Current Affairs: April 16-17th, 2018

April 16-17th, 2018

1. World Haemophilia Day: 17 April.

• Every April 17 World Haemophilia Day is recognized worldwide to increase awareness of hemophilia and other inherited bleeding disorders. The theme of WHD 2018 is ‘Sharing Knowledge Makes Us Stronger’.
• World Haemophilia Day was started in 1989 by the World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) which chose to bring the community together on April 17 in honor of WFH founder Frank Schnabel’s birthday.

2. The seventh edition of Home Expo India 2018 is inaugurated by Textiles and Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani.

• Union Minister Smriti Irani inaugurated the three days Home Expo India 2018, organized by Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH), at India Expo Centre & Mart, Greater Noida.
• Ajay Tamta, Minister of State for Textiles, received as the guest of honor.
• Home Expo India 2018 is expected to generate business deals for direct import.
  EPCH is the nodal export promotion body for handicrafts in India.

3. Veteran journalist S Nihal Singh passed away in New Delhi. He was 88.

• Nihal Singh was the former editor of several leading newspapers including the Indian Express and the Statesman.
• He has been the Author of several books, he was active till recently contributing regular columns to newspapers.

4. Government revises target to complete Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana from the year 2022 to 2019.

• The Government has said that the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana is well on its way to achieving the target by March 2019.
• An official release said, sensing the importance and urgency of rural roads for national development, the target date for completion of PMGSY-I has been preponed from 2022 to 2019.
• The scheme, since its inception in 2000, has been able to provide connectivity to more than One lakh 50 thousand habitations.
• Working towards this accelerated target, sanctions have been given to more than one lakh 66 thousand habitations against the target of over 1.78 lakh eligible habitations. Under the program, over five lakh fifty thousand kilometers of road length has been constructed.

5.  World Bank projects India’s growth rate at 7.3 percent for the current fiscal.

• The World Bank has projected a growth rate of 7.3 percent for India this year and 7.5 percent for 2019 and 2020.
• The bank also noted that Indian economy has recovered from the effects of demonetization and the Goods and Services Tax.
• The World Bank in its twice-a-year South Asia Economic Focus report in Washington said that growth is expected to accelerate from 6.7 in 2017 to 7.3 percent in 2018 and to subsequently stabilize supported by a sustained recovery in private investment and private consumption.

6. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have bilateral talks with his Swedish counterpart Stefan Lofven in capital Stockholm.

• PM Modi reached Stockholm on the first leg of his three-nation visit.
• India and Sweden will be announcing a Joint Action Plan and sign a Joint Innovation Partnership during the visit.
• Mr. Modi will have bilateral talks with his counterparts of other Nordic Countries, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Norway.
• In a significant development, India and Sweden are co-hosting the first-ever India-Nordic summit. In a hectic schedule, the Prime Minister will also address CEOs of Swedish business majors and address the Indian community in Sweden.
• With an aim to further enhance the bilateral cooperation that India and Sweden enjoying since long, an Indian Prime Minister visited Sweden after about three decades.

7. Tennis rankings: Yuki Bhambri back in top-100.

• Tennis star Yuki Bhambri broke back into the top-100 for the first time since February 2016. As per the latest rankings, he leapfrogged 22 places to a career-best rank of 83.
• This follows his title-winning performance at the Taipei Challenger. This is the best rank an Indian has achieved in ATP singles chart since Somdev Devvarman touched a career-high 62 in July 2011.
• If the 25-year-old maintains the top-hundred place, it will allow him direct entry into the Grand Slams and the ATP 1000 series Masters event.
• Yuki’s Davis Cup teammate Ramkumar Ramanathan also rose to a career-best 116 as he jumped 17 places.
• In the doubles, Divij Sharan further improved his career-best rank by moving up to 41, a gain of one place. Leander Paes, who became the most successful doubles player in Davis Cup, lost four places to be in 49th position.
• Rohan Bopanna is leading the doubles chart for India at number 19.
• Meanwhile, Ankita Raina too improved on her career-best rank as she jumped three places to 194 while Karman Kaur Thandi dropped a place to 268.
• In the doubles, out of action, Sania Mirza was unchanged at number 24.

8. Veteran actor Dharmendra to receive Raj Kapoor Lifetime Achievement award.

• Actor Dharmendra and filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani will be conferred with the prestigious Raj Kapoor Lifetime Achievement and Raj Kapoor Special Contribution awards, respectively, Maharashtra culture minister Vinod Tawde announced.
• Veteran Marathi actor Vijay Chavhan will receive the V Shantaram Lifetime Achievement award.
• Actor-director Mrinal Kulkarni has been named for V Shantaram Special Contribution awards.

9. CM Naveen Patnaik Inaugurates western Odisha’s longest bridge.

• Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik dedicated newly-constructed 2.5 km long Sapne bridge. The bridge has been constructed with a whopping budget of Rs 117.5 crore.
• The bridge connects Rengali block in Sambalpur with Lakhanpur block in Jharsuguda running over the Ib river, a tributary of the Mahanadi river.
• The bridge would bring down the distance between Ib Thermal Power Station (ITPS) and Sambalpur by 50 kilometers.

10. ISRO carries out fourth and final orbit raising operation of IRNSS-1I.

• The 1,425 Kg IRNSS-1I was launched on board PSLV-C41 from ISRO’s first launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.
• The third orbit-raising operation of IRNSS-1I was carried out to achieve a perigee (closest distance to earth) height of 31,426 Km and apogee (farthest distance from earth) height of 35,739 Km.
• The IRNSS- 1I now joins seven other satellites of the IRNSS constellation — IRNSS-1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F and 1G — which is already in place over India.
• The IRNSS-1I is the eighth satellite in the constellation, with seven others already in space, which are part of the navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) system originally called Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System or IRNSS. This system will provide Indian land-based users indigenous positioning and navigation services.

11. Andrew Sean Greer Wins the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

• Winners of the 2018 Pulitzer Prizes were announced at Columbia University in New York City.
• Following are the winners of the Pulitzer Prize 2018.

1. Fiction- Andrew Sean Greer’s “Less” has won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Greer’s novel tells the comic story of a middle-aged novelist.
2. Drama- Cost of Living, by Martyna Majok.
3. History- The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea, by Jack E. Davis (Liveright/W.W. Norton).
4. Biography- Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder, by Caroline Fraser (Metropolitan Books).
5. Poetry- Half-light: Collected Poems 1965-2016, by Frank Bidart (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux).
6. General Nonfiction- Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America, by James Forman Jr. (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux)
7. Music- DAMN, by Kendrick Lamar

• Static Part: 1. The Pulitzer Prize is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine and online journalism, literature, and musical composition in the United States.
  2. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of American (Hungarian-born) Joseph Pulitzer who had made his fortune as a newspaper publisher and is administered by Columbia University in New York City.

12. India Signs Loan agreement with World Bank for USD 48 million for Meghalaya.

• A Loan Agreement for IBRD loan of USD 48 million for the “Meghalaya Community – Led Landscapes Management Project (MCLLMP)” was signed with the World Bank.
• The Objective of the Project is to strengthen community-led landscapes management in selected landscapes in the State of Meghalaya.
• The Project consists of three components: Strengthening Knowledge and Capacity for Natural Resource Management; Community-led landscape planning and implementation and Project Management and Governance.
• Static Part: Meghalaya:- CM- Conrad Sangma| Governor- Ganga Prasad.

13. Lt Gen PP Malhotra Takes Over as Director-General of National Cadet Corps(NCC).

• Lieutenant General PP Malhotra assumed charge as DG of NCC, the largest uniformed youth organization in the world.
• Lt Gen Malhotra’s distinguished professional career includes various regimental, staff and command appointments. Prior to assuming his present appointment, he was the Chief Engineer of the Army’s premier Northern Command.
• NCC was established on 16 April 1948 and is headquartered in New Delhi.

14. Minister of State for Communication Manoj Sinha launches DARPAN-PLI App in New Delhi.

• The DARPAN-Postal Life Insurance App will help in the collection of a premium for postal life insurance and Rural postal life insurance policies at Branch Post offices anywhere in India, with online updation of the policies.
• Mr. Sinha said, with a view to achieving total digitization of postal operations in the country, the department has launched Digital Advancement of Rural Post office for a new India (DARPAN) Project, which aims at connecting all one lakh 29 thousand Rural Branch Post Offices.
• The Hand-held devices installed under DARPAN Project will ensure improvement in the quality of Postal services being offered in remote rural areas.

15. Haryana govt to honor all 22 medallists of Commonwealth Games from the state.

• The Haryana government will honor all 22 medallists of the 21st Commonwealth Games from the state at a programme on April 26.
• Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced that the gold medal winners will get a cash award of Rs 1.5 crore, silver medal winners Rs 75 lakh, and bronze medallists Rs 50 lakh.

16. WPI inflation eases to 2.47 % in March as food articles turn cheaper.

• Inflation, based on wholesale prices, eased marginally to 2.47 percent in March on cheaper food articles, especially pulses and vegetables. It was 2.48 percent in the previous month.
• According to the Commerce Ministry, food articles showed deflation at 0.29 percent in March as against 0.88 percent in the preceding month.
• The WPI inflation in March last year was at 5.11 percent.
• Retail inflation, slipped to a five-month low of 4.28 percent in March on account of decline in food prices.
• Inflation in ‘fuel and power’ basket rose to 4.70 percent in March from 3.81 percent in the previous month.

17. India ranks 10th among 53 Commonwealth nations on new Commonwealth innovation index.

• India has ranked 10th on a new Commonwealth Innovation Index, topped by the UK, Singapore, and Canada.
• The index was launched as part of a new Commonwealth Innovation Hub on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London.
• It has been created in partnership with the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and its annual Global Innovation Index (GII).

18. East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh is all set to become the country’s first ‘LED street light district’.

• The rural LED street lighting programme in the district entailing the installation of around 3.1 lakh LED street lights has been completed.
• The exercise is expected to save around 34 Million Units (MU) annually.
• AP has already ranked the best State in the implementation of energy efficiency and conservation programmes by the World Bank.
• Static part: Andhra Pradesh:- Chief Minister- Nara Chandrababu Naidu|Governor- E. S. L. Narasimhan.

19. First regional conference of eastern states on Water Resources was held in Kolkata.

• The first regional conference of eastern states on Water Resources is been held to address the outstanding water issues of these states.
• The conference is intended for finding a solution to mitigate intra and intra-basin issues relating to water resources in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal.
• Static part: Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation- Nitin Jairam Gadkari|Union Minister of State for Water Resources- Arjun Ram Meghwal.