Current Affairs

NEW YEAR FESTIVALS IN INDIA: VAISAKHI, VISHU, BISHUB, BAHAG BIHU, GUDI PADWA, PUTHANDU –

Recently, traditional Hindu New Year festivals like Chaitra Sukladi, Ugadi, Gudi Padwa, Cheti Chand, Navreh, and Sajibu Cheiraoba were celebrated across India, fostering cultural unity and appreciation.
Major Traditional Indian New Year Festivals-
Chaitra Sukladi- Celebrated in North India, marks the beginning of the Hindu New Year. The Hindu New Year Vikram Samvat begins with the new moon of the month of Chaitra.
Ugadi- Ugadi marks the commencement of the Hindu New Year and is observed in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka.
Gudi Padwa- Gudi Padwa, also known as Samvatsar Padvo, is observed in Maharashtra and Goa. It marks the beginning of Marathi New Year and is also observed as the first day of Chaitra Month.
Cheti Chand- Celebrated by the Sindhi community. Marks the beginning of the Sindhi New Year.
Navreh- Celebrated by the Kashmiri Pandit community.Navreh is derived from Sanskrit Nava Varsha, meaning the new year.
Sajibu Cheiraoba- Sajibu Cheiraoba, also known as Meitei Cheiraoba, is a traditional festival celebrated in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur.

IRAN LAUNCHED DRONES AND CRUISE MISSILES AGAINST ISRAEL UNDER OPERATION TRUE PROMISE (ALSO CALLED “OPERATION HONEST PROMISE”)

India issued a statement expressing India’s “serious concern” at the escalation of hostilities, and called for “immediate de-escalation”.
The Iranian attack was in response to the suspected Israeli strike on an Iranian consular building in Syria’s Damascus that killed 12 people.
There are about 18,000 Indians in Israel and about 5,000-10,000 Indians in Iran, about 90 lakh people are living and working in the Gulf and West Asia region.
Any conflict that expands will end up posing a risk to the Indian community that is based in the region.
The West Asia region contributes to India’s 80 percent of oil supplies, which a potential conflict will impact.
India has been able to minimise the impact of oil prices due to the Russia-Ukraine war by buying Russian oil at discounted prices, but this conflict will have an adverse impact on energy prices.
India has invested in a strategic relationship with major Arab countries, Iran, and Israel. India sees the region as its extended neighbourhood, and it has been pushing for the India-Middle-East-Europe Economic corridor, which has strategic as well as economic benefits.
Chabahar in Iran is another strategic economic project, which acts as a gateway to Afghanistan and Central Asia — since Pakistan denies land transit to Indian goods.
India has a very deep strategic relationship with Israel, especially in the context of defence and security partnership.

INDIA’S MERCHANDISE EXPORTS REACHED A PEAK OF USD 41.68 BILLION IN MARCH 2024 COMPARED TO THE FY 2022-23 –

India’s goods exports reached USD 41.68 billion in March 2024 compared to the FY 2022-23, despite a 0.67% decline from last year’s tally, Imports, on the other hand, dropped by 6% to USD 57.3 billion during the same period. The goods trade deficit contracted to USD 15.6 billion, the lowest in 11 months.
Gold imports fell sharply by 53.6% in March to USD 1.53 billion. The drop in non-petroleum, non-gold imports contributed to the overall decline. Interestingly, silver imports jumped to USD 816.6 million.
While goods exports averaged USD 35.4 billion in the first ten months, the last two months’ spike lifted the full-year export figure to USD 437.1 billion.
This performance is 3.1% below the record USD 451.1 billion achieved in the previous year.

Key contributors to merchandise export growth include-

Exports of agricultural commodities, such as tobacco, fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy products, spices, and oil seeds, exhibited positive growth in FY 2023-24.
The overall trade deficit is estimated to significantly improve by 35.77% to USD
12 billion in FY 2023-24.
Merchandise trade deficit improved by 9.33% to USD 240.17 billion compared to FY 2022-23.

6 & 7 APRIL 2024 Current Affairs