Today GK Snapshots on 2nd April 2021

1. Government Retains the Interest Rate of Small Savings Schemes for Q1 of FY22

Ministry of Finance, Government of India(GoI) had retained the Interest Rate of Small Savings Scheme for the 1st quarter(Q1) for the Financial Year 2021-22 (FY22) same as 4th quarter (Q4) for the Financial Year 2020-21 (FY 21).

• This is the 4th consecutive quarter, that GoI had retained the Interest Rates of the small saving schemes.

2. India ranked 140th out of 156 Countries, Iceland tops in WEF’s Global Gender Gap Report 2021

India with a score of 0.625 has been ranked 140th out of 156 countries in the 15th edition of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) ‘Global Gender Gap Report 2021’. Iceland is the most gender-equal country in the world (for the 12th time) followed by Finland & Norway.

• India has slipped 28 places to 140 in 2021 (from 112 in 2020).

• The Global Gender Gap score in 2021 stands at 67.7% (remaining gap to close – 32.3%), the gap has widened by almost 0.6 percentage points.

• It will take 135.6 years to close the gender gap worldwide. It has increased by a generation (i.e. 36 years) from 99.5 years to 135.6 years due to the effect of the Pandemic.

3. India’s GDP Estimated to Grow in the range of 7.5% to 12.5% in FY22: World Bank report

The World Bank reported its South Asia Economic Focus report for the year 2021, titled “Sour Asia Economic Focus Spring 2021: South Asia Vaccinates” and it has estimated India’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth to be in the range of 7.5% to 12.5% for the Financial year 2021-22 (FY22) and contraction of 8.5% (-8.5%) for FY21.

Key points of the report:

• The World Bank has increased the GDP growth rate of India by 4.7% to 10.1% for FY22, due to private consumption and investment growth. It has reported a 5.4% growth in its January report.

• The poverty rate (at the $1.90 line) for the South Asian group is projected to be within 6% and 9% in FY22, and between 4% and 7% by FY24.

4. Ministry of Jal Shakti to deploy IoT devices for Monitoring Rural Drinking Water Supply Systems

The Ministry of Jal Shakti is set to deploy sensor-based IoT (Internet of Things) devices to monitor the implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in more than six lakh villages. With this, it aims to monitor the rural drinking water supply systems in villages.

• For this, National Jal Jeevan Mission (NJJM) partnered with Tata Community Initiatives Trust (TCIT) & Tata Trust to complete pilot projects in villages of 5 states – Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra & Himachal Pradesh (Pilot projects went live in September 2020).

Advantages

• Provides real-time information without any manual intervention & enables real-time visibility to State water supply/PHED (Public Health Engineering Department) officials & citizens.

• It will help in identifying issues that plague the distribution of water – outages, leakages, low pressure and help in monitoring the groundwater levels.

• It will improve operational efficiency, reduce costs & help in better grievance redressal.

5. FootBall – 9 cities in Australia & New Zealand to Host 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup

Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has announced the 9 host cities & 10 stadiums for the 2023 Women’s Football World Cup spread across Australia & New Zealand. Notably, the opening match will be held in Auckland, New Zealand and the Finals in Sydney, Australia. And Two of the semifinals are split between the countries. Note- Previously, New Zealand & Australia Co-hosted Cricket World Cup in 2015 Host Cities:

• Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney from Australia

• Auckland, Dunedin, Hamilton and Wellington from New Zealand

6. Kamalpreet Kaur – India’s Latest Discus Throw Sensation

Kamalpreet Kaur, An Indian women’s Discus thrower qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games set to be held in Japan (from July 23 – 8 August, 2021), after she sent the discus to 65.06 metres at the 24th Federation cup Senior Athletics Championships held in Patiala, Punjab. With this, she set a new national record & breached the Olympic Qualification mark of 63.50 m. She became the 1st Indian women to breach the 65m Barrier in discus throw.

• Kamalpreet Kaur hails from Badal village in the Sri Muktsar Sahib district of Punjab.

• She broke the previous record of 64.76 set by Krishna Poonia in 2012

7. Amboli in Maharashtra named as Biodiversity Heritage Site

 The State Government of Maharashtra declared Amboli region in Western Ghats in Sindhudurg district as a Biodiversity Heritage Site. This comes at the backdrop of the discovery of a rare colourful freshwater fish species “Schistura Hiranyakeshi” in the region.

• Schistura Hiranyakeshi comes under the sub-species of rare Schistura, a freshwater loach that lives in water bodies with abundance of Oxygen.

i.Tejas Thackeray a wildlife researcher & son of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray along with his team published the discovery of the new fish species International Journal of Ichthyology in October 2020.

ii.Schistura Hiranyakeshi, was named after the Hiranyakeshi river that flows near Amboli village.

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