Daily GK Updates - 8th April, 2019

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Indian Navy Signs MoU With CSIR : The Indian Navy and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) inked an MoU to undertake joint research and development of advanced technologies for the Indian Navy. This will be a collaborative arrangement between labs of CSIR, the Indian Navy and Indian industry. The MoU provides a formal framework for interaction between the Indian Navy and CSIR.

2.  Phayeng Village becomes India’s first carbon-positive settlement :  Phayeng Village of Manipur has been tagged as India's first carbon-positive settlement.A village is given the carbon-positive tag if it sequesters more carbon than it emits, slowing the accumulation of greenhouse gases and mitigating the effects of climate change. Phayeng is a scheduled caste village of the Chakpa community in Imphal West district.As part of the carbon-positive village project, Phayeng will receive a grant of Rs10 crore in phases to facilitate afforestation in the catchment of river Maklang that flows along the village.

3.  National Handloom Week observed from 7th April to 14th April It is a celebration :  of the country’s 5,000-year old tradition of hand weaving cloths. On this occasion, a book named ‘The Indian textile Sourcebook’ authored by Avalon Fotheringham and published by Thames and Hudson will be launched on 9th April. In 2018, the National Handloom Week was observed during December month. The National Handloom Day is observed on 7th August every year across India. It was on this day that the Swadeshi Movement was launched in 1905. The First National handloom day was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on August 7, 2015 in Chennai.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Morocco-US Joint Military Exercise 'African Lion 2019' Starts In Morocco : The joint military exercise between Morocco and the US, “African Lion 2019,” kicked off in southern Morocco. The exercise marks the participation of thousands of military officers.  The exercise will include various types of training including command post, manoeuvring, peacekeeping, operations, and aerial refuelling.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

1.  Sathiyan books World Cup berth :  G. Sathiyan (10th-seeded) stunned fifth seed Wong Chun Ting of Taipei 12-10, 10-12, 11-5, 11-6, 11-8 in the playoff for 5-8 positions at the Asian Cup table tennis championship. The win helped Sathiyan qualify for the World Cup. Sathiyan lost to a former World Cup, Olympic and World champion in Ma Long.

2. ITBP organises first National Sky Running Championship :  The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) along with Sky Running Association of India organised the National Sky Running Championship (junior and senior categories) at Mountaineering and Skiing Institute of ITBP at Auli in Uttarakhand. This is the first time such championship was organised at a high altitude of up to 4000 metres. Various athletes from ITBP, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Uttarakhand participated in the championship.