Current Affairs 30th April 2015

Current Affairs 30th April 2015 - Important Points

• Which country has won Women’s World Team Chess Championship - Georgia

• Name the first India-born woman to be sworn in as Judge of New York City - Raja Rajeswari

• Who has won 2015 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for Asia region - Novelist Siddhartha Gigoo

• Indigenous cryogenic engine CE-20 was successfully tested by - ISRO

• Who is appointed as Chairperson of Children's Film Society of India - Mukesh Khanna

• Tourist Visa scheme expanded to - 31 more countries

• Which famous singer has passed away - Singer Jack Ely

• Which two countries has signed Action Agenda for Investment and Trade Promotion - India and Japan

• 161st Member of WTO is - Seychelles

• Whitley Awards for wildlife conservation was won by - Ananda Kumar and Pramod Patil

• International Day of Yoga launched its Logo

• Who has approved continuation of 1000 rupees Monthly Pension Scheme under EPS - Union Government

Current Affairs 30th April 2015 - Details

Which country has won Women’s World Team Chess Championship - Georgia

Among the important Sports Current Affairs, On 29th April 2015, Georgia won the Women’s World Team Chess Championship held at Chengdu, China from 18th April 2015 to 29th April 2015 under the sponsorship of FIDE.

Russia won the silver medal, while China was placed third claiming the bronze. Mariya Muzychuk was declared as the 2015 Women's World Champion.

Name the first India-born woman to be sworn in as Judge of New York City - Raja Rajeswari

Among the important International Current Affairs, On 27th April 2015, India-born Raja Rajeswari was sworn-in as the first India-born woman criminal court judge of the New York City.

Raja Rajeswari was sworn-in as a criminal court judge by Mayor Bill de Blasio. 27 other judges appointed to the Civil Court, Criminal Court, and Family Court, part of the New York State Unified Court System took the oath of office along with her.

A term of 10-year in the New York City Criminal Court and the Family Court within the city was announced to the appointed judges by mayor.

For the past 16 years, Rajeswari was serving in the district attorney's office and has been the deputy chief of the Special Victims Unit for more than four years.

Who has won 2015 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for Asia region - Novelist Siddhartha Gigoo

Among the important International Current Affairs, On 28th April 2015, Siddhartha Gigoo, a Srinagar-born novelist won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2015 for Asia region for his work Umbrella Man, a tale of surreal meditation on mental health and the environment.

A prize money of 2500 pounds was awarded to Gigoo. Gigoo will now compete with the other four regional winners for the prize money of 5000 pounds which will be announced in London on 8th September 2015.

Indigenous cryogenic engine CE-20 was successfully tested by - ISRO

Among the important National Current Affairs, On 28th April 2015, at Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu, (ISRO) The Indian Space Research Organisation successfully tested an indigenous cryogenic engine CE-20. This engine will help scientists to put satellites of capacity of four tonnes in geostationary orbit.

The engine will uplift India’s interplanetary probes and manned space missions. Till now, India's GSLVs were being powered by cryogenic engines given by Russia.

About cryogenic engine

• Hydrogen is used as fuel in cryogenic engine, stored at minus 253 degrees Celsius and liquid oxygen as oxidizer at minus 183 degrees Celsius.
• The thrust needed in the final state of the rocket to put satellites, into a geosynchronous orbit weighing 2 tonnes or more will be developed by it.

Who is appointed as Chairperson of Children's Film Society of India - Mukesh Khanna

Among the important appointments, On 29th April 2015, Actor and producer Mukesh Khanna was appointed as the Chairperson of the Children's Film Society of India (CFSI). He was appointed by Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting as successor of Amole Gupte.

He is known for his role as Shaktimaan, a superhero series in 1990s. He is also memorialize for his representation as Bhishma Pitamah in Mahabharat.

Tourist Visa scheme expanded to - 31 more countries

On 29th April 2015, e-Tourist Visa scheme was extended to 31 more countries as announced by Union Government.

The 31 countries to which the scheme was extended includes Bahamas, Cayman Island, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Canada, Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Chile, Dominica, Dominic an Republic, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Montenegro, Montserrat, Georgia, Grenada, Haiti, HolySee (Vatican), Honduras, Seychelles, Estonia, France, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Macedonia, Nicaragua, Paraguay, St. Kitts & Nevis and Latvia.

On 27th November 2014, Union Government launched the e-Tourist Visa scheme (earlier called Tourist Visa on Arrival scheme) for 45 countries from nine designated Indian airports namely Thiruvananthapuram, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Kochi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.

The total number of countries included under the scheme will go up to 76 aafter this addition.

Which famous singer has passed away - Singer Jack Ely

On 27th April 2015, Jack Ely, the lead singer of the Kingsmen who was best known for 1960s hit Louie Louie, died at the age of 71. Jack Ely was an American guitarist and singer.

After watching Elvis Presley on television, Ely was classically trained in piano and began playing guitar. In 1959, he established the Kingsmen and in 1963 recorded Louie Louie with them.

Which two countries has signed Action Agenda for Investment and Trade Promotion - India and Japan

Among the important National Current Affairs, On 30th April 2015, Japan and India signed an action agenda for investment and trade promotion and Asia-Pacific economic integration in New Delhi.

Yoichi Miyazawa, Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry and Commerce Minister of India Nirmala Sitharaman signed the action agenda.

Five points in the action agenda are :

• Selected townships in country will be developed as Japanese industrial townships.
• Encouragement of investment and infrastructure development.
• Additional development and cooperation in IT.
• Strengthening cooperation in strategic sectors.
• Asia-Pacific economic integration.

161st Member of WTO is - Seychelles

On 26th April 2015, Seychelles became the 161st member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). With this, Seychelles archipelago of 90000 inhabitants became one of its smallest members.

Apart from this, Seychelles is also the 33rd government to accept the rules-based multilateral trading system through Article XII negotiations. 20-year long wait of the country was ended after the approval of becoming a member of WTO, as the country was arranging its accession terms since 31 May 1995.

Whitley Awards for wildlife conservation was won by - Ananda Kumar and Pramod Patil

Among the important International Current Affairs, On 29th April 2015, Two Indians namely Dr Ananda Kumar and Dr Pramod Patil won the eminent Whitley Awards (also known as Green Oscar) for their contribution to wildlife conservation.

A Whitley prize worth 35000 pound was received by the winners. Kumar was honoured for his work of using innovative communication systems to enable human-elephant co-existence in Southern India whereas Patil was honoured for his work to protect the iconic great Indian bustard in the Thar Desert of Rajasthan.

International Day of Yoga launched its Logo

On 29th April 2015, The logo of International Day of Yoga was launched in New Delhi by Union Minister of State (MoS) for AYUSH Shripad Yesso Naik and Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

The logo was finalized by a committee of yoga experts constituted by Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) and was approved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Elements about International Day of Yoga logo

• It indicates peace and harmony for the humanity.
• The folding of hands in the logo indicates the union of individual consciousness with universal consciousness.
• It also indicates a perfect consonance between body and mind, nature and man and the holistic approach to health and well-being.
• The green leaves represents the nature, blue represents the fire element and the brown leaves represents the earth element.
• The sun in the logo represents the source of energy and inspiration.

Who has approved continuation of 1000 rupees Monthly Pension Scheme under EPS - Union Government

On 29th April 2015, continuation of 1000 rupees Monthly Pension Scheme under Employees' Pension Scheme, 1995 (EPS) beyond 2014-15 on permanent basis was approved by Union Government.

Under social security scheme run by Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), moret than 20 lakh pensioners will be benefitted. It will evaluate additionally 850 crore rupees to the exchequer of the government.

From 1st September 2014, the scheme was launched with effect. It had increased the pension amount to a flat 1000 rupees per month for those who were getting lower amount earlier and it was initially effective till 31st March 2015.