NATIONAL NEWS

India’s First District to Have a Library in Every Village

• Jamtara in Jharkhand, has become the country's only district with community libraries in all gram panchayats.

• This district has a population of about eight lakh people and has 118-gram panchayats divided into six blocks and each panchayat has a well-equipped library open to students from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

• Career counselling and motivational classes are also provided at free of cost.
• Most of these libraries whose details, GPS location, photographs and contact numbers have been provided on the district's official website.
• From the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds received from several companies and money received by the district under the 14th and 15th Finance Commission Rs 60,000-2.5 lakh was spent on the restoration and infrastructure of these libraries.

India to Create Guinness Record

• The Ministry of Culture announced that India has entered the Guinness Book of World Records for waving the maximum number of national flags simultaneously.
• 78,220 tricolors were waved at the Veer Kunwar Singh Vijayotsav programme which was organised at Duler Ground in Jagdishpur’
• The event was organised by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Culture under the ’Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’as part of the 75th anniversary of India’s Independence.
• The event was held to pay a tribute to the victory of the then King of Jagdishpur, Veer Kunwar Singh one of the freedom strugglers of 1857.
• The previous world record was of about 56,000 when Pakistani flags were waved at a function in Lahore in 2004.

CSIR Signs MoU with iCreate

• The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and iCreate (International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology), Gujarat’s flagship technology incubator signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

• Under the MoU, CSIR and iCreate intend to establish a collaborative support system for promising tech start-ups by making combined resources available for entrepreneurs and innovators in the country.

• The partnership will also catalyse scientific innovation and the marketability of high-tech start-ups.
• Further, iCreate will also help to set up new incubators at identified CSIR labs.
• CSIR will provide intellectual property support and explore methods of financially supporting innovative start-ups from India to boost emerging entrepreneurs.

India's First 'Carbon Neutral Panchayat’

• Palli in Jammu and Kashmir has become country’s first “carbon neutral panchayat".

• PM Narendra Modi inaugurated 500 KW solar power plant at Palli Village during his visit.
• The project was completed at a cost of Rs. 2.75 crore and installed in a record time of nearly three weeks.
• In all 1,500 solar panels put up on the total area of 6,408 square metres will provide clean electricity to 340 houses in the model panchayat under the central government’s Gram Urja Swaraj’ programme.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Financial Assistance to Sri Lanka

• The World Bank has agreed to provide Sri Lanka with 600 million US dollars in financial assistance to help meet payment requirements for essential imports.

• The world Bank announced that it would continue to help Sri Lanka to overcome the current economic crisis and would release 400 million dollars "shortly".

• Sri Lanka's worst financial crisis since independence in 1948 was caused by a drastic drop in its reserves that dropped 70 percent over the past two years.
• India has helped Sri Lanka by assisting with 1.9 billion dollars.

BANKING

Suryoday Small Finance Bank with Kyndryl

• Suryoday Small Finance Bank has partnered with Kyndryl, the world's largest IT infrastructure services provider.

• It is to drive its technology transformation program, improve operational efficiency and increase digital banking adoption among its customers as part of a five-year transformation partnership.
• Kyndryl will manage the bank's critical core and mobile banking application ecosystem and provide deep expertise in hybrid cloud services, data analytics and IP based transformation services.
• Kyndryl will also provide security and resiliency services using Kyndryl's Cyber Resiliency Orchestrator to ensure the bank remains compliant with current and future risk management guidelines and regulatory requirements.

Airtel Payments Bank partners with IndusInd Bank

• Airtel Payments Bank said has partnered with IndusInd Bank to offer fixed deposit (FD) facilities to its customers.

• Customers can now start fixed deposits starting from Rs 500 up to Rs 190,000 within minutes through a seamless digital journey on the Airtel Thanks app mobile application.

• With this partnership, Airtel Payments Bank’s savings account customers will get an interest rate of up to 6.5 per cent per annum and senior citizens will get an additional 0.5 per cent on all fixed deposits.
• Customers can open multiple FDs for a fixed duration of either 1, 2 or 3 years.
• Customers can dissolve an FD before the maturity date through the Airtel Thanks app, and no penalty or processing fee will be charged on pre-mature withdrawals.

SBI Cards With TCS

• Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) announced the expansion of its strategic partnership with SBI Card to restructure its digital experience.
• TCS will further digitalize and transform the online onboarding processes to enable a faster turnaround and frictionless experience which is expected to drive greater customer satisfaction.
• It will enable SBI Card to further expand its e-card issuance, delighting end customers and giving it a competitive edge in the market.
• TCS worked with SBI Card to implement video KYC and e-signature features to fully digitalize its cards sourcing process.

SPORTS

Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

• World champion Max Verstappen from Netherlands won the Emilia Romagna Formula 1 Grand Prix which was held in Italy.

• It was Verstappen’s second win in this season after Saudi Arabia.

• Sergio Perez from Mexico and Lando Norris from United Kingdom finished second and third respectively.

RANKS, INDICES & REPORTS

SIPRI Report

• Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released areport titled ‘Trends in World Military Expenditure 2021’.

• According to a research report released by defence think-tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), India's military spending grew to USD 76.6 billion in 2021, which is 0.9% from 2020.

• India’s military spending of USD 76.6 billion is the third highest in the world.
• United States and China secured first and second place respectively.
• 64% of capital outlays in the Indian military budget for 2021 were designated for acquisitions of domestically produced guns in an effort to promote the indigenous arms sector.
• The five largest spenders in 2021 were US, China, India, UK and Russia accounted for 62 per cent of the global military expenditure.

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

Prime Minister of Slovenia

• In Slovenia, political newcomer liberal Robert Golob has defeated three-time prime minister, populist conservative Janez Janša to win the election.

• The Freedom Movement led by Robert Golob won nearly 34 percent of the votes, compared to around 24 percent for the governing conservative Slovenian Democratic Party.

• Behind the top two contenders were the New Slovenia party with 7 percent, followed by the Social Democrats with more than 6 percent and the Left party with four percent.

IMPORTANT DAYS

World Intellectual Property Day

• World Intellectual Property Day is observed annually on 26 April.

• It is to raise awareness about the importance of intellectual property (IP) rights in fostering innovation and creativity.

• The theme for the year 2022 is “IP and Youth: Innovating for a Better Future”
• World Intellectual Property 2022 highlights the enormous potential of young people to develop something new and provide better solutions to help the world transition to a more sustainable future.

International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day

• International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day is celebrated every year on 26 April.

• It is to raise awareness about the consequences of the deadly nuclear disaster, which took place in 1986.
• The day not only informs us about the man-made disaster but also educates human beings about the risks of nuclear energy in general.
• After the 30th anniversary of the accident, on December 8, 2016, the United Nations adopted the resolution and proclaimed April 26 as the International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day.