National & International Appointments
1. Lt. Gen Manoj Pande appointed as 29th Army Chief
- Lieutenant General Manoj Pande is appointed as the 29th Chief of Army Staff. The appointment will come into effect on April 30, 2022.
- He will succeed General M M Naravane on May 1.
- He will be the first officer from the Corps of Engineers to become the COAS.
- He was commissioned into the Corps of Engineers (The Bombay Sappers) in December 1982.
- He was part of Operation Parakram, the India-Pakistan standoff in the wake of the Parliament attack in 2001-02.
Sports
2. Indian GM Gukesh wins La Roda International tourney title
- Grandmaster D. Gukesh has clinched the 48th La Roda International Open chess tournament title in Castile-La Mancha, Spain.
- He defeated Israel's Victor Mikhalevski in the final round.
- GM Haik M. Martirosyan from Armenia placed second with 7.5 points.
- Indian GMs R Praggnanandhaa finished third followed by Raunak Sadhwani (India), Manuel Lopez Martinez Josep (Spain) and Ramon Martinez (Venezuela).
- Recently, Praggnanandhaa defeated Gukesh to win the Reykjavik Open title.
National Affairs
3. Radio channel for the visually-impaired 'Radio Aksh' launched in Nagpur
- India's first-ever radio channel for the visually impaired named ‘Radio Aksh’ was launched in Nagpur, Maharashtra.
- The Blind Relief Association Nagpur and Samdrushti Kshamata Vikas Avam Anusandhan Mandal jointly launched the pioneers of the concept.
- This initiative will help the visually impaired to gain seamless access to audiobooks and education resources.
- In the initial phase, the Radio Aksh has six hours of content that would be put on repeat mode four times a day.
National Affairs
4. Sugar export jumps 65% in last FY corresponding to the previous year
- Sugar export in India has witnessed an impressive growth of 291% from USD 1,177 million in the financial year 2013-14 to USD 4,600 million in the last financial year.
- The sugar export has jumped 65% in 2021-22 corresponding to the previous year.
- The growth was achieved despite the logistical challenges posed by COVID-19 pandemic.
- The country had exported sugar worth 1,965 million US dollars in 2019-20, which increased to 2,790 million US dollars in 2020-21.
Sports
5. Haryana wins 12th Senior Hockey National championship
- Haryana has been crowned the champions of the 12th Senior Men's National Hockey Championship after beating Tamil Nadu by 3-1 in the shootout.
- Haryana has won the trophy for the first time since 2011.
- The hockey tournament was held in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh from April 6 to 17, 2022.
- Karnataka has triumphed over Maharashtra by 4-3 in the third/fourth place classification match.
- FIH Men's Hockey World Cup 2023: Odisha (twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Rourkela)
Important Dates
6. World Liver Day observed on April 19
- World Liver Day is observed on April 19 across the world every year.
- The day is observed is to raise awareness about liver-related disorders and diseases.
- According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) report, Every 10th person is dying due to Liver ailments disease in India.
- The liver controls blood sugar, helps blood clot, removes toxic substances from the body, and controls cholesterol levels.
National Affairs
7. BRO to build world's highest tunnel at Shinku La Pass
- The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) will build the world’s highest tunnel at Shinku La Pass at 16,580 feet to connect Himachal Pradesh to Ladakh.
- The construction will begin by July this year and be completed by 2025.
- The Centre has already made ‘Project Yojak’ of BRO to execute this ambitious project.
- Presently, one has to travel 101 km from Manali to Darcha and thereafter, take a turn towards Shinku La Pass and enter Zanskar valley.
- BRO DG: Lt Gen Rajeev Chaudhary
Banking & Finance
8. Nexo, Mastercard to launch world's first "crypto-backed" payment card
- Cryptocurrency lender, Nexo has joined hands with global payments company Mastercard to launch the world's first "crypto-backed" payment card.
- Electronic money firm DiPocket is Nexo's card issuer.
- Interest remains at 0% for customers who maintain a loan-to-value ratio of 20% or below.
- This move by crypto and incumbent financial networks forces digital assets to become more mainstream.
- Initially, The card will be available in selected European countries.
Honours & Awards
9. IndusInd Bank wins Celent Model Bank award
- IndusInd Bank has been awarded the global 'Celent Model Bank' award under the category of 'Payments System Transformation' for building a best-in-class Enterprise Payments Hub (EPH).
- The award recognises the Bank's outstanding journey in creating a cloud-based central payments hub.
- This payment hub is capable of seamlessly processing high transaction loads originating across all forms of payment instructions, and across all originating client touchpoints.
Books & Authors
10. "The Boy Who Wrote a Constitution" titled book released
- The book titled “The Boy Who Wrote a Constitution” was released on the occasion of the 131st birth anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar.
- The book was authored by Rajesh Talwar and published by Ponytale Books.
- The book seeks to inform the challenging boyhood and growing up years of India’s first law minister.
The facts are based largely on Ambedkar’s own recollection of his childhood. - Ambedkar was born in Maharashtra in a Dalit family in 1891.
Banking & Finance
11. World Bank cut the global growth forecast for 2022 from 4.1% to 3.2%
- The World Bank has slashed the global growth forecast for 2022 to 3.2% from 4.1% due to the impacts of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
- The reason for lowering the projection is that people are facing reduced commercial activity and trade, and the debt crisis and currency depreciations have placed a heavy burden on the poor.
- The world is also facing reversals in development in education, health and gender equality.
National & International Appointments
12. Llyods appoints Sourav Ganguly as Brand Ambassador
- Lloyd, a consumer durable brand of Havells India has appointed former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly as the Brand Ambassador for eastern markets of India.
- Sourav will endorse Lloyd range of consumer durables, through promotion, advertising and marketing.
- Ganguly is currently the president of BCCI.
- Havells India Ltd CMD: Anil Rai Gupta
Banking & Finance
13. SBI raises $500 million through IFSC Gift City branch
- State Bank of India (SBI) has raised 3-year funds of $500 million through a syndicated loan facility at “very fine pricing” through its IFSC Gift City branch.
- This is the first offshore USD Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) linked syndicated loan raised by SBI through its Gift City branch.
- MUFG, Bank of America and JP Morgan were the Joint lenders for this offering.
- SBI Chairperson: Dinesh Kumar Khara
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