• India and Vietnam signed a vision document to further broad-base the “scope and scale” of their defence ties by 2030.
• The two nations also firmed up a logistics support pact to allow militaries of the two sides to use each other’s bases for repair and replenishment of supplies.
• The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on mutual logistics support is the first such major agreement that Vietnam has signed with any country.
• The two defence ministers signed the ‘Joint Vision Statement on India-Vietnam Defence Partnership towards 2030’ that provides for expansion of defence and military ties in diverse areas.
• India has oil exploration projects in the Vietnamese waters in the South China Sea.
• India and Vietnam are boosting their maritime security cooperation in the last few years to protect common interests.
• Ties between the two countries were elevated to the level of ‘strategic partnership’ during the visit of Vietnam’s then Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to India in July 2007.

• The Centre hiked the minimum support price (MSP) for paddy by 100 rupees raising it to 2,040  rupees per quintal for 2022-23 crop year in order to encourage farmers to bring more area under the crop and boost their income.
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister approved the increase in MSPs for all 14 kharif (summer) crops for 2022-23 crop year.
• “The Government has increased the MSP of kharif crops for 2022-23 to ensure remunerative prices to the growers for their produce and to encourage crop diversification.
• The Government has taken several steps from beej se bazaar tak (seed to market) that has helped increase income of farmers.
• As per the CCEA decision, the MSP of 14 kharif crops has been increased in the range of 92-523 rupees per quintal.
• The maximum hike has been given in sesamum of Rs 523 per quintal, while the lowest Rs 92 per quintal is in case of maize.
• The MSP of all the 14 crops for 2022-23 is higher by 46-131 per cent when compared to 2014-15. For example, the MSP of paddy (common variety) has been increased by 50 per cent to Rs 2,040 per quintal as against Rs 1,360 per quintal in 2014-15.

• The Reserve Bank of India hiked the interest Rate — this time by 50 basis points.
• This would tame inflation but pave the way for rise in home, auto and other loan EMIs.
• The six-member monetary committee of the central bank unanimously voted to raise the lending rate by 50 basis points to 4.90 per cent.
• The Reserve Bank has the mandate to keep retail inflation at 4 per cent with a bias of 2 per cent on either side.
• However, retail inflation has been above 6 per cent for the last four months in a row, rising to as high as 7.8 per cent in April.
• The RBI has changed the policy stance to drop the phrase “remains accommodative”, and instead opted for “withdrawal of accommodation” for guiding its future moves.
• The rise in interest rate will discourage borrowing that would impact on availability of liquidity.

• For the first time in the world, an Indian has been named a Global Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Pioneer for Water Stewardship by the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). 
• The United Nations Global Compact has named ten new SDG Pioneers, who are corporate leaders who are excelling in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by implementing the UN Global Compact Ten Principles on human rights, environment, labour, and anti-corruption.
• Professionals working at any level in a firm engaging in the UN Worldwide Compact were targeted for the global search, with winners picked from every continent.
• Their work covers a wide range of topics, including climate mitigation and adaptation, as well as circular economy and digital transformation.

• NHAI is National Highway Authority of India.
• It was constituted by an Act of Parliament in 1988 under the administrative control of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
• It has been set up as a Central Authority to develop, maintain and manage the National Highways entrusted to it by the Government of India.
• (NHAI) has created a Guinness World Record for the longest continuously laid bituminous lane of 75 kilometres in 105 hours and 33 minutes on the national highway between Amravati and Akola districts in
• The previous Guinness World Record for the longest continuously laid bituminous was for building 25.275 kilometres of road that was achieved in Doha, Qatar in February 2019 and that task was completed in 10 days.

• Rural Development Minister Virender Kanwar laid the foundation stone of the bamboo village project in Ghandawal village of Una district.
• A sum of Rs 4 crore will be spent on the infrastructure which will include a bamboo processing unit for manufacturing various products made from bamboo, training halls with boarding and lodging facilities, a cafeteria, souvenir shops, a bamboo park and a bamboo nursery.
• Bamboo India, a national expert agency, would provide technical knowhow, machinery and training to local artisans. Preference would be given to bamboo produced in Himachal.
• Deputy Commissioner Raghav Sharma said bamboo tooth brush handles would be one of the main items to be produced here.
• Under the ‘go green’ initiative, plastic products were gradually being replaced by natural products and 8 per cent of the tooth brush market had switched over to bamboo brushes.
• About 40 different species of bamboo would be planted at the bamboo oxygen park where people could enjoy the nature.

• Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur today launched the Rs 83-crore scheme to provide free laptops to about 20,000 meritorious students of the state under the Srinivasa Ramanujan Student Digital Scheme.
• This feat of the students will motivate other students to excel in academics and win a laptop next time.
• Himachal has made unprecedented progress in the field of education. The state has even surpassed Kerala on several parameters.

• It was first played in preparation for the 2014 Youth Olympic Games.
• Hockey 5s is a super-fast, highly skilful, short format of hockey which is designed to be adaptable to multiple surfaces, environments and space.
• Hockey 5s is an invasion game played between two teams with 4 field players and a goalkeeper.
• India beat Poland 6-4 in final to clinch the inaugural FIH Hockey 5s championship in Lausanne in Switzerland.
• India had topped the five-team standings after the round-robin league stage with 10 points from three wins and one draw. India had beaten hosts Switzerland 4-3 and drawn with arch-rivals Pakistan 2-2.

• Maruti Suzuki India has installed a 20 MW solar carport at its Manesar, Haryana, The project is projected to provide the organisation with 28,000 MW of electricity per year.
• According to the firm, the energy generated by this initiative will be similar to the energy required to create nearly 67,000 cars every year.
• According to the business, this is Asia’s largest solar carport.

 KEY POINTS:

• Using the East-West orientation approach, the solar carport is constructed with the smallest area per unit of electricity generation.
• The East-West approach allows developers to add more rows and panels, increasing generation capacity while using less space.
• Approximately 9,000 finished vehicles can be parked at the site.
• Companies are focused on making the most of available space in order to save money on energy and meet sustainability goals.
• Solar carports are an excellent way to turn an otherwise unused space into a source of renewable energy.
• Carports have the added benefit of providing covered parking spots in addition to generating solar energy.

• It is a “Maharatna” Central Public Sector Enterprise.
• It is India’s largest Electric Power Transmission Utility.
• Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (POWERGRID), a ‘Maharatna’ Company under Ministry of Power has won the coveted International CSR Excellence Award in the campaign for best social responsibility initiatives, while competing amongst more than 500 nominations in the International CSR Excellence Awards 2022.
• Power Grid will be bestowed the CSR World Leader status and its winning paper titled “Improving Rural Livelihoods and Protecting Environment through farmer-centric Integrated Watershed Management” will be published in the CSR World Leaders Book.