CURRENT AFFAIRS APRIL/8/2015

CURRENT AFFAIRS APRIL/8/2015

1. INDIA'S FIRST SCORPENE SUBMARINE INS KALVARI UNDOCKED FOR SEA TRIALS IN MUMBAI

The first of class submarine named Kalveri,the Tiger Sark of Navy’s ambitious 'Project 75 INDIA SUBMARINE’ WAS UNDOCKED ON MONDAY.

It is the first of the six Scorpene submarines in which DCNS of France is a collaborator with MDL as the builder. In the Navy's ambitious 'Project 75 India Submarine'

These diesel-electric submarines are being built at the state-run Mazagon docks in Mumbai these submarines areare expected to be inducted into the Navy by 2018.

The project has also overshot the budget by nearly Rs 5,000 crore and is now expected to cost about Rs 23,000 crore.

Presently, the Navy has 14 conventional diesel-electric powered submarines, which include 10 Russian Kilo-class and four German HDW class vessels

What are Features of Scorpene submarine?

Scorpian Submarine is capable of launching a crippling attack on the enemy using precision guided weapons. The attack can be launched with torpedoes, as well as tube launched anti-ship missiles, whilst underwater or on surface.

All high-tech means and communications are provided to ensure interoperability with other divisons of a Naval task Force

It can undertake multifarious warfare, Anti-submarine warfare, Intelligence gathering, mine laying, area surveillance etc.

2. BCCI RE-APPOINTS RAJEEV SHUKLA AS CHAIRMAN OF IPL

Rajeev Shukla was on Monday re-appointed as the chairman of the IPL governing council,Former Union minister and Congress leader Shukla was the IPL chairman till 2013 when he resigned from the post in the aftermath of the IPL 'spot-fixing' scandal

Sourav Ganguly was a new entrant to the IPL governing council while the senior national selection committee led by Sandeep Patil was retained for another season.

Team India director Ravi Shastri also remained in the IPL governing council.

Another former captain Anil Kumble has been retained as chairman of the technical committee while Congress leader and MPCA top boss Jyotiraditya Scindia will head the powerful finance committee.

Chetan Desai of Goa will head the marketing committee while Gokaraju Gangaraju of Andhra will be in-charge of the tours and programmes committee

3. INDIAN GRANDMASTER DRONAVALLI HARIKA WINS BRONZE IN WORLD WOMEN'S CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP

Indian Grandmaster Dronavalli Harika won the bronze medal along with Swedish Grandmaster Pia Cramling

she reached up to semi-finals Harika lost with Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine in the last four encounter of the semifinal

She had earlier defeated Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy in the quarter-finals

Muzychuk bagged gold medal defeating Russian Natalija Pogonina 2.5-1.5 in the four-game final

Russian Grandmaster Natalija Pogonina bagged silver medal

About Dronavalli Harika

She is the second Indian woman after GM Koneru Humpy to attain the top-most honour of Grandmaster title

She was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2007

4.ARAB POET ADONIS HONOURED WITH KUMARAN ASAN WORLD PRIZE FOR POETRY

Paris- based Syrian-Lebanese Arab poet Adonis has been chosen for this year’s Kumaran Asan World Prize for poetry 2015, instituted by the Kumaran Asan Memorial Association which honour poets of international stature and introduce them to Indian readers.

He was born as Ali Ahmad Said Esber in 1930 , he was imprisoned for a while because of his secular and nationalistic positions

Adonis, author of more than twenty volumes of poetry in Arabic and widely translated into almost all languages

His Incredible poetic work has made him pertual contender for the Nobel Prize for many years

Popular Works of Adonis:- If Only the Sea Could Sleep, Pages of Day and Night Songs of Mihyar the Damascene, Not A Star, A Voice, A King is Miyhar,The Adoring Rock,Take me to God

5. RBI KEEPS REPO RATE AND CASH RESERVE RATIO UNCHANGED

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan kept the repo rate or the rate at which the central bank lends money to banks, unchanged at 7.5 per cent

The RBI also kept the cash reserve ratio (CRR)or the proportion of deposits banks have to keep aside with RBI unchanged at 4 per cent

RBI have CPI inflation targeted at 6 per cent by January 2016 and at 4 per cent by the end of 2017-18

CURRENT AFFAIRS APRIL/8/2015

CURRENT AFFAIRS APRIL/8/2015

1. WORLD HEALTH DAY OBSERVED GLOBALLY:

A.   World Health Day was observed globally on 7^th April, 2015.

B.   World Health Day was observed with the theme “World Farm to plate, make food safe”.

C. World Health Day is observed to raise awareness about food safety.

EXPECTED QUESTION FROM THIS CURRENT AFFAIRS NEWS

2.   SRI LANKA SIGNED 6 AGREEMENTS WITH PAKISTAN:

A.   Sri Lanka and Pakistan signed six agreements to advance cooperation between the two nations.

B.   Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Sri Lanka PresidentMaithripala Sirisena signed 6 agreements in Islamabad to advancing cooperation in disaster management, sports, shipping, socio-economic development, education and narcotics control.

Note: Prior to Pakistan, Sri Lanka signed 6 cooperation agreementswith China.

3. CII SIGNED MoU WITH EBRD:

A.   CII has signed an MoU with EBRD to deepen partnership.

B.   Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and European Bank for Reconstruction and development (EBRD) signed an MoU aimed to deepen partnership between Indian companies and European countries.

C. MoU was signed between CII director Chandrajit Banerjee and EBRD vice-president Phil Bennett.

Note: EBRD was established in 1991 with it’s headquarter inLondon.

President of EBRD – Sir Suma Chakrabarti

4. PRATAP SINGH WON INSTITUTE OF PHYSCS PRIZE:

A. 15 year old Pratap Singh, an Indian origin school boy won Institute of Physics prize.

B. Pratap Singh was awarded with 500 pounds Institute of physics(IOP) prize in United Kingdom for his cosmic ray project.

C. Pratap Singh was awarded for conducting an experiment that verified an effect of Albert Einstein’s theory of special relativity.

NATIONAL

5. 10 YEAR OLD DIESEL VEHICLES CANNOT PLY ON DELHI ROADS:

A. National Green Tribunal (NGT) prohibited all the diesel vehicles over 10 years old from plying on Delhi roads.

B. NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar headed the bench who gave the ruling of prohibiting heavy or light Diesel vehicles over 10 years old.

C. Delhi has the dubious status of being the World’s most polluted city according to WHO(World Health Organisation).

6. DIVORCED MUSLIM WOMEN ENTITLED FOR MAINTENANCE:

A. The Supreme Court of India has directed that divorced Muslim women’s are entitled for maintenance from their ex-husbands.

B. Muslim women’s are entitled for maintenance under section 125 of CrPC which provides the same relief to wives, children and parents.

C. CrPC – Criminal Procedure Code

7. DENA BANK SIGNED MOU WITH LIC:

A. Dena Bank has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Life Insurance Corporation (LIC).

B. MoU was signed to provide Insurance cover to all Aadhar linked savings account holders of the bank in the age group of 18 to 50 years.

C. Insurance cover will be provided under Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJBY) scheme from 1^st June, 2015.

D. Headquarter of Dena Bank – Mumbai

E. CMD of Dena Bank – Shri Ashwani Kumar

8. SBI, ICICI AND HDFC CUTS BASE RATES:

A. SBI, ICICI and HDFC banks are first to cut base lending rates.

B. SBI and HDFC lowered their base rates by 15 basis points from 10% to 9.85% while ICICI bank cuts it by 25 basis points to 9.75%.

C. Base rate is the minimum rate at which a bank can lend.

Note: ICICI bank has the lowest base rate at 9.75%

9. DRONAVALI HARIKA WINS BRONZE MEDAL:

A. Dronavali Harika wins bronze medal in world women’s chess championship.

B. Harika lost to the eventual winner of Ukaine, Mariya Muzychuk in the semi-final.

C. Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine defeated Natalia Pogonina of Russia in the final match.

EXPECTED QUESTION FROM THIS CURRENT AFFAIRS NEWS