Current Affairs - April 11, 2019 Current Affairs

India's education technology startup 'Dost Education' has bagged a $25,000 Next Billion Edtech Prize 2019. Two other startups, Ubongo (Tanzania) and PraxiLabs (Egypt), also won the award. 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.

The All India Management Association (AIMA) Managing India Awards 2019 was held on April 08, 2019 at Hotel Taj Palace, New Delhi. Mahendra Mohan Gupta, Chairman & Managing Director, Jagran Prakashan Ltd and Editorial Director, Dainik Jagran, was awarded under Lifetime Contribution to Media category. Lifetime Contribution Award: Azim H Premji (Chairman, Wipro Ltd). MNC in India of the Year: T Krishnakumar (Coca-Cola India, President & CEO, India & Southwest Asia).

David Harquail is the President of the World Gold Council (WGC). The World Gold Council (WGC) reported that India has marginally increased its gold holding to 1.7 tonnes in February while maintaining the tenth position among countries in terms of yellow metal reserves. India added 1.7 tonnes in February while most other countries, except Russia and China, had their reserves unchanged in the recent past. As per WGC, India had total gold reserves of 608.7 tonnes in February, marginally up from the previous month's holding of 607 tonnes.

India's asset management companies (AMCs) own assets under management (AUM) worth Rs24.46 trillion, according to data released by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi). HDFC Asset Management Co. Ltd has claimed the top spot with an average AUM of Rs3.42 trillion, overtaking ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co. Ltd with an average AUM of at Rs3.20 trillion. Out of the total industry assets, a huge 82.7% is owned by the top 10 AMCs, who have owned around 80% of the industry assets over at least three years now.

Emirates Islamic has announced the launch of Chat Banking services for customers via WhatsApp, marking a global first in the Islamic banking sector. The bank's customers will now able to conduct daily banking activities via WhatsApp in a seamless and hassle-free manner. The Chat Banking solution, supported by Infobip, further enhances Emirates Islamic's suite of digital banking channels and allows customers to use features such as checking account balances and temporarily blocking or unblocking of an existing card.

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) searches in Madhya Pradesh by Delhi Directorate of Income Tax have detected widespread and well-organised racket for the collection of unaccounted cash of about 281 crore rupees through various persons. The department has also detected a trail of 20 crore rupees suspect cash allegedly being moved to the headquarters of a major political party in Delhi from the house of an important person. The CBDT identified the political party nor the senior functionary. It added that records of collection and disbursement of cash in the form of handwritten diaries, computer files and excel sheets were found and seized and it corroborates the above findings. The several unaccounted and benami properties at posh locations in Delhi have also been detected.

National Safe Motherhood Day (NSMD) is observed annually on 11 April to raise awareness about the proper healthcare of women and maternity facilities to pregnant and lactating women. The theme of 2019 NSMD is "Midwives for Mothers".

IIT Madras has been ranked as the 'Best Educational Institution' in the country in the latest edition of National Institutional Rankings Framework (NIRF) 2019. The rankings was released by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India. IIT Madras also emerged as the 'Top innovative Institution' in the country in the maiden edition of the Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA), launched by the Innovation Cell of MHRD in 2018, bagging the Rank number 1 in Government Institutions category.

Benjamin Netanyahu defeated centrist ex-military chief Benny Gantz, whose nascent Blue and White party emerged as a viable alternative to Netanyahu's decade in power. With over 97% votes counted, Netanyahu's Likud party tied with the Blue and White party, winning 35 seats each in the 120-member Knesset. Netanyahu's victory came amid allegations of corruption against him and his wife. His campaign has focused heavily on his friendship with President Donald Trump and his success in cultivating new allies, such as China, India and Brazil.

Virat Kohli and women's cricketer Smriti Mandhana were named the Leading Cricketers in the World. Kohli has won the honour for an unprecedented third year in a row while it's the first time Smriti has won the honour. Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan was named the Leading T20 cricketer for the second year in a row. Wisden's Cricketers of the Year was also awarded to four other Cricketers namely English cricketers Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Rory Burns and Tammy Beaumont, for their performances in the 2018 English summer.

National Green Tribunal established a committee planned to examine the alleged erosion of Yamuna floodplain due to movement of heavy vehicles in Sonipat district in Haryana. The committee, for-person bench, will comprise NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, swho is the head of the body, the director of the Mines and Geology Department, member secretary of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board and principal secretary of the Haryana Irrigation. The nodal agency for coordination and compliance will be the principal secretary of the Haryana irrigation and water resources department. The joint report may be furnished within a month so this issue will be solved before the monsoon.

India and Sri Lanka have agreed to enhance collaboration in security and defence spheres in several fields, including regional security, controlling drug smuggling and human trafficking. Defence Secretary of India Sanjay Mitra and Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena's meeting in Colombo resulted in this agreement. Sirisena requested to expand the number of trainers from India and Defence Secretary agreed to look into the probability of intensifying training facilities.

The government has announced that Karnam Sekar (MD and CEO of the erstwhile Dena Bank) will take over as MD and CEO of Indian Overseas Bank from July 1. His term will end in June 2020. Also, R A Sankara Narayanan (former MD and CEO of Vijaya Bank) will move to Canara Bank as MD and CEO. His term will end in January 2020.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has constituted a Central Monitoring Committee to ensure the implementation of the action plan meant for reducing pollution stretched across the country. A Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel considered the seriousness of the issue and inadequacy of success achieved so far, it concluded that it is necessary to constitute a Central Monitoring Committee to undertake a national initiative by way of preparation and enforcement of a national plan to make river stretches pollution-free. The panel will constitute members from Senior representatives of NITI Aayog, Secretaries of the Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, apart from the Chairman, Central Pollution Control Board, and Director General, National Mission for Clean Ganga. The panel will coordinate with States to oversee the action plans and ensure execution of the same.

Scientists from University of Michigan in the United States have found that dangerous airborne viruses can be rendered harmless on-the-fly when exposed to 'cold plasma' - a stream of energetic, charged fragments of air molecules. The researchers have measured the virus-killing speed and effectiveness of non thermal plasmas - the ionised, or charged, particles that form around electrical discharges such as sparks. A non thermal plasma reactor was able to inactivate or remove from the air stream 99.9% of a test virus. The researchers hope to one day harness this capability to replace the surgical mask.

Supreme Court Collegium recommended that Allahabad High Court judge, Justice Vikram Nath appointed as the first Chief Justice of the recently constituted Andhra Pradesh High Court at Amaravati. The office of the Andhra Pradesh High Court Chief Justice has been lying vacant since the day of its inception. Justice Vikram Nath obtained his law degree in 1986. He was appointed an additional judge of the Allahabad High Court in 2004.

Abdelkader Bensalah was appointed president for a three-month transitional period after weeks of mass protests led to the resignation of long-serving former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on April 2. Algeria's newly appointed interim President Abdelkader Bensalah announced the election would be held on July 4 to vote for a new president. However, the 77-year-old Bensalah is barred under the constitution from running in the upcoming election.

Emami Limited roped in Indian actor Varun Dhawan as brand ambassador of Navratna Cool. The TV commercials are directed by Luv Kalla and shot in the UK. Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Govinda, Chiranjeevi, Shilpa Shetty and Jr NTR served as Brand Ambassadors of Navaratna Brand.

As per latest report on "South Asia Economic Focus, Exports Wanted" by World Bank (WB), India's GDP growth is expected to accelerate moderately to 7.5% in FY 20 (2019-20) and will be driven by continued investment strengthening, particularly private-improved export performance and resilient consumption. As per report, Credit growth will benefit from relatively more accommodative monetary policy amid benign inflationary conditions. Support from delayed fiscal consolidation will partially offset the effects of political uncertainty on economic activity around elections in May 2019. The real GDP growth is estimated at 7.2% in financial year FY 19 (2018-19).

Union government retained the interest rate for General Provident Fund (GPF), Contributory Provident Fund and other related schemes at 8% for the first quarter of the current financial year 2019-2020. The interest rate on these funds was at 8% in the January-March quarter of 2018-19 and government kept it unchanged for April to June for 2019-20. The Department of Economic Affairs, in a notification, the mentioned interest rate will be applicable on provident funds of central government employees, railways and defence forces.