• The UN has raised India’s growth forecast to 7.5% for calendar year 2021, a 0.2% increase from its projection in January.

• However, the country’s outlook for the year remained “highly fragile”.

• The World Economic Situation and Prospects report also projected India’s GDP to grow by 10.1% in 2022.

• The World Economic Situation and Prospects 2021, produced by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA).

• The World Economic Situation and Prospects report also projected India’s GDP to grow by 7.5% in 2021.

• It also projected India’s GDP to grow by 10.1% in 2022.

• Padmakumar M Nair of State Bank of India (SBI) will be the chief executive of National Asset Reconstruction Company (NARCL).

• a proposed entity for taking over bad loans of lenders, predominantly public sector banks. NARC, also called a 'bad' bank, is expected to be operational in June 2021.

• Nair, a career banker with SBI, has been chief general manager (CGM) in the stressed assets resolution group (SARG) of the bank since April 2020.

• Prior to his elevation in 2020, he worked as general manager in the SARG from 2017. He has worked mostly in the corporate banking segment in the last two decades.

• The Reserve Bank of India has appointed Jose J Kattoor as Executive Director (ED).

• Prior to being promoted as ED, Mr Kattoor was heading Bengaluru Regional Office of the Reserve Bank as Regional Director for Karnataka.

• He will look after Human Resource Management Department, Corporate Strategy and Budget Department and Rajbhasha Department.

• Mr Kattoor has, over a span of three decades, served in communication, human resource management, financial inclusion, supervision, currency management and other areas in the Reserve Bank.

* Ujjwala Singhania has been appointed as the National President of FICCI Ladies Organization (FLO), the oldest women-led & women-centric business chamber of Southeast Asia.

* As the 38th National President of FLO Singhania will focus on empowering women by facilitating an enabling environment that promotes entrepreneurship, industry participation and economic development of women.

* Under her leadership, FLO will carry out many interventions towards fostering larger contributions of women in India’s Industrial and economic growth story.

* Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has launched a new mobile app for students and parents. The new app ‘Dost for Life’ is an exclusive psychological counselling app for students and parents of CBSE-affiliated schools.

* The new App will simultaneously cater to students and parents from CBSE-affiliated schools in different geographies across the world.

* The app will also provide students with other resource material such as suggestive course guides for after senior secondary education, tips on mental health and well being, and a ‘corona guide’ with information on daily safety protocol, learning from home and self-care.

* The counselling sessions shall be provided to students of classes 9-12 by 83 volunteer counsellors and school principals.

* Elon Musk-owned SpaceX is set to launch the “DOGE-1 Mission to the Moon”, the first-ever commercial lunar payload, paid entirely in the cryptocurrency Dogecoin.

* The satellite is scheduled to be launched in the first quarter of 2022 onboard the Falcon 9 rocket. The dogecoin-funded mission is led by the Canadian company Geometric Energy Corporation (GEC).

* SpaceX will carry a 40-kilogram cube satellite dubbed as DOGE-1, as rideshare on a Falcon 9 rocket.

* The payload will obtain lunar-spatial intelligence from sensors and cameras on board with integrated communications and computational systems.

* This launch will make DOGE the first crypto in space as well as the first meme in space.

* Pakistani skipper Babar Azam has been named the ICC Men’s Player of the Month for April 2021 for his consistent and stellar performances across all formats in the recently concluded series against South Africa.

* The ICC Player of the Month Awards recognise and celebrate the best performances from both male and female cricketers across all forms of international cricket throughout the year.

* Along with Babar, Australian women’s team wicketkeeper-batsman Alyssa Healy also bagged the ICC Women’s Player of The Month accolade for her incredible performances during the month of April.

• Former Chief Justice of Jammu & Kashmir High Court, Justice Gita Mittal, has been declared as one of the two recipients of the Arline Pacht Global Vision Award for 2021.

• The Award will be presented at IAWJ’s Biennial Conference during the virtual opening ceremony on May 7, 2021.

• She shares the honour with Margarita Luna Ramos from Mexico.

• International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ) instituted this award in 2016. Justice Mittal would be the first Indian judge to receive the award.

• Award is presented to a sitting/retired woman judge to recognize her contribution to IAWJ.

• Eminent sculptor, architect, and Rajya Sabha member, Raghunath Mohapatra has passed away while undergoing treatment for COVID-19. Hailing from Odisha, Mohapatra was awarded Padma Shri in 1975, Padma Bhushan in 2001 and Padma Vibhushan in 2013 for his pioneering contributions to the world of art, architecture and culture.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has excluded Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) from the Second Schedule of the RBI Act after it was merged with DBS Bank India Ltd (DBIL) last year.

• A bank mentioned in the Second Schedule of the Reserve Bank of India Act is known as ‘Scheduled Commercial Bank’.

• Last year in November, the government had approved the merger of crisis-ridden Lakshmi Vilas Bank with DBS Bank India.

• The RBI had also superseded the board of the LVB and appointed T N Manoharan, former non-executive chairman of Canara Bank, as the administrator of the bank for 30 days.

• Veteran senior journalist Shesh Narayan Singh has passed away while undergoing treatment for COVID-19. He was 70. A columnist, political commentator and an expert on foreign policy, Shesh Narain Singh had a career spanning over two decades.

* World Food Prize 2021 has been awarded to Dr. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted for her work in aquatic food systems.

* World Food Prize is an award that aims to recognise achievements made in the field of food and agriculture.

* The award is also referred to as the Nobel Prize for Food and Agriculture. Every year, the committee selects one person who will be awarded the title and prize money of $250,000.

* Dr. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted is a resident of Denmark and was born in Trinidad and Tobago.

* Dr. Shakantula Haraksingh Thilsted now serves as the Global Lead for Nutrition and Public Health at WorldFish, a global CGIAR research center headquartered in Malaysia.

* Interestingly, the World Food Prize last year was also awarded to a person of Indian origin. In 2020, the World Food Prize was won by Dr. Rattan Lal who was born and brought up in India.

* Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd. (IREDA) has been conferred with “Green Urja Award” for being the Leading Public Institution in Financing Institution for Renewable Energy this year by Indian Chamber of Commerce.

* The award was received by Shri Pradip Kumar Das, Chairman & Managing Director, IREDA from Dr. Ajay Mathur, Director General, International Solar Alliance.

* IREDA gets the award for the pivotal and developmental role it plays in Green Energy Financing.

* Arjuna Awardee Venugopal Chandrasekhar, former Indian Table Tennis (TT) player passed away due to COVID-19 related complications in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

* He was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. V Chandrasekhar is popularly known as a 3 times national champion.

* V Chandrasekhar represented India in the Commonwealth Games in 1982.

* He has also served as a coach.

* He was honoured with the Arjuna Award in 1982.

* A Book titled “1971: The Beginning of India’s Cricketing Greatness” by Boria Majumdar and Gautam Bhattacharya will be published by HarperCollins.

* It is the story of a young country (India)ready and eager to make an impression on the world stage.

* Boria Majumdar, a Rhodes Scholar, is the author of multiple books on Indian sport and its history, and the co-author of Sachin Tendulkar’s autobiography Playing It My Way.

* Gautam Bhattacharya, currently the Joint Editor of Kolkata’s leading daily Sangbad Pratidin, has been a longstanding cricket writer and commentator and is the author of several books.

* He is the co-author of Sourav Ganguly’s book A Century is Not Enough.

* Anupam Kher won the Best Actor award for his performance in the short film Happy Birthday at the New York City International Film Festival.

* The film has been directed by Prasad Kadam and produced by FNP Media. Besides Anupam, Happy Birthday stars Aahana Kumra.

* The film also won the Best Short Film award at the festival.

* Nepalese climber, Kami Rita has scaled Mount Everest for the 25th time, breaking his own record for the most ascents of the world’s highest peak.

* Rita, 51, first scaled Everest in 1994 and has been making the trip nearly every year since then.

* He is one of many Sherpa guides whose expertise and skills are vital to the safety and success of the hundreds of climbers.

* The 3rd Arctic Science Ministerial (ASM3) 2021 held in Tokyo, Japan from May 8-9, 2021, it was jointly organized by Iceland & Japan.

* The ASM3 2021 is the 1st meeting to be held in Asia.

* The theme for 2021 is ‘Knowledge for a Sustainable Arctic’.

* ASM is a global platform for discussing research and cooperation in the Arctic region, it is an event initiated by the Arctic Council, a high-level intergovernmental forum.

* Union Minister for Earth Science Dr Harsh Vardhan virtually represented India in the meeting.

* Germany’s Alexander Zverev defeated Matteo Berrettini of Italy to win the Men’s Singles Title of the 2021 Madrid Open (19th Edition on ATP).

* This is the 2nd Madrid Open Title (previous one – 2018) & 4th Masters 1000 Title for Alexander Zverev.

* In the Women’s Singles Category, Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka defeated World No.1 Ashleigh Barty (Australia) to clinch her maiden Madrid Open Title. The 2021 Madrid Open is the 20th edition of the Tournament in WTA .

* The 2021 Madrid Open was held from 30th April 2021 – 9th May 2021 at Manzanares Park Tennis Center (also known as Manolo Santana Stadium), Madrid, Spain.

* The Madrid Open is a Clay-court event.