16th April 2016

A.MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga appointed as member of US cybersecurity body

1.US President Barack Obama has nominated MasterCard’s Indian-American CEO Ajay Banga as a member of the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity. 

2.Mr. Banga is one of the 10 members of the Commission which also includes General Keith Alexander former Director of the top US spying body National Security Agency (NSA). 

3.The commission was established in February 2016 to make detailed recommendations to strengthen cybersecurity in both the public and private sectors while protecting privacy, ensuring public safety and economic and national security. 

About Ajay Banga 
1.Banga is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad. 

2.He had started his career at Nestle India, working in sales and management roles from 1981 to 1994.

B.Mary Kom named as AIBA ambassador for Women’s World Boxing Championship

1.Iconic Indian woman boxer Mary Kom has been named as the International Boxing Association (AIBA) ambassador for Women’s World Championship. 

2.She is one of the eight ambassadors for the upcoming World Championship of AIBA scheduled from May 19 to 27, 2016 in Astana, Kazakhstan. 

3.The AIBA-appointed ambassadors for the World Championship also include Nicola Adams (Great Britain), Marlen Esparza (US), Adriana Arauja (Kazakhstan), Stanimira Petrova (Bulgaria) and Khadija Mardi (Morocco). 

4.The female officials chosen as ambassadors are Kheira Siki Yakoub (Algerian) and Jennifer Huggins (Canada). 

About MC Mary Kom 

1.Her full name is Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom and belongs to Kom tribal community of the north-eastern state of Manipur. 

2.She is nicknamed Magnificent Mary. 

3.She is Five-time World Boxing champion, and the only woman boxer to have won gold medal in each one of the six world championships.

C.Google extends free internet service through WiFi to 10 railway stations

1.The search engine giant Google has extended free internet service through WiFi to 10 railway stations across the country to provide internet to over 1.5 million people. 

2.The free internet service was extended as part of Google’s tie up with Railtel, the internet provider arm of Indian Railways. 

3.These 10 Railway Stations are: Pune, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Raipur, Ranchi, Vijayawada, Kacheguda (Hyderabad), Ernakulum Jn (Kochi) and Vishakhapatnam. 

4.The free internet service is built over the fiber network of Raitel which is designed to offer high speed broadband experience to users. 

5.The first such kind of service was launched at Mumbai Central in 2015. 

6.This service will provide travellers passing through these stations to easily stream a high definition video, research their destination, download a book or a new game for their journey.

D.Delhi Government bans sale of all forms of Chewable Tobacco for 1 year

1.Delhi government has banned the manufacture, distribution, storage and sale of all forms of chewable tobacco for one year in the interest of public health. 

2.The ban incudes all forms of chewable tobacco including scented, flavoured or mixed and sold in other forms such as gutkha, pan masala, khaini and zarda. 

3.In this regard, Delhi Department of Food Safety has issued an official notification and it will also cover unpackaged products of chewable tobacco within the ambit of the ban. 

4.The ban will be valid for one year from the date of publication of this notification in the official gazette. 

Background 

1.This notification was issued in pursuance of earlier September 2012 order which had banned on ‘gutkha’ in the NCT Delhi based on a series of directions from Supreme Court. 

2.But tobacco retailers defied the notification as the term ‘gutkha’ used in it which didn’t banned them from selling the components of ‘gutkha’ (betel nut and raw tobacco) in separate pouches.

E.Supercomputer Param Kanchenjunga unveiled at NIT Sikkim

1.Supercomputer Param Kanchenjunga was unveiled at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Sikkim. 

2.It has been named after Kangchenjunga mountain, the third highest mountain in the world which lies partly in Nepal and partly in Sikkim. 

3.It was formally unveiled by Sikkim Governor Shrinvas Patil at the NIT Sikkim campus at Ravangla in South Sikkim District. 

4.It is said that it most powerful and fastest supercomputer among all the 31 NITs and Sikkim NIT has secured a rare distinction of having such a supercomputer. 

5.Param Kanchenjunga has been jointly developed by Pune-based Centre for Development of Advanced Computing ‘C-DAC’ and the NIT Sikkim at a cost of three crore rupees. 

6.The supercomputer is expected to help achieve excellence in research and engineering education in the north-east region. 

Supercomputer: It is a computer that can do complete tasks faster than any other computer of its generation. It has high speed and memory and is usually thousands of times faster than ordinary personal computers.

F.Delhi ranked 44th among world’s 50 Future-ready Cities

1.National Capital of India, Delhi has been ranked 44th among the world’s 50 ‘future-ready economies cities’ that are embracing technology for growth. 

2.It was revealed by the recently released report ‘Future-Ready Economies Model’ by the Information Technology major Dell. 

Key facts

1.The list is topped by San Jose, followed by San Francisco, Singapore, London, Washington DC, etc. 

2.These high-growth cities were evaluated on the parameters of human capital, infrastructure and commerce. 

3.The model scores large, high-growth global metropolitan areas based on attributes that enable people and organisations to access new tools and ideas that deliver better connectivity, better economic performance and a greater ability to attract talent.