Current Affairs Update – 20th April, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 20th April, 2015.

• ICICI Bank, India’s largest private sector bank, has
  partnered with Tech Mahindra to launch contactless payment service to ‘tap and
  pay’.
• Based on the Near Field Communications (NFC) technology,
  this payment service enables anyone (account holder of ICICI Bank or not) to
  make over-the-counter payments without using cash. It allows users to just tap
  the NFC enabled tag or mobile phone at the merchant’s point-of-sale device to
  make payments, ICICI Bank said in a statement.
• ‘Tap n Pay’ is a prepaid account, which can be availed by
  customers of any bank by registering for it and transferring money online from
  any bank account.
• ICICI Bank customers can also transfer money to the Tap-n-Pay
  account through an SMS.
• The bank has started to offer this solution at large
  campuses of corporate offices. ICICI Bank and Tech Mahindra have plans to
  extend this service across the country, the bank further said.

• The Coal Ministry, Railway Ministry and Government of Odisha
  signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday to form a joint venture which
  identify and execute railway line projects for evacuation of coal in the State.
• Coal India will hold 64 per cent stake in the joint venture
  while the Indian Railways will hold 26 per cent and the Odisha Government will
  hold 10 per cent.
• “Speedier execution of projects through an independent
  corporation is the way forward. This is purely profit making venture which will
  help Coal India produce more and sell more coal,” said Minister for State
  (Independent Charge) Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy, Piyush Goyal.
• Coal Secretary, Anil Swarup added that the basic structure
  of the MoU will be used for similar collaboration with other states. Another
  MoU with Jharkhand is expected to be signed shortly.

• Cricketer Yuvraj Singh’s start-up fund Youwecan Ventures has
  invested an undisclosed amount in mobile beauty and wellness platform Vyomo, in
  a seed funding round.
• This is the first investment of the Youwecan Ventures, which
  has a corpus of Rs. 50 crore.
• Vyomo aims to create a solution for beauty professionals to
  grow their business through smartphones, and customers to book appointments
  instantly through their mobile devices.
• According to a KPMG report released in 2014, the beauty and
  wellness industry in India would nearly double to Rs. 80,370 crore by FY18 from
  Rs. 41,224 crore in FY13.
• In the next two years, Vyomo expects to bring more than 10
  lakh stylists on the platform and improve their earnings by allowing millions
  of customers to instantly access and book a hassle free salon and spa
  experience.

• India Navy’s new stealth destroyer, Visakhapatnam, designed
  indigenously and fitted with advanced features, was launched here today,
  boosting the maritime force’s firepower capability.
• The Kolkata-class warship, the first of P15-B stealth
  destroyers, was launched by Minu Dhowan, wife of Chief of Naval Staff Admiral R
  K Dhowan, at Mazgaon Docks Ltd (MDL).
• The ship, weighing approximately 3,000 tons during the
  launch, is slated to be christened as ‘INS Visakhapatnam’ on commissioning.
• The 163-metre-long vessel will be propelled by four gas
  turbines, and is designed to achieve a speed of over 30 knots at a displacement
  of approximately 7,300 tons.
• The indigenously designed stealth destroyer will have
  state-of-the-art weapons, sensors, an advance Action Information System, in
  Integrated Platform Management system, sophisticated Power Distribution System
  and a host of other advanced features.

• India and South Korea on 18 April 2015 held high level
  defence talks in Seoul. The talks were held on the sidelines of four day visit
  of Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to South Korea.
• The meeting was held with South Korean Defence Minister Han
  Min-koo at the Ministry of Defence of Korea in Seoul.
• Parrikar also met Admiral Choi, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
  of Staff; Minister Chang of the Defence Acquisition Program Administration
  (DAPA); National Security Advisor Kim Kwan-jin.
• In all his meetings, the Defence Minister offered sincere
  condolences on the first anniversary of the Sewol ferry disaster that happened
  in April 2014, in which over 300 lives were lost.
• During the meeting with Admiral Choi, the two sides
  discussed existing bilateral defence relations.

• The 13th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal
  Justice was held from 12 April 2015 to 19 April 2015 at Qatar National
  Convention Centre in Doha, Qatar. The Summit concluded with the adoption of
  Doha Declaration.
• The Doha Declaration aims at integrating crime prevention
  and criminal justice into the wider United Nations (UN) agenda to address
  social and economic challenges and to promote the rule of law at the national
  and international levels, and public participation.
• During the conference, delegates pledged action to promote
  justice for all, underline link between rule of law, sustainable development
  and by adopting a statement to that effect participants committed themselves to
  integrating crime prevention and criminal justice into the wider UN agenda.

• Chhurim Sherpa, first woman to climb the 8850 metre (29035
  feet) Mount Everest summit twice in a week was in news on 19 April 2015. Sherpa
  was in news as during her third ascent to Mount Everest she will take a cricket
  bat and two jerseys of deceased Australian cricketer Phil Hughes.
• The belongings of Hughes are being carried to the summit as
  a mark of tribute to the player. He died in November 2014 after he was hit on
  the back of his head by a ball while batting during a domestic match in Sydney.
• Chhurim under this expedition will carry the items to the
  top and back to Kathmandu, where they will be kept at the Australian embassy.

• Three Indian race walkers, Khushbir Kaur, Manish Rawat and
  Sandeep Kumar on 19 April 2015 qualified for 2016 Rio Olympics. They qualified
  for the Olympics during the IAAF Race Walking Challenge at Rio Maiorin Portugal.
• Khushbir Kaur, the National women’s 20km walk record holder
  clocked 1 hour 33 minute and 58 seconds to better Rio Olympic qualification
  time of 1 hour and 35 minutes. She finished 13th in the race.
• Manish Rawat, in the men’s 20km race walk clocked his
  personal best performance with a timing of 1 hour 22 minutes and 50 seconds. He
  finished in top 10 in the list.
• Sandeep, the National 50km race walk record holder, in the
  men’s 20km race walk category clocked 1 hour 23 minute and 32 seconds. He
  finished 14th-place finish in the race.

• In another tragic on-field incident after Phillip Hughes’
  death last November, a promising Bengal batsman Ankit Keshri today passed away
  owing to an injury sustained during a Cricket Association of Bengal’s Senior
  one-day knock-out match on April 17.
• Keshri was in hospital for the past three days and was
  showing signs of recovery till yesterday evening when he was given oral food.
  However, in the early hours of this morning, Keshri suffered a massive cardiac
  arrest and was put on ventilator before he was declared dead.
• The 20-year-old, a talented right-hander, had captained the
  Bengal U-19 team in Cooch Behar Trophy and was in the 30-member India U-19
  probables list for the 2014 Colts World Cup in the United Arab Emirates. He was
  also playing for Bengal A (U-23 side) in CK Nayudu national Championship.
• In what can be considered a cruel twist of fate, Keshri was
  not a part of the playing XI and was the 12th man of the side in the fateful
  match. He came to replace Railways Ranji all-rounder Arnab Nandi, who had taken
  a break.
• The incident happened at the Salt Lake ground during a one
  day match between local giants East Bengal and Bhowanipore club.

We, the entire family of Exam Pundit are saddened by the
sudden demise of Ankit and our heartfelt condolences to his family.

Regards

Team ExamPundit

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