Current Affairs Daily Digest – April 22 2019
1. MOU signed between Ministry of AYUSH and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the Ministry of AYUSH and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi today for cooperation in research and education in areas of traditional systems of medicine and its integration with modern science. The MoU was signed by Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, Ministry of AYUSH and Dr. Shekhar C. Mande, Director General, CSIR and Secretary, DSIR in the presence of senior officials from both the organizations.
2. Saudi government raises India’s Haj quota to 2 lakh: Sources
The Saudi Arabian government has issued a formal order, notifying increase in Indias Haj quota to 2 lakh from 1.75 lakh, about two months after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman gave the assurance to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This is the third hike in three consecutive years. In 2017, the quota was increased by 35,000 while last year, it was raised by 5,000 to take the number to 1,75,000.
3. CBSE to allow visual aids for disabled kids from 2020
The CBSE students, from 2020, will be allowed to use magnifying glasses and portable video magnifiers during the Class X final examination.
CBSE, notifying the exemption said, “Alternative-type questions will be provided in lieu of questions having visual inputs for visually impaired candidates in social science. With effect from 2020, in lieu of large-font question papers, candidates will be allowed to use magnifying glasses/ portable video magnifiers.”
4. Bhopal gas tragedy among world’s major industrial accidents of 20th century: UN
The 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy which killed thousands of people is among the world’s “major industrial accidents” of the 20th century, a UN report has said, warning that 2.78 million workers die from occupational accidents and work-related diseases each year.
The report released by the the UN labour agency International Labour Organization (ILO) said in 1984, at least 30 tons of methyl isocyanate gas, which was released from the Union Carbide pesticide plant in the Madhya Pradesh capital, affected more than 600,000 workers and nearby inhabitants.
5. Election Commission Launches ‘Voter Turnout’ App for Android
The Election Commission (EC) launched a new mobile application for near-realtime availability of voter turnout during elections across the country.
The beta version of the “Voter Turnout” app, available for Android via the Google Play store, currently shows the state-wise and constituency-wise voter turnout in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena said the app would increase transparency of voter turnout information among public while ensuring easy availability of the same for the media.
6. World Creativity And Innovation Day: 21st April
The United Nations resolved to include World Creativity and Innovation Day, April 21 as a Day of Observance to encourage people to use creativity in problem-solving for all issues related to achieving the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals. 2018 marks the first year the UN will observe WCID.
7. Volodymyr Zelenskiy Wins Landslide Victory In Ukrainian Presidential Election
Comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy won the Ukrainian election by a substantial margin .
Two exit polls showed Zelenskiy winning 73% of the vote, beating incumbent President Petro Poroshenko in the run-off election.
8. Eminent Bengali folk singer Amar Paul dead
Eminent Bengali folk singer Amar Paul passed away Saturday evening in a hospital following a cardiac arrest. He was 97.
Born on May 19, 1922, at Brahmanbaria in present day Bangladesh, Paul had started taking music lessons from his mother Durgasundari Paul.
9. Indian-American Professor Sree Sreenath inducted into Cleveland International Hall of Fame
An Indian-American scientist and social activist has been inducted into the prestigious Cleveland International Hall of fame for his contribution in applications in systems biology, global issues and sustainable development.
Prof Sree Sreenath, a long-time faculty at Case Western Reserve University, was inducted this week into the Cleveland International Hall of Fame, along with five other inductees Dr Akram Boutros, Ingrida Bublys, Paul Burik, Richard Fleischman, and Marilyn Madigan.
The six inductees for the Class of 2019 were selected from among 150 plus nominees through an anonymous process.
10.Earth Day: April 22
Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on April 22. Worldwide, various events are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First celebrated in 1970, Earth Day now includes events in more than 193 countries, which are now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network.
The theme for Earth Day 2019 is to ‘Protect Our Species.’ This theme is created to focus on the destruction caused to plants and wildlife populations mainly due to human activity.
11. India rises to 17th in global startup ecosystem ranking from 37th.
According to data released by StartupBlink, India moved up to the 17th position in 2018 from 37th spot last year in the Startup Ecosystem Ranking for 2019. India ranks 17 globally among 100 countries, based on the strength of its startup ecosystem, according to StartupBlink, which tracks startup ecosystems on a number of parameters.
“The cities with the most vibrant startup ecosystems in India are Bangalore, New Delhi, and Mumbai,” the report said about the Indian ecosystem.
12. Police officer awarded for writing book ‘Samvidhan Kavya’
Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) under the Ministry of Home Affairs has conferred Sunil Kumar Gautam, Special Commissioner of Police (Operations) with “Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant Award” for the year 2018-19 for his book “Samvidhan Kavya” (Constitution of India in Poetic form).
Apart from this, books of four other police officers from across the country who have also written book have been rewarded. The selection of books was done in the meeting of the evaluation committee under the chairmanship of Sudip Lakhtakia, Director General, BPR&D.
The book ‘Samvidhan Kavya’ written by Sunil Kumar Gautam, presents the Indian Constitution in a very simple and poetic form, which makes it intelligible even to the common man. Entire Constitution of India has been written in 238 verses, also mentioning the number of articles.
13. Lorraine Warren, A Paranormal Investigator Passes Away
One of the most well known paranormal investigator, Lorraine Warren passed away at the age of 92. She investigated haunted houses and other manifestation of paranormal activities throughout her life with her late husband Ed. Warren.
Born January 31, 1927, Lorraine Warren and her late husband were involved as key paranormal investigators in several notable cases throughout their careers, including the infamous “Amityville Horror” hauntings, as well as the Annabelle, Perron family and “Enfield Poltergeist” cases that were recreated on the big screen in the Conjuring films.
14. Reliance Retail Became India’s First Retail Company To Cross The Rs.1 Lakh Crore Annual Revenue
The retail venture of Reliance Industries reported an income of Rs 1,30,556 crore for 2018-19, 89% more than the previous year’s Rs 69,198 crore, the company.
Notably, Reliance Retail is the only Indian retailer to be in the top 100 global retailers list and the 6th fastest growing retailer globally as per the Global powers of retailing 2019, Deloitte.
Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Retail also became the first Indian retailer to cross more than 10,000 stores. It operates 10,415 retail stores in more than 6,600 cities and towns, covering an area of over 22 million sq ft, as on March 31.
15. Asian Tea Alliance Launched In China
To boost tea trade, cultural and technical exchanges as well as the global promotion of tea, the Asian Tea Alliance (ATA), a union of five tea-growing and consuming countries, was launched in Guizhou, China.
The members of the alliance are the Indian Tea Association, China Tea Marketing Association, Indonesian Tea Marketing Association, Sri Lanka Tea Board and Japan Tea Association.
16. Services lift Santosh Trophy Football; beat Punjab 1-nil in final
In Football, the Services lifted the Santosh Trophy, beating Punjab 1-nil in the final at Ludhiana. In the first half, both the teams were goal-less. In the second half, Services scored the lone goal and held on till the final whistle.
17. Mountaineer Rama Sengupta Paul passed away
Rama was admitted to the hospital on Mar 15 last after she sustained burn injuries while offering prayer to their house deity.A tryst with rock climbing training courses in Sushunia Hill, organized by Pathikrit and thereafter Himalayan Association in 1971 and 1972 led Rama enter the world of mountaineering.
After completing basic mountaineering course from HMI Darjeeling and then advance courses from both HMI and NIM Uttar Kashi during early 1970s, Rama led the all womaen expedition to Mt. Kedarnath Dome in Garhwal Himalaya. Rama was a member of Indo-Japanese Women expedition to Kamet and Abi Gamin organized by Indian Mountaineering Foudation in 1976.
18. AIFF signs coaching convention with AFC
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has signed a coaching convention with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) focused on coaching rules and methods. It will highlight the regulations and guidelines of coaches’ education.
Coaching convention will help the coaches to manage their schedule in a better way as it will be done in modules and it will also help them to work on their deficiencies during the break. Coaches will also have to undergo assignments which were not there before.
19. Amar Pal, Veteran Bengali Folk Singer, Dies in Kolkata
Renowned Bengali folk singer Amar Pal is no more! A widower, he was 98 at the time of death.
In 1948, Pal came in contact with Sachindranath Bhattacharya, a lyricist empanelled with the All India Radio in Kolkata, and got a chance to sing in the radio.
20. MS Dhoni becomes first Indian to hit 200 IPL sixes
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain MS Dhoni has become the first Indian batsman to hit 200 sixes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Dhoni achieved this feat during his sensational 84-run knock in Sunday’s game against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) which CSK lost by only one run.
21. Nasim Zaidi quits Jet Airways board
Nasim Zaidi, the former Chief Election Commissioner, was a non-executive and non-independent director in the Jet Airways board.
Citing “personal reasons” and “time constraints”, former Chief Election Commissoner Nasim Zaidi has quit the Board of Directors of grounded carrier Jet Airways.
Mr. Zaidi, who was also a former civil aviation secretary, joined the Jet Airways board in August last year as a non-executive and non-independent director.
22. Pakistan launches country-wide anti-polio drive
Pakistan is one of the three countries where polio remains endemic, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria.
Pakistan, one of the three countries where polio is still endemic, launched a country-wide campaign to administer anti-polio drops 39 million children under five years of age.
The campaign aims to provide anti-polio medicine to children in all four provinces as well as Pakistan occupied Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, said national coordinator of polio eradication programme Rana Safdar.
23. Indian athletes win 5 medals on opening day of Asian Athletics C-ships
Indian athletes won five medals on the opening day of the Asian Athletics Championships in Doha. Javelin thrower Annu Rani and 3000-meter steeple chaser Avinash Sable won the silver medals .
Quartermiler M P Poovamma, 5000-meter runner Parul Choudhary and 10000-meter runner Gavit Murali Kumar bagged a bronze each on a day which saw sprint sensation Hima Das suffer a lower back spasm during her 400m heat.
Sprinter Dutee Chand qualified for the semi-finals clocking 11.28 seconds to win the heat number four of the women’s 100-meter race. She bettered her earlier national record of 11.29 seconds which she set last year in Guwahati. M R Poovamma finished second in her 400-meter heat, clocking 52.46 seconds to qualify for the final round.
Other top Indian athletes advanced to the next round of their respective events. They are Jinson Johnson (men’s 800 meters), Muhammed Anas and Arokia Rajiv (both men’s 400 meters), Praveen Chitravel (men’s triple jump) and Gomathi Marimuthu (women’s 1500 meter).
24. Bajrang, Sakshi to lead India’s challenge at Asian Wrestling Championships
Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik and World No. 1 Bajrang Punia will spearhead India’s campaign at the Asian Wrestling Championships starting in Xi’an, China .
Besides Sakshi and Bajrang, Vinesh Phogat would also be vying for top honours during the mega-event.
The championships conclude on the 28th of this month.
