This is the complete summary of The Hindu, important from the perspective of government exams like UPSC CSE, CDS, and others. You can make your own notes from it. The idea is to help you steer through The Hindu newspaper in under 5 minutes through this summary. Use it as a base to prepare your current affairs notes.
- The Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted unanimously to leave the policy repo rate unchanged at 4%. The Monetary Policy Committee is a statutory and institutionalized framework under the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, for maintaining price stability, while keeping in mind the objective of growth. An RBI-appointed committee led by the then deputy governor Urjit Patel in 2014 recommended the establishment of the Monetary Policy Committee. The committee comprises six members (including the Chairman) – three officials of the RBI and three external members nominated by the Government of India. The Governor of RBI is ex-officio Chairman of the committee who has a casting vote in the committee.
- The Delhi High Court on Wednesday ruled that wearing a mask, or face cover, in a vehicle is compulsory even if a person is driving alone.
- The Indian Institute of Technology has developed a handheld Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS)-based platform for early diagnosis of dengue and also gives dengue test results within one hour (rapid diagnosis).
- The Rajasthan government on Wednesday approved a proposal to give relaxation in the maximum age limit to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) similar to other reserved classes for appointment to state services.
- A team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology-Guwahati has developed a technique of boosting the performance of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles (EVs). The advanced technique can precisely estimate the state of charge (SOC). The SOC indicates the remaining charge that can be withdrawn from a battery before it gets fully discharged.
- The Union government has decided to rope in the private sector to commence production of concentrated poppy straw from India’s opium crop to boost the yield of alkaloids, used for medical purposes and exported to several countries.India currently only extracts alkaloids from opium gum at facilities controlled by the Revenue Department in the Finance Ministry. Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are the three traditional opium-growing States, where poppy cultivation is allowed based on licences issued annually by the Central Bureau of Narcotics.
- The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved two production-linked incentive schemes for white goods (air-conditioners and LED lights) and high-efficiency solar photovoltaic modules.
- The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the government on a petition to constitute a regulatory authority to censor or review non-film songs, their lyrics and videos, which are made available to the general public through various media platforms such as YouTube and others.
- The police have been able to establish contact with the group of Maoists who abducted a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) commando after the April 3 encounter at Tarrem in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh.
- Accepting that there is a capability differential between India and China, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat on Wednesday said the biggest differential lies in the cyber field and China is “capable of launching cyberattacks on us and it can disrupt a large number of systems”.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hand over a fast patrol vessel to the Seychelles Coast Guard on Thursday. The handing over will be part of a high-level virtual interaction between the Indian leader and the President of the Seychelles, Wavel Ramkalawan. The fast patrol vessel PS Zoroaster will help the Seychelles in carrying out anti-piracy operations. The vessel, built by the Kolkata-based Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineering Limited, was delivered to Seychelles on March 16 and will be dedicated to the Seychelles Coast Guard by Prime Minister Modi during the virtual interaction.
- The American military is warning that China is probably accelerating its timetable for capturing control of Taiwan, the island democracy that has been the chief source of tension between Washington and Beijing for decades and is widely seen as the most likely trigger for a potentially catastrophic U.S.-China war.
- Russia’s Foreign Minister on Wednesday said Moscow and Islamabad would boost ties in the fight against terrorism, with Russia providing unspecified military equipment to Pakistan and the two holding joint exercises at sea and in the mountains.
