a. A Memorandum of understanding on Impacting Research Innovation & Technology initiative (IMPRINT) was signed by 25 ministries and departments of central government.

b. IMPRINT is multi-disciplinary, multi-partner and multi-goal oriented national programme aimed at technology development covering all engineering disciplines, steered by all IITs and IISc.

c. The basic objective of IMPRINT is to synergise with major initiatives of Indian Government like Digital India, Namami Gange, Skill india, Swachh Bharat Mission, Unnat Bharat Abhiyan.

2. Justice Permod Kohli becomes a chairman of Central Administrative Tribunal

a. Retired Justice
Permod Kohli was chosen as the chairman of the Central Administrative Tribunal
(CAT).

b.

He will succeed Justice Syed Rafat Alam. He will
be in the office of chairman for next five years or till attaining the age of
68 years, whichever is earlier. 

c.

Justice Kohli has earlier served as the Advocate
General of Jammu & Kashmir. He has provided services to the High Courts of
Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Punjab and Haryana. In 2011, he was elevated to
the position of Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court.

3. Shakespeare’s first folio found in Scotland

a. A copy of first edition of William Shakespeare’s original ‘First Folio’ has been found at the Mount Stuart house on the Isle of Bute on the western coast of Scotland.

b. The book’s first edition was published in 1623 A.D., seven years after Shakespeare’s death.

c.

With this, a total of 234 copies of the First
Folio exist in the world.

d. The book contains plays like Macbeth, Twelfth Night, Julius Caesar, As You Like It and The Tempest, among others.

4. BG Verghese’s book A State in Denial re-released

a. A book called A state in Denial : Pakistan’s misguided and dangerous crusade authored by eminent journalist BG Verghese was re-released in New Delhi.

b. The book talks about the international relations and foreign policy of Pakistan towards other major countries in the world including India.

c. The book also talks about the chain of events during the battle of Kashmir, integration of Hyderabad into India, Indus water treaty.

5. Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s statue will be installed in France

a. Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s statue will be installed in France’s Saint Tropez town on 17th September, 2016.

b. This is the birth town of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s Army General Jean-Francois Allard.

c. Maharaja Ranjit Singh was the founder of the Sikh Empire, which came to power in the Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century.

6. Climate Change Action Plan was adopted by World Bank

a. The World Bank Group has adopted the Climate Change Action plan to help countries to achieve their goals decided during COP21 in Paris.

b. This plan sets targets for countries to be achieved by 2020 in high impact areas like clean energy, green transport, climate smart agriculture and urban resilience.

c. The share of World Bank in climate related goals will increase from 21% to 28% by 2020 due to increasing client demand. By 2020, the total financing will be around 29 billion US dollars per year.

d. The World bank will also support countries to translate their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) climate policies and investment plans into actions.

e. The WB will aim to mobilize 25 billion US dollars of commercial funding for clean energy over the next five years.

7. Coca Cola World Ranking 2016 by FIFA

a. April 2016 edition of Coca Cola World ranking was released by Federation Internationale de Football.

b. As per these rankings, Argentinian Men’s football team is at the top. Belgium has been pushed back to the second spot.

c. India is at 162nd position which has dropped two spots down from it’s previous position due to losing two world cup qualifiers game against Iran & Turkmenistan.

8. Scott kelly to write her memoirs

a. A well known astronaut of NASA Scott Kelly will soon publish his memoirs named as ‘Endurance: My Year in Space and Our Journey to Mars’.

b. After spending almost a year on International Space Station (ISS) Scott Kelly has recently returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TMA-18M in March, 2016.

c. This memoir will have his adventures through the year he had on International Space Station, the difficulties he faced during his journey and on ISS, his childhood and some distant memories of his life.

d. He commanded the International Space Station on Expeditions 26, 44 and 45. By spending 340 consecutive days on ISS, he set a record for the total accumulated number of days spent in space by an American astronaut.

e. He has a identical twin brother Mark Kelly who is also an astronaut. Scott & Mark Kelly were the only siblings to have traveled in space.

9. A bridge to be build across Red sea by Saudi Arabia & Egypt

a. To connect themselves by land Saudi Arabia & Egypt have agreed to build a bridge over the Red sea.

b. The core objective of building this bridge is increase trade between these respective countries.

c. The bridge will be named after the Saudi king as King Salman bin Abdel Aziz Bridge.

10. North East ASEAN Business Summit concluded

a. North East – ASEAN summit was concluded in Manipur’s capital Imphal for the first time ever.

b. Objective of this summit is to attract domestic as well as foreign investors to the North East region of India which will eventually generate employment and productivity in the region.

c. Manipur Commerce Industries Department had organised this summit in collaboration with Union Ministries of External Affairs and Development of North – Eastern Region (DoNER), Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and Indian Chamber of Service Industries (ICSI).

d. Manipur Assembly speaker Thokchom Lokeshwar Singh presided over the summit and commerce minister of Bangladesh Tofail Ahmed was the chief guest.

5. The summit has provided forum for investors in different sectors such as Food Processing, Horticulture, Tourism, Handloom and Handicraft, Startups, Entrepreneurship etc. to invest in the mutual development.

11. SpaceX’s Rocket landed on a floating drone ship

a. Falcon 9 rocket was successfully launched and landed on a drone ship at sea by American aerospace company SpaceX. SpecX has landed a rocket in the ocean for the first time ever.

b. Previously, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket had successfully landed on a ground based landing site at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

c. Falcon 9 is made by SpaceX for safe transport of satellites & Dragon spacecraft. It is a two stage rocket.

d. The two stage configuration of Falcon 9 minimises the separation events making it more reliable even during the engine shutdown.

e. Falcon 9 had previously delivered Dragon spacecraft into the space in 2012 and it had also delivered a cargo to the international space station for three times yet.

12. Founder’s Award is posthumously conferred upon Mother Teresa

a.

Recently,
at the 6th Asian Awards, the prestigious Founder’s Award was
posthumously conferred on Mother Teresa. This award is given to recognise exemplary
achievements of people within the global Asian community. 

b.

Mother Teresa
established the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata and served the needy for nearly
45 years.

c. The award is given across 14 categories,
including business, philanthropy, entertainment, culture and sport.

d. Rami
Ranger, leading
NRI entrepreneur and a major financial contributor to the Mahatma Gandhi statue
received the Community Service Award. Prakash
Lohia received the Business Leader of the Year honour, while the award for
Outstanding Achievement in Cinema award was given to Indo-British film-maker Asif
Kapadia for his documentary titled ‘Amy’.

e. South Korean footballer Tottenham Hotspurs received an award for Outstanding Achievement in
Sport and the inventor of blue LED Shuji
Nakamura received the Outstanding Achievement in Science award.

f. The Asian Awards were launched in 2010 by Paul
Sagoo, an entrepreneur and founder of the Lemon Group. 

13. The non confidential information on Genetically Modified organisms will be made public

a. The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) was directed by the Central Information Commission (CEC) to make public the non confidential bio safety information on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).

b. This direction by CEC is applicable to all GMOs including GM mustard variety – DMH 11. The basic objective of this direction is to bring transparency in the regulatory approval process.

c. The GEAC has to keep all the relevant data regarding the GMOs in the public domain by 30th April, 2016.

d. This direction was given by CEC when the GEAC refused to provide information related to the GM mustard variety DMH 11.

14. Central Government approved Metrino Pod Taxi

a.

Recently,
the Centre approved India’s first-ever India’s first personal rapid transit
(PRT) or pod taxi project which will be started in Gurugram.

b. The National Highway Authority of India has submitted
a report for the proposal of Metrino pod taxi. The pilot project will be
carried out in a 13km-stretch from the Gurugram-Delhi border to Badshahpur Mod
on Sohna Road.

c. In the PRT system, pods will be suspended from
an overhead rail and five passengers can be accommodated per pod. The average
speed of a pod is 60 kmph. 

15. Rajasthan Urban Land Bill, 2016 passed

a. Rajasthan state assembly has approved Rajasthan Urban Land (Certification of Titles) Bill, 2016 which has made Rajasthan the first state in India to pass the land title bill.

b. This bill provides a clear title to the owner and reduce the litigations in courts. By issuing a certificate of ownership, it also promises to remove the malpractices in sale and purchase of non agricultural lands in urban areas.

c. As per this bill, an authority headed by an IAS officer will be established by the state government to verify the documents by the landowners against the records maintained by the state.

16. Sajibu Cheiraoba celebrated in Manipur

a. A traditional festival of Manipur Sajibu Cheiraoba was recently celebrated.

b. This festival marks the beginning of a new year of the an ethnic group from the region known as Meiteis.

c. Sajibu Cheiraoba is celebrated annually on the first day of Sajibu month (first day of the lunar month Sajibu (March/ April).

d. During the festival day, people join in family feasts. They also offer their traditional dishes to their deities at the entrance of their houses.

e. To offer prayers after the meal, people start to climb the Cheiraoching located in Chingmeirong or tops of nearby hill.

f. At night they organise a local folk dance called as Thabal Chongba.

17. A two member inquiry panel to probe into the jat quota stir

a. The Haryana government constituted a two-member inquiry
commission under former Jammu & Kashmir High Court Chief Justice S N Jha in
order to investigate the violent agitations during the Jat quota stir in the
state.

b. Former IPS officer NC Padhi is also a member of
this commission which will look into the chain of events, possibilities of
planned conspiracies and complaints made by any individual(s) or association(s). 

c. The commission will also stipulate the procedure
for the inquiry subject to provisions of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952.
The headquarters of the Commission shall be at Chandigarh.