DAILY CURRENT
AFFAIRS: 13TH APR 2017
(DAILY NEWS INDIA)
1.
PARLIAMENT PASSES HIV AND AIDS (PREVENTION AND CONTROL) BILL 2017
i.
Parliament passed Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency
Syndrome (Prevention and Control) Bill, 2017 to ensure equality for HIV
positive persons in spheres of education, employment and treatment.
ii.
The bill prohibits discrimination towards HIV positive persons in areas of
education, healthcare treatment, jobs, availing insurance, holding
public/private office and residing or renting a property.
iii.
Affected person’s informed consent has to be sought before disclosing his/her
HIV status.
2.
UTTAR PRADESH GOVT SCRAPS SAMAJWADI PENSION SCHEME
i.
The Uttar Pradesh State Govt. headed by CM Yogi Adityanath has stalled the
Samajwadi Pension Scheme of the previous Samajwadi Party Govt. under Akhilesh
Yadav. He has ordered the officials to conduct a detailed review of this scheme
to ascertain whether the beneficiaries are deserving candidates fulfilling the
eligibility criterion.
ii.
Samajwadi Pension Scheme was launched in year 2014 with an aim to provide
financial assistance to 40 lakh below poverty line category families in Uttar
Pradesh. This yojana replaced the erstwhile Rani Laxmibai Pension Yojana.
ii.
Under the scheme, BPL families were entitled to monthly pension of Rs. 500 per
month for 1 year.
3.
KERALA MAKES MALAYALAM MANDATORY IN SCHOOL
i.
The Kerala government has announced to make Malayalam language mandatory in all
schools in the state. The new law will be applicable to schools. Those schools
that violated the law will have to pay huge fines.
ii.
The usage of Malayalam as official language has been made compulsory in all
government offices from May 1. Malayalam would not be mandatory for foreign
students.
iii.
It would be applicable in government institutions, public sector undertakings,
and self-governing institution in the cooperative sector.
iv.
This announcement was made by Pinarayi Vijayan. The new rule will be applicable
up to Class X in all the government including those affiliated to CBSE and ICSE
streams.
v.
To know Malayalam is a mandatory requirement in order to get government job in
Kerala.
4.
MANAPPURAM FINANCE LAUNCHED CO-BRANDED PREPAID CARDS WITH YES BANK
i.
To promote financial transactions the Kerala based NBFC Manappuram Finance
launched its own prepaid cards. It tied-up with Yes bank.
ii.
In Manappuram, YES bank prepaid money cards having the maximum amount is Rs
50000 and it can also be used for online transcations with Pos terminals.
iii.
The company will issue the prepaid cards for 20 lakh customers.It also links
their existing gold loan accounts to the card.
iv.
This will enable them to withdraw money from all ATMs across India. Customers
can withdraw money from any of the 3300 branches of Manappuram finance.
v.
It can also be purchased by non-customers by filling their mobile number and
KYC document as prescribed by the RBI.
vi.
The card will be launch by MD & CEO of Manappuram, VP Nandakumar.
5.
G20 MINISTERS ISSUE DECLARATION ON ‘SHAPING DIGITALISATION FOR AN
INTERCONNECTED WORLD’
i.
A ministerial conference of G20 ministers in charge of digitalisation was held
in Dusseldorf, Germany. This was the 1st such meeting of G20 ministers
responsible for digitalisation.
ii.
They have issued a declaration on ‘Shaping Digitalisation for an Interconnected
World’, which lays out priorities and course of action.
iii.
The declaration acknowledged that digital economies have the potential to
contribute to achieving the goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development.
6.
POSTAL DEPT, SBI JOIN HANDS TO PROMOTE CASHLESS TRANSACTIONS
i.
The Department of Posts has joined hands with the State Bank of India to
promote cashless transactions like ‘SBI buddy e-wallet’ and POS machines.
ii.
The installation of SBI Buddy e-wallet and POS Machines will make the
transactions easy through digital payments and cashless transactions in post
offices.
ii.
Chief Postmaster General, Punjab Circle, PK Swain and Anil Kishora, Chief
General Manager, SBI, Chandigarh dedicated SBI buddy e-wallet and SBI POS
machines at Chandigarh General Post Office for the general public.
7.
BHEL AND INDIAN RAILWAYS TIE-UP FOR ROOFTOP SPV SYSTEMS
i.
The agreement of 2 MWp Roof Top SPV Systems to be installed at Diesel loco
Modernization Works, Patiala
was signed between Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited BHEL & Indian
Railways Organisation for Alternate Fuels in the presence of Mr. Amitabh Mathur,
Director (IS &P), BHEL and Mr.
Ravinder Gupta CAO (IROAF).
ii.
The contract predicted the Design, supply, installation, testing &
commissioning of grid connected roof top solar photo voltaic power plant with
all the electrical and associated equipment including civil works and also
includes 5 years’ operation & maintenance.
8.
HARYANA LAUNCHES E-SEWA APP TO PROVIDE INFORMATION ABOUT WELFARE SCHEMES
i.
Haryana CM Manohar Lal has launched an mobile application named ‘e-Sewa’ to
provide information about more than 250 schemes and programmes of 30 different
departments.
ii.
The Deputy Commissioner of Ambala, Prabhjot Singh‘s team was the developer of
‘e-Sewa’ app. People can get the information about various welfare schemes and
programmes on their mobile phones.
9.
PIYUSH GOYAL LAUNCHES ‘URJA MITRA’ MOBILE APP
i.
Power Minister Piyush Goyal has launched the ‘Urja Mitra’ mobile application
and Rural Feeder Monitoring Scheme in New Delhi.
ii.
Urja Mitra provides a central platform in the form of web portal as well as
mobile app for state power distribution utilities to disseminate information on
outages to urban and rural consumers through SMSes, emails or push
notifications
iii.
While Urban Jyoti Abhiyaan app which was launched in June 2016 to monitor
service delivery to consumers in towns.
10.
PM NARENDRA MODI RELEASED A BOOK ‘MATOSHREE’ AUTHORED BY SUMITRA MAHAJAN
i.
PM Narendra Modi released a book ‘Matoshree’ authored by Sumitra Mahajan.
ii.
The book ‘Matoshree’ covers the life and times of legendary Devi Ahilyabai
Holker who ruled the Holkar Empire spread over the Malwa region from 1767 to
1795.
11.
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF HUMAN SPACE FLIGHT: APRIL 12 2017
i.
Every year 12th April is celebrated as International Day of Human Space Flight
to mark the day when the 1st human space flight, carried out by Yuri Gagarin.
ii.
Its aim is to promote aspirations to explore and maintain outer space for
peaceful purposes.
iii.
This day is observed as Cosmonautics Day in Russia and some other former USSR.
OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS BASED
ON TODAY’S NEWS
Q1.
WHICH AMONG THE FOLLOWING SCHEME HAS BEEN STALLED BY UTTAR PRADESH STATE GOVT.?
a) Samajwadi Kisan Sahayta Scheme
b) Samajwadi Pension Scheme
c) Samajwadi Gram Ujala Scheme
d) Samajwadi Bal Saaksharta Scheme
Q2.
A MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE OF G20 MINISTERS IN CHARGE OF DIGITALISATION WAS HELD
IN?
a) Rome, Itlay
b) Lucca, Italy
c) Berlin, Germany
d) Dusseldorf, Germany
Q3.
NBFC MANAPPURAM FINANCE HAS LAUNCHED ITS OWN PREPAID CARDS IN TIE-UP WITH WHICH
PRIVATE SECTOR BANK?
a) Yes Bank
b) ICICI Bank
c) Axis Bank
d) HDFC Bank
Q4.
WHICH ENTITY HAS JOINED HANDS WITH THE STATE BANK OF INDIA TO PROMOTE CASHLESS TRANSACTIONS
LIKE ‘SBI BUDDY E-WALLET’ AND POS MACHINES?
a) NABARD
b) Bombay Stock Exchange
c) Department of Post
d) National Stock Exchange of India
Q5.
WHO IS THE AUTHOR OF THE BOOK ‘MATOSHREE’, WHICH WAS RECENTLY RELEASED BY PM NARENDRA
MODI?
a) Union Textiles Minister, Smriti Iran
b) Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh
c) President of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Amit
Shah
d) Lok Sabha Speaker, Sumitra Mahajan
ANSWERS:
1 - B 2 - D 3 - A 4 - C 5
- D
