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APRIL 1

INTERNATIONALIndia becomes associate member of IEA India, world’s 3rd largest energy consumer has joined International Energy Association (IAE) as

associate member. India will also now have a greater say in global energy issues. With India as a associate member, IEA now formally covers 70% of the world’s energy consumption,

thus increasing its relevance. India’s participation will enrich the energy efficiency and renewable sectors of IEA members and other

countries. India will gain from IEA’s data gathering processes, survey methodologies and range of energy data,

which will enable India in the near future to set up its own robust integrated database agency. It also gives an opportunity to India to be the voice of the developing world and represent the interests

of the emerging markets. It will enable India to be involved in the key committees and dialogues of theIEA.

About International Energy Association The International Energy Agency (IEA) is a Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental organization

established in the framework of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)in 1974 in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis.

The IEA was initially dedicated to responding to physical disruptions in the supply of oil, as well asserving as an information source on statistics about the international oil market and other energysectors.

The IEA has a broad role in promoting alternate energy sources (including renewable energy), rationalenergy policies, and multinational energy technology co-operation.

IEA member countries are required to maintain total oil stock levels equivalent to at least 90 days of theprevious year's net imports. At the end of July 2009, IEA member countries held a combined stockpileof almost 4.3 billion barrels (680,000,000 m3) of oil.

On 1 September 2015, Fatih Birol took office as the new Executive Director, succeeding in this positionformer Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs, Maria van der Hoeven.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak Visits India Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is on a 6-day visit to India. This year marks the 60th anniversary of formal diplomatic relations. Malaysia’s father of independence,

Tunku Abdul Rahman, visited India in 1962. India and Malaysia signed their strategic partnership in 2010. India has trained Malaysian pilots for the

Russian SU-30 aircraft.

NATIONALSBI gets new logo and enters in the league of top 50 Global Banks From April 1, the associate banks which will be merging with State Bank of India will sport the lender's

signage and logo, with its iconic keyhole set against the background of inky blue. On the design, “SBI” legend will be seen in white colour and will be written in a new font called Effra. As per the Reserve Bank of India, all branches of the associate banks will function as branches of SBI

from April 1, 2017. With The merger, State Bank of India will enter the league of Top 50 Global Banks with a balance

sheet size of Rs. 41 trillion.

Cabinet approves ratification of 2 ILO conventions on prohibiting child labour The Union Cabinet has given its approval for ratification of two fundamental conventions of

International Labour Organization (ILO) concerning with Child Labour. They are Minimum Age Convention (No 138) and Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (No 182).

Now these conventions will be legally binding.


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Minimum Age Convention (No 138) or Convention 138: It is concerned with minimum age foradmission to employment. So far, it has been ratified by 169 countries.

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (No 182) or Convention 182: It is concerned with theprohibition and immediate action for elimination of the worst forms of Child Labour. It has beenratified by 180 countries.

ECONOMYProject Saksham: The Government has approved Rs. 2,256 crore outlay for Project Saksham to bolster the information

technology network for the new GST regime. Project Saksham is the name given to CBEC’s IT Infrastructure Project. This IT Infrastructure project

will enable not just the implementation of Goods and Services tax (GST) but also support all existingservices in Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax.

In addition, it will also enable extension of the Indian Customs Single Window Interface for FacilitatingTrade (SWIFT) and other taxpayer-friendly initiatives under Digital Indian and Ease of Doing Businessof CBEC.

It will enable setting up of an information exchange mechanism with GSTN through the use ofpre-agreed Application Programming Interface (API) or other secure methods of message exchange.

Axis Bank ties up with Wells Fargo for US remittances Axis Bank has tied up with Wells Fargo (the third largest American bank by assets) to offer real-time

remittances from the Indian diaspora to their relatives back home. Under the arrangement between the two banks, any member of the Indian diaspora with an account with

the Wells Fargo will be able to transfer money to their relatives back home and there will be notransaction fee applicable to the money transfers from the USA. But the relative or the beneficiary inIndia will need to have an account with Axis Bank.

Kotak Mahindra Bank launches 8-11 app to double customer base Kotak Mahindra Bank has launched the '811 banking app' which is part of the lender's vision to double

customer base in 18 months. Customers will be able to open an account on the 811 banking app with zero balance. Only Aadhaar and PAN card would be required to open 811 account which would provide access to

over 100 features on mobile. The account offers up to 6 percent interest rate on savings deposits.

ENVIRONMENT,SCIENCE AND TECHBarmer-Munawab, Pipad Road-Bilara rail routes declared as Green Corridors The North Western Railway has declared the Barmer-Munawab and Pipad Road-Bilara rail routes in

Rajasthan as Green Corridors. With this total number of green corridors has increased to five. The 114-km-long Manamadurai– Rameswaram stretch of Southern Railway was India’s first ‘Green

corridor’. Okha-Kanalus and Porbandar-Wasjaliya railway sections of Gujarat also have been declared green

corridors.About Green Corridor The Green Corridor ensures zero toilet discharge on rail tracks as part of its commitment to clean

environment under the ‘Swachh Rail-Swachh Bharat’ initiative. Trains in the section have been equipped with bio-toilets to ensure zero discharge of human waste on

the rail tracks and preventing corrosion of the tracks.

IMPORTANT DAYS82nd Establishment Day of RBI- 01st April 2017 The Reserve Bank of India is the central bank of the country. The Reserve Bank of India was set up on the basis of the recommendations of the Hilton Young

Commission. The Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 (II of 1934) provides the statutory basis for thefunctioning of the Bank, which commenced operations on April 1, 1935.


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Burma (Myanmar) seceded from the Indian Union in 1937 but the Reserve Bank continued to act as theCentral Bank for Burma till Japanese Occupation of Burma and later upto April 1947. After thepartition of India, the Reserve Bank served as the central bank of Pakistan upto June 1948 when theState Bank of Pakistan commenced operations.

The Bank, which was originally set up as a shareholder's bank, was nationalized in 1949.

BOOK RELEASERailway Minister released Book Titled 'Indian Railway- The weaving of a National Tapestry' Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu released the book titled 'Indian Railway- The

weaving of a National Tapestry' jointly authored by Shri Bibek Debroy (Member, NITI Aayog) ShriSanjay Chadha (Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce) & Ms. Vidya Krishnamurthi.

The theme of this book is the historical development of railways in India, organized into chaptersdealing with different periods of development in chronological order.

In addition, Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhu also launched Hi-speed free Wi-Fi services for thevisitors at National Rail Museum, New Delhi.

PLACES IN NEWSHyderabad becomes first city to have 1 GBPS internet speed: Internet Service Provider (ISP) ACT Fibernet has announced the launch of 1Gbps (gigabits per second)

wired broadband internet services in Hyderabad, making the `City of Pearls’ India’s first `Giga City’.

APRIL 2NATIONAL

PM Narendra Modi opens Asia's longest tunnel Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the 9.2 km long Chenani-Nashri all-weather road tunnel

on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway. The road tunnel will reduce the travel time between the two state capitals of Jammu and Srinagar by

approximately two hours. The two-lane Chenani-Nashri tunnel is Asia's longest bi-directional highway tunnel, which will cut the

distance between Jammu and Srinagar to around 250 km from the current 350 km.ECONOMY

Post merger, SBI begins operations as unified entity The State Bank of India, the country's largest lender has started functioning as unified entity from 01st

April 2017 post merger of its five associate banks, besides Bharatiya Mahila Bank. The five associate banks merged with the SBI are State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur, State Bank of

Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala and State Bank of Travancore. With the merger, the SBI joins the league of top 50 banks globally in terms of assets. The total customer base of the bank reaches 37 crore with a branch network of around 24,000 and

nearly 59,000 ATMs across the country. The merged entity now has a deposit base of more than Rs 26lakh-crore and advances level of Rs 18.50 lakh crore

GOVT SCHEMEGovt launches PowerTex India scheme for powerloom sector Union Textiles Minister, Ms. Smriti Irani launched PowerTex India Scheme on 1st April 2017 at

Bhiwandi in Thane district of Maharashtra. It is a gamut of schemes aimed at development of powerloom sector in India with a special focus on

small powerloom weavers. The scheme was simultaneously launched at 45 locations across India. Ms. Smriti Irani along with Maharashtra Chief Minister Mr. Devendra Fadnavis launched PowerTex

India helpline for scheme related assistance. For nationwide publicity of scheme, a PowerTex van wasalso flagged off.

‘Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana’ launched in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh


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On 1st April 2017, Mr. Thaawarchand Gehlot, Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment launched,first of its kind “Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana” in Nellore; Andhra Pradesh aimed to make lifecomfortable for senior citizens of India.

This scheme has been launched for providing Physical Aids and Assisted-living Devices to SeniorCitizens belonging to Below Poverty Line (BPL) category who suffer from age related problems viz.hearing impairment, low vision, dental problems etc.

These aids and devices will help them in performing their day to day functions without depending onany caregiver or family member.‘Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana’ launched in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh

This scheme was proposed in Union Budget 2015-16 and is fully funded by Central Government.Money required to run this scheme will be drawn from Senior Citizens’ Welfare Fund.

EVENTSSecond annual meeting of BRICS New Development Bank held in New Delhi New Delhi is playing host to Second Annual Meeting of the New Development Bank (NDB) also

known colloquially as BRICS bank. This is the first time the meet is happening in India. MOUs were signed between NDB and European

Investment Bank (EIB), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), AsianInfrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) and InternationalInvestment Bank (IIB).

IMPORTANT DAYSWorld Autism Awareness Day: 02nd April 2017 The World Autism Awareness Day 2017 has been observed across the world on 2 April 2017. The 2017

theme for the day is "Toward Autonomy and Self-Determination". World Autism Awareness Day is an internationally recognised day, encouraging Member States of the

United Nations to take measures to raise awareness about children with autism throughout the world.PERSONS IN NEWS

American singer & song writer Bob Dylan accepts Nobel literature award American singer and song writer Bob Dylan has finally accepted his Nobel Prize for literature, more

than three months after the awards ceremony. The academy, which awards the coveted prize, ended prolonged speculation as to whether the

75-year-old troubadour would use a concert stopover in Stockholm to accept the gold medal anddiploma awarded to him.

APRIL 3

INTERNATIONALMyanmar becomes 7th member of SASEC Myanmar became the 7th member of South Asia Sub-regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC)

program of Asian Development Bank (ADB). It was officially made member at the SASEC FinanceMinisters’ meeting held in New Delhi and chaired by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

About South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation Founded -2001 Type -Subregional program Headquarters -Manila, Philippines Region served -South Asia Membership -Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka The South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) program brings together Bangladesh,

Bhutan, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, and Sri Lanka in a project-based partnership that aims topromote regional prosperity, improve economic opportunities, and build a better quality of life for thepeople of the subregion.

SASEC countries share a common vision of boosting intraregional trade and cooperation in South Asia,while also developing connectivity and trade with Southeast Asia through Myanmar, to the People’sRepublic of China, and the global market.


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The Manila, Philippines-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) serves as the Secretariat for theSASEC member countries

NATIONALGovernment launches BS-IV grade fuels Government has formally launched Bharat Stage-IV (BS-IV) grade transportation fuel across the

country to keep carbon emission in check. The launch came days after the Supreme Court banned sale and registration of BS-III vehicles from 1

April, 2017. It sets target of ushering in BS-VI fuel by April 2020 by skipping BS-V fuel. All state-run oil marketing companies will provide BS-IV-compliant fuel at their 53,500 retail fuel

stations across the country. BS-IV fuels contain far less sulphur than BS-III fuel. Sulphur in fuel makes it dirtier and lowers the

efficiency of catalytic converters, which control emissions. The BS-IV complaint vehicles release lesspollutants Carbon Mono-oxide (CO), Hydrocarbon (HC), Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx), Sulphur (SOx)and particulate matter (PM) compared to BS III complaint vehicles.

IISc ranked best educational institution by HRDMinistry Bengaluru's Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and Delhi's Miranda House have made it to the top of

respective categories in the country's official higher education rankings announced by the government. Releasing the list in New Delhi, Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar

stated that the government will provide more grants and funds for institutions faring better in rankings.

TOP UNIVERSITIES IISc, Bangalore JNU, New Delhi BHU, Varanasi

TOP COLLEGES Miranda House, Delhi Loyola College, Chennai Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi

ECONOMYUnder GST regime, tax evasion over Rs 5 crore a non-bailable offense Tax evasion of over Rs 5 crore under the GST regime would be a non-bailable offense and the police

would have the authority to make an arrest without a warrant. The Central GST (CGST) Bill provides that if the offenses relating to taxable goods and/or services

where the amount of tax evaded or the amount of input tax credit wrongly availed or the amount ofrefund wrongly taken exceeds Rs 5 crore, it shall be treated as cognizable and non-bailable.

GOVT SCHEMEUnion Textiles Minister launches PowerTex India Scheme The Government has launched PowerTex India, a comprehensive scheme for power loom sector

development, simultaneously at over 45 locations in the country. The Union Textiles Minister, Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani Launched the scheme in Bhiwandi, Thane district,

Maharashtra. The scheme will especially benefit small powerloom weavers.The comprehensive scheme has the following components: In-situ Upgradation of Plain Powerlooms. Group Workshed Scheme (GWS). Yarn Bank Scheme. Common Facility Centre (CFC). Pradhan Mantri Credit Scheme for PowerloomWeavers. Solar Energy Scheme for Powerlooms. Facilitation, IT, Awareness, Market Development and Publicity for Powerloom Schemes. Tex Venture Capital Fund. Grant-in-Aid and Modernisation & Upgradation of Powerloom Service Centres (PSCs).


1 APRIL 2017-30 APRIL 2017


EVENTS19th commonwealth forestry conference to begin in Uttarakhand today 19th Commonwealth Forestry Conference (CFC) 2017 will begin today at Forest Research Institute

(FRI) in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Uttarakhand Governor Dr. K.K. Paul will inaugurate the 19th Commonwealth Forestry Conference at

the FRI in Dehradun. The 5-day conference is being organized on the theme ‘Forests for Prosperity and Posterity’.

PERSONS IN NEWSJustice Pradeep Nandrajog sworn in as Chief Justice of Rajasthan HC Justice Pradeep Nandrajog was sworn in as Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court. Prior to this appointment, Justice Nandrajog was the Delhi High Court judge.

OBITUARYLGBT rainbow flag creator Gilbert Baker passes away at 65 Gilbert Baker, creator of the rainbow flag as a symbol for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and

transgender) community passed away in Kansas, US. He had created the eight-colour flag in 1978 for New York’s gay freedom day, which is now the

modern pride parade. Since then his flag has been associated with LGBT rights causes across the world. The eights colours in the flag are Pink (represented sexuality), red (symbolised life), orange

(symbolised healing), yellow (signified sunlight), green (represented nature), turquoise (symbolised art),indigo (represented harmony) and violent (represented human spirit).

APPOINTMENTVanaja Sarna appointed as Chairman of CBEC Vanaja N. Sarna was appointed the new chairman of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC).

She succeeded Najib Shah. CBEC is the nodal government agency on Indirect Taxes responsible for administering Customs,

Central Excise, Service Tax and Narcotics in India. Currently it operates and functions under the aegisof the Department of Revenue of Union Ministry of Finance.

Rajiv Kumar Chander appointed as India's Ambassador and permanent representative to the UN Rajiv Kumar Chander has been appointed as the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to

the United Nations Offices in Geneva. Mr. Chander belongs to the Indian Foreign Services batch of 1983. He is currently the consul general of

India in Vancouver since August 2015. He was the deputy permanent representative with the PermanentMission of India to the United Nations, Geneva, between 2006 and 2009.

Indira Banerjee appointed as new Chief Justice of Madras High Court Justice Indira Banerjee, a sitting judge of the Delhi High Court, has been appointed as the new Chief

Justice of the Madras High Court. She succeeded Sanjay Kishan Kaushal. With this, Justice Banerjee became the second woman to head

the Madras High Court. Justice Kumari Bhatnagar was the first lady to head the Charted court in 1992.

Vipul takes charge as new Consul General of Dubai Diplomat Vipul, a 1998 batch Indian Foreign Service officer took up the charge as the new Consul

General of Dubai.SPORTS

PV Sindhu wins India Super Series tournament Rio Olympics silver medallist P V Sindhu won the India Open Super Series title in women’s single

category. In the final match, she defeated Rio Olympic champion Carolina Marin of Spain by 21-19, 21-16 score.


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Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen had won men’s singles title of the tournament after defeating ChineseTaipei’s Tien Chen Chou .

Roger Federer wins Miami Open 2017 Roger Federer (Switzerland) defeated Rafael Nadal (Spain) to win Miami Open 2017 Singles title.

Miami Open 2017 was held in Florida, USA.

APRIL 4

INTERNATIONALIndia, Malaysia inks 7 agreements India and Malaysia have inked seven agreements to foster deeper relationship between the two

countries. The agreements were exchanged in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Malaysian

counterpart Najib Abdul Razak in New Delhi who was on six day state visit to India. Signed agreements are Air Services Agreement,MoU on Cooperation Fertilizers sector, MoU on

cooperation in Sports, MoU for cooperation in training,MoU on Mutual Recognition of the EducationalQualifications,MoU on collaboration in technology development in the field of Palm Oil and MoU onimplementation of 4th Generation Technology Park in Andhra Pradesh.

Global initiative launched to fight fake news A global alliance of tech industries and academic organisations have unveiled $14-million The News

Integrity Initiative to combat the spread of “fake news”, improve public understanding of journalism,promote news literacy and build trust in journalism.

Fake news has become a serious issue in the U.S. election campaign, when clearly fraudulent storiescirculated on social media, potentially swaying some voters. Concerns also have been raised since thenabout hoaxes and misinformation affecting elections in Europe and rise of click farms to generaterevenue from online advertising using made-up news stories.

The founding funders of the initiative include Facebook, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark’sphilanthropic fund, Ford` Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Tow Foundation,AppNexus, Mozilla and Betaworks.

City University of New York’s journalism school will coordinate research, projects and events.

NATIONALGovernment sets up National Board for Electric Mobility The Centre has constituted National Board of Electric Mobility (NBEM) to promote electric mobility

and manufacturing of electric (& hybrid) vehicles and their components. The Board will be chaired by the Shri Girish Shankar, Secretary of the Department of Heavy Industry.

The NBEM will examine, formulate and propose short as well as long-term plans and contours of themission program on electric mobility and its objectives.

ECONOMYSBI cuts lending rates by 0.15% Ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy this week, the country's largest bank, State Bank

of India has reduced its benchmark lending rate by 0.15%. Base rate or the minimum lending rate of the bank has been reduced from 9.25% to 9.1%. The cut in

SBI's base rate was effective from 1st April 2017.

Ola integrates with UPI to simplify payment options Cab aggregator Ola has integrated with Unified Payment Interface (UPI) to simplify digital payment

options for its customers. This integration will allow Ola customers to use their unique UPI IDs to pay for all their rides on the

Ola platform. While making payments for the Ola rides, a customer will now have an option called ‘Payby UPI’ along with cash, debit/credit card and Ola Money wallet option.


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GOVT SCHEMENo of beneficiaries under Ujjwala Yojana crosses 2 crore mark: Government The number of beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana for providing free of cost LPG

(cooking gas) connections to BPL households has crossed 2 crore mark since its launch in May 2016. The success of the scheme shows that how it is serving as a novel means of women empowerment and

achieving the goals of providing clean fuel and a better life to the people.About Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana The Ujjwala Yojana was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May 2016 from Maldepur

Morh, Ballia in Uttar Pradesh. Tagline : Swachh Indhan, Behtar Jeevan. Implementing Ministry: The scheme is being implemented by the Union Ministry of Petroleum and

Natural Gas. Purpose : Empower women and protect their health by shifting them from traditional cooking based on

unclean cooking fuels or on fossil fuels to clean cooking gas. Beneficiary: Under the scheme, an adult woman member of a BPL will be given deposit-free LPG

connection with financial assistance of Rs 1,600 per connection by the Centre. Identification ofbeneficiaries: It will be through the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) in consultation with stategovernments and Union territories.

Targets: 8,000 crore has been earmarked for providing 5 crore LPG connections to poor householdswithin 3 years by 2019.

DEFENCEDAC approves proposals to buy Barak missiles for naval warships The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) of the Union Defence Ministry has approved proposal to

procure fresh batch of Barak surface-to-air missiles (SAM) for the Indian Navy’s warships from Israel. The procurement of the missiles will enhance India’s maritime capability in view of the changing

security dynamics in the Indian Ocean region (IOR).

ENVIRONMENT,SCIENCE AND TECHScientists identify fungus that eats plastic Scientists from Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have identified a soil fungus Aspergillus

tubingensis that uses enzymes to rapidly break down plastic materials. The plastic-eating fungus was found Islamabad, Pakistan. The new discovery in an advance can help to

deal with plastic waste problem that threatens our environment in safer and more effective way.

India, UK to set up Green Growth Equity Fund under NIIF for green energy India and the United Kingdom have decided to set up a 240 million pound Green Growth Equity Fund

to finance clean energy projects in India. Decision in this regard was taken at the 9th India-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue in Delhi. Both

India and UK are going to make a contribution of 120 million pounds each in the fund which will focusinitial investments in India’s rapidly growing energy and renewables market.

The Fund will be a sub-fund of National Infrastructure and Investment Fund (NIIF) which was set upby India in 2015 to finance greenfield as well as brownfield projects and stalled projects.

First bio-gas bus in Kolkata with flat Rs1 fare Phoenix India Research and Development Group launched the first bio-gas fuelled bus in Kolkata

keeping a flat fare of just Rs 1. The company has tied-up with Ashok Leyland to manufacture the 54-seater bus at a cost of Rs 13 lakh

approximately. The first bus will be flagged off on April 7, 2017 and will run between Ultadanga in thenorth and Garia in the south in Kolkata.

OBITUARYRenowned Hindustani classical vocalist Kishori Amonkar passes away Renowned Hindustani classical vocalist Kishori Amonkar passed away. She was 84.


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She was recognised as one of the foremost singers in the Hindustani tradition and as an innovativeexponent of the Jaipur gharana.

APPOINTMENTSenior IPS Officer Geeta Johari appointed as Gujarat DGP Senior IPS Officer Geeta Johari was appointed as new Director General of Police (DGP) of Gujarat. With this, she became first woman IPS officer to be appointed as DGP of the state

BP Kanungo takes over as RBI Deputy Governor BP Kanungo took over as the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in Mumbai. He was

appointed by Government in March 2017 for a period of three years.APRIL 5

INTERNATIONALNorth Korea fires missile into sea off east coast North Korea has fired a ballistic missile from its east coast into the sea off the Peninsula from Sinpo, a

port city and submarine base. The missile was launched at a high angle and reached an altitude of 189 km and flew about 60

kilometres. Its launch comes ahead of a summit between US and Chinese leaders who are set to discuss North

Korea’s arms program. Earlier in March 2017, North Korea had fired four missiles towards Japan, some of which came as close

as 300 km to the Japanese coast.

CAG to audit UN Secretariat in New York The Comptroller and Auditor General of India will audit the UN Secretariat in New York, a job which

till now was the exclusive domain of developed countries. The CAG is the external auditor of several UN organisations and India’s Shashi Kant Sharma is the

Chairman of the UN Board of Auditors.UN Board of Auditors: The General Assembly established the United Nations Board of Auditors (Board) in 1946 as an

important mechanism to promote accountability and transparency in the United Nations. The members of the Board have collective responsibility for the audits. Currently the heads of the SAIs of India, Tanzania and Germany are the members of the Board. The Auditors-Generals of UN member states are elected to the Board. The Board performs external audit of the accounts of the United Nations organization and its funds and

programmes and reports its findings and recommendations to the Assembly through the AdvisoryCommittee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions.

The Board provides independent assurance to Member States and other stakeholders regarding properuse of the resources of the United Nations and its funds and programmes.

It reports on financial matters as well as on regularity and performance issues. It plays a significant role in assisting the United Nations to improve its operations and its internal

control systems. The findings and recommendations of the Board have led to continuous systematic improvements in the

functioning of the United Nations.

Germany becomes first NATO member to launch cyber command unit Germany became the first North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member country to launch a

self-contained cyber command unit dubbed as Cyber and Information Space Command (Kdo CIR). It has been designed to shield IT and weapons systems from growing attacks. The Kdo CIR will be the

youngest branch of Germany’s military “Bundeswehr”. It will operate and protect German military’s own IT infrastructure and computer-assisted weapons

systems, and tackle online threats. It will also focus on war-game offensive skills and capabilities.ECONOMY


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ICICI, Axis Bank sell Rs 1800 crore Ballarpur loans to Edelweiss ICICI Bank and Axis Bank sold Rs.1,800 crore of loans to paper maker Ballarpur Industries Ltd to

Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company. It is the first time that loans have been sold to an asset reconstruction firm. Axis Bank sold loans of

Rs.1,200 crore and ICICI Bank sold loans of Rs.600 crore.GOVT SCHEME

Haryana to provide one-time grant of Rs. 21,000 to families for third girl child Haryana Government has decided to provide one-time grant of Rs 21,000 to all those families whose

third girl child was born on or after August 24, 2015 under the ‘Aapki Beti, Hamari Beti’ scheme. Under the scheme, the eligible families will receive the amount irrespective of their caste, creed,

religion, income and number of sons. Its purpose is to combat the problem of declining child sex ratioand promote girls’ education in the state.

EVENTSNational conference on Communicating India to be organized A day-long national conference on Communicating India will be organized in New Delhi which will be

inaugurated by Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore. Telling the India's story to the world, Communicating via Journalism and Dialogue with Diaspora are

three main themes which are outlined for the conference.

Berhampur Thakurani Yatra fetival begins in Odisha The famous Berhampur Thakurani Yatra, one of the biggest festivals of southern Odisha, has been

celebrated with pomp and gaiety. Nearly a month-long festival celebrates the journey of the deity Maa Budhi Thakurani.

ENVIRONMENT,SCIENCE AND TECHTree-dwelling crab species Kani maranjadu found in Kerala Scientists from the University of Kerala have discovered a new species of long-legged, tree-dwelling

crabs named Kani maranjandu in Western Ghats of Kerala. It has been named after the Kani tribe inKerala and are substantially different from other congeners (organisms within the same genus).

Kani maranjandu is the first crab species of its kind to offer a record of an arboreal crab (species thatlives in trees).

Its upper shell is hard, its male abdominal structure and reproductive parts and diagnostic elongatedwalking legs (no other genus has).

Japan officially recognises Bitcoin as currency Japan has officially recognized bitcoin and digital currencies as legal money along the lines of other fiat

currencies with effect from April 1, 2017. The recognition comes after implementation of a new law amending Banking Act in Japan for

legalizing these currencies. It will help in integration of digital currency into legal banking system through regulatory scrutiny.

RBI Board clears proposal to introduce Rs 200 notes The board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cleared a proposal to introduce banknotes of Rs 200

denomination. The decision was taken at the RBI board meeting held in Mumbai in March 2017. The process of printing the new Rs 200 notes is likely to begin after June 2017 once the government

officially approves the new denomination.IMPORTANT DAYS

April 4: International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action The International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action is observed every year on

April 4 to highlight the deadly threat that mines pose to civilians’ lives and nations’ development. The theme of this year was “Needs driven. People Centred”. The day was constituted by United Nation General Assembly (UNGA) by passing resolution in

December 2005.


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AWARDS AND HONOURSDoctors artwork finds place in Guinness Book: A fingerprint painting, created by a group of Indian doctors as a symbolic representation to end frequent

attacks against the fraternity, has found place in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’slargest such artwork.

Titled “Ray of Hope“, measuring 469.75 m, the painting was made up of 15 lakh finger impressions ofdoctors from different parts of the country, collected over a period of four months.

The record title is in the name of Dr Naveen Koval, an assistant professor of Pediatrics at KannurMedical College, Kerala, who conceptualised the work and Indian medical association.

PERSONS IN NEWSK Prithika Yashini becomes India’s first-ever transgender police official K Prithika Yashini became India’s first-ever transgender person to become a police official, after she

took charge as sub-inspector in Dharmapuri district in Tamil Nadu. Her appointment was made as per the Madras High Court order delivered in November 2015. The court

had directed Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board (TNUSRB) to appoint K PrithikaYashini as a sub-inspector of police as she is entitled to get the job.

PLACES IN NEWSJhargram becomes 22nd Bengal district Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee declared Jhargram as the 22nd district of West Bengal. Jhargram has been formed by bifurcating West Midnapore, which has a population of more than 11.37

lakh. Mamta Banerjee announced a budget of Rs 200 crore for the development of Jhargram.

SPORTSIndia ranks 3rd in WADA doping charts India was ranked third for the third year in a row in a doping violation report published by the World

Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for 2015. In 2015, 117 Indian athletes were punished after testing positive for banned substances. India followed

the Russian Federation (176) and Italy (129), the same position as in the reports of 2013 and 2014.

APRIL 6

INTERNATIONALUnion Cabinet approves MoU between India and Australia in field of Health and Medicine The Union Cabinet has approved the MoU between India and Australia on cooperation in the field of

Health and Medicine. The MoU will involve cooperation through joint initiatives in the Health Sector and strengthen bilateral

ties between both countries. The main areas of cooperation are Communicable diseases such asTuberculosis and Malaria.

Non-Communicable Diseases and Mental Health. Anti-Microbial Resistance and responding to publichealth emergencies. Regulation of vaccines, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices. Digital Health.Tobacco Control Any other area of cooperation decided mutually by both countries.

Union Cabinet approves agreement between India and Bangladesh on Audio Visual Co-Production The Union Cabinet has approved the agreement on Audio Visual Co-Production India and Bangladesh.

Decision in this regard was taken at the Union Cabinet Meeting chaired by the Prime Minister NarendraModi in New Delhi.

It will cover co-production of films, animations and documentary films. An audio-visual co-production made under it, will be entitled to all the benefits which may be accorded

to any national audio-visual work by both countries in accordance with their respective laws andregulations.

It will lead to exchange of art and culture among the two countries and create goodwill and betterunderstanding among the peoples of both the countries.


1 APRIL 2017-30 APRIL 2017


Facilitate utilization of Indian locales for shooting, thus raising the prospect of India as a preferred filmshooting destination across the globe.

Cabinet approves Collaboration Agreement to support the Belmont Forum Secretariat The Union Cabinet has given its approval for signing of the Collaborative Agreement with French

National Research Agency (ANR), France for supporting the Belmont Forum Secretariat from January,2015 to December, 2017 at a total estimated expenditure of Euro 40,000.

The Cabinet also approved continued financial support to Belmont Forum Secretariat beyond 2017. The Agreement will help to maintain a certain degree of continuity in the operations of the Forum and

also help in smooth coordination of the activities of Belmont Forum. As India is already participatingin 4 Collaborative Research Actions (CRAs) and Secretariat will be coordinating the activities ofBelmont Forum, Indian scientific community will ultimately benefit from this agreement.

About Belmont Forum The Belmont Forum, created in 2009, is a high level group of the world’s major and emerging funders

of global environmental change research and international science councils. It provides an opportunity to identify study and deliver international environmental research priorities,

for the society, in an accelerated way through trans-national research collaboration between natural andsocial scientists and alignment of international resources

India is a member of Belmont Forum, besides Australia, Brazil, Canada, European Commission, France,Germany, Japan, Netherland, South Africa, UK and USA etc.

Ministry of Earth Science (MoES), represents India in the Belmont Forum since 2012.ECONOMY

Monetary policy review: RBI leaves repo rate unchanged The Reserve Bank of India has released the first Bi-monthly Monetary policy of the new financial year

(2017-18). GDP growth has hiked to 7.4% from 6.7%. Rates in the newly released Monetary policy areas follows-

Repo Rate under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) unchanged at 6.25%. The Reverse Repo Rate (RRR) under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) has been hiked to 6%

from 5.75%. The Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate are at 6.50% decline from 6.75%. Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) remains unchanged at 4% and Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) also remains

unchanged at 20.50%.

Union Cabinet approves setting up Rail Development Authority The Union Cabinet has cleared approved setting up an independent rail regulator, named Rail

Development Authority (RDA). It will be based in Delhi and will be set up through an executive order. It will be responsible for recommending passenger fares, setting performance standards for rail

operations and creating level playing policy for private sector participation.

PM to lay foundation stone of a multi-modal terminal on River Ganga in Jharkhand Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of a multi-modal terminal on River Ganga

at Sahebganj in Jharkhand. The state of the art terminal, to be constructed at an estimated cost of 280 crore rupees, is an important

component of the development of the National Waterway-1 from Varanasi to Haldia.

Aditya Birla Group gets RBI licence to start payments bank Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank Ltd becomes the seventh entity to receive a final licence from the

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to set up a payments bank. ii. Except Vodafone M-Pesa Ltd, all paymentbank licence holders have received the final approval.

Among payment bank licence holders, two entities namely Airtel Payments Bank and India PostPayments Bank (IPPB) have started operations so far.

While Airtel is offering 7.25% interest on its savings account, IPPB is offering three types of accountswhere interest rates will vary from 4.5-5.5%.


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GOVT SCHEMECabinet approves closure of Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana The Union Cabinet 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 thana year. Closure of the scheme will, therefore, obviate the avoidable recurring administrative andrecord-keeping expenditure.

Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana is a special social security scheme which includes Pensionand Life Insurance, introduced by Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs for the overseas Indian workersin possession of Emigration Check Required (ECR) passports.

It is a voluntary scheme designed to help workers to meet their three financial needs: saving forretirement, saving for their return and resettlement, and providing free life insurance offering coveragefor death from natural causes.

IMPORTANT DAYSInternational Day of Sport for Development and Peace: 06th April 6 April was declared as the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace (IDSDP) by the UN

General Assembly. On the occasion of the 2017 International Day of Sport for Development and Peace (IDSDP), the

United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP) launches the digital campaign#WePlayTogether to encourage organizations and individuals.

National Maritime Day:

54th National Maritime Day was observed on April 5th. It was first celebrated on April 5, 1964. In India, April 5 is marked as the National Maritime Day commemorating the first voyage of the SS

Loyalty, the first ship of Scindia Steam Navigation Company towards United Kingdom on this day in1919.

APRIL 7

INTERNATIONALThailand’s king signs new constitution Thailand’s new king has signed an army-drafted constitution that sets the country on the path to

elections while cementing the grip of the military over any future government. The constitution is the nation’s 20th since the absolute monarchy was abolished in 1932. The new charter introduces a different electoral system, a modified proportional method of choosing the

500 members of the lower house of parliament in which people vote for one of 350 constituencycandidates; those votes are totalled to determine which of the remaining 150 party list seats go to whichparty. Under the previous system voters cast two ballots, one for the candidate and one for the party.

Along with weaker governments, the constitution stipulates that an unelected, 250-seat upper house, orsenate, will wield significant influence in the years following the election, currently expected at the endof 2018.

Membership of the senate will be essentially determined by the military, giving the generals enormoussway over future governments, which would need three quarters of the seats in the lower house to havea majority in both houses.

Elected governments will also be bound in this constitution to follow the military’s 20-year blueprintfor Thailand, and it will be easier for the “independent” bodies, like the Constitutional Court, whichwill have enhanced powers, to constrain those governments even further.

Iceland set to become world’s first country to neutralise gender pay gap


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Iceland is set to become the first country in the world to neutralise gender pay gap. In this regard, a billwas introduced in Iceland’s parliament that makes mandatory for public and private businesses to provethey offer equal pay to employees.

The bill entails companies and institutions of a certain size (25 or more employees), to undertake acertification of their equal-pay programmes.

According to World Economic Forum (WEF)’s 2015 Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI), Iceland wasranked first and was followed by fellow Nordic nations Norway, Finland and Sweden.

NATIONALUnion Government declares Kerala drought-hit The Union has declared Kerala drought-hit, along with seven other States. The declaration was based

on a memorandum submitted to the Union Ministry of Agriculture by Kerala Government seekingassistance for drought relief activities.

Other seven states are Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthanand Madhya Pradesh. Centre has allowed 50 additional working days in these eight states underMahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) Scheme and shall receiveassistance of Rs. 24,000 crore.

ECONOMYFMCG is highest paying sector in India, according to a survey by Randstad. Employees of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry receive the highest salaries in India at

₹11.3 lakh a year as the average annual cost-to-company (CTC) across all levels and functions. The FMCG sector is followed by power and information technology, where employees earn average

annual salaries of ₹9.8 lakh and ₹9.3 lakh respectively, according to Randstad 2017 Salary TrendsStudy findings.

Pharma and healthcare, offering an average annual CTC of ₹8.8 lakh and telecom ₹8.7 lakhs take thefourth and fifth position in the list as India’s most lucrative industries.

As far as the location-specific salary trends are concerned, Bengaluru, the IT capital of India tops thechart as the highest paying city in the country, with an average annual CTC of ₹14.6 lakhs whileMumbai offered ₹14.2 lakh.

NEFT transfers to be faster as RBI cuts clearance time The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to slash clearance time for National Electronic Funds

Transfer (NEFT) in an attempt to enhance the efficiency of the electronic payment system and add tocustomer convenience.

The NEFT settlement cycle will be reduced from hourly batches to half hourly batches, the RBI statedin the first bi-monthly monetary policy for 2017-18.

11 additional settlement batches will be introduced at 8.30 am onwards, taking the total number of halfhourly settlement batches during the day to 23. RBI also stated the starting batch at 8 am and closingbatch at 7 pm shall remain the same and the return discipline will also remain the same as per theexisting practice.

DEFENCEPrem Bahadur Resmi Magar posthumously conferred Kirti Chakra President Pranab Mukherjee has posthumously conferred Kirti Chakra, the second highest peacetime

gallantry award on Lance Havildar Prem Bahadur Resmi Magar of Gorkha Rifles. The late Lance Havildar had eliminated four terrorists during an operation in Jammu and Kashmir in

June 2016. President also presented 13 Shaurya Chakras, of which four were posthumous and 45 Distinguished

Service medals that included 15 Param Vishisht Seva Medals, 2 Uttam Yudh Seva Medals and 28 AtiVishisht Seva Medals.

Indian Army Chief Bipin Rawat conferred with honorary rank of general of Nepal Army


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General Bipin Rawat, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) was conferred with honorary rank of general ofNepal Army.

The title was conferred by Nepalese President Bidhya Devi Bhandari during a special function at thePresident’s Office. India and Nepal have a long tradition of conferring such honorary titles on the chiefsof their armies since 1950 to signify the close military-to-military ties.

EVENTSVenkaiah Naidu inaugurated 3-day National Children’s Film Festival Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu

inaugurated a three-day National Children’s Film Festival in Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. It is the largest film festival for children in the country giving the audience quality and wholesome

entertainment. The aim of the film festival is to expose children to quality cinema and to introducenovel elements beyond films.

ENVIRONMENT,SCIENCE AND TECHNorth India to get first wildlife DNA bank in Bareilly North India will soon get its first DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) bank for wildlife at the Indian

Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh. In this regard, scientists at IVRI in Bareilly are in the process of collecting the DNA samples of all

kinds of wildlife to set up the bank. It is expected to help in wildlife research and also bring down poaching.

India takes over control of Kudankulam Unit 1 India has taken over full operational control of Unit 1 of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant

(KKNPP). An agreement was signed in this regard recently. With the deal, the Russian and the Indian sides have confirmed fulfilment of all warranty terms and

obligations of the contractor (ASE Group of Companies) for the construction of Unit 1. About Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant: Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant is situated in Koodankulam in the Tirunelveli district of the southern

Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The reactors are pressurised water reactor of Russian design. Thermal capacity is 3,000 MW, gross

electrical capacity is 1,000 MW with a net capacity of 917 MW. When completed the plant will become the largest nuclear power generation complex in India

producing a cumulative 2 GW of electric power. Pressurized water reactors (PWRs) are one of three types of light water reactor (LWR), the other types

being boiling water reactors (BWRs) and supercritical water reactors (SCWRs). In a PWR, the primarycoolant (water) is pumped under high pressure to the reactor core where it is heated by the energyreleased by the fission of atoms. The heated water then flows to a steam generator where it transfers itsthermal energy to a secondary system where steam is generated and flows to turbines which, in turn,spin an electric generator. In contrast to a boiling water reactor, pressure in the primary coolant loopprevents the water from boiling within the reactor. All LWRs use ordinary water as both coolant andneutron moderator.

Google unveils ‘YouTube Go’ Google has rolled out the beta version of its new ‘YouTube Go’ application in India. The application

promises to give a better experience of watching videos on a slower network. It has been designed to be offline first and to improve the experience of watching videos on a slower

network. Users can also keep a tab on data used for streaming or saving videos. It can be downloaded on the Google Play Store in India.

IMPORTANT DAYSWorld Health Day: 7 April World Health Day is celebrated on 7th of April every year to mark the anniversary of the founding of

the World Health Organization. The theme of 2017 World Health Day is 'Depression: Let's Talk'.


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AWARDS

64th National Film Awards

The 64th National Film Awards were announced in which the Directorate of Film Festivals presents itsannual National Film Awards to honor the best films of 2016 in the Indian cinema.

The awards ceremony will be held on 3 May 2017 in India. Here is the list of Winners of all categories.

Cateogry List of Winners

Most Film Friendly State Uttar PradeshBest writing on Films G DhananjayanBest book on cinema Lata Surgatha- a book that narrates

the story of legendary singer LataMangeshkar

Best Music LeechesBest Short fiction AbaBest Animation Hum Chitra Banate HainBest Educational Film The WaterfallsBest Environment Film The Tiger Who Crossed the LineBest Investigative Film PlaceboBest Biographical/Historicalreconstruction

Zikr Uss Parivash Ka

Best Non-Feature Film Fireflies in the Abyss, My Discoveryof a Legend

Best Tamil Film JokerBest Gujarati Film Wrong Side RajuBest Marathi Film DashakriyaBest Hindi Film NeerjaBest Bengali Film BisarjanBest Kannada Film ReservationBest Malayalam film Maheshinite PratikaramBest Visual Effects ShivaayBest Female Playback Singer Iman ChakrabortyBest Male Playback Singer Sunder IyerBest Actor Akshay Kumar for RustomBest Children's Film Dhanak, HindiBest Supporting Actress Zaira Wasim for DangalBest Film On Social Issues PinkBest Action Choreography Peter Hein for PulimuruganBest Feature Film Kasav, Marathi filmBest Director Rajesh Mapuskar for VentilatorBest Actress SurabhiBest Sound Recording Kaadu Pookkunna NeramBest Screenplay Maheshinite PratikaramBest Child Artiste Adish Praveen

PERSONS IN NEWSBhimaraya Metri joins as Director of IIM Trichy


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Bhimaraya Metri has taken over as Director of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Trichy (IIMTiruchirappalli).

He succeeded Prafulla Agnihotri. Prior to joining IIM Trichy, Metri was the Dean at L&T Institute ofProject Management, Vadodara.

OBITUARYRoland founder and digital music pioneer Ikutaro Kakehashi passes away Japanese engineer, Roland founder and pioneer of digital music Ikutaro Kakehashi passed away in

Japan. He was 87. He was best known for founding Roland Corporation in 1972 as well as his roles in the development of

Roland drum machines and MIDI standard (Musical Instrument Digital Interface).APPOINTMENT

Malvika Sinha appointed as new Executive Director of RBI The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has appointed Malvika Sinha as new Executive Director (ED)

following the appointment of B P Kanungo as Deputy Governor. In her new role, she will look after foreign exchange department, internal debt management wing and

department of government and bank accounts. Prior to her elevation, she was Principal Chief General Manager, Department of Cooperative Banking

Supervision in the RBI. She had had joined RBI in 1982 and as a career central banker she had servedin the areas of regulation and supervision, foreign exchange and government and bank accounts.

SPORTSMinistry approves appointment of two foreign athletics coaches Sports Minister Mr. Vijay Goel has approved the appointment of two top foreign athletics coaches, one

each in race walking and 400m race. Australian Dave Smith has been appointed as the coach in racewalking.

The ministry also approved the appointment of American Galina P Bukharina as coach of national400m and 400m relay teams. The appointments have been made keeping in mind the 2020 TokyoOlympics.

The ministry has also approved the appointment of two masseurs- Dmitry Kislev and Elmira Kislevaboth from Russia.

RCB, Nazara tie up to launch online cricket game Royal Challengers Bangalore and gaming entity Nazara Games have come together to launch a new

mobile cricket game RCB Star Cricket. This will also mark the first cricket franchise to have a game off the field and on the screen.

P V Sindhu reaches career-best World No.2 ranking Rio Olympics silver medallist P V Sindhu jumped three places to achieve a career-best world number

two ranking in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings. The 21-year-old shuttler from Hyderabad became only the second Indian woman after Saina Nehwal to

break into the top-five of the world rankings by earning 75759 points.

APRIL 8

INTERNATIONALUS, China agree to pursue 100-day plan for reducing trade deficit United States and China have agreed to pursue a ‘100-day plan’ aimed at reducing the US trade deficit

with China. Decision in this regard was taken by US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi

Jinping in their first summit held in Florida, US. They also agreed to adopt the US-China Comprehensive Dialogue. It will replace the Strategic and

Economic Dialogue. It is designed to cover 4 fields that include law enforcement, cyber security andeconomy.


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India, Bangladesh sign 22 agreements India and Bangladesh have signed 22 agreements in various fields such as defence, nuclear cooperation,

judicial sector, earth sciences, navigation, peaceful uses of outer space, to boost bilateral cooperation. These agreements were signed in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh Prime

Minister Shiekh Hasina in New Delhi after delegation level talks. India also announced concessional Line of Credit (LoC) of $4.5 billion to Bangladesh for projects in

priority sectors. Moreover, India also gave LoC of $500 million to Bangladesh for defence purchases.Some of the agreements signed are MoU on Defence Cooperation Framework MoU on Bilateral Judicial Sector Cooperation MoU for extending Defence LOC of $500 million. MoU on Cooperation in the Field of Mass Media. MoU on Cooperation in the area of Cyber Security. MoU concerning Cooperation on Aids to Navigation. MoU on Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of

Outer Space. MoU for Extending a 3rd Line of Credit (LoC) by GoI to GoB. Agreement on Cooperation in Peaceful

uses of Nuclear Energy. MoU on Co-operation in the field of Information Technology and Electronics. MoU on establishing Border Haats across the border between India and Bangladesh. Agreement for the Regulation of Motor Vehicle Passenger Traffic (Khulna-Kolkata route). Inter-Agency Agreement on Cooperation regarding Nuclear Power Plant Projects in Bangladesh MoU on Mutual Scientific Cooperation in the field of Earth Sciences for Research and Development

NATIONALSex ratio in Haryana touches 950 mark for first time The sex ratio in Haryana for the first time in the history has touched the 950 mark in March, 2017. It was announced by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. The state has improved its skewed sex ratio

after the launch of ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ programme by Prime Minister Narendra Modi fromHaryana.

It also had launched a massive campaign in the state by strictly implementing Pre-Conception andPre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act and Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act. The State is alsorunning sensitisation-cum-awareness campaigns promoting girl child.

ECONOMYBan on cash transactions of over Rs 2 lakh not applicable for bank, post office withdrawals Ban on cash transaction in excess of Rs 2 lakh will not be applicable to withdrawals from banks and

post office savings accounts, the Income-Tax department announced. In a clarification on the newly inserted Section 269ST in the I-T Act, the Central Board of Direct Taxes

(CBDT) abort the restriction to withdrawal from banks and post offices. Restriction is also notapplicable to any receipt by government, banking company, post office savings bank or co-operativebank respectively.

HDFC Bank UPI on Chillr app HDFC Bank announced its Unified Payments Interface (UPI) will also be available on Chillr, a

multi-bank mobile payments app.

South Indian Bank, Flyworld Money in pact for remittances South Indian Bank has entered into an agreement with Flyworld Money Exchange to facilitate

remittances by Indian expatriates in Australia. Through this tie-up, NRIs in Australia could enjoy quick and cost-effective remittances to India using

the SIB Express facility. With this agreement, SIB marks the first remittance arrangement with anexchange house in Australia.


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India ranks 9th in corruption in business: EMEIA Fraud Survey According to EY Europe, Middle East, India and Africa (EMEIA) Fraud Survey 2017, India ranks 9th

among 41 surveyed countries in bribery and corrupt practices in businesses. India’s ranking has improved marginally from the survey findings in 2015 when India was at the 6th

position. It has improved due to better regulatory scrutiny and emphasis on transparency and governance.

GOVT SCHEMEMadhya Pradesh Government launches 1 year diploma course on Hindu priesthood Madhya Pradesh government-run Maharshi Patanjali Sanskrit Sansthan will launch one-year diploma

course on Hindu priesthood ‘Purohityam’ from July 2017. This course will be open for all irrespective of religion, caste, or gender. The basic qualification needed

for enrolling this course is class X. The enrolled candidates will be taught basics of priesthood, rituals, mantras in accordance with the

Hindu tradition.EVENTS

First NIMCAREWorld Health Day Summit 2017 The slogan of the first NIMCARE World Health Day Summit is, ‘Unite for a Healthy Mind’. The summit will focus on the importance of talking about depression as a vital component of recovery. Out of all the mental health disorders, depression is the most common. Depression affects people of all ages from all walks of life and in all countries. As per the National Mental Health Survey 2015-16 conducted by NIMHANS, 5.2% of the Indian adult

population suffers from depression in some form or the other. The problem of depression often getsignored due to lack of understanding on the part of family members.

The social stigma attached to a mental disorder, even if it is easily treatable, is also a major problem inIndia.

PM to launch digital exhibition on Champaran Satyagraha Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch a 'special digital exhibition' on the Champaran Satyagraha

on 10th April 2017. It is a unique initiative to re-envision the theme of the movement undertaken byMahatma Gandhi.

The exhibition will be titled as 'Bapu Ko Karyanjali' and will be launched at the National Archive inNew Delhi.

This effort will dovetail into the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, and generate greater awareness towardscleanliness, in the run-up to the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi in 2019.

ENVIRONMENT,SCIENCE AND TECHAgriculture Ministry, ISRO to team up to Geo-Tag Agricultural Assets The Union Agriculture Ministry has joined hands with the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), a

wing of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for geo-tagging agricultural assets. In this regard, Agriculture Ministry under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna (RKVY) and NRSC have

signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The move will help bring transparency in governance due to real-time monitoring and effective

utilisation of agricultural assets such as ponds, crop area, warehouses and laboratories etc. At present, officials provide information on the assets manually, so there is no transparency.

Geo-tagging will provide realistic status of assets. It will not only help in monitoring and utilising assets but will be useful in formulating schemes for

development in the agricultural sector. It will also help in avoiding duplication of data. Utilisation of space technology will help farmers to

further get access to pesticide testing labs, storage infrastructure, and market-related informationPERSONS IN NEWS

Malala Yousafzai to become youngest United Nations Messenger of Peace


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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has selected Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai (19)as Messenger of Peace.

With this, she becomes UN’s youngest-ever Messenger of Peace, the highest honour bestowed by theUN on a global citizen.

SPORTSBoxer Shyam Kumar wins gold at Thailand International Indian boxer K Shyam Kumar won a gold medal in the 49- kilogram category at the Thailand

International Tournament in Bangkok.NBA launches first basketball school in India The National Basketball Association (NBA) announced the setting up of its first basketball school, a

network of tuition-based basketball development programmes, in Mumbai. The school, as part of a multi-year agreement announced with India On Track (IOT), is open to male

and female players between ages 6-18.

APRIL 9

INTERNATIONALIndia, Russia team up to promote innovation and R&D India has signed a joint declaration with Russia to promote innovation and the R&D ecosystem between

the two countries. 'The declaration was signed between the Department of Science and Technology and the Ministry of

Economic Development of the Russian Federation on the sidelines of the Global R&D Summit 2017. With this collaboration, there will be an effort to promote innovation and technology entrepreneurship

through the development of long-term cooperation, co-innovation and direct contacts between Russianand Indian innovation clusters.

ECONOMY,BANKING AND FINANCEFlipkart Buys eBay India India's largest e-commerce player Flipkart buys eBay's India business, and closing a $1.4 billion

fund-raising round from Tencent, eBay and Microsoft. In exchange for an equity stake in Flipkart, eBay has agreed to make a $500 million cash investment in

and sell its eBay.in business to Flipkart.

Samsung India’s R&D unit tops chart of IT patent applicants Samsung R&D Institute India filed the maximum number of patent applications in the IT sector in

2015-16, followed by home-grown TCS and Wipro according to Indian Patent Office survey. In the scientific and research and development organizations category, Council of Scientific and

Industrial Research (CSIR) has topped the chart. Indian Patent Office comes under the Commerce andIndustry Ministry.

Smita Sandhane appointed MD of Saraswat Bank Saraswat Bank, the largest lender in the co-operative space, has appointed Smita Sandhane as its

Managing Director (MD) with effect from 01st April 2017. She is the first woman chief of India's largest urban co-operative bank.

DEFENCE12th Indo-Mongolian Joint Military Exercise Nomadic Elephant held in Vairengte The 12th edition Indo-Mongolian Joint Military Exercise Nomadic Elephant 2017 has begun at

Vairengte in Mizoram. Vairengte houses Indian Army’s elite Counter-Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School. The first joint

Nomadic Elephant was held in 2004 and since then it is annually held. It seeks to promote militaryassociations between India and Mongolia.

EVENTSWorld Homeopathy Day: International Convention Organised in New Delhi


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Minister of State (Independent Charge) for AYUSH, Shripad Yesso Naik inaugurated the NationalConvention on World Homeopathy Day on 10 April 2017 at New Delhi.

The event was organized to commemorate the 262nd birth anniversary of the founder of Homeopathy,Dr. Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician, who was a great scholar, linguist andacclaimed scientist.

The theme of the convention is "Enhancing Quality Research in Homeopathy through scientificevidence and rich clinical experiences".

AWARDSIndian-origin educationist wins 'Asian Businesswoman of Year' award 65-year-old Dame Asha Khemka, Principal and CEO of West Nottinghamshire College, was honoured

for her efforts in the field of education and skills at the Asian Business Awards ceremony on Friday. The event, which took place at the famous Edgbaston cricket ground in the city, also marked the launch

of the 'Asian Rich List' for the Midlands to highlight the high net worth Asians in the region. Other winners at the event included Morningside Pharmaceuticals which received the Asian Business of

the Year Award; Kailash Suri, Managing Director of Reel Cinemas, who won Entrepreneur of the Year;and Nishti Ismail, founder of Nishti's Choice, awarded for being a Community Champion.

PLACES IN NEWSBengal gets 23rd district: West Burdwan West Burdwan district was carved out of Burdwan on Friday by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee,

making it the 23rd district. Mamata said 44,500 flats under housing scheme are being built in subsidence-affected areas at the new

district. “Besides 24 special need support units, 5 sick neo-natal care units, 2 multi super-specialityhospitals would be built in Bardhaman district,” she said.

The chief minister also announced setting up a mishti (sweet) hub in the district to export sweets suchas ‘langcha’, popular in Burdwan.

The new district comprises Burdwan Paschim, Asansol and Durgapur. With the division, the agrarianparts of Burdwan now fall under East Burdwan, while the industrial hub will come under WestBurdwan, which has two sub-divisions – Asansol Sadar and Durgapur.

UP govt to build music village in Bismillah Khan's honour The Uttar Pradesh Government has given its clearance to the project of building a music village in

Varanasi in honour of legendary Shehnai player Ustad Bismillah Khan. The village, to be named as'Bismillah Khan Sangeet Gram', will have a museum centre, a training cum research centre amongothers things associated with musical 'gharanas'.

The project conceived by Padma Shri Soma Ghosh, the adopted daughter of the legendary shehnaiplayer, got the clearance from chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday.

SPORTSHamilton beats Vettel to win his fifth Chinese Grand Prix Mercedes' British Formula One racer Lewis Hamilton defeated Ferrari's four-time Formula One World

Champion Sebastian Vettel to lift his fifth title at the Chinese Grand Prix.

APRIL 10

INTERNATIONALKolkata- Khulna-Dhaka bus service flagged off A Kolkata-Khulna-Dhaka bus service was recently ceremoniously flagged off from Kolkata. This is a

part of several initiatives being taken to strengthen bilateral relations between India and Bangladesh. This is for the first time, Kolkata and Khulna are being directly connected through a bus route. It will be a 409 Km long bus route from Kolkata via Khulna to Dhaka.

First UK rail freight service to China to depart The first rail freight service from United Kingdom to China departed from Essex. Earlier the first

freight train in the opposite direction, from China to UK had arrived in London in January 2017.


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The train service was launched as part of China’s ambitious One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative thataims to revive the ancient Silk Road trading routes with the West dating back more than 2,000 years.

NATIONALPakistan sentences alleged RAW agent Kulbhushan Jadhav to death Pakistan’s Field General Court Martial has sentenced to death Indian national and alleged RAW

(Research and Analysis Wing) agent Kulbhushan Jadhav (46) who was arrested last year on charges ofspying.

The death sentence was confirmed by army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa after the Field General CourtMartial found him guilty of all the charges.

Parliament passes Constitution (SCs) order (Amendment) Bill, 2017 Parliament has passed the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Bill 2017 after it was

passed by Rajya Sabha. It was already passed by Lok Sabha in March 2017. The Bill seeks to amends the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 and the Constitution

(Pondicherry) Scheduled Castes Order, 1964. Modify the list of SCs for Odisha: It makes castes Sualgiri, Swalgiri as synonyms to the Sabakhia caste

in the list of SCs for the state. Modification of name of Pondicherry. It modifies name of the Union Territory of Pondicherry to Puducherry by incorporating changes in the

Constitution (Pondicherry) Scheduled Castes Order, 1964. Article 341 of the Constitution empowers the President to specify the Scheduled Castes in various

states and UTs. Further, it permits Parliament to modify this list.

Constitution 123rd Amendment Bill, 2017 passed in Lok Sabha Lok Sabha has passed Constitution 123rd Amendment Bill, 2017 which seeks to give constitutional

status to National Commission for Backward Classes. The bill was passed by the house with 360 MPs voting in favor and 2 against the bill. Objectives of the Bill The Constitution 123rd Amendment Bill seeks to make the following changes: It

seeks to insert a new article 338B in the constitution which provides for NCBC, its composition,mandate, functions and various officers.

Insert a new article 342-A which empowers the president to notify the list of socially and educationallybackward classes of that state / union territory. In case of a state, president will make such notificationafter consultation with the Governor. Under the same article, it is proposed that parliament by making alaw can include or exclude the classes from the central list of backward classes.

ECONOMY,BANKING AND FINANCERBI allows banks to invest in REITs & InvITs The Reserve Bank of India has allowed banks to invest in Real Estate Investment Trust (REITs) and

Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs), a move that will help revive the cash-starved infrastructuresector.

Banks are allowed to invest in equity-linked mutual funds, venture capital funds (VCFs) and equities tothe extent of 20% of their Net Owned Fund (NOF).

President Pranab Mukherjee picks winner of Lucky Grahak and Digi Dhan Vyapar Yojanas President Pranab Mukherjee has picked up lucky winners from the 100th draw of lots under the digital

payments promotion schemes Lucky Grahak Yojana and Digi Dhan Vyapar Yojana. Total the six winners were selected — three consumers and three merchants of Lucky Grahak Yojana

and Digi Dhan Vyapar Yojana. The winners will be felicitated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi onApril 14 in Nagpur (Maharashtra) on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti.

GOVT SCHEMEVenkaiah Naidu launches 352 housing projects in 53 cities Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation M Venkaiah Naidu launched 352 projects in 53

cities in 17 States across the country with an investment of Rs 38,003-cr to build 2,03,851 affordablehouses.


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These housing projects would be implemented by the Confederation of Real Estate Developers'Associations of India (CREDAI) across the country in the first major private investment in affordablehousing.

Deendayal Rasoi Yojna launched in Madhya Pradesh 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 economicallydisadvantaged sections of society.

The initiative is on the lines of state run Amma Canteens, started by the former chief minister JJayalalithaa, which served subsidised food at low prices. Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhaninaugurated the scheme at Gwalior. In the first phase, the scheme would be inaugurated in 49 districts.

DEFENCEBharat ke Veer It is a web portal and mobile application launched recently on the occasion of Valour Day of Central

Reserve Police Force (CRPF). The portal is an IT based platform, with an objective to enable willing donors to contribute towards the

family of a braveheart who sacrificed his/her life in line of duty. This website is technically supported by National Informatics Centre (NIC) and powered by State Bank

of India. This domain allows anyone to financially support the bravehearts of his choice or towards the “Bharat

Ke Veer” corpus. The amount so donated will be credited to the account of ‘Next of Kin’ of thoseCentral Armed Police Force/Central Para Military Force soldiers.

To ensure maximum coverage, a cap of 15 lakh rupees is imposed and the donors would be alerted ifthe amount exceeds, so that they can choose to divert part of the donation to another braveheart accountor to the “Bharat Ke Veer” corpus.

“Bharat Ke Veer” corpus would be managed by a committee made up of eminent persons of repute andsenior Government officials, who would decide to disburse the fund equitably to the braveheart’sfamily on need basis.

About Valour Day:9th April The Valour Day is celebrated in remembrance of an act of unparalleled bravery displayed by a small

contingent of CRPF personnel, pitted against a full-fledged infantry brigade of Pakistani Army, tryingto overrun their post, at Sardar Post, Rann of Kutch, Gujarat on April 09, 1965.

They not only defeated the Pakistani brigade but also killed 34 Pakistani soldiers and captured 4 ofthem alive. The CRPF successfully defended the post till the arrival of reinforcements.

Tu-142M:

Navy’s flagship anti-submarine aircraft Tu-142M will be turned into a museum. The aircraft will be given to the Andhra Pradesh government to be converted into a museum and kept

on the Beach Road close to the Submarine Kursura in Visakhaptnam.

EVENTSWorld Homeopathy Day: International Convention Organised in New Delhi Minister of State (Independent Charge) for AYUSH, Shripad Yesso Naik inaugurated the National

Convention on World Homeopathy Day on 10 April 2017 at New Delhi. The event was organized to commemorate the 262nd birth anniversary of the founder of Homeopathy,

Dr. Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician, who was a great scholar, linguist andacclaimed scientist.

The theme of the convention is "Enhancing Quality Research in Homeopathy through scientificevidence and rich clinical experiences".

ENVIRONMENT,SCIENCE AND TECHAstronomers discover Venus-like planet orbiting a dim star Kepler-1649


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Astronomers using NASA’s Kepler space telescope have discovered a Venus-like planet orbiting a dimstar called Kepler-1649.

The newly found planet is one-fifth the diameter of our Sun and is only slightly larger than Earth. It islocated 219 light years away from Earth.

The Venus-like planet tightly embraces its low-temperature star Kepler-1649 by encircling it every ninedays. The tight orbit around the star causes the flux of sunlight reaching it to be 2.3 times as great as thesolar flux on Earth.

For comparison, the solar flux on Venus is 1.9 times the terrestrial value (on earth). The discovery will provide insight into the nature of planets encircling around M dwarf stars, by far the

most common type in the universe.About Kepler Space Telescope (KST) KST is an unmanned space observatory launched in 2009 by National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA). It is tasked with determining how commonly, Earth-like planets occur throughout the Milky Way

galaxy. KST works by observing a dimming in the light of a star, known as a transit, each time an orbiting

planet passes in front of it. It has been designed for a statistical mission and not to probe into the environmental conditions of

planets that exist in the so-called Goldilocks zone (Habitable zone) of their stars.

APRIL 11

NATIONALSurvey General of India Completes 250 Years The Survey General of India (SOI) completes 250 years. The government launched 'Nakshe’ mapping portal' a dedicated website allowing the access to the

public to download 3,000 maps or Open Series Maps (OSM) in a pdf format on 1:50,000 scale preparedby the Survey of India (SOI) but made Aadhaar mandatory for the purpose.

Harsh Vardhan, minister of science and technology, stated that the motto behind making Aadhaarmandatory for using this service was to make it available only to Indians.

About Survey General of India It was set up in 1767 and has evolved rich traditions over the years. In its assigned role as the Nation’s principal mapping agency, Survey of India bears a special

responsibility to ensure that the country’s domain is explored and mapped suitably to provide basemaps for expeditious and integrated development and ensure that all resources contribute their fullmeasure to the progress, prosperity and security of our country now and for generations to come.

The Survey of India acts as adviser to the Government of India on all survey matters, viz Geodesy,Photogrammetry, Mapping and Map Reproduction.The Surveyor General of India is the Head ofDepartment of Survey of India, a Department under the Ministry of Science and Technology ofGovernment of India.

He also happens to be the senior most member of the Survey of India Service, an organized engineeringservice under the Union of India.

Major James Rennel was the first Surveyor General of Bengal Presidency (1767-1777) Lt Gen Charles Reynolds was the first Surveyor General of the Bombay Presidency(1796-1807) Col Colin Mackenzie was the first Surveyor General of Madras (1810-1815) and the first Surveyor

General of India (1815-1821) The current Surveyor General is Dr. Swarna Subba Rao

ECONOMY, BANKING AND FINANCEManappuram Finance to launch co-branded prepaid card with YES Bank Kerala-based NBFC Manappuram Finance will launch its own co-branded prepaid card in the tie-up

with YES Bank to promote digital financial transactions.


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The 'Manappuram YES Bank Prepaid Money Card' can be pre-loaded up to a maximum amount of Rs.50,000 and then be used to withdraw money from all ATMs. As the card works on the popularMasterCard and RuPay networks, it can also be used for online transactions and at merchantestablishments with PoS terminals.

Align pay in PSBs to that in CPSEs: BBB The Bank Board Bureau (BBB) has recommended that Government should bring in reforms in the

compensation process in public sector banks (PSBs) on the lines of Central Public Sector Enterprises(CPSEs). BBB has suggested compensation reforms in PSBs so that best practices can be introduced‘on the lines already prevalent in CPSEs.

It will play important role in attracting high-quality talent for non-executive directors and chairmen. It will also maintain a level-playing field with the private sector with respect to role, responsibility and

remuneration.

Fino Paytech inks deal with ICICI group companies Fino Paytech, which just received the Reserve Bank of India's licence to launch a payments bank, has

inked a deal with ICICI group companies to distribute insurance products and tied up with Exide Lifeinsurance to sell products via its distribution channel.

Fino Payments Bank will sell life and general insurance products of ICICI Prudential and ICICILombard.

AWARDSAtu Zumvu becomes first Naga cop to receive ‘Shaurya Chakra’ award For the first time since Nagaland officially gained recognition as a state, a state Police Officer Atu

Zumvu has been awarded one of the nations' military honour, ‘Shaurya Chakra' award at a ceremonyheld at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Nagaland attained statehood in 1963 and since then this is the first time a police officer from the statehas been honored with this award.

Colson Whitehead wins 2017 Pulitzer Prize for ‘Underground Railroad’ Colson Whitehead’s celebrated novel The Underground Railroad has won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for

fiction. The novel is about an escaped slave that combined liberating imagination and brutal reality. Earlier in November 2016, the novel had received the National Book Award of US. This makes Colson

Whitehead first person to win Pulitzer and National Book Award for fiction in last 20 years.

APPOINTMENTKristin Davis appointed UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, announced the appointment of internationally acclaimed actress and

philanthropist Kristin Davis as its Goodwill Ambassador. UNHCR Goodwill Ambassadors are celebrity representatives of the Office of the UN High

Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) who use their talent and fame to advocate for refugees.

Malvika Sinha appointed RBI Executive Director The Reserve Bank has appointed Malvika Sinha as Executive Director following the appointment of B

P Kanungo as Deputy Governor. As Executive Director, she will look after foreign exchange department, department of government and

bank accounts and internal debt management wing, RBI stated in a release.

Ajit Kumar Srivastava, Shabri Bhattasali named new CBDT members Senior bureaucrats Ajit Kumar Srivastava and Shabri Bhattasali were appointed members of Central

Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the apex policy making body of the Income Tax department. The CBDT functions under the Central Board of Revenue Act, 1963. CBDT has introduced the

Electronic PAN (e-PAN) card for individuals and for 19,704 newly incorporated companies as it tied upwith the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).


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Mukta Dutta Tomar appointed India's Ambassador to Germany Mukta Dutta Tomar has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Federal Republic of

Germany. She is presently Additional Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs. Earlier, Gurjit Singh was

holding this post till in March 2017.

APRIL 12

INTERNATIONALG20 Ministers in-charge of digital economy issue declaration on ‘Shaping Digitalisation for anInterconnected World’ G20 Ministers responsible for the digital economy met in Dusseldorf, Germany recently for a

ministerial conference. They have issued a declaration on ‘Shaping Digitalisation for an Interconnected World’, laying out

priorities and a roadmap for policies. The declaration talks about the need for greater availability of affordable broadband connectivity,

improved digital skills, and literacy, greater digital entrepreneurship and broader adoption of digitaltechnologies and services for the digital economy to contribute to achieving the goals of the UnitedNations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Another core theme is support for MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) which might beconstrained by their scale in adoption of digital technologies. MSMEs benefitting from the digitalrevolution is crucial for inclusive growth.

The declaration includes three annex papers on ‘A Roadmap for Digitalisation: Policies for a DigitalFuture’, ‘Digital skills in vocational education and training’ and ‘G20 Priorities on Digital Trade’.Collaboration between the countries and with all stakeholders, including academia and private sectorand sharing of best practices forms a key part of all three papers.

India, Georgia sign Joint Statement to launch Joint Feasibility Study on FTA India and Georgia have singed a Joint Statement on the launching of the Joint Feasibility Study on the

Free Trade Agreement between both countries. The statement was signed by Union Commerce & Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Georgia’s

Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Giorgi Gakharia. The objective of the study is to further promote economic, trade and investment relations between the

two countries for creating favourable conditions for more comprehensive economic cooperation. Upon the completion of the Joint Feasibility Study both countries may proceed to negotiations on an

FTA once the internal procedures are completed and the mandates on negotiations are approved. In this regard, Joint Feasibility Study Group consisting of the officials of the two countries has been

established. It will provide an opportunity for more in-depth and systematic examination of potentialFTA. It will discuss possible scope of a potential FTA and analyse sensitiveness of specific sectors andrecommend possible ways to address them.

About Georgia Capital -Tbilisi.Kutaisi (legislative) Largest city -Tbilisi Official languages -Georgian President -Giorgi Margvelashvili Prime Minister -Giorgi Kvirikashvili Currency -Georgian lari

NATIONALHIV/AIDS Bill passed in Parliament


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The Lok Sabha has passed the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired ImmuneDeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) (Prevention and Control) Bill, 2017, which will strengthen the rights ofthe people infected with the disease. Rajya Sabha has already passed the Bill.

Provisions related to the role of governments: Under the Bill, central and state governments areobliged to provide for anti-retroviral therapy (ART) and management of opportunistic infections(infections that take advantage of weakness in the immune system and occur frequently). The bill alsoprohibits specific acts of discrimination by the state, or any other person, against HIV-positive people,or those living with such people.

Provisions related to discrimination: The Bill lays down penal provisions for any discriminationpractised against a person with HIV/AIDS and breach of confidentiality. The protection mandated inthe Bill extends to the fields of employment, healthcare services, educational services, public facilities,property rights, holding public office, and insurance. It also provides for confidentiality of HIV-relatedinformation and makes it necessary to get informed consent for undertaking HIV tests, medicaltreatment and research.

Provisions related to ombudsman: The bill also provides for an ombudsman. According to theprovisions of the Bill, an ombudsman shall be appointed by each state government to inquire intocomplaints related to the violation of the Act and the provision of health care services. The ombudsmanshall submit a report to the state government every six months stating the number and nature ofcomplaints received, the actions taken.

Provisions related to guardianship: Provisions related to guardianship are also specified. A personbetween the age of 12 to 18 years who has sufficient maturity in understanding and managing theaffairs of his HIV or AIDS affected family shall be competent to act as a guardian of another siblingbelow 18 years of age. The guardianship will apply in matters relating to admission to educationalestablishments, operating bank accounts, managing property, care and treatment, amongst others.

Role of courts: Cases relating to HIV positive persons shall be disposed off by the court on apriority basis. In any legal proceeding, if an HIV infected or affected person is a party, the court maypass orders that the proceedings be conducted (a) by suppressing the identity of the person, (b) incamera, and (c) to restrain any person from publishing information that discloses the identity of theapplicant. When passing any order with regard to a maintenance application filed by an HIV infected oraffected person, the court shall take into account the medical expenses incurred by the applicant.

ECONOMY, BANKING AND FINANCENokia partner with Airtel & BSNL to set up 5G internet speed in India Nokia and Airtel along with state-owned network BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd) have announced

that they have partnered to set up 5G internet speed in India to introduce a fast internet ecosystem in thecountry.

An MOU has been signed between the companies. The aim of the partnerships is to upgrade theexisting 4G network in India to make way for better 5G services in the country.

GST Network to encrypt companies’ data to check leaks

Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN), the company that will pore through millions of invoicesdaily to ensure that the tax applied on transactions is limited to the value added at that stage, willencrypt the data submitted by businesses and have firewalls to prevent leaks.

Only two people will have access to data—the taxpayer himself and his assessing officer. The samedata will be stored at four different locations to safeguard it.

GSTN is a private, not-for profit company in which the central government and states and Unionterritories together hold 49%. The rest is owned by financial institutions.


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The company will provide information technology support to all stakeholders for smoothimplementation of the new taxation regime across the country and will be the repository of allinformation related to taxation and entities registered under GST.

GSTN will mobilize working capital by levying a user fee on state governments for its services.

West Bengal’s Haldia port cleanest in India: Ministry: The Haldia port of West Bengal has emerged as the cleanest in a first-ever ranking of all major Indian

ports on sanitation parameters. Vizag port came second. The ranking of all 13 Indian ports was conducted by the Quality Council of India (QCI) during the

‘Swachhta Pakhwada’. The ranking was based on the efforts made by these ports to address waste generating sources with

respect to port operation, office area, township area and the response to incoming ships.

GOVT SCHEMEGovernment launches URJA MITRA app The Union Ministry of Power has launched URJA MITRA app for empowering citizens by real time

information sharing on power supply. The app is a first of its kind which provides a central platform, web-portal (www.urjamitra.com) as well

as mobile app for state power Distribution utilities to disseminate power outage information to rural/urban power consumers through SMS/ push/email notifications across the country.

Rural Feeder Monitoring Scheme: The Ministry also inaugurated Rural Feeder Monitoring Schemeto monitor the quantity and quality parameters of power supply in rural areas of the country. The entiredata under the scheme will be hosted on National Power Portal (NPP) on real time basis and may beaccessed by various stake holders through web services.

Government reduces number of centrally sponsored schemes to 28 The Union Government has reduced the number of centrally sponsored schemes (CSS) from 66 to 28

umbrella schemes, effective from the financial year 2016-17. These schemes were reduced based on the recommendation of the sub-group of Chief Ministers on

rationalisation of centrally sponsored schemes. Government has categorised 6 schemes as Core of the Core, 20 schemes as Core Schemes and

remaining two as Optional Schemes. If required government is also planning to merge the related schemes and implement them as Umbrella

Schemes with flexibility to states to administer in the line with their requirements. Core schemes: For these schemes, the fund-sharing pattern between the Centre and states would be 60:40 for general

category states. For the eight Northeastern and three Himalayan states, ratio is 90:10. Core-of-core Schemes: These schemes are fully funded by the Centre. Some of the schemes included in this category are:

MGRNEA, National Social Assistance Plan and the National Programme for Persons with Disabilities. Optional Schemes: These schemes are for social protection and social inclusion. The fund-sharing

pattern between the Centre and states is 50:50 for general category states and 80:20 for Northeasternand hilly states.

Funds for these schemes will be allocated to states as a lump sum and states would be free to choosewhich optional scheme they want to adopt.

EVENTSIndia's first-ever micro-drama festival held in Delhi India's first ever micro-drama festival, named Thespis, was held recently in New Delhi. The longest play of the festival ran for not more than 10 minutes and the shortest one lasted for only 42

seconds. The festival was organized by theater group 'Vriksh'. The inaugural play of the festival was titled

'Chamaeleonidae'.BOOK RELEASE

PM releases book authored by LS Speaker Sumitra Mahajan


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Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a book 'Matoshree', authored by Lok Sabha Speaker SumitraMahajan in New Delhi.

The book 'Matoshree' covers the life and times of legendary Devi Ahilyabai Holker who ruled theHolkar Empire spread over the Malwa region from 1767 to 1795.

AWARDS AND HONOURSNational Hindi Sevi Samman Awards announced Central Hindi Institute Director N.K. Pandey announced the names of writers from different categories

for the prestigious Hindi Sevi Samman Awards. The awardees will receive Rs 5 lakh each, a citation and a shawl from President Pranab Mukherjee at a

ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan in May 2017. The Ganesh Shankar Vidhyarthi Award for Hindi journalism will be awarded to Rahul Dev and Baldev

Bhai Sharma. Professor S. Shesharatnam (Andhra Pradesh), M. Govind Rajan (Tamil Nadu), Harmahendra Singh

Bedi (Punjab) and H. Subadani Devi (Manipur) have been selected from non-Hindi speaking states fortheir contribution to the Hindi language.

Foreign Hindi writers selected for the award are Professor Fujii Takeshi (Japan) and Professor GabrielaNik Ilieva (New York) while the Non-Resident Indians (NRI) who get the awards are Pushpita Avasthi(Netherlands) and Padmesh Gupt (London).

APRIL 13

NATIONALPink patrol, security app for women in Bengaluru A fleet of pink patrol vehicles to attend to the distress calls from women and an exclusive police mobile

phone distress application have been introduced in Bengaluru as part of an effort to improve the safetyand security of women in the city.

The pink patrol cars called the 'Pink Hoysalas' and the Suraksha mobile phone app were unveiled byKarnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The app has been developed by the Bengaluru city police ITteam and can be downloaded on Android and iOS phones.

Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy (IIPE) at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh: The Union Cabinet has given its approval for setting up of Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy

(IIPE) at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh as “an Institute of National Importance” through an Act ofParliament.

The Institute will have the governance structure as well as legal mandate to grant degrees in a mannersimilar to that enjoyed by IITs. A separate Act will also impart the required status to the Institute tobecome a “Centre of Excellence” in petroleum and energy studies.

The Cabinet has also approved Rs 655.46 crore as capital expenditure to set up IIPE and contribution ofRs 200 crore towards its Endowment Fund.

The objective is to meet the quantitative and qualitative gap in the supply of skilled manpower for thepetroleum sector and to promote research activities needed for the growth of the sector.

Cab safety measures for women included in the New Taxi Policy guidelines Cab safety measures for women commuters as recommended by the Ministry of Women and Child

Development to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and Shipping (MoRTH) have beenincluded in the new Taxi Policy guidelines.

These recommendations from the Ministry of Women and Child Development comes at the backdrop ofincreasing cases of sexual harassment of women commuters in the cabs.

Recommendations that were included in the New Taxi policy guidelines are: Mandatory fitting of GPS panic devices in the taxis. To ensure the safety of women and child passengers, central locking system in the taxis to be

disallowed. Sharing of a seat in the cabs must be subject to the willingness of passengers.


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Identification of driver along with the photo and the registration number should be prominentlydisplayed in the cab.

Violation of stipulated rules and regulations by taxi operators and drivers to be strictly dealt inaccordance with law.

Haryana launched Operation Durga to ensure women Safety Similar to that of Uttar Pradesh’s ‘anti-romeo squad’, the Haryana government has launched ‘Operation

Durga’ to ensure women safety in the state. Under this operation, teams formed by the Chief Minister’s Flying Squad visited public places such as

schools, colleges, bus stands and railway stations and caught persons indulging in crime activitiesagainst women like eve-teasing, stalking, harassment and other such activities.

Since women are hesitant in reporting incidents involving anti-social elements to the Police, thecampaign, ‘Operation Durga’ was launched so that flying squads patrol those areas where

such anti-social elements committed crimes against women.

ECONOMY, BANKING AND FINANCEGovernment sets up a panel to examine framework for Virtual Currencies The Government has set up an Inter-Disciplinary Committee to examine the existing framework with

regard to Virtual Currencies. The Committee will take stock of the present status of Virtual Currencies both in India and globally. It

will also examine the existing global regulatory and legal structures governing these Currencies. The Finance Ministry stated that the committee will suggest measures for dealing with such currencies

including issues relating to consumer protection and money laundering. The Committee will be chairedby Special Secretary of Economic Affairs, Shri Dinesh Sharma.

About Virtual Currencies A virtual currency or virtual money has been defined in 2012 by the European Central Bank as "a type

of unregulated, digital money, which is issued and usually controlled by its developers, and used andaccepted among the members of a specific virtual community."

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the US Treasury, defined virtualcurrency in its guidance published in 2013.

In 2014, the European Banking Authority defined virtual currency as "a digital representation of valuethat is neither issued by a central bank or a public authority, nor necessarily attached to a fiat currency,but is accepted by natural or legal persons as a means of payment and can be transferred, stored ortraded electronically".

A virtual currency is created through encryption techniques. There are various kinds, such as: bitcoin,litecoin, peercoin, namecoin, ether and primecoin. Among these, bitcoin is most famous. In India, thereare multiple bitcoin exchanges, bitcoin mining companies and portfolio management firms.

Cabinet approves listing of 11 CPSEs on stock exchanges The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has given its approval for the listing of 11

Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) on stock exchanges. As approved, the listing of CPSEs will be through the public offer of shares up to 25 per cent of

Government of India's shareholding.CPSEs are:- Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) IRCON International Limited Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) Ltd. Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) Ltd. RITES Ltd. Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) Ltd. Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDSL) North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) Ltd. MSTC Ltd.


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Mishra Dhatu Nigam Ltd. (MIDHANI)

Petrol, diesel prices to change every day from May 1 As per the announcement of government from May 1, 2017, petrol and diesel prices will change every

day in sync with international rates. State-owned fuel retailers Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan

Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) will launch a pilot for daily price revision in five select cities which arePuducherry, Vizag in Andhra Pradesh, Udaipur in Rajasthan, Jamshedpur in Jharkhand and Chandigarhfrom May 1, 2017 stated by Petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Central Processing Centre (CPC) gets new Pin Code The Department of Post has allotted a unique pin code for the Income Tax Department’s Central

Processing Centre (CPC) based in Bengaluru so as to ensure that the letters and mails sent by taxpayersto the CPC are not lost or reach the centre late. The new pin code given to CPC is 560500.

Earlier, the CPC was using the pin code 560100 which was marked for the entire city area of Bengaluru.The new pin code will cater exclusively to the CPC of the Income Tax department and will help inaddressing the grievances of the taxpayers with respect to the issues of non-reaching of postal mails.

President Gives Assent to Four GST Legislations President Pranab Mukherjee has given assent to four supporting legislations on Goods and Services Tax

(GST). The four legislations are: The Central GST Act, 2017, The Integrated GST Act, 2017, The GST (Compensation to States) Act, 2017, and The Union Territory GST Act, 2017. The above bills were passed in Rajya Sabha on April 6th and in Lok Sabha on 29 March. Now with the President’s assent, these bills will pave way for the roll-out of GST regime from 1 July. The Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, deals with the levy of the Central Goods and Services

Tax by the union government over the supply of goods and services within the boundary of a state. The Integrated GST Act, 2017, provides for the levy of Integrated Goods and Services Tax by the union

government on the interstate supply of goods and services. The Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to States) Act, 2017, provides for compensation for the

losses incurred by the states on account of implementation of the Goods and Services Tax. The Union Territory GST Act, 2017, provides for the levy and collection of tax on intra-state supply of

goods, services or both, by the Union Territories. Jammu & Kashmir GST regime will not be applicableto Jammu and Kashmir because of the fact that Article 370 gives special status to the state.

So, the state will have to legislate its own law and integrate with the GST regime. GST Goods andServices Tax is a comprehensive indirect tax which is to be levied on the manufacture, sale andconsumption of goods and services in India.

This is so far the biggest tax reform in the country. GST will subsume central excise, service tax, Value Added Tax (VAT) and other local levies to create a

uniform market. GST eliminates the cascading effect of taxes because it is taxed at every point ofbusiness and the input credit is available in the value chain. The tax rates under GST regime will bebased on the recommendation GST Council. Council has two-thirds voting by States and one-third byCentre.

Bank accounts to be blocked if not self-certified by April 30, 2017 As part of Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) compliance, the Central Board of Direct

Taxes (CBDT) has asked the banks/financial institutions to link their accounts with Aadhaar numberand self-certification from customers by April 30, 2017, to avoid closure of accounts.

It is clearly directed the banks to obtain a self-certification for the accounts opened between July 1,2014 to August 31, 2015.

Karnataka Bank gets new MD and CEO


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Mahabaleshwara Mavinakudige Subrahmanya has been appointed as the new MD and CEO ofKarnataka Bank Ltd.

He succeeds Polali Jayarama Bhat, who voluntarily stepped down 15 months ahead of his three-yearterm as MD and CEO.

Mr. P J Bhat is the new part-time non-executive chairman of Karnataka Bank

Amazon receives RBI approval for e-wallet Amazon India has received the RBI’s approval for an e-wallet 'Amazon Pay', which the e-tailer had

applied for early last year. The licence has been issued to Amazon Online Distribution Services on March 22, 2017 and is valid for

five years.

Tata Motors arm launches Made-in-India robot TAL Manufacturing Solutions, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Motors has launched a

Made-in-India robot catering primarily to micro, small and medium industries. The indigenously built robot TAL Brabo is available in two variants of payloads of 2 kg and 10 kg,

priced at Rs.5 lakh and Rs.7 lakh, respectively. This is the first robot conceptualized and designed in India.

Government launches Aadhaar Seeding Application The Union Ministry of Labour & Employment has launched Aadhaar Seeding Application for efficient

service delivery and widening the reach of Employees Provident Fund (EPF) benefits. It was launched at the 217th special meeting of the Central Board of Employees Provident Fund

(CBEPF/EPFO) in New Delhi under the chairmanship of Minster of State for Labour and EmploymentBandaru Dattatreya

The seeding application has been developed by the EPFO with the support of Common ServiceCentres (CSC) and CDAC (Centre for Development of Advanced Computing).

It has been developed in pursuance of the government’s policy for optimum use of informationtechnology for efficient service delivery and widening the reach of benefits to people.

The application will enable a provident fund member or pensioner walk into any field offices of theEPFO or CSC outlets with UAN (Universal Account Number) and Aadhaar and seed the Aadhaar withthe UAN

GOVT SCHEMEJharkhand police initiates Tare Zameen Par programme for underprivileged kids Jharkhand Police has initiated Tare Zameen Par programme to enlighten children in Naxal-affected

areas in the Palamau district of Jharkhand. This programme is aimed to restore confidence in the state police force and to encourage children to

lead happy lives. As a part of the programme, the state police appealed the locals to donate bags, shoes, books and

clothes to improve the basic amenities of the children in the Naxal-affected areas.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu relaunches ‘Adarana Scheme' Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N. Chandrababu Naidu announced the re-launch of 'Adarana scheme'

for improving traditional occupations. It is for the uplift and all-round development of people belonging to the Backward Classes stated by

CM Naidu.

IMPORTANT DAYThe second spell of Hindu new year and harvest festivals falls are being celebrated across the country: Bengalis celebrate Poila Boishakh. Malayalis celebrate Vishu. Tamilians celebrate Puthandu. Assamese celebrate Rongali Bihu.


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Punjabis celebrate Baisakhi. Odia celebrates Maha Vishuba Sankranti.

PERSONS IN NEWSPMModi becomes the most followed world leader on Instagram Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emerged as the most followed world leader on photo-sharing app

Instagram with a whopping 6.9 million followers, surpassing US President Donald Trump. Mr. Modi is also the most "effective world leader" on the platform. Trump, who occupies the second

spot, has 6.3 million followers while Pope Francis is in third place with 3.7 million followers.APPOINTMENT

UN chief Guterres names Achim Steiner as new administrator of UNDP United Nation (UN) chief Antonio Guterres has named a German Achim Steiner, as the new

administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP). Headquartered in New York City, the UNDP seeks to reduce poverty, improve social development and

encourage women's empowerment.SPORTS

India, Australia sign sports partnership India and Australia have started a partnership aimed at increasing cooperation in sports, in the presence

of visiting Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and batting legend Sachin Tendulkar. The partnership will advance India-Australia cooperation in four areas athlete and coach training and

development, sports science, sports governance and integrity, and grassroots participation. Sports Minister Vijay Goel has launched a major grassroots programme named 'Khelo India' for

developing a sporting culture at grass-root level

APRIL 14

INTERNATIONALMother of all Bombs: The GBU-43/B – dubbed the ‘Mother of all bombs’ – has been dropped on an Islamic State complex in

Afghanistan by the US forces. The Moab or GBU-43/B is the world’s largest non-nuclear weapon. It is designed to destroy heavily reinforced targets or to shatter ground forces and armour across a large

area. Its blast is equivalent to 11 tons of TNT. By comparison, the nuclear weapon dropped on Hiroshima

had a blast yield of 15 tons of TNT. While it has a blast radius that stretches a mile in each direction the bomb leaves no lasting radiation

effect because it is non-nuclear. MOAB was first tested in March 2003 at the time of US led invasion of Iraq. The test resulted in a huge

mushroom cloud that could be seen as far away from 32 km. MOAB, however, is not the largest bomb ever made. Russia in 2007 tested ‘Aviation Thermobaric

Bomb of Increased Power’, nicknamed as the “Father of All Bombs”. It is estimated to be 4 timesmore powerful than MOAB.

NATIONALRight to access Internet cannot be curtailed, says SC The Supreme Court has clarified that a general prohibition on all online content about pre-natal sex

determination will curtail the fundamental right to know of a genuine information-seeker. Theclarification came based on a petition demanding for strict adherence by search engines to Section 22.

Section 22 is about prohibition of advertisement relating to pre-natal determination of sex. The court held that the prohibition should kick in only if the content found online is violative of Section

22 under the Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection)(PCPNDT) Act of 1994.

Citizens have the right to access the Internet to gain information, wisdom and knowledge and their rightcannot be curtailed unless it encroaches into the boundary of illegality.


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Calling the Internet a “virtual world” and a “world which is invisible in a way,” the Supreme Courtobserved that the fundamental right of expression includes “the right to be informed and the right toknow and the feeling of protection of expansive connectivity” the Internet offers on the click of abutton.

The three Internet search engines — Microsoft, Google India and Yahoo! India — gave their assurancesto the Supreme Court that they would neither advertise nor sponsor advertisements violative of thePNPCDT Act. The trio said they had already appointed ‘in-house’ experts to spot illegal content.

Nodal officers have already been appointed at State levels to keep tabs on the Net for offensive materialcontravening Section 22 of the Act.

In case the nodal officers detect illegal online content, they would communicate with the searchengine’s experts, which would take it off within the next 36 hours of receiving the information. Theseexperts would then follow it up by providing the nodal officers concerned with an action taken report.

Cisco launched 5th global and 1st in India cyber range lab in Gurugram US-based tech giant Cisco launched its fifth global cyber range lab in Gurugram, Haryana with an aim

to train Indian firms and government agencies on real-world cyber attacks. This is the first cyber range lab in India. The facility was inaugurated by National Cyber Security

Coordinator Gulshan Rai.

ASCI issues guidelines for celebrities endorsing products

The advertising industry watchdog Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has come up with aset of guidelines for celebrities endorsing products.

As per the guidelines, celebrities are personalities from the field of entertainment and sports and alsoincludes other well known personalities like doctors, authors, activists and educationists who getscompensation for appearing in advertisements.

Celebrities must exercise due diligence to make sure that all description claims and comparisons madein the advertisements that they endorse are not misleading and deceptive.

It will be the duty of the advertiser and the advertising agency to make sure that celebrities are awareabout the ASCI guidelines. A

SCI have barred celebrities to endorse product/treatment/remedy that is prohibited under The Drugs &Magic Remedies Act (Objectionable Advertisements) and the Drugs & Cosmetic Act.

Celebrities should not endorse those products which by law require a health warning on its packaging oradvertisement.

Celebrities seeking the advice of ASCI to ascertain whether the advertisement potentially violates anyprovision of the ASCI code or not would be considered of having completed due diligence.

Also, the advertising advice of ASCI cannot be construed as pre-clearance for an advertisement.ECONOMY, BANKING AND FINANCE

Bank Boards Bureau evolves 'GRAF' for PSBs The Bank Boards Bureau (BBB) has evolved a Governance, Reward and Accountability Framework

(GRAF) for public sector banks to ensure that they have the ability to compete successfully with privatesector banks, small finance and payments banks, foreign banks and non-banking finance companies.

The framework is guided by the latest global benchmarking on governance practices provided by theBasel Committee on Banking Supervisions guidelines on corporate governance principles for banksreleased in July 2015.

The GRAF seeks to ensure that corporate governance at PSBs is in keeping with various pieces oflegislation, including the Companies Act, 2013, Banking Regulation Act, 1949, and Securities andExchange Board of India (listing obligations and disclosure requirements) Regulations, 2015.

Further, the framework abides by the guidelines of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision oncorporate governance principles for banks. Among others, the principles deal with the board’s overallresponsibilities, board qualifications and composition, senior management, risk management function,compliance, internal audit and compensation.


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Prime Minister launches BHIM-Aadhaar platform

Prime Minister has launched BHIM-Aadhaar platform from Nagpur. BHIM-Aadhaar platform is the merchant interface of the BHIM App that has been launched for making

digital payments using the Aadhaar platform. BHIM App was launched in December 2016 to provide a one-stop solution for all digital payments. The App created a new world record by registering 1.9 crore downloads within four months since its

launch. the newly launched BHIM-Aadhaar platform will help people to pay digitally using theirbiometric data like thumb imprint on a merchant’s biometric enabled device like a smart phone or abiometric reader.

The App needs to be installed only by merchants and they need to connect their smartphones to thebiometric scan machine to accept the payments from customers

The customers who want to pay using this app needs to link Aadhaar number and biometic fingerprintto complete a transaction.

RBI tightens norms on bank performance The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has come out with a revised prompt corrective action (PCA)

framework for banks, spelling out certain thresholds, the breach of which could invite resolutionssuch as a merger with another bank or even shutting down of the bank.

The revised norms have set out three thresholds. The thresholds are based on capital, netnon-performing assets, profitability and leverage ratio.

What happens when there is breach of any threshold? The breach of the first threshold will invite restriction on dividend distribution or require parents of

foreign banks to bring in more capital. This will get triggered if capital adequacy ratio (includingcapital conservation buffer) falls below 10.25% or common equity tier-I (CET1) capital ratio fallsbelow 6.75%. Breach of either CAR or CET1 would trigger corrective action. The trigger for netNPA is 6% and 4% for leverage ratio. Two consecutive years of negative return on assets (RoA) willalso be classified in threshold one.

The breach of the second threshold will occur when the capital adequacy ratio falls below 7.75% orCET1 goes below 5.125%. The net NPA threshold is breach of 12% and leverage ratio below 3.5%.Three consecutive years of negative ROA will also trigger threshold two. Breach of threshold twowill result in restrictions on expansion of branches and higher provisions.

The breach of the last threshold happens when CET1 falls below 3.625% and net NPA goes above12%. Negative ROA for four consecutive years will also be considered as a breach of the thirdthreshold vis-a-vis the profitability parameter. Restrictions, in addition to that of threshold one andtwo, will be put on management compensation and directors’ fees if the third level is breached.

Corrective action that can also be imposed on banks includes special audit, restructuring operationsand activation of recovery plan.

The banks can also be asked to bring in new management, or even can supersede the bank’s board, asa part of corrective action.

Postal department, SBI join hands to promote cashless transactions

Department of Posts has joined hands with State Bank of India to promote 'SBI buddy e-wallet' andPoint of Sale (POS) machines for cashless transactions at post office counters while booking speed postand registered post items.

Higher officials have dedicated SBI buddy e-wallet and SBI POS machines at Chandigarh General PostOffice for the general public.

IRDAI launches web portal for insurers 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. The portal 'isnp.irda.gov.in' is also open to intermediaries in the insurance business.


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Income Tax Department launches Operation Clean Money-II The Income Tax department has launched the second phase of the ‘Operation Clean Money’ to

investigate over 60,000 individuals with an aim to detect black money generation post demonetisation. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the policy-making body of the income tax department has

detected flow of black money into the banks amounting to over Rs 9,334 crore between November 9,2016 and February 28 this year.

Under the second phase of Operation Clean Money, more than 60,000 persons including 1,300 high riskpersons has been identified for detailed investigation.

The department has deducted more than 6,000 transactions of high value property purchase and 6,600cases of outward remittances.

The first phase of ‘Operation Clean Money’ was launched on January 31, 2017. In the first phase, the department went through e-verification of large cash deposits into the banks after

the demonetisation and had sent online queries and investigated around 17.92 lakh persons. This operation will help in eliminating black money and widen the tax base. The impact of the operations carried out by the income tax department has resulted in a 21.7% increase

in the income tax returns in the financial year 2016-17. Also, 16% growth in the gross collection has been observed, which is the highest in the last five years.

Besides, 14% growth in net collection has been realized, which is the highest in the last three years.Dr. (Ms.) Mukulita Vijayawargiya takes charge as Whole Time Member of IBBI Dr. (Ms.) Mukulita Vijayawargiya took charge as Whole Time Member of the Insolvency and

Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) in New Delhi. She will look after the fields like Administrative Law Wing, Information Technology, Limited

Insolvency Examination, National Insolvency Examination, Finance Accounts and Communication.GOVT SCHEME

Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) Loans extended under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) during 2016-17 have crossed the

target of Rs. 1,80,000 crore for 2016-17.: Sanctions currently stand at Rs. 1,80,087 crore with final data still awaited from some of the smaller

non-banking lenders. Of this amount, Rs. 1,23,000 crore was lent by banks while non-banking institutions lent about Rs.

57,000 crore. Data compiled so far indicates that the number of borrowers this year were over 4 crore, of which over

70% were women borrowers. About 20% of the borrowers were from the Scheduled Caste Category, 5% from the Scheduled Tribe

Category, while Other Backward Classes accounted for almost 35% of the borrowers.About the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) scheme:The PMMY Scheme was launched in April, 2015. The scheme’s objective is to refinance collateral-freeloans given by the lenders to small borrowers.The scheme, which has a corpus of Rs 20,000 crore, can lend betweenRs 50,000 and Rs 10 lakh to smallentrepreneurs.Banks and MFIs can draw refinance under the MUDRA Scheme after becoming member-lendinginstitutions of MUDRA.Mudra Loans are available for non-agricultural activities upto Rs. 10 lakh and activities allied to agriculturesuch as Dairy, Poultry, Bee Keeping etc, are also covered.Mudra’s unique features include a Mudra Card which permits access to Working Capital through ATMs andCard Machines.There are three types of loans under PMMY:Shishu (up to Rs.50,000).Kishore (from Rs.50,001 to Rs.5 lakh).Tarun (from Rs.500,001 to Rs.10,00,000).

DEFENCENepal and China to conduct Sagarmatha Friendship-2017Nepal and China is all set to hold their first ever joint military exercise named ‘Sagarmatha Friendship-2017’from April 17 to April 26.


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The 10 day long joint exercise will focus on combating terror and disaster management.Although, Nepal conducts joint exercises with other countries like India and United States, this is the firsttime it is holding a joint exercise with China.

IMPORTANT DAYS126th Birth Anniversary of Dr.Bhimrao Ambedkar Celebrated 126th birth anniversary of Bharat Ratna Dr. B.R.Ambedkar was celebrated at the Parliament House

complex. The President, Vice President and Prime Minister paid floral tributes to the statue ofAmbedkar present in the Parliament House Lawns. The celebrations were organized by Dr. AmbedkarFoundation, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment.

AWARDSHimachal Pradesh bags Krishi Karman Award 2015-16 The Union Ministry of Agriculture has selected Himachal Pradesh for the Krishi Karman Award

2015-16 for the commendable increase in food grains production. Himachal Pradesh is being selected for this award for the third time. The award would carry a trophy,

citation and cash prize.

Indian wins top prize at UN challenge for open source tool An Indian software engineer Abdulqadir Rashik has won the top prize at a global challenge for an

open-source tool that enables users to interactively view UN General Assembly resolutions and gain adeeper understanding of the voting patterns of member states.

He also won the 'Unite Ideas UNGAViz Textual Analysis and Visualisation Challenge' for his GlobalPolicy.

BOOK RELEASEPranab Mukherjee released book on Draupadi by Veerappa Moily A book on Draupadi named 'the Flaming Tresses of Draupadi' written by senior Congress leader M

Veerappa Moily was released by President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi. The book is an English translation by D A Shankar of Moily’s original work in Kannada.

APRIL 15

ECONOMY, BANKING AND FINANCEPM launches GNFC’s cashless/less cash township model across 12 States Prime Minister Narendra Modi 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. These townships will deliver 2.5 lakh cashless transactions per day, translating into 9 crore cashless

transactions in a year. GNFC’s township at Bharuch in Gujarat became India’s first cashless township after demonetization. The townships for adopting GNFC’s model were selected based on a third-party assessment by Price

Waterhouse Coopers (PwC). The chosen 81 townships belonged to that of central public sectorcompanies such as ONGC, Indian Oil, NTPC, SAIL, BHEL, NMDC, CRPF, BSF and Police Lines andalso to private sector townships like Reliance, Essar, Adani, Birla Aditya, Welspun etc.

GOVT SCHEMECM Connect app Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has launched a new mobile app CM Connect. The app Andhra

Pradesh runs on Microsoft’s Kaizala platform. The app will be useful in receiving feedback from the public directly on any given issue. With this App, people can share the confidential information with the Chief Minister directly. The app would help in effective planning, improving and implementation of the schemes and

programmes.UP Signs ‘Power For All’ Agreement With Centre


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The Uttar Pradesh government has signed an agreement with the Centre for “Power for All”. With this,Uttar Pradesh, which was the only state in the country which had not signed the agreement, has finallycome on board the central government scheme.

24×7 Power for All scheme is a joint initiative of the central and state governments, with the objectiveof providing round-the-clock electricity to all households, industry, commercial businesses and anyother electricity consuming entities within four years.

As a part of energy efficiency measures, 10,000 energy efficiency solar- panel pumps will bedistributed through Centre’s undertaking, Energy Efficiency Services (EESL). In addition, it has beenagreed to distribute energy efficient bulbs, tube lights and fans at cheaper rates. Separately, the stategovernment has also launched ‘1912’ as the toll-free helpline for the consumers in rural areas tocommunicate their grievances pertaining to power and electricity.

HISTORYModi to honour 16 Odisha families linked to 1817 revolt Descendants of 16 families associated with a little-known but bloody rebellion against British

colonialism, called the Paika rebellion of 1817 will be felicitated by the Prime Minister. Two-hundred years ago in 1817, a valiant uprising of soldiers led by Buxi Jagabandhu (Bidyadhar

Mohapatra) took place in Khurda of Odisha. This is known as Paika rebellion. The Paikas were the traditional land-owning militia of Odisha and served as warriors. When armies of

the East India Company overran most of Odisha in 1803, the Raja of Khurda lost his primacy and thepower and prestige of the Paikas went on a decline. The British were not comfortable with theseaggressive, warlike new subjects and set up a commission under Walter Ewer to look into the issue.

The commission recommended that the hereditary rent-free lands granted to the Paikas be taken over bythe British administration and this recommendation was zealously adhered to. They revolted against theBritish.

However, the rebellion had several other underlying causes – like the rise in the price of salt, abolitionof the cowrie currency for payment of taxes and an overtly extortionist land revenue policy.

Although initially the Company struggled to respond they managed to put down the rebellion by May1817. Many of the Paik leaders were hung or deported. Jagabandhu surrendered in 1825.

ENVIRONMENT,SCIENCE AND TECHSaturn’s moon Enceladus may be habitable: NASA NASA has announced that Saturn’s sixth-largest moon Enceladus and Jupiter’s fourth-largest moon

Europa may be habitable as they have the necessary ingredients required to sustain life. The key ingredients of life are liquid water, a source of energy for metabolism, and chemicals such as

carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulphur. Findings were made by NASA with the help of Cassini-Huygens unmanned spacecraft and the Hubble

Telescope. Cassini-Huygens unmanned spacecraft was sent in 1997 to study Saturn, its rings, and itsmoon.

Saturn’s moon Enceladus has a higher possibility of hosting life than Jupiter’s Europa as it has a formof chemical energy on which life forms can feed. Enceladus is a small, icy moon which has anabundance of hydrogen molecules in water plumes. 98% of the gas in the plumes was found to be waterand 1% is hydrogen and the remaining is a mixture of molecules of carbon dioxide, methane, andammonia. Underwater vents present on Enceladus resemble the vents present on Earth’s ocean floors,where microbes and other sea life congregate.

Scientists expect to find the potential for life in those vents as microbes flourish on Earth in hot crackson the ocean floors, where sunlight cannot penetrate.

Microbes are capable of using the process of methanogenesis, in which hydrogen is combined withcarbon dioxide dissolved in the water, to obtain energy

. This process creates methane as a byproduct, which is a critical ingredient for life Tags:Scientists find second Great Spot on Jupiter Scientists have found second Great Spot in Jupiter which is cold and high up. The Great Spot was found to be 24,000 km across and 12,000 km wide. It is found to be in the upper

atmosphere and is much cooler than the hot surroundings.


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Unlike the Great Red Spot which was identified in 1830, this newly discovered Great Spot iscontinuously changing its shape and size.

The Great Cold Spot is believed to be caused by magnetic forces responsible for Jupiter’s polarauroras. This phenomenon drives energy into the atmosphere and creates a region of cooling in theboundary layer between the underlying atmosphere and the vacuum of space.

The Great Spot was discovered by a British-led team using a telescope in the Southern Observatory innorthern Chile.

It was found to be much more volatile than the slowly changing Great Red Spot and found to bethousands of years old. Scientists have planned to study the Great Cold Spot using ground telescopesand NASA’s Juno spacecraft that is orbiting around Jupiter.

The study has been published in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American GeophysicalUnion.

Seabed Resident Event Profiler (SREP) robot developed by NIO Scientists at CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) have developed a robotic platform,

Seabed Resident Event Profiler (SREP) that is capable of being stationed at any water depth from 0-200metres to track the oceanic processes. The robot has been designed to regularly record the water columninformation at every 10 to 25 cm during every profile four times a day.

The robot was tested during the recent voyage of RV Sindhu Sadhana, the latest state of the art researchvessel of NIO.

The SREP robot has been designed particularly to carry out studies related to the monsoon, globalclimate and upwelling.

Upwelling is a phenomenon associated with the monsoon that sees the migration of deep sea oxygenminimum zone (OMZ) towards the coast. It also brings the nutrient-rich water to the surface andenhances the biological productivity of the region. Several sensors attached to SREP is capable ofdetecting the conditions associated with upwelling such as low temperature, low oxygen, high nutrients,and changes in density patterns etc.

This enables SREP to effectively track upwelling during June to September. Upwelling is an importantphenomenon for the ecosystem sustenance and fishery. Similarly, since south-west monsoon forms thebackbone of the country’s economy, knowing the conditions for its onset forms one of the major goalsof SREP.

The robot in its final configuration will be capable of sitting on the seabed for 100 days continuously totrack the oceanic processes in the upcoming monsoon season.

ISRO to share technology for manufacturing of Lithium-ion batteries for production of electricvehicles The government has directed the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to share battery

technology for mass production of Lithium-Ion batteries for electric vehicles. The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre under ISRO has developed indigenous technology to manufacture

high-power batteries for use in two- and three-wheelers and their feasibility tests conducted by theAutomotive Research Association of India (ARAI) was found to be successful. T

his development is expected to push India’s electric vehicles (EV) industry. It has been reported that many major automobile companies, battery manufacturers and public sector

undertakings like Indian Oil, BHEL, Mahindra Renault, Hyundai, Nissan, Tata Motors, High EnergyBatteries have approached ISRO for transfer of the battery technology so that it will enable them toproduce indigenous Lithium-Ion batteries.

ISRO is soon expected to come up with a framework to make the transfer process smooth. A MoU formanufacturing batteries is expected to be soon reached between ISRO and BHEL. The cabinetsecretariat has asked ISRO to develop an enabling framework to enable even interested private playersto obtain the technology for mass production.

OBITUARYFormer J&K Governor Girish Saxena dies Former Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Girish Chandra Saxena has passed away at the age of 90. Saxena was an Indian Police Service officer of the 1950 batch from the Uttar Pradesh cadre.


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He served two terms as the governor of Jammu and Kashmir. He also served as the head of Researchand Analysis Wing from 1983 to 1986.

PLACES IN NEWSPMModi inaugurates new units in Koradi thermal power station Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated 1980 MW of the Koradi super-critical thermal power project

of state-run Mahagenco near Nagpur in Maharashtra to the nation. The 1,980 MW capacity includes three units of 660 MW each. The plant currently has one unit of 200

MW, two units of 210 MW each and with the addition of the three units of 660 MW each, its totalcapacity has increased to 2,600 MW.

APRIL 16

INTERNATIONALNepal President to arrive in India on five-day visit Nepalese President Bidya Devi Bhandari is arriving in New Delhi on a five-day visit to India. This will be Bhandari's first foreign trip after assuming the office in October 2015, following the

promulgation of the new Constitution in Nepal. A high-level delegation comprising several ministers and MPs accompanying her.

BRICS envoys on Middle East meet in India

Special Envoys of five BRICS member states who specialises on West Asian Affairs held a quietmeeting in Vishakhapatnam to assess current situation in the volatile region after use of chemicalweapons in Syria and US retaliatory strike on the Syrian air base.

Condemning recent several attacks against some BRICS countries, including that in the Russia, the fiveenvoys stressed that counter-terrorism measures should be undertaken on the firm basis of internationallaw under the aegis of the UN and its Security Council.

This was the first meeting of the BRICS special envoys on the Middle East held in India and gainedsignificance following growing instability in West Asia and North Africa.

NATIONALMaharashtra, the first state to stage special drive for transgenders to register as voters Maharashtra has become the first state to launch a special awareness drive to ensure that transgenders in

the state register as voters in greater numbers. The state branch of the Election Commission of India (ECI) launched the drive on April 15,

celebrated as Third Gender Day. According to ECI officials, despite the approximate population of thirdgenders in Maharashtra being pegged at more than 10 lakh, only about 1,700 are registered voters.

Bhopal to have India's first privately run railway station For the first time in Indian Railway history Habibganj station in Bhopal has been handed over to the

private firm to be operated by it. The station building will be developed in line with airport terminals. However, Railway Minister Suresh

Prabhu clarified that trains at the station will still be run by the Railways.

ECONOMY, BANKING AND FINANCEFinance Ministry approves 8.65% interest rate on EPF The Finance Ministry have permitted the Labour Ministry to go ahead with 8.65% rate of interest on

Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) for 2016-17, which will benefit over four crores EPFO members.Google launches Areo app Google has launched a new food delivery and home services aggregator called Areo for the Indian

market.


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The app is available as a free download on the Google Play store and is currently operational inBengaluru and Mumbai.

India’s economy will grow by 7.2% in 2017-18, predicts World Bank India’s gross domestic product is expected to spike to 7.2% in the 2017-18 financial year from 6.8% the

previous fiscal, according to a new World Bank report titled “Globalization Backlash”. The international agency forecast that India’s economic growth will rise gradually to 7.7% in 2019-’20,

underpinned by a recovery in private investments.

GOVERNANCEManipur CM launched DARPAN web applications to check corruption Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh launched two web applications to check corruption and keep

track of government activities. The two web applications were Anti-Corruption Cell and Digital Application for Review by Public And

Nation (DARPAN). The two web applications would monitor all government funded projects andensure transparency and accountability.

Prakash Javadekar launched RUSA Portal, Mobile App Human Resource and Development Minister Prakash Javadekar launched the Rashtriya Uchchatar

Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) portal and mobile app in New Delhi. The portal is one-stop for States’ Higher Education Plans, the decision of the States’ Higher Education

Councils and details of the resources. The mobile application will ensure that all projects under RUSAare tracked for 24x7.

AWARDSIndian engineer Trupti Jain wins ‘Cartier Women’s Initiative award’ An Indian environmental engineer has won this year’s prestigious ‘Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards’

here for providing women working on farms with water management solutions and protecting smallfarmers against droughts and flash floods.

Trupti Jain, 46, was one among the six winners chosen for the Asia-Pacific laureate from a pool ofnearly 1,900 applicants from over 120 countries and were selected by an independent international jury.

Each recipient receives a USD 100,000 prize money as well as a year of mentoring.

Hanchinal receives M.S. Swaminathan Award The sixth prestigious M.S. Swaminathan Award for contribution in the field of agriculture given to R.R.

Hanchinal, Chairperson of Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights Authority, the governmentof India.

He received the award for his contributions and sustained support to the areas of crop improvement forhot and very hot dry environments, seed production technology and intellectual protection rights inplant varieties.

OBITUARYComputer pioneer Robert W Taylor dies aged 85 Robert W Taylor, who was instrumental in creating the internet and the modern personal computer, has

died in California. Mr Taylor funded researchers or led teams of scientists who are responsible for some of the most

important technologies of the modern world. They include the computer mouse and computers that use graphics such as icons and windows - the

kind of command system that is universal on modern devices.

World's oldest person Emma Morano dies aged 117

Emma Morano, an Italian woman believed to have been the oldest person alive and the last survivor ofthe 19th century died at the age of 117.

Morano, born on November 29, 1899, died at her home in Verbania, northern Italy.


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BOOK RELEASEArjun Gaind launches his book on Punjab Author Arjun Gaind launched his latest book, 'Punjab: Building the Land Of Five Rivers' in Mumbai.

SPORTSSai Praneeth wins Singapore open Badminton Sai Praneeth has won the title match of Men's singles at Singapore Open Badminton beating his

compatriot Kidambi Srikanth.Pankaj Advani won his sixth Asian Billiards title Sixteen-time world champion Pankaj Advani has won his sixth Asian Billiards title and seventh overall

Asian championship. The ace cueist defeated his compatriot Sourav Kothari 6-3 in an entertaining final of the Asian Billiards

Championship in Chandigarh.

APRIL 17

INTERNATIONALTurkey Referendum: President Erdogan wins sweeping powers Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won the referendum on granting him sweeping new powers

by a clear majority. The “Yes” vote garnered by Erdogan was 51.36% and “No” was 48.64%. while the supporters of

Erdogan has hailed the results, the two main opposition parties have challenged the results.The draft of the new constitution has the following salient features: Next presidential and parliamentary elections will be held on 3 November 2019; It provides for a five year tenure and maximum of two terms for the President; The president will have powers to directly appoint top public officials, including ministers; President

will be able to assign one or several vice-presidents; The job of prime minister would be scrapped; President will have power to intervene in the judiciary; The president will have power to decide

whether or not to impose a state of emergency

NATIONALCountry’s first Vistadome coach inaugurated in Visakhapatnam: Indian Railways has launched the country’s first ever Vistadome coach services on

Visakhapatnam-Araku route. Features of the coaches include glass roof, LED lights, revolving seats and GPS-based info system.

Government launches programme for capacity building of Elected Women Representatives (EWRs)of Panchayats The Ministry of Women and Child Development in collaboration with the Ministry of Panchayati Raj

has launched a nationwide programme for capacity building of Elected Women Representatives (EWRs)of Panchayats and a training program for Trainers of women panchayat leaders at Ranchi, Jharkhand.

In the first phase of the training, 40 master trainers of Jharkhand will be trained at the State institute ofRural Development, Ranchi.

In the second phase, around 3000 Elected Women Representatives (EWRs) will be imparted training bythe master trainers at the districts of Simdega, Pakur and Chatra of Jharkhand.

In subsequent phases, similar training modules will be organised in different states throughout thecountry with the help of National Institute of Rural Development, State Institutes of Rural Developmentand Panchayati Raj Departments of the States.

Election Commission seeks funds for paper trail units


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Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) has requested the Union Law Ministry for urgent release of funds,given the “prevailing environment,” to facilitate procurement of VVPAT (voter verifiable paper audittrail) machines for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

VVPAT stands for Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail. VVPAT system maintains a physical trail of allvotes cast. Small slips of paper records the details of the vote.

The Election Commission (EC) first introduced VVPAT in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

ECONOMY, BANKING AND FINANCEIndia’s GDP to grow 7.2% in 2017-18: World Bank Report In a new World Bank report titled Globalization Backlash, the agency expects India’s gross domestic

product to spike to 7.2% in the financial year 2017-18 from 6.8% the previous fiscal. It has also forecasted that the ‘fiscal, inflation and external conditions’ in the country to remain stable

and India’s economic growth to rise gradually to 7.7% in 2019-20, “underpinned by a recovery inprivate investments”.

The agency has stated that despite renewed weakness in private investment and sluggish externaldemand, India continued to grow robustly until ‘demonetisation’ slowed the growth, albeit modestly.

It expects that inflation would stabilise with the support of favourable investment climate and structuralreforms.

The agency, however, has warned India against significant risks to its favourable growth outlook.Among them, it has underlined uncertainties in the external environment, not-so clear picture of theimpact of demonetisation on small and informal firms, obstacles to private investment and rapid hikesin the prices of oil and other commodities.

GOVT SCHEME

Government covers 14 SC, ST, OBC and DNT scholarship schemes under Digital Payments The Government has stated that 14 scholarship schemes for Scheduled Castes and Other Backward

Classes (OBCs) / Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-nomadic Tribes (DNTs) students come under DigitalPayments Initiatives.

This is expected to benefit 3.54 crore students across the country. As per the modalities of this initiative,all scholarship amount will be deposited in the bank accounts of the students.

There will be a 60% Aadhaar seeding in SC student bank account. Educational Empowerment is carried out by virtue of scholarships, hostels for students, coaching

facilities, capital for creation/upgradation of premises, institution etc. Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment spends 54 % of its Budget on scholarships for Scheduled

castes. In addition, the government has tasked each branch of public sector banks to handhold at least one

SC/ST youth, as an entrepreneur, to generate more employment among the members of the community.DEFENCE

Canberra keen on joining naval games Australia is keen on joining the Malabar trilateral naval exercises among India, Japan and the U.S., and

has requested observer status at the upcoming edition, scheduled for July. Australia had been a part of the exercises in 2007. But a sharp response from China, which saw the joint

exercises as a coalition against it, put an end to the quadrilateral format. Japan and the U.S. are keen on expanding the games to include Australia with officials from both

countries specifically stating so on various occasions. However, India has been reluctant to antagoniseChina.

About Malabar exercise: The Malabar drills, which began in 1992 as a bilateral naval exercise between India and the U.S., has

since grown in scope and complexity, acquiring considerable heft in recent times. In 2015, it wasexpanded into a trilateral format with the inclusion of Japan.

EDUCATIONVastu Shashtra to be introduced in IIT Kharagpur IIT Kharagpur plans to introduce Vastu Shashtra to the architecture students from this year August.


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While the rudiments of Vastu Shastra will be introduced to the first and second-year undergraduatearchitecture students, detailed grounding on the subject will be imparted to the post graduate andresearch scholars in infrastructure.

For the UG students, graded modules related to basic design and history of architecture will be taught. For the PG level, modules imparting solar principles, sacred diagrams, 9 circuit placements or the

nabagraha mandal, sacred altars and design semiotics and semantics will be taught.

APRIL 18

INTERNATIONALAustralia abolishes 457 Visa Programme largely used by Indians Australia has abolished the 457 Visa Programme used by thousands of temporary foreign workers, a

majority of them Indians to address growing unemployment in that country. Instead, Australia wants toadopt ‘Australians first’ approach to skilled migration.

Since access to the skills is important for the growth and investment of that country’s businesses, itintends to replace the 457 visa programme by another visa programme, with new restrictions.

The new temporary visa will be designed in such a way it will help in recruiting the best and brightestto fill critical skill gaps in the interest of that nation.

The new visa will ensure that foreign workers are not brought into Australia just because it is easy forthe employers to recruit a foreign worker than go to the trouble of hiring an Australian.

NATIONALDisabled persons granted exemption from standing during National Anthem in movie halls The Supreme Court has granted an exemption to six categories of disabled people from standing when

the national anthem is played before the screening of a film in theatres. The six categories include people suffering from cerebral palsy, Parkinson disease, muscular dystrophy

and other categories of disability. The order comes at the backdrop of reported incidents of people with disabilities facing the wrath of

people trying to enforce patriotism during the national anthem.

ECONOMY, BANKING AND FINANCEBEML bags Hindustan PSU award Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) a defence public sector has received the Hindustan PSU Award

under the category ‘Fastest Growing Organisation – Miniratna’. Umesh Chandra, Executive Director, received the award on behalf of the company. The award was

presented by Nitin Gadkari a Union Minister of State for Road Transport.

PNB launches three new products on foundation day On the occasion of its Foundation Day, Punjab National Bank (PNB) has launched three new products

for its customers. The three new products are automated electronic toll collection to facilitate hassle-free toll payment/

collection, a credit card mobile App and a scheme for financing a grid connected Roof Solar PowerProject.

SBI surpasses ONGC to become most valued PSU stock State Bank of India (SBI) surpassed oil exploration major Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) to

become most valued public sector undertaking (PSU) stock in terms of market capitalization (m-cap) inintra-day trade.

SBI with m-cap of Rs 239,808 crore was ahead of ONGC having m-cap of Rs 236,003 crore, BSE datashowed.

GOVT SCHEME


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PM launches projects related to SAUNI Yojana Phase I of SAUNI (Saurashtra Narmada Avtaran Irrigation) project was recently dedicated to the Nation.

This is the second milestone in the Rs 12,000 crore project to pump Narmada water in 115 dams of aridSaurashtra region after the PM dedicated to public phase-I of the Link-I canal in August last year.

The project is not a part of the Narmada project but is based on it. 1 MAFT (million acre feet) floodwater has been allotted to Saurashtra by the state government and this water will be pumped to majorreservoirs in the region under the SAUNI Yojna. Unlike traditional irrigation projects, SAUNI istechnically a ‘linking’ project, where the water will be filled in irrigation dams that are alreadyequipped with canal network. This network of canals will then help channel water into farms.

Also, SAUNI project involves making pipe canals instead of the conventional open canals. Thepipelines in the SAUNI project are underground, which means that no land needs to be acquired.

EVENTSPresident inaugurates Kempegowda festival in New Delhi President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the Kempegowda Festival in New Delhi. The festival is organized by the Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Foundation.About Kempegowda Hiriya Kempe Gowda, well known as Kempe Gowda I, was a feudatory ruler under the Vijayanagara

Empire. The city of Bengaluru itself was established by Kempe Gowda in 1537, as the capital of his erstwhile

kingdom. He is considered to be the founder of Bengaluru , currently the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka.

ENVIRONMENT,SCIENCE AND TECHBRABO: First ‘Made in India’ Industrial Robot TAL Manufacturing Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Motors has unveiled India’s first

‘conceptualized, designed and manufactured articulated industrial robot’ called “BRABO”. BRABOstands for “Bravo Robot”.

The robot has been developed indigenously for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) in India.The robot is primarily developed to complement the human workforce and repeatedly perform highvolume, dangerous and time-consuming tasks ranging from handling of raw materials to packaging offinished products.

BRABO was designed and manufactured at the TAL’s Pune factory. Other than the motors and drives for the Robo-arm, all the other parts of the robot were indigenously

manufactured in India. BRABO has four patents registered in its name and TAL has also applied for anintellectual property (IP) certification for the robot.

IMPORTANT DAYSThe International Day for Monuments and Sites: 18th April Every year on 18 April, ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) celebrates the

International Day for Monuments and Sites (also called as World Heritage day). The theme for 2017 is “Cultural Heritage & Sustainable Tourism".

PERSONS IN NEWSSagar Baheti: India’s first visually impaired athlete to complete Boston Marathon Sagar Baheti has become the first visually impaired Indian runner to complete the historic Boston

Marathon. Bengaluru-based 31 years old Baheti completed a distance of 42.16 km distance in just over four hours. Supported by the Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (MABVI), Baheti

finished the 121st Boston Marathon as one of 30,000 runners.

Philippine President Duterte wins TIME 100 Reader Poll Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has won Time magazine's readers' poll of the 100 most influential

people in the world.


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Rodrigo also known as Digong, is a Filipino politician and jurist who is the 16th and current Presidentof the Philippines.

SPORTSGayatri Pullela wins twin crown at Pembangunan Jaya Raya Junior Grand Prix National Badminton coach Pullela Gopichand's daughter Gayatri Pullela has bagged both the singles

and doubles crown at the Pembangunan Jaya Raya Junior Grand Prix in Jakarta.Sebastian Vettel wins Bahrain Grand Prix 2017 Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) won the Bahrain Grand Prix 2017 by defeating Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes). It was Sebastian's 3rd victory in Bahrain and 44th of his career.

APRIL 19

INTERNATIONALTrump’s order targets H-1B programme President Trump has signed an executive order that directs federal agencies to review employment

immigration laws to promote “Hire American” policies. The order makes no immediate changes to work visa programs but tells the Departments of Labor,

Justice, Homeland Security and State to study existing laws and procedures and recommend changes. In the case of one program, H-1B temporary visas, the order directs the agencies to suggest changes to

help ensure that the visas are awarded to the most skilled, best-paid immigrant workers. The order also calls for a crackdown on fraud and abuse in the current system of work visas — which

the agencies had already signaled they would do.

NATIONALUnion Cabinet decides to ban use of red beacon by VIPs fromMay 1 :to end VIP culture The Union Cabinet has put a ban on the use of red beacons atop cars of VIPs. Only the President,

Vice-President and Chief Justice of India. The exemption also applies to the emergency service vehicles. Accordingly, fire brigade, ambulance

services, police vehicles and other emergency services will be allowed to use the blue beacon. The decision will come into force from May 1, 2017. In effect, the ban is applicable to the prime minister, union ministers, chief ministers, state cabinet

ministers, bureaucrats and judges of the High Court and Supreme Court. The decision was taken to endVIP culture.

ECONOMY, BANKING AND FINANCERailways seek aid for unviable routes The Railway Ministry has sought compensation for operating railway lines of strategic and national

importance — a practice discontinued following the merger of Railway and Union Budgets. Every year, the Indian Railways used to get subsidy from the Finance Ministry for losses incurred on

railway operations on strategic lines. After the Budget merger, the Finance Ministry had discontinuedthe practice of providing annual subsidy to the Railways for operating loss-making strategic routes asthe Railways was no longer required to pay an annual dividend.

Global economy to grow 3.5% in 2017: IMF The IMF has predicted that the global economy would grow at 3.5% in 2017, up from 3.1 % last year,

and 3.6% in 2018. This year’s projection of IMF is marginally higher than what was stated in their last update. The

improvement in this year’s projection springs up from good economic news in Europe and Asia,notably from China and Japan.

As per IMF, momentum in the global economy has been building up since the middle of the last yearmaking it reaffirm its previous forecasts of higher growth for this year and next year.

India jumps to 8th place on Global FDI Confidence Index


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India has jumped one spot to 8th rank in the 2017 A.T. Kearney Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)Confidence Index.

USA has topped A.T. Kearney Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index for the fifth year in arow. The top 5 countries in A.T. Kearney Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index 2017 are:

USA Germany China UK Canada

RBI opened the Office of the Banking Ombudsman at Chhattisgarh and Jammu & Kashmir The Reserve Bank of India has set up two new Offices of the Banking Ombudsman for the State of

Jammu and Kashmir (in Jammu) and Chhattisgarh (in Raipur). The Office of the Banking Ombudsman at Reserve Bank of India, Jammu and Chhattisgarh will have

the jurisdiction over the entire State of Jammu and Kashmir and Chhattisgarh which, hitherto was underthe jurisdiction of the Office of the Banking Ombudsman, New Delhi-I and Bhopal, respectively.

DEFENCENavy’s missile destroyer dedicated to Chennai Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami dedicated the Indian Navy’s indigenously

designed ‘P15A Guided Missile Destroyer’, INS Chennai to the city Chennai. INS Chennai is commanded by captain C. R. Praveen Nair and has 45 officers. The ship was

commissioned by ex-Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar in 2016. It is one of the most potent warshipsto have been constructed in India.

HISTORYChannakeshava temple turns 900 The Channakeshava temple in Belur — a masterpiece of Hoysala architecture — turned 900 this year.

Belur, along with Halebid, is proposed as a UNESCO heritage site. The temple, constructed by Vishnuvardhana of the Hoysala dynasty, is a monument recognised by the

ASI. Considered to be the first temple of Hoysala style, it was built between 1106 and 1117. The templeis regarded a marvel of architecture in typical Hoysala style. It commemorates the king’s victory in1104.

ENVIRONMENT,SCIENCE AND TECHMet dept. expects a ‘normal’ monsoon In its first official forecast of the season, the IMD expects India to have normal monsoons this year. Rains are likely to be 96% of the 50-year average of 89cm for the monsoon season of June to

September. They are expected to fan out favourably and “help agriculture.” This estimate falls at thebottom edge of what it considers ‘normal’ monsoon rains. However, due to the looming threat of ElNino and adoption of new weather model, the IMD says there is significant element of uncertainty inthis forecast.

The El Nino — characterised by surface waters of the equatorial Pacific warming up more than half adegree — is known to dry up monsoon rains every six out of 10 years. This year, international weathermodels as well as the IMD’s own dynamical global climate forecasting system model indicate that ElNino conditions might set in during the “latter part of the monsoon.”

Another climate phenomenon, called the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), which refers to a swing in the seasurface temperatures in the western and eastern Indian oceans, is also known to influence the Indianmonsoon. A ‘positive’ IOD can counter an ominous El Nino. In its assessment, the IMD expects “weakpositive IOD” to develop in the latter half of the monsoon, which means that it’s unlikely to be a potentally this year.

PLACES IN NEWSUP Govt Renames Gorakhpur and Agra Airports The UP government changed the name of Gorakhpur and Agra Airports as well as the name of the

department of welfare of the differently abled.


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The Gorakhpur Airforce Station has been renamed as Mahayogi Goraknath Airport after the founder ofthe Nath monastic movement.

The Agra Airport will be renamed after Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay airport. The Department ofDisabled Welfare will now be known as 'Divyang Jan Vikas Empowerment'.

APRIL 20

INTERNATIONALChina to host BRICS Film Festival in June, 2017 The 2017 BRICS Film Festival will be held in Chengdu, southwest China’s Sichuan Province from

June 23 to 27, 2017. There will be 30 films from BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) screened

during the festival. The first BRICS Film Festival was held in New Delhi, India, in September 2016.

NATIONALCentre extends Ceasefire with Naga rebel groups till April 27, 2018 The union government has extended the ceasefire with the two Naga armed factions, namely, National

Socialist Council of Nagaland-Reformation (NSCN-R) and National Socialist Council ofNagaland-Neakpao-Kithovi (GPRN/NSCN) till April 27, 2018.

The decision over extension of ceasefire was taken at a meeting held between the officials of HomeMinistry and the Ceasefire Supervisory Board of Naga armed factions. A ceasefire is already inoperation between the government and the Naga armed factions of NSCN-R and NSCN-NK.

ECONOMY, BANKING AND FINANCEMadhya Pradesh government, DMRC inked pact to supply power from Rewa project Madhya Pradesh government has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Delhi Metro Rail

Corporation (DMRC) to supply 24 per cent of electricity generated from the Rewa ultra mega solarproject to be set up in the state.

The rest of the power will be supplied to the state.

Union Cabinet approves policy guidelines to allow state entities to directly borrow bilateral loans The Union Cabinet has approved the policy guidelines to permit financially sound State Government

entities to borrow directly from bilateral ODA (Official development Assistance) partners for thepurpose of implementing vital infrastructure projects.

The approval is subject to fulfilment of certain conditions and all repayments of loans and interests tothe funding agencies.

As a corollary to the new decision, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority(MMRDA) has been permitted to borrow directly from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan for implementation of Mumbai Trans Harbour Link(MTHL) project.

HEALTHIndia develops National Action Plan to combat Antimicrobial Resistance Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare announced the finalization of India’s comprehensive

and multi-sectoral National Action Plan at the ‘Inter-Ministerial Consultation on AMR containment’held at New Delhi.

The consultation was attended by various ministers including Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food andPublic Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan, and Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change AnilMadhav Dave.

The Ministers signed a ‘Delhi Declaration’ to contain Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR). The Delhi Declaration calls for the support of all stakeholders including UN, WHO, FAO and other UN

agencies, civil society organizations etc., in developing and implementing the national and state actionplans on AMR.


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The National action plan has objectives of enhancing awareness, strengthening surveillance, improvingrational use of antibiotics, reducing infections and promoting research.

ENVIRONMENT,SCIENCE AND TECHISRO to test launch GSLV-Mk III-D1 in May 2017 ISRO is all set to undertake the first developmental flight of a ‘game-changer’ rocket (launching

vehicle) that will have the capacity to launch four-tonne class of satellites, from Sriharikota spaceport.ISRO looks forward to conduct the second developmental flight within this year.

With the successful test launch, ISRO can carry out all the launches within the country instead ofdepending on international agencies for the launch of heavier satellites. Hence, the successful testlaunch will help in reducing ISRO’s dependency on international launching vehicles.

ISRO’s launch vehicles as of now have the capability to launch satellites only up to 2.2 tonne. For thelaunch of heavier satellites, it had to depend upon the international agencies.

So, the ISRO rightly views operationalisation of this rocket as a “game-changer” mission.

RGIA gets carbon neutrality status The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) at Shamshabad has been given the carbon neutrality

status by Airports Council International (ACI) under its Airport Carbon Accreditation programme. The airport’s operator GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL), a GMR Group-led

consortium, has stated that it was conferred with the carbon neutrality (level 3: neutrality) by the ACI ata ceremony held in Doha, Qatar

LHS 1140b: Another planet in habitable zone discovered Astronomers have discovered yet another planet, called LHS1140b, which is expected to be present in

the Goldilocks Zone. It’s not so far away, either. It is found orbiting around the star LHS 1140 some 39 light-years away. The planet is found to be rocky, like the Earth but is over six-times as massive as Earth and about

1.5-times larger and falls under the category of ‘Super Earth’. Its gravitational pull will be three timesstronger than that of the Earth.

Rocky planets within the habitable zone are the best candidates to find evidence of some form of life.AWARDS

One Part Woman bags Sahitya Akademi award: The English translation of writer Perumal Murugan’s novel Mathorubhagan (One Part Woman) has

won the Sahitya Akademi’s award for translation in English. The translation was done by Aniruddhan Vasudevan. The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honor in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India’s National

Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary meritpublished in any of the major Indian languages (24 languages, including the 22 listed in the EighthSchedule of the Indian Constitution, along with English and Rajasthani) recognised by the SahityaAkademi.

UNESCO’s Felix Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize 2017 winners UNESCO has named Giuseppina Nicolini, Mayor of Lampedusa (Italy) and the non-governmental

organisation SOS Méditerranée (France) as the winners of Felix Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize 2017“for their work to save the lives of refugees and migrants and welcome them with dignity”.

In the past, Felix Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize has been granted to internationally renownedpersonalities like Nelson Mandela, Yasser Arafat, King Juan Carlos of Spain, former US presidentJimmy Carter and Shimon Peres.

For the first time, the award goes to a mayor. Giuseppina Nicolini is a 56-year-old mayor of a smallItalian island since 2012. She has been selected for the award for “her boundless humanity andunwavering commitment to refugee crisis management”. As a mayor, Nicolini ensured that theLampedusa deals as efficiently and humanely as possible with the migrants and refugees arriving fromwar-torn Middle Eastern countries by sea. Lampedusa is a small island which is roughly equidistantfrom Southern Sicily, Malta and Tunisia.


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SOS Mediterranee is an NGO founded in 2015 to rescue the refugees each week from dinghies andboats in the Mediterranean. Since 2013, it is estimated that nearly 13,000 people have perished inshipwrecks.

SPORTSVideo gaming to be featured at 2022 Asian Games: Competitive video games will become a medal sport for the first time ever at the 2022 Asian Games. They will appear as a demonstration event at the 2018 edition of the next Asian Games, to be held in

Indonesia, as part of the run-up to esports’ official inclusion as a medal sport in the 2022 Asian Gamesin Hangzhou, China.

Asian Games is a multi-sport competition, touted as second only to the Olympics in terms of size. It isheld every four years.

APRIL 21

INTERNATIONALPakistan Leases Gwadar port to a State-run Chinese firm for 40 years Pakistan has leased the operations of its strategic Gwadar port to a State-run Chinese firm, the China

Overseas Port Holding Company (COPHC) for a period of 40 years. COPHC is slated to carry out all the developmental work on the port situated in the Balochistan

province of Pakistan. COPHC took over the operations of the port in 2013. Previously, the control of the Gwadar port was with Singapore’s PSA (Port of Singapore Authority)

International. As per the contract, 91% share of revenue collection from gross revenue of terminal and marine

operations as well as 85% share from gross revenue of free zone operation will go to the COPHC. Theprovinces will not be given any share in the revenue collection.

NATIONALSC sets 25% of husband’s net salary as alimony The Supreme Court in its latest ruling has set 25% of the net salary as the maintenance to be paid by a

husband to his estranged wife. The Court has observed that the alimony paid to a woman must be “just and proper” and must be

sufficient enough to ensure that a woman lived with dignity after separating from her husband. It has further observed that the alimony must be befitting the status of the parties and the capacity of the

spouse to pay maintenance. The ruling has come on a man’s plea challenging Calcutta High Court’s order that asked him to pay Rs

23,000 every month as alimony to his former wife. But the Bench of justices R Banumathi and MMSantanagoudar turned down his plea that the amount was excessive. The present ruling delivered by theSupreme Court follows its inclination to safeguard the interest of women in matrimonial disputesaffecting their financial status.

In an earlier judgment delivered in 2016, the apex court had observed that as per Hindu Law, thehusband has got a personal obligation to maintain his wife whether or not he possessed any property. Incase if he possessed of properties, then his wife will be entitled to a right to be maintained out of suchproperties.

ECONOMY, BANKING AND FINANCEReliance Industries Ltd. become most-valued Indian company The Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) regained its status as India’s most valued firm

by market capitalization. RIL overtook Tata Group’s crown jewel TCS. TCS had replaced RIL as the most valued firm more than

four years ago.

Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh inaugurated 'India Steel 2017' in Mumbai The 3rd edition of International Conference and Exhibition on Steel Industry 'India Steel 2017' was held

at Mumbai Exhibition center in Mumbai from 19th-21st April 2017.


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It was inaugurated by Union Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh. First of its Kindexhibition-cum-conference was organized by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce andIndustry (FICCO) along with Union Ministry of Steel.

Anti-dumping duty likely on hydrogen peroxide Government is planning to impose anti-dumping duty of up to $118 per tonne on import of hydrogen

peroxide used by industries in applications such as corrosion control and paper bleaching from sixcountries.

The move is aimed at guarding domestic players from cheap imports of ‘hydrogen peroxide’ fromBangladesh, Taiwan, Korea, Indonesia, Pakistan and Thailand.

Hydrogen peroxide is a colourless liquid, slightly more viscous than water. Hydrogen peroxide is the simplest peroxide. It is used as an oxidizer, bleaching agent and disinfectant. It is also used as ripening agent. Concentrated hydrogen peroxide, or “high-test peroxide”, is a reactive oxygen species and has been

used as a propellant in rocketry. Hydrogen peroxide is unstable and slowly decomposes in the presence of base or a catalyst. Because of

its instability, hydrogen peroxide is typically stored with a stabilizer in a weakly acidic solution. Hydrogen peroxide is found in biological systems including the human body. Enzymes that use or

decompose hydrogen peroxide are classified as peroxidases.ENVIRONMENT,SCIENCE AND TECH

After Mars, ISRO decides it’s time to probe Venus: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has invited scientists to suggest studies for a potential

orbiter mission to Venus – somewhat similar to the one that landed in Mars in 2013. ISRO plans to send a spacecraft that will initially go around Venus in an elliptical orbit before getting

closer to the ‘Yellow Planet’. It will carry instruments weighing 175 kg and using 500W of power. Venus, the second planet from the Sun, comes closest to Earth roughly every 583 days, or about 19

months. Venus, our closest planetary neighbour, is similar to Earth in many aspects. However, it takes only 225

days to revolve around the Sun. Secondly, the surface is very hot due to nearness to the Sun. Ever since the then USSR sent the Venera mission to Venus in February 1961, there have been close to

30 missions to the planet, the last one being Japan’s Akatsuki in 2010. These comprised orbiters,landers, atmospheric probes and fly-bys.

The erstwhile Soviet Union tops the list with 16 Veneras and two Vegas. The US had Mariner, Pioneerand Magellan missions.

IMPORTANT DAYS11th Civil Services Day function held in New Delhi The Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh inaugurated the two-day 11th Civil Services Day

program (20-21 April) in New Delhi. Civil Services Day is celebrated in India every year on 21st April. The function was organized by the

Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), Ministry of Personnel, PublicGrievances, and Pensions.

This day coincides with the date on which SardarVallabhbhai Patel had addressed the first batch ofprobationers at the All India Administrative Service Training School at Metcalfe House, New Delhi in1947.

PERSONS IN NEWS

Narendra Modi, Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma in Time’s ‘most influential people’ list Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma were the only two Indians to

make it to an annual list of ‘100 most influential people in the world’ 2017, released by the Timemagazine.

SPORTSRio Olympics silver medallist P.V.Sindhu moves to No. 3 in World Ranking Ace shuttler PV Sindhu has been ranked No. 3 in the latest BWF ranking. Sindhu who was at No.5

climbed up two places on the basis of making the quarter-finals of the recently-concluded SingaporeOpen Super Series.


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Sindhu’s career best is when she reached World No. 2 two weeks ago. As per the latest BWF ranking,London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal has been ranked eighth. Kidambi Srikanth and B SaiPraneeth have been placed at 21st and 22nd positions respectively.

APRIL 22

NATIONALLaw Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad launches Probono Services, Legal Aid Schemes, Nyaya Mitra Minister of Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad inaugurated three welfare initiatives of the

Department of Justice. The services launched are- Pro-bono legal services- Through the Pro bono legal services, lawyers who want to provide legal

services free of cost can register themselves on a web-based platform. Tele-law service- It aims to connect marginalized communities with lawyers through video

conferencing facilities, to be set up at Common Service Centres (CSCs). Nyaya Mitra Project- It aims to reduce pendency in lower courts, with a special focus on cases which

are more than ten years old.ECONOMY, BANKING AND FINANCE

RBI signs MoU with the Bank of Guyana The Reserve Bank of India signed an MoU)on “Supervisory Cooperation and Exchange of

Supervisory Information” with Bank of Guyana. Earlier, RBI has signed 40 such MoUs, one Letter for Supervisory Co-operation and one Statement

of Co-operation.About Guyana Guyana officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana,] is a sovereign state on the northern

mainland of South America. Capital and largest city- Georgetown President-David Granger Prime Minister –Moses NAgamootoo Currency- Guyanese dollar

World Bank approves $375 million loan for National Waterway-1 The World Bank has approved a loan of $375 million (around Rs 2,421 crore) for capacity

augmentation of National Waterway-1 (NW-1) between Haldia in West Bengal and Varanasi in UttarPradesh on the river Ganga under the Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP).

The project would enable commercial navigation of vessels of 1,500-2,000 deadweight tonnes capacityalong a 1,390-km stretch.

Jal Marg Vikas Project is a project on the river Ganga that envisages the development of waterwaybetween Allahabad and Haldia that will cover a distance of 1620 km. It aims to develop a fairway withthree metres depth to enable commercial navigation of at least 1500 tonne vessels on the river.

The project includes the development of fairway, multi-modal terminals, strengthening of open rivernavigation technique, conservancy works, modern River Information System (RIS) etc. As a part of theproject, Inland Waterways Authority of India will set up a River Information Service System on NW-1,the first of its kind in India.

Besides, three multi-modal terminals, one each at Varanasi, Sahibganj (Jharkhand), Haldia; andinter-modal terminals at Kalughat and Ghazipur; a navigation lock at Farakka; and five Roll on-Roll off(Ro-Ro) terminals would be constructed.NW-1

National Waterway-1 (NW-1) is a waterway passing through Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and WestBengal, potentially serving the major cities of Haldia, Howrah, Kolkata, Bhagalpur, Patna, Ghazipur,Varanasi, Allahabad and their industrial hinterlands including several industries located along theGanga basin.

River Information system (RIS)


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RIS is a combination of modern tracking equipment comprising of hardware and software designed tooptimise transport and traffic processes in inland water navigation.

The system has the capability to enhance swift electronic data transfer between mobile vessels and Basestations through advance and real-time exchange of information.

It enables safe and efficient inland water transport by avoiding risks such as (i) Ship-to-Ship collisions.(ii) Ship-Bridge collisions. (iii) Groundings.

Inland Waterway Authority of India (IWAI) is implementing the RIS in India.

One Crore MGNREGA assets geotagged Mahatma Gandhi NREGS has reached a new milestone today by geotagging one Crore assets and

putting them in public domain. The geotagging exercise started from 1st September, 2016. One Crore assets have been geotagged and

put in public domain in the last seven months. It is expected that the exercise will lead to greatertransparency and ensure accountability at field level.

Geotagging is the process of adding geographical information to various media in the form of metadata.The data usually consists of coordinates like latitude and longitude, but may even include bearing,altitude, distance and place names.

Government approves Guidelines on service charge Ministry of Food and Consumer Affairs has approved the ‘Guidelines on Fair Trade Practices Related

to Charging of Service Charge from Consumers by Hotels and Restaurants’. As a part of the guidelines which has been issued in public interest to protect the rights of consumers,

the government has said that Service charge on hotel and restaurant bills is “totally voluntary”, addingthat mandatory levy of service charge amounts to unfair trade practice.

As per the guidelines, Hotels and restaurants cannot decide on service charge and the column ofservice charge will be left blank in the bill for the customers to fill up before making payment.

The guidelines have also stated that in a case of mandatory levy of service charge, customers can file acomplaint in the Consumer Court.

However, at present, stringent action cannot be taken against the erring hotels as the current ConsumerProtection Act, 1986 does not empower the ministry to do so.

But, under the new Consumer Protection Bill, an authority is expected to be set up with powers to takesuch actions.

DEFENCEIndia, South Korea sign MoU for Defence Industry India and South Korea have signed an Inter-governmental MoU for Defence Industry cooperation

between their shipbuilding yards. The Indian side was represented by Secretary of Defence Production A K Gupta and South Korea was

represented by his counterpart Chang Miyung Jin, in New Delhi. India has nominated Hindustan Shipyard at Vishakhapatnam whereas South Korea is yet to nominate its

shipyard. The cooperation is part of the ‘Make in India’ policy. Accordingly, the warships will be built at

domestic shipyards with the help of South Korea. This will enable HSL to upgrade and modernise itsfacilities and finish shipbuilding projects in a timely and cost effective manner. It would be able toimbibe best practices in shipbuilding. As a result of which, the production of HSL will increasemanifold leading to the creation of more employment opportunities to the unemployed. In addition, theplan to identify and develop indigenous sources for the supply of material and equipment would paveway for the development of ancillary industry /maritime cluster in the region.

Indian Navy test-fires land attack version of BrahMos missile Indian Navy recently successfully test fired BrahMos Land Attack Supersonic Cruise Missile from a

ship. This variant of Long Range BrahMos Missile was fired from Indian Naval Ship Teg, a GuidedMissile Frigate, on a target on land.

BrahMos Missile has been jointly developed by India and Russia, and its Anti Ship variant has alreadybeen inducted into Indian Navy.


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Land Attack variant of BrahMos Missile provides Indian Naval Ships the capability to preciselyneutralise selected targets deep inland, far away from coast, from stand-off ranges at sea.

The missile has a range of 400km. The technology upgrade to the extended range BrahMos has come after India gained entry into the

34-nation Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) in June 2016, which “removed the caps” on themissile’s range. The MTCR basically prevents the proliferation of missiles and UAVs (unmanned aerialvehicles) over the range of 300-km.

EVENTS1st ‘India Indonesia Energy Forum’ held in Jakarta

Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines, Shri PiyushGoyal and Indonesia's Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Mr. Ignasius Jonan met for the1st ‘India Indonesia Energy Forum’, held in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The Energy Forum was preceded by 2nd Joint Working Group (JWG) on Oil and Gas, 4th JointWorking Group on Coal and 1st Joint Working Group on New and Renewable Energy. The reportsof three Joint Working Groups were presented to two Ministers during the Energy Forum.

ENVIRONMENT,SCIENCE AND TECHNDMA conducted first mock exercise on forest fire in Uttarakhand

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) conducted its first-ever mock exercise onforest fire in Uttarakhand to help improve the preparedness and response mechanism in the event ofa forest fire.

The mock exercise was conducted on the principle of Incident Response System (IRS). he mock exercise, aimed at assessing the efficacy of integrating the preparedness and response

mechanisms of the forest department with those of the district administration, has been conducted incollaboration with the State Government.

The exercise is significant as almost 70 per cent of the State's geographical area is under forests andincidents of forest fires are commonplace.

The simulation exercise was conducted simultaneously at multiple locations, including residentialareas adjoining forests, across all 13 districts covering different types of forests and varying degreesof severity of forest fires.

About National Disaster Management Authority National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is an agency of the Ministry of Home Affairs whose

primary purpose is to coordinate response to natural or man-made disasters and for capacity-building indisaster resiliency and crisis response.

NDMA was established through the Disaster Management Act enacted by the Government of India inDecember 2005

The Prime Minister is the ex-officio chairperson of NDMA. The agency is responsible for framingpolicies, laying down guidelines and best-practices and coordinating with the State DisasterManagement Authorities (SDMAs) to ensure a holistic and distributed approach to disastermanagement

By a 9-member board chaired by the Prime Minister of India. The remainder of the board consists ofmembers nominated based on their expertise in areas such as, planning, infrastructure management,communications, meteorology and natural sciences. The day-to-day management of the agency isoverseen by the office of the Vice Chair

NDMA is operationally organized into the following divisions: Policy & Planning Mitigation Operations & Communications Administration Capacity Building

China’s first cargo spacecraft successfully docks with the Tiangong-2 space lab China has successfully docked its first cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-1 with the Tiangong-2 space lab.


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It is hailed as a major step towards China’s ambition of establishing a permanently manned spacestation by 2022.

China has an ambitious plan of building a permanent space station by 2022, that will be in the orbit forat least 10 years. Tiangong-2 (Heavenly Palace 2) space lab was home to two astronauts for a month inlast October. T

It was China’s longest-ever manned space mission. iangong-2 was put up into space on September 15,2016.

China has prioritised advancing its space programme to strengthen national security. Tianzhou-1 is atube-like craft which is capable of carrying 6 tonnes of goods, 2 tonnes of fuel and can fly unmannedfor three months. It is considered that the cargo spacecraft has provided an important technologicalbasis for building a space station.

According to Chinese sources, Tianzhou-1 will dock two more times with Tiangong-2 before fallingback to Earth.

IMPORTANT DAYSWorld Earth Day : 22 April The World Earth Day is being observed all over the world on 22 April with the message to protect the

environment. The campaign theme for 2017 is 'Environmental and Climate Literacy'. The first Earth Day

celebrations took place in 1970.About World Earth Day: In 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco, peace activist John McConnell proposed a day to

honor the Earth and the concept of peace, to first be celebrated on March 21, 1970, the first day ofspring in the northern hemisphere.

This day of nature's equipoise was later sanctioned in a proclamation written by McConnell and signedby Secretary General U Thant at the United Nations.

A month later a separate Earth Day was founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson as anenvironmental teach-in first held on April 22, 1970.

Nelson was later awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom award in recognition of his work While this April 22 Earth Day was focused on the United States, an organization launched by Denis

Hayes, who was the original national coordinator in 1970, took it international in 1990 and organizedevents in 141 nations.

AWARDSGNFC wins Golden Peacock Award The Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd (GNFC) won the prestigious Golden Peacock

Award 2017 in the category of Innovative Product/Service for pioneering a cashless townshiptransformation model.

The Golden Peacock Awards were established by the Institute of Directors (IOD) in India in 1991. Rajiv Kumar Gupta, the managing director of the GNFC, was given the award at a ceremony at the 27th

World Congress at the Dubai Global Convention.OBITUARY

Veteran Journalist Nora Chopra passes away Veteran Journalist Nora Chopra passed away at 64 due to multi-organ failure. A senior journalist and columnist, Smt. Chopra was widely admired and respected for her journalistic

skills.

APRIL 23INTERNATIONAL

India wins elections to two UN subsidiary bodies India has won elections to two subsidiary bodies of a UN organ focussed on social and economic issues. India along with 12 other members was elected to the Committee for Programme and Coordination

(CPC), a subsidiary body of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).


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The country garnered the most number of votes in the Asian group, with 49 out of 50 members ofECOSOC voting in its favour.

The 13 members elected for three-year terms, beginning January 2018, include Burkina Faso, Iran,Japan, Pakistan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Moldova, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, the United Kingdom and UnitedStates.

The CPC is the main subsidiary organ of the Economic and Social Council and the General Assemblyfor planning, programming and coordination.

India, along with 19 other nations, was also elected by acclamation to the International NarcoticsControl Board for a four-year term beginning January next year.

The 20 members included Burkina Faso, Cd’Ivoire, Togo, Algeria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan,Croatia, Czech Republic, Russia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Cuba.

NATIONALYogi Aditynath directs officials to set up yoga wellness centres Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed officials to set up yoga wellness centres in

40 districts of the state in the current financial year. The chief minister has also asked officials to take permission from the central government for setting up

wellness centres in 35 other districts, an official spokesman said while briefing on the presentation ofthe AYUSH department here last night.

The 40 yoga wellness centres will be set up in 23 ayurvedic, 7 Unnani and 12 homeopathic hospitals ofthe state this financial year, the spokesman said.

In his directives for the International Day of Yoga falling on June 21, the chief minister has said allnecessary arrangements should be ensured well within time for the joint yoga display by 51,000participants in Lucknow.

ECONOMY, BANKING AND FINANCEFirst digital village inaugurated in Arunachal Pradesh Nirjuli village-1 in Papum Pare district was today declared as the first digital village of Arunachal

Pradesh. Digital village aims at cashless transactions even in sabji mandis to make payment through mobile and

advocate awareness through schools for which the SBI may be able to provide computers to promotedigitalisation, micro ATM, CSP besides other financial support to the villagers to improve their incomelevel.

“Quality Mark” Award Scheme for Dairy Cooperatives initiated by NDDB As part of the innovative initiatives under the “White Revolution” umbrella Schemes, the Department

of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries has supported the National Dairy DevelopmentBoard(NDDB) developed initiative of “Quality Mark” Award Scheme for dairy Cooperatives topromote and encourage enhancement of safety, quality and hygiene of milk and milk productsmanufactured by dairy cooperatives.

It is aimed at bringing about process improvement in the entire value chain from producer to theconsumer to ensure availability of safe and quality of milk and products both for the domestic andforeign market.

The Quality Mark” Award Scheme for dairy Cooperatives in the country has been initiated to instillconfidence in the consumers for the quality of milk being marketed by them by ensuring availability ofsafe and good quality milk and milk products.

GOVT SCHEMEINS darshak conducting joint hydrographic survey of Sri Lankan bay The Indian Navy’s hydrographic survey ship, INS Darshak, jointly with Sri Lankan Navy, is

undertaking a hydrographic survey of Weligama Bay. The announcement was made by the Indian Navy on 20 April 2017 on a social media platform. INS

Darshak, which is on a two-month deployment in the Sri Lankan waters, jointly with the Sri LankanNavy is surveying the bay, which was last studied in the year 1901.

IMPORTANT DAYSWorld Book & Copyright Day being observed today


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World Book and Copyright Day (WBCD) is being observed on 23rd April 2017. The day seeks to raiseawareness about the importance of reading and promote publishing and the protection of copyrightaround the globe.

The event is organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO).

Conakry, the capital of Guinea has been designated World Book Capital 2017.

SPORTSHimanta Biswa Sarma becomes interim BAI president BJP leader and Assam Badminton Association President Himanta Biswa Sarma was on Sunday

appointed Badminton Association of India's interim head during its executive council meeting. The post of president was left vacant after the sudden demise of former president Akhilesh Das Gupta

Tushar Arothe appointed coach of Indian women’s team The BCCI announced Tushar Arothe the new coach of the Indian women’s team. He was appointed after former India women captain, Purnima Rau was sacked as head coach of the

national team. Tushar Arothe previously had a stint as the India women fielding coach and head coach between 2008

and 2012.

APRIL 24

INTERNATIONALA step forward for Indo-Bangla ties The Tripura government has commenced the land acquisition process for the construction of

India-Bangladesh Friendship Bridge over river Feni that demarcates boundaries between the twocountries in south Tripura.

The process for acquiring land for a four-lane approach road and a connecting road on Indian side insouthern Tripura has also begun.

Government of India is bearing the entire burden of expenditure towards the construction of the150-metre bridge which will connect Sabroom of India and Ramgarh in Bangladesh.

Rehabilitation package is ready to compensate people who would be dislodged for constructionpurposes.

The bridge would facilitate implementation of a protocol India earlier signed with Bangladesh to useChittagong sea port as a ‘port of call’. The port is 72 kilometre away from Sabroom.

India is also expanding rail network up to Sabroom to handle cargo consignments that would arrivefromChittagong port. Ultimate connectivity plan is to benefit Tripura and other landlocked northeasternStates with international and domestic shipments using the sea port.

A new freight train connects Russia with China A freight train connecting Russia with China arrived in Ganzhou an inland city in Jiangxi province,

carrying goods from Moscow. The freight train travelled more than 7,000 km, before reaching Ganzhou in eastern China.

NATIONALSoon, underwater tunnels will connect Howrah with Kolkata The construction of the first underwater metro tunnel in the country deep under the bed of the Hooghly

river has begun. Two tunnels will be built. By the end of July, two tunnels running parallel will connect the twin cities

of Howrah and Kolkata located on either side of the Hooghly. The tunnels are being dug at a depth of 30 metres below the earth’s surface and 13 metres below the

riverbed.


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The twin tunnels, about 520 metres long, are crucial to the much-awaited ₹ 8,900 core East West Metroproject that will connect Salt Lake Sector V in the eastern part of Kolkata to the Howrah Maidan acrossthe river.

ECONOMY, BANKING AND FINANCEIndia becomes no 2 LPG importer: India has replaced Japan as world’s number two importer of liquefied petroleum gas or LPG. Japan recorded a drop of 3.2% in LPG imports during the period under review to 10.6 million tonnes. China continues to occupy numero uno position as world’s largest LPG importer. The main reason behind the increase in the consumption of LPG in India is due to the two government

schemes coupled with free gas connections. From May 2016, the government is providing free cooking gas connections to women from extremely

poor households, to reduce the use of polluting fuels such as wood and dried cow dung. This hasincreased India’s active LPG users to about 200 million, which is 60% more than Japan’s entirepopulation.

According to the World Health Organization, polluting fuels used for cooking purposes results in 1.3million premature deaths in India every year.

India has set an ambitious target of increasing LPG usage to cover 80% of the households by March2019. As per the present estimates of the oil ministry, demand for fuel will touch 35 million tonnes by2031-32 in India.

GOVT SCHEMEHaryana launches mobile app 'Kilkari' to create awareness among pregnant women The National Health Mission (NHM) in Haryana launched a mobile-based application named 'Kilkari'

to create awareness among pregnant women, parents and health workers on the From the second trimester of pregnancy, till the child is one-year-old, the application will deliver 72

times appropriate audio messages to registered mobile numbers on pregnancy, child and childbirth careevery week.

DEFENCEIndia becomes world’s fifth largest military spender According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), India has become world’s

fifth-largest military spender spending at $55.9 billion in 2016. The US remains the world’s largest military followed by China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia. The other

prominent spenders in the top 15 include Japan, South Korea, and Australia.EVENTS

Engaging Asia arbitration summit: The summit was recently held in New Delhi. The Summit brings together lawyers and corporates from participating countries to discuss Asia’s

potential in driving worldwide growth in commercial arbitration. It provides participants an opportunity to discuss the surge in arbitration in Asia, especially among

economic powers such as India and China, and Southeast Asia. The Summit presents a platform for the international arbitration community to engage with policy

makers and share experiences in best practices. It also provides ample opportunity to network on thesidelines with leading arbitration lawyers and corporate counsels.

‘Mother of all marches’ in Venezuela: The Mother of All Marches, also known as the Mother of All Protests, was a day of protests held on 19

April 2017 in Venezuela against their president Nicolas Maduro and the chavist regime. The protests began after the Supreme Tribunal of Justice dissolved the National Assembly and took

over its legislative powers, on 29 March, 2017, in what was called a self-coup.

ENVIRONMENT,SCIENCE AND TECH3D-printing conquers glass: Scientists have developed a novel way to 3D-print objects using glass, an advance that could be used to

make very small optical components for complex computers.


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The process is known as Stereolithography. Stereolithography is a form of 3D-printing technology usedfor creating models, prototypes, patterns and production parts in a layer by layer fashion usingphotopolymerisation, a process by which light causes chains of molecules to link, forming polymers.

The material, which remains a liquid, is washed out in a solvent bath, leaving only the desired curedstructure. The polymer still mixed in this glass structure is subsequently removed by heating.

Material tougher, more conductive than copper developed Researchers have developed thin carbon nanotube (CNT) textiles that exhibit high electrical

conductivity and a level of toughness about 50 times higher than copper films, currently being used inelectronics.

Tough nano-architectured conductive textile are made by capillary splicing of Carbon nanotubes. Beginning with catalyst deposited on a silicon oxide substrate, vertically aligned carbon nanotubes were

synthesised via chemical vapour deposition in the form of parallel lines of 5 micrometre wide, 10micrometre in length, and 20-60 micrometre in heights.

Potential applications: Aligned carbon nanotube sheets are suitable for a wide range of application spanning from the micro to

the macro-scales. The structural robustness of thin metal films has significant importance for thereliable operation of smart skin and flexible electronics, including biological and structural healthmonitoring sensors.

Maharashtra govt signs MoU with Railways to expand green cover In a bid to expand the green cover, the Maharashtra government recently signed a Memorandum of

Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Railways, under which trees will be planted on the land adjacentto the railway tracks in the state.

Goldman Environmental Prize for Prafulla Samantra Social activist Prafulla Samantra was announced one among six winners of the Goldman Environmental

Prize for his “historic 12-year legal battle that affirmed the indigenous Dongria Kondh’s land rights andprotected the Niyamgiri Hills from a massive, open-pit aluminum ore mine.”

The other five winners for this year are: Mark Lopez (United States); Uroš Macerl (Slovenia); RodrigoTot (Guatemala); Rodrigue Katembo (Democratic Republic of Congo); and Wendy Bowman(Australia).

IMPORTANT DAYSPanchayati Raj Diwas: National Panchayati Raj Day is the national day of India celebrated by Ministry of Panchayati Raj on

24 April annually. This date marks a defining moment in the history of decentralization of political power to the grassroots

level. The Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992 that came into force with effect from 24th April, 1993

has institutionalized Panchayati Raj through the village, Intermediate and District level Panchayats.AWARDS

K Viswanath wins Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2016 Veteran filmmaker and actor Kasinadhuni Viswanath has been conferred Dadasaheb Phalke award for

2016 by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. The award consists of a Swarn Kamal (Golden Lotus), a cash prize of Rs. 10 lakhs and a shawl.

About Dadasahib Phalke The award is conferred by the Union Government for outstanding contribution to the growth and

development of Indian Cinema. The Award was established in 1969 to commemorate the birth centenary year of father of Indian cinema,

Dadasaheb Phalke. It is the highest official recognition (award) in Indian cinema. It is given on the basis of

recommendations of a committee of eminent personalities set up by the government.

Moushumi Chatterjee gets BFJA lifetime achievement award


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Veteran actress Moushumi Chatterjee has received the lifetime achievement award, at the 80th BengalFilm Journalists' Association (BFJA) awards.

The BFJA, the oldest association of film scribes in the country was founded in 1937. Bengali film actorProsenjit Chatterjee was given the best actor award for his role in "Sankhachil", while RituparnaSengupta was given the best actress crown for her role in "Rajkahini" along with Paoli Dam for"Natoker Moto" (2015).

'Newton' wins best film honor at Hong Kong International Film Festival Bollywood film "Newton" has won the best film honor at the Hong Kong International Film Festival.

The lead actor of the film is Raj Kumar Rao. Amit Masurkar-directed "Newton", is a political satire. It had its world premiere at the 67th Berlin Film

Festival where it won the International Federation of Art Cinemas (CICAE) award in its Forumsegment.

SPORTSMonte Carlo Masters: Nadal wins Men's Singles; Bopanna and Cuevas lift men's doubles Rafael Nadal has won the Men's Singles title of Monte Carlo Masters Tennis tournament 2017. He

defeated Albert Vinolas at a summit clash in Monaco. With this Rafael claimed a record 10th MonteCarlo Masters title.

Earlier, India's Rohan Bopanna and his Uruguayan partner Pablo Cuevas lifted the men's doubles crownat the Monte Carlo Masters after win over Spain's Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez in Monaco.

Aditi Ashok, SSP Chawrasia win Golf Industry Awards SSP Chawrasia and Aditi Ashok were among the winners at the second Golf Industry Association (GIA)

Awards 2017. Aditi, who finished second in the Ladies European Tour (LET) order of merit in 2016bagged Outstanding Achievement as a Player award.

Chawrasia, who successfully defended his Indian Open title in 2017, bagged the Award for the Men'sPlayer of the Year.

Ali Sher, the Delhi Golf Club caddy-turned-pro-golfer, was feted for an Outstanding Playing Career.Ali Sher won the Indian Open back in 1991 and was honored with an Arjuna Award in the same year.

APRIL 25ECONOMY, BANKING AND FINANCE

Government e-Marketplace (GeM) In the light of alleged irregularities, the government has reiterated that GeM is the most transparent,

accountable and efficient public procurement portal and has already resulted in savings of crores ofRupees to the Government.

The government noted that the processes on GeM are completely transparent and GeM is the firstGovernment portal that places all the procurements- big or small- by Government organizations inpublic domain, with details about the buyer, seller, item, quantity and price.

The government has also assured that there are adequate checks and balances in place on GeM whichdo not allow suppliers to get away with supplying at a higher price to the Government, than theprevailing market or Last Procurement Price (LPP).

Government e-Marketplace (GeM) aims to transform the way in which procurement of goods andservices is done by the Government Ministries/Departments, PSUs, autonomous bodies etc.

DGS&D with technical support of NeGD (MeitY) has developed GeM portal for procurement of bothProducts & Services.

GeM is a completely paperless, cashless and system driven e-market place that enables procurement ofcommon use goods and services with minimal human interface.

GOVT SCHEMESolve a problem, win ₹1 crore The Centre is set to launch a scheme for students from higher educational institutions to volunteer to

offer innovative, original and practical solutions to problems facing the country and get rewarded fortheir efforts.


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The scheme will be called IDEAS, or Innovations for Development of Efficient and AffordableSystems. It is an initiative to challenge young minds with problems of society in general, to come upwith innovative, original, practical and economical solutions.

The Human Resource Development Ministry has identified a handful of areas pertaining to which theproblem-solving skills of students will be tested. These are affordable healthcare, computer science andICT, energy (making solar/renewable resources cheaper, energy efficiency, etc.), affordable housing,healthcare, agriculture, education, water resources and river systems, affordable infrastructure, defence,cybersecurity and information security, and environment and climate change.

The scheme will invite students to find solutions to problems in these fields — and offer a prize of ₹1crore to the best solution in each field.

Under each of the above areas or themes, 10 problem statements will be prepared and widely publicised.All higher educational institutions will be eligible and encouraged to participate, but participation ofIITs, NITs and CFTIs will be mandatory.

DEFENCEIndia, France carry out joint naval exercise 'Varuna' The Indian Navy has begun a joint maritime exercise with the French Navy at the Mediterranean Sea to

further deepen combat coordination between the two navies. Guided missile destroyer INS Mumbai, stealth frigate INS Trishul and fleet tanker INS Aditya are

taking part in the 'Varuna' exercise which will continue till April 30.

ENVIRONMENT,SCIENCE AND TECHIIITM-K develops app for coffee growers Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management-Kerala (IIITM-K) has launched an

application named Kaapi Soil Health Management and Monitoring (Kshemam) app to provide soilnutrient information and fertiliser recommendation for coffee plantation owners.

The app will help in proper identification of optimum levels of fertiliser use. Farmers by entering information like geographic coordinates or their administrative divisions can check

the soil property, nutrient status and fertiliser recommendations for their land. In addition, the spatial variation of individual nutrients can also be thematically visualised with the help

of this app. By using this app, the farmers can generate fertiliser recommendation, nutrient advisory and soil health

card in English, Kannada, Tamil or Malayalam.

IMPORTANT DAYSPrevent malaria - save lives: WHO push for prevention on World Malaria Day, 25th April Despite many preventive measures, malaria still remains a leading cause of mortality world wide.

Malaria mosquito generally thrives in the areas with a lot of moisture and humidity. Malaria being a mosquito-borne disease, is transmitted by the bite of female Anopheles mosquito which

is a parasite, like all mosquitoes. Ghana, Kenya and Malawi will pilot the world’s first malaria vaccine from 2018, offering it for babies

and children in high-risk areas as part of real-life trials. Combined with existing malaria interventions,such a vaccine would have the potential to save tens of thousands of lives in Africa.

The injectable vaccine, called RTS,S or Mosquirix, was developed by British drugmakerGlaxoSmithKline to protect children from the most deadly form of malaria in Africa.

This is WHO’s pilot programme to assess whether the Mosquirix’s protective effect in children aged 5to 17 months can be replicated in real-life.

It will also assess the feasibility of delivering the four doses needed, and explore the vaccine’s potentialrole in reducing the number of children killed by the disease.

AWARDSRDPR bags awards: Karnataka Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Department has bagged e-Puraskar Award

for the best performance in empowering panchayats by using Information and Communication


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Technology (ICT) tools, for 2016-17. The State bagged the award for its Ganshi Sakshi KayakGPS-enabled ICT tool.

Kerala bagged the second prize, while West Bengal secured third prize in the category of ICT tools. Ministry of Panchayat Raj has been conferring e-Puraskar for bringing in transparency, efficiency and

accountability in the functioning of panchayats through ICT tools. The cash prize for the first position isRs. 2 crore, Rs. 1 crore for second position and Rs. 50 lakh for third position.

PERSONS IN NEWSAstronaut Peggy Whitson Sets NASA Record For Most Days In Space: NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson has officially set the U.S. record for most cumulative days in space,

surpassing astronaut Jeff Williams’ record of 534 days. Whitson also is the first woman to command the space station; she has commanded it twice. Her first

stint as commander was in April 2008 and she’s commanding the current crew. She also holds the record for most spacewalks by a female astronaut. Whitson took her eighth

spacewalk in March.

PLACES IN NEWSIndia’s first sea ropeway to link Mumbai and Elephanta island India’s first and longest ropeway to connect Mumbai with the famous Elephanta Island in the Arabian

Sea is planned to be constructed by the Mumbai Port Trust, according to the official report. The 8-km ropeway will begin from Sewri in Mumbai’s east coast and end at Raigad district’s Elephanta

Island, globally renowned for Elephanta Caves, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

SPORTSIndian shot putter Manpreet Kaur bags Gold at Asian Grand Prix Meet in China Indian shot putter Manpreet Kaur has clinched a gold in the first leg of the Asian Grand Prix Athletics

Meet in Jinhua, China.

APRIL 26

INTERNATIONALIndia, Armenia sign 3 agreements India and Armenia have signed three agreements after Vice President Hamid Ansari held a bilateral

meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan in Yerevan, Armenia. The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on peaceful uses of outer space,

another MoU on cooperation in youth matters and a program of cultural cooperation for the years2017-2020. The two countries are celebrating the 25th anniversary of their diplomatic ties.

About Armenia Capital and largest city -Yerevan President -Serzh Sargsyan Prime Minister -Karen Karapetyan Currency -Dram

China launches first indigenously built aircraft carrier China has launched its first indigenously built aircraft carrier following the 68th-anniversary

celebrations of the founding of the Chinese navy. It is China’s second aircraft carrier built in the north-eastern port of Dalian. The new aircraft carrier will

be able to operate China’s Shenyang J-15 fighter jets and will be more dedicated to military andhumanitarian operations.

The design of the new aircraft carrier has been obtained from China’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning,which was bought second-hand from Ukraine in 1998 and refitted in China.

ECONOMY, BANKING AND FINANCEYes Bank ties up with Paisabazaar.com


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Private sector lender Yes Bank announced the alliance with Paisabazaar.com under which the bank willoffer conditionally approved loans to the latter’s existing customers.

As part of the partnership, the bank will help Paisabazaar.com through its advanced analytics and datamining capabilities to offer customers of the financial marketplace with customized and conditionallyapproved offers across retail lending products.

JOINT DOCTRINE OF ARMY, NAVY, IAF UNVEILED With aim to match the pace of fast changing nature of war, the ministry of defence has released the

Joint Doctrine of Armed Forces stressing on the need for synergy amongst the three Services namelyArmy, IAF and Navy and hone strategy for inter-operability to achieve the political and militaryobjectives in an effective manner.

This doctrine is the second in the series after its first version was released in 2007. It included thelessons learnt over the past ten years and is aligned with the doctrines of individual Services.

The Joint Doctrine will serve as a cornerstone document for application of Military Power in asynergized manner and also establish a broad framework of concepts and principles to understandapproach to joint planning and conduct of operations across all the domains of conflict.

Taking the strategic scenario into account, the doctrine said India will have to have deterrentcapabilities to protect its interests on the Line of Actual Control(LAC) facing China and Line ofControl(LOC) with Pakistan. The document noted that while conflicts the world over for gainingterritorial control were diminishing, India, however, has to protect its territory as the LAC and LOC aredisputed.

It also mentioned proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir and volatile situation in Af-Pak region is anothermajor challenge for India while describing Radicalisation of youth in some states through social mediawas another contemporary challenge facing national security, the document said adding management ofdigital environment is priority area.

The doctrine also talked about the steps initiated for establishment of the “Defence Cyber Agency”,“Defence Space Agency” and “Special Operations Division”.

The doctrine has added surgical strikes, even those across the border, among the nation’s possibleresponses to terrorist attacks.

DEFENCERajiv Rai Bhatnagar appointed CRPF chief IPS officer Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar has been appointed as the Director-General of the Central Reserve

Police Force (CRPF). The appointment has come two days after 25 CRPF personnel were ambushed byNaxals in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district. The CRPF was functioning without a head for the past twomonths after the retirement of K. Durga Prasad on February 28, 2017.

Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar is a 1983 batch IPS officer belonging to the Uttar Pradesh cadre. He is the DirectorGeneral of the Narcotics Control Bureau.

In another key appointment, IPS officer R.K. Pachnanda has been named the director general of theIndo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

R.K. Pachnanda is a 1983 batch IPS officer of West Bengal cadre. He will take charge after theretirement of Krishna Chaudhary in June-end.

IMPORTANT DAYSWorld Intellectual Property Day – 26 April Every April 26, World Intellectual Property Day is celebrated to learn about the role that intellectual

property rights (patents, trademarks, industrial designs, copyright) play in encouraging innovation andcreativity.

WIP Day is organized by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It is a self-funding agencyof the United Nations, with 189 member states.

PERSONS IN NEWSYoungest Indian chancellor bags Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Foundation award


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The youngest chancellor of any university in the nation, Dileep K Nair has bagged Dr. BabasahebAmbedkar International Foundation award for excellent performance in the field of education inTrivendurum, Kerala.

The 38-year-old academician is currently the Chancellor of the North East Frontier TechnicalUniversity (NEFTU) in Arunachal Pradesh.

PLACES IN NEWSNortheast India’s largest IT hub opens in Tripura: Northeast India’s sixth and largest Information Technology (IT) hub was recently inaugurated in

Tripura to boost employment and e-governance besides to export software technology. This IT hub would help to create employment opportunities for the IT educated youths and to further

extend the e-governance to the door step of people.

APRIL 27

INTERNATIONAL

US President Donald Trump has introduced biggest tax reform plan in the history of United States.

As per the proposals of the new plan, major cuts have been made in the income tax rate. the income taxrates have been slashed from 39.6% to 35%. The new plan has also sharply slashed the business taxes.

Steep discounts have been announced on corporate profits that are brought back into the US. The newplan proposes for a 15% corporate tax rate which is a sharp drop from the existing 35%. In addition, thenew reforms aim to move to a territorial tax system that provides relief to both small and largebusinesses.

It is also proposed to repeal the estate tax, the alternative minimum tax. In addition, tax relief will be provided to the families with child and dependent care expenses. Further,

the number of tax brackets is expected to be brought down to three from seven. However, under the USlaw, only the Congress is empowered to make major changes to the tax laws.

These reforms are hailed as the biggest tax cut and largest tax reform in the history of the United States.According to the economists, the new tax reforms are likely to add trillions of dollars to the deficit overthe next decade. As far as India is concerned, the reforms are expected to further push up stock marketswhich have already responded positively.

ECONOMY, BANKING AND FINANCE

e-SOT and e-PRAN card launched for Atal Pension Yojana subscribers

With a view to digitally empower the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) subscribers and improve the qualityof service, the facility of online viewing of the statement of the transaction (e-SOT) and also the e-Permanent Retirement Account Number (e-PRAN card) have been launched.

More than 45 lacs APY subscribers will be benefitted with this initiative.

GOVT SCHEME

Over Rs.one lakh cr investment approved for housing of urban poor

Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation has sanctioned 1,00,537 more houses for urbanpoor under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) with an investment of Rs.4,200 cr taking the totalinvestment so far approved to Rs.1,00,466 cr.

With the latest sanctions, the Ministry has so far approved construction of 18,75,389 houses forEconomically Weaker Sections under PMAY(Urban) in 2,151 cities and towns in 34 States/UTs asagainst 13.80 lakh houses sanctioned during 2004-15 with an approved investment of Rs.32,009 cr.


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About PMAY-Urban

The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) Programme launched by the Ministry of Housing andUrban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA), in Mission mode envisions provision of Housing for All by2022, when the Nation completes 75 years of its Independence.

The Mission seeks to address the housing requirement of urban poor including slum dwellers throughfollowing programme verticals:

Slum rehabilitation of Slum Dwellers with participation of private developers using land as a resource. Promotion of Affordable Housing for weaker section through credit linked subsidy. Affordable Housing in Partnership with Public & Private sectors. Subsidy for beneficiary-led individual house construction /enhancement.

Centre Takes 10 New Swachh Iconic Places under Swachh Bharat Mission Phase II Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation under Swachh Bharat Mission, was held recently at Mata

Vaishno Devi Shrine, in Jammu & Kashmir. On this occasion, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar announced 10 new Iconic places to be taken under the

Phase II of Swachh Iconic Places initiative. These ten new iconic places which are to be brought to ahigher standard of swachhta and visitors’ amenities are-

1. Gangotri2. Yamunotri3. Mahakaleshwar Temple, Ujjain4. Char Minar, Hyderabad5. Church and Convent of St. Francis of Assissi, Goa6. Adi Shankaracharya’s abode Kaladi in Ernakulam7. Gomateshwar in Shravanbelgola8. Baijnath Dham, Devghar9. Gaya Tirth in Bihar and10. Somnath temple in Gujarat.

DEFENCE

India successfully test-fires Agni-III ballistic missile

India successfully carried out a fresh user trial of 3,000-kilometer range Agni-III ballistic missile fromAbdul Kalam Island off Odisha coast.

The Strategic Forces Command with logistics support from Defence Research DevelopmentOrganisation (DRDO) carried out the test from launch pad No. 4 of the Integrated Test Range.

EVENTS

India to host 18th World Road Meeting

India is set to host the 18th World Road Meeting (WRM 2017) on November 13, 2017 according to theInternational Road Federation (IRF).

The WRM is the biggest global platform for road engineers, safety and transport experts and companiesengaged in road safety products.

The theme of this year's edition is 'Safe Roads and Smart Mobility: The Engines of Economic Growth'.The WRM is held every four years.

ENVIRONMENT,SCIENCE AND TECH


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NASA’s Cassini spacecraft successfully travels between Saturn and its rings

Recently, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft completed its final close flyby of Saturn’s moon Titan and hasnow started its final set of 22 orbits before plunging into Saturn on September 15, 2017, and thuscompleting its 20-year long journey.

Already, Cassini has dived successfully through the space between Saturn and its rings, a region nospacecraft has been before. It will perform another 21 dives through the same gap and will send moredetailed information about Saturn and its rings.

These series of 22 manoeuvres that brings Cassini closer to Saturn’s surface before plunging into it iscalled as the spacecraft’s “grand finale.”

The spacecraft will provide the radar team with the final set of new images of the hydrocarbon seas andlakes that are present in Titan’s North Polar Region.

ISRO launches solar calculator app

ISRO has launched a solar calculator app that can calculate the benefits of installing solar panels indifferent regions of the country.

The app has been created by the Space Application Center (SAC) facility of ISRO following theMinistry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE)’s request.

The app comes handy for installation of Photovoltaic (PV) for tapping of solar energy.

IMPORTANT DAYS

UNESCO to screen Indian short film as part of World Press Freedom Day

UNESCO to screen Rahul V. Chittella’s short film “Azaad” as a part of World Press Freedom Dayevent that is scheduled to be held from May 1-4 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The movie is about the dysfunctional relationship between a father and his son. World Press FreedomDay is celebrated by UNESCO to celebrate the principle of freedom of the press

The theme for this year’s edition of World Press Freedom Day is “Critical Minds for Critical Times:Media’s role in advancing peaceful, just and inclusive societies“.

May 3 is celebrated as World Press Freedom Day every year to celebrate the fundamental principles ofpress freedom as well as to evaluate the freedom of press around the world. It serves as an occasion todefend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who died whiledoing their profession.

OBITUARYVeteran actor Vinod Khanna passes away Veteran actor and politician Vinod Khanna has expired at the age of 70. He was said to be suffering from cancer. Khanna is married twice and is survived by four children.

PERSONS IN NEWSSrishti Kaur wins Miss Teen Universe pageant Srishti Kaur of India has been crowned Miss Teen Universe 2017 at Managua, the capital of Nicaragua. She won after beating 25 contestants from across the world. In addition, she also bagged an award for

the best national costume. Her costume featured a peacock, the Indian national bird. She succeeds Nieveles Gonzalez of Puerto Rico as the Miss Teen Universe. Kaur had also won the title of Miss Teen Tiara International at the beginning of this year beating 29

contestants

SPORTS


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Nita Ambani made member of IOC’s Olympic Channel Commission India’s first woman International Olympic Committee member Nita Ambani has made it to two

important commissions of the global sports governing body, including the prestigious Olympic channel. Besides the Olympic Channel, Ms. Ambani has also been made a member of Olympic education

Commission as IOC announced the composition of 26 commissions for 2017. Ms. Ambani has replaced International Paralympic Committee President Philip Craven. She will serve

the position till she turns 70.

APRIL 28

INTERNATIONALIndia and Cyprus sign 4 agreements India and Cyprus have signed four agreements after delegation-level talks between Prime Minister

Narendra Modi and President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades at Hyderabad House in New Delhi. The areas in which the MoUs have been exchanged are Air Services, Agriculture, Merchant Shipping

and Culture Education.

About Cyprus Capital and largest city -Nicosia Currency -Euro (EUR)

Bhutan out of vehicle pact

Bhutan government has announced that it is not ready to go ahead with the process at present. It asked the other members of the ‘BBIN’ grouping — India, Bangladesh and Nepal — to continue to

operationalise it without Bhutan. The decision to step out of the BBIN process comes on the back of severe domestic opposition to the

motor vehicles agreement, primarily on fears of vehicular pollution and environmental degradation iftrucks from neighbouring countries are given access to Bhutan, a country that prides itself on its“carbon neutrality” and preserving the environment.

Kazakhstan opens consulate in Chennai Kazakhstan has opened its honorary consulate in Chennai. The consulate will cover the states of Tamil

Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. It will be headed by well-known businessman Suraj Shantakumar. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and

Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan has expressed confidence that the establishment of the consulate in Chennai, which is a

major industrial centre would promote the potential for economic cooperation in a number of areas likeIT industry, engineering, tourism, transport infrastructure, as well as agricultural production.

NATIONALTripartite MoU signed for broadband services to Post Offices A tripartite Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between BBNL, Department of Posts and

BSNL to provide broadband connectivity of BharatNet to Post Offices in rural areas. BSNL wouldprovide broadband services.

The infrastructure expenses and the operational expenses would be paid by the Department of Posts.BBNL would facilitate and coordinate the entire project.

GOVT SCHEMEPM launches low-cost flights The first flight under the UDAN —Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik — scheme for regional connectivity was

recently inaugurated by the PM.


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The first UDAN flight was inaugurated on the Shimla-Delhi route. The Shimla-Delhi flight is operated by Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Air India. The fare for 24 seats on the flight has been fixed at Rs. 2,036. Air India will receive a subsidy of Rs. 3,340 per passenger from the government for capping the fare. The government will collect 80% of the subsidy by charging a levy of up to Rs. 50 per ticket on flights

deployed on the national route. The remaining 20% will come from respective State governments.DEFENCE

All-woman battalion: The Centre has decided to raise an all-woman India Reserve Battalion (IRB) in Jammu and Kashmir to

tackle women stone throwers. The all women contingent will be among the five IRBs sanctioned by the Centre for the State last year. The women battalion would also be assigned other law and order duties but its personnel will be

primarily deployed for tackling protesters. The IRBs are being raised to provide jobs to the local youths with 60% of the vacancies to be filled with

candidates from the border districts. The cost of raising each battalion is around Rs. 61 crore, and 75%of the expenditure will be borne by the Centre.

IRB personnel are normally deployed in their respective States but they can be sent elsewhere ifrequired.

ENVIRONMENT,SCIENCE AND TECHE-taxi trial run to begin in Nagpur The country’s first electric taxi trial in the country would be launched in Nagpur from May 24. The first project of its kind will be undertaken by Nagpur Municipal Corporation. Mahindra and

Mahindra is set to provide 200 taxis for the initiative. Electric car taxi is one of the ambitious projects and forms as a part of its UNDP millennium goals to

tackle pollution.AWARDS

Poet Shankha Ghosh conferred Jnanpith Award: Eminent Bengali poet and literary critic Sankha Ghosh has been conferred the 52nd Jnanpith Award. He is also a Sahitya Akademi awardee. Ghosh was also honoured with Padma Bhushan in 2011. The Jnanpith Award is one of the prestigious literary honours in the country. The award was instituted

in 1961. Eligibility: Any Indian citizen who writes in any of the official languages of India is eligible for the

honour.

Bhubaneswar: First Indian city to win Pierre L’enfant Awards-2017 Bhubaneswar has become the first Indian city to win Pierre L’enfant International Planning excellence

award-2017 instituted by the American Planning Association (APA). Bhubaneswar has been chosen for its good and advanced town planning and engaging its residents in

the planning process. The APA Awards jury has selected Five Excellence Award recipients in total who will be honoured at

the Awards Luncheon at APA’s National Planning Conference in New York on May 8.OBITUARY

Oscar-Winning Director Jonathan Demme passes away American Director Jonathan Demme, the Oscar-winning director behind classics like The Silence of the

Lambs and Philadelphia, died in New York. He was 73 years old. The cause was esophageal cancer and complications from heart disease.

APPOINTMENTT Krishnakumar is Coca-Cola India’s new chief

Beverage major Coca-Cola Company announced key leadership changes for its India & South WestAsia business and Hindustan Coca-Cola Bottling (HCCB) operations.

T Krishnakumar has been appointed as the president of India and South West Asia Business Unit. Hehas replaced Venkatesh Kini.

SPORTSKerala hosts country’s first ever transgender athletic meet


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Kerala has conducted the country’s first-ever transgender one-day athletic meet in Thiruvananthapuram. The event saw the participation of 132 participants belonging to 12 districts of the state. No participant

representing Idukki and Pathanamthitta districts participated in the event. The event was jointly organised by Kerala sports council and Sexual Gender Minority Federation of

Kerala. In the competition, six events were conducted, namely, 100 metres, 200 metres, and 400 metresrunning; 100x 4 relay race, high jump and shot put.

APRIL 29

NATIONALFirst book village in the country to come up in Maharashtra From May 4, Bhilar, a tiny hamlet in Satara district of Maharashtra is all set to become India’s first

‘book village’. The concept of book village is inspired by Britain’s Hay-on-Wye, which is a Welsh town located in

the United Kingdom, famous for its bookstores and literature festivals. Under this initiative, tourists andlocals can come and read books, magazines, newspapers stacked at 25 artistically decorated locationsaround the village.

The books on wide-ranging subjects and 15,000 books in Marathi would be made available on thesepremises.

Some of the books that will be available for the readers are very rare and out of publication, includingnovels, reference books about Maharashtra and Marathi culture written by prominent authors.

To make sure that the books are returned by the tourists, tourists will be made to pay a nominaldeposit.

Bhilar has been chosen as already it attracts a number of tourists who throng the village to taste thelocally produced strawberries.

The state government has chosen Bhilar to further promote tourism and the Marathi language.Government launches Test and Treat policy for HIV Union Health Minister JP Nadda has launched the Test and Treat policy for Human Immunodeficiency

Virus (HIV) patients. As per this new policy, anyone who is tested and found positive will get the necessary treatment free of

cost. Anyone found positive will be provided with ART (Anti- Retroviral Therapy) irrespective of hisCD count.

The scheme will be a centrally sponsored scheme. All men, women, adolescents and children who have been diagnosed positively can benefit under this

new policy. HIV destroys the CD4 T cells in the human body and weakens the immunity levels. A person who has

CD4 cell count below 200 is considered to be at significant risk of developing serious illnesses. Beforethe announcement of this new policy, the government was providing free treatment to people with acount of 400 and below.

ECONOMY, BANKING AND FINANCEIndia’s Forex reserves increase by $1.25 billion According to the Reserve Bank of India’s weekly statistical supplement, India’s foreign exchange

(Forex) reserves have increased by $1.25 billion to reach $371.13 billion from $369.88 billion as onApril 21, 2017. The current reserves are just short of a lifetime high of USD 371.99 billion reached inthe week to September 30, 2016.

GOVT. SCHEMESOver 21 lakh LED Street Lights installed across India under Street Light National Programme Under the Government of India’s Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP) over 21 lakh

conventional street lights have been replaced with LED street lights across the country. The installation of LED street lights has resulted in Annual energy savings of 295 million unit kWh,

avoided capacity of over 73 MW and reduction of 2.3 lakh tonnes of CO2 annually. Rajasthan had the highest replacement of LED bulbs.


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Under Street Light National Programme (SLNP), Government aims to replace 1.34 crore conventionalstreet lights with energy efficient LED lights.

The project has been implemented across 23 states and union territories. Energy Efficiency ServicesLimited, a Public Energy Services Company under the administration of Ministry of Power,Government of India (GoI) is the implementing agency for SLNP.

EESL also undertakes social audits in all states post the completion of the project. Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) is a joint venture of NTPC Limited, Power Finance

Corporation, Rural Electrification Corporation and POWERGRID, Energy Efficiency Services Limited(EESL) was set up under Ministry of Power (India) to facilitate implementation of energy efficiencyprojects.

Campaign sends 596 dropouts to school Altogether 596 students who had dropped out of school have returned for admissions to them in Tripura

under a special campaign by the State’s School Education Department and the Centre’s RashtriyaMadhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA). The campaign was carried out in all eight districts of the State.

Tripura had an alarming rate of school drop-outs at the height of insurgency, when scores of schoolsbecame non-functional, mainly in the hilly areas. Most had left school in Classes VIII or IX mainly dueto family reasons. The majority of school drop-outs are girls.

The scheme was launched in March, 2009 with the objective to enhance access to secondary educationand to improve its quality. It is envisaged to achieve an enrolment rate of 75% from 52.26% in 2005-06at secondary stage of implementation of the scheme by providing a secondary school within areasonable distance of any habitation.

The other objectives include improving quality of education imparted at secondary level throughmaking all secondary schools conform to prescribed norms, removing gender, socio-economic anddisability barriers, providing universal access to secondary level education by 2017, i.e., by the end of12th Five Year Plan and achieving universal retention by 2020.

Important quality interventions provided under the scheme are: (i) appointment of additional teachers toreduce PTR to 30:1, (ii) focus on Science, Math and English education, (iii) In-service training ofteachers, (iv) science laboratories, (v) ICT enabled education, (vi) curriculum reforms; and (vii)teaching learning reforms.

Important equity interventions provided in the scheme are: (i) special focus in micro planning (ii)preference to Ashram schools for upgradation (iii) preference to areas with concentration ofSC/ST/Minority for opening of schools (iv) special enrolment drive for the weaker section (v) morefemale teachers in schools; and (vi) separate toilet blocks for girls.

Implementation mechanism of the Scheme: The scheme is being implemented by the State governmentsocieties established for implementation of the scheme. The central share is released to theimplementing agency directly. The applicable State share is also released to the implementing agencyby the respective State Governments.

AWARDSIndian Sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik wins gold medal in Moscow competition Internationally renowned sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik from Odisha won the jury prize gold medal at

the 10th Moscow Sand art Championship. The competition was held between 22nd and 28th April at Kolomenskoye, Moscow in Russia. The

theme for the competition was "The world around us". Pattnaik was the Indian representative in thecompetition, where twenty-five sculptors from different countries participated.

SPORTSJehan Daruvala becomes 1st Indian to take pole in FIA F3 European Championship Jehan Daruvala, in his rookie season at the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, is already making

waves. The 18-year-old product of Force India Academy, became the first Indian to take pole in the F3

European series, securing the top spot on the starting grid for Race 1 of the second round of thechampionship in Monza, Italy.

However, he was unable to translate that into a race victory, and finished the hard-fought race in secondplace, behind his Carlin Racing teammate Lando Norris of the UK.


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APRIL 30

INTERNATIONALGlobal Mobile Internet conference in Beijing The world's largest mobile Internet conference started in Beijing on Thursday with technology

executives, businessmen and developers attending talks by industry leaders at the capital's ChinaNational Convention Centre (CNCC).

The 2016 Global Mobile Internet Conference (GMIC) opened with a speech by E.Hao, the 'ThoughtLeader' for the Great Wall Club (GWC) organisers, while an exhibition showcasing robot products,virtual reality goggles and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) drew some 25,000 visitors to theOlympic Green venue.

The five-day GMIC, hosted annually in Beijing and Silicon Valley in San Francisco, features talks onpredicting the future with technology, including prospects for the internet movie industry, interactiveentertainment and smart cars.

The event also aims to provide a platform for startups and budding entrepreneurs so they can learnabout the next big innovations, according to the organizers, who say the "unprecedented Summitinspired by Science...breaks into the unknown and brings you to the future".

NATIONALSurvey finds Karnataka the most corrupt state Karnataka occupies the first slot in a list of states perceived to be corrupt on the basis of people's

experience in paying bribes for public services, a survey conducted by an NGO has revealed. Karnatakais followed by Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab.

The Centre for Media Studies survey, which covered 20 states, found Himachal Pradesh, Kerala andChhattisgarh to be the least corrupt

. The report said around one-third of the households experienced corruption in public services at leastonce during the last one year in comparison to about 53% of households that admitted to paying bribesduring a similar study in 2005.

ECONOMY, BANKING AND FINANCEWithout FATCA Compliance, Banks Accounts To Be Blocked Bank accounts that were opened between July 1, 2014 and August 31, 2015 and are not in compliance

with FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) provisions will be blocked. The Income TaxDepartment had set a deadline of April 30 for FATCA compliance for these accounts.

FATCA allows automatic exchange of financial information between India and the US. India had entered into an agreement with the United States for implementation of the Foreign Accounts

Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) with effect from August 31, 2015. Account holders are required to provide details such as country of tax residence, tax identification

number from such country, country of birth, country of citizenship etc. In a statement last month, the government had said that financial institutions are advised that all efforts

should be made by the financial institutions to obtain the self-certification. The account holders may beinformed that, in case self-certifications are not provided till April 30, 2017, the accounts would beblocked.

If the accounts are blocked due to lack of self-certification, then transactions by the account holder insuch blocked accounts will be permitted once the self-certification is obtained and due diligence iscompleted.

Earlier, the financial institutions had to obtain self-certification from account holders by August 31,2016, in respect of all individual and entity accounts opened from July 1, 2014 to August 31, 2015.

Mutual funds and other financial institutions had also asked customers to comply with the new norms. In view of the difficulties faced by stakeholders, the tax department had on August 31, 2016 extended

the deadline for complying with self-certification norms. The purpose of FATCA is aimed at ensuring that individuals pay tax on income generated from their

wealth parked overseas.

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FATCA obliges such banks and financial institutions to report such information about citizens havingaccounts with them.

IMPORTANT DAYSWorld Immunization Week, 24-30 April 2017 World Immunization Week – celebrated in the last week of April – aims to promote the use of vaccines

to protect people of all ages against disease. Immunization saves millions of lives and is widelyrecognized as one of the world’s most successful and cost-effective health interventions. Today, thereare still 19.4 million unvaccinated and under-vaccinated children in the world.

2017 marks the halfway point in the Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP) – endorsed by 194Member States of the World Health Assembly in May 2012 – which aims to prevent millions ofdeaths from vaccine-preventable diseases by 2020 through universal access to immunization.

Despite improvements in individual countries and a strong global rate of new vaccine introduction,all of the targets for disease elimination—including measles, rubella, and maternal and neonataltetanus—are behind schedule. In order for everyone, everywhere to survive and thrive, countriesmust make more concerted efforts to reach GVAP goals by 2020. Additionally, those countries thathave achieved or made forward progress towards achieving the goals must work to sustain thoseefforts over time.

The theme is VaccineWorks

PLACES IN NEWS

Mumbai and Chennai have been named among the top 20 tourist destinations in the Asia Pacific(APAC) region, a report said.

The rankings have been based in terms of total number of international overnight arrivals, number ofnights spent at each destination and cross-border spending, according to Mastercard Asia PacificDestinations Index 2017.

Overall, Bangkok remains the most visited in the list of 171 destinations across 22 countries in theAPAC region.

Chennai ranked 14 with 5.2 million international overnight arrivals, while Mumbai stood 15 with 4.9million arrivals.

In terms of total night spent, Mumbai ranked 13, with tourists stayed for 30.7 million nights in 2016,while Chennai was at 15 with 29.6 million nights.

Chennai ranked 13 with an expenditure of $4.6 billion by international tourists. Mumbai was at 15 with$4.4 billion spend

OBITUARYSufi legend Begum Yaman passes away at 52 Famous sufi singer and daughter of legendary Sitar Maestro (late) Ustad Vilayat Ali Khan, Begum

Yaman K. Khan has passed away after multiple organ failure. Begum Yaman was the granddaughter of Ustad Inayat Khan and daughter of Ustad Vilayat Khan of the

Imdadkhani (named after her great-grandfather Imdad Khan) or Etawah Gharana. Begum Yaman used to sing all forms of Indian semi-classical music and was probably the only female

singer in India of Sufi style of music in its purest form. She was the recipient of 'Hasrat Amir KhusraoAward' by Urdu Press Club International and an award for her excellence and contribution tosemi-classical and Sufiana kalam by Balkan-Ji-Bari International.

SPORTSPankaj Advani settles for silver at Asian Snooker Championship India's top cueist Pankaj Advani lost to China's Lv Haotian in the summit clash of Asian Snooker

Championship here today, as he failed in his bid to win the continental double of billiards and snookertitles in the same year.

Advani lost 3-6 in the final to his Chinese opponent and it meant that he could not become the firstplayer to win both Asian titles in Billiards and Snooker in same calendar year.

The defeat in the final also meant that Advani could not complete a career Grand Slam in cue sport.


1 APRIL 2017-30 APRIL 2017


After becoming a pilot, Gul Panag is now India’s first woman to race in Formula E

After becoming a certified pilot, former Miss India Gul Panag is now unleashing the automobile junkiein her on a professional platform- Formula E. Panag, who is currently in Barcelona, Spain, droveMahindra Racing’s all new M4Electro at the circuit de Calafat in Catalonia, Spain.

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