GK and Current Affairs Updates

Bollywood actress Radhika Apte on 22 April 2016 bagged the best actress in an international narrative feature honour at Tribeca Film Festival 2016 for her performance in anthology film Madly.
•    Radhika starred in Clean Shaven, which is a segment of Madly.
•    List of other Tribeca Film Festival 2016 Award Winners
•    U.S. Narrative Feature Competition Categories:
•    The Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature – Dean, written and directed by Demteri Martin.
•    Best Actor in a U.S. Narrative Feature Film –Dominic Rains in The Fixer.
•    Best Actress in a U.S. Narrative Feature Film – Mackenzie Davis in Always Shine.
•    Best Cinematography in a U.S. Narrative Feature Film – Cinematography by Michael Ragen for Kicks.
•    Best Screenplay in a U.S. Narrative Feature Film – Women Who Kill written by Ingrid Jungermann.
•    International Narrative  Feature Competition Categories:
•    The Best International Narrative Feature – Junction 48, written and directed by Udi Aloni.
•    Best Actor in an International Narrative Feature Film –Alan Sabbagh in The Tenth Man.
•    Best Cinematography in an International Narrative Feature Film – Cinematography by Kjell Vassdal for El Clasico.
•    Best Screenplay in an International Narrative Feature Film – Perfect Strangers written by Filippo Bologna, Paolo Costella, Paolo Genovese, Paola Mammini, and Rolando Ravello.
•    World Documentary Competition Categories:
•    Best Documentary Feature – Do Not Resist, directed by Craig Atkinson (USA).
•    Best Documentary Cinematography – Cinematography by Jarred Alterman for Contemporary Color (USA).
•    Best Documentary Editing – Editing by Bill Ross for Contemporary Color (USA).
•    Directing Awards:
•    Best New Narrative Director Award — Priscilla Anany, director of Children of the Mountain (USA, Ghana).
•    Albert Maysles New Documentary Director Award — David Feige for Untouchable (USA
•    Short Film Competition Categories:
•    Best Narrative Short – Hold On (Houvast), directed by Charlotte Scott-Wilson (Netherlands).
•    Best Documentary Short – Extremis directed by Dan Krauss (USA).
•    Student Visionary Award – Ping Pong Coach, directed by Yi Liu. (Taiwan R.O.C., USA).
•    Storyscapes Award
•    Notes on Blindness: Into Darkness created by Arnaud Colinart, Amaury La Burthe, Peter Middleton, and James Spinney. Winner receives 10000 US dollars, presented by AT&T.
•    The award was given by Jessica Brillhart, Saschka Unseld, and Olga Serna, Senior Marketing Manager, AT&T.
•    The Nora Ephron Prize
•    Rachel Tunnard, director, writer and editor of Adult Life Skills (UK).

England’s snooker great Steve Davis announced his retirement from the game on 17 April 2016 after 38-year career. He is 58.
•    His last match came on 10 April 2016 where he lost against Fergal O'Brien and failed to qualify for 2016 World Championship.
•    Starting his snooker career in 1978, he went on to win six world titles in 1980s and was world number one from 1983 to 1990. In fact, he was World number one for seven consecutive seasons.
•    He also won 28 ranking titles, putting him joint second on the all-time list with Ronnie O'Sullivan and John Higgins.
•    Put together, he stands second behind Stephen Hendry, who won seven world titles and 36 ranking titles.
•    In his 1453 professional matches, he won 53 non-ranking titles which include three Masters wins.
•    Davis was introduced to snooker by his father Bill, a keen player, who took him to play at his local working men's club at the age of 12, and gave him Joe Davis' instructional book How I Play Snooker,
•    Davis came to public prominence after his performance at the 1980 World Championship, where he reached the quarter-finals, defeating defending champion Terry Griffiths en route, before losing to Alex Higgins. 

Union government on 22 April 2016 constituted the inter-ministerial panel to prepare a blueprint for doubling farmers' income by 2022.
The government's decision to set up the panel follows the budget announcement that set a target of doubling farm incomes by 2022.
The panel will be headed by Ashok Dalwai, Additional Secretary at the Union Agriculture Ministry. The other members will be officials from Agriculture and Food Ministries as well as experts from the Delhi-based National Council of Applied Economic Research and National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research.
• The panel will prepare a plan to shift farm policies from being production-oriented to income based ones.
• The eight-member panel will determine the potential areas of agriculture to investment and also suggests different ways to reduce the risk of farming by diversifying to horticulture and allied activities like livestock and fisheries to boost income.
• The panel is expected to submit the report in two months. It will also look at reducing the cost of cultivation and addressing unpredictability of weather and price fluctuations in farm sector.
• The government is focusing not only on increasing crop yields but also on reducing the cost of cultivation to increase the net income of farmers.
• The schemes on soil health card, neem-coated urea and per drop more crop, are aimed to bring down the cost of cultivation.
Besides, the government is trying to address the unpredictability in agriculture due to market fluctuations, and due to weather by setting up an electronic National Agriculture Market and implementing a new crop insurance scheme.

President Pranab Mukherjee on 22 April 2016 nominated of six eminent personalities from different fields to Rajya Sabha following a recommendation of the Union government.
Subramanian Swamy: a BJP leader from Tamil Nadu, He was elected to Lok Sabha in 1977, 1980 and 1988, and to the Rajya Sabha in 1974 and 1998.
Narendra Jadhav: a renowned economist and former member of the erstwhile National Advisory Council (2010-14) and Planning Commission (2009-14). He was the former vice-chancellor of Pune University.
Navjot Singh Sidhu:  Former Indian cricketer-turned-politician and served as MP in Lok Sabha for three terms.
Suresh Gopi: a Malayalam actor who acted in over 200 films. He was a winner of the National Film and Filmfare Awards.
Swapan Dasgupta: a journalist, who worked at senior editorial positions in various publications which include The Indian Express, India Today and The Times of India.  He is a prolific writer in three languages - Marathi, English and Hindi - and credited with writing and editing more than 30 books.
Mary Kom: Legendary boxer and Olympic bronze medallist. She belongs to the Sino-Tibetan speaking Kom tribe of Manipur. She is five-time World Amateur Boxing champion, and the only woman boxer to have won a medal in each one of the six world championships. In 2014, she became the first Indian woman boxer to get a gold medal in the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. She was picked to ensure representation from Northeastern states.
• President has a provision to nominate 12 members in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) on the recommendation of Union Cabinet as per Article 80 of the Constitution of India.
• The names of the nominated members who are drawn from fields such as literature, science, sports, art and social service on the advice of the government.
• The rationale behind the principle of the nomination is to facilitate the representation of eminent professionals and experts who cannot face direct elections.

Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar on 22 April 2016 signed the historic Paris climate agreement along with other 174 nations at a high-level ceremony hosted by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York.
The agreement will mark as a significant step that brings developing and developed nations together to combat global warming by working to cut down greenhouse gas emissions.
• At 175 nations, the signing ceremony for the climate agreement set the record for the most countries to sign an international agreement on one day while previous one set in 1982, when 119 countries signed the Law of the Sea Convention.
• The signing is the first step toward ensuring that the agreement comes into force as soon as possible.
• After the signing, countries must take the further national (or domestic) step of accepting or ratifying the agreement.
• The agreement will come into force 30 days after at least 55 Parties to the UNFCCC ratify the agreement which accounts at least 55 per cent of global emissions.
• India has maintained that the burden of fighting climate change cannot be put on the shoulders of the poor after decades of industrial development by the rich nations.
• It has announced plans to quadruple its renewable power capacity to 175 gigawatts by 2022 as part of the government's plan to supply electricity to every household.
• India seeks to add 100 gigawatts of photo voltaic capacity, 60 gigawatts of wind power, 10 gigawatts of biomass and five gigawatts of hydro projects.
• Indian requirements of fuel are certainly going to increase. Notwithstanding that our own standards of protecting the environment are very rigid.

India on 22 April 2016 ratified the new Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) of World trade Organisation (WTO). WTO ambassador of India, Anjali Prasad, handed over the country’s instrument of acceptance to WTO’s Director-General Roberto Azevêdo.
The ratification of the TFA will help India further boost economic growth by reducing trade costs and supporting its integration into the global economy.
• The agreement contains provisions for expediting the movement, release and clearance of goods, including goods in transit which was concluded at the WTO’s 2013 Bali Ministerial Conference.
• It also sets out measures for effective cooperation between customs and other appropriate authorities on trade facilitation and customs compliance issues.
• It further contains provisions for technical assistance and capacity building in this area.
• It will enter into force once two-thirds of the WTO membership has formally accepted the agreement. 
• India submitted its Category A notification to the WTO on 18 March 2016, with an indication of which provisions of the TFA it intends to implement upon entry into force of the Agreement.

Pop music superstar Prince Rogers Nelson, popularly known as Prince, died on 21 April 2016. He was 57. 
• Prince was born in Minneapolis and started his music career in the late 1970s with the hits Wanna Be Your Lover and soared over the following decade with the albums as 1999 and Purple Rain. 
• He also became songwriter, a singer, producer, one-man studio band and a consummate showman.  
• Some of his hits were Little Red Corvette, When Doves Cry, Let’s Go Crazy, Kiss and The Most Beautiful Girl in the World.
• He also pioneered the famous song The Minneapolis sound.
• Through his career, Prince recorded more than 30 albums and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. 
• He won seven Grammy Awards and earned 30 nominations.
• He also won an Oscar for the song score Purple Rain, a film in which he was also starred.

On 20 April 2016 Pakistan and China signed an agreement for the launch of a special satellite to monitor the development of the 46 billion US dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor projects.
•    Pakistan Minister for Planning, Development and Reform, Ahsan Iqbal on behalf of Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission and China Great Wall Industry Cooperation President Yin Limping signed the agreement in Islamabad, Pakistan.
•    Both agreed for the development and launch of the Pakistan Remote Sensing Satellite (PRSS-1) System and in this regard launch a satellite in June 2018.
•    Space technology is fundamental in socio-economic development, infrastructure upgradation, agriculture production, urban planning in new era.
•    it will help Pakistan in national security arena by strengthening border security and surveillance apparatus.
•    The CPEC is a 46 billion US dollar project launched with the help of China to connect western China to southern Pakistans port city of Gawadar. It would give access to Beijing into the Arabian Sea.

On 20 April 2016 the 19th Round of talks between India and China on the Boundary Issue was held in Beijing . India and China on the Boundary Question was represented by 
National Security Adviser of India, AjitDoval and State Councillor of China, Mr. Yang Jiechi.
•    They agreed to abide for peaceful negotiations to settle the problematic border issue and reach a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution.
•    Both the leaders had discussion on the 3488 km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC). It remains undemarcated resulting in tensions between the two sides.
•    Doval and Yang, also discussed all contentious bilateral, regional and international matters of mutual concern.
•    Both sides agreed on the fact that China-India relations have broad prospects.
•    On 7 September 1993 Agreement on the Maintenance of Peace and Tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China Border Areas was signed.
•    On 29 November 1996, Agreement on Confidence Building Measures in the Military Field along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China Border Areas was signed.
•    On 23 June 2003, Declaration on Principles for Relations and Comprehensive Cooperation between India and China was signed. 
•    On 23 October 2013, Border Defence Cooperation Agreement was signed.

The Union Cabinet on 20 April 2016 gave its approval for signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Bhutan. 
•    The two nations will sign an agreement on technical cooperation in the field of capacity building, benchmarking and bilateral exchange in infrastructure engineering.
•    At present, the two countries are supporting each other in an already ongoing Hydro Power Cooperation which provides an exemplary template for mutual cooperation.
•    India re-negotiated the 1949 treaty with Bhutan and signed a new treaty of friendship in 2007. The new treaty replaced the provision requiring Bhutan to take India's guidance on foreign policy with broader sovereignty and not require Bhutan to obtain India's permission over arms imports. 
•    The Government of Bhutan and the Government of India agree to promote cultural exchanges and cooperation between the two countries. 
•    These shall be extended to such areas as education, health, sports, science and technology.
•    Both Governments agree to continue to consolidate and expand their economic cooperation for mutual and long-term benefit.
Harriet Tubman will be the first African-American to appear on US paper currency
The U.S. Treasury Department announced on 20 April 2016 that the image of an American abolitionist and anti-slavery activist Harriet Tubman will appear on a new series of US $20 bills.