Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2019

Notes:
As per latest report on “South Asia Economic Focus, Exports Wanted” by World Bank (WB), India’s GDP growth is expected to accelerate moderately to 7.5% in FY 20 (2019-20) and will be driven by continued investment strengthening, particularly private-improved export performance and resilient consumption. As per report, Credit growth will benefit from relatively more accommodative monetary policy amid benign inflationary conditions. Support from delayed fiscal consolidation will partially offset the effects of political uncertainty on economic activity around elections in May 2019. The real GDP growth is estimated at 7.2% in financial year FY 19 (2018-19).

Notes:
The World Bank (WB) has recently released its latest edition of Migration and Development Brief. In it, India has retained its position as the world’s top recipient of remittances with its diaspora sending a whopping 79 billion back home in 2018. India was followed by China (67 billion), Mexico (36 billion), the Philippines (34 billion), and Egypt (29 billion). Over the last three years, India has registered a significant flow of remittances from 62.7 billion in 2016 to 65.3 billion 2017. According to the report, remittances to low-and middle-income countries reached a record high of 529 billion in 2018, an increase of 9.6% over the previous record high of 483 billion in 2017. Global remittances, which include flows to high-income countries, reached 689 billion in 2018, up from $633 billion in 2017.

Notes:
On 7th April 2019, Garbine Muguruza of Spain has successfully defended her Monterrey Open title when Victoria Azarenka retired injured from her first WTA singles final in three years. Muguruza was leading the match between the two former world number ones 6-1 3-1 when Azarenka decided she was unable to continue because of an injury to her right leg. The Monterrey Open is a professional women’s tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. The event is affiliated with the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), and is part of the International tournaments on the WTA Tour.

Notes:
The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with HDFC Bank to spread awareness about the benefits of listing on BSE Startups platform. The MoU will also extend value-added support for eligible startups, along with BSE for the listing. The move will offer banking and lending solutions to eligible startups already listed or due-to-list on BSE startup platform. Moreover, the ability to access capital via BSE’s startup platform in turn will enable startups to access growth capital and enhance tradability of an otherwise illiquid/ high-risk investment asset class. The exchange had launched the startup platform in December 2018, with an aim to encourage entrepreneurs to get listed and raise equity capital for their growth and expansion. HDFC Bank has 43 million customers, 5,000 branches and 13,160 ATMs across 2,727 Indian towns and cities.

Notes:
As per Article 324 of the constitution, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has recently issued an order prohibiting display in electronic media including cinematograph of any biopic or publicity material in the nature of biography/hagiography sub-serving the purposes of any political entity or any individual entity connected to it. Hence, ECI banned screening of “PM Narendra Modi”, a biopic on the Prime Minister, till the national elections are over. Earlier, on 10th March 2019, ECI announced General Elections to 17th Lok Sabha 2019 and from the date of announcement of the elections, the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) came into operation. The Lok Sabha elections will begin on April 11 and will be held over seven phases followed by counting of votes on May 23.

Notes:
India’s flagship programme, the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) (or Namami Gange) was awarded the distinction of “Public Water Agency of the Year” by Global Water Intelligence at the Global Water Summit (GWS) in London on April 9. The GWS was the major business conference for the water industry worldwide. The coveted awards recognize excellence across the entire international water industry and reward those initiatives in the water, wastewater, and desalination sectors which bring remarkable improvements in the lives of people. The Namami Gange programme an integrated conservation mission with a budget of Rs 20,000 crore to accomplish the objectives of effective abatement of pollution, conservation and rejuvenation of the Ganga. The project covers 8 states and seeks to fully connect all 1,632 Gram Panchayats along the Ganga to a sanitation system by 2022. Its mission aims at providing comprehensive and sustainable solutions for major pollution hot spots along the stretch of 97 towns and 4,465 villages on the Ganga stem.

Notes:
Indian captain Virat Kohli has been named as the Leading Cricketer of the year for an unprecedented third year in a row by the 2019 edition of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack. Kohli was picked as one of the Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year, along with Tammy Beaumont, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran and Rory Burns. The Indian skipper is only the third cricketer ever to have won the award more than three times after Don Bradman (10 times) and Jack Hobbs (8 times). India’s Smriti Mandhana has been named as the women’s Leading Cricketer in the World for 2018 while Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan was named the Leading Twenty20 Cricketer for the second consecutive year. Wisden has been listing out Cricketers of the Year since 1889 and it is considered as one of the more prestigious awards in the sport.

Notes:
Professor Najma Akhtar has become the first-ever woman Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia University (JMI) for a period of five years or until she attains the age of 70 years, She is also the first lady vice chancellor of any central university in Delhi. Ms. Akhtar has four decades of academic scholarship in educational leadership. She is known for spearheading international educational administrators’ course for senior officials from 130 countries for more than 15 years at National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) in New Delhi.

Notes:
India and Sweden have recently launched the India-Sweden Collaborative Industrial Research and Development Programme on the occasion of the Sweden-India Innovation Partnership AI for All Summit in New Delhi. The programme will address a range of global challenges through technology and innovation. The Joint programme is co-funded by Indian Department of Science & Technology (DST) and Sweden’s Innovation Agency – Vinnova. The new programme brings together the world class excellence of Sweden and India to address challenges in the area of Smart Cities and Clean Technologies and Digitalization / Internet of Things (IoT). Vinnova will provide funding to Swedish side participants upto 2,500,000 Swedish Krona as grant. On the Indian side, conditional grant of upto 50% with a limit of INR 1.5 crores per project to Indian project partners to be provided. This Programme is technically and administratively managed by the Global Innovation & Technology Alliance (GITA) on behalf of DST in India and Vinnova in Sweden.

Notes:
To make Google Pay more useful for Indian customers, Google has partnered with MMTC-PAMP India to introduce buying and selling of gold through the app. Through this partnership with India’s only London Bullion Market Association (LBMA)-accredited gold refinery, Google Pay users will be able to buy 99.99% 24-karat gold. Google Pay users can now purchase gold for any value, which will be stored on behalf of the user in secure vaults by MMTC-PAMP. Users can buy and sell this gold any time at the latest price, refreshed every few minutes on the Google Pay app. Other mobile wallet providers such as Paytm, MobiKwik and PhonePe too provide the facility of buying gold from their wallet apps.