Why in news?

• The country has announced a pre-emptive default on all its foreign debt totalling $51 billion as a “last resort” while the island nation struggles to cope with a grave economic crisis. This has led to a situation called Sovereign Default.
• The immediate debt default was to ensure “fair and equitable treatment of all creditors” ahead of an International Monetary Fund assisted recovery programme for the nation.
• Sovereign Default- It refers to the failure of the government of a sovereign entity to pay back principal and interest payments when they are due.
• Consequences of default – Disposing of the debts reduces the total debt owed by a state to its creditors, and subsequently, the principal and interest repayments.
• It receives a lower credit rating, becoming less attractive to investors, and it will become difficult for the state to access new funds from the international bond market.
• Sri Lanka is not the first country to default in its external loans. In 2020 Lebanon, Argentina, Belize, Zambia, Suriname, defaulted. Greece became the first developed country to default on its debt to the IMF in 2015.

Why in news?

• Supreme Court directed FTII not to exclude candidates suffering from colour blindness from film making and editing courses.

About Colour blindness:

• Inability to distinguish between certain colours– usually greens and reds, and sometimes blues as well.
• Causes: Most cases are people born with the condition (congenital colour blindness), but some can develop it later in life.
• Medical conditions like glaucoma, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s etc may increase the risk.
• The most common kinds of color blindness are genetic and mostly men are affected by it (since it is passed down through X chromosome and men have only 1 X chromosome).

Why in news?

• Tragedy stuck recently at Tirkut Hills close to Baidyanath Temple in Jharkhand’s Deogarh after some cable cars in a ropeway collided with each other.
• Also known as Baidyanath Jyotirlinga temple, Deoghar temple is one of the twelve Jyotirlinga in India.
• A Jyotirlinga is a shrine where Lord Shiva is worshipped in the form of a fiery column of light.
• The other 11 Jyotirlingas are
  • Somnath in Gujarat,
  • Mallikarjuna at Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh,
  • Mahakaleswar at Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh,
  • Omkareshwar in Madhya Pradesh,
  • Kedarnath in Uttrakhand,
  • Bhimashankar at Pune in Maharashtra,
  • Viswanath at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh,
  • Tryambakeshwar at Nashik in Maharashtra,
  • Aundha Nagnath at Aundha in Hingoli District in Maharashtra,
  • Rameshwar at Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu and
  • Grushneshwar at Ellora near Aurangabad, in Maharashtra.

Why in news?

• 103 years ago, on 13^thApril 1919, the horrific Jallianwala Bagh Massacre took place. To date, it is one of the country’s darkest days i n history. On this day, General Reginald Dyer of the British Empire ordered his troops to fire upon the people who were protesting peacefully at Jallianwala Bagh.
• The firing by the troops killed around 379 people and the entire nation was shocked due to this incident.

Background

• Thousands of people had gathered at Jallianwala Bagh to celebrate Baisakhi and to protest peacefully against the arrest of two leaders, Saifuddin Kitchlew, and Satyapal. But at that time processions and public meetings were banned in India and the villagers were unaware of it.
• Dyer entered the venue with his troops and blocked the only entrance. Then he passed the order of shooting at the unarmed civilians. After the incident, Dyer stated that his act was not to disperse the meeting but to punish the Indians who were present at the venue for disobedience. According to the official figures provided by the British government, 379 people were killed with thousands severely injured. But, as per the Congress, more than 1,000 Indians lost their lives that day.

The aftermath of the incident

• Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore condemned this unjust attack on the peaceful protestors and renounced their Kaiser-i-Hind medal and British Knighthood
• There were protests across the country against the incident. The actions of Dyer were criticized by many including former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. After this incident, the Hunter commission was set up to investigate the incident, and Dyer was removed from duty after the commission submitted its report. Dyer passed away on 23^rdJuly 1927 due to a cerebral haemorrhage.

Why in news?

• SVANidhi se Samriddhi program was started to provide social security benefits to street vendors for their holistic development and socio-economic upliftment.
• SVANidhi se Samriddhi, additional program of PM SVANidhi (Prime Minister Street Vendors AtmaNirbhar Nidhi), launched in January 2021 in 125 cities in Phase 1, covering approximately 35 Lakh Street vendors and their families.
• Later, post success of phase 1, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) launched the program expansion with an aim to cover 28 Lakh Street vendors and their families, with a total target of 20 Lakh scheme sanctions for FY 2022-23.
• Quality Council of India (QCI) is the implementing partner for the programme.
• Benefits of the scheme
  • Vendors can avail working capital loan of up to Rs. 10,000, which is repayable in monthly instalments in the tenure of one year.
  • Interest subsidy @ 7% per annum on regular repayment of loan.
  • No penalty on early repayment of loan.
  • Promotes digital transactions through cash back incentives up to an amount of Rs. 100 per month.
  • Vendors can avail the facility of escalation of the credit limit on timely/ early repayment of loan.
• PM SVANidhi, a Central Sector Scheme, was launched in June 2020, aims to provide an affordable working capital loan to Street Vendors.
• Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) is the implementing agency.

Why in news?

• Recently, Mirat-ul-Akhbar completed 200 years.
• First published on 12 April 1822, Mirat-ul-Akhbar was India’s first Persian Journal started by Raja Ram Mohan Roy.
• It was published on a weekly basis on Fridays.
• In 1823, it was stopped from publication under the Licensing Regulations for Press.
• Other Contributions of Raja Ram Mohan Roy: Set up Hindu College (1817), Brahmo Samaj (1828), fought against Sati tradition, child marriage etc.

Why in news?

• Ministry of Tourism launches the Utsav Portal at the inaugural day of Amrit Samagam Conference.
• Utsav Portal website, digital initiative, aims to showcase all the events, festivals and live darshans across India to promote different regions of the country as popular tourist destinations worldwide.
• Objective is to increase tourism awareness, attractions, and opportunities by providing tourists with contextual digital experiences in the form of visually appealing photographs and stills from the events.

Why in news?

• The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)and Arbor Day Foundation have jointly recognised Mumbai and Hyderabad as the ‘2021 Tree City of the World.
• The two Indian cities have won the recognition for their “commitment to growing and maintaining urban trees and greenery in building healthy, resilient and happy cities”.
• It must be noted that Hyderabad has been recognised for a second consecutive year. In 2021, Hyderabad was the only city in India to be recognised as a ‘ 2020 Tree City of the World’. Apart from Hyderabad and Mumbai 136 other cities from 21 countries have been recognised in the third edition of the Tree City of the World list.

About the programme:

• The United Nations’ ‘Tree City of the World’ programme provides direction, assistance, and worldwide recognition for communities’ dedication to its urban forest, and provides a framework for a healthy, sustainable urban forestry.

Why in news?

• Ecuador, a South American Country, became the first country in the world to give legal rights to wild animals. The highest court in the country has ruled in favour of the case that focused on a woolly monkey named “Estrellita” who was taken from her home to a zoo, where she passed just a week later.
• The court decided to rule in favour of Estrellita and said that her rights had been violated by the government. However, they added that the animal’s rights were also violated by the owner when she removed her from her natural habitat at a young age. The Court has finally stated that animals are subject to rights protected by the rights of nature.

Why in news?

• For the first time in the last 11 years, the number of domestic patent filing surpassed the number of international patent filing at Indian patent office.
• Overall, in the last 7 years the total filings of patents have increased by more than 50%.
• India’s ranking in Global Innovation Index (GII) has increased to 46th in 2021 as compared to 81st in 2015-16.
• Intellectual Property refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce. E.g. patents, copyright and trademarks.

Factors behind increasing domestic patents

• National Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy (2016) for a Creative India; Innovative India.
• Consistent efforts from Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), as a nodal point on policy implementation, towards strengthening of the IPR regime.
• Scheme for IPR Awareness
  • Reduction in time of patent examination from 72 months in Dec 2016 to 5-23 months at present, for different technological areas.
  • Fee concessions like 10% rebate on online filing, 80% fee concession for Start-ups, Small Entities and educational institutions.
  • Expedited examination for Startups and MSMEs along with other categories.
  • India Innovation Index (I3) by NITI Aayog to promote innovation etc.
• GII, published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) along with Cornell University and INSEAD, takes the pulse of these innovations and ranks the innovation ecosystem performance of different countries on 81 different indicators.