Daily Current Affairs for 3rd April 2018 ( English)
Important days:
1. The Small Industries
Development Bank of India (SIDBI) celebrated its foundation day this year on
April 2, 2018. The day was celebrated as day
of Sampark (connect), Sanwad (interaction), Suraksha (security) and Sampreshan
(disseminate). Several initiatives were launched on this occasion. They are MSME
contact programme; Samridhhi, a virtual assistant; revamped SIDBI website
(www.sidbi.in) and Bankability Kit.
National:
1.
As per the MoU entered between Konkan Railway & Container
Corporation of India Ltd (CONCOR), the Multi
Modal Logistics Park at Balli Station near Madgaon in Goa was recently
inaugurated which is located on Konkan Railway route. It will benefit trade and industry from economic transport
solutions and state of art facilities.
2. Ministry of Tourism in
close collaboration with Ministry of Culture and Archaeological Survey of India
(ASI) had launched Adopt a Heritage Project. Under
it, selected public sector companies, private sector companies and individuals
will develop tourist amenities at heritage sites. They will be called as
‘Monument Mitra’ and adopt the sites essentially under their Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) activity.
3. Mangalore International
Airport has been named the cleanest airport in India. Mangalore
Airport director V V Rao received the award at the 23rd annual day function of
the Airports Authority of India (AAI) in New Delhi on 1st April 2018. AAI
conducted a survey in 53 Indian airports. Mangaluru airport was selected as the
cleanest airport in India.AAI officials had inspected the airport
terminal, parking area, toilets, commercial stalls, road leading to the airport
and customer lounge Cleanliness management at the Mangaluru airport is handled
by Durga Facility Management Services Private Limited.
International:
1.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 10 lakh
each to the next of the kin of 39 Indians who were killed in Iraq on April 3,
2018. 39 of the 40 Indian labourers
were killed by Islamic State terrorists in Iraq, while one of them
managed to escape.Mortal remains of 38 of these 39 Indians were brought
back to India on April 2, 2018 in a special aircraft and handed over to their
relatives. 27 hailed from Punjab, 6 from Bihar, 4 from
Himachal Pradesh and 2 from West Bengal.
2.
Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharama is on an official visit
to Russia from 3rd – 5th April, 2018. This
will be Nirmala Sitharaman’s first visit to Russia in her capacity as India’s
Defence Minister.Main purpose of this visit is to attend the seventh Moscow Conference on
International Security. This visit will reinforce India-Russia
bilateral relation with particular reference to military technical cooperation.
Science and Technology/Defence:
1. A new grass-like plant
species named Fimbristylis agasthyamalaensis in Ponmudi hills within the
Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve in the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot was
discovered by the researchers. The new
species of plant belongs to the Cyperaceae family. Its flowering and fruiting
were observed from October to March. In India, Cyperaceae genus is represented
by 122 species, of which 87 are reported from the Western Ghats. Many of the known
Cyperaceae species are medicinal plants or used as fodder.
2. Rare dinosaur footprints that are 170 million years old have
been discovered in the north-east coast of Isle of Skye in Scotland. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh were involved in
this discovery. The study
has been published in the Scottish Journal of Geology.Majority of the
footprints were made by sauropods
and theropods. The sauropods were long-necked and two metres tall. The
theropods were also of the same size.
Economy:
1. The subscriber base of
Atal Pension Yojana (APY) stood at 97.05 lakh at end of 2017-18 fiscal. It was
lower than target of 1 crore set by pension regulator PFRDA according to
Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). APY was launched in June 2015 with aim to provide affordable
universal access to essential social security protection to unorganized work
force of country, which makes major chunk of labour force (88%). It had
replaced earlier government-backed pension Swavalamban scheme targeted at the
unorganised sector.
2. India was ranked 37th out
of 125 countries in global startup ecosystem in 2017 according to report
released by global startup ecosystem map Startupblink. Top 5 Countries in Global startup ecosystem in 2017 are United
States (1st), United Kingdom (2nd), Canada (3rd), Israel (4th) and Germany
(5th).
3.
A 10% duty on imports of key smartphone components such as
populated printed circuit boards (PCBs), camera modules and connectors has been
imposed by the Central Bureau of Excise and Customs (CBEC) under Finance
Ministry. At present there is zero import duty imposed
on the three components. This move will make imports of components expensive
while giving stimulus to local manufacturing under Make in India program.
Appointments/Resignations:
1. Subrata Bhattacharjee was appointed as the next
Ambassador of India to the Republic of Serbia.
2. Debjani Ghosh took charge as the President
of NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Services Companies).
3. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced that
Aashish Kapoor has replaced Venkatesh Prasad in the three-member All-India
Junior Selection Committee. Aashish Kapoor is a
former off-spinner in the Indian cricket team.Other two members of the
All-India Junior Selection Committee are Gyanendra Pandey and Rakesh Parikh.
Awards:
1. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was honoured with the Padma Bhushan Award
by President Ram Nath Kovind at an event in Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi on 2nd April
2018. Former Indian Cricket captain, Mahendra
Singh Dhoni holds the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel of Indian Army. He
received the Padma Bhushan Award in his army uniform.Billiards player
Pankaj Advani also received the Padma Bhushan award for his extra ordinary
achievements.
Sports:
1. 2018 Miami Open, also known as 2018 Miami Masters, a professional
men and women’s tennis tournament, took place in Miami,
Florida, United States, from March 19, 2018 to April 1, 2018. 2018
Miami Open was presented by Itaú (a Brazilian Bank). It was the 34th
edition of the Miami Open and was played on outdoor hard courts.
2.
Indian Table Tennis player Sathiyan
Gnansekaran has reached his
career-best ranking of 46 in the latest International Table Tennis
Federation (ITTF) rankings. Gnansekaran performance has been on an
upward trajectory since past six months as he won gold in the
ITTF Challenge – Spanish Open in November 2017 and reached the
pre-quarterfinals of the Qatar Open in March 2018. Veteran Table
Tennis player Achanta Sharath Kamal has registered a phenomenal jump of 22
places to be at 48 in the latest ITTF Ranking.Soumyajit
Ghosh (70), Harmeet Desai(74), Anthony Amalraj (83) and Sanil
Shetty (84) are the other Indian Table Tennis players in top 100. Among
Indian Woman Table Tennis Players, Manika Batra continues to rank highest
at 58, followed by Mouma Das at 88.
Announcement !
கருத்துரையிடுக
கருத்துரையிடுக