Daily GK Update: 1st May 2023

 Sports

1. Satwiksairaj-Chirag pair wins gold at Badminton Asia Championships 2023

• The Indian pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy clinched the men’s doubles title at the Badminton Asia Championship 2023 held in Dubai, UAE from 25 to 30 April 2023. 
• They defeated eighth-seeded Malaysian pair Teo Ee Yi and Ong Yew Sin in the final.
• They become the first Indian men's doubles pair to win the Badminton Asia Championships title.
• With this win, they also clinched India's second-ever Badminton Asia Championships title after Dinesh Khanna in 1965.

 Banking & Finance

2. GST collection for April 2023 highest ever at Rs 1.87 lakh crore

• The gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue collection increased 12% in April 2023 to Rs 1.87 lakh crore.
• It is the highest monthly mop-up since the inception of the indirect tax regime in July 2017.
• The government has collected CGST of Rs 38,440 crore, SGST of Rs 47,412 crore, and IGST of Rs 89,158 crore (including Rs 34,972 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 12,025 crore.
• The highest GST collection was recorded in April 2022 at Rs 1.68 lakh crore.

 Important Dates

3. Gujarat and Maharashtra celebrate their 63rd Foundation Day

• The states of Gujarat and Maharashtra commemorated their 63rd Foundation Day on 1st May 2023.
• Gujarat celebrates its 63rd foundation day as Gujarat Gaurav Divas and Maharashtra are also celebrated as 'Maharashtra Din'.
• During the event, Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel virtually inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for various projects in Jamnagar worth Rs. 300 crore.
• Gujarat was carved out of the Bombay State on May 1, 1960, after the Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960. 

 Schemes

4. National SC-ST Hub Scheme crossed over 1 lakh beneficiary registration

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has praised the National SC-ST Hub Scheme, which crossed over one lakh beneficiary registrations.
• About National SC-ST Hub Scheme:
  • Launched on: October 2016
  • It is an initiative of the Union MSME Ministry.
  • Aim: To empower and promote entrepreneurs among SC, ST Communities
  • It is implemented by the National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC),  a public-sector undertaking under the administrative control of the Ministry of MSME.

 Agreement

5. NTPC, NPCIL ink pact for joint development of nuclear power plants

• NTPC has signed a supplementary joint venture agreement with Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) to develop nuclear power projects.
• The JV company shall develop two pressurized heavy-water reactors (PHWR) projects, Chutka Madhya Pradesh Atomic Power Project 2x700 MW and Mahi Banswara Rajasthan Atomic Power Project 4x700 MW.
• Presently, NTPC has a total installed power generation capacity of 71.644 GW, of which 3.01 GW is renewable energy.

 Banking & Finance

6. Home Ministry cancels LIFE's FCRA licence

• The Home Ministry has canceled the Foreign Contribution Registration Act (FCRA) license of the Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE).
• About FCRA:
  • Enacted in: 1976
  • Validity: 5 years
  • It requires every person/NGO seeking to receive foreign donations to be:
    • Registered under the Act
    • To open a bank account for the receipt of foreign funds in SBI, Delhi
    • To utilize those funds only for the purpose they have been received and as stipulated in the Act.

 Sports

7. Ding Liren becomes China's first male world chess champion

• Ding Liren has become China's first male world chess champion, after defeating his Russian rival Ian Nepomniachtchi in the fourth rapid game of the first tie-breaker at Astana, Kazakhstan.
• He succeeded as the winner of the World Chess Championship from Norway’s Magnus Carlsen.
• His victory makes him the 17th winner of the world chess tournament.
• In 2009, he became China's youngest chess champion at national level.

 National & International Appointments

8. Santiago Pena wins Paraguay Presidential election

• An economist, Santiago Peña (Colorado Party) has won the presidential election of Paraguay, defeating Efraín Alegre, the candidate of the Concertación Nacional coalition.
• He got more than 42% votes, while his opponent Efraín Alegre received nearly 28%.
• The Colorado Party has dominated the political scene in Paraguay's landlocked South American nation for more than 70 years.
• Paraguay's economy is expected to grow by more than 4% this year.

 Sports

9. Sergio Pérez wins Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2023

• Red Bull’s driver, Sergio Perez won the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2023 World Championship, in Baku, Azerbaijan.
• He defeated his teammate Max Verstappen to victory in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
• Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished third and  Fernando Alonso finished in fourth place.
• Previous Grand Prix:
  • Australian GP: M. Verstappen (Red Bull)
  • Saudi Arabia GP: Sergio Pérez (Red Bull)
  • Baharin GP: M. Verstappen (Red Bull)

 Science & Technology

10. IIT Madras researchers develop tool to detect tumours in brain, spinal cord

• Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) researchers has developed a machine learning-based computational tool for better detection of cancer-causing tumors in the brain and spinal cord.
• The web server known as ‘GBMDriver’ (GlioBlastoma Mutiforme Drivers) is now publicly available online.
• The GBMDriver was developed specifically to identify driver mutations and passenger mutations (passenger mutations are neutral mutations) in Glioblastoma.