GK and Current Affairs Updates

Billionaires David and Simon Reuben have added another accolade to their formidable array of financial achievements after being identified as Britain’s wealthiest racehorse owners.
•    The Reubens, who own Northern Racing and are in the process of adding Arena Leisure to their portfolio, normally shy away from publicity, but recently put their heads over the parapet when paying £20,000 to have a Zamindar colt carry their colours this season as part of a charity venture organised by Dr Marwan Koukash on behalf of Racing Welfare. 
•    Named Great Ormond, and trained in Newmarket by David Simcock, the brothers will donate any winnings to Great Ormond Street Hospital.
•    Father and daughter Peter and Denise Coates’s continuing success with the bet365 online betting company has seen them put further daylight between themselves and Fred (Betfred) and Peter Done at the top of the league table of gambling operators.
•    The Coates family are now valued at £800 million – a £50m rise on last year – while the Dones, who bought the Tote for £265m last summer, are up £40m, to £700m, the sum also apportioned to PartyGaming founders Rush Parasol and Russ DeLeon.
•    Derrick Smith, another of Magnier’s bloodstock partners, remains unchanged on £550m. 
•    Racehorse owner and breeder Kirsten Rausing, bracketed with brother Jorn, occupies 15th position with £3.9bn, while Earl Cadogan, whose property empire includes much of Chelsea, has enjoyed another profitable 12 months during which his coffers increased by £375m to £3.2bn.

The World Book and Copyright Day was celebrated on 23 April 2016 across the world. 
•    The events on this day are organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), to promote reading, publishing and copyright.
•    The day was first celebrated on 23 April 1995.
•    Every year, UNESCO and the international organizations representing the three major sectors of the book industry - publishers, booksellers and libraries, select the World Book Capital for a one-year period, effective 23 April each year.
•    This year the city of Wroclaw was chosen as the World Book Capital 2016 for its commitment to spread the message of the power of books to nurture creativity.
•    23 April is considered as a symbolic date for world literature. 
•    In 1616, on this date Cervantes, William Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega died. 
•    It is also the date of birth or death of other prominent authors such as Maurice Druon, Haldor K Laxness, Vladimir Nabokov and Manuel Mejia Vallejo.
•    In 1995, UNESCO in its General Conference in Paris, paid a world-wide tribute to books and authors on this date by encouraging everyone to discover the pleasure of reading. In this regard, UNESCO created the World Book and Copyright Day.

Uber has entered into a partnership with Gujarat Tourism and FICCI in Ahmedabad city to facilitate training for Uber driver-partners.
•    The training is designed and conducted by Ace Driving & Road Safety Education Pvt Ltd on areas of Safe Driving and Interpersonal Skills of the drivers, in order to improve the overall rider experience in Gujarat.
•    All drivers who attend the training will be certified by FICCI and Gujarat Tourism under their program, it added.
•    The first such training took place on March 30 2016 with over 40 Uber driver-partners attending the session, which covered some of the topics like Safety and Regulations, Interpersonal Skills With Co-Passengers, Drivers etiquette, Correct seating posture, Proper attitude towards riders and customers, do’s and don’ts while dealing with riders, taking proper care of the vehicle and himself (hygiene), precautions for lady passengers and management of emergency situations among others.

The India cricket team will make its day-night Test debut against the Kiwis later this year.
•    BCCI has decided that India will play one day-night Test match with pink ball against New Zealand later this year. 
•    Before that Duleep Trophy will act as a dress rehearsal for the day-night Test match.
•    The BCCI has taken the decision to host New Zealand for the maiden D/N Test keeping in mind the falling interest in Test cricket and the number of empty seats in stadiums during the matches. 
•    Thakur also said that the behaviour of the pink kookaburra in Indian conditions will be tested during the Duleep Trophy this year.
•    During that Duleep Trophy game, the pink kookaburra will be preferred over the SG Test balls that are generally used in India and all the leading Indian cricketers will be asked to play to give a feedback on how the ball behaves.
•    Pakistan are also expected to make their D/N Test debut against Australia at Brisbane in December this year. India's Test captain ViratKohli had earlier lauded the D/N Test for bringing in a necessary innovation to the game.

Actor Manoj Bajpayee will be honoured with the DadasahebPhalke Award in the Best Actor category (Critics’ Choice) for his performance in Hansal Mehta’s biographical drama, “Aligarh”.
•    “DadasahebPhalke Award in the Best Actor (Critics’ Choice) to Manoj Bajpayee for his portrayal of Professor RamchandraSiras in ‘Aligarh’,” Mehta tweeted on Friday night.
•    The “Shool” star mentioned that he feels extremely honoured and also thanked everyone for their love and appreciation.
•    The award ceremony will take place here on 1st May 2016. 
On the work front, the actor will next be seen as a traffic constable in the upcoming film “Traffic”.
•    Manoj Bajpayee is an Indian film actor who predominantly works in Hindi cinema and has also done some Telugu and Tamil language films. He is the recipient of two National Film Awards and two Filmfare Awards.

•    Born in Belwa, a small village in Narkatiaganj, Bihar, Bajpayee aspired to become an actor since childhood. 
•    He relocated to Delhi at the age of seventeen, and applied for National School of Drama, only to be rejected for three times. He continued to do theatre while studying in the college. 
•    Bajpayee made his feature film debut with the one-minute role in Drohkaal (1994), and a minor role of a dacoit in ShekharKapur's Bandit Queen (1994). 
•    After few unnoticed roles, he played gangster BhikuMhatre in Ram Gopal Varma's 1998 crime drama Satya, which proved to be a breakthrough. 
•    Bajpayee received the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor and Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for the film. 
•    He then acted in films like Kaun (1999), and Shool (1999). For the latter, he won another Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor. 
•    Bajpayee further played the role of a prince with two wives in Zubeidaa (2001), a serial killer in Aks (2001) and a hitchhiker-turned-psychopath killer in Road (2002).

Indian Information Service (IIS) officer BhupendraKainthola has been appointed as Director of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). 
•    Kainthola will replace Prashant Pathrabe and shall have tenure of three years. 
•    He is a 1989 batch IIS officer. Prior to this appointment he was serving as Director (News Room) with DD News since January 2015. 
•    He was responsible for ‘management of news operations and output’. 
•    Previously, he has worked with PIB, Directorate of Audio Visual Publicity (DAVP), Directorate of Film Festival (as Director, National Film Awards and Indian Panorama) and also with the Lok Sabha Television. 
•    Kainthola holds a Masters in International Relations from the University of Mumbai’. 
•    FTII is premier institute that provides training for acting, film making, video editing, direction and production. 
•    It is an autonomous body under Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Established in 1960 and is situated in Pune on the premises of the erstwhile Prabhat Film Company. 
•    Since its inception, FTII has become India’s premier film and television institute. Its alumni have become technicians, actors and directors in the film and television industry.

Roger Federer has had a street named after him in Switzerland which leads to the national centre of Swiss tennis in Biel, where the current world No 3 trained as junior.
•    The 17-time Major winner was humbled by the gesture, appearing before 1500 people to open 'Allee Roger Federer'.
•    The 34-year-old Federer is gearing up for the second Major of 2015, the French Open, which runs from May 22 - June 6 at Roland Garros. 
•    Aside from Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, Federer will be wary of a resurgent Rafael Nadal who flourishes on clay courts. 
•    The Spaniard, a nine-time French Open winner, signalled a return to form by winning the Monte Carlo Masters, his first Masters title in almost two years.
•    Federer reached the quarter-finals in Monte Carlo and is pleased with the state of his game after knee surgery earlier this year. 
•    He also banished talk that being sidelined for two months made him consider retirement.
Wrestler Sandeep Tomar qualifies for Rio 2016
Wrestler Sandeep Tomar on 24 April 2016 secured an Olympic quota place for India in the men's 57kg freestyle category with a bronze medal finish on the final day of the 1st World Olympic qualifying tournament at Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
•    He secured his berth for Rio Olympics by winning the playoff bout after having clinched the bronze medal. 
•    Only the top three finishers in each weight category are eligible for an Olympic berth in this tournament.
•    With this, the 25-year-old Sandeep became the fourth Indian wrestler after YogeshwarDutt (men's 65kg freestyle), Narsingh Yadav (men's 74kg freestyle), and Hardeep Singh (Greco-Roman 98kg) to book a berth for the Rio Games.
•    Only the top three finishers in each weight category here are eligible for an Olympic berth in this tournament. 
•    Securing a bronze medal was not enough to ensure a ticket to Rio and Sandeep had to fight with the other bronze medallist in his category for a lone third-place finish.

Union Government on 20 April 2016 notified that the Department of Disinvestment is renamed as Department of Investment and Public Asset Management or DIPAM.
The decision is aimed at proper management of Union government’s investments in equity including its disinvestment in central public sector undertakings (PSUs).
The new department has been mandated to advise the government in the matters of financial restructuring of central public sector enterprises and for attracting investment through capital markets.
A comprehensive approach will be adopted for efficient management of government investment in Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) by addressing issues such as capital restructuring, dividend, bonus shares, etc.
• The DIPAM will work under Union Finance Ministry and it will deal with all matters relating to management of central government investments in equity including disinvestment of equity in central public sector undertakings.
• It will also deal with all matters relating to sale of central government equity through offer for sale or private placement or any other mode in the erstwhile central public sector undertakings.
• All other post disinvestment matters shall continue to be handled by the Union administrative ministry or concerned department with the consultation of DIPAM on necessity.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced about the renaming of the Department of Disinvestment in his budget speech for 2016-17.

Scientists at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram indigenously manufactured the world's lightest synthetic material called ‘silica aerogel’ or ‘blue air’ or ‘frozen smoke’. It was in news in the third week of April 2016.
Silica Aerogel is the lightest synthetic material ever made by man.
• The material is so light weight that it can be delicately placed on a flower head.
• It has an excellent thermal resistance and if it is used as filler in soldiers' uniforms it can save many lives at the Siachen glacier.
• The material can be used both in space and on Earth. Scientists also hope it can be used to insulate rocket engines.
• Frozen smoke can be also used to make light weight clothing, if painted on windows it can keep buildings cool or warm.
• The matrix of aerogel is made up of 99 per cent air. The material is likely to be used on moon rover in Chandryaan-2 mission of India. 
The material is still very fragile and brittle and scientists at the space centre are still finding ways to make it tough and resilient.

The Commerce and Industry Ministry on 21 April 2016 launched a service named Twitter Seva to address issues and grievances of startups, exporters and importers, and other stakeholders.
For this, an institutionalised mechanism with a special Twitter cell has been created in the ministry manned by a set of dedicated officers of the ministry.
• Queries on matters relating to Department of Commerce and Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) will be answered through this service.
• The ministry will try to respond to the queries within 48 to 72 working hours.
• In particular, queries regarding the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Directorate General of supplies and Disposals, SEZs, tea, coffee, rubber, spices, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) will be addressed by the ministry.
• Issues related to manufacturing policy, industrial corridors, investment promotion, Make in India, Start up India, FDI, intellectual property rights will be addressed by the DIPP.
• Under this, anyone who is desirous of assistance from the ministry can use the hashtag,#mociseva on Twitter.