General - Current Affairs for April, 2016

The HRD minister on 28th April said IITs have been requested to offer Sanskrit as an elective subject or as a language course for students who wish to study it.

• Committee headed by former CEC N Gopalaswami, had suggested that IITs may facilitate study of science and technology as reflected in Sanskrit literature, along with inter-disciplinary study of Sanskrit and modern subjects.

A Naval Detachment was inaugurated on 26th April 2016 at the Androth Islands of Lakshadweep by Vice Admiral Luthra, the Commanding in Chief Flag Officer of the Southern Naval Command. This detachment will extend naval presence and provide communication network connectivity with the mainland. It will permit Sea Lanes of Communication monitoring.

Shyam Benegal Committee constituted to revamp CBFC on 26th April 2016 submitted to the report to information and broadcasting ministry

• It recommended that CBFC should be film certification body whose scope will be restricted for categorisation for the suitability of the film to audience groups on basis of age and maturity
• The guidelines seek to protect children from unsuitable content and empower parents to make informed viewing decisions

The Heart of Asia conference commenced on 26th April 2016 in New Delhi. Conference was headed by 14 nations. Earlier, Pakistan had hosted the fifth Heart of Asia Ministerial Conference on 9th December 2015 in Islamabad.

• Heart of Asia conference is part of the Istanbul process. The Istanbul Process was established on 2nd November 2011 for providing a platform to discuss regional issues especially security, political and economic cooperation
• The HoA ministerial conferences were held in the following cities:
i. First: Istanbul (2011)
ii. Second: Kabul (2012)
iii. Third: Almaty (2013)
iv. Fourth: Beijing (2014)
v. Fifth: December (2015)
• Close to 14 participating countries in the HoA process include India

Shri J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare announced India’s first public-private-partnership (PPP) agreement for research and innovation in preventive health between ICMR and Sun Pharma, on April 25th.

• malaria eradication is the goal of this partnership

Indian Missile Corvette, INS Karmuk along with a Dornier Maritime Patrol Aircraft participated in the 22nd Indo-Thai Coordinated Patrol (CORPAT) on 25th April 2016 in the Andaman Sea.

• India’s indigenously built Missile Corvette is based at the Andaman and Nicobar Command.
• The 22nd edition of CORPAT would boost the already strong bilateral relationship between the two nations and contribute significantly to enhancing maritime security in the region.

The initiative Operation Sulaimani in Kozhikode district will ensure food for the needy in its jurisdiction.

• It was initiated by the Kozhikode district collector N Prasanth with an objective to avoid food wastage in the district.
• The project is named after Sulaimani as the Kozhikode is famous for food and ‘Sulaimani’ is one of such iconic items of the district.

Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has been named Indian Contingent’s goodwill ambassador for the 2016 Rio

• This is the first time that a Bollywood superstar will be a goodwill ambassador for the national squad for as big an event like the Summer Olympics.
• The association between Salman Khan and the Indian Olympic Association was aided by IOA’s official marketing agency IOS Sports & Entertainment.
• The Edelweiss Group, India’s leading Diversified Financial Services Conglomerate, will be Indian Olympic Association’s principal partner for this Olympics

In the largest telecom fraud case, China arrested 62 people including 10 Taiwanese said to have defrauded a construction firm of over USD 17 million.

• The scam occurred in Duyun City in Guizhou Province and it commenced with loss of money from the bank account which was reported to the police.

NASSCOM held the sixth edition of the Global In House Centre Conclave in Hyderabad this year with the focus on “Transforming the Global Enterprise” and sharing perspectives on the role GIC will be expected to play towards transforming enterprises

• Global in house centres have become an essential component of the fast growing India IT-BPM sector and contributed 20% share in IT-BPM exports from the country
• Number of GICs operating have exceeded beyond 1050 in 2016 and contributed USD 2 billion of revenue in 2016 occupying a workforce of INR 7.90 lakh.
• India is the leading destination for GICs which operate across all service lines

Tata Trusts has signed a pact with Odisha government for eliminating Malaria from the state by the year 2030. According to the MoU, Tata Trust will be taking mass screenings twice in a year in 557 villages in 5 selected blocks

• Government has committed to eliminate malaria from India by 2030
• The vision of this partnership is to reduce malaria deaths by 50 percent in 5 years and incidence by 40 percent.
• Malaria is caused by parasites transmitted to people through mosquitoes
• Close to half of the world’s population is at risk for malaria.

It aims at easing customs procedure to increase commerce. Commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitaraman indicated the move was part of ongoing reforms in India

• India is the 76th WTO member to accept the TFA
• The TFA will enter into force once two thirds of the WTO 162 members were formally accepting the agreement
• Agreement aims at expediting the movement and clearance of goods including goods in transit.
• Implementation of the TFA has the potential to increase international merchandise exports by close to USD 1 trillion per year according to a WTO report.

A sub committee has been set up under Dr. Ashok Lahiri to interact with trade and industry on the imposition of central excise duty on jewellery. Other members of the committee include:
1. Shri Gautam Ray
2. Shri Rohan Shah, Legal Expert
3. Shri Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce
4. Shri Alok Shukla, Joint Secretary, Tax Research Unit, CBEC

The Petrol and Natural Gas ministry marked the achievement of one crore consumers joining the GiveItUp movement started at the Urja Sangam conclave. Via the GiveItUp initiative, government of India has urged well off customers to surrender their subsidy and help poor families having no LPG connection through subsidy savings.

• More than 60 lakh connections have been given to the BPL families as part of this initiative.

India has witnessed a rise of 156% in social media scams with every 6th scam impacting an Indian, according to security software firm Symantec. The Symantec Internet Security Threat Report has found India to be the most targeted country in Asia and the second in the world.

• Scamming using social media or social engineering is going on at a massive rate in India, with India ranking second in the Asia Pacific- Japan region as a source of malicious activity.
• India was once considered the spam capital of the world and now ranks 18th as a source of spam.
• It continues to rank as the third top source of malicious activity including spam, malware, bots and hosts for phishing.

Well known environmentalist R K Pachauri, accused of sexual harassment by his former women colleagues in the recent past, has stepped down as a member of the governing council of Teri "to get engaged in other interests”. Pachauri maintained that his term as a member of The Energy and Resources Institute's (Teri) governing council ended on March 31, 2016 and he felt it was time "for me to move away and get engaged in other interests which I have harboured over the past few years for activities at the global level”. TERI governing council did not confirm this.

RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, tennis star Sania Mirza, actress Priyanka Chopra, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and founders of Flipkart Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal have been named by Time magazine in its list of the '100 Most Influential People in the World’.

The world’s oldest-serving royal, the longest-serving British royal, and now the longest lived British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II turned 90 on April 21, receiving the greetings of thousands of British citizens as well as wishes from all over the world.

Norwegian authorities have violated the human rights of mass killer Anders Behring Breivik by holding him in solitary confinement in a three-cell complex where he can play video games, watch TV and exercise, a court in Oslo ruled on 21st April, 2016.

• Oslo district court said the isolation that Breivik faces in prison for killing 77 people in a bomb-and-gun massacre in 2011 is in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The 2016 World Press Freedom Index was released on 20 April 2016 by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

• Finland retained its top position for the sixth consecutive year, followed by the Netherlands and Norway
• The Index ranks 180 countries according to the freedom allowed journalists. It also includes indicators of the level of media freedom violations in each region.
• Europe with 19.8 points still has the freest media, followed distantly by Africa with 36.9, which for the first time overtook the America’s 37.1, a region where violence against journalists is on the rise.
• Asia with 43.8 and Eastern Europe/Central Asia with 48.4, while North Africa/Middle East with 50.8 is still the region where journalists are most subjected to constraints of every kind.

Residents of Delhi now have a choice and can themselves restrict use of plastic bags by using eco-friendly, biodegradable and low-cost jute bags.

• Mother Dairy, National Jute Board (NJB) and Birds Jute & Exports Ltd. (BJEL) have joined hands in this green venture, to provide attractive, low cost jute bags at the thousand-odd booths of Mother Dairy/Safal in Delhi – NCR.
• The venture is promoted by NJB, bags are manufactured by BJEL and supplied to Mother Dairy for distribution at its booths.
• The scheme was launched by the Ministry of Textiles in April 2016

Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Smt Maneka Gandhi inaugurated the regional conference of NE states on Child Adoption in Shillong, Meghalaya.

• Conference was organised by the Central Adoption Resource Authority of the WCD Ministry.
• This regional conference covers the following states: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.
• Reforms have also led to the enactment of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015

National Mission for Clean Ganga under the Ministry of Water Resources,,River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IITK) announced the formal launch of Centre for Ganga River Basin Management and Studies (CGRBMS) in New Delhi on 17th April.

• The Ministry signed a 10 year Memorandum of Agreement with IITK for provision of continual scientific support in the implementation and dynamic evolution of the Ganga River Basin Management Plan.
• Government has decided to implement Sewage Treatment Plants (STP’s) using a specific Public Private Partnership (PPP) framework called hybrid annuity model.

Telangana government has signed an MoU with China based KDX and Dubai based Aeries EPICA Electronics to manufacture glass free 3-D screens, televisions, mobiles and electronic home appliances within the state. Teams from the companies met and explained about the JV to the state government.

For the first time in the history of the Indian Air Force, IAF has renamed its Panagarh airbase in Burdwan after its Marshal Arjan Singh, the first and also the only highest ranking living officer of the IAF till date, on his 97th birthday to honour his lifelong services.

• Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (Eastern Air Command) Air Marshal C. Hari Kumar unveiled the new name — Air Force Station Arjan Singh — at the entrance of the airbase, set to be the C-130J Super Hercules aircraft’s second hub after the Hindan airbase.
• He is the first Indian Air Chief to get the rank of Marshall as well.

European Parliament has approved a joint system for police as well as justice officials to access airline passenger data on flights to EU and from it.

• This measure was passed by 461 for and 179 against
• The creation of the new system will enable security agencies to systematically store the data of airline passengers travelling to, from and within the EU.
• The creation of a European passenger name records (PNR) system gained momentum following 2015 Paris terrorist attacks.
• The March 22 attacks in Brussels added further urgency.

University Grants Commission (UGC) on 14th April decided to relax criteria for women and disabled candidates pursuing MPhil and PhD degrees.

• Women and those with more than 40% disability will now get a year extra to complete their MPhil papers and two years more to submit PhD theses.
• All women candidates will also be provided maternity leave and child care leave for up to 240 days once while they pursue these two degrees.

CM Naveen Patnaik launched the Odisha Adarsh Vidyalaya project at Sasan Mazagaon village in Hinjli, Ganjam district. Aim of this project is to provide modern schools on the lines of KVs in rural underdeveloped parts of the state. Adarsh Vidyalayas are expected to have hostel facility and affiliation with CBSE, along with English as the first language and Odia as a second language in the medium of teaching.

• Schools will have teacher pupil ration of 1:25 and classroom student ratio of 1:40.
• Close to 50 percent of the seats would be reserved for scheduled categories and girls

Union Ministry of HRD Smriti Irani has launched a portal for registration and allotment of the International Standard Book Number created in a short period of time to facilitate publishers and authors to register for ISBN online.

• ISBN has been used to provide identity to monographic publicans and it is displayed in barcode format
• It is a 13 character identification allowed by ISBN agency in the UK
• India India, ISBN registration has been carried out by Raja Ram Mohan Roy National Agency.

The Haryana State University of Horticultural Sciences at Karnal, Haryana was set up to cater to the needs of teaching, research and extension activities in the state, and there will be establishment of the synergy to disseminate the latest technology and horticulture education to the younger generation

• University will also act as a skill development centre to meet the need for trained manpower.

Union Minister of HRD Smriti Irani has unveiled a bronze bust of the ancient Indian mathematical astronomer Aryabhatta at the UNESCO HQ in Paris. He attended the high level segment of the International Conference on Zero at the UNESCO HQ. The Minister also held a meeting with the DG of UNESCO, Irina Bokova to discuss Indian’s cooperation in this respect.

• Conference of Zero was organised in memory of great mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan in honour of whom National mathematics Day (22nd December) was celebrated at the UNESCO Paris HQ.

In a massive literary find, a copy of William Shakespeare’s First Folio, one of the most sought after books containing 36 of his plays published 7 years after his death has been discovered on the remote Scottish island. Academics have called this book a rare find.

• Discovery comes ahead of the 400th death anniversary of the playwright on April 23
• Close to 230 copies of the First Folio are known to exist
• The folio was believed to have been bought by the third Marquess of Bute, an antiquarian and collector, who died in 1900.
• Shakespeare’s work comprises 37 plays, 154 sonnets and 2 long narrative poems

The announcement has been made that standardisation of vocational education is crucial in bringing about a level in the efficiency of the skilled workforce. Ministry of Skill Development chosen UK standards to benchmark Indian Skills standards since all the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries recognise UK skill certification.

• 2 MoUs were signed between NSDC and Association of Colleges (UK) and NSDC and UK Awarding Organisation City & Guilds and Pearsons Education.
• These MoUs were signed to enable sharing of best practice, staff exchange and development of new models to increase employer engagement and investment in skills.
• The Transnational Standards will highlight the gaps in Indian Standards against the UK standards.
• Further the UK Awarding organisation, City & Guilds and Pearsons, in association with Indian SSCs will certify the trainees on the gap.

2 Vietnamese women have contracted Zika virus linked to rare birth defect microcephaly

• This marks the first case of Zika infections in the nation
• Zika is carried by mosquitoes, which transmit the virus to humans.
• Zika has not been proven to cause microcephaly in babies, but there is growing evidence that suggests a link with this condition associated with small heads that can result in developmental problems.
• Brazil said it has confirmed more than 860 cases of microcephaly, and considers most of them to be related to Zika infections in the mothers.

India’s first semi high speed train has been christened as Gatimaan express. It is capable of running at maximum speeds of 160 KMPH introduced on the Indian Railway system from April 5th 2016. The launch of the train heralds a new era of high speed rail travel in India.

Unique Identification Authority of India has generated 100th crore Aadhaar registration on April 4, 2016. This marks the first such landmark.

• Recently a historic legislation Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits, and Services) Act 2016 has been notified by the Government.
• Aadhaar now covers 93% of the people above 18 years of age

• More than 100 crore people have Aadhaar
• 3.96 Crores (93%) of adults in India have Aadhaar
• 22.25 Crore (67%) Children of age 5-18 Years have Aadhaar
• 2.30 Crore (20%) Children of Age 0- <5 years have Aadhaar
• Every day more than 5-7 lakhs people get enrolled for Aadhaar.
• Aadhaar is now the largest online digital identity platform in the world.

Minister of State Independent Charge for Development of North Eastern Region, Dr. Jitendra Singh inaugurated a 3 day global conference and exhibition on space under the aegis of Asia Pacific Remote Sensing Symposium. He also lauded participation of Space Scientists from France, Japan and China. The symposium has been organised by Ministry of Earth Sciences and SPIE as well as ISRO.

• The symposium is being hosted by Indian Society of Remote Sensing
• Around 100 global participants and 300 domestic participants have taken part in the initiative.

Tslc Pte Ltd, a financial tech company has announced the launch of mobile only lending platform CASHe providing users personalised experience to borrow cash.

• The financial platform was launched by Arjun Kapoor
• Others present at the event included Dr. Rakesh Mohan and Suhel Seth.
• CASHe uses up to date proprietary technology mining the social network of the borrower to arrive at a Social Loan Quotient and loan eligibility amount.

Shri Trimbakeshwar Devasthan has passed a resolution on April 3 barring all persons from entering the sanctum till the next decision. Only priests will be allowed to enter the inner sanctum at this Nashik temple. On account of the geographical positioning of the temple, steps leading to the inner sanctum are not fine and therefore devotees will not be allowed to enter, a trustee said.

An encyclopaedia of mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan is being launched by Springer. The encyclopaedia of 1000 pages in two volumes will contain all that is important about the mathematician’s life.

4th edition of India Water Week will be observed from 4 to 8th April 2016. Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation has announced the theme this year will be “Water for All: Striving Together.” Events will take place in New Delhi and the partner country for the event is Israel.

New income tax return forms notified recently for 2016-2017 will be easily checked and annual tax liability on a computer based calculator.

Tax calculator is an online computer based programme hosted on the official website of the department. It is meant to assist taxpayers on computer based calculator hosted by the IT department. It is meant to help taxpayers/filers assess tax liability.

• Facility can be used by any taxpayer regardless of whether they are individual, corporate or any other entity to compute tax liability
• The calculator has been hosted on the website of the department — www.incometaxindia.gov.in

In a massive step towards improvement of infrastructure for cancer cure, Maharashtra has tied up with TATA Trusts to link government and medical colleges to the national cancer grid for profiling and treatment of the disease. The MoU was signed between CM Devendra Fadnavis and TATA Trust chairman Ratan Tata.

• Maharashtra is the first state in the country to join the initiative
• Target was to have 50,000 bone marrow donors within the next 3 years.
• Another MoU was signed to upgrade language skills in the state

Indian IP Panorama released by Government of India seeks to increase awareness and build sensitivity through IP among stakeholders in the SME sector as well as researchers and academia. It can be accessed here-http://ict-ipr.in/index.php/ip-panorama

• This is a customised version of IP Panorama Multimedia toolkit developed by WIPO in conjunction with Korean Intellectual Property Office and Korea Invention Promotion Association.
• Toolkit is for catering to SMEs and startups in the ICTE sector of the country
• The following five modules of the Indian IP Panorama have been released:

Bharat Dynamics Limited has developed and test fired an advanced Wireless Anti Tank Missile with RF Guidance at Babina ranges. RF system with EW protection is used for sending guidance command to the missile.

• System has been remotely launched and piloted from a safe distance equaling the advantages of expensive third generation ATGMs.
• This is the second missile developed by BDL which was indigenously test fired.
• BDL had earlier test fired indigenously developed ATGM Amogha-1
• The above missile has a range of 2.8 km.