Today News Diary on 8rth April 2021

IMF has projected India’s GDP growth to 12.5% & 6.9% in FY22 & FY23

On April 06, 2021, International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its biannual World Economic Outlook report has hiked its growth projection of India for FY22 by 1% to 12.5% from 11.5% of its January 2021 estimation, due to the normalization of economic activity.

• For FY21, it estimated an 8%(-8%) contraction of the Gross Domestic Product(GDP)and for FY23 the growth forecast was revised to 6.9% from 6.8%.

• The report projected the global economy to grow at 6% in 2021 and 4.4% in 2022 as against a contraction of 3.3% (-3.3%)in 2020.

Forbes’ 35th Annual World’s Billionaires List: Jeff Bezos tops the list; Mukesh Ambani Asia’s richest person

Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon.com Inc topped the Forbes’ 35th Annual world’s Billionaires list with a net worth of 177 billion USD followed by Elon Musk CEO of SpaceX and Tesla with a net worth of 151 billion USD and French Billionaire Bernard Arnault chairman of LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton SE with a net worth of 150 Billion USD with 2nd and 3rd rank.

• Ranked 10, MukeshAmbani, chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd became Asia’s richest person, replacing Jack Ma.

• With 140 billionaires, India has the 3rd highest number of billionaires in the world.

Top 3 of Forbes’ 35th Annual World’s Billionaires List:

Rank/Name/Net Worth (USD)

1/Jeff Bezos/177 Billion

2/Elon Musk/151 Billion

3/Bernard Arnault/150 Billion

Justice Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana Appointed As 48th Chief Justice Of India

The President of India Appointed Justice Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana, Judge of the Supreme Court, as the 48th Chief Justice of India (CJI). The notification regarding the appointment was issued by the Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice.

• He will take over as the CJI from Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde on 24th April 2021. He will serve for a tenure of 16 months till 26th August 2022.

BYJU’S the Edtech company acquired AESL for $1 billion

Byju’s, India’s biggest online education startup has announced its acquisition of Aakash Educational Services Limited (AESL), a provider of test preparation services for $1 billion (about Rs 7,300 crore). This deal is the biggest acquisition by Byju’s until now. The objective of the acquisition: Byju’s aims to increase its presence in the test prep space as its competitors/rival Unacademy made close to six acquisitions in the test prep space and Amazon India made an entry with Amazon Academy in 2020.

The cash-and-stock deal:

• AESL is a provider of test preparation services that gain entry for the students into the country’s elite engineering and medical schools.

• After acquisition also AESL will continue to operate as a separate entity with founders J.C. Chaudhry and Aakash Chaudhry continuing to lead the entity.

The Chief Justice of India is appointed by the President of India under clause (2) of Article 124 of the Constitution.

• In 2019, AESL partnered with Blackstone to create India’s largest digitally enabled, omni-channel test preparation company.

• Now after the acquisition, Blackstone will swap a portion of its 37.5% equity in Aakash for Byju’s stake.

Harsh Vardhan launches Integrated Health Information Platform; India becomes 1st country to adopt Advanced Disease Surveillance System

On April 5, 2021, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Dr Harsh Vardhan virtually launched the Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP), an integrated Digital Platform for Disease Surveillance in India. It is an advanced version of the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), which is being used currently. With the launch, India became the 1st Country in the World to adopt an Advanced Digital Disease Surveillance System.

• It is also the World’s biggest online disease surveillance platform (in terms of Geographical coverage, number of diseases covered & quantum of data generated).

SUPACE – AI driven Research Portal of Supreme Court of India

On 6th April 2021, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde launched, “Supreme Court Portal for Assistance in Court’s Efficiency (SUPACE)” an Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven tool, which is 1st of its kind in the World that collects relevant facts and laws related to the case, thereby easing the research process for Judges.

• SUPACE portal is the brainchild of CJI SA Bobde, the 1st Chairman of the Artificial Intelligence Committee.

Features of the SUPACE portal:

i.Efficient use of AI for collecting information related to the case, to reduce the workload of Judges.

ii.The tool can only process the data for collecting case related details, and all other decisions will be taken only by the Judge.

Note – Justice L Nageswara Rao, is the current Chairman of the Artificial Intelligence Committee.

E-Courts Project was conceptualised on the basis of “National Policy and Action Plan for Implementation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the Indian Judiciary – 2005” submitted by the e-Committee of the Supreme Court.

International Day of Sport for Development and Peace 2021 – April 6

The United Nations(UN)’s International Day of Sport for Development and Peace(IDSDP) is annually observed across the globe on 6th April to recognise the role of sports in communities and in individuals towards building resilience.

2021 marks the celebration of the 8th edition of the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace(IDSDP).

The theme of 2021 IDSDP is focused on – recovery from the pandemic and the importance of equity in the recovery and the need to build back better for a resilient and equitable world.

World Health Day 2021 – April 7

The United Nations(UN)’s World Health Day is annually observed across the globe on 7th April to draw attention towards a specific health topic that concerns people across the globe to highlight the priority area of concern for the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The day is celebrated under the sponsorship of the WHO and other related organizations.

The theme of World Health Day 2021 is “Building a Fairer, Healthier World”.

Background:

i.The day 7th April marks the anniversary of the inception of WHO at the first World Health Assembly in 1948 and the World Health day has been observed since 1950.

ii.The first World Health Day was observed on 7th April 1950.

“Building a Fairer, Healthier World for everyone”

International Day Of Reflection On The 1994 Genocide Against The Tutsi In Rwanda 2021 – April 7

The United Nations(UN)’s International Day Of Reflection On The 1994 Genocide Against The Tutsi In Rwanda is annually observed across the globe on 7th April to recognise the importance of combating impunity for all violations that constitute the crime of genocide.

The day recalls the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi ethnic group in Rwanda and remembers the victims of the genocide.

World Backup Day 2021 – March 31

World Backup Day is annually observed on 31st March to remind us to protect our digital documents. The Day was originally started as the World Backup Month instituted by Maxtor, a hard drive company which was later acquired by Seagate Technology.

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