• The United Arab Emirates named the next two astronauts in its space programme , including the country’s first female astronaut.
• Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai identified Noura al-Matroushi as the UAE’s first female astronaut. She along with her male counterpart, Mohammed al-Mulla will undergo training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

India and Russia are “committed” to completing their contract for the S-400 missile system, due to be delivered to India at the end of the year, Russian Ambassador to India Nikolai Kudashev confirmed recently.

About S-400 Missile system

The S-400 Triumf, (NATO calls it SA-21 Growler), is a mobile, surface-to-air missile system (SAM) designed by Russia. It is the most dangerous operationally deployed modern long-range SAM (MLR SAM) in the world, considered much ahead of the US-developed Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD).

The system can engage all types of aerial targets including aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV and ballistic and cruise missiles within the range of 400km, at an altitude of up to 30km.The system can track 100 airborne targets and engage six of them simultaneously.

It represents the fourth generation of long-range Russian SAMs, and the successor to the S-200 and S-300. The S-400’s mission set and capabilities are roughly comparable to the famed US Patriot system.

Rajinikanth has been conferred with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2019.

About the Award:
Dadasaheb Phalke award is India’s highest award in cinema. It is presented annually at the National Film Awards ceremony by the Directorate of Film Festivals (an organisation set up by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting).

The award prize consists of a golden lotus, a cash prize of ₹10 lakh and a shawl.

The award is given to people for their “outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema”.

It was first presented in 1969. The first recipient of the award was actress Devika Rani, “the first lady of Indian cinema.”

Nasa’s InSight lander has recorded over 500 quakes to date on Mars since its touch down on the Red Planet in November 2018.
The two recent quakes of magnitude 3.3 and 3.1 originated in a region called Cerberus Fossae. These findings support the idea that the planet is seismically active.

About InSight Mission
‘InSight’ is part of NASA’s Discovery Program.
It will be the first mission to peer deep beneath the Martian surface, studying the planet’s interior by measuring its heat output and listening for mars quakes, which are seismic events similar to earthquakes on Earth.
It will use the seismic waves generated by mars quakes to develop a map of the planet’s deep interior.

Importance of the mission:
Purpose: It is a robotic lander designed to study the deep interior of Mars to learn how all celestial bodies with rocky surfaces, including Earth and the Moon, formed.
Scientific Instruments: The scientific instruments used for the mission are seismometer for detecting quakes, sensors for gauging wind and air pressure, magnetometer and a heat flow probe designed to take the planet’s temperature.

Union Education Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’  launched the “MyNEP2020” Platform of  NCTE Web Portal. The platform seeks to invite suggestions/inputs/membership from the stakeholders for preparing draft for development of National Professional Standards for Teachers (NPST) and National Mission for Mentoring Program membership (NMM).

The “MyNEP2020” platform will be operational from 1^st April 2021 to 15th May 2021.

This exercise of digital consultation envisages the participation of teachers, education professionals, academicians, & other stakeholders in preparing the documents on teacher policy for sustainable and positive change in the Teacher’s Education Sector. For preparing the documents on above two major recommendations of NEP 2020, NCTE will work in close consultation with individuals/organizations.

To commemorate the 50^th anniversary of Indian victory in the 1971 war, the year 2021 is being celebrated as ‘Swarnim Vijay Varsh’.

As part of Swarnim Vijay Varsh activites in Southern Naval Command, the Victory Flame lit by the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is being carried to Lakshadweep and Minicoy group of Islands.

The President of India appointed Shri Justice Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana, the senior most Judge of the Supreme Court, to be the Chief Justice of India (present CJI S.A. Bobde).

A notification in this regard has been issued by the Department of Justice, Ministry of Law & Justice today. Justice Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana, will take over as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India on 24th April, 2021. He will be 48th Chief Justice of India.

He hails from Ponnavaram Village, Krishna District in Andhra Pradesh.

Appointment of the CJI:

The Chief Justice of India and the Judges of the Supreme Court (SC) are appointed by the President under clause (2) of Article 124 of the Constitution.

• India ranks 40 in the 2021 index among the 53 global economies. In 2020, India ranked 40 as well.
• Among BRICS nations, India registered the second-highest growth with an overall improvement of over 13%,
• It is an annual report that the US Chamber of Commerce Global Innovation Policy Centre(GIPC) releases.
• The Index evaluates  Intellectual Property  rights in 53 global economies from patent and copyright policies to commercialisation of IP assets and ratification of international treaties. These economies represent together over 90% of global GDP.

• India has been ranked 139 out of 149 countries in the list of UN World Happiness Report 2021, in 2020, India was ranked 144 out of 156 countries.
• Finland ranked the top spot in the report with India’s neighbours Pakistan ranking 105th, Bangladesh at 101st and China on 84th on the report.
• Finalnd is followed by Iceland, Denmark, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Sweden, Germany and Norway.
• The World Happiness Report 2021, issued by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, focuses on the effects of  COVID-19 and how people all over the world have fared.

The Parameters used for measuring happiness in the report : The survey used the Gallup World Poll. This world poll asked people to vote on three indicators:

• Life Evaluations
• Positive Emotions
• Negative Emotions
  

• ‘Anamaya’, the Tribal Health Collaborative was launched by the government. The Collaborative is a multi-stakeholder initiative of Tribal Affairs Ministry supported by Piramal Foundation and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).
• It will converge efforts of various Government agencies and organisations to enhance the health and nutrition status of the tribal communities of India and to end all preventable deaths among the tribal communities of India.
• It aims to build a sustainable, high-performing health eco-system to address the key health challenges faced by the tribal population of India.
• It will begin its operations with 50 tribal, Aspirational Districts (with more than 20% ST population) across 6 high tribal population states.

About the Aspirational Districts’ Programme: 

• Aspirational Districts are those districts in India, that are affected by poor socio-economic indicators.
• The Government is committed to raising the living standards of its citizens and ensuring inclusive growth for all – “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas” on those grounds, the name  aspirational signifies that the  improvement in these districts can lead to the overall improvement in human development in India.
• The 115 districts were identified from all over the country. The programme is monitored by the  NITI Aayog. The  program focuses on  the real-time monitoring and progress of aspirational districts.
• The programme is based on 49 indicators from the five identified thematic areas, which concentrates on improving people’s  education, health and nutrition, their financial inclusion, agriculture and water resources, their skill development and needs of basic infrastructure.