Current Affairs Today – April 9 2017

Dear Readers, We cover some important news in Current Affairs Today Section, which are not covered in Daily Detailed News, More Current Affairs coverage will help you to Score Good Marks in Competitive Exams.

• Daily Current Affairs
• Try our Current Affairs Quiz 2017
• Read Our 2017 Current Affairs
• Current Affairs 2017 April

Click here to try Current Affairs Quiz : April 9 2017

INDIAN AFFAIRS

The Minister of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Shri Venkaiah Naidu launched 352 housing projects in 53 cities
On April 9, 2017, M Venkaiah Naidu – Union Minister of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation, launched 352 housing projects in 53 cities across 17 States. Mr. Naidu launched these projects at a function in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
Specifications related to these projects:
1.No. Of affordable houses to be constructed: 2 lakh
2.Construction Cost per House: Rs. 15 lakh to Rs. 30 lakh
3.Total Investment: Rs. 38000 crore

National Children’s Film Festival held in Visakhapatnam
On April 7, 2017, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting M. Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated the three-day National Children’s Film Festival (NCFF) at VUDA Children’s Arena in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
i. The opening film of the NCFF is “Shanu – The Optimist”, directed by K.N.T. Sastry and produced by CFSI in 2016.
ii. This event has been organised by the Children’s Film Society India (CFSI) in association with the Government of Andhra Pradesh.

Lucky Grahak Yojana, Digi Dhan Vyapar Yojana mega draw at Rashtrapati Bhavan
On April 9, 2017, President Pranab Mukherjee will draw lots for Lucky Grahak Yojana (3 Mega Prizes for worth Rs. 1 crore, Rs. 50 lakh, Rs. 25 lakh – for consumers) and Digi Dhan Vyapar Yojana (3 Mega Prizes worth Rs 50 lakhs, Rs. 25 lakh, Rs. 12 lakh – for merchants) at a function to be held at Rashtrapati Bahvan.
i. These Mega Prize winners will be felicitated by PM Narendra Modi on 14^th April 2017 in Nagpur on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti.
ii. Till March 30, 2017, 1350000 lucky consumers and 79,519 lucky merchants have received prizes under these schemes.

NMCG approved 26 projects worth Rs 2,154.28 cr for “Namami Gange project”
The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has approved 26 projects worth Rs 2,154.28 crore under the Centre’s ‘Namami Gange’ programme, focusing to reduce the river’s pollution.
i. NMCG will set up sewage treatment plants (STPs) and develop sewage network in four Ganga basin states: Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Delhi.
ii. This amount would be spent  for creation of new sewage treatment capacity of approximately 188 million litres per day.
iii. The NMCG will rehabilitate three existing STPs of 596 MLD-capacity in Delhi, Haridwar (Uttarakhand) and Vrindavan (Uttar Pradesh). Five STPs of 30 MLD-capacity will be upgraded in Uttarakhand.
iv. It also extends for interception and diversion (I&D) works and sewerage network of 145.05 km in length through five projects in Delhi, Haridwar and Bihar’s Patna.
v. The total project cost will be Rs. 899.75 crore and STP capacity of 187.935 MLD.

Vriksh organized India’s first micro-drama festival,Titled “Thespis” in Delhi     
Vriksh is organising the country’s first ever micro-drama festival  , Thespis which is scheduled to be held at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in Delhi. Theatre director is actor Ajith G Maniyan
i. It will present a series of 10-minute plays. The festival is named after Thespis of Icaria, who lived in 6th century BC and was the first actor to perform solo in Greek drama.
ii. The plays are visualized in 10 different languages, including Kashmiri, Rajasthani, Urdu, Punjabi, Oriya, Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi and English.
iii. The festival will be inaugurated by Waman Kendre, director, National School of Drama and open to all.
iv. Thespis will also showcase three plays by children from NGOs such as Saksham (Mohmaya), Deepalaya (Let’s Begin) and TK Soman’s group (Khud Mein Hai Vishwas) 

West Burdwan declared as 23rd district of Bengal
After Jhargram, West Burdwan has declared as 23rd district of West Bengal by West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee as a “Bengali New Year gift to the people.”
i. She also inaugurated a Mishti (Sweet) hub in Burdwan district and she announced that
ii. The new district was craved out of Bardhaman district. It comprises Bardhaman Paschim, Asansol and Durgapur.
iii. 4,500 flats under housing scheme, 24 special need support units, 5 sick neo-natal care unit , 2 multi super-speciality hospitals are being built in the new district.

UP govt to build music village in Bismillah Khan’s honour
The Uttar Pradesh government led by Yogi Adityanath has given its approval to building a music village named ‘Bismillah Khan Sangeet Gram’ to honour of legendary Shehnai player Ustad Bismillah Khan.
i. This project is planned to develop at Varanasi, it will be evolved by Padma Shri Soma Ghosh, the adopted daughter of the legendary shehnai player.
ii. It will have a museum centre, a training-cum-research centre and many other rarities associated with musical ‘gharanas.’
About Bismillah Khan :
♦ Ustad Bismillah Khan was the legendary shehnai player of India.He was born in Bhirung Raut Ki Gali at Dumrao, Bihar.
♦ He was honoured with Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award

BANKING & FINANCE

South Indian Bank & Flyworld Money in pact for transfer of funds
South Indian Bank made an agreement with Flyworld Money Exchange to facilitate remittances by Indian migrants in Australia.
i. NRIs in Australia could enjoy quick and cost-effective remittances to India using the SIB Express facility. Using this facility, NRIs can now remit funds with ease to any commercial bank in India.
ii.  SIB marks the first remittance arrangement with an exchange house in Australia by this agreement. SIB also has a correspondent banking arrangement with National Australia Bank for remittances to India.
iii. Customers as well as non-customers can use this facility through the Flyworld Money Exchange across Australia or use the online platform provided by the exchange house to make remittances to India.
South Indian Bank
♦ Headquarters: India
♦ CEO: V. G. Mathew

AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

Indian-origin educationist Asha Khema in UK named ‘Asian Businesswoman of the Year’
Asha Khemka, an Indian-origin educationist in the United Kingdom (UK) has been named the ‘Asian Businesswoman of the Year’ at the 5th annual Asian Business Awards Midlands, which honours the outstanding achievements of local Asian businesses. The award ceremony was held at Edgbaston cricket ground in Birmingham, UK.
Other awardees at 5th annual Asian Business Awards Midlands

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNS

Anuja dhir becomes  first non-white circuit judge at Old Bailey
Anuja Ravindra Dhir is the youngest circuit judge currently working at Central Criminal Courts in London. She is an Indian origin woman becomes 1^st non-white judge at London Old bailey Court.
Major Highlights:
i. Anuja is the youngest circuit judge working at the court.
ii. She was born in Dundee Scotland to Indian immigrant parents.
iii. Studied at Harris Academy.
iv. She also won a Gray’s Inn scholarship in London and practiced for 23 years as a prosecutor and defense counsel.
v. She had suffered from dyslexic and difficult to read and write.She also studied English and Scots at Dundee University.
History of London Court:
♦ London Court is located in Perth Western Australia.
♦ London Capital of England and United Kingdom.
♦ PM of UK- Theresa May

Smita Sandhane takes charge as MD of Saraswat Co-operative Bank
Smita Sandhane has taken charge as Managing Director of the Saraswat Co-operative Bank  with effect from April 1.
Major Highlights:
i. Smita is the first woman chief of India’s largest urban co-operative bank.
ii. She has been working at Saraswat Co-operative Bank since 1982 .
iii. Sandhane has succeeded S.K. Banerjee who retired from the services of the bank.
iv. K. Banerjee now given a role of Advisor to the bank’s board.
v. She has successfully executed the merger and consolidation plans of three other co-operative banks into Saraswat Co-operative Bank.
vi. She also helps efficiently in substantial recoveries in the NPA accounts of these banks.
History of Saraswat Co-operative Bank:
Saraswat Co-operative Bank is an urban co-operative banking institution based in
♦ Operated as a cooperative bank since 1918.
♦ Founded- 14 Sep 1918.
♦ Successfully launched RuPay EMV Debit cards during 2013-2014.
♦ The Bank has a network of 267 fully computerized branches.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

NASA’s Kepler space telescope discover Venus twin around dim star, Kepler-1649
NASA’s Kepler space telescope have discovered a Venus-like planet orbiting a dim star and located 219 light-years away.
i. This new planet is slightly larger than Earth, and it tightly embrace its low-temperature star called Kepler-1649, encircling it every nine days.
ii. The orbit causes the flux of sunlight reaching the planet to be 2.3 times as great as the solar flux on Earth the solar flux on Venus is 1.9 times the terrestrial value.
iii. Isabel Angelo, a scientist at SETI Institute, research organization in the U.S said that there are several factors, like star variability and tidal effects .These things make different from Earth-sized planets around Sun-like stars.
iv. Even though it look likes Earth, it is only 40 percent closer to the sun. So its atmosphere and surface temperature are different from planet Earth.
About Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)
The SETI Institute is a not-for-profit research organization whose mission is to explore, understand, and explain the origin and nature of life in the universe. It aims for sharing knowledge as scientific ambassadors to the public, the press, and the government.
♦ The Institute consists of three primary centers:
1.Carl Sagan Center – to the study of life in the universe,
2.Center for Education – astronomy, astrobiology and space science for students and educators
3.Center for Public Outreach producing “Big Picture Science 

SPORTS

India win 12 medals at Asian Youth Chess Ch’ship
Indian team stood top at the Asian Youth Chess Championship in Tashkent, 
Uzbekistan. They elevated our country with 12 medals, including four gold medals.
List of Indian gold medalist
1.Aakanksha Hagawane (Under-18 Girls),
2.Erigaisi Arjun (Under-14 Open),
3.Jishitha D (Under-14 Girls) and Sahithi Varshini M (Under-10 Girls).
List of Indian silver medalist
1.Sai Vishwesh C (Under-18 Open),
2.Jyothsna L (Under-14 Girls), Rakshitta Ravi (Under-12 Girls),
3.B Savitha Shri B (Under-10 Girls) and A R Ilamparathi (Under-8 Open).
List of Indian Bronze medalists
1.Rohith Krishna S (under-12 Open),
2.Divya Deshmukh (Under-12 Girls) and Tanmay Jain (Under-10 Open)
India topped the medal tally with 12 medals followed by Uzbekistan (10).

Lewis Hamilton wins Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix for Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes team bounced back from defeat against Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in Australia, the German failing to present a major challenge this time.
i. Lewis Hamilton has picked title against Sebastian Vettel at the top of the Formula One championship in China.
ii. Hamilton claimed his fifth win here in Shanghai after leading every lap in the inclement conditions as Vettel, who took the flag in Australia a fortnight ago, recovered from fifth to finish six seconds loose of his title rival.
iii. Verstappen finishe his line by third place and Ricciardo settled for fourth place, while Raikkonen led recovering compatriot Bottas in fifth.

Indian Olympic Association grants affiliation to Boxing Federation of India
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has granted affiliation to the Boxing Federation of India (BFI),  a long-standing tie made between the two bodies.
i. The IOA stated in a letter to BFI President Ajay Singh , as per the directives of the International Olympic Committee vide their letter dated February 7, the IOA grants affiliation to the BFI subject to ratification by the Executive Council/General Body of the IOA.
ii. Now the BFI becomes fully recognized one for Indian boxing, having already been granted affiliation by International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) and the Sports Ministry.
Short view of The Indian Olympic Association (IOA)
The Indian Olympic Association is responsible for selecting athletes to represent India at the Olympic Games, Asian Games and other international athletic meets ,for managing the Indian teams at the events and also responsible for selecting athletes to represent India at the Commonwealth Games.
♦ Created on – 1927
♦ Headquarters – New Delhi, India
♦ President – N Ramachandran
♦ Secretary General -Rajeev Mehta
About  International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA)
The International Boxing Association, referred to as the AIBA ( Association Internationale de Boxe Amateur)  sanctions amateur (Olympic-style) boxing matches and awards world and subordinate championships.
♦ AIBA has been trying its own professional version of boxing for boxers would retain their Olympic eligibility, through the team tournament league known as World Series of Boxing and AIBA Pro Boxing.
♦ Formed on – 1946
♦ Headquarters – Lausanne, Switzerland
♦ President – Dr Wu Ching-kuo

2017 Malaysia Super Series Premier –Overview
The 2017 Malaysia Super Series Premier was the third super series tournament of the 2017 BWF Super Series. The tournament was held in Kuching , Malaysia.
 Highlights of the series:
i. It was started from 4^th of April to 9^th of April 2017.
ii. Venue- Stadium Perpaduan.
iii. Total Prize money- US$ 6,00,000
iv. Level- Super Series Premier

History of Malaysia Super Series
Malaysia Super Series is an annual badminton tournament that has been held since 1937.
♦ It became one of the BWF Super Series tournaments beginning in 2007.
♦It has been played in various locations such as Johor Bahru, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, Penang, Selangor and Kuantan.