Hello Everyone, your tremendous response by comments on March Fact File, boosted us to bring the Facts in News (FIN) for April 1 to April 15. Hereby, we have compiled facts which were in news between April 1 to April 15. We have tried to comprehensively cover the facts between April 1 to 15. Though, we are aware that some of these facts would not be relevant from the UPSC point of view, but we have comprehensively covered so that these can assist you in other exams as well.
Last time, we received 109 comments, we hope that your response this time will break the previous record.
| Bills, Programs, Policies, Schemes, Orders, Judgements |
| “Stand Up India” scheme |
- Aimed at providing credit to SC’s, ST’s and women borrowers
- Intended to promote entrepreneurship
- Loans ranging from 10 lakhs to 1 crore
- RuPay debit card will be provided to use the capital
- Corpus of 5000 crore via National Guarantee Trustee Company
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| eNAM |
- A pan India National Agricultural market(NAM )trading portal launched.
- To create a unified national market for agricultural commodities.
- Farmers can showcase their product online and buyers can quote their price from anywhere.
|
| Maharashtra passes Prohibition of Social Boycott Bill |
- Seeks to crack down on extra judicial bodies such as caste and community panchayats.
- It will be cognizable but bailable offence with imprisonment of upto 3 years or 1 lakh fine.
- First state to enact this law.
|
| Bihar declared a Dry state |
- Total prohibition on sale and consumption of liquor imposed
- No new liquor licenses will be issued
|
| Delhi high court order on Practitioners of Indian Medicine |
- Practitioners of Indian medicine like ayurveda, siddha, tibb, unani cannot prescribe modern scientific medicine unless he is qualified.
- But they can use reports of radiology, x ray, blood test, etc
|
| Doda Post banned |
- Drug made of poppy husk, and is consumed widely in Rajasthan and Punjab. Rajasthan is the only state in India to legally sell doda.
- The drug was in news when Rajasthan Government recently decided to put a ban on sale of the drug.
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| National & International Events |
| National Maritime Day |
- April 5 celebrated as National maritime Day
- On this day, in 1919 navigation history was created when SS Loyalty, the first ship of the Scindia Steam Navigation Company, journeyed to the United Kingdom.
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| Gyan Chakra |
- A think tank on defence and strategic affairs
- Formed by the army’s western command
- Launched to fulfill long standing requirement of defence veterans
- Will be extension of kheterpal Officers Institute(KOI)
|
| International Day of Mines Awareness and Assistance in Mine action |
- Celebrated on April 4.
- The 2016 theme is “Mine Action is Humanitarian Action”.
- The International Day of Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action is observed every year on April 4 to foster the establishment and development of national mine-action capacities in countries where mines and explosive remnants of war constitute a serious threat to the safety, health and lives of the civilian population or an impediment to social and economic development at the national and local levels.
|
| World Health Day
2016 |
- World Health Day is a global health awareness day celebrated every year on 7 April
- Under the sponsorship of the World Health Organization (WHO)
- THEME – Halt the rise: beat diabetes
|
| Economy and banking |
| ITR 1(SAHAJ) and
ITR 4S(SUGAM) forms |
- An online income tax return calculator for filers to do a check and obtain their annual tax liability.
- Income Tax Department of India has released these forms.
- SAHAJ is for individuals having income from salary and interest.
- SUGAM is for individuals, HUF, and partnership firms having income from presumptive business.
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| Consumer Sentiments Index |
- An index by CMIE- Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy
- Consumer economic conditions, sentiments and expectations of what the future holds
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| Science and Technology |
| Viral Load Testing Kits |
- Used to test if a person is HIV positive or not
|
| Quantum Spin Liquid |
- A new state of matter detected
- International team of scientists detected a matter where an electron of an atom would also break into pieces
- Found in a two dimensional material, similar structure as graphene
|
| Ovillanta |
- Canadian innovation to destroy mosquito eggs
- Created from two 50 cms pieces of old car tyre with a fluid release valve at the bottom
- A milk based solution lures the mosquitos and then their eggs are destroyed using fire or ethanol
|
| Xeno-transplantation |
- The process of grafting or transplanting organs between members of different species
|
| Potassium Chlorate |
- A banned explosive, a highly reactive substance
- When ignited it produces oxygen which further increases the temperature
- It is used in tiny amount in matchsticks which is mixed with red phosphorous
|
| Spear Phishing |
- An email that appears to be sent from an individual or a business familiar to you, but is actually sent by fraudsters
|
| Environment and Biodiversity |
| Tiger population increased |
- Globally 3890 from 3200 of 2010
- India 2226 from 1706 based on world wildlife fund (WWF) and global tiger forum (GTF)
- Tiger is an “Endangered” species.
|
Bio-
methanation |
- Bio-methanation is a process by which organic material is micro-biologically converted under anaerobic conditions to bio-gas.
|
| Krill |
- An inch long shrimp like crustacean
- A keystone species of the Antarctic
- Forms the basis of southern ocean food chain
- Krill eat sea algae where they grow under ice where it is relatively warm
- Source of Omega 3 oil supplements
|
| Persons in News ( Appointments, Awards , Deaths ) |
| Mehbooba Mufti |
- First woman chief minister of J&K state
- She is 56.
- She belongs to Peoples Democratic Party
|
| Zaha Hadid |
- World renowned architect died at 65.
- A british designer born in Iraq
- Twice won the UK’s most prestigious architecture award, the RIBA prize
- Recently received Royal Gold Medal 2016.
|
| Ashok Kumar Singhvi |
- Conferred with the 2014 the National Geo-science Award for Excellence
- For his outstanding contributions in the field of Quaternary Geology.
|
| Justice Permod Kohli |
- New Chairman of Central Administrative Tribunal(CAT)
- Earlier Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court
- Succeeds Syed Rafat Alam
- The CAT has been established for adjudication of disputes with respect to recruitment and conditions of service of persons appointed to public services and posts under the control of the Union government
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| Subhash Palekar |
- Subhash Palekar, popularly known as Krishi ka Rishi (the “sage of agriculture”), is a famous exponent of natural farming.
|
| Mother Teresa |
- Mother Teresa has been posthumously honoured with the UK’s prestigious Founders Award 2016
- This award is given to recognize and reward exemplary achievements of people within the global Asian community.
- She founded the Missionaries of Charity and spent 45 years serving the poor, the sick, the orphaned and the dying on the streets of Kolkata. The award was received by the Agi Bojazhiu (niece), Teresa’s only living relative.
|
| Aishwarya Rai |
- Named Global Indian of the year
|
| Miscellaneous |
| Gatimaan Express |
- India’s first semi high speed train
- Runs at maximum 160 kmph
- 6 days a week from Nizamuddin to Agra cantt
|
| Jhulelal Chaliha |
- A 40 day long festival of Sindhi community
|
| Indian Red Cross blood donation app |
- A blood bank app on android and ios
- User can donate blood and withdraw as and when required
- User can even transfer to a friends account
- Blood bank depend heavily on replacement, this app is meant to avoid all those hassles
- The app will record, track account and provide timely reminders when donation is due
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| India ranks 6th in military spending |
- A report by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute(SIPRI)
- US is on top followed by China, Saudi Arabia, Russia and UK
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| Dragon capsule arrives at the ISS |
- Capsule made by SpaceX arrived at the International Space centre
- Blasted off on a Falcon 9 rocket
- It carried BEAM(Bigelow Expandable Activity Module) among other things
- It is an inflatable pop up room for testing space debris and solar radiation
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| Solar boat |
- A 12 seater pontoon shaped boat powered by solar power
- Launched in waters of krishna, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh
- Can cruise at 7 knots for 35 miles
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| Menstrupedia |
- A comic book which explains menstruation to children in a format they can relate to.
- Won National Laadli Media and Advertising Awards for gender sensitivity.
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