Daily Current affairs - April 26th, 2018 for all competitive exams
April 26th world
is celebrating World Intellectual Property Day.
- The day is celebrated to learn about the role that
intellectual property rights (patents, trademarks, industrial designs,
copyright) play in encouraging innovation and creativity.
- Theme for this year: Powering change: Women in
innovation and creativity
The event was established by the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 2000 to "raise awareness of
how patents, copyright, trademarks and designs impact on daily life" and
"to celebrate creativity, and the contribution made by creators and
innovators to the development of societies across the globe".26 April
was chosen as the date for World Intellectual Property Day because it
coincides with the date on which the Convention Establishing the World
Intellectual Property Organization entered into force in 1970.
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HRD Ministry launches 2nd
edition of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan
The Ministry of Human
Resource Development, HRD launched the second edition of the Unnat Bharat
Abhiyan under which students from 750 higher educational institutions from
across the country will adopt villages and visit them to get acquainted with
lifestyle of people there and the problems faced by them.
- Under the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan 2.0, the institutions
have been selected on a Challenge Mode and the scheme has been extended to
750 reputed Higher Educational Institutes (both public and private) of the
country.
- IIT Delhi has been designated to function as the
National Coordinating Institute for this programme and the Ministry intends to extend the coverage to
all the reputed Higher Educational Institutes, in a phased manner. Each
selected institute would adopt a cluster of villages / panchayats and
gradually expand the outreach over a period of time.
Unnat Bharat Abhiyan is a flagship programme of the Ministry of Human
Resources Development, with the intention to enrich Rural India.
It aims to leverage the knowledge base and resources of the Premier
Institutions of the country to bring in transformational change in rural
developmental process.
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NITI Aayog launches Atal
New India Challenge
Atal Innovation Mission
(AIM), under the NITI Aayog, launched the Atal New India Challenge.
- Under the Atal New India Challenge, AIM will invite
prospective innovators/MSMEs/start-ups to design market-ready products,
using cutting edge technologies or prototypes across 17 identified focus
areas such as Climate Smart Agriculture, Smart Mobility, Predictive
Maintenance of Rolling Stock, Waste Management etc.
The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is Government of India’s flagship
initiative to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the
country.
AIM is mandated to create an umbrella structure to oversee innovation
ecosystem of the country and revolutionizing the innovation eco-system –
touching upon the entire innovation life cycle through various programs.
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Bhabha Kavach developed by BARC
Bhabha Kavach is an armour panel developed by BARC which gives personal
protection against bullets of different threat levels.
- Bhabha Kavach made up of BARC
Nano-Sheets are lighter in weight with reduced trauma level with respect
to the existing jackets.
- The jacket is made using extremely
hard boron carbide ceramics that is hot-pressed with carbon nano-tubes and
composite polymer.
Indo-Malaysian joint
military exercise 'Harimau Shakti' held
As part of
ongoing Indo-Malaysian defence cooperation, a joint training
exercise Harimau Shakti will be conducted in the dense forests of
Sengai Perdik, Hulu Langat, Malaysia.
- The exercise is aimed at
bolstering cooperation & coordination between armed forces of both the
nations and to share the expertise of both the contingents in the conduct
of counter insurgency operations in jungle terrain.
New theme park in Japan
will pay tribute to Miyazaki
The fantasy world of
Oscar-winning animator Hayao Miyazaki will come to life as a theme park set to
open in central Japan in 2022
- Studio Ghibli has released a basic
concept for the vast park to be built by 2022 near Nagoya in Japan’s Aichi
region. It will feature rides and forest trails based on the master
animator’s popular fantasy films, including My Neighbor Totoro , Kiki’s
Delivery Service and Howl’s Moving Castle
Mr. Miyazaki is the co-founder of
Studio Ghibli, Japan’s premier animation studio, and renowned internationally
for works including Princess Mononoke andSpirited Away .
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Indus Towers, Bharti
Infratel merging to become largest tower company outside China
Indus Towers and Bharti
Infratel Ltd agreed to combine operations in a deal that will create the
world’s second-largest mobile masts company.
- The combined company, which will
lag only China Tower, will remain listed on Indian bourses.
- It will have a nationwide presence
with more than 163,000 towers, the owners of both companies said in a
joint statement.
- Top Indian telecoms carrier Bharti
Airtel, the majority owner of Bharti Infratel, will end up with a stake of
33.8 percent to 37.2 percent.
NSE Launches e-Gsec
Platform for Bringing Retail Participation in Government Securities
National Stock Exchange of
India (NSE) has announced the launch of its "e -
Gsec" platform for facilitating the non-competitive bidding
in Government of India Dated Securities (G-Sec) and Treasury
Bills (T-Bills).
- This will allow retail investors
to invest in Government Securities and hold them in
existing demat accounts.
- The non-competitive bidding
facility was introduced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to
encourage retail participation in the primary market for Government
Securities.
NSE began operations
in 1994 and is ranked as the largest stock exchange in India in
terms of total and average daily turnover for equity shares every year since
1995, based on annual reports of SEBI. Mr. Ashok Chawla is the
Chairman of the Board of Directors of NSE and Mr. Vikram
Limaye is the Managing Director and CEO of NSE.
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NSE launches Nifty Equity
Savings Index for mutual funds
NSE’s index services
subsidiary, India Index Services & Products Limited, has introduced Nifty
Equity Savings Index, which can serve as a benchmark for equity savings funds
offered by various mutual fund houses.
- The index captures the performance
of a portfolio having exposure to equity, equity arbitrage and debt
instruments and is similar to the investment philosophy of equity savings
funds
Microsoft is India's Most
Attractive Employer: Randstad Survey
Technology giant Microsoft
India has been declared the most attractive employer brand, followed by
e-commerce giant Amazon India. The winners were named by HR service
provider Randstad's Employer Brand Research (REBR) 2018.
- Sector-wise, Tata Consultancy
Services is most favoured in IT, while Larsen & Toubro tops
Infrastructure & Construction and Hindustan Unilever emerges the
winner in FMCG.
World press freedom index
report: India ranks 138th, Norway tops
According to the 2018 World
Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders
(RSF), India has ranked 138th (falling 2 positions down from 136th in
2017).
- The list has been topped by
Norway. North Korea was at
the bottom-most position (180th) in the list.
- The Top 3 countries in World
Press Freedom Index Report are: Norway, Sweden and The Netherlands.
World Press Freedom
Index Published every year since 2002 by Reporters Without Borders
(RSF), the World Press Freedom Index is an important advocacy tool based on
the principle of emulation between states.
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2018 Secure India Conclave
held in New Delhi
The 2018 Secure India
Conclave organised by Global Counter Terrorism keeping in view Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s vision of New India: Secure India 2018, held in New Delhi.
- The event presents a unique
encapsulation of prevalent issues in India’s internal security and would
serve as a current and exhaustive update for those attending the conclave.
23rd meeting of Zonal Council held
in Gujarat
The 23rd meeting of the Western Zonal Council was recently held at
Gandhinagar, Gujarat and the Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh chaired the
meeting.
- Zonal councils have been
established by the Parliament to promote interstate cooperation and
coordination. They are statutory bodies established under the States
Reorganisation Act 1956 and not constitutional bodies.
They are only deliberative and advisory bodies.
1.
The Northern
Zonal Council, comprising the States of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu
& Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, National Capital Territory of Delhi and
Union Territory of Chandigarh.
2.
The Central
Zonal Council, comprising the States of Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Uttar
Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
3.
The Eastern
Zonal Council, comprising the States of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, and West
Bengal.
4.
The Western
Zonal Council, comprising the States of Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra and the
Union Territories of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.
5.
The Southern
Zonal Council, comprising the States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala,
Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry
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Indu Malhotra cleared for
Supreme Court judge
The government has cleared
the appointment of senior advocate Indu Malhotra as a Supreme Court Judge.
- Law Ministry sources said, she
will be the first woman judge to be appointed to the top post directly
from the bar.
- In 2007, Ms Malhotra, was only the
second women to be appointed a senior advocate by the apex court, three
decades after Leila Seth made the history.
- Ms Malhotra, a renowned arbitration
expert, is likely to take oath as apex court judge on April 27, 2018.
Mario Abdo Benitez elected
new President of Paraguay
Mario Abdo Benitez won
the presidential election conducted in Paraguay. He belongs to the ruling
Colorado Party.
- He had secured 46.5% of the votes,
with 96% of 21,000.
- Efrain Alegre of the Authentic
Radical Liberal Party came second with 42.7% of the votes. Mario Abdo
Benitez’s 5-year term begins on 15th August 2018.
Pakistan, India set to
clash again in ICC Cricket World Cup 2019
India will square off
against Pakistan at Old Trafford on June 16 in one of the much-awaited clashes
of the ICC World Cup 2019.
- India will meet Pakistan two years
after their clash in the finals of the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy.
- The most prestigious event will
begin with a clash between England and South Africa at The Oval, London on
May 30.
IPL 2019 will be a shift
to UAE due to 2019 national elections
The next season of the IPL
will be partly shifted to the UAE due to the general elections next year.
- It is learnt that an informal
discussion in this regard took place between the BCCI and the Emirates
Cricket Board.
- The league will start from March
29 to May 19. This paper has learnt that in 2014, the IPL had to pay
$150,000 per match day (one match) to the Emirates Cricket Board.
