Current Affairs in Short: 1 April 2022

Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba arrives in India for a 3-day visit

• Prime Minister of Nepal Sher Bahadur Deuba accompanied by a high-level delegation and his spouse arrived in India on April 1, 2022, for his three-day visit to the country.
• Prime Minister of Nepal’s visit to India is his first one since assuming office in 2021. Deuba’s visit to India is at the invitation of Prime Minister Modi.
• Sher Bahadur Deuba will meet External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on April 1 while on the second day of his visit, he will meet Prime Minister Modi at Hyderabad House.
• Besides his official engagements, Deuba will also visit Varanasi. As per the External Affairs Ministry, India and Nepal enjoy age-old special ties of cooperation and friendship.

Rajkot International Airport expected to be functional by August 2022

• Rajkot Greenfield International Airport is expected to be functional by August 2022 which will give a huge push to PM Modi’s vision of the ‘Hawai Chappal to Hawai Jahaaz’ initiative.
• The airport which is located 30 kms from the industrial city of Rajkot has been built in four phases covering an area of 1,032 hectares.
• Rajkot International airport will have a total of 14 parking stands with an area of the passenger terminal of 23,000 square meters.
• About 85% of percent of work on the runway is complete. A total of 12 districts in the Saurashtra region will benefit from this new airport.

President of India Ram Nath Kovind embarks on two-nation tour

• President of India Ram Nath Kovind has embarked on a two-nation tour on April 1 to Turkmenistan and the Netherlands.
• During the first leg of the tour, President will be visiting Turkmenistan and it will also be the first-ever visit of an Indian President to Turkmenistan.
• This visit by President is also significant as it is taking place as India marks 30 years of diplomatic relations with Turkmenistan.
• President Ram Nath Kovind will hold meetings with his counterpart which will also be followed by bilateral-delegation talks between the two nations and the signing of several MoUs.

Gianni Infantino to stand for re-election as FIFA President

• Gianni Infantino announced on March 31, 2022, that he will stand for re-election for a third time as the President of FIFA.
• A 52-year old Infantino who is a Swiss-Italian lawyer was the secretary-general of the European governing body UEFA before becoming the President of FIFA in 2016.
• Infantino again won a second term when he stood up unopposed for re-election at a congress in Paris in 2019.