Important Current Affairs of 15th April

NATIONAL:

Rotary Club of Madras North initiated Project Kannamma.

• Project Kannamma is the initiative of the Rotary Club of Madras North to provide sanitary napkins to the students. 

• Project Kannamma: 

♦ It was started in August of 2018 by providing free, biodegradable sanitary napkins to 82 students at the Government High School in Uthandi of Tamil Nadu

♦ Under the Project Kannamma, sanitary napkins are provided to over 300 students from across Government Schools in and around Chennai today 

♦ The sanitary napkins are provided by the Irula Tribal Women's Welfare Society (ITWWS)

♦ The project is also supporting the livelihood of the Irula Tribal Women 

♦ If the group sells 15,000 pads per month, it can sustain the families of 12 tribal women.

INTERNATIONAL:

Bhutan Government to place bill for ratification of BBIN initiative at its upper senate

• Bhutan government will place the bill for ratification of Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) initiative for road and rail connectivity at its upper senate.

• Briefing media on the occasion of Bhutan’s Prime Minister Dr. Lotay Tshering's visit to Bangladesh, Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh Shahidul Haq told reporters that BBIN is a big initiative in the region for improving rail and road connectivity in the region and he expressed the hope that the bill will be passed by the Bhutanese Parliament soon.

• The Motor Vehicle Agreement of BBIN countries was signed in 2015 by the four member countries.

BANKS AND ECONOMICS:

RBI permitted Reinsurance Brokers to open Foreign Currency Accounts.

• Reinsurance brokers have been permitted to open non-interest bearing foreign currency accounts with banks for undertaking transactions.

•  Foreign currency account refers to a bank account held or maintained in currency other than the currency of India or Nepal or Bhutan.

• Earlier, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) had issued notification and then RBI issued Foreign Exchange Management (Foreign Currency Accounts by a person resident in India) Regulations, 2015 - Opening of Foreign Currency Accounts by Re-insurance and Composite Insurance brokers.

RBI granted 12 years to LIC to bring down its stake in IDBI Bank.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which classified IDBI as a private sector bank last month, has granted Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) with 12 years to cut its stake in the bank by 10 percent.

• RBI has stipulated that after 12 years LIC has to reduce stake in IDBI Bank by 10 per cent to 40 per cent.

• LIC is the major shareholder of IDBI Bank. It has a 51 per cent stake in the Bank. The government is the other major investor in IDBI Bank owning 46.46 per cent while the rest is with the public.

• As per the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI), LIC can hold up to 15 percent stake in any bank which can go up to 30 percent as per the board approval. But the insurance regulator has allowed LIC to invest up to 51 percent in IDBI Bank last year.

HDFC Bank tops Forbes' list of best Indian banks 2019.

• Forbes has compiled a first-ever list of the World's Best Bank 2019 in terms of customer services and technological advancements.

• The private lender, HDFC Bank, was ranked at the top of the ‘Forbes Best Indian Banks 2019’ list. HDFC Bank claims to provide the best of its technological features to its 43 million customers.

• Another private lender ICICI Bank took the second spot, while DBS was at the third rank in Forbes list of Indian banks. Kotak Mahindra Bank and IDFC Bank had managed to gain the fourth and fifth spot respectively.

• Syndicate Bank, PNB, Allahabad Bank, Vijaya Bank and Axis Bank were ranked from sixth to tenth respectively.

• Forbes had partnered with Statista, a market research company, to measure the best banks in 23 countries.

• The survey compiled data from around 40,000 customers around the world for their opinions on their banking relationships.

• The banks were rated on the basis of 5 key attributes - trust, digital services, financial advice and fees.

Gargi Kaul appointed as Secretary of Defence Finance.

• The  Central government appointed Gargi Kaul as Secretary, Defence Finance.  She is a 1984-batch officer of the Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IA&AS). 

APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS:

New Palestinian government sworn in a second time after botched oath

• Palestine’s New Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtayeh, a veteran peace negotiator and harsh critic of Gaza’s Hamas rulers, and his 22-member cabinet took the oath of office a second time, on April 14, 2019. The ministers neglected to include a clause pledging faithfulness “to the people and its national heritage” during ceremony on April 13.

• The 18th Palestinian government since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1995 was sworn in according to a presidential decree issued by Mahmoud Abbas.

• The new Cabinet replaces a technocratic government formed by Rami Hamdallah in 2014 after an agreement between Fatah and Hamas, the Islamic militant group that has run the Gaza Strip after ousting Fatah and evicting the Palestinian Authority in 2007.

• Ishtayeh faces challenges, with the Palestinian Authority in a deep financial crisis after U.S. sanctions and Israel's decision to withhold $138 million in tax revenue it collects on behalf of the Palestinians.

AWARDS:

Digital Sukoon founder, Sudhanshu Kumar received Best Digital Agency award

• Digital Sukoon founder, Sudhanshu Kumar was honoured with the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Nobel Award by International Human Rights Council at Hotel Sea Princess Juhu Mumbai.

•  Among the awardee, Digital Sukoon was the Best Digital Agency of the Year 2019 to receive the award.

• Yogesh Lakhani of Bright Outdoor Media, Actor Johnny Lever, Jasleen Matharu also received awards in various other categories.

Dr. A K Singh honoured with 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award.

• Dr. A K Singh, director at Life Sciences, DRDO has been honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award 2019 during 4th APJ Abdul Kalam Innovation Conclave at Chandigarh University, Mohali. 

• He has made notable contributions in Internal Decorporation of Fission Produced Radionuclides and Infection Imaging.

• He also discovered a Diagnobact Kit to detect the infectious lesion. He also introduced Pharmacosyntigraphy,  i.e. application of nuclear medicine imaging in drug research.

• 4th Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Innovation Conclave: For Best Innovative Project Awards 2019, 965 innovative projects competed against each other. Pankaj Sharma bagged the first position and Best Innovation of the Year Award 2019, for Smart Trolley Bag project.  Pratul and Abhishek shared second place.

•  Pratul acquired award for Automatic Toilet Cleaner project. Abhishek won for prototype model for Accident Management System respectively.

• Third prize was jointly won by Vaibhav and Daniyal for treatment of textile affluent and plastic with bio-mass to help in controlling water and air pollution.

Telugu Poet K Siva Reddy Selected For Prestigious Saraswati Samman 2018

• Telugu poet K Siva Reddy selected for the prestigious Saraswati Samman 2018 for his collection of poetry titled Pakkaki Ottigilite. 

• The award carries a cash prize of 15 lakh rupees, a citation and a plaque. About Saraswati Samman 2018 Awards The Saraswati Samman is an annual award for outstanding prose or poetry literary works in any 22 Indian languages listed in Schedule VIII of the Constitution of India. 

• It is named after an Indian goddess of learning and is considered to be among the highest literary awards in India. Currently held by Sitanshu Yashaschandra.

SPORTS:

Meena Kumari bagged gold at the 2019 Boxing World Cup.

• Meena Kumari Maisnam from Manipur claimed the Gold medal in the 54 kg category at the Boxing World Cup at Cologne in Germany. She defeated Thailand’s Machai Bunyanut in the final. Meena was the 2014 Asian Championships bronze medallist. India bagged a Gold, two Silver and two bronze medals at the Boxing World Cup. Sakshi won Silver in 57 kg Category and Pwilao Basumatary in 64 kg category. Pinki Rani won bronze in 51 kgs and Parveen won bronze in 60 kgs category.

Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mark Boucher inducted as MCC Honorary Life Members

• Pakistan’s Inzamam-ul-Haq and South African Mark Boucher were inducted as the Honorary Life Members of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), in recognition to their outstanding achievements in the game of cricket.