08- 09 April 2018 - Daily Current Affairs

08- 09 April 2018 - Daily Current Affairs

Honours & Awards

Anushka Sharma to receive Dadasaheb Phalke Excellence Award

• Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma (29-year) will be awarded the prestigious ‘Dadasaheb Phalke Excellence Award’ for experimenting with ideas and subjects as a producer.
• She has been appreciated for breaking new grounds as a film producer, along with her brother Karnesh Sharma.
• Their company Clean Slate Films focus on experimenting with new subjects and ideas. 
• Anushka's first three productions: NH 10, Phillauri and Pari (the recently-released) showed their maturity in dabbling with three different genres (thriller, romance and horror) with a distinct and differential content pitch for audiences.

National Affairs

PM Modi attended Central Public-Sector Enterprises conclave in New Delhi

• The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, has attend the Central Public-Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) Conclave at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.
• The deliberations in the Conclave will lead to the formulation of an actionable roadmap to achieve the target of a New India 2022.
• The Senior officers of CPSE and top Ministry officials is attending the conclave.
• CPSEs in recent years have enhanced their profile with a much larger share in public investments without compromising on their contribution to the government coffers by way of dividends and taxes.

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana launched in Delhi

• The Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas ‘Dharmendra Pradhan’ has launched ‘Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana’ (PMUY) scheme in Delhi and distributed new LPG connections and cylinders to beneficiaries.
• Around 400 LPG connections were handed over to the families belonging to below poverty line category.
• Under this scheme, Target has been increased from the existing 5 crores connections to 8 crores connections by 2020.

Note:

• Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana is a scheme of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas for providing LPG connections to women from Below Poverty Line (BPL) households.
• The identification of eligible BPL families will be made in consultation with the State Governments and the Union Territories.

Tripura CM launches state component of PMKVY in Agartala

• The Chief Minister of Tripura ‘Biplab Kumar Deb’ has launched the state component of Pradhanmantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna (PMKVY), in Agartala.
• Tripura is the first state in the North East to implement the state component of PMKVY through Directorate of Skill Development (DSD).
• According to Deb, He assured that the target to give training to more than 1 lakh 16,000 youths by 2020.
• The state government is also planning to promote industrialisation based on pineapple, bamboo, rubber and jackfruit.

Free chemotherapy treatment for cancer patients from June in Maharashtra

• The Maharashtra govt has announced that cancer patients would be provided free chemotherapy treatment at district hospitals.
• The first phase of the plan will start in June with hospitals in Nagpur, Gadchiroli, Pune, Amravati, Jalgaon, Nashik, Wardha, Satara, Bhandara and Akola.
• Physician and nurse from each of these district hospitals would be imparted training for three weeks from May by the Medical Oncology department of Tata Memorial.

Note: Chemotherapy is the use of anticancer drugs designed to slow or stop the growth of rapidly dividing cancer cells in the body.

Tamil Nadu govt launches mobile app for farmers

• Tamil Nadu Chief Minister ‘Edappadi K. Palaniswami’ has launched the bi-lingual ‘Uzhavan’ (farmer) app, to access nine types of services including details about their crop insurance.
• The app can be used by farmers to get information on farm subsidies, book farm equipment and related infrastructure and get details on their crop insurance, besides receiving weather forecast for the next four days.
• The CM also launched the ‘Amma Bio-Fertiliser’ scheme.
• The initiative was aimed at better management of nature farming and help boost and maintain soil fertility.

‘Gobardhan Yojna' to be launched from Karnal on Apr 30

•  The central govt scheme ‘Gobardhan Yojna’ will be launched nationally from Haryana's Karnal on 30^th April for managing & converting cattle dung and solid waste into manure and biogas.
• Under it, the govt. aims to ensure cleanliness in villages and generate energy by converting cattle dung and solid agricultural waste into compost and biogas.
• Gobar-Dhan Yojana (also known as Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resource Fund scheme) aims to improve lives of the villagers.
• The central and state governments would provide funds in the ratio of 60:40.

Assam's spring festival begins in Manas National Park

• The Assam Spring Festival (two-days) has begun at the Manas National Park where visitors will get to experience the state's local food, music, handloom and handicrafts.
• The aim of the event is to promote the local food and culture of the fringe villagers.
• The festival has been organised by Indian Weavers' Association and the Swankar Mithinga Onsai Afat.
• The itinerary of the festival includes village tours, exposition of local handicraft and handloom, cultural showa, local folk music and tasting of local cuisines and delicacies.

International Affairs

Hungarian populist prime minister Viktor Orban wins new term

• Hungary's right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban (54-year) has claimed a landslide victory in general election.
• According to the Hungary's National Election Office, Fidesz party won almost half of the vote, with 93% of ballots counted.
• Mr. Orban will serve a third consecutive term in office.
• Fidesz won a two-thirds majority in 2010 and 2014 but lost it in by-elections in 2015.

Sports

India add 5 more medals in Commonwealth Games-2018

• Indian shooting ace Jitu Rai claimed the gold medal in men's 10-meter air pistol event by creating a new games record while compatriot Om Prakash Mitharval bagged a bronze. 
• Weightlifter Pardeep Singh settled for a silver in the 105- kilogram category.
• In Women's 10-meter Air Rifle event, India's Mehuli Ghosh clinched silver while compatriot Apurvi Chandela got bronze.
• The Indian men's table tennis team upstaged defending champions Singapore 3-2 to enter the finals. 
• Now, in medals tally, India occupies 3rd position with 17 honours comprising 8 gold, 4 silver and 5 Bronze.
• Australia continues to top the medal tally followed by England.

Indian Davis Cup team advances to World Group Play-offs stage

• Indian Davis Cup team advanced to the next stage World Group Play-offs stage with a 3-2 win over China in Tianjin.
• India advanced to the next stage when Ramkumar Ramanathan and Prajnesh Gunneswaran emerged winners in the two Reverse Singles to register a sensational 3-2 win over China.
• India trailing 0-2 by losing the two Opening Singles matches.
• Earlier, Leander Paes combined with Rohan Bopanna overcame the Chinese pair of Mo Xin Gong and Ze Zhang in three sets 5-7, 7-6, 7-6.

Note:

• The 2018 Davis Cup is the 107th edition of the Davis Cup, a tournament between national teams in men's tennis.
• In 2018, new rules were introduced for the Group I and II zonal events, with ties now being played as best-of-three sets over the course of two days.