HAL Received The Most Efficient
Navratna Award 2013
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL)
received the Most Efficient Navratna Award for the year 2013. It received
the award at the 5th Dalal Street Investment Journal Awards ceremony held in
New Delhi. The award was collected by the Chairman of HAL, Dr. R K Tyagi. The
awards were presented to the various PSUs in different categories in
recognition of their performance and contribution to the Indian economy. The
award was given to the company for the measure it has taken on various fronts
such as R&D, modernization, customer initiatives, quality and thrust given
on indigenization.
Europe Launches Environment Satellite
Europe has launched the first in
a constellation of hi-tech satellites designed to monitor Earth for climate
change and environmental damage and help in disaster relief operations.
Sentinel-1A, a satellite designed to scan the Earth with cloud-penetrating
radar, had lifted off at 2102 GMT aboard a Soyuz rocket from Kourou, French
Guiana . The 2.2-tonne satellite is the first of half-a-dozen orbital monitors
that will be built and launched under the $5.19-billion Copernicus project, a
joint undertaking of ESA and the European Union (EU).
R Gandhi Appointed Deputy
Governor of RBI
The government has appointed R
Gandhi as deputy governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 3 April. Gandhi has
been handed over a three year term, and replaces Anand Sinha who retired from
his post in January. Prior to this Gandhi was an executive director of the
central bank. A deputy governor could be appointed for a maximum of 5 years or
till the age of 62 whichever is earlier.The RBI now has four Deputy Governors –
KC Chakrabarty, HR Khan, Urjit Patel and R. Gandhi.
D K Pathak Appointed As The New
Director General of BSF
Union Government appointed senior
IPS officer D K Pathak as the new Director General of the Border Security Force
(BSF). BSF is country’s largest border guarding force. His name for the post of
DG was approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by
Prime Minister Mamohan Singh. Pathak is a 1979-batch officer of the
Assam-Meghalaya cadre. Prior to the appointment of DG, he was posted as the
Special DG and was also officiating as the DG since 1 March 2014. The post of
the DG of BSF was vacant since 28 February 2014 when Subhash Joshi
retired from the post of DG. Pathak had served in another paramilitary CRPF as
its chief of operations in Jammu and Kashmir and he has also spent stints in
various positions in his cadre states of Assam and Meghalaya.
World Autism Awareness Day
Celebrated Across The world
The seventh annual World Autism
Awareness Day 2014 was celebrated across the world on 2 April 2014. The day is
celebrated to raise fund and to create awareness about autism. On this day,
Autism Speaks organisation celebrated Light It Up Blue. Light It Up Blue is a
global initiative that kicks-off Autism Awareness Month and helps raise awareness
about autism. The United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted the
resolution on Autism on 18 December 2007 and decided to designate 2 April as
World Autism Awareness Day. The resolution was adopted to highlight the need to
help improve the lives of children and adults who suffer from the disorder. As
a result, the first World Autism Awareness Day was celebrated on 2 April 2008.
Viswanathan Anand Raises To No. 3
In ‘ FIDE ‘ World Chess Rankings Viswanathan Anand ranked World number 3 in the
rating list released by FIDE . Anand with the Victory at the Candidates
Tournament held in Russia in March 2014 has moved five places ahead from 8 to 3
with 2785 Elo points. According the rating list, Magnus Carlsen of Norway with
Elo points 2881 ranks no 1 and Levon Aronian of America with 2812 ranks 2.
MS Dhoni Won United Kingdom’s
2014 Asian Award
Indian Cricket Captain MS Dhoni
has won United Kingdom’s 2014 Asian award for outstanding achievement in
sports.The award was announced at London’s at The Grosvenor House Hotel.
Koyal Rana Wins Miss India 2014
Title
Koyal Rana won the coveted Miss
India 2014 crown at the 51st edition of the pageant. She was crowned winner
among 24 gorgeous contestants from across the country. Miss India 2013 Navneet
Kaur Dhillion, and Miss World 2013 Megan Young felicitated Rana with the crown
at the beauty pageant. Jhataleka Malhotra, was crowned first runner-up by
Sobhita Shulipala, and Gail Nicole Da Silva was crowned second runner-up by
Zoya Afroz. Koyal Rana hails from Jaipur, Jhataleka from Mumbai, and Gail from
Goa.Rana will represent India at the Miss World 2014 beauty pageant this year.
List
of the of sub contest winners:
· Miss Multimedia: Irshikaa
Mehrotra
· Miss Beauty With Purpose:
Koyal Rana
· Miss Fashion Icon: Jantee
Hazarika
· Miss Vivacious: Tenneti Joga
Bhanu
· Miss Healthy Skin: Koyal Rana
· Miss Timeless Beauty: Gail
Dasilva
· Miss Adventurous: Yoshiki
Sindhar
· Miss Beautiful Hair: Nikhila
Nandgopal
· Miss Congeniality: Aarpita
Kaur
· Miss Active: Nikhila
Nandgopal
· Miss Lifestyle: Sathitya
Jagannathan
· Miss Talented: Deepti
Sati
· Miss Body Beautiful:
Lopamudra Raut
· Miss Rampwalk: Varsha Gopal
· Miss Photogenic: Jantee
Hazarika
· Miss Beautiful Smile:
Irshikaa Merhotra
· Miss Waterbaby: Mansi
Grewal
· Miss Iron Maiden: Deepti Sati
· Miss Sudoku: Malati Chahar
· Miss National Costume:
Jhataleka Malhotra
Hakamada Presented with WBC
honorary Championship Belt
The World Boxing Council on 6
April presented an honorary championship belt to Iwao Hakamada, who was
recently released from jail following a court decision to hold a retrial for
him over robbery, murder and arson in 1966, for which he was sentenced to
death. A presentation ceremony for Hakamada, a former Japanese professional
boxer, took place at a Tokyo gymnasium where WBC boxing matches were held. His
elder sister, Hideko, received the belt from WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman on
behalf of her 78-year-old brother, who is now hospitalized..
Indian Army Successfully
Test-Fired BrahMos Missile
The Army on 7 April successfully test-fired
an advanced version of 290 km range supersonic cruise missile BrahMos as part
of a user trial at Pokhran test range in Rajasthan. The missile was launched by
a mobile autonomous launcher deployed in full configuration with mobile command
post at the ranges. The launch was successful and the missile hit the
designated target. Both the Army and Navy have already inducted the missile,
developed by India in partnership with Russia.
World Health Day 2014 Observed
Across The World
World Health Day 2014 was
observed across the world on 7 April 2014. The theme for 2014′s World Health
Day is “Vector-borne diseases”. The theme, also dubbed by the WHO as
“Small bite, big threat”, will highlight dangers and threats from some of the
most commonly known vectors – such as mosquitoes, sand flies, bugs, ticks and
snails. The day provides an opportunity for individuals to get involved in
activities that can lead to better health.
Jhumpa Lahiri’s ‘Lowland’
Shortlisted For Top UK prize
Pulitzer Prize-winning Indian American
novelist Jhumpa Lahiri’s “Lowland” has been shortlisted for the 2014 Baileys
Prize, the UK’s only annual book award for fiction written by a woman. Lowland
published in 2013 is a book set in Kolkata and Rhode Island in the US and
narrates a story about the lives of two brothers (Subhash and Udayan), their
choices and their fate. Earlier, the book was also shortlisted for Man Booker
Prize.
Ravi Chauhan Named SAP India MD Ravi Chauhan was appointed as
Managing Director for SAP India. He will take the charge immediately. He will
report directly to Adaire Fox-Martin, President of SAP Asia Pacific Japan. He
had joined SAP after four years at Juniper Networks, where he had last served
as Managing Director for India and South Asia. Before Juniper, Chauhan
held leadership roles at Nortel Networks. SAP was founded in Walldorf, Germany
in 1972 by five ex-IBM engineers. SAP stands for Systeme, Andwendungen,
Produkte in der Datenverarbeitung which translated to English means Systems,
Applications, Products in Data Processing.
Sri Lanka lifted their maiden World Twenty20
title by beating India in the finals held at
Mirpur , Bangladesh. Sri Lanka 132-4 (17.5
overs) beat India 130-4 (20 overs) by 6 wickets. Sri Lanka finally managed
to break their jinx of losing the finals of global events, having gone
down in the decider of the 50-over World Cup in 2007 and 2011 and T20
World Cup in 2009 and 2012.
Dreams
of India to become the first team to hold all three limited-overs
trophies, were shattered by the 52 not out knock from Sri Lanka’s Kumar
Sangakkara. Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene
both aged 36, had announced their plans to retire from T20 international cricket just before start of
the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh.
India’s Virat Kohli, won
the World Twenty20 player of the tournament award.
Australia lifted their 3rd
World Twenty20 title by beating Australia in the finals held at Dhaka
, Bangladesh. Australia 106 for 4
beat England 105 for 8 by six
wickets. It was Australia’s third T20 triumph in succession. England
medium-pacer Anya Shrubsole was named as the Women’s Player of the Tournament of
the ICC World Twenty20. The 22-year-old grabbed 12 wickets at an average
of 5.75 in the lead her team(England) up to the final.
· Australia
captain: Meghann Moira Lanning
· England
Captain: Charlotte Marie Edwards
· Indian Captain: Mithali
Raj
The Election
Commission entered
into a partnership with film actor Aamir Khan as its National Icon. Election
Commission has recorded video and audio campaigns showing Aamir Khan urging
Indian Citizens to vote “ethically”. Aamir has also lent his voice to audio
spots prepared for the Election Commission.
As indicated on the Election
Commission’s National Voters’ Pledge, Aamir also asks Indian citizens to be
determined and vote without fear, pressure or any bribes, etc.
The key highlights of the
bi-monthly monetary policy review by RBI are as follows:
· Repo Rate (RR) under the Liquidity
Adjustment Facility (LAF) unchanged at 8.0%
· Reverse Repo Rate (RRR) under the LAF unchanged at
7.0%
· Marginal Standing Facility
(MSF) rate
unchanged at 9.0%
· Bank Rate unchaged at 9.0%
· Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) of scheduled banks
unchanged at 4.0% of the Net Demand and Time Liability (NDTL);
· Increase in liquidity
provided under 7-day and 14-day term repos from 0.5% of NDTL to 0.75%
· Reduction in liquidity
provided under overnight Repos under the LAF from 0.5% of bank-wise NDTL to
0.25% with immediate effect.
Novak
Djokovic clinched his 4th Miami
Masters title by defeating World No:1 Rafael Nadal by 6-3, 6-3 in the men’s
singles final.
Other
winners of 2014 Miami Masters title
· Men’s doubles: United States players Bob
Bryan & Mike Bryan won by defeating Colombian players Juan Sebastián Cabal
& Robert Farah.
· Women’s doubles: Martina Hingis &
Sabine Lisicki won by defeating Ekaterina Makarova & Elena Vesnina.
Miami Masters
Miami Masters is a
yearly Tennis tournament for men and women held in
Miami, Florida. It is an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event for the men’s
tour and a Premier Mandatory event for the women’s tour, played on hard court.
Viktor
Orban re-elected as Prime Minister of Hungary
Viktor Orban was re-elected as
Prime Minister of Hungary for the second consecutive four-year term. The
results of general elections were announced on 8 April 2014. The General
parliamentary elections were held on 6 April 2014.
Out of the total votes casted,
Orban's Fidesz party won 133 of 199 parliament seats. The left alliance which
was led by Attila Mesterhazy won 38 seats while the far-right Jobbik party won
23 seats.
Although, The Fidesz party won the
two-third majority to form the Government, however, a twenty percent vote for
the far-right opposition Jobbik party, accused of anti-Semitism, raised
concerns among ethnic minorities.
The general election of 2014 was
the first election in accordance to the new Constitution of Hungary which came
into force on 1 January 2012.
Orban was first elected as the PM
of Hungary in 1998 and for the second time in 2010. His re-election for the
second consecutive term does not augur well for the already strained
relationship between European Union (EU) and Hungary. He has already faced
criticism from the EU and foreign investors over his staunch defence of the
national interest and has been criticized as increasingly authoritarian.
Election Procedure of
Hungary
The Republic of Hungary is a
parliamentary democracy, where parliamentary elections are held every four
years. Hungary has a mixed electoral system, based on majority and proportional
representation.
The Hungarian unicameral Parliament
(also called National Assembly) has a total of 386 members, of whom 176
represent the electorate, each member representing the people in one
single-member constituency.They are elected directly by voters in the given
constituency, while 210 members are elected from party lists and national
lists, based on proportional representation. This means that each voter casts
two ballots on Election Day, one for a candidate and one for a party.
The president of the Republic of
Hungary is elected in a secret ballot by at least two thirds or, after two
unsuccessful votes, by a simple majority of MPs for a five-year term. The prime
minister is elected by a simple majority of MPs for four years. Real power lies
with the prime minister.
Itanagar
got its first passenger train
Itanagar, the capital city of Arunachal Pradesh on 7 April
2014 received its first passenger train. With this Itanagar became the second
state capital after Guwahati among the seven sister north-eastern states plus
Sikkim to be placed on the railway map of India. The train includes 10
passengers and two goods compartment and will be carried by a diesel engine.
The train’s first journey started from Dekargaon and ended at Naharlagun after covering a distance of 181 km. During the journey the train carried about 400 commuters has also put Itanagar on the country’s railway map. First ticket of the train for Naharlagun at Dekargaon railway station was bought by CD Sharma for 35 rupees.
The train’s first journey started from Dekargaon and ended at Naharlagun after covering a distance of 181 km. During the journey the train carried about 400 commuters has also put Itanagar on the country’s railway map. First ticket of the train for Naharlagun at Dekargaon railway station was bought by CD Sharma for 35 rupees.
Background
Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India announced the plan of introduction of train services in his package for the state on 31 January 2008.
The maiden trial run of the engine was done on 14 January 2014 from Harmutty to Naharlagun terminus. Further, the same line was inspected on 17 January 2014 by a high-level team led by the Planning Commission member (North East and Power) B K Chaturvedi.
Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India announced the plan of introduction of train services in his package for the state on 31 January 2008.
The maiden trial run of the engine was done on 14 January 2014 from Harmutty to Naharlagun terminus. Further, the same line was inspected on 17 January 2014 by a high-level team led by the Planning Commission member (North East and Power) B K Chaturvedi.
India's
Heena Sidhu clinched World's No. 1 spot in 10 mts air pistol event
Heena Sindhu, the Indian shooter on
7 April 2014 clinched the World’s Number One spot in 10 meters air pistol
event. By achieving this fete, she became the first Indian pistol shooter to be
ranked at the top position in the list.
Sindhu
clinched the first spot in the rankings list by replacing the world champion
Zorana Arunovic of Serbia with total pf 1699 rating points. Zorana is now
placed at the second position in the list with 1514 points. China’s Wenjun Guo
with 1190 points is placed at the third position.
The rankings was released by International Shooting Sport Federation claimed that Sindhu was successful in achieving the World Number 1 spot through her performances in the recent events.
Earlier, Sindhu won a gold medal in the Asian Air Gun Championship in March 2014 and she also finished with a silver medal at the ISSF rifle or pistol World Cup in Fort Benning in United States. In the world Cup 2013 in Munich she shot a world record score to win a gold medal.
The rankings was released by International Shooting Sport Federation claimed that Sindhu was successful in achieving the World Number 1 spot through her performances in the recent events.
Earlier, Sindhu won a gold medal in the Asian Air Gun Championship in March 2014 and she also finished with a silver medal at the ISSF rifle or pistol World Cup in Fort Benning in United States. In the world Cup 2013 in Munich she shot a world record score to win a gold medal.
Lee Chong
Wei & Shixian Wang won India Super Series Badminton titles
Defending champion, Lee Chong Wei
of Malaysia on 6 March 2014 won the men’s singles title of 250000 US dollar
India Super Series Badminton in New Delhi. To retain the men’s singles title,
he defeated Chen Long of China in straight-game by 21-13, 21-17. This was the
third title for World Number one badminton player Chong Wei, of the season.
On the other hand, second seed Shixian Wang won the women’s singles title by defeating top seed Li Xuerui 22-20, 21-19.
The women’s double title was clinched by Yuanting Tang and Yang (F) Yu of China after defeating the Korean pair of Kyung Eun Jung and Ha Na Kim 21-10, 13-21, 21-16.
Punjab won
Junior National Hockey Title 2014
Punjab on 6 April 2014 won the 4th
Hockey India Junior Men National Championship 2014 (Division A) by defeating
Hockey Odisha 6-2 in the finals at Chennai, Tamil Nadu. With this win, Punjab
had retained the championship title.
To gain the third place in the tournament, Haryana defeated the Sports Authority of India (7-3).
To gain the third place in the tournament, Haryana defeated the Sports Authority of India (7-3).
Awards
• Best Goalkeeper – Jugraj of Punjab
• Best Deep Defender – Nilam Sanjeev Xess of Odisha
• Best Midfielder – Sumit of Haryana
• Best Forward – Joseph Toppo of Odisha
• Man of the Tournament – Harjeet Singh of Punjab
