CURRENT AFFAIRS APRIL/16/2015

CURRENT AFFAIRS APRIL/16/2015

1. Justice Meenakshi Madan Rai appointed as First Lady Judge of Sikkim High Court

Mrs. Meenakshi Madan Rai has been sworned in as the Judge of Sikkim High Court.
Mrs. Meenakshi M Rai is the first Lady Judge of the Sikkim High Court. 
Governor of Sikkim Mr.Shriniwas Patel administered the oath of office to her at Ashirwad Hall, Raj Bhawan
She was congratulated by Governor Shri. Shriniwas Patil and Chief Minister Shri Pawan Chamling

Key points regarding Sikkim High Court:-On 16 May 1975, Sikkim became the 22nd state of the Indian Union, and the monarchy was abolished in a referendum was held in 1975 ,
In the referendum 97.5 per cent of voters supported abolishing the monarchy
Hence effectively approving union with India Sikkim High Court was established in 1975 Under Clause (i) of Article 371F
The seat of the court is at Gangtok which is the administrative capital of the state 

2. Nokia acquires Alcatel-Lucent at $16.6 billion

Finland based world's leading telecom equipment making company Nokia announces acquisition of its French rival Alcatel-Lucent at $16.6 billion

A merger of Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent would create the world’s second largest maker of telecommunications equipment, ahead of the Chinese company Huawei.

Ericsson is the world's largest manufacturer of telecommunications equipment,

Nokia has offered 0.55 of a new share for each Alcatel-Lucent share

Nokia’s chief executive, Rajeev Suri, would run the combined company, which expects to implement certain changes to save about $1 billion a year starting in 2019

The companies are betting that, by joining forces, they can better compete against Chinese and European rivals

The deal is expected to be completed in the first half of next year, with Nokia shareholders owning 66.5 percent of the telecom giant and Alcatel-Lucent investors holding the rest

3. Canada signs a historic deal with india, announces to supply uranium to India for 5years

Under an agreement signed between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Canadian Prime minister Stephen Harper Canada agrees to supply uranium to Indian Nuclear Power Reactor for 5 years

Under the deal Cameco Corporation will supply 3,000 metric tonnes of uranium over five years to India at an estimated cost of $254 million.

Canada is the third country to supply uranium to India after Russia and Kazakhstan.

The supplies will be under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards and standard parameters

India and Canada inked a total of 13 pacts in the area of skill development

4. BHEL and Russian firm INTMA ink pact for power plant in Kazakhstan

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a Russian company INTMA, to set up a gas-based power project in Kazakhstan

By signing MoU BHEL glorify it's presence in Commonwealth of Independent States(CIS) Countries.

Currently BHEL is executing 23 major projects in 16 countries and has a presence in more than 75 countries.

INTMA is a general Engineering Procurement and Construction contractors (EPC) in Russia and Kazakhstan and have examplery perience in industrial construction, renovation of facilities, automation and other energy related sectors,

Established in 1964, BHEL is India's largest engineering and manufacturing company of its kind

5. Sachin Tendulkar inducted as new member prestigious Laureus Sports Academy

Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar was inducted as one of the five new members into the prestigious Laureus Sports Academy.Besides Sachin Tendulkar the other athletes that were inducted into the Laureus academy

World Sportsman Of the Year       Novak Djokovic (Serbia) - Tennis

World Sportswoman Of the Year   Genzebe Dibaba (Ethiopia) - Athletics

World  Team Of The Year            Germany (men's) - Football

World BreakThrough Of The Year   Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) - Formula One

World Comeback Of The year        Schalk Burger (South Africa) - Rugby Union

World Sportsperson Of TheYear With  a disability    Tatyana McFadden (US) - Wheelchair racing/cross-country skiing

World  Action Sportsperson OF The Year                Alan Eustance (US) - Skydiving

About Laureus World Sports Awards:-

It is a  annual award ceremony that honours remarkable individuals from the world of sports along with the greatest sporting achievements throughout the year

It was established in 1999 by founding patrons Daimler and Richemont and is supported by its global partners Mercedes-Benz and IWC Schaffhausen

The name of the six nominees for Laureus World Sports Awards  come from the votes of the Laureus Media Selection Panel

UP DATED CURRENT AFFAIRS APRIL/15/2015

 UP DATED CURRENT AFFAIRS APRIL/15/2015

• Border Security Force launches tele-medicine network for troops
  Border Security Force (BSF) the primary Border Guarding police force of India launches tele-medicine network for troops to address medical and health-related problems of its troops deployed in far-flung frontier areas and difficult regions
  • The tele-medicine facility will be operated and hosted from the Kadamtala-based composite hospital of the force in Siliguri in West Bengal
  • Full-time team of doctors, would have links through satellite phones and the VSAT platform to the posts of the Border Security Force (BSF) 
  • The project has been launched keeping in mind the challenges faced by force personnel on the medical front .
  • The anti-Naxal operations units of the BSF in Chhattisgarh and Odisha will also be linked with the same facility
  
  

  
  
• US President Barack Obama annonuces key post for Indian- American Shamina Singh
  President Barack Obama named Indian-American Shamina Singh as member of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for National and Community Service for a term expiring in October 2019.
  • Shamina Singh, has been executive director of the MasterCard Centre for Inclusive Growth since December 2013, where she expanded Master card's bussiness capabilities to digitise social subsidy programmes in over 40 countries.
  • Before joining MasterCard, Ms Singh led government and public affairs for Nike and spent five years with Citigroup's Global Community Development Group.
  • She is a Young Global Leader and Member of the Global Agenda Council on India with the World Economic Forum
  Education:-
  Ms Singh has a graduate degree in public policy from the Lyndon B Johnson School for Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin
  She has completed executive programmes at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, Yale's Jackson Institute for Diplomacy and the India School of Business.
  
  
• Zomato acquires data firm MaplePOS launches Zomato Base
  Zomato an online restaurant Guide acquired a 4 year old Delhi based MapleGraph that built MaplePOS, a cloud-based point of sale product for restaurants
  • Zomato, which was launched in India in 2008, is now present in 20 countries including the US, UK, Canada, Ireland and Italy, and lists nearly 400,000 restaurants across these markets
  •  After acquiring data firm MaplePOS Zomato has already renamed the MaplePOS product to 'Zomato Base'
  About MaplePOS:-
  Founded in 2011 by Arun Tangri, Varun Tangri, and Abhishek Rohilla, MapleGraph offers software to manage menus, inventory, recipes, electronic receipts MaplePos offers restaurants features such as menu and inventory management, and has a built-in payment solution to accept debit and credit card payments.
  
  
• Ministry of Water Resources Costituted Task Force on Interlinking of Rivers
  Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation has constituted a ‘Task Force’ for interlinking of rivers which will constitute senior officials to look in to the issue relating to Interlinking of Rivers (ILR) in the country.The Task Force would be chaired by Shri. BN Navalawala  former Secretary to Govt. of India, in Ministry of water Resources 
  Core objectives of The Task Force:- 
  • The task force would facilitate "interlinking of intra-state and intra-basin rivers also along with that of inter-state and inter-basin links"
  • Task force would device suitable mechanisms to bring a speedy consensus amongst the states
  • The Task Force would also provide guidance in respect of economic viability, socio-economic, environmental impacts and preparation of resettlement plans.
  
  
• MHA renames visa-on-arrival scheme to e-tourist visa
  The “Tourist Visa on Arrival-Electronic Travel Authorization (TvoA-ETA)” which Was launched last year to facilitate short duration international travellers from as many as 44 countries has now been renamed “e-Tourist Visa” to clarify that it is not an visa on-arrival scheme as previously foreign tourists were misled by scheme's name and they were presuming that they would be granted visa on arrival upon landing
  Since the launch of the scheme, one lakh ten thousand (1,10,000) Visas have been issued by Government under this scheme. 
• Turkey launched construction of its first nuclear power plant
  Turkey launched construction of its first nuclear power plant at Akkuyu which is hoped to open new era of greater energy self-sufficiency in Turkey.It is a $20 billion project and has been highly controversial for enviornmental cause.It is built under Russia and Turkey nuclear agreement that was signed in May 2010
  
  
  • Turkey had partnered Russian state corporation Rosatom to build the nuclear power plant, in Akkuyu
  • Akkuyu is located in the province of Mersin along the Mediterranean Sea
  • It is first of the three nuclear power plant proposed to be built
  • The second nuclear power plant is proposed to be built at Sinop in northern Turkeyunder the agreement signed between Turkey and Japan

CURRENT AFFAIRS APRIL/14/2015

CURRENT AFFAIRS APRIL/14/2015

1. Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) commissons 600 MW thermal unit in Chhattisgarh
   1. BHEL has commissioned a second 600 MW thermal unit in chattisgarh's Champa District for the Dainik Bhaskar Power Limited.
   2. This is the second unit of this power project commissioned by BHEL the first 600 MW was commissioned in 2014.
   3. With the total installed capacity of 11,400 MW the share of BHEL stands at 68 per cent of the total installed capacity in state.
   
   

   
   
2. National Judicial Appointments Commission act, 2014 notified
   The National Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, 2014 and Ninety Ninth Amendment Act,2014 come into force as were proposed to come into force on date at which Central Government would notify them in the Official Gazette and finally it has been notified on 13th April 2015 .
   The National Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, 2014 will replace traditional old methond of collegium system of appointing judges of Supreme Court and high courts as now decision regarding  appointment of judges of High courts  and Supreme Court will be taken by NJAC
   About National Judicial Appointment Commission
   1.  National Judicial Appointment Commission (NJAC) will be a six member panel it will beheaded by the chief justice of india and will include two senior most judges of Supreme Court , Union minister of Law and Justice and two "eminent persons" nominated by a committee comprising the prime minister, CJI and leader of the largest opposition party in the lok sabha
   2. This six member panel of NJAC will appoint the judges of supreme court and high court  and will replace the traditional old methond of collegium system of appointing judges 
3. German Nobel literature prize winner,Guenter Grass takes his last breath
   1. German Nobel literature prize winner,Guenter Grass died at the age of 87 Grass was born in the Free City of Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland)
   2. He had been soldier a member of the Waffen-SS during World War II, and was taken prision by U.S forces and released in April 1946
   3. Grass is best known for his first novel,"The Tin Drum " which is one of the enduring literary works of the 20th century.
   Some of the famous works of Grass:-
   1. Grass is best known for his first novel,"The Tin Drum " 
   2.  His famous Danzig Trilogy, includes "Cat and Mouse" and "Dog Years"
   3. some of his poular books are The Flounder,My Century and Crabwalk,Memoir Trilogy
   Awards and honour
   1. He was recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature
   2. He was awarded Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature 1993 
4. Gujarat launches industrial tourism to showcase development
   1. Gujarat Govt has pioneered an initiative of Industrial tourism that is first-of-its-kind in the country.
   2. It will promote a tour package covering major industrial installations which have earned global acclaim
   3. Some of the major attractions of this tour package are visit to Tata Nano plant in Sanand,Pipavav port near Amreli, Alang ship breaking yard in Bhavnagar and Amul Dairy in Anand.
   4. Industrial Tour of Gujarat, has been offered by city-based Akshar Travels Pvt Ltd, official partner of state-run tourism agency Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Ltd (TCGL)
5. Paytm and NCTI signs MoU to promote MSMEs
   1. Paytm and e-commerce platform signs an MoU with National Centre for Trdae Information (NCTI) for promoting Ministry Of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises(MSMEs)
   2. This  MoU between two organisation will offer a virtual marketplace platform for NCTI members and enable them to sell online
   3. Paytm will set up payment gateways for online ticketing and membership fees for NCT 
6. Haryana government to give Cabinet Minister level status to Baba Ramdev
   1. Baba Ramdev, who has been appointed as the Haryana’s brand ambassador to promote yoga and ayurveda will be given “status equivalent to Cabinet Minister” as decided by the Haryana government
   2. Herbal forest would be developed in the State where plants of thousands of species of ayurvedic herbs would be grown under the supervision of Baba Ramdev Inclusion of yoga in the school syllabus would turn Haryana into a model State based on Indian values and traditions
   3. Yoga would be made a compulsory subject in Haryana’s schools for which ‘yogshalas’ will be constructed in all the towns and about 6,500 villages of the State under the guidance of Baba Ramdev

CURRENT AFFAIRS APRIL/14 & 15/2015

CURRENT AFFAIRS APRIL/14 & 15/2015

1. MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT BRIEF RELEASED BY WORLD BANK:

.    World Bank bas released migration and Development brieffor the year 2014.

.    Top 5 remittance recipient countries are India, China, Philippines, Mexico and Nigeria.

.    Top 5 migrant destination countries are United States, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Russia and UAE.

Note: India is the highest recipient of remittance.

2.   SOUTH ASIA ECONOMIC FOCUS REPORT:

.    World Bank has released South Asia Economic Focus Report.

.    The report has projected the economic growth of South Asia for the year 2016 and 2017.

.    According to the report, economic growth will increase from 7 % in the year 2015 to 7.6 % in the year 2017.

3.   GERMAN NOVELIST GUNTER GRASS DIED:

.    Nobel Laureate German Novelist Gunter Grass died at the age of 87.

.    Gunter Grass was honoured with Nobel prize in Literature in the year 1999.

.    Gunter Grass mainly focused on Nagi era, the horrors of the war and the destruction and guilt that remained after defeat of Germany in his writings.

4. OVER HUNDRED PEOPLE DIED IN THAILAND:

.    Over hundred people were killed in Songkran festival inThailand.

.    It is reported that nearly 120 people were killed and 1281 injured.

.    Songkran festival is a traditional new year eve celebration of Thailand which is also known as Thailand water festival.

                                              

NATIONAL NEWS

5. UNION GOVERNMENT CONSTITUTED TASK FORCE:

.    Union Government has constituted Task Force on Interlinking of rivers.

.    Union Ministry of Water Resources, River development and Ganga Rejuvenation constituted the task force.

.    Ex- UPSC member and advisor to the Gujarat Chief Minister, BN Navalawala will chair the task force.

6.   ARUN JATLEY INAUGURATED VIVIDH BHARTI SERVICE:

.    Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley inaugurated Vividh Bharti Service of Delhi on FM Mode.

.    Arun Jaitley also holds the port folio of Information and Broadcasting minister.

.    The service will be available on 100.1 mega hertz frequency.

7.   BHEL COMMISSIONED THEMAL UNIT AT DHOBRA:

.    BHEL commissioned 600 MW thermal unit at Dhobra inChhattisgarh.

.    This is the second unit of 2 x 600 MW power project commissioned by BHEL while the first one was commissioned in 2014.

.    BHEL is state owned power equipment founded in 1964 and gotMaharatna Status in the year 2013.

.    BHEL – Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited

.    CEO of BHEL – B Prasada Rao

SPORTS NEWS

8.   APURVI CHANDELA WON BRONZE MEDAL:

.    Apurvi Chandela won bronze medal in 10 m Air Rifle women event at ISSF.

.  Croatia’s Pejcic Snjezana won Gold and Maksimovic Ivana of Serbia won silver medal.

.    ISSF – International Shooting Sport Federation

.    ISSF held in Changwon, South Korea

9.   NEW ZEALAND WON SULTAN AZLAN SHAH CUP:

.    New Zealand has won Sultan Azlan Shah cup men’s hockey tournament.

.    New Zealand defeated Australia in the final of the Azlan Shah cup.

.    This is New Zealand’s second title. Their first title came in the year 2012 where they defeated Afghanistan in the final clash.