Current Affairs Updates - 14th April 2018

Current Affairs Updates - 14th April 2018

Current Affairs Updates - 14th April 2018 has some of the Latest and Important news headlines marked under different categories of National, International Affairs, Banking, Schemes and Awards which are important for examinations like Bank IBPS PO, IBPS CLERK, SSC CGL, SSC CHSL and other similar examinations. These are very important for the upcoming based patterns and aspirants are requested to go through each of them in details. you may also like GK One Liners and Daily Current Affairs Quiz.

First in India & World

World's first long-distance electric bus line to begin in Paris

• German low-cost company FlixBus presented its green bus at the foot of the Eiffel tower and will begin daily service on April 12. The service will link the French capital to the northern city of Amiens, a 160 kilometres journey which will take a little over two hours.

New Appointments: National

Bhanu Pratap Sharma to be new chairman of Banks Board Bureau

• Bhanu Pratap Sharma has been appointed for two years as the new chairman of Banks Board Bureau replacing Vinod Rai

Rankings & Indexes

Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport has climbed six positions to enter the club of the top 20 airports across the world, the Airport Council International’s preliminary report on airport traffic for 2017 has stated.

• IGI, the country’s busiest airport for passenger traffic, grew by 14.1% year over year, pushing it up from the 22nd to the 16th busiest airport in the world,” stated the findings, which were made public on Monday.

India has been ranked 130th among 180 countries in the annual Index of Economic Freedom report released by American think tank Heritage Foundation.

• India was ranked 143rd with the same score of 52.6 points in 2017. With 54.4 points, Pakistan features at the 131st spot. India was two spots below Pakistan last year.

National Affairs

World's largest solar park to come up in Gujarat 

• Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani today approved setting up a 5,000 MW capacity solar park at the Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR), which would be the largest such entity in the world after its completion. 

To provide seamless vehicular movement for enhancing trade, business, health, education and tourism between Indian, Myanmar and Thailand, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has signed an agreement for upgradation of Yagyi - Kalewa section of highway (Milepost 40/0 to Milepost 115/5) in Myanmar to two lane with earthen shoulder. The agreement was signed by NHAI with M/s Punj Lloyd Ltd. - Varaha Infra Ltd. (JV).

• The project has been funded by Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India and would be executed on EPC mode at a cost of Rs.1177 crores.

PM Modi to inaugurate Dr Ambedkar National Memorial in Delhi

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate Dr Ambedkar National Memorial at Alipur Road in Delhi  on the eve of Babasaheb Ambedkar's birth anniversary

India pips Germany to be No. 4 car market

• Top-gear growth in sales of cars and SUVs has led to India becoming the fourth-largest passenger vehicle (PV) market globally for the first time ever, unseating Germany, in January and February 2018.

Startups with up to Rs 10 crore investment to get tax concession 

• Giving major relief to budding entrepreneurs, the government on Thursday allowed startups to avail tax concession only if total investment including funding from angel investors does not exceed Rs 10 crore. 

Science & Technology

Isro successfully launches IRNSS-1I navigation satellite

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) successfully launched the IRNSS-1I navigation satellite aboard the PSLV-C41.

Scientists have Discovered a Second Magnetic Field on Earth in the World Ocean

• Scientists have discovered a second magnetic field on Earth, which is 20,000 times weaker than the one we know existed up to now, said the European Space Agency.

Schemes / Programme

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal pledges to serve the farmers on priority under APART project

• Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal  priority outlined creation of adequate amenities for the farmers under the Assam Agri-business and Rural Transformation Project (APART).

FSSAI launched 'Project Dhoop', an initiative aimed at shifting the school assembly time to noon to ensure maximum absorption of Vitamin D in students through natural sunlight.

• Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on Monday launched ‘Project Dhoop’, an initiative aimed at shifting the school assembly time to noon to ensure maximum absorption of Vitamin D in students through natural sunlight. 

Agreements/ MoUs Signed

NBCC (India) Ltd., the Navratna Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Skill Development Institute (SDI) Bhubaneswar, for the construction of the institute.

• This will facilitate empowering the youth in Odisha with relevant skill sets and train them in various disciplines

Awards & Honours: Sports

The 15-year-old Anish Bhanwala strikes a gold medal in the 25m rapid fire pistol shooting event at the 21st Commonwealth Games. 

• A dominant Bajrang Punia overpowered his opponents with remarkable ease to claim gold medal in the men's freestyle 65 kg event.

Rahul Aware opened India’s wrestling gold medal account at the 21st Commonwealth Games but defending champion Babita Phogat (53kg) settled for a silver medal after being outmanoeuvred by Canada’s Diana Weicker in the summit clash here today.

• Aware defeated Canada’s Steven Takahashi in an exciting contest to claim the top hours. This was the first CWG medal of his career.

Seema Punia wins silver, Navjeet Dhillon claims bronze in discus throw

• Seema Punia and Navjeet Dhillon opened India's account in athletics at the 2018 Commonwealth Games by winning silver and bronze medals respectively in the women's discus throw final on Thursday. 

Kiran bags bronze medal in women's 76 kg freestyle wrestling

• India's Kiran has won the bronze medal after she defeated Mauritian wrestler Katouskia Paridhaven in 76 kg weight class. Kiran was already going for the technical superiority points as she was 10-0 ahead by the victory by fall made it even more interesting.

Awards & Honours: Miscellaneous

Late veteran actor Vinod Khanna honoured with Dadasaheb Phalke Award posthumously

• The 65th National Film Awards are being announced right now. The jury is headed by ace filmmaker Shekhar Kapur. Kannada film director P Sheshadri, screenwriter Imtiaz Hussain, actor Gautami Tadimalla, lyricist Mehboob are part of the 10-membered panel

The Wire’s Siddharth Varadarajan Wins Shorenstein Journalism Award

• The award honours journalists who have “produced outstanding reporting on Asia and contributed significantly to Western understanding of the region”.