Current Affairs Update – 6th April, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the important current affairs of 6th April, 2015.

• Public sector lender Dena Bank has partnered with
  government-owned LIC (Life Insurance Corporation) of India to provide insurance
  cover to all Aadhaar-linked savings account holders.
• As per the terms of rush coverage, a person has to opt for
  the scheme every year. Account holder can also prefer to give a long term
  option of continuing, in which case his or her account will be auto debited
  every year by the bank, the statement added.
• The scheme provides insurance cover to all Aadhar linked
  savings account holders in the age group of 18-50 years . After enrollment,
  coverage will be available up to 55 years of age for existing members.
• The scheme will come into effect from June 1, 2015.
• Earlier, Corporation Bank tied up with LIC.

• Aiming to boost bilateral business ties, industry bodies
  from India and Turkey today signed agreements here.
• To achieve the objective, Union of Chambers and Commodity
  Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) signed separate pacts with industry bodies CII and
  FICCI.
• The Ficci-TOBB agreement is for establishing India-Turkey
  Working Committee to identify obstacles in trade and economic cooperation. The
  two organisations will also co-host and organise Investment Forums to promote
  investment opportunities both in India and Turkey.
• TOBB President Rifat Hisarciklioglu said that Turkey could
  open markets of North Africa, Middle East and Eurasia to India which would
  supplement its quest for new markets.
• Under the MoU between TOBB and CII, both parties agreed to
  take all such steps as may be necessary and feasible to promote bilateral trade
  and economic cooperation between the two countries.
• These include undertaking studies to determine support which
  might benefit their respective members and exchange of information on all
  economic and commercial matters with regards to Turkey and India including
  specific industrial sectors relevant to both the countries.

• Myntra will shut its website from May 1 to become a mobile
  app-based retailer.
• Fashion retail website Myntra is expected to shut down its
  website in favour of moving all operations to its mobile app, according to a
  report in The Times of India. Myntra was acquired by Flipkart last year for a
  sum of Rs 2,000 crores.
• The report states that Myntra pulls in about 80% of its
  traffic and 60% of sales through its mobile application. It has plans to take
  the sales number to 90% by the end of the year. When that happens, the fashion
  e-tailer will most likely shut down its websites according to sources familiar
  with the matter. If it does indeed happen, it will be the first instance of an
  online e-tailer going mobile-only from web + mobile format.
• Myntra is on course to complete Rs 2,000 crore in sales or
  gross merchandise value (GMV) for the current financial year. GMV refers to the
  overall revenue generated by online retailers through sale of goods on the
  online platforms. Out of the total GMV, the e-tailer makes around 5% to 20%
  depending on the category.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 6 April 2015 launched a
  National Air Quality Index (NAQI) to tackle the menace of air pollution. This
  National Air Quality Index will provide information on the quality of air in 10
  major cities in the country on a real-time basis.
• The ten cities where the quality of air can be monitored are
  Delhi, Agra, Kanpur, Lucknow, Varanasi, Faridabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai,
  Bangalore and Ahmedabad.
• Later the index will be extended to 22 State capitals and 44
  other cities with a population exceeding one million.
• The index was launched before the inauguration of the
  Conference of State Environment and Forest Ministers in New Delhi. The
  conference is being attended by state environment and forest ministers.
• The national conference aims at consulting states on making
  changes in existing laws that govern environment and forest clearances.

• Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Monday launched the
  country’s first indigenously-built Scorpene submarine at the Mazagaon Dockyard
  Ltd in Mumbai.
• The Scorpene is part of the ambitious Project 75 of Indian
  Navy’s submarine programme, undertaken with French collaboration, which will
  include six such vessels joining the fleet over the next few years.
• Parikkar, along with Chief Of Naval Staff Admiral R.K.
  Dhowan, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and others officials attended a puja
  ceremony to mark the auspicious undocking of the vessel.
• The submarine is expected to be commissioned by September
  2016.
• Presently, Indian Navy has 14 conventional diesel-electric
  powered submarines which include 10 Russian Kilo Class and four German HDW
  class vessels.
• Parikkar is in the city to review the progress of Project 75
  programme undertaken by the Western Naval Command and is likely to get a status
  report on the Project 15 B-Class stealth destroyers being constructed at MDL.

• India will host the fifth meeting of SAARC health ministers
  next week to deliberate on key issues including HIV/AIDS, prevention of communicable
  and non-communicable diseases and to strengthen collaborations amongst the
  nations.
• The health ministers will also discuss adoption of the the
  “Delhi Declaration” affirming their commitment to work together in
  identified areas and further strengthen health collaboration with agreed road
  map and timelines, in the meeting scheduled to take place on April 8.
• Prior to the Health Ministers’ meeting, the 7th Meeting of
  SAARC Expert Group on HIV/AIDS, 5th Meeting of the SAARC Technical Committee on
  Health and Population and the 5th Meeting of the SAARC Senior Officials (Health
  Secretaries) will be held on April 6-7.
• The 4th meeting of the SAARC Health Ministers was held at
  Maldives in April 2012.

• After being stuck in legal and administrative hurdles for
  the past two years, the proposed BR Ambedkar memorial at Indu Mill, Dadar, got
  a major push after a tri-partite agreement was signed between the Union
  ministry of textile, government of Maharashtra and the National Textile
  Corporation (NTC) on Sunday.
• The agreement was signed at New Delhi in the presence of
  Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union minister of state for textiles Santosh
  Gangwar and state chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.
• Fadnavis said the foundation stone for the memorial will be
  laid by Modi in a few weeks.
• The Maharashtra government said it will decide on the
  compensation to be paid to the NTC, the owner of the land, in the next 15 days.
  However, it is yet to be cleared if the NTC will be compensated in form of land
  or otherwise.
• According to the sources in the Mantralaya, the government
  may transfer land, equivalent to the price of the one to be acquired at the
  Indu Mill, elsewhere in the state.

• M Annadurai, senior scientist and programme director, Indian
  Remote Sensing Satellites (IRS) and Small Satellite Systems (SSS) of ISRO
  Satellite Centre (ISAC), Bengaluru, has assumed the office of Director, ISAC on
  April 1.
• He took over as Director, ISAC from S K Shivakumar, who
  superannuated on March 31, 2015. Annadurai, born on July 2, 1958, graduated in
  Electronics and Communication Engineering from Government College of
  Technology, Coimbatore, obtained his Post Graduate degree in Applied
  Electronics from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore and Doctoral degree from
  Anna University, Coimbatore.
• Joining ISRO in 1982, Annadurai began his career at ISAC as
  the team leader to design and develop Software Satellite Simulator. During the period
  1992 -2005, Annadurai was the lead member of ISRO’s satellite mission team and
  managed eight INSAT Missions as the Mission Director and brought about the
  efficient ground automation for satellite operations.

• P.G. Jayakumar has laid down office as Managing Director and
  CEO of the Kerala-based Dhanlaxmi Bank on Monday. He took charge as MD &
  CEO three years ago.
• G. Sreeram, who was Chief General Manager, Canara Bank,
  Mumbai Circle, is succeeding him.
• Jayakumar rose from the cadre to the highest office and
  served the bank for more than 37 years in various capacities including Branch
  Head, Zonal Head, and General Manager in charge of HR, Administration, Credit,
  Risk Management, and Treasury.
• He assumed charge as MD & CEO at a crucial juncture
  after the exit of Amitabh Chaturvedi.
• The bank, during Jayakumar’s period, raised capital funds of
  ₹521crore. This helped it
  comply with the regulatory capital adequacy requirements. The bank underwent
  total reorganisation as a customer-focused branch-centric model and a series of
  customer-friendly products and technology services were introduced, a press
  release said.

• Rajeev Shukla was, on Monday, reappointed chairman of the
  powerful Indian Premier League (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.
• After intense speculation over who will take charge of the
  league with former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly, Ajay Shirke and Ranjib Biswal
  being the others in the fray, Mr. Shukla ultimately emerged as a consensus
  candidate. His appointment came just one day before opening ceremony of the
  IPL-8 in Kolkata.
• 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.

• Pedro Cateriano Bellido was appointed as the seventh Prime
  Minister of Peru on 2 April 2015. He was appointed by the President Ollanta
  Humala in a ceremony held at the Government Palace in Lima, Peru.
• He replaced Ana Jara, who was sacked on 30 March 2015 after
  losing the vote of confidence in Congress. She was sacked by Peruvian Congress
  amid allegations of spying and corruption.
• At the time of this appointment, 56-year-old lawyer Bellido
  was serving as Defence Minister of Peru. He was serving as Peru’s Defence
  Minister since July 2012.

• Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis, the Indo-Swiss women pair of
  Tennis, on 5 March 2015 won the Miami Open Tennis women’s doubles title. In the
  title clash played in Miami, Florida, the duo defeated the Russian pair of
  Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova, 7-5, 6-1.
• This was second consecutive team title for the Indo-Swiss
  pair. Earlier on 21 March 2015, Mirza and Hingis had won the Indian Wells Open.

• Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams won the 2015 Miami Open
  Men’s and women’s singles titles of the 
  respectively at Crandon Park Tennis Center in Miami, Florida.
• Novak Djokovic of Serbia on 5 April 2015 beat the third
  seeded Andy Murray of Britain 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-0 to win his fifth Miami Open
  title.
• In doing so, Djokovic became the first player to win at
  Indian Wells and Miami back-to-back for three consecutive years.
• With this win, Djokovic and Murray have combined to win
  eight of the past ten Miami Open men’s titles.
• Serene Williams of the US on 4 April 2015 defeated the
  twelfth seed Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-2, 6-0 to secure the title for eighth
  time.
• With this win, Williams has won 66 singles titles, one
  behind Billie Jean King of the US.

• Indian Grandmaster Dronavalli Harika won the bronze medal
  along with Swedish Grandmaster Pia Cramling by virtue of making it to the
  semifinals of World Women’s chess championship here.
• Harika lost to the eventual winner Mariya Muzychuk of
  Ukraine in the semifinals.
• Muzychuk bagged the title after defeating Russian Natalija
  Pogonina 2.5-1.5 in the four-game final. She had earlier defeated top seeded
  Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy in the quarters.
• While both Humpy and Harika got excellent chances to beat
  Muzychuk, the Ukrainian prevailed over them, thanks to some steely nerves.
• Against Humpy, she was looking at a hopelessly lost position
  in the deciding tiebreaker when the Indian played an inexplicable blunder and
  lost.

• A 100-year-old Japanese woman has become the world’s first
  centenarian to complete a 1,500-metre freestyle swim.
• Mieko Nagaoka, from Yamaguchi Prefecture, took just under an
  hour and 16 minutes to finish the race in a 25-meter pool. She was the sole
  competitor in the 100 – 104-year-old category at a short course pool in Ehime,
  western Japan on Saturday.
• Her time is expected to be recognised by Guinness World
  Records after she submits an application to the international swimming federation,
  Japan Times reported.
• Nagaoka began swimming at the age of 80 as part of
  rehabilitation for her hurt knee. At that time, she could barely swim.

• Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) on 5 April 2015
  won the prestigious Golden Peacock National Quality Award for the year 2015.
• The award will be presented to DIAL by the UAE Minister for
  Culture, Youth and Development Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan at a
  ceremony to be held in Dubai on 20 April 2015.
• DIAL is a joint venture consortium of GMR Group, Airports
  Authority of India, Fraport and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB).

• A 15-year-old Indian-origin schoolboy in the UK has been
  awarded the Institute of Physics Prize for conducting an experiment that
  verified an effect of Albert Einstein’s theory of special relativity.
• Pratap Singh, a student at The Perse School, Cambridge, has
  won the 500 pounds Institute of Physics (IOP) prize at the Big Bang Fair held
  at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham in March.
• The prize was among several awarded in the finals of the
  National Science and Engineering Competition at the fair.
• More than 200 UK students aged 11-18 competed in the finals,
  demonstrating their projects to thousands of visitors.
• In his experiment, Singh used two Geiger-Muller tubes to
  detect cosmic-ray muons, which should not reach the Earth in detectable numbers
  unless time dilation occurs.
• He created a mathematical model for their arrival rate with
  and without time dilation, and using a Raspberry Pi and some statistical
  analysis, showed that they follow the model predicted by Einstein’s 1905 theory
  of special relativity.

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