• According to the State Bank of India‘s research paper Ecowrap, India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP)growth in FY22 is predicted to be in the range of 8.2 to 8.5 percent.

KEY POINTS:

• On May 31, the government will disclose GDP figures for the fourth quarter of FY22.
• According to SBI’s Group Chief Economic Adviser Soumya Kanti Ghosh  that FY22 GDP estimates will be closer to 8.5 percent than Q4 GDP numbers.
• The Central Statistics Office forecast Q4 GDP at Rs 41.04 lakh crore and FY22 real GDP growth at Rs 147.7 lakh crore, an increase of 1.7% over pre-pandemic levels.
• The growth rate of Q4 GDP is pegged at Rs 40 lakh crore by the SBI Nowcasting model, which is lower by Rs 1 lakh crore than the CSO early predictions.

• The Railways is aiming to introduce the country’s First semi-high speed freight train by December 2022.
• Based on the Vande Bharat platform, the 16 coach ‘Gati Shakti’ train will be able to run at 160 km/hour, and will be manufactured at the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai.
• With these trains, the Railways plans to target the e-commerce and courier parcel segment.
• According to Indian coach factory (ICF) official, India had become the 8th largest market for e-­commerce.
• India’s e­commerce market is expected to reach $111 billion by 2024, $200 billion by 2026 and expected to reach $350 billion by 2030,”
• The Railways is aiming to increase its share in freight transportation from the present 27% to 45% by 2030 through better infrastructure and business development plans, according to the National Rail Plan.

• A team at the Department of Electrical Communication Engineering (ECE), Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has developed a true random number generator (TRNG), which can improve data encryption for sensitive digital data such as credit card details, passwords and other personal information. “Min¬-entropy” is a parameter used to measure the performance of TRNGs.
• Its value ranges from 0 (completely predictable) to 1 (completely random).
• The device from Majumdar’s lab showed a record ¬high min-¬entropy of 0.98.
• The performance of the device on the standard tests for cryptographic applications designed by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has exceeded their expectations.

• A new species of old-world monkey, “The Sela Macaque” was geographically separated from the Arunachal Macaque by the Sela, an eastern Himalayan pass located at an altitude of 13,700 feet.
• Sela macaque (Macaca selai),the new-to-science primate was identified and analysed by a team of experts from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) and the University of Calcutta.
• Phylogenetics relates to the evolutionary development and diversification of a species or group of organisms.
• The phylog enetic analysis revealed that the Sela macaque was geographically separated from the Arunachal macaque ( Macaca munzala) of the Tawang district by Sela.

• Third Global Organic Expo 2022is poised to be a major platform for Organic Producers, Aggregators, Processors, Value Chain Integrators, and the Industry Partners by offering Global level conference, with theme “Profitability for Humanity”.

Objectives of Global Organic Expo:

• Reducing cost and achieving sustainable productivity through certified organic products and capacity development of organic production systems.
• Organic products will focus on creating market linkages between producers and marketers with the ultimate objective of increasing income without any chemical inputs.
• Sector and People: Organic Expo allows all organic customers, suppliers, partners, and potential new customers to meet in a very comfortable way in person.
• Global Organic Expo is a platform to explore new clients and an opportunity to have face-to-face interaction with existing clients, suppliers, and partners.
• This event will be a 360-degree approach to understand competition and analyze market.

• It is a week-long disaster management programme “JUARE” (Joint United Action for Resilience in Emergencies) organised by Kullu district administration at Atal Sadan Kullu.
• The programme was based on community participation and was an ambitious program which would ensure the participation of village panchayats, urban local bodies, school students for community risk, preparation of resource maps and identification of volunteers for civil protection at the time of disaster.

• The agenda of the meeting is to discuss and deliberate ways to further deepen the Financial Inclusion drive in the country and to provide banking solutions to every citizen of India.
• Postal Department along with IPPB is working on the vision of the Prime Minister’s Digital India initiativeto promote digital payments and bring digital banking services to every nook and corner of the country in a customer-friendly manner.

 Key points

• The council’s mandate is to provide a solid institutional structure to promote and maintain cooperative federalism throughout the country, as well as to activate the council and zonal councils by holding regular meetings.
• It also enables the zonal councils and inter-State councils to address all current and emergent issues of Centre-State and inter-State relations, as well as build a strong mechanism for monitoring the execution of the inter-State council and zonal council’s recommendations.
• The Inter-State Council’s standing committee will be chaired by Amit Shah, and members will include Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, Narendra Singh Tomar, Virendra Kumar, and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
• Members of the Inter-State Council’s standing committee include the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh.
• The standing committee will consult continuously and process items for discussion by the council, as well as any matters relevant to center-state relations before they are brought before the inter-state council for deliberation.
• The standing committee also oversees the implementation of decisions made in response to the council’s recommendations and considers any additional matters presented to it by the chairman or the council.

KEY POINTS:

• Through a network of academic institutions, researchers, policymakers, donors, and practitioners, UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti is at the forefront of the establishment of a Global Research Agenda and Platform for Children to amplify the voice of children and youth with disabilities.
• With the help of UNICEF‘s Office of Research – Innocenti, UNICEF and WHO created a series of 11 free-access background papers to accompany the Report.
• Around the world, 2.5 billion people require assistive technology. According to the estimate, by 2050, the population will have grown to 3.5 billion people.
• The gaps between low- and middle-income countries and high-income countries in terms of access to assistive technology are disturbing.
• Access to assistive technology for individuals who need it is as low as 3% in some low- and middle-income nations, whereas it is significantly higher in high-income countries, with up to 90% of people receiving the assistive devices and services they require.
• The worldwide impact of the WHO-UNICEF Global Report on Assistive Technology in this scenario will be unprecedented. Enabling settings and Assistive Technology are recognised in the Global Report as prerequisites for people in need to realise their human rights.

• India will introduce a newly approved “made in India” TB infection skin test called ‘c-TB.
• A new initiative, “Adopt people with TB” will be launched this year, based on Indian values of collectivism, which will call upon corporates, industries, organisations, political parties and individuals to come forward and adopt TB-infected people and families and provide them with nutritional and social support.