Current Affairs Today – April 30 2016

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INDIAN AFFAIRS

Union Government approves Rs. 9,005 Crore Investment for affordable housing in three states – Maharashtra, Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir

Union Government nods Rs.9,005 crore investment in reasonable housing of 73,205 houses in 3 States for Economically Weaker sections under Prime Minister’s Awas Yojana

3 States: Maharashtra, Punjab and J&K
Ministry: Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA)
Sanctioned by: Dr. Nandita Chatterjee, Secretary (HUPA)
Committee: Inter Ministerial Central Screening & Monitoring Committee

Gujarat Announces 10% Quota For Economically Backward

Anandiben Patel led Gujarat government declared 10% reservation for the economically backward among upper castes the move likely to benefit all upper caste families with annual income less than Rs six lakh.

• The state government will promulgate ordinance that earmarking 10% reservation in jobs and education on May 1st. The step will help to ineligible for quota under the existing system
• The Gujarat government on has followed Haryana and Rajasthan governments which recently announced special quotas for Jats and Gujjars
• A state cannot offer reservation beyond 50% of its population under the guidelines set by the Apex Court.

Gujarat:

• The state was formed in 1960 by carving out Bombay state.
• Gujarat State has the longest sea coast of 1600 km in India.

LED Bulb Ujala Yojana inaugurated in Bhopal

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal jointly inaugurated UrjaDaksh LED Bulb UjalaYojana in Bhopal.

• Under this scheme over 3 crore LED bulbs would be distributed all over the State at Rs 85 per bulb.
• The bulb would be of 9 watt, but it would illuminate like 100 watt bulb. It will come with replacement warrantee of 3 years. Its minimum working capacity is 30,000 hours.
• It will be saving of 91 percent of power also saving 25 to 30 unitevery year. In other words one could have saving of Rs 150 to Rs 180 in a year.
• These bulbs would be distributed through the medium of fixed distribution agents and Indian Government’s Energy Efficient Services Limited.

Madhya Pradesh:

• It is the second largest state by area and 5 th largest state by population.
• Chief Minister: Shivraj Singh Chouhan
• Governor: Ram NareshYadav

NITI Aayog to launch Urban Management Program for Capacity Building in States and Urban Local Bodies

NITI Aayog, Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE) and Temasek Foundation jointly to launch Urban Management Programme for Capacity Building of officials of State Governments and ULBs in implementing the Urban Rejuvenation Mission.

• 7 States namely Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh & Assam) would be taking part in this Programme.
• It would cover areas of Urban Planning and Governance, Water, Waste Water & Solid Waste Management and Public Financing (PPP) of Urban Infrastructure.
• Under the platform of the MoU has been signed between NITI Aayog and the Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE) to tap the expertise of Singapore in urban sector to build capacities in State Governments and ULBs.
• Singapore Experts would impart training in highly interactive workshops and share Singapore’s and international experiences with the participants during the Programme.

Railway Ministry to set up two new Directorates & Dial 139 for Cancelling Train Ticket

Union Railway Ministry is mulling to set up two new Directorates tasked with increasing the speed of trains and boosting non-fare revenues. Taking advantage of vacant railway lands and renovation of stations will be its major responsibility.

• Advertising will also be its major job. The first Directorate will identify and prioritise train corridors for raising the speed of trains.
• The second Directorate will raise revenues by advertising along the tracks and at stations by radio, video, internet, Wi-Fi, mobile apps and interactive services.

Dial 139 For Cancelling Train Ticket:

• Train passengers can cancel their confirmed train tickets by just dialing 139.
• The passenger has to dial 139 giving details of the confirmed ticket for cancelling it and the sender will get a one-time password.
• Passenger has to disclose the OTP to claim refund in Passenger Reservation System (PRS).

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

UNICEF-Kerala IMA partnership announced

UNICEF and Indian Medical Association’s Kerala wing joined hands to promote safe and healthy practices across the state for improving maternal and child health.

• The partnership will orient all the 35,000 doctors of the association in the state, on the importance of prescribing good practices to their patients besides medicines.
• All the branch of the total 103 spread in all the 14 districts in Kerala will adopt ten schools for promoting behavioural practices among students who will carry the message to homes.

BANKING & FINANCE

Mumbai Based NABARD partners Germany for Food Security initiative

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) joint venture with German government for a special programme on ‘Soil Protection and Rehabilitation for Food Security’

Delegation: Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) Ministry of Germany, headed by Stefan Schmitz, Commissioner

Two major Programmes

1. Soil conservation and rehabilitation of degraded land for food security in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and innovation of watershed development for rehabilitation of degraded soils
2. Climate change adaptation in five states (Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan).

Keys:

• India is the only country in Asia chosen for this initiative
• Chairman of NABARD: Harsh Kumar Bhanwala

SIDBI signs MoU with Saarc Development Fund

Small Industries Development Bank of Indiaand SAARC Development Fund (SDF) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for mutual cooperation and collaboration.

• Under this MoU SDF and SIDBI to work jointly in co-funding of projects in Indian MSMEs on risk sharing basis in identified sectors, development of suitable financial products for SME financing for MSMEs of other Saarc states.
• This agreement seeks for technology transfer and making available software to MFIs regarding loan tracking systems in other Saarc countries and capacity development of SDF/SIDBI and SME funding institutions.

SIDBI:

• SIDBI is an independent financial institution s established in 1990, it is a wholly owned subsidiary of Industrial Development Bank of India.

BUSINESS

Reliance Defence inks pact with 3 Ukrainian state firms

Mumbai based Reliance Defence has inked a pact with three Ukrainian state-owned firms namely Ukroboronprom, Spetstechno Exports and Antonov to collaborate on a range of military products.

• The agreement pave the way for Reliance with Antonov credited as the manufacturer of largest transport aircraft in the world Reliance and Antonov will jointly bid for the Medium Military Transport Aircraft program of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
• Both companies will also jointlyto work on assembly and manufacture, and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) of Antonov series of aircraft.
• However Reliance Defence and Spetstechno Exports will deal with upgrade programs for the BMP 2 and Armoured Vehicles, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Marine Gas Turbines for the Indian Navy Frigate program in India.

AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

Pakistan Based Swat Activist Tabassum Adnan wins 2016 Nelson Mandela Award

Pakistani activist Tabassum Adnan, who fights for women’s rights, has won the Nelson Mandela – Graça Machel Innovation Award 2016 in the individual activist category.

• Hails from Swat Valley, Pakistan
• Founder of NGO, Khwendo Jirga – the first women-only ‘Jirga’ in Pakistan

Indira Nooyi, Satya Nadella, Bhavesh Patel among highest paid Chief Executive Officers in world

Three Indian born persons are among 100 highest paid CEOs globally

1. PepsiCo’s Indra Nooyi
2. LyondellBasell’s Bhavesh Patel
3. Microsoft’s Satya Nadella

Rankings:

1. Oracle Coporation CEO’s Mark V Hurd and Safra A Catz –$53.2 millio
2. Robert A Iger of Walt Disney – $43.5 million
3. David Cote of Honeywell International – $33.1 million
4. Jeffrey R Immelt of General Electric – $26.4 million
5. Rupert Murdoch of Twenty-First Century Fox – $22.2 million
6. James P Gorman of Morgan Stanley – $22 million

Giant duck-billed dinosaur fossil in China sets world record

A fossilised skeleton of a hadrosaur also called duck-billed dinosaur has been recognized by Guinness World Records as the largest hadrosaurid skeleton on displayin Shandong province of China.

• The Zhuchengosaurusmaximus skeleton measures with1 meters high and 16.6 meters long while the average height and body length of hadrosaurs are four-five meters and six-nine meters.
• Zhucheng is one of the largest dinosaur bone concentrations in the world.At least 10 dinosaur species have been found since 1960s.
• These type of skeleton fossil of Zhuchengosaurusmaximus was dig up during a round of excavations from 1989 and 1991

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNS

Google has hired former Motorola CEO Rick Osterloh to lead the company’s new hardware division

Google has appointed former Motorola CEO Rick Osterloh to head the company’s new hardware division as Senior Vice-President.

• This is in fact the first time the search giant Google has unified all of its product lines under one division.
• This new appointment as senior vice president comes after a two-year service of being the president of Motorala.
• Earlier he was then the senior vice president of Product Management and the general manager of Premium Products for Motorola from 2012 to 2014.

Charles Borromeo resigned from Tata Steel Sports Department

Tamilnadu hailed 1982 Asian Games gold medalist Charles Borromeo head of the Tata Steel sports department has resigned citing personal reasons.

• This resignation comes after the vigilance department officials of the company questioned him in connection with alleged irregularities in tender process of synthetic track laying at the JRD Tata Sports complex.
• He bagged a gold medal of 800 m at the 1982 Asian Games in Delhi and also a part of Indian Olympic commission that took place at Los Angeles in 1984.

Ram kumar leaves ICICI; Vijay Chandok made ED

ICICI bank’s executive director and board member K Ramkumar who is in charge of the Operations Group of the bank and President of ICICI Foundation has taken voluntary retirement from the Mumbai based lender after a 15-year service in the bank.

• Ramkumar will be replaced by Vijay Chandok who has been appointed as ED in the same lender.
• Chandok started his ICICI stint in 1993 and has been with the lender for 23 years, in various roles in the corporate banking, project finance, retail assets and rural and inclusive banking.
• Prior to his new appointment he is currently, in charge of Small and medium enterprises and international banking at ICICI.

ICICI:

• HQ: Mumbai
• CEO: ChandaKochhar
• Tagline:Hum Hai Na, KhyalApka

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

ePaisa spins its digital wallets business into a new mobile application Master-Wallets

Mobile POS solutions company ePaisa launched its digital wallets business into a new mobile application Master-Wallets. Payments would be made into the merchant’s verified bank account.

• The new app enables merchants to accept payments from any digital wallet without having to go through the hassle of opening an account with each and every wallet company.

Master Wallets:

• MasterWallets is currently integrated with nine wallets including Freecharge, Mobikwik, and Ola Money.
• Making Transactions using Master Wallets doesn’t need the merchant to be online and this is likely to help more small shopkeepers adopt it.

China developed world’s first graphene electronic paper

OED Technologies of China has developed the world’s first graphene electronic paper, the new material has been adjudged as the world’s first of its kind.

• OED Technologies developed the paper in partnership with a company in Chongqing Province.
• When it comes to e-papers graphene e-paper is more pliable and has more intensity and its high-light transmittance means optical displays will be much brighter.
• The graphene is derived from carbon, meaning production costs will be much lower than for traditional e-papers, which use the rare expensive metal indium.

Graphene

• It is the strongest and lightest known material in the world.A single layer of graphene is only 0.335 nanometers thick as well as can also conduct heat and electricity.

Online app Adi Praman for tribal caste validity certificate in Maha

Maharashtra Governor Vidyasagar Rao launched Online App called AdiPraman which will enable the tribal populace of the state get the caste validity certificates online. This is the first of its kind in India.

• This application would make the entire process of securing caste validity certificate transparent, fast, and easy and would effectively curb the menace of bogus certificates.
• The application would help the government achieve the goal of inclusion as envisioned under the Digital India Programme.
• Maharashtra government had enabled 147 services online and another 250 would be brought online in future as mandated by the Right to Services Act.

Maharashtra:

• Maharashtra is the third largest state by area in India.

Mobile App namely ‘‘Indian Customs- Guide to Travellers’ launch

Finance Ministry governing Central Board of Excise and Customs has launched mobile app called Indian Customs Guide to Travellers.The app is available on mobile platform such as Android Play store, Apple Store and Windows Store.

• The App has been developed by Bengaluru Customs to inform international travelers who may, inter-alia, be traders/exporters/importers about Customs Baggage rules.
• This app bagged with Customs Baggage Rules of 2016 and entitlements to International passengers. It is user friendly and serves as a useful tool for quick and effective dissemination of information about to clarify doubts and concern of passengers.

ENVIRONMENT

Endangered asiatic wild dogs spotted in China nature reserve

Endangered Asiatic wild dogs spotted in nature reserve in China’s Gansu province have spotted at least nine such dogs or dholes on camera.

• These species are rarely seen in the inland province were spotted by infrared cameras in Yanchiwan National Nature Reserve on Qinghai-Tibet plateau.
• The camera photographs and evidence found will prove to be important material for the research and protection of the species since not much is known about dholes that live across the plateau regions.
• Dholes live in central, south and Southeast Asia. The species are live in south China’s mountains and hills, are under second-class state protection.
• These species have come under International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) segregation of Red List of Threatened Species

SPORTS

Sudha Singh qualifies for Rio Olympics in 3000 m steeple chase event

Sprinter Sudha Singh has booked berth for Rio Olympics by finishing second in the 3000m steeplechase event at the FederationCup in New Delhi.

• In the contest twoother national records were set on the first day, with Dutee Chand in the women’s 100m and Amiya Mallick (Men’s 100m) clocked 11.33 and 10.26 seconds respectively. However Chand narrowly missed out on a Rio slot by 1/100th of a second.
• Maharashtra hailed Babar has already qualified for the Olympics in both the 3000m event and Marathon. She went onto clock a time of 9:27.09 seconds, while Sudha finished with 9:31.86, 14 seconds ahead of the Rio standard (9:45.00).
• Another national record was set in the Men’s 400m event with Rajiv Arokiya clocked 45.47 seconds, 0.7 seconds behind the Rio standard of 45.40.

IMPORTANT DAYS

International Jazz Day 2016

International Jazz Day is observed every year by UNESCO to celebrate the virtues of jazz as an educational tool, and a force for peace and enhanced cooperation among people.

• The day was declared during the UNESCO General Conference in 2011. The first annual International Jazz Day was kicked off in Paris.
• The United Nations and UNESCO now both recognize International Jazz Day on their official calendars.

Host City:

• Washington, D.C. will serve as the International Jazz Day 2016GlobalHostCity. As International Jazz Day celebrates its 5th anniversary this year.
• The city will host a multitude of through thousands of performances and programs, and education programs in schools, libraries, hospitals, community centers and arts.