Current Affairs Daily Digest – April 1 2019
1. PSLV-C45 successfully launches EMISAT and 28 customer satellites
India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C45) today successfully launched EMISAT and 28 international customer satellites from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR in Sriharikota. This flight marked the first mission of PSLV-QL, a new variant of PSLV with four strap-on motors.
PSLV-C45 lifted off from the Second Launch Pad and injected India’s EMISAT into a 748 km sun-synchronous polar orbit, 17 minutes and 12 seconds after liftoff. After separation, the two solar arrays of EMISAT were deployed automatically and the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network at Bengaluru assumed control of the satellite. In the coming days, the satellite will be brought to its final operational configuration.
2. India finish with 16 gold medals at Asian Airgun Championships
Indian shooters continued their dominance claiming half a dozen gold medals on the final day of the Asian Airgun Championships to sign off with a total of 25 medals in Taoyuan, Taipei. India finished with 16 gold, five silver and four bronze medals. On the last day of the competition, Yash Vardhan and Shreya Agrawal bagged three gold medals each.
Yash finished on top in 10 metre Air Rifle men’s junior event. He then clinched the yellow metal in the team competition with his partners — Keval Prajpati and Aishwary Tomar. Yash scored 249.5, while Keval and Aishwary shot 247.3 and 226.1 for silver and bronze.
Earlier Vardhan and Shreya combined to win the Mixed Team Rifle junior event.
Shreya won the gold in the 10m Air Rifle women’s junior event. She also won the Team gold along with Mehuli Ghosh and Kavi Chakkaravarthy. Shreya’s gold-winning 24-shots ended on an impressive 252.5, while Mehuli settled for individual bronze with an effort of 228.3. Kavi was fourth.
3. Roger Federer lifts his 4th ATP Miami Open title
In tennis, Roger Federer lifted his fourth ATP Miami Open title with an emphatic 6-1, 6-4 win over defending champion John Isner last night. The 37-year-old world number five took the first set in 24 minutes.
In his 50th Masters final, the Swiss fourth seed produced some typically sublime ground strokes and wrapped up the match in an hour and three minutes. It is Swiss player’s 28th Masters title and the 101st overall for a player who has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles.
4. EC clears revised MGNREGA wage rates from April 1
Election Commission has approved a request of the Rural Development Ministry to revise the wages under the MGNREGA scheme from April 1.
The wages paid under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) are linked with the Consumer Price Index for agricultural labourers (CPI-AL) and new wage rates are notified on April 1, the beginning of the new financial year.
The ministry had approached the EC for approval as the model code for the coming Lok Sabha polls is in force. Different states have different wage rates so the increase in wages will also be different. The increase could be up to 5 per cent over and above the current wage.
5. Govt extends PAN-Aadhaar linking deadline by 6 months
The government extended the deadline for linking PAN with biometric ID Aadhaar by 6 months till September 30, as per an official statement. This is the sixth time the government has extended the deadline for individuals to link their Permanent Account Number (PAN) with Aadhaar.
In June last year, the government had said that PAN has to be linked with the biometric ID by March 31.
The CBDT said there were reports that those PANs which are not linked with Aadhaar number by March 31 may be invalidated, following which the matter was considered by the government and the date extended till September 30.
6. Bank of Baroda Becomes 3rd Largest Lender as Dena, Vijaya Bank Merger Takes Effect
State-run Bank of Baroda is catapulting itself for a larger play in the system with the merger of Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank with itself . The government-forced merger, announced last in September, creates the third largest bank in the country after State Bank of India and HDFC Bank.
This is the second merger of state-run banks in the recent years in the banking sector after State Bank had merged five of its associate banks—State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Travancore and State Bank of Hyderabad and also Bhartiya Mahila Bank effective April 2017.
7. Journalist Prafulla Rajguru dead
Veteran journalist and academician Prafulla Rajguru died . He was 82. Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam Speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami, former chief minister Tarun Gogoi and Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia have condoled the demise of the academician-turned journalist.
Rajguru had retired as the head of the department of English from DCB Girls College in Jorhat in 1997.
8. Tesla builds its ‘largest energy storage system in Asia’
In a bid to reduce energy demand and provide emergency backup power to trains in Japan, Tesla has claimed to develop its largest power storage system in Asia.
According to Tesla, it has installed a bank of 42 Powerpacks at a train station in Japan’s Osaka that can provide sufficient backup power to safely move a train and its passengers to the nearest station in the event of a power outage.
9. GRSE Delivers 99th & 100th Warships
Garden Reach Ship Builders and Engineers Ltd., (GRSE) a leading warship building company in the country under the administrative control of the Ministry of Defence delivered its 100th warship to the Indian Navy today, March 30, 2019. This makes GRSE the first Indian shipyard to make and deliver 100 warships to the Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard and Mauritius Coast Guard.
The 100th warship, “IN LCU L-56” was formally “Handed Over” by Rear Admiral V. K. Saxena, IN (Retd).
The 100th warship, a Landing Craft Utility (LCU) named IN LCU L56 is the sixth of an order of eight such vessels from the Indian Navy. The entire design of these LCU Mark IV ships has been developed in-house by GRSE as per requirements specified by Indian Navy.
Earlier in the week, on March 27, 2019, GRSE had handed over its 99th warship, “ICGS Priyadarshini”, an advanced “Fast Patrol Vessel” to the Indian Coast Guard.
10. Reserve Bank of India celebrates its 84th Foundation Day on April 1,2019
The Central Bank of India is celebrating its 84th establishment day today. India’s central banking institution -Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was founded on 1 April 1935 to respond to economic troubles after the First World War. Though originally privately owned, since nationalisation in 1949, the Reserve Bank is fully owned by the Government of India.
The establishment of RBI was recommended by Hilton Young Commission to the then British Government.The Bank was conceptualized as per the guidelines, working style and outlook presented by B. R. Ambedkar in his book titled “The Problem of the Rupee – Its origin and its solution”.
The Central Office of the Reserve Bank was initially established in Calcutta but was permanently moved to Mumbai in 1937.
11. Sawhney takes over as Chief Executive of ICC
The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced that Manu Sawhney will assume the position of Chief Executive with immediate effect.
Sawhney has been working alongside the outgoing Chief Executive David Richardson for the last six weeks to ensure a smooth transition for the organization. Richardson will remain with the ICC until July as originally planned to oversee the delivery of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019.
12. Tripura BJP leader Dilip Sarkar passes away
Senior Tripura BJP leader and five-time MLA Dilip Sarkar died at a private hospital in Delhi after prolonged illness.
Sarkar, 61, a former state PWD Minister in the Congress-Tripura Upajati Juba Samity (TUJS) alliance government between 1988 and 1993, died after suffereing from acute liver disease.
13. Praful Patel set to be first Indian in FIFA Council
Praful Patel will become the first Indian to be elected a member of FIFA Executive Council for a four-year period when elections are held in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) headquarters in Kuala Lumpur .
The executive council is FIFA’s highest decision making body and it has never had an Indian member in the past. Former AIFF president Priyaranjan Dasmunsi was once elected to the technical committee of FIFA.
Patel, who is currently the Vice President of AFC, has decided not to run for a re-election and instead opted to fight for the FIFA body. His place in AFC could be taken by the Pakistan representative.
14. FY19 direct tax collections fall short by Rs 50k cr
Direct tax collections have fallen short by Rs 50,000 crore thereby failing to meet the revised target of Rs 12 lakh crore for 2018-19 fiscal on account of poor personal income tax collections.
the target of personal income tax of Rs 5.29 lakh crore was not met by almost the same shortfall amount of Rs 50,000 crore, which dragged down the direct tax collections for the fiscal 2018-19.
