Daily Gk Updates : 21st April , 2016
S.M. Vijayanand to become next Chief Secretary Gk Updates 
1.S.M. Vijayanand has been appointed the next Chief Secretary of Kerala.
2.The State Cabinet took the formal decision to appoint Mr. Vijayanand as the next Chief Secretary of the State at its meeting here on Wednesday.
3.Mr. Vijayanand is now Secretary, Panchayati Raj, with additional charge of Secretary, Rural Development, in the Ministry of Rural Development.
4.A 1981-batch IAS officer, Mr. Vijayanand passed his MA (English) with first rank from the University of Kerala and cleared his Civil Services examination securing seventh rank.
Ukraine’s President bans post-2014 Russian movies GK Updates
1.Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed a bill banning all movies filmed in Russia after 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula.
2.The bill that Mr. Poroshenko signed late Wednesday also bans all movies produced by Russian companies and Russian citizens after 1991 if they “glorify the work of government bodies” of Russia.
Renewable capacity to grow by 8.8 GW in 2016-17: ICRA
1.India’s renewable energy sector could add 8.8 GW of new capacity in 2016-17, on the back of a record capacity addition of 6.9 GW in the previous year, an ICRA Ratings report has projected.
2.The new renewable capacities in 2015-16 were chiefly driven by significant increases in solar and wind capacity, which grew by 3 GW and 3.3 GW, respectively.
India ranked at 133 on World Press Freedom Index
1.India ranks an abysmally low at 133 among 180 countries in the latest annual World Press Freedom Index which says Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems “indifferent” to the threats against journalists.
2.The 2016 ‘World Press Freedom Index’ released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is led by Finland, which retained its top spot for the sixth consecutive year, followed by the Netherlands and Norway.
3.India jumped three spots from the 136th position it had in 2015.
4.Among India’s neighbouring countries, Pakistan ranks 147, Sri Lanka (141), Afghanistan (120), Bangladesh (144), Nepal (105) and Bhutan (94). China is ranked 176. The United States is ranked 44th and Russia is placed at the 148th place.
MoU between India and Bhutan on Technical Cooperation
1.The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi today gave its approval for signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Bhutan on technical cooperation in the field of capacity building, benchmarking and bilateral exchange in infrastructure engineering.
2.India and Bhutan have had a long standing diplomatic, economic and cultural relations with each other. The India-Bhutan friendship treaty signed in New Delhi in February, 2007 also strengthens the mutual relations.
Compat sets aside Rs 258-crore fine on Jet Airways, IndiGo, SpiceJet
1.The Competition Appellate Tribunal (Compat) stayed penalties totalling Rs 256 crore imposed by Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Jet Airways, IndiGo and SpiceJet for fuel surcharge collusion.
2.The competition watchdog had in November last year imposed penalties to the tune of Rs 151 crore on Jet Airways, Rs 63 crore on IndiGo and Rs 42 crore on Spice Jet, finding the airlines guilty of colluding in fixing of fuel surcharge for cargo transportation.
Lanka to sign MoU with Japan, India for collaboration in science, technology
1.A Sri Lankan university will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Japan and India tomorrow on trilateral collaboration in science and technology.
2.Sri Lanka’s University of Sri Jayewardenepura will sign the MoU with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science (AIST) and Biomedical Research Institute (BMRI) of Japan and Department of Biotechnology (DBT) of Ministry of Science and Technology, India, reports Lanka Page.
3.The MoU will be signed by Dr Yoshihiro, OHMIYA, Director, Biomedical Research Institute (BMRI), Advanced Industrial Science (AIST) and Prof. Sampath Amarathunga, the Vice-Chancellor of University of Sri Jayewardenepura.
RBL becomes first private sector bank to open dedicated branch for startups
1.The RBL Bank (formerly Ratnakar Bank) became the first private sector bank in India to open dedicated branch for startups.
2.The dedicated branch was inaugurated at Koramangala, Bengaluru by Nandan Nilekani, noted entrepreneur and former chairman of UIDAI.
Panasonic, US-based AES to install energy storage project in Haryana
1.Panasonic India and AES India Private Limited has announced an agreement to construct a 10 MW energy storage array at Panasonic’s Technopark manufacturing facility in Jhajjar, Haryana.
2.This joint project is the first large-scale battery-based energy storage project in India.
3.The storage will provide daily reliability and back-up to the manufacturing facility, while demonstrating grid stability and renewable integration services in the region.
Barack Obama nominates Indian-American Geeta Pasi as US envoy to ChadUS President
1.Barack Obama has nominated Indian-American Geeta Pasi as the country’s next envoy to central African nation Chad.
2.Ms. Pasi, who served as the United States Ambassador to Djibouti from 2011 to 2014, is a career member of the Foreign Service.
William Bill Campbell, Silicon Valley Coach And Mentor Has Passed Away
1.The Silicon Valley coach and mentor William Bill Campbell has passed away. He was 75 year old and was suffering from cancer.
2.He was a legendary mentor to some of Silicon Valley’s most important entrepreneurs and executives including Steve Jobs and Larry Page.
Renowned Hollywood Actress Doris Roberts Has Passed Away
1.The five time Emmy award winning actress Doris Roberts has passed away. She was 90 year old.
2.She was renowned for playing meddling mother Marie Barone in US sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond.
3.Doris was born on 4th November 1925 in St. Louis, and grew up in New York, Us. She picked up her first Emmy in 1983 for a guest appearance on “St. Elsewhere“, making for a total of five wins overall.
4.She was nominated for 11 Emmy awards including 7 for playing Marie Barone in Raymond, winning 4 for her work for that series from 1996 to 2005.
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Source: Jobsnews