Current Affairs Weekly Updates – April II Week

In Current Affairs 2017
April 20, 2017

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AWARDS AND HONOURS

NAME OF THE AWARD	AWARD WINNER	KEY POINTS TO NOTE
Asian Businesswoman of the Year	Dame Asha Khemka	An Indian-origin educationist in the UK
Shaurya Chakra’ award	Atu Zumvu	He is Nagaland Police
National Geoscience Awards 2016	Keshav Krishna	National Geophysical Research Institute
Pulitzer prize	The Underground Railroad(Book)	Author Colson Whitehead
Honorary Canadian citizen	Malala Yousafzai	Nobel Peace laureate
Krishi Karman Award 2015-16	Himachal Pradesh	For commendable increase in food grains production.
Miss Congo UK 2017	Horcelie Sinda Wa Mbongo	She has HIV-positive at the age of 11
FICCI’s gender parity award	Mahavir Singh Phogat Prathap C Reddy	country’s first gender parity index by Ficci’s Ladies Organisation (FLO)

APPOINTMENTS

NAME	DEPT/FIELD
Smita Sandhane	MD of Saraswat Bank
Mukta Dutta Tomar	India’s Ambassador to Germany
Ajit Kumar Srivastava Shabri Bhattasali	CBDT members
Shiva Kirti Singh	Chairman of the Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT)

INDIAN AFFAIRS

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch a digital exhibition in the national capital to mark the 100th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s Champaran Satyagraha.
National Mission for Clean Ganga has approved 26 projects at an estimated cost of Rs 2154.28 Crore.
The Department of Science and Technology (DST) has initiated a Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) programme. It has been conceived as a ₹3,000-crore exercise that would, at first, take root in some of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), according to officials familiar with the project.
A Kolkata-Khulna-Dhaka bus service was ceremoniously flagged off from Kolkata. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, his counterpart from Bangladesh Smt. Sheikh Hasina and the Chief Minister of West Bengal Smt Mamata Banerjee jointly initiated the ceremony from Hyderabad House in New Delhi.
India has jumped 12 places to 40th rank globally in travel and tourism competitiveness list by World Economic Forum.
The National Basketball Association has announced the setting up of its first basketball school, a network of tuition-based basketball development programmes, in Mumbai.
Mahavir Jayanti, the birth anniversary of 24th and last Jain Tirthankar Bhagwan Mahavir is being celebrated across the country on 09 April 2017.
Minister of State (Independent Charge), for AYUSH Sh. Shripad Yesso Naik, will inaugurate the National Convention on World Homoeopathy Day on 10 April 2017 at New Delhi.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Patanjali Ayurved Limited promoted by yoga guru Ramdev, have decided to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to market array of herbal products developed by the DRDO’s Life Sciences wing – Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR).
Madhya Pradesh government kick-started its ambitious ‘Deendayal Rasoi Yojana’ under which subsidised meals will be available at Rs 5 per plate to people, especially the economically disadvantaged sections of society.
The Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the web portal and mobile application named “Bharat ke Veer” on the occasion of Valour Day of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
Mahavir Jayanti, the birth anniversary of 24th and last Jain Tirthankar Bhagwan Mahavir is being celebrated across the country on 09 April 2017.
Minister of State (Independent Charge), for AYUSH Sh. Shripad Yesso Naik, will inaugurate the National Convention on World Homoeopathy Day on 10 April 2017 at New Delhi.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Patanjali Ayurved Limited promoted by yoga guru Ramdev, have decided to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to market array of herbal products developed by the DRDO’s Life Sciences wing – Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR).
Madhya Pradesh government kick-started its ambitious ‘Deendayal Rasoi Yojana’ under which subsidised meals will be available at Rs 5 per plate to people, especially the economically disadvantaged sections of society.
The Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the web portal and mobile application named “Bharat ke Veer” on the occasion of Valour Day of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
India’s first ever micro-drama festival was held in Delhi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched BHIM-Aadhar pay app that will allow people to make payments without using a smartphone.
President Pranab Mukherjee has gave his nod to the four supporting legislations related to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill after it was passed by both the House of Parliament during the budget session.
The President, Shri Pranab Mukherji led the nation in paying homage to Bharat Ratna Baba Saheb, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar on his 127th Birth anniversary on April 14, 2017.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has laid the foundation-stone for the Rs 100 crore Dr B R Ambedkar Smriti Vanam (memorial park) at Inavolu village, marking the 125th birth anniversary of the architect of Indian Constitution.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched in Nagpur a cashless/less cash township model, developed by Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd (GNFC), across 81 townships in 12 States
With a motive to enlighten children in naxal-affected areas of Jharkhand’s Palamau district, Jharkhand Police has initiated Tare Zameen Par program to encourage children to lead happy lives.
The income-tax department has identified more than 60,000 persons, some of them described as “high-risk”, under the second phase of Operation Clean Money launched to detect the generation of black money after demonetisation.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Union power minister Piyush Goyal signed the ambitious 24×7 ‘Power for All’ agreement in Lucknow.
Similar to that of Uttar Pradesh’s ‘Anti-Romeo Squad’, the Haryana government has launched ‘Operation Durga’ to ensure women safety in the state.
The Narendra Modi government is going all out to spread awareness about the new indirect tax regime, and training and MPs as well as MLAs is being seen as a necessary first step.
Union Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal have dedicated to the nation 4 wind power plants built by NALCO and annuonced an expansion plan for the aluminium major to raise its capacity to 1 MTPA.
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has launched a web portal for insurers that will allow them to register and sell policies online.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated various units of thermal power plants at Koradi, Chandrapur and Parli with a total capacity of 3,230 Mega Watts.
The Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), under the aegis of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, is going to launch its own portal and mobile app on April 17, 2017 by Union HRD Minister Shri. Prakash Javadekar in New Delhi.

CABINET APPROVALS

Cabinet approves setting up of a Special Purpose Vehicle to be called Government e-Marketplace (GeM SPV)
Cabinet approves setting up of Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy (IIPE) at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh
Cabinet apprised of MoU between India and Russia for cooperation in the field of Science & Technology
Cabinet approves MoU on cooperation in the field of justice between India and Tunisia
Lok Sabha passes HIV AIDS Prevention and Control Bill

BANKING AND FINANCE

Canara Bank, a public sector bank, has embarked upon an ambitious project of upgrading the bandwidth at all its branches to 2 Mbps in partnership with BSNL.
HDFC Bank has said its Unified Payments Interface (UPI) will also be available on Chillr, a multi-bank mobile payments app. Currently, UPI is available on HDFC Bank’s own mobile banking app.
Flipkart Ltd will buy eBay’s India business as part of the $1.4 billion deal. The funding round values Flipkart at $11.6 billion, which is lower than its peak valuation of $15 billion but still higher than the valuation it was assigned by some of its own investors last year.
The Kerala-based NBFC Manappuram Finance will launch its own co-branded prepaid card in tie-up with YES Bank.
Amazon India has received the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) approval to launch its own digital wallet in India, paving the way for the American online retail giant to gain a slice of India’s fast-growing digital payments business.
The New Development Bank (NDB) set up by the BRICS countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa plans to issue bonds this year in Indian rupee and Chinese yuan
To prime public sector banks (PSBs) to hold their own against nifty private sector rivals and also prepare them for possible mergers in the future, the Bank Boards Bureau (BBB) has drawn up an elaborate Governance, Reward and Accountability Framework (GRAF).
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued a new set of enabling provisions to resolve the problem of banks’ mounting non-performing assets (NPAs), or bad loans.
The committee report on the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) law’s recommendation for a new fiscal council to monitor implementation comes after studying the examples of 40 other countries, advanced and emerging.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Malala Yousafzai, the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, is to become the youngest United Nations Messenger of Peace. Yousafzai, 19, will be appointed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and will help promote girl’s education around the world as part of her new role.
India and Bangladesh have signed 22 agreements in strategic sectors like defence and civil nuclear cooperation during Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India.
India and Australia have inked six pacts including one aimed at boosting counter-terrorism cooperation after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Malcolm Turnbull in New Delhi.
China executed more people in 2016 than all other nations combined, Amnesty International said, even as death penalties in the world decreased overall.
The Department of Biotechnology and Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology are collaborating with The India-Canada Centre for Innovation Multidisciplinary Partnerships to Accelerate Community Transformation and Sustainability (IC-IMPACTS), to promote multidisciplinary research partnerships.
India and Australia have launched Sports partnership in Mumbai aimed at increasing cooperation in sports.
S. President Donald Trump has signed the U.S. instrument of ratification for Montenegro’s accession to NATO.
Nepal and China will hold the first-ever joint military exercise from April 17 with a special focus on combating terror and disaster management.
The French Minister of State for Transport, Marine Affairs and Fisheries Alain Vidalies signed an agreement with Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu for collaboration in areas such as high-speed and semi-high speed rail, modernisation of current operations and infrastructure, station renovation and operations, suburban trains and safety systems, operations and security.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

NASA announced that the icy moon of Saturn, Enceladus, holds a “food source” for potential life. Not only that, but it’s believed that Jupiter’s moon Europa — another icy world is also spewing water vapour into space.
Last month was the second warmest March in 137 years of modern record-keeping, according to a monthly analysis of global temperatures by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

SPORTS

WINNER	TITLE	SPORT/ VENUE
K Shyam Kumar	Gold at Thailand International	Indian boxer Thailand International Tournament in Bangkok
Lewis Hamilton	Chinese Grand Prix 2017	Formula One
Pankaj Advani	Asian billiards title	He bagged Sixteen-time World Champion
Gayatri and Samiya	Jr Grand Prix badminton	They are National badminton coach Pullela Gopichand’s daughters.

OBITUARY

NAME OF THE PERSON	FIELD
Carmen Chacon	Spain’s first female defense minister
Akhilesh Das Gupta	Former Union Minister
Emma Morano(117)	World’s oldest person
Girish Saxena	Former J&K Governor
Amilcar Henriquez	International football player