Current Affairs - 22nd April 2014
Monte Carlo Masters, 2014
Monte Carlo masters held in Monaco were won by Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland defeating Roger Federer in the finals. It is his first ATP world tour Masters 1000 title. He has previously won the Australian open. In the doubles category, Bob and Mike Bryan often known as Bryan brothers won the tournament.
Earth Day to be observed today
April 22 will be observed as Earth Day all around the globe. The theme of this year’s earth day is “Green Cities”. Earth day is an annual event which is marked to celebrate the planet of life. The first earth day was celebrated on April 22, 1970 and this year is the 44th anniversary of the day. Earth Day was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin who wanted to respond to an oil spill off Santa Barbara, California. In 2009, the United Nations renamed Earth Day and now calls it International Mother Earth Day.
Indian Navy’s vice admiral resigns
Shekhar Sinha, the Vice Admiral of Indian Navy resigned from his post and sought voluntary retirement just months before his tenure was coming to an end. This step was taken by him after his junior R K Dhawan was made the Navy Chief. He was heading the western naval command and was the senior most but he was stepped out of the race because 14 mishaps, including two major submarine accidents, took place under his command during the last 10 months. He was made as the interim navy chief till new chief was appointed, post the resignation of DK Joshi.
Subscribers of EPFO to be provided UAN
The subscribers of Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) who have their retirement funds will be provided Universal Account Numbers (UAN) and the date for providing UAN has been decided as 15 October 2014. Now, EPFO will provide UAN to its 5 crore subscribers and this will help escape the employees to fill provident fund transfer claims while changing jobs.
NASA’s moon probe spacecraft LADEE crashed
NASA’s moon probe spacecraft crashed into the lunar surface ending the six month probe mission. The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) were launched in September 2013 and it started orbiting the moon in 2013, October.
G. Gopalakrishnan, executive director of RBI resigned
After ANand SInha, its executive director of RBI G. Gopalakrishnan who has taken voluntary retirement before his tenure comes to an end. He was the senior most among the nine executive directors of RBI. , still R Gandhi was selected for the post of deputy governor by Raghuram Rajan. Now G Gopalakrishna has taken charge as Director, Centre for Advanced Financial Research and Learning (CAFRAL). It is a nonprofit independent body, funded by RBI. USha Thorat, former deputy governor of RBI was in charge of CAFRAL since its inception in 2011.
The tussle between Egypt and Ethiopia
The two countries have entered into conflict due to the construction of the controversial Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam across the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia. Egypt has opposed the construction of this dam as it considers that post the formation of this dam, it will receive less water.
• Egypt is the largest beneficiary of Nile River and the 1.8 km dam, if completed, will become the largest hydroelectric dam in the continent giving a fillip to Ethiopian agriculture and other water requirements.
• Due to the treaty signed in 1929 between Egypt and Britain, Egypt is the largest beneficiary of Nile River. As per agreement, before any construction on the river, the beneficiary countries have to be asked to seek permission. Egypt, one among them, is not willing to permit the construction as it will lead to cotting down in the water amount which it receives from the river.
SpaceX Dragon launched
The private cargo carrier Dragon of SpaceX arrived at the International Space Center (ISS) and the cargo rocket was launched from there. This is Dragon’s third flight to the ISS. NASA’s $1.6 billion contract with SpaceX calls for at least 12 Dragon flights by 2016.
