Weekly Current Affairs Quiz: April 1st week (01 April – 07 April)

E-visa facility has been extended to the nationals of 161 countries for entry through 24 airports

The deadline to deposit and exchange demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes at RBI for Indian citizens who were abroad during the demonetisation period, ended on March 31, 3017. Notably, NRIs are allowed to deposit such notes till June 30.

The government has launched two mobile apps, echallan and mParivahan, that provide access to various services and information, and enable citizens to report any traffic violation or road accident.

Union Agriculture minister Radhamohan Singh inaugurated the International Centre for Foot and Mouth Disease (ICFMD) at Argul in Khurda district near the capital city on the occasion of Odisha’s foundation day on April 1.

Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan confirmed that his Ministry aimed to implement introduction of Bharat Stage-VI compliant fuel in the country by 2020

Kanha has become the first tiger reserve in India to officially introduce a mascot — Bhoorsingh the Barasingha — to present the hard ground swamp deer as the spirit of the reserve and spread awareness to save it from possible extinction. Barasingha, or swamp deer, is the state animal of Madhya Pradesh.

Rajiv Kumar Chander was appointed India’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations Offices in Geneva.

Former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar launched his Android and iOS app called 100MB. The app has been developed by Pune-based technology firm JetSynthesys.

El Salvador, Central America’s smallest nation, has become the first country in the world to ban metals mining nationwide following a long-running dispute with a Canadian-Australian company over an environmentally questioned gold project.

The second Annual Meeting of the NDB was held in New Delhi, India and a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the presidents of NDB, K.V Kamath and Suma Chakrabarti, President of the EBRD to collaborate and exchange information in recognition of their mutual goal to foster sustainable development and infrastructure in the emerging markets of their respective regions of operations.

The Government of Karnataka received the most supportive government award-2017 at the International Awards ceremony held in Washington, D.C. on March 30. The award was given by WEConnect International, an organization working to identify, educate, register and certify women’s business enterprises based outside the U.S.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 10.89 km long Chenani-Nashri all-weather road tunnel on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.

Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, N Chandrababu Naidu has been selected for another prestigious award. The US India Business Council has selected the CM for award of ‘Transformative Chief Minister’ and Naidu would be receiving coveted award at second annual West Coast summit which to be held in California on May 8.

GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. has launched “Passenger is Prime (PIP)” programme, which would see a host of new initiatives aimed at delivering an enhanced level of service to the passengers using the airport.

P.V. Sindhu beats Carolina Marin to win India Open title

British tennis star Johanna Konta won Miami Open final by defeating Caroline Wozniacki

Whitson made her eighth career spacewalk, surpassing the record of seven previously held by American Sunita Williams.

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI launched in the fourth and final stage of Noor Ouarzazate, the world’s largest solar plant. The Noor Ouarzazate IV power station in the southern province of Ouarzazate, spanned over an area of 137 hectares (1.37 square km), will be set up with over $75 million with photovoltaic (PV) technology

Roger Federer defeated longtime rival Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-4 to win the Miami Open

Present Deputy Governor: B.P. Kanungo, Viral Acharya, S.S. Mundra and N.S. Vishwanathan

The Government has launched PowerTex India, a comprehensive scheme for powerloom sector development, simultaneously at over 45 locations in the country.

Scientists and experts from 49 member countries of the Commonwealth gathered to participate in a five-day forestry conference in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. It is for the second time India is hosting the conference. In 1968, Delhi hosted the event.

The Government of Odisha collaborated with the University of Chicago and the University of Chicago Trust in India to sign a statement of intention April 3, 2017to advance its commitments for new research, knowledge, and capacity-building partnerships.

Miranda House College, Delhi University, has ranked first among top colleges in the country in a list released by the HRD Ministry

SASEC countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, and Sri Lanka

Mega-conference of world parliamentarians held in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Writer

Kishori Amonkar was an Indian classical vocalist.

India’s National squash coach Cyrus Poncha has been chosen for the 2016 Asian Squash Federation Coach-of-the-Year award.

Pop Artist

Kishor Kharat assumes charge as Managing Director and CEO of Indian Bank. Prior to taking up the new role, he was serving as the MD and CEO of IDBI Bank

Mahesh Kumar Jain assumed change as MD and CEO of IDBI bank. Before his role in IDBI, he was the MD and CEO of Indian Bank.

The Centre notified the constitution of the National Board of Electric Mobility (NBEM).

India-UK launch 240 mn pound joint fund for green energy. Share of India= 120 mn pound

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee declared Jhargram as the 22nd district of West Bengal, fulfilling a longstanding demand of its residents. She announced that April 4 will henceforth be celebrated as Jhargram Divas.

Titled “The Entrepreneur’s Guidebook,” the book is authored by Suresh Bharwani, Chairman and Managing Director of Jetking Infotrain Limited.

The Delhi Metro’s solar rooftop plants has become the first of its kind green project to be registered with United Nations on climate change for any metro or railway system in the world. The clean development mechanism project has been registered with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) under the ‘small scale category’ for facilities with an installed solar capacity of less than 15 MW

India has been ranked third for the third year in a row in a doping violation report published by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for 2015, with 117 athletes from the country being punished after testing positive for banned substances.

2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. The National Hockey League will not take part in the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. It would finalize its 2017-18 season schedule without a Winter Games break.

Dawit Isaak, an imprisoned Eritrean-Swedish journalist, has been chosen to receive the 2017 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.

The Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh, at its first Cabinet meeting, announced its decision to waive farmers’ loans worth ₹30,729 crore, writing off all farm loans up to ₹1 lakh.

The famous biennial Thakurani Jatra festival of Berhampur in Odisha got under way late of Sunday night.

London-headquartered professional services firm EY is set to open its first artificial intelligence centre in Mumbai to help its clients figure out the best way to use these emerging technologies.

State Bank of India (SBI) has decided to carve out a new Circle (Jaipur) from the existing Delhi and bifurcate the Hyderabad Circle into Andhra Pradesh (new) and Telangana Circles. As a result of this, the number of Circles under the National Banking Group would increase to 16 from 14 now. The 16 Circles are Ahmedabad, Andhra Pradesh (new), Bengaluru, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Jaipur (new), Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, North-East, Patna, Telangana, and Thiruvananthapuram.

Private sector lender Yes Bank reported $1 billion on its balance sheet at the IFSC Banking Unit (IBU) in Gujarat International Finance Tec City (GIFT). The bank has become the first to achieve milestone of $1 billion mark at the GIFT City.

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved closure of the Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana (MGPSY) which was set up in 2012 to address the social security-related issues of the Emigration Check Required (ECR)-category workers going abroad for employment to ECR countries. The subscription under the MGPSY was very low and no new subscription was received for more than a year. Closure of the scheme will, therefore, obviate the avoidable recurring administrative and record-keeping expenditure.

A 14-day India-Mongolia military training exercise began at Vairengte in Mizoram. Named ‘Exercise Nomadic Elephant – XII’, it is aimed at training troops in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations under the United Nations mandate. It will continue till April 18.

Global services major Quatrro’s Founder Raman Roy will be the Nasscom Chairman and Wipro Board Member Rishad Premji will be Nasscom’s Vice-Chairman for fiscal 2017-18.

Global online payment service PayU India has launched ‘LazyPay’ that provides deferral payment facility and is aimed at those who transact digitally for any amount between Rs 500 and Rs 2,500.

Australia’s Ellyse Perry was named the leading woman cricketer in the world.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has won a clear victory in the country’s presidential election.

The regulator, named Rail Development Authority (RDA), will be based in Delhi with an initial corpus of Rs. 50 crore and will be set up through an executive order later this month. The RDA will act within the parameters of the Railway Act, 1989 and only make recommendations to the Ministry which will take a final call on passenger and freight fares.

According to a new report released by World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), India’s travel and tourism sector ranks 7th in the world in terms of its total contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has extended a $175 million loan to the Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. It is to support construction of high voltage transmission systems to evacuate power generated from new mega solar parks to the interstate grid, and improve reliability of the national grid system

Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant is a joint project between India and Russia in Tamil Nadu.

The Agriculture Ministry joined hands with the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), a wing of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), to geo-tag agricultural assets.

The Union government approved setting up Rail Development Authority (RDA) to recommend passenger and freight fares and set service level benchmarks. The RDA will be set up as an independent regulatory body in New Delhi. The Authority will be set up with an initial corpus of Rs. 50 crore.

India’s largest online marketplace Snapdeal announced a partnership with University of California, Berkeley for the Andhra Pradesh government’s Smart Village Project. Under the partnership, Snapdeal will provide local handloom weavers, direct market access to buyers across the country, through its platform.

India will invest Rs 200 crore to set up 100 more incubators across the country to support start-ups in innovations

S.P. Balasubramanyam has got the NTR National Award for 2012

Hema Malini has got the NTR National Award for 2013.

A new Japanese law that defines cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin, Ripple, Litecoin and others, as a legal payment method has come into force in Japan. According to the new law, all virtual currency exchanges are to be regulated by the Japanese Financial Services Agency.

The FMCG industry has emerged as the highest paying industry in India with an average annual cost to company (CTC) of Rs. 11.3 lakh across all levels and functions, says a survey by Randstad

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to slash clearance time for National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) in an attempt to enhance efficiency of the electronic payment system and add to customer convenience. The NEFT settlement cycle will be reduced from hourly batches to half hourly batches.

South Indian Bank has entered into an agreement with Flyworld Money Exchange to facilitate remittances by Indian expatriates in Australia.

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the first NIMCARE World Health Day Summit 2017 on April 7, 2017 in New Delhi. Organised on World Health Day.

Slogan: Unite for a Healthy Mind

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.

Germany has become the first NATO member to launch a “self-contained” cyber command unit designed to shield IT and weapons systems from growing attacks.
NATO Member Country: 28 member Nations
Headquarter: Brussels, Belgium

State Partner- Karnataka
Country Partner- Russia

ADB- 2017-18 -> 7.4%
ADB- 2018-19 -> 7.6%