64th National Film Awards announced in New Delhi.
- Akshay Kumar was awarded as the Best actor for his movie, ‘Rustom’.
- ‘Neeraja’ was awarded as the Best Movie of 2016.
- ‘Dangal’ fame, Zaira Wasim bagged the award for Best Supporting Actress. '
- ‘Pink’ was named as the ‘Best Movie on Social Issues’.
- Director, Priyadarshan was the head of the jury for the 64th National Awards.
- National Film Awards were constituted in 1954 and are awarded yearly by Directorate of Film Festivals.
‘Deendayal Rasoi Yojana’ to be launched by CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan.
- CM will launch this scheme in 49 districts of Madhya Pradesh.
- Under this scheme, people would be provided wholesome meal through canteens that would offer subsidised prices (wholesome meal below Rs. 5/-).
- The arrangement is expected to serve almost 2000 people on a regular basis.
- Urban Infrastructure Scheme of Chief Minister will provide funds required to set set these canteens/ centres.
Rajya Sabha clears bills for roll out of GST Bill.
Rajya Sabha cleared four supporting bills to clear way for GST. These are -
(a) Central Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill(b) Integrated GST Bill(c) Compensation GST Bill(d) Union Territory GST Bill 2017
- Lok Sabha has already passed these bills and they will be enacted after President’s approval.
- GST council will hold a meeting in May in Srinagar to decide how to fit various various goods and services in different tax slabs.
North Koel Irrigation Project to be revived by Union Government.
- Union Government will revive 45 year old North Koel Irrigation Project in order to facilitate irrigation for almost 1 lakh hectare farmland in Palamu and Daltonganj regions of Jharkhand as well as some neighbouring districts of Bihar.
- The cost to revive the project is expected to be around Rs. 1622 crores.
- The announcement was made by Union Water Resources Minister, Uma Bharti.
India takes over operations of 1 unit of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant.
- Russian firm which is based in Moscow and also a subsidiary of ROSATOM State Atomic Energy Corporation, ASE group of Companies handed over the operations of first unit of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant to Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL).
- The warranty period and commercial operation of the power plant had started in December 2014.
- Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant is located in Tamil Nadu. Unit I and II of the power plant have a capacity of 1000 MW each while unit III and IV are under construction.
Malala Yousafzai set to become youngest UN Messenger of Peace.
- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will appoint 19 years old Malala as the Messenger of Peace for UN.
- As a peace messenger, Malala will help to promote education of girls across the globe.
- She is also the youngest recipient of Nobel Peace Prize.
- Jane Goodall, Actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Douglas, Musicians Yo Yo Ma, Daniel Barenboim also serve as the Messenger of Peace.
New Constitution signed by Thailand King.
- Thailand King, Maha Vajiralongkorn signed a new constitution in Bangkok.
- This is Thailand’s 20th constitution since 1932.
- The new constitution is expected to pave way for Democracy while also giving the army a substantial role in politics.
WTTC names India as the 7th largest Tourism Economy.
- As per the report of World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), India stands at 7th place as a tourism economy in terms of GDP.
- Travel and tourism sector recorded growth of Rs. 14.1 trillion (USD 208.9 billion) in 2016, which is 7th largest in the world in terms of size.
- The report was presented by President and CEO of WTTC, David Scowsill.
Asian development Bank expects Indian Economy to grow to 7.4% in 2017-18.
- For financial year 2017-18, Asian Development Bank has projected India’s growth forecast at 7.4%.
- ADB expects the growth rate to improve to 7.6% in 2018.
- India reflected a growth rate of 7.1% for 2016-17.
Bhimaraya Metri appointed as the Director of IIM Trichy.
- Metri will take over the office from Prafulla Agnihotri, who is also the founding director of IIM Trichy.
- Before taking charge as IIM Trichy Director, Metri served as the Dean of L&T Institute of Project Management at Vadodara.
- Besides this, he has also served as Professor in-charge of PhD programmes at BITS Pilani, Professor and Dean at MDI Gurgaon, IMI New Delhi as well
