1) World Hypertension Day 2022: 17th May 2022
•World Hypertension Day is observed every year on 17th May, to raise awareness and encourage hypertension prevention, detection, and treatment. The major risk factor for cardiovascular disease is high blood pressure and hypertension is known as the “Silent Killer”. The force produced by flowing blood on the walls of the body’s arteries, or main blood vessels, is known as blood pressure. When blood pressure is excessively high, it is called hypertension. Blood pressure is measured as a two-digit figure. When the heart contracts or beats, the first number (systolic) shows the pressure in blood vessels. The second number (diastolic) indicates the pressure in the arteries while the heart is at rest between beats.
2) World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2022
•The World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) is observed each year on 17th May to increase awareness of the benefits and opportunities that the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICT) provide to nations, societies, and economies. It also hopes to raise awareness about how to close the digital divide.
3) National Data and Analytics Platform launched by NITI Aayog
•The National Data & Analytics Platform (NDAP) was launched by NITI Aayog for free public use. By making data accessible, interoperable, interactive, and available on a user-friendly platform, the platform intends to democratise access to public government data. It houses basic datasets from a variety of government departments, organises them, and provides analytics and visualisation capabilities. This public debut comes after the platform’s beta release in August 2021, which gave a small number of users access for testing and feedback.
•To ensure that the datasets hosted on the platform are adapted to the needs of data users from government, academia, journalism, civil society, and the corporate sector, NDAP uses a use-case methodology. All datasets are standardised to the same schema, making it simple to combine them and do cross-sectoral analysis.
4) Indian Government Prohibited the Wheat Export with Immediate Effect
•Indian Government has prohibited wheat exports, claiming a threat to food security, partially owing to the conflict in Ukraine and as a blistering heatwave reduced supply and pushed local prices to new highs. Despite not being one of the world’s top wheat exporters, India’s prohibition might drive global prices to new highs, putting a strain on impoverished customers in Asia and Africa. The prohibition would not last indefinitely and might be changed, authorities said during a press briefing.
5) Sitikantha Pattanaik and Rajiv Ranjan, named executive directors by the RBI
•Rajiv Ranjan and Sitikantha Pattanaik have been named executive directors by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Rajiv Ranjan was Adviser-in-Charge of the Monetary Policy Department and Secretary to the Monetary Policy Committee before being appointed to executive director. Pattanaik was an adviser at the Department of Economic and Policy Research before being appointed to ED.
•Rajiv Ranjan will oversee the Monetary Policy Department as Executive Director, while Pattanaik will oversee the Department of Economic and Policy Research (DEPR).
