North Korea Says Biden has a hostile policy warns of response
Biden would deal with the proposed by Pyongyang Nuclear Program with “Diplomacy as well as Deterrence”

India receives aid from Taiwan & places commercial orders with China for medical supplies
First batch
50 oxygen concentrators
500 oxygen cylinders
India has not yet accepted the offer of aid and assistance
India has refer to source medical supplies from China commercial basis
It has placed orders with Chinese firms with production of at least 40,000 oxygen generator
61 flight flight from China to India It is in operation since April more than and has sent

• >5,000 ventilators
• 21569 O2 generator
• >21 million mask
• 3800 tons of medicine to India

1 lakh tonnes of grain given under PMGKAY
Of the 40 lakhs tonnes free grain promised… 1lakh has been distributed under PMGKAY= Pradhan Mantri Garibh Kalyan Anna Yojana.
5kg of free rice+ wheat

SC–> Do not clamp down on citizens SOS call & informaion through social media. It would be contempt of court.
Justice Chandrachud said Free Flow of information in 1970 famine and 1918 pandemic helps to clamp down the condition.

Demand for MGNREGA work has increased in April to 2.57 crore households which is 93% higher than last year and record high since 2013
It indicates reverse migration Government allocated Rs73000 crore in this year’s budget which is ~ 34.5 % lower than last year’s revised estimates of Rs1.11 lakh crore

China’s Prez= Xi sends message to Modi offering China’s support
MOSCOW AGREEMENT
the complete disengagement of all friction points along LAC and full Restoration of Peace and Tranquility in Eastern Ladakh & agreed to continue discussion in this respect.

PM Modi releases 8th instalment of Financial Benefit under PM-KISAN scheme
>19,000 crore transferred in bank accounts of >9.5 beneficiary farmer families.

SC–> sets up 12 membered Task Force to streamline effective and transparent allocation of Liq O2 on scientific, reasonable & equitable basis.
Express dissatisfaction at the centre’s are their “oxygen for bed” formula

FCRA hurdle on foreign covid aid
FCRA= Foreign Contribution Regulation Act is not exempted on the imports that require domestic entity to get approval from MHA= Ministry of Home Affairs
But GST is levied for pandemic relief material donated for free distribution

Centre to retain GST on O2 concentrators imported for personal use.
12% GST levied on import from 28% earlier.

Centre seeks free hand in Covid-19 management
Centre wants Judiciary to keep its hand off the management of pandemic… Leave it to open for Govt to discharge its function in larger interests.
Judiciary— courts refuse to be a mute spectator to a national calamity.. but together with Govt to help centre to ease pain.

Armed forces get powers for relief work
DRDO is arranging big size of cylinders for fulfilling requirements The Navy has 1076 member medical contingent from 5 naval Hospital around the country.

IAF carried out 534 sorties from various parts of the country airlifting 306 O2 container of total capacity of 6420 MT and other medical supplies and equipment.
Zeolite= respiratory oxygen raw material
Equipment has been procured from Singapore Dubai Thailand United Kingdom Germany Belgium Australia Indonesia and Israel

Sri Lanka-India travel bubble delayed
The Civil Aviation ministry in India announced setting up of bilateral air bubble arrangement with Sri Lanka for operation of special International passenger flight
The 2 government discussed and have Singh connectivity with their post well Buddhist pilgrims in Sri Lanka to visit important religious sites in India UP.

One of the single largest consignment of emergency medical supply from abroad is brought by navy’s landing ship tank
INS Airavat which arrived at Visakhapatnam from Singapore. With 8 cryogenic oxygen tanks and other critical covid medical supplies which is a part of operation Samudra Setu 2 .

INS Trikand arrived in Mumbai with 40MT of liq O2 from French mission- Oxygen Solidarity Bridge

INS Kolkata arrived in Mangalore with 227MT O2 filled containers, 400 O2 cylinders, 47 oxygen concentrators from Qatar and Kuwait

2 more warships coming from Kuwait and Brunie.
Singapore –> 300 O2 concentrators from Olam International and Masek foundation to Tamilnadu
Supplies from Egypt Spain and UK

Samudra Setu 2-This was apart of 9 ships deployed for covid relief operation Samudra Setu 2 for equipment of liquid medical oxygen and associated medical equipments from friendly foreign countries in Persian gulf and Southeast Asia.

For Annamalai tribes Covid is still an urban blight
Residents of 2 tribes in ATR= Annamalai Tiger Reserve were gearing for annual festival — Deity=Vairapattan
Kattupatti + Kuzhipatti of Pulayar community

India requires 2 lakh ICU ventilators
India has only 25000 personnel familiar with machines.
Prior pandemic-
Venti- 11k
Staff- 15k
1st wave-
Venti- 40k(10k idle)
2ns wave-
Staff- untrained 10k additional

March ko Core Sector Rebound due to base effect, but Underwhelm
Grew by 7% in FY21
February – 3.8% fall
March + 6.8 % growth
largely due to base effect from March 2020 when National lockdown led to industrial activity to contract.

Record GST performance of 1.41 lakh crore in April
Surpassing previous highest collection of 1.24 lakh crore in March by 14% and mark the 7 month in the roses October last year the GST revenues of cross 1 lakh crore

• For small & micro industries–RBI decided to conduct Special 3yr longterm repo operation= SLTRO, of Rs10,000Cr @ repo rate for SFBs.
• SFB are permitted to give fresh lending to small MFIs (Rs500Cr asset size) for onlending to individual borrowers as Priority sector lending.
• State Govt to increase max Overdraft(OD) days from 36 to 50 days.
  No. of consecutive days in OD from 14 to 21.

US currency watchlist and intrusion into Indian policy
Commerce Secretary=Anup has questioned US government that put India on the watchlist for currency manipulator.
US Treasury Department retained India on watchlist. Reason–>

1. Higher $ purchasing around 5% of GDP by RBI
2. Trade surplus of $23 billion
   • India’s trade surplus with the US grew by ~ 5 billion to 23 billion in 2020–21 from ~18 billion in last year as imports fell more sharply than exports in the covid affected area.

India says — at least not accumulating Forex reserves like China did in the past.

Workers Income fell by 17%

RBI used unscheduled address–> TLF= Term Liquidity facility of Rs50k CR with tenor upto 3 yrs @ reporate to ease access to credit for emergency health services.
Banks will provide fresh Lending wide range of entities– including vaccine manuf., importers, priority medical devices, hospitals, supplier of ventilators + O2 etc.
Will be classified under priority sector till repayment or maturity.

RBI sets up Advisory Group to review panel
Constituted to assist 2nd RRA= Regulatory Review Authority
RRA— helps streamline regulations + reduce the compliance burden of regulated entities.

RBI to help firms with weaker credit profiles: CRISIL
1/2 of the Crisil-rated mid-sized companies eligible restructuring window under RESOLUTION FRAMEWORK 2.0

• It will benefit companies with weaker credit profiles + part of low resilience sector
• Mitigate effect of pandemic

Crisil rates ~6800 mid-sized companies excluding financial sector entities
3500= small + medium enterprises…+ Rs25crore bank loans
3400 of them have standard accounts which make them eligible.

PMI= Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index 
Released + compiled by–> The IHS Markit India Manufacturing PMI® is compiled by IHS Markit from responses to questionnaires sent to purchasing managers in a panel of around 400 manufacturers
print>50 = expansion
print <50= contraction.

CJI nominates 4 vacation benches
Under rule 6 of Order II of SC rules, 2013
NV Ramana –> 4 different SC benches to consecutively in May (1st part of Summer holiday) to hear extremely urgent cases.

App to view SC proceedings launched..
Allows media person to view SC proceedings live on mobile phones.
New feature in SC’s webite–> Indicative Notes— concise summaries of landmark judgements in easy to understand format.

Must have active bank accounts with SBI Delhi main branch to receive Foreign funds from April 1
Only 16% NGO registered accordingly.
Amended provision of FCRA that makes Aadhaar mandatory for opening + operating teh account in Delhi.
2018–>SC Puttuswamy Aadhaar case— mandatorily linking Aadhaar to a bank does not satisfy the test of proportionality

7 Myanmar refugees can approach UNHCR
UNHCR= United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
UN Refugee convention =India is not a party
Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 + International Covenant of Civil & Political Rights -1966= India a party
Art 21- far reaching + myriad protection… should also encompass Right of non-refoulment.
Refoulment = the forcible return of refugees or asylum seekers to a country where they are liable to be subjected to persecution

7 were hiding in border town Moreh–> Imphal. 3 minors+ 3 journalists+1.

WW-2 Assam airport becomes commercial.
Rupsi Airport- built in 1939- was 1 on of the largest airports with 1.8km runway used by Allied forces to supply to forces in Burma+ China.
7th in Assam & 15th in NE including Pakyong in Sikkim.
Kolkata- Guwahati- Rupsi under UDAAN scheme.

Speaker of Maldives Parliament + former Prez= MOh. Nasheed was in critical condition after an explosion.
NAsheed= Maldives’s 1st democratically elected Prez +Prominent Democracy advocate + Global Climate Change Hero

Bangladesh opts for Chinese vaccination Sinopharm as India delayed Covishield vaccine.
Outcome of China- Bangladesh anti pandemic cooperation.

China halts economic dialogue with Australia
Clashes over

• Human Rights
• Espionage
• origins of COVID

Canberra called for independent probe into the origins of COVID-19+ banned telecom giant Huawei from building Australia’s 5G network.
China is Australia’s biggest trading partner, has already imposed tariffs or disrupter > 12 key industries.
China blames COLDWAR mindset + ideological discrimination.

Indian Govt nods for 5G trial – but leaves out China
DoT= Dept Of Telecommunication gave permission to TSP= Telecommunication Service Providers to conduct trials of 5G.
Must
duct trials in rural+ semi urban + urban area.

Assam wants 1-%-20% NRC verification