26th April 2016 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• Today (26th April) is World Intellectual Property Day.
• • The event was established by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 2000 to "raise awareness of how patents, copyright, trademarks and designs impact on daily life" and "to celebrate creativity, and the contribution made by creators and innovators to the development of societies across the globe".
  • 26 April was chosen as the date to celebrate this day because it coincides with the date on which the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization entered into force in 1970.
  • Theme of 2016 – Digital Creativity: Culture Reimagined.
• In the first bilateral meeting since the Pathankot attack, Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar today met his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhary on the sidelines of the 'Heart of Asia' conference in Delhi. 
• • Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit confirmed that “all outstanding issues, including the Jammu and Kashmir dispute” were discussed during the meeting.
    
• Japan is going to declassify two files relating to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose by the end of this year.

National Affairs

• The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has identified Mumbai as the noisiest city in the country, followed by Delhi, Chennai, and Bengaluru. 
• • According to reports, some areas in Mumbai and Delhi are noisier than the busiest parts of New York, London, and Beijing.
• The government has made it mandatory for all mobile phones sold in India to have a panic button starting 2017. 
• • The emergency button should be activated on pressing a designated key.
• Heart of Asia (HoA) conference begins today in New Delhi.
• • Focus of the conference is to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan.
  • The 14 participating countries in HoA process are Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and UAE. The supporting countries include Australia, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Iraq, Japan, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, U.K., U.S. and the E.U.
• Haryana Government has decided to give free laptops to first 500 meritorious students, who would secure a minimum of 95 per cent marks in annual Board examination of Class X in 2016-17.
• • The laptops would be provided under State Merit Scholarship scheme, under which a scholarship of Rs 150 per student for 12 months is given.
• The Union Government has recently constituted 8-member inter-ministerial committee to prepare a blueprint for doubling farmers’ income by 2022. 
• • The committee will be headed by : Ashok Dalwai (Additional secretary at the Union Agriculture Ministry)

New Appointments

• Olympic medallist boxer Mary Kom and BJP leader Subramanian Swamy took oath as Members of the Rajya Sabha today. 
• • Note : The government had last week nominated Swamy, writer Narendra Jadhav, journalist Swapan Dasgupta and Kom to the Upper House. 
  • Malayalam actor Suresh Gopi and cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, who were also nominated, are yet to take their oaths.

Awards & Honors

• Tennis player Andy Murray's Cromlix hotel in Perthshire, Scotland was awarded the most luxurious hotel of the year for the second consecutive time at the Scottish Hotel Awards.

Science & Technology

• Countdown for the launch of 7th and final navigation satellite IRNSS-1G is now on at Sriharikota.
• • Important Points to Note :
  • Indian Regional Navigation Satellites System (IRNSS) is aimed at self-reliance in space based navigation. 
  • The satellite IRNSS 1G is similar in configuration to its six other peer satellites which are now in space.
  • The satellite is the final in the series of space fleet to establish India’s own space technology-based navigation system to aid the air, maritime and surface transport.
  • The rocket PSLV C33 with the passenger on board will undertake the journey in its extended version with strap on boosters, given the passenger satellite’s weight and the orbital destination.
• “AnBot”, China’s first robot security guard has made its debut.
• • The 1.49-metre-tall, 78-kg “AnBot” unveiled at the ongoing China Chongqing Hi-Tech Fair has a maximum speed of 18 km per hour. It can patrol at a speed of 1 km per hour and has battery capacity of 8 hours.

Business & Economy

• Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull today announced that France has won a $40 billion bid to build a fleet of 12 submarines for Australia. 
• Investment banking firm Goldman Sachs has officially launched GS Bank, an internet-based savings bank, in the US. 
• • The online-only bank allows customers to open accounts with a minimum deposit of $1 and offers an interest of 1.05%. 
• An investment of ₹90,841 crore was made in the renewable energy sector in India during the last three fiscals to 2015-16. 
• • Of this, the highest investment was made in the wind energy sector at ₹46,831 crore, followed by solar (₹30,440 crore), and biogas and bagasse cogeneration (₹7,382 crore).
• The Andhra Pradesh Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited (APEPDCL) based at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh has became the first e-Office electricity distribution company among all power utilities in India.
• • Among the 62,291 files created in e-Office in Andhra Pradesh, 50,036 are of APEPDCL’s i.e., 80.32 per cent of the total files created achieving first position.

Deaths

• The former prime minister of Thailand, Banharn Silpa-archa (83) passed away. 
• • His scandal-ridden tenure a Prime Minister preceded the Thailand’s economic collapse in the 1990s.

Sports

• India will be hosting the 2018 Commonwealth Judo Championships in Jaipur, besides organising the Asian Cadet and Asian Junior Judo Championships in September in Kerala this year.
• • Note : The Commonwealth Judo Championships was allotted to India, by the Commonwealth Judo Congress held on April 23rd at Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
  • This will be the first time that Commonwealth Judo Championships will be held in India. 

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