NATIONAL UPDATES:
1.
West Bengal government approved setting up of Legislative Council: The West Bengal
cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, has approved the formation
of the Legislative Council. At present, only Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka,
Telangana, Maharashtra, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh have Legislative Council.
Previously, West Bengal had a bicameral legislature but it was abolished by the
United Front government in 1969.
About the State Legislative Council:
(1) The State Legislative Council is the
Upper house of the state legislature.
(2) It is established under Article 169 of
the Indian Constitution.
(3) The size of the State Legislative
Council cannot be more than one-third of the members of the State Legislative
Assembly.
(4) Parliament of India can create or
abolish the State Legislative Council of a state if that state’s legislature
passes a resolution for that with a special majority.
Note: Chief Minister of West Bengal: Mamata
Banerjee; Governor: JagdeepDhankhar.
2.
‘Medicine from the sky’ pilot at Vikarabad area hospital: The Telangana
government has selected 16 primary healthcare centres (PHCs) spread around
Vikarabad area hospital for pilot testing the ambitious ‘Medicine from the
sky’, the first-of-its-kind project involving delivery of medicines through
multiple drones. The area hospital has been selected as the central point owing
to the presence of cold chain facilities and the selected PHCs are both within
the Visual Line of Sight (VLOS) and Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) range.About
the project:
(1) A consortium of seven operators headed
by Blue Dart Med-Express had been selected for the project to be launched in the
VLOS range of 500 metres initially and will be scaled up gradually to a 9 km
range.
(2) The project would be launched in three
waves starting with a pilot followed by mapping the route network for the
operation of drones for delivering vaccine/medicine in the desired community
health centres and PHCs.
(3) The project is being launched following
the approval granted by the Civil Aviation Ministry to the request made by the
State to grant conditional exemption from the Unmanned Aircraft System Rules
2021 for conducting experimental BVLOS drone flights for delivery of vaccines.
Note: Telangana Capital: Hyderabad;
Telangana Governor: TamilisaiSoundararajan; Telangana Chief minister: K.
Chandrashekar Rao.
3.
Bihar govt launches ‘HIT Covid App’ to ensure regular monitoring, tracking of
home isolated patients: Bihar government launched ‘HIT Covid App’ to ensure
regular monitoring and tracking of those Civid-19 patients, who are in home
isolation across the state. HIT stands for home isolation tracking. Health workers
will visit the patients at home every day and feed data in the app after
measuring their temperature and oxygen level. These data will be monitored at
the district level. If the oxygen level is below 94, the patient will be
shifted to the nearby dedicated Covid health centres for proper treatment.
4.
Haryana allows reimbursement of GST on Covid items’ donations: The Haryana
government has allowed reimbursement of goods and service tax paid by
companies, non-governmental organisations and individuals on purchase of 15
items including Covid vaccines, remdesivir injections, ventilators and oxygen
cylinders that they have donated free of cost to the state government or
state-run hospitals. Haryana is the first state to give such a relaxation. The
Centre has already waived integrated GST (IGST) till June 30 on the import of
Covid-related relief material donated or received from outside India for free
distribution.
INTERNATIONALUPDATES:
1.
China successfully launches new ocean observation satellite Haiyang-2D: China has
successfully sent a new ocean-monitoring satellite into orbit as part of its
effort to build an all-weather and round-the-clock dynamic ocean environment
monitoring system that would provide early warning on marine disasters. The
satellite was launched by a Long March-4B rocket carrying the Haiyang-2D
(HY-2D) satellite from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China.About
the satellite:
(1) The HY-2D will form a constellation
with the HY-2B and HY-2C satellites to build an all-weather and round-the-clock
dynamic ocean environment monitoring system of high frequency and medium and
large scale.
(2) The HY-2D was developed by the China
Academy of Space Technology, and the carrier rocket by the Shanghai Academy of
Spaceflight Technology.
(3) China’s space programme made
significant advancements last week when it landed a spacecraft on Mars,
becoming the second country after the United States to have a rover on the red
planet.
Note: China National Space Administration
Founded: 22 April 1993; China National Space Administration Administrator:
Zhang Kejian; China National Space Administration Headquarters: Haidian
District, Beijing, China.
2.
MoctarOuane reappointed as Prime Minister of Mali:MoctarOuane is
reappointed as Prime Minister of Mali. He was appointed as Prime Minister of
the caretaker government in August 2020 after the removal of Ibrahim Boubacar
Keita. Ouane will have to form a new government with room for the political
class, under the instructions of President Bah N’Daw. In April 2021, Mali’s
interim government had announced that it would hold a constitutional referendum
on October 31 and an election in February 2022. Mali is facing a political
crisis due to disputed legislative elections and economic crisis due to economic
stagnation, corruption, and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Note: It is a landlocked country in West
Africa; It is the eighth-largest country in Africa; Its capital is Bamako and
the currency is the West African CFA Franc.
3.
Iran Develops Its Most Powerful Supercomputer “Simorgh”: Iran has unveiled
a new supercomputer named ‘Simorgh’, which is 100 times more powerful than the
previous supercomputer of the country to date. The supercomputer has been
developed indigenously by Tehran’s Amirkabir University of Technology (AUT). It
has been named after a mythical Phoenix-like bird ‘Simurgh’.
Key highlights: Currently,
Simorgh has a performance capacity of 0.56 petaflops. However, the country
claims this capacity to reach one petaflop in two months. The supercomputer
will be used for artificial intelligence workloads, traffic and weather data,
and image processing.
4.
International Day for Biological Diversity: 22nd May: The United Nations
celebrates International Day for Biological Diversity on 22 May every year to
raise awareness about the issue of a significant reduction in biological
diversity due to certain human activities. Biological Diversity comprises a
wide variety of plants, animals and microorganisms including genetic
differences within each species, for example, between varieties of crops and
breeds of livestock.This year 2021 the theme is “We’re part of the solution”.
The slogan was chosen to be a continuation of the momentum generated last year
under the over-arching theme, “Our solutions are in nature”, which served as a
reminder that biodiversity remains the answer to several sustainable
development challenges.
Note: United Nations Headquarters in New
York, USA; Mr Antonio Guterres is the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
OTHER UPDATES:
SPORTS
1.
Asia Cup 2021 postponed indefinitely due to COVID-19: The Asia Cup T20
tournament, which was scheduled to be held in June in Sri Lanka, has been
postponed indefinitely due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The tournament which was
originally scheduled to be held in September 2020 in Sri Lanka was moved to
June 2021 due to COVID-19. With all the teams planning for their Future Tour
Programs (FTPs) for the next two years, the tournament is likely to happen only
after the 2023 ICC 50-over World Cup. A formal statement from the Asian Cricket
Council is, however, yet to come. Initially, Pakistan was supposed to host it.
However, due to tensions between India and Pakistan, the tournament was moved
to the island nation.
BANKING AND FINANCE
1.
Bank of Baroda launches microsite to support employees amid COVID-19 pandemic: State-owned Bank of
Baroda said it has launched a micro-website that will serve as an emergency
networking platform for all employees amid the second wave of COVID-19. The
microsite will offer vital data, including a network of plasma donors to
employees who are in need of. Recovered employees can also enrol themselves
voluntarily as donors. It offers a host of other facilities that include
providing contact details of various SPOCs (single point of contact) across
zones for help, registration facility for employees to sign up for volunteer
work in their cities, reaching out under the ‘Need Help’ section to request
assistance for themselves or their families.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
1.
India’s WPI Inflation Surges To 10.49% For April 2021: The Department for
Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade recently released Wholesale Price in
India for the month of April 2021. The annual rate of inflation for the month
of April 2021 was 10.49%. The WPI for the month of April 2021 stood at 128.1. The
base year in calculating WPI is fixed as 2011-12.
The inflation rate is high in the month
mainly because of the price rise in crude petroleum which in turn increased the
prices of petrol and diesel in the country. Also, the price rise is due to an
increase in the cost of manufactured foods. The annual rate of inflation in
April 2021 is high primarily because of rising in prices of crude petroleum,
mineral oils viz petrol, diesel, etc, and manufactured products as compared to
the corresponding month of the previous year.
WPI Food Index: The WPI Food index
consists of food products from the manufactured products group and food
articles from the primary articles group. The WPI Food Index increased from
153.4 in March 2021 to 158.9 in April 2021. The increase rate in April is 7.58%
and that of March is 5.28%.
OBITUARIES
1.
Renowned Tamil Writer and Folklorist Ki. Rajanarayanan Passes Away: Noted Tamil
folklorist and acclaimed writer Ki. Rajanarayanan has passed away. Famously
called by his Tamil initials as KiRa, he was known as the pioneer of ‘Karisal
Literature’. KiRa was honoured with the Sahitya Academy award in 1991 for his
novel ‘GopalapurathuMakkal’. He was an eminent writer of short stories, novels,
folklores and essays and has published over 30 books.
2. Former Union Minister Shri Chaman Lal Gupta Passes Away: Senior BJP leader and former union minister, Chaman Lal Gupta has passed away. He had an illustrious political career spanning over five decades, beginning with becoming a member of the J&K Legislative Assembly in 1972. He was a member of the 11th, 12th and 13th Lok Sabha from the Udhampur constituency of Jammu. Besides this, Chaman Lal Gupta was Union Minister of State, Ministry of Civil Aviation between October 13, 1999, and September 1, 2001, Union Minister of State (independent charge), Ministry of Food Processing Industries (September 1, 2001, to June 30, 2002) and Union Minister of State for Defence (July 1, 2002 to 2004).
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