DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: APRIL 12, 2019

Dear Aspirants,

Daily Current Affairs (April 12, 2019) like many other sections is inevitable and this also helps to score in the Banking awareness, Static GK and Financial Awareness sections. Remember, Banking Awareness and Static Awareness Questions are asked from the General Awareness section. This will also help you to ride your preparations for the forthcoming exams.

NATIONAL

Prasar Bharati Chairman releases booklet of ‘Selected speeches of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar in the Constituent Assembly’:

Prasar Bharati Chairman, A Surya Prakashreleased a booklet of the ‘Selected speeches of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar in the Constituent Assembly’, in New Delhi. The event was organized to commemorate the contributions of Baba Saheb in the upliftment of underprivileged in the country.

Nizamabad Likely to Enter Guinness Book For Maximum Number Of EVMs Used:

The Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency, where polling is underway along with 16 other constituencies in Telangana, may make it the Guinness World Records for the maximum number of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
It became the first constituency in the country to witness polling with EVMs for a large number of candidates (185 candidates).
This new version of EVMs was developed by the Electronics Corp of India Ltd (ECIL) and Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL).

Indian Government clears procurement of 464 Russian tanks under the T-90 Project:

Amid heightened tensions with Pakistan, the Narendra Modi government has cleared the procurement of 464 T-90 tanks from Russia in a deal worth over Rs 13,500 crore.
Under the new deal, the tanks would be provided to the Armoured Corps of the force which will use them for deployment along the border with Pakistan.
India and Pakistan are engaged in a battle of sorts due to the increasing tensions after the Pulwama attack on February 14.

NGT sets up Central monitoring panel in a bid to reduce pollution stretches:

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has constituted a Central Monitoring Committee to ensure the implementation of action plan meant for reducing pollution stretches across the country.
The Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel. The Committee will further synchronize with the River Rejuvenation Committees of the states and supervise the implementation of the action plans. Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) will be nodal authority for coordination.

RailTel turns 1600 railway stations into RailWire Wi-Fi zone:

RailWire Wi-Fi by RailTel is now live at 1600 railway stations across the country, with Santacruz railway station in Mumbai becoming the 1600^th station to become a RailWire Wi-Fi zone, the Western Railway.
RailTel Corporation, a “Mini Ratna (category-I)” PSU, is one of the largest neutral telecom infrastructure providers in the country owning a pan-India optic fibre network on exclusive Right of Way (ROW) along Railway track.

INTERNATIONAL

India, Sweden to provide solutions for smart cities:

India and Sweden have launched a joint programme that will work towards addressing a range of challenges around smart cities and clean technologies among others.
The programme was co-founded by the Indian Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Swedish agency Vinnova. Vinnova will provide funding to Swedish participants up to 2,500,000 Swedish Krona (around Rs 1.87 crore) as a grant.
On the Indian side, a conditional grant of up to 50 percent (with a limit of Rs 1.5 crore) per project will be provided to the Indian partners.

First-ever global coalition for clean cooling launched:

The first-ever global coalition on clean and efficient cooling was launched at the First Global Conference on Synergies between the 2030 Agenda and Paris Agreement, which concluded in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Besides the UN, it is supported by the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, the Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program and Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL). It includes government officials from Chile, Rwanda, Denmark as well as leaders from civil society, research and academia.

BANKING & BUSINESS

Google launches new cloud platform, Anthos:

Google launched Anthos, a new open platform from Google Cloud, that lets users run applications from anywhere. Anthos allows users to run applications, unmodified, on existing on-premise hardware or on the public cloud, and is based on the Cloud Services Platform that Google announced last year.

Govt retains GPF interest rate at 8% for April-June quarter:

The government has retained the interest rate for the General Provident Fund (GPF) and other related schemes at 8 percent for the April-June quarter.
The rate is in line with that of Public Provident Fund. The interest rate on GPF was at 8 percent in the January-March quarter of 2018-19.
The interest rate will be applicable on provident funds of central government employees, railways and defense forces.

RBL Bank ties up with CreditVidya for improving customer experience:

RBL Bank has partnered with credit profiler CreditVidya to improve the lender’s customer experience.
Through this partnership, the private sector lender will be able to gain significant insights into its customer base. RBL Bank will leverage CreditVidya’s big data underwriting platform across its credit card and mobile banking apps.

REPORTS/RANKING BY VARIOUS ORGANISATIONS

India’s population grew at 1.2% average annual rate between 2010 and 2019: UN

India’s population grew at an average annual rate of 2 percent between 2010 and 2019 to 1.36 billion, more than double the annual growth rate of China, according to a report by the United Nations Population Fund.
India’s population in 2019 stood at 36 billion, growing from 942.2 million in 1994 and 541.5 million in 1969. The Indian population grew at an average annual rate of 1.2 percent between 2010 and 2019, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency said.
In comparison, China’s population stood at 42 billion in 2019 and China’s population grew at an average annual rate of 0.5 percent between 2010 and 2019.
According to the report, in India, the total fertility rate per woman was 5.6 in 1969, dropping to 3.7 in 1994 and 3 in 2019.
Highlighting positive changes in the last half-century, the report shows that in 1969, the average number of births per woman was 4.8, compared with 2.9 in 1994, and 5, 2019.

APPOINTMENTS

Shiv Das Meena appointed as NBCC Chairman and Managing Director:

Shiv Das Meena, Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has been appointed as the Chairman cum Managing Director (CMD) of National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC).
Meena, the 1989-Batch IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre has taken over the office from Dr Anoop Kumar Mittal, the outgoing CMD, who had served the organisation for 34 years.

AWARDS & HONOURS

Namami Gange brings laurels to India at Global Water Summit in London:

India’s flagship programme, National Mission for Clean Ganga or Namami Gange was felicitated with the coveted ‘Public Water Agency of the Year’ award at the Global Water Summit in London.
The Namami Gange programme is an integrated mission for Ganga rejuvenation.

Dost Education won the Next Billion Edtech Prize:

India’s education technology startup ‘Dost Education’ has bagged a Next Billion Edtech Prize 2019. Two other startups, Ubongo (Tanzania) and PraxiLabs (Egypt), also won the award. It is awarded by the UK-based Varkey Foundation
Dost Education was awarded for its ability to empower parents to take charge of their child’s early education by creating short, friendly audio content that is sent to them via their mobile phones. Because of this app low-income families need no longer send their children to primary school behind and without a chance to catch up.

Paralympian Deepa Malik receives NZ PM’s Sir Edmund Hillary Fellowship:

Rio Paralympics silver medallist Deepa Malik has been named as the recipient of the New Zealand Prime Minister’s Sir Edmund Hillary Fellowship for 2019.
The first Indian woman to earn a medal at the Paralympic Games, Deepa has won 58 national and 23 international medals. A recipient of the Padma Shri and Arjuna Award, she has entered the Limca Book of World Records four times.

SPORTS

AITA signs MoU with Serbian Tennis Federation to train junior players:

The All India Tennis Association (AITA) has signed an MoU with Serbian Tennis Federation (STF) to train Indian junior players under world renowned Serbian coaches, at the RK Khanna Stadium, New Delhi.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by Secretary General, AITA, Hironmoy Chatterjee, and CEO, STF Dusan Orlandic.

OBITUARY

Veteran Communist Leader Drupad Borgohain Died:

Drupad Borgohain, a veteran communist leader and parliamentarian from Assam, died at a private nursing home in Dibrugarh after a long illness. He was 78 and was reportedly being treated for the kidney-related disease.

‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’ actor Navtej Hundal passes away:

Actor Navtej Hundal, who most recently appeared in Aditya Dhar’s ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’, is dead.
Navtej, who played the home minister in ‘Uri’ died said actor Sushant Singh, General Secretary of the Cine and Television Artistes Association (CINTAA).

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: APRIL 9, 2019

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