Daily Current Affairs Update of 6 April 2015 | General Knowledge

Daily Current Affairs Update of 6 April 2015 | General Knowledge

1. The Union government will increase the number of work days under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme from 100 to 150 in places where the recent unseasonal rain and hailstorms have affected crops. The relief package will include cash compensation.
2. India has emerged as one of the world’s biggest consumers of the ingredients that go into production of banknotes. The various Security Presses in the country supplied 20.918 billion banknotes in FY2014 against 19.103 billion in the previous year. The international banknote industry, comprising various manufacturers of machines, paper, ink and security features, is estimated to be worth around $28 billion.

3. IRDAI has allowed life insurers to charge up to Rs. 100 for any cancellation or change in nomination in insurance policies . For policies obtained online, the fee is up to Rs. 50. The IRDAI guidelines for ‘Registering Cancellation or Change of Nomination’ have come into effect from April 1, 2015.

Daily Current Affairs Update of 6 April 2015 | General Knowledge

4. A comprehensive Pew Research Center study shows that by 2050, India will surpass Indonesia to have the largest Muslim population by any country in the world. However, India will continue to have a Hindu majority, the study noted. The Muslim population in India is likely to exceed 18% (310 million) while Hindus will comprise of 77% of the country’s population.  In 2010, the percentage of Hindus in the country was about 80%, which is likely to come down to 77%. At the same time, over the course of four decades, the Muslim population will increase by four percentage points from 14% to 18%.

5. Forty years ago, the world's largest maker of software was nothing more than a startup, founded by two college dropouts named Bill Gates and Paul Allen. In an email to employees Friday, Gates reiterated his commitment to the vision he laid out four decades ago that software could empower the world, and asked Microsoft never to forget what it can do to change lives.

6. Iranians celebrated in the streets after negotiators reached a framework for a nuclear accord and U.S. President Barack Obama hailed an "historic understanding", but senior global diplomats cautioned that hard work lies ahead to strike a final deal. The tentative agreement, struck after eight days of talks in Switzerland, clears the way for a settlement to allay Western fears that Iran could build an atomic bomb, with economic sanctions on Tehran being lifted in return.

7. Globetrotters from Switzerland shelled out maximum money for their stay in India among the foreign tourists in 2014, an 11 per cent rise from their spending on hotels against last year, according to a report. “Visitors from Switzerland spent the most while staying in India in 2014. On an average, they paid Rs 8,261 in this period, which is 11 per cent more from what they paid in 2013,” the Hotels.com Hotel Price Index (HPI) report on hotel prices in major destinations across the world revealed.

8. Central Bank of India has topped the list of public sector banks with maximum bad loans including restructured assets as a percentage of total advances. According to the data provided by the RBI to the Finance Ministry, Central Bank of India’s 21.5 per cent assets are either bad or have been restructured to save them turning non-performing assets (NPAs).

9. India is hosting the 5th meeting of the SAARC Health Ministers at New Delhi on 8 April, 2015. Shri J. P. Nadda, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, will chair the meeting of the SAARC Health Ministers.

10. The Government of India has released more than Rs.37,420 crore to all the States for Financial Year 2015-16 as the First Installment of devolution as per the 14th Finance Commission (FFC).