• The World Bank will provide financial assistance to Sri Lanka of USD 600 dollars to meet the payment requirements for essential imports.
• Sri Lanka has also talked with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for financial assistance, but the country needs 3 to 4 billion dollars in bridge financing to help meet its essential expenses.
• India has helped Sri Lanka by assisting with USD 1.9 billion.

• According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), India's military expenditure is the third highest in the world behind the US and China.
• Top Five: The United States, China, India, the United Kingdom, and Russia
• Military spending in India is amounting to $76.6 billion in 2021 which grew by 0.9% from 2020.
• Russia has also increased its military expenditure for the third consecutive year.

• Netflix joins hands with the I&B ministry to launch some short films on women changemakers named 'Azadi Ki Amrit Kahaniya'.
• The videos are narrated by actor Neena Gupta and produced by Netflix.
• It would be shared on social media and broadcast on Doordarshan.
• Aims: To bring out inspiring stories of Indians which empower more people to achieve their goals

• Tata Sons executive chairman N Chandrasekaran has formally taken charge as chairman of Tata Digital. At present, Tata’s digital strategy is being spearheaded by its CEO Pratik Pal along with Mukesh Bansal, founder of Cultfit. Chandrasekaran’s formal appointment is of significance considering its future plans of raising funds from external investors.
• For Chandrasekaran, who was reappointed as the chairman of Tata Sons for another five years in February, Tata Digital has been his brainchild since he took charge as Tata Sons chairman. He has been closely involved in its growth plans from the beginning as the Mumbai-based conglomerate eyes to make a dent in the Indian eCommerce universe.

• Himachal Pradesh government has signed an MoU for the development of seven ropeway projects in Kangra, Kullu, Chamba, Sirmour and Bilaspur districts.
• The MoU was signed between Ropeways and Rapid Transport System Development Corporation (RTDC) HP Limited and National Highways Logistic Management Limited (NHLML).
• The MoU was signed in the presence of road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari and chief minister Jai Ram Thakur in New Delhi.

• To promote Make in India initiative in defence the Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020 has been amended based on the approvals accorded by Defence Acquisition Council (DAC).
• Import of defence equipment has to be undertaken with specific approval of DAC/Raksha Mantri.
• The defence ministry also cut the waiting time for projects under the iDEX framework.
• The timelines in the Make-II procedure will be reduced to 101-109 weeks from 122-180 weeks.
• India spends third highest in the world on military

• NITI Aayog has organized a National Level Workshop on Innovative Agriculture under the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations in New Delhi.
• The first session was chaired by Dr. Ravi Kumar (Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog).
• Yogi Adityanath (CM of Uttar Pradesh), CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan (MP), CM Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy (Andhra Pradesh), and CM Pushkar Singh Dhami (Uttarakhand) have joined the first technical session of the workshop virtually.

• Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has expanded its strategic partnership with SBI Cards to power digital transformation.
• TCS had helped the SBI cards to transform its core cards sourcing platform and digitized a significant portion of the process.
• TCS will digitalize and transform the online onboarding processes to enable a faster turnaround and frictionless experience.
• SBI Card CEO: Rama Mohan Rao Amara; TCS CEO CEO: Rajesh Gopinathan.

• Airtel Payments Bank has partnered with IndusInd Bank to offer fixed deposit (FD) facilities to its customers.
• A customer can open FD of Rs 500 up to Rs 190,000 on the Airtel Thanks app.
• With this partnership, customers of Airtel Payments Bank savings account will get an interest rate of up to 6.5 %p.a. and senior citizens will get an additional 0.5% on all fixed deposits.
• Customers can book multiple FDs for a fixed duration of either 1, 2 or 3 years.

• Former Indian women's hockey team captain, Elvera Britto has passed away at 81 due to old-age-related problems.
• Elvera led Karnataka's domestic team to win seven national titles. She ruled the domestic circuit from 1960 to 1967.
• She also represented India against Japan, Sri Lanka, and Australia.
• She is the second women hockey player to be conferred with the Arjuna Award(1965) after Anne Lumsden.

Download Daily GK PDF of 27 April 2022