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National News
Rs. 9,005 Crore Investment for affordable housing in three states
- 9,005 crore investment in reasonable housing of 73,205 houses in 3 States for Economically Weaker sections
- 3 States: Maharashtra, Punjab and J&K
South India’s First Underground Metro in Karnataka
- South India First Underground metro – East-West corridor of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL)
10% Quota For Economically Backward in Gujarat
- 10% reservation for the economically backward among upper castes
- Move likely to benefit all upper caste families with annual income less than Rs six lakh.
- 10% reservation in jobs and education on May 1st.
LED Bulb Ujala Yojana inaugurated in Bhopal
- 3 crore LED bulbs would be distributed all over the State at Rs 85 per bulb.
- Saving of 91 percent of power also saving 25 to 30 unit every year. One could have saving of Rs 150 to Rs 180 in a year.
- Bulbs would be distributed through the medium of fixed distribution agents and Indian Government’s Energy Efficient Services Limited.
Urban Management Program for Capacity Building in States and Urban Local Bodies
- 7 States namely Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh & Assam) would be taking part in this Program.
- Cover areas of Urban Planning and Governance, Water, Waste Water & Solid Waste Management and Public Financing (PPP) of Urban Infrastructure.
- Singapore Experts would impart training in highly interactive workshops and share Singapore’s and international experiences with the participants during the Program.
Dial 139 for Cancelling Train Ticket
- Train passengers can cancel their confirmed train tickets by just dialing 139
- Passenger has to disclose the OTP to claim refund in Passenger Reservation System (PRS).
- Two new Directorates tasked with increasing the speed of trains and boosting non-fare revenues to be setup.
International
UNICEF-Kerala IMA partnership announced
- Partnership will orient all the 35,000 doctors of the association in the state on the importance of prescribing good practices to their patients besides medicines.
- Will adopt ten schools for promoting behavioral practices among students who will carry the message to homes.
Business and Economy
Mumbai Based NABARD partners Germany for Food Security initiative
- Special program on ‘Soil Protection and Rehabilitation for Food Security’
- Soil conservation and rehabilitation of degraded land for food security in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh
- Innovation of watershed development for rehabilitation of degraded soils
- Climate change adaptation in five states (Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan).
- India is the only country in Asia chosen for this initiative
SIDBI signs MoU with Saarc Development Fund
- SDF and SIDBI to work jointly in co-funding of projects in Indian MSMEs on risk sharing basis in identified sectors, development of suitable financial products for SME financing for MSMEs of other Saarc states.
- Agreement seeks for technology transfer and making available software to MFIs regarding loan tracking systems in other Saarc countries and capacity development of SDF/SIDBI and SME funding institutions.
Reliance Defense inks pact with 3 Ukrainian state firms
- Agreement pave the way for Reliance with Antonov and will jointly bid for the Medium Military Transport Aircraft program of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)
- Both companies will also jointly work on assembly and manufacture, and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) of Antonov series of aircraft.
People in News
former Motorola CEO Rick Osterloh to lead the Google’s new hardware division
- First time the search giant Google has unified all of its product lines under one division.
- New appointment as senior vice president comes after a two-year service of being the president of Motorala.
Charles Borromeo resigned from Tata Steel Sports Department
- Resignation comes after the vigilance department officials of the company questioned him in connection with alleged irregularities in tender process of synthetic track laying at the JRD Tata Sports complex.
- He bagged a gold medal of 800 m at the 1982 Asian Games in Delhi and also a part of Indian Olympic commission that took place at Los Angeles in 1984.
Ram kumar leaves ICICI; Vijay Chandok made ED
- Ramkumar will be replaced by Vijay Chandok who has been appointed as ED in the same lender.
- Ramkumar was in charge of the Operations Group of the bank and President of ICICI Foundation has taken voluntary retirement
- Chandok has been with ICICI bank in various roles in the corporate banking, project finance, retail assets and rural and inclusive banking.
Science and Technology
ePaisa spins its digital wallets business into a new mobile application
- Mobile POS solutions company ePaisa launched its digital wallets business into a new mobile application Master-Wallets.
- New app enables merchants to accept payments from any digital wallet without having to go through the hassle of opening an account with each and every wallet company.
China developed world’s first graphene electronic paper
- OED Technologies of China has developed the world’s first graphene electronic paper
- Graphene e-paper is more pliable and has more intensity and its high-light transmittance means optical displays will be much brighter.
- Graphene is derived from carbon, meaning production costs will be much lower than for traditional e-papers, which use the rare expensive metal indium.
Online app Adi Praman for tribal caste validity certificate in Maharashtra
- Application would make the entire process of securing caste validity certificate transparent, fast, and easy and would effectively curb the menace of bogus certificates.
- Application would help the government achieve the goal of inclusion as envisioned under the Digital India Program.
Mobile App namely ‘‘Indian Customs- Guide to Travellers’ launched
- App has been developed by Bengaluru Customs to inform international travelers who may, inter-alia, be traders/exporters/importers about Customs Baggage rules.
- User friendly and serves as a useful tool for quick and effective dissemination of information about to clarify doubts and concern of passengers.
Environment & Ecology
Endangered Asiatic wild dogs spotted in China nature reserve
- Endangered Asiatic wild dogs spotted in nature reserve in China’s Gansu province have spotted at least nine such dogs or dholes on camera.
- Rarely seen in the inland province. They were spotted by infrared cameras in Yanchiwan National Nature Reserve on Qinghai-Tibet plateau.
- Dholes live in central, south and Southeast Asia.
- Have come under International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) segregation of Red List of Threatened
Awards
Activist Tabassum Adnan wins 2016 Nelson Mandela Award
- Pakistani activist Tabassum Adnan, who fights for women’s rights
- Founder of NGO, Khwendo Jirga – the first women-only ‘Jirga’ in Pakistan
- Indira Nooyi, Satya Nadella, Bhavesh Patel among highest paid Chief Executive Officers in world
- Three Indian born persons are among 100 highest paid CEOs globally
- PepsiCo’s Indra Nooyi Lyondell Basell’s Bhavesh Patel and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella
Giant duck-billed dinosaur fossil in China sets world record
- Zhuchengosaurusmaximus skeleton measures 1 meters high and 16.6 meters long
- Average height and body length of hadrosaurs are four-five meters and six-nine meters.
- Zhucheng is one of the largest dinosaur bone concentrations in the world
- At least 10 dinosaur species have been found since 1960s.
Sports
Sudha Singh qualifies for Rio Olympics in 3000 m steeple chase event
- Sprinter Sudha Singh has booked berth for Rio Olympics by finishing second in the 3000m steeplechase event at the Federation Cup in New Delhi.
- Sudha finished with 9:31.86, 14 seconds ahead of the Rio standard (9:45.00).