• The union cabinet has approved allocation of additional foodgrain to National Food Security Act (NFSA) beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (Phase IV) till November 30.

• Under the scheme, the government will provide 5 kg foodgrains per person per month free of cost ration.

• It will cover 81.35 crore beneficiaries covered under Antyodaya Anna Yojana, Priority Households including those covered under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).

• PMGKAY was launched to help poor fight against Covid-19.

• Secretary in Department of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Guruprasad Mohapatra (59 years) passed away due to COVID-19 related complications in New Delhi.

• Before serving as DPIIT secretary, he served as Chairman of the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

• He was a Gujarat cadre 1986 batch IAS officer, who had earlier served as joint secretary in the Department of Commerce.

• He was also a member of Gujarat Electricity Board between 2002 and 2004.

• The government budgeted Rs 1.75 trillion from stake sale in public sector companies and financial institutions, including 2 PSU banks and one general insurance company, in the next fiscal year beginning April 1.

• The amount is lower than the record Rs 2.10 trillion which was budgeted to be raised from CPSE disinvestment in the current fiscal year.

• Even though India has the cheapest data plans, and nearly 700 million internet users, the country is at a dismal 49th spot globally when it comes to internet inclusion and gender equality in accessing the world wide web, according to a Facebook-Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) study.

• India is set to reach one billion internet users by 2025.

• There were over 687.6 million internet users in India in 2020.

• The Facebook 'Inclusive Internet Index' looked at 120 countries, representing 98 per cent of global GDP and 96 per cent of global population.

• Foreign direct investments (FDI) into the country grew 19 per cent to USD 59.64 billion during 2020-21 on account of measures taken by the government on the fronts of policy reforms, investment facilitation and ease of doing business, the commerce and industry ministry.

• Total FDI, including equity, re-invested earnings and capital, rose 10 per cent to the "highest ever" of USD 81.72 billion during 2020-21 as against USD 74.39 billion in 2019-20.

• In terms of top investor countries, Singapore is at the top with 29 per cent share. It was followed by the US (23 per cent) and Mauritius (9 per cent) during the last fiscal.

• Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ launched 'SARTHAQ', the implementation plan for NEP 2020.

• The full form of SARTHAQ is ‘Students’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement through Quality Education.

• This implementation plan was released as a part of the celebrations leading to the Amrit Mahotsav on 75 years of Indian independence.

• The plan delineates the roadmap for the implementation of NEP 2020 for the next 10 years.

• Digital payments major, PhonePe has crossed a billion transactions on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) infrastructure in March, making it the first player in the country to reach this milestone.

• The company achieved the feat in March 2021, when the total transactions clocked around 1.3 billion on its platform, across the payment instruments offering of wallet, cards as well as UPI.

• PhonePe, which first achieved market leadership on UPI in December, last year, has seen its transaction count grow steadily, on the back of rising merchant payments.

• A community service centre has been set up to bring all data on board India’s first dedicated solar space mission to a single web-based interface. The service centre is called Aditya-L1 Support Cell.

• It is a joint effort of Indian Space Research Organisation and Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences. It will allow every interested individual to perform scientific analysis of the data.

• It is slated to develop specific tools to assist guest observers and researchers to prepare observing proposals for Aditya-L1 observations.

• It will also assist ISRO with the design and development of analysis software for handling scientific data.

• The centre will also provide co-aligned data from other observatories around the world that can complement the data obtained from Aditya-L1.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has removed IDBI Bank from its enhanced regulatory supervision, or the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework, after almost four years, on improved financial performance.

• The RBI had placed IDBI Bank under the framework in May 2017, after it had breached the thresholds for capital adequacy, asset quality (net NPAs were over 13% in March 2017), return on assets and leverage ratio.

• It was noted as per published results for the quarter ended December 31, the bank was not in breach of the PCA parameters on regulatory capital, net NPA and leverage ratio

• The LIC-owned IDBI Bank had reported a standalone net profit of ₹378 crore for the December quarter.

• The lender had reported a net loss of ₹5,763 crore a year earlier.

• The Central government Tuesday launched National Urban Digital Mission' to create a digital infrastructure for cities in the country, a statement stated.

• The Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry (MoHUA) said the move will institutionalise a citizen-centric and ecosystem-driven approach to urban governance and service delivery in cities by 2022, and across all cities and towns by 2024.

• Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and Minister of Electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad launched the National Urban Digital Mission' (NUDM) at a virtual event.