Daily GK Updates - 25th April, 2017

­­­­                     NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. 10 Rajaji Marg being readied as Mukherjee's retirement home: The bungalow, 10 Rajaji Marg is being readied as the retirement home of President ‘Pranab Mukherjee’ (July 2017). Earlier, the bungalow was occupied by former President APJ Abdul Kalam until his death in 2015. The 10 Rajaji Marg house is spread over an area of 11,776 sq. feet with the ground floor housing a library and an attached reading space.

2. Central University for Divyangs to be set up in Uttar Pradesh: According to the HRD Minister ‘Prakash Javadekar’, the Government will set up a Central university for Divyangs in Uttar Pradesh. Under the Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan, HRD ministry has instructed to make ramps and install lifts to facilitate ‘Divyangas’ at all educational institutions. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has been instructed to make arrangement for special training of instructors providing education to Divyangs.

3.  Ballabhgarh of Haryana renamed as Balramgarh: The Haryana chief minister 'Manohar Lal Khattar' has announced to change the name of Ballabhgarh to Balramgarh. Ballabhgarh is a town and a tehsil (sub-district) in Faridabad District of Haryana and is part of the National Capital Region (NCR).

4. BPL & DPL income revised in Haryana: The Haryana Government has revised the limit of annual income of families living Below Poverty Line (BPL) and those living below Double the Poverty Line (DPL) in both rural and urban areas of the state for various bank-assisted and National Scheduled Caste Finance and Development Corporation (NSFDC)-assisted schemes. The limit of annual income of BPL families has been raised to Rs 49,000 from Rs. 40,500 (living in rural) and Rs. 60,000 from Rs. 51,500 (living in urban areas). The limit of annual income for the families living below DPL would Rs 98,000 (rural areas) and Rs 1.2 lakh (urban areas).

5. IIITM-K develops app for coffee growers:  Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management-Kerala (IIITM-K) has launched an application named Kaapi Soil Health Management and Monitoring (Kshemam) app to provide soil nutrient information and fertiliser recommendation for coffee plantation owners. The app will help in proper identification of optimum levels of fertiliser use.

                      INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. First malaria vaccine to be tested in Kenya, Ghana and Malawi in 2018: The World Health Organization has announced that it is ready to test the first malaria vaccine in the real world setting in 2018. The aim of the testing will be to ascertain whether the vaccine will work under real world circumstances or not. Kenya, Ghana and Malawi have been chosen for taking part in the pilot project. The vaccine, RTS,S, also known as Mosquirix, was produced by Glaxo SmithKline in 1987 in a public-private partnership with the PATH Malaria Initiative and with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

2. World Malaria Day being observed today: The ‘World Malaria Day being observed every year across the world on 25th April to create awareness among the people about this vector-borne disease. This year WHO has made ‘ending malaria for good’ its theme for World Malaria Day 2017.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

1. Manpreet Kaur bags Gold at Asian Grand Prix Meet in China: Indian shot putter ‘Manpreet Kaur’ (26-year) has clinched a gold in the first leg of the Asian Grand Prix Athletics Meet in Jinhua, China. Manpreet came up with the best throw of 18.86 metre and Bian Song (China) finished second with 17.96m. She also qualified for the IAAF World Championships to be held in August in London.

HONOURS & AWARDS:

2. 'K. Viswanath' wins Dadasaheb Phalke award 2016: Renowned filmmaker and actor ‘Kasinadhuni Viswanath’ (87-year) has won the 'Dadasaheb Phalke award' for the year 2016 for his outstanding contribution to the film industry. He will be the 48th recipient of the award. The award consists of a golden lotus, a cash prize of Rs. 10 lakh and a shawl.

3. Moushumi Chatterjee gets BFJA lifetime achievement award: Veteran actress 'Moushumi Chatterjee' has received the lifetime achievement award at the 80th Bengal Film Journalists' Association (BFJA) awards. Bengali film actor Prosenjit Chatterjee has given the best actor award for his role in ‘Sankhachil’. Rituparna Sengupta was given the best actress crown for her role in ‘Rajkahini’.

4. Prafulla Samantara selected for Goldman Environmental Prize from Asia region: Environmental activist Prafulla Samantara has been selected for ‘Goldman Environmental Prize’ from Asia region for championing the cause of State’s Dongria Kondh tribals and safeguarding their land & culture. The prize also known as Green Nobel prize and Samantara is the sixth Indian to win the prize.