Daily Current Affairs, 08th April 2019

1) World Health Day: 7th April

•April 7 of each year marks the celebration of World Health Day. The theme of World Health Day 2019 is ‘Universal health coverage (UHC): Everyone, Everywhere’, according to WHO.

•The day saw its inception at the First Health Assembly in 1948 and took effect in 1950. The celebration is aimed at creating awareness of a specific health theme to highlight a priority area of concern for the World Health Organization.

2) 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.

3) President’s Certificate of Honour and Maharshi Badrayan Vyas Samman Awards Conferred

•Vice President Venkaiah Naidu conferred President’s Certificate of Honour and Maharshi Badrayan Vyas Samman Awards at New Delhi. The award of the Certificate of Honour was introduced in the year 1958 to honour the scholars of Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian Languages.

•Maharshi Badrayan Vyas Sammandistinction is conferred on persons in recognition of their substantial contribution in the field of Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, Pali, Prakrit, Classical Odiya, Classical Kannada, Classical Telugu and Classical Malayalam. The award was introduced in the year 2002. 

4) India’s 1st Indigenously Built Dhanush Howitzer Inducted In Army

•In a major boost to India’s firepower, country’s first indigenously designed and developed Dhanush artillery gun was inducted in the Indian Army during a ceremony held at Ordnance Factory in Jabalpur, MP. The Army had placed an order for more than 110 of these guns with the Ordnance Factory.
•Dhanush 155mm/45 calibre towed gun system can be deployed in all types of terrains.
The Dhanush gun system is based on the designs of the Bofors howitzer which was inducted in the Army in the 1980s and would be the third type of artillery gun to be inducted into the force after the K-9 Vajra and the M-777 ultra-light howitzers.

5) NTPC Signs Rs 2,000 crore Term Loan Pact With Canara Bank

•State-run power giant National Thermal Power Corporation has inked a term-loan agreement with Canara Bank to raise Rs 2,000 crore, which would be used to part finance its capital expenditure. The loan has a door to door tenure of 15 years and will be utilised to part finance the capital expenditure of the NTPC.

6) India’s GDP To Accelerate Moderately To 7.5% In 2019-20: World Bank

•As per the World Bank, India’s GDP growth is expected to accelerate moderately to 7.5% in Fiscal Year 19-20, driven by continued investment strengthening, particularly private-improved export performance and resilient consumption.

•The real GDP growth is estimated at 7.2% in FY18/19, the World Bank said in its latest report on South Asia ahead of the spring meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.