PM Narendra Modi addresses Udyami Bharat

• During the event, Mr Modi launched the Raising and Accelerating MSME Performance (RAMP) Scheme, Capacity Building of First-Time MSME Exporters Scheme and new features of the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme PMEGP.
• He added that the Centre has increased the budget by more than 650 percent in the last eight years to strengthen the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector.
• A self-reliant fund of 50 thousand crore rupees has been released for the sector. The Prime Minister also asked MSMEs to register on the GeM portal for supplying goods to the government.
• Modi said the government has decided that for orders up to 200 crore rupees, no global tender will be undertaken and this is in some ways a reservation for the MSMEs.
• Under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme, the central government has ensured 3.5 lakh crore rupees for the MSMEs.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announces the Business Reform Action 2020

• In the report, seven states have been identified as the top achievers based on implementation of the Business Reforms Action Plan. The states are Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Punjab, Telangana and Tamil Nadu.
• The report further mentioned that Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh figure under the Achievers category. While Assam, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Jharkhand, Kerala, Rajasthan and West Bengal have been placed in the Aspirers category.
• Andaman and Nicobar, Bihar, Chandigarh, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Puducherry and Tripura have been clubbed under the Emerging Business Ecosystems category.

Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh approves enhanced monetary limits for procurement of Drugs and consumables for Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS)

• He approved the enhancement of the monetary ceiling for purchase of Not Available, emergent, lifesaving and essential drugs by 100 per cent in all categories of polyclinics from Authorised Local Chemists. This will ensure easy and timely availability of medicines for ECHS beneficiaries.
• There have been various representations from the veterans regarding supply of medicines.
• The government has already undertaken a series of modifications to procedures of procurement of medicines for ECHS beneficiaries.

India''s external debt rose to $620.7 bn in FY22, up 8% YoY

• The external debt to GDP ratio declined to 19.9% at end-March 2022, from 21.2% a year earlier.
• Valuation gains on account of the appreciation of the U.S. dollar vis-à-vis the Indian rupee and major currencies including the Japanese yen and euro was estimated at $11.7 billion.
• Excluding the valuation effect, external debt would have increased by $58.8 billion instead of $47.1 billion at end-March 2022 over end-March 2021, the RBI said.
• India’s long-term debt (with original maturity of above one year) rose to $499.1 billion, recording an increase of $26.5 billion over its level at end-March 2021, RBI data showed. During the same period, the share of short-term debt in total external debt increased to 19.6% from 17.6%.
• Similarly, the ratio of short-term debt to foreign exchange reserves increased to 20%. U.S. dollar-denominated debt remained the largest component of external debt, with a share of 53.2%.
• Separately, the RBI said net claims of non-residents on India increased by $5.6 billion during the fourth quarter of 2021-22 to $359.8 billion in March 2022.

Govt keeps interest rates on small savings schemes unchanged for Q2FY23

• A hike in small savings rate was expected in view of a surge in yields on government bonds, to which their returns are linked as per a formula, amid a surge in inflation and increases in key interest rates by the Reserve Bank.
• This is the ninth quarter in a row that small savings rates have been held at the same level after rates were reduced in the range of 0.5% to 1.1% on different instruments for the April to June 2020 quarter.
• For July to September, the Sukanya Samriddhi scheme will continue to earn 7.6%, the Senior Citizens Saving Scheme will earn 7.4%, PPF 7.1%, Kisan Vikas Patra 6.9%, and NSC 6.8%. Five-year term deposits will fetch 6.7% interest.

PSLV-C53/DS-EO Mission

• PSLV-C53 is the second dedicated commercial mission of NewSpace India Limited (NSIL). It is designed to orbit DS-EO satellite along with two other co-passenger satellites from Singapore.
• This is the 55th mission of PSLV and 15th mission using PSLV-Core Alone variant. The mission proposes to demonstrate the utilization of the spent upper stage of the launch vehicle as a stabilized platform for scientific payloads subsequent to the separation of the satellites.
• PSLV-C53 carries three satellites. DS-EO, a 365 kg and NeuSAR, a 155 kg satellite both belonging to Singapore. Third satellite is a 2.8 kg Scoob-1 of Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.
• PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM)DS-EO carries an Electro-Optic, multi-spectral payload that will provide full color images for land classification, and serving Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief needs.
• NeuSAR is Singapore''s first small commercial satellite carrying a SAR payload, which is capable of providing images in day and night and under all weather conditions.
• SCOOB-I satellite is the first satellite in the Student Satellite Series (S3-I), a hands-on student training program from the Satellite Research Centre (SaRC) at Singapore''s NTU School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

Concern over acute shortage of key leprosy drug

• Clofazimine is one of the three essential drugs in the Multi Drug Treatment of Multibacillary Leprosy (MB-MDT) cases, along with Rifampicin and Dapsone.
• According to the World Health Organization (WHO), leprosy is endemic in several States and Union Territories of India, with the annual case detection rate of 4.56 per 10,000 population.
• The prevalence rate of leprosy is 0.4 per 10,000 population in the country.
• Of the new cases detected during 2020-21, 58.1% were multibacillary, 39% were women, 5.8% were children less than 14 years of age, and 2.41% had visible deformities. The rate of visible deformities was 1.1 per million population.