Dear Friends,

Welcome to the Quick Gyan (QG) Section of D2G. QG is just a glimpse of what happened today all over the world.

Only For Serious Candidates : We strongly recommend you to read the Current Affairs in detail. For your convenience, we have provided quick links under the updates. Make use of it.

Always Keep Yourself Updated!!!

APPOINTMENTS

PC Thakur appointed as Director General, Fire Services, Civil Defence and Home Guards

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of PC Thakur, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the 1979 batch (Gujarat cadre), as Director General, Fire Services, Civil Defence and Home Guards (FS,CD&HG).  The appointment is for a period upto the date of his superannuation, that is 31.12.2016, from the date of assumption of the charge or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

An IPS officer of 1979 batch, Thakur will be the third senior officer from Gujarat to be shifted to Delhi in the past one year, after A K Sharma, who was appointed as CBI joint director, and A K Asthaana, who recently joined him as additional director.

Quick Link – PC Thakur as Director General

INDIAN AFFAIRS

Indian Army Conducts Battle Exercise ‘Shatrujeet’ In Rajasthan

With about 30,000 soldiers in action, the Indian Army is conducting a major Exercise SHATRUJEET by the elite STRIKE 1 in deserts of Rajasthan near to the border with Pakistan. The sole purpose of the exercise was to evaluate the capability of the Indian Army and fine tune its proactive war strategy to respond swiftly to any threat to nation’s security.

Several infantry armoured and artillery formations will take part in the operations being conducted under a simulated nuclear, biological, chemical warfare environment. Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag will review the final phase of the exercise. It is intended to allow India’s conventional forces to perform holding attacks in order to prevent a nuclear retaliation from the enemy.

Quick Link – Shatrujeet

Delhi Government has banned sale of all forms of Chewable Tobacco for 1 year

The Delhi Government has banned the sale, purchase and storage of all forms of chewable tobacco, including “gutkha, pan masala, khaini and zarda for one year. The Department of Food Safety issued a notification in this regard which says that unpackaged products of chewable tobacco, too, are covered under the ambit of the ban.

The earlier notification issued by the government for prohibition of tobacco products had specified “gutkha” but missed out on raw components. Realising the loophole, the city government tweaked the notification extending the ban to unpackaged products of chewable tobacco as well.

Quick Link – Banned sale of Chewable Tobacco

Maneka Gandhi inaugurates Regional Conference of North Eastern States on Child Adoption

The Minister of Women & Child Development, Maneka Gandhi will inaugurate tomorrow a major One Day Regional Conference with North Eastern States in Shillong on the issues relating to Child Adoption. The Ministers In-charge of Social Welfare and Women & Child Development in the North Eastern States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura will participate in the conference.

The conference has been organised with a view to:

(i) Familiarise the stakeholders with the adoption programme in North Eastern States about the provisions relating to adoption under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

(ii) Orient them about the provisions of Adoption Guidelines – 2015 as well as the online adoption process through Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System (CARINGS).

Quick Link – North Eastern States on Child Adoption

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

India, Afghanistan and Iran finalize draft of Chabahar Trilateral Agreement

The second technical meeting on Chabahar Transit and Transport Agreement was held in India and provided the draft for the tripartite agreement among Iran, India and Afghanistan. This was a very tight matter for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s diplomacy as it involved two rival Islamic nations, both rich in energy resources.

Aiming to form international transport and transit corridors among the Republic of India, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran, the second technical meeting on Chabahar Transit and Transport Agreement dealt with incomplete issues of the first meeting held in Tehran in September 2015.

Quick Link – Chabahar Trilateral Agreement

US court slaps 940 million dollars fine on two Tata group companies

A Wisconsin federal jury has slapped a $940 million penalty, including $700 million in punitive damages, on Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for allegedly stealing healthcare software from an American company, Epic Systems. The verdict is one of the most adverse handed down to an Indian company abroad. The software giant said it would appeal against it, as it can within 30 days of the trial judgment under US law.

• Epic Systems, a US based electronics medical records vendor, had accused TCS of stealing documents and other confidential information tied to the software it builds for healthcare companies to manage billing, insurance benefits management and referral services.
• It said a TCS employee reviewed Epic’s intellectual property under the pretence of doing consulting work for Kaiser Permanente, the largest managed health care company in the U.S, and in doing so downloaded Epic’s proprietary software to help build a rival system.
• Epic alleges that TCS contractors accessed Epic’s internal network to download the entire suite to help TCS build a competing product called Med Mantra.

Quick Link – $940 million penalty on Tata

A powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Ecuador

A major earthquake hit Ecuador’s central coast, killing at least 77 people as it buckled homes and knocked out power in a city hundreds of miles away. Northwestern coastal areas nearest the quake were worst affected, including Pedernales, a tourist spot with beaches and palm trees, and nearby Cojimies. Information was scant from there due to poor communications and transport chaos.

A state of emergency is in effect for six provinces, Provinces under a state of emergency are Guayas, Manabi, Santo Domingo, Los Rios, Esmeraldas and Galapagos. The government said that, About 13,500 security force personnel were mobilized to keep order around Ecuador, and $600 million in credit from multilateral lenders was immediately activated for the emergency.

The country sits on the so-called “Ring of Fire” – the arc of high seismic activity that extends right around the Pacific basin. At its location, Ecuador fronts the boundary between the Nazca and South American tectonic plates.

Quick Link – 7.8-magnitude earthquake

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Scientists discovered traces of Iron Isotopes of Supernova on Moon

A recent discovery by scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) found traces of iron isotopes in samples from the moon, similar to those found on our ocean floor, leading them to believe that it came from the same supernova explosion.

• A supernova, according to NASA, is a star’s explosion that happens at the end of its life cycle. Stars are basically made up of hydrogen and once it is all gone, they implode and create new elements.
• When it gets to the right, massive size, a supernova takes place, It’s the biggest explosion yet in space that spews out different isotopes everywhere.
• It is believed that around two million years ago, a supernova explosion occurred somewhere near our solar system. Gunther Korschinek, a physicist at TUM, believes that it occurred only around 300 light years away.
• A unique iron isotope, 60Fe, was found in samples of deep-sea crusts and ocean sediments from the Pacific Ocean. Now, scientists said they detected high concentrations of 60Fe on lunar samples as well.
• This research from TUM involved samples gathered during the Apollo lunar missions 12, 15 and 16 between 1969 and 1972, which brought the lunar material to Earth for further study.

Quick Link – Iron Isotopes of Supernova on Moon

World Hemophilia Day 2016

Every April 17, World Haemophilia Day is recognised worldwide to increase awareness of haemophilia and other inherited bleeding disorders. This is a critical effort since with increased awareness comes better diagnosis and access to care for the millions who remain without treatment.

World Haemophilia Day was started in 1989 by the World Federation of Haemophilia (WFH) which chose to bring the community together on April 17 in honour of WFH founder Frank Schnabel’s birthday. World Federation of Haemophilia headquarters in Montreal, Canada

Quick Link – World Hemophilia Day

Supercomputer Param Kanchenjunga unveiled at NIT Sikkim

The supercomputer, named ‘Param Kanchenjunga’, was formally unveiled by Sikkim Governor Shrinvas Patil at the NIT Sikkim campus at Ravangla in South Sikkim District. The National Institute of Technology (NIT) Sikkim has clinched a rare distinction of having a supercomputer, which is said to be the most powerful and fastest among all the 31 NITs.

Pune-based, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing ‘C-DAC’ and the NIT Sikkim have jointly established the supercomputer at a cost of Rs. Three crore. The supercomputer is expected to help achieve excellence in engineering education and research in the north-east region.

Quick Link – Param Kanchenjunga

SPORTS

Mary Kom named AIBA ambassador for Women’s World Championship

Mary Kom has been named as one of the eight ambassadors for the upcoming World Championships by the International Boxing Association (AIBA). An elated Mary Kom (51 kg), who has won five World Championship gold medals. She said that “It’s a great honour for me as an Indian. This title means that I will be representing international boxing and this is an honour which is not given to everybody,”

The AIBA-appointed ambassadors for the World Championship also include Nicola Adams of Great Britain, Team USA’s light flyweight Marlen Esparza, Adriana Arauja from host country of this year’s Olympic Games Brazil, Bulgaria’s Stanimira Petrova and Morocco’s Khadija Mardi.

Quick Link – Mary Kom as AIBA ambassador

Dipa becomes first Indian woman gymnast to qualify for Olympics

Dipa Karmakar has created history by becoming the first Indian woman gymnast to qualify for Olympics as she booked a berth for the Rio Games after a strong performance at the final qualifying and test event. The 22-year-old garnered a total score of 52.698 points in the Olympics qualifying event to book a berth for artistic gymnastics in Rio Games.

• Apart from being the first Indian woman, she will also be an Indian gymnast qualifying for the quadrennial extravaganza after 52 long years.
• Since the independence of the country, 11 Indian male gymnast have taken part in the Olympics (two in 1952, three in 1956 and six in 1964) but this will be the first for an Indian woman at the Olympics.
• The International Federation of Gymnastics (Federation Internationale de Gymnastique) has confirmed Dipa’s Rio Games qualification.
• Dipa has been listed as the 79th gymnast among individual qualifiers in the list of women’s artistic gymnast who have qualified for the Rio Olympics.
• Dipa had created history by becoming the first woman gymnast to win a medal — a bronze — in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014.

Quick Link – Dipa becomes first Indian woman gymnast

Formula One : Nico Rosberg wins 2016 Chinese Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg extended his championship lead over Lewis Hamilton with a thumping victory in the Chinese Grand Prix. Hamilton, who started from last after his engine expired in qualifying, stopped five times in a race brimming with drama, and eventually crossed the line in seventh place. It means that Rosberg, who has become only the fourth driver in the sport’s history to win six races in succession – a streak that stretches back to last year – now holds a 36-point lead over Hamilton.

Quick Link – Chinese Grand Prix

Australia won Sultan Azlan Shah Cup

World champions Australia overwhelmed India 4-0 to lift their ninth Sultan Azlan Shah Cup title on april 16, 2016 at Azlan Shah Stadium in Malaysia’s west coast city of Ipoh. Australia, record eighth time champions, started as the obvious favourites, but an rejuvenated Indian side made sure to pose a strong challenge for the title.

Some key facts:
• In the last five years, the tournament was won by either Australia or New Zealand.
• India has previously won the title five times – in 1985, 1991, 1995, 2009 and 2010.
• India won the title last in 2010, when they beat South Korea in the final

Quick Link – Sultan Azlan Shah Cup

OBITUARY

Renowned Malian photographer Malick Sidibe passed away

The pioneering Malian photographer Malick Sidibe, has died aged 80. He is known for his black and white studio portraits that captured the lives of young Malians in the 1960s and 1970s.

• Critics say his photos of Mali’s post-colonial period helped people see the West African nation in a new light.
• In 2007, he became the first African winner of the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the Venice Biennale.
• Sidibe has work in several private and public museums around the world.
• He became famous around the world after holding his first exhibition in France in 1996.
• He was also honoured with a Hasselblad Award, a lifetime achievement award from the International Center of Photography and a World Press Photo prize.

Quick Link – Malick Sidibe passed away

Thank you 🙂 🙂 🙂