Current Affairs : April 9, 2010

Awards:
Aryabhata Intl Award – Mahantesh G Kivadasanavar
Mahantesh G Kivadasanavarwas, Founder Managing Trustee of Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled has been conferred ‘Aryabhata International Award’ for the year 2009 for his relentless service to the disabled and the underprivileged.

Mother Teresa International Award
Mother Teresa International awards which were instituted in 2000-2001 , are presented to eminent personalities for their outstanding contribution in the fields of education, science, culture, music, sports, social work, medicine, industry and politics in India and overseas.

The winners of Mother Teresa Lifetime Achievement Award for the year 2010 is Ajit Wadekar. Other personalities to win the Mother Teresa International Award are former Captain of 1983 World Cup wining Indian Cricket Team Kapil Dev, Davis Cupper Jaideep Mukerjea and Olympic hockey skipper Gurbux Singh, famed soccer striker Tulsidas Balaram, popular singer Amit Kumar, Bengali stage and screen actress Sova Sen, and noted filmmaker Tarun Majumdar. Other winner is Matinee idol Uttam Kumar (posthumously).

National Updates:
Rajasthan: Highest Annual Plan Outlay of Rs 24,000 Cr
Annual Plan of Rs. 24000 Crore of Rajsthan has been approved by the Planning commission for the fiscal 2010-11. The top most priority has been given to Energy sector and social and community services. The plan also includes one time additional Central Assistance sanctioned by the Commission for construction of High Court building in Jodhpur and development of Durgah and Ana Sagar Lake area in Ajmer. The previous year plan (2009-10) was Rs 17,322 crore and growth comes out to be 38.55%.

Gujarat: General Motors to grow Jatropa
General Motors, jointly with US department of Energy will develop 84 hectares of Land Near Bhavnagar in Gujarat for Jatropa cultivation. For this purpose the company had announced a 5 years partnership with US Department of Energy. Out of 84 hectares, the company will develop 38 hectares near GM India’s plant in Halol.

Jatropa Bio fuel: Jatropha oil, produced from the seeds of the Jatropha curcas is one of the best candidates for future biodiesel production.

Kerala: Disaster Risk Reduction Programme 2009-10
Disaster Risk Reduction Programme 2009-10 is a Joint initiative of Government of India and United Nations Development Programme. In this context the Kerala state government constitutes a State-level Project Stearing Committiee to implement the programme in the state.

National Marine Fisheries Census
National Marine Fisheries Census 2010 will start from April 16, 2010. The aim of this census is to collect information about fisherfolk of the country. It will be launched by Central Marine Fisheries Reserch Institute (CMFRI), Kochi with financial aid from Department of Animal Husbandary, Dairying and Fisheries (DAHDF). The data of 10.98 lakh families, fishing boats, nets and socioeconomic conditions will be collected during the census. The compiled databsed will be used for the over all development of the sector.

Fact Box: National Marine Fisheries Census -2005
There were 3.52 million fishermen in 7,56,212 houses across 3202 fisher villages in the country. It also accounted 238,722 fishing boats, including 58,911 motorised and 75,591 motorised traditional boats.

Dantewada Massacre:
Home Minister P chidambaram acepts moral responsibilty and offers to resign from his post and prime Minister rejects the offer.

Business Updates:
India’s First 3D TV range – Samsung
Samsung releases the range of first 3D TVs in India. Viewers can convert the regular 2D programmes on their Samsung TVs to 3D viewing for which they would need to wear 3D glasses. Samsung 3D LED range is availaible in the screen size between 40 to 65 inches and its cost ranges from Rs 1,30,000 to Rs 4,35,000.

Bharti foundation: 25 senior secondary schools for the underprivileged children
25 senior secondary schools for the underprivileged children will be established over next 3 years under PPP model by Bharti foundation, the philanthropic arm of Bharti Enterprises.

Reliance Industries: Investment of $ 1.7 Billion in US
Reliance Industries signs an agreement with Atlas Energy of US for a project in the United States for extracting gas from shale, a sedimentary rock. The project is located in Marcellus area spanning in some parts of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York. Reliance will acquire a 40 per cent undivided interest in about 300,000 acres of undeveloped leasehold held by Atlas.

World Economy: Zinc Production:
Largest Producer of Zinc in 2009 was China 2,800,000 Metric Tonnes. Read Here

World Updates:
China: Maglev Train
Authorities in Sichuan province of China take the delivery of China’s first indigenously built high-speed Maglev (magnetic levitation) train. This train has maximum speed of 500 kms per hour. The Shanghai Maglev Transportation Development Company had rum China’s first commercial Maglev train in 2002 in Shanghai.

Fact Box: Magnetic Leviation: The system of magnetic leviation suspends, guides and propels the trains using large number of magnets for lift and propulsion. The highest recorded speed of a Maglev train is 581 kilometres per hour, achieved in Japan in 2003. The first commercial Maglev , christened “people-mover” was officially opened in 1984 in Birmingham, England, however it was closed in 1995 due to reliability and design problems.

16th ASEAN summit
16th ASEAN Summit of 10 member countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) was hosted by Vietnam, Association of Southeast Asian Nations president for 2010 at Hanoi ( capital and second-largest city of Vietnam). Read Here

Mount Kailash Sacred Landscape Conservation Initiative
Mount Kailash Sacred Landscape Conservation Initiative: Developing a Transboundary Framework for Conservation and Sustainable Development in the Greater Mt Kailash Region of Nepal, India and China. This is the title of a major transboundary project for conservation and sustainable development of Mount Kailash , launched jointly by India, China and Nepal under the guidence of International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).

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