Latest Current Affairs in 2022 : April 2022 Current Affairs, GKToday, Great Learning

1 .

Who is unveiled the 'Fast and Secured Transmission of Electronic Records' (FASTER) on 31st Mar 2022?

A)

Narendra Modi

B)

N. V Ramana

C)

Dipak Misra

D)

K. K. Venugopal

Correct Answer : N. V Ramana

The Fast and Secured Transmission of Electronic Records (FASTER) software has been launched by the Chief Justice of India "N. V Ramana" so that court orders can be transmitted securely and swiftly via electronic mode thus ensuring that judicial orders can be communicated quickly.

Overview :

* Through the use of this software orders that were passed by the high courts (HC) and the Supreme Court (SC) will be transmitted safely without any third-party interference.

* 73 nodal officers have been nominated at the HC level and jail authorities have also been selected through a network of judicial communication.

* For this software a secure pathway email id has also been established.

Usage of this software : Bail orders will be communicated via FASTER and for authentication purposes, it will have the digital signatures of the notified nodal officers of the SC as well as the Institutional digital signatures. In this manner, without much loss of time, bail orders would be received by all the concerned parties and quick necessary actions will be taken at their end. Communication will be restricted to the holders of email ids thus ensuring safety, confidentiality, and security. A total of 1,887 email ids of the selected nodal officers have been connected.

Need for such software : In the past, it was seen that even after bail orders were passed, inmates were not released by the prison authorities as the hard copies of the certified bail orders reached late. Thus, this software was implemented so that Article 21, Right to Life, could be implemented swiftly and the bail orders are executed on time.

Published On : April 1, 2022

2 .

Centre has extended the timeline for Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) by one year till March 2023. What is the total amount sanctioned for the ECLGS 3.0 scheme?

A)

Rs 5 lakh crore

B)

Rs 6 lakh crore

C)

Rs 7 lakh crore

D)

Rs 8 lakh crore

Correct Answer : Rs 5 lakh crore

Central Government has extended the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) by one year, beyond March 2022 until March 2023. The total amount to be sanctioned under the ECLGS 3.0 scheme has also been increased from Rs 4.5 lakh crore to Rs 5 lakh crore.

Published On : April 1, 2022

3 .

As per CBDT data, what is the total number of Advance Pricing Agreements (APA) signed by it with Indian taxpayers in FY 2021-22?

A)

55

B)

62

C)

76

D)

89

Correct Answer : 62

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) "signed 62" Advance Pricing Agreements (APA) with Indian taxpayers in FY 2021-22. This included 13 Bilateral APAs (consequent to Mutual Agreement between India and its treaty partners) and 49 Unilateral APAs. With this, the total number of APAs has gone up to 421, since inception of the APA program.

Published On : April 1, 2022

4 .

Which state government has launched the "Vinaya Samarasya" Initiative?

A)

Bihar

B)

Assam

C)

Karnataka

D)

Madhya Pradesh

Correct Answer : Karnataka

The Karnataka government (Basavaraj Bommai) announced the Vinaya Samarasya Yojana as a public awareness campaign against caste prejudice in the state’s gramme panchayats. It will be formally launched on April 14th, 2022, the birth anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.

* The initiative was named after Vinay, a three-year-old Dalit kid who strayed into a temple in Miyapur hamlet in Karnataka’s Koppal district to seek shelter from the rain in September 2021. His family has faced even greater hostility since being fined Rs 25,000 by village elders.

* The area’s 1,500 members, largely from the Ganiga group, had intensified their persecution of the Dalit family in the meantime, forcing Vinay’s family to leave the village and abandon possessions, including agricultural land.

All of the accused who were imprisoned for caste prejudice in the aftermath of the incident were also released on bail, and they continue to control the village, according to Vinay’s relatives and family.

Published On : April 1, 2022

5 .

Who has been re-elected as the Chairman of Payments Council of India (PCI) for the second time in 2022?

A)

Mani kumar

B)

Parameswar Nair

C)

Manoj Singh

D)

Vishwas Patel

Correct Answer : Vishwas Patel

Vishwas Patel has been re-elected as the Chairman of Payments Council of India (PCI) for the second time in 2022, previously he was elected as a Chairman of PCI in the year 2018. In 2013, he served as Co-Chairman of PCI. PCI is a payment ecosystem industry body and is a part of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). PCI aims to promote a cashless transaction society and vision to grow digital payment in India.

Published On : April 1, 2022

6 .

ADB and HSBC India collaborate to launch partial guarantee program for microfinance in India. What is the total size of this program?

A)

USD 300 million

B)

USD 200 million

C)

USD 150 million

D)

USD 100 million

Correct Answer : USD 100 million

Asian Development Bank (ADB) and HSBC India have signed an agreement to establish a USD 100 million partial guarantee programme to support more than 4,00,000 micro-borrowers and mostly women-run micro-enterprises across India. HSBC will expand its lending to microfinance institutions (MFIs) and non-bank finance companies, with ADB partially guaranteeing the loans, Manila-based multilateral funding agency said in a statement on Thursday(31st Mar 2022).

This will expand HSBC's risk appetite and deployed capital, helping to enhance private sector financing and improve financial inclusion in India, it said.

It is ADB's first partnership with HSBC and under the agreement, to give impetus to this partnership, aggregated financing of an equivalent of USD 30 million is being initially disbursed to three MFIs in India by April 2022, it said.

MFIs have emerged as lifelines for underserved clients such as low-income households and small businesses as they struggled to access finance during the pandemic, it said..

Source : Economic Times

Published On : April 1, 2022

7 .

When the Odisha Day or Utkal Divas is celebrated on every year?

A)

April 1st

B)

April 2nd

C)

April 3rd

D)

April 4th

Correct Answer : April 1st

Utkal Divas or Utakala Dibasha is celebrated on April 1st every year to remember the formation of the Odisha state after a struggle to be recognised as an independent state. Under the British rule, Odisha was part of the Bengal presidency, which consisted of the present-day Bihar, West Bengal, and Odisha.

The state celebrates the day with a restricted holiday. The day is also known as Odisha Foundation day and Vishuva Milan.

Why is Odisha Day important for the people of Odisha :

The region became part of Kalinga after it was conquered by Magadha King Ashoka in 261 BC to expand his Mauryan rule. After Mauryan rule, King Kharavela’s rule began in Odisha. Kharavela managed to avenge the Mauryan invasion by defeating Magadh. Historians credit Kharavela for laying the foundation for Odisha’s fame as a land of art, architecture and sculpture. He also managed to establish a powerful political state.

Gajapati Mukunda Deva was the last Hindu king of Odisha. He was defeated by the Mughals in 1576. A few hundred years later, the British took over and divided the state into different parts. The northern and western districts of the state became part of what was then called Bengal presidency..

Source : Business Standard

Published On : April 1, 2022

8 .

Who has launched 'Tap to Pay for UPI', new functionality to bring the seamless convenience of Tap to Pay to Unified Payments Interface (UPI)?

A)

Paytm

B)

Phonepe

C)

Google Pay

D)

Amazon Pay

Correct Answer : Google Pay

Payments platform Google Pay has launched ‘Tap to Pay’ feature in collaboration with Pine Labs for Unified Payments Interface (UPI)-based transactions.

This is the first time the ‘Tap to Pay’ functionality is available on a payments platform as it was earlier only available for debit or credit cards.

To complete payment using this feature, a user needs to tap his phone on the POS terminal and authenticate the payment from his smartphone, using his UPI PIN, making the process virtually instantaneous and fast, compared to scanning a QR code or entering the UPI-linked mobile number.

The ‘Tap to Pay’ feature will be available for any UPI user who wants to use his Near Field Communication (NFC)-enabled Android smartphone to make transactions using any Pine Labs Android POS terminal across the country. This feature was piloted with Reliance Retail and will now be available at large merchants such as Future Retail and Starbucks.

“Fintech growth in India is writing the playbook for the world, first with enabling real-time payments with UPI, and further, by innovating with flows that make the transaction time virtually zero,” said Sajith Sivanandan, business head, Google Pay and Next Billion User initiatives, Google APAC.

‘Tap to Pay’ for UPI has profound implications for high traffic retail outlets, with queue management hassles poised to be greatly reduced, and taking digital payments at POS well beyond cards, Sivanandan added..

Source : Inc42

Published On : April 1, 2022

9 .

Startup Founders Hub is a new platform launched by which organization to support startup founders in India at every step of their startup journey?

A)

Google

B)

Microsoft

C)