Current Affairs April 1, 2018

Transcription

1 Current Affairs April 1, 2018 S.No Topic Page Number 1 Important Days 2 2 World News 3 3 National News 4 4 State News 5 5 Banking & Economy 6 6 Sports 7 7 Awards & Honours 8 8 Appointments & Resignations 9 9 Science & Technology Obituaries 11 1

2 Important Days Utkal Divas or Orissa day People across Odisha celebrated Utkal Divas on 1st April 2018 to commemorate the formation of the state in Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik extended his greetings and paid tribute to those who sacrificed their lives for the formation of a separate state which was carved out of a combined Bengal-Bihar-Odisha province on April 1, Sand artist Sudarsan Patnaik created a special sculpture at the Puri beach marking the occasion. 2

3 World News South Korea, US began joint military drills South Korea & US have kicked off their annual joint military exercises after they were delayed about a month for Olympics. Foal Eagle field exercise, which involves combined ground, air, naval & special operation troops, will continue for a month while the computer-simulated Key Resolve is scheduled for 2 weeks. The two drills would involve 23,700 US troops & 300,000 South Korean forces. Trekking trail for differently-abled, elderly Nepal has launched its first accessible trekking trail in Pokhara city for the differentlyabled and the elderly. The trail was inaugurated as a part of 3 day international conference on Accessible Tourism held for the first time in the Himalayan nation. Accessible tourism is an emerging concept to ensure that tourist destinations, products and services are accessible to all people. World s second largest mobile phone producer As per the information shared by Indian Cellular Association, India is now the second largest mobile phone producer in the world after China. Annual production of mobile phones in India increased from 3 million units in 2014 to 11 million units in India replaced Vietnam to become the second largest producer of mobile phones in

4 National News Delhi becomes first city to roll-out Euro VI fuel With an aim to combat the rising levels of air pollution in Delhi-NCR region, petrol pumps in the capital from 1st April 2018 started supplying ultra-clean Bharat Stage VI grade fuel (both petrol and diesel). This move makes New Delhi the first city in the country to switch from BS-IV grade fuels to BS-VI (equivalent to fuel meeting Euro-VI emission norms). Other cities like Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Faridabad along with 13 major cities, including Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune, will also switch over to cleaner BS-VI grade fuel from January 1 next year. However, BS- VI fuel will be rolled out in rest of the country by April India gets first US LNG shipment at Dabhol, Maharashtra India received its first LNG cargo from the US under a long-term supply deal when a ship carrying super-cooled natural gas arrived at Dabhol in Maharashtra. The first cargo from the project arrived at Dabhol, the cite of India s biggest gas-fired power plant. Petroleum Minister inaugurates World-Class Interpretation Centre and Tourist Amenities Union Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, inaugurated the world-class Interpretation Centre and tourist facilities at Konark Sun Temple at Konark which coincides with Utkal Divas celebrations in Odisha. Addressing the gathering on the occasion, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan complimented The IndianOil Foundation (IOF), a non-profit trust fully funded by IndianOil Corporation (IndianOil), under the aegis of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, for developing the visitor-friendlyinfrastructure and associated facilities, including a state-of-theartinterpretation Centre that showcases the unique architectural features of Konark Sun Temple. 4

5 State News BJP President Amit Shah alleges, Congress failed to deliver on all fronts in Karnataka BJP President Amit Shah expressed that his party will gain an absolute majority in Karnataka Assembly elections. Addressing a press conference in Mysuru today, he said that a strong anti-incumbency is seen against the Congress government in the state. He pointed out that a progressive state with strong IT sector like Karnataka does not have 24 hours electricity, water supply, and health infrastructure is in shambles. He more than 3,500 farmers have committed suicide, women are unsafe and investments have slowed down. He accused the Congress of using Karnataka as an ATM to fill its coffers. He also accused Congress of doing politics in giving minority status to Lingayats. Kerala to host Asia s largest startup conclave Asia s largest startup ecosystem congregation, Huddle Kerala, will be held at Kovalam on April 6 & 7. The initiative is envisaged to provide a platform for start-ups to pitch their products & interact with a wide array of technology & industry leaders from around the world. It will primarily focus on emerging sectors like blockchain, cryptocurrency, IoT, VR among other latest technologies. 5

6 Banking & Economy Allahabad Bank cuts lending rates by 45 bps Allahabad Bank has reduced the base rate and benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) by 45 basis points each. The Bank has slashed base rate to 9.15% from 9.60%. BPLR has been brought down to 13.40% from 13.85%. The reduction in the rates will lower EMIs for its borrowers. Allahabad Bank is a nationalised bank with its headquarters in Kolkata, India. Kotak becomes first bank to roll out AI-run voicebot Kotak Mahindra Bank has launched the country s first artificial intelligence-powered voice-bot Keya in the banking sector. Keya uses automatic speech recognition, natural language understanding and text-tospeech technology. The voice-bot uses natural language understanding to navigate the customer directly to the destination where he can get his issue resolved. Rivigo Ties Up With IDFC, YES Bank, For Truck Loans Rivigo, a homegrown logistics start-up that owns as well as acts as an aggregator of trucks is tying up with YES Bank, IDFC, and 10 other financial institutions to make cheaper funds available to truck owners and operators on its platform. The funds will be available at an interest rate of 1-2 percent per month, lower than the usual industry standard of 2-3 percent. 6

7 Sports ISSF Junior World Cup: Muskan Bhanwala Wins Gold Indian shooter Muskan Bhanwala clinched the gold medal in women s 25m pistol event at the ISSF Junior World Cup in Sydney, Australia. The 16-year-old Muskan beaten China s Qin Sihang and Thailand s Kanyakorn Hirunphoem. India thus upstaged China with 22 medals, including nine gold. India has also five silver and eight bronze medals. Pathan joins J&K in player-cum-mentor role Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association has appointed former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan as the coach-cum-mentor of its senior state side for season. He will be the coach-cum-mentor of J&K team for a period of 1 year. Pathan played 29 Tests, 120 ODIs & 24 T20 for India b/w 2003 & He will also be holding coaching clinics in various parts of J&K for the development of the game. 7

8 Awards & Honours Mithali Raj adjudged Sportsperson of the Year Indian women s cricket team captain Mithali Raj was adjudged Sportsperson of the Year while ace shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and P V Sindhu bagged the best senior male and female athletes at the Telangana Sports Journalists Association annual awards for Pullela Gopichand was given best coach of the year award while triple Olympian and former national Hockey player N Mukesh Kumar was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement award at the event. 8

9 Appointments & Resignations Ajit Singh is new head of BCCI's Anti-Corruption Unit BCCI has appointed former Rajasthan Director General of Police Ajit Singh as the head of its Anti-Corruption Unit. He will replace former Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar. He will take charge of the office ahead of IPL and will be based out of BCCI headquarters in Mumbai. He has served Indian Police Service for 36 years & has headed the anti-corruption bureau of Rajasthan for 4 years. 9

10 Science & Technology China s Tiangong-1 space lab set to hit Earth China s Tiangong-1 or Heavenly Palace space station is set to re-enter Earth s atmosphere b/w March 31 & April 1. Scientists have underlined that the danger of Tiangong-1 being hit by falling debris is tiny, as the structure is likely to burn up in the atmosphere during its re-entry In 2011, China launched Tiangong-1 as a prototype for Beijing s goal of establishing a permanent space station 10

11 Obituaries Veteran movie director Rajendran passes away Veteran movie director C.V.Rajendran, who was ailing for sometime, has passed away at the age of 81. His career as a director began with the film Anubhavam Pudhumai. He has also made films in other languages like Dulhan (Hindi), Thrimurthy (Kannada), and Chiranjeevi (Telugu). He brought together Sivaji Ganesan and Jayalalithaa and introduced Prabhu. 11