National
India and France launched $1 Trillion Potential Solar Programme:
i. India and France have launched a programme with $1 trillion Potential Solar Programme under the International Solar Alliance (ISA).
ii. It is a solar finance programme that aims at helping developing countries to fully harness their solar resources for a clean energy future.
iii. It was announced by Minister of State for Power Piyush Goyal and French Environment Minister Segolene Royal at the ministerial side event on ISA at the United Nations.
iv. The solar finance programme aims at lowering the cost of finance and facilitates the flow of more than 1 trillion dollars investment to members of the ISA.
About International Solar Alliance (ISA):
a) The ISA was launched at the 2015 Paris Climate Change Summit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Francois Hollande.
b) It seeks to empower solar-rich countries located between the tropic of Cancer and the tropic of Capricorn to make collaborative efforts to harness solar energy to generate the electricity.
c) Under this alliance, 121 countries that fall within the tropics have been invited. Most of these countries fall within Asia, Africa and South America.
First Online encyclopedia on Indian culture “Sahapedia” launched:
i. The Union Government has launched India’s first online interactive heritage portal named Sahapedia was in New Delhi.
ii. Sahapedia is a not-for-profit society headed by former TCS chairman S. Ramadorai, who currently helms the National Skill Development Agency.
iii. The purpose of this portal is to inform, educate and act on subjects such as knowledge traditions, visual and material arts, performing arts, literature and languages.
iv. It also seeks to educated and spread knowledge about practices and rituals, histories, institutions, people, built spaces and natural environment.
New polio vaccine, Inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) introduced in Chandigarh:
i. The Department of Health and Family Welfare introduced inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) in its immunisation schedule in Chandigarh from April 25.
ii. As one of its four major objectives, the Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan 2013-2018 calls on countries to introduce at least one dose of IPV into routine immunisation schedules.
iii. This vaccine will be given to the children along with pentavalent vaccine and oral polio drops to reduce incidences of vaccine-derived polio.
iv. It will replace the existing trivalent Oral Polio Vaccine (tOPV) which is being used for over three decades.
v. Oral polio vaccine is made of live attenuated polio virus of all three strains of polio – P1, P2 and P3. The IPV provides serum immunity to all three types of poliovirus, resulting in protection against paralytic poliomyelitis.
National Panchayati Raj Diwas was being observed on 24th April:
i. Every year April 24 is being observed as National Panchayati Raj (PR) Diwas across India.
ii. PM Modi addressed Panchayati Raj Sammelan on the occasion of National Panchayati Raj Day in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand.
What is the significance of the day?
It marks the passing of the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992 that came into force with effect from 24 April 1993.
Significance of the Amendment Act:
a) It had led a defining moment in the history of India which helped in decentralization of political power to the grassroots level.
b) In turn it had led to institutionalization of Panchayati Raj (PR) through the village, Intermediate and District level Panchayats.
c) Every year on this day, the best performing Gram Panchayats are conferred with Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Purskar by the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj.
25 April: World Malaria Day
i. World Malaria Day (WMD) is being observed annually on 25 April across the world to recognize the global efforts to control preventable vector borne disease malaria.
ii. 2016 Theme: “End Malaria For Good”. It reflects the vision of a malaria-free world set out in the Global technical strategy for malaria 2016-2030.
iii. The strategy was adopted by the World Health Assembly in May 2015. It aims to dramatically lower the global malaria burden over the next 15 years and is aligned with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
iv. Recently Europe has become the world’s first region to wipe out malaria, with zero cases reported last year as per the World Health Organization (WHO).
Important Notes:
a) The World Malaria Day was established by the 60th session of the World Health Assembly, a decision-making body of World Health Organization (WHO) in May 2007. It is one of eight official global public health campaigns currently marked by the WHO.
b) Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease most commonly transmitted by an infected female Anopheles mosquito.
Regional Centre for Biotechnology Bill, 2016 has been passed by Lok Sabha:
i. The Lok Sabha passed the Regional Centre for Biotechnology Bill, 2016 to provide statutory status to the existing Regional Centre for Biotechnology in Faridabad, Haryana.
ii. The Bill seeks to provide legislative backing to the Regional Centre and also confers upon it the status of an institution of national importance.
Objectives behind clearing the bill:
(a) To disseminate knowledge by providing teaching and research facilities in biotechnology and related fields.
(b) To create a hub of biotechnology expertise,
(c) To facilitate transfer of technology and knowledge in the SAARC region and generally Asia and
(d) To Promote cooperation at the international level.
Background: India had entered into an agreement in 2006 with the UNESCO regarding establishment of the Regional Centre to serve the member countries of UNESCO. In this regard, the Union government through an executive order had established the Regional Centre for Biotechnology Training and Education in Faridabad, Haryana in 2009.
International
Japan launched its first stealth fighter X-2 jet:
i. Japan successfully tested the maiden flight of its first domestically developed single-pilot stealth fighter jet X-2.
ii. With this Japan becomes fourth country in the world to have indigenous full-size stealth combat aircraft.
iii. Other three countries viz. United States, Russia and China have successfully developed and flown manned stealth jets.
About X-2 jet:
a) It is jointly developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and 200 other firms.
b) The aircraft is widely known in Japan as Shinshin (meaning spirit of the heart), but is not officially in use and generally its code name is used.
Note: Stealth aircraft are designed to avoid detection mainly by using a variety of stealth technologies. These technologies reduce emission/reflection of radar, infrared, visible light, radio-frequency (RF) spectrum and audio.
Defense
‘Nomadic Elephant’ Joint Military exercise has been commenced between India & Mongolia:
i. The eleventh edition of India-Mongolia joint military training Exercise ‘Nomadic Elephant – 2016’ has kicked off at Mongolia.
ii. It seeks to promote military associations between India and Mongolia. The first joint exercise was held in 2004 and since then it is annually held.
iii. Aim of exercise is to develop synergy and interoperability between the two armies to fight in Counter Insurgency and Counter Terrorism (CICT) environment under the United Nation mandate.
iv. In this edition, a platoon of the Kumaon Regiment of the Indian Army along with a team of two observers is taking part in the event.
Sports
Rafael Nadal clinched 2016 Barcelona Open:
i. Eminent tennis player Rafael Nadal also known as King of Clay ( ranked World No 5) from Spain has won the 2016 Barcelona Open title of Tennis.
ii. It was Nadal’s overall 9th Barcelona Open title and 69th win from 101 finals on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) World Tour.
iii. In the final match played at in Barcelona, Spain he defeated Kei Nishikori (World No 6) of Japan.
iv. With this victory, Nadal has equalled Guillermo Vilas from Argentina’ decade’s old record of 49 clay-court titles.
v. So far, Rafael Nadal has won 14 Grand Slam singles titles, 28 titles in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events and 16 ATP World Tour 500 tournaments. He also had won 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles.
Mairaj Ahmed Khan wins silver medal at ISSF World Cup:
i. India’s Mairaj Ahmed Khan has won the silver medal in the men’s skeet event (Shooting) at ISSF World Cup held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
ii. In the final, Mairaj lost gold medal to Sweden’s Marcus Svensson and the bronze medal was won by Tamarro Casandro of Italy.
iii. With this victory, he becomes first Indian shooter to win skeet medal for India at a World Cup.
iv. Earlier in September 2016 he had qualified for his maiden Olympics after finishing in sixth place at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup.
v. He is the first Indian to qualify in the skeet event at the Olympics.
Short News
I. Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu on Monday formally inaugurated the state’s new Secretariat at the Velagapudi village in the new capital Amaravati.
II. Motorola has announced a special Virat Kohli-themed variant of its Moto G Turbo Edition smartphone. Featuring a ‘V’ signifying the cricketer and is bundled as part of the Virat FanBox.
III. Veteran actor Jeetendra, filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali and actor Ranveer Singh were honoured with the 74th Master Dinanath Mangeshkar Awards. While Jeetendra received the Lifetime Achievement Award, Bhansali and Ranveer were given special awards for direction and acting for ‘Bajirao Mastani’.
IV. The Tokyo 2020 Olympics Organising Committee unveiled the new official logos of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games on Monday, after the design of the older logo was accused of plagiarism.
V. Congo’s President Denis Sassou Nguesso has appointed Mouamba Clement as the new Prime Minister of the central African country.
VI. Mumbai-born property magnates David and Simon Reuben have topped the annual Britain rich list, ‘The Sunday Times Rich List 2016’, with a fortune of £13.1 billion (approximately $18.9 billion). The Hinduja brothers, at £13 billion, occupy the second spot.
VII. India will host the 2018 Commonwealth Judo Championships in Jaipur. This will be the first time that Commonwealth Judo Championships will be held in India.
VIII. The BCCI is all set to host its first-ever day and night cricket Test with the pink ball when New Zealand tour India.
IX. Bollywood actor Salman Khan has named as the goodwill ambassador of the Indian contingent for the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He has been chosen by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).