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Important Current Affairs of 23th April

NATIONAL:

India Ranks 17th In Global Startup Ecosystem.

• According to data released by StartupBlink, India moved up to 17th position in 2018 from 37th spot last year in the Startup Ecosystem Ranking for 2019.

The top three spots remained unchanged with the United States, United Kingdom and Canada

• The cities with the most vibrant startup ecosystems in India are Bangalore, New Delhi and Mumbai.

• India ranks 17 globally among 100 countries, based on the strength of its startup ecosystem, according to StartupBlink, which tracks startup ecosystems on a number of parameters.

• It used data from startups, accelerators and co-working spaces registered on its platforms as well as data received from global partners such as Crunchbase and SimilarWeb.

India ranks 19th in Index of Cancer Preparedness.

• The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has released the 2019 Index of Cancer Preparedness (ICP) in which India's overall rank is 19th out of 28 countries, with a score of 64.9.

• Index of Cancer Preparedness (ICP) 2019:

Australia tops the ICP, followed by the Netherlands and Germany.

Saudi Arabia, Romania, and Egypt are at the bottom in Index.

The ICP explores the issue of cancer preparedness through three broad domains:

• policy and planning;

• care delivery;

• health systems and governance.

• India and ICP:

India ranks 17th in cancer policy and planning, but it has a relatively high score of 80.8.

India ranked first for research and third for tobacco control in ICP.

In its delivery of cancer care, India ranks 20th with a score of 61.3.

With a score of 40.3, India’s healthcare system ranks 25th in the index, above only Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Egypt.

• Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally and is estimated to account for 9.6 million death in 2018.

World Cancer Day is observed on 4th February every year.

FAME II scheme has made compulsory for electric vehicles to feature 50% localisation for receiving subsidies.

• he government notified the second phase of the FAME India scheme with a Rs 10,000-crore outlay to encourage adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles.

• Under the second phase of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India (FAME-II) scheme, 10 lakh registered electric two-wheelers with a maximum ex-factory price will be eligible to avail incentive of Rs 20,000 each.

It will also support 5 lakh e-rickshaws having ex-factory price of up to Rs 5 lakh with an incentive of Rs 50,000 each.

• FAME-II will offer an incentive of Rs 1.5 lakh each to 35,000 electric four-wheelers with an ex-factory price of up to Rs 15 lakh, and incentive of Rs 13,000 each to 20,000 strong hybrid four-wheelers with ex-factory price of up to Rs 15 lakh.

It will support 7,090 e-buses with an incentive of up to Rs 50 lakh each having an ex-factory price of up to Rs 2 crore.

INTERNATIONAL:

Iranian President Rouhani declared joint border reaction force with Pakistan.

• Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani announced that Iran and Pakistan to create a joint ‘reaction force’ on the border between the two countries, for combatting terrorism.

The announcement came during a two-day visit to Iran by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, the first of his tenure.

• Iran and Pakistan share a 959 km land border.

• Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, is Pakistan's largest and poorest province, rife with ethnic, sectarian and separatist insurgencies.

Tehran (in Iran) has been complaining for years about recurring attacks by Pakistani militants on Iranian security forces.

• Pakistan is a close ally of the United States and Saudi Arabia, both of which have ratcheted up pressure on Iran over its alleged meddling in regional affairs.

Pakistan and Iran are also members of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) and Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Amartya Sen Chairs at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) for research on inequality.

• The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) announced the creation of the Amartya Sen Chair in Inequality Studies, named in honour of the India-born economist, philosopher and Nobel laureate, who was Professor of Economics at LSE from 1971-82.

• The public announcement of the chair was made during LSE’s biannual Amartya Sen Lecture.

• The lecture, 'Foundations of State Effectiveness', was delivered by Professor Sir Tim Besley with Professor Sen serving as discussant and LSE Director Minouche Shafik chairing.

• The inauguration of the Amartya Sen Chair marks a further milestone for the International Inequalities Institute (III), following the 2016 launch of the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity programme, backed by a historic 64 million pounds, 20-year gift by The Atlantic Philanthropies, the School’s largest to date.

AGREEMENTS AND MOUS:

Ministry of Ayush inked MoU with CSIR to cooperate in the field of research and education.

• Ayush Ministry signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi for cooperation in the field of research and education of traditional medicines how to integrate traditional medicines with modern science.

• CSIR and Ayush Ministry jointly developed the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) which prevents bio-piracy and misappropriation of traditional knowledge.

TCS signed a deal with India Post to transform country's mail delivery system.

• India's largest IT services company, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), has partnered with the Department of Posts in a bid to transform it into a multi-service digital hub, modernise the delivery of mail and packages, enhance customer experience, and launch innovative services that will drive new revenues.

In 2013, TCS had announced receiving an over Rs 1,100 crore multi-year contract from the Department of Posts (DoP) for an end-to-end IT modernisation programme.

• Core System Integration (CSI) program designed and implemented by TCS, involved deploying an integrated ERP (enterprise resource planning) solution that caters to mail operations, finance and accounting, and HR functions, and connects its vast network of more than 150,000 post offices, making this the largest distributed ePostal network in the world.

TCS is the same company that, along with the Ministry of External Affairs, revamped India’s passport services through the Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) initiative and ‘Student Connect’.

BANKS AND ECONOMICS:

SBI General Insurance launched cyber defence insurance.

• SBI General Insurance launched its new product – cyber defence insurance to protect businesses from financial and reputational losses due to cyber attacks.

The main focus on SMEs and mid-market businesses to larger businesses.

This offers protection against the growing threat of cyber breaches like hacking attacks, identity theft, disclosure of sensitive information and business interruption. It provides IT forensic investigations, legal advice, reputational and PR management.

Bajaj Allianz General Insurance in a partnership with Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance launched their 1st product: Total Health Secure Goal.

• Bajaj Allianz General Insurance collaborated with Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance to launch their 1st product titled ‘Total Health Secure Goal’.

• The product is a combination of 2 existing plans, namely, Health Guard policy by Bajaj Allianz General Insurance and iSecure policy by Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance.

This combined plan offers customers 5% extra discount on the total premium and also provides flexibility of availing service or communication on the product.

The product provides an overall  insurance solution and ensures that health and security needs of the customer are taken care of without compromising on their savings.

• Under Health Guard policy, a customer can choose the option between a Silver or a Gold Plan with an insured sum ranging from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 50 Lakh.

This sum is inclusive of the hospitalisation expenses incurred by the customer.

DAYS:

World Book Day 2019: Theme, what is the purpose and who started it.

• World Book Day is celebrated by UNESCO and other related organisations every year on the 23rd of April. Also called the World Book and Copyright Day, it is an occasion to promote the joy of books and the art of reading. 23rd April was selected by UNESCO to pay tribute to great literary figures including William Shakespeare, Miguel Cervantes and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega who died on this day. This date was finalised in the year 1995 in the UNESCO General Conference, held in Paris, to honour authors and books worldwide.

AWARDS:

KAU IPR Cell Won The National IP Award 2019.

• Intellectual Property Rights Cell (IPR Cell) of Kerala Agricultural University (KAU)

The award comprises of INR 1 lakh, citation and memento.

SPORTS:

Services lifted Santosh Trophy Football; beat Punjab in final.

• Services won their sixth Santosh Trophy title with a 1-0 victory over Punjab, at Ludhiana.

• In the semi-finals earlier, eight-time champions Punjab had defeated five-time winners Goa 2-1 to enter their 15th final.

• Services beat Karnataka 4-3 in the semis via a penalty shootout to book a place in the title clash for the 11th time.

• The 2018–19 Santosh Trophy was the 73rd edition.

India won 5 medals on opening day of Asian Athletics Championships 2019.

• Javelin thrower Annu Rani and 3000-meter steeple chaser Avinash Sable won the silver medals.

• Quartermiler M P Poovamma, 5000-meter runner Parul Choudhary and 10000-meter runner Gavit Murali Kumar bagged a bronze each.

• With five medals to their name, India were fifth in the medals tally. Bahrain lead the table (7 medals), China second (5 medals), Iran third (2 medals) and Philippines fourth (1 medal).

Fabio Fognini became the first Italian to win an ATP Masters 1000 title.

• He achieved this feat at the Monte Carlo Masters by defeating Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 38 minutes.

• Fognini will rise to a career-high ranking of 12.

• Fognini had beaten Rafael Nadal in the semi-final.

• Fognini earns 1000 ATP Rankings points and receives €958,055 in prize money. Lajovic gains 600 points and €484,950 for his run to the championship match.

Last time an Italian player Nicola Pietrangeli won the trophy in 1968. This event held every year at Monte Carlo Country Club.

• Fognini is the eighth player to win his first Masters 1000 title over the past 17 events at the elite level. In the 92 ATP Masters 1000 events prior to 2017 Rome, only eight players won their first Masters 1000 crown.

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