1 www.examguruadda.in Current Affairs of 1-15 April 2015 1. Meenakshi Madan Rai was sworn in as the first lady judge of the Sikkim High Court. 2. Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) decided to rename Tourist Visa on Arrival- Electronic Travel Authorization (TVoA-ETA) scheme as e-Tourist Visa (eTV) scheme. The renamed scheme will come into effect from 15 April 2105. MHA decided to change the name of the scheme after it observed that the name of the scheme (TVoA-ETA) created confusion among tourists and also it had received requests of name change from some Indian embassies. 3. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley inaugurated the Vividh Bharati Service of Delhi on FM Mode in a function held at premises of New Broadcasting House of All India Radio (AIR). The service will be available on 100.1 Megahertz frequency. 4. The Chinese Government quashed the bid of Taiwan to become a full member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for lack of appropriate name.The Chinese Government said that it would welcome Taiwan in the future but under a different name. Taiwan made a last-minute application to join the AIIB as a founding member on the deadline day of 31 March 2015 under the name of Chinese-Taipei. 5. Renowned film director and actor of Assam Bidyut Chakraborty died on 15 April 2015 in a private nursing home in Guwahati after brief illness. He was 55. 6. Songkran Festival of Thailand was in news as over 120 people were killed and 1281 were injured while celebrating the festival. Songkran festival is a traditional New Year Eve celebration of Thailand. It is also known as Thailand Water Festival.It is originally celebrated as a way for the Thai people to sprinkle water on their family members and elders for good fortune and pay their respects to images of the beloved Buddha. 7. State-owned power equipment-maker Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) commissioned a 600 MW thermal unit at Dhabra in Janjgir Champa District of Chhattisgarh for the Dainik Bhaskar Power Limited. This is the second unit of 2 × 600 MW power project, commissioned by BHEL. The first 600 MW Unit was commissioned in 2014. 8. The Yoga guru Baba Ramdev was in news as State government of Haryana on 13 April 2015 decided to accord status equivalent to a Cabinet Minister on him. 9. Nobel laureate German novelist Gunter Grass died in Luebeck, Germany. He was 87. He was a novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor and recipient of the 1999 Like Us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ExamGuruAdda 2 www.examguruadda.in Nobel Prize in Literature. 10. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal have been voted among the 100 most influential people in the world in an online poll by readers of Time magazine. Russian President Vladimir Putin emerged the winner of this year’s Time 100 readers’ poll. 11. Ramesh Abhishek will continue to head the Forward Market Commission (FMC) till its merger with SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India). FMC is the regulator of commodity exchanges engaged in future trading. 12. The World Bank has said India continues to be the leading nation in remittances pulling in USD 70 billion from its global migrant workforce in 2014.United States, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Russia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) remained the top five migrant destination countries and apart from India, China, Philippines, Mexico and Nigeria are the top five remittance recipient countries, in terms of value of remittances 13. Flipkart has decided to pull out of an ongoing discussion with Airtel to join the Airtel Zero platform. The move follows criticism that the deal would violate the principles of net neutrality. 14. Mobile commerce platform Paytm inked memorandum of understanding MoU with National Centre for Trade Information (NCTI) to promote Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). As per MoU, Paytm will offer a virtual marketplace platform for NCTI members and will extend its services and enable them to sell online. In this regard, Paytm will set up payment gateways platform for online ticketing and membership fees for NCTI. 15. Sania Mirza created history by becoming the first female tennis player from India to achieve the world number one rank in doubles, following her stupendous title win at the WTA Family Circle Cup with partner Martina Hingis, in Charleston. 16. In a first of its kind initiative in the country, Gujarat government is promoting a tour package covering major industrial installations which have earned global acclaim for the state. Some of the major attractions of this recently launched tour package include a visit to Tata Nano plant in Sanand, Pipavav port .near Amreli, Alang ship breaking yard in Bhavnagar and Amul Dairy in Anand. 17. New Zealand won the 2015 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup men’s hockey tournament. In the final clash played at the Sultan Azlan Shah Stadium in Ipoh, Malaysia, New Zealand defeated World Champions Australia 3-1. Like Us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ExamGuruAdda 3 www.examguruadda.in 18. Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank (KVGB), a regional rural bank headquartered in Dharwad, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Life Insurance Corporation of India under the ‘Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana’. It aims at providing insurance cover to all the Aadhar-linked savings account holders of the bank in the age group of 18 to 50 years. 19. Indian tennis player Yuki Bhambri won the Uzbekistan F1 Futures Men’s singles title by defeating Dzmitry Zyrmont of Serbia.Yuki defeated his rival in two straight sets 6-2 6-4 in the final match held in Karshi, Uzbekistan. 20. Indian shooter Jitu Rai won Bronze medal at the 10-meter Air Pistol Men final in the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Rifle/Pistol World Cup held in Changwon, South Korea. 21. A painting titled Tree of Life was gifted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to French President Francois Hollande during his visit to France from 9 April to 12 April 2015. The painting reflects traditional societal respect for nature in India and tree as a divine gift central to human life is a recurring element in Indian artistic practiceThe Tree of Life, with multiple roots and branches like a banyan tree, is a motif for a tree’s benevolence, fruit, seeds, shelter, healing, procreation and regeneration faculties that sustain life and clean the environment. The painting is the work of Bhaskar Mahapatra, an Odisha artist and the art form is pigments on silk which he has been practicing for last thirty years along with rest of his family. 22. Lt General (retd) Hanut Singh, the recipient of the Mahavir Chakra and hero of 1971 Indo- Pak war, died in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. He was 82. 23. In a new twist to the high profile SEBI-Sahara case, the Indian capital markets regulator has approached a US court with a USD 12-million claim on proceeds from sale of a corporate jet owned by a Sahara Group firm. The court has rejected the demand for now, saying that SEBI could not “properly file a claim prior to the Bar Date and in accordance with the terms of the Court’s order“. 24. Mercedes Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton from Britain on 12 April 2015 won Chinese Grand Prix of Formula One on the Shanghai International Circuit in China. 25. Air Pegasus, promoted by Decor Aviation Private Limited, on Sunday commenced its commercial operation with a daily to-and-fro flight to Hubballi and Thiruvananthapuram 26. The NITI Aayog has initiated the mid-term appraisal process of the 12th Five Year Plan, an exercise which has long been followed prior to establishment of the new body that replaced the Like Us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ExamGuruAdda 4 www.examguruadda.in Planning Commission. 27. The youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner and girls’ education campaigner Malala Yousafzai now has an asteroid named after her. Amy Mainzer, astronomer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, named Asteroid 316201 after Malala 28. With overseas investors pumping in over Rs. 2,000 crore in the Indian capital markets so far this month, total foreign fund inflows have crossed the Rs. 81,000 crore mark since the beginning of the year. 29. India was elected to four important United Nations (UN) agencies . These agencies are United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Food Program (WFP), Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) and the Governing Council of UN-Habitat. 30. Social Progress Index (SPI) 2015 was released by the US-based non-profit organisation Social Progress Imperative . On population-weighted basis, the SPI score for the whole world stands at 61 and at 64.39 when SPI scores are based on simple average of countries. India with a score of 53.06 is ranked 101st and is placed in the Low Social Progress Group. In 2014, India with a score of 50.24 was ranked 102 out of 132 countries. 31. Seoul city, the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea, was awarded the title of Global Earth hour Capital 2015 after it won the Earth Hour City Challenge (EHCC) of World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The city of Balikpapan, Indonesia was recognized as the Most Loveable City for 2015 and Thane city was named as the National Earth Hour Capital 2015 of India. 32. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat announced fresh measures to provide relief to rain- hit farmers in the state including free distribution of seeds among them and an increased subsidy on ginger and turmeric seeds.