April 12th, 2018

1. India, Morocco sign pact to promote mineral exploration in New Delhi.
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  • India has inked a pact with Morocco under which focus would be laid on the evaluation of potential mineral resources and promoting exploration and mining through the participation of both public and private sector.
  • The Memorandum of Understanding, MoU was signed after the bilateral discussions between Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and his counterpart Aziz Rabbah of Morocco.
  • The focus of the MoU is on the development of the geological infrastructure for Geoscience Maps and geochemical maps, strengthening geological research and evaluation of the potential of mineral resources.
  • Static Part: Morocco:- King: Mohammed VI of Morocco, Capital: Rabat, Currency: Moroccan dirham.

2. Maharashtra govt announces cash prizes for those who bagged medals in Commonwealth Games Gold Coast.
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  • The Chief Minister’s office stated that each gold medal winner will be rewarded with a cash prize of 50 lakh rupees, silver medallists with 30 lakh rupees and bronze winners will be awarded 20 lakh rupees each.
  • Also, their coaches will be honored with 12.5 lakh rupees, 7.5 lakh rupees and 5 lakh rupees, respectively for each gold, silver and bronze medal won by the players from the state.
  • Madhurika Patkar and Pooja Sahasrabuddhe, both from Thane, and Sanil Shetty have bagged gold in table tennis.
  • Also, Chirag C Shetty of Vile Parle has bagged a gold medal in badminton. Besides, Heena Sidhu, who lives in the Mumbai suburb of Goregaon, has won a gold and silver medal in two categories of pistol shooting.

3. Retail inflation dips to 4.28% in March from 4.44% in February.
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  • According to the data released by the Central Statistics Office, CSO, prices of vegetables, other food times and beverages softened.
  • The rate of increase in price rise slowed for the third consecutive month after hitting a fresh high of 5.2 percent growth in December and 5.07 percent in January due to unusual pick up in food prices and rise in domestic petrol and diesel prices.

4. India jumps 13 places from 143rd to 130th spot in latest annual Index of Economic Freedom.
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  • India has jumped 13 places in the last one year to a 130th spot in the latest annual Index of Economic Freedom released by a top American think-tank the Heritage Foundation.
  • In 2017, India with a score of 52.6 points was ranked at 143 among 180 countries, two spots below neighbor Pakistan.
  • As per the latest Index of Economic Freedom, China has jumped one spot and Pakistan is now at 131 positions. China with 57.4 points was ranked 111 in 2017.
  • Economic liberalization measures, including industrial deregulation, privatization of state-owned enterprises and reduced controls on foreign trade and investment, that began in the early 1990s, accelerated growth.

5. CWG 2018: Indian wrestlers bagged 2 Gold, 1 Silver & 1 Bronze medal in Gold Coast, Australia.
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  • In the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, Indian wrestlers bagged 2 Gold, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze medal.
  • The Gold medals were won by veteran Olympian Sushil Kumar in the 74 kg category and Rahul Aware in 57 kgs. While Sushil brushed aside South African Johannes Botha, 10-0, Rahul defeated Steven Takahashi of Canada, 15-7.
  • In the Women’s 53 kg category, Babita Kumari claimed the Silver after she lost to Canada’s Diana Weicker, 2-5 in the Final. Kiran clinched the Bronze in the 76 kg division following a stunning 10-0 win over Katouskia Pariadhaven of Mauritius.

6. CWG 2018: In Shooting, India’s Tejaswini Sawant bagged a Silver in the Women’s 50-metre Rifle Prone event.
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  • She finished second with a score of 618.9 points, behind Singapore’s Martina Veloso who created a Games record with a score of 621.
  • It was India’s 12th medal in Shooting.
  • Static Part: Tejaswini Sawant is an Indian shooter from the Maharashtrian city of Kolhapur.

7.  Ace Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth becomes World No 1 in BWF rankings.
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  • Kidambi Srikanth became World number 1 in men’s singles category after Badminton World Federation(BWF) weekly rankings.
  • He overtook World Champion Viktor Axelsen at the top of rankings with 76,895 points.
  • Srikanth has now become the first Indian male shuttler to achieve the feat in the ranking system. He joins Saina Nehwal to become only the second Indian to achieve the feat.

8.  ISRO successfully launches IRNSS-1I navigation satellite.
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  • The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched the IRNSS 1I navigation satellite from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, on the 43rd flight of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
  • IRNSS-1I is the replacement of IRNSS-1A, the first of the seven navigation satellites, that was rendered ineffective after its three rubidium atomic clocks failed.

9. World’s largest solar park to come up in Gujarat.
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  • Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has approved setting up a 5,000 MW capacity solar park at the Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR), which would be the largest such entity in the world after its completion.
  • The proposed solar power generation project would be set up in 11,000 hectares of land with an investment of Rs 25,000 crore.