Current Affairs Today – April 8 2016

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INDIAN AFFAIRS

NE-ASEAN Business Summit commenced in Imphal

Capital city of Manipur, Imphal, has been hosting North East-ASEAN Business Summit 2016at the City Convention Centre.

• The summit has been organized by the Manipur Department of Commerce and Industries in collaboration with Indian Chamber of Commerce and International Chamber for Service Industry.
• The inaugural session of the summit has been officiated by Manipur Speaker Th Lokeshwar Singh while Bangladesh Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed was the chief guest of the event.

Rajasthan becomes the first state in India to clear land title Bill

The Vasundhara Raje-led government has managed to pass the Rajasthan Urban Land(Certification of Titles) Bills 2016 in the state assembly.

• Rajasthan has passed a landmark legislation providing statutory backing to land records, effectively guaranteeing land and property ownership.

‘Gudi Padwa’ festival celebrated in Maharashtra

Gudi Padwa – the Hindu New Year which is commonly celebrated by the Maharashtrians on the first day of the Chaita month of the lunar calendar.

• People in Maharashtra welcome the New Year by worshipping the gudhi and distribute prasad comprising tender neem leaves, gram-pulse and jiggery.
• This is basically a harvest festival which is yet another reason why we celebrate this auspicious festival for Hindus.
• The festival is celebrated among the Maharashtrian folks, the festival has different names in other regions of the country.
• It is known as Ugadi in the state of Andhra Pradesh, Yugadi in Karnataka and Sajibu Nongma Panba Cheiraoba in Manipur.

Festivals of Maharashtra:

Makar Sankrant, Nag Panchami, Gudhi Padwa, Pola, Narali Pournima, Gokul Ashtami, Dussehra, The Banganga Festival, The Elephanta Festival and The Ellora Festival

NRDC signs License Agreement with M/S Nagarjuna Agro Chemicals Pvt. Ltd. for Soil Moisture Indicator of ICAR

Hyderabad-basedNational Research Development Corporation(NRDC) has been appointed as the nodal agency for commercialising licensing the technical know-how for manufacture of Soil Moisture Indicator in the country.

• The formal Licence Agreement was signed by Dr. H. Purushotham, CMD of NRDC and Neeta Zanvar, Director of Nagarjuna Agro Chemicals Ltd.

Soil Moisture Indicator

• Soil Moisture Indicator is a simple and user-friendly electronic device developed by the Sugarcane Breeding Institute, an Institute under the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) System based in Coimbatore.
• According to the Union Ministry of Science & Technology, this initiative of NRDC fillips the Make in India Mission of the Government of India.

Govt. inaugurates ‘Namma Toilet’ in Delhi under Swachh Bharat Mission

Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated Namma Toilet in New Delhi. Under this initiative across the capital at 19 places- Namma toilets were inaugurated by the local municipal councillors.

• This is to give fillip to Centre’s flagship programme Swach Bharat Mission,on behalf the mission targets to establish 5 lakh Public Toilets by October 2 2017.

Features of Namma Toilets:

• Namma model was evolved on the idea of APJ Abdul Kalam, Who had suggested this based on composite materials in 1998.
• The toilet module was pre-fabricated in such way that it could be easily installed onsite in short time. Also has adequate lighting and motion sensor lighting powered by solar panel.
• The toilet was of a single mould without joints and the interiors are seamless with no sharp edges and corners to avoid dust accumulation.

ShaniShingnapur temple allows women inside inner sanctum

After the Bombay High Court had ruled that women cannot be barred from entering the temple ShaniShingnapur temple allows to go into the inner Sanctum.

• In a land mark decision the court said there should be no gender discrimination as far as entering a place of worship is concerned.
• The 400-year-old tradition at the temple in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district has traditionally banned women from entering the shrine’s sacred platform.
• The men were earlier allowed to offer prayers inside the inner sanctum. However, after the controversy over women’s entry unfolded, the temple trust had banned the entry of all.

Famous Temples in Maharashtra

• Siddhivinayak Temple
• Mahalakshmi Temple
• Bhimashankar Temple
• Trimbakeshwar Shiva Temple
• Kailash Temple
• Walkeshwar Temple

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

WHO publicized Global Report on “Diabetes”

On the occasion of World Health Day 2016 that was celebrated on April 7 with theme “Halt the rise: Beat Diabetes”, WHO has released its first Global Report on Diabetes.

Key Highlights of Global Report on Diabetes:

• Persons with Diabetes
• Middle income countries
• Deaths caused by Diabetes
• Types of diabetes
• Premature deaths
• Impacting economically

Shakespeare’s First Folio discovered on Scottish island

A copy of William Shakespeare’s original First Folio, a most sought-after books containing 36 of the Bards plays, has been discovered at a stately home on a remote Scottish island.

• The Shakespeare’s plays, published in 1623, was found at Mount Stuart House on the Isle of Bute.
• The findings are considered as rare and about 230 copies of the First Folio are known to exist. A copy owned by Oxford University sold for £3.5m in 2003.

William Shakespeare’s:

• Shakespeare’s is an Englishpoet, playwright, and widely regarded as the greatest writer in English and the world’s pre-eminent dramatist.
• Tradition has it that William Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616.

BANKING & FINANCE

World Bank initiated “Climate Action Plan”

Washington, D.C. Headquartered World Bank presented its ambitious climate action plan that will help nations to create an additional 30 gigawatts of renewable energy, early warning frameworks and in creating climate smart agriculture investment plans for at least 40 nations.

• The World Bank has set the objective for accomplishing this plan by 2020.
• The plan has been made on the sidelines of landmark Paris Climate Agreement in New York in order to protect the planet for future generations.

Credit Suisse’s “Emerging Consumers scorecard 2016” topped by India

India sat again on the top of the Credit Suisse Emerging Consumer Scorecard 2016. In accordance with the report, Indian consumers stay more optimistic about their present and future funds and moderately low inflation expectations.

• The report by Credit Suisse covered 9 countries.
• India has been followed by China and Saudi Arabia both of which shared the second position.

Federal Bank–Phillip Capital tie-up announced at Singapore

Kochi based Federal Bank has signed pact with Phillip Capital,for managing the NRI Portfolio Investment Scheme (PIS).

• The joint initiative will be add a significant value to the NRI clientele of the bank, particularly those in the non-Gulf cooperation council countries, who can now avail PIS using the wide global network of Phillip Capital and their experience and expertise in providing consistent and world-class customer service.

Portfolio Investment Scheme: PIS is a route designated by the Reserve Bank of India for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) to invest in Indian Equity Markets for purchase of shares and convertible debentures listed on registered stock exchanges in India.

Economy of Kerala from Foreign remittances:

• About 3,000,000 from Kerala are working abroad, mainly in Gulf, The Kerala Economy is therefore largely dependent on remittances.
• The state was the highest receiver of overall remittances to India.

BUSINESS

NTPC suspends power generation from Farakka

NTPC’s 2,100 MW Farakka Super Thermal Power Station in West Bengal had to stop generation, given a declining availability of cooling water from the Farakka feeder canal

• National Thermal Power Corporation to suspend generation at five units of Stage I and II of the Farakka Super Thermal Power Station.This has been done in a phased manner from the late hours of April 1.
• The lone unit now functioning is of 500 MW of stage The situation is not likely to improve in the next 10 days.

NTPC:

• CEO: Gurdeep Singh
• NTPC Limited is India’s biggest power generator with over 31,000 MW
• The NTPC is one of the seven PSUs to have beengranted the elite Maharatna status.

ITC Limited renewed 40-year partnership with Starwood Hotels

ITC business group and US-based Starwood Hotels and Resorts have renewed their partnership to operate 12 luxury hotels in India.

• The Agreement spanning over 4 decades for the luxury hotels are run under two brands the Luxury Collection and Sheraton brand have one hotel.
• Under the agreement three new hotels will come under the Luxury Collection brand in Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Kolkata, taking the total number of tie-ups for hotels to 15.

Starwood Hotels and Resorts:

The group is an American hotel and Leisure Company headquartered in US, According to Starwood Hotels and Resorts’ corporate profile, the SPG program has over 21 million members.

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNS

Vasu to be new TNCA Academy director

Vasu will be appointed as the new director of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) Academy for a period of two years.

• Vasu has been the chairman of the selection panel in the TNCA at the various age-group levels from under-13, to u-19 and u-23.

About D. Vasu:

• Vasu beginning his career as a sharp left-arm pacemen.
• He has played 76 first-class matches, scoring 3001 runs and picking up 240 wickets
• He also worked under former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar in the Talent Resource Development Officer’s (TRDO) wing of the BCCI.
• He was a coach in the BCCI’s Specialist Academy at Bangalore before moving back to Chennai.

Vietnam Parliament approved Nguyen Xuan Phuc as Prime Minister

The Vietnamese parliament  elected Former deputy prime minister of Vietnam  elected Nguyen Xuan Phuc as the 8^th Prime Mininster of Vietname parliament . He was succeeded Nguyen Tan Dung who was removed from office on 6 April 2016.

• Phuh elected with 446 votes out of 490 valid ballots cast by the National Assembly (NA) deputies

Focus points:

• Vietnam Police Chief Tran Dai Quang has been sworn in as the communist country’s president recently
• Capital: Hanoi
• Currency: Vietnamese dong

GoJavas Appointed Amitabh Coomar As Its New CEO

Amitabh Coomar, a former divisional manager for brand marketing at ITC  has appointed as CEO of GoJavas and Jai Vohra, the Head of Marketplace at Jabong.Com will appointed as headof  the company’s Strategy and Planning functions.

• While its chief operating officer Vijay Ghadge has quit the company to start his own venture.

About GoJavas:

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

HP unveils world’s thinnest laptop, business notebook

California based giant HP unveiled world’s thinnest HP Spectre Notebook weighing 1 kg and as thin as 10.4 mm and Elite x3 a 5.96 inch touchscreen device that will enable users to connect seamlessly to a separate screen, mouse and keyboard.

• The third product launched by the company HP Elite Book Folio is the thinnest and lightest business notebook with 4 mm thickness and weighs under 1 kg.

SPORTS

Saina sinks to World No. 8, Srikanth out of top 10 in BWF ranking

India Open Super Series Defeat costs Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth dearly as the top Indian shuttlers slipped down the order in the latest BWF World ranking

• Swiss Open champion, H S Prannoy slumped three places to World No. 22 after losing his opening round match against Thailands Tanongsak Saensom boonsuk in New Delhi.
• However Mr. Ajay Jayaram, who also lost in the opening round, was static at World No. 24.

Kansai Nerolac ties up with Gujarat Lions for IPL Season 9

Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd has signed up with the Gujarat Lions franchise as associate sponsor for the ninth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) which will start on April 9,2016.

• The Gujarat Lions team, which is owned by mobile handset maker Intex and is being captained by Suresh Raina. Gujarat Lions team is one of the two new teams this IPL season, another one is Pune Supergiants owned by businessman Sanjiv Goenka.
• The team has a mix of experienced and fiery young players such as Brendon McCullum, Aaron Finch, Dale Steyn, Dwayene Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja and Under-19 Captain, Ishan Krishnan.

BOOKS & AUTHORS

Arvind Kejriwal launches Emraan Hashmi’s book ”The Kiss of Life How a Superhero and my son defeated cancer”

Delhi CM, Arvind Kejriwal has launched actor Emraan Hashmi’s book titled, ”The Kiss of Life How a Superhero and my son defeated cancer”.

• It is authored by Bilal Siddiqui and Co-authored by Emraan Hashmi. The book has published by” Penguin Books India” in three languages.
• The book tells about the struggle with his six-year-old son Ayaan’s cancer treatment. This book is about hope to all cancer patients who loses their hope.

A State in Denial authored by BG Verghese

A State in Denial – Pakistan’s Misguided and Dangerous Crusade authored by veteran journalist BG Verghese was re-released during a discussion organised by the India International Centre, New Delhi.

• Former union minister Shashi Tharoor described Verghese’s book as the most explicit description of India-Pakistan relations.
• This book was published by Rupa Publications India

OBITUARY

Merle Haggard, country music’s outsider hero, dies at 79

Merle Haggard, one of the most successful singers in the history of country music died at his farm in California on April 6, He was 79.

• Haggard had recently canceled several concerts, saying he had double pneumonia.
• Haggard, a ruggedly handsome performer who strode onto a stage, guitar in hand, as a poet of the common man. Thirty-eight of his singles, including Working Man Bluesand the 1973 recession-era lament If We Make It Through December, reached No. 1 on the Billboard country chart from 1966 to 1987.

Veteran Journalist and Author Yogendra Bali passes away.

Veteran journalist and author Yogendra Bali has passed away. Mr. Bali has served The Times of India as its roving correspondent till retirement.

• Bali was a member of the general council of the Lalit Kala Akademi and a member of its committees on Art Education, Publications, the Triennele and International Exhibitions.
• The books authored by him include ‘The Communal Bogey’ with foreword by late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘Chandra Shekhar: A Political Biography,’ ‘Pawan Chamling: Daring To Be Different,’ and ‘Sri Satguru Ram Singh Ji and Freedom Movement of India’.

IMPORTANT DAYS

International Romani Day – April 8

International Romani Day is celebrated on 8^th April of every year.

• It is a day to celebrate Romani culture and raise awareness of the issues facing Romani people.
• The day was officially declared in 1990 in Serock, Poland.