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.

15th April 2016

A.India ranks 44th in 2016 Global Connectivity Index

1.India ranked 44th with total score of 30 among 50 different countries in the 2016 Global Connectivity Index (GCI) report compiled by Chinese telecom giant Huawei. 

2.The GCI analyzes the full spectrum of measurements for connectivity and provides a detailed map of the global digital economy. 

3.The index benchmarks 50 countries on the basis of its ICT infrastructure including broadband, data centers, cloud services, big data and IoT in the scale ranging from 0 to 100. 

4.These 50 countries, account for 90 percent of global GDP. 

Key facts 

Top 10 countries in 2016 GCI: United States (score-74), Singapore (72), Sweden (70), Switzerland (68), United Kingdom (65), Denmark (64), South Korea (63), Netherlands (63) and Japan (62). 

B.Akash Missile System successfully test fired

1.Indigenously developed surface-to-air supersonic Akash missile System was successfully test fired from complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipuri in Odisha. 

2.Test: Two rounds of Akash missiles were fired against Pilot less target aircraft (PTA) Lakshya, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Banshee and Para-barrel. 

3.It successfully destroyed the targets coordinated by the user, demonstrating its ‘killing’ efficiency. 

About Akash Missile 
1.Akash (in English it means sky) is a mid-range surface-to-air missile (SAM). It is medium range nuclear capable supersonic missile. 

2.Indigenously developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) under the Integrated Guided-Missile Development Programme (IGMDP). 

Features: 
1.The missile has supersonic speeds ranging from Mach 2.8 to 3.5. It is multi target, multi directional, all weather air-defence system consisting of surveillance and tracking radars. 

2.It has capability to carry warhead of 60 kg. It can engage aerial targets up to a range of approximately 25 kms.

C.PM Narendra Modi launches Gram Uday Se Bharat Uday Abhiyan

1.Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched ‘Gram Uday Se Bharat Uday Abhiyan’ (Village Self Governance Campaign) to strengthen Panchayati Raj in villages and ensure social harmony in villages. 

2.It was launched on the occasion of 125th birth anniversary of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar at his birthplace at Mhow, Madhya Pradesh. 

Key facts 
1.The campaign aims to generate nation-wide efforts to strengthen Panchayati Raj, increase social harmony across villages, promote rural development and foster farmers’ welfare and livelihoods of the poor. 

2.It is eleven day campaign (from 14th April to 24th April 2016) will mainly focus on generating nationwide efforts on promoting above mentioned aim of the campaign. 

3.The campaign will be run jointly by the Union Ministries of Rural Development, Social Justice, Agriculture, Labour and Information and Broadcasting along with the States Governments.

D.PM Narendra Modi launches National Agriculture Market portal eNAM

1.Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched National Agriculture Market portal eNAM to connect e-mandis in several States. 

2.eNAM is an online inter-connectivity of e-mandis, aimed at ushering in much needed agriculture marketing reforms to enable farmers to get better price of their produce. 

Key features 

1.e-National Agriculture Market (NAM) is a pan-India e-trading platform. It is designed to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities. 

2.Farmers can showcase their produce online from their nearest market and traders can quote price from anywhere. 

3.It will result in increased numbers of traders and greater competition. It will also ensure open price discovery and better returns to farmers. 

4.During the launch, 21 mandis from eight states were connected to this unified portal

E.PM Narendra Modi inaugurates Maritime India Summit 2016

1.Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Maritime India Summit 2016 in Mumbai, Maharashtra. 

2.This is India’s first ever Maritime Summit and the flagship event organised by Union Ministry of Shipping. 

Key facts 

1.The first of its kind two day summit (from April 14 to 16, 2016) will be held at the Bombay Convention and Exhibition Centre in Goregaon, Mumbai. 

2.South Korea is the partner country for the summit and will be represented by a high level ministerial and business delegation. 

3.The main focus of summit is to give impetus to Make In India and blue economy under the Union Government’s ambitious Sagarmala Project emphasising on port-led development It will be global summit that will comprise of an Investors’ Summit along with exhibition and demo session. 

4.More than 50 other maritime nations have been invited. On the occasion of this event, Union government also released a national perspective plan for the Sagarmala Project. 

14th April 2016

A.Maharashtra becomes first state to pass law against social boycott

1.The Maharashtra legislature has unanimously passed the Maharashtra Prohibition of People from Social Boycott (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Bill, 2016 to end the menace social boycott practiced by extra-judicial institutions like caste and community panchayats. 

2.With this Maharashtra became first state in the country to adopt a comprehensive law to root out oppression carried out by parallel justice delivery system (kangaroo court) in the name of age old traditions, caste and religion. 

Key Features of Bill 

1.The Bill terms social boycott as a crime and says anybody indulging in it would face imprisonment maximum upto three years and a fine of 1 lakh rupees or both. 

2.It disallows social boycott of any individual or groups by caste panchayats or groups of individuals or gavki or by its members or by social or economically influential persons. 

3.Persons involved in practice of social boycott for reasons like rituals of worship, inter-caste marriage, any connection to lifestyle, dress or vocation will face stringent punishment. 

4.The offence registered under the act will be congnizable and bailable. It will be tried by a judicial magistrate of the first class. 

5.The victim of social boycott or any member of the victim’s family can file a complaint either to police or directly to the magistrate. 

B.Nauru becomes 189th member of IMF, World Bank

1.The Republic of Nauru, a tiny South Pacific island nation in Pacific Ocean became the 189th member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank i.e. Bretton-Woods institutions. 

2.Nauru had applied for membership in the Washington-based IMF and World Bank in April 2014. 

3.Its initial subscription quota for IMF will be of SDR (Special Drawing rights) 2 million or about $2.81 million. 

4.It will be the second smallest member of the Fund, after Tuvalu. Benefits to Nauru By joining the World Bank: The island country gains access to financial support, technical support and special expertise to deal with Pacific area issues, such as water and sanitation and disaster risk management amid the threat of climate change and rising sea levels. 

5.By joining the IMF: Nauru can benefit from the IMF’s crisis lender’s advice on managing government finances and monetary policy. 

6.Before Nauru, the last country to join the World Bank and IMF as 188th member was South Sudan in April 2012.

C.Sushila Karki: First female Chief Justice of Nepal’s Supreme Court

1.The Constitutional Council of Nepal has selected Justice Sushila Karki (63) for the post of Chief Justice (CJ) of the Supreme Court of the country. 

2.With this selection she will become 26th chief justice of the apex court and the first female CJ in Nepal’s history. 

3.However, her nomination is expected to be confirmed by a Parliamentary Hearings Committee which endorses the recommendation. 

4.She will succeed Kalyan Shrestha who retired from the top post. She shall have tenure of 1 year and retire in June 2017 upon reaching the age limit. 

About Sushila Karki 

1.Born on June 7, 1952 in Biratnagar. She had completed a bachelor’s degree in law from Tribhuvan University in 1978. 

2.She has also done her post graduate in political science from Banaras Hindu University. 

3.Currently she is seniormost judge in the Supreme Court of Nepal. Since 2010, she is member of the International Association of Women Judges.

D.NPCI launches Unified Payments Interface

1.The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has launched “Unified Payments Interface (UPI)” to revolutionise mobile payment system in the country. 

2.It was launched by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan. 29 banks have agreed to join the platform. 

3.UPI seeks to provide uniform mobile payment system by leveraging digital trends such as increasing smart phone adoption and deeper penetration of mobile data. 

Key features of UPI 

1.The UPI is for mobile based payment method that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application (of any bank) of a participating bank. 

2.It merges several banking features, seamless fund routing and merchant payments into one hood. 

3.Thus, it will be a single app for accessing different bank accounts. It facilitates ‘virtual address’ as a single payment identifier for sending and collecting money and works on single click 2 factor authentication.