1. New Zealand's $5 bill named best banknote of the year
i. New Zealand’s five-dollar note has been named the banknote of the year for 2015 by the International Bank Note Society.
ii. The note incorporates some of the world’s most advanced security features and beautifully showcasing New Zealand’s history, culture, and heritage. The $5 note has won form the 40 eligible designs from a record 20 countries.
iii. The $5 note has featured mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary and on the other side, a rare yellow-eyed penguin and local flora.
2. MoU signed between Railways and ISRO
i. The Railways has signed up an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to develop an application for Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System. The MoU has been signed on March 17th, 2016 and came into force now.
ii. This MoU will fulfill the requirements of Indian Railways in terms of issues and needs related to science and technology which include, the development of an advance warning system at Unmanned Railway Crossings for road users, the mapping of Indian Railway assets through Geo- spatial technology and to develop paperless unreserved ticketing solution based on geo-fencing of station area.
iii. Under this agreement the ISRO will also develop a real time train information system by using communication satellite services to meet the Indian Railway satellite based communication requirements.
3. New naval detachment launched at Lakshadweep Androth Island
i. The Indian Navy has inaugurated a naval detachment at Androth Island of the Lakshadweep archipelago.
ii. It will help Indian Navy to have better surveillance and reach in the Arabian Sea. The naval detachment was inaugurated by Vice Admiral Girish Luthra, who is the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Southern Naval Command.
iii. The facility will function as an observance and reporting organization. It will provide communication network connectivity with the mainland and also enable monitoring of Sea Lanes of Communication (SLOC). It will also help in radar surveillance.
4. Cabinet nod to solar power plant of 200 MW at Jetsar, Rajasthan
i. The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave its approval for utilisation of 400 hectares of un-cultivable farm land at the Central State Farm (CSF), Jetsar in Sri Ganganagar District, Rajasthan for setting up of a solar power plant of capacity exceeding 200 MW.
ii. The land is presently in possession of National Seeds Corporation (NSC), a Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) under the administrative control of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. The Solar Power Plant will be set up by a CPSE, which would be selected through negotiation.
iii. NSC will provide 400 hectares of un-cultivable land, out of the 5394 hectares under its possession to the identified CPSE, which will bear the costs relating to the installation of the Solar Power Plant. The selected CPSE will have to do tariff based competitive bidding for the project.
5. Cabinet approves MoU between India and Papua New Guinea on cooperation in the field of health area and medical science
i. The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for signing an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Papua New Guinea on cooperation in the field of Healthcare and Medical Science.
ii. The bilateral MoU will encourage cooperation between the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare of India and the Ministry of Health and HIV/AIDS of the Papua New Guinea through joint initiatives in the health sector.
iii. It will strengthen bilateral ties between India and Papua New Guinea.
6. MoU between Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India and the Insurance Authority, UAE
i. The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its ex-post facto approval for the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) and the Insurance Authority of United Arab Emirates. The MoU was signed in February 2016.
ii. The MoU provides for enhanced cooperation between the two authorities in the field of insurance supervision by providing a framework for co-operation such as channels of communication.
iii. It will also result in increasing mutual understanding through the exchange of regulatory and relevant supervisory information including confidential information to enforce or ensure compliance with their respective laws and regulations.
7. BSE inks pact with Korea Exchange to list Sensex-based derivatives
i. BSE Ltd on Thursday said it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Korea Exchange (KRX) of South Korea, for listing S&P BSE Sensex-based derivatives contracts on the latter.
ii. The agreement is expected to further the development of derivatives markets in India and South Korea. It will encourage the sharing of information, and foster new opportunities for the exchanges and their respective issuers.
iii. The MoU also includes information sharing by both parties to promote each other’s understanding of a product’s listing process and the market’s functioning. BSE and KRX have also agreed to conduct joint research in the area of derivatives markets and to support the development of new products, experience sharing and cooperation on IT system.
8. Experian India has launched the fraud detection mechanism
i. The Global data services company, Experian, headquarter in Dublin, Ireland, has launched its 'Hunter Fraud Score' in India, which is a new scoring mechanism.
ii. The mechanism will help to measure the probability of fraud in a credit application across banking and insurance industries. It will help the country to increase their efficiency in fraud detection.
iii. Hunter prevents application fraud by matching credit application data against multiple data sources including the shared fraud data. It comprises several rules that work towards identifying inconsistencies in credit applications.
9. DBS Bank launches 'mobile-only bank' in India
i. The Singapore's largest bank, DBS has unveiled the 'mobile only bank’ in India. The ‘digibank’ uses technologies, such as bio metrics and artificial intelligence, to enable paperless, signature less and branch less bank.
ii. This is the India's 1st mobile only bank which targeting 5 million retail customers. The bank will leverage bio metrics-enabled ID and Aadhaar card to ensure that that there is no paperwork.
iii. It will provide customer service via a 24*7 artificial intelligence-driven virtual assistant, which understands natural language and has learning ability, so that it is able to respond in real-time.
10. Japan unveiled Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympics emblems
i. The new emblem of Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympic Games was unveiled, featuring an indigo-coloured check in the design.
ii. The logo features a circular Japanese traditional checkered pattern. Below the design are the words “Tokyo 2020” and under them the five interlocking Olympic rings, reports Xinhua.
iii. The logo was chosen from a shortlist of four announced on April 8 after more than 14,599 entries were publicly accepted. Tokyo 2020 organisers had to scrap a logo by Japanese designer Kenjiro Sano over its close resemblance of a theatre in the Belgian city of Liege created by designer Olivier Debie.
11. ICC suspends the Cricket Association of Nepal
i. The Cricket Association of Nepal has been suspended by the International Cricket Council due to a ‘vacuum of cricket leadership’ in the country and also in view of government interference in the board. The ICC took the decision after the 2nd meeting of the year at ICC headquarter in Dubai.
ii. According to ICC, the membership of CAN will remain suspended until it becomes free of government interference and is properly structured to begin exploiting the tremendous cricket talent and opportunities that exist in Nepal.
iii. However, the ICC decided that Nepal cricket teams would continue to feature in ICC events.
12. Panel suggests fine or jail for celebs in misleading ads
i. Parliamentary Standing Committee has been formed to tackle misleading advertising as well as to fix liability on endorsers/celebrities.
ii. The committee to be headed by MP J C Divakar Reddy advocated that the Department of Consumer Affairs should be empowered to make laws to regulate growing sectors of e-commerce, direct selling and multi-level marketing where consumer complaints are on the rise.
iii. The panel suggests that for first time offence the violator may be penalized with either a fine of Rs 10 lakh or imprisonment up to two years or both. For second time offence a fine of Rs 50 lakh and imprisonment of five years.
13. Kerala cartoonist V T Thomas passed away
i. Kerala cartoonist V T Thomas, popularly known as Toms has passed away, following a brief illness at in Kottayam, Kerela. He was 86.
ii. Toms created the legendary cartoon characters Boban and Molly (Bobanum Moliyum). He was born in 1929 in Kuttanad in Alappuzha district and initially served the British Army.
iii. Apart from Bobanum Moliyum, the characters which weaved magic in Toms' creative world were the of the kids lawyer Pothen, the flirty Appy Hippy, the nincompoop panchayat president Ittunnan (chettan) and so on.
14. Deepika Kumari equals world record in recurve event at Archery World Cup
i. India's Deepika Kumari has equalled the world record in Women's Recurve event at the qualifying stage of Archery World Cup being held in Shanghai.
ii. Padma Shri recipient Deepika recorded a score of 686 out of 720 to finish 1st in qualifiers and equal the world record set by South Korea's Ki Boe Bae at the World University Games in Gwangju last year.
iii. She has already qualified for the Rio Olympics with her performance at the Copenhagen World Championships last year. In the previous editions of the World Cup, Deepika had won silver medals 2011, 2012 and 2013 in the individual events.
15. Sudarsan Pattnaik bags gold medal at Sculpture Championship in Moscow
i. Renowned artist Sudarsan Pattnaik has won the gold medal at ninth Moscow Sand Sculpture Championship in Russia.
ii. Mr. Pattnaik won the competition for his 15 feet high art work Mahatma Gandhi's sculpture for non-violence and peace .
iii. The 20 top sculptors from different countries competed at the championship. Padma Shri Mr. Pattnaik has participated in more than 50 international sand sculpture championships across the world and won many awards for the country.
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