1. Forbes releases first-ever
‘Global Game Changers’ list
(i) American business magazine Forbes has released the first-ever
‘Global Game Changers’ list, with names of businessmen who have exhibited exemplary
growth, innovation and global presence.
(ii) Marc Benioff, founder and CEO of Salesforce.co, who is
considered to be a pioneer of cloud-computing, figures first in the list. He is
followed by Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com; Rahul Bhatia, MD of InterGlobe
Enterprises and co-founder of airline IndiGo; Sara Blakely, founder of apparel
firm Spanx; Katrine Bosley, CEO of pharma firm Editas Medicine.
(iii) Besides Rahul Bhatia, two other Indians figure in the
list, namely Cyrus Poonawalla of Serum Institute of India (23rd),
and Sunny Varkey of GEMS Education (26th).
(iv) While Bhatia’s IndiGo is India’s largest and most
profitable airline, Poonawalla’s Serum Institute of India is the world’s
largest vaccine maker by volume, producing 1.3 billion doses annually. Sunny
Varkey is credited with building a worldwide network of private K-12 schools,
with many focussing on educating girls. GEMS has 250,000 students admitted in
240 schools in 17 countries.
2. Itihaasa – app document India’s digital revolution
(i) Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan has launched ‘Itihaasa’,
a first of its kind app that chronicles India’s digital revolution which began
in mid-1950s.
(ii) Developed over a period of eight months, the
app comprises 600 short videos, 350 rare photographs and news clippings sourced
from the archives of Indian Institute of Science (IISc), IIT Madras, and Infosys,
among others.
(iii) It documents everything from the time India got its
first electronic calculator till today’s age of e-commerce, mobile apps and start-ups.
It analyses the impact of the digital wave on the economy and the $150 billion IT
sector.
(iv) A total of 44 experts and entrepreneurs feature in the
app videos, including Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) founder FC Kohli, Infosys
founder NR Narayana Murthy, Wipro Group chairman Azim Premji, former UIADI
chairman Nandan Nilekani, etc.
3. Ecuador earthquake of 7.8 magnitude kills over
270
(i) An earthquake of 7.8 magnitude which struck the northern
town of Muisine in Ecuador on the night of April 16 has killed 272 people and
injured over 2,527 people.
(ii) Considered to be the most crushing quake since 1979, has
wrecked widespread damage across the Andean nation’s 24 provinces.
(iii) The country is located on the “Ring of
Fire”-the arc with high seismic activity which extends around the Pacific
basin. Here, Ecuador borders the Nazca and South American tectonic plates that
are huge slabs of the Earth’s surface that grind past each other at a rate of
about 65mm per year.
4. India, Afghanistan and
Iran firm up Chabahar Agreement
(i) India, Afghanistan and Iran have finalised the Chabahar Agreement
to operationalise the strategic port, thereby granting India entry into
Afghanistan and Iran and also central Asia (bypassing Pakistan).
(ii) The trilateral transit pact is set to enhance use of
Chabahar Port, further economic development of Afghanistan and improve regional
connectivity by enabling greater flow of people and goods among the three
countries and within the region.
(iii) Chabahar is being touted as India’s gateway to not
only Afghanistan but also Russia and Europe.
5. Inzamam-ul-Haq to become
Pakistan coach after quitting Afghanistan
(i) Former Pakistan cricket captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has resigned
as the head coach of the Afghanistan team and is set to be appointed as the chief selector
and coach of the Pakistan team.
(ii) He guided Afghanistan to the Super 10 stage of the
recent World Twenty20 in India, during which they defeated eventual champions
West Indies.
(iii) The 46-year-old played 378 ODIs and 120 Test matches
for Pakistan and was also the team’s batting consultant in 2012.
6. Rain Museum and
Research Centre to come up at Meghalaya
(i) Sohra (formerly Cherrapunji) in Meghalaya will soon get
its Rain Museum and Research Centre as per plans of the state government.
(ii) The centre will be established along the lines of the
High Altitude Cloud Physics Laboratory at Mahabaleshwar and will exhibit the individuality
and culture of the people besides providing necessary scientific support for advanced
research on rainfall.
(iii) The museum and the centre will function as a capacity-building
establishment where visitors can get extensive information on Sohra, its people
and the rainfall which is an integral part of the place.
7. Australia wins Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2016
(i) Australia defeated India 4-0 to win the Sultan Azlan
Shah Cup 2016 which was held in Ipoh, Malaysia. The team last won the
tournament in 2014, and this is their ninth title.
(ii) Thomas Craig and Matt Gohdes scored two goals each in
open field play for Australia.
(iii) India last won this annual hockey tournament in 2010 (fifth
title), when they shared the title with South Korea.
8. Sri Lankan
cricketer Rangana Herath retires from ODIs and T20s
(i) Sri Lankan left-arm spinner Rangana Herath has retired from ODIs
and T20 matches. He will, however, continue to play Test matches.
(ii) He played his first ODI in 2004, while his T20I debut
came much later in 2011. Since then, he has played in 71 ODIs and 17 T20
matches. He has taken a total of 74 wickets in the 50-over format with an
average of 31.91, while in the 20-20 format he has got 18 wickets at 20.72.
(iii) His remarkable feat was during a quarterfinal match against
New Zealand wherein he single-handedly won the game for Sri Lanka with figures
of five for three.
9. NDB extends loan to
Canara Bank for renewable energy projects
(i) The New Development Bank of BRICS nations has disbursed a part ($75
million) of its first set of loans to public sector lender Canara Bank to fund renewable
energy projects.
(ii) The clean energy generated by the projects in India is
expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by around 815,000 tonnes.
(iii) Loans to the tune of $800 million will be given to
Brazil, China, South Africa and India.
(iv) The loan amount, which will be released in tranches, will
be used to support renewable energy projects with a capacity of 2,370 MW in the
four nations. As per the NDB, the projects will help in bringing down greenhouse
gas emissions by nearly 4 million tonnes a year.
10. Rafael Nadal wins
Monte-Carlo Masters
(i) Spanish tennis ace Rafael Nadal bagged his ninth
Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters title by defeating Gael Monfils 7-5, 5-7, 6-0 in the final
which was held at Court Rainier III.
(ii) With this win, the 29-year-old regained the title that
he won at the Monte-Carlo Country Club from 2005-2012. His 46-match winning
streak in Monte-Carlo was ended in 2013 by Serbian player Novak Djokovic.
11. Dipa Karmarkar first
Indian woman to qualify for Rio Olympics
(i) Indian gymnast Dipa Karmarkar has become the first
Indian woman to be qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics which is to be held in
August this year.
(ii) The 22-year-old player scored a total of 52.698 points
in the qualifying event to secure a quota for herself in the artistic
gymnastics category.
(iii) Besides being the first Indian woman, she will also
become be the first Indian female gymnast qualifying for the quadrennial sporting
event after 52 years.
(iv) Since India’s independence, only 11 Indian male gymnasts
have taken part in the Olympics-two in 1952, three in 1956 and six in 1964.
12. Nico Rosberg wins
Chinese Grand Prix
(i) Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg has won the Chinese Grand
Prix, while world champion Lewis Hamilton was hindered and had to do five pit
stops.
(ii) This is Rosberg’s third consecutive win and sixth
victory overall, dating to his last season. This is the German driver’s second win
in China, the first was in 2012.
(iii) Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finished second, while Daniil
Kvyat finished third for Red Bull.
13. Uttar Pradesh has
highest share of PPP project investments: Study
(i) A recent Assocham-SREI study titled ‘PPP Investment in Indian Infrastructure: Need for growth and
development’ has stated that the north Indian state of UP figures in the
top spot as regards PPP projects in India, with a share of 15%. It is followed by
Maharashtra and Gujarat.
(ii) UP also has the highest share (of around 22%) in terms
of value in total PPP investment projects under construction across India.
Maharashtra has 11%, Haryana (8.5%), Gujarat (6%) and Madhya Pradesh (4.5%).
(iii) Gujarat has the highest share in infrastructure
projects (value terms) at 15.5% and is followed by UP and Maharashtra (13%
share each), Tamil Nadu and Karnataka (around 8% each).
(iv) The most number of PPP projects have been terminated in
Maharashtra (13%), followed by Chhattisgarh (10%), Gujarat (9%), Kerala and
Madhya Pradesh (7% each).
14. CK Deshmukh
appointed as CVO in IOC
(i) IAS officer C K Deshmukh has been appointed as Chief Vigilance
Officer in Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.
(ii) A 1996-batch IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre,
Deshmukh will serve in the post till May 23, 2017. His responsibility as CVO would
be to keep corruption in check and bolster anti-graft measures in the company.
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