Mary Korn steps down as Chef-de-Mission for upcoming Paris Olympics

• Six-time world champion boxer M C Mary Korn stepped down as India’s chef-de-mission for the upcoming Paris Olympics.
• Her decision comes weeks after the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) chose the boxing legend for the post.
• The IOA, on March 21, announced contingent officials for the Paris Olympics, which begin on July 26. While Mary was chosen as the chef de mission, winter Olympian Shiva Keshavan was named her deputy.
• Chef de Mission is the most important administrative member of a contingent for a multi­discipline event. The CDM is responsible for ensuring the welfare of the athletes, liaising with the organising committee on a range of issues and being ready for fire-fighting if any controversy erupts.
• Mary competed at the Tokyo Olympics, where she lost in the round of 16. The 41-year-old isn’t eligible in Olympic-style boxing any longer because of the rules that bar anyone aged 40 and above from competing.

Kristalina Georgieva elected to serve as IMF Managing Director for another five years

• The International Monetary Fund’s executive board selected Bulgarian economist Kristalina Georgieva to serve as managing director for a second five-year term.
• Georgieva had been the only candidate for the job.
• European Union finance ministers last month endorsed Georgieva for a second term at the helm of the lender of last resort, virtually assuring her approval.
• Traditionally, European countries recommend the managing director of the IMF and the United States recommends the head of the World Bank.
• Georgieva is the second woman to head the IMF and the first person from an emerging market economy. She is the IMF’s 12th managing director since its founding in 1944.
• She has been instrumental in securing large loans for Ukraine, overseen a revamp of Argentina’s massive loan programme and worked steadily to help China embrace sovereign debt restructurings.

China secures women's singles title at Badminton Asia Championships

• China secured the women’s singles gold with its four shuttlers sweeping semifinal spots at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China’s Zhejiang province.
• He Bingjiao, seeded fifth, claimed a tough victory over top seed An Se-young of South Korea
• Men’s singles top seed Shi Yuqi of China clinched a straight-game win against Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsam. Fellow Chinese Li Shifeng overwhelmed defending champion Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia.
• In the men’s doubles, China’s Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi booked a berth for the Paris Olympics despite their loss to fourth seeds Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia.
• In the women’s doubles, Chinese duo Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan survived an intense battle to beat Rena Miyaura/ Ayako Sakuramoto of Japan.

India-Uzbekistan Joint Military Exercise 'DUSTLIK'

• The Indian Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of Uzbekistan will engage in joint training drills with the aim of enhancing cooperation and establishing a foundation for future joint military work.
• The Indian Army announced the fifth round of the India-Uzbekistan Dustlik joint military exercise will kick off in Termez district, Uzbekistan.
• Both the Indian Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of Uzbekistan will take part in joint training drills aimed at bolstering collaboration and laying the groundwork for future military engagements.
• The fourth round of the bilateral exercises took place on February 20 last year at the Foreign Training Node, Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand.
• The Indian Army contingent included troops from an infantry battalion of the Garhwal Rifles Regiment.
• The inaugural exercise was held in Uzbekistan in November 2019.

Prestigious John Dirks Gairdner global health award for Dr Gagan deep Kang

• Dr Gagandeep Kang, Director of Global Health at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has been selected for the prestigious John Dirks Award in global health.
• It is the most well-recognised global health award.
• The John Dirks Award in global health is awarded by the Gairdner Foundation in Canada.
• She is the first Indian woman to get this award and says it is a huge honour for all the work that she and her colleagues did while at Christian Medical College, Vellore. The focus of Dr Kang’s work has been on childhood diarrhoea disease and comprehensive studies, including the work on vaccines.
• She also became the first Indian woman to be elected Fell ow of the Royal Society.

Revolut gets RBI nod to issue Prepaid Payment Instruments in India

• Revolut India has received an in-principle authorization from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to issue Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPI) including prepaid cards and prepaid wallets in the country.
• This enables it to operate as a domestic player in the market.
• This approval builds upon the existing licences which Revolut India has successfully obtained from RBI to operate as a Category-II Authorised Money Exchange Dealer (AD 11) and to be able to provide multi-currency forex cards and cross­border remittance services.
• It also puts Revolut in a unique position in India, to be able to offer customers both international and domestic payment solutions on a single platform.

BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover set to launch app for medical loans 'ZeroPe'

• BharatPe co-founder and former MD Ashneer Grover is set to launch a new app called ‘ZeroPe’ that will provide loans for healthcare.
• ZeroPe is presently in the testing phase and has been developed by Third Unicorn, which was founded by Grover after his exit from BharatPe.
• The app will provide instant pre-approved medical loans of up to < 5 lakh to users to cover their medical expenses.
• The company has partnered with Delhi-based Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) Mukut Finvest to provide instant loans.
• Users can only avail the service at partnered hospitals, according to the ZeroPe app website.
• Grover, along with his wife Madhuri Jain Grover and entrepreneur Aseem Ghavri, launched Third Unicorn in January 2023.
• The company started out with CrickPe in order to compete with Dreaml 1, Mobile Premier League (MPL) and Myl lCircle.

JGLS ranked India's No. 1 law school for fifth consecutive year

• The Jindal Global Law School at O.P. Jindal Global University has been ranked the No. 1 Law School in India for the 5th year in a row and is also placed at the 72nd rank in the world, making it the only law school in India to be featured among the TOP-100 in the world.
• To produce the rankings for this year, QS analysed the reputation and research output of almost 5,000 institutions.
• Besides JGLS, two other Law Schools from India have made it to the prestigious list this year -National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru (ranked 151-200), and the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi (ranked 201-250).

QS World University Rankings

• Categories: Higher education
• Editor: Ben Sowter (Senior Vice President)
• Frequency: Annual
• Publisher: Quacquarelli Symonds

Lokesh Muni honoured with American President's Volunteer Award 2024

• Jain Acharya Lokesh Muni has become the firs Indian monk to be honoured with the America President’s Gold Volunteer Service award i recognition of his contribution to the public goo and humanity.
• Acharya Lokesh Muni is the founder of a non governmental organisation, Ahimsa Vishwa Bhara and the World Peace Center in India.
• The American President’s Volunteer Service Awar was established in 2003 during George Bush’ Presidency.
• The award is given to individuals who hav provided at least 500 hours of voluntary service i the United States and whose voluntary work ha positively impacted communities and inspire those around them.
• Jain Acharya Lokesh received the Presidentia award, a Certificate of Honour, a Golden Shield and a citation bearing the signature of America President Joe Biden.

Russia successfully launches Angara A5 rocket

• Russia tested its Angara-AS space rocket for the first time.
• This test-launch was done from Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Far East.
• Earlier, two launches of Angara rocket on April 9 and 10 were cancelled at the last minute.
• However, this is Russia’s third test which was successful.
• Russia celebrated Cosmonaut Day in anticipation of the upcoming test.
• In fact, 63 years ago in 1961, Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union became the first person to go to outer space. This day is called Cosmonaut Day.

Angara rocket:

• According to mission control that launched the rocket, it reached an altitude of more than 25,000 kilometers (15,500 mi) per hour within minutes as it blasted off into space. Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, confirmed that the rocket operated as expected.
• The Angara rocket is a 54.5 meter (178.81 ft) three-stage rocket. Its weight is about 773 tons, about 24.5 tons of which can be carried into space.