Current Affairs – April 22 – Ameenpur Lake declared Biodiversity Heritage Site

NATIONAL AFFAIRS

Ameenpur Lake declared Biodiversity Heritage Site:

The Telangana government declared the first in the country for a water body Ameenpur Lake as a Biodiversity Heritage Site, under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.

Ameenpur has become home to 251 rare species of birds prompting the government to declare it as biodiversity heritage site.

Indian Navy test-fires land attack version of BrahMos missile:

The Indian Navy successfully carried out the maiden test-firing of the land attack variant of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from a stealth frigate in the Bay of Bengal.

This variant of Long Range BrahMos Missile was fired from Indian Naval Ship Teg. BrahMos, derived from Russian P-800 Oniks or Yakhont missile, is a joint product of India and Russia.

The present range of the BrahMos is 290 km, which is now in the process of being extended up to 450 km following India’s entry into the Missile Technology Control Regime last year.

PMGKY declaration date extended to May 10:

    The CBDT has extended the date of filing of declaration under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) to May 10 in cases where tax, surcharge and penalty has been paid on or before March 31 and deposit, has been made on or before April 30.

Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad launches Probono Services, Legal Aid Schemes, Nyaya Mitra:

    Minister of Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad inaugurated three welfare initiatives of the Department of Justice. The services launched are ‘Pro-bono legal services’, ‘Tele-law service’ and Nyaya Mitra. The Nyaya Mitra project aims to reduce pendency in lower courts, with a special focus on cases which are more than ten years old.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

World’s longest-reigning living monarch turns 91:

Britain marked Queen Elizabeth II’s 91st birthday with gun salutes, as the monarch celebrated quietly at home. The queen, who was crowned on February 6, 1952, is the world’s longest-reigning living monarch since the death of Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

India, EU discuss next summit:

India and the European Union firmed up plans for holding the 14th bilateral summit to be held in India later this year. Previously, 13th India-EU summit in Brussels in March 2016.EU’s High Representative and Vice-President Federica Mogherini met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj here and discussed common concerns like trade, counter-terror cooperation, maritime security and defence cooperation. European Union President: Donald Tusk

India, South Korea ink pacts on artillery guns:

Daily     India and South Korea had signed two agreements to build artillery guns for the Army and for collaboration in shipbuilding. One of them is an Inter-Governmental Agreement between the governments while the other is a manufacturing agreement between two private companies (Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Hanwa Techwin) for K9 Vajra-T (self-propelled artillery guns).

The Inter-governmental Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for defence industry co-operation in shipbuilding was signed by Ashok Kumar Gupta, Secretary Defence Production from India and Chang Myoung-Jin, Minister of Defence Acquisition and Programme Administration, South Korea.

BANKING & BUSINESS

RBI signs MoU with the Bank of Guyana:

   The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced signing of an MoU with the Bank of Guyana on Supervisory Cooperation and Exchange of Supervisory Information. It was signed by Dr Gobind N. Ganga, Governor on behalf of Bank of Guyana and Dr Urjit R. Patel, Governor on behalf of Reserve Bank of India.

AU Financiers converts to small finance bank from a NBFC:

AU Financiers has converted itself to Small Finance Bank from a Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC) changing its name to AU Small Finance Bank. 

AU started as a NBFC and was engaged in business of commercial and personal vehicle loans, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) loans and SME loans serving primarily low and middle income, under-served and unreached customer segment.

IBM partners IIITM-Kerala for water quality measurement system:

    Tech giant IBM has partnered Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, Kerala (IIITM-K) to develop a system that will monitor quality and presence of metals in water in real-time.

The system, powered by IBM’s Watson Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, will continuously monitor quality of water to ensure that standard levels are not exceeded as prescribed by agencies.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Mongolia launches its first satellite:

Mongolia launched its first satellite part of its efforts to make use of new technology to diversify its resource-dependent economy.

The 1,227-megahertz satellite, called Mongol Sat-1, will help landlocked Mongolia expand its television, telecoms and broadband services, according to a video posted on the official website http://bankersdaily.in/wp-admin/post.php?post=11382&action=editof Mongolia’s parliament. The satellite was launched in partnership with Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS).

AWARDS

Lampedusa mayor awarded UNESCO peace prize:

UNESCO awarded its prestigious peace prize to migrant rescue association SOS Mediterranee and the mayor of Lampedusa, the tiny Italian island on the frontline of the refugee crisis.

The Felix Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize given to the European NGO and mayor Giuseppina Nicolini for their work to save the lives of refugees and migrants and welcome them with dignity.

HISTORICAL EVENTS OF THE DAY

WORLD EARTH DAY 2017:

World Earth Day is celebrated every year as an annual event by the people all across the world on 22nd of April in order to increase the awareness among people about the environment safety as well as to demonstrate the environmental protection measures.

First time the world earth day was celebrated in the year 1970 and then started celebrating annually on global basis by almost 192 countries.

The theme for 2017 is “Environmental & Climate Literacy”.

SPORTS

Vishnu & Balaji triumph in International Tennis Federation:

    Second seeds Sriram Balaji and Vishnu Vardhan beat top seeds Sergey Betov and Vladyslav Manafov 6-4, 7-5 in the final of the $25,000 ITF Futures tennis tournament in Bukhara, Uzbekistan.

    Ankita Raina and Eva Wacanno made the doubles final at the $25,000 ITF women’s event in Santa Margherita Di Pula, Italy.

Tushar Arothe appointed coach of Indian women’s team:

The BCCI announced Tushar Arothe as the new coach of the Indian women’s team. She was appointed after former India women captain, Purnima Rau was sacked as head coach of the national team.

Tushar Arothe previously had a stint as the India women fielding coach and head coach between 2008 and 2012.

Neymar in Time’s ‘most influential’ list:

Barcelona’s Brazilian superstar Neymar is the only football player who has been named in Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people on the planet. Having joined Barcelona from Santos in 2013, Neymar’s reputation has grown steadily alongside five-time world player of the year Lionel Messi.

OBITUARY

Former England footballer Ehiogu dies:

    Former England and Aston Villa defender Ugo Ehiogu has died at the age of 44 after suffering a cardiac arrest at Tottenham’s training centre. He was retired in 2009.
Singer Cuba Gooding Died at the age of 72:

    Cuba Gooding Sr., who sang the 1972 hit Everybody Plays the Fool, has died. The 72- year-old singer and father of Oscar winner Cuba Gooding Jr Died in Los Angeles.

    Read More : Click Here

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