Current Affairs April 10, 2019
In this post, GKToday presents Current Affairs of April 10, 2019 in Short Notes form for preparation of IBPS, Banking, CLAT, SSC, Railway, UPSC, IAS/PCS, UPPSC, BPSC, MPPSC, RPSC, TNPSC, MPSC, KPSC and all other competitive examinations of India.
1. The World Homeopathy Day (WHD) is observed every year on 10th of April to commemorate the birth anniversary of the founder of Homeopathy, Dr Christian Fredrich Samuel Hahnemann. On the occasion, the Central Council for Research in Homeopathy (CCRH) is organizing a two-day convention in New Delhi. The council will take stock of the challenges faced and formulate future strategies for the development of Homeopathy in the country. The theme of the convention is linking research with education and clinical practice. CCRH is an autonomous research organisation of Ministry of AYUSH.
2. The joint military exercise “African Lion 2019” has conducted between Morocco and the US from March 16 to April 7 in the region of Agadir, Tifnit, Tan-Tan, Tata and Ben Guerir, with the participation of thousands of military personnel. The annual exercise involves various types of training including command, maneuvering, peace-keeping and aerial refueling. The drills also include training on counter-terrorism operations, land and air exercises as well as a tactical simulation.
3. Graham Reid from Australia has been appointed as the new chief coach of the India men's hockey team till the end of 2020. As per industry standards, every international coach’s contract is supposed to be for an Olympic cycle. But his tenure can be extended till 2022 FIH World Cup depending upon his performance. Hence, everything will depend on India’s performances leading upto the Tokyo Olympics. Reid had a decorated playing career for the Australian national team and was part of the silver medal winning team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He also comes with a strong coaching experience, having worked with the Australian and the Netherlands national teams.
4. Sydney Brenner (92), a South African-born biologist, has passed away in Singapore on April 5, 2019. He helped decipher the genetic code and his research on a roundworm sparked a new field of human disease research. Brenner shared the Nobel Prize in medicine in 2002 for his contribution to work unraveling how genes control cell division. He and two colleagues, John Sulston and Robert Horvitz, traced a transparent roundworm known as C. elegans to determine how cells divide and create something new. The findings on programmed cell death were key to understanding how cancers develop and laid the groundwork for making C. elegans a major model organism in research.
5. Isaak Hayik has set a new world record as the oldest person to play in a professional soccer match at the age of 73. He broke the record after playing as a goalkeeper for Israeli team Ironi Or Yehuda against Maccabi Ramat Gan on April 5, 2019. Hayik was officially recognised in an award ceremony attended by representatives from the Guinness World Record organisation. The previous record was held by Robert Carmona of Uruguay, who in 2015 played a professional match with Uruguay’s Pan de Azucar at the age of 53.
6. 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).
7. 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.
8. The International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Rwandan genocide is observed every year on 7th of April in memory of the victims of the genocide in Rwanda. The 1994 genocide is considered the hallmark example of violence that was ignored by the international community. In 994, around 800,000 Tutsis were slaughtered in Rwanda in a hundred-day campaign. Hence, the United Nations established the day to remember members of the Tutsi community, an African ethnic group, which were killed or injured in the atrocities. The Day of Reflection offered an opportunity to consider the factors that had led to such mass atrocity and to renew the collective pledge of “never again”.
9. Scientists from University of Michigan in the United States have found that dangerous airborne viruses can be rendered harmless on-the-fly when exposed to 'cold plasma' - a stream of energetic, charged fragments of air molecules. The researchers have measured the virus-killing speed and effectiveness of non thermal plasmas - the ionised, or charged, particles that form around electrical discharges such as sparks. A non thermal plasma reactor was able to inactivate or remove from the air stream 99.9% of a test virus. The researchers hope to one day harness this capability to replace the surgical mask.
10. In a bid to further improve the cash position of banks, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently tweaked Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) norms to provide an additional 2% window to lenders. The move will harmonise the liquidity requirements of banks and release additional money for lending. The LCR indicates the proportion of highly liquid assets held by banks to ensure their ability to meet short-term obligations. In a statement on ‘Developmental and Regulatory Policies’ the RBI has extended the timeline for linking floating interest rates on personal, home, auto and MSEs loans to external benchmarks.