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National News
Indo German Agreement on Namami Gange
- Agreement has been signed for Ganga Rejuvenation under the Namami Gange Program in New Delhi
- Agreement signed between Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and German International Cooperation
125th Birth Anniversary of Dr. BR Ambedkar
- 125th birth anniversary Dr. Ambedkar was commemorated on 13th April 2016 at the UN headquarters in New York.
- First time United Nations observed the birth anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar.
- Hyderabad will feature a 125-foot tall statue of B R Ambedkar
- PM Narendra Modi launches National Agriculture Market portal
Maharashtra Government first to bring law against Social boycott
- Maharashtra Assembly passed the Prohibition of Social Boycott Bill 2016
Transgenders to man a poll booth in Kolkata
- They have been deployed at a polling booth in Kolkata for the April 30 assembly polls, one booth in south Kolkata
- West Bengal has 758 members of the third gender enlisted as voters and two transgender candidates out of the 5 crore voters
- Two transgender candidates contesting from high-profile seats in Kolkata Bhawanipore and Jadavpur.
Government reconstitutes IGNCA board
- Government has reconstituted Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA) board.
- Ram Bahadur Rai, Senior Journalist has been appointed as Chairman of the Board.
- Dr Sushmita Pandey, head of School of Studies in Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology in Ujjain’s Vikram University, appointed as chairman of National Monument Authority
HC upholds legal provision against foreign tax havens
- Seen as a major boost to the Centre’s efforts to prevent infusion of black money through shell companies in foreign tax havens.
- Madras High Court has upheld the Constitutional validity of Section 94A(1) of the Income Tax Act, 1961
- Empowers the government to declare any country, with which it lacks effective exchange of information, a ‘notified jurisdictional area.’
Statute of SAWEN to check wildlife crimes
- Statute of the South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN) which will help in checking cross border wildlife crimes.
- MoU allows the country to become a formal member of SAWEN in order to strengthen ties with the member countries in controlling the trans-boundary wildlife crimes
International
India ranks 44 in 2016 Global Connectivity Index
- 50 countries assessed by GCI 2016 account for 90% of global GDP and 78% of the world’s population.
- Report has been compiled by Electronics major Huawei.
- GCI also includes survey results from 3,000 firms across 10 verticals in 10 nations.
Investing in treatment for depression and anxiety leads to four-fold return – UN
- Between 1990 and 2013, the number of people suffering from depression and/or anxiety increased by nearly 50%, from 416 million to 615 million
- Close to 10% of the world’s population is affected,
- Mental disorders account for 30% of the global non-fatal disease
- Scaling up mental health services will contribute to achievement of 1 of the targets of the SGD Goals by 2030, according to UN.
South Korea’s opposition party wins general election
- Main opposition Minjoo Party won 123 in the 300-member National Assembly
- Park’s Saenuri Party yesterday won 122 seats in the 300-member National Assembly.
- Splinter opposition People’s Party bagged 38 spots, and another six seats went to the Justice Party.
World output faces risk of 3.9 % drop by 2021
- Decline in oil prices has helped countries such as India improve their external positions
- Low commodity prices have kept risks elevated in emerging market economies
- Financial stability report assesses the risks faced by the global financial system and the current edition surveys the issues that surfaced since October 2015.
- Spill-over effects of the growing uncertainty about China’s economy and setbacks to growth and confidence in advanced economies are other factors undermining global financial stability.
Business and Economy
Jaypee offers 2,200-acre land to banks for loan settlement
- Banks have shown their interest to take over the land to avoid putting a non-performing asset (NPA) tag on the two Jaypee group companies namely Jaiprakash Associates Limited (JAL) and Jaypee Infra.
- NPA tag will force banks to set aside funds for potential losses, known as provisioning, and impact their finances.
- For the company, it will make virtually impossible to raise fresh loans.
Aadhaar, net banking-based I-T e-filing appeal system activated
- Facility of filing the appeal form, like filing Income Tax Returns (ITRs), can also be done using a digital signature on the official web portal of the tax department.
- EVC works by way of generating a personalized OTP by using the Aadhaar database
- Initiative is to reduce the interface between taxman and the taxpayer
India world’s largest remittance recipient in 2015
- According to the World Bank India named as the world’s largest remittance recipient in 2015
- Experienced a $ 1 billion drop from the previous year, the first decline in its remittances since 2009.
Unified Payments Interface Launched by NPCI
- Initiative aims to provide a safe, efficient, accessible, inclusive, interoperable and authorized payment and settlement system for the country.
- Will enable anyone with a bank account to complete a transfer or make a payment without having to share bank account or credit/debit card details.
World Bank and AIIB Sign First Co-Financing Framework Agreement
- AIIB expects to approve about USD 1.2 billion in financing,
- World Bank will prepare and supervise the co-financed projects in accordance with its policies and procedures in areas like procurement, environment and social safeguards.
Science and Technology
BSNL to launch data sharing service facility for users across India
- It will allow 4 users to share data among themselves
- No charges will be levied for availing this facility.
Nuclear-capable K-4 undersea ballistic missile successfully test fired from INS Arihant
- India has conducted a secret test of the nuclear-capable undersea ballistic missile K-4 SLBM in the Bay of Bengal.
Proposals on Biology of childhood under nutrition
- Department of Biotechnology (DBT) of the union Ministry of Science and Technology has called for proposals on Biology of childhood undernutrition and healthy growth
- Emphasis on linear growth retardation.
Akash missile test fired in Odisha
- Indigenously developed surface-to-air missile
- Test fired for second consecutive day from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur near Balasore in Odisha.
People in News
Barack Obama appoints MasterCard CEO Banga to key administration post
- MasterCard CEO Ajay Singh Banga appointed to key administration post as a member of the Commission on Enhancing National Cyber security.
- Banga is one of the nine members of the Commission
Soumen Mitra takes over as new Kolkata Police Commissioner
- A 1988-batch IPS officer.
- Ram Phal Pawar, a 1988 batch IPS officer, who was holding the post of ADG, Anti-Corruption Branch in West Bengal, would now take over as ADG, CID in the State police.
Flipkart Chief Product Officer Punit Soni Quits
- A former Google executive with expertise in mobile technology
- Most high-profile recruitment made by Flipkart
- Helped build products such as Ping, a chat application on the mobile app, and relaunch its mobile website, Flipkart Lite.
Ajay Devgn, Kajol to be brand ambassadors of Andhra Pradesh tourism
- 8 million tourists visited Andhra Pradesh in 2015, a 30% increase over the previous year
- 237,000 were foreign tourists mainly from Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and West Asia.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma appointed chairman of IAMAI payments banks group
- Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma has appointed as the chairman of IAMAI.
- Vodafone India business head Suresh Sethi as Vice chaiman of IAMAI.
- IAMAI Payments Banks is an innovative model of bringing unbanked population into the formal banking fold
- includes global companies such as Google, Facebook and LinkedIn as members
Sports
Wisden’s top five cricketers of 2015 announced
- New Zealand captain Kane Williamson and predecessor Brendon McCullum are included
- Other 3 players are Australia captain Steve Smith, and England’s Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow.
Bombay HC orders IPL matches to be shifted out of Maharashtra from April 30
- Verdict came after a PIL questioned the hosting of matches in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur due to a severe drought in Maharashtra.
- Ruling affects 13 matches, including the final which was to be held in Mumbai on May 29.
- BCCI had supplied 40 lakh litres of water to stadiums per day for IPL tournaments so far