Why in news?

• Pranahita Pushkaralu festival organised on banks of Pranahita river concludes.
• Pranahita is largest tributary of the Godavari River.
• It originates in Madhya Pradesh, merges with Godavari River at Kaleshwaram, Telangana.
• Kaleshwaram is called Triveni Sangamam as it’s the confluence point for Godavari, Saraswathi and Pranahita rivers.
• Godavari river rises from Trimbakeshwar in the Nashik district of Maharashtra and flows for most of its course generally eastward across broad plateau of Deccan (peninsular India).

Why in news?

• Move comes in the backdrop of Indonesia, world’s largest producer and exporter of palm oil, facing domestic shortages which is leading to price controls and export curbs.
• Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil, comes from the fruit of oil palm trees. It is an efficient crop, producing more oil per land area than any other equivalent vegetable oil crop.

Reasons behind palm oil crisis in Indonesia

• Domestic shortage, amid rising demand and weak output from top producers Indonesia and Malaysia.
• Mandatory blending of palm oil in diesel.
• Supply side disruptions in other cooking oils
  • Sunflower oil – owing to Russia Ukraine war as both the countries account for nearly 80% of the global trade in sunflower oil.
  • Soyabean oil – owing to supply issues due to dry weather in South America.

Impact on India

• Food Inflation as Indonesia has been India’s top supplier of palm oil.
• Edible oils such as palm oil are a key raw material for FMCG and a rise in the prices of these commodities impacts consumer goods beyond food products such as soaps, shampoos, etc.

Steps taken by government for promoting Oil Palm

• National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) under which Mini Mission – II (MM – II) was dedicated to oil palm area expansion and productivity increases.
• Centrally Sponsored Oil Palm Development Scheme.

Why in news?

• India has urged the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank to re-classify Sri Lanka as a lower-income country and give Sri-Lanka emergency funding similar to one granted to Ukraine under the emergency support programme, Rapid Financing Instrument(RFI).
• Objective is to assist the country in debt restructuring as it will help Sri Lanka become party to the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) and the ‘Common Framework for debt treatment beyond the DSSI’ (Common Framework).
  • The above are joint initiatives by the WB, IMF and G-20 for least-developed countries and Low Income Countries respectively to help them sustain debt challenges brought forward by the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Debt restructuring is defined as an event in which the debtor is in financial difficulty and the creditor grants concession to debtor in accordance with a mutual agreement.
• Sovereign debt crisis occurs when a country is unable to pay its bills and country’s leaders ignore these indicators for political reasons.
• To solve the sovereign debt crisis, the IMF helps in identifying sovereign debt risks and provides policy advice, provides technical support on formulating debt management strategy and developing their local currency bond markets etc.

Why in news?

• The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has named Sir David Attenborough, English natural history broadcaster and naturalist, as the recipient of the Champions of the Earth Award 2021 under the Lifetime Achievement category, for his dedication to research, documentation, and advocacy for the protection of nature and its restoration.

About Sir David Attenborough

• Sir David Attenborough is well known for his innovative educational television programs, especially the nine-part Life series forming the Life collection.
• His well-known documentaries include The Green Planet and A Plastic Ocean.
• His noted works include the Life series: Life on Earth (1979), The Living Planet (1984), The Trials of Life (1990) and others.
• The year 2022 marks the 50 years since the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, Sweden, which was one of the first international meetings on the environment.

UNEP’s Champions of the Earth Awards

• The UNEP’s Champions of the Earth Awards honours individuals, groups, and organizations whose actions have a transformative impact on the environment.
• This is the United Nations(UN)’s highest environmental honour.
• Since its foundation in 2005, the Champions of the Earth award has honoured 101 laureates, including 25 world leaders, 62 individuals and 14 organizations.

Why in news?

• Every year on April 23, World Book and Copyright Day is observed to promote the love of reading. April 23 is significant in world literature because it commemorates the death on this date of prominent writers such as Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare.
• This date was an obvious option for UNESCO’s General Conference, which was convened in Paris in 1995, to pay a worldwide tribute to books and authors on this day, urging everyone to read.
• Guadalajara, Mexico, will be the World Book Capital in 2022, with a year-long programme focusing on the role of books and reading in inspiring social change, combating violence, and cultivating a culture of peace.
• Every year on April 23 – the anniversary of the deaths of three great authors of world literature, Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare, and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega– we honour their enthralling ability to inspire creativity, knowledge, and alter minds.

Why in news?

• In view of Improving pandemic situation, RBI decided to reduce WMA for States and UTs to ₹ 47,010 crore from ₹ 51,560 crore.
  • Considering COVID-19 related uncertainties, RBI had raised WMA limit in 2021.
• Under RBI Act 1934, WMAs are temporary advances given by the RBI to Centre and States to tide over any mismatch in receipts and payments.
  • States/Centre pay interest linked to the repo rate on WMA withdrawals.
  • WMA is not part of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (FRBM) because they get paid within the year itself.
• Two types of WMA – normal and special.
  • While normal WMA are clean advances, Special WMA or Special Drawing Facility (SDF) is provided against the collateral of government securities held by state.
  • After the state has exhausted SDF limit, it gets normal WMA.
• In addition to WMA, the Over Draft facility is also provided whenever financial accommodation to a State exceeds its SDF and WMA limits.
• There is a State-wise limit for the funds that can be availed via WMA. These limits depend on factors such as total expenditure, revenue deficit and fiscal position of the State.
• Limits for WMA are decided by the government and RBI mutually and revised periodically.

Why in news?

• NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL), an International arm of National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) has announced that BHIM UPI is now available at NEOPAY terminals, across the UAE.
  • Globally, UPI is accepted in Bhutan and Nepal, and is likely to go live in Singapore in 2022.
• UPI is an instant real-time payment system developed by NPCI facilitating inter-bank transactions.
  • It is the most successful real-time payments systems globally, providing simplicity, safety, and security in person to person (P2P) and person to merchant (P2M) transactions.
  • BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money), pioneered and developed by NPCI, enables fast, secure, reliable cashless payments through mobile phone.
  • UPI is one of the most prominent forms of digital payments worth $1 trillion in FY 2022.
  • BHIM, launched in 2016, brings in Financial Inclusion to the nation and a digitally empowered society.
• NPCI is an initiative of RBI and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) under provisions of Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, for creating a robust Payment and Settlement Infrastructure in India.
  • It aims to create a robust Payment & Settlement Infrastructure in India and operates RuPay (Indigenously developed Payment System), IMPS, NACH (National Automated Clearing House), ABPS (Aadhaar Payment Bridge System), NFS (National Financial Switch), Bharat Bill Payment System

Why in news?

• Authorities in Bihar are working on strategies to prevent AES as rising temperature and humidity reignite fears of an outbreak.
• AES is characterized as acute-onset of fever and a change in mental status and/or new-onset of seizures in a person of any age at any time of the year.
• It most commonly affects children and young adults and can lead to considerable morbidity and mortality.
• Viruses are the main causative agents in AES cases, although other sources such as bacteria, fungus, parasites, spirochetes, chemicals, toxins and non-infectious agents have also been reported.

Why in news?

• It has captured the solar eclipse on Mars featuring Phobos, one of Mars’ two moons (other is Deimos ).
• It was launched in 2020 under Mars 2020 Mission and landed at Jezero crater, Mars in 2021.
• The rover is on an astrobiology mission to-
  • Better understand the Mars geology and seek signs of ancient life,
  • Collect and store a set of rock and soil samples for possible return to Earth, and
  • Test new technology to benefit future robotic and human exploration of Mars.

Why in news?

• Recently, North and South Korea leaders exchanged letters with the hope to make the Korean Peninsula peaceful.
• It is located in East Asia, connected with mainland Asia and contains North Korea and South Korea (with 38th Parallel as a separation line).
• It lies in the Pacific Ocean and is surrounded by Yellow Sea in West and Sea of Japan in East with Korean Strait joining the two seas.
• From the mainland, the Amnok River separates it from China and the Duman River from Russia and China.
• Other Geographical Features:
  • Tallest mountain: Mount Paektu.
  • Longest River: Amnok River.