- Madras (IIT-M) researchers launched India's "first" indigenously made Polycentric Prosthetic Knee named 'Kadam'.

• It will help above-knee amputees to walk with a comfortable gait. It is designed with high strength stainless steel and aluminium alloy along with hard chrome plated EN8 pins and high fatigue life polymer bushings which was developed by a team at TTK Centre for Rehabilitation Research and Device Development.
• The Society for Biomedical Technology and Mobility India supported the development.

AVSAR Scheme

• The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has created the "AVSAR" project to promote women, artisans, and craftsmen talent and give them reasonable possibilities.

• "AVSAR" stands for Airport as Venue for Skilled Artisans of The Region.

• It is an opportunity to assist the impoverished in mobilizing their homes into operationally effective self-earned groups for self-reliance and self-dependence has been provided.
• The self-help groups will be given space on a turn-by-turn basis for 15 days.
• The plan to enhance SHGs by allocating space at AAI Airports will provide these small organizations a lot of visibility and prepare them to promote their products to a bigger audience.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

India and US to Hold 2 Plus 2 Dialogue

• The fourth India-US 2 plus 2 Ministerial Dialogue was held in Washington.

• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar will lead the Indian delegation. The US delegation will be led by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

• The dialogue would enable both sides to undertake a comprehensive review of cross-cutting issues in the India-US bilateral agenda related to foreign policy, defense and security, with the objective of providing strategic guidance and vision for further consolidating the relationship.
• The 2 plus 2 Dialogue mechanism will also provide an opportunity to exchange views about important regional and global developments.

BANKING

Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank Launches New Deposit Scheme

• Chairman of Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank P. Gopi Krishna launched a new deposit scheme of the bank, Vikas Siri Sampat-1111.

• The scheme is of a tenor of 1,111 days with interest rate of 5.70% for general public and 6.20 % for senior citizens.

• It also offers the highest rate of annualised return of 6.03% for general public and 6.60% for senior citizens.
• Prospective customers of the scheme will earn higher interest and it is the highest rate offered among the nationalised banks.
• Under the scheme, a minimum of ₹10,000 and a maximum of ₹2 crore can be deposited.
• The particular scheme is applicable to all segments of depositors, including senior citizens and institutions.

ADB to Help Small Farmers

• ADB and French firm Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) have signed a USD 100 million (Rs 760 crore) loan pact to help smallholder farmers in countries including India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Thailand and Vietnam to recover from the economic challenges posed by the pandemic and improve their resilience to climate change impacts.

• It will support by financing coffee, cotton, and rice inventories for over 50,000 smallholder farmers across these countries.
• This will help secure food supply chains and reliable incomes for smallholder farmers and help to recover the impact of supply chain disruptions due to the pandemic.
• Technical Assistance (TA) grant will deliver capacity building and training activities. The assistance under the TA is expected to benefit about 4,000 farmers, particularly women farmers.
• The TA funding comprises USD 205,000 from ADB’s Technical Assistance Special Fund for COVID Recovery and USD 385,000 from the Strategic Climate Fund, administered by ADB.

SPORTS

World Doubles Squash Championships

• In the World Doubles Squash Championships held at Glasgow, India's Dipika Pallikal teaming up with Saurav Ghosal and Joshna Chinappa, has won mixed doubles and women's doubles titles respectively.
• Dipika Pallikal and Saurav Ghosal defeated English pair Adrian Waller and Alison Waters 11-6, 11-8 in the final to claim the mixed doubles title, becoming India's first-ever World Doubles squash champions.
• Dipika doubled India's and her own world championships, medal count.

AWARDS & PRIZES

Jnanpith award

• Renowned Assamese poet Nilamani Phookan to be Conferred upon the country's highest literary award, Jnanpith at Guwahati.

• The Chief Minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma will also be present at the event. Along with him, all the members of the Jnanpith Committee will be present on the occasion.

• Nilmani Phookan is the third person to win the Jnanpith Award from Assam. Before him, Mamoni Roisom Goswami and Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya had won the Award.
• The notable works of Phukan are ‘Xurjya Henu Naami Aahe Ei Nodiyedi’, ‘Kabita’, and ‘Gulapi Jamur Lagna’. DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS 09-04-2022

World Press Photo of the Year 2022

• World Press Photo of the Year award 2022 was given to a photograph by Canadian photographer Amber Bracken titled “Kamloops Residential School”.

• The photo commemorates more than two hundred children who died of maltreatment, neglect and disease at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia.

• For the first time in the contest’s 67-year history, the World Press Photo of the Year is a photograph without any people in it.
• The award has four categories namely the World Press Photo of the Year, Story of the Year, Long-Term Project Award and Open Format Award.
• Photo Story of the Year award was given to Australian Photographer Matthew Abbott.
• Long-Term Project Award was given to Lalo de Almeida from Brazil.
• and Open Format Award was given to the video Blood is a Seed.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Spacex Capsule Arrives at International Space Station

• SpaceX capsule carrying three paying customers and a former NASA astronaut launched to the International Space Station (ISS), finishing the first leg of this first-of-its-kind mission that will last about 10 days.

• The crew members include three paying customers namely Larry Connor, Eytan Stibbe and Mark Pathy and fromer NASA astronaut Michael Lopez Alegria.
• During the 10-day mission, studies and research on the impact of space on the human brain, development of hardware for space habitats, etc will be conducted.
• The mission was launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

IMPORTANT DAYS

CRPF Valour Day

• The CRPF celebrates CRPF Valour Day on 9th April.

• It is celebrated to commemorate the defense of the Sardar post in the Rann of Kutch of Gujrat against Pakistan in 1965.
• This year marks the 57th edition.
• CPRF is the force of the Unoin of India for internal security under the Ministry of Home Affairs.