Current affairs : April 4th, 2017 for all competitive exams
The Centre has
sought public opinion on proposed amendments to the Right to Information
Act, with respect to the powers of the Central Information Commission (CIC),
filing of applications, complaints and appeals.
- An amendment proposes that an applicant can file
complaints within 135 days of filing the application under the Act,
and in case of delay a request for condonation will also have to
be filed.
- There is another provision empowering the CIC to
convert a complaint into a second appeal.
HRD Ministry
releases India Rankings 2017
Union Human
Resource and Development Ministry has released the Indian rankings
2017 with the inclusion of two new categories: Common Overall Rank
and the General Degree.
- The India rankings 2017 were done under the
National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) that considered
more than 3,300 institutes across 20 parameters.
- According to the India Rankings 2017, the Indian
Institute of Technology(IIT) Madras tops the list in the Engineering
category while IISC, Bangalore sits at the top of the Common
Overall Rankings, followed by IIT Madras, IIT Bombay, IIT Kharagpur, IIT
Delhi, JNU, IIT Kanpur, IIT Guwahati, IIT Roorkee respectively.
Government sets up National Board for Electric
Mobility
The Centre has constituted National Board of
Electric Mobility (NBEM) to promote electric mobility and manufacturing of
electric (& hybrid) vehicles and their components.
- The Board will be chaired by the Shri Girish
Shankar, Secretary of the Department of Heavy Industry. The
NBEM will examine, formulate and propose short as well as long-term plans
and contours of the mission program on electric mobility and its
objectives.
No of
beneficiaries under Ujjwala Yojana crosses 2 cr mark
The number of
beneficiaries of PM Ujjwala Yojana for providing LPG connections to BPL
households has crossed 2 crore mark in less than a year.
- Under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, Rs.8,000 crore has been
earmarked for providing 50 million LPG (liquefied petroleum gas)
connections to poor households.
- Under the scheme, an adult woman member of a below poverty line family identified through the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) is given a deposit-free LPG connection with financial assistance of Rs 1,600 per connection by the Centre.
Centre clears
proposal to buy Barak missiles for Indian Navy
The government
has approved procurement of a fresh batch of Barak missiles for Naval warships
to enhance India’s maritime capability in view of the changing security
dynamics in the Indian Ocean region.
- The approval in this regard was given by
the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) of the Defence Ministry.
- Barak missiles are short range surface-to-air
missiles.
- The missiles will be procured under ‘Buy Global’
category from Rafael Advance Defense Systems Limited of Israel at an
approximate cost of around Rs 500 crore.
African
Development Bank to hold 52nd annual meet in Gujarat
India is
hosting 52nd annual meeting of the African Development
Bank in Ahmedabad.
- The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) is a multilateral development finance institution
established to contribute to the economic development and social
progress of African countries.
- The AfDB was founded in 1964 and comprises three
entities: The African Development Bank, the African Development Fund and
the Nigeria Trust Fund.
- The AfDB’s mission is to fight poverty and improve living conditions on the continent through promoting the investment of public and private capital in projects and programs that are likely to contribute to the economic and social development of the region.
Global
initiative launched to fight fake news
A global
alliance of tech industry and academic organisations has unveiled plans to work
together to combat the spread of “fake news” and improve public
understanding of journalism.
- The initiative’s mission is “to advance news
literacy, to increase trust in journalism around the world and to better
inform the public conversation.”
- The founding funders include Facebook and the
Craigslist founder Craig Newmark’s philanthropic fund along with the Ford
Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Tow
Foundation, AppNexus, Mozilla and Betaworks.
First bio-gas bus in Kolkata with flat Rs1 fare
Phoenix India Research and Development Group
launched the first bio-gas fuelled bus in Kolkata keeping a
flat fare of just Rs 1.
- The company has tied-up with Ashok Leyland to
manufacture the 54-seater bus at a cost of Rs 13 lakh approximately.
- The first bus will be flagged off on April 7, 2017 and will run between Ultadanga in the north and Garia in the south in Kolkata.
Malaysia agrees to set up technology park in Andhra
Pradesh
A Malaysian company MTN has agreed to
help set up a technology park in Andhra Pradesh that’s expected to
attract private sector investment of $100 million in the first phase.
- The Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board and MIGHT
(Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology) Technology
Nurturing Sdn. Bhd (MTN) have signed a memorandum of understanding to
collaborate on building the park, which will cover 250 acres and focus on
new technologies.
India, Malaysia tie up for skilling,
entrepreneurship development
The Entrepreneurship Development Institute of
India (EDII) has tied up with Pembangunan Sumber Manusia
Berhad (PSMB), an arm of Human Resource Development Fund under
Ministry of HRD, Malaysia.
- The tie-up was done for skill development and providing
assistance to the South-East Asian country in its target of ensuring 35
per cent skilled Malaysian workforce by 2020.
WhatsApp mulls foray into digital payments with
India launch
WhatsApp move into digital payments in India, its biggest market that is home to 200 million of its billion plus global users, would replicate similar moves by messaging apps like Tencent Holdings Ltd's WeChat in China.
WhatsApp move into digital payments in India, its biggest market that is home to 200 million of its billion plus global users, would replicate similar moves by messaging apps like Tencent Holdings Ltd's WeChat in China.
- WhatsApp is working to launch person-to-person payments in India in the next six months.
SBI cuts lending rates by 0.15%
Ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's monetary
policy this week, the country's largest bank, State Bank of India has
reduced its benchmark lending rate by 0.15%.
- Base rate or the minimum lending rate of the bank has
been reduced from 9.25% to 9.1%.
- The cut in SBI's base rate was effective from
1st April 2017.
Ola integrates with UPI to simplify payment options
Cab aggregator Ola has integrated with
Unified Payment Interface (UPI) to simplify digital payment options
for its customers.
- This integration will allow Ola customers to use their
unique UPI IDs to pay for all their rides on the Ola platform.
- While making payments for the Ola rides, a customer
will now have an option called ‘Pay by UPI’ along with cash,
debit/credit card and Ola Money wallet option.
FIFA bans former Guatemala FA president Brayan
Jimenez for life
FIFA (International Federation of
Association Football) banned Guatemala's former football chief Brayan
Jimenez for life over corruption, bribery and other offences.
- Jimenez was banned for life from all football-related
activities at national and international level.
India ranks 3rd for third year in a row in WADA
doping charts
India has been ranked third for
the third year in a row in a doping violation report published by World
Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for 2015 with 117 athletes from the country
being punished after testing positive for banned substances.
- India followed Russian Federation (176
athletes) and Italy (129 athletes) at the third spot
in the doping violation chart released by the WADA.
Lenin Moreno to sworn in as the Ecuador President
Ruling Party of Ecuador, Alianza PAIS candidate
Lenin Moreno won the Ecuador’s presidential election to sworn in as the Ecuador
- He defeated conservative former banker Guillermo Lasso who demands a recount after three exit polls.
Noted scriptwriter Ajey Jhankar no more
Ajey Jhankar, the noted author and filmmaker
passed away.
- He served as a Director of MM Activ Sci-Tech
Communications Pvt. Ltd from January 2000.
- He was the writer of Marathi novel 'Sarkarnama'.
Renowned Hindustani classical vocalist Kishori
Amonkar passes away
Renowned Hindustani classical
vocalist Kishori Amonkar passes away. She was 84.
- She was from Jaipur Gharana and received the Padma Bhushan in 1987 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2002.
