1. T. S. Tirumurti appointed as Permanent Representative of India to UN

• T. S. Tirumurti has been appointed as the next Ambassador or Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations. 
• Tirumurti is an IFS officer of 1985 batch. He is currently the Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs. 
• He replaces Sayyad Akbaruddin.

Foot notes: About UN:
Headquarters: New York, United States
Founded: 24 October 1945, California, United States
Secretary-general: António Guterres

2. Former finance secretary Rajiv Kumar appointed  as the PESB chairman

• Former Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar was appointed Chairman of Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) for a period of three years.
• Kumar, 60 and a 1984 batch Jharkhand cadre IAS official, was in July 2019 designated as the Finance Secretary and retired in February this year. 
• He will succeed the incumbent Kapil Dev Tripathi, a 1980 batch retired Assam-Meghalaya cadre IAS official.
• He took over as the financial services secretary in September 2017 and initiated several reforms in the country's banking sector, to clean up the bad loan mess and to make public sector banks (PSBs) stronger.

Foot Notes: About PESB
The Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) is initiated to develop a sound managerial policy for the Central Public Sector Enterprises and to advise the Government on appointments of top managerial posts.
Chairman– Rajiv Kumar
Director– Kailash Dan Ratnoo
Secretary– Kimbuong Kipgen

3. Veteran actor Rishi Kapoor passed away at 67 in Mumbai.

• Veteran actor Rishi Kapoor passed away in Mumbai on 30 April. He died at the age of 67. He died due to ill health. The actor was admitted to the Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital. Rishi was diagnosed with cancer in 2018.
• Rishi Kapoor entered the Indian cinema with his first film Mera Naam Joker. He played the role of a child artist in the movie. The actor received a National Award for his role in the movie Mera Naam Joker. In 1973, Rishi made his film debut as an adult, with Actor Bobby in Dimple Kapadia. With this film, Kapoor became an overnight star and the country's new hero.

4. Deepak Mittal appointed as India's new Ambassador to Qatar, Piyush Srivastava to Bahrain

• Deepak Mittal has been appointed India's next Ambassador to Qatar, while Piyush Srivastava goes to Bahrain in the same capacity. Deepak Mittal is a Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs. 
• Mittal has served as a Joint Secretary in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran.
• The new appointees are of the 1998 batch of Indian Foreign Service (IFS), and both of them are expected to take up their assignments shortly.

About Bahrain:
Capital: Manama
Currency: Bahraini dinar
Prime Minister: Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa

5. Ayushman Bharat Diwas 2020 is celebrated on 30 April

• Ayushman Bharat Diwas is celebrated on 30 April. The day aims to promote affordable medical facilities in remote areas of the country based on the Socio-Economic Caste Census database. It will also promote health and wellness and provide insurance benefits to the poor.
• Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PMJAY), also known as the National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM), was launched by PM Narendra Modi on 14 April 2018, at Bijapur, Chhattisgarh.
• The scheme will enable the beneficiaries to take cashless benefits from public and private hospitals across the country.

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6. Former Karnataka batsman J Arun Kumar named as USA national team coach

• Former Karnataka batsman J Arun Kumar was appointed coach of the USA cricket team.
• Jak, as he is known in the cricketing circles, has worked with the Karnataka team for several years and as batting coach with IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab.
• Arun Kumar was also in charge of a fledgling Puducherry team before quitting in February owing to differences with the association officials.
• Arun Kumar, who scored over 7,200 runs in first-class cricket and over 3,000 runs in List 'A' games, had guided Karnataka to a treble for two successive seasons Ranji Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy and Irani Cup, in 2013-14 and 2014-15.

7. Chhattisgarh tops among other states in providing employment to workers under MGNREGS

• Chhattisgarh has topped the list of states in providing employment to over 18 lakh unskilled labourers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
• Around 77.85 lakh people are engaged in different work under the scheme across the country.
• The national participation of the workers working in the state is 24 percent, which is the highest in the country.
• Chhattisgarh has topped the country in providing employment to 18.51 lakh workers under MGNREGS.
• Rajasthan has provided employment to 10.79 lakh workers under the rural employment guarantee scheme and Uttar Pradesh is at third position with around 9.06 lakh workers engaged by it.

Foot Notes: About Chhattisgarh
Capital: Raipur
Governor: Anusuiya Uikey
Chief Minister: Bhupesh Baghel

8. Tripura cabinet to start ‘neighborhood classes’ besides tele-classes for students amid lockdown

• In Tripura, the state cabinet has decided to start ‘neighborhood classes’ in addition to the ongoing online and televised/aired classes to ensure every student gets an education during the lockdown period.
• In these neighborhood classes, one teacher will be teaching a maximum of five students until the school classes resume. 
• Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath said the state education department has appealed to school teachers to take part in the new initiative.
• The state Education Department has started the distribution of free textbooks under SAMAGRA SHIKSHA Abhiyan among students of schools and Madrassas.

Foot Notes: About Tripura
Capital: Agartala
Governor: Ramesh Bais
Chief Minister: Biplab Kumar Deb

9. Government establishes IFSCA to regulate all financial services in IFSCs

• The Central government notified that it has established International Financial Services Centres Authority(IFSCA), a unified body to regulate all financial services in International Financial Services Centres(IFSCs) in the country & its headquarters will be at Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
• The main function of the authority is to regulate financial products such as securities, deposits, or contracts of insurance, financial services, and financial institutions that have been previously approved by any appropriate regulator in an IFSC.
• It will provide a single-window regulatory institution that accelerates the development of India’s first IFSC at the Gujarat International Financial Tec (GIFT) City, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

10. ADB gives $ 346 mn loans for the power sector in rural Maharashtra

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a USD 346 million (around Rs 2,616 crore) loan to the Indian government to provide reliable power connections in rural areas of Maharashtra.
• Maharashtra is the second-most populous state in India, and about half of the state’s labor force is engaged in agriculture and related activities in the rural areas.
• The loan will support the state government’s high voltage distribution system (HVDS) program for new grid-connected rural agricultural customers across the state.
• The loan will be under ADB’s results-based lending (RBL) modality, where fund disbursements are linked to the achievement of agreed program results rather than to upfront expenditures.
• This first ADB-financed RBL program in South Asia’s energy sector will help in the early construction and installation of metered HVDS through the installation of about 46,800 kilometers of 11 kilovolts (kV) grid extension lines, construction and upgrading of 121 33/11 kV distribution substations.

Foot Notes:
About Asian Development Bank (ADB):
Headquarters– Mandaluyong, Philippines
Membership– 68 countries
President– Masatsugu Asakawa

About Maharashtra:
Governor: Bhagat Singh Koshyari 
Capital: Mumbai
Formation: 1 May 1960
Chief Minister: Uddhav Thackeray