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28 APRIL 2022 CURRENT AFFAIRS: Aspirants who are preparing for the government examinations knows the importance of Current Affairs and how it can help them in scoring maximum marks in the examination.

Daily Current Affairs 2022: Daily GK update is the most important section for any competitive examination. Current affairs are generally asked from the last 6 months, so here, Pcsaspirants regularly updates the Daily GK Update & daily Current affairs 2022.

NATIONAL NEWS

1. construction of 540 Megawatt Kwar Hydro Electric project in J&K approves by cabinet.

• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the investment of Rs.4526.12 crore for 540 Megawatt (MW) Kwar Hydro Electric Project located on river Chenab, in Kishtwar district of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
• The project will be implemented by M/s. Chenab Valley Power Projects Private Limited (M/s. CVPPL) a joint venture company between NHPC and JKSPDC with  equity contribution of 51% and 49% respectively on 27.04.2022.

2.Continuation PM SVANidhi scheme till december 2024.

• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the continuation of lending under the Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) beyond March 2022 till December 2024, with focus on enhanced collateral free affordable loan corpus, increased adoption of digital transactions and holistic socio-economic development of the Street Vendors and their families.
• Through the Scheme, affordable collateral-free loans are being facilitated to the Street Vendors.
• The Scheme had envisaged to facilitate loans for an amount of Rs. 5,000 crore.
• approval has increased the loan amount to Rs. 8,100 crore, thereby providing the Street vendors working capital to further expand their business and making them AtmaNirbhar.
• PM SVANidhi, significant achievements have already been made. As on April 25, 2022, 31.9 lakh loans have been sanctioned and 29.6 lakh loans amounting to Rs. 2,931 crore have been disbursed.

ABOUT PM SVANidhi

• scheme launch  in June 2020 i.e. the pandemic and related stress on the small businesses, have not fully retracted.
• 1.provide an assured source of credit to help them plan their business expansion,
• 2.increasing the adoption of digital transactions,
• 3.reducing the impact of potential NPAs on the Lending Institutions and
• 4.providing holistic socio-economic upliftment for the Street Vendors and their families.

3. Agriculture Minister virtually addresses farmers  at the Fasal Bima Pathshala.

• “Kisan Bhagidari Prathmikta Hamari Campaign” under Azadi Ki Amrit Mahotsav, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar,  Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare participated in a special ‘Fasal Bima Pathshala’ drive under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) . The special programme was attended by more than 1 crore farmers from various locations across the country.
• Addressing farmers across the country on the Fasal Bima Pathshala  farmers have benefitted from the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and a large number of farmers are connected with this scheme.
• He informed that under the Fasal Bima Yojana from Kharif 2016 till Kharif 2021 every year about 5.5 crore farmers applied for crop insurance and till now
• .around Rs. 21000 crore premium has been collected and farmers have got more than 1.15 lakh crore payment as insurance claim.
• He emphasized that the Pradhan Mantri FasalBima Yojana can play a very important role in providing financial security to the farmers of the country against the crop losses arising due to various natural calamities.
• He urged farmers and states to come under the ambit of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).
• Those who have benefitted can convince others to come under the protective shield of the PMFBY.

4.Union Minister of State for Chemicals & Fertilizers presents India Pharma and India Medical Devices Awards 2022

• Union Minister of State for Chemicals & Fertilizers, Shri Bhagwanth Khuba stated this at the 7th edition of International conference on Pharma and Medical Devices sector 2022.
• Four sessions were conducted on different themes – 1.Transforming Healthcare through innovation and integrated services,
• 2.establishing patient-centered outcomes of care for promoting value-based procurement,
• 3.Manufacturing,
• 4.Demand & Global Supply chain of Medical Devices and Research and Development and Innovation in Medtech.
• This year, the Department of Pharmaceuticals has announced six main categories of the India Pharma and India Medical Devices Awards in:

• Sl. No.	Category	Award	Awardee	Rank
  1	LEADERS CATEGORY AWARDS	INDIA PHARMA LEADER OF THE YEAR	Cipla Limited	Winner
  		INDIA MEDICAL DEVICES LEADER OF THE YEAR	Poly Medicure Limited	Winner
  			Healthium Medtech Limited	Runner-up
  			Transasia Bio-Medicals Limited	2nd Runner-up
  2	COMAPNY OF THE YEAR  AWARD	INDIA PHARMA (FORMULATION) COMPANY OF THE YEAR	Micro Labs Limited	Winner
  		INDIA MEDICAL DEVICES COMAPANY OF THE YEAR	Trivitron Healthcare	Winner
  			Nice Neotech Medical Systems Private Limited	Runner-up
  			Kanam Latex Industries Privet Limited	2nd Runner-up
  3	MSME CATEGORY AWARDS	INDIA MEDICAL DEVICE MSME OF THE YEAR	Nice Neotech Medical Systems Private Limited	Winner
  			Premium Healthcare Disposables Privet Limited	Runner-up
  			AVI Healthcare Private Limited	2nd Runner-up
  4	START-UP CATEGORY	INDIA MEDICAL DEVICE START-UP OF THE YEAR	Vanguard Diagnostics (P) Limited	Winner
  5	INNOVATION CATEGORY	INDIA PHARMA INNOVATION OF THE YEAR	Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Limited	Winner
  		INDIA MEDICAL DEVICE INNOVATIVE OF THE YEAR	Meril Life Sciences Private Limited	Winner
  6	CSR CATEGORY	INDIA PHARMA CSR COMPANY OF THE YEAR	Zydus Lifesciences Limited	Winner
  			Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Limited	Runner-up
  			Lupin Limited	2nd Runner-up

4.Exports of Indian chemicals register growth of 106% in 2021-22 over 2013-14.

•  India’s exports of Chemicals for 2021-22 hit a record at US$ 29296 Million, whereas in 2013-14 India’s Chemical exports was US$ 14210 Million.
• The export growth of Chemicals has been achieved because of a surge in shipments of Organic, Inorganic Chemicals, Agrochemicals, Dyes and Dye intermediates, Specialty Chemicals.
• Indian Chemical industry has become global player and earns foreign exchange for the nation with “Make in India” approach. India is the 6th Largest producer of Chemicals in the world and 3rd in Asia. Ranks 14th position in export of chemicals.
•  Exports to more than 175 countries and top destinations are USA, China and new markets viz. Turkey, Russia and North East Asian Countries (China, Hongkong, Japan, Korea RP, Taiwan, Macao, Mongolia).

5.Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav North East Festival, start  28th April, 2022  till 4th May 2022.

• The week-long celebrations would be held across the 8 State in their own special and significant manner. He further added that the culmination of the week will be celebrated at a Valedictory event to be held at Guwahati on 4^th May. He informed that the event will be graced by the presence of His Excellency Hon’ble President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, along with Governors and Chief Ministers of all the States.

The Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav – North East Festival will be celebrated from 28^th April 2022 till 4^th May 2022. Each of the seven days will be based on separate themes, these include –

• Investment Potential and future energy needs of North East on 29^th April’ at Shillong
• Welfare of Tribalsand Border Management on 30^th April at Itanagar
• The Smart City Revolution in the NE on 30^th April at Gangtok
• Role of women in development of NE on 1^st May at Agartala
• Eco-Tourism in NEon 2^nd May at Aizwal
• Agri Horti and organic products potential of North Easton 2^nd May at Dimapur
• Sports Potential of the NE will be celebrated as a parallel Sports week has also been organized. The culmination would be celebrated on 3^rd May at Imphal
• Valedictory session would be celebrated on 4^th May at Guwahati.

6.India launches Digital India RISC-V (DIR-V) program for develop indigenous Microprocessors by 2023.

• Digital India RISC-V Microprocessor (DIR-V) Program with an overall aim to enable creation of Microprocessors for the future in India, for the world and achieve industry-grade silicon & Design wins by December’2023
• IT Madras and the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) have developed two microprocessors named Shakti (32 bit) and Vega (64 bit)
• DIR-V will see partnerships between Startups, Academia & Multinationals, to make India not only a RISC-V Talent Hub for the World but also a supplier of RISC-V SoC (System on Chips) for Servers, Mobile devices, Automotive, IoT & Microcontrollers across the globe.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

7.Prime Minister addresses at the opening of Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Hospital, Fiji.

• The Hospital is a symbol of the relationship between the two countries, another chapter in the shared journey of India and Fiji”
• “The Children’s Heart Hospital is one of its kind not only in Fiji but in the entire South Pacific region”
• “Sathya Sai Baba freed spiritualism from rituals and linked it with people’s welfare”
• “I consider it my great fortune that I got the constant blessings of Sathya Sai Baba and am getting them even today”
• “India-Fiji relations are based on mutual respect and strong people to people ties

8.Cabinet approves opening of Indian Mission in Lithuania.

• Opening of Indian Mission in Lithuania will help expand India’s diplomatic footprint, deepen political relations and strategic cooperation, enable growth of bilateral trade, investment and economic engagements, facilitate stronger people-to-people contacts, allow for more sustained political outreach in multilateral fora and help garner support for India’s foreign policy objectives.
• Indian Mission in Lithuania will also better assist the Indian community and protect their interests.
• The decision to open a new Indian Mission in Lithuania is a forward-looking step in pursuit of our national priority of growth and development or ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’.
• Enhancement of India’s diplomatic presence will, inter-alia, provide market access for Indian companies and bolster Indian exports of goods and services.
• This would have a direct impact in augmenting domestic production and employment in line with our goal of a self-reliant India or ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.

9.Signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between India and Chile for cooperation in Disability Sector.

• The bilateral Memorandum of Understanding will encourage cooperation between the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Government of India and Government of Chile through joint initiatives in the disabilities sector.
• It will strengthen bilateral ties between India and Chile.
• A joint Letter of Intent was signed between the countries expressing desire for cooperation in disability sector especially in the following areas:

• Sharing of information on disability policy and delivery of services.
• Exchange of information and knowledge.
• Cooperation in assistive device technology.
• Development of projects of mutual interest in disability sector.
• Early identification and prevention of disability.
• Exchange of experts, academicians and other administrative staff.

10.ONGC Sign MoU with Norway’s Equinor to collaborate on E&P, clean energy.

• The MoU was sign on 26 April 2022 in New Delhi for collaboration and partnership in areas of upstream Exploration & Production, midstream, downstream and Clean energy options, including Carbon Capture Utilization & Sequestration (CCUS).
•  Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Norwegian Foreign Minister Ms Anniken Huitfeldt, ONGC CMD Dr Alka Mittal and Executive Vice President of Equinor Ms Irene Rummelhoff were present on the occasion.
• Equinor is the leading operator on the Norwegian continental shelf, present in around 30 countries worldwide

11.China report first case H3N8 Bird Flu.

• China has recorded its first human infection with the H3N8 strain of bird flu, but the risk of its spread among people is low.
• The variant was found in a four-year-old boy from the central province of Henan province who showed fever and other symptoms.
• H3N8 is a type of canine influenza, which is also known as dog flu. According to the US-based Centre for Disease Prevention & Control (CDC), canine influenza A(H3N2) viruses are different from seasonal influenza A(H3N2) viruses that spread annually in people.
• H3N8 viruses originated in horses and then transmitted to dogs.

BANKING & ECONOMY NEWS

12.Centre give 78704 cr compensation to state for FY2022.

• The Finance Ministry on Wednesday said the Centre has already released eight months of GST compensation dues to the states for the fiscal ended March 2022 and Rs 78,704 crore is pending due to inadequate balance in the cess fund.
• At the time of GST implementation on July 1, 2017, the Centre had agreed to compensate states for five years till June 2022, and protect their revenue at 14 per cent per annum over the base year revenue of 2015-16.
• The ministry, further, said that after taking into account the back to back loan, Rs 7.35 lakh crore has been released to the states to compensate for revenue loss.
• For 2020-21 fiscal no compensation is pending to the states and a total of Rs 2.78 lakh crore, which includes back to back loan,

13.Centre infused 820cr in India post payment bank.

• The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approve an additional funding of Rs 820 crore for India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) that will be utilise for expansion of its services to all post offices in the country.
• “IPPB is going to expand its banking service to 1,56,434 post offices and for decision is took to invest Rs 820 crore in it so that poorest of the poor, mothers and sisters living in rural areas can get access to banking facility.

14.Rajni saraf appoint as CFO of J&K bank.

•  The board of directors of the bank in their meeting held on April 27, 2022, have appointed Rajni Saraf as CFO of the bank with effect from April 27, 2022 till engagement of new CFO in place of Balvir Singh Gandhi..
• Gandhi has ceased to be CFO of the bank, it said. Saraf had joined the bank as probationary officer in 1986 and has held various positions in her career spanning over three decades.
• Her areas of expertise include branch operations, credit, strategy, supervision & control and risk management.