Current Affairs Update – 21st April, 2016

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the important Current Affairs of 21st April, 2016. These are Important for the upcoming SBI Clerk 2016 and NABARD Assistant Manager 2016.

• The RBL Bank on 19 April 2016
  became the first private sector bank in India to open dedicated branch for
  start-ups. The dedicated branch was inaugurated at Koramangala, Bengaluru by
  Nandan Nilekani, noted entrepreneur and former chairman of Unique Identification
  Authority of India (UIDAI).
• The move came following the
  launch of first branch dedicated of the State Bank of India in January 2016 to
  serve the needs of start-ups in Bengaluru.
• The first exclusive bank branch
  for start-ups will offer a bouquet of banking products to service the
  end-to-end needs of the emerging entrepreneurial eco-system.
• The branch will assist
  entrepreneurs in setting up new enterprises or companies.

• Union Government on 20 April 2016
  notified that the Department of Disinvestment is renamed as Department of
  Investment and Public Asset Management or DIPAM.
• The decision is aimed at proper
  management of Union government’s investments in equity including its disinvestment
  in central public sector undertakings (PSUs).
• The new department has been
  mandated to advise the government in the matters of financial restructuring of
  central public sector enterprises and for attracting investment through capital
  markets.
• A comprehensive approach will be
  adopted for efficient management of government investment in Central Public
  Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) by addressing issues such as capital restructuring,
  dividend, bonus shares, etc.

• Four international organization
  joined hands to form the Platform for collaboration in Tax Matters on 19 April
  2016. The Platform has been created as their step to boost global cooperation
  in tax matters.
• The announcement regarding this
  was made just within two weeks after the release of the “Panama
  Papers” that stirred outrage at the widespread use of tax haven countries
  and shell companies by wealthy global elites and corporations to hide assets
  and avoid paying taxes.

1. The International Monetary Fund
   (IMF)
2. The Organisation for Economic
   Co-operation and Development (OECD)
3. The United Nations (UN)
4. The World Bank Group (WBG)

• RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan,
  tennis star Sania Mirza, actress Priyanka Chopra, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and
  founders of Flipkart Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal have been named by Time
  magazine in its list of the ‘100 Most Influential People in the World’.
• Time’s annual list, released
  today, includes pioneers like American composer Lin Manuel-Miranda, leaders
  like IMF head Christine Lagarde and icons like Oscar-winning actor Leonardo
  DiCaprio who are “exploring the frontiers of art, science, society,
  technology and more.”
• Terming Rajan as “India’s
  prescient banker,” Time said he is among a rare breed of “economic
  seers” who he “steered” India through the global crisis and
  fallout, “playing a large role in making it one of the emerging-market
  stars of the moment.
• While serving as the youngest
  chief economist of the IMF from 2003 to 2006, Time said Rajan predicted the subprime
  crisis that would lead to the Great Recession, standing up to critics like
  former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who labeled him a
  “Luddite”.

• India with a score of 43.17 was
  ranked 133 out of 180 countries in the 2016 World Press Freedom Index that was
  released on 20 April 2016. The Index was published by Reporters Without Borders
  (RSF).
• In 2015 Index, India with a score
  of 40.49 was ranked 136 out of 180 countries.
• The index has been topped by
  Finland followed by the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and New Zealand at second,
  third, fourth and fifth position respectively.
• At the bottom of the index lies
  Eritrea at 180th rank. It is preceded by North Korea, Turkmenistan, Syria and
  China at 179th, 178th, 177th and 176th position respectively.

• India continues to languish in
  the bottom third of the World Press Freedom Index, because of the number of
  journalists killed and the impunity for crimes of violence against the media.
• The situation is worsening in
  India, although its media are dynamic and much more capable of playing the role
  of democracy’s watchdog than the media in most other countries in last third of
  the Index.

• India’s largest IT services firm
  TCS has been recognised as one of the UK’s leading employers for women in a
  list published by The Times.
• Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
  had a formal Diversity & Inclusion corporate function since 2010 designed
  to provide strategic guidance and support for diversity programmes across the
  globe. TCS employs over 100,000 women globally, a third of its total workforce.
• The Times Top 50 Employers for
  Women recognises organisations that are spearheading gender equality in the
  workplace and making a conscious effort to even out the playing field for men
  and women.
• TCS’ rank in The Times Top 50 is
  recognition of its continued drive to make gender equality a central part of
  its business strategy, a company release said.

• Justice PK Mishra, former Chief
  Justice of Patna High Court, was on 20 April 2016 appointed as the Lokayukta of
  Goa. The decision in this regard was taken by the state government.
• The announcement was made by the
  Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar after state government obtained the
  consensus of the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court and the Leader of
  Opposition in the Goa Assembly as stipulated in the Lokayukta Act, 2013.
• Now the state Cabinet will be
  recommend name of Justice Mishra to Mridula Sinha, Governor of Goa for
  appointment.
• Mishra had recently retired as
  the Chairman of Goa State Human Rights commission. He retired as Chief Justice
  of Patna High Court before taking up his assignment in Goa.

• Jaspal Bindra, former Asia
  Pacific chief executive at Standard Chartered Bank, will lead Indian financial
  services group Centrum Capital as Executive Chairman.
• The span of activities Centrum
  group is active in includes Investment Banking – Equity & Debt, Wealth
  Management, Institutional Broking and Foreign Exchange.
• Chandir Gidwani Founder Promoter,
  Centrum, in a statement said group is operating in a highly dynamic and
  competitive business environment. Bindra’s strategy and execution track record
  is exactly what Centrum needs, for growth in the future.
• Centrum is in midst of scaling up
  lending business through non-banking finance and housing finance companies.

• The 2016 Pulitzer Prizes winners
  were announced on 18 April 2016.
• The Marshall Project and
  ProPublica won the Explanatory Reporting Prize for their 12000-word article, An
  Unbelievable Story of Rape, about a failed police investigation into a young
  woman’s allegations of rape.

• Associated Press for an
  investigation of severe labour abuses tied to the supply of seafood to American
  supermarkets and restaurants

• Alissa J. Rubin of The New York
  Times

• Leonora LaPeter Anton and Anthony
  Cormier of the Tampa Bay Times and Michael Braga of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune

• Los Angeles Times Staff for
  exceptional reporting, including both local and global perspectives, on the
  shooting in San Bernardino and the terror investigation that followed

• In order to raise the ever
  dwindling number of spectators in the stadium, the BCCI is all set to host its
  first-ever Day/Night cricket Test with pink ball when New Zealand tour India
  later this year.
• Thakur said that the main
  objective of the Duleep Trophy will be to check how the pink kookaburra behaves
  under the light in sub-continental conditions.
• It is expected that all leading
  Indian players will play in that Duleep game in order to get an idea and also
  give a feedback to the board before they go ahead with the Test match.
• While Test matches in India are
  played with ‘SG Test’ balls, Thakur said that in this upcoming match it will be
  ‘Pink kookaburra’ that will be used.

• The Union Government in the third
  week of April 2016 has merged Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan (RGKA), launched by the
  UPA government, with the Khelo India programme for development of sports.
• Two other sport projects, Urban
  Sports Infrastructure Scheme (USIS) and National Sports Talent Search Scheme
  (NSTSS), launched by the Congress-led UPA regime have also been absorbed under
  Khelo India.
• Khelo India is based on Gujarat’s
  model of Khel Mahakumbh, in which schools and colleges from different parts of
  the country participate in about 27 disciplines. Similarly, the Sports
  Authority of Gujarat (SAG) organises summer camps under this project every
  year.

• International Cricket Council
  (ICC) on 20 April 2016 announced that it has suspended Hong Kong all-rounder
  Irfan Ahmed from Cricket for two-and-a-half years. He was suspended after he
  admitted to breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code (the ‘Code’).
• Ahmed was charged with offences
  under the Code and provisionally suspended by the ICC on 4 November 2015.
• This followed an investigation
  carried out by the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU), relating in part to the
  activities of another individual known to the ACU and suspected of making
  corrupt approaches to participants.

Regards

Team ExamPundit