The Daily Briefs are a comprehensive update of current affairs for the day. To know more about them, read this. If you’d like to receive updates for current affairs every day, you’ll need to subscribe by entering your email address at the right side of this page. The previous Briefs can be accessed at the archives here. Also, check out our mock tests!
- Mizoram became 27th state to join Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme meant for revival of debt-stressed discoms. In this regard, Union Government and Mizoram Government signed a MOU for improving operational efficiency of the Power Distribution department of the State.
- Five associates and the Bharatiya Mahila Bank have officially merged with the country’s largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI). With this merger, SBI joins the league of top 50 banks globally in terms of assets.
- The Union Cabinet approved signing of an agreement between the Union Ministry of Rural Development and Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) for establishment of CIRDAP Centre at National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRD&PR), Hyderabad.
- A team of scientists from the Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru and the University of Delhi for the first time have seen indications of a massive planet orbiting a low mass X-ray binary star system. The system MXB 1658-298 is an X-ray binary and a part of the constellation Ophiuchus (serpent bearer). It is nearly 30,000 light years away and the planet is expected to be nearly 8,000 times as massive as the earth.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Chenani-Nashri Tunnel, the country’s longest road tunnel that links Kashmir Valley with Jammu by an all-weather route. The 9-km long ‘Chenani-Nashri Tunnel has been built at an altitude of 1,200 meters. It is also Asia’s longest bi-directional highway tunnel.
- Myanmar became the 7th member of South Asia Sub-regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) program of Asian Development Bank (ADB). It was officially made member at the SASEC Finance Ministers’ meeting held in New Delhi and chaired by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
- The Union Ministry of Textiles has launched PowerTex India, a three-year comprehensive scheme for Powerloom Sector Development. The PowerTex India scheme aims to boost common infrastructure and modernisation of the powerloom sector in the country.
- Sunaina Singh was appointed the new vice chancellor of Nalanda University (NU). Currently, she is the vice chancellor of the English and Foreign Language University (EFLU), Hyderabad.
- The Government has formally launched Bharat Stage-IV (BS-IV) grade transportation fuel across the country to keep carbon emission in check.
- Justice Pradeep Nandrajog was sworn in as the Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court. He was administered the oath of Office today by Governor Kalyan Singh. Prior to this appointment, Justice Nandrajog was a judge at the Delhi High Court.
- Vanaja N. Sarna was appointed as the new chairman of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC). She succeeds Najib Shah. CBEC is the nodal government agency on Indirect Taxes responsible for administering Customs, Central Excise, Service Tax and Narcotics in India. Currently it operates and functions under the aegis of the Department of Revenue of Union Ministry of Finance.
- Hyderabad became the first ‘Giga-enabled’ city in India after The Atria Convergence Technologies (ACT) Fibrenet launched 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps) wired broadband internet service in the city.
- Rio Olympics silver medallist P V Sindhu won the India Open Super Series title in women’s single category. In the final match, she defeated Rio Olympic champion Carolina Marin of Spain.
- Gilbert Baker, creator of the rainbow flag as a symbol for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community passed away in Kansas, US. He was 65. He had created the eight-colour flag in 1978 for New York’s gay freedom day, which is now the modern pride parade.
- American singer and song writer Bob Dylan has finally accepted the 2016 Nobel Prize for literature since the December 2016 awards ceremony. He is the first song writer to win this prestigious award. He was awarded for creating new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition. He is the first American to win the prize since novelist Toni Morrison in 1993.
- Dawit Isaak, an imprisoned Eritrean-Swedish journalist was awarded the 2017 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. He will be bestowed with this prestigious award in recognition of his courage, resistance and commitment to freedom of expression. He will be awarded on World Press Freedom Day (3 May 2017).
