Daily current affairs dated 24 April, 2017

Daily current affairs dated 24 April, 2017

National Panchayati Raj Diwas

In India, April 24^th is celebrated as National Panchayati Raj Diwas every year. This day marks the passing of the constitution (73^rd Amendment) Act, 1992 that came into force with effect from 24 April, 1993. The first National Panchayati Raj Diwas was celebrated in 2010.

Frist Digital village in Arunachal Pradesh

Nirjuli village-1 in Papum Pare district was declared as the first digital village of Arunachal Pradesh. Digital village aims at cashless transactions even in sabji mandis to make payment through mobile. The state government also promised to promote V-set linked customer service (CSP) for digitalization.

India’s first hospital for eye tumours

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is India’s first public hospital to start plaque brachytherapy for the treatment of eye tumours. The facility is a form of local radiation delivered to the eye through a radioactive device which is attached to the eye for a temporary period of time. 

AIIMS was established in 1956.

Newton wins best film honour

Actor Rajkumar Rao starer “Newton” has won the best film honour at the Hong Kong International Film Festival. Amit Masurkar-directed “Newton”, which also stars Anjali Patil, is a political satire. It had its world premier at the 67^th Berlin Film Festival where it won the International Federation of Art Cinemas (CICAE) award in its forum segment.

Nadal wins 10^th Monte-Carlo title

Rafael Nadal won the Monte Carlo Masters for a record-breaking 10^th time by defeating Albert Ramos-Vinolas. He, who now has 50 clay court titles and 70 in all, will be aiming for a 10^th French Open title as well next month. He became the first man in the Open era to win the same event 10 times.

Sandhya Agarwal honoured

The ‘Marylebone Cricket Club’ has offered honourary life membership to Sandhya Agarwal, former captain of the Indian Women’s Test team. A resident of Indore, Agarwal has played 13 Tests and 21 ODIs from 1984 to 1995. Presently, she is the chairperson of girls’ U-19 and senior women’s team of MPCA.

‘Public data office’ (PDO) technology

State-run C-DOT has developed the public data office which can be installed at any neighbourhood shop or even on push carts to provide low-cost Wi-Fi powered data packs to public. It creates Wi-Fi powered data packs to public. It creates Wi-Fi hotspots using 2G, 3G or 4G signals and connect up to 100 mobile devices at a given time in a range of 500m. C-DOT expects it to be released with in 2-3 months.

New type of blood cells discovered

Scientists including those of Indian origin, have identified new types of blood cells in the human immune system. The cells are new classes of types of white blood cells called dendritic cells and monocytes. Researchers used a technique called single-cell genomics to analyse gene expression patterns in individual human blood cells.

Quality Mark Award Scheme

The department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries has supported the National Dairy Development Board development initiative of “Quality Mark” Award Scheme for dairy Cooperatives. The NDDB is in the process of registering the quality mark logo under Trademarks Act, 1998. Since its formation on the 6^th January, 2016, NDDB has received 53 applications for award of the Quality Mark.

GNFC wins Golden Peacock Award

The Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd. (GNFC) won the prestigious Golden Peacock Award in the category of innovative product/service for pioneering a cashless township transformation model. The Awards were established by the Institute of Directors in 1991. The GNFC won from among 313 applicants.

Subsidised solar water pumps

The Madhya Pradesh government would soon provide nearly 18,500 solar-powered water pumps to farmers in the state at the subsidized rates. MP Urja Vikas Nigam would be the nodal agency to make available the solar pumps to the farmers. MP has the highest agricultural growth rate of over 20% since last couple of years.

Programme for social start-ups launched

The International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT-Hyderabad) has announced an accelerator programme for social start-ups. The institute has joined hands with Surge Impact Foundation to run the three-month-long accelerator. At the end of the programme, start-ups could get seed funding opportunities between Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh.

Utkrisht Double-Decker AC Yatri Express

The Indian Railways will launch in July the Utkrisht Double-Decker AC Yatri (UDAY) Express, a special class service for overnight journey that will ply on high demand routes. The main USP of this train is that it will have fares lower than that of 3AC class. It runs at a speed of 110 Km/hr.