current affairs 18 April 2022

PM Modi Inaugurates 108 ft tall statue of Lord Hanuman ji in Morbi of Gujarat.

The Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi unveiled a 108 ft statue of Lord Hanuman ji in Morbi, Gujarat, at the Ashram of Bapu Keshvanand ji, via video conferencing on April 16, 2022, on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti.
This statue is the second among the four statues being built in the four directions across the country, as part of the Hanumanji Char Dham project.
The first such grand statue of Hanuman Ji was inaugurated in the North in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh in 2010.
The statue at Morbi has been set up in the West.
The third statue will be set up in the South at Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu.
Similarly the final statue will be established in East in West Bengal.

The Regional Connectivity Scheme UDAN (UdeDeshkaAamNagrik), the flagship scheme of the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has been selected for Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration 2020 under the category "Innovation (General) – Central".
The scheme lay emphasis on Good Governance, Qualitative achievements, and last mile connectivity rather than only on achievement of quantitative targets.
The award was launched by the Government of India in 2006 to acknowledge, recognize and reward the extraordinary and innovative work done by Districts/ Organizations of the Central and State Governments.
The award comes with a trophy, scroll and an incentive of Rs 10 lakhs.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation will receive the award on April 21, 2022, on the occasion of Civil Service Day.

SVANidhi se Samriddhi scheme, an additional program of PMSVANidhi was launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) on January 04, 2021 to be implemented in phased manner.
The SVANidhi se Samriddhi programme maps the socio-economic profile of the PM SVANidhi beneficiaries and their families. Assess the potential eligibility of the beneficiaries for various Central welfare schemes and facilitate the linkages to these schemes.
Phase I : Launched in 2020-21 in 125 cities to cover approximately 35 lakh street vendors and their families.
Phase II : Now MoHUA has launched Phase II of the program in additional 126 cities to cover 28 lakh street vendors and their families.
A total target of 20 lakh scheme sanctions has been set under Phase II for FY 2022-23.
The remaining cities would be added to the program gradually.

Renowned Indian Marxist economist and political commentator Prabhat Patnaik has been selected for the 2022 Malcom Adiseshiah Award.
The Malcolm Adiseshiah Award is given annually by the Chennai-based Malcolm and Elizabeth Adiseshiah Trust since 2000 for Distinguished Contributions to Development Studies.
The award is given to an outstanding social scientist selected by a specially constituted national jury.
The award comprises a citation and prize money of Rs. 2 lakh.

In Basketball, Tamil Nadu beat Punjab 87-69 in the final to win the men’s title in the 71st Senior National Basketball Championship.
The women’s title was won by the Indian Railways team after defeating Telangana 131-82.