19th APRIL CURRENT AFFAIRS IN ENGLISH

1. Bisket Jatra being celebrated in Nepal

In Nepal the famous Bisket Jatra is being celebrated in Bhaktapur and other parts of Kathmandu valley.

• The nine day annual festival marks beginning of Nepali new year.
• The Jatra begins four days before the start of new year. It is believed that the festival started during Malla dynasty.

2. Vice President Launches Atal Amrit Abhiyan

The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu has said that there is a need to create health coverage schemes that provide widest coverage to the young, aged and infirm and those suffering from both critical acute and chronic ailments.

• He was addressing the gathering after launching the Atal Amrit Abhiyan by Assam Government, which seeks to provide access to quality medical care to 3.2 crore people, in Guwahati, Assam.
• The Governor of Assam, Prof. Jagadish Mukhi and the Chief Minister of Assam, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal were present on the occasion.

3. GITC 2018’ to be held in New Delhi

“Global IT Challenge for Youth with Disabilities (GITC), 2018” will be held in New Delhi during 8th to 11th November, 2018.

• A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard was signed between Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and Rehabilitation International Korea.
• As per MoU, both the parties have agreed to cooperate in making all arrangements for the successful events in providing all necessary financial, logistics, manpower and other facilities.
• This event will have around 300 participants including 120 Youth with disabilities from 24 Asia Pacific countries.
• GITC is being held every year in Asia- Pacific region and such events were held in the past in countries like Korea, China, Thailand, Vietnam etc.

4. Bihar has highest rate of crime against SC/STs

According to latest data released by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Bihar has the highest rate of crimes against Schedule Caste/Schedule Tribe population.

• As per NCRB data, crime against SC/ST is lowest in West Bengal.
• Madhya Pradesh reported the highest rate of crime (43.4%) against SCs specifically, while West Bengal had the lowest at 6%.
• Rajasthan reported the highest rate of crime (12.9%) against STs specifically, while West Bengal had the lowest at 1.6%.

5. Govt plan a Rs 637-crore Clean Air Programme

The Modi government has finalised a Rs 637-crore National Clean Air Programme to improve the air quality in India.

• The 20-point programme shifts the onus of fighting air pollution to the state governments.
• The programme, India’s first attempt at working out a coordinated system to curb air pollution, requires all the states to frame their own Clean Air Programmes.

6.  Nabard approves Rs 14,690 cr funding to Rajasthan

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has extended total credit support of Rs 14,690 crore to Rajasthan for 2017-18.

• Rajasthan has been one of the biggest beneficiaries under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) of NABARD, under which NABARD disbursed concessional loan of Rs 1,851.29 crore to the state government during 2017-18.
• Among major infrastructure projects, bank sanctioned 10 irrigation projects, construction of 1614 roads and two rural drinking water supply projects.

7. SBI India's most trusted bank

The TRA Brand Trust Report 2018 said the State Bank of India was the most trusted bank (both public and private sector) in the country.

• ICICI Bank topped the chart among the private ones.
• 51 brands from the Banking and Financial Services Institutions sector got listed among the 1,000 most trusted brands in the country this year.

8. Bhimsain Khurana Passes Away

Indian animation pioneer and multiple National Award winner Bhimsain Khurana is dead. He was 82.

• Considered as India's animation pioneer and avant-garde filmmaker, Bhimsain is one of the pioneers of parallel cinema movement in India of the 70s.
• He was known path-breaking feature films "Gharaonda" (1977) & "Dooriyaan" (1979) and many TV series.