Daily Current Affairs for 2nd & 3rd April ( English )
1. Hyderabad became first
‘Giga-enabled’ city in India after The Atria Convergence Technologies (ACT)
Fibrenet launched 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps) wired broadband internet service
in the city. The ACT Fibrenet uses fiber optic technology and its 1 Gbps offers
400 times faster internet speed than the average speed of 2.5 megabits per
second (mbps) in India. Hyderabad, city of pearls has highest internet
penetration in India.
2. Justice Pradeep Nandrajog was sworn in
as Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court. He was administered oath of
Office today by Governor Kalyan Singh at Raj Bhawan in Jaipur. Prior to this
appointment, Justice Nandrajog was the Delhi High Court judge.
3. Mizoram became 27th state to
join Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme meant for revival of
debt-stressed discoms. In this regard, Union Government and Mizoram Government
signed a MOU for improving operational efficiency of the Power Distribution
department of the State. The scheme would also allow speedy availability of
cheaper power to more than 22 thousand households in the state that are still
without electricity. The availability of 24X7 power to households will boost
the economy, provide more employment opportunities and improve the standard of
living of the people of Mizoram.
4. Vanaja N. Sarna was appointed
the new chairman of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC). She
succeeded Najib Shah. She is 1980 batch officer of Indian Revenue Service
(IRS). 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 aegis of the Department of
Revenue of Union Ministry of Finance.
5. Sunaina Singh was appointed
the new vice chancellor of Nalanda University (NU). Currently, she is
vice chancellor of the English and Foreign Language University (EFLU),
Hyderabad. Nalanda University revived version of ancient Nalanda University
located at Rajgir in Nalanda District in Bihar. It is a non-state, non-profit,
secular and self-governing international institution functioning under Ministry
of External Affairs. Its idea was mooted by former President APJ Abdul Kalam in
2006. It was established through Nalanda University Act, 2010. Dr.Vijay Bhatka,
father of India’s first supercomputer and acclaimed scientist, is the
Chancellor of the university.
6. 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. Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen had won men’s
singles title of the tournament after defeating Chinese Taipei’s Tien Chen Chou
by 21-13, 21-10 score.
7. James Rosenquist, a leading
pioneer of Pop Art passed away in New York. He was 83. He was known for
appropriating industrial painting methods to cultivate his bold, graphic style.
He had transitioned from a commercial sign-painter to a fine artist. Pop art is
an art movement that emerged in 1950s in the United States and Britain. In it, material
is visually removed from its known context, isolated, and combined with
unrelated material. It had presented a challenge to traditions of fine art by
including imagery from popular culture such as advertising and news.
8. American singer and song writer Bob Dylan has finally accepted 2016 Nobel Prize for literature
since December 2016 awards ceremony. He is the first song writer to win this
prestigious award. He was awarded for creating new poetic expressions within
the great American song tradition. He is first American to win the prize since
novelist Toni Morrison in 1993.
9. 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 was 65. 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).
10. The World autism Awareness Day is
observed every year on 2 April across the world to raise awareness about
autism and problems faced by people suffering from it. The theme for year
2017 is ‘Toward Autonomy and Self-Determination’. In India, the National
Trust, a statutory body under Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, had
organised a National Conference on Autism in New Delhi. The day was designated
by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) by passing resolution “62/139 in
2007. It is also one of only four official health-specific UN Days.
11. 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.
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12. Prime Minister Narendra Modi
inaugurated Chenani-Nashri Tunnel, country’s longest road tunnel that
links Kashmir Valley with Jammu by an all-weather route. The 9-km-long tunnel
passes through the lower Himalayan mountain range on Jammu-Srinagar National
Highway 44. It cuts the distance between Jammu and Srinagar to around 250 km from
the current 350 km. The 9-km long ‘Chenani-Nashri Tunnel has been built at an
altitude of 1,200 meters. It is also Asia’s longest bi-directional highway
tunnel. It has been built at the cost of Rs. 2,500 crore.
13. 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 Finance
Ministers’ meeting held in New Delhi and chaired by Union Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley.
14. The Union Ministry of Textiles has launched PowerTex
India, a three-year comprehensive scheme for Powerloom Sector
Development. The PowerTex India scheme aims to boost common infrastructure
and modernisation of the powerloom sector in the country. The two new
schemes are Pradhan Mantri Credit Scheme (PMCS) for powerloom weavers
and solar energy scheme (SEC) for powerlooms. PMCS for powerlooms:
Under it, financial assistance, including margin money subsidy and interest
reimbursement, will be given as against the credit facility under Pradhan
Mantri Mudra Yojana to the decentralised power loom units. SEC for
powerlooms: Under it, financial subsidy for the installation of the Solar
Photo Voltaic Plants will be provided to alleviate the problems of power cuts.
Government will provide subsidy of 50% to power loom units having maximum eight
looms for adopting solar energy for captive use either in grid or off grid
system. Other components of the scheme: In-situ Upgradation of Plain
Powerlooms; Group Workshed Scheme (GWS); Yarn Bank Scheme; Common Facility
Centre (CFC); Facilitation, IT, Awareness, Market Development and Publicity for
Powerloom Schemes, Tex Venture Capital Fund and Grant-in-Aid and Modernisation
& Upgradation of Powerloom Service Centres (PSCs).
15. Five associates and the Bharatiya Mahila Bank have officially merged with country’s largest lender State Bank
of India (SBI). With this merger, SBI joins the league of top 50 banks globally
in terms of assets. The five associate banks are: State Bank of Bikaner and
Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala
and State Bank of Travancore.
16. A team of scientists from Raman
Research Institute, Bengaluru and University of Delhi for the first time
have seen indications of a massive planet orbiting a low mass X-ray binary
star system. The system MXB 1658-298 is an X-ray binary and a part of the
constellation Ophiuchus (serpent bearer). It is nearly 30,000 light years away
and the planet is expected to be nearly 8,000 times as massive as the
earth.
17. The Union Cabinet approved
signing of an agreement between the Union Ministry of Rural Development and
Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP)
for establishment of CIRDAP Centre at National Institute of Rural Development
and Panchayati Raj (NIRD&PR), Hyderabad. CIRDAP Centre will give
NIRD&PR advantage to have first-hand knowledge of networking with
organizations specialized in rural development programmes and to build a
repository of institutional knowledge for NIRD&PR. This Centre will also help
NIRD&PR to enhance its status in the region through linkages with other
ministries and institutes in the CIRDAP Member Countries (CMCs). It will also
work on the implementation of integrated rural development, particularly
poverty alleviation programmes within CMC member countries.
18. Dawit
Isaak, an imprisoned Eritrean-Swedish journalist was awarded
the 2017 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. He will be
bestowed with this prestigious award in recognition of his courage, resistance
and commitment to freedom of expression. He will be awarded on World Press
Freedom Day (3 May 2017).
Announcement !
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