KERALA
- Six new spider species spotted in Kerala
- Arachnologists from Kochi’s Sacred Heart College, Thevara, Kerala spotted a group ofjumping spiders that mostly occur in Eurasia and Africafor the first time in Ernakulam’s Illithodu forests. The team also found that the spider belonging to the genus (a taxonomic classification above species) Habrocestum is a species new to science.
- The team came across six different-looking spiders,predominantly brownish-black in colour with white and creamy-yellow patches, while conducting a routine survey (funded by the Department of Science and Technology-Science and Engineering Research Board) for ground-dwelling spiders in the Illithodu reserve forests of the Malayatoor forest division.
- They examined the physical features of males and females under a microscopeand photographed them. They also compared these to similar-looking spider specimens collected earlier from the Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary, Ernakulam district, Kerala.INTERNATIONAL
- Belgium retained top spot in the latest FIFA world football rankings
- Belgium continues to dominate the charts with 1737 points.
- The top three positions are unchanged with World Cup winner France in second spot ahead of Brazil, in third.
- England rose above Croatia, to reach No 4 this month.
- Indian football team gained two places to rise to 101 in the FIFA rankings.
- World Health Day: 7 April 2019
- The World Health Day is a global health awareness day celebrated every year on 7 April, under the sponsorship of the World Health Organization (WHO).
- This day dedicated to spreading awareness about equal healthcare facilities worldwide, the importance of health and wellness.
- Theme: ‘Universal Coverage: Everyone, Everywhere.’
NATIONAL
- IIT-Madras tops HRD’s national ranking of institutes
- President Ram Nath Kovind released the national ranking of higher institutes by the Ministry of Human Resources Development in New Delhi.
- Indian Institute of Technology Madras topped the rankings while the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore bagged the second rank followed by IIT Delhi.
- Delhi University’s Miranda House was ranked the best among colleges across the country.
- AIIMS has been ranked first among medical sciences institutes and National Law School, Bangalore has topped law colleges.
- NPCI reduced UPI transaction charges up to Rs 1,000 by 60%
- The National Payments Corporation of India(NPCI), which runs the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) network, has slashed usage fees for small transactions to encourage banks and payment service providers (PSPs) to adopt the system.
- Charges on transactions up to Rs 1,000 have been cut to 10 paise from 25 paise earlier, while keeping the charge for transactions above Rs 1,000 unchanged at 50 paise.
- NPCI has reduced Incentive payments to a flat 10 paise per transaction. Incentive payments are charges banks or PSPs pay NPCI when they credit the user’s bank account with cashbacks.
- Also Merchant transactions has reduced to flat 10 paise plus a 0.04% levy that will be split between the acquiring bank and the issuing bank. Merchant transactions up to Rs 1,000 earlier attracted at 25 paise fee, while those above Rs 1,000 were charged at 50 paise.
- Nagaland observed the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Kohima
- Nagaland observed the 75th Anniversaryof the Battle of Kohima on 4th April 2019. The theme of the event is‘Remembrance, Reconciliation, and Rebirth’. The dignitaries from the UK and Japan sought reconciliation and forgiveness for the sufferings and pain caused against each other at the Battle of Kohima, that was fought in three stages during the Second World War in 1944.
- Battle of Kohima is considered as the turning point of the Japanese U Go offensive, or Operation C missionlaunched in India in 1944 during the Second World War.
- The Battle of Kohima was fought in three stagesfrom 3 April to 22 June 1944 around the town of Kohima in Nagaland in northeast India
- RBI issued norms for banks to set up currency chests
- The Reserve Bank of India came out with guidelines for banks to set up new currency chests, which include minimum area of 1,500 square feet for strong room.
- Besides, the new chests should have a processing capacity of 6.6 lakh pieces of banknotes per day.
- For those situated in the hilly/ inaccessible places, the capacity of 2.1 lakh pieces of banknotes per day.
- Earlier, a RBI appointed committee had recommended that the apex bank should encourage banks to open large currency chests with modern facilities and Chest Balance Limit (CBL) of at least Rs 1,000 crore.
- Around 5,000 Naga Konyak women dance set a Guinness World Record in Nagaland
- In an attempt to set a new Guinness World Records in the category of ‘largest traditional Konyak dance display,’ around 5,000 Konyak community women, all decked up in colourful traditional attire, danced to the tune of a ceremonial song at Nagaland, coinciding with the Aoleang festival.
- The theme of this year’s Aoleang, also called Mini Hornbill festival, was ‘Empowering women for cultural heritage.’
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