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News in Nutshell - 18th April, 2022

  • Integrity Education, Delhi
  • 18, Apr 2022
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18th April, 2022

CURRENT AFFAIRS
(National)
 

SPORTS

Vedaant Madhavan adds a shade of Gold in Danish Open Swimming

Continuing his splendid run, fast-rising Indian swimmer Vedaant Madhavan added a second medal to his kitty, gold in the men's 800m freestyle at the Danish Open in Copenhagen, Denmark.

  • The 16-year-old bettered his personal best time by a whopping 11:48 to stop the clock at 8:17.28, edging past Danish swimmer Alexander L Bjorn by 0.10 to stand atop the podium.
  • While Vedaant's performance was good enough to fetch him gold at the meet.
  • USA's Robert Finke had won the gold at the Tokyo Olympics in the event last year with a timing of 7:41.87, while the world record for the event stands at 7:32.12.
  • Vedaant, son of Indian actor R Madhavan, has shown immense improvement.
  • He had won the silver medal in the 1500m freestyle event on 16 April before bettering his 200m freestyle time to finish 12th overall in the event.

Other Highlights: 

  • Ace Indian swimmer Sajan Prakash finished fifth in the 'A' final of the men's 100m butterfly with a timing of 54.24, while Tanish George Mathew topped the 'C' final by stopping the clock at 56.44.
  • The 28-year-old Prakash, who is preparing for the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, had won gold in the 200m butterfly, his pet event, on the opening day of the events.
  • India now has a haul of three medals in the ongoing meet including two golds and a silver.

WHO Chief to Visit Gujarat

Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus will be on a three day visit to Gujarat starting from 18 April 2022. During the visit he would take part in a few events along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

  • Ghebreyesus will reach Rajkot on 18 April, where he will stay overnight before joining PM Modi on 19 April in Jamnagar for the foundation stone-laying programme of WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (GCTM).
  • GCTM will be the first and only global outpost centre for traditional medicine across the world. On 20 April, Ghebreyesus will be in Gandhinagar, where PM Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the Global AYUSH Investment and Innovation Summit.

India’s Extreme Poverty down to 10.2%: World Bank Research
Poverty in India is 12.3 percentage points lower in 2019 as compared to 2011. The poverty headcount rate has declined from 22.5 percent in 2011 to 10.2 percent in 2019. 

  • According to policy research working paper of World Bank, Poverty reduction was higher in rural areas as compared to urban India. Rural poverty dropped by 14.7 percent while urban poverty declined by 7.9 percentage points during 2011 to 2019.
  • The paper titled 'Poverty has Declined over the last decade But Not As Much As Previously Thought' is jointly authored by economists Sutirtha Sinha Roy and Roy van der Weide.
  • A working paper published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) saying India has almost eradicated extreme poverty and brought down consumption inequality to its lowest levels in 40 years through state-provided food handouts.
  • In a study, farmers with small landholding sizes have experienced higher income growth. Real incomes for farmers with the smallest landholdings have grown by 10 percent in annualized terms between the two survey rounds in 2013 and 2019 compared to a 2 percent growth for farmers with the largest landholding.

Tokyo may Host the Next QUAD Summit

Much-awaited QUAD summit is expected to be held in Tokyo, Japan around 24 May 2022. US President Joseph Biden, Japanese PM Fumio Kishida and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have converged on 24 May as the date for the QUAD meeting.

Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD): The Quad is an informal strategic forum comprising four nations- United States of America (USA), India, Australia and Japan. It’s one of the primary objectives are to work for a free, open, prosperous and inclusive Indo-Pacific region.

  • The group met for the first time in 2007 on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It is considered an alliance of maritime democracies, and the forum is maintained by meetings, semi-regular summits, information exchanges and military drills of all the member countries.
  • Members in Quad Plus are from South Korea, New Zealand and Vietnam

BUSINESS

Chingari in Talks to Raise Funds at $1 bn Valuation

Tech4Billion Media is set to raise $200 million at a valuation of $1 billion, which will catapult the operator of video-sharing platform Chingari into India’s fast-growing league of startup unicorns.

The platform, one of India’s fastest-growing short-video apps, is in talks with several local and overseas venture capital firms and crypto-focused funds for the fundraising.
 
(INTERNATIONAL)

North Korea Tests New Tactical Guided Weapon

North Korea has test-fired a new weapons system designed to boost its nuclear fighting capabilities.

  • According to KONA official, the "new-type tactical guided weapon- is of great significance in drastically improving the firepower of the frontline long-range artillery units and enhancing the efficiency in the operation of tactical nukes. North Korea has test-fired a new weapons system, under the supervision of leader Kim Jong Un.