Current affairs 03 May 2023

GST collection for April 2023 highest ever at Rs 1.87 lakh crore.

• The gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue collection increased 12% in April 2023 to Rs 1.87 lakh crore.
• It is the highest monthly mop-up since the inception of the indirect tax regime in July 2017.
• The government has collected CGST of Rs 38,440 crore, SGST of Rs 47,412 crore, and IGST of Rs 89,158 crore (including Rs 34,972 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 12,025 crore.
• The highest GST collection was recorded in April 2022 at Rs 1.68 lakh crore.

India, Russia explore accepting RuPay and Mir cards for easy payments.

• India and Russia have agreed to explore the possibility of accepting each other's payment cards, RuPay (India) and Mir (Russia).
• Reason: For hassle-free payments between the two countries.
• This decision was made during the meeting of the Internal Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological, and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC).
• This meeting was chaired by the External Affairs Minister of India S Jaishankar and Russia's Deputy PM Denis Manturov.

India's manufacturing PMI at 4-month high in April on output.

• According to the monthly survey, Manufacturing activities in India have been accelerated further and touched a four-month high in April 2023.
• Reason: Boosted by robust new business growth, mild price pressures, better international sales, and improving supply-chain conditions.
• The S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index has been increased from 56.4 (March 2023) to 57.2 (April 2023).
• It reflecting a robust and quicker expansion in new orders.

Indian sailor Abhilash Tomy becomes 1st Asian to sail around the globe in 30,000 miles race.

• Retired naval commander Abhilash Tomy has become the 1st Indian to complete the longest endurance solo race around the world covering nearly 30,000 miles in just about 236 days.
• Tomy finished second in the Golden Globe Race, the longest endurance race on the planet.
• He was engaged in a navigational duel with South African Kirsten Neuschafer to reach the finishing line, the port of Les Sables d’Olonne in France.

IIT Madras researchers develop tool to detect tumours in brain, spinal cord.

• Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) researchers has developed a machine learning-based computational tool for better detection of cancer-causing tumors in the brain and spinal cord.
• The web server known as ‘GBMDriver’ (GlioBlastoma Mutiforme Drivers) is now publicly available online.
• The GBMDriver was developed specifically to identify driver mutations and passenger mutations (passenger mutations are neutral mutations) in Glioblastoma.