India’s Foreign Trade Policy of 2023

• Commerce Minister, Piyush Goyal unveiled the new Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2023. By moving away from incentives and toward entitlement- and remission-based regimes, the new policy aims to raise India's exports to $2 trillion by 2030.
• Highlights of the FTP includes the following:
  • The new policy, which is perpetual rather than 5-year, will ensure greater policy continuity.
  • Given that inflation and recessions pose real threats to growth and that the global economy is significantly slowing down, the export targets for the next two to three years are more optimistic.
  • Digitisation of product advancement plans is great as it will decrease administrative work as well as organization.
  • Bringing down the cut off for perceiving the exporters is a decent step.
  • India must improve its competitiveness, so placing an increased emphasis on manufacturing exports is a positive move.

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Foundation Day of Reserve Bank of India

• The Reserve Bank of India was established on April 1, 1935, in accordance with the provisions of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934. Hence 1st April is celebrated as the foundation day.
• The Central Office of the Reserve Bank was initially established in Kolkata but was permanently moved to Mumbai in 1937. The Central Office is where the Governor sits and where policies are formulated.

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Richard Verma Confirmed for Top US State Department Position

• The US Senate confirmed former US ambassador to India Richard Verma as Deputy Secretary of State, Management and Resources, a position which is normally seen as the CEO of the powerful State Department in the US Government.

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Finland Becomes the Member of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

Finland became the 31st member of NATO after Turkey's parliament voted to approve its application.

NATO:

• The foundations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) were officially laid down on 4 April 1949 with the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty, more popularly known as the Washington Treaty.
• The Secretary General of NATO is Jens Stoltenberg.

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New India Literacy Programme (NILP) 

• Recently, the Minister of State for Education provided information about the New India Literacy Programme (NILP) in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
• The Government has launched the Centrally Sponsored Scheme “New India Literacy Programme” (NILP) for implementation during five years from the FYs 2022-23 to 2026-27 with financial outlay of Rs.1037.90 crore.
• The scheme aims to cover a target of 5.00 crore non-literates in the age group of 15 years and above.

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Rise in India's Forex Reserves

• India's foreign currency assets (FCA), the biggest component of the forex reserves, saw a rise of $4.38 billion to $509.72 billion.
• India's gold reserves rose by $1.37 billion to $45.48 billion while SDRs and India's reserve position in the IMFs saw an increase of $18.41 million and $5.15 million each.

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Indian Origin Engineer Will Now Head NASA

• Amit Kshatriya, an Indian-American software and robotics engineer, was appointed as the first head of NASA's newly established Moon to Mars Programme.
• This position will assist the agency in ensuring a long-term lunar presence, which is necessary for preparing for humanity's subsequent enormous leap to the Red Planet.

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100% Electrified Rail Network in Haryana

• Indian Railways electrified the entire railway network in the state of Haryana in March 2023.
• This made Haryana the first state in the nation to electrify its entire railway network.