07 April 2018 - Daily Current Affairs

07 April 2018 - Daily Current Affairs

Indian Premier League-11 to kick off in Mumbai

• Today, the Indian Premier League (11th) has begun with Defending Champions Mumbai Indians led by Rohit Sharma and Chennai Super Kings led by Mahindra Singh Dhoni in the season's opening clash at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
• This time (2018- IPL11) matches will be played over the course of 50 days at 10 different venues, with a total of 60 matches to be played between April 7 and May 27.
• This year we will see the return of the Chennai Super Kings and the Rajasthan Royals after serving two years of suspension for the involvement of their respective owners in the 2013 IPL betting case.
• This would be the first season with DRS, technology-based system used in cricket to assist the match officials with their decision-making.

Note:

• The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in India contested every year by franchise teams representing Indian cities.
• The league was founded by the Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI) in 2007.

Team Name	Captain	Coach
Chennai Super Kings	Mahendra Singh Dhoni	Stephen Fleming
Delhi Daredevils	Gautam Gambhir	Ricky Ponting
Kings XI Punjab	Ravichandran Ashwin	Brad Hodge
Kolkata Knight Riders	Dinesh Karthik	Jacques Kallis
Mumbai Indians	Rohit Sharma	Mahela Jayawardena
Rajasthan Royals	Ajinkya Rahane	Paddy Upton
Royal Challengers Bangalore	Virat Kohli	Daniel Vettori
Sunrises Hyderabad	Ken Williamson	Tom Moody

Sathish Kumar Sivalingam wins the gold medal in 77 kg weightlifting

• Sathish Kumar Sivalingam lifted 317 kg in total (144 kg - Snatch and 173 kg Clean and Jerk) to clinch the gold medal for India in Men's 77 kg weightlifting.
• England's Jack Oliver secured silver with a combined effort of 312 kg.
• Australia's Francois Etoundi (305 kg) secure Bronze medal.

Leander Paes becomes most successful doubles player in Davis Cup

• Indian Pair Leander Paes (44-year) and Rohan Bopanna downed a fighting Chinese pair of Mo Xin Gong and Ze Zhang 5-7 7-6(5) 7-6(3) in the do-or-die doubles rubber of the Asia/Oceania Group I tie in Tianjin.
• Now, Leander Paes has become the most successful doubles player in the history of Davis Cup with the 43^rd win.
• Paes was tied on 42 wins with Italian great Nicola Pietrangeli for long but finally surpassed him.
• Paes (at age of 16-year) had made his Davis Cup debut in 1990 alongside Zeeshan Ali.

Manipur govt announces a cash reward of Rs 15 lakhs each for Mirabai & Sanjita

• Today, Manipur government has announced a cash reward of 15 lakhs rupees each for Saikhom Mirabai Chanu and Khumukcham Sanjita Chanu.
• Mirabai Chanu (48 Kilogram category) & Sanjita Chanu (53 Kilogram) have brought laurels to the Nation and the State by winning Gold Medals in Weightlifting event at the 21st Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast in Australia.

Important Dates

World Health Day being 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 tagline for this year's World Health Day is "Universal Health Coverage: everyone, everywhere".

Note:

• The World Health Organization(WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that is concerned with international public health.
• It was established on 7^th April 1948, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
• The WHO is responsible for the World Health Report, the worldwide World Health Survey, and World Health Day.

National Affairs

Centre, Maharashtra Govt & World Bank sign USD 420 million project

•  The union govt. & Maharashtra Govt. and the World Bank have signed a USD 420 million project to help small and marginals farmers in the Marathwada and Vidarbha region of the state.
• The project will help in increasing climate resilient practices in agriculture and ensuring that farming continues to remain a financially viable activity for them.
• The project will take up a series of activities at the farm and watershed level.

Ganga Hariteema Yojana being launched in 27 districts of UP

• The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister ‘Yogi Adityanath’ has launched ‘Ganga Hariteema Yogna’ in a function organized on the bank of Sangam at Allahabad.
• The Ganga Hariteema Yojana (Ganga Greenery scheme) is being launched in 27 districts of the state located on the bank of river Ganga.
• The objectives of the schemes include enhancing green cover in the catchment areas of the river Ganga and to control the land erosion.
• Plantation will be carried out in one-kilometer areas from the banks of river under the scheme.
• The scheme will be carried out by 16^th September (Ozone Day) this year.

Khadi Store locator app launched

• The Minister of State for MSME, Giriraj Singh has launched a mobile phone application (for locating 4,000 Khadi stores) at the 9th National Board of Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) met in New Delhi.
• The rest of stores (around 8,000 Khadi stores) will available on the app by the end of this month.
• The Khadi and Village Industries products are manufactured by about 7 lakh privately owned household units which are funded through schemes like the Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP).

International Affairs

Qatar introduces national service for women

•  Qatar is introducing national service for women for the first time while extending the time for conscripted men in the military under a law issued by the country's Emir.
• Women aged over 18 -year will be able to volunteer for national service which comes into immediate effect.
• Now, men will serve a year instead of three months in the military service.
• Every Qatari male between 18 and 35 is required to perform a compulsory military service while the national service for females is voluntary.
• The new law also allows for a National Service Academy to be established and says men must apply for conscription within 60 days of turning 18.

Banking & Finance

Country's foreign exchange reserves hit a life-time high of USD 424.361 bn

•  According to the Reserve Bank of India, the country's foreign exchange reserves hit a life-time high of 424.361 billion US dollar after rising by 1.828 billion Dollar in the week to March 30.
• Earlier, the reserves had touched a record high of 421.914 billion dollars on February 9.
•  Gold reserves remained unchanged at 21.614 billion US dollar.

Note:  Foreign exchange reserves are reserve assets held by a central bank in foreign currencies, used to back liabilities on their own issued currency as well as to influence monetary policy.