FreeJobAlert.Com Current Affairs

INTERNATIONAL

G7 Hiroshima Declaration Calls For ‘World Without Nuclear Weapons’
The Group of 7 (G-7) countries’ foreign ministers have issued Hiroshima Declaration that calls for a world without nuclear weapons. The foreign ministers G-7 countries’ on 11 April signed this joint declaration after meeting in Japan’s Hiroshima. G7 countries include Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK and US. The declaration came as ministers wrap up their final day of meetings focused on global hotspot issues including terrorism and other security threats as well as instability in the Middle East and the refugee crisis. Hiroshima Declaration reaffirms commitment of G-7 countries’ to seek a safer world for all and create the conditions for a world without nuclear weapons to promote international stability. It calls for creating the conditions without nuclear weapons in a way that promotes international stability.

China, Pakistan Launched Joint Air Force Exercise
Pakistan and China have launched a joint bilateral air force exercise named Shaheen (Eagle) 5 in Pakistan. This is the fifth edition of such drill between the two countries that will take place from April 9 to 30, 2016. This edition of exercise seeks to boost bilateral relations between all-weather friends China and Pakistan. Shaheen-4 i.e. fourth edition of the bilateral exercise was held in China last in 2015. It had featured fighters, fighter bombers as well as airborne early warning and control aircraft.

US Orders Nine AH-1Z Viper Attack Helicopters for Pakistan
The US Navy has ordered nine AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters for Pakistan. The US Navy on 5 April awarded a $170 million contract to Bell Helicopter for the manufacture of the AH-1Z helicopters. The combat helicopters will be delivered to Pakistan under the Foreign Military Sales Programme. The Bell AH-1Z Viper is a twin-engine combat chopper based on the previous SuperCobra model developed for the US Marine Corps. It has a top speed of 420 km per hour and a range of 610 km.

US Senate Unanimously Approved Defend Trade Secrets Bill
The US Senate on 4 April approved Defend Trade Secrets Bill. The legislation provides greater legal protection to companies for their commercial secrets. It was passed by 87-0, amid strong White House backing. Now the bill will be sent for approval to the House of Representatives. It empowers companies to sue in federal court if their commercial secrets are stolen. It would help them to recover damages, enforce injunctions and prevent the further dissemination of stolen trade secrets. Trade secrets are confidential information that can give a business a commercial edge.

Philippines Launches World’s First Public Immunization Program For Dengue
The Philippines on 4 April launched the first public immunization program for dengue fever, seeking to administer to a million school children the world’s first licensed vaccine against a mosquito-borne disease that the World Health Organization estimates infects 390 million people a year globally. Mexico was first country in the world to approve first-ever Dengvaxia Dengue fever vaccine for the public use and Philippines was the first county in Asia to allow it. However with the launch of first public dengue vaccination programme, Philippines became first country to introduce, adopt and implement the first-ever dengue vaccine through the public health system and under public school settings.

World Bank Approved $100 million Loan To Jordan
The World Bank agreed to provide concessional 100 million US dollar loan to Jordan for creating one lakh jobs for Jordanians and Syrian refugees. The loan will be provided at rates usually reserved for the poorest countries.The announcement was made by World Bank President Jim Yong Kim during a joint visit of Kim and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to Jordan.

INDIA & WORLD

India Ranked 133rd In 2016 World Press Freedom Index
India with a score of 43.17 was ranked 133 out of 180 countries in the 2016 World Press Freedom Index that was released on 20 April 2016. The Index was published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).In 2015 Index, India with a score of 40.49 was ranked 136 out of 180 countries. The index has been topped by Finland followed by the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and New Zealand at second, third, fourth and fifth position respectively. At the bottom of the index lies Eritrea at 180th rank. It is preceded by North Korea, Turkmenistan, Syria and China at 179th, 178th, 177th&176th position respectively.

India Signs MoU with Mauritius For Cooperation In Traditional Medicine, Homoeopathy
India has signed an MoU with Mauritius on cooperation in the field of traditional system of medicine and homoeopathy. The MoU was signed during the recent visit of Minster of State for AYUSH (Independent Charge) and Health and Family Welfare Shripad Yesso Naik to Mauritius. This MoU will promote cooperation in the field of traditional system of health and medicine between the two countries which already share these traditions due to our unique historical and cultural ties.

India and Maldives Signed Six Agreements
India and Maldives on 11 April signed six agreements to boost the bilateral relations between the two countries. These agreements were inked after comprehensive talks between visiting Maldives President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. The bilateral agreements were signed in the fields of avoidance of double taxation, conservation and restoration of ancient mosque, tourism and defence.

PM Narendra Modi Inaugurates 100-MW power Supply For Bangladesh
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated broadband connectivity to North Eastern States via Bangladesh to strengthen telecom services in the region. Under the project, an international gateway for broadband connectivity will be set up at Agartala in Tripura. Using this platform, connectivity will be provided to other North Eastern States like Manipur, Nagaland, etc through Bangladesh. The cost of the project is around 19 crore rupees and BSNL will bear annual operational expenditure of around seven crore rupees from its own resources.

India Losing Over Rs.1 Lakh Crore Due To Tobacco-Related Diseases
World Health Organisation (WHO) representative to India, Henk Bekedam announced that the economy has been losing around Rs. 1,04, 500 crores every year because of the tobacco-related diseases, which claim around 10 lakh lives annually.

NATIONAL

Beti Bachao Beti Padho Scheme Extended To 61 More Districts
Union Government has extended the Beti Bachao Beti Padho Scheme in additional 61 districts across 11 States and Union Territories with low Child Sex Ratio. It was announced on 19 April by the Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi while addressing the function in New Delhi. The scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January 2015 from Haryana in 100 districts of the country to address the issue of declining Child Sex Ratio.

Google Extends Free WiFi To 10 Railway Stations
The search engine giant Google has extended free internet service through WiFi to 10 railway stations across the country to provide internet to over 1.5 million people. The free internet service was extended as part of Google’s tie up with Railtel, the internet provider arm of Indian Railways.

World Tiger Population Increased For The First Time In 100 Years
According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Global Tiger Forum (GTF), the global tiger population has increased by 22 per cent after a century of constant decline. The number of wild tigers across the globe has gone up globally by 22 per cent to 3,890, from the 2010 estimate of 3,200. The data was based on national estimates of countries reported by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). India (2226), Russia (433), Indonesia (371), Malaysia (250), Nepal (198), Thailand (189), Bangladesh (106) and Bhutan (103). Besides, tiger population is also found in countries like China, Myanmar and Laos PDR.

PM Narendra Modi Launched ‘Stand Up India’ Scheme
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 5 April launched the ‘Stand up India’ scheme as part of the goverment’s efforts to support entrepreneurship among women and SC & ST communities. Prime Minister also inaugurated a Kaushal Kendra (Skilling Center) under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojna in Noida. The Scheme is intended to facilitate at least two projects per bank branch, on an average one for each category of entrepreneur. It is expected to benefit at least 2.5 lakh borrowers within 36 months. It provides for refinance window through Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) with an initial amount of 10000 crore rupees. It will create redit guarantee mechanism through the National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company (NCGTC).

112 To Become India’s new Emergency Number
The Telecom Commission approved the number 112 as the single emergency number for India. This is similar to 911 of United States and 999 of United Kingdom. With this, Indian citizens in distress can just dial the single-number 112 for all emergency services such as police, ambulance and the fire department. It will direct the call to concerned departments immediately for help.

STATES

Google’s Free Wi-Fi Services Launched at Bhubaneswar Railway Station
Google in collaboration with RailTel, the telecom arm of the Indian Railways, rolled out free Wi-Fi service at Bhubaneswar railway station on 17 April. With this, Bhubaneswar railway station became the second station to be covered under the Google-RailTel Wi-Fi project. Free Wi-Fi by Google-RailTel took off at Mumbai Central in January 2016.

Indian Army Conducts Battle Exercise ‘Shatrujeet’ In Rajasthan
The Indian Army conducted major battle exercise named as ‘Shatrujeet’ in the Thar Desert of Rajasthan near to the border with Pakistan. The sole purpose of the exercise was to evaluate the capability of the Indian Army and fine tune its proactive war strategy to respond swiftly to any threat to nation’s security. The 2016 Shatrujeet battle exercise was steered by the Mathura based 1 Corps, one of the three principle strike corps of the Indian Army. It aimed to evaluate the capability of the Indian Army to strike deep into enemy territory in an integrated air-land battle environment. It was an operation-oriented exercise that focused on validating integrated battle theatre fighting concept.

Bihar Govt Imposed Complete Ban On Alcohol
The Bihar Government on 5 April decided to impose a total ban on alcohol in towns and cities. The decision was taken after Cabinet gave its approval to excise and prohibition department’s proposal to impose a complete ban on sale and consumption of liquor in the state including Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) brands. No licence will be granted for sale and consumption of alcohol in places such as hotels, club and bars in towns and cities with immediate effect.

World’s First White Tiger Safari In Madhya Pradesh
Union Minister for Environment and Forests Prakash Javdekar on 3 April inaugurated a White Tiger Safari at Mukundpur in Satna district of Madhya Pradesh. The Safari is situated adjacent to the Mukundpur Zoo which is spread over 75 hectares. The first of its kind safari has cost 50 crore rupees and is spread over an area of 25 hectares. With its inauguration, the safari houses three white tigers, including one male named Raghu and two females named Vindhya and Radha.

BHEL Commissions 40 MW Hydropower Plant In West Bengal
Power equipment manufacturer Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has commissioned the second 40 MW hydropower generating unit at the Teesta low dam hydro electric project (HEP) stage IV in West Bengal. The hydropower generating unit was successfully installed at the Teesta low dam HEP, a run-of-the-river greenfield project, located in Darjeeling district of the West Bengal.

CONFERENCES

Maritime India Summit 2016
The Maritime India Summit 2016 (MIS 2016) was held from 14-16 April 2016 in Mumbai. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 14 April inaugurated the summit. Maritime India Summit 2016 (MIS 2016) is a maiden flagship initiative of the Ministry of Shipping, Government of India that provides a unique platform for participants to explore potential business opportunities in Indian Maritime Sector. On the occasion of this event, Union government also released a national perspective plan for the Sagarmala Project. The project involves more than 150 projects related to modernisation of existing ports, setting up 5-6 new ports.

4th Nuclear Security Summit 2016
The fourth Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) was held in Washington, United States on March 31-April 1 2016. Chinese President Xi Jinping and around 50 other world leaders are gathered to discuss efforts to prevent terrorist acquisition of nuclear materials.At the NSS, the Prime Minister announced that Canada will invest an additional $42 million in the Global Partnership Program–over the next two years – to improve nuclear and radiological security world-wide. In support of the Global Coalition Against the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant(ISIL),Canada announced it would invest $51 million over three years – to build the capacity of counter-terrorism programs in the Middle East and North Africa. The first Nuclear Security Summit was held in Washington DC in 2010 and the second NSS was held in Seoul in 2012. The third summit was held in The Hague, Netherlands in 2014.

AWARDS & HONOURS

President Presented Hindi Sevi Samman Awards
President Pranab Mukherjee on 19 April presented the Hindi Sevi Samman Awards to 39 scholars in seven different categories for the years 2012, 2013 and 2014. The awards were distributed at a function at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The Hindi Sevi Samman Awards were instituted by Central Hindi Institute, Agra in 1989.Fourteen scholars receive this award in seven different categories every year for their contribution in the field of Hindi language and literature.

Padma Sachdev Selected For 2015 Saraswati Samman
Author and poet Padma Sachdev on 12 April was selected for the prestigious Saraswati Samman for 2015 for her autobiography titled Chitt-Chete, written in Dogri language. The book, published in 2007, links the personal trials and tribulations of the author with issues concerning society, nation and the world at large. The Saraswati Samman is an annual award for outstanding prose or poetry literary works in any 22 Indian language listed in Schedule VIII of the Constitution of India.It is named after Goddess Saraswati, Indian goddess of learning. It is considered to be among the highest literary awards in India.The award was instituted in 1991 by the K. K. Birla Foundation. It consists of 10 lakh rupees, a citation and a plaque.

Viswanathan Anand Conferred with Hridaynath Mangeskar Award 2016
Five-time world chess champion Vishwanathan Anand was honoured with the 2016 Hridaynath Mangeshkar Award. He was presented with award by the Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao on 12 March in Mumbai on the occasions of celebrations of 25th anniversary of the Hridayesh Arts which gives the awards.

Mother Teresa Conferred with Founders Award
The Nobel Peace Prize awardee Mother Teresa now has been conferred with the UK’s prestigious Founders Award 2016. Teresa’s only living relative, her niece, Agi Bojazhiu received the award on 8 April 2016. Teresa, who will be made a saint on 4 September 2016, founded the Missionaries of Charity and spent 45 years serving needy people. She passed away at the age of 87 in Kolkata in 1997.The award is given to recognize and reward exem-plary achievements of people within the global Asian community.

PM Narendra Modi Conferred Saudi Arabia’s Highest Civilian Honour
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on 3 April conferred Saudi Arabia’s highest civilian honour- the King Abdulaziz Sash. The prestigious award was bestowed upon Indian Prime Minister by incumbent Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz at the Royal Court. The award has been named after Abdulaziz Al Saud, the founder of the modern Saudi state. The award is bestowed upon citizens of Saudi Arabia and foreigners for meritorious service to the Saudi Kingdom.

SPORTS & GAMES

Laureus World Sports Awards 2016
The 2016 Laureus World Sports Awards ceremony for the first time was held in Berlin, Germany on 18 April. Novak Djokovic from Serbia has won the 2016 Laureus Sportsman of the Year Award. He has won it or second time after winning it in 2012. US tennis legend Serene Williams has won the 2016 Laureus Sports-woman of the Year Award. It was her fourth Laureus Awards after she won it in 2003, 2007 and 2010.

Australia Won 2016 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup
Australia on 16 April defeated India 4-0 in the final to win the 25th edition of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup held in Ipoh, Malaysia. With this India settled at the second position and was followed by New Zealand (defending champion) at the third position. This was the 9th title for the Aussies at this tournament having last won it in 2014.Earlier, Australia had won the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament in 1983, 1996, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2011, 2013 and 2014. They also holds record of most titles win of this tournament.

Danny Willett Won 2016 US Masters Golf
Danny Willett from England on 10 April won the prestigious 2016 US Masters Golf tournament.It was his first major championship with a score of 283 (H5) and three strokes ahead of runners-up Lee Westwood (UK) and the defending champion Jordan Spieth (US).

India Won 2016 Asian Nations Cup Chess Tournament
Indian men have won the 2016 Asian Nations Cup Chess tournament by defeating Vietnam in the final round by 3-1 score played in Abu Dhabi on 6 April. To clinch the title, India collected 17 points, two more than World and Olympiad champions China. India drew Mongolia and beat the rest of the teams in a 22-team tournament. This was the third time that Indian men won the event. They won at Esfahan, Iran in 2005 and Kolkata 2009 when China did not participate on both occasions.

Hockey India 2nd Annual Awards
Indian hockey players P R Sreejesh and Deepika who won Dhruv Batra Player of the year award in Men’s and Women’s category repectively at the Hockey India 2nd Annual Awards for the year 2015 in Bengaluru, Karnataka. Late Capt. Shankar Laxman was posthumo-usly chosen for the 2016 Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award.

ECONOMY

BRICS Bank Approved First Loans For Renewable Energy Projects
The BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) has approved its first package of loans worth some $811 million. The four projects in Brazil, China, South Africa and India are all in the renewal energy development sphere. The decision to approve the first loans was approved by the NDB board of governors on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank spring meetings in Washington DC, US.

India World’s Largest Recipient Of Remittances In 2015
As per recently report of World Bank, India remained the world’s largest remittance recipient in 2015. It was revealed by the World Bank’s annual report Migration and Development Brief. In 2015, India attracted about 69 billion US dollars in remittances, down from 70 billion in 2014. Other large remittance recipients in 2015 were China (64 billion dollars), Philippines (28 billion), Mexico (25 billion) and Nigeria (21 billion dollar).

Nauru Becomes 189th Member of IMF, World Bank
The Republic of Nauru, a tiny South Pacific island nation in Pacific Ocean became the 189th member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank i.e. Bretton-Woods institutions. Nauru had applied for membership in the Washington-based IMF and World Bank in April 2014. Its initial subscription quota for IMF will be of SDR (Special Drawing rights) 2 million or about $2.81 million. It will be the second smallest member of the Fund, after Tuvalu.

India Ranks 6th In 2015 Top-10 Manufacturers List
India has been ranked sixth among the world’s Top-Ten largest manufacturing countries in the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) 2015 Yearbook report. In this edition of report India has jumped by three positions to sixth position compared to earlier ninth position in the previous report.

Russia Approves ONGC’s Rs.8600-crore Vankor Oilfield Deal
The Russian Government has approved a deal of ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) to acquire 15% stake in Vankor oilfield from Rosneft. The deal was signed between the OVL and Rosneft in September 2015 and is worth 1.3 billion US dollars. Vankor is Russia’s second biggest oil field with capacity of total 2.5 billion recoverable reserves barrels (or 500 million tonnes).

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Supercomputer ‘Param Kanchenjunga’ Unveiled at NIT Sikkim
The supercomputer, named ‘Param Kanchenjunga’, was formally unveiled by Sikkim Governor Shrinvas Patil at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Sikkim campus at Ravangla in South Sikkim District. It has been named after Kangchenjunga mountain, the third highest mountain in the world which lies partly in Nepal and partly in Sikkim.

SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Successfully Launched Inflatable Room To ISS
The US aerospace company SpaceX on 9 April achieved the historic feat of successfully launching and landing Falcon 9 rocket. The rocket landed on a drone ship at sea after being launched into space. This was the first time that the company succeeded in landing the rocket in Ocean. The feat was achieved after the company failed to do so in its four previous attempts. This feat also is important because the landing proved that SpaceX can land its rockets both on solid ground and Ocean. This was the second time SpaceX successfully landed one of its rockets post-launch, the first time was on 21 December 2015, when the company’s Falcon 9 rocket touched down at a ground-based landing site in Cape Canaveral, Florida, after putting a satellite into space.

Pakistan Successfully Test-Fires Anti-Ship ‘Zarb’ Missile
Pakistan has test fired anti-ship surface to sea “Zarb” missile from the coastal areas successfully on 9 April. It hit its target in the Arabian Sea after it was fired from a strategic point located at a coastal area. The missile was formally inducted into Pakistan Navy‘s defence system soon after the test. Zarb means hit in Urdu language. It is the Chinese C-602.Missile which is export version of the YJ-62. The C-602 is claimed to have a range of 280 kms and weighs around 300 kg.

Micro Solar Device “Surya Jyoti” Launched
Union Government launched the low cost micro solar device, Surya Jyoti. The solar dome would help rural and urban population to have a reliable access to electricity. This low cost and environment-friendly solar lighting device was launched by Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan. The device would light up homes without electricity and save millions of units of power.The device has been developed under the aegis of the Department of Science & Technology.

Mint Plant Can Help to Fight Cancer
Scientists at CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic plants (CIMAP) have identified that a compound called ‘L-Menthol’ derived from Mentha plant, popularly known as mint, can also be used in anti-cancer drugs.LMenthol can kill the colon cancer cell line without affecting the normal cell line.

PERSONS IN NEWS

A). APPOINTMENTS

Deepak Mishra Appointed as ADG of CRPF
Deepak Mishra, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the 1984 batch (AGMU cadre), has been appointed as Additional Director General in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

Susmita Pande Appointed as Chairperson of NMA
Union Government on 14 April appointed Susmita Pande as the new chairperson of the National Monument Authority (NMA). She is professor a professor at Ujjain’s Vikram University.She will succeed Himanshu Prabha Ray succeed Himanshu Prabha Ray and shall fill the post which was lying vacant for five months after demission of Ray from office.

C P Gurnani named new NASSCOM chairman
The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) on 6 April announced the appointment of CP Gurnani as its Chairman for 2016-2017. He succeeds BVR Mohan Reddy, who served as Chairman of NASSCOM for 2015-16.

Patricia Scotland Takes Over as Commonwealth Secretary-General
Dominica’s Patricia Scotland has taken over as the first woman Secre-tary-General of the 53-member Common wealth, succeeding India’s Kamalesh Sharma.

Permod Kohli Appointed as CAT chairman
Permod Kohli, the retired Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court Justice, has been appointed as the Chairman of Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) for a period of 5 years with effect from the date of assumption of charge of the post, or till attaining the age of 68 years, whichever is earlier.

B). RESIGNS

Ukrainian PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk Resigned
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk on 10 April announced his resignation in the wake of a months-long political crisis. His resignation was approved by the President Petro Poroshenko and has selected Parliament speaker Volodymyr Groysman to assume the Prime Minister post.

Iceland PM Gunnlaugsson Resigned
Iceland Prime Minister Sigmun-dur Gunnlaugsson resigned on 5 April 2016. He resigned after the leaked Panama Papers exposed offshore finance and tax evasions by him. The leaks were from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, the world’s fourth biggest offshore law firm.

C). DEATHS

Dutch Soccer Legend Johan Cruyff Died
The Dutch football legend and coach Johan Cruyff passed away in Barcelona, Italy. He was 68. Cruyff was one of the most famous exponents of the football philosophy known as Total Football. He is widely regarded to be one of the greatest players in football history.

Former Intel Chairman and CEO Andrew Grove Died
Andrew Grove, former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Intel, passed away. He was 79. He was present at the Intel’s founding in 1968. Later in 1979, he became its president in and CEO in 1987. He served as chairman of the board from 1997 to 2005. Andrew Stephen Grove, also known as Andy, was a Hungarian-born American businessman, engineer, and author. He was also referred to as the ‘guy who drove the growth phase’ of Silicon Valley.

D). VISITORS

Maldives President Abdul Gayoom Visited India
Maldives President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom visited India on 10-11 April 2016. During the visit, India and Maldives have signed six agreements in different sectors to boost bilateral relations between both maritime neighbouring countries. These agreements were signed after comprehensive talks between Maldives President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. The bilateral agreements were signed in the fields of avoidance of double taxation, conservation and restoration of ancient mosque, tourism and defence.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Visited USA
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited United States of America (USA) from 31 March – 1 April, 2016. During the visit, he attended the 4th Nuclear Security Summit in Washington DC. The summit focused on a gamut of issues pertaining to nuclear security. The two-day summit highlighted achievements and commitments of several countries towards safeguarding nuclear devices and technologies and reducing the threat of nuclear terrorism. He also announced a contribution of 1 million US dollars
to Nuclear Security Fund of International Atomic Energy Agency.In the visit, India, US signed MoU for setting up Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) observatory in India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Visited Saudi Arabia
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Saudi Arabia on 2-3 April 2016. During the visit, Narendra Modi met plated replica of the Cheraman Juma Masjid of Kerala. Situated in Thrissur district, the mosque is believed to be the first mosque built in India by Arab traders around 629 AD.India and Saudi Arabia signed five agreements and MoUs.

E). MISCELLANEOUS

Panagarh Airbase Renamed In Honour of Arjan Singh
Panagarh Air Force Base of West Bengal was renamed as Air Force Station Arjan Singh on 16 April 2016. This can be termed as a rare honour to the nation’s oldest soldier Marshal of Air Force Arjan Singh. It was renamed on the occasion of 93rd birthday of Arjan Singh. Air Officer Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Air Command, Air Marshal C. Harikumar unveiled the rechristening plaque. This is first time in India’s defence history, a military installations has been named after individuals, especially when they are alive.

Priyadarshini Crowned Miss India World 2016
Delhi-based Priyadarshini Chatterjee on 9 April 2016 was announced the winner of the FBB Femina Miss India World 2016 at the 53rd edition of the Femina Miss India beauty pageant held in Mumbai. She was crowned the title by Aditi Arya, Femina Miss India 2015.

Kejriwal On Fortune’s List of ’50 Greatest Leaders’
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been named among the world’s 50 greatest leaders by Fortune magazine. He is sole leader from India in the list and has been placed at 42nd position. 2016 edition is Fortune magazine’s third annual ‘World’s 50 Greatest Leaders’ list and it has been topped by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

Robinson Nominated as First US Female Combatant Chief
US Defence Secretary Ash Carter announced that President Barack Obama has nominated General Lori Robinson to lead the United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and NORAD. This will make her the first woman to command a major Unified Combatant Command. The position is one of the most senior in the US military and must be confirmed by the Senate. If approved by the Senate, US Air Force General Lori Robinson will be the new North command chief and will be responsible for any missile threats against the homeland.

PLACES IN NEWS

Delhi Ranked 44th Among World’s 50 Future-Ready Cities
National Capital of India, Delhi has been ranked 44th among the world’s 50 ‘future-ready economies cities’ that are embracing technology for growth. The list is topped by San Jose, followed by San Francisco, Singapore, London, Washington DC, etc. It was revealed by the recently released report ‘Future-Ready Economies Model’ by the Information Technology major Dell.

USS Conestoga Shipwreck Discovered After 95 Years
US Navy tug USS Conestoga was in news as its wreck was discovered near one of the Farallones Islands about 30 miles (50 km) west of San Francisco. It was announced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Navy of United States.

ABBREVIATIONS

TRAI – Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

RRAI – Railway Regulatory Authority of India

NALSA – National Legal Services Authority

ISSF – International Shooting Sport Federation

TADA – Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act

MEIS – Merchandise Export from India Scheme

NIIF – National Investment and Infrastructure Fund

PFRDA – Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority

UNICEF – United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund

Books in News

The Making of India: The Untold Story of British Enterprises
The making of India: The untold story of British Enterprises authored by Kartar Lalvani was in news in the third week of April 2016. The book discusses the British rule and its role in creating a unified India. The book supposedly brings out the many positive aspects of the colonial rule that remained hitherto untold.

COMMITTEES

Tandon Committee To Monitor Government Advertisements
The Union Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry has constituted a three-member Committee to see that guidelines set for government advertisements by the Supreme Court are followed. The committee will be headed by the former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) B B Tandon. Senior TV journalist Rajat Sharma and ad-man Piyush Pandey will be the other two members of the committee.

Madhukar Gupta Committee Constituted To Strengthen Border Protection
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on 5 April constituted a high-level committee to suggest ways to strengthen the border protection along the border with Pakistan. It will also address the issue of gaps and vulnerability in border fencing along Indo-Pakistan border. The committee will be headed by former Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta and will submit its report in three months.

IMPORTANT DAYS & DATES

April 2 – World Autism Awareness Day
April 5 – National Maritime Day
April 7 – World Health Day
April 14 – B.R.Ambedkar Remembrance Day
April 17 – World Haemophilia Day
April 18 – World Heritage Day
April 21 – National Civil Services Day

Responses to “April 2016 Current Affairs Study Material”