GK and Current Affairs Updates

on 30 April 2016 The Supreme Court of India decided to extend the deadline for keep out diesel cabs in National Capital Region (NCR). 
Earlier deadline was 1 April 2016, but it was extended for a month.
•    Extension was given so that private cab companies could switch to CNG vehicles by 1 May 2016.
•    Supreme Court allowed Delhi Police and Delhi Jal Board to buy and register the new diesel-run vehicles of 2000 cc engine capacity and above for transportation of under trial prisoners, arms and ammunition and supply of water.
•    SC Had stopped sale of diesel SUVs and luxury cars with more than 2000 cc engine capacity in 2015.
•    Later SC asked Delhi Police to pay 30 percent of the real value of the vehicle to be purchased by it as Environment Compensation Charge (ECC) or green cess as a pre-condition for their registration with the transport department.
•    SC, exempted Delhi Jal Board (DJB) from paying ECC on the ground that around 250 water tankers would be supplying water to the citizens of the city.
•    The court allowed the plea of police and allowed to register on payment of ECC.

On 27 April 2016 Indian govt. issued a notification banning the import of dogs for commercial breeding. 
•    Animal rights organizations had raised concerns over foreign breed dogs suffering due to unsuitable climatic conditions
•    Humane Society International (HSI) and People for Animals along with other groups had urged the government to ban the import on dogs for breeding as it was resulting in the overpopulation of street dogs in the country.
•    Large number of dogs that are not suitable for the country’s tropical climate such as St Bernards, Siberian Huskies, Alaskan Malamutes and others are being imported by breeders in India.
•    Many imported breed dogs are being abandoned by the owners 
•    Animal rights groups also urged the government to review pet shop and breeder regulations as recommended by the Law Commission of India.
•    In 2015, the commission published a report on Need to Regulate Pet Shops and Dog Breeding and Aquarium Fish Breeding  

Charles Borromeo on 28 April 2016 resigned from the head of the Tata Steel sports department post.
Vigilance department officials of the company had questioned him in connection with alleged irregularities in tender process of 4.40 crore rupees.
•    He won a gold medal of 800 m at the 1982 Asian Games held in Delhi 
•    He was also a part of Indian Olympic contingent that took place at Los Angeles in 1984.
•    He joined Tata Steel as sports assistant in 1979 
•    In 1982, he topped the six-nation Athletic Meet in Mumbai by winning the Inter-State Championship at Kozhikode 
•    He won bronze medal at the Peking International Games in China 
•    Tata honored him as the Best Sportsman in 1984. 
•    He also represented India at a number of track and field meets around the world, including Japan and China, where he again won gold medals.
•    He was awarded the Arjuna Award in 1982 and the Padma Shri in 1984.

On 1 May 2016 India and New Zealand signed an Air Services Agreement which will introduce direct flights between the two countries.
•    The agreement was signed in the presence of the President Pranab Mukherjee and the New Zealand Prime Minister John Key. 
•    Mukherjee was on an official tour to Papua New Guinea (April 28-29, 2016) and New Zealand (April 30 to May 2, 2016).
•    The agreement will lead to easier connectivity that has halted both business travel and people-to-people contact in the past.
•    Business, Education and Tourism sector has boomed between India and New Zealand in recent years. 
•    There are nearly 175000 Indians in New Zealand of which about 15000 are Indian students. 
•   The two-way trade has doubled between the two countries in the last few years.
•   The two-way tourist traffic has also witnessed rise

The Centre’s ambitious National LED programme - Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) - will be implemented across the country by 2019.
•    Total of 9 crore LED bulbs were sold in the country, which means people will get the benefit of Rs 5,500 crore in their electricity bills. 
•    Almost 77 crore incandescent bulbs will be replaced till 2019 in the country which will ensure an annual benefit of Rs 40,000 crore to the people in their electricity bills and it will reduce dependability on coal.
•    The cost of a 9-W LED bulb under the scheme is Rs 85 only.
•    Madhya Pradesh has set a target of switching over to this mode in the next one-and-a-half year.
•    The world’s largest solar power plant is coming up in Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa district.
•    Govt. is urging people to replace old lamps with LED bulbs to save power and make it cheaper.
•    State energy minister Rajendra Shukla ingfrmed that after selling the targetted 3 crore LED bulbs, Madhya Pradesh would order for 7 crore more bulbs.

Rahuri Municipal Council of Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra became the first Municipal Council to attain the status of integrated with digital locker for the issuance of all essential Documents. 
•    Digitalization of governance was essentially meant to bring in transparency in the administration and restore peoples’ confidence in Government. 
•    Department of Information Technology will also help all municipal bodies in digitalizing governance and making administration paperless. 
•    The Website is integrated as an issuer and Requester with DigiLocker where the Citizen will have access to all these documents at any time. 
•    They will have freedom to access them from anywhere in the world at any time. 
•    The citizen of the area can now apply for the certificates like Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates online without going to Municipal Council 
•    This will also ensure them the peace of mind provided by the easy security of their documents forever. 

Former bureaucrat and MP Nand Kishore Singh have been awarded with ‘Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver’ which is a Japan’s highest civilian award. 

•    He was chosen for this prestigious award for promoting economic, educational and cultural ties between India and Japan. 
•    He is among 91 foreign recipients to be honoured during the 2016 Spring Imperial Decoration of Japan by Emperor Akihito during the investiture ceremony in May 2016. 
•    N K Singh is a politician, economist and former Indian Administrative Service officer (IAS) from Bihar cadre. 
•    He had served as a MP in the Rajya Sabha (2008-2014) from Bihar. 
•    He was also Principal Secretary to Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee. He was also connected with International organisations like World Bank, IMF and UNDP. 
•    He also had served as Chairman, Board of Governors of Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon. 
•    Order of the Rising Sun  is a Japanese Government highest civilian established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. 
•    It is conferred in recognition of distinguished accomplishments of an individual. 
•    The modern version of the order is being given to non-Japanese recipients from 1981.

On 28 April 2016 Tabassum Adnan, from Swat valley of Pakistan, won the Mandela - Graça Machel Innovation Award 2016 in Bogota, Colombia.
•    She won the award on the concluding day of the International Civil Society Week held from 25 April to 28 April 2016.
•    She has been a victim of child marriage, & was married at the age of 13. 
•    The marriage went through domestic abuse, ended after 20 years .
•    She is the founder of Khwendo Jirga (Sister's Council), which is the first women-only jirga in Pakistan. 
•    The council meets weekly & speaks of women's right, including honour killings, and acid attacks.
•    The jirga campaigns for women in Swat Valley, including issues related to women's security and their voting rights.
•    In March 2015, Adnan, was awarded the International Women of Courage award in the US.

China has developed a new electronic paper, which has been heralded as "the world's first graphene electronic paper.Compared with traditional e-papers, graphene e-paper is more pliable and has more intensity and its high-light transmittance means optical displays will be much brighter.E-papers have been produced on a commercial scale since 2014. 
Compared with liquid crystal displays, e-papers are thinner, bendable and energy efficient, meaning products are more portable.
• Graphene is the world's strongest and lightest known material.it can conduct heat and electricity.
• The material can be used to create hard or flexible graphene displays, used in electronic products such as e-readers and wearable smart devices.
• Graphene is derived from carbon, meaning production costs will be much lower than for traditional e-papers, which use the rare, expensive metal indium.

On 28 April 2016 CM Naveen Patnaik inaugurated 100 piped water supply projects for rural areas.
The project was inaugurated on the occasion of Utkal Gaurab Madhusudan Das’ anniversary.  
He was the first graduate and advocate of Odisha.
In April 2016, the state government also announced that it will sink a tubewell in each of the 27711 areas spending around 195 crore rupees. 
• The 100 projects will benefit 172000 people in 107 villages across the state.
• In 2016, Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) Township is experiencing a massive drinking water crisis. 
• Several tribal settlements around Byree area of Jajpur district are being provided with water tankers by private donors.
• In 2015, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) found that drinking water in adequate quantity was not supplied to people in 95 out of 106 urban areas of the state.