1) CRPF Valour Day: 09 April
•Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Valour Day (Shaurya Diwas) is observed on 9 April every year, as a tribute to the brave men of the Force. 2021 marks the 56th CRPF Valour Day. It was on this day in 1965, a small contingent of CRPF created history by defeating an invading Pakistani army, several time larger, at the Sardar Post located in the Rann of Kutch, Gujarat. The CRPF men eliminated 34 Pakistani soldiers and captured four alive. In the conflict, CRPF lost six personnel who had attained martyrdom.
2) Nirmala Sitharaman attends 2nd Virtual G20 Finance Ministers
•Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman has participated virtually in the Second G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting. This meeting held under the Italian Presidency to discuss policy responses to global challenges to restore strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth.
3) India-Japan signed MoU for Academic and Research Cooperation
•The Union Cabinet recently apprised an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) signed between India and Japan. The MoU was signed between the National Atmospheric Research Laboratory (NARL) that operates under the Department of Space, GoI and the Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere called the RISH that operates under the Kyoto University of Japan.
4) Narendra Singh Tomar launches Madhukranti portal
•The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar launched a portal ‘Madhukranti’ and Honey Corners on April 07, 2021, with the aim to bring an increase in income of farmers, employment generation and increase in exports. Madhukranti portal is an initiative of the National Bee Board (NBB). The portal is being developed for online registration to achieve traceability source of Honey and other beehive products on a digital platform.
•The portal will also check the source of adulteration and contamination in honey. It will have an end-to-end record to track the source of honey. Honey Corner is a specially designed space in National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) stores dedicated to the sale of honey.
5) India contributes USD 500,000 to UN Trust Fund for counter-terrorism
•India has contributed an additional $500,000 to the United Nations Trust Fund for Counter-Terrorism, taking the country’s donation to the UN office set up to combat terrorism to over $1 million. With this amount, India’s total contribution to it so far is $1.05 million.
•The UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, established in 2017, enhances coordination and coherence across the Global Counter-Terrorism Coordination Compact entities to ensure the balanced implementation of the four pillars of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. In line with General Assembly resolution 71/291 that established UNOCT in June 2017, the UN Trust Fund for Counter-Terrorism was transferred to UNOCT.
6) RBI decides to open up RTGS, NEFT facilities for payment system operators
•In a major move in the online payments segments, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to allow payment system operators to take direct membership of Centralised Payment Systems (CPS), such as RTGS and NEFT. Membership in Centralised Payment Systems (CPS) RTGS and NEFT for entities other than banks are so far limited to banks, with a few exceptions, such as specialised entities like clearing corporations and select development financial institutions.
•The RBI noted that over the last few years, the role of non-bank entities in payment space such as prepaid payment instrument (PPI) issuers, card networks, white label ATM (WLA) operators, Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) platforms, has grown in importance and volume, as they have innovated by leveraging technology and offering customised solutions to users.
7) RBI raise G-SAP for orderly G-Sec market
•The Reserve Bank of India has announced to conduct the open market purchase of government securities of Rs 1 lakh crore under the G-sec Acquisition Programme (G-SAP 1.0) in the first quarter of 2021-22. The objective of this is to have a stable and orderly evolution of the yield curve. Under this scheme the first purchase of government securities for an aggregate amount of Rs. 25,000 crore under G-SAP 1.0 will be conducted on April 15, 2021.
8) A book titled exam warriors updated version released by PM Modi
•The updated version of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s book named ‘Exam Warriors’ was launched. The book gives out various suggestions to both students and parents to deal with the examination pressure and stress. The book raise the awareness on topics like mental health, the role of technology and time management. The book has new Mantras and a range of interesting activities. The book reaffirms the need to remain stress-free before an exam.
