Current Affairs: April 9-10th, 2018

April 9-10th, 2018

1. World Homoeopathy Day: 10 April.

• A two-day scientific convention is being organized in New Delhi by Ministry of AYUSH on the occasion of World Homoeopathy Day, on 10-11th April 2018.
• The Vice President Shri. M. Venkaiah Naidu will be the chief guest at the function while Minister of State (I/C) for AYIJSH Shri Shripad Yesso Naik will preside.
• This day is observed to commemorate the birth anniversary of the founder of Homoeopathy Dr. Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann.
• The theme of this convention is “Innovate: Evolve; Progress: Exploring Science since 40 years”.

2. Shooter Heena Sidhu wins 11th gold for India in the Commonwealth Games; Overall medal tally climbs to 21.

• Indian shooter Heena Sidhu Wins Gold in 25m Pistol Event. This is Sidhu’s second medal at CWG 2018, after winning silver in women’s 10m air pistol.
• Another Indian shooter Annu Singh came sixth in the same event. With this result, India has won three golds and overall eight medals in shooting.

3. PM Modi launches development projects worth 6,600 crore rupees in Bihar to mark centenary celebrations of Champaran Satyagraha.

• Mr. Modi dedicated and laid the foundation of development projects worth 6,600 crore rupees in Bihar.
• The projects include doubling of Muzaffarpur-Suagauli-Valmikinagar rail section and Motihari-Amlekhganj Oil Pipeline Project, and new Chamaparan Humsafar express train between Katihar and Old Delhi Junction.
• Static Part:- Bihar:- Chief Minister- Nitish Kumar.

4. The first meeting of NITI Forum for North East- a unit of NITI Aayog took place at Agartala in Tripura.

• Tripura hosted the first meeting of the NITI Forum- a unit of NITI Aayog in Agartala.
• The meeting was inaugurated by Minister for Development of North East Region (DoNER) Dr. Jitendra Singh and Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog Dr. Rajiv Kumar.
• In this meeting, Chief Ministers of all Northeastern States, Minister of Development of North Eastern Region and senior officials of NITI Aayog and Union Government joined the conclave.
• The ‘NITI Forum for North East’ was constituted in February 2018 with an aim to ensure the sustainable economic growth of the North Eastern Region of the country.
• Static Part: Tripura:- CM- Biplab Kumar Deb, Governor- Tathagata Roy, Capital- Agartala.

5. Wipro’s Rishad Premji Appointed Nasscom Chairman.

• Rishad Premji, Board member of Wipro Ltd. has been appointed as the Chairman of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) for 2018-19.
• He succeeds Raman Roy, Chairman, and Managing Director, who served as Chairman of NASSCOM for the year 2017-18. NASSCOM also appointed Keshav Murugesh as the Vice Chairman for 2018-19.
• Static Part: Debjani Ghosh has been recently appointed the new president of Nasscom.

6. State Bank Of India to Invest Rs 80 bn in Hydropower Project of Nepal.

• SBI will be investing a total of Rs 80 billion in the Arun III hydropower project of Nepal, which has 900 megawatts (MW) electricity production capacities.
• The SJVN, which has been awarded the construction of the mega power project of Nepal, has made an informal agreement with the SBI to acquire the investment as a loan and soon will make the formal agreement.
• Static Part: SBI:- Chairman- Rajnish Kumar, Headquarters- Mumbai, Established on- 01st July 1955.

7. President Kovind has signed 2 Agreements with Swaziland promised to strengthen the co-operation between India and Swaziland.

• President Ram Nath Kovind, on a three-nation Africa visit, held delegation-level talks with Swaziland King Mswati III in Mbabane.He said both countries can work together to build capacities in agriculture, public health and telecom and IT sector.
• India and Swaziland signed two agreements on health and visa waiver.
• President Kovind was conferred with ‘Order of the Lion’, the highest award of Swaziland. After concluding the visit to Swaziland, President Kovind will visit Zambia, in the third and final leg of his visit.
• Static Part: Swaziland:- King- Mswati III, Capitals- Mbabane, Lobamba.

8. Vice President Shri. M. Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated the two-day “Scientific Convention on World Homeopathy Day” organized by the Ministry of AYUSH.

• The convention was attended by more than 1500 delegates, which included homeopathic researchers, scientists from allied sciences, practitioners, students, industrialists as well as representatives of various homeopathic associations.

9. Balram Bhargava Appointed New DG of ICMR.

• Balram Bhargava has been appointed the new Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Secretary of the Department of Health Research.
• Bhargava, currently a senior consultant cardiologist at the All India Institute of Medical Science, will carry out this role until 2021. He will succeed Soumya Swaminathan.

10. Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Elected BFA Chairman.

• Ban Ki-moon has been elected chairman of ‘Boao Forum for Asia’ (BFA). He has replaced former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.
• Founded in 2001, the BFA is a non-governmental and non-profit international organization committed to promoting regional economic integration and bringing Asian countries closer to their development goals.

11. Transgenders to be recognized as independent gender category in PAN.

• The government has amended Income Tax rules that will now allow transgenders to be recognized as an independent category of applicants for obtaining a Permanent Account Number (PAN) for their tax-related transactions.
• The move is to help transgenders obtain their PAN card and help them link it with their Aadhaar cards.
• Till now, only male and female gender categories were available to be chosen on the PAN application form.

12. Andhra Pradesh CM Naidu inaugurates ‘Happy Cities Summit 2018’ in Amaravati.

• Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Founder of Isha Foundation Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev has inaugurated a three-day long ‘Happy Cities Summit 2018’ in Amaravati.
• Around 1,000 delegates from India and abroad have taken part in the Summit.
  This is first of its kind program in India.

13. Deutsche Bank names Christian Sewing CEO, replacing John Cryan.

• Deutsche Bank AG named Christian Sewing to replace chief executive officer John Cryan after less than three years amid mounting questions about the future direction of Europe’s largest investment bank.
• Deutsche Bank AG offers financial products and services for corporate and institutional clients along with private and business clients.
• Static Part: Deutsche Bank:- Headquarters: Frankfurt, Germany.

14. Nepal President inaugurates International Conference on Human Rights.

• Inaugurating an International Conference on Human Rights in South Asia in Kathmandu, Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari said that understanding of human rights should not be confined to speeches and writings but it should also be part of our daily lives.
• The conference is organized by the National Human Rights Commission of Nepal.
• The theme of the conference is “Identifying Challenges, Assessing Progress, Moving Forward: Addressing Impunity and Realizing Human Rights in South Asia”.

15. An International Conference on “Water, Environment and Climate Change: Knowledge Sharing and Partnership” to begin at Kathmandu, Nepal.

• The three-day event is being organized by the Department of Water Supply and Sewerage, Govt of Nepal in association with the Society of Public Health Engineers of Nepal and Nepal Engineers Association.
• The basic objective of the conference is to bring together professionals, academicians, researchers, entrepreneurs, government and non-government institutions to discuss and deliberate on challenges, opportunities, and strategies related to water and environmental issues.
• Static Part: Nepal:- Capital: Kathmandu, Currency: Nepalese rupee, Prime minister: Khadga Prasad Oli, President: Bidhya Devi Bhandari.

16. UNSC holds an emergency meeting on the suspected use of chemical weapons in Syria.

• The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting on the suspected use of chemical weapons in Syria, at the request of the United States and 8 other countries.
• The UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, took part in the meeting via a video link from Switzerland. He denounced the alleged use of chemical weapons as a grave violation of international law.

17. Anushka Sharma to Get Dadasaheb Phalke Excellence Award.

• Bollywood actor Anushka Sharma will be awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Excellence Award for her successful movies as a producer.
• The award will be given by an organization called Dadasaheb Phalke Foundation, a Mumbai-based organization, which is different from the Government of India instituted Dadasaheb Phalke Award, awarded during National Awards ceremony held annually in New Delhi.

18. Assam’s Spring Festival begins in Manas National Park.

• The two-day Assam Spring Festival began at the Manas National Park where visitors will get to experience the state’s local food, music, handloom, and handicrafts.
• The National park which is also a tiger and rhino reserve covers five districts of Assam.

19. CWG 2018: India’s women’s TT team clinches maiden Gold.

• India defeated Nigeria to clinch gold in the men’s table tennis team event at the Commonwealth Games for the first time since 2006.
• With this, India joined England to bag second-most table tennis gold medals (5) at CWG. This is the first time that India have won both men’s and women’s TT team events at a single CWG edition.

20. India Win Badminton Team Gold for first Time in CWG History.

• India clinched their first-ever badminton mixed team event gold in Commonwealth Games history after defeating defending champions Malaysia 3-1 in the final at Gold Coast.
• India’s previous best performance in the mixed team event at CWG was a silver-medal finish in the 2010 edition. Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth represented India in singles’ matches of the five-member team event.

21. Indian Shooters Jitu Rai and Mehuli Ghosh claim medals at CWG 2018.

• Jitu Rai broke the games record to claim the gold medal by some distance in men’s 10m air pistol, at the ongoing 21st Commonwealth Games. Om Prakash Mitharval bagged bronze in the same event. Australia’s Kerry Bell secured the silver medal, having managed to topple Mitharval from the second position.
• India’s 17-year-old shooter Mehuli Ghosh set a Commonwealth Games joint record to win silver in the women’s 10m Air Rifle event. Ghosh and eventual gold medallist Singapore’s Martina Lindsay Veloso both ended with record score following which the winner was decided by a shoot-off. India’s 25-year-old shooter Apurvi Chandela won a bronze medal in the same event.

22. Weightlifter Punam Yadav Wins 5th Gold For India in CWG 2018.

• India’s weightlifter Punam Yadav won gold in the Women’s 69kg weightlifting category. Yadav lifted a combined total of 222kg (100 snatches and 122 clean and jerk) and defeated England’s Sarah Davies her closest competitor to take her second medal at the Commonwealth Games.
• This was India’s fifth gold medal in the ongoing games. Venkat Rahul Ragala earned India the fourth Gold medal after lifting 338 kilograms in the Men’s 85 kg category.
• Weightlifter Pardeep Singh bags a Silver in the men’s 105kg Weightlifting event.

23. Tamil Nadu govt launches a mobile app for farmers.

• Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has launched the bi-lingual ‘Uzhavan’ (farmer) app.
• The app can be used by farmers to get information on farm subsidies, book farm equipment, and related infrastructure and get details on their crop insurance, besides receiving weather forecast for the next four days.
• Mr. Palaniswami also launched the ‘Amma Bio-Fertiliser’ scheme, named after late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
• The initiative was aimed at better management of natural farming, and help boost and maintain soil fertility.

24. Sebastian Vettel Wins Bahrain Grand Prix.

• Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel won his second Grand Prix in as many races, at the Bahrain Grand Prix, while Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas finished second by just 0.699 seconds.
• Meanwhile, reigning world champion Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton finished third.
• Static Part: Bahrain:- Capital- Manama, Currency- dinar.

25. Hungary PM Viktor Orban re-elected for the third term.

• Hungary’s right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban has claimed a landslide victory in general election.
• The 54-year-old will serve a third consecutive term in office, with his party Fidesz projected to win a two-thirds majority in parliament. Fidesz won almost half of the vote, with 93% of ballots.
• Static Part: Hungary:- President: Janos Ader, Capital: Budapest, Currency: Hungarian forint.