Current Affairs Update – 7th April, 2016

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the important Current Affairs of 7 April, 2016. These are important for the upcoming SBI Clerk and NABARD Assistant Manager exam 2016.

Current Affairs at a Glance – 7th April, 2016

  1. The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) on Thursday
    signed a memorandum of understanding with the Life Insurance Corporation of India to supplement funds under its
    fund-of-funds operation that aims to provide venture capital for medium and small enterprises.
  2. The Cabinet Committee on Economic
    Affairs (CCEA) on 6 April 2016 cleared conversion of Working Capital Term Loan
    (WCTL) of Bank of Baroda’s (BoB) 29.91 crore rupees
    loan to Andrew Yule & Co. Ltd. (AYCL) into equity shares
    .
  3. The Union Cabinet chaired by the
    Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 6 April 2016 gave its ex-post facto approval
    for implementation of One Rank One
    Pension (OROP).
    The benefit
    will be given with effect from 1 July 2014.
  4. The Union Cabinet chaired by the
    Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 6 April 2016 gave approval for increasing the
    framework agreement between Exim Bank of India and
    a consortium of Iranian banks lead by Central Bank
    of Iran
    .
  5. Union Cabinet chaired by Prime
    Minister Narendra Modi on 6 April 2016 gave its approval to the Recommendations
    on Fiscal Deficit Targets and Additional Fiscal Deficit to States during
    Fourteenth Finance Commission (FFC)
    award period 2015-20 under the two
    flexibility options.
  6. Union Government on 5 April 2016
    launched the low cost micro solar device, Surya Jyoti. The solar dome would help
    rural and urban population to have a reliable access to electricity.
  7. Union Agriculture and Farmers
    Welfare Minister, Radha Mohan Singh, on 6 April 2016 laid the foundation stone
    of Haryana
    State University of Horticultural Sciences at Karnal, Haryana
    .
  8. The Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on 5 April 2016 launched Odisha
    Adarsh Vidyalaya (OAV) project at Sasan Ambagaon village
    in his home constituency Hinjli in Ganjam
    district.
  9. Gujarat’s IPS officer Rakesh Asthana has been appointed as Additional Director in the CBI.
  10. Iceland ruling coalition on 6 April 2016 named Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson as the Prime Minister of the country.
  11. World Health Day (WHD) 2016 was observed globally on 7 April 2016. The theme for the year is Halt the Rise:
    Beat Diabetes.
  12. Reliance Industries director Nita Ambani and State Bank of India chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya
    have been ranked top two in Forbes’ “Asia 50 Power Businesswomen 2016
    list.

Finance/Economy/Banking –
SIDBI signs MoU with LIC to promote startups and MSMEs

  • The Small Industries Development
    Bank of India (SIDBI) on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding with the
    Life Insurance Corporation of India to supplement funds under its fund-of-funds
    operation that aims to provide venture capital for medium and small
    enterprises.
  • SIDBI set up the India Aspiration
    Fund (IAF) under its fund-of-fund operations, with a corpus of Rs 2,000 crore
    after the budget announcement of 2015. The IAF aims to provide a boost to
    startup venture capital in the country.
  • A committee instituted by SIDBI
    under IAF has so far cleared proposals for an aggregate commitment of around Rs
    1,400 crore to 38 venture capital funds.

CCEA approved Andrew Yule proposal to convert Bank of Baroda’s loan
into equity

  • The Cabinet Committee on Economic
    Affairs (CCEA) on 6 April 2016 cleared conversion of Working Capital Term Loan
    (WCTL) of Bank of Baroda’s (BoB) 29.91 crore rupees loan to Andrew Yule &
    Co. Ltd. (AYCL) into equity shares.
  • The approval was granted during
    the CCEA meet chaired y Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
  • The price of equity shares will
    be based on market price determined as per Securities and Exchange Board of
    India (SEBI) Guidelines on the date of acquiring of shares by BoB with face
    value of 2 rupees per share.

Union Cabinet gave ex-facto approval for implementation of One Rank One
Pension

  • The Union Cabinet chaired by the
    Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 6 April 2016 gave its ex-post facto approval
    for implementation of One Rank One Pension (OROP).
  • Implementation of OROP will enhance
    the pension for the pensioners/family pensioners of Defence Forces.

The details are as follows:
  • The benefit will be given with
    effect from 1 July 2014.
  • Pension will be re-fixed for pre
    1 July 2014 pensioners retiring in the same rank and with the same length of
    service as the average of minimum and maximum pension drawn by the retirees in
    the year 2013. Those drawing pensions above the average will be protected.
  • The benefit would also be
    extended to family pensioners including war widows and disabled pensioners.

Union Cabinet approved Funding of exports to Iran through Export
Development Fund of Exim Bank

  • The Union Cabinet chaired by the
    Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 6 April 2016 gave approval for increasing the
    framework agreement between Exim Bank of India and a consortium of Iranian
    banks lead by Central Bank of Iran.
  • It would help in financing the
    purchase of goods and services from India to 3000 crore rupees from 900 crore
    rupees.
  • This will be done by utilising
    the Export Development Fund (EDF). The proposal provides for domiciling two
    contracts of export of steel rails by STC and for the Chabahar Port Development
    project previously approved by the Cabinet under EDF.
  • The proposal will promote the
    country’s exports with Iran. It will also deepen India’s relationship with Iran
    as a strategic partner.

Union Cabinet approved recommendations of 14th Finance Commission on
fiscal deficit targets
  • Union Cabinet chaired by Prime
    Minister Narendra Modi on 6 April 2016 gave its approval to the Recommendations
    on Fiscal Deficit Targets and Additional Fiscal Deficit to States during
    Fourteenth Finance Commission (FFC) award period 2015-20 under the two
    flexibility options.
  • The commission adopted the fiscal
    deficit threshold limit of 3 per cent of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP)
    for the States.Further, It was also provided a year-to-year flexibility for
    additional fiscal deficit to States.
  • It took the development needs and
    the current macro- economic requirement into account and provided additional
    headroom to a maximum of 0.5 per cent over and above the normal limit of 3 per
    cent in any given year to the States that have a favourable debt-GSDP ratio and
    interest payments-revenue receipts ratio in the previous two years.

Union Cabinet approved to implement National Hydrology Project
  • The Union Cabinet chaired by the
    Prime Minister Narendra Modi 6 April 2016 gave its approval to implement of the
    National Hydrology Project.  It will be a
    central sector scheme with a total outlay of 3679.7674 crore rupees.
  • The Project includes 3640 crore
    rupees for National Hydrology Project (NHP) and 39.7674 crore rupees for
    National Water Informatics Centre (NWIC) to be taken up in two stages.
  • It also provides for
    establishment of NWIC as an independent organization under the control of
    Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation (MoWR,
    RD&GR).

India –
Low cost and environment-friendly solar lighting device, Solar Jyoti,
launched

  • Union Government on 5 April 2016
    launched the low cost micro solar device, Surya Jyoti. The solar dome would
    help rural and urban population to have a reliable access to electricity.
  • This low cost and
    environment-friendly solar lighting device was launched by Union Minister for
    Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan. The device
    would light up homes without electricity and save millions of units of power.
  • The device has been developed
    under the aegis of the Department of Science & Technology.
  • According to preliminary
    estimates, if this technology is adopted in 10 million households only, it has
    the potential of saving 1750 million units of energy.
  • It would also lead to an emission
    reduction of about 12.5 million ton of CO2 equivalent, hence giving a fillip to
    the mission of ‘Clean India, Green India’.

Foundation stone laid for first Horticulture University in Haryana

  • Union Agriculture and Farmers
    Welfare Minister, Radha Mohan Singh, on 6 April 2016 laid the foundation stone
    of Haryana State University of Horticultural Sciences at Karnal, Haryana.
  • The establishment of a fully
    fledged horticultural university will cater the needs to support the gap
    between teaching, research and extension activities in the state.
  • The university will be built on
    118 acres. It will meet the demand of skilled human resources.
  • The varsity will establish the
    convergence and synergy to disseminate latest technology and horticulture
    education to the young generation.
  • The university is expected to
    help in improving productivity levels and to adopt appropriate crop
    diversification to suit the agro climatic conditions of the region.

Odisha Government launched Adarsh Vidyalaya project

  • The Odisha Chief Minister Naveen
    Patnaik on 5 April 2016 launched Odisha Adarsh Vidyalaya (OAV) project at Sasan
    Ambagaon village in his home constituency Hinjli in Ganjam district.
  • The project seeks to provide
    modern schools on the lines of Kendriya Vidyalayas in the underdeveloped rural
    areas of the State.
  • These schools will provide free
    education (classes VI to XII) to students along with free uniforms and other
    study materials.
  • They will have hostel facility in
    future and will be affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education
    (CBSE).
  • One Adarsh Vidyalaya will be set
    up in each of the 314 revenue blocks of the State. In the first phase, 100 of
    these schools started functioning on 5 April 2016.

Schemes to Distribute Energy Efficient Smart Agriculture Pumps &
Fans in Andhra Pradesh launched
  • Union Minister of State (IC) for
    Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal along with Andhra
    Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on 7 April 2016 launched two schemes
    in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh.
  • These are National Energy
    Efficient Agriculture Pumps Programme and National Energy Efficient Fan
    Programme.
  • It will help farmers in replacing
    energy guzzlers age-old agricultural pumps across the country with the new-age
    energy efficient agricultural pumps, with a 5-Star Rating.
  • The farmers will have flexibility
    to switch-on and switch-off the pumps from their mobile phones and from the
    comfort of their homes as the pumps will come enabled with smart control panel
    and a SIM card.

Appointments –
Rakesh Asthana appointed Addl Director in CBI

  • Gujarat’s IPS officer Rakesh
    Asthana has been appointed as Additional Director in the CBI, as the government
    today cleared appointments of over a dozen senior level officers in the premier
    probe agency facing acute shortage of staff.
  • The Appointments Committee of
    Cabinet led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has cleared the appointment of Asthana,
    a 1984 batch IPS officer of Gujarat cadre, as Additional Director in the
    central probe agency, an order issued by Department of Personnel and Training
    said.
  • His batchmate Y C Modi, who has
    been part of Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team that probed
    2002 Gujarat riots cases, is already working as another Additional Director in
    the CBI.

ITC’s Amitabh Coomar appointed new GoJavas CEO

  • GoJavas has appointed Amitabh
    Coomar, a former divisional manager for brand marketing at ITC, as its CEO,
    while its chief operating officer Vijay Ghadge has quit the company, according
    to a statement by the ecommerce logistics firm.
  • Ghadge, who cofounded QuickDel
    Logistics, which acquired GoJavas in 2013 from Jabong, has moved on to join a
    startup in stealth mode, according to a person aware of the development.

Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson named as Iceland Prime Minister

  • Iceland ruling coalition on 6
    April 2016 named Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson as the Prime Minister of the country.
    The coalition also decided to hold elections in the autumn.
  • Earlier, the polls were scheduled
    to take place in the spring of 2017.
  • He will succeed Sigmundur
    Gunnlaugsson who resigned on 5 April 2016 after his name was the leaked in the
    Panama Papers. The leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm, Mossack
    Fonseca, showed Gunnlaugsson owned an offshore firm with his wife that held
    millions of dollars in debt from failed celandic banks.
  • Johannsson, 53, is Agriculture
    and Fisheries Minister and deputy leader of the Progressive Party (PP).

Days –
World Health Day 2016 observed globally with the theme Halt the Rise:
Beat Diabetes

  • World Health Day (WHD) 2016 was
    observed globally on 7 April 2016. The theme for the year is Halt the Rise:
    Beat Diabetes.

The goals of the World Health Day 2016 are:
  • Scale up prevention
  • Strengthen care
  • Enhance surveillance

The day is celebrated every year
since it was first celebrated in 1950 to mark the anniversary of the World
Health Organisation (WHO) formation in 1948.
The theme of the WHD 2015 was
Food safety.
Lists/Reports –
Nita Ambani, SBI chairman in Forbes Asian women power list

  • Reliance Industries director Nita
    Ambani and State Bank of India chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya have been ranked
    top two in Forbes’ “Asia 50 Power Businesswomen 2016” list, which
    acknowledges the inroads women are making in the business world, despite gender
    inequalities.
  • Including Ambani and
    Bhattacharya, eight Indian businesswomen have made the cut in the latest list
    who among them bring to the table representations from diverse business fields
    — banking, bio-tech, data analytics, textiles, pharma and even wellness and
    beauty.

Others in the list
  • Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman,
    SBI
  • Chanda Kochhar, managing
    director, ICICI Bank
  • Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chair,
    Biocon
  • Vandana Luthra, vice chair, VLCC
    Health Care
  • Vinita Gupta, chief executive,
    Lupin
  • Dipali Goenka, chief executive,
    Welspun India
  • Ambiga Dhiraj, chief executive,
    Mu Sigma

WHO released Global Report on Diabetes
  • The World Health Organisation
    (WHO) on 6 April 2016 released its first Global Report on Diabetes. The report
    was released to mark the World Health Day 2016 that was celebrated on 7 April
    with the theme – Beat Diabetes.
  • The report underscored the
    enormous scale of the diabetes problem across the world and suggested various
    measures to reverse current trends.

Highlights of Global Report on Diabetes
  • Global Burden: Globally, an
    estimated 422 million adults were living with diabetes in 2014, compared to 108
    million in 1980.
  • Over the past decade, diabetes
    prevalence has risen faster in low and middle-income countries than in
    high-income countries.
  • If post-2000 trends continue, the
    probability of meeting the global target of halting the rise in the prevalence
    of diabetes by 2025 at the 2010 level worldwide is lower than 1 percent for men
    and is 1 percent for women.

Sports –
Indian men won Asian Nations Cup Chess tournament
  • Indian men won the 2016 Asian
    Nations Cup Chess tournament with a 3-1 victory over Vietnam in the final round
    played in Abu Dhabi on 6 April 2016.
  • In the final round match against
    Vietnam, Grandmasters S P Sethuraman and K Sasikiran won on the second and
    fourth boards while B Adhiban and Vidit Santosh Gujrathi drew their respective
    matches on top and third boards.
  • To clinch the title, India
    collected 17 points, two more than World and Olympiad champions China. India
    drew Mongolia and beat the rest of the teams in a 22-team tournament.

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