DAILY GK 26 APRIL 2019
1. STATE
BANK OF INDIA LAUNCHED INDIA’S FIRST ‘GREEN CAR LOAN’
✔State
Bank of India has launched India’s first ‘Green Car Loan’ to encourage
customers to buy electric vehicles. The new scheme ‘Green Car Loan’ will offer
the loan at 20 basis points lower than the interest rate on the existing car
loan schemes.
✔SBI
has already notified 100% migration to Electric Vehicles by 2030 in order to
decrease carbon footprints, thus being in line with the government’s pledge of
ensuring 30% EVs on road by 2030.
2. UAE
BASED ETIHAD AIRWAYS BECOMES FIRST MAJOR AIRLINE TO OPERATE PLASTIC-FREE FLIGHT
✔Etihad
Airways, UAE based flag carrier, has become the first major airline in the Gulf
region to operate a flight without any single-use plastics on board. The
objective is to raise awareness about pollution. Etihad Airways has pledged to
reduce single-use plastic usage by 80% across the entire organization by the
end of 2022.
3. RBI SELLS ENTIRE STAKE IN NHB, NABARD TO GOVERNMENT FOR INR 1,470 CRORE
✔The
Reserve Bank of India has divested its entire stake held in National Housing
Bank, and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development to the
government, which now holds 100% in these entities.
✔The
transactions were completed in February and March. RBI had 100% shareholding in
NHB, which was divested for INR 1,450 crore. RBI had 72.5% stake in Nabard, out
of which 71.5%, worth INR 1,430 crore was divested in October 2010 and the
residual shareholding was divested in February 2019 for INR 20 crore.
4. DAWN
JOURNALIST CYRIL ALMEIDA NAMED IPI’S 71ST WORLD PRESS FREEDOM HERO IN 2019
✔Dawn
editor and Columnist Cyril Almeida from Pakistan have won the International
Press Institute’s World Press Freedom Hero award in 2019. He won this award for
his “critical” and “tenacious coverage” of the civil-military relations in
Pakistan.
✔MadaMasr,
an Egyptian news site, won Free Media Pioneer Award 2019 of the IPI and
International Media Support. Both awards will be presented in Geneva, Switzerland
on 5th June, World Intellectual Property Day 2019.
5. SALIM,
HELEN AND BHANDARKAR GET DEENANATH MANGESHKAR AWARD 2019
✔The
prestigious Master Deenanath Mangeshkar Award 2019 was awarded to National
Award-winning filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar, popular scriptwriter Salim Khan and
dancing diva Helen.
✔The
event was organized by Master Deenanath Mangeshkar Smruti Pratishthan
charitable trust, Pune. It aims to encourage legends from the fields of music,
drama, art and social work.
Complete
list of Awardees:
- Lifetime
Award – Salim Khan.
- Special
Award for the contribution to Indian cinema – Madhur Bhandarkar.
- Special
Award – Helen.
- Vagvilasini
Award – VasantAbaji Dahake.
- Mohan
Wagh Award (Best Drama of the Year 2019) – SoyareSakal.
- Anandmayee
Puraskar– Pandit Suresh Talwalkar.
- Award
for music and art – Classical dancer Sucheta Bhide-Chapekar.
6. DR.
BENNY ANTONY, CONFERRED WITH THE NATIONAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AWARD
✔Dr.
Benny Antony has been honoured with the National Intellectual Property Award,
2019 in the category of Top Individual for Patents and Commercialization. Dr.
Antony has over 80 international patents to his credit.
✔Along
with the National IP Award, the Intellectual Property Office India and the
World Intellectual Property Organisation have jointly honoured Antony with the
‘WIPO Medal for Inventors’.
7. FORMER
ARMY CHIEF GEN. (RETD.) DALBIR SUHAG APPOINTED AS HIGH COMMISSIONER OF INDIA IN
SEYCHELLES
✔General
(Retd.) Dalbir Singh Suhag has been appointed as the next High Commissioner of
India to the Republic of Seychelles. He will soon be taking over the new
position. General Suhag was the 26th Army Chief of the Indian Army from July
2014 to December 2016.
8. ASIAN
ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS: INDIA FINISHES FOURTH
✔Asian
Athletics Championships 2019 held at Doha
in Qatar. It was the 23rd edition of the Championships. India ended at the fourth spot in the medals tally with 3
Gold, 7 Silver and 7 Bronze. Bahrain
topped the table with 11 Gold, 7 Silver and 4 Bronze. China was second while Japan
was third.
✔Tejinder
Pal Singh Toor (Shot put), Gomathi Marimuthu(800 metres) and P. U. Chitra (1500
metres) won gold for India. India
had won 29 medals – 12 Gold, 5 Silver and 12 Bronze in the last edition in
Bhubaneswar in 2017, topping the medal tally for the first time.
9. WORLD
MALARIA DAY OBSERVED ON 25TH APRIL
✔Every
year on 25 April, people around the globe observe World Malaria Day to raise
awareness and funds for the treatment and prevention of the disease.
✔The
theme for the day is “Zero malaria
starts with me” and it is being hosted by the World Health Organisation.
