1) Dr Harsh Vardhan and Arjun Munda launches Tribal Health Collaborative ‘Anamaya’
•The Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr Harsh Vardhan and the Union Minister of Tribal Affairs, Shri Arjun Munda jointly launched ‘Anamaya’, the Tribal Health Collaborative on April 07, 2021, through video conference. The initiative is supported by Piramal Foundation and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).
2) PM Modi to release Hindi version of ‘Odisha Itihaas’ by Dr Harekrushna Mahtab
•Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release the Hindi translation of the book ‘Odisha Itihaas’, written by Utkal Keshari Harekrushna Mahtab, on 9th April at the Ambedkar International Center. The event marking the release of the Hindi version has been organised by the Harekrushna Mahtab Foundation.
3) CJI launches top court’s AI-driven research portal ‘SUPACE’
•The Supreme Court of India has launched it’s Artificial Intelligence portal “SUPACE” (Supreme Court Portal for Assistance in Courts Efficiency). Through this portal, the SC intends to leverage machine learning to deal with the vast amounts of data received at the time of filing of cases.
4) Vietnam National Assembly selects PM & President
•Vietnam’s legislature voted to make Pham Minh Chinh, a member of the Communist party with a history as a security official, the country’s next Prime Minister. Outgoing Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc was appointed the new President. The votes of the nearly 500 members of the National Assembly rubber-stamped the leadership picks the Communist party made during its national congress in January.
5) Kosovo’s parliament elects Vjosa Osmani as president
•Kosovo’s parliament elected Vjosa Osmani as the country’s new president. Osmani received 71 votes from the lawmakers at the third round of voting in the Assembly of Kosovo. While 82 deputies participated in the vote in the 120-member parliament, 11 votes were declared invalid. The 38-year-old politician studied law at the University of Pristina in Kosovo and earned a doctorate from Pittsburgh University in the US.
6) RBI to release Financial Inclusion Index (FI Index) annually
•The Reserve Bank of India has announced that it will periodically publish a “Financial Inclusion Index” (FI Index) annually in July for the financial year ending previous March. The FI Index would be based on multiple parameters and shall reflect the broadening and deepening of financial inclusion in the country, a statement on regulatory and developmental policies of RBI.
•Financial Inclusion has been a thrust area for the government, the Reserve Bank and other regulators, with significant progress made over the years. To measure the extent of financial inclusion in the country, the Reserve Bank proposes to construct and publish a Financial Inclusion Index (FI Index) based on multiple parameters.
7) RBI increases WMA limits for the State Governments/UTs
•The Reserve Bank of India has increased the limit for Way and Means Advances (WMA) for the State Governments/UTs from Rs. 32,225 crore (fixed in February 2016) to Rs. 47,010 crore based on the recommendation of a committee headed by Shri Sudhir Shrivastava. This represents an increase of about 46%.
•RBI has extended the enhanced interim WMA limit of ₹ 51,560 crores (a 60 per cent increase in the current limits allowed by the Reserve Bank during the last fiscal to help states/UTs to tide over the difficulties faced by them during the pandemic) for a further period of six months i.e., from April 1, 2021, up to September 30, 2021.
8) RBI enhances Loan limit under Priority Sector Lending against eNWR/NWR
•The Reserve Bank of India has enhanced the loan limit from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 75 lakh per borrower against the pledge/hypothecation of agricultural produce backed by Negotiable Warehouse Receipts (NWRs)/electronic-NWRs(e-NWRs) issued by the warehouses registered and regulated by Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA).
•The Priority Sector loan limit backed by other Warehouse Receipts will continue to be ₹50 lakh per borrower. The circular in this regard will be issued separately. With a view to encourage farm credit to individual farmers against pledge/hypothecation of agricultural produce and leverage the inherent safety of NWRs/(e-NWRs) issued by warehouses registered and regulated by WDRA.
9) Govt Appoints S Ramann as SIDBI CMD
•The government has appointed S Ramann as Chairman and Managing Director of Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). Ramann, a 1991-batch Indian Audit & Accounts Service officer, is currently the CEO of National E-Governance Services Ltd, India’s first Information Utility.
•The appointment is for a period of three years from the date of his assuming the charge or until further orders. Banks Board Bureau, the headhunter for state-owned banks and financial institutions, had recommended his name for the post.
