13 April 2019 - Daily Current Affairs

13 April 2019 - Daily Current Affairs

1. Russia awards PM Narendra Modi with highest state honour

• Russia awarded its highest state honour 'Order of St Andrew the Apostle' to PM Narendra Modi for promoting the bilateral special and privileged strategic partnership.
• The award was extended on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin with whom Modi shares strong chemistry.
• This is the seventh international award that PM Modi has been honoured with.
• On April 4 2019, Prime Minister was conferred with United Arab Emirates’s highest civilian decoration, the Order of Zayed, which is awarded to people who contribute to international leadership in strengthening relations with the country.

Note:

• Among the foreign awardees is the President of China Xi Jinping, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Geydar Aliev.
• The ceremony for the award is usually held at the St Andrew Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace.
• The most recent person who was decorated is Valentina Matvienko, Chairperson of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. She was awarded the order on March 28, 2019

About Award

• The Order of St Andrew the Apostle is awarded to prominent statesmen and public figures and representatives of science, culture, the arts and various industries for their exceptional services in promoting the prosperity, greatness and glory of Russia.
• The order can also be awarded to foreign heads of state for outstanding services to Russia.
• The Order was established in 1698 by Tsar Peter the Great, in honour of Saint Andrew, the first apostle of Jesus and patron saint of Russia.
• It was bestowed in a single class and was only awarded for the most outstanding civilian or military merit.

Source: The Economic Times

2. Telugu poet K Siva Reddy selected for prestigious Saraswati Samman 2018

• Telugu poet K Siva Reddy has been selected for the prestigious Saraswati Samman, 2018 for his collection of poetry titled Pakkaki Ottigilite.
• The award, instituted by the KK Birla Foundation in 1991, is given annually for an outstanding literary work written in any Indian language and published during the last 10 years.
• It is the highest recognition in the field of Indian literature and carries a cash purse of Rs 15 lakh, apart from a citation and a plaque.

About K Siva Reddy

• He was born in 1943 in a farmer’s family in Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur.
• He is known as the most renowned modern poets in Telugu.
• He has also taught English literature and produced 23 volumes of poetry.

Note:

• Past recipients of the Saraswati Samman include poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan, and writers Vijay Tendulkar, Shamsur Rahman Faruqi and Dr Indira Parthasarathy Ramanujar, among many others.

Source: The Hindustan Times

3. Indian Oil bags AIMA Managing India Award for outstanding PSU

• Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has bagged the prestigious 'AIMA Managing India Award 2019 for outstanding PSU of the year.'
• The award was presented by former President Pranab Mukherjee to Sanjiv Singh, Chairman, Indian Oil, at a glittering ceremony held here on Monday.
• The AIMA awards, declared under 11 categories, were headed by Sanjiv Goenka, chairman, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, and shortlisted 11 eminent enterprises and personalities of the country for their contribution to nation-building.

Source: Business standard

4. Digital Sukoon founder, Sudhanshu Kumar receives Best Digital Agency award

• Digital Sukoon founder, Sudhanshu Kumar was honoured with the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Nobel Award by International Human Rights Council at Hotel Sea Princess Juhu Mumbai.
• Digital Sukoon is a Mumbai based Digital solutions agency, which provides a comprehensive 360-degree solution to their clients for the promotional needs by creating innovative campaigns and optimum usage of technology tools.
• This agency was successful in creating interest around the films with the help of appropriate modern technology – like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Algorithm, Analytics and at the same time, it also helps to make the films to get the top spot in IMDb’s list of most anticipated films and show.

Source: Business standard

Banking & Economy

5. HDFC Bank ranked No. 1 in India by Forbes

• HDFC Bank has been identified as number 1 bank by customers in India, as per Forbes World’s Best Bank survey.
• In the first edition of this survey, Forbes partnered with market research firm Statista to measure the best banks in 23 countries.
• HDFC Bank emerged as India’s No 1 bank. ICICI Bank was at number 2 and SBI was surprisingly ranked 11th in the list.
• At third rank was DBS, followed by Kotak Mahindra Bank and IDFC Bank taking the fourth and fifth spot.
• Customers were asked to rate banks on overall recommendation and satisfaction, as well as 5 key attributes or ‘sub-dimensions’ namely trusts, terms & conditions, customer services, digital services and financial advice.

Source: Zee Business

6. Google Pay launches gold buying, partners MMTC-PAMP India

• Google has partnered with bullion refiner MMTC-PAMP India to allow Google Pay users to buy and sell gold through the app.
• Through this partnership with India's only LBMA accredited gold refinery, Google Pay users will be able to buy 99.99 per cent 24-karat gold, Google said in a statement.
• Google Pay users can purchase gold for any value and that will be stored on behalf of the user, by MMTC-PAMP, in secure vaults.
• The users can buy and sell this gold any time at the latest price, refreshed every few minutes, as displayed on Google Pay app.

Source: The Economic Times

7. Reinsurance brokers permitted to open foreign currency accounts: RBI

• The Reserve Bank of India said reinsurance brokers have been permitted to open non-interest bearing foreign currency accounts with banks for undertaking transactions.
• Earlier, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) had issued a notification in this regard.
• Foreign currency account refers to a bank account held or maintained in currency other than the currency of India or Nepal or Bhutan.

Source: The Economic Times

8. CMFRI signs agreement with ISRO to save coastal wetlands

• The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have joined hands to map, validate and protect smaller wetlands in coastal regions.
• The programme is aimed at restoring them through coastal livelihood programmes.
• According to the MoU, the two institutes aim at identifying and demarcating wetlands and restore them through suitable livelihood options such as coastal aquaculture.
• The app will be used for real-time monitoring of the wetlands and giving advisories to stakeholders and coastal people.
• The project aims to find ways and means to mitigate the impact of climate change in marine fisheries and coastal region.

Source: The Hindu Businessline

9. Hong Kong's stock market overtakes Japan to be the world's third largest

• Hong Kong’s equity market has overtaken Japan to be the world’s third largest in value, behind only the U.S. and mainland China.
• Hong Kong’s market cap was $5.78 trillion, compared with $5.76 trillion for Japan, according to data compiled by Bloomberg based on where primary securities are listed.
• The Asian city’s Hang Seng Index climbed 17% in 2019 though, when it closed at its highest since June 15.

Source: Business standard

10. TCS, Google partner to build industry-specific cloud solutions

• Tata Consultancy Services has partnered with Google Cloud to build industry-specific cloud solutions.
• TCS’ solutions on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) will help enterprises build secure, cloud-native analytics platforms that enable high levels of personalization, and are cost-effective, easy to maintain, and future ready.
• In addition, TCS is a primary partner of Google Anthos, a modern platform that simplifies building, running and managing services both on-premises and in the cloud.

Source: The Hindu Businessline

Arts & Culture

11. Rama Navami is celebrated with religious fervour

• Ram Navami is being celebrated with religious fervour and enthusiasm in different parts of the country today.
• The festival marks the birth of Lord Rama, the seventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu.
• President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have greeted people on the occasion.
• In a message, Mr Kovind said, the life of Lord Ram inspires the people to follow his footsteps and strive for nobility in thought, words and deeds.
• He said people should imbibe these values in the service of a prosperous nation and a harmonious world.
• In a tweet, Mr Modi said, extended his warm greetings to all citizens on the auspicious occasion of Ram Navami.

Source: News on Air

12. Baisakhi harvest festival being celebrated today

• The festival of harvest Baisakhi is being celebrated with traditional enthusiasm in the northern part of the country today. Baisakhi is celebrated with much fanfare in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.
• People are taking a dip at the holy sarovars, canals and rivers before joining the Mela celebrations. Traditional folk dances are performed on this day.
• Baisakhi also commemorates the formation of Khalsa Panth by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699.

Source: News on Air

Appointment

13. Jamia Millia Islamia gets its first woman vice-chancellor

• Professor Najma Akhtar has been appointed as the vice-chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia, making her the first woman to hold the charge. She has been appointed for a period of five years.
• She is also the first lady vice-chancellor of any central university in Delhi.
• She has four decades of academic scholarship in educational leadership.
• She is a gold medalist from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and completed her PhD (Education) from Kurukshetra University.
• She held posts of faculty and Controller of Examinations and Admissions and Director, Academic Programmes at AMU.
• She was the founder director of the State Institute of Educational Management and Training (SIEMAT), Uttar Pradesh, which was established for developing educational administrators for the country.
• She has earned international accolades, including Commonwealth scholarship and the prestigious National Science Talent scholarship.
• She studied in international institutes such as the University of Warwick and Nottingham UK and IIEP Paris (UNESCO).

Source: India Today

14. Gargi Kaul appointed Secretary, Defence Finance

• The government has appointed Senior bureaucrat Gargi Kaul as Secretary, Defence Finance, as part of a bureaucratic reshuffle.
• She is a 1984-batch officer of the Indian Audit and Accounts Service, is at present Financial Advisor (Defence Services), Ministry of Defence.

Source: Business standard

Science & Technology

15. First-ever blackhole to be photographed named 'Powehi'

• The first-ever blackhole to be pictured has been named `Powehi` by a Hawaiian professor Larry Kimura, who was tasked with the job by astronomers involved in the project.
• The name Powehi, meaning the embellished dark source of unending creation, was deliberated upon by astronomers and renowned Hawaiian language professor, Larry Kimura.
• "Powehi", the name bestowed upon the first black hole pictured ever, is sourced from the Hawaiian word "Kumulipo", a primordial chant describing the creation of the universe.
• Po, the profound dark source of unending creation, is a concept emphasised and repeated in the Kumulipo, while wehi, or wehiwehi, is one of many descriptions of po in the chant.
• Two of the world's most powerful telescopes located on a Hawaii Island played a vital role in producing the world's very first image of a black hole that now bears the Hawaiian name.
• Powehi, the black hole photographed for the first time ever, lies at the centre of Messier 87, the largest galaxy we know of, about 54 million light-years away.

Source: NDTV

National Affairs

16. Kanpur ranked 1st as the most polluted city

• According to the Air Quality in India 2014-2019' report, Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh is the most polluted city in the world and is ranked one on the list.
• Faridabad in Haryana has been ranked second and Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lok Sabha constituency, is ranked third on the WHO's list of 15 most polluted cities.
• WHO’s report states that Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh is witnessing a rise in the number of people suffering from allergies and respiratory problems due to the huge amount of construction in the city.
• Delhi is ranked sixth on the list.
• Fourteen of the 15 cities, including four in Uttar Pradesh, on the World Health Organisation (WHO) list of most polluted cities in the world, are in India, it said.
• Gaya and Patna in Bihar are fourth and fifth on the list, while Delhi is sixth and Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow is seventh.
• Cities of Agra, Muzaffarpur, Srinagar, Gurugram, Jaipur, Patiala and Jodhpur are also on the WHO list of most polluted cities.

Source: The Economic Times