1. ROPAX JETTY PROJECT, ODISHA

Rs. 110 crore ROPAX Jetty Project to come up on river Dhamra in Odisha.

About:

• Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways (MoPSW) has accorded administrative approval for developing all-weather ROPAX (Roll-on/Roll-off Passenger) Jetty and allied infrastructure connecting Kaninali in Bhadrak district &Talachua in Kendrapara district, Odisha under the Sagarmala initiative.
• The total capital cost of the project is Rs 110.60 crore which includes construction of RO-PAX Jetty at Kaninali and Talachua, utility infrastructures such as parking area development, navigational aids and dredging.
• This project will reduce travel time for passengers from 6 hours by road to 1 hour by waterway.
• Kaninali in Bhadrak district and Talachua in Kendrapada district, are located on the northern and southern banks of River Dhamra respectively.

Source : PIB

2. DEENDAYAL ANTAYODAYA YOJANA-NATIONAL RURAL LIVELIHOODS MISSION (DAY-NRLM)

Gender Samvaad event, a joint attempt between DAY-NRLM and the Initiative for What Works to Advance Women and Girls in the Economy (IWWAGE) to create a common platform to share experiences emerging from this effort, was organised by the Ministry of Rural Development.

About:

• The attempt is to generate greater awareness on gender related interventions under DAY-NRLM across the country and best practices, with a focus on hearing voices from the states and the field.
• With over 60 million women mobilised to be part of one of India’s largest livelihoods programme, the Deendayal Antayodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) holds great promise for advancing women’s socio-economic empowerment by organising them into self-help groups (SHGs) and federations of the rural poor.
• In 2016, DAY-NRLM laid out a gender operational strategy to mainstream gender issues within its federated architecture, with a focus on training and capacity building of staff, cadres and institutions on gender issues.
• This was coupled with the establishment of institutional platforms (e.g. social action committees and gender resource centres) at the field level, so women could approach them for their grievances and to claim their rights and entitlements.

Source : PIB

3. DuroKea Series

Union Minister of Education launched “World 1st affordable and long-lasting hygiene product DuroKea Series”, developed by IIT Hyderabad researchers.

About:

• They have developed innovative DuroKea long-lasting technologies to combat COVID-19 virus spreading.
• This next generation DuroKea antimicrobial technology starts at Rs. 189, kills 99.99% of germs instantly and leaves behind the long-lasting protective nanoscale coating up to 35 days till next wash.
• The unique property of DuroKea range is to ensure instant killing (within 60 sec) and prolonged protection which is an immense necessity during this current pandemic situation.
• This revolutionary antimicrobial property of DuroKea products has been tested and certified by Indian Government accredited lab and field-tested at the IIT Hyderabad campus.

Source : All India Radio

4. KAKARLA SUBBA RAO

Vice President of India condoles the demise of renowned Radiologist, Dr. Kakarla Subba Rao.

About:

• Kakarla Subba Rao (1925 – 2021) was a radiologist who served as the first director of Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad.
• For his contributions to the field of medicine, Rao was conferred Padma Shri in 2000.
• Has also the founder president of Telugu Association of North America.

Source : PIB

5. NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL (NGT)

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has constituted an eight-member National Task Force to combat air pollution and monitor remedial steps to improve air quality.

About:

• The NTF will comprise senior officials from the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Ministries of Housing and Urban Affairs, Petroleum, Transport, Power, Agriculture, Health and the Central Pollution Control Board.
• The NTF may also monitor enforcement of laid down air quality standards beyond non-attainment cities in other identified air polluted areas where air quality is poor and above.
• The Chief Secretaries of all States and Union Territories may continue to monitor progress in execution of action plans at the State-level with the assistance of monitoring cells in their offices and the Air Quality Monitoring Committee. 

Source : The Hindu

6. OVERSEAS CITIZENS OF INDIA (OCI)

The Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) will not be required to register for a fresh OCI card every time a new passport is issued in their name, the Home Ministry said in a statement.

About:

• The Ministry stated that at present, the OCI card is required to be reissued each time a new passport is issued up to 20 years of age and once after completing 50 “in view of biological changes in the face of the applicant”.
• With a view to facilitate the OCI cardholders, it has now been decided by the Government of India to dispense with this requirement.
• A person who has got registration as OCI cardholder prior to attaining the age of 20 years will have to get the OCI card reissued only once when a new passport is issued after his/her completing 20 years of age, so as to capture his/her facial features on attaining adulthood.
• If a person has obtained registration as OCI cardholder after attaining the age of 20 years, there will be no requirement of reissue of the OCI card.

Do you know?

• The OCI Card has proved to be very popular amongst foreigners of Indian Origin and spouses of foreign origin of Indian citizens or OCI cardholders, as it helps them in hassle free entry and unlimited stay in India. So far about 37.72 lakh OCI Cards have been issued by the Government of India.
• As per the extant law, a foreigner of Indian origin or a foreign spouse of an Indian citizen or foreign spouse of an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholder, can be registered as an OCI cardholder. 
• OCI card is a life-long visa for entry into and stay in India with a number of other major benefits attached to it which are not available to other foreigners. 

Source : The Hindu

7. WHOLESALE PRICE INDEX (WPI)

Wholesale-level inflation — measured by the WPI or the wholesale price index — shot up to 7.39 per cent in March on a year-on-year basis.

Reason for surge:

• This is the highest wholesale inflation rate since October 2012, and was driven largely by higher prices of crude oil and a surge in price levels of food items such as pulses and fruits.
• The surge in March was also aided by a low base in the corresponding month of 2020.

The WPI constituents:

• While the Consumer Price Index-based retail inflation — the more widely tracked policy tool — looks at the price at which the consumer buys goods, the WPI tracks prices at the wholesale, or factory gate/mandi levels.
• Between the wholesale price and the retail price, the difference essentially is the former only tracks basic prices devoid of transportation cost, taxes and the retail margin etc. And that WPI pertains to only goods, not services.
• So, the WPI basically captures the average movement of wholesale prices of goods and is primarily used as a GDP deflator (the ratio of the value of goods an economy produces in a particular year at current prices to that of prices that prevailed during the base year).

Source : Indian Express

8. WHITEST PAINT

Engineers from Purdue University in the US have created what they are calling the whitest paint yet. Buildings coated with this paint may be able to cool them off enough to reduce the need for air conditioning.

About:

• The team of researchers at the university created an ultra-white paint in October pushing the limits of how white paint can be. This older formulation was made of calcium carbonate, while the new one is made up of barium sulphate, which makes it more white.
• The newer paint is whiter and keeps the surface areas it is painted on cooler than the formulation before this could. If this new paint was used to cover a roof area of 1,000 square feet, it may be able to get a cooling power of 10 kilowatts.
• Typical commercial white paint gets warmer rather than cooler and that paints currently available in the market that are designed to reject heat reflect only 80-90 per cent of the sunlight and therefore, they can’t make surfaces cooler than their surroundings.
• The team has also claimed that this paint may be the closest equivalent to the blackest black paint called “Vantablack” that is able to absorb up to 99.9 per cent of visible light.

Source : Indian Express

9. DOGECOIN

Just as the virtual currencies Bitcoin and Ethereum have surged in value this week, so has Dogecoin– a cryptocurrency started in 2013 as an internet parody.

About:

• Based on the “Doge” meme and started as a “fun” alternative to Bitcoin, Dogecoin’s value has risen phenomenally this week and now valued at $34 billion.
• The digital token was created in 2013 by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer as a faster but “fun” alternative to Bitcoin.
• It was started as a satire on the numerous fraud crypto coins that had sprung up at the time, and takes its name and logo from a Shiba Inu meme that was viral several years ago.
• Unlike Bitcoins, whose maximum possible number is fixed at 21 million (a figure that is estimated to be reached by 2040), Dogecoin numbers do not have an upper limit, and there are already more than 100 billion in existence.

Source : Indian Express

10. REGULATIONS REVIEW AUTHORITY 2.0

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the setting up of a regulatory review authority, RRA 2.0, to review its regulations internally and in consultation with other stakeholders.

About:

• Deputy governor M Rajeshwar Rao has been appointed as the head of the RRA 2.0 which would be set up for a period of one year from May 1, 2021, unless its tenure is extended.
• The RRA 2.0 will focus on streamlining regulatory instructions and reducing the compliance burden of regulated entities by simplifying procedures and reducing reporting requirements, wherever possible.

Background

• The authority has been christened as such because it follows a similar exercise conducted in 1999-2000.
• The central bank had set up an RRA initially for a period of one year from April 1, 1999 for reviewing the regulations, circulars, reporting systems, based on the feedback from public, banks and financial institutions.
• The recommendations of the RRA enabled streamlining and increasing the effectiveness of several procedures, simplifying regulatory prescriptions, paved the way for issuance of master circulars and reduced reporting burden on regulated entities.

Source : Indian Express