GK and Current Affairs Updates

South Korea's Olympic committee on 27th April 2016 unveiled Zika-proof uniforms complete with mosquito repellent
•    Mosquito-repellent chemicals were added to the outfits, which all include long pants, long-sleeved shirts and jackets. 
•    The decision to use mosquito repellent uniform during the Rio games was taken because of the spread of the Zika virus. 
•    The virus is spread by daytime-active Aedes mosquitoes.
•    Earlier in April 2016, representatives of the South Korean Olympic organisation and the government visited Rio to inspect venues, athletes' facilities and local hospitals. Brazil has reported about 1.5 million Zika infections out of a worldwide total of about 2 million.
•    The disease has been declared a global emergency by the World Health Organisation. 
•    It causes severe headache which might lead to death.
•    Fever, Body pain etc. are common traits.

Due to the Patel quota agitation, the BJP government in Gujarat on 29th April 2016 announced a 10 percent reservation.
•    This reservation is for the economically backward among upper castes, which include Patidars, with a family income cap of Rs 6 lakh a year to avail the benefit.
•    Reservation is a form of quota-based affirmative action. 
•    Reservation is governed by constitutional laws, statutory laws, and local rules and regulations. 
•    Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC), and in some states Backward Classes among Muslims under a category called BC(M), are the primary beneficiaries of the reservation policies under the Constitution.
•    Starting of July 2015, the people of India's Patidar community, seeking Other Backward Class (OBC) status, held public demonstrations across the Indian state of Gujarat.
•    The largest demonstration was held in Ahmedabad on 25 August and was attended by thousands. 
•    Later, there were incidents of violence and arson across the state resulting in curfew in several cities and towns.

Russia has launched the first rocket from its newly built Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Amur Oblast, in Russian Far East region bordering China. 
•    The rocket is carrying three satellites with it namely Mikhailo Lomonosov , SamSat-218 and Aist-2D. 
•    Vostochny Cosmodrome is a Russian spaceport for civilian launches which is still under construction. 
•    Presently, Russia has the large military launch facilities.
•    But for launch but it has to depend on the Baikonur Cosmodrome for the civilian launches.
•    The new cosmodrome is going  to enable Russia to launch most missions from its own land.
•    Currently, Baikonur is the only launch site operated by Russia with the capability to launch crewed missions to ISS or elsewhere.
•    Seven launch pads are planned to be built at Vostochny, over a period of years.
•    Construction of the cosmodrome began in January 2011 and, as of 2011, was expected to be completed in 2018.

Indian Naval Ships Veer and Nipat got decommissioned in Mumbai, Maharashtra. 
•    The decommissioning ceremony of these ships was held in the presence of Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command. 
•    Both the ships belonged to the 1241 RE class missile vessels. 
•    They have completed 29 and 28 years of commissioned service respectively. 
•    In their service, they have participated in numerous operations and successfully completed many deployments. 
•    They were used during the Operations Vijay (1961) &  Parakram (2001–2002) .
•    The Indian Navy  is the naval branch of the Indian Armed Forces. 
•    The President of India serves as Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. 
•    The Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), usually a four-star officer in the rank of Admiral, commands the navy. 
•    The Indian Navy is the fifth largest in the world. 

Indian marksman Abhinav Bindra has became India's Goodwill Ambassador for the upcoming Rio Olympics in Rio de Janerio.
•    Earlier Salman Khan was appointed as the Goodwill Ambassador for the Rio Olympics 2016 last week, but this decision ran into controversy. 
•    Many sportsmen including Milkha Singh, Yogeshwar Dutt and Dhanraj Pillai slammed this decision, but a few stood by the Sultan actor and supported him. 
•    Now, the IOA is getting in more people to help a farther outreach. 
•    Abhinav Singh Bindra  is an Indian shooter and is a World and Olympic champion in the 10 m Air Rifle event. 
•    By winning the gold in the 10 m Air Rifle event at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, he became the first Indian to win an individual gold medal at the Olympic Games. 
•    Abhinav won Gold Medal in 2014

Sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik bagged the gold medal at the ninth Moscow Sand Sculpture Championship "The magical world of sand" 2016.
•    He won the championship for best composition 'Mahatma Gandhi - World Peace'.

•    About twenty sand artists from various countries around the world participated in the championship. 
•    The championship was held from April 21-27 at Moscow.
•    He has already participated in more than 50 international sand sculpture championships across the world.
•    He has also got the fourth highest civilian award- Padma Shri in 2014.
•    He started sculpting images on sand since the age of seven and has designed hundreds of sand art.
•    He was the brand ambassador of NALCO, India.
•    He established "The Golden Sand Art Institute" which is first of its nature in India. 
•    His sculptures include environmental crisis, famous festivals, national integrity and religious tolerance.

Parliament has passed Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2016 so as to include certain communities in the list of Scheduled Castes (SC) from four states. 
•    The bill was introduced in the Parliament by Union Social Justice Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot.
•    These are the various states and casts to be added :
•    Chhattisgarh: Sais, Sahis, Sarathi, Soot-Sarathi, Thanwar communities. 
•    Haryana: Aheria, Aheri, Hari, Heri, Thori, Turi and Rai Sikh communities.
•    Kerala: Peruvannan community in the list and specification of Malayan community area has been modified. 
•    West Bengal: area restriction of Chain community removed.
•    Odisha: Exclusion of Bariki and Kummari communities.
•    Article 341 empowers Parliament to include or exclude castes from the list of Scheduled Castes in the notification. 
•    The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are official designations given to various groups of historically disadvantaged indigenous people in India. 
•    The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the various groups are designated in one or other of the categories. 
•    During the period of British rule in the Indian subcontinent, they were known as the Depressed Classes.

On 28 April 2016 The Rajya Sabha passed the Industries (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2015. 
•    Lok Sabha passed the bill on 10 December 2015.
•    It was introduced by Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Nirmala Sitharaman.
•    Now, it is going to be sent to the President for his assent.
•    The Union Government conformed to the Supreme Court order in the Bihar Distillery versus Union of India case. 
•    The Supreme Court of India in its judgment on January 20, 1997, demarcated the regulation of production of alcohol between centre and states (Bihar Distillery and another vs. Union of India and others). 
•    The 1951 Act provides for development and regulation of certain industries including metallurgical, telecommunications, transportation, fermentation (which includes production of alcohol) among others.
•    The court ruled that centre should regulate the production of alcohol for industrial use and states should regulate the production of alcohol for potable purpose (domestic consumption).  The Bill conforms to the Supreme Court’s decision.

TVS Racing on Tuesday signed their first woman rider, Shreya Sunder Iyer, for the Indian National Rally championship.
•    She has completed the KTM Adventure Tour across the sand dunes in Dubai, crossing the Kalasa River in Chikkamagalur, and covering around 2,000km in six days as a part of the Southern India Biking Expedition.
•    In 2016 season, Shreya will compete for TVS Racing in the Indian National Rally Championship on a rally-spec TVS Apache RTR.
•    Arvind Pangaonkar is the head of TVS racing, which has conducted this mega event .
•    He said the association with Shreya will encourage women to consider racing as a career.
•    She has already tried her luck in modeling as well as in reality shows but getting no big break moved her into this sports where she has been doing good since start

France on 27th April 2016 honoured Bond villain Mads Mikkelsen with a top civilian award, paying tribute to him as a "fascinating" actor whose "face tells it all".
•    The 50-year-old Danish actor, best known for playing baddie Le Chiffre in the 2006 Bond film "Casino Royale" received the honour at a ceremony in Copenhagen alongside Danish film director Thomas Vinterberg.
•    France's ambassador to Denmark François Zimeray described Mikkelsen as "an all-round actor, whose face tells it all: the hardships and joys of life".
•    The former professional dancer won the best actor prize at Cannes in 2012 for his role in Vinterberg's psychological thriller "The Hunt".
•    described him as a film-maker who "exposes the dark sides of human nature with audacity".