Daily Current Affairs and GK | 1 May 2021

Topic: Personality in News

1. Former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee passes away.

• Former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee died at the age of 91.
• He was the Attorney General of India from 1989-90 and then from 1998-2004.
• He started his career at the Bombay High Court. He had assisted Nani Palkhivala in the Keshavananda Bharati case.
• He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 2002.
• He is known for his significant work on Human rights. He also served as the Chairman of the UN sub-committee on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights.
• Motilal C. Setalvad was the First Attorney General for India.
• Attorney General of India:
  • He is the chief legal advisor of the government.
  • He is appointed by President under the Article 76 of the Indian Constitution.
  • K. K. Venugopal is the current Attorney General of India.

Topic: State News/ Madhya Pradesh

2. Madhya Pradesh launched Corona Warriors Scheme.

• The Madhya Pradesh government has launched the Corona Warriors Scheme.
• Under this scheme, the government will take responsibility for those health workers' families who have died on Corona duty.
• The affected families will receive financial assistance of Rs 50 lakhs from the government.
• Madhya Pradesh:
  • It is the second-largest state in India in terms of area.
  • Capital of Madhya Pradesh: Bhopal
  • It shares its border with Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Maharashtra.
  • Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh is Shivraj Singh Chouhan and the Governor of Madhya Pradesh is Anandiben Patel.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: MoUs/Agreements

3. TRIFED and The LINK Fund collaborated to work towards tribal development.

• TRIFED and The LINK Fund have collaborated to work towards tribal development.
• They exchanged MoU for a project titled “Sustainable Livelihoods for Tribal Households in India”.
• Sustainable Livelihoods for Tribal Households in India is a collaborative project between TRIFED and The LINK Fund.
• TRIFED and The Link Fund signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 29 April 2021.
• The LINK Fund is a philanthropic operational foundation. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It works to end extreme poverty and mitigate the effects of climate change.
• Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED):
  • It is a national level organization that was established in 1987.
  • TRIFED works under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
  • Its head office is located in New Delhi. Also, 13 regional offices are located at various places in the country.

Topic: Government Schemes and Initiatives

4. Fresh guidelines on the Scheme of Financial Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure for the financial year 2021-22 issued.

• Department of Expenditure has issued fresh guidelines on the Scheme of Financial Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure for the financial year 2021-22.
• The Finance Ministry has decided to provide States with an additional amount of up to Rs. 15,000 crore. 
• The amount will be provided as an interest-free 50 year loan for spending on capital projects.
• The decision to launch a Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure was taken last year.
• Under the scheme, State Governments are provided financial assistance in the form of 50-year interest free loan.
• Total 12 thousand crore rupees were allocated for the scheme for the financial year 2020-21 and states were given 11 thousand 830 crore rupees.
• Funds provided to the States under the scheme by the Government of India shall be used for new and ongoing capital projects.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Important Days

5. International Workers Day is celebrated every year on 1 May.

• International Workers Day, also called Labour Day, is celebrated every year on May Day (01 May).
• International Labour Organization is a UN agency that works towards setting international labour standards.
• In the US and Canada, Labour Day is celebrated on the first Monday in September.
• In 1889, May 01 was designated as a day for workers in remembrance of the Haymarket Riots in Chicago in 1886.

Topic: Space and IT

6. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched another 60 Starlink internet satellites.

• A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched another 60 Starlink internet satellites into orbit on April 28.
• Falcon 9 rocket took off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. This marked company’s 10^th launch of the year.
• First stage of the rocket returned to Earth and touched down on SpaceX’s drone ship “Just Read the Instructions”.
• SpaceX has two operational drone ships, Just Read the Instructions and Of Course I Still Love You.
• Starlink is a project under which SpaceX aims to send 12,000 satellites to provide space based internet.  

Topic: Miscellaneous

7. Globally electric vehicles numbers will reach up to 145 million by end of the decade.

• According to International Energy Agency, the number of electric vehicles will reach up to 145 million by 2030.
• As per the IEA’s Global Electric Vehicle Outlook, the number of electric vehicles can reach up to 230 million if governments push their efforts to meet their climate target.
• These electric vehicle numbers don’t include the two- and three-wheeled electric vehicles.
• Around 3 million new electric cars were registered last year, which is an increase of 41% compared to last year.
• At present, about 10 million electric cars are running on the road around the world.
• Electric cars sale increased in 2020 despite the contraction in the automobile sector. In the first quarter of 2021, the sale of electric cars is almost two and a half times higher than the first quarter of 2020.
• Many countries government is promoting the low and zero-emission cars through subsidy. These cars will help in tackling the problem of air pollution.
• The United Kingdom has announced to stop selling diesel and petrol (gasoline) cars by 2030.

Topic: Summits/ Conferences/ Meetings

8. Union Agriculture Minister inaugurated National Conference on Agriculture for Kharif Campaign-2021.

• Recently, Union Minister of Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar inaugurated ‘The National Conference on Agriculture for Kharif Campaign-2021.’
• It has been organized to discuss the challenges and strategies for crop management during the Kharif season.
• Many issues like availability of seeds, pesticides, fertilizers, machinery at the block level, and preparedness for drought, crop diversification, and increasing farmer’s Income were discussed.
• India has produced 303.34 million tonnes of food grains in 2020-21, which is 1.96% higher than previous years.
• The share of agriculture in GDP has increased from 17.8% to 19.9% in 2020-21.
• The government has set a target of 307 million tonnes of food production for the year 2021-22.
• The government will promote the production of oilseeds and pulses to overcome the shortage in the country.
• The government will also identify the places for organic farming and will help in providing market to Organic products.

Topic: Appointments

9. Axis Bank board approved re-appointment of Amitabh Chaudhry as MD & CEO of Axis Bank.

• Axis Bank board has approved the re-appointment of Amitabh Chaudhry as the Managing Director and CEO of Axis Bank for three years.
• He will assume the charge from 1 January, 2022.
• The appointment will be approved by the Reserve Bank of India and shareholders of the Bank.
• Before joining Axis Bank, he was the MD and CEO of HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company.
• Axis Bank is the third-largest private bank in India that is headquartered in Mumbai.

Topic: Defence

10. Indian Navy launched Operation Samudra Setu-II for shipment of Oxygen-filled Containers.

• Indian Navy has launched Operation Samudra Setu-II for the shipment of Oxygen-filled containers to India.
• It will help in meeting the requirement of India’s oxygen demand.
• INS Kolkata and INS Talwar are involved in this Operation. They are transporting 40MT of liquid oxygen to Mumbai.
• INS Jalashwa and INS Airavat are also bringing Oxygen from Bangkok and Singapore.
• Indian Navy had launched Operation Samudra Setu-I for bringing Indian citizens from different countries as part of the Vande Bharat Mission.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Important Days

11. Maharashtra and Gujarat are celebrating their foundation day.

• Every year Maharashtra Day and Gujarat Day are celebrated on 1 May. This year both states are celebrating their 61^st foundation day.
• Maharashtra and Gujarat were formed in 1960 after the division of the Bombay province into two parts.
• Both states were formed on the basis of the language. The Marathi-speaking areas were included in Maharashtra, while Gujarati-speaking areas were included in Gujarat.
• The boundaries of the state were defined under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
• The demand for a separate state for Marathi-speaking people was started in 1940. The Sanyukt Maharashtra Organisation was formed to intensify the demand for an independent state.