Daily Current affairs - April 26th, 2017 for all competitive exams
Every April 26, World Intellectual Property
Day is celebrated to learn about the role that intellectual property
rights (patents, trademarks, industrial designs, copyright) play in encouraging
innovation and creativity.
- WIP Day is organized by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It is a self-funding agency of the United Nations, with 189 member states.
Three
Year Action Agenda in place of 5-year plans
Breaking away
from the five-year planning process, NITI Aayog has readied a draft three-year
action agenda and circulated it to the States for comments. The draft has been
prepared through extensive consultation with State governments.
- The
action agenda will span a three-year time frame involving mostly executive
decisions, the strategy will be for a seven-year period and include
decisions that need legislative changes while the vision would be for 15
years and incorporate institutional changes that may need Constitutional
amendments.
- The
agenda includes proposals for shifting additional revenues to high
priority sectors, doubling farmers’ income by 2022, creating jobs,
bringing down land prices and expanding tax base through measures such as
taxing agricultural income.
Online
Statement Of Transaction (e-SOT) and the e-PRAN card launched for Atal Pension
Yojana (APY)
With a view to
digitally empower the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) subscribers and improve the
quality of service, the facility of online viewing of the statement of
transaction(e-SOT) and also the e-PRAN card have been launched. More than 45
lakhs APY subscribers are likely to be benefited.
- The
Atal Pension Yojana (APY) was launched in May, 2015. APY is available for
all citizens of India in the age group of 18-40 years.
- Under the APY, the subscribers would receive a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs. 1000 to Rs. 5000 per month from the age of 60 years, depending on their contributions, which depends on the age of the subscriber at the time of joining the APY.
IPR
Awareness Campaign for Schools
The Cell for
IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM)in collaboration with the International
Trademark Association (INTA) has kicked off the IPR Awareness campaign for
schools across the country.
- The
new policy seeks to encourage innovation and improve access to healthcare,
food security and environmental protection.
- The
Policy will allow compulsory licensing with restrictions in case of a
public health emergency such as epidemics and it is compliant with the
World Trade Organization’s guidelines.
- The
policy seeks to put in place a legal framework that will encourage the IPR
regime and reduce the time taken by the government to approve a trademark
to a month by 2017. Currently, the process takes more than a year.
Joint
doctrine of army, navy, IAF unveiled
With aim to
match the pace of fast changing nature of war, the ministry of defence has
released the Joint Doctrine of Armed Forces stressing on the need for synergy
amongst the three Services namely Army, IAF and Navy and hone strategy for
inter-operability to achieve the political and military objectives in an
effective manner.
- This
doctrine is the second in the series after its first version was released
in 2007. It included the lessons learnt over the past ten years and is
aligned with the doctrines of individual Services.
- The
Joint Doctrine will serve as a cornerstone document for application of
Military Power in a synergized manner and also establish a broad framework
of concepts and principles to understand approach to joint planning and
conduct of operations across all the domains of conflict.
Judgment
turns focus on removal of police top brass
The Supreme
Court’s recent judgment reinstating T.P. Senkumar as Director-General of Police
in Kerala has brought the spotlight back on the issue of executive privilege in
appointing and removing top officials.
- This
verdict draws from a September 2006 judgment in what is known as the
Prakash Singh case where the Supreme Court said a DGP should have a
two-year tenure and can be removed only in consultation with the State
Security Commission under certain conditions.
Northeast
India’s largest IT hub opens in Tripura:
Northeast
India’s sixth and largest Information Technology (IT) hub was recently
inaugurated in Tripura to boost employment and e-governance besides to export
software technology.
- This
IT hub would help to create employment opportunities for the IT educated
youths and to further extend the e-governance to the door step of people.
India
is now 5th largest military spender:
The report
titled ‘Trends in world Military expenditure, 2016, which ranks countries based
on their military spending was recently released. The report was released by
Swedish think-tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
- India
is now the world’s fifth largest spender on defence for 2016 after having
moved up from the 7th place following its largest annual military spending
increase since 2009.
- The
US is the top spender at $611 billion. Russia is third at $69.2 billion
and Saudi Arabia fourth at $ 63.7 billion.
India and Sri Lanka sign MoU on economic
co-operation
India and Sri Lanka have signed an MoU on
economic co-operation.
- The agreement was exchanged in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Sri Lankan PM Ranil Wickremesinghe in New Delhi.
India, Armenia sign 3 agreements
India and Armenia have signed three agreements
after Vice President Hamid Ansari held a bilateral meeting with Armenian Prime
Minister Karen Karapetyan in Yerevan, Armenia.
- The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on peaceful uses of outer space, another MoU on cooperation in youth matters and a program of cultural cooperation for the years 2017-2020. The two countries are celebrating the 25th anniversary of their diplomatic ties.
Belgium, first to open honorary consulate in GIFT
City, Gujarat
Belgium has become the first country to open an
honorary consulate office in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT
City).
- Besides
the Belgian Embassy in New Delhi, two Consulates-General in Mumbai and
Chennai, and an honorary consulate in Kolkata, Belgium has expanded its
diplomatic representation in India with this new office in Gandhinagar.
- Hari Sankaran was nominated as Honorary Consul of the Kingdom of Belgium to the state of Gujarat
White House names Randolph Ailes as new Director of
Secret Service
The White House has named a retired Marine major
general Randolph Ailes as the new Director of the Secret Service. Ailes was in
the Marine Corps for 35 years.
- Ailes is replacing Joseph Clancy, who retired from the agency.
Yes Bank ties up with Paisabazaar.com
Private sector lender Yes Bank announced the
alliance with Paisabazaar.com under which the bank will offer conditionally
approved loans to the latter’s existing customers.
- As part of the partnership, the bank will help Paisabazaar.com through its advanced analytics and data mining capabilities to offer customers of the financial marketplace with customized and conditionally approved offers across retail lending products.
Youngest Indian chancellor bags Dr. Babasaheb
Ambedkar International Foundation award
The youngest chancellor of any university in the
nation, Dileep K Nair has bagged Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International
Foundation award for excellent performance in the field of education in
Trivendurum, Kerala.
- The 38-year-old academician is currently the Chancellor of the North East Frontier Technical University (NEFTU) in Arunachal Pradesh.
