GK and Current Affairs Updates

West Indies on 3 April 2016 won the ICC Cricket World T-20 Men’s Cup 2016. In the final clash at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, West Indies defeated England by 4 wickets.
England batting first was bowled out at a score of 155 for 9 wickets and in reply to the target West Indies scored 161 at the loss of 4 wickets in 19.4 over.
• Player of the match – Marlon Samuels (West Indies)
• Player of the series – ViratKohli (India)
Captains of the two teams
• West Indies – Darren Sammy
• England – Eoin Morgan
With this win, West Indies became the only team so far to win the ICC World Twenty20 title twice, having secured it last in 2012.
Earlier, West Indies won their maiden Women's World T-20 title by defeating reigning champions Australia by 8 wickets at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

Kallol Roy on 31 March 2016 was appointed the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of BhartiyaNabhikiyaVidyut Nigam Ltd (BHAVINI).
Roy assumed the position following the superannuation of PerumalChellapandi.
• Kallol Roy had served as the Head of the Research Reactor Maintenance Division, Reactor Group, BARC. He was responsible for total maintenance management of all plant systems and equipment, carrying out modifications and upgrading mechanical and electrical systems and computerising various plant systems.
• He holds a PhD in fault diagnostics-systems and control from IIT-B and a post doctorate degree in computer process control from the University of Alberta, Canada.
• BHAVINI is a government-owned corporation of India.
• It was established in 2004 in Chennai.
• It is wholly owned by the Union Government and is responsible for the construction, commissioning and operation of all Stage II fast breeder reactors envisaged as part of the country’s three stage nuclear power programme.
• It is administered by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).
• Once the first fast breeder reactor, called Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) goes into commercial power production, BHAVINI will be the second power utility in India after Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL), to use nuclear fuel sources to generate power.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on 3 April 2016 conferred the King Abdulaziz Sash honour by Saudi Arabia. It is the highest civilian honour of the country.
•    The prestigious award was awarded by King Salman bin Abdulaziz at the Royal Court in Riyadh where the two nations heads held extensive talks on a range of bilateral, regional and international issues.
•    The award is named after King Abdulaziz Al Saud. He was the founder of the modern Saudi state. 
•    It is awarded to citizens of Saudi Arabia and foreigners for meritorious service to the Kingdom.
•    The other prominent personalities who were conferred with this award earlier are Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, British Prime Minister David Cameron, US President Barack Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Biocon Ltd on 28 March 2016 announced that the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) of Japan approved its biosimilar Insulin Glargine.
•    The approval for Insulin Glargine was obtained post successful completion of initial development by Biocon and local Phase III Clinical Studies in over 250 Type 1 Diabetes patients by its partner FUJIFILM Pharma Co. Ltd (FFP) in Japan.
•    The product will be available in Japan in 2017 in the form of disposable pen with 3 ml of 100IU Insulin Glargine. 
•    At present, it is available in India with the brand name Basalog One.
•    With this launch, the company is also aiming to capture a significant share of the Japanese Glargine market of 144 million US dollars.
•    It is the second largest market outside of North America and Europe and is largely dominated by disposable pens.
•    It is India's largest and fully-integrated, innovation-led biopharmaceutical company.
•    The Bengaluru-based company serves its customers in over 100 countries.
•    Its products are focused on chronic diseases like autoimmune, diabetes and cancer.
•    It has successfully developed and taken a range of novel biologics, biosimilars, differentiated small molecules and affordable recombinant human insulin and analogs from 'Lab to Market'.
•    It has a rich pipeline of biosimilars and novel biologics at various stages of development including high potential oral insulin.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) signed an agreement with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka which will enable the latter to withdraw up to $400mn in US Dollars or Euros.
•    The Central Bank of Sri Lanka can make drawals of US Dollar or Euro in multiple tranches up to a maximum of USD 400 million or its equivalent.
•    The agreement will be valid for three years and is expected to further economic co-operation between the two countries, the statement said, adding that it will also further financial stability in the region.
•    The swap arrangement is intended to provide a backstop line of funding for countries that are part of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to meet any balance of payments and liquidity crises till long-term arrangements are made.
•    In May 2012, RBI announced in the SAARCFINANCE Governor's meeting in Nepal, that it would offer swap facilities aggregating USD 2 billion, both in foreign currency and rupee to SAARC member countries.

The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) of the Ministry Social Justice and Empowerment on 31 March 2016 launched the Inclusiveness and Accessibility Index.
•    The index seeks to help the industries and corporates to participate in the Accessible India Campaign (AIC) by voluntarily evaluating their readiness for making the workplace accessible for Persons with Disabilities.
•    Union Government launched Accessible India Campaign/Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan
•    It enables the organisations to introspect over their inclusive policies and organisational culture in aid of PwDs, employment of such workforce and adaptations to meet the needs of PwDs.
•    The index toolkit aims at assessing the current stage of inclusiveness and accessibility of persons with disabilities by an organisation.
•    It can also act as a guide for taking progressive steps to increase support, inclusiveness and accessibility towards persons/employees with disabilities.
•    It can be applied and used by organisations irrespective of their size and scale.
•    It was prepared with a holistic approach in collaboration with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

Researchers have discovered a sand-eating tadpole that lives in total darkness, until it fully develops into a young frog.
•    The group of scientists from the University of Delhi, the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka and Gettysburg College, California discovered and documented the tadpole in the peer-reviewed PLOS One, an open-access journal.
•    The tadpole belongs to the so-called Indian Dancing Frog family, Micrixalidae. 
•    They get that name from their habit of waving their legs as a sign of territorial and sexual display while sitting on boulders in streams.
•    In January, Dr.Biju reported in the same journal of a frog species called Frankixalusjerdonii, once considered a species lost to science.
•    The purple tadpoles were discovered from the deep recesses of streambeds in the Western Ghats and they possess muscular eel-like bodies and skin-covered eyes, which helps them to burrow through gravel beds.
•    Though they lack teeth, they have serrated jaw sheaths, to possibly prevent large sand grains from entering the mouth while feeding and moving through sand.
•    Other unusual features of the tadpoles were ribs and whitish globular sacs storing calcium carbonate, known as “lime sacs.

PEN America on 31 March 2016 announced that it will confer the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award upon imprisoned Egyptian novelist and journalist Ahmed Naji.
•    The award will be presented to Naji at Pen America's annual Literary Gala on 16 May 2016 at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
•    PEN America’s 16 May 2016 Literary Gala will also salute Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling with the 2016 PEN/Allen Foundation Literary Service Award for engendering a love of literature among children worldwide.
•    Naji is the author of three books and a journalist at the state-funded Akhbar al-Adab literary magazine.
•    He has been a vocal critic of official corruption under the rule of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
•    In 2015, he was charged with violating public modesty after a private citizen complained that an excerpt from Naji’s novel The Use of Life published in the state-run literary journal Akhbar al-Adab had given the reader heart palpitations due to its sexual content.
•    State prosecutors then brought a case against Naji despite the Egyptian censorship board’s previous approval of the literary text. 
•    When a trial court found him not guilty, prosecutors appealed to a higher court that in February 2016 delivered a guilty verdict and imposed the maximum sentence of two years in prison.

Veteran journalist and writer BabuBharadwaj died of cardiac arrest on 30 April 2016 in Kozhikode. He was 68.
•    Bharadwaj had been a part of prominent print and television media in Kerala. 
•    Kalapangalkkoru Grihapadam, a novel penned by him, won the Kerala SahityaAkademi award in 2006.
•    Bharadwaj's other famous works include Pravasiyude Kurippukal, Shavaghoshayathra (novelettes), Puppet Theatre (short story collection), PravasiyudeVazhiyambalangal and Adrushya Nagarangal.
•    The writer had also produced a Malayalam movie named Iniyum Marichittillatha Nammal in 1980. It was directed by Chintha Ravi.
•    Bharadwaj was born at Chemmenchery in Kozhikode in 1948. He studied at Poyilkavu High School, Malabar Christian College, Thrissur Engineering College.
•    His other noted works include 'Pravasiyude Kurippukal', 'Shavaghoshayathra' (novelettes), 'Puppet Theatre' (short story collection), 'Pravasiyude Vazhiyambalangal' and 'Adrushya Nagarangal'.

The World Autism Awareness Day 2016 was celebrated across the world on 2 April 2016. The 2016 theme for the day is Autism and the 2030 Agenda: Inclusion and Neurodiversity.
•    World Autism Awareness Day is an internationally recognised day, encouraging Member States of the United Nations to take measures to raise awareness about children with autism throughout the world.
•    It was designated by the United Nations General Assembly resolution 62/139. World Autism Awareness Day passed in council on 1 November 2007 and adopted on 18 December 2007.
•    This resolution was passed and adopted without a vote in the UN General Assembly, mainly as a supplement to previous UN initiatives to improve human rights.
•    World Autism Day is also one of only four official health-specific UN Days.
•    This year’s observance will look ahead to 2030 and reflect on the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their implications for improving the lives of people with autism.
•    2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Persons with Disabilities
•    In September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the ambitious new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which includes 17 SDGs and 169 targets that promise to leave no one behind.
•    While all SDGs are universally applicable, disability and persons with disabilities are explicitly referenced in the following goals:  4) Quality Education; 8) Decent Work and Economic Growth; 10) Reduced Inequalities; 11) Sustainable Cities and Communities; and 17) Partnerships for the Goals.
•    Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that manifests itself during the first three years of life.
•    It results from a neurological disorder that affects the functioning of the brain, mostly affecting children and adults in many countries irrespective of gender, race or socio-economic status.
•    Autism is characterized by impairments in social interaction, problems with verbal and non-verbal communication and restricted, repetitive behaviour, interests and activities.