International rice meet in Hyderabad on 12 April 2015
1. The Indian Institute of Rice Research (formerly Directorate of Rice Research) is organising the 50th annual group meeting here.
2. Union Minister for Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya will inaugurate the meeting
3. Over 500 rice scientists from different national institutes and International Rice Research
4. Institute (IRRI, the Philippines) would discuss various issues related to rice research.
5. The workshop is being held to review the work done across the country in the field of rice research during 2014-15.
6. The IIRR coordinates multi-disciplinary and multi-location testing of seed varieties, crop management and crop protection technologies in different ecosystems for increasing and stabilising rice production.
President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurates ‘Songs and Dances of the North East’ festival
1. President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated first Songs and Dances of the North East, a cultural festival in New Delhi.
2. The day long festival was organized by Government of Meghalaya and sponsored by the North Eastern Council (NEC).
3. The purpose of festival is to showcase the culture of India’s northeast region and highlight the immense contribution made by the people of the region in nation building.
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India to be world’s third largest
economy by 2030
1. The
recent macroeconomic projections for 2030 by the US Department of Agriculture
portends well for India.
2. In
the next 15 years, India is believed to rise up the rankings and for the first
time, enter the top three to become the third largest economy in the world.
3. The
current macroeconomic projections for 2015 show India in the eighth spot,
behind countries like Brazil, France and Germany.
4. The
projections show that even though US is likely to be the world’s largest
economy, it will have reduced dominance.
5. On
the other hand, China, a robust Asian powerhouse, will be closely following the
US economy on the number 2 spot.
Indian Railways to set up its own design centre “National Institute of Design”
1. Railways
to set up its own design centre’ in the campus of ‘national institute of design
in Ahmedabad
2. It
was announced in the Railway Budget 2015-16.
3. A
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Ministry of Railways and
(NID). This MoU will be for a period of 10 years, which can be further extended
as mutually agreed.
Airbus supports PM Modi’s ‘Make in India’ initiative
1. Airbus is ready to manufacture in
India, for India and the world
2. In India, Airbus Group already operates
two engineering centres – one focused on civil aviation and the other one
defence – besides, a research and technology (R&T) centre which together
employ over 400 highly qualified people.
3. Airbus to increase outsourcing to $2
Billion by 2020.
4. Airbus Group CEO is Mr. Tom Enders.
Bihar Government will start Bihar scholarship for Upper caste student
1. Bihar
government is set to introduce a scholarship for “economically backward”
students from upper castes of both Hindus and Muslim communities.
2. The
Nitish Kumar government is waiting for the formal submission of the Bihar Upper
Caste Commission report.
3. The
government has already been giving scholarships to backward and Dalit students
till the middle-school level.
4. At
present, the state government gives Rs 600 scholarship annually to a Class I to
IV OBC and SC/ST student, Rs
1,200 to a Class V to VI student and Rs 1,800 to a Class VII and VIII student.
Godzilla appointed Tokyo resident and
tourism ambassador
1. Godzilla
has stomped so many buildings in Japan the irradiated monster is getting
appointed special resident and tourism ambassador for Tokyo’s Shinjuku ward.
2. Godzilla-size
head towering 52-meters (171 feet) above ground level was unveiled Thursday at
an office of Toho, the studio behind the 1954 original.
Asteroid 316201 Named after Malala
Yousafzai
1. The
youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner and girls’ education campaigner Malala
Yousafzai now has an asteroid named after her.
2. The
asteroid was named after her by Amy Mainzer, astronomer at NASA’s Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in California, United States.
3. In
2010, Mr. Mainzer had discovered the asteroid which was known as 316201.
4. Mr.
Mainzer discovered the asteroid in the Main Belt between Mars and Jupiter which
gives her the right to name it.
5. It
orbits the Sun every 5.5 years.
About Malala Yousafzai
1. Malala
was born on 12 July 1997 in Mingora city in Swat province of Pakistan.
2. At
the age of 11 she had caught international attention as female education
activist after writing for the BBC about life under the Taliban in Pakistan under
pseudonym Gul Makai.
3. In
2012, Malala had survived an assassination attempt after she was shot in the
head Taliban gunmen.
4. In
2014, at the age of 17 she was awarded Nobel peace prize, becoming youngest
Nobel Laureate in the history of Nobel award.
5. United
Nations has declared November 10 as ‘Malala Day’ in her honor.
China’s biggest hydropower project
Xiaonanhai Dam struck down by Environment Ministry
1. China’s
Environment Ministry has struck down a proposal to build the country’s biggest
hydropower dam project as it failed an environmental impact assessment
2. This
is first time in china that a project has been stalled any official Project.
3. Construction
work for the proposed Xiaonanhai Dam was planned to construct on the Jinsha
River, the upstream segment of the Yangtze River. But
now this project has been stalled by Government.
4. The
Xiaonanhai Dam, with an initial investment plan of 32 billion yuan (USD 5.13
billion) and a projected electrical output of 2 million kilowatts, would be one
of the biggest projects to be banned in the country.
5. The
Xiaonanhai Dam was first proposed in the 1990s, when Chongqing was still part
of Sichuan province.
6. However,
the project has been suspended since its foundation was laid in 2012 because of
protests from environmentalists, who said it would hinder the spawning of
dozens of rare fish species in the Yangtze River.
India’s first IFSC becomes operational at
GIFT City in Gujarat
1. India’s
first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) became operational at
Gujarat International Finance Tec (GIFT) City in Gandhinagar district of
Gujarat.
2. It
became operational after Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley unveiled the rules
and regulations for this global financial hub.
3. Its
aim is to creating a vibrant IFSC on the lines of those in Dubai and Singapore.
They also seek to check the flight of trading in rupee and Indian securities to
such offshore financial hubs.
4. These
rules will allow companies incorporate outside India to raise money in foreign
currencies by issuance and listing of their equity shares on stock exchanges
within the IFSC.
5. They
will also allow individual and institutional investors from India and abroad,
including NRIs to trade. Allows foreign and Indian stock exchanges to set up
separate bourses within IFSC as subsidiaries.
Jitu Rai wins bronze at ISSF World
1. Ace Indian
shooter Jitu Rai on 12 April 2015 won a bronze medal in the 10m air pistol
event at the International
Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup in Changwon, South Korea.
2. Rai won the
bronze medal after he scored 181.1 points in the final and had missed out for
the gold medal
shoot-out by 0.4 points.
3. In 10m air pistol event, Jin Jongoh of South Korea won
gold medal with a score of 206.0
in the gold medal shoot-out.
Apurvi Chandela wins Bronze in ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup
1. Apurvi Chandela became the second Indian marksman after pistol shooter Jitu Rai to qualify for Rio de Janeiro
2. Indian shooter Apurvi Chandela qualified for next year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro after clinching a 10m air rifle bronze in the ISSF World Cup (Rifle/Pistol) in Changwon, Korea.
3. The gold medal in Chandela’s event was clinched by Croatia’s Snjezana Pjecic (209.1), while the silver went to Serbia’s Ivana Maksimovic (207.7).
Lewis Hamilton wins Chinese Grand Prix of
Formula
1. Mercedes
Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton from Britain on 12 April 2015 won Chinese Grand
Prix of Formula One
on the Shanghai International Circuit in China.
2. This was his
second win of the season and his fourth Chinese Grand Prix win.
3. It was also
Lewis Hamilton’s overall 35th Grand Prix win. In Chinese Grand Prix, Hamilton
was followed by Nico
Rosberg at second place.