India Ranks 53rd in Budget Transparency, Accountability
The Open budget survey has placed India at 53rd position among 117 nations in terms of budget accountability and transparency. The survey conducted by the International Budget Partnership (IBP) released the ranking on April 29, 2020.
IBP has provided a transparency score of 49 out of 100 to India's Union budget process. The provided score to India is higher than the global average score of 45.
Other developing countries, with an exception to China, have scored much higher transparency scores in comparison to India. New Zealand has gained the highest score of 87.
Australia Marks Cook anniversary Under Lockdown
Australia has marked the 250th anniversary of the arrival of British settlers in the country.
Captain James Cook arrived at Botany Bay in Australia's east coast near current-day Sydney on April 29, 1770.
WIHG Reveals 35 Thousand-Year History of River Erosion in Ladakh Himalayas
Scientists and students from Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG), an autonomous institute under the Department of Science &Technology,Govt. of Indiastudied rivers in Ladakh Himalaya, bringing out 35 thousand-year history of river erosion and identified hotspots of erosion and wide valleys that act a buffer zones.
The study showed how rivers in drier Ladakh Himalaya operated in longer time scales and how they responded to varying climate, an understanding of water and sediment routing,which is crucial as the country gears up its infrastructure and develops smart cities.
Reliance Industries Announces Largest Rights Offer of Rs 53,125 crore
The Reliance Industries Limited has approved raising of over Rs 53,000 crore from its shareholders through rights issue, its first such issue in almost three decades and the biggest-ever by an Indian company. This was decided during the board meeting of the Reliance Industries on April 30, 2020.
The Reliance board has approved the issuance of equity shares worth Rs 10 each of the company on rights basis to eligible equity shareholders as on the record date of an issue size of Rs 53,125 crore. The information was shared by Reliance Industries in a notification.
RBI Extends Regulatory Benefits Under SLF-MF Scheme to all Banks
The Reserve Bank of India extended regulatory benefits to all banks including those deploying their own resources to extend liquidity support to the mutual funds under the Special Liquidity Facility for Mutual Funds (SLF-MF) scheme.
The Reserve Bank had announced Rs. 50,000-crore SLF-MF scheme to bailout the mutual funds facing redemption pressure. The scheme was announced in the backdrop of Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund deciding to shut several schemes.
NASA selects Bezos's Blue Origin and Musk's SpaceX to Build New Moon Landers
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has selected SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Dynetics, the three space firms to build new lunar landing systems that will carry astronauts to the moon by 2024. The announcement by NASA was made on April 30, 2020.
The deadline has been accelerated by the White House to 2024, under the Space agency's moon to mars campaign. The three companies that include SpaceX and Blue Origin will share the amount of $967 million from NASA.
NASA has been gearing up for a long-term presence on the moon that according to the space agency will eventually help humans to reach Mars.
Maharashtra, Gujarat Celebrates State Formation Day
Maharashtra Day and Gujarat Day is celebrated in the Indian states of Maharashtra and Gujarat on 1 May every year. The day commemorates the formation of the state on this day in 1960.
In 1960, the Bombay Reorganization Act, 1960 was passed by India's Parliament to divide the multilingual state of Bombay into Gujarat and Maharashtra. Bombay formerly consisted of speakers of different languages such as Gujarati, Marathi, Konkani, and Kutchi.
As a result of the Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti movement, the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat were formed.
Ministry of Shipping Launches New Website
Ministry of Shipping has revamped its website shipmin.gov.in and launched it on 30th April, 2020. The new website is based on open source technology and is deployed on NIC cloud Meghraj.
The website is designed as per Guidelines for Indian Government Websites (GIGW) issued by Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Government of India.
The new website has a well designed and dynamic Homepage. Social Media Integration with better video uploading facility is a new feature in this website.
Nitin Gadkari Launches Research Portal on MSMEs
Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari today launched bank of schemes, ideas, innovation and Research portal - http://ideas.msme.gov.in on MSMEs. The portal gives access to all schemes of Union, States and Union Territory Governments and has the provision for uploading ideas, innovations and researches in the sector.
It has unique features of not only crowd sourcing of ideas, but also evaluation and rating the ideas by crowd sourcing. It can also facilitate inflow of venture capital, and foreign collaboration. Besides, the portal will benefit the potential entrepreneurs as one stop compendium of ideas, innovation and research ready for commercialization.
Chuni Goswami, Legendary Football Captain and Bengal Cricketer, Dies at 82
Former India footballer Subimal "Chuni" Goswami, who captained the 1962 Asian Games gold-winning team, died in Kolkata after suffering a cardiac arrest.
Goswami was among the rare sportsmen who played more than one sport at the highest levels; not only was he among India's greatest ever footballers, he played first-class cricket for Bengal and captained them to the final of the Ranji Trophy in 1971-72.
Delhi Historian RV Smith Passed Away
Noted author, historian and chronicler of Delhi, R.V. Smith, passed away.
Smith wrote extensively for many leading publications, including Outlook, on Delhi's intricate history tucked in old markets, streets and historical ruins.
The 'True Chronicler of Delhi' was the recipient of the Canon Holland Prize and the Rotary Award for general knowledge and journalism award (1997-98) from the Michael Madhusudan Academy.
Two of his noted books on the national capital are 'Delhi: Unknown Tales of a City' and 'The Delhi that No-one Knows'.
Afrobeat pioneer Tony Allen dies aged 79
Pioneering Nigerian drummer Tony Allen, a co-founder of the afrobeat musical genre, died in Paris.
Allen was the drummer and musical director of musician Fela Kuti's famous band Africa '70 in the 1960-70s.
Fela, as he was widely known, died in 1997. He once said that "without Tony Allen, there would be no afrobeat".
May 1 is observed as the International Labour Day in order to celebrate the labours and the working class.
The date May 1 was chosen to commemorate the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago. It is on this day people had declared a general strike for an eight-hour workday.
CSIR Identifies top 25 Drugs, Drug Candidates for Repurposing
To provide drugs for Coronavirus patients in India, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has identified the top 25 drugs and drug candidates for repurposing.
Among these top 25 drugs, Favipiravir a broad spectrum inhibitor of viral RNA polymerase has emerged as of one of the most promising drugs.
Favipiravir was developed by Fujifilm Toyama Chemical Ltd., and is an approved treatment for common influenza and is marketed in Russia, China and Japan.
CSIR-IICT, based in Hyderabad has developed a convenient and cost effective synthetic process for Favipiravir.
NGMA Pays Tribute to Raja Ravi Varma on his 172nd Birth Anniversary
National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) is paying tribute to celebrated painter and artist Raja Ravi Varma on his 172nd Birth Anniversary through a virtual tour.
This virtual tour is showcasing the entire collection of his artworks at reserve collection, NGMA in New Delhi.
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