1) International No Diet Day: 06 May
•International No Diet Day is observed on May 6, and its symbol is a light blue ribbon. It is an annual celebration of body acceptance, including fat acceptance and body shape diversity. It means recognising that your body is beautiful exactly as it is and worry less about your weight, body shape and more about being healthy and active.
•The day is dedicated to promoting a healthy lifestyle with a focus on health at any size and in raising awareness of the potential dangers of dieting and the unlikelihood of success.
2) Odisha announces Gopabandhu Sambadika Swasthya Bima Yojana
•Odisha government has announced Gopabandhu Sambadika Swasthya Bima Yojana for journalists. Odisha has declared the journalists as frontline Covid warriors. It will benet more than 6500 journalists of the state.
•Under the Gopabandhu Sambadika Swasthya Bima Yojana, a health insurance cover of Rs 2 lakh will be provided to each Journalist. Under the scheme, financial assistance of Rs 15 lakh will be provided to the families of journalists who died from COVID-19 while performing duty.
3) India, UK unveil 10 year roadmap for Bilateral Trade Partnership
•The Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Boris Johnson held a virtual Summit meeting. During the Summit meeting, both the leaders unveiled an ambitious 10-year road map to elevate the India-UK bilateral relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership. The UK prime minister Boris Johnson announced a new India-UK trade investment worth £1 billion.
4) Nation’s first ‘Drive in Vaccination Center’ unveiled in Mumbai
•The Nation’s first ‘Drive in Vaccination Center’ was inaugurated by MP Rahul Shewale in Mumbai. This center has been set up in the parking lot of Kohinoor Square Tower at Dadar. This first of its kind ‘Drive-in Vaccination Center’ facility has been made available to the citizens at a time when people with disabilities are facing difficulties in getting to the vaccination center.
•The center also provides transportation facilities to the citizens who do not have their own vehicles. The vaccination has been started and the facility is available for all sections of society. MP Rahul Shewale informed that this facility will be provided in other multi-parking lots in the city, after assessing the success of this first project.
5) The World’s Longest Pedestrian Bridge Opens in Portugal
•The world’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge named “Arouca” was opened in Portugal, according to a press release by UNESCO’s Arouca World Geopark. The Arouca Bridge offers a half-kilometre (almost 1,700-foot) walk across its span, along a metal walkway suspended from cables. Some 175 meters (574 feet) below, the Paiva River flows through a waterfall.
•The bridge hangs on steel cables strung between V-shaped concrete towers and connects the banks of the Paiva River. The record-breaking bridge took several years to build and was designed by Portuguese studio Itecons. It was constructed by Conduril and cost about $2.8 million (2.3 million euros).
6) RBI Announces Term Liquidity Facility of Rs. 50,000 Crore For Healthcare
•The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das has announced a Covid-19 healthcare package of Rs 50,000 crore, for lending to entities such as vaccine makers, medical equipment suppliers, hospitals and related sectors, besides the patients in need of funds for treatment.
7) S&P Revises India’s GDP Growth Forecast to 9.8% for FY22
•The US-based S&P Global Ratings has lowered the GDP growth forecast of the Indian economy to 9.8 per cent for the financial year 2021-22 (FY22). The US-based rating agency in March had an 11 per cent GDP growth forecast for India for April 2021-March 2022 fiscal. on account of a fast economic reopening and fiscal stimulus.
8) AICF launches Checkmate Covid Initiative
•The All India Chess Federation has launched the ‘Checkmate Covid Initiative’ to help the chess community affected by the pandemic. The initiative was launched at an online event in the presence of FIDE (World Chess Federation) president Arkady Dvorkovich, five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand, World Rapid Chess Champion Koneru Humpy, AICF president Sanjay Kapoor and secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan.
•The idea is to not just help the chess community affected by COVID through financial aid, but also have a team of doctors that works round-the-clock to provide the right assistance.
9) RM Sundaram appointed as Director of Indian Institute of Rice Research
•Raman Meenakshi Sundaram has been appointed as Director of the Indian Institute of Rice Research (IIRR), an arm of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. Prior to this elevation, he was working as Principal Scientist (Biotechnology) at the institute crop Improvement Section.
•He is a scientist of global repute working in the area of rice biotechnology, molecular breeding, and genomics and has over 160 research papers in national and international journals of repute and has published several books, book chapters and popular articles.
•Sundaram’s research accomplishments include the development of one of the first biotechnology products in rice, Improved Samba Mahsuri, which is high yielding, is of fine-grain type, has a low glycaemic index and is highly resistant to bacterial blight, it said.
10) Vijay Goel takes over as CMD of THDCIL
•THDC India Ltd has announced that Vijay Goel assumed as chairman and managing director. His appointment will come into effect from May 1, 2021. He joined the company in 1990 as a senior personnel officer (SPO) from NHPC Ltd. He has more than 35 years of varied experience in the field of human resource management.
•During his tenure as general manager, he was also in charge of corporate communications, law and arbitration functions. His key areas of interventions are policy formation, manpower planning, establishment and estate functions, employee relations, compliance of labour laws and overall formulation and implementation of policies. He played a vital role in putting in place initial HR systems immediately after the establishment of the THDCIL.
