07 April 2017 - Current Affairs

World Health Day Observed Today


  • The 'World Health Day’ is a global health awareness day celebrated every year on 7th April to mark the anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organization (WHO).
  • The day provides with a unique opportunity to mobilize action around a specific health topic of concern to people all over the world.
  • The theme of this year is “Depression: Let's Talk”, aims to mobilize action on depression.

Note:
  • Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behavior, feelings, and sense of well-being.
  • More than 300 million people are now living with depression, an increase of more than 18% between 2005 and 2015.

Venkaiah Naidu to inaugurate 3-day National Children’s Film Festival


  • The Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Urban Development ‘M Venkaiah Naidu’ has inaugurated a three-day National Children’s Film Festival in Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh).
  • The aim of the film festival is to expose children to quality cinema and to introduce novel elements beyond films.
  • More than 40,000 children from the state are expected to attend a screening of 24 films during the festival.
  • The state government has offered to provide 12 screens in Vishakhapatnam and daily three shows will be screened in each theater.

Note: The National Children's Film Festival (NCFF) was established by the Children's Film Society, India (CFSI), in a bid to expand the market for Children’s film and encourage talent in the country.
 

Two-day national TB summit to begin in Dharamshala today


  • Today, the two days national TB summit has begun with the slogan “TB Harga, Desh Jeetega” in Dharamshala, Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh.
  • Several MP’s from different political parties, renowned experts, doctors, and celebrities is taking part in the deliberations.
  • After detailed deliberations in the summit, a future roadmap will be prepared to eliminate the TB from the country.
  • Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association HPCA is organizing this summit.
  • Tomorrow, the HPCA cricket stadium would also become a witness of a friendly T-20 cricket match between MPs eleven and Mumbai Hero’s.

Note: Tuberculosis (TB) is the potentially serious infectious bacterial disease that mainly affects the lungs.

Jio complementary offer not in sync with regulations: TRAI


  • The telecom regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has advised ‘Reliance Jio’ to stop complimentary three-month service offer as it was not in accordance with the regulatory framework.
  • The authority has examined it and found that it was not in accordance with regulatory framework, so the department has advised them to stop it.
  • Earlier, Jio has announced that it has clocked 72 million paid users and is extending its one-time Rs. 99 payment membership programme Jio Prime till 15th of April.
  • According to Reliance Jio, he has accepted the TRAI's decision and is in the process of fully complying with the regulator's advice.


India & Israel sign defense deals worth over 2 billion USD


  • India and Israel have signed megdefensece deals worth over 2 billion USD for advanced surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems to destroy hostile aircraft, missiles, and drones at a range of 70-km.
  • The major deal was for the joint project between the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) for the Barak-8 medium-range SAM systems to initially include one regiment of 16 launchers and 560 missiles for the Indian Army.
  • Earlier in Feb 2017, the cabinet committee had cleared the MR-SAM project for the Army at an overall cost of 16,830 crore rupees.


India & UK to set up 240 mn pound fund for green energy


  • India and the United Kingdom (UK) have decided to set up a 240-million Pound fund to finance clean energy projects.
  • India had in 2015 set up the Rs 40,000 crore National Infrastructure and Investment Fund (NIIF) to finance greenfield as well as brownfield projects.
  • The Green Growth Equity Fund will be a sub-fund of NIIF.
  • The fund will focus initial investments in India’s rapidly growing energy and renewables market.

Note: The objective of NIIF is to maximizese economic impact through infrastructure development in viable projects both greenfield and brownfield, including stalled projects, mainly in the core infra sector.

Veteran NASA spacewoman getting 3 extra months in orbit


  • The World's oldest and most experienced spacewoman “Peggy Whitson” (57-year) is getting three extra months (until September) and take advantage of an empty seat on a Soyuz capsule in the fall.
  • The two men she flew up with in November Thomas Pesquet (France) and Oleg Novitskiy (Russia) will return in June without her.

Note: -The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program as well as aeronautics and aerospace research

NEFT transfers to be faster as RBI cuts clearance time


  • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to slash clearance time for National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) to enhance efficiency of the electronic payment system and add to customer convenience.
  • The NEFT settlement cycle will be reduced from hourly batches to half hourly batches.
  • According to RBI, 11 additional settlement batches will be introduced at 8.30 am onwards, taking the total number of half hourly settlement batches during the day to 23.
  • The starting batch at 8 am and closing batch at 7 pm shall remain the same and the return discipline will also remain the same as per the existing practice.

Note: National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) is an electronic funds transfer system maintained by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Trade deficit with China at USD 46.7 billion in April-February


  • India's trade deficit with China has been recorded at 46.7 billion US dollars during the April-February period of the last fiscal.
  • overall trade with China during the 11-month period decreased marginally by 0.87 % to 64.57 billion US dollars.
  • India's exports to China grew by 8.69% to 8.94 billion US dollars while imports declined by 2.26 % to 55.63 billion US dollars.


Vijay Goel approves appointment of Foreign Coaches in Athletics


  • The union Sports Minister Vijay Goel has approved the appointment of two foreign coaches and two support staff for athletics.
  • Dave Smith, Galina P. Bukharina, Dmitry Kislev and Elmira Kisleva have been made upto 2020 Olympics.
  • These appointments were recommended by the Foreign Coach Selection committee under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Sports.


Thailand International Boxing: Shyam Kumar enters final


  • India's K Shyam Kumar entered into the final of the ‘Thailand International Boxing Tournament’ in Bangkok in the 49kg category.
  • He defeated Gankhuyag Gan-Erdene (Mongolia) in the last-four stage to make the summit clash.
  • Rohit Tokas had to settle for a bronze medal after going down in the semi-finals of the 64kg category against Abduraimov Elnur (Uzbekistan).
  • India had sent a seven-strong team for the event.


PV Sindhu reaches career-best World No.2 ranking


  • Rio Olympics silver medallist ‘P V Sindhu’ (21-year) has jumped three places to achieve world number two ranking (career-best) in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) ranking.
  • She has become only the second Indian woman after ‘Saina Nehwal’ to break into the top-five of the world rankings by earning 75759 points.
  • Saina Nehwal to be at a ninth position in the ranking table with 64279 points.
  • The women's singles chart is led by Tai Tzu Ying (Chinese Taipei) with 87911 points.

Note: Recently, Sindhu bagged the India Open title after defeating Carolina Marin(Spain) in the summit clash.

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