RBI surprises with 40 bps rate increase in Repo Rate

• Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) had in an off-cycle meeting reviewed the latest economic developments including the impact of the war in Ukraine and decided to increase the policy interest rates in a bid to curb accelerating inflation.
• The MPC, however, retained its ‘accommodative’ policy stance even as it focuses on withdrawal of accommodation to keep inflation within the target range while supporting growth.
• As part of the withdrawal of accommodation, the RBI also raised the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) by 50 basis points to 4.5% with effect from May 21 so as to drain surplus liquidity of about ₹87,000 crore.
• As part of the increases, the standing deposit facility (SDF) rate would become 4.15% and the marginal standing facility (MSF) and bank rate would be 4.65%.
• These decisions are in consonance with the objective of achieving the medium-term target for consumer price index (CPI) inflation of 4% within a band of +/- 2%.

Recorded deaths rose to 81 lakh in 2020 from 76 lakh in 2019

• Of course all the deaths reported are not COVID deaths. The COVID deaths have been systematically collected and released by the Health Ministry regularly.
• The report added that based on information provided from 34 States and Union Territories, the share of institutional deaths in total registered deaths is 28%.
• India faced its first COVID wave during 2020 and this information is vital in terms of giving India and all agencies which wants to use these figures for analysis on how health systems need to be best worked with to minimise human tragedy during a pandemic.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) is set to release an estimate of COVID deaths, from across the world, during the pandemic period and indicates excess deaths in India.
• The Indian government responded to this earlier saying that it has objection to the report centred on the “methodology adopted for the same”.

The status of GST compensation dues

• The GST regime entailed doing away with multiple State and Central levies to create a simplified tax system for businesses.
• As this meant that States had to give up several taxation powers in the process, they were assured that revenue losses will be compensated for five years.
• The compensation was to be calculated by assuming a 14% year-on-year growth over revenues in 2015-16 from the State taxes subsumed in GST, and remitted from a compensation cess fund backed by cess levies on sin and luxury goods like pan masala, tobacco, coal and cars.
• According to the Finance Ministry, outstanding GST compensation dues to States for 2021-22 stood at ₹78,704 crore, equivalent to four months of such accruals.
• This means that dues have been remitted to States for the eight-month period of April 2021 till November 2021.
• From July 2017 when the GST regime kicked off till now, about ₹7.35 lakh crore has been released as GST compensation to States.

In 2020, Ladakh recorded highest sex ratio in the country, Manipur lowest

• Highest Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) based on registered events has been reported by Ladakh (1,104) followed by Arunachal Pradesh (1,011), A&N Islands (984), Tripura (974), and Kerala (969), the report released by the Registrar-General of India said.
• The lowest sex ratio was reported by Manipur (880), followed by Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (898), Gujarat (909), Haryana (916) and Madhya Pradesh (921).
• In 2019, the highest sex ratio at birth was reported by Arunachal Pradesh (1,024), followed by Nagaland (1,001), Mizoram (975) and A&N Islands (965), and the lowest sex ratio was reported by Gujarat (901), Assam (903), Madhya Pradesh (905) and Jammu & Kashmir (909).
• None of the States or UTs have recorded sex ratio at birth below 880.
• The report said that the requisite information from Maharashtra, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi on sex ratio was “not available.” They had not provided the said data in 2019 as well.
• Sex ratio at birth is the number of females per thousand males.
• The sex ratio at birth of registered events is an important indicator to map the sex differential of the population at the beginning of their life. The sex ratio at birth has been calculated after deducting the delayed registration of more than one year for the year 2020.

Amid language debate, Haflong Hindi tries to hold its own in Assam

• Hindi reached Dima Hasao, a district formerly called North Cachar Hills, in the late 1800s primarily through merchants and construction workers who worked on a mountain railway system.
• By the time the railway line was completed in 1899, the non-tribal settlers and diverse indigenous communities across the hills had developed a pidgin to communicate among themselves.
• It came to be known as Haflong Hindi, named after the headquarters of the district where the Dimasa people are the dominant community.
• Haflong Hindi follows the Tibeto-Burman grammar, not the Hindi grammar, and has lexical additions from Nepali and Bengali.
• It has a generic plural marker and does not use numbers as in Hindi.
• Some linguists feel pushing the standardised Hindi as a compulsory subject in school could affect the “earthiness” of variants in the Northeast such as Shillong Hindi, which is not pidgin but informal Hindi, and the “purer” Arunachalee Hindi with tribal intonations.

India has been chosen as first Country of Honour ever at Cannes Film Market.

• India will be the official Country of Honour at the upcoming Marche’ Du Film, organized alongside the 75th edition of Cannes Film Festival, in France.
• It is the first time the Marché du Film has an official Country of Honour, and this special focus will continue annually with different nations in the spotlight at future editions.
• Notably France and India are marking 75 years of their diplomatic ties.
• India is also a “Country of Honour at the Cannes Next, under which 5 new Start Ups would be given an opportunity to pitch to the Audio-Visual Industry.

Marché du Film

• The Marché du Film (literally meaning Film Market) is the business counterpart of the Cannes Film Festival and one of the largest film markets in the world.
• Established in 1959, it is held annually in conjunction with the Cannes Film Festival.

Prime Minister addresses inaugural session of fourth edition of the International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure

• He noted that the coalition has expanded and made valuable contributions. He mentioned the initiative on ''Infrastructure for Resilient Island States'' that was launched at COP-26 and CDRI''s work on Resilient Airports studying 150 airports around the world.
• The ''Global Assessment of Disaster Resilience of Infrastructure Systems'' that is being led by CDRI will help create global knowledge that would be immensely valuable.
• The Prime Minister said that in order to make our future resilient we have to work towards a ''Resilient Infrastructure Transition''. Resilient infrastructure can also be the centrepiece of our wider adaptation efforts.

International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (ICDRI)

• The International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (ICDRI) is the annual conference of the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI).
• It brings together member countries, organizations and institutions to strengthen the global discourse on disaster and climate resilient infrastructure.
• In 2018 and 2019, the first and second International Workshop on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure took place in New Delhi, India. ICDRI 2021 was hosted virtually. The fourth edition of ICDRI is being organized in partnership with the United States Government, from 4 to 6 May 2022 in New Delhi, in hybrid format.
• CDRI was launched by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, at the 2019 UN Climate Summit.

Indian Coast Guard commissions its second ALH Mk III Squadron in Kochi

• The new Air Squadron, commissioned by Coast Guard Director General V S Pathania, is equipped with the indigenously developed Advanced Mark III (ALH Mark III) helicopters.
• The commissioning marks a tremendous leap towards self-reliance in the field of search and rescue operations and long-range maritime surveillance.
• Four helicopters have been positioned in Kochi to cover the entire coast of Karnataka, Kerala and Lakshadweep.