Australia to import Indian mangoes for first time
- Indian mangoes will be imported to Australia for the first time after protocols were revised to allow the Asian-grown fruit into the local economy, a media report said. The fruit would be allowed into Australia as long as they were treated with irradiation before leaving India, Xinhua news agency reported. It will not be the first time Australia has imported mangoes, with Mexico, the Philippines and Pakistan exporting small numbers of fruit over the years.
Aquarium soon at Chetpet Ecopark
- Chetpet Ecopark that serves as a recreational boating and fishing arena and scenic park for the public, will soon have its promised aquarium and in-house virtual reality centre.
- The state fisheries Ministry which administers the work of the Eco park is currently in the process of the assessing feasibility for the two new features which will be added -along with the existing facilities which also includes a 1.2km jogging track.
410 people died on Indian roads every day last yr
- At least 410 people lost their lives daily in road crashes across the country last year compared to 400 lives in 2015. But the good news is that the rate of rise in fatalities came down in 2016 compared to the previous year. Report showed that nearly 1.5 lakh people were killed in road crashes last year compared to 1.46 lakh deaths in 2015. India has the dubious distinction of recording the maximum deaths in road crashes.
- In 2016, only nine states and UTs including Delhi recorded decline in road fatalities with Bihar leading the list. But significant increase in deaths in six states, including Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, pushed the total fatalities to an all time high since1970
16 states opt for Centre's e-procurement
- At least 16 states have started moving to the Government e-Marketplace (GeM), the Centre's online public procurement platform, even as PM Narendra Modi on Sunday exhorted them to use the newly-established web tool to cut down on corruption.
Under-5 mortality in India one of the highest in the world
- Pointing out that under-five mortality in India was one of the highest in the world, doctors who attended the conference on paediatric emergencies at Meenakshi Mission Hospital and Research Centre here on Sunday stressed the need for increased focus on the emerging speciality of paediatric emergency.
Indian girls win gold at Belgium Open
- The Indian squad, comprising Archana Kamath, Moumita Datta and Priyank Pareekh, scored a 3-2 win over a mixed team of players from USA, Croatia and England, to win the girls’ team gold event at the ITTF Belgium Open (junior) table tennis tournament here recently.Archana Kamath also won the singles bronze in the junior girls’ category.
India Post Payment Bank to open 650 branches this year
- India Post Payment Bank (IPPB) is planning a mega expansion to open 650 branches this year. The first two branches of IPPB were opened in January 2017 in Ranchi and Raipur.
Rajkummar Rao's Newton Wins Jury Prize For Best Film at Hong Kong International Film Festival
- After starting off on the right note at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival, actor Rajkummar Rao says his film Newton has won the Jury Prize for Best Film at the Hong Kong International Film Festival.
- The festival started on April 11, and will go on till April 25
Satyarthi given P.C. Chandra award
- Nobel laureate and social activist Kailash Satyarthi was on Sunday presented the P.C. Chandra Purashkar (award) for his global crusade against child slavery and exploitative child labour. The 63-year-old Satyarthi was handed over a citation, a trophy and a cheque of Rs 10 lakh at an awards ceremony here. Satyarthi, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 with Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan, urged everyone to work towards making India a "child-friendly country".
Goldman Prize for Prafulla Samantra, the activist who blocked Vedanta's Niyamgiri mine
- Social activist Prafulla Samantra was announced one of six winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize, in San Francisco, on 24.04.2017. The prize citation said this was for his "...historic 12-year legal battle that affirmed the indigenous Dongria Kondh’s land rights and protected the Niyamgiri Hills from a massive, open-pit aluminum ore mine."
Nadal wins historic 10th Monte Carlo title
- Nadal became the first man in the Open era to win the same event 10 times.Nadal won eight Monte Carlo titles in a row from 2005 to 2012 but then lost to Djokovic in the 2013 final.Nadal has now amassed 50 clay titles during his career.
General Knowledge
The current financial year in India -April to March -was adopted in 1867, principally to align the Indian finan cial year with that of the British government. Earlier, India's financial year used to commence on May 1.
