Current Affairs 29th or 30th April 2018

National News

1. PM Modi China Visit: Important Highlights

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in New Delhi after a two-day informal summit meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Wuhan.
ii. The Prime Minister was received at the airport by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. Earlier, Prime Minister Modi wrapped up his two-day visit to China with both the countries underlining the importance of maintaining peace and tranquillity.
Read The Complete Article Here

Static/Current Takeaways Important for NABARD Grade-A Exam 2018-

·                     China Capital- Beijing, Currency- Renminbi, President- Xi Jinping.

2. Sikkim Chief Minister Becomes India's Longest-Serving CM

Pawan Chamling 

i. Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling became the longest-serving Chief Minister in India, surpassing the record of Jyoti Basu, who served as West Bengal CM from 1977 to 2000.

ii. Chamling became the Chief Minister in December 1994 and belongs to the Sikkim Democratic Front.

Static/Current Takeaways Important for NABARD Grade-A Exam 2018-

·                     Shriniwas Dadasaheb Patil is the present Governor of Sikkim.

·                     Khangchendzonga National Park is situated in Sikkim.

3. LCA Tejas Successfully Fired Air-to-Air BVR Missile

i.Indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas has successfully fired an air-to-air beyond visual range (BVR) missile. With this, Tejas has demonstrated its overall capability as an effective combat jet and inched closer to receive final operational clearance.
ii. The test firing of the missile from a Tejas jet was carried off the Goa coast and it met all operational requirements.

4. Maharashtra Government Signs MoU With British Council

i. The Maharashtra government has signed an MoU with the British Council to strengthen educational and cultural cooperation.
ii. The British Council, with this MoU, will expand its existing work in the state, where in recent times, it has trained more than 100,000 teachers benefitting around five million learners. 

Static/Current Takeaways Important for NABARD Grade-A Exam 2018-

·                     Maharashtra CM- Devendra Fadnavis, Governor- CV Rao.

5. Former PM Manmohan Singh Launches Economist Rao's Book

i. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh released a book titled ‘My Journey from Marxism-Leninism to Nehruvian Socialism’ by former Planning Commission and Finance Commission member C H Hanumantha Rao.

ii. Mr Rao is presently one of the most creative thinkers, social activist, and distinguished economist in India.

Appointments

6. Uday Kotak Redesignated as MD & CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank

i. The board of directors of Kotak Mahindra Bank has redesignated Uday Kotak as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.

ii. Mr. Kotak was earlier executive Vice Chairman and Managing Director. Mr Kotak was the only official among private banks to have a Vice Chairman designation. All others have MD & CEO designation.

Static/Current Takeaways Important for NABARD Grade-A Exam 2018-

·                     Kotak Mahindra Bank headquarters in Mumbai.

7. Kavinder Gupta Takes Oath as J&K Deputy CM

i. Jammu and Kashmir Assembly speaker Kavinder Gupta has been appointed as the Deputy- CM of the state. Seven others ministers were also sworn in the state's PDP-BJP government led by Mehbooba Mufti.

ii. Gupta will be the new deputy chief minister in place of Nirmal Singh.

Static/Current Takeaways Important for NABARD Grade-A Exam 2018-

·                     Jammu and Kashmir CM- Mehbooba Mufti Sayeed, Governor- N. N. Vohra.

Miscellaneous News

8. Paytm Introduces 'Tap Card' Offline Payments Solution

i. One97 Communications Limited, the owner of digital payment major, Paytm, announced the launch of its offline payments solution - the Paytm Tap Card, in line with the company's vision to provide seamless payments solutions for non-internet customers.

ii. This card uses Near Field Communication (NFC) technology to enable safe and convenient digital payments, completely offline at Paytm-issued, NFC PoS terminals, in under a second.

Static/Current Takeaways Important for NABARD Grade-A Exam 2018-

·                     Vijay Shekhar Sharma is the Paytm founder.

9. HDFC Bank Launches IRA 2.0

i. HDFC Bank launched IRA 2.0, its interactive humanoid at the Koramangala Branch in Bengaluru. The interactive humanoid in its advance version is aimed to enhance user experience for customers visiting in the branch.
ii. HDFC Bank has developed IRA (Interactive Robotic Assistant) 2.0 in collaboration with its technology partners Invento Makerspaces and Senseforth Technologies.

Static/Current Takeaways Important for NABARD Grade-A Exam 2018-

·                     HDFC Bank- India’s largest private bank by market capitalization

·                     HDFC Bank Chairman- Aditya Puri, Headquarters- Mumbai.

·                     Reserve Bank of India labelled HDFC Bank as ‘domestic systematically important bank’ - in other words, 'too big to fail'.

·                     It became the first bank in India to introduce a humanoid IRA 1.0 for customer service at the Kamala Mills Branch in Mumbai.

Ranks and Reports

10. India's GDP Likely to Grow 7.5% in FY19: Deutsche Bank

i. According to the Deutsche Bank research report, the Indian economy is witnessing a "cyclical upswing" and the country is likely to clock a GDP growth of 7. 5% this financial year.
ii. The Reserve Bank expects India's economic growth rate to strengthen to 7.4% in the current fiscal, from 6.6% in 2017-18, on account of revival in investment activity.

Static/Current Takeaways Important for NABARD Grade-A Exam 2018-

·                     Deutsche Bank established its first branch in India in 1980.

·                     Deutsche Bank Headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany.

·                     Christian Sewing is the Chief Executive officer of Deutsche Bank.

Awards

11. Dadasaheb Phalke Film Foundation Awards 2018 Announced

i. Bollywood actors Bhumi Pednekar, Sonam Kapoor and Akshay Kumar bagged the best actress and best actor awards respectively at the Dadasaheb Phalke awards, given by Dadasaheb Phalke Film Foundation, held in Mumbai.
ii. Manisha Koirala won the ‘Most Versatile Actress’ award. Veteran actor-director Rakesh Roshan was given the lifetime achievement award for his contribution to the industry as an actor, producer and a director.

Find Complete List Here

12. Gujarati Poet Sitanshu Yashaschandra Chosen for Saraswati Samman 2017

i. Gujarati poet, playwright and academic Sitanshu Yashaschandra was selected for 2017 Saraswati Samman for his collection of verses (poetry) titled “Vakhar” published in 2009. It was 27 edition of the award.
ii. Sitanshu Yashaschandra was born in 1941 in Gujarat’s Bhuj district. He is also a recipient of the Padma Shri and Sahitya Akademi Award.

Sports

13. Rafael Nadal Wins 11th Barcelona Title

i. Rafael Nadal has won his 11th Barcelona Open title on clay. He defeated the 19-year-old Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas to clinch the title. Nadal who also won his 11th Monte Carlos Masters title recently. This was his 55th title on clay - and the 77th overall in his illustrious career.
ii. He was the first Greek to make it to an ATP final since Nicholas Kalogeropoulos in 1973.

14. Barcelona Clinches its 25th La Liga Title

i. Five-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi netted a hat-trick as Barcelona defeated Deportivo to clinch the La Liga for the seventh time in 10 years and the 25th time in their history.
ii. Barcelona also extended their league record unbeaten streak to 34 matches. Barcelona has 86 points after 34 matches and are 15 points ahead of third-placed Real Madrid.

15. 56th Belgrade International Boxing Tournament in Serbia

i. 56th edition of Belgrade International Boxing Championship was held at Belgrade in Serbia.  Indian boxers won three gold, five silver and five bronze medals at this championship. Among Gold medal winners, Sumit Sangwan won the final bout by defeating Ecuador’s Castillo Torres in 91 kg category.
ii. Indian woman boxer Nikhat Zareen won the Gold medal in 51 kg by defeating Greece’s Koutsoeorgopoulou Aikaterini in the final bout. Himanshu Sharma (49 kg) too won Gold medal by defeating Algeria’s Mohammed Touareg in the final bout.

Static/Current Takeaways Important for NABARD Grade-A Exam 2018-

·                     Serbia Capital- Belgrade, Currency- Serbian dinar.