April 21st 2015

>>Sitaram Yechury was unanimously elected as the general secretary Communist Party of India (Marxist) on 19 April 2015.

• Yechury succeeded Prakash Karat, who was the General Secretary of the party for one decade i.e. from 2005 to April 2015.
• Presently he is member of Rajya Sabha and was elected from West Bengal in July 2005

>>(ICICI) Bank has launched a payment service Tap-n-Pay. It was launched by bank in collaboration with Tech Mahindra.

• This payment service is based on the near-field communications (NFC) technology which will enable its customers make over-the-counter payments without using cash.

Key features of Tap n Pay

• ·  NFC technology will allow users to tap NFC enabled tag or mobile phone at the merchant’s point-of-sale device to make payments.
• ·  It is a prepaid account which will be available to customers of any bank by simply registering for it and transferring money online from any bank account.
• ·  ICICI Bank customers can also transfer money to the Tap-n-Pay account through an SMS.
• ·   To start with this service bank has offered it at large campuses of corporate offices.
•    ICICI Bank and Tech Mahi ndra also are planning to extend this service across the country.

>>Former Chief Minister (CM) of Odisha and senior Congress leader Janaki Ballabh Patnaik passed away on 21 April 2015 in Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh. He was 89.

• Patnaik had served as CM of Odisha for three times and was in office from 1980 to 1989 and again from 1995 to 1999.

>>A new species of the day gecko, a type of lizard usually found in warm climates, has been spotted at the ruins of the World Heritage Site of Hampi in Karnataka.

•  The gecko has been named Cnemaspis adii after a young herpetology researcher from Hyderabad, Aditya Srinivasulu.
• The lizard belongs to the family of day geckos characterised by round pupils unlike regular geckos which have vertical pupils.
• “The discovery is significant because other species of day geckos have been, so far, reported only from the Western Ghats and southern Eastern Ghats in peninsular India.
•  This is the first time that day geckos have been found in the central regions of peninsular India between Eastern and Western Ghats,” .

>>India is the fifth biggest producer of e-waste in the world, discarding 1.7 million tonnes (Mt) of electronic and electrical equipment in 2014, a UN report has warned that the volume of global e-waste is likely to rise by 21 per cent in next three years.

• The ‘Global E-Waste Monitor 2014’, compiled by U.N.’s think tank United Nations University (UNU), said at 32 per cent, the U.S. and China produced the most e-waste overall in 2014.
• India is behind the U.S., China, Japan and Germany.
• The top three Asian nations with the highest e-waste generation in absolute quantities are China (6.0 Mt), Japan (2.2 Mt) and India (1.7 Mt).
• The top per capita producers by far are the wealthy nations of northern and western Europe, the top five being Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Denmark, and the U.K.
• The lowest amount of e-waste per inhabitant was generated in Africa (1.7 kg/inhabitant). The continent generated 1.9 Mt of e-waste in total.
• While only 7 per cent of e-waste last year was made up of mobile phones, calculators, personal computers, printers, and small information technology equipment, almost 60 per cent was a mix of large and small equipment used in homes and businesses, such as vacuum cleaners, toasters, electric shavers, video cameras, washing machines, electric stoves, mobile phones, calculators, personal computers, and lamps.

>>Railways on Tuesday launched E-Samiksha, an online monitoring mechanism.

• It is a very good beginning and now each and every project implementation can be monitored on real-time basis.
• Designed by NIC, the software is currently being used by Cabinet Secretariat, PMO and other Ministries for monitoring progress implementation of various programmes and follow-up of meetings. 

• Apart from budget-related projects, the E-Samiksha can also be used for monitoring the infrastructure target and board meeting follow-up.

>>9th Civil Services Day was observed across India by all Civil Services to re-dedicate and re-commit themselves to the cause of the people.

•  Two day programme was organised by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances to mark this day. 
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi confered awards to winners of outstanding initiatives in Public Administration for the years 2012 - 13 and 2013 - 14. He also launced a book on "Best Practices - Tomorrow is Here" on this occasion.

>>Japan’s state of the art Maglev(Magnetic Levitation) train clocked a new world speed record in a test run near Mount Fuji, smashing through the 600 km (373miles) per hour mark.

>>Novak Djokovic won Monte-Carlo Masters title of Tennis played at Monte-Carlo, Monaco.

• Djokovic and defeated Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic by 7-5, 4-6, 6-3. This was second time that Novak Djokovic has lifted this title.
• It was 17th straight win for the Novak Djokovic who is also world's number one. By winning this title he also became the first player to won the opening three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events of a season as he already won Indian Wells and Miami titles.