Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2021

Notes:
“World Economic Outlook” is the annual flagship report released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
This year, the report is to be released on April 6. The International Monetary Fund has announced that India’s economy is on the path of gradual recovery. It highlighted the return to positive territory in fourth quarter of 2020.

Notes:
The Maharashtra government announced that legendary singer Asha Bhosle has been selected for the Maharashtra Bhushan award for the year 2020, the State government’s highest honour.
A committee chaired by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray made the decision. The award was instituted in 1996 by the State government to recognise outstanding achievements of eminent persons from the state.

Notes:
The Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi is on a 2-day official visit to Bangladesh as a part of National Day celebrations in Bangladesh.
He has announced the ‘Swarna Jayanti’ scholarships for the youth of Bangladesh to mark half a century ling ties between the two countries. PM has invited 50 entrepreneurs of Bangladesh to visit India and to join India’s start-up and innovation ecosystem.

Notes:
India has signed 5 MoUs in the fields of trade, IT and setting up of sports facilities with Bangladesh. This event took place during the concluding sessions of Indian Prime Minister’s 2-day visit to Bangladesh.
During the visit, both national leaders discussed progress achieved on various parameters like health, trade, connectivity etc.

Notes:
The Government of Japan has approved a grant of ¥4.02 billion, or ₹265 crore under the official development assistance (ODA) project for Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The grant is aimed to improve the power supply in the islands.
Additionally, Japan has also extended financial assistance for execution of 4 projects pertaining to Delhi Metro’s Phase 4 and Bengaluru Metro’s Phase 2 expansion. An agreement in these regards have been signed by JICA and Government of India.

Notes:
World Bank has recently released a report titled “South Asia Vaccinates”. It highlighted that private consumption and public investment will make the Indian economy grow by 10.1% in 2021-22 (FY22).
It also estimated that on account of uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, it said India’s economic growth in FY22 will be in the range from 7.5% to 12.5%. It also forecasts that the Indian economy to contract by 8.5% in FY21.

Notes:
Indian veteran actor Rajinikanth has been recently conferred with 51st Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2020 recently. This is the top most honour in Indian cinema.
This award is presented every year for outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema. This award was first instituted the year 1969.

Notes:
As per a recent release by FIS (leading provider of financial technology solutions to banks and merchants), the number of real-time financial transactions in India has grown to 41 million transactions per day. This number is more than double that of the last year.
In terms of growth rate of real time financial transactions, the list is topped by Bahrain with 657% growth.

Notes:
The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) 2020, also known as the Shanghai Ranking has been released recently.
As per the ranking, Calcutta University has been ranked 1st among the Indian Universities and 3rd among higher educational institutions in the country. 15 India Universities have made it into the ARWU 2020 list.

Notes:
The Government of India has promulgated an Ordinance that allows the use of pre-packs as an insolvency resolution mechanism for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). This is applicable for defaults upto an amount of Rs. 1 crore.
A pre-pack is an agreement for the resolution of debt of a distressed MSME through an agreement between secured creditors and investors instead of a public bidding process.