March 31st & April 1st Current Affairs

State :

Tamilnadu :

ICF surpasses production target, rolls out 2,500th coach

• Integral Coach Factory surpassed its production target this year too. Against the target of of 2,464 coaches set by the Railway Board, ICF manufactured 2,503 coaches.

Madras University syndicate gets 6 new members

• Elections were held for six vacancies in the Syndicate of the University of Madras. For the first time, six persons chose to contest the elections as independent candidates

Opposition calls for TN bandh on April 5 on Cauvery issue

• The all-party meeting convened by the DMK has given a call for a state-wide bandh on April 5 to condemn “the failure of the Centre to constitute the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) as per the Supreme Court direction and the indifference of the AIADMK government.

Kerala :

Shyama Madhavam gets a Sanskrit version

• Noted poet Prabha Varma’s magnum opus Shyama Madhavam has had many retellings in the form of mural art paintings and plays. The verse novel will continue to enthral many more with its Sanskrit translation, which was formally launched by Sahitya Akademi president and Jnanpith Award recipient Chandrasekhar Kambar.

Aided schools told to bear50% of modernisation cost

• The State government has asked single management aided schools in the State to cough up 50% of their modernisation cost under the Challenge Fund established for this purpose.

Telangana :

India Post offers doorstep banking from April

• Come April, it will be virtual transformation for the India Post. The oldest and the largest financial service provider in the country will foray into payments bank in Telangana. Christened as India Post Payments Bank (IPPB), the Department of Posts (DoP) initiative is set to offer a slew of services to its customers including banking at doorstep.

45 railway stations get WiFi

• South Central Railway (SCR) has claimed to have accomplished the target of providing 45 rural railway stations with ‘Wifi’ facility. General Manager Vinod Kumar Yadav congratulated Principal Chief Signal and Telecommunications Engineer Vinay Mohan Srivastava and others for achieving the target in close coordination with Rail Tel Corporation Ltd.,

NTPC-Ramagundam power generation target reduced

• NTPC Ramagundam has reduced its power generation target, owing to increased power generation from renewable energy sources in the southern States such as Tamil Nadu and Karnakata.

Andhra pradesh :

Guntur doctor wins Natgeo award for physical therapy app

• A neuro physical therapist from Guntur has won the National Geographic Chasing Genius Challenge in the U.S. for designing a web/mobile application that helps patients with home exercise programmes in their native language.

₹13.35-crore surplus budget approved by RMC

• Rajamahendravaram Municipal Corporation approved surplus budget for the financial year 2018-19 with ₹13.35 crore.

India :

15th Finance Commission gets long wish list

• The work of the 15th Finance Commission may have come under a cloud over allegations that the terms of reference under which it operates may end up favouring northern States more than southern ones, but those are not the only inputs that have come in from across the political spectrum.

Ambedkar statues damaged in UP

•  A statue of Bhimrao Ambedkar was found decapitated in Allahabad while another had its right arm and nose broken in Siddharthnagar in fresh cases of vandalisation of idols of the icon.

Luxury travel on railway saloons now a reality for public

• The decision to make saloons available to people was taken soon after a meeting of Chairman of the Railway Board, Ashwani Lohani, with travel and trade associations in Delhi

World :

Stephen Hawking funeral takes place in cambridge

• The funeral of legendary British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking was held March 31st in a private ceremony attended by around 500 people comprising family, friends and colleagues, at a church near the Cambridge University college that was his academic home for more than 50 years.

A software that helps children learn English

• An Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based software that helps read and comprehend any material in English has improved learning outcomes for an estimated one million Indian students across eight Indian States in 2016-17. The product, developed by Indian-American entrepreneur Venkat Srinivasan, is set to roll out in 1,00,000 Indian schools, covering at least 15 million children in 2018.

Governor of Russian region resigns over mall fire

• The Governor of Russia’s Kemerovo region resigned over a mall fire that killed more than 60 after a litany of violations in safety procedures left shoppers and children trapped inside the building.

Business :

Firm seeks assurance on sentiment around Chinese investments

• In a meeting with Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Xiaomi India Head Manu Jain shared the company’s plans to bring its ancillary products to India.

 largest cloud infrastructures in the world

• Technology giant Microsoft is betting big on areas such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing and augmented reality to woo customers and take on rivals like Google and Amazon.

Sports :

Manchester City one win from title after handsome win at Everton

• Manchester City moved to within one win of the Premier League title after an impressive 3-1 win at Everton on March 31.

BCCI vs COA at loggerheads over appointment of ACU chief

• BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary's proposal to give General Manager (Administration) Ratnakar Shetty extension was also turned down by the Supreme Court-appointed COA

Lanning's blast powers Australia to T20 tri-series title

• Captain Meg Lanning's blazing knock helped Australia reach a record total before Megan Schutt led a brilliant bowling performance to beat arch-rivals England by 57 runs in the final of the women's T20 tri-series, in Mumbai, on March 31.