64th National Film Awards
i. The 64th National Film Awards were announced in which the Directorate of Film Festivals presents its annual National Film Awards to honor the best films of 2016 in the Indian cinema.ii. The awards ceremony will be held on 3 May 2017 in India.
Click Here to Read More
World Health Day: 7 April
i. World Health Day is celebrated on 7th of April every year to mark the anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organization.
ii. The theme of 2017 World Health Day is 'Depression: Let's Talk'.
Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated 3-day National Children’s Film Festival
i. Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated a three-day National Children’s Film Festival in Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. ii. It is the largest film festival for children in the country giving the audience quality and wholesome entertainment. The aim of the film festival is to expose children to quality cinema and to introduce novel elements beyond films.
India & Israel sign defense deals worth over 2 billion dollars
i. India and Israel signed a mega defense deals worth over 2 billion dollars for advanced surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems, to further tighten the bilateral strategic partnership ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Israel in July, 2017. ii. The SAM systems are designed to destroy hostile aircraft, missiles and drones at a range of 70-km. The major deal was for the joint project between the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) for the Barak-8 medium-range SAM systems for the Indian Army.
RBL Bank opens IFSC Banking Unit in GIFT City
i. Ratnakar Bank limited (RBL) Bank announced the opening of its Indian Financial System Code (IFSC) Banking Unit (IBU) at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City).
ii. The leading private sector bank had received an in-principle approval from RBI for setting up IBU in November 2016.
NEFT transfers to be faster as RBI cuts clearance time
i. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to slash clearance time for National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) in an attempt to enhance the efficiency of the electronic payment system and add to customer convenience. ii. The NEFT settlement cycle will be reduced from hourly batches to half hourly batches, the RBI stated in the first bi-monthly monetary policy for 2017-18.
iii. 11 additional settlement batches will be introduced at 8.30 am onwards, taking the total number of half hourly settlement batches during the day to 23. RBI also stated the starting batch at 8 am and closing batch at 7 pm shall remain the same and the return discipline will also remain the same as per the existing practice.
Bhimaraya Metri joins as Director of IIM Trichy
i. Bhimaraya Metri has taken over as Director of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Trichy (IIM Tiruchirappalli). ii. He succeeded Prafulla Agnihotri. Prior to joining IIM Trichy, Metri was the Dean at L&T Institute of Project Management, Vadodara.
India's first transgender police officer appointed in Tamil Nadu
i. K Prithika Yashini, aged around 25 years, is the first transgender person to become a police official in India, appointed in Tamil Nadu. ii. After struggling with the social dogma and gender bias, she recently applied to become a police sub-inspector in Dharampuri, Tamil Nadu. A court in Chennai, Madras has now ruled in her favour.
i. Facebook launched its digital assistant named 'M' for US users of its Messenger application, ramping up the social network's efforts in artificial intelligence.ii. For users of the messaging platform, M will pop up and suggest helpful actions in the chat window. 'M' uses artificial intelligence and suggests relevant actions to help manage conversations or help get things done.
Germany ‘1st NATO member’ to launch cyber command
i. Germany is the first North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) state to launch a 'self-contained' cyber command unit designed to shield IT and weapons systems from growing attacks. ii. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is one of the world’s major international institutions. It is a political and military Alliance of 28 member countries from Europe and North America.
i. Sports Minister Mr. Vijay Goel has approved the appointment of two top foreign athletics coaches, one each in race walking and 400m race. Australian Dave Smith has been appointed as the coach in race walking. ii. The ministry also approved the appointment of American Galina P Bukharina as coach of national 400m and 400m relay teams. The appointments have been made keeping in mind the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
iii. The ministry has also approved the appointment of two masseurs- Dmitry Kislev and Elmira Kisleva both from Russia.
RCB, Nazara tie up to launch online cricket game
i. Royal Challengers Bangalore and gaming entity Nazara Games have come together to launch a new mobile cricket game RCB Star Cricket. ii. This will also mark the first cricket franchise to have a game off the field and on the screen.
P V Sindhu reaches career-best World No.2 ranking
i. Rio Olympics silver medallist P V Sindhu jumped three places to achieve a career-best world number two ranking in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings. ii. The 21-year-old shuttler from Hyderabad became only the second Indian woman after Saina Nehwal to break into the top-five of the world rankings by earning 75759 points.
Important Takeaways from above GK Update are as follows-
- World Health Day is celebrated globally on 7th of April
- The Theme of 2017 World Health Day is 'Depression: Let's Talk'
- World Health Day is celebrated to mark the anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organization
- Headquarter of WHO is in Geneva, Switzerland.
- Dr. Margaret Chan is the Director-General of WHO.
- RBI has decided to slash clearance time for NEFT
- National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) is a nation-wide payment system facilitating one-to-one funds transfer
- Under NEFT, the transactions are processed and settled in batches, hence are not real time.
- 3-day National Children’s Film Festival inaugurated in Vishakhapatnam
- Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting and Urban Development is Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu
- AP capital is Amravati and CM is Nara Chandrababu Naidu
- Governor of AP is E.S.L Narasimhan
- 3-day National Children’s Film Festival inaugurated in Vishakhapatnam
- Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting and Urban Development is Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu
- AP capital is Amravati and CM is Nara Chandrababu Naidu
- Governor of AP is E.S.L Narasimhan
- PV Sindhu reaches career-best World Number 2 ranking
- PV Sindhu has recently bagged Indian open title, 2017
- Tai Tzu Ying of China is at World Number 1 Ranking
- Sports Ministry approved the appointment of two foreign athletics coaches, Dave Smith (for race walking) and Galina P Bukharina (for national 400m and 400m relay teams)
- Mr. Vijay Goel is the Minister of State (I/C) of Youth Affairs and Sports
- 2020 Summer Olympics will be organized in Tokyo, Japan
- Bhimaraya Metri appointed as Director of IIM Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu
- IIM Trichy was founded in 2011
- Bhimaraya Metri succeeds Prafulla Agnihotri
- RBL bank has opened it's IFSC banking unit in GIFT City
- RBL bank headquarter is in Maharashtra
- Slogan of RBL bank is 'apno ka bank' and it was founded in 1943
- CEO of RBL bank is Vishwavir Ahuja
