Describing the Indian economy's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic as 'distinct' and 'pronounced', Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman  has exuded confidence about India posting robust economic growth this decade. Sitharaman is in US  to attend the annual spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

In her first public appearance before the Atlantic Council think-tank, the finance minister told a select group of Washington audience about how the people together with the Indian government successfully faced the challenge posed by COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdowns.

She noted that before and after COVID-19, India undertook various structural reforms and also converted the pandemic into an opportunity to push them further. The minister said a distinguishing feature of India's response to the pandemic has been an emphasis on supply-side reforms rather than total reliance on demand management.

She listed out the successful rollout of GST and digitisation programs as some of the key elements of the reforms that were started before the pandemic Also as a result of the programs, which she described as digital revolution, three of the largest public digital platforms in the world are from India -- Aadhaar, which is the largest unique digital identity platform; UPI, which is the largest digital payments ecosystem; and Co-WIN, the largest vaccination platform, Sitharaman said.

India's low-cost, at-scale digitisation improves ease of living for its citizens in all income categories, the minister noted.

Sitharaman said along with the response to the pandemic, the government undertook various reform measures, including supply-side reforms.

During the last few years, the Modi government has focused on structural reforms such as launch of PM-GatiShakti programme, reduction in corporate taxes, ease of paying taxes, ending tax disputes, removal of retrospective taxation, privatisation of Air India, production linked incentives for various sectors, and labour law reforms, she said.

According to the minister, during this period, the Indian government has made sincere efforts to achieve macroeconomic stability by recapitalising banks and increasing foreign exchange reserves.

The banking system went through a decade of repair to work off the excesses of the boom of the previous decade; banks were recapitalised and some lenders were merged, she said, adding there has been a consistent effort to reduce the NPAs in the banking system.

Sitharaman told the audience that the government focus is on pushing capital expenditure with the aim to promote growth without losing sight of its moral obligation towards the underprivileged. The finance minister in the Budget had announced an increase in capital expenditure by a sharp 35.4 per cent to a record Rs 7.50 lakh crore, from Rs 5.54 lakh crore in the last financial year.

The government has also extended the free ration scheme for about 80 crore population for another six months, costing the exchequer about Rs 80,000 crore.

The minister was of the view that once pandemic linked uncertainties abate and the current state of uncertainty clears up, private demand should recover along with the results of the positive push created by the reforms undertaken, capital expenditure by the private sector will ramp up, leading to investment growth, employment generation and economic expansion.

At the same time, she said, the task ahead is still formidable in view of elevated commodity prices, especially that of crude and natural gas, geopolitical uncertainty and global growth slowdown, which pose risks to near-term growth and inflation

Pomila Jaspal has  on April 19 shattered the glass ceiling, becoming the first woman Director (Finance) of India's top oil and gas producer ONGC, the firm said.

Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) now has an unprecedented two women executive directors - Alka Mittal is the acting chairperson and managing director as well as director (human resource) at the firm.

The oil and gas PSUs under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas now have three women at the top - Vartika Shukla is the chairperson and managing director of Engineers India Ltd (EIL).

Prior to this, she served as Director (Finance) in Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL), a subsidiary of ONGC. She has also served as a director on the board of ONGC Mangalore Petrochemicals Limited (OMPL), Petronet Mangalore Hassan Bangalore Limited (PMHBL) and ONGC Petro additions Limited (OPaL).

Jaspal, 58, is a fellow member and gold medalist of the Institute of Cost Accountants of India. She replaces Subhash Kumar, who superannuated at the end of last year. She was picked for the job by government headhunter PESB in December last year and has now taken over after her appointment was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Appointments.

Jaspal joined ONGC in 1985 as a finance and accounts officer and rose to the position of executive director, chief corporate finance where she handled varied assignments, including corporate finance functions such as direct tax, indirect tax, investor relations, corporate budget and project appraisal.

Besides working in ONGC Videsh Ltd where she handled finance of various assets like Sakhalin, South Sudan, Kazakhstan, and Colombia and steered the buyout of Azerbaijan Asset, she also worked at the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) - the regulatory arm of the ministry in its formative years and was instrumental in developing the model production sharing contracts (PSC), the statement said.

The country's first portable solar rooftop system was inaugurated at Swaminarayan Akshardham temple complex in Gandhinagar .

The installation of 10 PV Port systems in the temple complex has been supported by the German development agency Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) .

The systems have been installed under the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy's initiative to develop renewable energy cities across India.

Designed by GIZ, the PV Port systems are standard plug and play photovoltaic systems of a minimum of 2 kWp that come with or without battery storage.

The PV Ports have been manufactured by New Delhi-based Servotech Power Systems Ltd (SPSL), a leading maker of high-end solar products like LEDs, oxygen concentrators and EV charging equipment under the Make in India project .

The 10 PV Port systems were inaugurated in the presence of Shwetal Shah, Advisor, Climate Change Department, Government of Gujarat, and officials of GIZ, GERMI and Swaminarayan Akshardham temple.

·    The Centre’s inflation headache seems to be getting severe as the wholesale price index (WPI)-based price rise surged to a 30-year high of 12.96% in FY22, on rising commodity prices and a low base of 1.3% in FY21. The last time wholesale inflation touched such high levels was three decades ago – at 13.7% in FY92 (on base year of 1981-82).

·         According to the latest data released by the Union commerce ministry on April 18 , WPI-based inflation stood at 14.5% in March — a four-month high — compared with 7.89% in the year-ago period. WPI inflation was 13.11% in February this year.

·         The month of March also saw consumer price index-based inflation rise to a 17-month high of 6.95%.

·         While the Reserve Bank of India considers retail inflation for its policy decisions, the wholesale price rise does get reflected on the retail inflation print as companies pass on the burden to consumers.

·         The month-over-month change in WPI for the fuel and power basket in March stood at 2.69% compared to February, while that for manufactured products surged 2.31% over the same period. Fuel & power and manufactured products formed 13.15% and 64.23%, respectively, of WPI.

·         The rate of inflation based on WPI food index rose from 8.47% in February to 8.71% in March. The food index consists of ‘food articles’ from the primary group and ‘food product’ from the manufactured products group.

·         RBI flags risks to economy

·         India has managed the pandemic well and economic activity is picking up momentum, but these gains are “at risk from disruptive spillovers from geo-political hostilities...” RBI said in a note

Continuing his splendid run, fast-rising Indian swimmer Vedaant Madhavan added a second medal to his kitty, a gold in the men's 800m freestyle at the Danish Open in Copenhagen.

The 16-year-old bettered his personal best time by a whopping 11:48 to stop the clock at 8:17.28, edging past local swimmer Alexander L Bjorn by 0.10 to stand atop the podium. While Vedaant's performance was good enough to fetch him a gold at the meet, it is a long way from international standards.

USA's Robert Finke had won the gold at the Tokyo Olympics in the event last year with a timing of 7:41.87, while the world record for the event stands at 7:32.12.

However, Vedaant, son of Indian actor R Madhavan, has shown immense improvement. He has bettered his personal best times in all three events he has participated in in the ongoing meet. He had won the silver medal in the 1500m freestyle event before bettering his 200m freestyle time to finish 12th overall in the event.

Ace Indian swimmer Sajan Prakash finished fifth in the 'A' final of the men's 100m butterfly with a timing of 54.24, while Tanish George Mathew topped the 'C' final by stopping the clock at 56.44. The top eight swimmers in the heats qualify for the 'A' final, the next eight for the 'B' followed by the 'C' final.

In the women's event, Shakthi Balakrishnan finished 34 out of 42 swimmers with a time of 2:14.27 in 200m freestyle. India now has a haul of three medals in the ongoing meet including two golds and a silver

Juned Khan of Haryana and Ramandeep Kaur of Punjab rewrote the men's and women's 35km race walk national records respectively, en route to winning top honours at the ninth Indian Open Race Walking Competition.

The 23-year-old Ramandeep clocked 3:00.04s and clipped more than 13 minutes from Priyanka Goswami's earlier national record of 3:13.19s, set in the World Athletics Race Walking Championships in Muscat last month.

Ramdeep's Punjab team-mate Manju also came inside Goswami's earlier national mark to take the silver in 3:07.49s.

The Results:

Men's 35km:

1. Juned Khan (Haryana) 2:40.16;

2. Ram Baboo (Uttar Pradesh) 2:41.30;

3. Chandan Singh (Uttarakhand) 2:42.02.

Women's 35km:

1. Ramandeep Kaur (Punjab) 3:00.04;

2. Manju (Punjab) 3:07.49;

3. Payal (Uttarakhand) 3:15.47.

Men U-20 10km:

1.Sachin Bohra (Uttarakhand) 43:12;

2. Rohit Kumar Yadav (Gujarat) 43:13;

3. Aditya Negi (Uttarakhand) 44:27.

Women's U-20 10km:

1. Deepika Sharma (Rajasthan) 51:32;

2. Bharti Bhadana (Haryana) 52:23;

3. Indu (Haryana) 52:40.

The Indian women's softball team is set to make its debut at the Asian Games later this year after it received a wild card for the Hangzhou event, Softball Association of India said.

The Indian team's wildcard entry was approved by Softball Asia during its executive committee meeting on February 23. The entry of women's team to the Asian Games, through a wild card, is indeed a milestone for Softball in India. The Hangzhou Games will be an opportunity to encourage and groom our women players as all major international events include women's category.

Softball was part of the Tokyo Olympics and will also feature in the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

Q1. Name the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) who visited Gujarat recently ?

1. Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus
2. Masatsugu Asakawa
3. Kristalina Georgieva
4. David Malpass
5. None of These

Q2. Name the Mauritian Prime Minister  who arrived  in Rajkot ( Gujarat ) on April 18 ?

1. Paul Bérenger
2. Sir Anerood Jugnauth
3. Dr. Navin Ramgoolam
4. Pravind Kumar Jugnauth
5. None of These

Q3. Name the former Assam Congress president  who has  joined the TMC in the presence of party's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee?

1. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury
2. Pijush Kanti Biswas
3. Ripun Bora
4. Bhupen Kumar Borah
5. None of These

Q4. Who among the following has  become the first British Prime Minister to visit Gujarat ?

1. Theresa May
2. Boris Johnson
3. Gordon Brown
4. David Cameron
5. None of These

Q5.  Who is the President  of the  World Bank?

1. David Malpass
2. Masatsugu Asakawa
3. Kristalina Georgieva
4. David Cameron
5. None of These

Answers

1----------Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus

2----------- Pravind Kumar Jugnauth

3----------- Ripun Bora

4------------ Boris Johnson

5----------- David Malpass